Win.
Handsome.
No, it's OK, I've bowed to your superior renown on that one...
Are the Scottish National Party really that bad ?
Some similarities actually, Laban, although without the hysteria about race wars and Islamisation. They're generally politically astute and have their own programme for the uplift of the nation, but back them into a corner and their answer to everything is Everything will be better once we're independent.
That said, their idealised Scotland seems to be an inclusive nation of rugged, self-sufficient, Burns-quoting polymaths, rather than an ethnically cleansed community of white nationalism and a country filled with razor wire and high-security prisons, so maybe they're not really that similar after all.
Remarkably true.
xD.
Your analysis forgets one thing, FR: this man is paid to stop a little ball going into a net. That's all he does.
Frankly, it's impressive that he can even speak coherently, whatever nasty bullshit he spouts.
Anyway, you're still bang on, and Italy really has become a pretty scary place.
I think a quote from Churchill may be in order :
"In countries where there is only one race, broad and lofty views are taken of the colour problem"
He was comparing 1940s Britain, outraged at the segregation of the US troops, with America. But there's a slight Scotland/England parallel. Last time I looked there was not a single Patel in the phone book which covers everywhere from Aviemore to Shetland. And the only Mohammeds were the famous Lewis clan.
Of course the main victims of racism "up there" are the poor English immigrants, ekeing out a living doing the jobs the natives won't do, like running shops and hotels. I wish I could be confident that under a Salmond administration their children could feel safe going to school ...
"'Scotland is a better country than England,' said an ugly, blear- eyed lad, about a head and shoulders taller than myself, the leader of a gang of varlets who surrounded me in the playground, on the first day, as soon as the morning lesson was over. 'Scotland is a far better country than England, in every respect.'
'Is it?' said I. 'Then you ought to be very thankful for not having been born in England.'
'That's just what I am, ye loon; and every morning, when I say my prayers, I thank God for not being an Englishman. The Scotch are a much better and braver people than the English.'
'It may be so,' said I, 'for what I know - indeed, till I came here, I never heard a word either about the Scotch or their country.'
'Are ye making fun of us, ye English puppy?' said the blear-eyed lad; 'take that!' and I was presently beaten black and blue. And thus did I first become aware of the difference of races and their antipathy to each other."
George Borrow describing his Edinburgh schooling in "Lavengro".
I seem to remember writing a while ago that the Labour Party needed to send a very clear message to the traditional, self-identified "white working class", and that message needed to be "Kiss My Arse".
In related news, I'm really surprised that a man who has a blog (and therefore presumably has an internet connection and is aware that the phone book is on the internet) could write something like "Last time I looked there was not a single Patel in the phone book which covers everywhere from Aviemore to Shetland" without, for example, checking how many Patels there were in Edinburgh. That took me all of five seconds. It's so easy to avoid looking a cunt these days that I'm surprised so many people fail to take the option.
...a quote from Churchill may be in order...
Well, he's not the first guy I'd look to on race relations, since we both know he took a pretty aggressive stance on dealing with troublesome minorities - a bit more Stanley Baker in Zulu than We Are The World, no?
Dsquared, I think when Laban says ...there was not a single Patel in the phone book which covers everywhere from Aviemore to Shetland he means ...In that giant strip of fuck-all in the Highlands, which is probably true.
OTOH, within those geographical boundaries, I only turned up 45 people whose surname includes "Smith." To work out why that might be so, I'd suggest having a look at a map of the Highlands - it's probably the most sparsely populated part of the UK, and not even the Scots are very keen on living there.
...the main victims of racism "up there" are the poor English immigrants... I wish I could be confident that under a Salmond administration their children could feel safe going to school ...
I suspect this results from spending all your time typing "Racism against the English" and suchlike into Google News, Laban. Sure, there are racist attacks on English people in Scotland, just as there are on people from any other country. Plus, English immigrants could teach their kids to speak a flawless local Scots dialect and on their first day at school, they'd get their arses kicked for being fat, skinny, too tall or short, wearing glasses, wearing crap trainers, "being a homo", being too clever or stupid or just plain "looking funny".
All of which is a roundabout way of saying that there's a big difference between the SNP and the BNP, since that's what you seem to be getting at. The SNP don't generally run scaremongering campaigns about crimes committed by English people, nor about ChurchofEnglandisation, nor do they routinely call for the border with England to be closed - they're actually pretty keen on skilled immigration, from wherever.
I would've thought it would be obvious, but then, I suspect my priorities are a bit different on issues like this.
I've just seen fucking Google today. Can I become a Scottish Nationalist?
dsquared needs to either read what I wrote, or visit Scotland and actually open said phone book. Then HE wouldn't appear such a pudendum. Had to get that in, as it's rarely he leaves such an open goal.
My point is not that the SNP is a BNP clone. It's more that
a) as WSC pointed out, its its easier pontificating from the moral mountain top when you're not sharing it with a bunch of strangers. Just a general observation.
b) the moral heart of SNP support is being against the English - almost a definition of a Scottish patriot. I don't know if you ever read the comments on Scotsman or Herald stories, but there's nowt the Mail or Telegraph readers can teach them. (There's also a wilder, scarier strain in Scottish Republicanism - I've seen them at Glencoe, IRA-wannabees.)
c) it's not something I've thought about before, but one of the things feeding the BNP is the lack of a nationalist alternative for English voters. Maybe that's because Scotland and Wales have built their nationalist parties on anti-English sentiment, which is so much more acceptable than anti-immigrant sentiment.
it's easier pontificating from the moral mountain top when you're not sharing it with a bunch of strangers. Just a general observation.
No, it's a pretty specific observation, and a pretty ignorant one. Who are these "strangers"? Why would somebody with the surname "Patel" be a stranger to other people in Aviemore? Is it really the case that the people "pontificating" are those who live in a largely monoracial environment?
Churchill, of course, is soemthing less than an authority of the subject: all his education and experience was in the school of racial superiority and in an environment where racial segregation, whether offical or de facto, was assumed.
...its its easier pontificating from the moral mountain top when you're not sharing it with a bunch of strangers.
I'll be charitable and assume that this means Before you condemn a man, you should walk a mile in his shoes.
(note - If I was being uncharitable, it actually looks a lot more like it's easy for you to disdain racism since you aren't surrounded by all these bloody awful blacks.)
Even on a charitable reading, however, I'm still not getting your point. Even if all these dreadful foreigners have turned English inner cities into little Mogadishus, I fail to see how voting for racist thugs is anything other than shitting in your own bed.
I've heard this It's a protest vote, so that those Ivory Tower liberals wake up to the horrors of multi-culti blah blah blah, but I'm not buying it. I suggest that, if anyone wishes to register a protest about PC do-gooders etcetera, then let them march down to London and nail their bollocks to the door of Westminster Abbey. That way they wouldn't have to put up with years of belligerent skinheads struggling to find a way to blame their inability to run a council on the darkies and the communists.
(Continued...)
...the moral heart of SNP support is being against the English - almost a definition of a Scottish patriot.
There's probably an element of truth in that, and there's overmuch Mel Gibson-inspired nonsense about big national occasions, but it's certainly not how the SNP operates. Theirs may be a cringeworthy, biscuit tin nationalism, but it's an inclusive, positive patriotism that focuses on the historical successes of the Scottish people.
Maybe that's because Scotland and Wales have built their nationalist parties on anti-English sentiment, which is so much more acceptable than anti-immigrant sentiment.
Really? Sounds like more self-pity and resentment to me. The difference between nationalism and racism is often slight, and I don't have much truck with either, but describing Scottish nationalism as mere English-baiting is ridiculous.
I don't know if you ever read the comments on Scotsman or Herald stories...
Yes, the internet is full of idiots of all stripes.
There's also a wilder, scarier strain in Scottish Republicanism - I've seen them at Glencoe, IRA-wannabees.
I've no idea who you're talking about. I've never heard of these people, and I get paid to keep up with Scottish news. I'll provisionally boot this into the bin, since it sounds like utter nonsense.
...one of the things feeding the BNP is the lack of a nationalist alternative for English voters.
I'm arsed if I'm going to traipse through this again, so I'll just observe that the main things feeding the BNP are self-pity, resentment, ignorance, unfocused anger and raw stupidity. It may or may not be a coincidence that the vast majority of people I've heard advocating English nationalism display an unhealthy amount of each.
Before you condemn a man, you should walk a mile in his shoes.
That way, when you condemn him, he's a mile away, so he can't hear you. And even if he decides to come after you, you have his shoes, which should slow the bastard down.
I would just like to give a big shout out to Mr Prakash Patel, of 49 Queensgate, Inverness.
Also, Aberdeen is between Aviemore and Shetland; do you really think that not a single one of its several dozen Indian restaurants has a single employee with the surname Patel?
I happen to have a tourist brochure for the Highlands in my possession, albeit it's at home rather than where I am, i.e. at "work". I'll dig it out tonight, I'd meant to have some entertainment with it here anyway.
I found your comment on Haider particularly objectionable. He did not slam into a wall, he went off the road, rolled down a hill and hit a lamp-post and a concrete pillar.
You also failed to point out that he was going at twice the limit and that the "mean-spirited goo" would almost certainly have been a vivid Kilroy orange in colour. Please get your facts right.
I'd never heard of 'Kilroy orange' so I consulted The Great Google.
That's a few more brain-cells I won't be regaining the use of.
Not many Patels running guest houses and caravan parks, I'll grant. However, perhaps this is a good place to turn to for advice. I am tempted by going West, and eating at the Jac-O-Bite restaurant in Kyle of Lochalsh. Or alternatively I may go East, and pass my time in Embo, at Grannie's Heilan' Hame. Can you assist?
Dsquared - what I said was true. Maybe a Patel has moved there since I was last in the area (Feb 2008, Nethybridge). Or maybe BT haven;t updated the phone book. Glad to see the geography's improving.
FR - "I'll provisionally boot this into the bin, since it sounds like utter nonsense." - well pin the ears back then.
I'll use tinyurl for the long URLs
Glencoe IRA-wannabees. I saw them, FR, with my own peepers. AND the neighbours told me to get the kids in and not to let them hear my accent. Might have been winding a 'sooth-moother' up, but presumably the police cars were there for a reason.
http://tinyurl.com/67exxq
"I get paid to keep up with Scottish news" ... not getting a very good deal, are they 
Sinn Fein representatives at the Glencoe Rally 2003
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2...3/02/
54357.html
More Scottish Republican terrorism :
http://tinyurl.com/6ph7vv
As for the rest, I suppose we'll have to continue to agree to disagree.
btw, there was a good Indian restaurant in Stornoway last time I was there, admittedly 10 years back. Not sure if it belonged to the famous Mohammed clan, who own half the shops in the town :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/...-
103690,00.html
Be honest, Laban. This isn't even a minority. These guys are far too few to be regarded as such. Not only is it entirely possible to spend one's entire life in Scotland without ever coming into contact with a militant Scottish Republican organisation but I suspect that the vast majority of Scots would have no idea what you were talking about. This is three guys and an air powered bb rifle, regardless of how nattily they dress. The cops may have been there but I bet they were laughing.
Interesting idea of proof you have there Laban, backing up your claims by linking to your own blog.
Right, at work just now with just enough time to note that my flat is defiantly offline at the moment. As soon as I'm back on you'll know it, and hopefully it shouldn't take too long.
And Laban, don't ever go to Cornwall - I hear they have separatist terrorist types down there who could do you a fearsome injury with a well-aimed pastie.
This Oooh, aren't resentful English males horribly put upon by the liberals, who are in many ways much more violent and bigoted schtick doesn't half lead down some comical potholes every now and then, does it?
Having established that Laban wasn't on about the better known Saskatchewan Nursery Landscape Association, I managed to find som mention of them from 2002:
The group is now thought to be made up of a tiny number of militant extremists and individuals claiming to be members have been jailed for letter-bomb offences.
But experts doubt its claims to have a stockpile of weapons or a capability to kill any royals.
Following the latest events Professor Paul Wilkinson, an expert in international terrorism, said: "The SNLA has surfaced from time to time.
"It's obviously very tiny, in fact I understand the police are working on the theory it may have been just one individual behind this."
Heh, Paul Wilkinson. Not as expert as he reckons, though not normally one to underestimate if he can do the opposite.
The SNP created a niche for itself by exploiting the feeling that New Labour had become too like the Conservative Party (using the example of the invasion of Iraq) and by exploiting feelings of resentment against England in Scotland. So here's a question to kick around: would the BNP in England also be able to exploit the feeling that New Labour had become too like the Conservative Party, and what other resentments would they exploit?
Laban, pass my salutations to the Duffer. The old poove.
This is a democracy, FR? What is your source for that revelation?
The Haider story just keeps on giving, doesn't it?
Doesn't it just. Why, if I could access Blogger without being immediately fired, I'd have a field day.
Should have broadband set up again next week, fingers crossed.
Isn't it weird? I can fuck about to my hearts content on the old internetty when I ought to be working. Nobody gives a fuck. I think it's because they've centralised the IT and they have better things to do than monitor yr online activities.
Or maybe they're collating a huge portfolio of transgressions against 80% of the firm and are hoping to legally sack us for gross mis-conduct, as part of a money saving exercise.
brilliant!
Brilliant piece, and you are welcome to come and visit lalaland any time - you do have a visa right?
Wow. It was worth re-animating this thread just to see that daft cunt Laban making an unusually cuntish spectacle of himself.
Good work, Liberal Conspiracy.
This post is fucking epic!
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