Mailwatch(ed) Forum

HB shakespeare thx for being so good at writing WE WILL NEVER SURRENDER

How has Lee Anderson used his political positions to promote arts and culture in England? Apart from denigrating people who produce it.

Arts Council big knob: "What was the last play you saw, prime minister?"
Jim Hacker: "Err Macbeth"
"Whose was it?"
"Shakespeare."

Life must be going well for Lee’s constituents if they have nothing more pressing on their minds. Or just reflects the sort of person who’d spend their free time venting off to 30p Lee.

Well I'll go to the foot of our stairs! Who would have thought that a racist constituency would elect a racist MP?

I'm slightly suspicious of Anderson's tweet because most MPs don't have 100 people turning up to a surgery. Usually when MPs hold surgery a dozen or so people might turn up and they would meet the MP in a private office to discuss their issues in confidential surroundings.

I think I've said earlier in this thread I really would be surprised if immigration really is a big issue in Sutton-in-Ashfield because the area doesn't attract many immigrants. Most of the jobs in the area used to be in mining and textiles but all those jobs disappeared many years ago so there is no real pull factor in the town for immigrants.

Like many rundown northern towns Sutton-in-Ashfield turned blue in 2019 because of all the promises of 'levelling up'.
When the government failed to deliver on levelling up MPs like Anderson jumped on the immigration bandwagon blaming immigrants for the fact that the town was still a shithole.
Anderson did try and claim some credit a few years ago when rail services between his constituency and Nottingham improved. While this might have been good news for people who bought cheap houses in the constituency to commute into Nottingham, I'm not sure it was welcomed by local shopkeepers who saw more of their customers heading to the bright lights of Nottingham to do their shopping.

I'm not sure if it wouldn't be a racist stronghold. Back in the nineties Mansfield was a BNP hotbed and "We don't want them lot turning our town into somewhere like (insert name of nearest bigger town) is always a big pull.

I see a self-selecting sample.

davidjay wrote: ↑Sun Apr 28, 2024 2:04 pm I'm not sure if it wouldn't be a racist stronghold. Back in the nineties Mansfield was a BNP hotbed and "We don't want them lot turning our town into somewhere like (insert name of nearest bigger town) is always a big pull.

I've lived in eight British towns and cities, some multicultural, some almost entirely white, my own, anecdotal, experience is that racism seems to thrive in monocultural areas. My conclusion is that it's far harder for racists to stoke the fear of the unknown when people's own experience tells them a different story.

Oboogie wrote: ↑Sun Apr 28, 2024 2:45 pm

davidjay wrote: ↑Sun Apr 28, 2024 2:04 pm I'm not sure if it wouldn't be a racist stronghold. Back in the nineties Mansfield was a BNP hotbed and "We don't want them lot turning our town into somewhere like (insert name of nearest bigger town) is always a big pull.

I've lived in eight British towns and cities, some multicultural, some almost entirely white, my own, anecdotal, experience is that racism seems to thrive in monocultural areas. My conclusion is that it's far harder for racists to stoke the fear of the unknown when people's own experience tells them a different story.

Everybody knows a good (insert minority here).

From my parent's social circle, people who'd fit the gammon demographic.
But they have neighbours who will:
* Knock on your door to ensure you're well.
* Pick up your emergency prescription from the pharmacist.
* Stand outside and keep a space for the coming ambulance.
* Pop round with some food parcels when you couldn't make it to the shops.

Then the whole "we're being invaded" narrative sounds like the bullshit it is.

There's maybe 25 people in that audience. Anderson knows the standard political tricks, so he'll have wedged everyone up to fit the frame. Then get a number by counting the legs and multiplying by two.

Oboogie wrote: ↑Sun Apr 28, 2024 2:45 pm

davidjay wrote: ↑Sun Apr 28, 2024 2:04 pm I'm not sure if it wouldn't be a racist stronghold. Back in the nineties Mansfield was a BNP hotbed and "We don't want them lot turning our town into somewhere like (insert name of nearest bigger town) is always a big pull.

I've lived in eight British towns and cities, some multicultural, some almost entirely white, my own, anecdotal, experience is that racism seems to thrive in monocultural areas. My conclusion is that it's far harder for racists to stoke the fear of the unknown when people's own experience tells them a different story.

Borne out by research I've seen, but I couldn't cite it at the moment.

This all sounds very strange. I'm prepared to believe (though thousands wouldn't) that this woman exists and did tell him the street was shit because gypsies had move in 30 years ago. I reckon Lee decided to change that to "Romany" because that sounds foreign, and gypsies when I encountered them 30 years ago tended to be very obviously British or Irish.

Any other faded seaside resorts about? Did "Romany" people ruin those? I thought the deal with Reform was that LIbLabCon had failed these places, and Reform would sort it. I'm getting the impression from Lee that they wouldn't sort it, just blame all the problems on gypsies, because otherwise he'd have made a different video. Say what you like about the Tory guy who wants to run the hotel in Scarborough, he's being positive.

I thought the whole idea of being a gypsy/Romany is that you didn’t live in a house. Also didn’t Blackpool vote in a Tory, who’s now been chucked out

Blackpool is a dump because cheap package holidays happened, and care in the community and underfunding of social services meant that it got filled up with renters who couldn't afford anywhere else.

After that, it's a vicious circle. People treat it like shit because they think it's a shithole.

Watchman wrote: ↑Sun Apr 28, 2024 8:45 pm I thought the whole idea of being a gypsy/Romany is that you didn’t live in a house. Also didn’t Blackpool vote in a Tory, who’s now been chucked out

Most gypsies live in houses/flats, so that part of the story might not be untrue. But is it likely they're still there? Doesn't seem to be very fair to blame them if they're not. If an area is doing well, doesn't matter how much of a mess a house is (assuming for now that "the gypsies" really did mess it up) somebody spots a bargain and does it up. So there might be what Lee wouldn't call wider social issues in Blackpool.

Thing was I visited Blackpool a fair few times over the years.

It’s 80/90’s vibrancy had gone by 00 and then the party conferences stopped coming and they were taken off the main line.

It had become a bit of a dive in the late 00s, I was pleasantly surprised how clean it was when I went up for a Union conference.

Strangely it’s probably the one place I’ve never massively felt unsafe. Of course the likes of Anderson don’t have ideas on how to improve these places, they just bus in call them shit and leave.

Frankly 30p can fuck off.

For the record, "gypsy" is increasingly regarded as an ethnic slur, seen as erasing individual cultures, and with a lot of harmful stereotypes attached.

Romany/Romani tend to prefer to be addressed as such, as do Irish travellers.

The likes of 30p Lee don't care about that angle, but it's one reason why there's been a gradual change in language.

As someone in the comments said, not far away from Blackpool is Morecambe. A bloke named Fury lives there and I'm sure he'd love to listen to 30p's demonisation of gypsies.

That disclaimer...

Blackpool was great - until this influx of people known for running funfairs and sideshows.

Hmmm...