To think there is some kind of weird push towards the far right?

[Checkcheckout]

I’m the first to admit that I am not the best informed - I prefer to keep my life stress free and simple as much as possible, and don’t have a TV, don’t read papers, and only listen to the radio when I’m driving (which is quite often). For my own mental health I prefer to live in my own little bubble.

But even with my limited exposure to media, I’ve noticed on Radio 2, both on the news and Jeremy Vine’s show, Reform are being given so much air time considering their paltry amount of MPs, the polls are being discussed regularly even though we’re years from an election. More than once listening to the radio I’ve thought the way they’re talking makes it sound like Reform winning the next election is a done deal, and thought to myself that this is how self fulfilling prophecies happen.

My algorithms on FB are seriously messed up. Despite having never been remotely interested in anything in the least bit right wing, all of a sudden I’m getting endless posts from knuckle dragging ‘patriot’ groups that I don’t even follow, with really horrendous and openly racist comments, thousands of them, which somehow FB are allowing to remain even though any kind of hate speech has always been censored on there. Why are these posts suddenly being allowed and pushed in my face?

Alongside this there seems to be a new story pretty much every day about the latest scandal involving Labour (again reported by the BBC), ok these things aren’t great although compared to the Tories’ rap list from their last spell in government, are fairly small fry really. It seems like there’s an active push for people to rebel away from the left just as the far right are gaining momentum.

Has anyone else noticed this or am I talking shite?

Ha! You mis-read, I didnt say Reform would be any different, did I? People are ‘faux-confused’ as to why anyone would vote Reform. My point is that we’ve had the same old 2 party politics since god was a lad, all the same, with a sprinkle of out field parties that never amount to much. Many people I have spoken with are using a reform vote as a protest vote at years of useless consecutive governments. A ‘fuck you’ if you will!

That may be true but why are we teaching in schools that the most wonderful, inspiring thing about being British is our diversity? What if I were to move to Japan and tell the indigenous people there, the people whose ancestors have built up that land and culture for 1000s of years, that the thing they should bring their children up to be the most proud of is the fact that a whole bunch of people who are not Japanese are now here too?

Which is basically what I said, 3000 years ago is the start of the Iron age. Those people became known as the Britons.

Are we teaching that? Which part of the curriculum is that then?
And "diversity" doesn't just mean immigration and brown skin - there's abundant native diversity too and all of it is fascinating.

My ancestors came over with the Normans.

I guess that makes me French then. Zut alors!

Gosh, I'd better clear out the two bookcases bulging with tomes on the history of britain and europe, books spanning from Bede, Gildas and Alcuin right up to books published this year. If only I'd known I could've just asked your friend chatgpt. Thank you for sharing your expertise.

So follow that up to ChatGPT with the question about immigration from 1066 until 2000
I am saying it’s not a new phenomenon.

Oh heavens no!

I've always strongly believed there was massive, massive interference, from early on and throughout, on the TRA side.

I also don't have the same experience as you that "generally when we hear of bot farms, we associate them with building opinion on what is considered the "wrong side of history" TM."

Shows how much experiences can differ – maybe according to where we hang out.

Quite. But, sadly, no one is thinking of gaelic, bara brith or cromlechs when they use that term are they.

Actually it makes you Scandi. Normandy was given to the Vikings to stop them burning Paris to the ground, over time the The Northmen became the Normans. No such thing as the French, according to your logic.

That may be true but why are we teaching in schools that the most wonderful, inspiring thing about being British is our diversity?

Who is doing this? Diversity is one part out of many things that make our country a wonderful place to live. Our fight for freedom, liberty, justice, equality through the years are some of the other things that mark us out as a great place to live.

These are all things that those who prefer a fascist regime would seek to take, and they start by denigrating and belittling them.

Lucky you having all the encyclopaedias and history books at your disposal.
I’m just trying to help ColdSalads out, in that we have been a nation of immigrants over that past 3000 years but you do you 😊.

OK, if you're prepared to sacrifice your own parents for your beliefs. I'd rather mine were properly looked after, and that means having an NHS and social care system that's fit for purpose - which means immigration.

Aren't they? Someone with as many books as you surely knows what it means though?

These islands were first settled 3000 years ago and their lineage lives on. People have come and gone but we've remained here all that time and the land belongs to us.

This is true. The Normans were Vikings and my whole family look like we've got Scandi origins - tall and fair. They've also all emigrated to various corners of the world and put roots down there - I have relatives living in Australia, South Africa and the USA.

So is immigration OK if it's British people like us doing it - or are we actually Scandinavians who shouldn't be here and are clogging up the NHS which should just be for native Britains? I'm confused.

What you are saying is dishonest and nonsensical. A slow trickle of 'new blood' into a country over centuries (in times when only hardworking and resourceful newcomers willing to assimilate will likely be able to make it), is vastly different to what we've seen in recent years. It seems strangely childish to resort AI to try and 'teach' us that - shockingly - immigration is not a new phenomenon. Are you an adult?

I agree. It pisses me off no end when people parrot on about the NHS being ‘free’ - it’s not - we pay for it through our taxes!

My husband pays tens of thousands in tax for abysmal public services, I’d much rather we all pay less tax and have a private medical system that is actually decent. Most people I know are having to pay privately anyway as the NHS is so shocking and waiting lists are appalling. The NHS is an endless money pit with too many inefficient uses of funding to count.

Because it literally is one of the best things about being British and living here - our food, our arts, our neighbours - melting pots of colours, flavours, ways of life, all living together fairly harmoniously considering how diverse we actually are. We do have problems, but overall it's a great place to live. This weekend I was lucky enough to sit and eat a fantastic jerk chicken meal in the grounds of the incredible Belton House at their open day (for free!). We bought a fabulous chai rum from a local producer and my DD learned how to make a dragonfly out of pipe cleaners.

If the students are looking at history, we literally triumphed over nationalist countries (Germany, Japan), because we worked together with others to win. And we invited those teammates to live here to rebuild this country with us afterwards.

Multiculturalism makes this place a wonderful place to be. My worry is that once you've got a Reform in place, and they do successfully do something about the numbers of asylum seekers (they won't - it will get worse), where do we draw the line as to who is acceptable to persecute/attack next?

Multiculturalism has also has considerable drawbacks, to be fair.

If all social media went down today the world would be a way better place by the end of the week.

I don't think this is the "gotcha" you think it is. What point is it you think you are scoring? I'm not here to discuss the dictionary definition of the word diversity, nor its etymological history. Any fool could look that up in a second. I do find these attempts to derail tiresome. I was talking about how the word diversity has been appropriated in recent years, I specifically quoted Sadiq Khan as an example so that there would be no wiggle room for those who haunt every MN thread determined to derail and deliberately misunderstand.

I partially agree.

Labour didn't win the election, the Tories lost it because they couldn't be bothered to go out and vote

I also asked which bit of the curriculum it is. But you couldn't answer that could you? You're derailing with a lecture instead.

Nothing dishonest about it. It’s easier for me to copy and paste from the internet than going to seek out references from history books - and I have been honest about where I got the information from.
My point remains that this country is built on immigration, and I can’t quite follow why it’s suddenly a problem now except that the main focus seems to be on asylum seekers rather than the huge numbers allowed in legally. Which then leads to other questions…