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Edward Barrow

@ejoftheweb.bsky.social

570 followers 810 following 2.9K posts

A Londoner living in France: woke liberal socialist, empiricist. Likes food, dancing, gardening, interested in politics, economics, environment. Likely to block bigots and denialists of any stripe; will block crypto bros etc. Signal: ejoftheweb-57

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Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 1m

I didn't do a 'study', so it is formally unevidenced. But I did live in London, have young Euros living in my house. I saw and felt the different reactions. Obviously not alienating to all; certainly to some. A feature of some quite heated Brexit discussions round my kitchen table at the time.

Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 8m

They weren't planning on settling or making careers here - so took fairly menial hospitality jobs. Same as young Brits going to ski resorts. Its effect on London in particular was noticeable. Maybe only S.London?

Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 20m

They do it less: it's mostly that the young Euros simply weren't used to having people of colour around in the same sort of numbers. It was hardly ever malicious, but that didn't make it any less infuriating. And it was certainly racial.

Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 24m

A couple of years in London was absolutely a rite of passage for a section of middle-class European youth (as it was/is for Australians on the working holiday visa). They came in enough numbers to be a very noticeable demographic - when they were here, and when they had left.

Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 28m

When I ran a cafe/bakery in Brixton in the early teens, those young Euros were great employees, much more reliable and flexible than local youth, many of whom had complex/chaotic home lives.

Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 42m

We went to an event at the Hootenanny in Brixton, 2015ish I think. Our kind of music funk/soul/reggae, his was almost the only black face there, ours almost the only English voices - it was rammed with young Italians. Very weird.

Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 49m

anecdotal only from a number of friends. One friend kept getting his locs touched/felt by curious young Euro women in clubs/bars. As he pointed out, in reverse he would have been thrown out. Another time he was asked 'if he was security'.

Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 14h

He is also easily manipulated, and people are getting better as it as he loses more of his marbles.

Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 16h

Really important that Trump keeps the pressure on. Or rather, that the Gulf states keep the pressure on Rubio to keep on Trump-whispering towards two-states in the end.

Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 17h

Knowingly or not, Hamas have always played into Israeli-right hands. They have a common interest: avoiding a 2-state solution. Israeli behaviour in the West Bank is as pernicious as anything they have done in Gaza.

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Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 17h

It's still not entirely clear to me whether we (French residents) will be directly affected. We do regularly cross Dover-Calais and are far too familiar with its delays. Always at school holidays, even well before Brexit.

Reposted by Edward Barrow

David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 21h

Of course luxury dining brands went global. Everything went global. Football teams, property, universities, K-pop, the Cotswolds, the English language, vaccines, luxury brands, spices, comedy festivals...

This is the modern world. www.ft.com/content/94d9...

How high-end restaurants went global

As a new generation sets out in the footsteps of Nobu and Zuma, Jay Rayner examines the rise of ‘luxe’ food chains — and whether it has come at a cost

www.ft.com

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Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 19h

With luck they'll delay it there until after half-term. Peak days at the channel ports always coincide with school holidays.

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Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 19h

Them particularly, but not just them!

Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 20h

Before 2007, Hamas did a far better job in Gaza than the corrupt PA at the social, community and welfare level, directly affecting people's lives. It's why they won that election.

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Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 21h

Poland has about a quarter the population density of England. There's just more space to build stuff and fewer toes to tread on.

Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 22h

You are clearly intent on doing Smotrich and Ben Gvir's work for them. I hope they pay well.

Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 22h

It was a Liberal party rep making a speech in 1972 that went something like "Liberals have supported PR for 50 years. Labour supported it until 1922 when it stopped being to their advantage" . I could do the maths even then.

Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 23h

Do you? We don't.

FWIW I think they are being provoked by Israeli hard-right undercover factions to adopt this position in order to derail the process. The position plays totally into Netanyahu's hands and runs against the interests of Gazans.

Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 23h

My cynicism on these things dates from the time (as a young Liberal supporter) I discovered that the Liberal and Labour Parties swapped their respective positions on PR at precisely the same time as they swapped electoral fortunes....

Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 1d

Would they? It became Liberal Party policy in the 1920s, when they were eclipsed by Labour. Farage has also long been an advocate for PR, but I suspect he'll change quickly enough when it stops being to his advantage.

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Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 1d

There remains a section of the Israeli right which wants ethnic cleansing "from the river to the sea". They have grossly disproportionate power. The (current) Trump plan is anathaema to them. They will do everything they can to derail it, with or without Bibi's sayso.

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Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 1d

If they don't disarm, and don't disavow their oppostion to the existence of the state of israel, we are back to square one: regular rocket attacks and worse. And justification for the Israel right to continue blockades....

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Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 1d

The cynic in me smells dirty tricks from Mossad.....

Edward Barrow @ejoftheweb.bsky.social · 1d

It's not the only cause though. We have got to come to terms with being an older society - and that means we will have to spend more and more on health and social care. No mainstream politicians are willing to be open about this.