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John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 14h

So we had members of extended family working in the Gulf back in the 80s, and the attraction was pretty clearly a quasi-colonial lifestyle - G and Ts at the club at 5; servants; and a certain level of privilege, rank and deference just for existing

William Carruthers @williamcarruthers.bsky.social · 15h

The subtext of ‘we should be more like Dubai’, beyond the obvious racism, is ‘I should have a servant’.

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Reposted by John Rowan

Frédéric Moreau @goodclimate.bsky.social · 1d

This lurid headline is about British tourists no longer getting away with overstaying in Schengen. Or being 'illegals', as it's often called in the UK.

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John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 1d

Oh God, that brings back memories. Was definitely believed by kids in Leicester in the late 8os / early 90s as well.

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John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 1d

WW2 is both the apotheosis and the sudden death of Empire. It's a moment when more Brits experienced the Empire directly than ever before: in Malta, North and East Africa, the Middle East, India, and Burma.

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John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 1d

By that definition, there are plenty of people around whose grandparents were alive during the imperial period, though. I'm 49, my maternal grandfather was born and brought up an Army kid in India.

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John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 1d

Perhaps this is reflective of society, but it strikes me that a lot of disillusion that I hear is couched in terms of "politicians always lie about everything" and I always want to point out that they really didn't until about five minutes ago and now they do because they get away with it.

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John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 1d

And yes, of course, there were politicians who occasionally did and got away with it, but I think the strong shared convention that it was not acceptable to lie mattered, and we can now repent at leisure that it's been chucked out of the window.

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John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 1d

So I would brief Ministers for Parliamentary appearances on difficult subjects back in the late noughties and they'd ask "can I say X?" and if we said "no, because it's not true", it was just accepted without question because there was such a strong taboo on lying to Parliament.

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John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 1d

I grew up there, and it stood me in good stead for later life by providing me with a strong "legitimate concerns" bullshit detector.

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John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 1d

The comments on this classic of "legitimate concerns" got real racist, real quick, to the surprise of absolutely nobody.

bsky.app/profile/jrow...

John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 1d

Now, I have no idea what's going on in Leicester, a city I go to very rarely these days. But it is quite a way from the sea so unless people are actually parachuting in, I suspect there is not in fact any illegal immigration activity taking place near the play area and around the gym area.

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John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 1d

I can only assume these guys have quite effective publicists and at least some sympathy in the media e.g. Ellie Kildunne not saying "no way, never" when she was asked about it was immediately written up as though she was on the cusp of signing up to it.

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John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 1d

Ordering three beers with the wrong fingers.

John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 1d

We've moved from a world where politicians were certainly economical with the truth but where lying was a resigning offence to one where it is apparently ok to just make shit up *all the time*. I'm not sure enough people have spotted this change or understand how corrosive it is.

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John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 1d

What does "clearly... not integrated" even mean? They were driving on the right? Mispronouncing the name of Magdalen College? Loudly proclaiming their intention of supporting someone other than England at the cricket?

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John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 1d

Also had a look at the profile of the guy organising the Midlands Coastal Patrol there. For the last few years it's only quite sweet pictures of him with his little kids, or him on holiday. Then from early September this year, a torrent of stuff about illegal immigrants.

John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 1d

Went down a minor rabbit hole with this. The previous post on that group was about these quite non-tanned looking local kids kicking the crap out of someone. For some reason the community is not forming vigilante groups to tackle this *actual* danger.

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Reposted by John Rowan

General Boles @generalboles.bsky.social · 1d

Everyone who advocates for turning the UK into the UAE assumes they'll be the one with a marina penthouse rather than the guy working on a building site in 50c heat

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John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 1d

I'm sure Facebook nostalgia groups morphing into local vigilante organisations will go very well.

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John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 1d

Now, I have no idea what's going on in Leicester, a city I go to very rarely these days. But it is quite a way from the sea so unless people are actually parachuting in, I suspect there is not in fact any illegal immigration activity taking place near the play area and around the gym area.

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Reposted by John Rowan

Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray) @boakandbailey.bsky.social · 1d

BLOG POST: "...we recognise the problem in tourists demanding that the places they visit stay exactly the same, while expecting bars at home to do the opposite... But Belgium really does feel different, for a few reasons..." 🍺🍻

boakandbailey.com/2025/10/we-d...

We don’t want Belgian beer to change – and that’s our problem

On a recent trip to Liège we ended up visiting a couple of more modern bars which, although very pleasant, didn’t give us what we want from Belgian beer.

boakandbailey.com

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John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 1d

Fiver says he's a WW2 truther

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John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 1d

"Oh-oh-oh, my blue has never been sacred. Well oh-oh-OH, I never said quoi."

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John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 1d

He's saying things that people of our generation generally didn't say. I can't work out whether they're repeating things they heard their parents or grandparents say, or whether this is stuff they've longed to say all their lives and which they now feel they can say without social consequence.

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John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 1d

NICE. Thanks a lot, will report back with reviews from the family when I get round to trying it out.

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John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 2d

You can see his point

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