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Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 17m

Indeed, though as it happens in Batley what "Asian" is used to cover largely is...

Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 19m

And people move on and communities change. Dewsbury used to have enough of a Jewish population to sustain a synagogue, but the congregation dissolved in the 1950s because people had moved away because of changing economic conditions (such as the younger people getting better jobs elsewhere).

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Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 23m

Of course it was never 100% true even then - and it's always been very different in the cities of the North. Leeds and Manchester have always had a real mix.

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Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 25m

There's a pattern of emigration to textile towns in the Pennines in the late sixties/ early seventies where you do get groups of people moving from the same areas in (mostly) Pakistan to work in the mills, and for a while some towns were basically bi-cultural rather than multi-cultural. Less so now.

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Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 35m

He is! Big fan, he's written quite a nice little book on Narnia. But he likes Tolkien too, though not quite as much (and the original context of the story was him supposedly seeing a student's One Ring pendant and saying "Ah, Tolkien, more of a GoT man myself."

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Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 37m

I happen to live in one of the most Asian wards of Batley, and I think you see where I'm going with this...

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Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 39m

And a lot of both Dewsbury and Batley's problems (though not all of them) are at the root poverty, exacerbated by the impact of over a decade of austerity and local government cuts.

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Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 40m

I live one town over from Dewsbury. Batley and Dewsbury have their problems, but it's not true that you just see "a single ethnicity", and there are plenty of people working hard to promote integration. There are, of course, some people who resist it, _and some of them are white_.

Saul Staniforth @saulstaniforth.bsky.social · 1h

"You go to some places like Handsworth.. parts of Dewsbury, Bradford, Leicester, where you see.. a single ethnicity.. we don't think that's healthy thing"

Kevin Hollinrake is MP for Thirsk and Malton, which according to the 2021 census is 98% white.

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Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 43m

Yeah, people are missing some careful ambivalence there!

And let's be honest: it's not in Canada's interests to get into a shooting war with the US _unless there is absolutely no alternative_. That point hasn't been reached yet, and hopefully never will be, though if it comes to it I'm team Canada.

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Reposted by Jo Kershaw

John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 3h

Think an underpriced 2029 scenario is "ungovernable mess".

Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 22h

Four parties within a 5 point swing of first place and five parties on 12% plus.

This would be pure chaos under first past the post.

Election Maps UK @electionmaps.uk · 23h

Westminster Voting Intention:

RFM: 27% (-2)
LAB: 20% (-2)
CON: 17% (+1)
LDM: 17% (+2)
GRN: 12% (+1)
SNP: 4% (+1)

Via @yougov.co.uk, 5-6 Oct.
Changes w/ 28-29 Sep.

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Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 59m

And it’s not like Tolkien is subtle about the message that “dominating the wills of others and messing with their minds is really bad!”

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Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 59m

Or, alternatively, studying them would require them to question their own interpretation of those texts, see Peter Thiel’s vocal love of Tolkien, which seems to have involved a *very* selective reading of the text. (JRRT’s politics are messy, but his ideas abt power are simply antithetical to Thiel)

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Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 1h

That’s because they love countries that exist entirely in their heads, and reading books or poetry or watching plays would require them to care about what’s in someone else’s head.

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Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 1h

That sounds like they use the ceremonial counties but have had the occasional overseas visitor and once it’s been hand-added once, it stays in the database the drop down pulls from. (You get similar things happening with university alumni portals, only with titles not locations).

Reposted by Jo Kershaw

Microsoft Visual Kei @joebaldwin.me.uk · 4d

Bellroy's "Region" field on their address form has one of the most deranged selections I've seen, I think it's just to wind up people who are really interested in local government subdivisions

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Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 1h

I think some of them quite like the “not having to hear from annoying progressives,” despite the nominal commitment to free speech.

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Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 1h

Matrimonial Causes Act 1937 gives men and women equal grounds for divorce. It is still the case in the UAE that a man can divorce his wife simply by dismissing her, but a woman has to go to court.

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Reposted by Jo Kershaw

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 14h

Party donor Nick Candy says "I cherish the values we grew up with here in the West. But today you are more likely to find the values we grew up with in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.’

Via Sam Leith in the Spectator
www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-...

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Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 1h

Also, there’s plenty I’ll criticise him for, but he did a good job for Liverpool as Minister for Merseyside.

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Reposted by Jo Kershaw

Jennifer Kretchmer @dreamwisp.bsky.social · 11h

Because it feels relevant as we continue to evaluate the media and our representatives’ statements, my favorite way to identify the active vs. passive voice.

A post by Rebecca Johnson:
“I finally learned how to teach my guys to ID the passive voice. If you can insert "by zombies" after the verb, you have passive voice.”

A tumblr respond from mightymur:
“The final, brilliant word on passive voice.
"She was killed [by zombies.]"<--passive
"Zombies killed [by zombies] her." <-- active”

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Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 2h

He could be peacefully at home with whatever beverage he favours, and I wouldn’t blame him at all, because I doubt they’ll listen. But I do respect him for trying.

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Reposted by Jo Kershaw

Brendan May @brendanmay.bsky.social · 12h

Huge respect to Lord Heseltine, stoically turning up, at 92, in that racist sandpit of halfwitted baby freaks, to teach them some history, remind them what an electable Tory party looked like and tolerate inanities that must be insufferable for a political titan of his standing.

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Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 3h

That’s a pretty successful cult, I must say. (It’s bizarre! Completely implausible).

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Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 3h

“Insolent expression” is also racism. She has a neutral, perhaps slightly sad expression, that’s all.

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Reposted by Jo Kershaw

Marghost 👻 @mitildide.bsky.social · 18h

Here's something I don't understand (I understand the racism of comparing an Arab woman to a man): what do you want, at this point? You've destroyed her career. The federation is applying your stupid rules and banning cis and trans women left and right. Less girls do sports. What more do you want?

Screen Twitter

Rebel Ada
@DearRebelAda
If Imane Khelif were a woman, he would never have been selected for this. Long face, solid eyebrow ridge, male jawline, insolent expression, and a background of cheating + beating women for money - all unattractive.
Men who do womanface are just members of a superior caste.

(Two photos of an ad campaign where Imane Khelif is carrying a bottle of tinted skin serum)

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