Latest Posts by slightlyanxiousvillain - Page 3
genuinely from the bottom of my heart i wish every single one of you peace love joy and happiness for not only 2022 but for the rest of your lives.
Okay no one on Tumblr that I've seen has been talking about the wine and cheese thing, but that means no one is reflecting on the absolute weapons-grade hilarity of Boris Johnson trying to inchworm his way out of trouble by claiming that he didn't know about it
Like... that wine and cheese party was the Downing Street works Christmas do. Not just any old social, the Christmas social. There were invitations. There was music. Every single worker in Downing Street was invited, even Debbie from accounts. People who didn't work there but were important to the government got invited.
And Boris is therefore claiming that all his mates got together and had a party and DIDN'T INVITE HIM.
Not only that, but they deliberately kept it a secret from him, because no one wanted him there to ruin the party because no one likes him, and I just...
The key difference between Johnson and Trump always came down to this: Johnson wants to be liked. He genuinely does. Trump wanted to be respected and feared and obeyed, he wanted to be seen as powerful and suave and cool. But he didn't care about how liked he was. Johnson, though, really fucking does. He's a deeply pathetic little twat, and he wants people to like him.
So, his choices currently are
Tell everyone in the country that his own friends and coworkers actually cannot stand him, to the point that they arranged an entire Christmas party without him
Admit that he was there and immediately be hated by literally every single human being in the country, including his own voters (hello North Shropshire), because while the rest of us spent Christmas 2020 in a lockdown and unable to see each other and in many cases literally alone, him and his mates held an illegal Christmas party that the police are refusing to investigate
His popularity is now nosediving in the polls, and it really cannot be stated how much that will be burning him.
Also, pro-Brexit Tories are even pissed off with him now. Which is a bit like someone buying a cake called a pus cake with pictures of pus all over the box and a warning sign that says This Cake Contains Pus and Other Bodily Fluids, and then crying because when they tried to eat the pus cake they found it was filled with pus. But also really funny.
Anyway, I'm placing the bet now: we will see a vote of no confidence, OR he'll jump before he has to experience that (because it would kill him), and our next PM will be Rishi Sunak
nothing makes me cry like the embankment tube station voiceover story !!! nothing !!!!!!!
yeah sure say fuck you to jk rowling but dont forget to like. actually support trans women.
hey i know theres a lot of jokes about the uk being fascist but this new bill is literally nazi shit if youre a uk citizen or resident PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE sign this petition
The British public: I can ignore mass sleaze, corruption, homophobia, sexism, blaming the victims of Grenfell tower, letting migrants drown and then criminalising lifeboats forming trying to save them, criminalising basically any form of political protest by banning any “annoying protests”, constant breaking of own COVID rules, not taking action against the systematic and violent misogyny in the police force, mismanaging the pandemic so that the country had the worst death count in Europe, the prime minister saying “let the bodies pile up in their thousands”, a terrible brexit deal, caring more about statues than BLM protesters, consistently voting to starve children, profiting of Saudi Arabia’s war crimes in Yemen, constant breaking of international law, lying to illegally pirogue parliament, still illegally occupying the Chagos islands, tax evasion, the foreign secretary holidaying while hundreds die in Afghanistan, literal eugenics from a political advisor, breaking international human rights laws with a bill that enables the government to revoke the right of Citizenship of immigrants arbitrarily but I draw the line at having an office party when I wasn’t allowed to.
This bonfire night, my friends, please remember your safety tips!
Check your bonfires for hedgehogs! They like to burrow into the wood pile and they can do this overnight.
Don't go back to an unexploded firework! Leave it! Self explanatory.
Ensure your gunpowder barrels are directly below the tory benches for maximum impact don't let even one of them escape kill them all in one swoop do it fucking do it burn it all to the ground and spit on the ashes
Be aware of the spitting fat from a roast if you're cooking over a fire! Wear an apron and gloves.
“Perhaps you have forgotten. That’s one of the great problems of our modern world, you know. Forgetting. The victim never forgets. Ask an Irishman what the English did to him in 1920 and he’ll tell you the day of the month and the time and the name of every man they killed. Ask an Iranian what the English did to him in 1953 and he’ll tell you. His child will tell you. His grandchild will tell you. And when he has one, his great-grandchild will tell you too. But ask an Englishman—” He flung up his hands in mock ignorance. “If he ever knew, he has forgotten. ‘Move on!’ you tell us. ‘Move on! Forget what we’ve done to you. Tomorrow’s another day!’ But it isn’t, Mr. Brue.” He still had Brue’s hand. “Tomorrow was created yesterday, you see. That is the point I was making to you. And by the day before yesterday, too. To ignore history is to ignore the wolf at the door.”
- A Most Wanted Man, John le Carré
Nothing quite like asking women to risk their safety further by giving the person they are fleeing the excuse that they were ‘resisting arrest’.
Fucking excellent work there from the brain trust at the Metropolitan police.
'people who NOW feel concerned about police presence' okay sky news catch the fuck up, a significant number of people in the UK have always been concerned about police presence. what happened to sarah everard is yet another horrible event on the endless timeline of police corruption and brutality
I don’t know if you’ll be able to help out, but I support BLM and want to learn more about black people in the UK but most of the stuff out there is about America. Do you have any recommendations about British black people? Books or documentaries or resources?
I'd be happy to help out! I agree the US tends to dominate conversations about race, but happily there are quite a few British books out there too! Disclaimer that these are just off the top of my head so if anyone wants to add more then please go ahead!
Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga! He's a prominent Black historian and has also done multiple documentaries which aim to expand traditional narratives of British history to include people of colour who are so often written out. You can find a full list on his Wikipedia page of course, though I'm unsure as to how many are on iPlayer and such! There's a child-friendly version of Black and British here too for any parents/teachers who are interested!
Brit(ish) by Afua Hirsch is a more autobiographical book about Hirsch's experiences growing up as a mixed race woman in Britain. Hirsch attended Oxford University and works at the BBC, so it’s offers a good insight into what it's like for POC to exist in spaces that have traditionally been saved for rich white people. She's a journalist to so there are various articles of hers floating about covering a range of issues, some of which relate to race. She's also done a few documentaries that are worth checking out, including The Battle for Britain's Heroes which questions whether some of our 'heroes' (e.g. Churchill, Nelson) should really be honoured, and (not British but) African Renaissance which looks at Black culture in Ethiopia, Senegal and Kenya - maybe the first time I've seen African culture shown on its own terms.
Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala is another half autobiographical work, covering stuff like the far right in Britain, policing and education. It does a great job of cutting through the squeamishness I think Brits often have when talking about race.
Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge has become a sort of classic of its genre but I think it's totally worthy of all the praise it's received! It looks at how lots of white people in Britain (and more generally) equate racism with full-on hate crimes, meaning they don't consider themselves racist despite regularly committing micro-aggressions/other unintentional acts. Also an absolutely stellar insight into intersectionality throughout the book! Cannot recommend enough!
Feminism, Interrupted: Disrupting Power by Lola Olufemi is a must-read for feminists! It discusses modern-day feminism and how it needs to remove itself from that girlboss capitalist yuckiness, and should instead focus on marginalised issues within feminism such as transmisogyny, sex work, and - of course - racism. Has been praised by Angela Davis so that's a huge plus!
The Good Immigrant edited by Nikesh Shukla is a collection of essays by POC from across Britain sharing experiences of racism and immigration, and what it feels like to be constantly regarded as an 'other' or as an ambassador for your race.
Literally anything by Paul Gilroy! His work is slightly older and some of it is very ~academic~ but I don't want to suggest that it's therefore totally inaccessible. He talks a lot more about British national identity and our role in the world and how that has affected views on race and immigration. He's written lots (I recommend Googling him and having a better look yourself!) but There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack and After Empire: Melancholia or Convivial Culture are both fab.
If you're feeling brave then you could look at anything by Marxist darling Stuart Hall? Some of his writing is very difficult to penetrate imo, but it's worth it if you can. He's written a lot so I would recommend browsing his Wikipedia page first and seeing if there's anything that grabs you. Even if you don't feel up to reading his stuff cover to cover, he's still someone who every antiracist in Britain should know!
Honourary mention to Thinking Black: Britain, 1964-1985 by Rob Waters just because he taught me at university hehe! Obviously more of an academic history book, but again pretty accessible and a good insight into more radical Black politics in Britain in the era.
I haven't read it myself as I believe it's only just come out but David Harewood has a book called Maybe I Don't Belong Here: A Memoir of Race, Identity, Breakdown and Recovery which looks worth checking out! Foreword by our beloved David Olusoga too!
If you're still looking for more then a good tip with any of the academic books listed here is that you can browse the footnotes and/or bibliography to find further reading there!
If you're looking for documentaries then on the BBC you can browse for Black History Month stuff, (fictional) shows that centre Black British characters and narratives, and documentaries that do the same. There has been quite a lot done in the past year about all sorts of stuff - from Black people in the NHS, what it's like being Black in the church, more specific stuff on Stephen Lawrence, Windrush, the Newcross Fire, and even specials on Black celebrities such as Lenny Henry. There's also a Black and Proud section on Channel 4's website that does something similar (side note: cannot believe they've put Hollyoaks on there that's so funny).
I don't read much fiction myself, but it is important not just to see Black Britons as victims of racism, but also as… you know… complicated and fully rounded human beings who are able to experience the full spectrum of human emotion like everyone else. Like black people just… existing. Looking to others who do read fiction to help flesh out this section in particular but a couple again off the top of my head:
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo
Love in Colour by Bolu Babalola (I know this isn’t about Britain per se, but she's a Black British writer so I think it counts).
This is probably more than you asked for and you can likely tell that my academic background is in history so it is skewed towards that but I hope this helps! And again, if anyone wants to add anything then feel free!
- Dominique
Hey there. I just wanted to throw this your way in case you hadn't seen it. I dunno how effective it will be but seeing as I'm not in the UK myself I just wanted to try and signal boost this if I can.
There was a shooting in the UK last night, the first once for a pretty long time - five people were shot dead, including a five year old girl, before the shooter turned the gun on himself.
The BBC is trying so hard to turn this into a discussion about the shooter's mental health. I already knew the BBC was a shit show but this genuinely disgusts me. The shooter was a white man in his early 20s and a self identified incel. If the shooter was a person of colour, no one would be making excuses for them and you can guarantee this would be called an act of terrorism, but because the shooter is white, every news outlet is acting as if he's some poor victim who shouldn't be held accountable for his actions.
He murdered innocent people. He murdered a child.
The white privilege and bias in the media isn't surprising, but it's still absolutely disgusting. Fuck the BBC and every other news site for trying to make people pity a literal murderer. Even if he did have mental health issues, that isn't a fucking excuse to kill people. Stop shielding him from his actions just because he's white.
"unforseen grade inflation" is bullshit. 39% of state school students got A*s and As, which is only slightly above the average range of 30%-37%, whilst private schools gave out 70% A*s and As. the lack of regulation in the private school sector is disgusting and puts thousands of state school students at a disadvantage. the blatant inflation from private schools paints all students that have received their a-level results in a bad light and greatly disrupts the university application system.
i wish the whole tory government a very eat shit and die the fucking fascists
keep the backlash coming. our government cannot keep getting away with this.
I am so glad that we’ve managed to learn absolutely nothing from this whole experience, guys. Stay classy, England.
according to the economist, domestic violence in england will increase by 38% if they lose and 26% if they win/draw against italy in this weekend’s euro finals. here’s a thread of domestic violence hotlines that you can call if you/a loved one needs help, and i’ll write the information below for anyone who doesn’t have access to twitter or can’t read the images. most of these hotlines also have chatting options if you can’t call them.
england (refuge’s national domestic abuse hotline): 0808 2000 247
northern ireland (domestic and sexual abuse hotline): 0808 802 414
scotland (domestic and forced marriage hotline): 0800 027 1234
wales (live fear free): 0808 80 10 800
uk-wide (men’s advice line): 0808 801 0327
specifically for male victims
bright sky is a mobile app and website for people experiencing abuse or for those who are worried about others
available for free from most app store
women’s aid have a directory of domestic abuse support services across the uk
live chat is available 7 days a week from 10am to 6pm
victim support: 08 08 16 89 111
if you are experiencing abuse and need immediate help, ask for ANI (action needed immediately) at a participating pharmacy
the pharmacy will have a logo on display
you’ll be provided with a private space and a phone if you need one
they’ll connect you to any more support services that you need
safe spaces are available in boots, morrisons, superdrug, and well pharmacies
they’ll provide you with specialized support and connect you to services for more help
here and here are numbers (and other resources) for the national hotline for domestic violence in the uk given that around major football tournaments domestic abuse has spiked up by 38% when england has lost. it is not your fault and never will be. please rb to spread resources.
The UK government passed the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill today, which gives police massive control over protests… including preventing them if they’re too ‘annoying’ or ‘noisy’ (even if it’s only a single protester). It also effectively criminalises the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller lifestyles, and recommends 10 year prison sentences for statue vandals.
The bill passed on the same day as the government announces the abandoning of all Covid precautions, where Boris Johnson basically stood up in front of the country and said ‘yeah more people will die, but yeah… money. Do whatever the hell you want and fuck collective responsibility, every man for himself’.
Thereby COMPLETELY ignoring SAGE, the scientific experts who advise the government, who have warned that variants that are resistant to the vaccine might develop.
And all of this isn’t even mentioning the Electoral Integrity Bill that was also read today, which is looking to introduce voter ID to prevent fraud… THERE IS NO WIDESPREAD VOTER FRAUD IN THE UK. 4 people were convicted, and 2 people were cautioned by police in the last election.
6 people.
Out of roughly 47 MILLION people of voting age.
It’s just a move to disenfranchise voters.
Every day this hellhole just gets worse.
so can we start hunting down white liberals now or what
spread this as much as you can.
Israel is demolishing Silwan as we speak. Over 1500 people, most of who are children will be homeless in a city ruled by people that don't allow them to rebuild anywhere. They're making almost 900 children refugees.
There are 40 bulldozers in Silwan and heavy presence of the IOF.
They started with a butchery and arrested the owner of the shop and his two sons during the demolition. Here's a video of the IOF brutalizing the Al Rajabi family, owner of the shop.
Keep in mind this proccess might be long, and they might start with shops instead of houses to wait until the media has moved on. That's 1 out of 17 homes ethnically cleansed.
The IOF is throwing tear gas at the residents so they leave their homes. 13 were injured. While all this happens, the IOF is posting about their delegation arriving to help with the searches in Miami. I have no words to say how hypocrital and how angry that makes me.
There are palestinians right now live blogging their ethnic cleasing, their city being run down and the residents driven out so there's no cultural trace of them, so they can pretend Palestinians never existed there. It's brutal to think these people survived one ethnic cleasing in 1948 and they thought they'd be safe in their new homes, only to be invaded and be ethnically cleansed again years later.
It's a choice to be ignorant right now because several Palestinians in Jerusalem are being brutalized and traumatized to show you this. The best we can do is clog the zionist propaganda so they can't pretend they're not destroying homes, as they always do. I don't want a single zionist to have peace on social media today, and that counts for everything on the BDS list (Ben and Jerry hasn't used social media in over a month because people were commenting about their settlements and the boycott was stronger than ever, that's the energy).
Ask for people to speak because zionists are too comfortable, look what they did to Indya Moore just yesterday. They want palestinians to be quiet victims with no one speaking for them
[Id: tweet by Mohammed El-Kurd reading "I want to see protests in every damn city in the world against the ethnic cleasing of Palestinians in Jerusalem / end id]
Here's a constantly updating list of protests around the world. Show your anger and don't look away, not now and not in one month but until Palestinians can return home in peace.
the hannibal showrunner posting a recent selfie of hugh dancy and mads mikkelson hanging out meanwhile jared and jensen are publically breaking up on twitter I can feel this website about to burn down
This is the living proof that white supremacy is an international system that tries not only to normalize its’ own values and make it dominant in the world but also tries to marginalize everything that doesn’t fit preferences of white supremacists. That’s how you can easily spot them – they don’t like unfamiliar and unaccustomed names, words, looks and call it “strange”, “confusing”, “not normal” and so on.
Under international law, Israel is 100% obligated to vaccinate all the Palestinians living under its occupation, yet they have refused to provide Palestinians with vaccines since they started their vaccination campaign 6 months ago, despite the fact that 85% of Israel’s population are fully vaccinated (the highest percentage in the world) and despite the fact that Israel has been sending millions of vaccines to foreign countries in exchange for them moving their embassy to occupied Jerusalem instead of giving those vaccines to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
Two days ago Israel has, oh so generously, decided to share some of the millions of vaccines that they have been hogging with the Palestinian non-Authority, but there’s just one small problem: all the vaccines that Israel has “donated” are either expired or near-expired and they were only given to Palestinians in exchange for them to give Israel a brand new vaccine shipment that’s supposed to be shipped to Palestinians this September directly from Pfizer as a form of charity, even though again, Israel is 100% obligated to vaccinate all the Palestinians without anything in return from them.
Gaza of course is left out of this deal, even though Israel bombed the ONLY COVID-19 facility in Gaza and their Ministry of Health just last month. Please keep that in mind when the media attempt to save Israel’s image by reporting on how they wanted to help out by donating vaccines, but it was the evil™ Palestinians who “refused” their generous offer.
Source for Israel giving Palestinians expired vaccines in exchange for taking their new vaccines: X, X & X.
Source for Israel giving vaccines to foreigner countries for political blackmail: X & X
Source for Israel bombing Gaza’s COVID-19 facilities and Ministry of Health: X & X
06/17/2021 8:50am pacific. this video was originally posted 10 hours ago
The infographic above (courtesy of Yalla! Let's Talk) was posted only six days ago and now Palestine is trending once again following Israel's new airstrike against the people of Gaza in the middle of the night.
Besides being a violation of the "ceasefire", which Palestinians themselves said would not resolve the core issue, this new wave of bombings is once again a reminder that a free Palestinian state cannot be achieved through lukewarm, inconsistent coverage and activism.
Here is a few resources, feel free to add more:
Build Palestine has provided a list of charitable organizations you can donate to, many of them are providing critical medical/ humanitarian aid to Gaza in particular.
The BDS Movement's Action Alerts, resource articles and images, and list of what to boycott and how to do it effectively.
A playlist of Abby Martin's Empire Files reports from Palestine
Working Class History's podcast on the history of Zionism, Settler Colonialism in Palestine, and Anti-Zionist Activism: Part 1 & Part 2
Article on how mainstream media and social media companies have targeted or marginalized support for the Palestinian cause
Pride history posts on here seem almost exclusively to revolve around Stonewall which can leave the impression that America is the only place where anything important ever happened and obviously is not true so I have compiled a few links where you can learn about LGBTQ history in other countries! Feel free to add
The Brunswick Four and the Toronto raids in Canada 🇨🇦
Queer icons like Virginia Wolf, Oscar Wilde, and Freddie Mercury in Britain 🇬🇧
Cultural revolution in Weimar Germany 🇩🇪
The drag scene in Nigeria 🇳🇬
Gay and lesbian Mardi Gras in Australia 🇦🇺
Frida Kahlo and Mexicos fraught history 🇲🇽
Gay samurai in Japan 🇯🇵
Queer narratives erased by colonialism in Pakistan 🇵🇰
The modern world’s first legal same-sex marriages in the Netherlands 🇳🇱
The honoured Mahu (transgender individuals) in traditional Hawaiian culture 🌺
Hidden queer communities in communist Poland 🇵🇱
Husbands in ancient Egypt 🇪🇬
The Athens pride festival in Greece 🇬🇷
The Homosexual Movement of Liberation in Chile 🇨🇱
Gay rights protests in India 🇮🇳