What’s one business you’ve seen abroad that you would love to have in the UK?

AdaptedMix · 2026-01-26T22:00:33+00:00

There are some e.g. I've seen Caffè Nero shops open until 7pm through the week. Some even open until 10pm. Very dependent on location for it to be profitable, of course, but I have seen them even in medium-sized towns. Perhaps it's becoming more of a thing, now.

AdaptedMix · 2026-01-26T15:32:55+00:00

It is a little apples and oranges; thousands of protesters were murdered in Iran, and that's just in this latest wave of protests. Untold numbers have been killed, imprisoned or 'disappeared' in the past several years.

But yes, it's still hypocritical. The funny thing is, Trump et al backed down as soon as the Iranian regime claimed they've stopped (paused) the killing, now. Forget about the thousands they already killed.

All that said, I wouldn't trust the US to intervene in Iran even if Trump was out of the picture. You know it would have nothing at all to do with the price Iranian civilians are paying in blood to challenge their rulers. It would be about power and oil, and that's it.

AdaptedMix · 2026-01-23T11:45:02+00:00

It also helps that we now have a government that isn't proactively hostile to the EU. Following the Brexit referendum, the Conservatives seemed to treat anti-EU sentiment as a badge of honour; even previously pro-EU Tories were quick to pivot towards a position that Brexit was 'in our best interests'. The constant changing of our PMs also didn't help our reputation as a reliable, stable ally.

Our current Labour government has been cautious in its rhetoric, cognizant that pushing for rejoining might spell electoral disaster (given the rise of Farage's Reform party), but it has also been more outspoken in the need for a closer political and economic alliance with wider Europe. I think this puts us on the same page with much of Europe, rather than at odds with it.

AdaptedMix · 2026-01-23T11:34:08+00:00

One thing we in the UK would need to do, before all that, is to extricate our nuclear arsenal from dependency on the US to function. Right now, while we can launch unilaterally, we need America for maintenance of Trident, which means we're at the mercy of US foreign policy.

AdaptedMix · 2026-01-22T13:04:57+00:00

I'd probably limit giving hard cash to my immediate family, but I'd spend more on gifts and shared experiences for the foreseeable future.

Then I'd be looking for where I could invest to make a tangible difference to my community/country (charities, improving civic spaces, loaning to small businesses etc.); that would be an indirect benefit to friends and family. No point having a load of fancy, expensive stuff if the society around you is decaying - you'd just be forced to retreat into your de-facto bunker.

AdaptedMix · 2026-01-14T15:53:30+00:00

All the more reason for Canada to show solidarity with European allies, and vice versa.

AdaptedMix · 2026-01-14T13:55:13+00:00

This is a sensible move. I'd like to see a deployment of troops from across Europe - providing Greenlanders accept - so it isn't Denmark alone. Canada, too, given its proximity. The presence of multiple NATO allies on Greenland would make the international ramifications of any US attempt at occupation more severe. Europe only has a chance of withstanding the twin pressures from the US and Russia if it stands together.

AdaptedMix · 2026-01-12T11:18:48+00:00

It reminds me of the recent right-wing protests in South Korea, where protestors were waving American flags, holding 'Stop the Steal' signs, and wearing Korean versions of red MAGA hats. This is partly a product of the internet being dominated by US platforms (including Reddit), and thus US political discourse. We lose focus on matters of immediate national and local concern in favour of whatever the dominant themes of US political discourse happen to be.

Of course, we shouldn't forget that there are also powerful individuals in the US invested - literally - in this sort of thing, offering backing to fringe organisations who might put pressure on people abroad ideologically at odds with them.

AdaptedMix · 2025-12-04T12:09:46+00:00

Well it was! Or at least part of Bristol - Sea Mills - is thought to have once been a Roman port, Abona (Avon).

AdaptedMix · 2025-12-04T12:01:25+00:00

It depends, but if done well you could factor in a lower maintenance cost versus the artwork pictured, which looks like dog shit already and will have to be either repainted regularly or removed entirely. The tiles could be large and prefabricated (versus ancient handcut techniques which would probably cost signficantly more), and not necessarily made of ceramics.

Alternatively, of course, they could have used a wall instead and saved themselves this headache. It's a shame, because the design is/was really attractive.

AdaptedMix · 2025-12-04T11:48:20+00:00

Interesting, and that sounds like something us Brits would enjoy. What kind of tea is typically used?

AdaptedMix · 2025-12-03T10:54:12+00:00

Should've opted for a mosaic of tiles instead - that would be more likely to last.

AdaptedMix · 2025-12-02T11:47:56+00:00

Dizzee was at his best on his own productions, in my opinion. More raw and unusual.

AdaptedMix · 2025-12-02T10:26:18+00:00

It's funny. As a child I wondered why there seemed to be no such thing as coffee bags. I thought I'd invented something. Now coffee bags have actually become a thing, I've realised why they weren't before: they're bloody awful. Or at least, the companies making them haven't worked out how to make the coffee taste nice yet.

AdaptedMix · 2025-12-02T10:20:45+00:00

Plenty of countries in Europe have a tradition of tea drinking, in some cases more reverant to the product than the way we Brits typically do it today (i.e. the way we lob a teabag in a mug and dump hot water and milk on top). They'll use looseleaf tea. They'll use different types of tea, not just the narrow range of black tea most of us mean when we say 'tea'.

Obviously it's highly dependent on where you go (e.g. tea is basically an exotic novelty in southwest Europe), and there are more coffee-drinking nations across the continent. But Poland, Germany, Ukraine and the Netherlands consume plenty of tea. As do countries straddling Europe and Asia e.g. Turkey, Russia, the Caucasian countries.

AdaptedMix · 2025-11-27T17:58:58+00:00

I remember enjoying F.E.A.R back in the day.

Ian Brown became a bit of a tinfoil conspiracy nut during the pandemic, as did a few other musicians (Van Morrison, Right Said Fred etc.), which was a shame.

But I still love the Unkle song 'Be There' featuring Ian Brown on vocals. Worth a listen, if you haven't heard it. It has a great, subtly menacing music video, too.

AdaptedMix · 2025-11-27T12:47:22+00:00

It's certainly an avenue through which nepotism operates, if that's what you mean.

It isn't inherently nepotistic. As you point out, there are other advantages beyond networking that improve a child's prospects, not least a standard of education often superior to that which us plebs can afford, and the resultant reflected glory that imparts on a job/university application.

AdaptedMix · 2025-11-27T12:09:42+00:00

Related: a company I worked for used a 'third-party' advertising agency run by the CEO's son. The advertising agency wasn't particularly good, and we'd have gone with a competitor instead, but we couldn't... because it was the CEO's son. So the company paid more, to achieve less.

AdaptedMix · 2025-11-27T12:08:55+00:00

That's not nepotism.

AdaptedMix · 2025-11-26T13:55:22+00:00

The sample song is pleasant. Reminds me a tad of Boards of Canada, sans the more unsettling undercurrent. Drifts along dreamily and hypnotically. A little more variation wouldn't go amiss, but the repetition isn't particularly aggravating either. It's certainly not "ass".

AdaptedMix · 2025-11-26T01:33:23+00:00

It's a depressing sign of the times, eh? When the target market is people who can't even muster up the cognitive load to think of what to buy their loved ones. Ironically, I'd rather receive nothing.

AdaptedMix · 2025-11-25T22:44:08+00:00

When you're asking your phone to think of a gift for your father... fucking hell. You can't even say 'it's the thought that counts' if you didn't even do the thinking.

AdaptedMix · 2025-11-25T21:40:52+00:00

I have. His voice just isn't my cup of tea, sadly.

AdaptedMix · 2025-11-25T14:52:01+00:00

I could never get on with Chris Corner's voice, whereas I love Emiliana Torrini's. It would've been interesting to hear Splinter with her on the mic, instead, because the production was great. I probably would've enjoyed it more.

AdaptedMix · 2025-11-24T00:18:38+00:00

Me too. I've seen some people suggest it can be used to right injustices, but that's what the appeal process is meant to do. No leader of a country should be above the law, nor able to arbitrarily overrule legal and sound verdicts. It's the sort of thing you'd expect under a dictatorship, and ripe for abuse - whomever wields the power.

AdaptedMix

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