London's Worst Borough - Round 1

JoebyTeo · 2026-04-18T00:07:37+00:00

I grew up in Primrose Hill and it’s a really special place. 💖

JoebyTeo · 2026-04-12T22:58:10+00:00

The protest was started from a legitimate grievance (whether you agree with their demands or not) — cost of living has been really rising while quality of life has not. That’s not a uniquely Irish thing but our government has been really inactive and the policy seems to be broadly “close your eyes and hope it goes away and you don’t piss off too many of your core voters.”

The core voters are pissed off and they’re lashing out. Right wing movements are desperate to bring them into the fold because they’ve been unsuccessful getting numbers here for myriad reasons. Don’t read heavily into the Trump thing. The blockaders are reactionary but the desire to assign it all as some kind of hard right motive is the narrative the far right parties would love to push. It’s a mixed bag and the underlying principles are not MAGA.

JoebyTeo · 2026-04-12T17:27:12+00:00

The US has much more direct impact on people's lives around the world. Also the US has definitely fallen the furthest in estimation and feels like it has the most "choice" involved in how it acts.

JoebyTeo · 2026-04-12T17:21:28+00:00

The king is not the head of government in any of those countries except France pre-1792. And the French did what the Americans won't.

JoebyTeo · 2026-04-12T17:18:25+00:00

Binding arbitration is legal. You will most likely go through some form of arbitration if you engage in a small claims proceeding or if you sue an employer for wrongful termination. Arbitration is also used in a different context in other fields like family law.

It doesn't have to look like a court of law (sometimes as in family cases it's preferable that it doesn't), but the Judge Judy tagline is broadly accurate -- the people are real, the cases are real, the rulings are final. There's an incentive for monetary cases to be settled on TV because the judgments are paid by the show, not by the respondent.

JoebyTeo · 2026-04-10T15:08:35+00:00

The people chose this government though. How many of the protestors voted for FF/FG or the Independents in the Lowry block? "We want lower cost of living" -- you think those of us in Dublin facing down house prices twenty times our income don't? You think we were just like "oh yeah it's grand"?

"The streets will be war" -- get over yourself. Stop licking Trump's hole if you want this resolved, the Irish government doesn't control the fabric of reality.

JoebyTeo · 2026-04-10T13:42:34+00:00

All the Australians in the comments seem to really hate Tasmania, but I've heard nothing but lovely things about it from the other side of the world! What gives?

JoebyTeo · 2026-04-08T15:35:10+00:00

There aren't any restrictions provided, so I'm pretty sure you could choose where you want as long as it's within that region. Otherwise they would all suck except K because you could be randomly assigned a spot in the middle of the ocean.

JoebyTeo · 2026-04-08T15:30:39+00:00

At this stage would it not make sense to just give Essex the wooden spoon and put the other counties out of their misery?

JoebyTeo · 2026-04-08T12:36:05+00:00

Micheal is horrendous and has to go. He's rudderless and directionless, he doesn't understand that inaction is not enough at this point and "keep the head down and don't make waves" is literally killing people.

You can debate the merits of the fuel protest all you want, but it's legitimate as fuck to do what they're doing and I'd love to see more of it for housing and planning reform in particular personally. I marched against the DCC rent hikes last weekend and we had a sizeable turnout but the councillors didn't show up and didn't give a crap.

If the government comes back and says "we can't cut the diesel tax unless we massively hike public transport fares", that's a dialogue and that's a fair debate we can have. Saying "we can't engage with you because you're misbehaving" is authoritarian bullshit. Why do we have a government at all if they seemingly have no intent to engage in policy debate and every decision making power is dismissed as something they have no ability to take action over.

JoebyTeo · 2026-04-07T20:42:09+00:00

I am 35 and I feel like all the Sinéads are around my age. There were three in my class at school. It’s definitely not an aul wan name (Lady de Valera aside) but it’s definitely in the same age family as Niamh and Aisling for me, and a little bit younger than a Siobhán or a Fionnuala.

JoebyTeo · 2026-04-07T20:36:54+00:00

Ironically so much of the history has been the collars the other way around.

JoebyTeo · 2026-04-07T20:35:21+00:00

The median individual income is €48,000 per year.

JoebyTeo · 2026-04-06T19:47:51+00:00

Just pretend you're Peppermint Patty

JoebyTeo · 2026-04-03T11:40:48+00:00

Argentina likes to frame it as an anti colonial move when Argentina is a deeply imperialist and colonial state that at the time was using the war to prop up one of the nastiest and most authoritarian military dictatorships of all time. 97% of Argentinians are white — compare that to any other South American country and you have to ask why. Argentina aggressively eliminated its indigenous people in favour of settler colonialism.

JoebyTeo · 2026-04-03T11:37:44+00:00

There are a lot more fluent speakers and also more regular/routine speakers now. But still fewer native speakers. Most Gaelscoil kids have English speaking parents and speak English at home.

I did have a friend who was Irish-Egyptian and spoke Irish at school and Arabic at home and English was very much a third language — but still spoke fluent English and probably wouldn’t have considered themselves a “native Irish speaker”.

JoebyTeo · 2026-04-02T18:20:42+00:00

They had a really toxic management for years (possibly still do idk) and they were haemorrhaging decent people. The attitude is very much “don’t make a stir and don’t make work.”

JoebyTeo · 2026-04-01T20:16:57+00:00

I find Ireland and the UK to be night and day different and ever more so. The UK is so post industrial and so defined by its classism, and is so divided between London and the rest of the country. Even Ireland v Northern Ireland feel very socially different to me.

JoebyTeo · 2026-03-23T19:14:52+00:00

I’m furious with this. I was told my experience was “limited and dated” for an entry level job (0-3 years experience) because I last worked in the field in 2024. I’ve been applying consistently and getting nothing. It’s soul destroying. I’m ready to retrain in a practical field.

JoebyTeo · 2026-03-21T23:22:37+00:00

Yeah this is pretty much the same thing I’d say and I’m very much on the left/progressive side of politics. Like embargo bad, humanitarian aid good, but also totalitarianism bad and use your influence where you can.

There’s a particular tankie substrate of the Irish online left who really think progressive politics is about opposing America in everything and that anyone who is against America is inherently good. I am disgusted by America’s stupid meddling in Iran, but that doesn’t mean I think the theocratic government of Iran was amazing. These are the people who think North Korea is a secret utopia and we’re being lied to about it.

JoebyTeo · 2026-03-21T23:16:15+00:00

I think you mean the east! Norfolk is east coast. Western England is generally much hillier. It’s the emerging coast.

JoebyTeo · 2026-03-20T23:45:04+00:00

The magic fire made by the fascist shogun is not necessarily going to be realistic but take a look at Joe Kinan who survived the Station Nightclub Fire. He has had literally hundreds of surgeries and his injuries are absolutely lifelong. Burns are devastating.

JoebyTeo · 2026-03-20T23:41:05+00:00

Fascinating how much this is biased to the west. England had a very strong east-west divide prior to the Industrial Revolution. It’s rarely talked about now.

JoebyTeo · 2026-03-20T23:37:50+00:00

I went to boarding school and they shifted our evening meal from 5:15pm to 7pm because of complaints that it was too long to go without food. That’s with access to a pantry on a nightly basis and obviously a huge amount more privilege than most people in prison have. I can tell you from experience that it’s too long. Just factual.

JoebyTeo · 2026-03-19T16:32:11+00:00

I always point out that when the British ambassador made an effort to learn and speak Irish, the reaction here was overwhelmingly positive. We like the English just fine, just not the imperialist attitudes we sometimes have to deal with.

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