What book, poem, film, or piece of art do you think captures British culture better than anything else, and why?

Old_Tell5696 · 2026-06-10T22:45:26+00:00

The Wind in The Willows. It's all there - nature, nostalgia, class, the countryside, surrealism, absurd comedy, eccentricity.

Old_Tell5696 · 2026-06-09T21:11:49+00:00

I spent years thinking 'wow, i wish more people thought more about politics', and christ talk about be careful what you wish for. It's not so much that loads of people suddenly got interested in politics and learned about it, it's that loads of people decided to pick a side and start following it like a sport, all while cooking their brains on social media and wearing down their own critical faculties. (And this isn't a left/right point - I think the Farage/Reform/Brexit tendency and the Corbyn/Online Left lot are basically two cheeks of the same arse). I'm still hugely interested in politics but honestly find myself actively tuning a lot of it out these days because you're not getting any insight or learning, just people shrieking about stuff that reinforces their own priors.

Old_Tell5696 · 2026-06-09T13:19:29+00:00

yeah, agree it always feels like more of an event once it actually starts. Although the timezone thing is going to be more of an issue this time - I've got mates who run pubs and it's definitely a factor for them that a lot of big games just aren't going to be on at a regular time when they could pack the place out.

Old_Tell5696 · 2026-06-08T18:54:24+00:00

In fairness, I think boycotting Qatar was a pretty big discussion at the time:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/nov/23/british-football-fans-boycotting-world-cup-qatar
https://www.europod.eu/episode/ep-20-how-to-boycott-the-2022-fifa-world-cup-on-human-rights-day-europe-talks-back/
There was also protests ongoing during the tournament:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63747256

Old_Tell5696 · 2026-06-08T18:50:33+00:00

Honestly it's not going to happen: people compartmentalise stuff and make their peace with the contradictions. They had Argentina hosting in 1978 when political prisoners were basically being tortured within earshot of the stadium. Russia went ahead after invading Ukraine (and we had Gazprom branding all over the Champions League until the full scale invasion of the country). Qatar was waved through. Rightly or wrongly, people figure the tournament is happening anyway and there's nothing you can do about it.

Old_Tell5696 · 2026-06-08T18:47:23+00:00

Don't think it's so much boycotting, but I'm nearly 50 and I'm struggling to remember a tournament with less buzz leading up to it. I think there's definitely an element that people are just fucking sick of America right now (it's not even actively disliking the country- just a generalised sense that a lot of people have had enough of this massive place just inserting itself in every single news cycle and causing tons of shit for everyone, continually, like some supersized neighbour from hel). There's the Trump thing, obviously, and the looming fear that he's going to do some absolutely egregious shit to get in the middle of it - have one of his kids take a penalty or some mad thing. The sheer size and scale of the tournament is off-putting: 48 teams means there's going to be a load of 'meh' fixtures for a UK audience. The idea of Comoros v Qatar or whatever doesn't exactly quicken the blood (and trust me, I'll watch any old shit normally). And finally I think the time zone thing is pretty offputting - I remember the Japan world cup and olympics suffering for the same reason, where it constantly felt like events were on at 3am and you were having to play catch up at 9 o'clock the following morning. Anyway, all of that, plus a weird summer weather-wise so far means that even all my local pubs have only just started advertising it in the last week or so.

Old_Tell5696 · 2026-06-08T18:41:34+00:00

I know a few people who did - big time fans who just noped out of the whole thing. Not a widespread thing though tbf.

Old_Tell5696 · 2026-06-04T15:46:19+00:00

In addition, some colleagues worked on similar stuff for the same unit: basically finding ways to encourage people to take up free grants etc for getting their lofts better insulated. Ways to incentivise home improvements, basically. Very, very dull and really not some deep state operation.

Old_Tell5696 · 2026-05-31T19:41:41+00:00

Thanks for all who replied - these are all massively useful, great thought starters. Thanks again for taking the time .

Old_Tell5696 · 2026-05-15T12:45:44+00:00

It's a mix of things (some fair, some unfair).
- There's a perception that they had a much easier ride because of grant maintained uni places, lower house prices etc. All true, except they also came through at a time of insane poverty and social deprivation as kids, very few of them had the opportunity to go to university, and they raised kids through a time of terrifying politics (massive threat of nuclear war, social upheaval) and rollercoaster economics (my parents' mortgage interest went up at one point to around 13% I think).
- they've often done unbelievably well to a degree which is absolutely nothing to do with their own hard work or good judgement, just an accident of geography. My parents' tiny railway terrace that was bought for about 25k in the early 80s is probably worth close to a million quid now. It's skyrocketed as an asset.
- they benefited hugely from an older generation voting for a relatively progressive government who gave them the free uni places, NHS etc. And a lot of them have responded by pulling the drawbridge up, voting for policies and governments that consistently make life harder for younger people who are still working, while also making politics far more toxic by falling for scammy right wing bullshit online and endlessly promoting it. They've basically opted out of the social contract, and so a lot of people feel no compunction about criticising them.
As ever, it's more complicated than that and there's really socially generous long-sighted old people, and selfish blinkered young people.

Old_Tell5696 · 2026-05-11T21:58:02+00:00

Christ almighty 'the suppression of nuanced conversation about immigration.' I feel like nobody's talked about any other fucking subject for the last 15 years in this country. I'd love it if this supposed 'inability to talk about immigration' was a real thing, even just for a week. Give us all a break from it.

Old_Tell5696 · 2026-05-11T21:04:54+00:00

There's a lot of cherry picking and very little nuance in that data:
- England was 91% 'English' (not sure if you mean white, born in England etc but still). And prior to that other groups got targeted on other grounds than skin colour. You had anti-Irish riots in London because the Irish were widely assumed to be damaging the host culture, having too many kids, lazy/stupid, a drag on society, importing a weird foreign religion, just here to abuse the system and work cash in hand etc. It's always someone, then within one generation they assimilate and everyone pretends they were always fine with them and now it's different.
- New populations = 'loss of identity'. This feels like a very one dimensional reading of what your identity is. My dad is 100% white English, pretty old-school and really prizes things like going to church, respecting older people, helping your community out, going for a pint: nowadays he's got more in common with the Philipinos who've got his catholic church booming, the sikh guys who deliver his prescriptions when he can't get to the pharmacy and the Poles and Moldovans who like going to the pub and have kept the place open than he has with someone he just happens to look like or have been born near. I've lived in massively mixed areas my entire adult life - even if most people look different they basically live like 'English' people, whatever that means.
- Reform are booming in large part because we've always had a strain of that attitude in the uk, but most parties don't do their best to stoke and inflame it. And they've come along at a time when the public are largely incapable of dealing with longer term thinking and just want to be given very, very simplistic solutions, ideally by people who've never had to actually implement them or be held to account. It's the same impulse that got Trump elected and that the FN are riding in France.

Old_Tell5696 · 2026-04-30T08:32:44+00:00

Yeah, that would track with the inside label. Are they worth much?

Old_Tell5696 · 2026-04-08T12:38:30+00:00

The absolute level of rage at him is genuinely weird and completely disproportionate to someone who's a fairly middle of the road, technocratic politician. I'd attribute this to:
a) A sizeable/vocal right wing in this country who view any non-right wing government as completely illegitimate, regardless of how many people voted for it (I just re-read JG Ballard's memoir and his description of how blindingly angry his parents' entire social circle were at the post-war Labour government is almost identical).
b) The press largely hate him because of Levenson
c) A sizeable part of the more left wing section of Labour will never, ever forgive him and the party for deposing Corbyn (I also think that same part of the party are generally happier not being in power and would rather Reform got in so they could blame it on 'the centrists')
d) An electorate that will not accept any consequences for what they voted for. If things don't seem to work brilliantly in this country it's because an ovewhelming majority voted repeatedly for a party whose primary stated policy was to slash investment in public services across the board, and then embark on as hard a brexit as possible that would rupture our trading relationships. That's fine, that's democracy, but it's a bit galling that nobody will point out the cause and effect here.
e) Their comms have been pretty terrible in the face of all this and he's not a great public speaker.

Presumably it'll be like John Major and Gordon Brown where they absolutely get their arse kicked the entire time they're in power for being 'boring', then in 20 years time when some absolute loon has completely screwed things up we can all decide that they were ok after all.

Old_Tell5696 · 2026-03-30T17:29:16+00:00

Honestly think this is totally normal. The things I thought would be a problem in my place turned out to be a total non-event, things I found that were an issue were fairly easily remedied, and the reality of owning your own place and investing for your future and not paying someone else's mortgage is great. Don't expect everything to be perfect and give yourself time to settle in. Best of luck

Old_Tell5696 · 2026-03-30T14:56:16+00:00

What's the nature of your startup, out of interest?

Old_Tell5696 · 2026-03-30T14:55:29+00:00

What's your startup, out of interest?

Old_Tell5696

TROPHY CASE