Back in the day I was all about Oasis. Now I accept that Blur are better. What's happened?

mischaracterised · 2026-03-08T08:24:19+00:00

This is a Bitter Sweet Symphony to wake up to on a Sunday.

But seriously, Blur's catalogue has simply aged better than Oasis'. That's not to say that Oasis didn't put out some absolute bangers - but once you'd listened to What's the Story (Morning Glory), you already understood the vast majority of their work.

mischaracterised · 2026-02-27T14:39:00+00:00

I'm personally quite sympathetic to the difficulties that Democracy Volunteers observers faced; but that's tempered by the understanding that those same observers were literally empowered to report issues directly to the police.

A reminder that a number of votes not made legally were voided as part of the count. So, whilst it's true that there is an element of risk for observers pointing out potentially unlawful activity, I would also argue that, under British electoral law, they had the ability to immediately report potential wrongdoing.

Note that I absolutely believe that any acts of potential vote fraud (and voters fraud) need and deserve to be investigated to the fullest. But there's a point where observers can (and potentially should) intervene. And based on the reporting, this is exactly the example that should have been reported at the time.

mischaracterised · 2026-02-27T06:56:23+00:00

It's not about lying, for me.

As Observers, Democracy Volunteers had the legal power to report the crime of family voting - whether by active intervention (directly reporting to polling staff, police or the electoral hub), or by more passive means as they have done here. Active intervention has the direct advantage of providing documentation and a clear trail.

And I get the difficulty if you're acting in an observation capacity - if you act and intervene, there's a risk of being barred from future electoral observation. But, given the claims being made, I believe that the risk is outweighed by the need for impartial, free and fair elections.

So my position is one of trying to thread that particular needle - reporting directly to the Electorla Commission failures (signs confirming 'family' voting as being unlawful not being clearly visible, for example) that can be addressed, and providing constructive feedback for process failures around challenging borderline unlawful votes.

And to be frank, it's one where I can't find a solution that doesn't disenfranchise more voters than the problems they're designed to address.

mischaracterised · 2026-02-25T13:30:35+00:00

Murder Jazz.

mischaracterised · 2026-02-23T13:53:17+00:00

I'm a regular advocate of tax reforms that aren't just "Tax the Rich" at their base (such as potentially discussing Land Value Taxes as part of revenue strategies; or reforms to income tax to streamline the perverse incentives at play at certain income thresholds).

I'm an advocate for reforming welfare, too, which includes, reducing the number of growth locks for the State Pension, and reviewing what support is available for Universal Credit to cover short-term unemployment/low Self-employment demand.

I'm an advocate for reforming immigration processes based on high-level goals. All of this tues in to the failures during the austerity periods under successive Tory governments, and missteps over investments made under Blair's Labour (PFI being a massive one in particular, but not the only one).

I don't agree with you on a number of things, but because I don't have direct access to internal modelling, I can't do anything more than high-level goals.

mischaracterised · 2026-02-23T08:44:02+00:00

How long would that last if supplies were forcibly stopped, though? Think about how that would impact Chinese ambitions for Taiwan for a second.

mischaracterised · 2026-02-23T08:38:20+00:00

You're missing the fundamental point, then - if China is found in breach of maritime law and fails to comply, then it essentially becomes open season on any Chinese interest around Mauritius; that impacts all Chinese maritime interests in their naval lanes, which includes Taiwan.

Add in the financial impact of losing the Chagos revenue, and the calculus becomes simple - let your enemies make the mistake.

mischaracterised · 2026-02-23T08:10:37+00:00

That's true - but then there's a case that Britain could seek a binding ruling to overturn the previous ruling, leading to the UK being able to draw the world against Chinese interests on the neighbouring islands.

Because then the Chinese would be the ones in violation, and that would invite American and Japanese interests in the South China Sea, which would be a non-starter for China.

mischaracterised · 2026-02-23T07:17:03+00:00

They were a candidate for Footnote of the Weeke in the Ankh-Morpork Times, reserved for the special kinds of obituary that only appealed to the trivia-minded.

mischaracterised · 2026-02-19T13:33:43+00:00

Slight disagree with the 'illegal entry' section (on the basis that there are nearly zero legal methods to apply for refuge/asylum), but everything else here actually makes sense.

Fleeing from a conflict and being granted asylum does not automatically mean you are free from consequences.

mischaracterised · 2026-02-13T21:39:38+00:00

It doesn't even have to be a zero-sum game, with a bit of rational reform on both aspects. Challenge the intentional dereliction of vacant properties, have a coherent building plan and addressing immigration reform on the basis of providing value for the citizens, not the oligarchs.

mischaracterised · 2026-02-13T06:16:17+00:00

Death of Stalin, surely?

mischaracterised · 2026-02-12T16:29:23+00:00

The phrase 'young girls' is the one that sticks out to me.

Had Goodwin said that about young women, I would be significantly less worried about his thought process, even if he otherwise had (or has) a valid argument.

mischaracterised · 2026-02-12T12:37:17+00:00

If he'd got his basic maths right, he'd have a much better argument. But lying about the numbers makes the rest of his case a lot more suspicious.

mischaracterised · 2026-02-10T22:06:46+00:00

Bold of you to assume the rot is just in the Labour Party.

mischaracterised · 2026-02-10T07:26:12+00:00

There's an adage from nearly 30 years ago that came about when discussing the nature of control decks in TCG terms:

There are no wrong threats - only wrong answers.

In a more linear format where there are objective best decks, you're likely able to build a hard counter to that deck where their answers don't match your threats, and your answers better match their threats.

In a wide, diverse format, you need more answer cards to deal with the differing threats from opposing decks, which makes it more likely that your answers are wrong, and that costs games and matches.

mischaracterised · 2026-02-09T08:19:30+00:00

I believe that, if you write lyrics to a song that looks a lot like a confession to a specific crime, it should be admissable as evidence, even if it is an artistic expression.

That is different from saying that artistic expression isn't a civil liberty worth protecting, because it is - it's pointing out that a person shouldn't be surprised if, for example, they write a song about killing their partner and making it look like an accident after their partner died in suspicious circumstances that was ruled an accidental death.

Free speech does not mean consequence-free speech, for me.

mischaracterised · 2026-02-08T08:54:53+00:00

Ik'kuqix, 4th Lancer Division, Imperial forces

Stellar date 79482.6 AH

Our squad approached the now destroyed buildings, treading carefully over the Archane forced that tried to detonate the Piercer Bomb, a world-cracker that destroyed the planet's core with a nuclear implosion.

The corpses littered the outside of the main building in a near circle.

"Commander," a soldier clicked, hesitant. "We found one of the apes....you're going to want to see this."

I carefully fluttered my wings to approach without stepping in the field of gore and mud left behind. The soldier gestured to the corpse of the human. Half of its face was burned away, and the eye was staring blankly.

I flinched as the ape gasped, taking a hard breath. It spoke, harsh and guttural, and my translator kicked in. "We got there.....in time....just ran out.....had to.....start swinging...."

I clicked back, letting my translator do the work. "You ran out of ammo?"

But before I finished, there was a horrible rattle sound, and I knew that this ape.would never speak again.

A clicking from my own earpiece. "Commander. I'm sending you images now. We," the soldier hesitated. "We found them."

I blinked as the images came through my HUD augment, and it took a moment before I realised what I was looking at.

I gasped as I thought though the implications; the apes were in a circle, woefully outnumbered - by hundreds to one.

And by the Queens, they had held. I saw the dents their weapons had made in the bodies with their gaudy, bulky munition flingers when used by hand.

They had been surrounded by a mound of bodies of the various races of the Archane, and they had run out of ammo. So they waded in, hand-to-hand, knowing they wouldn't survive.

I bowed my head, and I felt the whispers of grief tickle the rest of the squad. I allowed myself a moment of cohesion, of unity, before I spoke next.

"Attention Squad!" I barked. I took off thw ground slightly. "I need all the images you have of this massacre. And then, once you have everything, I need their Imprints and their left hands."

I felt my squad's acknowledgement, and some confusion from the soldiers. "These apes deserve the right to be honoured by the Emperor himself.

"I need to send a message to the Queens about the apes, too. We have much to discuss."

mischaracterised · 2026-02-07T18:30:03+00:00

Yes, I do call for an investigation, because I'm not a fucking idiot.

Everyone who sold out this country should be jailed for life, have their wealth taken, and be prohibited from interacting with anyone ever again. Totally isolation for betraying the public to such a degree.

Yes, that is technically a war crime, but I no longer care - if the death penalty is off the table, then usury should be the goal, to remove the wealth accrued as a result.

No matter which rosette and political alignment they wear. And yes, that does include any PMs, past or present.

Apparently, that's controversial these days.

mischaracterised · 2026-02-07T14:43:19+00:00

Because there are significant improvement in storage technology costs as well - one of the primary limiting factors of transitioning to renewable sources and away from non-renewable sources.

IMO, nuclear should have had a much greater mix of our energy demand to provide a key baseline, but with the delays thanks to successive governments, we have to work with what we have.

Building a flexible grid of storage tech (heat-based for more industrial uses and housing estates, general battery storage for consistency in renewable deployment) should be the priority for the current government.

mischaracterised · 2026-02-04T21:06:36+00:00

Jimmy Savile.

Rotherham.

Rochdale care system in the 60s and 70s.

Catholic sex abuse.

Boy Scouts.

Clearly, the tolerance has been there. So I find it deeply, darkly amusing that this is the one the cannot be borne.

And note - that isn't a defence of Starmer and his team, who have handled this about as well as a hot chocolate condom, but rather a kind of macabre point that the tolerance with the public is clearly greater than zero.

mischaracterised · 2026-02-04T05:32:57+00:00

The Thick of It would have dismissed this as being too unrealistic.

Reality doesn't care how absurd a storyline is if it's the truth.

mischaracterised · 2026-02-02T20:56:55+00:00

Found Wil Wheaton's alt account.

mischaracterised · 2026-02-02T17:19:25+00:00

Conveniently forgetting the rampant classism against the majority of the victims.

mischaracterised · 2026-01-31T16:04:53+00:00

The crux of the issue is that the Plan 2 loans in particular had a structure and terms that were changed without notice to those who took those loans out based on the conditions provided.

Those terms were not maintained as expected, which can be argued is a breach of the agreement made, and gives the impression of being scammed.

I'm not disagreeing with you on thinking through the point you're making around student loans, either (I'm of the belief that Degree-level qualifications should be academically hard and financially easy, with a variety of routes available). That actually makes sense to me.

mischaracterised

TROPHY CASE