Mailwatch(ed) Forum

Steve Rosenberg, the accomplished pianist and BBC Russia editor, has popped up in the Graun with a couple of hundred well-chosen words. They're rather good. He touches upon one of my guilty pleasures, too. That which we call Russian salad, but they don't.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... n-illusion

I’ve not had Olivier Salad, but I once had an absolutely belting Russian salad in a tapas bar in Barcelona.

I had some in St Petersburg.

Also caviare and, ironically, Chicken Kiev.

Malcolm Armsteen wrote: ↑Sat Dec 23, 2023 11:53 pm I had some in St Petersburg.

Also caviare and, ironically, Chicken Kiev.

I had an incredibly lovely Kiev there as well.

I used to love Heinz Russian salad. Perhaps it was the forerunner to sandwich spread; the same deal but just mashed up rather more. The Czech version is delicious, too, and served with fried carp fillets on Christmas Eve, which is essentially pond-flavoured grease.

At the main Kiev airport, I did breakfast on a cheese omelette which, I suppose, is just a somewhat premature Chicken Kiev. That, and an industrial-sized serving of vodka.

Guardian, still employing Simon Jenkins.

Perhaps thinking of Diplock courts, only 45 years out.

That's probably it. And there were proposals to limit juries for frauds under Labour. But where did he get rape from?

Tubby Isaacs wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2024 12:44 pm That's probably it. And there were proposals to limit juries for frauds under Labour. But where did he get rape from?

Could be a bit of "guardian echo chamber".

I do recall proposals for juryless rape trials because conviction rates were appallingly low.
The proposals got a bit of an airing in the radical press, but I don't recall them getting near parliament.
Would probably have got "Choped" if they did.

And I am working from hazy memory, having not paid much attention.

That's probably it.

Tubby Isaacs wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2024 12:28 pm Guardian, still employing Simon Jenkins.

Well they do consider Owen Jones to be employable.

Sante is a great writer (her illustrated book on bohemian Paris is genuinely lovely), but given that Zoe Williams is already on the radar of Twitter’s snarling transphobe army this is something of a bold share.

The Observer is particularly bad. Nice to see.

Not entirely sure where this belongs, so I’ll put it here because Ryan does write for the Guardian.

Anyway, fucking hell indeed.

Philip Marlow wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2024 7:10 am Not entirely sure where this belongs, so I’ll put it here because Ryan does write for the Guardian.

Anyway, fucking hell indeed.

How far we've regressed from civilisation.

I'm wondering how this became a thing:
* An age of social media where "beautiful people" thrive.
* General trend following years of othering, "common sense" tabloid editorials, and edgelords posing as "public intellectuals".
* A sudden wave of neo-Stalinism (even cuddly Uncle Joe doctored photos) in the education supply-chain.
* Some marketing droid who thought this was another "value add".

In the papers this morning, the actress Sally Phillips says her son, who has Down's syndrome, was refused entry to a trampoline playspace.

Seems this shit is quietly on the rise.

Are the Guardian bored with big Labour leads?

Tankies.

Non-story here

Keir Starmer faces discontent as Labour MPs reject union jack election flyers

https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... nion-jacks

I get the impression that there are some people working for the Grauniad who would be far happier at the Morning Star. There's absolutely nothing to bash Labour with, so they'll blow a non-issue out of proportion and hope that it causes trouble.

Just another case of lefties doing what they can to help the Tories.

Yeah, I think they’re mistaken and/or acting the goat when they complain that ethnic minority voters might mistake Labour’s branding for that of the BNP/NF/UKIP.

For one thing, the vast majority of those fash parties are all but exclusively Anglo-centric, and tend to eschew the union flag in favour of the cross of St. George.

For another, I think they do ethnic minority voters a gross disservice in underestimating their intelligence levels and perception abilities.

I’m as uncomfortable as the next lefty with “flagshagging” as it is derisively referred to - last refuge of the scoundrel and all that - but this story is just bollocks. Labour was using union flag branding on literature as long ago as 2015, with no noticeable negative reactions (other than not enough folk voting for us, of course).