For crying out loud...

[Whistler]

I take it "The Archers" never featured much in your cosseted childhood?

Not so - I read their comics whenever I could get my hands on them.

Archie_Vol_1_117.jpg

Different world JS,

Can you imagine what would happen if they ran a story of Archie trying to play hide the sausage with jughead? Or Ronnie wanting to be just plain old Ron?

[tamada]

Brit Awards 2023: Why are no women nominated for best artist?

Maybe this is what happens when you rush to embrace this gender-neutral claptrap?

Or possibly the womenfolk (can we even say that out loud?) have been comparatively less talented (more rubbish) or less entertaining (boring) in 2021/22?

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-64264069

[Laan Yaa Mo]

Perhaps because they don't make 'em like they used to.

[jackspratt]

Perhaps because they don't make 'em like they used to.

In this instance, at least, for that we should be eternally grateful.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

Perhaps because they don't make 'em like they used to.

In this instance, at least, for that we should be eternally grateful.

Okay, okay, so she's no Mandy Rice-Davies or Annie Lennox.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

Now this is news for the newsworthy,

Retired teacher threatened with fine for feeding birds in garden
Peter Chappell
Monday November 27 2023, 1.15pm GMT, The Times
Anne Seago has been told she could be fined £100 by her council if she does not stop feeding birds in her garden

A 97-year-old woman has been accused of antisocial behaviour by her local council for feeding birds outside her home.

Anne Seago, a retired music teacher, received a written warning from the council after neighbours complained. It said she would be issued with a community protection notice and fined £100 if she did not stop.

Environmental health officers have driven past her bungalow to see if pigeons are roosting on the roof, Seago claimed.

The letter from the council said putting food out for wild birds was “unreasonable and is having a detrimental effect on neighbouring residents”.

Seago said she was “stressed out” by the council’s letter. “My blood pressure is up and it was perfect the last time,” she told the Daily Mail.

“After all this began, I have started having problems with my hands and legs. I’m not saying all this has caused it but I can’t be sure. I want to live to 100,” she said.

She said she enjoyed sitting in her conservatory at her home in Staining, Blackpool, and watching sparrows and robins eat seeds from her bird table. Seago lives with her son, Alan, 77, a retired car salesman, who fears the battle with Fylde council could endanger her health.

Seago’s son, Alan, said the pair are prepared to go to court to fight any fines

He said: “The council letter is menacing. This will finish her off. If we get fined, we are prepared to go to court.”

Neighbours who are supportive of Seago said the letter from the council was “bullying and victimising” her while not looking into counter-complaints made against Darren Horne, who she accuses of playing loud music and banging a bin lid.

Seago and her son claimed Horne has repeatedly played loud punk music and banged his wheelie bin’s lid to annoy his neighbours. She said: “He does silly things. I thought it was funny him banging the bin lid but it has gone beyond a joke.”

Horne denied Seago’s accusations. “Other residents have complained. I am dealing with the council,” he said.

Fylde council did not respond to a request for comment.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/reti ... -qkqd802gq

[tamada]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/1 ... -to-women/

[tamada]

Heinz apologises after ad featuring black family sparks anger online

The advertisement depicts a bride, a black woman, enjoying a forkful of pasta seated next to a white man who is presumably the groom. The billboard appears to show the groom’s white parents and an older black woman, seemingly the bride’s mother.

Some social media users criticised the advert for “erasing” black fathers.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... ger-online

F F S... maybe the black dad may have simply passed away already?!

Sheesh...

[Drunk Monkey]

Heinz apologises after ad featuring black family sparks anger online

The advertisement depicts a bride, a black woman, enjoying a forkful of pasta seated next to a white man who is presumably the groom. The billboard appears to show the groom’s white parents and an older black woman, seemingly the bride’s mother.

Some social media users criticised the advert for “erasing” black fathers.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... ger-online

F F S... maybe the black dad may have simply passed away already?!

Sheesh...

Or possibly the black dad was the one taking the photo !! ..

[Udon Map]

Heinz apologises after ad featuring black family sparks anger online

The advertisement depicts a bride, a black woman, enjoying a forkful of pasta seated next to a white man who is presumably the groom. The billboard appears to show the groom’s white parents and an older black woman, seemingly the bride’s mother.

Some social media users criticised the advert for “erasing” black fathers.

Oh, puhleeze. The last decade, or so, has given rise to a whole class of people who seem to be professional offendees. It feels as if they spend their days looking for things that they can misinterpret to be offending someone.

Or possibly the black dad was the one taking the photo !! ..

Exactly, Jon. But that wouldn't fit with their agenda.

[AlexO]

Heinz apologises after ad featuring black family sparks anger online

The advertisement depicts a bride, a black woman, enjoying a forkful of pasta seated next to a white man who is presumably the groom. The billboard appears to show the groom’s white parents and an older black woman, seemingly the bride’s mother.

Some social media users criticised the advert for “erasing” black fathers.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... ger-online

F F S... maybe the black dad may have simply passed away already?!

Sheesh...

Seriously Tam.
What's going on in your mind.
UK adverts for about anything now show either single sex relationships as the norm. multi-ethnic relationships etc. Its as if the ethnic M/F thing that keeps the world evolving is no longer a selling point to idiot producers of adverts
PS
There were no Black members of the hierarchy in the 1800's despite what BBC dramas tell you.

[jackspratt]

It seems they may have all got it wrong.

So where is the white guy's father. Or has the guy on the far left just got back from a month in Bermuda?

(As was explained at the end of the Guardian article).

[tamada]

Heinz apologises after ad featuring black family sparks anger online

The advertisement depicts a bride, a black woman, enjoying a forkful of pasta seated next to a white man who is presumably the groom. The billboard appears to show the groom’s white parents and an older black woman, seemingly the bride’s mother.

Some social media users criticised the advert for “erasing” black fathers.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... ger-online

F F S... maybe the black dad may have simply passed away already?!

Sheesh...

Seriously Tam.
What's going on in your mind.
UK adverts for about anything now show either single sex relationships as the norm. multi-ethnic relationships etc. Its as if the ethnic M/F thing that keeps the world evolving is no longer a selling point to idiot producers of adverts
PS
There were no Black members of the hierarchy in the 1800's despite what BBC dramas tell you.

Seriously Alex.

What is it with your perpetual 'hand wringing' about what's going on in my mind?

Apart from an early wobble when the less broad-minded went all Spanish Inquisition on some fellow members about racism, this thread, since its inception, has been about POKING FUN AT WOKE STUFF.

Get a grip.

[AlexO]

You seem to be under the illusion that because you post something all us lesser beings are not allowed to respond.
Kind of like most Marxist regimes.
Believe me hand wringing is not what I do and you are not the only self proclaimed progressive untouchables in UM that I tend to respond to.
Perhaps being a little more BROADMINDED might be the answer.
The 22 page thread is all about poking fun? Aye Right.

[tamada]

I do not have any real data such as logging in readers ratio to posters etc but looking at the posting activity on both UM , US and a few other small Thai based forum sites ... got me thinking has/is the forum model bubble burst/ing as gradually noticing posting is dropping off more and more with only an odd spike or run of posts on a particular thread here n there.

Quite possibly with expats more akin to sourcing info in other ways and general chit chat having covered most topics it only leaves the rather toxic issues such as immigration,politics, war and religion to be debated , even the usually busy sports threads posts are dwindling..logging in now and expect to see only very few additional posts added over hours and hours...unlike years gone bye.

Trying to put together a few reasons why forums in general are so slow in recent months and the possible assumption the forum era has had its day !!

Sponsors are not posting (UM was a big part of our CC Biz)
Most topics / subjects been covered over the years with new threads rarely being started.
Covid was a huge forum thread runner ..now not so.
Restaurant / Hotel reviews very rare and been done to death over the years.
Face book and YT replacing forum activity
The nature of some posting puts others off so they dont bother posting

Todays fora remind me of a couple been together for years who go out for the evening,gaze at each other and barely speak , if one side decides to talk the other contradicts whats said and silence ensues ..

Any thoughts ???? and yes im expecting the usual suspects to comment in their own predictable way.

DM

Yes. I would say that it's even more noticeable this year. Not so friendly as before and downright hostile in some places. I'm not sure if it's the concept of the online forum that may have broached it's use-by date or it may be simply that some of the membership has.

[AlexO]

I do not have any real data such as logging in readers ratio to posters etc but looking at the posting activity on both UM , US and a few other small Thai based forum sites ... got me thinking has/is the forum model bubble burst/ing as gradually noticing posting is dropping off more and more with only an odd spike or run of posts on a particular thread here n there.

Quite possibly with expats more akin to sourcing info in other ways and general chit chat having covered most topics it only leaves the rather toxic issues such as immigration,politics, war and religion to be debated , even the usually busy sports threads posts are dwindling..logging in now and expect to see only very few additional posts added over hours and hours...unlike years gone bye.

Trying to put together a few reasons why forums in general are so slow in recent months and the possible assumption the forum era has had its day !!

Sponsors are not posting (UM was a big part of our CC Biz)
Most topics / subjects been covered over the years with new threads rarely being started.
Covid was a huge forum thread runner ..now not so.
Restaurant / Hotel reviews very rare and been done to death over the years.
Face book and YT replacing forum activity
The nature of some posting puts others off so they dont bother posting

Todays fora remind me of a couple been together for years who go out for the evening,gaze at each other and barely speak , if one side decides to talk the other contradicts whats said and silence ensues ..

Any thoughts ???? and yes im expecting the usual suspects to comment in their own predictable way.

DM

Absolutely DM, the amount of snide insults coming from a few 'should know better' posters in an attempt to reinforce their views is amazing.
It seems that those that kept up a constant barrage of insults against the duly elected Government of the time get rather petulant if the same is handed back on their preferred regime.
For most of us the UM forum is quite a good social media outlet, only spoiled by some very opinionated people.

[jackspratt]

Absolutely DM, the amount of snide insults coming from a few 'should know better' posters in an attempt to reinforce their views is amazing.
It seems that those that kept up a constant barrage of insults against the duly elected Government of the time get rather petulant if the same is handed back on their preferred regime.
For most of us the UM forum is quite a good social media outlet, only spoiled by some very opinionated people.

I'm shocked by your total lack of introspection and self-awareness, tam.

[tamada]

Another facet leading to the less chatty and cheerful forum experience is the fact that just about every member is able to access footie results, news wires, recipes, health advice, etc., via the internet and social media, thus getting all the information they need, hence the need for informative posts and comments has somewhat diminished.

This of course is apart from some members being relentlessly unable to properly attribute other member's posts or comments or stay remotely on topic.

[Drunk Monkey]

Whilst it may remain relevant today just pointing out my post was first made on Feb 23rd 2023 ..

IMO this and many other fora will gradually dry up and die out as its aging membership head to the temple .. surely the direction social media and free speech are heading we may well be the last generation to bother.

Hey Jack its after 7;30 pm = lights out in Ban Dung,shouldnt you be in bed ? or are you in the rocking chair on the porch with a can of Archa using up the last few millimeters of the candle

DM

[jackspratt]

DM, you missed another frequent subject from days of yore - where are the best totty hotspots.

A subject which has seen its best days for most of us - not including your good self, of course.

Archa - if only I could afford it.