Morgan Jones

If it ain't broke etc

Sure Chris Philp, just do the exact same bit, why not

He's just repeating what I've always thought was a mildly funny Sajid Javid bit here.

www.gov.uk/government/s...

hearing the dissonant honk of an 8 year old playing the recorder: That's real Britain.

good answer!

Good morning! This week's theme is the River Thames.
------
'Bridge in London' (1908) by Mstislav Dobuzhinsky

(Private collection)

Behind the scenes image from one of the Hellraiser movies showing Clive Barker in street clothes holding the Lament Configuration and surrounded by the cenobites in costume

when you have that one friend who didn't pick up a subculture with everyone else but you're still cool

Between everyone who lives in the UK today

b) people do feel good about a shared sense of humour/sets of cultural references and indeed culture and if you want to talk about a positive view of patriotism that's a good point to build from

Yes, tbh quite a lot of the specifics of the specifics pass me by for obvious reasons, but I think it's true that a) no one I have ever met goes ham for the White Cliffs Downton etc stuff but

If you think this is a bad elucidation of it, do you think there is a shared sense of humour or set of references in the UK today? Or do you think this is just not something the country has?

what's Your Take ?

But what do I know, I'm not even British, so maybe my ideas of what could be positive about the national identity are skewed.

Honestly, not really. I think appreciating fun, maybe trashy but quite universal bits of culture is important (and also doesn't preclude appreciating other stuff. You can think the Wembley lasagne is funny and still enjoy Anniversaries)

State of the nation novel that follows the lives of 12 diverse, seemingly unconnected people living in London, interspersed with vignettes about the dismantling of wet wipe island. At the end of the book it's revealed they all flushed wetwipes that contributed to the island.

but I think if you see attempting to engage with problems of national cohesion through focusing on the harmless, nice things about Britain as wholesale offensive I think you have sealed yourself off from far too many conversations with people you might agree with on the bigger picture

This article? No tbh. I think you can disagree with the argument (that focusing on commonalities and good humour is not a way to make communities more cohesive, and that that is not ultimately a good aim, but wrt to that my view is who am I to argue with HNH) or think the examples are naff,

Do you see a positive sense of humour in the Britain you see every day ?

Why do you think so?

Blobby blobby blobby blobby. Blobby blobby blooby @sofiejenkinson.bsky.social blobby, blobby blobby blobby.

Blobby blobby blobby!

Oh I think the same (you'd bounce around over time and caveat with some "well I like lots of things but...") but I do think declining/ not being able to name any as here (particularly bundled in with "I don't dream") does come off as a bit odd

That's real Britain.

Think of the explainer articles

POV you are PM. What do you say your favourite novel is in interviews (and is it actually your favourite novel?)

Why doesn't the weirdest Irish presidential candidate simply eat the other candidates?

Was a better answer than Keir Starmer's baffling (and we know, not accurate!) claim to not have a favourite book anyway. Just name something you like!

I think Rishi Sunak was ahead of culture when he said he loved Jilly Cooper. Everyone liked the TV series and I think now that would be seen as light hearted and warm whereas (maybe I'm misremembering/ over indexing from my social circles) iirc everyone thought it was a bit weird in long ago May '23

forced to leave the flat share communal area after my Bertrand Russell impression poorly received

This has long been my view and this is also why "You're on your own kid" is imo the best Taylor song, because it's actually about being obsessed by work rather than romance.

Very good piece, and in general I’m amazed there isn’t more well informed writing about the different flavours in of the Labour right, given they’re in charge of the country.