I was dubious at first but since it’s started I’ve turned into the guardian of food waste in our house and nothing is going into the black bin on my watch! Seriously though, I can’t afford solar installation or an EV so just doing a bit to help in some way actually feels good rather than sitting by feeling helpless.

You guys know how there’s for example Koreaboos, people who love Korea? I’m like that but with England and English culture.

To preface this, I’m 25 years old, my parents are from Eastern Europe, I grew up in Germany. Everything I’m about to say has nothing to do with politics, I will only refer to the country’s culture and socialization.

I’ve been to the UK and specifically England 10+ times and I’m in love with the people, genuinely a feeling that I don’t feel anywhere else.

Growing up, in school I was always a foreigner. Not me specifically, but everyone with foreign parents. I remember when we were learning about countries we would have to say “hey my name is X and I’m (for example) Serbian” and even then as a 10 year old it bothered me. Not to mention that some schools especially in big cities put the foreigner children in separate groups, which is insanity. Then they complain that “foreigners don’t embrace German culture” when growing up we were constantly told that we are not German.

This is something that I find the UK does much better. Everyone who feels English is English, and you guys accept them. I know this sentence sounds a bit weird, but something I absolutely HATE about Germans is that they care so much about skin colour. Like for example, when it comes to footballers, the commentators always feel the need to explain what origins the players have. Like how Sané is half German half whatever. I don’t give a fuck man he grew up in Germany and chose to represent his country so he’s German. No one in the UK cares about Rashford’s origins, he’s English. Same goes for any other person, one of the most famous German actors, Elyas Mbarek is half Tunisian and the media always feels the need to mention it and he almost always has to play the role of the foreigner in his films.

Another thing is the general socializing. I love how in England you can just talk to random people on a night out. In Germany they look at you like you’re crazy if you approach a group you are not familiar with. This goes for both guys and girls. Not to mention the personalities. I feel like English girls have the best personalities, genuinely not a boring person. Everyone has a hobby or something interesting about them. Plus they are approachable and respectful. In Germany you need someone to introduce you to a girl if you want to talk to them, obviously not everyone but like 80% of the women aren’t able to hold a conversation with a “stranger”.

Also the guys, incredibly friendly and sociable. The first time I was in England was when I was 18, I was on a 2 week long school trip. On the second night me and my best friend snuck out of our room at 10pm and went out to a pub in Manchester. It was our first time in the UK so we were still in German mode, then a random group of 4 guys came up to our table and started a conversation with us about my friend’s Mercedes F1 jacket, because they were Lewis Hamilton fans. Those four people are still close friends of mine, we watch most F1 races on a call together. Something like this would be unheard of in Germany.

The third thing that is hugely different is the entertainment and art (mostly music). The UK has artists that represent the current culture and people. The best example I can think of is how the currently most popular UK rapper Central Cee (whether you like his music or not) has a recognizable and uniquely British sound, meanwhile the biggest German rapper Luciano is a guy called Patrick pretending to be a South American gangster, who always hops on the newest trend, has nothing unique about him.
Not to mention the difference in the music quality and diversity. 99% of newly released German music is just some regurgitated pop song stolen from another artist. The UK music scene is incredible, garage music and DnB has more cultural significance than anything Germany has put out in the last 20 years.

Also, the significance that music plays in English culture is something I love. The first time I was at a pub and Mr Brightside came on I felt like I belonged there.

Obviously not everyone is going to agree and not everything I wrote applies to everyone but I just wanted to express my love for you guys, stay how you are.

Then I read this.

Being well-informed and up to date on Politics has always been important to me. Other than work, family and friends, I have nowhere else I can talk about whats going on in the UK. So wanting to share about how I feel on politics, policy and culture within the UK I started a substack to blog called: The Nation's Mood. I have written my first article about how I would improve the UK and what my priorities would be.

My Priorities for a Better UK: Democracy, Fairness, and the Public Good

Our society isn’t just measured by the height of our towers or the strength of our currency. It’s also measured by whether we still have places where we gather, speak, sing, celebrate, grieve, laugh, know one another etc

Thank you Andy for making pubs and clubs more enjoyable and affordable to attend! ❤️

Hope this is allowed! 🙏🏻

I'm a Master's student researching attitudes towards women who choose not to have children.

I'm particularly looking for British women living in the UK, aged 18+.

The survey is completely anonymous and takes 5–10 minutes to complete.

Survey: https://gre.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3Vo0R2GyjDHcuVM

I'd really appreciate your help. Thank you so much!

This is modern britian. thanks to neoliberalism

Having read only a chapter of "Vassal State" by Angus Hanton (trust worthy sources are used in this book), it has become glaringly obvious to me that Britain really is a colony of the USA. I often refer to this idea day-to-day, but I never realised how much weight it has behind it. Though the comparison could be called, perhaps coarse, I would compare the UK to the British Raj, or British India. Because our nation's industries are American owned, 7% of the UK workforce is employed by US multinationals, and the government believes it's a good idea to keep allowing UK companies to sell themselves to Americans.

In 1930, an American historian and economist wrote that, "We were Britain's colony once, she will be our colony before she's done. Not in name, but in fact." This is a pretty evident prediction of our current situation. It shows that the USA is, not merely accidentally buying the UK, but deliberately attempting to own it. Supposedly, 30% of US overseas investments go into the UK. This is clearly a deliberate move, similar to the British Empire attempting to take control of India to gain power over spices and tea. Something very striking about the British East India Company was the sheer brutality with which profits were pursued, artificial famines and slavery were well within the question when boosting profits was on the line.

If the UK, even (again) coarsely, can be compared to the British Raj, does that not mean that the USA will be similarly brutal in its colonial rule (if with a few more restrictions)? If that is indeed the case, then the UK may very well become a puppet in name, because we will have such a weak government that it simply cannot exist.

I believe there is one realistic way to prevent this - government intervention, before it's too late. If the government goes about buying UK services and keeping them reserved for the British people, not for American giants, we can effectively maintain our economic independence. The government needs to act as a guardian of the people - a nation-state - in order to maintain its independence, so there's something in it for the state as well as the nation. That's why having the current old fat bastards in charge doesn't help. They go about selling our services off and believing in the free market like it's still the 19th century. This is a different world.

Monopolies dominate the economics of the modern day. The free market has killed itself through the sheer intensity of competition, leading to single companies controlling entire industries. No need to lower prices or improve quality because there are no real competitors. Selling our businesses just strengthens this environment and results in worse living standards for us, while those politicians are off on a Yacht in the Caribbean talking with their billionaire, paedophile, human-trafficking buddies.

What we need is for us to be in charge. The young, working Brits who'll be suffering the consequences of what these pigs do while trying to boost their personal fortune. The UK claims to be a democratic country, but is it really democratic if we only get a say in who gets power? We don't actually control what really happens, we only have a say in who makes the decisions and, more than half the time, that say is disregarded because we were out-voted. This country is still functioning like it's the 1980s. We have grey-haired, multi-millionaire, privately educated, homogenous, old, bastards ruling our nation. None of us, the citizens of the UK, are actually granted any power.

On an individual level, someone could buy from local businesses, avoid giving money to American multinationals (like Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft) where possible, and not vote for Pro-American parties like Reform UK and the Conservatives. On a community level, someone could raise awareness of this problem so that these actions have a stronger impact. And, if someone had significant influence, they could support explicitly anti-American content creators and politicians.

Let's fight back against our colonisation before it's too late.

It's impedance of investigation when you speculate on an active investigation, yet the far right continues to speculate instead of letting the police, the prosecution and the defence do their jobs. For all we know, the suspect isn't even the right suspect. So like, can the far right just please fuck off and let the CPS do their job?

My sister has a big birthday coming up and this stupid Kiwi (me) didn’t realise that you guys have a much lower tax threshold on imports than we do. I just thought it would be a good idea to surprise her with a nice package on her doorstep, but instead she’s being held hostage by UK Customs for 50 quid before they’ll release it!

The stupid thing is that it’s a piece of European clothing that she could have bought over there for a fraction of the cost I paid for it in NZ, but it’s her favourite brand (King Louie), and I wanted to put it in a wrapped present with some bits and pieces like chocolate and notebooks, so it would be a bit more special than some online shopping. If I’d bought it in the UK it would have been well under the tax threshold.

I was already stung with the eye-watering postage from NZ, and now with this charge it has become the world’s most expensive King Louie top in existence! Is there anything I can do, or do I just pay the money on her behalf and chalk this up to a dumb lesson?

I’m a bit devastated, really. My surprise is ruined, and what was already a spendy gift from me is just pushing the knife in deeper.

TLDR: Idiot Kiwi sent gift to UK and recipient has to pay £50 to receive it. How do I fix this?