Maybe I just like getting angry
Red top magazines

You must wear this or no-one will like you! Look, this person has some FAT! OOohh, someone has made a new bag!

The Daily Mail

Paedophiles! Princess Diana! Bloody lazy ass immigrants coming over here stealing our jobs and, erm, scamming our benefits system AT THE SAME TIME

TV Shopping channels

Diamonalikeique for just 7 easy payments of £368.46... And the quilted, embellished jacket/bed/mirror - why all the embellishment? Have your eyes stopped working for anything other than layer after layer of gold-ish?

I hate them all, and everything they represent, but I am drawn, nay compelled, to engage myself with them. I can sniff out a copy of the Wail from a room away and *have* to read it, just so I can start swearing at it. I actually get quite excited if I find a copy on a train or something, as I anticipate the bubbling rage I will allow myself to nurture for the duration of the reading.

I always feel quite soiled afterwards though.
(ancrenne is very unavailable, Mon 17 Mar 2008, 13:13, closed)

Daily Hate Mail
I kinda do the same. If I see one lying about, I'm engrossed. I enjoy the anger and feeling superior...
( Enzyme is in ur [noun]z, [verb]in' ur [noun]z, Mon 17 Mar 2008, 13:20, )

Wholeheartedly
agree.

I did my dissertation a couple of years back on the way the MMR vaccine controversy was reported in the media, (a dissertation that was as enthralling as it sounds), before I really knew how bad the Mail was. The sensationalist 'reporting', cunning ways of hiding facts and coerciveness in it truly shocked me.
(irv made you eat your parents in a chilli on, Mon 17 Mar 2008, 13:22, )

Daddy?
Is that you?
(Whonickedmyname Wasting time on the net since 1994., Mon 17 Mar 2008, 13:25, )

Daily Express
Diana Inquest and/or Maddie McCann and/or asylum seekers/immigrants and/or extreme weather and/or crime getting worse and/or shit offer of the week(cheap holidays to be taken on a Tuesday morning in February between 4am - 2pm)
(Maudlin McCann spreading the word of Owstwick, Mon 17 Mar 2008, 13:29, )

...
I agree with you.

I hunt out people in the office who have copies of the sun, mail, Star or any other trash media sitting on their desks, then give them down the banks.

I feel obliged to, even though its their god given right to read what ever they want.

Althoug -as you said, when they are out of the room i will have a sneaky peak, mostly to affirm my reasons.

I am fed up with the diana story - why oh why is she still being talked about!!! FFS let it rest - she died we mourned - get over it.

Try and convince one of said readers of the lies they are being told, and you get labelled a nark..
(dan, dan, dan, dan, dan, dan.....nahh he hasnt seen me, ...... DAAAANNN!!! is just on the right side of good, Mon 17 Mar 2008, 13:31, )

Daily Mail
My parents bought this until fairly recently - I asked them why...I knew for a fact that my dad had originally started to buy it just so he could rant at it. However, since he had a stroke almost three years ago he's no longer the ranty political libertarian he always was. His reply to why he still bought it? It tells me what to think about things.

My reply?

After I had recovered from the red mist, choking, spitting and bile I told him to get a quality newspaper which would at least give him a fighting chance of reading about some news and some considered opinions.

They now purchase The Times.

(I also like the Times for its T2 section - it's just like a glossy magazine - fashion tips and everything!)
( chickenlady says it's the biggest one she ever saw., Mon 17 Mar 2008, 14:05, )

Hello chickenlady
'It tells me what to think about things'

Aaaghgggghhh!

That reminds me of when my Dad actually went and bought a Carol Vorderman detox kit, 'because the advert told him it would help him'. The ad was hardly going to say, 'It's a pointless waste of money as your liver is doing all the detoxing you need, right now, for free!'

I almost had to have a lie down.

I feel it might be appropriate to mention here that my most recent ex read the Wail. There have been copies of it in my house. I knew this when we met and thought I might be able to show him a brighter, less fearful world.

It was not to be and my house is once again ranty tabloid free.
(ancrenne is very unavailable, Mon 17 Mar 2008, 14:18, )

I buy Pick me Up
Eeryone must try it. 60p, hours of fun. And Jeremy Kyle is the agony uncle.
( Madam Marlboro has the username Bert Monkeysex hostage, Mon 17 Mar 2008, 14:26, )

these titles
Are instrumental in numerous hate crimes every year, I'm sure of it. They make people into racists who would otherwise be mildly suspicious.

I once saw a headline in the Daily Mail: "Liverpool's first black lady mayor in corruption charge". Forget the corruption, she was a woman and a negro! That's the real crime.
(frankspencer, Mon 17 Mar 2008, 14:37, )

@frank
Exactly - and the readers don't see it. My ex believed every word of it (what was I thinking?!)

Just recently the Mail (sample headline, 'Polish Homosexuals Facing Persecution in Exodus to UK', choosing to ignore the reason for seeking asylum, and indeed, refusing to remember that asylum means, basically, a safe place when one is needed) has had a defamation action launched against it by the Federation of Poles in Great Britain - but, of course, it's not bigoted. Oh no.

Christ, this is anger by proxy...
(ancrenne is very unavailable, Mon 17 Mar 2008, 14:48, )

I heard a woman on TV
Say that there are too many Poles in the UK. Too many for what?

The papers would have us believe that all Polish immigrants are plumbers or builders. I don't know any. I know two lawyers, a graphic designer and a department head at an international investment bank, all of whom have master's degrees and speak English fluently. You don't hear about them in the Daily Mail.
(frankspencer, Mon 17 Mar 2008, 14:59, )

Too many for what - well said.
Similar to a comment by one female colleague about another, 'She has the perfect figure' to which I replied, 'Perfect for what?' My body is perfect for riding my bike, and doing all the other things I need it to. It's not perfect at looking like an air headed retouched dolly who values herself in accordance to the value others place of her appearance, but then - well, I wouldn't want it to be 'cos that's not me.

Back to the original rant, apparently here in Southampton, 1 in 10 of the population is now Polish. The Poles I know do everything from run their own businesses, work for the water company doing clever science in labs, to doing farm labour - which the locals won't touch - and build entire houses in a matter of days. Can't see a problem myself...
(ancrenne is very unavailable, Mon 17 Mar 2008, 15:10, )

Too many Poles?
No there aren't. The problem is that there are too many people in the UK, England especially, and the South East in particular.

Not specifically incomers, just people in general. In fact, many of the recent wave of immigrants are harder working and better educated than our native populace, and thus contribute more to UK society. The problem is that this is a small island, and it's getting a bit crowded.

I say we ship out the chavs, bludgers and ne-er do wells to some uninhabited landmass on the other side of the world and see what happens.

Oh, wait, has that maybe been tried before?
( K2k6 is haemorrhaging money on, Mon 17 Mar 2008, 15:11, )

The other week it had a headline
about there being Too many Polish Babies being born in the UK.

I can't even begin to get my head around that one.

They're BABIES FFS!

And you'd have thought it would be far, far more acceptable to the Mail readers as these babies are white!


I can feel my blood pressure going up just thinking about it.

Bigots.
( chickenlady says it's the biggest one she ever saw., Mon 17 Mar 2008, 15:13, )

Too many people
Exactly! There are far too many people in the UK - PEOPLE...not too many Poles, Asians, Blacks, Greens (ha!) or any other racial group. Just too many bloody people!

Ship 'em all off somewhere and give the South East over to kittens I say.
( chickenlady says it's the biggest one she ever saw., Mon 17 Mar 2008, 15:15, )

K2K6 (and, edit, Chickenlady)
I don't think I've ever disagreed with you before, but I just don't buy the 'there are too many people' argument.

There are too many people who want bigger houses and at least one vehicle each (loads of my friends seem to have two each - madness) and the newest shiniest stuff, and they want to travel everywhere by car 'because it's safer' rather than be anywhere near other people - and they live alongside empty properties; a criminal waste of resources.

This is still a very green (as in not all concreted over yet) and fertile land - if people stopped wanting more, more, more all the time there'd be plenty to go around...
(ancrenne is very unavailable, Mon 17 Mar 2008, 15:18, )

^this^
"Too many people" makes no sense at all. The UK birthrate is at about 1.8 per couple, and the demographic timebomb means I'll have to work until I'm 70, and probably get no state pension even then.

My favourite line is that one of Blunkett's about immigrants "swamping" schools. So muc more politically savvy than "we aren't spending enough on education"...
( Enzyme is in ur [noun]z, [verb]in' ur [noun]z, Mon 17 Mar 2008, 15:25, )

@ancrenne
OK, maybe I'm just a bit misanthropic at times, but every time I go to the south of England I'm always irritated that you can't go anywhere without being in crowds of people. This is of course just a personal viewpoint.

The thing about wanting more is human nature. Everyone wants what is best for them, and that is often perceived as the desire to own stuff. It's greed, yes, but it is also the driving force for business and commerce. And while many may despise capitalism, which undoubtedly has its flaws, it is surely better than the misery of communism.
( K2k6 is haemorrhaging money on, Mon 17 Mar 2008, 15:29, )

I don't believe it's human nature to want more
I believe it's human nature to want enough. I believe capitalism has taught people to want 'more'. It teaches competition and the associated drive for bigger/better/faster/more - and yes, that does underpin economic growth and all that here, but there's more to political choice than capitalism/communism.

I think if people, everyone, 'chavs' and all, were taught to value themselves for who they are not for what they own, the world would be a nicer, happier place and people wouldn't 'need' the props of consumer goods (and the associated jobs they hate but feel they ought to have to help them pay the bills) to prove themselves - and (to pre-empt any 'but some people will always be greedy) I think that to suppose that 'other' people wouldn't behave in a particular way might be considered to be elitist...

Oh - and k2k6 - I hate crowded places too. So I don't go to to them. Problem solved!
(ancrenne is very unavailable, Mon 17 Mar 2008, 15:37, )

I lived in Poland for four years
And I don't blame a million of them for coming over here. Their country is just a shell. Economically bankrupt, politically corrupt, morally fascistic and hideously polluted for the most part. Nepotism is rife, sexism and homophobia are institutionalised. And 50% of the population has a masters degree.

Tough choice.
(frankspencer, Mon 17 Mar 2008, 15:38, )

"Economically bankrupt, politically corrupt, morally fascistic and hideously polluted for the most part. Nepotism is rife, sexism and homophobia are institutionalised"

Ah.....home sweet home...

Now who's going to join me in a chorus of 'Rule Britannia'?
( Pooflake ...time of death, Mon 17 Mar 2008, 16:45, )

K2K6
"Too many Poles? No there aren't. The problem is that there are too many people in the UK, England especially, and the South East in particular."

Amen to that.

The UK is a predominantly rural small country, we have 60m inhabitants. We can't provide the social obligations, transport infrastructure or affordable housing for those who are already here, let alone the rapidly multiplying masses. If our politicians knew what the fuck they were doing, we'd have more homes with better access and better infrastructure.

Does that make me racist?

Hell no. Migrants of many nationalities have come to the UK to work, to better themselves and to exploit a niche in the market that the natives can't provide. Can't blame 'em for that and indeed I'm grateful when my car is competantly serviced for half the usual cost! Do they want to change our way of life? No. Do they object to learning the language? No. This is true for the vast majority of immigrants living and working in the UK.

Our politicians on the other hand have opened the floodgates for short term gain without a thought to how these folks are going to be housed, transported and cared for by the system they are contributing to. That is why the South East is packed to the gunwales and the rest of the UK is burdened with sky high taxes, spiralling local government costs, falling literacy, stagnant social mobility, ludicrously expensive housing, third world public transport and absolutely no fucking money in the pot for our pensions in 40 years time.

Those issues are the big issues facing Britons today and none of them are the fault of immigrants.

Still, got to laugh eh?
(PJM Per effluvia, ad astra, Mon 17 Mar 2008, 16:51, )

Agreed
That there are areas in the UK which are empty...but as pointed out above - there is a huge amount of underspending in the general infrastructure in the UK. More people coming in (regardless of whether they're Poles or whatever) is ideal in many ways because we need more people to keep our ageing population in our service economy. However, building more and more houses around Ashford in Kent - where John Prescott planned to put a good few thousand, along with filling up more of the M2/M25 corridor is not a good idea. Not when A&E departments are being closed down so services can be 'centralised' - for example.

I don't have the slightest problem with more people coming to the UK - but it would be better for everyone concerned it the population was a little more spread out.

I agree with the remark about avoiding crowded places if you don't like them....but try living in the South East...unless you retreat to your home, do all your shopping online and never venture out...the crowds are unavoidable.

And as a small aside - a few years ago I went to Montana, USA - the population for the entire state (which is larger than the UK) is around the same as the population of Kent.

I don't have a solution to this - I think we're stuck in a real catch 22 - we need a large workforce but we haven't sorted out where everyone is going to go just yet.
( chickenlady says it's the biggest one she ever saw., Mon 17 Mar 2008, 17:07, )

I think I might live in the South East...
...depending on who draws the line where down the middle of the UK, as I'm in Southampton. There are plans to build another 80,000 houses along the urban stretch of the South Coast, an area which will include hereabouts.

To be honest, I *do* do most of my shopping online - not that I do much shopping - as it suits me. And while I certainly do venture out, regularly and frequently, I've never enjoyed wandering round shopping centres (the fact that I think they are joyless yawning chasms of encouragement to debt might have something to do with that) or city centres or going to crowded clubs or hectic pubs or anywhere that's rammed with people so it's no great shakes to miss out on those sorts of places. The places I like, by their very nature, are quieter.
(ancrenne is very unavailable, Mon 17 Mar 2008, 19:56, )

Best quote about the Gaily Fail
We have a selection of "Quality" papers in work every day, so that we can see if any of our products are either being praised or slagged. ( I work for a Company that markets toiletries)
I therefore have to scan the mail every day for work purposes. A shitty job but somebody has to do it.

I was mentioning this hatred of the Daily Mail to the wife of a lass who the missus knows.
She replied in posh tones "My Mother Reads The Daily Mail"

Then quickly qualified it with "But she doesn't believe a word about what they say about Gays and Lesbians any more"

Priceless
(109 Estate Seen it, Done it, can't remember any of it, Mon 17 Mar 2008, 23:51, )

You had me at
"bubbling rage"

*Click*
( Ultimate Cakes & Sweets just got meself a new Vestax PMC-05 SL VCA - woo!, Tue 18 Mar 2008, 0:09, )

Overpopulated
I always like to think that I'm doing my bit for the overpopulation of the country (and indeed, the world) - by not having any kids. More people should try it. I've long held the belief that most (and I stress, MOST) people that have children fall into three categories - those that really want them and will be damned good parents as a result; those that have them because it's expected of them to carry on the family name; and those who are just too fucking stupid to know any better.

Just my personal opinion, mind. But the number of times I've been asked when I'm going to start a family and then been stared at incredulously when my response has been "never" really, REALLY boils my piss. Why on earth would I want to inflict this high-cost, over-polluted, overcrowded and over-taxed country on some poor, helpless little person?

Some people I talk to about this just don't get my thinking on the subject. So I try to spell it out for them:

- I don't want children because I hold absolutely no paternal ambitions or desires. I don't feel the need to perpetuate myself through offspring.

- I am also acutely aware of the fact that I'd be a shit parent. I'm very aware of my limitations in that department, and so I wouldn't want to inflict crap parenting skills on any offspring.

Erm, I'll stop now - I can feel the nappy brigade getting all indignant. Can I just say, though, that I don't hate children - I just have no desire to have any of my own. Why is that so hard for some people to accept?
( Davros' Granddad Church of B3ta (QOTW denomination), Tue 18 Mar 2008, 10:45, )

'ning Davros
I think it's because a lot of people have absorbed the social conditioning (a lot of) western society and media pump out as the unequivocal truth. People are not taught to question things or think for themselves, they are taught that there *is* such a defined and specific thing as 'a perfect life' that we can all aspire to and it involves kids, garages, orange tans, shiny belongings - and everyone needing to conform within it.

People who don't conform often surprise those who do as those people just don't understand how they can be different. I have a friend, one of 8 daughters, who similar to you, has no desire to have kids. Her child bearing sisters just *don't* get it - and take it almost as a personal insult or judgement. They seem to think that she sees herself as better than them for not breeding and so they react against that perceived slight.

Some people can only feel safe in the world if everyone is like them - whether that's colour/race/sexuality/ideology/breeding status whatever. Personally, I don't think fear of difference is a good philosophy to base my life on but a lot of people do.
(ancrenne is very unavailable, Tue 18 Mar 2008, 11:11, )

' ning ancrenne
Just about sums it up, I think.

As someone on here once said, anybody can have kids, it takes a special kind of person not to.
( Davros' Granddad Church of B3ta (QOTW denomination), Tue 18 Mar 2008, 12:00, )

@Davros
and others of course - yay to the right thinking ness of a certain breed of b3tards :)
(ancrenne is very unavailable, Tue 18 Mar 2008, 12:36, )

If only this would be done to the Wail as well
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7303801.stm
(ancrenne is very unavailable, Wed 19 Mar 2008, 9:21, )