BRFR Cake Stop 'breaking news' miscellany

[AndyRM]

A bit more context doesn't make it make any more sense.

View attachment 17468

It's really a thing you either get or you don't.

The truly sad thing is that it's so ingrained in certain areas, and I mean passed down through generations, that sectarianism isn't going anywhere.

 

[Rusty Nails]

Oh yes, those, and completely not understanding how tribalism has such a strong grip on even vaguely educated people and societies. I feel like I must be missing a gene, so complete is my incomprehension.

At the end of the day we are just animals, hopefully a bit more civilised than our ancestors, but still animals. Life and society is a constant battle between good and bad plus mine and yours.

 

[briantrumpet]

I'm not sure that this context helps much, but it might be fair comment.

🤷🏼‍♂️

 

[AndyRM]

I'm not sure that this context helps much, but it might be fair comment.

🤷🏼‍♂️

View attachment 17469

Pretty much. They're not going to stop because of the time of year. I had actually forgotten they march this late, it's usually June/July for marching season.

If you get into the Freemason ties that's when the fun really starts.

 

[Rusty Nails]

In the late 60s/early 70s I used to work in IT with a lad from Belfast, ordinarily a great bloke and not overtly religious at all, but every few weeks he would go back to Belfast to take part in the riots with his mates.

Can't say I understand it but it does show how insidious sectarianism/ tribalism can be.

 

[FishFright]

I'm unsure if it has anything to do with religion (Catholic vs Protestant). I suspect it's just tribalism, in the same way as people can't live peacefully with muslims or LGBTQ+ or Gender dysphoria, etc.

Or even the people from the next town over .

 

[AndyRM]

Or even the next town over sometimes .

It's true. I often go to Tynemouth from North Shields just to smash things up a bit. Posh f*ckers.

 

[briantrumpet]

God, they are so desperate to get people utterly hooked on their always-on AI drug. They are going to use 'cuteness' next, as the perv glasses are rightly being perceived for what they are. This attempt is like putting drugs in sweets to get kids hooked.

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion...y-packed-muse-harnesses-the-power-of-cuteness

 

[briantrumpet]

Normal Neidle warning, but if you remember that report a week or two ago that giving 20% VAT rebates to foreign tourists' purchases would raise £2.6bn for the UK, it seems to be based on wildly inflated figures produced for the funders of the report.... luxury goods retailers.

https://taxpolicy.org.uk/2026/09/28/vat-free-shopping-cebr/

The retail lobby wants tourists to be able to claim a VAT refund for their UK shopping. So they commissioned Cebr to produce a report claiming it would deliver a multi-billion pound boost to the Exchequer. It convinced Sadiq Khan and Kemi Badenoch. But we rebuilt their model and found four fatal errors – once fixed, their model shows a huge loss.

 

[PurplePenguin]

Normal Neidle warning, but if you remember that report a week or two ago that giving 20% VAT rebates to foreign tourists' purchases would raise £2.6bn for the UK, it seems to be based on wildly inflated figures produced for the funders of the report.... luxury goods retailers.

https://taxpolicy.org.uk/2026/09/28/vat-free-shopping-cebr/

Is that a another Brexit upside?

 

[PurplePenguin]

We've lost our resident reporter, @TailWindHome, since a spat on the EU thread in June.

After weeks of arguing with the resident MAGA fan, apparently it was me that pushed him over the edge.

 

[briantrumpet]

After weeks of arguing with the resident MAGA fan, apparently it was me that pushed him over the edge.

Yeah, his departure was a bit Chasey-ish, all guns blazing and everyone else going "WTF?" Didn't remember that tendency in Cake Stop despite provocation over Northern Ireland (not from you).

 

[AndyRM]

After weeks of arguing with the resident MAGA fan, apparently it was me that pushed him over the edge.

What an achievement.

 

[Psamathe]

Yeah, his departure was a bit Chasey-ish, all guns blazing and everyone else going "WTF?" Didn't remember that tendency in Cake Stop despite provocation over Northern Ireland (not from you).

And thanks to the wonders of "Ignore" I missed it all.

Though I do wonder if he's back. But now with Trűmpton having completely gone off the rails, without the MAGA obsession.

 

[briantrumpet]

And thanks to the wonders of "Ignore" I missed it all.

Though I do wonder if he's back. But now with Trűmpton having completely gone off the rails, without the MAGA obsession.

It's a pity, as he used to be a useful (and reasonable) poster reminding Cake Stop that NI shouldn't be ignored (and couldn't be ignored for Brexit). It rather felt that MAGA Andy broke him, but maybe I'm misremembering.