unputdownable

Goosebumps. For all its faults, Western Christian culture is still worth defending.

Oh bless, you sweet summer child

Homer had a lyre. You have Grok Imagine. Create a compelling scene from Homer’s The Odyssey that shows what Grok @Imagine’s video and voice capabilities can do. We’re awarding $100K, $50K, and $25K to the top three videos submitted by quoting this post. 🧵

Imagine being told back in the 90s, when you were reading The Quantity Theory of Insanity, that in thirty years Will Self would be publicly appealing for journalists to be arrested for exposing fraud in academia.

After the death of Jason Arday, Will Self asks what happens when newspapers, platforms, editors and audiences become components in a machine nobody admits to controlling. The public interest is not the same thing as the public being interested.

What has gradually disappeared over the last 10 years without people really noticing?

🚨BREAKING: An emergency has now been declared in the Spanish city of Ceuta after tens of thousands of illegal migrants break in from Morocco Pedro Sánchez is REFUSING to deploy the military to defend the borders. 🇪🇸

Without Britain, none of these would exist... The English language The Latin alphabet English spelling (pre-Webster) English grammar The common law system Trial by jury Habeas corpus The presumption of innocence Due process The right to a fair trial The adversarial court system Judges in robes The gavel Legal precedent Stare decisis Property law Contract law Tort law Estate law Wills Power of attorney Land titles Deeds The Magna Carta tradition The Bill of Rights concept Parliamentary procedure Robert's Rules of Order Bicameral legislatures The Senate (modelled on the House of Lords) The Speaker of the House role The filibuster Committees Hansard-style records The loyal opposition concept Separation of powers (via Locke and Montesquieu, but English tradition) The Westminster system as a starting point Christianity as the dominant faith The Protestant work ethic The King James Bible Methodism Quakerism Baptism Anglicanism (became the Episcopal Church) Presbyterianism Congregationalism Puritanism Sunday as a day of rest Church weddings Christian burial traditions Christmas Easter Christmas trees (via Germany via Victoria, but arrived through Britain) Christmas carols Mince pies Christmas pudding (mostly forgotten but exists) Father Christmas (became Santa Claus) Easter eggs Hot cross buns Wedding rings White wedding dresses (Victoria again) The bouquet toss The wedding cake Bridesmaids Best man Funeral wreaths Tombstones The handshake Saying "please" and "thank you" Standing for elders Holding doors open Queueing (badly) "How do you do" as a greeting First names and surnames in that order The "Junior" and "III" naming convention Titles like Mr, Mrs, Miss Doctor as a title Reverend Honourable The handshake on a deal Signing contracts Witnesses on documents Notaries Public schools (the concept) Universities Colleges Harvard (founded by Cambridge graduates) Yale, Princeton, Columbia (all British colonial) Caps and gowns at graduation Mortarboards Honorary degrees The PhD Fraternities and sororities (Greek, but via Oxbridge clubs) Boarding schools House systems in schools School uniforms Class prefects (residual) The three-term academic year Recess Detention Spelling bees (British origin) Reading, writing, arithmetic The blackboard Cursive handwriting Letter writing The postal service Stamps Mailboxes Addresses with house numbers Streets named after things Pubs (became bars and taverns) Inns Tea Coffee houses (originally a London thing) Beer Ale Whisky tradition (Scottish/Irish) Gin Cider Pub games Darts Billiards Snooker (kind of) Pool tables Card games Whist Bridge Poker (debatable but English roots) Chess (via Britain) Cricket (briefly, before baseball ate it) Baseball (descended from rounders and cricket) Football (the rugby version, which became American football) Rugby Soccer (the word and the game) Tennis Golf Horse racing Foxhunting (briefly) Boxing (Queensberry rules) Wrestling Rowing Sailing Yachting Pigeon racing Dog shows Crufts-style breed standards Most dog breeds Sheepdogs Foxhounds Beagles Bulldogs Most cat breeds Horse breeds Thoroughbreds The Derby Sunday roast Roast beef Roast chicken Roast potatoes Yorkshire pudding (vanished) Gravy Stuffing Pies (the savoury kind, mostly mutated) Pot pie Shepherd's pie Apple pie (English originally) Pumpkin pie (English roots, American twist) Mince pies Custard Trifle Pudding (the word) Cookies (called biscuits) Cakes Sponge cake Pound cake Fruit cake Sandwiches The Earl of Sandwich Toast Marmalade Jam Preserves Pickles (via Britain) Mustard Worcestershire sauce HP sauce (limited) Salt and vinegar (chips) Fish and chips (became "fish fry") Chips (became fries) Crisps (became chips) Bacon Sausages Black pudding (vanished) Bangers and mash (vanished) Bread and butter pudding Porridge (became oatmeal) The English breakfast (became "American breakfast" in modified form) Scones (became biscuits) Muffins (became English muffins) Crumpets (sort of) Tea cakes Buns Loaves Sourdough (English roots, not just San Francisco) The pub Sunday lunch concept Fish on Friday Bank holidays (became federal holidays) Sunday trading laws (residual blue laws) Thanksgiving (Puritan harvest festival) Halloween (Celtic via Britain via Ireland) Bonfire night (vanished) Guy Fawkes (vanished but the V mask remains) May Day (residual) Boxing Day (vanished) New Year's Eve traditions Auld Lang Syne (Scottish) Mother's Day (English origin, US adaptation) Father's Day (similar) Valentine's Day (English custom) April Fool's Day Saint Patrick's Day (Irish via UK union) The pound (as a weight) The mile The foot The inch The yard The acre The gallon (different gallon, but inherited) Fahrenheit (German via Britain) The 12-hour clock with AM/PM Common time signatures in music Sheet music notation The piano (via Europe via Britain) Brass bands Marching bands Christmas carols Hymns Folk music tradition Ballads Sea shanties Nursery rhymes Mother Goose Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Mary Had a Little Lamb Humpty Dumpty Jack and Jill London Bridge Ring a Ring o' Roses Fairy tales Robin Hood King Arthur Beowulf (academic) Shakespeare Chaucer Dickens The novel as a form The detective novel (Conan Doyle) Sherlock Holmes The English country house mystery The school story The adventure novel Treasure Island Robinson Crusoe Gulliver's Travels Alice in Wonderland Peter Pan The Wind in the Willows Winnie the Pooh Mary Poppins Christopher Robin Beatrix Potter Roald Dahl (post-WWII but huge) The pantomime tradition (vanished mostly) Music hall (became vaudeville) Vaudeville (Anglo-French) The variety show Stand-up comedy roots The sitcom format Punch magazine humour Political cartoons The cartoon strip The newspaper The broadsheet The tabloid Editorial pages Letters to the editor Op-eds Crossword puzzles (American invention but English wordplay roots) The Times-style serif typography Garamond, Times New Roman, Caslon — English/European typefaces The hardcover book The paperback Public libraries The Dewey Decimal System (American but library tradition is English) Bookstores The university press Academic journals Peer review The scientific method (English/European) The Royal Society tradition (became American Philosophical Society etc) Most named scientific units (Newton, Watt, Kelvin, Faraday) Newton's laws Darwin's theory of evolution Most basic chemistry nomenclature Most basic physics nomenclature The metric system rejection (uniquely shared with Britain… until Britain switched) Engineering tradition The steam engine (became railroads) Railroads The locomotive The train station The platform The ticket inspector Steamships Ocean liners The merchant navy concept Lighthouses Lifeboats Coastguards The Royal Navy tradition (became US Navy structure) Naval ranks Army ranks Military uniforms (red coats aside) The salute The drill sergeant Boot camp concept West Point modelled on Sandhurst Annapolis modelled on naval colleges Military bands Bagpipes (in some regiments) The bugle call Reveille Taps (American but British camp roots) The 21-gun salute Trooping the colour (residual ceremonial) The Marine Corps tradition Most ranks: Private, Corporal, Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Colonel, General Court-martial Articles of war The Geneva Convention adherence The chain of command Saluting the flag The flag itself (Stars and Stripes — derived from British East India Company flag, debated) Pledges of allegiance National anthems sung at events (To Anacreon in Heaven was a London tune) The Star Spangled Banner's tune is English "America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)" uses "God Save the King" The Boy Scouts (Baden-Powell) The Girl Guides (became Girl Scouts) The Salvation Army The YMCA (English origin) The YWCA Rotary Clubs (American but masonic English roots) Freemasonry The Order of Odd Fellows Banking (modern banking is English/Italian via Britain) The bank cheque Promissory notes Stock exchanges The corporation Limited liability Joint stock companies Insurance (Lloyd's of London) Marine insurance Life insurance The mortgage Rent Leases Tenancies Landlords Real estate The auction Estate agents (became realtors) Auctioneers Stock tickers (American but City of London style) Banker's hours Double-entry bookkeeping (Italian but via Britain) Audit Chartered accountants The financial year Tax law structure Income tax (British invention, 1799) Tariffs Customs Excise Stamp duty The cabinet system The Speaker of the House The Lord Speaker → Senate President pro tempore The Whip system Cabinet ministers Departments of state The Treasury The Foreign Office (became State Department) The Home Office concept The civil service The bureaucracy The mayor The town council The county The sheriff The constable The bailiff The coroner The magistrate The justice of the peace The grand jury The petit jury Indictments Subpoenas Warrants Habeas corpus The bench The bar Barristers and solicitors merged into "lawyers" or "attorneys" Wigs (briefly, then dropped) The black robe The witness stand Swearing on the Bible "I do solemnly swear" Marriage vows "I do" The honeymoon The bridal veil The bouquet The garter toss Horseshoes for luck Throwing rice Tying cans to cars Saying "I love you" Greeting cards Christmas cards (English invention, 1843) Birthday cards Get well cards Postcards The fountain pen The ballpoint (Hungarian via Britain) The typewriter (American but English keyboard layout) QWERTY (American actually, but for English) The dictionary (Johnson's, then Webster's adaptation) The encyclopedia (Britannica) The thesaurus (Roget) Grammar textbooks Spelling rules Cursive script Italics Bold type Punctuation conventions The semicolon The colon The full stop (period) Quotation marks Apostrophes Most idioms in American English "Raining cats and dogs" "Spill the beans" "Bite the bullet" "Break the ice" "Cost an arm and a leg" "Once in a blue moon" Most proverbs Most riddles Most jokes structures Knock-knock jokes (English origin) Most card game vocabulary Most pub vocabulary The word "OK" (debated, but English roots) The phrase "All right" Cheers as a toast The toast tradition itself Champagne for celebrations (French via England) Wine traditions Port and sherry (gone) Sundowners (gone, mostly) The cocktail (English/American hybrid) The cocktail party The dinner party The hostess The toastmaster Speeches at events Eulogies The wake Mourning clothes Black at funerals White at weddings Confetti The bouquet Bunting at parties Streamers Balloons (rubber tech, but party use is British) Fireworks (Chinese, but British public use) 4th of July fireworks (replaced Bonfire Night) The parade tradition Marching bands The Mayor's parade Floats The town hall meeting The village green concept (became "the commons") The town square The courthouse on the square The clock tower Church steeples Sunday morning church bells The wedding peal The funeral toll The vicarage (became parsonage) The parish system (residual) Sunday school Bible study groups Hymn books Pews Pulpits Stained glass windows Gothic architecture in churches Neoclassical architecture (via Britain via Greece/Rome) Georgian architecture Victorian architecture The white picket fence (English garden tradition) The lawn The hedge The garden Garden parties The greenhouse Allotments (residual, "community gardens") Lawnmowers Garden gnomes (German via Britain) Hedge mazes Topiary Ivy on walls Ivy League itself (the ivy tradition) The college campus quadrangle The cloister The chapel The dining hall The refectory High table (vanished) College colours College mottos in Latin The class ring tradition The tassel The valedictorian The salutatorian "Pomp and Circumstance" (Elgar) at graduations Most ceremonial music "Auld Lang Syne" at New Year "Happy Birthday" derivatives Most lullabies Most folk dances Square dancing (English country dancing) Maypole dancing (vanished) Morris dancing (vanished) The waltz (Austrian via Britain) Ballet (French/Italian via Britain) Opera (Italian via Britain) The orchestra The conductor The string quartet The choir The choirmaster The organist Cathedral music tradition Boys' choirs Hymn singing Congregational singing The Christmas carol service Lessons and carols The advent calendar (German via Britain) Advent wreaths The Christmas stocking Mistletoe Holly and ivy The Yule log Father Christmas (Santa via Coca-Cola but English roots) Christmas pudding Christmas crackers (vanished mostly) Pulling crackers (vanished) The paper crown (vanished) Cracker jokes (vanished) The Queen's Speech (vanished, replaced by State of the Union) Trooping the Colour (replaced by July 4 parades) Most parliamentary terminology Most legal terminology Most academic terminology Most ceremonial terminology Most aristocratic terminology (residual in some Southern states) The plantation system (English colonial) Slavery's legal framework (English colonial law) Indentured servitude The land grant The patent system Copyright (Statute of Anne, 1710) Trademark law Intellectual property concept The press freedom principle The free speech tradition Freedom of religion (Puritan dissent) Freedom of assembly The right to petition The right to bear arms (English Bill of Rights 1689) Trial by peers "Innocent until proven guilty" Burden of proof Reasonable doubt The Miranda warning structure (American but rights are English) The arrest The booking The mugshot The fingerprint (English science) Forensics (British origin) Sherlock Holmes-style detection Scotland Yard imitations (FBI, etc.) Police forces themselves (Robert Peel) "Cops" (from "coppers", British slang) The beat The patrol The night watch The constable The detective Plain-clothes officers The detective novel The thriller The spy novel (le Carré, Fleming) James Bond Most spy tradecraft language "MI6"-style intelligence framing (CIA modelled partly) The Special Relationship itself NATO membership tradition The United Nations (Anglo-American framework) The League of Nations before it International law tradition Diplomatic protocol Embassies Ambassadors Consuls Diplomatic immunity The State visit The 21-gun salute The red carpet The receiving line The official photograph The official portrait The Oval Office desk (Resolute desk, gift from Queen Victoria) White House architecture (Georgian) Capitol Hill architecture (neoclassical) The Supreme Court building (neoclassical) The Lincoln Memorial style (Greek revival via Britain) The Washington Monument (obelisk, via Britain via Egypt) Most monumental architecture before 1930 Cathedrals modelled on English ones The cemetery as a park (Victorian invention) Gravestones in English style Latin epitaphs Stone angels The mausoleum The crypt The grave plot The funeral procession The hearse Black ribbons Half-mast flags Memorial services The eulogy The 21-gun salute at military funerals "Taps" at military funerals (American melody, British practice) The folded flag presentation The white glove tradition The dress uniform The medal The ribbon bar Knighthoods (rejected) → Medal of Honor (kept the spirit) The Order of the Bath → Presidential Medal of Freedom structure Decorations and citations Battlefield commissions "For valour" inscriptions The Victoria Cross influenced the Medal of Honor Most military ceremonial

"My contention is that prior to the Trojan war, the political structures of the Greek kingdoms, especially in the island territories could most aptly be characterized as... Ofc that's your contention. You're a young aristocrat who just finished listening to some wandering poet, probably that hack from Pylos. You'll be convinced of that until next month when you hear the bard from Sparta. Then you'll be taking about how the kingdoms of Mycenae and Thebes were models of divine rulership back in our grandfathers' time. That will last until next year when you're back to regurgitating Mentor's speeches about the sacred bonds between king and people and the divine right of succession. "Well as a matter of fact I won't because Mentor completely overlooks the importance of... "Mentor completely overlooks the importance of the council of elders in tempering royal authority, especially in matters of inheritance..." you got that from Halitherses' speech at last year's spring festival, right? Yeah, I heard that too. Were you going to plagiarize the whole thing for us? Do you have any thoughts of your own on this matter? Or is that your thing. You come to a feast, quote some elder, and pawn it off as your own idea to impress Penelope and embarrass my son Telemachus?"

England is like Argentina a corrupt nation carried by the refs. Only in the US could a world cup so corrupt could happen. That 1st england goal is another dark moment to football history.

Could Nigel Farage’s political career be destroyed by a man in a bin? I was Binface-sceptic - now I’ve got the zealotry of the convert. Clacton needs to be flooded with door knockers. If all the people who oppose Farage vote for Count Binface, then he would win.