John Buckley
- Registered: 6 Oct 2013
- Posts: 615
Let me make it clear from the outset that I don’t have anything in particular against the royal family, especially Harry who certainly seems a decent guy. However, did I hear right tonight that his wife to be is to become a British citizen?
How come? I thought that first of all you had to live here for five years and after that you could then take the absurd “ Life in the UK “ test and if lucky you might then gain British citizenship. And this of course is only after you’ve completed the previously required visa applications, health checks and supplied bucket loads of evidence of income and status etc., whilst also costing an arm and a leg.
Perhaps I’ve got it all wrong and there is some special dispensation for USA luvvies?
Ok, I know that I’m only a minion and no doubt a pleb to boot, but bitter and jealous, you bet!
Anyway, good luck to the happy couple.
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Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,797
To be completely honest John.
I wish them luck but could not care less whether she becomes a citizen or not, I am already bored to death with the subject and all the gushing from press, media and man on the street's opinions.
Gosh I sound a right old grump.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Andy B
- Location: dover
- Registered: 10 Nov 2012
- Posts: 1,740
At least some good news for a change instead of the usual,Brexit,Bombings,Wars etc.
Karlos- Location: Dover
- Registered: 1 Oct 2012
- Posts: 2,475
I wanted an extra bank holiday. My boss doesn't...
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
i just wish mrs Simson would bugger of to la la land permantly.
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
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Captain Haddock
- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 7,922
........ and when itcomes to choosing material for her wedding dress Megan feels this strange compulsion to pick cotton.
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"Shall we go, you and I, while we can? Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds"
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,797
Captain Haddock wrote:........ and when itcomes to choosing material for her wedding dress Megan feels this strange compulsion to pick cotton.
That is in poor taste and certainly not funny, maybe this article was not so wide of the mark after all.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/meghan-markle-engagement-prince-harry-exposes-quiet-racism-n825516-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 7,922
What absolute rubbish. If she was of US-Italian background I would have made a joke about spaghetti. If Irish about Guiness. If Scots about haggis. What the Hell is up with people nowadays?
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"Shall we go, you and I, while we can? Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds"
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,797
Captain
Luckily in this day and age we are all allowed to have an opinion even if you happen to disagree.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 7,922
"Shall we go, you and I, while we can? Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds"
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
You have done it again Bob!!
Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 7,922
In a post-Trump, post-Weinstein, #metoo landscape, the new comedy film Battle of the Sexes, which dramatises the 1973 exhibition match between the then women’s world tennis champion, Billie Jean King, and the former men’s champion and general huckster Bobby Riggs, should be a triumph. Its themes of women’s rights, female empowerment, equal pay, inclusiveness and acceptance are as pertinent today as they were back then. It’s right on. It’s relevant. It’s all about the issues.
Unfortunately, it’s dull as hell. There’s no drama. No edge. Even though it stars some of the most dazzling comic actors of the modern era, there’s not much funny either. Instead, it’s a slowly unfolding morality tale about people going on boring emotional journeys only to arrive at a place of truth and understanding that is blindingly obvious a good two hours before the match point is served. In its desperation to deliver a fair and nuanced portrait, the characters lose any bite; even Riggs, a crass little misogynist who gambled all his winnings and his family’s loyalty in pursuit of his ego-driven antics, is portrayed by Steve Carell as a flawed but loveable loser.
The best you can say about Battle of the Sexes is that it’s completely inoffensive. And in these highly febrile times, being inoffensive is a precious commodity. But here lies the conundrum. What is funny in a newly enlightened world?
Years ago, the comedy writers Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld devised what was to become arguably the world’s most successful television comedy, Seinfeld, with a simple credo: “no hugging, no learning”. No matter what the circumstances, the characters were to remain as steadfastly myopic, self-absorbed and unaware as they were at the beginning of the show’s nine-year run. Audiences adored it: the finale drew more than 75m viewers in the US alone.
Are we too woke to laugh? Or is it that we no longer trust ourselves to judge what’s funny any more?
Doubtful it would draw the same crowd today. Now, everyone has to be on a learning curve. Hugging is near mandatory, even among funny people. Modern audiences seem to have lost their appetite for the awkward, abrasive social interactions that have traditionally underpinned the most popular comedies. David’s latest instalment of Curb Your Enthusiasm, which expresses a solipsism so deep it makes Seinfeld seem cuddly, has seen its viewer numbers shrink by 25 per cent this season. Seinfeld, the highest-paid comedian on the planet, stopped playing university colleges years ago because he found the campus audience had become too politically correct: in a rare exception, he is due to perform at the University of Illinois in January (presumably the undergraduates are “processing their feelings” about this).
Meanwhile, comics who have built glorious careers by judging just how soon is “too soon”, offending anyone and everyone with relish, have taken to radical self-editing. Matt Lucas recently admitted that he wouldn’t recreate many of the characters in Little Britain because they would offend modern sensibilities. When asked if the boundaries of humour were being redrawn, Sarah Silverman replied that “there are jokes I made 15 years ago that I would absolutely not make today”. Which is a pity. Because a lot of them were hilarious.
Is it that we no longer find taboo-breaking controversialism funny? Are we too woke to laugh? Or is it that we no longer trust ourselves to judge what’s funny any more?
Get it wrong, and the retribution is brutal. Witness the strange phenomenon of Lena Dunham, the 31-year-old writer, comic actress and opinionator who seems to have spent the best part of 2017 apologising to whichever section of the community she has most recently offended with an ill-judged generalisation. Last week she was labelled a “hipster racist”, one of a group of privileged bohemians who use denigrating language as part of their social banter. “Mistakes are only mistakes if you don’t welcome them with open arms as a chance to learn,” she has written on social media in yet another (unrelated) heartfelt apologia. Seinfeld would despair.
In the new climate of hyper-awareness, we’re becoming hyper-intolerant. Call it the new puritanism. Or the symptom of an internet culture in which every risqué or ill-judged gag is now sucked of nuance or context and thrust on a global stage to be censured by anyone with half an opinion. I think it’s unfair. Once upon a time comedians or performers took to the stage on the understanding they had entered some kind of social contract with an audience who had usually paid to see them and who generally had some cognisance of their material. Now they must be expected to tailor their act for another audience, the ones who sit at home googling “things that might offend me”.
Of course, we should applaud the erosion of bigoted, racist, sexist and homophobic attitudes wherever we find them. But we should not be cowed by the fear of causing offence. Comedy should shine a light in dark places; it should expose our nasty prejudices and complacent attitudes. I don’t want a cosy hug of humour, I want a walloping slap in the face. I want to be challenged by ballsy, brave, inappropriate material — the type of jokes that make me squirm with discomfort because they expose my own appalling truths. But more than anything else, I just want to bloody laugh.
"Shall we go, you and I, while we can? Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds"
Weird Granny Slater
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 7 Jun 2017
- Posts: 3,002
Captain Haddock wrote:What the Hell is up with people nowadays?
But your 'joke' isn't about nationality is it? It's about race, and specifically uses the black American slave experience as material for your 'wit'. I mean, you could have used the opportunity to 'joke' about the fact that in 21st century Britain medieval institutions still dominate our political, social and cultural life; or the fact that our great organs of news obsess over royalty and celebrity, and suffer
jouissance when the two come together, if you see what I mean.
'Comedy...should expose our nasty prejudices and complacent attitudes'. Indeed, and you have have done so.
'We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be'. Kurt Vonnegut
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'Pass the cow dung, my dropsy's killing me' - Heraclitus
Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 7,922
So what's wrong about a joke about 'race'? 'Racism' I thought is about a belief that one race is superior.
Referencing the history of why many African-Americans happen to be in the States is hardly 'racist'.
"Shall we go, you and I, while we can? Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds"
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
I find terms like African-America, Italian-American really strange as most of those have never seen the country of their ancestry. There is no such thing as Irish- English or Mexican-English after all.
Weird Granny Slater- Location: Dover
- Registered: 7 Jun 2017
- Posts: 3,002
Captain Haddock wrote:So what's wrong about a joke about 'race'? 'Racism' I thought is about a belief that one race is superior.
Referencing the history of why many African-Americans happen to be in the States is hardly 'racist'.
But you weren't 'Referencing the history of why many African-Americans happen to be in the States': your 'joke' lacked that kind of complexity. Its 'force' depends on a simple 'American black = slave mentality' equation (remember that 'strange compulsion'? What is that if it isn't some suggestion of a state of being that's 'in the blood'?).
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'Pass the cow dung, my dropsy's killing me' - Heraclitus
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,797
Captain Haddock wrote:So what's wrong about a joke about 'race'? 'Racism' I thought is about a belief that one race is superior.
Nothing, much like jokes about any other subject it all depends on the content and context. Some are clever, some are funny, some are 'rude', some you can only tell to certain people and lastly some are best not repeated.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 1033- Registered: 23 Aug 2013
- Posts: 509
Didn't understand the joke...who are these people anyway, and who really cares ?
I have to admit that the question of immigration and citizenship ship often rattles about inside my head when it comes to our wonderful football Premier League. How many of these players would pass the citizenship test, then I think of Wayne Rooney's fantastic goal last weekend, and ponder to myself if he would even pass a species test.
Johnny Cash, famous american person, was born in Arkansas quite a while ago, and picked cotton when he was young.
Still don't get the joke though...
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
This should make John feel a bit better as it shows he is not being picked on.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42224147
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