Yokohama/Manchester. Blu collar ronin non-marxist lefty. Won't leave Twitter as I want to maximise the number of platforms where nobody pays me any attention :)

JAPAN
Joined September 2021
Iggy Risu retweeted
As a connoisseur of racism, I have found no greater joy than discovering other language realms on X where they are truly light years ahead. Behold the great meme war between the Turks 🇹🇷 and Chinese 🇨🇳 which has been brewing now for 3 days! It began with a small Turkish account posting a meme of a cat wearing a straw hat + slitty eyes + wispy moustache. A Chinese user then replied with a meme of Patrick Star from SpongeBob parachuting next to the Turkish flag, with a caption along the lines of “I heard the Turkish flag was designed like this, is that true? Both were from small anonymous accounts but now has been viewed by several millions. Turks took it as mockery of a national symbol and all hell breaks lose. The broader historical and cultural pile-on on both sides were equally impressive in its deep knowledge of Ottoman / Chinese history, along with very creative vulgarity. I read one Chinese tweet calling Turkey the fleshlight of the entire world. Both sides insulted each other as “might as well be Indians.” Then it got super testy when it ventured into Turkestan/Xinjiang/Uyghur territory, and soon out came digs about the Turkish lira, China virus and other general nationalist trash talk. The next stage was the free speech Olympics. Turks started posting images of Xi Jinping and daring Chinese users to criticize him to prove that China is “free.” Chinese replies often flipped it to “you criticize Xi but none of you dare criticize Muhammad.” When no Chinese account could criticize Xi, the Turks concluded they were all bots. The latest stage has been the international expansion. Japan + Taiwan + Azerbaijan + Spain lined up with Turks against China. Japanese accounts were the most visible contingent. Taiwan joined the Turkish side for obvious reasons. Azerbaijan was in Turkic solidarity mode. South Korea and Spain too for reasons which are not clear to me. Iran + Greece + India + Egypt joined up with the Chinese against Turkey. I saw an Iranian account openly telling the Chinese to keep going and “discipline the Turks” because the Ottoman/Persian rivalry runs deep still. Greece obviously went against the Turks and as for India, who knows. Could’ve gone either way but they chose the Chinese. The whole thing, while viscous and passionate at times, has strangely left me with the warm fuzzies. Imagine how much more boring life would’ve been without @X’s auto-translate feature
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Dear @southport_fc, I was a little disappointed to see the "mutual termination" of Mark Duffy because his political opinions were discovered on Facebook. A man has now lost his livelihood. I have not seen Mark's posts, I don't need to. But the ones referenced in the Southport news mention him calling Keir Starmer vile and sharing a post from "Far-right" Advance. I mean he is right about Keir Starmer, hence why football fans were been singing he is a wanker all summer, and calling Advance far-right is babyish at best. Though it appears that these days if you believe in Conservatism and Freedom you are now far-right. Laughable really. Perhaps you could clarify something. Is holding conservative views now incompatible with managing your football club? Or is it simply a question of which political opinions are considered acceptable? Conservatism is a perfectly legitimate political position in a democratic country. People are entitled to disagree with it, of course. That's the point of democracy. Football was built by working-class communities. These are people who have watched their towns decimated, their opportunities disappear and their living standards sacrificed for an ever expanding state. They are entitled to be angry. They are entitled to question their government. And, believe it or not, they are entitled to hold political opinions that might offend the sneering middle-class. I appreciate that defending someone's right to express an unpopular opinion can be uncomfortable. It requires a backbone, particularly when people are demanding consequences. But that is precisely when the principle matters. Free speech is not a commitment to protecting opinions we agree with. Anyone can do that. It is a commitment to tolerating opinions we dislike, even those we find offensive. Of course, it is your business, you are a private organisation and can do as you want. But I am sure there are fans of your team who would share Mark's beliefs. Personally, I struggle to understand why political disagreement should become a question of someone's livelihood. We live in a country where people can defend almost any progressive opinion, however controversial, and expect these opinions to be treated as a legitimate contribution to public debate. Yet express the wrong conservative opinion and suddenly your employment becomes a matter of public interest. Perhaps I'm old-fashioned, but I thought football was one of the few remaining places where people from different backgrounds and political persuasions could come together, call the PM a wanker then have a pint. Or do you propose sanctions for anyone now calling Andy Burnham a wanker (he is by the way), or supporting right-wing parties? Our country was built on the shoulders of giants and will be destroyed sliding down the backbones of cowards.
Club Statement: Southport Football Club can confirm that Mark Duffy has left his position as First Team Manager following the mutual termination of his contract. The club would like to thank Mark for his efforts and wish him all the best for the future. #ONEPORT
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Iggy Risu retweeted
This may fall on deaf ears and you don't agree, but, I think United should keep Carrick even thou they are not looking good. No guarantees if a change is made.
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Iggy Risu retweeted
I’m not just Carrick out, I’m Glazers out, Ratcliffe out, INEOS out, 50% of the players out. Hell sell everything minus Old Trafford. The club is rotten to the core. It’s a cancer until fundamental changes happen. They’re basically impossible to watch.
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I know I write about the royals, but this from Aberfan today just broke me. It’s from Diane Thomas, 78, a rescuer from the Red Cross who was only 18 at the time of the disaster, and spoke to Prince William. She said: ‘The chapel had been converted into a mortuary so I spent three nights in the mortuary, bathing the children, to try and get slurry off their little faces so their parents could recognise them. ‘I took the anorak off one little boy, put my hand in his pocket and came out [with a note that] he’d had eight out of 10 for spelling. I’ve been trying all these years to think about how I can trace his mum. I can’t but I want to tell her because I was the last person to hold him and bathe him.’ This is why today is so important.
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Iggy Risu retweeted
If Manchester United get rid of Michael Carrick they get rid of the individual who cares most about the Club. Carrick cares for United far more than the Glazers do (obviously), more than Ratcliffe, Wilcox & Berrarda do, more than Bruno Fernandes & the underachieving players #MUFC
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Iggy Risu retweeted
The Government is treating landlords like the post-war Government did the doctors: paving their mouths with gold. The great project this time is not free healthcare for all but giving free housing to people who have broken into the country illegally. Priorities. Incentives.
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Iggy Risu retweeted
People saying it’s Manchester United’s worst defeat in the Champions League since the 4-0 loss at Camp Nou in 1994. I was there for that and knew something was up when I saw Peter Schmeichel having a coffee in the press room an hour before kick-off. The 4-0 was bad but there were excuses, the 3+2 rule, Schmeichel sacrificed, and the quality of Barcelona – Romario, Stoichkov, Koeman, Guardiola. United's 4-1 loss to Como is worse. No excuses. No energy. Just a terrible performance, bordering on the spineless, summing up all the lack of leadership and responsibility-taking at the club. So much wrong about the club, from the Glazers with their debt, to the board and naïve recruitment. The team crying out for full-backs and a back-up striker and splurging money on midfielders, including a reserve from Chelsea and a player in Tielemans whose best years are behind him, who needs legs around him and whose main attraction was arguably his release clause. The dysfunctional, divided nature of the United family absolutely summed up by Bruno Fernandes during and after the game. A captain who failed to raise his own game or rally his players. A supposed leader who has now questioned his manager’s tactics. Michael Carrick's tactics and changes can certainly be questioned. He may eventually pay the price for the shambles in Como. It's cheaper than shipping out the under-performing players. But Carrick is not the real problem. He doubtless sees players who lack his passion for the shirt. He could be forgiven for looking at Wilcox and Berrada and thinking how badly he was let down in the summer transfer window. And he's on the brink. Manchester United may be ousting the one individual who cares most about the team and the club. Which sums up the total mess they are in. #MUFC
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Iggy Risu retweeted
The Burnham bubble, civil war in Britain and the Palestine omnicause @francisjfoster @AndrewGold_ok and @kafkaswife joined @Tom_Slater_ and @FraserMyers for the spiked podcast – live at the Battle of Ideas festival Watch it here 👇
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Like many of you, I will be a Utd fan ‘till I die, I’m in it for life no matter what but right now there is nothing pleasurable about watching Utd. Everything that made them great is almost gone, all that remains is the shirt and the stadium but now it’s a business that happens to play football, a company football team. Utd’s biggest strength is its greatest weakness, a club that could print money inevitably attracted parasitic scum and parasites never leave until there’s nothing left to take. An aimless vessel taking on water and a new captain won’t change a thing
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Iggy Risu retweeted
The Home Office is offering landlords double the market rate to kick out tenants and house illegal migrants instead. Everything about this is disgusting - including the fact that it takes properties off the market for everyone else. Yet again, this Government rewards criminals.
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Cheeky but true.
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I’m old enough to know what happened when the IRA a terrorist organisation who targeted innocent shoppers & school children regularly bombed London & Manchester. Yet they’ve received a pardon whilst we criminalise, & hunt our own soldiers, & we wonder why no one wants to fight for our country!
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Iggy Risu retweeted
<3
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Incomparably the master of resonant paradox. Wilde could create beautiful confections but they are generally concerned with things artificial themselves. Manners, propriety. Chesterton’s last like strong spirits.
Every now and again I go back to this passage from Chesterton and it just gets better each time
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Iggy Risu retweeted
Happy Birthday beautiful girl Grace you were loved so much from your family and those you didnt know but now know you we ❤️ you
Remembering Grace O’Malley Kumar on her heavenly birthday She is a hero who died protecting her friend in the Nottingham attacks RIP Grace 🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️ We will never forget you
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To confuse Hamas on October 7th, this elderly 85-year-old man took a seat in his living room. Alone. Unarmed. Just an old man sitting in a living room. He couldn't fight back. But he could play the "lonely old man" card. It worked. When Hamas terrorist invaded his home, they saw a feeble old man. They thought that was the only person in the house. This was Shlomo Ron's plan. While Hamas terrorists killed Shlomo, Shlomo convinced them that nobody was home. Nobody was there to care about him. And it worked. His family was sparred from the genocide, hiding in another room of the house in silence. Shlomo Ron sacrificed himself. We will never forget his bravery.
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The genuine love this guy has for the UK is absolutely fantastic, some of our own political figures should take note. The whole world should probably take note of how diplomacy should be done to be fair. They're fuckin great at metal too. Off to see SABBAT next week.
Laid a wreath and paid my respects at the Aberfan Cemetery, along with the Lord Lieutenant and two survivors, in remembrance of the victims of the disaster 60 years ago.
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