Every time I hear Times Radio discussing whether Crimea could perhaps be given to Russia in exchange for peace, I feel like asking how British folk would feel, if Denmark had a radio show pretending to have a serious debate about returning the Danelaw to Denmark.

Just like Britain is Britain, Ukraine is Ukraine. And no matter how many times the Murdoch media empire keeps platforming people who insist on both-siding Putin’s illegal invasion, that will never change.

#Ukraine

@randahl Cue the comedians giving away Wales.
@godofbiscuits I may be culturally ignorant here. Are comedians in the UK making fun of Wales in much the same way all kinds of comedians in the US make fun of Florida?
@randahl somewhat. And Wales is somewhat isolationist. It’s all much softer it seems, though. Not like the US. It’s almost like when you have laws restricting the worst excesses, people take the middling stuff in stride and can laugh about it.

@randahl Actually, you can have Florida. You had an empire, once.

@godofbiscuits

@randahl @godofbiscuits

"Wales is somewhat isolationist"

- that's not a Welsh perspective.

Wales was invaded, brutally crushed and settled by a kleptocratic regime with expansionist ambitions who sought to crush neighbours who would not swear fealty to him (I'm talking about Edward I, but the similarity with Putin should be clear).

What happened in Wales since then is what Ukrainians fear.

Like Ukrainians, Welsh people want some self-determination and respect.

@NovaNaturalist @randahl I meant it on a social/cultural BBC level. Even the SNP doesn’t invoke Culloden when talking about self-determination. C’mon.

@godofbiscuits @randahl

I hear you. However, if there is one thing I have learnt as a now emigrated Brit, English people are generally oblivious to their Anglocentric / colonial perspective, certainly more than they realise (hence the casual jokes about the Welsh / Irish / Scots combined with a studied indifference to the interests and concerns of these people.

And of course Zelinskyy is - was - a comedian, and he is not giving away any of Ukraine to a more powerful and arrogant neighbour.

@NovaNaturalist @randahl I wasn’t condoning anything, and Zelenskyy has a keen enough sense to inject humor where he can even in these horrifying times for Ukraine.

I’ve heard far worse cultural-isolationist jokes about the Northeast of England, for example, than Wales. Overall, the jokes on panel shows tend to be inclusive ribbing rather than exclusionary and divisive.

@NovaNaturalist @randahl @godofbiscuits come off it equating Wales with a Russian ruled puppet state. Doesn't look that here
@NovaNaturalist @randahl @godofbiscuits bloody English imposing 20 mph limits

@JohnLoader6
Aye! Wouldn't no-one in real ol' yurop ever do this! Evar0z!

Cuz, u know, no miles, hence no mph.

@NovaNaturalist @randahl @godofbiscuits

@NovaNaturalist @randahl @godofbiscuits I wonder about these 800 year old cultural grievances.

It's OK to say "the current central government is daft for the following reasons" and want out of that. But "my ancestors 200/400/800 years ago had a different setup" feels like something that's not physically meaningful on the ground.

Those who lost wars long ago will keep using these justifications to try to gain more power -- compare US Southern states and "historical pride" movements.

Ideas?

@StompyRobot @randahl @godofbiscuits

I left the UK for a new life in Canada because I had enough of being abused by the Conservatives and their chums. On migrating I realised, I was just the latest in an centuries long saga of abusive power, and people trying to escape it. All the Celtic nations endured this. And of course Canada has its own awful colonial legacy to address.

The aggressor continues to abuse, and is the beneficiary of historic abuse.

@StompyRobot @randahl @godofbiscuits take my last UK MP, Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax. His family wealth comes from slavery, and the compensation slave owners awarded themselves for the loss of their "assets". Despite the most privileged education, he didn't succeed at college. He creates nothing, he doesn't work. He collects rents, and then votes in parliament to maintain his hateful power.

These injustices are centuries in the making.

@NovaNaturalist @randahl @godofbiscuits "Edward I - Hammer of the Scots". Aye, and Steamroadroller of the Welsh
@randahl @godofbiscuits Comedians in the UK make fun of any part of the UK in much the same way comedians in the US make fun of Florida. Especially Essex.

@freequaybuoy I guess it is like that in many countries. It seem to have become less and less in Denmark, because we move so much around, most people have lived in multiple parts of the country and realised, we are very similar.

When I grew up, everyone made fun of the people from Copenhagen. Now every family has a member who has studied in Copenhagen or lives there.

Why Essex?
@godofbiscuits

@randahl @freequaybuoy @godofbiscuits why not? I'm from NE Essex (kind of!) The bit that's expecting to get washed away in the next storm at High tide....
@randahl @freequaybuoy if you want to see a “crossover” shot at Essex, search YouTube for Chris Pratt on Graham Norton doing his “The Onky Way Is Essex” impressions.
@freequaybuoy @randahl love watching the usuals haze Maisie Adam on Mock the Week #rip about “the Dip”.