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Agreed. But what about those who learn it out of interest in the culture?

For me it was as an adult; I was born in Melbourne but grew up in Southeast England and London. I went to a private boys’ school and played Rugger. Interest in Footy was about rediscovering my Australian roots. But how did you chaps get into it? Was it through school, or being inspired by a...

I am one of your overseas members, based in London. I have an interest in languages and a friend recently sent me the Peace Corps Bislama course, which I might look at in the New Year as I find Vanuatu interesting. I was wondering if any of you have learned or speak any of the languages of the...

Also in the U.K. Welcome Sir 😎

Thanks mate. Gold Coast … pretty hot😄!

Thank you my friend!

Thanks for that. I’m on the Southwest edge of London near the border with leafy Surrey.

I also enjoy Billiards a lot.

Thanks very much for your two Likes👍.

My partner is quite ill and that’s why I haven’t been taking part so much. I’m well but busy and obviously this thing has been very much on my mind. Hope you’re well though. 👍

Boris doesn’t suffer fools badly. Instead he shuffles fools gladly.

I recall using exactly the same argument with an American friend. He was desperate to have Trump impeached, but I countered that with ‘President Pence’ - a religious maniac who also seems dangerously ‘normal’, personable and all-American. The Cabinet reshuffle we have just had indicates an even...

Loud and Proud or Silent But Deadly?

I’d like to say ‘rise above it’ but I don’t know what he’s actually done - or not done! In my case it was the latter. My supervisor was incredibly vague and would disappear for ages. He was a very nice chap but would never give a clear opinion. I know the point of a PhD is that you think for...

Welcome!

I did undergraduate teaching throughout my ‘thesis years’ and enjoyed it because I taught a very international group of students.

In some ways the middle stages are the most difficult. They are the time when you are most likely to coast along, focus on other interests or question the value of what you are doing. Maintaining your focus and grinding through to the final phase is really important at that time - or at least...

I find this very interesting because the protection and assistance provided by America to Australia in the 1940s seems to have laid the foundations for an asymmetrical relationship of dependence. We (in Britain) have experienced something of the same thing with the ‘special relationship’, the...

Do you mind if I ask you the subject of your Modern History thesis?

Sounds interesting and hope to hear more at some convenient time.

That’s exactly how it should be with a thesis. You usually find that about half way through you go back to the drawing board and either start from first principles or turn your ideas inside out! Sometimes external events influence things (in my case elections as I was writing a thesis on Latin...

Yes, there is a strong generational divide in that they Boris-style Conservative Party aims mainly at older, almost exclusively white, working and lower middle class voters. Most live in small towns (sometimes suburbs) rather than cities. Not all of them are old, however, and many of them...

You might well have finished by now or at least be well on the way? I did a PhD in Politics way back in the 1990s. I enjoyed it because politics has always been a strong interest of mine and it felt like pursuing a hobby at academic level. It required a lot of self-discipline and there were...

Is there still a moderate and forward-looking wing of the Liberal Party, or has it been wholly or almost wholly captured by populists like the Conservatives here in Blighty?

This is just a general question for Sunday afternoon (and beyond). Did your interest in Footy (and/or other sports) begin by participating or watching/following? In my case - here in the U.K. - my interest in Rugby and Soccer began by participating at school and college, although we were a Rugby...

... And, at the time of writing here in England, Southampton are doing rather well. Fingers crossed 🤞.

One of the distinctive features of Boris’s populist-conservative ‘government’ (so-called) is that it can’t be positioned easily on the right-left spectrum. It has classic right-wing or far-right themes, such as anti-immigration, extreme nationalism, social authoritarianism, centralisation of...

I know this is an old post but the funny thing is that my first thought about Boris was that he was like a fatter, posher version of Jimmy Savile. I think it’s the hair 🤮!!! Both of them have a strong appeal to a similar subset of ‘poorly educated’ (to use Trump’s phrase) voters, concentrated in...

I know - can’t wait!👍

Apologies for late reply. I live on the SW edge of London. I grew up in Southampton and support Southampton FC (the Saints), as well as Southampton Rugby Club (Rugby Union) and the local Rugby League, the Solent Spitfires. I also follow the England Football team (watched the Euros religiously!)...