John C

@PowysGyrl @HistoryBoomer Yeah the Americans are super weird about this, they get offended about English people saying it in England. If you try to educate them, this happens.

@johnjdc @HistoryBoomer I thought it was that too but I wasn’t aware it was considered a slur. So I was super confused.

In class a few weeks ago, a student mentioned the "g-word. Nobody else (but me) knew what they meant. Not calling someone a slur is basic courtesy, but the idea that certain taboo words shouldn't ever be uttered is pernicious. We should not be children afraid of magic words.

@PowysGyrl @HistoryBoomer I mean I assumed it was clear, it's gypsy, but I don't know if that's the word the original post is talking about.

@johnjdc @HistoryBoomer So why can’t anyone tell me what it is then?

@PowysGyrl @HistoryBoomer There's a word that starts with g which is a normal commonplace word in British English but considered a slur in American English. It might theoretically be that, since he's already said it's not the American English slur for South-East Asians.

@HistoryBoomer What is the “g-word” that you’re referencing? I’ve read through a bunch of comments and am still at a loss. I’m from England, English is my only language and I’m fluent in it, so it must not be an English word. If I don’t know what it is then I cannot avoid its use.

@drewsnx @tonybrett I'll take "procuring coaches which can carry full size bicycles again" over branding reform, but I suspect we'll get neither 😂

@tonybrett As New Yorkers refer to their streets as "Bleecker", "Lexington" etc. some do talk about "Oxford and Regent" etc. I promise ya!

But still the same name which confuses so many visitors. To many people Oxford Tube just sounds like an informal name for Oxford Circus Underground station. Certainly doesn't suggest a coach service! This would have been the ideal moment for a rebrand/rethink of that identity

@kaitlynspup @InsideLucysHead Well yes because scripture is silent 😂

@johnjdc @InsideLucysHead Not in the South. We almost worship dogs down here! 😜

How would the Church of England deal with the statement that "The cat sat on the mat" if it appeared in the Bible? The liberal theologians would point out that such a passage did not, of course, mean that the cat literally sat on the mat. Also, cat and mat had different meanings in those days from today, and anyway, the text should be interpreted according to the customs and practices of the period. This would lead to an immediate backlash from the Evangelicals. They would make it an essential condition of faith that a real physical, living cat, being a domestic pet of the species Domesticus, and having a whiskered head, a furry body, four legs and a tail, did physically place its whole body on a floor covering, designed for that purpose, and which is on the floor but not of the floor. The expression "on the floor but not of the floor" would be explained in a leaflet. Meanwhile, the Catholics would have developed the Feast of the Sedentation of the Blessed Cat. This would teach that the cat was white, and majestically reclined on a mat of gold thread before its assumption to the Great Cat Basket of Heaven. This is commemorated by singing the "Magnificat" and "Felix namque", lighting three candles, and ringing a bell five times. This would cause a schism with the Orthodox Church, which believes tradition requires Holy Cats Days (as it is colloquially known) to be marked by lighting SIX candles and ringing the bell FOUR times. This would partly be resolved by the Cuckoo Land Declaration, recognising the traditional validity of each. Eventually, the House of Bishops would issue a statement on the Doctrine of the Feline Sedentation. It would explain that traditionally, the text describes a domestic feline quadruped superjacent to an unattached covering on a fundamental surface. For determining its salvific and eschatological significations, we follow the heuristic analytical principles adopted in dealing with the Canine Fenestration Question (How much is that doggie in the window?) and the Affirmative Musaceous Paradox (Yes, we have no bananas). And so on, for another 210 pages. The General Synod would then commend this report as helpful resource material for clergy to explain to the man in the pew the difficult doctrine of 'The cat sat on the mat.'

@kaitlynspup @InsideLucysHead and American evangelicals would call for dogs to be banned 😂

Southern Baptists would have an all-u-can-eat catfish fry where everyone eats 3,000 calories and drinks a gallon of sweet tea and says “bless that cat’s heart” while reminiscing about the days when “momma and them” told stories about a cat resting on a mat in a country church with hand-hewn wooden floors.

@bitcoinphil1 @Goeun_6121 @WSJ Ah yeah the time travelling vaccine that caused most of the increase before it was invented, right 🙃

@Goeun_6121 @WSJ no women were more compliant at getting the COVID vaccine, no surprise younger women are dying at a higher rate

More young and middle-aged Americans are dying of severe heart attacks, and women are at particular risk, a new study finds. 🔗  on.wsj.com/4tS9ZcN

@LindaG_RN @DavidAsmanfox So if law enforcement had machine gunned this mob, you'd have supported them, yes? bbc.com/news/world-us-…

@Boomingbox @DavidAsmanfox Wrong! You don’t carry a firearm to a violent protest then get in a violent altercation with law enforcement. And, you certainly don’t interfere with and obstruct them doing their job. How about you learn what personal responsibility is.

Joey Jones brilliantly lays out the facts in the Minnesota shooting...just the facts, without the political BS. If there's anybody else in the room when Pres Trump and Gov Walz meet...it should be Joey.

@YahwehGraced @JeffCassman @rabbriansamuel OK and Romans 14?

@JeffCassman @rabbriansamuel Dietary laws are laws, not traditions Acts 10 is vision, not permission to eat pigs Even Peters explains what the vision meant

"Thus He declared all foods clean" (Mark 7:19) should be translated in the same context as its parallel verse in Matthew. "But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man." (Matthew 15:20) The context is ritual handwashing. Not changing God's kosher laws.

@AnneMay71755911 @catsofoxford podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ep-… any better?

@johnjdc @catsofoxford Can't see it! 🐾🙀

Fame, fortune, and conversations about cats. open.spotify.com/episode/7ek9o5…

@ironfly49 @Adrian_Hilton A speaker who left Likud 20 years ago to set up a moderate party, or not?

@Adrian_Hilton Likud program...or not?

Former Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Olmert was due to speak at the @OxfordUnion today. Protestors blocked the entrance, some jumped the fence. Event cancelled. One may smile, and smile, and be an anti-Semite.

@Sum1st @thomasforth It's partly economic geography. The stuff people think of as "Oxford" often isn't in the fairly small City of Oxford. If you compared Ceremonial counties, Oxfordshire has 40% higher output per capita in this category than Staffordshire.

@thomasforth Thanks for sharing this. Very interesting and I would never have guessed it. Might have to understand the data better as this is so surprising

Long-time followers will know that I think most British policy thinking in the capital city massively overrated the importance of Cambridge and Oxford to the UK economy. (And I know that they think I'm mad for thinking that). But here's an interesting thing I found out,...

@AddmannIW @Sam_Dumitriu Similar issue in Oxford HMOs that you can't make the ground floor of a terrace open plan, which is the one thing every homeowner chooses to do...

@Sam_Dumitriu Are you sure the fire doors were not for an unapproved Loft/Attic conversion? As soon as that goes in (historic or recent) then all doors need to become fire doors. Seems more likely as a normal 2 storey rental doesn't need fire doors

On selective licensing. I very nearly rented a house in Brighton from a friend. (They wouldn't rent to people they didn't know due to the difficulty of evicting non-paying tenants under the Renters Rights Act.) But to comply with the license, they would likely have had to replace every single original Victorian door with a modern fire door costing them thousands of pounds. And reducing resale value as homeowners prefer nicer doors. As a result, they decided not to let to us and instead the house is an Airbnb while they wait to sell it. Well done boys, good process.

@LouiseMensch @Adrian_Hilton @OxfordUnion It seems to imply that. It also isn't actually explicit on who becomes the Secretary though it thinks it is. Presumably the highest ranked member of Standing.

@johnjdc @Adrian_Hilton @OxfordUnion That is so confusing. does it mean that the president elect will be replaced as president of their allotted term by the librarian of the previous term?

Come to the @OxfordUnion and debate your proposition. I'm not yet sure who will be President in Hilary (the world awaits), but I'd be very happy to speak for the opposition.

@LouiseMensch @Adrian_Hilton @OxfordUnion Rule 38 suggests a complete reshuffle, I'm not sure it's ideal.

Dammit, this is something I was going to ask you as a rules nerd, when a president elect is removed who is the successor in the union? I can’t recall ever even hearing about another similar situation. Is it the person who lost to him in his election, do they have another election, or does the librarian move up? I suppose the question would be who gets into the secretaryship. You could go with the most popular of standing committee, and then you could put library committee top person into standing committee, and I suppose you could be one short at the very bottom of the pile, but I don’t know what the rules are.

@RanTeeThree @MickyJones_ They had been moved to the county archives, they're meant to be back for today's vote.

@MickyJones_ Yeah, the problem is that some of the membership records are missing, so even though they had ID, they had no corresponding name on the member register.

Just heard that many life members of the Oxford Union were turned away from voting in person because they no longer have ID cards, including a past president whose photo is on the wall of the Union.

@BySpoke @JosephKsbudgie @pigg62726 @OxfordUnion What "direct debits"? Some of the disputes were about people who joined in 1963. It's a one time payment.

Update Regarding The Poll Of No Confidence: The results process for the Poll of No Confidence is still underway. No result has yet been determined. The official result will be announced by the Extraordinary Returning Officer once the process is complete.

@botzarelli @LouiseMensch @Adrian_Hilton @OxfordUnion I'll see if I can check tomorrow. I can tell you the early bird life membership was £90 in 1994 because the president that Michaelmas had the decency to put it in his termcard.

@johnjdc @LouiseMensch @Adrian_Hilton @OxfordUnion That was the early bird one year fee I think. As a senior officer of the Union at the time I trust Louise’s recollection

22 hours. I understand pro-Abaraonye students are querying the validity of many emailed proxy votes. Given the number of life members who turned up in person to vote and were turned away, it appears that senior officers at the @OxfordUnion aren't doing a very good job of maintaining an accurate database of members (which really can't be difficult: just check bank statements for annual direct debits). Those who voted by proxy with photo ID other than a membership card will be considered invalid if there is no up-to-date record. It is utterly shambolic, and, frankly, vulnerable to legal challenge.

@botzarelli @LouiseMensch @Adrian_Hilton @OxfordUnion Inflation really does a number on perception. It will have felt like a lot at the time, but it was something like £85.

@LouiseMensch @Adrian_Hilton @johnjdc @OxfordUnion It was definitely an option in 1990 when I went up. It was a huge amount of money then for a student from a modest background, about 15% of my entire year’s maximum grant. I wasn’t bothered to vote on this but I’d be annoyed if that life membership were a lie.

@CharlesCra62772 @Adrian_Hilton @OxfordUnion In principle, I don't see why not.

@johnjdc @Adrian_Hilton @OxfordUnion So I could have voted?