“Jane Austen’s teapot”

or

Why the row about the @nationaltrust & “woke” is absurd.

The Georgians were not only consumed with woke subjects - they pioneered boycotts, woke slogans & even woke merchandise.

“Being woke” is nothing new.
It’s English history.

- a thread -
2/

From the mid 1760s on, that epitome of refined old world English conservative style Wedgwood started producing teapots.
But not just any old teapots.

But “Woke teapots”.

Teapots that would show you cared about the ills of the world & the suffering of those less fortunate.
3/

These “Georgian woke teapots” were chosen for an explicit reason.

Tea was a refined social event.
An event that women - who were deemed naturally more sympathetic - had some power.
Women - refined women - could show their commitment to ending suffering.

It was political.
4/

And the suffering was slavery.
And why did this involve middle class ladies drinking tea?

Because tea drinking often involved sugar - both in the drink and on the accompanying food.

Or as woke Georgians called it “blood sugar”..
5/

This woke tea drinking movement would have been absolutely known to Jane Austen, being born in 1775, she would have lived through the high point.

And like many women might have used merchandise to show her ethical consumerism.
6/

And just like the woke of today these high minded Georgian ladies encountered their own “anti woke” culture warriors - the Laurence Fox or Nigel Farage of the 18th century if you like.

And what did they do..?

Have a guess...
7/

Yes they designed, made and purchased pro-slavery tea sets and dining ware in order to “troll” those they considered woke.

Trolling the woke is thus nothing new in England...it’s also at least as old as a Georgian tea set.
8/

So the next time people whip up a storm about “modern wokeness” being “shoehorned into history” tell them that woke is as english as Jane Austen’s afternoon tea..

..& they don’t know their own history so perhaps, just perhaps, the @nationaltrust should help them here.

/ends

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More from @nicktolhurst

23 Apr
As I keep saying..

It’s psychologically difficult for many to admit that Johnson is a useless charlatan...as admitting this would call into question Brexit.

So in a way an incompetent corrupt Johnson is a better guarantor of votes than any smart relatively clean Tory successor.
2/

It’s “psychological complicity” - and as in so many things in life leads to strange irrational outcomes.

Thus we’ve now reached a stage that Johnson could effectively do anything.
Because people’s belief that their single vote for Brexit was the right choice...must be saved.
3/

It’s why Brexit & Boris inextricably linked.

As its almost impossible to cognitively reject Brexit without first rejecting Boris Johnson.
(Altho the opposite is possible)

So the real battle is not Brexit, but 1st Boris Johnson.
People get this even if they don’t express it.
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+UPDATE+

Chelsea to "withdraw support from proposed European Super League".
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Chelsea looking like the 1st to crack.
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"Chelsea have decided to begin the process of pulling out of the proposed European Super League".
Read 11 tweets
20 Apr
The premier league is a big money earner for the UK.
Huge TV money comes to UK and filters into local economy - not via profits as most clubs don’t make any - but via players, staff spending their salaries locally.

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2/

What many fail to realise:
Most Premier league clubs never make a profit so the money they earn is “sticky” - it leaks out to players, staff, agents etc most of whom are resident in UK.

So for UK economy having foreign owners of non profitable clubs has been a huge benefit.
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But in a franchise system foreign owner could have huge incentive to take their clubs where the money is...rather than being the money to where the club happened to be when they bought them.
Read 5 tweets
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One thing that's been little remarked upon about the Super League idea is that by removing the direct link to European national leagues...

...is that it opens up the League to "inviting" Guangzhou Evergrande from China or LA Galaxy to join.

This is what will happen...
2/

Up till now the anger about the Super league is it destroys the national league system.

But ultimately the important thing is that a Super League system exists "outside of geography".

Thus if Saudi Arabia wants to drop the League $500million so its team can join..it could.
3/

...And there's more...using the US system...simply moving whole clubs could then come into play.

"Liverpool" could for example decide to play half or even all their games in Qatar or Shanghai.

In a Super League who or what is to stop them?
Read 6 tweets
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The debate on Scottish independence focuses (logically & obviously) on the immediate cost to Scotland or the psychological blow it delivers to the idea of the UK.

But there’s another way of looking at it.

- thread -
2/

It’s 2022 and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 has voted for independence what’s the immediate aim of 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 & 🇪🇺?

If you think about it all 3 - even if for differing reasons - would have an interest in as little economic dislocation as possible.
3/

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Clearly wouldn’t want to start in Indy with chaos
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Read 9 tweets
16 Apr
If Brexit is the "Will of the People" based on the 2019 election which was explicitly fought & won on Boris Johnson's "oven ready deal" in order to bring the Brexit referndum to fruition...

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The next paradox:

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Which leads to the next paradox...

Brexit, that was sold on the ability to do trade deals with the US & non-Europen countries....

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Read 4 tweets

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