u/Ticklishchap

I am interested to know what others think about this as my views are not ‘set in stone’: at this early stage, how could they be? However my initial response is that I would like the party to engage positively with the idea of ‘a more collaborative politics’ and try to make that work. The current adversarial point scoring is getting us nowhere - indeed worse than nowhere.

I also think we should engage positively with the devolution agenda, when it comes, but push for it to go further and work towards a more entrenched federal system. We can push harder on social care reform, electoral reform, the environment and public transport, co-operatives (including housing), closer links with Europe, etc., all from the standpoint of constructive engagement and constructive criticism rather than carping, cynicism and doomsaying.

To sum up: a positive but critically engaged approach would be preferable to opposition for its own sake: we should save the opposition for when it is really needed. If - big if, I know - Burnham manages to address the concerns of left behind voters and lance the hideous boils of right wing populism and Reform UK, that is to be welcomed unequivocally.

As I said, my views are not ‘fixed’ and I am interested in the thoughts of others.

This is something I have thought about for some time, but my post is prompted partly by Makerfield. Andy Burnham was elected as Labour & Co-Operative, joining 43 other Lab & Co-Op MPs. The Northwest of England was the crucible of the cooperative movement; the Rochdale Pioneers launched it in 1844, long before the Labour Party existed. There has been a strong tradition of Liberal involvement in the cooperative sector and I recall that as late as the 1980s the Liberal Party was interested in encouraging cooperatives and recently - I wish I could find it now - I saw a republished article from ‘The Liberator’ on Lib Dem voice suggesting that the Liberals make overtures to the Co-Operative Party and try to wrest it away from Labour!

However we hear very little about this now, although I would have thought that supporting cooperative businesses would be very positive for the party, appealing to both its ‘left’ and ‘right’ flanks and presenting a distinctive approach to economics, beyond market or statist dogmas and rooted in sustainability and localism. There is also a strong case for housing co-operatives as an alternative to private housing associations and properties managed directly by councils.

What do others think about this?

In your attraction to other guys - physical, emotional, erotic, or a combination of all of these - how important to you is smell? I find that it is increasingly central to my sense of attraction and that there are certain masculine smells that can arouse me more quickly than looks, voice or other more obvious characteristics. There’s probably a name for this - olfactophile or something? I wonder if this resonates with any of you.

A couple of weeks ago in conversation I mentioned that Labour has a ‘stonking great majority’ in Parliament. It’s a word I casually use sometimes and it is British slang for ‘big’, ‘impressive’ or ‘an impressive amount/number’. But where does the expression come from? My attempts to find out have so far been a stonking waste of time.

As far as I know, there is no verb ‘to stonk’. There is a noun (of sorts), ‘stonker’ (a Rugby match, for example, could be ‘a real stonker of a game’).

I don’t think that this word is used anywhere other than Britain, although I would be interested to know. Even here, it’s probably a bit old fashioned. Do any of you use the word or know anything about its origins?

Last week my mother passed away aged 90 after suffering from dementia for the past few years. I have had a great response from friends and work colleagues, as well as those who knew my mother: cards, flowers and other gifts, kind messages, offers of help, for which I am immensely grateful.

In another aspect of my life, I have over the past few months, discovered several cousins on my father’s side that I did not previously know existed (this is thanks to AncestryDNA!). I have kept in touch with them from time to time and had made tentative arrangements to meet a few of them who are visiting London in a few weeks. I told them about my mother in a WhatsApp last week.

Anyway, one of these ‘new cousins’ called me on the ‘phone yesterday morning at a busy time when I was awaiting a call from the funeral celebrant. She said nothing about my mother, didn’t ask how I was doing but just asked whether I was free on such and such a date to meet - it would have involved travel across town and an early start and was actually (she couldn’t have known this) very shortly after my mother’s funeral. I made polite excuses about work and funeral arrangements and said I would get back to her.

I am normally quite a laid back man and I don’t get angry or offended easily. However this time I am angry, offended and … amazed. I find it hard to believe that someone could behave like that and not open the conversation with condolences and polite questions. It makes me feel that I want nothing to do with this person. My husband agrees with me, but he was against contact from the start.

So, bros, am I being unreasonable or should I follow my instinct and dismiss this 'new cousin' as toxic and not someone I want in my life?

My question is self-explanatory, I hope. I am interested to know which non-European southern African language is easiest for an Anglophone to learn to basic or moderate levels?