Indeed, prejudice and hatred of any kind are learned, not innate in our little newborn brains. Equally, love and tolerance of difference can be learned for those not lucky enough to grow up with them. History again - according to the Old Testament, Abraham, the founder of the Jewish nation moved his family and followers to Canaan in obedience to one god. Cuneiform tablets discovered whilst excavating mari, a palace in the Euphrates region, confirm such an exegesis occurred in around 2000 BCE. I imagine this development upset a huge number of people from rulers to priests of all the many deities plus the people left behind and the peoples they deplaced when they arrived in their promised land. The new Jewish nation continued to be monotheic and live by the rules of their religion which covered perosnal behaviour, personal hygiene, health care and much more. That made them different enough to be disliked and successful enough for others to want to conquer. Sometimes nothing changes. It's time it did. That Catholic/protestant stuff can also get you in trouble in Manchester - United/City - and Liverpool - United/Everton. I can remember whilst at college in 1972/3 all sorts of fights breaking out when City beat United in a derby match. So stupid.
My Dad, brought up in a C of E household and a choirboy at his local Protestant church, was a lifelong supporter of Man Utd - supposedly a Catholic team. I believe that idea only came about because Matt Busby and some of the directors of the club were Catholics.
You're right @Bluejayway but some of my fellow students were from Northern Ireland and acted out their prejudices in footballing terms. They weren't alone. Home growns did it too.
I like Avocado. It makes a good meal when mixed with poached chicken and spiced up with Garam Masala. Eaten cold along with a helping of Tabouleh - very tasty. Fanaticsm in any form I can do without - neither edible nor edifying.
Just made myself a chocolate avocado milkshake, usually I just do vanilla avocado milkshake. So yummy. made with whole milk, little sugar, ripe avocado, dash of vanilla, sprinkle of salt. 3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa . Blend, pours out so thick and rich. yummy.
Bridehead revisited? Not for long… An entire village in Dorset is facing eviction – proof that private money holds all the power in rural England | George Monbiot
Sorry, can't read it. They either want me to accept all cookies or subscribe. As a devout miser and have been anti-cookies all my life it behooves me to resist.
I was recently surprised to discover that grated avocado stone is a reasonable ingredient to add to granola or muesli. It goes bright orange when you dry it, has quite good unsubstantiated health benefits and tastes pretty much of nothing...
Supposed to have anti-oxidant and ant-inglammatory properties @Stephen Southwest which is not surprising given how nutritious avocado fruits and oils are. however little research will be done as it is not in big pharma's or the highly processed food industry's interest to be proving that natural remedies and diets will improve health.
A question. How do you grip an avocado stone in order to grate it? Are there special avocado grating gloves you can buy?
That's a very good article, @Tidemark. I've long said the world's problems are because of the 1% at the top. They have hugely disproportionate ownership of available resources and almost all the power. Take any major problem - housing shortages, war, mass migration, insecure employment - and you will find the root cause and the reason nothing changes lies with the 1%. Farage is not the answer though. He is a servant to that group and they will prosper under him. You only have to look at how obsessed GB News is with reporting endless uncritical stories on the Royals to see this in action.
A Roman Catholic priest has barred one of his parishioners from receiving communion and denounced him to the rest of the congregation at services. The parishioner's offence - he is a Lib Dem MP and voted in favour of assisted dying. I'm sorry but this is completely unacceptable attempt at cancel culture. MPs are voted into parliament to make decisions on behalf of everyone, not just fringe groups, and the fact this MP was able to think beyond the brainwashing of his religion, means he is doing his job properly, IMV.
