Euphemisms about Politics and Buildings

Islington, perfect place for a dinner party

Honestly, saying ‘just ask respectful questions’ is the biggest, most obvious tell for white male privilege that I can think of right now. (Charlotte L. Riley ‏@lottelydia)

"Corrupt" is usually shorthand for "political opponent". (@AlexPaknadel)

"Virtue signalling" is an odd term, used almost uniformly by people who presume their own lack of principles in others. (Fraser Campbell ‏@FraserC69)

Final note for the morning BritishValues = crypto-fascism. The end. Happy 2017 folks. (@TheBowhaus)

Thanks to 2016 we now know that "political correctness" was a politically correct term for anti-racism, anti-sexism and anti-fascism. (Liam Hogan ‏@Limerick1914)

Post-truth = lying
Fake news = propaganda
Alt-right = white supremacy(Dan Brown ‏@brownorama)

Smartest, most sober piece I've read yet on Steve Bannon. (@JayFielden)
Where sober means soft-soap flattery of fascism. (James Mackenzie ‏@mrjamesmack)

UKIP head Paul Nuttall: The Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn seems to be interested in issues that swirl around the Islington dinner party. (Left-wing, not racist enough.)

 Empire, the classy name for worldwide police state. (AnarchistB!tchBot ‏@Antiwar2)

I hate the way "hard-working people" is used to mean "who agree with me". (@JonnElledge)

'Wonderful' 'very sensible' 'I really like her' 'very intelligent' and 'the best' mean 'I don't support her but I like her gender'. (Jon Dryden Taylor ‏@jondrytay)

Castro was a hugely divisive figure. (Emily Thornberry)

I'm coming to hear the phrase 'mainstream media' as code for 'I am a right wing extremist'. (Ellie Kaplan)

Some people have this weird idea that saying your opinion is freedom of speech, but criticising that opinion is some kind of censorship. (@existentialcoms)

'Listening' probably most irritating word in British politics. Used in same way on right and left: it means shut up. It means don't challenge. It means your opponent refuses to hear you. It is a silencing tactic. Nothing more. (Ian Dunt ‏@IanDunt And when politicians say they are going to "listen" to the people's concerns, they don't mean they're going to do anything to help.)

Poland’s controversial Radio Mariya (fascist)

Loving the Supreme Court Article 50 discussions. They're on "the danger of metaphors" now. Loaded words and how to avoid them. (@hughpearman)

"I voted for change" is the new "I'm not racist, but..." (Dave Woollaston)

In my experience, when a Trump supporter calls you "disrespectful" they mean "Related provable facts without any equivocation." (Allan Mott ‏@HouseofGlib)

Please stop telling people to respect others' opinions. That's for things like "I don't like coffee" not for "I don't like black people."

What does Donald Trump mean by “infrastructure”? Fracking? Dams? Motorways?

Trump: The election is rigged! (Translation: The media say mean things about me.)

Trump wants to “reshape wildlife policies”, ie make it easier for people to kill wildlife.

Remember: people that say 'tell it like it is!' always mean 'say what I think!' and squeak like babies about dissent. (Jon Dryden Taylor ‏@jondrytay)

BUILDINGS
A plan to “rip out much of the Covent Garden neighbourhood ... and replace it with four-lane highways, subterranean walkways and enormous office blocks [was foiled by Raine Spencer]. The GLC put it a different way, describing the scheme as ‘dealing satisfactorily with conditions of bad lay-out and obsolete development’.” No major development plans created in the sixties were ever complete without an international conference centre... The main feature of the second tranche of development was an ‘exciting’ new upper-level pedestrian street that would link Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square with the conference centre. (Beautiful Idiots and Brilliant Lunatics: A Sideways Look at Twentieth-Century London Rob Baker)

After listing was denied, Durham Uni is setting up a contest to replace (i.e. demolish) Dunelm House. (@SOSBrutalism)

Durham Uni talking about 'a holistic and world class design'. Usual weasel words presaging some milchwasser replacement [for Dunelm House]. (Catherine Slessor ‏@cath_slessor)

The ‘cheap’ and ‘uninviting’ textured glazing of the Commonwealth Institute’s opaque facade and its ‘prosaic’ wings were continually belittled in planning submissions. (iconeye.com They wanted to make people feel OK with destroying all of it except the roof. :-( )

More here, and links to the rest.