#if there is a better post that i haven't seen with up to date uk info pls lmk and i will gladly reblog it

[songofwizardry]

ok I'm not an expert but I'm not seeing much specific info going around here, and there's a lotta Palestine solidarity protests in the UK this weekend, so here is some (including UK-specific) protest info and resources (mostly pulled whole-cloth from Twitter)

policing is heavy at Palestine protests generally

Hamas is a proscribed org under UK law. that means "inviting support" for them or "wearing clothing or displaying articles" that implies you are a supporter is a criminal offence (if you're interested, here's the full list of criminal offences from gov.uk). Palestinian flags etc are ok*, but do not have something that could be mistaken for Hamas imagery. don't go out there looking for convictions pls.

*in spite of what Suella Braverman has implied, the London Muslim Community Forum has just confirmed that the Palestinian flag is not a proscribed flag and is not banned (apologies for quoting the "we advise the met police" group but I thought it was important to have that info explicitly)

don't talk to cops. that includes the police liasion officers in blue bibs.

particularly if you're concerned about your face ending up on social media etc, but also just good practice in general (both in terms of COVID and protest safety)—mask up. cover up tattoos etc.

have bustcards or contact details for protest legal support on you. Green and Black Cross can be contacted on 07946 541 511. write the number on your arm etc.

if you witness an arrest: check if there's a legal observer nearby and if so call them over; if not: if the arrestee doesn't have a bustcard, give them one, find out where they're being taken, and contact eg GBC or a protest support line

if you have the time and can help out, there will likely be arrestee support required after—GBC tend to post callouts on Twitter for this

other links

for particularly children and young people and their families being referred to PREVENT for pro-Palestine statements, contact PREVENTWatch and maybe also Palestine in School (newer initiative I think, I don't have an excessive amount of detail on them just FYI)

Liberty, Migrants Organise and Black Protest Legal Support have bustcards in different languages, including Arabic and Somali (also Liberty's website has lotsa useful info, including advice for disabled protesters, protesting and immigration status, and what to do if you're kettled)

GBC's thread on what to do if you see an arrest is useful, as are all their resources generally

if I've missed anything or made a mistake, lmk—as I said, I am very much not an expert. if you know people who are protesting, pass them the legal support line numbers; if you're attending, stay safe and be vigilant; and ofc carry water.

[royalarchivist]

YD: Ahh, so adorable. I recorded some stuff, like them trying yukke. [Reading chat] Right? I was flabbergasted when I heard his age! I didn’t know that he was… 20 years old??? He was also shocked when I told him my age. I don’t really ask their ages when I’m talking to foreigners, we’re just friends, ‘cause they don’t have distinct honorific and informal languages like we do. And he guessed I was like, 23? [Laughs] I laughed my ass off.

YD: These kids are polite. They seem very polite, don’t they? Especially after hearing how old I am. It feels like they’re saying, “Yes ma’am, it’s very delightful.” So cute, and they seemed like they really enjoyed their meal.

YD talked about meeting up with Tubbo while he was in Korea and shares two videos of them eating food at a Korean BBQ place!

MASSIVE thank you to @Forgetmelotz on Twitter, who translated and subtitled this video and gave me permission to share it on Tumblr! Please make sure to give the original video a like.

[Full Video and Subtitle Transcript ↓ ]

—

⚠️ This transcript is VERY LONG! ⚠️

—

YD: So I was planning to have a dinner with Kei [a Kpop Idol / Singer], but unexpectedly, there's a foreigner friend I met on QSMP named Tubbo, he's from the UK, and apparently he's visiting Korea. And he posted an Instagram story about it. I saw it and was like "Wait, are you coming to Korea?" and it [Tubbo's post] even says Korea blah blah within the date two days after my birthday. So I sent him a DM and he responded with "Haven't you seen my Twitter DM?"

YD: I recently distanced myself a little from Instagram and Twitter for a while, yeah I didn't check my phone that often, and it turns out he messaged me about 3 - 4 days ago saying "YD, I'm flying to Korea! Blah blah–" so I was like "Oh, oh... I'm sorry I didn't see that!" and I checked the DM the day before he arrived here... I told him that I am so sorry and asked if I can meet him in person.

* [Translation note: this can also mean the other way around, ie: he may have asked her if they could meet in person]

YD: So we ended up seeing [each other] on the 21st. I was supposed to have dinner with Kei, so I told her "but my friend from abroad... is in Korea now... what should I do..." and we rescheduled the dinner to inviting her to come over next week. So um, the, right– Tubbo, Tubbo's friend [Eryn], Seoneng [one of YD's crew members] and Kang-si [YD's husband] the 5 of us had dinner together.

YD: We went to a Korean BBQ place. I was searching through restaurants thinking “Uh… which Korean restaurant should I take these foreigners to so that they would be super impressed?” [YD thanks a dono] Yeah, I was searching hard and so I asked Ryeori. You know the Kwak tori & Ryeori couple? Ryeori the hair designer, I asked him, “Reyori, I’m trying to buy a dinner for my foreigner friend, do you have any recommendations for where I should bring him?” and he started listing up like Michelin star-rated pork gukbap restaurants and stuff. Then he also tells me that it’s really difficult to find an actual Korean restaurant in Hongdae, like it’s difficult to find a decent place. There are mostly fusion Korean food [places]. But then he goes, “Oh, hey, this place looks fine” and recommends me this Korean BBQ restaurant. I decided to bring them there and fed them.

YD: The reason I liked that place was that they sell doenjang-jjigabe, galbi-tang, jeyuk bokkeum, and other dishes as well as their main menu, the beef KBBQ. The banchans [side dishes] were also served neatly, they even had japchae, they sold yukke. Obviously there are better Korean restaurants outside of Hongdae, but their hotel was located there. It wasn’t like he had a car here, so I was trying to meet them somewhere they can just walk to. So Hongdae it was. On top of that, YD 4-cuts is also located in Hongdae.** So I thought it would be the best to just eat out here. And while we were eating, I’ve recorded some videos.

** [Note: This is a photo booth event with custom YD frames, as show in the background of this video]

YD: [Scrolls through to find the videos and laughs] Ahh, so adorable. I recorded some stuff, like them trying yukke. [Reading chat] Right? I was flabbergasted when I heard his age! I didn’t know that he was… 20 years old??? He was also shocked when I told him my age. I don’t really ask their ages when I’m talking to foreigners, we’re just friends, ‘cause they don’t have distinct honorific and informal languages like we do. [She thanks another dono] And he guessed I was like, 23? [Laughs] I laughed my ass off.

[YD plays a video she took of Tubbo and Eryn at the restaurant]

Tubbo: Oh, ok. [?]: You should tell them how to eat it together.  Tubbo: You’re overestimating my chopstick skill.  [?]: Here. [Passes Tubbo some of the meat]  Tubbo: Oh, thank you. [?]: And here, together. Tubbo: Ok. [Takes a bite] Waitress: With this vegetable. Tubbo: Mm, it’s really sweet! [?]: Foreigners quite like it. Eryn: [Reaches over and tries some food too, struggling a bit with his chopsticks] [?]: Unexpected, right? [?]: Oh, they like yukke? [?]: They just need to get used to it. Waitress: I will grill and hand it over to you, so please help yourselves. [?]: Ok, thank you. Eryn: [Tries more food and gives it a thumbs-up] [?]: Hm, good?! Tubbo and Eryn: Yeah! Tubbo: So far 10/10.

[The video ends]

YD: These kids are polite. They seem very polite, don’t they? Especially after hearing how old I am. It feels like they’re saying, “Yes ma’am, it’s very delightful.” So cute, and they seemed like they really enjoyed their meal. They were eating it up. They drank soju, they ate some noodles, and even doenjang-jjigae. I’ve heard foreigners don’t really like the taste of doenjang-jjigae, but they ate pretty much [all] of it. The restaurant also had pot rice, so I made them try that too. They ate that well too.

[YD plays the second video she recorded of them at the restaurant]

Tubbo: Go crazy ok, yeah! Alright.

YD: We ordered naengmyeon for a palate cleanser too. We ordered a lot.

Tubbo: [Struggles to cut the noodles with the scissors that were handed to him]

YD: He’s asking why we cut the noodles.

Tubbo: [Manages to cut the noodles] Kang-si [?]: Ok, and- and– [does chopstick motion] Tubbo: [Laughs] What am I gonna need?  Eryn: Chopsticks? Kang-si [?]: Yeah. YD [?]: Chopsticks, mm. Eryn: [To Tubbo] You go first. Tubbo: [Inaudible] Why is it cold? YD [?]: Oh, because the noodle is cold.

YD: Yeah, he found it interesting that the noodle is cold.

Tubbo: [He struggles with his chopsticks] Oh no, oh no… [Everyone laughs] Kang-si [?]: Very difficult. Ok! Tubbo: [Manages to fish some noodles out and holds his hand under them so they don’t splash everywhere as he transports them to his bowl] Seoneng [?]: Oh, uh, oh! It might be difficult for them to eat that. YD [?]: Hm? Kang-si [?]: Do you want some, Seoneng? Gimme the chopsticks, I’ll share you some. Eryn: [To Tubbo] Slippery. How did you get it?  Kang-si [?]: I’ll give you some, hand me the chopsticks. Seoneng [?]: Can I hand you mine? Just a small amount, please.

YD: They mimicked how Kangseok [Kang-si, YD’s husband] handles the noodles. Like, picking up the noodles like this and moving it to your dish.

Tubbo: That’s why you’re better than me (?).

YD: That’s Seoneng.

Kang-si [?]: Here’s your chopsticks, Seoneng. Eryn: I think this is enough. YD [?]: Oh, he’s taking some to his dish. Seoneng [?]: He learned. Tubbo: Do you like, spin 'em? Seoneng [?]: Scissors? Kang-si [?]: Like– [He holds up his chopsticks and shows them how to do it. Ok. OK! Eryn: [Picks up only a few noodles, which dangle] Seoneng [?]: Good! Tubbo: Maybe I did- I did a sht job of cutting, I'm sorry. Eryn: That's ok. Doing good.

YD: It had a nice atmosphere.

Eryn: Bravo. Tubbo: Oh, thank you. YD [?]: The noodles might be a bit slippery for them to...

YD: They really struggled to pick the noodles up. They asked why we cut the noodles then proceeds to eat like that 'cuz it's too long.

YD [?]: Shall we cut it? Kang-si [?]: Eryn? [He leans forward and cuts Eryn's noodles with scissors]

YD: –So we had to cut it for him like he's a baby.

[Everyone laughs] Eryn: It kept on moving!

[The video ends]

YD: [Laughs] Ah, so cute. It was fun. So we tried various dishes together. And uh, UK– UK– both of them are from the UK, but they didn't know there is a viral series of British students trying Korean food,*** so I told them "Seeing how you react to unfamiliar foods, like... How do I put this? You were very polite trying these out, not making any weird disgusted noises (so you can go viral too)." They didn't refuse anything. Well, they also said that this was the best Korean food they had so far. They might've been just being polite, but still, you know, they were... Hmm, very neat? Yeah. I get why he's so popular.

*** [Note: YT: Korean Englishman]

YD: Anyways, it was a lot of fun. After the meal, I asked them if they wanted to go take a YD 4-cut with us, explaining this is a trending form of birthday event amongst fans of younger generations in Korea where they rent and run a photobooth for their YouTuber / CCs / Influencers. I asked "It's close from here, you wanna go?" and he said yes. That's how we ended up taking a group photo. It wasn't planned beforehand.

YD: We arrived there– [Laughs] I tried, I knew it closes at 10pm, so I tried to visit there around then (to avoid people). So we got there around 9:30? And my fans were sitting there waiting for me. As soon as they spot me they go, "Wooooooo!!! It's so good to see you in person!!!" ...then they started crying, which made Tubbo and Eryn panic a bit. They were like "Wow YD, u a superstar! Whoa." [Laughs]

YD: No, 'cuz I told them that there might be a few fans because it's my birthday event, and they were OK with it. Well, he's also a Youtuber, so he wouldn't be too unfamiliar with this kinda situation I figure. But even though I warned [him] about it, they seemed a bit surprised as people started SOBBING, so Kangseok evacuated them all. He told them, "Let's get out and try some salted butter rolls while she..." The boys leave and get bread, and I go have a short conversation with my fans, take photos, give autographs... [Laughs]

YD: It was a LOT of fun. It was a memorable day.

The original VOD can be found here (please note that the video is only available to VIP members of YD's channel).

Timestamp for this conversation: ~12:30 - 23:00

[sensorydephrivation]

Amatonormative assumptions and the language of a hard launch: a rambly DnP essay thing

I have a lot of Discourse Thoughts about hard launching and all that, but there’s not much I can say that hasn’t already been said. This fandom is one that generally has significant representation on both sides of any major issue; any take you look for you can find someone genuinely believing. What I am interested in analyzing is how some people are insistent, whether or not they want it to happen or believe it will happen, that they haven’t Hard Launched, and others are equally insistent that they have. Because on the surface those should be completely contradictory takes, but a large amount of people believe each to be true.

I’ve seen posts making comparisons to PJ and Sophie, and I definitely think that’s a useful tool because it brings up the real question here: how do we speak about romantic and platonic relationships, and what underlying assumptions are at play when we use or don't use certain words?

Firstly, this issue is obviously mostly to entirely due to homophobia. Why do people assume PJ and Sophie are a couple just because they live together, even though they've never used the words? Because they're a man and a woman. Why couldn't DnP be publicly open about their relationship back in the day? Because they're gay. I'm not going to spend too much time on this point because it's obvious, but I feel like it's important to remember that Dan and Phil's relationship wasn't some Great Secret for no reason. They weren't no-homo-ing because of privacy or whatever, but because they weren't yet ready to face the immense challenges being publicly out sticks you with, especially in the early 2010s. If homophobia wasn't a thing, everything else I'm going to say in this post would still be true, but it would all be significantly less charged. Just remember that gay marriage wasn't legal in the UK when DnP met each other, and that 2000s pop culture overall was routinely, openly, virulently homophobic. Just keep that in mind. (Also, everything I talk about in this post refers to 2019 onwards, after they came out. I wasn't around for the no-homo era and can't speak on it. I'm also not going to be talking about the speculation around their relationship, because that's been talked about so much. It definitely is a factor in all of this, but you know that already)

Onto the main point of this post. The reason DnP haven't "hard launched" (that term itself is incredibly vague, but its popular meaning in this fandom seems to be explicit confirmation of a romantic relationship, which is how I'm using it here) while also having clearly done so is because their use of language does not line up with conventional expectations of how language around romantic and platonic relationships should be used.

The concept of "dating" as we think of it today is relatively recent, and language around it is even newer. The terms "boyfriend" and "girlfriend" only became prominent in the mid- to late- 20th century, and it took a while for them to gain the connotation (of almost always meaning a romantic relationship) that they have today. And yet people have still had romantic relationships for forever! How these things were described would depend on the society's norms around marriage and sex and often on the exact social dynamic of the couple. Today, we think we're better than all that and can find words for anything.

I'm no expert on what makes a relationship romantic vs platonic or even how to define those terms. I find it hard to define the concept of romance in a way that doesn't bring with it centuries of heteronormative amatonormative assumptions. And boy are there assumptions. (No, people who live together for life do not have to be romantically involved, that's a silly thing to believe.) When people see a relationship that lines up or does not line up with those assumptions, they expect it to have a clean, simple label. But the words we used for romantic relationships outside of marriage, due to how new they are, are completely not simple!

While these days they seem to be the most "unambiguous" terms to describe a romantic relationship, "boyfriend" and "girlfriend" are essentially euphemisms that can seem infantilizing and demeaning of the seriousness of a relationship. It's easy to see how they aren't for everyone, even if many people are fine using them for serious committed relationships. "Partner" is kind of ambiguous on purpose, thought like bf and gf, I think it's on its way to becoming a word with mainly romantic connotations. The term "significant other" is out of fashion these days, but just like bf, gf, and "partner," it's basically a euphemism that doesn't mean much in and of itself. We have no words to describe an unmarried romantic couple that aren't on some level unclear or unindicative of the actual nature of the relationship.

Dan and Phil have acknowledged that they were once in a romantic relationship, have made many many jokes about having sex with each other, and are committed life partners. On some level, you can take the combination of these things as a very clear confirmation of a current romantic relationship, which many do. Yes, this requires making a few assumptions, but they aren't the craziest assumptions in the world. In fact, as one can see from the PJ and Sophie example, they are assumptions that are often normal and expected to be made in social situations. So why do so many others not see it this way?

Well for one, we are a mostly queer community that understands the complexity of queer relationships and how these assumptions do not get applied equally. We see how these assumptions are often used against queer people to devalue their identities, especially those on the ace-aro spectrum and/or in queerplatonic relationships. We also are an extremely online community, familiar with the complicated layers of discourse around RPF and shipping, and hesitant to make assumptions in a way that could potentially damage relationships or invade someone's privacy.

But honestly? It's because DnP don't call themselves boyfriends. They don't explicitly frame their activities in romantic ways (e.g. call things dates). The terms they use and jokes they make, even in 2024, are not the sort of things we expect from the set of assumptions that go with a committed romantic relationship. (This is also where the discourse about whether or not they're open/poly comes from, but that's a topic for another day.)

The Date Night video stretches this to its absolute max. The game is full of cards about kissing and other things that fit cleanly into the set of romantic relationship assumptions, but they didn't use any of those cards. They only used things that were ambiguous, and tried to downplay the romantic implications as much as possible aside from the lampshading of it at the start of the video ("this is a great game to play with your best buddy as well" "phil says no homo" as well as the entire "ugh i can't believe they send us this" tone of the intro). The use of "partner" in this video is the clearest example of this. The game uses this word exclusively- after all, it's a standard, accepted, gender-neutral word for people in a romantic relationship. Phil confidently reads it off the card, with the "I don't care which set of assumptions this assigns us" attitude that's been prevalent over the past year and past few months especially. Dan avoids it half the time, and at the end of the video, seems to clearly mock the term, saying it in a silly voice and then comparing it to how stereotypical cowboys use the word. This stuck out to me; it made it very noticeable that they don't use that word at least in videos, and made me think about the connation of the word they do use-- "friend." That term, unlike any of the words I've mentioned so far, implies literally nothing. "Friends" can be people with a barely positive relationship or people with an incredibly meaningful relationship they center their life around. With no other qualifiers, it also implies that the people in question don't have a romantic relationship (are "just friends"), or even (because of amatonormativity) that their relationship is not especially deep or meaningful.

Dan and Phil have defined their relationship in quite a few ways-- or rather, Dan has, in BIG and in his interviews for WAD. These quotes circulate on here constantly as people discuss the meaning of them. I'm not really interested in talking about those as they've already been talked to death. I do think it's worth noting that we only get these things from Dan-- the one time Phil has ever spoken on his "current dating life" it was just to say "I don't want to talk about that, the door is closed." Obviously some of this is because the interviewers were pushy, but also I'm sure Dan enjoys his elaborate poetic metaphors enough to not be able to shut up about them haha. (Very unrelated but I wonder if this will come up if they end up doing interviews for TIT?) The thing is, these definitions show a deep, meaningful, complex, committed relationship. They include directly romantic terms like "husbands," "soul mates," and "normal gay relationship." You would think being willing to call someone your husband, even with a million other words around it, would mean you wouldn't have a problem calling them your partner, right? Yet these words do not reflect the language they use when speaking about each other in videos!

There are times when they say "friend" "buddy" or "mate" in a clearly humorous, ironic way, and seem aware that it isn't a term that makes people think of a committed, long term relationship. Other times, they use the word as if it is a fully accurate descriptor of their relationship-- in the glue story, Dan jokes about being ashamed to be seen as "the friend of the glue guy," and in How Phil Nearly Died, he quotes himself telling the hospital staff he is looking for "my friend." I use the hospital stories as examples because they are high-stakes (or seemingly high-stakes in the case of the glue story) situations and examples of how other people in their real lives perceive them. The way they choose to tell these stories to the internet is one in which the fact that a random hospital worker would likely interact differently with Dan if he was Phil's friendly roommate as opposed to his life partner doesn't matter. In other words: if they actually do call each other "friends" irl around strangers, those strangers probably have a very different impression of their relationship than we do. Their consistency in describing themselves doing so just means that they want to consistently use the term "friends" in their videos, not that they actually do that in real life. But to a viewer who is unsure about their relationship status, the fact that they are clearly life partners, no matter platonic or romantic, but in all situations opt for a word that does not imply that seems to be confirmation that their relationship is not clearly romantic, or at least that they don't want to refer to it as such.

If I have to draw a conclusion from all this, it's that DnP consider their relationship very complex and unusual (ymmv on if it is, lol) and have had to deal with a ridiculous level of scrutiny about it nonetheless. Again, Phil has almost never spoken on this, but Dan clearly dislikes any descriptor that carries with it a sense of assumptions about the nature of the relationship, hence why he uses like fifty contradicting ones or strange metaphors instead. "Friend" carries with it no assumptions. You can be "friends" and be in a romantic relationship-- plenty of people say "I married my best friend." But our society considers romantic relationships to be more meaningful and important than platonic ones. People assume that if you are in a romantic relationship, you would want to describe your relationship exclusively using terms that carry that set of assumptions, because that is the most important part about it. I honestly think Dan is being quite subversive in refusing to do so.

I have no idea if or when this will ever change, but I hope I've given enough context for those who are convinced they've already hard launched to understand why others are still waiting, and for those who don't think they have to understand why the issue is more complicated than it seems. This topic has fascinated me ever since I first started watching them, and I hope this post can help people reach a bit more of a understanding, rather than inciting more discourse.

[littleeggrock]

Dirty Little Animals by Bones UK (from the Arcane soundtrack) is so first couple days feral BOLAS?! To me. Explanation under the cut for anyone interested lol

Like the first verse? "Taste what fell from grace"? They weren't exactly high and mighty on the first island, but they sure had it better there than in literal purgatory.

"You wanna mess around they're gonna take you down down down" - The other teams took this somewhat seriously, but by the end of the first day Bolas was completely broke and decided to go with the rp route, go completely insane, and somehow are still winning, despite all the hangups and deaths they had.

"such a lovely way to burn burn burn" - at the end of the first day there was a solid five minutes of people throwing themselves into the campfire to amass a large pile of bodies

"I've never felt like this before, think I might just want some more" - the amount of all the trauma and just general vibes given off by these specific people was enough to allow bolas to go over the edge and go crazy, alone they've all got their respective RP things going but together the energy bounces off each other as they constantly enable the ones around them, allowing for them to go well and truly insane after Bad provided a catalyst

"the kind of wrong that make you feel right" - so many of the characters on this team are considered morally grey, really none besides Phil and maybe carre have any sort of moral standing, and even then it's debatable, Jaidens close but she's also very easily manipulated as we see with cucurucho, she has good intentions most of the time but she doesn't have them because they are good, she has them because she doesn't want the people close to her getting hurt

"the little death that makes you feel alive" -jaidens complete disregard for her life on day four, willing to die upwards of 30 times (she died ninety four times total but also died from the gas a lot so im not sure how much was spawn camping, figured id play it safe) to cheat and manipulate the other teams for the benefit of BOLAS. Also again the campfire. And the stick fights. They just really like to beat eachother to the death.

"it makes your blood run hot, it makes your spit taste sweet, it makes you feel more alive than you have ever been" - literally just the insanity that's swamped the team, it's been dialed down some since day 4 but it's definitely still there, they are not ok and I love them. Some analogy could be made with the gas masks and the toxic gas, knowing you are immune to something that has killed many, the high of the adrenaline as they run through this fatal fog with little regards for their own safety.

"dirty little animals, beautiful cannibals" - they've brought up cannibalism multiple times and the majority of them (characters, to clarify) say they would be fine with it if given consent first, cellbit's canonically already done it too lmao. You can't tell be that they aren't just a buncha dirty little guys. Have you seen Charlie's skin, have you heard jaiden and foolish barking, all of them screeching muffled at the enemies, or howling in joy

Also for those of you who haven't seen, arcane season 2 got a release date for sometime in November 2024, which is so fucking exciting and it's a lot sooner than I expected

Sorry for the long post the brainrot got to me and I had to write this down somewhere lmao, figured id share with the class

[danhowellz]

ok heres my two cents on tour and the cancelled dates. imo its been a real mixture of everything as to why dates haven't sold out/been cancelled. I think they (dan and his promoter team) booked venues that were just too big. majority of the venues have been 1-2k capacity and dan just doesn't have that kind of audience anymore, not on his own anyway. this goes hand in hand with dan perhaps not promoting the tour as much as he could have. now i love him so much but u can't expect people to go and see u if you ain't doing anything online ??? i know he's said countless times that he's a perfectionist when it comes to what he uploads. whether that be a tweet or an instagram post and he's said he struggles knowing what he wants to upload, especially with his videos. unfortunately this doesn't go hand in hand with wanting to go on a world tour and have actual real life people come and watch you. like if he's not giving us anything online what incentive is there to see him irl?

i also think back to what he said about the pre show q&a only being in the uk/america/canada bc the other venues didn't know how well it would work and didn't wanna risk adding it (which makes no sense tbh bc people have already bought tickets so they'll wanna see a q&a??) i think some of these setbacks have been due to the fact he's still seen as "just a youtuber" and like dnp have mentioned before when talking about tatinof/ii, venues were so reluctant to host their show bc they aren't mainstream celebrities/comedians. it makes me wonder if dan has ever thought about dipping his toes into traditional stand up comedy and building up an audience via actual gigs and shows as well as creating content online.

i really like what @yonpote said here that he should have done the tour in stages rather than announce a full world tour at the start. he could have seen how well it did in the uk and then planned better for venues in the usa/aus/nz/europe. but hey i guess thats the beauty of hindsight and maybe if he did another tour he'd do it differently (or just not work with these promoters tbh they've been a mess from the start. remember the oxford/cambridge chaos?)

all of this to say we'll never know any of the answers bc dan certainly isn't gonna tell us (most likely bc contractually he can't lol) i do hope he talks about the iceland show though and communicates with us as an audience (something i dont think either of them are great at but thats another post lol) and i just hope all of these cancellations havent like stressed him out too much

[the-almighty-gob-john-langley]

So, What Numpties Deserve To Be Disembowelled With A Metaphorical Pitchfork Today Then?

From John Langley Bristol, author of 'The Sexual Philanthropist' available on Amazon/Kindle.

I never cease to be amazed by the fact I manage to retain a good sense of humour when most in this world seem to be losing, or have already lost the plot, or, are still rummaging to find a plot to lose in the first place for reasons yet unbeknown to them.

You see, up until about five minutes ago, I had no idea that the UK government website had an entire section devoted to acronyms. Trust me, it's true, and you too can refer to this via something entitled 'Style guide - A to Z - Guidance.' I rather like the term 'Style Guide' as if it's somehow couture in presentation and of such meaningless drivel I can imagine John Cleese being behind naming it such as a piss-take on the establishment that some idiot in government took seriously and adopted. Unlike the 'Ministry of Silly Walks' which, much to my continued disappointment, should have been made mandatory, and Boris the latest star turn.

Ah well. As far as acronyms go, I'm totally convinced that there is someone in the bowels of Whitehall who never sees the light of day and is fed and watered through a hatch in the door, and kept there for the sole purpose of inventing acronyms to suit whatever purpose is required of him - because it has to be a mad professorial type who looks like Gandalf on amphetamines and has an entire library of dictionaries from around the world at his fingertips from which to access the correct acronym for all occasions.

Today I woke up to news of the latest one, NEET. As in 'Not in Education, Employment, or Training. Perhaps it simply involves far too many letters, but as hard as I search the government website I'm surprised to find no reference at all to an acronym for B.U.L.L.S.H.I.T - yet. However, I live in hope.

Anyway, we have NEET but no TIDY. So, NEET it is then, for now. So, who exactly are these deemed not to be in education, employment, and training? Apparently, those who were so freaked out by the pandemic that they no longer want to attend school, or engage in any activity that involves leaving the security of their own home - such as for employment, and who seemingly spend their time engaging in activities such as TikTok and popping copious amounts of antidepressants that, by all accounts, have seen a huge rise in uptake that according to the 'National Institute for Cost Effectiveness', aka NICE, created a whole new generation of pill-poppers in the eleven to seventeen-year-old age group. Mind you, this report does date back to 2022, and I cannot imagine things getting any better since then. Meanwhile, the shareholders of the big pharma companies are rubbing their hands in glee from a whole new generation of addicts helping along their even healthier dividends and a few extra boxes of Montecristo Number One to enjoy while celebrating the extra dosh pouring into their already bulging bank accounts. Excellent work!

Not that I would ever wish to cast aspersions on the post-millennial generation, and neither would I be in any way cynical either, because if you've been reading my blog posts for any serious length of time you would fully recognise that such things are beyond me. However, I have to say that the mollycoddled progeny so enjoyably wrapped in the finest cotton wool available to humankind by parents who see their little darlings as 'friends' rather than offspring haven't exactly helped toward creating a generation of robust x, y's, and z's.

[onevoiceforanimalsuk]

One Voice for Animals UK (OVFAUK) Weekly Update. Week 45

DATES FOR DIARIES

January to June - OVFAUK Campaign a better life for Rabbits and Rodents. 🐰

April - National Pet Month

1st May - OVFAUK Coffee Morning & awards announcement ☕

27June to 3rd July - Summer Auction. 🌞

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NEWS

Rabbits & Rodents Campaign.

News from All Party Parliamentary Animal Welfare Group that your letters have encouraged some MPs to support the Rabbit Welfare Campaign for better housing. If you haven't asked your MP yet, please use the template letters on our campaign page at

2. OVFAUK Volunteer Awards

Great to see so many entries coming in. Of you want to recognise how a Volunteer has made a difference for your rescue organization - please nominate:

3. Have you or has someone you know started volunteering for an animal charity after retirement? Please share your story with Jenny Roberts from our press team: press.helpanimals.co.uk

4. Spike's Hedgehog Foods are carrying out a hedgehog survey and invite us to add sightings to their new map.

5. Our most shared story of last week was about Mini the cat, killed by the Western Hunt. :-(

https://www.facebook.com/groups/onevoiceforanimalsuk/permalink/2920313941572252/

6. Do any OVFAUK rescues need knitted nests?

Please post on our Facebook group Crafting for Rescues and we will get some posted out to you

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CONGRATULATIONS!

To Gratefield Small Animal Rescue who this week we're awarded the Worcestershire High Sherriff award for service to their local community

To Berkshire Animal Rescue who had their 6th birthday last week

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WELCOME

Ella’s Farm,

Cecil's Horse Sanctuary and

Hallswood Animal Sanctuary

To One Voice for Animals UK. Lovely to have you here :-)

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PETITION OF THE WEEK

Stand up for Badgers with this very easy to complete consultation:

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PRESS

Tribe Animal Sanctuary Scotland TASS interview with Kay Adams

Latest Campaign for better lives for rabbits & rodents - featuring Beloved Rabbits

Coverage of the upcoming awards

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LIBRARY

www.onevoiceforanimalslibrary.co.uk

Each week we will feature one folder from our amazing library of resources for anyone who cares for animals. This week it's EASTER BUNNY awareness posters:

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ARE YOU FUNDRAISING?

Rescues, Sign up as an organization at people'sfundraising.com so people can put on fundraisers for you. It works like GoFundMe but the fees are cheaper.

OVFAUK has helped over 70 organizations set up donate pages in the past 8 months - with donations of over £23,000 made. If we set up your organisation - make sure you have your donate link on your Facebook page too.

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MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Since our launch OVFAUK has helped the organisations on our directory raise almost £45,000. Thankyou to everyone who donates

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SOCIAL MEDIA

Please follow:

Facebook.com/OneVoiceforAnimalsUK

Twitter: @Onevoiceforani1

Instagram: @Onevoiceforanimalsuk

Tumblr: @onevoiceforanimalsuk

To help us stay in contact please add admin@helpamimals.co.uk to your whitelist

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CELEBRITY SUPPORTERS

Patrons:

Dan Richardson & Richard Bowler

Supporters:

Richard Taylor-Jones, Ranulph Fiennes

Sean Conway

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THANK YOU

Thankyou and have a great weekend and please let everyone know One Voice for Animals UK is the place to go to find and support your local rescues. www.helpanimals.co.uk