Meanwhile in other news…

The (once) great city of Bradford is fully committed to embracing forward thinking diversity and inclusivity (surely an oxymoron?) and is fully committed to providing safe spaces for students studying important subjects such as fashion and media studies.

I particularly luuuurve Tilly Evans who has deftly stepped up to the role of token stupid white bint, totally oblivious to the contempt the other photographees hold her in.

I bet the MP for Bradistan West, (aka The t-wat in the hat) had a hand in that, or if he did not, then he is definitely celebrating with a fresh hookah pipe. He’ll certainly be putting Tilly on his it’s-not-Xmas-it’s-the-multi-faith-holiday-season card list

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And if my post reads like any kind of -ist or -ism, note I am only accepting these kinds of critique from those who have spent a minimum of two years or more living in West Yorkshistan

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Zac I couldn’t give a rats ass about anyone’s skin colour, ethnicity, sexuality or religion. I honestly don’t care. But when any of the former is used in an attempt to force others to bend to their belief system then I do have a problem.

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“A university has transformed one of its student union bars into an alcohol-free social space in response to changing student habits”
“A bar serving alcohol has been retained in the basement of the students’ union building and alcohol-free “mocktails” will be available.”
BBC

Has anyone forced the Student Union to do anything? In think you’ll find that the SU operates itself, and is not dictated to by anyone.

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There is still a bar that serves alcohol but the main bar has been transformed into more of an alcohol free social room by the look of it.

:joy::joy::joy: it is possible to function without immediately trying to promote the opposite of what you read you know? Try it sometime, you may find it liberating and refreshing.

No, nobody forces the SU to do anything, but pressure comes in many forms.

Aren’t the vast majority of us being forced to bend to someone else’s POV?

I’m deliberately avoiding “belief system” so as to include non-religious pressure to adapt to other’s ways of thinking. Take the “personal pronouns” issue, or the destruction of the English language norms by legitimizing the American predilection for “verb-izing”.

Who’s changing habits? Teenagers? Take a walk into any pub in any town on any night of the week and tell me the demographics of the customer base. I pretty much guarantee it’s sub 30’s and I pretty much guarantee that they ain’t drinking mocktails.

Ah you see the mistake was using the “forced” word. By all means try to persuade others to see a different POV, but forcing others to see another POV sis destined for failure and resistance. I thought you’d know that.

Not quite sure what you’re getting at: My post after your initial post was intended to be somewhat supportive.

Bottom line is that the SU is for students run by students, and exists on private land (A Uni campus is not necessarily open to the public, the SU buildings certainly aren’t) so this doesn’t impact on either of us (I am naturally assuming you aren’t enrolled at Bradford Uni)

Anyone choosing Bradford as their Uni-of-choice should have done a little basic research on the demographics

There will be several other bars in the SU building (assuming Bradford is even remotely similar to Newcastle Uni), so I’m sure the non-teetotal students will be able to find themselves a beer on campus

There are fewer pubs around I think , so those that do exist will still be busy. Back in my day as a yoof, the Uni bar was always cheaper that a pub so any who could get hold of a card would go there. And pool, snooker tables etc to hand. So, the younger people in pubs are less likely to be students.

There are studies suggesting that gen Z are drinking less alcohol on average, and that more are (more or less) teetotal so those who do drink might still be quaffing as much as my or your gen did.

True, but students having to go to a different room in the same building, is pretty minimal pressure in my book.

I didn’t mean that, as you well know. I’m all for people attempting to include others thoughts, beliefs and ideals into their lives, after all harmony is infinitely preferable to strife. But when whole lifestyles are impinged upon in order to satisfy another persons beliefs then there is something rotten in the state of Denmark.

I never attended university but my impression of universities was that they were a place of advanced learning where complete freedom of expression was encouraged and nurtured in order to develop free thinkers. Oh, and legendary partying and shagging too.

In other news government wants to make pints smaller .
Make them 2/3 s of a pint.
To help the health of Britain.
https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/scrap-pints-smaller-beer-glasses/

I went to University at the age of 31, also believing it to be the intellectual paradigm you described. Although I have never regretted my decision to do it, it was nothing like I imagined it to be. The free-thinking exchange of intellectual thought was (virtually) nowhere to be seen, certainly not amongst the students, and often quite scarce amongst some of the lecturers.

Willy Russell’s Educating Rita turned out to be highly prophetic, especially the scene in the clip below (film by Lewis Gilbert); her disappointed aspirations are all too easy to relate to.

Now, it’s even less like the paradigm described: Students are being charged hefty fees, leaving Uni with an average debt of £44,940.
They’re simply buying a product and like all customers, complain if it isn’t to their satisfaction. Lecturers are now rated on their “teaching quality” in “lesson reviews”, not that much different than Amazon product reviews, rather than the students being expected to make notes and do extra reading. Our University system seems to be largely getting by on its historical reputation.

Most students expect to be coached (spoon-fed) to a first-class degree, yet being unable (too thick) to understand that this is contrary to the system - if everyone scores a “first” then the system has been too easy, some others have to score a two-one or a two-two. It’s like Olympic sprinters all expecting to win a gold :roll_eyes:

My last lecturing assignments before leaving the academic life (around the time of the millenium) was a series of Medical Immunology lectures. “Is it going to be in the exam? Because if it isn’t, I’m not going to bother learning it” was the only question those would-be doctors ever had. I’m certain that will have gotten ten times worse in the intervening years

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Seems fair I’ll have 6 2/3 pint glasses of 5% bitter.Maybe a couple of single whisky chasers.

I am reminded of the outrage in The Sun when it was revealed that about half of all schools were below average!

Cue for the music fans? During a sound check:
Singer: Hey! Can you turn up the lead on my monitor? And a bit more bass? Gimme more drums.
Roadie: I’ll just make everything louder than everything else shall I?

:rofl: Fainting couches and powders ahoy!

Fans of Deep Purple “Made in Japan” may recognise that as Ian Gillan’s blurb just before they play “The Mule”. I guess it’s a standard Roadie response to the demands of musicians

And drummers. :wink:

Ooooooooooo… As a former drummer, I resemble that remark!

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