Emperor

!pubs@feddit.uk

It's about drinking establishments. We already have !tea@feddit.uk and !coffee@feddit.uk so it was about time we expanded the selection of available beverages.

Far-right groups are seeking to hijack a farmers’ protest in London against tax changes introduced by the chancellor, Rachel Reeves.

Extremists, including close associates of Tommy Robinson, have been using social media to urge supporters to turn up at the protest on Tuesday, as farming leaders sought to remind those attending of their responsibilities.

The event is being eyed as a major opportunity for exploitation by the far right, who are seeking to promote Jeremy Clarkson as a hero after he claimed the UK government had a “sinister plan” to “ethnically cleanse” farming communities.

The former presenter has become a meme on far-right social media accounts as activists and extremist influencers applauded his comments. Nick Griffin, the former leader of the British National party, posted a picture of himself in the broadcaster’s Oxfordshire pub.

“Jeremy Clarkson nails it,” said Griffin, as he shared Clarkson’s comments.

The Great Twitter Exodus of 2022 is still happening. It's just a little...fractured. A lot of X power users migrated to Bluesky early on, which paved the way for a flood of folks to join that service in 2024. Meanwhile, a lot of technically inclined individuals are still hanging out on Mastodon (at least, that's where I hang out).

Bluesky and Mastodon are both decentralized services, in theory, but users of one service can't really talk to users on the other—or it wasn't possible before Bridgy Fed, anyway. It's a beta service that makes it possible for Bluesky and Fediverse-compatible applications, such as Mastodon, to interact.

...

This is where Bridgy Fed comes in. With this service, individual users of either service can opt in to "bridging" their accounts. I tested this out with my friend and Lifehacker alumni Eric Ravenscraft, who hangs out on Bluesky more than me. It worked well—we can now see each other's posts, like each other's posts, and even talk to each other, cross-network.

...

While this solution works well, there are a few hangups. Chiefly, it only functions if both people bridge their accounts. This means I can't see any comments from Bluesky users unless they also are bridged, and vice versa: During our little test, a few other Mastodon users responded to my conversation with Eric, but Eric could not see those replies. This make sense if you know how the system works—only comments from bridged users are bridged—but it's hardly ideal, and can lead to asymmetrical conversations. Unfortunately, the opt-in nature of the bridging service makes this inevitable.

If you are already using Bridgy Fed, how is it working out for you?

The cost of the UK’s unhealthy food system amounts to £268 billion every year, according to a report.

The Food Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC) report calculated the direct and indirect impact of diet-related ill health by combining the cost of healthcare and social care, welfare spending, productivity losses and the human consequences of chronic disease, and identifying what proportion relates to food.

The food-related cost of chronic disease in the UK includes £67.5 billion in healthcare, £14.3 billion in social care, £10.1 billion in welfare, productivity at £116.4 billion and £60 billion that can be linked to the chronic disease attributable to the current food ecosystem, the research states.

Prof Tim Jackson, the director of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity at Surrey University, who carried out the analysis, said: “The connection between diet and health is often discussed, but the economics of that link are staggering.

“When we factor in the health impacts, we discover that the true cost of an unhealthy diet is more than three times what we think we’re paying for our food.

An anti-vaccination conspiracy theorist who encouraged violence against Prof Sir Chris Whitty on social media has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Patrick Ruane, 55, from Paddington, west London, was convicted of two charges of encouraging terrorism on social media in 2021, following a trial at the Old Bailey.

Ruane believed in conspiracy theories about the government having a "hidden agenda" to the coronavirus epidemic which he shared with thousands of users in Telegram groups, the trial heard.

His posts referred to "serious violence" including the use of explosives such as Semtex as well as criminal damage and the disruption of electronic communication systems, said the prosecution.

Ruane had suggested "whacking" the Chief Medical Officer for England, Prof Sir Chris Whitty, and referred to executing politicians.

Campaigners are rallying to save a nearly 200-year-old train station that helped launch the age of steam-powered passenger travel.

Built in 1826 on the Stockton and Darlington railway line - the world’s first passenger railway to use steam trains - Heighington station in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, is “possibly the world’s first railway station,” according to Historic England.

It has now been added to the 2024 Heritage at Risk Register, which lists nearly 5,000 endangered historical sites over concerns about neglect and decay. Campaigners hope to revive Heighington’s legacy and safeguard its place in railway history.

New research by the Friends of the Stockton and Darlington Railway has confirmed that the station was operational from 1827, making it the oldest known station, surpassing Liverpool Road station in Manchester, previously thought to be the oldest, dating from 1830.

This discovery led Historic England to elevate the station’s listing from Grade II to Grade II*, marking it as a building of “particularly important interest” - a classification held by only 5.8 per cent of listed buildings.

The world’s most ferocious death metal band, Impaled Rektum, is back and ready to unleash hell in sequel Heavier Trip. The official trailer highlights some of the raucous heavy metal mayhem, and it also features….Babymetal?!

Bloody Disgusting and Doppelgänger Releasing joined forces back in 2018 to release Heavy Trip, a Finnish black metal comedy about a small-town heavy metal band that blasts its way out of the quiet countryside for a big debut gig in Norway.

Now, the sequel is set to arrive in theaters and on Digital on November 29, 2024.

In Heavier Trip, “Shackled by fate and locked up in a Norwegian prison, the band discovers their lead guitarist’s family reindeer slaughterhouse faces a financial storm. Turo, Lotvonen, Xytraxm and Oula hatch a daring escape plan to help. Desperate for the money, and the chance to perform at the ultimate battleground for metal warriors, Impaled Rektum takes a journey through northern Europe to the legendary Wacken music festival. But hot on their trail is a vengeful prison guard, thirsting for revenge, and a sketchy record label executive, weaving lies that could shatter their dreams and worse, compromise the integrity of the band. Amidst the chaos, the band must forge a bond stronger than the darkest riffs – forging alliances with the most unexpected compatriots, including an epic cameo from the Japanese Kawaii-metal band, Baby Metal. Only the raw power of metal can determine their fate! Prepare for a relentless odyssey of sound, fury, and the unbreakable spirit of true heavy metal in this sequel to cult classic Heavy Trip.”

Trailer

The rise of All-In Wrestling in the 1930s was the reason for wrestling’s scrutiny in this decade. The sport became increasingly violent as more holds were introduced and fewer restrictions were placed on the wrestlers.

However, due to a lack of a governing body, different promoters saw the “All-In” style as a free-for-all, discarding any restrictions and giving them a license to do whatever they wanted, no matter how brutal and bloody.

This led do weapons being used in professional wrestling for the first in Britain. The matches became less of a sport and more of a spectacle, with less emphasis on the physical skill and talent of the performers. Fans would chant “We Want Blood!”, and objects like stools and water buckets were regularly used. Matches were more like the hardcore-style bouts from ECW than what you’d imagine from the early-20th century.

This change actually caused a boom in the wrestling business, with it becoming more popular than ever. That included women’s wrestling, which the British public first saw in a tour of German lady wrestlers in 1867.

Women’s wrestling soon became a draw, although there were much fewer all-woman matches than their male counterparts. The first intergender bout was in 1880, while Ivy “Blonde Tigress” Russell vs Peggy “Brunette Bearcat” Parnell drew thousands of fans in 1934.

However, the scene would take a huge hit in 1938 when the Entertainments Committee of the London County Council banned women from wrestling in public matches in London, while “All-In” wrestling wasn’t banned until 1944.

While other cities in the country didn’t stop the women wrestling, losing out on the biggest market was a huge detriment, not to mention the effect the outbreak of the Second World War had on the scene just a year later. Wrestling continued during the war in cities like Newcastle, Manchester and Liverpool, but the business took a huge hit due to a large number of the population leaving for war.

After the Allies achieved victory over Hitler’s Nazi Germany and the Axis Powers, there would be a new world of professional wrestling built in Britain, although one that did not welcome women. The British Wrestling Board of Control was formed in 1946, with Admiral Lord Mountevens and company creating the rules that would govern the sport for decades.

These Mountevans Rules codified what wrestling should be and took the sport away from the lawless world that the All-In rules had descended it into.

This change created a more sanitised and professional sport, with the creation of Joint Promotions in 1952 starting a boom period never seen before. However, Joint Promotions didn’t see the value in women’s wrestling.

Max Crabtree, who took over booking for Joint Promotions in the 1970s, perfectly encapsulated the higher-up’s view on women’s wrestling with this quote from his chat with Simon Garfield.

“I never promoted them I’m a male chauvinistic pig,” Crabtree said. “But no matter who they were, and I say this respectfully,” he said, disrespectfully, “there was never a place for them in the history of British wrestling. I think that if I had attempted to put them on television, ITV would have instantly taken it off [the air].”

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/19862461

Marshall wrote on Instagram, “Since so many fans keep asking, I figured I couldn’t keep the disappointing news to myself any longer. Your unwavering loyalty deserves better. For the past 6 years myself and original UK producer of Dog Soldiers, Christopher Figg, have been working tirelessly to negotiate for the rights to make a sequel with the US Producer/rights holder David E. Allen and his company Dash. 6 years!! That’s as long as it took to write and make the first movie. Unfortunately these negotiations came to a sudden and unexpected halt when, earlier this year, we were due to finalize and sign the agreements and….they disappeared. Vanished. Cut off all communication. Refuse to answer emails or calls. Why, you ask. I don’t know why. That’s the point. We simply don’t know what happened or why, but the end result is that we don’t have the rights to make a sequel without this deal in place, thus rendering it effectively dead. I’m sorry. We tried. We really did. And in Chris Figg’s case spent a lot of money on legal fees doing so. We wanted this for you. For all the countless fans who’ve asked for it. But in the end, perhaps it’s just not meant to be. The original film was lightning in a bottle, and perhaps lightning doesn’t, and in some cases shouldn’t, strike twice. So there it is…“

Nineteen hours later, he revealed that he hopes to make a separate project called The Werewolves of London. “Since I dropped such a clanger last night, I thought I’d give fans a little moonlight at the end of the tunnel today… While I do not have the rights to make a Dog Soldiers sequel, there’s nothing to stop me making another werewolf movie…. Which is exactly what I intend to do. It’s early days and I’m not giving away any plot details just yet, the plan is to bring as many of the original team back for this as possible, and then all we need is the money to make it!“

“Black Panther will return,” Marvel promised at the end of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. When the superhero does eventually return to the big screen, they’ll be joined onscreen by Denzel Washington, according to the actor himself.

While Marvel Studios hasn’t officially announced a Black Panther 3 for its upcoming slate, Washington says that one is in the works, and that writer-director Ryan Coogler is writing a role for him. Speaking on Australia’s Today show during press rounds for Gladiator II, Washington outlined his upcoming list of projects, saying that he’s slated to appear in a third Black Panther movie.

“At this point in my career, I’m only interested in working with the best,” Washington said. “I don’t know how many more films I’m gonna make, probably not that many. I want to do things I haven’t done.

“I played Othello at 22. I’m about to play Othello at 70. After that, I’m playing Hannibal. After that, I’ve been talking with Steve McQueen about a film. After that, Ryan Coogler is writing a part for me in the next Black Panther. After that I’m gonna do the film Othello. After that I’m gonna do King Lear. After that I’m gonna retire.”