Istanbul is one of the friendliest big cities on earth.

Agreed, I went to Istanbul during Ramadan a few years ago and it was fantastic. Highly recommend that city, just a beautiful place and the food is amazing!

Cheers. BB

My Auntie and her “friend” went to Turkey during Ramadan and she said it was nightmare. Agreed that it was a beautiful place and the food was beyond superb.

Got to love Turkish food 🤌

England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Apparently Jordan is quite chill. Haven’t been but have seen a documentary following a guy (Levison Wood) travelling around Arabia and definitely Jordan is more relaxed than some surrounding countries. Also Petra is in Jordan which looks amazing

Egyptians are hard to beat however you slice it.

I dunno, they didn't do too well in the Suez war... And I'm pretty sure the ottomans beat them a couple times too.

Malaysia & Indonesia definitely worth a mention! Very underrated as tourist destinations. Azerbaijan is a fairly secular Muslim nation, with a big drinking culture & nightclubs, same goes for Kosovo. Friend of mine visited both & had a great time. Apparently Kosovans love Brits. Morocco is very regional, but always friendly. I've never been but some of the best & most hospitable people I've encountered come from there - a colleague of mine gave me a big chunk of hash at work once because he was despairing at the shwag I was smoking (pre-LB days!).

My friend went to Iraq before lockdown and had a brilliant time. Iraqis are very friendly and tjough there are issues a well run tour will be worth it. Some of the architecture looks incredible.

Wow as a British Muslim I came here expecting the same regurgitated racist nonsense you see all over Facebook etc. I just want to say it’s a breath of fresh air seeing all these posts. I also wanted to say that first and foremost I would consider myself British, my dad moved to this country 30+ years ago (whether due to prior circumstances or not) and has built an amazing life for us all here in much we certainly wouldn’t have been able to enjoy in his own country.
The problem is you have people coming over nowadays who do not want to intergrate into British society at all, learn the language? No thanks, try some traditional English food? don’t eat that horrible bland food. Claim the benefits? Yes please. I find myself in a situation where I am unable to buy a home, unable to live comfortably while working what I would say is a fairly good job all because 1000+ goes towards deductions and funding these kind of people. These kind of people are the real problem and tarnish the reputation of everyone else.

To the OPs question most countries barring Saudi Arabia are fine for a visit just be sure to obey the local customs. Saudi Arabia is full of bigoted hypocrites so I would steer well clear of there. Some notable examples which are quite liberal are Morocco and Turkey. Istanbul and marrakech are good city breaks and there are also loads of resort towns such as Agadir, Bodrum etc. Further afield you could travel to the northern areas of Pakistan where I am from we have the 2nd tallest mountain K2, hash from the Himalayas beautiful food and beautiful people. It’s an amazing place and it’s safe despite what you hear on the news. Search karakoram tourism if you’re interested

I think you are confused sir are you for migration or against?
I am talking from first hand experience, I know my dad experienced racism in the 90s and I have experienced it first hand when travelling to more rural parts of the UK. Racists will be racists but I have enough life experience to know not all white people in this country are like that. This is nothing to do with race anyway it’s about British culture and contributing to the society we live in. I have seen myself people come over here, get a council house within 2 months, universal credit, free medical. Add the odd cash in hand job to that and you’re laughing.

So you think the current system where 10-member families can come over here to claim everything when they have a perfectly fine life where they are is ok?
I agree if there is a genuine need for asylum then yes careful support should be provided but also monitored and tapered off when reasonable. The current system can be more profitable than working a 9-5.

sorry for the downvotes, you 2 arent unthoughtful but this thread is about travel

You too mate all the best stay toking!

the other day i was at a meeting with a young lady from afghanistan, she is becoming a teacher here, she is most welcome.

Most ‘ordinary’ people are friendly and accommodating wherever you go, it’s the extremist hardline cultists in positions of power that are the cancer. Look at the U.K. for a hardline extremist cultist government!
Anyway, the Turkish are generally friendly.
There’s the Maldives and Tunisia which are also relatively safe.

you had a point till you insulted the bigga

The fact you had to stoop to childish insults shows that actually you are the moron. :)
I’m pretty amused that you got so worked up about a bit of sarcasm, your medula oblongata kicked in before you had a chance to think!

I travelled around SE Asia for a few months and I loved Lombok in Indonesia. We were stopping at a homestead that a Muslim family owned. They don't drink but were more than happy to get alcohol in for us travellers.

Indonesia in general I really enjoyed as well as Malaysia.

I'll vouch for Morocco. You've got to be streetwise of course, but a beautiful country with kind and generous people. You soon tune out the prayer calls.

As an english guy with a house in morocco, I'd definitely vouch for that - I fell in love with the place. Tangiers in the nprth is perfect if you dont want things too hot and youd like to still see alot of europeans, casablanca or marakech if your looking for the arab vibes with old medinas and lots of tourist activities - Fez if you like leather. There are even a few smaller places i like such as chef chawen - the blue city which have some amazing places to see. You could even visit the jabala and see farming as it was hundreds of years ago - youll never meet nicer or more genuine people

Of course im biased!

On a side note, if you biggas are into your smoke, go to morocco and head to places like al hoceima in the rif mountains - they grow everything up there and would happily sell you a kilo for less than £100 😁

Sign me up!

Luton

Malaysia, lovely people

I'd say pick a muzza country you like a go for it.

Being of Islamic faith I'd say most muslims actually really like modern American and European culture, it fits very well with our cultural structures.

As a non Muslim in an Islamic country, as a guest, you will be treated very well.

Only thing I would suggest is inglis88 mentioned Balsall Heath, cuzi is chatting bubbles. Sounds like a hater, it's just like any other urban area around the world, I should know. I just passed through it.

I'd second Indonesia and Malaysia as being extremely friendly, but the friendliest people I've ever met are from travelling in Kyrgyzstan, where everyone I met wanted you to either stay with them or to take you out for dinner and meet all their family and friends! I've also heard great things about Tajikistan!🙏🏼💚

Morocco ... been there 8 times
Food is terrific, rich culture, wonderful people.
As with other places, beware of scammers, but the public, wow.
I've travelled a lot in my almost 44 years, Morocco is a must see!
Places I would recommend:
Marrakesh, Take a tour to Ourika, beautiful waterfall up there
Casablanca, buzzing city and the largest Mosque in Afrika
PM me for more info if you like ...

Pakistan is very good country to visit, most travel vloggers has said Pakistan is the most hospitable country out of the 44 countries they visited. Personally I'd travel to northern areas of Pakistan and even go to the area near Afgan border if your wanting fresh pure hash

Definitely would recommend Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, Tunisia and Jordan. Malaysia and Indonesia are possibly the friendliest and nicest people I’ve ever met in my life. Also, their food and natural scenery is absolutely top tier. Morocco is a nice place too but I think the others are much better especially for tourism.

All the best,
Tescrow.

Northern Cyprus is good in the summer for a few weeks great food that is inexpensive, for around a tenner you can get a decent 3 couse meal at a nice Chinese for example and really nice backdrops of the sea at most restaurants just don’t upset anyone in the army as they do no fuck about.

I heard a story when I was there about a foreigner who had pissed off one of there neighbours and the neigbour told the army that they had drugs so they got them and held them for 2 days hitting them demanding to know where the stash was buried a proper pistol whipping.

Also be aware if you ever get caught in a Muslim country with narcotics you are on your own no one will risk there reputations to be associated with drugs so no help will be coming anytime soon.

Morocco, Egypt, Turkey and Indonesia are all favourites but a real stand out star for me is Uzbekistan - full of history, especially from the Genghis Khan days as the silk road splits in Uzbekistan where you can go up to Russia/Europe or down to Middle East/Africa, as well as being full of really lovely people. I hope to get back there one day...

I spent 3 years in Indonesia and 3 months in the Philippines with frequent travel to Singapore. Indonesia was like my second home, just stay clear of drugs, which you'll most likely only be offered in bali and the neighbouring islands.
If you don't have an international driving license and shouldn't be on the roads, they'll hand you a piece of paper saying you need to pay £50-100. Don't pay it. Before I lived there and was a tourist I was stupid enough to pay it. You should be paying around £5. Locals pay around £2.
In the 3 years I was there, I only felt unsafe twice. One was on a bus and the people were trying to sell me a fake rolex for an amount of money and they were quite adamant I was gonna pay up. Second time I was out in the sticks with my girlfriend on my vespa and a dodgy couple were following us, clocked them quite early and confirmed relatively soon after they were looking into us. We just headed back to the population. Whether we were somewhere we shouldnt have been and peaked interest, ill never know!

Going back to drugs, my apartment was randomly raided for a drugs test. Not shitting you I open the door to a big team of narco agents and a TV news crew. They were doing random drugs tests in the neighbourhood. Literally take me to my toilet, pass me a plastic cup and watches me with my back turned pee in the cup! Can't make the shit up! Fortunately all was good.

I have highlighted a few of my bad experiences however it can't replace the 100s of amazing experiences I gained. The people are friendly, the food is good. Number 1 rule when visiting Asian Street food stalls, go where all the locals go, if you don't follow the rule you'll end up code brown.
Stay safe. Stay wise. Be respectful. Carry as little as possible and follow the laws, you'll be safe in almost any country.
Also the dude at the airport literally asked for an underhand of £15 to let me through the gates. Explained i had overstayed by one day. Saved me a huge amount of time with all the paper work and was a fraction less than what I would have had to pay to their government! The hilarious thing was he was sat on a closed gate and I skipped the busy queue 😂

Be prepared for the constant megaphone blasting prayers. Try to get a room as high and soundproofed as possible;)

i actually enjoy the meditation breaks, especially the feeling that people all over the world are sharing the moment. as long as i'm in the right time zone ;)

Even at stupid o’clock in the morning when trying to sleep?;)

I have been to a few Muslim places and am now sick of it. Just like if I see another temple or church;)

I hear Baghdad is nice this time of year.

Saddam Hussein went out shopping one day. Upon his return he was greeted by Uday, who said “what’s in the bag dad?”

your brother, now behave

Turkey & dubai are very welcoming to tourists.

The worst islamic destinations ive been to is tunisia & london.

Heya Muslim here albeit not so much a practising one anymore.

If it’s Muslim history and culture you’re after I would say Istanbul (research Ottoman Empire before you go). Also Jordan has lots of history dating back to the time of the crusaders. Do a bit of research on the crusade and salahuddin ayyubi before you go (he’s a bit of a hero amongst our Kurdish brothers).
Egypt has more history about the ancients than Islamic history. Believe it or not Saudi Arabia has very little. Non Muslims are also forbidden to enter Mecca - the holy capital.
Jerusalem would have been a good shout had it not been for the current conflict.

Please let us know where you decide!

Oman. Friendly not super paced people are chill very beautiful scenery

Savile Town is friendly

Love this thought and it reconciles, we are serving cannabis' genetic purpose:

fecundity - more greenhouses every day
fidelity - our buyer reviews maintain integrity
longevity - humans have basically coupled their own survival to cannabis, as long as we are around it's going to be with us.

I love Terence McKenna’s whole stoned ape rap. He was onto it.

Cannabis will also be here after we are gone to be picked up by aliens who wind up getting super smart from it and making this universe and the Circle Continues...

Evolution. There's no thought process behind it all...it just happens. Cannabis evolved to have flowers because birds and animals were eating the cannabis with the nicest flowers and spreading that about. Cannabis doesn't make itself stronger, its selectively bred to be stronger.

Have a look at what normal veg used to look like before selective breeding. Corn looks like a completely different plant than what it used to now.

Check out The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan. It’s a whole book on this exact subject. I can’t recall exactly but I think it looks at apples, cannabis and tulips as examples of how some plant species have thrived by “getting” humans to cultivate them.

He has a few others that are also great, like How to Change Your Mind, which is about psychedelics.

Bought the book on your rec (thanks!) and I’m reading it now. Lovely read and very credible theories!

Thank you. I think it’s the first time anyone’s bought a book I recommend 🤗

I’ve read a few of his books - love his writing on food (Omnivores dilemma) and psychedelics (how to change your mind)

I enjoyed his 'How to Change your Mind' videos, and with Polly's recommendation I've just ordered it too. Thanks for posting about it 👍

You’re welcome! I just finished the marijuana section and I think it’s beautifully written. I love the combination of science, literature and experience and he genuinely strives to capture what being “high” actually is and why it matters. How everyday experiences are made banal by our minds to prevent sensory overload but how being high plays with our short term memory reintroducing the “wonder” into the simplest things! I totally get it!
I’m going to look up his other books too! 😍

One day the plant will reclaim all the money that has ever changed hands in it's name, it will then have enough to take over the world, a bit like A day of the Triffids, the world would smell great.

yeah it will start with an algorithm:)

Shit I've never considered this, just like how bugs are attracted to the bright colorful flowers....

🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

Crazy

There is that lovely thought that all psychedelic plants express themselves via symbiotic communion with us and other conscious living things. They have evolved in parallel to conscious beings. We also have the perfect nervous system for them to attach themselves to.

Those entities you are seeing. That’s Johnny plant. Saying hello.

What a glorious time to be alive 🤣👍

Sorry to go all Sheldon Cooper on you but.. it's a no for me.
Cannabis evolved to produce THC as an evolutionary defence mechanism because it is particularly susceptible to pathogens.
It's clear that the consequences of that are of great benefit to some - but I think it is a better question to wonder if all those consequences are a coincidence or by intelligent design in the first place. Given that we have ALOT of cannibinoid receptors - the coincidence seems pretty astounding.
Given this - I do wonder if there is an epigenetic factor to the differences in strength between strains as well as a domestication factor.

Fascinating thought but like other species on this planet we have chosen it to be one that we have removed its natural evolution through selective breeding,we do this with both animals and plants. Most people forget that before the big corporations started the anti-cannabis movement in governments it was widely used in everyday life and not just to smoke it was the basis for many things and also employed lots of people and any half decent apothecary would have cannabis products instead of opium products.
Unfortunately the bad guys won but slowly cannabis is making a comeback from all the lies told about it.

once you transcend darwinian evolution the only thing left is intelligent design. i guess that will take a while

Animals eat plants and shit the seeds out so yeah i guess.

That must be good weed you’re smoking huh

What strain is it? lol

Agreed, I want whatever the fuck they have lol

Basically it derives from the same origins. There are certain laws of ethnic relations in history of humankind, such as:

1. law of percentage: lets say a black person somewhere in gothenburg or copenhagen would trigger an amused curiosity and the outpouring of sincere sympathy, however, if you "inject" immigrant workers up to the fateful threshold of 4-8 percent and you will already have a racial situation - the nature of social relationships changes, engendering ethnic tensions, global reflexes painful to describe. The more the percentage increases, the more class struggle transforms itself into racial confrontation. Basically, this percentage is sufficient to make racial discrimination appear spontaneously in people who previously believed itself wholesome and devoid of any racist sentiment.

2. The law of assimilability: If majority and the minority belong to the same large ethnic group (all are white, or all a asian), then assimilation occurs progressively. For example, Spanish or Portuguese workers despised in France not so long ago, integrated themselves into population within the space of one generation; same for descendants of corsicans and the poles during napoleonic era, same for bambara minority living in senegal. But if the ethnic and cultural gap is too big, tensions are exacerbated with time. Like African Blacks and Arabs find themselves in this situation in Europe. Coexistance basically becomes possible only in a truly Socialist state or a state that has adopted a high morality philosophy.

3. the law of distance: like two ethnic groups that are not fighting over the same living space or same market and occupy different territories separated by space can enter into normal relationships. Like that an alliance can be explained during world war 2 between hitlers germany and japan. or relationship of pretoria with israel state.

4. the law of phenotype: basically physical appearance. It would matter little tgat botha and zulu in africa have the same genotype (same genes in the chromosomes) and it would have no influence on their daily lives because their external features are so different.
Laws of class struggle according to history applies only to societies previously made homogeneous by violence. Funny, that the most modern nations actually went through this bestial struggles before (Americas, australia, new zealand, good part of asia, greenland, huge part of pacific, scandinavia, etc, etc).For example Blacks of Americas were brough over to work the land, while the indigenous races were being destroyed. So, the "more advanced" barbarious conquerors exterminated/drove out whole populations, devastated or abandoned productive forces they they simply did not know how to use. This specific law is one of my favourite... how spartan domination ended by crumbling particularly because of the great numeric weakness of their REAL citizens. Because their society consisting of spartan conquerors and lowly helots both belonged to the same large white-skinned 'race', ethnic differences became blurred and it allowed class differences appeared only in an economic sense.
Same goes for Rome and Carthage, Rwanda-Burundi, Francs and Gallo-Romans.
Have a look at the american immigration laws and how it progressed throghout 19-20 centuries. This law also gave birth to so called intra-european racism, etc.

We forget that the passage from a clan to a monolingual tribe and to ethnic group and to nationality historically was a result, a consequences of clans exogamy. It is still widely discussed by specialists. But it marked starting point of the current civilization.
Endogamy was prohibited and we, humans, just started fucking people from the outside kkk several neibourhing clans contracted marriage ties that led them eventually to speak same languages despite that their original idioms were different.
The number of clans to gather together to work a more or less powerful tribe didnt follow any rules and depended mostly on the fertility and extent of the lands occupied by the group. Thus was born nationality.

In the course of history, when two groups of people argued over a vital economic space, the slightest ethnic difference can be magnified, temporarily serving as a pretext for social and political cleavage: differences in physical appearances, colour of your passport, language, religions, morals and customs.

We forget that basically future generations must forget about the dead so that the conquering people can undergo a rebirth with an angelic consience.
Why do we almost idolise, for example, conquistadors, holy crusaders and vikings? Pillagers, rapists, murderers and worse.

Most of the things we learn and follow, most of the times, blindly, things we consider as truths and solid facts, the very foundation of our personal universes - it was predominantly build based on someones ideologies.

Books, that our kids and us read, are also written under certain circumstances, conditions, requirements, with certain motivations. Dictated by an ideology.

Sooo.... sorry for the massive message. It just questions like this trigger something inside me, something that i consciously try to understand and overcome. For before we are races or nationalities, boys or girls, gays or straight, we are humans.

Peace yo.

Interesting points. I just came across this forum and will make a contribution. Meanwhile, on the topic of Scottish Nationalism, I have myself proposed Independence For England! We English (whatever that means through consensus) vote in a referendum to dissolve the union of England and Scotland. Never mind what they want, how about what we want, which may be to separate from them, along with the subject nation of Wales. We'll have our own oven ready breakfast and our own national covid death toll, while we surrender the last shreds of our integrity to the fucking Yanks and the fucking Chinese whose government leaders wouldn't make the groove as a couple of Pox Doctor's clerks.

Please dont have the idea that all Scots want independence
. Plenty are and always will be happy to be part of the union. There is more at play than just Scottish Independence, certain elements see Scottish independence as a means to help another cause. Understand that Independence of Scotland is not the endgame for a lot of SNP supporters.

The whole SNP "independence" thing is a facade.

The SNP want to leave our union and join the EU club because they'll give them more money than Westminster does.

They still want to be financially "dependent", just a more generous sugar daddy.

I'm talking about the SNP, not all Scots :)

High Raskolnikov. Your post showed as a comment on mine so You're addressing me, then. I have no intention of stating anything about what Scots want. My point is that I consider an English Independence Referendum is incumbent on ourselves to determine our Englishness without the input of the other three nations. Devolution, revolution, phooey! We want ablution. Wash our hands of the lot of you. Do we? Who does? Has anyone got this underway? Sturgeon and Salmond? Something fishy about those two!

I certainly don’t need a referendum to establish my Scottishness.

I am British not Scottish or Welsh or Irish or English but British.
So the idea of England going on its own is kind of laughable.
I prefer this great country as one nation,I have lived all over UK so I class myself as British. Ever since devolved countries we had loads of petty arguments enough of the arguments and do there jobs.
The Scottish independence route will end up like n ireland scottish people are divided straight down the middle so can see issues battle grounds comes to mind bombings etc etc just like n ireland AND its not going to happen anyway thank god.:D
Or you english going be invaded of all the people that do not want there countries independent lol.

Plus the Queen will never allow it to happen she is still the most powerful lady in this country and can override any laws in the UK set by government it is in the small print when she signed it over to the government. She has her palaces all over the UK.

She wants to send to her son to America to answer for the crimes he is guilty as fk otherwise he would have gone over and answered there questions on very serious sex crimes.
Guilty as fk he is by dodging the request of the FBI and CIA law to himself hiding behind mummy he is.

I am British loud and proud !!!

I’m British and Scottish mate. Think it is possible to be both. I’m not interested in Independence and believe it will not happen and will be a disaster if it does. In Scotland Salmond courted a certain block vote and got it. That is what has got the snp to where they are. That and shortbread tin thinking. They will soon want to let over 14 s vote. As I said in another post, Scottish Independence is not the endgame for a lot of snp.

Just curious, what do you believe to be the SNP's ultimate goal?

I wouldn’t blame the English people if they started to see things this way but we are still all better as a union and I think you know this. Sturgeon and Salmond are just typical politicians mate who lying is a big part of the job description. There has been a huge change in Scotland in my lifetime where the working class vote has moved away from labour to the snp. Labour has shot themselves in the foot so many times but also the snp politics has changed. I have been on this earth a long time and the snp have changed so much. Sturgeon is still using her bloody daily briefing up here to try to indoctrinate the nation. I’m going to stop here as I am ranting.

British here too. I feel like the silent majority of my country are the same

Not English, then. To be born an Englishman is to win first prize in the lottery of life. That life being the infliction of Imperialism on 25% of the world's population. Nothing wrong with that, was there?

Cool. What were you born?

Obviously, not britain. Tiocfaidh ár lá.

Sturgeon's manifesto was just a wish list, impossible to accomplish. I don't want Scotland to leave. We may rib each other on things but I'd like to think we have each others back when things get tough. We live on the same island. Crazy to break up.

Wait do Scotts not have bangers and mash?

What an outstanding post thank you

this bigga

Not necessarily, Scottish nationalism is an attempt to escape racism

good one, i guess that goes for any anti colonial movement like vietnam for example

It was a joke mate but fuck, Vietnam. Is that what you are comparing Scottish Independence to?

Sounds like something a Scottish nationalist would say.

lol. ok, i'll bite...

nationalism is a term for those with common interests as citizens of the same country working together for mutual benefit and/or pride.

racism is a hatred of one or more person/s where skin colour is the basis used for the defining attribute.

neither is mandatory last I heard.

Scotland's nationalist party don't want to exclude races, they want independence from another countries rule. It's not about racism.

Unless is the European Union.

Proper kettle of fish this one! but I couldn’t resist throwing my 2 cents in.

Racism is an inherent belief that one group are superior to another based purely on membership to said group; that for example being white would mean that you are superior to non-whites by virtue of your whiteness. Although this is of course the most common example, it’s important to remember that racism has been perpetrated by, and against, a multitude of groups such as the current situation in China with Uighur Muslims and so on.

Nationalism is the identification with ones nation and the desire to see that nation succeed. often, but not exclusively, to the detriment of other nations.

One can be a nationalist but not a racist, but I would argue that it’s quite rare to meet a racist who is not also a nationalist.

I don’t think nationalism is always a bad thing - we saw for example at the onset of COVID-19 in Europe a large degree of nationalism as all of these countries that are part of the Schengen Agreement suddenly conveniently ignored the treaty in order to shut their borders and protect their citizens (uselessly, as it turned out) against the spread of C19.

However, nationalist sentiment needs to be controlled carefully because the downside to it could be seen, you could argue, In the Capitol siege/riots on January 6th as nationalist fervour tends to spread and morph very rapidly and almost always ends in violence and almost always ends in Fascism

Sorry for the wall of text but this is such a fascinating topic!

a lot of nationalists aren't so much racists as exclusionary. they believe in a social contact that only exists amongst members. outsiders are not part of the deal.

Just like you would naturally have a preference for feeding your own family in your own home, before you concerned yourself with feeding anyone else.

This would not mean you hated other people, or didn't wish the best for them.

I think Nationalism is often confused with extreme Right wing ideologies, when it could be Left or Right really.

Sounds kinda like racism.

The national front! They were nationalists that says all you need to know!!!

national socialists also skew a little right

Look into snp and the past. They have changed a lot.

Yes you could look into the SNPs distant past or alternatively you could look at what the Tories are doing right now as we speak under your very nose.
It is funny how a conversation about nationalism is related to the SNP when anyone with eyes can see that British nationalism is the one being pushed everywhere in Britain.
The SNP didn't spend 2 million quid on a set of blue curtains and two Union Jacks and it is not the SNP who are plastering everything with the Butcher's apron either!

Because we can change our nationality as it’s make believe. You cannot change your DNA which is real

Not synonymous, but it's an interesting point.
In some sense, I think it is an individual and academic choice to be patriotic (even that is turned into a dirty word now), root for your country or be proud of it voxally. It's OK to like your country if you really do. You do live there after all. It's just a country. Other countries are not minorities in their own country as the British are not here.
As you allude to, it is a lottery, not a skill, being British (or Irish for that matter). There is little merit to being "proud" I agree. But it doesn't oppress anyone or anything in itself. It is a way to preserving culture and way of life. You can't pick who you think should be able to do that.
Otherwise, the takeaway is, only the oppressed are allowed to be proud of anything and preserve culture. What kind of world is that?
I do think that no matter what, being proud of your race is pointless, stupid and divisive.
It suggests a nexus between a superiority or exceptionality and racial group.
After all, skin colour is decided only by a few alleles in the genome and indicates very little about one's charachter.
E

Racism is necessarily exclusionary. But Nationalism isn't.

In general I am wary of nationalism, but there are times when it has achieved positives.

I think it is oxytocin that causes the problems as it creates aggressive in-grouping, be it from the innateness from skin colour or the innateness from where someone was born.

There was a study I linked to but there is more out there about the dark side of oxytocin. There was quite a few articles in the dumber section of media about giving men oxytocin to fix their aggression problems when in fact it might be a major factor in causing them.

Nationalism has more positive range for example promoting culture. Racism is usually associated with negative feelings about other races.

They both seem doomed if you ask me.

only in touchy feely places like the uk ... not in most other countrys ... too much self hatred in this country ...

There seem to be a prevailing perspective of an individualistic view on what racism is, i.e. the hatred or superiority of another race, nation, or ethnicity, however this view is overly simplistic as racism is structural and systemic and is only dependent on the individual when their actions are supported by the larger system.
One can be xenophobic, discriminatory and/or prejudiced against others from other places without it being racism if they are not the dominant race/ethnicity/or culture.
Racism = power + prejudice. That is the current understanding and definition of racism in social sciences and some dictionaries (as with Merriam Webster, which was updated two or three years ago). That is not to say that racial prejudice or discrimination is allowable or tolerable. It's not. However to quantify both types of prejudice (the one that is solely individual and the one that is supported by systemic structures) as the same thing or equivalent is false.
One is an individual opinion and has no greater repurcussions than that person's world's or actions, the other however plays into a wider narrative of oppression that reinforces the structural oppression and contributes to and reinforces societal and structural discrimination.
Nationalism is different in several ways.
Firstly, pride in ones nation does not mean an inherent prejudice or discrimination against those that come from other nations (although all too often it does manifest in such a way).
Secondly, if those expressing nationalist sentiment are not the dominant authority over said nation, then it is not racism but discrimination and prejudice as they lack the power to manifest that discrimination through institutions or on a structural scale. This type of nationalism often manifests as a resistance to colonial and imperial forces. In those cases the nationalism is not being the of an ideological superiority or innate belief in the dominance of one nation over another, but rather a resistance to such.
Therefore nationalism and racism only become the same when said nation propogates their dominance and superiority over others while simultaneously systemically oppressing other nations or supporting existing structural oppression and prejudice.

https://www.dismantlingracism.org/racism-defined.html

I'm a nationalist. I want England and all our major cities to be English and not resemble Bangladesh. That makes one a racist nowadays.

If the reason you give for those cities resembling Bangladesh is people of other races, that's kinda the definition of racism. If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's probably a closet racist.

Its been a few years since i have been but the best shops last time were MrK&co and family first and also I had a great time in Reefer - they had some fire dutch and import. for me its more about the atmosphere - I am a chilled stoner and cant stand the ultra busy and loud shops.

The Grey Area

Rookies, Get down to it and het ballonnetje are always firm favourites when I’m in town.

Het Ballonnetje is a great shout, underrated coffeeshop.

Katsu, Mr K, Family First, Bagheera, Bluebird. That's probably my current top 5. I was last there in December.

Never tried any of them before, thanks mate!

Coffeeshop Solo, Dampkring and Katsu.

Solo is great, cheapest Sunset Sherbet in Amsterdam on my last trip, great quality too.

Probably my favourite Coffeeshop if I had to choose one. You can always rely on Solo’s quality, especially their hash.

I love 1eHulp, for quality of product and a nice place too, a bit of a walk out of the centre but worth it

Haven’t been for a while but bush doctor used to have great products and a nice outdoor space.

Bush doctor was always my goto. Early 2000s tried nyc sour diesel there for the first time. Great coffee shop

Bush doctor was family firsts dad I believe. See family first on fsotd podcast mention it

The plug.