Tech billionaire Elon Musk supported a British MP’s post arguing that a London railway station name should appear only in English after a dual-language signboard featured “Bengali” as well.
Rupert Lowe, the Great Yarmouth MP, shared an image of the bilingual sign at Whitechapel Station on his official X account. “This is London - the station name should be in English, and English only,” said Lowe, a Reform UK MP for Great Yarmouth, on Sunday.
His post quickly gained traction online and even drew a response from Elon Musk, the owner of X, who simply replied, “Yes.”
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Lowe’s post sparked mixed reactions on X, with some users backing his stance while others defended bilingual signage.
One user supported Lowe’s perspective, writing, “Couldn’t agree more Rupert, it’s time to stand up for our national identity and language. We shouldn’t be pandering to every other culture at the expense of our own, it’s just common sense. Well said, keep speaking out against this woke nonsense.”
However, not everyone agreed. One user countered, “While I appreciate the sentiment imagine visiting Tokyo or Shanghai and not a single sign was written in English?”
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A Bengali sign was installed at Whitechapel Tube station in 2022 to honor the contributions of the Bangladeshi community to east London.
The Tower Hamlets Council funded dual-language signage throughout Whitechapel Station as part of broader development efforts. The area is said to have the largest Bangladeshi community in the UK.
Outrage bait like this is just stupid.
The people fuelling the outrage (e.g. the South African billionaire and the Reform MP mentioned in the article) don’t care about you and never will. They are only stoking outrage for their own amusement or gain.
If there’s one foreign influence we don’t need, it’s Elon Musk’s apartheid nostalgic nonsense. The sooner he blows himself up the better.
His opinion is irrelevant and should be treated as such, now his attempts to weasel into our politics should be seen as international interference and anyone culpable in a position of power should be having some interesting interviews in a white room with a mirror
His opinion is irrelevant and should be treated as such
Unfortunately, they aren’t. Even a very brief comment like this can drive the debate and you’ll often find things he’s flagged up becoming Tory talking points.
Fucking hell, just learn Bengali you idiots! The state of education in this country FFS.
People should be able to learn Bangladesh in schools though, or Hindi or Punjabi or Polish or one of the many other widely spoken languages in the UK.
There are some places where you can take Urdu as a GCSE, but only if you already speak it at home. Nowhere AFAIK teaches it from scratch in the way French or German is taught.
I’m not saying every school should teach every possible language, I’m saying it should be an option for any school to offer if they choose and it should be considered just as valid and worthwhile as learning a European language.
Bangladeshi signs have been triggering racists since the 1990s.
In this case we need more of them 😂
Who give a shit what musky billionaires think.
The more worrying thing is we have a UK MP who actually considers inclusive signage in our capital city. And largest tourist destination. Offensive.
Why the fuck would anyone give a crap about extra languages on signage. How the hell dose it harm anyone.
fuck off musk. no one wants your opinion
degenerate Nazi piece of shit, FUCK OFF!
leon skum, the well known UK signage enthusiast.
Rupert.
I bet he owns several pairs of red trousers.
imagine visiting Tokyo or Shanghai and not a single sign was written in English?
Wouldn’t expect there to be tbh
You should. Road signs, in particular, are written in English all across Japan. It’s very helpful.
In America they’re just in English and don’t even adhere to the Vienna convention 😂
It’s a courtesy and so is a nice thing to do.
