I quite like these pictures of Liz Truss that DA produces. It's good to see a politician genuinely looking as if they're having a good time.
We all talk about the negatives of being a politician: the hard life, living your life under a microscope; the effect it has on their family. But there must be times when they get to do things which few of us ever do.
She's having fun. That's cool.
Reminds me of Ruth Davidson of old. And Boris Johnson ditto.
I misread that as 'Boris Johnson dildo'.
Which when combined with the first sentence leads to quite mind-boggling images...
Lots of debate here about whether Johnson will walk or be pushed. I doubt he’ll walk, he’ll believe this is all a triviality and will have convinced himself (with the help of his wife, unless I misjudge her) that he’s done nothing wrong and has been making noble sacrifices for the good of the nation.
So who delivers the whisky bottle and revolver. I doubt it’s Cabinet collectively, as most are supine and will lose their jobs once he goes. He has few trusted political advisors left, Cain, Frost, Cummings, Lister etc… all gone.
It can’t be someone in the running to take his job. But needs to be someone he trusts and who hasn’t so far been a vocal opponent. Someone who retains something of the old fashioned view of how things ought to be done. Don’t scoff at the back, but if he’s going to go without the humiliation of the letters, it will be Rees Mogg that talks him into it.
Good post. Thought provoking. Who does Boris respect and listen to? Apart from the wee devil Boris on his shoulder. Shame the wee saint Boris was murdered back at Eton.
Carrie, and only Carrie.
Shame Carrie is neither an elected politician nor a civil servant. The governance of the UK is undemocratic and unaccountable.
Carrie is without doubt the biggest issue here - she shouldn't be having any say in anything yet she's managed to get herself into the heart of politics via Boris's trousers..
How do you stop this though? Insist that future PM's must be single? I have no doubt other spouses have had input into government policy, even if only by being used as a sounding board. Frankly I think having a spousal input is generally a good thing.
If you want to get rid of Carrie, there is a pathway - get rid of Johnson.
I quite like these pictures of Liz Truss that DA produces. It's good to see a politician genuinely looking as if they're having a good time.
We all talk about the negatives of being a politician: the hard life, living your life under a microscope; the effect it has on their family. But there must be times when they get to do things which few of us ever do.
I quite like these pictures of Liz Truss that DA produces. It's good to see a politician genuinely looking as if they're having a good time.
We all talk about the negatives of being a politician: the hard life, living your life under a microscope; the effect it has on their family. But there must be times when they get to do things which few of us ever do.
She's having fun. That's cool.
She's definitely having a good time.
It would be funny if a Sybian came up on her expenses. "De-stressing implement"...
I quite like these pictures of Liz Truss that DA produces. It's good to see a politician genuinely looking as if they're having a good time.
We all talk about the negatives of being a politician: the hard life, living your life under a microscope; the effect it has on their family. But there must be times when they get to do things which few of us ever do.
She's having fun. That's cool.
A rare senior politician who is always smiling, and seemingly full of energy.
Her new job at FCO is going to be a lot more like work, than the old one at Trade though. She’ll now be dealing with Putin, Xi ,and all the problems in the world.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
Lots of debate here about whether Johnson will walk or be pushed. I doubt he’ll walk, he’ll believe this is all a triviality and will have convinced himself (with the help of his wife, unless I misjudge her) that he’s done nothing wrong and has been making noble sacrifices for the good of the nation.
So who delivers the whisky bottle and revolver. I doubt it’s Cabinet collectively, as most are supine and will lose their jobs once he goes. He has few trusted political advisors left, Cain, Frost, Cummings, Lister etc… all gone.
It can’t be someone in the running to take his job. But needs to be someone he trusts and who hasn’t so far been a vocal opponent. Someone who retains something of the old fashioned view of how things ought to be done. Don’t scoff at the back, but if he’s going to go without the humiliation of the letters, it will be Rees Mogg that talks him into it.
Good post. Thought provoking. Who does Boris respect and listen to? Apart from the wee devil Boris on his shoulder. Shame the wee saint Boris was murdered back at Eton.
Carrie, and only Carrie.
Shame Carrie is neither an elected politician nor a civil servant. The governance of the UK is undemocratic and unaccountable.
Carrie is without doubt the biggest issue here - she shouldn't be having any say in anything yet she's managed to get herself into the heart of politics via Boris's trousers..
How do you stop this though? Insist that future PM's must be single? I have no doubt other spouses have had input into government policy, even if only by being used as a sounding board. Frankly I think having a spousal input is generally a good thing.
If you want to get rid of Carrie, there is a pathway - get rid of Johnson.
Johnson now leads a zombie government, that much is now clear. The critical question for the Tories is can a new leader recover what has been so needlessly squandered? The problem now is that any in the current cabinet can be guilty by association. However, the old Tories and the ERG lack power to defeat each other. So the new leader will face a mutinous and chaotic party caucus at just the time that they need discipline and focus. In that sense Johnson has remade the party in his own image, and if he goes I'm not at all sure the Tories can avoid a profound split. In the same way that widening the franchise did for the Old Liberal Party in the 1920s under somewhat similar circumstances, I think PR could well do the same for the Conservatives a century later. A century of Tory dominance may finally be drawing to a close.
PR of course kills off any chance of a Labour majority government ever again.
Corbynites break away and form their own party as the ERG would break away and join RefUK and also win seats under PR.
PR kills the 2 main parties as current and majority governments, its main beneficiaries the LDs who would nearly always be in power and smaller parties like ReformUK and the Greens. It also hits the SNP at Westminster
Indeed, but the SNP are in favour of PR at Westminster. It's called strange things, 'principle' and 'good of the country'.
Because it leads to weak UK Governments and, like the LDs, the SNP would also have a role to play. I'm assuming that the SNP would have a PR adjustment so that Scotland's 'special position' would be taken into account as opposed to being 4% of the whole UK?
Never heard of such a proposal, not least because Scottish voters form more like 8-9% of the UK electorate.
As for the wider issue of principle, you do sound just like Lord Foulkes complaining that the SNP were doing the right thing "deliberately".
Well, Scotland has 8-9% of UK people but, as you well know and maybe contrary to what we are somewhat told by some commentators from north of the border, the SNP does not speak for all of Scotland. So, 4-5% of MPs is about right. Which, of course, would be significantly smaller than the 45 MPs it has now.
But of course. That's the entire basis of PR.
Indeed. And, it may be that the SNP is prepared to accept PR and see its seats fall by a 1/3 in support of a principle, which would be admirable. However, fact remains that, if PR comes in, having 30 MPs gives you a lot more bargaining power than their 45 MPs do.
And we are at the Foulkesian stage again. SNP get blamed for doing the right thing just because it's not the Unionist thing ...
Nothing to do with not being the Unionist thing, it's pointing out a simple truth. They are a political party that wants independence for Scotland and, having 30 MPs in a PR system gives them a lot more influence than now. I'm not criticising them, it's politics and that is what they should do. However, you seem to think we should treat the SNP as a Holy entity that is pure and un-corrupt, and never thinks of its own advantages when it makes its decisions. That seems naive.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
As a good and devout Muslim this is one of those conversations I'm not qualified to participate in.
Just as long as you don't boost Star Citizen.
A very good friend likes his whisky. He took a girl on a date to a very quiet, very high quality place, somewhat famous at the time for their selection of single malts. She had claimed to like whisky...
He bought her a double of a rather nice one.
He had to leave for a few moments. When he got back he discovered that she had got the bar tender to add Diet Coke to her drink...
Apparently my friend didn't say a word. Went on with the evening as if nothing had happened.
I really doubt we'll see it because the premise is just so unlikely, but a hypothetical Johnson v Corbyn Best PM poll would be quite interesting right now.
The population of the UK is projected to increase by 3.2% in the first 10 years of the projections, from an estimated 67.1 million in mid-2020 to 69.2 million in mid-2030.
England's population is projected to grow more quickly than the other UK nations: 3.5% between mid-2020 and mid-2030, compared with 2.6% for Wales, 2.0% for Northern Ireland and 0.3% for Scotland.....
Over the 25-year period between mid-2020 and mid-2045, England is projected to have the largest increase in population, at 6.7%. The projected increase over the same period for Wales is 4.2% and for Northern Ireland it is 2.3%. Scotland is projected to see a decrease of 1.5% over this time.
And that's why Scotland receives more funding per capita despite the attempt by the Barnett Formula to redress the balance.
See my posting. Population is going up in Scotland.
the National Records of Scotland (NRS) project that, with years of negative natural change (the number of deaths exceeding the number of births) ahead, all of our population growth over the next 20 years is projected to come from inward migration.
Given that these NRS projections do not take into account the ending of free movement between the UK and the European Single Market, it is possible that the challenge of Scotland maintaining a sustainable population size may be even more stark than projected.
The Web of Evil @webofevil It's fun to look back to 2020 when everyone was asking "What does Cummings have on Johnson?" (I don't criticise the attached tweet since everyone was flailing to find an answer for why Bojo was ride-or-die for the belligerent weirdo) knowing that the answer was "wine & nibbles".
Declan McHugh @decmchugh75 Remember, Labour want Boris to be damaged here, but not yet destroyed.
That's from the same stable as Good election to lose/Boris's potential successors want him to stay in place a few more months. Life is much more like a stairheid rammie than a game of 4 dimensional chess, and kicking your opponent in the balls the instant you get a clear shot at them is often a winning move. SKS needs to be the St George who slays the dragon, not inflicts a couple of minor flesh wounds.
I quite like these pictures of Liz Truss that DA produces. It's good to see a politician genuinely looking as if they're having a good time.
We all talk about the negatives of being a politician: the hard life, living your life under a microscope; the effect it has on their family. But there must be times when they get to do things which few of us ever do.
She's having fun. That's cool.
Reminds me of Ruth Davidson of old. And Boris Johnson ditto.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
As a good and devout Muslim this is one of those conversations I'm not qualified to participate in.
Just as long as you don't boost Star Citizen.
A very good friend likes his whisky. He took a girl on a date to a very quiet, very high quality place, somewhat famous at the time for their selection of single malts. She had claimed to like whisky...
He bought her a double of a rather nice one.
He had to leave for a few moments. When he got back he discovered that she had got the bar tender to add Diet Coke to her drink...
Apparently my friend didn't say a word. Went on with the evening as if nothing had happened.
Never spoke to her again, of course.
They like to do that in my part of the world, it’s excruciating to watch mixers get added to £50/shot 18-year-old single malts.
Johnson now leads a zombie government, that much is now clear. The critical question for the Tories is can a new leader recover what has been so needlessly squandered? The problem now is that any in the current cabinet can be guilty by association. However, the old Tories and the ERG lack power to defeat each other. So the new leader will face a mutinous and chaotic party caucus at just the time that they need discipline and focus. In that sense Johnson has remade the party in his own image, and if he goes I'm not at all sure the Tories can avoid a profound split. In the same way that widening the franchise did for the Old Liberal Party in the 1920s under somewhat similar circumstances, I think PR could well do the same for the Conservatives a century later. A century of Tory dominance may finally be drawing to a close.
PR of course kills off any chance of a Labour majority government ever again.
Corbynites break away and form their own party as the ERG would break away and join RefUK and also win seats under PR.
PR kills the 2 main parties as current and majority governments, its main beneficiaries the LDs who would nearly always be in power and smaller parties like ReformUK and the Greens. It also hits the SNP at Westminster
Indeed, but the SNP are in favour of PR at Westminster. It's called strange things, 'principle' and 'good of the country'.
Because it leads to weak UK Governments and, like the LDs, the SNP would also have a role to play. I'm assuming that the SNP would have a PR adjustment so that Scotland's 'special position' would be taken into account as opposed to being 4% of the whole UK?
Never heard of such a proposal, not least because Scottish voters form more like 8-9% of the UK electorate.
As for the wider issue of principle, you do sound just like Lord Foulkes complaining that the SNP were doing the right thing "deliberately".
Well, Scotland has 8-9% of UK people but, as you well know and maybe contrary to what we are somewhat told by some commentators from north of the border, the SNP does not speak for all of Scotland. So, 4-5% of MPs is about right. Which, of course, would be significantly smaller than the 45 MPs it has now.
But of course. That's the entire basis of PR.
Indeed. And, it may be that the SNP is prepared to accept PR and see its seats fall by a 1/3 in support of a principle, which would be admirable. However, fact remains that, if PR comes in, having 30 MPs gives you a lot more bargaining power than their 45 MPs do.
And we are at the Foulkesian stage again. SNP get blamed for doing the right thing just because it's not the Unionist thing ...
Nothing to do with not being the Unionist thing, it's pointing out a simple truth. They are a political party that wants independence for Scotland and, having 30 MPs in a PR system gives them a lot more influence than now. I'm not criticising them, it's politics and that is what they should do. However, you seem to think we should treat the SNP as a Holy entity that is pure and un-corrupt, and never thinks of its own advantages when it makes its decisions. That seems naive.
The probable breaking into 2 of the 2 main parties under PR would mean a situation where having 30 MPs would make you a big player in the negotiations to form governments.
I quite like these pictures of Liz Truss that DA produces. It's good to see a politician genuinely looking as if they're having a good time.
We all talk about the negatives of being a politician: the hard life, living your life under a microscope; the effect it has on their family. But there must be times when they get to do things which few of us ever do.
She's having fun. That's cool.
Reminds me of Ruth Davidson of old. And Boris Johnson ditto.
Why can't Boris just take a leaf out of Jokeovic's book? "Somebody else made a mistake and I didn't know at the time and I didn't want to disappoint people."
I suspect this statement will be made at 12pm.
More Johnson apologist MPs seem to be crawling out from under their stones this morning.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
The only thing worse than wine snobs are PBers who are congenitally obsessed with Apple. It's an odd, and worrying, affliction.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
As a good and devout Muslim this is one of those conversations I'm not qualified to participate in.
Just as long as you don't boost Star Citizen.
A very good friend likes his whisky. He took a girl on a date to a very quiet, very high quality place, somewhat famous at the time for their selection of single malts. She had claimed to like whisky...
He bought her a double of a rather nice one.
He had to leave for a few moments. When he got back he discovered that she had got the bar tender to add Diet Coke to her drink...
Apparently my friend didn't say a word. Went on with the evening as if nothing had happened.
Never spoke to her again, of course.
They like to do that in my part of the world, it’s excruciating to watch mixers get added to £50/shot 18-year-old single malts.
The population of the UK is projected to increase by 3.2% in the first 10 years of the projections, from an estimated 67.1 million in mid-2020 to 69.2 million in mid-2030.
England's population is projected to grow more quickly than the other UK nations: 3.5% between mid-2020 and mid-2030, compared with 2.6% for Wales, 2.0% for Northern Ireland and 0.3% for Scotland.....
Over the 25-year period between mid-2020 and mid-2045, England is projected to have the largest increase in population, at 6.7%. The projected increase over the same period for Wales is 4.2% and for Northern Ireland it is 2.3%. Scotland is projected to see a decrease of 1.5% over this time.
And that's why Scotland receives more funding per capita despite the attempt by the Barnett Formula to redress the balance.
See my posting. Population is going up in Scotland.
the National Records of Scotland (NRS) project that, with years of negative natural change (the number of deaths exceeding the number of births) ahead, all of our population growth over the next 20 years is projected to come from inward migration.
Given that these NRS projections do not take into account the ending of free movement between the UK and the European Single Market, it is possible that the challenge of Scotland maintaining a sustainable population size may be even more stark than projected.
The ONS estimate is more up to date.
However once independent and free movement restored , it will not be an issue at all. Don't fret about it.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
The only thing worse than wine snobs are PBers who are congenitally obsessed with Apple. It's an odd, and worrying, affliction.
I would hazard a guess that there's a fair fraction of PB who are too old to be congenitally obsessed with Apple
(I'm using the clinical definition, which rules out anyone over 46 unless they also had the ability to see - and obsess - about future events when born)
Johnson wont resign, it's not in his DNA, to admit he has done anything wrong, he has believed his whole life that he can do what he likes. Starmer cannot force him out either, only Tory MPs have the power to do this, most of them cut from the same cloth as him, will do what is best for them, not what is the best for the country, after all most of them thought it would be a wheeze to elect him as PM
She's turned the Sybian up to 11 and she's never been more ready to be PM of the United Kingdom of Global Britain and the Six Counties.
For innocents, do not google sybian, I mean I already know what it is, it is a pretty good indicator that it is not for innocent of mind.
It's amazing what you learn in your compliance role.
Absolutely, listening to chats and reading email from traders is quite the eye opener, their regular weekend spitroast planning, well what can I say, Gordon Ramsay eat your heart out.
The population of the UK is projected to increase by 3.2% in the first 10 years of the projections, from an estimated 67.1 million in mid-2020 to 69.2 million in mid-2030.
England's population is projected to grow more quickly than the other UK nations: 3.5% between mid-2020 and mid-2030, compared with 2.6% for Wales, 2.0% for Northern Ireland and 0.3% for Scotland.....
Over the 25-year period between mid-2020 and mid-2045, England is projected to have the largest increase in population, at 6.7%. The projected increase over the same period for Wales is 4.2% and for Northern Ireland it is 2.3%. Scotland is projected to see a decrease of 1.5% over this time.
And that's why Scotland receives more funding per capita despite the attempt by the Barnett Formula to redress the balance.
See my posting. Population is going up in Scotland.
the National Records of Scotland (NRS) project that, with years of negative natural change (the number of deaths exceeding the number of births) ahead, all of our population growth over the next 20 years is projected to come from inward migration.
Given that these NRS projections do not take into account the ending of free movement between the UK and the European Single Market, it is possible that the challenge of Scotland maintaining a sustainable population size may be even more stark than projected.
The ONS estimate is more up to date.
However once independent and free movement restored , it will not be an issue at all. Don't fret about it.
Suppose all the new EU arrivals, seeing first-hand the advantages of closer ties with their nearest neighbours, decide they want to help take Scotland back into the UK?
The population of the UK is projected to increase by 3.2% in the first 10 years of the projections, from an estimated 67.1 million in mid-2020 to 69.2 million in mid-2030.
England's population is projected to grow more quickly than the other UK nations: 3.5% between mid-2020 and mid-2030, compared with 2.6% for Wales, 2.0% for Northern Ireland and 0.3% for Scotland.....
Over the 25-year period between mid-2020 and mid-2045, England is projected to have the largest increase in population, at 6.7%. The projected increase over the same period for Wales is 4.2% and for Northern Ireland it is 2.3%. Scotland is projected to see a decrease of 1.5% over this time.
And that's why Scotland receives more funding per capita despite the attempt by the Barnett Formula to redress the balance.
See my posting. Population is going up in Scotland.
the National Records of Scotland (NRS) project that, with years of negative natural change (the number of deaths exceeding the number of births) ahead, all of our population growth over the next 20 years is projected to come from inward migration.
Given that these NRS projections do not take into account the ending of free movement between the UK and the European Single Market, it is possible that the challenge of Scotland maintaining a sustainable population size may be even more stark than projected.
The ONS estimate is more up to date.
However once independent and free movement restored , it will not be an issue at all. Don't fret about it.
I'm not - and the ending of the CTA will help stop some of the brain drain too.
I quite like these pictures of Liz Truss that DA produces. It's good to see a politician genuinely looking as if they're having a good time.
We all talk about the negatives of being a politician: the hard life, living your life under a microscope; the effect it has on their family. But there must be times when they get to do things which few of us ever do.
She's having fun. That's cool.
Reminds me of Ruth Davidson of old. And Boris Johnson ditto.
I misread that as 'Boris Johnson dildo'.
You can get one on etsy.
You wouldn't think there woud be much of a market, considering how easy it apparently is for women to get access to the actual Johnson johnson
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
The only thing worse than wine snobs are PBers who are congenitally obsessed with Apple. It's an odd, and worrying, affliction.
Yeah, like the PBers who buy a dozen Apple devices a year. It's like a tech version of Elton John...
LOL. (BBC) Chancellor Rishi Sunak may not be in the Commons chamber to support the PM while he faces a grilling from MPs over the 20 May party revelations, as he appears to have nipped down to Devon to visit businesses this morning... ...Sunak tweets he is "excited" to be in the town with North Devon MP Selaine Saxby.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
The only thing worse than wine snobs are PBers who are congenitally obsessed with Apple. It's an odd, and worrying, affliction.
Yeah, like the PBers who buy a dozen Apple devices a year. It's like a tech version of Elton John...
To be fair, I'm buying them for my parents and my kids, as well as myself.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
I've said in the past that the scandal behind the scandal is the inability of the Tories to throw a decent party. Anyone remember Shaun Bailey's do by the photocopier??
Johnson wont resign, it's not in his DNA, to admit he has done anything wrong, he has believed his whole life that he can do what he likes. Starmer cannot force him out either, only Tory MPs have the power to do this, most of them cut from the same cloth as him, will do what is best for them, not what is the best for the country, after all most of them thought it would be a wheeze to elect him as PM
Not true. He went to Liverpool to apologise for and retract some lazy insults he had aimed at them in the spectator.
Johnson now leads a zombie government, that much is now clear. The critical question for the Tories is can a new leader recover what has been so needlessly squandered? The problem now is that any in the current cabinet can be guilty by association. However, the old Tories and the ERG lack power to defeat each other. So the new leader will face a mutinous and chaotic party caucus at just the time that they need discipline and focus. In that sense Johnson has remade the party in his own image, and if he goes I'm not at all sure the Tories can avoid a profound split. In the same way that widening the franchise did for the Old Liberal Party in the 1920s under somewhat similar circumstances, I think PR could well do the same for the Conservatives a century later. A century of Tory dominance may finally be drawing to a close.
PR of course kills off any chance of a Labour majority government ever again.
Corbynites break away and form their own party as the ERG would break away and join RefUK and also win seats under PR.
PR kills the 2 main parties as current and majority governments, its main beneficiaries the LDs who would nearly always be in power and smaller parties like ReformUK and the Greens. It also hits the SNP at Westminster
Indeed, but the SNP are in favour of PR at Westminster. It's called strange things, 'principle' and 'good of the country'.
Because it leads to weak UK Governments and, like the LDs, the SNP would also have a role to play. I'm assuming that the SNP would have a PR adjustment so that Scotland's 'special position' would be taken into account as opposed to being 4% of the whole UK?
Never heard of such a proposal, not least because Scottish voters form more like 8-9% of the UK electorate.
As for the wider issue of principle, you do sound just like Lord Foulkes complaining that the SNP were doing the right thing "deliberately".
Well, Scotland has 8-9% of UK people but, as you well know and maybe contrary to what we are somewhat told by some commentators from north of the border, the SNP does not speak for all of Scotland. So, 4-5% of MPs is about right. Which, of course, would be significantly smaller than the 45 MPs it has now.
But of course. That's the entire basis of PR.
Indeed. And, it may be that the SNP is prepared to accept PR and see its seats fall by a 1/3 in support of a principle, which would be admirable. However, fact remains that, if PR comes in, having 30 MPs gives you a lot more bargaining power than their 45 MPs do.
And we are at the Foulkesian stage again. SNP get blamed for doing the right thing just because it's not the Unionist thing ...
Nothing to do with not being the Unionist thing, it's pointing out a simple truth. They are a political party that wants independence for Scotland and, having 30 MPs in a PR system gives them a lot more influence than now. I'm not criticising them, it's politics and that is what they should do. However, you seem to think we should treat the SNP as a Holy entity that is pure and un-corrupt, and never thinks of its own advantages when it makes its decisions. That seems naive.
The probable breaking into 2 of the 2 main parties under PR would mean a situation where having 30 MPs would make you a big player in the negotiations to form governments.
The same goes for the Lib Dems, of course.
PR will mean every party needs to stand for something positive, rather than being the anti- of another party. Now, you could argue that SNP being for independence is therefore anti UK, it's still the kind of policy position that people actively vote FOR, as was Brexit for that matter (hence UKIP and BXP under PR would have done well). It's more difficult for Labour and the Tories, particularly Labour, because so many of their votes are essentially votes to chuck out, or keep out, the other lot. And a potential problem for the DUP and SF for the same reason.
For the Lib Dems I think there are positives and negatives. The positive is much more representation and potential influence for the same vote share; the negative is that the Lib Dem policy platform isn't big on clear, easily understood things to vote FOR. It is a portfolio, a general approach. I suspect they would probably pivot back to rejoin as their USP. I think the Greens would be the biggest winner by far.
I quite like these pictures of Liz Truss that DA produces. It's good to see a politician genuinely looking as if they're having a good time.
We all talk about the negatives of being a politician: the hard life, living your life under a microscope; the effect it has on their family. But there must be times when they get to do things which few of us ever do.
She's having fun. That's cool.
Reminds me of Ruth Davidson of old. And Boris Johnson ditto.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
As a good and devout Muslim this is one of those conversations I'm not qualified to participate in.
Just as long as you don't boost Star Citizen.
A very good friend likes his whisky. He took a girl on a date to a very quiet, very high quality place, somewhat famous at the time for their selection of single malts. She had claimed to like whisky...
He bought her a double of a rather nice one.
He had to leave for a few moments. When he got back he discovered that she had got the bar tender to add Diet Coke to her drink...
Apparently my friend didn't say a word. Went on with the evening as if nothing had happened.
Never spoke to her again, of course.
Quite right, the lass was perfectly correct in blanking the pompous sod.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
The only thing worse than wine snobs are PBers who are congenitally obsessed with Apple. It's an odd, and worrying, affliction.
Yeah, like the PBers who buy a dozen Apple devices a year. It's like a tech version of Elton John...
I once worked with a chap who was a Microsoft groupie. He actually queued up to buy the first MS Surface at the London Microsoft Store.
She's turned the Sybian up to 11 and she's never been more ready to be PM of the United Kingdom of Global Britain and the Six Counties.
For innocents, do not google sybian, I mean I already know what it is, it is a pretty good indicator that it is not for innocent of mind.
It's amazing what you learn in your compliance role.
Absolutely, listening to chats and reading email from traders is quite the eye opener, their regular weekend spitroast planning, well what can I say, Gordon Ramsay eat your heart out.
She's turned the Sybian up to 11 and she's never been more ready to be PM of the United Kingdom of Global Britain and the Six Counties.
For innocents, do not google sybian, I mean I already know what it is, it is a pretty good indicator that it is not for innocent of mind.
It's amazing what you learn in your compliance role.
Absolutely, listening to chats and reading email from traders is quite the eye opener, their regular weekend spitroast planning, well what can I say, Gordon Ramsay eat your heart out.
Johnson now leads a zombie government, that much is now clear. The critical question for the Tories is can a new leader recover what has been so needlessly squandered? The problem now is that any in the current cabinet can be guilty by association. However, the old Tories and the ERG lack power to defeat each other. So the new leader will face a mutinous and chaotic party caucus at just the time that they need discipline and focus. In that sense Johnson has remade the party in his own image, and if he goes I'm not at all sure the Tories can avoid a profound split. In the same way that widening the franchise did for the Old Liberal Party in the 1920s under somewhat similar circumstances, I think PR could well do the same for the Conservatives a century later. A century of Tory dominance may finally be drawing to a close.
PR of course kills off any chance of a Labour majority government ever again.
Corbynites break away and form their own party as the ERG would break away and join RefUK and also win seats under PR.
PR kills the 2 main parties as current and majority governments, its main beneficiaries the LDs who would nearly always be in power and smaller parties like ReformUK and the Greens. It also hits the SNP at Westminster
Indeed, but the SNP are in favour of PR at Westminster. It's called strange things, 'principle' and 'good of the country'.
Because it leads to weak UK Governments and, like the LDs, the SNP would also have a role to play. I'm assuming that the SNP would have a PR adjustment so that Scotland's 'special position' would be taken into account as opposed to being 4% of the whole UK?
Never heard of such a proposal, not least because Scottish voters form more like 8-9% of the UK electorate.
As for the wider issue of principle, you do sound just like Lord Foulkes complaining that the SNP were doing the right thing "deliberately".
Well, Scotland has 8-9% of UK people but, as you well know and maybe contrary to what we are somewhat told by some commentators from north of the border, the SNP does not speak for all of Scotland. So, 4-5% of MPs is about right. Which, of course, would be significantly smaller than the 45 MPs it has now.
But of course. That's the entire basis of PR.
Indeed. And, it may be that the SNP is prepared to accept PR and see its seats fall by a 1/3 in support of a principle, which would be admirable. However, fact remains that, if PR comes in, having 30 MPs gives you a lot more bargaining power than their 45 MPs do.
And we are at the Foulkesian stage again. SNP get blamed for doing the right thing just because it's not the Unionist thing ...
Nothing to do with not being the Unionist thing, it's pointing out a simple truth. They are a political party that wants independence for Scotland and, having 30 MPs in a PR system gives them a lot more influence than now. I'm not criticising them, it's politics and that is what they should do. However, you seem to think we should treat the SNP as a Holy entity that is pure and un-corrupt, and never thinks of its own advantages when it makes its decisions. That seems naive.
The probable breaking into 2 of the 2 main parties under PR would mean a situation where having 30 MPs would make you a big player in the negotiations to form governments.
The same goes for the Lib Dems, of course.
And whatever the current Farage comedy vehicle might be.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
As a good and devout Muslim this is one of those conversations I'm not qualified to participate in.
Just as long as you don't boost Star Citizen.
A very good friend likes his whisky. He took a girl on a date to a very quiet, very high quality place, somewhat famous at the time for their selection of single malts. She had claimed to like whisky...
He bought her a double of a rather nice one.
He had to leave for a few moments. When he got back he discovered that she had got the bar tender to add Diet Coke to her drink...
Apparently my friend didn't say a word. Went on with the evening as if nothing had happened.
Never spoke to her again, of course.
Quite right, the lass was perfectly correct in blanking the pompous sod.
He wasn't like that at all - he actually thought that since she'd lied about the liking whisky, that she was obviously saying things that she thought would go down well. Rather than speaking her mind.
As @Cyclefree described in the previous header the spring of 2020 was indeed glorious. My wife and I made good use of that weather to go on extensive walks near our home in the glorious countryside. We both got a bit fitter and a bit leaner as a result. It seemed a sensible precaution in case the virus came knocking.
Was it a breach of Nicola's ridiculous rules? At times, probably. But we were walking country roads and paths, there were few others there, when we came across others we, at that time, made a point of walking on the other side. There was no risk and an upside in terms of our health.
I really don't believe that the vast majority of us did any different. Despite Nicola's ridiculous rules most, virtually all, people I know took decisions based upon their own circumstances and their assessment of the risks. Some idiots who took ridiculous risks, such as large house parties, were prosecuted but the courts (which were mainly shut) were not exactly clogged up with wrongdoers.
The rules in both England and Scotland allowed "essential workers" to go out to work. That definition was very broad. Advocates were apparently essential workers. I didn't use this much because it didn't seem safe to do so in a world before vaccines but I occasionally went to Edinburgh to access text books etc.
Essential workers included Downing Street staff. They were working hard for the good of the country (whatever they actually achieved) in close proximity indoors for hours every day. The idea that they had a significantly greater risk because they had a drink together in the garden afterwards is as absurd as the idea my wife and I were being reckless when our walks took us more than 2 miles from our house.
I simply do not buy into this hypocrisy nonsense, the sanctimonious whining, the largely made up stories of individual hardship caused by compliance with very largely unenforced regulations. This hysteria is ridiculous. And Boris, unlike Nicola, was very clear from the start that he wanted a light touch and to rely as much as possible on advice, judgment and common sense.
What is not acceptable is that he allowed these events to go on, even attended them, and then lied about both his knowledge and participation. Of course one of our former PMs got away with making up evidence and using it to take our country to war. This is trivial by comparison but it is annoying, especially in the way it has been handled.
"Largely made up stories"?
I hope you are not referring to what I wrote in my header.
I have not made up anything about my daughter's despair at the damage done to her business. Nor about my in-laws grief at the loss of their son and the family having to worry about how to comfort them without the additional worry of complying with rules which others were gaily ignoring.
While you were busy enjoying lovely country walks, we also had the very real worry of trying to find somewhere to live while our house was being rebuilt (work which came to a halt at the start of lockdown) at a time when this was very difficult and there were some snitching on those who were thought to have fled from the cities. I wrote about this on here at the time.
I hope we are all grownup enough to forgive mistakes and to understand that no-one is perfect. But we are also entitled to expect those in charge to make some attempt to comply with the commands they were giving the rest of us on a daily basis and not to take the piss quite as blatantly as they have been.
Of course I wasn't. I have expressed considerable sympathy for the plight of your daughter's business and all similar businesses affected many times. A bit of a cheap shot for you @Cyclefree.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
The only thing worse than wine snobs are PBers who are congenitally obsessed with Apple. It's an odd, and worrying, affliction.
Yeah, like the PBers who buy a dozen Apple devices a year. It's like a tech version of Elton John...
I once worked with a chap who was a Microsoft groupie. He actually queued up to buy the first MS Surface at the London Microsoft Store.
Johnson now leads a zombie government, that much is now clear. The critical question for the Tories is can a new leader recover what has been so needlessly squandered? The problem now is that any in the current cabinet can be guilty by association. However, the old Tories and the ERG lack power to defeat each other. So the new leader will face a mutinous and chaotic party caucus at just the time that they need discipline and focus. In that sense Johnson has remade the party in his own image, and if he goes I'm not at all sure the Tories can avoid a profound split. In the same way that widening the franchise did for the Old Liberal Party in the 1920s under somewhat similar circumstances, I think PR could well do the same for the Conservatives a century later. A century of Tory dominance may finally be drawing to a close.
PR of course kills off any chance of a Labour majority government ever again.
Corbynites break away and form their own party as the ERG would break away and join RefUK and also win seats under PR.
PR kills the 2 main parties as current and majority governments, its main beneficiaries the LDs who would nearly always be in power and smaller parties like ReformUK and the Greens. It also hits the SNP at Westminster
Indeed, but the SNP are in favour of PR at Westminster. It's called strange things, 'principle' and 'good of the country'.
Because it leads to weak UK Governments and, like the LDs, the SNP would also have a role to play. I'm assuming that the SNP would have a PR adjustment so that Scotland's 'special position' would be taken into account as opposed to being 4% of the whole UK?
Never heard of such a proposal, not least because Scottish voters form more like 8-9% of the UK electorate.
As for the wider issue of principle, you do sound just like Lord Foulkes complaining that the SNP were doing the right thing "deliberately".
Well, Scotland has 8-9% of UK people but, as you well know and maybe contrary to what we are somewhat told by some commentators from north of the border, the SNP does not speak for all of Scotland. So, 4-5% of MPs is about right. Which, of course, would be significantly smaller than the 45 MPs it has now.
But of course. That's the entire basis of PR.
Indeed. And, it may be that the SNP is prepared to accept PR and see its seats fall by a 1/3 in support of a principle, which would be admirable. However, fact remains that, if PR comes in, having 30 MPs gives you a lot more bargaining power than their 45 MPs do.
And we are at the Foulkesian stage again. SNP get blamed for doing the right thing just because it's not the Unionist thing ...
Nothing to do with not being the Unionist thing, it's pointing out a simple truth. They are a political party that wants independence for Scotland and, having 30 MPs in a PR system gives them a lot more influence than now. I'm not criticising them, it's politics and that is what they should do. However, you seem to think we should treat the SNP as a Holy entity that is pure and un-corrupt, and never thinks of its own advantages when it makes its decisions. That seems naive.
The probable breaking into 2 of the 2 main parties under PR would mean a situation where having 30 MPs would make you a big player in the negotiations to form governments.
The same goes for the Lib Dems, of course.
And whatever the current Farage comedy vehicle might be.
There would probably be a low end limit - there is in most PR systems. I would suspect that that Farage would get squeezed out pretty thoroughly.
Johnson now leads a zombie government, that much is now clear. The critical question for the Tories is can a new leader recover what has been so needlessly squandered? The problem now is that any in the current cabinet can be guilty by association. However, the old Tories and the ERG lack power to defeat each other. So the new leader will face a mutinous and chaotic party caucus at just the time that they need discipline and focus. In that sense Johnson has remade the party in his own image, and if he goes I'm not at all sure the Tories can avoid a profound split. In the same way that widening the franchise did for the Old Liberal Party in the 1920s under somewhat similar circumstances, I think PR could well do the same for the Conservatives a century later. A century of Tory dominance may finally be drawing to a close.
PR of course kills off any chance of a Labour majority government ever again.
Corbynites break away and form their own party as the ERG would break away and join RefUK and also win seats under PR.
PR kills the 2 main parties as current and majority governments, its main beneficiaries the LDs who would nearly always be in power and smaller parties like ReformUK and the Greens. It also hits the SNP at Westminster
Indeed, but the SNP are in favour of PR at Westminster. It's called strange things, 'principle' and 'good of the country'.
Because it leads to weak UK Governments and, like the LDs, the SNP would also have a role to play. I'm assuming that the SNP would have a PR adjustment so that Scotland's 'special position' would be taken into account as opposed to being 4% of the whole UK?
Never heard of such a proposal, not least because Scottish voters form more like 8-9% of the UK electorate.
As for the wider issue of principle, you do sound just like Lord Foulkes complaining that the SNP were doing the right thing "deliberately".
Well, Scotland has 8-9% of UK people but, as you well know and maybe contrary to what we are somewhat told by some commentators from north of the border, the SNP does not speak for all of Scotland. So, 4-5% of MPs is about right. Which, of course, would be significantly smaller than the 45 MPs it has now.
But of course. That's the entire basis of PR.
Indeed. And, it may be that the SNP is prepared to accept PR and see its seats fall by a 1/3 in support of a principle, which would be admirable. However, fact remains that, if PR comes in, having 30 MPs gives you a lot more bargaining power than their 45 MPs do.
And we are at the Foulkesian stage again. SNP get blamed for doing the right thing just because it's not the Unionist thing ...
Nothing to do with not being the Unionist thing, it's pointing out a simple truth. They are a political party that wants independence for Scotland and, having 30 MPs in a PR system gives them a lot more influence than now. I'm not criticising them, it's politics and that is what they should do. However, you seem to think we should treat the SNP as a Holy entity that is pure and un-corrupt, and never thinks of its own advantages when it makes its decisions. That seems naive.
Of course I don't - but I'm amused by the reluctance to admit the SNP have always had this principled position at least partly as a matter of principle.
Johnson wont resign, it's not in his DNA, to admit he has done anything wrong, he has believed his whole life that he can do what he likes. Starmer cannot force him out either, only Tory MPs have the power to do this, most of them cut from the same cloth as him, will do what is best for them, not what is the best for the country, after all most of them thought it would be a wheeze to elect him as PM
Not true. He went to Liverpool to apologise for and retract some lazy insults he had aimed at them in the spectator.
Michael Howard ordered him there. Whether Boris would have gone of his own volition will never be known.
As @Cyclefree described in the previous header the spring of 2020 was indeed glorious. My wife and I made good use of that weather to go on extensive walks near our home in the glorious countryside. We both got a bit fitter and a bit leaner as a result. It seemed a sensible precaution in case the virus came knocking.
Was it a breach of Nicola's ridiculous rules? At times, probably. But we were walking country roads and paths, there were few others there, when we came across others we, at that time, made a point of walking on the other side. There was no risk and an upside in terms of our health.
I really don't believe that the vast majority of us did any different. Despite Nicola's ridiculous rules most, virtually all, people I know took decisions based upon their own circumstances and their assessment of the risks. Some idiots who took ridiculous risks, such as large house parties, were prosecuted but the courts (which were mainly shut) were not exactly clogged up with wrongdoers.
The rules in both England and Scotland allowed "essential workers" to go out to work. That definition was very broad. Advocates were apparently essential workers. I didn't use this much because it didn't seem safe to do so in a world before vaccines but I occasionally went to Edinburgh to access text books etc.
Essential workers included Downing Street staff. They were working hard for the good of the country (whatever they actually achieved) in close proximity indoors for hours every day. The idea that they had a significantly greater risk because they had a drink together in the garden afterwards is as absurd as the idea my wife and I were being reckless when our walks took us more than 2 miles from our house.
I simply do not buy into this hypocrisy nonsense, the sanctimonious whining, the largely made up stories of individual hardship caused by compliance with very largely unenforced regulations. This hysteria is ridiculous. And Boris, unlike Nicola, was very clear from the start that he wanted a light touch and to rely as much as possible on advice, judgment and common sense.
What is not acceptable is that he allowed these events to go on, even attended them, and then lied about both his knowledge and participation. Of course one of our former PMs got away with making up evidence and using it to take our country to war. This is trivial by comparison but it is annoying, especially in the way it has been handled.
I have to be honest, my own initial reaction was similar to David's. For the reasons David states above, and also because we live in a world where those in charge routinely believe the rules only apply to everyone else, where this is just depressing example number 94.
But I read Morris Dancer's comments on the Queen. More to the point, I quote the following from my facebook feed yesterday:
"I'm not political at all and rarely comment, but the proof that the government held a part at No 10 is disgraceful. My wife along with her sisters and brother had to watch helplessly as their much loved Mother passed away alone in a nursing home with no visitors allowed. Unable to comfort or support a wonderful woman. No family should have to go through this and the government have completely disregarded and shown a total lack of respect for the population of this country. It's absolutely despicable."
You read this and not only is it impossible to provide any kind of satisfactory answer, but it is also evidence that this has cut through to everyone, even those uninterested in politics. I believe he could probably have seen this off by admitting at the outset to the fact that there were a number of after work gatherings during lockdown, that they felt it was deserved after working so hard in such difficult circumstances and apologising in a heartfelt manner to all of those who had obeyed the rules and suffered massively and irrevocably for doing so - that opportunity is gone though as he has denied, denied and denied. Any apology now is tantamount to saying "I'm sorry I got caught".
I tend to agree with RCS that his exit is far from certain, but his brand, and that of his party, is surely damaged and will never fully recover while he is PM. And while I think those on here who like to make out that Boris Johnson is unique among politicians in his propensity for dishonesty are exaggerating to a considerable degree, I do hope that this might be a salutory lesson that when you've done something wrong, the best solution is to 'fess up and admit that you've f'd up. We'd have a far better standard of politician were this truth to hit home.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
The only thing worse than wine snobs are PBers who are congenitally obsessed with Apple. It's an odd, and worrying, affliction.
All PBers have obsessions. That's why we're here.
Sure, you must have some of your own if you think about it. I think I know most of mine.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
The only thing worse than wine snobs are PBers who are congenitally obsessed with Apple. It's an odd, and worrying, affliction.
Yeah, like the PBers who buy a dozen Apple devices a year. It's like a tech version of Elton John...
I once worked with a chap who was a Microsoft groupie. He actually queued up to buy the first MS Surface at the London Microsoft Store.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
As a good and devout Muslim this is one of those conversations I'm not qualified to participate in.
Just as long as you don't boost Star Citizen.
A very good friend likes his whisky. He took a girl on a date to a very quiet, very high quality place, somewhat famous at the time for their selection of single malts. She had claimed to like whisky...
He bought her a double of a rather nice one.
He had to leave for a few moments. When he got back he discovered that she had got the bar tender to add Diet Coke to her drink...
Apparently my friend didn't say a word. Went on with the evening as if nothing had happened.
Never spoke to her again, of course.
Quite right, the lass was perfectly correct in blanking the pompous sod.
He wasn't like that at all - he actually thought that since she'd lied about the liking whisky, that she was obviously saying things that she thought would go down well. Rather than speaking her mind.
Perhaps she did like whisky, but liked it with diet coke?
I find 7 Up brings out the elusive peatiness of an Islay/West Coast Malt.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
As a good and devout Muslim this is one of those conversations I'm not qualified to participate in.
Just as long as you don't boost Star Citizen.
A very good friend likes his whisky. He took a girl on a date to a very quiet, very high quality place, somewhat famous at the time for their selection of single malts. She had claimed to like whisky...
He bought her a double of a rather nice one.
He had to leave for a few moments. When he got back he discovered that she had got the bar tender to add Diet Coke to her drink...
Apparently my friend didn't say a word. Went on with the evening as if nothing had happened.
Never spoke to her again, of course.
Quite right, the lass was perfectly correct in blanking the pompous sod.
He wasn't like that at all - he actually thought that since she'd lied about the liking whisky, that she was obviously saying things that she thought would go down well. Rather than speaking her mind.
Putting coke in it is not a definitive contradiction of saying she liked whisky, unless she also started spouting the names of fancy distilleries at the same time. In fact with Bells it's the only thing to be done.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
The only thing worse than wine snobs are PBers who are congenitally obsessed with Apple. It's an odd, and worrying, affliction.
Yeah, like the PBers who buy a dozen Apple devices a year. It's like a tech version of Elton John...
Why TF do you care what they buy? If you don't like the products yourself, don't buy them, It really is that effing simple.
(P.S. I have had my 6s Plus for years – the best phone ever made – just keep replacing the battery. It has a great feature called a 3.5mm audio jack which has been the difference between music and no music at several impromptu parties over the years)
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
The only thing worse than wine snobs are PBers who are congenitally obsessed with Apple. It's an odd, and worrying, affliction.
Yeah, like the PBers who buy a dozen Apple devices a year. It's like a tech version of Elton John...
I once worked with a chap who was a Microsoft groupie. He actually queued up to buy the first MS Surface at the London Microsoft Store.
Then again, I was an Acorn groupie. Until I went to work for them. Nothing like working for a company to bash reality into your skull.
Everyone I know in IT (apart from myself) seems to have spent some time working at Symbian. All were fans before. All of them swore never to touch that OS ever again, afterwards.
Johnson wont resign, it's not in his DNA, to admit he has done anything wrong, he has believed his whole life that he can do what he likes. Starmer cannot force him out either, only Tory MPs have the power to do this, most of them cut from the same cloth as him, will do what is best for them, not what is the best for the country, after all most of them thought it would be a wheeze to elect him as PM
Not true. He went to Liverpool to apologise for and retract some lazy insults he had aimed at them in the spectator.
Michael Howard ordered him there. Whether Boris would have gone of his own volition will never be known.
True. But it is quite possible that he is under a similar cosh today.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
As a good and devout Muslim this is one of those conversations I'm not qualified to participate in.
Just as long as you don't boost Star Citizen.
A very good friend likes his whisky. He took a girl on a date to a very quiet, very high quality place, somewhat famous at the time for their selection of single malts. She had claimed to like whisky...
He bought her a double of a rather nice one.
He had to leave for a few moments. When he got back he discovered that she had got the bar tender to add Diet Coke to her drink...
Apparently my friend didn't say a word. Went on with the evening as if nothing had happened.
Never spoke to her again, of course.
Quite right, the lass was perfectly correct in blanking the pompous sod.
He wasn't like that at all - he actually thought that since she'd lied about the liking whisky, that she was obviously saying things that she thought would go down well. Rather than speaking her mind.
Putting coke in it is not a definitive contradiction of saying she liked whisky, unless she also started spouting the names of fancy distilleries at the same time. In fact with Bells it's the only thing to be done.
MY dad used to keep a bottle of Glenfiddich specially for a regular visitor, who liked to dilute his spirits with lemonade.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
As a good and devout Muslim this is one of those conversations I'm not qualified to participate in.
Just as long as you don't boost Star Citizen.
A very good friend likes his whisky. He took a girl on a date to a very quiet, very high quality place, somewhat famous at the time for their selection of single malts. She had claimed to like whisky...
He bought her a double of a rather nice one.
He had to leave for a few moments. When he got back he discovered that she had got the bar tender to add Diet Coke to her drink...
Apparently my friend didn't say a word. Went on with the evening as if nothing had happened.
Never spoke to her again, of course.
Quite right, the lass was perfectly correct in blanking the pompous sod.
He wasn't like that at all - he actually thought that since she'd lied about the liking whisky, that she was obviously saying things that she thought would go down well. Rather than speaking her mind.
Putting coke in it is not a definitive contradiction of saying she liked whisky, unless she also started spouting the names of fancy distilleries at the same time. In fact with Bells it's the only thing to be done.
With Bells, not drinking it at all is an attractive alternative.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
As a good and devout Muslim this is one of those conversations I'm not qualified to participate in.
Just as long as you don't boost Star Citizen.
A very good friend likes his whisky. He took a girl on a date to a very quiet, very high quality place, somewhat famous at the time for their selection of single malts. She had claimed to like whisky...
He bought her a double of a rather nice one.
He had to leave for a few moments. When he got back he discovered that she had got the bar tender to add Diet Coke to her drink...
Apparently my friend didn't say a word. Went on with the evening as if nothing had happened.
Never spoke to her again, of course.
I'm not a fan of whisky, I much prefer rum and vodka, which is awkward considering my father-in-law was Scottish.
We had a big Christmas at their house not long after we'd got married and on Christmas Day he poured all the men a whisky. A while later he shocked the entire house by silently getting up and passing me a can of Coke. He seemed pleased I'd shown him respect by drinking it neat but could tell I'd prefer it with the mixer.
As @Cyclefree described in the previous header the spring of 2020 was indeed glorious. My wife and I made good use of that weather to go on extensive walks near our home in the glorious countryside. We both got a bit fitter and a bit leaner as a result. It seemed a sensible precaution in case the virus came knocking.
Was it a breach of Nicola's ridiculous rules? At times, probably. But we were walking country roads and paths, there were few others there, when we came across others we, at that time, made a point of walking on the other side. There was no risk and an upside in terms of our health.
I really don't believe that the vast majority of us did any different. Despite Nicola's ridiculous rules most, virtually all, people I know took decisions based upon their own circumstances and their assessment of the risks. Some idiots who took ridiculous risks, such as large house parties, were prosecuted but the courts (which were mainly shut) were not exactly clogged up with wrongdoers.
The rules in both England and Scotland allowed "essential workers" to go out to work. That definition was very broad. Advocates were apparently essential workers. I didn't use this much because it didn't seem safe to do so in a world before vaccines but I occasionally went to Edinburgh to access text books etc.
Essential workers included Downing Street staff. They were working hard for the good of the country (whatever they actually achieved) in close proximity indoors for hours every day. The idea that they had a significantly greater risk because they had a drink together in the garden afterwards is as absurd as the idea my wife and I were being reckless when our walks took us more than 2 miles from our house.
I simply do not buy into this hypocrisy nonsense, the sanctimonious whining, the largely made up stories of individual hardship caused by compliance with very largely unenforced regulations. This hysteria is ridiculous. And Boris, unlike Nicola, was very clear from the start that he wanted a light touch and to rely as much as possible on advice, judgment and common sense.
What is not acceptable is that he allowed these events to go on, even attended them, and then lied about both his knowledge and participation. Of course one of our former PMs got away with making up evidence and using it to take our country to war. This is trivial by comparison but it is annoying, especially in the way it has been handled.
I have to be honest, my own initial reaction was similar to David's. For the reasons David states above, and also because we live in a world where those in charge routinely believe the rules only apply to everyone else, where this is just depressing example number 94.
But I read Morris Dancer's comments on the Queen. More to the point, I quote the following from my facebook feed yesterday:
"I'm not political at all and rarely comment, but the proof that the government held a part at No 10 is disgraceful. My wife along with her sisters and brother had to watch helplessly as their much loved Mother passed away alone in a nursing home with no visitors allowed. Unable to comfort or support a wonderful woman. No family should have to go through this and the government have completely disregarded and shown a total lack of respect for the population of this country. It's absolutely despicable."
You read this and not only is it impossible to provide any kind of satisfactory answer, but it is also evidence that this has cut through to everyone, even those uninterested in politics. I believe he could probably have seen this off by admitting at the outset to the fact that there were a number of after work gatherings during lockdown, that they felt it was deserved after working so hard in such difficult circumstances and apologising in a heartfelt manner to all of those who had obeyed the rules and suffered massively and irrevocably for doing so - that opportunity is gone though as he has denied, denied and denied. Any apology now is tantamount to saying "I'm sorry I got caught".
I tend to agree with RCS that his exit is far from certain, but his brand, and that of his party, is surely damaged and will never fully recover while he is PM. And while I think those on here who like to make out that Boris Johnson is unique among politicians in his propensity for dishonesty are exaggerating to a considerable degree, I do hope that this might be a salutory lesson that when you've done something wrong, the best solution is to 'fess up and admit that you've f'd up. We'd have a far better standard of politician were this truth to hit home.
Trouble is that Boris would have had to confess to the first (Christmas) party then a whole string of others as they came to light. Or would he have confessed to the first and asked for other transgressions to be taken into account.
Johnson now leads a zombie government, that much is now clear. The critical question for the Tories is can a new leader recover what has been so needlessly squandered? The problem now is that any in the current cabinet can be guilty by association. However, the old Tories and the ERG lack power to defeat each other. So the new leader will face a mutinous and chaotic party caucus at just the time that they need discipline and focus. In that sense Johnson has remade the party in his own image, and if he goes I'm not at all sure the Tories can avoid a profound split. In the same way that widening the franchise did for the Old Liberal Party in the 1920s under somewhat similar circumstances, I think PR could well do the same for the Conservatives a century later. A century of Tory dominance may finally be drawing to a close.
PR of course kills off any chance of a Labour majority government ever again.
Corbynites break away and form their own party as the ERG would break away and join RefUK and also win seats under PR.
PR kills the 2 main parties as current and majority governments, its main beneficiaries the LDs who would nearly always be in power and smaller parties like ReformUK and the Greens. It also hits the SNP at Westminster
Indeed, but the SNP are in favour of PR at Westminster. It's called strange things, 'principle' and 'good of the country'.
Because it leads to weak UK Governments and, like the LDs, the SNP would also have a role to play. I'm assuming that the SNP would have a PR adjustment so that Scotland's 'special position' would be taken into account as opposed to being 4% of the whole UK?
Never heard of such a proposal, not least because Scottish voters form more like 8-9% of the UK electorate.
As for the wider issue of principle, you do sound just like Lord Foulkes complaining that the SNP were doing the right thing "deliberately".
Well, Scotland has 8-9% of UK people but, as you well know and maybe contrary to what we are somewhat told by some commentators from north of the border, the SNP does not speak for all of Scotland. So, 4-5% of MPs is about right. Which, of course, would be significantly smaller than the 45 MPs it has now.
But of course. That's the entire basis of PR.
Indeed. And, it may be that the SNP is prepared to accept PR and see its seats fall by a 1/3 in support of a principle, which would be admirable. However, fact remains that, if PR comes in, having 30 MPs gives you a lot more bargaining power than their 45 MPs do.
And we are at the Foulkesian stage again. SNP get blamed for doing the right thing just because it's not the Unionist thing ...
Nothing to do with not being the Unionist thing, it's pointing out a simple truth. They are a political party that wants independence for Scotland and, having 30 MPs in a PR system gives them a lot more influence than now. I'm not criticising them, it's politics and that is what they should do. However, you seem to think we should treat the SNP as a Holy entity that is pure and un-corrupt, and never thinks of its own advantages when it makes its decisions. That seems naive.
The probable breaking into 2 of the 2 main parties under PR would mean a situation where having 30 MPs would make you a big player in the negotiations to form governments.
The same goes for the Lib Dems, of course.
And whatever the current Farage comedy vehicle might be.
There would probably be a low end limit - there is in most PR systems. I would suspect that that Farage would get squeezed out pretty thoroughly.
The Greens would also benefit from PR, of course.
If there was a 5% threshold then UKIP would easily have elected about 90 MPs in 2015 via PR, although it would have elected 0 in 2017 as the BXP would have done in 2019. If ReUK got 5%+ though it would elect MPs under PR and the Greens would elect more MPs too
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
As a good and devout Muslim this is one of those conversations I'm not qualified to participate in.
Just as long as you don't boost Star Citizen.
A very good friend likes his whisky. He took a girl on a date to a very quiet, very high quality place, somewhat famous at the time for their selection of single malts. She had claimed to like whisky...
He bought her a double of a rather nice one.
He had to leave for a few moments. When he got back he discovered that she had got the bar tender to add Diet Coke to her drink...
Apparently my friend didn't say a word. Went on with the evening as if nothing had happened.
Never spoke to her again, of course.
They like to do that in my part of the world, it’s excruciating to watch mixers get added to £50/shot 18-year-old single malts.
Almost as excruciating as paying £50 a shot.
Well, that too.
I convince myself that paying a tenner a pint in Dubai isn’t any worse than paying £6 a pint in London from income with 40% tax applied.
Of course, most of the price of the drink out here is tax, it’s just on the consumption rather than the income.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
The only thing worse than wine snobs are PBers who are congenitally obsessed with Apple. It's an odd, and worrying, affliction.
All PBers have obsessions. That's why we're here.
Sure, you must have some of your own if you think about it. I think I know most of mine.
Sure, I was just being facetious, and making a point.
Josias is – frankly – boring about Apple – he is worse than the ludicrous Apple fanboys themselves.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
The only thing worse than wine snobs are PBers who are congenitally obsessed with Apple. It's an odd, and worrying, affliction.
Yeah, like the PBers who buy a dozen Apple devices a year. It's like a tech version of Elton John...
Why TF do you care what they buy? If you don't like the products yourself, don't buy them, It really is that effing simple.
(P.S. I have had my 6s Plus for years – the best phone ever made – just keep replacing the battery. It has a great feature called a 3.5mm audio jack which has been the difference between music and no music at several impromptu parties over the years)
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
As a good and devout Muslim this is one of those conversations I'm not qualified to participate in.
Just as long as you don't boost Star Citizen.
A very good friend likes his whisky. He took a girl on a date to a very quiet, very high quality place, somewhat famous at the time for their selection of single malts. She had claimed to like whisky...
He bought her a double of a rather nice one.
He had to leave for a few moments. When he got back he discovered that she had got the bar tender to add Diet Coke to her drink...
Apparently my friend didn't say a word. Went on with the evening as if nothing had happened.
Never spoke to her again, of course.
Quite right, the lass was perfectly correct in blanking the pompous sod.
He wasn't like that at all - he actually thought that since she'd lied about the liking whisky, that she was obviously saying things that she thought would go down well. Rather than speaking her mind.
Putting coke in it is not a definitive contradiction of saying she liked whisky, unless she also started spouting the names of fancy distilleries at the same time. In fact with Bells it's the only thing to be done.
I think she'd given him to understand that she liked single malts etc....
While trying not to be snobby - if you are looking for a whisky to drink on it's own, Bells is the wrong choice.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
As a good and devout Muslim this is one of those conversations I'm not qualified to participate in.
Just as long as you don't boost Star Citizen.
A very good friend likes his whisky. He took a girl on a date to a very quiet, very high quality place, somewhat famous at the time for their selection of single malts. She had claimed to like whisky...
He bought her a double of a rather nice one.
He had to leave for a few moments. When he got back he discovered that she had got the bar tender to add Diet Coke to her drink...
Apparently my friend didn't say a word. Went on with the evening as if nothing had happened.
Never spoke to her again, of course.
I'm not a fan of whisky, I much prefer rum and vodka, which is awkward considering my father-in-law was Scottish.
We had a big Christmas at their house not long after we'd got married and on Christmas Day he poured all the men a whisky. A while later he shocked the entire house by silently getting up and passing me a can of Coke. He seemed pleased I'd shown him respect by drinking it neat but could tell I'd prefer it with the mixer.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
As a good and devout Muslim this is one of those conversations I'm not qualified to participate in.
Just as long as you don't boost Star Citizen.
A very good friend likes his whisky. He took a girl on a date to a very quiet, very high quality place, somewhat famous at the time for their selection of single malts. She had claimed to like whisky...
He bought her a double of a rather nice one.
He had to leave for a few moments. When he got back he discovered that she had got the bar tender to add Diet Coke to her drink...
Apparently my friend didn't say a word. Went on with the evening as if nothing had happened.
Never spoke to her again, of course.
Quite right, the lass was perfectly correct in blanking the pompous sod.
He wasn't like that at all - he actually thought that since she'd lied about the liking whisky, that she was obviously saying things that she thought would go down well. Rather than speaking her mind.
Perhaps she did like whisky, but liked it with diet coke?
I find 7 Up brings out the elusive peatiness of an Islay/West Coast Malt.
Try Vimto sometime. You might find it an interesting combination.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
As a good and devout Muslim this is one of those conversations I'm not qualified to participate in.
Just as long as you don't boost Star Citizen.
A very good friend likes his whisky. He took a girl on a date to a very quiet, very high quality place, somewhat famous at the time for their selection of single malts. She had claimed to like whisky...
He bought her a double of a rather nice one.
He had to leave for a few moments. When he got back he discovered that she had got the bar tender to add Diet Coke to her drink...
Apparently my friend didn't say a word. Went on with the evening as if nothing had happened.
Never spoke to her again, of course.
Quite right, the lass was perfectly correct in blanking the pompous sod.
He wasn't like that at all - he actually thought that since she'd lied about the liking whisky, that she was obviously saying things that she thought would go down well. Rather than speaking her mind.
Is it not possible she does like whisky, but drinks it with Coke?
I drink rum and vodka, but I never drink vodka neat I always have it with a mixer. But if you asked me if I liked vodka I'd say yes, it simply wouldn't cross my mind you meant neat unless you say that.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
Oh dear. I have an iPhone, I love my Tesla and I quite like fine wine. I am doomed. And to make matters worse I like fine dining, good quality Scotch, opera and progressive rock.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
As a good and devout Muslim this is one of those conversations I'm not qualified to participate in.
Just as long as you don't boost Star Citizen.
A very good friend likes his whisky. He took a girl on a date to a very quiet, very high quality place, somewhat famous at the time for their selection of single malts. She had claimed to like whisky...
He bought her a double of a rather nice one.
He had to leave for a few moments. When he got back he discovered that she had got the bar tender to add Diet Coke to her drink...
Apparently my friend didn't say a word. Went on with the evening as if nothing had happened.
Never spoke to her again, of course.
I'm not a fan of whisky, I much prefer rum and vodka, which is awkward considering my father-in-law was Scottish.
We had a big Christmas at their house not long after we'd got married and on Christmas Day he poured all the men a whisky. A while later he shocked the entire house by silently getting up and passing me a can of Coke. He seemed pleased I'd shown him respect by drinking it neat but could tell I'd prefer it with the mixer.
Vodka is a slightly odd mixer with your rum.
It will fuck with the flavour of a good rum less than Coke.....
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
The only thing worse than wine snobs are PBers who are congenitally obsessed with Apple. It's an odd, and worrying, affliction.
Yeah, like the PBers who buy a dozen Apple devices a year. It's like a tech version of Elton John...
Why TF do you care what they buy? If you don't like the products yourself, don't buy them, It really is that effing simple.
(P.S. I have had my 6s Plus for years – the best phone ever made – just keep replacing the battery. It has a great feature called a 3.5mm audio jack which has been the difference between music and no music at several impromptu parties over the years)
It's me and TSE joking with each other.
I'll say it again here: Apple have started coming out with some great tech in the last decade. The A4 chip family itself is superb - and some people I know at ARM agree. They've started leading innovation rather than just perfecting it. Some of the stuff they're doing technologically is amazing.
My problems with Apple are two minor points and one major one. The minor one are the cost and the walled garden. And that's fair enough, if that's what people want to pay for.
The major one is that, business-wise, they're absolute sh*ts. The worst of all the major western tech companies, with cannibalistic and monopolistic practices. This is personal. And no, I cannot go into details.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
Oh dear. I have an iPhone, I love my Tesla and I quite like fine wine. I am doomed. And to make matters worse I like fine dining, good quality Scotch, opera and progressive rock.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
As a good and devout Muslim this is one of those conversations I'm not qualified to participate in.
Just as long as you don't boost Star Citizen.
A very good friend likes his whisky. He took a girl on a date to a very quiet, very high quality place, somewhat famous at the time for their selection of single malts. She had claimed to like whisky...
He bought her a double of a rather nice one.
He had to leave for a few moments. When he got back he discovered that she had got the bar tender to add Diet Coke to her drink...
Apparently my friend didn't say a word. Went on with the evening as if nothing had happened.
Never spoke to her again, of course.
I'm not a fan of whisky, I much prefer rum and vodka, which is awkward considering my father-in-law was Scottish.
We had a big Christmas at their house not long after we'd got married and on Christmas Day he poured all the men a whisky. A while later he shocked the entire house by silently getting up and passing me a can of Coke. He seemed pleased I'd shown him respect by drinking it neat but could tell I'd prefer it with the mixer.
Vodka is a slightly odd mixer with your rum.
I have occasionally had a gin and gin when the tonic ran out.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
The only thing worse than wine snobs are PBers who are congenitally obsessed with Apple. It's an odd, and worrying, affliction.
All PBers have obsessions. That's why we're here.
Sure, you must have some of your own if you think about it. I think I know most of mine.
Sure, I was just being facetious, and making a point.
Josias is – frankly – boring about Apple – he is worse than the ludicrous Apple fanboys themselves.
No, he isn't.
The fanbois need calling out from time to time. It's not like it is every other post, unlike our favourite Nationalist vs Un Nationalist Nationalist...
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
The only thing worse than wine snobs are PBers who are congenitally obsessed with Apple. It's an odd, and worrying, affliction.
Yeah, like the PBers who buy a dozen Apple devices a year. It's like a tech version of Elton John...
Why TF do you care what they buy? If you don't like the products yourself, don't buy them, It really is that effing simple.
(P.S. I have had my 6s Plus for years – the best phone ever made – just keep replacing the battery. It has a great feature called a 3.5mm audio jack which has been the difference between music and no music at several impromptu parties over the years)
I'm no Apple fan, but I have an old-fashioned ipod, which goes everywhere with me which serves the same purpose. It doesn't have any song I could ever want to listen to on it, but it does have every song I have ever bought, which gives at least 90% coverage of the first group. We had a party for bonfire night, and my friends' sons were utterly baffled by it. Friends' sons: Can you play x? Me: No, it's not on there. Friends' sons: Eh? What's the wifi code? Me: [Gives wifi code] Friends' son: Why can't I get onto the internet through this? Me: Because that's not what it does. Friends' sons: Eh?
The concept of an electronic device which didn't connect to every other electronic device utterly baffled them.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
As a good and devout Muslim this is one of those conversations I'm not qualified to participate in.
Just as long as you don't boost Star Citizen.
A very good friend likes his whisky. He took a girl on a date to a very quiet, very high quality place, somewhat famous at the time for their selection of single malts. She had claimed to like whisky...
He bought her a double of a rather nice one.
He had to leave for a few moments. When he got back he discovered that she had got the bar tender to add Diet Coke to her drink...
Apparently my friend didn't say a word. Went on with the evening as if nothing had happened.
Never spoke to her again, of course.
Quite right, the lass was perfectly correct in blanking the pompous sod.
He wasn't like that at all - he actually thought that since she'd lied about the liking whisky, that she was obviously saying things that she thought would go down well. Rather than speaking her mind.
Perhaps she did like whisky, but liked it with diet coke?
I find 7 Up brings out the elusive peatiness of an Islay/West Coast Malt.
Try Vimto sometime. You might find it an interesting combination.
As @Cyclefree described in the previous header the spring of 2020 was indeed glorious. My wife and I made good use of that weather to go on extensive walks near our home in the glorious countryside. We both got a bit fitter and a bit leaner as a result. It seemed a sensible precaution in case the virus came knocking.
Was it a breach of Nicola's ridiculous rules? At times, probably. But we were walking country roads and paths, there were few others there, when we came across others we, at that time, made a point of walking on the other side. There was no risk and an upside in terms of our health.
I really don't believe that the vast majority of us did any different. Despite Nicola's ridiculous rules most, virtually all, people I know took decisions based upon their own circumstances and their assessment of the risks. Some idiots who took ridiculous risks, such as large house parties, were prosecuted but the courts (which were mainly shut) were not exactly clogged up with wrongdoers.
The rules in both England and Scotland allowed "essential workers" to go out to work. That definition was very broad. Advocates were apparently essential workers. I didn't use this much because it didn't seem safe to do so in a world before vaccines but I occasionally went to Edinburgh to access text books etc.
Essential workers included Downing Street staff. They were working hard for the good of the country (whatever they actually achieved) in close proximity indoors for hours every day. The idea that they had a significantly greater risk because they had a drink together in the garden afterwards is as absurd as the idea my wife and I were being reckless when our walks took us more than 2 miles from our house.
I simply do not buy into this hypocrisy nonsense, the sanctimonious whining, the largely made up stories of individual hardship caused by compliance with very largely unenforced regulations. This hysteria is ridiculous. And Boris, unlike Nicola, was very clear from the start that he wanted a light touch and to rely as much as possible on advice, judgment and common sense.
What is not acceptable is that he allowed these events to go on, even attended them, and then lied about both his knowledge and participation. Of course one of our former PMs got away with making up evidence and using it to take our country to war. This is trivial by comparison but it is annoying, especially in the way it has been handled.
I have to be honest, my own initial reaction was similar to David's. For the reasons David states above, and also because we live in a world where those in charge routinely believe the rules only apply to everyone else, where this is just depressing example number 94.
But I read Morris Dancer's comments on the Queen. More to the point, I quote the following from my facebook feed yesterday:
"I'm not political at all and rarely comment, but the proof that the government held a part at No 10 is disgraceful. My wife along with her sisters and brother had to watch helplessly as their much loved Mother passed away alone in a nursing home with no visitors allowed. Unable to comfort or support a wonderful woman. No family should have to go through this and the government have completely disregarded and shown a total lack of respect for the population of this country. It's absolutely despicable."
You read this and not only is it impossible to provide any kind of satisfactory answer, but it is also evidence that this has cut through to everyone, even those uninterested in politics. I believe he could probably have seen this off by admitting at the outset to the fact that there were a number of after work gatherings during lockdown, that they felt it was deserved after working so hard in such difficult circumstances and apologising in a heartfelt manner to all of those who had obeyed the rules and suffered massively and irrevocably for doing so - that opportunity is gone though as he has denied, denied and denied. Any apology now is tantamount to saying "I'm sorry I got caught".
I tend to agree with RCS that his exit is far from certain, but his brand, and that of his party, is surely damaged and will never fully recover while he is PM. And while I think those on here who like to make out that Boris Johnson is unique among politicians in his propensity for dishonesty are exaggerating to a considerable degree, I do hope that this might be a salutory lesson that when you've done something wrong, the best solution is to 'fess up and admit that you've f'd up. We'd have a far better standard of politician were this truth to hit home.
Trouble is that Boris would have had to confess to the first (Christmas) party then a whole string of others as they came to light. Or would he have confessed to the first and asked for other transgressions to be taken into account.
As others have remarked, he should have realised that someone had the full goods and apologised for having been aware of several after work drinks events and having attended one or two. He would rightly have been wounded by this, but it would have killed the story and he would have recovered. Arguably, the fact he didn't take this action is the reason why he doesn't deserve to recover.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
The only thing worse than wine snobs are PBers who are congenitally obsessed with Apple. It's an odd, and worrying, affliction.
Yeah, like the PBers who buy a dozen Apple devices a year. It's like a tech version of Elton John...
I once worked with a chap who was a Microsoft groupie. He actually queued up to buy the first MS Surface at the London Microsoft Store.
Then again, I was an Acorn groupie. Until I went to work for them. Nothing like working for a company to bash reality into your skull.
Everyone I know in IT (apart from myself) seems to have spent some time working at Symbian. All were fans before. All of them swore never to touch that OS ever again, afterwards.
I worked with a few people ex-Psion. I only ever played with it, but I think there were two Symbians: the really nice EPOC32 OS developed by Psion for their own purposes. And then the later monstrosity that Nokia et al developed it into.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
As a good and devout Muslim this is one of those conversations I'm not qualified to participate in.
Just as long as you don't boost Star Citizen.
A very good friend likes his whisky. He took a girl on a date to a very quiet, very high quality place, somewhat famous at the time for their selection of single malts. She had claimed to like whisky...
He bought her a double of a rather nice one.
He had to leave for a few moments. When he got back he discovered that she had got the bar tender to add Diet Coke to her drink...
Apparently my friend didn't say a word. Went on with the evening as if nothing had happened.
Never spoke to her again, of course.
Quite right, the lass was perfectly correct in blanking the pompous sod.
He wasn't like that at all - he actually thought that since she'd lied about the liking whisky, that she was obviously saying things that she thought would go down well. Rather than speaking her mind.
Putting coke in it is not a definitive contradiction of saying she liked whisky, unless she also started spouting the names of fancy distilleries at the same time. In fact with Bells it's the only thing to be done.
MY dad used to keep a bottle of Glenfiddich specially for a regular visitor, who liked to dilute his spirits with lemonade.
Nowt wrong with Fiddy even if its mass market. Bells for your mixers...
As @Cyclefree described in the previous header the spring of 2020 was indeed glorious. My wife and I made good use of that weather to go on extensive walks near our home in the glorious countryside. We both got a bit fitter and a bit leaner as a result. It seemed a sensible precaution in case the virus came knocking.
Was it a breach of Nicola's ridiculous rules? At times, probably. But we were walking country roads and paths, there were few others there, when we came across others we, at that time, made a point of walking on the other side. There was no risk and an upside in terms of our health.
I really don't believe that the vast majority of us did any different. Despite Nicola's ridiculous rules most, virtually all, people I know took decisions based upon their own circumstances and their assessment of the risks. Some idiots who took ridiculous risks, such as large house parties, were prosecuted but the courts (which were mainly shut) were not exactly clogged up with wrongdoers.
The rules in both England and Scotland allowed "essential workers" to go out to work. That definition was very broad. Advocates were apparently essential workers. I didn't use this much because it didn't seem safe to do so in a world before vaccines but I occasionally went to Edinburgh to access text books etc.
Essential workers included Downing Street staff. They were working hard for the good of the country (whatever they actually achieved) in close proximity indoors for hours every day. The idea that they had a significantly greater risk because they had a drink together in the garden afterwards is as absurd as the idea my wife and I were being reckless when our walks took us more than 2 miles from our house.
I simply do not buy into this hypocrisy nonsense, the sanctimonious whining, the largely made up stories of individual hardship caused by compliance with very largely unenforced regulations. This hysteria is ridiculous. And Boris, unlike Nicola, was very clear from the start that he wanted a light touch and to rely as much as possible on advice, judgment and common sense.
What is not acceptable is that he allowed these events to go on, even attended them, and then lied about both his knowledge and participation. Of course one of our former PMs got away with making up evidence and using it to take our country to war. This is trivial by comparison but it is annoying, especially in the way it has been handled.
I have to be honest, my own initial reaction was similar to David's. For the reasons David states above, and also because we live in a world where those in charge routinely believe the rules only apply to everyone else, where this is just depressing example number 94.
But I read Morris Dancer's comments on the Queen. More to the point, I quote the following from my facebook feed yesterday:
"I'm not political at all and rarely comment, but the proof that the government held a part at No 10 is disgraceful. My wife along with her sisters and brother had to watch helplessly as their much loved Mother passed away alone in a nursing home with no visitors allowed. Unable to comfort or support a wonderful woman. No family should have to go through this and the government have completely disregarded and shown a total lack of respect for the population of this country. It's absolutely despicable."
You read this and not only is it impossible to provide any kind of satisfactory answer, but it is also evidence that this has cut through to everyone, even those uninterested in politics. I believe he could probably have seen this off by admitting at the outset to the fact that there were a number of after work gatherings during lockdown, that they felt it was deserved after working so hard in such difficult circumstances and apologising in a heartfelt manner to all of those who had obeyed the rules and suffered massively and irrevocably for doing so - that opportunity is gone though as he has denied, denied and denied. Any apology now is tantamount to saying "I'm sorry I got caught".
I tend to agree with RCS that his exit is far from certain, but his brand, and that of his party, is surely damaged and will never fully recover while he is PM. And while I think those on here who like to make out that Boris Johnson is unique among politicians in his propensity for dishonesty are exaggerating to a considerable degree, I do hope that this might be a salutory lesson that when you've done something wrong, the best solution is to 'fess up and admit that you've f'd up. We'd have a far better standard of politician were this truth to hit home.
Trouble is that Boris would have had to confess to the first (Christmas) party then a whole string of others as they came to light. Or would he have confessed to the first and asked for other transgressions to be taken into account.
As others have remarked, he should have realised that someone had the full goods and apologised for having been aware of several after work drinks events and having attended one or two. He would rightly have been wounded by this, but it would have killed the story and he would have recovered. Arguably, the fact he didn't take this action is the reason why he doesn't deserve to recover.
He makes the same basic mistakes again and again. Definitely lacking a good PR machine at the moment.
Based on conversations with my other half and colleagues, Boris Johnson and everyone in Downing Street should resign and be imprisoned for serving and drinking (Tesco) rosé.
Apparently for connoisseurs of alcohol/people with good taste it is the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid.
The only thing worse than Apple fans are Tesla fans. And the only thing worse than Tesla fans are wine snobs
As a good and devout Muslim this is one of those conversations I'm not qualified to participate in.
Just as long as you don't boost Star Citizen.
A very good friend likes his whisky. He took a girl on a date to a very quiet, very high quality place, somewhat famous at the time for their selection of single malts. She had claimed to like whisky...
He bought her a double of a rather nice one.
He had to leave for a few moments. When he got back he discovered that she had got the bar tender to add Diet Coke to her drink...
Apparently my friend didn't say a word. Went on with the evening as if nothing had happened.
Never spoke to her again, of course.
Quite right, the lass was perfectly correct in blanking the pompous sod.
He wasn't like that at all - he actually thought that since she'd lied about the liking whisky, that she was obviously saying things that she thought would go down well. Rather than speaking her mind.
This guy must be some desirable dude if women are prepared to lie about what they eat and drink to get into his affections.
Comments
Which when combined with the first sentence leads to quite mind-boggling images...
If you want to get rid of Carrie, there is a pathway - get rid of Johnson.
Her new job at FCO is going to be a lot more like work, than the old one at Trade though. She’ll now be dealing with Putin, Xi ,and all the problems in the world.
@decmchugh75
Remember, Labour want Boris to be damaged here, but not yet destroyed.
He bought her a double of a rather nice one.
He had to leave for a few moments. When he got back he discovered that she had got the bar tender to add Diet Coke to her drink...
Apparently my friend didn't say a word. Went on with the evening as if nothing had happened.
Never spoke to her again, of course.
Given that these NRS projections do not take into account the ending of free movement between the UK and the European Single Market, it is possible that the challenge of Scotland maintaining a sustainable population size may be even more stark than projected.
The ONS estimate is more up to date.
The Web of Evil
@webofevil
It's fun to look back to 2020 when everyone was asking "What does Cummings have on Johnson?" (I don't criticise the attached tweet since everyone was flailing to find an answer for why Bojo was ride-or-die for the belligerent weirdo) knowing that the answer was "wine & nibbles".
In the right mood for a long country walk. But I can't miss this.
The same goes for the Lib Dems, of course.
More Johnson apologist MPs seem to be crawling out from under their stones this morning.
(I'm using the clinical definition, which rules out anyone over 46 unless they also had the ability to see - and obsess - about future events when born)
(BBC)
Chancellor Rishi Sunak may not be in the Commons chamber to support the PM while he faces a grilling from MPs over the 20 May party revelations, as he appears to have nipped down to Devon to visit businesses this morning...
...Sunak tweets he is "excited" to be in the town with North Devon MP Selaine Saxby.
For the Lib Dems I think there are positives and negatives. The positive is much more representation and potential influence for the same vote share; the negative is that the Lib Dem policy platform isn't big on clear, easily understood things to vote FOR. It is a portfolio, a general approach. I suspect they would probably pivot back to rejoin as their USP. I think the Greens would be the biggest winner by far.
Is that worse/better/equal to the Apple groupies?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9JDPm_QHk4
When referring to the MS goupie.
Then again, I was an Acorn groupie. Until I went to work for them. Nothing like working for a company to bash reality into your skull.
The Greens would also benefit from PR, of course.
But I read Morris Dancer's comments on the Queen. More to the point, I quote the following from my facebook feed yesterday:
"I'm not political at all and rarely comment, but the proof that the government held a part at No 10 is disgraceful. My wife along with her sisters and brother had to watch helplessly as their much loved Mother passed away alone in a nursing home with no visitors allowed. Unable to comfort or support a wonderful woman. No family should have to go through this and the government have completely disregarded and shown a total lack of respect for the population of this country. It's absolutely despicable."
You read this and not only is it impossible to provide any kind of satisfactory answer, but it is also evidence that this has cut through to everyone, even those uninterested in politics. I believe he could probably have seen this off by admitting at the outset to the fact that there were a number of after work gatherings during lockdown, that they felt it was deserved after working so hard in such difficult circumstances and apologising in a heartfelt manner to all of those who had obeyed the rules and suffered massively and irrevocably for doing so - that opportunity is gone though as he has denied, denied and denied. Any apology now is tantamount to saying "I'm sorry I got caught".
I tend to agree with RCS that his exit is far from certain, but his brand, and that of his party, is surely damaged and will never fully recover while he is PM. And while I think those on here who like to make out that Boris Johnson is unique among politicians in his propensity for dishonesty are exaggerating to a considerable degree, I do hope that this might be a salutory lesson that when you've done something wrong, the best solution is to 'fess up and admit that you've f'd up. We'd have a far better standard of politician were this truth to hit home.
Sure, you must have some of your own if you think about it. I think I know most of mine.
I find 7 Up brings out the elusive peatiness of an Islay/West Coast Malt.
(P.S. I have had my 6s Plus for years – the best phone ever made – just keep replacing the battery. It has a great feature called a 3.5mm audio jack which has been the difference between music and no music at several impromptu parties over the years)
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/breaking-tories-covid-contracts-vip-25923511
We had a big Christmas at their house not long after we'd got married and on Christmas Day he poured all the men a whisky. A while later he shocked the entire house by silently getting up and passing me a can of Coke. He seemed pleased I'd shown him respect by drinking it neat but could tell I'd prefer it with the mixer.
I convince myself that paying a tenner a pint in Dubai isn’t any worse than paying £6 a pint in London from income with 40% tax applied.
Of course, most of the price of the drink out here is tax, it’s just on the consumption rather than the income.
Josias is – frankly – boring about Apple – he is worse than the ludicrous Apple fanboys themselves.
@Alan_McGuinness
"Things are moving," a senior Conservative MP tells
@SamCoatesSky
.
While trying not to be snobby - if you are looking for a whisky to drink on it's own, Bells is the wrong choice.
I drink rum and vodka, but I never drink vodka neat I always have it with a mixer. But if you asked me if I liked vodka I'd say yes, it simply wouldn't cross my mind you meant neat unless you say that.
I'll say it again here: Apple have started coming out with some great tech in the last decade. The A4 chip family itself is superb - and some people I know at ARM agree. They've started leading innovation rather than just perfecting it. Some of the stuff they're doing technologically is amazing.
My problems with Apple are two minor points and one major one. The minor one are the cost and the walled garden. And that's fair enough, if that's what people want to pay for.
The major one is that, business-wise, they're absolute sh*ts. The worst of all the major western tech companies, with cannibalistic and monopolistic practices. This is personal. And no, I cannot go into details.
The fanbois need calling out from time to time. It's not like it is every other post, unlike our favourite Nationalist vs Un Nationalist Nationalist...
We had a party for bonfire night, and my friends' sons were utterly baffled by it.
Friends' sons: Can you play x?
Me: No, it's not on there.
Friends' sons: Eh? What's the wifi code?
Me: [Gives wifi code]
Friends' son: Why can't I get onto the internet through this?
Me: Because that's not what it does.
Friends' sons: Eh?
The concept of an electronic device which didn't connect to every other electronic device utterly baffled them.
https://youtu.be/X4AtqICaos4