My eldest son is reaching an age when he will soon be broadly aware of what a Prime Minister is and who they are. If the Tory rebels fail to depose BoJo and he bats on much longer, then my son’s first memory of a Prime Minister will be of Boris Johnson, someone who will now always carry a reputation for lying, cheating and rule breaking. All the things that healthy societies try to teach their children not to do.
I don’t know if HY has children or not but he would do well to look past partisan Party or personal interest and consider instead whether he thinks this Prime Minister is someone that our children should admire and model their own behaviour against. The same goes of course for the 200-300 ordinary Tory MPs who are the only ones with the power to do anything about it.
Fudhy's a psychopath who will bring his offspring up to vote Nazi No Matter What
Very haunting that Arendt gag about the banality of evil. We are all sitting being po faced about holocaust memorial day and pretending to see no connection with people left to be tortured to death in kabul for the crime of not being dogs, and people crossing the channel and having their one last possession confiscated on grounds of navigating while brown. And it's all LOL Bojo will survive a vonc, huzzah
As for joining the EEA I shall tell you what Michael Gove privately thinks about that.
Not going to happen, the Leavers (and The Notorious CRG in particular) would view it as a stepping stone to rejoining and oust any Tory PM to try it.
Labour will not offer to join the EEA as they know the Tories and Farage will spin it as trying to overturn democracy.
The other not so inconsiderable problem is getting our European friends to agree, after the whole Brexit farrago and exit deal they really don't want to have to go through that again.
The only terms they'd offer is something so humiliating and one sided that no UK Prime Minister could ever countenance it.
Agree that a Labour majority government wouldn't do it... but a Labour minority reliant on the Lib Dems for confidence and supply might. I imagine Davey is going to want to get some kind of major policy concession from Labour in return for the Lib Dem's support. The other alternative is voting reform (i.e. a referendum on PR), which I can't see the unions being too keen on Labour going ahead with.
Given the choice of voting reform or EEA - Labour will go for voting reform.
Remember that Labour was going to do it back in 1997 until they won a thumping majority - this time round they know they need to do something to fix the bias against them created by the new boundaries and Scotland.
I suspect a Labour Minority Government would love a deal with the Lib Dems attached to PR - to the extent they would implement it without a referendum.
If Labour goes for PR the left and half the unions would walk out of the party and set up their own party with Corbyn.
There would never be a Labour majority government again and the LDs would normally be Kingmakers, occasionally RefUK who would also win seats (remember in 2015 we would have had a Tory and UKIP coalition government with PR)
I can't see it either for the same reasons it hasn't happened in Canada and the Canadian Liberals were in a far worse position pre 2015 (although I do support PR in principle)
I can't see a Labour majority at the next election but there could be one at the election after next (if Labour wins back enough seats from the SNP). The Tories might also descend into infighting once they're in opposition and lose more seats to the Lib Dems. FPTP could start working against the Tories again longer term if they lose the south to the LDs and they're pushed back into their heartlands in Essex, Devon and the Midlands.
People who think “Wokeness” is just a silly rehash of “political correctness gone mad” are sinister morons. Woke is infinitely more dangerous. It seeks to deconstruct western cultural pride and self confidence, until the Chinese just stomp all over us
Why do you hunt out all these slightly mad right-wing sites to source your "Wokestapo" stuff?
(By the way, 'Wokestapo" is particularly feeble for a literary giant like you. It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it?)
Leon is the new Wokefinder General.
Princeton University Ballet is an amateur company, started as recently as 2008. Their productions are hardly revolutionary, and they are not exactly at the cultural core of the Ballet world.
Fox jr2 is a budding actor, and his flatmate is a former professional dancer. Unfortunately his dance career collapsed with covid, but he was becoming quite disenchanted with the world of professional dance.
His dance director would line up the dancers at the beginning of the week and tear a strip off the dancers he didn't like for various aspects of their appearance, particularly their weight and physique. Bear in mind that these were professional dancers, not random kids from the street. By any normal yardstick they were a very buff and slim group of youngsters. They would also be drilled despite injuries, sometimes to the point of permanent damage. The high rate of anorexia nervosa in professional ballet dancers suggests this is not unusual.
The world of performing arts gives the impression of being luvvies, but the reality is often callous and brutal. It is a world that could do with some serious cultural critique.
I know a few professional dancers and choreographers and that's the way it has to be if they want to make a living out of it.The discipline is awe inspiring. If they don't want to keep to the rigours of the profession there are amateur companies they can join.
It isn't different from football. Guardiola has famously kicked players out after returning from their summer break not in shape
Yes, that does seem to be the only way to make a living out of it, but isn't that a problem? I think that any culture that toxic and authoritarian is long overdue a long look in the mirror. Is it any wonder that people like Weinstein or Spacey thrive in such a culture? The problem is not only the individual, but also the culture.
I agree that in this context professional sport is much the same as the performing arts. No wonder we see regular scandals in gymnastics, cycling, swimming, football etc.
That sort of bullying, brutalisation and teaching by public humiliation has long gone in medicine, though wasn't unusual when I was a student.
r4 6 pm news leading on kabul. Lot of mileage left in that. Goldsmith been told to explain to Lords why he lied to them.
Just on that, the media have been showing lots of cuddly puppies all day as part of the evacuation and I would suggest not to underestimate just how popular their evacuation is with large parts of the population
Dog ownership has exploded during covid and I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many families out with their dogs on Llandudno and Colwyn Bays beaches and promenades
Dog prices have more than trebled, with even bog standard cockapoo puppies now selling for £2500-£3000.
But, as companies start to insist that their office workers start to return to the office, there are signs that the number of dogs being given in to rescue centres is on the rise.
Really and I hope the worse fears of dogs being abandoned do not materialise
Mind you my beloved wife would adopt them all if she could
..
Interesting dog. Part Bedlington terrier? Though the ears and tail suggest a mixed breed. Quite distinctive.
Pumi. Recognised as a breed in its own right in Hungary since the 1920s and by both the US and UK kennel clubs just within the last few years.
@Leon will die in the ditch for Boris Johnson because Boris annoys "the lefties".
To be honest I think he may not be alone
Is that the only criterion for having a Prime Minister - that he annoys your opponents?
I'd have thought running the country for the benefit of all citizens and providing good governance might be rather more relevant virtues, wouldn't you agree?
Imagine if in 30's Germany , a football team called themselves (say) Berlin Israelites and had a picture of Moses as its badge. Hitler would not have been impressed no doubt. To those who bullied Exeter into changing their name , think about who else in history did not like cultural appropriation.
Exeter Chiefs haven't changed their name. They've kept the name but rebranded such that the picture is of a Dumnonni warrior (a Celtic tribe in SW England before and indeed after the Romans) rather than a Native American.
I'm a supporter of Exeter Chiefs, and it never worried me but I see it did some and the rebranding to feature a tribe that actually existed in the area is probably more appropriate - they'll flog a few shirts off it, anyway. .
Honestly seems a smart piece of branding to me, even though I find complaints of cultural appropriation etc to be largely bollocks.
I think it's an absolute masterstroke by a club which are known in rugby as much for being incredibly shrewd financially as for their European Cup win the other year.
It answers the critics while not changing the name, strengthens the association with the wider Westcountry (Cornwall is a big rugby county but no Premiership team), keeps a visually strong brand, grabs column inches, and flogs a ton of merch.
People who think “Wokeness” is just a silly rehash of “political correctness gone mad” are sinister morons. Woke is infinitely more dangerous. It seeks to deconstruct western cultural pride and self confidence, until the Chinese just stomp all over us
Why do you hunt out all these slightly mad right-wing sites to source your "Wokestapo" stuff?
(By the way, 'Wokestapo" is particularly feeble for a literary giant like you. It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it?)
Leon is the new Wokefinder General.
Princeton University Ballet is an amateur company, started as recently as 2008. Their productions are hardly revolutionary, and they are not exactly at the cultural core of the Ballet world.
Fox jr2 is a budding actor, and his flatmate is a former professional dancer. Unfortunately his dance career collapsed with covid, but he was becoming quite disenchanted with the world of professional dance.
His dance director would line up the dancers at the beginning of the week and tear a strip off the dancers he didn't like for various aspects of their appearance, particularly their weight and physique. Bear in mind that these were professional dancers, not random kids from the street. By any normal yardstick they were a very buff and slim group of youngsters. They would also be drilled despite injuries, sometimes to the point of permanent damage. The high rate of anorexia nervosa in professional ballet dancers suggests this is not unusual.
The world of performing arts gives the impression of being luvvies, but the reality is often callous and brutal. It is a world that could do with some serious cultural critique.
Also Princeton Student Ballet has no power over us, or anyone much. Their nonsense can and probably is met with indifference, if not snorts of derision. On topic, I am much more concerned about a corrupt, dishonest and incompetent prime minister continuing to undermine the body politic of this country. That genuinely is dangerous, but @Leon doesn't seem bothered about it.
They appear to have considerable power over the foremost dildo hewer of his generation, even when he’s on the other side of the world.
@Leon will die in the ditch for Boris Johnson because Boris annoys "the lefties".
To be honest I think he may not be alone
Is that the only criterion for having a Prime Minister - that he annoys your opponents?
I'd have thought running the country for the benefit of all citizens and providing good governance might be rather more relevant virtues, wouldn't you agree?
r4 6 pm news leading on kabul. Lot of mileage left in that. Goldsmith been told to explain to Lords why he lied to them.
Just on that, the media have been showing lots of cuddly puppies all day as part of the evacuation and I would suggest not to underestimate just how popular their evacuation is with large parts of the population
Dog ownership has exploded during covid and I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many families out with their dogs on Llandudno and Colwyn Bays beaches and promenades
Dog prices have more than trebled, with even bog standard cockapoo puppies now selling for £2500-£3000.
But, as companies start to insist that their office workers start to return to the office, there are signs that the number of dogs being given in to rescue centres is on the rise.
Naah, cockafuckingpoos down to 1,200-1,700 this evening
I love stories of dog homes being presented with We found this stray and brought it to you, and they do a search and there's the actual same dog asking £2,000 3 days ago on local craigslist
I'm instructed to leave all "t"s at the county border.
Relatives bought a cross between a Shit-su and a poodle, so they now have a tautological dog, which is very carefully pronounced as Shi-Poo.
@Leon will die in the ditch for Boris Johnson because Boris annoys "the lefties".
To be honest I think he may not be alone
Is that the only criterion for having a Prime Minister - that he annoys your opponents?
I'd have thought running the country for the benefit of all citizens and providing good governance might be rather more relevant virtues, wouldn't you agree?
Some of Boris' s appeal again is similar to Trump's in this particular respect. There are several useful twitter accounts I've seen along those lines over the last few years ; "lovesliberaltears" and several similar accounts. I think Leon's motivations are a bit more complex than that, though.
My eldest son is reaching an age when he will soon be broadly aware of what a Prime Minister is and who they are. If the Tory rebels fail to depose BoJo and he bats on much longer, then my son’s first memory of a Prime Minister will be of Boris Johnson, someone who will now always carry a reputation for lying, cheating and rule breaking. All the things that healthy societies try to teach their children not to do.
I don’t know if HY has children or not but he would do well to look past partisan Party or personal interest and consider instead whether he thinks this Prime Minister is someone that our children should admire and model their own behaviour against. The same goes of course for the 200-300 ordinary Tory MPs who are the only ones with the power to do anything about it.
Fudhy's a psychopath who will bring his offspring up to vote Nazi No Matter What
Very haunting that Arendt gag about the banality of evil. We are all sitting being po faced about holocaust memorial day and pretending to see no connection with people left to be tortured to death in kabul for the crime of not being dogs, and people crossing the channel and having their one last possession confiscated on grounds of navigating while brown. And it's all LOL Bojo will survive a vonc, huzzah
[deleted - need a bit more wine in me to relax after trying to work out how Word on Mrs C's laptop won't delete the automatic divider lines it creates]
r4 6 pm news leading on kabul. Lot of mileage left in that. Goldsmith been told to explain to Lords why he lied to them.
Just on that, the media have been showing lots of cuddly puppies all day as part of the evacuation and I would suggest not to underestimate just how popular their evacuation is with large parts of the population
Dog ownership has exploded during covid and I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many families out with their dogs on Llandudno and Colwyn Bays beaches and promenades
Dog prices have more than trebled, with even bog standard cockapoo puppies now selling for £2500-£3000.
But, as companies start to insist that their office workers start to return to the office, there are signs that the number of dogs being given in to rescue centres is on the rise.
Really and I hope the worse fears of dogs being abandoned do not materialise
Mind you my beloved wife would adopt them all if she could
..
Interesting dog. Part Bedlington terrier? Though the ears and tail suggest a mixed breed. Quite distinctive.
Pumi. Recognised as a breed in its own right in Hungary since the 1920s and by both the US and UK kennel clubs just within the last few years.
I have seen one before I think, though it was black. Sheepdogs that have the unusual technique of jumping on sheep if I remember. Mine is a Portuguese Podengo Pequeno.
@Leon will die in the ditch for Boris Johnson because Boris annoys "the lefties".
To be honest I think he may not be alone
Is that the only criterion for having a Prime Minister - that he annoys your opponents?
I'd have thought running the country for the benefit of all citizens and providing good governance might be rather more relevant virtues, wouldn't you agree?
Some of Boris' s appeal is again is similar to Trump's in this respect. There are several useful twitter accounts I've seen along those lines over the last few years ; things like "lovesliberaltears".
He was walking with a group of engineers here in North Wales and people waved and seemed pleased he was on a visit
r4 6 pm news leading on kabul. Lot of mileage left in that. Goldsmith been told to explain to Lords why he lied to them.
Just on that, the media have been showing lots of cuddly puppies all day as part of the evacuation and I would suggest not to underestimate just how popular their evacuation is with large parts of the population
Dog ownership has exploded during covid and I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many families out with their dogs on Llandudno and Colwyn Bays beaches and promenades
Dog prices have more than trebled, with even bog standard cockapoo puppies now selling for £2500-£3000.
But, as companies start to insist that their office workers start to return to the office, there are signs that the number of dogs being given in to rescue centres is on the rise.
Naah, cockafuckingpoos down to 1,200-1,700 this evening
I love stories of dog homes being presented with We found this stray and brought it to you, and they do a search and there's the actual same dog asking £2,000 3 days ago on local craigslist
I'm instructed to leave all "t"s at the county border.
Relatives bought a cross between a Shit-su and a poodle, so they now have a tautological dog, which is very carefully pronounced as Shi-Poo.
r4 6 pm news leading on kabul. Lot of mileage left in that. Goldsmith been told to explain to Lords why he lied to them.
Just on that, the media have been showing lots of cuddly puppies all day as part of the evacuation and I would suggest not to underestimate just how popular their evacuation is with large parts of the population
Dog ownership has exploded during covid and I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many families out with their dogs on Llandudno and Colwyn Bays beaches and promenades
Dog prices have more than trebled, with even bog standard cockapoo puppies now selling for £2500-£3000.
But, as companies start to insist that their office workers start to return to the office, there are signs that the number of dogs being given in to rescue centres is on the rise.
Naah, cockafuckingpoos down to 1,200-1,700 this evening
I love stories of dog homes being presented with We found this stray and brought it to you, and they do a search and there's the actual same dog asking £2,000 3 days ago on local craigslist
Was out for a walk at Beer Head a few years back with my chum and his mutt. We get back to the car and there is a large curly brown dog in the adjacent car with its pet human.
Carnyx: 'Ooh, that's a really nice dog. I haven't seen an Irish Water Spaniel for ages!'
Pet human: 'Argh, for once someone knows what it is and doesn't think it's a ****ing cockapoo!!"
As for joining the EEA I shall tell you what Michael Gove privately thinks about that.
Not going to happen, the Leavers (and The Notorious CRG in particular) would view it as a stepping stone to rejoining and oust any Tory PM to try it.
Labour will not offer to join the EEA as they know the Tories and Farage will spin it as trying to overturn democracy.
The other not so inconsiderable problem is getting our European friends to agree, after the whole Brexit farrago and exit deal they really don't want to have to go through that again.
The only terms they'd offer is something so humiliating and one sided that no UK Prime Minister could ever countenance it.
Agree that a Labour majority government wouldn't do it... but a Labour minority reliant on the Lib Dems for confidence and supply might. I imagine Davey is going to want to get some kind of major policy concession from Labour in return for the Lib Dem's support. The other alternative is voting reform (i.e. a referendum on PR), which I can't see the unions being too keen on Labour going ahead with.
Given the choice of voting reform or EEA - Labour will go for voting reform.
Remember that Labour was going to do it back in 1997 until they won a thumping majority - this time round they know they need to do something to fix the bias against them created by the new boundaries and Scotland.
I suspect a Labour Minority Government would love a deal with the Lib Dems attached to PR - to the extent they would implement it without a referendum.
The new boundaries don't create a bias against them. They remove a bias in favour of them.
@Leon will die in the ditch for Boris Johnson because Boris annoys "the lefties".
To be honest I think he may not be alone
Is that the only criterion for having a Prime Minister - that he annoys your opponents?
I'd have thought running the country for the benefit of all citizens and providing good governance might be rather more relevant virtues, wouldn't you agree?
Some of Boris' s appeal is again is similar to Trump's in this respect. There are several useful twitter accounts I've seen along those lines over the last few years ; things like "lovesliberaltears".
He was walking with a group of engineers here in North Wales and people waved and seemed pleased he was on a visit
Amazing in view of his difficulties
You do know those things are organised. They get all the local Tories to turn out. All very Potemkin.
@Leon will die in the ditch for Boris Johnson because Boris annoys "the lefties".
To be honest I think he may not be alone
Is that the only criterion for having a Prime Minister - that he annoys your opponents?
I'd have thought running the country for the benefit of all citizens and providing good governance might be rather more relevant virtues, wouldn't you agree?
Some of Boris' s appeal is again is similar to Trump's in this respect. There are several useful twitter accounts I've seen along those lines over the last few years ; things like "lovesliberaltears".
He was walking with a group of engineers here in North Wales and people waved and seemed pleased he was on a visit
Amazing in view of his difficulties
You do know those things are organised. They get all the local Tories to turn out. All very Potemkin.
r4 6 pm news leading on kabul. Lot of mileage left in that. Goldsmith been told to explain to Lords why he lied to them.
Just on that, the media have been showing lots of cuddly puppies all day as part of the evacuation and I would suggest not to underestimate just how popular their evacuation is with large parts of the population
Dog ownership has exploded during covid and I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many families out with their dogs on Llandudno and Colwyn Bays beaches and promenades
Dog prices have more than trebled, with even bog standard cockapoo puppies now selling for £2500-£3000.
But, as companies start to insist that their office workers start to return to the office, there are signs that the number of dogs being given in to rescue centres is on the rise.
Really and I hope the worse fears of dogs being abandoned do not materialise
Mind you my beloved wife would adopt them all if she could
..
Interesting dog. Part Bedlington terrier? Though the ears and tail suggest a mixed breed. Quite distinctive.
Pumi. Recognised as a breed in its own right in Hungary since the 1920s and by both the US and UK kennel clubs just within the last few years.
I have seen one before I think, though it was black. Sheepdogs that have the unusual technique of jumping on sheep if I remember. Mine is a Portuguese Podengo Pequeno.
I think a fair few Britons prefer dogs to people.
Lovely, must pump out some class excrement. Thanks for sharing.
@Leon will die in the ditch for Boris Johnson because Boris annoys "the lefties".
To be honest I think he may not be alone
Is that the only criterion for having a Prime Minister - that he annoys your opponents?
I'd have thought running the country for the benefit of all citizens and providing good governance might be rather more relevant virtues, wouldn't you agree?
Some of Boris' s appeal is again is similar to Trump's in this respect. There are several useful twitter accounts I've seen along those lines over the last few years ; things like "lovesliberaltears".
He was walking with a group of engineers here in North Wales and people waved and seemed pleased he was on a visit
@Leon will die in the ditch for Boris Johnson because Boris annoys "the lefties".
To be honest I think he may not be alone
Is that the only criterion for having a Prime Minister - that he annoys your opponents?
I'd have thought running the country for the benefit of all citizens and providing good governance might be rather more relevant virtues, wouldn't you agree?
Some of Boris' s appeal is again is similar to Trump's in this respect. There are several useful twitter accounts I've seen along those lines over the last few years ; things like "lovesliberaltears".
He was walking with a group of engineers here in North Wales and people waved and seemed pleased he was on a visit
Amazing in view of his difficulties
You do know those things are organised. They get all the local Tories to turn out. All very Potemkin.
Wasting yet more time doing yet more fucking customs forms this time to export products which are zero tariff zero quota zero VAT from one place to another to declare that its the same fucking standards on one side of the border as it is on the other.
Seriously, this is why the Border Operating Model doesn't work and why we're completely gumming up our border so that everything takes an eternity to get through. Pointless red tape to declare that no tariff is payable, that no vat is payable, that no standards are different because our standards are their standards are our fucking standards. What is the point in all this?
Before some arse says "but you voted for this", no I didn't. "This" is the Boris Brexit deal. Where after decades of cutting red tape cost and petty bureaucracy the Tory party decided to fuck all that off and impose as much as possible. Not because we actually have diverged and there is anything to check. But because we might want to do so at some point in the future.
Madness. And still prannocks say "but this is much better for the country than we had before". Is it fuck.
This is what you voted for. They literally said we'd leave the Single Market and Customs Union during the campaign.
And there isn't a single non-EU EEA nation in the Customs Union anyway.
So if you wanted to leave the EU but still have all EU benefits then I'm sorry but that's your own mistake.
And we actually have diverged. UK customs rules are not 100% the same as EU ones anymore. UK tariff schedules are not 100% the same as EU ones anymore. So the divergence is very real which is what we voted for.
So fill in the forms and quit moaning.
There was no need to leave the Single Market when we left the EU. That is a specific decision taken by he post-referendum Government. The EEA always was and still is an option - indeed the best option. It is only he idiocy of the Governments since 2016 that has prevented it being seriously considered.
If either May or Boris had gone for full EEA and full free movement then no way would the Tories have won a majority in 2019 and Brexit would not have got done as Farage's Brexit Party would have got about 15-20% of the vote. The Leave vote would thus still have been split rather than united as it was in December 2019 behind Boris' Brexit Deal
I know how much you love quoting polls as if they are the only thing in the world that matters so here is one that I quoted in a PB thread header the day after Leave won the referendum.
"A Yougov poll on 8th June showed that 42% of Leave supporters would prefer the EFTA/EEA route post-Brexit with 45% opposing. I would contend that this would indicate that overall there would be a clear majority of the country that would choose EFTA/EEA over complete separation from the Single Market."
The Government governs for the whole country not just those who won one particular side of a vote. It was incumbent upon them to seek a compromise, especially given that it was likely a majority of the electorate would have been happy with a soft Brexit. That we didn't do that was entirely due to a PM who did not understand Brexit and thought it was all about keeping the 'furrners' out followed by a PM who would have trouble finding the fluff in his belly button without a map and instructions.
So most Leave voters opposed EEA/EFTA, compared to the vast majority of Leave voters who voted for Boris' Deal in 2019.
Thanks for confirming I was absolutely right and Remain would have won in 2016 if the alternative was just Leave to EEA and keep free movement as most Leavers would not have bothered to turn out to vote Leave for just EEA
Nope you are not right and that is not what the figures showed. Given that almost half of Leave voters wanted to remain in the EEA and, given that we were leaving, a large majority of Remain voters would have wanted to minimise the damage as they saw it, then there would have been - and I contend still will be - a clear majority in favour of EFTA/EEA membership. I have the figures behind me. You have nothing but your rather singular views.
99% of Remain voters would still have voted Remain over Leave to EEA in the 2016 referendum. However plenty of working class Leave voters in the North and Midlands would have stayed home if Leave promised to keep free movement still and stay in the EEA.
So Remain would have won the referendum with about 60% of the vote and we would still be in the EU and no compromise would have been needed as there would have been no Brexit.
You won on the back of immigration control promises, EEA alone was never going to get you over 50% given we were outside the Eurozone in the EU anyway
If Boris Brexit had been the promise, leave would have lost.
Boris got 43.6% in 2019 for his Brexit Deal. Add the Brexit Party's 3% and that is 46% for a hard Brexit outside the EEA and CU.
I doubt EEA plus free movement would even have got to 40% in a straight fight with Remain in 2016
No, he got 43.6% in a choice between him and the prospect of Corbyn as PM.
The vast majority of 2019 Tory voters either voted Leave or supported the Boris Deal like me.
Remainers who hated Corbyn or the few Leavers who opposed the Boris Deal as too hard and hated Corbyn voted LD. Leavers who thought the Boris Deal was too soft and wanted No Deal WTO terms Brexit voted Brexit Party or UKIP
@Leon will die in the ditch for Boris Johnson because Boris annoys "the lefties".
To be honest I think he may not be alone
Is that the only criterion for having a Prime Minister - that he annoys your opponents?
I'd have thought running the country for the benefit of all citizens and providing good governance might be rather more relevant virtues, wouldn't you agree?
Some of Boris' s appeal again is similar to Trump's in this particular respect. There are several useful twitter accounts I've seen along those lines over the last few years ; "lovesliberaltears" and several similar accounts. I think Leon's motivations are a bit more complex than that, though.
Leon has a not-at-all concealed attraction to various fascist themes. The glee in humiliating your enemies is one of them.
There are one or two others on here with the same predisposition.
@Leon will die in the ditch for Boris Johnson because Boris annoys "the lefties".
To be honest I think he may not be alone
Is that the only criterion for having a Prime Minister - that he annoys your opponents?
I'd have thought running the country for the benefit of all citizens and providing good governance might be rather more relevant virtues, wouldn't you agree?
Some of Boris' s appeal is again is similar to Trump's in this respect. There are several useful twitter accounts I've seen along those lines over the last few years ; things like "lovesliberaltears".
He was walking with a group of engineers here in North Wales and people waved and seemed pleased he was on a visit
Amazing in view of his difficulties
Does he do any actual governing?
It seems to me he does Cabinet on a Tuesday morning and PMQs on Wednesday lunch and then spends Thurs and Fri in a hi-viz jacket on a building site or a tie tucked in at a vax centre. By late Friday he is at Chequers and then he emerges on Tuesday to start again.
I guess Gove does the endless grinding meetings where decisions are taken.
r4 6 pm news leading on kabul. Lot of mileage left in that. Goldsmith been told to explain to Lords why he lied to them.
Just on that, the media have been showing lots of cuddly puppies all day as part of the evacuation and I would suggest not to underestimate just how popular their evacuation is with large parts of the population
Dog ownership has exploded during covid and I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many families out with their dogs on Llandudno and Colwyn Bays beaches and promenades
Dog prices have more than trebled, with even bog standard cockapoo puppies now selling for £2500-£3000.
But, as companies start to insist that their office workers start to return to the office, there are signs that the number of dogs being given in to rescue centres is on the rise.
Really and I hope the worse fears of dogs being abandoned do not materialise
Mind you my beloved wife would adopt them all if she could
..
Interesting dog. Part Bedlington terrier? Though the ears and tail suggest a mixed breed. Quite distinctive.
Pumi. Recognised as a breed in its own right in Hungary since the 1920s and by both the US and UK kennel clubs just within the last few years.
I have seen one before I think, though it was black. Sheepdogs that have the unusual technique of jumping on sheep if I remember. Mine is a Portuguese Podengo Pequeno.
I think a fair few Britons prefer dogs to people.
My father used to say the more he saw of people the more he liked his dog (which at the time was a wire hair fox terrier)
r4 6 pm news leading on kabul. Lot of mileage left in that. Goldsmith been told to explain to Lords why he lied to them.
Just on that, the media have been showing lots of cuddly puppies all day as part of the evacuation and I would suggest not to underestimate just how popular their evacuation is with large parts of the population
Dog ownership has exploded during covid and I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many families out with their dogs on Llandudno and Colwyn Bays beaches and promenades
Dog prices have more than trebled, with even bog standard cockapoo puppies now selling for £2500-£3000.
But, as companies start to insist that their office workers start to return to the office, there are signs that the number of dogs being given in to rescue centres is on the rise.
Really and I hope the worse fears of dogs being abandoned do not materialise
Mind you my beloved wife would adopt them all if she could
Wasting yet more time doing yet more fucking customs forms this time to export products which are zero tariff zero quota zero VAT from one place to another to declare that its the same fucking standards on one side of the border as it is on the other.
Seriously, this is why the Border Operating Model doesn't work and why we're completely gumming up our border so that everything takes an eternity to get through. Pointless red tape to declare that no tariff is payable, that no vat is payable, that no standards are different because our standards are their standards are our fucking standards. What is the point in all this?
Before some arse says "but you voted for this", no I didn't. "This" is the Boris Brexit deal. Where after decades of cutting red tape cost and petty bureaucracy the Tory party decided to fuck all that off and impose as much as possible. Not because we actually have diverged and there is anything to check. But because we might want to do so at some point in the future.
Madness. And still prannocks say "but this is much better for the country than we had before". Is it fuck.
This is what you voted for. They literally said we'd leave the Single Market and Customs Union during the campaign.
And there isn't a single non-EU EEA nation in the Customs Union anyway.
So if you wanted to leave the EU but still have all EU benefits then I'm sorry but that's your own mistake.
And we actually have diverged. UK customs rules are not 100% the same as EU ones anymore. UK tariff schedules are not 100% the same as EU ones anymore. So the divergence is very real which is what we voted for.
So fill in the forms and quit moaning.
There was no need to leave the Single Market when we left the EU. That is a specific decision taken by he post-referendum Government. The EEA always was and still is an option - indeed the best option. It is only he idiocy of the Governments since 2016 that has prevented it being seriously considered.
If either May or Boris had gone for full EEA and full free movement then no way would the Tories have won a majority in 2019 and Brexit would not have got done as Farage's Brexit Party would have got about 15-20% of the vote. The Leave vote would thus still have been split rather than united as it was in December 2019 behind Boris' Brexit Deal
I know how much you love quoting polls as if they are the only thing in the world that matters so here is one that I quoted in a PB thread header the day after Leave won the referendum.
"A Yougov poll on 8th June showed that 42% of Leave supporters would prefer the EFTA/EEA route post-Brexit with 45% opposing. I would contend that this would indicate that overall there would be a clear majority of the country that would choose EFTA/EEA over complete separation from the Single Market."
The Government governs for the whole country not just those who won one particular side of a vote. It was incumbent upon them to seek a compromise, especially given that it was likely a majority of the electorate would have been happy with a soft Brexit. That we didn't do that was entirely due to a PM who did not understand Brexit and thought it was all about keeping the 'furrners' out followed by a PM who would have trouble finding the fluff in his belly button without a map and instructions.
So most Leave voters opposed EEA/EFTA, compared to the vast majority of Leave voters who voted for Boris' Deal in 2019.
Thanks for confirming I was absolutely right and Remain would have won in 2016 if the alternative was just Leave to EEA and keep free movement as most Leavers would not have bothered to turn out to vote Leave for just EEA
Nope you are not right and that is not what the figures showed. Given that almost half of Leave voters wanted to remain in the EEA and, given that we were leaving, a large majority of Remain voters would have wanted to minimise the damage as they saw it, then there would have been - and I contend still will be - a clear majority in favour of EFTA/EEA membership. I have the figures behind me. You have nothing but your rather singular views.
99% of Remain voters would still have voted Remain over Leave to EEA in the 2016 referendum. However plenty of working class Leave voters in the North and Midlands would have stayed home if Leave promised to keep free movement still and stay in the EEA.
So Remain would have won the referendum with about 60% of the vote and we would still be in the EU and no compromise would have been needed as there would have been no Brexit.
You won on the back of immigration control promises, EEA alone was never going to get you over 50% given we were outside the Eurozone in the EU anyway
If Boris Brexit had been the promise, leave would have lost.
Boris got 43.6% in 2019 for his Brexit Deal. Add the Brexit Party's 3% and that is 46% for a hard Brexit outside the EEA and CU.
I doubt EEA plus free movement would even have got to 40% in a straight fight with Remain in 2016
No, he got 43.6% in a choice between him and the prospect of Corbyn as PM.
The vast majority of 2019 Tory voters either voted Leave or supported the Boris Deal like me.
Remainers who hated Corbyn or the few Leavers who opposed the Boris Deal as too hard and hated Corbyn voted LD. Leavers who thought the Boris Deal was too soft and wanted No Deal WTO terms Brexit voted Brexit Party or UKIP
Yet another tedious off topic click, please can we remove this wretched off topic option.
Nobody uses it because a post is not exactly on the thread header anyway
I always assume it is a 'fat finger like' and I'm treating all my posts with an Off Topic as just that regardless.
@Leon will die in the ditch for Boris Johnson because Boris annoys "the lefties".
To be honest I think he may not be alone
Is that the only criterion for having a Prime Minister - that he annoys your opponents?
I'd have thought running the country for the benefit of all citizens and providing good governance might be rather more relevant virtues, wouldn't you agree?
Some of Boris' s appeal is again is similar to Trump's in this respect. There are several useful twitter accounts I've seen along those lines over the last few years ; things like "lovesliberaltears".
He was walking with a group of engineers here in North Wales and people waved and seemed pleased he was on a visit
Amazing in view of his difficulties
You do know those things are organised. They get all the local Tories to turn out. All very Potemkin.
@Leon will die in the ditch for Boris Johnson because Boris annoys "the lefties".
To be honest I think he may not be alone
Is that the only criterion for having a Prime Minister - that he annoys your opponents?
I'd have thought running the country for the benefit of all citizens and providing good governance might be rather more relevant virtues, wouldn't you agree?
Some of Boris' s appeal is again is similar to Trump's in this respect. There are several useful twitter accounts I've seen along those lines over the last few years ; things like "lovesliberaltears".
He was walking with a group of engineers here in North Wales and people waved and seemed pleased he was on a visit
Amazing in view of his difficulties
Does he do any actual governing?
It seems to me he does Cabinet on a Tuesday morning and PMQs on Wednesday lunch and then spends Thurs and Fri in a hi-viz jacket on a building site or a tie tucked in at a vax centre. By late Friday he is at Chequers and then he emerges on Tuesday to start again.
I guess Gove does the endless grinding meetings where decisions are taken.
Few decisions are made.
The Treasury continues doing its thing of course, but very largely govt policy making has descended into covid administration and common-room level “red meat” spitballing.
@Leon will die in the ditch for Boris Johnson because Boris annoys "the lefties".
To be honest I think he may not be alone
Is that the only criterion for having a Prime Minister - that he annoys your opponents?
I'd have thought running the country for the benefit of all citizens and providing good governance might be rather more relevant virtues, wouldn't you agree?
Some of Boris' s appeal is again is similar to Trump's in this respect. There are several useful twitter accounts I've seen along those lines over the last few years ; things like "lovesliberaltears".
He was walking with a group of engineers here in North Wales and people waved and seemed pleased he was on a visit
Amazing in view of his difficulties
You do know those things are organised. They get all the local Tories to turn out. All very Potemkin.
Seemed genuine enough
Of course. Only the Tories who love him would come and they'd smile. You wouldn't have got an invite.
Seriously, though, those events rely heavily on that sort of shite, a healthy fear of the PM's Met Pol security, and people's natural if misguided good manners. And no doubt TV editing.
r4 6 pm news leading on kabul. Lot of mileage left in that. Goldsmith been told to explain to Lords why he lied to them.
Just on that, the media have been showing lots of cuddly puppies all day as part of the evacuation and I would suggest not to underestimate just how popular their evacuation is with large parts of the population
Dog ownership has exploded during covid and I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many families out with their dogs on Llandudno and Colwyn Bays beaches and promenades
Dog prices have more than trebled, with even bog standard cockapoo puppies now selling for £2500-£3000.
But, as companies start to insist that their office workers start to return to the office, there are signs that the number of dogs being given in to rescue centres is on the rise.
Naah, cockafuckingpoos down to 1,200-1,700 this evening
I love stories of dog homes being presented with We found this stray and brought it to you, and they do a search and there's the actual same dog asking £2,000 3 days ago on local craigslist
Was out for a walk at Beer Head a few years back with my chum and his mutt. We get back to the car and there is a large curly brown dog in the adjacent car with its pet human.
Carnyx: 'Ooh, that's a really nice dog. I haven't seen an Irish Water Spaniel for ages!'
Pet human: 'Argh, for once someone knows what it is and doesn't think it's a ****ing cockapoo!!"
Yes, few can identify my dog. Usually thought to be a Jack Russell cross. You can tell he isn't because he is fine off a lead, something rare with Jack Russells.
r4 6 pm news leading on kabul. Lot of mileage left in that. Goldsmith been told to explain to Lords why he lied to them.
Just on that, the media have been showing lots of cuddly puppies all day as part of the evacuation and I would suggest not to underestimate just how popular their evacuation is with large parts of the population
Dog ownership has exploded during covid and I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many families out with their dogs on Llandudno and Colwyn Bays beaches and promenades
Dog prices have more than trebled, with even bog standard cockapoo puppies now selling for £2500-£3000.
But, as companies start to insist that their office workers start to return to the office, there are signs that the number of dogs being given in to rescue centres is on the rise.
Really and I hope the worse fears of dogs being abandoned do not materialise
Mind you my beloved wife would adopt them all if she could
..
Interesting dog. Part Bedlington terrier? Though the ears and tail suggest a mixed breed. Quite distinctive.
Pumi. Recognised as a breed in its own right in Hungary since the 1920s and by both the US and UK kennel clubs just within the last few years.
I have seen one before I think, though it was black. Sheepdogs that have the unusual technique of jumping on sheep if I remember. Mine is a Portuguese Podengo Pequeno.
I think a fair few Britons prefer dogs to people.
My father used to say the more he saw of people the more he liked his dog (which at the time was a wire hair fox terrier)
Yes.
Especially foreigners who've been stupid enough to trust the UK.
r4 6 pm news leading on kabul. Lot of mileage left in that. Goldsmith been told to explain to Lords why he lied to them.
Just on that, the media have been showing lots of cuddly puppies all day as part of the evacuation and I would suggest not to underestimate just how popular their evacuation is with large parts of the population
Dog ownership has exploded during covid and I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many families out with their dogs on Llandudno and Colwyn Bays beaches and promenades
Dog prices have more than trebled, with even bog standard cockapoo puppies now selling for £2500-£3000.
But, as companies start to insist that their office workers start to return to the office, there are signs that the number of dogs being given in to rescue centres is on the rise.
Naah, cockafuckingpoos down to 1,200-1,700 this evening
I love stories of dog homes being presented with We found this stray and brought it to you, and they do a search and there's the actual same dog asking £2,000 3 days ago on local craigslist
Was out for a walk at Beer Head a few years back with my chum and his mutt. We get back to the car and there is a large curly brown dog in the adjacent car with its pet human.
Carnyx: 'Ooh, that's a really nice dog. I haven't seen an Irish Water Spaniel for ages!'
Pet human: 'Argh, for once someone knows what it is and doesn't think it's a ****ing cockapoo!!"
Yes, few can identify my dog. Usually thought to be a Jack Russell cross. You can tell he isn't because he is fine off a lead, something rare with Jack Russell's.
I'm on the Vizsla and Ridgeback and Patterdale level when ti comes to breed-spotting (my mum was very keen on the hounds) but that would defeat me!
Also Princeton Student Ballet has no power over us, or anyone much. Their nonsense can and probably is met with indifference, if not snorts of derision. On topic, I am much more concerned about a corrupt, dishonest and incompetent prime minister continuing to undermine the body politic of this country. That genuinely is dangerous, but @Leon doesn't seem bothered about it.
@Leon will die in the ditch for Boris Johnson because Boris annoys "the lefties".
Surely in that case SKS is a better candidate for PM?
@Leon will die in the ditch for Boris Johnson because Boris annoys "the lefties".
To be honest I think he may not be alone
Is that the only criterion for having a Prime Minister - that he annoys your opponents?
I'd have thought running the country for the benefit of all citizens and providing good governance might be rather more relevant virtues, wouldn't you agree?
Some of Boris' s appeal is again is similar to Trump's in this respect. There are several useful twitter accounts I've seen along those lines over the last few years ; things like "lovesliberaltears".
He was walking with a group of engineers here in North Wales and people waved and seemed pleased he was on a visit
Amazing in view of his difficulties
You do know those things are organised. They get all the local Tories to turn out. All very Potemkin.
Yup, approved guest lists.
I wasn't on it !!!!!!
Insufficiently loyal, aren't you?
(The 2019 campaign was largely approved audience events for Boris, wasn't it? Is he getting the input that we don't love him as much any more, except via a spreadsheet?)
Simon Calder EXCLUSIVE Taxpayers spent £500,000 pounds so the foreign secretary didn't have to fly to, from and within Australia on Qantas . Instead, Liz Truss travelled 22,000 miles by private government Airbus A321, creating almost 500 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
I'm not going to click the link because the indy website is a hot mess of adverts and popups, so perhaps someone can bravely don a tin hat and delve in to tell me what's wrong with flying Quantas?
Seems like another crap non-story to me. Boris-air was created to impress people and go around signing trade deals and suchlike. If not used for the trip above, when would it be used?
If I may can I issue a word of warning to all those who seem to accept Boris is home and dry for now
Sue Gray's report could be so bad, Boris either resigns or his mps exercise a 'coup d' etat' as early as next week
This is why Boris at the dispatch box, probably on Monday, with Sue Gray's report in his hand is such high drama
The terms of reference for Gray's report were never set to apportion blame on Johnson or any other individuals. If someone was organising Downing Street raves and selling the tickets for cash to fund the purchase of the marching powder found in the Parliamentary toilets she was never going to point the finger at specific people. That is what the old bill have been brought in for. So the report was never the game changer it was sold as.
"We await Sue Gray's report before sending a letter to Sir Graham Brady", was always a time buying red herring. I can't help feeling that by being played by Johnson the Parliamentary Conservative Party has done itself and UK politics in general enormous long term damage.
The first is a chihuahua that adores my wife, tolerates the rest of the family and attempts to savage everyone else. She is banned from the dog park for attacking an ancient dog and biting her on the face. We cannot take her for walks if there are other dogs around, because she will attempt to slip off the leash and launch herself at them. Whenever we meet a trainer they say 'of course I can fix your dog'. After we spend a few thousand dollars, they say 'hmmm... she's very aggressive isn't she?'
That said, she doesn't chew the furniture.
The second is a minpin - colly mix. And boy is she a bundle of fun. Who needs about six miles of walking a day, and who will attempt to dislocate your arms on walks. She'll also play fetch for an hour or two at a time without getting bored.
Sadly, she also has a rare blood clotting disorder, which means she suffers from mysterious internal bleeds that leave her on death's door and necessitate expensive vet visits.
r4 6 pm news leading on kabul. Lot of mileage left in that. Goldsmith been told to explain to Lords why he lied to them.
Just on that, the media have been showing lots of cuddly puppies all day as part of the evacuation and I would suggest not to underestimate just how popular their evacuation is with large parts of the population
Dog ownership has exploded during covid and I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many families out with their dogs on Llandudno and Colwyn Bays beaches and promenades
Dog prices have more than trebled, with even bog standard cockapoo puppies now selling for £2500-£3000.
But, as companies start to insist that their office workers start to return to the office, there are signs that the number of dogs being given in to rescue centres is on the rise.
Really and I hope the worse fears of dogs being abandoned do not materialise
Mind you my beloved wife would adopt them all if she could
..
Interesting dog. Part Bedlington terrier? Though the ears and tail suggest a mixed breed. Quite distinctive.
Pumi. Recognised as a breed in its own right in Hungary since the 1920s and by both the US and UK kennel clubs just within the last few years.
I have seen one before I think, though it was black. Sheepdogs that have the unusual technique of jumping on sheep if I remember. Mine is a Portuguese Podengo Pequeno.
I think a fair few Britons prefer dogs to people.
My father used to say the more he saw of people the more he liked his dog (which at the time was a wire hair fox terrier)
Yes.
Especially foreigners who've been stupid enough to trust the UK.
r4 6 pm news leading on kabul. Lot of mileage left in that. Goldsmith been told to explain to Lords why he lied to them.
Just on that, the media have been showing lots of cuddly puppies all day as part of the evacuation and I would suggest not to underestimate just how popular their evacuation is with large parts of the population
Dog ownership has exploded during covid and I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many families out with their dogs on Llandudno and Colwyn Bays beaches and promenades
Dog prices have more than trebled, with even bog standard cockapoo puppies now selling for £2500-£3000.
But, as companies start to insist that their office workers start to return to the office, there are signs that the number of dogs being given in to rescue centres is on the rise.
Naah, cockafuckingpoos down to 1,200-1,700 this evening
I love stories of dog homes being presented with We found this stray and brought it to you, and they do a search and there's the actual same dog asking £2,000 3 days ago on local craigslist
I'm instructed to leave all "t"s at the county border.
Relatives bought a cross between a Shit-su and a poodle, so they now have a tautological dog, which is very carefully pronounced as Shi-Poo.
They all produce roughly equal amounts of dogshit
What's a Shit-su?
One with no elephants
I only managed to smuggle one T in. Zs don't stand a chance.
r4 6 pm news leading on kabul. Lot of mileage left in that. Goldsmith been told to explain to Lords why he lied to them.
Just on that, the media have been showing lots of cuddly puppies all day as part of the evacuation and I would suggest not to underestimate just how popular their evacuation is with large parts of the population
Dog ownership has exploded during covid and I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many families out with their dogs on Llandudno and Colwyn Bays beaches and promenades
Dog prices have more than trebled, with even bog standard cockapoo puppies now selling for £2500-£3000.
But, as companies start to insist that their office workers start to return to the office, there are signs that the number of dogs being given in to rescue centres is on the rise.
Really and I hope the worse fears of dogs being abandoned do not materialise
Mind you my beloved wife would adopt them all if she could
..
Interesting dog. Part Bedlington terrier? Though the ears and tail suggest a mixed breed. Quite distinctive.
Pumi. Recognised as a breed in its own right in Hungary since the 1920s and by both the US and UK kennel clubs just within the last few years.
I have seen one before I think, though it was black. Sheepdogs that have the unusual technique of jumping on sheep if I remember. Mine is a Portuguese Podengo Pequeno.
I think a fair few Britons prefer dogs to people.
My father used to say the more he saw of people the more he liked his dog (which at the time was a wire hair fox terrier)
Yes.
Especially foreigners who've been stupid enough to trust the UK.
Nonsense - this was 70 years ago just post war
OK no problem there then, and who was this Blondi anyway?
r4 6 pm news leading on kabul. Lot of mileage left in that. Goldsmith been told to explain to Lords why he lied to them.
Just on that, the media have been showing lots of cuddly puppies all day as part of the evacuation and I would suggest not to underestimate just how popular their evacuation is with large parts of the population
Dog ownership has exploded during covid and I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many families out with their dogs on Llandudno and Colwyn Bays beaches and promenades
Dog prices have more than trebled, with even bog standard cockapoo puppies now selling for £2500-£3000.
But, as companies start to insist that their office workers start to return to the office, there are signs that the number of dogs being given in to rescue centres is on the rise.
Naah, cockafuckingpoos down to 1,200-1,700 this evening
I love stories of dog homes being presented with We found this stray and brought it to you, and they do a search and there's the actual same dog asking £2,000 3 days ago on local craigslist
Was out for a walk at Beer Head a few years back with my chum and his mutt. We get back to the car and there is a large curly brown dog in the adjacent car with its pet human.
Carnyx: 'Ooh, that's a really nice dog. I haven't seen an Irish Water Spaniel for ages!'
Pet human: 'Argh, for once someone knows what it is and doesn't think it's a ****ing cockapoo!!"
Yes, few can identify my dog. Usually thought to be a Jack Russell cross. You can tell he isn't because he is fine off a lead, something rare with Jack Russell's.
I'm on the Vizsla and Ridgeback and Patterdale level when ti comes to breed-spotting (my mum was very keen on the hounds) but that would defeat me!
The Podengo Pequeno is a lovely breed. I met one a decade ago at Crufts, so when my Border Terrier died, I sought one out. Mine came from Betty Judge, and a bargain at £1200.
They are a very amusing breed, and quite fastidious, almost cat like in their habits. Mrs Foxy is more of a cat person, but a complete convert.
As for joining the EEA I shall tell you what Michael Gove privately thinks about that.
Not going to happen, the Leavers (and The Notorious CRG in particular) would view it as a stepping stone to rejoining and oust any Tory PM to try it.
Labour will not offer to join the EEA as they know the Tories and Farage will spin it as trying to overturn democracy.
The other not so inconsiderable problem is getting our European friends to agree, after the whole Brexit farrago and exit deal they really don't want to have to go through that again.
The only terms they'd offer is something so humiliating and one sided that no UK Prime Minister could ever countenance it.
Agree that a Labour majority government wouldn't do it... but a Labour minority reliant on the Lib Dems for confidence and supply might. I imagine Davey is going to want to get some kind of major policy concession from Labour in return for the Lib Dem's support. The other alternative is voting reform (i.e. a referendum on PR), which I can't see the unions being too keen on Labour going ahead with.
Given the choice of voting reform or EEA - Labour will go for voting reform.
Remember that Labour was going to do it back in 1997 until they won a thumping majority - this time round they know they need to do something to fix the bias against them created by the new boundaries and Scotland.
I suspect a Labour Minority Government would love a deal with the Lib Dems attached to PR - to the extent they would implement it without a referendum.
The new boundaries don't create a bias against them. They remove a bias in favour of them.
Err, no. Both Tory and Labour enjoy a huge bias in their favour, regardless.
r4 6 pm news leading on kabul. Lot of mileage left in that. Goldsmith been told to explain to Lords why he lied to them.
Just on that, the media have been showing lots of cuddly puppies all day as part of the evacuation and I would suggest not to underestimate just how popular their evacuation is with large parts of the population
Dog ownership has exploded during covid and I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many families out with their dogs on Llandudno and Colwyn Bays beaches and promenades
Dog prices have more than trebled, with even bog standard cockapoo puppies now selling for £2500-£3000.
But, as companies start to insist that their office workers start to return to the office, there are signs that the number of dogs being given in to rescue centres is on the rise.
Really and I hope the worse fears of dogs being abandoned do not materialise
Mind you my beloved wife would adopt them all if she could
..
Interesting dog. Part Bedlington terrier? Though the ears and tail suggest a mixed breed. Quite distinctive.
Pumi. Recognised as a breed in its own right in Hungary since the 1920s and by both the US and UK kennel clubs just within the last few years.
I have seen one before I think, though it was black. Sheepdogs that have the unusual technique of jumping on sheep if I remember. Mine is a Portuguese Podengo Pequeno.
I think a fair few Britons prefer dogs to people.
My father used to say the more he saw of people the more he liked his dog (which at the time was a wire hair fox terrier)
That’s the dog I’d have, if I didn’t have mine. He met one in Virginia, they seemed to get on extraordinarily well…
For the West to lose one F35, off the side of a carrier, is unlucky.
To lose TWO F35s, off the side of two carriers, in as many months…
To add, a quick bit of digging on the American one, suggests a failure of the arrestor cable landing system on the carrier itself. With the British one rumoured to have been an engine ‘blank’ not removed before flight, I think that counts as two serviceable aircraft sent for a drink. At $250m a piece.
It seems a bit daft to have a military aircraft you can only fly in areas far away from your enemies in case they look at it...
r4 6 pm news leading on kabul. Lot of mileage left in that. Goldsmith been told to explain to Lords why he lied to them.
Just on that, the media have been showing lots of cuddly puppies all day as part of the evacuation and I would suggest not to underestimate just how popular their evacuation is with large parts of the population
Dog ownership has exploded during covid and I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many families out with their dogs on Llandudno and Colwyn Bays beaches and promenades
Dog prices have more than trebled, with even bog standard cockapoo puppies now selling for £2500-£3000.
But, as companies start to insist that their office workers start to return to the office, there are signs that the number of dogs being given in to rescue centres is on the rise.
Really and I hope the worse fears of dogs being abandoned do not materialise
Mind you my beloved wife would adopt them all if she could
For the West to lose one F35, off the side of a carrier, is unlucky.
To lose TWO F35s, off the side of two carriers, in as many months…
To add, a quick bit of digging on the American one, suggests a failure of the arrestor cable landing system on the carrier itself. With the British one rumoured to have been an engine ‘blank’ not removed before flight, I think that counts as two serviceable aircraft sent for a drink. At $250m a piece.
It seems a bit daft to have a military aircraft you can only fly in areas far away from your enemies in case they look at it...
Dim not to have a remote destruction option, anyway.
For the West to lose one F35, off the side of a carrier, is unlucky.
To lose TWO F35s, off the side of two carriers, in as many months…
To add, a quick bit of digging on the American one, suggests a failure of the arrestor cable landing system on the carrier itself. With the British one rumoured to have been an engine ‘blank’ not removed before flight, I think that counts as two serviceable aircraft sent for a drink. At $250m a piece.
It seems a bit daft to have a military aircraft you can only fly in areas far away from your enemies in case they look at it...
Dim not to have a remote destruction option, anyway.
You might get a pilot's revolt
And radio waves do not travel through water for any distance
Commons Speaker and animal lover Sir Lindsay Hoyle just now in a broadcast pool interview speaking about Pen Farthing:
“I’m an animal lover but I also love people as well”
… as he says there’s a story to come out - but it’s not for him to judge
Totally nothing to do with anything, but I really fucking can't stand Hoyle. Makes my skin crawl. Don't even know why.
Kinda agree. Tbf it may have been the types fawning over him after he replaced Bercow, but the twinkly Lancashire hotpot shyte is like nails down a blackboard..
For the West to lose one F35, off the side of a carrier, is unlucky.
To lose TWO F35s, off the side of two carriers, in as many months…
To add, a quick bit of digging on the American one, suggests a failure of the arrestor cable landing system on the carrier itself. With the British one rumoured to have been an engine ‘blank’ not removed before flight, I think that counts as two serviceable aircraft sent for a drink. At $250m a piece.
It seems a bit daft to have a military aircraft you can only fly in areas far away from your enemies in case they look at it...
Dim not to have a remote destruction option, anyway.
You might get a pilot's revolt
And radio waves do not travel through water for any distance
So you have a "I am gonna explode if you don't put the right code in" thing which needs the code input every 24 hours
If I may can I issue a word of warning to all those who seem to accept Boris is home and dry for now
Sue Gray's report could be so bad, Boris either resigns or his mps exercise a 'coup d' etat' as early as next week
This is why Boris at the dispatch box, probably on Monday, with Sue Gray's report in his hand is such high drama
I know it's getting a bit repetitive saying this, but I still think both Sunak and Truss wouldn't like to take over before the May elections.
The Express has an interesting little nugget for once in its life. Apparently Johnson's allies in the HOC are handing around copies of the paper's headline straight after the fall of the blessed Lady Margaret (PBUH)
Commons Speaker and animal lover Sir Lindsay Hoyle just now in a broadcast pool interview speaking about Pen Farthing:
“I’m an animal lover but I also love people as well”
… as he says there’s a story to come out - but it’s not for him to judge
Totally nothing to do with anything, but I really fucking can't stand Hoyle. Makes my skin crawl. Don't even know why.
Kinda agree. Tbf it may have been the types fawning over him after he replaced Bercow, but the twinkly Lancashire hotpot shyte is like nails down a blackboard..
Aah doont knoo abart yoo boot Aah want ter heer whot ther Prime Minister etc
It's impossible to do that stuff without being classist/regionalist, though, so I dunno what the answer is
r4 6 pm news leading on kabul. Lot of mileage left in that. Goldsmith been told to explain to Lords why he lied to them.
Just on that, the media have been showing lots of cuddly puppies all day as part of the evacuation and I would suggest not to underestimate just how popular their evacuation is with large parts of the population
Dog ownership has exploded during covid and I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many families out with their dogs on Llandudno and Colwyn Bays beaches and promenades
Dog prices have more than trebled, with even bog standard cockapoo puppies now selling for £2500-£3000.
But, as companies start to insist that their office workers start to return to the office, there are signs that the number of dogs being given in to rescue centres is on the rise.
Really and I hope the worse fears of dogs being abandoned do not materialise
Mind you my beloved wife would adopt them all if she could
..
Interesting dog. Part Bedlington terrier? Though the ears and tail suggest a mixed breed. Quite distinctive.
Pumi. Recognised as a breed in its own right in Hungary since the 1920s and by both the US and UK kennel clubs just within the last few years.
I have seen one before I think, though it was black. Sheepdogs that have the unusual technique of jumping on sheep if I remember. Mine is a Portuguese Podengo Pequeno.
I think a fair few Britons prefer dogs to people.
With apologies to Indy:
"Snakes Dogs! Why did it have to be snakes dogs?!"
For the West to lose one F35, off the side of a carrier, is unlucky.
To lose TWO F35s, off the side of two carriers, in as many months…
To add, a quick bit of digging on the American one, suggests a failure of the arrestor cable landing system on the carrier itself. With the British one rumoured to have been an engine ‘blank’ not removed before flight, I think that counts as two serviceable aircraft sent for a drink. At $250m a piece.
It seems a bit daft to have a military aircraft you can only fly in areas far away from your enemies in case they look at it...
Dim not to have a remote destruction option, anyway.
You think that wouldn't malfunction and go off all the time if they had it?
Johnson attended a birthday party thrown in his honour in Downing St during the first Covid lockdown, when social gatherings indoors were banned. Mr Burns later told Channel 4 News: “He was in a sense, ambushed with a cake." However now the PM says there was no cake afterall. https://twitter.com/christopherhope/status/1486791576038875144
r4 6 pm news leading on kabul. Lot of mileage left in that. Goldsmith been told to explain to Lords why he lied to them.
Just on that, the media have been showing lots of cuddly puppies all day as part of the evacuation and I would suggest not to underestimate just how popular their evacuation is with large parts of the population
Dog ownership has exploded during covid and I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many families out with their dogs on Llandudno and Colwyn Bays beaches and promenades
Dog prices have more than trebled, with even bog standard cockapoo puppies now selling for £2500-£3000.
But, as companies start to insist that their office workers start to return to the office, there are signs that the number of dogs being given in to rescue centres is on the rise.
Really and I hope the worse fears of dogs being abandoned do not materialise
Mind you my beloved wife would adopt them all if she could
..
Interesting dog. Part Bedlington terrier? Though the ears and tail suggest a mixed breed. Quite distinctive.
Pumi. Recognised as a breed in its own right in Hungary since the 1920s and by both the US and UK kennel clubs just within the last few years.
I have seen one before I think, though it was black. Sheepdogs that have the unusual technique of jumping on sheep if I remember. Mine is a Portuguese Podengo Pequeno.
I think a fair few Britons prefer dogs to people.
With apologies to Indy:
"Snakes Dogs! Why did it have to be snakes dogs?!"
Have you had it with these ... dogs on this ... thread?
Johnson attended a birthday party thrown in his honour in Downing St during the first Covid lockdown, when social gatherings indoors were banned. Mr Burns later told Channel 4 News: “He was in a sense, ambushed with a cake." However now the PM says there was no cake afterall. https://twitter.com/christopherhope/status/1486791576038875144
Anywhere Johnson and Cummings go, there's plenty of fruitcake around.
If I may can I issue a word of warning to all those who seem to accept Boris is home and dry for now
Sue Gray's report could be so bad, Boris either resigns or his mps exercise a 'coup d' etat' as early as next week
This is why Boris at the dispatch box, probably on Monday, with Sue Gray's report in his hand is such high drama
I know it's getting a bit repetitive saying this, but I still think both Sunak and Truss wouldn't like to take over before the May elections.
The Express has an interesting little nugget for once in its life. Apparently Johnson's allies in the HOC are handing around copies of the paper's headline straight after the fall of the blessed Lady Margaret (PBUH)
WHAT HAVE THEY DONE.
I mean FFS.
“What have they done” - arguably, they significantly improved their chances of winning the next election (an election, of course, that they did win).
People who think “Wokeness” is just a silly rehash of “political correctness gone mad” are sinister morons. Woke is infinitely more dangerous. It seeks to deconstruct western cultural pride and self confidence, until the Chinese just stomp all over us
Why do you hunt out all these slightly mad right-wing sites to source your "Wokestapo" stuff?
(By the way, 'Wokestapo" is particularly feeble for a literary giant like you. It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it?)
Leon is the new Wokefinder General.
Princeton University Ballet is an amateur company, started as recently as 2008. Their productions are hardly revolutionary, and they are not exactly at the cultural core of the Ballet world.
Fox jr2 is a budding actor, and his flatmate is a former professional dancer. Unfortunately his dance career collapsed with covid, but he was becoming quite disenchanted with the world of professional dance.
His dance director would line up the dancers at the beginning of the week and tear a strip off the dancers he didn't like for various aspects of their appearance, particularly their weight and physique. Bear in mind that these were professional dancers, not random kids from the street. By any normal yardstick they were a very buff and slim group of youngsters. They would also be drilled despite injuries, sometimes to the point of permanent damage. The high rate of anorexia nervosa in professional ballet dancers suggests this is not unusual.
The world of performing arts gives the impression of being luvvies, but the reality is often callous and brutal. It is a world that could do with some serious cultural critique.
I know a few professional dancers and choreographers and that's the way it has to be if they want to make a living out of it.The discipline is awe inspiring. If they don't want to keep to the rigours of the profession there are amateur companies they can join.
It isn't different from football. Guardiola has famously kicked players out after returning from their summer break not in shape
Yes, that does seem to be the only way to make a living out of it, but isn't that a problem? I think that any culture that toxic and authoritarian is long overdue a long look in the mirror. Is it any wonder that people like Weinstein or Spacey thrive in such a culture? The problem is not only the individual, but also the culture.
I agree that in this context professional sport is much the same as the performing arts. No wonder we see regular scandals in gymnastics, cycling, swimming, football etc.
That sort of bullying, brutalisation and teaching by public humiliation has long gone in medicine, though wasn't unusual when I was a student.
I wouldn't worry as history is on your side. This change will happen here in elite sport, and the teaching methods will become regarded as abusive. It is a surprise it hasn't happened already, I guess there are still some bastions of the old order that need to be kicked in to shape. For most people, it is probably a good thing. My son had a swimming teacher who adopted this type of bullying style and he hated it, he made much more progress with the nice friendly teacher in the group he was moved to. But this was a pre school learn to swim group, not an elite sport.
I think @Roger is right though. Getting anywhere in elite sport or the arts involves an insane amount of personal discipline and commitment. Can you really build that without these methods? I am not so sure.
r4 6 pm news leading on kabul. Lot of mileage left in that. Goldsmith been told to explain to Lords why he lied to them.
Just on that, the media have been showing lots of cuddly puppies all day as part of the evacuation and I would suggest not to underestimate just how popular their evacuation is with large parts of the population
Dog ownership has exploded during covid and I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many families out with their dogs on Llandudno and Colwyn Bays beaches and promenades
Dog prices have more than trebled, with even bog standard cockapoo puppies now selling for £2500-£3000.
But, as companies start to insist that their office workers start to return to the office, there are signs that the number of dogs being given in to rescue centres is on the rise.
Really and I hope the worse fears of dogs being abandoned do not materialise
Mind you my beloved wife would adopt them all if she could
..
Interesting dog. Part Bedlington terrier? Though the ears and tail suggest a mixed breed. Quite distinctive.
Pumi. Recognised as a breed in its own right in Hungary since the 1920s and by both the US and UK kennel clubs just within the last few years.
I have seen one before I think, though it was black. Sheepdogs that have the unusual technique of jumping on sheep if I remember. Mine is a Portuguese Podengo Pequeno.
I think a fair few Britons prefer dogs to people.
With apologies to Indy:
"Snakes Dogs! Why did it have to be snakes dogs?!"
It's mystifying enough that people can be bothered to spend time and money owning these dogshit generators, but what really perplexes me is the assumption that we will all be pleased and impressed by photographic evidence of the fact.
Anyway, off to have a dump. I'll be sure to post a pic.
Johnson attended a birthday party thrown in his honour in Downing St during the first Covid lockdown, when social gatherings indoors were banned. Mr Burns later told Channel 4 News: “He was in a sense, ambushed with a cake." However now the PM says there was no cake afterall. https://twitter.com/christopherhope/status/1486791576038875144
Anywhere Johnson and Cummings go, there's plenty of fruitcake around.
And closets. Maybe the cake jumped out of a closet, that sounds good for an ambush.
r4 6 pm news leading on kabul. Lot of mileage left in that. Goldsmith been told to explain to Lords why he lied to them.
Just on that, the media have been showing lots of cuddly puppies all day as part of the evacuation and I would suggest not to underestimate just how popular their evacuation is with large parts of the population
Dog ownership has exploded during covid and I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many families out with their dogs on Llandudno and Colwyn Bays beaches and promenades
Dog prices have more than trebled, with even bog standard cockapoo puppies now selling for £2500-£3000.
But, as companies start to insist that their office workers start to return to the office, there are signs that the number of dogs being given in to rescue centres is on the rise.
Really and I hope the worse fears of dogs being abandoned do not materialise
Mind you my beloved wife would adopt them all if she could
..
Interesting dog. Part Bedlington terrier? Though the ears and tail suggest a mixed breed. Quite distinctive.
Pumi. Recognised as a breed in its own right in Hungary since the 1920s and by both the US and UK kennel clubs just within the last few years.
I have seen one before I think, though it was black. Sheepdogs that have the unusual technique of jumping on sheep if I remember. Mine is a Portuguese Podengo Pequeno.
I think a fair few Britons prefer dogs to people.
With apologies to Indy:
"Snakes Dogs! Why did it have to be snakes dogs?!"
It's mystifying enough that people can be bothered to spend time and money owning these dogshit generators, but what really perplexes me is the assumption that we will all be pleased and impressed by photographic evidence of the fact.
Anyway, off to have a dump. I'll be sure to post a pic.
Laters
We should send all dogs to Korea.
Now cats, those are beautiful creatures, everyone should have one.
If I may can I issue a word of warning to all those who seem to accept Boris is home and dry for now
Sue Gray's report could be so bad, Boris either resigns or his mps exercise a 'coup d' etat' as early as next week
This is why Boris at the dispatch box, probably on Monday, with Sue Gray's report in his hand is such high drama
I know it's getting a bit repetitive saying this, but I still think both Sunak and Truss wouldn't like to take over before the May elections.
The Express has an interesting little nugget for once in its life. Apparently Johnson's allies in the HOC are handing around copies of the paper's headline straight after the fall of the blessed Lady Margaret (PBUH)
WHAT HAVE THEY DONE.
I mean FFS.
“What have they done” - arguably, they significantly improved their chances of winning the next election (an election, of course, that they did win).
Not sure that really has quite the right effect.
Yeah well there's that, and there's the arrogance and delusion of assuming any equivalence between the Blessed Lady and the dissembler in chief.
Johnson attended a birthday party thrown in his honour in Downing St during the first Covid lockdown, when social gatherings indoors were banned. Mr Burns later told Channel 4 News: “He was in a sense, ambushed with a cake." However now the PM says there was no cake afterall. https://twitter.com/christopherhope/status/1486791576038875144
There was no cake. There were high-sugar work provisions shared between colleagues at lunch, followed by a motivational song. I don't know why the media is fixating on all this tittle-tattle ; most people will want to move on and focus on the people's priorities, including ensuring that the Ukraine war hots up over the weekend.
All the latest polls point to a hung parliament, admittedly with Labour winning most seats but not even a Labour majority let alone a landslide, certainly once the boundary changes go through.
The Tories would also comfortably still win more seats than 2005 and 2001, let alone 1997.
Shade over dramatic too 'Without drastic, urgent action, the party will be sucked into the kind of death spiral that sank John Major’s government in the mid 1990s, and a Left-wing coalition led by Sir Keir Starmer and supported by the SNP, Welsh nationalists, Greens and other rabble-rousers may seize power in 2023 or 2024. Such an outcome would be calamitous, and result in a vicious class and cultural war from which the country would never recover.'
He also says 'The aim would be to ruthlessly target the 43.6 per cent of the electorate who voted Tory in 2019, but by following the broadly conservative approach these voters expected, rather than the weird blend of reheated neo-Brownite social democracy and green paternalism that was unleashed upon them instead.'
Which is a load of rubbish given most of the redwall voters who voted Tory in 2019 for the first time also voted for Brown in 2010
As for joining the EEA I shall tell you what Michael Gove privately thinks about that.
Not going to happen, the Leavers (and The Notorious CRG in particular) would view it as a stepping stone to rejoining and oust any Tory PM to try it.
Labour will not offer to join the EEA as they know the Tories and Farage will spin it as trying to overturn democracy.
The other not so inconsiderable problem is getting our European friends to agree, after the whole Brexit farrago and exit deal they really don't want to have to go through that again.
The only terms they'd offer is something so humiliating and one sided that no UK Prime Minister could ever countenance it.
Agree that a Labour majority government wouldn't do it... but a Labour minority reliant on the Lib Dems for confidence and supply might. I imagine Davey is going to want to get some kind of major policy concession from Labour in return for the Lib Dem's support. The other alternative is voting reform (i.e. a referendum on PR), which I can't see the unions being too keen on Labour going ahead with.
Given the choice of voting reform or EEA - Labour will go for voting reform.
Remember that Labour was going to do it back in 1997 until they won a thumping majority - this time round they know they need to do something to fix the bias against them created by the new boundaries and Scotland.
I suspect a Labour Minority Government would love a deal with the Lib Dems attached to PR - to the extent they would implement it without a referendum.
The new boundaries don't create a bias against them. They remove a bias in favour of them.
The problem with Lab going for PR is that they are generally winners from FPTP (2019 is an exception)
1997 - 43% of votes, 63 % of seats 2001 - 41% of votes, 63 % of seats 2005 - 35% of votes, 55 % of seats 2010 - 29% of votes, 40 % of seats 2015 - 30% of votes, 36 % of seats 2015 - 30% of votes, 36 % of seats 2017 - 40% of votes, 40 % of seats 2019 - 32% of votes, 31 % of seats
And they would probably get fewer votes under PR as the left would split into a different party
r4 6 pm news leading on kabul. Lot of mileage left in that. Goldsmith been told to explain to Lords why he lied to them.
Just on that, the media have been showing lots of cuddly puppies all day as part of the evacuation and I would suggest not to underestimate just how popular their evacuation is with large parts of the population
Dog ownership has exploded during covid and I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many families out with their dogs on Llandudno and Colwyn Bays beaches and promenades
Dog prices have more than trebled, with even bog standard cockapoo puppies now selling for £2500-£3000.
But, as companies start to insist that their office workers start to return to the office, there are signs that the number of dogs being given in to rescue centres is on the rise.
Really and I hope the worse fears of dogs being abandoned do not materialise
Mind you my beloved wife would adopt them all if she could
..
Interesting dog. Part Bedlington terrier? Though the ears and tail suggest a mixed breed. Quite distinctive.
Pumi. Recognised as a breed in its own right in Hungary since the 1920s and by both the US and UK kennel clubs just within the last few years.
I have seen one before I think, though it was black. Sheepdogs that have the unusual technique of jumping on sheep if I remember. Mine is a Portuguese Podengo Pequeno.
I think a fair few Britons prefer dogs to people.
With apologies to Indy:
"Snakes Dogs! Why did it have to be snakes dogs?!"
It's mystifying enough that people can be bothered to spend time and money owning these dogshit generators, but what really perplexes me is the assumption that we will all be pleased and impressed by photographic evidence of the fact.
Anyway, off to have a dump. I'll be sure to post a pic.
Laters
We should send all dogs to Korea.
Now cats, those are beautiful creatures, everyone should have one.
Our daughter and family have both
And we had our own cats and fostered others when we were younger
People who think “Wokeness” is just a silly rehash of “political correctness gone mad” are sinister morons. Woke is infinitely more dangerous. It seeks to deconstruct western cultural pride and self confidence, until the Chinese just stomp all over us
Why do you hunt out all these slightly mad right-wing sites to source your "Wokestapo" stuff?
(By the way, 'Wokestapo" is particularly feeble for a literary giant like you. It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it?)
Every quote they use, as they say, comes direct from Princeton Uni
Okay. So why don't you give us the links direct from Princeton Uni then, rather than mediated with commentary from a far-right website? Let's read the primary sources for ourselves.
Oh, and can you at least agree that your use of "Wokestapo" is poor, for several reasons, at least one of them rather obvious?
If one must be used I'd have thought Wokerazzi would work better.
Comments
Very haunting that Arendt gag about the banality of evil. We are all sitting being po faced about holocaust memorial day and pretending to see no connection with people left to be tortured to death in kabul for the crime of not being dogs, and people crossing the channel and having their one last possession confiscated on grounds of navigating while brown. And it's all LOL Bojo will survive a vonc, huzzah
I can't see a Labour majority at the next election but there could be one at the election after next (if Labour wins back enough seats from the SNP). The Tories might also descend into infighting once they're in opposition and lose more seats to the Lib Dems. FPTP could start working against the Tories again longer term if they lose the south to the LDs and they're pushed back into their heartlands in Essex, Devon and the Midlands.
Yes, that does seem to be the only way to make a living out of it, but isn't that a problem? I think that any culture that toxic and authoritarian is long overdue a long look in the mirror. Is it any wonder that people like Weinstein or Spacey thrive in such a culture? The problem is not only the individual, but also the culture.
I agree that in this context professional sport is much the same as the performing arts. No wonder we see regular scandals in gymnastics, cycling, swimming, football etc.
That sort of bullying, brutalisation and teaching by public humiliation has long gone in medicine, though wasn't unusual when I was a student.
I'd have thought running the country for the benefit of all citizens and providing good governance might be rather more relevant virtues, wouldn't you agree?
It answers the critics while not changing the name, strengthens the association with the wider Westcountry (Cornwall is a big rugby county but no Premiership team), keeps a visually strong brand, grabs column inches, and flogs a ton of merch.
Relatives bought a cross between a Shit-su and a poodle, so they now have a tautological dog, which is very carefully pronounced as Shi-Poo.
https://twitter.com/vonstrenginho/status/1486383700585721867?s=21
I think a fair few Britons prefer dogs to people.
But I wouldn't put it past him.
Amazing in view of his difficulties
What's a Shit-su?
One with no elephants
Carnyx: 'Ooh, that's a really nice dog. I haven't seen an Irish Water Spaniel for ages!'
Pet human: 'Argh, for once someone knows what it is and doesn't think it's a ****ing cockapoo!!"
There are one or two others on here with the same predisposition.
It seems to me he does Cabinet on a Tuesday morning and PMQs on Wednesday lunch and then spends Thurs and Fri in a hi-viz jacket on a building site or a tie tucked in at a vax centre. By late Friday he is at Chequers and then he emerges on Tuesday to start again.
I guess Gove does the endless grinding meetings where decisions are taken.
The Treasury continues doing its thing of course, but very largely govt policy making has descended into covid administration and common-room level “red meat” spitballing.
Seriously, though, those events rely heavily on that sort of shite, a healthy fear of the PM's Met Pol security, and people's natural if misguided good manners. And no doubt TV editing.
Especially foreigners who've been stupid enough to trust the UK.
(The 2019 campaign was largely approved audience events for Boris, wasn't it? Is he getting the input that we don't love him as much any more, except via a spreadsheet?)
Commons Speaker and animal lover Sir Lindsay Hoyle just now in a broadcast pool interview speaking about Pen Farthing:
“I’m an animal lover but I also love people as well”
… as he says there’s a story to come out - but it’s not for him to judge
"We await Sue Gray's report before sending a letter to Sir Graham Brady", was always a time buying red herring. I can't help feeling that by being played by Johnson the Parliamentary Conservative Party has done itself and UK politics in general enormous long term damage.
The first is a chihuahua that adores my wife, tolerates the rest of the family and attempts to savage everyone else. She is banned from the dog park for attacking an ancient dog and biting her on the face. We cannot take her for walks if there are other dogs around, because she will attempt to slip off the leash and launch herself at them. Whenever we meet a trainer they say 'of course I can fix your dog'. After we spend a few thousand dollars, they say 'hmmm... she's very aggressive isn't she?'
That said, she doesn't chew the furniture.
The second is a minpin - colly mix. And boy is she a bundle of fun. Who needs about six miles of walking a day, and who will attempt to dislocate your arms on walks. She'll also play fetch for an hour or two at a time without getting bored.
Sadly, she also has a rare blood clotting disorder, which means she suffers from mysterious internal bleeds that leave her on death's door and necessitate expensive vet visits.
High bar
According to the blog piece linked, it's 7 in what is around 500k total flight hours, including accidents / human error.
Is that reliable for a jet combat aircraft?
Does @Dura_Ace have a better handle on this?
They are a very amusing breed, and quite fastidious, almost cat like in their habits. Mrs Foxy is more of a cat person, but a complete convert.
Probably Sue Gray caught partying herself 😂
Westminster Voting Intention:
LAB: 40% (-3)
CON: 35% (+2)
LDM: 10% (=)
SNP: 5% (+1)
GRN: 3% (=)
RFM: 3% (+1)
Via
@Survation
, 25 Jan.
Changes w/ 14-17 Jan.
https://unherd.com/thepost/kate-clanchy-my-lifes-work-has-been-taken-away/
And radio waves do not travel through water for any distance
Tbf it may have been the types fawning over him after he replaced Bercow, but the twinkly Lancashire hotpot shyte is like nails down a blackboard..
WHAT HAVE THEY DONE.
I mean FFS.
It's impossible to do that stuff without being classist/regionalist, though, so I dunno what the answer is
"Snakes Dogs! Why did it have to be snakes dogs?!"
Mr Burns later told Channel 4 News: “He was in a sense, ambushed with a cake."
However now the PM says there was no cake afterall.
https://twitter.com/christopherhope/status/1486791576038875144
Which of the following party leaders do you think would make the best Prime Minister?
Keir Starmer (LAB): 40% (+1)
Boris Johnson (CON): 29% (-1)
When we approached No 10 for an official response on Monday they did not at any moment deny that there was a cake
Ministers have repeatedly discussed the cake in the interviews ensuing, including Conor Burns. https://twitter.com/christopherhope/status/1486791571328712711
Boris Johnson tells allies there was no 'ambush with cake' at No 10 lockdown birthday party
PM adds to confusion over gathering with comment to Conor Burns, revealed by the MP in Chopper’s Politics Podcast
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/01/27/boris-johnson-tells-allies-no-ambush-cake-no-10-lockdown-birthday/
Not sure that really has quite the right effect.
I think @Roger is right though. Getting anywhere in elite sport or the arts involves an insane amount of personal discipline and commitment. Can you really build that without these methods? I am not so sure.
Anyway, off to have a dump. I'll be sure to post a pic.
Laters
Now cats, those are beautiful creatures, everyone should have one.
"The Conservatives face 1997-style annihilation if they don’t stop this drift"
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/26/conservatives-face-1997-style-annihilation-dont-stop-drift/
I'd take him over the Johnson...
All the latest polls point to a hung parliament, admittedly with Labour winning most seats but not even a Labour majority let alone a landslide, certainly once the boundary changes go through.
The Tories would also comfortably still win more seats than 2005 and 2001, let alone 1997.
Shade over dramatic too 'Without drastic, urgent action, the party will be sucked into the kind of death spiral that sank John Major’s government in the mid 1990s, and a Left-wing coalition led by Sir Keir Starmer and supported by the SNP, Welsh nationalists, Greens and other rabble-rousers may seize power in 2023 or 2024. Such an outcome would be calamitous, and result in a vicious class and cultural war from which the country would never recover.'
He also says 'The aim would be to ruthlessly target the 43.6 per cent of the electorate who voted Tory in 2019, but by following the broadly conservative approach these voters expected, rather than the weird blend of reheated neo-Brownite social democracy and green paternalism that was unleashed upon them instead.'
Which is a load of rubbish given most of the redwall voters who voted Tory in 2019 for the first time also voted for Brown in 2010
"Any other leader would be 20pts ahead" - Blair
1997 - 43% of votes, 63 % of seats
2001 - 41% of votes, 63 % of seats
2005 - 35% of votes, 55 % of seats
2010 - 29% of votes, 40 % of seats
2015 - 30% of votes, 36 % of seats
2015 - 30% of votes, 36 % of seats
2017 - 40% of votes, 40 % of seats
2019 - 32% of votes, 31 % of seats
And they would probably get fewer votes under PR as the left would split into a different party
And we had our own cats and fostered others when we were younger