If you want the Union to stay, is BJ having his drinks parties going to make you think "you know what, I'll vote for independence?". Especially given all the question marks over Nicola S's own behaviour and what was exposed in the Salmond case? Yes, people might vote for another party as the main Unionist party but their #1 motivation factor is the...Union, not BJ.
If you want Americans to keep loyal to the crown, is a tax on tea really going to make you think “you know what, I’ll vote for independence?”.
Except it didn't, as a lot of the recent research suggests. The Colonies were slipping away well before the Boston Tea Party.
Scotland too.
As it has for years.
If you want to blame someone who doomed the Union, look to Blair and the Labour Party in general during that time.
I do.
Devolution, as structured, was/is a disaster for the Union, although this only became apparently about 10 years ago.
If the English had blocked devolution then Scotland would already be independent.
I’m a great believer in devolution. Maybe the greatest on this Board.
But it has to be done in a way that doesn’t undermine the centre.
What happens now is that essentially the devolved government gets money but no real tax raising powers. That creates an automatic lack of accountability and an incentive to bash the centre.
The jerry-rigged electoral system doesn’t help, either.
Plus devolution said nothing about the English, and the English regions, where places like Yorkshire have as good a claim as the Scots to self government.
Yorkshire doesn't have its own legal system, it should be said. A major difference and what is often forgotten as a major driver of the democratic deficit issue pre-devolution. Not a matter of different laws such as appelation controlee for parkin, but a completely different legal code and legal system. So, by definition, not 'such a good claim'.
It does bear remembering that lot of what some peoiple see as 'devolution thanks to Blair' was already there - administrative devolution from the 1880s onwards, and even earlier for law, the Kirk, universities and much else.
ANd that is one reason whty the poll tax was utterly toxic, as we were discussing a few weeks back IIRC.
This does not, of course, affect the totality of the Yorkshire claim to self-government. Which is quite independent of the Scottish situation which is sui generis.
So much for the guy I am not interested in money shtick.....NYT will be monetarising the hell out of it.
Wordle was purchased from its creator, Josh Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn, for a price “in the low seven figures,” The Times said. The company said the game would initially remain free to new and existing players.
All those knock-offs are going to be getting more letters (from lawyers) than Graham Brady....
On which. Am I the only one who remembers Word Mastermind? Wasn't that just Wordle?
See also the tv show lingo. But hey, if the guy has created this, and then sold it for lots of money, fair play. I didn’t do it. You didn’t do it. He did.
Indeed. The bastard. We planned to open a Taiwanese bubble tea shop 20 years ago. Were told there was no market. So bottled it.
Reminds me of one of my father's sales stories. 2 shoe salesmen for rival companies arrive by steamer in a port.
The first has a look around, and sends a message to head office. "No-one wears shoes here, returning shortly"
The second one has a look around, and contacts his head office "No-one wears shoes here, market potentially unlimited."
If you want the Union to stay, is BJ having his drinks parties going to make you think "you know what, I'll vote for independence?". Especially given all the question marks over Nicola S's own behaviour and what was exposed in the Salmond case? Yes, people might vote for another party as the main Unionist party but their #1 motivation factor is the...Union, not BJ.
If you want Americans to keep loyal to the crown, is a tax on tea really going to make you think “you know what, I’ll vote for independence?”.
Except it didn't, as a lot of the recent research suggests. The Colonies were slipping away well before the Boston Tea Party.
Scotland too.
As it has for years.
If you want to blame someone who doomed the Union, look to Blair and the Labour Party in general during that time.
I do.
Devolution, as structured, was/is a disaster for the Union, although this only became apparently about 10 years ago.
If the English had blocked devolution then Scotland would already be independent.
I’m a great believer in devolution. Maybe the greatest on this Board.
But it has to be done in a way that doesn’t undermine the centre.
What happens now is that essentially the devolved government gets money but no real tax raising powers. That creates an automatic lack of accountability and an incentive to bash the centre.
The jerry-rigged electoral system doesn’t help, either.
Plus devolution said nothing about the English, and the English regions, where places like Yorkshire have as good a claim as the Scots to self government.
Sure.
Though English devolutionists (like me) have to wrestle with the Prussian dilemma (England is too big unto itself to be devolved to), and the sovreigntist conundrum (English voters tend to be skeptical about most forms of devolution).
But yeah, totally agree.
Basically the Scots wanted devolution and do they got it. The English don't, so they haven't. I agree it's a mess, but telling the Scots they couldn't have it because the English didn't want it wasn't a saleable proposition.
Rubbish, most people have still bought a property by 39. Often helped by funds from their parents savings for a deposit.
Less than 5% of the population are unemployed (fewer than the number of unemployed Labour left when last in government in 2010)
Bury your head in the sand all you like, the longer things carry on as they are the more financially crippled the average Briton will become.
As it is, most people who are already in poverty in the UK are also employed. A shit minimum wage job offers scant defence against the punishing and ever-inflating costs of basic necessities - rent, fuel and food - in this country.
If you want the Union to stay, is BJ having his drinks parties going to make you think "you know what, I'll vote for independence?". Especially given all the question marks over Nicola S's own behaviour and what was exposed in the Salmond case? Yes, people might vote for another party as the main Unionist party but their #1 motivation factor is the...Union, not BJ.
If you want Americans to keep loyal to the crown, is a tax on tea really going to make you think “you know what, I’ll vote for independence?”.
Except it didn't, as a lot of the recent research suggests. The Colonies were slipping away well before the Boston Tea Party.
Scotland too.
As it has for years.
If you want to blame someone who doomed the Union, look to Blair and the Labour Party in general during that time.
I do.
Devolution, as structured, was/is a disaster for the Union, although this only became apparently about 10 years ago.
If the English had blocked devolution then Scotland would already be independent.
I’m a great believer in devolution. Maybe the greatest on this Board.
But it has to be done in a way that doesn’t undermine the centre.
What happens now is that essentially the devolved government gets money but no real tax raising powers. That creates an automatic lack of accountability and an incentive to bash the centre.
The jerry-rigged electoral system doesn’t help, either.
Plus devolution said nothing about the English, and the English regions, where places like Yorkshire have as good a claim as the Scots to self government.
The problem is that the English regions tend to vote down any effort to grant them devolution - a certain Mr Cummings cut his teeth on the campaign against devolution somewhere in the North of England IIRC. England as a whole is too big for a devolved English government alongside a separate UK government to make much sense, while the English regions seem to lack enough internal coherence to want their own devolution - they always get bogged down in absurd provincial rivalries. But Scotland is a coherent country that votes differently from the rest of the UK a lot of the time and doesn't want to be told what to do by people they didn't vote for. Brexit is a perfect example of how toxic the Union can be for Scotland. I have come to the conclusion that Scottish independence is the only constitutional settlement that will work now, although there are lots of downsides to it for Scotland and England.
Sadly you may be right, but I feel for the roughly half of Scots who don’t want independence, just like those didn’t want to leave the EU. It’s a bad situation where we are replaying the UK vs EU arguments but now with Scotland vs U.K. Its easy to blame the other (the Eu/UK government) for all the issues. But it’s rarely the whole story.
🎉65% do not accept PM's apology today 🎉69% want him to resign 🎉68% don't trust him and govt. to deliver 🎉80% want PM to publish full, unredacted report 🎉66% say he doesn't care about the hurt caused
Went to the local pub at 7 tonight. Monday evening. Quiet. There is a corner where a group of peeps meet whatever day of week - mainly young lads. 3 or 4 middle aged. I think they are something to do with 5-a-side football or golf.
The entire hour I was there they banged on about Johnson and basically what a lying twat he is. All of them sharing one mobile phone picture, tweet, joke, meem after another. They can't decide whether to laugh at the lying fat twat or be upset that things have come to this.
If you want the Union to stay, is BJ having his drinks parties going to make you think "you know what, I'll vote for independence?". Especially given all the question marks over Nicola S's own behaviour and what was exposed in the Salmond case? Yes, people might vote for another party as the main Unionist party but their #1 motivation factor is the...Union, not BJ.
It's not gonna change the true Union diehards, no. But then not much would.
It may well sway some of the more undecideds floating in the middle. I daresay a lot of those would have already been swayed anyway just by "Boris Johnson: Prime Minister", but it all adds up.
There's a reason Douglas Ross and most of the SCon MSPs came out against him even before today. He certainly isn't helping the cause, that much is true.
That I can well believe and some "meh" voters might not be bothered to come out. But, if your concern about leaving the Union is driven by concerns about how the economy will end up and / or your personal circumstances, I don't see BJ's actions as motivating enough anger to make you overcome those concerns.
I’m a very strong Unionist, but even I can see that Boris puts rocket-boosters on the case for SINDY.
Boris has banned indyref2 so there will be no possibility of Sindy while he is PM
If you want the Union to stay, is BJ having his drinks parties going to make you think "you know what, I'll vote for independence?". Especially given all the question marks over Nicola S's own behaviour and what was exposed in the Salmond case? Yes, people might vote for another party as the main Unionist party but their #1 motivation factor is the...Union, not BJ.
If you want Americans to keep loyal to the crown, is a tax on tea really going to make you think “you know what, I’ll vote for independence?”.
Except it didn't, as a lot of the recent research suggests. The Colonies were slipping away well before the Boston Tea Party.
Scotland too.
As it has for years.
If you want to blame someone who doomed the Union, look to Blair and the Labour Party in general during that time.
I do.
Devolution, as structured, was/is a disaster for the Union, although this only became apparently about 10 years ago.
If the English had blocked devolution then Scotland would already be independent.
I’m a great believer in devolution. Maybe the greatest on this Board.
But it has to be done in a way that doesn’t undermine the centre.
What happens now is that essentially the devolved government gets money but no real tax raising powers. That creates an automatic lack of accountability and an incentive to bash the centre.
The jerry-rigged electoral system doesn’t help, either.
Plus devolution said nothing about the English, and the English regions, where places like Yorkshire have as good a claim as the Scots to self government.
The problem is that the English regions tend to vote down any effort to grant them devolution - a certain Mr Cummings cut his teeth on the campaign against devolution somewhere in the North of England IIRC. England as a whole is too big for a devolved English government alongside a separate UK government to make much sense, while the English regions seem to lack enough internal coherence to want their own devolution - they always get bogged down in absurd provincial rivalries. But Scotland is a coherent country that votes differently from the rest of the UK a lot of the time and doesn't want to be told what to do by people they didn't vote for. Brexit is a perfect example of how toxic the Union can be for Scotland. I have come to the conclusion that Scottish independence is the only constitutional settlement that will work now, although there are lots of downsides to it for Scotland and England.
If you want the Union to stay, is BJ having his drinks parties going to make you think "you know what, I'll vote for independence?". Especially given all the question marks over Nicola S's own behaviour and what was exposed in the Salmond case? Yes, people might vote for another party as the main Unionist party but their #1 motivation factor is the...Union, not BJ.
As poster Unpopular, a Unionist living in Scotland, put it on the previous thread:
- “He, and notables around him, seem to go out their way to prove everything the SNP say about Westminster.”
And is Unpopular going to now vote for independence off the back of BJ's behaviour?
If you want the Union to stay, is BJ having his drinks parties going to make you think "you know what, I'll vote for independence?". Especially given all the question marks over Nicola S's own behaviour and what was exposed in the Salmond case? Yes, people might vote for another party as the main Unionist party but their #1 motivation factor is the...Union, not BJ.
As poster Unpopular, a Unionist living in Scotland, put it on the previous thread:
- “He, and notables around him, seem to go out their way to prove everything the SNP say about Westminster.”
And is Unpopular going to now vote for independence off the back of BJ's behaviour?
No, I'm a diehard Unionist. I can't really think of a realistic scenario under which I wouldn't vote to retain the Union. But that view is probably not the majority of Scots. The parties (or work events) aren't going to drive a vote for independence themselves but the impression that this government is acting as though the rules don't apply to them feeds into a narrative of unfairness and distance, which can be exploited by others offering an alternative. They can point to them and say 'These people are not like you, these people don't care about you.' In Scotland, because of the political dividing lines, this narrative is uniquely problematic for the Union.
At the end of the day, if people don't feel included in the Union, if they feel that they are being taken for granted, or for fools, they won't stand it. Regardless of the economic benefits.
🎉65% do not accept PM's apology today 🎉69% want him to resign 🎉68% don't trust him and govt. to deliver 🎉80% want PM to publish full, unredacted report 🎉66% say he doesn't care about the hurt caused
If you want the Union to stay, is BJ having his drinks parties going to make you think "you know what, I'll vote for independence?". Especially given all the question marks over Nicola S's own behaviour and what was exposed in the Salmond case? Yes, people might vote for another party as the main Unionist party but their #1 motivation factor is the...Union, not BJ.
If you want Americans to keep loyal to the crown, is a tax on tea really going to make you think “you know what, I’ll vote for independence?”.
Except it didn't, as a lot of the recent research suggests. The Colonies were slipping away well before the Boston Tea Party.
Scotland too.
As it has for years.
If you want to blame someone who doomed the Union, look to Blair and the Labour Party in general during that time.
I do.
Devolution, as structured, was/is a disaster for the Union, although this only became apparently about 10 years ago.
If the English had blocked devolution then Scotland would already be independent.
I’m a great believer in devolution. Maybe the greatest on this Board.
But it has to be done in a way that doesn’t undermine the centre.
What happens now is that essentially the devolved government gets money but no real tax raising powers. That creates an automatic lack of accountability and an incentive to bash the centre.
The jerry-rigged electoral system doesn’t help, either.
Plus devolution said nothing about the English, and the English regions, where places like Yorkshire have as good a claim as the Scots to self government.
The problem is that the English regions tend to vote down any effort to grant them devolution - a certain Mr Cummings cut his teeth on the campaign against devolution somewhere in the North of England IIRC. England as a whole is too big for a devolved English government alongside a separate UK government to make much sense, while the English regions seem to lack enough internal coherence to want their own devolution - they always get bogged down in absurd provincial rivalries. But Scotland is a coherent country that votes differently from the rest of the UK a lot of the time and doesn't want to be told what to do by people they didn't vote for. Brexit is a perfect example of how toxic the Union can be for Scotland. I have come to the conclusion that Scottish independence is the only constitutional settlement that will work now, although there are lots of downsides to it for Scotland and England.
Welcome aboard!
I have been a reluctant supporter of Scottish independence for a while - a little-discussed event in 2016 convinced me that the Union is toxic for Scotland.
So much for the guy I am not interested in money shtick.....NYT will be monetarising the hell out of it.
Wordle was purchased from its creator, Josh Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn, for a price “in the low seven figures,” The Times said. The company said the game would initially remain free to new and existing players.
All those knock-offs are going to be getting more letters (from lawyers) than Graham Brady....
On which. Am I the only one who remembers Word Mastermind? Wasn't that just Wordle?
Yup, and even closer to 1980s TV quiz show "Lingo".
There can't be any intellectual property rights in the format, so why pay a 7 figure sum for it?
Well they have massive amount of daily traffic at the moment and the brand is trademarked (the creator has previous filed cease and desist against some rip offs).
If you want the Union to stay, is BJ having his drinks parties going to make you think "you know what, I'll vote for independence?". Especially given all the question marks over Nicola S's own behaviour and what was exposed in the Salmond case? Yes, people might vote for another party as the main Unionist party but their #1 motivation factor is the...Union, not BJ.
If you want Americans to keep loyal to the crown, is a tax on tea really going to make you think “you know what, I’ll vote for independence?”.
Except it didn't, as a lot of the recent research suggests. The Colonies were slipping away well before the Boston Tea Party.
Scotland too.
As it has for years.
If you want to blame someone who doomed the Union, look to Blair and the Labour Party in general during that time.
I do.
Devolution, as structured, was/is a disaster for the Union, although this only became apparently about 10 years ago.
If the English had blocked devolution then Scotland would already be independent.
I’m a great believer in devolution. Maybe the greatest on this Board.
But it has to be done in a way that doesn’t undermine the centre.
What happens now is that essentially the devolved government gets money but no real tax raising powers. That creates an automatic lack of accountability and an incentive to bash the centre.
The jerry-rigged electoral system doesn’t help, either.
Plus devolution said nothing about the English, and the English regions, where places like Yorkshire have as good a claim as the Scots to self government.
Yorkshire doesn't have its own legal system, it should be said. A major difference and what is often forgotten as a major driver of the democratic deficit issue pre-devolution. Not a matter of different laws such as appelation controlee for parkin, but a completely different legal code and legal system. So, by definition, not 'such a good claim'.
It does bear remembering that lot of what some peoiple see as 'devolution thanks to Blair' was already there - administrative devolution from the 1880s onwards, and even earlier for law, the Kirk, universities and much else.
ANd that is one reason whty the poll tax was utterly toxic, as we were discussing a few weeks back IIRC.
This does not, of course, affect the totality of the Yorkshire claim to self-government. Which is quite independent of the Scottish situation which is sui generis.
I choose Yorkshire for size and population more than any other reason. I get your point about the other differences. Hardly surprising as Scotland really was a different nation until the act of union.
I’ve always believed in self determination. It’s not clear that that is what a majority of Scots want. But it may be what happens, and fairly soon.
Went to the local pub at 7 tonight. Monday evening. Quiet. There is a corner where a group of peeps meet whatever day of week - mainly young lads. 3 or 4 middle aged. I think they are something to do with 5-a-side football or golf.
The entire hour I was there they banged on about Johnson and basically what a lying twat he is. All of them sharing one mobile phone picture, tweet, joke, meem after another. They can't decide whether to laugh at the lying fat twat or be upset that things have come to this.
Middle England.
Bet the Tories long after the days when their PM waffled on about the Middle England of long shadows on county grounds, warm beer, invincible green suburbs, dog lovers, pools fillers and cones hotlines.
So much for the guy I am not interested in money shtick.....NYT will be monetarising the hell out of it.
Wordle was purchased from its creator, Josh Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn, for a price “in the low seven figures,” The Times said. The company said the game would initially remain free to new and existing players.
All those knock-offs are going to be getting more letters (from lawyers) than Graham Brady....
On which. Am I the only one who remembers Word Mastermind? Wasn't that just Wordle?
See also the tv show lingo. But hey, if the guy has created this, and then sold it for lots of money, fair play. I didn’t do it. You didn’t do it. He did.
Indeed. The bastard. We planned to open a Taiwanese bubble tea shop 20 years ago. Were told there was no market. So bottled it.
I have no idea what a Taiwanese bubble tea shop is, so either you made the right call, or I am hopelessly out of touch.
The key is most Tory voters still want Boris to stay even after today's report.
The Labour lead was also still under 10% with RedfieldWilton today as well and even Sunak still trailed Starmer as preferred PM.
Unless those numbers change, Boris is safe
If Tory MPs split along similar lines, he’s toast.
No, Boris would win a VONC at least 55% to 45% on that split
I suspect in November 1990 most Conservative voters and members supported Margaret Thatcher. We don't have polling from 2003 about Iain Duncan-Smith but again I suspect he still retained the loyalty of members, activists and voters.
As you're so fond of saying, the views of non-Conservatives don't matter and in this instance the view of Conservative members and activists doesn't matter either and Conservative voters are an irrelevance. It's just down to the MPs themselves and as 1990 showed they can do what they like irrespective of what their associations think.
Remind me how many Conservative MPs were deselected for not publicly supporting Margaret Thatcher in 1990.
In 1990 however the polling was clear a Major led Tories would beat a Kinnock led Labour and a Thatcher led Tories would not. Only today RedfieldWilton has Sunak behind Starmer as preferred PM. Plus Tory members get the final say now unlike 1990 and there is no guarantee they would pick Sunak, the most popular choice with the public.
There was also a major policy difference in 1990 between Major and Thatcher on the poll tax which Major dumped. There is no such policy difference between Boris and 2
If you want the Union to stay, is BJ having his drinks parties going to make you think "you know what, I'll vote for independence?". Especially given all the question marks over Nicola S's own behaviour and what was exposed in the Salmond case? Yes, people might vote for another party as the main Unionist party but their #1 motivation factor is the...Union, not BJ.
As poster Unpopular, a Unionist living in Scotland, put it on the previous thread:
- “He, and notables around him, seem to go out their way to prove everything the SNP say about Westminster.”
And is Unpopular going to now vote for independence off the back of BJ's behaviour?
If you want the Union to stay, is BJ having his drinks parties going to make you think "you know what, I'll vote for independence?". Especially given all the question marks over Nicola S's own behaviour and what was exposed in the Salmond case? Yes, people might vote for another party as the main Unionist party but their #1 motivation factor is the...Union, not BJ.
As poster Unpopular, a Unionist living in Scotland, put it on the previous thread:
- “He, and notables around him, seem to go out their way to prove everything the SNP say about Westminster.”
And is Unpopular going to now vote for independence off the back of BJ's behaviour?
No, I'm a diehard Unionist. I can't really think of a realistic scenario under which I wouldn't vote to retain the Union. But that view is probably not the majority of Scots. The parties (or work events) aren't going to drive a vote for independence themselves but the impression that this government is acting as though the rules don't apply to them feeds into a narrative of unfairness and distance, which can be exploited by others offering an alternative. They can point to them and say 'These people are not like you, these people don't care about you.' In Scotland, because of the political dividing lines, this narrative is uniquely problematic for the Union.
At the end of the day, if people don't feel included in the Union, if they feel that they are being taken for granted, or for fools, they won't stand it. Regardless of the economic benefits.
You’re a new poster, and I like your style.
Why are you still a Unionist? Is it sentiment, economics, both?
So much for the guy I am not interested in money shtick.....NYT will be monetarising the hell out of it.
Wordle was purchased from its creator, Josh Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn, for a price “in the low seven figures,” The Times said. The company said the game would initially remain free to new and existing players.
All those knock-offs are going to be getting more letters (from lawyers) than Graham Brady....
On which. Am I the only one who remembers Word Mastermind? Wasn't that just Wordle?
See also the tv show lingo. But hey, if the guy has created this, and then sold it for lots of money, fair play. I didn’t do it. You didn’t do it. He did.
Indeed. The bastard. We planned to open a Taiwanese bubble tea shop 20 years ago. Were told there was no market. So bottled it.
I have no idea what a Taiwanese bubble tea shop is, so either you made the right call, or I am hopelessly out of touch.
It's quite nice. There are a few in Leicester.
I still don’t know what it is though? What is ‘bubble tea’? Not PG tips I’m thinking?
If you want the Union to stay, is BJ having his drinks parties going to make you think "you know what, I'll vote for independence?". Especially given all the question marks over Nicola S's own behaviour and what was exposed in the Salmond case? Yes, people might vote for another party as the main Unionist party but their #1 motivation factor is the...Union, not BJ.
As poster Unpopular, a Unionist living in Scotland, put it on the previous thread:
- “He, and notables around him, seem to go out their way to prove everything the SNP say about Westminster.”
And is Unpopular going to now vote for independence off the back of BJ's behaviour?
If you want the Union to stay, is BJ having his drinks parties going to make you think "you know what, I'll vote for independence?". Especially given all the question marks over Nicola S's own behaviour and what was exposed in the Salmond case? Yes, people might vote for another party as the main Unionist party but their #1 motivation factor is the...Union, not BJ.
As poster Unpopular, a Unionist living in Scotland, put it on the previous thread:
- “He, and notables around him, seem to go out their way to prove everything the SNP say about Westminster.”
And is Unpopular going to now vote for independence off the back of BJ's behaviour?
No, I'm a diehard Unionist. I can't really think of a realistic scenario under which I wouldn't vote to retain the Union. But that view is probably not the majority of Scots. The parties (or work events) aren't going to drive a vote for independence themselves but the impression that this government is acting as though the rules don't apply to them feeds into a narrative of unfairness and distance, which can be exploited by others offering an alternative. They can point to them and say 'These people are not like you, these people don't care about you.' In Scotland, because of the political dividing lines, this narrative is uniquely problematic for the Union.
At the end of the day, if people don't feel included in the Union, if they feel that they are being taken for granted, or for fools, they won't stand it. Regardless of the economic benefits.
Yet, if Scotland does become independent, it will be largely due to two leaders whose ethical and moral behaviours can easily be described as questionable (but for different reasons), namely Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon.
People know that leaders come and go in a democracy.
Does 10 Downing St seriously need 400 civil servants o_O ?!
Producer capture.
No, it’s in response to the modern media era.
Downing Street is under constant surveillance (of a kind) and needs to feed the media beast. In turn it requires the hope of greater co-ordination (or at least, message discipline) across the whole of government.
That now takes 400 civil servants.
It’s a disaster, and not at all the sort of thing that one would rely on Boris to fix. He’s not a mechanic, he’s a bullshitter.
If you want the Union to stay, is BJ having his drinks parties going to make you think "you know what, I'll vote for independence?". Especially given all the question marks over Nicola S's own behaviour and what was exposed in the Salmond case? Yes, people might vote for another party as the main Unionist party but their #1 motivation factor is the...Union, not BJ.
It's not gonna change the true Union diehards, no. But then not much would.
It may well sway some of the more undecideds floating in the middle. I daresay a lot of those would have already been swayed anyway just by "Boris Johnson: Prime Minister", but it all adds up.
There's a reason Douglas Ross and most of the SCon MSPs came out against him even before today. He certainly isn't helping the cause, that much is true.
That I can well believe and some "meh" voters might not be bothered to come out. But, if your concern about leaving the Union is driven by concerns about how the economy will end up and / or your personal circumstances, I don't see BJ's actions as motivating enough anger to make you overcome those concerns.
I’m a very strong Unionist, but even I can see that Boris puts rocket-boosters on the case for SINDY.
Boris has banned indyref2 so there will be no possibility of Sindy while he is PM
Boris banned parties during lockdown as well, but had them anyway.
So much for the guy I am not interested in money shtick.....NYT will be monetarising the hell out of it.
Wordle was purchased from its creator, Josh Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn, for a price “in the low seven figures,” The Times said. The company said the game would initially remain free to new and existing players.
All those knock-offs are going to be getting more letters (from lawyers) than Graham Brady....
On which. Am I the only one who remembers Word Mastermind? Wasn't that just Wordle?
See also the tv show lingo. But hey, if the guy has created this, and then sold it for lots of money, fair play. I didn’t do it. You didn’t do it. He did.
Indeed. The bastard. We planned to open a Taiwanese bubble tea shop 20 years ago. Were told there was no market. So bottled it.
I have no idea what a Taiwanese bubble tea shop is, so either you made the right call, or I am hopelessly out of touch.
It's quite nice. There are a few in Leicester.
They are all over Newcastle and Manchester. Cold tea with flavourings and chewy bits in. Lush. Apart from the taro bean ones that is.
If you want the Union to stay, is BJ having his drinks parties going to make you think "you know what, I'll vote for independence?". Especially given all the question marks over Nicola S's own behaviour and what was exposed in the Salmond case? Yes, people might vote for another party as the main Unionist party but their #1 motivation factor is the...Union, not BJ.
As poster Unpopular, a Unionist living in Scotland, put it on the previous thread:
- “He, and notables around him, seem to go out their way to prove everything the SNP say about Westminster.”
And is Unpopular going to now vote for independence off the back of BJ's behaviour?
If you want the Union to stay, is BJ having his drinks parties going to make you think "you know what, I'll vote for independence?". Especially given all the question marks over Nicola S's own behaviour and what was exposed in the Salmond case? Yes, people might vote for another party as the main Unionist party but their #1 motivation factor is the...Union, not BJ.
As poster Unpopular, a Unionist living in Scotland, put it on the previous thread:
- “He, and notables around him, seem to go out their way to prove everything the SNP say about Westminster.”
And is Unpopular going to now vote for independence off the back of BJ's behaviour?
No, I'm a diehard Unionist. I can't really think of a realistic scenario under which I wouldn't vote to retain the Union. But that view is probably not the majority of Scots. The parties (or work events) aren't going to drive a vote for independence themselves but the impression that this government is acting as though the rules don't apply to them feeds into a narrative of unfairness and distance, which can be exploited by others offering an alternative. They can point to them and say 'These people are not like you, these people don't care about you.' In Scotland, because of the political dividing lines, this narrative is uniquely problematic for the Union.
At the end of the day, if people don't feel included in the Union, if they feel that they are being taken for granted, or for fools, they won't stand it. Regardless of the economic benefits.
Yet, if Scotland does become independent, it will be largely due to two leaders whose ethical and moral behaviours can easily be described as questionable (but for different reasons), namely Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon.
People know that leaders come and go in a democracy.
If Scotland becomes independent it would be under a UK PM who allows an indyref2 ie not Boris, which they then lose.
It was New Labour who also created Holyrood to allow Salmond and Sturgeon a platform to propagate their Scottish Nationalism
Does 10 Downing St seriously need 400 civil servants o_O ?!
Producer capture.
No, it’s in response to the modern media era.
Downing Street is under constant surveillance (of a kind) and needs to feed the media beast. In turn it requires the hope of greater co-ordination (or at least, message discipline) across the whole of government.
That now takes 400 civil servants.
It’s a disaster, and not at all the sort of thing that one would rely on Boris to fix. He’s not a mechanic, he’s a bullshitter.
It's a ridiculous amount of bloat however it's looked at.
Evening all! I have chosen a bad political day to have my best working day in 5 years. Honestly. Liar stays or doesn't whatever, I don't care, its all good
If you want the Union to stay, is BJ having his drinks parties going to make you think "you know what, I'll vote for independence?". Especially given all the question marks over Nicola S's own behaviour and what was exposed in the Salmond case? Yes, people might vote for another party as the main Unionist party but their #1 motivation factor is the...Union, not BJ.
If you want Americans to keep loyal to the crown, is a tax on tea really going to make you think “you know what, I’ll vote for independence?”.
Except it didn't, as a lot of the recent research suggests. The Colonies were slipping away well before the Boston Tea Party.
Scotland too.
As it has for years.
If you want to blame someone who doomed the Union, look to Blair and the Labour Party in general during that time.
I do.
Devolution, as structured, was/is a disaster for the Union, although this only became apparently about 10 years ago.
If the English had blocked devolution then Scotland would already be independent.
I’m a great believer in devolution. Maybe the greatest on this Board.
But it has to be done in a way that doesn’t undermine the centre.
What happens now is that essentially the devolved government gets money but no real tax raising powers. That creates an automatic lack of accountability and an incentive to bash the centre.
The jerry-rigged electoral system doesn’t help, either.
Plus devolution said nothing about the English, and the English regions, where places like Yorkshire have as good a claim as the Scots to self government.
Yorkshire doesn't have its own legal system, it should be said. A major difference and what is often forgotten as a major driver of the democratic deficit issue pre-devolution. Not a matter of different laws such as appelation controlee for parkin, but a completely different legal code and legal system. So, by definition, not 'such a good claim'.
It does bear remembering that lot of what some peoiple see as 'devolution thanks to Blair' was already there - administrative devolution from the 1880s onwards, and even earlier for law, the Kirk, universities and much else.
ANd that is one reason whty the poll tax was utterly toxic, as we were discussing a few weeks back IIRC.
This does not, of course, affect the totality of the Yorkshire claim to self-government. Which is quite independent of the Scottish situation which is sui generis.
I choose Yorkshire for size and population more than any other reason. I get your point about the other differences. Hardly surprising as Scotland really was a different nation until the act of union.
I’ve always believed in self determination. It’s not clear that that is what a majority of Scots want. But it may be what happens, and fairly soon.
It still is a different nation ... coming back to the issue of what Blair actually did, it was quite an eye opener a few weeks ago to realise from the discussion here some people would come to Scotland and see Scottish this and Scttish that and assume it was all the SNP relabelling everything. But it's been like that for decades, indeed more than a century when it comes to governmental services. If that basic error of understanding is common then it must explain a lot of the political attitudes to devolution.
Does 10 Downing St seriously need 400 civil servants o_O ?!
To be honest even though the obvious answer is no, I would happily keep those 400 civil servants if we could just get rid of the one fuckwit sat in the flat upstairs.
I don’t know if I’m just having a bad day, but feel very different about politics tonight. Boris is taking the Conservatives in a post-truth Trump Republican direction. It’s a real concern.
Feel like whoever breaks cover in the Tory ranks and gets rid deserves support. Will anyone senior be brave enough to say enough is enough?
Johnson won't go anytime soon. The "Conservative" Party has followed the GOP down the rabbit hole of moral bankruptcy. I suspect that a majority of the MPs and members think like HUYFD that as long as you win nothing else matters.
My money is on Johnson and Trump both winning in 2024 because they understand that their core vote aren't much interested in the truth or morality.
Does 10 Downing St seriously need 400 civil servants o_O ?!
Producer capture.
No, it’s in response to the modern media era.
Downing Street is under constant surveillance (of a kind) and needs to feed the media beast. In turn it requires the hope of greater co-ordination (or at least, message discipline) across the whole of government.
That now takes 400 civil servants.
It’s a disaster, and not at all the sort of thing that one would rely on Boris to fix. He’s not a mechanic, he’s a bullshitter.
400 on the payroll, but not civil servants in the usual sence. SPADS and flunkies on sinecures, PR people, media managers and personal photographers.
Unfortunately, if the one third that are still prepared to put up with the scumbag are also significantly more likely to vote than the two thirds that aren't, he could quite conceivably lie and guffaw his way right through to 2024 and then win again.
Does 10 Downing St seriously need 400 civil servants o_O ?!
Producer capture.
No, it’s in response to the modern media era.
Downing Street is under constant surveillance (of a kind) and needs to feed the media beast. In turn it requires the hope of greater co-ordination (or at least, message discipline) across the whole of government.
That now takes 400 civil servants.
It’s a disaster, and not at all the sort of thing that one would rely on Boris to fix. He’s not a mechanic, he’s a bullshitter.
400 on the payroll, but not civil servants in the usual sence. SPADS and flunkies on sinecures, PR people, media managers and personal photographers.
Yes. These are not policy-makers. They are fluffers. And they are all fully in cahoots (and largely interchangeable) with the UK media-industrial complex.
Unfortunately, if the one third that are still prepared to put up with the scumbag are also significantly more likely to vote than the two thirds that aren't, he could quite conceivably lie and guffaw his way right through to 2024 and then win again.
The vast majority of voters vote for the least worst party. All we are seeing here is that there are people who dislike Boris but still regard the Tory party as the least worst option.
It was New Labour who also created Holyrood to allow Salmond and Sturgeon a platform to propagate their Scottish Nationalism
Good. Well done Labour. Better to have free competition of ideas than have political parties being gatekeepers to others. We even have a word for the idea. Here's a clue:
D*M*CR*CY
They botched it. It was largely a self-own by Scottish Labour politicians, too.
So much for the guy I am not interested in money shtick.....NYT will be monetarising the hell out of it.
Wordle was purchased from its creator, Josh Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn, for a price “in the low seven figures,” The Times said. The company said the game would initially remain free to new and existing players.
All those knock-offs are going to be getting more letters (from lawyers) than Graham Brady....
On which. Am I the only one who remembers Word Mastermind? Wasn't that just Wordle?
Basically yes. And equally as dull. A fad that surely everyone will grow tired of fairly quickly. Just monotonous trial and error. Try cryptic crosswords instead!
So much for the guy I am not interested in money shtick.....NYT will be monetarising the hell out of it.
Wordle was purchased from its creator, Josh Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn, for a price “in the low seven figures,” The Times said. The company said the game would initially remain free to new and existing players.
All those knock-offs are going to be getting more letters (from lawyers) than Graham Brady....
On which. Am I the only one who remembers Word Mastermind? Wasn't that just Wordle?
See also the tv show lingo. But hey, if the guy has created this, and then sold it for lots of money, fair play. I didn’t do it. You didn’t do it. He did.
Indeed. The bastard. We planned to open a Taiwanese bubble tea shop 20 years ago. Were told there was no market. So bottled it.
I have no idea what a Taiwanese bubble tea shop is, so either you made the right call, or I am hopelessly out of touch.
It's quite nice. There are a few in Leicester.
They are all over Newcastle and Manchester. Cold tea with flavourings and chewy bits in. Lush. Apart from the taro bean ones that is.
Probably not reached my backwater part of Wiltshire!
The optimism among @BorisJohnson allies over w/end clearly premature. Many Tory MPs think today he's effectively “re-lit the fuse” that will blow up his premiership. Will be lots of meetings over next few days. Big debate on timing - very unclear which way PMs critics will break
So much for the guy I am not interested in money shtick.....NYT will be monetarising the hell out of it.
Wordle was purchased from its creator, Josh Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn, for a price “in the low seven figures,” The Times said. The company said the game would initially remain free to new and existing players.
All those knock-offs are going to be getting more letters (from lawyers) than Graham Brady....
On which. Am I the only one who remembers Word Mastermind? Wasn't that just Wordle?
See also the tv show lingo. But hey, if the guy has created this, and then sold it for lots of money, fair play. I didn’t do it. You didn’t do it. He did.
Indeed. The bastard. We planned to open a Taiwanese bubble tea shop 20 years ago. Were told there was no market. So bottled it.
I have no idea what a Taiwanese bubble tea shop is, so either you made the right call, or I am hopelessly out of touch.
It's quite nice. There are a few in Leicester.
They are all over Newcastle and Manchester. Cold tea with flavourings and chewy bits in. Lush. Apart from the taro bean ones that is.
Probably not reached my backwater part of Wiltshire!
There's an opportunity then!
Very popular once people have tried it. If Britons can take to Kareoke and Manga, then they will take to bubble tea too.
If you want the Union to stay, is BJ having his drinks parties going to make you think "you know what, I'll vote for independence?". Especially given all the question marks over Nicola S's own behaviour and what was exposed in the Salmond case? Yes, people might vote for another party as the main Unionist party but their #1 motivation factor is the...Union, not BJ.
As poster Unpopular, a Unionist living in Scotland, put it on the previous thread:
- “He, and notables around him, seem to go out their way to prove everything the SNP say about Westminster.”
And is Unpopular going to now vote for independence off the back of BJ's behaviour?
If you want the Union to stay, is BJ having his drinks parties going to make you think "you know what, I'll vote for independence?". Especially given all the question marks over Nicola S's own behaviour and what was exposed in the Salmond case? Yes, people might vote for another party as the main Unionist party but their #1 motivation factor is the...Union, not BJ.
As poster Unpopular, a Unionist living in Scotland, put it on the previous thread:
- “He, and notables around him, seem to go out their way to prove everything the SNP say about Westminster.”
And is Unpopular going to now vote for independence off the back of BJ's behaviour?
No, I'm a diehard Unionist. I can't really think of a realistic scenario under which I wouldn't vote to retain the Union. But that view is probably not the majority of Scots. The parties (or work events) aren't going to drive a vote for independence themselves but the impression that this government is acting as though the rules don't apply to them feeds into a narrative of unfairness and distance, which can be exploited by others offering an alternative. They can point to them and say 'These people are not like you, these people don't care about you.' In Scotland, because of the political dividing lines, this narrative is uniquely problematic for the Union.
At the end of the day, if people don't feel included in the Union, if they feel that they are being taken for granted, or for fools, they won't stand it. Regardless of the economic benefits.
You’re a new poster, and I like your style.
Why are you still a Unionist? Is it sentiment, economics, both?
Why thank you, long time lurker, but thought I'd get stuck in a bit. Would post more, but it takes me ages to think and then write what I mean.
It's a bit of both, though I'm mainly a Unionist for sentiment, I guess. I'm not actually Scottish but Gisella Stewart's words on this really sums it up. She said she could never feel English, but she could be British (in a national sense). I think there's something to that, this shared identity (not universally felt, I know). I also think the Union is bigger than a single Government or political party. The United Kingdom is stronger and more influential in the world than it would be as its constituent parts. The economic benefits are, of course a part of it. I think we're richer together too and the economic opportunities the Union affords to English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish people are also greater than those that are afforded in the Nations.
I try to be clear eyed about the future of the Union, and a Scottish partner helps with that. I think Westminster generally, and the Conservative Party in particular, are very complacent about the continued existence of the United Kingdom. Even though I support it, I know that the Union cannot long endure without the consent of the people of the four nations.
So much for the guy I am not interested in money shtick.....NYT will be monetarising the hell out of it.
Wordle was purchased from its creator, Josh Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn, for a price “in the low seven figures,” The Times said. The company said the game would initially remain free to new and existing players.
All those knock-offs are going to be getting more letters (from lawyers) than Graham Brady....
On which. Am I the only one who remembers Word Mastermind? Wasn't that just Wordle?
See also the tv show lingo. But hey, if the guy has created this, and then sold it for lots of money, fair play. I didn’t do it. You didn’t do it. He did.
Indeed. The bastard. We planned to open a Taiwanese bubble tea shop 20 years ago. Were told there was no market. So bottled it.
I have no idea what a Taiwanese bubble tea shop is, so either you made the right call, or I am hopelessly out of touch.
It's quite nice. There are a few in Leicester.
They are all over Newcastle and Manchester. Cold tea with flavourings and chewy bits in. Lush. Apart from the taro bean ones that is.
Probably not reached my backwater part of Wiltshire!
Final thoughts for today: The Gray update suggested strong findings are incoming and the bare bones had force of their own. Boris's dispatch box performance will not have won any of the sceptics - and it is the sceptics not the sycophants that will drive this. I reckon today increases the letter count from 20-25 to 35-40, not least because some MPs were using Gray as the trigger if it even base confirmed their understanding, and further irritation could see another few letters in.
On Labour front the questioning should stick with statements to the house on the following track:
- Does he understand that there is nothing in the police investigation, no subjudice, that prevents him from clarifying to the house any errors? (Take him through it) - Does he understand that, in the absence of anything preventing him, that he is required to clarify misleading statements to the house at the earliest opportunity, and that each and every single missed opportunity to do so should it be needed, would be a resigning offence? - Ask, does he wish to correct his categorical statement of 8/12 that there was no flat party or does he wish to reassert it? - If he declines to answer, remind him it is his duty to correct the record if he misled the house and ask again? - Put on the record his reassertion, demurment, or correction, and note if he demurs he has failed to reconfirm a categorical statement to parliament? Point out he has more inadvertent lies than, say, Gordon Brittas. - As a point of order, ask the speaker (having forewarned him) for general guidance as to correcting the parliamentary record when police are investigating (which should confirm the obligation to parliament) and whether it would be possible should the PM so wish.
Evening all! I have chosen a bad political day to have my best working day in 5 years. Honestly. Liar stays or doesn't whatever, I don't care, its all good
Good for you sir. Glad to hear you are enjoying success professionally.
So much for the guy I am not interested in money shtick.....NYT will be monetarising the hell out of it.
Wordle was purchased from its creator, Josh Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn, for a price “in the low seven figures,” The Times said. The company said the game would initially remain free to new and existing players.
All those knock-offs are going to be getting more letters (from lawyers) than Graham Brady....
On which. Am I the only one who remembers Word Mastermind? Wasn't that just Wordle?
See also the tv show lingo. But hey, if the guy has created this, and then sold it for lots of money, fair play. I didn’t do it. You didn’t do it. He did.
Indeed. The bastard. We planned to open a Taiwanese bubble tea shop 20 years ago. Were told there was no market. So bottled it.
I have no idea what a Taiwanese bubble tea shop is, so either you made the right call, or I am hopelessly out of touch.
It's quite nice. There are a few in Leicester.
They are all over Newcastle and Manchester. Cold tea with flavourings and chewy bits in. Lush. Apart from the taro bean ones that is.
Probably not reached my backwater part of Wiltshire!
So much for the guy I am not interested in money shtick.....NYT will be monetarising the hell out of it.
Wordle was purchased from its creator, Josh Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn, for a price “in the low seven figures,” The Times said. The company said the game would initially remain free to new and existing players.
All those knock-offs are going to be getting more letters (from lawyers) than Graham Brady....
On which. Am I the only one who remembers Word Mastermind? Wasn't that just Wordle?
See also the tv show lingo. But hey, if the guy has created this, and then sold it for lots of money, fair play. I didn’t do it. You didn’t do it. He did.
Indeed. The bastard. We planned to open a Taiwanese bubble tea shop 20 years ago. Were told there was no market. So bottled it.
I have no idea what a Taiwanese bubble tea shop is, so either you made the right call, or I am hopelessly out of touch.
It's quite nice. There are a few in Leicester.
They are all over Newcastle and Manchester. Cold tea with flavourings and chewy bits in. Lush. Apart from the taro bean ones that is.
Probably not reached my backwater part of Wiltshire!
The optimism among @BorisJohnson allies over w/end clearly premature. Many Tory MPs think today he's effectively “re-lit the fuse” that will blow up his premiership. Will be lots of meetings over next few days. Big debate on timing - very unclear which way PMs critics will break
Has to be said. Ian Blackford has bollocks. Had no idea what had happened today until an hour ago. Had non politicos ask "why was Ian Blackford thrown out for telling the truth?"
It was New Labour who also created Holyrood to allow Salmond and Sturgeon a platform to propagate their Scottish Nationalism
Good. Well done Labour. Better to have free competition of ideas than have political parties being gatekeepers to others. We even have a word for the idea. Here's a clue:
D*M*CR*CY
They botched it. It was largely a self-own by Scottish Labour politicians, too.
Still, more representative than Westminster, though not good enough.
The optimism among @BorisJohnson allies over w/end clearly premature. Many Tory MPs think today he's effectively “re-lit the fuse” that will blow up his premiership. Will be lots of meetings over next few days. Big debate on timing - very unclear which way PMs critics will break
Roberto Carlos won by Bull in the Barn FC in a competition. Will play in the Shrewsbury League.
He isn't looking in very good nick these days.
Tbf. I doubt he'll need to be.
I was never much of a footballer, but during my gap year I played for the company team. We had a few lads who played decent level Saturday football, but my boss was a former EPL academy player. He was offered pro but told not likely good enough for the big time, more like League One. He decided he didn't fancy it and was a intelligent guy and went off to uni and still at age of nearly 40 played league below conference and was in good nick.
He would literally stand they and ping the ball right on to your foot from 30-40 yard, and read the game so well he hardly had to do much running. The quality he had was a totally different level to the youngsters in their 20s who played local league.
Has to be said. Ian Blackford has bollocks. Had no idea what had happened today until an hour ago. Had non politicos ask "why was Ian Blackford thrown out for telling the truth?"
Good question
The rules are, of course, there to stop every Parliamentary debate from devolving into a personal slanging match in which everyone accuses everyone else of lying.
That said, Blackford has done himself no harm whatsoever in this case by stating the bleeding obvious about a man who also just happens to be about as popular as a dogshit sandwich back home.
Comments
It does bear remembering that lot of what some peoiple see as 'devolution thanks to Blair' was already there - administrative devolution from the 1880s onwards, and even earlier for law, the Kirk, universities and much else.
ANd that is one reason whty the poll tax was utterly toxic, as we were discussing a few weeks back IIRC.
This does not, of course, affect the totality of the Yorkshire claim to self-government. Which is quite independent of the Scottish situation which is sui generis.
https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1488274731908595712
https://twitter.com/savantacomres/status/1488272752523939840
The first has a look around, and sends a message to head office. "No-one wears shoes here, returning shortly"
The second one has a look around, and contacts his head office "No-one wears shoes here, market potentially unlimited."
As it is, most people who are already in poverty in the UK are also employed. A shit minimum wage job offers scant defence against the punishing and ever-inflating costs of basic necessities - rent, fuel and food - in this country.
🎉65% do not accept PM's apology today
🎉69% want him to resign
🎉68% don't trust him and govt. to deliver
🎉80% want PM to publish full, unredacted report
🎉66% say he doesn't care about the hurt caused
1,128 UK adults, 31 Jan (post statement)
Went to the local pub at 7 tonight. Monday evening. Quiet. There is a corner where a group of peeps meet whatever day of week - mainly young lads. 3 or 4 middle aged. I think they are something to do with 5-a-side football or golf.
The entire hour I was there they banged on about Johnson and basically what a lying twat he is. All of them sharing one mobile phone picture, tweet, joke, meem after another. They can't decide whether to laugh at the lying fat twat or be upset that things have come to this.
Middle England.
At the end of the day, if people don't feel included in the Union, if they feel that they are being taken for granted, or for fools, they won't stand it. Regardless of the economic benefits.
Savanta ComRes
@SavantaComRes
·
13m
🚨NEW PARTYGATE SNAP POLL🚨
🎉65% do not accept PM's apology today
🎉69% want him to resign
🎉68% don't trust him and govt. to deliver
🎉80% want PM to publish full, unredacted report
🎉66% say he doesn't care about the hurt caused
1,128 UK adults, 31 Jan (post statement)
https://twitter.com/SavantaComRes/status/1488272752523939840
I’ve always believed in self determination. It’s not clear that that is what a majority of Scots want. But it may be what happens, and fairly soon.
I wonder if SKS has had a conversation regarding defection with Tissue Price yet..
There was also a major policy difference in 1990 between Major and Thatcher on the poll tax which Major dumped. There is no such policy difference between Boris and 2
Why are you still a Unionist?
Is it sentiment, economics, both?
Keir Starmer (LAB): 49% (+5)
Boris Johnson (CON): 31% (=)
IPSOS MORI, who've been polling this sort of thing for over 44 years...
Although only last two years someone posted earlier.
In Johnson's case I think it is a wall of blubber.
People know that leaders come and go in a democracy.
Downing Street is under constant surveillance (of a kind) and needs to feed the media beast. In turn it requires the hope of greater co-ordination (or at least, message discipline) across the whole of government.
That now takes 400 civil servants.
It’s a disaster, and not at all the sort of thing that one would rely on Boris to fix. He’s not a mechanic, he’s a bullshitter.
Opinium - 64% want the PM to resign
YouGov - 63% want the PM to resign
Savanta - 69% want the PM to resign
And all pretty unchanged from last week's polls.
https://twitter.com/chriscurtis94/status/1488276867073277952
For a sitting PM?
Maybe Blair v Major?
Cold tea with flavourings and chewy bits in.
Lush. Apart from the taro bean ones that is.
It was New Labour who also created Holyrood to allow Salmond and Sturgeon a platform to propagate their Scottish Nationalism
Feel like whoever breaks cover in the Tory ranks and gets rid deserves support. Will anyone senior be brave enough to say enough is enough?
My money is on Johnson and Trump both winning in 2024 because they understand that their core vote aren't much interested in the truth or morality.
Will play in the Shrewsbury League.
@BorisJohnson allies over w/end clearly premature. Many Tory MPs think today he's effectively “re-lit the fuse” that will blow up his premiership. Will be lots of meetings over next few days. Big debate on timing - very unclear which way PMs critics will break
https://twitter.com/Mij_Europe/status/1488272433941336065?s=20&t=fBU2_ugz_jtUEte5OfV4UQ
Very popular once people have tried it. If Britons can take to Kareoke and Manga, then they will take to bubble tea too.
#Partygate https://twitter.com/Alain_Tolhurst/status/1488193905975865350/video/1
It's a bit of both, though I'm mainly a Unionist for sentiment, I guess. I'm not actually Scottish but Gisella Stewart's words on this really sums it up. She said she could never feel English, but she could be British (in a national sense). I think there's something to that, this shared identity (not universally felt, I know). I also think the Union is bigger than a single Government or political party. The United Kingdom is stronger and more influential in the world than it would be as its constituent parts. The economic benefits are, of course a part of it. I think we're richer together too and the economic opportunities the Union affords to English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish people are also greater than those that are afforded in the Nations.
I try to be clear eyed about the future of the Union, and a Scottish partner helps with that. I think Westminster generally, and the Conservative Party in particular, are very complacent about the continued existence of the United Kingdom. Even though I support it, I know that the Union cannot long endure without the consent of the people of the four nations.
I doubt he'll need to be.
https://www.cuppbubbletea.co.uk/locations/
No, me neither.
The Gray update suggested strong findings are incoming and the bare bones had force of their own. Boris's dispatch box performance will not have won any of the sceptics - and it is the sceptics not the sycophants that will drive this. I reckon today increases the letter count from 20-25 to 35-40, not least because some MPs were using Gray as the trigger if it even base confirmed their understanding, and further irritation could see another few letters in.
On Labour front the questioning should stick with statements to the house on the following track:
- Does he understand that there is nothing in the police investigation, no subjudice, that prevents him from clarifying to the house any errors? (Take him through it)
- Does he understand that, in the absence of anything preventing him, that he is required to clarify misleading statements to the house at the earliest opportunity, and that each and every single missed opportunity to do so should it be needed, would be a resigning offence?
- Ask, does he wish to correct his categorical statement of 8/12 that there was no flat party or does he wish to reassert it?
- If he declines to answer, remind him it is his duty to correct the record if he misled the house and ask again?
- Put on the record his reassertion, demurment, or correction, and note if he demurs he has failed to reconfirm a categorical statement to parliament? Point out he has more inadvertent lies than, say, Gordon Brittas.
- As a point of order, ask the speaker (having forewarned him) for general guidance as to correcting the parliamentary record when police are investigating (which should confirm the obligation to parliament) and whether it would be possible should the PM so wish.
https://twitter.com/BBCRosAtkins/status/1488265419274297345?s=20&t=fBU2_ugz_jtUEte5OfV4UQ
He's either fit to lead or not. That won't change in May.
AVOID TARO BEAN!!!
Good question
We have had a total of 588,114reinfections in England since the beginning of the pandemic with an episode period of 90 days.
https://twitter.com/Pouriaaa/status/1488282432231067648?s=20&t=fBU2_ugz_jtUEte5OfV4UQ
He would literally stand they and ping the ball right on to your foot from 30-40 yard, and read the game so well he hardly had to do much running. The quality he had was a totally different level to the youngsters in their 20s who played local league.
Rachel Reeves mask looks like a pair of knickers. Once seen, can't be unseen...
That said, Blackford has done himself no harm whatsoever in this case by stating the bleeding obvious about a man who also just happens to be about as popular as a dogshit sandwich back home.
https://twitter.com/andersostlund/status/1488201772002942978?s=20&t=fBU2_ugz_jtUEte5OfV4UQ