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Macron’s campaign gets knocked off course by the Corsican riots – politicalbetting.com

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  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,714
    biggles said:

    I’m going the other way. I’m off to Greenham Common to protest for the immediate reintroduction of some cruise missiles.
    Be warned - you'll probably bump into HYUFD.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 50,841

    If you are out of the immediate blast zone, and had some kind of fallout protection - sealed the house up, with a filter, say... after a 3-4 weeks you would be ok to go outside, probably.
    As long as I beat the rush to book those Waitrose delivery slots, I should be OK, then.
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 4,855
    edited March 2022
    This P&O thing is so extreme that it almost looks like enemy action designed to cause chaos.

    How much Russian influence is there in Dubai?
  • MattWMattW Posts: 25,771
    edited March 2022
    biggles said:

    I think the timings of assorted finance bills and the links to live systems makes it pretty hard now. He’s bound to do something showy though. Petrol? VAT on fuel? 5-10% cut to VAT in general?
    Since they are getting these pay rises, presumably MPs' taxes will increase quite a lot more :smile:
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 54,204

    It's really brought it home. I was born an EEC/EU citizen, with all the freedoms that came with that. Now I am a complete foreigner. Of course I have known this was coming since 2016, but in all honesty seeing it happening in reality is fucking depressing. Really really sad.
    For me, flying back into the UK and seeing all the EU lanes removed felt unexpectedly uplifting. It was a reminder that we are still a serious, modern European country, and there is life beyond Brexit.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,347
    Leon said:

    You quickly get used to it
    As you do to an in-growing toenail.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 25,771
    edited March 2022
    Very interesting piece on the legal actions being taken by Ukraine against Russia in *FIVE* separate international fora.

    https://lieber.westpoint.edu/ukraines-legal-counterattack/
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    IanB2 said:

    Because it churns out useful stuff like highly talented scientists and engineers and mathematicians and geographers.

    The PPEs that Oxford produces are doing so much damage to the country already that dropping a bomb on it would be counter-productive.
    It's because of Rutherford we are all busy assessing the refuge value of the various ditches within a mile or so of our homes. Useful indeed.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,714

    The Nuclear Free Zone Movement in the United Kingdom was very strong in early 1980s; up to two hundred local authorities including county councils, district councils and city councils such as the Greater London Council (GLC) (before its abolition) declared themselves to be 'nuclear free'. The first 'nuclear-free zone' in the UK was Manchester City Council in 1980 – this still exists to this day. Wales became 'nuclear free' on 23 February 1982 after Clwyd County Council declared itself 'nuclear free' and the Nuclear Free Wales Declaration was made. This policy was legally underpinned by Section 137 of the Local Government Act, which allowed local authorities to spend a small amount on whatever members considered was in the interest of their area or a part of their area.

    UK nuclear-free local authorities refused to take part in civil defence exercises relating to nuclear war, which they thought were futile. The non-cooperation of the nuclear-free zone authorities was the main reason for the cancellation of the national 'Hard Rock' civil defence exercise in July 1982. In England and Wales 24 of the 54 county councils refused to participate and seven more co-operated only in a half-hearted way.[27] This has been seen as a victory for the British Peace movement against the policies of Margaret Thatcher. Generally, nuclear-free zones were predominantly Labour Party controlled councils but Liberal Party and even a few Conservative Party councillors were often active in this respect too.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear-free_zone#United_Kingdom
    My post wasn't meant to be taken seriously, but thanks for the detail!
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,151

    For me, flying back into the UK and seeing all the EU lanes removed felt unexpectedly uplifting. It was a reminder that we are still a serious, modern European country, and there is life beyond Brexit.
    This was flying back from your europhile to europhobic re-education camp in some far-flung part of empire, such as Gibraltar? It must be said, they did an excellent job. The Prevent people should go on the same course :wink:
  • MattWMattW Posts: 25,771
    edited March 2022

    The Nuclear Free Zone Movement in the United Kingdom was very strong in early 1980s; up to two hundred local authorities including county councils, district councils and city councils such as the Greater London Council (GLC) (before its abolition) declared themselves to be 'nuclear free'. The first 'nuclear-free zone' in the UK was Manchester City Council in 1980 – this still exists to this day. Wales became 'nuclear free' on 23 February 1982 after Clwyd County Council declared itself 'nuclear free' and the Nuclear Free Wales Declaration was made. This policy was legally underpinned by Section 137 of the Local Government Act, which allowed local authorities to spend a small amount on whatever members considered was in the interest of their area or a part of their area.

    UK nuclear-free local authorities refused to take part in civil defence exercises relating to nuclear war, which they thought were futile. The non-cooperation of the nuclear-free zone authorities was the main reason for the cancellation of the national 'Hard Rock' civil defence exercise in July 1982. In England and Wales 24 of the 54 county councils refused to participate and seven more co-operated only in a half-hearted way.[27] This has been seen as a victory for the British Peace movement against the policies of Margaret Thatcher. Generally, nuclear-free zones were predominantly Labour Party controlled councils but Liberal Party and even a few Conservative Party councillors were often active in this respect too.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear-free_zone#United_Kingdom
    Indeed. I think mine was David Bookbinder running Derbyshire CC.

    Political self-abuse. I remember thinking even then that these tossers were undermining our position wrt the Warsaw Pact. Fortunately they failed.
  • Apparently France exported bombs and aircraft to Russia after the 2014 embargo


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/03/17/france-exported-bombs-aircraft-russia-2014-eu-arms-embargo/
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 50,841

    Something far more cheering for us all, as evening comes on...

    Enfield Dispatch
    @EnfieldDispatch

    WATCH: The first Eurasian beaver to be released in London since the species went extinct in Britain 400 years ago. A male and female were this morning introduced to their new woodland enclosure at
    @FortyHallFarm
    in Enfield!

    https://twitter.com/EnfieldDispatch/status/1504440104680624142

    Interesting. There’s a consultation running currently on the island as to whether we should introduce beavers here. Meanwhile a third of our sea eagles has been found dead in suspicious circumstances; one fears that our farmers aren’t entirely behind these initiatives with species diversity.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 42,986

    Apparently France exported bombs and aircraft to Russia after the 2014 embargo


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/03/17/france-exported-bombs-aircraft-russia-2014-eu-arms-embargo/

    ‘Please sir, please sir, Pierre was talking through assembly!’
  • Meanwhile non-EU Albania doesn't seem to feel the need to do any of that shit, they don't seem to have bothered to stamp my passport. Unlike the Spanish who stamped it in at Malaga and out at La Linea. It really says more about our former EU partners than it says about us.
    EU countries will stamp your passport so they know whether you have overstayed your 90 days, and if so, there will be penalties and fines.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 25,771
    edited March 2022

    It's really brought it home. I was born an EEC/EU citizen, with all the freedoms that came with that. Now I am a complete foreigner. Of course I have known this was coming since 2016, but in all honesty seeing it happening in reality is fucking depressing. Really really sad.
    Since we have never been in Shengen, surely passports and stamps have always applied.

    eg Irish need a passport when travelling to France.

    Tame your imagination?
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 50,841

    The most convincing explanation I have seen is that the primary intention of the Donbas revolt was not so much for Russia to control those areas, but to produce a Ukraine that weak, in civil war, and subject to Russian interference, so that it could not meaningfully be brought within a Western sphere of influence.

    On that basis, things weren't working out. The invasion would therefore also have been aimed at removing the current political leadership, creating a vacuum, balkanising power within Ukraine, and removing Ukraine's military capability (therefore obliging Ukraine to come to Russia).

    Those aims have already failed, so Ukraine must instead be economically and militarily strangled, to make up for its current political strength.
    Or, more fundamentally, to destroy any chance that a democratic and prosperous Ukraine on his doorstep wouldn’t show up the failings of his own oligarchic-fascistic economy.

    Turning the Donbas into a gangster economy has however nullified the support Russia previously enjoyed in eastern Ukraine.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,347

    Completing my first overseas trip since early 2020, a short work trip to Frankfurt. Feeling really fucking depressed getting my passport stamped like a pariah, watching Irish tourists sailing through the EU channel.

    It's not a decision looking better with time, is it? As the bullshit and brittle boosterism falls away what's left, standing ever more starkly revealed, is the utter pointlessness of the whole thing and the essential tawdriness at its core. I don't enjoy saying this but it's true. In 10 years or so there'll be few admitting to being in the 52% - even amongst those still alive.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 54,204
    MattW said:

    Since we have never been in Shengen, surely passports and stamps have always applied.

    eg Irish need a passport when travelling to France.

    Tame your imagination?
    Passports, yes, but no stamps.
  • ApplicantApplicant Posts: 3,379

    It's really brought it home. I was born an EEC/EU citizen, with all the freedoms that came with that. Now I am a complete foreigner. Of course I have known this was coming since 2016, but in all honesty seeing it happening in reality is fucking depressing. Really really sad.
    Freedom from having your passport stamped when visiting a foreign country? Donnez-moi un break.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 50,841

    Completing my first overseas trip since early 2020, a short work trip to Frankfurt. Feeling really fucking depressed getting my passport stamped like a pariah, watching Irish tourists sailing through the EU channel.

    Nevertheless, make sure that Brexit misery doesn’t stop your going to check out their recently completed restoration of Frankfurt Altstadt.
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 5,403
    Applicant said:

    Freedom from having your passport stamped when visiting a foreign country? Donnez-moi un break.
    I didn’t even get a stamp going into the US last week. They’ve stopped it, apparently.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 13,680

    For me, flying back into the UK and seeing all the EU lanes removed felt unexpectedly uplifting. It was a reminder that we are still a serious, modern European country, and there is life beyond Brexit.
    If people really truly are born and live as 'citizens' of the EU, then it really is a proper question to ask what precisely is the EU's policy and military preparedness for the invasion of Finland or Sweden.

    And as a sub question to wonder at the ludicrous pretence of European non countries holding all those seats in the UN and exchanging ambassadors with each other.

  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    I wasn't born an EEC/EU citizen and had no choice in the matter. I have no interest in being an EU citizen and am delighted we are out of the idiotic mess. I travel extensively all over the world and if the worst that can be said is I have to queue for a few minutes at passport control (something by the way you always had to do anyway when going into Europe as we were not in Schengen) then so fucking what? If that is what makes you sad then you have led far too sheltered a life.

    Grow up you child.
    because look at the benefits.

    ... "Round the decay
    Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
    The lone and level sands stretch far away."
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,617
    This thread has had its UK subject's passport stamped.
  • This P&O thing is so extreme that it almost looks like enemy action designed to cause chaos.

    How much Russian influence is there in Dubai?

    I have never seen a more shocking video then the one from the boss of P & O to their staff

    Arrogance and appalling lack of sympathy

    He instantly made himself the most despised employer in the UK

    I cannot believe he can get away with this
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 50,841

    EU countries will stamp your passport so they know whether you have overstayed your 90 days, and if so, there will be penalties and fines.
    A key point. When you leave the EU (including returning home), make sure your passport is date-stamped. There are some sad cases of people who have returned home without a date-stamp who have been refused entry to the EU as a consequence.
  • MaffewMaffew Posts: 235

    For me, flying back into the UK and seeing all the EU lanes removed felt unexpectedly uplifting. It was a reminder that we are still a serious, modern European country, and there is life beyond Brexit.
    You must be going to different airports to me. Whenever I've flown in the last couple of years everyone from the EU has been using the e-gates with the British (and Americans, Japanese etc).
  • Completing my first overseas trip since early 2020, a short work trip to Frankfurt. Feeling really fucking depressed getting my passport stamped like a pariah, watching Irish tourists sailing through the EU channel.

    Proper Brits love a queue.
  • Have we done this?

    Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, has hit out at Russian “dirty tricks” after being targeted by an impostor posing as the Ukrainian prime minister.

    He told The Times that a man pretending to be prime minister Denys Shmyhal on a video call asked him a series of questions which “got wilder and wilder so I ended the call”.

    One line of inquiry is that the call was orchestrated by Russian intelligence as an attempt to extract sensitive information from Wallace or as an attempt to embarrass him.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/impostor-tries-to-dupe-defence-secretary-35rqqkbjw
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 50,841
    carnforth said:

    I didn’t even get a stamp going into the US last week. They’ve stopped it, apparently.
    Did you still get the usual five minutes of accusatory questions pitched from the perspective of your being less than welcome in the land of the free?
  • NEW THREAD

  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 5,403
    IanB2 said:

    A key point. When you leave the EU (including returning home), make sure your passport is date-stamped. There are some sad cases of people who have returned home without a date-stamp who have been refused entry to the EU as a consequence.
    The Schengen Information System holds this electronically. The stamps are a backup. No border officer is counting up the stamps by hand in normal procedure.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    This thread has

    faded away and radiated

  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 5,403
    IanB2 said:

    Did you still get the usual five minutes of accusatory questions pitched from the perspective of your being less than welcome in the land of the free?
    Oh, of course. How dare I come on holiday. Don’t I have a job? How can I take so long off?
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 50,457
    edited March 2022
    IanB2 said:

    A key point. When you leave the EU (including returning home), make sure your passport is date-stamped. There are some sad cases of people who have returned home without a date-stamp who have been refused entry to the EU as a consequence.
    I once got turned down for an Australian visa because I hadn't been stamped out properly, as an illegal overstayed from a previous trip. It took ages to sort out, as Australia House didn't do face to face appointments. I had an arrival stamp for Indonesia to prove the date that I left, but ran into a dead wall of bureaucratic silence. Mind you, stories of our Home Office or USA are at least as bad.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,347

    There's one thing and only one thing that doesn't give you a terrible Covid problem.

    8 letter word, starts with a 'v'.
    I can get that - "vaccination" but you like to go with the more punchy "vaccines", don't you?

    You remember when you kept posting stuff like - "There's only one way out of this and that's vaccines"? Ending almost every post with "and that's vaccines".

    I do. God, that was annoying. I think I told you at the time it was. And tbf you did stop after a few days, which was a relief.

    But, point is, you were right. Eg I have it now and though ropey and smell-less the vaccine makes such a difference. I'd be much more worried if I hadn't had the jabs.

    So, you know, there's one thing and one thing only stopping me fretting about having come down with Covid right now ... and that's vaccines.
  • Fysics_TeacherFysics_Teacher Posts: 6,303
    IshmaelZ said:

    It's because of Rutherford we are all busy assessing the refuge value of the various ditches within a mile or so of our homes. Useful indeed.
    What has Manchester got to do with it?
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 54,204
    Maffew said:

    You must be going to different airports to me. Whenever I've flown in the last couple of years everyone from the EU has been using the e-gates with the British (and Americans, Japanese etc).
    I'm talking more about the customs lanes. There's no longer a 'blue' lane, just 'red' and 'green'.
  • darkagedarkage Posts: 5,398
    Regarding Ukraine: is there a change in tone from China?
    IE: this from Chinese state sponsored media: "Russian troops have killed at least 10 civilians standing in line for bread in Chernihiv, a city in northern Ukraine, according to a Ukrainian public broadcaster and the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv".

    https://twitter.com/cgtnamerica/status/1504510377446543362
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,968

    I believe PB has an Asian beaver expert, not sure about the Eurasian variety.
    I may have petted a few in my time.
This discussion has been closed.