From the Times. I assume it excludes restaurant spending.
Bet we pay more for housing though….
That figure is because, as I understand the media, everyone lives on gravel and the off scourings of Foodbanks. The 11% all goes on Haribos and lard.
That table does correlate pretty well with the standard of domestic culinary experise. British people are eager consumers of easy to cook/eat junk. Just spy on peoples baskets at the supermarkets.
Read that last sentence back to yourself, and have a think what it says about you.
Re historic inflation, £1 worth the same in 1800 as 1914. Worth £122 in today's money
Measuring Worth does not altogether agree with you. In fact, they suggest in real terms the pound in 1800 was worth less in real terms, due to deflationary pressures.
Although it should be noted trying to measure relative value in a time of such extraordinarily rapid economic and social change is a very inexact science.
Aye, time was, you could walk down to Beardmore, order 2 dreadnoughts for a pound. And get change.
If only dreadnoughts could be built in Llandrindod Wells, the Mid Wales economy would be transformed!
On topic. Is the expectation that voting reform would happen without a referendum?
My feeling is no. How the national parliament, therefore government, is formed is fundamental to the constitution. Referendum required. And of course there is now a precedent.
As I prepare to take a nice looooong walk into the first really nice, sunny and reasonably-warm day so far in Seattle during this merry month of May, I'm thinking of my friend who left town one week ago, on his bicycle heading toward New York.
As of last night he was halfway across Oregon, heading toward the Snake River Valley and the Grand Tetons. Yesterday he "only" covered 57 miles . . . but did over 5k feet in elevation. Large part was because he went up AND down then back up, but he's definitely on generally upward trajectory until he reaches the Continental Divide.
Just pull out a map of the United States and see just what a trip from sea to shining sea truly entails.
Some of the most illuminating books I ever read about US and Canadian history were about the transcontinental railroads. Like cyclists, they like the flat ... and the books gave such a sense of the great continent and its diversity.
Pierre Berton's trilogy on financing, politicking, warring and finally building the Canadian Pacific is still a great classic. As also captured in this great Gordon Lightfoot song:
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
Round here men aged between about 60 and about 120+ form the backbone of Carlisle United support base. As an Arsenal supporter in exile we have a good deal in common. Arsenal win all the games except those that actually matter, and Carlisle lose all the games including all those that actually matter, punctuated by a random sequence of away wins mid season that permits them to come about 20th.
Youngsters can be quite fanatical too. One of the big pitch invasions last week was at Port Vale.
Including violence against Swindon players, mainly Harry Mckirdy who left Vale after not really clicking. I understand the exuberance but I fear someone may get seriously hurt soon.
Impeccable behaviour at the King Power today. Southampton fans were taunting Vardy "Jamie Vardy, your wife is a grass" and "Rooooney!". After he scored, Jamie taunted them back with his celebration from a respectful distance. Opposition fans never seem to realise that winding up Jamie just feeds his edge.
Re historic inflation, £1 worth the same in 1800 as 1914. Worth £122 in today's money
Measuring Worth does not altogether agree with you. In fact, they suggest in real terms the pound in 1800 was worth less in real terms, due to deflationary pressures.
Although it should be noted trying to measure relative value in a time of such extraordinarily rapid economic and social change is a very inexact science.
Aye, time was, you could walk down to Beardmore, order 2 dreadnoughts for a pound. And get change.
Since they were to prove worthless, you were still cheated.
Have just come up with solution to Wales economic development challenge.
Relocate Disney World and Disney international HQ to the Province from the Sunshine State.
Ordinarily this would NOT be within human ken HOWEVER thanks to strange outbreak of head-up-ass disease in Tallahassee, the Welsh have opportunity to take advantage of the Republican Party's War on Woke in general, and the De Santis-Disney conflict in particular.
Anyway, isn't Daffy really Welsh? Even though his Uncle Scrooge is obviously Scottish. However, Goofy is another Taffy, right? Of course, Mickey is quintessentially Hibernian - but at least he's musical.
"Interesting" proposals for second homes in Wales.
Council tax will up to 400% of the base level, and you can't register it as a business to avoid it unless it is available for guests 252 days a year, and actually occupied by paying guests for at least 182 days.
That CT surcharge is around £5k extra where Councils implement it for a Band D house.
We discussed wrt England that such proposals would be easy to dodge.
Will this work? Is 182 days occupancy common in Welsh holiday lets?
£5k extra looks big enough to me to deter at least ordinary 2nd home owners. Not such how much £7k of Council Tax is on a standard Welsh holiday let turnover.
They’re trying to distinguish between a genuine holiday let, and a second home that’s empty most of the time.
Yes I know.
The current threshold for occupancy to register it as a business is 70 days. Not sure what the availability criteria is.
I'm not an expert but I would have thought the normal occupancy rate for a genuine holiday let in Wales would be more like 140 days. In which case this bill will be a right bastard for anyone trying to run a letting agency. Plus the cleaning businesses, accountants, any tourism related stuff.
However, I wonder if they would make it applicable only to those people who don't live in Wales. That would solve the problem for quite a lot of genuine holiday lets.
So, general PB reaction across the piece seems to be "Hmmmm" rather than "Shock Horror!".
That's really quite interesting.
I can see there being a marginal effect on 'main dwelling' housing supply in Wales - perhaps 1% as a one-off - but no long term impact or noticeable impact on house prices, so there will be demands for more action within 2-3 years.
The effect is presumably in various hotspots like Pembrokeshire.
I think the 183 day rule is very onerous - presumably deliberately so - and will severely impair the “AirBnB” market.
So if you want to stay in Wales on holiday, you are going to have much less accommodation choice; and owning a second home is going to be much less appealing, too.
The impact SHOULD be suppressed housing prices in holiday hotspots, and therefore better affordability for locals. Perhaps fewer holiday “ghost towns”, too?
As I say upthread, I cautiously welcome this although I wonder whether something more targeted would be more useful.
There is a serious problem, especially with some of the pretty resorts on the coast (e.g., Aberdyfi, Abersoch, Solva, Tenby), with second home owners.
However, many of the areas of rural Wales are depopulating (much like Vermont or New Hampshire). There are plenty of semi-derelict, falling down, houses in the Welsh countryside. Plenty of decaying big houses as well, the local Plas.
People blame second-home owners for their sons and daughters moving away. But, in most of rural Wales, there are no jobs. So, people move away. So, there is depopulation and there are empty houses, falling to bits.
It is very clear that the Welsh Government has no idea how to bring jobs to Wales. Indeed they have admitted it-- here is Lee Waters:
"For 20 years we’ve pretended we know what we’re doing on the economy – and the truth is we don’t really know what we’re doing on the economy. Nobody knows what they’re doing on the economy.
“Everybody is making it up as we go along – and let’s just be honest about that. We’ve thrown all the orthodox tools we can think of at growing the economy in the conventional way, and we’ve achieved static GDP over 20 years." (Lee Waters, MS for Llanelli)
Without providing jobs in the areas, they will continue to depopulate and there will be empty houses.
If they can't be sold to outsiders, then they will fall down.
Drakeford's proposals look to me to be a very blunt tool to tackle the problem of second home ownership.
The depopulation is not mainly due to second home ownership -- but I certainly agree there are big problems in some of the prettiest places and in the National Parks in which locals are priced out.
It will be interesting to see what happens.
But, 182 days occupancy looks really brutal -- I think it will kill some businesses.
It is actually quite hard to create good well paid jobs. You need to have productive innovative firms with ready access to customers. That's not easy to do, especially in geographically peripheral places like Wales (or indeed most of the UK outside of the South East). Governments can't just magic these jobs into existence. They can help by investing in infrastructure and skills, creating a business friendly environment and ensuring ready access to markets and customers. Unfortunately the government here is shit at most of that, especially with their Brexit shit fest.
I only partly agree.
West Wales has 4 Universities (Aberystwyth, Bangor, Lampeter or UTSD, Swansea).
They should be funding research expertise in these Universities that can spin off into companies.
I also think fast broadband is another thing the Welsh Government should invest in. As you hint at, it is perfectly possible to do a very well paid job from the middle of nowhere if the infrastructure is there.
Instead, Llafur has bought the loss-making Cardiff Airport for a hugely inflated price and sunk money into Aston Martin.
There is a 1960s feel to the Welsh Government's ideas on the economy. Not a 2020s feel.
I wouldn’t disagree with any of this. The problem is that only three people live in West Wales.
Grow Cardiff, and you effectively grow Wales.
Cardiff is more remote than London for us in North Wales
That’s not relevant to my point.
Most of the Welsh population live in South East Wales, and any viable economic strategy for Wales needs to figure out how to promote the creation of high value add industries there.
We also know that innovation and economic growth happens in cities, via agglomeration effects.
There’s no reality in which Llandudno or Llandrindod Wells become the next “Silicon Valley”.
North Wales is far closer to Liverpool and Manchester and Airbus is a hugely successful North Wales business
Furthermore there are plans for a tidal barrier between Llandudno and Prestatyn and we have the 5th biggest windfarm in the word, which I am looking out on just now
Indeed if you have ever flown on an airbus aircraft, its wings will have been made here in North Wales
You really do not understand the disconnect between North Wales and Cardiff
I do understand the disconnect, see my other post.
It appears, however, that you don’t understand the economic geography of Wales as a whole.
I know that under labour in Wales the NHS and education are in crisis, and we have a Welsh government that wants to tax the North Wales holiday industry and also gerrymander the voting system
If you are expecting Welsh labour to develop high tecs industries then you are in for a long wait
Substituted, it works equally for England:
I know that under the Tories in England the NHS and education are in crisis, and we have a English government that wants to tax the holiday industry and also gerrymander the voting system
If you are expecting the English Tories to develop high tecs industries then you are in for a long wait
This weeks announcement for nuclear on Anglesey and Trawsfynydd together with improved train services in North Wales has obviously not registered
Yeah, Johnson always makes lots of promises. Believe it when it actually happens.
And the reactors don't exist yet. Always a red flag.
From the Times. I assume it excludes restaurant spending.
Bet we pay more for housing though….
That figure is because, as I understand the media, everyone lives on gravel and the off scourings of Foodbanks. The 11% all goes on Haribos and lard.
That table does correlate pretty well with the standard of domestic culinary experise. British people are eager consumers of easy to cook/eat junk. Just spy on peoples baskets at the supermarkets.
Read that last sentence back to yourself, and have a think what it says about you.
He is a specialist in diabetes. Of course he ****ing looks at supermarket baskets when he's waiting in the queue. I do too, out oif curiosity and nothing else to do. And I've got no dog in the struggle against diabetes, professionally.
By the way, if NZ is any guide, any move to PR will lead to various breakaway attempts by assorted gadflies and nutters, and a certain period of instability.
Over time though we could expect there to be five main parties represented (and assorted nationalists), to wit: Con, Lab, LD, Green and Reform.
Lab would alternate between Lab/Green and Lab/LD coalitions.
Con would alternate between Con/Ref and Con/LD coalitions.
One confounding factor is the SNP and their ability to hold Westminster to random for repeated Indy refs. This needs to be sorted one way or another before PR can really be “safe”.
You can make exactly the same argument about the LDs or indeed any other third//fourth party. I'm sure the LDs will seek to reverse Brexit and have another referendum, for instance, and as for Ref .... So that argument is moot - it's part and parcel of such a voting system.
The difference is, third parties in most polities don’t seek to dissolve the actual state.
It would be daft for Westminster to put itself in a position which strengthened those who literally wish its end.
You're confusing anarchists and autonomists.
No, I’m not.
I simply note that the SNP’s chief policy is to break up the UK.
If you are “the UK”, you’d want to avoid that.
That's to split the state - not dissolve it. Dissolve the union of 1707, yes. But that's a different thing.
Ignorance is breathtaking.
I didn't know you and I were total anarchists, not to mention subversives.*
*NB. This is a sarcastic reply, for the benefit of anyone who doesn't know the difference between an independista and an anarcista.
I’m afraid you’re talking garbage.
Scottish independence means the end of the UK. Continue to make the case for independence, if you like, but don’t pretend that’s not the case.
That's an intensely Britnat attitude, or could be taken as one - that the state is the borders of 1707, sorry 1800, sorry 1922, sorry 1956 ...
Also, I don't recall (genuinely) if you were here for 2014 and the run up, but the Unionist attitude was emphatically that the UK would continue even if Scotland was independent.
It was indeed.
‘How dare you Nats suggest that the UK would not continue? The departure of you oat munching benefit junkies would be but a flesh wound.’
Indeed. Gardenwalker is at serious risk of becoming an unperson. I did try to warn him ...
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
Round here men aged between about 60 and about 120+ form the backbone of Carlisle United support base. As an Arsenal supporter in exile we have a good deal in common. Arsenal win all the games except those that actually matter, and Carlisle lose all the games including all those that actually matter, punctuated by a random sequence of away wins mid season that permits them to come about 20th.
Youngsters can be quite fanatical too. One of the big pitch invasions last week was at Port Vale.
Including violence against Swindon players, mainly Harry Mckirdy who left Vale after not really clicking. I understand the exuberance but I fear someone may get seriously hurt soon.
Impeccable behaviour at the King Power today. Southampton fans were taunting Vardy "Jamie Vardy, your wife is a grass" and "Rooooney!". After he scored, Jamie taunted them back with his celebration from a respectful distance. Opposition fans never seem to realise that winding up Jamie just feeds his edge.
Mckirdy said that he expects dogs abuse from the stands and that’s part of the game, but he should be able to go to his place of work and not be physicallly attacked.
On topic. Is the expectation that voting reform would happen without a referendum?
My feeling is no. How the national parliament, therefore government, is formed is fundamental to the constitution. Referendum required. And of course there is now a precedent.
And we know how supportive Labour MPs were for the abolition of first past the post the last time the question was put to the people.
Re historic inflation, £1 worth the same in 1800 as 1914. Worth £122 in today's money
Measuring Worth does not altogether agree with you. In fact, they suggest in real terms the pound in 1800 was worth less in real terms, due to deflationary pressures.
Although it should be noted trying to measure relative value in a time of such extraordinarily rapid economic and social change is a very inexact science.
Aye, time was, you could walk down to Beardmore, order 2 dreadnoughts for a pound. And get change.
If only dreadnoughts could be built in Llandrindod Wells, the Mid Wales economy would be transformed!
Maybe a bit less change if you got one of those at the same time:
By the way, if NZ is any guide, any move to PR will lead to various breakaway attempts by assorted gadflies and nutters, and a certain period of instability.
Over time though we could expect there to be five main parties represented (and assorted nationalists), to wit: Con, Lab, LD, Green and Reform.
Lab would alternate between Lab/Green and Lab/LD coalitions.
Con would alternate between Con/Ref and Con/LD coalitions.
One confounding factor is the SNP and their ability to hold Westminster to random for repeated Indy refs. This needs to be sorted one way or another before PR can really be “safe”.
You can make exactly the same argument about the LDs or indeed any other third//fourth party. I'm sure the LDs will seek to reverse Brexit and have another referendum, for instance, and as for Ref .... So that argument is moot - it's part and parcel of such a voting system.
The difference is, third parties in most polities don’t seek to dissolve the actual state.
It would be daft for Westminster to put itself in a position which strengthened those who literally wish its end.
You're confusing anarchists and autonomists.
No, I’m not.
I simply note that the SNP’s chief policy is to break up the UK.
If you are “the UK”, you’d want to avoid that.
That's to split the state - not dissolve it. Dissolve the union of 1707, yes. But that's a different thing.
Ignorance is breathtaking.
I didn't know you and I were total anarchists, not to mention subversives.*
*NB. This is a sarcastic reply, for the benefit of anyone who doesn't know the difference between an independista and an anarcista.
I’m afraid you’re talking garbage.
Scottish independence means the end of the UK. Continue to make the case for independence, if you like, but don’t pretend that’s not the case.
That's an intensely Britnat attitude, or could be taken as one - that the state is the borders of 1707, sorry 1800, sorry 1922, sorry 1956 ...
Also, I don't recall (genuinely) if you were here for 2014 and the run up, but the Unionist attitude was emphatically that the UK would continue even if Scotland was independent.
It was indeed.
‘How dare you Nats suggest that the UK would not continue? The departure of you oat munching benefit junkies would be but a flesh wound.’
Indeed. Gardenwalker is at serious risk of becoming an unperson. I did try to warn him ...
I am very surprised by how touchy the Scottish Nationalists are.
If I wasn’t persuaded by Scottish independence before, I’m even less so now.
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
From the Times. I assume it excludes restaurant spending.
Bet we pay more for housing though….
That figure is because, as I understand the media, everyone lives on gravel and the off scourings of Foodbanks. The 11% all goes on Haribos and lard.
That table does correlate pretty well with the standard of domestic culinary experise. British people are eager consumers of easy to cook/eat junk. Just spy on peoples baskets at the supermarkets.
Read that last sentence back to yourself, and have a think what it says about you.
He is a specialist in diabetes. Of course he ****ing looks at supermarket baskets when he's waiting in the queue. I do too, out oif curiosity and nothing else to do. And I've got no dog in the struggle against diabetes, professionally.
The asterisks give the unfortunate impression that Dr @Foxy is WANKING into supermarket baskets
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
Round here men aged between about 60 and about 120+ form the backbone of Carlisle United support base. As an Arsenal supporter in exile we have a good deal in common. Arsenal win all the games except those that actually matter, and Carlisle lose all the games including all those that actually matter, punctuated by a random sequence of away wins mid season that permits them to come about 20th.
Youngsters can be quite fanatical too. One of the big pitch invasions last week was at Port Vale.
Including violence against Swindon players, mainly Harry Mckirdy who left Vale after not really clicking. I understand the exuberance but I fear someone may get seriously hurt soon.
Impeccable behaviour at the King Power today. Southampton fans were taunting Vardy "Jamie Vardy, your wife is a grass" and "Rooooney!". After he scored, Jamie taunted them back with his celebration from a respectful distance. Opposition fans never seem to realise that winding up Jamie just feeds his edge.
Mckirdy said that he expects dogs abuse from the stands and that’s part of the game, but he should be able to go to his place of work and not be physicallly attacked.
I agree. Taunting opposition players is part of the pantomime of live football, physical threats are not acceptable.
You literally have no passport? You NEVER travel abroad? Really?
17% of people don't. (In the US, it's 60%!) It's one of those things that people who have them can't imagine not having, like a TV or a bicycle, but which many people don't feel they need/ (I have a passport, but not a TV or a bike...)
To be fair to Americans, they have a lot more geography. When your country is that big it fulfils many of the reasons Brits go abroad (i.e. for sun, or snow).
And when they want a tropical holiday they go to Hawaii
In addition, some of the caribbean islands do not require a passport for flights from the US.
Neither does Mexico ,, this stuff about people in the USA being uninterested in world because don't have passport is rubbish, majority of people in UK only go abroad for weather not the culture
Speaking for my wife and myself who have been round the world many times, visiting all the bucket shop locations, including Antarctica your comment is not supported by all the fellow travellers we have met on these journeys who have travelled not just to broaden their horizons but enjoy the culture of the places visited, and yes we have even been in the Kremlin
Yes but people like you are the minority Most people jus want that week of sun in benidorm
Even Benidorm has culture
Most every holidaymaker will take in the culture of the places they visit wherever they are
Lol you are on a windup average uk holidaymaker just wants cheap booze and English food,,,
By the way, if NZ is any guide, any move to PR will lead to various breakaway attempts by assorted gadflies and nutters, and a certain period of instability.
Over time though we could expect there to be five main parties represented (and assorted nationalists), to wit: Con, Lab, LD, Green and Reform.
Lab would alternate between Lab/Green and Lab/LD coalitions.
Con would alternate between Con/Ref and Con/LD coalitions.
One confounding factor is the SNP and their ability to hold Westminster to random for repeated Indy refs. This needs to be sorted one way or another before PR can really be “safe”.
You can make exactly the same argument about the LDs or indeed any other third//fourth party. I'm sure the LDs will seek to reverse Brexit and have another referendum, for instance, and as for Ref .... So that argument is moot - it's part and parcel of such a voting system.
The difference is, third parties in most polities don’t seek to dissolve the actual state.
It would be daft for Westminster to put itself in a position which strengthened those who literally wish its end.
You're confusing anarchists and autonomists.
No, I’m not.
I simply note that the SNP’s chief policy is to break up the UK.
If you are “the UK”, you’d want to avoid that.
That's to split the state - not dissolve it. Dissolve the union of 1707, yes. But that's a different thing.
Ignorance is breathtaking.
I didn't know you and I were total anarchists, not to mention subversives.*
*NB. This is a sarcastic reply, for the benefit of anyone who doesn't know the difference between an independista and an anarcista.
I’m afraid you’re talking garbage.
Scottish independence means the end of the UK. Continue to make the case for independence, if you like, but don’t pretend that’s not the case.
That's an intensely Britnat attitude, or could be taken as one - that the state is the borders of 1707, sorry 1800, sorry 1922, sorry 1956 ...
Also, I don't recall (genuinely) if you were here for 2014 and the run up, but the Unionist attitude was emphatically that the UK would continue even if Scotland was independent.
It was indeed.
‘How dare you Nats suggest that the UK would not continue? The departure of you oat munching benefit junkies would be but a flesh wound.’
Indeed. Gardenwalker is at serious risk of becoming an unperson. I did try to warn him ...
I am very surprised by how touchy the Scottish Nationalists are.
If I wasn’t persuaded by Scottish independence before, I’m even less so now.
You're missing the point - it was the Britnats who were amazingly touchy about the UK not continuing. It's so unusual to find anyone remotely critical of the indy movement who doesn't at once latch onto the idea that the UK will always continue.
From the Times. I assume it excludes restaurant spending.
Bet we pay more for housing though….
That figure is because, as I understand the media, everyone lives on gravel and the off scourings of Foodbanks. The 11% all goes on Haribos and lard.
That table does correlate pretty well with the standard of domestic culinary experise. British people are eager consumers of easy to cook/eat junk. Just spy on peoples baskets at the supermarkets.
Read that last sentence back to yourself, and have a think what it says about you.
He is a specialist in diabetes. Of course he ****ing looks at supermarket baskets when he's waiting in the queue. I do too, out oif curiosity and nothing else to do. And I've got no dog in the struggle against diabetes, professionally.
The asterisks give the unfortunate impression that Dr @Foxy is WANKING into supermarket baskets
Not consistent with the grammar and parsing, alas. But an intriguing concept and a revelation of the imaginative scope of your intellect.
TBF: I did once see someone indulging in that activity, but in a bookshop. Decidedly jarring.
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
By the way, if NZ is any guide, any move to PR will lead to various breakaway attempts by assorted gadflies and nutters, and a certain period of instability.
Over time though we could expect there to be five main parties represented (and assorted nationalists), to wit: Con, Lab, LD, Green and Reform.
Lab would alternate between Lab/Green and Lab/LD coalitions.
Con would alternate between Con/Ref and Con/LD coalitions.
One confounding factor is the SNP and their ability to hold Westminster to random for repeated Indy refs. This needs to be sorted one way or another before PR can really be “safe”.
You can make exactly the same argument about the LDs or indeed any other third//fourth party. I'm sure the LDs will seek to reverse Brexit and have another referendum, for instance, and as for Ref .... So that argument is moot - it's part and parcel of such a voting system.
The difference is, third parties in most polities don’t seek to dissolve the actual state.
It would be daft for Westminster to put itself in a position which strengthened those who literally wish its end.
You're confusing anarchists and autonomists.
No, I’m not.
I simply note that the SNP’s chief policy is to break up the UK.
If you are “the UK”, you’d want to avoid that.
That's to split the state - not dissolve it. Dissolve the union of 1707, yes. But that's a different thing.
Ignorance is breathtaking.
I didn't know you and I were total anarchists, not to mention subversives.*
*NB. This is a sarcastic reply, for the benefit of anyone who doesn't know the difference between an independista and an anarcista.
I’m afraid you’re talking garbage.
Scottish independence means the end of the UK. Continue to make the case for independence, if you like, but don’t pretend that’s not the case.
That's an intensely Britnat attitude, or could be taken as one - that the state is the borders of 1707, sorry 1800, sorry 1922, sorry 1956 ...
Also, I don't recall (genuinely) if you were here for 2014 and the run up, but the Unionist attitude was emphatically that the UK would continue even if Scotland was independent.
It was indeed.
‘How dare you Nats suggest that the UK would not continue? The departure of you oat munching benefit junkies would be but a flesh wound.’
Indeed. Gardenwalker is at serious risk of becoming an unperson. I did try to warn him ...
I am very surprised by how touchy the Scottish Nationalists are.
If I wasn’t persuaded by Scottish independence before, I’m even less so now.
You're missing the point - it was the Britnats who were amazingly touchy about the UK not continuing. It's so unusual to find anyone remotely critical of the indy movement who doesn't at once latch onto the idea that the UK will always continue.
I see. Well Unionism (capital U) doesn’t strike me as especially unionist, either.
From the Times. I assume it excludes restaurant spending.
Bet we pay more for housing though….
That figure is because, as I understand the media, everyone lives on gravel and the off scourings of Foodbanks. The 11% all goes on Haribos and lard.
That table does correlate pretty well with the standard of domestic culinary experise. British people are eager consumers of easy to cook/eat junk. Just spy on peoples baskets at the supermarkets.
Read that last sentence back to yourself, and have a think what it says about you.
He is a specialist in diabetes. Of course he ****ing looks at supermarket baskets when he's waiting in the queue. I do too, out oif curiosity and nothing else to do. And I've got no dog in the struggle against diabetes, professionally.
The asterisks give the unfortunate impression that Dr @Foxy is WANKING into supermarket baskets
Must admit I'm shocked by the average content of supermarket baskets,,,maybe rising food prices won't be such a bad thing
On topic. Is the expectation that voting reform would happen without a referendum?
My feeling is no. How the national parliament, therefore government, is formed is fundamental to the constitution. Referendum required. And of course there is now a precedent.
And we know how supportive Labour MPs were for the abolition of first past the post the last time the question was put to the people.
No surprise as a third of them would have lost their seats with PR.
In 1997 Labour got 63% of the seats under FPTP on only 43% of the vote
By the way, if NZ is any guide, any move to PR will lead to various breakaway attempts by assorted gadflies and nutters, and a certain period of instability.
Over time though we could expect there to be five main parties represented (and assorted nationalists), to wit: Con, Lab, LD, Green and Reform.
Lab would alternate between Lab/Green and Lab/LD coalitions.
Con would alternate between Con/Ref and Con/LD coalitions.
One confounding factor is the SNP and their ability to hold Westminster to random for repeated Indy refs. This needs to be sorted one way or another before PR can really be “safe”.
You can make exactly the same argument about the LDs or indeed any other third//fourth party. I'm sure the LDs will seek to reverse Brexit and have another referendum, for instance, and as for Ref .... So that argument is moot - it's part and parcel of such a voting system.
The difference is, third parties in most polities don’t seek to dissolve the actual state.
It would be daft for Westminster to put itself in a position which strengthened those who literally wish its end.
You're confusing anarchists and autonomists.
No, I’m not.
I simply note that the SNP’s chief policy is to break up the UK.
If you are “the UK”, you’d want to avoid that.
That's to split the state - not dissolve it. Dissolve the union of 1707, yes. But that's a different thing.
Ignorance is breathtaking.
I didn't know you and I were total anarchists, not to mention subversives.*
*NB. This is a sarcastic reply, for the benefit of anyone who doesn't know the difference between an independista and an anarcista.
I’m afraid you’re talking garbage.
Scottish independence means the end of the UK. Continue to make the case for independence, if you like, but don’t pretend that’s not the case.
That's an intensely Britnat attitude, or could be taken as one - that the state is the borders of 1707, sorry 1800, sorry 1922, sorry 1956 ...
Also, I don't recall (genuinely) if you were here for 2014 and the run up, but the Unionist attitude was emphatically that the UK would continue even if Scotland was independent.
It was indeed.
‘How dare you Nats suggest that the UK would not continue? The departure of you oat munching benefit junkies would be but a flesh wound.’
Indeed. Gardenwalker is at serious risk of becoming an unperson. I did try to warn him ...
I am very surprised by how touchy the Scottish Nationalists are.
If I wasn’t persuaded by Scottish independence before, I’m even less so now.
You're missing the point - it was the Britnats who were amazingly touchy about the UK not continuing. It's so unusual to find anyone remotely critical of the indy movement who doesn't at once latch onto the idea that the UK will always continue.
I see. Well Unionism (capital U) doesn’t strike me as especially unionist, either.
Hmm. Irish British or Scottish British or Scottish Irish?
From the Times. I assume it excludes restaurant spending.
Bet we pay more for housing though….
That figure is because, as I understand the media, everyone lives on gravel and the off scourings of Foodbanks. The 11% all goes on Haribos and lard.
That table does correlate pretty well with the standard of domestic culinary experise. British people are eager consumers of easy to cook/eat junk. Just spy on peoples baskets at the supermarkets.
Read that last sentence back to yourself, and have a think what it says about you.
He is a specialist in diabetes. Of course he ****ing looks at supermarket baskets when he's waiting in the queue. I do too, out oif curiosity and nothing else to do. And I've got no dog in the struggle against diabetes, professionally.
The asterisks give the unfortunate impression that Dr @Foxy is WANKING into supermarket baskets
Must admit I'm shocked by the average content of supermarket baskets,,,maybe rising food prices won't be such a bad thing
What, so the proles can't afford so much guacamole?
Forgive my asking but are you a complete arsehole? Don't answer if you would prefer not to say.
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
More importantly he kills women and children and bombs hospitals
Everyone who values freedom and democracy should vow to rid the world of this monster
From the Times. I assume it excludes restaurant spending.
Bet we pay more for housing though….
That figure is because, as I understand the media, everyone lives on gravel and the off scourings of Foodbanks. The 11% all goes on Haribos and lard.
That table does correlate pretty well with the standard of domestic culinary experise. British people are eager consumers of easy to cook/eat junk. Just spy on peoples baskets at the supermarkets.
Read that last sentence back to yourself, and have a think what it says about you.
He is a specialist in diabetes. Of course he ****ing looks at supermarket baskets when he's waiting in the queue. I do too, out oif curiosity and nothing else to do. And I've got no dog in the struggle against diabetes, professionally.
The asterisks give the unfortunate impression that Dr @Foxy is WANKING into supermarket baskets
I rarely come on pb in the evenings and this is why.
I'm only on tonight because I am on some travels. I will leave it there.
From the Times. I assume it excludes restaurant spending.
Bet we pay more for housing though….
That figure is because, as I understand the media, everyone lives on gravel and the off scourings of Foodbanks. The 11% all goes on Haribos and lard.
That table does correlate pretty well with the standard of domestic culinary experise. British people are eager consumers of easy to cook/eat junk. Just spy on peoples baskets at the supermarkets.
Read that last sentence back to yourself, and have a think what it says about you.
He is a specialist in diabetes. Of course he ****ing looks at supermarket baskets when he's waiting in the queue. I do too, out oif curiosity and nothing else to do. And I've got no dog in the struggle against diabetes, professionally.
The asterisks give the unfortunate impression that Dr @Foxy is WANKING into supermarket baskets
Must admit I'm shocked by the average content of supermarket baskets,,,maybe rising food prices won't be such a bad thing
What, so the proles can't afford so much guacamole?
Forgive my asking but are you a complete arsehole? Don't answer if you would prefer not to say.
Sadly as we have learnt the past fifty years rising prosperity brings its own problems,,, people can make very bad choices with excess money
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
More importantly he kills women and children and bombs hospitals
Everyone who values freedom and democracy should vow to rid the world of this monster
Light recreational genocide is one thing.
His taste in interior furnishing is another. Nuke him until he glows. Then shoot him in the dark....
From the Times. I assume it excludes restaurant spending.
Bet we pay more for housing though….
That figure is because, as I understand the media, everyone lives on gravel and the off scourings of Foodbanks. The 11% all goes on Haribos and lard.
That table does correlate pretty well with the standard of domestic culinary experise. British people are eager consumers of easy to cook/eat junk. Just spy on peoples baskets at the supermarkets.
Read that last sentence back to yourself, and have a think what it says about you.
He is a specialist in diabetes. Of course he ****ing looks at supermarket baskets when he's waiting in the queue. I do too, out oif curiosity and nothing else to do. And I've got no dog in the struggle against diabetes, professionally.
The asterisks give the unfortunate impression that Dr @Foxy is WANKING into supermarket baskets
Not consistent with the grammar and parsing, alas. But an intriguing concept and a revelation of the imaginative scope of your intellect.
TBF: I did once see someone indulging in that activity, but in a bookshop. Decidedly jarring.
@Leon is in the wanking business. It is a key part of his clientele, and he needs to keep aware of their habits.
You literally have no passport? You NEVER travel abroad? Really?
17% of people don't. (In the US, it's 60%!) It's one of those things that people who have them can't imagine not having, like a TV or a bicycle, but which many people don't feel they need/ (I have a passport, but not a TV or a bike...)
To be fair to Americans, they have a lot more geography. When your country is that big it fulfils many of the reasons Brits go abroad (i.e. for sun, or snow).
And when they want a tropical holiday they go to Hawaii
In addition, some of the caribbean islands do not require a passport for flights from the US.
Neither does Mexico ,, this stuff about people in the USA being uninterested in world because don't have passport is rubbish, majority of people in UK only go abroad for weather not the culture
Speaking for my wife and myself who have been round the world many times, visiting all the bucket shop locations, including Antarctica your comment is not supported by all the fellow travellers we have met on these journeys who have travelled not just to broaden their horizons but enjoy the culture of the places visited, and yes we have even been in the Kremlin
Yes but people like you are the minority Most people jus want that week of sun in benidorm
Even Benidorm has culture
Most every holidaymaker will take in the culture of the places they visit wherever they are
Lol you are on a windup average uk holidaymaker just wants cheap booze and English food,,,
From the Times. I assume it excludes restaurant spending.
Bet we pay more for housing though….
That figure is because, as I understand the media, everyone lives on gravel and the off scourings of Foodbanks. The 11% all goes on Haribos and lard.
That table does correlate pretty well with the standard of domestic culinary experise. British people are eager consumers of easy to cook/eat junk. Just spy on peoples baskets at the supermarkets.
Read that last sentence back to yourself, and have a think what it says about you.
I've got no dog in the struggle
I also feel like I've stepped into an alternative version of the English language
From the Times. I assume it excludes restaurant spending.
Bet we pay more for housing though….
That figure is because, as I understand the media, everyone lives on gravel and the off scourings of Foodbanks. The 11% all goes on Haribos and lard.
That table does correlate pretty well with the standard of domestic culinary experise. British people are eager consumers of easy to cook/eat junk. Just spy on peoples baskets at the supermarkets.
Read that last sentence back to yourself, and have a think what it says about you.
I've got no dog in the struggle
I also feel like I've stepped into an alternative version of the English language
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
More importantly he kills women and children and bombs hospitals
Everyone who values freedom and democracy should vow to rid the world of this monster
We all want that it is a question of how we arrive at this objective and how many innocent Ukrainians we are prepared to sacrifice
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
More importantly he kills women and children and bombs hospitals
Everyone who values freedom and democracy should vow to rid the world of this monster
We all want that it is a question of how we arrive at this objective and how many innocent Ukrainians we are prepared to sacrifice
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
Gee I wonder why an anti-semitic genocidal dictator waging war on several countries, murdering people on the streets of UK, and threatening our allies occupies our attention? A riddle indeed.
I'm hearing another hardliner is running things in the Kremlin now and Putin has stepped back from many of his duties
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
Gee I wonder why an anti-semitic genocidal dictator waging war on several countries, murdering people on the streets of UK, and threatening our allies occupies our attention? A riddle indeed.
I'm hearing another hardliner is running things in the Kremlin now and Putin has stepped back from many of his duties
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
Gee I wonder why an anti-semitic genocidal dictator waging war on several countries, murdering people on the streets of UK, and threatening our allies occupies our attention? A riddle indeed.
I'm hearing another hardliner is running things in the Kremlin now
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
Gee I wonder why an anti-semitic genocidal dictator waging war on several countries, murdering people on the streets of UK, and threatening our allies occupies our attention? A riddle indeed.
I'm hearing another hardliner is running things in the Kremlin now and Putin has stepped back from many of his duties
Begs lots of questions... (a) Hearing from who/whom? (b) By what medium (radio, TV, newspaper, twitter, word of mouth)? (c) Why are you finding out and not serious analysts and reporters? (d) Why am I wasting time replying to a bot?
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
Gee I wonder why an anti-semitic genocidal dictator waging war on several countries, murdering people on the streets of UK, and threatening our allies occupies our attention? A riddle indeed.
I'm hearing another hardliner is running things in the Kremlin now and Putin has stepped back from many of his duties
Begs lots of questions... (a) Hearing from whom/whom? (b) By what medium (radio, TV, newspaper, twitter, word of mouth)? (c) Why are you finding out and not serious analysts and reporters? (d) Why am I wasting time replying to a bot?
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
More importantly he kills women and children and bombs hospitals
Everyone who values freedom and democracy should vow to rid the world of this monster
We all want that it is a question of how we arrive at this objective and how many innocent Ukrainians we are prepared to sacrifice
Did you learn that line in the Kremlin?
If he did then they need to sharpen up their use of English, especially if they want to conquer the world.
That's the trouble with these oligarchs. They're not very good at what they do. Hitler was a great example of a really crap general. A complete buffoon militarily, like Putin.
I may have got the invasion completely wrong but I did say it was based on them not having much chance of winning. And so it has come to pass. A rubbish army with poor equipment led by a lunatic who doesn't know what he's doing.
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
Lol, a short man with saggy breasts. The only thing less masculine than him are the bottom feeders that do his bidding for a few rubles of a potemkin currency each day.
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
More importantly he kills women and children and bombs hospitals
Everyone who values freedom and democracy should vow to rid the world of this monster
We all want that it is a question of how we arrive at this objective and how many innocent Ukrainians we are prepared to sacrifice
Did you learn that line in the Kremlin?
If he did then they need to sharpen up their use of English, especially if they want to conquer the world.
That's the trouble with these oligarchs. They're not very good at what they do. Hitler was a great example of a really crap general. A complete buffoon militarily, like Putin.
I may have got the invasion completely wrong but I did say it was based on them not having much chance of winning. And so it has come to pass. A rubbish army with poor equipment led by a lunatic who doesn't know what he's doing.
Hitler made one really big call correctly that most generals would have got wrong - the stand fast in 1941 when the USSR counter attacked at Moscow. Almost certainly avoided a catastrophe for the German army. Happily for the rest of the world he then repeated this tactic for the next 4 years with disastrous consequences. For instance in Normandy it allowed the panzer divisions to be chewed up in range of the naval guns, rather than retreating inland to allow for a more strategic counter offensive.
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
More importantly he kills women and children and bombs hospitals
Everyone who values freedom and democracy should vow to rid the world of this monster
We all want that it is a question of how we arrive at this objective and how many innocent Ukrainians we are prepared to sacrifice
Did you learn that line in the Kremlin?
If he did then they need to sharpen up their use of English, especially if they want to conquer the world.
That's the trouble with these oligarchs. They're not very good at what they do. Hitler was a great example of a really crap general. A complete buffoon militarily, like Putin.
I may have got the invasion completely wrong but I did say it was based on them not having much chance of winning. And so it has come to pass. A rubbish army with poor equipment led by a lunatic who doesn't know what he's doing.
Hitler made one really big call correctly that most generals would have got wrong - the stand fast in 1941 when the USSR counter attacked at Moscow. Almost certainly avoided a catastrophe for the German army. Happily for the rest of the world he then repeated this tactic for the next 4 years with disastrous consequences. For instance in Normandy it allowed the panzer divisions to be chewed up in range of the naval guns, rather than retreating inland to allow for a more strategic counter offensive.
Yes indeed.
Stalingrad for example was most certainly not an example of his finest hour. The annihilation of the German Sixth Army probably turned the entire war.
Prior to that, opening up two fronts was idiocy and there were a series of other spectacular blunders, including Dunkirk of course.
So close, but what an amazing season anyway. Credit to Man City, deserved Champions, though Liverpool would have deserved it too, any club that gets over 90 points ought to be Champions.
The Premier League is incredible, isn't it? Well done City.
"A new dawn has broken, but we are still bloody counting!"
I think the left is making a mistake with PR. Before the referendum UKIP + Tories were often >52%. That would mean a much further right government.
As a Lefty, I would have no problem with that. If the Tory/UKIP vote was 50% plus then they should be the government. I have a problem with majorities bulldozing their measures through against the wishes of 2 in 3 voters. And yes. That includes 2005. The most egregious of the lot.
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
More importantly he kills women and children and bombs hospitals
Everyone who values freedom and democracy should vow to rid the world of this monster
We all want that it is a question of how we arrive at this objective and how many innocent Ukrainians we are prepared to sacrifice
It isn't us sacrificing them. They are at the flashpoint of this confrontation through no fault of theirs, or ours for that matter. Their choice, or not, to fight on and sacrifice is theirs to make.
I don't know why people still try out the 'people dying is bad, therefore Ukraine should give up/people should stop supporting them' dodge after all this time. Trying to present it as deriving from compassion doesn't disguise that that is the argument being made, as a logical follow on from the attempt to flip responsibility for any deaths onto, say, us. The flipping is the giveaway about what argument is actually being made, even when it is not outright stated.
The 'compassion' line tries to make the idea of supporting Ukrainians in their resistance to be a complex issue ('but but, it means some people will die'), but in fact it is very simple indeed. Some things are. If they are willing to keep fighting, there are zero difficult issues around the morality of that. Some might want to take a hard nosed realpolitik view about the costs to ourselves, but that is not the position of the 'compassionate' crowd.
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
More importantly he kills women and children and bombs hospitals
Everyone who values freedom and democracy should vow to rid the world of this monster
We all want that it is a question of how we arrive at this objective and how many innocent Ukrainians we are prepared to sacrifice
Ask the democratically elected Ukrainian government - it’s their sacrifice, by their people.
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
More importantly he kills women and children and bombs hospitals
Everyone who values freedom and democracy should vow to rid the world of this monster
We all want that it is a question of how we arrive at this objective and how many innocent Ukrainians we are prepared to sacrifice
Did you learn that line in the Kremlin?
If he did then they need to sharpen up their use of English, especially if they want to conquer the world.
That's the trouble with these oligarchs. They're not very good at what they do. Hitler was a great example of a really crap general. A complete buffoon militarily, like Putin.
I may have got the invasion completely wrong but I did say it was based on them not having much chance of winning. And so it has come to pass. A rubbish army with poor equipment led by a lunatic who doesn't know what he's doing.
Hitler made one really big call correctly that most generals would have got wrong - the stand fast in 1941 when the USSR counter attacked at Moscow. Almost certainly avoided a catastrophe for the German army. Happily for the rest of the world he then repeated this tactic for the next 4 years with disastrous consequences. For instance in Normandy it allowed the panzer divisions to be chewed up in range of the naval guns, rather than retreating inland to allow for a more strategic counter offensive.
Yes indeed.
Stalingrad for example was most certainly not an example of his finest hour. The annihilation of the German Sixth Army probably turned the entire war.
Prior to that, opening up two fronts was idiocy and there were a series of other spectacular blunders, including Dunkirk of course.
Worth mentioning that judging the likelihood of a war breaking out by the objective probability of winning is a bad methodology - the side starting a war, since the industrial revolution, has ended up losing, more often than not.
On topic, I don't think for one moment that changing the voting system to PR would guarantee a permanent left wing majority. Parties of the Right outpolled parties of the Left in each of the EU elections in 2004, 2009, and 2014, and were very close in 2019, all of them conducted under PR.
If you change the voting system, many people will just vote differently.
Well it would guarantee Ed Davey a permanant place in Government. I can't speak for everyone but if we dissect that then the worst leader ever of an unpopular party becomes kingmaker.
I don't think it does. You are assuming nothing changes re the parties and as @Sean_F points out people would also vote differently. New parties would form and existing ones would split. I assume there would be a small liberal party and a separate bigger SDP made up from ex LDs and some Labour. I think the Tories would split also into two with a large centre right group and smaller more right wing group. I would probably be in the small liberal party.
If I recall, Teddy Edward was quite a decent minister when in power.
So close, but what an amazing season anyway. Credit to Man City, deserved Champions, though Liverpool would have deserved it too, any club that gets over 90 points ought to be Champions.
The Premier League is incredible, isn't it? Well done City.
"A new dawn has broken, but we are still bloody counting!"
I think the left is making a mistake with PR. Before the referendum UKIP + Tories were often >52%. That would mean a much further right government.
As a Lefty, I would have no problem with that. If the Tory/UKIP vote was 50% plus then they should be the government. I have a problem with majorities bulldozing their measures through against the wishes of 2 in 3 voters. And yes. That includes 2005. The most egregious of the lot.
Yes. If we'd had PR, and Blair had been turfed out of office after GE2005, I think that would have been pretty good for British politics following Iraq.
I think the left is making a mistake with PR. Before the referendum UKIP + Tories were often >52%. That would mean a much further right government.
As a Lefty, I would have no problem with that. If the Tory/UKIP vote was 50% plus then they should be the government. I have a problem with majorities bulldozing their measures through against the wishes of 2 in 3 voters.
Yes, this. If we're a 52:48 country with the right on the 52 side then yes, right wing parties should generally be in government. But they should have the kind of majority that 52:48 implies, which in turn means that they have to govern in a way that works for (at minimum) all of that 52, not just their core vote. (And the Tory party might prefer coalition with some more centrist party over coalition with UKIP sometimes, of course.)
You literally have no passport? You NEVER travel abroad? Really?
17% of people don't. (In the US, it's 60%!) It's one of those things that people who have them can't imagine not having, like a TV or a bicycle, but which many people don't feel they need/ (I have a passport, but not a TV or a bike...)
To be fair to Americans, they have a lot more geography. When your country is that big it fulfils many of the reasons Brits go abroad (i.e. for sun, or snow).
And when they want a tropical holiday they go to Hawaii
In addition, some of the caribbean islands do not require a passport for flights from the US.
Neither does Mexico ,, this stuff about people in the USA being uninterested in world because don't have passport is rubbish, majority of people in UK only go abroad for weather not the culture
Speaking for my wife and myself who have been round the world many times, visiting all the bucket shop locations, including Antarctica your comment is not supported by all the fellow travellers we have met on these journeys who have travelled not just to broaden their horizons but enjoy the culture of the places visited, and yes we have even been in the Kremlin
Yes but people like you are the minority Most people jus want that week of sun in benidorm
Even Benidorm has culture
Most every holidaymaker will take in the culture of the places they visit wherever they are
Lol you are on a windup average uk holidaymaker just wants cheap booze and English food,,,
The most fascinating thing about these bots is the misuse of punctuation. There was another earlier this year that spammed in ellipses, this one doing the same but with commas.
Our resident Russia expert (DA) advised us that this is not an artifact of Russian-English translation, so wonder what it is?
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
More importantly he kills women and children and bombs hospitals
Everyone who values freedom and democracy should vow to rid the world of this monster
We all want that it is a question of how we arrive at this objective and how many innocent Ukrainians we are prepared to sacrifice
Ask the democratically elected Ukrainian government - it’s their sacrifice, by their people.
I think they anticipate that more innocent Ukranians will die if they surrender than if they fight.
By the way, if NZ is any guide, any move to PR will lead to various breakaway attempts by assorted gadflies and nutters, and a certain period of instability.
Over time though we could expect there to be five main parties represented (and assorted nationalists), to wit: Con, Lab, LD, Green and Reform.
Lab would alternate between Lab/Green and Lab/LD coalitions.
Con would alternate between Con/Ref and Con/LD coalitions.
One confounding factor is the SNP and their ability to hold Westminster to random for repeated Indy refs. This needs to be sorted one way or another before PR can really be “safe”.
You can make exactly the same argument about the LDs or indeed any other third//fourth party. I'm sure the LDs will seek to reverse Brexit and have another referendum, for instance, and as for Ref .... So that argument is moot - it's part and parcel of such a voting system.
The difference is, third parties in most polities don’t seek to dissolve the actual state.
It would be daft for Westminster to put itself in a position which strengthened those who literally wish its end.
You're confusing anarchists and autonomists.
No, I’m not.
I simply note that the SNP’s chief policy is to break up the UK.
If you are “the UK”, you’d want to avoid that.
That's to split the state - not dissolve it. Dissolve the union of 1707, yes. But that's a different thing.
Ignorance is breathtaking.
I didn't know you and I were total anarchists, not to mention subversives.*
*NB. This is a sarcastic reply, for the benefit of anyone who doesn't know the difference between an independista and an anarcista.
I’m afraid you’re talking garbage.
Scottish independence means the end of the UK. Continue to make the case for independence, if you like, but don’t pretend that’s not the case.
That's an intensely Britnat attitude, or could be taken as one - that the state is the borders of 1707, sorry 1800, sorry 1922, sorry 1956 ...
Also, I don't recall (genuinely) if you were here for 2014 and the run up, but the Unionist attitude was emphatically that the UK would continue even if Scotland was independent.
It was indeed.
‘How dare you Nats suggest that the UK would not continue? The departure of you oat munching benefit junkies would be but a flesh wound.’
Indeed. Gardenwalker is at serious risk of becoming an unperson. I did try to warn him ...
Wasn't the attitude more that there would be a successor state to the UK (which would get the pound, UN Security Council seat etc...), rather than the UK per se continuing? Just as the Russian Federation was (well outside Ukraine, ironically) recognised as the successor state to the USSR.
Zahawi looking very tetchy being questioned about Sue Gray earlier. Not itself indicative of a lie, but it is not generally a good sign when politicians fall back on expressing annoyance at facing questions they don't like (and which they are answering 'I don't know, but it's not relevant' to, rather than irritated because the interviewer won't accept an answer).
To be fair when I say “I don’t know” and someone asks the same question again several times I get annoyed too!
You literally have no passport? You NEVER travel abroad? Really?
17% of people don't. (In the US, it's 60%!) It's one of those things that people who have them can't imagine not having, like a TV or a bicycle, but which many people don't feel they need/ (I have a passport, but not a TV or a bike...)
To be fair to Americans, they have a lot more geography. When your country is that big it fulfils many of the reasons Brits go abroad (i.e. for sun, or snow).
And when they want a tropical holiday they go to Hawaii
In addition, some of the caribbean islands do not require a passport for flights from the US.
Neither does Mexico ,, this stuff about people in the USA being uninterested in world because don't have passport is rubbish, majority of people in UK only go abroad for weather not the culture
Speaking for my wife and myself who have been round the world many times, visiting all the bucket shop locations, including Antarctica your comment is not supported by all the fellow travellers we have met on these journeys who have travelled not just to broaden their horizons but enjoy the culture of the places visited, and yes we have even been in the Kremlin
Yes but people like you are the minority Most people jus want that week of sun in benidorm
Even Benidorm has culture
Most every holidaymaker will take in the culture of the places they visit wherever they are
Old joke:
What the difference between Australia Benidorm and a pot of yoghurt?
So close, but what an amazing season anyway. Credit to Man City, deserved Champions, though Liverpool would have deserved it too, any club that gets over 90 points ought to be Champions.
The Premier League is incredible, isn't it? Well done City.
"A new dawn has broken, but we are still bloody counting!"
I think the left is making a mistake with PR. Before the referendum UKIP + Tories were often >52%. That would mean a much further right government.
As a Lefty, I would have no problem with that. If the Tory/UKIP vote was 50% plus then they should be the government. I have a problem with majorities bulldozing their measures through against the wishes of 2 in 3 voters. And yes. That includes 2005. The most egregious of the lot.
Yes. If we'd had PR, and Blair had been turfed out of office after GE2005, I think that would have been pretty good for British politics following Iraq.
Instead FPTP kept Blair in place.
I'm presuming that Blair getting kicked out in 2005 would be because it would be Charlie Kennedy's price for a Lab-Lib coalition, rather than because he had desire to install Michael Howard as PM instead?
So close, but what an amazing season anyway. Credit to Man City, deserved Champions, though Liverpool would have deserved it too, any club that gets over 90 points ought to be Champions.
The Premier League is incredible, isn't it? Well done City.
"A new dawn has broken, but we are still bloody counting!"
I think the left is making a mistake with PR. Before the referendum UKIP + Tories were often >52%. That would mean a much further right government.
As a Lefty, I would have no problem with that. If the Tory/UKIP vote was 50% plus then they should be the government. I have a problem with majorities bulldozing their measures through against the wishes of 2 in 3 voters. And yes. That includes 2005. The most egregious of the lot.
Yes. If we'd had PR, and Blair had been turfed out of office after GE2005, I think that would have been pretty good for British politics following Iraq.
Instead FPTP kept Blair in place.
I think STV/PR can either disrupt a cosy consensus or the tyranny of a majority, as it allows new views/opinions to be reflected much earlier; however, it's perfectly possible for the political establishment to try and "lock" fringe parties out of power for a long time, if ultimately to their chagrin.
The Swedish Democrats are one such example, as are Sinn Fein in Eire.
So close, but what an amazing season anyway. Credit to Man City, deserved Champions, though Liverpool would have deserved it too, any club that gets over 90 points ought to be Champions.
The Premier League is incredible, isn't it? Well done City.
"A new dawn has broken, but we are still bloody counting!"
I think the left is making a mistake with PR. Before the referendum UKIP + Tories were often >52%. That would mean a much further right government.
As a Lefty, I would have no problem with that. If the Tory/UKIP vote was 50% plus then they should be the government. I have a problem with majorities bulldozing their measures through against the wishes of 2 in 3 voters. And yes. That includes 2005. The most egregious of the lot.
Tiverton and Honiton Conservatives pick Helen Hurford as their candidate for the by election. A local, she was born in Tiverton and has been a headteacher and run a Honiton based business
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
Gee I wonder why an anti-semitic genocidal dictator waging war on several countries, murdering people on the streets of UK, and threatening our allies occupies our attention? A riddle indeed.
I'm hearing another hardliner is running things in the Kremlin now and Putin has stepped back from many of his duties
So close, but what an amazing season anyway. Credit to Man City, deserved Champions, though Liverpool would have deserved it too, any club that gets over 90 points ought to be Champions.
The Premier League is incredible, isn't it? Well done City.
"A new dawn has broken, but we are still bloody counting!"
I think the left is making a mistake with PR. Before the referendum UKIP + Tories were often >52%. That would mean a much further right government.
As a Lefty, I would have no problem with that. If the Tory/UKIP vote was 50% plus then they should be the government. I have a problem with majorities bulldozing their measures through against the wishes of 2 in 3 voters. And yes. That includes 2005. The most egregious of the lot.
But, it means Brexit would probably have happened regardless. I don't think you can 'game' any political point of view out of the system by making elections more proportional.
To be clear. I am in favour of the government being supported by 50 %+ 1 of the voters in contrast to the alternative This applies to 'Con/UKIP.. And Blair/Kennedy opposed to Howard. And yes. BoJo struggles to leap that bar.
Is Sue Gray going to say anything in her report that is going to cause Johnson problems .
How can you be expected to write something that could be deeply critical of your boss . The whole charade is being trailed as an independent enquiry which is laughable .
What other line of work has an underling being tasked with this type of process ?
I expect a whitewash with those around Johnson being the sacrificial lambs.
Tiverton and Honiton Conservatives pick Helen Hurford as their candidate for the by election. A local, she was born in Tiverton and has been a headteacher and run a Honiton based business
Is Sue Gray going to say anything in her report that is going to cause Johnson problems .
How can you be expected to write something that could be deeply critical of your boss . The whole charade is being trailed as an independent enquiry which is laughable .
What other line of work has an underling being tasked with this type of process ?
I expect a whitewash with those around Johnson being the sacrificial lambs.
To be fair - if the report is bad and the conduct terrible- you’d have to imagine Johnsons own judgement comes into it. Being that it’s, you know, his own house
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
More importantly he kills women and children and bombs hospitals
Everyone who values freedom and democracy should vow to rid the world of this monster
We all want that it is a question of how we arrive at this objective and how many innocent Ukrainians we are prepared to sacrifice
Ask the democratically elected Ukrainian government - it’s their sacrifice, by their people.
It seems quaint to think that it's still their choice. The US has $40bn of aid on order, I don't see Uncle Joe being very happy to ask for a refund.
Tiverton and Honiton Conservatives pick Helen Hurford as their candidate for the by election. A local, she was born in Tiverton and has been a headteacher and run a Honiton based business
Tiverton and Honiton Conservatives pick Helen Hurford as their candidate for the by election. A local, she was born in Tiverton and has been a headteacher and run a Honiton based business
Was the academy primary school where she was Head for a couple of years the Honiton based business, young HY?
She's entitled to her 15mins of fame. But come the 24th June it's back to the day job me thinks.
I think she has an excellent chance of holding it. The Tories got 60% of the vote in Tiverton and Honiton in 2019, it was a Leave area and even on current polls the Conservatives would hold it comfortably.
As a local woman who has worked in the area she is the ideal candidate to hold the seat too given the circumstances of the by election from the LDs.
So while Labour should still gain Wakefield which had a much smaller Tory majority in 2019, I think Tiverton and Honiton will now be a narrow Conservative hold
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
More importantly he kills women and children and bombs hospitals
Everyone who values freedom and democracy should vow to rid the world of this monster
We all want that it is a question of how we arrive at this objective and how many innocent Ukrainians we are prepared to sacrifice
It isn't us sacrificing them. They are at the flashpoint of this confrontation through no fault of theirs, or ours for that matter. Their choice, or not, to fight on and sacrifice is theirs to make.
I don't know why people still try out the 'people dying is bad, therefore Ukraine should give up/people should stop supporting them' dodge after all this time. Trying to present it as deriving from compassion doesn't disguise that that is the argument being made, as a logical follow on from the attempt to flip responsibility for any deaths onto, say, us. The flipping is the giveaway about what argument is actually being made, even when it is not outright stated.
The 'compassion' line tries to make the idea of supporting Ukrainians in their resistance to be a complex issue ('but but, it means some people will die'), but in fact it is very simple indeed. Some things are. If they are willing to keep fighting, there are zero difficult issues around the morality of that. Some might want to take a hard nosed realpolitik view about the costs to ourselves, but that is not the position of the 'compassionate' crowd.
To be fair it's not the ukrainian people making the choice is it It's zelensky in conjunction with the US govt flooding arms into the country ten of thousands dead in mariupol and the city destroyed did the ukrainian people want that
So close, but what an amazing season anyway. Credit to Man City, deserved Champions, though Liverpool would have deserved it too, any club that gets over 90 points ought to be Champions.
The Premier League is incredible, isn't it? Well done City.
"A new dawn has broken, but we are still bloody counting!"
I think the left is making a mistake with PR. Before the referendum UKIP + Tories were often >52%. That would mean a much further right government.
As a Lefty, I would have no problem with that. If the Tory/UKIP vote was 50% plus then they should be the government. I have a problem with majorities bulldozing their measures through against the wishes of 2 in 3 voters. And yes. That includes 2005. The most egregious of the lot.
But, it means Brexit would probably have happened regardless. I don't think you can 'game' any political point of view out of the system by making elections more proportional.
You can by gerrymandering.
But Brexit happens because it had the support of 50%+. That's democracy. I may think it's idiocy. But I can take it cos I'm in a minority. The problem with FPTP is I have to put up with stuff I don't like when I'm in the majority. As indeed may you.
By the way, if NZ is any guide, any move to PR will lead to various breakaway attempts by assorted gadflies and nutters, and a certain period of instability.
Over time though we could expect there to be five main parties represented (and assorted nationalists), to wit: Con, Lab, LD, Green and Reform.
Lab would alternate between Lab/Green and Lab/LD coalitions.
Con would alternate between Con/Ref and Con/LD coalitions.
One confounding factor is the SNP and their ability to hold Westminster to random for repeated Indy refs. This needs to be sorted one way or another before PR can really be “safe”.
You can make exactly the same argument about the LDs or indeed any other third//fourth party. I'm sure the LDs will seek to reverse Brexit and have another referendum, for instance, and as for Ref .... So that argument is moot - it's part and parcel of such a voting system.
The difference is, third parties in most polities don’t seek to dissolve the actual state.
It would be daft for Westminster to put itself in a position which strengthened those who literally wish its end.
You're confusing anarchists and autonomists.
No, I’m not.
I simply note that the SNP’s chief policy is to break up the UK.
If you are “the UK”, you’d want to avoid that.
That's to split the state - not dissolve it. Dissolve the union of 1707, yes. But that's a different thing.
Ignorance is breathtaking.
I didn't know you and I were total anarchists, not to mention subversives.*
*NB. This is a sarcastic reply, for the benefit of anyone who doesn't know the difference between an independista and an anarcista.
I’m afraid you’re talking garbage.
Scottish independence means the end of the UK. Continue to make the case for independence, if you like, but don’t pretend that’s not the case.
That's an intensely Britnat attitude, or could be taken as one - that the state is the borders of 1707, sorry 1800, sorry 1922, sorry 1956 ...
Also, I don't recall (genuinely) if you were here for 2014 and the run up, but the Unionist attitude was emphatically that the UK would continue even if Scotland was independent.
It was indeed.
‘How dare you Nats suggest that the UK would not continue? The departure of you oat munching benefit junkies would be but a flesh wound.’
Indeed. Gardenwalker is at serious risk of becoming an unperson. I did try to warn him ...
Wasn't the attitude more that there would be a successor state to the UK (which would get the pound, UN Security Council seat etc...), rather than the UK per se continuing? Just as the Russian Federation was (well outside Ukraine, ironically) recognised as the successor state to the USSR.
No. Simply that the UK would continue as was, same name and everything, short the Scots obvs. It does have NI to be 'United' with, I presume.
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
More importantly he kills women and children and bombs hospitals
Everyone who values freedom and democracy should vow to rid the world of this monster
We all want that it is a question of how we arrive at this objective and how many innocent Ukrainians we are prepared to sacrifice
Ask the democratically elected Ukrainian government - it’s their sacrifice, by their people.
It seems quaint to think that it's still their choice. The US has $40bn of aid on order, I don't see Uncle Joe being very happy to ask for a refund.
So, the Ukrainian people are being forced to resist the invader, because they don't want to embarrass Joe Biden.
Tiverton and Honiton Conservatives pick Helen Hurford as their candidate for the by election. A local, she was born in Tiverton and has been a headteacher and run a Honiton based business
Tiverton and Honiton Conservatives pick Helen Hurford as their candidate for the by election. A local, she was born in Tiverton and has been a headteacher and run a Honiton based business
Was the academy primary school where she was Head for a couple of years the Honiton based business, young HY?
She's entitled to her 15mins of fame. But come the 24th June it's back to the day job me thinks.
I think she has an excellent chance of holding it. The Tories got 60% of the vote in Tiverton and Honiton in 2019, it was a Leave area and even on current polls the Conservatives would hold it comfortably.
As a local woman who has worked in the area she is the ideal candidate to hold the seat too given the circumstances of the by election from the LDs.
So while Labour should still gain Wakefield which had a much smaller Tory majority in 2019, I think Tiverton and Honiton will now be a narrow Conservative hold
So, do you think that Bill Hill’s 9/4 for the Conservatives is worth a punt?
So it's obvious that Scottish football is far inferior to English. The question is, why?
It depends on what you want out of your football team. Trophies are clearly important to fans, but not the only reason to support. Teams up and down the Leagues get people paying to watch teams that never win anything, apart from ocassional division trophies, and often not many of those. It is intrinsic to the structure of both Leagues and Cups that most teams have virtually empty trophy cabinets.
It is possible to devise a system for a League with perpetual turnover at the top. The American Football Leagues do this via a draft system, so the bottom teams get preference for the players coming up from the College system. The equivalent here would be Norwich not being relegated and having both the money and right to buy in Haarland. Interesting maybe, but is it what we want?
That's what the Super League scummers wanted, but just for the Euroelite.
Ironically the nfl is much more socialist than premier league Honestly can't understand the mentality of a 60 year old man supporting a team like Carlisle united
What? I mean, big picture-wise the appropriate advice to any adult who claims to support a football team is Get a life, but how do age, sex and Carlisle come in to it?
Just an example of an older man pointlessly wasting their time on a lost cause
Like those sad tossers still backing Putin-style ethnonationalist kleptocracy. Western democracy is the future.
Why are you obsessed with putin,, does he threaten your manhood with his macho ways,,
More importantly he kills women and children and bombs hospitals
Everyone who values freedom and democracy should vow to rid the world of this monster
We all want that it is a question of how we arrive at this objective and how many innocent Ukrainians we are prepared to sacrifice
It isn't us sacrificing them. They are at the flashpoint of this confrontation through no fault of theirs, or ours for that matter. Their choice, or not, to fight on and sacrifice is theirs to make.
I don't know why people still try out the 'people dying is bad, therefore Ukraine should give up/people should stop supporting them' dodge after all this time. Trying to present it as deriving from compassion doesn't disguise that that is the argument being made, as a logical follow on from the attempt to flip responsibility for any deaths onto, say, us. The flipping is the giveaway about what argument is actually being made, even when it is not outright stated.
The 'compassion' line tries to make the idea of supporting Ukrainians in their resistance to be a complex issue ('but but, it means some people will die'), but in fact it is very simple indeed. Some things are. If they are willing to keep fighting, there are zero difficult issues around the morality of that. Some might want to take a hard nosed realpolitik view about the costs to ourselves, but that is not the position of the 'compassionate' crowd.
To be fair it's not the ukrainian people making the choice is it It's zelensky in conjunction with the US govt flooding arms into the country ten of thousands dead in mariupol and the city destroyed did the ukrainian people want that
Western resolve set to be tested as key US and EU figures want Ukraine to cede territory to Russia and make peace
The inevitable outcome may be a compromise preserving Ukrainian sovereignty and ceding territory to Russia, a New York Times editorial said
ByRoland Oliphant, SENIOR FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT22 May 2022 • 8:03pm
It’s unfortunately the only way the war ends . Russia is not going to give up its land bridge to Crimea and Ukraine can at least save the majority of the country and start re-building .
Point is sensible leaders in the west realise this war is going nowhere and costing thousands of lives
Bollocks do they. Sensible leaders realise that Ukraine has the resolve to fight Russia indefinitely if they armed to do so. But can Russia keep going? Probably not, they will have to escalate or fold. And I suspect that the number of Russian military leaders confident of their ability to wage a greater war is declining by the day. Hell, even Putin probably realises he's fucked it up.
Comments
"A new dawn has broken, but we are still bloody counting!"
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sir-gavin-williamson-reborn-as-somaliland-independence-hero-2dhn5n50w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5TUpaxw4ME
If I wasn’t persuaded by Scottish independence before, I’m even less so now.
TBF: I did once see someone indulging in that activity, but in a bookshop. Decidedly jarring.
Well Unionism (capital U) doesn’t strike me as especially unionist, either.
In 1997 Labour got 63% of the seats under FPTP on only 43% of the vote
Forgive my asking but are you a complete arsehole? Don't answer if you would prefer not to say.
Everyone who values freedom and democracy should vow to rid the world of this monster
I'm only on tonight because I am on some travels. I will leave it there.
His taste in interior furnishing is another. Nuke him until he glows. Then shoot him in the dark....
Peace all. I'm kinda joshing.
Peace all. I'm kinda joshing.
Anyone think the Hepatitis and Monkeypox outbreaks could be the work of Putin?
Or has this been suggested a zillion times in my frequent absences?
(a) Hearing from who/whom?
(b) By what medium (radio, TV, newspaper, twitter, word of mouth)?
(c) Why are you finding out and not serious analysts and reporters?
(d) Why am I wasting time replying to a bot?
That's the trouble with these oligarchs. They're not very good at what they do. Hitler was a great example of a really crap general. A complete buffoon militarily, like Putin.
I may have got the invasion completely wrong but I did say it was based on them not having much chance of winning. And so it has come to pass. A rubbish army with poor equipment led by a lunatic who doesn't know what he's doing.
I've been half expecting some dirty deeds on the west. So I was just curious.
Happily for the rest of the world he then repeated this tactic for the next 4 years with disastrous consequences. For instance in Normandy it allowed the panzer divisions to be chewed up in range of the naval guns, rather than retreating inland to allow for a more strategic counter offensive.
xx
Stalingrad for example was most certainly not an example of his finest hour. The annihilation of the German Sixth Army probably turned the entire war.
Prior to that, opening up two fronts was idiocy and there were a series of other spectacular blunders, including Dunkirk of course.
If the Tory/UKIP vote was 50% plus then they should be the government.
I have a problem with majorities bulldozing their measures through against the wishes of 2 in 3 voters.
And yes. That includes 2005. The most egregious of the lot.
I don't know why people still try out the 'people dying is bad, therefore Ukraine should give up/people should stop supporting them' dodge after all this time. Trying to present it as deriving from compassion doesn't disguise that that is the argument being made, as a logical follow on from the attempt to flip responsibility for any deaths onto, say, us. The flipping is the giveaway about what argument is actually being made, even when it is not outright stated.
The 'compassion' line tries to make the idea of supporting Ukrainians in their resistance to be a complex issue ('but but, it means some people will die'), but in fact it is very simple indeed. Some things are. If they are willing to keep fighting, there are zero difficult issues around the morality of that. Some might want to take a hard nosed realpolitik view about the costs to ourselves, but that is not the position of the 'compassionate' crowd.
Instead FPTP kept Blair in place.
Our resident Russia expert (DA) advised us that this is not an artifact of Russian-English translation, so wonder what it is?
What the difference between Australia Benidorm and a pot of yoghurt?
Yoghurt has a culture…
The Swedish Democrats are one such example, as are Sinn Fein in Eire.
You can by gerrymandering.
This applies to 'Con/UKIP.. And Blair/Kennedy opposed to Howard.
And yes. BoJo struggles to leap that bar.
How can you be expected to write something that could be deeply critical of your boss . The whole charade is being trailed as an independent enquiry which is laughable .
What other line of work has an underling being tasked with this type of process ?
I expect a whitewash with those around Johnson being the sacrificial lambs.
She *was* headmistress
She *is* now a businesswoman
As a local woman who has worked in the area she is the ideal candidate to hold the seat too given the circumstances of the by election from the LDs.
So while Labour should still gain Wakefield which had a much smaller Tory majority in 2019, I think Tiverton and Honiton will now be a narrow Conservative hold
The problem with FPTP is I have to put up with stuff I don't like when I'm in the majority. As indeed may you.
Western resolve set to be tested as key US and EU figures want Ukraine to cede territory to Russia and make peace
The inevitable outcome may be a compromise preserving Ukrainian sovereignty and ceding territory to Russia, a New York Times editorial said
ByRoland Oliphant, SENIOR FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT22 May 2022 • 8:03pm
Well, I guess it's a view.