I'm musing on the thinking behind Sturgeon's announcement today. October 2023 is a long way off and a long time for a campaign so presumably there's the very real possibility it won't happen at all.
The proximity of such a vote to the next GE won't go unnoticed at Westminster though the extent to which it will be a referendum on independence or a referendum on the Conservative Government (whether or not led by Boris Johnson by then) won't be lost on Labour, the LDs and other opposition parties.
Sturgeon will know a strong pro-independence vote will provide leverage as well as likely consolidating the strength of the SNP (its 50+ seats likely make it the kingmaker at Westminster) and that in turn sends a message to Labour (primarily) as to the path toward Westminster "co-operation" in the next Parliament.
It's not risk free for Sturgeon though if the unionists follow @HYUFD's advice that risk is safely mitigated. The risk is she holds the poll and loses - that would, I suspect, cause a real political crisis in the SNP but it's small in my view.
For now, we can expect Boris Johnson to refuse any referendum and I suspect the Supreme Court's ruling won't be favourable but it will be easy for Sturgeon to paint all this as "anti-Scotland" bias in London (which does her no harm politically of course). If the Supreme Court backs her, she has her vote and Johnson is humiliated.
From perusing the threads, I see we are back again - yet again - to the brink of the deranged PB fantasy of the US splitting. Would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic.
Once again, and for the hard of hearing:
NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN.
I hope you are right. But hope isn't enough is it. I said "there is no unity in the states". Would be delighted if you could prove there is unity. On almost any major subject.
Yes the fact that it is having problems doesn’t mean that there is no unity in the country. It is the United States and it’s one country. Give over with this hysteria.
Look, if you stop doing this, I can stop pointing out that you spent the whole of December 2019 posting Hur hur hur PB bedwetters suggesting Trump gonna violently interfere with the democratic process LOL NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Less exhausting for both of us and
less embarrassing for you.
Wrong. Embarrassingly wrong. I said there would be no coup. There was no coup. I was right.
By the way, how are your endless forecasts of Boris being toast working out?
FPT: There seems little point trying not to upset Trump supporters when their man is a fraudulent traitor.
Try him - and his accomplices - for treason, and quickly; he needs taking out of circulation.
I see Ginni Thompson is wrapped up in this somehow too. With some effort, there is probably some crime Clarence can be found guilty of too so he be removed from his duties, and a vacancy opened up on the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court ruled on whether a set of communications could be released to the Jan 6 committee.
Thomas was the only justice to rule against releasing the communications.
E-Mails from his wife were in the info released.
That he did not recuse himself is appalling but utterly unsurprising.
Surely this alone is sufficient to impeach him.
You can impeach and/or convict via impeachment process, anybody for anything. Same in US as in UK historically.
IF you have the votes. Which most of the time you will not, for whatever reason.
There is an interesting suggestion going round regarding term limits. While SC Justices have lifetime terms, thanks to the constitution, their number and roles are not prescribed, except by Congress.
It would be possible to introduce term limits of (say) eighteen years - surely long enough for any individual to hold such power - at the end of which they remain a SC justice, should they wish not to retire, but not hearing cases. The court is expanded as necessary to appoint a replacement, but retains the current number of active justices.
From perusing the threads, I see we are back again - yet again - to the brink of the deranged PB fantasy of the US splitting. Would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic.
Once again, and for the hard of hearing:
NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN.
I hope you are right. But hope isn't enough is it. I said "there is no unity in the states". Would be delighted if you could prove there is unity. On almost any major subject.
You said the USA is dead.
That is an utterly idiotic statement that you should be ashamed of.
Is it? What really worries me is the talk of attempting to impose extraterritorial controls outwith the anti-abortion states. As was pointed out on the previous thread, the analogous attempts, in trying to enforce the legality of slavery even in states where slavery was banned, did a lot to break up the USA come the 1860s (Dred Scott). Extend that to other areas such as gender equality/rights and contraception, and there you are.
Yet again. On what timescale do you think the US - the UNITED States - will split? And are you willing to back that view up with cash?
Predictions that the US is about about to split, are indeed histrionic.
Especially coming from a country where one constituent component has announced a referendum of secession scheduled for next year.
I don't for one second think the US will split via a referendum or even by secession. It would split via a civil war / insurrection. Trump almost engineered such an event - we know that now. The nutball element of the GOP seems to not want to accept anything other than victory. And now we have states passing laws of oppression which seem likely to mushroom into a stand-off against the liberal states.
Sure, there may be a voice of reason out there who finds a centre ground to remind everyone of their shared values. But who is that person? And do most Americans now feel they actually share values with the other side?
I hope it all calms down. But it's sliding towards the precipice. As I posted the other day, whenever a country collapses into division or totalitarian, voices always Sao "how did we get here" despite all the warning signs.
January 6th was a big step on their slide. Abolishing Roe another huge step. And the people sliding are demanding more steps. Not an arrest of their slide.
Another fucking shadow docket ruling. No reasons given.
I'm not really familiar with such a procedure, though have heard about it in the last year. How can it be that decisions by the highest court in the land can be made without reasoning provided? How are people supposed to understand it and ensure they act appropriately for related matters?
Do we have anything like that in this country?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_docket … The shadow docket is a break from ordinary procedure. Such cases receive very limited briefings and are typically decided a week or less after an application is filed. The process generally results in short, unsigned rulings. On the other hand, merits cases take months, include oral argument, and result in lengthy opinions detailing the reasoning of the majority and concurring and dissenting justices, if any.
It is used when the Court believes an applicant will suffer "irreparable harm" if its request is not immediately granted. Historically, the shadow docket was rarely used for rulings of serious legal or political significance. However, since 2017, it has been increasingly utilized for consequential rulings, especially for requests by the Department of Justice for emergency stays of lower-court rulings. The practice has been criticized for various reasons, including for bias, lack of transparency, and lack of accountability.…
From perusing the threads, I see we are back again - yet again - to the brink of the deranged PB fantasy of the US splitting. Would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic.
Once again, and for the hard of hearing:
NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN.
I hope you are right. But hope isn't enough is it. I said "there is no unity in the states". Would be delighted if you could prove there is unity. On almost any major subject.
Yes the fact that it is having problems doesn’t mean that there is no unity in the country. It is the United States and it’s one country. Give over with this hysteria.
Look, if you stop doing this, I can stop pointing out that you spent the whole of December 2019 posting Hur hur hur PB bedwetters suggesting Trump gonna violently interfere with the democratic process LOL NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Less exhausting for both of us and
less embarrassing for you.
Wrong. Embarrassingly wrong. I said there would be no coup. There was no coup. I was right.
By the way, how are your endless forecasts of Boris being toast working out?
I was wrong, but against the odds. Nobody foresaw Ukraine. The difference between us was, I wasn't boringly calling people who disagreed with me "bedwetters" for weeks on end.
There was an attempted coup, as was boringly foreseeable to anyone with a supra amoebal braincell count. You said there wouldn't be.
I'm musing on the thinking behind Sturgeon's announcement today. October 2023 is a long way off and a long time for a campaign so presumably there's the very real possibility it won't happen at all.
The proximity of such a vote to the next GE won't go unnoticed at Westminster though the extent to which it will be a referendum on independence or a referendum on the Conservative Government (whether or not led by Boris Johnson by then) won't be lost on Labour, the LDs and other opposition parties.
Sturgeon will know a strong pro-independence vote will provide leverage as well as likely consolidating the strength of the SNP (its 50+ seats likely make it the kingmaker at Westminster) and that in turn sends a message to Labour (primarily) as to the path toward Westminster "co-operation" in the next Parliament.
It's not risk free for Sturgeon though if the unionists follow @HYUFD's advice that risk is safely mitigated. The risk is she holds the poll and loses - that would, I suspect, cause a real political crisis in the SNP but it's small in my view.
For now, we can expect Boris Johnson to refuse any referendum and I suspect the Supreme Court's ruling won't be favourable but it will be easy for Sturgeon to paint all this as "anti-Scotland" bias in London (which does her no harm politically of course). If the Supreme Court backs her, she has her vote and Johnson is humiliated.
Mm, interesting analysis. The decision to move straight to SC bypasses any messing around with unofficial referenda or boycott attempts by Unionist controlled LAs or "helpful" members of the public trying to take the SG to court. It also keeps the focus on London and Mr Johnson, hopefully while he is still around to make his helpful comments.
Well, not to come over all @SeanT-like, but Covid ....
Daughter is having a horrible time, coughing up chunks of her lungs.
And Husband feels worse than the first time when he had the horrible Delta version. Then he ended up briefly in hospital. So this is not good.
I thought this was meant to be the mild-barely-worse-than-a-cold version.......
All I can do is give them hugs over the phone.
I had it in February and it was very mild (I've had worse colds to be honest) but my brother had quite a tough time with it.
I would guess everyone who was vaccinated up to the third booster last autumn but did not have the fourth booster are probably seeing their immunity dropping too now which will mean a more virulent infection for a lot of people...
Absolutely gutted for Serena . She played okay given she’s been out for a year . No disrespect to Harmony but she’ll likely lose in the next round and disappear back into obscurity .
A big loss for the tournament Serena going out so early and that may well be her last match ever at Wimbledon .
From perusing the threads, I see we are back again - yet again - to the brink of the deranged PB fantasy of the US splitting. Would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic.
Once again, and for the hard of hearing:
NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN.
I hope you are right. But hope isn't enough is it. I said "there is no unity in the states". Would be delighted if you could prove there is unity. On almost any major subject.
You said the USA is dead.
That is an utterly idiotic statement that you should be ashamed of.
Is it? What really worries me is the talk of attempting to impose extraterritorial controls outwith the anti-abortion states. As was pointed out on the previous thread, the analogous attempts, in trying to enforce the legality of slavery even in states where slavery was banned, did a lot to break up the USA come the 1860s (Dred Scott). Extend that to other areas such as gender equality/rights and contraception, and there you are.
Yet again. On what timescale do you think the US - the UNITED States - will split? And are you willing to back that view up with cash?
From perusing the threads, I see we are back again - yet again - to the brink of the deranged PB fantasy of the US splitting. Would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic.
Once again, and for the hard of hearing:
NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN.
I hope you are right. But hope isn't enough is it. I said "there is no unity in the states". Would be delighted if you could prove there is unity. On almost any major subject.
Yes the fact that it is having problems doesn’t mean that there is no unity in the country. It is the United States and it’s one country. Give over with this hysteria.
Look, if you stop doing this, I can stop pointing out that you spent the whole of December 2019 posting Hur hur hur PB bedwetters suggesting Trump gonna violently interfere with the democratic process LOL NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Less exhausting for both of us and
less embarrassing for you.
Wrong. Embarrassingly wrong. I said there would be no coup. There was no coup. I was right.
By the way, how are your endless forecasts of Boris being toast working out?
I was wrong, but against the odds. Nobody foresaw Ukraine. The difference between us was, I wasn't boringly calling people who disagreed with me "bedwetters" for weeks on end.
There was an attempted coup, as was boringly foreseeable to anyone with a supra amoebal
braincell count. You said there wouldn't be.
You were wrong, on both counts.
I was right, on both counts.
Try not to let excitement overwhelm you in future, would be my advice.
I'm musing on the thinking behind Sturgeon's announcement today. October 2023 is a long way off and a long time for a campaign so presumably there's the very real possibility it won't happen at all.
The proximity of such a vote to the next GE won't go unnoticed at Westminster though the extent to which it will be a referendum on independence or a referendum on the Conservative Government (whether or not led by Boris Johnson by then) won't be lost on Labour, the LDs and other opposition parties.
Sturgeon will know a strong pro-independence vote will provide leverage as well as likely consolidating the strength of the SNP (its 50+ seats likely make it the kingmaker at Westminster) and that in turn sends a message to Labour (primarily) as to the path toward Westminster "co-operation" in the next Parliament.
It's not risk free for Sturgeon though if the unionists follow @HYUFD's advice that risk is safely mitigated. The risk is she holds the poll and loses - that would, I suspect, cause a real political crisis in the SNP but it's small in my view.
For now, we can expect Boris Johnson to refuse any referendum and I suspect the Supreme Court's ruling won't be favourable but it will be easy for Sturgeon to paint all this as "anti-Scotland" bias in London (which does her no harm politically of course). If the Supreme Court backs her, she has her vote and Johnson is humiliated.
Mm, interesting analysis. The decision to move straight to SC bypasses any messing around with unofficial referenda or boycott attempts by Unionist controlled LAs or "helpful" members of the public trying to take the SG to court. It also keeps the focus on London and Mr Johnson, hopefully while he is still around to make his helpful comments.
So whether or not she's a sweetie, the First Minister in addition to being nippy, is also canny?
Bill Kristol @BillKristol · 24m "This afternoon a 26-year-old former assistant showed more courage and integrity than an entire administration full of grown adults purportedly working in service to the American people but who long ago decided to serve only their ambition and grievance."
From perusing the threads, I see we are back again - yet again - to the brink of the deranged PB fantasy of the US splitting. Would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic.
Once again, and for the hard of hearing:
NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN.
I hope you are right. But hope isn't enough is it. I said "there is no unity in the states". Would be delighted if you could prove there is unity. On almost any major subject.
Yes the fact that it is having problems doesn’t mean that there is no unity in the country. It is the United States and it’s one country. Give over with this hysteria.
Look, if you stop doing this, I can stop pointing out that you spent the whole of December 2019 posting Hur hur hur PB bedwetters suggesting Trump gonna violently interfere with the democratic process LOL NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Less exhausting for both of us and
less embarrassing for you.
Wrong. Embarrassingly wrong. I said there would be no coup. There was no coup. I was right.
By the way, how are your endless forecasts of Boris being toast working out?
"Attempted Murder. Now honestly what is that? Do they give a Nobel Prize for Attempted Chemistry?"
After a couple of weeks without masks, now back to compulsory in all areas. Rotas collapsing with ward and staff outbreaks.
Not the time to have industrial unrest, with rotas under strain already with summer leave and vacancies.
Was the decision to limit the fourth booster so much, in hindsight, wise?
I questioned it at the time only to be shouted down by the usual "we've got to live with it - it's nothing more than a sniffle" brigade but if we had the vaccinations available, it would have been possible to have provided a booster vaccination for all over 50 (for example).
I'm suffering enough with hay fever this year - it's been a particularly bad season unfortunately.
Whatever happened to the cold damp June months of my youth?
From perusing the threads, I see we are back again - yet again - to the brink of the deranged PB fantasy of the US splitting. Would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic.
Once again, and for the hard of hearing:
NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN.
I hope you are right. But hope isn't enough is it. I said "there is no unity in the states". Would be delighted if you could prove there is unity. On almost any major subject.
You said the USA is dead.
That is an utterly idiotic statement that you should be ashamed of.
Is it? What really worries me is the talk of attempting to impose extraterritorial controls outwith the anti-abortion states. As was pointed out on the previous thread, the analogous attempts, in trying to enforce the legality of slavery even in states where slavery was banned, did a lot to break up the USA come the 1860s (Dred Scott). Extend that to other areas such as gender equality/rights and contraception, and there you are.
Yet again. On what timescale do you think the US - the UNITED States - will split? And are you willing to back that view up with cash?
Did you have money on the No coup prediction?
As far as I know there was never any such market.
Meanwhile, three times this evening I have asked those who are forecasting a split USA to simply place a timescale on this prediction.
I see Turkey is now backing the accession of Sweden and Finland
Should we award Putin a cheap Mercedes and some steak knifes as NATO salesman of the year?
Yes LOL but the price is Sweden sending Kurds back to Turkey. Which is not a lot different from sending Jews back to Hitler's Germany.
That is overblown. One may as well compare countries in the 80s sending the Northern Irish back to the UK.
Been to Turkey?
Been to Kurdistan?
Been to Northern Ireland?
How the fuck do you "send the Northern Irish back to the UK?"
Well, for starters, you have to be not the UK, obviously. And many European countries did face this decision during the 80s. Was the UK Hitler? No. Was the UK going to treat NI Catholic suspects in such cases fairly? In retrospect, we see the answer is "not always". My point is that there is a spectrum and Turkey is not orchestrating Nazi policies on Jews against the Kurds.
Can't really see how you can argue there wasn't an attempted Coup? That it failed was incompetence and because a handful of key players resisted. Rafflensperger (sp.?), Pence, Cheney and Hutchinson. And doubtless a few others. But it was an attempted Coup. By a mafia Don. He was well named.
Well, not to come over all @SeanT-like, but Covid ....
Daughter is having a horrible time, coughing up chunks of her lungs.
And Husband feels worse than the first time when he had the horrible Delta version. Then he ended up briefly in hospital. So this is not good.
I thought this was meant to be the mild-barely-worse-than-a-cold version.......
All I can do is give them hugs over the phone.
After a couple of weeks without masks, now back to compulsory in all areas. Rotas collapsing with ward and staff outbreaks.
Not the time to have industrial unrest, with rotas under strain already with summer leave and vacancies.
Yep - I've gotta bad feeling about where we will be by autumn.
Damn, this virus is a bastard.
It seems to me that there will be ups and downs forever more with Covid, just as there is with flu etc, and we should no more celebrate the downward periods as catastrophise the upward periods.
There’s an omicron specific jab coming out at some stage.
From perusing the threads, I see we are back again - yet again - to the brink of the deranged PB fantasy of the US splitting. Would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic.
Once again, and for the hard of hearing:
NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN.
I hope you are right. But hope isn't enough is it. I said "there is no unity in the states". Would be delighted if you could prove there is unity. On almost any major subject.
Yes the fact that it is having problems doesn’t mean that there is no unity in the country. It is the United States and it’s one country. Give over with this hysteria.
Look, if you stop doing this, I can stop pointing out that you spent the whole of December 2019 posting Hur hur hur PB bedwetters suggesting Trump gonna violently interfere with the democratic process LOL NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Less exhausting for both of us and
less embarrassing for you.
Wrong. Embarrassingly wrong. I said there would be no coup. There was no coup. I was right.
By the way, how are your endless forecasts of Boris being toast working out?
I was wrong, but against the odds. Nobody foresaw Ukraine. The difference between us was, I wasn't boringly calling people who disagreed with me "bedwetters" for weeks on end.
There was an attempted coup, as was boringly foreseeable to anyone with a supra amoebal
braincell count. You said there wouldn't be.
You were wrong, on both counts.
I was right, on both counts.
Try not to let excitement overwhelm you in future, would be my advice.
I was wrong. I had money on the outcome. And my position was the value one even in retrospect, at the odds I was betting on
You were bloviating your arse out about the no Trump coup issue and committed the most spectacular bellyflop in PB history. Particularly hilarious how you went completely off air for 48 hours after 6 January
It's a pain in the arse finding old PB comments but it's perfectly doable. Do you want me to do it?
Can't really see how you can argue there wasn't an attempted Coup? That it failed was incompetence and because a handful of key players resisted. Rafflensperger (sp.?), Pence, Cheney and Hutchinson. And doubtless a few others. But it was an attempted Coup. By a mafia Don. He was well named.
I said there wouldn’t be a coup.
There was no coup.
However one describes the disgraceful, shambolic scenes on 6 January, a coup it was not.
Wondering if declines in K&C, Westminster & Scilly stem from absentee property speculation? In contrast to drops in more remote rural areas with declining jobs base & aging population?
Yes, that was the explanation that first sprung to mind.
Scilly will be second homes, surely - rather than speculation?
K&C and Westminster seem to have empty homes at something like 1.5% (WM) and 2% (KC) of dwellings. Thant's a contribution, but I'd say the bigger cause would be people leaving during COVID if that aligns with the 2021 census.
I see Turkey is now backing the accession of Sweden and Finland
Should we award Putin a cheap Mercedes and some steak knifes as NATO salesman of the year?
Yes LOL but the price is Sweden sending Kurds back to Turkey. Which is not a lot different from sending Jews back to Hitler's Germany.
That is overblown. One may as well compare countries in the 80s sending the Northern Irish back to the UK.
Been to Turkey?
Been to Kurdistan?
Been to Northern Ireland?
How the fuck do you "send the Northern Irish back to the UK?"
Well, for starters, you have to be not the UK, obviously. And many European countries did face this decision during the 80s. Was the UK Hitler? No. Was the UK going to treat NI Catholic suspects in such cases fairly? In retrospect, we see the answer is "not always". My point is that there is a spectrum and Turkey is not orchestrating Nazi policies on Jews against the Kurds.
Can't really see how you can argue there wasn't an attempted Coup? That it failed was incompetence and because a handful of key players resisted. Rafflensperger (sp.?), Pence, Cheney and Hutchinson. And doubtless a few others. But it was an attempted Coup. By a mafia Don. He was well named.
I said there wouldn’t be a coup.
There was no coup.
However one describes the disgraceful, shambolic scenes on 6 January, a coup it was not.
Well. It wasn't a successful Coup. I'll give you that.
Yes you can't beat tennis when it gells like that. It's the genius of the scoring system. Whoever invented it ought to have a blue plaque at the very least.
From perusing the threads, I see we are back again - yet again - to the brink of the deranged PB fantasy of the US splitting. Would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic.
Once again, and for the hard of hearing:
NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN.
I hope you are right. But hope isn't enough is it. I said "there is no unity in the states". Would be delighted if you could prove there is unity. On almost any major subject.
Yes the fact that it is having problems doesn’t mean that there is no unity in the country. It is the United States and it’s one country. Give over with this hysteria.
Look, if you stop doing this, I can stop pointing out that you spent the whole of December 2019 posting Hur hur hur PB bedwetters suggesting Trump gonna violently interfere with the democratic process LOL NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Less exhausting for both of us and
less embarrassing for you.
Wrong. Embarrassingly wrong. I said there would be no coup. There was no coup. I was right.
By the way, how are your endless forecasts of Boris being toast working out?
I was wrong, but against the odds. Nobody foresaw Ukraine. The difference between us was, I wasn't boringly calling people who disagreed with me "bedwetters" for weeks on end.
There was an attempted coup, as was boringly foreseeable to anyone with a supra amoebal braincell count. You said there wouldn't be.
Rather a lot of people foresaw the current Ukraine conflict. The US and U.K. governments, for example. And it wasn’t a last minute prediction either - they’d both been systematically supporting Ukraine in terms of military training and equipment since 2014….
What happened, did a muckle quine steal his soor ploom?
His pre-prepared speech was useless in light of the Lord Advocate route announced by the FM, and unable to think on his feet, his body resorted to shaking and his voice attempted Julie Andrews notes.
From perusing the threads, I see we are back again - yet again - to the brink of the deranged PB fantasy of the US splitting. Would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic.
Once again, and for the hard of hearing:
NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN.
I hope you are right. But hope isn't enough is it. I said "there is no unity in the states". Would be delighted if you could prove there is unity. On almost any major subject.
Yes the fact that it is having problems doesn’t mean that there is no unity in the country. It is the United States and it’s one country. Give over with this hysteria.
Look, if you stop doing this, I can stop pointing out that you spent the whole of December 2019 posting Hur hur hur PB bedwetters suggesting Trump gonna violently interfere with the democratic process LOL NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Less exhausting for both of us and
less embarrassing for you.
Wrong. Embarrassingly wrong. I said there would be no coup. There was no coup. I was right.
By the way, how are your endless forecasts of Boris being toast working out?
I was wrong, but against the odds. Nobody foresaw Ukraine. The difference between us was, I wasn't boringly calling people who disagreed with me "bedwetters" for weeks on end.
There was an attempted coup, as was boringly foreseeable to anyone with a supra amoebal
braincell count. You said there wouldn't be.
You were wrong, on both counts.
I was right, on both counts.
Try not to let excitement overwhelm you in future, would be my advice.
I was wrong. I had money on the outcome. And my position was the value one even in retrospect, at the odds I was betting on
You were bloviating your arse out about the no Trump coup issue and committed the most spectacular bellyflop in PB history. Particularly hilarious how you went completely off air for 48 hours after 6 January
It's a pain in the arse finding old PB comments but it's perfectly doable. Do you want me to do it?
Go ahead, if you can really be bothered.
I don’t recall going “off air” by the way. But I very frequently have several days away from this site.
You seem weirdly obsessed with me sometimes!
(Regarding Boris’ non-departure I repeatedly told you he was going nowhere, over and again, and you mocked me, in your characteristically unpleasant way. But, I was right.)
Wondering if declines in K&C, Westminster & Scilly stem from absentee property speculation? In contrast to drops in more remote rural areas with declining jobs base & aging population?
Yes, that was the explanation that first sprung to mind.
Scilly will be second homes, surely - rather than speculation?
K&C and Westminster seem to have empty homes at something like 1.5% (WM) and 2% (KC) of dwellings. Thant's a contribution, but I'd say the bigger cause would be people leaving during COVID if that aligns with the 2021 census.
How is empty defined? All year, or most of a year, or something else?
Scope for other, perhaps inter-related factors, including very possibly COVID.
It may well be that the SC decision costs the GOP the midterms and control of Congress based on the early polling.
However pro life campaigners won't be that bothered, making abortion mostly illegal in even a minority of mainly southern states is still more important for them than GOP control of Congress with the SC still having upheld Roe v Wade and abortion on demand still legal US wide
From perusing the threads, I see we are back again - yet again - to the brink of the deranged PB fantasy of the US splitting. Would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic.
Once again, and for the hard of hearing:
NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN.
I hope you are right. But hope isn't enough is it. I said "there is no unity in the states". Would be delighted if you could prove there is unity. On almost any major subject.
Yes the fact that it is having problems doesn’t mean that there is no unity in the country. It is the United States and it’s one country. Give over with this hysteria.
Look, if you stop doing this, I can stop pointing out that you spent the whole of December 2019 posting Hur hur hur PB bedwetters suggesting Trump gonna violently interfere with the democratic process LOL NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Less exhausting for both of us and
less embarrassing for you.
Wrong. Embarrassingly wrong. I said there would be no coup. There was no coup. I was right.
By the way, how are your endless forecasts of Boris being toast working out?
I was wrong, but against the odds. Nobody foresaw Ukraine. The difference between us was, I wasn't boringly calling people who disagreed with me "bedwetters" for weeks on end.
There was an attempted coup, as was boringly foreseeable to anyone with a supra amoebal braincell count. You said there wouldn't be.
Rather a lot of people foresaw the current Ukraine conflict. The US and U.K. governments, for example. And it wasn’t a last minute prediction either - they’d both been systematically supporting Ukraine in terms of military training and equipment since 2014….
Again, a contemporary post is worth a thousand postdictions. Link please.
Your point is pretty subpar anyway. I have just renewed my house insurance for another year against fire and earthquake damage and other things. If there's a major earthquake in Devon next month does that mean I predicted it?
So, suppose the SNP do plan on using the 2024 GE as a plebiscite for indy, if Boris and the Supreme Court say no... We get the following result: Labour - 283 Con - 275 SNP - 48 Lib Dems - 20 What does Starmer do? What does Sturgeon do?
Starmer forms a minority government with the LDs on those numbers and also ignores the SNP beyond a Brown commission on devomax
From perusing the threads, I see we are back again - yet again - to the brink of the deranged PB fantasy of the US splitting. Would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic.
Once again, and for the hard of hearing:
NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN.
I hope you are right. But hope isn't enough is it. I said "there is no unity in the states". Would be delighted if you could prove there is unity. On almost any major subject.
Yes the fact that it is having problems doesn’t mean that there is no unity in the country. It is the United States and it’s one country. Give over with this hysteria.
Look, if you stop doing this, I can stop pointing out that you spent the whole of December 2019 posting Hur hur hur PB bedwetters suggesting Trump gonna violently interfere with the democratic process LOL NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Less exhausting for both of us and
less embarrassing for you.
Wrong. Embarrassingly wrong. I said there would be no coup. There was no coup. I was right.
By the way, how are your endless forecasts of Boris being toast working out?
I was wrong, but against the odds. Nobody foresaw Ukraine. The difference between us was, I wasn't boringly calling people who disagreed with me "bedwetters" for weeks on end.
There was an attempted coup, as was boringly foreseeable to anyone with a supra amoebal
braincell count. You said there wouldn't be.
You were wrong, on both counts.
I was right, on both counts.
Try not to let excitement overwhelm you in future, would be my advice.
I was wrong. I had money on the outcome. And my position was the value one even in retrospect, at the odds I was betting on
You were bloviating your arse out about the no Trump coup issue and committed the most spectacular bellyflop in PB history. Particularly hilarious how you went completely off air for 48 hours after 6 January
It's a pain in the arse finding old PB comments but it's perfectly doable. Do you want me to do it?
Go ahead, if you can really be bothered.
I don’t recall going “off air” by the way. But I very frequently have several days away from this site.
You seem weirdly obsessed with me sometimes!
(Regarding Boris’ non-departure I repeatedly told you he was going nowhere, over and again, and you mocked me, in your characteristically unpleasant way. But, I was right.)
You can either say "characteristically unpleasant" or you can repeatedly call other posters "bedwetters" (with the added bonus that you never have the balls to call anyone that by name, it's always generic ). One or the other, not both.
So, suppose the SNP do plan on using the 2024 GE as a plebiscite for indy, if Boris and the Supreme Court say no... We get the following result: Labour - 283 Con - 275 SNP - 48 Lib Dems - 20 What does Starmer do? What does Sturgeon do?
Starmer forms a minority government with the LDs on those numbers and also ignores the SNP beyond a Brown commission on devomax
There's some distance between ignoring totally and being utterly beholden to. Does Starmer have the ability? Am not convinced. But it isn't the most difficult needle to thread.
Well, not to come over all @SeanT-like, but Covid ....
Daughter is having a horrible time, coughing up chunks of her lungs.
And Husband feels worse than the first time when he had the horrible Delta version. Then he ended up briefly in hospital. So this is not good.
I thought this was meant to be the mild-barely-worse-than-a-cold version.......
All I can do is give them hugs over the phone.
Have to say there is a feeling that this is all about to kick off again in a bad way.
Damn.
We are due a significant new variant on the basis of one every 6-ish months or so.
Anecdotally masses of Covid at my work which is unsuprising given the last Scotland figure was 1 in 20
These ebbs and flows will continue forever as far as I expect. What are we supposed to do about it? We haven’t beaten flu in hundreds of years, why should Covid be any different? At least now we have effective treatments, for those that are vulnerable.
It may well be that the SC decision costs the GOP the midterms and control of Congress based on the early polling.
However pro life campaigners won't be that bothered, making abortion mostly illegal in even a minority of mainly southern states is still more important for them than GOP control of Congress with the SC still having upheld Roe v Wade and abortion on demand still legal US wide
"Abortion on demand" = Abortion legal but subject to controls and prohibitions in middle and late pregnancy.
From perusing the threads, I see we are back again - yet again - to the brink of the deranged PB fantasy of the US splitting. Would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic.
Once again, and for the hard of hearing:
NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN.
I hope you are right. But hope isn't enough is it. I said "there is no unity in the states". Would be delighted if you could prove there is unity. On almost any major subject.
Yes the fact that it is having problems doesn’t mean that there is no unity in the country. It is the United States and it’s one country. Give over with this hysteria.
Look, if you stop doing this, I can stop pointing out that you spent the whole of December 2019 posting Hur hur hur PB bedwetters suggesting Trump gonna violently interfere with the democratic process LOL NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Less exhausting for both of us and
less embarrassing for you.
Wrong. Embarrassingly wrong. I said there would be no coup. There was no coup. I was right.
By the way, how are your endless forecasts of Boris being toast working out?
I was wrong, but against the odds. Nobody foresaw Ukraine. The difference between us was, I wasn't boringly calling people who disagreed with me "bedwetters" for weeks on end.
There was an attempted coup, as was boringly foreseeable to anyone with a supra amoebal
braincell count. You said there wouldn't be.
You were wrong, on both counts.
I was right, on both counts.
Try not to let excitement overwhelm you in future, would be my advice.
I was wrong. I had money on the outcome. And my position was the value one even in retrospect, at the odds I was betting on
You were bloviating your arse out about the no Trump coup issue and committed the most spectacular bellyflop in PB history. Particularly hilarious how you went completely off air for 48 hours after 6 January
It's a pain in the arse finding old PB comments but it's perfectly doable. Do you want me to do it?
Go ahead, if you can really be bothered.
I don’t recall going “off air” by the way. But I very frequently have several days away from this site.
You seem weirdly obsessed with me sometimes!
(Regarding Boris’ non-departure I repeatedly told you he was going nowhere, over and again, and you mocked me, in your characteristically unpleasant way. But, I was right.)
You can either say "characteristically unpleasant" or you can repeatedly call other posters "bedwetters" (with the added bonus that
you never have the balls to call anyone that by name, it's always generic ). One or the other
, not both.
Frequent days away from the site. Of course.
What are you talking about now? Are you denying that I frequently have breaks from the site? That’s bizarre… I had a break very recently didn’t I? This weekend?
It may well be that the SC decision costs the GOP the midterms and control of Congress based on the early polling.
However pro life campaigners won't be that bothered, making abortion mostly illegal in even a minority of mainly southern states is still more important for them than GOP control of Congress with the SC still having upheld Roe v Wade and abortion on demand still legal US wide
What do you mean "pro life"? The God you believe in Himself caused 20,000 abortions in the UK alone last year. Only, He refers to it as "miscarriage".
Believe in God, and you believe in abortion, unfortunately.
So, suppose the SNP do plan on using the 2024 GE as a plebiscite for indy, if Boris and the Supreme Court say no... We get the following result: Labour - 283 Con - 275 SNP - 48 Lib Dems - 20 What does Starmer do? What does Sturgeon do?
Starmer forms a minority government with the LDs on those numbers and also ignores the SNP beyond a Brown commission on devomax
Report tonight Boris may allow indyref2 and to be honest it would be the right thing to do
Me (an idiot) : he knowingly directed an armed mob to try and overthrow the elction. You (a genius) : That's not a coup.
I wouldn't dream of being so rude as to call you an idiot, but your line 'directed an armed mob to overthrow the election' is a deliberately specious one, and you know it.
As I said before, and it has not got any less true, a storming of the Capitol, whilst terrifying for those involved, and highly embarrassing for America, has no military or strategical effect in aiding an attempted takeover of America. Because it was never intended *as* a takeover of America. The motley crew involved had no plan whatsoever, Trump created or otherwise, to do so. If they had, it would have involved a little bit more than wandering around the building dressed as Davey Crockett. You clearly realise this, hence you downgrading it to 'overthrowing the election', but in many ways this outcome is even less achievable by storming the Capitol than taking over the country.
Trump does this. He brings out the silly lies in his opponents - the line about wrestling a pig is very apt.
So, suppose the SNP do plan on using the 2024 GE as a plebiscite for indy, if Boris and the Supreme Court say no... We get the following result: Labour - 283 Con - 275 SNP - 48 Lib Dems - 20 What does Starmer do? What does Sturgeon do?
Starmer forms a minority government with the LDs on those numbers and also ignores the SNP beyond a Brown commission on devomax
There's some distance between ignoring totally and being utterly beholden to. Does Starmer have the ability? Am not convinced. But it isn't the most difficult needle to thread.
I think it really depends on whether Sturgeon would be prepared to bring down a Labour minority government prior to the 2026 Holyrood election. I would've said almost certainly no, but am not quite so sure now if Sturgeon indeed does end up making the 2024 GE a plebiscite on indy. My guess is that the Starmer will attempt to follow Wilson's playbook, and try govern for a few months before calling another election that would hopefully give him a majority.
Can't really see how you can argue there wasn't an attempted Coup? That it failed was incompetence and because a handful of key players resisted. Rafflensperger (sp.?), Pence, Cheney and Hutchinson. And doubtless a few others. But it was an attempted Coup. By a mafia Don. He was well named.
I said there wouldn’t be a coup.
There was no coup.
However one describes the disgraceful, shambolic scenes on 6 January, a coup it was not.
Well. It wasn't a successful Coup. I'll give you that.
It wasn't a successful riot. It wasn't even an attempted coup.
From perusing the threads, I see we are back again - yet again - to the brink of the deranged PB fantasy of the US splitting. Would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic.
Once again, and for the hard of hearing:
NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN.
I hope you are right. But hope isn't enough is it. I said "there is no unity in the states". Would be delighted if you could prove there is unity. On almost any major subject.
Yes the fact that it is having problems doesn’t mean that there is no unity in the country. It is the United States and it’s one country. Give over with this hysteria.
Look, if you stop doing this, I can stop pointing out that you spent the whole of December 2019 posting Hur hur hur PB bedwetters suggesting Trump gonna violently interfere with the democratic process LOL NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Less exhausting for both of us and
less embarrassing for you.
Wrong. Embarrassingly wrong. I said there would be no coup. There was no coup. I was right.
By the way, how are your endless forecasts of Boris being toast working out?
I was wrong, but against the odds. Nobody foresaw Ukraine. The difference between us was, I wasn't boringly calling people who disagreed with me "bedwetters" for weeks on end.
There was an attempted coup, as was boringly foreseeable to anyone with a supra amoebal braincell count. You said there wouldn't be.
Rather a lot of people foresaw the current Ukraine conflict. The US and U.K. governments, for example. And it wasn’t a last minute prediction either - they’d both been systematically supporting Ukraine in terms of military training and equipment since 2014….
Again, a contemporary post is worth a thousand postdictions. Link please.
Your point is pretty subpar anyway. I have just renewed my house insurance for another year against fire and earthquake damage and other things. If there's a major earthquake in Devon next month does that mean I predicted it?
Err… for months before the actual kickoff, the U.K. and US governments were saying that a war was going to happen. Yes, quite a few people convinced themselves that the build up of Russian troops was a bluff - but the US and U.K. governments called it exactly right.
So, suppose the SNP do plan on using the 2024 GE as a plebiscite for indy, if Boris and the Supreme Court say no... We get the following result: Labour - 283 Con - 275 SNP - 48 Lib Dems - 20 What does Starmer do? What does Sturgeon do?
Starmer forms a minority government with the LDs on those numbers and also ignores the SNP beyond a Brown commission on devomax
Report tonight Boris may allow indyref2 and to be honest it would be the right thing to do
I agree let's get on with it
If Sturgeon loses then SNP have to keep quiet until 2100
If Sturgeon wins then no more nasty SNP in the Commons and Con Maj until 2100 👍
So, suppose the SNP do plan on using the 2024 GE as a plebiscite for indy, if Boris and the Supreme Court say no... We get the following result: Labour - 283 Con - 275 SNP - 48 Lib Dems - 20 What does Starmer do? What does Sturgeon do?
Starmer forms a minority government with the LDs on those numbers and also ignores the SNP beyond a Brown commission on devomax
Report tonight Boris may allow indyref2 and to be honest it would be the right thing to do
I agree let's get on with it
If Sturgeon loses then SNP have to keep quiet until 2100
If Sturgeon wins then no more nasty SNP in the Commons and Con Maj until 2100 👍
I suspect that the minute London agreed to it Sturgeon would find a delay. She knows she will lose at moment.
Khan rules himself out of Lab leadership for at least the next decade.
LBC @LBC · 2h London Mayor Sadiq Khan insists that Britain should rejoin the single market, branding leaving the EU the "biggest self-harm ever done to a country."
Can't really see how you can argue there wasn't an attempted Coup? That it failed was incompetence and because a handful of key players resisted. Rafflensperger (sp.?), Pence, Cheney and Hutchinson. And doubtless a few others. But it was an attempted Coup. By a mafia Don. He was well named.
I said there wouldn’t be a coup.
There was no coup.
However one describes the disgraceful, shambolic scenes on 6 January, a coup it was not.
Well. It wasn't a successful Coup. I'll give you that.
It wasn't a successful riot. It wasn't even an attempted coup.
So, suppose the SNP do plan on using the 2024 GE as a plebiscite for indy, if Boris and the Supreme Court say no... We get the following result: Labour - 283 Con - 275 SNP - 48 Lib Dems - 20 What does Starmer do? What does Sturgeon do?
Starmer forms a minority government with the LDs on those numbers and also ignores the SNP beyond a Brown commission on devomax
There's some distance between ignoring totally and being utterly beholden to. Does Starmer have the ability? Am not convinced. But it isn't the most difficult needle to thread.
I think it really depends on whether Sturgeon would be prepared to bring down a Labour minority government prior to the 2026 Holyrood election. I would've said almost certainly no, but am not quite so sure now if Sturgeon indeed does end up making the 2024 GE a plebiscite on indy. My guess is that the Starmer will attempt to follow Wilson's playbook, and try govern for a few months before calling another election that would hopefully give him a majority.
So, suppose the SNP do plan on using the 2024 GE as a plebiscite for indy, if Boris and the Supreme Court say no... We get the following result: Labour - 283 Con - 275 SNP - 48 Lib Dems - 20 What does Starmer do? What does Sturgeon do?
Starmer forms a minority government with the LDs on those numbers and also ignores the SNP beyond a Brown commission on devomax
There's some distance between ignoring totally and being utterly beholden to. Does Starmer have the ability? Am not convinced. But it isn't the most difficult needle to thread.
I think it really depends on whether Sturgeon would be prepared to bring down a Labour minority government prior to the 2026 Holyrood election. I would've said almost certainly no, but am not quite so sure now if Sturgeon indeed does end up making the 2024 GE a plebiscite on indy. My guess is that the Starmer will attempt to follow Wilson's playbook, and try govern for a few months before calling another election that would hopefully give him a majority.
So, suppose the SNP do plan on using the 2024 GE as a plebiscite for indy, if Boris and the Supreme Court say no... We get the following result: Labour - 283 Con - 275 SNP - 48 Lib Dems - 20 What does Starmer do? What does Sturgeon do?
Starmer forms a minority government with the LDs on those numbers and also ignores the SNP beyond a Brown commission on devomax
Report tonight Boris may allow indyref2 and to be honest it would be the right thing to do
No there isn't, anywhere. If he did then he would lose a VONC and be removed straight away
🚨 A source close to the Secret Service tells me both Bobby Engel, the lead agent, and the presidential limousine/SUV driver are prepared to testify under oath that neither man was assaulted and that Mr. Trump never lunged for the steering wheel.
1. Announce a referendum. 2. Have it rejected by the UKG and disallowed by the Supreme Court. 3. Run in the subsequent election on a Who Rules Scotland? narrative. 4. Demand a referendum as the price of a Starmer government.
It is not clear to me how a Boris led UKG is going to foil that.
It may well be that the SC decision costs the GOP the midterms and control of Congress based on the early polling.
However pro life campaigners won't be that bothered, making abortion mostly illegal in even a minority of mainly southern states is still more important for them than GOP control of Congress with the SC still having upheld Roe v Wade and abortion on demand still legal US wide
What do you mean "pro life"? The God you believe in Himself caused 20,000 abortions in the UK alone last year. Only, He refers to it as "miscarriage".
Believe in God, and you believe in abortion, unfortunately.
Nope, miscarriage is because a fetus could not develop normally anyway normally. Abortion can be a decision to terminate the life of a fetus that could well be perfectly healthy
So, suppose the SNP do plan on using the 2024 GE as a plebiscite for indy, if Boris and the Supreme Court say no... We get the following result: Labour - 283 Con - 275 SNP - 48 Lib Dems - 20 What does Starmer do? What does Sturgeon do?
Starmer forms a minority government with the LDs on those numbers and also ignores the SNP beyond a Brown commission on devomax
Report tonight Boris may allow indyref2 and to be honest it would be the right thing to do
No there isn't, anywhere. If he did then he would lose a VONC and be removed straight away
Boris Johnson hints he could AGREE to Nicola Sturgeon's IndyRef2 after SNP's latest push
1. Announce a referendum. 2. Have it rejected by the UKG and disallowed by the Supreme Court. 3. Run in the subsequent election on a Who Rules Scotland? narrative. 4. Demand a referendum as the price of a Starmer government.
It is not clear to me how a Boris led UKG is going to foil that.
Unless the Tories won most seats Starmer could still ignore Sturgeon in a hung parliament
So, suppose the SNP do plan on using the 2024 GE as a plebiscite for indy, if Boris and the Supreme Court say no... We get the following result: Labour - 283 Con - 275 SNP - 48 Lib Dems - 20 What does Starmer do? What does Sturgeon do?
Starmer forms a minority government with the LDs on those numbers and also ignores the SNP beyond a Brown commission on devomax
Report tonight Boris may allow indyref2 and to be honest it would be the right thing to do
No there isn't, anywhere. If he did then he would lose a VONC and be removed straight away
Is it possible some of the Hunt-ites might be sympathetic to another Scottish referendum?
So, suppose the SNP do plan on using the 2024 GE as a plebiscite for indy, if Boris and the Supreme Court say no... We get the following result: Labour - 283 Con - 275 SNP - 48 Lib Dems - 20 What does Starmer do? What does Sturgeon do?
Starmer forms a minority government with the LDs on those numbers and also ignores the SNP beyond a Brown commission on devomax
Report tonight Boris may allow indyref2 and to be honest it would be the right thing to do
No there isn't, anywhere. If he did then he would lose a VONC and be removed straight away
All the government said was "Our position remains unchanged that both ours and the Scottish Government's priority should be working together with a relentless focus on the issues that we know matter to people up and down the country.
"That remains our priority, but a decision has been taken by the First Minister, so we will carefully study the details of the proposal, and the Supreme Court will now consider whether to accept the Scottish Government's Lord Advocate referral".
Can't really see how you can argue there wasn't an attempted Coup? That it failed was incompetence and because a handful of key players resisted. Rafflensperger (sp.?), Pence, Cheney and Hutchinson. And doubtless a few others. But it was an attempted Coup. By a mafia Don. He was well named.
I said there wouldn’t be a coup.
There was no coup.
However one describes the disgraceful, shambolic scenes on 6 January, a coup it was not.
Well. It wasn't a successful Coup. I'll give you that.
It wasn't a successful riot. It wasn't even an attempted coup.
5 dead. What was the intention?
Of course it was a bloody coup (attempt). It’s just that Luckyboy is conditioned (as we all are) to think of them as things that happen in third world countries.
1. Announce a referendum. 2. Have it rejected by the UKG and disallowed by the Supreme Court. 3. Run in the subsequent election on a Who Rules Scotland? narrative. 4. Demand a referendum as the price of a Starmer government.
It is not clear to me how a Boris led UKG is going to foil that.
Problem with 4 is the Lib Dem recovery. The more seats the Lib Dems win, the fewer seats Starmer needs in building an electoral coalition which takes him above 325 seats (without the SNP). Sturgeon needs the Lib Dems to do poorly at the next election.
1. Announce a referendum. 2. Have it rejected by the UKG and disallowed by the Supreme Court. 3. Run in the subsequent election on a Who Rules Scotland? narrative. 4. Demand a referendum as the price of a Starmer government.
It is not clear to me how a Boris led UKG is going to foil that.
The Supreme Court will rule first which would make a rejection easy
However, the right thing to do would be to allow it and win the day
1. Announce a referendum. 2. Have it rejected by the UKG and disallowed by the Supreme Court. 3. Run in the subsequent election on a Who Rules Scotland? narrative. 4. Demand a referendum as the price of a Starmer government.
It is not clear to me how a Boris led UKG is going to foil that.
4 falls down if Starmer agrees.
She will lose.
Who wants a hard border across the scottish borders?
Who thinks trying to rejoin the EU is a good idea if you have to agree to the euro?
Who wants to pay the pensions without London?
And then there is the currency.
But I guess she can sleep easy saying she tried and then retire to look at sea urchins in a scottish loch somewhere.
So, suppose the SNP do plan on using the 2024 GE as a plebiscite for indy, if Boris and the Supreme Court say no... We get the following result: Labour - 283 Con - 275 SNP - 48 Lib Dems - 20 What does Starmer do? What does Sturgeon do?
Starmer forms a minority government with the LDs on those numbers and also ignores the SNP beyond a Brown commission on devomax
Report tonight Boris may allow indyref2 and to be honest it would be the right thing to do
No there isn't, anywhere. If he did then he would lose a VONC and be removed straight away
Is it possible some of the Hunt-ites might be sympathetic to another Scottish referendum?
It may well be that the SC decision costs the GOP the midterms and control of Congress based on the early polling.
However pro life campaigners won't be that bothered, making abortion mostly illegal in even a minority of mainly southern states is still more important for them than GOP control of Congress with the SC still having upheld Roe v Wade and abortion on demand still legal US wide
What do you mean "pro life"? The God you believe in Himself caused 20,000 abortions in the UK alone last year. Only, He refers to it as "miscarriage".
Believe in God, and you believe in abortion, unfortunately.
Nope, miscarriage is because a fetus could not develop normally anyway normally.
God is in control of that, and therefore He is to blame.
Believe in God, and you believe in abortion, unfortunately.
1. Announce a referendum. 2. Have it rejected by the UKG and disallowed by the Supreme Court. 3. Run in the subsequent election on a Who Rules Scotland? narrative. 4. Demand a referendum as the price of a Starmer government.
It is not clear to me how a Boris led UKG is going to foil that.
Problem with 4 is the Lib Dem recovery. The more seats the Lib Dems wins, the fewer seats Starmer needs in building an electoral coalition which takes him above 325 seats (without the SNP). Sturgeon needs the Lib Dems to do poorly at the next election.
Oh I know. But that’s just a possibility. Not even a probability.
The odds that the next government depend somehow on the SNP are reasonably high.
Shades of how the late 1800s were complicated by the success of the Irish nationalists.
Cunning plans in politics can have a habit of blowing up, Lib Dems support coalition for an AV ref, Call me Dave cunning plan to neutralise UKIP with a Brexit ref, Boris basically every plan, possibly Starmer's beergate stunt.
It may well be that the SC decision costs the GOP the midterms and control of Congress based on the early polling.
However pro life campaigners won't be that bothered, making abortion mostly illegal in even a minority of mainly southern states is still more important for them than GOP control of Congress with the SC still having upheld Roe v Wade and abortion on demand still legal US wide
What do you mean "pro life"? The God you believe in Himself caused 20,000 abortions in the UK alone last year. Only, He refers to it as "miscarriage".
Believe in God, and you believe in abortion, unfortunately.
Nope, miscarriage is because a fetus could not develop normally anyway normally.
God is in control of that, and therefore He is to blame.
Believe in God, and you believe in abortion, unfortunately.
No you don't, though of course ultimately we can all die at a time of God's choosing abortion of a healthy fetus is a defiance of God's will
So, suppose the SNP do plan on using the 2024 GE as a plebiscite for indy, if Boris and the Supreme Court say no... We get the following result: Labour - 283 Con - 275 SNP - 48 Lib Dems - 20 What does Starmer do? What does Sturgeon do?
Starmer forms a minority government with the LDs on those numbers and also ignores the SNP beyond a Brown commission on devomax
Report tonight Boris may allow indyref2 and to be honest it would be the right thing to do
No there isn't, anywhere. If he did then he would lose a VONC and be removed straight away
All the government said was "Our position remains unchanged that both ours and the Scottish Government's priority should be working together with a relentless focus on the issues that we know matter to people up and down the country.
"That remains our priority, but a decision has been taken by the First Minister, so we will carefully study the details of the proposal, and the Supreme Court will now consider whether to accept the Scottish Government's Lord Advocate referral".
I have just published that and you repeat it for some strange reason
1. Announce a referendum. 2. Have it rejected by the UKG and disallowed by the Supreme Court. 3. Run in the subsequent election on a Who Rules Scotland? narrative. 4. Demand a referendum as the price of a Starmer government.
It is not clear to me how a Boris led UKG is going to foil that.
4 falls down if Starmer agrees.
She will lose.
Who wants a hard border across the scottish borders?
Who thinks trying to rejoin the EU is a good idea if you have to agree to the euro?
Who wants to pay the pensions without London?
And then there is the currency.
But I guess she can sleep easy saying she tried and then retire to look at sea urchins in a scottish loch somewhere.
Sure but these are economic issues and as we learned from Brexit, identity trumps economics.
🚨 A source close to the Secret Service tells me both Bobby Engel, the lead agent, and the presidential limousine/SUV driver are prepared to testify under oath that neither man was assaulted and that Mr. Trump never lunged for the steering wheel.
So they are saying Hutchinson just lied on oath after clearly searching her soul?
Christ.
They better be bloody sure there isn't some CCTV footage we haven't seen or another witness because otherwise they are going down for a very long time and the there's not much room in a bunk in St Quentin.
So, suppose the SNP do plan on using the 2024 GE as a plebiscite for indy, if Boris and the Supreme Court say no... We get the following result: Labour - 283 Con - 275 SNP - 48 Lib Dems - 20 What does Starmer do? What does Sturgeon do?
Starmer forms a minority government with the LDs on those numbers and also ignores the SNP beyond a Brown commission on devomax
Report tonight Boris may allow indyref2 and to be honest it would be the right thing to do
No there isn't, anywhere. If he did then he would lose a VONC and be removed straight away
Is it possible some of the Hunt-ites might be sympathetic to another Scottish referendum?
It may well see a consensus in Westminster decide to call Sturgeon's bluff and wrong foot her, as she does not want it but has to play to her core
So, suppose the SNP do plan on using the 2024 GE as a plebiscite for indy, if Boris and the Supreme Court say no... We get the following result: Labour - 283 Con - 275 SNP - 48 Lib Dems - 20 What does Starmer do? What does Sturgeon do?
Starmer forms a minority government with the LDs on those numbers and also ignores the SNP beyond a Brown commission on devomax
Report tonight Boris may allow indyref2 and to be honest it would be the right thing to do
No there isn't, anywhere. If he did then he would lose a VONC and be removed straight away
All the government said was "Our position remains unchanged that both ours and the Scottish Government's priority should be working together with a relentless focus on the issues that we know matter to people up and down the country.
"That remains our priority, but a decision has been taken by the First Minister, so we will carefully study the details of the proposal, and the Supreme Court will now consider whether to accept the Scottish Government's Lord Advocate referral".
I have just published that and you repeat it for some strange reason
Why are you so scared of a vote that is winnable
It is 50/50 at the moment and even if it was won the SNP would demand another referendum the UK government having been so weak as to allow an indyref2 before a generation had elapsed.
No, this Tory government must go full hardcore Madrid Catalonia 2017 if needed, no official indyref2 allowed under any circumstance whatsoever and Unionists to boycott any wildcat referendum
Comments
I'm musing on the thinking behind Sturgeon's announcement today. October 2023 is a long way off and a long time for a campaign so presumably there's the very real possibility it won't happen at all.
The proximity of such a vote to the next GE won't go unnoticed at Westminster though the extent to which it will be a referendum on independence or a referendum on the Conservative Government (whether or not led by Boris Johnson by then) won't be lost on Labour, the LDs and other opposition parties.
Sturgeon will know a strong pro-independence vote will provide leverage as well as likely consolidating the strength of the SNP (its 50+ seats likely make it the kingmaker at Westminster) and that in turn sends a message to Labour (primarily) as to the path toward Westminster "co-operation" in the next Parliament.
It's not risk free for Sturgeon though if the unionists follow @HYUFD's advice that risk is safely mitigated. The risk is she holds the poll and loses - that would, I suspect, cause a real political crisis in the SNP but it's small in my view.
For now, we can expect Boris Johnson to refuse any referendum and I suspect the Supreme Court's ruling won't be favourable but it will be easy for Sturgeon to paint all this as "anti-Scotland" bias in London (which does her no harm politically of course). If the Supreme Court backs her, she has her vote and Johnson is humiliated.
Wrong. Embarrassingly wrong. I said there would be no coup. There was no coup. I was right.
By the way, how are your endless forecasts of Boris being toast working out?
Daughter is having a horrible time, coughing up chunks of her lungs.
And Husband feels worse than the first time when he had the horrible Delta version. Then he ended up briefly in hospital. So this is not good.
I thought this was meant to be the mild-barely-worse-than-a-cold version.......
All I can do is give them hugs over the phone.
While SC Justices have lifetime terms, thanks to the constitution, their number and roles are not prescribed, except by Congress.
It would be possible to introduce term limits of (say) eighteen years - surely long enough for any individual to hold such power - at the end of which they remain a SC justice, should they wish not to retire, but not hearing cases.
The court is expanded as necessary to appoint a replacement, but retains the current number of active justices.
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1541813888341229568?t=Nl-K7qCs9-hXQ9N_LxE5MA&s=19
Really? When do you think this will happen?
… The shadow docket is a break from ordinary procedure. Such cases receive very limited briefings and are typically decided a week or less after an application is filed. The process generally results in short, unsigned rulings. On the other hand, merits cases take months, include oral argument, and result in lengthy opinions detailing the reasoning of the majority and concurring and dissenting justices, if any.
It is used when the Court believes an applicant will suffer "irreparable harm" if its request is not immediately granted. Historically, the shadow docket was rarely used for rulings of serious legal or political significance. However, since 2017, it has been increasingly utilized for consequential rulings, especially for requests by the Department of Justice for emergency stays of lower-court rulings. The practice has been criticized for various reasons, including for bias, lack of transparency, and lack of accountability.…
There was an attempted coup, as was boringly foreseeable to anyone with a supra amoebal braincell count. You said there wouldn't be.
Damn.
Not the time to have industrial unrest, with rotas under strain already with summer leave and vacancies.
I would guess everyone who was vaccinated up to the third booster last autumn but did not have the fourth booster are probably seeing their immunity dropping too now which will mean a more virulent infection for a lot of people...
A big loss for the tournament Serena going out so early and that may well be her last match ever at Wimbledon .
I was right, on both counts.
Try not to let excitement overwhelm you in future, would be my advice.
Reinfections aren’t always benign, particularly with recent variants.
Bill Kristol
@BillKristol
·
24m
"This afternoon a 26-year-old former assistant showed more courage and integrity than an entire administration full of grown adults purportedly working in service to the American people but who long ago decided to serve only their ambition and grievance."
https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/1541894069215006720
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQQPNQ0PFSc
Damn, this virus is a bastard.
I questioned it at the time only to be shouted down by the usual "we've got to live with it - it's nothing more than a sniffle" brigade but if we had the vaccinations available, it would have been possible to have provided a booster vaccination for all over 50 (for example).
I'm suffering enough with hay fever this year - it's been a particularly bad season unfortunately.
Whatever happened to the cold damp June months of my youth?
Meanwhile, three times this evening I have asked those who are forecasting a split USA to simply place a timescale on this prediction.
I am still waiting for any sort of answer.
The guy's mafiosi.
And it's only women who seem to have the cojones?
The driver held on to the wheel.
That it failed was incompetence and because a handful of key players resisted. Rafflensperger (sp.?), Pence, Cheney and Hutchinson. And doubtless a few others.
But it was an attempted Coup. By a mafia Don.
He was well named.
There’s an omicron specific jab coming out at some stage.
Anecdotally masses of Covid at my work which is unsuprising given the last Scotland figure was 1 in 20
You were bloviating your arse out about the no Trump coup issue and committed the most spectacular bellyflop in PB history. Particularly hilarious how you went completely off air for 48 hours after 6 January
It's a pain in the arse finding old PB comments but it's perfectly doable. Do you want me to do it?
There was no coup.
However one describes the disgraceful, shambolic scenes on 6 January, a coup it was not.
K&C and Westminster seem to have empty homes at something like 1.5% (WM) and 2% (KC) of dwellings. Thant's a contribution, but I'd say the bigger cause would be people leaving during COVID if that aligns with the 2021 census.
I am hopeful that both the Moderna and Pfizer Omicron vaccines are decent.
I am wondering if what I thought a fortnight ago as a post viral syndrome was a minor episode of BA,4 or 5
Saying anything big X
It wasn't a successful Coup.
I'll give you that.
South Carolina runoff (polls close 7pm EDT = midnight London)
> US Senate Democratic
Illinois (polls close 7pm CDT)
> US Senate, US House, Governor & other state races
Mississippi runoff (polls close 7pm CDT)
> US House Republican, two districts
Oklahoma (polls close 7pm CDT)
> Two races for US Senate (one open), US House, Governor
New York (polls close 9pm EDT)
> Governor only
Colorado (polls close 7pm MDT)
> US Senate, US House, Governor (also Secretary of State Republican featuring election machine tamperer)
Utah (polls close 8pm MDT)
> US Senate, US House
We really need some kind of pan-Covid vaccine.
I don’t recall going “off air” by the way. But I very frequently have several days away from this site.
You seem weirdly obsessed with me sometimes!
(Regarding Boris’ non-departure I repeatedly told you he was going nowhere, over and again, and you mocked me, in your characteristically unpleasant way. But, I was right.)
Scope for other, perhaps inter-related factors, including very possibly COVID.
However pro life campaigners won't be that bothered, making abortion mostly illegal in even a minority of mainly southern states is still more important for them than GOP control of Congress with the SC still having upheld Roe v Wade and abortion on demand still legal US wide
Your point is pretty subpar anyway. I have just renewed my house insurance for another year against fire and earthquake damage and other things. If there's a major earthquake in Devon next month does that mean I predicted it?
Frequent days away from the site. Of course.
Does Starmer have the ability?
Am not convinced. But it isn't the most difficult needle to thread.
These ebbs and flows will continue forever as far as I expect. What are we supposed to do about it? We haven’t beaten flu in hundreds of years, why should Covid be any different? At least now we have effective treatments, for those that are vulnerable.
Believe in God, and you believe in abortion, unfortunately.
As I said before, and it has not got any less true, a storming of the Capitol, whilst terrifying for those involved, and highly embarrassing for America, has no military or strategical effect in aiding an attempted takeover of America. Because it was never intended *as* a takeover of America. The motley crew involved had no plan whatsoever, Trump created or otherwise, to do so. If they had, it would have involved a little bit more than wandering around the building dressed as Davey Crockett. You clearly realise this, hence you downgrading it to 'overthrowing the election', but in many ways this outcome is even less achievable by storming the Capitol than taking over the country.
Trump does this. He brings out the silly lies in his opponents - the line about wrestling a pig is very apt.
My guess is that the Starmer will attempt to follow Wilson's playbook, and try govern for a few months before calling another election that would hopefully give him a majority.
Twenty-four hours ago it was 104F. In direct sunlight - but air temp was 94F.
Difference is marine air layer from Pacific Ocean moved into Puget Sound region last night, replacing offshore flow from eastern Washington desert.
Nature's air conditioning.
If Sturgeon loses then SNP have to keep quiet until 2100
If Sturgeon wins then no more nasty SNP in the Commons and Con Maj until 2100 👍
LBC
@LBC
·
2h
London Mayor Sadiq Khan insists that Britain should rejoin the single market, branding leaving the EU the "biggest self-harm ever done to a country."
https://twitter.com/LBC/status/1541874091866656775
🚨 A source close to the Secret Service tells me both Bobby Engel, the lead agent, and the presidential limousine/SUV driver are prepared to testify under oath that neither man was assaulted and that Mr. Trump never lunged for the steering wheel.
https://twitter.com/peteralexander/status/1541910389289635841
1. Announce a referendum.
2. Have it rejected by the UKG and disallowed by the Supreme Court.
3. Run in the subsequent election on a Who Rules Scotland? narrative.
4. Demand a referendum as the price of a Starmer government.
It is not clear to me how a Boris led UKG is going to foil that.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1632438/boris-johnson-reactions-nicola-sturgeon-indyref2-scotland-independence-1632438#ICID=Android_ExpressNewApp_AppShare
"That remains our priority, but a decision has been taken by the First Minister, so we will carefully study the details of the proposal, and the Supreme Court will now consider whether to accept the Scottish Government's Lord Advocate referral".
It’s just that Luckyboy is conditioned (as we all are) to think of them as things that happen in third world countries.
However, the right thing to do would be to allow it and win the day
She will lose.
Who wants a hard border across the scottish borders?
Who thinks trying to rejoin the EU is a good idea if you have to agree to the euro?
Who wants to pay the pensions without London?
And then there is the currency.
But I guess she can sleep easy saying she tried and then retire to look at sea urchins in a scottish loch somewhere.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/17753086.read-jeremy-hunt-said-grilled-indyref2/
Believe in God, and you believe in abortion, unfortunately.
But that’s just a possibility. Not even a probability.
The odds that the next government depend somehow on the SNP are reasonably high.
Shades of how the late 1800s were complicated by the success of the Irish nationalists.
Why are you so scared of a vote that is winnable
So they are saying Hutchinson just lied on oath after clearly searching her soul?
Christ.
They better be bloody sure there isn't some CCTV footage we haven't seen or another witness because otherwise they are going down for a very long time and the there's not much room in a bunk in St Quentin.
No, this Tory government must go full hardcore Madrid Catalonia 2017 if needed, no official indyref2 allowed under any circumstance whatsoever and Unionists to boycott any wildcat referendum