Holyrood has been considering ca. 150 amendments to the Gender Recognition Reform Bill. All the amendments must be considered and voted on in one day because the Scottish government insists the Bill be enacted before Xmas. There are many issues arising with this Bill but one – which has nothing to do with people with gender dysphoria – is worth highlighting.
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Amendment lost 59-64.
But SNP + Greens alone have a majority.
So if SNP, Greens, Lab and LD all voted against there must have been approx 30 (?) MSPs who voted against their own Party. That's huge.
An interesting one this, not just because Britain is one of the worst, but because it's hard to discern a pattern. Any ideas?
I don't think there's anything more sophisticated going on here that Sturgeon being desperate to show she's more "progressive" than the English and the alternative Scottish centre-left, because that's how she thinks.
FPT some comments about the government benefits if it “wins” the NHS strikes. I don’t think a win is a win here. You win, you’re further demoralising a creaking service. You lose and you’re a loser.
You come out with a reasonable compromise and people sigh and ask why couldn’t you have just agreed that weeks ago and avoided the chaos.
Bad:
"Seen multiple COVID waves - China early 20, India 20+21, HK 22 - but nothing, nothing like speed of spread seeing in China right now.
First time where everyone I know has it - at the same time. I finally caught it too.
Extraordinary pressure on medical system in coming weeks."
https://twitter.com/ananthkrishnan/status/1605409919427121152?s=20&t=23qezjoiQqJ8mIaBN_EeeQ
Good? -
"I’m in Guangzhou and everyone in my office has it as well. Unbelievable speed and contagion. But no one needs any kind of medical intervention other than paracetamol. Only saving grace. Demand will be back with a vengeance I guess in Feb"
https://twitter.com/anilsharma1965/status/1605439489941598209?s=20&t=23qezjoiQqJ8mIaBN_EeeQ
If Omicron BA7 rips through China in a matter of weeks and they escape with a few thousand deaths then that might be seen as a triumph - or simple and amazing good luck - or both
Inconceivable!
Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
https://youtu.be/dTRKCXC0JFg
Pretty much a wash.
170 pages of similar stuff, if you feel like wading through it:
https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_862569.pdf
This may be creating some interesting effects in the wage structures…
Partly exchange rate, partly the ongoing rocketing of professional salaries over there.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/64057906
We still have full free movement with Ireland.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-64050611
So if you are very ambitious and highly skilled move to New York or California for work then come back to the UK and buy a property in southern England to retire in
Hearing there will be a Scottish poll to show No in the lead tonight.
https://twitter.com/Mos_Translators/status/1605622669906530304?s=20&t=BgG548pzcvn7Yd0lOFZVOQ
https://twitter.com/johnobrennan2/status/1605340102468816896?s=46&t=hFH29J00_2LNxhXl7osFag
Report: it is really bad, much worse than London
Even the NYT has noticed the dire state of San Francisco. A shell of what it was
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/17/business/economy/california-san-francisco-empty-downtown.html
Perhaps something to do with this:
"This is what the kids in San Francisco are forced to walk past everyday.
"Hard drug use, drug deals, feces, needles, adults slumped over with exposed wounds and addicts suffering from mental illness screaming in the streets.
The streets are truly scary to walk down."
https://twitter.com/sav_says_/status/1603195116356657152?s=20&t=BgG548pzcvn7Yd0lOFZVOQ
Looks like a grungey Calcutta. Like nothing witnessed in Europe outside wartime
If the decline in American cities continues apace, then a lot of these Americans will come to Europe, esp English speaking London. So those pay differentials might equalise....
I'm loving the way that referendums settle political problems and promote stability and harmony. Working fantastically well for all to see.
https://twitter.com/AlbaParty/status/1605590636685676544?t=YoaTCR_P4xusbM7bbsUYZw&s=19
Then I wonder, perhaps they have decided actually this is an opportunity to "fix" their rapidly aging population problem.
As Razedabode asked - can anyone put the case for the Scottish government here? Why vote to allow convicted sex offenders to circumvent the systems we have designed to keep women and girls safe?
Some impressive advocates on both sides
https://www.thenational.scot/news/23206439.msps-vote-to-allow-sex-criminals-change-gender/
Six Fucking Years. Two elections with manifesto commitments to do this.
Three Public Consultations.
Fucking Rushed?
Fuck Off.
Transphobes Fuck Right Off.
Fuck off with your concern trolling and "Actually I support Trans people" lies.
Just admit you are a bigot and move on.
Clearly, there's a market for this rabble rousing though.
https://twitter.com/conor_matchett/status/1605642547006607360?s=20&t=Jx1qW01vhRBKdoylCsiV5Q
Today is the start of our two-year budget process.
The first step is to release our projected two-year general fund deficit, and inform Departments of what we need to do over the coming months to balance our budget.
https://twitter.com/LondonBreed/status/1603555951105437697
Translation, we ain't got no money and the tax base has left.
The problem is that lockdowns stopped working. And the entire zillion tons of the good ship of the Chinese state has to now reverse course…..
Otherwise they divide people as they directly politicise the population.
It's causing a load of tension with Westminster, dividing Scotland from England, and pleasing her left wing to the extent that they're willing to overlook the shambles her government is making of running Scotland.
It's absolutely perfect.
Shame about the possible negative consequences for women, but those are of course much less important to her.
If letting it rip now does result in mass slaughter, you can be absolutely sure that the true scale of it will be concealed and the mortality statistics massaged heavily downwards, for similar reasons. The Emperor was right all along and must not be criticized in any way.
In a blow to independence supporters, the survey shows a switch back to No by the public. A total of 46 per cent of those polled said they would vote no in another independence referendum, compared to 44 per cent voting yes and 9 per cent saying they don’t know.
With undecided removed, this would see a split of 51 per cent versus 49 per cent in favour of No at any vote. It is the same figure as the previous poll in this series carried out in October.
The poll, undertaken between December 16 and 21, interviewed 1,048 Scottish adults aged 16 or over online.
Support for an independence referendum has dropped slightly, but remains at 45 per cent in favour and 48 per cent against. There is also a negative shift in the number of people who believe the case for independence is stronger now than in 2014, down three points to 41 per cent when compared to October’s figures.
In the form of an unwelcome early Christmas present for the SNP, the poll also suggests the party would lose a ‘de-facto’ referendum at the next general election if it fought that election on the single issue of Scottish independence.
https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/scottish-independence-first-no-lead-since-supreme-court-decision-dents-indyref2-surge-3962670
Edit - you are right, but the word 'Bolshevised' wasn't in it. He was referring to the Jewish conspiracy he was rabbiting on about 'with its knife into the Empire of the Tsar.'
The Sewell convention - which in theory seems reasonable - is pernicious in practice.
The current set up is a bugger’s muddle.
I think Labour’s proposals are probably a step in the right direction, but I’m skeptical they have the intellectual horsepower to do the detail properly.
I also had hopes for Gove, who surely gets it better than anyone (whatever his lack of personal popularity) but he either hasn’t delivered or hasn’t been allowed to deliver.
Obviously they have issues too but it’s an amazing boon.
Whereas if, as a business, you get fed up with London you are probably just gonna find the same issues elsewhere in the UK and pay for it on top with no local infrastructure and poor local skills.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-us-canada-64055030
For some reason they've used different charts across different timescales on the same story within 24 hours, so I think their text updates are getting confused.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-62002218
The new "cities" in the suburbs have their own police forces and taxes, and just ignore the mess downtown. Why ever go there?
That of course would allow a future Labour Manifesto to pledge to rejoin the European Union and if elected, that's what would happen.
To the credit of the Conservative Party (and I've said this before), they have never sought to overturn the referendum setting up the London Mayoralty and the GLA nor they have sought to abolish either the Senedd or the Scottish Parliament.
Accepting a referendum result doesn't mean you have to agree with it or say it was the correct decision if that's what you believe but the line between that and actually seeking to undermine the result can often be a narrow one.
So
1) standard American policing of the homeless is really nasty. Multiplied by the fact that lots of the street people are black.
2) multiples by a demented drug problem
3) people upset with the police shooting and beating street people pass laws to prevent any attempt at moving them on or letting them do their thing
4) the crazy, drugged up street people do their thing
Meanwhile, in west London, a local PCSO lady - “Martin, have you taken your pills today? I’m asking because you were shouting at the ladies at the bus stop again. I know it’s tough but you need to make an effort…”
True story - she knows them all by name and goes round talking to them. In the style of a teacher with the pupils. Seems to work. A lot better than having 27 guys in ninja garb shooting them, anyway….
I don't know why either....
I think Jew in a bath chair with an eye like a rattlesnake is how it continues
Covid has presumably dented that model quite a bit.
If New York is a model, a lot of people left for the exurbs of Connecticut (ie Surrey or whatever) and are now working from home. But they haven’t gone so far that they can’t get into Manhattan if necessary.
I’m fascinated to see how this story runs.
I suspect it isn't because we don't look as generous then, even though we'd still rate a lot better than plenty.
I do wonder why Bjorn the commentators with the Your boys took a hell of a beating thing left out Scott of the Antarctic. As a victory for a six year old nation that takes some beating.
The US has always been a country of extremes and its inequality is most visible and manifest in the big cities where very rich and very poor are side by side. But elsewhere you generally miss the poor stuff because it’s hidden: whole poor suburbs, poor rural counties, big European business travellers and tourists see the wealthy and middle of road bits.
Britain has huge inequalities too but I think they’re most visible in the run down outer suburbs on the East and North East edges of the big cities. The poverty is more of the chip wrapper tumbleweed and betting shop on boarded up street variety. Depressing rather than scary for the most part.
Homelessness, addiction and urban criminality are areas where I think paternalism and intervention are absolutely justified. They may not be the right answer elsewhere in the economy but they absolutely are when people have lost the ability to control their own lives.
America is both amazing and dystopian at the same time, and scary in that it sends trends, including political ones, that leak into the UK etc.
Yes = 1,513
No = 3
https://www.statista.com/statistics/245473/market-share-of-the-leading-10-global-pharmaceutical-markets/
At best this means you get a level of care I’ve not seen in the UK (although my personal experience with healthcare is pretty limited), ie lots of preventative bloodwork and diagnostics and specialists for every kind of disorder.
At worst - or even just normally - you just get slammed with bills for stuff you don’t know or recognise because you are usually not well placed to be totally in control of your own “consumer need”.
I don’t want to grow old here.