Stating that the Elgin Marbles belong in London is a bit like saying the Crown Jewels belong in Athens!
The British Museum = Biggest Stolen Goods Warehouse in the World!
I think that's Boris's point. If the BM (or any museum for that matter) obliges itself to 'give everything back', it's not a museum, it's a room.
Indeed, loan exhibits abroad but if every major museum only displayed objects from the country it was located in there wouldn't be a lot of exhibits left in them
The Parthenon still exists, so the Marbles belong there.
All the places that all the exhibits in all the museums in the world came from still exist.
It’s true but also false.
The Parthenon doesn’t exist anymore as it did when the marbles were there.
The people who built it don’t exist in the sense of culture anymore.
The state, the Athenian City State, doesn’t exist anymore.
So theoretically to return the marbles would not be returning them to where they were from except in a purely physical sense. And then you might have to consider if their physical origin is then the quarry where the marble came from.
Throughout the world there are works of art and objects that sit far away from their original home because someone with more means, money or power had the greed, desire, belief, or genuine love to buy them from whoever might have been their rightful owners or take them from a vanquished foe.
Whilst the above is slightly tongue in cheek it’s a thread that gets pulled for good reasons that unravels out of control.
I'm not sure the people not existing any more in the sense of culture and the state not existing matter very much. Think of how much further we are from the people who made Stonehenge, yet there would be strong cultural heritage objections if there was a plan to sell the stones to the Chinese to be shipped to a park outside Beijing.
Good evening, kamski.
Did you see this article… and are its characterisations of German politics fair ?
I'm not sure if I'd call it fair, it seems a bit shallow. On the specific complaint about the extra 100 billion not being spent I can't say much. Except that it is twice the annual German defense budget, so it would be surprising if they had managed to spend it all in a year, and I guess it's also normal that most of the 30 billion already contracted for won't actually be paid out until things are actually delivered. He probably has a point on the slow progress towards 2% in the normal defence budget.
The suggestion that nothing has changed is obviously wrong. There have been massive shifts. I think Scholz is a poor leader, and the SPD hasn't given anyone much reason to believe in them. Also people like Merkel and the awful Schröder are refusing to admit that they got things wrong. But Germany has had to move further than most countries - I would guess the support Ukraine has had from Germany, and the relative success Germany has had in doing without Russian energy supplies have been among the bigger disappointments Putin has had in his disastrous war.
On only 46% of Germans regarding the US as a reliable military partner: the figures are 46% yes and 27% no. This is much more positive than when Trump was president - in 2019 only 19% regarded the US as a reliable partner, and 57% not. This suggests that one of the reasons why Germans (and others - Germany is hardly an outlier here) are suspicious of US foreign policy is to do with US foreign policy and leadership, rather than being mainly the fault of politicians like Scholz, as the author claims.
The German shift appeared pretty swift and decisive. Even if action has not always matched rhetoric, that rhetorical shift would still have been significant and clearly surprised Russia and the West, and that's good.
Do oral sex, hand jobs and fingering count as "having sex"?
👄🍆: 45% counts / 41% does not count 👅🍩: 44% / 40% 🍩👈: 37% / 48% ✊🍆: 34% / 52%
Are those your symbols?
The iced 'ring' symbol is perhaps unfortunate, unless I've misinterpreted the scope of hte question.
And... an aubergine? Either you're hung like a horse, Horse or you have some unfortunate skin condition (or both?)
Personally, I'd say not 'having sex' for all, but all definitely count as 'sexual relations' (sorry, Bill)
ETA: Mind you, my verdict is from a heterosexual male point of view. Could indeed be 'having sex' for a same sex couple. So, put me down as a 'maybe'
No.
tacky post in any case
Why on earth run that survey in the first place? Who pays for this shit?
It's the kind of thing that will get all over Twitter, I should think, maybe even a short piece on some newspaper websites (Star [some quite funny headline]; Sun [some generic headline], maybe even Mail ["Tide of filth as Brits discuss sex acts"]). Exposure for a polling company, very cheap to run, no need to worry about whether the sample is in any way representative (no one's going to care to re-run it or dispute the results).
It could even get picked up on a reputable political betting website.
Jeremy Hunt is poised to extend the government’s £2,500 energy price guarantee for a further three months in an effort to limit increases in people’s bills.
The energy price guarantee limits gas and electricity tariffs so that the typical household bill is no more than £2,500 a year. That ceiling was due to rise to £3,000 a year from April.
The Times has been told that Hunt will retain the guarantee for three more months until wholesale prices have fallen so far that it becomes unnecessary.
I commend Steve Baker for talking about his mental health. That is not an easy thing to do but I have a huge amount of admiration for him in doing it.
These clowns need some excuse for being useless at their jobs. No sympathy for these arseholes.
To be honest Malc mental health is not to be dismissed so easily
My eldest son contracted PTSD and anxiety having attended ground zero at the Christchurch earthquake disaster where many lives were lost and PTSD only became apparent 8 years later and in the 3 years since to date he has been very seriously ill and undergone 16 electro convulsion treatments and a complete adjustment in his medication
He came with his Canadian wife to us at Christmas and it was a wonderful to see how far he has recovered but still needs time to be able to return to some form of work
He is 57 and in doing the right thing and helping those in great distress, and witnessing sights of untold horror, understanding and love is needed and it is why I do not like words such as 'nutter' and 'headbanger' as they have negative mental health connotations
Meant to be flying home next week, to spring! Having nearly dodged nearly all of the winter
SO WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS
That is called "spring".
Potentially up to 20cm of lying snow in the South Midlands next week (though that's at the extreme end of the various models).
It’s gonna be one of those “late springs” isn’t it? Like the horror that was spring of 2021. When winter just went on and on and on into early May
And all of it during lockdown. Not sure I have ever quite recovered from that. Mentally
Late springs are of course good for vineyards because the vines delay budburst until at least mid April, then are less likely to be hit by late frost.
2018 was the ideal season and possible this time too. Cold from late February until early April then warm and sunny from mid April until early August.
We could really do with some rain mind you. After last years baking hot summer, so far we're below average for rain heading into spring (barring the far NW).
Does the brown also correspond to the amount of sewage still being pumped into our depleted rivers, lakes and lochs?
I commend Steve Baker for talking about his mental health. That is not an easy thing to do but I have a huge amount of admiration for him in doing it.
That sort of admission is becoming more acceptable, which is good. I thought his admission that thinking it was funny to admit to being a Brexit hard man was stupid and it probably cost him votes was a more unusual admission
A few years ago he'd have been called woke. There is hope for the Tory Party yet if people like him can remain around, despite my disagreement with basically everything he says I don't doubt he's a decent enough chap
A few years ago two MP's, Kevan Jones and Charles Walker, talked about their mental health
Do oral sex, hand jobs and fingering count as "having sex"?
👄🍆: 45% counts / 41% does not count 👅🍩: 44% / 40% 🍩👈: 37% / 48% ✊🍆: 34% / 52%
Are those your symbols?
The iced 'ring' symbol is perhaps unfortunate, unless I've misinterpreted the scope of hte question.
And... an aubergine? Either you're hung like a horse, Horse or you have some unfortunate skin condition (or both?)
Personally, I'd say not 'having sex' for all, but all definitely count as 'sexual relations' (sorry, Bill)
ETA: Mind you, my verdict is from a heterosexual male point of view. Could indeed be 'having sex' for a same sex couple. So, put me down as a 'maybe'
Aubergine is a staple of WhatsApp messaging between sexual partners for as long as I can remember.
Hmm. If I sent my wife an aubergine symbol in a whatsapp message I'm pretty much 100% certain she'd think I was discussing dinner plans.
Kids today! I'm old enough to remember SMS and ascii emoticons ;-)
ETA: And my parents' generation (or, at least, my parents - they're not very adventurous with cooking) probably wouldn't even know what an aubergine was!
Jeremy Hunt is poised to extend the government’s £2,500 energy price guarantee for a further three months in an effort to limit increases in people’s bills.
The energy price guarantee limits gas and electricity tariffs so that the typical household bill is no more than £2,500 a year. That ceiling was due to rise to £3,000 a year from April.
The Times has been told that Hunt will retain the guarantee for three more months until wholesale prices have fallen so far that it becomes unnecessary.
Jeremy Hunt is poised to extend the government’s £2,500 energy price guarantee for a further three months in an effort to limit increases in people’s bills.
The energy price guarantee limits gas and electricity tariffs so that the typical household bill is no more than £2,500 a year. That ceiling was due to rise to £3,000 a year from April.
The Times has been told that Hunt will retain the guarantee for three more months until wholesale prices have fallen so far that it becomes unnecessary.
Jeremy Hunt is poised to extend the government’s £2,500 energy price guarantee for a further three months in an effort to limit increases in people’s bills.
The energy price guarantee limits gas and electricity tariffs so that the typical household bill is no more than £2,500 a year. That ceiling was due to rise to £3,000 a year from April.
The Times has been told that Hunt will retain the guarantee for three more months until wholesale prices have fallen so far that it becomes unnecessary.
I commend Steve Baker for talking about his mental health. That is not an easy thing to do but I have a huge amount of admiration for him in doing it.
These clowns need some excuse for being useless at their jobs. No sympathy for these arseholes.
To be honest Malc mental health is not to be dismissed so easily
My eldest son contracted PTSD and anxiety having attended ground zero at the Christchurch earthquake disaster where many lives were lost and PTSD only became apparent 8 years later and in the 3 years since to date he has been very seriously ill and undergone 16 electro convulsion treatments and a complete adjustment in his medication
He came with his Canadian wife to us at Christmas and it was a wonderful to see how far he has recovered but still needs time to be able to return to some form of work
He is 57 and in doing the right thing and helping those in great distress, and witnessing sights of untold horror, understanding and love is needed and it is why I do not like words such as 'nutter' and 'headbanger' as they have negative mental health connotations
I well understand that G and agree, however these people are chancers, fine acting bigshots and ignoring mental health of the nation but then big news when they get called a few names etc. I don't trust them as far as I could throw them.
Johnson to give evidence to privileges committee on the 20th March
Also written evidence to the committee explained by Sky 'blows a hole' in Johnson's defence as those around him made enormous attempts to try to find a defence for his behaviour
Hopefully the committee will end his political career
Why are we not rejoining Horizon ? Seems a daft and self destructive stance.
Because the article doesn't justify the headline, and neither justifies the assertion that "we are not rejoining Horizon":
While Britain had been expected to contribute £15bn for the full seven-year Horizon programme, three years have already passed and the two sides must now agree how much the UK would have to provide.
Jeremy Hunt is poised to extend the government’s £2,500 energy price guarantee for a further three months in an effort to limit increases in people’s bills.
The energy price guarantee limits gas and electricity tariffs so that the typical household bill is no more than £2,500 a year. That ceiling was due to rise to £3,000 a year from April.
The Times has been told that Hunt will retain the guarantee for three more months until wholesale prices have fallen so far that it becomes unnecessary.
Enjoying the Brexit queue of shame at Frankfurt, whilst all the other Europeans breeze through. Please Rishi can you put this on your list of Brexit nonsense to fix?
Surely that is the Brexit queue of pride? We now Control Our Borders. If the Krauts and the Frogs and the other commie Euronazis don't want to that is their problem. Before we left the EU anyone could waltz in without showing a passport. Now we bloody well stop them. And if we have to queue because they are pigs that's a good price to pay.
Hang on.
No, we had passport checks already didn't we because not in Schengen. So what was the point again...?
A comment which rather undermines Jonathan's complaint. You are absolutely right. We always had to queue at EU airports because we were not in Schengen. Indeed I used to pick entry point transit airports partly on how efficient they were at dealing with non Schengen travellers because there were some places you simply couldn't make connections in time. And this was whilst we were in the EU.
The idea we all suddenly had to start queuing only after Brexit is a myth.
Jeremy Hunt is poised to extend the government’s £2,500 energy price guarantee for a further three months in an effort to limit increases in people’s bills.
The energy price guarantee limits gas and electricity tariffs so that the typical household bill is no more than £2,500 a year. That ceiling was due to rise to £3,000 a year from April.
The Times has been told that Hunt will retain the guarantee for three more months until wholesale prices have fallen so far that it becomes unnecessary.
Johnson to give evidence to privileges committee on the 20th March
Also written evidence to the committee explained by Sky 'blows a hole' in Johnson's defence as those around him made enormous attempts to try to find a defence for his behaviour
Hopefully the committee will end his political career
Keep dreaming - haven't you heard how Sue Gray was behind it all, and how it is unlawful to hold him accountable for his actions anyway?
Coming to you soon, from a Tory MP near you.
Edit: Being serious, there is a difficulty with very high profile and divisive political figures, where any standards or even criminal investigation into their conduct gets people suggesting it should not happen, because they are a political figure and things should be settled at the ballot box. We've seen this most dramatically with Trump, where even some non Republicans were worried at the idea of him being prosecuted for potentially quite serious crimes as it might look political, with the unintended implication that being big enough in politics should mean you face no consequences even if you commit crimes.
Johnson to give evidence to privileges committee on the 20th March
Also written evidence to the committee explained by Sky 'blows a hole' in Johnson's defence as those around him made enormous attempts to try to find a defence for his behaviour
Hopefully the committee will end his political career
Keep dreaming - haven't you heard how Sue Gray was behind it all, and how it is unlawful to hold him accountable for his actions anyway?
Coming to you soon, from a Tory MP near you.
What's best for Rishi? I guess to be rid of BoJo without his fingerprints being on the pistol.
Enjoying the Brexit queue of shame at Frankfurt, whilst all the other Europeans breeze through. Please Rishi can you put this on your list of Brexit nonsense to fix?
Surely that is the Brexit queue of pride? We now Control Our Borders. If the Krauts and the Frogs and the other commie Euronazis don't want to that is their problem. Before we left the EU anyone could waltz in without showing a passport. Now we bloody well stop them. And if we have to queue because they are pigs that's a good price to pay.
Hang on.
No, we had passport checks already didn't we because not in Schengen. So what was the point again...?
A comment which rather undermines Jonathan's complaint. You are absolutely right. We always had to queue at EU airports because we were not in Schengen. Indeed I used to pick entry point transit airports partly on how efficient they were at dealing with non Schengen travellers because there were some places you simply couldn't make connections in time. And this was whilst we were in the EU.
The idea we all suddenly had to start queuing only after Brexit is a myth.
Johnson to give evidence to privileges committee on the 20th March
Also written evidence to the committee explained by Sky 'blows a hole' in Johnson's defence as those around him made enormous attempts to try to find a defence for his behaviour
Hopefully the committee will end his political career
Keep dreaming - haven't you heard how Sue Gray was behind it all, and how it is unlawful to hold him accountable for his actions anyway?
Coming to you soon, from a Tory MP near you.
Only from Johnson's inner clique and to be honest I cannot see how he escapes being sanctioned
The Sue Gray story is one of a premature appointment and apparently the civil service are concerned and it seems are looking into when she had first contact with Starmer as this could impact on why she continued to attend cabinet meetings
Actually as much as Johnson is now trying to make a story of betrayal it is absolutely not, but then the story of her appointment by Starmer is one that is being investigated by the cabinet office and civil service
Enjoying the Brexit queue of shame at Frankfurt, whilst all the other Europeans breeze through. Please Rishi can you put this on your list of Brexit nonsense to fix?
Surely that is the Brexit queue of pride? We now Control Our Borders. If the Krauts and the Frogs and the other commie Euronazis don't want to that is their problem. Before we left the EU anyone could waltz in without showing a passport. Now we bloody well stop them. And if we have to queue because they are pigs that's a good price to pay.
Hang on.
No, we had passport checks already didn't we because not in Schengen. So what was the point again...?
A comment which rather undermines Jonathan's complaint. You are absolutely right. We always had to queue at EU airports because we were not in Schengen. Indeed I used to pick entry point transit airports partly on how efficient they were at dealing with non Schengen travellers because there were some places you simply couldn't make connections in time. And this was whilst we were in the EU.
The idea we all suddenly had to start queuing only after Brexit is a myth.
Have you been on the Eurostar recently?
Two things that are probably both true:
There were queues beforehand.
Those queues were pretty trivial compared with what happens now.
Jeremy Hunt is poised to extend the government’s £2,500 energy price guarantee for a further three months in an effort to limit increases in people’s bills.
The energy price guarantee limits gas and electricity tariffs so that the typical household bill is no more than £2,500 a year. That ceiling was due to rise to £3,000 a year from April.
The Times has been told that Hunt will retain the guarantee for three more months until wholesale prices have fallen so far that it becomes unnecessary.
Johnson to give evidence to privileges committee on the 20th March
Also written evidence to the committee explained by Sky 'blows a hole' in Johnson's defence as those around him made enormous attempts to try to find a defence for his behaviour
Hopefully the committee will end his political career
Keep dreaming - haven't you heard how Sue Gray was behind it all, and how it is unlawful to hold him accountable for his actions anyway?
Coming to you soon, from a Tory MP near you.
What's best for Rishi? I guess to be rid of BoJo without his fingerprints being on the pistol.
Can he engineer that without anyone noticing?
Not possible - although the attempted was aborted, we have seen in the Paterson example that the parliamentary party can, if it wants, just junk the entire process if they want to, on what were pretty specious grounds.
That example shows the risks, but in that case the party MPs were obviously unhappy about jumping through hoops to save a complete shit when there was no real benefit to them - even though most then did it anyway.
In the case of Boris there are many more who, for some reason, do see a benefit to doing it, and they have more substantial pretexts (in a political sense) to rely upon, if indeed the hammer come downs against Boris (obviously we don't know for sure it will).
What that means is Rishi will not be able to just stand to one side and say we have to accept the outcome. That itself would put his fingerprints on the pistol for at least 100 of his own MPs.
Enjoying the Brexit queue of shame at Frankfurt, whilst all the other Europeans breeze through. Please Rishi can you put this on your list of Brexit nonsense to fix?
This is a clear example of the punishment beatings approach. Should be easy to solve, if the will is there.
Enjoying the Brexit queue of shame at Frankfurt, whilst all the other Europeans breeze through. Please Rishi can you put this on your list of Brexit nonsense to fix?
This is a clear example of the punishment beatings approach. Should be easy to solve, if the will is there.
It is very easy to solve. The UK joins Schengen, which would also allow Ireland to join!
The release of a report with photos by the privileges committee is damning and to be fair Sky are highlighting parts of the report which frankly I cannot see Johnson surviving without sanctions and his attempts to discredit Sue Gray are absurd
His appearance on the 20th March will be something to witness as the committee take him apart
On Sue Gray it is clear that this appointment should have waited a few weeks, and questions are justified by the cabinet office and the civil service just when she entered discussions with Starmer
However, much as Johnson wants to use Sue Gray negatively that is simply 'grasping at straws' and actually pathetic
I do not expect Sunak will have to worry about Johnson much longer nor do I expect him to block Sue Gray though a delay in her appointment may well be a few months away
Enjoying the Brexit queue of shame at Frankfurt, whilst all the other Europeans breeze through. Please Rishi can you put this on your list of Brexit nonsense to fix?
This is a clear example of the punishment beatings approach. Should be easy to solve, if the will is there.
Yes, we should join Schengen, like Switzerland has. Otherwise how can it possibly be fixed without us being in the EU or Single Market? Punishment beatings my arse - Brexiteers wanted to be treated like Canadians and are suddenly saying it’s “punishment” that they are.
Eurostar, which admittedly always had some queues, is now unusable because of the queues. Still, we keeping the furreners out eh Brexit fans?
Enjoying the Brexit queue of shame at Frankfurt, whilst all the other Europeans breeze through. Please Rishi can you put this on your list of Brexit nonsense to fix?
This is a clear example of the punishment beatings approach. Should be easy to solve, if the will is there.
There is already no reason for EU airports not to reciprocate - we let their citizens amongst others through our shorter queues.
Important to remember what Boris Johnson said about Sue Gray's report at the time. How "profoundly grateful" he was, how "humbled", how fully he "accepted responsibility", "looked in the mirror" and "learned lessons".
Enjoying the Brexit queue of shame at Frankfurt, whilst all the other Europeans breeze through. Please Rishi can you put this on your list of Brexit nonsense to fix?
This is a clear example of the punishment beatings approach. Should be easy to solve, if the will is there.
There is already no reason for EU airports not to reciprocate - we let their citizens amongst others through our shorter queues.
Bollocks. No we don't. As someone who manages an immigration law team at a City law firm I can tell you we most certainly do not let EU citizens through our shorter queues. We treat them like Americans, Canadians, Japanese etc (many in fact worse if they can't get use the E-Passport gates) and they treat us like Americans, Canadians, Japanese etc. It's not the airports its the immigration rules.
I suspect that she has rather more class than her critics, and won't bother. Though if the nonsense carries on, she might be forced to, as some of this stuff seems blatantly defamatory.
Assuming the Committee finds Johnson guilty what’s the likely punishment? Assuming he’s suspended, then it’s up to constituents to sort out a recall, petition, isn’t it?
Enjoying the Brexit queue of shame at Frankfurt, whilst all the other Europeans breeze through. Please Rishi can you put this on your list of Brexit nonsense to fix?
This is a clear example of the punishment beatings approach. Should be easy to solve, if the will is there.
There is already no reason for EU airports not to reciprocate - we let their citizens amongst others through our shorter queues.
Bollocks. No we don't. As someone who manages an immigration law team at a City law firm I can tell you we most certainly do not let EU citizens through our shorter queues. We treat them like Americans, Canadians, Japanese etc (many in fact worse if they can't get use the E-Passport gates) and they treat us like Americans, Canadians, Japanese etc. It's not the airports its the immigration rules.
Indeed - we let Americans, Canadians, Japanese (and citizens of Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea) through our shorter queues too.
Enjoying the Brexit queue of shame at Frankfurt, whilst all the other Europeans breeze through. Please Rishi can you put this on your list of Brexit nonsense to fix?
This is a clear example of the punishment beatings approach. Should be easy to solve, if the will is there.
There is already no reason for EU airports not to reciprocate - we let their citizens amongst others through our shorter queues.
Bollocks. No we don't. As someone who manages an immigration law team at a City law firm I can tell you we most certainly do not let EU citizens through our shorter queues. We treat them like Americans, Canadians, Japanese etc (many in fact worse if they can't get use the E-Passport gates) and they treat us like Americans, Canadians, Japanese etc. It's not the airports its the immigration rules.
Indeed - we let Americans, Canadians, Japanese (and citizens of Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea) through our shorter queues too.
So you're saying that each individual EU state (it's the individual states who deal with rules for third country nationals, not the EU) should pay for e-passport gates at all of their airports just for the benefit of UK citizens? And it's a "punishment beating" if they do not? I've heard some stupid shit on PB in my time but this takes the biscuit...this is Markle level entitlement.
"Look, they're punishing us by not introducing specialist biometric equipment at great expense JUST FOR US."
Enjoying the Brexit queue of shame at Frankfurt, whilst all the other Europeans breeze through. Please Rishi can you put this on your list of Brexit nonsense to fix?
This is a clear example of the punishment beatings approach. Should be easy to solve, if the will is there.
There is already no reason for EU airports not to reciprocate - we let their citizens amongst others through our shorter queues.
The reason is that Schengen does exit checks to enforce the 90 day rule, and they rely on physical stamps. We don't, to enforce our 180 day rule, and so we don't really care if someone overstays. Or rather, we care, but there is no border control on the way out at an airport - the overstay will only be discovered when the airline sends records back to the government. (There is exit control at Eurostar, but again we have electronic records, so no flipping through to find stamps).
Now, when the EU finally starts electronic border control (recently delayed another year to 2024), there will be no more stamping, and it will be a lot easier to let UK citizens in (and out) of Schenghen through e-gates.
The UK and the US are unusual in not having exit controls - most countries do.
Enjoying the Brexit queue of shame at Frankfurt, whilst all the other Europeans breeze through. Please Rishi can you put this on your list of Brexit nonsense to fix?
This is a clear example of the punishment beatings approach. Should be easy to solve, if the will is there.
There is already no reason for EU airports not to reciprocate - we let their citizens amongst others through our shorter queues.
Bollocks. No we don't. As someone who manages an immigration law team at a City law firm I can tell you we most certainly do not let EU citizens through our shorter queues. We treat them like Americans, Canadians, Japanese etc (many in fact worse if they can't get use the E-Passport gates) and they treat us like Americans, Canadians, Japanese etc. It's not the airports its the immigration rules.
Indeed - we let Americans, Canadians, Japanese (and citizens of Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea) through our shorter queues too.
So you're saying that each individual EU state (it's the individual states who deal with rules for third country nationals, not the EU) should pay for e-passport gates at all of their airports just for the benefit of UK citizens? And it's a "punishment beating" if they do not? I've heard some stupid shit on PB in my time but this takes the biscuit...this is Markle level entitlement.
"Look, they're punishing us by not introducing specialist biometric equipment at great expense JUST FOR US."
On topic, I suspect whatever bounce Sunak gets from a good job cleaning the mess of his predecessors in NI will be subsumed by the constant stream of Tories making fools of themselves.
It's morbidly satisfying seeing the Conservatives' Faustian deal with populism collapsing in on itself.
Enjoying the Brexit queue of shame at Frankfurt, whilst all the other Europeans breeze through. Please Rishi can you put this on your list of Brexit nonsense to fix?
This is a clear example of the punishment beatings approach. Should be easy to solve, if the will is there.
There is already no reason for EU airports not to reciprocate - we let their citizens amongst others through our shorter queues.
Bollocks. No we don't. As someone who manages an immigration law team at a City law firm I can tell you we most certainly do not let EU citizens through our shorter queues. We treat them like Americans, Canadians, Japanese etc (many in fact worse if they can't get use the E-Passport gates) and they treat us like Americans, Canadians, Japanese etc. It's not the airports its the immigration rules.
Indeed - we let Americans, Canadians, Japanese (and citizens of Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea) through our shorter queues too.
So you're saying that each individual EU state (it's the individual states who deal with rules for third country nationals, not the EU) should pay for e-passport gates at all of their airports just for the benefit of UK citizens? And it's a "punishment beating" if they do not? I've heard some stupid shit on PB in my time but this takes the biscuit...this is Markle level entitlement.
"Look, they're punishing us by not introducing specialist biometric equipment at great expense JUST FOR US."
Why would only UK citizens benefit from them?
Read the post will you? The premise I'm critiquing is that we are being punished because they are not being introduced. Citizens of other countries don't have Brexiters bleating about being "punished" by being treated exactly as they wanted to be treated.
Enjoying the Brexit queue of shame at Frankfurt, whilst all the other Europeans breeze through. Please Rishi can you put this on your list of Brexit nonsense to fix?
This is a clear example of the punishment beatings approach. Should be easy to solve, if the will is there.
At Christmas I popped over to Portugal for a bit of R&R, due to the amount of money tourism is worth to Portugal (particularly from the UK), they just had a person to filter across UK into the "EU only" passport booths, so although EU passport still got priority, but there was no real extra delay.
Enjoying the Brexit queue of shame at Frankfurt, whilst all the other Europeans breeze through. Please Rishi can you put this on your list of Brexit nonsense to fix?
This is a clear example of the punishment beatings approach. Should be easy to solve, if the will is there.
At Christmas I popped over to Portugal for a bit of R&R, due to the amount of money tourism is worth to Portugal (particularly from the UK), they just had a person to filter across UK into the "EU only" passport booths, so yes EU passport still got priority, but there was no real extra delay.
I have been directed over to the EU queue too, at Faro I think.
Arriving at Malta recently, there were five booths: four non-EU and one EU. Maltese citizens were queuing up in every queue, just seeing which one was shorter. But then Malta queues are fast, because they don't check very hard
Assuming the Committee finds Johnson guilty what’s the likely punishment? Assuming he’s suspended, then it’s up to constituents to sort out a recall, petition, isn’t it?
Note . England have just beaten Bangladesh.
It is, but I doubt that getting sufficient signatures (10 percent of eligable voters) will be difficult in this case.
Enjoying the Brexit queue of shame at Frankfurt, whilst all the other Europeans breeze through. Please Rishi can you put this on your list of Brexit nonsense to fix?
Surely that is the Brexit queue of pride? We now Control Our Borders. If the Krauts and the Frogs and the other commie Euronazis don't want to that is their problem. Before we left the EU anyone could waltz in without showing a passport. Now we bloody well stop them. And if we have to queue because they are pigs that's a good price to pay.
Hang on.
No, we had passport checks already didn't we because not in Schengen. So what was the point again...?
A comment which rather undermines Jonathan's complaint. You are absolutely right. We always had to queue at EU airports because we were not in Schengen. Indeed I used to pick entry point transit airports partly on how efficient they were at dealing with non Schengen travellers because there were some places you simply couldn't make connections in time. And this was whilst we were in the EU.
The idea we all suddenly had to start queuing only after Brexit is a myth.
That's not my experience. When I used to get the ferry down to Santander we would arrive and be waved through by Spanish passport control or, at worst, be subjected to a cursory check. I've done it twice since Brexit and both times it has taken two hours to leave the port as every passport in every car has to be screened and then stamped. Likewise, pre-Brexit I would often present my passport at an EU/EEA airport immigration desk and just be waved through. Now every passport is scanned and stamped - on arrival and exit. That inevitably creates longer waiting times.
All that said, this should not be an insurmountable issue now that the grown-ups are in charge. There is a big difference between freedom of movement and freedom of settlement. The key thing, surely, is not how long someone stays in a country but whether they are working, using services, studying, living etc. It would not take too much work to find an arrangement that makes such differentiations and to enact it.
In fact, I would go so far as to say that if this were to happen, alongside some kind of special arrangement for under-30s enabling them to live, work and study for a limited amount of time in the UK/EU, it would entrench Brexit as something that most people could accept and learn to live with quite happily.
Has any PB-er tried this miracle weight loss drug Ozempic?
As avowed by Jez Clarkson, most of Hollywood, and now David Aaronovitch in today’s Times?
It sounds amazing. And I’ve just discovered that a chunky female relative of mine has been on it for 5 weeks and has lost 10 pounds (without trying). And she has struggled with weight all of her life
I’ve got 12 pounds of Covid lard that will not shift. I’m gonna try this
I suspect that she has rather more class than her critics, and won't bother. Though if the nonsense carries on, she might be forced to, as some of this stuff seems blatantly defamatory.
If she doesn't lawyer up, it's not because she has 'class', it's because she (or someone else) is fearful of what comes out in a libel trial.
If SKS thinks it's to his advantage to have this go to a trial, Sue Gray will be lawyering up. If he doesn't, she won't.
The Windsor knot will not be much of a vote winner and will be even less so as time goes on. It makes it harder for the UK to diverge from the e.u. and the brake will not deliver any benefit to the DUP. The e.u. have used n.i. to try to prevent the UK from diverging and once again becoming a free and sovereign nation. It is extremely immoral to leave n.i. subject to e.u. laws.
Has any PB-er tried this miracle weight loss drug Ozempic?
As avowed by Jez Clarkson, most of Hollywood, and now David Aaronovitch in today’s Times?
It sounds amazing. And I’ve just discovered that a chunky female relative of mine has been on it for 5 weeks and has lost 10 pounds (without trying). And she has struggled with weight all of her life
I’ve got 12 pounds of Covid lard that will not shift. I’m gonna try this
Did you read all the way down to the side effects?
Has any PB-er tried this miracle weight loss drug Ozempic?
As avowed by Jez Clarkson, most of Hollywood, and now David Aaronovitch in today’s Times?
It sounds amazing. And I’ve just discovered that a chunky female relative of mine has been on it for 5 weeks and has lost 10 pounds (without trying). And she has struggled with weight all of her life
I’ve got 12 pounds of Covid lard that will not shift. I’m gonna try this
It's quite an interesting drug as it was developed to control Type 2 diabetes but was then found to have a side effect of weight loss. So Novo Nordisk then got a new indication approved for obesity.
There is another new class of diabetes drugs the flozins, which was also found have additional benefits - this time for heart failure. So dapagliflozin now has a secondary indication for HF.
Stating that the Elgin Marbles belong in London is a bit like saying the Crown Jewels belong in Athens!
The British Museum = Biggest Stolen Goods Warehouse in the World!
I think that's Boris's point. If the BM (or any museum for that matter) obliges itself to 'give everything back', it's not a museum, it's a room.
Indeed, loan exhibits abroad but if every major museum only displayed objects from the country it was located in there wouldn't be a lot of exhibits left in them
The Parthenon still exists, so the Marbles belong there.
All the places that all the exhibits in all the museums in the world came from still exist.
Not in the respect Sunil is talking about. The Elgin Marbles are literally fixtures ripped off the walls of an ancient building that is still there.
In most cases, the item is either by its nature moveable, or the context in which it was displayed either gone or massively changed.
It's objectively ludicrous - even if one attaches no blame to Elgin personally and thinks it all legal etc - that the Marbles are in Bloomsbury rather than an ancient building which they were literally part of and which (I'll repeat) is still effing there.
There's another side to this that I find interesting, and that's the soft power of artefacts.
A few years back, my son was fascinated by terracotta warriors and Easter Island heads. He was a bit too young to take him up to the Liverpool terracotta warrior exhibition in 2018, but last year we went to a tiny (but brilliant) 'fake' Terracotta Warrior exhibition in Dorchester, of all places, which he loved. (There's a fake Tutankhamun exhibition just up the road as well).
This isn't relevant to the marbles, but I wonder if having exhibits around the world actually helps the original country? Does have an Easter Island head in the BM create more knowledge and interest about/in Easter Island? Do all the exhibits of Ancient Egypt in local museums, of dusty mummies and strange inscriptions, actually create generations of people who are interested in Egypt and its history, and therefore more likely to travel there?
Would the world be richer if every ancient artefact was in its original place, or poorer? (Leaving aside issues if where an 'original' place is)?
This is not an argument for musuems keeping foreign artefacts: the same sort of effect may be achieved by travelling exhibitions. But I reckon there's a massive soft power in it - especially for small places like Easter Island.
A fun fact about the terracotta warriors is that most are still buried. When the first ones were unearthed they were all painted but exposure to light quickly made the colours fade away. They are now waiting for the appropriate preservation technology to be developed before digging out any more.
IIRC most ancient statues in Rome, Greece etc were painted. The white marble we associate with the classics era is totally false.
Or have I got that wrong?
I've seen a few documentaries on that - and looks to be true (not sure if it was every statue mind). I've often wondered if all the trade that went on with India influenced in either direction or if it was just common across the ancient world. But when you look at Indian temples you have to wonder what Rome or Athens may have actually looked like!
Egyptian statues were also painted, so the influence is almost certainly from there.
When Classical statues were dug up in the Renaissance, they didn't realise that they had previously been painted, which is why Renaissance statues are in clean, white, unpainted marble. Michelangelo carved the pupils on the eyes of 'David', whereas on Classical sculptures there are no carved pupils as they would just have been painted.
Though I would personally prefer them to stay in the British Museum, it is true that certain parts of the Parthenon Marbles were damaged (early 20thC I believe) by 'restorers' who filed away any traces of colour they could, presumably thinking the colour was just muck. They were stopped before they got any further so some colour traces still remain.
In reality the statues of these civilizations (Egypt, Assyria, Greece, Rome) must have looked like something out of Las Vegas.
The art of the ancient Mediterranean infuenced India and China (notably the Terracotta Army, and a great deal of Buddhist Art) via the Macedonian Empire (so-called 'Helenistic Period').
The same with medieval cathedrals. Actually, I rather like the austerity of bare stone, but some painted churches on Continent are quite stunning.
There was a long-standing Hellenistic Kingdom in the Indus Valley, in the last two hundred years BC, so plenty of cultural influences would have travelled in either direction.
I visited Nefertari's tomb a long while ago (when it didn't cost a fortune to do so) and the colours were very striking. It's interesting seeing this art more or less as it was intended, rather than bare.
With the odd exception though (Laocoon and others) I've never found classical (Hellenistic in particular) art particularly inspiring, setting aside its technical quality. Hence why I'd happily DHL the marbles back to Athens and fill the room with Sutton Hoo or something.
Has any PB-er tried this miracle weight loss drug Ozempic?
As avowed by Jez Clarkson, most of Hollywood, and now David Aaronovitch in today’s Times?
It sounds amazing. And I’ve just discovered that a chunky female relative of mine has been on it for 5 weeks and has lost 10 pounds (without trying). And she has struggled with weight all of her life
I’ve got 12 pounds of Covid lard that will not shift. I’m gonna try this
Its very effective, and often given for diabetic patients. A friend who is on is losing a kg a week without trying.
BUT
He is constipated, often goes three days without passing a stool and feels unpleasant with it. He feels full a lot, and is restricted in his eating as a result.
So yes - it works, but it can have poor side effects. #tradeoff
Another quite interesting drug in the same vein is Avastin, which is primarily used to treat cancer but is also injected in the eye to treat macular degeneration. Interestingly, it has never been licensed for the 2nd indication but is widely used off-label because the only licensed drug is hideously expensive.
Has any PB-er tried this miracle weight loss drug Ozempic?
As avowed by Jez Clarkson, most of Hollywood, and now David Aaronovitch in today’s Times?
It sounds amazing. And I’ve just discovered that a chunky female relative of mine has been on it for 5 weeks and has lost 10 pounds (without trying). And she has struggled with weight all of her life
I’ve got 12 pounds of Covid lard that will not shift. I’m gonna try this
Check out the possible side effects first. https://www.ozempic.com/how-to-take/side-effects.html Unless you're actually obese - which you're not - you'd almost certainly be better off eating less than using meds.
But given your risk tolerance regarding pharmacologically active substances, you'll probably give it a go.
On topic, I suspect whatever bounce Sunak gets from a good job cleaning the mess of his predecessors in NI will be subsumed by the constant stream of Tories making fools of themselves.
It's morbidly satisfying seeing the Conservatives' Faustian deal with populism collapsing in on itself.
Assuming the Committee finds Johnson guilty what’s the likely punishment? Assuming he’s suspended, then it’s up to constituents to sort out a recall, petition, isn’t it?
I'm greatly enjoying this new mini-series. OK, most of it is much the same as before, but the scriptwriters have come up with a clever and very funny new twist with the contrast between today's attempted trashing of Sue Gray and what Boris, Nadine and Jacob were saying a few months ago.
Has any PB-er tried this miracle weight loss drug Ozempic?
As avowed by Jez Clarkson, most of Hollywood, and now David Aaronovitch in today’s Times?
It sounds amazing. And I’ve just discovered that a chunky female relative of mine has been on it for 5 weeks and has lost 10 pounds (without trying). And she has struggled with weight all of her life
I’ve got 12 pounds of Covid lard that will not shift. I’m gonna try this
The big issue with it as far as I can see is that until Novo Nordisk scales up production, the more the drug is used to help people lose weight the tougher it will be for diabetics to get it. Surely the latter have to be the priority.
I'm greatly enjoying this new mini-series. OK, most of it is much the same as before, but the scriptwriters have come up with a clever and very funny new twist with the contrast between today's attempted trashing of Sue Gray and what Boris, Nadine and Jacob were saying a few months ago.
If they want us to believe what they are saying now they surely have to accept that they were lying back then when they said that the Gray Report had vindicated Johnson.
The release of a report with photos by the privileges committee is damning and to be fair Sky are highlighting parts of the report which frankly I cannot see Johnson surviving without sanctions and his attempts to discredit Sue Gray are absurd
His appearance on the 20th March will be something to witness as the committee take him apart
On Sue Gray it is clear that this appointment should have waited a few weeks, and questions are justified by the cabinet office and the civil service just when she entered discussions with Starmer
However, much as Johnson wants to use Sue Gray negatively that is simply 'grasping at straws' and actually pathetic
I do not expect Sunak will have to worry about Johnson much longer nor do I expect him to block Sue Gray though a delay in her appointment may well be a few months away
Rather unusually for Starmer I suspect he has read the tea leaves quite well over Gray's appointment. Partygate is back on the front pages and serves as a reminder to one and all (except Johnson and his cabal of cronies) that Johnson was a very naughty boy.
Ex DUP minister Simon Hamilton is claiming the Windsor Framework will bring prosperity to Northern Ireland, but that is all lost in a sea of Johnsonian detritus.
Has any PB-er tried this miracle weight loss drug Ozempic?
As avowed by Jez Clarkson, most of Hollywood, and now David Aaronovitch in today’s Times?
It sounds amazing. And I’ve just discovered that a chunky female relative of mine has been on it for 5 weeks and has lost 10 pounds (without trying). And she has struggled with weight all of her life
I’ve got 12 pounds of Covid lard that will not shift. I’m gonna try this
Its very effective, and often given for diabetic patients. A friend who is on is losing a kg a week without trying.
BUT
He is constipated, often goes three days without passing a stool and feels unpleasant with it. He feels full a lot, and is restricted in his eating as a result.
So yes - it works, but it can have poor side effects. #tradeoff
I think the advice is drink more water. Might help with the constipation.
Enjoying the Brexit queue of shame at Frankfurt, whilst all the other Europeans breeze through. Please Rishi can you put this on your list of Brexit nonsense to fix?
This is a clear example of the punishment beatings approach. Should be easy to solve, if the will is there.
There is already no reason for EU airports not to reciprocate - we let their citizens amongst others through our shorter queues.
Bollocks. No we don't. As someone who manages an immigration law team at a City law firm I can tell you we most certainly do not let EU citizens through our shorter queues. We treat them like Americans, Canadians, Japanese etc (many in fact worse if they can't get use the E-Passport gates) and they treat us like Americans, Canadians, Japanese etc. It's not the airports its the immigration rules.
So just to be clear, because of Brexit, that means when we travel to the EU we get longer queues going out and shorter UK-only queues coming back. When we travel anywhere else outside the EU, we get the same length queues as previous going out and shorter UK-only queues coming back.
And this is supposed to be a negative. Remainers are a fricking joke in how selective they are.
Enjoying the Brexit queue of shame at Frankfurt, whilst all the other Europeans breeze through. Please Rishi can you put this on your list of Brexit nonsense to fix?
This is a clear example of the punishment beatings approach. Should be easy to solve, if the will is there.
There is already no reason for EU airports not to reciprocate - we let their citizens amongst others through our shorter queues.
Bollocks. No we don't. As someone who manages an immigration law team at a City law firm I can tell you we most certainly do not let EU citizens through our shorter queues. We treat them like Americans, Canadians, Japanese etc (many in fact worse if they can't get use the E-Passport gates) and they treat us like Americans, Canadians, Japanese etc. It's not the airports its the immigration rules.
Indeed - we let Americans, Canadians, Japanese (and citizens of Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea) through our shorter queues too.
So you're saying that each individual EU state (it's the individual states who deal with rules for third country nationals, not the EU) should pay for e-passport gates at all of their airports just for the benefit of UK citizens? And it's a "punishment beating" if they do not? I've heard some stupid shit on PB in my time but this takes the biscuit...this is Markle level entitlement.
"Look, they're punishing us by not introducing specialist biometric equipment at great expense JUST FOR US."
No, I didn't say anything about paying for e-passport gates. Although any country doing that would mostly benefit its own citizens.
The release of a report with photos by the privileges committee is damning and to be fair Sky are highlighting parts of the report which frankly I cannot see Johnson surviving without sanctions and his attempts to discredit Sue Gray are absurd
His appearance on the 20th March will be something to witness as the committee take him apart
On Sue Gray it is clear that this appointment should have waited a few weeks, and questions are justified by the cabinet office and the civil service just when she entered discussions with Starmer
However, much as Johnson wants to use Sue Gray negatively that is simply 'grasping at straws' and actually pathetic
I do not expect Sunak will have to worry about Johnson much longer nor do I expect him to block Sue Gray though a delay in her appointment may well be a few months away
Rather unusually for Starmer I suspect he has read the tea leaves quite well over Gray's appointment. Partygate is back on the front pages and serves as a reminder to one and all (except Johnson and his cabal of cronies) that Johnson was a very naughty boy.
Ex DUP minister Simon Hamilton is claiming the Windsor Framework will bring prosperity to Northern Ireland, but that is all lost in a sea of Johnsonian detritus.
Starmer's appointment of Sue Gray is either very clever or very stupid, perhaps depending on how one views Boris's prospects.
The release of a report with photos by the privileges committee is damning and to be fair Sky are highlighting parts of the report which frankly I cannot see Johnson surviving without sanctions and his attempts to discredit Sue Gray are absurd
His appearance on the 20th March will be something to witness as the committee take him apart
On Sue Gray it is clear that this appointment should have waited a few weeks, and questions are justified by the cabinet office and the civil service just when she entered discussions with Starmer
However, much as Johnson wants to use Sue Gray negatively that is simply 'grasping at straws' and actually pathetic
I do not expect Sunak will have to worry about Johnson much longer nor do I expect him to block Sue Gray though a delay in her appointment may well be a few months away
Rather unusually for Starmer I suspect he has read the tea leaves quite well over Gray's appointment. Partygate is back on the front pages and serves as a reminder to one and all (except Johnson and his cabal of cronies) that Johnson was a very naughty boy.
Ex DUP minister Simon Hamilton is claiming the Windsor Framework will bring prosperity to Northern Ireland, but that is all lost in a sea of Johnsonian detritus.
I think the Sue Gray appointment is dumb from Starmer and Labour - as dumb as an opposition manager in football winding up the home crowd to get behind their team I would liken it to.
It whiffs of a gimmick. And it breaks a golden rule for me that your back room team shouldn’t be centre of media attention and massive bete noir for all your opponents.
Just a dumb decision from my point of view. And not great decision from Sue herself to accept it, considering her key involvement in inquiry which brought down a rival party leader.
It really brings out the PB bias though, like you would say no problem if they brought down Starmer and then went to work for Boris, or brought down Biden and then went to work for Trump. Really?
You need need to try to be as objective and balanced as I am.
Enjoying the Brexit queue of shame at Frankfurt, whilst all the other Europeans breeze through. Please Rishi can you put this on your list of Brexit nonsense to fix?
This is a clear example of the punishment beatings approach. Should be easy to solve, if the will is there.
There is already no reason for EU airports not to reciprocate - we let their citizens amongst others through our shorter queues.
Bollocks. No we don't. As someone who manages an immigration law team at a City law firm I can tell you we most certainly do not let EU citizens through our shorter queues. We treat them like Americans, Canadians, Japanese etc (many in fact worse if they can't get use the E-Passport gates) and they treat us like Americans, Canadians, Japanese etc. It's not the airports its the immigration rules.
So just to be clear, because of Brexit, that means when we travel to the EU we get longer queues going out and shorter UK-only queues coming back. When we travel anywhere else outside the EU, we get the same length queues as previous going out and shorter UK-only queues coming back.
And this is supposed to be a negative. Remainers are a fricking joke in how selective they are.
No, we generally get longer queues on entry and departure when we visit the EU/EEA. The queues are the same on arrival in the UK - though perhaps a bit longer if you are arriving by sea.
This situation was completely foreseeable back in 2016(?). They could - and should - have blocked SoftBank. Or use some mechanism to place conditions post-sale.
These free trade tories have been naive in the extreme. They wouldn’t know the national interest if it smacked them in the face.
To be fair, there was never much chance of ARM listing on the LSE. It really hasn't got anything much to do with the government.
While that's true, it was also reported that the valuation discount for new listings in London versus the US has widened significantly since Brexit.
Yes, fair point.
I don't particularly want to belabour the Brexit element, as we're unlikely to be able to address that anytime soon anyway, but it's a very real issue for keeping and growing new tech businesses in the UK.
The release of a report with photos by the privileges committee is damning and to be fair Sky are highlighting parts of the report which frankly I cannot see Johnson surviving without sanctions and his attempts to discredit Sue Gray are absurd
His appearance on the 20th March will be something to witness as the committee take him apart
On Sue Gray it is clear that this appointment should have waited a few weeks, and questions are justified by the cabinet office and the civil service just when she entered discussions with Starmer
However, much as Johnson wants to use Sue Gray negatively that is simply 'grasping at straws' and actually pathetic
I do not expect Sunak will have to worry about Johnson much longer nor do I expect him to block Sue Gray though a delay in her appointment may well be a few months away
Rather unusually for Starmer I suspect he has read the tea leaves quite well over Gray's appointment. Partygate is back on the front pages and serves as a reminder to one and all (except Johnson and his cabal of cronies) that Johnson was a very naughty boy.
Ex DUP minister Simon Hamilton is claiming the Windsor Framework will bring prosperity to Northern Ireland, but that is all lost in a sea of Johnsonian detritus.
I think the Sue Gray appointment is dumb from Starmer and Labour - as dumb as an opposition manager in football winding up the home crowd to get behind their team I would liken it to.
It whiffs of a gimmick. And it breaks a golden rule for me that your back room team shouldn’t be centre of media attention and massive bete noir for all your opponents.
Just a dumb decision from my point of view. And not great decision from Sue herself to accept it, considering her key involvement in inquiry which brought down a rival party leader.
It really brings out the PB bias though, like you would say no problem if they brought down Starmer and then went to work for Boris, or brought down Biden and then went to work for Trump. Really?
You need need to try to be as objective and balanced as I am.
Enjoying the Brexit queue of shame at Frankfurt, whilst all the other Europeans breeze through. Please Rishi can you put this on your list of Brexit nonsense to fix?
This is a clear example of the punishment beatings approach. Should be easy to solve, if the will is there.
There is already no reason for EU airports not to reciprocate - we let their citizens amongst others through our shorter queues.
Bollocks. No we don't. As someone who manages an immigration law team at a City law firm I can tell you we most certainly do not let EU citizens through our shorter queues. We treat them like Americans, Canadians, Japanese etc (many in fact worse if they can't get use the E-Passport gates) and they treat us like Americans, Canadians, Japanese etc. It's not the airports its the immigration rules.
So just to be clear, because of Brexit, that means when we travel to the EU we get longer queues going out and shorter UK-only queues coming back. When we travel anywhere else outside the EU, we get the same length queues as previous going out and shorter UK-only queues coming back.
And this is supposed to be a negative. Remainers are a fricking joke in how selective they are.
No, there are no UK-only queues, at least at places with e-gates. Uk, EU, US, Japan, Canada etc. all allowed through e-gates here:
"You can normally use eGates if you:
have a biometric symbol on the cover of your passport are aged 12+ (12 to 17 year olds must be accompanied by an adult) are either: a British citizen a national of an EU country, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland or the USA a member of the Registered Traveller Service"
Edit: there are some Uk only queues: at Calais, for coming back into the UK. Although, as a coach passenger (never again!) and UK citizen, I still had to answer questions to get in. Must be a dodgy route.
The release of a report with photos by the privileges committee is damning and to be fair Sky are highlighting parts of the report which frankly I cannot see Johnson surviving without sanctions and his attempts to discredit Sue Gray are absurd
His appearance on the 20th March will be something to witness as the committee take him apart
On Sue Gray it is clear that this appointment should have waited a few weeks, and questions are justified by the cabinet office and the civil service just when she entered discussions with Starmer
However, much as Johnson wants to use Sue Gray negatively that is simply 'grasping at straws' and actually pathetic
I do not expect Sunak will have to worry about Johnson much longer nor do I expect him to block Sue Gray though a delay in her appointment may well be a few months away
Rather unusually for Starmer I suspect he has read the tea leaves quite well over Gray's appointment. Partygate is back on the front pages and serves as a reminder to one and all (except Johnson and his cabal of cronies) that Johnson was a very naughty boy.
Ex DUP minister Simon Hamilton is claiming the Windsor Framework will bring prosperity to Northern Ireland, but that is all lost in a sea of Johnsonian detritus.
Starmer's appointment of Sue Gray is either very clever or very stupid, perhaps depending on how one views Boris's prospects.
Basically, AI-created works cannot be copyright protected as they have not been created by humans. I suspect that is an argument heading to the courts.
Coincidentally, the UK Supreme Court has been hearing a case this week on whether AI programmes can be named inventors on a patent. The lower courts and the UK IP Office have said no, though there was a dissent on the Court of Appeals panel that heard the case.
Enjoying the Brexit queue of shame at Frankfurt, whilst all the other Europeans breeze through. Please Rishi can you put this on your list of Brexit nonsense to fix?
This is a clear example of the punishment beatings approach. Should be easy to solve, if the will is there.
There is already no reason for EU airports not to reciprocate - we let their citizens amongst others through our shorter queues.
Bollocks. No we don't. As someone who manages an immigration law team at a City law firm I can tell you we most certainly do not let EU citizens through our shorter queues. We treat them like Americans, Canadians, Japanese etc (many in fact worse if they can't get use the E-Passport gates) and they treat us like Americans, Canadians, Japanese etc. It's not the airports its the immigration rules.
So just to be clear, because of Brexit, that means when we travel to the EU we get longer queues going out and shorter UK-only queues coming back. When we travel anywhere else outside the EU, we get the same length queues as previous going out and shorter UK-only queues coming back.
And this is supposed to be a negative. Remainers are a fricking joke in how selective they are.
No, we generally get longer queues on entry and departure when we visit the EU/EEA. The queues are the same on arrival in the UK - though perhaps a bit longer if you are arriving by sea.
Enjoying the Brexit queue of shame at Frankfurt, whilst all the other Europeans breeze through. Please Rishi can you put this on your list of Brexit nonsense to fix?
This is a clear example of the punishment beatings approach. Should be easy to solve, if the will is there.
There is already no reason for EU airports not to reciprocate - we let their citizens amongst others through our shorter queues.
Bollocks. No we don't. As someone who manages an immigration law team at a City law firm I can tell you we most certainly do not let EU citizens through our shorter queues. We treat them like Americans, Canadians, Japanese etc (many in fact worse if they can't get use the E-Passport gates) and they treat us like Americans, Canadians, Japanese etc. It's not the airports its the immigration rules.
So just to be clear, because of Brexit, that means when we travel to the EU we get longer queues going out and shorter UK-only queues coming back. When we travel anywhere else outside the EU, we get the same length queues as previous going out and shorter UK-only queues coming back.
And this is supposed to be a negative. Remainers are a fricking joke in how selective they are.
No, we generally get longer queues on entry and departure when we visit the EU/EEA. The queues are the same on arrival in the UK - though perhaps a bit longer if you are arriving by sea.
If you come by dinghy I gather you have a very long wait.
These free trade tories have been naive in the extreme. They wouldn’t know the national interest if it smacked them in the face.
To be fair, there was never much chance of ARM listing on the LSE. It really hasn't got anything much to do with the government.
While that's true, it was also reported that the valuation discount for new listings in London versus the US has widened significantly since Brexit.
Yes, fair point.
I don't particularly want to belabour the Brexit element, as we're unlikely to be able to address that anytime soon anyway, but it's a very real issue for keeping and growing new tech businesses in the UK.
ARM will list in the US mainly because they think they can get valued like a growth tech stock (when really they are a mature company with a revenue stream which isn't much like a tech stock at all).
Ping is right that we should have considered not allowing them to be sold to SoftBank, or insisted on a Golden Share.
The next thing that will happen is they will move headquarters, though they claim not now. They already employ more people in the US than here.
Comments
The energy price guarantee limits gas and electricity tariffs so that the typical household bill is no more than £2,500 a year. That ceiling was due to rise to £3,000 a year from April.
The Times has been told that Hunt will retain the guarantee for three more months until wholesale prices have fallen so far that it becomes unnecessary.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/uk-energy-price-bills-2023-extend-guarantee-jeremy-hunt-n9hjmww8j
Enterprises disrupting the state defense order in case of martial law will be subject to external management - Putin's decree
https://twitter.com/Liveuamap/status/1631627099223085059
My eldest son contracted PTSD and anxiety having attended ground zero at the Christchurch earthquake disaster where many lives were lost and PTSD only became apparent 8 years later and in the 3 years since to date he has been very seriously ill and undergone 16 electro convulsion treatments and a complete adjustment in his medication
He came with his Canadian wife to us at Christmas and it was a wonderful to see how far he has recovered but still needs time to be able to return to some form of work
He is 57 and in doing the right thing and helping those in great distress, and witnessing sights of untold horror, understanding and love is needed and it is why I do not like words such as 'nutter' and 'headbanger' as they have negative mental health connotations
Kids today! I'm old enough to remember SMS and ascii emoticons ;-)
ETA: And my parents' generation (or, at least, my parents - they're not very adventurous with cooking) probably wouldn't even know what an aubergine was!
But yes, better than under Truss. Is there anything that isn't?
Just the ticket.
https://twitter.com/nathanbenaich/status/1631629043773702146
Why are we not rejoining Horizon ?
Seems a daft and self destructive stance.
Also written evidence to the committee explained by Sky 'blows a hole' in Johnson's defence as those around him made enormous attempts to try to find a defence for his behaviour
Hopefully the committee will end his political career
While Britain had been expected to contribute £15bn for the full seven-year Horizon programme, three years have already passed and the two sides must now agree how much the UK would have to provide.
The idea we all suddenly had to start queuing only after Brexit is a myth.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/mp-who-harassed-assistant-and-racially-abused-journalist-should-be-suspended-expert-panel/ar-AA18b9Yr?ocid=entnewsntp&cvid=0bef803419be4248bf79df9d772be3c3&ei=11
🍆 🍆 🍆
Coming to you soon, from a Tory MP near you.
Edit: Being serious, there is a difficulty with very high profile and divisive political figures, where any standards or even criminal investigation into their conduct gets people suggesting it should not happen, because they are a political figure and things should be settled at the ballot box. We've seen this most dramatically with Trump, where even some non Republicans were worried at the idea of him being prosecuted for potentially quite serious crimes as it might look political, with the unintended implication that being big enough in politics should mean you face no consequences even if you commit crimes.
Alonso second in first practice. Perez top, Verstappen third, so (at best) Alonso looks ore like third really.
Edited extra bit: and more like third too.
Can he engineer that without anyone noticing?
The Sue Gray story is one of a premature appointment and apparently the civil service are concerned and it seems are looking into when she had first contact with Starmer as this could impact on why she continued to attend cabinet meetings
Actually as much as Johnson is now trying to make a story of betrayal it is absolutely not, but then the story of her appointment by Starmer is one that is being investigated by the cabinet office and civil service
There were queues beforehand.
Those queues were pretty trivial compared with what happens now.
That example shows the risks, but in that case the party MPs were obviously unhappy about jumping through hoops to save a complete shit when there was no real benefit to them - even though most then did it anyway.
In the case of Boris there are many more who, for some reason, do see a benefit to doing it, and they have more substantial pretexts (in a political sense) to rely upon, if indeed the hammer come downs against Boris (obviously we don't know for sure it will).
What that means is Rishi will not be able to just stand to one side and say we have to accept the outcome. That itself would put his fingerprints on the pistol for at least 100 of his own MPs.
"Boris Johnson may have misled Parliament over Partygate, MPs investigating his conduct say.
Evidence strongly suggests breaches of coronavirus rules would have been "obvious" to Mr Johnson, the privileges committee said in an update.
The inquiry has found four examples where Mr Johnson may have misled the House of Commons. This is not the committee's final report. "
His appearance on the 20th March will be something to witness as the committee take him apart
On Sue Gray it is clear that this appointment should have waited a few weeks, and questions are justified by the cabinet office and the civil service just when she entered discussions with Starmer
However, much as Johnson wants to use Sue Gray negatively that is simply 'grasping at straws' and actually pathetic
I do not expect Sunak will have to worry about Johnson much longer nor do I expect him to block Sue Gray though a delay in her appointment may well be a few months away
Eurostar, which admittedly always had some queues, is now unusable because of the queues. Still, we keeping the furreners out eh Brexit fans?
Important to remember what Boris Johnson said about Sue Gray's report at the time. How "profoundly grateful" he was, how "humbled", how fully he "accepted responsibility", "looked in the mirror" and "learned lessons".
How he used that report to stay in power.
@lukemcgee
OK, the Boris Johnson defence is that Sue Gray makes the report biased. Committee responds by saying she wasn't involved.
“The Committee’s report is not based on the Sue Gray"
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2020-12-30/debates/9E132CEF-83CA-40BA-B8B4-A7127A968B68/EuropeanUnion(FutureRelationship)Bill?highlight=just have avoided trade barriers#contribution-4F14454F-BFD9-4084-AF77-BFE7CCA9CBAD
Note . England have just beaten Bangladesh.
"Look, they're punishing us by not introducing specialist biometric equipment at great expense JUST FOR US."
Now, when the EU finally starts electronic border control (recently delayed another year to 2024), there will be no more stamping, and it will be a lot easier to let UK citizens in (and out) of Schenghen through e-gates.
The UK and the US are unusual in not having exit controls - most countries do.
It's morbidly satisfying seeing the Conservatives' Faustian deal with populism collapsing in on itself.
Arriving at Malta recently, there were five booths: four non-EU and one EU. Maltese citizens were queuing up in every queue, just seeing which one was shorter. But then Malta queues are fast, because they don't check very hard
Here's the list BoJo might be joining;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_from_the_UK_parliament
All that said, this should not be an insurmountable issue now that the grown-ups are in charge. There is a big difference between freedom of movement and freedom of settlement. The key thing, surely, is not how long someone stays in a country but whether they are working, using services, studying, living etc. It would not take too much work to find an arrangement that makes such differentiations and to enact it.
In fact, I would go so far as to say that if this were to happen, alongside some kind of special arrangement for under-30s enabling them to live, work and study for a limited amount of time in the UK/EU, it would entrench Brexit as something that most people could accept and learn to live with quite happily.
As avowed by Jez Clarkson, most of Hollywood, and now David Aaronovitch in today’s Times?
It sounds amazing. And I’ve just discovered that a chunky female relative of mine has been on it for 5 weeks and has lost 10 pounds (without trying). And she has struggled with weight all of her life
I’ve got 12 pounds of Covid lard that will not shift. I’m gonna try this
If SKS thinks it's to his advantage to have this go to a trial, Sue Gray will be lawyering up. If he doesn't, she won't.
There is another new class of diabetes drugs the flozins, which was also found have additional benefits - this time for heart failure. So dapagliflozin now has a secondary indication for HF.
With the odd exception though (Laocoon and others) I've never found classical (Hellenistic in particular) art particularly inspiring, setting aside its technical quality. Hence why I'd happily DHL the marbles back to Athens and fill the room with Sutton Hoo or something.
BUT
He is constipated, often goes three days without passing a stool and feels unpleasant with it. He feels full a lot, and is restricted in his eating as a result.
So yes - it works, but it can have poor side effects. #tradeoff
https://www.ozempic.com/how-to-take/side-effects.html
Unless you're actually obese - which you're not - you'd almost certainly be better off eating less than using meds.
But given your risk tolerance regarding pharmacologically active substances, you'll probably give it a go.
Matt has a book to sell you about this. There will be plenty of duller and worse books than his. And it won't be written in Martian.
How bloody depressing.
These free trade tories have been naive to the point of foolishness. They wouldn’t know the national interest if it smacked them in the face.
Ex DUP minister Simon Hamilton is claiming the Windsor Framework will bring prosperity to Northern Ireland, but that is all lost in a sea of Johnsonian detritus.
And this is supposed to be a negative. Remainers are a fricking joke in how selective they are.
It whiffs of a gimmick. And it breaks a golden rule for me that your back room team shouldn’t be centre of media attention and massive bete noir for all your opponents.
Just a dumb decision from my point of view. And not great decision from Sue herself to accept it, considering her key involvement in inquiry which brought down a rival party leader.
It really brings out the PB bias though, like you would say no problem if they brought down Starmer and then went to work for Boris, or brought down Biden and then went to work for Trump. Really?
You need need to try to be as objective and balanced as I am.
This situation was completely foreseeable back in 2016(?). They could - and should - have blocked SoftBank. Or use some mechanism to place conditions post-sale.
This is the national interest, here.
It has everything to do with the government.
"You can normally use eGates if you:
have a biometric symbol on the cover of your passport
are aged 12+ (12 to 17 year olds must be accompanied by an adult)
are either:
a British citizen
a national of an EU country, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland or the USA
a member of the Registered Traveller Service"
Edit: there are some Uk only queues: at Calais, for coming back into the UK. Although, as a coach passenger (never again!) and UK citizen, I still had to answer questions to get in. Must be a dodgy route.
Schrödinger's Appointment?
https://www.cartoonbrew.com/law/midjourney-ai-images-us-copyright-office-226437.html
Basically, AI-created works cannot be copyright protected as they have not been created by humans. I suspect that is an argument heading to the courts.
Coincidentally, the UK Supreme Court has been hearing a case this week on whether AI programmes can be named inventors on a patent. The lower courts and the UK IP Office have said no, though there was a dissent on the Court of Appeals panel that heard the case.
Ping is right that we should have considered not allowing them to be sold to SoftBank, or insisted on a Golden Share.
The next thing that will happen is they will move headquarters, though they claim not now. They already employ more people in the US than here.