My favourite non-cartoon tv show in the 80s, that I watched in the 80s (I was born in 78) was Fame
The BBC's adaptation of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardobe and sequels was also good (did it begin in the 80's?). Dated looking now - they should tart it up digitally and re-release it.
I loved this at the time. Rewatched it about 15 years ago and it was pretty bad.
The conservatism of the Supreme Court under Lord Reed means that the Court tends to focus on the actual words of the statute before it rather than any broader, policy based, approach. The first question is whether or not s35 applies, that is does Westminster have the legal authority to issue the s35 order? The answer to that is going to be yes.
The second question is whether Westminster have exercised that power reasonably. I slightly disagree with @Cyclefree's piece in suggesting the bar will be a high one for Westminster. Rather, in my view, the bar is a high one for the Scottish government who will have to show Wednesbury unreasonableness, that is no that reasonable government acting in good faith could have come to such a conclusion. The problem with that is that the Equality Commission have already written a report explaining how the GRR bill does change the Equality Act and how this potentially causes problems in both Scotland and the rest of the UK. To me, this puts Westminster in an almost unassailable position.
The UK government has indicated that it is minded to amend the Equality Act to make it clear that sex is genetic rather than gender based. If they do that the arguments might change somewhat and the uncertainty that the current GRR bill creates may be resolved. But as things stand I am with those that say the SG is throwing its money away on a fairly hopeless case.
A good response to a good header, though I've no idea whether you're right. (Did you predict spider woman's ruling correctly ?) The only thing I take slight issue with in the header is the Nixon comparison, which is both inaccurate and hyperbolic.
I am guessing you mean Lady Hale? The Court was much more unpredictable under her and much more political. I think I called the Boris prorogation decision wrong, for example, but that is because it was a political decision, not a legal one.
Either that or there has been some Marvel related litigation that I have missed.
Fair point. Is this not also something of a political decision too, though ? Though you're probably right that will be determined by the inclinations of the court more than the nature of the case.
The second referendum bill was a political decision but the UKSC played it with a bat so straight that Gooch in his pomp would have been proud. Of course, it may be that this merely suited the purposes of the Court on that occasion.
Sudan violence: UK help for Britons stuck in Sudan 'severely limited' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65370357 ...Alicia Kearns, conservative MP and chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said she expected there were "well over a thousand" British nationals who wanted to be evacuated from Sudan. She urged the government to communicate regularly with those people and said the limited amount of contact so far "would suggest that no lessons have been learnt since Afghanistan". However, she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that getting British nationals out of Sudan was proving "enormously difficult"...
This sounds like quite a big mess. The estimate is that there are around a thousand British families there, so several thousand people.
What the hell were 1,000 people doing with their families in the Sudan? I mean, it was not exactly a nice place before this having had a violent civil war for many years. I can see international aid agencies of various sorts being there but families? Bonkers.
will be families of families who have immigrated and have dual nationality I suspect.
Yeah there was a similar situation with British nationals in Afghanistan as I recall reading about, including people who had come from Afghanistan to Britain, become British through naturalisation, then moved back to Afghanistan and didn't want to get evacuated when the Taliban came back in to power.
Sudan violence: UK help for Britons stuck in Sudan 'severely limited' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65370357 ...Alicia Kearns, conservative MP and chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said she expected there were "well over a thousand" British nationals who wanted to be evacuated from Sudan. She urged the government to communicate regularly with those people and said the limited amount of contact so far "would suggest that no lessons have been learnt since Afghanistan". However, she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that getting British nationals out of Sudan was proving "enormously difficult"...
This sounds like quite a big mess. The estimate is that there are around a thousand British families there, so several thousand people.
They exfiled the embassy staff and hangers on via an A400M and C-130 yesterday. Almost certainly the last ever RAF C-130 op since the tories have binned them all.
16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team (they've given it an American name to make it more effective) had to secure the aerodrome so I doubt they'll be doing a repeat performance for non-FCO randoms.
Sudan violence: UK help for Britons stuck in Sudan 'severely limited' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65370357 ...Alicia Kearns, conservative MP and chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said she expected there were "well over a thousand" British nationals who wanted to be evacuated from Sudan. She urged the government to communicate regularly with those people and said the limited amount of contact so far "would suggest that no lessons have been learnt since Afghanistan". However, she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that getting British nationals out of Sudan was proving "enormously difficult"...
This sounds like quite a big mess. The estimate is that there are around a thousand British families there, so several thousand people.
I’m sure the UK special forces are doing what they can. But if you’re a British national living in Sudan, you will surely realise that you are assuming a high degree of risk to your personal safety by being there and not all risk can be fully mitigated.
Sudan violence: UK help for Britons stuck in Sudan 'severely limited' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65370357 ...Alicia Kearns, conservative MP and chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said she expected there were "well over a thousand" British nationals who wanted to be evacuated from Sudan. She urged the government to communicate regularly with those people and said the limited amount of contact so far "would suggest that no lessons have been learnt since Afghanistan". However, she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that getting British nationals out of Sudan was proving "enormously difficult"...
This sounds like quite a big mess. The estimate is that there are around a thousand British families there, so several thousand people.
I’m sure the UK special forces are doing what they can. But if you’re a British national living in Sudan, you will surely realise that you are assuming a high degree of risk to your personal safety by being there and not all risk can be fully mitigated.
No one has anyone personal responsibility anymore, Its all the Government's fault.
Sudan violence: UK help for Britons stuck in Sudan 'severely limited' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65370357 ...Alicia Kearns, conservative MP and chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said she expected there were "well over a thousand" British nationals who wanted to be evacuated from Sudan. She urged the government to communicate regularly with those people and said the limited amount of contact so far "would suggest that no lessons have been learnt since Afghanistan". However, she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that getting British nationals out of Sudan was proving "enormously difficult"...
This sounds like quite a big mess. The estimate is that there are around a thousand British families there, so several thousand people.
I’m sure the UK special forces are doing what they can. But if you’re a British national living in Sudan, you will surely realise that you are assuming a high degree of risk to your personal safety by being there and not all risk can be fully mitigated.
I don't think anyone, even the Conservative chair of the select committee, is saying that it can. A message to get the hell out, there's nothing we can do for you, might usefully have been sent a few days ago, for example.
The conservatism of the Supreme Court under Lord Reed means that the Court tends to focus on the actual words of the statute before it rather than any broader, policy based, approach. The first question is whether or not s35 applies, that is does Westminster have the legal authority to issue the s35 order? The answer to that is going to be yes.
The second question is whether Westminster have exercised that power reasonably. I slightly disagree with @Cyclefree's piece in suggesting the bar will be a high one for Westminster. Rather, in my view, the bar is a high one for the Scottish government who will have to show Wednesbury unreasonableness, that is no that reasonable government acting in good faith could have come to such a conclusion. The problem with that is that the Equality Commission have already written a report explaining how the GRR bill does change the Equality Act and how this potentially causes problems in both Scotland and the rest of the UK. To me, this puts Westminster in an almost unassailable position.
The UK government has indicated that it is minded to amend the Equality Act to make it clear that sex is genetic rather than gender based. If they do that the arguments might change somewhat and the uncertainty that the current GRR bill creates may be resolved. But as things stand I am with those that say the SG is throwing its money away on a fairly hopeless case.
In that case the SG is not throwing away its money because ultimately this is a political decision.
Sudan violence: UK help for Britons stuck in Sudan 'severely limited' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65370357 ...Alicia Kearns, conservative MP and chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said she expected there were "well over a thousand" British nationals who wanted to be evacuated from Sudan. She urged the government to communicate regularly with those people and said the limited amount of contact so far "would suggest that no lessons have been learnt since Afghanistan". However, she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that getting British nationals out of Sudan was proving "enormously difficult"...
This sounds like quite a big mess. The estimate is that there are around a thousand British families there, so several thousand people.
I’m sure the UK special forces are doing what they can. But if you’re a British national living in Sudan, you will surely realise that you are assuming a high degree of risk to your personal safety by being there and not all risk can be fully mitigated.
No one has anyone personal responsibility anymore, Its all the Government's fault.
In the early 80s I really liked Butterflies. Carla Lane's writing had great pathos as well as being genuinely funny and the cast was superb.
Yes, that's one that stuck in my memory.
As did Brass, with Timothy West. Ridiculous, but very funny and satirical. Me and my brother have never forgotten the "silent but deadly" explosive.
I haven't seen it since it was first broadcast forty years ago, and it'd be interesting to see if I still find it at least moderately funny. It certainly was when I was ten.
Sudan violence: UK help for Britons stuck in Sudan 'severely limited' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65370357 ...Alicia Kearns, conservative MP and chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said she expected there were "well over a thousand" British nationals who wanted to be evacuated from Sudan. She urged the government to communicate regularly with those people and said the limited amount of contact so far "would suggest that no lessons have been learnt since Afghanistan". However, she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that getting British nationals out of Sudan was proving "enormously difficult"...
This sounds like quite a big mess. The estimate is that there are around a thousand British families there, so several thousand people.
I’m sure the UK special forces are doing what they can.
What can they do? There are no commercial flights out of Khartoum. The nearest international airport of any significance is Addis which is a convenient 24 hour drive through a desert full of heavily armed bastards.
My favourite non-cartoon tv show in the 80s, that I watched in the 80s (I was born in 78) was Fame
The BBC's adaptation of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardobe and sequels was also good (did it begin in the 80's?). Dated looking now - they should tart it up digitally and re-release it.
This has led to one my family's "in-jokes". My son, about 5 at the time, had been watching TLTWATW, and the next programme on was "One Man And His Dog". After seeing the strange creatures in Narnia, he asked if sheep-dogs were half sheep, half dog.
Sudan violence: UK help for Britons stuck in Sudan 'severely limited' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65370357 ...Alicia Kearns, conservative MP and chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said she expected there were "well over a thousand" British nationals who wanted to be evacuated from Sudan. She urged the government to communicate regularly with those people and said the limited amount of contact so far "would suggest that no lessons have been learnt since Afghanistan". However, she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that getting British nationals out of Sudan was proving "enormously difficult"...
This sounds like quite a big mess. The estimate is that there are around a thousand British families there, so several thousand people.
I’m sure the UK special forces are doing what they can. But if you’re a British national living in Sudan, you will surely realise that you are assuming a high degree of risk to your personal safety by being there and not all risk can be fully mitigated.
No one has anyone personal responsibility anymore, Its all the Government's fault.
So far, at least, the effort has been smoother than in 1884-85.
That really wasn't the government's fault either. If Gordon had followed his orders he'd have got the British nationals out in time.
My favourite non-cartoon tv show in the 80s, that I watched in the 80s (I was born in 78) was Fame
The BBC's adaptation of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardobe and sequels was also good (did it begin in the 80's?). Dated looking now - they should tart it up digitally and re-release it.
I loved this at the time. Rewatched it about 15 years ago and it was pretty bad.
I remember enjoying this at the time too.
I was born in 1981, and have fond memories of quite a few programmes I don’t doubt now look a bit shonky in retrospect: Maid Marian and her Merry Men and Knightmare spring to mind.
One of the nice things about being near a very large building site, is seeing the small wall sections that the apprentices build as they learn how to lay bricks. Sadly that work's been moved now, so it's no longer visible from the footpath.
And yes, that wall is nearly as bad as the one I did when I was eleven...
Sudan violence: UK help for Britons stuck in Sudan 'severely limited' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65370357 ...Alicia Kearns, conservative MP and chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said she expected there were "well over a thousand" British nationals who wanted to be evacuated from Sudan. She urged the government to communicate regularly with those people and said the limited amount of contact so far "would suggest that no lessons have been learnt since Afghanistan". However, she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that getting British nationals out of Sudan was proving "enormously difficult"...
This sounds like quite a big mess. The estimate is that there are around a thousand British families there, so several thousand people.
I’m sure the UK special forces are doing what they can.
What can they do? There are no commercial flights out of Khartoum. The nearest international airport of any significance is Addis which is a convenient 24 hour drive through a desert full of heavily armed bastards.
It’s a bloody awful situation and tbh feels like a bit of a failing of intelligence as well. Did the Embassy and their spooky colleagues not have any sense that this was in the offing?
These folks’ best bet now no doubt is to keep their heads down and hope for a quick resolution. I imagine it’s not just British dual nationals in this situation either - so some sort of tripartite negotiation might allow for some evacuation eventually.
Sudan violence: UK help for Britons stuck in Sudan 'severely limited' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65370357 ...Alicia Kearns, conservative MP and chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said she expected there were "well over a thousand" British nationals who wanted to be evacuated from Sudan. She urged the government to communicate regularly with those people and said the limited amount of contact so far "would suggest that no lessons have been learnt since Afghanistan". However, she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that getting British nationals out of Sudan was proving "enormously difficult"...
This sounds like quite a big mess. The estimate is that there are around a thousand British families there, so several thousand people.
I’m sure the UK special forces are doing what they can.
What can they do? There are no commercial flights out of Khartoum. The nearest international airport of any significance is Addis which is a convenient 24 hour drive through a desert full of heavily armed bastards.
I was Jakarta based when Suharto fell - there is little Embassies can do when civil order has broken down. The advice was “Get to the airport with cash, if you can” while Singapore Airlines performed heroically running a 747 shuttle multiple times per day. Mercifully the violence was over almost as soon as it started and most got out after the danger had passed - in hindsight. At the time it felt different. You should take a foreign posting with your eyes open.
Sudan violence: UK help for Britons stuck in Sudan 'severely limited' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65370357 ...Alicia Kearns, conservative MP and chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said she expected there were "well over a thousand" British nationals who wanted to be evacuated from Sudan. She urged the government to communicate regularly with those people and said the limited amount of contact so far "would suggest that no lessons have been learnt since Afghanistan". However, she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that getting British nationals out of Sudan was proving "enormously difficult"...
This sounds like quite a big mess. The estimate is that there are around a thousand British families there, so several thousand people.
I’m sure the UK special forces are doing what they can. But if you’re a British national living in Sudan, you will surely realise that you are assuming a high degree of risk to your personal safety by being there and not all risk can be fully mitigated.
I don't think anyone, even the Conservative chair of the select committee, is saying that it can. A message to get the hell out, there's nothing we can do for you, might usefully have been sent a few days ago, for example.
The position in these situations seems always the same, the the UK government politically stuck in the worst possible place.
I doubt if there is a well known general policy about these situations. Every time the government (Mitchell today, someone else under the next government) says that they are working 24/7 to do stuff for UK citizens, the BBC interviews the trapped on shaky connections, who all say the same thing - no-one has been in touch.
Government should be clearer at all times what its limits are. Palmerstonian expectations (sadly) are misplaced. Beyond those in country X for state reasons (forces, diplomats etc) it is hard to see how the duty can arise.
Only NATO or the UN would be big enough bodies to even think about real protection of all foreign nationals in failed states 10 times the size of the UK. I don't think they want the job.
Comments
16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team (they've given it an American name to make it more effective) had to secure the aerodrome so I doubt they'll be doing a repeat performance for non-FCO randoms.
A message to get the hell out, there's nothing we can do for you, might usefully have been sent a few days ago, for example.
As did Brass, with Timothy West. Ridiculous, but very funny and satirical. Me and my brother have never forgotten the "silent but deadly" explosive.
I haven't seen it since it was first broadcast forty years ago, and it'd be interesting to see if I still find it at least moderately funny. It certainly was when I was ten.
https://www.economist.com/europe/2023/04/05/ukraines-gay-soldiers-fight-russia-and-for-their-rights
If literary adaptations are included, surely Brideshead Revisited rates a mention?
Items from aircraft carrier, whose proposed visit to US was cancelled last year after mechanical failure, used to repair sister vessel
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/23/3bn-warship-hms-prince-of-wales-stripped-for-parts/ (£££)
The local elections here are hotting up; we’ve had a leaflet from the Labour Party. Nothing from anyone else though.
My son, about 5 at the time, had been watching TLTWATW, and the next programme on was "One Man And His Dog". After seeing the strange creatures in Narnia, he asked if sheep-dogs were half sheep, half dog.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/apr/24/uk-medical-bodies-gravely-concerned-over-rwanda-deportation-scheme
That really wasn't the government's fault either. If Gordon had followed his orders he'd have got the British nationals out in time.
I was born in 1981, and have fond memories of quite a few programmes I don’t doubt now look a bit shonky in retrospect: Maid Marian and her Merry Men and Knightmare spring to mind.
And yes, that wall is nearly as bad as the one I did when I was eleven...
These folks’ best bet now no doubt is to keep their heads down and hope for a quick resolution. I imagine it’s not just British dual nationals in this situation either - so some sort of tripartite negotiation might allow for some evacuation eventually.
I doubt if there is a well known general policy about these situations. Every time the government (Mitchell today, someone else under the next government) says that they are working 24/7 to do stuff for UK citizens, the BBC interviews the trapped on shaky connections, who all say the same thing - no-one has been in touch.
Government should be clearer at all times what its limits are. Palmerstonian expectations (sadly) are misplaced. Beyond those in country X for state reasons (forces, diplomats etc) it is hard to see how the duty can arise.
Only NATO or the UN would be big enough bodies to even think about real protection of all foreign nationals in failed states 10 times the size of the UK. I don't think they want the job.
The Admiralty are greatly enjoying not having to establish a full complement for the "Kuznetsov" and are in no rush to repair her.