What was the thing whic required 100% in the Polish Sejm? I think Zimbabwe has (or used to have) a requirement that a single-party state could only be established if all MPs agreed.
Am I the first pb-er to comment, while sitting completely naked and utterly alone on a tiny uninhabited coralline atoll in the Indian Ocean - and faced with a dwindling supply of Shiraz
Well, I did spend a night in a tent on an island in a Canadian lake, five days by canoe from the nearest road, with a couple of brown bears rummaging through the camp. I admit that I did have a couple of mates there as well, but they were too p*ssed on vodka to care.
If you haven't made a comment on the thread (in which case you can click on your pic etc) how do you click to your profile? On disqus you did this on your pic next to the comment box.
Also, is there somewhere (that I can't find) on your profile pages where you can click directly back to the main PB thread? If I've been clicking across various profile pages the only way I can find to get back is via the 'go back on page' arrow however many times.
"As the snow of the coldest March since 1963 continues to fall, we learn that we have barely 48 hours’ worth of stored gas left to keep us warm, and that the head of our second-largest electricity company, SSE, has warned that our generating capacity has fallen so low that we can expect power cuts to begin at any time. It seems the perfect storm is upon us."
On topic. The Bills are perfectly "constitutional". Any future Parliament would be free to repeal the provisions of the Crime and Courts Bill and Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill which underpin the charter, by a simple majority. The provisions of the Crime and Courts Bill which provide the incentive to sign up to an approved regulator (i.e. on exemplary damages and costs) could be repealed, or indeed made more stringent, without affecting the entrenched status of the charter.
"Quite frankly, by the elevated standards of the Maldives, I think it is a snip, and you'd all be fools not to purchase at least one night each, when you next come here. "
I thought the Maldives' problem was that it was not elevated? I would want a sturdy guarantee that the island won't have succumbed to global warming overnight...
Any possibilty of likes returning? It is nice to know something you have written is appreciated. Also pre Vanilla old comments are they forever lost in the hyper void?
@JamesKelly There are political viewpoints that exist outside the three establishment parties. Surely the BBC's impartiality is supposed to extend to being objective for other views. What's next? "Becoming humane: the abolition of the death penalty"? "Maintaining peace: one week at the European Commission"?
It is of course worth remembering you can - in search of impartiality - take this too far.
We need to balance these NASA scientists, can we find a flat earther?
We need to balance this paedophile story, can we find someone who thinks sex with children should be legal?
I'm sure we could find someone who would legalise marriage to animals - should we add that as balance whenever a gay marriage story...
Are you really saying advocating for alternative healthcare systems is a fringe position comparable to flat-eartherism, paedophilia and beastiality? If not, what's your point?
The key is that the original Act can be amended on majority vote, as Parliament's legislative powers are not founded on a constitution but in in its own sovereignty!
This is a viewpoint from the biased BBC blog. "It is poor journalism to take three things from someone’s past, represent them in the worst possible way, and then launch into an over the top attack on your interviewee. Mair tried to create a negative image of Boris in the minds of the viewers. That’s spin not reporting."
It is difficult to disagree with that. I am not accusing Mair of political bias but at best it sounds like an attempt to get his name in the headlines at a time he is apparently vying for Paxman's job at Newsnight.
Neil/Socrates/MSmithson - Paul could well win Iowa, though he will have to contend with Santorum and maybe Huckabee who are ideally placed to win the many evangelicals in the state and have won it before
On Boris in my view he may well face the fate of that other Mayor of a global city, Rudy Giuliani, both hugely charismatic and with great appeal at a general election but without the self-discipline and hard work they need to win the leadership of their respective parties! Both would also face leading their parties when they are headed for opposition anyway
Front National almost won a parliamentary by-election in France. PS did badly (21%) and was eliminated in first round. UMP (who had the incumbent) led with around 40%. FN got 26%. The Commies polled 6.5%. Pirates were at 1.9% and the Workers Fight Party got 1.5%
Looking back, the Malaysian race was a bit of a weird one. Not sure I can remember the last time every driver on the podium was unhappy in one way or another.
Why is this minor bishop all over BBC News? I don't really see why someone gets such publicity for their views on immigration just because they happen to be a low level part of the Anglican hierarchy.
I have no idea. I'm just testing the quoting-and-replying-to-someone-else thingy.
@ Mr Jones - Thank god Labour made energy provision a priority when they were in power all those painful years.
Oh wait........... something else important they kicked into long grass.
No doubt they will be blaming the current government for this as well, or perhaps we can have yet another pathetic "apology"
There will be no apology. This government f*cked it up royally by not keeping an eye on their "private" chums. These companies had enough money to pay dividends and not enough for investments.
Remember surplus capacity to the utilities mean assets lying idle. They want to minimise that. Of course, then 2013 repeats 1963.
Twitter claims that Justin Bieber has been killed in a high-speed car crash. No idea if that's true or of any interest to anyone on here, but many Tweets are repeating the story. Edit: It seems it's a (very sick) Facebook hoax. Sincere apologies to him and anyone who believed me for reading it on here, but whoever started this 'story' must be deeply sick.
Thanks for the tweet re Depeche Mode - unfortunately I wasn't online at the time! Just by coincidence a few days ago I found a tape recording of the equivalent DM radio show from way back in 2001.
@ Mr Jones - Thank god Labour made energy provision a priority when they were in power all those painful years.
Oh wait........... something else important they kicked into long grass.
No doubt they will be blaming the current government for this as well, or perhaps we can have yet another pathetic "apology"
There will be no apology. This government f*cked it up royally by not keeping an eye on their "private" chums. These companies had enough money to pay dividends and not enough for investments.
Remember surplus capacity to the utilities mean assets lying idle. They want to minimise that. Of course, then 2013 repeats 1963.
So Surbiton, you think Labour handled the energy issue well whilst in power?
Wouldn't agree they kept kicking that can down the road? hmmmm????
Incidentally, I noticed I was still logged in with Disqus. I'd forgotten about that when the change occurred. So, if you were logged in when we shifted firstly to Old School pb.com and then to Vanilla you may also still be logged in and may wish to log out forthwith.
This is a viewpoint from the biased BBC blog. "It is poor journalism to take three things from someone’s past, represent them in the worst possible way, and then launch into an over the top attack on your interviewee. Mair tried to create a negative image of Boris in the minds of the viewers. That’s spin not reporting."
It is difficult to disagree with that.
Is it seriously suggested that politicians should not be challenged over things they have done in the past? What is the alternative? That politicians should not be challenged at all? When else might politicians have done anything, if not in the past?
OK Sports fans - I have a question, and would appreciate some feedback..
I miss rugby league, and to some extent rugby union.
DirecTV have a channel called Fox Soccer Plus, which features UEFA Champions League matches, Barclays Premier League games, Scottish Premier League matches, England's FA Cup, UEFA Europa League etc. I could care less, as I'm not a soccer fan.
However it also features Rugby - Heineken Cup, Aviva Premiership, RaboDirect PRO12, Stobart Super League, National Rugby League, Amlin Challenge Cup, LV= Anglo-Welsh Cup, J.P. Morgan Asset Management Premiership Rugby 7’s.
I'm assuming Stobart is Hull KR, Leeds Rhinos etc, and I recognize the rugby 7s, but other than that I'm assuming it's most UK and Australian rugby league and union.
My question is - is it worth almost £10 a month, and is it a good line up?
Mr. JohnL, if the attack was on having an affair, that's personal; if it was on a mistake for which he was fired (and is a matter of public record) then it's been dealt with; and if it's about an address he was asked for which he did not give, in order to beat a journalist who was not beaten, there's no case to answer, surely?
[NB My take on this is based on the links Mr. P posted, I haven't seen the interview].
The 'nasty piece of work' line appears designed by a journalist whose ego exceeds his professionalism.
Both Heineken Cup and Aviva Premiership are top class rugby union competitions, well worth the subscription in my book. The Heineken Cup is union's equivalent of football's Champion's League, the premier club / region competition in the northern hemisphere. The Aviva is the top flight of English rugby.
On Cyprus, will Europe blink first? I know they've gotten surprisingly tough this past week, but push comes to shove, they don't want to be accused of hanging a member out to dry, particularly such a small member, in order to make a point, when it's not as though the big boys ever play by their own rules.
That said, some of the quotes coming from Cyprus are hard to be fully sympathetic with. It's not that their situation is not distressing to witness, or that they have not been placed in a hugely difficult situation, but comments like ""Last week Cypriots were rich", he said. "Now we're poor. Why is this happening?" and "What is Europe?" asked Marilena Nikolaou, a protester outside parliament. "Is it a union of those who have money and want to control those in need? We don't want to be in that Europe." make it seem like the reaction against the demands is bourne more out of simple dislike rather than any assessment of how much Cyprus is to blame for its own fate, and how much is reasonable for them to bear as a result.
I've no doubt all nations would react in a similar way, but even so.
What is the alternative? That politicians should not be challenged at all? When else might politicians have done anything, if not in the past?
Mair did not even attempt to "challenge" Johnson. A challenge invites a response. Mair neither wanted nor would have allowed the facts of each allegation to be established nor did he ever intend to give Johnson a fair right of reply.
Even if Boris had tried to state the facts, he would have been interrupted dismissively and a new allegation made or another diversionary tactic deployed.
It is interview theatre designed to "entertain" rather than an interrogatory attempt to determine truth.
The techniques Mair deployed were in the same class as tim's smearing on pb.
They are the symptoms of corruption and decomposition.
if the attack was on having an affair, that's personal; if it was on a mistake for which he was fired (and is a matter of public record) then it's been dealt with; and if it's about an address he was asked for which he did not give, in order to beat a journalist who was not beaten, there's no case to answer, surely?
Putting to one side your characterisation of the interview as an attack, if there are reasonable answers to these questions, then surely it is Boris's job, as an experienced politician who has been an MP and Mayor of London for the past six years, to present these answers.
If these things are already known, then clearly they have not prevented Boris being elected to Parliament and to the Mayoralty, so why are they so dangerous now?
Where are Boris's enemies? To adopt that old political joke, the Labour Party is his opposition: his enemies are in the Conservative ranks, and especially amongst those who favour other candidates, perhaps even themselves, to succeed David Cameron as leader.
Given that the assets of France's banks amount to over 400% of the nation's GDP, this is definitely in the realm of the possible. We have already noted in the past that the sequestration of ever more bank assets with the ECB already amounts to a kind of 'stealth nationalization' of the banks, as the pool of bank assets that private creditors of banks can lay claim to in the case of insolvency is shrinking ever more.
Google will add to more links. For those sans memory, 'The Economist' has been complaining about French and German Eurozone liabilities since 2008. Yet the ECB and Eurozone have ignored calls to restucture: It's not rocket-science!
If Cyprus falls there will be an effect in the Balkans and Central Europe. How secure would you feel today if you were an Austrian banker...?
Comments
Edit: just testing the edit thingy
Have a vanilla query. Well, two.
If you haven't made a comment on the thread (in which case you can click on your pic etc) how do you click to your profile? On disqus you did this on your pic next to the comment box.
Also, is there somewhere (that I can't find) on your profile pages where you can click directly back to the main PB thread? If I've been clicking across various profile pages the only way I can find to get back is via the 'go back on page' arrow however many times.
Thanks.
"As the snow of the coldest March since 1963 continues to fall, we learn that we have barely 48 hours’ worth of stored gas left to keep us warm, and that the head of our second-largest electricity company, SSE, has warned that our generating capacity has fallen so low that we can expect power cuts to begin at any time. It seems the perfect storm is upon us."
MPs are underpaid.
I thought the Maldives' problem was that it was not elevated? I would want a sturdy guarantee that the island won't have succumbed to global warming overnight...
I'd agree, though, that the impact is more on how his peers view him, not the voters
@DPJHodges
Eddie Mair's interview with Boris Johnson was a disgrace > Telegraph > http://tinyurl.com/d4ukx8c
@PickardJE: Ally of Boris Johnson on his #nightmair: "Is Boris sitting at home worried that the world is about to end....absolutely not."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2298341/Police-spend-FOUR-WEEKS-tracking-mother-45-Facebook-joke-egging-PM.html?fb_action_ids=10200433723102180&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map={"10200433723102180":365706066876372}&action_type_map={"10200433723102180":"og.likes"}&action_ref_map=[]
"It is poor journalism to take three things from someone’s past, represent them in the worst possible way, and then launch into an over the top attack on your interviewee. Mair tried to create a negative image of Boris in the minds of the viewers. That’s spin not reporting."
It is difficult to disagree with that. I am not accusing Mair of political bias but at best it sounds like an attempt to get his name in the headlines at a time he is apparently vying for Paxman's job at Newsnight.
Scottish women have found a way to rule the world without having to vote for independence!
@ Mr Jones - Thank god Labour made energy provision a priority when they were in power all those painful years.
Oh wait........... something else important they kicked into long grass.
No doubt they will be blaming the current government for this as well, or perhaps we can have yet another pathetic "apology"
Today UMP 51.6% FN 48.4%
Looking back, the Malaysian race was a bit of a weird one. Not sure I can remember the last time every driver on the podium was unhappy in one way or another.
New Labour should get most of the blame but what's the odds Cameron will somehow manage to get it instead?
Remember surplus capacity to the utilities mean assets lying idle. They want to minimise that. Of course, then 2013 repeats 1963.
Edit: It seems it's a (very sick) Facebook hoax. Sincere apologies to him and anyone who believed me for reading it on here, but whoever started this 'story' must be deeply sick.
15 year old sentenced to 100 lashes- for being raped:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/maldives_global/?wxRIibb
Thanks for the tweet re Depeche Mode - unfortunately I wasn't online at the time! Just by coincidence a few days ago I found a tape recording of the equivalent DM radio show from way back in 2001.
http://bit.ly/Z9IAgH
Wouldn't agree they kept kicking that can down the road? hmmmm????
@JohnRentoul: Not for the first time, @DPJHodges is right. That interview with Boris Johnson was a disgrace http://soa.li/O76GvEE
@hugorifkind
I'm sensing a Boris backlash backlash. #boris #backlash
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/9880765/Labour-neglected-energy-crisis-for-a-decade.html
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/will-the-uk-face-an-energy-blackout-by-2015/1870
Face it - this is another Labour F k up
You would have thought that with all that cash they splashed they might have attempted a coherent response to this looming problem
Incidentally, I noticed I was still logged in with Disqus. I'd forgotten about that when the change occurred. So, if you were logged in when we shifted firstly to Old School pb.com and then to Vanilla you may also still be logged in and may wish to log out forthwith.
Why did Labour neglect energy policy?
I miss rugby league, and to some extent rugby union.
DirecTV have a channel called Fox Soccer Plus, which features UEFA Champions League matches, Barclays Premier League games, Scottish Premier League matches, England's FA Cup, UEFA Europa League etc. I could care less, as I'm not a soccer fan.
However it also features Rugby - Heineken Cup, Aviva Premiership, RaboDirect PRO12, Stobart Super League, National Rugby League, Amlin Challenge Cup, LV= Anglo-Welsh Cup, J.P. Morgan Asset Management Premiership Rugby 7’s.
I'm assuming Stobart is Hull KR, Leeds Rhinos etc, and I recognize the rugby 7s, but other than that I'm assuming it's most UK and Australian rugby league and union.
My question is - is it worth almost £10 a month, and is it a good line up?
[NB My take on this is based on the links Mr. P posted, I haven't seen the interview].
The 'nasty piece of work' line appears designed by a journalist whose ego exceeds his professionalism.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/24/cyprus-orthodox-church-exit-eurozone
"Head of Cyprus's Orthodox church urges exit before eurozone collapses
Archbishop Chrysostomos II says single currency will not last and appeals to Russian investors not to flee the island"
http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f1848
Both Heineken Cup and Aviva Premiership are top class rugby union competitions, well worth the subscription in my book. The Heineken Cup is union's equivalent of football's Champion's League, the premier club / region competition in the northern hemisphere. The Aviva is the top flight of English rugby.
That said, some of the quotes coming from Cyprus are hard to be fully sympathetic with. It's not that their situation is not distressing to witness, or that they have not been placed in a hugely difficult situation, but comments like ""Last week Cypriots were rich", he said. "Now we're poor. Why is this happening?" and "What is Europe?" asked Marilena Nikolaou, a protester outside parliament. "Is it a union of those who have money and want to control those in need? We don't want to be in that Europe." make it seem like the reaction against the demands is bourne more out of simple dislike rather than any assessment of how much Cyprus is to blame for its own fate, and how much is reasonable for them to bear as a result.
I've no doubt all nations would react in a similar way, but even so.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21903488
Even if Boris had tried to state the facts, he would have been interrupted dismissively and a new allegation made or another diversionary tactic deployed.
It is interview theatre designed to "entertain" rather than an interrogatory attempt to determine truth.
The techniques Mair deployed were in the same class as tim's smearing on pb.
They are the symptoms of corruption and decomposition.
Time to put these old dogs out of their misery.
If these things are already known, then clearly they have not prevented Boris being elected to Parliament and to the Mayoralty, so why are they so dangerous now?
Where are Boris's enemies? To adopt that old political joke, the Labour Party is his opposition: his enemies are in the Conservative ranks, and especially amongst those who favour other candidates, perhaps even themselves, to succeed David Cameron as leader.
Mike:
We're short of our target this month, we'll have to go back to Disqus.
Everyone:
NO! PLEASE!
ANYTHING BUT DISQUS!!!
WE'LL PAY! WE'LL PAY!
Google will add to more links. For those sans memory, 'The Economist' has been complaining about French and German Eurozone liabilities since 2008. Yet the ECB and Eurozone have ignored calls to restucture: It's not rocket-science!
If Cyprus falls there will be an effect in the Balkans and Central Europe. How secure would you feel today if you were an Austrian banker...?