And TBH I thought RobD WAS referring to the last century.
He may have being: Sadly he conflated it with the Holy Roman Empire. That would require Austria, Holland and her truculent southern cousins, Italy and France and Bohemeia-Moravia.
Ah; make you right!
EtA: Initial proviso was 'not through war'. So my initial response is - unsurprisingly - correct.
Hollande is a really a great model for how we should be running our economy...
You disagree with his shift to the right?
I disagree with his whole handling of the economy since he took power - it has failed his country in so many ways and is doing damage to the wider world. His recent attempts at changing direction are insincere and haven't delivered. So I would say his record is one of failure.
The problem for the NO campaign is getting people out to vote. They will be less motivated than YES supporters. If this causes a vote in favour of independence, then there will be years of mess. Whilst Alex Salmond may want independence to start sometime in 2016, it is not within his control. It would be up to Westminster to pass legislation and they will work to their own timetable. I don't expect Scottish MP's from Labour and Lib Dems will allow rushed legislation, wishing to debate at length every aspect.
A labour govt would have no interest in speeding it up. A tory govt would. Once or if a YES vote came then there would be no point anybody voting labour at the next GE. I hope the vote is NO.
Theory: No colony has ever chosen to return to Westminster
Exemption: The Ulster-Jocks do not count (sorry Y0kel, Alanbrooke and Lord-Justice RH).
BUSTED!!!
n 1967, Britain granted Saint Kitts and Nevis full internal autonomy, and Anguilla was also incorporated into the new unified dependency, named Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla, against the wishes of many Anguillians. This led to two rebellions in 1967 and 1969 (Anguillian Revolution), headed by Ronald Webster, and a brief period as a self-declared independent republic. The goal of the revolution was not independence per se, but rather independence from Saint Kitts and Nevis, and a return to being a British colony. British authority was fully restored in July 1971, and in 1980 Anguilla was finally allowed to secede from Saint Kitts and Nevis and become a separate British Crown colony (now a British overseas territory).
Worshippers of 'The Wee Blue Book of Bath' should learn some history....
:face-palm:
r than, (eg the US) as a result of war?
The Confederacy briefly left the United States. Sorry I missed your final sentence.
Ha Ha , unionists are now down to predicting civil war if Scotland vote YES, how desperate can you get.
Where on earth (or in pb) did you read that? Talk about others being fantasists!
Why else would Monica bring up the confederacy , she is stupid but cunning. It was not done by mistake. You are obviously getting a bit doddery and not too quick on the uptake.
Somewhat different topic, Mr G. We’d diverted onto countries reuniting and, as she agreed, missed the last line of my earlier post.
Be careful though; your paranoia is showing!
I just like to highlight Monica's mistakes, they come fast and often, she is economical with the truth on a regular basis. Cute way to try and cover it though.
But isn't England going to wreck the Scottish run, Scottish controlled, Scottish NHS?
Isn't that Eck's big pitch tonight?
They can any time they wish as Westminster controls the budget and has all the powers. If they are allowed to they will wreck it and give it to their chums like you to pillage it. Then you will be able to dictate what people eat. You will be rewarded for your slavish support of the establishment but only if the people of Scotland are stupid enough to allow the carpetbaggers to succeed.
Got your indelible ink pen ready to take to the ballot box?
Some very fluffy thoughts... Germany did not 'break apart' by itself. It was forcibly broken apart by the soviet union and kept apart and its people kept in against their will by an armed frontier and secret police. One part of that part ie West Berlin did not even belong to the East.
But isn't England going to wreck the Scottish run, Scottish controlled, Scottish NHS?
Isn't that Eck's big pitch tonight?
They can any time they wish as Westminster controls the budget and has all the powers. If they are allowed to they will wreck it and give it to their chums like you to pillage it. Then you will be able to dictate what people eat. You will be rewarded for your slavish support of the establishment but only if the people of Scotland are stupid enough to allow the carpetbaggers to succeed.
Got your indelible ink pen ready to take to the ballot box?
The prime minister had accused Mr Montebourg of "crossing a yellow line" after the economy minister had attacked austerity measures which he said were strangling France's growth.
Mr Montebourg told a meeting of Socialists in eastern France that the time had come to put up a "just and sane resistance" to the "excessive obsessions of Germany's conservatives".
The problem for the NO campaign is getting people out to vote. They will be less motivated than YES supporters. If this causes a vote in favour of independence, then there will be years of mess. Whilst Alex Salmond may want independence to start sometime in 2016, it is not within his control. It would be up to Westminster to pass legislation and they will work to their own timetable. I don't expect Scottish MP's from Labour and Lib Dems will allow rushed legislation, wishing to debate at length every aspect.
A labour govt would have no interest in speeding it up. A tory govt would. Once or if a YES vote came then there would be no point anybody voting labour at the next GE. I hope the vote is NO.
Apologies because i'm not quite sure what your last line means so may be saying the same thing, but there is a, IMO convincing, school of thought that says that a "Yes" vote will lead to a Tory landslide at the next General Election with the English (especially) wanting to be sure that negotiations are conducted on behalf of the rUK without being compromised by fact of 48 Scottish MPs still in situ. Post Independence Labour's policy position will no longer be compromised by this, even if the loss of MPs is a significant one.
We've been in the wars ourselves and I've spent much of the summer in hospital (visiting) our first prolonged experience of the NHS. General care (including food) has been excellent, our only frustrations have been lack of communication between different wards in the same hospital. Seems that there is still much scope for efficiency, even when the standard of care is high.
Sunil On present polls Ed is clearly winning even without Scotland, in fact Scotland is the only UK region he is polling lower than Brown
O/T Had a fascinating afternoon at Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, scene of the murder of Kind Edward II in 1342, allegedly by a red hot poker, and home of the Berkeley family since Saxon times (1 was a former governor of Virginia, another gave his name to University of California at Berkeley). Next door is the house of Dr Jenner, who discovered the smallpox vaccine
Assuming he didn't survive incognito, Edward probably died in 1327. The red hot poker story originates with Geoffrey Le Baker, who was writing 30 years later, and was one of the few chroniclers who admired Edward, and wanted to portray him as a martyr, foully murdered by his evil wife. It makes no sense. If you wanted to dispose of someone in a way that made it seem like death by natural causes, using a method that leaves the victim screaming so loudly that the inhabitants of Berkeley can hear him is entirely counter-productive. Doctors also take the view that death would not be instantaneous, if this method was used. It would take some days for the victim to die of peritonitis.
I think that might depend on how far you insert the poker.
It seems Hollande has lost his majority in parliament, something that hasn't happened to a french president since 2002 when the 5 year term reform was done. The worst for him is that he can't dissolve it and have early parliamentary elections since the socialists and UMP will be crushed in favor of the Front National.
But isn't England going to wreck the Scottish run, Scottish controlled, Scottish NHS?
Isn't that Eck's big pitch tonight?
They can any time they wish as Westminster controls the budget and has all the powers. If they are allowed to they will wreck it and give it to their chums like you to pillage it. Then you will be able to dictate what people eat. You will be rewarded for your slavish support of the establishment but only if the people of Scotland are stupid enough to allow the carpetbaggers to succeed.
Got your indelible ink pen ready to take to the ballot box?
The prime minister had accused Mr Montebourg of "crossing a yellow line" after the economy minister had attacked austerity measures which he said were strangling France's growth.
Mr Montebourg told a meeting of Socialists in eastern France that the time had come to put up a "just and sane resistance" to the "excessive obsessions of Germany's conservatives".
But isn't England going to wreck the Scottish run, Scottish controlled, Scottish NHS?
Isn't that Eck's big pitch tonight?
They can any time they wish as Westminster controls the budget and has all the powers. If they are allowed to they will wreck it and give it to their chums like you to pillage it. Then you will be able to dictate what people eat. You will be rewarded for your slavish support of the establishment but only if the people of Scotland are stupid enough to allow the carpetbaggers to succeed.
Got your indelible ink pen ready to take to the ballot box?
It's a Them v Us thing. That's how Yes wins. And it's the winning that's important. The Yrs side now has less than four weeks to hold the line. Once they've won nothing that was said previously matters in the slightest. The Union is done for and that is the only thing that counts. This will slowly dawn on folk over the following months and years - but as Salmond says, Scottish independence is worth the end of his political career and the disbandment of the SNP.
....
..
Yep - if its a 'Yes' I think Scotland will consolidate behind that position and move forward, come what may (I wish I had the same confidence in the event of a 'no').
Whether the SNP is rewarded - or punished - in subsequent elections as Project Fib comes apart in their hands is a matter for the people of Scotland.
Well true and this leads on to a good point. There is no real incentive in the shorter term (or should not be) for any rUK govt to make life easy for the iScots (certainly not at the expense of rUK voters). just strike a hard deal, no currency union, no particular help with anything. Send the nuclear deterent of th be based in the USA pro tem and leave iScotland to its own devices. In so far as it may well be in rUK's interests to reach any accomodation with Scotland then leave it a few years and do it on rUK's own terms and when SNP are discredited.
Fox, exactly and eaten once in a while as part of a balanced diet it would be of no harm to anyone. I imagine Carlotta has a svelte figure and eats only healthy food as she barks out commands to her minions.
I don't understand the point about it being 800 calories, a third of your daily requirement. Surely most people eat three meals a day, so that's entirely reasonable, especially if it's your main meal of the day.
Many years ago I worked in the NHS, they tried to get "healthy" meals in the staff canteen and ban fry-ups. As I understand it, the sticking point was the ambulance staff who threatened to mutiny if they couldn't get a full English when they came off a night shift.
Some very fluffy thoughts... Germany did not 'break apart' by itself. It was forcibly broken apart by the soviet union and kept apart and its people kept in against their will by an armed frontier and secret police. One part of that part ie West Berlin did not even belong to the East.
Hmmm,
One could argue that Somalia was an example of two states rejoining but to accept this we have to rely on the Nineteenth Century definition of a nation-state. And how do we define a state; how does this reflect a nation; and where else can we point to a 'voluntary' union of once independent states.
Examples may include the Australian Federation, the Union of South-Africa, the Union of Northern and Southern Nigeria, Cameroun or Canada. All of which misses the point that started this discussion: Anguilla and Barbuda disprove the fact that colonies have never returned to Westminster.
The problem for the NO campaign is getting people out to vote. They will be less motivated than YES supporters. If this causes a vote in favour of independence, then there will be years of mess. Whilst Alex Salmond may want independence to start sometime in 2016, it is not within his control. It would be up to Westminster to pass legislation and they will work to their own timetable. I don't expect Scottish MP's from Labour and Lib Dems will allow rushed legislation, wishing to debate at length every aspect.
A labour govt would have no interest in speeding it up. A tory govt would. Once or if a YES vote came then there would be no point anybody voting labour at the next GE. I hope the vote is NO.
Apologies because i'm not quite sure what your last line means so may be saying the same thing, but there is a, IMO convincing, school of thought that says that a "Yes" vote will lead to a Tory landslide at the next General Election with the English (especially) wanting to be sure that negotiations are conducted on behalf of the rUK without being compromised by fact of 48 Scottish MPs still in situ. Post Independence Labour's policy position will no longer be compromised by this, even if the loss of MPs is a significant one.
I doubt a Yes will change many votes elsewhere - especially as there seems to be cross-party consensus on what will happen in such circumstances. That said, a narrative along the lines that the Tories will win a majority if Scotland secedes could actually galvanise the anti-Tory vote on the grounds that if you don't like them you can't rely on anyone else doing the voting for you now you have to do it yourself.
We've been in the wars ourselves and I've spent much of the summer in hospital (visiting) our first prolonged experience of the NHS. General care (including food) has been excellent, our only frustrations have been lack of communication between different wards in the same hospital. Seems that there is still much scope for efficiency, even when the standard of care is high.
On my sole experience of being within the NHS hospital system, I would say that communication & co-ordination - both between the hospital/doctors and patients, and between different people and departments with the hospital(s) - must be the biggest problem/frustration for patients experiencing it.
Theory: No colony has ever chosen to return to Westminster
Exemption: The Ulster-Jocks do not count (sorry Y0kel, Alanbrooke and Lord-Justice RH).
BUSTED!!!
n 1967, Britain granted Saint Kitts and Nevis full internal autonomy, and Anguilla was also incorporated into the new unified dependency, named Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla, against the wishes of many Anguillians. This led to two rebellions in 1967 and 1969 (Anguillian Revolution), headed by Ronald Webster, and a brief period as a self-declared independent republic. The goal of the revolution was not independence per se, but rather independence from Saint Kitts and Nevis, and a return to being a British colony. British authority was fully restored in July 1971, and in 1980 Anguilla was finally allowed to secede from Saint Kitts and Nevis and become a separate British Crown colony (now a British overseas territory).
Worshippers of 'The Wee Blue Book of Bath' should learn some history....
:face-palm:
Surely the comparison is with a country breaking apart and then re-uniting. Scotland volunteered to become part of the Union (albeit under a degree of deception) and an earlier King (JamesVI/I) proposed that Union a century earlier. It was never a colony, or conquered in the sense that Wales and Ireland were. Have there been any unions of countries that broke apart and then re-united, other than, (eg the US) as a result of war?
Holy Roman Empire and Germany? Took almost a thousand years, however!The HRE was dismantled by Napoleon and, if you take the starting point it needs to contain at least some of the Hapsburg crown lands, only reunited under Hitler. Both as a result of war, of course.
But isn't England going to wreck the Scottish run, Scottish controlled, Scottish NHS?
Isn't that Eck's big pitch tonight?
They can any time they wish as Westminster controls the budget and has all the powers. If they are allowed to they will wreck it and give it to their chums like you to pillage it. Then you will be able to dictate what people eat. You will be rewarded for your slavish support of the establishment but only if the people of Scotland are stupid enough to allow the carpetbaggers to succeed.
Got your indelible ink pen ready to take to the ballot box?
You do know, that just because you are paranoid doesn't mean we're not out to get you, don't you.....
So you have lost and given up , now we start the insults and pathetic whinging. Bit early to have been trashed. Go force someone to eat a salad.
I find it a bit absurd that you are suggesting the insults and whinging from either side are 'starting' now. Allegations of deception, stupidity and gross distortion of the opponent's views and positions is hardly contained to one side in all this, and has been going on for a long time. Unless you mean they are starting 'today', but even that is clearly not true if a read of this thread from a few hours ago is any indication.
ALEX Salmond is under pressure to secure a clear win in tonight’s TV showdown with Alistair Darling to boost the chances of a Yes victory in the referendum.
The First Minister was widely judged to have come off worse in the first televised debate on August 5, but the second head-to-head clash is seen as a crucial test for both men.
The problem for the NO campaign is getting people out to vote. They will be less motivated than YES supporters. If this causes a vote in favour of independence, then there will be years of mess. Whilst Alex Salmond may want independence to start sometime in 2016, it is not within his control. It would be up to Westminster to pass legislation and they will work to their own timetable. I don't expect Scottish MP's from Labour and Lib Dems will allow rushed legislation, wishing to debate at length every aspect.
A labour govt would have no interest in speeding it up. A tory govt would. Once or if a YES vote came then there would be no point anybody voting labour at the next GE. I hope the vote is NO.
Apologies because i'm not quite sure what your last line means so may be saying the same thing, but there is a, IMO convincing, school of thought that says that a "Yes" vote will lead to a Tory landslide at the next General Election with the English (especially) wanting to be sure that negotiations are conducted on behalf of the rUK without being compromised by fact of 48 Scottish MPs still in situ. Post Independence Labour's policy position will no longer be compromised by this, even if the loss of MPs is a significant one.
I doubt a Yes will change many votes elsewhere - especially as there seems to be cross-party consensus on what will happen in such circumstances. That said, a narrative along the lines that the Tories will win a majority if Scotland secedes could actually galvanise the anti-Tory vote on the grounds that if you don't like them you can't rely on anyone else doing the voting for you now you have to do it yourself.
SO , I admire you for actually believing that any of those cross party liars will actually still have consensus rather than be knifing each other in the back to gain advantage. It is all fake.
But isn't England going to wreck the Scottish run, Scottish controlled, Scottish NHS?
Isn't that Eck's big pitch tonight?
They can any time they wish as Westminster controls the budget and has all the powers. If they are allowed to they will wreck it and give it to their chums like you to pillage it. Then you will be able to dictate what people eat. You will be rewarded for your slavish support of the establishment but only if the people of Scotland are stupid enough to allow the carpetbaggers to succeed.
Got your indelible ink pen ready to take to the ballot box?
You do know, that just because you are paranoid doesn't mean we're not out to get you, don't you.....
So you have lost and given up , now we start the insults and pathetic whinging. Bit early to have been trashed. Go force someone to eat a salad.
I find it a bit absurd that you are suggesting the insults and whinging from either side are 'starting' now. Allegations of deception, stupidity and gross distortion of the opponent's views and positions is hardly contained to one side in all this, and has been going on for a long time. Unless you mean they are starting 'today', but even that is clearly not true if a read of this thread from a few hours ago is any indication.
If you had read the post , it was to a single person who when beaten in her pathetic arguments resorts to insults and whinging. An emigrant Scot who hates Scotland and will take anything and everything to be bad for Scotland and particularly the SNP. Typical negative British Nationalist though.
We've been in the wars ourselves and I've spent much of the summer in hospital (visiting) our first prolonged experience of the NHS. General care (including food) has been excellent, our only frustrations have been lack of communication between different wards in the same hospital. Seems that there is still much scope for efficiency, even when the standard of care is high.
On my sole experience of being within the NHS hospital system, I would say that communication & co-ordination - both between the hospital/doctors and patients, and between different people and departments with the hospital(s) - must be the biggest problem/frustration for patients experiencing it.
My sympathies to Scrapheap and family. We’ve had two significant experiences of the NHS in the last few years, one with a good result and one very defintely not, and while I wouldn’t say that those experiences were universally excellent I would agree that gnerally care has been very good but that occasionally communication between departments left something to be desired.
And it didn’t appear that it was just a frustration for patients; front-line staff were sometimes exasperated too, but they coped.
We've been in the wars ourselves and I've spent much of the summer in hospital (visiting) our first prolonged experience of the NHS. General care (including food) has been excellent, our only frustrations have been lack of communication between different wards in the same hospital. Seems that there is still much scope for efficiency, even when the standard of care is high.
On my sole experience of being within the NHS hospital system, I would say that communication & co-ordination - both between the hospital/doctors and patients, and between different people and departments with the hospital(s) - must be the biggest problem/frustration for patients experiencing it.
My sympathies to Scrapheap and family. We’ve had two significant experiences of the NHS in the last few years, one with a good result and one very defintely not, and while I wouldn’t say that those experiences were universally excellent I would agree that gnerally care has been very good but that occasionally communication between departments left something to be desired.
And it didn’t appear that it was just a frustration for patients; front-line staff were sometimes exasperated too, but they coped.
Had one in recent years that was very bad. Father in Law was well when we went on holiday , junior doctor put him on Liverpool pathway without telling family and he was dead before we got back from holiday. Not impressive at all.
We've been in the wars ourselves and I've spent much of the summer in hospital (visiting) our first prolonged experience of the NHS. General care (including food) has been excellent, our only frustrations have been lack of communication between different wards in the same hospital. Seems that there is still much scope for efficiency, even when the standard of care is high.
On my sole experience of being within the NHS hospital system, I would say that communication & co-ordination - both between the hospital/doctors and patients, and between different people and departments with the hospital(s) - must be the biggest problem/frustration for patients experiencing it.
My sympathies to Scrapheap and family. We’ve had two significant experiences of the NHS in the last few years, one with a good result and one very defintely not, and while I wouldn’t say that those experiences were universally excellent I would agree that gnerally care has been very good but that occasionally communication between departments left something to be desired.
And it didn’t appear that it was just a frustration for patients; front-line staff were sometimes exasperated too, but they coped.
Had one in recent years that was very bad. Father in Law was well when we went on holiday , junior doctor put him on Liverpool pathway without telling family and he was dead before we got back from holiday. Not impressive at all.
Very sorry to read that Mr G. Case as stated, all sorts of things wrong there.
I see Boris has piped up in the extremism debate. It's not enough in my view to talk about dealing with extremist preachers, those who preach 'hate' and so on. I saw a recent video on youtube with a young lady in Luton challenging Anjem Choudary who was in his usual fashion claiming that unbelievers will all burn in hell for eternity. The young lady responded by saying that wasn't that all hateful and nasty and unpleasant. Fair enough but it rather missed the point to my mind. Because what he was saying was truly ridiculous. There is no evidence to support what he was saying so it should have been dismissed as irrelevant. And yet we don't seem to have the courage or inclination to do that.
Let me go further. Many of the people that Choudary and others wish to radicalise will have spent at least 11 years in compulsory, expensive state education in this country. Why won't that have inoculated them against the absurdities they preach? Ultimately because our education system is not fit for purpose or if it is then it pulls its' punches too often when dealing with religion. A system that allows religious doctrine to be taught as fact is not good enough. Just because something was written in a religious book it doesn't make it historically accurate. Any education system that was serious about 'rigour' (notice how politicians love that word) would make that plain. Yet we allow a great many of our schools to be faith based. Not all these schools will indoctrinate children but some of them do. Are we going to do anything about this? Are we ever going to put reason and rationality at the heart of the syllabus or will we just continue to think that all that matters is kids being able to read write and count properly so they can help promote economic growth in the future. Unenlightened people who go and fight wars of jihad are often the products of an unenlightened culture. It's time we switched the lights back on.
It's disgusting the food the NHS are serving in NHS England - all part of the plan to privatise the whole thing and kill off the working classes by feeding them artery hardening fatty stodge - it's genocide I tell you!
Thank goodness the NHS IN Scotland is run by Scottish Politicians and controlled from Edinburgh - as the SNP pointed out in their 2011 Manifesto.
I mean, look at the muck they are serving in Dundee England:
So much for healthy eating! Hospital sells 800-calorie 'heart attack pie' stuffed with bacon, sausage, black pudding, egg and beans - next to the cardiac ward Meal - sold in Dundee - is a third of a man's recommended calorie intake
Comments
Ah; make you right!
EtA: Initial proviso was 'not through war'. So my initial response is - unsurprisingly - correct.
And yet he still has one fan.
I hope the vote is NO.
Be careful though; your paranoia is showing!
I just like to highlight Monica's mistakes, they come fast and often, she is economical with the truth on a regular basis. Cute way to try and cover it though.
http://www.sundaypost.com/news-views/scotland/independence-referendum/yes-voters-say-poll-may-be-nobbled-1.538913
You do know, that just because you are paranoid doesn't mean we're not out to get you, don't you.....
Germany did not 'break apart' by itself. It was forcibly broken apart by the soviet union and kept apart and its people kept in against their will by an armed frontier and secret police. One part of that part ie West Berlin did not even belong to the East.
Montebourg will rue this day. He has stolen and rephrased "Wee 'Eck"'s script for tonight.... :eek:
We've been in the wars ourselves and I've spent much of the summer in hospital (visiting) our first prolonged experience of the NHS. General care (including food) has been excellent, our only frustrations have been lack of communication between different wards in the same hospital. Seems that there is still much scope for efficiency, even when the standard of care is high.
http://www.thelocal.fr/20140825/france-montebourg-rebel-cuts-economy
It seems Hollande has lost his majority in parliament, something that hasn't happened to a french president since 2002 when the 5 year term reform was done.
The worst for him is that he can't dissolve it and have early parliamentary elections since the socialists and UMP will be crushed in favor of the Front National.
Bit early to have been trashed. Go force someone to eat a salad.
Montebourg will rue this day. He has stolen and rephrased "Wee 'Eck"'s script for tonight.... :eek:
So Montebourg imagines himself DeGaulle to Hollande's Petain. The juxtaposition of "resistance" and "Germany" must be highly inflammatory in France.
Good grief! You don't want to open up that can of worms.....my wrist hurt for weeks from all that rubbing out....
In so far as it may well be in rUK's interests to reach any accomodation with Scotland then leave it a few years and do it on rUK's own terms and when SNP are discredited.
Many years ago I worked in the NHS, they tried to get "healthy" meals in the staff canteen and ban fry-ups. As I understand it, the sticking point was the ambulance staff who threatened to mutiny if they couldn't get a full English when they came off a night shift.
One could argue that Somalia was an example of two states rejoining but to accept this we have to rely on the Nineteenth Century definition of a nation-state. And how do we define a state; how does this reflect a nation; and where else can we point to a 'voluntary' union of once independent states.
Examples may include the Australian Federation, the Union of South-Africa, the Union of Northern and Southern Nigeria, Cameroun or Canada. All of which misses the point that started this discussion: Anguilla and Barbuda disprove the fact that colonies have never returned to Westminster.
:time-for-a-new-thread:
ALEX Salmond is under pressure to secure a clear win in tonight’s TV showdown with Alistair Darling to boost the chances of a Yes victory in the referendum.
The First Minister was widely judged to have come off worse in the first televised debate on August 5, but the second head-to-head clash is seen as a crucial test for both men.
http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/scottish-independence-debate-salmond-needs-win-1-3519807
Typical negative British Nationalist though.
We’ve had two significant experiences of the NHS in the last few years, one with a good result and one very defintely not, and while I wouldn’t say that those experiences were universally excellent I would agree that gnerally care has been very good but that occasionally communication between departments left something to be desired.
And it didn’t appear that it was just a frustration for patients; front-line staff were sometimes exasperated too, but they coped.
Let me go further. Many of the people that Choudary and others wish to radicalise will have spent at least 11 years in compulsory, expensive state education in this country. Why won't that have inoculated them against the absurdities they preach? Ultimately because our education system is not fit for purpose or if it is then it pulls its' punches too often when dealing with religion. A system that allows religious doctrine to be taught as fact is not good enough. Just because something was written in a religious book it doesn't make it historically accurate. Any education system that was serious about 'rigour' (notice how politicians love that word) would make that plain. Yet we allow a great many of our schools to be faith based. Not all these schools will indoctrinate children but some of them do. Are we going to do anything about this? Are we ever going to put reason and rationality at the heart of the syllabus or will we just continue to think that all that matters is kids being able to read write and count properly so they can help promote economic growth in the future. Unenlightened people who go and fight wars of jihad are often the products of an unenlightened culture. It's time we switched the lights back on.
Looks great to me for brunch. Not a breakfast eater.