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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » And on the day that the Saudi King died here’s Marf

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  • MyBurningEarsMyBurningEars Posts: 3,651
    edited January 2015

    Neil said:

    Neil said:
    I never knew she did, until she stopped and had gone. Under which name did she post?
    I'm pretty sure revealing that would be a banning offence!
    Really? Surely this is all ancient history now. The posts are no longer archived either.

    You can always Vanilla message me :-)
    They would date from the pre-Disqus era, back when PBC had its own commenting system rather than a third-party one, so I think they are archived. And publicly available, if you know where to look.

    (Did the Disqus-era comments survive anywhere, on PBC itself or elsewhere?)
  • AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    Chris_A said:

    AndyJS said:

    Confusion over who was responsible for ordering flags to be flown at half-mast:

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/saudi-king-abdullah-dead-britain-mourns-a-tyrant-9999687.html

    "The DCMS and the Foreign Office last night both insisted the other had ultimate responsibility for the decision to fly the Union Jack at half-mast over public buildings including Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey."

    Whoever responsible a bloody disgrace. Like most ills which bedevil this country the craven fawning over the Saudi despots can be traced back to Blair.
    What's disappointing is that I don't think this is normal practice when a foreign monarch dies. If it was, it wouldn't be quite as bad.
  • AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    edited January 2015
    What a surprise that the person who ordered the lowering of flags suddenly doesn't want to admit to it now. Obviously they thought it was going to be nothing controversial, and have been surprised by the reaction.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,040


    Bobajob_ said:

    RodCrosby said:

    I don't quite get the logic here.

    Revealing that poster "MrX" is in real life Joe Bloggs is a hanging offence, quite correctly.

    But revealing that Joe Bloggs, who everyone now knows used to post here, used the handle "MrX" causes what harm, exactly?

    I guess it is because you are linking posts to an actual person.

    That all said, even that is small beer compared to having multiple screen names.

    I couldn't agree more
    That Bobajob, what a naughty bugger ;)
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,411
    HYUFD said:

    MarqueeMark True, although the pool of top-class 5live and footballer presenters is not exactly a deep one

    The footie doesn't sound quite right on r5l without a Belfast lilt.

    Tbh it pisses me off just how much priority it gets over other sports - International Rugby Union involving England on, we'll cover Hull vs West Ham

    King George chase underway ? lets cut back to Burnley vs Liverpool where there has nearly been a goal.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,040
    edited January 2015
    AndyJS said:

    What a surprise that the person who ordered the lowering of flags suddenly doesn't want to admit to it now. Obviously they thought it was going to be nothing controversial, and have been surprised by the reaction.

    If it's protocol, it may have been written decades ago?

    Edit: according to the wiki it is "on command of the Sovereign". So HM takes the rap.
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 37,538
    Cyclefree said:

    Cyclefree said:

    According the DCMS statement, it's normal practice to fly government building flags at half mast following the death of a foreign monarch.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/half-masting-of-flags-following-the-death-of-king-abdullah-bin-abdulaziz-king-of-saudi-Arabia

    Presumably, this is to avoid the diplomatic sensitivities of who has the honour and who doesn't. To my mind, this sort of automaticity for foreign royals should have gone long ago, not least because it leads to the sort of nonsense we're seeing today. It has at root a pre-20th century view of the world where there's a royal club above and beyond nationality.

    Since when was Westminster Abbey a government building?

    It's not, obviously, but assume that the flag thing there's something to do with it being a Royal Peculiar?
    A shame they can't remember that they're a Christian church above all. They might reflect on what sort of signal the flag at half-mast sends to Christians persecuted all over the Middle East.
    These days, I think the C of E worships Cthulhu.

    Certainly not Jesus Christ.
  • NeilNeil Posts: 7,983
    Pulpstar said:


    King George chase underway ? lets cut back to Burnley vs Liverpool where there has nearly been a goal.

    They had hours about a disciplinary incident that happened 20 years ago during the week!
  • RodCrosbyRodCrosby Posts: 7,737
    Tonight's quiz question:

    What connects Hitler and De Valera with James Bond and Dr.Who?
  • Bobajob_Bobajob_ Posts: 195
    Neil said:

    Bobajob_ said:

    Neil said:

    From what I can tell another 1,000+ members for the Green party today. A chance that the debate coverage and coverage of Westwood's donation might keep the surge going for a little while longer too. I dont think anyone in party could have dreamed of 2015 starting this well.

    Which Green policies do you support?
    I could rally around a policy of banning you from the internet.

    Is that one in the Green manifesto?

  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,411
    Neil said:

    Pulpstar said:


    King George chase underway ? lets cut back to Burnley vs Liverpool where there has nearly been a goal.

    They had hours about a disciplinary incident that happened 20 years ago during the week!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TgoF-ccdGM
  • RobD said:


    Bobajob_ said:

    RodCrosby said:

    I don't quite get the logic here.

    Revealing that poster "MrX" is in real life Joe Bloggs is a hanging offence, quite correctly.

    But revealing that Joe Bloggs, who everyone now knows used to post here, used the handle "MrX" causes what harm, exactly?

    I guess it is because you are linking posts to an actual person.

    That all said, even that is small beer compared to having multiple screen names.

    I couldn't agree more
    That Bobajob, what a naughty bugger ;)
    Disgraceful. Bobajob's only value is giving Isam and Neil something to agree on.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,411
    I'm listening to Radio 4 on the way home from work at the moment.

    All very left wing and middle class.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,904
    Pulpstar Don't disagree, Football is the most popular sport in the country fair enough but big matches in other sports also deserve their due, night!
  • MyBurningEarsMyBurningEars Posts: 3,651
    edited January 2015
    Neil said:

    AndyJS said:

    Do you think they're mostly former Labour supporters?

    Activists tend to be former Labour or youngsters who have never been in any party (as opposed to the new voters who seem to contain a lot of 2010 LD who tried Labour but have moved on for now to the Greens).
    In terms of voting, not membership, if the Green surge continues I might jump on the bandwagon at the ballot box. Somehow it feels less of a wasted vote if a million other people do the same.

    On the flip side, if the UKIP surge continues in my neck of the woods, I might end up tactically voting Tory.

    Only a few months out and I'm in the curious position of not only being a floating voter, but I won't know what floats my votes til I see a few more polls of other people (many of whom are also, by the looks of the churn, going along with - or counter to - various tides of opinion). All very confusing.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,411

    Neil said:

    AndyJS said:

    Do you think they're mostly former Labour supporters?

    Activists tend to be former Labour or youngsters who have never been in any party (as opposed to the new voters who seem to contain a lot of 2010 LD who tried Labour but have moved on for now to the Greens).
    In terms of voting, not membership, if the Green surge continues I might jump on the bandwagon at the ballot box. Somehow it feels less of a wasted vote if a million other people do the same.

    On the flip side, if the UKIP surge continues in my neck of the woods, I might end up tactically voting Tory.

    Only a few months out and I'm in the curious position of not only being a floating voter, but I won't know what floats my votes til I see a few more polls of other people (many of whom are also, by the looks of the churn, going along with - or counter to - various tides of opinion). All very confusing.
    Which is your constituency ?
  • NeilNeil Posts: 7,983

    Neil said:

    AndyJS said:

    Do you think they're mostly former Labour supporters?

    Activists tend to be former Labour or youngsters who have never been in any party (as opposed to the new voters who seem to contain a lot of 2010 LD who tried Labour but have moved on for now to the Greens).
    If the Green surge continues I might jump on the bandwagon at the ballot box. Somehow it feels less of a wasted vote if a million other people do the same.
    You know it makes sense ;)

    I suspect by May the poll ratings wont be so good (but who knows, I wouldnt have predicted what has happened recently) but the surge in membership will hopefully accelerate the slow but steady progress that has been consistently made since about 2000 or so.


  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,411
    Neil, you're going to win that bet of yours if you don't put a candidate up in North East Derbyshire. The gf has informed me she'll "have to vote Labour" if there is no Green option.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,411
    I'm currently between UKIP and the yellow peril. Nick has impressed me recently, and Dave has put me right off with his debate shenanigans.
  • Why all this moaning about the deference being paid to the good King Abdullah? We owe that man a lot. If the Islamic nutters ever overran Saudi Arabia, they'd turn off the oil taps and we'd be back to the horse and cart. As for human rights - would Britain be much different to Saudi if UKIP got in?

    IS uses a lot of the judicial punishments that Saudi does.
  • Tim_BTim_B Posts: 7,669
    Pulpstar said:

    Neil, you're going to win that bet of yours if you don't put a candidate up in North East Derbyshire. The gf has informed me she'll "have to vote Labour" if there is no Green option.

    I looked at the last Green Manifesto. It is way, way out there. It makes Labour look almost credible, in the same way that Mississippi exists mainly to make Alabama look good.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,216
    Murphy to the left of the SNP?

    Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy has said he would use new powers to block onshore fracking if he was to be elected first minister next year.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-30959646
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,411
    Tim_B said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Neil, you're going to win that bet of yours if you don't put a candidate up in North East Derbyshire. The gf has informed me she'll "have to vote Labour" if there is no Green option.

    I looked at the last Green Manifesto. It is way, way out there. It makes Labour look almost credible, in the same way that Mississippi exists mainly to make Alabama look good.
    The Greens seem a bit too left wing for my liking :)
  • Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy has said he would use new powers to block onshore fracking if he was to be elected first minister next year.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-30959646
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,411
    edited January 2015
    Tim_B said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Neil, you're going to win that bet of yours if you don't put a candidate up in North East Derbyshire. The gf has informed me she'll "have to vote Labour" if there is no Green option.

    I looked at the last Green Manifesto. It is way, way out there. It makes Labour look almost credible, in the same way that Mississippi exists mainly to make Alabama look good.
    Who'll win the superbowl :) ?

    From what I can work out Seattle seem to have a slightly better chance

  • Tim_BTim_B Posts: 7,669
    Pulpstar said:

    Tim_B said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Neil, you're going to win that bet of yours if you don't put a candidate up in North East Derbyshire. The gf has informed me she'll "have to vote Labour" if there is no Green option.

    I looked at the last Green Manifesto. It is way, way out there. It makes Labour look almost credible, in the same way that Mississippi exists mainly to make Alabama look good.
    Who'll win the superbowl :) ?

    From what I can work out Seattle seem to have a slightly better chance

    Google deflategate. Patriots are a 1 point favorite. In other words there is no underdog in the game.
  • scotslassscotslass Posts: 912
    Francis

    Does anyone really care outside the BBC care what Jim Murphy thinks. He is hyperactively unsuccessfull at convincing anybody about anything.

    For the last week his new masterplan was to hype up the Kirkcaldy by election with his new press team. Half of the Labour group of MSPs were there on Thursday instead of Parliament.

    And what happened? Maybe he sent the wrong half!
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,411
    scotslass said:

    Francis

    Does anyone really care outside the BBC care what Jim Murphy thinks. He is hyperactively unsuccessfull at convincing anybody about anything.

    For the last week his new masterplan was to hype up the Kirkcaldy by election with his new press team. Half of the Labour group of MSPs were there on Thursday instead of Parliament.

    And what happened? Maybe he sent the wrong half!

    I don't think Scottish Labour is safe anywhere if they can't hold their Kirkcaldy council seats !
  • scotslassscotslass Posts: 912
    Pulpstar

    And isn't that the point. Patrick Harvey of the Greens has about the same chance as Mr Murphy of being the next First Minister. Perhaps the BBC should headline every press release from Patrick.

    Indeed Harvey has more credibility as a FM since at least he has a positive not negative popularity and is actually an elected MSP!
This discussion has been closed.