My English friends tell me that if the NATS stood down south they would vote for them in a second.
Yes, but not because we love the SNP, but in the hopes you will call a referendum and get it right this time so we don't have to listen to another decade of mithering and grievance mongering!
Salmond put them front and centre of the UK election.
And Nicola has spent all week trying to recover...
I do love the level of denial and failure to accept reality amongst Brit Nationalists.
Of course they are "trying to recover" I mean, they;re only on 48% or so of the popular vote. A level that the Tories and Labour could only dream of and why they are reduced to fielding "35% strategies".
They're playing a blinder. They used their lead decoy, guaranteed to get acres of coverage, to put them all over the press all week, meanwhile Good Cop Nicola doesn't need to do anything but capitalise on her status as the only party leader in the UK who has a positive approval rating across the whole of the UK.
Yet despite this utter dominance, perhaps even because of it, they are still trying to reach out and in her speech today she made it clear that they will want to do better, still want to build a consensus with more of the voters and get their support ever higher.
My English friends tell me that if the NATS stood down south they would vote for them in a second.
I think its a very southern response. There are a fair few people I know who live on Tyneside and Wearside who, if they could vote SNP, would. Many are starting to feel very let down by Labour and don't have another left wing party to vote for,,
Salmond put them front and centre of the UK election.
And Nicola has spent all week trying to recover...
I do love the level of denial and failure to accept reality amongst Brit Nationalists.
Of course they are "trying to recover" I mean, they;re only on 48% or so of the popular vote. A level that the Tories and Labour could only dream of and why they are reduced to fielding "35% strategies".
They're playing a blinder. They used their lead decoy, guaranteed to get acres of coverage, to put them all over the press all week, meanwhile Good Cop Nicola doesn't need to do anything but capitalise on her status as the only party leader in the UK who has a positive approval rating across the whole of the UK.
Yet despite this utter dominance, perhaps even because of it, they are still trying to reach out and in her speech today she made it clear that they will want to do better, still want to build a consensus with more of the voters and get their support ever higher.
It is little wonder you are quaking with fear.
As usual Nats counting their chickens. Salmond getting his comeuppance in Gordon would be priceless.
This may not ever happen again, and will have changed in an hour or two, but, right this minute: Ijstweeling is THE best-selling ebook in the Netherlands.
Goodness me, you're outselling Hoe absorberend is uw keuken roll?
Well done!
An interesting and slightly sobering thing I've learned from the ICE TWINS, in Europe, is how many Dutch will quite happily buy a book in English.
For a a couple of days a few weeks ago, before the Dutch version came out, ICE TWINS (in English) was in the Dutch ebook top ten.
It is of course inconceivable that any foreign language book could reach the top 1000 in the UK.
Why are the Dutch SO good at foreign languages, especially English? Is it just because they are immersed in it from birth, so they grow up bilingual? Or do they teach it in some brilliant way? Or both? And why can't we just copy what they do?
It certainly is interesting why the Dutch and the Scandies all appear to have grasps of multiple languages, not just their own and English.
This week has been a stunning success for the SNP. Salmond has placed the at the centre of a campaign when they usually struggle to be relevant . This weekend Nicola will get huge coverage from their massive Conference and next week appears in the big debate. Here is a small prediction for you. The first poll will show the SNP lead extending in Scotland. Just as the local by elections yesterday indicated.
The good cop, bad cop routine has developed really well. Today Nicola came riding to the rescue for the rest of the UK, the only person to protect them from the Big Bad Salmond and deliver populist policy which will go down very well in the rUK.
Haha
I think most voters in rUK are absolutely horrified by Nicola's populist policies.
That's why the prospect of the SNP having a say, is the biggest weapon the tories have at the moment.
And the continual bashing out of that message is working SO well for the Tories. Their vote share is just soaring the more they come up with comedy posters attacking the wrong target.
If I lived in a marginal seat in England, I might consider tactically voting to stop SNP being part of the UK government.
I have nothing against Scotland or it's population and am agnostic on independence.
I do think that via the Barnet formula and devo-max that the Scots get a reasonable deal as it is and do not like the prospect of what would be a weak Labour government being taken advantage of.
I can't see Ed putting principle before power if and when he gets there, given what he will have been through to get there (like Brown in that respect)
Nicola Sturgeon's "speech came following days of questions over whether Alex Salmond is really running her party’s election strategy after he gave a series of interviews portraying himself as kingmaker in a hung parliament.
He undermined her “red line” conditions for propping up a minority Labour government, such as scrapping the renewal of Trident, by stating SNP MPs would install Ed Miliband in Downing Street even if their demands were ignored."
It is incredibly annoying seeing everyone on Twitter claiming they had an excellent result canvassing. Almost as annoying as activists spewing out a never ending stream of attacks on other parties and failing to promote their own party.
Yes, I know. I've more or ;less stopped talking about individual canvass sessions and just restrict myself to anecdotes for entertainment. The truth is that not much is moving either way, and hasn't been for a long time.
This may not ever happen again, and will have changed in an hour or two, but, right this minute: Ijstweeling is THE best-selling ebook in the Netherlands.
Goodness me, you're outselling Hoe absorberend is uw keuken roll?
Well done!
An interesting and slightly sobering thing I've learned from the ICE TWINS, in Europe, is how many Dutch will quite happily buy a book in English.
For a a couple of days a few weeks ago, before the Dutch version came out, ICE TWINS (in English) was in the Dutch ebook top ten.
It is of course inconceivable that any foreign language book could reach the top 1000 in the UK.
Why are the Dutch SO good at foreign languages, especially English? Is it just because they are immersed in it from birth, so they grow up bilingual? Or do they teach it in some brilliant way? Or both? And why can't we just copy what they do?
I have some Dutch friends who'll read English - and would typically prefer to read the English original than a Dutch translation.
They're definitely brought up bilingual from childhood as standard, but also worth remembering that many major authors write primarily in English. If you enjoy reading, then you have a much wider selection of books available to you if you read it in English - plus if you can enjoy the original you can read it as its meant to be rather than reading a translation.
That's not something that's the case in this country.
This may not ever happen again, and will have changed in an hour or two, but, right this minute: Ijstweeling is THE best-selling ebook in the Netherlands.
Goodness me, you're outselling Hoe absorberend is uw keuken roll?
Well done!
An interesting and slightly sobering thing I've learned from the ICE TWINS, in Europe, is how many Dutch will quite happily buy a book in English.
For a a couple of days a few weeks ago, before the Dutch version came out, ICE TWINS (in English) was in the Dutch ebook top ten.
It is of course inconceivable that any foreign language book could reach the top 1000 in the UK.
Why are the Dutch SO good at foreign languages, especially English? Is it just because they are immersed in it from birth, so they grow up bilingual? Or do they teach it in some brilliant way? Or both? And why can't we just copy what they do?
Heavy exposure to the BBC for the last 50 years, the understanding that English would offer long term economic benefits and possibly a lack of Dutch being a particularly "unique" or "special" language in itself.
Languages in the UK were always hampered by the old colonial attitude of expecting others to speak English combined with a focus on French to suit the South of England when it would have been far better to focus on Spanish (back before the rise of China) and Mandarin (today).
My English friends tell me that if the NATS stood down south they would vote for them in a second.
I think its a very southern response. There are a fair few people I know who live on Tyneside and Wearside who, if they could vote SNP, would. Many are starting to feel very let down by Labour and don't have another left wing party to vote for,,
Out of interest, is there any constitutional barrier to the SNP fielding candidates outside of Scotland?
This may not ever happen again, and will have changed in an hour or two, but, right this minute: Ijstweeling is THE best-selling ebook in the Netherlands.
Goodness me, you're outselling Hoe absorberend is uw keuken roll?
Well done!
An interesting and slightly sobering thing I've learned from the ICE TWINS, in Europe, is how many Dutch will quite happily buy a book in English.
For a a couple of days a few weeks ago, before the Dutch version came out, ICE TWINS (in English) was in the Dutch ebook top ten.
It is of course inconceivable that any foreign language book could reach the top 1000 in the UK.
Why are the Dutch SO good at foreign languages, especially English? Is it just because they are immersed in it from birth, so they grow up bilingual? Or do they teach it in some brilliant way? Or both? And why can't we just copy what they do?
Good because they have to be. Imagine trying to travel the world as a Dutch monoglot.
By the same token the English speakers are at an unfair disadvantage. It's virtually impossible anywhere in the world to find people to practise your foreign languages on, who aren't even keener to practise their English on you.
The issue is whether the SNP have had a good week or not . I say they have for the reasons stated. You lot say not because you fear/ hate Salmond and don't rate Nicola. You are right to fear Salmond and wrong to under rate Nicola.
Anyway the first real poll will tell us whether I am right or you are. Now you three gents should put up or ..,,,,,
Have you ever seen any SNP supporter admit that anything is ever less than perfect for the party. All weeks are always good which means you can always discount what they say.
Have you noticed that about canvassing? Everyone always seems to have had "great feedback on the doorstep, positive campaign" "Fantastic reception to message in little bigholme" "lots of enthusiastic responses tonight".
Im a seasoned canvasser. You do now and then get really great nights, sometimes in unexpected areas. But you also get some really awful ones.
"voter swore at me tonight for walking on grass, put her down as a probable". "knuckles bleeding from dog grabbing leaflet from letterbox", "told to F off three times and threatened with a smack in the mouth twice this evening", "im having my tea and i wouldnt vote you F-ing lot if my arse was on fire, do one, and you better close the F-ing gate"
No never see that in a tweet...
What always amuses me is people who make the effort to chase you up the street to give you your leaflets back. They must think they give off toxic fumes that would escape the recycling bin...
My English friends tell me that if the NATS stood down south they would vote for them in a second.
I think its a very southern response. There are a fair few people I know who live on Tyneside and Wearside who, if they could vote SNP, would. Many are starting to feel very let down by Labour and don't have another left wing party to vote for,,
Out of interest, is there any constitutional barrier to the SNP fielding candidates outside of Scotland?
|Completely unrelated to people dressing up aimlessly at political meetings.
Yemen.
Within 48-72 hours we could a genuine inter state conflict break out.
Within Yemen on one side you have the Iranian backed Houthis who now hold a large amount of territory and were marching on Aden, one of the last major population holdouts of the Sunni government, who are backed by the Saudis, most of the Gulf states and Egypt, none of which fancy an Iranian proxy holding such a strategically positioned country.
The Saudi/Egyptian led intervention began in earnest a couple of days ago and continues with airstrikes designed to both halt the Houthi advance and also take out supply line ports and airfields. Small numbers of Egyptian forces in particular have made landings to seize port facilities right at the mouth of the Straits bordering the Red Sea. A very large number of Saudi and GCC forces sit on the Saudi side of the border and there are reports both they and further Egyptian forces are gearing to move in. A Saudi no fly zone over most of Yemen has been announced.
How serious is this? It all depends on whether the Iranians, who covet Yemen coming under control of their proxy, take this lying down. They currently have limited routes to supply their Houthi allies who, if the Saudis and Egyptians go in in force, are going to find things tough. Signs so far are that Iran will not let this go, but a live Saudi/Egyptian ground intervention in force might necessitate a very direct Iranian response.
Add to that volatile mix that there have been reported (but not confirmed) clashes between Egyptian and Iranian naval vessels around the Red Sea Straits, the very strong support from Pakistan for the Saudis and the fact that large tracts of the sparsely populated interior of the country are Al Qaeda grounds and this situation could easily boil into a proper multiple inter-state military conflict.
This may not ever happen again, and will have changed in an hour or two, but, right this minute: Ijstweeling is THE best-selling ebook in the Netherlands.
Goodness me, you're outselling Hoe absorberend is uw keuken roll?
Well done!
An interesting and slightly sobering thing I've learned from the ICE TWINS, in Europe, is how many Dutch will quite happily buy a book in English.
For a a couple of days a few weeks ago, before the Dutch version came out, ICE TWINS (in English) was in the Dutch ebook top ten.
It is of course inconceivable that any foreign language book could reach the top 1000 in the UK.
Why are the Dutch SO good at foreign languages, especially English? Is it just because they are immersed in it from birth, so they grow up bilingual? Or do they teach it in some brilliant way? Or both? And why can't we just copy what they do?
Good Schools and an incentive to do so - not sure all 'foreign languages, but certainly from my experience*, most Dutch will have mastered English by their teens and will watch English speaking films without subtitles or dubbing. I'm not surprised they also read books in English to - Germany is very similar in that respect although not quite as advanced imho. We regularly send over the English versions of books to my niece and nephew for that reason.
Tragic scenes at the Nurburgring Nordschleife today, where British driver Jann Mardenborough's Nissan GT flipped and crashed into the crowd, killing a spectator and injuring several others.
This may not ever happen again, and will have changed in an hour or two, but, right this minute: Ijstweeling is THE best-selling ebook in the Netherlands.
Goodness me, you're outselling Hoe absorberend is uw keuken roll?
Well done!
An interesting and slightly sobering thing I've learned from the ICE TWINS, in Europe, is how many Dutch will quite happily buy a book in English.
For a a couple of days a few weeks ago, before the Dutch version came out, ICE TWINS (in English) was in the Dutch ebook top ten.
It is of course inconceivable that any foreign language book could reach the top 1000 in the UK.
Why are the Dutch SO good at foreign languages, especially English? Is it just because they are immersed in it from birth, so they grow up bilingual? Or do they teach it in some brilliant way? Or both? And why can't we just copy what they do?
Good because they have to be. Imagine trying to travel the world as a Dutch monoglot.
By the same token the English speakers are at an unfair disadvantage. It's virtually impossible anywhere in the world to find people to practise your foreign languages on, who aren't even keener to practise their English on you.
From an economic point of view, I would expect Dutch to be as useful as French given that it is mutually intelligible with German. You can go to South Africa, Germany, Austria, Namibia and small parts of South America and use Dutch. French doesn't really cover much more of the world and economically probably less GDP.
This may not ever happen again, and will have changed in an hour or two, but, right this minute: Ijstweeling is THE best-selling ebook in the Netherlands.
Goodness me, you're outselling Hoe absorberend is uw keuken roll?
Well done!
An interesting and slightly sobering thing I've learned from the ICE TWINS, in Europe, is how many Dutch will quite happily buy a book in English.
For a a couple of days a few weeks ago, before the Dutch version came out, ICE TWINS (in English) was in the Dutch ebook top ten.
It is of course inconceivable that any foreign language book could reach the top 1000 in the UK.
Why are the Dutch SO good at foreign languages, especially English? Is it just because they are immersed in it from birth, so they grow up bilingual? Or do they teach it in some brilliant way? Or both? And why can't we just copy what they do?
Good because they have to be. Imagine trying to travel the world as a Dutch monoglot.
By the same token the English speakers are at an unfair disadvantage. It's virtually impossible anywhere in the world to find people to practise your foreign languages on, who aren't even keener to practise their English on you.
It's virtually impossible anywhere in the world to find people to practise your foreign languages on, who aren't even keener to practise their English on you.
My English friends tell me that if the NATS stood down south they would vote for them in a second.
I think its a very southern response. There are a fair few people I know who live on Tyneside and Wearside who, if they could vote SNP, would. Many are starting to feel very let down by Labour and don't have another left wing party to vote for,,
Out of interest, is there any constitutional barrier to the SNP fielding candidates outside of Scotland?
The SNP policy is not to stand outside Scotland. There is no other reason than the party chose not to.
Personally I think this is a bit stupid.
The policy should be not to stand in England, Wales or Northern Ireland which would allow them to put up a candidate in Berwick-Upon-Tweed which is in neither England nor Scotland.
Why are the Dutch SO good at foreign languages, especially English? Is it just because they are immersed in it from birth, so they grow up bilingual? Or do they teach it in some brilliant way? Or both? And why can't we just copy what they do?
Because Dutch folks want to read or watch the endless content available in English, whether books, US TV, Hollywood films or on the Internet etc. It's the same in many small European countries, especially those that are multilingual anyway.
As such, they have all the positive elements needed for language learning - clear motivation, opportunities to practice, educational integration, support, immersion from birth etc.
In the UK, you actively have to seek out the relatively limited content in other languages, and you have to make a decision about what to learn. There's too many options available, little support and most people understandably don't see much point.
In general, learning a second language in the UK is mostly a pointless feel-good intellectual exercise, as opposed to being a pragmatic and useful skill like it is for the Dutch.
Plus, according to multilingual folks, English is supposed to be really easy to learn, far easier than French or German. English grammar is relatively simple.
This may not ever happen again, and will have changed in an hour or two, but, right this minute: Ijstweeling is THE best-selling ebook in the Netherlands.
Goodness me, you're outselling Hoe absorberend is uw keuken roll?
Well done!
An interesting and slightly sobering thing I've learned from the ICE TWINS, in Europe, is how many Dutch will quite happily buy a book in English.
For a a couple of days a few weeks ago, before the Dutch version came out, ICE TWINS (in English) was in the Dutch ebook top ten.
It is of course inconceivable that any foreign language book could reach the top 1000 in the UK.
Why are the Dutch SO good at foreign languages, especially English? Is it just because they are immersed in it from birth, so they grow up bilingual? Or do they teach it in some brilliant way? Or both? And why can't we just copy what they do?
Most Dutch that I know don't watch dubbed programmes and try and read media in English. Additionally they start learning foreign languages at a younger age and they have good teachers.
Why are the Dutch SO good at foreign languages, especially English? Is it just because they are immersed in it from birth, so they grow up bilingual? Or do they teach it in some brilliant way? Or both? And why can't we just copy what they do?
Because Dutch folks want to watch and read the endless content available in English, whether books, US TV or Hollywood films etc. It's the same in many small European countries.
As such, they have all the positive elements needed for language learning - clear motivation, opportunities to practice, educational integration, support, immersion from birth etc.
In the UK, you actively have to seek out the relatively limited content in other languages, and you have to make a decision about what to learn. There's too many options available and people understandably don't see much point.
The big difference in the Netherlands is that language is not really part of their identity. Their identity is much more religious and geographically based. As such the "language defenses" a lot of countries have put up have never been particularly common in the Netherlands. Two of their Universities switched to English only tuition a couple of decades ago (not "international" universities you get in some countries, actual normal universities).
I can't be arsed looking it up but I would suspect that Flemings have a much lower percentage of fluent English speakers and a much stronger language identity to Dutch.
This may not ever happen again, and will have changed in an hour or two, but, right this minute: Ijstweeling is THE best-selling ebook in the Netherlands.
Goodness me, you're outselling Hoe absorberend is uw keuken roll?
Well done!
An interesting and slightly sobering thing I've learned from the ICE TWINS, in Europe, is how many Dutch will quite happily buy a book in English.
For a a couple of days a few weeks ago, before the Dutch version came out, ICE TWINS (in English) was in the Dutch ebook top ten.
It is of course inconceivable that any foreign language book could reach the top 1000 in the UK.
Why are the Dutch SO good at foreign languages, especially English? Is it just because they are immersed in it from birth, so they grow up bilingual? Or do they teach it in some brilliant way? Or both? And why can't we just copy what they do?
Good because they have to be. Imagine trying to travel the world as a Dutch monoglot.
By the same token the English speakers are at an unfair disadvantage. It's virtually impossible anywhere in the world to find people to practise your foreign languages on, who aren't even keener to practise their English on you.
From an economic point of view, I would expect Dutch to be as useful as French given that it is mutually intelligible with German. You can go to South Africa, Germany, Austria, Namibia and small parts of South America and use German. French doesn't really cover much more of the world and economically probably less GDP.
German is practically useless in Namibia outside a couple of bierkellers in Luderitz and Swakop (I've toured Namibia several times). I'm also very skeptical that it is much help anywhere in South America.
It is more useful in Eastern Europe and Turkey (all those gastarbeiten).
French is still widely spoken in much of Africa (admittedly by very poor people, and it is slowly but inexorably losing ground to English).
As a mere deliverer of leaflets, I would consider voting for any party that promised to ban all front doors that didn't have their letter box halfway up.
This may not ever happen again, and will have changed in an hour or two, but, right this minute: Ijstweeling is THE best-selling ebook in the Netherlands.
Goodness me, you're outselling Hoe absorberend is uw keuken roll?
Well done!
An interesting and slightly sobering thing I've learned from the ICE TWINS, in Europe, is how many Dutch will quite happily buy a book in English.
For a a couple of days a few weeks ago, before the Dutch version came out, ICE TWINS (in English) was in the Dutch ebook top ten.
It is of course inconceivable that any foreign language book could reach the top 1000 in the UK.
Why are the Dutch SO good at foreign languages, especially English? Is it just because they are immersed in it from birth, so they grow up bilingual? Or do they teach it in some brilliant way? Or both? And why can't we just copy what they do?
Heavy exposure to the BBC for the last 50 years, the understanding that English would offer long term economic benefits and possibly a lack of Dutch being a particularly "unique" or "special" language in itself.
Languages in the UK were always hampered by the old colonial attitude of expecting others to speak English combined with a focus on French to suit the South of England when it would have been far better to focus on Spanish (back before the rise of China) and Mandarin (today).
Spanish has probably usurped German's runner-up spot to become the second foreign language taught in most schools. To be cynical, we'd probably do better teaching English, and especially written English, to a higher standard if we want to communicate with foreigners.
EDIT: *Unless you really think Kitchen Dutch, i.e. Afrikaans, is completely interchangeable with German. I doubt this.
My understanding was they were mutually intelligible aurally much like the Scando languages but not necessarily when written but I've never really looked into it in much detail and could well be wrong.
Why are the Dutch SO good at foreign languages, especially English? Is it just because they are immersed in it from birth, so they grow up bilingual? Or do they teach it in some brilliant way? Or both? And why can't we just copy what they do?
Because Dutch folks want to watch and read the endless content available in English, whether books, US TV or Hollywood films etc. It's the same in many small European countries.
As such, they have all the positive elements needed for language learning - clear motivation, opportunities to practice, educational integration, support, immersion from birth etc.
In the UK, you actively have to seek out the relatively limited content in other languages, and you have to make a decision about what to learn. There's too many options available and people understandably don't see much point.
The big difference in the Netherlands is that language is not really part of their identity. Their identity is much more religious and geographically based. As such the "language defenses" a lot of countries have put up have never been particularly common in the Netherlands. Two of their Universities switched to English only tuition a couple of decades ago (not "international" universities you get in some countries, actual normal universities).
I can't be arsed looking it up but I would suspect that Flemings have a much lower percentage of fluent English speakers and a much stronger language identity to Dutch.
Most people in Belgium speak English too, at least in part because their population is split between different native languages so English has become the lingua franca.
This may not ever happen again, and will have changed in an hour or two, but, right this minute: Ijstweeling is THE best-selling ebook in the Netherlands.
Goodness me, you're outselling Hoe absorberend is uw keuken roll?
Well done!
An interesting and slightly sobering thing I've learned from the ICE TWINS, in Europe, is how many Dutch will quite happily buy a book in English.
For a a couple of days a few weeks ago, before the Dutch version came out, ICE TWINS (in English) was in the Dutch ebook top ten.
It is of course inconceivable that any foreign language book could reach the top 1000 in the UK.
Why are the Dutch SO good at foreign languages, especially English? Is it just because they are immersed in it from birth, so they grow up bilingual? Or do they teach it in some brilliant way? Or both? And why can't we just copy what they do?
Good because they have to be. Imagine trying to travel the world as a Dutch monoglot.
By the same token the English speakers are at an unfair disadvantage. It's virtually impossible anywhere in the world to find people to practise your foreign languages on, who aren't even keener to practise their English on you.
From an economic point of view, I would expect Dutch to be as useful as French given that it is mutually intelligible with German. You can go to South Africa, Germany, Austria, Namibia and small parts of South America and use German. French doesn't really cover much more of the world and economically probably less GDP.
German is practically useless in Namibia outside a couple of bierkellers in Luderitz and Swakop (I've toured Namibia several times). I'm also very skeptical that it is much help anywhere in South America.
It is more useful in Eastern Europe and Turkey (all those gastarbeiten).
French is still widely spoken in much of Africa (admittedly by very poor people, and it is slowly but inexorably losing ground to English).
Dutch is quite useful there though, as similar to Afrikaans.
I travelled the Netherlands with a South African lad who spoke Afrikaans to the locals. They understood a lot of it, though found a lot of expressions archaic.
French is waning a bit, but quite a good start into the Romance languages. German and Dutch less so.
I can get through consultations in Hindi/Urdu, but learnt that in sunny Leicester!
As a mere deliverer of leaflets, I would consider voting for any party that promised to ban all front doors that didn't have their letter box halfway up.
As a mere householder I would consider voting for any party that banned political leafletting :-)
Slightly OT, the Alliance MP Naomi Long has been hinting on Twitter that she strongly prefers Miliband to Cameron. Just one MP obviously, but if Parliament is as hung as it looks like then every MP vote will count!
As a general comment there's something to be said for that observation. In the particular instance of Mrs Long not so much as she's unlikely to keep her seat. The comment is probably a clumsy attempt to shore up her left flank.
My English friends tell me that if the NATS stood down south they would vote for them in a second.
This is a point that I've made on here before. And if we are ever castrated with some form of foreign PR malarkey then my second preference as someone with a vote in a southern constituency might easily go to an SNP candidate. Taxes are too high and ending the Scottish subsidy would be a step in the right direction. Voting SNP in England is actually one way to get a substantial tax cut in the medium term (after them propping up Miliband for a Parliament, which makes it not so good for the bank balance in the short term).
Why are the Dutch SO good at foreign languages, especially English? Is it just because they are immersed in it from birth, so they grow up bilingual? Or do they teach it in some brilliant way? Or both? And why can't we just copy what they do?
Because Dutch folks want to watch and read the endless content available in English, whether books, US TV or Hollywood films etc. It's the same in many small European countries.
As such, they have all the positive elements needed for language learning - clear motivation, opportunities to practice, educational integration, support, immersion from birth etc.
In the UK, you actively have to seek out the relatively limited content in other languages, and you have to make a decision about what to learn. There's too many options available and people understandably don't see much point.
The big difference in the Netherlands is that language is not really part of their identity. Their identity is much more religious and geographically based. As such the "language defenses" a lot of countries have put up have never been particularly common in the Netherlands. Two of their Universities switched to English only tuition a couple of decades ago (not "international" universities you get in some countries, actual normal universities).
I can't be arsed looking it up but I would suspect that Flemings have a much lower percentage of fluent English speakers and a much stronger language identity to Dutch.
Tim Stanley rarely writes anything worth reading, sadly. He's a sort of caricature of an upper class Englishman enthralled with the American Right.
Why are the Dutch SO good at foreign languages, especially English? Is it just because they are immersed in it from birth, so they grow up bilingual? Or do they teach it in some brilliant way? Or both? And why can't we just copy what they do?
Because Dutch folks want to watch and read the endless content available in English, whether books, US TV or Hollywood films etc. It's the same in many small European countries.
As such, they have all the positive elements needed for language learning - clear motivation, opportunities to practice, educational integration, support, immersion from birth etc.
In the UK, you actively have to seek out the relatively limited content in other languages, and you have to make a decision about what to learn. There's too many options available and people understandably don't see much point.
The big difference in the Netherlands is that language is not really part of their identity. Their identity is much more religious and geographically based. As such the "language defenses" a lot of countries have put up have never been particularly common in the Netherlands. Two of their Universities switched to English only tuition a couple of decades ago (not "international" universities you get in some countries, actual normal universities).
I can't be arsed looking it up but I would suspect that Flemings have a much lower percentage of fluent English speakers and a much stronger language identity to Dutch.
Most people in Belgium speak English too, at least in part because their population is split between different native languages so English has become the lingua franca.
This may not ever happen again, and will have changed in an hour or two, but, right this minute: Ijstweeling is THE best-selling ebook in the Netherlands.
Goodness me, you're outselling Hoe absorberend is uw keuken roll?
Well done!
An interesting and slightly sobering thing I've learned from the ICE TWINS, in Europe, is how many Dutch will quite happily buy a book in English.
For a a couple of days a few weeks ago, before the Dutch version came out, ICE TWINS (in English) was in the Dutch ebook top ten.
It is of course inconceivable that any foreign language book could reach the top 1000 in the UK.
Why are the Dutch SO good at foreign languages, especially English? Is it just because they are immersed in it from birth, so they grow up bilingual? Or do they teach it in some brilliant way? Or both? And why can't we just copy what they do?
Heavy exposure to the BBC for the last 50 years, the understanding that English would offer long term economic benefits and possibly a lack of Dutch being a particularly "unique" or "special" language in itself.
Languages in the UK were always hampered by the old colonial attitude of expecting others to speak English combined with a focus on French to suit the South of England when it would have been far better to focus on Spanish (back before the rise of China) and Mandarin (today).
Spanish has probably usurped German's runner-up spot to become the second foreign language taught in most schools. To be cynical, we'd probably do better teaching English, and especially written English, to a higher standard if we want to communicate with foreigners.
Schools are adopting Spanish because it's supposed to be easier to learn than French or German due to simpler grammar rules.
Cue people complaining about declining standards, but Spanish is easily as useful as French or German.
Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) 28/03/2015 17:50 I'm delighted to announce that #UKIP would pursue a bank holiday for St George's day: express.co.uk/news/uk/566852…
My English friends tell me that if the NATS stood down south they would vote for them in a second.
I think its a very southern response. There are a fair few people I know who live on Tyneside and Wearside who, if they could vote SNP, would. Many are starting to feel very let down by Labour and don't have another left wing party to vote for,,
Out of interest, is there any constitutional barrier to the SNP fielding candidates outside of Scotland?
The SNP policy is not to stand outside Scotland. There is no other reason than the party chose not to.
Personally I think this is a bit stupid.
The policy should be not to stand in England, Wales or Northern Ireland which would allow them to put up a candidate in Berwick-Upon-Tweed which is in neither England nor Scotland.
Its in England and has been since 1296 when you lot decided to side with the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys who were at war with us and sack Cumberland and our sovereign King and ancestor of HM Queen Elizabeth the Second in response incorporated Berwick into England by right of conquest.
Something Salmond and co. might want to ponder in the future, if Scotland gets independence and think it might be funny to start ganging up against us with the French or EU.
Why are the Dutch SO good at foreign languages, especially English? Is it just because they are immersed in it from birth, so they grow up bilingual? Or do they teach it in some brilliant way? Or both? And why can't we just copy what they do?
Because Dutch folks want to watch and read the endless content available in English, whether books, US TV or Hollywood films etc. It's the same in many small European countries.
As such, they have all the positive elements needed for language learning - clear motivation, opportunities to practice, educational integration, support, immersion from birth etc.
In the UK, you actively have to seek out the relatively limited content in other languages, and you have to make a decision about what to learn. There's too many options available and people understandably don't see much point.
The big difference in the Netherlands is that language is not really part of their identity. Their identity is much more religious and geographically based. As such the "language defenses" a lot of countries have put up have never been particularly common in the Netherlands. Two of their Universities switched to English only tuition a couple of decades ago (not "international" universities you get in some countries, actual normal universities).
I can't be arsed looking it up but I would suspect that Flemings have a much lower percentage of fluent English speakers and a much stronger language identity to Dutch.
Most people in Belgium speak English too, at least in part because their population is split between different native languages so English has become the lingua franca.
The ultimate triumph of England over France - English is now described as the lingua franca in France's closest neighbour, where one of the official languages is indeed French.
No real point to it, I was just savouring the irony...
My English friends tell me that if the NATS stood down south they would vote for them in a second.
I think its a very southern response. There are a fair few people I know who live on Tyneside and Wearside who, if they could vote SNP, would. Many are starting to feel very let down by Labour and don't have another left wing party to vote for,,
Out of interest, is there any constitutional barrier to the SNP fielding candidates outside of Scotland?
The SNP policy is not to stand outside Scotland. There is no other reason than the party chose not to.
Personally I think this is a bit stupid.
The policy should be not to stand in England, Wales or Northern Ireland which would allow them to put up a candidate in Berwick-Upon-Tweed which is in neither England nor Scotland.
Its in England and has been since 1296 when you lot decided to side with the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys who were at war with us and sack Cumberland and our sovereign King and ancestor of HM Queen Elizabeth the Second in response incorporated Berwick into England by right of conquest.
Something Salmond and co. might want to ponder in the future, if Scotland gets independence and think it might be funny to start ganging up against us with the French or EU.
My English friends tell me that if the NATS stood down south they would vote for them in a second.
I think its a very southern response. There are a fair few people I know who live on Tyneside and Wearside who, if they could vote SNP, would. Many are starting to feel very let down by Labour and don't have another left wing party to vote for,,
Out of interest, is there any constitutional barrier to the SNP fielding candidates outside of Scotland?
The SNP policy is not to stand outside Scotland. There is no other reason than the party chose not to.
Personally I think this is a bit stupid.
The policy should be not to stand in England, Wales or Northern Ireland which would allow them to put up a candidate in Berwick-Upon-Tweed which is in neither England nor Scotland.
Its in England and has been since 1296 when you lot decided to side with the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys who were at war with us and sack Cumberland and our sovereign King and ancestor of HM Queen Elizabeth the Second in response incorporated Berwick into England by right of conquest.
Something Salmond and co. might want to ponder in the future, if Scotland gets independence and think it might be funny to start ganging up against us with the French or EU.
The legal position of Berwick at the time of the Union of the Crowns was unresolved. As such no attempt was made to resolve it before the Acts of Union. Anything that happened after that is potentially revoked de jure after the dissolution of the Acts of Union.
As a mere deliverer of leaflets, I would consider voting for any party that promised to ban all front doors that didn't have their letter box halfway up.
Prefer canvassing, but when I deliver the most frustrating thing is the new fangled draught excluding letter boxes. If the EU would ban them, I'd be most grateful ;-)
My English friends tell me that if the NATS stood down south they would vote for them in a second.
I think its a very southern response. There are a fair few people I know who live on Tyneside and Wearside who, if they could vote SNP, would. Many are starting to feel very let down by Labour and don't have another left wing party to vote for,,
Out of interest, is there any constitutional barrier to the SNP fielding candidates outside of Scotland?
The SNP policy is not to stand outside Scotland. There is no other reason than the party chose not to.
Personally I think this is a bit stupid.
The policy should be not to stand in England, Wales or Northern Ireland which would allow them to put up a candidate in Berwick-Upon-Tweed which is in neither England nor Scotland.
Its in England and has been since 1296 when you lot decided to side with the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys who were at war with us and sack Cumberland and our sovereign King and ancestor of HM Queen Elizabeth the Second in response incorporated Berwick into England by right of conquest.
Something Salmond and co. might want to ponder in the future, if Scotland gets independence and think it might be funny to start ganging up against us with the French or EU.
I'm so pleased someone else has responded to this. I'm a historian by training and unionist by persuasion. Dair's comment annoyed me on those and so many more levels.
Incidentally, if anyone suggests the gift of BuT to Scotland during the Wars of the Roses was legitimate, I'll be out at the theatre and not able to respond as quickly as I'd like to...
As a mere deliverer of leaflets, I would consider voting for any party that promised to ban all front doors that didn't have their letter box halfway up.
Prefer canvassing, but when I deliver the most frustrating thing is the new fangled draught excluding letter boxes. If the EU would ban them, I'd be most grateful ;-)
The ones that close to quickly as you push the leaflets are in, scraping knuckles.
My English friends tell me that if the NATS stood down south they would vote for them in a second.
I think its a very southern response. There are a fair few people I know who live on Tyneside and Wearside who, if they could vote SNP, would. Many are starting to feel very let down by Labour and don't have another left wing party to vote for,,
Out of interest, is there any constitutional barrier to the SNP fielding candidates outside of Scotland?
The SNP policy is not to stand outside Scotland. There is no other reason than the party chose not to.
Personally I think this is a bit stupid.
The policy should be not to stand in England, Wales or Northern Ireland which would allow them to put up a candidate in Berwick-Upon-Tweed which is in neither England nor Scotland.
Its in England and has been since 1296 when you lot decided to side with the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys who were at war with us and sack Cumberland and our sovereign King and ancestor of HM Queen Elizabeth the Second in response incorporated Berwick into England by right of conquest.
Something Salmond and co. might want to ponder in the future, if Scotland gets independence and think it might be funny to start ganging up against us with the French or EU.
The legal position of Berwick at the time of the Union of the Crowns was unresolved. As such no attempt was made to resolve it before the Acts of Union. Anything that happened after that is potentially revoked de jure after the dissolution of the Acts of Union.
The Wales and Berwick Act was in 1746.
I grew up in Berwick going to primary and grammar school and was a founder member of the Berwick sailing and canoeing club. The River Tweed marks the boundary but about seven miles up the Tweed it diverts north making Berwick entirely in England. As I have said before the Nationalists represented by Wendy Wood used to regularly paint a white line across the road bridge in the 1950's to make the point that the Nationalists did not accept the boundaries but no matter it is very much in England
As a mere deliverer of leaflets, I would consider voting for any party that promised to ban all front doors that didn't have their letter box halfway up.
My English friends tell me that if the NATS stood down south they would vote for them in a second.
I think its a very southern response. There are a fair few people I know who live on Tyneside and Wearside who, if they could vote SNP, would. Many are starting to feel very let down by Labour and don't have another left wing party to vote for,,
Out of interest, is there any constitutional barrier to the SNP fielding candidates outside of Scotland?
The SNP policy is not to stand outside Scotland. There is no other reason than the party chose not to.
Personally I think this is a bit stupid.
The policy should be not to stand in England, Wales or Northern Ireland which would allow them to put up a candidate in Berwick-Upon-Tweed which is in neither England nor Scotland.
Its in England and has been since 1296 when you lot decided to side with the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys who were at war with us and sack Cumberland and our sovereign King and ancestor of HM Queen Elizabeth the Second in response incorporated Berwick into England by right of conquest.
Something Salmond and co. might want to ponder in the future, if Scotland gets independence and think it might be funny to start ganging up against us with the French or EU.
The legal position of Berwick at the time of the Union of the Crowns was unresolved. As such no attempt was made to resolve it before the Acts of Union. Anything that happened after that is potentially revoked de jure after the dissolution of the Acts of Union.
The Wales and Berwick Act was in 1746.
I grew up in Berwick going to primary and grammar school and was a founder member of the Berwick sailing and canoeing club. The River Tweed marks the boundary but about seven miles up the Tweed it diverts north making Berwick entirely in England. As I have said before the Nationalists represented by Wendy Wood used to regularly paint a white line across the road bridge in the 1950's to make the point that the Nationalists did not accept the boundaries but no matter it is very much in England
Surely the only way to decide fairly is a plebescite of the disputed area?
My English friends tell me that if the NATS stood down south they would vote for them in a second.
I think its a very southern response. There are a fair few people I know who live on Tyneside and Wearside who, if they could vote SNP, would. Many are starting to feel very let down by Labour and don't have another left wing party to vote for,,
Out of interest, is there any constitutional barrier to the SNP fielding candidates outside of Scotland?
The SNP policy is not to stand outside Scotland. There is no other reason than the party chose not to.
Personally I think this is a bit stupid.
The policy should be not to stand in England, Wales or Northern Ireland which would allow them to put up a candidate in Berwick-Upon-Tweed which is in neither England nor Scotland.
Its in England and has been since 1296 when you lot decided to side with the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys who were at war with us and sack Cumberland and our sovereign King and ancestor of HM Queen Elizabeth the Second in response incorporated Berwick into England by right of conquest.
Something Salmond and co. might want to ponder in the future, if Scotland gets independence and think it might be funny to start ganging up against us with the French or EU.
CESM as a sneer is surely past its sell-by date, given that what occasioned it was a principled refusal to participate in George and Tony's Excellent Brownie Shoot - how cowardly do the French look now? And it was always a bit rich coming from a nation of pusillanimous lard-mountains whose concept of warfare is to let the rest of the world do the heavy lifting and then come in and drop a few bombs on some yellow or brown people from a very, very safe height.
Putting it another way, what was the USA's Austerlitz? Or a third way, Vietnam: that went well.
My English friends tell me that if the NATS stood down south they would vote for them in a second.
I think its a very southern response. There are a fair few people I know who live on Tyneside and Wearside who, if they could vote SNP, would. Many are starting to feel very let down by Labour and don't have another left wing party to vote for,,
Out of interest, is there any constitutional barrier to the SNP fielding candidates outside of Scotland?
The SNP policy is not to stand outside Scotland. There is no other reason than the party chose not to.
Personally I think this is a bit stupid.
The policy should be not to stand in England, Wales or Northern Ireland which would allow them to put up a candidate in Berwick-Upon-Tweed which is in neither England nor Scotland.
Its in England and has been since 1296 when you lot decided to side with the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys who were at war with us and sack Cumberland and our sovereign King and ancestor of HM Queen Elizabeth the Second in response incorporated Berwick into England by right of conquest.
Something Salmond and co. might want to ponder in the future, if Scotland gets independence and think it might be funny to start ganging up against us with the French or EU.
The legal position of Berwick at the time of the Union of the Crowns was unresolved. As such no attempt was made to resolve it before the Acts of Union. Anything that happened after that is potentially revoked de jure after the dissolution of the Acts of Union.
The Wales and Berwick Act was in 1746.
BuT has been English longer than the rule of law was accepted either side of the border. It is English. It will still be English a long time after Scotland has split from the Union, goes bankrupt, and comes crawling back.
If you would like to be in the same jurisdiction as BuT, how about staying in the union?
My English friends tell me that if the NATS stood down south they would vote for them in a second.
I think its a very southern response. There are a fair few people I know who live on Tyneside and Wearside who, if they could vote SNP, would. Many are starting to feel very let down by Labour and don't have another left wing party to vote for,,
Out of interest, is there any constitutional barrier to the SNP fielding candidates outside of Scotland?
The SNP policy is not to stand outside Scotland. There is no other reason than the party chose not to.
Personally I think this is a bit stupid.
The policy should be not to stand in England, Wales or Northern Ireland which would allow them to put up a candidate in Berwick-Upon-Tweed which is in neither England nor Scotland.
Its in England and has been since 1296 when you lot decided to side with the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys who were at war with us and sack Cumberland and our sovereign King and ancestor of HM Queen Elizabeth the Second in response incorporated Berwick into England by right of conquest.
Something Salmond and co. might want to ponder in the future, if Scotland gets independence and think it might be funny to start ganging up against us with the French or EU.
The legal position of Berwick at the time of the Union of the Crowns was unresolved. As such no attempt was made to resolve it before the Acts of Union. Anything that happened after that is potentially revoked de jure after the dissolution of the Acts of Union.
The Wales and Berwick Act was in 1746.
I grew up in Berwick going to primary and grammar school and was a founder member of the Berwick sailing and canoeing club. The River Tweed marks the boundary but about seven miles up the Tweed it diverts north making Berwick entirely in England. As I have said before the Nationalists represented by Wendy Wood used to regularly paint a white line across the road bridge in the 1950's to make the point that the Nationalists did not accept the boundaries but no matter it is very much in England
Surely the only way to decide fairly is a plebescite of the disputed area?
Personally, I think any independence treaty should involve Scotland accepting Northumberlands historic borders as part of England.
It would certainly need to include accepting the current border incorporating Berwick into England (other than for football purposes)
Footballing purposes? No! The negotiated border should be decided purely for political reasons. Move the nearby lefty and dirty areas into Scotland as they'll like the new magic money tree socialist regime. Tidier areas with sensible views can stay with the new baby-eating utopia down south. We shouldn't even insist on a single border. In our generosity I suggest England throws Bradford in with the deal. And Luton. All of Liverpool. And Somers Town in Portsmouth.
Personally, I think any independence treaty should involve Scotland accepting Northumberlands historic borders as part of England.
It would certainly need to include accepting the current border incorporating Berwick into England (other than for football purposes)
The solution is quite simple for Berwick to be given a semi-autonomous status and after a period of stabilisation for rUK to try and shore up it's economy from catastrophe, for the good people of Berwick to vote on which country to be part of.
The issue is whether the SNP have had a good week or not . I say they have for the reasons stated. You lot say not because you fear/ hate Salmond and don't rate Nicola. You are right to fear Salmond and wrong to under rate Nicola.
Anyway the first real poll will tell us whether I am right or you are. Now you three gents should put up or ..,,,,,
Have you ever seen any SNP supporter admit that anything is ever less than perfect for the party. All weeks are always good which means you can always discount what they say.
Have you noticed that about canvassing? Everyone always seems to have had "great feedback on the doorstep, positive campaign" "Fantastic reception to message in little bigholme" "lots of enthusiastic responses tonight".
Im a seasoned canvasser. You do now and then get really great nights, sometimes in unexpected areas. But you also get some really awful ones.
"voter swore at me tonight for walking on grass, put her down as a probable". "knuckles bleeding from dog grabbing leaflet from letterbox", "told to F off three times and threatened with a smack in the mouth twice this evening", "im having my tea and i wouldnt vote you F-ing lot if my arse was on fire, do one, and you better close the F-ing gate"
No never see that in a tweet...
What always amuses me is people who make the effort to chase you up the street to give you your leaflets back. They must think they give off toxic fumes that would escape the recycling bin...
Its when you come across a particularly chavvy area and they actually post the leaflet torn up back through their letterbox, which ends up littering their own garden!
My English friends tell me that if the NATS stood down south they would vote for them in a second.
I think its a very southern response. There are a fair few people I know who live on Tyneside and Wearside who, if they could vote SNP, would. Many are starting to feel very let down by Labour and don't have another left wing party to vote for,,
Out of interest, is there any constitutional barrier to the SNP fielding candidates outside of Scotland?
The SNP policy is not to stand outside Scotland. There is no other reason than the party chose not to.
Personally I think this is a bit stupid.
The policy should be not to stand in England, Wales or Northern Ireland which would allow them to put up a candidate in Berwick-Upon-Tweed which is in neither England nor Scotland.
Its in England and has been since 1296 when you lot decided to side with the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys who were at war with us and sack Cumberland and our sovereign King and ancestor of HM Queen Elizabeth the Second in response incorporated Berwick into England by right of conquest.
Something Salmond and co. might want to ponder in the future, if Scotland gets independence and think it might be funny to start ganging up against us with the French or EU.
CESM as a sneer is surely past its sell-by date, given that what occasioned it was a principled refusal to participate in George and Tony's Excellent Brownie Shoot - how cowardly do the French look now? And it was always a bit rich coming from a nation of pusillanimous lard-mountains whose concept of warfare is to let the rest of the world do the heavy lifting and then come in and drop a few bombs on some yellow or brown people from a very, very safe height.
Putting it another way, what was the USA's Austerlitz? Or a third way, Vietnam: that went well.
As I recall Vietnam did not go well for the cheese eaters either!
I suppose the US equivalent to Austerlitz would have been General Paton's campaigns in Sicily, Normandy, the Bulge or Germany. Or the Naval battle of Midway.
My English friends tell me that if the NATS stood down south they would vote for them in a second.
I think its a very southern response. There are a fair few people I know who live on Tyneside and Wearside who, if they could vote SNP, would. Many are starting to feel very let down by Labour and don't have another left wing party to vote for,,
Out of interest, is there any constitutional barrier to the SNP fielding candidates outside of Scotland?
The SNP policy is not to stand outside Scotland. There is no other reason than the party chose not to.
Personally I think this is a bit stupid.
The policy should be not to stand in England, Wales or Northern Ireland which would allow them to put up a candidate in Berwick-Upon-Tweed which is in neither England nor Scotland.
Its in England and has been since 1296 when you lot decided to side with the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys who were at war with us and sack Cumberland and our sovereign King and ancestor of HM Queen Elizabeth the Second in response incorporated Berwick into England by right of conquest.
Something Salmond and co. might want to ponder in the future, if Scotland gets independence and think it might be funny to start ganging up against us with the French or EU.
CESM as a sneer is surely past its sell-by date, given that what occasioned it was a principled refusal to participate in George and Tony's Excellent Brownie Shoot - how cowardly do the French look now? And it was always a bit rich coming from a nation of pusillanimous lard-mountains whose concept of warfare is to let the rest of the world do the heavy lifting and then come in and drop a few bombs on some yellow or brown people from a very, very safe height.
Putting it another way, what was the USA's Austerlitz? Or a third way, Vietnam: that went well.
Didn't someone say that the Septics only came into the two world wars as substitutes when the French had to leave the field injured?
Personally, I think any independence treaty should involve Scotland accepting Northumberlands historic borders as part of England.
It would certainly need to include accepting the current border incorporating Berwick into England (other than for football purposes)
Footballing purposes? No! The negotiated border should be decided purely for political reasons. Move the nearby lefty and dirty areas into Scotland as they'll like the new magic money tree socialist regime. Tidier areas with sensible views can stay with the new baby-eating utopia down south. We shouldn't even insist on a single border. In our generosity I suggest England throws Bradford in with the deal. And Luton. All of Liverpool. And Somers Town in Portsmouth.
Oi - Luton is in Bedesia (correctly described as the Central Bedesian federation comprising Northern Bedesia, Southern Bedesia and Linsladeland. We have our own UDI plans thank you which involve renaming Luton Beitbridge. We even have several elephants (at Whipsnade) and a flag of white and green (http://www.centralbedfordshiredogshow.co.uk/uploads/4/3/4/6/4346291/4196940.png?139)
And here's our prime minister in a very Smithsonian pose.
As a mere deliverer of leaflets, I would consider voting for any party that promised to ban all front doors that didn't have their letter box halfway up.
..and without stiff bristles or dogs behind them.
And mandate that all houses have a their number (or at least their name) clearly displayed to make things easier when going round with addressed canvass sheets.
The issue is whether the SNP have had a good week or not . I say they have for the reasons stated. You lot say not because you fear/ hate Salmond and don't rate Nicola. You are right to fear Salmond and wrong to under rate Nicola.
Anyway the first real poll will tell us whether I am right or you are. Now you three gents should put up or ..,,,,,
Have you ever seen any SNP supporter admit that anything is ever less than perfect for the party. All weeks are always good which means you can always discount what they say.
Have you noticed that about canvassing? Everyone always seems to have had "great feedback on the doorstep, positive campaign" "Fantastic reception to message in little bigholme" "lots of enthusiastic responses tonight".
Im a seasoned canvasser. You do now and then get really great nights, sometimes in unexpected areas. But you also get some really awful ones.
"voter swore at me tonight for walking on grass, put her down as a probable". "knuckles bleeding from dog grabbing leaflet from letterbox", "told to F off three times and threatened with a smack in the mouth twice this evening", "im having my tea and i wouldnt vote you F-ing lot if my arse was on fire, do one, and you better close the F-ing gate"
No never see that in a tweet...
What always amuses me is people who make the effort to chase you up the street to give you your leaflets back. They must think they give off toxic fumes that would escape the recycling bin...
Its when you come across a particularly chavvy area and they actually post the leaflet torn up back through their letterbox, which ends up littering their own garden!
It is incredibly annoying seeing everyone on Twitter claiming they had an excellent result canvassing. Almost as annoying as activists spewing out a never ending stream of attacks on other parties and failing to promote their own party.
Yes, I know. I've more or ;less stopped talking about individual canvass sessions and just restrict myself to anecdotes for entertainment. The truth is that not much is moving either way, and hasn't been for a long time.
When you asked them if they had watched the debate, did any of them reply "Hell, yes" ?
Lol - no, but one of them said he'd ordered the T-shirt! He asked eagerly if I was getting one too.
My anecdotes i recalled the other week still hold true. The politically aware out there, will bring up Miliband or Balls on the doorstep, and I'm only seeing it from the other side. Around 2012 canvassing for Conservatives was grim, in some areas it took hours to get the necessary nominations for the local elections! Normally it take about half an hour to get the signatures.
The 'Cameron is useless' thing has waned, I had someone complain about his gay marriage law and the overseas aid once or twice. But yes, very little change in our support.
I remember 1997. It was grim. There was no doubt that change was going to happen. Even in 2010, it was massive, lots of people changing their votes.
The bounce back in the polls from 2010 for Labour is *not* showing up in our canvassing of the last six to eight months. Of course it could be flawed, but there we go.
It is incredibly annoying seeing everyone on Twitter claiming they had an excellent result canvassing. Almost as annoying as activists spewing out a never ending stream of attacks on other parties and failing to promote their own party.
Yes, I know. I've more or ;less stopped talking about individual canvass sessions and just restrict myself to anecdotes for entertainment. The truth is that not much is moving either way, and hasn't been for a long time.
When you asked them if they had watched the debate, did any of them reply "Hell, yes" ?
Lol - no, but one of them said he'd ordered the T-shirt! He asked eagerly if I was getting one too.
My anecdotes i recalled the other week still hold true. The politically aware out there, will bring up Miliband or Balls on the doorstep, and I'm only seeing it from the other side. Around 2012 canvassing for Conservatives was grim, in some areas it took hours to get the necessary nominations for the local elections! Normally it take about half an hour to get the signatures.
The 'Cameron is useless' thing has waned, I had someone complain about his gay marriage law and the overseas aid once or twice. But yes, very little change in our support.
I remember 1997. It was grim. There was no doubt that change was going to happen. Even in 2010, it was massive, lots of people changing their votes.
The bounce back in the polls from 2010 for Labour is *not* showing up in our canvassing of the last six to eight months. Of course it could be flawed, but there we go.
The thing, is even a 1992 type swing in terms of seats for Labour from the Conservatives probably puts Ed in power this time.
It is incredibly annoying seeing everyone on Twitter claiming they had an excellent result canvassing. Almost as annoying as activists spewing out a never ending stream of attacks on other parties and failing to promote their own party.
Yes, I know. I've more or ;less stopped talking about individual canvass sessions and just restrict myself to anecdotes for entertainment. The truth is that not much is moving either way, and hasn't been for a long time.
When you asked them if they had watched the debate, did any of them reply "Hell, yes" ?
Lol - no, but one of them said he'd ordered the T-shirt! He asked eagerly if I was getting one too.
My anecdotes i recalled the other week still hold true. The politically aware out there, will bring up Miliband or Balls on the doorstep, and I'm only seeing it from the other side. Around 2012 canvassing for Conservatives was grim, in some areas it took hours to get the necessary nominations for the local elections! Normally it take about half an hour to get the signatures.
The 'Cameron is useless' thing has waned, I had someone complain about his gay marriage law and the overseas aid once or twice. But yes, very little change in our support.
I remember 1997. It was grim. There was no doubt that change was going to happen. Even in 2010, it was massive, lots of people changing their votes.
The bounce back in the polls from 2010 for Labour is *not* showing up in our canvassing of the last six to eight months. Of course it could be flawed, but there we go.
As a matter of interest, which Constituency? Or at least region?
Comments
Of course they are "trying to recover" I mean, they;re only on 48% or so of the popular vote. A level that the Tories and Labour could only dream of and why they are reduced to fielding "35% strategies".
They're playing a blinder. They used their lead decoy, guaranteed to get acres of coverage, to put them all over the press all week, meanwhile Good Cop Nicola doesn't need to do anything but capitalise on her status as the only party leader in the UK who has a positive approval rating across the whole of the UK.
Yet despite this utter dominance, perhaps even because of it, they are still trying to reach out and in her speech today she made it clear that they will want to do better, still want to build a consensus with more of the voters and get their support ever higher.
It is little wonder you are quaking with fear.
OK what do you think the first poll will show or is it just a case of all mouth and no trousers!
Salmond getting his comeuppance in Gordon would be priceless.
@stephenkb: Oh my god Labour have made a "controlling immigration" mug. http://t.co/bqdYJlAh0x
I have nothing against Scotland or it's population and am agnostic on independence.
I do think that via the Barnet formula and devo-max that the Scots get a reasonable deal as it is and do not like the prospect of what would be a weak Labour government being taken advantage of.
I can't see Ed putting principle before power if and when he gets there, given what he will have been through to get there (like Brown in that respect)
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02745/salmond-sturgeon_2745954b.jpg http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/SNP/11501740/Nicola-Sturgeon-offers-Labour-pact-to-make-Ed-Miliband-PM.html
They're definitely brought up bilingual from childhood as standard, but also worth remembering that many major authors write primarily in English. If you enjoy reading, then you have a much wider selection of books available to you if you read it in English - plus if you can enjoy the original you can read it as its meant to be rather than reading a translation.
That's not something that's the case in this country.
Languages in the UK were always hampered by the old colonial attitude of expecting others to speak English combined with a focus on French to suit the South of England when it would have been far better to focus on Spanish (back before the rise of China) and Mandarin (today).
By the same token the English speakers are at an unfair disadvantage. It's virtually impossible anywhere in the world to find people to practise your foreign languages on, who aren't even keener to practise their English on you.
Yemen.
Within 48-72 hours we could a genuine inter state conflict break out.
Within Yemen on one side you have the Iranian backed Houthis who now hold a large amount of territory and were marching on Aden, one of the last major population holdouts of the Sunni government, who are backed by the Saudis, most of the Gulf states and Egypt, none of which fancy an Iranian proxy holding such a strategically positioned country.
The Saudi/Egyptian led intervention began in earnest a couple of days ago and continues with airstrikes designed to both halt the Houthi advance and also take out supply line ports and airfields. Small numbers of Egyptian forces in particular have made landings to seize port facilities right at the mouth of the Straits bordering the Red Sea. A very large number of Saudi and GCC forces sit on the Saudi side of the border and there are reports both they and further Egyptian forces are gearing to move in. A Saudi no fly zone over most of Yemen has been announced.
How serious is this? It all depends on whether the Iranians, who covet Yemen coming under control of their proxy, take this lying down. They currently have limited routes to supply their Houthi allies who, if the Saudis and Egyptians go in in force, are going to find things tough. Signs so far are that Iran will not let this go, but a live Saudi/Egyptian ground intervention in force might necessitate a very direct Iranian response.
Add to that volatile mix that there have been reported (but not confirmed) clashes between Egyptian and Iranian naval vessels around the Red Sea Straits, the very strong support from Pakistan for the Saudis and the fact that large tracts of the sparsely populated interior of the country are Al Qaeda grounds and this situation could easily boil into a proper multiple inter-state military conflict.
*(lived there for a couple of years)
Tragic scenes at the Nurburgring Nordschleife today, where British driver Jann Mardenborough's Nissan GT flipped and crashed into the crowd, killing a spectator and injuring several others.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/motor-racing/one-fan-killed-and-several-injured-in-nurburgring-crash-as-video-shows-british-driver-jann-mardenboroughs-nissan-take-off-10141046.html
Shades of the flying Mercs of a few years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kvDkNXLrn4
RIP. This really should not have happened on so many levels.
What am I doing? Why am I wasting my life?
It's virtually impossible anywhere in the world to find people to practise your foreign languages on, who aren't even keener to practise their English on you.
Try Paris.
Personally I think this is a bit stupid.
The policy should be not to stand in England, Wales or Northern Ireland which would allow them to put up a candidate in Berwick-Upon-Tweed which is in neither England nor Scotland.
As such, they have all the positive elements needed for language learning - clear motivation, opportunities to practice, educational integration, support, immersion from birth etc.
In the UK, you actively have to seek out the relatively limited content in other languages, and you have to make a decision about what to learn. There's too many options available, little support and most people understandably don't see much point.
In general, learning a second language in the UK is mostly a pointless feel-good intellectual exercise, as opposed to being a pragmatic and useful skill like it is for the Dutch.
Plus, according to multilingual folks, English is supposed to be really easy to learn, far easier than French or German. English grammar is relatively simple.
http://www.zazzle.co.uk/vote_labour_except_the_english_mug-168012334971093572
Ramsey just put them 1-0 up, should be 3 or 4
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11495983/Jeremy-Clarkson-represents-the-worst-of-boorish-Eighties-materialism.-Youd-hate-him-if-you-met-him.html
I can't be arsed looking it up but I would suspect that Flemings have a much lower percentage of fluent English speakers and a much stronger language identity to Dutch.
I said 'give us a ring later' once and it was the trigger for an almighty Barney!
'Us? You and who else? Why us?'
I travelled the Netherlands with a South African lad who spoke Afrikaans to the locals. They understood a lot of it, though found a lot of expressions archaic.
French is waning a bit, but quite a good start into the Romance languages. German and Dutch less so.
I can get through consultations in Hindi/Urdu, but learnt that in sunny Leicester!
Cue people complaining about declining standards, but Spanish is easily as useful as French or German.
28/03/2015 17:50
I'm delighted to announce that #UKIP would pursue a bank holiday for St George's day: express.co.uk/news/uk/566852…
Something Salmond and co. might want to ponder in the future, if Scotland gets independence and think it might be funny to start ganging up against us with the French or EU.
No real point to it, I was just savouring the irony...
If only Oscar Pistorius had been on board.
As for Trident - also blindingly obvious that Con opposition will support Lab - so it will go through with 550 votes. SNP irrelevant.
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Politics/Pix/pictures/2005/04/11/howardmanifesto372.jpg
The Wales and Berwick Act was in 1746.
Latest Opinium poll (24 - 25 Mar):
CON - 34% (-2)
LAB - 33% (-)
UKIP - 13% (-1)
LDEM - 8% (+1)
GRN - 7% (+1)
It would certainly need to include accepting the current border incorporating Berwick into England (other than for football purposes)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11497271/Jeremy-Clarkson-sacked-the-real-reason-he-punched-a-man-over-steak.html
Incidentally, if anyone suggests the gift of BuT to Scotland during the Wars of the Roses was legitimate, I'll be out at the theatre and not able to respond as quickly as I'd like to...
Rape all the children you like, just don't punch a producer.
"If you don't want a .... for a neighbour vote Labour" perhaps?
You can tell your identical twin sister that I downloaded her ebook from the elibrary and am looking forward to reading it.
What are the royalties you get from elibrary downloads?
Approval ratings
David Cameron has achieved a rare net positive approval rating with +1%.
Ed Miliband has seen a slight increase to -21% but it is enough to take him above Nigel Farage for the first time who is unchanged on -24%.
Nick Clegg remains in fourth place out of four with -40%
http://ourinsight.opinium.co.uk/survey-results/political-polling-24th-march-2015
Putting it another way, what was the USA's Austerlitz? Or a third way, Vietnam: that went well.
If you would like to be in the same jurisdiction as BuT, how about staying in the union?
Move the nearby lefty and dirty areas into Scotland as they'll like the new magic money tree socialist regime.
Tidier areas with sensible views can stay with the new baby-eating utopia down south.
We shouldn't even insist on a single border. In our generosity I suggest England throws Bradford in with the deal. And Luton. All of Liverpool. And Somers Town in Portsmouth.
I suppose the US equivalent to Austerlitz would have been General Paton's campaigns in Sicily, Normandy, the Bulge or Germany. Or the Naval battle of Midway.
Earlyish F1 race tomorrow, start should be around 8am, so not too bad (5am is too early).
And here's our prime minister in a very Smithsonian pose.
http://www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/modgov/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=1114
The Duke of Bedfordshire isn't very happy about the oppositions land reform proposals though.
The 'Cameron is useless' thing has waned, I had someone complain about his gay marriage law and the overseas aid once or twice. But yes, very little change in our support.
I remember 1997. It was grim. There was no doubt that change was going to happen. Even in 2010, it was massive, lots of people changing their votes.
The bounce back in the polls from 2010 for Labour is *not* showing up in our canvassing of the last six to eight months. Of course it could be flawed, but there we go.
Nyooooooooom!