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  • BenedictWhiteBenedictWhite Posts: 1,944

    I shall be publishing a EURef poll at one minute past midnight.

    Does that mean you have it now but it is embargoed till midnight.
  • Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    I switched over to Top gear during half-time in Soccer Aid.

    I could watch Charlene Spiteri all day (I met her once) but then it cut to Evans again...
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,548
    HYUFD said:

    SeanT said:

    HYUFD said:

    viewcode said:

    The print media will finally pick sides: Telegraph, Sun, Mail and Express vs. FT, Times, Evening Standard, Guardian and Independent.

    I'm still not sure about the Times: could go either way. Otherwise agreed

    The Times is a mainstream centre/centre-right establishment newspaper read by ABs.

    I'm 80% sure it'll come out for Remain (albeit reluctantly) - there's a chance it might fence sit, but I don't think that's the sort of newspaper The Times is.
    Murdoch will hedge his bets, the Times will be for Remain and the Sun for Leave. He has done it before, at the general election the English Sun backed the Tories, the Scottish Sun backed the SNP
    I've got a bet on this with Rob Smithson.

    He thinks a majority of the Sun, Sun on Sunday, Times and Sunday Times will go REMAIN, I've wagered the opposite (IIRC, we might also have bet on the Mail and Mail on Sunday)

    I now reckon it will be a dead rubber. 50/50

    Sun will go LEAVE, as will the Times

    Their Sunday sisters will go REMAIN
    Interesting but why split the Sundays and the dailies when their readership have largely the same voting patterns? There is a much sharper divide between Times and Sun readers, according to Yougov 62% of Times readers back Remain and 38% Leave but with Sun readers the figures are reversed with 71% backing Leave and just 29% Remain
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/03/21/eu-referendum-who-in-britain-wants-to-leave-and-who-wants-to-rem/
    An endorsement on the Thursday morning is going to carry more weight than one the previous Sunday.
  • ThreeQuidderThreeQuidder Posts: 6,133

    I shall be publishing a EURef poll at one minute past midnight.

    Does that mean you have it now but it is embargoed till midnight.
    The first rule of embargo club...
  • Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    SeanT said:

    What mystifies me is how the scripting has got so awful, so suddenly.

    Clarkson wrote the script
  • Tim_BTim_B Posts: 7,669

    SeanT said:

    Tim_B said:

    Top Gear fans -

    set my expectations for tomorrow night - is the second episode better, the same, or worse than the first one?

    I know there are changes coming along for episode 3 as a result of 'feedback', but they had already shot ep. 2

    The Twitter reaction: this is initially rather better, but No, on reflection, still awful

    I think the BBC has just realised that millions of people aren't THAT interested in cars - viewers just found Clarkson, May and Hammond surprisingly funny and endearing, even if they were also annoying.

    What a dreadful fuck up. Its ever more noticeable that the man responsible for sacking Clarkson - Danny Cohen - has already departed the Corporation.


    What happened to the bloke whose head Clarkson pulped? Is he still there?
    Apparently so..

    http://topgear.wikia.com/wiki/Oisin_Tymon
  • SeanT said:

    Tim_B said:

    Top Gear fans -

    set my expectations for tomorrow night - is the second episode better, the same, or worse than the first one?

    I know there are changes coming along for episode 3 as a result of 'feedback', but they had already shot ep. 2

    The Twitter reaction: this is initially rather better, but No, on reflection, still awful

    I think the BBC has just realised that millions of people aren't THAT interested in cars - viewers just found Clarkson, May and Hammond surprisingly funny and endearing, even if they were also annoying.

    What a dreadful fuck up. Its ever more noticeable that the man responsible for sacking Clarkson - Danny Cohen - has already departed the Corporation.


    He only cost the Corporation a few hundred millions a year in international sales. No biggie...
    Yes but we now have a more PC compliant programme with a female and other representatives.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 53,098
    edited June 2016
    Scott_P said:

    I switched over to Top gear during half-time in Soccer Aid.

    I could watch Charlene Spiteri all day (I met her once) but then it cut to Evans again...

    Bummer Son
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,923
    edited June 2016
    SeanT said:

    Tim_B said:

    PlatoSaid said:

    Tim_B said:

    Top Gear fans -

    set my expectations for tomorrow night - is the second episode better, the same, or worse than the first one?

    I know there are changes coming along for episode 3 as a result of 'feedback', but they had already shot ep. 2

    I glanced at Twitter, still not popular. Some big changes needed.
    Matt will be great - he has just the light touch and self-deprecating humor needed. Sabine will be great.

    The problem is Evans. He has no persona, no on-screen presence, and doesn't do empathy. Otherwise than he's a gear head I don't understand for the life of me what he's doing fronting Top Gear.
    Matt Le Blanc is also quite wooden, let's be honest. Overly deadpan. He's just good in comparison to Evans.

    However Le Blanc is a fine professional comic actor, and will respond to a decent script. What mystifies me is how the scripting has got so awful, so suddenly.
    Clarkson wrote the scripts & was totally anal over them. I have no idea if Evans is writing for new top gear, but TFI Friday used to be knocked together in the pub.with danny Baker the afternoon before the show.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,407

    Thatcher making the exact same argument as Dave. The EC stops another world war.

    Of course, she could have toned it down and said something like - "Britain has a number of interests overseas. Should some jumped up country decide to take its chances with one of our territories, we will be able to count on the unconditional support of our European allies."

    And she'd have been wrong.
  • Tim_BTim_B Posts: 7,669
    SeanT said:

    Tim_B said:

    PlatoSaid said:

    Tim_B said:

    Top Gear fans -

    set my expectations for tomorrow night - is the second episode better, the same, or worse than the first one?

    I know there are changes coming along for episode 3 as a result of 'feedback', but they had already shot ep. 2

    I glanced at Twitter, still not popular. Some big changes needed.
    Matt will be great - he has just the light touch and self-deprecating humor needed. Sabine will be great.

    The problem is Evans. He has no persona, no on-screen presence, and doesn't do empathy. Otherwise than he's a gear head I don't understand for the life of me what he's doing fronting Top Gear.
    Matt Le Blanc is also quite wooden, let's be honest. Overly deadpan. He's just good in comparison to Evans.

    However Le Blanc is a fine professional comic actor, and will respond to a decent script. What mystifies me is how the scripting has got so awful, so suddenly.
    As you say he is a Pro. He will work it out and find his place. Ditto Sabine - his laid backness and her bubbliness may well go well together. (two non-words in a sentence ending in ness. Not bad). It must be tough being the foil to the energizer bunny Evans in episode 1.
  • chestnutchestnut Posts: 7,341
    Who is the mystery pollster?
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 126,015

    Thatcher making the exact same argument as Dave. The EC stops another world war.

    Thatcher happily supported the EEC and the Common Market, she did not support the EU
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,278

    RobD said:

    RobD said:

    Did you write this thread just to put an Independence Day trailer in the header, TSE? Tut, tut! :p

    This was more an attempt to bring some levity back to PB.

    Some PBers, Leavers and Remainers, are becoming a bit grumpy.
    You and I both know what subject would bring gaiety to PB......
    The return of JackW?
    That'd bring gaiety to the nation, not just PB!
  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 33,078
    SeanT said:

    I was thinking exactly this as I hiked the Ridgeway today, in glorious sun. it is one of the great walks of the world, so much history and beauty and wildlife and so many excellent pubs, lost in the beechwoods of the Chilterns.

    And this is a 5000 year old footpath. Anyone with native British ancestry is directly related to the men and women that walked it in the Bronze Age. And does it swerve to avoid the prime minister's estate at Chequers? - does it fuck. It goes straight through, past his front door, as it should, because this is England and he is just another politician.

    All along the Ridgeway there are monuments to out differentness and our freedoms and our battles with Europe, from Whiteleaf Cross, carved to commemorate defeat of the Danes in about 900AD, to Wendover, where I drank a fine cold English ale in a pub built when the town's MP was Hampden- one of the MPs whose seizure by Charles First kicked off the Civil War.

    We are a distinct and insular people . We don't like being bossed around, least of all by Europeans. This truth is reasserting itself, and will prevail at some point, soon.

    My favourite walk in the world for all the reasons you give, True there are other walks more beautiful or spectacular but none that convey that deep sense of ancient history of a country.

    I have done the full walk from Avebury to Ivinghoe Beacon twice and have walked most of the Avebury to Goring sections many times. I never tire of it.
  • EPGEPG Posts: 6,726
    tlg86 said:

    Thatcher making the exact same argument as Dave. The EC stops another world war.

    Of course, she could have toned it down and said something like - "Britain has a number of interests overseas. Should some jumped up country decide to take its chances with one of our territories, we will be able to count on the unconditional support of our European allies."

    And she'd have been wrong.
    Britain didn't give unconditional support to Germany uniting its territory.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,923
    edited June 2016

    SeanT said:

    Tim_B said:

    Top Gear fans -

    set my expectations for tomorrow night - is the second episode better, the same, or worse than the first one?

    I know there are changes coming along for episode 3 as a result of 'feedback', but they had already shot ep. 2

    The Twitter reaction: this is initially rather better, but No, on reflection, still awful

    I think the BBC has just realised that millions of people aren't THAT interested in cars - viewers just found Clarkson, May and Hammond surprisingly funny and endearing, even if they were also annoying.

    What a dreadful fuck up. Its ever more noticeable that the man responsible for sacking Clarkson - Danny Cohen - has already departed the Corporation.


    He only cost the Corporation a few hundred millions a year in international sales. No biggie...
    Yes but we now have a more PC compliant programme with a female and other representatives.
    When the announced the new top gear, the comment was they were only missing a disabled person...now we have seen Chris Evans in the role & we know they covered that base too......given all the shouting he must be deaf .
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 126,015

    HYUFD said:

    SeanT said:

    HYUFD said:

    viewcode said:

    The print media will finally pick sides: Telegraph, Sun, Mail and Express vs. FT, Times, Evening Standard, Guardian and Independent.

    I'm still not sure about the Times: could go either way. Otherwise agreed

    The Times is a mainstream centre/centre-right establishment newspaper read by ABs.

    I'm 80% sure it'll come out for Remain (albeit reluctantly) - there's a chance it might fence sit, but I don't think that's the sort of newspaper The Times is.
    Murdoch will hedge his bets, the Times will be for Remain and the Sun for Leave. He has done it before, at the general election the English Sun backed the Tories, the Scottish Sun backed the SNP
    I've got a bet on this with Rob Smithson.

    He thinks a majority of the Sun, Sun on Sunday, Times and Sunday Times will go REMAIN, I've wagered the opposite (IIRC, we might also have bet on the Mail and Mail on Sunday)

    I now reckon it will be a dead rubber. 50/50

    Sun will go LEAVE, as will the Times

    Their Sunday sisters will go REMAIN
    Interesting but why split the Sundays and the dailies when their readership have largely the same voting patterns? There is a much sharper divide between Times and Sun readers, according to Yougov 62% of Times readers back Remain and 38% Leave but with Sun readers the figures are reversed with 71% backing Leave and just 29% Remain
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/03/21/eu-referendum-who-in-britain-wants-to-leave-and-who-wants-to-rem/
    An endorsement on the Thursday morning is going to carry more weight than one the previous Sunday.
    That too
  • chestnutchestnut Posts: 7,341
    HYUFD said:

    Thatcher making the exact same argument as Dave. The EC stops another world war.

    Thatcher happily supported the EEC and the Common Market, she did not support the EU
    1975.

    Soviet Union and NATO pointing hundreds or thousands of nuclear warheads at each other.

    Obviously, it was the EEC that kept the peace. :smiley:
  • Tim_BTim_B Posts: 7,669

    SeanT said:

    Tim_B said:

    PlatoSaid said:

    Tim_B said:

    Top Gear fans -

    set my expectations for tomorrow night - is the second episode better, the same, or worse than the first one?

    I know there are changes coming along for episode 3 as a result of 'feedback', but they had already shot ep. 2

    I glanced at Twitter, still not popular. Some big changes needed.
    Matt will be great - he has just the light touch and self-deprecating humor needed. Sabine will be great.

    The problem is Evans. He has no persona, no on-screen presence, and doesn't do empathy. Otherwise than he's a gear head I don't understand for the life of me what he's doing fronting Top Gear.
    Matt Le Blanc is also quite wooden, let's be honest. Overly deadpan. He's just good in comparison to Evans.

    However Le Blanc is a fine professional comic actor, and will respond to a decent script. What mystifies me is how the scripting has got so awful, so suddenly.
    Clarkson wrote the scripts & was totally anal over them. I have no idea if Evans is writing for new top gear, but TFI Friday used to be knocked together in the pub.with danny Baker the afternoon before the show.
    To be a tad more accurate, Clarkson (with some input from the other 2) did the scripts, and he was particularly anal about his Stig comments "Some say..".. But there was always room for an ad lib or two, and the challenges / adventures were always a narrative rather than a script.

    That gave 'old' Top Gear a certain feeling of spontaneity and bouncing off each other about it which is completely missing from the new one.

    Matt etc will get there, but I don't think Evans has the depth.
  • Stark_DawningStark_Dawning Posts: 9,922
    Tim_B said:

    SeanT said:

    Tim_B said:

    Top Gear fans -

    set my expectations for tomorrow night - is the second episode better, the same, or worse than the first one?

    I know there are changes coming along for episode 3 as a result of 'feedback', but they had already shot ep. 2

    The Twitter reaction: this is initially rather better, but No, on reflection, still awful

    I think the BBC has just realised that millions of people aren't THAT interested in cars - viewers just found Clarkson, May and Hammond surprisingly funny and endearing, even if they were also annoying.

    What a dreadful fuck up. Its ever more noticeable that the man responsible for sacking Clarkson - Danny Cohen - has already departed the Corporation.


    What happened to the bloke whose head Clarkson pulped? Is he still there?
    Apparently so..

    http://topgear.wikia.com/wiki/Oisin_Tymon
    Looks weak chinned to me: the sort of chap who only ever responds to the threat of dismissal or physical persuasion. Let's face it, we've all had our problems with servants, it's just that Jeremy found an expedient way of solving his.
  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 33,078
    EPG said:

    Don't laugh immediately, but Britain needs to have more referendums.

    Swiss and Irish have referendums all the time about European and other topics, and they don't seem to get as bitter. Maybe people accept that they will often be on the opposite side to friends and colleagues.

    Agreed. I like referendums as they allow the public to give their view directly rather than having it interpreted by the politicians as happens too often with General Elections - 'ah you voted for us so you must agree with everything we stand for'.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 53,972
    chestnut said:

    HYUFD said:

    Thatcher making the exact same argument as Dave. The EC stops another world war.

    Thatcher happily supported the EEC and the Common Market, she did not support the EU
    1975.

    Soviet Union and NATO pointing hundreds or thousands of nuclear warheads at each other.

    Obviously, it was the EEC that kept the peace. :smiley:
    And the West didn't prevail because our warheads were shinier but because our political and economic system was stronger. Not a bad result for the EEC.
  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 33,078

    RobD said:

    RobD said:

    Did you write this thread just to put an Independence Day trailer in the header, TSE? Tut, tut! :p

    This was more an attempt to bring some levity back to PB.

    Some PBers, Leavers and Remainers, are becoming a bit grumpy.
    You and I both know what subject would bring gaiety to PB......
    The return of JackW?
    AN AV THREAD!!!!! Yaaay!!! :-)
  • Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    Tim_B said:

    he was particularly anal about his Stig comments "Some say.."..

    That was my least favourite bit.

    It wasn't in the first series.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,923
    Tim_B said:

    SeanT said:

    Tim_B said:

    PlatoSaid said:

    Tim_B said:

    Top Gear fans -

    set my expectations for tomorrow night - is the second episode better, the same, or worse than the first one?

    I know there are changes coming along for episode 3 as a result of 'feedback', but they had already shot ep. 2

    I glanced at Twitter, still not popular. Some big changes needed.
    Matt will be great - he has just the light touch and self-deprecating humor needed. Sabine will be great.

    The problem is Evans. He has no persona, no on-screen presence, and doesn't do empathy. Otherwise than he's a gear head I don't understand for the life of me what he's doing fronting Top Gear.
    Matt Le Blanc is also quite wooden, let's be honest. Overly deadpan. He's just good in comparison to Evans.

    However Le Blanc is a fine professional comic actor, and will respond to a decent script. What mystifies me is how the scripting has got so awful, so suddenly.
    Clarkson wrote the scripts & was totally anal over them. I have no idea if Evans is writing for new top gear, but TFI Friday used to be knocked together in the pub.with danny Baker the afternoon before the show.
    To be a tad more accurate, Clarkson (with some input from the other 2) did the scripts, and he was particularly anal about his Stig comments "Some say..".. But there was always room for an ad lib or two, and the challenges / adventures were always a narrative rather than a script.

    That gave 'old' Top Gear a certain feeling of spontaneity and bouncing off each other about it which is completely missing from the new one.

    Matt etc will get there, but I don't think Evans has the depth.
    My understanding was virtually none of it was ad libbed, but it was so good because we couldn't really tell. The bad episodes were when it.felt all staged managed, when the reality was pretty much of it was.
  • Tim_BTim_B Posts: 7,669
    edited June 2016
    Scott_P said:

    Tim_B said:

    he was particularly anal about his Stig comments "Some say.."..

    That was my least favourite bit.

    It wasn't in the first series.
    Yes, my mother told me about it.......


    My least favorite bit was the 'star in car' interview, as I'd never heard of many of them. But he'd usually get some snippet of amusing info from them and it would be amusing.
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,638
    EPG said:

    Don't laugh immediately, but Britain needs to have more referendums.

    Swiss and Irish have referendums all the time about European and other topics, and they don't seem to get as bitter. Maybe people accept that they will often be on the opposite side to friends and colleagues.

    There's a lot in that. And there's a well-accepted tradition that strong losers get concessions - e.g. after 40% voted to abolish the armed forces, the Government acknowledged the concern by reducing the military budget.

    Presumably the equivalent would be if a Brexit government followed a narrow win by becoming closely aligned through the EEA, or Cameron won and announced a programme of robust scepticism.

    The other charm of the Swiss system is that it gives small or extreme groups something constructive to do, since the tradition is that every proposal is considered on its merits, not on whether you like the proponents. For instance, the Basel Communist Party (vote share less than 0.5%) successfully got a proposal through to halt further development of inner-city car parks on environmental grounds.

    By the way, enjoyed Benedict on the last thread arguing that George Galloway's motivation for supporting Leave is his passion for democracy. You sure about that?
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,278

    RobD said:

    RobD said:

    Did you write this thread just to put an Independence Day trailer in the header, TSE? Tut, tut! :p

    This was more an attempt to bring some levity back to PB.

    Some PBers, Leavers and Remainers, are becoming a bit grumpy.
    You and I both know what subject would bring gaiety to PB......
    The return of JackW?
    AN AV THREAD!!!!! Yaaay!!! :-)
    See, the prospect of an AV thread even makes our Richard squee like a schoolgirl. :p
  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 33,078

    Hmmmm..... The original Independence Day required the use of a suicide bomber to overthrow the oppressors. Bit extreme, even for Brexiteers!

    Boris could be considered as a political suicide bomb.
  • foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    HYUFD said:

    Thatcher making the exact same argument as Dave. The EC stops another world war.

    Thatcher happily supported the EEC and the Common Market, she did not support the EU
    She was the force behind the single market, which signed over power over market regulation .
  • MonikerDiCanioMonikerDiCanio Posts: 5,792
    PlatoSaid said:
    Leave has all the magic, Remain is so boring. Leave has to win.
  • chestnut said:

    HYUFD said:

    Thatcher making the exact same argument as Dave. The EC stops another world war.

    Thatcher happily supported the EEC and the Common Market, she did not support the EU
    1975.

    Soviet Union and NATO pointing hundreds or thousands of nuclear warheads at each other.

    Obviously, it was the EEC that kept the peace. :smiley:
    And the West didn't prevail because our warheads were shinier but because our political and economic system was stronger. Not a bad result for the EEC.
    Wasn't it more to do with the triumph of capitalism over communism?
  • hunchmanhunchman Posts: 2,591

    I shall be publishing a EURef poll at one minute past midnight.

    I look forward to it.

    In the meantime, would anyone like to tell me how much mining has gone on at this location (Parys Mountain on Anglesey) over the past 30 years under Anglesey Mining plc?

    https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Parys+Mountain/@53.3864798,-4.3492706,931m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x48645230e6b81985:0xbb727308e1fd86ab!8m2!3d53.3833333!4d-4.35!5m1!1e4
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 126,015

    HYUFD said:

    Thatcher making the exact same argument as Dave. The EC stops another world war.

    Thatcher happily supported the EEC and the Common Market, she did not support the EU
    She was the force behind the single market, which signed over power over market regulation .
    She supported the single market not political union
  • Moses_Moses_ Posts: 4,865
    SeanT said:

    Tim_B said:

    Top Gear fans -

    set my expectations for tomorrow night - is the second episode better, the same, or worse than the first one?

    I know there are changes coming along for episode 3 as a result of 'feedback', but they had already shot ep. 2

    The Twitter reaction: this is initially rather better, but No, on reflection, still awful

    I think the BBC has just realised that millions of people aren't THAT interested in cars - viewers just found Clarkson, May and Hammond surprisingly funny and endearing, even if they were also annoying.

    What a dreadful fuck up. Its ever more noticeable that the man responsible for sacking Clarkson - Danny Cohen - has already departed the Corporation.


    The BBC killed the goose that laid the golden egg and always cackled ( ......with laughter)
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 53,098
    edited June 2016

    chestnut said:

    HYUFD said:

    Thatcher making the exact same argument as Dave. The EC stops another world war.

    Thatcher happily supported the EEC and the Common Market, she did not support the EU
    1975.

    Soviet Union and NATO pointing hundreds or thousands of nuclear warheads at each other.

    Obviously, it was the EEC that kept the peace. :smiley:
    And the West didn't prevail because our warheads were shinier but because our political and economic system was stronger. Not a bad result for the EEC.
    Wasn't it more to do with the triumph of capitalism over communism?
    "The role of Ronald Reagan had been deliberately diminished; the role of the Europeans, who, with the exception of Helmet Kohl, were often keen to undermine America when it mattered, had been sanitized; and the role of Mr. Gorbachev, who had failed spectacularly in his declared objective of saving communism and the Soviet Union, had been absurdly misunderstood."
    - Margaret Thatcher, writing in Statecraft, 2002
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 126,015
    chestnut said:

    HYUFD said:

    Thatcher making the exact same argument as Dave. The EC stops another world war.

    Thatcher happily supported the EEC and the Common Market, she did not support the EU
    1975.

    Soviet Union and NATO pointing hundreds or thousands of nuclear warheads at each other.

    Obviously, it was the EEC that kept the peace. :smiley:
    No it was NATO as you suggest
  • BenedictWhiteBenedictWhite Posts: 1,944

    chestnut said:

    HYUFD said:

    Thatcher making the exact same argument as Dave. The EC stops another world war.

    Thatcher happily supported the EEC and the Common Market, she did not support the EU
    1975.

    Soviet Union and NATO pointing hundreds or thousands of nuclear warheads at each other.

    Obviously, it was the EEC that kept the peace. :smiley:
    And the West didn't prevail because our warheads were shinier but because our political and economic system was stronger. Not a bad result for the EEC.
    Actually is was because of the USA mostly being much more economically strong than the USSR,
  • BenedictWhiteBenedictWhite Posts: 1,944

    EPG said:

    Don't laugh immediately, but Britain needs to have more referendums.

    Swiss and Irish have referendums all the time about European and other topics, and they don't seem to get as bitter. Maybe people accept that they will often be on the opposite side to friends and colleagues.



    By the way, enjoyed Benedict on the last thread arguing that George Galloway's motivation for supporting Leave is his passion for democracy. You sure about that?
    Yes. He was also passionately against postal votes because he understood the purpose of the 1872 ballot act (The one that made ballots secret) and saw postal votes as an erosion of that which reduces democracy.
  • Tim_BTim_B Posts: 7,669

    Tim_B said:

    SeanT said:

    Tim_B said:

    PlatoSaid said:

    Tim_B said:

    Top Gear fans -

    set my expectations for tomorrow night - is the second episode better, the same, or worse than the first one?

    I know there are changes coming along for episode 3 as a result of 'feedback', but they had already shot ep. 2

    I glanced at Twitter, still not popular. Some big changes needed.
    Matt will be great - he has just the light touch and self-deprecating humor needed. Sabine will be great.

    The problem is Evans. He has no persona, no on-screen presence, and doesn't do empathy. Otherwise than he's a gear head I don't understand for the life of me what he's doing fronting Top Gear.
    Matt Le Blanc is also quite wooden, let's be honest. Overly deadpan. He's just good in comparison to Evans.

    However Le Blanc is a fine professional comic actor, and will respond to a decent script. What mystifies me is how the scripting has got so awful, so suddenly.
    Clarkson wrote the scripts & was totally anal over them. I have no idea if Evans is writing for new top gear, but TFI Friday used to be knocked together in the pub.with danny Baker the afternoon before the show.
    To be a tad more accurate, Clarkson (with some input from the other 2) did the scripts, and he was particularly anal about his Stig comments "Some say..".. But there was always room for an ad lib or two, and the challenges / adventures were always a narrative rather than a script.

    That gave 'old' Top Gear a certain feeling of spontaneity and bouncing off each other about it which is completely missing from the new one.

    Matt etc will get there, but I don't think Evans has the depth.
    My understanding was virtually none of it was ad libbed, but it was so good because we couldn't really tell. The bad episodes were when it.felt all staged managed, when the reality was pretty much of it was.
    I meant ad lib in the sense of inserting an unscripted line or two rather than going completely off script for the studio bits.

    For the adventures / challenges there was much more leeway, particularly in the 'action' bits rather than the set pieces.

    Of course the fact that they knew each other backwards and sideways, and played to their personalities helped. Clarkson the iconoclast had his over the top, POWER, and MORE IS BETTER approach, May was always "Hello viewers, and as you can see I've done this the right way", and then there was the eternally optimistic, energetic, irrepressible, and occasionally irritating little brummie.

    Clarkson and May were able to carry their own various separate series well, Hamster struggled a bit.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 53,972

    chestnut said:

    HYUFD said:

    Thatcher making the exact same argument as Dave. The EC stops another world war.

    Thatcher happily supported the EEC and the Common Market, she did not support the EU
    1975.

    Soviet Union and NATO pointing hundreds or thousands of nuclear warheads at each other.

    Obviously, it was the EEC that kept the peace. :smiley:
    And the West didn't prevail because our warheads were shinier but because our political and economic system was stronger. Not a bad result for the EEC.
    Actually is was because of the USA mostly being much more economically strong than the USSR,
    No doubt, but the front line was Europe. If the Western European countries had not made a demonstrable success of their societies and their economies, we would not have made it from 1945 to 1989 with Western unity in tact. You have to give some credit to the EEC.
  • Moses_Moses_ Posts: 4,865
    SeanT said:

    Tim_B said:

    PlatoSaid said:

    Tim_B said:

    Top Gear fans -

    set my expectations for tomorrow night - is the second episode better, the same, or worse than the first one?

    I know there are changes coming along for episode 3 as a result of 'feedback', but they had already shot ep. 2

    I glanced at Twitter, still not popular. Some big changes needed.
    Matt will be great - he has just the light touch and self-deprecating humor needed. Sabine will be great.

    The problem is Evans. He has no persona, no on-screen presence, and doesn't do empathy. Otherwise than he's a gear head I don't understand for the life of me what he's doing fronting Top Gear.
    Matt Le Blanc is also quite wooden, let's be honest. Overly deadpan. He's just good in comparison to Evans.

    However Le Blanc is a fine professional comic actor, and will respond to a decent script. What mystifies me is how the scripting has got so awful, so suddenly.
    I understood that Clarkson wrote a lot of it and made sure it was perfect. I think the difference between the two teams is previously the old team left me always wondering what the hell are they going to do next and it would be more outrageously silly and probably dramatic than the previous stunt.

    The new team I couldn't give a monkeys . Drives to top of hill in reliant robin...... Gosh. Epic

    LeBlanc should be narrating funerals as opposed to Top Gear.
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,633

    I shall be publishing a EURef poll at one minute past midnight.

    How exciting... :smiley:

  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 126,015
    CBS/Yougov

    California Democratic Primary
    Clinton 49 Sanders 47

    General Election
    Clinton 48 Trump 33
    Sanders 55 Trump 32

    New Jersey Democratic Primary
    Clinton 61 Sanders 34

    General Election
    Clinton 49 Trump 34
    Sanders 52 Trump 34

    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/poll-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-down-to-the-wire-in-california/



  • chestnutchestnut Posts: 7,341
    edited June 2016

    chestnut said:

    HYUFD said:

    Thatcher making the exact same argument as Dave. The EC stops another world war.

    Thatcher happily supported the EEC and the Common Market, she did not support the EU
    1975.

    Soviet Union and NATO pointing hundreds or thousands of nuclear warheads at each other.

    Obviously, it was the EEC that kept the peace. :smiley:
    And the West didn't prevail because our warheads were shinier but because our political and economic system was stronger. Not a bad result for the EEC.
    'Keeping the peace' and prevailing aren't the same thing.

    Both sides were well aware of the mutually assured destruction when starting a war.

    A bit like the UK and EU engaging in a trade war.
  • BenedictWhiteBenedictWhite Posts: 1,944

    chestnut said:

    HYUFD said:

    Thatcher making the exact same argument as Dave. The EC stops another world war.

    Thatcher happily supported the EEC and the Common Market, she did not support the EU
    1975.

    Soviet Union and NATO pointing hundreds or thousands of nuclear warheads at each other.

    Obviously, it was the EEC that kept the peace. :smiley:
    And the West didn't prevail because our warheads were shinier but because our political and economic system was stronger. Not a bad result for the EEC.
    Actually is was because of the USA mostly being much more economically strong than the USSR,
    No doubt, but the front line was Europe. If the Western European countries had not made a demonstrable success of their societies and their economies, we would not have made it from 1945 to 1989 with Western unity in tact. You have to give some credit to the EEC.
    No, many countries in that western capitalist pact were not in the EU.
  • hunchmanhunchman Posts: 2,591
    SeanT said:

    PlatoSaid said:
    Brilliant from Boris. Unfortunately, that is also what I expect to happen, right down to Juncker's extra glass of champagne.

    REMAIN will narrowly win, then the EU will carry on grinding our democracy into dust, and the people will feel ashamed and remorseful, and they will take their revenge on Cameron and Osborne. It will be like the Scots post indyref, but much much worse, as the Scots, at least, got more powers following NO. We will have more powers taken away from us following IN.

    I do not see how REMAINIANS can possibly avoid this. The only hope for them - as career politicians - is that they lose.
    They'll be done for when the sovereign debt crisis gets under way from January next year leading to the collapse of the Euro and the EU in 2018 / 2019. I'd rather we vote leave now obviously, but I see exactly the same scenario as you in the horrible event of remain winning. And those people admitting they voted remain on the 23rd June 2016 will be very thin on the ground indeed.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,923
    edited June 2016
    Reply timb

    Recently May even made putting together an old lawnmower from component parts interesting...the reassembler series sounded like it should be like watching paint dry, but was actually really good & all down to how good May was.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 64,703
    PlatoSaid said:
    This article is from the 5th February and while it is true he is not as popular as he was he still has 175 MP's on his side and a good percentage of the membership. Also why does it matter as he is standing down in due course
  • Tim_BTim_B Posts: 7,669

    Reply timb

    Recently May even made putting together an old lawnmower from component parts interesting...the reassembler series sounded like it should be like watching paint dry, but was actually really good & all down to how good May was.

    He also did some cooking stuff on youtube. He has talent, no doubt about it. I enjoyed his wine show with Oz Clarke too.
  • Moses_Moses_ Posts: 4,865

    Reply timb

    Recently May even made putting together an old lawnmower from component parts interesting...the reassembler series sounded like it should be like watching paint dry, but was actually really good & all down to how good May was.

    Clarkson did an excellent documentary on the PQ 17 WW2 convoy to Russia.
  • welshowlwelshowl Posts: 4,464

    EPG said:

    Don't laugh immediately, but Britain needs to have more referendums.

    Swiss and Irish have referendums all the time about European and other topics, and they don't seem to get as bitter. Maybe people accept that they will often be on the opposite side to friends and colleagues.

    There's a lot in that. And there's a well-accepted tradition that strong losers get concessions - e.g. after 40% voted to abolish the armed forces, the Government acknowledged the concern by reducing the military budget.

    Presumably the equivalent would be if a Brexit government followed a narrow win by becoming closely aligned through the EEA, or Cameron won and announced a programme of robust scepticism.

    The other charm of the Swiss system is that it gives small or extreme groups something constructive to do, since the tradition is that every proposal is considered on its merits, not on whether you like the proponents. For instance, the Basel Communist Party (vote share less than 0.5%) successfully got a proposal through to halt further development of inner-city car parks on environmental grounds.

    By the way, enjoyed Benedict on the last thread arguing that George Galloway's motivation for supporting Leave is his passion for democracy. You sure about that?
    Yes I agree. I think the lack of any kind of referendum on "Europe" for over 40 years is a major driver of Leave's passion. I think personally having one on the Lisbon treaty would've served us all well. There would be less call to have this one at all, and less "this is our only chance in a lifetime" about it for Leavers (which perversely might've helped Remain). Whatever happens it would do the winning side well to note that the other side had sincerely held views that should be taken into account in terms of maybe not leaving too far if Leave win and not integrating any further should Remain win, assuming it is pretty close either way which looks likely ( further opinion polling disasters as a caveat).
  • EPGEPG Posts: 6,726
    edited June 2016
    SeanT said:

    PlatoSaid said:
    Brilliant from Boris. Unfortunately, that is also what I expect to happen, right down to Juncker's extra glass of champagne.

    REMAIN will narrowly win, then the EU will carry on grinding our democracy into dust, and the people will feel ashamed and remorseful, and they will take their revenge on Cameron and Osborne. It will be like the Scots post indyref, but much much worse, as the Scots, at least, got more powers following NO. We will have more powers taken away from us following IN.

    I do not see how REMAINIANS can possibly avoid this. The only hope for them - as career politicians - is that they lose.
    Cameron and Osborne will be gone.

    There will be a probably-LEAVE PM and all the Tories currently moaning will run back to her/him given the alternative of letting Corbyn win. Corbyn and his party think nuclear weapons should be replaced with beehives.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,923
    Tim_B said:

    Reply timb

    Recently May even made putting together an old lawnmower from component parts interesting...the reassembler series sounded like it should be like watching paint dry, but was actually really good & all down to how good May was.

    He also did some cooking stuff on youtube. He has talent, no doubt about it. I enjoyed his wine show with Oz Clarke too.
    The wine programme was pretty funny...two middle aged men getting sloshed around France.
  • Stark_DawningStark_Dawning Posts: 9,922

    PlatoSaid said:
    This article is from the 5th February and while it is true he is not as popular as he was he still has 175 MP's on his side and a good percentage of the membership. Also why does it matter as he is standing down in due course
    Oh dear. That's what happens when you're obsessively Googling anti-Remain stories. Dates get lost in the blur.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 126,015
    SeanT said:

    PlatoSaid said:
    Brilliant from Boris. Unfortunately, that is also what I expect to happen, right down to Juncker's extra glass of champagne.

    REMAIN will narrowly win, then the EU will carry on grinding our democracy into dust, and the people will feel ashamed and remorseful, and they will take their revenge on Cameron and Osborne. It will be like the Scots post indyref, but much much worse, as the Scots, at least, got more powers following NO. We will have more powers taken away from us following IN.

    I do not see how REMAINIANS can possibly avoid this. The only hope for them - as career politicians - is that they lose.
    Yes, I expect a UKIP poll lead by September if Remain scrape home
  • not_on_firenot_on_fire Posts: 4,449
    edited June 2016

    EPG said:

    Don't laugh immediately, but Britain needs to have more referendums.

    Swiss and Irish have referendums all the time about European and other topics, and they don't seem to get as bitter. Maybe people accept that they will often be on the opposite side to friends and colleagues.

    There's a lot in that. And there's a well-accepted tradition that strong losers get concessions - e.g. after 40% voted to abolish the armed forces, the Government acknowledged the concern by reducing the military budget.

    Presumably the equivalent would be if a Brexit government followed a narrow win by becoming closely aligned through the EEA, or Cameron won and announced a programme of robust scepticism.

    The other charm of the Swiss system is that it gives small or extreme groups something constructive to do, since the tradition is that every proposal is considered on its merits, not on whether you like the proponents. For instance, the Basel Communist Party (vote share less than 0.5%) successfully got a proposal through to halt further development of inner-city car parks on environmental grounds.

    By the way, enjoyed Benedict on the last thread arguing that George Galloway's motivation for supporting Leave is his passion for democracy. You sure about that?
    Direct democracy is good for social issues and matters of public debate like the EU. It is terrible for monetary policy as the inevitable result is that voters award themselves tax cuts and spending increases leading to the eventual bankruptcy for the state -cf California.
  • BenedictWhiteBenedictWhite Posts: 1,944
    SeanT said:
    Plunged is an odd way of putting it. The pound has been that volatile since 2008.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 64,703
    SeanT said:
    And if rumours of tonight's leave lead in a new poll it will go south further
  • Stark_DawningStark_Dawning Posts: 9,922
    HYUFD said:

    SeanT said:

    PlatoSaid said:
    Brilliant from Boris. Unfortunately, that is also what I expect to happen, right down to Juncker's extra glass of champagne.

    REMAIN will narrowly win, then the EU will carry on grinding our democracy into dust, and the people will feel ashamed and remorseful, and they will take their revenge on Cameron and Osborne. It will be like the Scots post indyref, but much much worse, as the Scots, at least, got more powers following NO. We will have more powers taken away from us following IN.

    I do not see how REMAINIANS can possibly avoid this. The only hope for them - as career politicians - is that they lose.
    Yes, I expect a UKIP poll lead by September if Remain scrape home
    I'd offer you a bet on that, but I couldn't bear to take your money.
  • This referendum does seem to be raising some passions. I walked past Tescos yesterday and the local chapter of UKIP were out in force and having a very animated argument with some chaps with Remain leaflets
  • welshowlwelshowl Posts: 4,464
    SeanT said:
    Oh goody. There's some of us really want a lower Pound and higher interest rates - seriously.
  • Tim_BTim_B Posts: 7,669
    Moses_ said:

    Reply timb

    Recently May even made putting together an old lawnmower from component parts interesting...the reassembler series sounded like it should be like watching paint dry, but was actually really good & all down to how good May was.

    Clarkson did an excellent documentary on the PQ 17 WW2 convoy to Russia.
    Not seen it but heard it was good. Just proves my point about May and Clarkson.

    Oddly, whenever BBC America does a TG compilation show - best stunts, worst disasters, best adventures etc - it's always Hamster who is the emcee, except LeBlanc for the races one.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 62,046
    SeanT said:

    PlatoSaid said:
    Brilliant from Boris. Unfortunately, that is also what I expect to happen, right down to Juncker's extra glass of champagne.

    REMAIN will narrowly win, then the EU will carry on grinding our democracy into dust, and the people will feel ashamed and remorseful, and they will take their revenge on Cameron and Osborne. It will be like the Scots post indyref, but much much worse, as the Scots, at least, got more powers following NO. We will have more powers taken away from us following IN.

    I do not see how REMAINIANS can possibly avoid this. The only hope for them - as career politicians - is that they lose.
    I think Leave may well just fall short.

    That's better than I expected a few months ago - when I thought a 58:42 result was in the offing - but no doubt it will be very disappointing.

    Still might be a clear win for Remain, of course. It depends how strong all the Leavers backbones are, as well of those as the late deciders for Leave.

    I am hoping they are 100% solid. But, I fear, it is just that.. a hope.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,923
    edited June 2016
    Moses_ said:

    Reply timb

    Recently May even made putting together an old lawnmower from component parts interesting...the reassembler series sounded like it should be like watching paint dry, but was actually really good & all down to how good May was.

    Clarkson did an excellent documentary on the PQ 17 WW2 convoy to Russia.
    Can you imagine trying to pitch the reassembler...

    so what I want to do is take apart a well known item, then film me putting it back together...

    And then what...

    well thats it...

    And this will be like a 1 min speeded up short that is popular on social media...

    no, 30 mins....
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 53,972

    chestnut said:

    HYUFD said:

    Thatcher making the exact same argument as Dave. The EC stops another world war.

    Thatcher happily supported the EEC and the Common Market, she did not support the EU
    1975.

    Soviet Union and NATO pointing hundreds or thousands of nuclear warheads at each other.

    Obviously, it was the EEC that kept the peace. :smiley:
    And the West didn't prevail because our warheads were shinier but because our political and economic system was stronger. Not a bad result for the EEC.
    Actually is was because of the USA mostly being much more economically strong than the USSR,
    No doubt, but the front line was Europe. If the Western European countries had not made a demonstrable success of their societies and their economies, we would not have made it from 1945 to 1989 with Western unity in tact. You have to give some credit to the EEC.
    No, many countries in that western capitalist pact were not in the EU.
    The most important - West Germany, France, Italy and later the UK were.
  • Moses_Moses_ Posts: 4,865
    Gonna be a landslide for Remain now

    Eddie Izzard Joins Calls To Reject Brexit
    The comedian backs Remain during the South Bank Sky Arts Awards ceremony.

    http://news.sky.com/story/1707379/eddie-izzard-joins-calls-to-reject-brexit
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 64,703
    welshowl said:

    SeanT said:
    Oh goody. There's some of us really want a lower Pound and higher interest rates - seriously.
    Not just before the Summer holidays and of course it will play into remain's rising mortgage rates narrative
  • PeterCPeterC Posts: 1,275
    BBC Parliamentb channel superb blockbuster on 1975 EEC Referendum. Benn vs Jenkins on Panorama - the debate is vastly superior to the nonsense we have had this year.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 62,046
    SeanT said:

    welshowl said:

    EPG said:

    Don't laugh immediately, but Britain needs to have more referendums.

    Swiss and Irish have referendums all the time about European and other topics, and they don't seem to get as bitter. Maybe people accept that they will often be on the opposite side to friends and colleagues.

    There's a lot in that. And there's a well-accepted tradition that strong losers get concessions - e.g. after 40% voted to abolish the armed forces, the Government acknowledged the concern by reducing the military budget.

    Presumably the equivalent would be if a Brexit government followed a narrow win by becoming closely aligned through the EEA, or Cameron won and announced a programme of robust scepticism.

    The other charm of the Swiss system is that it gives small or extreme groups something constructive to do, since the tradition is that every proposal is considered on its merits, not on whether you like the proponents. For instance, the Basel Communist Party (vote share less than 0.5%) successfully got a proposal through to halt further development of inner-city car parks on environmental grounds.

    By the way, enjoyed Benedict on the last thread arguing that George Galloway's motivation for supporting Leave is his passion for democracy. You sure about that?
    Yes I agree. I think the lack of any kind of referendum on "Europe" for over 40 years is a major driver of Leave's passion. I think personally having one on the Lisbon treaty would've served us all well. There would be less call to have this one at all, and less "this is our only chance in a lifetime" about it for Leavers (which perversely might've helped Remain). Whatever happens it would do the winning side well to note that the other side had sincerely held views that should be taken into account in terms of maybe not leaving too far if Leave win and not integrating any further should Remain win, assuming it is pretty close either way which looks likely ( further opinion polling disasters as a caveat).
    Absolutely right. All this sturm und drang could have been avoided if europhiles (like NPXMP) hadn't been such a bunch of devious shits, and had given us a referendum earlier, as they so often promised to do.

    We could have kicked the Lisbon Treaty into touch and the EU might have reformed in a more democratic manner.
    Interesting that Mr. Palmer commends referenda (Swiss style) downthread but, IIRC, had all sorts of reasons why we couldn't have one on the Lisbon Treaty back in 2008-2009.
  • Tim_BTim_B Posts: 7,669

    Tim_B said:

    Reply timb

    Recently May even made putting together an old lawnmower from component parts interesting...the reassembler series sounded like it should be like watching paint dry, but was actually really good & all down to how good May was.

    He also did some cooking stuff on youtube. He has talent, no doubt about it. I enjoyed his wine show with Oz Clarke too.
    The wine programme was pretty funny...two middle aged men getting sloshed around France.
    - and May with his wine bullshit whistle when Oz got carried away about bouquet, nose etc
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 126,015
    Moses_ said:

    Gonna be a landslide for Remain now

    Eddie Izzard Joins Calls To Reject Brexit
    The comedian backs Remain during the South Bank Sky Arts Awards ceremony.

    http://news.sky.com/story/1707379/eddie-izzard-joins-calls-to-reject-brexit

    Well he did back the winning side in indyref!
  • Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453

    Can you imagine trying to pitch the reassembler...

    so what I want to do is take apart a well known item, then film me putting it back together...

    And then what...

    well thats it...

    And this will be like a 1 min speeded up short that is popular on social media...

    no, 30 mins....

    What items?

    Quintessential English things, rotary telephone, lawnmower, cheap knock-off electric guitar...
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 64,703
    Moses_ said:

    Gonna be a landslide for Remain now

    Eddie Izzard Joins Calls To Reject Brexit
    The comedian backs Remain during the South Bank Sky Arts Awards ceremony.

    http://news.sky.com/story/1707379/eddie-izzard-joins-calls-to-reject-brexit

    He was surprisingly good in his interview, I didn't realise he is so into politics
  • BenedictWhiteBenedictWhite Posts: 1,944

    chestnut said:

    HYUFD said:

    Thatcher making the exact same argument as Dave. The EC stops another world war.

    Thatcher happily supported the EEC and the Common Market, she did not support the EU
    1975.

    Soviet Union and NATO pointing hundreds or thousands of nuclear warheads at each other.

    Obviously, it was the EEC that kept the peace. :smiley:
    And the West didn't prevail because our warheads were shinier but because our political and economic system was stronger. Not a bad result for the EEC.
    Actually is was because of the USA mostly being much more economically strong than the USSR,
    No doubt, but the front line was Europe. If the Western European countries had not made a demonstrable success of their societies and their economies, we would not have made it from 1945 to 1989 with Western unity in tact. You have to give some credit to the EEC.
    No, many countries in that western capitalist pact were not in the EU.
    The most important - West Germany, France, Italy and later the UK were.
    The thing that was shown was that capitalism worked. That didn't require the EEC.
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,633
    edited June 2016
    welshowl said:

    SeanT said:
    Oh goody. There's some of us really want a lower Pound and higher interest rates - seriously.
    Indeed. Why does everybody think it's always borrowers/spenders that we have to be concerned about?

    There ARE actually savers though you wouldn't think it from the way policy makers behave...
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 62,046
    welshowl said:

    SeanT said:
    Oh goody. There's some of us really want a lower Pound and higher interest rates - seriously.
    I honestly don't understand this obsession with the value of the pound.

    We have a free-floating currency. It goes up, it goes down. It was mildly irritating when it sank close to parity with the euro in the 2008-2010 period, and I went to France for a mini-break and had to pay a few more cents for my croissant, but it also helped make our exports cheaper and our economy recover more quickly.

    So does it really matter?
  • EPGEPG Posts: 6,726
    PeterC said:

    BBC Parliamentb channel superb blockbuster on 1975 EEC Referendum. Benn vs Jenkins on Panorama - the debate is vastly superior to the nonsense we have had this year.

    Stupid arguments based on fear win elections. GE 2015. You can't blame politicians for trying to win.
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,633
  • Reply timb

    Recently May even made putting together an old lawnmower from component parts interesting...the reassembler series sounded like it should be like watching paint dry, but was actually really good & all down to how good May was.

    May was the lynchpin that held it together
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 126,015

    HYUFD said:

    SeanT said:

    PlatoSaid said:
    Brilliant from Boris. Unfortunately, that is also what I expect to happen, right down to Juncker's extra glass of champagne.

    REMAIN will narrowly win, then the EU will carry on grinding our democracy into dust, and the people will feel ashamed and remorseful, and they will take their revenge on Cameron and Osborne. It will be like the Scots post indyref, but much much worse, as the Scots, at least, got more powers following NO. We will have more powers taken away from us following IN.

    I do not see how REMAINIANS can possibly avoid this. The only hope for them - as career politicians - is that they lose.
    Yes, I expect a UKIP poll lead by September if Remain scrape home
    I'd offer you a bet on that, but I couldn't bear to take your money.
    I wouldn't bet much on it but there is a distinct possibility at least 1 poll, maybe yougov, has figures something like UKIP 30%, Tories 27%, Labour 25%, LD 5% if Leave voters wish to signal their anger
  • BenedictWhiteBenedictWhite Posts: 1,944

    Moses_ said:

    Gonna be a landslide for Remain now

    Eddie Izzard Joins Calls To Reject Brexit
    The comedian backs Remain during the South Bank Sky Arts Awards ceremony.

    http://news.sky.com/story/1707379/eddie-izzard-joins-calls-to-reject-brexit

    He was surprisingly good in his interview, I didn't realise he is so into politics
    Have you been living under a rock?
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 53,972

    Reply timb

    Recently May even made putting together an old lawnmower from component parts interesting...the reassembler series sounded like it should be like watching paint dry, but was actually really good & all down to how good May was.

    May was the lynchpin that held it together
    The government would be lost without her. Oh, you mean Top Gear...
  • Tim_BTim_B Posts: 7,669

    Reply timb

    Recently May even made putting together an old lawnmower from component parts interesting...the reassembler series sounded like it should be like watching paint dry, but was actually really good & all down to how good May was.

    May was the lynchpin that held it together
    The government would be lost without her. Oh, you mean Top Gear...
    Of course - only major topics discussed on here ;)
  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 33,078

    Moses_ said:

    Gonna be a landslide for Remain now

    Eddie Izzard Joins Calls To Reject Brexit
    The comedian backs Remain during the South Bank Sky Arts Awards ceremony.

    http://news.sky.com/story/1707379/eddie-izzard-joins-calls-to-reject-brexit

    He was surprisingly good in his interview, I didn't realise he is so into politics
    How can you not have known that? He has being at the forefront of just about every failed political campaign of the last decade. I think the only one he was on the sinning side for was Scotland. I am hoping he keeps up his almost perfect record.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 53,972

    Moses_ said:

    Gonna be a landslide for Remain now

    Eddie Izzard Joins Calls To Reject Brexit
    The comedian backs Remain during the South Bank Sky Arts Awards ceremony.

    http://news.sky.com/story/1707379/eddie-izzard-joins-calls-to-reject-brexit

    He was surprisingly good in his interview, I didn't realise he is so into politics
    How can you not have known that? He has being at the forefront of just about every failed political campaign of the last decade. I think the only one he was on the sinning side for was Scotland. I am hoping he keeps up his almost perfect record.
    That's too good to have been a typo! :)
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 64,703

    Moses_ said:

    Gonna be a landslide for Remain now

    Eddie Izzard Joins Calls To Reject Brexit
    The comedian backs Remain during the South Bank Sky Arts Awards ceremony.

    http://news.sky.com/story/1707379/eddie-izzard-joins-calls-to-reject-brexit

    He was surprisingly good in his interview, I didn't realise he is so into politics
    Have you been living under a rock?
    Probably - not into celebrities or similar
  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 33,078

    chestnut said:

    HYUFD said:

    Thatcher making the exact same argument as Dave. The EC stops another world war.

    Thatcher happily supported the EEC and the Common Market, she did not support the EU
    1975.

    Soviet Union and NATO pointing hundreds or thousands of nuclear warheads at each other.

    Obviously, it was the EEC that kept the peace. :smiley:
    And the West didn't prevail because our warheads were shinier but because our political and economic system was stronger. Not a bad result for the EEC.
    Actually is was because of the USA mostly being much more economically strong than the USSR,
    No doubt, but the front line was Europe. If the Western European countries had not made a demonstrable success of their societies and their economies, we would not have made it from 1945 to 1989 with Western unity in tact. You have to give some credit to the EEC.
    No, many countries in that western capitalist pact were not in the EU.
    The most important - West Germany, France, Italy and later the UK were.
    The USA, Canada and Norway?
  • MarkSeniorMarkSenior Posts: 4,699
    edited June 2016

    welshowl said:

    SeanT said:
    Oh goody. There's some of us really want a lower Pound and higher interest rates - seriously.
    I honestly don't understand this obsession with the value of the pound.

    We have a free-floating currency. It goes up, it goes down. It was mildly irritating when it sank close to parity with the euro in the 2008-2010 period, and I went to France for a mini-break and had to pay a few more cents for my croissant, but it also helped make our exports cheaper and our economy recover more quickly.

    So does it really matter?

    It also makes all our necessary imports such as food and things we no longer make like steel and ships and coal more expensive so of course it matters .
    It does mean the pound in your pocket is worth less .
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,923

    Moses_ said:

    Gonna be a landslide for Remain now

    Eddie Izzard Joins Calls To Reject Brexit
    The comedian backs Remain during the South Bank Sky Arts Awards ceremony.

    http://news.sky.com/story/1707379/eddie-izzard-joins-calls-to-reject-brexit

    He was surprisingly good in his interview, I didn't realise he is so into politics
    You are joking right? In 2020, it will be Eddie Izzard MP...
  • edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,716
    SeanT said:

    welshowl said:

    EPG said:

    Don't laugh immediately, but Britain needs to have more referendums.

    Swiss and Irish have referendums all the time about European and other topics, and they don't seem to get as bitter. Maybe people accept that they will often be on the opposite side to friends and colleagues.

    There's a lot in that. And there's a well-accepted tradition that strong losers get concessions - e.g. after 40% voted to abolish the armed forces, the Government acknowledged the concern by reducing the military budget.

    Presumably the equivalent would be if a Brexit government followed a narrow win by becoming closely aligned through the EEA, or Cameron won and announced a programme of robust scepticism.

    The other charm of the Swiss system is that it gives small or extreme groups something constructive to do, since the tradition is that every proposal is considered on its merits, not on whether you like the proponents. For instance, the Basel Communist Party (vote share less than 0.5%) successfully got a proposal through to halt further development of inner-city car parks on environmental grounds.

    By the way, enjoyed Benedict on the last thread arguing that George Galloway's motivation for supporting Leave is his passion for democracy. You sure about that?
    Yes I agree. I think the lack of any kind of referendum on "Europe" for over 40 years is a major driver of Leave's passion. I think personally having one on the Lisbon treaty would've served us all well. There would be less call to have this one at all, and less "this is our only chance in a lifetime" about it for Leavers (which perversely might've helped Remain). Whatever happens it would do the winning side well to note that the other side had sincerely held views that should be taken into account in terms of maybe not leaving too far if Leave win and not integrating any further should Remain win, assuming it is pretty close either way which looks likely ( further opinion polling disasters as a caveat).
    Absolutely right. All this sturm und drang could have been avoided if europhiles (like NPXMP) hadn't been such a bunch of devious shits, and had given us a referendum earlier, as they so often promised to do.

    We could have kicked the Lisbon Treaty into touch and the EU might have reformed in a more democratic manner.
    Specifically what democratic reform do you think you'd have got by killing the Lisbon Treaty?
  • perdixperdix Posts: 1,806
    PlatoSaid said:
    "Campaign for Conservative Democracy". Recycling old complaints, nothing new here, always hated Cameron. Joke self-appointed "grassroots outfit".

  • BenedictWhiteBenedictWhite Posts: 1,944

    Moses_ said:

    Gonna be a landslide for Remain now

    Eddie Izzard Joins Calls To Reject Brexit
    The comedian backs Remain during the South Bank Sky Arts Awards ceremony.

    http://news.sky.com/story/1707379/eddie-izzard-joins-calls-to-reject-brexit

    He was surprisingly good in his interview, I didn't realise he is so into politics
    Have you been living under a rock?
    Probably - not into celebrities or similar
    If you follow politics you can't have failed to notice him pop up for every lefty cause going, I am not into celebrities also.
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