The main issue here in Scotland is that Corbyn has absolutely nothing whatsoever to offer on the constitutional issue, and for many voters that is still very much live. Owen Smith hinted at this in his Newsnight interview (even though he had no solution to offer either).
If any of them could get their act together to propose something - ANYTHING - other than the status quo for the Union, then voters might consider that they were worth listening to.
(Of course I'm old enough to remember that we were assured Corbyn would 'win back Scotland' when he was elected last September. How we laughed.)
What more do you expect Labour to offer Scotland in constitutional terms? Independence perhaps? If they believed in that there would be nothing to differentiate them from the SNP. Moreover the people of Scotland have already spoken on that issue.
Cracking, I'm sure voters will be rushing on 'home' to Labour then. As everything's sorted.
What would you suggest?
That's Labour's problem, not mine.
They possibly need to develop a Union or bust stance and stick to it as one, instead of dipping their toes in the water of Indyref2/briefing against either other and then running away again. It gives the impression that they want to switch horses, but are being run from London, which is the thing that weakens them most here.
They seemed to start some exploration of full federalism, but that has gone nowhere.
But as has already been outlined in full here, they're in a position where they're scrapping over 50% Unionist votes with Tories/LDs and saying nothing different to give people a reason to think they have any fresh thinking.
Over time I expect the 50% Unionist vote to drift back to more like 60%.
No one can know that - and who knows how long Scottish Labour can hold themselves together? They are in an even worse state than Labour at a UK level, internally. They have few resources to fight the council elections in May, where they are likely to take another drubbing, followed by the left attempting to oust Dugdale. They aren't even anywhere near the bottom in Scotland yet.
I am pretty sure I made these points on the last thread. The further point I made was such results are completely inconsistent with Corbyn winning in Scotland. How far out of London do the Corbynistas reach? Luton?
The main issue here in Scotland is that Corbyn has absolutely nothing whatsoever to offer on the constitutional issue
...or indeed any other issue of substance.
Well quite - he's been leader for a year and has he actually produced much of a policy on anything? Anything which could even I suppose be classified as a policy (eg. rail renationalisation) is really more of a "principle" than a "policy" unless there is some work showing how he actually intends to implement it.
Richard Murphy provides a shambolic inside expose of Corbyn's policy making here:
Concluding: "If Jeremy and John had known what they were doing these impasses would not have happened. The impression left is that they have created a movement that hates what’s happening in the world and can get really angry about it, but then has not a clue what to do about it."
That's pretty damning. Has it got wider coverage anywhere?
I am pretty sure I made these points on the last thread. The further point I made was such results are completely inconsistent with Corbyn winning in Scotland. How far out of London do the Corbynistas reach? Luton?
Not even Dagenham.
Damn - I was going to say they were still in power in Brighton and Hove, albeit they are called Greens there, but turns out the Greens are not the largest party in the People's Republic anymore.
I have not posted much recently as I am enjoying being a converted Brexiteer and will watch with interest as the issue plays out but labour wanting to campaign to remain is evidence of their complete inability to change to meet the demands of an ever changing political climate and they have become wholly irrelevant, which is sad for democracy.
I am on holiday with my family and grandchildren in Tuscany and we visited the leaning Tower of Pisa today in temperatures of 90+ but the noticeable change was the military presence and security scanning of all visitors to the Tower. It is a sad commentary on our times but very necessary.
Italy seems quite impoverished and we returned to Viareggio where we had stayed 30 years ago with our children and it seemed quite sad with closed hotels and virtually empty beaches. The Italians were wonderful with families and children and remain so as does their dreadful driving. Our family have had many happy holidays in Italy over the years and hope things start to look up for them
The sooner they leave the euro the better. They need to take their medicine now or face a long slow decline. Sad, they have (or had?) a decent manufacturing base I believe.
Plenty of people still buy Fiats and Ferraris and Lamborghinis
Not enough, unemployment is 12%!
Most of that is in the South which has historically always been the poorest area of the country. Northern Italy is much wealthier and Bolzano in the Tyrol is amongst the top 20 wealthiest regions in Europe http://www.errin.eu/sites/default/files/1-21032013-AP-EN.PDF
Theresa May is under growing pressure from Liam Fox, the trade secretary, to pull out of the EU customs union, a move required to facilitate post-Brexit bilateral trade deals but which would impose costs on exporters and could strain Anglo-Irish relations.
The issue is looming as a battleground in discussions over whether the UK will pursue a “hard” or “soft” Brexit. It will have to be resolved before London triggers Article 50, the starting gun for withdrawal negotiations with the EU.
I have not posted much recently as I am enjoying being a converted Brexiteer and will watch with interest as the issue plays out but labour wanting to campaign to remain is evidence of their complete inability to change to meet the demands of an ever changing political climate and they have become wholly irrelevant, which is sad for democracy.
I am on holiday with my family and grandchildren in Tuscany and we visited the leaning Tower of Pisa today in temperatures of 90+ but the noticeable change was the military presence and security scanning of all visitors to the Tower. It is a sad commentary on our times but very necessary.
Italy seems quite impoverished and we returned to Viareggio where we had stayed 30 years ago with our children and it seemed quite sad with closed hotels and virtually empty beaches. The Italians were wonderful with families and children and remain so as does their dreadful driving. Our family have had many happy holidays in Italy over the years and hope things start to look up for them
The sooner they leave the euro the better. They need to take their medicine now or face a long slow decline. Sad, they have (or had?) a decent manufacturing base I believe.
Southern Italy is one of the poorest places in the whole of Europe. Parts of the South - Sicily and the like - have unemployment rates north of 20%, with appalling levels of crime, and the vast bulk of economic activity involves working for the government or extracting bribes from EU structural development funds. Of the 40 companies in the MIB index, four are based in Rome, the other 36 are in the North of the country. (And the four based in Rome are all there because they were privatisations of government businesses.)
Germany has done a great job dealing with massive regional differences. Italy has done an appalling one.
We covered the Italian north - south divide in O Level geography back in 1983. No change in a third of a century. I got a B, by the way.
I have not posted much recently as I am enjoying being a converted Brexiteer and will watch with interest as the issue plays out but labour wanting to campaign to remain is evidence of their complete inability to change to meet the demands of an ever changing political climate and they have become wholly irrelevant, which is sad for democracy.
I am on holiday with my family and grandchildren in Tuscany and we visited the leaning Tower of Pisa today in temperatures of 90+ but the noticeable change was the military presence and security scanning of all visitors to the Tower. It is a sad commentary on our times but very necessary.
Italy seems quite impoverished and we returned to Viareggio where we had stayed 30 years ago with our children and it seemed quite sad with closed hotels and virtually empty beaches. The Italians were wonderful with families and children and remain so as does their dreadful driving. Our family have had many happy holidays in Italy over the years and hope things start to look up for them
The sooner they leave the euro the better. They need to take their medicine now or face a long slow decline. Sad, they have (or had?) a decent manufacturing base I believe.
Southern Italy is one of the poorest places in the whole of Europe. Parts of the South - Sicily and the like - have unemployment rates north of 20%, with appalling levels of crime, and the vast bulk of economic activity involves working for the government or extracting bribes from EU structural development funds. Of the 40 companies in the MIB index, four are based in Rome, the other 36 are in the North of the country. (And the four based in Rome are all there because they were privatisations of government businesses.)
Germany has done a great job dealing with massive regional differences. Italy has done an appalling one.
Isn't that because of a fear of large earthquakes in the south, insurance costs must be high if it is covered (act of god), but yes they also have had bad government as well, but its not like the U.K doesn't have huge differences in regional GDP, we badly need to balance our economy.
Dem Convention highlights on BBC Parliament now, Elizabeth Warren (introduced by Congressman Joseph P Kennedy, Bobby's grandson) giving quite a good, fluid performance if economically illiterate. Bill Clinton looking a bit moody, though he did applaud Michelle Obama earlier
I'm infuriated by decent speakers (e.g. Warren) being heckled by BernieBro kidults. What a bunch of pillocks.
There is a bit of Berniebot background noise but Warren's message, anti Wall Street and tax breaks for millionaires, anti division of Ohio workers and Hispanic workers etc was pretty similar to what Sanders was saying
They seemed to be way too near the mikes at the start of Elizabeth Warren's speech, but were hushed by more sensible types as she got going.
Indeed, Bernie now speaking on BBC Parliament who was clearly who they were really waiting for
Theresa May is under growing pressure from Liam Fox, the trade secretary, to pull out of the EU customs union, a move required to facilitate post-Brexit bilateral trade deals but which would impose costs on exporters and could strain Anglo-Irish relations.
The issue is looming as a battleground in discussions over whether the UK will pursue a “hard” or “soft” Brexit. It will have to be resolved before London triggers Article 50, the starting gun for withdrawal negotiations with the EU.
I'm a little surprised May would not have come to a conclusion about what to go for and that Fox would have insisted upon knowing that prior to accepting his position.
Conflict News SUMMARY: What we know about the execution of a priest in Normandy, France today. https://t.co/ylbf8uV8dU
From that summary / brother connection, the second attacker likely to have been well known to the authorities. I wonder why they are only naming one of them publicly? I am presuming there is a particular reason in this case.
I have not posted much recently as I am enjoying being a converted Brexiteer and will watch with interest as the issue plays out but labour wanting to campaign to remain is evidence of their complete inability to change to meet the demands of an ever changing political climate and they have become wholly irrelevant, which is sad for democracy.
I am on holiday with my family and grandchildren in Tuscany and we visited the leaning Tower of Pisa today in temperatures of 90+ but the noticeable change was the military presence and security scanning of all visitors to the Tower. It is a sad commentary on our times but very necessary.
Italy seems quite impoverished and we returned to Viareggio where we had stayed 30 years ago with our children and it seemed quite sad with closed hotels and virtually empty beaches. The Italians were wonderful with families and children and remain so as does their dreadful driving. Our family have had many happy holidays in Italy over the years and hope things start to look up for them
The sooner they leave the euro the better. They need to take their medicine now or face a long slow decline. Sad, they have (or had?) a decent manufacturing base I believe.
Southern Italy is one of the poorest places in the whole of Europe. Parts of the South - Sicily and the like - have unemployment rates north of 20%, with appalling levels of crime, and the vast bulk of economic activity involves working for the government or extracting bribes from EU structural development funds. Of the 40 companies in the MIB index, four are based in Rome, the other 36 are in the North of the country. (And the four based in Rome are all there because they were privatisations of government businesses.)
Germany has done a great job dealing with massive regional differences. Italy has done an appalling one.
Isn't that because of a fear of large earthquakes in the south, insurance costs must be high if it is covered (act of god), but yes they also have had bad government as well, but its not like the U.K doesn't have huge differences in regional GDP, we badly need to balance our economy.
There are other 'insurance' costs to factor in in the south too...
Theresa May is under growing pressure from Liam Fox, the trade secretary, to pull out of the EU customs union, a move required to facilitate post-Brexit bilateral trade deals but which would impose costs on exporters and could strain Anglo-Irish relations.
The issue is looming as a battleground in discussions over whether the UK will pursue a “hard” or “soft” Brexit. It will have to be resolved before London triggers Article 50, the starting gun for withdrawal negotiations with the EU.
I'm a little surprised May would not have come to a conclusion about what to go for and that Fox would have insisted upon knowing that prior to accepting his position.
I reckon that's why she made Boris Foreign Secretary, he's a soft Brexiteer
Theresa May is under growing pressure from Liam Fox, the trade secretary, to pull out of the EU customs union, a move required to facilitate post-Brexit bilateral trade deals but which would impose costs on exporters and could strain Anglo-Irish relations.
The issue is looming as a battleground in discussions over whether the UK will pursue a “hard” or “soft” Brexit. It will have to be resolved before London triggers Article 50, the starting gun for withdrawal negotiations with the EU.
I'm a little surprised May would not have come to a conclusion about what to go for and that Fox would have insisted upon knowing that prior to accepting his position.
I reckon that's why she made Boris Foreign Secretary, he's a soft Brexiteer
Fox is all bluff and bluster, let him make a stand and resign again... pah..
Conflict News SUMMARY: What we know about the execution of a priest in Normandy, France today. https://t.co/ylbf8uV8dU
You begin to see the logic of Israels policy of dynamiting the family home of anyone who does this. (even if they lived at their parents or grandparents home)
In a European context confiscation of it without compensation would I guess be the equivalent.
Things like this as well as large scale internment and deportations could soon be on the agenda alas (as parties scramble to keep power and not lose it to the sort of people who round ten of the perpetrators relatives up and execute them pour l'encouragement des autres).
In the end the first job of a government is to keep the peace. If they cannot do that then the people will vote in nasty violent people who will keep it with an iron fist. If there is not civil peace then nothing else matters significantly to people until there is again.
Theresa May is under growing pressure from Liam Fox, the trade secretary, to pull out of the EU customs union, a move required to facilitate post-Brexit bilateral trade deals but which would impose costs on exporters and could strain Anglo-Irish relations.
The issue is looming as a battleground in discussions over whether the UK will pursue a “hard” or “soft” Brexit. It will have to be resolved before London triggers Article 50, the starting gun for withdrawal negotiations with the EU.
I'm a little surprised May would not have come to a conclusion about what to go for and that Fox would have insisted upon knowing that prior to accepting his position.
I reckon that's why she made Boris Foreign Secretary, he's a soft Brexiteer
What about Davis as Brexit Secretary, isn't he a Hard Brexiteer?
Conspiracy theory - the Hard Brexiteers will get frustrated and threaten to flounce out, May will have Boris lead the argument against them and subsume Brexit department into the Foreign Office once she beats the Hard Brexiteers
I have not posted much recently as I am enjoying being a converted Brexiteer and will watch with interest as the issue plays out but labour wanting to campaign to remain is evidence of their complete inability to change to meet the demands of an ever changing political climate and they have become wholly irrelevant, which is sad for democracy.
I am on holiday with my family and grandchildren in Tuscany and we visited the leaning Tower of Pisa today in temperatures of 90+ but the noticeable change was the military presence and security scanning of all visitors to the Tower. It is a sad commentary on our times but very necessary.
Italy seems quite impoverished and we returned to Viareggio where we had stayed 30 years ago with our children and it seemed quite sad with closed hotels and virtually empty beaches. The Italians were wonderful with families and children and remain so as does their dreadful driving. Our family have had many happy holidays in Italy over the years and hope things start to look up for them
The sooner they leave the euro the better. They need to take their medicine now or face a long slow decline. Sad, they have (or had?) a decent manufacturing base I believe.
Southern Italy is one of the poorest places in the whole of Europe. Parts of the South - Sicily and the like - have unemployment rates north of 20%, with appalling levels of crime, and the vast bulk of economic activity involves working for the government or extracting bribes from EU structural development funds. Of the 40 companies in the MIB index, four are based in Rome, the other 36 are in the North of the country. (And the four based in Rome are all there because they were privatisations of government businesses.)
Germany has done a great job dealing with massive regional differences. Italy has done an appalling one.
Isn't that because of a fear of large earthquakes in the south, insurance costs must be high if it is covered (act of god), but yes they also have had bad government as well, but its not like the U.K doesn't have huge differences in regional GDP, we badly need to balance our economy.
It's not because of earthquakes! Otherwise Los Angeles and San Francisco would be poor, and Alabama would be rich.
It's poor government, and an unwillingness to confront local criminal movements. Simply, it's a terrible place to do business.
Conflict News SUMMARY: What we know about the execution of a priest in Normandy, France today. https://t.co/ylbf8uV8dU
You begin to see the logic of Israels policy of dynamiting the family home of anyone who does this. (even if they lived at their parents or grandparents home)
In a European context confiscation of it without compensation would I guess be the equivalent.
Things like this as well as large scale internment and deportations could soon be on the agenda alas (as parties scramble to keep power and not lose it to the sort of people who round ten of the perpetrators relatives up and execute them pour l'encouragement des autres).
In the end the first job of a government is to keep the peace. If they cannot do that then the people will vote in nasty violent people who will keep it with an iron fist. If there is not civil peace then nothing else matters significantly to people until there is again.
I never really understood that Israeli policy. I would imagine in Europe you would get groups buying the family replacements.
Conflict News SUMMARY: What we know about the execution of a priest in Normandy, France today. https://t.co/ylbf8uV8dU
From that summary / brother connection, the second attacker likely to have been well known to the authorities. I wonder why they are only naming one of them publicly? I am presuming there is a particular reason in this case.
Conflict News GERMANY: IS claim that Ansbach bomber joined ISI (Islamic State of Iraq) before 2011, then returned to Aleppo in #Syria. - @jenanmoussa
Theresa May is under growing pressure from Liam Fox, the trade secretary, to pull out of the EU customs union, a move required to facilitate post-Brexit bilateral trade deals but which would impose costs on exporters and could strain Anglo-Irish relations.
The issue is looming as a battleground in discussions over whether the UK will pursue a “hard” or “soft” Brexit. It will have to be resolved before London triggers Article 50, the starting gun for withdrawal negotiations with the EU.
I'm a little surprised May would not have come to a conclusion about what to go for and that Fox would have insisted upon knowing that prior to accepting his position.
I reckon that's why she made Boris Foreign Secretary, he's a soft Brexiteer
What about Davis as Brexit Secretary, isn't he a Hard Brexiteer?
Conspiracy theory - the Hard Brexiteers will get frustrated and threaten to flounce out, May will have Boris lead the argument against them and subsume Brexit department into the Foreign Office once she beats the Hard Brexiteers
Yup. I suspect the fault line for the Tory Party will be on those lines.
I suspect the framing will be good for the economy vs Freedom!
Conflict News SUMMARY: What we know about the execution of a priest in Normandy, France today. https://t.co/ylbf8uV8dU
From that summary / brother connection, the second attacker likely to have been well known to the authorities. I wonder why they are only naming one of them publicly? I am presuming there is a particular reason in this case.
Conflict News GERMANY: IS claim that Ansbach bomber joined ISI (Islamic State of Iraq) before 2011, then returned to Aleppo in #Syria. - @jenanmoussa
I would think we have to take that with a huge pinch of salt as it is coming from IS.
I have not posted much recently as I am enjoying being a converted Brexiteer and will watch with interest as the issue plays out but labour wanting to campaign to remain is evidence of their complete inability to change to meet the demands of an ever changing political climate and they have become wholly irrelevant, which is sad for democracy.
I am on holiday with my family and grandchildren in Tuscany and we visited the leaning Tower of Pisa today in temperatures of 90+ but the noticeable change was the military presence and security scanning of all visitors to the Tower. It is a sad commentary on our times but very necessary.
Italy seems quite impoverished and we returned to Viareggio where we had stay Italy has more problems than just the Euro.
Northern Italy is one of the richest places in the whole of Europe. Unemployment in parts of the North is as low as 3.8%! (S Southern Italy is one of the poorest places in the whole of Europe. Parts of the South - Sicily and the like - have unemployment rates north of 20%, with appalling levels of crime, and the vast bulk of economic activity involves working for the government or extracting bribes from EU structural development funds. Of the 40 companies in the MIB index, four are based in Rome, the other 36 are in the North of the country. (And the four based in Rome are all there because they were privatisations of government businesses.)
Germany has done a great job dealing with massive regional differences. Italy has done an appalling one.
Isn't that because of a fear of large earthquakes in the south, insurance costs must be high if it is covered (act of god), but yes they also have had bad government as well, but its not like the U.K doesn't have huge differences in regional GDP, we badly need to balance our economy.
It's not because of earthquakes! Otherwise Los Angeles and San Francisco would be poor, and Alabama would be rich.
It's poor government, and an unwillingness to confront local criminal movements. Simply, it's a terrible place to do business.
Theresa May is under growing pressure from Liam Fox, the trade secretary, to pull out of the EU customs union, a move required to facilitate post-Brexit bilateral trade deals but which would impose costs on exporters and could strain Anglo-Irish relations.
The issue is looming as a battleground in discussions over whether the UK will pursue a “hard” or “soft” Brexit. It will have to be resolved before London triggers Article 50, the starting gun for withdrawal negotiations with the EU.
I'm a little surprised May would not have come to a conclusion about what to go for and that Fox would have insisted upon knowing that prior to accepting his position.
I reckon that's why she made Boris Foreign Secretary, he's a soft Brexiteer
What about Davis as Brexit Secretary, isn't he a Hard Brexiteer?
Conspiracy theory - the Hard Brexiteers will get frustrated and threaten to flounce out, May will have Boris lead the argument against them and subsume Brexit department into the Foreign Office once she beats the Hard Brexiteers
Occam's razor please. She put the soft Brexiteer in the FCO Gladhanding department and put the hard Brexiteer in the EU facing position. This implies that Mrs May is a hard Brexiteer herself. Perhaps 'Brexit means Brexit' is meant to be taken at face value.
I have not posted much recently as I am enjoying being a converted Brexiteer and will watch with interest as the issue plays out but labour wanting to campaign to remain is evidence of their complete inability to change to meet the demands of an ever changing political climate and they have become wholly irrelevant, which is sad for democracy.
I am on holiday with my family and grandchildren in Tuscany and we visited the leaning Tower of Pisa today in temperatures of 90+ but the noticeable change was the military presence and security scanning of all visitors to the Tower. It is a sad commentary on our times but very necessary.
Italy seems quite impoverished and we returned to Viareggio where we had stayed 30 years ago with our children and it seemed quite sad with closed hotels and virtually empty beaches. The Italians were wonderful with families and children and remain so as does their dreadful driving. Our family have had many happy holidays in Italy over the years and hope things start to look up for them
The sooner they leave the euro the better. They need to take their medicine now or face a long slow decline. Sad, they have (or had?) a decent manufacturing base I believe.
Southern Italy is one of the poorest places in the whole of Europe. Parts of the South - Sicily and the like - have unemployment rates north of 20%, with appalling levels of crime, and the vast bulk of economic activity involves working for the government or extracting bribes from EU structural development funds. Of the 40 companies in the MIB index, four are based in Rome, the other 36 are in the North of the country. (And the four based in Rome are all there because they were privatisations of government businesses.)
Germany has done a great job dealing with massive regional differences. Italy has done an appalling one.
We covered the Italian north - south divide in O Level geography back in 1983. No change in a third of a century. I got a B, by the way.
No change in a millenium perhaps! As an Italian friend from Bari said to me "Milan is a southern suburb of Paris, Naples a northern suburb of Cairo"
As understand it California is rather hand tied in what it can do because things like changes to main tax raising avenues all require a public referendum, which they know they will never pass.
Image if the CoE here couldn't alter VAT or income tax or any thresholds in the budget without a public vote each year.
I have not posted much recently as I am enjoying being a converted Brexiteer and will watch with interest as the issue plays out but labour wanting to campaign to remain is evidence of their complete inability to change to meet the demands of an ever changing political climate and they have become wholly irrelevant, which is sad for democracy.
I am on holiday with my family and grandchildren in Tuscany and we visited the leaning Tower of Pisa today in temperatures of 90+ but the noticeable change was the military presence and security scanning of all visitors to the Tower. It is a sad commentary on our times but very necessary.
Italy seems quite impoverished and we returned to Viareggio where we had stayed 30 years ago with our children and it seemed quite sad with closed hotels and virtually empty beaches. The Italians were wonderful with families and children and remain so as does their dreadful driving. Our family have had many happy holidays in Italy over the years and hope things start to look up for them
The sooner they leave the euro the better. They need to take their medicine now or face a long slow decline. Sad, they have (or had?) a decent manufacturing base I believe.
Southern Italy is one of the poorest places in the whole of Europe. Parts of the South - Sicily and the like - have unemployment rates north of 20%, with appalling levels of crime, and the vast bulk of economic activity involves working for the government or extracting bribes from EU structural development funds. Of the 40 companies in the MIB index, four are based in Rome, the other 36 are in the North of the country. (And the four based in Rome are all there because they were privatisations of government businesses.)
Germany has done a great job dealing with massive regional differences. Italy has done an appalling one.
We covered the Italian north - south divide in O Level geography back in 1983. No change in a third of a century. I got a B, by the way.
No change in a millenium perhaps! As an Italian friend from Bari said to me "Milan is a southern suburb of Paris, Naples a northern suburb of Cairo"
The old gag is that Italy is Southern Germany plus Northern Africa.
Theresa May is under growing pressure from Liam Fox, the trade secretary, to pull out of the EU customs union, a move required to facilitate post-Brexit bilateral trade deals but which would impose costs on exporters and could strain Anglo-Irish relations.
The issue is looming as a battleground in discussions over whether the UK will pursue a “hard” or “soft” Brexit. It will have to be resolved before London triggers Article 50, the starting gun for withdrawal negotiations with the EU.
I'm a little surprised May would not have come to a conclusion about what to go for and that Fox would have insisted upon knowing that prior to accepting his position.
I reckon that's why she made Boris Foreign Secretary, he's a soft Brexiteer
What about Davis as Brexit Secretary, isn't he a Hard Brexiteer?
Conspiracy theory - the Hard Brexiteers will get frustrated and threaten to flounce out, May will have Boris lead the argument against them and subsume Brexit department into the Foreign Office once she beats the Hard Brexiteers
Occam's razor please. She put the soft Brexiteer in the FCO Gladhanding department and put the hard Brexiteer in the EU facing position. This implies that Mrs May is a hard Brexiteer herself. Perhaps 'Brexit means Brexit' is meant to be taken at face value.
I was joking, that's why I labelled it as a conspiracy. Part of May's honeymoon has been the quietening of the awkward squad and what seems like a return from some kippers, and I don't think she is interested in fighting that battle once her honeymoon period ends. I also think Boris will say or do anything, I don't believe he is committed to hard or soft Brexit. And since I don't think May would appoint Fox and Davis to key positions in the Brexit negotiations without backing their position, I think we'll end up with a medium to medium hard Brexit more than anything than can be called soft.
"You begin to see the logic of Israels policy of dynamiting the family home of anyone who does this. (even if they lived at their parents or grandparents home)" Er, no u don't, unless you want to debase your values to the level of the terrorists.
"The conceit that secular liberal democracy embodies an ideal that can transcend its origins in the specific cultural and religious traditions of Europe, and lay claim to a universal legitimacy, is one that has served the continent well. It has helped to heal the grievous wounds inflicted by the calamities of the first half of the twentieth century; to integrate large numbers of people from beyond the borders of Europe; and to provide a degree of equality for women and minorities. What do the sanguinary fantasies of either Breivik or of the jihadists who twice in 2015 brought carnage to the streets of Paris have that can compare? Only one thing, perhaps: a capacity to excite those who find the pieties of Europe’s liberal society boring. The more of these there are, the more—inevitably—the framework for behavior and governance that has prevailed in Western Europe since the end of the Second World War will come under strain. In question is whether the large numbers of migrants who have no familiarity with the norms of a secular and liberal society such as have evolved in a country like Germany will find them appealing enough to adopt; and whether native Europeans, confronted by a vast influx of people from a different cultural background, will themselves be tempted to abandon liberal values, and reach for a Holy Lance. "
That's a fascinating article, and I very much appreciate the link - thanks.
Tom Holland is a superb 'big picture' historian and author ('Rubicon' being one of my favourite ever history books) but I profoundly disagree with a comment at the end of the piece: "Today, though, in a Europe that has ceased to be Christendom, no ritual comparable to baptism exists—nor could possibly exist".
I would point out the 'Pledge of Allegiance' in the US. It has the benefit of church/state separation (although "Under God" was added in 1954, when it crept in as part of a reaction against 'godless' communism) and it benefits from being daily read and reaffirmed in schools (as opposed to a one-off baptism ritual), so that everyone growing up in the US is subtly and consistently programmed to be patriotic - no bad thing.
It was originally developed by a US Colonel who wanted to teach children - particularly children of immigrants - loyalty to the United States. Aside from the obvious resistance to such a pledge if introduced across Europe, there's nothing practical to prevent its adoption. It's certainly the mechanism Tom Holland is looking for, but he probably would find the removal of any explicit Christian reference objectionable.
I have not posted much recently as I am enjoying being a converted Brexiteer and will watch with interest as the issue plays out but labour wanting to campaign to remain is evidence of their complete inability to change to meet the demands of an ever changing political climate and they have become wholly irrelevant, which is sad for democracy.
The sooner they leave the euro the better. They need to take their medicine now or face a long slow decline. Sad, they have (or had?) a decent manufacturing base I believe.
Southern Italy is one of the poorest places in the whole of Europe. Parts of the South - Sicily and the like - have unemployment rates north of 20%, with appalling levels of crime, and the vast bulk of economic activity involves working for the government or extracting bribes from EU structural development funds. Of the 40 companies in the MIB index, four are based in Rome, the other 36 are in the North of the country. (And the four based in Rome are all there because they were privatisations of government businesses.)
Germany has done a great job dealing with massive regional differences. Italy has done an appalling one.
We covered the Italian north - south divide in O Level geography back in 1983. No change in a third of a century. I got a B, by the way.
No change in a millenium perhaps! As an Italian friend from Bari said to me "Milan is a southern suburb of Paris, Naples a northern suburb of Cairo"
The old gag is that Italy is Southern Germany plus Northern Africa.
I imagine the Milanese praying every night that Southern Italy suddenly yearns for a return to the old Kingdom of the Two Sicilies boundaries and secedes .
I have not posted much recently as I am enjoying being a converted Brexiteer and will watch with interest as the issue plays out but labour wanting to campaign to remain is evidence of their complete inability to change to meet the demands of an ever changing political climate and they have become wholly irrelevant, which is sad for democracy.
I am on holiday with my family and grandchildren in Tuscany and we visited the leaning Tower of Pisa today in temperatures of 90+ but the noticeable change was the military presence and security scanning of all visitors to the Tower. It is a sad commentary on our times but very necessary.
Italy seems quite impoverished and we returned to Viareggio where we had stayed 30 years ago with our children and it seemed quite sad with closed hotels and virtually empty beaches. The Italians were wonderful with families and children and remain so as does their dreadful driving. Our family have had many happy holidays in Italy over the years and hope things start to look up for them
The sooner they leave the euro the better. They need to take their medicine now or face a long slow decline. Sad, they have (or had?) a decent manufacturing base I believe.
Southern Italy is one of the poorest places in the whole of Europe. Parts of the South - Sicily and the like - have unemployment rates north of 20%, with appalling levels of crime, and the vast bulk of economic activity involves working for the government or extracting bribes from EU structural development funds. Of the 40 companies in the MIB index, four are based in Rome, the other 36 are in the North of the country. (And the four based in Rome are all there because they were privatisations of government businesses.)
Germany has done a great job dealing with massive regional differences. Italy has done an appalling one.
We covered the Italian north - south divide in O Level geography back in 1983. No change in a third of a century. I got a B, by the way.
No change in a millenium perhaps! As an Italian friend from Bari said to me "Milan is a southern suburb of Paris, Naples a northern suburb of Cairo"
The old gag is that Italy is Southern Germany plus Northern Africa.
What did u think $15/hour minimum wage in America, good idea ?
As understand it California is rather hand tied in what it can do because things like changes to main tax raising avenues all require a public referendum, which they know they will never pass.
Image if the CoE here couldn't alter VAT or income tax or any thresholds in the budget without a public vote each year.
He's one of my favourite historians (along with John Julius Norwich). I certainly enjoyed reading that essay - he writes well and with great erudition. However, it's very hard to see what actions we take.
As he points out, we are hindered by the aftershocks of Europe's 20th century history (we are far and away the bloodiest civilisation ever) and our fetish for secular liberality. It's very difficult for the commentariat and our political/cultural elites to resile from their cultural relativism (love them or loathe them the Victorians were possessed of a muscular Christian faith and the associated superiority complex that Got Things Done).
We are importing people from the cultural past, who are unimpressed with our obsession with equality, identity and gender issues. Worse, a fraction of our native born Muslims appear to be attracted to this more primitive and less compromising interpretation of Islam.
I have no idea how we progress from here, sorry to say.
It's not just equality, identity and gender issues some people are unimpressed by. It is the whole liberal democratic tradition. Islamism is, IMO, best seen as in the tradition of other reactions (reactionary movements) to the growth of Enlightenment-inspired liberalism in the 19th century - such as Communism/Fascism/Nazism (movements with which Islamism has more in common than some might allow). We won over those three - though in a very bloody way. We can defeat the latter. But we need to do so sooner rather than later, if we are to avoid the same sort of sanguinary confrontation that so disfigured the 20th century.
I wish I had answers. I have suggestions. But I do think that if we are to avoid literal fighting we need to fight an ideological battle and not simply rely on security measures / criminal law measures. Bad ideas are defeated by better ideas. And the first bad idea we need to get rid of is, as you say, our cringing cultural relativism - a veritable trahison des clercs. We do have better ideas and we need to stand up for them. They are our ideas and here in the West they are the ones which should prevail.
I just turned on the DNC stream and it's wall to wall Bernie Sanders. People nominating him as the Democratic candidate for President to rapturous applause. What is going on?
I have not posted much recently as I am enjoying being a converted Brexiteer and will watch with interest as the issue plays out but labour wanting to campaign to remain is evidence of their complete inability to change to meet the demands of an ever changing political climate and they have become wholly irrelevant, which is sad for democracy.
The sooner they leave the euro the better. They need to take their medicine now or face a long slow decline. Sad, they have (or had?) a decent manufacturing base I believe.
Southern Italy is one of the poorest places in the whole of Europe. Parts of the South - Sicily and the like - have unemployment rates north of 20%, with appalling levels of crime, and the vast bulk of economic activity involves working for the government or extracting bribes from EU structural development funds. Of the 40 companies in the MIB index, four are based in Rome, the other 36 are in the North of the country. (And the four based in Rome are all there because they were privatisations of government businesses.)
Germany has done a great job dealing with massive regional differences. Italy has done an appalling one.
We covered the Italian north - south divide in O Level geography back in 1983. No change in a third of a century. I got a B, by the way.
No change in a millenium perhaps! As an Italian friend from Bari said to me "Milan is a southern suburb of Paris, Naples a northern suburb of Cairo"
The old gag is that Italy is Southern Germany plus Northern Africa.
I imagine the Milanese praying every night that Southern Italy suddenly yearns for a return to the old Kingdom of the Two Sicilies boundaries and secedes .
There's a reason why the Liga Nord is now the third biggest party in Italy.
As understand it California is rather hand tied in what it can do because things like changes to main tax raising avenues all require a public referendum, which they know they will never pass.
Image if the CoE here couldn't alter VAT or income tax or any thresholds in the budget without a public vote each year.
Democracy gone too far?
I cant remember the exact backstory but it has been in place for ages & it can from good intentions, but it really harms California now.
One thing I would say about the US is that living costs vary tremendously both within the same states & across the country.
I can't imagine trying to exist on even $15/hr in NY city, but you can live ok in rural NY on that, let alone somewhere like rural nebreska.
From personal expetience, Washington state is another good example. Seattle is pretty damn expensive place, but drive as little as 30 mins & you are in rural hillbilly land where living costs are just a fraction.
In the UK, because if shortage of housing etc etc etc, I don't think we get that kind of drop of. Sure it is very expensive to live in London, but it isn't cheap to live anywhere in the SE.
I just turned on the DNC stream and it's wall to wall Bernie Sanders. People nominating him as the Democratic candidate for President to rapturous applause. What is going on?
Its the roll call of states' nominations. People make speeches about each candidate. Bernie has apparently requested Vermont goes last, so that his 'home' state noms Hillary.
Theresa May is under growing pressure from Liam Fox, the trade secretary, to pull out of the EU customs union, a move required to facilitate post-Brexit bilateral trade deals but which would impose costs on exporters and could strain Anglo-Irish relations.
The issue is looming as a battleground in discussions over whether the UK will pursue a “hard” or “soft” Brexit. It will have to be resolved before London triggers Article 50, the starting gun for withdrawal negotiations with the EU.
I'm a little surprised May would not have come to a conclusion about what to go for and that Fox would have insisted upon knowing that prior to accepting his position.
I reckon that's why she made Boris Foreign Secretary, he's a soft Brexiteer
What about Davis as Brexit Secretary, isn't he a Hard Brexiteer?
Conspiracy theory - the Hard Brexiteers will get frustrated and threaten to flounce out, May will have Boris lead the argument against them and subsume Brexit department into the Foreign Office once she beats the Hard Brexiteers
Occam's razor please. She put the soft Brexiteer in the FCO Gladhanding department and put the hard Brexiteer in the EU facing position. This implies that Mrs May is a hard Brexiteer herself. Perhaps 'Brexit means Brexit' is meant to be taken at face value.
I pick up two red lines from Theresa May. First, Brexit must look like separation. As long as nothing is "lite", there is room for manoeuvre. Her second concern is to maintain the Union, not something that greatly exercises hard Bexiteers.
Theresa May is under growing pressure from Liam Fox, the trade secretary, to pull out of the EU customs union, a move required to facilitate post-Brexit bilateral trade deals but which would impose costs on exporters and could strain Anglo-Irish relations.
The issue is looming as a battleground in discussions over whether the UK will pursue a “hard” or “soft” Brexit. It will have to be resolved before London triggers Article 50, the starting gun for withdrawal negotiations with the EU.
'Things like this as well as large scale internment and deportations could soon be on the agenda alas (as parties scramble to keep power and not lose it to the sort of people who round ten of the perpetrators relatives up and execute them pour l'encouragement des autres).'
They need to pull their finger out and do something, people are tired of hearing 'solidarity' eleven times after each atrocity.
I have not posted much recently as I am enjoying being a converted Brexiteer and will watch with interest as the issue plays out but labour wanting to campaign to remain is evidence of their complete inability to change to meet the demands of an ever changing political climate and they have become wholly irrelevan
I am on holiday with my family and grandchildren in Tuscany and we visited the leaning Tower of Pisa today in temperatures of 90+ but the noticeable change was the military presence and security scanning of all visitors to the Tower. It is a sad commentary on our times but very necessary.
Italy seems quite impoverished and we returned to Viareggio where we had stayed 30 years ago with our children and it seemed quite sad with closed hotels and virtually empty beaches. The Italians were wonderful with families and children and remain so as does their dreadful driving. Our family have had many happy holidays in Italy over the years and hope things start to look up for them
The sooner they leave the euro the better. They need to take their medicine now or face a long slow decline. Sad, they have (or had?) a decent manufacturing base I believe.
Southern Italy is one of the poorest places in the whole of Europe. Parts of the South - Sicily and the like - have unemployment rates north of 20%, with appalling levels of crime, and the vast bulk of economic activity involves working for the government or extracting bribes from EU structural development funds. Of the 40 companies in the MIB index, four are based in Rome, the other 36 are in the North of the country. (And the four based in Rome are all there because they were privatisations of government businesses.)
Germany has done a great job dealing with massive regional differences. Italy has done an appalling one.
We covered the Italian north - south divide in O Level geography back in 1983. No change in a third of a century. I got a B, by the way.
No change in a millenium perhaps! As an Italian friend from Bari said to me "Milan is a southern suburb of Paris, Naples a northern suburb of Cairo"
The old gag is that Italy is Southern Germany plus Northern Africa.
A similar take on thatis that in Milan, traffic lights are instructions; in Rome they are suggestions; in Naples they are Christmas decorations.
Theresa May is under growing pressure from Liam Fox, the trade secretary, to pull out of the EU customs union, a move required to facilitate post-Brexit bilateral trade deals but which would impose costs on exporters and could strain Anglo-Irish relations.
The issue is looming as a battleground in discussions over whether the UK will pursue a “hard” or “soft” Brexit. It will have to be resolved before London triggers Article 50, the starting gun for withdrawal negotiations with the EU.
I'm a little surprised May would not have come to a conclusion about what to go for and that Fox would have insisted upon knowing that prior to accepting his position.
I reckon that's why she made Boris Foreign Secretary, he's a soft Brexiteer
What about Davis as Brexit Secretary, isn't he a Hard Brexiteer?
Conspiracy theory - the Hard Brexiteers will get frustrated and threaten to flounce out, May will have Boris lead the argument against them and subsume Brexit department into the Foreign Office once she beats the Hard Brexiteers
All woe, trouble and strife for Brexiteers..... The End of Days is upon us.....
Yet another PROGRESS propaganda thread from the Crypto-Tories of Political Betting
Final Pre coup Poll Tory lead 0%
Latest Post Coup Poll Tory lead 16%
Thats PROGRESS
No, it's what happens when the leader of a political party is so divorced from reality that he considers that he can carry on after nearly all of his MPs and almost all of his front bench team have told him that he should not.
Presumably you agree too with Corbyn when he crassly tells then us that he's "enjoying every moment" of this.
I have not posted much recently as I am enjoying being a converted Brexiteer and will watch with interest as the issue plays out but labour wanting to campaign to remain is evidence of their complete inability to change to meet the demands of an ever changing political climate and they have become wholly irrelevan
The sooner they leave the euro the better. They need to take their medicine now or face a long slow decline. Sad, they have (or had?) a decent manufacturing base I believe.
Southern Italy is one of the poorest places in the whole of Europe. Parts of the South - Sicily and the like - have unemployment rates north of 20%, with appalling levels of crime, and the vast bulk of economic activity involves working for the government or extracting bribes from EU structural development funds. Of the 40 companies in the MIB index, four are based in Rome, the other 36 are in the North of the country. (And the four based in Rome are all there because they were privatisations of government businesses.)
Germany has done a great job dealing with massive regional differences. Italy has done an appalling one.
We covered the Italian north - south divide in O Level geography back in 1983. No change in a third of a century. I got a B, by the way.
No change in a millenium perhaps! As an Italian friend from Bari said to me "Milan is a southern suburb of Paris, Naples a northern suburb of Cairo"
The old gag is that Italy is Southern Germany plus Northern Africa.
A similar take on thatis that in Milan, traffic lights are instructions; in Rome they are suggestions; in Naples they are Christmas decorations.
Conflict News SUMMARY: What we know about the execution of a priest in Normandy, France today. https://t.co/ylbf8uV8dU
From that summary / brother connection, the second attacker likely to have been well known to the authorities. I wonder why they are only naming one of them publicly? I am presuming there is a particular reason in this case.
A minor maybe? So many terribly things happening I'm losing track.
Conflict News SUMMARY: What we know about the execution of a priest in Normandy, France today. https://t.co/ylbf8uV8dU
From that summary / brother connection, the second attacker likely to have been well known to the authorities. I wonder why they are only naming one of them publicly? I am presuming there is a particular reason in this case.
A minor maybe? So many terribly things happening I'm losing track.
Could well be. The French have already arrested a 17 year old in connection with this.
He's one of my favourite historians (along with John Julius Norwich). I certainly enjoyed reading that essay - he writes well and with great erudition. However, it's very hard to see what actions we take.
As he points out, we are hindered by the aftershocks of Europe's 20th century history (we are far and away the bloodiest civilisation ever) and our fetish for secular liberality. It's very difficult for the commentariat and our political/cultural elites to resile from their cultural relativism (love them or loathe them the Victorians were possessed of a muscular Christian faith and the associated superiority complex that Got Things Done).
We are importing people from the cultural past, who are unimpressed with our obsession with equality, identity and gender issues. Worse, a fraction of our native born Muslims appear to be attracted to this more primitive and less compromising interpretation of Islam.
I have no idea how we progress from here, sorry to say.
It's not just equality, identity and gender issues some people are unimpressed by. It is the whole liberal democratic tradition. Islamism is, IMO, best seen as in the tradition of other reactions (reactionary movements) to the growth of Enlightenment-inspired liberalism in the 19th century - such as Communism/Fascism/Nazism (movements with which Islamism has more in common than some might allow). We won over those three - though in a very bloody way. We can defeat the latter. But we need to do so sooner rather than later, if we are to avoid the same sort of sanguinary confrontation that so disfigured the 20th century.
I wish I had answers. I have suggestions. But I do think that if we are to avoid literal fighting we need to fight an ideological battle and not simply rely on security measures / criminal law measures. Bad ideas are defeated by better ideas. And the first bad idea we need to get rid of is, as you say, our cringing cultural relativism - a veritable trahison des clercs. We do have better ideas and we need to stand up for them. They are our ideas and here in the West they are the ones which should prevail.
Post colonial guilt, and the old canard of 'cultural relativism = you're a bit of a racist Nazi' needs to be shaken out of our system first. And fast.
In the West, we still live in the shadows of the legacy of WWII.
I sense the electorate are there. The politicians and "opinion formers" are not.
Yet another PROGRESS propaganda thread from the Crypto-Tories of Political Betting
Final Pre coup Poll Tory lead 0%
Latest Post Coup Poll Tory lead 16%
Thats PROGRESS
No, it's what happens when the leader of a political party is so divorced from reality that he considers that he can carry on after nearly all of his MPs and almost all of his front bench team have told him that he should not.
Presumably you agree too with Corbyn when he crassly tells then us that he's "enjoying every moment" of this.
What do you expect? Not many people realise this, but Corbyn's spirit animal is the barnacle.
The Corbyn brand is trashed now isn't it? OK he wins the leadership, gets a few MPs back on board, simply impossible for him to recover his credibility.
As understand it California is rather hand tied in what it can do because things like changes to main tax raising avenues all require a public referendum, which they know they will never pass.
Image if the CoE here couldn't alter VAT or income tax or any thresholds in the budget without a public vote each year.
Democracy gone too far?
Californian public loves passing referendums to spend money on things but hates passing referendums to raise the taxes to pay for those things. Why they don't bundle the tax-and-spend together in a single proposition elludes me.
The Corbyn brand is trashed now isn't it? OK he wins the leadership, gets a few MPs back on board, simply impossible for him to recover his credibility.
The Corbyn brand is trashed now isn't it? OK he wins the leadership, gets a few MPs back on board, simply impossible for him to recover his credibility.
Something to thank the PLP for.
It was always thrashed before he became leader, what we're seeing is the Theresa May honeymoon effect kicking in.
I have not posted much recently as I am enjoying being a converted Brexiteer and will watch with interest as the issue plays out but labour wanting to campaign to remain is evidence of their complete inability to change to meet the demands of an ever changing political climate and they have become wholly irrelevan
The sooner they leave the euro the better. They need to take their medicine now or face a long slow decline. Sad, they have (or had?) a decent manufacturing base I believe.
Southern Italy is one of the poorest places in the whole of Europe. Parts of the South - Sicily and the like - have unemployment rates north of 20%, with appalling levels of crime, and the vast bulk of economic activity involves working for the government or extracting bribes from EU structural development funds. Of the 40 companies in the MIB index, four are based in Rome, the other 36 are in the North of the country. (And the four based in Rome are all there because they were privatisations of government businesses.)
Germany has done a great job dealing with massive regional differences. Italy has done an appalling one.
We covered the Italian north - south divide in O Level geography back in 1983. No change in a third of a century. I got a B, by the way.
I know someone who wrote about it in their GCSEs last year!
Battersea CLP: Smith Pudsey CLP; Corbyn 50 Smith 46 Sutton and Cheam CLP: Corbyn 32 Smith 11 Hastings & Rye CLP: Corbyn 38 Smith 3 South Cambridgeshire CLP: Corbyn 35 Smith 26 spoilt 2 Harrow East CLP: Corbyn
Islamism is, IMO, best seen as in the tradition of other reactions (reactionary movements) to the growth of Enlightenment-inspired liberalism in the 19th century - such as Communism/Fascism/Nazism (movements with which Islamism has more in common than some might allow). We won over those three - though in a very bloody way. We can defeat the latter.
Isn't one of the challenges identifying the power centre that needs to be defeated to define victory? We knew when Nazism was defeated and we knew (more or less) when communism was defeated.
Is our victory moment when Saudi Arabia experiences a revolution?
I hope we won't need to wait unless Islamism takes over a major military power before we're able to define the enemy. The parallels between Hitler and Erdogan are scary to contemplate.
It's not just equality, identity and gender issues some people are unimpressed by. It is the whole liberal democratic tradition. Islamism is, IMO, best seen as in the tradition of other reactions (reactionary movements) to the growth of Enlightenment-inspired liberalism in the 19th century - such as Communism/Fascism/Nazism (movements with which Islamism has more in common than some might allow). We won over those three - though in a very bloody way. We can defeat the latter. But we need to do so sooner rather than later, if we are to avoid the same sort of sanguinary confrontation that so disfigured the 20th century.
I wish I had answers. I have suggestions. But I do think that if we are to avoid literal fighting we need to fight an ideological battle and not simply rely on security measures / criminal law measures. Bad ideas are defeated by better ideas. And the first bad idea we need to get rid of is, as you say, our cringing cultural relativism - a veritable trahison des clercs. We do have better ideas and we need to stand up for them. They are our ideas and here in the West they are the ones which should prevail.
You can never sort out other people's problems. Arabs have problems that only they can solve. They are problems many Arabs, maybe most, are painfully aware of.
The real villain in my view is the president of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who killed off the Arab Spring, which was a incoherent but genuine attempt at a better, more liberal society, which if it had taken root would have crowded out nihilistic ideologies like Islamic State. Eventually it would have tempered, if not eliminated, mainstream Islamic parties like the Muslim Brotherhood who would have had electorates to answer to. As the most populous, most important Arab state, politically and culturally, Egypt has a huge influence on the rest of Arabia. If it were seen to be a success, other Arab countries would fall into line.
Comments
SUMMARY: What we know about the execution of a priest in Normandy, France today. https://t.co/ylbf8uV8dU
http://www.errin.eu/sites/default/files/1-21032013-AP-EN.PDF
The issue is looming as a battleground in discussions over whether the UK will pursue a “hard” or “soft” Brexit. It will have to be resolved before London triggers Article 50, the starting gun for withdrawal negotiations with the EU.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e87614da-533a-11e6-befd-2fc0c26b3c60.html#axzz4FXxzjS4s
In a European context confiscation of it without compensation would I guess be the equivalent.
Things like this as well as large scale internment and deportations could soon be on the agenda alas (as parties scramble to keep power and not lose it to the sort of people who round ten of the perpetrators relatives up and execute them pour l'encouragement des autres).
In the end the first job of a government is to keep the peace. If they cannot do that then the people will vote in nasty violent people who will keep it with an iron fist. If there is not civil peace then nothing else matters significantly to people until there is again.
Conspiracy theory - the Hard Brexiteers will get frustrated and threaten to flounce out, May will have Boris lead the argument against them and subsume Brexit department into the Foreign Office once she beats the Hard Brexiteers
It's poor government, and an unwillingness to confront local criminal movements. Simply, it's a terrible place to do business.
GERMANY: IS claim that Ansbach bomber joined ISI (Islamic State of Iraq) before 2011, then returned to Aleppo in #Syria. - @jenanmoussa
I suspect the framing will be good for the economy vs Freedom!
Clinton 41 .. Trump 38
http://www.rabaresearch.com/documents/RABA-Ohio-Survey-Results-June-2016.pdf
National - Raba Research
Clinton 39 .. Trump 34
http://www.rabaresearch.com/documents/RABA-Updated-National-Survey-July-2016.pdf
Image if the CoE here couldn't alter VAT or income tax or any thresholds in the budget without a public vote each year.
Latest Post Coup Poll Tory lead 16%
Thats PROGRESS
Er, no u don't, unless you want to debase your values to the level of the terrorists.
Tom Holland is a superb 'big picture' historian and author ('Rubicon' being one of my favourite ever history books) but I profoundly disagree with a comment at the end of the piece: "Today, though, in a Europe that has ceased to be Christendom, no ritual comparable to baptism exists—nor could possibly exist".
I would point out the 'Pledge of Allegiance' in the US. It has the benefit of church/state separation (although "Under God" was added in 1954, when it crept in as part of a reaction against 'godless' communism) and it benefits from being daily read and reaffirmed in schools (as opposed to a one-off baptism ritual), so that everyone growing up in the US is subtly and consistently programmed to be patriotic - no bad thing.
It was originally developed by a US Colonel who wanted to teach children - particularly children of immigrants - loyalty to the United States. Aside from the obvious resistance to such a pledge if introduced across Europe, there's nothing practical to prevent its adoption. It's certainly the mechanism Tom Holland is looking for, but he probably would find the removal of any explicit Christian reference objectionable.
I wish I had answers. I have suggestions. But I do think that if we are to avoid literal fighting we need to fight an ideological battle and not simply rely on security measures / criminal law measures. Bad ideas are defeated by better ideas. And the first bad idea we need to get rid of is, as you say, our cringing cultural relativism - a veritable trahison des clercs. We do have better ideas and we need to stand up for them. They are our ideas and here in the West they are the ones which should prevail.
Edit.
The perils of extreme democracy
http://www.economist.com/node/18586520
I can't imagine trying to exist on even $15/hr in NY city, but you can live ok in rural NY on that, let alone somewhere like rural nebreska.
From personal expetience, Washington state is another good example. Seattle is pretty damn expensive place, but drive as little as 30 mins & you are in rural hillbilly land where living costs are just a fraction.
In the UK, because if shortage of housing etc etc etc, I don't think we get that kind of drop of. Sure it is very expensive to live in London, but it isn't cheap to live anywhere in the SE.
Shock how can it be so
To be honest, if we're going to stay in the EU customs union, there is little point in leaving.
That would be a red line for me too.
'Things like this as well as large scale internment and deportations could soon be on the agenda alas (as parties scramble to keep power and not lose it to the sort of people who round ten of the perpetrators relatives up and execute them pour l'encouragement des autres).'
They need to pull their finger out and do something, people are tired of hearing 'solidarity' eleven times after each atrocity.
The problem with Labour leadership of today is that it doesn't even represent the Labour voters of 2015....
Presumably you agree too with Corbyn when he crassly tells then us that he's "enjoying every moment" of this.
Con 40 .. Lab 28 .. UKIP 13 .. LibDem 8
In the West, we still live in the shadows of the legacy of WWII.
I sense the electorate are there. The politicians and "opinion formers" are not.
Progress for Corbyn! from ICM.
'This should carry a healthy "FT" warning, but an EFTA/EEA option for the UK would not be part of the EU customs union.
To be honest, if we're going to stay in the EU customs union, there is little point in leaving.
That would be a red line for me too.'
Staying in the EU customs union would not be leaving the EU so is a non starter.
Something to thank the PLP for.
It won't last
Battersea CLP: Smith
Pudsey CLP; Corbyn 50 Smith 46
Sutton and Cheam CLP: Corbyn 32 Smith 11
Hastings & Rye CLP: Corbyn 38 Smith 3
South Cambridgeshire CLP: Corbyn 35 Smith 26 spoilt 2
Harrow East CLP: Corbyn
Is our victory moment when Saudi Arabia experiences a revolution?
I hope we won't need to wait unless Islamism takes over a major military power before we're able to define the enemy. The parallels between Hitler and Erdogan are scary to contemplate.
In a weeks time, I think it's more likely than not his odds will have lengthened.
The real villain in my view is the president of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who killed off the Arab Spring, which was a incoherent but genuine attempt at a better, more liberal society, which if it had taken root would have crowded out nihilistic ideologies like Islamic State. Eventually it would have tempered, if not eliminated, mainstream Islamic parties like the Muslim Brotherhood who would have had electorates to answer to. As the most populous, most important Arab state, politically and culturally, Egypt has a huge influence on the rest of Arabia. If it were seen to be a success, other Arab countries would fall into line.