Mr. Mortimer, pro-Europeans? Do you mean eurofederalists?
On moderation: doesn't everyone consider themselves fairly moderate and define extremity as the degree to which someone's opinion differs from their own? It's the same self-centred perspective that led the old Church to teach the Earth was the centre of the universe, or modern warmists to insist the climate changing simply must be due to human activity. We also see it with maps, with every country (naturally) putting themselves in the centre.
DEPUTY First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has warned that keeping an independent Scotland out of the EU could mean people from other European nations living in Scotland could “lose the right to stay here”.
Ms Sturgeon suggested that the 160,000 non-British citizens from other EU members states now resident in Scottish cities and towns could be stripped of their residency rights if Scotland was “outside Europe”.
So, wheres this 4th May general election rumour come from then?
Sunday Times column. Seems regional agents and candidates in Tory party are preparing themselves for May 4th. Whether they have been given the nod to do so, or doing it out of own volition, is not clear. Seems they may just be sniffing the wind and smelling a possible election.
There are a load of reasons now to go for an early GE.
Only one against: May said she wont.
So there wont be one.
It all depends. Do her principles - as a vicar's daughter, no less - triumph over her political instincts, which will be to maximise her majority (and to ignore wise Tory comments of the past that large majorities make for bad govt.)
Forcing PMs in normal circumstances to stick to a 4- or 5-yearly term is good for democracy. Not that we don't need more reforms - e.g., PR, writing down more of our constitution - but the FTPA was a good start.
I suppose we have the Lib.Dems to thank for it ... and for the ~£11k tax threshold.
Mr. Mortimer, pro-Europeans? Do you mean eurofederalists?
On moderation: doesn't everyone consider themselves fairly moderate and define extremity as the degree to which someone's opinion differs from their own? It's the same self-centred perspective that led the old Church to teach the Earth was the centre of the universe, or modern warmists to insist the climate changing simply must be due to human activity. We also see it with maps, with every country (naturally) putting themselves in the centre.
It's certainly true that anyone who drives more slowly than me is an utter idiot and that anyone who goes faster is an out and out maniac.
Just imagine if a bienpensant UK Remainer had a second home in Hungary, and Griffin moved in next door. What a sitcom that would make.
...and this country is still allowed to remain in the EU?
...with not a whisper of a reprimand from Brussels, nor complaint from Remainers who are prepared to diagnose tolerant old Blighty as a racist hellhole. Why would we want to stay in a club with members like this?
Just imagine if a bienpensant UK Remainer had a second home in Hungary, and Griffin moved in next door. What a sitcom that would make.
...and this country is still allowed to remain in the EU?
...with not a whisper of a reprimand from Brussels, nor complaint from Remainers who are prepared to diagnose tolerant old Blighty as a racist hellhole. Why would we want to stay in a club with members like this?
In general, I'd consider post-Brexit Britain to be one of the least racist parts of Europe.
So, wheres this 4th May general election rumour come from then?
Sunday Times column. Seems regional agents and candidates in Tory party are preparing themselves for May 4th. Whether they have been given the nod to do so, or doing it out of own volition, is not clear. Seems they may just be sniffing the wind and smelling a possible election.
There are a load of reasons now to go for an early GE.
Only one against: May said she wont.
So there wont be one.
There are more reasons than that. Not least because if the only reason were that May said she won't, but there were all those other good reasons to have one, she would change her mind, should change her min in fact, since sticking to a POV when there are, by your reckoning, no reasons to do so, would be downright silly.
There are elections in the Counties, Scotland and Wales to prepare for, in any case.
Mr. Mortimer, pro-Europeans? Do you mean eurofederalists?
On moderation: doesn't everyone consider themselves fairly moderate and define extremity as the degree to which someone's opinion differs from their own? It's the same self-centred perspective that led the old Church to teach the Earth was the centre of the universe, or modern warmists to insist the climate changing simply must be due to human activity. We also see it with maps, with every country (naturally) putting themselves in the centre.
Eurofeds are at the very extremes - a fringe interest. Actual voters keen on the EU are also towards the extremes of the common ground of the British people.
Just imagine if a bienpensant UK Remainer had a second home in Hungary, and Griffin moved in next door. What a sitcom that would make.
...and this country is still allowed to remain in the EU?
...with not a whisper of a reprimand from Brussels, nor complaint from Remainers who are prepared to diagnose tolerant old Blighty as a racist hellhole. Why would we want to stay in a club with members like this?
In general, I'd consider post-Brexit Britain to be one of the least racist parts of Europe.
Nah, it's full of racist, xenophobic, little England nationalists. It's that bad, even Nick Griffin wants to get out!
Just imagine if a bienpensant UK Remainer had a second home in Hungary, and Griffin moved in next door. What a sitcom that would make.
...and this country is still allowed to remain in the EU?
...with not a whisper of a reprimand from Brussels, nor complaint from Remainers who are prepared to diagnose tolerant old Blighty as a racist hellhole. Why would we want to stay in a club with members like this?
In general, I'd consider post-Brexit Britain to be one of the least racist parts of Europe.
Nah, it's full of racist, xenophobic, little England nationalists. It's that bad, even Nick Griffin wants to get out!
Nick and Meeks should get on like a house on fire.
"During his time inside, Sparkbrook has become synonymous with Islamic extremism; one in ten of all Britain’s convicted Islamic terrorists, we now know, have come from Sparkbrook (population 30,000) and four adjoining council wards.
In total, these highly concentrated Muslim enclaves, occupying a few square miles of the city, have produced 26 of the country’s 269 known jihadis convicted in Britain of terror offences.
The disturbing statistic is contained in the most comprehensive study of terror convictions in the UK...
The difference between Muslim communities in Birmingham and Leicester highlights this. Leicester, with a significant but more widely dispersed Muslim population, has bred only two convicted terrorists over the past two decades compared with the 26 from in and around Sparkbrook, which is more than 70 per cent Muslim.
DEPUTY First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has warned that keeping an independent Scotland out of the EU could mean people from other European nations living in Scotland could “lose the right to stay here”.
Ms Sturgeon suggested that the 160,000 non-British citizens from other EU members states now resident in Scottish cities and towns could be stripped of their residency rights if Scotland was “outside Europe”.
Just imagine if a bienpensant UK Remainer had a second home in Hungary, and Griffin moved in next door. What a sitcom that would make.
I wonder if Nick will be taking his pigs (if they haven't been finally solved) Anne and Frank with him? Which would be worse for the bien pensant, Nick gurning over the garden fence or the smell of pig shit?
Edit: I see the piggies are long ago consumed. Still, Nick has hilariously transferred the names to his two rotweillers.
Apologies for going off-topic but I find the current furore about diesel engines slightly irritating. A few years ago (Tony was in his full pomp), and I'd moved form the Pharmaceutical industry to work for the Government's shilling, I received a phone call from a University scientist who wanted to talk about his research on the toxicology of PM10s, PM2.5s and PM1s.
As it happened I was aware of this, so I listened with interest, He wanted me to influence the Government's policies. I thanked him for his faith in me, but had to explain it was totally misplaced. I was only a scientist at a junior level and the Government (of any description) only listened to things that were politically appealing. Carbon dioxide and global warming was the only game in town. Diesel was good, petrol was bad, and that was dogma.
Now things have changed, but don't let anyone tell you that the facts ever changed. We've had more confirmation of what we knew anyway. But politicians' mantra has always been that scientists should be on tap, not on top. Now diesel has become Satan, these politicians have ignored their previous enthusiasms and switched totally. It didn't take new facts, it took new fashions. The media has always been the child, bewitched by the shiny and new, and the politicians have generally been the doting parent. "Ah, bless, aren't they sweet."
I was young once, but my cynicism has been learned.
I sometimes wish politicians would for once, not meddle with things they don't understand, or more often, don't want to understand. Unfortunately, that is also a recipe for an obscure political career.
I understand that these changes can take time. Tobacco smoke, lead in petrol needed to be considered on an overall basis. Global warming has far more confounding factors than either. Carbon dioxide is almost certainly a factor, but it has the good fortune to be fashionable.
Mr. Mortimer, pro-Europeans? Do you mean eurofederalists?
On moderation: doesn't everyone consider themselves fairly moderate and define extremity as the degree to which someone's opinion differs from their own? It's the same self-centred perspective that led the old Church to teach the Earth was the centre of the universe, or modern warmists to insist the climate changing simply must be due to human activity. We also see it with maps, with every country (naturally) putting themselves in the centre.
At various times some intellectually challenged PBers have called me a hard leftie and a far right Tory.
Averaging that out, that makes me a centrist, which is true as I'm probably a Gladstonian Liberal.
Mr. Eagles, that's deeply unfair on you. You're clearly a colourblind fellow with a shockingly poor grasp of history.
Mr. CD13, a similar thing (only without recanting) has happened with the polygraph. The polygraph, a so-called lie detector (it is not), is used on paedophiles out of prison. This is especially stupid as, possibly excepting psychopaths, paedophiles are amongst the finest liars. Labour introduced this, and the Coalition continued it. It's indefensibly stupid.
Polygraphs don't detect lies. They detect changes in autonomic physiology. An innocent man might be nervous at being wired up, and 'lie'. A dodgy swine might be a good liar, stay relaxed, and 'tell the truth'.
Mr. Mortimer, pro-Europeans? Do you mean eurofederalists?
On moderation: doesn't everyone consider themselves fairly moderate and define extremity as the degree to which someone's opinion differs from their own? It's the same self-centred perspective that led the old Church to teach the Earth was the centre of the universe, or modern warmists to insist the climate changing simply must be due to human activity. We also see it with maps, with every country (naturally) putting themselves in the centre.
At various times some intellectually challenged PBers have called me a hard leftie and a far right Tory.
Averaging that out, that makes me a centrist, which is true as I'm probably a Gladstonian Liberal.
Mr. Mortimer, pro-Europeans? Do you mean eurofederalists?
On moderation: doesn't everyone consider themselves fairly moderate and define extremity as the degree to which someone's opinion differs from their own? It's the same self-centred perspective that led the old Church to teach the Earth was the centre of the universe, or modern warmists to insist the climate changing simply must be due to human activity. We also see it with maps, with every country (naturally) putting themselves in the centre.
At various times some intellectually challenged PBers have called me a hard leftie and a far right Tory.
Averaging that out, that makes me a centrist, which is true as I'm probably a Gladstonian Liberal.
I wondered why you had been seen visiting Manchester red light districts in your best red shoes .....
Mr. Eagles, that's deeply unfair on you. You're clearly a colourblind fellow with a shockingly poor grasp of history.
Mr. CD13, a similar thing (only without recanting) has happened with the polygraph. The polygraph, a so-called lie detector (it is not), is used on paedophiles out of prison. This is especially stupid as, possibly excepting psychopaths, paedophiles are amongst the finest liars. Labour introduced this, and the Coalition continued it. It's indefensibly stupid.
Polygraphs don't detect lies. They detect changes in autonomic physiology. An innocent man might be nervous at being wired up, and 'lie'. A dodgy swine might be a good liar, stay relaxed, and 'tell the truth'.
Mr. Mortimer, pro-Europeans? Do you mean eurofederalists?
On moderation: doesn't everyone consider themselves fairly moderate and define extremity as the degree to which someone's opinion differs from their own? It's the same self-centred perspective that led the old Church to teach the Earth was the centre of the universe, or modern warmists to insist the climate changing simply must be due to human activity. We also see it with maps, with every country (naturally) putting themselves in the centre.
At various times some intellectually challenged PBers have called me a hard leftie and a far right Tory.
Averaging that out, that makes me a centrist, which is true as I'm probably a Gladstonian Liberal.
Mr. F, aye, but the political class treat them as science. It's utterly indefensible. There are at least half a dozen ways to fool one (my personal favourite is slipping into a trance), the worst of which is simply being good at lying.
Mr. Mortimer, pro-Europeans? Do you mean eurofederalists?
On moderation: doesn't everyone consider themselves fairly moderate and define extremity as the degree to which someone's opinion differs from their own? It's the same self-centred perspective that led the old Church to teach the Earth was the centre of the universe, or modern warmists to insist the climate changing simply must be due to human activity. We also see it with maps, with every country (naturally) putting themselves in the centre.
At various times some intellectually challenged PBers have called me a hard leftie and a far right Tory.
Averaging that out, that makes me a centrist, which is true as I'm probably a Gladstonian Liberal.
I wondered why you had been seen visiting Manchester red light districts in your best red shoes .....
Well one of them is on my route to work and the other is a bar I spend in time in a hotel where all the high priced Russian courtesans stay at.
That just leaves a Unilateral Declaration of Independence, a nuclear option floated by one conference delegate at a fringe meeting on Friday afternoon. The SNP, however, simply isn’t that daring. Clapping in the House of Commons is about as radical as they get; their days of direct action and (properly) disrupting parliament were long ago jettisoned in favour of respectability.
So that leaves the final and most likely option following Wednesday’s Holyrood vote, yet more sound and fury. Nationalists are generally good at this and can, if necessary, keep it up for several years, which they might well have to do if Mrs May sticks to her guns about not even discussing a Section 30 order until after Brexit has “bedded in”, whatever that might mean.
Mr. Mortimer, pro-Europeans? Do you mean eurofederalists?
On moderation: doesn't everyone consider themselves fairly moderate and define extremity as the degree to which someone's opinion differs from their own? It's the same self-centred perspective that led the old Church to teach the Earth was the centre of the universe, or modern warmists to insist the climate changing simply must be due to human activity. We also see it with maps, with every country (naturally) putting themselves in the centre.
At various times some intellectually challenged PBers have called me a hard leftie and a far right Tory.
Averaging that out, that makes me a centrist, which is true as I'm probably a Gladstonian Liberal.
I wondered why you had been seen visiting Manchester red light districts in your best red shoes .....
Well one of them is on my route to work and the other is a bar I spend in time in a hotel where all the high priced Russian courtesans stay at.
Amazed at all these fresh new voices in Scotish journalism criticising the SNP.
They'll rue the day. The Party will shut their lying mouths.
If Scotland becomes independent, the SNP would be likely to lose the first election by a big margin. So yes, it could well attempt to shut its opponents' mouths and cement itself in office. Many don't realise just how ugly some of the possibilities are.
Am I right inunderstanding that wee Jimmie Krankie has decided to go for another referendum on the grounds that Scotland might be leaving the EU - but simultaneously has abandoned plans for an independent Scotland to rejoin the EU because, err, most Scots aren't very big on the idea of it? Maybe that nice Mrs May should insist that the referendum question references the EU.
when you are down to personal insults it shows you have nothing to say and are scared Patrick. Desperate stuff on here, misogyny ever to the fore.
"During his time inside, Sparkbrook has become synonymous with Islamic extremism; one in ten of all Britain’s convicted Islamic terrorists, we now know, have come from Sparkbrook (population 30,000) and four adjoining council wards.
In total, these highly concentrated Muslim enclaves, occupying a few square miles of the city, have produced 26 of the country’s 269 known jihadis convicted in Britain of terror offences.
The disturbing statistic is contained in the most comprehensive study of terror convictions in the UK...
The difference between Muslim communities in Birmingham and Leicester highlights this. Leicester, with a significant but more widely dispersed Muslim population, has bred only two convicted terrorists over the past two decades compared with the 26 from in and around Sparkbrook, which is more than 70 per cent Muslim.
Er, old news alert. I am sure I read all this in another paper several months ago.
Just imagine if a bienpensant UK Remainer had a second home in Hungary, and Griffin moved in next door. What a sitcom that would make.
...and this country is still allowed to remain in the EU?
...with not a whisper of a reprimand from Brussels, nor complaint from Remainers who are prepared to diagnose tolerant old Blighty as a racist hellhole. Why would we want to stay in a club with members like this?
In general, I'd consider post-Brexit Britain to be one of the least racist parts of Europe.
Nah, it's full of racist, xenophobic, little England nationalists. It's that bad, even Nick Griffin wants to get out!
Part 963 million of why you never ever want to serve time in an American prison.
On June 23, 2012, Darren Rainey, a schizophrenic man serving time for cocaine possession, was thrown into a prison shower at the Dade Correctional Institution. The water was turned up top 180 degrees — hot enough to steep tea or cook Ramen noodles.
As punishment, four corrections officers — John Fan Fan, Cornelius Thompson, Ronald Clarke and Edwina Williams — kept Rainey in that shower for two full hours. Rainey was heard screaming "Please take me out! I can’t take it anymore!” and kicking the shower door. Inmates said prison guards laughed at Rainey and shouted "Is it hot enough?"
Rainey died inside that shower. He was found crumpled on the floor. When his body was pulled out, nurses said there were burns on 90 percent of his body. A nurse said his body temperature was too high to register with a thermometer. And his skin fell off at the touch.
But in an unconscionable decision, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle's office announced Friday that the four guards who oversaw what amounted to a medieval-era boiling will not be charged with a crime.
“The shower was itself neither dangerous nor unsafe,’’ the report says. “The evidence does not show that Rainey’s well-being was grossly disregarded by the correctional staff.’’
Amazed at all these fresh new voices in Scotish journalism criticising the SNP.
They'll rue the day. The Party will shut their lying mouths.
If Scotland becomes independent, the SNP would be likely to lose the first election by a big margin. So yes, it could well attempt to shut its opponents' mouths and cement itself in office. Many don't realise just how ugly some of the possibilities are.
So, wheres this 4th May general election rumour come from then?
Floating around the internet for months, helped along by reports of higher than usual spending in CCHQ and 'reports' of parties being prepared for emergency selections just in cases, I think.
Is the higher spending on lawyers fees for the forthcoming cases?
Amazed at all these fresh new voices in Scotish journalism criticising the SNP.
They'll rue the day. The Party will shut their lying mouths.
If Scotland becomes independent, the SNP would be likely to lose the first election by a big margin. So yes, it could well attempt to shut its opponents' mouths and cement itself in office. Many don't realise just how ugly some of the possibilities are.
Apologies for going off-topic but I find the current furore about diesel engines slightly irritating. A few years ago (Tony was in his full pomp), and I'd moved form the Pharmaceutical industry to work for the Government's shilling, I received a phone call from a University scientist who wanted to talk about his research on the toxicology of PM10s, PM2.5s and PM1s.
As it happened I was aware of this, so I listened with interest, He wanted me to influence the Government's policies. I thanked him for his faith in me, but had to explain it was totally misplaced. I was only a scientist at a junior level and the Government (of any description) only listened to things that were politically appealing. Carbon dioxide and global warming was the only game in town. Diesel was good, petrol was bad, and that was dogma.
Now things have changed, but don't let anyone tell you that the facts ever changed. We've had more confirmation of what we knew anyway. But politicians' mantra has always been that scientists should be on tap, not on top. Now diesel has become Satan, these politicians have ignored their previous enthusiasms and switched totally. It didn't take new facts, it took new fashions. The media has always been the child, bewitched by the shiny and new, and the politicians have generally been the doting parent. "Ah, bless, aren't they sweet."
I was young once, but my cynicism has been learned.
I sometimes wish politicians would for once, not meddle with things they don't understand, or more often, don't want to understand. Unfortunately, that is also a recipe for an obscure political career.
I understand that these changes can take time. Tobacco smoke, lead in petrol needed to be considered on an overall basis. Global warming has far more confounding factors than either. Carbon dioxide is almost certainly a factor, but it has the good fortune to be fashionable.
Oh well, mini-rant over.
To be somewhat fair to politicians, they have lots of different interests to balance and to resolve. In this case, doing something about climate change and boosting their own car industries. So if diesel engines emit less CO2 than gasoline ones and they can support a European industry strength with lots of lovely R&D, it's a win/win. Diesel engines can be made as clean as petrol ones, but it comes with cost and performance penalties, so both car manufacturers and governments were happy to take the shortcut. It's more a lack of coherent thinking than governments ignoring scientists. Scientists wouldn't make those trade-offs and can't be expected to do so.
1) Dupont-Aignan's interview walkout has been a great success: the video has had 11 million hits on Facebook.
Comment As any well-trained salesperson (or betting psychologist) knows, people feel committed once they have made an investment. The audience for tonight's debate among the chosen Five is unlikely to be hugely bigger than 11 million. This is the first time TV debates will be held before the whole-spectrum open primary (the "first round") takes place on 23 April. Audiences for between-the-rounds debates in the most recent four elections, going backwards, were 18m, 20m, n/a (Chirac wouldn't), and 17m.
2) Dupont-Aignan has changed his position on the euro, and now says he wants to retain its "good sides" and to engage in a monetary coordination that is more supple.
Comment He's selling himself as standing up to Germany.
3) Macron says he wants to reintroduce conscription.
Comment Did this seriously play well in the focus groups?
4) Fillon has apologised for pubishing (on Twitter) a cartoon of Macron which has been called anti-Semitic.
Comment Was he trying to woo the jackboot right? Or, which is more likely in my opinion, has the poor soul no control even over his own campaign?
Part 963 million of why you never ever want to serve time in an American prison.
On June 23, 2012, Darren Rainey, a schizophrenic man serving time for cocaine possession, was thrown into a prison shower at the Dade Correctional Institution. The water was turned up top 180 degrees — hot enough to steep tea or cook Ramen noodles.
As punishment, four corrections officers — John Fan Fan, Cornelius Thompson, Ronald Clarke and Edwina Williams — kept Rainey in that shower for two full hours. Rainey was heard screaming "Please take me out! I can’t take it anymore!” and kicking the shower door. Inmates said prison guards laughed at Rainey and shouted "Is it hot enough?"
Rainey died inside that shower. He was found crumpled on the floor. When his body was pulled out, nurses said there were burns on 90 percent of his body. A nurse said his body temperature was too high to register with a thermometer. And his skin fell off at the touch.
But in an unconscionable decision, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle's office announced Friday that the four guards who oversaw what amounted to a medieval-era boiling will not be charged with a crime.
“The shower was itself neither dangerous nor unsafe,’’ the report says. “The evidence does not show that Rainey’s well-being was grossly disregarded by the correctional staff.’’
Part 963 million of why you never ever want to serve time in an American prison.
On June 23, 2012, Darren Rainey, a schizophrenic man serving time for cocaine possession, was thrown into a prison shower at the Dade Correctional Institution. The water was turned up top 180 degrees — hot enough to steep tea or cook Ramen noodles.
As punishment, four corrections officers — John Fan Fan, Cornelius Thompson, Ronald Clarke and Edwina Williams — kept Rainey in that shower for two full hours. Rainey was heard screaming "Please take me out! I can’t take it anymore!” and kicking the shower door. Inmates said prison guards laughed at Rainey and shouted "Is it hot enough?"
Rainey died inside that shower. He was found crumpled on the floor. When his body was pulled out, nurses said there were burns on 90 percent of his body. A nurse said his body temperature was too high to register with a thermometer. And his skin fell off at the touch.
But in an unconscionable decision, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle's office announced Friday that the four guards who oversaw what amounted to a medieval-era boiling will not be charged with a crime.
“The shower was itself neither dangerous nor unsafe,’’ the report says. “The evidence does not show that Rainey’s well-being was grossly disregarded by the correctional staff.’’
Amazed at all these fresh new voices in Scotish journalism criticising the SNP.
They'll rue the day. The Party will shut their lying mouths.
If Scotland becomes independent, the SNP would be likely to lose the first election by a big margin. So yes, it could well attempt to shut its opponents' mouths and cement itself in office. Many don't realise just how ugly some of the possibilities are.
Amazed at all these fresh new voices in Scotish journalism criticising the SNP.
They'll rue the day. The Party will shut their lying mouths.
If Scotland becomes independent, the SNP would be likely to lose the first election by a big margin. So yes, it could well attempt to shut its opponents' mouths and cement itself in office. Many don't realise just how ugly some of the possibilities are.
CUCKOO
OK you don't like my comment. But do you have any comment on MonikerDiCanio's statement (quite possibly ironic) that journalists who dare to criticise the SNP will "rue the day" and that "the Party will shut their lying mouths"?
DEPUTY First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has warned that keeping an independent Scotland out of the EU could mean people from other European nations living in Scotland could “lose the right to stay here”.
Ms Sturgeon suggested that the 160,000 non-British citizens from other EU members states now resident in Scottish cities and towns could be stripped of their residency rights if Scotland was “outside Europe”.
Every door Liam Fox knocks on, the European Commission is already there.
The EU presently has no free trade deal with the US, Australia, New Zealand, India, Saudi Arabia or China to mention just a few
There are a number of treaties governing EU-US trade, so it is misleading to claim that the two do business on "WTO terms".
No FTA agreement though
The US has very few full FTAs (basically just NAFTA, South Korea, Israel, and Australia) because it insists that enforcement of compliance is done solely in US ISDS Tribunals. Nevertheless, the EU-US agreements are pretty comprehensive and cover areas like mutual recognition of product standards, and transfer pricing.
It is imperative that, when we leave the EU, we replicate the existing agreements as much as possible. Given EU-US tariffs average less than 3%, it is more important that we get these harmonisations agreed than we symbolically get tariffs removed.
Part 963 million of why you never ever want to serve time in an American prison.
On June 23, 2012, Darren Rainey, a schizophrenic man serving time for cocaine possession, was thrown into a prison shower at the Dade Correctional Institution. The water was turned up top 180 degrees — hot enough to steep tea or cook Ramen noodles.
As punishment, four corrections officers — John Fan Fan, Cornelius Thompson, Ronald Clarke and Edwina Williams — kept Rainey in that shower for two full hours. Rainey was heard screaming "Please take me out! I can’t take it anymore!” and kicking the shower door. Inmates said prison guards laughed at Rainey and shouted "Is it hot enough?"
Rainey died inside that shower. He was found crumpled on the floor. When his body was pulled out, nurses said there were burns on 90 percent of his body. A nurse said his body temperature was too high to register with a thermometer. And his skin fell off at the touch.
But in an unconscionable decision, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle's office announced Friday that the four guards who oversaw what amounted to a medieval-era boiling will not be charged with a crime.
“The shower was itself neither dangerous nor unsafe,’’ the report says. “The evidence does not show that Rainey’s well-being was grossly disregarded by the correctional staff.’’
UKIP seems to have lost its raison d'etre now we are leaving the EU.
Will the SNP lose its raison d'etre if Scotland votes for independence?
Not if they are seen as a competent progressive/social democratic party that represents the prevailing mood of the majority of Scottish opinion presently.
There is no tax differential between petrol and diesel cars in the new VED rules though.. So other than personal conscience, why would I be incentivised to (eventually) replace my diesel with a petrol ? I do drive a diesel, but I think the decision to maintain the same VED between otherwise identical NEW petrol and diesel cars is odd - given the evidence now available. People are choosing to buy new diesels, it isn't a past decision that people will be punished for (Always an important distinction when deciding how 'fair' this sort of tax/charge is)
UKIP seems to have lost its raison d'etre now we are leaving the EU.
Will the SNP lose its raison d'etre if Scotland votes for independence?
Not if they are seen as a competent progressive/social democratic party that represents the prevailing mood of the majority of Scottish opinion presently.
The SNP has a lot of work to do to be seen to be competent at just straight vanilla governing.
UKIP seems to have lost its raison d'etre now we are leaving the EU.
Will the SNP lose its raison d'etre if Scotland votes for independence?
No because the SNP made the transition to party of government before independence.
And it gets people, other than members and those who are connected to it, to vote for it why, exactly? Above all because it is in favour of independence. It is the YeSNP.
Amazed at all these fresh new voices in Scotish journalism criticising the SNP.
They'll rue the day. The Party will shut their lying mouths.
If Scotland becomes independent, the SNP would be likely to lose the first election by a big margin. So yes, it could well attempt to shut its opponents' mouths and cement itself in office. Many don't realise just how ugly some of the possibilities are.
CUCKOO
OK you don't like my comment. But do you have any comment on MonikerDiCanio's statement (quite possibly ironic) that journalists who dare to criticise the SNP will "rue the day" and that "the Party will shut their lying mouths"?
If you don't recognise Monica's every comment on the subject as trolling, you're even stupider than I thought.
I actually think (as a leftie) that Osborne becoming editor of the Evening Standard is a good thing. There needs to a voice for a more liberal perspective on Brexit/Britain's place in the world - especially since Corbyn won't be doing it.
UKIP seems to have lost its raison d'etre now we are leaving the EU.
Will the SNP lose its raison d'etre if Scotland votes for independence?
Not if they are seen as a competent progressive/social democratic party that represents the prevailing mood of the majority of Scottish opinion presently.
The SNP has a lot of work to do to be seen to be competent at just straight vanilla governing.
That's a matter for the Scottish electorate to decide, although the Conservative government would be pleased to enjoy the SNP share of the vote, albeit with the assistance of Jezza & Co.
UKIP seems to have lost its raison d'etre now we are leaving the EU.
Will the SNP lose its raison d'etre if Scotland votes for independence?
Not if they are seen as a competent progressive/social democratic party that represents the prevailing mood of the majority of Scottish opinion presently.
UKIP seems to have lost its raison d'etre now we are leaving the EU.
Will the SNP lose its raison d'etre if Scotland votes for independence?
Not if they are seen as a competent progressive/social democratic party that represents the prevailing mood of the majority of Scottish opinion presently.
Amazed at all these fresh new voices in Scotish journalism criticising the SNP.
They'll rue the day. The Party will shut their lying mouths.
If Scotland becomes independent, the SNP would be likely to lose the first election by a big margin. So yes, it could well attempt to shut its opponents' mouths and cement itself in office. Many don't realise just how ugly some of the possibilities are.
CUCKOO
OK you don't like my comment. But do you have any comment on MonikerDiCanio's statement (quite possibly ironic) that journalists who dare to criticise the SNP will "rue the day" and that "the Party will shut their lying mouths"?
If you don't recognise Monica's every comment on the subject as trolling, you're even stupider than I thought.
The other explanation is that I'm not committed enough to read every comment here. In my head only about five contributors have a "profile" so far.
UKIP seems to have lost its raison d'etre now we are leaving the EU.
Will the SNP lose its raison d'etre if Scotland votes for independence?
No because the SNP made the transition to party of government before independence.
And it gets people, other than members and those who are connected to it, to vote for it why, exactly? Above all because it is in favour of independence. It is the YeSNP.
Polls show up to a third of SNP voters don't want a second Independence referendum. Which means they're voting for the party of government for other reasons.
To be somewhat fair to politicians, they have lots of different interests to balance and to resolve. In this case, doing something about climate change and boosting their own car industries. So if diesel engines emit less CO2 than gasoline ones and they can support a European industry strength with lots of lovely R&D, it's a win/win. Diesel engines can be made as clean as petrol ones, but it comes with cost and performance penalties, so both car manufacturers and governments were happy to take the shortcut. It's more a lack of coherent thinking than governments ignoring scientists. Scientists wouldn't make those trade-offs and can't be expected to do so.
I went to an interesting talk about the science policy behind neonicotinoids, insecticides that turned out to have a devastating effect on pollinating bee populations. Although the compounds were tested on large insects, it was a straightforward do they die or don't they test. Neonicotindoids don't actually kill bees but they have behavioural effects that mean bees become confused and lose their instinct for self-preservation, with devastating consequences for populations.
Governments are faced with special interest groups from industrialists who want to keep selling their products, environmentalists who are concerned about diversity with much lower pollination rates and farmers who are simultaneously for and against as they want the insecticides but are worried about their crops being pollinated.
Governments have dealt with this by selectively banning particular neonicotinoid compounds. They can then be seen to be dealing with the problem, while industrialists can easily switch to other not yet banned compounds that have the same effect.
The fundamental problem was with the original test, which doesn't measure what actually needs to be tested. As the target insects are killed deleteriously rather than instantly, you might expect scientists to realise a similar effect could happen on larger insects. Governments once informed that a mistake was made in the testing could now enforce a ban. Neither is happening.
UKIP seems to have lost its raison d'etre now we are leaving the EU.
Will the SNP lose its raison d'etre if Scotland votes for independence?
No because the SNP made the transition to party of government before independence.
And it gets people, other than members and those who are connected to it, to vote for it why, exactly? Above all because it is in favour of independence. It is the YeSNP.
Polls show up to a third of SNP voters don't want a second Independence referendum. Which means they're voting for the party of government for other reasons.
Not necessarily. They want independence but for tactical reasons don't think a referendum is a good idea now.
Just imagine if a bienpensant UK Remainer had a second home in Hungary, and Griffin moved in next door. What a sitcom that would make.
I wonder if Nick will be taking his pigs (if they haven't been finally solved) Anne and Frank with him? Which would be worse for the bien pensant, Nick gurning over the garden fence or the smell of pig shit?
Edit: I see the piggies are long ago consumed. Still, Nick has hilariously transferred the names to his two rotweillers.
Golly. I knew he was horrible, but not that horrible.
Interestingly, Google offered me a Zerohedge piece entitled "Le Pen takes huge lead" as its first choice for "French presidential election polls". Turned out to quoting be a piece from November, and IMO misleading even then (focused on round 1). Beware of search engine optimisation...
Am I right inunderstanding that wee Jimmie Krankie has decided to go for another referendum on the grounds that Scotland might be leaving the EU - but simultaneously has abandoned plans for an independent Scotland to rejoin the EU because, err, most Scots aren't very big on the idea of it? Maybe that nice Mrs May should insist that the referendum question references the EU.
when you are down to personal insults it shows you have nothing to say and are scared
To be somewhat fair to politicians, they have lots of different interests to balance and to resolve. In this case, doing something about climate change and boosting their own car industries. So if diesel engines emit less CO2 than gasoline ones and they can support a European industry strength with lots of lovely R&D, it's a win/win. Diesel engines can be made as clean as petrol ones, but it comes with cost and performance penalties, so both car manufacturers and governments were happy to take the shortcut. It's more a lack of coherent thinking than governments ignoring scientists. Scientists wouldn't make those trade-offs and can't be expected to do so.
I went to an interesting talk about the science policy behind neonicotinoids, insecticides that turned out to have a devastating effect on pollinating bee populations. Although the compounds were tested on large insects, it was a straightforward do they die or don't they test. Neonicotindoids don't actually kill bees but they have behavioural effects that mean bees become confused and lose their instinct for self-preservation, with devastating consequences for populations.
Governments are faced with special interest groups from industrialists who want to keep selling their products, environmentalists who are concerned about diversity with much lower pollination rates and farmers who are simultaneously for and against as they want the insecticides but are worried about their crops being pollinated.
Governments have dealt with this by selectively banning particular neonicotinoid compounds. They can then be seen to be dealing with the problem, while industrialists can easily switch to other not yet banned compounds that have the same effect.
The fundamental problem was with the original test, which doesn't measure what actually needs to be tested. As the target insects are killed deleteriously rather than instantly, you might expect scientists to realise a similar effect could happen on larger insects. Governments once informed that a mistake was made in the testing could now enforce a ban. Neither is happening.
Fascinating. Akin to medicine use where once upon a time we just treated side-effects, but now we try to take other actions to reduce them, or create medicines without.
Am I right inunderstanding that wee Jimmie Krankie has decided to go for another referendum on the grounds that Scotland might be leaving the EU - but simultaneously has abandoned plans for an independent Scotland to rejoin the EU because, err, most Scots aren't very big on the idea of it? Maybe that nice Mrs May should insist that the referendum question references the EU.
when you are down to personal insults it shows you have nothing to say and are scared
On that basis you've been scared for years....
Extreme nationalists like Malcolm are usually motivated by fear and paranoia about " the other ". He's a frightened man clinging to his turnips.
Am I right inunderstanding that wee Jimmie Krankie has decided to go for another referendum on the grounds that Scotland might be leaving the EU - but simultaneously has abandoned plans for an independent Scotland to rejoin the EU because, err, most Scots aren't very big on the idea of it? Maybe that nice Mrs May should insist that the referendum question references the EU.
when you are down to personal insults it shows you have nothing to say and are scared Patrick. Desperate stuff on here, misogyny ever to the fore.
Erm. I think of Sturgeon as wee Jimmie Krankie though. She looks the same and makes as much sense. So I'll stick with that one. Also she has no lips. Never trust a woman with no lips. Even Maggie had 'the lips of Marilyn Monroe'. On fear - to be honest I'm OK with Scotland leaving. If you've gone emotionally the mechanics will probably follow at some point. I wish Scotland well.
Just imagine if a bienpensant UK Remainer had a second home in Hungary, and Griffin moved in next door. What a sitcom that would make.
I wonder if Nick will be taking his pigs (if they haven't been finally solved) Anne and Frank with him? Which would be worse for the bien pensant, Nick gurning over the garden fence or the smell of pig shit?
Edit: I see the piggies are long ago consumed. Still, Nick has hilariously transferred the names to his two rotweillers.
Golly. I knew he was horrible, but not that horrible.
Apparently, he went to Cambridge University. No reason why an academically bright person can't also be a totally horrible person of course. It's just that sometimes the very bright are inclined to think that their intelligence is also a sign of their moral worth.
It is interesting that neither side has said anything about hypothetical changes to the form of the referendum, in light of EURef: should it require a minimum turnout, more than a simple majority, be advisory vs binding, preclude a third referendum for x years, etc. The obvious reason for this is that neither side can tactically raise any of those points at this stage - Sturgeon wants none of those qualifications, May would like all of them but can't stipulate any of them because it would look as if she was conceding the principle that a ref of one kind or another would happen. Either we are going to have might battles on all those points before the referendum itself, or we are in danger of getting 51/49 one way or the other on a low turnout, and have battles about that after the event for ever after.
Mr. Palmer, I wonder if it'd be a shade Pyrrhic for Macron to beat Le Pen in round 1. Could reduce the urgency of tactical voting against her.
It will be interesting to see what changes that the first TV debate tonight, have upon the polling.
For Macron, it is a big risk. He is the front-runner and is up there to be shot at. Also he has not had the experience of TV debate in primaries as Fillon and Hamon have.
Fillon is going to find this TV debate a lot tougher than his primary TV debates. Back then his message was that he was whiter than white and that played out well against his challengers, Juppe and Sarkozy, both of whom had been embroiled in finAncial scandals of their own. Also, he goes into it with 75% of the viewers thinking he should not even be still standing in the race. It is going to be hard for him to change those opinions.
Le Pen I think will do quite well, she is a passionate debator and is politically smart, even if her message and what she stands for is rejected by the majority of voters.
Hamon is also likely to do quite well in the debate. He shone in the primary that he won and as he is not see as a real threat to the other candidates, he is unlikely to be the focus of their attacks.
There is no tax differential between petrol and diesel cars in the new VED rules though.. So other than personal conscience, why would I be incentivised to (eventually) replace my diesel with a petrol ? I do drive a diesel, but I think the decision to maintain the same VED between otherwise identical NEW petrol and diesel cars is odd - given the evidence now available. People are choosing to buy new diesels, it isn't a past decision that people will be punished for (Always an important distinction when deciding how 'fair' this sort of tax/charge is)
What is happening is a shift in public opinion against diesel engines that the government is reacting to. Diesel engines can be made as clean as we want them to be if we are happy to pay the costs of filtration in terms of money and performance. Volkswagen didn't fake their emissions tests because they were unable to meet them. They did so because they were unable to meet them and their own cost and performance targets.
The other big change is turbo-charged small capacity petrol engines that deliver an acceptable performance versus fuel economy and CO2 emissions balance. New cleaner diesel engines come with a £1000+ surcharge over petrol engines. On cheaper cars that's a big enough difference to see people switch to petrol. If you are paying, say, £30 000 for a car the surcharge becomes less significant and you are happy to pay the extra to get the greater mid-cycle torque of the diesel car. Over time I suspect the higher cost cars will switch to electric propulsion and diesel will be squeezed.
Just imagine if a bienpensant UK Remainer had a second home in Hungary, and Griffin moved in next door. What a sitcom that would make.
I wonder if Nick will be taking his pigs (if they haven't been finally solved) Anne and Frank with him? Which would be worse for the bien pensant, Nick gurning over the garden fence or the smell of pig shit?
Edit: I see the piggies are long ago consumed. Still, Nick has hilariously transferred the names to his two rotweillers.
Golly. I knew he was horrible, but not that horrible.
Apparently, he went to Cambridge University. No reason why an academically bright person can't also be a totally horrible person of course. It's just that sometimes the very bright are inclined to think that their intelligence is also a sign of their moral worth.
Not me, I echo Max Beerbohm: "I was a modest, good-humoured boy. It is Oxford that has made me insufferable."
Just imagine if a bienpensant UK Remainer had a second home in Hungary, and Griffin moved in next door. What a sitcom that would make.
I wonder if Nick will be taking his pigs (if they haven't been finally solved) Anne and Frank with him? Which would be worse for the bien pensant, Nick gurning over the garden fence or the smell of pig shit?
Edit: I see the piggies are long ago consumed. Still, Nick has hilariously transferred the names to his two rotweillers.
Golly. I knew he was horrible, but not that horrible.
Apparently, he went to Cambridge University.
Can't produce Prime Ministers but can produce traitors & Nick Griffin......
The SNP always used to annoy me, Sturgeon and Salmond in particular. I hate the way they smirk and moralise while openly lying to their own supporters. In my view they were the worst politicians in the UK for that and it drove me mad.
But recently it has struck me that Sturgeon is just a bit of a comic figure really. "Scotland, Scotland, Scotland, Scotland, Scotland, Tory, Tory, Tory, Tory, Scotland, Tory".
A year out of date and ignores refugees from elsewhere. If you take into account all refugees, the area of the UK that supports the most is the North-West of England.
Mr. F, aye, but the political class treat them as science. It's utterly indefensible. There are at least half a dozen ways to fool one (my personal favourite is slipping into a trance), the worst of which is simply being good at lying.
In the same way that the political class (tying in with the discussion about cross-examination in rape cases) take the view that if someone is tried and acquitted they have "got away with it."
Comments
On moderation: doesn't everyone consider themselves fairly moderate and define extremity as the degree to which someone's opinion differs from their own? It's the same self-centred perspective that led the old Church to teach the Earth was the centre of the universe, or modern warmists to insist the climate changing simply must be due to human activity. We also see it with maps, with every country (naturally) putting themselves in the centre.
Forcing PMs in normal circumstances to stick to a 4- or 5-yearly term is good for democracy. Not that we don't need more reforms - e.g., PR, writing down more of our constitution - but the FTPA was a good start.
I suppose we have the Lib.Dems to thank for it ... and for the ~£11k tax threshold.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/39274891
I especially liked the opening about declining TV audiences. I wonder why they're falling in the UK...
http://enormo-haddock.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/testing-times-part-two.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4329748/Labour-councillors-helped-create-jihadi-breeding-ground.html
"During his time inside, Sparkbrook has become synonymous with Islamic extremism; one in ten of all Britain’s convicted Islamic terrorists, we now know, have come from Sparkbrook (population 30,000) and four adjoining council wards.
In total, these highly concentrated Muslim enclaves, occupying a few square miles of the city, have produced 26 of the country’s 269 known jihadis convicted in Britain of terror offences.
The disturbing statistic is contained in the most comprehensive study of terror convictions in the UK...
The difference between Muslim communities in Birmingham and Leicester highlights this. Leicester, with a significant but more widely dispersed Muslim population, has bred only two convicted terrorists over the past two decades compared with the 26 from in and around Sparkbrook, which is more than 70 per cent Muslim.
Edit: I see the piggies are long ago consumed. Still, Nick has hilariously transferred the names to his two rotweillers.
As it happened I was aware of this, so I listened with interest, He wanted me to influence the Government's policies. I thanked him for his faith in me, but had to explain it was totally misplaced. I was only a scientist at a junior level and the Government (of any description) only listened to things that were politically appealing. Carbon dioxide and global warming was the only game in town. Diesel was good, petrol was bad, and that was dogma.
Now things have changed, but don't let anyone tell you that the facts ever changed. We've had more confirmation of what we knew anyway. But politicians' mantra has always been that scientists should be on tap, not on top. Now diesel has become Satan, these politicians have ignored their previous enthusiasms and switched totally. It didn't take new facts, it took new fashions. The media has always been the child, bewitched by the shiny and new, and the politicians have generally been the doting parent. "Ah, bless, aren't they sweet."
I was young once, but my cynicism has been learned.
I sometimes wish politicians would for once, not meddle with things they don't understand, or more often, don't want to understand. Unfortunately, that is also a recipe for an obscure political career.
I understand that these changes can take time. Tobacco smoke, lead in petrol needed to be considered on an overall basis. Global warming has far more confounding factors than either. Carbon dioxide is almost certainly a factor, but it has the good fortune to be fashionable.
Oh well, mini-rant over.
Averaging that out, that makes me a centrist, which is true as I'm probably a Gladstonian Liberal.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/27/why-dont-people-vote-google?CMP=share_btn_tw
Mr. CD13, a similar thing (only without recanting) has happened with the polygraph. The polygraph, a so-called lie detector (it is not), is used on paedophiles out of prison. This is especially stupid as, possibly excepting psychopaths, paedophiles are amongst the finest liars. Labour introduced this, and the Coalition continued it. It's indefensibly stupid.
Polygraphs don't detect lies. They detect changes in autonomic physiology. An innocent man might be nervous at being wired up, and 'lie'. A dodgy swine might be a good liar, stay relaxed, and 'tell the truth'.
Here's an article I wrote a few years ago:
http://thaddeusthesixth.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/the-polygraph-work-of-science-fiction.html
Honest.
https://twitter.com/T_Socialist/status/843578317349572608
On June 23, 2012, Darren Rainey, a schizophrenic man serving time for cocaine possession, was thrown into a prison shower at the Dade Correctional Institution. The water was turned up top 180 degrees — hot enough to steep tea or cook Ramen noodles.
As punishment, four corrections officers — John Fan Fan, Cornelius Thompson, Ronald Clarke and Edwina Williams — kept Rainey in that shower for two full hours. Rainey was heard screaming "Please take me out! I can’t take it anymore!” and kicking the shower door. Inmates said prison guards laughed at Rainey and shouted "Is it hot enough?"
Rainey died inside that shower. He was found crumpled on the floor. When his body was pulled out, nurses said there were burns on 90 percent of his body. A nurse said his body temperature was too high to register with a thermometer. And his skin fell off at the touch.
But in an unconscionable decision, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle's office announced Friday that the four guards who oversaw what amounted to a medieval-era boiling will not be charged with a crime.
“The shower was itself neither dangerous nor unsafe,’’ the report says. “The evidence does not show that Rainey’s well-being was grossly disregarded by the correctional staff.’’
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/florida-wont-charge-prison-guards-who-boiled-schizophrenic-black-man-darren-rainey-to-death-9213190
The likelihood of the FBI (or another agency) engaging in such shenanigans against a presidential candidate is low, to put it mildly.
Particularly when more legitimate (in the strict legal sense) methods are readily available:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2017/03/17/ron-wydens-complaints-about-section-702/
1) Dupont-Aignan's interview walkout has been a great success: the video has had 11 million hits on Facebook.
Comment
As any well-trained salesperson (or betting psychologist) knows, people feel committed once they have made an investment. The audience for tonight's debate among the chosen Five is unlikely to be hugely bigger than 11 million. This is the first time TV debates will be held before the whole-spectrum open primary (the "first round") takes place on 23 April. Audiences for between-the-rounds debates in the most recent four elections, going backwards, were 18m, 20m, n/a (Chirac wouldn't), and 17m.
2) Dupont-Aignan has changed his position on the euro, and now says he wants to retain its "good sides" and to engage in a monetary coordination that is more supple.
Comment
He's selling himself as standing up to Germany.
3) Macron says he wants to reintroduce conscription.
Comment
Did this seriously play well in the focus groups?
4) Fillon has apologised for pubishing (on Twitter) a cartoon of Macron which has been called anti-Semitic.
Comment
Was he trying to woo the jackboot right? Or, which is more likely in my opinion, has the poor soul no control even over his own campaign?
But inconveniently the body has been cremated [the case was 4 years ago] so there can be no further investigation.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/03/17/appeals_court_rules_officer_who_killed_man_in_his_own_home_cannot_be_sued.html
Will the SNP lose its raison d'etre if Scotland votes for independence?
'Norway ousts Denmark as world's happiest country – UN report'
http://tinyurl.com/mhdyr9m
It is imperative that, when we leave the EU, we replicate the existing agreements as much as possible. Given EU-US tariffs average less than 3%, it is more important that we get these harmonisations agreed than we symbolically get tariffs removed.
Another reason why I'm glad that my grandparents decided to come to the UK, and not the US.
There is no tax differential between petrol and diesel cars in the new VED rules though..
So other than personal conscience, why would I be incentivised to (eventually) replace my diesel with a petrol ?
I do drive a diesel, but I think the decision to maintain the same VED between otherwise identical NEW petrol and diesel cars is odd - given the evidence now available. People are choosing to buy new diesels, it isn't a past decision that people will be punished for (Always an important distinction when deciding how 'fair' this sort of tax/charge is)
It is because of ...
"May 4th be with EU."
'Scotland has taken in more than a third of all UK's Syrian refugees '
http://tinyurl.com/zeyrtll
Governments are faced with special interest groups from industrialists who want to keep selling their products, environmentalists who are concerned about diversity with much lower pollination rates and farmers who are simultaneously for and against as they want the insecticides but are worried about their crops being pollinated.
Governments have dealt with this by selectively banning particular neonicotinoid compounds. They can then be seen to be dealing with the problem, while industrialists can easily switch to other not yet banned compounds that have the same effect.
The fundamental problem was with the original test, which doesn't measure what actually needs to be tested. As the target insects are killed deleteriously rather than instantly, you might expect scientists to realise a similar effect could happen on larger insects. Governments once informed that a mistake was made in the testing could now enforce a ban. Neither is happening.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_French_presidential_election,_2017
Interestingly, Google offered me a Zerohedge piece entitled "Le Pen takes huge lead" as its first choice for "French presidential election polls". Turned out to quoting be a piece from November, and IMO misleading even then (focused on round 1). Beware of search engine optimisation...
http://www.streaming-hub.com/tf1-direct/
I'm wondering if my French is up to it.
On fear - to be honest I'm OK with Scotland leaving. If you've gone emotionally the mechanics will probably follow at some point. I wish Scotland well.
For Macron, it is a big risk. He is the front-runner and is up there to be shot at. Also he has not had the experience of TV debate in primaries as Fillon and Hamon have.
Fillon is going to find this TV debate a lot tougher than his primary TV debates. Back then his message was that he was whiter than white and that played out well against his challengers, Juppe and Sarkozy, both of whom had been embroiled in finAncial scandals of their own. Also, he goes into it with 75% of the viewers thinking he should not even be still standing in the race. It is going to be hard for him to change those opinions.
Le Pen I think will do quite well, she is a passionate debator and is politically smart, even if her message and what she stands for is rejected by the majority of voters.
Hamon is also likely to do quite well in the debate. He shone in the primary that he won and as he is not see as a real threat to the other candidates, he is unlikely to be the focus of their attacks.
The other big change is turbo-charged small capacity petrol engines that deliver an acceptable performance versus fuel economy and CO2 emissions balance. New cleaner diesel engines come with a £1000+ surcharge over petrol engines. On cheaper cars that's a big enough difference to see people switch to petrol. If you are paying, say, £30 000 for a car the surcharge becomes less significant and you are happy to pay the extra to get the greater mid-cycle torque of the diesel car. Over time I suspect the higher cost cars will switch to electric propulsion and diesel will be squeezed.
But recently it has struck me that Sturgeon is just a bit of a comic figure really. "Scotland, Scotland, Scotland, Scotland, Scotland, Tory, Tory, Tory, Tory, Scotland, Tory".
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2016/asylum