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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Will the last person to quit UKIP please remember to turn out

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  • Options
    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,285
    edited April 2017
    The thing I hate about Ryanair is the constant inflight adverts and attempting to sell you tat. If I wanted that experience I would stay at home and watch Ideal Home or QVC...
  • Options
    MTimTMTimT Posts: 7,034

    isam said:
    He is right. I am already doing something similar and so are some others I know. Startups, lifestyle businesses and location-independent working is playing a bigger part in the economy than ever before.

    The downside of being able to work anywhere, anytime, is that some customers expect you to work anywhere and anytime.

    Not so much 9 to 5 as Sunday to Saturday :(
    Hence the importance of discipline and scheduling in one's life. Highly recommend Deep Work by Cal Newport on the importance of uninterrupted work, and also of defined workdays, in the knowledge economy.

    I work nearly 100% from home except when I am on the road.
  • Options
    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,285
    edited April 2017
    MTimT said:

    isam said:
    He is right. I am already doing something similar and so are some others I know. Startups, lifestyle businesses and location-independent working is playing a bigger part in the economy than ever before.

    The downside of being able to work anywhere, anytime, is that some customers expect you to work anywhere and anytime.

    Not so much 9 to 5 as Sunday to Saturday :(
    Hence the importance of discipline and scheduling in one's life. Highly recommend Deep Work by Cal Newport on the importance of uninterrupted work, and also of defined workdays, in the knowledge economy.

    I work nearly 100% from home except when I am on the road.
    Its the reason I do most of my important work in the middle of the night.
  • Options
    TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 41,370

    MTimT said:

    isam said:
    He is right. I am already doing something similar and so are some others I know. Startups, lifestyle businesses and location-independent working is playing a bigger part in the economy than ever before.

    The downside of being able to work anywhere, anytime, is that some customers expect you to work anywhere and anytime.

    Not so much 9 to 5 as Sunday to Saturday :(
    Hence the importance of discipline and scheduling in one's life. Highly recommend Deep Work by Cal Newport on the importance of uninterrupted work, and also of defined workdays, in the knowledge economy.

    I work nearly 100% from home except when I am on the road.
    Its the reason I do most of my important work in the middle of the night.
    You're a prostitute?
  • Options
    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,285
    TOPPING said:

    MTimT said:

    isam said:
    He is right. I am already doing something similar and so are some others I know. Startups, lifestyle businesses and location-independent working is playing a bigger part in the economy than ever before.

    The downside of being able to work anywhere, anytime, is that some customers expect you to work anywhere and anytime.

    Not so much 9 to 5 as Sunday to Saturday :(
    Hence the importance of discipline and scheduling in one's life. Highly recommend Deep Work by Cal Newport on the importance of uninterrupted work, and also of defined workdays, in the knowledge economy.

    I work nearly 100% from home except when I am on the road.
    Its the reason I do most of my important work in the middle of the night.
    You're a prostitute?
    Naughty....
  • Options
    surbitonsurbiton Posts: 13,549
    HYUFD said:

    Scott_P said:
    He will nuke the country, solves the Assad and ISIS problem in one!
    I thought he was NOT the President of the World !
  • Options
    surbitonsurbiton Posts: 13,549
    isam said:

    Scott_P said:
    They're forgetting the most successful post war British politician!
    When did Attlee join UKIP ?
  • Options
    nunununu Posts: 6,024

    "A new method of assessing the age of asylum applicants by examining their teeth and knee joints is now under way in Sweden. "

    https://www.thelocal.se/20170307/sweden-begins-new-asylum-seeker-age-assessment-tests

    I'm not sure if I want this done here, on the one hand it sounds like common sense and after those pics of "refugees" that clearly weren't children I was angry but how accurate are these tests?
  • Options
    tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,193
    nunu said:


    "A new method of assessing the age of asylum applicants by examining their teeth and knee joints is now under way in Sweden. "

    https://www.thelocal.se/20170307/sweden-begins-new-asylum-seeker-age-assessment-tests

    I'm not sure if I want this done here, on the one hand it sounds like common sense and after those pics of "refugees" that clearly weren't children I was angry but how accurate are these tests?

    They used to test wrists to assess footballers in age limited tournaments like the World Youth Cup, but I'm not sure how precise those tests were.
  • Options
    GeoffMGeoffM Posts: 6,071
    TOPPING said:

    MTimT said:

    isam said:
    He is right. I am already doing something similar and so are some others I know. Startups, lifestyle businesses and location-independent working is playing a bigger part in the economy than ever before.

    The downside of being able to work anywhere, anytime, is that some customers expect you to work anywhere and anytime.

    Not so much 9 to 5 as Sunday to Saturday :(
    Hence the importance of discipline and scheduling in one's life. Highly recommend Deep Work by Cal Newport on the importance of uninterrupted work, and also of defined workdays, in the knowledge economy.

    I work nearly 100% from home except when I am on the road.
    Its the reason I do most of my important work in the middle of the night.
    You're a prostitute?
    Not necessarily. You are jumping to conclusions.
    Every brothel needs a good piano player.
  • Options
    AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    DavidL said:

    Artist said:

    What a silly system where you can get elected through the list system and then decide to become an independent, even though no one voted for you. It just encourages parties to fill their list with party loyalists over talented individuals.

    I have always said that anyone elected by FPTP should not feel it necessary to seek reelection if they leave their party - though I admired Carswell and Reckless for choosing to do so.

    But anyone elected by a PR system that assigns seats based on party votes should surrender their seat to the p[arty when they leave. That goes for MEPs and assembly members as well. It was not Reckless's seat.
    Quite. I really don't understand this. If UKIP still has tuppence to rub together there is surely going to be a legal challenge to him remaining in the Welsh Assembly.
    It does seem the drafters of the electoral system didn't take into account the notion that a List MP might be an unscrupulous bastard.

    It is simply morally improper to stand on the list for a party and then keep your seat if you defect.
  • Options
    AlsoIndigoAlsoIndigo Posts: 1,852
    Alistair said:

    DavidL said:

    Artist said:

    What a silly system where you can get elected through the list system and then decide to become an independent, even though no one voted for you. It just encourages parties to fill their list with party loyalists over talented individuals.

    I have always said that anyone elected by FPTP should not feel it necessary to seek reelection if they leave their party - though I admired Carswell and Reckless for choosing to do so.

    But anyone elected by a PR system that assigns seats based on party votes should surrender their seat to the p[arty when they leave. That goes for MEPs and assembly members as well. It was not Reckless's seat.
    Quite. I really don't understand this. If UKIP still has tuppence to rub together there is surely going to be a legal challenge to him remaining in the Welsh Assembly.
    It does seem the drafters of the electoral system didn't take into account the notion that a List MP might be an unscrupulous bastard.

    It is simply morally improper to stand on the list for a party and then keep your seat if you defect.
    Should the number of unscrupulous bastards that appear to have been drawn to standing for the welsh assembly be seen as a coincidence ? :wink:
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 40,952
    edited April 2017
    Alistair said:

    DavidL said:

    Artist said:

    What a silly system where you can get elected through the list system and then decide to become an independent, even though no one voted for you. It just encourages parties to fill their list with party loyalists over talented individuals.

    I have always said that anyone elected by FPTP should not feel it necessary to seek reelection if they leave their party - though I admired Carswell and Reckless for choosing to do so.

    But anyone elected by a PR system that assigns seats based on party votes should surrender their seat to the p[arty when they leave. That goes for MEPs and assembly members as well. It was not Reckless's seat.
    Quite. I really don't understand this. If UKIP still has tuppence to rub together there is surely going to be a legal challenge to him remaining in the Welsh Assembly.
    It does seem the drafters of the electoral system didn't take into account the notion that a List MP might be an unscrupulous bastard.

    It is simply morally improper to stand on the list for a party and then keep your seat if you defect.
    Carswell has got away with it, why not Reckless?

    How Carswell had the gall to write this, then not call a by election is beyond me.

    "Here's my advice on how to jump":
    "Insist on a by-election...It's the only honourable way"
    "Why not run as an independent?"

    http://www.talkcarswell.com/home/how-to-resign-and-spark-a-tricky-byelection/2931
  • Options
    GeoffMGeoffM Posts: 6,071
    tlg86 said:

    nunu said:


    "A new method of assessing the age of asylum applicants by examining their teeth and knee joints is now under way in Sweden. "

    https://www.thelocal.se/20170307/sweden-begins-new-asylum-seeker-age-assessment-tests

    I'm not sure if I want this done here, on the one hand it sounds like common sense and after those pics of "refugees" that clearly weren't children I was angry but how accurate are these tests?

    They used to test wrists to assess footballers in age limited tournaments like the World Youth Cup, but I'm not sure how precise those tests were.
    This is an example from the cricket world that seems relevant:

    In its drive to fight age-fudging at the junior level the BCCI has asked all state associations to apply regulations more stringently while admitting players at the Under-19 level. Starting from the 2016-17 season, players who enter competitive cricket at the Under-19 level will need to submit at least three documents to attest their date of birth, while the age-verification programme [AVP] and the Tanner-Whitehouse 3 method [TW3] to test bone maturity will continue to be implemented at the Under-16 level.

    www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/story/1033019.html
  • Options
    tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,193
    Alistair said:

    DavidL said:

    Artist said:

    What a silly system where you can get elected through the list system and then decide to become an independent, even though no one voted for you. It just encourages parties to fill their list with party loyalists over talented individuals.

    I have always said that anyone elected by FPTP should not feel it necessary to seek reelection if they leave their party - though I admired Carswell and Reckless for choosing to do so.

    But anyone elected by a PR system that assigns seats based on party votes should surrender their seat to the p[arty when they leave. That goes for MEPs and assembly members as well. It was not Reckless's seat.
    Quite. I really don't understand this. If UKIP still has tuppence to rub together there is surely going to be a legal challenge to him remaining in the Welsh Assembly.
    It does seem the drafters of the electoral system didn't take into account the notion that a List MP might be an unscrupulous bastard.

    It is simply morally improper to stand on the list for a party and then keep your seat if you defect.
    It's another reason why I prefer STV. Okay, we can argue that people are still voting for the party (as could be argued to be the case with Carswell in FPTP), but at least people are voting for a person in STV which is not the case with the list system.
  • Options
    calumcalum Posts: 3,046
    Alistair said:

    DavidL said:

    Artist said:

    What a silly system where you can get elected through the list system and then decide to become an independent, even though no one voted for you. It just encourages parties to fill their list with party loyalists over talented individuals.

    I have always said that anyone elected by FPTP should not feel it necessary to seek reelection if they leave their party - though I admired Carswell and Reckless for choosing to do so.

    But anyone elected by a PR system that assigns seats based on party votes should surrender their seat to the p[arty when they leave. That goes for MEPs and assembly members as well. It was not Reckless's seat.
    Quite. I really don't understand this. If UKIP still has tuppence to rub together there is surely going to be a legal challenge to him remaining in the Welsh Assembly.
    It does seem the drafters of the electoral system didn't take into account the notion that a List MP might be an unscrupulous bastard.

    It is simply morally improper to stand on the list for a party and then keep your seat if you defect.
    We've had a few Holyrood List MSPs pass away - the seats were taken up by the next name on the party list
  • Options
    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,129
    TOPPING said:

    MTimT said:

    isam said:
    He is right. I am already doing something similar and so are some others I know. Startups, lifestyle businesses and location-independent working is playing a bigger part in the economy than ever before.

    The downside of being able to work anywhere, anytime, is that some customers expect you to work anywhere and anytime.

    Not so much 9 to 5 as Sunday to Saturday :(
    Hence the importance of discipline and scheduling in one's life. Highly recommend Deep Work by Cal Newport on the importance of uninterrupted work, and also of defined workdays, in the knowledge economy.

    I work nearly 100% from home except when I am on the road.
    Its the reason I do most of my important work in the middle of the night.
    You're a prostitute?
    Nah, he works on the tarmac on the motorways....
  • Options
    jayfdeejayfdee Posts: 618
    Ishmael_Z said:

    All this talk of school attendance is academic. After Brexit we will returned to the time honoured practice of sending the kids out into the fields to harvest the crops. It will be hard at first and they will need a smattering of an eastern European language, but they will get used to it and enjoy it.

    Several asian countries still keep their main school holiday as April until June so that rural teenagers can help their parents with the rice harvest... I don't believe eastern European languages are a big factor so far :wink:
    When I were a lad in t'Lancashire there was a week holiday from primary school which was universally referred to as "potato picking" - I wasn't aware of pupil actually picking potatoes.
    This Lancashire lad did actually go potato picking in the week off, there were loads of potato farms out on the moss, Maghull through to Southport. Had to cycle there as well.
  • Options
    JonathanJonathan Posts: 20,901

    Jonathan said:

    Both were needed: the Tory party needed to show it was comfortable with modern Britain, but also that it understood and sympathised with the concerns of working people.

    The party certainly needed to do both. Cameron and Osborne were extremely successful on the first. On the second, they were trying hard, but were not perhaps conspicuously well-suited to it in terms of image! They tried to compensate, for example by hiring Andy Coulson and taking a lot of notice of his advice. Unfortunately that hire had an unexpected downside....

    The key thing, though, is that this has to be a permanent revolution. You have to keep modernising, and you have to keep working hard at listening to all sections of the population. Theresa May is very obviously aware of this, and she's not abandoning the good modernisation work done during the Cameron years. She is however, in tone, better at the second part.
    A very fair post.

    Agreed.
    Conclusion: Blair fundamentally changed and continues to change the Tory party. Quite a legacy.
    And the country: Blair is responsible for us Leaving the EU.
    Not sure that's actually true. Euroscepticism had it's birth under Major after Maastricht.
  • Options
    AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    isam said:

    Alistair said:

    DavidL said:

    Artist said:

    What a silly system where you can get elected through the list system and then decide to become an independent, even though no one voted for you. It just encourages parties to fill their list with party loyalists over talented individuals.

    I have always said that anyone elected by FPTP should not feel it necessary to seek reelection if they leave their party - though I admired Carswell and Reckless for choosing to do so.

    But anyone elected by a PR system that assigns seats based on party votes should surrender their seat to the p[arty when they leave. That goes for MEPs and assembly members as well. It was not Reckless's seat.
    Quite. I really don't understand this. If UKIP still has tuppence to rub together there is surely going to be a legal challenge to him remaining in the Welsh Assembly.
    It does seem the drafters of the electoral system didn't take into account the notion that a List MP might be an unscrupulous bastard.

    It is simply morally improper to stand on the list for a party and then keep your seat if you defect.
    Carswell has got away with it, why not Reckless?

    How Carswell had the gall to write this, then not call a by election is beyond me.

    "Here's my advice on how to jump":
    "Insist on a by-election...It's the only honourable way"
    "Why not run as an independent?"

    http://www.talkcarswell.com/home/how-to-resign-and-spark-a-tricky-byelection/2931
    Because when you are voting for a person you are voting for a specific person. When you give a list vote you are voting for a party.

    There is a clear difference.
  • Options
    GeoffMGeoffM Posts: 6,071

    TOPPING said:

    MTimT said:

    isam said:
    He is right. I am already doing something similar and so are some others I know. Startups, lifestyle businesses and location-independent working is playing a bigger part in the economy than ever before.

    The downside of being able to work anywhere, anytime, is that some customers expect you to work anywhere and anytime.

    Not so much 9 to 5 as Sunday to Saturday :(
    Hence the importance of discipline and scheduling in one's life. Highly recommend Deep Work by Cal Newport on the importance of uninterrupted work, and also of defined workdays, in the knowledge economy.

    I work nearly 100% from home except when I am on the road.
    Its the reason I do most of my important work in the middle of the night.
    You're a prostitute?
    Nah, he works on the tarmac on the motorways....
    I thought they only worked at peak driving times for maximum disruption?
  • Options
    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,342
    Alistair said:

    DavidL said:

    Artist said:

    What a silly system where you can get elected through the list system and then decide to become an independent, even though no one voted for you. It just encourages parties to fill their list with party loyalists over talented individuals.

    I have always said that anyone elected by FPTP should not feel it necessary to seek reelection if they leave their party - though I admired Carswell and Reckless for choosing to do so.

    But anyone elected by a PR system that assigns seats based on party votes should surrender their seat to the p[arty when they leave. That goes for MEPs and assembly members as well. It was not Reckless's seat.
    Quite. I really don't understand this. If UKIP still has tuppence to rub together there is surely going to be a legal challenge to him remaining in the Welsh Assembly.
    It does seem the drafters of the electoral system didn't take into account the notion that a List MP might be an unscrupulous bastard.

    It is simply morally improper to stand on the list for a party and then keep your seat if you defect.
    The point of a list appointment is that there is not even a bye election. The next UKIP representative simply steps up. I presume he spoke to the officials about this but I really don't understand how he can get away with this.
  • Options
    ThreeQuidderThreeQuidder Posts: 6,133

    isam said:
    He is right. I am already doing something similar and so are some others I know. Startups, lifestyle businesses and location-independent working is playing a bigger part in the economy than ever before.

    The downside of being able to work anywhere, anytime, is that some customers expect you to work anywhere and anytime.

    Not so much 9 to 5 as Sunday to Saturday :(
    "The nine to five is barbaric. I really believe that. I think one day we will look back at nine-to-five employment in a similar way to how we see child labour in the 19th century"

    No hyperbole too strong for the Guardian, as always.

    The nine to five is very outdated, and based on things like Henry Ford's factory production line shifts, and matching commercial shop opening hours from 100 years ago.

    But, it stays because we like it: as a friend of mine says, work is daycare for adults.
    Who does 9 to 5? I've always done either 9 to 6 or 8:30 to 5:30 - except, of course, when I've been doing shifts.
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 40,952
    Alistair said:

    isam said:

    Alistair said:

    DavidL said:

    Artist said:

    What a silly system where you can get elected through the list system and then decide to become an independent, even though no one voted for you. It just encourages parties to fill their list with party loyalists over talented individuals.

    I have always said that anyone elected by FPTP should not feel it necessary to seek reelection if they leave their party - though I admired Carswell and Reckless for choosing to do so.

    But anyone elected by a PR system that assigns seats based on party votes should surrender their seat to the p[arty when they leave. That goes for MEPs and assembly members as well. It was not Reckless's seat.
    Quite. I really don't understand this. If UKIP still has tuppence to rub together there is surely going to be a legal challenge to him remaining in the Welsh Assembly.
    It does seem the drafters of the electoral system didn't take into account the notion that a List MP might be an unscrupulous bastard.

    It is simply morally improper to stand on the list for a party and then keep your seat if you defect.
    Carswell has got away with it, why not Reckless?

    How Carswell had the gall to write this, then not call a by election is beyond me.

    "Here's my advice on how to jump":
    "Insist on a by-election...It's the only honourable way"
    "Why not run as an independent?"

    http://www.talkcarswell.com/home/how-to-resign-and-spark-a-tricky-byelection/2931
    Because when you are voting for a person you are voting for a specific person. When you give a list vote you are voting for a party.

    There is a clear difference.
    Yes I understand, but nevertheless Carswell can no longer play the idealistic hero card. He is a hypocrite.
  • Options
    CyanCyan Posts: 1,262
    A post-debate poll from Elabe, measuring the proportion of respondents who feel that each candidate gives a positive impression (not necessarily in the debate, but generally):

    Mélenchon 51% (+19)
    Macron 45% (-1)
    Hamon 33% (-1)
    Le Pen 32% (+4)
    Dupont-Aignan 28% (+7)
    Fillon 23% (+/- 0)
  • Options
    GeoffMGeoffM Posts: 6,071
    calum said:

    Alistair said:

    DavidL said:

    Artist said:

    What a silly system where you can get elected through the list system and then decide to become an independent, even though no one voted for you. It just encourages parties to fill their list with party loyalists over talented individuals.

    I have always said that anyone elected by FPTP should not feel it necessary to seek reelection if they leave their party - though I admired Carswell and Reckless for choosing to do so.

    But anyone elected by a PR system that assigns seats based on party votes should surrender their seat to the p[arty when they leave. That goes for MEPs and assembly members as well. It was not Reckless's seat.
    Quite. I really don't understand this. If UKIP still has tuppence to rub together there is surely going to be a legal challenge to him remaining in the Welsh Assembly.
    It does seem the drafters of the electoral system didn't take into account the notion that a List MP might be an unscrupulous bastard.

    It is simply morally improper to stand on the list for a party and then keep your seat if you defect.
    We've had a few Holyrood List MSPs pass away - the seats were taken up by the next name on the party list
    As I recall (happy to be corrected) when Roger Helmer defected on the European Parliament list there was some fuss. CCHQ tried to find a technical reason to bypass the next one on the list (a friend of Helmer's) in favour of the one after that because the correct choice was too EUsceptic for their tastes.
  • Options
    ThreeQuidderThreeQuidder Posts: 6,133

    Icarus said:

    "Ryanair has warned it will have to halt flights from the UK for “weeks or months” if Theresa May does not seal an early bilateral Brexit deal on international aviation."

    ......and there was me thinking that Brexit was going to be an unmitigated disaster.

    Michael O'Leary's business model is based on bullying passengers, airports, Governments and regulators into submission through threats and blackmail.

    For some reason, he seems to be loved for it.

    My guess is that making it more expensive and difficult for Brits to have weekends and weeks away in the sun will not be a popular move. Ryanair gets so many customers because it is cheap and that is what matters to most travellers more than anything else.

    Except it isn't. The headline fare is cheaper, but it racks up an awful lot as soon as you add cabin bags, and pre-booked seats.

    Easyjet and BA are equivalent and better.

    And it's gone up a lot anyway: air passenger duty and other climate change reforms, including fuel prices, as well as changes to the aviation market, mean the days of flying with Ryanair for £1 to a remote airport outside Belgium or Lisbon are long gone.
    And making sure you use the right card to pay with.
    A mate of mine organized a specific payment card purely because of Ryan Air.

    I don't, partly because I can't stand O'Leary, and I don't like how he runs his firm.

    I usually fly Easyjet.
    With Ryanair you get what it says on the tin.
    Yes, a company that actively resents its customers.

    I have never flown Ryanair and never will because of it.
  • Options
    Fysics_TeacherFysics_Teacher Posts: 6,060
    nunu said:


    "A new method of assessing the age of asylum applicants by examining their teeth and knee joints is now under way in Sweden. "

    https://www.thelocal.se/20170307/sweden-begins-new-asylum-seeker-age-assessment-tests

    I'm not sure if I want this done here, on the one hand it sounds like common sense and after those pics of "refugees" that clearly weren't children I was angry but how accurate are these tests?

    I've taught a lot of young men who could pass for 18 when in Year 10 or 11, and conversly some sixthformers (i.e. Year 12 and 13) who could have passed for a Year 9. A reliable method of aging someone in the absence of a birth certificate would be great, but don't assume that someone with a full beard is not still (legaly) a child.
  • Options
    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,342

    isam said:
    He is right. I am already doing something similar and so are some others I know. Startups, lifestyle businesses and location-independent working is playing a bigger part in the economy than ever before.

    The downside of being able to work anywhere, anytime, is that some customers expect you to work anywhere and anytime.

    Not so much 9 to 5 as Sunday to Saturday :(
    "The nine to five is barbaric. I really believe that. I think one day we will look back at nine-to-five employment in a similar way to how we see child labour in the 19th century"

    No hyperbole too strong for the Guardian, as always.

    The nine to five is very outdated, and based on things like Henry Ford's factory production line shifts, and matching commercial shop opening hours from 100 years ago.

    But, it stays because we like it: as a friend of mine says, work is daycare for adults.
    Who does 9 to 5? I've always done either 9 to 6 or 8:30 to 5:30 - except, of course, when I've been doing shifts.
    I've heard that there has been a massive increase in this kind of part time work in recent years. Something to do with benefits I understand.
  • Options
    another_richardanother_richard Posts: 25,101
    DavidL said:

    Did UK plc not used to get this guy for about £140K a year, 7 days a week? Maybe we were getting a bit of a bargain.
    Well aside from the pay there's also the small matter of the extra £200bn plus which Osborne borrowed over and above what he said he would borrow.

    If you think that's 'a bit of a bargain' you're free to pay back my share of it.
  • Options
    AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    isam said:

    Alistair said:

    isam said:

    Alistair said:

    DavidL said:

    Artist said:

    What a silly system where you can get elected through the list system and then decide to become an independent, even though no one voted for you. It just encourages parties to fill their list with party loyalists over talented individuals.

    I have always said that anyone elected by FPTP should not feel it necessary to seek reelection if they leave their party - though I admired Carswell and Reckless for choosing to do so.

    But anyone elected by a PR system that assigns seats based on party votes should surrender their seat to the p[arty when they leave. That goes for MEPs and assembly members as well. It was not Reckless's seat.
    Quite. I really don't understand this. If UKIP still has tuppence to rub together there is surely going to be a legal challenge to him remaining in the Welsh Assembly.
    It does seem the drafters of the electoral system didn't take into account the notion that a List MP might be an unscrupulous bastard.

    It is simply morally improper to stand on the list for a party and then keep your seat if you defect.
    Carswell has got away with it, why not Reckless?

    How Carswell had the gall to write this, then not call a by election is beyond me.

    "Here's my advice on how to jump":
    "Insist on a by-election...It's the only honourable way"
    "Why not run as an independent?"

    http://www.talkcarswell.com/home/how-to-resign-and-spark-a-tricky-byelection/2931
    Because when you are voting for a person you are voting for a specific person. When you give a list vote you are voting for a party.

    There is a clear difference.
    Yes I understand, but nevertheless Carswell can no longer play the idealistic hero card. He is a hypocrite.
    You'll get no argument from me there.
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    another_richardanother_richard Posts: 25,101
    For those PBers with an interest in the politics of ancient Rome compare the picture of George Osborne here:

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk/business

    with that of Lucius Sergius Cataline here:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catiline
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    jayfdeejayfdee Posts: 618

    Icarus said:

    "Ryanair has warned it will have to halt flights from the UK for “weeks or months” if Theresa May does not seal an early bilateral Brexit deal on international aviation."

    ......and there was me thinking that Brexit was going to be an unmitigated disaster.

    Michael O'Leary's business model is based on bullying passengers, airports, Governments and regulators into submission through threats and blackmail.

    For some reason, he seems to be loved for it.

    My guess is that making it more expensive and difficult for Brits to have weekends and weeks away in the sun will not be a popular move. Ryanair gets so many customers because it is cheap and that is what matters to most travellers more than anything else.

    Except it isn't. The headline fare is cheaper, but it racks up an awful lot as soon as you add cabin bags, and pre-booked seats.

    Easyjet and BA are equivalent and better.

    And it's gone up a lot anyway: air passenger duty and other climate change reforms, including fuel prices, as well as changes to the aviation market, mean the days of flying with Ryanair for £1 to a remote airport outside Belgium or Lisbon are long gone.
    And making sure you use the right card to pay with.
    A mate of mine organized a specific payment card purely because of Ryan Air.

    I don't, partly because I can't stand O'Leary, and I don't like how he runs his firm.

    I usually fly Easyjet.
    With Ryanair you get what it says on the tin.
    Yes, a company that actively resents its customers.

    I have never flown Ryanair and never will because of it.
    Ryanair is OK, they get the job done,yes they bully the passengers, and the airports, they want the minimum downtime to keep costs down, but they get you there usually on time.
    Their fleet is extremely modern which gives me confidence.
    They are fine for short haul European flights. I prefer to fly from Liverpool rather than Manchester, the airport is just as important to me as the carrier.
    I can easily afford to fly first class to any where I want, but I often use Ryanair on short haul.
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,994
    New thread.
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    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,342
    The problem is that his comments are frankly gibberish. I really struggle to understand what he is saying and I have lots of clients with a variable relationship with reality.
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    Ishmael_Z said:

    All this talk of school attendance is academic. After Brexit we will returned to the time honoured practice of sending the kids out into the fields to harvest the crops. It will be hard at first and they will need a smattering of an eastern European language, but they will get used to it and enjoy it.

    Several asian countries still keep their main school holiday as April until June so that rural teenagers can help their parents with the rice harvest... I don't believe eastern European languages are a big factor so far :wink:
    When I were a lad in t'Lancashire there was a week holiday from primary school which was universally referred to as "potato picking" - I wasn't aware of pupil actually picking potatoes.
    Potatoes and Chupes ( rose-hips) were definitely picked in the 1950s. I think my first year at primary school 1964/5 was the last year for picking chupes.
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    geoffwgeoffw Posts: 8,176
    Still on about Ryanair? A palindrome in need of an aerodrome.
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    mattmatt Posts: 3,789

    Icarus said:

    "Ryanair has warned it will have to halt flights from the UK for “weeks or months” if Theresa May does not seal an early bilateral Brexit deal on international aviation."

    ......and there was me thinking that Brexit was going to be an unmitigated disaster.

    Michael O'Leary's business model is based on bullying passengers, airports, Governments and regulators into submission through threats and blackmail.

    For some reason, he seems to be loved for it.

    My guess is that making it more expensive and difficult for Brits to have weekends and weeks away in the sun will not be a popular move. Ryanair gets so many customers because it is cheap and that is what matters to most travellers more than anything else.

    Except it isn't. The headline fare is cheaper, but it racks up an awful lot as soon as you add cabin bags, and pre-booked seats.

    Easyjet and BA are equivalent and better.

    And it's gone up a lot anyway: air passenger duty and other climate change reforms, including fuel prices, as well as changes to the aviation market, mean the days of flying with Ryanair for £1 to a remote airport outside Belgium or Lisbon are long gone.
    And making sure you use the right card to pay with.
    A mate of mine organized a specific payment card purely because of Ryan Air.

    I don't, partly because I can't stand O'Leary, and I don't like how he runs his firm.

    I usually fly Easyjet.
    With Ryanair you get what it says on the tin.
    Yes, a company that actively resents its customers.

    I have never flown Ryanair and never will because of it.
    I book maybe 80 flights a year with Ryanair. If I book ahead then the flight price is less than the taxi to the airport.

    They've completely changed their customer service approach over the last couple of years. See the book Ruinair for what it was, not what it is.
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    RowdieRowdie Posts: 8
    Shouldn't that question be asked of the Labour party ?
This discussion has been closed.