It's good expectation management, you must admit. If we pull out with no deal but we don't run out of Camembert, the Government will say it's better than expected...
Over-rated in my view. What's wrong with Brie?
It's not as good as the Shire, it's got Big People living in it.
Good news, that was the silliest and most unworkable bit of the Chequers proposal.
At least Barnier is talking rather than clock-watching, let’s work out what the deal looks like and get on with it.
Customs union it is.
Why would we want to technically leave the EU only to tie ourselves up in its trade policy?
What I struggle with all this “our own trade policy” flag waving is what would be actually be doing differently to the present EU approach? How great might the divergence actually be in practice?
Yep, any minute now the public will all decide that it's completely the EU's fault that we've spent two years proposing things that break their red lines and they haven't yet changed their minds.
Noted elsewhere, the same people who tour the airwaves shouting about "reclaiming control of our laws, money and borders" are the same one incensed when the EU suggest they might want to do likewise
Why does soon to be foreign power want to control our laws, borders and money?
It's good expectation management, you must admit. If we pull out with no deal but we don't run out of Camembert, the Government will say it's better than expected...
Over-rated in my view. What's wrong with Brie?
It's not as good as the Shire, it's got Big People living in it.
I think the one called Alison is pretty sexy.
??????
Has SeanT hacked your account after imbibing something even stronger than usual?
I suspect this won't be the only local authority to need S114 intervention.
May's absurd splurge on the NHS completely misses the point - it's local councils which look after vulnerable children and especially the elderly and vulnerable adults. Where is the money for them or is it all going on the NHS ?
As an aside, public health is now the responsibility of local authorities, not the NHS so where is the funding to improve public health information?
Public Health money should be ring-fenced, and one of the many problems at Northants is that they have had to pay back £8m of public health money that they'd spent elsewhere. Councillors and senior officers both totally asleep and assuming that something would come up. Well it hasn't and every other authority in the country has planned and managed better than they have.
New chief exec starts next week and the Finance Director (151 officer) has already quit after only being in post for 7 months so zero stability at the top as well. Little blame that can be laid at his door, at least he's had the guts to declare (twice) the financial notice which previous postholders should have done. What a mess.
Public Health money goes on tackling obesity, sexual health etc.
It does not fund general social care - or children's services or support for adults below pensioner age with physical and learning disabilities. It is actually in those two areas where the biggest pressures are for councils as those clients or their parents don't have assets generally to fund their care so 100 per cent of the cost is borne by the council.
May’s proposal to reintroduce fox hunting with a free vote was the single most viral topic of the 2017 election.
It's the moment everything started to go horribly wrong.
I thought it was the dementia tax proposal.
Double whammy. Foxhunting killed any lingering chances of the youth voting Tory (they like animals) and the dementia tax killed the middle aged from voting tory (we want/need granny's house thanks).
The main lesson for politicians is not to be honest during an election campaign in future. May was honest on everything and did badly.
It wasn't honesty that drove May. The manifesto was a blank cheque she wrote herself.
Good news, that was the silliest and most unworkable bit of the Chequers proposal.
At least Barnier is talking rather than clock-watching, let’s work out what the deal looks like and get on with it.
Customs union it is.
Why would we want to technically leave the EU only to tie ourselves up in its trade policy?
What I struggle with all this “our own trade policy” flag waving is what would be actually be doing differently to the present EU approach? How great might the divergence actually be in practice?
I think in practice it would be gradual and over time, and as much by not having to deal with new EU rules as by explicitly repealing existing rules. There’s a few quick wins, such as VAT on domestic fuel and tampons, and not being in the CAP and CET for agriculture means cheaper food imports from elsewhere for things we don’t produce ourselves.
Our seat at the WTO also allows us to campaign for global product standards and free trade which benefits everyone. It would also allow the trade agreements we do sign to be better tailored to the British economy, as opposed to the EU third party agreements which tend to focus on food and cars but not financial services. A big US/UK trade deal is unlikely as it’s politically difficult on both sides, what’s more likely is a series of sectoral agreements on standards and tarrifs.
Most of this lot only left the Eastern bloc in 1989, lest we forget. Four in ten now back far Right or ex-Communists (and the Centre-Left appears perilously close to being Pasokified to boot.)
So we can stop pretending the eu can be comvinced and move on to no deal? No point even going the referendum route if no deal is going to even be provisionally agreed.
Why not go for a slowish transition to CETA?
The customs union doesn’t have a majority in Parliament. But leaving it does.
Because that means a customs border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, and because it would decimate the economy.
They should be selling tickets to watch Barnier, Junker and Varakdar trying to build a border across Ireland. It’s going to be very amusing to see them try.
People will be too busy queuing for front row seats to watch parliament trying to pass legislation that would necessitate one.
Except that:
1. The legislation required for the UK to leave the EU has already been passed.
2. The UK and the EU have very different ideas of what constitutes a border. We don’t really care what passes North, how efficient the technology is at collecting tarrifs or checking goods for compliance with standards.
A customs border would be a requirement of WTO membership, no? However it's perfectly obvious that the EU likes a degree of protection and I've always found the 'we want control of our borders but not in Ireland' argument strange.
Yes, but as it’s our only land border (and has a lot of bad history) an amount of fudge over the border would in practice be fine with us. It wouldn’t be fine with the EU though, who would want to see a fence and checkpoints.
Fudged borders happen all over the world, most notably the US/Canada border which is mostly open, and the US/Mexico border where there’s currently a political row about building a wall.
Also somewhat different in NI is the Common Travel Agreement between UK and RoI that means there’s no controls needed on people crossing the border, only on goods. When the EU talk about Freedom of Movement, they mean the entitlement to a national insurance number and the right to work and claim benefits and healthcare, as opposed to anything that happens at the physical border.
Most of this lot only left the Eastern bloc in 1989, lest we forget. Four in ten now back far Right or ex-Communists (and the Centre-Left appears perilously close to being Pasokified to boot.)
The centre left have been in coalition with the CDU now for several years, so it doesn’t surprise me that they are not doing so well. People who aren’t voting CDU are going to want some kind of alternative to them, and if you’re in government with them it’s hard to be that.
Re East Germany, because they were under communism while the West was reflecting on its Nazi past, maybe that’s why they can vote Afd so easily - they didn’t go through that process of reflection.
Most of this lot only left the Eastern bloc in 1989, lest we forget. Four in ten now back far Right or ex-Communists (and the Centre-Left appears perilously close to being Pasokified to boot.)
1989 is actually quite a long time ago now in terms of politics. Merkel is in that group too.
We might imagine that liberal democracy, with the slightest of touches of commercial imperialism mixed in, is the long-term resting state. Things may very well be otherwise.
Public Health money goes on tackling obesity, sexual health etc.
It does not fund general social care - or children's services or support for adults below pensioner age with physical and learning disabilities. It is actually in those two areas where the biggest pressures are for councils as those clients or their parents don't have assets generally to fund their care so 100 per cent of the cost is borne by the council.
I seem to recall one of the London councils (I think it was either Brent or Barnet) warning a couple of years back that, if things didn't change radically, it would only be 10 or 15 years before all of its budget went on social care. There'd simply be nothing left for emptying the bins, running libraries and leisure centres, or anything else.
But ultimately it's all part of the wider problem: the electorate doesn't want to choose between having a narrower range of services or paying a lot more tax. Everybody wants a pony, and everybody expects other people to pay for it: hence politicians always implement some fudged combination of half-measure cuts, stealth taxes and more borrowing. That's why our Governments all fail, and will continue to fail, until one is finally forced to grasp the nettle and choose between a Scandinavian and an American model.
That administration will be utterly destroyed at the ballot box, but the one that comes immediately after it will probably do very well.
Most of this lot only left the Eastern bloc in 1989, lest we forget. Four in ten now back far Right or ex-Communists (and the Centre-Left appears perilously close to being Pasokified to boot.)
The funny bit, of course, is that if you looked around all the former Communist states - whether Russia, the ones that fell into its orbit, the ones who joined the EU, the ones with resources, and the ones without - you would struggle to find anywhere that had done as well as former East Germany.
In fact the gap in wealth, employment, etc., between the East and West German Laander is smaller than the differences between the wealthy and the poorer parts of the UK. (Which, by the way, should be a source of enormous shame to us.)
But this also tells us that there is more to the rise of parties of the far Left and Right than just economics.
Most of this lot only left the Eastern bloc in 1989, lest we forget. Four in ten now back far Right or ex-Communists (and the Centre-Left appears perilously close to being Pasokified to boot.)
Just to add one thing: Linke (and its predecessor the PDS) have always been very strong in the former GDR. If you go back to the elections in the mid-90s, particularly the state elections, it would frequently pick up a quarter to a third of the votes.
Most of this lot only left the Eastern bloc in 1989, lest we forget. Four in ten now back far Right or ex-Communists (and the Centre-Left appears perilously close to being Pasokified to boot.)
The centre left have been in coalition with the CDU now for several years, so it doesn’t surprise me that they are not doing so well. People who aren’t voting CDU are going to want some kind of alternative to them, and if you’re in government with them it’s hard to be that.
Re East Germany, because they were under communism while the West was reflecting on its Nazi past, maybe that’s why they can vote Afd so easily - they didn’t go through that process of reflection.
That comment reveals a certain ignorance of East German history. Read the third volume of Klemperer's diaries. After WWII the East put a lot more emphasis on overcoming its Nazi past, whilst in the west a lot of former Nazi party members were quietly allowed back into science, finance, industry and even areas of the public sector.
Most of this lot only left the Eastern bloc in 1989, lest we forget. Four in ten now back far Right or ex-Communists (and the Centre-Left appears perilously close to being Pasokified to boot.)
The centre left have been in coalition with the CDU now for several years, so it doesn’t surprise me that they are not doing so well. People who aren’t voting CDU are going to want some kind of alternative to them, and if you’re in government with them it’s hard to be that.
Re East Germany, because they were under communism while the West was reflecting on its Nazi past, maybe that’s why they can vote Afd so easily - they didn’t go through that process of reflection.
That comment reveals a certain ignorance of East German history. Read the third volume of Klemperer's diaries. After WWII the East put a lot more emphasis on overcoming its Nazi past, whilst in the west a lot of former Nazi party members were quietly allowed back into science, finance, industry and even areas of the public sector.
My knowledge of German politics is limited, but I'm wondering if the increase in support for AfD is as much down to Merkel tacking leftwards as it is an expression of more radical sympathies? I have read that this has been suggested, and after all she's been in coalition with the social democrats for years, and appears content with the arrangement.
If there's only one place left for right-wing voters to go then maybe some of them are bound to migrate there, even if the destination is perhaps more radical than they might otherwise consider?
Most of this lot only left the Eastern bloc in 1989, lest we forget. Four in ten now back far Right or ex-Communists (and the Centre-Left appears perilously close to being Pasokified to boot.)
The centre left have been in coalition with the CDU now for several years, so it doesn’t surprise me that they are not doing so well. People who aren’t voting CDU are going to want some kind of alternative to them, and if you’re in government with them it’s hard to be that.
Re East Germany, because they were under communism while the West was reflecting on its Nazi past, maybe that’s why they can vote Afd so easily - they didn’t go through that process of reflection.
That comment reveals a certain ignorance of East German history. Read the third volume of Klemperer's diaries. After WWII the East put a lot more emphasis on overcoming its Nazi past, whilst in the west a lot of former Nazi party members were quietly allowed back into science, finance, industry and even areas of the public sector.
My knowledge of German politics is limited, but I'm wondering if the increase in support for AfD is as much down to Merkel tacking leftwards as it is an expression of more radical sympathies? I have read that this has been suggested, and after all he's been in coalition with the social democrats for years, and appears content with the arrangement.
If there's only one place left for right-wing voters to go then maybe some of them are bound to migrate there, even if the destination is perhaps more radical than they might otherwise consider?
Perhaps. Or a counter-reaction to having lived under communism. Or, most likely, simply demographics - the East in Germany is akin to our WWC areas of the north west and north east, where that type of politics most readily takes root.
Most of this lot only left the Eastern bloc in 1989, lest we forget. Four in ten now back far Right or ex-Communists (and the Centre-Left appears perilously close to being Pasokified to boot.)
The centre left have been in coalition with the CDU now for several years, so it doesn’t surprise me that they are not doing so well. People who aren’t voting CDU are going to want some kind of alternative to them, and if you’re in government with them it’s hard to be that.
Re East Germany, because they were under communism while the West was reflecting on its Nazi past, maybe that’s why they can vote Afd so easily - they didn’t go through that process of reflection.
That comment reveals a certain ignorance of East German history. Read the third volume of Klemperer's diaries. After WWII the East put a lot more emphasis on overcoming its Nazi past, whilst in the west a lot of former Nazi party members were quietly allowed back into science, finance, industry and even areas of the public sector.
I was going on what I’ve read so far of this book: ‘EXORCISING HITLER The Occupation and Denazification of Germany’ by Frederick Taylor.
This bit specifically: ‘Perhaps it was worse, because there was no 1960s, no younger generation asking awkward, often unfair questions of their elders, as there was in West Germany. East Germany claimed to have solved the national problem through communism, but in fact, after 1989, the bacillus of Nazism was found to have survived in far more virulent forms in the so-called ‘German Democratic Republic’ than in its capitalist-democratic competitor state.’ (p. xxxv)
I’ve only started reading it this week.
Edit: But I’ll make sure to read the third volume of Klemperer's diaries as well.
It's good expectation management, you must admit. If we pull out with no deal but we don't run out of Camembert, the Government will say it's better than expected...
Playing up the possibility of a disaster is also a high-stakes gamble for the Continuity Remain tendency. If the No Deal Apocalypse comes to pass, and it turns out to manifest as a temporary shortage of lettuces, then what's left of their credibility will evaporate.
Who can forget the global hummus shortage of 2018:
Re East Germany, because they were under communism while the West was reflecting on its Nazi past, maybe that’s why they can vote Afd so easily - they didn’t go through that process of reflection.
That comment reveals a certain ignorance of East German history. Read the third volume of Klemperer's diaries. After WWII the East put a lot more emphasis on overcoming its Nazi past, whilst in the west a lot of former Nazi party members were quietly allowed back into science, finance, industry and even areas of the public sector.
I was going on what I’ve read so far of this book: ‘EXORCISING HITLER The Occupation and Denazification of Germany’ by Frederick Taylor.
This bit specifically: ‘Perhaps it was worse, because there was no 1960s, no younger generation asking awkward, often unfair questions of their elders, as there was in West Germany. East Germany claimed to have solved the national problem through communism, but in fact, after 1989, the bacillus of Nazism was found to have survived in far more virulent forms in the so-called ‘German Democratic Republic’ than in its capitalist-democratic competitor state.’ (p. xxxv)
I’ve only started reading it this week.
Edit: But I’ll make sure to read the third volume of Klemperer's diaries as well.
Interesting. The perception from Klemperer was that, in the late 40s and 50s at least, there was a lot of emphasis in the east on de-nazification, identification and exclusion/punishment of former nazi party members, re-education sessions in schools and colleges, whereas in the West once Nuremberg was out of the way they just wanted to forget and move on, particularly as a lot of the former low level nazis had useful knowledge or skills
It's good expectation management, you must admit. If we pull out with no deal but we don't run out of Camembert, the Government will say it's better than expected...
Over-rated in my view. What's wrong with Brie?
It's not as good as the Shire, it's got Big People living in it.
I think the one called Alison is pretty sexy.
??????
Has SeanT hacked your account after imbibing something even stronger than usual?
Re East Germany, because they were under communism while the West was reflecting on its Nazi past, maybe that’s why they can vote Afd so easily - they didn’t go through that process of reflection.
That comment reveals a certain ignorance of East German history. Read the third volume of Klemperer's diaries. After WWII the East put a lot more emphasis on overcoming its Nazi past, whilst in the west a lot of former Nazi party members were quietly allowed back into science, finance, industry and even areas of the public sector.
I was going on what I’ve read so far of this book: ‘EXORCISING HITLER The Occupation and Denazification of Germany’ by Frederick Taylor.
This bit specifically: ‘Perhaps it was worse, because there was no 1960s, no younger generation asking awkward, often unfair questions of their elders, as there was in West Germany. East Germany claimed to have solved the national problem through communism, but in fact, after 1989, the bacillus of Nazism was found to have survived in far more virulent forms in the so-called ‘German Democratic Republic’ than in its capitalist-democratic competitor state.’ (p. xxxv)
I’ve only started reading it this week.
Edit: But I’ll make sure to read the third volume of Klemperer's diaries as well.
Interesting. The perception from Klemperer was that, in the late 40s and 50s at least, there was a lot of emphasis in the east on de-nazification, identification and exclusion/punishment of former nazi party members, re-education sessions in schools and colleges, whereas in the West once Nuremberg was out of the way they just wanted to forget and move on, particularly as a lot of the former low level nazis had useful knowledge or skills
Wow - thanks for that info. I might actually just go and try to get the third volume of Klemperer's diaries first before I continue with Taylor’s book now.
It's good expectation management, you must admit. If we pull out with no deal but we don't run out of Camembert, the Government will say it's better than expected...
Over-rated in my view. What's wrong with Brie?
It's not as good as the Shire, it's got Big People living in it.
I think the one called Alison is pretty sexy.
??????
Has SeanT hacked your account after imbibing something even stronger than usual?
Alison Brie. Look her up, thank me later.
She looks nothing like a hobbit.
As far as being 'pretty sexy' goes, I can only say de gustibus non est disputandum.
It's good expectation management, you must admit. If we pull out with no deal but we don't run out of Camembert, the Government will say it's better than expected...
Playing up the possibility of a disaster is also a high-stakes gamble for the Continuity Remain tendency. If the No Deal Apocalypse comes to pass, and it turns out to manifest as a temporary shortage of lettuces, then what's left of their credibility will evaporate.
Who can forget the global hummus shortage of 2018:
It's good expectation management, you must admit. If we pull out with no deal but we don't run out of Camembert, the Government will say it's better than expected...
Playing up the possibility of a disaster is also a high-stakes gamble for the Continuity Remain tendency. If the No Deal Apocalypse comes to pass, and it turns out to manifest as a temporary shortage of lettuces, then what's left of their credibility will evaporate.
Who can forget the global hummus shortage of 2018:
It's good expectation management, you must admit. If we pull out with no deal but we don't run out of Camembert, the Government will say it's better than expected...
Over-rated in my view. What's wrong with Brie?
It's not as good as the Shire, it's got Big People living in it.
I think the one called Alison is pretty sexy.
??????
Has SeanT hacked your account after imbibing something even stronger than usual?
Alison Brie. Look her up, thank me later.
She looks nothing like a hobbit.
As far as being 'pretty sexy' goes, I can only say de gustibus non est disputandum.
Interesting. The perception from Klemperer was that, in the late 40s and 50s at least, there was a lot of emphasis in the east on de-nazification, identification and exclusion/punishment of former nazi party members, re-education sessions in schools and colleges, whereas in the West once Nuremberg was out of the way they just wanted to forget and move on, particularly as a lot of the former low level nazis had useful knowledge or skills
Wow - thanks for that info. I might actually just go and try to get the third volume of Klemperer's diaries first before I continue with Taylor’s book now.
That was the way the East Germans wished people to see it. It was not the reality. For example Vincenz Muller was a prominent officer in the Wehrmacht where he was a loyal Nazi, and a prominent figure in the DDR until his suicide in 1961 as a convinced communist.
Indeed, it was the revival of denazification proceedings in the West in 1963-65 that spurred the DDR into action, including the very belated arrest of Horst Fischer:
It's good expectation management, you must admit. If we pull out with no deal but we don't run out of Camembert, the Government will say it's better than expected...
Playing up the possibility of a disaster is also a high-stakes gamble for the Continuity Remain tendency. If the No Deal Apocalypse comes to pass, and it turns out to manifest as a temporary shortage of lettuces, then what's left of their credibility will evaporate.
Who can forget the global hummus shortage of 2018:
It's good expectation management, you must admit. If we pull out with no deal but we don't run out of Camembert, the Government will say it's better than expected...
Playing up the possibility of a disaster is also a high-stakes gamble for the Continuity Remain tendency. If the No Deal Apocalypse comes to pass, and it turns out to manifest as a temporary shortage of lettuces, then what's left of their credibility will evaporate.
Who can forget the global hummus shortage of 2018:
May’s proposal to reintroduce fox hunting with a free vote was the single most viral topic of the 2017 election.
It's the moment everything started to go horribly wrong.
I thought it was the dementia tax proposal.
Double whammy. Foxhunting killed any lingering chances of the youth voting Tory (they like animals) and the dementia tax killed the middle aged from voting tory (we want/need granny's house thanks).
The main lesson for politicians is not to be honest during an election campaign in future. May was honest on everything and did badly.
It wasn't honesty that drove May. The manifesto was a blank cheque she wrote herself.
I hope May eventually publishes her memoirs.
If she does they should be published in Paperchase.
Interesting. The perception from Klemperer was that, in the late 40s and 50s at least, there was a lot of emphasis in the east on de-nazification, identification and exclusion/punishment of former nazi party members, re-education sessions in schools and colleges, whereas in the West once Nuremberg was out of the way they just wanted to forget and move on, particularly as a lot of the former low level nazis had useful knowledge or skills
Wow - thanks for that info. I might actually just go and try to get the third volume of Klemperer's diaries first before I continue with Taylor’s book now.
That was the way the East Germans wished people to see it. It was not the reality. For example Vincenz Muller was a prominent officer in the Wehrmacht where he was a loyal Nazi, and a prominent figure in the DDR until his suicide in 1961 as a convinced communist.
Indeed, it was the revival of denazification proceedings in the West in 1963-65 that spurred the DDR into action, including the very belated arrest of Horst Fischer:
May’s proposal to reintroduce fox hunting with a free vote was the single most viral topic of the 2017 election.
It's the moment everything started to go horribly wrong.
I thought it was the dementia tax proposal.
Double whammy. Foxhunting killed any lingering chances of the youth voting Tory (they like animals) and the dementia tax killed the middle aged from voting tory (we want/need granny's house thanks).
The main lesson for politicians is not to be honest during an election campaign in future. May was honest on everything and did badly.
It wasn't honesty that drove May. The manifesto was a blank cheque she wrote herself.
I hope May eventually publishes her memoirs.
If she does they should be published in Paperchase.
Come on, we already know everything about the woman. She likes cooking, because you get to make food and eat it, walking because you get to raise your legs and lower them and she once ran through a field of wheat.
Public Health money goes on tackling obesity, sexual health etc.
It does not fund general social care - or children's services or support for adults below pensioner age with physical and learning disabilities. It is actually in those two areas where the biggest pressures are for councils as those clients or their parents don't have assets generally to fund their care so 100 per cent of the cost is borne by the council.
I seem to recall one of the London councils (I think it was either Brent or Barnet) warning a couple of years back that, if things didn't change radically, it would only be 10 or 15 years before all of its budget went on social care. There'd simply be nothing left for emptying the bins, running libraries and leisure centres, or anything else.
But ultimately it's all part of the wider problem: the electorate doesn't want to choose between having a narrower range of services or paying a lot more tax. Everybody wants a pony, and everybody expects other people to pay for it: hence politicians always implement some fudged combination of half-measure cuts, stealth taxes and more borrowing. That's why our Governments all fail, and will continue to fail, until one is finally forced to grasp the nettle and choose between a Scandinavian and an American model.
That administration will be utterly destroyed at the ballot box, but the one that comes immediately after it will probably do very well.
We spend about £60bn on tax credits and housing benefit - mostly for working age households - and only about £20bn on social care. Maybe if we spent more money on social care and affordable housing and less on funding the future pensions of buy to let landlords we might get somewhere.
It's good expectation management, you must admit. If we pull out with no deal but we don't run out of Camembert, the Government will say it's better than expected...
Playing up the possibility of a disaster is also a high-stakes gamble for the Continuity Remain tendency. If the No Deal Apocalypse comes to pass, and it turns out to manifest as a temporary shortage of lettuces, then what's left of their credibility will evaporate.
Who can forget the global hummus shortage of 2018:
It's good expectation management, you must admit. If we pull out with no deal but we don't run out of Camembert, the Government will say it's better than expected...
Playing up the possibility of a disaster is also a high-stakes gamble for the Continuity Remain tendency. If the No Deal Apocalypse comes to pass, and it turns out to manifest as a temporary shortage of lettuces, then what's left of their credibility will evaporate.
Who can forget the global hummus shortage of 2018:
Most of this lot only left the Eastern bloc in 1989, lest we forget. Four in ten now back far Right or ex-Communists (and the Centre-Left appears perilously close to being Pasokified to boot.)
The centre left have been in coalition with the CDU now for several years, so it doesn’t surprise me that they are not doing so well. People who aren’t voting CDU are going to want some kind of alternative to them, and if you’re in government with them it’s hard to be that.
Re East Germany, because they were under communism while the West was reflecting on its Nazi past, maybe that’s why they can vote Afd so easily - they didn’t go through that process of reflection.
That comment reveals a certain ignorance of East German history. Read the third volume of Klemperer's diaries. After WWII the East put a lot more emphasis on overcoming its Nazi past, whilst in the west a lot of former Nazi party members were quietly allowed back into science, finance, industry and even areas of the public sector.
I was going on what I’ve read so far of this book: ‘EXORCISING HITLER The Occupation and Denazification of Germany’ by Frederick Taylor.
This bit specifically: ‘Perhaps it was worse, because there was no 1960s, no younger generation asking awkward, often unfair questions of their elders, as there was in West Germany. East Germany claimed to have solved the national problem through communism, but in fact, after 1989, the bacillus of Nazism was found to have survived in far more virulent forms in the so-called ‘German Democratic Republic’ than in its capitalist-democratic competitor state.’ (p. xxxv)
I’ve only started reading it this week.
Edit: But I’ll make sure to read the third volume of Klemperer's diaries as well.
"We Germans are experts at forgetting. We forgot we were Nazis. Now we have forgotten 40 years of Communism - all gone!" - Bruno Ganz in the Liam Neeson movie "Unknown", 2011
May’s proposal to reintroduce fox hunting with a free vote was the single most viral topic of the 2017 election.
It's the moment everything started to go horribly wrong.
I thought it was the dementia tax proposal.
Double whammy. Foxhunting killed any lingering chances of the youth voting Tory (they like animals) and the dementia tax killed the middle aged from voting tory (we want/need granny's house thanks).
The main lesson for politicians is not to be honest during an election campaign in future. May was honest on everything and did badly.
It wasn't honesty that drove May. The manifesto was a blank cheque she wrote herself.
I hope May eventually publishes her memoirs.
She wouldn't get past choosing the font. How to appeal to those who like serifed fonts and those who prefer unserifed?
May’s proposal to reintroduce fox hunting with a free vote was the single most viral topic of the 2017 election.
It's the moment everything started to go horribly wrong.
I thought it was the dementia tax proposal.
Double whammy. Foxhunting killed any lingering chances of the youth voting Tory (they like animals) and the dementia tax killed the middle aged from voting tory (we want/need granny's house thanks).
The main lesson for politicians is not to be honest during an election campaign in future. May was honest on everything and did badly.
It wasn't honesty that drove May. The manifesto was a blank cheque she wrote herself.
I hope May eventually publishes her memoirs.
She wouldn't get past choosing the font. How to appeal to those who like serifed fonts and those who prefer unserifed?
Most of this lot only left the Eastern bloc in 1989, lest we forget. Four in ten now back far Right or ex-Communists (and the Centre-Left appears perilously close to being Pasokified to boot.)
The centre left have been in coalition with the CDU now for several years, so it doesn’t surprise me that they are not doing so well. People who aren’t voting CDU are going to want some kind of alternative to them, and if you’re in government with them it’s hard to be that.
Re East Germany, because they were under communism while the West was reflecting on its Nazi past, maybe that’s why they can vote Afd so easily - they didn’t go through that process of reflection.
:
I was going on what I’ve read so far of this book: ‘EXORCISING HITLER The Occupation and Denazification of Germany’ by Frederick Taylor.
This bit specifically: ‘Perhaps it was worse, because there was no 1960s, no younger generation asking awkward, often unfair questions of their elders, as there was in West Germany. East Germany claimed to have solved the national problem through communism, but in fact, after 1989, the bacillus of Nazism was found to have survived in far more virulent forms in the so-called ‘German Democratic Republic’ than in its capitalist-democratic competitor state.’ (p. xxxv)
I’ve only started reading it this week.
Edit: But I’ll make sure to read the third volume of Klemperer's diaries as well.
"We Germans are experts at forgetting. We forgot we were Nazis. Now we have forgotten 40 years of Communism - all gone!" - Bruno Ganz in the Liam Neeson movie "Unknown", 2011
East Germany in general sold the line that all the Nazis were in West Germany, running it from behind the scenes... The East Bloc states (Russia included) in general went for the line that "since we are Communist, we aren't racist, sexist etc."
May’s proposal to reintroduce fox hunting with a free vote was the single most viral topic of the 2017 election.
It's the moment everything started to go horribly wrong.
I thought it was the dementia tax proposal.
Double whammy. Foxhunting killed any lingering chances of the youth voting Tory (they like animals) and the dementia tax killed the middle aged from voting tory (we want/need granny's house thanks).
The main lesson for politicians is not to be honest during an election campaign in future. May was honest on everything and did badly.
It wasn't honesty that drove May. The manifesto was a blank cheque she wrote herself.
I hope May eventually publishes her memoirs.
She wouldn't get past choosing the font. How to appeal to those who like serifed fonts and those who prefer unserifed?
How about we have controlled divergence, starting with serif at the start, but gradually phasing them out (vowels first, then consonants)?
So we can stop pretending the eu can be comvinced and move on to no deal? No point even going the referendum route if no deal is going to even be provisionally agreed.
Why not go for a slowish transition to CETA?
The customs union doesn’t have a majority in Parliament. But leaving it does.
Because that means a customs border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, and because it would decimate the economy.
They should be selling tickets to watch Barnier, Junker and Varakdar trying to build a border across Ireland. It’s going to be very amusing to see them try.
People will be too busy queuing for front row seats to watch parliament trying to pass legislation that would necessitate one.
Except that:
1. The legislation required for the UK to leave the EU has already been passed.
2. The UK and the EU have very different ideas of what constitutes a border. We don’t really care what passes North, how efficient the technology is at collecting tarrifs or checking goods for compliance with standards.
A customs border would be a requirement of WTO membership, no? However it's perfectly obvious that the EU likes a degree of protection and I've always found the 'we want control of our borders but not in Ireland' argument strange.
It's really very simple - no border between NI and Ireland is what the locals all want. The border control is already at the ferry/airport from NI to the mainland.
A society full of sociopathic, religiously motivated, gangster terrorists is hardly likely to appeal to anyone from... ISIS, probably
May’s proposal to reintroduce fox hunting with a free vote was the single most viral topic of the 2017 election.
It's the moment everything started to go horribly wrong.
I thought it was the dementia tax proposal.
Double whammy. Foxhunting killed any lingering chances of the youth voting Tory (they like animals) and the dementia tax killed the middle aged from voting tory (we want/need granny's house thanks).
The main lesson for politicians is not to be honest during an election campaign in future. May was honest on everything and did badly.
It wasn't honesty that drove May. The manifesto was a blank cheque she wrote herself.
I hope May eventually publishes her memoirs.
She wouldn't get past choosing the font. How to appeal to those who like serifed fonts and those who prefer unserifed?
Comic sans would be appropriate.
Still can't believe that the presentation where they announced the discovery of the Higgs Boson with the LHC was in Comic sans.
Most of those companies are doing just fine now, I assume Facebook will as well.
It was a little odd at the cinema the other day seeing a Facebook ad seemingly about not harvesting or misusing customer data (it's a bit of a blur to me now) as I thought harvesting personal info to be of use to advertisers was their whole deal.
May’s proposal to reintroduce fox hunting with a free vote was the single most viral topic of the 2017 election.
It's the moment everything started to go horribly wrong.
I thought it was the dementia tax proposal.
Double whammy. Foxhunting killed any lingering chances of the youth voting Tory (they like animals) and the dementia tax killed the middle aged from voting tory (we want/need granny's house thanks).
The main lesson for politicians is not to be honest during an election campaign in future. May was honest on everything and did badly.
It wasn't honesty that drove May. The manifesto was a blank cheque she wrote herself.
I hope May eventually publishes her memoirs.
She wouldn't get past choosing the font. How to appeal to those who like serifed fonts and those who prefer unserifed?
Comic sans would be appropriate.
Still can't believe that the presentation where they announced the discovery of the Higgs Boson with the LHC was in Comic sans.
Public Health money goes on tackling obesity, sexual health etc.
It does not fund general social care - or children's services or support for adults below pensioner age with physical and learning disabilities. It is actually in those two areas where the biggest pressures are for councils as those clients or their parents don't have assets generally to fund their care so 100 per cent of the cost is borne by the council.
I seem to recall one of the London councils (I think it was either Brent or Barnet) warning a couple of years back that, if things didn't change radically, it would only be 10 or 15 years before all of its budget went on social care. There'd simply be nothing left for emptying the bins, running libraries and leisure centres, or anything else.
But ultimately it's all part of the wider problem: the electorate doesn't want to choose between having a narrower range of services or paying a lot more tax. Everybody wants a pony, and everybody expects other people to pay for it: hence politicians always implement some fudged combination of half-measure cuts, stealth taxes and more borrowing. That's why our Governments all fail, and will continue to fail, until one is finally forced to grasp the nettle and choose between a Scandinavian and an American model.
That administration will be utterly destroyed at the ballot box, but the one that comes immediately after it will probably do very well.
We spend about £60bn on tax credits and housing benefit - mostly for working age households - and only about £20bn on social care. Maybe if we spent more money on social care and affordable housing and less on funding the future pensions of buy to let landlords we might get somewhere.
Fixing our chronic housing problem is an essential task - if only our leaders would make a serious attempt at it - but it will take a long time and be hugely expensive in and of itself.
The fundamental issue remains, therefore, unresolved. The current economic model isn't working, but nobody seems to have the will to fix it. In this case, both politicians and the electorate are complicit.
Public Health money goes on tackling obesity, sexual health etc.
It does not fund general social care - or children's services or support for adults below pensioner age with physical and learning disabilities. It is actually in those two areas where the biggest pressures are for councils as those clients or their parents don't have assets generally to fund their care so 100 per cent of the cost is borne by the council.
I seem to recall one of the London councils (I think it was either Brent or Barnet) warning a couple of years back that, if things didn't change radically, it would only be 10 or 15 years before all of its budget went on social care. There'd simply be nothing left for emptying the bins, running libraries and leisure centres, or anything else.
But ultimately it's all part of the wider problem: the electorate doesn't want to choose between having a narrower range of services or paying a lot more tax. Everybody wants a pony, and everybody expects other people to pay for it: hence politicians always implement some fudged combination of half-measure cuts, stealth taxes and more borrowing. That's why our Governments all fail, and will continue to fail, until one is finally forced to grasp the nettle and choose between a Scandinavian and an American model.
That administration will be utterly destroyed at the ballot box, but the one that comes immediately after it will probably do very well.
We spend about £60bn on tax credits and housing benefit - mostly for working age households - and only about £20bn on social care. Maybe if we spent more money on social care and affordable housing and less on funding the future pensions of buy to let landlords we might get somewhere.
Fixing our chronic housing problem is an essential task - if only our leaders would make a serious attempt at it - but it will take a long time and be hugely expensive in and of itself.
The fundamental issue remains, therefore, unresolved. The current economic model isn't working, but nobody seems to have the will to fix it. In this case, both politicians and the electorate are complicit.
The problem is a religious belief that Human Are Evul, All their Works Are Evul and the only Good Thing is less facilities for humans.
Strangely the strongest holders of these beliefs also believe that Unlimited Immigration Is An Unlimited Good Thing.
Most of those companies are doing just fine now, I assume Facebook will as well.
It was a little odd at the cinema the other day seeing a Facebook ad seemingly about not harvesting or misusing customer data (it's a bit of a blur to me now) as I thought harvesting personal info to be of use to advertisers was their whole deal.
The questions for the value of a stock long term are these - what is the profit margin on what is being sold, how many units are they selling & how much more or less are they likely to sell.
Dividing the value of Facebook by the number of customers is interesting - can they really be selling the data per person for that much?
Most of those companies are doing just fine now, I assume Facebook will as well.
It was a little odd at the cinema the other day seeing a Facebook ad seemingly about not harvesting or misusing customer data (it's a bit of a blur to me now) as I thought harvesting personal info to be of use to advertisers was their whole deal.
Never believe anything until it's been officially denied...
Most of those companies are doing just fine now, I assume Facebook will as well.
It was a little odd at the cinema the other day seeing a Facebook ad seemingly about not harvesting or misusing customer data (it's a bit of a blur to me now) as I thought harvesting personal info to be of use to advertisers was their whole deal.
Just saw that ad on TV - on Film4 during Rogue Nation.
May’s proposal to reintroduce fox hunting with a free vote was the single most viral topic of the 2017 election.
It's the moment everything started to go horribly wrong.
I thought it was the dementia tax proposal.
Double whammy. Foxhunting killed any lingering chances of the youth voting Tory (they like animals) and the dementia tax killed the middle aged from voting tory (we want/need granny's house thanks).
The main lesson for politicians is not to be honest during an election campaign in future. May was honest on everything and did badly.
It wasn't honesty that drove May. The manifesto was a blank cheque she wrote herself.
I hope May eventually publishes her memoirs.
She wouldn't get past choosing the font. How to appeal to those who like serifed fonts and those who prefer unserifed?
She'd pull a contorted face and say something like 'I like all kinds of fonts. I use fonts all the time. I will use a font when I sign the order to bomb so-called ISIS positions in Syria. Enjoy the summer holidays.'
Considering this site doesn't normally quit talking about Brexit I'm surprised more isn't made of Barnier rejecting Chequers on customs.
Considering that customs and thus Ireland has been the major divide recently an out and out rejection of Chequers as he's done today seems to be significant.
Though I note he has waited until the summer recess before doing that. He is a sly fox.
Most of those companies are doing just fine now, I assume Facebook will as well.
It was a little odd at the cinema the other day seeing a Facebook ad seemingly about not harvesting or misusing customer data (it's a bit of a blur to me now) as I thought harvesting personal info to be of use to advertisers was their whole deal.
Just saw that ad on TV - on Film4 during Rogue Nation.
Facebook has been running this ad (or something very like it, anyway) on TV for some weeks:
Although, frankly, why one should feel moral outrage about violations of privacy against people who choose to broadcast the minutiae of their personal lives on a website (and one which makes its money by using their own data to feed them targeted adverts to boot) is beyond me.
Considering this site doesn't normally quit talking about Brexit I'm surprised more isn't made of Barnier rejecting Chequers on customs.
Considering that customs and thus Ireland has been the major divide recently an out and out rejection of Chequers as he's done today seems to be significant.
Though I note he has waited until the summer recess before doing that. He is a sly fox.
I think it's because pretty much everybody expected it. Chequers was already dead.
Considering this site doesn't normally quit talking about Brexit I'm surprised more isn't made of Barnier rejecting Chequers on customs.
Considering that customs and thus Ireland has been the major divide recently an out and out rejection of Chequers as he's done today seems to be significant.
Though I note he has waited until the summer recess before doing that. He is a sly fox.
Considering this site doesn't normally quit talking about Brexit I'm surprised more isn't made of Barnier rejecting Chequers on customs.
Considering that customs and thus Ireland has been the major divide recently an out and out rejection of Chequers as he's done today seems to be significant.
Though I note he has waited until the summer recess before doing that. He is a sly fox.
Possibly because it has already been taken as a given that the EU would reject whatever Theresa May's plans were regardless?
I doubt that the timing of the Parliamentary recess entered Monsieur Barnier's mind, frankly.
Considering this site doesn't normally quit talking about Brexit I'm surprised more isn't made of Barnier rejecting Chequers on customs.
Considering that customs and thus Ireland has been the major divide recently an out and out rejection of Chequers as he's done today seems to be significant.
Though I note he has waited until the summer recess before doing that. He is a sly fox.
It was dead the moment Mrs May surrendered to the ERG and accepted their amendments.
Considering this site doesn't normally quit talking about Brexit I'm surprised more isn't made of Barnier rejecting Chequers on customs.
Considering that customs and thus Ireland has been the major divide recently an out and out rejection of Chequers as he's done today seems to be significant.
Though I note he has waited until the summer recess before doing that. He is a sly fox.
It was dead the moment Mrs May surrendered to the ERG and accepted their amendments.
People were already saying it was dead before then, don't give too much credit to the ERG.
Considering this site doesn't normally quit talking about Brexit I'm surprised more isn't made of Barnier rejecting Chequers on customs.
Considering that customs and thus Ireland has been the major divide recently an out and out rejection of Chequers as he's done today seems to be significant.
Though I note he has waited until the summer recess before doing that. He is a sly fox.
Possibly because it has already been taken as a given that the EU would reject whatever Theresa May's plans were regardless?
I doubt that the timing of the Parliamentary recess entered Monsieur Barnier's mind, frankly.
Not sure. It was noticeable how quiet Barnier et al were after Davis resigned. A choice word from them there could have been enough to see the tipping point reached. So they have waited for the storm to pass.
Barnier et al know May is weak and will given them what they want. They don't want her gone.
Considering this site doesn't normally quit talking about Brexit I'm surprised more isn't made of Barnier rejecting Chequers on customs.
Considering that customs and thus Ireland has been the major divide recently an out and out rejection of Chequers as he's done today seems to be significant.
Though I note he has waited until the summer recess before doing that. He is a sly fox.
Possibly because it has already been taken as a given that the EU would reject whatever Theresa May's plans were regardless?
I doubt that the timing of the Parliamentary recess entered Monsieur Barnier's mind, frankly.
Not sure. It was noticeable how quiet Barnier et al were after Davis resigned. A choice word from them there could have been enough to see the tipping point reached. So they have waited for the storm to pass.
Barnier et al know May is weak and will given them what they want. They don't want her gone.
May has no power to give them what they want, she wasn't bluffing (indeed, she couldn't even maintain her own proposal for a week), so if that is their gamble they will be disappointed.
It's good expectation management, you must admit. If we pull out with no deal but we don't run out of Camembert, the Government will say it's better than expected...
Over-rated in my view. What's wrong with Brie?
It's not as good as the Shire, it's got Big People living in it.
I think the one called Alison is pretty sexy.
??????
Has SeanT hacked your account after imbibing something even stronger than usual?
Alison Brie. Look her up, thank me later.
"Annie's pretty young, we try not to sexualise her"
Considering this site doesn't normally quit talking about Brexit I'm surprised more isn't made of Barnier rejecting Chequers on customs.
Considering that customs and thus Ireland has been the major divide recently an out and out rejection of Chequers as he's done today seems to be significant.
Though I note he has waited until the summer recess before doing that. He is a sly fox.
It was dead the moment Mrs May surrendered to the ERG and accepted their amendments.
People were already saying it was dead before then, don't give too much credit to the ERG.
In the Withdrawal Agreement, it's going to be EEA+CU (but using different terminology).
When it comes to the meaningful vote, it will be something like 250 for, 75 against, 300 abstentions.
Considering this site doesn't normally quit talking about Brexit I'm surprised more isn't made of Barnier rejecting Chequers on customs.
Considering that customs and thus Ireland has been the major divide recently an out and out rejection of Chequers as he's done today seems to be significant.
Though I note he has waited until the summer recess before doing that. He is a sly fox.
It was dead the moment Mrs May surrendered to the ERG and accepted their amendments.
People were already saying it was dead before then, don't give too much credit to the ERG.
In the Withdrawal Agreement, it's going to be EEA+CU (but using different terminology).
When it comes to the meaningful vote, it will be something like 250 for, 75 against, 300 abstentions.
I don't have a problem generally with an abstention, but on such a significant issue so many would be such a piss take.
Considering this site doesn't normally quit talking about Brexit I'm surprised more isn't made of Barnier rejecting Chequers on customs.
Considering that customs and thus Ireland has been the major divide recently an out and out rejection of Chequers as he's done today seems to be significant.
Though I note he has waited until the summer recess before doing that. He is a sly fox.
It was dead the moment Mrs May surrendered to the ERG and accepted their amendments.
From Barnier's comments it was dead long before that.
Considering this site doesn't normally quit talking about Brexit I'm surprised more isn't made of Barnier rejecting Chequers on customs.
Considering that customs and thus Ireland has been the major divide recently an out and out rejection of Chequers as he's done today seems to be significant.
Though I note he has waited until the summer recess before doing that. He is a sly fox.
It was dead the moment Mrs May surrendered to the ERG and accepted their amendments.
People were already saying it was dead before then, don't give too much credit to the ERG.
Not a matter of concern. Even if there's no deal AND the apocalyptic scare stories actually turn out to have some validity this time around, we're not about to starve to death. Besides anything else a lot of the neighbours own cats and I'm sure I can fashion some sort of rudimentary net with which to capture them.
Although if it does look like no deal then I may also dust off my Emergency Corbyn Government Readiness List and buy some of the essentials. There's not that much room for hoarding in Chez Overall, but I think I can find space for three dozen luxury loo rolls, a couple of cases of Rioja, some basic medicines and, say, about 10kg of good quality chocolate. Sorted.
Considering this site doesn't normally quit talking about Brexit I'm surprised more isn't made of Barnier rejecting Chequers on customs.
Considering that customs and thus Ireland has been the major divide recently an out and out rejection of Chequers as he's done today seems to be significant.
Though I note he has waited until the summer recess before doing that. He is a sly fox.
It was dead the moment Mrs May surrendered to the ERG and accepted their amendments.
People were already saying it was dead before then, don't give too much credit to the ERG.
It was the coup de grâce.
In which case it was already dying, and it actually hardly mattered that the ERG did anything.
Not a matter of concern. Even if there's no deal AND the apocalyptic scare stories actually turn out to have some validity this time around, we're not about to starve to death. Besides anything else a lot of the neighbours own cats and I'm sure I can fashion some sort of rudimentary net with which to capture them.
Although if it does look like no deal then I may also dust off my Emergency Corbyn Government Readiness List and buy some of the essentials. There's not that much room for hoarding in Chez Overall, but I think I can find space for three dozen luxury loo rolls, a couple of cases of Rioja, some basic medicines and, say, about 10kg of good quality chocolate. Sorted.
Considering this site doesn't normally quit talking about Brexit I'm surprised more isn't made of Barnier rejecting Chequers on customs.
Considering that customs and thus Ireland has been the major divide recently an out and out rejection of Chequers as he's done today seems to be significant.
Though I note he has waited until the summer recess before doing that. He is a sly fox.
It was dead the moment Mrs May surrendered to the ERG and accepted their amendments.
People were already saying it was dead before then, don't give too much credit to the ERG.
It was the coup de grâce.
In which case it was already dying, and it actually hardly mattered that the ERG did anything.
It did matter it showed many, including the EU, that Mrs May isn't serious and a hostage of the ERG.
Considering this site doesn't normally quit talking about Brexit I'm surprised more isn't made of Barnier rejecting Chequers on customs.
Considering that customs and thus Ireland has been the major divide recently an out and out rejection of Chequers as he's done today seems to be significant.
Though I note he has waited until the summer recess before doing that. He is a sly fox.
It was dead the moment Mrs May surrendered to the ERG and accepted their amendments.
People were already saying it was dead before then, don't give too much credit to the ERG.
It was the coup de grâce.
In which case it was already dying, and it actually hardly mattered that the ERG did anything.
It did matter it showed many, including the EU, that Mrs May isn't serious and a hostage of the ERG.
She is, but a mercy blow indicates mercy was required, eg the subject was already terminal, therefore it already had no chance.
As for showing the EU she was not serious, I don't see how that is true. It was widely reported the EU would not be able to accept Chequers as was anyway, so they would insist in further bending, and she was stating she could not do so. In that she was correct, as bending even as far as Chequers was too much.
But since the EU wasn't going to accept Chequers anyway, then as stupid as declaring a final position then backsliding because of the ERG was, I fail to see what impact it actually had on the negotiations. The EU were going to demand more, May was never going to be able to offer them more, so that she backslid to the ERG didn't affect its chances.
Considering this site doesn't normally quit talking about Brexit I'm surprised more isn't made of Barnier rejecting Chequers on customs.
Considering that customs and thus Ireland has been the major divide recently an out and out rejection of Chequers as he's done today seems to be significant.
Though I note he has waited until the summer recess before doing that. He is a sly fox.
It was dead the moment Mrs May surrendered to the ERG and accepted their amendments.
People were already saying it was dead before then, don't give too much credit to the ERG.
In the Withdrawal Agreement, it's going to be EEA+CU (but using different terminology).
When it comes to the meaningful vote, it will be something like 250 for, 75 against, 300 abstentions.
I don't have a problem generally with an abstention, but on such a significant issue so many would be such a piss take.
Labour, SNP and LD will feel unable to vote for it (for different reasons) but will not want to force a no deal with uncontrollable consequences by voting against it.
It's conceivable that the Labour strategy will be to vote against it in the hope of exploiting the chaos and getting a general election. But I doubt that they would get a majority in those circumstances.
Abstentions wouldn't be a piss take but the result of careful deliberations and calculations.
I think the Withdrawal Agreement will pass and we will easily complete the negotiation on EEA/CU on time by end 2021.
Not a matter of concern. Even if there's no deal AND the apocalyptic scare stories actually turn out to have some validity this time around, we're not about to starve to death. Besides anything else a lot of the neighbours own cats and I'm sure I can fashion some sort of rudimentary net with which to capture them.
Although if it does look like no deal then I may also dust off my Emergency Corbyn Government Readiness List and buy some of the essentials. There's not that much room for hoarding in Chez Overall, but I think I can find space for three dozen luxury loo rolls, a couple of cases of Rioja, some basic medicines and, say, about 10kg of good quality chocolate. Sorted.
Don't drink Cat milk.
Oh come on, be serious! I'm not going to milk the things, now am I?
I was thinking more along the lines of a casserole.
Not a matter of concern. Even if there's no deal AND the apocalyptic scare stories actually turn out to have some validity this time around, we're not about to starve to death. Besides anything else a lot of the neighbours own cats and I'm sure I can fashion some sort of rudimentary net with which to capture them.
Although if it does look like no deal then I may also dust off my Emergency Corbyn Government Readiness List and buy some of the essentials. There's not that much room for hoarding in Chez Overall, but I think I can find space for three dozen luxury loo rolls, a couple of cases of Rioja, some basic medicines and, say, about 10kg of good quality chocolate. Sorted.
Don't drink Cat milk.
Oh come on, be serious! I'm not going to milk the things, now am I?
I was thinking more along the lines of a casserole.
Comments
Has SeanT hacked your account after imbibing something even stronger than usual?
It does not fund general social care - or children's services or support for adults below pensioner age with physical and learning disabilities. It is actually in those two areas where the biggest pressures are for councils as those clients or their parents don't have assets generally to fund their care so 100 per cent of the cost is borne by the council.
Hot work. Young men are super fit these days though.
Our seat at the WTO also allows us to campaign for global product standards and free trade which benefits everyone. It would also allow the trade agreements we do sign to be better tailored to the British economy, as opposed to the EU third party agreements which tend to focus on food and cars but not financial services. A big US/UK trade deal is unlikely as it’s politically difficult on both sides, what’s more likely is a series of sectoral agreements on standards and tarrifs.
https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1022424547025477633
Most of this lot only left the Eastern bloc in 1989, lest we forget. Four in ten now back far Right or ex-Communists (and the Centre-Left appears perilously close to being Pasokified to boot.)
Fudged borders happen all over the world, most notably the US/Canada border which is mostly open, and the US/Mexico border where there’s currently a political row about building a wall.
Also somewhat different in NI is the Common Travel Agreement between UK and RoI that means there’s no controls needed on people crossing the border, only on goods. When the EU talk about Freedom of Movement, they mean the entitlement to a national insurance number and the right to work and claim benefits and healthcare, as opposed to anything that happens at the physical border.
Re East Germany, because they were under communism while the West was reflecting on its Nazi past, maybe that’s why they can vote Afd so easily - they didn’t go through that process of reflection.
We might imagine that liberal democracy, with the slightest of touches of commercial imperialism mixed in, is the long-term resting state. Things may very well be otherwise.
But ultimately it's all part of the wider problem: the electorate doesn't want to choose between having a narrower range of services or paying a lot more tax. Everybody wants a pony, and everybody expects other people to pay for it: hence politicians always implement some fudged combination of half-measure cuts, stealth taxes and more borrowing. That's why our Governments all fail, and will continue to fail, until one is finally forced to grasp the nettle and choose between a Scandinavian and an American model.
That administration will be utterly destroyed at the ballot box, but the one that comes immediately after it will probably do very well.
In fact the gap in wealth, employment, etc., between the East and West German Laander is smaller than the differences between the wealthy and the poorer parts of the UK. (Which, by the way, should be a source of enormous shame to us.)
But this also tells us that there is more to the rise of parties of the far Left and Right than just economics.
http://www.cbi.org.uk/news/manufacturing-output-picks-up-pace-but-investment-disappoints/
http://www.cbi.org.uk/news/summer-sun-continues-to-shine-on-retailers-but-outlook-weaker/
If next week's PMI data is also good then an interest rate rise seems likely.
If there's only one place left for right-wing voters to go then maybe some of them are bound to migrate there, even if the destination is perhaps more radical than they might otherwise consider?
https://youtube.com/watch?v=-oW6Ef0ALKo
This bit specifically: ‘Perhaps it was worse, because there was no 1960s, no younger generation asking awkward, often unfair questions of their elders, as there was in West Germany. East Germany claimed to have solved the national problem through communism, but in fact, after 1989, the bacillus of Nazism was found to have survived in far more virulent forms in the so-called ‘German Democratic Republic’ than in its capitalist-democratic competitor state.’ (p. xxxv)
I’ve only started reading it this week.
Edit: But I’ll make sure to read the third volume of Klemperer's diaries as well.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/29/global-hummus-shortage-prices-soar-third/
or the global hummus shortage of 2017:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/apr/29/hummus-crisis-sheds-light-on-secret-world-of-mass-food-production
As far as being 'pretty sexy' goes, I can only say de gustibus non est disputandum.
Indeed, it was the revival of denazification proceedings in the West in 1963-65 that spurred the DDR into action, including the very belated arrest of Horst Fischer:
http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/nsstrafverfolgung_in_der_ddr_bis_zum_fischerprozess_1965
- Bruno Ganz in the Liam Neeson movie "Unknown", 2011
Yet, strangely....
Serifed mean Serifed!
It's the will of the people...
A society full of sociopathic, religiously motivated, gangster terrorists is hardly likely to appeal to anyone from... ISIS, probably
It was a little odd at the cinema the other day seeing a Facebook ad seemingly about not harvesting or misusing customer data (it's a bit of a blur to me now) as I thought harvesting personal info to be of use to advertisers was their whole deal.
The fundamental issue remains, therefore, unresolved. The current economic model isn't working, but nobody seems to have the will to fix it. In this case, both politicians and the electorate are complicit.
Strangely the strongest holders of these beliefs also believe that Unlimited Immigration Is An Unlimited Good Thing.
Dividing the value of Facebook by the number of customers is interesting - can they really be selling the data per person for that much?
Considering that customs and thus Ireland has been the major divide recently an out and out rejection of Chequers as he's done today seems to be significant.
Though I note he has waited until the summer recess before doing that. He is a sly fox.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4zd7X98eOs
Although, frankly, why one should feel moral outrage about violations of privacy against people who choose to broadcast the minutiae of their personal lives on a website (and one which makes its money by using their own data to feed them targeted adverts to boot) is beyond me.
I doubt that the timing of the Parliamentary recess entered Monsieur Barnier's mind, frankly.
Barnier et al know May is weak and will given them what they want. They don't want her gone.
When it comes to the meaningful vote, it will be something like 250 for, 75 against, 300 abstentions.
Although if it does look like no deal then I may also dust off my Emergency Corbyn Government Readiness List and buy some of the essentials. There's not that much room for hoarding in Chez Overall, but I think I can find space for three dozen luxury loo rolls, a couple of cases of Rioja, some basic medicines and, say, about 10kg of good quality chocolate. Sorted.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/16380968.snps-ian-blackford-apologises-over-fake-scotland-is-a-region-of-england-tweet-from-brexit-secretary-dominic-raab/
As for showing the EU she was not serious, I don't see how that is true. It was widely reported the EU would not be able to accept Chequers as was anyway, so they would insist in further bending, and she was stating she could not do so. In that she was correct, as bending even as far as Chequers was too much.
But since the EU wasn't going to accept Chequers anyway, then as stupid as declaring a final position then backsliding because of the ERG was, I fail to see what impact it actually had on the negotiations. The EU were going to demand more, May was never going to be able to offer them more, so that she backslid to the ERG didn't affect its chances.
It's conceivable that the Labour strategy will be to vote against it in the hope of exploiting the chaos and getting a general election. But I doubt that they would get a majority in those circumstances.
Abstentions wouldn't be a piss take but the result of careful deliberations and calculations.
I think the Withdrawal Agreement will pass and we will easily complete the negotiation on EEA/CU on time by end 2021.
I was thinking more along the lines of a casserole.
https://youtu.be/95qLDc7zwYY
https://twitter.com/zatapatique/status/1022597952437710849