It's more a state comprising four nations, rather than a nation state.
The UK now effectively has a Federal Parliament at Westminster, England has no devolved Parliament or Assembly and no Head of State either, the Queen is Head of State of the UK and Commonwealth realms. England is a nation only in sentiment not political reality
The use of 'effectively' is incorrect on oh so many levels.
Is is reasonable of Sinn Fein and others to claim that even cameras would be against the spirit of the Belfast Agreement? No.
The answer to this is a clear "Yes". The Good Friday Agreement was explicitly predicated on both sides being EU member states and therefore subject to ever closer economic union. It's a grotesque distortion of the context of the GFA to argue that imposing any kind of new bureaucracy that inhibits cross-border economic activity is consistent withit.
O/T What’s the best statistical method to see if there’s a correlation between two data sets?
It depends. Please be more specific.
The more marginal the seat, the bigger the swing at the election.
OK, since the data points are each of similar size and you are testing for no more than a simple linear relationship, ordinary least squares regression is fine and can be done on Excel. I assume you are measuring the size of the swing in a particular direction. If you are looking at the absolute scale of the swing regardless of direction you would need to convert all the negative swings to positive first. Think about subdividing your data sets e.g. would you expect a relationship for England/Wales to hold for Scotland as well.
Is it just me that is struggling to understand what all the fuss about Boris's article is about?
Considering it was penned in the context of the burqa being banned by many, many liberal European democracies ... and that while it may not be common or especially polite to say they look like that, it is accurate to say it ... what is the big deal?
It undermines or distracts people from what might otherwise be a good argument against such face coverings. The argument against the burqa is not, after all, an aesthetic one. And it also feels a bit like bullying of the woman wearing it. It misses the point and allows those who want the burqa to focus on the language used rather than engage with the argument about why it should be banned
But he's not calling for it to be banned!
Here he is calling for it not to be banned, despite plenty of liberal nations doing so ... and he's getting vilified by those who don't want it to be banned.
If he was calling for a ban then it would make sense to moderate the language. But he's basically saying "I don't like this but I don't want it banned despite not liking it."
Regardless, it is not necessary to his argument to describe the women wearing it looking like letterboxes. It really isn’t. It is simply a distraction. I don’t like the burqa and would ban it. But what people wearing it look like is irrelevant.
He’s using ad hominem or perhaps ad feminem language and it allows those in perpetual grievance mode (aka the MCB) to accuse him of islamophobia or whatever. Sometimes colourful language helps make a point. And sometimes it distracts and detracts. In this case, it is the latter. Johnson is, I think, so fond of writing or speaking using colourful language that he often lacks the judgment to know when it is appropriate and, critically, when it isn’t.
O/T What’s the best statistical method to see if there’s a correlation between two data sets?
It depends. Please be more specific.
The more marginal the seat, the bigger the swing at the election.
OK, since the data points are each of similar size and you are testing for no more than a simple linear relationship, ordinary least squares regression is fine and can be done on Excel. I assume you are measuring the size of the swing in a particular direction. If you are looking at the absolute scale of the swing regardless of direction you would need to convert all the negative swings to positive first. Think about subdividing your data sets e.g. would you expect a relationship for England/Wales to hold for Scotland as well.
I'm thinking of comparing the swing to the national swing.
I'm excluding Scotland on the grounds the swings in the last two elections (and the previous lack of marginals) makes analysis there not very useful.
The problem is that 2018 is not 1998. The nationalist population is larger now than then-now verging on a majority, it is a majority in 2/3 of the territory of NI including Belfast and among people under 50. They feel as part of Ireland as anyone in Cork and absolutely used to being integrated as part of Ireland-there are 142 areas of total all-Ireland harmonisation in all areas of life dependent on common EU standards. If Britain tries to unilaterally break those links and cut eg Derry off from Donegal, it will not be the EU's problem-it was Britain's decision to create that situation in Ireland, against the wishes of the people and as far as the people are concerned in clear breach of the GFA. That will not be tolerated and there will be massive civil disobedience against the British state in those areas. British troops previously had the RUC and the UDR plus reserves-effectively a 50,000 strong unionist militia...they are gone. Britain would have no logistical support in controlling a rebellious Irish civil population along a 500 km frontier-videos on phones at the ready for any army force against Irish civilians- and no political will to do it in the UK either.Its writ would just not run. The border will have to go in the sea or the UK will have to stay under EU rules and remain in the CU. The alternative for the UK as a whole is third country legal and regulatory status of Namibia. That is not an option. NI will have to have special EU status as laid down in the protocol. Semantics may soften but the substance will not.
The people of NI won’t vote for reunification as long as it means giving up the NHS.
You might want massive civil disobedience. I don’t think any SDLP voters and even most Sinn Fein voters want that. How many people actually want to return to the bad old days?
Defacto 50% income tax from around Eur36k and no meaningful allowances. It would be heart over head (but see Brexit). The difference to pre-1973 is that the ROI is no longer a wholly owned subsidiary of the Catholic Church.
Just changed some money for a trip to Berlin. In the real world, shouldn't we be arguing about whether it is now time to join the Euro rather than even thinking about leaving the EU?
If anyone has an argument for not joining the Euro that doesn't involve invoking arcane knowledge of economics that can't be explained in everyday language, I'd love to hear it.
Seriously?
We need the flexibility of our own currency to offset the uncertainty that we are now facing. I simply cannot imagine a worse time to fix our currency. Even if we were not leaving the consequences of a long term fixed rate can be very, very negative. Ask Italy.
We are likely to see a significant reduction in the volume of our trade with the EU over the next few years, especially if there is no deal. Why would we want to fix our rate with them leaving us no ability to change with other customers such as the US?
We need the ability to print our own money should circumstances require it. Eurozone countries don't have that ability.
The Euro has major structural issues showing up through the target 2 imbalances. At some point some countries are going to get seriously hurt by this. It is not in our interests to expose ourselves to such risks.
How does a means of exchange have a structure? What is target 2 and just how unbalanced can it get? Why should I care? I've been earning and spending money for 4 decades, and assiduously following the news. Economic events continue to happen without the slightest warning from the practitioners of the dismal science. I've reached the conclusion that while there do seem to be some rules and patterns of behaviour in that part of life we call economics, they are only amenable to a hazy level of understanding. Those who study these matters closely seem to have no better judgement than the rest of us. Indeed, they might even be worse.
So on the Euro - I have just spent time getting the folding stuff and paid a commission to buy them. So my trip to Berlin will be costlier than it would have been had we joined the single currency. Maybe the costs of joining at a macro level would be greater. Or maybe it would have been positively beneficial to join. I don't know. I see no evidence that anybody else does either.
Just as well you're not going to the US, I suppose. Wouldn't the arguments for joining the dollar be the same?
We don't have the political option of joining the dollar at the moment.
Just changed some money for a trip to Berlin. In the real world, shouldn't we be arguing about whether it is now time to join the Euro rather than even thinking about leaving the EU?
If anyone has an argument for not joining the Euro that doesn't involve invoking arcane knowledge of economics that can't be explained in everyday language, I'd love to hear it.
O/T What’s the best statistical method to see if there’s a correlation between two data sets?
It depends. Please be more specific.
The more marginal the seat, the bigger the swing at the election.
Probably the simplist is to do two maps and eyeball it, as there will be exceptions and they may well be interesting.
I am not sure that you are right though as several safe Tory seats had big swings to Labour in 2017, such as Harborough near me. I didnt gues that Trotskyism would be so popular amongst the silver county set of south Leics.
So far one Leaver has sought to reannex Ireland and one has sought to replace its head of government with someone more amenable to Leave interests. You can't fault their ambitions.
Sorry I've been away a while. I'm not advocating that the UK annexes Ireland. I'm merely suggesting we go back to the arrangement we had before both sovereign nation states got sucked in to the Brussels black hole.
So you mean telling the Irish that they must leave the EU too? I think they would consider that tantamount to reannexation.
I am suggesting that the Irish government should reflect what would be in their economic interest, and act accordingly.
And yet when we Remainers suggest the British government should do the same...
Just changed some money for a trip to Berlin. In the real world, shouldn't we be arguing about whether it is now time to join the Euro rather than even thinking about leaving the EU?
If anyone has an argument for not joining the Euro that doesn't involve invoking arcane knowledge of economics that can't be explained in everyday language, I'd love to hear it.
Seriously?
We need the flexibility of our own currency to offset the uncertainty that we are now facing. I simply cannot imagine a worse time to fix our currency. Even if we were not leaving the consequences of a long term fixed rate can be very, very negative. Ask Italy.
We are likely to see a significant reduction in the volume of our trade with the EU over the next few years, especially if there is no deal. Why would we want to fix our rate with them leaving us no ability to change with other customers such as the US?
We need the ability to print our own money should circumstances require it. Eurozone countries don't have that ability.
The Euro has major structural issues showing up through the target 2 imbalances. At some point some countries are going to get seriously hurt by this. It is not in our interests to expose ourselves to such risks.
How does a means of exchange have a structure? What is target 2 and just how unbalanced can it get? Why should I care? I've been earning and spending money for 4 decades, and assiduously following the news. Economic events continue to happen without the slightest warning from the practitioners of the dismal science. I've reached the conclusion that while there do seem to be some rules and patterns of behaviour in that part of life we call economics, they are only amenable to a hazy level of understanding. Those who study these matters closely seem to have no better judgement than the rest of us. Indeed, they might even be worse.
So on the Euro - I have just spent time getting the folding stuff and paid a commission to buy them. So my trip to Berlin will be costlier than it would have been had we joined the single currency. Maybe the costs of joining at a macro level would be greater. Or maybe it would have been positively beneficial to join. I don't know. I see no evidence that anybody else does either.
Just as well you're not going to the US, I suppose. Wouldn't the arguments for joining the dollar be the same?
We don't have the political option of joining the dollar at the moment.
Nor do we have the option of joining the Euro. A poll back in 2012 put support for joining the Euro at 6%.
Which raises the question of what on earth does Boris Johnson look like ?
There is a perfectly respectable case to make against the burqa without mocking those who wear it. Why can’t an oaf like Boris - apparently so intelligent - not see that?
His recent meetings with Bannon would suggest that he's more interested in divisive populism than making reasonable cases.
Is it just me that is struggling to understand what all the fuss about Boris's article is about?
Considering it was penned in the context of the burqa being banned by many, many liberal European democracies ... and that while it may not be common or especially polite to say they look like that, it is accurate to say it ... what is the big deal?
It undermines or distracts people from what might otherwise be a good argument against such face coverings. The argument against the burqa is not, after all, an aesthetic one. And it also feels a bit like bullying of the woman wearing it. It misses the point and allows those who want the burqa to focus on the language used rather than engage with the argument about why it should be banned
But he's not calling for it to be banned!
Here he is calling for it not to be banned, despite plenty of liberal nations doing so ... and he's getting vilified by those who don't want it to be banned.
If he was calling for a ban then it would make sense to moderate the language. But he's basically saying "I don't like this but I don't want it banned despite not liking it."
Regardless, it is not necessary to his argument to describe the women wearing it looking like letterboxes. It really isn’t. It is simply a distraction. I don’t like the burqa and would ban it. But what people wearing it look like is irrelevant.
He’s using ad hominem or perhaps ad feminem language and it allows those in perpetual grievance mode (aka the MCB) to accuse him of islamophobia or whatever. Sometimes colourful language helps make a point. And sometimes it distracts and detracts. In this case, it is the latter. Johnson is, I think, so fond of writing or speaking using colourful language that he often lacks the judgment to know when it is appropriate and, critically, when it isn’t.
I would think what he wrote would be an ad hominem only if it was either false or irrelevant to the point. It was neither. Ok the letterbox one was a bit cheeky but the other comparison is very apt and was seriously expounded on throughout the article when discussing how and why face to face conversations are important.
It seems that people are so used to those in perpetual grievance mode that now any discussion on the topic ends up out of bounds even one where the author is explicitly calling for us not to copy a neighbouring European nation in banning it.
Is is reasonable of Sinn Fein and others to claim that even cameras would be against the spirit of the Belfast Agreement? No.
The answer to this is a clear "Yes". The Good Friday Agreement was explicitly predicated on both sides being EU member states and therefore subject to ever closer economic union. It's a grotesque distortion of the context of the GFA to argue that imposing any kind of new bureaucracy that inhibits cross-border economic activity is consistent withit.
I’m afraid this just demonstrates how unhinged you are when it comes to Brexit. I was talking to an SDLP supporter last week who couldn’t see anything wrong with cameras.
Sinn Fein don’t speak for all nationalists, and they certainly don’t speak for Northern Ireland.
Is is reasonable of Sinn Fein and others to claim that even cameras would be against the spirit of the Belfast Agreement? No.
The answer to this is a clear "Yes". The Good Friday Agreement was explicitly predicated on both sides being EU member states and therefore subject to ever closer economic union. It's a grotesque distortion of the context of the GFA to argue that imposing any kind of new bureaucracy that inhibits cross-border economic activity is consistent withit.
I’m afraid this just demonstrates how unhinged you are when it comes to Brexit. I was talking to an SDLP supporter last week who couldn’t see anything wrong with cameras.
Sinn Fein don’t speak for all nationalists, and they certainly don’t speak for Northern Ireland.
Given that the UK government has accepted the view that new customs checks or infrastructure are unacceptable you're just howling into the wind on this. What's more, it's the will of both houses of parliament.
So far one Leaver has sought to reannex Ireland and one has sought to replace its head of government with someone more amenable to Leave interests. You can't fault their ambitions.
Sorry I've been away a while. I'm not advocating that the UK annexes Ireland. I'm merely suggesting we go back to the arrangement we had before both sovereign nation states got sucked in to the Brussels black hole.
So you mean telling the Irish that they must leave the EU too? I think they would consider that tantamount to reannexation.
I am suggesting that the Irish government should reflect what would be in their economic interest, and act accordingly.
And yet when we Remainers suggest the British government should do the same...
We did. We just disagreed about what was in our interest. Many of those insisting remaining was in our interest said Euro membership was too and ultimately you failed to substantiate your case.
Just changed some money for a trip to Berlin. In the real world, shouldn't we be arguing about whether it is now time to join the Euro rather than even thinking about leaving the EU?
If anyone has an argument for not joining the Euro that doesn't involve invoking arcane knowledge of economics that can't be explained in everyday language, I'd love to hear it.
Greece.
Ireland.
Yes Ireland is a good case against Euro membership. I am assuming you are referring to us needing to bail them out as if they were RBS?
I support Boris on the letterbox thing, people in the full-length burkha things with the little eye slits genuinely do look like letterboxes. I don't have a problem with letterboxes or people dressing like them as long as they don't display the official Royal Mail insignia and attempt to trick people into posting letters into them, but "that woman is dressed like a letterbox" is often a factually true statement, and not particularly racially offensive or anything, so there's no need to get on people's cases for saying it.
Is is reasonable of Sinn Fein and others to claim that even cameras would be against the spirit of the Belfast Agreement? No.
The answer to this is a clear "Yes". The Good Friday Agreement was explicitly predicated on both sides being EU member states and therefore subject to ever closer economic union. It's a grotesque distortion of the context of the GFA to argue that imposing any kind of new bureaucracy that inhibits cross-border economic activity is consistent withit.
You can argue it is implicit. It is certainly not explicit. If you were correct in your interpretation, Northern Ireland would have adopted the Euro at the same time the Republic did.
I think he's already been suspended. Quite swift - the practice is paying off.
Lets see how long it takes for them to be let of the naughty step....
Funny how no-one in Labour objected to Watson receiving money from Max Mosley, a man who admitted to having racist views about blacks. But money from Jews - beyond the pale!
The simplest solution is for the EU to offer the UK a Canada style FTA for the whole UK, not just GB, with added extras in Ireland if needed to avoid a hard border
Simplest solution is a border across the Bay of Biscay.
Just changed some money for a trip to Berlin. In the real world, shouldn't we be arguing about whether it is now time to join the Euro rather than even thinking about leaving the EU?
If anyone has an argument for not joining the Euro that doesn't involve invoking arcane knowledge of economics that can't be explained in everyday language, I'd love to hear it.
Seriously?
We need the flexibility of our own currency to offset the uncertainty that we are now facing. I simply cannot imagine a worse time to fix our currency. Even if we were not leaving the consequences of a long term fixed rate can be very, very negative. Ask Italy.
We need the ability to print our own money should circumstances require it. Eurozone countries don't have that ability.
The Euro has major structural issues showing up through the target 2 imbalances. At some point some countries are going to get seriously hurt by this. It is not in our interests to expose ourselves to such risks.
hose who study these matters closely seem to have no better judgement than the rest of us. Indeed, they might even be worse.
So on the Euro - I have just spent time getting the folding stuff and paid a commission to buy them. So my trip to Berlin will be costlier than it would have been had we joined the single currency. Maybe the costs of joining at a macro level would be greater. Or maybe it would have been positively beneficial to join. I don't know. I see no evidence that anybody else does either.
Just as well you're not going to the US, I suppose. Wouldn't the arguments for joining the dollar be the same?
We don't have the political option of joining the dollar at the moment.
Nor do we have the option of joining the Euro. A poll back in 2012 put support for joining the Euro at 6%.
A poll in 2010 had only 1% regarding the EU as an important issue.
The referendum has transformed how many of us think about the EU. In my case, I never gave it a moment's thought until the referendum campaign. I didn't waste too much time on it even then. But since then I have become very enthusiastic about it. If you'd asked me about the Euro in 2012 I would have been a don't know, or possibly even anti. I don't think I'm alone. Who knows what will happen once we've left? There is now an active body of opinion that will want to take us back in. They'll probably want to get straight into the Euro as well.
Is is reasonable of Sinn Fein and others to claim that even cameras would be against the spirit of the Belfast Agreement? No.
The answer to this is a clear "Yes". The Good Friday Agreement was explicitly predicated on both sides being EU member states and therefore subject to ever closer economic union. It's a grotesque distortion of the context of the GFA to argue that imposing any kind of new bureaucracy that inhibits cross-border economic activity is consistent withit.
You can argue it is implicit. It is certainly not explicit.
You can argue it is implicit that both parties should be members of the UN although it is not stated anywhere. Membership of the EU on the other hand is explicitly part of the preamble and has referred to in strand two.
Is it just me that is struggling to understand what all the fuss about Boris's article is about?
Considering it was penned in the context of the burqa being banned by many, many liberal European democracies ... and that while it may not be common or especially polite to say they look like that, it is accurate to say it ... what is the big deal?
It undermines or distracts people from what might otherwise be a good argument against such face coverings. The argument against the burqa is not, after all, an aesthetic one. And it also feels a bit like bullying of the woman wearing it. It misses the point and allows those who want the burqa to focus on the language used rather than engage with the argument about why it should be banned
But he's not calling for it to be banned!
Here he is calling for it not to be banned, despite plenty of liberal nations doing so ... and he's getting vilified by those who don't want it to be banned.
If he was calling for a ban then it would make sense to moderate the language. But he's basically saying "I don't like this but I don't want it banned despite not liking it."
Regardless, it is not necessary to his argument to describe the women wearing it looking like letterboxes. It really isn’t. It is simply a distraction. I don’t like the burqa and would ban it. But what people wearing it look like is irrelevant.
He’s using ad hominem or perhaps ad feminem language and it allows those in perpetual grievance mode (aka the MCB) to accuse him of islamophobia or whatever. Sometimes colourful language helps make a point. And sometimes it distracts and detracts. In this case, it is the latter. Johnson is, I think, so fond of writing or speaking using colourful language that he often lacks the judgment to know when it is appropriate and, critically, when it isn’t.
I would think what he wrote would be an ad hominem only if it was either false or irrelevant to the point. It was neither. Ok the letterbox one was a bit cheeky but the other comparison is very apt and was seriously expounded on throughout the article when discussing how and why face to face conversations are important.
It seems that people are so used to those in perpetual grievance mode that now any discussion on the topic ends up out of bounds even one where the author is explicitly calling for us not to copy a neighbouring European nation in banning it.
What was the other comparison please? I can’t read the full article.
Is it just me that is struggling to understand what all the fuss about Boris's article is about?
Considering it was penned in the context of the burqa being banned by many, many liberal European democracies ... and that while it may not be common or especially polite to say they look like that, it is accurate to say it ... what is the big deal?
It undermines or distracts people from what might otherwise be a good argument against such face coverings. The argument against the burqa is not, after all, an aesthetic one. And it also feels a bit like bullying of the woman wearing it. It misses the point and allows those who want the burqa to focus on the language used rather than engage with the argument about why it should be banned
But he's not calling for it to be banned!
Here he is calling for it not to be banned, despite plenty of liberal nations doing so ... and he's getting vilified by those who don't want it to be banned.
If he was calling for a ban then it would make sense to moderate the language. But he's basically saying "I don't like this but I don't want it banned despite not liking it."
Regardless, it is not necessary to his argument to describe the women wearing it looking like letterboxes. It really isn’t. It is simply a distraction. I don’t like the burqa and would ban it. But what people wearing it look like is irrelevant.
He’s using ad hominem or perhaps ad feminem language and it allows those in perpetual grievance mode (aka the MCB) to accuse him of islamophobia or whatever. Sometimes colourful language helps make a point. And sometimes it distracts and detracts. In this case, it is the latter. Johnson is, I think, so fond of writing or speaking using colourful language that he often lacks the judgment to know when it is appropriate and, critically, when it isn’t.
I would think what he wrote would be an ad hominem only if it was either false or irrelevant to the point. It was neither. Ok the letterbox one was a bit cheeky but the other comparison is very apt and was seriously expounded on throughout the article when discussing how and why face to face conversations are important.
It seems that people are so used to those in perpetual grievance mode that now any discussion on the topic ends up out of bounds even one where the author is explicitly calling for us not to copy a neighbouring European nation in banning it.
What was the other comparison please? I can’t read the full article.
Is is reasonable of Sinn Fein and others to claim that even cameras would be against the spirit of the Belfast Agreement? No.
The answer to this is a clear "Yes". The Good Friday Agreement was explicitly predicated on both sides being EU member states and therefore subject to ever closer economic union. It's a grotesque distortion of the context of the GFA to argue that imposing any kind of new bureaucracy that inhibits cross-border economic activity is consistent withit.
You can argue it is implicit. It is certainly not explicit.
You can argue it is implicit that both parties should be members of the UN although it is not stated anywhere. Membership of the EU on the other hand is explicitly part of the preamble and has referred to in strand two.
There is no legal commitment on the part of either Ireland or the UK that either State, or Northern Ireland, remains part of the EU.
Is is reasonable of Sinn Fein and others to claim that even cameras would be against the spirit of the Belfast Agreement? No.
The answer to this is a clear "Yes". The Good Friday Agreement was explicitly predicated on both sides being EU member states and therefore subject to ever closer economic union. It's a grotesque distortion of the context of the GFA to argue that imposing any kind of new bureaucracy that inhibits cross-border economic activity is consistent withit.
You can argue it is implicit. It is certainly not explicit.
You can argue it is implicit that both parties should be members of the UN although it is not stated anywhere. Membership of the EU on the other hand is explicitly part of the preamble and has referred to in strand two.
There is no legal commitment on the part of either Ireland or the UK that either State, or Northern Ireland, remains part of the EU.
That's not the point. The operation of the Good Friday Agreement makes assumptions about the parties being part of a union facilitating North-South economic integration and it is therefore right that if one party withdraws from that union, a settlement is reached that allows all of that to continue on the same basis.
The only reason anyone is seeking to quibble about this is because of a latent assumption that the UK is the more powerful party to the agreement and therefore should be able to impose its will.
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
Is it just me that is struggling to understand what all the fuss about Boris's article is about?
Considering it was penned in the context of the burqa being banned by many, many liberal European democracies ... and that while it may not be common or especially polite to say they look like that, it is accurate to say it ... what is the big deal?
It undermines or distracts people from what might otherwise be a good argument against such face coverings. The argument against the burqa is not, after all, an aesthetic one. And it also feels a bit like bullying of the woman wearing it. It misses the point and allows those who want the burqa to focus on the language used rather than engage with the argument about why it should be banned
But he's not calling for it to be banned!
Here he is calling for it not to be banned, despite plenty of liberal nations doing so ... and he's getting vilified by those who don't want it to be banned.
If he was calling for a ban then it would make sense to moderate the language. But he's basically saying "I don't like this but I don't want it banned despite not liking it."
Regardless, it is not necessary to his argument to describe the women wearing it looking like letterboxes. It really isn’t. It is simply a distraction. I don’t like the burqa and would ban it. But what people wearing it look like is irrelevant.
He’s using ad hominem or perhaps ad feminem language and it allows those in perpetual grievance mode (aka the MCB) to accuse him of islamophobia or whatever. Sometimes colourful language helps make a point. And sometimes it distracts and detracts. In this case, it is the latter. Johnson is, I think, so fond of writing or speaking using colourful language that he often lacks the judgment to know when it is appropriate and, critically, when it isn’t.
I would think what he wrote would be an ad hominem only if it was either false or irrelevant to the point. It was neither. Ok the letterbox one was a bit cheeky but the other comparison is very apt and was seriously expounded on throughout the article when discussing how and why face to face conversations are important.
It seems that people are so used to those in perpetual grievance mode that now any discussion on the topic ends up out of bounds even one where the author is explicitly calling for us not to copy a neighbouring European nation in banning it.
What was the other comparison please? I can’t read the full article.
Is is reasonable of Sinn Fein and others to claim that even cameras would be against the spirit of the Belfast Agreement? No.
The answer to this is a clear "Yes". The Good Friday Agreement was explicitly predicated on both sides being EU member states and therefore subject to ever closer economic union. It's a grotesque distortion of the context of the GFA to argue that imposing any kind of new bureaucracy that inhibits cross-border economic activity is consistent withit.
I’m afraid this just demonstrates how unhinged you are when it comes to Brexit. I was talking to an SDLP supporter last week who couldn’t see anything wrong with cameras.
Sinn Fein don’t speak for all nationalists, and they certainly don’t speak for Northern Ireland.
They speak for a lot more of them/it than the SDLP though.
How long would Northern Ireland stay in Poundland after a No Deal Brexit? How about Scotland?
"If it's a Yes, we will say 'on we go', and if it's a No we will say 'we continue'."
Given the majority of Northern Ireland Protestants voted Leave anyway in the case of Protestant majority counties Antrim and Down indefinitely.
Do any of your fellow Conservative activists share your passion for partitioning Northern Ireland or is it just your own hobby horse?
It is the Conservative AND Unionist Party for a reason.
Protestant majority counties should not be forced into the Republic against their will as the Conservative led government in 1921 accepted when it created Northern Ireland in the first place rather than forcing it into the new Catholic majority Irish Free State
Just changed some money for a trip to Berlin. In the real world, shouldn't we be arguing about whether it is now time to join the Euro rather than even thinking about leaving the EU?
If anyone has an argument for not joining the Euro that doesn't involve invoking arcane knowledge of economics that can't be explained in everyday language, I'd love to hear it.
Seriously?
We need the flexibility of our own currency to offset the uncertainty that we are now facing. I simply cannot imagine a worse time to fix our currency. Even if we were not leaving the consequences of a long term fixed rate can be very, very negative. Ask Italy.
We need the ability to print our own money should circumstances require it. Eurozone countries don't have that ability.
The Euro has major structural issues showing up through the target 2 imbalances. At some point some countries are going to get seriously hurt by this. It is not in our interests to expose ourselves to such risks.
hose who study these matters closely seem to have no better judgement than the rest of us. Indeed, they might even be worse.
Just as well you're not going to the US, I suppose. Wouldn't the arguments for joining the dollar be the same?
We don't have the political option of joining the dollar at the moment.
Nor do we have the option of joining the Euro. A poll back in 2012 put support for joining the Euro at 6%.
A poll in 2010 had only 1% regarding the EU as an important issue.
The referendum has transformed how many of us think about the EU. In my case, I never gave it a moment's thought until the referendum campaign. I didn't waste too much time on it even then. But since then I have become very enthusiastic about it. If you'd asked me about the Euro in 2012 I would have been a don't know, or possibly even anti. I don't think I'm alone. Who knows what will happen once we've left? There is now an active body of opinion that will want to take us back in. They'll probably want to get straight into the Euro as well.
One of the more interesting phenomena of Brexit was to see a mass demonstration of several hundred thousand europhiles demonstrating in June. This is not something that I have seen in my lifetime, and I donot think that you are the only one who has become more appreciative of the benefits of the EU since the referendum.
Is is reasonable of Sinn Fein and others to claim that even cameras would be against the spirit of the Belfast Agreement? No.
The answer to this is a clear "Yes". The Good Friday Agreement was explicitly predicated on both sides being EU member states and therefore subject to ever closer economic union. It's a grotesque distortion of the context of the GFA to argue that imposing any kind of new bureaucracy that inhibits cross-border economic activity is consistent withit.
You can argue it is implicit. It is certainly not explicit.
You can argue it is implicit that both parties should be members of the UN although it is not stated anywhere. Membership of the EU on the other hand is explicitly part of the preamble and has referred to in strand two.
There is no legal commitment on the part of either Ireland or the UK that either State, or Northern Ireland, remains part of the EU.
That's not the point. The operation of the Good Friday Agreement makes assumptions about the parties being part of a union facilitating North-South economic integration and it is therefore right that if one party withdraws from that union, a settlement is reached that allows all of that to continue on the same basis.
The only reason anyone is seeking to quibble about this is because of a latent assumption that the UK is the more powerful party to the agreement and therefore should be able to impose its will.
It's probably the solicitor in me speaking, but I tend to think that what I agree to should be reflected in the text that I sign up to. Unspoken assumptions about what the parties agreed to, but which were not reflected in the text, lead to all sorts of trouble. . When Ireland joined the Euro, at the same time as Northern Ireland retained sterling, this acted as a big barrier to economic integration between North and South, but nobody has argued that Ireland was not entitled to join the Eurozone, or that Northern Ireland was required to follow them into it.
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
It does show that a substantial minority of Britons are not merely wanting the status quo ante of spring 2016.
Personally, I am not bothered either way. On recent trips to Russia, Sweden and Spain I used electronic money and hardly touched physical cash.
One of the more interesting phenomena of Brexit was to see a mass demonstration of several hundred thousand europhiles demonstrating in June. This is not something that I have seen in my lifetime, and I donot think that you are the only one who has become more appreciative of the benefits of the EU since the referendum.
The grass is always greener on the other side and it's always easier to protest than to get people out to say carry on, except in the ballot box. Without Brexit there was no reason to have people come out.
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
There was a YouGov Eurotrack poll in the Spring that tested support for euro membership across various countries.
It had support in the UK at 10%, opposition at 67%.
That's not the point. The operation of the Good Friday Agreement makes assumptions about the parties being part of a union facilitating North-South economic integration and it is therefore right that if one party withdraws from that union, a settlement is reached that allows all of that to continue on the same basis.
The only reason anyone is seeking to quibble about this is because of a latent assumption that the UK is the more powerful party to the agreement and therefore should be able to impose its will.
Eh? It's the EU which seems to want to impose its will, which would be reasonable enough except that the manifestation of their will is that they want to impose a completely arbitrary and unnecessary rule (that there must be physical checks at the border) which they themselves have ruled out. It's hardly the UK's fault that the EU has set out two completely contradictory red lines; the UK is quite happy to do a sensible deal and not have checks at the border, exactly as it doesn't impose checks at the border today to deal with potential VAT and excise fraud.
Is is reasonable of Sinn Fein and others to claim that even cameras would be against the spirit of the Belfast Agreement? No.
The answer to this is a clear "Yes". The Good Friday Agreement was explicitly predicated on both sides being EU member states and therefore subject to ever closer economic union. It's a grotesque distortion of the context of the GFA to argue that imposing any kind of new bureaucracy that inhibits cross-border economic activity is consistent withit.
You can argue it is implicit. It is certainly not explicit.
You can argue it is implicit that both parties should be members of the UN although it is not stated anywhere. Membership of the EU on the other hand is explicitly part of the preamble and has referred to in strand two.
There is no legal commitment on the part of either Ireland or the UK that either State, or Northern Ireland, remains part of the EU.
That's not the point. The operation of the Good Friday Agreement makes assumptions about the parties being part of a union facilitating North-South economic integration and it is therefore right that if one party withdraws from that union, a settlement is reached that allows all of that to continue on the same basis.
The only reason anyone is seeking to quibble about this is because of a latent assumption that the UK is the more powerful party to the agreement and therefore should be able to impose its will.
It's probably the solicitor in me speaking, but I tend to think that what I agree to should be reflected in the text that I sign up to. Unspoken assumptions about what the parties agreed to, but which were not reflected in the text, lead to all sorts of trouble. . When Ireland joined the Euro, at the same time as Northern Ireland retained sterling, this acted as a big barrier to economic integration between North and South, but nobody has argued that Ireland was not entitled to join the Eurozone, or that Northern Ireland was required to follow them into it.
Joining the Euro is irrelevant to the Good Friday Agreement given that it just swapped one different currency for another. In fact at the time it was widely anticipated that Blair would hold a referendum on the UK joining the Euro.
As for unspoken assumptions in a political agreement, if Ireland has succeeded in imposing its view of those assumptions on the UK government, you just have to live with it. It's water under the bridge, and if it affects the kind of Brexit you dream of, tough.
Is is reasonable of Sinn Fein and others to claim that even cameras would be against the spirit of the Belfast Agreement? No.
The answer to this is a clear "Yes". The Good Friday Agreement was explicitly predicated on both sides being EU member states and therefore subject to ever closer economic union. It's a grotesque distortion of the context of the GFA to argue that imposing any kind of new bureaucracy that inhibits cross-border economic activity is consistent withit.
You can argue it is implicit. It is certainly not explicit.
You can argue it is implicit that both parties should be members of the UN although it is not stated anywhere. Membership of the EU on the other hand is explicitly part of the preamble and has referred to in strand two.
There is no legal commitment on the part of either Ireland or the UK that either State, or Northern Ireland, remains part of the EU.
That's not the point. The operation of the Good Friday Agreement makes assumptions about the parties being part of a union facilitating North-South economic integration and it is therefore right that if one party withdraws from that union, a settlement is reached that allows all of that to continue on the same basis.
The only reason anyone is seeking to quibble about this is because of a latent assumption that the UK is the more powerful party to the agreement and therefore should be able to impose its will.
It's probably the solicitor in me speaking, but I tend to think that what I agree to should be reflected in the text that I sign up to. Unspoken assumptions about what the parties agreed to, but which were not reflected in the text, lead to all sorts of trouble. . When Ireland joined the Euro, at the same time as Northern Ireland retained sterling, this acted as a big barrier to economic integration between North and South, but nobody has argued that Ireland was not entitled to join the Eurozone, or that Northern Ireland was required to follow them into it.
Precisely. The ratchet can still only turn one way in some people's eyes.
How long would Northern Ireland stay in Poundland after a No Deal Brexit? How about Scotland?
"If it's a Yes, we will say 'on we go', and if it's a No we will say 'we continue'."
Given the majority of Northern Ireland Protestants voted Leave anyway in the case of Protestant majority counties Antrim and Down indefinitely.
Do any of your fellow Conservative activists share your passion for partitioning Northern Ireland or is it just your own hobby horse?
It is the Conservative AND Unionist Party for a reason.
Protestant majority counties should not be forced into the Republic against their will as the Conservative led government in 1921 accepted when it created Northern Ireland in the first place rather than forcing it into the new Catholic majority Irish Free State
But in a recent poll 50% of respondents agreed that HYUFD was deliberately spreading misinformation about the views of Tory members with 25% responding that he means well but is misguided. This PROVES you are wrong!
Regardless, it is not necessary to his argument to describe the women wearing it looking like letterboxes. It really isn’t. It is simply a distraction. I don’t like the burqa and would ban it. But what people wearing it look like is irrelevant.
He’s using ad hominem or perhaps ad feminem language and it allows those in perpetual grievance mode (aka the MCB) to accuse him of islamophobia or whatever. Sometimes colourful language helps make a point. And sometimes it distracts and detracts. In this case, it is the latter. Johnson is, I think, so fond of writing or speaking using colourful language that he often lacks the judgment to know when it is appropriate and, critically, when it isn’t.
It's just a dog-whistle, like so much that he says.
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
There was a YouGov Eurotrack poll in the Spring that tested support for euro membership across various countries.
It had support in the UK at 10%, opposition at 67%.
We will never join the Euro. I for one would have voted Leave rather than Remain if joining the Euro was a requirement of staying in the EU. As even this poll shows over a third of Remain voters would vote against the Euro given Remain got 48% and just 33% would vote for the Euro.
ndeed Sweden and Denmark and probably Poland and the Czech Republic would likely leave the EU too if the EU tried to force them into the Euro
Is is reasonable of Sinn Fein and others to claim that even cameras would be against the spirit of the Belfast Agreement? No.
The answer to this is a clear "Yes". The Good Friday Agreement was explicitly predicated on both sides being EU member states and therefore subject to ever closer economic union. It's a grotesque distortion of the context of the GFA to argue that imposing any kind of new bureaucracy that inhibits cross-border economic activity is consistent withit.
You can argue it is implicit. It is certainly not explicit.
You can argue it is implicit that both parties should be members of the UN although it is not stated anywhere. Membership of the EU on the other hand is explicitly part of the preamble and has referred to in strand two.
There is no legal commitment on the part of either Ireland or the UK that either State, or Northern Ireland, remains part of the EU.
s.
The only reason anyone is seeking to quibble about this is because of a latent assumption that the UK is the more powerful party to the agreement and therefore should be able to impose its will.
Joining the Euro is irrelevant to the Good Friday Agreement given that it just swapped one different currency for another. In fact at the time it was widely anticipated that Blair would hold a referendum on the UK joining the Euro.
As for unspoken assumptions in a political agreement, if Ireland has succeeded in imposing its view of those assumptions on the UK government, you just have to live with it. It's water under the bridge, and if it affects the kind of Brexit you dream of, tough.
If the GFA is predicated upon economic integration between North and South, as you claim, then if one party imposes a barrier to economic integration, by joining a single currency zone that the other party refuses to join, then obviously it's relevant.
The GFA seems to mean whatever you want it to mean. You can't point to actual paragraphs that back up your claims, but you just make the claims anyway.
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
It does show that a substantial minority of Britons are not merely wanting the status quo ante of spring 2016.
Personally, I am not bothered either way. On recent trips to Russia, Sweden and Spain I used electronic money and hardly touched physical cash.
Though the 20% unemployment in Greece, the 16% unemployment in Spain and the 10% unemployment in Italy show the negative effects of the Euro
How long would Northern Ireland stay in Poundland after a No Deal Brexit? How about Scotland?
"If it's a Yes, we will say 'on we go', and if it's a No we will say 'we continue'."
Given the majority of Northern Ireland Protestants voted Leave anyway in the case of Protestant majority counties Antrim and Down indefinitely.
Do any of your fellow Conservative activists share your passion for partitioning Northern Ireland or is it just your own hobby horse?
It is the Conservative AND Unionist Party for a reason.
Protestant majority counties should not be forced into the Republic against their will as the Conservative led government in 1921 accepted when it created Northern Ireland in the first place rather than forcing it into the new Catholic majority Irish Free State
But in a recent poll 50% of respondents agreed that HYUFD was deliberately spreading misinformation about the views of Tory members with 25% responding that he means well but is misguided. This PROVES you are wrong!
So clearly zero polling evidence there then if you just want to be pathetic
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
It does show that a substantial minority of Britons are not merely wanting the status quo ante of spring 2016.
Personally, I am not bothered either way. On recent trips to Russia, Sweden and Spain I used electronic money and hardly touched physical cash.
Though the 20% unemployment in Greece, the 16% unemployment in Spain and the 10% unemployment in Italy show the negative effects of the Euro
I think they show poor internal governance by sovereign national governments.
If the GFA is predicated upon economic integration between North and South, as you claim, then if one party imposes a barrier to economic integration, by joining a single currency zone that the other party refuses to join, then obviously it's relevant.
The GFA seems to mean whatever you want it to mean. You can't point to actual paragraphs that back up your claims, but you just make the claims anyway.
But it's not a barrier - it's exactly the same as the status quo. There were two different currencies before Ireland joined the Euro and there remained two different currencies afterwards, albeit with the option that the UK could join the same currency in the future.
From the GFA:
"Wishing to develop still further the unique relationship between their peoples and the close co-operation between their countries as friendly neighbours and as partners in the European Union"
"17. The Council to consider the European Union dimension of relevant matters, including the implementation of EU policies and programmes and proposals under consideration in the EU framework. Arrangements to be made to ensure that the views of the Council are taken into account and represented appropriately at relevant EU meetings. "
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
It does show that a substantial minority of Britons are not merely wanting the status quo ante of spring 2016.
Personally, I am not bothered either way. On recent trips to Russia, Sweden and Spain I used electronic money and hardly touched physical cash.
Though the 20% unemployment in Greece, the 16% unemployment in Spain and the 10% unemployment in Italy show the negative effects of the Euro
I think they show poor internal governance by sovereign national governments.
Or they show terms dictated by Germany, unemployment just 4%
If the GFA is predicated upon economic integration between North and South, as you claim, then if one party imposes a barrier to economic integration, by joining a single currency zone that the other party refuses to join, then obviously it's relevant.
The GFA seems to mean whatever you want it to mean. You can't point to actual paragraphs that back up your claims, but you just make the claims anyway.
But it's not a barrier - it's exactly the same as the status quo. There were two different currencies before Ireland joined the Euro and there remained two different currencies afterwards, albeit with the option that the UK could join the same currency in the future.
From the GFA:
"Wishing to develop still further the unique relationship between their peoples and the close co-operation between their countries as friendly neighbours and as partners in the European Union"
"17. The Council to consider the European Union dimension of relevant matters, including the implementation of EU policies and programmes and proposals under consideration in the EU framework. Arrangements to be made to ensure that the views of the Council are taken into account and represented appropriately at relevant EU meetings. "
I suppose we'll just have to continue as friendly neighbours then.
How long would Northern Ireland stay in Poundland after a No Deal Brexit? How about Scotland?
"If it's a Yes, we will say 'on we go', and if it's a No we will say 'we continue'."
Given the majority of Northern Ireland Protestants voted Leave anyway in the case of Protestant majority counties Antrim and Down indefinitely.
Do any of your fellow Conservative activists share your passion for partitioning Northern Ireland or is it just your own hobby horse?
It is the Conservative AND Unionist Party for a reason.
Protestant majority counties should not be forced into the Republic against their will as the Conservative led government in 1921 accepted when it created Northern Ireland in the first place rather than forcing it into the new Catholic majority Irish Free State
But in a recent poll 50% of respondents agreed that HYUFD was deliberately spreading misinformation about the views of Tory members with 25% responding that he means well but is misguided. This PROVES you are wrong!
So clearly zero polling evidence there then if you just want to be pathetic
If the GFA is predicated upon economic integration between North and South, as you claim, then if one party imposes a barrier to economic integration, by joining a single currency zone that the other party refuses to join, then obviously it's relevant.
The GFA seems to mean whatever you want it to mean. You can't point to actual paragraphs that back up your claims, but you just make the claims anyway.
But it's not a barrier - it's exactly the same as the status quo. There were two different currencies before Ireland joined the Euro and there remained two different currencies afterwards, albeit with the option that the UK could join the same currency in the future.
From the GFA:
"Wishing to develop still further the unique relationship between their peoples and the close co-operation between their countries as friendly neighbours and as partners in the European Union"
"17. The Council to consider the European Union dimension of relevant matters, including the implementation of EU policies and programmes and proposals under consideration in the EU framework. Arrangements to be made to ensure that the views of the Council are taken into account and represented appropriately at relevant EU meetings. "
I suppose we'll just have to continue as friendly neighbours then.
If the GFA is predicated upon economic integration between North and South, as you claim, then if one party imposes a barrier to economic integration, by joining a single currency zone that the other party refuses to join, then obviously it's relevant.
The GFA seems to mean whatever you want it to mean. You can't point to actual paragraphs that back up your claims, but you just make the claims anyway.
But it's not a barrier - it's exactly the same as the status quo. There were two different currencies before Ireland joined the Euro and there remained two different currencies afterwards, albeit with the option that the UK could join the same currency in the future.
From the GFA:
"Wishing to develop still further the unique relationship between their peoples and the close co-operation between their countries as friendly neighbours and as partners in the European Union"
"17. The Council to consider the European Union dimension of relevant matters, including the implementation of EU policies and programmes and proposals under consideration in the EU framework. Arrangements to be made to ensure that the views of the Council are taken into account and represented appropriately at relevant EU meetings. "
I suppose we'll just have to continue as friendly neighbours then.
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
It does show that a substantial minority of Britons are not merely wanting the status quo ante of spring 2016.
Personally, I am not bothered either way. On recent trips to Russia, Sweden and Spain I used electronic money and hardly touched physical cash.
I spent two and a half weeks in the states over the winter, touring through some fairly remote areas at times. I never touched a single dollar. Cash is dead.
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
It does show that a substantial minority of Britons are not merely wanting the status quo ante of spring 2016.
Personally, I am not bothered either way. On recent trips to Russia, Sweden and Spain I used electronic money and hardly touched physical cash.
I spent two and a half weeks in the states over the winter, touring through some fairly remote areas at times. I never touched a single dollar. Cash is dead.
Did you not tip anybody? In US, that is seen as more than a tad rude.
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
It does show that a substantial minority of Britons are not merely wanting the status quo ante of spring 2016.
Personally, I am not bothered either way. On recent trips to Russia, Sweden and Spain I used electronic money and hardly touched physical cash.
I spent two and a half weeks in the states over the winter, touring through some fairly remote areas at times. I never touched a single dollar. Cash is dead.
Did you not tip anybody? In US, that is seen as more than a tad rude.
You’ve clearly not been to the states for a while. They all have iPads where you just press a screen to add a tip. Done instantly.
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
It does show that a substantial minority of Britons are not merely wanting the status quo ante of spring 2016.
Personally, I am not bothered either way. On recent trips to Russia, Sweden and Spain I used electronic money and hardly touched physical cash.
I spent two and a half weeks in the states over the winter, touring through some fairly remote areas at times. I never touched a single dollar. Cash is dead.
Did you not tip anybody? In US, that is seen as more than a tad rude.
You’ve clearly not been to the states for a while. They all have iPads where you just press a screen to add a tip. Done instantly.
And typically starting at a low of 15 or 18%. Bloody cheeky those things.
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
It does show that a substantial minority of Britons are not merely wanting the status quo ante of spring 2016.
Personally, I am not bothered either way. On recent trips to Russia, Sweden and Spain I used electronic money and hardly touched physical cash.
I spent two and a half weeks in the states over the winter, touring through some fairly remote areas at times. I never touched a single dollar. Cash is dead.
Did you not tip anybody? In US, that is seen as more than a tad rude.
You’ve clearly not been to the states for a while. They all have iPads where you just press a screen to add a tip. Done instantly.
Google "burqa letterbox" and you will find it is a stock anti Muslim trope and routinely crops up in very vile places. Boris's ability to make people think he is not a complete shit is curiously robust.
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
It does show that a substantial minority of Britons are not merely wanting the status quo ante of spring 2016.
Personally, I am not bothered either way. On recent trips to Russia, Sweden and Spain I used electronic money and hardly touched physical cash.
I spent two and a half weeks in the states over the winter, touring through some fairly remote areas at times. I never touched a single dollar. Cash is dead.
Did you not tip anybody? In US, that is seen as more than a tad rude.
You’ve clearly not been to the states for a while. They all have iPads where you just press a screen to add a tip. Done instantly.
I didn't just mean restaurants.
Restaurants, bars, coffee shops, hotels. Everywhere I went, they all had them. Didn’t need a scrap of cash.
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
It does show that a substantial minority of Britons are not merely wanting the status quo ante of spring 2016.
Personally, I am not bothered either way. On recent trips to Russia, Sweden and Spain I used electronic money and hardly touched physical cash.
I spent two and a half weeks in the states over the winter, touring through some fairly remote areas at times. I never touched a single dollar. Cash is dead.
Did you not tip anybody? In US, that is seen as more than a tad rude.
You’ve clearly not been to the states for a while. They all have iPads where you just press a screen to add a tip. Done instantly.
I didn't just mean restaurants.
Restaurants, bars, coffee shops, hotels. Everywhere I went, they all had them. Didn’t need a scrap of cash.
You obviously haven't drunk in some the of the dive bars I have....
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
It does show that a substantial minority of Britons are not merely wanting the status quo ante of spring 2016.
Personally, I am not bothered either way. On recent trips to Russia, Sweden and Spain I used electronic money and hardly touched physical cash.
I spent two and a half weeks in the states over the winter, touring through some fairly remote areas at times. I never touched a single dollar. Cash is dead.
Did you not tip anybody? In US, that is seen as more than a tad rude.
You’ve clearly not been to the states for a while. They all have iPads where you just press a screen to add a tip. Done instantly.
And typically starting at a low of 15 or 18%. Bloody cheeky those things.
~20% is the standard tip in a restaurant here in the US now.
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
It does show that a substantial minority of Britons are not merely wanting the status quo ante of spring 2016.
Personally, I am not bothered either way. On recent trips to Russia, Sweden and Spain I used electronic money and hardly touched physical cash.
I spent two and a half weeks in the states over the winter, touring through some fairly remote areas at times. I never touched a single dollar. Cash is dead.
Did you not tip anybody? In US, that is seen as more than a tad rude.
You’ve clearly not been to the states for a while. They all have iPads where you just press a screen to add a tip. Done instantly.
And typically starting at a low of 15 or 18%. Bloody cheeky those things.
~20% is the standard tip in a restaurant here in the US now.
It is one of my biggest gripes about travelling in the US. Not only the wide spread nature of tipping, but the level at which tips are expected.
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
It does show that a substantial minority of Britons are not merely wanting the status quo ante of spring 2016.
Personally, I am not bothered either way. On recent trips to Russia, Sweden and Spain I used electronic money and hardly touched physical cash.
I spent two and a half weeks in the states over the winter, touring through some fairly remote areas at times. I never touched a single dollar. Cash is dead.
Did you not tip anybody? In US, that is seen as more than a tad rude.
You’ve clearly not been to the states for a while. They all have iPads where you just press a screen to add a tip. Done instantly.
And typically starting at a low of 15 or 18%. Bloody cheeky those things.
~20% is the standard tip in a restaurant here in the US now.
15% is my standard, unless I get service above and beyond.
How long would Northern Ireland stay in Poundland after a No Deal Brexit? How about Scotland?
"If it's a Yes, we will say 'on we go', and if it's a No we will say 'we continue'."
Given the majority of Northern Ireland Protestants voted Leave anyway in the case of Protestant majority counties Antrim and Down indefinitely.
Do any of your fellow Conservative activists share your passion for partitioning Northern Ireland or is it just your own hobby horse?
It is the Conservative AND Unionist Party for a reason.
Protestant majority counties should not be forced into the Republic against their will as the Conservative led government in 1921 accepted when it created Northern Ireland in the first place rather than forcing it into the new Catholic majority Irish Free State
But in a recent poll 50% of respondents agreed that HYUFD was deliberately spreading misinformation about the views of Tory members with 25% responding that he means well but is misguided. This PROVES you are wrong!
So clearly zero polling evidence there then if you just want to be pathetic
About as much as a ConHome survey!
ConHonlme got the 2005 Tory leadership election spot on
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
It does show that a substantial minority of Britons are not merely wanting the status quo ante of spring 2016.
Personally, I am not bothered either way. On recent trips to Russia, Sweden and Spain I used electronic money and hardly touched physical cash.
I spent two and a half weeks in the states over the winter, touring through some fairly remote areas at times. I never touched a single dollar. Cash is dead.
Did you not tip anybody? In US, that is seen as more than a tad rude.
You’ve clearly not been to the states for a while. They all have iPads where you just press a screen to add a tip. Done instantly.
I didn't just mean restaurants.
Restaurants, bars, coffee shops, hotels. Everywhere I went, they all had them. Didn’t need a scrap of cash.
You obviously haven't drunk in some the of the dive bars I have....
Funnily enough I didn’t grasp the concept of a dive bar until this visit, whereupon I stumbled into one late night. I still was able to pay an iPad tip however (for a round of tequila with the locals!)
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
It does show that a substantial minority of Britons are not merely wanting the status quo ante of spring 2016.
Personally, I am not bothered either way. On recent trips to Russia, Sweden and Spain I used electronic money and hardly touched physical cash.
I spent two and a half weeks in the states over the winter, touring through some fairly remote areas at times. I never touched a single dollar. Cash is dead.
Central Banks setting interest rates though is not
Is is reasonable of Sinn Fein and others to claim that even cameras would be against the spirit of the Belfast Agreement? No.
The answer to this is a clear "Yes". The Good Friday Agreement was explicitly predicated on both sides being EU member states and therefore subject to ever closer economic union. It's a grotesque distortion of the context of the GFA to argue that imposing any kind of new bureaucracy that inhibits cross-border economic activity is consistent withit.
You can argue it is implicit. It is certainly not explicit.
You can argue it is implicit that both parties should be members of the UN although it is not stated anywhere. Membership of the EU on the other hand is explicitly part of the preamble and has referred to in strand two.
There is no legal commitment on the part of either Ireland or the UK that either State, or Northern Ireland, remains part of the EU.
That's not the point. The operation of the Good Friday Agreement makes assumptions about the parties being part of a union facilitating North-South economic integration and it is therefore right that if one party withdraws from that union, a settlement is reached that allows all of that to continue on the same basis.
The only reason anyone is seeking to quibble about this is because of a latent assumption that the UK is the more powerful party to the agreement and therefore should be able to impose its will.
It's probably the solicitor in me speaking, but I tend to think that what I agree to should be reflected in the text that I sign up to. Unspoken assumptions about what the parties agreed to, but which were not reflected in the text, lead to all sorts of trouble. . When Ireland joined the Euro, at the same time as Northern Ireland retained sterling, this acted as a big barrier to economic integration between North and South, but nobody has argued that Ireland was not entitled to join the Eurozone, or that Northern Ireland was required to follow them into it.
The punt decoupled from sterling decades before both the GFA and Ireland joining the Euro.
Regardless, it is not necessary to his argument to describe the women wearing it looking like letterboxes. It really isn’t. It is simply a distraction. I don’t like the burqa and would ban it. But what people wearing it look like is irrelevant.
I don't like the burqa;. In fact, I find it objectionable, and I don't even like the hijab. But would I *generally* ban the burqa. In spepcific cases (e.g. from courts, or from schools), yes. But in the street? No.
There are several aspects to this. Firstly, I sometimes wear balaclavas in winter (see my profile pic). I don't do this to disturb people, or to cause mischief, but because it's a practical solution to feeling cold when I'm out and about. Some people might be disturbed by my wearing it, or feel concerned. That's not my issue (I generally remove it when entering shops etc).
Then there is the issue of freedom. They want to wear it; it is causing no harm. Why should it be generally banned because *you* find it distasteful? Others might find high-heeled shoes or bikinis objectionable. Or cross-dressing.
Finally, there is a rather insidious issue. For reasons I find baffling, some women - and sadly an increasing number of young women - see a burqa as a symbol of their faith. Now, faith is not easily banned or overturned, and for some women, if faced between a choice of a symbol of their faith that they feel valid and not going out, they'll choose to not go out. And this isn't just on a night out; they won't go to schools, or doctors; they will increasingly be constrained in what they can do.
That isn't right just because *you* or *I* find it objectionable.
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
It does show that a substantial minority of Britons are not merely wanting the status quo ante of spring 2016.
Personally, I am not bothered either way. On recent trips to Russia, Sweden and Spain I used electronic money and hardly touched physical cash.
I spent two and a half weeks in the states over the winter, touring through some fairly remote areas at times. I never touched a single dollar. Cash is dead.
Did you not tip anybody? In US, that is seen as more than a tad rude.
You’ve clearly not been to the states for a while. They all have iPads where you just press a screen to add a tip. Done instantly.
And typically starting at a low of 15 or 18%. Bloody cheeky those things.
~20% is the standard tip in a restaurant here in the US now.
15% is my standard, unless I get service above and beyond.
Bet you get really shit service any place you go back to then.
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
It does show that a substantial minority of Britons are not merely wanting the status quo ante of spring 2016.
Personally, I am not bothered either way. On recent trips to Russia, Sweden and Spain I used electronic money and hardly touched physical cash.
I spent two and a half weeks in the states over the winter, touring through some fairly remote areas at times. I never touched a single dollar. Cash is dead.
Did you not tip anybody? In US, that is seen as more than a tad rude.
You’ve clearly not been to the states for a while. They all have iPads where you just press a screen to add a tip. Done instantly.
I didn't just mean restaurants.
Restaurants, bars, coffee shops, hotels. Everywhere I went, they all had them. Didn’t need a scrap of cash.
You obviously haven't drunk in some the of the dive bars I have....
Funnily enough I didn’t grasp the concept of a dive bar until this visit, whereupon I stumbled into one late night. I still was able to pay an iPad tip however (for a round of tequila with the locals!)
Definitely wasn't a proper dive bar then....for the proper hill billy experience you need to visit one where you aren't sure if it actually inhabited or is what is left after a tornado has hit. And wifi, is short for the wife firing at them for being caught having it away with their sister, not the devils incarnated internet machine.
Is is reasonable of Sinn Fein and others to claim that even cameras would be against the spirit of the Belfast Agreement? No.
The answer to this is a clear "Yes". The Good Friday Agreement was explicitly predicated on both sides being EU member states and therefore subject to ever closer economic union. It's a grotesque distortion of the context of the GFA to argue that imposing any kind of new bureaucracy that inhibits cross-border economic activity is consistent withit.
You can argue it is implicit. It is certainly not explicit.
You can argue it is implicit that both parties should be members of the UN although it is not stated anywhere. Membership of the EU on the other hand is explicitly part of the preamble and has referred to in strand two.
There is no legal commitment on the part of either Ireland or the UK that either State, or Northern Ireland, remains part of the EU.
s.
The only reason anyone is seeking to quibble about this is because of a latent assumption that the UK is the more powerful party to the agreement and therefore should be able to impose its will.
Joining the Euro is irrelevant to the Good Friday Agreement given that it just swapped one different currency for another. In fact at the time it was widely anticipated that Blair would hold a referendum on the UK joining the Euro.
As for unspoken assumptions in a political agreement, if Ireland has succeeded in imposing its view of those assumptions on the UK government, you just have to live with it. It's water under the bridge, and if it affects the kind of Brexit you dream of, tough.
If the GFA is predicated upon economic integration between North and South, as you claim, then if one party imposes a barrier to economic integration, by joining a single currency zone that the other party refuses to join, then obviously it's relevant.
The GFA seems to mean whatever you want it to mean. You can't point to actual paragraphs that back up your claims, but you just make the claims anyway.
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
It does show that a substantial minority of Britons are not merely wanting the status quo ante of spring 2016.
Personally, I am not bothered either way. On recent trips to Russia, Sweden and Spain I used electronic money and hardly touched physical cash.
I spent two and a half weeks in the states over the winter, touring through some fairly remote areas at times. I never touched a single dollar. Cash is dead.
Did you not tip anybody? In US, that is seen as more than a tad rude.
You’ve clearly not been to the states for a while. They all have iPads where you just press a screen to add a tip. Done instantly.
And typically starting at a low of 15 or 18%. Bloody cheeky those things.
~20% is the standard tip in a restaurant here in the US now.
It is one of my biggest gripes about travelling in the US. Not only the wide spread nature of tipping, but the level at which tips are expected.
Servers make all their income from tips. The small amount of basic salary they get paid is withheld as tax on the amounts the IRS assumes they get as tips. They also have to tip out co-workers such as bussers and runners based on their sales not their actual tips. If you don't or under-tip your server in the US, they've paid to serve you.
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
There was a YouGov Eurotrack poll in the Spring that tested support for euro membership across various countries.
It had support in the UK at 10%, opposition at 67%.
I think it would probably get 20-25% if it came to a vote here, but no higher than that.
No doubt some would claim that as some sort of victory as it was the right kind of people voting “yes”.
Is is reasonable of Sinn Fein and others to claim that even cameras would be against the spirit of the Belfast Agreement? No.
The answer to this is a clear "Yes". The Good Friday Agreement was explicitly predicated on both sides being EU member states and therefore subject to ever closer economic union. It's a grotesque distortion of the context of the GFA to argue that imposing any kind of new bureaucracy that inhibits cross-border economic activity is consistent withit.
You can argue it is implicit. It is certainly not explicit.
You can argue it is implicit that both parties should be members of the UN although it is not stated anywhere. Membership of the EU on the other hand is explicitly part of the preamble and has referred to in strand two.
There is no legal commitment on the part of either Ireland or the UK that either State, or Northern Ireland, remains part of the EU.
s.
The only reason anyone is seeking to quibble about this is because of a latent assumption that the UK is the more powerful party to the agreement and therefore should be able to impose its will.
Joining the Euro is irrelevant to the Good Friday Agreement given that it just swapped one different currency for another. In fact at the time it was widely anticipated that Blair would hold a referendum on the UK joining the Euro.
As for unspoken assumptions in a political agreement, if Ireland has succeeded in imposing its view of those assumptions on the UK government, you just have to live with it. It's water under the bridge, and if it affects the kind of Brexit you dream of, tough.
If the GFA is predicated upon economic integration between North and South, as you claim, then if one party imposes a barrier to economic integration, by joining a single currency zone that the other party refuses to join, then obviously it's relevant.
The GFA seems to mean whatever you want it to mean. You can't point to actual paragraphs that back up your claims, but you just make the claims anyway.
So, no change there.
Or rather, no response (yet) from Sean after I responded with some facts.
I support Boris on the letterbox thing, people in the full-length burkha things with the little eye slits genuinely do look like letterboxes. I don't have a problem with letterboxes or people dressing like them as long as they don't display the official Royal Mail insignia and attempt to trick people into posting letters into them, but "that woman is dressed like a letterbox" is often a factually true statement, and not particularly racially offensive or anything, so there's no need to get on people's cases for saying it.
A border between north and south is a non-starter.
That leaves the only option a border between UK/Ireland on the one side, and the rest of the EU on the other. Without the History, it would be a no-brainer.
A 67% win for sterling over the Euro would be the joint biggest landslide in any national vote in the UK since WW2 alongside the No to AV win in 2011 and the vote to join the Common Market in 1975.
It does show that a substantial minority of Britons are not merely wanting the status quo ante of spring 2016.
Personally, I am not bothered either way. On recent trips to Russia, Sweden and Spain I used electronic money and hardly touched physical cash.
I spent two and a half weeks in the states over the winter, touring through some fairly remote areas at times. I never touched a single dollar. Cash is dead.
Did you not tip anybody? In US, that is seen as more than a tad rude.
You’ve clearly not been to the states for a while. They all have iPads where you just press a screen to add a tip. Done instantly.
And typically starting at a low of 15 or 18%. Bloody cheeky those things.
~20% is the standard tip in a restaurant here in the US now.
It is one of my biggest gripes about travelling in the US. Not only the wide spread nature of tipping, but the level at which tips are expected.
Servers make all their income from tips. The small amount of basic salary they get paid is withheld as tax on the amounts the IRS assumes they get as tips. They also have to tip out co-workers such as bussers and runners based on their sales not their actual tips. If you don't or under-tip your server in the US, they've paid to serve you.
I understand this...to an extent. I would prefer that businesses paid a fair wage in the first place. You would hope that a job based solely on tips would lead to great customer service, but I have certainly had plenty of experience of a feeling well I am going to get 20% whatever, so who gives a f##k attitude from staff.
Also, I find it really annoying that if I have paid say $300 for a room in a hotel, then a constant feeling that I am expected to be doling out $10's for absolutely everything.
How long would Northern Ireland stay in Poundland after a No Deal Brexit? How about Scotland?
"If it's a Yes, we will say 'on we go', and if it's a No we will say 'we continue'."
Given the majority of Northern Ireland Protestants voted Leave anyway in the case of Protestant majority counties Antrim and Down indefinitely.
Do any of your fellow Conservative activists share your passion for partitioning Northern Ireland or is it just your own hobby horse?
It is the Conservative AND Unionist Party for a reason.
Protestant majority counties should not be forced into the Republic against their will as the Conservative led government in 1921 accepted when it created Northern Ireland in the first place rather than forcing it into the new Catholic majority Irish Free State
But in a recent poll 50% of respondents agreed that HYUFD was deliberately spreading misinformation about the views of Tory members with 25% responding that he means well but is misguided. This PROVES you are wrong!
So clearly zero polling evidence there then if you just want to be pathetic
About as much as a ConHome survey!
ConHonlme got the 2005 Tory leadership election spot on
My stopped clock (a Smiths of derby ex-engine room clock) is correct twice a day.
Fwiw, I agree that cameras on the border are almost certain to be routinely vandalised.
The solution is to have such customs checks intelligence led and in-border, not on the border, with NI having a special status in both the UK and wrt. to Eire and the EU.
Fwiw, I agree that cameras on the border are almost certain to be routinely vandalised.
The solution is to have such customs checks intelligence led and in-border, not on the border, with NI having a special status in both the UK and wrt. to Eire and the EU.
Comments
He’s using ad hominem or perhaps ad feminem language and it allows those in perpetual grievance mode (aka the MCB) to accuse him of islamophobia or whatever. Sometimes colourful language helps make a point. And sometimes it distracts and detracts. In this case, it is the latter. Johnson is, I think, so fond of writing or speaking using colourful language that he often lacks the judgment to know when it is appropriate and, critically, when it isn’t.
https://twitter.com/wesstreeting/status/1026405340412366850
I'm excluding Scotland on the grounds the swings in the last two elections (and the previous lack of marginals) makes analysis there not very useful.
I am not sure that you are right though as several safe Tory seats had big swings to Labour in 2017, such as Harborough near me. I didnt gues that Trotskyism would be so popular amongst the silver county set of south Leics.
It seems that people are so used to those in perpetual grievance mode that now any discussion on the topic ends up out of bounds even one where the author is explicitly calling for us not to copy a neighbouring European nation in banning it.
Sinn Fein don’t speak for all nationalists, and they certainly don’t speak for Northern Ireland.
https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/943497227342962689
Excellent article.
"If it's a Yes, we will say 'on we go', and if it's a No we will say 'we continue'."
The referendum has transformed how many of us think about the EU. In my case, I never gave it a moment's thought until the referendum campaign. I didn't waste too much time on it even then. But since then I have become very enthusiastic about it. If you'd asked me about the Euro in 2012 I would have been a don't know, or possibly even anti. I don't think I'm alone. Who knows what will happen once we've left? There is now an active body of opinion that will want to take us back in. They'll probably want to get straight into the Euro as well.
63% of Scots voted for Unionist parties even after the Brexit vote and May's plan to leave the single market and customs union
The only reason anyone is seeking to quibble about this is because of a latent assumption that the UK is the more powerful party to the agreement and therefore should be able to impose its will.
Protestant majority counties should not be forced into the Republic against their will as the Conservative led government in 1921 accepted when it created Northern Ireland in the first place rather than forcing it into the new Catholic majority Irish Free State
.
When Ireland joined the Euro, at the same time as Northern Ireland retained sterling, this acted as a big barrier to economic integration between North and South, but nobody has argued that Ireland was not entitled to join the Eurozone, or that Northern Ireland was required to follow them into it.
Personally, I am not bothered either way. On recent trips to Russia, Sweden and Spain I used electronic money and hardly touched physical cash.
It had support in the UK at 10%, opposition at 67%.
As for unspoken assumptions in a political agreement, if Ireland has succeeded in imposing its view of those assumptions on the UK government, you just have to live with it. It's water under the bridge, and if it affects the kind of Brexit you dream of, tough.
ndeed Sweden and Denmark and probably Poland and the Czech Republic would likely leave the EU too if the EU tried to force them into the Euro
If the GFA is predicated upon economic integration between North and South, as you claim, then if one party imposes a barrier to economic integration, by joining a single currency zone that the other party refuses to join, then obviously it's relevant.
The GFA seems to mean whatever you want it to mean. You can't point to actual paragraphs that back up your claims, but you just make the claims anyway.
From the GFA:
"Wishing to develop still further the unique relationship between their peoples and the close co-operation between their countries as friendly neighbours and as partners in the European Union"
"17. The Council to consider the European Union dimension of relevant matters, including the implementation of EU policies and programmes and proposals under consideration in the EU framework. Arrangements to be made to ensure that the views of the Council are taken into account and represented appropriately at relevant EU meetings. "
There are several aspects to this. Firstly, I sometimes wear balaclavas in winter (see my profile pic). I don't do this to disturb people, or to cause mischief, but because it's a practical solution to feeling cold when I'm out and about. Some people might be disturbed by my wearing it, or feel concerned. That's not my issue (I generally remove it when entering shops etc).
Then there is the issue of freedom. They want to wear it; it is causing no harm. Why should it be generally banned because *you* find it distasteful? Others might find high-heeled shoes or bikinis objectionable. Or cross-dressing.
Finally, there is a rather insidious issue. For reasons I find baffling, some women - and sadly an increasing number of young women - see a burqa as a symbol of their faith. Now, faith is not easily banned or overturned, and for some women, if faced between a choice of a symbol of their faith that they feel valid and not going out, they'll choose to not go out. And this isn't just on a night out; they won't go to schools, or doctors; they will increasingly be constrained in what they can do.
That isn't right just because *you* or *I* find it objectionable.
No doubt some would claim that as some sort of victory as it was the right kind of people voting “yes”.
https://twitter.com/margarethodge/status/1026527925531758593
Also, I find it really annoying that if I have paid say $300 for a room in a hotel, then a constant feeling that I am expected to be doling out $10's for absolutely everything.
The solution is to have such customs checks intelligence led and in-border, not on the border, with NI having a special status in both the UK and wrt. to Eire and the EU.
Just like it does now.