Jo would have regretted the referendum result, but she would have been much more worried if its legacy divided our country for good. It’s up to each of us to rebuild the ties that bind us; so Brexiteers please don’t gloat, &remainers please don’t promote despair.
These are such wise words that those who ignore them need to question why
Not a good start - and it shows the relative attitudes of Remainers and Leavers.
"Rieu’s singles chart entry has occurred as people on the Remain side of Brexit are buying and streaming ‘Ode to Joy’. A version of the piece is the organisational anthem of the European Union, and with it Remainers are sending a political message ahead of the UK leaving the EU this Friday (31 January).
People on the Leave side of Brexit are similarly buying and streaming ‘17 Million F***-Offs’ by Dominic Frisby to also send a political message ahead of Friday."
It will pass as we move on and, while some will never be reconciled, the vast majority will accept we are out and just want to see policies on the NHS, social care, policing, and infrastucture actually start taking shape in their lives
But what if those in the EU move ahead faster than we do and the £ sinks still further. This is what economists predict (.. and yes I know, who needs experts?).
I think it is unlikely, especially in view of this weeks IMF report that confirms UK will outgrow the EU over the next two years
Of course it could happen but being downbeat and pessimistic was one of the reasons labour crashed to their defeat. The one thing Boris does seem to achieve, with considerable success, is to dismiss the doomsters and replace it with his constant optimism and can do attitude
In that way he resembles many tyrants in history.
Really.
He was elected with an 80 seat majority.
What utter tripe suggesting he could be compared to a tyrant
The Guardian's headline really gets my goat. Great Britain is not a small island. There are hundreds of thousands of islands in the world, and Great Britain is the eighth biggest island in the world. I think it is the fifth biggest by population. Perhaps the second biggets by economy. Calling Great Britain a small island is geographically illiterate.
Perhaps what they mean is 'small country'. Which is also pretty debatable if you want to look beyond land area, where we are certainly mid-table at best, but not as obviously wrong as 'small island'.
Why is Australia not considered an island?
I believe because it's on it's own tectonic plate.
I was astonished to learn yesterday what, after mainland Britain and the island of Ireland, the most populated island in the British isles is (supposedly). Any ideas anyone?
This will undoubtedly be more difficult if some of the prattier Brexiteers think it is funny, clever or anything other than stupid to rub the noses of those with a different view in the decision.
My concern will be that that isn't an If the question is when and the chances are it will be at an inopportune time.
Oh I don’t know. Self evaluation is excruciatingly vain, like lengthy twitter bios; you’re just telling people what you’d like them to think of you, so I’d best retreat
OK, not a bad approach at all. I'll carry on judging and rating people as per usual (using hard numbers wherever possible) and leave it to them to shout if I make serious errors. Or if they think I have rather.
This will undoubtedly be more difficult if some of the prattier Brexiteers think it is funny, clever or anything other than stupid to rub the noses of those with a different view in the decision.
My concern will be that that isn't an If the question is when and the chances are it will be at an inopportune time.
Yes, but we all really need to ignore them, leavers and remainers alike.
The Guardian's headline really gets my goat. Great Britain is not a small island. There are hundreds of thousands of islands in the world, and Great Britain is the eighth biggest island in the world. I think it is the fifth biggest by population. Perhaps the second biggets by economy. Calling Great Britain a small island is geographically illiterate.
Perhaps what they mean is 'small country'. Which is also pretty debatable if you want to look beyond land area, where we are certainly mid-table at best, but not as obviously wrong as 'small island'.
Why is Australia not considered an island?
I believe because it's on it's own tectonic plate.
I was astonished to learn yesterday what, after mainland Britain and the island of Ireland, the most populated island in the British isles is (supposedly). Any ideas anyone?
I'm heading out so a final thought for now on this day which I am curious if Remainers (or Brexiteers) here would agree with . . .
I don't believe the UK ever will rejoin the EU once we're out, but if we do it should be as full members of the project. No repeat of the half-in, half-out nonsense that has divided us ever further since the Maastricht debates onwards. If Britain were to rejoin the EU it must be as full members: currency, Schengen and all.
I don't see this as a day for celebration. It is a day of implementation of a difficult and vexed decision which has caused considerable division in the country. Triumphalism would be counterproductive. The object must be to find common ground as quickly as possible and move on.
One of the key tests of this will be the attitude of remainers to the ongoing negotiations with the EU. Will there be the sort of cheering on and instant acceptance of every EU position that we have seen over the last several years or will there be more of a focus on what is actually best for us?
The latter leaves plenty of room for disagreement. A legitimate case can be made for staying in a CU with the EU, for example and there are good arguments why ending our alignment with EU regulation may be self defeating and commercially silly. I am by no means saying that remainers need to sign up for some extreme version of Brexit canvassed from time to time. I am not myself so why should they? What I am saying is that I want us to have that debate in the context of what is good for the UK, not what might either defeat Brexit or what suits the EU best.
This will undoubtedly be more difficult if some of the prattier Brexiteers think it is funny, clever or anything other than stupid to rub the noses of those with a different view in the decision.
Excellent post David that few sane people could disagree with
Jo would have regretted the referendum result, but she would have been much more worried if its legacy divided our country for good. It’s up to each of us to rebuild the ties that bind us; so Brexiteers please don’t gloat, &remainers please don’t promote despair.
These are such wise words that those who ignore them need to question why
Not a good start - and it shows the relative attitudes of Remainers and Leavers.
"Rieu’s singles chart entry has occurred as people on the Remain side of Brexit are buying and streaming ‘Ode to Joy’. A version of the piece is the organisational anthem of the European Union, and with it Remainers are sending a political message ahead of the UK leaving the EU this Friday (31 January).
People on the Leave side of Brexit are similarly buying and streaming ‘17 Million F***-Offs’ by Dominic Frisby to also send a political message ahead of Friday."
It will pass as we move on and, while some will never be reconciled, the vast majority will accept we are out and just want to see policies on the NHS, social care, policing, and infrastucture actually start taking shape in their lives
But what if those in the EU move ahead faster than we do and the £ sinks still further. This is what economists predict (.. and yes I know, who needs experts?).
I think it is unlikely, especially in view of this weeks IMF report that confirms UK will outgrow the EU over the next two years
Of course it could happen but being downbeat and pessimistic was one of the reasons labour crashed to their defeat. The one thing Boris does seem to achieve, with considerable success, is to dismiss the doomsters and replace it with his constant optimism and can do attitude
In that way he resembles many tyrants in history.
And they had large majorities in their Parliament too.
Only a coalition with the Liberal Democrats can protect us from tyrants, it seems.
Jo would have regretted the referendum result, but she would have been much more worried if its legacy divided our country for good. It’s up to each of us to rebuild the ties that bind us; so Brexiteers please don’t gloat, &remainers please don’t promote despair.
These are such wise words that those who ignore them need to question why
Not a good start - and it shows the relative attitudes of Remainers and Leavers.
"Rieu’s singles chart entry has occurred as people on the Remain side of Brexit are buying and streaming ‘Ode to Joy’. A version of the piece is the organisational anthem of the European Union, and with it Remainers are sending a political message ahead of the UK leaving the EU this Friday (31 January).
People on the Leave side of Brexit are similarly buying and streaming ‘17 Million F***-Offs’ by Dominic Frisby to also send a political message ahead of Friday."
It will pass as we move on and, while some will never be reconciled, the vast majority will accept we are out and just want to see policies on the NHS, social care, policing, and infrastucture actually start taking shape in their lives
But what if those in the EU move ahead faster than we do and the £ sinks still further. This is what economists predict (.. and yes I know, who needs experts?).
I think it is unlikely, especially in view of this weeks IMF report that confirms UK will outgrow the EU over the next two years
Of course it could happen but being downbeat and pessimistic was one of the reasons labour crashed to their defeat. The one thing Boris does seem to achieve, with considerable success, is to dismiss the doomsters and replace it with his constant optimism and can do attitude
In that way he resembles many tyrants in history.
Really.
He was elected with an 80 seat majority.
What utter tripe suggesting he could be compared to a tyrant
Come on @Big_G_NorthWales. I’m not saying Boris is a tyrant but him being elected does not negate the comparison with other tyrants. History shows us that.
A “can do” attitude will only go so far. We will see what actually gets done, and at what cost.
The Guardian's headline really gets my goat. Great Britain is not a small island. There are hundreds of thousands of islands in the world, and Great Britain is the eighth biggest island in the world. I think it is the fifth biggest by population. Perhaps the second biggets by economy. Calling Great Britain a small island is geographically illiterate.
Perhaps what they mean is 'small country'. Which is also pretty debatable if you want to look beyond land area, where we are certainly mid-table at best, but not as obviously wrong as 'small island'.
Why is Australia not considered an island?
I believe because it's on it's own tectonic plate.
I was astonished to learn yesterday what, after mainland Britain and the island of Ireland, the most populated island in the British isles is (supposedly). Any ideas anyone?
Isle of Man?
Nah, Isle of Man is about 85K and Isle of Wight 129k.
Jo would have regretted the referendum result, but she would have been much more worried if its legacy divided our country for good. It’s up to each of us to rebuild the ties that bind us; so Brexiteers please don’t gloat, &remainers please don’t promote despair.
These are such wise words that those who ignore them need to question why
Not a good start - and it shows the relative attitudes of Remainers and Leavers.
"Rieu’s singles chart entry has occurred as people on the Remain side of Brexit are buying and streaming ‘Ode to Joy’. A version of the piece is the organisational anthem of the European Union, and with it Remainers are sending a political message ahead of the UK leaving the EU this Friday (31 January).
People on the Leave side of Brexit are similarly buying and streaming ‘17 Million F***-Offs’ by Dominic Frisby to also send a political message ahead of Friday."
It will pass as we move on and, while some will never be reconciled, the vast majority will accept we are out and just want to see policies on the NHS, social care, policing, and infrastucture actually start taking shape in their lives
But what if those in the EU move ahead faster than we do and the £ sinks still further. This is what economists predict (.. and yes I know, who needs experts?).
I think it is unlikely, especially in view of this weeks IMF report that confirms UK will outgrow the EU over the next two years
Of course it could happen but being downbeat and pessimistic was one of the reasons labour crashed to their defeat. The one thing Boris does seem to achieve, with considerable success, is to dismiss the doomsters and replace it with his constant optimism and can do attitude
In that way he resembles many tyrants in history.
Really.
He was elected with an 80 seat majority.
What utter tripe suggesting he could be compared to a tyrant
Come on @Big_G_NorthWales. I’m not saying Boris is a tyrant but him being elected does not negate the comparison with other tyrants. History shows us that.
A “can do” attitude will only go so far. We will see what actually gets done, and at what cost.
It was Jonathan suggesting the comparison and I do not think it helps at this time to use silly language
Jo would have regretted the referendum result, but she would have been much more worried if its legacy divided our country for good. It’s up to each of us to rebuild the ties that bind us; so Brexiteers please don’t gloat, &remainers please don’t promote despair.
These are such wise words that those who ignore them need to question why
Not a good start - and it shows the relative attitudes of Remainers and Leavers.
"Rieu’s singles chart entry has occurred as people on the Remain side of Brexit are buying and streaming ‘Ode to Joy’. A version of the piece is the organisational anthem of the European Union, and with it Remainers are sending a political message ahead of the UK leaving the EU this Friday (31 January).
People on the Leave side of Brexit are similarly buying and streaming ‘17 Million F***-Offs’ by Dominic Frisby to also send a political message ahead of Friday."
It will pass as we move on and, while some will never be reconciled, the vast majority will accept we are out and just want to see policies on the NHS, social care, policing, and infrastucture actually start taking shape in their lives
But what if those in the EU move ahead faster than we do and the £ sinks still further. This is what economists predict (.. and yes I know, who needs experts?).
I think it is unlikely, especially in view of this weeks IMF report that confirms UK will outgrow the EU over the next two years
Of course it could happen but being downbeat and pessimistic was one of the reasons labour crashed to their defeat. The one thing Boris does seem to achieve, with considerable success, is to dismiss the doomsters and replace it with his constant optimism and can do attitude
In that way he resembles many tyrants in history.
Really.
He was elected with an 80 seat majority.
What utter tripe suggesting he could be compared to a tyrant
Optimism and ego is simply not enough. Eventually reality bites.
The Guardian's headline really gets my goat. Great Britain is not a small island. There are hundreds of thousands of islands in the world, and Great Britain is the eighth biggest island in the world. I think it is the fifth biggest by population. Perhaps the second biggets by economy. Calling Great Britain a small island is geographically illiterate.
Perhaps what they mean is 'small country'. Which is also pretty debatable if you want to look beyond land area, where we are certainly mid-table at best, but not as obviously wrong as 'small island'.
Why is Australia not considered an island?
I believe because it's on it's own tectonic plate.
I was astonished to learn yesterday what, after mainland Britain and the island of Ireland, the most populated island in the British isles is (supposedly). Any ideas anyone?
Isle of Man?
Nah, Isle of Man is about 85K and Isle of Wight 129k.
Wait till BJ builds his tunnel/bridge/whatever.
Edit: on checking wiki, it says IoW now has 141,538. I'm guessing it's not from the birth rate shooting up.
The Guardian's headline really gets my goat. Great Britain is not a small island. There are hundreds of thousands of islands in the world, and Great Britain is the eighth biggest island in the world. I think it is the fifth biggest by population. Perhaps the second biggets by economy. Calling Great Britain a small island is geographically illiterate.
Perhaps what they mean is 'small country'. Which is also pretty debatable if you want to look beyond land area, where we are certainly mid-table at best, but not as obviously wrong as 'small island'.
Why is Australia not considered an island?
I believe because it's on it's own tectonic plate.
I was astonished to learn yesterday what, after mainland Britain and the island of Ireland, the most populated island in the British isles is (supposedly). Any ideas anyone?
British Isles includes the Channel Isles.....but - Anglesey?
The Guardian's headline really gets my goat. Great Britain is not a small island. There are hundreds of thousands of islands in the world, and Great Britain is the eighth biggest island in the world. I think it is the fifth biggest by population. Perhaps the second biggets by economy. Calling Great Britain a small island is geographically illiterate.
Perhaps what they mean is 'small country'. Which is also pretty debatable if you want to look beyond land area, where we are certainly mid-table at best, but not as obviously wrong as 'small island'.
Why is Australia not considered an island?
I believe because it's on it's own tectonic plate.
I was astonished to learn yesterday what, after mainland Britain and the island of Ireland, the most populated island in the British isles is (supposedly). Any ideas anyone?
British Isles includes the Channel Isles.....but - Anglesey?
Jo would have regretted the referendum result, but she would have been much more worried if its legacy divided our country for good. It’s up to each of us to rebuild the ties that bind us; so Brexiteers please don’t gloat, &remainers please don’t promote despair.
These are such wise words that those who ignore them need to question why
Not a good start - and it shows the relative attitudes of Remainers and Leavers.
"Rieu’s singles chart entry has occurred as people on the Remain side of Brexit are buying and streaming ‘Ode to Joy’. A version of the piece is the organisational anthem of the European Union, and with it Remainers are sending a political message ahead of the UK leaving the EU this Friday (31 January).
People on the Leave side of Brexit are similarly buying and streaming ‘17 Million F***-Offs’ by Dominic Frisby to also send a political message ahead of Friday."
It will pass as we move on and, while some will never be reconciled, the vast majority will accept we are out and just want to see policies on the NHS, social care, policing, and infrastucture actually start taking shape in their lives
But what if those in the EU move ahead faster than we do and the £ sinks still further. This is what economists predict (.. and yes I know, who needs experts?).
I think it is unlikely, especially in view of this weeks IMF report that confirms UK will outgrow the EU over the next two years
Of course it could happen but being downbeat and pessimistic was one of the reasons labour crashed to their defeat. The one thing Boris does seem to achieve, with considerable success, is to dismiss the doomsters and replace it with his constant optimism and can do attitude
In that way he resembles many tyrants in history.
Really.
He was elected with an 80 seat majority.
What utter tripe suggesting he could be compared to a tyrant
Optimism and ego is simply not enough. Eventually reality bites.
The Guardian's headline really gets my goat. Great Britain is not a small island. There are hundreds of thousands of islands in the world, and Great Britain is the eighth biggest island in the world. I think it is the fifth biggest by population. Perhaps the second biggets by economy. Calling Great Britain a small island is geographically illiterate.
Perhaps what they mean is 'small country'. Which is also pretty debatable if you want to look beyond land area, where we are certainly mid-table at best, but not as obviously wrong as 'small island'.
Why is Australia not considered an island?
I believe because it's on it's own tectonic plate.
I was astonished to learn yesterday what, after mainland Britain and the island of Ireland, the most populated island in the British isles is (supposedly). Any ideas anyone?
Isle of Man?
Nah, Isle of Man is about 85K and Isle of Wight 129k.
During business hours, it could be the Isle of Dogs (Canary Wharf).
Jo would have regretted the referendum result, but she would have been much more worried if its legacy divided our country for good. It’s up to each of us to rebuild the ties that bind us; so Brexiteers please don’t gloat, &remainers please don’t promote despair.
These are such wise words that those who ignore them need to question why
Not a good start - and it shows the relative attitudes of Remainers and Leavers.
"Rieu’s singles chart entry has occurred as people on the Remain side of Brexit are buying and streaming ‘Ode to Joy’. A version of the piece is the organisational anthem of the European Union, and with it Remainers are sending a political message ahead of the UK leaving the EU this Friday (31 January).
People on the Leave side of Brexit are similarly buying and streaming ‘17 Million F***-Offs’ by Dominic Frisby to also send a political message ahead of Friday."
It will pass as we move on and, while some will never be reconciled, the vast majority will accept we are out and just want to see policies on the NHS, social care, policing, and infrastucture actually start taking shape in their lives
But what if those in the EU move ahead faster than we do and the £ sinks still further. This is what economists predict (.. and yes I know, who needs experts?).
I think it is unlikely, especially in view of this weeks IMF report that confirms UK will outgrow the EU over the next two years
Of course it could happen but being downbeat and pessimistic was one of the reasons labour crashed to their defeat. The one thing Boris does seem to achieve, with considerable success, is to dismiss the doomsters and replace it with his constant optimism and can do attitude
In that way he resembles many tyrants in history.
Really.
He was elected with an 80 seat majority.
What utter tripe suggesting he could be compared to a tyrant
Come on @Big_G_NorthWales. I’m not saying Boris is a tyrant but him being elected does not negate the comparison with other tyrants. History shows us that.
A “can do” attitude will only go so far. We will see what actually gets done, and at what cost.
It was Jonathan suggesting the comparison and I do not think it helps at this time to use silly language
Surely we can all agree that Boris, his government and Brexiteer politicians in general deserve the very same respect and support they showed others.
Jo would have regretted the referendum result, but she would have been much more worried if its legacy divided our country for good. It’s up to each of us to rebuild the ties that bind us; so Brexiteers please don’t gloat, &remainers please don’t promote despair.
These are such wise words that those who ignore them need to question why
Not a good start - and it shows the relative attitudes of Remainers and Leavers.
"Rieu’s singles chart entry has occurred as people on the Remain side of Brexit are buying and streaming ‘Ode to Joy’. A version of the piece is the organisational anthem of the European Union, and with it Remainers are sending a political message ahead of the UK leaving the EU this Friday (31 January).
People on the Leave side of Brexit are similarly buying and streaming ‘17 Million F***-Offs’ by Dominic Frisby to also send a political message ahead of Friday."
It will pass as we move on and, while some will never be reconciled, the vast majority will accept we are out and just want to see policies on the NHS, social care, policing, and infrastucture actually start taking shape in their lives
But what if those in the EU move ahead faster than we do and the £ sinks still further. This is what economists predict (.. and yes I know, who needs experts?).
I think it is unlikely, especially in view of this weeks IMF report that confirms UK will outgrow the EU over the next two years
Of course it could happen but being downbeat and pessimistic was one of the reasons labour crashed to their defeat. The one thing Boris does seem to achieve, with considerable success, is to dismiss the doomsters and replace it with his constant optimism and can do attitude
In that way he resembles many tyrants in history.
Really.
He was elected with an 80 seat majority.
What utter tripe suggesting he could be compared to a tyrant
Optimism and ego is simply not enough. Eventually reality bites.
The Guardian's headline really gets my goat. Great Britain is not a small island. There are hundreds of thousands of islands in the world, and Great Britain is the eighth biggest island in the world. I think it is the fifth biggest by population. Perhaps the second biggets by economy. Calling Great Britain a small island is geographically illiterate.
Perhaps what they mean is 'small country'. Which is also pretty debatable if you want to look beyond land area, where we are certainly mid-table at best, but not as obviously wrong as 'small island'.
Why is Australia not considered an island?
I believe because it's on it's own tectonic plate.
I was astonished to learn yesterday what, after mainland Britain and the island of Ireland, the most populated island in the British isles is (supposedly). Any ideas anyone?
Isle of Man?
Nah, Isle of Man is about 85K and Isle of Wight 129k.
Wait till BJ builds his tunnel/bridge/whatever.
Edit: on checking wiki, it says IoW now has 141,538. I'm guessing it's not from the birth rate shooting up.
That could be an even longer wait than the next independence referendum!
I can't think of any other island that is even close to 141k.
The Guardian's headline really gets my goat. Great Britain is not a small island. There are hundreds of thousands of islands in the world, and Great Britain is the eighth biggest island in the world. I think it is the fifth biggest by population. Perhaps the second biggets by economy. Calling Great Britain a small island is geographically illiterate.
Perhaps what they mean is 'small country'. Which is also pretty debatable if you want to look beyond land area, where we are certainly mid-table at best, but not as obviously wrong as 'small island'.
Why is Australia not considered an island?
I believe because it's on it's own tectonic plate.
I was astonished to learn yesterday what, after mainland Britain and the island of Ireland, the most populated island in the British isles is (supposedly). Any ideas anyone?
Isle of Wight?
Thinking about it, it must be. Pressure to be more than one constituency - can't see how that applies elsewhere.
The Guardian's headline really gets my goat. Great Britain is not a small island. There are hundreds of thousands of islands in the world, and Great Britain is the eighth biggest island in the world. I think it is the fifth biggest by population. Perhaps the second biggets by economy. Calling Great Britain a small island is geographically illiterate.
Perhaps what they mean is 'small country'. Which is also pretty debatable if you want to look beyond land area, where we are certainly mid-table at best, but not as obviously wrong as 'small island'.
Why is Australia not considered an island?
I believe because it's on it's own tectonic plate.
I was astonished to learn yesterday what, after mainland Britain and the island of Ireland, the most populated island in the British isles is (supposedly). Any ideas anyone?
Isle of Man?
Nah, Isle of Man is about 85K and Isle of Wight 129k.
During business hours, it could be the Isle of Dogs (Canary Wharf).
Sorry you're all wrong alas. The answer is, apparently:
Britain hardly invented anything apperently. Absolutely disgusting trashing of history from the BBC. I dont care if you voted Remain or Leave, everyone should be disgusted bu this.
I think it is unlikely, especially in view of this weeks IMF report that confirms UK will outgrow the EU over the next two years
Of course it could happen but being downbeat and pessimistic was one of the reasons labour crashed to their defeat. The one thing Boris does seem to achieve, with considerable success, is to dismiss the doomsters and replace it with his constant optimism and can do attitude
In that way he resembles many tyrants in history.
Really.
He was elected with an 80 seat majority.
What utter tripe suggesting he could be compared to a tyrant
Come on @Big_G_NorthWales. I’m not saying Boris is a tyrant but him being elected does not negate the comparison with other tyrants. History shows us that.
A “can do” attitude will only go so far. We will see what actually gets done, and at what cost.
It was Jonathan suggesting the comparison and I do not think it helps at this time to use silly language
Surely we can all agree that Boris, his government and Brexiteer politicians in general deserve the very same respect and support they showed others.
The Guardian's headline really gets my goat. Great Britain is not a small island. There are hundreds of thousands of islands in the world, and Great Britain is the eighth biggest island in the world. I think it is the fifth biggest by population. Perhaps the second biggets by economy. Calling Great Britain a small island is geographically illiterate.
Perhaps what they mean is 'small country'. Which is also pretty debatable if you want to look beyond land area, where we are certainly mid-table at best, but not as obviously wrong as 'small island'.
Why is Australia not considered an island?
I believe because it's on it's own tectonic plate.
I was astonished to learn yesterday what, after mainland Britain and the island of Ireland, the most populated island in the British isles is (supposedly). Any ideas anyone?
Isle of Man?
Nah, Isle of Man is about 85K and Isle of Wight 129k.
During business hours, it could be the Isle of Dogs (Canary Wharf).
Sorry you're all wrong alas. The answer is, apparently:
I am a fan of competition, it makes us all better. Healthy competition is a good thing, it forces us to be the best version of us we can be.
Nothing wrong with it in general. It can and does lead to progress. But I'm talking about unhealthy competition, e.g. races to the bottom where all but a few big winners lose, or survival of the fittest (most exploitative) where the weak (the exploited) go to the wall, or (extreme case) WAR.
The Guardian's headline really gets my goat. Great Britain is not a small island. There are hundreds of thousands of islands in the world, and Great Britain is the eighth biggest island in the world. I think it is the fifth biggest by population. Perhaps the second biggets by economy. Calling Great Britain a small island is geographically illiterate.
Perhaps what they mean is 'small country'. Which is also pretty debatable if you want to look beyond land area, where we are certainly mid-table at best, but not as obviously wrong as 'small island'.
Why is Australia not considered an island?
I believe because it's on it's own tectonic plate.
I was astonished to learn yesterday what, after mainland Britain and the island of Ireland, the most populated island in the British isles is (supposedly). Any ideas anyone?
Isle of Man?
Nah, Isle of Man is about 85K and Isle of Wight 129k.
During business hours, it could be the Isle of Dogs (Canary Wharf).
Sorry you're all wrong alas. The answer is, apparently:
It probably isn't the right answer but Lidl? That middle section - the Aisle of Shite?
How dare you, I have cupboards full of items from that cornucopia, and only some of them are shite.
I have yet to find anything in Lidl to buy. In fairness I usually go there when I have struck out with the usual supermarkets and I am getting a bit desperate which is not the market they are in but it must be about a dozen times now and zilch.
Well, that's really confounded my expectations of the sort of line the Spectator would be pushing.
Brendan O'Neill -The shameful attack on Alastair Stewart Douglas Murray - In defence of Alastair Stewart Fraser Nelson - From Alastair Stewart to Scruton, the public are fighting back against the cancel culture of the digital mob
These edgy contrarian lads are never very contrary amongst themselves, and curiously they're always quite keen to to recruit 'the public' in support of their homogenised opinion of the week.
Apropos of nothing, when seeking out valiant defences of Alastair Stewart I noticed that one of the top search questions was 'Is Alastair Stewart married to Moira Stewart?'. How we laughed!
Britain hardly invented anything apperently. Absolutely disgusting trashing of history from the BBC. I dont care if you voted Remain or Leave, everyone should be disgusted bu this.
I was given an after hours tour of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich the other night (we were really lucky as they were able to open up the observatory for us to use the telescope), and it occurred to me that he really ought to have been on a bank note by now.
I don't see this as a day for celebration. It is a day of implementation of a difficult and vexed decision which has caused considerable division in the country. Triumphalism would be counterproductive. The object must be to find common ground as quickly as possible and move on.
One of the key tests of this will be the attitude of remainers to the ongoing negotiations with the EU. Will there be the sort of cheering on and instant acceptance of every EU position that we have seen over the last several years or will there be more of a focus on what is actually best for us?
The latter leaves plenty of room for disagreement. A legitimate case can be made for staying in a CU with the EU, for example and there are good arguments why ending our alignment with EU regulation may be self defeating and commercially silly. I am by no means saying that remainers need to sign up for some extreme version of Brexit canvassed from time to time. I am not myself so why should they? What I am saying is that I want us to have that debate in the context of what is good for the UK, not what might either defeat Brexit or what suits the EU best.
This will undoubtedly be more difficult if some of the prattier Brexiteers think it is funny, clever or anything other than stupid to rub the noses of those with a different view in the decision.
We're leaving and the onus is on Remainers to do this, that, or the other.
I don't see this as a day for celebration. It is a day of implementation of a difficult and vexed decision which has caused considerable division in the country. Triumphalism would be counterproductive. The object must be to find common ground as quickly as possible and move on.
One of the key tests of this will be the attitude of remainers to the ongoing negotiations with the EU. Will there be the sort of cheering on and instant acceptance of every EU position that we have seen over the last several years or will there be more of a focus on what is actually best for us?
The latter leaves plenty of room for disagreement. A legitimate case can be made for staying in a CU with the EU, for example and there are good arguments why ending our alignment with EU regulation may be self defeating and commercially silly. I am by no means saying that remainers need to sign up for some extreme version of Brexit canvassed from time to time. I am not myself so why should they? What I am saying is that I want us to have that debate in the context of what is good for the UK, not what might either defeat Brexit or what suits the EU best.
This will undoubtedly be more difficult if some of the prattier Brexiteers think it is funny, clever or anything other than stupid to rub the noses of those with a different view in the decision.
We're leaving and the onus is on Remainers to do this, that, or the other.
WTF?
Given the attitude to date of certain key Remainers who have taken every opportunity to celebrate every time there was a set back for the UK and have gone so far as to brief our opponents in the negotiations on the best way to undermine our cause, I think David is absolutely right. The same applies to some key Leavers who did the same for their own political and personal ends.
Comments
He was elected with an 80 seat majority.
What utter tripe suggesting he could be compared to a tyrant
My concern will be that that isn't an If the question is when and the chances are it will be at an inopportune time.
I don't believe the UK ever will rejoin the EU once we're out, but if we do it should be as full members of the project. No repeat of the half-in, half-out nonsense that has divided us ever further since the Maastricht debates onwards. If Britain were to rejoin the EU it must be as full members: currency, Schengen and all.
Only a coalition with the Liberal Democrats can protect us from tyrants, it seems.
*titters*
A “can do” attitude will only go so far. We will see what actually gets done, and at what cost.
Edit: on checking wiki, it says IoW now has 141,538. I'm guessing it's not from the birth rate shooting up.
I can't think of any other island that is even close to 141k.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsea_Island
https://mobile.twitter.com/cbbc/status/1223170327188058113
lol!
NEW THREAD
Not sure anyone knew he was still in it, TBH.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/31/trump-iowa-socialism-bernie-sanders
You'd have thought Trump would want Bernie to do well in Iowa.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harrison
I was given an after hours tour of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich the other night (we were really lucky as they were able to open up the observatory for us to use the telescope), and it occurred to me that he really ought to have been on a bank note by now.
WTF?