The absolute inevitability of SNP most seats is what drives Tory tactics in focusing on indepdence. What is the point in spending a lot of time developing a better policy on education when there is no chance of being the government? What they are seeking to do is consolidate enough of the Unionist vote to prevent an SNP majority and thus, hopefully, prevent a second referendum (subject to the little green helpers, of course).
Whilst I understand the logic of that it is a mistake. Scotland has not had an actual policy choice since 2007. In that 13 years we have had the truly disastrous Curriculum for Excellence imposed in our schools with the inevitable consequences in our PISA ranking, we have the insane position of still offering free University education to EU citizens at a time when funded places for Scots are being restricted, we have had the shambolic and ongoing embarrassment that is Police Scotland, we have had an ever more centralised and unaccountable concentration of power in the likes of the Care Commission, stripping local government of powers and budget, I really could go on and on. As someone actively interested in politics I genuinely don't know what the Tories or Labour are proposing in relation to these failures. It's not good enough. Scotland needs a proper choice.
Which is part of why I back Scottish independence as the best thing for Scotland.
It is only once the independence issue is over and done with that Scotland can get mature, grown up politics back.
I am British. I would be stripped of my national identity if that were to happen. I will do all I can to stop it.
Good man. I feel the same way.
I am English but love Scotland - I lived there for six years as a child - and feel it's part of our UK.
I would be so upset if it left. It's the emotional connections that mean so much to me.
I feel the opposite, being owned and controlled by England is a disgrace.
You are not. You are fully equal with me in every way.
There's just fewer of you, that's all.
Not at all, I have no say in how my country is run, it is all decided in England for England's benefit as you would expect with circa 90% of the population, English parties are not going to care whether it suits Scotland , they will only look to see it suits their voters and keeps them at the trough. Result is policies to suit a large population are forced onto a country with a small population. Comparison with similar sized countries shows how badly we do based on this fact.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52603566 ...The government has admitted sending about 50,000 coronavirus tests to the US last week for processing after "operational issues" in UK labs. The Department of Health said sending swabs abroad are among the contingencies to deal with "teething problems". The samples were airlifted to the US in chartered flights from Stansted Airport, the Sunday Telegraph said. Results will be validated in the UK and sent to patients as soon as possible....
Results which are not available within 24 hours are of questionable use.
And if testing is going to support contact tracing, results must be available immediately. If have yet to see any evidence that we’ve started to develop an effective contact tracing capacity. And app on its own (assuming it works) is nowhere near sufficient.
Yes, we're still pursuing a strategy where the testing labs are under the tight grip of PHE. They've set up three centres and sequestered equipment for them instead of sending samples to the companies and universities that had the equipment. It's very arse about face.
By failing to exert full control over PHE, Hancock has probably caused the deaths of thousands of additional people and led to two extensions of lockdown.
The absolute inevitability of SNP most seats is what drives Tory tactics in focusing on indepdence. What is the point in spending a lot of time developing a better policy on education when there is no chance of being the government? What they are seeking to do is consolidate enough of the Unionist vote to prevent an SNP majority and thus, hopefully, prevent a second referendum (subject to the little green helpers, of course).
Whilst I understand the logic of that it is a mistake. Scotland has not had an actual policy choice since 2007. In that 13 years we have had the truly disastrous Curriculum for Excellence imposed in our schools with the inevitable consequences in our PISA ranking, we have the insane position of still offering free University education to EU citizens at a time when funded places for Scots are being restricted, we have had the shambolic and ongoing embarrassment that is Police Scotland, we have had an ever more centralised and unaccountable concentration of power in the likes of the Care Commission, stripping local government of powers and budget, I really could go on and on. As someone actively interested in politics I genuinely don't know what the Tories or Labour are proposing in relation to these failures. It's not good enough. Scotland needs a proper choice.
Which is part of why I back Scottish independence as the best thing for Scotland.
It is only once the independence issue is over and done with that Scotland can get mature, grown up politics back.
I am British. I would be stripped of my national identity if that were to happen. I will do all I can to stop it.
Good man. I feel the same way.
I am English but love Scotland - I lived there for six years as a child - and feel it's part of our UK.
I would be so upset if it left. It's the emotional connections that mean so much to me.
I feel the opposite, being owned and controlled by England is a disgrace.
You are not. You are fully equal with me in every way.
There's just fewer of you, that's all.
In a democracy doesn't having fewer voters matter?
Why on earth is the government apparently obsessing about slogans rather than actual practical measures?
I think the media are the obsessing
Same request to you please. "Stay Alert" is the new phase behavioural advice. Please let us know what it means exactly. Stay at Home I get. This, less so.
Off the top of my head ...
Stay distanced, don't cough into the air, wash your hands etc ... Be alert to the dangers and lessons we have learnt in recent months.
So this is just assuming we weren't staying alert while staying at home and now we should stay alert while staying at home? That it?
Sadly I think so long as people are being paid 80% of their salaries to sit on their bums, support for the lockdown, aka paid holiday, will continue.
Go to work, pay taxes, save the economy.
Pay taxes? Like inheritance tax after you've died from the virus?
The absolute inevitability of SNP most seats is what drives Tory tactics in focusing on indepdence. What is the point in spending a lot of time developing a better policy on education when there is no chance of being the government? What they are seeking to do is consolidate enough of the Unionist vote to prevent an SNP majority and thus, hopefully, prevent a second referendum (subject to the little green helpers, of course).
Whilst I understand the logic of that it is a mistake. Scotland has not had an actual policy choice since 2007. In that 13 years we have had the truly disastrous Curriculum for Excellence imposed in our schools with the inevitable consequences in our PISA ranking, we have the insane position of still offering free University education to EU citizens at a time when funded places for Scots are being restricted, we have had the shambolic and ongoing embarrassment that is Police Scotland, we have had an ever more centralised and unaccountable concentration of power in the likes of the Care Commission, stripping local government of powers and budget, I really could go on and on. As someone actively interested in politics I genuinely don't know what the Tories or Labour are proposing in relation to these failures. It's not good enough. Scotland needs a proper choice.
Which is part of why I back Scottish independence as the best thing for Scotland.
It is only once the independence issue is over and done with that Scotland can get mature, grown up politics back.
I am British. I would be stripped of my national identity if that were to happen. I will do all I can to stop it.
Good man. I feel the same way.
I am English but love Scotland - I lived there for six years as a child - and feel it's part of our UK.
I would be so upset if it left. It's the emotional connections that mean so much to me.
I feel the opposite, being owned and controlled by England is a disgrace.
You are not. You are fully equal with me in every way.
There's just fewer of you, that's all.
Look, a few hundred million EU citizens are waving at you.
The absolute inevitability of SNP most seats is what drives Tory tactics in focusing on indepdence. What is the point in spending a lot of time developing a better policy on education when there is no chance of being the government? What they are seeking to do is consolidate enough of the Unionist vote to prevent an SNP majority and thus, hopefully, prevent a second referendum (subject to the little green helpers, of course).
Whilst I understand the logic of that it is a mistake. Scotland has not had an actual policy choice since 2007. In that 13 years we have had the truly disastrous Curriculum for Excellence imposed in our schools with the inevitable consequences in our PISA ranking, we have the insane position of still offering free University education to EU citizens at a time when funded places for Scots are being restricted, we have had the shambolic and ongoing embarrassment that is Police Scotland, we have had an ever more centralised and unaccountable concentration of power in the likes of the Care Commission, stripping local government of powers and budget, I really could go on and on. As someone actively interested in politics I genuinely don't know what the Tories or Labour are proposing in relation to these failures. It's not good enough. Scotland needs a proper choice.
Which is part of why I back Scottish independence as the best thing for Scotland.
It is only once the independence issue is over and done with that Scotland can get mature, grown up politics back.
I am British. I would be stripped of my national identity if that were to happen. I will do all I can to stop it.
Good man. I feel the same way.
I am English but love Scotland - I lived there for six years as a child - and feel it's part of our UK.
I would be so upset if it left. It's the emotional connections that mean so much to me.
British identity is already dead. The country is possessed by an English nationalism that regards all other identities as invalid.
Please dont tell me my identity is dead. Its extremely childish to tell people how in effect that what they feel is not real, as a means of delegitimising a particular view.
That the identity may not be strong enough with enough people to preserve the union may be true but that's not the same thing.
Yet you are happy that the people of Scotland are denied a vote jsut so you can retain your Britishness.
No, I think there should be another vote, I don't think it can reasonably be denied and have said so ever since an election was called in 2017 after A50 was triggered on the basis that I felt the period of negotiation justified pausing any such vote plans, but if a GE was acceptable in that time then a SINDY ref was too, if the Scottish people wanted it.
I don't want to lose my Britishness, but I've never suggested that desire should deny a vote to Scotland.
Well fine but the Tories won a majority in 2019 with a manifesto commitment to no indyref2.
While Starmer has said he would grant indyref2 if the SNP won a majority and he was PM, Boris has made clear he will not grant indyref2 whatever the circumstances based on the 'once in a generation' referendum in 2014.
So whatever happens at Holyrood next year Westminster will not grant any indyref2 until at least after the next UK general election
You are probably right there won't be one until after then, and legally that is acceptable. Part of me will even be slightly relieved not to face that prospect sooner, tinged with concern it will aggravate theissue. I was merely refuting malc's assumption that since I don't want to lose my identity I must therefore be 'happy' to deny a vote to Scotland, which is nonsense based on the common assumption that everyone who holds one view must hold the most extreme additional views of others who hold it. It certainly wasn't based on anything I have ever said
People will not wait that long. It is not up to a balloon in Westminster whether we can vote or not.
You can vote Malc but for it to be legal in law it needs Westminster approval.
You do not like that but then I do not like the ECJ ruling over us but at present we have no choice
I would expect the Westminster government to accept the validity of a referendum if the SNP wins a majority in 2021 and do not accept HYUFD view Boris will prevent it
However, as I have said before and never waivered, I do not believe an independence vote will be won, especially because of covid, but let us see
You can expect what you want it will not happen, the Tory manifesto made clear there would be no indyref2 if the Tories won a majority and with a Tory majority of 80 it has zero chance of getting through Westminster. End of conversation.
It would take a Starmer premiership and an SNP majority at Holyrood for indyref2 to happen
The absolute inevitability of SNP most seats is what drives Tory tactics in focusing on indepdence. What is the point in spending a lot of time developing a better policy on education when there is no chance of being the government? What they are seeking to do is consolidate enough of the Unionist vote to prevent an SNP majority and thus, hopefully, prevent a second referendum (subject to the little green helpers, of course).
Whilst I understand the logic of that it is a mistake. Scotland has not had an actual policy choice since 2007. In that 13 years we have had the truly disastrous Curriculum for Excellence imposed in our schools with the inevitable consequences in our PISA ranking, we have the insane position of still offering free University education to EU citizens at a time when funded places for Scots are being restricted, we have had the shambolic and ongoing embarrassment that is Police Scotland, we have had an ever more centralised and unaccountable concentration of power in the likes of the Care Commission, stripping local government of powers and budget, I really could go on and on. As someone actively interested in politics I genuinely don't know what the Tories or Labour are proposing in relation to these failures. It's not good enough. Scotland needs a proper choice.
Which is part of why I back Scottish independence as the best thing for Scotland.
It is only once the independence issue is over and done with that Scotland can get mature, grown up politics back.
I am British. I would be stripped of my national identity if that were to happen. I will do all I can to stop it.
Good man. I feel the same way.
I am English but love Scotland - I lived there for six years as a child - and feel it's part of our UK.
I would be so upset if it left. It's the emotional connections that mean so much to me.
British identity is already dead. The country is possessed by an English nationalism that regards all other identities as invalid.
Please dont tell me my identity is dead. Its extremely childish to tell people how in effect that what they feel is not real, as a means of delegitimising a particular view.
That the identity may not be strong enough with enough people to preserve the union may be true but that's not the same thing.
Yet you are happy that the people of Scotland are denied a vote jsut so you can retain your Britishness.
No, I think there should be another vote, I don't think it can reasonably be denied and have said so ever since an election was called in 2017 after A50 was triggered on the basis that I felt the period of negotiation justified pausing any such vote plans, but if a GE was acceptable in that time then a SINDY ref was too, if the Scottish people wanted it.
I don't want to lose my Britishness, but I've never suggested that desire should deny a vote to Scotland.
Well fine but the Tories won a majority in 2019 with a manifesto commitment to no indyref2.
While Starmer has said he would grant indyref2 if the SNP won a majority and he was PM, Boris has made clear he will not grant indyref2 whatever the circumstances based on the 'once in a generation' referendum in 2014.
So whatever happens at Holyrood next year Westminster will not grant any indyref2 until at least after the next UK general election
You are probably right there won't be one until after then, and legally that is acceptable. Part of me will even be slightly relieved not to face that prospect sooner, tinged with concern it will aggravate theissue. I was merely refuting malc's assumption that since I don't want to lose my identity I must therefore be 'happy' to deny a vote to Scotland, which is nonsense based on the common assumption that everyone who holds one view must hold the most extreme additional views of others who hold it. It certainly wasn't based on anything I have ever said
People will not wait that long. It is not up to a balloon in Westminster whether we can vote or not.
You can vote Malc but for it to be legal in law it needs Westminster approval.
You do not like that but then I do not like the ECJ ruling over us but at present we have no choice
I would expect the Westminster government to accept the validity of a referendum if the SNP wins a majority in 2021 and do not accept HYUFD view Boris will prevent it
However, as I have said before and never waivered, I do not believe an independence vote will be won, especially because of covid, but let us see
It has yet to be tested whether it is legal G. Who decided UK having referendum on EU was legal , did they have to ask EU for permission. Just because Westminster have made that assumption does not make it legal. Under UN and International law the people of a country have the inalienable right to vote on self determination , ask all the former colonies of the UK if they had to ask permission. 2021 will be an SNP landslide and will hopefully be based on independence, but either way will ensure some kind of referendum is held with or without our lords and masters in Westminster. You cannot keep colonies prisoner long term.
The absolute inevitability of SNP most seats is what drives Tory tactics in focusing on indepdence. What is the point in spending a lot of time developing a better policy on education when there is no chance of being the government? What they are seeking to do is consolidate enough of the Unionist vote to prevent an SNP majority and thus, hopefully, prevent a second referendum (subject to the little green helpers, of course).
Whilst I understand the logic of that it is a mistake. Scotland has not had an actual policy choice since 2007. In that 13 years we have had the truly disastrous Curriculum for Excellence imposed in our schools with the inevitable consequences in our PISA ranking, we have the insane position of still offering free University education to EU citizens at a time when funded places for Scots are being restricted, we have had the shambolic and ongoing embarrassment that is Police Scotland, we have had an ever more centralised and unaccountable concentration of power in the likes of the Care Commission, stripping local government of powers and budget, I really could go on and on. As someone actively interested in politics I genuinely don't know what the Tories or Labour are proposing in relation to these failures. It's not good enough. Scotland needs a proper choice.
Which is part of why I back Scottish independence as the best thing for Scotland.
It is only once the independence issue is over and done with that Scotland can get mature, grown up politics back.
I am British. I would be stripped of my national identity if that were to happen. I will do all I can to stop it.
Good man. I feel the same way.
I am English but love Scotland - I lived there for six years as a child - and feel it's part of our UK.
I would be so upset if it left. It's the emotional connections that mean so much to me.
I feel the opposite, being owned and controlled by England is a disgrace.
You are not. You are fully equal with me in every way.
There's just fewer of you, that's all.
Look, a few hundred million EU citizens are waving at you.
Indeed. Using the logic that we were all the same meant we should have just stayed within the EU - we all had a vote.
Except with the EU being a democracy the Eurozone could always outvote the UK. With the UK being a democracy England can always outvote Scotland.
The absolute inevitability of SNP most seats is what drives Tory tactics in focusing on indepdence. What is the point in spending a lot of time developing a better policy on education when there is no chance of being the government? What they are seeking to do is consolidate enough of the Unionist vote to prevent an SNP majority and thus, hopefully, prevent a second referendum (subject to the little green helpers, of course).
Whilst I understand the logic of that it is a mistake. Scotland has not had an actual policy choice since 2007. In that 13 years we have had the truly disastrous Curriculum for Excellence imposed in our schools with the inevitable consequences in our PISA ranking, we have the insane position of still offering free University education to EU citizens at a time when funded places for Scots are being restricted, we have had the shambolic and ongoing embarrassment that is Police Scotland, we have had an ever more centralised and unaccountable concentration of power in the likes of the Care Commission, stripping local government of powers and budget, I really could go on and on. As someone actively interested in politics I genuinely don't know what the Tories or Labour are proposing in relation to these failures. It's not good enough. Scotland needs a proper choice.
Which is part of why I back Scottish independence as the best thing for Scotland.
It is only once the independence issue is over and done with that Scotland can get mature, grown up politics back.
I am British. I would be stripped of my national identity if that were to happen. I will do all I can to stop it.
Good man. I feel the same way.
I am English but love Scotland - I lived there for six years as a child - and feel it's part of our UK.
I would be so upset if it left. It's the emotional connections that mean so much to me.
British identity is already dead. The country is possessed by an English nationalism that regards all other identities as invalid.
Please dont tell me my identity is dead. Its extremely childish to tell people how in effect that what they feel is not real, as a means of delegitimising a particular view.
That the identity may not be strong enough with enough people to preserve the union may be true but that's not the same thing.
Yet you are happy that the people of Scotland are denied a vote jsut so you can retain your Britishness.
No, I think there should be another vote, I don't think it can reasonably be denied and have said so ever since an election was called in 2017 after A50 was triggered on the basis that I felt the period of negotiation justified pausing any such vote plans, but if a GE was acceptable in that time then a SINDY ref was too, if the Scottish people wanted it.
I don't want to lose my Britishness, but I've never suggested that desire should deny a vote to Scotland.
KLE, well said , and I apologise for being wrong about your opinion.
It’s pretty well mine, too. I do wonder if there would be slightly less desire for independence if we English did not treat Scotland with quite so much condescension.
Certainly been pushed to the limit these last years by the Tories and their tame media and inhouse EBC propaganda unit Nigel. PS: It is changing many people's opinion who were soft on independence previously
The absolute inevitability of SNP most seats is what drives Tory tactics in focusing on indepdence. What is the point in spending a lot of time developing a better policy on education when there is no chance of being the government? What they are seeking to do is consolidate enough of the Unionist vote to prevent an SNP majority and thus, hopefully, prevent a second referendum (subject to the little green helpers, of course).
Whilst I understand the logic of that it is a mistake. Scotland has not had an actual policy choice since 2007. In that 13 years we have had the truly disastrous Curriculum for Excellence imposed in our schools with the inevitable consequences in our PISA ranking, we have the insane position of still offering free University education to EU citizens at a time when funded places for Scots are being restricted, we have had the shambolic and ongoing embarrassment that is Police Scotland, we have had an ever more centralised and unaccountable concentration of power in the likes of the Care Commission, stripping local government of powers and budget, I really could go on and on. As someone actively interested in politics I genuinely don't know what the Tories or Labour are proposing in relation to these failures. It's not good enough. Scotland needs a proper choice.
Which is part of why I back Scottish independence as the best thing for Scotland.
It is only once the independence issue is over and done with that Scotland can get mature, grown up politics back.
I am British. I would be stripped of my national identity if that were to happen. I will do all I can to stop it.
Good man. I feel the same way.
I am English but love Scotland - I lived there for six years as a child - and feel it's part of our UK.
I would be so upset if it left. It's the emotional connections that mean so much to me.
British identity is already dead. The country is possessed by an English nationalism that regards all other identities as invalid.
Please dont tell me my identity is dead. Its extremely childish to tell people how in effect that what they feel is not real, as a means of delegitimising a particular view.
That the identity may not be strong enough with enough people to preserve the union may be true but that's not the same thing.
Yet you are happy that the people of Scotland are denied a vote jsut so you can retain your Britishness.
No, I think there should be another vote, I don't think it can reasonably be denied and have said so ever since an election was called in 2017 after A50 was triggered on the basis that I felt the period of negotiation justified pausing any such vote plans, but if a GE was acceptable in that time then a SINDY ref was too, if the Scottish people wanted it.
I don't want to lose my Britishness, but I've never suggested that desire should deny a vote to Scotland.
Well fine but the Tories won a majority in 2019 with a manifesto commitment to no indyref2.
While Starmer has said he would grant indyref2 if the SNP won a majority and he was PM, Boris has made clear he will not grant indyref2 whatever the circumstances based on the 'once in a generation' referendum in 2014.
So whatever happens at Holyrood next year Westminster will not grant any indyref2 until at least after the next UK general election
You are probably right there won't be one until after then, and legally that is acceptable. Part of me will even be slightly relieved not to face that prospect sooner, tinged with concern it will aggravate theissue. I was merely refuting malc's assumption that since I don't want to lose my identity I must therefore be 'happy' to deny a vote to Scotland, which is nonsense based on the common assumption that everyone who holds one view must hold the most extreme additional views of others who hold it. It certainly wasn't based on anything I have ever said
People will not wait that long. It is not up to a balloon in Westminster whether we can vote or not.
You can vote Malc but for it to be legal in law it needs Westminster approval.
You do not like that but then I do not like the ECJ ruling over us but at present we have no choice
I would expect the Westminster government to accept the validity of a referendum if the SNP wins a majority in 2021 and do not accept HYUFD view Boris will prevent it
However, as I have said before and never waivered, I do not believe an independence vote will be won, especially because of covid, but let us see
It has yet to be tested whether it is legal G. Who decided UK having referendum on EU was legal , did they have to ask EU for permission. Just because Westminster have made that assumption does not make it legal. Under UN and International law the people of a country have the inalienable right to vote on self determination , ask all the former colonies of the UK if they had to ask permission. 2021 will be an SNP landslide and will hopefully be based on independence, but either way will ensure some kind of referendum is held with or without our lords and masters in Westminster. You cannot keep colonies prisoner long term.
As Madrid showed in Catalonia illegal referendums can be ignored, hence Sturgeon has correctly said no indyref2 without Westminster consent
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52603566 ...The government has admitted sending about 50,000 coronavirus tests to the US last week for processing after "operational issues" in UK labs. The Department of Health said sending swabs abroad are among the contingencies to deal with "teething problems". The samples were airlifted to the US in chartered flights from Stansted Airport, the Sunday Telegraph said. Results will be validated in the UK and sent to patients as soon as possible....
Results which are not available within 24 hours are of questionable use.
And if testing is going to support contact tracing, results must be available immediately. If have yet to see any evidence that we’ve started to develop an effective contact tracing capacity. And app on its own (assuming it works) is nowhere near sufficient.
Yes, we're still pursuing a strategy where the testing labs are under the tight grip of PHE. They've set up three centres and sequestered equipment for them instead of sending samples to the companies and universities that had the equipment. It's very arse about face.
By failing to exert full control over PHE, Hancock has probably caused the deaths of thousands of additional people and led to two extensions of lockdown.
It may not all be as it seems, but it certainly seems thta PHE has been desperately keen to fight turf battles every bit as much as the virus.
However, 'stay at home' has to be changed at some time and frankly 'stay alert' seems to me to be a sensible change in the narrative
Most people will understand that 'staying alert' is very much something they will want to do and in particular on social - distancing and general contact with others
Listening to Mark Drakesford today any differences seem to be in the margins and of course those on here attacking Boris give a free pass to the devolved first ministers who sit alongside Boris in Cobra
Boris and the government have made mistakes and I cannot understand why he has allowed the 'gossip' in the media to continue for so long when he could have addressed the nation days earlier. He needs a new 'comms' team as the present one is abject
Actually we do have an advantage in so far as other countries are now easing their restrictions and their experiences will be useful for us to learn from
I spent most of yesterday in our garden in the beautiful weather and rarely read PB and it was frankly refreshing, especially when I read the polarised comments from a few on here today who seem to be driven by other motives than the one most people crave for; overcoming covid 19
Big_G: the public have shown that they're really good at following clear advice. Stay at home? OK, we'll stay at home. They are understandably less good at following fuzzy advice, and "Stay alert" could mean almost anything It worries me in a non-partisan sense that Boris's natural atyle is to emphasise stirring rhetoric and uplifting banter rather than boring precision. Perhaps he'll surprise me, though.
I agree about the advantage of being late to the party so we can see how others are getting on. But we need to use that advatange to clear good effect.
'Stay at home' isn't so good for those of us who have to go to work.
Whereas staying alert is relevant advice when it comes to keeping distance from other people and touching things.
And then you wonder why the concept of an inclusive Britishness is now purely historical.
This discussion shows why a federal UK is the only way forward. In America, you can be from Illinois or Wyoming, and be American. And proud of your city and county (e pluribus unum, etc.). In Germany, you can be a Saxon or Hamburger and still be German. There are fairly clearly demarcated lines between the two, and though there are often tensions, there are clear mechanisms for resolving those tensions (Supreme Court in the US, the Constitutional Court in Germany, etc.).
But because we have been fudging the questions of the difference between Englishness and Britishness since Blair gave Scotland its Parliament, it's a constant tension here, and there is no clear way to resolve it.
How can you have a federal UK when one part of it is almost 90%. They have had lots of chances but will only give up the powers when they are taken away from them. Blair did not give us our parliament , the people voted for it , we are not dogs begging for a treat.
Why *can't* you? Devolving home rule to England (and the other 4 countries on an equal basis) means England cannot influence Scottish home affairs. The UK then only deals with matters common to all four countries.
WE have heard it all before and as long as England decide what the budgets are for everyone then you have no real devolved powers and they are not ever going to give them up.
England decides nothing. We're a directly ruled colony of the UK.
But I would agree with the proposition that each country raises the taxes for its own expenditure.
However, 'stay at home' has to be changed at some time and frankly 'stay alert' seems to me to be a sensible change in the narrative
Most people will understand that 'staying alert' is very much something they will want to do and in particular on social - distancing and general contact with others
Listening to Mark Drakesford today any differences seem to be in the margins and of course those on here attacking Boris give a free pass to the devolved first ministers who sit alongside Boris in Cobra
Boris and the government have made mistakes and I cannot understand why he has allowed the 'gossip' in the media to continue for so long when he could have addressed the nation days earlier. He needs a new 'comms' team as the present one is abject
Actually we do have an advantage in so far as other countries are now easing their restrictions and their experiences will be useful for us to learn from
I spent most of yesterday in our garden in the beautiful weather and rarely read PB and it was frankly refreshing, especially when I read the polarised comments from a few on here today who seem to be driven by other motives than the one most people crave for; overcoming covid 19
Big_G: the public have shown that they're really good at following clear advice. Stay at home? OK, we'll stay at home. They are understandably less good at following fuzzy advice, and "Stay alert" could mean almost anything It worries me in a non-partisan sense that Boris's natural atyle is to emphasise stirring rhetoric and uplifting banter rather than boring precision. Perhaps he'll surprise me, though.
I agree about the advantage of being late to the party so we can see how others are getting on. But we need to use that advatange to clear good effect.
The problem is Nick that stay at home cannot continue for months and at some time the slogan has to change. I think stay alert is reasonable and so far I have not seen a sensible alternative
As for Boris covid has hit him hard and it does concern me. Hopefully he will regain his energy in time and it will be interesting to see how he comes over tonight
Just 12% want the lockdown ended now or next week but just 24% want the lockdown to continue beyond July too. 648% want the lockdown ended by the end of the month, 68% want the lockdown ended by the end of June https://twitter.com/DavidWooding/status/1259406036202655745?s=20
Interesting figures, HY. So what is government policy now?
I have to say I am amused by people on here acting hysterical like they don't know what the word alert means.
I have to say I don't think the British public is that stupid that they don't know what it means. I'd be embarrassed of our country if they are.
What you are missing is that the government evidently thinks we are stupid because if all that is changing is that we now have to be alert doing all the things we were doing previously then the govt didn't think we were being so before = think we are stupid.
And people on here are lapping it up. Never seen such a bunch of ferocious critics of bad decisions fall into line behind the government like docile puppies during this crisis.
No.
If the message goes from Stay Home to Stay Alert then by definition the government thought we already where alert (hence Stay) but now away from home more if need be.
How do you Stay Alert if you were never alert in the first place?
Please read that back to yourself and try to make head or tail of it. That depends what the meaning of is is, right? I fear you're having another blind spot here.
They thought we were being alert but sometimes not always. eg they thought we were stupid.
No its really simple.
They thought we were being alert but at home. The message being home.
We're dropping the home element but need to keep being alert, hence stay alert.
Stay - adv. - to continue doing something, to continue being in a particular state.
Its not rocket science you're being deliberately thick as I don't believe you're that thick for real.
You're having another the government did nothing wrong over its tracing app moment.
I know how this ends. Your blind spot eventually overtakes you completely.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52603566 ...The government has admitted sending about 50,000 coronavirus tests to the US last week for processing after "operational issues" in UK labs. The Department of Health said sending swabs abroad are among the contingencies to deal with "teething problems". The samples were airlifted to the US in chartered flights from Stansted Airport, the Sunday Telegraph said. Results will be validated in the UK and sent to patients as soon as possible....
Results which are not available within 24 hours are of questionable use.
And if testing is going to support contact tracing, results must be available immediately. If have yet to see any evidence that we’ve started to develop an effective contact tracing capacity. And app on its own (assuming it works) is nowhere near sufficient.
Yes, we're still pursuing a strategy where the testing labs are under the tight grip of PHE. They've set up three centres and sequestered equipment for them instead of sending samples to the companies and universities that had the equipment. It's very arse about face.
By failing to exert full control over PHE, Hancock has probably caused the deaths of thousands of additional people and led to two extensions of lockdown.
Is that because his department doesn’t have the capacity to take control, or because he’s just not up to the job ?
And where did the “stiff broom” decision a couple of months back to discharge 15,000 NHS patients into care homes or the community originate ?
I have to say I am amused by people on here acting hysterical like they don't know what the word alert means.
I have to say I don't think the British public is that stupid that they don't know what it means. I'd be embarrassed of our country if they are.
What you are missing is that the government evidently thinks we are stupid because if all that is changing is that we now have to be alert doing all the things we were doing previously then the govt didn't think we were being so before = think we are stupid.
And people on here are lapping it up. Never seen such a bunch of ferocious critics of bad decisions fall into line behind the government like docile puppies during this crisis.
No.
If the message goes from Stay Home to Stay Alert then by definition the government thought we already where alert (hence Stay) but now away from home more if need be.
How do you Stay Alert if you were never alert in the first place?
Please read that back to yourself and try to make head or tail of it. That depends what the meaning of is is, right? I fear you're having another blind spot here.
They thought we were being alert but sometimes not always. eg they thought we were stupid.
No its really simple.
They thought we were being alert but at home. The message being home.
We're dropping the home element but need to keep being alert, hence stay alert.
Stay - adv. - to continue doing something, to continue being in a particular state.
Its not rocket science you're being deliberately thick as I don't believe you're that thick for real.
You're having another the government did nothing wrong over its tracing app moment.
I know how this ends. Your blind spot eventually overtakes you completely.
I never said the government did nothing wrong over the tracing app. I said the government had made a mistake and that it was inevitable mistakes would be made when you're acting quickly. I said sacking people for making mistakes was wrong.
The absolute inevitability of SNP most seats is what drives Tory tactics in focusing on indepdence. What is the point in spending a lot of time developing a better policy on education when there is no chance of being the government? What they are seeking to do is consolidate enough of the Unionist vote to prevent an SNP majority and thus, hopefully, prevent a second referendum (subject to the little green helpers, of course).
Whilst I understand the logic of that it is a mistake. Scotland has not had an actual policy choice since 2007. In that 13 years we have had the truly disastrous Curriculum for Excellence imposed in our schools with the inevitable consequences in our PISA ranking, we have the insane position of still offering free University education to EU citizens at a time when funded places for Scots are being restricted, we have had the shambolic and ongoing embarrassment that is Police Scotland, we have had an ever more centralised and unaccountable concentration of power in the likes of the Care Commission, stripping local government of powers and budget, I really could go on and on. As someone actively interested in politics I genuinely don't know what the Tories or Labour are proposing in relation to these failures. It's not good enough. Scotland needs a proper choice.
David, we only have one choice, get rid of the dead hand of Westminster, run our own affairs and not have to put up with idiots like Carlaw. We would then have real Scottish politicians implementing real Scottish policies, not the shitshow we currently have.
And where are these competent politicians going to come from Malcolm? Because Sturgeon apart there’s damn few in the SNP and hardly any anywhere else.
David, we cannot get worse than in Westminster, hopefully once free we will get some decent people and some real Scottish parties and vastly improve our politicians. I do not expect the SNP to be in power long term after independence.
Alastair Meeks's 10-1 tip on NOM in 2016 was a great bet.
Given things in Scotland are looking worse than the rest of the UK, I wouldn't bet on these elections. There's a decent chance they don't happen.
On what measure worse?
Sky show a chart of hospital admissions (I think) as a percentage of the peak and Scotland is still quite high compared with England.
Presumably this is why Sturgeon is worried.
The question that no one is asking is, what’s the plan? That Sun poll has a quarter of people wanting lockdown to continue until the virus is eradicated.
Scotland is 2-3 weeks behind England on the Corona curve, I think that's neither here nor there when it comes to elections next year.
I’m not sure you can be behind when lockdown happened at the same time (and peaks happened at the same time).
Anyway, I wouldn’t bet on English elections either for the same reason.
The lockdowns are acts of human agency, the virus will behave on its own terms. If England and Scotland are at the same point in the progress of the virus, on the bare figures the situation appears less brutal up here (and that's an observation not a jingoistic boast).
TUD , the numbers suggest deaths are lower at present but we are a couple of weeks behind England so not sure if that will last.
My friends overseas are amazed at the bog we're apparently making of it. Laughing stock is one description.
Very few people I know are laughing about this.
I think that was a turn of phrase rather than meant to be taken literally. The fact is that the UK is being pointed to around the world as a failure in its response to Covid-19.
By who? A few leftwing papers like the New York Times that is about it.
Most countries are concerned with their own situation and anyway the US has most deaths in total and Belgium most deaths per head, not the UK
Not true but DYOR.
Missing the point again completely - what is going to damage the government is if the narrative takes hold that we are the worst performing country in Europe and that the Cabinet, by extension, have been incompetent.
If that view takes hold it won't matter a jot that Belgium has more deaths per head.
BoZo needs to rewrite his speech to explain why the slogan in England is different from Scotland and Wales, and why it doesn't mean what everyone thinks it means...
Scotland is being decisive while England is faffing around it's plausible we end up with Scotland in a green zone and England in a yellow zone, with a defacto land border between them.
I'm not really sure what this does to the cause of independence.
Ofcourse Scotlands results will be better quicker. Much less densely populated and no real large ethnic minority populations.
Apart from “Plastic Irish”
Scotland still testing at a low level - hasn’t increased test levels since early April.
England don't either , they send them to the USA to test. Take your foot out of your moth now and again Harry, cut out some of the whoppers and take the boulder off each shoulder.
I'm yet to see @MarqueeMark post a photo of that moth.
Sounds fucking massive.
There is a moth called a Scarce Footman. Might fit the bill....
My friends overseas are amazed at the bog we're apparently making of it. Laughing stock is one description.
Very few people I know are laughing about this.
I think that was a turn of phrase rather than meant to be taken literally. The fact is that the UK is being pointed to around the world as a failure in its response to Covid-19.
By who? A few leftwing papers like the New York Times that is about it.
Most countries are concerned with their own situation and anyway the US has most deaths in total and Belgium most deaths per head, not the UK
Not true but DYOR.
Missing the point again completely - what is going to damage the government is if the narrative takes hold that we are the worst performing country in Europe and that the Cabinet, by extension, have been incompetent.
If that view takes hold it won't matter a jot that Belgium has more deaths per head.
Alastair Meeks's 10-1 tip on NOM in 2016 was a great bet.
Given things in Scotland are looking worse than the rest of the UK, I wouldn't bet on these elections. There's a decent chance they don't happen.
On what measure worse?
Sky show a chart of hospital admissions (I think) as a percentage of the peak and Scotland is still quite high compared with England.
Presumably this is why Sturgeon is worried.
The question that no one is asking is, what’s the plan? That Sun poll has a quarter of people wanting lockdown to continue until the virus is eradicated.
Scotland is 2-3 weeks behind England on the Corona curve, I think that's neither here nor there when it comes to elections next year.
I’m not sure you can be behind when lockdown happened at the same time (and peaks happened at the same time).
Anyway, I wouldn’t bet on English elections either for the same reason.
The lockdowns are acts of human agency, the virus will behave on its own terms. If England and Scotland are at the same point in the progress of the virus, on the bare figures the situation appears less brutal up here (and that's an observation not a jingoistic boast).
TUD , the numbers suggest deaths are lower at present but we are a couple of weeks behind England so not sure if that will last.
That's what I'm assuming. I'm hoping that on that timeline Scotland having an earlier lockdown will have a beneficial effect.
Just 12% want the lockdown ended now or next week but just 24% want the lockdown to continue beyond July too. 648% want the lockdown ended by the end of the month, 68% want the lockdown ended by the end of June https://twitter.com/DavidWooding/status/1259406036202655745?s=20
Interesting figures, HY. So what is government policy now?
To have largely ended lockdown by the end of June bar mass gatherings, festivals and big sporting events but with testing and tracing greatly expanded by then
Just 12% want the lockdown ended now or next week but just 24% want the lockdown to continue beyond July too. 648% want the lockdown ended by the end of the month, 68% want the lockdown ended by the end of June https://twitter.com/DavidWooding/status/1259406036202655745?s=20
Interesting figures, HY. So what is government policy now?
To have largely ended lockdown by the end of June bar mass gatherings, festivals and big sporting events but with testing and tracing greatly expanded by then
The absolute inevitability of SNP most seats is what drives Tory tactics in focusing on indepdence. What is the point in spending a lot of time developing a better policy on education when there is no chance of being the government? What they are seeking to do is consolidate enough of the Unionist vote to prevent an SNP majority and thus, hopefully, prevent a second referendum (subject to the little green helpers, of course).
Whilst I understand the logic of that it is a mistake. Scotland has not had an actual policy choice since 2007. In that 13 years we have had the truly disastrous Curriculum for Excellence imposed in our schools with the inevitable consequences in our PISA ranking, we have the insane position of still offering free University education to EU citizens at a time when funded places for Scots are being restricted, we have had the shambolic and ongoing embarrassment that is Police Scotland, we have had an ever more centralised and unaccountable concentration of power in the likes of the Care Commission, stripping local government of powers and budget, I really could go on and on. As someone actively interested in politics I genuinely don't know what the Tories or Labour are proposing in relation to these failures. It's not good enough. Scotland needs a proper choice.
Which is part of why I back Scottish independence as the best thing for Scotland.
It is only once the independence issue is over and done with that Scotland can get mature, grown up politics back.
I am British. I would be stripped of my national identity if that were to happen. I will do all I can to stop it.
Good man. I feel the same way.
I am English but love Scotland - I lived there for six years as a child - and feel it's part of our UK.
I would be so upset if it left. It's the emotional connections that mean so much to me.
British identity is already dead. The country is possessed by an English nationalism that regards all other identities as invalid.
Please dont tell me my identity is dead. Its extremely childish to tell people how in effect that what they feel is not real, as a means of delegitimising a particular view.
That the identity may not be strong enough with enough people to preserve the union may be true but that's not the same thing.
Yet you are happy that the people of Scotland are denied a vote jsut so you can retain your Britishness.
No, I think there should be another vote, I don't think it can reasonably be denied and have said so ever since an election was called in 2017 after A50 was triggered on the basis that I felt the period of negotiation justified pausing any such vote plans, but if a GE was acceptable in that time then a SINDY ref was too, if the Scottish people wanted it.
I don't want to lose my Britishness, but I've never suggested that desire should deny a vote to Scotland.
Well fine but the Tories won a majority in 2019 with a manifesto commitment to no indyref2.
While Starmer has said he would grant indyref2 if the SNP won a majority and he was PM, Boris has made clear he will not grant indyref2 whatever the circumstances based on the 'once in a generation' referendum in 2014.
So whatever happens at Holyrood next year Westminster will not grant any indyref2 until at least after the next UK general election
You are probably right there won't be one until after then, and legally that is acceptable. Part of me will even be slightly relieved not to face that prospect sooner, tinged with concern it will aggravate theissue. I was merely refuting malc's assumption that since I don't want to lose my identity I must therefore be 'happy' to deny a vote to Scotland, which is nonsense based on the common assumption that everyone who holds one view must hold the most extreme additional views of others who hold it. It certainly wasn't based on anything I have ever said
People will not wait that long. It is not up to a balloon in Westminster whether we can vote or not.
You can vote Malc but for it to be legal in law it needs Westminster approval.
You do not like that but then I do not like the ECJ ruling over us but at present we have no choice
I would expect the Westminster government to accept the validity of a referendum if the SNP wins a majority in 2021 and do not accept HYUFD view Boris will prevent it
However, as I have said before and never waivered, I do not believe an independence vote will be won, especially because of covid, but let us see
It has yet to be tested whether it is legal G. Who decided UK having referendum on EU was legal , did they have to ask EU for permission. Just because Westminster have made that assumption does not make it legal. Under UN and International law the people of a country have the inalienable right to vote on self determination , ask all the former colonies of the UK if they had to ask permission. 2021 will be an SNP landslide and will hopefully be based on independence, but either way will ensure some kind of referendum is held with or without our lords and masters in Westminster. You cannot keep colonies prisoner long term.
You are not a colony Malc and right now Scotland needs the strength of the union
I am happy for a referendum to take place as I re-iterate, Scotland will vote to stay in the union
My friends overseas are amazed at the bog we're apparently making of it. Laughing stock is one description.
Very few people I know are laughing about this.
I think that was a turn of phrase rather than meant to be taken literally. The fact is that the UK is being pointed to around the world as a failure in its response to Covid-19.
By who? A few leftwing papers like the New York Times that is about it.
Most countries are concerned with their own situation and anyway the US has most deaths in total and Belgium most deaths per head, not the UK
Not true but DYOR.
Missing the point again completely - what is going to damage the government is if the narrative takes hold that we are the worst performing country in Europe and that the Cabinet, by extension, have been incompetent.
If that view takes hold it won't matter a jot that Belgium has more deaths per head.
Except it is not, bar the Tories declining to 'just' 49%
The absolute inevitability of SNP most seats is what drives Tory tactics in focusing on indepdence. What is the point in spending a lot of time developing a better policy on education when there is no chance of being the government? What they are seeking to do is consolidate enough of the Unionist vote to prevent an SNP majority and thus, hopefully, prevent a second referendum (subject to the little green helpers, of course).
Whilst I understand the logic of that it is a mistake. Scotland has not had an actual policy choice since 2007. In that 13 years we have had the truly disastrous Curriculum for Excellence imposed in our schools with the inevitable consequences in our PISA ranking, we have the insane position of still offering free University education to EU citizens at a time when funded places for Scots are being restricted, we have had the shambolic and ongoing embarrassment that is Police Scotland, we have had an ever more centralised and unaccountable concentration of power in the likes of the Care Commission, stripping local government of powers and budget, I really could go on and on. As someone actively interested in politics I genuinely don't know what the Tories or Labour are proposing in relation to these failures. It's not good enough. Scotland needs a proper choice.
David, we only have one choice, get rid of the dead hand of Westminster, run our own affairs and not have to put up with idiots like Carlaw. We would then have real Scottish politicians implementing real Scottish policies, not the shitshow we currently have.
And where are these competent politicians going to come from Malcolm? Because Sturgeon apart there’s damn few in the SNP and hardly any anywhere else.
David, we cannot get worse than in Westminster, hopefully once free we will get some decent people and some real Scottish parties and vastly improve our politicians. I do not expect the SNP to be in power long term after independence.
So, magic then? And you accuse me of having fantasies?
My friends overseas are amazed at the bog we're apparently making of it. Laughing stock is one description.
Very few people I know are laughing about this.
I think that was a turn of phrase rather than meant to be taken literally. The fact is that the UK is being pointed to around the world as a failure in its response to Covid-19.
By who? A few leftwing papers like the New York Times that is about it.
Most countries are concerned with their own situation and anyway the US has most deaths in total and Belgium most deaths per head, not the UK
Not true but DYOR.
Missing the point again completely - what is going to damage the government is if the narrative takes hold that we are the worst performing country in Europe and that the Cabinet, by extension, have been incompetent.
If that view takes hold it won't matter a jot that Belgium has more deaths per head.
My friends overseas are amazed at the bog we're apparently making of it. Laughing stock is one description.
Very few people I know are laughing about this.
I think that was a turn of phrase rather than meant to be taken literally. The fact is that the UK is being pointed to around the world as a failure in its response to Covid-19.
By who? A few leftwing papers like the New York Times that is about it.
Most countries are concerned with their own situation and anyway the US has most deaths in total and Belgium most deaths per head, not the UK
My info came from friends and family in Canada and SE Asia.
She's clearly obsessed with a fear that Scotland's CV-19 figures might be worse than England's. Of course she can argue that "ENGLAND STOLE ALL OUR PPE!!", but even so, might be tricky come next year's election...
Takes a bit of getting to grips with - it show how many deaths per million in the last 7 days, taking out the time adjustments that are needed to get any useful information.
Pretty much all it actually demonstrates is where countries are in the curve.
The most worrying thing is that there is a BBC 'journalist' on the thread wanting to talk about it:
However, 'stay at home' has to be changed at some time and frankly 'stay alert' seems to me to be a sensible change in the narrative
Most people will understand that 'staying alert' is very much something they will want to do and in particular on social - distancing and general contact with others
Listening to Mark Drakesford today any differences seem to be in the margins and of course those on here attacking Boris give a free pass to the devolved first ministers who sit alongside Boris in Cobra
Boris and the government have made mistakes and I cannot understand why he has allowed the 'gossip' in the media to continue for so long when he could have addressed the nation days earlier. He needs a new 'comms' team as the present one is abject
Actually we do have an advantage in so far as other countries are now easing their restrictions and their experiences will be useful for us to learn from
I spent most of yesterday in our garden in the beautiful weather and rarely read PB and it was frankly refreshing, especially when I read the polarised comments from a few on here today who seem to be driven by other motives than the one most people crave for; overcoming covid 19
I hope that we do learn from those countries ahead of us on the way out because we certainly didn't learn much from them on the way in.
Boris was asleep at the wheel, MIA at a country house with Carrie for the second half of February when he should have been focussing on what was heading our way. The government has been running to try to catch up ever since.
All a bit previous because the new slogan is part of a package to be revealed at 7 pm. If we are going to be told to report all instances of viruscrime to a new government hotline, stay alert makes perfect sense. Wait and see.
The absolute inevitability of SNP most seats is what drives Tory tactics in focusing on indepdence. What is the point in spending a lot of time developing a better policy on education when there is no chance of being the government? What they are seeking to do is consolidate enough of the Unionist vote to prevent an SNP majority and thus, hopefully, prevent a second referendum (subject to the little green helpers, of course).
Whilst I understand the logic of that it is a mistake. Scotland has not had an actual policy choice since 2007. In that 13 years we have had the truly disastrous Curriculum for Excellence imposed in our schools with the inevitable consequences in our PISA ranking, we have the insane position of still offering free University education to EU citizens at a time when funded places for Scots are being restricted, we have had the shambolic and ongoing embarrassment that is Police Scotland, we have had an ever more centralised and unaccountable concentration of power in the likes of the Care Commission, stripping local government of powers and budget, I really could go on and on. As someone actively interested in politics I genuinely don't know what the Tories or Labour are proposing in relation to these failures. It's not good enough. Scotland needs a proper choice.
Which is part of why I back Scottish independence as the best thing for Scotland.
It is only once the independence issue is over and done with that Scotland can get mature, grown up politics back.
I am British. I would be stripped of my national identity if that were to happen. I will do all I can to stop it.
Good man. I feel the same way.
I am English but love Scotland - I lived there for six years as a child - and feel it's part of our UK.
I would be so upset if it left. It's the emotional connections that mean so much to me.
British identity is already dead. The country is possessed by an English nationalism that regards all other identities as invalid.
Please dont tell me my identity is dead. Its extremely childish to tell people how in effect that what they feel is not real, as a means of delegitimising a particular view.
That the identity may not be strong enough with enough people to preserve the union may be true but that's not the same thing.
Yet you are happy that the people of Scotland are denied a vote jsut so you can retain your Britishness.
No, I think there should be another vote, I don't think it can reasonably be denied and have said so ever since an election was called in 2017 after A50 was triggered on the basis that I felt the period of negotiation justified pausing any such vote plans, but if a GE was acceptable in that time then a SINDY ref was too, if the Scottish people wanted it.
I don't want to lose my Britishness, but I've never suggested that desire should deny a vote to Scotland.
Well fine but the Tories won a majority in 2019 with a manifesto commitment to no indyref2.
While Starmer has said he would grant indyref2 if the SNP won a majority and he was PM, Boris has made clear he will not grant indyref2 whatever the circumstances based on the 'once in a generation' referendum in 2014.
So whatever happens at Holyrood next year Westminster will not grant any indyref2 until at least after the next UK general election
You are probably right there won't be one until after then, and legally that is acceptable. Part of me will even be slightly relieved not to face that prospect sooner, tinged with concern it will aggravate theissue. I was merely refuting malc's assumption that since I don't want to lose my identity I must therefore be 'happy' to deny a vote to Scotland, which is nonsense based on the common assumption that everyone who holds one view must hold the most extreme additional views of others who hold it. It certainly wasn't based on anything I have ever said
People will not wait that long. It is not up to a balloon in Westminster whether we can vote or not.
You can vote Malc but for it to be legal in law it needs Westminster approval.
You do not like that but then I do not like the ECJ ruling over us but at present we have no choice
I would expect the Westminster government to accept the validity of a referendum if the SNP wins a majority in 2021 and do not accept HYUFD view Boris will prevent it
However, as I have said before and never waivered, I do not believe an independence vote will be won, especially because of covid, but let us see
It has yet to be tested whether it is legal G. Who decided UK having referendum on EU was legal , did they have to ask EU for permission. Just because Westminster have made that assumption does not make it legal. Under UN and International law the people of a country have the inalienable right to vote on self determination , ask all the former colonies of the UK if they had to ask permission. 2021 will be an SNP landslide and will hopefully be based on independence, but either way will ensure some kind of referendum is held with or without our lords and masters in Westminster. You cannot keep colonies prisoner long term.
You are not a colony Malc and right now Scotland needs the strength of the union
I am happy for a referendum to take place as I re-iterate, Scotland will vote to stay in the union
By next January we will likely be on WTO terms Brexit, I would not guarantee Scots would vote No again if that holds.
However we cannot know what Brexit will look like longer term until after the next general election ie still WTO terms or Canada style FTA if the EU back down with Boris, or back in the single market with Starmer.
So any indyref2 must wait until after the next UK general election whatever happens at Holyrood next year
The absolute inevitability of SNP most seats is what drives Tory tactics in focusing on indepdence. What is the point in spending a lot of time developing a better policy on education when there is no chance of being the government? What they are seeking to do is consolidate enough of the Unionist vote to prevent an SNP majority and thus, hopefully, prevent a second referendum (subject to the little green helpers, of course).
Whilst I understand the logic of that it is a mistake. Scotland has not had an actual policy choice since 2007. In that 13 years we have had the truly disastrous Curriculum for Excellence imposed in our schools with the inevitable consequences in our PISA ranking, we have the insane position of still offering free University education to EU citizens at a time when funded places for Scots are being restricted, we have had the shambolic and ongoing embarrassment that is Police Scotland, we have had an ever more centralised and unaccountable concentration of power in the likes of the Care Commission, stripping local government of powers and budget, I really could go on and on. As someone actively interested in politics I genuinely don't know what the Tories or Labour are proposing in relation to these failures. It's not good enough. Scotland needs a proper choice.
Which is part of why I back Scottish independence as the best thing for Scotland.
It is only once the independence issue is over and done with that Scotland can get mature, grown up politics back.
I am British. I would be stripped of my national identity if that were to happen. I will do all I can to stop it.
Good man. I feel the same way.
I am English but love Scotland - I lived there for six years as a child - and feel it's part of our UK.
I would be so upset if it left. It's the emotional connections that mean so much to me.
British identity is already dead. The country is possessed by an English nationalism that regards all other identities as invalid.
Please dont tell me my identity is dead. Its extremely childish to tell people how in effect that what they feel is not real, as a means of delegitimising a particular view.
That the identity may not be strong enough with enough people to preserve the union may be true but that's not the same thing.
Yet you are happy that the people of Scotland are denied a vote jsut so you can retain your Britishness.
No, I think there should be another vote, I don't think it can reasonably be denied and have said so ever since an election was called in 2017 after A50 was triggered on the basis that I felt the period of negotiation justified pausing any such vote plans, but if a GE was acceptable in that time then a SINDY ref was too, if the Scottish people wanted it.
I don't want to lose my Britishness, but I've never suggested that desire should deny a vote to Scotland.
Well fine but the Tories won a majority in 2019 with a manifesto commitment to no indyref2.
While Starmer has said he would grant indyref2 if the SNP won a majority and he was PM, Boris has made clear he will not grant indyref2 whatever the circumstances based on the 'once in a generation' referendum in 2014.
So whatever happens at Holyrood next year Westminster will not grant any indyref2 until at least after the next UK general election
You are probably right there won't be one until after then, and legally that is acceptable. Part of me will even be slightly relieved not to face that prospect sooner, tinged with concern it will aggravate theissue. I was merely refuting malc's assumption that since I don't want to lose my identity I must therefore be 'happy' to deny a vote to Scotland, which is nonsense based on the common assumption that everyone who holds one view must hold the most extreme additional views of others who hold it. It certainly wasn't based on anything I have ever said
People will not wait that long. It is not up to a balloon in Westminster whether we can vote or not.
You can vote Malc but for it to be legal in law it needs Westminster approval.
You do not like that but then I do not like the ECJ ruling over us but at present we have no choice
I would expect the Westminster government to accept the validity of a referendum if the SNP wins a majority in 2021 and do not accept HYUFD view Boris will prevent it
However, as I have said before and never waivered, I do not believe an independence vote will be won, especially because of covid, but let us see
You can expect what you want it will not happen, the Tory manifesto made clear there would be no indyref2 if the Tories won a majority and with a Tory majority of 80 it has zero chance of getting through Westminster. End of conversation.
It would take a Starmer premiership and an SNP majority at Holyrood for indyref2 to happen
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52603566 ...The government has admitted sending about 50,000 coronavirus tests to the US last week for processing after "operational issues" in UK labs. The Department of Health said sending swabs abroad are among the contingencies to deal with "teething problems". The samples were airlifted to the US in chartered flights from Stansted Airport, the Sunday Telegraph said. Results will be validated in the UK and sent to patients as soon as possible....
Results which are not available within 24 hours are of questionable use.
And if testing is going to support contact tracing, results must be available immediately. If have yet to see any evidence that we’ve started to develop an effective contact tracing capacity. And app on its own (assuming it works) is nowhere near sufficient.
Yes, we're still pursuing a strategy where the testing labs are under the tight grip of PHE. They've set up three centres and sequestered equipment for them instead of sending samples to the companies and universities that had the equipment. It's very arse about face.
By failing to exert full control over PHE, Hancock has probably caused the deaths of thousands of additional people and led to two extensions of lockdown.
Is that because his department doesn’t have the capacity to take control, or because he’s just not up to the job ?
And where did the “stiff broom” decision a couple of months back to discharge 15,000 NHS patients into care homes or the community originate ?
Probably both, the DoH is a disaster organisation and he's weak and deluded.
On the care home policy, there needs to be a full investigation into who ultimately signed that off and what kind of decision making process it was. It probably didn't go as high as the minister, but I'm sure he pushed them hard to get beds empty "at any cost" and then PHE managers did the "at any cost" thing.
Of all the shambles we've had in this virus response that probably ranks at the top, sending people back without testing them for the virus has led to many thousands of people dying unnecessarily.
And she is going to keep this up until the last business folds, is she? The absolute last thing Scotland needs is another competitive disadvantage. Her tax rates are bad enough.
Just 12% want the lockdown ended now or next week but just 24% want the lockdown to continue beyond July too. 648% want the lockdown ended by the end of the month, 68% want the lockdown ended by the end of June https://twitter.com/DavidWooding/status/1259406036202655745?s=20
Interesting figures, HY. So what is government policy now?
To have largely ended lockdown by the end of June bar mass gatherings, festivals and big sporting events but with testing and tracing greatly expanded by then
I don’t think that they are cumulative. They are for the 7 day period only and comparing countries that have different levels of infection , different periods of lockdown, different intensity of lockdown and which are at different points on the curve. In short, a total waste of time.
My friends overseas are amazed at the bog we're apparently making of it. Laughing stock is one description.
Very few people I know are laughing about this.
I think that was a turn of phrase rather than meant to be taken literally. The fact is that the UK is being pointed to around the world as a failure in its response to Covid-19.
By who? A few leftwing papers like the New York Times that is about it.
Most countries are concerned with their own situation and anyway the US has most deaths in total and Belgium most deaths per head, not the UK
Not true but DYOR.
Missing the point again completely - what is going to damage the government is if the narrative takes hold that we are the worst performing country in Europe and that the Cabinet, by extension, have been incompetent.
If that view takes hold it won't matter a jot that Belgium has more deaths per head.
Except it is not, bar the Tories declining to 'just' 49%
The absolute inevitability of SNP most seats is what drives Tory tactics in focusing on indepdence. What is the point in spending a lot of time developing a better policy on education when there is no chance of being the government? What they are seeking to do is consolidate enough of the Unionist vote to prevent an SNP majority and thus, hopefully, prevent a second referendum (subject to the little green helpers, of course).
Whilst I understand the logic of that it is a mistake. Scotland has not had an actual policy choice since 2007. In that 13 years we have had the truly disastrous Curriculum for Excellence imposed in our schools with the inevitable consequences in our PISA ranking, we have the insane position of still offering free University education to EU citizens at a time when funded places for Scots are being restricted, we have had the shambolic and ongoing embarrassment that is Police Scotland, we have had an ever more centralised and unaccountable concentration of power in the likes of the Care Commission, stripping local government of powers and budget, I really could go on and on. As someone actively interested in politics I genuinely don't know what the Tories or Labour are proposing in relation to these failures. It's not good enough. Scotland needs a proper choice.
Which is part of why I back Scottish independence as the best thing for Scotland.
It is only once the independence issue is over and done with that Scotland can get mature, grown up politics back.
I am British. I would be stripped of my national identity if that were to happen. I will do all I can to stop it.
Good man. I feel the same way.
I am English but love Scotland - I lived there for six years as a child - and feel it's part of our UK.
I would be so upset if it left. It's the emotional connections that mean so much to me.
British identity is already dead. The country is possessed by an English nationalism that regards all other identities as invalid.
Please dont tell me my identity is dead. Its extremely childish to tell people how in effect that what they feel is not real, as a means of delegitimising a particular view.
That the identity may not be strong enough with enough people to preserve the union may be true but that's not the same thing.
Yet you are happy that the people of Scotland are denied a vote jsut so you can retain your Britishness.
No, I think there should be another vote, I don't think it can reasonably be denied and have said so ever since an election was called in 2017 after A50 was triggered on the basis that I felt the period of negotiation justified pausing any such vote plans, but if a GE was acceptable in that time then a SINDY ref was too, if the Scottish people wanted it.
I don't want to lose my Britishness, but I've never suggested that desire should deny a vote to Scotland.
Well fine but the Tories won a majority in 2019 with a manifesto commitment to no indyref2.
While Starmer has said he would grant indyref2 if the SNP won a majority and he was PM, Boris has made clear he will not grant indyref2 whatever the circumstances based on the 'once in a generation' referendum in 2014.
So whatever happens at Holyrood next year Westminster will not grant any indyref2 until at least after the next UK general election
You are probably right there won't be one until after then, and legally that is acceptable. Part of me will even be slightly relieved not to face that prospect sooner, tinged with concern it will aggravate theissue. I was merely refuting malc's assumption that since I don't want to lose my identity I must therefore be 'happy' to deny a vote to Scotland, which is nonsense based on the common assumption that everyone who holds one view must hold the most extreme additional views of others who hold it. It certainly wasn't based on anything I have ever said
People will not wait that long. It is not up to a balloon in Westminster whether we can vote or not.
You can vote Malc but for it to be legal in law it needs Westminster approval.
You do not like that but then I do not like the ECJ ruling over us but at present we have no choice
I would expect the Westminster government to accept the validity of a referendum if the SNP wins a majority in 2021 and do not accept HYUFD view Boris will prevent it
However, as I have said before and never waivered, I do not believe an independence vote will be won, especially because of covid, but let us see
It has yet to be tested whether it is legal G. Who decided UK having referendum on EU was legal , did they have to ask EU for permission. Just because Westminster have made that assumption does not make it legal. Under UN and International law the people of a country have the inalienable right to vote on self determination , ask all the former colonies of the UK if they had to ask permission. 2021 will be an SNP landslide and will hopefully be based on independence, but either way will ensure some kind of referendum is held with or without our lords and masters in Westminster. You cannot keep colonies prisoner long term.
You are not a colony Malc and right now Scotland needs the strength of the union
I am happy for a referendum to take place as I re-iterate, Scotland will vote to stay in the union
By next January we will likely be on WTO terms Brexit, I would not guarantee Scots would vote No again if that holds.
However we cannot know what Brexit will look like longer term until after the next general election ie still WTO terms or Canada style FTA if the EU back down with Boris, or back in the single market with Starmer.
So any indyref2 must wait until after the next UK general election whatever happens at Holyrood next year
Alastair Meeks's 10-1 tip on NOM in 2016 was a great bet.
Given things in Scotland are looking worse than the rest of the UK, I wouldn't bet on these elections. There's a decent chance they don't happen.
On what measure worse?
Sky show a chart of hospital admissions (I think) as a percentage of the peak and Scotland is still quite high compared with England.
Presumably this is why Sturgeon is worried.
The question that no one is asking is, what’s the plan? That Sun poll has a quarter of people wanting lockdown to continue until the virus is eradicated.
Scotland is 2-3 weeks behind England on the Corona curve, I think that's neither here nor there when it comes to elections next year.
I’m not sure you can be behind when lockdown happened at the same time (and peaks happened at the same time).
Anyway, I wouldn’t bet on English elections either for the same reason.
The lockdowns are acts of human agency, the virus will behave on its own terms. If England and Scotland are at the same point in the progress of the virus, on the bare figures the situation appears less brutal up here (and that's an observation not a jingoistic boast).
TUD , the numbers suggest deaths are lower at present but we are a couple of weeks behind England so not sure if that will last.
It will also vary within a country a lot of course. For example, the south west of England has a very low rate of infection and hospitalisation relative to other equivalently sized areas (e.g., it's a similar size to Scotland but has only ~1056 reported deaths to date). Similarly, within Scotland, the greater Glasgow area seems relatively more badly impacted than, say, the Grampian region.
Building on the model from France, I don't really understand why it's so hard to have different rates of easing the lockdown across the country. There needs to be clear signalling of what is being implemented of course, but that Scotland / Wales / N Ireland / different regions of England have slightly different restrictions seems entirely reasonable and will be needed moving forward (e.g., the shutdown of bars in Seoul but not the rest of S. Korea).
The absolute inevitability of SNP most seats is what drives Tory tactics in focusing on indepdence. What is the point in spending a lot of time developing a better policy on education when there is no chance of being the government? What they are seeking to do is consolidate enough of the Unionist vote to prevent an SNP majority and thus, hopefully, prevent a second referendum (subject to the little green helpers, of course).
Whilst I understand the logic of that it is a mistake. Scotland has not had an actual policy choice since 2007. In that 13 years we have had the truly disastrous Curriculum for Excellence imposed in our schools with the inevitable consequences in our PISA ranking, we have the insane position of still offering free University education to EU citizens at a time when funded places for Scots are being restricted, we have had the shambolic and ongoing embarrassment that is Police Scotland, we have had an ever more centralised and unaccountable concentration of power in the likes of the Care Commission, stripping local government of powers and budget, I really could go on and on. As someone actively interested in politics I genuinely don't know what the Tories or Labour are proposing in relation to these failures. It's not good enough. Scotland needs a proper choice.
Which is part of why I back Scottish independence as the best thing for Scotland.
It is only once the independence issue is over and done with that Scotland can get mature, grown up politics back.
I am British. I would be stripped of my national identity if that were to happen. I will do all I can to stop it.
Good man. I feel the same way.
I am English but love Scotland - I lived there for six years as a child - and feel it's part of our UK.
I would be so upset if it left. It's the emotional connections that mean so much to me.
British identity is already dead. The country is possessed by an English nationalism that regards all other identities as invalid.
Please dont tell me my identity is dead. Its extremely childish to tell people how in effect that what they feel is not real, as a means of delegitimising a particular view.
That the identity may not be strong enough with enough people to preserve the union may be true but that's not the same thing.
Yet you are happy that the people of Scotland are denied a vote jsut so you can retain your Britishness.
No, I think there should be another vote, I don't think it can reasonably be denied and have said so ever since an election was called in 2017 after A50 was triggered on the basis that I felt the period of negotiation justified pausing any such vote plans, but if a GE was acceptable in that time then a SINDY ref was too, if the Scottish people wanted it.
I don't want to lose my Britishness, but I've never suggested that desire should deny a vote to Scotland.
Well fine but the Tories won a majority in 2019 with a manifesto commitment to no indyref2.
While Starmer has said he would grant indyref2 if the SNP won a majority and he was PM, Boris has made clear he will not grant indyref2 whatever the circumstances based on the 'once in a generation' referendum in 2014.
So whatever happens at Holyrood next year Westminster will not grant any indyref2 until at least after the next UK general election
You are probably right there won't be one until after then, and legally that is acceptable. Part of me will even be slightly relieved not to face that prospect sooner, tinged with concern it will aggravate theissue. I was merely refuting malc's assumption that since I don't want to lose my identity I must therefore be 'happy' to deny a vote to Scotland, which is nonsense based on the common assumption that everyone who holds one view must hold the most extreme additional views of others who hold it. It certainly wasn't based on anything I have ever said
People will not wait that long. It is not up to a balloon in Westminster whether we can vote or not.
You can vote Malc but for it to be legal in law it needs Westminster approval.
You do not like that but then I do not like the ECJ ruling over us but at present we have no choice
I would expect the Westminster government to accept the validity of a referendum if the SNP wins a majority in 2021 and do not accept HYUFD view Boris will prevent it
However, as I have said before and never waivered, I do not believe an independence vote will be won, especially because of covid, but let us see
You can expect what you want it will not happen, the Tory manifesto made clear there would be no indyref2 if the Tories won a majority and with a Tory majority of 80 it has zero chance of getting through Westminster. End of conversation.
It would take a Starmer premiership and an SNP majority at Holyrood for indyref2 to happen
She's clearly obsessed with a fear that Scotland's CV-19 figures might be worse than England's. Of course she can argue that "ENGLAND STOLE ALL OUR PPE!!", but even so, might be tricky come next year's election...
I'm sure she can pick up a few 'comparative international numbers are pointless unless they show us in a good light' lines from HMG. Of course 'not as bad as the USA' isn't HUGELY comforting.
The absolute inevitability of SNP most seats is what drives Tory tactics in focusing on indepdence. What is the point in spending a lot of time developing a better policy on education when there is no chance of being the government? What they are seeking to do is consolidate enough of the Unionist vote to prevent an SNP majority and thus, hopefully, prevent a second referendum (subject to the little green helpers, of course).
Whilst I understand the logic of that it is a mistake. Scotland has not had an actual policy choice since 2007. In that 13 years we have had the truly disastrous Curriculum for Excellence imposed in our schools with the inevitable consequences in our PISA ranking, we have the insane position of still offering free University education to EU citizens at a time when funded places for Scots are being restricted, we have had the shambolic and ongoing embarrassment that is Police Scotland, we have had an ever more centralised and unaccountable concentration of power in the likes of the Care Commission, stripping local government of powers and budget, I really could go on and on. As someone actively interested in politics I genuinely don't know what the Tories or Labour are proposing in relation to these failures. It's not good enough. Scotland needs a proper choice.
Which is part of why I back Scottish independence as the best thing for Scotland.
It is only once the independence issue is over and done with that Scotland can get mature, grown up politics back.
I am British. I would be stripped of my national identity if that were to happen. I will do all I can to stop it.
Good man. I feel the same way.
I am English but love Scotland - I lived there for six years as a child - and feel it's part of our UK.
I would be so upset if it left. It's the emotional connections that mean so much to me.
British identity is already dead. The country is possessed by an English nationalism that regards all other identities as invalid.
Please dont tell me my identity is dead. Its extremely childish to tell people how in effect that what they feel is not real, as a means of delegitimising a particular view.
That the identity may not be strong enough with enough people to preserve the union may be true but that's not the same thing.
Yet you are happy that the people of Scotland are denied a vote jsut so you can retain your Britishness.
No, I think there should be another vote, I don't think it can reasonably be denied and have said so ever since an election was called in 2017 after A50 was triggered on the basis that I felt the period of negotiation justified pausing any such vote plans, but if a GE was acceptable in that time then a SINDY ref was too, if the Scottish people wanted it.
I don't want to lose my Britishness, but I've never suggested that desire should deny a vote to Scotland.
Well fine but the Tories won a majority in 2019 with a manifesto commitment to no indyref2.
While Starmer has said he would grant indyref2 if the SNP won a majority and he was PM, Boris has made clear he will not grant indyref2 whatever the circumstances based on the 'once in a generation' referendum in 2014.
So whatever happens at Holyrood next year Westminster will not grant any indyref2 until at least after the next UK general election
You are probably right there won't be one until after then, and legally that is acceptable. Part of me will even be slightly relieved not to face that prospect sooner, tinged with concern it will aggravate theissue. I was merely refuting malc's assumption that since I don't want to lose my identity I must therefore be 'happy' to deny a vote to Scotland, which is nonsense based on the common assumption that everyone who holds one view must hold the most extreme additional views of others who hold it. It certainly wasn't based on anything I have ever said
People will not wait that long. It is not up to a balloon in Westminster whether we can vote or not.
You can vote Malc but for it to be legal in law it needs Westminster approval.
You do not like that but then I do not like the ECJ ruling over us but at present we have no choice
I would expect the Westminster government to accept the validity of a referendum if the SNP wins a majority in 2021 and do not accept HYUFD view Boris will prevent it
However, as I have said before and never waivered, I do not believe an independence vote will be won, especially because of covid, but let us see
You can expect what you want it will not happen, the Tory manifesto made clear there would be no indyref2 if the Tories won a majority and with a Tory majority of 80 it has zero chance of getting through Westminster. End of conversation.
It would take a Starmer premiership and an SNP majority at Holyrood for indyref2 to happen
Just 12% want the lockdown ended now or next week but just 24% want the lockdown to continue beyond July too. 648% want the lockdown ended by the end of the month, 68% want the lockdown ended by the end of June https://twitter.com/DavidWooding/status/1259406036202655745?s=20
Interesting figures, HY. So what is government policy now?
To have largely ended lockdown by the end of June bar mass gatherings, festivals and big sporting events but with testing and tracing greatly expanded by then
Has that come in an official statement yet? Or is it just your best guess, HY? Or do you have inside information?
I don’t think that they are cumulative. They are for the 7 day period only and comparing countries that have different levels of infection , different periods of lockdown, different intensity of lockdown and which are at different points on the curve. In short, a total waste of time.
Not just that, reported deaths in the UK public stats are not by date of death, so someone who died in March will be included as having happened in the last 7 days in that chart. It's worse than useless for any kind of serious analysis. Additionally it doesn't take into account how different countries make up their death statistics, do they include non-hospital deaths or does it require a positive test etc...
The absolute inevitability of SNP most seats is what drives Tory tactics in focusing on indepdence. What is the point in spending a lot of time developing a better policy on education when there is no chance of being the government? What they are seeking to do is consolidate enough of the Unionist vote to prevent an SNP majority and thus, hopefully, prevent a second referendum (subject to the little green helpers, of course).
Whilst I understand the logic of that it is a mistake. Scotland has not had an actual policy choice since 2007. In that 13 years we have had the truly disastrous Curriculum for Excellence imposed in our schools with the inevitable consequences in our PISA ranking, we have the insane position of still offering free University education to EU citizens at a time when funded places for Scots are being restricted, we have had the shambolic and ongoing embarrassment that is Police Scotland, we have had an ever more centralised and unaccountable concentration of power in the likes of the Care Commission, stripping local government of powers and budget, I really could go on and on. As someone actively interested in politics I genuinely don't know what the Tories or Labour are proposing in relation to these failures. It's not good enough. Scotland needs a proper choice.
Which is part of why I back Scottish independence as the best thing for Scotland.
It is only once the independence issue is over and done with that Scotland can get mature, grown up politics back.
I am British. I would be stripped of my national identity if that were to happen. I will do all I can to stop it.
Good man. I feel the same way.
I am English but love Scotland - I lived there for six years as a child - and feel it's part of our UK.
I would be so upset if it left. It's the emotional connections that mean so much to me.
I feel the opposite, being owned and controlled by England is a disgrace.
You are not. You are fully equal with me in every way.
There's just fewer of you, that's all.
In a democracy doesn't having fewer voters matter?
Only if that group doesn't identify with the larger group. Otherwise you'd get separatist movements in Hampshire and Lincolnshire when different parties won.
This is what it all hinges on. Trouble is I suspect in Scotland it's split right down the middle.
... The new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, shares high sequence identity to SARS-CoV and a bat coronavirus RaTG132. While bats may be the reservoir host for various coronaviruses3,4, whether SARS-CoV-2 has other hosts remains ambiguous. In this study, one coronavirus isolated from a Malayan pangolin showed 100%, 98.6%, 97.8% and 90.7% amino acid identity with SARS-CoV-2 in the E, M, N and S genes, respectively. In particular, the receptor-binding domain within the S protein of the Pangolin-CoV is virtually identical to that of SARS-CoV-2, with one noncritical amino acid difference. Results of comparative genomic analysis suggest that SARS-CoV-2 might have originated from the recombination of a Pangolin-CoV-like virus with a Bat-CoV-RaTG13-like virus. The Pangolin-CoV was detected in 17 of 25 Malayan pangolins analyzed. Infected pangolins showed clinical signs and histological changes, and circulating antibodies against Pangolin-CoV reacted with the S protein of SARS-CoV-2. The isolation of a coronavirus that is highly related to SARS-CoV-2 in pangolins suggests that they have the potential to act as the intermediate host of SARS-CoV-2. The newly identified coronavirus in the most-trafficked mammal could represent a future threat to public health if wildlife trade is not effectively controlled....
I don’t think that they are cumulative. They are for the 7 day period only and comparing countries that have different levels of infection , different periods of lockdown, different intensity of lockdown and which are at different points on the curve. In short, a total waste of time.
Not just that, reported deaths in the UK public stats are not by date of death, so someone who died in March will be included as having happened in the last 7 days in that chart. It's worse than useless for any kind of serious analysis. Additionally it doesn't take into account how different countries make up their death statistics, do they include non-hospital deaths or does it require a positive test etc...
The absolute inevitability of SNP most seats is what drives Tory tactics in focusing on indepdence. What is the point in spending a lot of time developing a better policy on education when there is no chance of being the government? What they are seeking to do is consolidate enough of the Unionist vote to prevent an SNP majority and thus, hopefully, prevent a second referendum (subject to the little green helpers, of course).
Whilst I understand the logic of that it is a mistake. Scotland has not had an actual policy choice since 2007. In that 13 years we have had the truly disastrous Curriculum for Excellence imposed in our schools with the inevitable consequences in our PISA ranking, we have the insane position of still offering free University education to EU citizens at a time when funded places for Scots are being restricted, we have had the shambolic and ongoing embarrassment that is Police Scotland, we have had an ever more centralised and unaccountable concentration of power in the likes of the Care Commission, stripping local government of powers and budget, I really could go on and on. As someone actively interested in politics I genuinely don't know what the Tories or Labour are proposing in relation to these failures. It's not good enough. Scotland needs a proper choice.
Which is part of why I back Scottish independence as the best thing for Scotland.
It is only once the independence issue is over and done with that Scotland can get mature, grown up politics back.
I am British. I would be stripped of my national identity if that were to happen. I will do all I can to stop it.
Good man. I feel the same way.
I am English but love Scotland - I lived there for six years as a child - and feel it's part of our UK.
I would be so upset if it left. It's the emotional connections that mean so much to me.
I feel the opposite, being owned and controlled by England is a disgrace.
You are not. You are fully equal with me in every way.
There's just fewer of you, that's all.
Look, a few hundred million EU citizens are waving at you.
It does make me laugh at how people keep comparing the EU and the UK as if they are exactly the same thing.
Looking at the Sweden National Statistics Office death results and now Sweden has an excess deaths problem.
I said before that their deatha over the 5 year baseline were basically tacking their corona virus recorded deaths. Not any more. Now I'm seeing multiple days with an extra 40% on top.
Comments
48% want the lockdown ended by the end of the month, 68% want the lockdown ended by the end of June
https://twitter.com/DavidWooding/status/1259406036202655745?s=20
By failing to exert full control over PHE, Hancock has probably caused the deaths of thousands of additional people and led to two extensions of lockdown.
It would take a Starmer premiership and an SNP majority at Holyrood for indyref2 to happen
2021 will be an SNP landslide and will hopefully be based on independence, but either way will ensure some kind of referendum is held with or without our lords and masters in Westminster. You cannot keep colonies prisoner long term.
Except with the EU being a democracy the Eurozone could always outvote the UK.
With the UK being a democracy England can always outvote Scotland.
I'd rather give up Scotland than democracy.
https://twitter.com/JoeMillerJr/status/1259388568620982277?s=20
PS: It is changing many people's opinion who were soft on independence previously
Whereas staying alert is relevant advice when it comes to keeping distance from other people and touching things.
But I would agree with the proposition that each country raises the taxes for its own expenditure.
As for Boris covid has hit him hard and it does concern me. Hopefully he will regain his energy in time and it will be interesting to see how he comes over tonight
I know how this ends. Your blind spot eventually overtakes you completely.
And where did the “stiff broom” decision a couple of months back to discharge 15,000 NHS patients into care homes or the community originate ?
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20200510000115
A simple method to prevent spectacle lenses misting up on wearing a face mask
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3293317/
Try your local church, nightclub, mosque or Wetherspoons.
Missing the point again completely - what is going to damage the government is if the narrative takes hold that we are the worst performing country in Europe and that the Cabinet, by extension, have been incompetent.
If that view takes hold it won't matter a jot that Belgium has more deaths per head.
I am happy for a referendum to take place as I re-iterate, Scotland will vote to stay in the union
https://twitter.com/nicolasturgeon/status/1259432190368190465?s=21
Except it is not, bar the Tories declining to 'just' 49%
https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1259216403116298240?s=20
https://twitter.com/MattSingh_/status/1259212991624622084?s=20
https://youtu.be/g1ElO6ybqv0
Pretty much all it actually demonstrates is where countries are in the curve.
The most worrying thing is that there is a BBC 'journalist' on the thread wanting to talk about it:
https://twitter.com/RhiannonWilko/status/1259429591963353089
Boris was asleep at the wheel, MIA at a country house with Carrie for the second half of February when he should have been focussing on what was heading our way. The government has been running to try to catch up ever since.
However we cannot know what Brexit will look like longer term until after the next general election ie still WTO terms or Canada style FTA if the EU back down with Boris, or back in the single market with Starmer.
So any indyref2 must wait until after the next UK general election whatever happens at Holyrood next year
On the care home policy, there needs to be a full investigation into who ultimately signed that off and what kind of decision making process it was. It probably didn't go as high as the minister, but I'm sure he pushed them hard to get beds empty "at any cost" and then PHE managers did the "at any cost" thing.
Of all the shambles we've had in this virus response that probably ranks at the top, sending people back without testing them for the virus has led to many thousands of people dying unnecessarily.
cue for micro analysis of slogan, search for police trying to interpret new wording, hours of mindless discussion over minutiae by lobby on tv.
Enjoy.
Does that mean visiting family once a week?
Rapid COVID-19 vaccine development
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/05/07/science.abb8923
We shall have to wait to see the legislation and whether it changes.
Building on the model from France, I don't really understand why it's so hard to have different rates of easing the lockdown across the country. There needs to be clear signalling of what is being implemented of course, but that Scotland / Wales / N Ireland / different regions of England have slightly different restrictions seems entirely reasonable and will be needed moving forward (e.g., the shutdown of bars in Seoul but not the rest of S. Korea).
I have always seen Brexit (and Scottish/Welsh devolution) as part of a longer process; taking power away from Westminster is next.
This is what it all hinges on. Trouble is I suspect in Scotland it's split right down the middle.
Isolation of SARS-CoV-2-related coronavirus from Malayan pangolins
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2313-x
... The new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, shares high sequence identity to SARS-CoV and a bat coronavirus RaTG132. While bats may be the reservoir host for various coronaviruses3,4, whether SARS-CoV-2 has other hosts remains ambiguous. In this study, one coronavirus isolated from a Malayan pangolin showed 100%, 98.6%, 97.8% and 90.7% amino acid identity with SARS-CoV-2 in the E, M, N and S genes, respectively. In particular, the receptor-binding domain within the S protein of the Pangolin-CoV is virtually identical to that of SARS-CoV-2, with one noncritical amino acid difference. Results of comparative genomic analysis suggest that SARS-CoV-2 might have originated from the recombination of a Pangolin-CoV-like virus with a Bat-CoV-RaTG13-like virus. The Pangolin-CoV was detected in 17 of 25 Malayan pangolins analyzed. Infected pangolins showed clinical signs and histological changes, and circulating antibodies against Pangolin-CoV reacted with the S protein of SARS-CoV-2. The isolation of a coronavirus that is highly related to SARS-CoV-2 in pangolins suggests that they have the potential to act as the intermediate host of SARS-CoV-2. The newly identified coronavirus in the most-trafficked mammal could represent a future threat to public health if wildlife trade is not effectively controlled....
In the absence of knowing they may just do it anyway and the Government will then catch up.
Brazen.
I said before that their deatha over the 5 year baseline were basically tacking their corona virus recorded deaths. Not any more. Now I'm seeing multiple days with an extra 40% on top.
Sweden now does have a 'hidden' problem