"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
stick their 5 levels up their arses, traffic lights sounds much more sensible and harder to make a load of bollox about obscure mumbo jumbo levels
Why would the likes of Watford, Bournemouth, Southampton, Leicester etc possibly vote for this. At a stretch they could get 6 votes out of 20, they need 14. Straight to the Prem is therefore a non runner.
Joining League 2 is possible, the football league would benefit massively from their brands, but the path to the prem is long and uncertain, even League 1 isnt trivial to get out as the likes of Man City, Sunderland, Leeds, Forest have found, and the Champ is a bit of a lottery with so many clubs on parachute payments making historic size of club less important than recently getting Prem money.
At least if they started in league 2 they would be used to the standard of opposition they would be playing.
With 50K+ supporters every game , only limited by number of seats,there is absolutely no chance they would join a diddy English league. Far better to have a Northern Europe league of similar sized countries.
Rarely we are in agreement! A league of Celtic, Rangers, Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, Benfica, Porto, Sporting Lisbon, Anderlecht, and a few more makes a lot of sense. They could even play their reserves in their national competitions to keep those alive too.
The UK agreed to level playing field provisions in the political declaration.
It’s there in black and white .
There are standard level playing field provisions in CEFTA deal that Canada and the EU agreed. The UK wants those level playing field provisions applied.
The EU wants unprecedented ones agreed.
What the UK wants has precedence and is there in black and white.
The UK wants nothing enforceable but just that to be taken on trust so it’s worthless. Why would the EU agree to that .
Because it is the exact same LPF provisions the EU have already agreed to in the past.
The reality is you need to be either in or work closely with one of the big blocks in the world. For us by virtue of geography and because the others are harder or worse to work with that means the EU. Since we voted to leave we can't be in the EU. Hence we should work closely with them.
Why? Why is that reality?
Many successful free trading nations work seek to trade and work with many blocs while not being in any.
Japan, S Korea, Australia, then struggling and those are all in their own free trade area with other asian countries so essentially a minor bloc.
And Singapore, but their trade bloc is quite minor in comparison and Japan has suggested the UK could join the TPP post-Brexit which considering its a trade deal not a political bloc I'd be quite happy with.
So not many countries then? One twice our size, one mineral rich, just one similar nation - all in the same bloc adhering to rules - a bit like the old EEC if not the EU - and one city state.
That's most of the world's developed free trading nations that aren't in blocs.
Who else do you want to compare us to? There aren't that many comparable nations.
Rubbish, the UK is now effectively a Federal nation and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland are basically regions of the UK, none have been independent nations for centuries.
Always interesting to encounter the psychological barrier some Englanders have for including their own country in their regionalisation of the UK.
How many centuries has it been since England was an independent country?
England is basically a region of the UK too but does not yet have its own Parliament unlike Scotland or its own Assembly like Wales and Northern Ireland, only EVEL at Westminster
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
It was put forward as a clear five level system, a position that lasted about thirty seconds, up until Boris announced that we would be starting at level three-and-a-half....
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
It was put forward as a clear five level system, a position that lasted about thirty seconds, up until Boris announced that we would be starting at level three-and-a-half....
Which made sense. We're taking baby steps to transition from stage 4 to stage 3.
Despite beings its most high profile foreign supporter, Trump is a huge barrier to the chances of Brexit becoming a success. If he loses, Brexit does have some cards to try and play, if he wins again, we have nowhere to go.
If Trump loses there is zero chance of a trade deal, Biden and the Democrats will prioritise a trade deal with the EU over the UK
I am not talking about a trade deal, that is not happening for various reasons regardless of who is in power.
Trump is bad for Brexit because the UK cannot even start to rely on organisations like the WTO in his world. In his world it will be all about power, and if you are not US, China, EU you will be in a terrible starting point.
The US is our biggest export destination, we need a trade deal with them post Brexit and Trump is more likely to do that with the UK ahead of the EU than Biden is.
The WTO will still exist Trump or no Trump
The WTO existing does not help weaker countries in a dispute with a strong country or bloc.
It needs judges to make decisions and countries to respect and uphold those decisions.
The USA has rarely done the latter, but at least didnt use to stop the former.
Whatever the WTO rules say powerful countries will do as they please, and the UK will be in shock, saying but the rules say we should be doing it our way. Just as we have done with the EU, continually surprised some countries dont follow the rules whilst we try to.
If Trump loses, then we will still be on WTO terms anyway under Boris from next year with the EU but with zero chance of a trade deal with the US, Biden and the Democrats will ignore us and focus on a trade deal with the EU.
We need a trade deal with the US, our biggest export destination and the most powerful nation we need to align with post Brexit to make it sustainable if we are to leave the EU and single market
No we don't.
A trade deal will be great if and when we can get one, but we do not need to align with anyone. We didn't leave one union to become lapdog of another.
If we don't get a trade deal with the EU and we don't get a trade deal with the US that means over half the nations we export to we will have no trade deal with once we leave the single market and customs union next year.
Only Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland are guaranteed FTAs for us at the moment
Despite beings its most high profile foreign supporter, Trump is a huge barrier to the chances of Brexit becoming a success. If he loses, Brexit does have some cards to try and play, if he wins again, we have nowhere to go.
If Trump loses there is zero chance of a trade deal, Biden and the Democrats will prioritise a trade deal with the EU over the UK
I am not talking about a trade deal, that is not happening for various reasons regardless of who is in power.
Trump is bad for Brexit because the UK cannot even start to rely on organisations like the WTO in his world. In his world it will be all about power, and if you are not US, China, EU you will be in a terrible starting point.
The US is our biggest export destination, we need a trade deal with them post Brexit and Trump is more likely to do that with the UK ahead of the EU than Biden is.
The WTO will still exist Trump or no Trump
The WTO existing does not help weaker countries in a dispute with a strong country or bloc.
It needs judges to make decisions and countries to respect and uphold those decisions.
The USA has rarely done the latter, but at least didnt use to stop the former.
Whatever the WTO rules say powerful countries will do as they please, and the UK will be in shock, saying but the rules say we should be doing it our way. Just as we have done with the EU, continually surprised some countries dont follow the rules whilst we try to.
If Trump loses, then we will still be on WTO terms anyway under Boris from next year with the EU but with zero chance of a trade deal with the US, Biden and the Democrats will ignore us and focus on a trade deal with the EU.
We need a trade deal with the US, our biggest export destination and the most powerful nation we need to align with post Brexit to make it sustainable if we are to leave the EU and single market
No we don't.
A trade deal will be great if and when we can get one, but we do not need to align with anyone. We didn't leave one union to become lapdog of another.
If we don't get a trade deal with the EU and we don't get a trade deal with the US that means over half the nations we export to we will have no trade deal with once we leave the single market and customs union next year.
Only Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland are guaranteed FTAs for us at the moment
Yeah and!?
So we trade on WTO terms for a few years while seeking to negotiate an equitable and reasonable trade deal with the EU and USA in the future without selling our souls in the interim.
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
It was put forward as a clear five level system, a position that lasted about thirty seconds, up until Boris announced that we would be starting at level three-and-a-half....
If the Boris had proposed 3 level traffic light system, guarantee the Welsh government would have said that isn't detailed enough we need a 5 level system like the terror threat level.
Despite beings its most high profile foreign supporter, Trump is a huge barrier to the chances of Brexit becoming a success. If he loses, Brexit does have some cards to try and play, if he wins again, we have nowhere to go.
If Trump loses there is zero chance of a trade deal, Biden and the Democrats will prioritise a trade deal with the EU over the UK
I am not talking about a trade deal, that is not happening for various reasons regardless of who is in power.
Trump is bad for Brexit because the UK cannot even start to rely on organisations like the WTO in his world. In his world it will be all about power, and if you are not US, China, EU you will be in a terrible starting point.
The US is our biggest export destination, we need a trade deal with them post Brexit and Trump is more likely to do that with the UK ahead of the EU than Biden is.
The WTO will still exist Trump or no Trump
The WTO existing does not help weaker countries in a dispute with a strong country or bloc.
It needs judges to make decisions and countries to respect and uphold those decisions.
The USA has rarely done the latter, but at least didnt use to stop the former.
Whatever the WTO rules say powerful countries will do as they please, and the UK will be in shock, saying but the rules say we should be doing it our way. Just as we have done with the EU, continually surprised some countries dont follow the rules whilst we try to.
If Trump loses, then we will still be on WTO terms anyway under Boris from next year with the EU but with zero chance of a trade deal with the US, Biden and the Democrats will ignore us and focus on a trade deal with the EU.
We need a trade deal with the US, our biggest export destination and the most powerful nation we need to align with post Brexit to make it sustainable if we are to leave the EU and single market
If we need one we are f***ed because it aint happening. At a minimum you would need the Republicans to win back the house, and hold that and the senate for 4 years. And the UK parliament to surrender on food safety and healthcare provision. None of those things are happening on their own, let alone the magical acca.
If your thoughts are representative of your parties then there really isnt much hope.
If Trump is re elected he would push a UK trade deal and Congress would agree as the Withdrawal Agreement avoids a hard border with the Republic of Ireland.
If Biden wins he will ignore us and not push a UK trade deal but favour a deal with the EU first
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
Yes. Wales should have adopted the UK's 5 level system and joined England at level 3.5. It makes so much sense, other non-UK countries should adopt it too.
Despite beings its most high profile foreign supporter, Trump is a huge barrier to the chances of Brexit becoming a success. If he loses, Brexit does have some cards to try and play, if he wins again, we have nowhere to go.
If Trump loses there is zero chance of a trade deal, Biden and the Democrats will prioritise a trade deal with the EU over the UK
I am not talking about a trade deal, that is not happening for various reasons regardless of who is in power.
Trump is bad for Brexit because the UK cannot even start to rely on organisations like the WTO in his world. In his world it will be all about power, and if you are not US, China, EU you will be in a terrible starting point.
The US is our biggest export destination, we need a trade deal with them post Brexit and Trump is more likely to do that with the UK ahead of the EU than Biden is.
The WTO will still exist Trump or no Trump
The WTO existing does not help weaker countries in a dispute with a strong country or bloc.
It needs judges to make decisions and countries to respect and uphold those decisions.
The USA has rarely done the latter, but at least didnt use to stop the former.
Whatever the WTO rules say powerful countries will do as they please, and the UK will be in shock, saying but the rules say we should be doing it our way. Just as we have done with the EU, continually surprised some countries dont follow the rules whilst we try to.
If Trump loses, then we will still be on WTO terms anyway under Boris from next year with the EU but with zero chance of a trade deal with the US, Biden and the Democrats will ignore us and focus on a trade deal with the EU.
We need a trade deal with the US, our biggest export destination and the most powerful nation we need to align with post Brexit to make it sustainable if we are to leave the EU and single market
No we don't.
A trade deal will be great if and when we can get one, but we do not need to align with anyone. We didn't leave one union to become lapdog of another.
If we don't get a trade deal with the EU and we don't get a trade deal with the US that means over half the nations we export to we will have no trade deal with once we leave the single market and customs union next year.
Only Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland are guaranteed FTAs for us at the moment
Yeah and!?
So we trade on WTO terms for a few years while seeking to negotiate an equitable and reasonable trade deal with the EU and USA in the future without selling our souls in the interim.
Imagine we trade on WTO terms and the EU breaks those terms (at least in our eyes, they say they are abiding by them) - what happens? Without judges being appointed, and the institution being respected we have absolutely no means of enforcing said rules. We will just be on the sidelines moaning, yet again.
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
It was put forward as a clear five level system, a position that lasted about thirty seconds, up until Boris announced that we would be starting at level three-and-a-half....
If the Boris had proposed 3 level traffic light system, guarantee the Welsh government would have said that isn't detailed enough we need a 5 level system like the terror threat level.
That is probably true. It does not answer @IanB2's point.
The reality is you need to be either in or work closely with one of the big blocks in the world. For us by virtue of geography and because the others are harder or worse to work with that means the EU. Since we voted to leave we can't be in the EU. Hence we should work closely with them.
Why? Why is that reality?
Many successful free trading nations work seek to trade and work with many blocs while not being in any.
Japan, S Korea, Australia, then struggling and those are all in their own free trade area with other asian countries so essentially a minor bloc.
And Singapore, but their trade bloc is quite minor in comparison and Japan has suggested the UK could join the TPP post-Brexit which considering its a trade deal not a political bloc I'd be quite happy with.
So not many countries then? One twice our size, one mineral rich, just one similar nation - all in the same bloc adhering to rules - a bit like the old EEC if not the EU - and one city state.
That's most of the world's developed free trading nations that aren't in blocs.
Who else do you want to compare us to? There aren't that many comparable nations.
Because it makes more sense to be in blocs! Yes I agree there arent many good comparables, that is why I questioned your use of many.
Rubbish, the UK is now effectively a Federal nation and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland are basically regions of the UK, none have been independent nations for centuries.
Always interesting to encounter the psychological barrier some Englanders have for including their own country in their regionalisation of the UK.
How many centuries has it been since England was an independent country?
England is basically a region of the UK too but does not yet have its own Parliament unlike Scotland or its own Assembly like Wales and Northern Ireland, only EVEL at Westminster
When is the Tory party going to give in to massive public demand* for an English parliament and put legislating for such a thing in a manifesto?
Despite beings its most high profile foreign supporter, Trump is a huge barrier to the chances of Brexit becoming a success. If he loses, Brexit does have some cards to try and play, if he wins again, we have nowhere to go.
If Trump loses there is zero chance of a trade deal, Biden and the Democrats will prioritise a trade deal with the EU over the UK
I am not talking about a trade deal, that is not happening for various reasons regardless of who is in power.
Trump is bad for Brexit because the UK cannot even start to rely on organisations like the WTO in his world. In his world it will be all about power, and if you are not US, China, EU you will be in a terrible starting point.
The US is our biggest export destination, we need a trade deal with them post Brexit and Trump is more likely to do that with the UK ahead of the EU than Biden is.
The WTO will still exist Trump or no Trump
The WTO existing does not help weaker countries in a dispute with a strong country or bloc.
It needs judges to make decisions and countries to respect and uphold those decisions.
The USA has rarely done the latter, but at least didnt use to stop the former.
Whatever the WTO rules say powerful countries will do as they please, and the UK will be in shock, saying but the rules say we should be doing it our way. Just as we have done with the EU, continually surprised some countries dont follow the rules whilst we try to.
If Trump loses, then we will still be on WTO terms anyway under Boris from next year with the EU but with zero chance of a trade deal with the US, Biden and the Democrats will ignore us and focus on a trade deal with the EU.
We need a trade deal with the US, our biggest export destination and the most powerful nation we need to align with post Brexit to make it sustainable if we are to leave the EU and single market
No we don't.
A trade deal will be great if and when we can get one, but we do not need to align with anyone. We didn't leave one union to become lapdog of another.
If we don't get a trade deal with the EU and we don't get a trade deal with the US that means over half the nations we export to we will have no trade deal with once we leave the single market and customs union next year.
Only Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland are guaranteed FTAs for us at the moment
Yeah and!?
So we trade on WTO terms for a few years while seeking to negotiate an equitable and reasonable trade deal with the EU and USA in the future without selling our souls in the interim.
Which basically means we trade on WTO terms for a decade or more with both the EU and US unless Starmer gets in and takes us back into the single market or the EU dilute their demands or another Republican pro Brexit President is elected
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
It was put forward as a clear five level system, a position that lasted about thirty seconds, up until Boris announced that we would be starting at level three-and-a-half....
Which made sense. We're taking baby steps to transition from stage 4 to stage 3.
Wouldnt a ten point scale have made more sense? Then we could be on 7, having left 8 and looking to get to 6. Just saying....
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
I think in part this splintered approach to the lockdown is a natural consequence of devolution - after all, if everybody always does the same thing and fails to take account of local conditions, then what's the point of it? But also there are political imperatives at work - as you say, they have to show everybody that they're in charge. In Wales this is because we're Labour and we don't take orders from the evil Tories. In Scotland this is because we want independence and to be rid of the evil Tories. In Northern Ireland this is because our Government is a two-headed snake and the heads are too busy trying to bite each other for the body to move very far.
The easiest solution to all of this is to scrap the Union as soon as the immediate crisis is out of the way. Then everyone can do their own thing 100% of the time and these sorts of differences will cease to be a problem.
The Tory Little Englanders are reaping what they sow, they ignore the devolved governments, do not have any dialogue , rubbish any input and insist they are too stupid to be involved. Then when they do their own thing the clowns complain they are not team players. Sooner we are independent the better.
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
It was put forward as a clear five level system, a position that lasted about thirty seconds, up until Boris announced that we would be starting at level three-and-a-half....
If the Boris had proposed 3 level traffic light system, guarantee the Welsh government would have said that isn't detailed enough we need a 5 level system like the terror threat level.
With garden centres opening and my son in laws golf club opening to members to play from wednesday subject to playing with no more than 2 and strict tee times with no access to the clubhouse, maybe Drakeford is seeing a bit of a kick back by some here in Wales
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
It was put forward as a clear five level system, a position that lasted about thirty seconds, up until Boris announced that we would be starting at level three-and-a-half....
Which made sense. We're taking baby steps to transition from stage 4 to stage 3.
That thinking looks back to front to me.
The system is an alert system I thought ?
The alert system level should be driving the steps you're taking but those actions themself don't (Or at least shouldn't) determine what the alert level is.
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
It was put forward as a clear five level system, a position that lasted about thirty seconds, up until Boris announced that we would be starting at level three-and-a-half....
Which made sense. We're taking baby steps to transition from stage 4 to stage 3.
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
I think in part this splintered approach to the lockdown is a natural consequence of devolution - after all, if everybody always does the same thing and fails to take account of local conditions, then what's the point of it? But also there are political imperatives at work - as you say, they have to show everybody that they're in charge. In Wales this is because we're Labour and we don't take orders from the evil Tories. In Scotland this is because we want independence and to be rid of the evil Tories. In Northern Ireland this is because our Government is a two-headed snake and the heads are too busy trying to bite each other for the body to move very far.
The easiest solution to all of this is to scrap the Union as soon as the immediate crisis is out of the way. Then everyone can do their own thing 100% of the time and these sorts of differences will cease to be a problem.
No, there is nothing wrong with devolved governments taking a slightly different approach while maintaining the Union.
In domestic policy Westminster is effectively the English Parliament now anyway, it just sets some tax and foreign policy for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Westminster is obviously not the English Parliament because it still contains 117 members who aren't elected in England.
Conversely, why the situation should still prevail in which these other countries require large areas of policy to be decided by an assembly consisting mainly of English people, goodness only knows.
We must remember that (with all the usual caveats around Northern Ireland,) the UK is a union of nations and not one of regions like most properly constituted federations (the US, Canada, Australia, Germany etc.) And it's one that's outlived its usefulness.
What conceivable value the Union with Scotland, for example, holds for the English people is never adequately articulated. The only obvious answers anybody can come up with are 'we need somewhere to put our ballistic missile submarines' and 'we might have to give up our UN Security Council seat otherwise,' and these are matters of no importance to almost the entire general population of the country - who are mostly interested in getting on with their lives in peace and, to the extent that politics troubles them at all, are primarily concerned with resolving England's many internal problems.
All of the conditions that promoted the creation of the United Kingdom and necessitated its continuity have been removed. It should be euthanized compassionately and given a decent burial.
Rubbish, the UK is now effectively a Federal nation and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland are basically regions of the UK, none have been independent nations for centuries.
Bavaria was once an independent country, that does not stop it now being a region of a Federal Germany.
Scotland also has plenty of oil and renewable energy, a thriving financial sector and whisky industry and some excellent universities and regiments as well as holding Trident. It contributes a great deal to the UK
The devolved assemblies have no constitutional right to exist and the English don't get one, so we have this dog's breakfast arrangement of the UK Government and Parliament trying to do two jobs at the same time. Apart from that the UK is a model federation.
Scotland is a necessary element of the UK, but this is an entirely separate issue to that of whether or not the UK is necessary to Scotland, or its other constituent parts.
What do you mean we have no right to a Scottish Government, typical English arrogance. Show me where in your "Constitution" it states that we are just a colony of England. There is nothing federal about the UK, it is a shitshow with power concentrated and reserved to England.
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
I think in part this splintered approach to the lockdown is a natural consequence of devolution - after all, if everybody always does the same thing and fails to take account of local conditions, then what's the point of it? But also there are political imperatives at work - as you say, they have to show everybody that they're in charge. In Wales this is because we're Labour and we don't take orders from the evil Tories. In Scotland this is because we want independence and to be rid of the evil Tories. In Northern Ireland this is because our Government is a two-headed snake and the heads are too busy trying to bite each other for the body to move very far.
The easiest solution to all of this is to scrap the Union as soon as the immediate crisis is out of the way. Then everyone can do their own thing 100% of the time and these sorts of differences will cease to be a problem.
No, there is nothing wrong with devolved governments taking a slightly different approach while maintaining the Union.
In domestic policy Westminster is effectively the English Parliament now anyway, it just sets some tax and foreign policy for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Westminster is obviously not the English Parliament because it still contains 117 members who aren't elected in England.
Conversely, why the situation should still prevail in which these other countries require large areas of policy to be decided by an assembly consisting mainly of English people, goodness only knows.
We must remember that (with all the usual caveats around Northern Ireland,) the UK is a union of nations and not one of regions like most properly constituted federations (the US, Canada, Australia, Germany etc.) And it's one that's outlived its usefulness.
What conceivable value the Union with Scotland, for example, holds for the English people is never adequately articulated. The only obvious answers anybody can come up with are 'we need somewhere to put our ballistic missile submarines' and 'we might have to give up our UN Security Council seat otherwise,' and these are matters of no importance to almost the entire general population of the country - who are mostly interested in getting on with their lives in peace and, to the extent that politics troubles them at all, are primarily concerned with resolving England's many internal problems.
All of the conditions that promoted the creation of the United Kingdom and necessitated its continuity have been removed. It should be euthanized compassionately and given a decent burial.
Rubbish, the UK is now effectively a Federal nation and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland are basically regions of the UK, none have been independent nations for centuries.
Bavaria was once an independent country, that does not stop it now being a region of a Federal Germany.
Scotland also has plenty of oil and renewable energy, a thriving financial sector and whisky industry and some excellent universities and regiments as well as holding Trident. It contributes a great deal to the UK
You get dafter by the day, delusion does not cover it. You make Trump sound like a reasonable sensible person.
Rubbish, the UK is now effectively a Federal nation and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland are basically regions of the UK, none have been independent nations for centuries.
Always interesting to encounter the psychological barrier some Englanders have for including their own country in their regionalisation of the UK.
How many centuries has it been since England was an independent country?
England is basically a region of the UK too but does not yet have its own Parliament unlike Scotland or its own Assembly like Wales and Northern Ireland, only EVEL at Westminster
When is the Tory party going to give in to massive public demand* for an English parliament and put legislating for such a thing in a manifesto?
*indifference
Personally I would have no problem with an English Parliament.
41% of English voters and 52% of Leave voters back an English Parliament
Very rare that I agree with Fraser Nelson these days but I think we are going to have to try some sort of regional controls here. Even in Scotland if you are not in a care home the risk of CV seems pretty minimal outside greater Glasgow. That might not always be the case but there are a lot of people isolated from family and friends, struggling with depression and the multiple side effects of that or in need of treatment for unrelated conditions who are being locked down and are at minimal risk. And there are some who want to go back to work too. People whose wages are not being paid by the State in the main.
Unfortunately there is a conflict of interest in the population.
Those working for the public sector (like me) with a guaranteed income and pension are, relatively, content with the lockdown and have no problem with it being extended. Why should we? Safety first and all that. Scotland, of course, has a huge host of comfortably-off middle-class white collar public sector workers who dominate the political system.
My thoughts are with the poor blighters who are in the private sector, are self-employed, who run small businesses, and have mortgages to pay. This situation must seem horrific to them. No-one is clapping for them at 8pm on a Thursday. But I suspect their interests will simply be ignored by the priviligentsia.
Interesting how this same issue is presented in differing ways depending on political outlook. For the right - cossetted public sector vs exposed private sector. For the left - privileged middle class professionals vs the exploited working class.
Either way the private sector working class are being hit hardest at the moment and the public sector middle class surviving best economically the impact of the lockdown
Funnily enough, from my experience, the biggest supporters of a draconian, as long as it takes lockdown have been middle class public sector professionals whose wages and pensions are not impacted currently by the crisis
Ps I have also found them the worst for not paying their cleaners, dog walkers etc during the crisis as well
Really? Or are you making shit up to support the softhead prejudice that one expects from a Trump fanboy?
No, I'm not. My wife and I were laid off. We took a conscious decision we would pay our dogwalker because she is stretched for cash and needs the income. Two of her clients whom we all know, who all have kept their jobs and WFH, and incomes remain unchanged and signal virtue at every opportunity didn't. The dogwalker is stressing out.
Ps Grow up. Just because somebody has a point of view you disagree with doesn't make them a "Trump fanboy"
Aren't you virtue signalling over your benevolence to your dogwalker?
Can you say who you would prefer to win WH2020? Please show your workings.
Not really. I didn't say upfront we were paying, only when challenged. Kinablu asked for information so I answered.
On who would prefer to win the WH, Trump over Biden. I think Trump personally is an absolutely a*se as a human being. But his analysis on China has been right strategically and I think for the coming problems, it is better to have him than Biden.
Ps at the risk of being seen to virtue signal (again), I did say a few threads back that, even though I am a Conservative, I did think the closing of the mines in the 1980s was wrong as it destroyed the communities. Voting one way doesn't mean you have to agree with everything.
Interesting to have a few Trump supporters like you here, ensures all views are heard
Mmm.
Given this is a betting site, always good to have a diversity of opinion to help improve your chances of winning
I agree with that. You stick around. But I cannot understand how somebody of intelligence can be sanguine about another 4 years of this malevolent, vacuous, hate-monging troll in the White House.
I think the clue to you, as so often, is in language. You use the word "arse" to describe him. He's an arse as a person. A bit of an arse. A total arse. Whatever. This is a classic tell. I hear it a lot from people about Trump - always from those who do not see him as the global menace he palpably is. "He's an arse" is invariably followed with a "but" and then comes the apologia.
Well, there is no but because he is NOT an "arse" - as a person or otherwise. What he is is the malevolent, vacuous, hate-monging troll in the White House. But not, IMO, for much longer.
All Republican candidates are demonised and then, in later years, when it suits the Democrats, they then get lauded as "principled" and the "right" sort of Republican. Happened with Reagan, GW Bush and Romney, and even McCain.
Trump is one of a kind so I see less chance of it here. But I would disagree he has made things more dangerous and others are more to blame. Even Condolezza Rice said the biggest mistake was to let China into the WTO.
The sort of republican they like is the sort who plays the game by their rules on their pitch. Who uses their language and their commonly accepted principles to address the issues of the day.
Trump does none of those things. That is why they find him so intensely annoying.
Exactly. The Kavanaugh nomination was a classic example - any other Republican leader would have rolled over. Trump rolled up his sleeves and fought back.
Yeah he fought like a lion to get his misogynist drunk of choice onto the Court.
Why was Kavanaugh a misogynist? Christine Blasey Ford couldn't remember basic details of what happened and claimed she was scared of flying to give herself more time for her case until it was pointed out all her pictures on Facebook of taking air travel for holidays.
She was quite clearly telling the truth. He was all bluster and dissembling.
You really are coming over as irredeemably biased now. C'mon. Get a grip.
LOL is Tara Reade 'quite clearly telling the truth?'
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
I think in part this splintered approach to the lockdown is a natural consequence of devolution - after all, if everybody always does the same thing and fails to take account of local conditions, then what's the point of it? But also there are political imperatives at work - as you say, they have to show everybody that they're in charge. In Wales this is because we're Labour and we don't take orders from the evil Tories. In Scotland this is because we want independence and to be rid of the evil Tories. In Northern Ireland this is because our Government is a two-headed snake and the heads are too busy trying to bite each other for the body to move very far.
The easiest solution to all of this is to scrap the Union as soon as the immediate crisis is out of the way. Then everyone can do their own thing 100% of the time and these sorts of differences will cease to be a problem.
The Tory Little Englanders are reaping what they sow, they ignore the devolved governments, do not have any dialogue , rubbish any input and insist they are too stupid to be involved. Then when they do their own thing the clowns complain they are not team players. Sooner we are independent the better.
Why would the likes of Watford, Bournemouth, Southampton, Leicester etc possibly vote for this. At a stretch they could get 6 votes out of 20, they need 14. Straight to the Prem is therefore a non runner.
Joining League 2 is possible, the football league would benefit massively from their brands, but the path to the prem is long and uncertain, even League 1 isnt trivial to get out as the likes of Man City, Sunderland, Leeds, Forest have found, and the Champ is a bit of a lottery with so many clubs on parachute payments making historic size of club less important than recently getting Prem money.
At least if they started in league 2 they would be used to the standard of opposition they would be playing.
With 50K+ supporters every game , only limited by number of seats,there is absolutely no chance they would join a diddy English league. Far better to have a Northern Europe league of similar sized countries.
Rarely we are in agreement! A league of Celtic, Rangers, Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, Benfica, Porto, Sporting Lisbon, Anderlecht, and a few more makes a lot of sense. They could even play their reserves in their national competitions to keep those alive too.
Exactly far better than any league in England where even the EPL is a 2 or 3 team competition with at least a dozen battling relegation and rest doing nothing.
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
It was put forward as a clear five level system, a position that lasted about thirty seconds, up until Boris announced that we would be starting at level three-and-a-half....
Which made sense. We're taking baby steps to transition from stage 4 to stage 3.
So it’s really a sliding scale?
Yes. It was quite clearly explained. We're having to keep things like hospitality completely locked (stage 4) but other things we can loosen on while maintaining social distances (stage 3). Doing it all in one go would be too dramatic.
Rubbish, the UK is now effectively a Federal nation and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland are basically regions of the UK, none have been independent nations for centuries.
Always interesting to encounter the psychological barrier some Englanders have for including their own country in their regionalisation of the UK.
How many centuries has it been since England was an independent country?
England is basically a region of the UK too but does not yet have its own Parliament unlike Scotland or its own Assembly like Wales and Northern Ireland, only EVEL at Westminster
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
I think in part this splintered approach to the lockdown is a natural consequence of devolution - after all, if everybody always does the same thing and fails to take account of local conditions, then what's the point of it? But also there are political imperatives at work - as you say, they have to show everybody that they're in charge. In Wales this is because we're Labour and we don't take orders from the evil Tories. In Scotland this is because we want independence and to be rid of the evil Tories. In Northern Ireland this is because our Government is a two-headed snake and the heads are too busy trying to bite each other for the body to move very far.
The easiest solution to all of this is to scrap the Union as soon as the immediate crisis is out of the way. Then everyone can do their own thing 100% of the time and these sorts of differences will cease to be a problem.
The Tory Little Englanders are reaping what they sow, they ignore the devolved governments, do not have any dialogue , rubbish any input and insist they are too stupid to be involved. Then when they do their own thing the clowns complain they are not team players. Sooner we are independent the better.
What is the difference between a small minded inward looking "Little Englander" (aka a nationalist)and a small minded inward looking "Little Scotlander" (aka a nationalist) . Answer - absolutely fuck all.
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
It was put forward as a clear five level system, a position that lasted about thirty seconds, up until Boris announced that we would be starting at level three-and-a-half....
Which made sense. We're taking baby steps to transition from stage 4 to stage 3.
"BABY" being the key word, how do you know you have done half of your level 4 , do they overlap with level 3 so you can make up new level 3.5. It is obviously for gullible halfwits.
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
It was put forward as a clear five level system, a position that lasted about thirty seconds, up until Boris announced that we would be starting at level three-and-a-half....
Which made sense. We're taking baby steps to transition from stage 4 to stage 3.
Wouldnt a ten point scale have made more sense? Then we could be on 7, having left 8 and looking to get to 6. Just saying....
No, because more than 10 steps may be necessary.
We don't need every individual step to be a distinct phase.
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
It was put forward as a clear five level system, a position that lasted about thirty seconds, up until Boris announced that we would be starting at level three-and-a-half....
Which made sense. We're taking baby steps to transition from stage 4 to stage 3.
Wouldnt a ten point scale have made more sense? Then we could be on 7, having left 8 and looking to get to 6. Just saying....
Just thinking -
Could this otherwise totally negative episode in our history leave us with a radically more numerate population as everyone focuses on and relentlessly discusses matters such as the R number, ICU capacity, disease mortality rates and - the biggie - the underlying mathematics of exponential growth?
Why would the likes of Watford, Bournemouth, Southampton, Leicester etc possibly vote for this. At a stretch they could get 6 votes out of 20, they need 14. Straight to the Prem is therefore a non runner.
Joining League 2 is possible, the football league would benefit massively from their brands, but the path to the prem is long and uncertain, even League 1 isnt trivial to get out as the likes of Man City, Sunderland, Leeds, Forest have found, and the Champ is a bit of a lottery with so many clubs on parachute payments making historic size of club less important than recently getting Prem money.
At least if they started in league 2 they would be used to the standard of opposition they would be playing.
With 50K+ supporters every game , only limited by number of seats,there is absolutely no chance they would join a diddy English league. Far better to have a Northern Europe league of similar sized countries.
Rarely we are in agreement! A league of Celtic, Rangers, Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, Benfica, Porto, Sporting Lisbon, Anderlecht, and a few more makes a lot of sense. They could even play their reserves in their national competitions to keep those alive too.
How do you manage promotion and relegation or is it a closed shop? What about the European places? What happens to the residue of the leagues that have now lost their biggest clubs?
I would go a different route for Scotland. I would try to encourage some of the regional clubs to merge together to create regional powerhouses e.g. Fife United
Mr. Above, if the EU were only a trading bloc I'd entirely support it.
But it isn't. It's a trading bloc and a political institution with a relentless drive to continually integrate to the centre.
Of course, my point is the UK continually misunderstands the world and then gets frustrated.
It is perfectly clear that if we end up on WTO rules, we will be completely bemused and befuddled when inevitably we learn that said rules dont mean much and arent enforced.
Very rare that I agree with Fraser Nelson these days but I think we are going to have to try some sort of regional controls here. Even in Scotland if you are not in a care home the risk of CV seems pretty minimal outside greater Glasgow. That might not always be the case but there are a lot of people isolated from family and friends, struggling with depression and the multiple side effects of that or in need of treatment for unrelated conditions who are being locked down and are at minimal risk. And there are some who want to go back to work too. People whose wages are not being paid by the State in the main.
Unfortunately there is a conflict of interest in the population.
Those working for the public sector (like me) with a guaranteed income and pension are, relatively, content with the lockdown and have no problem with it being extended. Why should we? Safety first and all that. Scotland, of course, has a huge host of comfortably-off middle-class white collar public sector workers who dominate the political system.
My thoughts are with the poor blighters who are in the private sector, are self-employed, who run small businesses, and have mortgages to pay. This situation must seem horrific to them. No-one is clapping for them at 8pm on a Thursday. But I suspect their interests will simply be ignored by the priviligentsia.
Interesting how this same issue is presented in differing ways depending on political outlook. For the right - cossetted public sector vs exposed private sector. For the left - privileged middle class professionals vs the exploited working class.
Either way the private sector working class are being hit hardest at the moment and the public sector middle class surviving best economically the impact of the lockdown
Funnily enough, from my experience, the biggest supporters of a draconian, as long as it takes lockdown have been middle class public sector professionals whose wages and pensions are not impacted currently by the crisis
Ps I have also found them the worst for not paying their cleaners, dog walkers etc during the crisis as well
Really? Or are you making shit up to support the softhead prejudice that one expects from a Trump fanboy?
No, I'm not. My wife and I were laid off. We took a conscious decision we would pay our dogwalker because she is stretched for cash and needs the income. Two of her clients whom we all know, who all have kept their jobs and WFH, and incomes remain unchanged and signal virtue at every opportunity didn't. The dogwalker is stressing out.
Ps Grow up. Just because somebody has a point of view you disagree with doesn't make them a "Trump fanboy"
Aren't you virtue signalling over your benevolence to your dogwalker?
Can you say who you would prefer to win WH2020? Please show your workings.
Not really. I didn't say upfront we were paying, only when challenged. Kinablu asked for information so I answered.
On who would prefer to win the WH, Trump over Biden. I think Trump personally is an absolutely a*se as a human being. But his analysis on China has been right strategically and I think for the coming problems, it is better to have him than Biden.
Ps at the risk of being seen to virtue signal (again), I did say a few threads back that, even though I am a Conservative, I did think the closing of the mines in the 1980s was wrong as it destroyed the communities. Voting one way doesn't mean you have to agree with everything.
Interesting to have a few Trump supporters like you here, ensures all views are heard
Mmm.
Given this is a betting site, always good to have a diversity of opinion to help improve your chances of winning
I agree with that. You stick around. But I cannot understand how somebody of intelligence can be sanguine about another 4 years of this malevolent, vacuous, hate-monging troll in the White House.
I think the clue to you, as so often, is in language. You use the word "arse" to describe him. He's an arse as a person. A bit of an arse. A total arse. Whatever. This is a classic tell. I hear it a lot from people about Trump - always from those who do not see him as the global menace he palpably is. "He's an arse" is invariably followed with a "but" and then comes the apologia.
Well, there is no but, because he is NOT an "arse" - as a person or otherwise. What he is is the malevolent, vacuous, hate-monging troll in the White House. But not, IMO, for much longer.
Thing is, many voters want middle class leftists trolled. THey don't particularly like Trump, but he annoys the heck out of people they like much less.
I think that is a key reason why Trump does actually do quite well. Certainly one of the reasons for me
Infantile
Why? As is seen on here, you mention you back someone that the left wing hates and it is not just a case of polite disagreement but downright name calling.
Much of the professional left-wing commentary these days reminds me of the Socrates quote in his trial "the most stupid people in the world are those who think they know anything and do not realise they know anything". They think they are right about everything and those who disagree are to be battered into submission , name called etc. It is a very unattractive trait.
Sorry, it should have said "do not realise they know nothing"!
Because liking someone because you think they wind people up that you dislike (and wanting "middle class leftists" trolled is hardly the heights of polite disagreement) might be an ok reason if you're talking about a stand-up comedian, but it's a pretty pathetic reason for a US president.
I think "middle class leftists" is tame compared with some of the vitriol thrown the other way.
To both you and Foxy, it is superficially stupid in one way but what is more stupid is to vote for a candidate / party that seems not only to not support what you believe in but to actively demonise what you think. Why should the WWC of the US go for the Democrats?
I heard of one CEO based out in San Francisco who stated that, if any of his staff voted for Trump, he would fire them. You think that is acceptable or is that ok because it's the Democrats and Democrats are "good" people.
Both sides have blinkered views. But what people don't like about many on the left is that they shove it down peoples' throats how wonderful people are on the left are as human beings and those on the right are borderline evil.
Well, if what you heard actually happened in San Francisco, then of course it's not acceptable. I don't know about the laws in the US or California, but for sure it's not the Republican party who would try to ensure that CEOs aren't legally able to fire people like that. So I guess if you find that kind of behaviour unacceptable you know which party not to vote for.
Please can you tell me when I have ever said the Democrats are good people. Please don't put words into my mouth.
And you are the one who started approving of things being "shoved down peoples' throats" by saying you like Trump because he annoys people you disagree with, not me.
Hypocrite.
Kamski, read my words - I said many on the left, not you. Hillary Clinton called 50%+ of Trump's voters "deplorable". You think that is acceptable?
As for my personal views, I think putting a smiley face after my original comment might suggest I am not being 100% serious but hey ho...
OK. Though you can understand when you wrote
"You think that is acceptable or is that ok because it's the Democrats and Democrats are "good" people. "
Why would the likes of Watford, Bournemouth, Southampton, Leicester etc possibly vote for this. At a stretch they could get 6 votes out of 20, they need 14. Straight to the Prem is therefore a non runner.
Joining League 2 is possible, the football league would benefit massively from their brands, but the path to the prem is long and uncertain, even League 1 isnt trivial to get out as the likes of Man City, Sunderland, Leeds, Forest have found, and the Champ is a bit of a lottery with so many clubs on parachute payments making historic size of club less important than recently getting Prem money.
At least if they started in league 2 they would be used to the standard of opposition they would be playing.
With 50K+ supporters every game , only limited by number of seats,there is absolutely no chance they would join a diddy English league. Far better to have a Northern Europe league of similar sized countries.
Rarely we are in agreement! A league of Celtic, Rangers, Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, Benfica, Porto, Sporting Lisbon, Anderlecht, and a few more makes a lot of sense. They could even play their reserves in their national competitions to keep those alive too.
Exactly far better than any league in England where even the EPL is a 2 or 3 team competition with at least a dozen battling relegation and rest doing nothing.
That league looks to me like it would be just the same. Perhaps Ajax, PSV and Porto battling for the title with the rest battling relegation [if it were an option]
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
I think in part this splintered approach to the lockdown is a natural consequence of devolution - after all, if everybody always does the same thing and fails to take account of local conditions, then what's the point of it? But also there are political imperatives at work - as you say, they have to show everybody that they're in charge. In Wales this is because we're Labour and we don't take orders from the evil Tories. In Scotland this is because we want independence and to be rid of the evil Tories. In Northern Ireland this is because our Government is a two-headed snake and the heads are too busy trying to bite each other for the body to move very far.
The easiest solution to all of this is to scrap the Union as soon as the immediate crisis is out of the way. Then everyone can do their own thing 100% of the time and these sorts of differences will cease to be a problem.
The Tory Little Englanders are reaping what they sow, they ignore the devolved governments, do not have any dialogue , rubbish any input and insist they are too stupid to be involved. Then when they do their own thing the clowns complain they are not team players. Sooner we are independent the better.
What is the difference between a small minded inward looking "Little Englander" (aka a nationalist)and a small minded inward looking "Little Scotlander" (aka a nationalist) . Answer - absolutely fuck all.
Little different, Yes voters in 2014 and Leave voters in 2016 were both driven by nationalism and regaining sovereignty mainly
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
It was put forward as a clear five level system, a position that lasted about thirty seconds, up until Boris announced that we would be starting at level three-and-a-half....
Which made sense. We're taking baby steps to transition from stage 4 to stage 3.
That thinking looks back to front to me.
The system is an alert system I thought ?
The alert system level should be driving the steps you're taking but those actions themself don't (Or at least shouldn't) determine what the alert level is.
OK it is an alert system and the alert points us at somewhere between 3 and 4.
People getting their knickers in the twist at being between two points bemuse me. Why would we ever need to be all or nothing?
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
I think in part this splintered approach to the lockdown is a natural consequence of devolution - after all, if everybody always does the same thing and fails to take account of local conditions, then what's the point of it? But also there are political imperatives at work - as you say, they have to show everybody that they're in charge. In Wales this is because we're Labour and we don't take orders from the evil Tories. In Scotland this is because we want independence and to be rid of the evil Tories. In Northern Ireland this is because our Government is a two-headed snake and the heads are too busy trying to bite each other for the body to move very far.
The easiest solution to all of this is to scrap the Union as soon as the immediate crisis is out of the way. Then everyone can do their own thing 100% of the time and these sorts of differences will cease to be a problem.
The Tory Little Englanders are reaping what they sow, they ignore the devolved governments, do not have any dialogue , rubbish any input and insist they are too stupid to be involved. Then when they do their own thing the clowns complain they are not team players. Sooner we are independent the better.
What is the difference between a small minded inward looking "Little Englander" (aka a nationalist)and a small minded inward looking "Little Scotlander" (aka a nationalist) . Answer - absolutely fuck all.
Village idiot pops up, we are outward looking in Scotland not insular inward looking. Keep up the good work.
Why would the likes of Watford, Bournemouth, Southampton, Leicester etc possibly vote for this. At a stretch they could get 6 votes out of 20, they need 14. Straight to the Prem is therefore a non runner.
Joining League 2 is possible, the football league would benefit massively from their brands, but the path to the prem is long and uncertain, even League 1 isnt trivial to get out as the likes of Man City, Sunderland, Leeds, Forest have found, and the Champ is a bit of a lottery with so many clubs on parachute payments making historic size of club less important than recently getting Prem money.
At least if they started in league 2 they would be used to the standard of opposition they would be playing.
With 50K+ supporters every game , only limited by number of seats,there is absolutely no chance they would join a diddy English league. Far better to have a Northern Europe league of similar sized countries.
Rarely we are in agreement! A league of Celtic, Rangers, Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, Benfica, Porto, Sporting Lisbon, Anderlecht, and a few more makes a lot of sense. They could even play their reserves in their national competitions to keep those alive too.
Exactly far better than any league in England where even the EPL is a 2 or 3 team competition with at least a dozen battling relegation and rest doing nothing.
That league looks to me like it would be just the same. Perhaps Ajax, PSV and Porto battling for the title with the rest battling relegation [if it were an option]
Your expertise on Europe matches your Scottish I see.
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
I think in part this splintered approach to the lockdown is a natural consequence of devolution - after all, if everybody always does the same thing and fails to take account of local conditions, then what's the point of it? But also there are political imperatives at work - as you say, they have to show everybody that they're in charge. In Wales this is because we're Labour and we don't take orders from the evil Tories. In Scotland this is because we want independence and to be rid of the evil Tories. In Northern Ireland this is because our Government is a two-headed snake and the heads are too busy trying to bite each other for the body to move very far.
The easiest solution to all of this is to scrap the Union as soon as the immediate crisis is out of the way. Then everyone can do their own thing 100% of the time and these sorts of differences will cease to be a problem.
The Tory Little Englanders are reaping what they sow, they ignore the devolved governments, do not have any dialogue , rubbish any input and insist they are too stupid to be involved. Then when they do their own thing the clowns complain they are not team players. Sooner we are independent the better.
What is the difference between a small minded inward looking "Little Englander" (aka a nationalist)and a small minded inward looking "Little Scotlander" (aka a nationalist) . Answer - absolutely fuck all.
Village idiot pops up, we are outward looking in Scotland not insular inward looking. Keep up the good work.
He's just an idiot all around. We're outward looking in England too.
Just because we don't cling to bigger unions as we're not afraid of the outside world doesn't make us insular.
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
I think in part this splintered approach to the lockdown is a natural consequence of devolution - after all, if everybody always does the same thing and fails to take account of local conditions, then what's the point of it? But also there are political imperatives at work - as you say, they have to show everybody that they're in charge. In Wales this is because we're Labour and we don't take orders from the evil Tories. In Scotland this is because we want independence and to be rid of the evil Tories. In Northern Ireland this is because our Government is a two-headed snake and the heads are too busy trying to bite each other for the body to move very far.
The easiest solution to all of this is to scrap the Union as soon as the immediate crisis is out of the way. Then everyone can do their own thing 100% of the time and these sorts of differences will cease to be a problem.
The Tory Little Englanders are reaping what they sow, they ignore the devolved governments, do not have any dialogue , rubbish any input and insist they are too stupid to be involved. Then when they do their own thing the clowns complain they are not team players. Sooner we are independent the better.
I think you will win next time round
Nah, I have great faith that the majority of Scots are decent, pleasant and rational people that have little in common with the divisive prejudices espoused by the likes of Malcolm
Why would the likes of Watford, Bournemouth, Southampton, Leicester etc possibly vote for this. At a stretch they could get 6 votes out of 20, they need 14. Straight to the Prem is therefore a non runner.
Joining League 2 is possible, the football league would benefit massively from their brands, but the path to the prem is long and uncertain, even League 1 isnt trivial to get out as the likes of Man City, Sunderland, Leeds, Forest have found, and the Champ is a bit of a lottery with so many clubs on parachute payments making historic size of club less important than recently getting Prem money.
At least if they started in league 2 they would be used to the standard of opposition they would be playing.
With 50K+ supporters every game , only limited by number of seats,there is absolutely no chance they would join a diddy English league. Far better to have a Northern Europe league of similar sized countries.
Rarely we are in agreement! A league of Celtic, Rangers, Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, Benfica, Porto, Sporting Lisbon, Anderlecht, and a few more makes a lot of sense. They could even play their reserves in their national competitions to keep those alive too.
Exactly far better than any league in England where even the EPL is a 2 or 3 team competition with at least a dozen battling relegation and rest doing nothing.
That league looks to me like it would be just the same. Perhaps Ajax, PSV and Porto battling for the title with the rest battling relegation [if it were an option]
We need a proper football expert to decide this. Here is a video of Donald Trump making the quarter-final draw for the 1992 League Cup. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRMJ3ftUtnw
Why would the likes of Watford, Bournemouth, Southampton, Leicester etc possibly vote for this. At a stretch they could get 6 votes out of 20, they need 14. Straight to the Prem is therefore a non runner.
Joining League 2 is possible, the football league would benefit massively from their brands, but the path to the prem is long and uncertain, even League 1 isnt trivial to get out as the likes of Man City, Sunderland, Leeds, Forest have found, and the Champ is a bit of a lottery with so many clubs on parachute payments making historic size of club less important than recently getting Prem money.
At least if they started in league 2 they would be used to the standard of opposition they would be playing.
With 50K+ supporters every game , only limited by number of seats,there is absolutely no chance they would join a diddy English league. Far better to have a Northern Europe league of similar sized countries.
Rarely we are in agreement! A league of Celtic, Rangers, Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, Benfica, Porto, Sporting Lisbon, Anderlecht, and a few more makes a lot of sense. They could even play their reserves in their national competitions to keep those alive too.
How do you manage promotion and relegation or is it a closed shop? What about the European places? What happens to the residue of the leagues that have now lost their biggest clubs?
I would go a different route for Scotland. I would try to encourage some of the regional clubs to merge together to create regional powerhouses e.g. Fife United
If I could shape it without worrying about making it happen for the minor countries I would have:
National Top Flight 12 teams = 22 games, once home and away International League 12 teams = 22 games, once home and away
I would offer a promotion play off for any team finishing above the original members in the national top flights (so you have to finish above and win a play off to join the international league)
Not sure if you could run a 2nd tier of the international league, possibly there is just enough demand, but that wouldnt offer promotion in my scheme. If not then the other national teams likely need some sort of additional cup with round robins to make up the matches.
Why would the likes of Watford, Bournemouth, Southampton, Leicester etc possibly vote for this. At a stretch they could get 6 votes out of 20, they need 14. Straight to the Prem is therefore a non runner.
Joining League 2 is possible, the football league would benefit massively from their brands, but the path to the prem is long and uncertain, even League 1 isnt trivial to get out as the likes of Man City, Sunderland, Leeds, Forest have found, and the Champ is a bit of a lottery with so many clubs on parachute payments making historic size of club less important than recently getting Prem money.
At least if they started in league 2 they would be used to the standard of opposition they would be playing.
With 50K+ supporters every game , only limited by number of seats,there is absolutely no chance they would join a diddy English league. Far better to have a Northern Europe league of similar sized countries.
Rarely we are in agreement! A league of Celtic, Rangers, Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, Benfica, Porto, Sporting Lisbon, Anderlecht, and a few more makes a lot of sense. They could even play their reserves in their national competitions to keep those alive too.
Exactly far better than any league in England where even the EPL is a 2 or 3 team competition with at least a dozen battling relegation and rest doing nothing.
That league looks to me like it would be just the same. Perhaps Ajax, PSV and Porto battling for the title with the rest battling relegation [if it were an option]
Your expertise on Europe matches your Scottish I see.
Just 20 years of watching the Champions League.
Clubs like Ajax, PSV and Porto can hold their own in the Champions League. Clubs like Rangers can't. That's no disrespect to Rangers but they don't hold water compared to Ajax, PSV or Porto.
Continued good news on the (English) hospital deaths chart - it's been a rare sign of hope for a while now. On current trend, seems on track to hit 100 on the 24th, and 50 two weeks after that.
This is deaths from the peak on 8 April until 9th May (the point after which PHE labels it as "data likely to change")
Why would the likes of Watford, Bournemouth, Southampton, Leicester etc possibly vote for this. At a stretch they could get 6 votes out of 20, they need 14. Straight to the Prem is therefore a non runner.
Joining League 2 is possible, the football league would benefit massively from their brands, but the path to the prem is long and uncertain, even League 1 isnt trivial to get out as the likes of Man City, Sunderland, Leeds, Forest have found, and the Champ is a bit of a lottery with so many clubs on parachute payments making historic size of club less important than recently getting Prem money.
At least if they started in league 2 they would be used to the standard of opposition they would be playing.
With 50K+ supporters every game , only limited by number of seats,there is absolutely no chance they would join a diddy English league. Far better to have a Northern Europe league of similar sized countries.
Rarely we are in agreement! A league of Celtic, Rangers, Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, Benfica, Porto, Sporting Lisbon, Anderlecht, and a few more makes a lot of sense. They could even play their reserves in their national competitions to keep those alive too.
How do you manage promotion and relegation or is it a closed shop? What about the European places? What happens to the residue of the leagues that have now lost their biggest clubs?
I would go a different route for Scotland. I would try to encourage some of the regional clubs to merge together to create regional powerhouses e.g. Fife United
You could replace the bottom one or two with winners of their national top league. From Scottish viewpoint it would be much more competitive league with Old Firm gone. Fife United would cause a war, the fans would be beating the crap out of each other at every game, whose stadium do you use, colours , etc, may make some sense but could never happen.
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
It was put forward as a clear five level system, a position that lasted about thirty seconds, up until Boris announced that we would be starting at level three-and-a-half....
Which made sense. We're taking baby steps to transition from stage 4 to stage 3.
Wouldnt a ten point scale have made more sense? Then we could be on 7, having left 8 and looking to get to 6. Just saying....
No, because more than 10 steps may be necessary.
We don't need every individual step to be a distinct phase.
The starting point is not every individual step! Its really not important but 10 points would clearly have been better than 5 if we are starting at 7/3.5.
Very rare that I agree with Fraser Nelson these days but I think we are going to have to try some sort of regional controls here. Even in Scotland if you are not in a care home the risk of CV seems pretty minimal outside greater Glasgow. That might not always be the case but there are a lot of people isolated from family and friends, struggling with depression and the multiple side effects of that or in need of treatment for unrelated conditions who are being locked down and are at minimal risk. And there are some who want to go back to work too. People whose wages are not being paid by the State in the main.
Unfortunately there is a conflict of interest in the population.
Those working for the public sector (like me) with a guaranteed income and pension are, relatively, content with the lockdown and have no problem with it being extended. Why should we? Safety first and all that. Scotland, of course, has a huge host of comfortably-off middle-class white collar public sector workers who dominate the political system.
My thoughts are with the poor blighters who are in the private sector, are self-employed, who run small businesses, and have mortgages to pay. This situation must seem horrific to them. No-one is clapping for them at 8pm on a Thursday. But I suspect their interests will simply be ignored by the priviligentsia.
Interesting how this same issue is presented in differing ways depending on political outlook. For the right - cossetted public sector vs exposed private sector. For the left - privileged middle class professionals vs the exploited working class.
Either way the private sector working class are being hit hardest at the moment and the public sector middle class surviving best economically the impact of the lockdown
Funnily enough, from my experience, the biggest supporters of a draconian, as long as it takes lockdown have been middle class public sector professionals whose wages and pensions are not impacted currently by the crisis
Ps I have also found them the worst for not paying their cleaners, dog walkers etc during the crisis as well
Really? Or are you making shit up to support the softhead prejudice that one expects from a Trump fanboy?
No, I'm not. My wife and I were laid off. We took a conscious decision we would pay our dogwalker because she is stretched for cash and needs the income. Two of her clients whom we all know, who all have kept their jobs and WFH, and incomes remain unchanged and signal virtue at every opportunity didn't. The dogwalker is stressing out.
Ps Grow up. Just because somebody has a point of view you disagree with doesn't make them a "Trump fanboy"
Aren't you virtue signalling over your benevolence to your dogwalker?
Can you say who you would prefer to win WH2020? Please show your workings.
Not really. I didn't say upfront we were paying, only when challenged. Kinablu asked for information so I answered.
On who would prefer to win the WH, Trump over Biden. I think Trump personally is an absolutely a*se as a human being. But his analysis on China has been right strategically and I think for the coming problems, it is better to have him than Biden.
Ps at the risk of being seen to virtue signal (again), I did say a few threads back that, even though I am a Conservative, I did think the closing of the mines in the 1980s was wrong as it destroyed the communities. Voting one way doesn't mean you have to agree with everything.
Interesting to have a few Trump supporters like you here, ensures all views are heard
Mmm.
Given this is a betting site, always good to have a diversity of opinion to help improve your chances of winning
I agree with that. You stick around. But I cannot understand how somebody of intelligence can be sanguine about another 4 years of this malevolent, vacuous, hate-monging troll in the White House.
I think the clue to you, as so often, is in language. You use the word "arse" to describe him. He's an arse as a person. A bit of an arse. A total arse. Whatever. This is a classic tell. I hear it a lot from people about Trump - always from those who do not see him as the global menace he palpably is. "He's an arse" is invariably followed with a "but" and then comes the apologia.
Well, there is no but because he is NOT an "arse" - as a person or otherwise. What he is is the malevolent, vacuous, hate-monging troll in the White House. But not, IMO, for much longer.
All Republican candidates are demonised and then, in later years, when it suits the Democrats, they then get lauded as "principled" and the "right" sort of Republican. Happened with Reagan, GW Bush and Romney, and even McCain.
Trump is one of a kind so I see less chance of it here. But I would disagree he has made things more dangerous and others are more to blame. Even Condolezza Rice said the biggest mistake was to let China into the WTO.
The sort of republican they like is the sort who plays the game by their rules on their pitch. Who uses their language and their commonly accepted principles to address the issues of the day.
Trump does none of those things. That is why they find him so intensely annoying.
Exactly. The Kavanaugh nomination was a classic example - any other Republican leader would have rolled over. Trump rolled up his sleeves and fought back.
Yeah he fought like a lion to get his misogynist drunk of choice onto the Court.
Why was Kavanaugh a misogynist? Christine Blasey Ford couldn't remember basic details of what happened and claimed she was scared of flying to give herself more time for her case until it was pointed out all her pictures on Facebook of taking air travel for holidays.
She was quite clearly telling the truth. He was all bluster and dissembling.
You really are coming over as irredeemably biased now. C'mon. Get a grip.
LOL is Tara Reade 'quite clearly telling the truth?'
As of right now - yes I believe her. I do not apply my political preferences to matters of sexual assault. Women do not usually lie about these things.
Just been out to the supermarket for the first time in week:
- Streets heaving with people enjoying themsleves like it's a normal summer Friday afternoon. - I was the only one wearing a mask. - No limit on the number of people in Sainsbury's, and no one social distancing. - All restaurants and takeaways open for takeaway. Long queues and barely any social distancing.
Meanwhile, everyone's on furlough and the economy's going down the shitter,
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
I think in part this splintered approach to the lockdown is a natural consequence of devolution - after all, if everybody always does the same thing and fails to take account of local conditions, then what's the point of it? But also there are political imperatives at work - as you say, they have to show everybody that they're in charge. In Wales this is because we're Labour and we don't take orders from the evil Tories. In Scotland this is because we want independence and to be rid of the evil Tories. In Northern Ireland this is because our Government is a two-headed snake and the heads are too busy trying to bite each other for the body to move very far.
The easiest solution to all of this is to scrap the Union as soon as the immediate crisis is out of the way. Then everyone can do their own thing 100% of the time and these sorts of differences will cease to be a problem.
The Tory Little Englanders are reaping what they sow, they ignore the devolved governments, do not have any dialogue , rubbish any input and insist they are too stupid to be involved. Then when they do their own thing the clowns complain they are not team players. Sooner we are independent the better.
I think you will win next time round
Nah, I have great faith that the majority of Scots are decent, pleasant and rational people that have little in common with the divisive prejudices espoused by the likes of Malcolm
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
I think in part this splintered approach to the lockdown is a natural consequence of devolution - after all, if everybody always does the same thing and fails to take account of local conditions, then what's the point of it? But also there are political imperatives at work - as you say, they have to show everybody that they're in charge. In Wales this is because we're Labour and we don't take orders from the evil Tories. In Scotland this is because we want independence and to be rid of the evil Tories. In Northern Ireland this is because our Government is a two-headed snake and the heads are too busy trying to bite each other for the body to move very far.
The easiest solution to all of this is to scrap the Union as soon as the immediate crisis is out of the way. Then everyone can do their own thing 100% of the time and these sorts of differences will cease to be a problem.
No, there is nothing wrong with devolved governments taking a slightly different approach while maintaining the Union.
In domestic policy Westminster is effectively the English Parliament now anyway, it just sets some tax and foreign policy for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Westminster is obviously not the English Parliament because it still contains 117 members who aren't elected in England.
Conversely, why the situation should still prevail in which these other countries require large areas of policy to be decided by an assembly consisting mainly of English people, goodness only knows.
We must remember that (with all the usual caveats around Northern Ireland,) the UK is a union of nations and not one of regions like most properly constituted federations (the US, Canada, Australia, Germany etc.) And it's one that's outlived its usefulness.
What conceivable value the Union with Scotland, for example, holds for the English people is never adequately articulated. The only obvious answers anybody can come up with are 'we need somewhere to put our ballistic missile submarines' and 'we might have to give up our UN Security Council seat otherwise,' and these are matters of no importance to almost the entire general population of the country - who are mostly interested in getting on with their lives in peace and, to the extent that politics troubles them at all, are primarily concerned with resolving England's many internal problems.
All of the conditions that promoted the creation of the United Kingdom and necessitated its continuity have been removed. It should be euthanized compassionately and given a decent burial.
Rubbish, the UK is now effectively a Federal nation and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland are basically regions of the UK, none have been independent nations for centuries.
Bavaria was once an independent country, that does not stop it now being a region of a Federal Germany.
Scotland also has plenty of oil and renewable energy, a thriving financial sector and whisky industry and some excellent universities and regiments as well as holding Trident. It contributes a great deal to the UK
You get dafter by the day, delusion does not cover it. You make Trump sound like a reasonable sensible person.
He is the mirror to yourself Malcolm. He is an unthinkingly loyal keyboard warrior for The Clown, and you an unthinkingly loyal keyboard warrior for Jimmy Krankie
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
I think in part this splintered approach to the lockdown is a natural consequence of devolution - after all, if everybody always does the same thing and fails to take account of local conditions, then what's the point of it? But also there are political imperatives at work - as you say, they have to show everybody that they're in charge. In Wales this is because we're Labour and we don't take orders from the evil Tories. In Scotland this is because we want independence and to be rid of the evil Tories. In Northern Ireland this is because our Government is a two-headed snake and the heads are too busy trying to bite each other for the body to move very far.
The easiest solution to all of this is to scrap the Union as soon as the immediate crisis is out of the way. Then everyone can do their own thing 100% of the time and these sorts of differences will cease to be a problem.
The Tory Little Englanders are reaping what they sow, they ignore the devolved governments, do not have any dialogue , rubbish any input and insist they are too stupid to be involved. Then when they do their own thing the clowns complain they are not team players. Sooner we are independent the better.
What is the difference between a small minded inward looking "Little Englander" (aka a nationalist)and a small minded inward looking "Little Scotlander" (aka a nationalist) . Answer - absolutely fuck all.
Village idiot pops up, we are outward looking in Scotland not insular inward looking. Keep up the good work.
He's just an idiot all around. We're outward looking in England too.
Just because we don't cling to bigger unions as we're not afraid of the outside world doesn't make us insular.
As an outsider England seems to have lost its way and at least at top is very inward looking, or at least gives that impression.
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
I think in part this splintered approach to the lockdown is a natural consequence of devolution - after all, if everybody always does the same thing and fails to take account of local conditions, then what's the point of it? But also there are political imperatives at work - as you say, they have to show everybody that they're in charge. In Wales this is because we're Labour and we don't take orders from the evil Tories. In Scotland this is because we want independence and to be rid of the evil Tories. In Northern Ireland this is because our Government is a two-headed snake and the heads are too busy trying to bite each other for the body to move very far.
The easiest solution to all of this is to scrap the Union as soon as the immediate crisis is out of the way. Then everyone can do their own thing 100% of the time and these sorts of differences will cease to be a problem.
The Tory Little Englanders are reaping what they sow, they ignore the devolved governments, do not have any dialogue , rubbish any input and insist they are too stupid to be involved. Then when they do their own thing the clowns complain they are not team players. Sooner we are independent the better.
I think you will win next time round
Nah, I have great faith that the majority of Scots are decent, pleasant and rational people that have little in common with the divisive prejudices espoused by the likes of Malcolm
If we are still on WTO terms in a decade then Scotland might vote for independence, if the Tories are still in power and allow indyref2.
If we are back in the single market under PM Starmer and Holyrood gets devomax then I imagine Scots would still vote No to independence
Why would the likes of Watford, Bournemouth, Southampton, Leicester etc possibly vote for this. At a stretch they could get 6 votes out of 20, they need 14. Straight to the Prem is therefore a non runner.
Joining League 2 is possible, the football league would benefit massively from their brands, but the path to the prem is long and uncertain, even League 1 isnt trivial to get out as the likes of Man City, Sunderland, Leeds, Forest have found, and the Champ is a bit of a lottery with so many clubs on parachute payments making historic size of club less important than recently getting Prem money.
At least if they started in league 2 they would be used to the standard of opposition they would be playing.
With 50K+ supporters every game , only limited by number of seats,there is absolutely no chance they would join a diddy English league. Far better to have a Northern Europe league of similar sized countries.
Rarely we are in agreement! A league of Celtic, Rangers, Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, Benfica, Porto, Sporting Lisbon, Anderlecht, and a few more makes a lot of sense. They could even play their reserves in their national competitions to keep those alive too.
Exactly far better than any league in England where even the EPL is a 2 or 3 team competition with at least a dozen battling relegation and rest doing nothing.
That league looks to me like it would be just the same. Perhaps Ajax, PSV and Porto battling for the title with the rest battling relegation [if it were an option]
Your expertise on Europe matches your Scottish I see.
Just 20 years of watching the Champions League.
Clubs like Ajax, PSV and Porto can hold their own in the Champions League. Clubs like Rangers can't. That's no disrespect to Rangers but they don't hold water compared to Ajax, PSV or Porto.
Maybe not in last couple of years but both them and Celtic have held their own and beaten most of those teams and won European trophies over the years. They would do very well in such a league.
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
I think in part this splintered approach to the lockdown is a natural consequence of devolution - after all, if everybody always does the same thing and fails to take account of local conditions, then what's the point of it? But also there are political imperatives at work - as you say, they have to show everybody that they're in charge. In Wales this is because we're Labour and we don't take orders from the evil Tories. In Scotland this is because we want independence and to be rid of the evil Tories. In Northern Ireland this is because our Government is a two-headed snake and the heads are too busy trying to bite each other for the body to move very far.
The easiest solution to all of this is to scrap the Union as soon as the immediate crisis is out of the way. Then everyone can do their own thing 100% of the time and these sorts of differences will cease to be a problem.
The Tory Little Englanders are reaping what they sow, they ignore the devolved governments, do not have any dialogue , rubbish any input and insist they are too stupid to be involved. Then when they do their own thing the clowns complain they are not team players. Sooner we are independent the better.
I think you will win next time round
Nah, I have great faith that the majority of Scots are decent, pleasant and rational people that have little in common with the divisive prejudices espoused by the likes of Malcolm
If we are still on WTO terms in a decade then Scotland might vote for independence, if the Tories are still in power and allow indyref2.
If we are back in the single market under PM Starmer and Holyrood gets devomax then I imagine Scots would still vote No to independence
It is an honest analysis, and perhaps another good reason for all patriotic Britons to get rid of Boris Johnson.
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
I think in part this splintered approach to the lockdown is a natural consequence of devolution - after all, if everybody always does the same thing and fails to take account of local conditions, then what's the point of it? But also there are political imperatives at work - as you say, they have to show everybody that they're in charge. In Wales this is because we're Labour and we don't take orders from the evil Tories. In Scotland this is because we want independence and to be rid of the evil Tories. In Northern Ireland this is because our Government is a two-headed snake and the heads are too busy trying to bite each other for the body to move very far.
The easiest solution to all of this is to scrap the Union as soon as the immediate crisis is out of the way. Then everyone can do their own thing 100% of the time and these sorts of differences will cease to be a problem.
The Tory Little Englanders are reaping what they sow, they ignore the devolved governments, do not have any dialogue , rubbish any input and insist they are too stupid to be involved. Then when they do their own thing the clowns complain they are not team players. Sooner we are independent the better.
I think you will win next time round
Nah, I have great faith that the majority of Scots are decent, pleasant and rational people that have little in common with the divisive prejudices espoused by the likes of Malcolm
Oh Dear , competition between you and HYFUD for PB dunce, though you are well clear and look certain to take the title.
Why would the likes of Watford, Bournemouth, Southampton, Leicester etc possibly vote for this. At a stretch they could get 6 votes out of 20, they need 14. Straight to the Prem is therefore a non runner.
Joining League 2 is possible, the football league would benefit massively from their brands, but the path to the prem is long and uncertain, even League 1 isnt trivial to get out as the likes of Man City, Sunderland, Leeds, Forest have found, and the Champ is a bit of a lottery with so many clubs on parachute payments making historic size of club less important than recently getting Prem money.
At least if they started in league 2 they would be used to the standard of opposition they would be playing.
With 50K+ supporters every game , only limited by number of seats,there is absolutely no chance they would join a diddy English league. Far better to have a Northern Europe league of similar sized countries.
Rarely we are in agreement! A league of Celtic, Rangers, Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, Benfica, Porto, Sporting Lisbon, Anderlecht, and a few more makes a lot of sense. They could even play their reserves in their national competitions to keep those alive too.
Exactly far better than any league in England where even the EPL is a 2 or 3 team competition with at least a dozen battling relegation and rest doing nothing.
That league looks to me like it would be just the same. Perhaps Ajax, PSV and Porto battling for the title with the rest battling relegation [if it were an option]
Your expertise on Europe matches your Scottish I see.
Just 20 years of watching the Champions League.
Clubs like Ajax, PSV and Porto can hold their own in the Champions League. Clubs like Rangers can't. That's no disrespect to Rangers but they don't hold water compared to Ajax, PSV or Porto.
Maybe not in last couple of years but both them and Celtic have held their own and beaten most of those teams and won European trophies over the years. They would do very well in such a league.
What is Celtic? Their current team is not good enough. Given EPL or CL or new owner money they can buy a new team. And a new manager. It is only the fans that are constant.
No, there is nothing wrong with devolved governments taking a slightly different approach while maintaining the Union.
In domestic policy Westminster is effectively the English Parliament now anyway, it just sets some tax and foreign policy for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Yeah, that's all.
Part 1.
List of reserved matters
Reserved matters are subdivided into two categories: General reservations and specific reservations.
General reservations cover major issues which are always handled centrally by the Parliament in Westminster:[5]
the Crown the Union with England, Wales and Northern Ireland the making of peace or war defence treaties or any relations with foreign states or dominions naturalisation external trade quarantine navigation (including merchant shipping) submarine cables wireless telegraphy aerial navigation lighthouses currency copyright treason the UK Parliament registration and funding of political parties international development the Home Civil Service
Specific reservations cover particular areas of social and economic policy which are reserved to Westminster, listed under 11 'heads':[6]
data protection and access to information elections film classification immigration and nationality scientific procedures on live animals national security and counter-terrorism betting, gaming and lotteries emergency powers extradition lieutenancies charities
Head C – Trade and Industry
business associations insolvency competition intellectual property import and export control sea fishing outside the Scottish zone customer protection product standards, safety and liability weights and measures telecommunications postal services research councils
So as I said the vast majority of health, education, welfare, housing, transport, police, social care policy etc is devolved to Holyrood.
Scotland also has its own criminal and civil legal system
One of the interesting things about the Scottish Nationalists is their apparent enthusiasm to join one union - the EU - which is rapidly centralising and sucking power to Brussels. While leaving another one - the UK - which has moved extraordinarily fast in the other direction.
Meanwhile within Scotland the SNP Govt has gone to great lengths to snuff out or emasculate any organisation which has a degree of autonomy from Holyrood.
They are not so much pro-Scottish as anti-British.
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
It was put forward as a clear five level system, a position that lasted about thirty seconds, up until Boris announced that we would be starting at level three-and-a-half....
Which made sense. We're taking baby steps to transition from stage 4 to stage 3.
That thinking looks back to front to me.
The system is an alert system I thought ?
The alert system level should be driving the steps you're taking but those actions themself don't (Or at least shouldn't) determine what the alert level is.
OK it is an alert system and the alert points us at somewhere between 3 and 4.
People getting their knickers in the twist at being between two points bemuse me. Why would we ever need to be all or nothing?
So do you follow Level 3 or Level 4 or how do you decide what bits of each you can ignore and which do you follow.
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
I think in part this splintered approach to the lockdown is a natural consequence of devolution - after all, if everybody always does the same thing and fails to take account of local conditions, then what's the point of it? But also there are political imperatives at work - as you say, they have to show everybody that they're in charge. In Wales this is because we're Labour and we don't take orders from the evil Tories. In Scotland this is because we want independence and to be rid of the evil Tories. In Northern Ireland this is because our Government is a two-headed snake and the heads are too busy trying to bite each other for the body to move very far.
The easiest solution to all of this is to scrap the Union as soon as the immediate crisis is out of the way. Then everyone can do their own thing 100% of the time and these sorts of differences will cease to be a problem.
The Tory Little Englanders are reaping what they sow, they ignore the devolved governments, do not have any dialogue , rubbish any input and insist they are too stupid to be involved. Then when they do their own thing the clowns complain they are not team players. Sooner we are independent the better.
And the school my son heads IT is open and has been all along
Apologies, it just came up on my Twitter feed for some reason
This is how Tory and Labour MPs get into trouble for carelessly forwarding stuff on their feeds that turn out to have toxic content below-the-fold.
It was hardly toxic content even if old news
No but it is the process. I just posted a Trump video. Did I check the Youtube comments? No. Did I check everything Trump has said on any subject since 1992? No. But if I were the Shadow SoS for Paperclips then Guido would be all over it.
And the school my son heads IT is open and has been all along
Apologies, it just came up on my Twitter feed for some reason
This is how Tory and Labour MPs get into trouble for carelessly forwarding stuff on their feeds that turn out to have toxic content below-the-fold.
It was hardly toxic content even if old news
The problem is that top level meetings are taking place with HMG and the teaching unions today and your tweet could mistakenly be read that the talks have collapsed
Why would the likes of Watford, Bournemouth, Southampton, Leicester etc possibly vote for this. At a stretch they could get 6 votes out of 20, they need 14. Straight to the Prem is therefore a non runner.
Joining League 2 is possible, the football league would benefit massively from their brands, but the path to the prem is long and uncertain, even League 1 isnt trivial to get out as the likes of Man City, Sunderland, Leeds, Forest have found, and the Champ is a bit of a lottery with so many clubs on parachute payments making historic size of club less important than recently getting Prem money.
At least if they started in league 2 they would be used to the standard of opposition they would be playing.
With 50K+ supporters every game , only limited by number of seats,there is absolutely no chance they would join a diddy English league. Far better to have a Northern Europe league of similar sized countries.
Rarely we are in agreement! A league of Celtic, Rangers, Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, Benfica, Porto, Sporting Lisbon, Anderlecht, and a few more makes a lot of sense. They could even play their reserves in their national competitions to keep those alive too.
Exactly far better than any league in England where even the EPL is a 2 or 3 team competition with at least a dozen battling relegation and rest doing nothing.
That league looks to me like it would be just the same. Perhaps Ajax, PSV and Porto battling for the title with the rest battling relegation [if it were an option]
Your expertise on Europe matches your Scottish I see.
Just 20 years of watching the Champions League.
Clubs like Ajax, PSV and Porto can hold their own in the Champions League. Clubs like Rangers can't. That's no disrespect to Rangers but they don't hold water compared to Ajax, PSV or Porto.
Maybe not in last couple of years but both them and Celtic have held their own and beaten most of those teams and won European trophies over the years. They would do very well in such a league.
Really? What European trophies have Rangers won and how does that compare to Ajax?
The UEFA coefficient puts Ajax and Porto closer to Chelsea than it does Celtic or Rangers - and quite right too.
Ajax, PSV and Porto are much, much, much better than Celtic and Rangers as their results in the Champions League going the last two decades or more show. And as the UEFA coefficients show.
You bang on about a pan-European football league forgetting that we already have pan-European competitions that those clubs I named do well in while the others don't. You're dreaming if you think Rangers would be competing for the title against Ajax, PSV and Porto.
And the school my son heads IT is open and has been all along
Apologies, it just came up on my Twitter feed for some reason
This is how Tory and Labour MPs get into trouble for carelessly forwarding stuff on their feeds that turn out to have toxic content below-the-fold.
It was hardly toxic content even if old news
The problem is that top level meetings are taking place with HMG and the teaching unions today and your tweet could mistakenly be read that the talks have collapsed
The teaching unions are not going to back schools going back until September regardless but glad my posts are so influential
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
I think in part this splintered approach to the lockdown is a natural consequence of devolution - after all, if everybody always does the same thing and fails to take account of local conditions, then what's the point of it? But also there are political imperatives at work - as you say, they have to show everybody that they're in charge. In Wales this is because we're Labour and we don't take orders from the evil Tories. In Scotland this is because we want independence and to be rid of the evil Tories. In Northern Ireland this is because our Government is a two-headed snake and the heads are too busy trying to bite each other for the body to move very far.
The easiest solution to all of this is to scrap the Union as soon as the immediate crisis is out of the way. Then everyone can do their own thing 100% of the time and these sorts of differences will cease to be a problem.
The Tory Little Englanders are reaping what they sow, they ignore the devolved governments, do not have any dialogue , rubbish any input and insist they are too stupid to be involved. Then when they do their own thing the clowns complain they are not team players. Sooner we are independent the better.
I think you will win next time round
Nah, I have great faith that the majority of Scots are decent, pleasant and rational people that have little in common with the divisive prejudices espoused by the likes of Malcolm
Oh Dear , competition between you and HYFUD for PB dunce, though you are well clear and look certain to take the title.
You are not typical of most Scots Malc, and I can only think of a handful of Scots I have ever known in my 70 odd years both living in Scotland and married into a Scottish fishing community
The Scots are warm hearted, generous and kind peoples and nothing like the image you have made for yourself on here to be fair
No, there is nothing wrong with devolved governments taking a slightly different approach while maintaining the Union.
In domestic policy Westminster is effectively the English Parliament now anyway, it just sets some tax and foreign policy for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Yeah, that's all.
Part 1.
List of reserved matters
Reserved matters are subdivided into two categories: General reservations and specific reservations.
General reservations cover major issues which are always handled centrally by the Parliament in Westminster:[5]
the Crown the Union with England, Wales and Northern Ireland the making of peace or war defence treaties or any relations with foreign states or dominions naturalisation external trade quarantine navigation (including merchant shipping) submarine cables wireless telegraphy aerial navigation lighthouses currency copyright treason the UK Parliament registration and funding of political parties international development the Home Civil Service
Specific reservations cover particular areas of social and economic policy which are reserved to Westminster, listed under 11 'heads':[6]
data protection and access to information elections film classification immigration and nationality scientific procedures on live animals national security and counter-terrorism betting, gaming and lotteries emergency powers extradition lieutenancies charities
Head C – Trade and Industry
business associations insolvency competition intellectual property import and export control sea fishing outside the Scottish zone customer protection product standards, safety and liability weights and measures telecommunications postal services research councils
So as I said the vast majority of health, education, welfare, housing, transport, police, social care policy etc is devolved to Holyrood.
Scotland also has its own criminal and civil legal system
One of the interesting things about the Scottish Nationalists is their apparent enthusiasm to join one union - the EU - which is rapidly centralising and sucking power to Brussels. While leaving another one - the UK - which has moved extraordinarily fast in the other direction.
Meanwhile within Scotland the SNP Govt has gone to great lengths to snuff out or emasculate any organisation which has a degree of autonomy from Holyrood.
They are not so much pro-Scottish as anti-British.
Indeed, if they were truly pro Scottish they would back leaving the UK and EU.
"It comes as Drakeford publishes the lockdown exit plan for Wales, setting out a traffic light system for progressive easing of restrictions on education, social life and business."
Its all a bit silly isn't it. We can't have the UK government 5 level system, we have to show everybody we have control and power, so we will use a traffic light system instead.
It was put forward as a clear five level system, a position that lasted about thirty seconds, up until Boris announced that we would be starting at level three-and-a-half....
Which made sense. We're taking baby steps to transition from stage 4 to stage 3.
Wouldnt a ten point scale have made more sense? Then we could be on 7, having left 8 and looking to get to 6. Just saying....
No, because more than 10 steps may be necessary.
We don't need every individual step to be a distinct phase.
The starting point is not every individual step! Its really not important but 10 points would clearly have been better than 5 if we are starting at 7/3.5.
We're not starting at 3.5, we're transitioning between 3 and 4.
If we had a 10 point system and were transitioning between 8 and 7 how would that be any clearer?
Just been out to the supermarket for the first time in week:
- Streets heaving with people enjoying themsleves like it's a normal summer Friday afternoon. - I was the only one wearing a mask. - No limit on the number of people in Sainsbury's, and no one social distancing. - All restaurants and takeaways open for takeaway. Long queues and barely any social distancing.
Meanwhile, everyone's on furlough and the economy's going down the shitter,
What a complete farce.
Sounds insane. I know our local high street has been similarly rammed with people not sticking to social distancing, but Sainsbury's is maintaining the rules.
And the school my son heads IT is open and has been all along
Apologies, it just came up on my Twitter feed for some reason
This is how Tory and Labour MPs get into trouble for carelessly forwarding stuff on their feeds that turn out to have toxic content below-the-fold.
It was hardly toxic content even if old news
The problem is that top level meetings are taking place with HMG and the teaching unions today and your tweet could mistakenly be read that the talks have collapsed
The teaching unions are not going to back schools going back until September regardless but glad my posts are so influential
Sadly you miss the point altogether
Has the meeting broken up and the unions have refused to teach before September
You do know many schools are open and teachers happy to teach
And if you think posting 'duff' information makes you influential you are deluded.
They just add to the general scepticism about your posts generally
I can only think of a handful of Scots I have ever known in my 70 odd years both living in Scotland and married into a Scottish fishing community who think like you
Just been out to the supermarket for the first time in week:
- Streets heaving with people enjoying themsleves like it's a normal summer Friday afternoon. - I was the only one wearing a mask. - No limit on the number of people in Sainsbury's, and no one social distancing. - All restaurants and takeaways open for takeaway. Long queues and barely any social distancing.
Meanwhile, everyone's on furlough and the economy's going down the shitter,
What a complete farce.
Its like the behavioural scientists known a thing or two when they said people won't stick to a full lockdown for extended periods of time.
No, there is nothing wrong with devolved governments taking a slightly different approach while maintaining the Union.
In domestic policy Westminster is effectively the English Parliament now anyway, it just sets some tax and foreign policy for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Yeah, that's all.
Part 1.
List of reserved matters
Reserved matters are subdivided into two categories: General reservations and specific reservations.
General reservations cover major issues which are always handled centrally by the Parliament in Westminster:[5]
the Crown the Union with England, Wales and Northern Ireland the making of peace or war defence treaties or any relations with foreign states or dominions naturalisation external trade quarantine navigation (including merchant shipping) submarine cables wireless telegraphy aerial navigation lighthouses currency copyright treason the UK Parliament registration and funding of political parties international development the Home Civil Service
Specific reservations cover particular areas of social and economic policy which are reserved to Westminster, listed under 11 'heads':[6]
data protection and access to information elections film classification immigration and nationality scientific procedures on live animals national security and counter-terrorism betting, gaming and lotteries emergency powers extradition lieutenancies charities
Head C – Trade and Industry
business associations insolvency competition intellectual property import and export control sea fishing outside the Scottish zone customer protection product standards, safety and liability weights and measures telecommunications postal services research councils
So as I said the vast majority of health, education, welfare, housing, transport, police, social care policy etc is devolved to Holyrood.
Scotland also has its own criminal and civil legal system
One of the interesting things about the Scottish Nationalists is their apparent enthusiasm to join one union - the EU - which is rapidly centralising and sucking power to Brussels. While leaving another one - the UK - which has moved extraordinarily fast in the other direction.
Meanwhile within Scotland the SNP Govt has gone to great lengths to snuff out or emasculate any organisation which has a degree of autonomy from Holyrood.
They are not so much pro-Scottish as anti-British.
Indeed, if they were truly pro Scottish they would back leaving the UK and EU.
They are mainly anti Tory and anti UK
So to be truly pro Scottish you definitely have to back leaving the UK? Fair enough.
Comments
Who else do you want to compare us to? There aren't that many comparable nations.
Only Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland are guaranteed FTAs for us at the moment
So we trade on WTO terms for a few years while seeking to negotiate an equitable and reasonable trade deal with the EU and USA in the future without selling our souls in the interim.
If Biden wins he will ignore us and not push a UK trade deal but favour a deal with the EU first
Death toll rises AGAIN.
If you don't examine that further it's a scary daily message.
*indifference
Republican pro Brexit President is elected
The system is an alert system I thought ?
The alert system level should be driving the steps you're taking but those actions themself don't (Or at least shouldn't) determine what the alert level is.
https://twitter.com/cricketwyvern/status/1261289084338782215?s=20
41% of English voters and 52% of Leave voters back an English Parliament
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44208859
But it isn't. It's a trading bloc and a political institution with a relentless drive to continually integrate to the centre.
We don't need every individual step to be a distinct phase.
Could this otherwise totally negative episode in our history leave us with a radically more numerate population as everyone focuses on and relentlessly discusses matters such as the R number, ICU capacity, disease mortality rates and - the biggie - the underlying mathematics of exponential growth?
I would go a different route for Scotland. I would try to encourage some of the regional clubs to merge together to create regional powerhouses e.g. Fife United
It is perfectly clear that if we end up on WTO rules, we will be completely bemused and befuddled when inevitably we learn that said rules dont mean much and arent enforced.
OK. Though you can understand when you wrote
"You think that is acceptable or is that ok because it's the Democrats and Democrats are "good" people. "
in reply to me, I would think you meant me.
People getting their knickers in the twist at being between two points bemuse me. Why would we ever need to be all or nothing?
Keep up the good work.
Just because we don't cling to bigger unions as we're not afraid of the outside world doesn't make us insular.
What is your point
And the school my son heads IT is open and has been all along
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRMJ3ftUtnw
National Top Flight 12 teams = 22 games, once home and away
International League 12 teams = 22 games, once home and away
I would offer a promotion play off for any team finishing above the original members in the national top flights (so you have to finish above and win a play off to join the international league)
Not sure if you could run a 2nd tier of the international league, possibly there is just enough demand, but that wouldnt offer promotion in my scheme. If not then the other national teams likely need some sort of additional cup with round robins to make up the matches.
Clubs like Ajax, PSV and Porto can hold their own in the Champions League. Clubs like Rangers can't. That's no disrespect to Rangers but they don't hold water compared to Ajax, PSV or Porto.
This is deaths from the peak on 8 April until 9th May (the point after which PHE labels it as "data likely to change")
From Scottish viewpoint it would be much more competitive league with Old Firm gone.
Fife United would cause a war, the fans would be beating the crap out of each other at every game, whose stadium do you use, colours , etc, may make some sense but could never happen.
So fuck off with your LOLs.
Just been out to the supermarket for the first time in week:
- Streets heaving with people enjoying themsleves like it's a normal summer Friday afternoon.
- I was the only one wearing a mask.
- No limit on the number of people in Sainsbury's, and no one social distancing.
- All restaurants and takeaways open for takeaway. Long queues and barely any social distancing.
Meanwhile, everyone's on furlough and the economy's going down the shitter,
What a complete farce.
If we are back in the single market under PM Starmer and Holyrood gets devomax then I imagine Scots would still vote No to independence
Meanwhile within Scotland the SNP Govt has gone to great lengths to snuff out or emasculate any organisation which has a degree of autonomy from Holyrood.
They are not so much pro-Scottish as anti-British.
The UEFA coefficient puts Ajax and Porto closer to Chelsea than it does Celtic or Rangers - and quite right too.
Ajax, PSV and Porto are much, much, much better than Celtic and Rangers as their results in the Champions League going the last two decades or more show. And as the UEFA coefficients show.
You bang on about a pan-European football league forgetting that we already have pan-European competitions that those clubs I named do well in while the others don't. You're dreaming if you think Rangers would be competing for the title against Ajax, PSV and Porto.
Number of deaths on 8 April (Peak day) keeps on rising even when bottom half of spreadsheet shows no deaths on that day, eg:
As at 13 May - 888
As at 14 May - 889
But bottom half of spreadsheet has 0 deaths for 8 April reported on 14 May.
The same thing has happened several times in last few weeks.
https://twitter.com/PickardJE/status/1261297187130167297
The Scots are warm hearted, generous and kind peoples and nothing like the image you have made for yourself on here to be fair
But I do like you
They are mainly anti Tory and anti UK
If we had a 10 point system and were transitioning between 8 and 7 how would that be any clearer?
Has the meeting broken up and the unions have refused to teach before September
You do know many schools are open and teachers happy to teach
And if you think posting 'duff' information makes you influential you are deluded.
They just add to the general scepticism about your posts generally
Not low enough I would suggest to drop innocent until proved guilty.
https://twitter.com/rob_marchant/status/1261275770879705088
Have corrected it