As I have said Biden is probably enough of an absolute idiot to pardon Trump. But the pardoning if Nixon was a mistake of gigantic proportion.
It set the precedent that if you were in power you could do any crime you wanted and not get prosecuted.
If the Rule of Law is to mean anything then the people at the top must have it applied to them as well.
I think there’s a balance
It shouldn’t be a vindictive witch-hunt- he should be treated like any other citizen. If he’s made into a martyr among a % of the population it would be a serious error
I think that's spot on. If there is serious malfeasance, the he should be prosecuted. What there shouldn't be (and what Trump wanted with Clinton, of course) is for every incoming administration to start rooting around to see if there's something (anything) to charge their predecessors with.
Everyone knows how quickly [...] moods can change these days
Yes. Witnessing you oscillate between angry the one minute, furious the next, and then back again, is quite hypnotic. I'm surprised you even came back today after the way you disgraced yourself earlier. Still, we all forgive you. You were just emotional after your boy took one hell of a beating.
Tell you what: when you've been on this site for longer than 8 weeks, written at least some posts of value, and established a reputation for yourself as someone worth listening to, then I might start to consider taking on board what you have to say.
Until then I'll put you down as a pointless weevil.
Separately I don’t think you can just state the EC is “unfair” because it overweighted small states.
It is absolutely fair to states because it treats them all equally. You just think that another metric is more appropriate
There are other ways of ensuring small states are treated equally without permanently biasing presidential and Senate elections in the direction of conservative small state rural voters.
I could probably just about accept keeping the Senate composition as it is if the Presidential election were switched to be being elected by a plurality of voters.
What justification is there for giving voters in a small state additional weight in Presidential elections? The President ought to e elected on a straight forward one person one vote basis.
Great. Go and start a campaign to change the constitution instead of whining to me
What a silly petulant response.
Not really.
You’ve made a value statement (“ought”) rather than an argument.
The rules are what they are. If you think they should be different get them changed.
Alternatively we could have a debate but just make statements isn’t that interesting
How does any of that make my comment "whining" at you?
Everyone knows how quickly [...] moods can change these days
Yes. Witnessing you oscillate between angry the one minute, furious the next, and then back again, is quite hypnotic. I'm surprised you even came back today after the way you disgraced yourself earlier. Still, we all forgive you. You were just emotional after your boy took one hell of a beating.
Tell you what: when you've been on this site for longer than 8 weeks, written at least some posts of value, and established a reputation for yourself as someone worth listening to, then I might start to consider taking on board what you have to say.
Until then I'll put you down as a pointless weevil.
Wow, you're still hurting pretty bad, aren't you? You carry that torch, Casino. I'm rooting for you. What's that on your face? Oh it's just rain. Blink the rain out of your eyes, Casino, you brave, brave soldier.
Everyone knows how quickly [...] moods can change these days
Yes. Witnessing you oscillate between angry the one minute, furious the next, and then back again, is quite hypnotic. I'm surprised you even came back today after the way you disgraced yourself earlier. Still, we all forgive you. You were just emotional after your boy took one hell of a beating.
Tell you what: when you've been on this site for longer than 8 weeks, written at least some posts of value, and established a reputation for yourself as someone worth listening to, then I might start to consider taking on board what you have to say.
Until then I'll put you down as a pointless weevil.
I find your posts informative and well argued @Casino_Royale so please more of them
CNN talking about a generalised amnesty for everyone working in Trump's administration.
I expect even if we don't see that we really will see something that takes the piss.
As I have said Biden is probably enough of an absolute idiot to pardon Trump.
That shows you very little about Biden. He won't pardon Trump.
Joe Biden has a long memory for things. For example, he will never forgive Johnson for the half Kenyan comment about Obama.
Obama is rather more 'half Kenyan' than Biden is 'Irish'.
He is, and it didn't really matter then and it won't really matter now. The issue is that we in the UK like warm words from US Presidents about how great we are and it pisses us off when we don't get them. Trump understood that but did little else. Talk is cheap and real action/help is far harder.
Obama was a wet lettuce on foreign policy and effetely failed to get either the Europeans to pay more for their defence in NATO, or to put up a new strong defence/counterweight to China. He didn't do much to contain or shape the Middle East either storing up problems for later.
And he was hard to talk to and bond with on the actualities. He was called 'Spock' for a reason.
Bumped off Osama Bin Laden though.
Yes, that was something.
I always wondered if that was the ending of an intelligence operation.
Imagine you found Bin Laden. Imagine all the world Jihadis trying to turn up and meet the great man. It would be the fishing lure to beat all. Just sit there and watch who came to the house. Who called him....
Then, when you are quite finished... turn out the lights.
There is an interesting argument that Biden’s victory has shown the value of TV advertising
There is but history is written by the winners. We see this after every election, here and in America. This thing that the winning side did was the key factor, but the particular thing changes each time: advertising, GOTV, social media, microtargeting; you name it.
Yes and @Foxy had a very good point that Bloomberg’s millions on TV got him nowhere.
This is a narrative shift like the introduction of Negan in season 6.
While everybody is focused on the US election, this could easily be the biggest story....if mutant mink covid really is resistant to the vaccines being developed and it seems it has already spread, forget 2021 at least.
And of course the same mistakes are being repeated as in the Wuhan outbreak. Kill all the animals, but let the humans still travel in and out of Denmark.
And in other news Labour +4 (42 vs 38) in tonight's Opinium
The end of right wing populism is sweeping the globe. I expect Brexit to be cancelled before the end of the year,.
Is it though...Eastern Europe, is still very popular e.g. Poland re-elected one. Australia voted for a very right wing government. Macron is very unpopular on France, with Le Pen waiting in the wings.
Right wing populism is still very much there because a large part of the population feels as though it has been sh*t upon from a large height. Anyone who thinks it is going away is very much mistaken.
Might shift to left wing Populism though. Its one hell of a recession coming.
Very much so although a left wing populist would need to reflect on that many people are essentially losing because their jobs have been shifted abroad due to free trade.
Yet Switzerland, which has free trade agreements with the EU and China, has a stonking great physical goods trade surplus, and record manufacturing employment.
It's almost like these things are quite complex.
Not the only Western country that has maintained a strong manufacturing sector either, ofter within the EU.
Its almost as if we could have kept ours with the right economic policies.
Separately I don’t think you can just state the EC is “unfair” because it overweighted small states.
It is absolutely fair to states because it treats them all equally. You just think that another metric is more appropriate
If you want to understand why the United States is different, a good starting point is to ponder upon the meaning "United States" - what do those two words mean individually, and what do they mean juxtaposed? Each State getting a say in the electoral process makes sense from this perspective.
Someone in the last thread was decrying the Senate's composition, two from each State, as unfair. Fair or not, it reflects the entire purpose of the Senate! If it were to be more proportionate, you might as well just scrap it and have a unicameral system. A knock-on effect of either abandoning the Senate or reforming so its makeup almost always shadows the House of Representatives, is that change would come much easier. Generally this favours progressives over conservatives, of course, but wouldn't be costless for someone who generally dislikes conservatism, since it means progressive actions can be more easily overturned later, and you might not like the changes a more conservative administration would be empowered to pursue.
The number of mandates per constituency is determined every eight years by the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, using a formula established in the Constitution (Article 57), which gives weight both to the population and to the geographic size of each county. The factor of county geographic size in mandate allocation is a historical consideration intended to balance the perceived uneven distribution of power between rural and urban citizens in national politics. The result is that the country’s rural constituencies, which are significantly larger in geographic size than the urban constituencies, are allocated a greater number of seats than would be the case if based strictly on population.
The discrepancy is particularly notable in Finnmark County where there are 7,409 registered voters per mandate, while in Vestfold, there are 18,464 per mandate. The Finnmark quotient is a 50 per cent deviation from the average quotient in the country (14,954 votes per mandate). Four other counties have a deviation of approximately 20 per cent, and a total of seven counties deviate from the norm by more than 15 percent.
While some OSCE/ODIHR EAM interlocutors accepted this structural inequality of the vote based on a constitutional formula, others advocated for a stricter or strict equality of the vote noting that the historical rationale is no longer relevant and that the deviation is an infringement of the right to equal suffrage. The Council of Europe’s Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) recommends for equal suffrage that “the permissible departure from the norm should not be more than 10 per cent, and should certainly not exceed 15 per cent except in special circumstances (protection of a concentrated minority, sparsely populated administrative entity).”
There is some difference between an extreme of a 2x unequal proportionality and 10x. And even the comparatively low rate in Norway appears to be controversial.
I threw in the Norwegian example because it's a different idea of how to do things. I mean, imagine if America weighted the votes of states not just by population but by area, kinda weird right? But makes sense to in the Norwegian context (not uncontroversially, some there don't like it) because it reflects how urban areas have concentrated economic and political power. If the UK replaced the House of Lords with the House of Nations and Regions or somesuch, it might not be completely barmy for us either...
It's also clear you'd reasonably expect something closer to proportionality in an essentially unitary system (as Norway is) compared to a largely federal one like the US. Whether that justifies the disproportionalities that actually occur is a matter of judgment for Americans (or their states ) to ponder, not for me to decide.
One thing I would suggest though - the way the statistics are presented makes the situation look, in some sense, worse than it is. The large over-representation factors occur by definition in states which are small, therefore tend to affect a relatively small proportion of the population. Perhaps more interesting is who's been "hurt" by others being over-represented, and by what percentage their vote has been effectively under-rated.
The US has a 6-3 Supreme Court largely because the allocation of senators grants some citizens nearly 100 times the say of others in the election of Senators, at the extreme. That’s a pretty large percentage, and a very significant effect.
We hear that there's no special relationship anymore every election, and between it as well, so I think I'll snooze on this one.
You have misread it. The special relationship if there is one is between countries, while Biden and Harris think Johnson personally is a c#nt. I like them already.
And in other news Labour +4 (42 vs 38) in tonight's Opinium
The end of right wing populism is sweeping the globe. I expect Brexit to be cancelled before the end of the year,.
I find the implication of many thoughts like this that we are too weak to act on our own until the americans have led the way in sweeping out such populism to be rather depressing and infantilising. I know that's not the intention, it's that we are/will be part of a general global trend, but with it being seen as such a watershed moment of inevitability it feels like unintentional admission that we were powerless until they acted first, and that elections in other places where populists were defeated or never even had a look in should feel upset they were not heralded as the dawn of a new age.
Brexit has become a curious thing - most people now wish it wasn't happening, very few are paying attention to it at all, but it will happen in under 2 months.
Question (relating to my day job): how keen do we think Biden will be on a trade deal with the UK maximising agricultural interests? In the event, Iowa turned out to be quite unimportant in both primaries and general. My sense is that it will have a low priority, but there's an awkward mid-year deadline after which the ability to fast-track any deal expires. So we might get a quick deal in the spring with limited scope.
And in other news Labour +4 (42 vs 38) in tonight's Opinium
The end of right wing populism is sweeping the globe. I expect Brexit to be cancelled before the end of the year,.
Is it though...Eastern Europe, is still very popular e.g. Poland re-elected one. Australia voted for a very right wing government. Macron is very unpopular on France, with Le Pen waiting in the wings.
Right wing populism is still very much there because a large part of the population feels as though it has been sh*t upon from a large height. Anyone who thinks it is going away is very much mistaken.
Might shift to left wing Populism though. Its one hell of a recession coming.
Very much so although a left wing populist would need to reflect on that many people are essentially losing because their jobs have been shifted abroad due to free trade.
Mrs Thatcher will be spinning in her grave at the notion that free trade is a left wing ideal.
Right v Left is increasingly a cultural thing rather than an economic thing.
Yes and this election has confirmed that. Who would have thought you would have a modern American Republican President rail against Wall Street and “Big Tech”
...and blacks and immigrants and giving all the tax breaks to the top 2% of earners. A real lefty
More Black men and Hispanics voted for him than any other Republican candidate. Guess you are of the “you ain’t black” mindset
Small minorities of both. There are several hispanics and blacks in the top earning brackets. People have different reasons for voting. Some just self interest some see a wider picture
If he strikes a deal soon he can say no need to send it back to the Lords, as it won't be needed? Might look a bit obviously in response to the US news though. So send it back at least a couple more times to test the Lords?
Rishi Sunak's grandmother sold all her wedding jewellery for a one-way ticket to the land of Oxford and Shakespeare, new biography of the Chancellor by LORD ASHCROFT reveals
And in other news Labour +4 (42 vs 38) in tonight's Opinium
The end of right wing populism is sweeping the globe. I expect Brexit to be cancelled before the end of the year,.
Is it though...Eastern Europe, is still very popular e.g. Poland re-elected one. Australia voted for a very right wing government. Macron is very unpopular on France, with Le Pen waiting in the wings.
Right wing populism is still very much there because a large part of the population feels as though it has been sh*t upon from a large height. Anyone who thinks it is going away is very much mistaken.
Might shift to left wing Populism though. Its one hell of a recession coming.
Very much so although a left wing populist would need to reflect on that many people are essentially losing because their jobs have been shifted abroad due to free trade.
Yet Switzerland, which has free trade agreements with the EU and China, has a stonking great physical goods trade surplus, and record manufacturing employment.
It's almost like these things are quite complex.
Switzerland, as a country, is very much Sui generis at all levels (and in its history). There are goods whose value is highly attached to the country (e.g. watches). There is also not the insignificant issue that any Swiss company that tried to outsource its employment to a cheaper labour country and sack its domestic workforce would soon get its ass handed on a plate by both society and the government.
But it's not just Switzerland: there are a number of developed countries that have done an excellent job in running manufacturing trade surpluses, and having extremely pro free trade policies. I might mention Germany, or Singapore, or Sweden, or Denmark. All have high labour standards, low tariffs.
But they also have two other things in common, that the US and the UK do not:
(1) They have educational systems with good vocational routes (2) They all have high domestic savings rates
Indeed, if you want to look for a marker that correlates (without exception, as far as I can tell) with diminishing domestic manufacturing employment, it's low domestic savings rates.
Edit to add, you can probably add South Korea to the list of low tariff, high manufacturing employment countries.
I find the USA tendency to be hugely patriotic of the USA and shared american identity, whilst also occasionally being really focused on heritage going back literally hundreds of years in some cases (to the point of being like 'I'm X', to be equal parts impressive, frustrating and endearing.
There is an interesting argument that Biden’s victory has shown the value of TV advertising
Doesn't it simply show that there are enough activists on twitter that paying for twitter ads is superfluous? Why pay for something that you get for free?
Italy's collapsing health system: Shocking pictures show patients on ventilators lying on field stretchers in hospital corridors as country battles Covid second wave
The northern region of Lombardy, centred on Italy's business capital Milan, remained the hardest hit area, reporting 11,489 new cases on Saturday against 9,934 on Friday.
Rishi Sunak's grandmother sold all her wedding jewellery for a one-way ticket to the land of Oxford and Shakespeare, new biography of the Chancellor by LORD ASHCROFT reveals
The man's only been in the Cabinet since earlier this year (I think Chief Secretary of the Treasury is a 'attends Cabinet not 'part of the Cabinet' role), very early for a Biography. Is there a promotion in the wings or something?
Everyone knows how quickly [...] moods can change these days
Yes. Witnessing you oscillate between angry the one minute, furious the next, and then back again, is quite hypnotic. I'm surprised you even came back today after the way you disgraced yourself earlier. Still, we all forgive you. You were just emotional after your boy took one hell of a beating.
Tell you what: when you've been on this site for longer than 8 weeks, written at least some posts of value, and established a reputation for yourself as someone worth listening to, then I might start to consider taking on board what you have to say.
Until then I'll put you down as a pointless weevil.
Italy's collapsing health system: Shocking pictures show patients on ventilators lying on field stretchers in hospital corridors as country battles Covid second wave
The northern region of Lombardy, centred on Italy's business capital Milan, remained the hardest hit area, reporting 11,489 new cases on Saturday against 9,934 on Friday.
Separately I don’t think you can just state the EC is “unfair” because it overweighted small states.
It is absolutely fair to states because it treats them all equally. You just think that another metric is more appropriate
Yes - people.
Sure.
But I’m really objecting to the use of value judgments. It’s sloppy thinking.
It would be unfair if different states were treated differently. It would be unfair if certain racial groups only got a fraction of the vote of a white male.
It’s not unfair if the system is based around states but you think it should be based around people instead. It could be wrong or inappropriate or all sorts of things. But it’s not unfair
Sure. You inherit a skewed electoral system, skewed way beyond what was intended by its designers, and which is enormously difficult to change, as an accident of history.
I understand you’re not unsympathetic to the idea of random inheritance, and it has something to be said for it. Fairness is not foremost among those argument, though.
Rishi Sunak's grandmother sold all her wedding jewellery for a one-way ticket to the land of Oxford and Shakespeare, new biography of the Chancellor by LORD ASHCROFT reveals
The man's only been in the Cabinet since earlier this year (I think Chief Secretary of the Treasury is a 'attends Cabinet not 'part of the Cabinet' role), very early for a Biography. Is there a promotion in the wings or something?
Soft soaping out, clearly somebody thinks an vacancy might open up.
Italy's collapsing health system: Shocking pictures show patients on ventilators lying on field stretchers in hospital corridors as country battles Covid second wave
The northern region of Lombardy, centred on Italy's business capital Milan, remained the hardest hit area, reporting 11,489 new cases on Saturday against 9,934 on Friday.
This time its COVID with a vengeance, where even Germany say too many cases to track and trace, Poland is having to use a football stadium as a field hospital....
Twitter is massively left shifted to the real world. Even I got a bit sucked in this election tbh
Is that true? Shifted to the extremes, perhaps, might be nearer the mark. Maybe someone has done the maths but there does seem to be a lot of right and alt-right content as well.
As I have said Biden is probably enough of an absolute idiot to pardon Trump. But the pardoning if Nixon was a mistake of gigantic proportion.
It set the precedent that if you were in power you could do any crime you wanted and not get prosecuted.
If the Rule of Law is to mean anything then the people at the top must have it applied to them as well.
I think there’s a balance
It shouldn’t be a vindictive witch-hunt- he should be treated like any other citizen. If he’s made into a martyr among a % of the population it would be a serious error
I think that's spot on. If there is serious malfeasance, the he should be prosecuted. What there shouldn't be (and what Trump wanted with Clinton, of course) is for every incoming administration to start rooting around to see if there's something (anything) to charge their predecessors with.
I think the new administration will have way too much of far more importance to deal with, before thinking about any such vendetta. I doubt the Justice Department (or SDNY) is going to cut him any slack, though.
Italy's collapsing health system: Shocking pictures show patients on ventilators lying on field stretchers in hospital corridors as country battles Covid second wave
The northern region of Lombardy, centred on Italy's business capital Milan, remained the hardest hit area, reporting 11,489 new cases on Saturday against 9,934 on Friday.
Rishi Sunak's grandmother sold all her wedding jewellery for a one-way ticket to the land of Oxford and Shakespeare, new biography of the Chancellor by LORD ASHCROFT reveals
The man's only been in the Cabinet since earlier this year (I think Chief Secretary of the Treasury is a 'attends Cabinet not 'part of the Cabinet' role), very early for a Biography. Is there a promotion in the wings or something?
Soft soaping out, clearly somebody thinks an vacancy might open up.
Her vision was the start of a remarkable success story that, with the meteoric rise of her grandson Rishi, is still unfolding
Italy's collapsing health system: Shocking pictures show patients on ventilators lying on field stretchers in hospital corridors as country battles Covid second wave
The northern region of Lombardy, centred on Italy's business capital Milan, remained the hardest hit area, reporting 11,489 new cases on Saturday against 9,934 on Friday.
Italy's collapsing health system: Shocking pictures show patients on ventilators lying on field stretchers in hospital corridors as country battles Covid second wave
The northern region of Lombardy, centred on Italy's business capital Milan, remained the hardest hit area, reporting 11,489 new cases on Saturday against 9,934 on Friday.
As I have said Biden is probably enough of an absolute idiot to pardon Trump. But the pardoning if Nixon was a mistake of gigantic proportion.
It set the precedent that if you were in power you could do any crime you wanted and not get prosecuted.
If the Rule of Law is to mean anything then the people at the top must have it applied to them as well.
I think there’s a balance
It shouldn’t be a vindictive witch-hunt- he should be treated like any other citizen. If he’s made into a martyr among a % of the population it would be a serious error
I think that's spot on. If there is serious malfeasance, the he should be prosecuted. What there shouldn't be (and what Trump wanted with Clinton, of course) is for every incoming administration to start rooting around to see if there's something (anything) to charge their predecessors with.
I think the new administration will have way too much of far more importance to deal with, before thinking about any such vendetta. I doubt the Justice Department (or SDNY) is going to cut him any slack, though.
Or indeed the Attorney-General of the State of New York.
Italy's collapsing health system: Shocking pictures show patients on ventilators lying on field stretchers in hospital corridors as country battles Covid second wave
The northern region of Lombardy, centred on Italy's business capital Milan, remained the hardest hit area, reporting 11,489 new cases on Saturday against 9,934 on Friday.
This time its COVID with a vengeance, where even Germany say too many cases to track and trace, Poland is having to use a football stadium as a field hospital....
Any idea what's caused it? All the debate here seems to be around SAGE's graphs which, misleading or not, aren't what is making people ill.
He does sort of have a point. I think it is as much to do with the media being based in urban locations, thus the easy story was last time the meltdowns and this time celebration, as it is happening right outside their windows.
He does sort of have a point. I think it is as much to do with the media being based in urban locations, thus the easy story was last time the meltdowns and this time celebration, as it is happening right outside their windows.
Indeed had they gone to rural small towns it would be a different story
He does sort of have a point. I think it is as much to do with the media being based in urban locations, thus the easy story was last time the meltdowns and this time celebration, as it is happening right outside their windows.
Yeah, there was only a couple of points in it, you'd think Biden got 80% or something.
Italy's collapsing health system: Shocking pictures show patients on ventilators lying on field stretchers in hospital corridors as country battles Covid second wave
The northern region of Lombardy, centred on Italy's business capital Milan, remained the hardest hit area, reporting 11,489 new cases on Saturday against 9,934 on Friday.
This time its COVID with a vengeance, where even Germany say too many cases to track and trace, Poland is having to use a football stadium as a field hospital....
Any idea what's caused it? All the debate here seems to be around SAGE's graphs which, misleading or not, aren't what is making people ill.
Well an academic paper has linked a huge proportion of cases to outbreak on a Spanish farm, that spread to the holiday resorts. It is seems highly likely to me that all those other popular places like Greece, something similar has happened.
And unlike March, where it was mainly concentrated in Italy, where a certain demographic go for skiing breaks, a much wider range of people from all across Europe go to places like Spain, Greece, etc on their holidays.
Italy's collapsing health system: Shocking pictures show patients on ventilators lying on field stretchers in hospital corridors as country battles Covid second wave
The northern region of Lombardy, centred on Italy's business capital Milan, remained the hardest hit area, reporting 11,489 new cases on Saturday against 9,934 on Friday.
This time its COVID with a vengeance, where even Germany say too many cases to track and trace, Poland is having to use a football stadium as a field hospital....
Any idea what's caused it? All the debate here seems to be around SAGE's graphs which, misleading or not, aren't what is making people ill.
Well an academic paper has linked a huge proportion of cases to outbreak on a Spanish farm, that spread to the holiday resorts. It is seems highly likely to me that all those other popular places like Greece, something similar has happened.
Jonathan Sacks, the former chief rabbi who reached beyond the UK Jewish community to the wider public, has died of cancer at the age of 72.
Sad to hear that. He was the only speaker on Thought for the Day whose thoughts were worth listening to. And he left behind a wonderful body of work.
...and one of Netanyahu's keenest supporters
Was he? Never heard him say anything about him. He my well have been but I do not follow internal Israeli politics.
Interestingly about 4 years ago I heard him speak about the US and the idea of a covenant and what a President’s inauguration speech means and how it is derived in part from the idea of a covenant etc.
He does sort of have a point. I think it is as much to do with the media being based in urban locations, thus the easy story was last time the meltdowns and this time celebration, as it is happening right outside their windows.
Yeah, there was only a couple of points in it, you'd think Biden got 80% or something.
Don't know where you've gotten that from. The news has literally spent days talking about how close it was in some key states, even in ones where it wasn't all that close. I think the UK media is pretty clear and has presented that he's not overwhelmingly supported or adored. I think FrancisUrquhart's point about why there is a focus based on location in terms of reaction is plausible.
He does sort of have a point. I think it is as much to do with the media being based in urban locations, thus the easy story was last time the meltdowns and this time celebration, as it is happening right outside their windows.
Yeah, there was only a couple of points in it, you'd think Biden got 80% or something.
Don't know where you've gotten that from. The news has literally spent days talking about how close it was in some key states, even in ones where it wasn't all that close. I think the UK media is pretty clear and has presented that he's not overwhelmingly supported or adored. I think FrancisUrquhart's point about why there is a focus based on location in terms of reaction is plausible.
No, I just mean the recent coverage regarding the celebrations/protests last time.
Italy's collapsing health system: Shocking pictures show patients on ventilators lying on field stretchers in hospital corridors as country battles Covid second wave
The northern region of Lombardy, centred on Italy's business capital Milan, remained the hardest hit area, reporting 11,489 new cases on Saturday against 9,934 on Friday.
By next weekend Leicester will have as many inpatients as we did in March and we are far from the worst affected part of the country.
It really is a good month to stay at home, if you can. I cannot...
Having been saying for months LOL, about as likely to contract malaria in Devon, it transpires I was seriously exposed to a positive case on Wednesday night in fecking WIDECOMBE. All along, down along, out along, lee.
He does sort of have a point. I think it is as much to do with the media being based in urban locations, thus the easy story was last time the meltdowns and this time celebration, as it is happening right outside their windows.
Yeah, there was only a couple of points in it, you'd think Biden got 80% or something.
After 4 years of the Toddler-in-Chief, it probably feels like the second coming. If it pisses Farage off then that is even better IMO.
He does sort of have a point. I think it is as much to do with the media being based in urban locations, thus the easy story was last time the meltdowns and this time celebration, as it is happening right outside their windows.
Yeah, there was only a couple of points in it, you'd think Biden got 80% or something.
After 4 years of the Toddler-in-Chief, it probably feels like the second coming. If it pisses Farage off then that is even better IMO.
I doubt that many people actually feel that strongly, to be honest.
He does sort of have a point. I think it is as much to do with the media being based in urban locations, thus the easy story was last time the meltdowns and this time celebration, as it is happening right outside their windows.
And, of course, it is simply easier to raise an impressive looking crowd in a big city. Someone shared a video of Trumpers in Harrisburg. Perhaps 500? Maybe 1% of the population? In NY that would be 90 000.
He does sort of have a point. I think it is as much to do with the media being based in urban locations, thus the easy story was last time the meltdowns and this time celebration, as it is happening right outside their windows.
And, of course, it is simply easier to raise an impressive looking crowd in a big city.
Well Trump wasn't short of big crowds at his rallies, especially 2016, he has some huge ones.
He does sort of have a point. I think it is as much to do with the media being based in urban locations, thus the easy story was last time the meltdowns and this time celebration, as it is happening right outside their windows.
Yeah, there was only a couple of points in it, you'd think Biden got 80% or something.
It’s a comprehensive victory in the end.
But it’s absolutely not a mandate for further culture wars.
Biden needs to reach out to his opponents, not fight them.
He does sort of have a point. I think it is as much to do with the media being based in urban locations, thus the easy story was last time the meltdowns and this time celebration, as it is happening right outside their windows.
Yeah, there was only a couple of points in it, you'd think Biden got 80% or something.
After 4 years of the Toddler-in-Chief, it probably feels like the second coming. If it pisses Farage off then that is even better IMO.
I doubt that many people actually feel that strongly, to be honest.
The UK / Irish people I know are almost unanimous in celebrating the departure of The Monster. Admittedly none of us are Yanks....
I find the USA tendency to be hugely patriotic of the USA and shared american identity, whilst also occasionally being really focused on heritage going back literally hundreds of years in some cases (to the point of being like 'I'm X', to be equal parts impressive, frustrating and endearing.
Not a great night for Trump Netanyahu Farage and Johnson. Which makes the celebration all the more enjoyable for the rest of us
Italy's collapsing health system: Shocking pictures show patients on ventilators lying on field stretchers in hospital corridors as country battles Covid second wave
The northern region of Lombardy, centred on Italy's business capital Milan, remained the hardest hit area, reporting 11,489 new cases on Saturday against 9,934 on Friday.
This time its COVID with a vengeance, where even Germany say too many cases to track and trace, Poland is having to use a football stadium as a field hospital....
Any idea what's caused it? All the debate here seems to be around SAGE's graphs which, misleading or not, aren't what is making people ill.
Well an academic paper has linked a huge proportion of cases to outbreak on a Spanish farm, that spread to the holiday resorts. It is seems highly likely to me that all those other popular places like Greece, something similar has happened.
And unlike March, where it was mainly concentrated in Italy, where a certain demographic go for skiing breaks, a much wider range of people from all across Europe go to places like Spain, Greece, etc on their holidays.
And one thing you can be sure of is that Grant Shapps will be raring to get the holiday flights going again.
Italy's collapsing health system: Shocking pictures show patients on ventilators lying on field stretchers in hospital corridors as country battles Covid second wave
The northern region of Lombardy, centred on Italy's business capital Milan, remained the hardest hit area, reporting 11,489 new cases on Saturday against 9,934 on Friday.
This time its COVID with a vengeance, where even Germany say too many cases to track and trace, Poland is having to use a football stadium as a field hospital....
Any idea what's caused it? All the debate here seems to be around SAGE's graphs which, misleading or not, aren't what is making people ill.
Well an academic paper has linked a huge proportion of cases to outbreak on a Spanish farm, that spread to the holiday resorts. It is seems highly likely to me that all those other popular places like Greece, something similar has happened.
And unlike March, where it was mainly concentrated in Italy, where a certain demographic go for skiing breaks, a much wider range of people from all across Europe go to places like Spain, Greece, etc on their holidays.
And one thing you can be sure of is that Grant Shapps will be raring to get the holiday flights going again.
I have been very critical of the UK approach to travel, but in this case, all the European leaders have made an absolutely massive fuck up.
He does sort of have a point. I think it is as much to do with the media being based in urban locations, thus the easy story was last time the meltdowns and this time celebration, as it is happening right outside their windows.
And, of course, it is simply easier to raise an impressive looking crowd in a big city. Someone shared a video of Trumpers in Harrisburg. Perhaps 500? Maybe 1% of the population? In NY that would be 90 000.
And of course there are no meltdowns from MAGA to be filmed. Because they don't accept they lost.
He does sort of have a point. I think it is as much to do with the media being based in urban locations, thus the easy story was last time the meltdowns and this time celebration, as it is happening right outside their windows.
And, of course, it is simply easier to raise an impressive looking crowd in a big city. Someone shared a video of Trumpers in Harrisburg. Perhaps 500? Maybe 1% of the population? In NY that would be 90 000.
And of course there are no meltdowns from MAGA to be filmed. Because they don't accept they lost.
To be fair, last time a lot of people on the other side didn't accept it either, all that "not my president" stuff, because he didn't win the popular vote, or Russia or something something else. Rachel Maddow kept that up for 3 years, same with Carole Conspiracy here over Brexit.
Rather than asking the question, why did all these people vote for Trump.
Not much sign of social distancing in America with the celebrating crowds. They seem to think that as long as you wear a mask it doesn't matter how close you get to other people.
He does sort of have a point. I think it is as much to do with the media being based in urban locations, thus the easy story was last time the meltdowns and this time celebration, as it is happening right outside their windows.
Yeah, there was only a couple of points in it, you'd think Biden got 80% or something.
It’s a comprehensive victory in the end.
But it’s absolutely not a mandate for further culture wars.
Biden needs to reach out to his opponents, not fight them.
He does sort of have a point. I think it is as much to do with the media being based in urban locations, thus the easy story was last time the meltdowns and this time celebration, as it is happening right outside their windows.
And, of course, it is simply easier to raise an impressive looking crowd in a big city.
Well Trump wasn't short of big crowds at his rallies, especially 2016, he has some huge ones.
Yes of course. But they were planned rallies not spontaneous.
Italy's collapsing health system: Shocking pictures show patients on ventilators lying on field stretchers in hospital corridors as country battles Covid second wave
The northern region of Lombardy, centred on Italy's business capital Milan, remained the hardest hit area, reporting 11,489 new cases on Saturday against 9,934 on Friday.
This time its COVID with a vengeance, where even Germany say too many cases to track and trace, Poland is having to use a football stadium as a field hospital....
Any idea what's caused it? All the debate here seems to be around SAGE's graphs which, misleading or not, aren't what is making people ill.
Well an academic paper has linked a huge proportion of cases to outbreak on a Spanish farm, that spread to the holiday resorts. It is seems highly likely to me that all those other popular places like Greece, something similar has happened.
And unlike March, where it was mainly concentrated in Italy, where a certain demographic go for skiing breaks, a much wider range of people from all across Europe go to places like Spain, Greece, etc on their holidays.
And one thing you can be sure of is that Grant Shapps will be raring to get the holiday flights going again.
I have been very critical of the UK approach to travel, but in this case, all the European leaders have made an absolutely massive fuck up.
They have but some are more culpable than others.
They really didn't learn anything from how covid entered the UK to begin with.
The government should think themselves lucky that Starmer has twice missed the most open of goals on this issue.
Not much sign of social distancing in America with the celebrating crowds. They seem to think that as long as you wear a mask it doesn't matter how close you get to other people.
There is this weird belief that outside + mask you are totally immune to the plague. It is certainly much much safer than inside, but it isn't 100% safe.
And in other news Labour +4 (42 vs 38) in tonight's Opinium
The end of right wing populism is sweeping the globe. I expect Brexit to be cancelled before the end of the year,.
Is it though...Eastern Europe, is still very popular e.g. Poland re-elected one. Australia voted for a very right wing government. Macron is very unpopular on France, with Le Pen waiting in the wings.
Right wing populism is still very much there because a large part of the population feels as though it has been sh*t upon from a large height. Anyone who thinks it is going away is very much mistaken.
Might shift to left wing Populism though. Its one hell of a recession coming.
Very much so although a left wing populist would need to reflect on that many people are essentially losing because their jobs have been shifted abroad due to free trade.
Yet Switzerland, which has free trade agreements with the EU and China, has a stonking great physical goods trade surplus, and record manufacturing employment.
It's almost like these things are quite complex.
Switzerland, as a country, is very much Sui generis at all levels (and in its history). There are goods whose value is highly attached to the country (e.g. watches). There is also not the insignificant issue that any Swiss company that tried to outsource its employment to a cheaper labour country and sack its domestic workforce would soon get its ass handed on a plate by both society and the government.
But it's not just Switzerland: there are a number of developed countries that have done an excellent job in running manufacturing trade surpluses, and having extremely pro free trade policies. I might mention Germany, or Singapore, or Sweden, or Denmark. All have high labour standards, low tariffs.
But they also have two other things in common, that the US and the UK do not:
(1) They have educational systems with good vocational routes (2) They all have high domestic savings rates
Indeed, if you want to look for a marker that correlates (without exception, as far as I can tell) with diminishing domestic manufacturing employment, it's low domestic savings rates.
Edit to add, you can probably add South Korea to the list of low tariff, high manufacturing employment countries.
I definitely agree on the vocational route thing, I’ve always thought we send too many people to university in the UK than encourage them to go into jobs post A level.
I’m not sure on the free trade argument. Try getting round German rules on employment, practices etc. Many of these countries (and that includes Switzerland) have rules / regulations that subtly stop competition from outside. It’s also a historical thing - German heavy industry was built up behind heavy tariff walls (as was South Korea)
I notice places like New York are ticking up again now. Up to 3k cases as day, 3x up in a month. Illinois (which includes Chicago), 11k cases, up from 1500 or some at start of October.
He does sort of have a point. I think it is as much to do with the media being based in urban locations, thus the easy story was last time the meltdowns and this time celebration, as it is happening right outside their windows.
And, of course, it is simply easier to raise an impressive looking crowd in a big city. Someone shared a video of Trumpers in Harrisburg. Perhaps 500? Maybe 1% of the population? In NY that would be 90 000.
And of course there are no meltdowns from MAGA to be filmed. Because they don't accept they lost.
To be fair, last time a lot of people on the other side didn't accept it either, all that "not my president" stuff, because he didn't win the popular vote, or Russia or something something else. Rachel Maddow kept that up for 3 years, same with Carole Conspiracy here over Brexit.
Rather than asking the question, why did all these people vote for Trump.
A fair point. Will the GOP make the same mistake? This is the 7th out of 8 popular vote for President they've lost. So far the only plan they have shown is to stop people voting. Or make it difficult for them. Or not count them.
Comments
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/vaccine-coronavirus-who-minks-denmark-b55265.html
This is a narrative shift like the introduction of Negan in season 6.
Imagine you found Bin Laden. Imagine all the world Jihadis trying to turn up and meet the great man. It would be the fishing lure to beat all. Just sit there and watch who came to the house. Who called him....
Then, when you are quite finished... turn out the lights.
And of course the same mistakes are being repeated as in the Wuhan outbreak. Kill all the animals, but let the humans still travel in and out of Denmark.
Its almost as if we could have kept ours with the right economic policies.
That’s a pretty large percentage, and a very significant effect.
Question (relating to my day job): how keen do we think Biden will be on a trade deal with the UK maximising agricultural interests? In the event, Iowa turned out to be quite unimportant in both primaries and general. My sense is that it will have a low priority, but there's an awkward mid-year deadline after which the ability to fast-track any deal expires. So we might get a quick deal in the spring with limited scope.
At a minimum, there seems to be no appreciation of the possibility of actual or potential conflicts of interest.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8924539/LORD-ASHCROFT-Rishi-Sunaks-gran-sold-wedding-jewellery-one-way-ticket-England.html
But they also have two other things in common, that the US and the UK do not:
(1) They have educational systems with good vocational routes
(2) They all have high domestic savings rates
Indeed, if you want to look for a marker that correlates (without exception, as far as I can tell) with diminishing domestic manufacturing employment, it's low domestic savings rates.
Edit to add, you can probably add South Korea to the list of low tariff, high manufacturing employment countries.
The northern region of Lombardy, centred on Italy's business capital Milan, remained the hardest hit area, reporting 11,489 new cases on Saturday against 9,934 on Friday.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8924687/Patients-treated-floor-Italys-healthcare-collapses.html
You inherit a skewed electoral system, skewed way beyond what was intended by its designers, and which is enormously difficult to change, as an accident of history.
I understand you’re not unsympathetic to the idea of random inheritance, and it has something to be said for it. Fairness is not foremost among those argument, though.
https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1325151308479930369?s=20
https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1325166010106851328?s=20
It really is a good month to stay at home, if you can. I cannot...
It's subtle, for sure.
https://www.ladepeche.fr/2020/11/05/covid-19-face-a-la-surmortalite-la-patinoire-dales-requisitionnee-pour-servir-de-chambre-funeraire-9184380.php
And unlike March, where it was mainly concentrated in Italy, where a certain demographic go for skiing breaks, a much wider range of people from all across Europe go to places like Spain, Greece, etc on their holidays.
Interestingly about 4 years ago I heard him speak about the US and the idea of a covenant and what a President’s inauguration speech means and how it is derived in part from the idea of a covenant etc.
But she really wants to be in charge - certainly governor, and perhaps President. Which is not impossible.
Someone shared a video of Trumpers in Harrisburg. Perhaps 500? Maybe 1% of the population?
In NY that would be 90 000.
But it’s absolutely not a mandate for further culture wars.
Biden needs to reach out to his opponents, not fight them.
Because they don't accept they lost.
Rather than asking the question, why did all these people vote for Trump.
They really didn't learn anything from how covid entered the UK to begin with.
The government should think themselves lucky that Starmer has twice missed the most open of goals on this issue.
I’m not sure on the free trade argument. Try getting round German rules on employment, practices etc. Many of these countries (and that includes Switzerland) have rules / regulations that subtly stop competition from outside. It’s also a historical thing - German heavy industry was built up behind heavy tariff walls (as was South Korea)
https://twitter.com/ChrisMasonBBC/status/1325226542788730881
So far the only plan they have shown is to stop people voting. Or make it difficult for them. Or not count them.