In Michigan if any members of the state canvass board refuse to certify the results the governor can fire them and appoint someone else . Once the results are certified by the SOS these go to the governor who then confirms the state electors for Biden . Both the governor and SOS are Dems . If the state legislators tried to sent a different slate of electors the governors take precedence .
The fact some GOP members are entertaining effectively overturning the results in certain swing states highlights what utter scum they are . Trump isn’t even hiding his attempts to stage a coup . It won’t work but he is operating a scorched earth policy on democracy .
Biden’s attempts at reaching across aisle are living in la la land . He’s living in a different world where that was possible , America is beyond any chance of recovering from 4 years of Trump . Whatever problems we may have in Europe we are still able to disagree politically , and can still have friendships with those on opposing political sides .
That ships sailed in the USA .
Johnson will 100% do a replay of the Trump legal shenanigans at the next GE. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves about what he is.
Nonsensical.
Johnson is nothing like Trump and the UK is nothing like the USA.
If the election had happened in this country instead of the USA then Biden would have kissed the Queen's hand the day after the election.
I expect Johnson would be delighted to get out of being PM and go back on the After Dinner Lecture Circuit as an ex-PM. Money, food, laughter and no big responsibilities...
I was hoping when Betfair merged with the famously publicity shy Paddy Power that Betfair might start doing some early payouts for publicity, but alas we've got the opposite.
How can an exchange do that?! They'd be paying out with other peoples money!
Betfair do offer more than an exchange.
That’s why their sportsbook can pay out earlier, because it’s Betfair’s money. But they can’t do early pay outs like Paddy Power can on the exchange, because it’s not their money they’d be paying out!
I know, you're not telling me anything I don't already know.
So why did you hope they might pay out early like paddy power?! You must have known it was impossible
Come on Sam, Betdaq have paid up - no need to be a Betfair apologist
Yeah I suppose that is a point - maybe BetDaqs turnover was small enough for them to be able to pay it out? How much did they turnover?
In Michigan if any members of the state canvass board refuse to certify the results the governor can fire them and appoint someone else . Once the results are certified by the SOS these go to the governor who then confirms the state electors for Biden . Both the governor and SOS are Dems . If the state legislators tried to sent a different slate of electors the governors take precedence .
The fact some GOP members are entertaining effectively overturning the results in certain swing states highlights what utter scum they are . Trump isn’t even hiding his attempts to stage a coup . It won’t work but he is operating a scorched earth policy on democracy .
Biden’s attempts at reaching across aisle are living in la la land . He’s living in a different world where that was possible , America is beyond any chance of recovering from 4 years of Trump . Whatever problems we may have in Europe we are still able to disagree politically , and can still have friendships with those on opposing political sides .
That ships sailed in the USA .
Johnson will 100% do a replay of the Trump legal shenanigans at the next GE. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves about what he is.
Nonsensical.
Johnson is nothing like Trump and the UK is nothing like the USA.
If the election had happened in this country instead of the USA then Biden would have kissed the Queen's hand the day after the election.
I dunno, the Tories are already going down the voter suppression route by pushing for ID requirements at polling stations, ostensibly to deal with the more or less non-existent problem of impersonation but with the effect of disenfranchising the kind of people who don't vote Tory. (there may be some voting fraud in the UK, but impersonation isn't a problem). The main advantages we have over the US is that our voting system is much simpler and there is an immediate transfer of power so no time to plan a coup. I would file this under the category of unlikely, but wouldn't totally put it past him.
In Michigan if any members of the state canvass board refuse to certify the results the governor can fire them and appoint someone else . Once the results are certified by the SOS these go to the governor who then confirms the state electors for Biden . Both the governor and SOS are Dems . If the state legislators tried to sent a different slate of electors the governors take precedence .
The fact some GOP members are entertaining effectively overturning the results in certain swing states highlights what utter scum they are . Trump isn’t even hiding his attempts to stage a coup . It won’t work but he is operating a scorched earth policy on democracy .
Biden’s attempts at reaching across aisle are living in la la land . He’s living in a different world where that was possible , America is beyond any chance of recovering from 4 years of Trump . Whatever problems we may have in Europe we are still able to disagree politically , and can still have friendships with those on opposing political sides .
That ships sailed in the USA .
Johnson will 100% do a replay of the Trump legal shenanigans at the next GE. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves about what he is.
You are overlooking the viciousness of the Tory party. They will knife him in the back and toss him aside in the blink of an eye and then the undignified scramble to be the next Leader will commence.
O/T its very irritating companies that insist upon you calling instead of doing things online and then put you on hold without saying "there are x people in the queue ahead of you" so you have a clue what's going on.
Sky have some very interesting Black Friday packages at the minute, so I'm currently looking to upgrade my account and pay Sky more money - but I can't get hold of them to do so. If I upgrade online the package they're advertising for new customers isn't available to me as an existing customer - if I do it online it'd be £30/mo more.
In Michigan if any members of the state canvass board refuse to certify the results the governor can fire them and appoint someone else . Once the results are certified by the SOS these go to the governor who then confirms the state electors for Biden . Both the governor and SOS are Dems . If the state legislators tried to sent a different slate of electors the governors take precedence .
The fact some GOP members are entertaining effectively overturning the results in certain swing states highlights what utter scum they are . Trump isn’t even hiding his attempts to stage a coup . It won’t work but he is operating a scorched earth policy on democracy .
Biden’s attempts at reaching across aisle are living in la la land . He’s living in a different world where that was possible , America is beyond any chance of recovering from 4 years of Trump . Whatever problems we may have in Europe we are still able to disagree politically , and can still have friendships with those on opposing political sides .
That ships sailed in the USA .
Johnson will 100% do a replay of the Trump legal shenanigans at the next GE. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves about what he is.
How? UK electoral system is not run by political appointees, the votes are done and dusted within 24 in almost all cases, there is no running total given of individual counts, the counting is all manual...
I think there have been two MPs that I can remember who had the initial results overthrown: the infamous Winchester incident in 1997 (where the electorate was singularly unimpressed and turned a wafer thin majority into a huge one), and the one where the Labour candidate was convicted of lying about his opponent.
Once the returning officer has pronounced the result it is essentially impossible to get it changed.
Edit to add: and it’s not like our Supreme Court has shown itself to be a lapdog of the government.
Sounds pretty reasonable to me. When you turn on your television tonight, imagine seeing the news acted rather than read. Someone looking like Boris Johnson furiously screaming at his fiancee, Carrie Symonds; Dominic Cummings vomiting into a can; and the Queen told to piss off. ...
Their most logical and defensible route from here is to settle the outright POTUS winner at the point where Biden has 270+ EC votes from states they have also settled. This means Biden at an aggregate 270+ from the 44 states already settled plus settlement of sufficient of the 6 that are still atm trading.
So the question is what event will trigger the settlement of each of these 6 states?
Answer. Certification. That's the only way. They failed to settle on the call for these 6 so cannot settle now until certified. That's the next distinct and definable event. If they do it sooner punters who have been backing Trump in this odd twilight market will have a case for their money having been taken under false pretenses. Why would Betfair risk that? They won't. Especially given they are earning all this extra commission.
Ok. So if we consult the cert timetable we can work it out. On 20 Nov GA is certified and therefore should be settled. But that's not enough. Biden is still short of 270 in Betfair "settled states" currency. We must wait until the next 2 of the 6 "disputed" states are settled - PA and MI. This occurs on the same day and if my theory is correct it tells us when Betfair will finally settle their outright winner market.
That day is Monday 23 November. This is when Betfair will settle Joe Biden as WINNER of their Next President market. If they don't it implies they plan to wait for the EC meeting on 14/12. That would be flagrantly contra their own rules saying "projected" EC votes and so I can't see it.
In Michigan if any members of the state canvass board refuse to certify the results the governor can fire them and appoint someone else . Once the results are certified by the SOS these go to the governor who then confirms the state electors for Biden . Both the governor and SOS are Dems . If the state legislators tried to sent a different slate of electors the governors take precedence .
The fact some GOP members are entertaining effectively overturning the results in certain swing states highlights what utter scum they are . Trump isn’t even hiding his attempts to stage a coup . It won’t work but he is operating a scorched earth policy on democracy .
Biden’s attempts at reaching across aisle are living in la la land . He’s living in a different world where that was possible , America is beyond any chance of recovering from 4 years of Trump . Whatever problems we may have in Europe we are still able to disagree politically , and can still have friendships with those on opposing political sides .
That ships sailed in the USA .
Johnson will 100% do a replay of the Trump legal shenanigans at the next GE. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves about what he is.
How? UK electoral system is not run by political appointees, the votes are done and dusted within 24 in almost all cases, there is no running total given of individual counts, the counting is all manual...
I think there have been two MPs that I can remember who had the initial results overthrown: the infamous Winchester incident in 1997 (where the electorate was singularly unimpressed and turned a wafer thin majority into a huge one), and the one where the Labour candidate was convicted of lying about his opponent.
Once the returning officer has pronounced the result it is essentially impossible to get it changed.
Edit to add: and it’s not like our Supreme Court has shown itself to be a lapdog of the government.
Given planning (I know, I know) how about:
1) Pack the Lords on some other pretext (Brexit or whatever) 2) Change law about boundaries are done, pass it through the Commons with your parliamentary majority and House of Lords with your minions 3) Vote through gerrymandered boundaries on a simple majority 4) There is no (4), the British system has basically no checks or balances that could defeat a determined PM with a majority who didn't give a shit what you thought about him
Sounds pretty reasonable to me. When you turn on your television tonight, imagine seeing the news acted rather than read. Someone looking like Boris Johnson furiously screaming at his fiancee, Carrie Symonds; Dominic Cummings vomiting into a can; and the Queen told to piss off. ...
The trend towards dramatising fictionalised accounts of recent events is incredibly corrosive. It needs to stop. We are entering TrumpWorld and the fact that our state broadcaster, with all its inherited prestige, is enabling it is truly awful.
Nearly four million public-sector workers, including soldiers, police officers, teachers and civil servants, face a pay freeze next year to help to repair the nation’s coronavirus-ravaged finances.
Everyone's faced a tough year.
The private sector that funds that lot has been ravaged much harder. So what would you do besides asinine, snide Tweets?
Actually, no - it's varied according to whether we can work effectively from home and whether our clients are OK. My main income is from a charity that continues to employ me full-time (with a pay freeze, but that's OK), and from translation for official bodies that have if anything increased their demand - my income went up and my daily expenses fell. That's not unique or even unusual among white-collar workers. While I give away a reasonable amount, it'd be much better if the German bank proposal of taxing home work and giving a tax break to essential workers or something similar was implemented. This is not an anti-Government point - it would simply be fairer.
Taxing home working seems a crazy idea to me.
Commuting is a terrible waste of time and energy - bad for individuals, bad for the environment, bad for productivity.
Of course taxes will have to rise, but trying to use them as a means of stopping progress is very short-sighted.
I agree to a point, though dont parties often seek to use or argue for using tax to incentivise or prevent various societal developments?
Spoilers suppressed for Andy'ds sake! Thank you very much. So episode 2 in the convent is a flashback, even though shown in parallel with Rolf 5 years later? That's what threw me.
And yes, suspended sentence is right! I did spot FF early on too...
There was a lot of speculation on Danish blogs about a series 2 and the author said he was discussing it, but the last posts about it were last year so I think they've decided to move on. The author says he's thinking of doing a crime-farce next, which sounds like a waste of unique talent to me, but I'll try anything he does.
Yes I think they needed to do more to clarify events happening now vs five years ago.
Sounds like Westworld and The Witcher. Must be a modern trend.
In Michigan if any members of the state canvass board refuse to certify the results the governor can fire them and appoint someone else . Once the results are certified by the SOS these go to the governor who then confirms the state electors for Biden . Both the governor and SOS are Dems . If the state legislators tried to sent a different slate of electors the governors take precedence .
The fact some GOP members are entertaining effectively overturning the results in certain swing states highlights what utter scum they are . Trump isn’t even hiding his attempts to stage a coup . It won’t work but he is operating a scorched earth policy on democracy .
Biden’s attempts at reaching across aisle are living in la la land . He’s living in a different world where that was possible , America is beyond any chance of recovering from 4 years of Trump . Whatever problems we may have in Europe we are still able to disagree politically , and can still have friendships with those on opposing political sides .
That ships sailed in the USA .
Johnson will 100% do a replay of the Trump legal shenanigans at the next GE. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves about what he is.
How? UK electoral system is not run by political appointees, the votes are done and dusted within 24 in almost all cases, there is no running total given of individual counts, the counting is all manual...
I think there have been two MPs that I can remember who had the initial results overthrown: the infamous Winchester incident in 1997 (where the electorate was singularly unimpressed and turned a wafer thin majority into a huge one), and the one where the Labour candidate was convicted of lying about his opponent.
Once the returning officer has pronounced the result it is essentially impossible to get it changed.
Edit to add: and it’s not like our Supreme Court has shown itself to be a lapdog of the government.
Given planning (I know, I know) how about:
1) Pack the Lords on some other pretext (Brexit or whatever) 2) Change law about boundaries are done, pass it through the Commons with your parliamentary majority and House of Lords with your minions 3) Vote through gerrymandered boundaries on a simple majority 4) There is no (4), the British system has basically no checks or balances that could defeat a determined PM with a majority who didn't give a shit what you thought about him
If they were prepared to go to those lenghts they might as well just amend the FTPA from five years to ten years or whatever.
In Michigan if any members of the state canvass board refuse to certify the results the governor can fire them and appoint someone else . Once the results are certified by the SOS these go to the governor who then confirms the state electors for Biden . Both the governor and SOS are Dems . If the state legislators tried to sent a different slate of electors the governors take precedence .
The fact some GOP members are entertaining effectively overturning the results in certain swing states highlights what utter scum they are . Trump isn’t even hiding his attempts to stage a coup . It won’t work but he is operating a scorched earth policy on democracy .
Biden’s attempts at reaching across aisle are living in la la land . He’s living in a different world where that was possible , America is beyond any chance of recovering from 4 years of Trump . Whatever problems we may have in Europe we are still able to disagree politically , and can still have friendships with those on opposing political sides .
That ships sailed in the USA .
Johnson will 100% do a replay of the Trump legal shenanigans at the next GE. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves about what he is.
Nonsensical.
Johnson is nothing like Trump and the UK is nothing like the USA.
If the election had happened in this country instead of the USA then Biden would have kissed the Queen's hand the day after the election.
I dunno, the Tories are already going down the voter suppression route by pushing for ID requirements at polling stations, ostensibly to deal with the more or less non-existent problem of impersonation but with the effect of disenfranchising the kind of people who don't vote Tory. (there may be some voting fraud in the UK, but impersonation isn't a problem). The main advantages we have over the US is that our voting system is much simpler and there is an immediate transfer of power so no time to plan a coup. I would file this under the category of unlikely, but wouldn't totally put it past him.
Sorry, but LOL. Another evil Tory plot magicked up out of thin air.
Countries in Europe requiring ID to be presented when voting:
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland. For a start, and that's just the Wikipedia list.
They are very well connected, those Tories - to be manipulating all those voting systems.
Gently suggest that the problem is in the default assumption.
Actually there was one sort of lockdown that might be responsible for the drop. We closed the schools. It was half term in much of England and Wales three weeks ago.
Schoolchildren should be prioritised for the vaccine. They might not get ill but can certainly spread the virus.
Flaw in that plan is that the vaccine hasn't been developed for paediatric use AIUI.
Also, why prioritise those groups for whom CV19 is mostly harmless? Protect the vulnerable, then let everyone else get on with our lives.
We should prioritise the people *spreading* the virus, as well as those most likely to die from it.
ETA one other reason for vaccinating children is that it is easy because they all turn up at the same big buildings, so just send a few nurses along. This also applies to care home residents and students. But vaccinating all (say) 70-year-olds is a logistical nightmare because they are randomly scattered about the country; maybe the same opt-in offer as the flu vaccine would get about half of them, otherwise door-to-door vaccination would be expensive and inefficient.
Nope. It's (for now) a scarce resource, ergo it should be prioritised for those under the most threat – not 14-year-old girls for whom the virus is typically a nothing burger.
In Michigan if any members of the state canvass board refuse to certify the results the governor can fire them and appoint someone else . Once the results are certified by the SOS these go to the governor who then confirms the state electors for Biden . Both the governor and SOS are Dems . If the state legislators tried to sent a different slate of electors the governors take precedence .
The fact some GOP members are entertaining effectively overturning the results in certain swing states highlights what utter scum they are . Trump isn’t even hiding his attempts to stage a coup . It won’t work but he is operating a scorched earth policy on democracy .
Biden’s attempts at reaching across aisle are living in la la land . He’s living in a different world where that was possible , America is beyond any chance of recovering from 4 years of Trump . Whatever problems we may have in Europe we are still able to disagree politically , and can still have friendships with those on opposing political sides .
That ships sailed in the USA .
Johnson will 100% do a replay of the Trump legal shenanigans at the next GE. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves about what he is.
He would try if he thought he could get away with it. But if he does it will mainly be the fault of anyone who's made fun of him...
I was hoping when Betfair merged with the famously publicity shy Paddy Power that Betfair might start doing some early payouts for publicity, but alas we've got the opposite.
How can an exchange do that?! They'd be paying out with other peoples money!
Betfair do offer more than an exchange.
That’s why their sportsbook can pay out earlier, because it’s Betfair’s money. But they can’t do early pay outs like Paddy Power can on the exchange, because it’s not their money they’d be paying out!
I know, you're not telling me anything I don't already know.
So why did you hope they might pay out early like paddy power?! You must have known it was impossible
Come on Sam, Betdaq have paid up - no need to be a Betfair apologist
Yeah I suppose that is a point - maybe BetDaqs turnover was small enough for them to be able to pay it out? How much did they turnover?
SPIN have also not settled the outright or the 6 "disputed" states. Not trading it, though. Suspended. Total pain because it's gummed up my account.
Hopefully I'm right with my 23 Nov theory for Betfair and SPIN will follow.
Just got a text from a pal of mine: “Have had a look at the new rules for travel to level 4. Quite straightforward really:
The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 3) Regulations 2020 ... 2. The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020() are amended in accordance with regulations 3 to 11. ... PART 4 Restrictions on movement ... 5(4) In schedule 5 (Level 4 restrictions), after paragraph 13, insert— "PART 4 "Restrictions on movement ... "16(1) For the purposes of this Part, examples of what constitutes a reasonable excuse (see regulation 5(4)) include leaving or remaining away from the area in which the person lives, or (as the case may be) entering or remaining in a Level 4 area that the person does not live in, for the purposes set out in sub-paragraph (2). "(2) The purposes are to— ... "(l) move home or undertake activities in connection with the maintenance, purchase, sale, letting, or rental of residential property that the person owns or is otherwise responsible for,"
So, in terms of regulation 16(2)(l) of The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (as amended by the The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 3) Regulations 2020), I have a reasonable excuse for travel to and from my late aunt's empty house in Glasgow ... I think “
These regulations were published yesterday and come into force at 6.00pm tonight. I am sure Police Scotland will be fully up to speed by then😀
In Michigan if any members of the state canvass board refuse to certify the results the governor can fire them and appoint someone else . Once the results are certified by the SOS these go to the governor who then confirms the state electors for Biden . Both the governor and SOS are Dems . If the state legislators tried to sent a different slate of electors the governors take precedence .
The fact some GOP members are entertaining effectively overturning the results in certain swing states highlights what utter scum they are . Trump isn’t even hiding his attempts to stage a coup . It won’t work but he is operating a scorched earth policy on democracy .
Biden’s attempts at reaching across aisle are living in la la land . He’s living in a different world where that was possible , America is beyond any chance of recovering from 4 years of Trump . Whatever problems we may have in Europe we are still able to disagree politically , and can still have friendships with those on opposing political sides .
That ships sailed in the USA .
Johnson will 100% do a replay of the Trump legal shenanigans at the next GE. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves about what he is.
Nonsensical.
Johnson is nothing like Trump and the UK is nothing like the USA.
If the election had happened in this country instead of the USA then Biden would have kissed the Queen's hand the day after the election.
I dunno, the Tories are already going down the voter suppression route by pushing for ID requirements at polling stations, ostensibly to deal with the more or less non-existent problem of impersonation but with the effect of disenfranchising the kind of people who don't vote Tory. (there may be some voting fraud in the UK, but impersonation isn't a problem). The main advantages we have over the US is that our voting system is much simpler and there is an immediate transfer of power so no time to plan a coup. I would file this under the category of unlikely, but wouldn't totally put it past him.
I loved living in a country where you turn up, pat the dogs outside, queue nicely, remember your name and address for the person behind the trestle table, admire the infants' artwork or exhortations to love Jesus a bit more and didn't need to prove who you are and then vote with a pencil on the end of a piece of string. It lasted an amazingly long time.
Proving who you are is now routine. There is no special group that will be put off by it apart from ultra libertarians and ultra anarchists. These will cancel each other out and will damage Lord Buckethead mostly. As long as they don't ban tying your dog outside the polling station, taking a photo and putting it online....
In Michigan if any members of the state canvass board refuse to certify the results the governor can fire them and appoint someone else . Once the results are certified by the SOS these go to the governor who then confirms the state electors for Biden . Both the governor and SOS are Dems . If the state legislators tried to sent a different slate of electors the governors take precedence .
The fact some GOP members are entertaining effectively overturning the results in certain swing states highlights what utter scum they are . Trump isn’t even hiding his attempts to stage a coup . It won’t work but he is operating a scorched earth policy on democracy .
Biden’s attempts at reaching across aisle are living in la la land . He’s living in a different world where that was possible , America is beyond any chance of recovering from 4 years of Trump . Whatever problems we may have in Europe we are still able to disagree politically , and can still have friendships with those on opposing political sides .
That ships sailed in the USA .
Johnson will 100% do a replay of the Trump legal shenanigans at the next GE. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves about what he is.
How? UK electoral system is not run by political appointees, the votes are done and dusted within 24 in almost all cases, there is no running total given of individual counts, the counting is all manual...
I think there have been two MPs that I can remember who had the initial results overthrown: the infamous Winchester incident in 1997 (where the electorate was singularly unimpressed and turned a wafer thin majority into a huge one), and the one where the Labour candidate was convicted of lying about his opponent.
Once the returning officer has pronounced the result it is essentially impossible to get it changed.
Edit to add: and it’s not like our Supreme Court has shown itself to be a lapdog of the government.
Given planning (I know, I know) how about:
1) Pack the Lords on some other pretext (Brexit or whatever) 2) Change law about boundaries are done, pass it through the Commons with your parliamentary majority and House of Lords with your minions 3) Vote through gerrymandered boundaries on a simple majority 4) There is no (4), the British system has basically no checks or balances that could defeat a determined PM with a majority who didn't give a shit what you thought about him
I take the point that we have fewer checks and balances do are technically vulnerable. I would always say be over cautious in such matters, just in case.
But of course official, legal checks and balances dont necessarily mean anything anyway if there is the will and support to bypass them. In democratic states with strong institutions that would be rare and to the checks might strengthen them, but it doesn't eliminate risk if course.
In the specific scenario around Boris, it kind of answers itself in that even if he wanted to mimic Trump hed have to do it with concrete actions in advance as the opportunities to mess about afterwards are much fewer even if wanted to.
Actually there was one sort of lockdown that might be responsible for the drop. We closed the schools. It was half term in much of England and Wales three weeks ago.
Schoolchildren should be prioritised for the vaccine. They might not get ill but can certainly spread the virus.
Actually there was one sort of lockdown that might be responsible for the drop. We closed the schools. It was half term in much of England and Wales three weeks ago.
Schoolchildren should be prioritised for the vaccine. They might not get ill but can certainly spread the virus.
I would want to see the vaccine used on the oldies first personally. I am no vaccine sceptic but there are always risks with any new medical treatment, and kids shouldn't be guinea pigs, especially since they are at minimal risk from the virus itself.
Would you have a preference or grading for your elderly guineapigs? Start with advanced dementia cases as they have already mentally left the building? Or perhaps the bed-ridden whose quality of life is obviously not good....?
Perhaps when he finished running, Logan opened a care home
In Michigan if any members of the state canvass board refuse to certify the results the governor can fire them and appoint someone else . Once the results are certified by the SOS these go to the governor who then confirms the state electors for Biden . Both the governor and SOS are Dems . If the state legislators tried to sent a different slate of electors the governors take precedence .
The fact some GOP members are entertaining effectively overturning the results in certain swing states highlights what utter scum they are . Trump isn’t even hiding his attempts to stage a coup . It won’t work but he is operating a scorched earth policy on democracy .
Biden’s attempts at reaching across aisle are living in la la land . He’s living in a different world where that was possible , America is beyond any chance of recovering from 4 years of Trump . Whatever problems we may have in Europe we are still able to disagree politically , and can still have friendships with those on opposing political sides .
That ships sailed in the USA .
Johnson will 100% do a replay of the Trump legal shenanigans at the next GE. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves about what he is.
Nonsensical.
Johnson is nothing like Trump and the UK is nothing like the USA.
If the election had happened in this country instead of the USA then Biden would have kissed the Queen's hand the day after the election.
I dunno, the Tories are already going down the voter suppression route by pushing for ID requirements at polling stations, ostensibly to deal with the more or less non-existent problem of impersonation but with the effect of disenfranchising the kind of people who don't vote Tory. (there may be some voting fraud in the UK, but impersonation isn't a problem). The main advantages we have over the US is that our voting system is much simpler and there is an immediate transfer of power so no time to plan a coup. I would file this under the category of unlikely, but wouldn't totally put it past him.
I loved living in a country where you turn up, pat the dogs outside, queue nicely, remember your name and address for the person behind the trestle table, admire the infants' artwork or exhortations to love Jesus a bit more and didn't need to prove who you are and then vote with a pencil on the end of a piece of string. It lasted an amazingly long time.
Proving who you are is now routine. There is no special group that will be put off by it apart from ultra libertarians and ultra anarchists. These will cancel each other out and will damage Lord Buckethead mostly. As long as they don't ban tying your dog outside the polling station, taking a photo and putting it online....
Given limitations on reporting on election day removing that would be a constitutional outrage.
In Michigan if any members of the state canvass board refuse to certify the results the governor can fire them and appoint someone else . Once the results are certified by the SOS these go to the governor who then confirms the state electors for Biden . Both the governor and SOS are Dems . If the state legislators tried to sent a different slate of electors the governors take precedence .
The fact some GOP members are entertaining effectively overturning the results in certain swing states highlights what utter scum they are . Trump isn’t even hiding his attempts to stage a coup . It won’t work but he is operating a scorched earth policy on democracy .
Biden’s attempts at reaching across aisle are living in la la land . He’s living in a different world where that was possible , America is beyond any chance of recovering from 4 years of Trump . Whatever problems we may have in Europe we are still able to disagree politically , and can still have friendships with those on opposing political sides .
That ships sailed in the USA .
Johnson will 100% do a replay of the Trump legal shenanigans at the next GE. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves about what he is.
Nonsensical.
Johnson is nothing like Trump and the UK is nothing like the USA.
If the election had happened in this country instead of the USA then Biden would have kissed the Queen's hand the day after the election.
I dunno, the Tories are already going down the voter suppression route by pushing for ID requirements at polling stations, ostensibly to deal with the more or less non-existent problem of impersonation but with the effect of disenfranchising the kind of people who don't vote Tory. (there may be some voting fraud in the UK, but impersonation isn't a problem). The main advantages we have over the US is that our voting system is much simpler and there is an immediate transfer of power so no time to plan a coup. I would file this under the category of unlikely, but wouldn't totally put it past him.
Sorry, but LOL. Another evil Tory plot magicked up out of thin air.
Countries in Europe requiring ID to be presented when voting:
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland. For a start, and that's just the Wikipedia list.
They are very well connected, those Tories - to be manipulating all those voting systems.
Greece, Germany and Hungary all have compulsory ID cards, so aren't really the same category.
In Michigan if any members of the state canvass board refuse to certify the results the governor can fire them and appoint someone else . Once the results are certified by the SOS these go to the governor who then confirms the state electors for Biden . Both the governor and SOS are Dems . If the state legislators tried to sent a different slate of electors the governors take precedence .
The fact some GOP members are entertaining effectively overturning the results in certain swing states highlights what utter scum they are . Trump isn’t even hiding his attempts to stage a coup . It won’t work but he is operating a scorched earth policy on democracy .
Biden’s attempts at reaching across aisle are living in la la land . He’s living in a different world where that was possible , America is beyond any chance of recovering from 4 years of Trump . Whatever problems we may have in Europe we are still able to disagree politically , and can still have friendships with those on opposing political sides .
That ships sailed in the USA .
Johnson will 100% do a replay of the Trump legal shenanigans at the next GE. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves about what he is.
How? UK electoral system is not run by political appointees, the votes are done and dusted within 24 in almost all cases, there is no running total given of individual counts, the counting is all manual...
I think there have been two MPs that I can remember who had the initial results overthrown: the infamous Winchester incident in 1997 (where the electorate was singularly unimpressed and turned a wafer thin majority into a huge one), and the one where the Labour candidate was convicted of lying about his opponent.
Once the returning officer has pronounced the result it is essentially impossible to get it changed.
Edit to add: and it’s not like our Supreme Court has shown itself to be a lapdog of the government.
The other thing about the US system that bugs me is the positively "Soviet-style" naming of Parliamentary constituencies, er, I mean Congressional districts. I mean "Florida #1" instead of, say, "Florida Northwest"?
I'm over 50. Can anyone advise how I go about getting my flu jab? Ta.
For NHS jab I thought you had to be over 65.
My surgery is telling me that. 50-64 are not at risk. It also adds "We are awaiting clarification from the government."
My surgery has just sent a text begging people to stop bugging them about the over 50s flu jab. Basically: don't call us, we'll call you.
The incidence of flu this winter is going to be incredibly low, bacause the same public health measures being taken to limit the spread of Covid also limit the ability of flu to spread.
Actually there was one sort of lockdown that might be responsible for the drop. We closed the schools. It was half term in much of England and Wales three weeks ago.
Schoolchildren should be prioritised for the vaccine. They might not get ill but can certainly spread the virus.
Actually there was one sort of lockdown that might be responsible for the drop. We closed the schools. It was half term in much of England and Wales three weeks ago.
Schoolchildren should be prioritised for the vaccine. They might not get ill but can certainly spread the virus.
I would want to see the vaccine used on the oldies first personally. I am no vaccine sceptic but there are always risks with any new medical treatment, and kids shouldn't be guinea pigs, especially since they are at minimal risk from the virus itself.
Also, there is the minor point that the vaccines haven't (as a rule) been developed for paediatric use. The exception is Pfizer, which as @Andy_Cooke points out above has been trialled on the over-12s.
However, there are no government plans to vaccinate children. They want to limit the vaccination cohort to 40 million (ish) and – rightly in my view – want to prioritise those at risk from the virus. It poses almost statistically zero risk to the under-18s.
In Michigan if any members of the state canvass board refuse to certify the results the governor can fire them and appoint someone else . Once the results are certified by the SOS these go to the governor who then confirms the state electors for Biden . Both the governor and SOS are Dems . If the state legislators tried to sent a different slate of electors the governors take precedence .
The fact some GOP members are entertaining effectively overturning the results in certain swing states highlights what utter scum they are . Trump isn’t even hiding his attempts to stage a coup . It won’t work but he is operating a scorched earth policy on democracy .
Biden’s attempts at reaching across aisle are living in la la land . He’s living in a different world where that was possible , America is beyond any chance of recovering from 4 years of Trump . Whatever problems we may have in Europe we are still able to disagree politically , and can still have friendships with those on opposing political sides .
That ships sailed in the USA .
Johnson will 100% do a replay of the Trump legal shenanigans at the next GE. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves about what he is.
Nonsensical.
Johnson is nothing like Trump and the UK is nothing like the USA.
If the election had happened in this country instead of the USA then Biden would have kissed the Queen's hand the day after the election.
I dunno, the Tories are already going down the voter suppression route by pushing for ID requirements at polling stations, ostensibly to deal with the more or less non-existent problem of impersonation but with the effect of disenfranchising the kind of people who don't vote Tory. (there may be some voting fraud in the UK, but impersonation isn't a problem). The main advantages we have over the US is that our voting system is much simpler and there is an immediate transfer of power so no time to plan a coup. I would file this under the category of unlikely, but wouldn't totally put it past him.
I loved living in a country where you turn up, pat the dogs outside, queue nicely, remember your name and address for the person behind the trestle table, admire the infants' artwork or exhortations to love Jesus a bit more and didn't need to prove who you are and then vote with a pencil on the end of a piece of string. It lasted an amazingly long time.
Proving who you are is now routine. There is no special group that will be put off by it apart from ultra libertarians and ultra anarchists. These will cancel each other out and will damage Lord Buckethead mostly. As long as they don't ban tying your dog outside the polling station, taking a photo and putting it online....
See point 2 which contradicts your claim that requiring id doesn't affect some groups disproportionately. When you introduce measures that make it harder to vote that are disproportionate to the problem they are meant to fix and you know it affects some groups more than others then it is voter suppression.
In Michigan if any members of the state canvass board refuse to certify the results the governor can fire them and appoint someone else . Once the results are certified by the SOS these go to the governor who then confirms the state electors for Biden . Both the governor and SOS are Dems . If the state legislators tried to sent a different slate of electors the governors take precedence .
The fact some GOP members are entertaining effectively overturning the results in certain swing states highlights what utter scum they are . Trump isn’t even hiding his attempts to stage a coup . It won’t work but he is operating a scorched earth policy on democracy .
Biden’s attempts at reaching across aisle are living in la la land . He’s living in a different world where that was possible , America is beyond any chance of recovering from 4 years of Trump . Whatever problems we may have in Europe we are still able to disagree politically , and can still have friendships with those on opposing political sides .
That ships sailed in the USA .
Johnson will 100% do a replay of the Trump legal shenanigans at the next GE. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves about what he is.
How? UK electoral system is not run by political appointees, the votes are done and dusted within 24 in almost all cases, there is no running total given of individual counts, the counting is all manual...
I think there have been two MPs that I can remember who had the initial results overthrown: the infamous Winchester incident in 1997 (where the electorate was singularly unimpressed and turned a wafer thin majority into a huge one), and the one where the Labour candidate was convicted of lying about his opponent.
Once the returning officer has pronounced the result it is essentially impossible to get it changed.
Edit to add: and it’s not like our Supreme Court has shown itself to be a lapdog of the government.
The other thing about the US system that bugs me is the positively "Soviet-style" naming of Parliamentary constituencies, er, I mean Congressional districts. I mean "Florida #1" instead of, say, "Florida Northwest"?
In Michigan if any members of the state canvass board refuse to certify the results the governor can fire them and appoint someone else . Once the results are certified by the SOS these go to the governor who then confirms the state electors for Biden . Both the governor and SOS are Dems . If the state legislators tried to sent a different slate of electors the governors take precedence .
The fact some GOP members are entertaining effectively overturning the results in certain swing states highlights what utter scum they are . Trump isn’t even hiding his attempts to stage a coup . It won’t work but he is operating a scorched earth policy on democracy .
Biden’s attempts at reaching across aisle are living in la la land . He’s living in a different world where that was possible , America is beyond any chance of recovering from 4 years of Trump . Whatever problems we may have in Europe we are still able to disagree politically , and can still have friendships with those on opposing political sides .
That ships sailed in the USA .
Johnson will 100% do a replay of the Trump legal shenanigans at the next GE. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves about what he is.
How? UK electoral system is not run by political appointees, the votes are done and dusted within 24 in almost all cases, there is no running total given of individual counts, the counting is all manual...
I think there have been two MPs that I can remember who had the initial results overthrown: the infamous Winchester incident in 1997 (where the electorate was singularly unimpressed and turned a wafer thin majority into a huge one), and the one where the Labour candidate was convicted of lying about his opponent.
Once the returning officer has pronounced the result it is essentially impossible to get it changed.
Edit to add: and it’s not like our Supreme Court has shown itself to be a lapdog of the government.
The other thing about the US system that bugs me is the positively "Soviet-style" naming of Parliamentary constituencies, er, I mean Congressional districts. I mean "Florida #1" instead of, say, "Florida Northwest"?
Takes all the fun out of it. Who wouldn't want to represent Mole Valley or east northwest gammonia on Thames?
Can Mitt Romney remain in the Republican Party? Just doesn't seem viable given he is one of very few voices in GOP prepared to take on Trump's anti-democratic lunacy.
Actually there was one sort of lockdown that might be responsible for the drop. We closed the schools. It was half term in much of England and Wales three weeks ago.
Schoolchildren should be prioritised for the vaccine. They might not get ill but can certainly spread the virus.
Actually there was one sort of lockdown that might be responsible for the drop. We closed the schools. It was half term in much of England and Wales three weeks ago.
Schoolchildren should be prioritised for the vaccine. They might not get ill but can certainly spread the virus.
I would want to see the vaccine used on the oldies first personally. I am no vaccine sceptic but there are always risks with any new medical treatment, and kids shouldn't be guinea pigs, especially since they are at minimal risk from the virus itself.
Would you have a preference or grading for your elderly guineapigs? Start with advanced dementia cases as they have already mentally left the building? Or perhaps the bed-ridden whose quality of life is obviously not good....?
Perhaps when he finished running, Logan opened a care home
Actually there was one sort of lockdown that might be responsible for the drop. We closed the schools. It was half term in much of England and Wales three weeks ago.
Schoolchildren should be prioritised for the vaccine. They might not get ill but can certainly spread the virus.
Actually there was one sort of lockdown that might be responsible for the drop. We closed the schools. It was half term in much of England and Wales three weeks ago.
Schoolchildren should be prioritised for the vaccine. They might not get ill but can certainly spread the virus.
I would want to see the vaccine used on the oldies first personally. I am no vaccine sceptic but there are always risks with any new medical treatment, and kids shouldn't be guinea pigs, especially since they are at minimal risk from the virus itself.
Would you have a preference or grading for your elderly guineapigs? Start with advanced dementia cases as they have already mentally left the building? Or perhaps the bed-ridden whose quality of life is obviously not good....?
Perhaps when he finished running, Logan opened a care home
Nobody should be forced to have the vaccine. Given that the disease poses high risks for older people and the risks with the vaccine are low, I would think that having the vaccine is a no-brainer for the elderly. For kids who are at almost no risk from the virus it isn't. Once plenty of elderly have had the vaccine we will have a much clearer view on the risks with it. Personally I think the balance of risks for kids only tips in favour of having the vaccine at that point. I would have the vaccine myself before giving it to my kids. I don't think any of that should be controversial!
Good call. An "Advisor on Ministerial Standards" is not required if there aren't any. Who wants to do a non-job even if it does pay well? Nobody worth their salt. It's bad for self-esteem.
One of the biggest mysteries in gambling is why Betfair have remianed so popular. If you are a regular winner they take a huge percentage of your winnings through premium charge and their customer service is always terrible. Betdaq lacks the liquidity but they only charge 2%. I dont why the bigger hitters have just not moved accross to them
Network effects. People go where people are. See also Youtube, Facebook.
In Michigan if any members of the state canvass board refuse to certify the results the governor can fire them and appoint someone else . Once the results are certified by the SOS these go to the governor who then confirms the state electors for Biden . Both the governor and SOS are Dems . If the state legislators tried to sent a different slate of electors the governors take precedence .
The fact some GOP members are entertaining effectively overturning the results in certain swing states highlights what utter scum they are . Trump isn’t even hiding his attempts to stage a coup . It won’t work but he is operating a scorched earth policy on democracy .
Biden’s attempts at reaching across aisle are living in la la land . He’s living in a different world where that was possible , America is beyond any chance of recovering from 4 years of Trump . Whatever problems we may have in Europe we are still able to disagree politically , and can still have friendships with those on opposing political sides .
That ships sailed in the USA .
Johnson will 100% do a replay of the Trump legal shenanigans at the next GE. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves about what he is.
How? UK electoral system is not run by political appointees, the votes are done and dusted within 24 in almost all cases, there is no running total given of individual counts, the counting is all manual...
I think there have been two MPs that I can remember who had the initial results overthrown: the infamous Winchester incident in 1997 (where the electorate was singularly unimpressed and turned a wafer thin majority into a huge one), and the one where the Labour candidate was convicted of lying about his opponent.
Once the returning officer has pronounced the result it is essentially impossible to get it changed.
Edit to add: and it’s not like our Supreme Court has shown itself to be a lapdog of the government.
Given planning (I know, I know) how about:
1) Pack the Lords on some other pretext (Brexit or whatever) 2) Change law about boundaries are done, pass it through the Commons with your parliamentary majority and House of Lords with your minions 3) Vote through gerrymandered boundaries on a simple majority 4) There is no (4), the British system has basically no checks or balances that could defeat a determined PM with a majority who didn't give a shit what you thought about him
I take the point that we have fewer checks and balances do are technically vulnerable. I would always say be over cautious in such matters, just in case.
But of course official, legal checks and balances dont necessarily mean anything anyway if there is the will and support to bypass them. In democratic states with strong institutions that would be rare and to the checks might strengthen them, but it doesn't eliminate risk if course.
In the specific scenario around Boris, it kind of answers itself in that even if he wanted to mimic Trump hed have to do it with concrete actions in advance as the opportunities to mess about afterwards are much fewer even if wanted to.
Well, Trump's strategy such as it was relied on actions in advance as well - for example, he spent months demagoguing postal voting, and got supportive legislatures in swing states to make sure the postal votes were counted after the in-person votes. He also apparently tried to nobble the post office, which relied on putting a minion in charge of it well ahead of the event.
As with stacking the Lords, a lot of the preparatory steps can easily be camouflaged as something else, especially if you're waging a general-purpose culture war against all kinds of checks and balances, which the current British government is.
There's also stuff you can do at the last minute. For instance, the British government apparently has the right to stop you leaving your house except under particular circumstances, with minimal notice. I'm not sure it even needs new legislation to do that, I think they passed something for the virus then do the rest with statutory instruments??? So stage a bioterrorist plot at the last minute, make a bunch of restrictions on movement and transport right before the election, and make sure the restrictions disproportionately affect your opponents.
In Michigan if any members of the state canvass board refuse to certify the results the governor can fire them and appoint someone else . Once the results are certified by the SOS these go to the governor who then confirms the state electors for Biden . Both the governor and SOS are Dems . If the state legislators tried to sent a different slate of electors the governors take precedence .
The fact some GOP members are entertaining effectively overturning the results in certain swing states highlights what utter scum they are . Trump isn’t even hiding his attempts to stage a coup . It won’t work but he is operating a scorched earth policy on democracy .
Biden’s attempts at reaching across aisle are living in la la land . He’s living in a different world where that was possible , America is beyond any chance of recovering from 4 years of Trump . Whatever problems we may have in Europe we are still able to disagree politically , and can still have friendships with those on opposing political sides .
That ships sailed in the USA .
Johnson will 100% do a replay of the Trump legal shenanigans at the next GE. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves about what he is.
Nonsensical.
Johnson is nothing like Trump and the UK is nothing like the USA.
If the election had happened in this country instead of the USA then Biden would have kissed the Queen's hand the day after the election.
I dunno, the Tories are already going down the voter suppression route by pushing for ID requirements at polling stations, ostensibly to deal with the more or less non-existent problem of impersonation but with the effect of disenfranchising the kind of people who don't vote Tory. (there may be some voting fraud in the UK, but impersonation isn't a problem). The main advantages we have over the US is that our voting system is much simpler and there is an immediate transfer of power so no time to plan a coup. I would file this under the category of unlikely, but wouldn't totally put it past him.
I loved living in a country where you turn up, pat the dogs outside, queue nicely, remember your name and address for the person behind the trestle table, admire the infants' artwork or exhortations to love Jesus a bit more and didn't need to prove who you are and then vote with a pencil on the end of a piece of string. It lasted an amazingly long time.
Proving who you are is now routine. There is no special group that will be put off by it apart from ultra libertarians and ultra anarchists. These will cancel each other out and will damage Lord Buckethead mostly. As long as they don't ban tying your dog outside the polling station, taking a photo and putting it online....
See point 2 which contradicts your claim that requiring id doesn't affect some groups disproportionately. When you introduce measures that make it harder to vote that are disproportionate to the problem they are meant to fix and you know it affects some groups more than others then it is voter suppression.
Thanks, interesting point. However the report you link to merges Photo ID with ID. I agree that ID should be simple and certainly not required in photo form. But apart from a minute number of committed contrarians (over represented in social media perhaps) everyone has some form of simple ID.
Good call. An "Advisor on Ministerial Standards" is not required if there aren't any. Who wants to do a non-job even if it does pay well? Nobody worth their salt. It's bad for self-esteem.
Excellent. More public money saved from useless non-jobs.
Although he doesn't seem to have understood what the word 'advisor' means. Perhaps he thought he was the 'Dictator on Ministerial Standards'.
A question regrding Biden's possible cabinet picks. Quite a few potential names (Warren, Sanders, Tuckworth etc.) are sitting Senators. Given the likely tightness of the Senate, is Biden going to want to lose these Dem supporting Senators and risk Governors picks, special elections and the like?
(Actually, he should appoint some Rep Senators from states where a Democratic Governor has the pick!)
For your latter point, we could see the spectacle of GOP senators voting against confirming GOP senators to the cabinet.
Would any such Republican Senators even be tempted? It'd be the end of their Senate career and Biden is only likely to serve one term.
Collins seems the most logical pick but she's just won another six year Senate term with the potential of running again in six years. Why trade that in now for four years in Biden's cabinet?
I doubt she'd want a dull, stressful management job but if it was something mildly glorious like Ambassador to the United Nations then it seems like an interesting career move, doesn't it? No disrespect to the office of Senator to the state of Maine, but if you're like 67 years old and you've done that job for a bit why not make a move?
Did I read that Obama might become US Ambassador in London?
Obama as ambassador seems unlikely. As a former president, he retains full Secret Service protection, and the British government would never allow dozens of armed American guards in London closing roads whenever the ambassador fancied a picnic with the girls.
Which poor bastards in the service will be stuck on Trump duty?
In Michigan if any members of the state canvass board refuse to certify the results the governor can fire them and appoint someone else . Once the results are certified by the SOS these go to the governor who then confirms the state electors for Biden . Both the governor and SOS are Dems . If the state legislators tried to sent a different slate of electors the governors take precedence .
The fact some GOP members are entertaining effectively overturning the results in certain swing states highlights what utter scum they are . Trump isn’t even hiding his attempts to stage a coup . It won’t work but he is operating a scorched earth policy on democracy .
Biden’s attempts at reaching across aisle are living in la la land . He’s living in a different world where that was possible , America is beyond any chance of recovering from 4 years of Trump . Whatever problems we may have in Europe we are still able to disagree politically , and can still have friendships with those on opposing political sides .
That ships sailed in the USA .
Johnson will 100% do a replay of the Trump legal shenanigans at the next GE. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves about what he is.
Nonsensical.
Johnson is nothing like Trump and the UK is nothing like the USA.
If the election had happened in this country instead of the USA then Biden would have kissed the Queen's hand the day after the election.
I dunno, the Tories are already going down the voter suppression route by pushing for ID requirements at polling stations, ostensibly to deal with the more or less non-existent problem of impersonation but with the effect of disenfranchising the kind of people who don't vote Tory. (there may be some voting fraud in the UK, but impersonation isn't a problem). The main advantages we have over the US is that our voting system is much simpler and there is an immediate transfer of power so no time to plan a coup. I would file this under the category of unlikely, but wouldn't totally put it past him.
Sorry, but LOL. Another evil Tory plot magicked up out of thin air.
Countries in Europe requiring ID to be presented when voting:
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland. For a start, and that's just the Wikipedia list.
They are very well connected, those Tories - to be manipulating all those voting systems.
Funny how I have never been asked for ID when voting in Germany, nor seen or heard of anyone else being asked for it.
Carrying ID is compulsory in Germany, but people aren't usually asked for it at polling stations unless they don't bring the polling card that is automatically posted to you before the election.
Carrying ID is also compulsory in several of the other countries you list. So to be like them the UK would first have to issue photo ID to everyone in the country.
Anyway, I would be more worried about why turnout in the UK is worse than most countries in Europe.
A question regrding Biden's possible cabinet picks. Quite a few potential names (Warren, Sanders, Tuckworth etc.) are sitting Senators. Given the likely tightness of the Senate, is Biden going to want to lose these Dem supporting Senators and risk Governors picks, special elections and the like?
(Actually, he should appoint some Rep Senators from states where a Democratic Governor has the pick!)
For your latter point, we could see the spectacle of GOP senators voting against confirming GOP senators to the cabinet.
Would any such Republican Senators even be tempted? It'd be the end of their Senate career and Biden is only likely to serve one term.
Collins seems the most logical pick but she's just won another six year Senate term with the potential of running again in six years. Why trade that in now for four years in Biden's cabinet?
I doubt she'd want a dull, stressful management job but if it was something mildly glorious like Ambassador to the United Nations then it seems like an interesting career move, doesn't it? No disrespect to the office of Senator to the state of Maine, but if you're like 67 years old and you've done that job for a bit why not make a move?
Did I read that Obama might become US Ambassador in London?
Obama as ambassador seems unlikely. As a former president, he retains full Secret Service protection, and the British government would never allow dozens of armed American guards in London closing roads whenever the ambassador fancied a picnic with the girls.
Which poor bastards in the service will be stuck on Trump duty?
Trump's entourage will be a weird place to be for the rest of his life. Everyone will be expected to pass a loyalty test by indulging the fiction that he won the 2020 election.
In Michigan if any members of the state canvass board refuse to certify the results the governor can fire them and appoint someone else . Once the results are certified by the SOS these go to the governor who then confirms the state electors for Biden . Both the governor and SOS are Dems . If the state legislators tried to sent a different slate of electors the governors take precedence .
The fact some GOP members are entertaining effectively overturning the results in certain swing states highlights what utter scum they are . Trump isn’t even hiding his attempts to stage a coup . It won’t work but he is operating a scorched earth policy on democracy .
Biden’s attempts at reaching across aisle are living in la la land . He’s living in a different world where that was possible , America is beyond any chance of recovering from 4 years of Trump . Whatever problems we may have in Europe we are still able to disagree politically , and can still have friendships with those on opposing political sides .
That ships sailed in the USA .
Johnson will 100% do a replay of the Trump legal shenanigans at the next GE. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves about what he is.
Nonsensical.
Johnson is nothing like Trump and the UK is nothing like the USA.
If the election had happened in this country instead of the USA then Biden would have kissed the Queen's hand the day after the election.
I dunno, the Tories are already going down the voter suppression route by pushing for ID requirements at polling stations, ostensibly to deal with the more or less non-existent problem of impersonation but with the effect of disenfranchising the kind of people who don't vote Tory. (there may be some voting fraud in the UK, but impersonation isn't a problem). The main advantages we have over the US is that our voting system is much simpler and there is an immediate transfer of power so no time to plan a coup. I would file this under the category of unlikely, but wouldn't totally put it past him.
I loved living in a country where you turn up, pat the dogs outside, queue nicely, remember your name and address for the person behind the trestle table, admire the infants' artwork or exhortations to love Jesus a bit more and didn't need to prove who you are and then vote with a pencil on the end of a piece of string. It lasted an amazingly long time.
Proving who you are is now routine. There is no special group that will be put off by it apart from ultra libertarians and ultra anarchists. These will cancel each other out and will damage Lord Buckethead mostly. As long as they don't ban tying your dog outside the polling station, taking a photo and putting it online....
See point 2 which contradicts your claim that requiring id doesn't affect some groups disproportionately. When you introduce measures that make it harder to vote that are disproportionate to the problem they are meant to fix and you know it affects some groups more than others then it is voter suppression.
Thanks, interesting point. However the report you link to merges Photo ID with ID. I agree that ID should be simple and certainly not required in photo form. But apart from a minute number of committed contrarians (over represented in social media perhaps) everyone has some form of simple ID.
Not necessarily. In the trial the report discusses, 2000 are turned away of whom 750 don't come back. Point of voter suppression isn't to stop everyone from voting, but to nudge the odds in your favour by making it harder for people to vote who are less likely to vote for your guy. It can matter a lot in a tight contest. With a lot of marginal constituencies and a close election it can make a big difference. Not everyone has id to hand. Not everyone has time to go home and get it. Not everyone is organised. Not everyone will vote if you start making it inconvenient. You can say "well that is their fault for being disorganised or not motivated enough", but the point is that everyone has the right to vote, not just organised and motivated people.
Can Mitt Romney remain in the Republican Party? Just doesn't seem viable given he is one of very few voices in GOP prepared to take on Trump's anti-democratic lunacy.
Rich enough to not care if he loses a primary or confident enough to overcome one, so no need to go anywhere I guess.
Good call. An "Advisor on Ministerial Standards" is not required if there aren't any. Who wants to do a non-job even if it does pay well? Nobody worth their salt. It's bad for self-esteem.
Excellent. More public money saved from useless non-jobs.
Although he doesn't seem to have understood what the word 'advisor' means. Perhaps he thought he was the 'Dictator on Ministerial Standards'.
Would you seriously rely on PM Johnson's sense of honour and responsibility? How would you feel if it was PM Corbyn?
Just got a text from a pal of mine: “Have had a look at the new rules for travel to level 4. Quite straightforward really:
The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 3) Regulations 2020 ... 2. The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020() are amended in accordance with regulations 3 to 11. ... PART 4 Restrictions on movement ... 5(4) In schedule 5 (Level 4 restrictions), after paragraph 13, insert— "PART 4 "Restrictions on movement ... "16(1) For the purposes of this Part, examples of what constitutes a reasonable excuse (see regulation 5(4)) include leaving or remaining away from the area in which the person lives, or (as the case may be) entering or remaining in a Level 4 area that the person does not live in, for the purposes set out in sub-paragraph (2). "(2) The purposes are to— ... "(l) move home or undertake activities in connection with the maintenance, purchase, sale, letting, or rental of residential property that the person owns or is otherwise responsible for,"
So, in terms of regulation 16(2)(l) of The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (as amended by the The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 3) Regulations 2020), I have a reasonable excuse for travel to and from my late aunt's empty house in Glasgow ... I think “
These regulations were published yesterday and come into force at 6.00pm tonight. I am sure Police Scotland will be fully up to speed by then😀
His thinking is wrong unless it is specifically for the tasks mentioned, however I do wonder if your average plod could work it out.
In Michigan if any members of the state canvass board refuse to certify the results the governor can fire them and appoint someone else . Once the results are certified by the SOS these go to the governor who then confirms the state electors for Biden . Both the governor and SOS are Dems . If the state legislators tried to sent a different slate of electors the governors take precedence .
The fact some GOP members are entertaining effectively overturning the results in certain swing states highlights what utter scum they are . Trump isn’t even hiding his attempts to stage a coup . It won’t work but he is operating a scorched earth policy on democracy .
Biden’s attempts at reaching across aisle are living in la la land . He’s living in a different world where that was possible , America is beyond any chance of recovering from 4 years of Trump . Whatever problems we may have in Europe we are still able to disagree politically , and can still have friendships with those on opposing political sides .
That ships sailed in the USA .
Johnson will 100% do a replay of the Trump legal shenanigans at the next GE. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves about what he is.
Nonsensical.
Johnson is nothing like Trump and the UK is nothing like the USA.
If the election had happened in this country instead of the USA then Biden would have kissed the Queen's hand the day after the election.
I dunno, the Tories are already going down the voter suppression route by pushing for ID requirements at polling stations, ostensibly to deal with the more or less non-existent problem of impersonation but with the effect of disenfranchising the kind of people who don't vote Tory. (there may be some voting fraud in the UK, but impersonation isn't a problem). The main advantages we have over the US is that our voting system is much simpler and there is an immediate transfer of power so no time to plan a coup. I would file this under the category of unlikely, but wouldn't totally put it past him.
Sorry, but LOL. Another evil Tory plot magicked up out of thin air.
Countries in Europe requiring ID to be presented when voting:
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland. For a start, and that's just the Wikipedia list.
They are very well connected, those Tories - to be manipulating all those voting systems.
Funny how I have never been asked for ID when voting in Germany, nor seen or heard of anyone else being asked for it.
Carrying ID is compulsory in Germany, but people aren't usually asked for it at polling stations unless they don't bring the polling card that is automatically posted to you before the election.
Carrying ID is also compulsory in several of the other countries you list. So to be like them the UK would first have to issue photo ID to everyone in the country.
Anyway, I would be more worried about why turnout in the UK is worse than most countries in Europe.
Better than the USA at least, though that increasingly feels like coming one place above the wooden spoon.
In Michigan if any members of the state canvass board refuse to certify the results the governor can fire them and appoint someone else . Once the results are certified by the SOS these go to the governor who then confirms the state electors for Biden . Both the governor and SOS are Dems . If the state legislators tried to sent a different slate of electors the governors take precedence .
The fact some GOP members are entertaining effectively overturning the results in certain swing states highlights what utter scum they are . Trump isn’t even hiding his attempts to stage a coup . It won’t work but he is operating a scorched earth policy on democracy .
Biden’s attempts at reaching across aisle are living in la la land . He’s living in a different world where that was possible , America is beyond any chance of recovering from 4 years of Trump . Whatever problems we may have in Europe we are still able to disagree politically , and can still have friendships with those on opposing political sides .
That ships sailed in the USA .
Johnson will 100% do a replay of the Trump legal shenanigans at the next GE. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves about what he is.
Nonsensical.
Johnson is nothing like Trump and the UK is nothing like the USA.
If the election had happened in this country instead of the USA then Biden would have kissed the Queen's hand the day after the election.
I dunno, the Tories are already going down the voter suppression route by pushing for ID requirements at polling stations, ostensibly to deal with the more or less non-existent problem of impersonation but with the effect of disenfranchising the kind of people who don't vote Tory. (there may be some voting fraud in the UK, but impersonation isn't a problem). The main advantages we have over the US is that our voting system is much simpler and there is an immediate transfer of power so no time to plan a coup. I would file this under the category of unlikely, but wouldn't totally put it past him.
I loved living in a country where you turn up, pat the dogs outside, queue nicely, remember your name and address for the person behind the trestle table, admire the infants' artwork or exhortations to love Jesus a bit more and didn't need to prove who you are and then vote with a pencil on the end of a piece of string. It lasted an amazingly long time.
Proving who you are is now routine. There is no special group that will be put off by it apart from ultra libertarians and ultra anarchists. These will cancel each other out and will damage Lord Buckethead mostly. As long as they don't ban tying your dog outside the polling station, taking a photo and putting it online....
See point 2 which contradicts your claim that requiring id doesn't affect some groups disproportionately. When you introduce measures that make it harder to vote that are disproportionate to the problem they are meant to fix and you know it affects some groups more than others then it is voter suppression.
Thanks, interesting point. However the report you link to merges Photo ID with ID. I agree that ID should be simple and certainly not required in photo form. But apart from a minute number of committed contrarians (over represented in social media perhaps) everyone has some form of simple ID.
Not necessarily. In the trial the report discusses, 2000 are turned away of whom 750 don't come back. Point of voter suppression isn't to stop everyone from voting, but to nudge the odds in your favour by making it harder for people to vote who are less likely to vote for your guy. It can matter a lot in a tight contest. With a lot of marginal constituencies and a close election it can make a big difference. Not everyone has id to hand. Not everyone has time to go home and get it. Not everyone is organised. Not everyone will vote if you start making it inconvenient. You can say "well that is their fault for being disorganised or not motivated enough", but the point is that everyone has the right to vote, not just organised and motivated people.
Happy to think you may be right. I like a country where you don't have to prove who you are. I think it may end up looking odd if you have to prove who you are for almost everything in the world except voting.
A question regrding Biden's possible cabinet picks. Quite a few potential names (Warren, Sanders, Tuckworth etc.) are sitting Senators. Given the likely tightness of the Senate, is Biden going to want to lose these Dem supporting Senators and risk Governors picks, special elections and the like?
(Actually, he should appoint some Rep Senators from states where a Democratic Governor has the pick!)
For your latter point, we could see the spectacle of GOP senators voting against confirming GOP senators to the cabinet.
Would any such Republican Senators even be tempted? It'd be the end of their Senate career and Biden is only likely to serve one term.
Collins seems the most logical pick but she's just won another six year Senate term with the potential of running again in six years. Why trade that in now for four years in Biden's cabinet?
I doubt she'd want a dull, stressful management job but if it was something mildly glorious like Ambassador to the United Nations then it seems like an interesting career move, doesn't it? No disrespect to the office of Senator to the state of Maine, but if you're like 67 years old and you've done that job for a bit why not make a move?
Did I read that Obama might become US Ambassador in London?
Obama as ambassador seems unlikely. As a former president, he retains full Secret Service protection, and the British government would never allow dozens of armed American guards in London closing roads whenever the ambassador fancied a picnic with the girls.
Which poor bastards in the service will be stuck on Trump duty?
Trump's entourage will be a weird place to be for the rest of his life. Everyone will be expected to pass a loyalty test by indulging the fiction that he won the 2020 election.
Plenty of wishy washy excuses for her in there. Just another nasty creepy Tory bullying people and abusing their position at will. She obviously has something on Bozo who is more likely to promote her than sack her.
Comments
Attend GP nurse for annual blood sample and BP check.
Flutter eyelashes fetchingly over mask.
Get jabbed.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55003389
Ask GP?
The main advantages we have over the US is that our voting system is much simpler and there is an immediate transfer of power so no time to plan a coup.
I would file this under the category of unlikely, but wouldn't totally put it past him.
Sky have some very interesting Black Friday packages at the minute, so I'm currently looking to upgrade my account and pay Sky more money - but I can't get hold of them to do so. If I upgrade online the package they're advertising for new customers isn't available to me as an existing customer - if I do it online it'd be £30/mo more.
https://twitter.com/ProfChalmers/status/1329741257703297025?s=20
I think there have been two MPs that I can remember who had the initial results overthrown: the infamous Winchester incident in 1997 (where the electorate was singularly unimpressed and turned a wafer thin majority into a huge one), and the one where the Labour candidate was convicted of lying about his opponent.
Once the returning officer has pronounced the result it is essentially impossible to get it changed.
Edit to add: and it’s not like our Supreme Court has shown itself to be a lapdog of the government.
When you turn on your television tonight, imagine seeing the news acted rather than read. Someone looking like Boris Johnson furiously screaming at his fiancee, Carrie Symonds; Dominic Cummings vomiting into a can; and the Queen told to piss off. ...
A month ago 95% of it was agreed in principle but needed putting into legal form.
Now its (I believe) in legal form.
A small but significant difference. But yes the political compromises will only occur at the end.
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
(cultural stereotype 417 in a continuing series)
Their most logical and defensible route from here is to settle the outright POTUS winner at the point where Biden has 270+ EC votes from states they have also settled. This means Biden at an aggregate 270+ from the 44 states already settled plus settlement of sufficient of the 6 that are still atm trading.
So the question is what event will trigger the settlement of each of these 6 states?
Answer. Certification. That's the only way. They failed to settle on the call for these 6 so cannot settle now until certified. That's the next distinct and definable event. If they do it sooner punters who have been backing Trump in this odd twilight market will have a case for their money having been taken under false pretenses. Why would Betfair risk that? They won't. Especially given they are earning all this extra commission.
Ok. So if we consult the cert timetable we can work it out. On 20 Nov GA is certified and therefore should be settled. But that's not enough. Biden is still short of 270 in Betfair "settled states" currency. We must wait until the next 2 of the 6 "disputed" states are settled - PA and MI. This occurs on the same day and if my theory is correct it tells us when Betfair will finally settle their outright winner market.
That day is Monday 23 November. This is when Betfair will settle Joe Biden as WINNER of their Next President market. If they don't it implies they plan to wait for the EC meeting on 14/12. That would be flagrantly contra their own rules saying "projected" EC votes and so I can't see it.
Has to be 23/11.
1) Pack the Lords on some other pretext (Brexit or whatever)
2) Change law about boundaries are done, pass it through the Commons with your parliamentary majority and House of Lords with your minions
3) Vote through gerrymandered boundaries on a simple majority
4) There is no (4), the British system has basically no checks or balances that could defeat a determined PM with a majority who didn't give a shit what you thought about him
Countries in Europe requiring ID to be presented when voting:
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland. For a start, and that's just the Wikipedia list.
They are very well connected, those Tories - to be manipulating all those voting systems.
Gently suggest that the problem is in the default assumption.
Hopefully I'm right with my 23 Nov theory for Betfair and SPIN will follow.
“Have had a look at the new rules for travel to level 4. Quite straightforward really:
The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 3) Regulations 2020
...
2. The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020() are amended in accordance with regulations 3 to 11.
...
PART 4 Restrictions on movement
...
5(4) In schedule 5 (Level 4 restrictions), after paragraph 13, insert—
"PART 4
"Restrictions on movement
...
"16(1) For the purposes of this Part, examples of what constitutes a reasonable excuse (see regulation 5(4)) include leaving or remaining away from the area in which the person lives, or (as the case may be) entering or remaining in a Level 4 area that the person does not live in, for the purposes set out in sub-paragraph (2).
"(2) The purposes are to—
...
"(l) move home or undertake activities in connection with the maintenance, purchase, sale, letting, or rental of residential property that the person owns or is otherwise responsible for,"
So, in terms of regulation 16(2)(l) of The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (as amended by the The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 3) Regulations 2020), I have a reasonable excuse for travel to and from my late aunt's empty house in Glasgow ... I think
These regulations were published yesterday and come into force at 6.00pm tonight. I am sure Police Scotland will be fully up to speed by then😀
Proving who you are is now routine. There is no special group that will be put off by it apart from ultra libertarians and ultra anarchists. These will cancel each other out and will damage Lord Buckethead mostly. As long as they don't ban tying your dog outside the polling station, taking a photo and putting it online....
But of course official, legal checks and balances dont necessarily mean anything anyway if there is the will and support to bypass them. In democratic states with strong institutions that would be rare and to the checks might strengthen them, but it doesn't eliminate risk if course.
In the specific scenario around Boris, it kind of answers itself in that even if he wanted to mimic Trump hed have to do it with concrete actions in advance as the opportunities to mess about afterwards are much fewer even if wanted to.
Perhaps when he finished running, Logan opened a care home
I mean "Florida #1" instead of, say, "Florida Northwest"?
However, there are no government plans to vaccinate children. They want to limit the vaccination cohort to 40 million (ish) and – rightly in my view – want to prioritise those at risk from the virus. It poses almost statistically zero risk to the under-18s.
See point 2 which contradicts your claim that requiring id doesn't affect some groups disproportionately. When you introduce measures that make it harder to vote that are disproportionate to the problem they are meant to fix and you know it affects some groups more than others then it is voter suppression.
Great news. Hope it won't take long to get an application into MHRA.
As with stacking the Lords, a lot of the preparatory steps can easily be camouflaged as something else, especially if you're waging a general-purpose culture war against all kinds of checks and balances, which the current British government is.
There's also stuff you can do at the last minute. For instance, the British government apparently has the right to stop you leaving your house except under particular circumstances, with minimal notice. I'm not sure it even needs new legislation to do that, I think they passed something for the virus then do the rest with statutory instruments??? So stage a bioterrorist plot at the last minute, make a bunch of restrictions on movement and transport right before the election, and make sure the restrictions disproportionately affect your opponents.
Although he doesn't seem to have understood what the word 'advisor' means. Perhaps he thought he was the 'Dictator on Ministerial Standards'.
@BritainElects
Clackmannanshire East (Clackmannanshire) by-election, first preference result:
CON: 51.2% (+9.7)
SNP: 32.0% (+1.8)
LAB: 8.1% (-12.1)
GRN: 5.8% (+2.0)
LDEM: 2.9% (-1.4)
Conservative HOLD.
In particular:
https://order-order.com/2020/11/20/pms-adviser-on-ministerial-code-resigns-after-pm-sided-with-priti-patel-over-bullying-report/
Has the Bercow bullying report been published?
Funny how I have never been asked for ID when voting in Germany, nor seen or heard of anyone else being asked for it.
Carrying ID is compulsory in Germany, but people aren't usually asked for it at polling stations unless they don't bring the polling card that is automatically posted to you before the election.
Carrying ID is also compulsory in several of the other countries you list. So to be like them the UK would first have to issue photo ID to everyone in the country.
Anyway, I would be more worried about why turnout in the UK is worse than most countries in Europe.
Poor snowflakes.
Not everyone has id to hand. Not everyone has time to go home and get it. Not everyone is organised. Not everyone will vote if you start making it inconvenient. You can say "well that is their fault for being disorganised or not motivated enough", but the point is that everyone has the right to vote, not just organised and motivated people.
'Sure, Mr President.'
"Allan is responsible for a Grateful Dead lyric and song finder website.
Allan windsurfed to work in a suit and bowler hat down the Thames during a train strike."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Allan#Personal_life
https://www.scribd.com/document/485105037/Findings-of-the-Independent-Adviser#download&from_embed