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It would appear we are only hours away from a deal – politicalbetting.com

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  • MikeL said:

    Someone posted on here a long time ago that all that mattered was that Boris ended up declaring Victory and the Mail / Sun etc endorsed that.

    The actual contents of the deal - completely irrelevant. Nobody cares (including Boris).

    There were also correct predictions on here 4 years ago to the effect that all the negotiations with the EU would go right to the last second. There's a lot of staging in the end.
  • gealbhangealbhan Posts: 2,362
    HYUFD said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Remain Rejoin dies if(Likely when, I hope!) a deal is signed. No deal was always its best chance.

    Yes, a terrible night for Adonis, Campbell and Lammy and Grieve etc as well as Sturgeon but a triumphant night for Boris whose place in the history books is now assured for all eternity as the man who delivered Brexit and secured its future with the EU trade deal.

    Also a bad night for Farage, Boris will now be remembered as the man who truly was the architect of Brexit not him
    LOL. 😂. Boris deal will forever be compared to May’s deal, Cameron’s deal, and the relationship prior to 2016. It’s optimum moment of glory is this coming week. And then it doesn’t stand still forever. It degrades. In terms of tangibles, money in household income, costs on business, economic growth, it loses badly in comparison with the other roads not taken, in terms of less tangible things, like sovereignty returned here (somewhere) and we have more democracy now, it will proclaim itself.

    But in the hearts and minds of the British people, this deal will forever degrade, until it is replaced.
  • gealbhan said:

    HYUFD said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Remain Rejoin dies if(Likely when, I hope!) a deal is signed. No deal was always its best chance.

    Yes, a terrible night for Adonis, Campbell and Lammy and Grieve etc as well as Sturgeon but a triumphant night for Boris whose place in the history books is now assured for all eternity as the man who delivered Brexit and secured its future with the EU trade deal.

    Also a bad night for Farage, Boris will now be remembered as the man who truly was the architect of Brexit not him
    LOL. 😂. Boris deal will forever be compared to May’s deal, Cameron’s deal, and the relationship prior to 2016. It’s optimum moment of glory is this coming week. And then it doesn’t stand still forever. It degrades. In terms of tangibles, money in household income, costs on business, economic growth, it loses badly in comparison with the other roads not taken, in terms of less tangible things, like sovereignty returned here (somewhere) and we have more democracy now, it will proclaim itself.

    But in the hearts and minds of the British people, this deal will forever degrade, until it is replaced.
    Steadfast Remainers have been making these sorts of predictions for four years, and no matter how wrong those predictions are, they never waiver in how confidently they make the next set of predictions about their coming triumph.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 22,703

    RobD said:

    Should we offer to help our EU neighbours with their genome sequencing and help them discover what mutant covid variations they have, or are we best off using the capacity we have for ourselves?

    Perhaps they should join the UK Covid genome sequencing program? For entirely non-ideological reasons, of course.
    Do you know if that's an opportunity available to them? Should we formally offer it?
    Did anybody else know, before the last few weeks, that we were so far ahead of everybody in the genome sequencing game?

    For a start, how so? I mean, we seem to be ridiculously ahead of everyone. I'm not looking at the figures now, but the ones I saw on here said we were about a hundred times ahead per covid test done, and we're well ahead on testing per capita over most we're compared against. I know we have some really top research facilities here, and there are bound to be things that we excel at. But how can we be quite so far ahead in the work done on this virus? Surely other countries had the potential to have done similar work?

    And second, why is this only coming out now when we must have been doing the far higher level of genome sequencing for some time? I'm damned impressed by our numbers, but given the disparity with our neighbours' numbers I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't offer much earlier to help them out with this kind of testing (or if we did why we kept so quiet about it).
    If you look at the detail we have been gene sequencing for places all over the world right back to the original outbreak. There are sequences for China, Australia, the USA and all over Europe included in the work they have been doing. It makes sense as that is the only way to track the mutations.
    That's really good to hear. And of course it makes sense to collaborate. But I'm still astonished at the disparity in the levels we're doing compared to everybody else. I might be misremembering but I thought I read something here that Wales had done more genome sequence tests this month than the US had done in total on covid. If that's even close to being true I can not understand how..
    I remember something else that said the US had done about half our number in total so either I'm confused or there's been confusing information.
    Is this something to do with NHS Data being made available for medical research etc en masse a few years ago?

    There was kerfuffle at the time - on one side due to privacy, on the other due to its availability to the evilz corporates.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,314
    Morning all, happy Christmas Eve! Is this the day we finally get the UK/EU deal over the line?
  • gealbhangealbhan Posts: 2,362
    edited December 2020
    Midlander said:

    gealbhan said:

    HYUFD said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Remain Rejoin dies if(Likely when, I hope!) a deal is signed. No deal was always its best chance.

    Yes, a terrible night for Adonis, Campbell and Lammy and Grieve etc as well as Sturgeon but a triumphant night for Boris whose place in the history books is now assured for all eternity as the man who delivered Brexit and secured its future with the EU trade deal.

    Also a bad night for Farage, Boris will now be remembered as the man who truly was the architect of Brexit not him
    LOL. 😂. Boris deal will forever be compared to May’s deal, Cameron’s deal, and the relationship prior to 2016. It’s optimum moment of glory is this coming week. And then it doesn’t stand still forever. It degrades. In terms of tangibles, money in household income, costs on business, economic growth, it loses badly in comparison with the other roads not taken, in terms of less tangible things, like sovereignty returned here (somewhere) and we have more democracy now, it will proclaim itself.

    But in the hearts and minds of the British people, this deal will forever degrade, until it is replaced.
    Steadfast Remainers have been making these sorts of predictions for four years, and no matter how wrong those predictions are, they never waiver in how confidently they make the next set of predictions about their coming triumph.
    Still early days. We shall see. Now we are situated on the far side from the greenest grass 🙂
  • MysticroseMysticrose Posts: 4,688
    Sandpit said:

    Morning all, happy Christmas Eve! Is this the day we finally get the UK/EU deal over the line?

    I hope so.

    I'm not quite sure why Brexiteers are getting so orgasmic. As a remainer I'm massively relieved that we will strike a deal. I expect it will be less advantageous than Theresa May's one but at least it's a deal. I'd have thought the best solution for diehard (ho ho ho) Brexiteers was a no deal. Anything less than that will involve compromise. So I bet the last minute attempts to scrutinise and debate it on Dec 30th will throw up some unpleasant facts for Brexiteers.

    Anyway, hopefully it's all done and dusted and we can move on. And move on we need to. There are other pressing concerns right now.
  • TomsToms Posts: 2,478
    Is our compulsion to suffer limited to international dealings, or is it a deeper psychological hang up?
  • nichomarnichomar Posts: 7,483
    HYUFD said:

    https://twitter.com/BBCHelena/status/1341884081102008321/photo/1

    Daily Fail are reporting giving ground on fishing, what do we think?

    They'll be calling it the Christmas Deal, to go with the Good Friday Agreement.

    At this point, I think most people have stopped caring about the details. We'll see how it works out in practice soon enough.
    Yes, the hand of history is truly on Boris' shoulder tonight, having delivered Brexit he is now about to deliver a trade deal with the EU, whatever else he does his premiership will now anter the annals of history for decades if not centuries to come
    Complete and utter bollocks all that’s been achieved is four years of lost opportunity nobody but the real extremists will read the 2000 pages they wil be writing about their own earth shattering involvement in what should have been concluded three years ago. Someone is still going to have to explain the queues at the ports in three weeks time.but at least we can now move on and concentrate on the virus. I’ll go down the cash m/c on 1/1 and try to withdraw some sovereignty and look around to see where I can spend it.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,154
    The useless twat really is completely shameless, isn’t he?

    Trump pardons Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Charles Kushner
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55433522
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,774
    Leon said:

    Foxy said:

    Lady G is trending on twitter. I am not convinced this is the much missed PB lesbian newt painter.

    https://twitter.com/NunesDrag/status/1341867762235432961?s=19

    That looks like Miss Eddie Izzard
    I suspect that is pretty much how Lady_G looked
  • ydoethur said:

    The useless twat really is completely shameless, isn’t he?

    Trump pardons Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Charles Kushner
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55433522

    Pardoning everyone connected with Russia (and the Mueller investigation) will presumably make it harder to come after Trump himself.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,314
    ydoethur said:

    The useless twat really is completely shameless, isn’t he?

    Trump pardons Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Charles Kushner
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55433522

    There’s quite the history of Presidents handing out pardons like confetti to some shady characters on their way out of the door. Clinton gave over 140 pardons on the day he left office, including his half brother for cocaine dealing.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_pardoned_by_Bill_Clinton
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,344
    nichomar said:

    HYUFD said:

    https://twitter.com/BBCHelena/status/1341884081102008321/photo/1

    Daily Fail are reporting giving ground on fishing, what do we think?

    They'll be calling it the Christmas Deal, to go with the Good Friday Agreement.

    At this point, I think most people have stopped caring about the details. We'll see how it works out in practice soon enough.
    Yes, the hand of history is truly on Boris' shoulder tonight, having delivered Brexit he is now about to deliver a trade deal with the EU, whatever else he does his premiership will now anter the annals of history for decades if not centuries to come
    Complete and utter bollocks all that’s been achieved is four years of lost opportunity nobody but the real extremists will read the 2000 pages they wil be writing about their own earth shattering involvement in what should have been concluded three years ago. Someone is still going to have to explain the queues at the ports in three weeks time.but at least we can now move on and concentrate on the virus. I’ll go down the cash m/c on 1/1 and try to withdraw some sovereignty and look around to see where I can spend it.
    Indeed; in those days when most politicians inn all parties saw our future INSIDE the EU, and instead of xenophobic carping helped to make the thing work, no-one particularly lauded Heath, who signed us in, or Wilson, who gave us the referendum which confirmed that.

    Boris Johnson will, I suspect, be remembered as a wrecker.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,154
    Sandpit said:

    ydoethur said:

    The useless twat really is completely shameless, isn’t he?

    Trump pardons Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Charles Kushner
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55433522

    There’s quite the history of Presidents handing out pardons like confetti to some shady characters on their way out of the door. Clinton gave over 140 pardons on the day he left office, including his half brother for cocaine dealing.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_pardoned_by_Bill_Clinton
    How many presidents have pardoned those who protected them from criminal investigation while leaving those who pleaded guilty to swing in the wind?

    This may be a foolish strategy if those left out decide to have their revenge in court...
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,314
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,774
    edited December 2020
    CNN- California has become the first US state to surpass 2 million confirmed cases of Covid-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, as infections continue to rise rapidly and ICUs remain near or at full capacity.

    As of 10 p.m. PT Thursday, California had reported 2,002,494 Covid-19 cases, JHU data showed. A total of 23,558 Californians have died of complications from the disease since the start of the pandemic.

    California hit 1 million cases on November 12, approximately nine months after reporting its first infection. It has taken less than six weeks for the state to add another million cases.

    Meanwhile, in the US: At least 9,465,725 vaccine doses have been distributed and at least 1,008,025 doses of the vaccine have been administered, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  • Black_RookBlack_Rook Posts: 8,905
    edited December 2020

    RobD said:

    Should we offer to help our EU neighbours with their genome sequencing and help them discover what mutant covid variations they have, or are we best off using the capacity we have for ourselves?

    Perhaps they should join the UK Covid genome sequencing program? For entirely non-ideological reasons, of course.
    Do you know if that's an opportunity available to them? Should we formally offer it?
    Did anybody else know, before the last few weeks, that we were so far ahead of everybody in the genome sequencing game?

    For a start, how so? I mean, we seem to be ridiculously ahead of everyone. I'm not looking at the figures now, but the ones I saw on here said we were about a hundred times ahead per covid test done, and we're well ahead on testing per capita over most we're compared against. I know we have some really top research facilities here, and there are bound to be things that we excel at. But how can we be quite so far ahead in the work done on this virus? Surely other countries had the potential to have done similar work?

    And second, why is this only coming out now when we must have been doing the far higher level of genome sequencing for some time? I'm damned impressed by our numbers, but given the disparity with our neighbours' numbers I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't offer much earlier to help them out with this kind of testing (or if we did why we kept so quiet about it).
    If you look at the detail we have been gene sequencing for places all over the world right back to the original outbreak. There are sequences for China, Australia, the USA and all over Europe included in the work they have been doing. It makes sense as that is the only way to track the mutations.
    That's really good to hear. And of course it makes sense to collaborate. But I'm still astonished at the disparity in the levels we're doing compared to everybody else. I might be misremembering but I thought I read something here that Wales had done more genome sequence tests this month than the US had done in total on covid. If that's even close to being true I can not understand how..
    That was me - I was quoting from an article published on the BBC website where they'd been talking to the chap who set up the genomic sequencing effort for Public Health Wales. IIRC, the figures quoted were that Welsh labs had sequenced 4,000 Covid genomes in the past week, which was more than the whole of *France* had managed since the start of the pandemic. However, the capacities for such work in the US, Germany and other leading states are also, apparently, extremely limited.

    Elsewhere I read that, in per capita terms, a small handful of countries - including Australia, Denmark and Iceland - have done better than us in this regard, though in absolute terms 45% of all Covid-19 genomic sequencing carried out globally to date has taken place in the UK.

    Interestingly, South Africa also has a significant genomic sequencing capability, and of course it just so happens that a similar mutant Covid strain has been identified there. This adds weight to the notion that these viral variants are probably present (whether they've been imported, or have arisen independently) all over the globe, it's just that the surveillance systems of most nations are blind to them.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,154
    IanB2 said:

    CNN- California has become the first US state to surpass 2 million confirmed cases of Covid-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, as infections continue to rise rapidly and ICUs remain near or at full capacity.

    As of 10 p.m. PT Thursday, California had reported 2,002,494 Covid-19 cases, JHU data showed. A total of 23,558 Californians have died of complications from the disease since the start of the pandemic.

    California hit 1 million cases on November 12, approximately nine months after reporting its first infection. It has taken less than six weeks for the state to add another million cases.

    Presumably better testing is a factor in that, but it’s still pretty grim.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,480
    IanB2 said:

    CNN- California has become the first US state to surpass 2 million confirmed cases of Covid-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, as infections continue to rise rapidly and ICUs remain near or at full capacity.

    As of 10 p.m. PT Thursday, California had reported 2,002,494 Covid-19 cases, JHU data showed. A total of 23,558 Californians have died of complications from the disease since the start of the pandemic.

    California hit 1 million cases on November 12, approximately nine months after reporting its first infection. It has taken less than six weeks for the state to add another million cases.

    Meanwhile, in the US: At least 9,465,725 vaccine doses have been distributed and at least 1,008,025 doses of the vaccine have been administered, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    The second million in just 6 weeks is quite an astonishing stat.
  • felixfelix Posts: 15,147

    nichomar said:

    HYUFD said:

    https://twitter.com/BBCHelena/status/1341884081102008321/photo/1

    Daily Fail are reporting giving ground on fishing, what do we think?

    They'll be calling it the Christmas Deal, to go with the Good Friday Agreement.

    At this point, I think most people have stopped caring about the details. We'll see how it works out in practice soon enough.
    Yes, the hand of history is truly on Boris' shoulder tonight, having delivered Brexit he is now about to deliver a trade deal with the EU, whatever else he does his premiership will now anter the annals of history for decades if not centuries to come
    Complete and utter bollocks all that’s been achieved is four years of lost opportunity nobody but the real extremists will read the 2000 pages they wil be writing about their own earth shattering involvement in what should have been concluded three years ago. Someone is still going to have to explain the queues at the ports in three weeks time.but at least we can now move on and concentrate on the virus. I’ll go down the cash m/c on 1/1 and try to withdraw some sovereignty and look around to see where I can spend it.
    Indeed; in those days when most politicians inn all parties saw our future INSIDE the EU, and instead of xenophobic carping helped to make the thing work, no-one particularly lauded Heath, who signed us in, or Wilson, who gave us the referendum which confirmed that.

    Boris Johnson will, I suspect, be remembered as a wrecker.
    Surely that is the point. For the most part in the UK/EU relationship it has been characterised by mistrust and a lack of enthusiasm. It never really took hold from the start. I think the responsibility for that has to be a shared one with roots in History that have proved too difficult in the end both for politicians and large chunks of the people. Europe too inevitavle shares the blame as we are told endlessly that the tango requires two dancers. Even as a convinced and unrepentant remainer I cannot pretend to be surprised and maybe the future will bring a better and more realistic relationship. I suspect there will be negative economic effects but I'm not clear that for many Brexit voters that was their problem with the EU. I know that many will put the blame on a dislike of immigrants endemic and unique to the UK but I doubt this stands up to polling scrutiny and it certainly does not seem to deter people from wishing to come. At any rate I hope the deal goes through and we can get some closure.
  • GadflyGadfly Posts: 1,191

    RobD said:

    Should we offer to help our EU neighbours with their genome sequencing and help them discover what mutant covid variations they have, or are we best off using the capacity we have for ourselves?

    Perhaps they should join the UK Covid genome sequencing program? For entirely non-ideological reasons, of course.
    Do you know if that's an opportunity available to them? Should we formally offer it?
    Did anybody else know, before the last few weeks, that we were so far ahead of everybody in the genome sequencing game?

    For a start, how so? I mean, we seem to be ridiculously ahead of everyone. I'm not looking at the figures now, but the ones I saw on here said we were about a hundred times ahead per covid test done, and we're well ahead on testing per capita over most we're compared against. I know we have some really top research facilities here, and there are bound to be things that we excel at. But how can we be quite so far ahead in the work done on this virus? Surely other countries had the potential to have done similar work?

    And second, why is this only coming out now when we must have been doing the far higher level of genome sequencing for some time? I'm damned impressed by our numbers, but given the disparity with our neighbours' numbers I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't offer much earlier to help them out with this kind of testing (or if we did why we kept so quiet about it).
    If you look at the detail we have been gene sequencing for places all over the world right back to the original outbreak. There are sequences for China, Australia, the USA and all over Europe included in the work they have been doing. It makes sense as that is the only way to track the mutations.
    That's really good to hear. And of course it makes sense to collaborate. But I'm still astonished at the disparity in the levels we're doing compared to everybody else. I might be misremembering but I thought I read something here that Wales had done more genome sequence tests this month than the US had done in total on covid. If that's even close to being true I can not understand how..
    That was me - I was quoting from an article published on the BBC website where they'd been talking to the chap who set up the genomic sequencing effort for Public Health Wales. IIRC, the figures quoted were that Welsh labs had sequenced 4,000 Covid genomes in the past week, which was more than the whole of *France* had managed since the start of the pandemic. However, the capacities for such work in the US, Germany and other leading states are also, apparently, extremely limited.

    Elsewhere I read that, in per capita terms, a small handful of countries - including Australia, Denmark and Iceland - have done better than us in this regard, though in absolute terms 45% of all Covid-19 genomic sequencing carried out globally to date has taken place in the UK.

    Interestingly, South Africa also has a significant genomic sequencing capability, and of course it just so happens that a similar mutant Covid strain has been identified there. This adds weight to the notion that these viral variants are probably present (whether they've been imported, or have arisen independently) all over the globe, it's just that the surveillance systems of most nations are blind to them.
    According to Anthony Browne, MP for South Cambridgeshire...

    "On genome sequencing of the coronavirus, we are again towards the top of the league table. We are sequencing the genetic code of a greater proportion of viruses found than any other country with a major outbreak — 56 per 1,000 cases. That is 20 times as much as the US, and 60 times that of France, (which does less Covid sequencing than Kenya) and nearly 100 times as much as Germany (which does less than Bangladesh). The UK sequences a smaller proportion of cases than Denmark, Iceland and Australia, but their total number of cases is comparatively very small. "

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/britain-is-leading-the-world-in-the-fight-against-covid-seriously
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,480

    RobD said:

    Should we offer to help our EU neighbours with their genome sequencing and help them discover what mutant covid variations they have, or are we best off using the capacity we have for ourselves?

    Perhaps they should join the UK Covid genome sequencing program? For entirely non-ideological reasons, of course.
    Do you know if that's an opportunity available to them? Should we formally offer it?
    Did anybody else know, before the last few weeks, that we were so far ahead of everybody in the genome sequencing game?

    For a start, how so? I mean, we seem to be ridiculously ahead of everyone. I'm not looking at the figures now, but the ones I saw on here said we were about a hundred times ahead per covid test done, and we're well ahead on testing per capita over most we're compared against. I know we have some really top research facilities here, and there are bound to be things that we excel at. But how can we be quite so far ahead in the work done on this virus? Surely other countries had the potential to have done similar work?

    And second, why is this only coming out now when we must have been doing the far higher level of genome sequencing for some time? I'm damned impressed by our numbers, but given the disparity with our neighbours' numbers I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't offer much earlier to help them out with this kind of testing (or if we did why we kept so quiet about it).
    If you look at the detail we have been gene sequencing for places all over the world right back to the original outbreak. There are sequences for China, Australia, the USA and all over Europe included in the work they have been doing. It makes sense as that is the only way to track the mutations.
    That's really good to hear. And of course it makes sense to collaborate. But I'm still astonished at the disparity in the levels we're doing compared to everybody else. I might be misremembering but I thought I read something here that Wales had done more genome sequence tests this month than the US had done in total on covid. If that's even close to being true I can not understand how..
    That was me - I was quoting from an article published on the BBC website where they'd been talking to the chap who set up the genomic sequencing effort for Public Health Wales. IIRC, the figures quoted were that Welsh labs had sequenced 4,000 Covid genomes in the past week, which was more than the whole of *France* had managed since the start of the pandemic. However, the capacities for such work in the US, Germany and other leading states are also, apparently, extremely limited.

    Elsewhere I read that, in per capita terms, a small handful of countries - including Australia, Denmark and Iceland - have done better than us in this regard, though in absolute terms 45% of all Covid-19 genomic sequencing carried out globally to date has taken place in the UK.

    Interestingly, South Africa also has a significant genomic sequencing capability, and of course it just so happens that a similar mutant Covid strain has been identified there. This adds weight to the notion that these viral variants are probably present (whether they've been imported, or have arisen independently) all over the globe, it's just that the surveillance systems of most nations are blind to them.
    I think that is probably true. It is one advantage of the set up for Public Health that we have.

    It was the Shanghai group that first sequenced the genome, and published it for all to see, on Jan 11th. That was a key step as work on the RNA vaccine started the next day.

    https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/01/chinese-researchers-reveal-draft-genome-virus-implicated-wuhan-pneumonia-outbreak
  • nichomarnichomar Posts: 7,483

    RobD said:

    Should we offer to help our EU neighbours with their genome sequencing and help them discover what mutant covid variations they have, or are we best off using the capacity we have for ourselves?

    Perhaps they should join the UK Covid genome sequencing program? For entirely non-ideological reasons, of course.
    Do you know if that's an opportunity available to them? Should we formally offer it?
    Did anybody else know, before the last few weeks, that we were so far ahead of everybody in the genome sequencing game?

    For a start, how so? I mean, we seem to be ridiculously ahead of everyone. I'm not looking at the figures now, but the ones I saw on here said we were about a hundred times ahead per covid test done, and we're well ahead on testing per capita over most we're compared against. I know we have some really top research facilities here, and there are bound to be things that we excel at. But how can we be quite so far ahead in the work done on this virus? Surely other countries had the potential to have done similar work?

    And second, why is this only coming out now when we must have been doing the far higher level of genome sequencing for some time? I'm damned impressed by our numbers, but given the disparity with our neighbours' numbers I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't offer much earlier to help them out with this kind of testing (or if we did why we kept so quiet about it).
    If you look at the detail we have been gene sequencing for places all over the world right back to the original outbreak. There are sequences for China, Australia, the USA and all over Europe included in the work they have been doing. It makes sense as that is the only way to track the mutations.
    That's really good to hear. And of course it makes sense to collaborate. But I'm still astonished at the disparity in the levels we're doing compared to everybody else. I might be misremembering but I thought I read something here that Wales had done more genome sequence tests this month than the US had done in total on covid. If that's even close to being true I can not understand how..
    That was me - I was quoting from an article published on the BBC website where they'd been talking to the chap who set up the genomic sequencing effort for Public Health Wales. IIRC, the figures quoted were that Welsh labs had sequenced 4,000 Covid genomes in the past week, which was more than the whole of *France* had managed since the start of the pandemic. However, the capacities for such work in the US, Germany and other leading states are also, apparently, extremely limited.

    Elsewhere I read that, in per capita terms, a small handful of countries - including Australia, Denmark and Iceland - have done better than us in this regard, though in absolute terms 45% of all Covid-19 genomic sequencing carried out globally to date has taken place in the UK.

    Interestingly, South Africa also has a significant genomic sequencing capability, and of course it just so happens that a similar mutant Covid strain has been identified there. This adds weight to the notion that these viral variants are probably present (whether they've been imported, or have arisen independently) all over the globe, it's just that the surveillance systems of most nations are blind to them.
    Is this genome sequencing ability just a spin off from what current projects are under investigation, does it link back to Crick and Watson having built up teams and interest in the subject?
  • Black_RookBlack_Rook Posts: 8,905

    nichomar said:

    HYUFD said:

    https://twitter.com/BBCHelena/status/1341884081102008321/photo/1

    Daily Fail are reporting giving ground on fishing, what do we think?

    They'll be calling it the Christmas Deal, to go with the Good Friday Agreement.

    At this point, I think most people have stopped caring about the details. We'll see how it works out in practice soon enough.
    Yes, the hand of history is truly on Boris' shoulder tonight, having delivered Brexit he is now about to deliver a trade deal with the EU, whatever else he does his premiership will now anter the annals of history for decades if not centuries to come
    Complete and utter bollocks all that’s been achieved is four years of lost opportunity nobody but the real extremists will read the 2000 pages they wil be writing about their own earth shattering involvement in what should have been concluded three years ago. Someone is still going to have to explain the queues at the ports in three weeks time.but at least we can now move on and concentrate on the virus. I’ll go down the cash m/c on 1/1 and try to withdraw some sovereignty and look around to see where I can spend it.
    Indeed; in those days when most politicians inn all parties saw our future INSIDE the EU, and instead of xenophobic carping helped to make the thing work, no-one particularly lauded Heath, who signed us in, or Wilson, who gave us the referendum which confirmed that.

    Boris Johnson will, I suspect, be remembered as a wrecker.
    Well, regardless, it looks like it's done, and we're not going back.

    Realistically, the only (small) chance there was of the UK doing a volte-face was if Brexit turned out to be a total economic catastrophe, of a length and depth that might cause widespread regret amongst the population. That's not happening, firstly because of the deal and secondly because we are mid-disaster already, and that can obviously be blamed on the Plague.

    We then have to ask what appetite will exist, on either the EU or UK side, to knit the two polities back together at any point in the future. The longer we're apart, the more we'll diverge, and returning to this issue will only open the divisions over it in British society right back up (and, in any event, in the short and medium term nobody will want to be having more arguments over Europe.) If and when a Rejoiner movement gains significant traction in this country - and, bearing in mind the huge gap between the first and second European referendums, that is likely to take a very long time - then it will still need to persuade the public that years of tortuous negotiations and the handover of huge amounts of political power to the institutions in Brussels is a good idea.

    I suppose it's not inconceivable that this might happen one day - never say never - but let's just say I'm 44 and in good health, and I don't expect England at the very least to go back into the EU in my lifetime. It's more likely that the EU itself will fragment.
  • MysticroseMysticrose Posts: 4,688
    The US needs to sort out the 3 month hiatus between the vote and inauguration. It served its purpose when crossing the country was a major feat of transportation but is now a recipe for national and international trouble.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,344
    felix said:

    nichomar said:

    HYUFD said:

    https://twitter.com/BBCHelena/status/1341884081102008321/photo/1

    Daily Fail are reporting giving ground on fishing, what do we think?

    They'll be calling it the Christmas Deal, to go with the Good Friday Agreement.

    At this point, I think most people have stopped caring about the details. We'll see how it works out in practice soon enough.
    Yes, the hand of history is truly on Boris' shoulder tonight, having delivered Brexit he is now about to deliver a trade deal with the EU, whatever else he does his premiership will now anter the annals of history for decades if not centuries to come
    Complete and utter bollocks all that’s been achieved is four years of lost opportunity nobody but the real extremists will read the 2000 pages they wil be writing about their own earth shattering involvement in what should have been concluded three years ago. Someone is still going to have to explain the queues at the ports in three weeks time.but at least we can now move on and concentrate on the virus. I’ll go down the cash m/c on 1/1 and try to withdraw some sovereignty and look around to see where I can spend it.
    Indeed; in those days when most politicians inn all parties saw our future INSIDE the EU, and instead of xenophobic carping helped to make the thing work, no-one particularly lauded Heath, who signed us in, or Wilson, who gave us the referendum which confirmed that.

    Boris Johnson will, I suspect, be remembered as a wrecker.
    Surely that is the point. For the most part in the UK/EU relationship it has been characterised by mistrust and a lack of enthusiasm. It never really took hold from the start. I think the responsibility for that has to be a shared one with roots in History that have proved too difficult in the end both for politicians and large chunks of the people. Europe too inevitavle shares the blame as we are told endlessly that the tango requires two dancers. Even as a convinced and unrepentant remainer I cannot pretend to be surprised and maybe the future will bring a better and more realistic relationship. I suspect there will be negative economic effects but I'm not clear that for many Brexit voters that was their problem with the EU. I know that many will put the blame on a dislike of immigrants endemic and unique to the UK but I doubt this stands up to polling scrutiny and it certainly does not seem to deter people from wishing to come. At any rate I hope the deal goes through and we can get some closure.
    While I am not sure that your second sentence isn't 'with benefit of hindsight', there's a great deal in the rest of the post with which I agree.

    It's such a tragedy.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,480

    nichomar said:

    HYUFD said:

    https://twitter.com/BBCHelena/status/1341884081102008321/photo/1

    Daily Fail are reporting giving ground on fishing, what do we think?

    They'll be calling it the Christmas Deal, to go with the Good Friday Agreement.

    At this point, I think most people have stopped caring about the details. We'll see how it works out in practice soon enough.
    Yes, the hand of history is truly on Boris' shoulder tonight, having delivered Brexit he is now about to deliver a trade deal with the EU, whatever else he does his premiership will now anter the annals of history for decades if not centuries to come
    Complete and utter bollocks all that’s been achieved is four years of lost opportunity nobody but the real extremists will read the 2000 pages they wil be writing about their own earth shattering involvement in what should have been concluded three years ago. Someone is still going to have to explain the queues at the ports in three weeks time.but at least we can now move on and concentrate on the virus. I’ll go down the cash m/c on 1/1 and try to withdraw some sovereignty and look around to see where I can spend it.
    Indeed; in those days when most politicians inn all parties saw our future INSIDE the EU, and instead of xenophobic carping helped to make the thing work, no-one particularly lauded Heath, who signed us in, or Wilson, who gave us the referendum which confirmed that.

    Boris Johnson will, I suspect, be remembered as a wrecker.
    Well, regardless, it looks like it's done, and we're not going back.

    Realistically, the only (small) chance there was of the UK doing a volte-face was if Brexit turned out to be a total economic catastrophe, of a length and depth that might cause widespread regret amongst the population. That's not happening, firstly because of the deal and secondly because we are mid-disaster already, and that can obviously be blamed on the Plague.

    We then have to ask what appetite will exist, on either the EU or UK side, to knit the two polities back together at any point in the future. The longer we're apart, the more we'll diverge, and returning to this issue will only open the divisions over it in British society right back up (and, in any event, in the short and medium term nobody will want to be having more arguments over Europe.) If and when a Rejoiner movement gains significant traction in this country - and, bearing in mind the huge gap between the first and second European referendums, that is likely to take a very long time - then it will still need to persuade the public that years of tortuous negotiations and the handover of huge amounts of political power to the institutions in Brussels is a good idea.

    I suppose it's not inconceivable that this might happen one day - never say never - but let's just say I'm 44 and in good health, and I don't expect England at the very least to go back into the EU in my lifetime. It's more likely that the EU itself will fragment.
    Far more likely that the UK will fragment. A deal makes a Scottish border simpler too.
  • The US needs to sort out the 3 month hiatus between the vote and inauguration. It served its purpose when crossing the country was a major feat of transportation but is now a recipe for national and international trouble.

    There does need to be a long transition period to allow the incoming president to appoint what amounts his team, not just the Cabinet but also what over here would be civil servants, and Ambassadors. As with everything else, Trump is riding roughshod over conventions but, as they say, hard cases make bad law.
  • nichomarnichomar Posts: 7,483

    nichomar said:

    HYUFD said:

    https://twitter.com/BBCHelena/status/1341884081102008321/photo/1

    Daily Fail are reporting giving ground on fishing, what do we think?

    They'll be calling it the Christmas Deal, to go with the Good Friday Agreement.

    At this point, I think most people have stopped caring about the details. We'll see how it works out in practice soon enough.
    Yes, the hand of history is truly on Boris' shoulder tonight, having delivered Brexit he is now about to deliver a trade deal with the EU, whatever else he does his premiership will now anter the annals of history for decades if not centuries to come
    Complete and utter bollocks all that’s been achieved is four years of lost opportunity nobody but the real extremists will read the 2000 pages they wil be writing about their own earth shattering involvement in what should have been concluded three years ago. Someone is still going to have to explain the queues at the ports in three weeks time.but at least we can now move on and concentrate on the virus. I’ll go down the cash m/c on 1/1 and try to withdraw some sovereignty and look around to see where I can spend it.
    Indeed; in those days when most politicians inn all parties saw our future INSIDE the EU, and instead of xenophobic carping helped to make the thing work, no-one particularly lauded Heath, who signed us in, or Wilson, who gave us the referendum which confirmed that.

    Boris Johnson will, I suspect, be remembered as a wrecker.
    Well, regardless, it looks like it's done, and we're not going back.

    Realistically, the only (small) chance there was of the UK doing a volte-face was if Brexit turned out to be a total economic catastrophe, of a length and depth that might cause widespread regret amongst the population. That's not happening, firstly because of the deal and secondly because we are mid-disaster already, and that can obviously be blamed on the Plague.

    We then have to ask what appetite will exist, on either the EU or UK side, to knit the two polities back together at any point in the future. The longer we're apart, the more we'll diverge, and returning to this issue will only open the divisions over it in British society right back up (and, in any event, in the short and medium term nobody will want to be having more arguments over Europe.) If and when a Rejoiner movement gains significant traction in this country - and, bearing in mind the huge gap between the first and second European referendums, that is likely to take a very long time - then it will still need to persuade the public that years of tortuous negotiations and the handover of huge amounts of political power to the institutions in Brussels is a good idea.

    I suppose it's not inconceivable that this might happen one day - never say never - but let's just say I'm 44 and in good health, and I don't expect England at the very least to go back into the EU in my lifetime. It's more likely that the EU itself will fragment.
    The sensible line for both sides is to build up good relationships with each other, learning to cooperate when appropriate, try and salvage some of the soft EU benefits, EHIC, pet passport etc. I’m afraid it won’t happen as too many of the Tory party will still see Europe as the enemy, someone we have to perpetually score points over to prove our macho credentials.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 56,929
    Sandpit said:

    ydoethur said:

    The useless twat really is completely shameless, isn’t he?

    Trump pardons Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Charles Kushner
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55433522

    There’s quite the history of Presidents handing out pardons like confetti to some shady characters on their way out of the door. Clinton gave over 140 pardons on the day he left office, including his half brother for cocaine dealing.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_pardoned_by_Bill_Clinton
    Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich was unforgivable. It was final evidence that he was - at heart - not a truly moral man.

    Until Trump's pardon list, I didn't think I'd see anything worse in my lifetime.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    Nigelb said:

    Alistair said:

    Biden is a fucking moron

    twitter.com/AlexThomp/status/1341881017489973248?s=19

    Biden is certainly optimistic about the prospects for GOP bipartisanship.
    The extent of the bipartisanship he might require is likely the votes of a couple of senators - that’s not beyond the bounds of possibility.
    No, if the Dems don't win both Georgia Senate races then Mitch McConnell can simply refuse to bring bills to a vote.

    It doesn't matter if Biden would have a majority in the Senate to pass a bill. McConnell can stop everything
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,344
    As well as walking away from such an imaginative and exciting project, it's the loss of all the side-deals that I mourn. What's happening to the security and anti-crime activity; some that co-operation has gone, and will have to be rebuilt. Likewise such 'youthful' co-operation as Erasmus.

    Note; sudden crash on pb. Anyone else experience it?

  • Note; sudden crash on pb. Anyone else experience it?

    Yes, both Vanilla and Cloudflare claim to be OK. Where are the pb servers, and is @rcs1000 changing things as we speak?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,154

    The US needs to sort out the 3 month hiatus between the vote and inauguration. It served its purpose when crossing the country was a major feat of transportation but is now a recipe for national and international trouble.

    It’s better than it was. Until 1936 it was four months, not two.
  • nichomar said:

    RobD said:

    Should we offer to help our EU neighbours with their genome sequencing and help them discover what mutant covid variations they have, or are we best off using the capacity we have for ourselves?

    Perhaps they should join the UK Covid genome sequencing program? For entirely non-ideological reasons, of course.
    Do you know if that's an opportunity available to them? Should we formally offer it?
    Did anybody else know, before the last few weeks, that we were so far ahead of everybody in the genome sequencing game?

    For a start, how so? I mean, we seem to be ridiculously ahead of everyone. I'm not looking at the figures now, but the ones I saw on here said we were about a hundred times ahead per covid test done, and we're well ahead on testing per capita over most we're compared against. I know we have some really top research facilities here, and there are bound to be things that we excel at. But how can we be quite so far ahead in the work done on this virus? Surely other countries had the potential to have done similar work?

    And second, why is this only coming out now when we must have been doing the far higher level of genome sequencing for some time? I'm damned impressed by our numbers, but given the disparity with our neighbours' numbers I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't offer much earlier to help them out with this kind of testing (or if we did why we kept so quiet about it).
    If you look at the detail we have been gene sequencing for places all over the world right back to the original outbreak. There are sequences for China, Australia, the USA and all over Europe included in the work they have been doing. It makes sense as that is the only way to track the mutations.
    That's really good to hear. And of course it makes sense to collaborate. But I'm still astonished at the disparity in the levels we're doing compared to everybody else. I might be misremembering but I thought I read something here that Wales had done more genome sequence tests this month than the US had done in total on covid. If that's even close to being true I can not understand how..
    That was me - I was quoting from an article published on the BBC website where they'd been talking to the chap who set up the genomic sequencing effort for Public Health Wales. IIRC, the figures quoted were that Welsh labs had sequenced 4,000 Covid genomes in the past week, which was more than the whole of *France* had managed since the start of the pandemic. However, the capacities for such work in the US, Germany and other leading states are also, apparently, extremely limited.

    Elsewhere I read that, in per capita terms, a small handful of countries - including Australia, Denmark and Iceland - have done better than us in this regard, though in absolute terms 45% of all Covid-19 genomic sequencing carried out globally to date has taken place in the UK.

    Interestingly, South Africa also has a significant genomic sequencing capability, and of course it just so happens that a similar mutant Covid strain has been identified there. This adds weight to the notion that these viral variants are probably present (whether they've been imported, or have arisen independently) all over the globe, it's just that the surveillance systems of most nations are blind to them.
    Is this genome sequencing ability just a spin off from what current projects are under investigation, does it link back to Crick and Watson having built up teams and interest in the subject?
    Genome sequencing is largely automated these days. The reason we do more than anyone else is organisational. We established the COG-UK consortium of NHS and university labs to do the work.

    The current COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, represents a major threat to health. The COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium has been created to deliver large-scale and rapid whole-genome virus sequencing to local NHS centres and the UK government.

    COG-UK is made up of an innovative partnership of NHS organisations, the four Public Health Agencies of the UK, the Wellcome Sanger Institute and over twelve academic partners providing sequencing and analysis capacity.

    COG-UK is supported by £20 million funding from the UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Wellcome Sanger Institute, administered by UK Research and Innovation.

    https://www.cogconsortium.uk/

    In the last eight months we have grown into a consortium of many hundreds of people. COG-UK supports 16 sequencing hubs that are distributed across the country and includes the four Public Health Agencies, and researchers from academic partners across the UK. Our academic partner institutions include (in alphabetic order) the University of Birmingham, University of Cambridge, Cardiff University, University of Edinburgh, University of Exeter, University of Glasgow, Imperial College London, University of Liverpool, University of Nottingham, Northumbria University, University of Oxford, University of Portsmouth, the Quadram Institute — Norwich, Queens University — Belfast, University of Sheffield, University College London, and the Wellcome Sanger Institute. A large number of other institutions and partners have also been essential to the COG-UK effort.
    https://www.cogconsortium.uk/news_item/a-short-history-of-the-covid-19-genomics-uk-cog-uk-consortium/
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,774
    edited December 2020
    BBC: negotiations through the night, still finishing off

    Phone call between EU and the clown later, then press Conf at or after 10 am

    Adler emphasising that the deal will not be the promised frictionless trade
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,216
    edited December 2020
    Katya Adler R4 “talks still ongoing” - haggling & details over fish. U.K. source press conference may be around 10am
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,154

    As well as walking away from such an imaginative and exciting project, it's the loss of all the side-deals that I mourn. What's happening to the security and anti-crime activity; some that co-operation has gone, and will have to be rebuilt. Likewise such 'youthful' co-operation as Erasmus.

    Note; sudden crash on pb. Anyone else experience it?

    Did anyone not experience it? From the lack of comments I’m guessing it affected everyone.
  • kamskikamski Posts: 5,125
    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    ydoethur said:

    The useless twat really is completely shameless, isn’t he?

    Trump pardons Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Charles Kushner
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55433522

    There’s quite the history of Presidents handing out pardons like confetti to some shady characters on their way out of the door. Clinton gave over 140 pardons on the day he left office, including his half brother for cocaine dealing.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_pardoned_by_Bill_Clinton
    Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich was unforgivable. It was final evidence that he was - at heart - not a truly moral man.

    Until Trump's pardon list, I didn't think I'd see anything worse in my lifetime.
    Rich's pardon was a disgrace, but
    openly offering and granting pardons to people in exchange for lying under oath to protect the president is a few steps worse, and more seriously undermines the rule of law.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 70,513

    ydoethur said:

    The useless twat really is completely shameless, isn’t he?

    Trump pardons Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Charles Kushner
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55433522

    Pardoning everyone connected with Russia (and the Mueller investigation) will presumably make it harder to come after Trump himself.
    Not necessarily.
    Those pardoned do, after all, lose any 5th Amendment rights in respect of all crimes they were pardoned for.

    It’s quite likely Trump will attempt to pardon himself.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,154
    Nigelb said:

    ydoethur said:

    The useless twat really is completely shameless, isn’t he?

    Trump pardons Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Charles Kushner
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55433522

    Pardoning everyone connected with Russia (and the Mueller investigation) will presumably make it harder to come after Trump himself.
    Not necessarily.
    Those pardoned do, after all, lose any 5th Amendment rights in respect of all crimes they were pardoned for.

    It’s quite likely Trump will attempt to pardon himself.
    I would pay good money to watch when the Supreme Court rules that that is unconstitutional.

    Particularly since in attempting to pardon himself, he would have confessed and therefore would be unable to plead not guilty in a subsequent trial.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670

    As well as walking away from such an imaginative and exciting project, it's the loss of all the side-deals that I mourn. What's happening to the security and anti-crime activity; some that co-operation has gone, and will have to be rebuilt. Likewise such 'youthful' co-operation as Erasmus.

    Note; sudden crash on pb. Anyone else experience it?

    Yes, it is affecting other Vanilla powered forums as well.
  • FeersumEnjineeyaFeersumEnjineeya Posts: 4,363
    edited December 2020

    As well as walking away from such an imaginative and exciting project, it's the loss of all the side-deals that I mourn. What's happening to the security and anti-crime activity; some that co-operation has gone, and will have to be rebuilt. Likewise such 'youthful' co-operation as Erasmus.

    Note; sudden crash on pb. Anyone else experience it?

    I'm relieved that we apparently have a deal - I admit to doubting that it would happen (and it still has to be finalised and ratified) - but I share your consternation at our self-inflicted losses.

    BTW, my missus has just left for work. She is a clinical geneticist at one of the largest labs in the country. Many of her colleagues are EU nationals, very smart people attracted to the UK by its reputation for excellence in this field and ease of access. It's going to be much harder to attract these people in future. Needless to say, her colleagues are virtually unanimous in their dismay at our leaving the EU.

    P.S. Yes, PB does seem to be behaving a little strangely this morning.
  • Pro_RataPro_Rata Posts: 5,255

    Katya Adler R4 “talks still ongoing” - haggling & details over fish. U.K. source press conference may be around 10am

    I may take a pass on news for a few hours. Much as I'd like a deal, I'm not fussed by commentary on the tantric deal making process.
  • IanB2 said:

    BBC:
    Adler emphasising that the deal will not be the promised frictionless trade

    That was May’s deal - Customs Union.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 70,513
    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    ydoethur said:

    The useless twat really is completely shameless, isn’t he?

    Trump pardons Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Charles Kushner
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55433522

    There’s quite the history of Presidents handing out pardons like confetti to some shady characters on their way out of the door. Clinton gave over 140 pardons on the day he left office, including his half brother for cocaine dealing.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_pardoned_by_Bill_Clinton
    Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich was unforgivable. It was final evidence that he was - at heart - not a truly moral man.

    Until Trump's pardon list, I didn't think I'd see anything worse in my lifetime.
    What can one say about a man who pardons unrepentant mass murderers ?
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 6,662
    New thread
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,154
    This thread has

    lied to protect the President and been pardoned.

  • Good morning, everyone.

    King Cole, pro-EU British politicians have been their own worst enemies.

    Often citing the EU as a scapegoat/excuse for why something must/cannot be done, opposing it in opposition ('We'll stand up for Britain') and going along with it in office spurs then frustrates scepticism. Plus the bizarre lack of making a case for it, perhaps due to nearly the entire political class agreeing with one another. And, of course, promising then reneging upon a referendum on Lisbon so that every even slightly sceptical voter knew in 2016 that this was almost certainly the only say they'd ever get.

    If there is a deal there's a much better chance of cordial relations than the cliff edge and natural tendency to harden opinion against the EU. May also help the rather fraught state of polarised politics today. But we shall see.

    You keep banging on about Lisbon but that had already been watered down after the French and Dutch referendums rejected it. Lisbon is a red herring and you need to look back at Maastricht which, in turning the EEC into the more nation-like EU with the Euro, Freedom of Movement and so on, split the Conservative Party (remember John Major's references to bastards and the sound of white coats flapping) and led to Nigel Farage setting up Ukip. It was Maastricht, aided in the 1990s by amusing but inaccurate anti-EU stories made up by the Telegraph's Brussels correspondent, one B Johnson, that set in chain events leading to Brexit.

  • kle4kle4 Posts: 95,873
    Sandpit said:

    ydoethur said:

    The useless twat really is completely shameless, isn’t he?

    Trump pardons Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Charles Kushner
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55433522

    There’s quite the history of Presidents handing out pardons like confetti to some shady characters on their way out of the door. Clinton gave over 140 pardons on the day he left office, including his half brother for cocaine dealing.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_pardoned_by_Bill_Clinton
    The lack of limitations on that power, if it must exist at all, is a disgrace. Many reasonable pardons and commutations alongside crony rewards.
This discussion has been closed.