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Speed reading – politicalbetting.com
Speed reading – politicalbetting.com
We are all Eddie Lister and Allegra Stratton after 2020 pic.twitter.com/3NnYVy5y5E
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We are all Eddie Lister and Allegra Stratton after 2020 pic.twitter.com/3NnYVy5y5E
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Having won their victory, sensible Brexiters would welcome the accommodation reached with the EU, and pivot back towards the common ground in the centre in order to consolidate their new reality, and ensure we have the best chance of making a good fist of our new economic circumstances.
History, however, suggests that having won a victory based on waging a culture war, the responsible politicians will find it ever so tempting to pick at new cultural divides in order to lever further political successes.
The latter course, while quite possibly unlocking new short term victories will, sooner or later, generate a counter-reaction that risks sweeping the whole lot away.
It was probably much better written though, with fewer indices.
https://twitter.com/AllieRenison/status/1342819369395564544
However bad or good the deal is, it would have been significantly better if exactly the same deal was signed a year ago...
And btw LOTR is excellent.
O whey o whey!
He is a bit too cavalier in testing that out for my liking. I think the Salmond posters coudl quite easily make the point that being in the pocket of nationalists, not merely scots, would be a problem. However I do think you are right that there are far too many people who object to a Scottish PM as an issue in itself. No it hasn't been that long since we had one, but it does feel different to me now, and that is hugely problematic for the Union.
I absolutely agree that it is not good that so little time is available for Parliament to actually read and discuss the thing (something the EU also seems to regard on its end as needless), and agree that it is unlikely to bring an end to the trench warfare, but I don't think it likely that will fair because of it not being explored in detail. Even though it should still be explored in detail, I don't think anyone truly believes that lack of exploration will have changed anything, as it is a political matter. But the phrasing implies the lack of exploration causes the failure. They are two separate issues of complaint I think.
I do say again though that I think secretly many MPs will be happy they do not have time to read it. Not many would have anyway, and many who did wouldn't understand it as these things are pretty inpenetrable, and whilst it will not be much of an excuse, they will be in a position down the line to say any problems are not their fault, as they were given so little time to look at it.
That said, they are right now, and wrong then. Sadly, chief clown has played it long in part because it deprives his troops of time to look at the detail.
It allows for Brexit but it also for closer alignment in the future if we so desire.
I think the deal has ended Rejoin for a generation, and I mean a proper generation, not one of those pissant Scottish generations.
I have been reading some older literature this year, and it's interesting how styles change though - some early 20th Century stuff feels of a kind with the mid 19th Century and earlier stuff, but some stuff from the 50s practically feels like it could have been written today.
Breaking News: The whole of Cornwall has been placed into tier 4 lockdown after hundreds of pirates returned home to Penzance to celebrate Christmas with their families.
Apparently the Arrrrr rate has increased dramatically.....
https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1342843875472396291?s=20
Foch believed that within 20 years, the *will too enforce* Versailles would fail. Since there were no *structural* changes in the treaty, Germany would then regain her strength (greater than France)) and, he assumed, go to war once again.
Note that after WWII the Allies made sure that the settlement was structural on multiple levels
- Breakup of Germany
- Permanent occupation of Germany
- Abolition of Prussia (assumed to be the heart of German militarism)
- Complete reconstruction of the civic institutions of Germany.
- Ethnic cleansing of German populations from the rest of Europe/Russia.
Mr. kle4, one book I keep meaning to read is Iron Heel, by Jack London, an early dystopian story. I wonder how that holds up.
King Cole, at dawn on the fifth day, look to the east.
I love the movies. Watched all 3 Hobbit films and all three LOTR films (usually do around Christmas time), and the latter definitely hold up beyond simple nostalgia, as the underwhelming Hobbit films had me worried was the case.
But it has been noted as a problem for a while that even MPs are not well prepared or practiced in actually scrutinising or understanding legislation (or treaties). It's not a skill they are encouraged in politically or procedurally, and is unlikely to benefit their careers if they try to put in the time and effort.
Boris Johnson should remember than the Lion of Verdun soon became a traitor in the eyes of most French people two decades later.
I suspect the trial of Boris Johnson would be similarly shambolic.
Yes, slippery bugger Johnson again escapes scrutiny - bad - but why should parliament get to vote on a trade deal? Why not a matter for the executive?
If it had not been for this requirement last time, the Meaningful Vote, we'd have had arguably a better outcome.
- on December 20th, 521,594 people had received their first jab
- 366,715 of those were over 80
- So 70%
- the number vaccinated now stands at over 800k - so assuming the proportion holds, 560k over 80s
- There are 3.2 million over 80s in the UK
- They made up 54% of the death toll of COVID
- for 17.5% of the over 80s have received their first shot
- Estimates for the protection from the first shot range from 50-70%
So if the efficacy is 50% I make it that would mean a 4.7% drop in the fatality rate. Already.
6.6% if it is 70% effective on the first shot.
(a) The ability of Germany to wage war *militarily* was to to be removed - Germany, to this day doesn't have the logistical capability to do anything much beyond it's own borders.
(b) The ability of Germany to wage war *politically* was removed.
The means by which these 2 were achieved evolved with the Cold War. But the goal was constant - a Germany that was *unable* and *unwilling* to fight an aggressive war.
Anyway, darkness is threatening. Must get outside for a stroll.
Mind you, the Fourth Crusade sacked a Christian city, and the Albigensian one was about the Cathar heresy in the south of France (and notable for almost all the protagonists being called Raymond).
https://twitter.com/glennbbc/status/1342822963947708419?s=21
IIRC it was during the war between the Catholics and the Cathars that the victorious Bishop instructed his army, when asked whom they should spare in a 'half-and-half' city said 'Kill them all; God will know his own." Or similar.
Hence Unconditional Surrender as a demand in WWII - the aim was to make it utterly clear beyond all doubt that the the Germans had completely, utterly and totally lost.
The economy wasn't crushed by Versailles - any more than 1870 crushed France. The hyperinflation was (if you believe some people) an insane attempt to inflate the reparations away.
As to the the Brexit deal - the question is whether either side is really interested in anything the other side has. I see it going more like Ireland after Independence - the deal got modified extensively over the years, but no-one really cared.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caedite_eos._Novit_enim_Dominus_qui_sunt_eius.
https://twitter.com/RuthDavidsonMSP/status/972750549471973376
Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rWai38hti8
Apart possibly from Estonia.
I found Burgundy (or the Burgundies, perhaps) to be perhaps the best chapter.
Except living for ever with a deal where we caved on everything, as the bastards carping about the 11th hour deal would have had a year ago.
The soviet system was built on extreme force and extreme fraud. Practically everything that Lenin and the Leninists did was accompanied by killing; practically everything they said was based on half-baked theories, a total lack of integrity and huge barefaced lies.
Iron Kingdom by Christopher Clark on the rise and fall of Prussia was a fascinating read on development of a state, which is now gone. And it did something I am a bit of a sucker for, which is concluding a 900 page book with a sentence mirroring the very first sentence. In the end, there was only Brandenburg.
As for the trench warfare idea - no. This won't be the end of UK-EU disputes, discussions or initiatives (those will never end as we are very close neighbours will different ways of doing things) but, aside from the irreconcilables on both sides, the war is over.
"Gordon Broon. The one eyed Scottish idiot strikes again. Forcing Lloyds to choke on that dreadful Bank of SCOTLAND and laughing about it. Should stick to tossing his caber."
Much of it stuck vividly in my mind as you can see.
My advice would be magnanimity and to go back to sober, sensible good Government.
Make Conservatives the safe choice and Labour the risky/disruptive one in 2024 again.
https://twitter.com/clairywoowoo/status/1342670243810975744?s=21
I think she is optimistic if she thinks "it's all over..."
With the political heat taken out of the relationship there will now be a lot of opportunities to build on the deal outside of the spotlight now that no one cares.
"But who cares about them." for those who continuously complain about remainers not caring about everyone else, and
"Had we left without a deal, and the country been plunged into an even deeper crisis by the combination of that and the pandemic, I honestly don’t think I would have been able to live with myself. And I think if they’re honest with themselves, so would many other of my fellow Brexiteers." for those who think we were ever serious about no deal or that it would have been fine.