And I know no-one apart from myself who routinely wears a mask outdoors as they do in much of Asia and now elsewhere.
I am convinced this virus spreads outdoors. Undoubtedly less readily than indoors but nevertheless I'm sure it does. Again, as you would expect from an airborne virus which spreads by aerosol as well as droplet.
We are, and there's no other way to put this, f-ing stupid in this country. Nerys claims to be a nurse. What hope is there?
I recall early on an ITU nurse saying that she didn't see how it was possible to 'BE SAFE' when she couldn't 'see' the virus.
I mean, that's the level of f-ing ignorance with which we are dealing.
Still waiting for those superior literary skills to manifest themselves.
Oh are you? Read one of my bestselling books. But it doesn't sound to me like you'd recognise it even if you were hit over the head by Lord of the Rings.
I keep the writing clean and simple on here. Actually I do in my books. Only Mike Smithson of the thread writers knows how to do that. A thread should have one point made succinctly and cleanly.
Less is more. Heck, even The Great Gatsby is only 47,000 words.
Wait, are you citing LOTR as good writing? JFC.
By some measures it is the most popular novel ever written, anywhere on the planet, and also the most loved. It has also been hugely influential on popular AND elite culture. You see its influence everywhere
Why? Because it is an inspired piece of sustained human imagination, probably unexampled, AND it has a superb, mythic, driving narrative
It’s not entirely my cup of tea but I can still recognise it as quite exceptional. Anyone who doesn’t simply reveals their own idiocy. Sorry
I'll bite.
It's unreadable rubbish, mostly read and admired by those with the minds of teenage boys.
Except a poll a couple of years ago showed it is read by more women than men. And if it is unreadable then how come it is one of the most read books of the twentieth century. Perhaps your dislike and inability to read it reflects more on yourself than on the book.
No doubt it does. I view that poll with some scepticism I must say. The only people I have ever heard praising it or talking about the film have been men and boys.
By the same token I can't abide Dickens. Completely unreadable and believe me I've tried. Nor can I cope with many Russian novels - though I adore Anna Karenina. OTOH I love Vanity Fair - which is one of the best novels ever to my mind - and Middlemarch, Jane Eyre - and many 19th century French writers such as Balzac.
The one writer whose novels and short stories I would have with me on a desert island is William Trevor. One of the very finest writers ever.
Have you tried Great Expectations. I think that’s his most “accessible”. Then, if you liked that, I think you would want to graduate to Bleak House.
A Tale of Two Cities is garbage.
Those first two are my favourites! I am so middlebrow.
I think they are the best. Admittedly, I’ve only read two or three others.
Cycle free is being a terrible sexist snob about LOTR, but I agree with her about Dickens. He wrote brilliant vivid descriptive lines, and some good characters, but the plotting is so bad I give up fifty pages in at best. There are plot holes EVERYWHERE, and weird non sequiturs, and continuity errors - I suspect that part of the problem is that he wrote at such speed, and episodically - most of the books were originally written as serialised chapters for weekly magazines. He probably forgot what he wrote the previous week.
The only one I’ve read in toto was Oliver Twist. It was quite good, but I much prefer the musical.
Thomas Hardy is a vastly superior novelist. Terrifically sad. But so compelling.
Great Expectations was I think also published as a novel and is a masterpiece.
A Tale of Two Cities is an astonishing piece of writing, too. Also Hard Times in its own way.
And I know no-one apart from myself who routinely wears a mask outdoors as they do in much of Asia and now elsewhere.
I am convinced this virus spreads outdoors. Undoubtedly less readily than indoors but nevertheless I'm sure it does. Again, as you would expect from an airborne virus which spreads by aerosol as well as droplet.
We are, and there's no other way to put this, f-ing stupid in this country. Nerys claims to be a nurse. What hope is there?
I recall early on an ITU nurse saying that she didn't see how it was possible to 'BE SAFE' when she couldn't 'see' the virus.
I mean, that's the level of f-ing ignorance with which we are dealing.
Still waiting for those superior literary skills to manifest themselves.
Oh are you? Read one of my bestselling books. But it doesn't sound to me like you'd recognise it even if you were hit over the head by Lord of the Rings.
I keep the writing clean and simple on here. Actually I do in my books. Only Mike Smithson of the thread writers knows how to do that. A thread should have one point made succinctly and cleanly.
Less is more. Heck, even The Great Gatsby is only 47,000 words.
Wait, are you citing LOTR as good writing? JFC.
By some measures it is the most popular novel ever written, anywhere on the planet, and also the most loved. It has also been hugely influential on popular AND elite culture. You see its influence everywhere
Why? Because it is an inspired piece of sustained human imagination, probably unexampled, AND it has a superb, mythic, driving narrative
It’s not entirely my cup of tea but I can still recognise it as quite exceptional. Anyone who doesn’t simply reveals their own idiocy. Sorry
I'll bite.
It's unreadable rubbish, mostly read and admired by those with the minds of teenage boys.
Except a poll a couple of years ago showed it is read by more women than men. And if it is unreadable then how come it is one of the most read books of the twentieth century. Perhaps your dislike and inability to read it reflects more on yourself than on the book.
No doubt it does. I view that poll with some scepticism I must say. The only people I have ever heard praising it or talking about the film have been men and boys.
By the same token I can't abide Dickens. Completely unreadable and believe me I've tried. Nor can I cope with many Russian novels - though I adore Anna Karenina. OTOH I love Vanity Fair - which is one of the best novels ever to my mind - and Middlemarch, Jane Eyre - and many 19th century French writers such as Balzac.
The one writer whose novels and short stories I would have with me on a desert island is William Trevor. One of the very finest writers ever.
Have you tried Great Expectations. I think that’s his most “accessible”. Then, if you liked that, I think you would want to graduate to Bleak House.
A Tale of Two Cities is garbage.
Those first two are my favourites! I am so middlebrow.
I think they are the best. Admittedly, I’ve only read two or three others.
Cycle free is being a terrible sexist snob about LOTR, but I agree with her about Dickens. He wrote brilliant vivid descriptive lines, and some good characters, but the plotting is so bad I give up fifty pages in at best. There are plot holes EVERYWHERE, and weird non sequiturs, and continuity errors - I suspect that part of the problem is that he wrote at such speed, and episodically - most of the books were originally written as serialised chapters for weekly magazines. He probably forgot what he wrote the previous week.
The only one I’ve read in toto was Oliver Twist. It was quite good, but I much prefer the musical.
Thomas Hardy is a vastly superior novelist. Terrifically sad. But so compelling.
I am not going to die in a ditch for Dickens overall.
He can be very ropy, and the snootiest of literary critics tend to dismiss him.
But - just to take Great Expectations as an expample - Magwitch and Miss Havisham are immortal characters. There is certainly no other writer in English, save Shakespeare, who has created such a range of memorable characters.
I've been reading a modern epic tale of everyday folk - PB .... great read with some unbelievable characters and the stories !!!!!! .... Not come to the end yet ....
It's very simple to do the thought experiment on how Trumpers were and are so fired up over the election. Take everything you know about the election and imagine Trump actually was the declared winner. It literally would have been stolen from Biden.
Now simply reverse Biden/Trump and the MAGA reality delusion makes perfect sense.
Are the new administration acting as if they won a great victory?
Their primary concern seems to be revenge.
There is little talk about the things that might concern ordinary Americans. Jobs. Economy. etc.
Honestly I don;t expect that to change. Its essentially open season on Trumpists.
The new administration has yet to take office, so I'm not sure how you leap to such a conclusion.
I leap to that conclusion based on the evidence. Look at this website. four or five Trump threads. Thread on what a Biden administration might actually do? Nope.
Similarly Democrat politicians in the US. Delivering liberal solutions to America? Nope. Cutting down Trumpism in all its forms as they see it? Yes.
Well, yes. Because Trumpism is all about cutting down democracy. It's more important to focus on the defence of democracy than, say, focus on marginal rates of tax.
You want the conversation to move on because you're embarrassed about what your fella has done, but it doesn't really work that way. Sorry about that.
I really don;'t see how stopping people saying what they want is 'defending democracy'. If the democrats were confident the Trumpist narrative wasn't winning votes, they wouldn't be trying to repress it at every turn.
Those are the actions of autocrats, not democrats.
I've been reading a modern epic tale of everyday folk - PB .... great read with some unbelievable characters and the stories !!!!!! .... Not come to the end yet ....
It's very simple to do the thought experiment on how Trumpers were and are so fired up over the election. Take everything you know about the election and imagine Trump actually was the declared winner. It literally would have been stolen from Biden.
Now simply reverse Biden/Trump and the MAGA reality delusion makes perfect sense.
Are the new administration acting as if they won a great victory?
Their primary concern seems to be revenge.
There is little talk about the things that might concern ordinary Americans. Jobs. Economy. etc.
Honestly I don;t expect that to change. Its essentially open season on Trumpists.
The new administration has yet to take office, so I'm not sure how you leap to such a conclusion.
I leap to that conclusion based on the evidence. Look at this website. four or five Trump threads. Thread on what a Biden administration might actually do? Nope.
Similarly Democrat politicians in the US. Delivering liberal solutions to America? Nope. Cutting down Trumpism in all its forms as they see it? Yes.
Personally under the circumstances I think they are amazingly restrained. It is not like he has attempted a violent coup or anything is it, on top of the too long to list antics of the last 4 years.
Off topic and I don't care as I don't get hung up on these things but was just wondering - why do you type ; instead of ' all of the time? I know it is an easy thing to do being next to one another, but it is 100% so doesn't seem to be that?
And I know no-one apart from myself who routinely wears a mask outdoors as they do in much of Asia and now elsewhere.
I am convinced this virus spreads outdoors. Undoubtedly less readily than indoors but nevertheless I'm sure it does. Again, as you would expect from an airborne virus which spreads by aerosol as well as droplet.
We are, and there's no other way to put this, f-ing stupid in this country. Nerys claims to be a nurse. What hope is there?
I recall early on an ITU nurse saying that she didn't see how it was possible to 'BE SAFE' when she couldn't 'see' the virus.
I mean, that's the level of f-ing ignorance with which we are dealing.
Still waiting for those superior literary skills to manifest themselves.
Oh are you? Read one of my bestselling books. But it doesn't sound to me like you'd recognise it even if you were hit over the head by Lord of the Rings.
I keep the writing clean and simple on here. Actually I do in my books. Only Mike Smithson of the thread writers knows how to do that. A thread should have one point made succinctly and cleanly.
Less is more. Heck, even The Great Gatsby is only 47,000 words.
Wait, are you citing LOTR as good writing? JFC.
By some measures it is the most popular novel ever written, anywhere on the planet, and also the most loved. It has also been hugely influential on popular AND elite culture. You see its influence everywhere
Why? Because it is an inspired piece of sustained human imagination, probably unexampled, AND it has a superb, mythic, driving narrative
It’s not entirely my cup of tea but I can still recognise it as quite exceptional. Anyone who doesn’t simply reveals their own idiocy. Sorry
I'll bite.
It's unreadable rubbish, mostly read and admired by those with the minds of teenage boys.
Or indeed those who are teenage boys. Which was the point.
It's very simple to do the thought experiment on how Trumpers were and are so fired up over the election. Take everything you know about the election and imagine Trump actually was the declared winner. It literally would have been stolen from Biden.
Now simply reverse Biden/Trump and the MAGA reality delusion makes perfect sense.
Are the new administration acting as if they won a great victory?
Their primary concern seems to be revenge.
There is little talk about the things that might concern ordinary Americans. Jobs. Economy. etc.
Honestly I don;t expect that to change. Its essentially open season on Trumpists.
The new administration has yet to take office, so I'm not sure how you leap to such a conclusion.
I leap to that conclusion based on the evidence. Look at this website. four or five Trump threads. Thread on what a Biden administration might actually do? Nope.
Similarly Democrat politicians in the US. Delivering liberal solutions to America? Nope. Cutting down Trumpism in all its forms as they see it? Yes.
Personally under the circumstances I think they are amazingly restrained. It is not like he has attempted a violent coup or anything is it, on top of the too long to list antics of the last 4 years.
Off topic and I don't care as I don't get hung up on these things but was just wondering - why do you type ; instead of ' all of the time? I know it is an easy thing to do being next to one another, but it is 100% so doesn't seem to be that?
Ok then, so if you are asked to name one book that had most imapct on you?
I would offer To Kill a Mockingbird.
I've read it 3 or 4 times and loved it each time but first read it a 13 when it really did make me think. Appreciate it may be a bit to 'woke' or sound like virtue signalling for some of you but there you go, it's the truth.
Interesting. It means some of the wackier theories will eventually go less mainstream.
What interests most isn't the Rush Limbaugh constituency, though - these were on board for earlier waves of extremism, and haven't been enough in themselves.
The really interesting group are some of the self-imagined, streetwise "cool Trumpists" on the alt right, of the generation of Milo Yannopoulos - many of whom made journeys from left to right. Many of these decided Trump was both less real, in the sense of being a hilarious wind-up joke on pathetic liberals, and more real, in the sense of unashamed, unafraid, unhypocritical.
And I know no-one apart from myself who routinely wears a mask outdoors as they do in much of Asia and now elsewhere.
I am convinced this virus spreads outdoors. Undoubtedly less readily than indoors but nevertheless I'm sure it does. Again, as you would expect from an airborne virus which spreads by aerosol as well as droplet.
We are, and there's no other way to put this, f-ing stupid in this country. Nerys claims to be a nurse. What hope is there?
I recall early on an ITU nurse saying that she didn't see how it was possible to 'BE SAFE' when she couldn't 'see' the virus.
I mean, that's the level of f-ing ignorance with which we are dealing.
Still waiting for those superior literary skills to manifest themselves.
Oh are you? Read one of my bestselling books. But it doesn't sound to me like you'd recognise it even if you were hit over the head by Lord of the Rings.
I keep the writing clean and simple on here. Actually I do in my books. Only Mike Smithson of the thread writers knows how to do that. A thread should have one point made succinctly and cleanly.
Less is more. Heck, even The Great Gatsby is only 47,000 words.
Wait, are you citing LOTR as good writing? JFC.
By some measures it is the most popular novel ever written, anywhere on the planet, and also the most loved. It has also been hugely influential on popular AND elite culture. You see its influence everywhere
Why? Because it is an inspired piece of sustained human imagination, probably unexampled, AND it has a superb, mythic, driving narrative
It’s not entirely my cup of tea but I can still recognise it as quite exceptional. Anyone who doesn’t simply reveals their own idiocy. Sorry
I'll bite.
It's unreadable rubbish, mostly read and admired by those with the minds of teenage boys.
I'm amazed how much people are ok with judging and insulting others based on their literature choices.
Yes its all in good fun, but in saying you dislike it is really ok to insult those who do? And no people who dislike such things shouldn't be insulted either, but some people freely admit to dismissing entire genres of fiction, based on very narrow views of it, as a sign of superiority. And it is superiority because it inevitably involves judging, negatively, those who like them, rather than simply criticising the genre or work.
I've always thought that rather strange.
But I bet there is a correlation between liking LOTR and voting for Brexit. By which I mean if you take the population of people who are readers of novels and they voted, say, X% Remain, then the sub-sample of those who like Tolkien would have voted Y% Remain and Y would be less than X. I'd put a grand on that without losing too much sleep.
Ah, the joy of pigeon holing people.
Hmm. An American aquaintance - PhD in the arts from high end UK university. Hobbies - sailing, restoring rusting vintage 60s minor British sports cars. Comes from a New England family. Thinks what happened on Capitol Hill was the Reichstag Fire....
By the Democrats*
People are weird and not easily categorised.
*Yes. I given up talking to him. It's like corresponding with a mirror universe person. Up is now down....
In other news, support for Catalan independence continues to fall. The change from a hard-line, confrontational, right-wing government in Madrid to one run by the centre left that has focused on dialogue has led to a split in the Catalan separatist movement. There is even an outside chance the separatists may lose control of the Catalan parliament after next month's regional elections. https://twitter.com/RupertCocke/status/1348568129685901312
Confirms the PP Spanish government did the right thing in 2017 then refusing a legal independence referendum when support for Catalan independence was much higher and ignoring the Catalan nationalist government's declaration of a UDI.
Had they not done that Catalonia would now be an independent state not seeing support for independence fall
The Spanish government - whether PP, PSOE or whatever - has no legal right to allow a referendum on independence for any part of Spain. That is clearly set out in Spain's written constitution.
If the Catalan government's declaration of UDI had not been challenged by Madrid then Catalonia would in effect have become an independent state, the law is meaningless unless it is upheld and enforced.
Westminster must equally enforce the legal principle of our constitution that Westminster is sovereign and when the UK government says 2014 was a once in a generation vote it means it
And I know no-one apart from myself who routinely wears a mask outdoors as they do in much of Asia and now elsewhere.
I am convinced this virus spreads outdoors. Undoubtedly less readily than indoors but nevertheless I'm sure it does. Again, as you would expect from an airborne virus which spreads by aerosol as well as droplet.
We are, and there's no other way to put this, f-ing stupid in this country. Nerys claims to be a nurse. What hope is there?
I recall early on an ITU nurse saying that she didn't see how it was possible to 'BE SAFE' when she couldn't 'see' the virus.
I mean, that's the level of f-ing ignorance with which we are dealing.
Still waiting for those superior literary skills to manifest themselves.
Oh are you? Read one of my bestselling books. But it doesn't sound to me like you'd recognise it even if you were hit over the head by Lord of the Rings.
I keep the writing clean and simple on here. Actually I do in my books. Only Mike Smithson of the thread writers knows how to do that. A thread should have one point made succinctly and cleanly.
Less is more. Heck, even The Great Gatsby is only 47,000 words.
Wait, are you citing LOTR as good writing? JFC.
By some measures it is the most popular novel ever written, anywhere on the planet, and also the most loved. It has also been hugely influential on popular AND elite culture. You see its influence everywhere
Why? Because it is an inspired piece of sustained human imagination, probably unexampled, AND it has a superb, mythic, driving narrative
It’s not entirely my cup of tea but I can still recognise it as quite exceptional. Anyone who doesn’t simply reveals their own idiocy. Sorry
I'll bite.
It's unreadable rubbish, mostly read and admired by those with the minds of teenage boys.
Except a poll a couple of years ago showed it is read by more women than men. And if it is unreadable then how come it is one of the most read books of the twentieth century. Perhaps your dislike and inability to read it reflects more on yourself than on the book.
No doubt it does. I view that poll with some scepticism I must say. The only people I have ever heard praising it or talking about the film have been men and boys.
By the same token I can't abide Dickens. Completely unreadable and believe me I've tried. Nor can I cope with many Russian novels - though I adore Anna Karenina. OTOH I love Vanity Fair - which is one of the best novels ever to my mind - and Middlemarch, Jane Eyre - and many 19th century French writers such as Balzac.
The one writer whose novels and short stories I would have with me on a desert island is William Trevor. One of the very finest writers ever.
For me it would Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I know of no other writer who can weave such a dense, all encompassing impression of a scene as Marquez. And he seems to understand people better than almost any writer I can think of.
The books I enjoy most are the ones that put me somewhere and give me the sense I am there feeling, seeing and hearing it all directly. That's the kind of writing I love. Laurie Lee was a master of this. Hemingway pulled it off once or twice. Tolkien did it with his weather. Tolstoy nails it in Anna Karenina. All very different styles, but the same effect - for me. And that's the thing. It's all very personal, isn't it?
I would strongly recommend Stefan Zweig. He was and I believe still is hugely well regarded in Europe even though virtually unknown in Britain and America. I heard of him first as a result of the film 'Grand Budapest Hotel' being dedicated to him and then talking about him with the godfather of my kids who is Dutch and had to suffer studying him at secondary school.
But in spite of his dislike I started to read Zweig's works and they are just phenomenal. Mostly set in Mitteleurope before WW2 they are incredibly evocative and moving - all the more so when you read of Zweig's own life. He is, for me, one of the foremost writers of the 20th century.
Interesting thread from observers on the ground. The utter lack of federal forces or even basic event security cannot be anything other than deliberate. Which points quite firmly at it being an organised coup attempt.
If there really were 'machinations' to have no security at the Capitol, it surely points more to events there being an orchestration against Trump, not by him.
Where does that conclusion come from ?
"False Flag, False Flag" cometh the cry.
I've avoided calling this as a false flag - I have seen no evidence that it was one. However, since RP *has* brought the view that the lax security was deliberately orchestrated, I think it's fairly simple to ask who actually stood to gain from Trump's barmy army running amuck in the Capitol and who stood to lose.
As a point of order it isn't my theory thats being quoted. There are a lot of reports of officials asking why the National Guard hadn't been deployed and being told authorisation had been refused. Seemingly it took Mike Pence stepping in to remove the logjam.
Trump fires the DoD team and replaces them with lackeys. The DoD then manage to not send security for this rally and actively refuse to step in when asked by (as an example) the Governor of Maryland.
Its hardly a wild conspiracy theory to suggest that Trump - who excitedly paced the White House as the chaos ensued - was directly involved.
This is going to go through the tories like a dose of salts.
AFAICS, the ScoTories can dump her instantly by reclaiming the place on their list for the South of Scotland which she is occupying. If they don't, that will be very interesting.
I don't think that is correct. Can't she remain an MSP until the end of the parliament (whenever that is)?
And I know no-one apart from myself who routinely wears a mask outdoors as they do in much of Asia and now elsewhere.
I am convinced this virus spreads outdoors. Undoubtedly less readily than indoors but nevertheless I'm sure it does. Again, as you would expect from an airborne virus which spreads by aerosol as well as droplet.
We are, and there's no other way to put this, f-ing stupid in this country. Nerys claims to be a nurse. What hope is there?
I recall early on an ITU nurse saying that she didn't see how it was possible to 'BE SAFE' when she couldn't 'see' the virus.
I mean, that's the level of f-ing ignorance with which we are dealing.
Still waiting for those superior literary skills to manifest themselves.
Oh are you? Read one of my bestselling books. But it doesn't sound to me like you'd recognise it even if you were hit over the head by Lord of the Rings.
I keep the writing clean and simple on here. Actually I do in my books. Only Mike Smithson of the thread writers knows how to do that. A thread should have one point made succinctly and cleanly.
Less is more. Heck, even The Great Gatsby is only 47,000 words.
Wait, are you citing LOTR as good writing? JFC.
By some measures it is the most popular novel ever written, anywhere on the planet, and also the most loved. It has also been hugely influential on popular AND elite culture. You see its influence everywhere
Why? Because it is an inspired piece of sustained human imagination, probably unexampled, AND it has a superb, mythic, driving narrative
It’s not entirely my cup of tea but I can still recognise it as quite exceptional. Anyone who doesn’t simply reveals their own idiocy. Sorry
I'll bite.
It's unreadable rubbish, mostly read and admired by those with the minds of teenage boys.
Except a poll a couple of years ago showed it is read by more women than men. And if it is unreadable then how come it is one of the most read books of the twentieth century. Perhaps your dislike and inability to read it reflects more on yourself than on the book.
No doubt it does. I view that poll with some scepticism I must say. The only people I have ever heard praising it or talking about the film have been men and boys.
By the same token I can't abide Dickens. Completely unreadable and believe me I've tried. Nor can I cope with many Russian novels - though I adore Anna Karenina. OTOH I love Vanity Fair - which is one of the best novels ever to my mind - and Middlemarch, Jane Eyre - and many 19th century French writers such as Balzac.
The one writer whose novels and short stories I would have with me on a desert island is William Trevor. One of the very finest writers ever.
Have you tried Great Expectations. I think that’s his most “accessible”. Then, if you liked that, I think you would want to graduate to Bleak House.
A Tale of Two Cities is garbage.
Those first two are my favourites! I am so middlebrow.
I think they are the best. Admittedly, I’ve only read two or three others.
Cycle free is being a terrible sexist snob about LOTR, but I agree with her about Dickens. He wrote brilliant vivid descriptive lines, and some good characters, but the plotting is so bad I give up fifty pages in at best. There are plot holes EVERYWHERE, and weird non sequiturs, and continuity errors - I suspect that part of the problem is that he wrote at such speed, and episodically - most of the books were originally written as serialised chapters for weekly magazines. He probably forgot what he wrote the previous week.
The only one I’ve read in toto was Oliver Twist. It was quite good, but I much prefer the musical.
Thomas Hardy is a vastly superior novelist. Terrifically sad. But so compelling.
Great Expectations was I think also published as a novel and is a masterpiece.
A Tale of Two Cities is an astonishing piece of writing, too. Also Hard Times in its own way.
Whatever his faults, Dickens was a great writer.
Although not at as high a level as Dickens, Austen or Eliot - I'm still a huge fan of Trollope - I rarely go to bed without one!
It's very simple to do the thought experiment on how Trumpers were and are so fired up over the election. Take everything you know about the election and imagine Trump actually was the declared winner. It literally would have been stolen from Biden.
Now simply reverse Biden/Trump and the MAGA reality delusion makes perfect sense.
Are the new administration acting as if they won a great victory?
Their primary concern seems to be revenge.
There is little talk about the things that might concern ordinary Americans. Jobs. Economy. etc.
Honestly I don;t expect that to change. Its essentially open season on Trumpists.
The new administration has yet to take office, so I'm not sure how you leap to such a conclusion.
I leap to that conclusion based on the evidence. Look at this website. four or five Trump threads. Thread on what a Biden administration might actually do? Nope.
Similarly Democrat politicians in the US. Delivering liberal solutions to America? Nope. Cutting down Trumpism in all its forms as they see it? Yes.
Well, yes. Because Trumpism is all about cutting down democracy. It's more important to focus on the defence of democracy than, say, focus on marginal rates of tax.
You want the conversation to move on because you're embarrassed about what your fella has done, but it doesn't really work that way. Sorry about that.
I really don;'t see how stopping people saying what they want is 'defending democracy'. If the democrats were confident the Trumpist narrative wasn't winning votes, they wouldn't be trying to repress it at every turn.
Those are the actions of autocrats, not democrats.
It was the MAGA mob that tried to stop the votes being counted. Trump votes and Biden votes alike. If you don't think it's the duty of any administration, including the incoming one, to defend democracy against those who tried to lynch it last week, you are lost in the wilderness. You can probably find your way back to sanity and civilisation, but to do so you need to blink the tears from your eyes and see that the way to get what you want is by winning elections. Not by stopping them from reaching their conclusion because you don't like the result.
Chin up, my young hobbit. The beauty of democracy is you get another shot at it in four years' time.
In other news, support for Catalan independence continues to fall. The change from a hard-line, confrontational, right-wing government in Madrid to one run by the centre left that has focused on dialogue has led to a split in the Catalan separatist movement. There is even an outside chance the separatists may lose control of the Catalan parliament after next month's regional elections. https://twitter.com/RupertCocke/status/1348568129685901312
Confirms the PP Spanish government did the right thing in 2017 then refusing a legal independence referendum when support for Catalan independence was much higher and ignoring the Catalan nationalist government's declaration of a UDI.
Had they not done that Catalonia would now be an independent state not seeing support for independence fall
The Spanish government - whether PP, PSOE or whatever - has no legal right to allow a referendum on independence for any part of Spain. That is clearly set out in Spain's written constitution.
Catalonia is not Scotland. As the Baronet of Epping Forest refuses to recognise.
And I know no-one apart from myself who routinely wears a mask outdoors as they do in much of Asia and now elsewhere.
I am convinced this virus spreads outdoors. Undoubtedly less readily than indoors but nevertheless I'm sure it does. Again, as you would expect from an airborne virus which spreads by aerosol as well as droplet.
We are, and there's no other way to put this, f-ing stupid in this country. Nerys claims to be a nurse. What hope is there?
I recall early on an ITU nurse saying that she didn't see how it was possible to 'BE SAFE' when she couldn't 'see' the virus.
I mean, that's the level of f-ing ignorance with which we are dealing.
Still waiting for those superior literary skills to manifest themselves.
Oh are you? Read one of my bestselling books. But it doesn't sound to me like you'd recognise it even if you were hit over the head by Lord of the Rings.
I keep the writing clean and simple on here. Actually I do in my books. Only Mike Smithson of the thread writers knows how to do that. A thread should have one point made succinctly and cleanly.
Less is more. Heck, even The Great Gatsby is only 47,000 words.
Wait, are you citing LOTR as good writing? JFC.
By some measures it is the most popular novel ever written, anywhere on the planet, and also the most loved. It has also been hugely influential on popular AND elite culture. You see its influence everywhere
Why? Because it is an inspired piece of sustained human imagination, probably unexampled, AND it has a superb, mythic, driving narrative
It’s not entirely my cup of tea but I can still recognise it as quite exceptional. Anyone who doesn’t simply reveals their own idiocy. Sorry
I'll bite.
It's unreadable rubbish, mostly read and admired by those with the minds of teenage boys.
Except a poll a couple of years ago showed it is read by more women than men. And if it is unreadable then how come it is one of the most read books of the twentieth century. Perhaps your dislike and inability to read it reflects more on yourself than on the book.
No doubt it does. I view that poll with some scepticism I must say. The only people I have ever heard praising it or talking about the film have been men and boys.
By the same token I can't abide Dickens. Completely unreadable and believe me I've tried. Nor can I cope with many Russian novels - though I adore Anna Karenina. OTOH I love Vanity Fair - which is one of the best novels ever to my mind - and Middlemarch, Jane Eyre - and many 19th century French writers such as Balzac.
The one writer whose novels and short stories I would have with me on a desert island is William Trevor. One of the very finest writers ever.
Have you tried Great Expectations. I think that’s his most “accessible”. Then, if you liked that, I think you would want to graduate to Bleak House.
A Tale of Two Cities is garbage.
Those first two are my favourites! I am so middlebrow.
I think they are the best. Admittedly, I’ve only read two or three others.
Cycle free is being a terrible sexist snob about LOTR, but I agree with her about Dickens. He wrote brilliant vivid descriptive lines, and some good characters, but the plotting is so bad I give up fifty pages in at best. There are plot holes EVERYWHERE, and weird non sequiturs, and continuity errors - I suspect that part of the problem is that he wrote at such speed, and episodically - most of the books were originally written as serialised chapters for weekly magazines. He probably forgot what he wrote the previous week.
The only one I’ve read in toto was Oliver Twist. It was quite good, but I much prefer the musical.
Thomas Hardy is a vastly superior novelist. Terrifically sad. But so compelling.
I will never bear to reread Jude the Obscure. But such a sense of place. I was overjoyed to discover his birthplace on a recent hike down south, and wander around Bockhampton andf Stinsford, and discover what must be the Roman Road of his poem close to the house.
The ending of Tess haunts me to this day. But a brilliant novel. One of the greatest in the language.
And yes, Jude the Obscure possibly crosses a line into ‘FFS Thomas, lighten up just once?’ - but I’m still glad I read it.
His late poetry - equally bleak - is also truly fine. One of the few great writers who mastered two forms. Like Shakespeare.
And I know no-one apart from myself who routinely wears a mask outdoors as they do in much of Asia and now elsewhere.
I am convinced this virus spreads outdoors. Undoubtedly less readily than indoors but nevertheless I'm sure it does. Again, as you would expect from an airborne virus which spreads by aerosol as well as droplet.
We are, and there's no other way to put this, f-ing stupid in this country. Nerys claims to be a nurse. What hope is there?
I recall early on an ITU nurse saying that she didn't see how it was possible to 'BE SAFE' when she couldn't 'see' the virus.
I mean, that's the level of f-ing ignorance with which we are dealing.
Still waiting for those superior literary skills to manifest themselves.
Oh are you? Read one of my bestselling books. But it doesn't sound to me like you'd recognise it even if you were hit over the head by Lord of the Rings.
I keep the writing clean and simple on here. Actually I do in my books. Only Mike Smithson of the thread writers knows how to do that. A thread should have one point made succinctly and cleanly.
Less is more. Heck, even The Great Gatsby is only 47,000 words.
Wait, are you citing LOTR as good writing? JFC.
By some measures it is the most popular novel ever written, anywhere on the planet, and also the most loved. It has also been hugely influential on popular AND elite culture. You see its influence everywhere
Why? Because it is an inspired piece of sustained human imagination, probably unexampled, AND it has a superb, mythic, driving narrative
It’s not entirely my cup of tea but I can still recognise it as quite exceptional. Anyone who doesn’t simply reveals their own idiocy. Sorry
I'll bite.
It's unreadable rubbish, mostly read and admired by those with the minds of teenage boys.
I'm amazed how much people are ok with judging and insulting others based on their literature choices.
Yes its all in good fun, but in saying you dislike it is really ok to insult those who do? And no people who dislike such things shouldn't be insulted either, but some people freely admit to dismissing entire genres of fiction, based on very narrow views of it, as a sign of superiority. And it is superiority because it inevitably involves judging, negatively, those who like them, rather than simply criticising the genre or work.
I've always thought that rather strange.
But I bet there is a correlation between liking LOTR and voting for Brexit. By which I mean if you take the population of people who are readers of novels and they voted, say, X% Remain, then the sub-sample of those who like Tolkien would have voted Y% Remain and Y would be less than X. I'd put a grand on that without losing too much sleep.
Erm, if I understand your equation correctly then, unless you are claiming LOTR is not a novel, then Y must necessarily be equal to or less than X and it would only take one person in set Y to dislike LOTR for X to automatically always be less than X. In which case your grand and your sleep are assured.
No, I'm not trying to trick people! Y could if my theory is wrong be greater than X.
Say there are 10m readers of novels who voted in June 16 and they voted 7m Remain and 3m Leave. 2m of the 10m like Tolkien. These voted 1.5m Remain and 0,5m Leave.
Ok then, so if you are asked to name one book that had most imapct on you?
I would offer To Kill a Mockingbird.
I've read it 3 or 4 times and loved it each time but first read it a 13 when it really did make me think. Appreciate it may be a bit to 'woke' or sound like virtue signalling for some of you but there you go, it's the truth.
And I know no-one apart from myself who routinely wears a mask outdoors as they do in much of Asia and now elsewhere.
I am convinced this virus spreads outdoors. Undoubtedly less readily than indoors but nevertheless I'm sure it does. Again, as you would expect from an airborne virus which spreads by aerosol as well as droplet.
We are, and there's no other way to put this, f-ing stupid in this country. Nerys claims to be a nurse. What hope is there?
I recall early on an ITU nurse saying that she didn't see how it was possible to 'BE SAFE' when she couldn't 'see' the virus.
I mean, that's the level of f-ing ignorance with which we are dealing.
Still waiting for those superior literary skills to manifest themselves.
Oh are you? Read one of my bestselling books. But it doesn't sound to me like you'd recognise it even if you were hit over the head by Lord of the Rings.
I keep the writing clean and simple on here. Actually I do in my books. Only Mike Smithson of the thread writers knows how to do that. A thread should have one point made succinctly and cleanly.
Less is more. Heck, even The Great Gatsby is only 47,000 words.
Wait, are you citing LOTR as good writing? JFC.
By some measures it is the most popular novel ever written, anywhere on the planet, and also the most loved. It has also been hugely influential on popular AND elite culture. You see its influence everywhere
Why? Because it is an inspired piece of sustained human imagination, probably unexampled, AND it has a superb, mythic, driving narrative
It’s not entirely my cup of tea but I can still recognise it as quite exceptional. Anyone who doesn’t simply reveals their own idiocy. Sorry
I'll bite.
It's unreadable rubbish, mostly read and admired by those with the minds of teenage boys.
Except a poll a couple of years ago showed it is read by more women than men. And if it is unreadable then how come it is one of the most read books of the twentieth century. Perhaps your dislike and inability to read it reflects more on yourself than on the book.
No doubt it does. I view that poll with some scepticism I must say. The only people I have ever heard praising it or talking about the film have been men and boys.
By the same token I can't abide Dickens. Completely unreadable and believe me I've tried. Nor can I cope with many Russian novels - though I adore Anna Karenina. OTOH I love Vanity Fair - which is one of the best novels ever to my mind - and Middlemarch, Jane Eyre - and many 19th century French writers such as Balzac.
The one writer whose novels and short stories I would have with me on a desert island is William Trevor. One of the very finest writers ever.
Have you tried Great Expectations. I think that’s his most “accessible”. Then, if you liked that, I think you would want to graduate to Bleak House.
A Tale of Two Cities is garbage.
Those first two are my favourites! I am so middlebrow.
I think they are the best. Admittedly, I’ve only read two or three others.
Cycle free is being a terrible sexist snob about LOTR, but I agree with her about Dickens. He wrote brilliant vivid descriptive lines, and some good characters, but the plotting is so bad I give up fifty pages in at best. There are plot holes EVERYWHERE, and weird non sequiturs, and continuity errors - I suspect that part of the problem is that he wrote at such speed, and episodically - most of the books were originally written as serialised chapters for weekly magazines. He probably forgot what he wrote the previous week.
The only one I’ve read in toto was Oliver Twist. It was quite good, but I much prefer the musical.
Thomas Hardy is a vastly superior novelist. Terrifically sad. But so compelling.
Great Expectations was I think also published as a novel and is a masterpiece.
A Tale of Two Cities is an astonishing piece of writing, too. Also Hard Times in its own way.
Whatever his faults, Dickens was a great writer.
Agree on Great Expectations. A tour de force. In my all time top 10.
This is going to go through the tories like a dose of salts.
AFAICS, the ScoTories can dump her instantly by reclaiming the place on their list for the South of Scotland which she is occupying. If they don't, that will be very interesting.
I don't think that is correct. Can't she remain an MSP until the end of the parliament (whenever that is)?
Yes, if it was as simple as that the SNP would not have their former finance minister hanging around like a bad smell.
And I know no-one apart from myself who routinely wears a mask outdoors as they do in much of Asia and now elsewhere.
I am convinced this virus spreads outdoors. Undoubtedly less readily than indoors but nevertheless I'm sure it does. Again, as you would expect from an airborne virus which spreads by aerosol as well as droplet.
We are, and there's no other way to put this, f-ing stupid in this country. Nerys claims to be a nurse. What hope is there?
I recall early on an ITU nurse saying that she didn't see how it was possible to 'BE SAFE' when she couldn't 'see' the virus.
I mean, that's the level of f-ing ignorance with which we are dealing.
Still waiting for those superior literary skills to manifest themselves.
Oh are you? Read one of my bestselling books. But it doesn't sound to me like you'd recognise it even if you were hit over the head by Lord of the Rings.
I keep the writing clean and simple on here. Actually I do in my books. Only Mike Smithson of the thread writers knows how to do that. A thread should have one point made succinctly and cleanly.
Less is more. Heck, even The Great Gatsby is only 47,000 words.
Wait, are you citing LOTR as good writing? JFC.
By some measures it is the most popular novel ever written, anywhere on the planet, and also the most loved. It has also been hugely influential on popular AND elite culture. You see its influence everywhere
Why? Because it is an inspired piece of sustained human imagination, probably unexampled, AND it has a superb, mythic, driving narrative
It’s not entirely my cup of tea but I can still recognise it as quite exceptional. Anyone who doesn’t simply reveals their own idiocy. Sorry
I'll bite.
It's unreadable rubbish, mostly read and admired by those with the minds of teenage boys.
Except a poll a couple of years ago showed it is read by more women than men. And if it is unreadable then how come it is one of the most read books of the twentieth century. Perhaps your dislike and inability to read it reflects more on yourself than on the book.
No doubt it does. I view that poll with some scepticism I must say. The only people I have ever heard praising it or talking about the film have been men and boys.
By the same token I can't abide Dickens. Completely unreadable and believe me I've tried. Nor can I cope with many Russian novels - though I adore Anna Karenina. OTOH I love Vanity Fair - which is one of the best novels ever to my mind - and Middlemarch, Jane Eyre - and many 19th century French writers such as Balzac.
The one writer whose novels and short stories I would have with me on a desert island is William Trevor. One of the very finest writers ever.
For me it would Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I know of no other writer who can weave such a dense, all encompassing impression of a scene as Marquez. And he seems to understand people better than almost any writer I can think of.
The books I enjoy most are the ones that put me somewhere and give me the sense I am there feeling, seeing and hearing it all directly. That's the kind of writing I love. Laurie Lee was a master of this. Hemingway pulled it off once or twice. Tolkien did it with his weather. Tolstoy nails it in Anna Karenina. All very different styles, but the same effect - for me. And that's the thing. It's all very personal, isn't it?
I would strongly recommend Stefan Zweig. He was and I believe still is hugely well regarded in Europe even though virtually unknown in Britain and America. I heard of him first as a result of the film 'Grand Budapest Hotel' being dedicated to him and then talking about him with the godfather of my kids who is Dutch and had to suffer studying him at secondary school.
But in spite of his dislike I started to read Zweig's works and they are just phenomenal. Mostly set in Mitteleurope before WW2 they are incredibly evocative and moving - all the more so when you read of Zweig's own life. He is, for me, one of the foremost writers of the 20th century.
In other news, support for Catalan independence continues to fall. The change from a hard-line, confrontational, right-wing government in Madrid to one run by the centre left that has focused on dialogue has led to a split in the Catalan separatist movement. There is even an outside chance the separatists may lose control of the Catalan parliament after next month's regional elections. https://twitter.com/RupertCocke/status/1348568129685901312
Confirms the PP Spanish government did the right thing in 2017 then refusing a legal independence referendum when support for Catalan independence was much higher and ignoring the Catalan nationalist government's declaration of a UDI.
Had they not done that Catalonia would now be an independent state not seeing support for independence fall
The Spanish government - whether PP, PSOE or whatever - has no legal right to allow a referendum on independence for any part of Spain. That is clearly set out in Spain's written constitution.
If the Catalan government's declaration of UDI had not been challenged by Madrid then Catalonia would in effect have become an independent state, the law is meaningless unless it is upheld and enforced.
Westminster must equally enforce the legal principle of our constitution that Westminster is sovereign and when the UK government says 2014 was a once in a generation vote it means it
Where in 2014 did the UK government say it was a once in a generation vote?
I've been reading a modern epic tale of everyday folk - PB .... great read with some unbelievable characters and the stories !!!!!! .... Not come to the end yet ....
Ok then, so if you are asked to name one book that had most imapct on you?
I would offer To Kill a Mockingbird.
I've read it 3 or 4 times and loved it each time but first read it a 13 when it really did make me think. Appreciate it may be a bit to 'woke' or sound like virtue signalling for some of you but there you go, it's the truth.
Ok then, so if you are asked to name one book that had most imapct on you?
I would offer To Kill a Mockingbird.
I've read it 3 or 4 times and loved it each time but first read it a 13 when it really did make me think. Appreciate it may be a bit to 'woke' or sound like virtue signalling for some of you but there you go, it's the truth.
In other news, support for Catalan independence continues to fall. The change from a hard-line, confrontational, right-wing government in Madrid to one run by the centre left that has focused on dialogue has led to a split in the Catalan separatist movement. There is even an outside chance the separatists may lose control of the Catalan parliament after next month's regional elections. https://twitter.com/RupertCocke/status/1348568129685901312
Confirms the PP Spanish government did the right thing in 2017 then refusing a legal independence referendum when support for Catalan independence was much higher and ignoring the Catalan nationalist government's declaration of a UDI.
Had they not done that Catalonia would now be an independent state not seeing support for independence fall
The Spanish government - whether PP, PSOE or whatever - has no legal right to allow a referendum on independence for any part of Spain. That is clearly set out in Spain's written constitution.
Catalonia is not Scotland. As the Baronet of Epping Forest refuses to recognise.
Yep - a referendum on Scottish independence is absolutely one that the UK government can grant.
And I know no-one apart from myself who routinely wears a mask outdoors as they do in much of Asia and now elsewhere.
I am convinced this virus spreads outdoors. Undoubtedly less readily than indoors but nevertheless I'm sure it does. Again, as you would expect from an airborne virus which spreads by aerosol as well as droplet.
We are, and there's no other way to put this, f-ing stupid in this country. Nerys claims to be a nurse. What hope is there?
I recall early on an ITU nurse saying that she didn't see how it was possible to 'BE SAFE' when she couldn't 'see' the virus.
I mean, that's the level of f-ing ignorance with which we are dealing.
Still waiting for those superior literary skills to manifest themselves.
Oh are you? Read one of my bestselling books. But it doesn't sound to me like you'd recognise it even if you were hit over the head by Lord of the Rings.
I keep the writing clean and simple on here. Actually I do in my books. Only Mike Smithson of the thread writers knows how to do that. A thread should have one point made succinctly and cleanly.
Less is more. Heck, even The Great Gatsby is only 47,000 words.
Wait, are you citing LOTR as good writing? JFC.
By some measures it is the most popular novel ever written, anywhere on the planet, and also the most loved. It has also been hugely influential on popular AND elite culture. You see its influence everywhere
Why? Because it is an inspired piece of sustained human imagination, probably unexampled, AND it has a superb, mythic, driving narrative
It’s not entirely my cup of tea but I can still recognise it as quite exceptional. Anyone who doesn’t simply reveals their own idiocy. Sorry
I'll bite.
It's unreadable rubbish, mostly read and admired by those with the minds of teenage boys.
Except a poll a couple of years ago showed it is read by more women than men. And if it is unreadable then how come it is one of the most read books of the twentieth century. Perhaps your dislike and inability to read it reflects more on yourself than on the book.
No doubt it does. I view that poll with some scepticism I must say. The only people I have ever heard praising it or talking about the film have been men and boys.
By the same token I can't abide Dickens. Completely unreadable and believe me I've tried. Nor can I cope with many Russian novels - though I adore Anna Karenina. OTOH I love Vanity Fair - which is one of the best novels ever to my mind - and Middlemarch, Jane Eyre - and many 19th century French writers such as Balzac.
The one writer whose novels and short stories I would have with me on a desert island is William Trevor. One of the very finest writers ever.
Have you tried Great Expectations. I think that’s his most “accessible”. Then, if you liked that, I think you would want to graduate to Bleak House.
A Tale of Two Cities is garbage.
Those first two are my favourites! I am so middlebrow.
I think they are the best. Admittedly, I’ve only read two or three others.
Our Mutual Friend. (Probably not one to start with, though.)
Ok then, so if you are asked to name one book that had most imapct on you?
I would offer To Kill a Mockingbird.
I've read it 3 or 4 times and loved it each time but first read it a 13 when it really did make me think. Appreciate it may be a bit to 'woke' or sound like virtue signalling for some of you but there you go, it's the truth.
For me, undoubtedly Camus, La Peste.
To be avoided like the plague.
LOLs, Peter.
Some of our greatest political leaders have been voracious readers of Camus...
In other news, support for Catalan independence continues to fall. The change from a hard-line, confrontational, right-wing government in Madrid to one run by the centre left that has focused on dialogue has led to a split in the Catalan separatist movement. There is even an outside chance the separatists may lose control of the Catalan parliament after next month's regional elections. https://twitter.com/RupertCocke/status/1348568129685901312
Confirms the PP Spanish government did the right thing in 2017 then refusing a legal independence referendum when support for Catalan independence was much higher and ignoring the Catalan nationalist government's declaration of a UDI.
Had they not done that Catalonia would now be an independent state not seeing support for independence fall
The Spanish government - whether PP, PSOE or whatever - has no legal right to allow a referendum on independence for any part of Spain. That is clearly set out in Spain's written constitution.
If the Catalan government's declaration of UDI had not been challenged by Madrid then Catalonia would in effect have become an independent state, the law is meaningless unless it is upheld and enforced.
Westminster must equally enforce the legal principle of our constitution that Westminster is sovereign and when the UK government says 2014 was a once in a generation vote it means it
But that means that even if 100% of the population of Catalonia wanted independence they would not be allowed to vote for it because it would be illegal for the Spanish Government to allow such a vote and you would consider any vote without Spanish permission to be unlawful and therefore should be repressed.
In which case why bother asking for permission? They should just do it. Unless you think that it is justifiable to hold a whole population captive against their will and they should not be allowed to express their opposition to that?
Why couldn't he walk round Green Park and St James' Park. They literally back onto 10 Downing Street. Hell I'm sure Her Maj wouldn't say no to his borrowing Buck Place gardens for a constitutional.
In other news, support for Catalan independence continues to fall. The change from a hard-line, confrontational, right-wing government in Madrid to one run by the centre left that has focused on dialogue has led to a split in the Catalan separatist movement. There is even an outside chance the separatists may lose control of the Catalan parliament after next month's regional elections. https://twitter.com/RupertCocke/status/1348568129685901312
Confirms the PP Spanish government did the right thing in 2017 then refusing a legal independence referendum when support for Catalan independence was much higher and ignoring the Catalan nationalist government's declaration of a UDI.
Had they not done that Catalonia would now be an independent state not seeing support for independence fall
The Spanish government - whether PP, PSOE or whatever - has no legal right to allow a referendum on independence for any part of Spain. That is clearly set out in Spain's written constitution.
Catalonia is not Scotland. As the Baronet of Epping Forest refuses to recognise.
Yep - a referendum on Scottish independence is absolutely one that the UK government can grant.
Mr. Seal, point of order: Eowyn kills the Witch King. That's no small feat.
I quite liked Beren and Luthien in the Silmarillion, and Thingol and Melian.
Also, buying into gender is not as necessary as many think. The blokiest of blokey bloke shows, Top Gear, had more female than male viewers. And more boys than girls watched Totally Spies (a cartoon with three teenage girl spies).
She's almost an afterthought though. I struggle to think of more than one or two lines of dialogue spoken by a female character in Fellowship of the Ring and much of the Two Towers involves the actions of a whole species whose women just upped and left a couple of millenia before.
" In place of a dark lord you would have a queen. Not dark but beautiful and terrible as the dawn. Treacherous as the Sea. Stronger than the foundations of the Earth. All shall love me and despair. I pass the test. I will diminish and go into the West and remain Galadriel."
As I said before, the women are either demi-goddesses or Éowyn. You can't relate to an immortal elf queen. The Hobbit womenfolk barely get a word in.
And the dwarf women all have beards, and are indistinguishable from the men. 😉
And I know no-one apart from myself who routinely wears a mask outdoors as they do in much of Asia and now elsewhere.
I am convinced this virus spreads outdoors. Undoubtedly less readily than indoors but nevertheless I'm sure it does. Again, as you would expect from an airborne virus which spreads by aerosol as well as droplet.
We are, and there's no other way to put this, f-ing stupid in this country. Nerys claims to be a nurse. What hope is there?
I recall early on an ITU nurse saying that she didn't see how it was possible to 'BE SAFE' when she couldn't 'see' the virus.
I mean, that's the level of f-ing ignorance with which we are dealing.
Still waiting for those superior literary skills to manifest themselves.
Oh are you? Read one of my bestselling books. But it doesn't sound to me like you'd recognise it even if you were hit over the head by Lord of the Rings.
I keep the writing clean and simple on here. Actually I do in my books. Only Mike Smithson of the thread writers knows how to do that. A thread should have one point made succinctly and cleanly.
Less is more. Heck, even The Great Gatsby is only 47,000 words.
Wait, are you citing LOTR as good writing? JFC.
By some measures it is the most popular novel ever written, anywhere on the planet, and also the most loved. It has also been hugely influential on popular AND elite culture. You see its influence everywhere
Why? Because it is an inspired piece of sustained human imagination, probably unexampled, AND it has a superb, mythic, driving narrative
It’s not entirely my cup of tea but I can still recognise it as quite exceptional. Anyone who doesn’t simply reveals their own idiocy. Sorry
I'll bite.
It's unreadable rubbish, mostly read and admired by those with the minds of teenage boys.
I'm amazed how much people are ok with judging and insulting others based on their literature choices.
Yes its all in good fun, but in saying you dislike it is really ok to insult those who do? And no people who dislike such things shouldn't be insulted either, but some people freely admit to dismissing entire genres of fiction, based on very narrow views of it, as a sign of superiority. And it is superiority because it inevitably involves judging, negatively, those who like them, rather than simply criticising the genre or work.
I've always thought that rather strange.
But I bet there is a correlation between liking LOTR and voting for Brexit. By which I mean if you take the population of people who are readers of novels and they voted, say, X% Remain, then the sub-sample of those who like Tolkien would have voted Y% Remain and Y would be less than X. I'd put a grand on that without losing too much sleep.
Your most embarrassing comment ever, and I’m including the one where you ‘tried to stop your son watching Top Gear’
It's not the most weighty contribution I've ever made - grant you that - but I'm pretty confident it's true.
It can be verified here and now. Mentally count the posters who are Tolkien fans and calculate what % of them are Leavers. Bet you any money when you've done that you get a higher % than the standardized PB norm, i.e. the % of all PB posters who read novels who voted Leave.
Ok then, so if you are asked to name one book that had most imapct on you?
I would offer To Kill a Mockingbird.
I've read it 3 or 4 times and loved it each time but first read it a 13 when it really did make me think. Appreciate it may be a bit to 'woke' or sound like virtue signalling for some of you but there you go, it's the truth.
For me, undoubtedly Camus, La Peste.
Atlas Shrugged. It made me want to give up reading for good.
In other news, support for Catalan independence continues to fall. The change from a hard-line, confrontational, right-wing government in Madrid to one run by the centre left that has focused on dialogue has led to a split in the Catalan separatist movement. There is even an outside chance the separatists may lose control of the Catalan parliament after next month's regional elections. https://twitter.com/RupertCocke/status/1348568129685901312
Confirms the PP Spanish government did the right thing in 2017 then refusing a legal independence referendum when support for Catalan independence was much higher and ignoring the Catalan nationalist government's declaration of a UDI.
Had they not done that Catalonia would now be an independent state not seeing support for independence fall
The Spanish government - whether PP, PSOE or whatever - has no legal right to allow a referendum on independence for any part of Spain. That is clearly set out in Spain's written constitution.
Catalonia is not Scotland. As the Baronet of Epping Forest refuses to recognise.
Yep - a referendum on Scottish independence is absolutely one that the UK government can grant.
It is also absolutely one the UK government can refuse to grant based on the principle of Westminster sovereignty on which our unwritten constitution is based.
This Tory government will do precisely that and uphold the manifesto promise we won a majority in 2019 on that 2014 was 'a once in a generation referendum.'
Hopefully the SNP will not win a majority in May avoiding the need for a decision from the UK government anyway but even if they do this Tory government will follow the example of our conservative cousins in the PP in Spain in 2017 and ban any legal indyref.
No ifs, no buts, no concessions whatsoever to the Nationalists. Indeed legally and constitutionally Westminster could even abolish Holyrood tomorrow and reimpose direct rule, though politically it may be ill advised to go quite that far
In other news, support for Catalan independence continues to fall. The change from a hard-line, confrontational, right-wing government in Madrid to one run by the centre left that has focused on dialogue has led to a split in the Catalan separatist movement. There is even an outside chance the separatists may lose control of the Catalan parliament after next month's regional elections. https://twitter.com/RupertCocke/status/1348568129685901312
Confirms the PP Spanish government did the right thing in 2017 then refusing a legal independence referendum when support for Catalan independence was much higher and ignoring the Catalan nationalist government's declaration of a UDI.
Had they not done that Catalonia would now be an independent state not seeing support for independence fall
The Spanish government - whether PP, PSOE or whatever - has no legal right to allow a referendum on independence for any part of Spain. That is clearly set out in Spain's written constitution.
If the Catalan government's declaration of UDI had not been challenged by Madrid then Catalonia would in effect have become an independent state, the law is meaningless unless it is upheld and enforced.
Westminster must equally enforce the legal principle of our constitution that Westminster is sovereign and when the UK government says 2014 was a once in a generation vote it means it
But that means that even if 100% of the population of Catalonia wanted independence they would not be allowed to vote for it because it would be illegal for the Spanish Government to allow such a vote and you would consider any vote without Spanish permission to be unlawful and therefore should be repressed.
In which case why bother asking for permission? They should just do it. Unless you think that it is justifiable to hold a whole population captive against their will and they should not be allowed to express their opposition to that?
Unfortunately, that is exactly what he believes. In HYUFD's world, consent to being governed is not the sole gift of the governed. I can't think of a better adjective than "imperialist" to describe the attitude, but with so many literary experts on here I will await advice.
I think it's time for the government to push the red button that says "do not push". We have got to the stage where we need to spend £10-12bn over the next few weeks keeping everyone at home by closing all the restaurants, Amazon and other miscellaneous services. The only things open should be supermarkets, greengrocers, hospitals, doctors and pharmacies along with the associated parts of the supply chains. People should be allowed out twice a week with a permit and even dog walkers should be put on the clock for 30 mins in a designated zone.
We're at a stage where 4,000 people per day (and rising) are entering the NHS funnel, the only way that they can be given medical care is for cancer patients, those who suffer from heart attacks and strokes and other time precious diseases are going to be given no resources. Those people can't wait for treatment and the way to make the virus go away is for everyone to stay home and wait for their turn to be vaccinated.
The government is being penny wise and pound foolish because we're stuck with this half lockdown, premature deaths, overloaded NHS to save a few billion pounds by keeping a few extra businesses open rather than giving out grant money for maybe two months while we get the nation immunised.
Good news is that T4 and closed schools looks like it's enough to give a gentle decline in cases:
Bad news 1: Christmas Bubbles look like the mistake that cautious people said they would be.
Bad news 2: Schools and businesses have opened quite a bit.
Bad news 3: A gentle decline won't really cut it from here.
Basically Boris's "I don't want to impose restrictions" was an adolescent whiny gamble that didn't pay off, and we're all going to pay in lives and wealth.
Two bits of Covid news: 1. My daughter's primary school has emailed to say they had two cases of pox last week alone 2. My (nearly 20 yr old) son reports 4 of his friends are Covid-positive
That we are hunkered down here in Pioneer towers is a source of relief.
I see we are back to the media focusing on what are the loop holes they can find in the lockdown rules, rather than focus on what Witty said which is absolutely crucial, every unnecessary interaction has the potential to continue the chain of transmission...so think about if you really need to have that interaction.
If the government had to legislate for every single possible element of what we can and can't do during lockdown, it would make Gordon Brown additions to the tax code look like bedtime reading for under 5s.
In other news, support for Catalan independence continues to fall. The change from a hard-line, confrontational, right-wing government in Madrid to one run by the centre left that has focused on dialogue has led to a split in the Catalan separatist movement. There is even an outside chance the separatists may lose control of the Catalan parliament after next month's regional elections. https://twitter.com/RupertCocke/status/1348568129685901312
Confirms the PP Spanish government did the right thing in 2017 then refusing a legal independence referendum when support for Catalan independence was much higher and ignoring the Catalan nationalist government's declaration of a UDI.
Had they not done that Catalonia would now be an independent state not seeing support for independence fall
The Spanish government - whether PP, PSOE or whatever - has no legal right to allow a referendum on independence for any part of Spain. That is clearly set out in Spain's written constitution.
If the Catalan government's declaration of UDI had not been challenged by Madrid then Catalonia would in effect have become an independent state, the law is meaningless unless it is upheld and enforced.
Westminster must equally enforce the legal principle of our constitution that Westminster is sovereign and when the UK government says 2014 was a once in a generation vote it means it
The Catalan government suspended declaring independence, so it never actually happened. In any case, the Catalan government had no means to enforce it because it had no control over such basic things as the collection of taxes, currency, border control, the legal system etc.
And I know no-one apart from myself who routinely wears a mask outdoors as they do in much of Asia and now elsewhere.
I am convinced this virus spreads outdoors. Undoubtedly less readily than indoors but nevertheless I'm sure it does. Again, as you would expect from an airborne virus which spreads by aerosol as well as droplet.
We are, and there's no other way to put this, f-ing stupid in this country. Nerys claims to be a nurse. What hope is there?
I recall early on an ITU nurse saying that she didn't see how it was possible to 'BE SAFE' when she couldn't 'see' the virus.
I mean, that's the level of f-ing ignorance with which we are dealing.
Still waiting for those superior literary skills to manifest themselves.
Oh are you? Read one of my bestselling books. But it doesn't sound to me like you'd recognise it even if you were hit over the head by Lord of the Rings.
I keep the writing clean and simple on here. Actually I do in my books. Only Mike Smithson of the thread writers knows how to do that. A thread should have one point made succinctly and cleanly.
Less is more. Heck, even The Great Gatsby is only 47,000 words.
Wait, are you citing LOTR as good writing? JFC.
By some measures it is the most popular novel ever written, anywhere on the planet, and also the most loved. It has also been hugely influential on popular AND elite culture. You see its influence everywhere
Why? Because it is an inspired piece of sustained human imagination, probably unexampled, AND it has a superb, mythic, driving narrative
It’s not entirely my cup of tea but I can still recognise it as quite exceptional. Anyone who doesn’t simply reveals their own idiocy. Sorry
I'll bite.
It's unreadable rubbish, mostly read and admired by those with the minds of teenage boys.
I'm amazed how much people are ok with judging and insulting others based on their literature choices.
Yes its all in good fun, but in saying you dislike it is really ok to insult those who do? And no people who dislike such things shouldn't be insulted either, but some people freely admit to dismissing entire genres of fiction, based on very narrow views of it, as a sign of superiority. And it is superiority because it inevitably involves judging, negatively, those who like them, rather than simply criticising the genre or work.
I've always thought that rather strange.
But I bet there is a correlation between liking LOTR and voting for Brexit. By which I mean if you take the population of people who are readers of novels and they voted, say, X% Remain, then the sub-sample of those who like Tolkien would have voted Y% Remain and Y would be less than X. I'd put a grand on that without losing too much sleep.
Your most embarrassing comment ever, and I’m including the one where you ‘tried to stop your son watching Top Gear’
It's not the most weighty contribution I've ever made - grant you that - but I'm pretty confident it's true.
It can be verified here and now. Mentally count the posters who are Tolkien fans and calculate what % of them are Leavers. Bet you any money when you've done that you get a higher % than the standardized PB norm, i.e. the % of all PB posters who read novels who voted Leave.
Given that, as we are constantly reminded, Remainers are generally ‘better educated’, I would actually guess the opposite is true. LOTR is a mighty tome to tackle, only more bookish people would have a go. So probably more Remainers than Leavers
Interesting thread from observers on the ground. The utter lack of federal forces or even basic event security cannot be anything other than deliberate. Which points quite firmly at it being an organised coup attempt.
If there really were 'machinations' to have no security at the Capitol, it surely points more to events there being an orchestration against Trump, not by him.
Where does that conclusion come from ?
"False Flag, False Flag" cometh the cry.
I've avoided calling this as a false flag - I have seen no evidence that it was one. However, since RP *has* brought the view that the lax security was deliberately orchestrated, I think it's fairly simple to ask who actually stood to gain from Trump's barmy army running amuck in the Capitol and who stood to lose.
As a point of order it isn't my theory thats being quoted. There are a lot of reports of officials asking why the National Guard hadn't been deployed and being told authorisation had been refused. Seemingly it took Mike Pence stepping in to remove the logjam.
Trump fires the DoD team and replaces them with lackeys. The DoD then manage to not send security for this rally and actively refuse to step in when asked by (as an example) the Governor of Maryland.
Its hardly a wild conspiracy theory to suggest that Trump - who excitedly paced the White House as the chaos ensued - was directly involved.
The problem with the "Democrats sabotaged security to let the loonies run wild" theory is that it means that the Democrats would have left a provable trail of evidence that they organised an attack on themselves. Using the executive branch, which they don't control......
By getting a number of recent Trump appointees in the DOD to ignorer requests for assistance. Somehow.
The government reckons at least 12 million people in England have already had Covid. A huge number. Many of them will have been asymptomatic, so won’t know, but many WILL know, from obvious symptoms, from catching it in an infested household, or, of course, from a test. And we have done tens of millions of tests.
Let’s say just half those 12 million KNOW they’ve had Covid and survived. That’s 6 million people who are now, very likely, immune. And every day thousands more are added to this crowd of immune people, through recovery or vaccination.
If I were definitely immune, unable to catch the virus and much less likely to hand it on (especially as time passes), I’d be very tempted to resume a more normal life as well. Meet other immune friends. Have a life. Have sex. Are these the people now going out and about?
Could be. And I’m not sure it’s even moral to keep these people locked indoors, going mental, if there is no more risk to them, and, increasingly, they are no risk to others.
This illustrates how a dramatic headline at one end of an uncertain estimate (surrounded with "may..." and "suggests...") can mutate into an accepted fact within 24 hours - and even become a lower bound.
"The government reckons at least 12 million people in England have already had Covid."
There was a study - one of several - which estimated that up to 12 million (20%) may already have had Covid. Other studies put it in the 7-9 million range. (12-15%).
It doesn't detract much from your point, but it does provide a starting point for people to start whiffling on about herd immunity (usually ones who don't realise that it's bad news on that front if true)
Ok then, so if you are asked to name one book that had most imapct on you?
I would offer To Kill a Mockingbird.
I've read it 3 or 4 times and loved it each time but first read it a 13 when it really did make me think. Appreciate it may be a bit to 'woke' or sound like virtue signalling for some of you but there you go, it's the truth.
For me I think
The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell.
A wonderful piece of writing where the same story is told from the perspectives of a number of different people.
In other news, support for Catalan independence continues to fall. The change from a hard-line, confrontational, right-wing government in Madrid to one run by the centre left that has focused on dialogue has led to a split in the Catalan separatist movement. There is even an outside chance the separatists may lose control of the Catalan parliament after next month's regional elections. https://twitter.com/RupertCocke/status/1348568129685901312
Confirms the PP Spanish government did the right thing in 2017 then refusing a legal independence referendum when support for Catalan independence was much higher and ignoring the Catalan nationalist government's declaration of a UDI.
Had they not done that Catalonia would now be an independent state not seeing support for independence fall
The Spanish government - whether PP, PSOE or whatever - has no legal right to allow a referendum on independence for any part of Spain. That is clearly set out in Spain's written constitution.
Catalonia is not Scotland. As the Baronet of Epping Forest refuses to recognise.
Yep - a referendum on Scottish independence is absolutely one that the UK government can grant.
It is also absolutely one the UK government can refuse to grant based on the principle of Westminster sovereignty on which our unwritten constitution is based.
This Tory government will do precisely that and uphold the manifesto promise we won a majority in 2019 on that 2014 was 'a once in a generation referendum.'
Hopefully the SNP will not win a majority in May avoiding the need for a decision from the UK government anyway but even if they do this Tory government will follow the example of our conservative cousins in the PP in Spain in 2017 and ban any legal indyref.
No ifs, no buts, no concessions whatsoever to the Nationalists. Indeed legally and constitutionally Westminster could even abolish Holyrood tomorrow and reimpose direct rule, though politically it may be ill advised to go quite that far
I think you may, just may, have made this point before.
In other news, support for Catalan independence continues to fall. The change from a hard-line, confrontational, right-wing government in Madrid to one run by the centre left that has focused on dialogue has led to a split in the Catalan separatist movement. There is even an outside chance the separatists may lose control of the Catalan parliament after next month's regional elections. https://twitter.com/RupertCocke/status/1348568129685901312
Confirms the PP Spanish government did the right thing in 2017 then refusing a legal independence referendum when support for Catalan independence was much higher and ignoring the Catalan nationalist government's declaration of a UDI.
Had they not done that Catalonia would now be an independent state not seeing support for independence fall
The Spanish government - whether PP, PSOE or whatever - has no legal right to allow a referendum on independence for any part of Spain. That is clearly set out in Spain's written constitution.
If the Catalan government's declaration of UDI had not been challenged by Madrid then Catalonia would in effect have become an independent state, the law is meaningless unless it is upheld and enforced.
Westminster must equally enforce the legal principle of our constitution that Westminster is sovereign and when the UK government says 2014 was a once in a generation vote it means it
But that means that even if 100% of the population of Catalonia wanted independence they would not be allowed to vote for it because it would be illegal for the Spanish Government to allow such a vote and you would consider any vote without Spanish permission to be unlawful and therefore should be repressed.
In which case why bother asking for permission? They should just do it. Unless you think that it is justifiable to hold a whole population captive against their will and they should not be allowed to express their opposition to that?
Catalonia has never even had 1 independence referendum unlike Scotland.
Southam Observer is in effect saying even if 100% of Catalans wanted independence they would not be allowed it legally and constitutionally by Spain.
He is right on that, even if politically it might be difficult to enforce Spanish unity if support for independence got that high
Any criticism of Brexit is an attack on the voters...
I don't think that follows, on multiple levels, but the most obvious one is that an election is a choice about a policy; an election is a choice about which man (or woman, though not here). Policies will almost certainly come into it but to attack Trump for his actions is not to attack his policies.
Ok then, so if you are asked to name one book that had most imapct on you?
I would offer To Kill a Mockingbird.
I've read it 3 or 4 times and loved it each time but first read it a 13 when it really did make me think. Appreciate it may be a bit to 'woke' or sound like virtue signalling for some of you but there you go, it's the truth.
For me, undoubtedly Camus, La Peste.
Atlas Shrugged. It made me want to give up reading for good.
In other news, support for Catalan independence continues to fall. The change from a hard-line, confrontational, right-wing government in Madrid to one run by the centre left that has focused on dialogue has led to a split in the Catalan separatist movement. There is even an outside chance the separatists may lose control of the Catalan parliament after next month's regional elections. https://twitter.com/RupertCocke/status/1348568129685901312
Confirms the PP Spanish government did the right thing in 2017 then refusing a legal independence referendum when support for Catalan independence was much higher and ignoring the Catalan nationalist government's declaration of a UDI.
Had they not done that Catalonia would now be an independent state not seeing support for independence fall
The Spanish government - whether PP, PSOE or whatever - has no legal right to allow a referendum on independence for any part of Spain. That is clearly set out in Spain's written constitution.
If the Catalan government's declaration of UDI had not been challenged by Madrid then Catalonia would in effect have become an independent state, the law is meaningless unless it is upheld and enforced.
Westminster must equally enforce the legal principle of our constitution that Westminster is sovereign and when the UK government says 2014 was a once in a generation vote it means it
But that means that even if 100% of the population of Catalonia wanted independence they would not be allowed to vote for it because it would be illegal for the Spanish Government to allow such a vote and you would consider any vote without Spanish permission to be unlawful and therefore should be repressed.
In which case why bother asking for permission? They should just do it. Unless you think that it is justifiable to hold a whole population captive against their will and they should not be allowed to express their opposition to that?
Unfortunately, that is exactly what he believes. In HYUFD's world, consent to being governed is not the sole gift of the governed. I can't think of a better adjective than "imperialist" to describe the attitude, but with so many literary experts on here I will await advice.
Sadly I think you are absolutely right. (though I am not claiming to be an expert on anything we have discussed here today)
Ok then, so if you are asked to name one book that had most imapct on you?
I would offer To Kill a Mockingbird.
I've read it 3 or 4 times and loved it each time but first read it a 13 when it really did make me think. Appreciate it may be a bit to 'woke' or sound like virtue signalling for some of you but there you go, it's the truth.
For me, undoubtedly Camus, La Peste.
To be avoided like the plague.
LOLs, Peter.
Couldn't resist the joke, Tim, but for the avoidance of doubt I should state that it made a huge impression on me when I first read it as a teenager and I still regard it as one of the greatest books I ever read.
Ok then, so if you are asked to name one book that had most imapct on you?
I would offer To Kill a Mockingbird.
I've read it 3 or 4 times and loved it each time but first read it a 13 when it really did make me think. Appreciate it may be a bit to 'woke' or sound like virtue signalling for some of you but there you go, it's the truth.
For me, undoubtedly Camus, La Peste.
To be avoided like the plague.
LOLs, Peter.
Some of our greatest political leaders have been voracious readers of Camus...
It's very simple to do the thought experiment on how Trumpers were and are so fired up over the election. Take everything you know about the election and imagine Trump actually was the declared winner. It literally would have been stolen from Biden.
Now simply reverse Biden/Trump and the MAGA reality delusion makes perfect sense.
Are the new administration acting as if they won a great victory?
Their primary concern seems to be revenge.
There is little talk about the things that might concern ordinary Americans. Jobs. Economy. etc.
Honestly I don;t expect that to change. Its essentially open season on Trumpists.
The new administration has yet to take office, so I'm not sure how you leap to such a conclusion.
I leap to that conclusion based on the evidence. Look at this website. four or five Trump threads. Thread on what a Biden administration might actually do? Nope.
Similarly Democrat politicians in the US. Delivering liberal solutions to America? Nope. Cutting down Trumpism in all its forms as they see it? Yes.
Personally under the circumstances I think they are amazingly restrained. It is not like he has attempted a violent coup or anything is it, on top of the too long to list antics of the last 4 years.
Off topic and I don't care as I don't get hung up on these things but was just wondering - why do you type ; instead of ' all of the time? I know it is an easy thing to do being next to one another, but it is 100% so doesn't seem to be that?
In other news, support for Catalan independence continues to fall. The change from a hard-line, confrontational, right-wing government in Madrid to one run by the centre left that has focused on dialogue has led to a split in the Catalan separatist movement. There is even an outside chance the separatists may lose control of the Catalan parliament after next month's regional elections. https://twitter.com/RupertCocke/status/1348568129685901312
Confirms the PP Spanish government did the right thing in 2017 then refusing a legal independence referendum when support for Catalan independence was much higher and ignoring the Catalan nationalist government's declaration of a UDI.
Had they not done that Catalonia would now be an independent state not seeing support for independence fall
The Spanish government - whether PP, PSOE or whatever - has no legal right to allow a referendum on independence for any part of Spain. That is clearly set out in Spain's written constitution.
If the Catalan government's declaration of UDI had not been challenged by Madrid then Catalonia would in effect have become an independent state, the law is meaningless unless it is upheld and enforced.
Westminster must equally enforce the legal principle of our constitution that Westminster is sovereign and when the UK government says 2014 was a once in a generation vote it means it
But that means that even if 100% of the population of Catalonia wanted independence they would not be allowed to vote for it because it would be illegal for the Spanish Government to allow such a vote and you would consider any vote without Spanish permission to be unlawful and therefore should be repressed.
In which case why bother asking for permission? They should just do it. Unless you think that it is justifiable to hold a whole population captive against their will and they should not be allowed to express their opposition to that?
There is a process to getting to a referendum for independence, but it is one that involves gaining the explicit consent of the majority of voters in Spain. That's because Catalonia is regarded constitutionally as an integral part of a unitary Spanish state. The UK is very different as it is a union of two kingdoms and so, it could fairly be argued, explicitly requires ongoing consent from all parts of the union to continue. The bar for, say, Yorkshire or Cornwall to leave the Union (or to become independent of England) would be much higher. The same argument might also apply to the Shetlands or to the Borders in Scotland.
In other news, support for Catalan independence continues to fall. The change from a hard-line, confrontational, right-wing government in Madrid to one run by the centre left that has focused on dialogue has led to a split in the Catalan separatist movement. There is even an outside chance the separatists may lose control of the Catalan parliament after next month's regional elections. https://twitter.com/RupertCocke/status/1348568129685901312
Confirms the PP Spanish government did the right thing in 2017 then refusing a legal independence referendum when support for Catalan independence was much higher and ignoring the Catalan nationalist government's declaration of a UDI.
Had they not done that Catalonia would now be an independent state not seeing support for independence fall
The Spanish government - whether PP, PSOE or whatever - has no legal right to allow a referendum on independence for any part of Spain. That is clearly set out in Spain's written constitution.
If the Catalan government's declaration of UDI had not been challenged by Madrid then Catalonia would in effect have become an independent state, the law is meaningless unless it is upheld and enforced.
Westminster must equally enforce the legal principle of our constitution that Westminster is sovereign and when the UK government says 2014 was a once in a generation vote it means it
But that means that even if 100% of the population of Catalonia wanted independence they would not be allowed to vote for it because it would be illegal for the Spanish Government to allow such a vote and you would consider any vote without Spanish permission to be unlawful and therefore should be repressed.
In which case why bother asking for permission? They should just do it. Unless you think that it is justifiable to hold a whole population captive against their will and they should not be allowed to express their opposition to that?
Catalonia has never even had 1 independence referendum unlike Scotland.
Southam Observer is in effect saying even if 100% of Catalans wanted independence they would not be allowed it legally and constitutionally by Spain.
He is right on that, even if politically it might be difficult to enforce Spanish unity if support for independence got that high
Ok then, so if you are asked to name one book that had most imapct on you?
I would offer To Kill a Mockingbird.
I've read it 3 or 4 times and loved it each time but first read it a 13 when it really did make me think. Appreciate it may be a bit to 'woke' or sound like virtue signalling for some of you but there you go, it's the truth.
For me, undoubtedly Camus, La Peste.
A book set in North Africa where none of the characters are North African.
Ok then, so if you are asked to name one book that had most imapct on you?
I would offer To Kill a Mockingbird.
I've read it 3 or 4 times and loved it each time but first read it a 13 when it really did make me think. Appreciate it may be a bit to 'woke' or sound like virtue signalling for some of you but there you go, it's the truth.
For me I think
The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell.
A wonderful piece of writing where the same story is told from the perspectives of a number of different people.
Loved it thirty years ago, and you've reminded me I was thinking of revisiting it.
In other news, support for Catalan independence continues to fall. The change from a hard-line, confrontational, right-wing government in Madrid to one run by the centre left that has focused on dialogue has led to a split in the Catalan separatist movement. There is even an outside chance the separatists may lose control of the Catalan parliament after next month's regional elections. https://twitter.com/RupertCocke/status/1348568129685901312
Confirms the PP Spanish government did the right thing in 2017 then refusing a legal independence referendum when support for Catalan independence was much higher and ignoring the Catalan nationalist government's declaration of a UDI.
Had they not done that Catalonia would now be an independent state not seeing support for independence fall
The Spanish government - whether PP, PSOE or whatever - has no legal right to allow a referendum on independence for any part of Spain. That is clearly set out in Spain's written constitution.
If the Catalan government's declaration of UDI had not been challenged by Madrid then Catalonia would in effect have become an independent state, the law is meaningless unless it is upheld and enforced.
Westminster must equally enforce the legal principle of our constitution that Westminster is sovereign and when the UK government says 2014 was a once in a generation vote it means it
But that means that even if 100% of the population of Catalonia wanted independence they would not be allowed to vote for it because it would be illegal for the Spanish Government to allow such a vote and you would consider any vote without Spanish permission to be unlawful and therefore should be repressed.
In which case why bother asking for permission? They should just do it. Unless you think that it is justifiable to hold a whole population captive against their will and they should not be allowed to express their opposition to that?
Unfortunately, that is exactly what he believes. In HYUFD's world, consent to being governed is not the sole gift of the governed. I can't think of a better adjective than "imperialist" to describe the attitude, but with so many literary experts on here I will await advice.
I once asked him if he thought India* should have been given its independence. He never replied.
Ok then, so if you are asked to name one book that had most imapct on you?
I would offer To Kill a Mockingbird.
I've read it 3 or 4 times and loved it each time but first read it a 13 when it really did make me think. Appreciate it may be a bit to 'woke' or sound like virtue signalling for some of you but there you go, it's the truth.
For me I think
The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell.
A wonderful piece of writing where the same story is told from the perspectives of a number of different people.
Is it really, Richard? Perhaps I'll try it then. I was always put off by the way his brother Gerald used to take the piss out of him.
Ok then, so if you are asked to name one book that had most imapct on you?
I would offer To Kill a Mockingbird.
I've read it 3 or 4 times and loved it each time but first read it a 13 when it really did make me think. Appreciate it may be a bit to 'woke' or sound like virtue signalling for some of you but there you go, it's the truth.
For me, undoubtedly Camus, La Peste.
A book set in North Africa where none of the characters are North African.
Well, I grew up in Cyprus, where the vast majority of my daily interactions were with non-Cypriots. Perhaps that is the connection?
Interesting thread from observers on the ground. The utter lack of federal forces or even basic event security cannot be anything other than deliberate. Which points quite firmly at it being an organised coup attempt.
If there really were 'machinations' to have no security at the Capitol, it surely points more to events there being an orchestration against Trump, not by him.
Where does that conclusion come from ?
"False Flag, False Flag" cometh the cry.
I've avoided calling this as a false flag - I have seen no evidence that it was one. However, since RP *has* brought the view that the lax security was deliberately orchestrated, I think it's fairly simple to ask who actually stood to gain from Trump's barmy army running amuck in the Capitol and who stood to lose.
As a point of order it isn't my theory thats being quoted. There are a lot of reports of officials asking why the National Guard hadn't been deployed and being told authorisation had been refused. Seemingly it took Mike Pence stepping in to remove the logjam.
Trump fires the DoD team and replaces them with lackeys. The DoD then manage to not send security for this rally and actively refuse to step in when asked by (as an example) the Governor of Maryland.
Its hardly a wild conspiracy theory to suggest that Trump - who excitedly paced the White House as the chaos ensued - was directly involved.
The problem with the "Democrats sabotaged security to let the loonies run wild" theory is that it means that the Democrats would have left a provable trail of evidence that they organised an attack on themselves. Using the executive branch, which they don't control......
By getting a number of recent Trump appointees in the DOD to ignorer requests for assistance. Somehow.
Majiid Nawaz has gone a bit weird these days. Very strong on criticising China over the Uighurs but a bit loopy on lockdowns etc.
He has. He's pumping out absolute bat shit. I now discount everything he says regardless of topic. I don't go as far as to assume the opposite is true - as with a Toby Young or a Boris Johnson - but I do just simply not bother to process it. Sad really. He once seemed a important "tough love" voice on Islam and was good on the telly.
In other news, support for Catalan independence continues to fall. The change from a hard-line, confrontational, right-wing government in Madrid to one run by the centre left that has focused on dialogue has led to a split in the Catalan separatist movement. There is even an outside chance the separatists may lose control of the Catalan parliament after next month's regional elections. https://twitter.com/RupertCocke/status/1348568129685901312
Confirms the PP Spanish government did the right thing in 2017 then refusing a legal independence referendum when support for Catalan independence was much higher and ignoring the Catalan nationalist government's declaration of a UDI.
Had they not done that Catalonia would now be an independent state not seeing support for independence fall
The Spanish government - whether PP, PSOE or whatever - has no legal right to allow a referendum on independence for any part of Spain. That is clearly set out in Spain's written constitution.
If the Catalan government's declaration of UDI had not been challenged by Madrid then Catalonia would in effect have become an independent state, the law is meaningless unless it is upheld and enforced.
Westminster must equally enforce the legal principle of our constitution that Westminster is sovereign and when the UK government says 2014 was a once in a generation vote it means it
Where in 2014 did the UK government say it was a once in a generation vote?
In HYUFD's mind. Which counts more than 5 million Scots.
In other news, support for Catalan independence continues to fall. The change from a hard-line, confrontational, right-wing government in Madrid to one run by the centre left that has focused on dialogue has led to a split in the Catalan separatist movement. There is even an outside chance the separatists may lose control of the Catalan parliament after next month's regional elections. https://twitter.com/RupertCocke/status/1348568129685901312
Confirms the PP Spanish government did the right thing in 2017 then refusing a legal independence referendum when support for Catalan independence was much higher and ignoring the Catalan nationalist government's declaration of a UDI.
Had they not done that Catalonia would now be an independent state not seeing support for independence fall
The Spanish government - whether PP, PSOE or whatever - has no legal right to allow a referendum on independence for any part of Spain. That is clearly set out in Spain's written constitution.
Catalonia is not Scotland. As the Baronet of Epping Forest refuses to recognise.
Yep - a referendum on Scottish independence is absolutely one that the UK government can grant.
It is also absolutely one the UK government can refuse to grant based on the principle of Westminster sovereignty on which our unwritten constitution is based.
This Tory government will do precisely that and uphold the manifesto promise we won a majority in 2019 on that 2014 was 'a once in a generation referendum.'
Hopefully the SNP will not win a majority in May avoiding the need for a decision from the UK government anyway but even if they do this Tory government will follow the example of our conservative cousins in the PP in Spain in 2017 and ban any legal indyref.
No ifs, no buts, no concessions whatsoever to the Nationalists. Indeed legally and constitutionally Westminster could even abolish Holyrood tomorrow and reimpose direct rule, though politically it may be ill advised to go quite that far
I think you may, just may, have made this point before.
But Southam has made his wearyingly obvious point several million times as well. It’s why Sindyref debates are so boring, it’s the same talking points every time, from all sides.
To close the argument, here’s the deal.
Sturgeon will win a maj in Holyrood - or enough seats allied with the Greens, to form a government She will ask Boris for Sindyref2 Boris will refuse Sturgeon will go to the courts, a laborious process. It will end in the SCOTUK, who will say Sorry, referendums are reserved for Westminster A huge internal row will then kick off inside the SNP, UDI-ers versus non-mad-people By then it will be 2024 and time for another UK GE
So we can all stop talking about it til 2024. If we want.
Ok then, so if you are asked to name one book that had most imapct on you?
I would offer To Kill a Mockingbird.
I've read it 3 or 4 times and loved it each time but first read it a 13 when it really did make me think. Appreciate it may be a bit to 'woke' or sound like virtue signalling for some of you but there you go, it's the truth.
For me, undoubtedly Camus, La Peste.
A book set in North Africa where none of the characters are North African.
This is going to go through the tories like a dose of salts.
AFAICS, the ScoTories can dump her instantly by reclaiming the place on their list for the South of Scotland which she is occupying. If they don't, that will be very interesting.
I don't think that is correct. Can't she remain an MSP until the end of the parliament (whenever that is)?
Yes, if it was as simple as that the SNP would not have their former finance minister hanging around like a bad smell.
I must be thinking of death or resignation - but you two are probably right. Thanks.
Sturgeon will win a maj in Holyrood - or enough seats allied with the Greens, to form a government She will ask Boris for Sindyref2 Boris will refuse Sturgeon will go to the courts, a laborious process. It will end in the SCOTUK, who will say Sorry, referendums are reserved for Westminster A huge internal row will then kick off inside the SNP, UDI-ers versus non-mad-people By then it will be 2024 and time for another UK GE
No
The Nats need to hold the vote before the realities of Brexit are too terrible to ignore.
They can hold an advisory referendum like Brexit, and BoZo can't stop them
Majiid Nawaz has gone a bit weird these days. Very strong on criticising China over the Uighurs but a bit loopy on lockdowns etc.
He has. He's pumping out absolute bat shit. I now discount everything he says regardless of topic. I don't go as far as to assume the opposite is true - as with a Toby Young or a Boris Johnson - but I do just simply not bother to process it. Sad really. He once seemed a important "tough love" voice on Islam and was good on the telly.
His USP was a moderate voice in a maddening world. Stood as a Lib Dem MP, but somebody people from all across the political spectrum thought was a more of what MPs should be i.e. able to take positions which weren't immediately his own parties.
I remember Lib Dem activists tried to get him removed from the party because he said that cartoons of Mohammad didn't offend him and if they do, don't look at them.
Now, are we sure he hasn't had a bash to the head or something?
There is a process to getting to a referendum for independence, but it is one that involves gaining the explicit consent of the majority of voters in Spain. That's because Catalonia is regarded constitutionally as an integral part of a unitary Spanish state. The UK is very different as it is a union of two kingdoms and so, it could fairly be argued, explicitly requires ongoing consent from all parts of the union to continue. The bar for, say, Yorkshire or Cornwall to leave the Union (or to become independent of England) would be much higher. The same argument might also apply to the Shetlands or to the Borders in Scotland.
You raise an interesting consitutional question that I am really not going to touch save to say there is an argument that the 1707 Acts of Union DID create a unitary state - see section 1/article 1 (depending on which act you are reading) "...United into One [my emphasis] Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain..." There are strong views on both sides and so I'm not touching it with a bargepole.
You are officially allowed to meet one other person outdoors to ‘socialise’. It’s in the rules. But this must not be combined with exercise, like walking or running? So how are you legally allowed to meet them, if you’re not walking together? You’re not allowed to sit down on a bench and chat.
Perhaps the government wants us to meet our friend and for both people to stand utterly and perfectly still, like those human statues in covent garden
And I know no-one apart from myself who routinely wears a mask outdoors as they do in much of Asia and now elsewhere.
I am convinced this virus spreads outdoors. Undoubtedly less readily than indoors but nevertheless I'm sure it does. Again, as you would expect from an airborne virus which spreads by aerosol as well as droplet.
We are, and there's no other way to put this, f-ing stupid in this country. Nerys claims to be a nurse. What hope is there?
I recall early on an ITU nurse saying that she didn't see how it was possible to 'BE SAFE' when she couldn't 'see' the virus.
I mean, that's the level of f-ing ignorance with which we are dealing.
Still waiting for those superior literary skills to manifest themselves.
Oh are you? Read one of my bestselling books. But it doesn't sound to me like you'd recognise it even if you were hit over the head by Lord of the Rings.
I keep the writing clean and simple on here. Actually I do in my books. Only Mike Smithson of the thread writers knows how to do that. A thread should have one point made succinctly and cleanly.
Less is more. Heck, even The Great Gatsby is only 47,000 words.
Wait, are you citing LOTR as good writing? JFC.
By some measures it is the most popular novel ever written, anywhere on the planet, and also the most loved. It has also been hugely influential on popular AND elite culture. You see its influence everywhere
Why? Because it is an inspired piece of sustained human imagination, probably unexampled, AND it has a superb, mythic, driving narrative
It’s not entirely my cup of tea but I can still recognise it as quite exceptional. Anyone who doesn’t simply reveals their own idiocy. Sorry
I'll bite.
It's unreadable rubbish, mostly read and admired by those with the minds of teenage boys.
I'm amazed how much people are ok with judging and insulting others based on their literature choices.
Yes its all in good fun, but in saying you dislike it is really ok to insult those who do? And no people who dislike such things shouldn't be insulted either, but some people freely admit to dismissing entire genres of fiction, based on very narrow views of it, as a sign of superiority. And it is superiority because it inevitably involves judging, negatively, those who like them, rather than simply criticising the genre or work.
I've always thought that rather strange.
But I bet there is a correlation between liking LOTR and voting for Brexit. By which I mean if you take the population of people who are readers of novels and they voted, say, X% Remain, then the sub-sample of those who like Tolkien would have voted Y% Remain and Y would be less than X. I'd put a grand on that without losing too much sleep.
Your most embarrassing comment ever, and I’m including the one where you ‘tried to stop your son watching Top Gear’
It's not the most weighty contribution I've ever made - grant you that - but I'm pretty confident it's true.
It can be verified here and now. Mentally count the posters who are Tolkien fans and calculate what % of them are Leavers. Bet you any money when you've done that you get a higher % than the standardized PB norm, i.e. the % of all PB posters who read novels who voted Leave.
Given that, as we are constantly reminded, Remainers are generally ‘better educated’, I would actually guess the opposite is true. LOTR is a mighty tome to tackle, only more bookish people would have a go. So probably more Remainers than Leavers
On that Lib Dem twitter post from @Cyclefree - the 3m 'excluded' figure is way overblown.
I am technically one of the 'excluded'. As with many who fall into that category, I have received government support to help my employees, rate relief, and a retail grant.
I don't think the government should be making my profits in a good year old, or even my profits in a bad year. Business is about risk.
Long time lurker here. I wanted to make one point on Lockdown compliance similar to Leon's. In my area of North London 50%+ of our peer Group have had covid. It is extraordinarily difficult to instruct such people to continue to follow lockdown rules when they face little risk themselves and pose little risk to others. This issue will only grow.
Among 16-25 year olds, either they have had it, or many of their friends have had it & recovered quickly. Rightly or wrongly, it just doesn't look a big deal to many young people anymore.
So, they not going to listen to Hancock blathering on about "Save Grandpa".
After all, what did Gramps ever do for them? He is a greedy, selfish man who denied the benefits he received to younger people.
And -- if pb.com is any guide -- Gramps is going on a skiing holiday as soon as he is vaccinated (first in the queue as usual).
It is simply not right to expect young people to bear pain & loss of opportunity without any reward. Young people are giving & giving & giving -- and getting nothing back.
Who's economic future is being ruined by our failure to adhere to the rules and stop Covid spreading? I doubt it's Gramps.
Why are students paying tuition fees or rent on University accommodation they cannot use? Who is paying the price of the lockdown in terms of loss of some of the most glorious years of life or loss of opportunity?
The health benefits are accruing mainly to the old, the young are paying the bill.
If the old want the young to lockdown, then they need to pay. That should be made much more explicit in the compact.
The affluent old (especially on pb.com) are living in huge houses, getting enormous Waitrose deliveries, trading their share portfolios, bragging about skiing holidays and ... telling everyone else it is absolutely no problem to lock down harder.
It should be much more explicit that if we are all in this together, and if the young are making sacrifices for the old then there needs to be big pay back for the young.
We are not all in this together and it's hopeless idealism to believe we ever were or ever will be.
Everyone is suffering to varying degrees and in different ways. There is nothing unique about the way the "young" are suffering.
You obviously have a huge chip on your shoulder about people who are comfortably off, particularly if they are old. There have always been disparities in wealth and I expect there always will be.
Much of this kicked off when people returned from skiing trips during the last spring half term. I doubt anymore than a tiny minority of those were in your "Gramps" category.
For those showering contempt on LOTR I can only say, "Fly, you fools".
Yes, its weird that no one ever seems to think of sex, ever, but it is the creation of an entire world, copied many, many times yet never bettered.
For a similar feat of imagination I would give you Dune. Those books, and especially the 4th one, God Emperor, had a major impact on me, curing me of religion.
Dickens I have generally found pretty hard work but I am happy to accept the failings are mine.
War and Peace is a magnificent tome that keeps being ruined by some really bad philosophy of free will and hating on Napoleon that Tolstoy keeps dropping in.
If you edited out those bits it would probably be my favourite book. As it is it is merely in my top 10.
You are officially allowed to meet one other person outdoors to ‘socialise’. It’s in the rules. But this must not be combined with exercise, like walking or running? So how are you legally allowed to meet them, if you’re not walking together? You’re not allowed to sit down on a bench and chat.
Perhaps the government wants us to meet our friend and for both people to stand utterly and perfectly still, like those human statues in covent garden
The problem is if you start to set rules for this interaction, they will then get asked about another similar situation and then another and then another.....
The media can't help themselves. They will make a big song and dance about all of this and the really key and vitally important message from Witty will get lost. Don't f##king meet people you don't need to...end of.
Sturgeon will win a maj in Holyrood - or enough seats allied with the Greens, to form a government She will ask Boris for Sindyref2 Boris will refuse Sturgeon will go to the courts, a laborious process. It will end in the SCOTUK, who will say Sorry, referendums are reserved for Westminster A huge internal row will then kick off inside the SNP, UDI-ers versus non-mad-people By then it will be 2024 and time for another UK GE
No
The Nats need to hold the vote before the realities of Brexit are too terrible to ignore.
They can hold an advisory referendum like Brexit, and BoZo can't stop them
They can if they’re bonkers and want to destroy Nattery for a generation. An illegal or non-sanctioned vote will simply be boycotted by No voters (as happened in Catalonia). It will have no authority, legal, political or moral, and it will then plunge the SNP into civil war, as Scots look on aghast
In other news, support for Catalan independence continues to fall. The change from a hard-line, confrontational, right-wing government in Madrid to one run by the centre left that has focused on dialogue has led to a split in the Catalan separatist movement. There is even an outside chance the separatists may lose control of the Catalan parliament after next month's regional elections. https://twitter.com/RupertCocke/status/1348568129685901312
Confirms the PP Spanish government did the right thing in 2017 then refusing a legal independence referendum when support for Catalan independence was much higher and ignoring the Catalan nationalist government's declaration of a UDI.
Had they not done that Catalonia would now be an independent state not seeing support for independence fall
The Spanish government - whether PP, PSOE or whatever - has no legal right to allow a referendum on independence for any part of Spain. That is clearly set out in Spain's written constitution.
Catalonia is not Scotland. As the Baronet of Epping Forest refuses to recognise.
Yep - a referendum on Scottish independence is absolutely one that the UK government can grant.
It is also absolutely one the UK government can refuse to grant based on the principle of Westminster sovereignty on which our unwritten constitution is based.
This Tory government will do precisely that and uphold the manifesto promise we won a majority in 2019 on that 2014 was 'a once in a generation referendum.'
Hopefully the SNP will not win a majority in May avoiding the need for a decision from the UK government anyway but even if they do this Tory government will follow the example of our conservative cousins in the PP in Spain in 2017 and ban any legal indyref.
No ifs, no buts, no concessions whatsoever to the Nationalists. Indeed legally and constitutionally Westminster could even abolish Holyrood tomorrow and reimpose direct rule, though politically it may be ill advised to go quite that far
I think you may, just may, have made this point before.
But Southam has made his wearyingly obvious point several million times as well. It’s why Sindyref debates are so boring, it’s the same talking points every time, from all sides.
To close the argument, here’s the deal.
Sturgeon will win a maj in Holyrood - or enough seats allied with the Greens, to form a government She will ask Boris for Sindyref2 Boris will refuse Sturgeon will go to the courts, a laborious process. It will end in the SCOTUK, who will say Sorry, referendums are reserved for Westminster A huge internal row will then kick off inside the SNP, UDI-ers versus non-mad-people By then it will be 2024 and time for another UK GE
So we can all stop talking about it til 2024. If we want.
My only point is that Scotland is not Catalonia. I think your scenario is the correct one and that ultimately this puts the SNP in a very difficult position as UDI will not work: the Scottish government does not have the legal right to do it, so the Scottish courts would almost certainly strike it down; and, more important, it does not have the means to enforce UDI because it does not control enough levers of power to do so. What's more, the international community will not accept it because Scotland is split enough for any referendum that precedes UDI to be boycotted by enough people to provide cover and, in any case, Scotland is not a country living under a tyranny. The longer Johnson says no, the more likely a split in the SNP between pragmatists and revolutionaries becomes.
In other news, support for Catalan independence continues to fall. The change from a hard-line, confrontational, right-wing government in Madrid to one run by the centre left that has focused on dialogue has led to a split in the Catalan separatist movement. There is even an outside chance the separatists may lose control of the Catalan parliament after next month's regional elections. https://twitter.com/RupertCocke/status/1348568129685901312
Confirms the PP Spanish government did the right thing in 2017 then refusing a legal independence referendum when support for Catalan independence was much higher and ignoring the Catalan nationalist government's declaration of a UDI.
Had they not done that Catalonia would now be an independent state not seeing support for independence fall
The Spanish government - whether PP, PSOE or whatever - has no legal right to allow a referendum on independence for any part of Spain. That is clearly set out in Spain's written constitution.
If the Catalan government's declaration of UDI had not been challenged by Madrid then Catalonia would in effect have become an independent state, the law is meaningless unless it is upheld and enforced.
Westminster must equally enforce the legal principle of our constitution that Westminster is sovereign and when the UK government says 2014 was a once in a generation vote it means it
But that means that even if 100% of the population of Catalonia wanted independence they would not be allowed to vote for it because it would be illegal for the Spanish Government to allow such a vote and you would consider any vote without Spanish permission to be unlawful and therefore should be repressed.
In which case why bother asking for permission? They should just do it. Unless you think that it is justifiable to hold a whole population captive against their will and they should not be allowed to express their opposition to that?
There is a process to getting to a referendum for independence, but it is one that involves gaining the explicit consent of the majority of voters in Spain. That's because Catalonia is regarded constitutionally as an integral part of a unitary Spanish state. The UK is very different as it is a union of two kingdoms and so, it could fairly be argued, explicitly requires ongoing consent from all parts of the union to continue. The bar for, say, Yorkshire or Cornwall to leave the Union (or to become independent of England) would be much higher. The same argument might also apply to the Shetlands or to the Borders in Scotland.
In 1707 the old Scottish Parliament was abolished and all its members moved to Westminster.
Ever since then it requires the consent of a majority of elected Westminster MPs and Westminster MPs and the UK government alone for Scottish independence to be legal
Majiid Nawaz has gone a bit weird these days. Very strong on criticising China over the Uighurs but a bit loopy on lockdowns etc.
He has. He's pumping out absolute bat shit. I now discount everything he says regardless of topic. I don't go as far as to assume the opposite is true - as with a Toby Young or a Boris Johnson - but I do just simply not bother to process it. Sad really. He once seemed a important "tough love" voice on Islam and was good on the telly.
His USP was a moderate voice in a maddening world. Stood as a Lib Dem MP, but somebody people from all across the political spectrum thought was a more of what MPs should be.
Now, are we sure he hasn't had a bash to the head or something?
"Kicked in the head by a horse" a la the great own of Farage? Maybe so. Or possibly another who has succumbed to the need for clicks and money.
Yes he stood as a LD in my seat a couple of GEs ago. I remember thinking, hmm. impressive bloke, I'd vote for him if I wasn't a donkey-in-a-red-rosette type.
Not that Glenda Jackson was in any way shape or form a donkey.
Long time lurker here. I wanted to make one point on Lockdown compliance similar to Leon's. In my area of North London 50%+ of our peer Group have had covid. It is extraordinarily difficult to instruct such people to continue to follow lockdown rules when they face little risk themselves and pose little risk to others. This issue will only grow.
Among 16-25 year olds, either they have had it, or many of their friends have had it & recovered quickly. Rightly or wrongly, it just doesn't look a big deal to many young people anymore.
So, they not going to listen to Hancock blathering on about "Save Grandpa".
After all, what did Gramps ever do for them? He is a greedy, selfish man who denied the benefits he received to younger people.
And -- if pb.com is any guide -- Gramps is going on a skiing holiday as soon as he is vaccinated (first in the queue as usual).
It is simply not right to expect young people to bear pain & loss of opportunity without any reward. Young people are giving & giving & giving -- and getting nothing back.
Who's economic future is being ruined by our failure to adhere to the rules and stop Covid spreading? I doubt it's Gramps.
Why are students paying tuition fees or rent on University accommodation they cannot use? Who is paying the price of the lockdown in terms of loss of some of the most glorious years of life or loss of opportunity?
The health benefits are accruing mainly to the old, the young are paying the bill.
If the old want the young to lockdown, then they need to pay. That should be made much more explicit in the compact.
The affluent old (especially on pb.com) are living in huge houses, getting enormous Waitrose deliveries, trading their share portfolios, bragging about skiing holidays and ... telling everyone else it is absolutely no problem to lock down harder.
It should be much more explicit that if we are all in this together, and if the young are making sacrifices for the old then there needs to be big pay back for the young.
We are not all in this together and it's hopeless idealism to believe we ever were or ever will be.
Everyone is suffering to varying degrees and in different ways. There is nothing unique about the way the "young" are suffering.
You obviously have a huge chip on your shoulder about people who are comfortably off, particularly if they are old. There have always been disparities in wealth and I expect there always will be.
Much of this kicked off when people returned from skiing trips during the last spring half term. I doubt anymore than a tiny minority of those were in your "Gramps" category.
Have you been skiing in the last decade? I would guess at least a third of UK skiers are over 50, perhaps more.
In other news, support for Catalan independence continues to fall. The change from a hard-line, confrontational, right-wing government in Madrid to one run by the centre left that has focused on dialogue has led to a split in the Catalan separatist movement. There is even an outside chance the separatists may lose control of the Catalan parliament after next month's regional elections. https://twitter.com/RupertCocke/status/1348568129685901312
Confirms the PP Spanish government did the right thing in 2017 then refusing a legal independence referendum when support for Catalan independence was much higher and ignoring the Catalan nationalist government's declaration of a UDI.
Had they not done that Catalonia would now be an independent state not seeing support for independence fall
The Spanish government - whether PP, PSOE or whatever - has no legal right to allow a referendum on independence for any part of Spain. That is clearly set out in Spain's written constitution.
If the Catalan government's declaration of UDI had not been challenged by Madrid then Catalonia would in effect have become an independent state, the law is meaningless unless it is upheld and enforced.
Westminster must equally enforce the legal principle of our constitution that Westminster is sovereign and when the UK government says 2014 was a once in a generation vote it means it
But that means that even if 100% of the population of Catalonia wanted independence they would not be allowed to vote for it because it would be illegal for the Spanish Government to allow such a vote and you would consider any vote without Spanish permission to be unlawful and therefore should be repressed.
In which case why bother asking for permission? They should just do it. Unless you think that it is justifiable to hold a whole population captive against their will and they should not be allowed to express their opposition to that?
That's exactly what he thinks. Hold people hostage with their only means of escaping punitive restrictions to be electing a Tory MP.
Comments
A Tale of Two Cities is an astonishing piece of writing, too. Also Hard Times in its own way.
Whatever his faults, Dickens was a great writer.
He can be very ropy, and the snootiest of literary critics tend to dismiss him.
But - just to take Great Expectations as an expample - Magwitch and Miss Havisham are immortal characters. There is certainly no other writer in English, save Shakespeare, who has created such a range of memorable characters.
Those are the actions of autocrats, not democrats.
He wakes up and it was all a dream...
Off topic and I don't care as I don't get hung up on these things but was just wondering - why do you type ; instead of ' all of the time? I know it is an easy thing to do being next to one another, but it is 100% so doesn't seem to be that?
I would offer To Kill a Mockingbird.
I've read it 3 or 4 times and loved it each time but first read it a 13 when it really did make me think. Appreciate it may be a bit to 'woke' or sound like virtue signalling for some of you but there you go, it's the truth.
What interests most isn't the Rush Limbaugh constituency, though - these were on board for earlier waves of extremism, and haven't been enough in themselves.
The really interesting group are some of the self-imagined, streetwise "cool Trumpists" on the alt right, of the generation of Milo Yannopoulos - many of whom made journeys from left to right. Many of these decided Trump was both less real, in the sense of being a hilarious wind-up joke on pathetic liberals, and more real, in the sense of unashamed, unafraid, unhypocritical.
Hmm. An American aquaintance - PhD in the arts from high end UK university. Hobbies - sailing, restoring rusting vintage 60s minor British sports cars. Comes from a New England family. Thinks what happened on Capitol Hill was the Reichstag Fire....
By the Democrats*
People are weird and not easily categorised.
*Yes. I given up talking to him. It's like corresponding with a mirror universe person. Up is now down....
Westminster must equally enforce the legal principle of our constitution that Westminster is sovereign and when the UK government says 2014 was a once in a generation vote it means it
But in spite of his dislike I started to read Zweig's works and they are just phenomenal. Mostly set in Mitteleurope before WW2 they are incredibly evocative and moving - all the more so when you read of Zweig's own life. He is, for me, one of the foremost writers of the 20th century.
Trump fires the DoD team and replaces them with lackeys. The DoD then manage to not send security for this rally and actively refuse to step in when asked by (as an example) the Governor of Maryland.
Its hardly a wild conspiracy theory to suggest that Trump - who excitedly paced the White House as the chaos ensued - was directly involved.
Essentially if you reduce the amount of space available for radicalisation to occur, you get less of it...
If you don't think it's the duty of any administration, including the incoming one, to defend democracy against those who tried to lynch it last week, you are lost in the wilderness.
You can probably find your way back to sanity and civilisation, but to do so you need to blink the tears from your eyes and see that the way to get what you want is by winning elections. Not by stopping them from reaching their conclusion because you don't like the result.
Chin up, my young hobbit. The beauty of democracy is you get another shot at it in four years' time.
https://twitter.com/kateferguson4/status/1348616717111586818
And yes, Jude the Obscure possibly crosses a line into ‘FFS Thomas, lighten up just once?’ - but I’m still glad I read it.
His late poetry - equally bleak - is also truly fine. One of the few great writers who mastered two forms. Like Shakespeare.
Say there are 10m readers of novels who voted in June 16 and they voted 7m Remain and 3m Leave. 2m of the 10m like Tolkien. These voted 1.5m Remain and 0,5m Leave.
Generates X = 70% and Y = 75%.
https://twitter.com/jbouie/status/1348445014645493761
Any criticism of Brexit is an attack on the voters...
Oh...
https://twitter.com/SophiaSleigh/status/1348617848323796993
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAy3XVn7oIU&t=6s
In which case why bother asking for permission? They should just do it. Unless you think that it is justifiable to hold a whole population captive against their will and they should not be allowed to express their opposition to that?
It can be verified here and now. Mentally count the posters who are Tolkien fans and calculate what % of them are Leavers. Bet you any money when you've done that you get a higher % than the standardized PB norm, i.e. the % of all PB posters who read novels who voted Leave.
This Tory government will do precisely that and uphold the manifesto promise we won a majority in 2019 on that 2014 was 'a once in a generation referendum.'
Hopefully the SNP will not win a majority in May avoiding the need for a decision from the UK government anyway but even if they do this Tory government will follow the example of our conservative cousins in the PP in Spain in 2017 and ban any legal indyref.
No ifs, no buts, no concessions whatsoever to the Nationalists. Indeed legally and constitutionally Westminster could even abolish Holyrood tomorrow and reimpose direct rule, though politically it may be ill advised to go quite that far
https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-2-4-million-have-received-coronavirus-jabs-in-uk-says-boris-johnson-12185070
https://twitter.com/ChrisDYork/status/1348612049211969536?s=19
Bad news 1: Christmas Bubbles look like the mistake that cautious people said they would be.
Bad news 2: Schools and businesses have opened quite a bit.
Bad news 3: A gentle decline won't really cut it from here.
Basically Boris's "I don't want to impose restrictions" was an adolescent whiny gamble that didn't pay off, and we're all going to pay in lives and wealth.
1. My daughter's primary school has emailed to say they had two cases of pox last week alone
2. My (nearly 20 yr old) son reports 4 of his friends are Covid-positive
That we are hunkered down here in Pioneer towers is a source of relief.
If the government had to legislate for every single possible element of what we can and can't do during lockdown, it would make Gordon Brown additions to the tax code look like bedtime reading for under 5s.
By getting a number of recent Trump appointees in the DOD to ignorer requests for assistance. Somehow.
"The government reckons at least 12 million people in England have already had Covid."
There was a study - one of several - which estimated that up to 12 million (20%) may already have had Covid. Other studies put it in the 7-9 million range. (12-15%).
It doesn't detract much from your point, but it does provide a starting point for people to start whiffling on about herd immunity (usually ones who don't realise that it's bad news on that front if true)
The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell.
A wonderful piece of writing where the same story is told from the perspectives of a number of different people.
Southam Observer is in effect saying even if 100% of Catalans wanted independence they would not be allowed it legally and constitutionally by Spain.
He is right on that, even if politically it might be difficult to enforce Spanish unity if support for independence got that high
Time for Consequences
President-elect Joe Biden must look forward—but the rest of us must contend with the past.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/01/biden-must-look-forward-rest-us-must-contend-past/617625/
*In the old, not modern, sense.
To attack Trump is to attack the people that voted for him is the claim.
Like Brexit.
To close the argument, here’s the deal.
Sturgeon will win a maj in Holyrood - or enough seats allied with the Greens, to form a government
She will ask Boris for Sindyref2
Boris will refuse
Sturgeon will go to the courts, a laborious process. It will end in the SCOTUK, who will say Sorry, referendums are reserved for Westminster
A huge internal row will then kick off inside the SNP, UDI-ers versus non-mad-people
By then it will be 2024 and time for another UK GE
So we can all stop talking about it til 2024. If we want.
The Nats need to hold the vote before the realities of Brexit are too terrible to ignore.
They can hold an advisory referendum like Brexit, and BoZo can't stop them
I remember Lib Dem activists tried to get him removed from the party because he said that cartoons of Mohammad didn't offend him and if they do, don't look at them.
Now, are we sure he hasn't had a bash to the head or something?
https://twitter.com/danbloom1/status/1348619475646611456?s=21
You are officially allowed to meet one other person outdoors to ‘socialise’. It’s in the rules. But this must not be combined with exercise, like walking or running? So how are you legally allowed to meet them, if you’re not walking together? You’re not allowed to sit down on a bench and chat.
Perhaps the government wants us to meet our friend and for both people to stand utterly and perfectly still, like those human statues in covent garden
My dad will soon be joining the growing list of covid victims
He is in his 80's - no real quality of life - but this fucking hurts.
I am technically one of the 'excluded'. As with many who fall into that category, I have received government support to help my employees, rate relief, and a retail grant.
I don't think the government should be making my profits in a good year old, or even my profits in a bad year. Business is about risk.
Everyone is suffering to varying degrees and in different ways. There is nothing unique about the way the "young" are suffering.
You obviously have a huge chip on your shoulder about people who are comfortably off, particularly if they are old. There have always been disparities in wealth and I expect there always will be.
Much of this kicked off when people returned from skiing trips during the last spring half term. I doubt anymore than a tiny minority of those were in your "Gramps" category.
Yes, its weird that no one ever seems to think of sex, ever, but it is the creation of an entire world, copied many, many times yet never bettered.
For a similar feat of imagination I would give you Dune. Those books, and especially the 4th one, God Emperor, had a major impact on me, curing me of religion.
Dickens I have generally found pretty hard work but I am happy to accept the failings are mine.
If you edited out those bits it would probably be my favourite book. As it is it is merely in my top 10.
The media can't help themselves. They will make a big song and dance about all of this and the really key and vitally important message from Witty will get lost. Don't f##king meet people you don't need to...end of.
Ever since then it requires the consent of a majority of elected Westminster MPs and Westminster MPs and the UK government alone for Scottish independence to be legal
Yes he stood as a LD in my seat a couple of GEs ago. I remember thinking, hmm. impressive bloke, I'd vote for him if I wasn't a donkey-in-a-red-rosette type.
Not that Glenda Jackson was in any way shape or form a donkey.
https://www.theengineer.co.uk/microfluidic-chip-detects-covid-antibodies-in-seconds/
Now we just need billions of them.