"Traveller staying in quarantine hotel complains it is 'worst experience of my life'
Anthony Pium, who returned from Brazil yesterday, claimed he is being "held against his will" at the hotel and that his luggage had been lost at the airport.
Anyone returning from a "red list" country has to pay to stay in a mandatory quarantine hotel to prevent potentially concerning new variants entering the UK.
"I'm really upset, I'm really frustrated, and I feel like this is changing my view on how the police and the government help people in this crisis," Mr Pium said.
"They already know coronavirus affects people mentally and I've been away from my family for two months... They're trapping me in my room and, to be honest, it's the worst experience of my life."
He added he has had to stay in the same clothes he wore on the flight and staff had been "forceful" when he attempted to leave the hotel, which he is legally required to stay in. "
Glasgow is bloody lovely. Far better than Edinburgh.
It's fashionable to say that but, really...Edinburgh is an amazing city with a superb setting - the Castle, Salisbury Crags, Arthur's Seat, etc etc. There's really no comparison - and I quite like Glasgow.
"Traveller staying in quarantine hotel complains it is 'worst experience of my life'
Anthony Pium, who returned from Brazil yesterday, claimed he is being "held against his will" at the hotel and that his luggage had been lost at the airport.
Anyone returning from a "red list" country has to pay to stay in a mandatory quarantine hotel to prevent potentially concerning new variants entering the UK.
"I'm really upset, I'm really frustrated, and I feel like this is changing my view on how the police and the government help people in this crisis," Mr Pium said.
"They already know coronavirus affects people mentally and I've been away from my family for two months... They're trapping me in my room and, to be honest, it's the worst experience of my life."
He added he has had to stay in the same clothes he wore on the flight and staff had been "forceful" when he attempted to leave the hotel, which he is legally required to stay in. "
I linked to this story down below....he is a bullshit artist. He claims to run an international travel agency, but if you do a cursory glance it is all horseshit.
A barebones website that was registered in November, where the services provided are just click through to places like Expedia and a social media account with ~10 posts, virtual no followers and totally dodgy / unprofessional posts that are more the style you see offering drugs to punters. And obviously not registered with Companies House or anything like that.
I suspect setup with the sole purpose to allow him to travel unrestricted.
"Traveller staying in quarantine hotel complains it is 'worst experience of my life'
Anthony Pium, who returned from Brazil yesterday, claimed he is being "held against his will" at the hotel and that his luggage had been lost at the airport.
Anyone returning from a "red list" country has to pay to stay in a mandatory quarantine hotel to prevent potentially concerning new variants entering the UK.
"I'm really upset, I'm really frustrated, and I feel like this is changing my view on how the police and the government help people in this crisis," Mr Pium said.
"They already know coronavirus affects people mentally and I've been away from my family for two months... They're trapping me in my room and, to be honest, it's the worst experience of my life."
He added he has had to stay in the same clothes he wore on the flight and staff had been "forceful" when he attempted to leave the hotel, which he is legally required to stay in. "
Unless I'm misreading it, though, it does appear that if you do actually get symptomatic Covid after having had the Pfizer vaccine, it doesn't do much for you.
93.7% Symptomatic, 93.3% Hospitalisation, 92.9% Death
Unless this is an artifact of the measurement date vs the injection date, of course.
I've found Glasgow about as friendly as wartime Berlin if you're audibly English.
Not my experience, and for all I’m Welsh when I speak English I do speak it with an English accent.
But then, I’ve always found Edinburgh very friendly as well.
A friend of mine speaks fluent Welsh and he's very audibly Glaswegian. Quite something to see a Welsh barman when he goes into a pub and orders some Felinfoel.
And another piece of free advice: sack whoever came up with the line "If I were Prime Minister, I would introduce a new British Recovery Bond. It makes him sound like a ten-year old, and leads you to think not only that he never will be Prime Minister, but also that he knows he never will be.
Are you saying his obsession with this Bond is not Moore sensible than his previous strategy?
It's a Connnery in the coal mine. And it's fallen off its perch.
By your standards, that wasn’t exactly an example of Piercing wit.
The voters are going to give Kir "Casino" Royale the gold finger.....
Today's dire speech won't mark the death of his career though.
It will wait to die another day.
But don’t forget, you only live twice.
The man with the golden pun.
I am licensed to thrill.
Ydoethur, No.
Why? I’ve no Quarrel with you. Or are you just trying to make the atmosphere Leiter?
Bonus point to anyone who manages to crowbar Octopussy into a pun..
Other than the observation that Octopussy is, obviously, Pussy Galore... I've got nothing.
I love the way that Ian Fleming only got away with that in the 1950s and 1960s because the censors didn't know what it meant. I mean, it's pretty filthy.
Today, it'd probably be censored for different "Me Too" reasons.
Lol. Ok, the riff about all the actual events cancelled by wokists turned out to be bollocks, let’s move on to all the ones that might have been if hadn’t been for the wokists. No one’s actually proved unicorns don’t exist, right? https://twitter.com/goodwinmj/status/1362354425155776513?s=21
Isn't all this the biggest load of tosh since Eldorado? It reminds me of the one from Littlejohn a few days ago - "How long before BLM tear down statue of Captain Tom?"
I don't think it is.
I see two parts to this - one is associated with student politics, as discussed a little yesterday. However even that has a serious side to it - a few years ago when the NUS had an institutionally racist period (eg refusing to allow Jewish Students to organise as a minority, whilst permitting it for others), it gave implicit encouragement to various kinds of abuse.
Obvs you have the silly stuff - banning the Daily Mail from shops and so, but to pretend it is all silly stuff is itself absurd. That is where I think Alistair got it wholly wrong yesterday.
The other is a culture from the top that seems to me to be a lack of a moral amongst university managements. I'd point for example to relatively uncritical cave-ins to 'anti-colonialist' campaigners - see the initial response to "Rhodes Must Go" for an example.
Also this kind of thing, where York Uni withdrew support for an "international mens' day event" discussing, amongst other things, rates of male suicide - because some feminists (almost all activists not students) had written to a local newspaper. They should have been capable of holding the ring on this, rather than just caving in to whatever the latest lot of campaigners say.
There's stuff in the academic body too, but that is a more difficult one.
I'm happy to rephrase "utter tosh" to "enormously exaggerated problem where the tosh quotient is sky high" but will go no further. Certainly it does not for me justify government focus or the new red tape for unis recently proposed. I think it's absolutely beyond obvious that the motives are nothing to do with free speech and everything to do with keeping the Leave Con voter base riled up post Brexit.
Glasgow is bloody lovely. Far better than Edinburgh.
It's fashionable to say that but, really...Edinburgh is an amazing city with a superb setting - the Castle, Salisbury Crags, Arthur's Seat, etc etc. There's really no comparison - and I quite like Glasgow.
Edinburgh is one of the world's best cities.
Shame the politicians hang around there too.
An acquaintance of mine worked part time at the Oxford Bar, a real life haunt of fictional detective John Rebus
"Traveller staying in quarantine hotel complains it is 'worst experience of my life'
Anthony Pium, who returned from Brazil yesterday, claimed he is being "held against his will" at the hotel and that his luggage had been lost at the airport.
Anyone returning from a "red list" country has to pay to stay in a mandatory quarantine hotel to prevent potentially concerning new variants entering the UK.
"I'm really upset, I'm really frustrated, and I feel like this is changing my view on how the police and the government help people in this crisis," Mr Pium said.
"They already know coronavirus affects people mentally and I've been away from my family for two months... They're trapping me in my room and, to be honest, it's the worst experience of my life."
He added he has had to stay in the same clothes he wore on the flight and staff had been "forceful" when he attempted to leave the hotel, which he is legally required to stay in. "
Yeah, you know what the solution is? Don't unnecessarily leave the country right now. This policy has been trailed for a month.
I think I might like to ask this guy some questions about what he was doing in Brazil. His shady front "company", and even if it was so obviously a front, no travel agent would be physically travelling to Brazil at the moment. Yeah I am just going to COVID hotspot central to check out the quality of hotels, so I can send my clients there in a few months. Bullshit.
It would be rather ironic if all his antics shone a spotlight on what he as been up to and he got himself in more trouble.
Bonus point to anyone who manages to crowbar Octopussy into a pun..
Other than the observation that Octopussy is, obviously, Pussy Galore... I've got nothing.
I love the way that Ian Fleming only got away with that in the 1950s and 1960s because the censors didn't know what it meant. I mean, it's pretty filthy.
Today, it'd probably be censored for different "Me Too" reasons.
Bonus point to anyone who manages to crowbar Octopussy into a pun..
Other than the observation that Octopussy is, obviously, Pussy Galore... I've got nothing.
I love the way that Ian Fleming only got away with that in the 1950s and 1960s because the censors didn't know what it meant. I mean, it's pretty filthy.
Today, it'd probably be censored for different "Me Too" reasons.
Pussy only meant a pussycat at that time AFAIK.
No, the censors *thought* it meant a pussycat.
To give some idea of how unworldly these people could be, Lord Harlech once passed a film which showed a couple naked* together in bed, on the grounds that such things didn’t happen in real life.
I've only been to Glasgow once. In the taxi from the airport the driver said something which I couldn't understand, so strong was the accent, but it sounded alarming, as though he was about to stop the cab and deck me for some reason. He said it again, still sounding extremely aggressive to my ears, but fortunately this time I realised that he was politely asking me whether I'd had a good flight up.
Bonus point to anyone who manages to crowbar Octopussy into a pun..
Other than the observation that Octopussy is, obviously, Pussy Galore... I've got nothing.
I love the way that Ian Fleming only got away with that in the 1950s and 1960s because the censors didn't know what it meant. I mean, it's pretty filthy.
Today, it'd probably be censored for different "Me Too" reasons.
Pussy only meant a pussycat at that time AFAIK.
No, the censors *thought* it meant a pussycat.
To give some idea of how unworldly these people could be, Lord Harlech once passed a film which showed a couple naked* together in bed, on the grounds that such things didn’t happen in real life.
*obviously, not *all* of the couple in question!
Pussy Galore was a lesbian too.
Well, until she succumbed to the manly charms of Bond, natch....
Could the DoE be somehow be made King without HMQ losing primacy?
Re header: Mike, you're working yourself into a positive Boris view!
William and Mary, Henry and Mary and Philip and Mary say no.
Anne and Victoria both say yes.
Elizabeth I is inconclusive.
Mary's seem to be a bit crap.
The Henry and Philip Marys were at a disadvantage because there was no tradition of a ruling queen at the time they took the throne. Even allowing for that, while their husbands were called ‘King’ they clearly called the shots as monarch. That included of course having Henry bumped off as soon as possible.
William and Mary are interesting because of course they came as a package, and were offered the throne jointly as the next heir (Mary) and the next male heir (William).
I'm a big fan of Starmer's retail bond offering idea.
However, there's no chance of me voting for him to implement it, and I'm exactly the sort of person who should not be benefiting from a Labour manifesto. I therefore conclude he's either given up on recovering the voters lost under his immediate predecessors and is pivoting even further towards the middle classes, or he's lost his mind.
Still, at least he tried.
It will be popular with a certain type of thrifty no-nonsense individual, many of whom are floating voters.
Let's say Starmer's recovery bond is for a fixed-term of up to 5 years.
The government can already borrow for a 5-year term with an interest rate of 0.14% pa (using today's pricing) via the gilt market.
So the options are:
1) the interest rate on the recovery bond is higher, in which case the proposal is a subsidy of saving rates for the wealthy/pensioners
2) the interest rate is in line with other government financing, in which case no one will be interested, because the best 5-year fixed rate ISA on moneysavingexpert has an interest rate of over 1%, which is risk-free so long as you have £85k or less with the bank in question.
Bonus point to anyone who manages to crowbar Octopussy into a pun..
Other than the observation that Octopussy is, obviously, Pussy Galore... I've got nothing.
I love the way that Ian Fleming only got away with that in the 1950s and 1960s because the censors didn't know what it meant. I mean, it's pretty filthy.
Today, it'd probably be censored for different "Me Too" reasons.
Pussy only meant a pussycat at that time AFAIK.
No, the censors *thought* it meant a pussycat.
To give some idea of how unworldly these people could be, Lord Harlech once passed a film which showed a couple naked* together in bed, on the grounds that such things didn’t happen in real life.
*obviously, not *all* of the couple in question!
Pussy Galore was a lesbian too.
Well, until she succumbed to the manly charms of Bond, natch....
In many ways, the most controversial part of the book today would be the last page, where it was stated she became a lesbian because she was raped by her uncle as a child.
The EHRC would go up the wall at such a statement now.
Let's say Starmer's recovery bond is for a fixed-term of up to 5 years.
The government can already borrow for a 5-year term with an interest rate of 0.14% pa (using today's pricing) via the gilt market.
So the options are:
1) the interest rate on the recovery bond is higher, in which case the proposal is a subsidy of saving rates for the wealthy/pensioners
2) the interest rate is in line with other government financing, in which case no one will be interested, because the best 5-year fixed rate ISA on moneysavingexpert has an interest rate of over 1%, which is risk-free so long as you have £85k or less with the bank in question.
In any case, it's terrible idea.
Its like it was devised by somebody with no clue what they were talking about.
Bonus point to anyone who manages to crowbar Octopussy into a pun..
Other than the observation that Octopussy is, obviously, Pussy Galore... I've got nothing.
I love the way that Ian Fleming only got away with that in the 1950s and 1960s because the censors didn't know what it meant. I mean, it's pretty filthy.
Today, it'd probably be censored for different "Me Too" reasons.
Pussy only meant a pussycat at that time AFAIK.
No, the censors *thought* it meant a pussycat.
To give some idea of how unworldly these people could be, Lord Harlech once passed a film which showed a couple naked* together in bed, on the grounds that such things didn’t happen in real life.
*obviously, not *all* of the couple in question!
Pussy Galore was a lesbian too.
Well, until she succumbed to the manly charms of Bond, natch....
In many ways, the most controversial part of the book today would be the last page, where it was stated she became a lesbian because she was raped by her uncle as a child.
The EHRC would go up the wall at such a statement now.
The James Bond books are far darker than you would ever guess if you only watched the movies.
Bonus point to anyone who manages to crowbar Octopussy into a pun..
Other than the observation that Octopussy is, obviously, Pussy Galore... I've got nothing.
I love the way that Ian Fleming only got away with that in the 1950s and 1960s because the censors didn't know what it meant. I mean, it's pretty filthy.
Today, it'd probably be censored for different "Me Too" reasons.
Pussy only meant a pussycat at that time AFAIK.
No, the censors *thought* it meant a pussycat.
To give some idea of how unworldly these people could be, Lord Harlech once passed a film which showed a couple naked* together in bed, on the grounds that such things didn’t happen in real life.
*obviously, not *all* of the couple in question!
The contemporary reviews of Fleming's book are hilarious.
The Manchester Guardian complained of the "sinister ... cult of luxury for its own sake"; Paul Johnson that he had "...just finished what is, without doubt, the nastiest book I have ever read"; Noel Coward that "I was also slightly shocked by the lascivious announcement that Honeychile's bottom was like a boy's...really old chap what could you have been thinking of?".
Cockney COVID is a right git. The question is, is it really possible to open up much and keep cases right down, or will it require a significant higher percentage of the population to have been vaccinated?
Plenty of time. But he does need something of his to really catch people's attention and fix an image in peoples' minds. Goodness knows what though.
Starmer is awful, dull and clueless, as his actions in 2019 demonstrated.
He's also a nasty arsehole careerist.
While MPs like Luciana Berger were getting bullied out of the Labour Party he chose to serve in the Shadow Cabinet to further his own career and put forward Corbyn as PM.
Only those who refused to serve under Corbyn should have been considered as possible Labour Party leaders. A Labour led by Yvette Cooper would be a credible threat right now.
Farage voter says that Keir Starmer is "nasty".
Do we have a category prize for this?
I am not and never have been a Farage voter.
Apart from voting for a party led by him.
I voted to leave the EU, have the British contingent of the European Parliament abolished and Farage tossed out as an elected politician as a result, yes.
I'd do it again. No regrets from voting to evict Farage.
I've never eaten chocolate but I once purchased a 99 and with great relish consumed the flake.
Bonus point to anyone who manages to crowbar Octopussy into a pun..
Other than the observation that Octopussy is, obviously, Pussy Galore... I've got nothing.
I love the way that Ian Fleming only got away with that in the 1950s and 1960s because the censors didn't know what it meant. I mean, it's pretty filthy.
Today, it'd probably be censored for different "Me Too" reasons.
Pussy only meant a pussycat at that time AFAIK.
No, the censors *thought* it meant a pussycat.
To give some idea of how unworldly these people could be, Lord Harlech once passed a film which showed a couple naked* together in bed, on the grounds that such things didn’t happen in real life.
*obviously, not *all* of the couple in question!
Pussy Galore was a lesbian too.
Well, until she succumbed to the manly charms of Bond, natch....
In many ways, the most controversial part of the book today would be the last page, where it was stated she became a lesbian because she was raped by her uncle as a child.
The EHRC would go up the wall at such a statement now.
The James Bond books are far darker than you would ever guess if you only watched the movies.
Particularly given how many of the movies are openly played for laughs. Very well played for them, in many cases, but an almost conscious parody of the spy genre. Unlike, say, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.
The only thing that's worse than the idea is the response, in which people who were telling us weeks and months ago that the Tory regime was grinding the working classes into zero-hours poverty are now proposing that people will be sitting round in pubs discussing the rate of return on the bonds and wishing they could invest more. Unless those were supposed to be middle-class couples conversing over the garden fence, of course, in which case it really sums up that the modern Labour party is now almost entirely concerned with what will most effectively let well-to-do people seem like they care. Either way, I cringed so hard I almost snapped my neck.
Plenty of time. But he does need something of his to really catch people's attention and fix an image in peoples' minds. Goodness knows what though.
Starmer is awful, dull and clueless, as his actions in 2019 demonstrated.
He's also a nasty arsehole careerist.
While MPs like Luciana Berger were getting bullied out of the Labour Party he chose to serve in the Shadow Cabinet to further his own career and put forward Corbyn as PM.
Only those who refused to serve under Corbyn should have been considered as possible Labour Party leaders. A Labour led by Yvette Cooper would be a credible threat right now.
Farage voter says that Keir Starmer is "nasty".
Do we have a category prize for this?
I am not and never have been a Farage voter.
Apart from voting for a party led by him.
I voted to leave the EU, have the British contingent of the European Parliament abolished and Farage tossed out as an elected politician as a result, yes.
I'd do it again. No regrets from voting to evict Farage.
I've never eaten chocolate but I once purchased a 99 and with great relish consumed the flake.
What point are you trying to make?
I voted to evict Farage from the European Parliament. If he ever found his way into Westminster and I had a way to evict him from that I'd be quite tempted to take it. Wouldn't you?
Edinburgh people. Come in, you’ll have had your tea. Glasgow folk. Come in, you tea’s on the table. Aberdeen loons. Come in, your tea’s on the table, and it’s all very reasonably priced.
Trying to understand these numbers. If it is 94% effective against symptomatic COVID, and 93% against each of hospitalization, severe hospitalization and death, does that mean that nearly everyone who became symptomatic died?
Let's say Starmer's recovery bond is for a fixed-term of up to 5 years.
The government can already borrow for a 5-year term with an interest rate of 0.14% pa (using today's pricing) via the gilt market.
So the options are:
1) the interest rate on the recovery bond is higher, in which case the proposal is a subsidy of saving rates for the wealthy/pensioners
2) the interest rate is in line with other government financing, in which case no one will be interested, because the best 5-year fixed rate ISA on moneysavingexpert has an interest rate of over 1%, which is risk-free so long as you have £85k or less with the bank in question.
In any case, it's terrible idea.
It's mostly a non-idea. The wisdom of borrowing at at least 1% (clearly) when you can do so more cheaply otherwise isn't good.
It strikes me that this is due to behavioural change. The weather has improved a good deal, people are out and about - there might also be some 'I've been vaccinated', or 'my oldies have been vaccinated' joie de vivre around. I've seen 'I've been vaccinated' badges on sale - which seems excessive given that even the vaccinated have only had one dose in most cases.
But the genie can't be put back in the bottle - it needs to be pedal to the metal vaccinations now - I know this is a statement of the bleeping obvious. We need to ensure that the AZN factories operate 24-7, and the finishing factory in Wales.
Trying to understand these numbers. If it is 94% effective against symptomatic COVID, and 93% against each of hospitalization, severe hospitalization and death, does that mean that nearly everyone who became symptomatic died?
No since not everyone who becomes symptomatic dies originally. It surely means all of those are 93-94% less likely than if unvaccinated.
"Traveller staying in quarantine hotel complains it is 'worst experience of my life'
Anthony Pium, who returned from Brazil yesterday, claimed he is being "held against his will" at the hotel and that his luggage had been lost at the airport.
Anyone returning from a "red list" country has to pay to stay in a mandatory quarantine hotel to prevent potentially concerning new variants entering the UK.
"I'm really upset, I'm really frustrated, and I feel like this is changing my view on how the police and the government help people in this crisis," Mr Pium said.
"They already know coronavirus affects people mentally and I've been away from my family for two months... They're trapping me in my room and, to be honest, it's the worst experience of my life."
He added he has had to stay in the same clothes he wore on the flight and staff had been "forceful" when he attempted to leave the hotel, which he is legally required to stay in. "
It strikes me that this is due to behavioural change. The weather has improved a good deal, people are out and about - there might also be some 'I've been vaccinated', or 'my oldies have been vaccinated' joie de vivre around. I've seen 'I've been vaccinated' badges on sale - which seems excessive given that even the vaccinated have only had one dose in most cases.
But the genie can't be put back in the bottle - it needs to be pedal to the metal vaccinations now - I know this is a statement of the bleeping obvious. We need to ensure that the AZN factories operate 24-7, and the finishing factory in Wales.
Equally the opposite might be true. The weather until Monday or Tuesday was filthy, no one could get outside, and a backlog of tests may have built up.
"Traveller staying in quarantine hotel complains it is 'worst experience of my life'
Anthony Pium, who returned from Brazil yesterday, claimed he is being "held against his will" at the hotel and that his luggage had been lost at the airport.
Anyone returning from a "red list" country has to pay to stay in a mandatory quarantine hotel to prevent potentially concerning new variants entering the UK.
"I'm really upset, I'm really frustrated, and I feel like this is changing my view on how the police and the government help people in this crisis," Mr Pium said.
"They already know coronavirus affects people mentally and I've been away from my family for two months... They're trapping me in my room and, to be honest, it's the worst experience of my life."
He added he has had to stay in the same clothes he wore on the flight and staff had been "forceful" when he attempted to leave the hotel, which he is legally required to stay in. "
Testbed for a Mars colony life support oxygen generation system... https://news.mit.edu/2021/perseverance-rover-moxie-0217 ...Hecht: As human beings, we’re probably using 20 to 30 grams per hour. Six grams per hour is enough to keep a small dog alive and happy. It’s also maybe the amount a modest sized tree would produce. So MOXIE is a little mechanical tree. When we build a full-scale system to support the first trip of people to Mars in 20 years or so, we will have to be producing 2- to 3,000 grams per hour. That’s 200 times more than what we can do now, and the reason we’re not doing that amount now is we don’t have enough room and power for a system anywhere near that big. So, we’re doing what we can with the resources that we’ve got...
Trying to understand these numbers. If it is 94% effective against symptomatic COVID, and 93% against each of hospitalization, severe hospitalization and death, does that mean that nearly everyone who became symptomatic died?
No! It means something like (for illustration, these aren't real numbers), out of 100,000 people who had the jab, and 100,000 who didn't, 10,000 of the non-vaccinated became symptomatically infected compared with 600 of the vaccinated, and 100 died of the non-vaccinated compared with 7 of the vaccinated.
Trying to understand these numbers. If it is 94% effective against symptomatic COVID, and 93% against each of hospitalization, severe hospitalization and death, does that mean that nearly everyone who became symptomatic died?
I read it as meaning that those that got it symptomatically were hospitalised or died in just about the same proportion as they would have done without the vaccine.
"Traveller staying in quarantine hotel complains it is 'worst experience of my life'
Anthony Pium, who returned from Brazil yesterday, claimed he is being "held against his will" at the hotel and that his luggage had been lost at the airport.
Anyone returning from a "red list" country has to pay to stay in a mandatory quarantine hotel to prevent potentially concerning new variants entering the UK.
"I'm really upset, I'm really frustrated, and I feel like this is changing my view on how the police and the government help people in this crisis," Mr Pium said.
"They already know coronavirus affects people mentally and I've been away from my family for two months... They're trapping me in my room and, to be honest, it's the worst experience of my life."
He added he has had to stay in the same clothes he wore on the flight and staff had been "forceful" when he attempted to leave the hotel, which he is legally required to stay in. "
Hold on, Starmer is saying that the government will raise the money and then use it to invest in the private sector? Is he proposing a sovereign wealth fund? Who is going to do the investing, will he have fund managers that get paid £1m+ salaries/bonuses on staff to do it? Is he going to hand the civil service this money and have people with no experience in investing be put in charge of a multi-billion fund?
This raises so many questions.
I think you can be very confident that if this ever were to happen under a Labour government, the investing policy would be such that the quality of the actual investment case would be entirely irrelevant.
The idea of a domestically focussed sovereign wealth fund is hilarious to me. I don't see how anyone could take it seriously. You'd end up with a million and one agendas on how to invest the money and ultimately it ends up as a gigantic tracker fund or just gets wasted propping up failing business models.
One area it might be useful is house building. Council houses are already effectively a form of sovereign wealth fund. Moving the windfall gains from grant of planning permission from the private sector to the public sector makes sense to me.
Citizens Bonds is a great idea for Labour. Economically it's a shift towards collectivism and government intervention. Tick. Politically it will appeal to both the old base (Red Wall) and the new base (me). Double tick.
Keir Starmer has arrived.
Bonds are quite complicated as a retail offering. Coupons and tenor and duration and whatnot.
Not to say there won't be an illustrated guide making the simple argument about investment and interest but you must stop thinking that everyone out there is as sophisticated as you are.
I don't really get the point given that, for now at least, government can borrow both very long and very cheap.
Togetherness. Plus a nod to small savers. "Sick of getting nothing on our little nestegg. You work hard all your life ..."
This is often heard in the Red Wall, I bet.
It's economically incoherent.
If he wishes to subsidise small savers, then say so. But by doing so, he can borrow less overall, not more. It's a fake 'togetherness'.
I don't think it is fake. Not if it's done properly and catches on. It's a collectivist bond equivalent of Thatcher's popular shareholding vision. Having millions across the country investing modestly but meaningfully in a Citizens Bond could generate huge sums and it has - or could have - a very different feel to gilts bought by big professional players or money printed by the BoE.
If people really go for it, it would feed on itself. It could become a regular topic of conversation alongside the usual of house prices, football, the weather and schools.
"How much have you got?" "Did you see the rate on the latest tranche?" "I've heard they'll be funding abc. About time." "Just wish you were allowed more than £X." Etc.
I'm not saying it's bound to work brilliantly, maybe it would flop, but I can definitely see the potential. Raise serious funds. Cut out middlemen. Help small savers. Create a collective sense of can-do and collaboration between government and people.
It is absolutely fake if government can borrow the money cheaper on the open market. And the wider the differential between the rates they are offering and market rates, the more fake.
Sure, subsidise saving if you wish - and make the case for that. But don't pretend that it's a way to sort out the government finances, or an attractive way for government to fund investment, as it isn't.
What Starmer appears to be suggesting is a Potemkin Bond.
It's doing both those things. It's bundled if you will. And the collective feel of it is not imo irrelevant. A policy can be more than just the technicals. A few years ago I took part in a Labour policy submission exercise and this - Citizens Bond - was believe it or not my top idea. So I have to stick up for it now. And I do genuinely think it's potentially exciting. You could, for example, use it as a platform for pension delivery. Government to match fund up to a certain level. The current system is rife with inefficiencies, unfairness, and complexity.
Let's say Starmer's recovery bond is for a fixed-term of up to 5 years.
The government can already borrow for a 5-year term with an interest rate of 0.14% pa (using today's pricing) via the gilt market.
So the options are:
1) the interest rate on the recovery bond is higher, in which case the proposal is a subsidy of saving rates for the wealthy/pensioners
2) the interest rate is in line with other government financing, in which case no one will be interested, because the best 5-year fixed rate ISA on moneysavingexpert has an interest rate of over 1%, which is risk-free so long as you have £85k or less with the bank in question.
In any case, it's terrible idea.
I think you reach too easily for the "rubbish!" button. Haven't seen the details, but I doubt if the bond would have the same cap as ISAs do or, necessarily, a fixed 5-year term. By coincidence the Northern Tory MPs and Centre for Policy Studies have made similar proposals.
That said, it's rather a technocratic sort of idea, which most people will say "Hmm, yes, why not" to without any great interest. It's building on the "solid unscary alternative" line.
Let's say Starmer's recovery bond is for a fixed-term of up to 5 years.
The government can already borrow for a 5-year term with an interest rate of 0.14% pa (using today's pricing) via the gilt market.
So the options are:
1) the interest rate on the recovery bond is higher, in which case the proposal is a subsidy of saving rates for the wealthy/pensioners
2) the interest rate is in line with other government financing, in which case no one will be interested, because the best 5-year fixed rate ISA on moneysavingexpert has an interest rate of over 1%, which is risk-free so long as you have £85k or less with the bank in question.
In any case, it's terrible idea.
I think you reach too easily for the "rubbish!" button. Haven't seen the details, but I doubt if the bond would have the same cap as ISAs do or, necessarily, a fixed 5-year term. By coincidence the Northern Tory MPs and Centre for Policy Studies have made similar proposals.
That said, it's rather a technocratic sort of idea, which most people will say "Hmm, yes, why not" to without any great interest. It's building on the "solid unscary alternative" line.
"solid unscary alternative" = "nah, not for me, mate. I'll stick with Boris...."
Let's say Starmer's recovery bond is for a fixed-term of up to 5 years.
The government can already borrow for a 5-year term with an interest rate of 0.14% pa (using today's pricing) via the gilt market.
So the options are:
1) the interest rate on the recovery bond is higher, in which case the proposal is a subsidy of saving rates for the wealthy/pensioners
2) the interest rate is in line with other government financing, in which case no one will be interested, because the best 5-year fixed rate ISA on moneysavingexpert has an interest rate of over 1%, which is risk-free so long as you have £85k or less with the bank in question.
In any case, it's terrible idea.
It's mostly a non-idea. The wisdom of borrowing at at least 1% (clearly) when you can do so more cheaply otherwise isn't good.
Doddsy needs to go.
It's two individually justifiable ideas (more government investment, and government incentives for small savers), mashed together in a manner which doesn't really make any sense.
Incentives for savers, though, is particularly silly when people are already saving of their own accord. Government paying them to do so in a government scheme is just a bung, which is of negative financial benefit to the government.
And we have individual incentives for saving/investment already, with ISAs.
Pretendynomics.
If Starmer wants to get his hands on our idle cash, then he should just say he'll tax us more. That would be honest, and probably more popular.
"Traveller staying in quarantine hotel complains it is 'worst experience of my life'
Anthony Pium, who returned from Brazil yesterday, claimed he is being "held against his will" at the hotel and that his luggage had been lost at the airport.
Anyone returning from a "red list" country has to pay to stay in a mandatory quarantine hotel to prevent potentially concerning new variants entering the UK.
"I'm really upset, I'm really frustrated, and I feel like this is changing my view on how the police and the government help people in this crisis," Mr Pium said.
"They already know coronavirus affects people mentally and I've been away from my family for two months... They're trapping me in my room and, to be honest, it's the worst experience of my life."
He added he has had to stay in the same clothes he wore on the flight and staff had been "forceful" when he attempted to leave the hotel, which he is legally required to stay in. "
Well, that’s my default assumption for anything Staines publishes. Apart from anything else, it would seem daft and Sturgeon is many things but not daft.
the First Minister has instructed that the European flag is flown from Scottish Government buildings on a daily basis except for specific flag flying dates.
Trying to understand these numbers. If it is 94% effective against symptomatic COVID, and 93% against each of hospitalization, severe hospitalization and death, does that mean that nearly everyone who became symptomatic died?
No. It will be reducing the rates of those events. So if 1 in a hundred died without, it will now be more like 0.05 in a hundred (of 1 in 20,000).
"Traveller staying in quarantine hotel complains it is 'worst experience of my life'
Anthony Pium, who returned from Brazil yesterday, claimed he is being "held against his will" at the hotel and that his luggage had been lost at the airport.
Anyone returning from a "red list" country has to pay to stay in a mandatory quarantine hotel to prevent potentially concerning new variants entering the UK.
"I'm really upset, I'm really frustrated, and I feel like this is changing my view on how the police and the government help people in this crisis," Mr Pium said.
"They already know coronavirus affects people mentally and I've been away from my family for two months... They're trapping me in my room and, to be honest, it's the worst experience of my life."
He added he has had to stay in the same clothes he wore on the flight and staff had been "forceful" when he attempted to leave the hotel, which he is legally required to stay in. "
Testbed for a Mars colony life support oxygen generation system... https://news.mit.edu/2021/perseverance-rover-moxie-0217 ...Hecht: As human beings, we’re probably using 20 to 30 grams per hour. Six grams per hour is enough to keep a small dog alive and happy. It’s also maybe the amount a modest sized tree would produce. So MOXIE is a little mechanical tree. When we build a full-scale system to support the first trip of people to Mars in 20 years or so, we will have to be producing 2- to 3,000 grams per hour. That’s 200 times more than what we can do now, and the reason we’re not doing that amount now is we don’t have enough room and power for a system anywhere near that big. So, we’re doing what we can with the resources that we’ve got...
BBC radio has consistently been touting this as the first since the 1970's. I have no idea why the two more recent rovers are not mentioned? Anyone shed light on this? Or just stoopid reporters again?
Well, that’s my default assumption for anything Staines publishes. Apart from anything else, it would seem daft and Sturgeon is many things but not daft.
Testbed for a Mars colony life support oxygen generation system... https://news.mit.edu/2021/perseverance-rover-moxie-0217 ...Hecht: As human beings, we’re probably using 20 to 30 grams per hour. Six grams per hour is enough to keep a small dog alive and happy. It’s also maybe the amount a modest sized tree would produce. So MOXIE is a little mechanical tree. When we build a full-scale system to support the first trip of people to Mars in 20 years or so, we will have to be producing 2- to 3,000 grams per hour. That’s 200 times more than what we can do now, and the reason we’re not doing that amount now is we don’t have enough room and power for a system anywhere near that big. So, we’re doing what we can with the resources that we’ve got...
Testbed for a Mars colony life support oxygen generation system... https://news.mit.edu/2021/perseverance-rover-moxie-0217 ...Hecht: As human beings, we’re probably using 20 to 30 grams per hour. Six grams per hour is enough to keep a small dog alive and happy. It’s also maybe the amount a modest sized tree would produce. So MOXIE is a little mechanical tree. When we build a full-scale system to support the first trip of people to Mars in 20 years or so, we will have to be producing 2- to 3,000 grams per hour. That’s 200 times more than what we can do now, and the reason we’re not doing that amount now is we don’t have enough room and power for a system anywhere near that big. So, we’re doing what we can with the resources that we’ve got...
Good luck to them with the landing, a genuinely risky business as it’s too far away to change anything if there’s a problem. Third of three current missions, we are learning lots about the place this year.
Well, that’s my default assumption for anything Staines publishes. Apart from anything else, it would seem daft and Sturgeon is many things but not daft.
See if anyone vaguely sane runs with it.
See above.
She is losing her marbles then. Why fly the EU flag when you are not a member of it and likely never will be?
Will be interesting to see if she is overruled on this.
The main argument against it isn't that it is too difficult to count or use. The main argument against it is that you don't know what you have voted for until after all the votes are counted whereas fptp the coalitions which are the current parties actually agree a policy platform before you vote interesting article here https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/14/politicians-keep-manifesto-promises
You are joking, aren't you, Mr Pagan? The Conservative Party never agreed what they all wanted Britain to look like post-Brexit, and they are still not agreed. Some of them support business and international trade, other do not. Some are xenophobic, others are not. Some are highly dictatorial, others are not.
Much better to vote for individual MPs who will fight for their own beliefs. FPTP just leads to a fudge and internal party dictatorship.
Well, that’s my default assumption for anything Staines publishes. Apart from anything else, it would seem daft and Sturgeon is many things but not daft.
See if anyone vaguely sane runs with it.
See above.
She is losing her marbles then. Why fly the EU flag when you are not a member of it and likely never will be?
Will be interesting to see if she is overruled on this.
Hey. What's wrong with flying the Council of Europe flag? We're still a member. 💁♂️
the First Minister has instructed that the European flag is flown from Scottish Government buildings on a daily basis except for specific flag flying dates.
the First Minister has instructed that the European flag is flown from Scottish Government buildings on a daily basis except for specific flag flying dates.
Well, that’s my default assumption for anything Staines publishes. Apart from anything else, it would seem daft and Sturgeon is many things but not daft.
See if anyone vaguely sane runs with it.
See above.
She is losing her marbles then. Why fly the EU flag when you are not a member of it and likely never will be?
Will be interesting to see if she is overruled on this.
On what grounds? I am not aware of any formal UK flag code in the sense of the one they have in the States.
Well, that’s my default assumption for anything Staines publishes. Apart from anything else, it would seem daft and Sturgeon is many things but not daft.
See if anyone vaguely sane runs with it.
See above.
She is losing her marbles then. Why fly the EU flag when you are not a member of it and likely never will be?
Will be interesting to see if she is overruled on this.
Hey. What's wrong with flying the Council of Europe flag? We're still a member. 💁♂️
She’s still a member of the UK as well, which unlike the Council of Europe is a body with significant direct control over the lives of the people of Scotland.
In any case she is clearly not doing it for that reason.
Well, that’s my default assumption for anything Staines publishes. Apart from anything else, it would seem daft and Sturgeon is many things but not daft.
See if anyone vaguely sane runs with it.
See above.
She is losing her marbles then. Why fly the EU flag when you are not a member of it and likely never will be?
Will be interesting to see if she is overruled on this.
On what grounds? I am not aware of any formal UK flag code in the sense of the one they have in the States.
Well, you’re the lawyer, but surely it’s at least arguable that it’s a constitutional matter?
the First Minister has instructed that the European flag is flown from Scottish Government buildings on a daily basis except for specific flag flying dates.
Yep, the text says the Saltire and the EU flag every day except for one on the schedule, and only one day on the schedule has the Union flag.
Not petty at all.
Published in January. When they obviously had nothing better to do.
One notable thing about many in the SNP is their ultra-sensitivity to supposed slights against Scotland (which they conflate with themselves such is their sense of ownership and entitlement) and utter indifference, indeed contempt, for the sense of Britishness that many Scots possess.
1,000 you say? But one more tsunami and that could be down to 8...
I am not sure why this is news now. With the size of Japan's nuclear power industry, they have always had a ready supply of material for reprocessing. That they have not become a nuclear weapons state has only ever been because they chose not to be.
In the world of risks from other humans, risk is a function of opportunity, capability and intent. Absent the intent, there is no risk. Of course, intent can change very quickly, which in this case may be no bad thing, given China's growing and more blatant aggression in the region. I would far rather Japan's territorial integrity was guaranteed by a Japanese deterrent than an American one.
Plenty of time. But he does need something of his to really catch people's attention and fix an image in peoples' minds. Goodness knows what though.
Starmer is awful, dull and clueless, as his actions in 2019 demonstrated.
He's also a nasty arsehole careerist.
While MPs like Luciana Berger were getting bullied out of the Labour Party he chose to serve in the Shadow Cabinet to further his own career and put forward Corbyn as PM.
Only those who refused to serve under Corbyn should have been considered as possible Labour Party leaders. A Labour led by Yvette Cooper would be a credible threat right now.
Farage voter says that Keir Starmer is "nasty".
Do we have a category prize for this?
I am not and never have been a Farage voter.
Apart from voting for a party led by him.
I voted to leave the EU, have the British contingent of the European Parliament abolished and Farage tossed out as an elected politician as a result, yes.
I'd do it again. No regrets from voting to evict Farage.
I've never eaten chocolate but I once purchased a 99 and with great relish consumed the flake.
What point are you trying to make?
I voted to evict Farage from the European Parliament. If he ever found his way into Westminster and I had a way to evict him from that I'd be quite tempted to take it. Wouldn't you?
The point I'm making is that when I see a person who (i) is prepared to vote - even once - for a Farage party and yet (ii) claims to have been so mortified by the xenophobia showed by Theresa May's "Citizens of Nowhere" speech and her "Go Home" vans that they resign from the Tory Party, I smell a rat. Not accusing you of anything terrible. You're an excellent poster in many ways. But I am deeply skeptical of some of what you proclaim as your "principles". It doesn't entirely scan to me. I think you're driven mainly by EngNat.
Well, that’s my default assumption for anything Staines publishes. Apart from anything else, it would seem daft and Sturgeon is many things but not daft.
See if anyone vaguely sane runs with it.
See above.
She is losing her marbles then. Why fly the EU flag when you are not a member of it and likely never will be?
Will be interesting to see if she is overruled on this.
On what grounds? I am not aware of any formal UK flag code in the sense of the one they have in the States.
Well, you’re the lawyer, but surely it’s at least arguable that it’s a constitutional matter?
I think that, more to the point, every U.K. Gvt owned building and every unionist council now knows what to do. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Scottish owns less than it thinks it does, whilst often being a U.K. Gvt tenant.
Plenty of time. But he does need something of his to really catch people's attention and fix an image in peoples' minds. Goodness knows what though.
Starmer is awful, dull and clueless, as his actions in 2019 demonstrated.
He's also a nasty arsehole careerist.
While MPs like Luciana Berger were getting bullied out of the Labour Party he chose to serve in the Shadow Cabinet to further his own career and put forward Corbyn as PM.
Only those who refused to serve under Corbyn should have been considered as possible Labour Party leaders. A Labour led by Yvette Cooper would be a credible threat right now.
Farage voter says that Keir Starmer is "nasty".
Do we have a category prize for this?
I am not and never have been a Farage voter.
Apart from voting for a party led by him.
I voted to leave the EU, have the British contingent of the European Parliament abolished and Farage tossed out as an elected politician as a result, yes.
I'd do it again. No regrets from voting to evict Farage.
I've never eaten chocolate but I once purchased a 99 and with great relish consumed the flake.
What point are you trying to make?
I voted to evict Farage from the European Parliament. If he ever found his way into Westminster and I had a way to evict him from that I'd be quite tempted to take it. Wouldn't you?
The point I'm making is that when I see a person who (i) is prepared to vote - even once - for a Farage party and yet (ii) claims to have been so mortified by the xenophobia showed by Theresa May's "Citizens of Nowhere" speech and her "Go Home" vans that they resign from the Tory Party, I smell a rat. Not accusing you of anything terrible. You're an excellent poster in many ways. But I am deeply skeptical of some of what you proclaim as your "principles". It doesn't entirely scan to me. I think you're driven mainly by EngNat.
Well I am afraid in that case you are being blinded by your own prejudice. There are plenty of people who would vote for a Farage party as a means of getting out of the EU without being in any way xenophobic. As a result they would find May to be utterly beyond the pale.
Unless you are one of those people so bereft of intelligence that they think the only reason anyone could ever oppose the EU is because of xenophobia then there is a perfectly reasonable and logical pattern of voting there.
Comments
Anthony Pium, who returned from Brazil yesterday, claimed he is being "held against his will" at the hotel and that his luggage had been lost at the airport.
Anyone returning from a "red list" country has to pay to stay in a mandatory quarantine hotel to prevent potentially concerning new variants entering the UK.
"I'm really upset, I'm really frustrated, and I feel like this is changing my view on how the police and the government help people in this crisis," Mr Pium said.
"They already know coronavirus affects people mentally and I've been away from my family for two months... They're trapping me in my room and, to be honest, it's the worst experience of my life."
He added he has had to stay in the same clothes he wore on the flight and staff had been "forceful" when he attempted to leave the hotel, which he is legally required to stay in. "
https://news.sky.com/story/uk-covid-news-live-updates-boris-johnson-awaits-latest-covid-data-as-he-plans-lockdown-easing-12220472
Shame the politicians hang around there too.
A barebones website that was registered in November, where the services provided are just click through to places like Expedia and a social media account with ~10 posts, virtual no followers and totally dodgy / unprofessional posts that are more the style you see offering drugs to punters. And obviously not registered with Companies House or anything like that.
I suspect setup with the sole purpose to allow him to travel unrestricted.
Re header: Mike, you're working yourself into a positive Boris view!
Unless I'm misreading it, though, it does appear that if you do actually get symptomatic Covid after having had the Pfizer vaccine, it doesn't do much for you.
93.7% Symptomatic, 93.3% Hospitalisation, 92.9% Death
Unless this is an artifact of the measurement date vs the injection date, of course.
Today, it'd probably be censored for different "Me Too" reasons.
It would be rather ironic if all his antics shone a spotlight on what he as been up to and he got himself in more trouble.
Anne and Victoria both say yes.
Elizabeth I is inconclusive.
To give some idea of how unworldly these people could be, Lord Harlech once passed a film which showed a couple naked* together in bed, on the grounds that such things didn’t happen in real life.
*obviously, not *all* of the couple in question!
Well, until she succumbed to the manly charms of Bond, natch....
William and Mary are interesting because of course they came as a package, and were offered the throne jointly as the next heir (Mary) and the next male heir (William).
551 on the 7 day average.
The government can already borrow for a 5-year term with an interest rate of 0.14% pa (using today's pricing) via the gilt market.
So the options are:
1) the interest rate on the recovery bond is higher, in which case the proposal is a subsidy of saving rates for the wealthy/pensioners
2) the interest rate is in line with other government financing, in which case no one will be interested, because the best 5-year fixed rate ISA on moneysavingexpert has an interest rate of over 1%, which is risk-free so long as you have £85k or less with the bank in question.
In any case, it's terrible idea.
The EHRC would go up the wall at such a statement now.
And he won't wish to be seen in Standard class so he's probably going to continue his holiday.
Either way the damage has been done and partying while Texas freezes is going to be the theme of his next election campaign.
Which means Ted is going to be focussing on the 2024 Republican nomination.
The Manchester Guardian complained of the "sinister ... cult of luxury for its own sake"; Paul Johnson that he had "...just finished what is, without doubt, the nastiest book I have ever read"; Noel Coward that "I was also slightly shocked by the lascivious announcement that Honeychile's bottom was like a boy's...really old chap what could you have been thinking of?".
https://twitter.com/UKGovScotland/status/1362427572072697858?s=20
I voted to evict Farage from the European Parliament. If he ever found his way into Westminster and I had a way to evict him from that I'd be quite tempted to take it. Wouldn't you?
Glasgow folk. Come in, you tea’s on the table.
Aberdeen loons. Come in, your tea’s on the table, and it’s all very reasonably priced.
Doddsy needs to go.
But the genie can't be put back in the bottle - it needs to be pedal to the metal vaccinations now - I know this is a statement of the bleeping obvious. We need to ensure that the AZN factories operate 24-7, and the finishing factory in Wales.
Testbed for a Mars colony life support oxygen generation system...
https://news.mit.edu/2021/perseverance-rover-moxie-0217
...Hecht: As human beings, we’re probably using 20 to 30 grams per hour. Six grams per hour is enough to keep a small dog alive and happy. It’s also maybe the amount a modest sized tree would produce. So MOXIE is a little mechanical tree. When we build a full-scale system to support the first trip of people to Mars in 20 years or so, we will have to be producing 2- to 3,000 grams per hour. That’s 200 times more than what we can do now, and the reason we’re not doing that amount now is we don’t have enough room and power for a system anywhere near that big. So, we’re doing what we can with the resources that we’ve got...
https://twitter.com/ZackBornstein/status/1362151993804943361
https://twitter.com/shashj/status/1362435629896921093?s=20
Would he have preferred to stay in Brazil, or go visit somewhere else for a couple of weeks before returning to the UK?
If everyone stops travelling for a while, this damn thing will stop spreading and we can go back to something approaching normality.
He’s banned from Twitter, not the Net.
That said, it's rather a technocratic sort of idea, which most people will say "Hmm, yes, why not" to without any great interest. It's building on the "solid unscary alternative" line.
Incentives for savers, though, is particularly silly when people are already saving of their own accord. Government paying them to do so in a government scheme is just a bung, which is of negative financial benefit to the government.
And we have individual incentives for saving/investment already, with ISAs.
Pretendynomics.
If Starmer wants to get his hands on our idle cash, then he should just say he'll tax us more. That would be honest, and probably more popular.
Pretty much the internet.
See if anyone vaguely sane runs with it.
https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/advice-and-guidance/2017/01/flag-flying/documents/flag-flying-guidance/flag-flying-guidance/govscot:document/Scottish+Government+flag+flying+guidance+2021.pdf?forceDownload=true#:~:text=Usually the second Sunday of,Remembrance Sunday is 14th November.&text=Please note that due to,guidance will be updated accordingly.
Will be interesting to see if she is overruled on this.
Much better to vote for individual MPs who will fight for their own beliefs. FPTP just leads to a fudge and internal party dictatorship.
Not petty at all.
Published in January. When they obviously had nothing better to do.
In any case she is clearly not doing it for that reason.
In the world of risks from other humans, risk is a function of opportunity, capability and intent. Absent the intent, there is no risk. Of course, intent can change very quickly, which in this case may be no bad thing, given China's growing and more blatant aggression in the region. I would far rather Japan's territorial integrity was guaranteed by a Japanese deterrent than an American one.
flown the Union Flag at Holyrood
Unless you are one of those people so bereft of intelligence that they think the only reason anyone could ever oppose the EU is because of xenophobia then there is a perfectly reasonable and logical pattern of voting there.