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With 6 weeks to go till the Scottish election support for independence edges upwards – politicalbett
With 6 weeks to go till the Scottish election support for independence edges upwards – politicalbetting.com
With all the polling ahead of the Scottish election on May 6th the two sets of numbers I am following the most are the ones on Scottish independence and Nicola sturgeon’s personal ratings.
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JOHN HUMPHRYS: This has destroyed the faith of an old Remainer like me
BBC news presenters like to pretend that they are impartial – except when it comes to distinguishing between good and evil. They have no choice. That's the test that the great Lord Reith set a century ago and, by and large, it applies today. But it's not easy.
I failed in the eyes of many listeners when I was presenting the Today programme in the long run-up to the EU referendum in 2016. They accused me of being so biased in favour of Brexit that I never gave the Remainers a fair chance to state their case. They were right about me being biased – but wrong about where my bias lay.
I was so determined not to show my true colours that I might just possibly have given Remainers a slightly rougher ride than they deserved when I interviewed them. In the highly charged atmosphere of the most bitterly fought referendum in this nation's history, that was more than enough to condemn me in the eyes of Remainers.
The fact is, I was one of them: A Remainer through and through.
But this week it's hard for an old Remainer like me, waiting to have his second jab, not to muse on his referendum vote back in 2016 and wonder whether he might have voted differently if he'd known then what he knows now.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9399515/Brussels-dramatic-climbdown-officials-offer-work-UK-win-win.html
I think it is too close to call
https://twitter.com/skynews/status/1374675577886674944?s=21
https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1374850619413045255?s=20
Right that the landlord should have the choice, if they want to do that, but the overwhelming majority will not want to do that.
More sense for SAGA style cruise ships in practice. Maybe the odd exceptional pub but they'd be the exception not the norm.
OR do you enjoy "rolling around in the mud and the blood and the beer?"
EDIT: Ooops - wrong forum!
What do you think's going to happen if the Welsh polls are anything close to accurate and Plaid ends up controlling the balance of power again - especially now that Labour has started actively promoting pro-independence candidates?
Yep, we're going to have both the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments demanding votes on secession, loudly and continuously, at the same time. For five interminable years. Joy.
Please take it from me Welsh Independence is not on the agenda anytime soon and not with the help of labour either
As for Scotland, Canada coped with Quebec, and Canada remains united. Hold your nerve, under fire, Sergeant Rook
What a windbag. She must think she's getting paid by the word!
I echo several of her fellow peers, in response to her remarks of Feb 25, 2021 (as quoted in Hansard).
"Too long."
My fearless prediction, is that her elevation to the red benches will come back to bite Boris one fine day . . .
The real risk from the consumer's point of view is that everything gets atomised between fourteen different platforms and everyone but the very wealthy will end up like terrestrial TV viewers without Sky in the mid-noughties - you only get to see one-twentieth of what's going on.
Currently not something I'd be interested in renewing unlike Netflix and Disney, but not played around with it much. Watched a few documentaries.
But of those Amazon we have for Prime anyway so TV is just bonus.
Netflix & Disney combined cost less than the Licence Fee and offer more. Especially now Disney has Star, there's a massive catalogue there.
So Sky&Netflix&Disney costs no more than Sky&Licence Fee did.
... what they could do to TV sports is scary. They utterly dwarf Sky, and Sky was big enough to revolutionise English football
Some figures: Sky TV has a revenue of about $18bn. Amazon has a yearly turnover of at least $380bn. Roughly twenty times bigger. Of course much of that is generated in the USA and stays there, but British sports are tempting enough for amazon to divert major cash. eg Wimbledon.
Globally popular, massive brand, unique opportunity for amazon TV
What if amazon offered Wimbledon $1bn for annual global rights? Could they resist? Its loose change to amazon but transformative for Wimbledon. The BBC's contract runs out in 2024
Six Nations isn't as globally popular as Wimbledon but it is still pretty iconic. Read across for cricket, the Open, F1
However sometimes the heart rules the head, and if Scotland jumps ship, don't be surprised that Wales MIGHT follow.
The central issue I have with the maintenance of the Union is this: nearly half of Scotland voted to jack it in a few years back, and a substantial fraction of them loathe us. Why are we therefore expected to spend enormous amounts of time and enormous sums of money holding it all together. Why not just let them go?
I'm by no means certain that Wales will go the same way, but it has to be counted as a decent chance. If Labour doesn't think there's a lot of mileage to be made out of nationalism then why does it select openly pro-independence candidates?
If the UK disintegrates then we get England back as an irreducible core. We can then have a quiet life. Why shouldn't we?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/24/pubs-should-decide-whether-to-demand-vaccine-passports-pm-says
I can't really see many pubs making social distancing work - round here you could only get about 20 punters in 2 metres apart.
Whether they'd be so loyal to their established broadcast partners everywhere else around the globe, if offered a pay day that enormous, is a different question.
However, I stand by my view that their live football shows are rubbish.
Step 1: be as unreasonable as possible about everything.
Step 2: repeat Step 1.
Considering that Unionists think Indy and Indyref2 are unpopular with Scottish voters, they seem remarkably unenthusiastic about the prospect.
Nationalism is riding a wave, it does not mean it is always victorious. But, all four nations have desires that need addressing. Boris really should call a Grand National Convention to honestly discuss every alternative, to unitary government to outright separatism.
What must not happen is a vote-in-the-dark Sindyref 2 where the SNP get to say Oh indy, without actually offering concrete plans on currency, borders, army, bank, debt, EU membership, etc etc
On the other hand, the Union has to come up with positive reasons why we are all better as a united kingdom, Project Fear 2.0 will not work when the 2nd referendum comes around (which it will, eventually, just not anytime soon)
June or even July? Lock them up at home with Zoom while you go down the pub? The young have already made huge sacrifices and the vulnerable will have been vaccinated by the time indoor pubs open in May.
https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1374855858862047247?s=19
Vaccinated people aren't going to avoid pubs because there are unvaccinated people in them. They're already protected! Unvaccinated people who might have avoided pubs out of fears of catching coronavirus won't be allowed in anyway.
Which only leaves unvaccinated people who aren't bothered. So why would pubs deliberately opt to reduce their customer base? This isn't like smoking where by restricting access to some (smokers) had the potential to make pubs more attractive to others.
And as pointed out, pubs are set to open April onwards. The youngest people won't be vaccinated before the end of July. Is the suggestion that all these people are banned from pubs until then? Or that the potential for banning only happens once the entire country has been given an option for a jab. At which point 90% will be vaccinated (given very low refusenik levels) and we will be way past herd immunity point, and with low general circulation, anyway.
Even the latest BMG poll has Yes still under 50% including undecideds
The internet giants are so huge they change the agreed landscape. Like black holes distorting space-time
However, EU leaders will meet today to decide whether to press ahead with restricting vaccine exports to the UK and ministers remain concerned that Brussels could yet deploy its new powers.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9399515/Brussels-dramatic-climbdown-officials-offer-work-UK-win-win.html
Interesting that since 2018, Quebec has been governed by by Premier François Legault's Coalition Avenir Québec. Note that the CAQ is a traditional "bleu" party that is conservative AND nationalist, but NOT (except as last resort maybe) for independence.
Bleus of Quebec have traditionally aligned with Conservative Party in federal elections and politics. Starting with Macdonald and Cartier, and essential to political victory for Diefenbacker, Mulroney & Harper.
Note that CDQ does NOT run candidates in federal elections.
In contrast, the Bloc Quebec DOES run for federal parliament (that's why it was created), is dominated by the left AND wants full independence; it is federal arm of Party Quebecois, which governed the province, in similar fashion to SNP in Scotland.
Wonder IF at some point in future, a conservative nationalist (but NOT independence) party will emerge in Scotland? My guess is no, but interesting thought.
No real argument on content, although worth pointing out that most of Netflix is garbage, and the situation is getting worse and worse as competition increases with other streaming services. I'm not optimistic about the way it's going. I also still derive a fair bit of value from the BBC news website, which would go if the license fee did.
One thing i find funny (ignoring the tragic aspects for EU populations of what is going on) about the ever more outlandish stories about AZ hidden 'stockpiles' all over the place, is that large numbers of EU/European leaders seem to have lost the ability to add up. Apparently the amount of vaccine piled up within EU borders and destined for the UK is so vast, it's difficult to reconcile with the UK having any domestic vaccine production at all.
And if the UK actually has no domestic vaccine production, then how are we supposed to export it?
Almost, but not quite. Now the streaming market has fragmented, and a lot of excellent drama, sports, news and docus have gone to Disney, Apple, Amazon.
No one single service stands out. This may prolong the life of the licence fee by a few more years, as the BBC still looks reasonably good value in contrast. The BBC should use this final breathing space wisely, to figure out a future, as in the long term the licence fee is doomed
Methinks the way HM's no-brains twit-trust has mishandled the Meghan situation from the get-go, is seriously undermining the Queen's life work.
Trouble is they should have worked out by now that in todays day and age the internet will relentlessly point out your mistakes and lies
One element of which is everybody else except Sarwar to standown in La Sturgeon's constituency.
No, absolutely not to this utterly stupid suggestion.
Daughter completely opposed to this. Neither her nor any of her employees will be vaccinated by then. If you don't need a vaccination to work in a pub you don't need one to drink in it. She cannot afford the staff to go round doing tests, demanding certificates or anything else. And people want to go to pubs to enjoy themselves not be treated as if they're at some out patients clinic.
Lift the restrictions and allow publicans to run their businesses as they see fit. This endless micro-managing by people who have no understanding of this - or any other - business has got to stop.
We were told that once deaths and cases were down restrictions would be lifted. They are down and will be even lower by May let alone by the end of June. So enough with the restrictions.
It feels - and has for some time - felt that somewhere in government they are deliberately targeting pubs so as to make them unviable, regardless of Covid. Look at the nonsense re not allowing them to sell takeaway alcohol, even now, for instance, and the pitiful support given to wet led pubs.
If this sort of nonsense continues Daughter is simply going to close her business. There is no point continuing if the government makes it impossible for her to trade profitably. It's been in the balance for a while. She's been holding on and on and on. But stuff like this being canvassed - let alone introduced - is just another kick in the teeth.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/863893/support-for-the-monarchy-in-britain-by-age/
The leaning tower of BS being repeated to EU populations grows ever more unstable.
Note that in WA State (and no doubt other places) similar priority now for grocery store workers. Who are clearly essentially workers, at least for the 99.46% of us who like to eat semi-regularly.
Bar & restaurant workers may NOT be as essential (though you & daughter may disagree) but IF bars & etc. are going to open on a significant basis, then staff should be protected the best way possible.
And that's with a jab or two.
But what about vaccine resistant variants people cry! Well if there's a vaccine resistant variant, then the vaccinated masses are no lesser danger than others! So what is the purpose?
I really wonder if this policy is being developed in conjunction with scientists. Because i'd love to hear a sensible rationale for it.
And quite honestly, it's embarrassing being in a country run like Scotland is run.
To force these young people back into un-socially distanced pubs to serve 50+ year olds, which they themselves wouldn't be able to patronise themselves without jumping through a considerable number of hoops (remember - a false positive LFT would likely lead to the person losing shifts/jobs) is utterly ridiculous, but a cracking summary of the gerontocracy this country is transitioning towards.
As for Meghan, happen to agree with you re; the 5-mile limit.
BUT fact is, she & Harry got hitched despite the angst of family & ire of flunkies (or visa versa). AND the Palace did NOT deal with this reality at all well. Instead, just about as badly as they could.
Replicating in the process many of the same mistakes they made re: Diana.
Blaming the Duch of Sux over and over and over and over is no doubt emotionally satisfying. But useless as plan or policy.