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No More to be Said? – politicalbetting.com
No More to be Said? – politicalbetting.com
No-one cares about Northern Ireland. No-one, bar its inhabitants, ever really has. Not the British Government which washed its hands of the province 100 years ago, leaving it to Stormont’s tender care. Not Britain’s political parties, declining to offer their political vision to its voters. Not United Kingdom voters who ignored Brexit’s consequences for its peace settlement. Not the current Prime Minister who signed up to a Protocol he either did not understand or had no intention of keeping. Not the EU either – willing to ignore its delicate political balance in order to pursue its vendetta against a vaccine manufacturer and its main client. The Irish government cares, of course, or says it does – but this is rather in the manner that a person with a persistent stabbing pain will say that he cares about that pain. And a few politicians – here and in the US – care because it makes them look good or because they need votes. But it is largely unloved, the unwanted child left out in the cold stubbornly refusing to die.So it is understandable that there is a weary response to the coroner’s finding in the inquests into the killings of 10 innocent civilians in August 1971 in Ballymurphy by members of the Paras during Operation Demetrius, the government’s attempt to arrest IRA members en masse. The soldiers’ behaviour was wrong. What else can possibly be said?
Comments
If Scexit is felt to be economically challenging for the breakaway nation, Norexit must be practically impossible.
Best chance for NI is a couple of generations who could not countenance a return to the closed sectarian minds, to have it condemned to the past. It will never be like Derbyshire or Kent, but the hope is that history is a guide on what to avoid, not what to emulate.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/travel/news/thousands-brits-could-turned-away-24097897
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01246-x
A common problem we face. It's relatively easy to set up a trial, particularly if you're embedded in a hospital. It's much harder to set up a good trial which involves agreements with other people/institutions and - particularly - data sharing agreements.
120,000 Brits have died these last 12 months, in a plague which was potentially avoidable.
Focusing on such a distant and comparatively tiny tragedy is a kind of decadence. Like focusing on ‘racist’ statues rather than, say, racist gang rape
When Councils have removed statues and buildings all along.
H I N T I N G that the roadmap might be put back.
Remember it's just a HINT.
Like COULD, MIGHT, HINT. Yes a hint. Just a HINT.
Why then did it take a further 11 years for the truth to come out about Ballymurphy?...
They did what governments do with inconvenient truths - keep them hidden for as long as possible in the hope that time will render them unjusticiable.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/13/covid-variant-found-in-india-may-delay-lifting-of-england-restrictions-minister-admits?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Monday 21st June won't happen.
"f we have to do other things, then of course the public would want us to rule nothing out. We have always been clear we would be led by the data. At the moment, I can see nothing that dissuades me from thinking we will be able to go ahead on Monday and indeed on 21 June, everywhere, but there may be things we have to do locally and we will not hesitate to do them if that is the advice we get."
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/symphony-hall-frontage-ripped-off-17197344
How many times can a city tear down and rebuild its centre, until they realise the Germans are right? Just replace everything with an exact facsimile of the city centre in about 1890
Thus, most people who profess to care about it don't really. If they did they'd have highly nuanced, delicate and very complex views that took into account all communities.
All you little puppies obediently took your little experimental vaccines thinking you would be free.
June 21! freedom!
Nope.
You stupid, stupid boobies.
"Covid variant found in India may not delay lifting of England restrictions, minister admits"
Europeans with job interviews are among those being denied entry and locked up. They have spoken of being subjected to the traumatic and humiliating experience of expulsion, despite Home Office rules that explicitly allow non-visa holders to attend interviews.
You're effectively arguing that the pandemic renders all other politics out of bounds, which is just silly.
And what the two events have in common is the desire of governments to push back the assessment of responsibility as long as they possibly can.
It would be a brave decision by Boris not to fully reopen then as it would see about 10%+ of the current Tory vote move en masse to ReformUK and give Starmer a boost without needing to get any new Labour voters
It's good to lockdown with you again.
I would be surprised if restrictions are not lifted as scheduled in June.
(only kidding, @Leon
My first cousin once removed is getting married for the - checks notes - fourth time. And I'm invited.
Unfortunately there is something to worry about. I wish there wasn’t
What we really need is conclusive proof that the vaccines (esp the one we use so much: AZ) are really good against this new form of the Bug, and prevent nearly all serious cases etc. Probably the vaccines are as good, but I haven’t seen definitive evidence, yet
It would be disappointing if he were otherwise.
Aren't we still under lockdown?
Of course, one of the ironies in all of this is that Sinn Fein and the party's voters cannot complain about Brexit and the border down the Irish Sea.
We must be incredibly close to having offered a vaccine to everyone by 21 June surely?
But to deny the real world effectiveness and safety of many millions of doses is just contrarian being silly.
If this is his fourth marriage then he'll understand.
How could a professional architect produce an exterior as hideous as that? Did he put down his pen with a satisfied sigh?
The alchemy that produces horrible buildings is fascinating. I guess a lot of people get invested in a design - until it reaches a stage where no one has the guts to say, Wait, stop, look, it’s repulsive
And for some reason this alchemy is particularly prevalent in Britain, in a way similar to the old Soviet bloc, but dissimilar to the rest of Western Europe. Fascist Arab regimes - theocratic and otherwise - excibit similar dreck
They broke the law, and it has now been established that the killings were unlawful.
I am very happy. Having PARA reg in the TAOR always made our lives more difficult. And reading some of what they were supposed to have done it was unforgivable. It was also a pretty febrile atmosphere and if they weren't fired on then they were before and after. Which doesn't excuse their actions, it just puts them into context.
But all the rest, the institutional cover up the various links between the groupings, blah blah? It was 50 years ago and Britain was involved in an extraordinary period of civil unrest. I agree with whomever it was who said a line should be drawn. Everyone will be dead pretty soon who was involved and no one will be found who said "go and kill those people".
If you want to know the gory details about the period there are about a million books on the subject.
I masked up before it was official policy, avoided eat out to help out when it was pushed due to aerosol transmission, will be guided by my other half (She's not vaxxed yet) on indoor hospitality and not have a mad rush as soon as it is allowed, take Vitamin D when I can remember to boost my immune system (Never recommended) and have pretty regularly flouted lockdown rules with some good friends recently (I'm vaccinated now).
He said that decisions on unlocking will be driven by data on hospitalisations in the run up to the decision.
I hope that everyone would agree that is sensible.
But it’s translated as “May delay” which is true but misleading
People, I think they are called.
Of course, I'd have liked him to say "you know what, I'm sick of all this. No more rules. Do what you want." But based on the positions he's set out and the interests he's trying to balance, I can't object to what he's said. Bear in mind, he's always been keen to stress the 'at the earliest'; he's simply repeating what he's been saying since February.
I'm not concerned by rising positive tests. I am slightly concerned by decline in hospitalisations stopping, though too early to worry too much yet. And if hospitalisations stay at about 100 indefinitely, that is not a level which need concern us. I understand the worry that a pause in decline might be a precursor to a rise, but there is no reason to assume one will follow from the other, particularly given ongoing vaccination.
Anyway, to cheerier matters: architecture: it's always slightly jarring to visit Europe and see cities which were destroyed in the war which have been reconstructed. I'm not saying it shouldn't happen - of, course, it should happen - but it is so far outside of British architectural experience, which would be horrified by such an approach. It's slightly surprising even to realise it can be done.
On a much smaller scale, a house near where I live - a pleasant but unremarkable late Victorian semi - unfortunately fell down after a clumsy builder failed to prop the walls up adequately when doing a knock through. It's been rebuilt, and extended, to exactly the same outward design - but of course using new bricks, fenestration, etc. It looks absolutely brilliant - presumably as good as it did when it was first built. Probably the most handsome house on the street: better than anything built in the last 120 years, but also fresher than anything built before that. It makes you wonder why we can't build all new houses like that. Again, you just get used to the assumption that it can't be done; but of course it can.
For many British cities going back to 1890 - or maybe 1920? - would be a huge improvement
*But hey, for a while Northern Ireland led the world on knee reconstruction surgery.
So don't expect all restrictions to go 21 June.
Also we MAY see the return of local lockdowns. Even though we know they don't work.
The best approach to counter the risk is to keep on with the vaccination programme at full speed and this is what is happening.
If they are allowed, the fault is with the government, and if we are locking them up they deserve every sympathy, whether or not we are allowed to travel elsewhere for the same reason.
I guess if you’re an architect it’s embarrassing to admit you can’t do better than your Victorian or Georgian forebears, but the fact is, generally you can’t, as we have all learned, painfully. So shut up and copy the past
Avoiding that shitty bright red brick the executive home builders love is easy as well. For a penny or 2 a brick.
See below.
“Shame on every government official and care home provider that decided to ignore residents’ human rights and just batten[ed] down the hatches".
www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/19297749.actress-devastated-mothers-death/
One issue is the use of standard elements. One niggle I had with Poundbury is that the C18 buildings didn't look right - I think because of standard modules for the windows etc. But perhaps I should accept that it is really C21 derived from C18 ...
If cases are 20x more prevalent in Bolton than Bath it makes more sense to be vaccinating a 20 year old in Bolton than a 38 year old in Bath.
We're probably already at herd immunity levels nationwide, but crush the virus with surge vaccination past where its still circulating.
CBP due to close at 9:30pm
Closed early “!because they couldn’t process us all in time”. Made us spend the night in Toronto airport.
Still not forgiven them