One of the problems with Cumbria County Council being based in Carlisle and getting involved in schemes like this is that it ignores the large parts of Cumbria which are not close to the Scottish borders eg South Lakeland where I live.
The money and efforts are focused on a very small area and the rest is ignored. Some of the people responsible for waste services in our area, for instance, haven't even visited here. Having a unitary authority for Cumbria is a disaster and I have said as much in response to the recent consultation.
But hopefully the benefits will accrue across all the regions
The other interesting point is once the Scots and English border counties come together for the benefit of the whole region, independence becomes far more problematic for them
The latter may be the case.
But the point is that the benefits won't accrue across the region because the current Cumbria County Council leadership is obsessed with extending links with Scotland and ignoring the rest of the county.
So there is a current project to extend cycling routes down the West coast of Cumbria to South Lakeland and join it up with existing cycle paths. Husband is working on this. This would be beneficial for all sorts of reasons. Does the Council care or help? Bollocks it does. It is only interested in cycling routes into Scotland.
Does the County intend to recreate the Kingdom of Strathclyde, linking up with the SW of Scotland and gain the benefits of forthcoming Scottish independence?
Could be a winner.
Not if the Scottish borders decided to stay with rUK
Which would still see a hung parliament on the UK Survation numbers and PM Starmer propped up by the SNP and LDs, the SDLP, PC, Alliance and Greens despite another Tory majority in England.
The DUP would not support the Tories again unless they removed the Irish Sea border
Err… yes. Thanks. Hate to be a pain, but I repeat my question:
Scottish figures are largely irrelevant to the UK total unless the SCons take the lead as the SNP will prop up Labour anyway, so your Scottish subsample demand is also largely irrelevant.
However the Scottish figures are SNP 39%, Tories 22%, Labour 19%, Greens 5%, LDs 4%
Nope. Now you’re answering a question I did not ask. I know it’s terribly old-fashioned, but could you give a straight answer to a straight question? Please inform us where you got the figures you pumped in to Martin Baxter’s ElectoralCalculus calculator:
For unless the Scottish Conservatives take the lead in Scotland whether the SNP lead or SLab lead it makes no difference, their MPs will both make Starmer PM
Nope, you are still obfuscating. The link you provided does not contain the numbers you yourself pumped into Baxter’s calculator.
Please inform us where you got the figures you entered in to the ElectoralCalculus calculator:
Nope Nats like you have got to realise not all polls revolve around you, I have now given you both the UK and Scottish Survation figures both of which would make Starmer PM with minor parties support, exactly as the 2019 Scottish numbers would.
You are Labour's little helpers at Westminster so obviously we don't give a toss precisely how many little Nationalists there are at Westminster as you will all be making Starmer PM anyway. Unless the SCons make significant gains in Scotland, Scottish figures are therefore irrelevant for UK elections
BritNats like you have got to realise that folk can see through all your huffing and puffing. Behind the bravado you’re shitting it.
Everybody can clearly see how you are allocating figures to the Scottish parties, so it is you that is clearly obsessed with Scottish electoral behaviour.
Fascinatingly, you are predicting the following Unionist losses:
SNP gains from SCon: Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine Dumfries and Galloway (Alister Jack, Secretary of State for Scotland) Moray (Douglas Ross, Leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party)
SNP gains from SLD: Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross Edinburgh West North East Fife Orkney and Shetland (Alistair Carmichael, former Secretary of State for Scotland)
As I also posted the actual Scottish figures show your pathetic party down to just 39% from the 45% you got in 2019.
However it matters not a jot, the little Nationalists would still have the numbers to prop up Starmer with the LDs and other minor parties in a hung parliament.
As long as we Tories are in power we can and will refuse indyref2 and as Union matters are reserved to Westminster under the Scotland Act 1998 there is sod all you can do about it.
If Starmer gets in however and needs your support to get in power and offers you indyref2 and devomax that is his affair not ours
I mean its your affair too as you’ll have to live with the consequence of the breakup of our country but I know your short-termism doesn't look that far ahead.
It would be disappointing of course but if Starmer gave in to the SNP because he needed their support to stay PM in a hung parliament and gave them a legal indyref2 and lost, even after offering Scots devomax then he would immediately lose power.
As soon as Scottish MPs left the Commons after a Scexit vote we Tories would return to power without an election as we would still have a majority in England, Wales and NI alone. We would then shift to an English Nationalist agenda and take as hard a line as possible with the SNP in Scexit talks. We would also dominate English politics for a further generation.
Labour meanwhile having lost Scotland would be utterly screwed. Only 5 times since 1945 have Labour won a majority without Scottish MPs, in 1945, 1966, 1997, 2001 and 2005 and most of those were under Blair
I'm far from sure that such policies would be as enduringly popular as you blithely assume.
If there was an indyref2 and the Scottish Nationalists won then English voters would immediately demand as hard a negotiation line as possible with the SNP and Scottish government in Scexit talks and no concessions whatsoever to the SNP.
Exactly the same as European voters demanded the EU take as hard a line as possible with the Tories and UK government after the Brexit vote.
London would have to take as hard a line as possible with Edinburgh as Brussels took with London in the Brexit talks or be replaced by a government that would.
The voters of southern England will be ecstatic when their new “English Nationalist” (sic) government imposes the concrete silos with 260 nuclear warheads. HS2 will look like a walk in the park.
No no no. We don't need silos darling, our nukes are sea launched. HYUFD will simply fire the missiles at the borders to create a physical border that will keep the dirty Scotch away from blessed Albion.
Do a bit of research into Coulport. Go and visit the area and drive around. Look at the fuzzed out areas on Google Maps. Those are immense concrete silos in them thar hills. Housing most of the nuclear warheads. Only a few are ever out at sea at any one time.
Now, ask yourself, which southern English national park is going to be the new home for those concrete silos?
We will find one with plenty of space, Cumbria likes nuclear power and subs which give them lots of jobs so round Barrow would be a choice.
Of course once the SNP have given up nukes and withdrawn from NATO we in England can then watch as Putin enters an independent Scotland without barely a fight and takes all the oil you are boasting about so much
HYUFD are you really predicting that if Scotland went indy and left NATO Russia would invade? Really?
An English Conservative cheering on the idea of Russia invading & occupying the only country with which England has a land border is pretty much the definition of cutting your nose off to spite your face. Also add on geopolitical nitwittedness of course.
Russia would not invade. Russia would, however, step up its buzzing of Scottish airspace, forcing the Scottish Air Force to spend a small fortune on interceptions, so either Scotland would arrange for the RAF to carry these out, or invite the USAF. Either way, once they've done that, there is no reason leaving the nuclear weapons where they are could not be part of an agreement, which is where we came in. Similarly, the Russian navy might inspect Scotland's coastal defences.
Is non NATO member Ireland much troubled in this way? I'd imagine the continuing presence of Trident in an indy Scotland would exacerbate Russian attention rather than defuse it.
Ireland does not have the oil Scotland has which Putin would be after.
Ireland has taken a risk by not being in NATO certainly but is at less risk than an independent Scotland would be
Cummings is like Harry - wasting assets as time passes and puts distance between them and the positions that once made them famous, their coinage debased by each media outing.
One of the problems with Cumbria County Council being based in Carlisle and getting involved in schemes like this is that it ignores the large parts of Cumbria which are not close to the Scottish borders eg South Lakeland where I live.
The money and efforts are focused on a very small area and the rest is ignored. Some of the people responsible for waste services in our area, for instance, haven't even visited here. Having a unitary authority for Cumbria is a disaster and I have said as much in response to the recent consultation.
But hopefully the benefits will accrue across all the regions
The other interesting point is once the Scots and English border counties come together for the benefit of the whole region, independence becomes far more problematic for them
The latter may be the case.
But the point is that the benefits won't accrue across the region because the current Cumbria County Council leadership is obsessed with extending links with Scotland and ignoring the rest of the county.
So there is a current project to extend cycling routes down the West coast of Cumbria to South Lakeland and join it up with existing cycle paths. Husband is working on this. This would be beneficial for all sorts of reasons. Does the Council care or help? Bollocks it does. It is only interested in cycling routes into Scotland.
Does the County intend to recreate the Kingdom of Strathclyde, linking up with the SW of Scotland and gain the benefits of forthcoming Scottish independence?
Could be a winner.
Not if the Scottish borders decided to stay with rUK
What if Northumberland wants to join Scotland?
It wouldn't most seats in Northumberland are now Tory held, as most seats in the Scottish borders are also Tory held
Chairman of M&S explaining that Brexit means lorries to the EU (or NI) now carry 700 pages of forms for inspection and delays of 24-48 hours at borders mean some perishable goods are being destroyed. The new paperwork is employing a team of 13 people.
Don't know what Archie Norman's point is. Brexit is his party's policy. Deal with it.
And as chaiman of M&S it is up to people in his company to manage the rules as they are and/or lobby for possible change - eg a Swiss style veterinary agreement is available now if the UK government didn't have such an irredentist view of sovereignty. Publicly moaning about regulation being ridiculous isn't useful in either getting rid of them or managing them.
At least M&S has the resources. Smaller businesses are Brexit red-taped out of the market.
The leadership of M&S raise Brexit everytime they have to face investors as they know it'll get the headline rather than their continued poor performance.
Their food offering has declined and risen in price over the last year, first time I can remember a decline in their food quality. Might be a coincidence, Covid or Ocado related but feels significantly Brexit driven to me.
They are actually going to start paying dividends again.
At the higher price and lower quality mix I am not surprised! Will customers remain loyal as standards drop though?
With the driver shortage, supermarket quality is determined more by who has the more resilient logistics than by their product marketing. I was in Waitrose and it was bad. Hardly any fresh produce, what there was very close to the expiry date in a bad state. I picked up a packet of tomatoes that I had to throw out because they were all rotten. Lidl by contrast has been rather better.
Which would still see a hung parliament on the UK Survation numbers and PM Starmer propped up by the SNP and LDs, the SDLP, PC, Alliance and Greens despite another Tory majority in England.
The DUP would not support the Tories again unless they removed the Irish Sea border
Err… yes. Thanks. Hate to be a pain, but I repeat my question:
Scottish figures are largely irrelevant to the UK total unless the SCons take the lead as the SNP will prop up Labour anyway, so your Scottish subsample demand is also largely irrelevant.
However the Scottish figures are SNP 39%, Tories 22%, Labour 19%, Greens 5%, LDs 4%
Nope. Now you’re answering a question I did not ask. I know it’s terribly old-fashioned, but could you give a straight answer to a straight question? Please inform us where you got the figures you pumped in to Martin Baxter’s ElectoralCalculus calculator:
For unless the Scottish Conservatives take the lead in Scotland whether the SNP lead or SLab lead it makes no difference, their MPs will both make Starmer PM
Nope, you are still obfuscating. The link you provided does not contain the numbers you yourself pumped into Baxter’s calculator.
Please inform us where you got the figures you entered in to the ElectoralCalculus calculator:
Nope Nats like you have got to realise not all polls revolve around you, I have now given you both the UK and Scottish Survation figures both of which would make Starmer PM with minor parties support, exactly as the 2019 Scottish numbers would.
You are Labour's little helpers at Westminster so obviously we don't give a toss precisely how many little Nationalists there are at Westminster as you will all be making Starmer PM anyway. Unless the SCons make significant gains in Scotland, Scottish figures are therefore irrelevant for UK elections
BritNats like you have got to realise that folk can see through all your huffing and puffing. Behind the bravado you’re shitting it.
Everybody can clearly see how you are allocating figures to the Scottish parties, so it is you that is clearly obsessed with Scottish electoral behaviour.
Fascinatingly, you are predicting the following Unionist losses:
SNP gains from SCon: Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine Dumfries and Galloway (Alister Jack, Secretary of State for Scotland) Moray (Douglas Ross, Leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party)
SNP gains from SLD: Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross Edinburgh West North East Fife Orkney and Shetland (Alistair Carmichael, former Secretary of State for Scotland)
As I also posted the actual Scottish figures show your pathetic party down to just 39% from the 45% you got in 2019.
However it matters not a jot, the little Nationalists would still have the numbers to prop up Starmer with the LDs and other minor parties in a hung parliament.
As long as we Tories are in power we can and will refuse indyref2 and as Union matters are reserved to Westminster under the Scotland Act 1998 there is sod all you can do about it.
If Starmer gets in however and needs your support to get in power and offers you indyref2 and devomax that is his affair not ours
I mean its your affair too as you’ll have to live with the consequence of the breakup of our country but I know your short-termism doesn't look that far ahead.
It would be disappointing of course but if Starmer gave in to the SNP because he needed their support to stay PM in a hung parliament and gave them a legal indyref2 and lost, even after offering Scots devomax then he would immediately lose power.
As soon as Scottish MPs left the Commons after a Scexit vote we Tories would return to power without an election as we would still have a majority in England, Wales and NI alone. We would then shift to an English Nationalist agenda and take as hard a line as possible with the SNP in Scexit talks. We would also dominate English politics for a further generation.
Labour meanwhile having lost Scotland would be utterly screwed. Only 5 times since 1945 have Labour won a majority without Scottish MPs, in 1945, 1966, 1997, 2001 and 2005 and most of those were under Blair
I'm far from sure that such policies would be as enduringly popular as you blithely assume.
If there was an indyref2 and the Scottish Nationalists won then English voters would immediately demand as hard a negotiation line as possible with the SNP and Scottish government in Scexit talks and no concessions whatsoever to the SNP.
Exactly the same as European voters demanded the EU take as hard a line as possible with the Tories and UK government after the Brexit vote.
London would have to take as hard a line as possible with Edinburgh as Brussels took with London in the Brexit talks or be replaced by a government that would.
The voters of southern England will be ecstatic when their new “English Nationalist” (sic) government imposes the concrete silos with 260 nuclear warheads. HS2 will look like a walk in the park.
No no no. We don't need silos darling, our nukes are sea launched. HYUFD will simply fire the missiles at the borders to create a physical border that will keep the dirty Scotch away from blessed Albion.
Do a bit of research into Coulport. Go and visit the area and drive around. Look at the fuzzed out areas on Google Maps. Those are immense concrete silos in them thar hills. Housing most of the nuclear warheads. Only a few are ever out at sea at any one time.
Now, ask yourself, which southern English national park is going to be the new home for those concrete silos?
We will find one with plenty of space, Cumbria likes nuclear power and subs which give them lots of jobs so round Barrow would be a choice.
Of course once the SNP have given up nukes and withdrawn from NATO we in England can then watch as Putin enters an independent Scotland without barely a fight and takes all the oil you are boasting about so much
HYUFD are you really predicting that if Scotland went indy and left NATO Russia would invade? Really?
An English Conservative cheering on the idea of Russia invading & occupying the only country with which England has a land border is pretty much the definition of cutting your nose off to spite your face. Also add on geopolitical nitwittedness of course.
You are forgetting England and Wales and NI would still have nuclear weapons and still be in NATO, so safe from Russian invasion in a way a Scotland without nuclear weapons and out of NATO would not be
NI would have re-united with the rest of the island by then, surely. And the way things are going, nuclear weapons in Wales would give rise to strong local objections.
The Catholic and Nationalist dominated border bits maybe the DUP dominated and Leave voting Antrim and East Londonderry and much of Down would prefer to stay with England and Wales.
Even Welsh Labour, the largest party in Wales, does not support giving up the nuclear deterrent and leaving NATO as many in the SNP do
I've always had the impression that while the DUP does have many young members, they are a declining proportion of the party membership, and, further, that younger people in N. Ireland are becoming less obsessed with ancient tribal loyalties. It would interesting to see the sort of chart we saw here a day or so ago, showing the breakdown of party support by age.
Which would still see a hung parliament on the UK Survation numbers and PM Starmer propped up by the SNP and LDs, the SDLP, PC, Alliance and Greens despite another Tory majority in England.
The DUP would not support the Tories again unless they removed the Irish Sea border
Err… yes. Thanks. Hate to be a pain, but I repeat my question:
Scottish figures are largely irrelevant to the UK total unless the SCons take the lead as the SNP will prop up Labour anyway, so your Scottish subsample demand is also largely irrelevant.
However the Scottish figures are SNP 39%, Tories 22%, Labour 19%, Greens 5%, LDs 4%
Nope. Now you’re answering a question I did not ask. I know it’s terribly old-fashioned, but could you give a straight answer to a straight question? Please inform us where you got the figures you pumped in to Martin Baxter’s ElectoralCalculus calculator:
For unless the Scottish Conservatives take the lead in Scotland whether the SNP lead or SLab lead it makes no difference, their MPs will both make Starmer PM
Nope, you are still obfuscating. The link you provided does not contain the numbers you yourself pumped into Baxter’s calculator.
Please inform us where you got the figures you entered in to the ElectoralCalculus calculator:
Nope Nats like you have got to realise not all polls revolve around you, I have now given you both the UK and Scottish Survation figures both of which would make Starmer PM with minor parties support, exactly as the 2019 Scottish numbers would.
You are Labour's little helpers at Westminster so obviously we don't give a toss precisely how many little Nationalists there are at Westminster as you will all be making Starmer PM anyway. Unless the SCons make significant gains in Scotland, Scottish figures are therefore irrelevant for UK elections
BritNats like you have got to realise that folk can see through all your huffing and puffing. Behind the bravado you’re shitting it.
Everybody can clearly see how you are allocating figures to the Scottish parties, so it is you that is clearly obsessed with Scottish electoral behaviour.
Fascinatingly, you are predicting the following Unionist losses:
SNP gains from SCon: Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine Dumfries and Galloway (Alister Jack, Secretary of State for Scotland) Moray (Douglas Ross, Leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party)
SNP gains from SLD: Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross Edinburgh West North East Fife Orkney and Shetland (Alistair Carmichael, former Secretary of State for Scotland)
As I also posted the actual Scottish figures show your pathetic party down to just 39% from the 45% you got in 2019.
However it matters not a jot, the little Nationalists would still have the numbers to prop up Starmer with the LDs and other minor parties in a hung parliament.
As long as we Tories are in power we can and will refuse indyref2 and as Union matters are reserved to Westminster under the Scotland Act 1998 there is sod all you can do about it.
If Starmer gets in however and needs your support to get in power and offers you indyref2 and devomax that is his affair not ours
I mean its your affair too as you’ll have to live with the consequence of the breakup of our country but I know your short-termism doesn't look that far ahead.
It would be disappointing of course but if Starmer gave in to the SNP because he needed their support to stay PM in a hung parliament and gave them a legal indyref2 and lost, even after offering Scots devomax then he would immediately lose power.
As soon as Scottish MPs left the Commons after a Scexit vote we Tories would return to power without an election as we would still have a majority in England, Wales and NI alone. We would then shift to an English Nationalist agenda and take as hard a line as possible with the SNP in Scexit talks. We would also dominate English politics for a further generation.
Labour meanwhile having lost Scotland would be utterly screwed. Only 5 times since 1945 have Labour won a majority without Scottish MPs, in 1945, 1966, 1997, 2001 and 2005 and most of those were under Blair
I'm far from sure that such policies would be as enduringly popular as you blithely assume.
If there was an indyref2 and the Scottish Nationalists won then English voters would immediately demand as hard a negotiation line as possible with the SNP and Scottish government in Scexit talks and no concessions whatsoever to the SNP.
Exactly the same as European voters demanded the EU take as hard a line as possible with the Tories and UK government after the Brexit vote.
London would have to take as hard a line as possible with Edinburgh as Brussels took with London in the Brexit talks or be replaced by a government that would.
The voters of southern England will be ecstatic when their new “English Nationalist” (sic) government imposes the concrete silos with 260 nuclear warheads. HS2 will look like a walk in the park.
No no no. We don't need silos darling, our nukes are sea launched. HYUFD will simply fire the missiles at the borders to create a physical border that will keep the dirty Scotch away from blessed Albion.
Do a bit of research into Coulport. Go and visit the area and drive around. Look at the fuzzed out areas on Google Maps. Those are immense concrete silos in them thar hills. Housing most of the nuclear warheads. Only a few are ever out at sea at any one time.
Now, ask yourself, which southern English national park is going to be the new home for those concrete silos?
Put them in Buckinghamshire. They've already dug up the hills for HS2 and they can't piss off the locals more than they have already.
And given what used to be sat around that area - it wouldn't move the area any higher up the list of priority nuclear bomb targets (NATO strike command was there for years but I can't remember if it still is).
Strike Command is still here (or at least I haven’t heard of it being moved).
Which would still see a hung parliament on the UK Survation numbers and PM Starmer propped up by the SNP and LDs, the SDLP, PC, Alliance and Greens despite another Tory majority in England.
The DUP would not support the Tories again unless they removed the Irish Sea border
Err… yes. Thanks. Hate to be a pain, but I repeat my question:
Scottish figures are largely irrelevant to the UK total unless the SCons take the lead as the SNP will prop up Labour anyway, so your Scottish subsample demand is also largely irrelevant.
However the Scottish figures are SNP 39%, Tories 22%, Labour 19%, Greens 5%, LDs 4%
Nope. Now you’re answering a question I did not ask. I know it’s terribly old-fashioned, but could you give a straight answer to a straight question? Please inform us where you got the figures you pumped in to Martin Baxter’s ElectoralCalculus calculator:
For unless the Scottish Conservatives take the lead in Scotland whether the SNP lead or SLab lead it makes no difference, their MPs will both make Starmer PM
Nope, you are still obfuscating. The link you provided does not contain the numbers you yourself pumped into Baxter’s calculator.
Please inform us where you got the figures you entered in to the ElectoralCalculus calculator:
Nope Nats like you have got to realise not all polls revolve around you, I have now given you both the UK and Scottish Survation figures both of which would make Starmer PM with minor parties support, exactly as the 2019 Scottish numbers would.
You are Labour's little helpers at Westminster so obviously we don't give a toss precisely how many little Nationalists there are at Westminster as you will all be making Starmer PM anyway. Unless the SCons make significant gains in Scotland, Scottish figures are therefore irrelevant for UK elections
BritNats like you have got to realise that folk can see through all your huffing and puffing. Behind the bravado you’re shitting it.
Everybody can clearly see how you are allocating figures to the Scottish parties, so it is you that is clearly obsessed with Scottish electoral behaviour.
Fascinatingly, you are predicting the following Unionist losses:
SNP gains from SCon: Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine Dumfries and Galloway (Alister Jack, Secretary of State for Scotland) Moray (Douglas Ross, Leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party)
SNP gains from SLD: Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross Edinburgh West North East Fife Orkney and Shetland (Alistair Carmichael, former Secretary of State for Scotland)
As I also posted the actual Scottish figures show your pathetic party down to just 39% from the 45% you got in 2019.
However it matters not a jot, the little Nationalists would still have the numbers to prop up Starmer with the LDs and other minor parties in a hung parliament.
As long as we Tories are in power we can and will refuse indyref2 and as Union matters are reserved to Westminster under the Scotland Act 1998 there is sod all you can do about it.
If Starmer gets in however and needs your support to get in power and offers you indyref2 and devomax that is his affair not ours
I mean its your affair too as you’ll have to live with the consequence of the breakup of our country but I know your short-termism doesn't look that far ahead.
It would be disappointing of course but if Starmer gave in to the SNP because he needed their support to stay PM in a hung parliament and gave them a legal indyref2 and lost, even after offering Scots devomax then he would immediately lose power.
As soon as Scottish MPs left the Commons after a Scexit vote we Tories would return to power without an election as we would still have a majority in England, Wales and NI alone. We would then shift to an English Nationalist agenda and take as hard a line as possible with the SNP in Scexit talks. We would also dominate English politics for a further generation.
Labour meanwhile having lost Scotland would be utterly screwed. Only 5 times since 1945 have Labour won a majority without Scottish MPs, in 1945, 1966, 1997, 2001 and 2005 and most of those were under Blair
I'm far from sure that such policies would be as enduringly popular as you blithely assume.
If there was an indyref2 and the Scottish Nationalists won then English voters would immediately demand as hard a negotiation line as possible with the SNP and Scottish government in Scexit talks and no concessions whatsoever to the SNP.
Exactly the same as European voters demanded the EU take as hard a line as possible with the Tories and UK government after the Brexit vote.
London would have to take as hard a line as possible with Edinburgh as Brussels took with London in the Brexit talks or be replaced by a government that would.
The voters of southern England will be ecstatic when their new “English Nationalist” (sic) government imposes the concrete silos with 260 nuclear warheads. HS2 will look like a walk in the park.
No no no. We don't need silos darling, our nukes are sea launched. HYUFD will simply fire the missiles at the borders to create a physical border that will keep the dirty Scotch away from blessed Albion.
Do a bit of research into Coulport. Go and visit the area and drive around. Look at the fuzzed out areas on Google Maps. Those are immense concrete silos in them thar hills. Housing most of the nuclear warheads. Only a few are ever out at sea at any one time.
Now, ask yourself, which southern English national park is going to be the new home for those concrete silos?
We will find one with plenty of space, Cumbria likes nuclear power and subs which give them lots of jobs so round Barrow would be a choice.
Of course once the SNP have given up nukes and withdrawn from NATO we in England can then watch as Putin enters an independent Scotland without barely a fight and takes all the oil you are boasting about so much
HYUFD are you really predicting that if Scotland went indy and left NATO Russia would invade? Really?
An English Conservative cheering on the idea of Russia invading & occupying the only country with which England has a land border is pretty much the definition of cutting your nose off to spite your face. Also add on geopolitical nitwittedness of course.
Russia would not invade. Russia would, however, step up its buzzing of Scottish airspace, forcing the Scottish Air Force to spend a small fortune on interceptions, so either Scotland would arrange for the RAF to carry these out, or invite the USAF. Either way, once they've done that, there is no reason leaving the nuclear weapons where they are could not be part of an agreement, which is where we came in. Similarly, the Russian navy might inspect Scotland's coastal defences.
Is non NATO member Ireland much troubled in this way? I'd imagine the continuing presence of Trident in an indy Scotland would exacerbate Russian attention rather than defuse it.
Ireland does not have the oil Scotland has which Putin would be after.
Ireland has taken a risk by not being in NATO certainly but is at less risk than an independent Scotland would be
I'm afraid this is complete nonsense.
There is no oil and Scotland would, effectively, be protected by rUK's NATO membership. Just as the Irish Republic is.
You are forgetting England and Wales and NI would still have nuclear weapons and still be in NATO, so safe from Russian invasion in a way a Scotland without nuclear weapons and out of NATO would not be
Yeah, the elite of the Russian 3rd Mechanised Rapist Division would just stop at Jedburgh. That's exactly what would happen.
Just caught up with @bbclaurak interview with Dom Cummings. Always thought he was much more nuanced than painted. But he comes across as a would-be Caudillo. If his analysis is right we should all say Thank You Carrie.
This below. I agree with Cummings that Johnson is an unfit person to be anywhere near government, but his government was democratically elected. We are talking here about an attack on democracy:
Can he be done for planning sedition?
Don't be silly! A model should be cast for Laura Kuenssberg. It was an excellent interview and the poscast is by all accounts even better. She exposed two small time crooks who shouldn't be running a chip shop let alone a country. It was funny and creepy and I'm sure it will have consequences. Although Cummings is certainly barking mad there's no question that his judgement on Johnson was spot on. Mike's bet that the Tories lose their lead this year is all but certain.
You are forgetting England and Wales and NI would still have nuclear weapons and still be in NATO, so safe from Russian invasion in a way a Scotland without nuclear weapons and out of NATO would not be
Yeah, the elite of the Russian 3rd Mechanised Rapist Division would just stop at Jedburgh. That's exactly what would happen.
They are not going to invade a fellow P5 UN Security Council permanent member with nuclear weapons as a weapon of defence of last resort and with NATO membership so other NATO members are mutually obliged to defend it in the event of invasion
Which would still see a hung parliament on the UK Survation numbers and PM Starmer propped up by the SNP and LDs, the SDLP, PC, Alliance and Greens despite another Tory majority in England.
The DUP would not support the Tories again unless they removed the Irish Sea border
Err… yes. Thanks. Hate to be a pain, but I repeat my question:
Scottish figures are largely irrelevant to the UK total unless the SCons take the lead as the SNP will prop up Labour anyway, so your Scottish subsample demand is also largely irrelevant.
However the Scottish figures are SNP 39%, Tories 22%, Labour 19%, Greens 5%, LDs 4%
Nope. Now you’re answering a question I did not ask. I know it’s terribly old-fashioned, but could you give a straight answer to a straight question? Please inform us where you got the figures you pumped in to Martin Baxter’s ElectoralCalculus calculator:
For unless the Scottish Conservatives take the lead in Scotland whether the SNP lead or SLab lead it makes no difference, their MPs will both make Starmer PM
Nope, you are still obfuscating. The link you provided does not contain the numbers you yourself pumped into Baxter’s calculator.
Please inform us where you got the figures you entered in to the ElectoralCalculus calculator:
Nope Nats like you have got to realise not all polls revolve around you, I have now given you both the UK and Scottish Survation figures both of which would make Starmer PM with minor parties support, exactly as the 2019 Scottish numbers would.
You are Labour's little helpers at Westminster so obviously we don't give a toss precisely how many little Nationalists there are at Westminster as you will all be making Starmer PM anyway. Unless the SCons make significant gains in Scotland, Scottish figures are therefore irrelevant for UK elections
BritNats like you have got to realise that folk can see through all your huffing and puffing. Behind the bravado you’re shitting it.
Everybody can clearly see how you are allocating figures to the Scottish parties, so it is you that is clearly obsessed with Scottish electoral behaviour.
Fascinatingly, you are predicting the following Unionist losses:
SNP gains from SCon: Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine Dumfries and Galloway (Alister Jack, Secretary of State for Scotland) Moray (Douglas Ross, Leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party)
SNP gains from SLD: Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross Edinburgh West North East Fife Orkney and Shetland (Alistair Carmichael, former Secretary of State for Scotland)
As I also posted the actual Scottish figures show your pathetic party down to just 39% from the 45% you got in 2019.
However it matters not a jot, the little Nationalists would still have the numbers to prop up Starmer with the LDs and other minor parties in a hung parliament.
As long as we Tories are in power we can and will refuse indyref2 and as Union matters are reserved to Westminster under the Scotland Act 1998 there is sod all you can do about it.
If Starmer gets in however and needs your support to get in power and offers you indyref2 and devomax that is his affair not ours
I mean its your affair too as you’ll have to live with the consequence of the breakup of our country but I know your short-termism doesn't look that far ahead.
It would be disappointing of course but if Starmer gave in to the SNP because he needed their support to stay PM in a hung parliament and gave them a legal indyref2 and lost, even after offering Scots devomax then he would immediately lose power.
As soon as Scottish MPs left the Commons after a Scexit vote we Tories would return to power without an election as we would still have a majority in England, Wales and NI alone. We would then shift to an English Nationalist agenda and take as hard a line as possible with the SNP in Scexit talks. We would also dominate English politics for a further generation.
Labour meanwhile having lost Scotland would be utterly screwed. Only 5 times since 1945 have Labour won a majority without Scottish MPs, in 1945, 1966, 1997, 2001 and 2005 and most of those were under Blair
I'm far from sure that such policies would be as enduringly popular as you blithely assume.
If there was an indyref2 and the Scottish Nationalists won then English voters would immediately demand as hard a negotiation line as possible with the SNP and Scottish government in Scexit talks and no concessions whatsoever to the SNP.
Exactly the same as European voters demanded the EU take as hard a line as possible with the Tories and UK government after the Brexit vote.
London would have to take as hard a line as possible with Edinburgh as Brussels took with London in the Brexit talks or be replaced by a government that would.
The voters of southern England will be ecstatic when their new “English Nationalist” (sic) government imposes the concrete silos with 260 nuclear warheads. HS2 will look like a walk in the park.
No no no. We don't need silos darling, our nukes are sea launched. HYUFD will simply fire the missiles at the borders to create a physical border that will keep the dirty Scotch away from blessed Albion.
Do a bit of research into Coulport. Go and visit the area and drive around. Look at the fuzzed out areas on Google Maps. Those are immense concrete silos in them thar hills. Housing most of the nuclear warheads. Only a few are ever out at sea at any one time.
Now, ask yourself, which southern English national park is going to be the new home for those concrete silos?
We will find one with plenty of space, Cumbria likes nuclear power and subs which give them lots of jobs so round Barrow would be a choice.
Of course once the SNP have given up nukes and withdrawn from NATO we in England can then watch as Putin enters an independent Scotland without barely a fight and takes all the oil you are boasting about so much
HYUFD are you really predicting that if Scotland went indy and left NATO Russia would invade? Really?
An English Conservative cheering on the idea of Russia invading & occupying the only country with which England has a land border is pretty much the definition of cutting your nose off to spite your face. Also add on geopolitical nitwittedness of course.
Russia would not invade. Russia would, however, step up its buzzing of Scottish airspace, forcing the Scottish Air Force to spend a small fortune on interceptions, so either Scotland would arrange for the RAF to carry these out, or invite the USAF. Either way, once they've done that, there is no reason leaving the nuclear weapons where they are could not be part of an agreement, which is where we came in. Similarly, the Russian navy might inspect Scotland's coastal defences.
Is non NATO member Ireland much troubled in this way? I'd imagine the continuing presence of Trident in an indy Scotland would exacerbate Russian attention rather than defuse it.
Ireland does not have the oil Scotland has which Putin would be after.
Ireland has taken a risk by not being in NATO certainly but is at less risk than an independent Scotland would be
I'm afraid this is complete nonsense.
There is no oil and Scotland would, effectively, be protected by rUK's NATO membership. Just as the Irish Republic is.
It wouldn't, NATO members are only obliged to defend other NATO members
1. His hand was near his mouth for most of the time he was speaking. You don't have to know much about body language to know what that means.
2. The most important bit, the bit that gets to the core of what he is all about, was when he said that when "you’re trying to do very hard things", like dealing with "war and terrorism and things like that", "we should be very very aggressively trying to get into position these very rare people who are times 100 or times 1000 smarter, more able than the norm into those crucial positions".
3. If you just want some amusement, try the part where he says that MPs should take matters into their own hands. Yeah, right.
Chairman of M&S explaining that Brexit means lorries to the EU (or NI) now carry 700 pages of forms for inspection and delays of 24-48 hours at borders mean some perishable goods are being destroyed. The new paperwork is employing a team of 13 people.
I had a box of perishable goods turn up 2 months late. We assumed it had been confiscated by customs and then suddenly gets spat out for delivery. "There are customs fees and charges to pay" said the courier.
Erm no, because 1. The box needs to be destroyed now 2. The box was 1 of 2 in a consignment and 3. the other box got through without charge because the products inside are zero tariff and zero import VAT as shown on the paperwork
It is a lottery. Our customer has seen it take 4 attempts to get properly certified properly written up chilled products across the border in time to be edible. We're largely giving up on chilled as the supply chain just isn't reliable. Which is why for NI the supply route has quickly swung from UK to NI / ROI to France to ROI / NI much to the rage of the unionists.
This is all because of BoJo's rubbish Brexit deal
It's an interesting example of the limitations of Johnson's habit of deciding stuff on a wing and sorting out any problems later. That can work quite well in electoral with non-technical stuff. If they declare nightclubs open without restriction, then say nah, on reflection they need vaxports, everyone will be irritated and some people will die before they get round to sorting it, but in a few months everyone will have moved on, and if they're ruthless enough not to care about unnecessary deaths, the electoral consequences will be negligible.
But Northern Ireland is a technical problem, and you can't talk it away, any more than you can repair a machine by thetorical flourishes. There are only 3 choices that actually work:
1. Decide NI isn't part of the Customs Union after all. Problem: border trade collapses. 2. Decide NI isn't part of the UK for trading purposes. Problem: UK-NI trade collapses 3. Decide to accept continuation of common standards. Problem: we surrender the right to fall behind EU standards in the future.
Fudges - trusted traders, informal deals, delays, etc. simply won't work durably. There's a fundamental choice, and Johnson de facto chose 2 plus fudge.
I think the outcome may be 3 with the theoretical option to change in future which will in practice not be used.
Fundamentally trusted trader schemes are the only way to square this particular circle
Trusted trader = barriers to entry, oligopoly and higher prices.
Sure. But since the EU seems to have some kind of fetish about “protecting the single market” and are unwilling to come up with a sensible solution on the ground - we see their attitude in the Gibraltar mandate - then we need to figure out a solution that respects the intention behind the Good Friday Agreement
Chairman of M&S explaining that Brexit means lorries to the EU (or NI) now carry 700 pages of forms for inspection and delays of 24-48 hours at borders mean some perishable goods are being destroyed. The new paperwork is employing a team of 13 people.
I had a box of perishable goods turn up 2 months late. We assumed it had been confiscated by customs and then suddenly gets spat out for delivery. "There are customs fees and charges to pay" said the courier.
Erm no, because 1. The box needs to be destroyed now 2. The box was 1 of 2 in a consignment and 3. the other box got through without charge because the products inside are zero tariff and zero import VAT as shown on the paperwork
It is a lottery. Our customer has seen it take 4 attempts to get properly certified properly written up chilled products across the border in time to be edible. We're largely giving up on chilled as the supply chain just isn't reliable. Which is why for NI the supply route has quickly swung from UK to NI / ROI to France to ROI / NI much to the rage of the unionists.
This is all because of BoJo's rubbish Brexit deal
It's an interesting example of the limitations of Johnson's habit of deciding stuff on a wing and sorting out any problems later. That can work quite well in electoral with non-technical stuff. If they declare nightclubs open without restriction, then say nah, on reflection they need vaxports, everyone will be irritated and some people will die before they get round to sorting it, but in a few months everyone will have moved on, and if they're ruthless enough not to care about unnecessary deaths, the electoral consequences will be negligible.
But Northern Ireland is a technical problem, and you can't talk it away, any more than you can repair a machine by thetorical flourishes. There are only 3 choices that actually work:
1. Decide NI isn't part of the Customs Union after all. Problem: border trade collapses. 2. Decide NI isn't part of the UK for trading purposes. Problem: UK-NI trade collapses 3. Decide to accept continuation of common standards. Problem: we surrender the right to fall behind EU standards in the future.
Fudges - trusted traders, informal deals, delays, etc. simply won't work durably. There's a fundamental choice, and Johnson de facto chose 2 plus fudge.
I think the outcome may be 3 with the theoretical option to change in future which will in practice not be used.
Fundamentally trusted trader schemes are the only way to square this particular circle
I think there is a trusted trader scheme, but maybe it doesn't do enough.
Which would still see a hung parliament on the UK Survation numbers and PM Starmer propped up by the SNP and LDs, the SDLP, PC, Alliance and Greens despite another Tory majority in England.
The DUP would not support the Tories again unless they removed the Irish Sea border
Err… yes. Thanks. Hate to be a pain, but I repeat my question:
Scottish figures are largely irrelevant to the UK total unless the SCons take the lead as the SNP will prop up Labour anyway, so your Scottish subsample demand is also largely irrelevant.
However the Scottish figures are SNP 39%, Tories 22%, Labour 19%, Greens 5%, LDs 4%
Nope. Now you’re answering a question I did not ask. I know it’s terribly old-fashioned, but could you give a straight answer to a straight question? Please inform us where you got the figures you pumped in to Martin Baxter’s ElectoralCalculus calculator:
For unless the Scottish Conservatives take the lead in Scotland whether the SNP lead or SLab lead it makes no difference, their MPs will both make Starmer PM
Nope, you are still obfuscating. The link you provided does not contain the numbers you yourself pumped into Baxter’s calculator.
Please inform us where you got the figures you entered in to the ElectoralCalculus calculator:
Nope Nats like you have got to realise not all polls revolve around you, I have now given you both the UK and Scottish Survation figures both of which would make Starmer PM with minor parties support, exactly as the 2019 Scottish numbers would.
You are Labour's little helpers at Westminster so obviously we don't give a toss precisely how many little Nationalists there are at Westminster as you will all be making Starmer PM anyway. Unless the SCons make significant gains in Scotland, Scottish figures are therefore irrelevant for UK elections
BritNats like you have got to realise that folk can see through all your huffing and puffing. Behind the bravado you’re shitting it.
Everybody can clearly see how you are allocating figures to the Scottish parties, so it is you that is clearly obsessed with Scottish electoral behaviour.
Fascinatingly, you are predicting the following Unionist losses:
SNP gains from SCon: Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine Dumfries and Galloway (Alister Jack, Secretary of State for Scotland) Moray (Douglas Ross, Leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party)
SNP gains from SLD: Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross Edinburgh West North East Fife Orkney and Shetland (Alistair Carmichael, former Secretary of State for Scotland)
As I also posted the actual Scottish figures show your pathetic party down to just 39% from the 45% you got in 2019.
However it matters not a jot, the little Nationalists would still have the numbers to prop up Starmer with the LDs and other minor parties in a hung parliament.
As long as we Tories are in power we can and will refuse indyref2 and as Union matters are reserved to Westminster under the Scotland Act 1998 there is sod all you can do about it.
If Starmer gets in however and needs your support to get in power and offers you indyref2 and devomax that is his affair not ours
I mean its your affair too as you’ll have to live with the consequence of the breakup of our country but I know your short-termism doesn't look that far ahead.
It would be disappointing of course but if Starmer gave in to the SNP because he needed their support to stay PM in a hung parliament and gave them a legal indyref2 and lost, even after offering Scots devomax then he would immediately lose power.
As soon as Scottish MPs left the Commons after a Scexit vote we Tories would return to power without an election as we would have a majority in England, Wales and NI alone. We would then shift to an English Nationalist agenda and take as hard a line as possible with the SNP in Scexit talks. We would also dominate English politics for a further generation.
Labour meanwhile having lost Scotland would be utterly screwed. Only 3 times since 1945 have Labour won a majority without Scottish MPs, in 1945, 1966, 1997, 2001 and 2005 and most of those were under Blair
Nah, wouldn’t happen. He’d pass a bill moving from FPTP to a more proportionate system in the hope of retaining power,and he’d dissolve parliament.
And it would be appropriate for Scottish MPs to vote on that?
Not really but you cannot stop them.
True. I can’t. I suspect the Speaker might have something to say about it.
True, but he can huff and puff but can’t stop them. They aren’t likely to care and they will regard a progressive alliance govt to be far more,kind to them than a Tory one.
I don’t know without checking but I suspect he can stop them. Can he designate something as a piece of English law, fir example? (Although I think the government is abandoning EVEL)
Which would still see a hung parliament on the UK Survation numbers and PM Starmer propped up by the SNP and LDs, the SDLP, PC, Alliance and Greens despite another Tory majority in England.
The DUP would not support the Tories again unless they removed the Irish Sea border
Err… yes. Thanks. Hate to be a pain, but I repeat my question:
Scottish figures are largely irrelevant to the UK total unless the SCons take the lead as the SNP will prop up Labour anyway, so your Scottish subsample demand is also largely irrelevant.
However the Scottish figures are SNP 39%, Tories 22%, Labour 19%, Greens 5%, LDs 4%
Nope. Now you’re answering a question I did not ask. I know it’s terribly old-fashioned, but could you give a straight answer to a straight question? Please inform us where you got the figures you pumped in to Martin Baxter’s ElectoralCalculus calculator:
For unless the Scottish Conservatives take the lead in Scotland whether the SNP lead or SLab lead it makes no difference, their MPs will both make Starmer PM
Nope, you are still obfuscating. The link you provided does not contain the numbers you yourself pumped into Baxter’s calculator.
Please inform us where you got the figures you entered in to the ElectoralCalculus calculator:
Nope Nats like you have got to realise not all polls revolve around you, I have now given you both the UK and Scottish Survation figures both of which would make Starmer PM with minor parties support, exactly as the 2019 Scottish numbers would.
You are Labour's little helpers at Westminster so obviously we don't give a toss precisely how many little Nationalists there are at Westminster as you will all be making Starmer PM anyway. Unless the SCons make significant gains in Scotland, Scottish figures are therefore irrelevant for UK elections
BritNats like you have got to realise that folk can see through all your huffing and puffing. Behind the bravado you’re shitting it.
Everybody can clearly see how you are allocating figures to the Scottish parties, so it is you that is clearly obsessed with Scottish electoral behaviour.
Fascinatingly, you are predicting the following Unionist losses:
SNP gains from SCon: Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine Dumfries and Galloway (Alister Jack, Secretary of State for Scotland) Moray (Douglas Ross, Leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party)
SNP gains from SLD: Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross Edinburgh West North East Fife Orkney and Shetland (Alistair Carmichael, former Secretary of State for Scotland)
As I also posted the actual Scottish figures show your pathetic party down to just 39% from the 45% you got in 2019.
However it matters not a jot, the little Nationalists would still have the numbers to prop up Starmer with the LDs and other minor parties in a hung parliament.
As long as we Tories are in power we can and will refuse indyref2 and as Union matters are reserved to Westminster under the Scotland Act 1998 there is sod all you can do about it.
If Starmer gets in however and needs your support to get in power and offers you indyref2 and devomax that is his affair not ours
I mean its your affair too as you’ll have to live with the consequence of the breakup of our country but I know your short-termism doesn't look that far ahead.
It would be disappointing of course but if Starmer gave in to the SNP because he needed their support to stay PM in a hung parliament and gave them a legal indyref2 and lost, even after offering Scots devomax then he would immediately lose power.
As soon as Scottish MPs left the Commons after a Scexit vote we Tories would return to power without an election as we would still have a majority in England, Wales and NI alone. We would then shift to an English Nationalist agenda and take as hard a line as possible with the SNP in Scexit talks. We would also dominate English politics for a further generation.
Labour meanwhile having lost Scotland would be utterly screwed. Only 5 times since 1945 have Labour won a majority without Scottish MPs, in 1945, 1966, 1997, 2001 and 2005 and most of those were under Blair
I'm far from sure that such policies would be as enduringly popular as you blithely assume.
If there was an indyref2 and the Scottish Nationalists won then English voters would immediately demand as hard a negotiation line as possible with the SNP and Scottish government in Scexit talks and no concessions whatsoever to the SNP.
Exactly the same as European voters demanded the EU take as hard a line as possible with the Tories and UK government after the Brexit vote.
London would have to take as hard a line as possible with Edinburgh as Brussels took with London in the Brexit talks or be replaced by a government that would.
The voters of southern England will be ecstatic when their new “English Nationalist” (sic) government imposes the concrete silos with 260 nuclear warheads. HS2 will look like a walk in the park.
No no no. We don't need silos darling, our nukes are sea launched. HYUFD will simply fire the missiles at the borders to create a physical border that will keep the dirty Scotch away from blessed Albion.
Do a bit of research into Coulport. Go and visit the area and drive around. Look at the fuzzed out areas on Google Maps. Those are immense concrete silos in them thar hills. Housing most of the nuclear warheads. Only a few are ever out at sea at any one time.
Now, ask yourself, which southern English national park is going to be the new home for those concrete silos?
We will find one with plenty of space, Cumbria likes nuclear power and subs which give them lots of jobs so round Barrow would be a choice.
Of course once the SNP have given up nukes and withdrawn from NATO we in England can then watch as Putin enters an independent Scotland without barely a fight and takes all the oil you are boasting about so much
HYUFD are you really predicting that if Scotland went indy and left NATO Russia would invade? Really?
An English Conservative cheering on the idea of Russia invading & occupying the only country with which England has a land border is pretty much the definition of cutting your nose off to spite your face. Also add on geopolitical nitwittedness of course.
Russia would not invade. Russia would, however, step up its buzzing of Scottish airspace, forcing the Scottish Air Force to spend a small fortune on interceptions, so either Scotland would arrange for the RAF to carry these out, or invite the USAF. Either way, once they've done that, there is no reason leaving the nuclear weapons where they are could not be part of an agreement, which is where we came in. Similarly, the Russian navy might inspect Scotland's coastal defences.
Is non NATO member Ireland much troubled in this way? I'd imagine the continuing presence of Trident in an indy Scotland would exacerbate Russian attention rather than defuse it.
Ireland does not have the oil Scotland has which Putin would be after.
Ireland has taken a risk by not being in NATO certainly but is at less risk than an independent Scotland would be
I'm afraid this is complete nonsense.
There is no oil and Scotland would, effectively, be protected by rUK's NATO membership. Just as the Irish Republic is.
It wouldn't, NATO members are only obliged to defend other NATO members
And are the Irish not currently starting to debate whether they need a squadron of real jets, as being covered by the UK on the quiet is apparently too embarrassing?
Chairman of M&S explaining that Brexit means lorries to the EU (or NI) now carry 700 pages of forms for inspection and delays of 24-48 hours at borders mean some perishable goods are being destroyed. The new paperwork is employing a team of 13 people.
I had a box of perishable goods turn up 2 months late. We assumed it had been confiscated by customs and then suddenly gets spat out for delivery. "There are customs fees and charges to pay" said the courier.
Erm no, because 1. The box needs to be destroyed now 2. The box was 1 of 2 in a consignment and 3. the other box got through without charge because the products inside are zero tariff and zero import VAT as shown on the paperwork
It is a lottery. Our customer has seen it take 4 attempts to get properly certified properly written up chilled products across the border in time to be edible. We're largely giving up on chilled as the supply chain just isn't reliable. Which is why for NI the supply route has quickly swung from UK to NI / ROI to France to ROI / NI much to the rage of the unionists.
This is all because of BoJo's rubbish Brexit deal
It's an interesting example of the limitations of Johnson's habit of deciding stuff on a wing and sorting out any problems later. That can work quite well in electoral with non-technical stuff. If they declare nightclubs open without restriction, then say nah, on reflection they need vaxports, everyone will be irritated and some people will die before they get round to sorting it, but in a few months everyone will have moved on, and if they're ruthless enough not to care about unnecessary deaths, the electoral consequences will be negligible.
But Northern Ireland is a technical problem, and you can't talk it away, any more than you can repair a machine by thetorical flourishes. There are only 3 choices that actually work:
1. Decide NI isn't part of the Customs Union after all. Problem: border trade collapses. 2. Decide NI isn't part of the UK for trading purposes. Problem: UK-NI trade collapses 3. Decide to accept continuation of common standards. Problem: we surrender the right to fall behind EU standards in the future.
Fudges - trusted traders, informal deals, delays, etc. simply won't work durably. There's a fundamental choice, and Johnson de facto chose 2 plus fudge.
I think the outcome may be 3 with the theoretical option to change in future which will in practice not be used.
Fundamentally trusted trader schemes are the only way to square this particular circle
I think there is a trusted trader scheme, but maybe it doesn't do enough.
Comments
Ireland has taken a risk by not being in NATO certainly but is at less risk than an independent Scotland would be
Pulps scorecard
Par 56,022
Above, bad.
Below, good
https://twitter.com/SirSocks/status/1417771026562301956?s=20
I think the difference is Cummings may do more damage to his former hosts.....
It would interesting to see the sort of chart we saw here a day or so ago, showing the breakdown of party support by age.
There is no oil and Scotland would, effectively, be protected by rUK's NATO membership. Just as the Irish Republic is.
https://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/mp-housing-fraud-trial-opening-july-21-8163354
1. His hand was near his mouth for most of the time he was speaking. You don't have to know much about body language to know what that means.
2. The most important bit, the bit that gets to the core of what he is all about, was when he said that when "you’re trying to do very hard things", like dealing with "war and terrorism and things like that", "we should be very very aggressively trying to get into position these very rare people who are times 100 or times 1000 smarter, more able than the norm into those crucial positions".
3. If you just want some amusement, try the part where he says that MPs should take matters into their own hands. Yeah, right.
I find it strange that in this scenario - post an Indy vote - that the SNP MPs would vote to change the electoral system in rUK?
BBC have jumped on the Marcus Rashford dogpile before the Spectator have published anything.
https://twitter.com/MarcusRashford/status/1417560450393329666
AFAICS they have missed out the bit where he recognised his commercial appeal would be increased.
Spectator PR stunt?