So race relations began to seriously decline under Obama??
On that chart, everything was great until the last two years of Obama.
Which is odd.
Important to note it is *perceptions* of race relations. Was there any major event in 2013?
The Chelyabinsk meteor, the election of Pope Francis, several notable Islamist terror attacks, a coronavirus epidemic (MERS in this case) - nothing of epochal significance to the fate of the United States that I can see.
An excellent commentary as always from Mike Smithson. These thoughts are from one who supported Brexit but wanted 'Norway for Now' in the belief that a long term process was essential.
1) If Brexit and GFA are actually incompatible then Remain incomprehensibly failed to say so, and failed to say what the limits on Brexit would be. That is because they are not incompatible.
2) The UK and the RoI are sovereign states (the sort with seats at the UN and armies).
3) The EU is an extensive trade association, and not a state.
4) If it is realistic to say that the UK can bend its sovereignty red lines to the extent of separating the GB and the NI internal market as the protocol requires, it is realistic to say that the EU can bend its trade association rules to contain an anomaly which protects the interests of one of their members, the RoI, and those of a friendly neighbour with equivalently high standards, the UK.
5) Which obvious truth is why Remain did not campaign on the basis that a (non EFTA) Brexit was impossible.
Precisely, the dispute is between the UK and Ireland, not the UK and EU. Ireland could disengage from the Single Market, join a customs union with the UK - no land border, no sea border - job done.
The Irish saw the trap on day 1 and have marshalled their considerable lobbying power in both the EU and the US to avoid having to choose between the Single Market and a soft land border. The EU doesn't care as long as its rules are followed, but Ireland won't compromise on this point, ever.
So what will happen if this Brexiteer government decides to tear up both the Protocol and the TCA? This is a significantly greater than zero risk. They will lose Nissan, which is something they seem to care about, but once it's gone it's gone, and they have pretty much wrecked everything else anyway, so why not?
I am guessing Ireland will go with the Single Market and cut the North loose. But it will be a grim time for everyone, especially those in Northern Ireland.
The UK government could have left without a deal. That would have left the EU with the problem of how to deal with the land border in the island of Ireland since in principle they would have had to close it to protect the SM, and we wouldn't because we would have had insufficient interest in protecting the border.
We didn't. Meaning that Boris accepted the Ireland fudge which all parties knew could not work in the long term. Not least because it is obvious to all that unionist extremists in NI would not accept for ever the NI/GB divergence without resorting to civil unrest.
So the problem landed mostly on us rather than them.
Boris's tactic was to accept the only way of leaving with a deal, and wait; hoping that in due course it may become a joint problem and not just ours. Hence the willingness to break with an international treaty. He has no alternative in these unique circumstances.
The EU wants the UK to break the red lines of our internal market. We want the EU to break their SM red lines. Both sides refuse to be the first to suggest an internal barrier. That is about the only hold Boris has.
The thing is we've got our cake and are eating it. Britain has a deal, and failing to implement the NI Protocol in the way the EU wanted it to exposes their bluff - they're not going to put up a border in the NI/Eire border, we're not going to put up an Irish Sea one, and they're not going to tear up the agreement because doing so means they will have to put up an NI/Eire border.
They have no chips to hold except "you agreed to this", which is not very meaningful in the circumstances. Especially since they agreed to Article 16 which is part of the agreement and can be invoked if need be - and if it is then what can they do without making their problems worse?
We hold all the cards.
Until the day when the Dublin government, caught between Britain and the EU, says there are only two workable options: a hard border or a united Ireland.
If Ireland does that it's their choice if they end up with a hard border. I don't think they would.
Oh dear God that's bad. She might as well have said "who cares how many jobs for Scotland?"
Not really when she clearly knew her stuff on another report about Scottish jobs. She also committed to getting the number. This is crappy gotcha journalism.
The last number I saw was Oz committed to 9, at a programme cost of about £20 billion.
Being built over there as they want the capability but a big chunk of kit and all the support / development services from here.
Groceries update - my local Tesco's has had completely empty shelves. Entire rows of shelves literally empty and closed off.
Signs up apologising and blaming a refrigeration failure. Oops.
I bought two bottles of still water in a supermarket somewhere in the Midlands earlier today. The shelves looked full.
Lightweight
I am having a beer now though. In a big city centre pub. Only 5 of us in. Capacity 80 approx.
A 'big city centre' somewhere in the Midlands. Most of the cities have quite compact centres. I'll guess Leicester, purely because of the long trek between the railway station and the bus station.
Nottingham. It's really good here! Pub executives said that it was busier before 'Freedom Day' (Stage 4). They mentioned the students had gone home. They don't expect to be busy tomorrow.
We are up to about 10 in now.
I used to be a semi-regular drinker in Nottingham 20 or so years ago. The Fellows Morton and Clayton was my favourite, with an honourable mention to the Lincolnshire Poacher.
I went to a pub called Lincolnshire Poacher in Spalding many times. It is a top pub.
I was in Sleaford today. Has anyone else been there? Richard Tyndall??
I always find both Sleaford and Grantham a disappointment. I grew up in Newark which is a town steeped in history and one which has retained both its original street plan and many or its original buildings although it did also knock down and redevelop some streets which today would be massively popular in an historic town.
The trouble is that both Sleaford and Grantham have pretty much gutted their historic centres. You can't even blame the bombing as both got through the war with not much in the way of German attacks. It was all due to post war planning which has ripped the soul out of both towns. I would always recommend Newark or Stamford over either Sleaford or Grantham. Much nicer towns to walk around.
Ok Richard thanks for your response. I knew you were/are in the area. I stayed in Grantham 2016 and I thought it was good. I have only been to Sleaford today. I also went to Stamford 2016 it was top. Never been to Newark.
Bourne is quite a pleasant little Lincs town, which I have been out in a few times, albeit not recently. Mrs Foxy went to school there.
Yes it is. I was there in 2020. Before COVID. Seems a lifetime ago. It's ok there.
Understand there is huge confusion among the care sector tonight following a briefing with the Department of Health about exemptions from self-isolation.
Rightwards arrowBad news first: early data from Israel indicates that vaccine efficacy in preventing infection & symptomatic disease (mainly Pfizer-BioNTech) goes from 75-79% to 16% within 4 months against the Delta variant
Who is this individual and where are they getting their information? Smells very wrong. UK has been using Pfizer on olds since last December. Where is the tsunami of unprotected octogenarians swamping the hospitals?
Well we did take our own position on the optimum “second vaccination” gap...
Seems Pfizer still protects against hospital-level illness. So maybe all our 80+ year olds are getting a mild sniffle?
If you look at our case rates by age, we are NOT seeing this issue in the U.K. I’m a bit sceptical of this.
Rightwards arrowBad news first: early data from Israel indicates that vaccine efficacy in preventing infection & symptomatic disease (mainly Pfizer-BioNTech) goes from 75-79% to 16% within 4 months against the Delta variant
Who is this individual and where are they getting their information? Smells very wrong. UK has been using Pfizer on olds since last December. Where is the tsunami of unprotected octogenarians swamping the hospitals?
Well we did take our own position on the optimum “second vaccination” gap...
Seems Pfizer still protects against hospital-level illness. So maybe all our 80+ year olds are getting a mild sniffle?
The idea that a vaccine somehow fails to protect the vast majority of frail elderly people with knackered immune systems from getting ill, yet miraculously prevents almost all of those illnesses from becoming serious enough to require hospital attention (even if it's "only" a check-up or an hour or two of oxygen,) doesn't sound terribly plausible either.
On the other hand there would be something deliciously brilliant on so many levels of it turned out the Pfizer was cr*p and Astra-Oxford was the gold standard.
Indeed. Except we can't give it you our under 40 year olds. Some on twitter are wondering whether that is why we have ruled out giving kids the vax.
Rightwards arrowBad news first: early data from Israel indicates that vaccine efficacy in preventing infection & symptomatic disease (mainly Pfizer-BioNTech) goes from 75-79% to 16% within 4 months against the Delta variant
Who is this individual and where are they getting their information? Smells very wrong. UK has been using Pfizer on olds since last December. Where is the tsunami of unprotected octogenarians swamping the hospitals?
Well we did take our own position on the optimum “second vaccination” gap...
Seems Pfizer still protects against hospital-level illness. So maybe all our 80+ year olds are getting a mild sniffle?
The idea that a vaccine somehow fails to protect the vast majority of frail elderly people with knackered immune systems from getting ill, yet miraculously prevents almost all of those illnesses from becoming serious enough to require hospital attention (even if it's "only" a check-up or an hour or two of oxygen,) doesn't sound terribly plausible either.
There are really two phases to covid, the viral one, which is infectious but not too bad, then the much more dangerous inflammatory phase with the interstitial pneumonitis and vasculopathy a week later. It is possible that the vaccine attenuates the first and prevents the second. It would explain why we are getting a fair number of vaxxed positives but few hospital admissions.
A stunningly ill informed and ignorant piece by someone who doesn't seem to understand any of the subjects he talks about - not least how Parliamentary democracy works. Not really surprised you linked to such a fuck witted piece.
Eh? Gauke is lamenting the fact that your man Cummings plotted to overthrow the democratically elected British prime minister. Or is your point that such plotting by unelected 'advisers' is all fine and dandy?
It is truly sad that so many people seem to wilfully misunderstand or misrepresent Parliamentary democracy, including it seems Mr Dawning.
We do not elect a Prime Minister. Nor do we elect a Government. We elect an individual MP to represent us in Parliament. Enough of them together get to choose who will be PM and he then gets to choose his Government. If those MPs can be persuaded that the incumbent is no longer fit to be PM then they can get rid of them. It has happened many times before and is certainly not undemocratic nor is it plotting to 'overthrow the democratically elected British Prime Minister' because that PM was not elected by the electorate, he was chosen by a majority of the MPs and his continued existence as PM relies upon that same group of MPs continuing to support him.
There is absolutely nothing undemocratic about what Cummings has suggested anymore than it was undemocratic to get rid of Thatcher or May.
If you claim there is anything new about this plotting then you are simply being dishonest or stupid... or both.
There is something new about a serving advisor to the PM seeking to overthrow him "within days" of him winning the General Election. That's to my knowledge completely unprecedented.
If he wanted the PM out then he should have (a) quit his post as the PM's advisor, and (b) then worked with opposition or backbenchers to achieve his aims. Not sort to overthrow his employer within days of an election.
Huge vaccination news this evening in downtown Newham - Mrs Stodge (already doubly vaccinated) has been invited to have yet another vaccination.
Not any ordinary vaccination though - Newham is setting up a women's only vaccination clinic next Saturday. As we know, some cultures are much more gender segregated so it may be a way to boost the vaccine take-up.
Newham currently has 56.8% of adults with one vaccination and 37.3% with both vaccinations.
That still leaves 150,000 adults who have had no vaccination.
Rightwards arrowBad news first: early data from Israel indicates that vaccine efficacy in preventing infection & symptomatic disease (mainly Pfizer-BioNTech) goes from 75-79% to 16% within 4 months against the Delta variant
Who is this individual and where are they getting their information? Smells very wrong. UK has been using Pfizer on olds since last December. Where is the tsunami of unprotected octogenarians swamping the hospitals?
Well we did take our own position on the optimum “second vaccination” gap...
Seems Pfizer still protects against hospital-level illness. So maybe all our 80+ year olds are getting a mild sniffle?
If you look at our case rates by age, we are NOT seeing this issue in the U.K. I’m a bit sceptical of this.
Yes, this is a very odd bit of data from Israel.
I have tried to find where the data on these slides show in the tweet comes from. So far no luck.
Rightwards arrowBad news first: early data from Israel indicates that vaccine efficacy in preventing infection & symptomatic disease (mainly Pfizer-BioNTech) goes from 75-79% to 16% within 4 months against the Delta variant
Who is this individual and where are they getting their information? Smells very wrong. UK has been using Pfizer on olds since last December. Where is the tsunami of unprotected octogenarians swamping the hospitals?
Well we did take our own position on the optimum “second vaccination” gap...
Seems Pfizer still protects against hospital-level illness. So maybe all our 80+ year olds are getting a mild sniffle?
The idea that a vaccine somehow fails to protect the vast majority of frail elderly people with knackered immune systems from getting ill, yet miraculously prevents almost all of those illnesses from becoming serious enough to require hospital attention (even if it's "only" a check-up or an hour or two of oxygen,) doesn't sound terribly plausible either.
There are really two phases to covid, the viral one, which is infectious but not too bad, then the much more dangerous inflammatory phase with the interstitial pneumonitis and vasculopathy a week later. It is possible that the vaccine attenuates the first and prevents the second. It would explain why we are getting a fair number of vaxxed positives but few hospital admissions.
It does seem that infections are rampant among the vaccinated but hospitalisations are lower.
But it's still really bad people need to be careful.
On railways, you can reopen anything if you're prepared to pay and get an Act of Parliament.
However, the planning process and public inquiry aspects become more difficult and protracted once you have to start compulsorily purchasing property for demolition, which is why just a few house on the old trackbed can block a minor line. My local line - Alton to Winchester - is probably permanently blocked beyond Alresford by only 11 or 12 houses and some school playing fields but that's really because of its business case.
This doesn't apply for major lines with political will, like the Waverley Line of HS2, because the politicians view it as strategic and are willing to invest.
OT lots of stories have just appeared about keyless cars being stolen. Is it national car theft awareness day or something? Keep 'em peeled, and keep your fobs in a Faraday cage, thus making keyless entry more hassle than having to stick a key in the lock.
I have never understood the attraction of keyless cars. What’s so hard about pressing a button or sticking a bit of metal in a lock?
Mine unlocks when you touch the handle, but still has a button to start, as long as the key is in the car. It’s basically a gimmic, and presumably something else that can go wrong. At least the keyhole can’t disintegrate on the person who buys this one off me, as happened to one of my previous cars...
Mine has a facility where you can set it to require a physical button press on the button on the key next time you open the car.
I agree that the Good Friday Agreement made Brexit effectively impossible, as it was predicated on both Ireland and the UK being EU members.
Given that, it is therefore a notable failing that there was not a referendum in Britain to endorse the GFA, as there was in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
I'm generally a supporter of a United Ireland, but it's hard to look at the practical effect of the Northern Ireland Protocol and not conclude that it's as much of a contravention of the Good Friday Agreement as putting a trade border across the island of Ireland would have been, because it alters Northern Ireland's place in the Union without consent.
And yet, if we'd adopted May's deal, would that not have been to tie Britain into the EU in a way that Brexit voters themselves did not consent to?
I can't help but conclude that Cameron is to blame. He should have been honest with the public that to hold a referendum on EU membership was irresponsible, because of the can of worms it would open for Northern Ireland. And if the British public chose to open that can of worms by voting for UKIP - so be it - but trying to have his cake and eat it by holding the referendum was reckless.
And, of course, if the GFA should have bound us to the EU irrevocably, then Blair should have held a referendum on the GFA in Britain.
So race relations began to seriously decline under Obama??
On that chart, everything was great until the last two years of Obama.
Which is odd.
Important to note it is *perceptions* of race relations. Was there any major event in 2013?
The Chelyabinsk meteor, the election of Pope Francis, several notable Islamist terror attacks, a coronavirus epidemic (MERS in this case) - nothing of epochal significance to the fate of the United States that I can see.
I should have expanded the chart on my screen - it was 2015 and possibly Dylann Roof
Rather a major flaw in the statement made in the thread header, it seems to me. If GFA make Brexit difficult, if not impossible, then,,, how come it has happened?
My theory is the more public the panto the more real negotiating that is actually going on behind the scenes.
So, the UK and EU are both doing a bit of anchoring, and playing to the crowd, over the NI protocol.
I think that's true. And I also think that if the UK and Ireland come to an agreement, then it is very hard for the EU to continue to play games; ultimately, they are not the only party with agency here.
Minus five runs for a wicket would be a fun gimmick to add to the Hundred. Like Terriers cricket which the under-10s play. Can be pretty nerve-wracking, exciting stuff.
You could even start on 100 runs and have each wicket minus ten.
As @solarflare says – why not gimmick it up to the MAX!
I agree that the Good Friday Agreement made Brexit effectively impossible, as it was predicated on both Ireland and the UK being EU members.
Given that, it is therefore a notable failing that there was not a referendum in Britain to endorse the GFA, as there was in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
I'm generally a supporter of a United Ireland, but it's hard to look at the practical effect of the Northern Ireland Protocol and not conclude that it's as much of a contravention of the Good Friday Agreement as putting a trade border across the island of Ireland would have been, because it alters Northern Ireland's place in the Union without consent.
And yet, if we'd adopted May's deal, would that not have been to tie Britain into the EU in a way that Brexit voters themselves did not consent to?
I can't help but conclude that Cameron is to blame. He should have been honest with the public that to hold a referendum on EU membership was irresponsible, because of the can of worms it would open for Northern Ireland. And if the British public chose to open that can of worms by voting for UKIP - so be it - but trying to have his cake and eat it by holding the referendum was reckless.
And, of course, if the GFA should have bound us to the EU irrevocably, then Blair should have held a referendum on the GFA in Britain.
Also... even if the voters of Great Britain had signed up to the Good Friday Agreement, they would still have the right to change their minds later.
The Good Friday Agreement needs to be amended. In doing so, the power of the EU to bitch and moan is much diminished. (Also, the EU is not a signatory.)
But changing it requires the government to offer something to the Nationalists in Northern Ireland and to the Irish government. Which is why I propose a high speed train.
Kakistocracy Watch. Parliament increasingly resembling that of a 3rd world country today with an MP being barred from the chamber for accurately calling out the PM as a liar.
To pretend that the existence of rules on parliamentary language signify anything at all is just plain ridiculous. Lots of non third world countries have such conventions for a start. MPs don't have any problem excoriating the PM without breaching such conventions, so anyone doing it is clearly engaged in a stunt.
But Opposiiton MPs can seem to have a hard time getting it across to people (not all of them au fait with Parliamentary conventions) that the Prime Minister is a liar.
No they don't. He is routinely attacked in and out of the Commons for all manner of failings, including misleading people, deceiving them or being just plain untrustworthy. Calling him a liar in the Commons won't wake people up to him being a liar, people either don't believe he is or they think he is but for other reasons still support him.
I despise childish stunts, designed to make people feel good about themselves or to get applause rather than achieve anything, and this was definitely childish, as most such stunts are. Other than that, I don't see the political or even comic value of such an act.
I think it is pretty childish for a group of grown ups who base their careers on lying to pretend their honour has been offended by the unparliamentary language of someone calling them a liar (but only if in a certain room!). Snow flakes.
Who has said they are offended?
I expect they just welcome the stupidest MP in the House shooting the Labour Party in both feet and the left temple.
Thanggam Debbonaire did the same thing was it yesterday? "Yellow Peril", used of the Lib Dems, is a horrible racist epithet because it was a term used for China/Japan over a century ago. No wonder Rees-Mogg was baffled; it is a claim form Planet Zarg.
It took Guido about 10 minutes to find the Guardian, the Independent, and the Lib Dems themselves using it.
Butler and Debbonaire: a pair of prime prats on this occasion.
Until Starmer deals with such behaviour, he is a pig's bladder on a stick.
Comments
Not really when she clearly knew her stuff on another report about Scottish jobs. She also committed to getting the number. This is crappy gotcha journalism.
The last number I saw was Oz committed to 9, at a programme cost of about £20 billion.
Being built over there as they want the capability but a big chunk of kit and all the support / development services from here.
Care source says it is “Utterly desperate and shambolic”. No clarity on what exemptions might be, how they might apply etc.
https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1418312726271741954
If he wanted the PM out then he should have (a) quit his post as the PM's advisor, and (b) then worked with opposition or backbenchers to achieve his aims. Not sort to overthrow his employer within days of an election.
Put in the pending tray I think.
And that's a good thing in your opinion?
But it's still really bad people need to be careful.
Lots of COVID deniers on here!
NEW THREAD
However, the planning process and public inquiry aspects become more difficult and protracted once you have to start compulsorily purchasing property for demolition, which is why just a few house on the old trackbed can block a minor line. My local line - Alton to Winchester - is probably permanently blocked beyond Alresford by only 11 or 12 houses and some school playing fields but that's really because of its business case.
This doesn't apply for major lines with political will, like the Waverley Line of HS2, because the politicians view it as strategic and are willing to invest.
Given that, it is therefore a notable failing that there was not a referendum in Britain to endorse the GFA, as there was in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
I'm generally a supporter of a United Ireland, but it's hard to look at the practical effect of the Northern Ireland Protocol and not conclude that it's as much of a contravention of the Good Friday Agreement as putting a trade border across the island of Ireland would have been, because it alters Northern Ireland's place in the Union without consent.
And yet, if we'd adopted May's deal, would that not have been to tie Britain into the EU in a way that Brexit voters themselves did not consent to?
I can't help but conclude that Cameron is to blame. He should have been honest with the public that to hold a referendum on EU membership was irresponsible, because of the can of worms it would open for Northern Ireland. And if the British public chose to open that can of worms by voting for UKIP - so be it - but trying to have his cake and eat it by holding the referendum was reckless.
And, of course, if the GFA should have bound us to the EU irrevocably, then Blair should have held a referendum on the GFA in Britain.
You could even start on 100 runs and have each wicket minus ten.
As @solarflare says – why not gimmick it up to the MAX!
The Good Friday Agreement needs to be amended. In doing so, the power of the EU to bitch and moan is much diminished. (Also, the EU is not a signatory.)
But changing it requires the government to offer something to the Nationalists in Northern Ireland and to the Irish government. Which is why I propose a high speed train.
I expect they just welcome the stupidest MP in the House shooting the Labour Party in both feet and the left temple.
Thanggam Debbonaire did the same thing was it yesterday? "Yellow Peril", used of the Lib Dems, is a horrible racist epithet because it was a term used for China/Japan over a century ago. No wonder Rees-Mogg was baffled; it is a claim form Planet Zarg.
It took Guido about 10 minutes to find the Guardian, the Independent, and the Lib Dems themselves using it.
Butler and Debbonaire: a pair of prime prats on this occasion.
Until Starmer deals with such behaviour, he is a pig's bladder on a stick.