politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Remember when devaluations of the pound were a big politica
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There will be a debate - on the 'Great Repeal Bill' - though unclear at this time whether that will precede A50 invocation.foxinsoxuk said:
I am not wanting A50 stopped (indeed I would like it invoked sooner), simply wanting the executive arm of government the servant of the legislature rather than its master.JosiasJessop said:
Put simply: what good would come of it?foxinsoxuk said:
There should be no doubt that A50 will be invoked, but Parliament should approve the date, and make comment on the desireability of hard vs soft Brexit.JosiasJessop said:The question of whether the referendum was advisory or not is ultmately irrelevant.
What matters now is what is good for the country. Whilst I was not ultimately convinced by the case for Brexit, the Brexit side won. The main uncertainty, for the country, our neighbours abroad, and the market, is priced in.
Having yet more uncertainty in the form of a vote in the Commons and going "actually, we've changed out mind, perhaps," seems insanity. No-one will know where they stand, and many, many people will be unhappy.
Personally, I would like to see a debate in the Commons, but no vote. Allow MPs to have their say, but have them admit that the will of the people is preeminent.
But aside from that: the people have voted. We must make the best of it. We cannot afford to go over the old ground again.
Incidentally, will importing all Euro-Law onto our books include in corporating A50 into British law? and therefore making it the HoC business?
The war's over. All it would do is cause yet more chaos and trouble. The best that would come of it, is if it went to the vote and the government won, in which case nothing has been gained. The worst is that no-one: the government, our neighbours, or ourselves, would know where we stand.
In time a different party will be in power, and precedent for such decisions would matter. Should PM Corbyn be allowed to scrap our nuclear weapons without debate in the commons for example?
My own POV is that a decision on the timing of A50 is effectively part of the negotiation (and this ought to be left to the executive); that it will be invoked is (again, IMO) a necessary consequence of the referendum vote.
If Parliament is really determined to have its say, then they do have the option of a vote of no confidence.
Of course it's perfectly possible to make various cases against this view, but merely as a matter of practicality it seems the most sensible one.
And in any event, the courts will decide.0 -
What is the exact allegation about that? The best I've seen anyone say is that she met a Nobel laureate Holocaust survivor and that Bono once e-mailed to ask to stream his music to the ISS.brokenwheel said:
Clinton Foundation/Pay to Play?Jobabob said:
Hillary is corrupt? On what evidence?Indigo said:
In 1996 the American people were said to have been offered the choice between a "sleazebag and a corpse" and chose the sleazebag, this time they have a choice between a boorish racist and a corrupt national security risk, interesting times.Jobabob said:
The support Trump gets on this forum from ostensibly sensible posters is beyond reason. Even many on his own side consider him one of the worst presidential candidates for generations, and the guy is demonstrably a straight-up racist.RobD said:nunu said:Trump donated 10x the legal limit to Charlie Crist's 2006 campaign by going thru 9 different companies on same day! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-donations-charlie-crist_us_57f2e982e4b0703f75909bb3 …
Oh dear...
"CORRECTION: This article has been updated to reflect Florida’s expansive definition of an individual campaign donor, which can include an individual and that person’s businesses, so Trump’s contributions may have conformed to the law. An earlier version suggested the contributions may have exceeded the legal limit."
Only from the PB Trumpers.
Only on PB.0 -
Most posters are agreed that Trump and Clinton are both awful. Some think that Trump is marginally worse, others that Clinton is marginally worse.Jobabob said:
Indeed so – the PB consensus that Trump is the best candidate is, as you say, somewhat dull.RobD said:
PB would be a boring place if we agreed on everythingJobabob said:
He clearly has support elsewhere, but the support he carries on here is downright weird, even by PB's standards.RobD said:
He only has support on PB? Wow, the readership must be larger than I first thought.Jobabob said:
The support Trump gets on this forum from ostensibly sensible posters is beyond reason. Even many on his own side consider him one of the worst presidential candidates for generations, and the guy is demonstrably a straight-up racist.RobD said:nunu said:Trump donated 10x the legal limit to Charlie Crist's 2006 campaign by going thru 9 different companies on same day! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-donations-charlie-crist_us_57f2e982e4b0703f75909bb3 …
Oh dear...
"CORRECTION: This article has been updated to reflect Florida’s expansive definition of an individual campaign donor, which can include an individual and that person’s businesses, so Trump’s contributions may have conformed to the law. An earlier version suggested the contributions may have exceeded the legal limit."
Only from the PB Trumpers.
Only on PB.
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Cameron Yarde Jnr
Britain will be fastest growing G7 economy this year, says IMF
https://t.co/wn7g41wYFe
Feel that butt hurt
Well quite, oodles of self obsessed interest and confirmation echo chamber bias.brokenwheel said:
We were supposed to be in recession this year for simply having voted to leave, long before negotiations finished.foxinsoxuk said:
While we are still in the EU and single market...PlatoSaid said:Cameron Yarde Jnr
Britain will be fastest growing G7 economy this year, says IMF
And people wonder why the 'experts' aren't taken seriously anymore...
Anyone who looked at the Emperor's clothes called a waycist xenophobe - and Mr Meeks would be a caricature I couldn't invent. Right down to his bragging about to his Vivienne Westwood tartan wedding suit as his avatar.0 -
I like Plymouth, or Hendricks with its Cucumber garnish. Bombay is a little weak for my taste, I'd choose Gordon's over Bombay. There's a big gin scene in Scotland, often due to all the new distilleries in production that can't sell Scotch whisky before the obligatory 3 years, so they make gin.0
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on topic.. surely it was a big political deal since the government of the day actually controlled the exchange rates?0
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Mumbai, surely?Luckyguy1983 said:I like Plymouth, or Hendricks with its Cucumber garnish. Bombay is a little weak for my taste, I'd choose Gordon's over Bombay. .
(I'll get me coat...)0 -
misread that last bit as with an extra "I".Alistair said:
What is the exact allegation about that? The best I've seen anyone say is that she met a Nobel laureate Holocaust survivor and that Bono once e-mailed to ask to stream his music to the ISS.brokenwheel said:
Clinton Foundation/Pay to Play?Jobabob said:
Hillary is corrupt? On what evidence?Indigo said:
In 1996 the American people were said to have been offered the choice between a "sleazebag and a corpse" and chose the sleazebag, this time they have a choice between a boorish racist and a corrupt national security risk, interesting times.Jobabob said:
The support Trump gets on this forum from ostensibly sensible posters is beyond reason. Even many on his own side consider him one of the worst presidential candidates for generations, and the guy is demonstrably a straight-up racist.RobD said:nunu said:Trump donated 10x the legal limit to Charlie Crist's 2006 campaign by going thru 9 different companies on same day! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-donations-charlie-crist_us_57f2e982e4b0703f75909bb3 …
Oh dear...
"CORRECTION: This article has been updated to reflect Florida’s expansive definition of an individual campaign donor, which can include an individual and that person’s businesses, so Trump’s contributions may have conformed to the law. An earlier version suggested the contributions may have exceeded the legal limit."
Only from the PB Trumpers.
Only on PB.
Then again, I can think of no crueller nor effective weapon in the war on terror..0 -
Ill informed more like. There are no grammar scholls nowadays, but there are Fee paying private schools as I can atest to.geoffw said:
You being funny?JonathanD said:
I was going to be pedantic and point this out ( I think there are about a dozen 'Grammar Schools' in Scotland) but they are non-selective so I thought I'd let it past.Scott_P said:
UmmmBig_G_NorthWales said:Never were Grammar Schools in Scotland but I did go to the one probably nearest in Berwick on Tweed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paisley_Grammar_School
Andrew Neil most prominent Alum right now
The other major difference between Scotland and England of course is the lack of fee paying schools.0 -
They were there but we were forbidden from making trade deals with them.FF43 said:
This irritates me. All the other countries of the world were there when we were members of the EU, Those horizons haven't changed one bit. We are just turning away from the EU. Period. Maybe we can't stand them. Maybe we actually like them but think we should stand on our own feet. Fair enough! Nevertheless Brexit is a disconnection. It's us turning inwards somewhat. That's where the tyre hits the road.RobD said:
Surely our horizons are growing, as we are turning away from the EU towards all the other countries in the world?ThreeQuidder said:
No, that's just your small, small mind.AlastairMeeks said:@Casino_Royale As you read through this thread, you can feel Britain shrinking: shrinking in economy size relative to its competitors, shrinking in influence, shrinking in its horizons.
It was this argument that we can liberate our trade with the rest of the world as well as just our continent that swung me from Remain to Leave. May not be why most leavers did but I suspect at least 3% of the populace did and it was arguments like that which helped make the difference between loud minority and getting a majority.0 -
It's from Germany. I had it in Switzerland. Very, good gin.TOPPING said:
Monkey 47 is supposed to be the ne plus ultra of gins. I tried it in Paris. They served it neat in a carafe, with separate bowls of lemon and ice.Sean_F said:
Yes, that struck me as strange too. Tanqueray, Bombay Sapphire as well as various lesser brands are produced in this country.Ishmael_X said:
All good gin is distilled in the UK from uk grain, and tonic water is mainly water. Why is the price of G & T's sensitive to currency movements? I suppose there's the lemons...Sean_F said:
There doesn't seem to have been much public outcry about the price of overseas holidays or G & T's that I can see.SquareRoot said:What polling evidence is there to support this theory that People do not seem to have noticed???..Anyone holidaying post BREXIT WIill have and there a whole pile of doo doo coming down the line with imports costing more.
Nice enough.
Edit: no idea where it comes from. Google would reveal, I suppose.0 -
@SouthamObserver @SeanT For similar reasons I can't look at Southern Comfort. An evening's drinking games with an ex has left me unable to go near the stuff.0
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When I was 16 I finished off a whole bottle of Harveys Bristol Cream because, well, you could in those days. Room spinning before I hit the bed, violently sick, etc.
Very disappointingly, I would still happily drink the stuff.0 -
Speaking as someone who has had to assemble and sell gin lists of up to 40, I can say that Monkey 47 stuff is actually pretty unpleasant tasting. Well made, but just not very nice. That has nothing to do with it being German, of course.SeanT said:
German gin??? Pfff. I'm sorry, I'm sure it's good - but pffffffMaxPB said:
It's from Germany. I had it in Switzerland. Very, good gin.TOPPING said:
Monkey 47 is supposed to be the ne plus ultra of gins. I tried it in Paris. They served it neat in a carafe, with separate bowls of lemon and ice.Sean_F said:
Yes, that struck me as strange too. Tanqueray, Bombay Sapphire as well as various lesser brands are produced in this country.Ishmael_X said:
All good gin is distilled in the UK from uk grain, and tonic water is mainly water. Why is the price of G & T's sensitive to currency movements? I suppose there's the lemons...Sean_F said:
There doesn't seem to have been much public outcry about the price of overseas holidays or G & T's that I can see.SquareRoot said:What polling evidence is there to support this theory that People do not seem to have noticed???..Anyone holidaying post BREXIT WIill have and there a whole pile of doo doo coming down the line with imports costing more.
Nice enough.
Edit: no idea where it comes from. Google would reveal, I suppose.
The best and only Gin is English. We stole it from the Dutch and now it is English.0 -
It would make it more expensive in all probability, due to the increase in overseas demand. But that's hardly a rallying cry for remoaners.Sean_F said:
Yes, that struck me as strange too. Tanqueray, Bombay Sapphire as well as various lesser brands are produced in this country.Ishmael_X said:
All good gin is distilled in the UK from uk grain, and tonic water is mainly water. Why is the price of G & T's sensitive to currency movements? I suppose there's the lemons...Sean_F said:
There doesn't seem to have been much public outcry about the price of overseas holidays or G & T's that I can see.SquareRoot said:What polling evidence is there to support this theory that People do not seem to have noticed???..Anyone holidaying post BREXIT WIill have and there a whole pile of doo doo coming down the line with imports costing more.
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One of Apple's greatest mis-steps was loading a U2 album onto peoples' iTunes and then acting surprised when there was a backlash.TOPPING said:
misread that last bit as with an extra "I".Alistair said:
What is the exact allegation about that? The best I've seen anyone say is that she met a Nobel laureate Holocaust survivor and that Bono once e-mailed to ask to stream his music to the ISS.brokenwheel said:
Clinton Foundation/Pay to Play?Jobabob said:
Hillary is corrupt? On what evidence?Indigo said:
In 1996 the American people were said to have been offered the choice between a "sleazebag and a corpse" and chose the sleazebag, this time they have a choice between a boorish racist and a corrupt national security risk, interesting times.Jobabob said:
The support Trump gets on this forum from ostensibly sensible posters is beyond reason. Even many on his own side consider him one of the worst presidential candidates for generations, and the guy is demonstrably a straight-up racist.RobD said:nunu said:Trump donated 10x the legal limit to Charlie Crist's 2006 campaign by going thru 9 different companies on same day! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-donations-charlie-crist_us_57f2e982e4b0703f75909bb3 …
Oh dear...
"CORRECTION: This article has been updated to reflect Florida’s expansive definition of an individual campaign donor, which can include an individual and that person’s businesses, so Trump’s contributions may have conformed to the law. An earlier version suggested the contributions may have exceeded the legal limit."
Only from the PB Trumpers.
Only on PB.
Then again, I can think of no crueller nor effective weapon in the war on terror..0 -
HBC is good garnished with orange wedges with ice - they were pushing it as a signature serve last Christmas. Nice.TOPPING said:When I was 16 I finished off a whole bottle of Harveys Bristol Cream because, well, you could in those days. Room spinning before I hit the bed, violently sick, etc.
Very disappointingly, I would still happily drink the stuff.0 -
You say that, but it sounds exactly like it is to do with it being German.Stonch said:
Speaking as someone who has had to assemble and sell gin lists of up to 40, I can say that Monkey 47 stuff is actually pretty unpleasant tasting. Well made, but just not very nice. That has nothing to do with it being German, of course.SeanT said:
German gin??? Pfff. I'm sorry, I'm sure it's good - but pffffffMaxPB said:
It's from Germany. I had it in Switzerland. Very, good gin.TOPPING said:
Monkey 47 is supposed to be the ne plus ultra of gins. I tried it in Paris. They served it neat in a carafe, with separate bowls of lemon and ice.Sean_F said:
Yes, that struck me as strange too. Tanqueray, Bombay Sapphire as well as various lesser brands are produced in this country.Ishmael_X said:
All good gin is distilled in the UK from uk grain, and tonic water is mainly water. Why is the price of G & T's sensitive to currency movements? I suppose there's the lemons...Sean_F said:
There doesn't seem to have been much public outcry about the price of overseas holidays or G & T's that I can see.SquareRoot said:What polling evidence is there to support this theory that People do not seem to have noticed???..Anyone holidaying post BREXIT WIill have and there a whole pile of doo doo coming down the line with imports costing more.
Nice enough.
Edit: no idea where it comes from. Google would reveal, I suppose.
The best and only Gin is English. We stole it from the Dutch and now it is English.0 -
AlastairMeeks said:
@SouthamObserver @SeanT For similar reasons I can't look at Southern Comfort. An evening's drinking games with an ex has left me unable to go near the stuff.
I went off white wine for a year after drinking it like water one night (to the point someone handed me a tall glass with wine in and I thought it was water). It was only after having a similar night with a red wine that I got over that.AlastairMeeks said:@SouthamObserver @SeanT For similar reasons I can't look at Southern Comfort. An evening's drinking games with an ex has left me unable to go near the stuff.
Those were the days. I am much more boring now lol.0 -
It won't happen, but I guess if people think that Brexit frees up trade elsewhere, it makes sense to them. Perceptions are why we are on this site, after all.Philip_Thompson said:
They were there but we were forbidden from making trade deals with them.FF43 said:
This irritates me. All the other countries of the world were there when we were members of the EU, Those horizons haven't changed one bit. We are just turning away from the EU. Period. Maybe we can't stand them. Maybe we actually like them but think we should stand on our own feet. Fair enough! Nevertheless Brexit is a disconnection. It's us turning inwards somewhat. That's where the tyre hits the road.RobD said:
Surely our horizons are growing, as we are turning away from the EU towards all the other countries in the world?ThreeQuidder said:
No, that's just your small, small mind.AlastairMeeks said:@Casino_Royale As you read through this thread, you can feel Britain shrinking: shrinking in economy size relative to its competitors, shrinking in influence, shrinking in its horizons.
It was this argument that we can liberate our trade with the rest of the world as well as just our continent that swung me from Remain to Leave. May not be why most leavers did but I suspect at least 3% of the populace did and it was arguments like that which helped make the difference between loud minority and getting a majority.0 -
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Trump hate?TOPPING said:0 -
Why won't it happen. It's the very purpose of Liam Fox's department.FF43 said:
It won't happen, but I guess if people think that Brexit frees up trade elsewhere, it makes sense to them. Perceptions are why we are on this site, after all.Philip_Thompson said:
They were there but we were forbidden from making trade deals with them.FF43 said:
This irritates me. All the other countries of the world were there when we were members of the EU, Those horizons haven't changed one bit. We are just turning away from the EU. Period. Maybe we can't stand them. Maybe we actually like them but think we should stand on our own feet. Fair enough! Nevertheless Brexit is a disconnection. It's us turning inwards somewhat. That's where the tyre hits the road.RobD said:
Surely our horizons are growing, as we are turning away from the EU towards all the other countries in the world?ThreeQuidder said:
No, that's just your small, small mind.AlastairMeeks said:@Casino_Royale As you read through this thread, you can feel Britain shrinking: shrinking in economy size relative to its competitors, shrinking in influence, shrinking in its horizons.
It was this argument that we can liberate our trade with the rest of the world as well as just our continent that swung me from Remain to Leave. May not be why most leavers did but I suspect at least 3% of the populace did and it was arguments like that which helped make the difference between loud minority and getting a majority.0 -
Worse than that we have tariff barriers with a lot of them, notably poor North African fruit/vegetable farmers, designed to keep our old friends the French farmers in business. Food could easily get cheaper post BrExit.Philip_Thompson said:
They were there but we were forbidden from making trade deals with them.FF43 said:
This irritates me. All the other countries of the world were there when we were members of the EU, Those horizons haven't changed one bit. We are just turning away from the EU. Period. Maybe we can't stand them. Maybe we actually like them but think we should stand on our own feet. Fair enough! Nevertheless Brexit is a disconnection. It's us turning inwards somewhat. That's where the tyre hits the road.RobD said:
Surely our horizons are growing, as we are turning away from the EU towards all the other countries in the world?ThreeQuidder said:
No, that's just your small, small mind.AlastairMeeks said:@Casino_Royale As you read through this thread, you can feel Britain shrinking: shrinking in economy size relative to its competitors, shrinking in influence, shrinking in its horizons.
It was this argument that we can liberate our trade with the rest of the world as well as just our continent that swung me from Remain to Leave. May not be why most leavers did but I suspect at least 3% of the populace did and it was arguments like that which helped make the difference between loud minority and getting a majority.0 -
OK, here's my story about alcohol:
I think I'm just about the only non-Muslim tee-totaller on PB 0 -
For Hillary fans - Apple did the same as Trump
Guess who else loss a billion dollars in one year? The left loved Steve Jobs. Hypocrites. #TrumpTaxReturns #RedNationRising https://t.co/eBhf4ctPLq0 -
Larry Elder
When Harry Reid and Bill Clinton slammed "illegal aliens," no one called it "RACIST"!
https://t.co/jKofMDvgHF
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I'm not convinced the Left loves Apple's tax arrangements.PlatoSaid said:For Hillary fans - Apple did the same as Trump
Guess who else loss a billion dollars in one year? The left loved Steve Jobs. Hypocrites. #TrumpTaxReturns #RedNationRising https://t.co/eBhf4ctPLq0 -
You and Jezza?Sunil_Prasannan said:OK, here's my story about alcohol:
I think I'm just about the only non-Muslim tee-totaller on PB0 -
Drink story...
So I was a young trader in the City of London in the 1980s when it was exploding.....
Actually I reckon you can probably fill in the rest yourselves.0 -
That's when it becomes the G10.rcs1000 said:
On the current GBP/USD and EUR/USD exchange rates, France has overtaken us into second, albeit marginally ($2.53trl vs $2.48trl). Italy is, however, some way behind ($1.91trl). India will likely overtake us in the next two years, so we are in danger of theoretically falling out of the G7.FeersumEnjineeya said:Our economy is probably smaller than France's by now. At what point does it become smaller than Italy's?
Edit to add: oops, I mean falling into 7th position...
After all it was the G5 until we weren't...0 -
How can the moronic Right celebrate someone for not paying taxes ? This $916m meant many people and companies lost money, and many lost jobs so that a buffoon could be "smart".PlatoSaid said:For Hillary fans - Apple did the same as Trump
Guess who else loss a billion dollars in one year? The left loved Steve Jobs. Hypocrites. #TrumpTaxReturns #RedNationRising https://t.co/eBhf4ctPLq0 -
If it was the whole repertoire, the walkman thieves obviously took you at your word.SeanT said:And here's one of those photos
https://twitter.com/thomasknox/status/7833278779830108160 -
I'm not tee total either. Had bad experiences on Southern comfort, Malibu, Martini and rum. The worst ever was snakebite and black in the mid 80's0
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One of the disadvantages.... well, it’s about the only one ...... of Bangkok is that one can’t get fat-free tonic. Might this be the answer?Indigo said:
Oo that looks interesting. I am back in the UK in a couple of months or so for a few weeks, will add it to my shopping list.Jobabob said:
I was introduced to tonic syrup by my brother – Jack Rudy is the brand I think. You mix it with gin and sparkling water.Indigo said:
For some reason people here feel that Beefeater is the best, personally I think it tastes like denture cleaner and that any self respecting Englishman abroad should be drinking Gordon's London Gin with Schweppes Indian Tonic Water not that there usually a lot of choice. The first time I came here twenty years ago Tonic water (of any brand) was like gold dust and Expats hoarded it for special occasions. If it wasn't a high day or holidays you tended to be offered "Gin & Royal", where Royal True Orange is the local branding of Tango Orange. A little bit odd, but after the first couple it goes down much the samefoxinsoxuk said:
There are some lovely Spanish gins, and I am also a fan of Old Genever from the low countries. Malawi gin is very drinkeable too, I always bring a bottle or two back when I visit.Ishmael_X said:
All good gin is distilled in the UK from uk grain, and tonic water is mainly water. Why is the price of G & T's sensitive to currency movements? I suppose there's the lemons...Sean_F said:
There doesn't seem to have been much public outcry about the price of overseas holidays or G & T's that I can see.SquareRoot said:What polling evidence is there to support this theory that People do not seem to have noticed???..Anyone holidaying post BREXIT WIill have and there a whole pile of doo doo coming down the line with imports costing more.
Thankfully the range is a bit more cosmopolitan these days.
As a lifelong Schweppes man, I'm converted. You don't need much of it and it tastes great.
http://jackrudycocktailco.com/purchase/mixers/small-batch-tonic/0 -
the govetnment would simpky be enacting a provision in a treaty that parliament has approved. That is within their remit.Dromedary said:For all our talk on here, the Torygraph seems to have forgotten the basics of how the British state works when they say that "Theresa May will repeal the 1972 European Communities Act". She can't do any such thing.
Neither Theresa May nor the government have the authority to trigger Article 50 either. Why? Because doing so would reverse a decision by Parliament, which can only be done by Parliament. Only Parliament can give them that authority. Even if the leader of this pearls-and-hairstyle cackheap of a government, with its clown as a Foreign Secretary - a government which probably won't last long - did send in an Article 50 letter, the Supreme fCourt would declare that her act of doing so was unlawful. And that, dear Leavers, is what counts. The Commission would have to swallow that and rip the letter up.0 -
Any of them running for president?PlatoSaid said:For Hillary fans - Apple did the same as Trump
Guess who else loss a billion dollars in one year? The left loved Steve Jobs. Hypocrites. #TrumpTaxReturns #RedNationRising https://t.co/eBhf4ctPLq
Trump can clear everything up once he releases his full tax returns.0 -
Or alternatively, you dreamed all of the above whilst in a drug- and drink induced coma in a ditch in Islington?SeanT said:(Snip)
So we had two bottles of posh each - at 10am - hey, go with the flow - and half an hour later I started doing all the songs from Oliver! - I have photos to prove it, taken by my friend, of me dancing round the dusty plaza while the guys in sombreros stare at me singing Consider Yourself.
An hour later we went into a coma. Ten hours later I woke up lying on a hillside by the plaza and it was dark and cold and I'd been robbed of my Walkman and my friend seemed to be dead. Stiff and cold and unresponsive
I panicked. There was one car left in the village about to leave for town so I ran for it shouting "my friend is death" - mi amigo es la muerte (I was trying to say "my friend is dead") - and they were giving me funny looks - like, Who ees this gringo who says his friend eees Death?
But they gave me a lift into town anyway and then I crept into my hotel bed and hid under the duvet and two hours later my friend appeared, angry, at the door, saying What the fuck were you thinking, leaving me there, on my own, in that mad village of sun worshippers, I could have been murdered, and I said
"I thought you were dead"
And he said
"Ah, ok"
And then we had a beer.
Where does fact end and fiction begin during such a holiday?
My biggest binge was during my first year at uni, on a sad anniversary. I went to the bar on campus (South Woodford), and we had a whisky drinking competition to cheer me up. (*) Everyone else dropped out after a handful of doubles and I kept going. After thirteen double whiskies and a tequila in forty-five minutes, I'm sick in the pool-table pocket.
I wake up the next morning on the floor in my room, sans coat and with bruised sides. I distinctly remembered waking back, getting the lift up to my flat, chatting with my friends, and falling asleep in bed. But where is my coat, and why do I feel like I've been dragged up eleven flights of stairs?
So I go and see one of my friends. He tells me that we left and I tried to leapfrog the concrete bollards lining the road. I did a few, then staggered and fell spreadeagled over another. They then dragged me back to the halls of residence and up the stairs, before dropping me on the floor. He had stayed with me for four hours to be sure I wouldn't choke on my own vomit, and cleaned up.
My mind had invented the walk back and several conversations.
I went to the bar that night to apologise and pick up my coat. The barmaid laughed when I offered to pay for a cleaner for the pool table, and she said: "The rugger lads do worse in here most weeks."
Still, I made one of my dearest friends was made that night, and she says: "It's the tequila that did it!"
(*) I was young, and it made sense. At least I think it did.0 -
This one is lovely http://www.ginfoundry.com/gin/hendricks-gin/TOPPING said:
Monkey 47 is supposed to be the ne plus ultra of gins. I tried it in Paris. They served it neat in a carafe, with separate bowls of lemon and ice.Sean_F said:
Yes, that struck me as strange too. Tanqueray, Bombay Sapphire as well as various lesser brands are produced in this country.Ishmael_X said:
All good gin is distilled in the UK from uk grain, and tonic water is mainly water. Why is the price of G & T's sensitive to currency movements? I suppose there's the lemons...Sean_F said:
There doesn't seem to have been much public outcry about the price of overseas holidays or G & T's that I can see.SquareRoot said:What polling evidence is there to support this theory that People do not seem to have noticed???..Anyone holidaying post BREXIT WIill have and there a whole pile of doo doo coming down the line with imports costing more.
Nice enough.
Edit: no idea where it comes from. Google would reveal, I suppose.0 -
Thank goodness. Sounds like you were on a one way ticket to 4 or 5 units above the BMA recommended weekly maximum.Philip_Thompson said:AlastairMeeks said:@SouthamObserver @SeanT For similar reasons I can't look at Southern Comfort. An evening's drinking games with an ex has left me unable to go near the stuff.
I went off white wine for a year after drinking it like water one night (to the point someone handed me a tall glass with wine in and I thought it was water). It was only after having a similar night with a red wine that I got over that.AlastairMeeks said:@SouthamObserver @SeanT For similar reasons I can't look at Southern Comfort. An evening's drinking games with an ex has left me unable to go near the stuff.
Those were the days. I am much more boring now lol.0 -
When I was 30 I was in the middle (*) of walking 6,200 miles around the coast.SeanT said:And here's one of those photos
https://twitter.com/thomasknox/status/783327877983010816
I think you had more fun ...
(*) Spent the birthday in Cardigan, at the end of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path.0 -
I take it you are in favour of ending the practice whereby you can use previous losses to reduce future tax liabilities?surbiton said:
How can the moronic Right celebrate someone for not paying taxes ? This $916m meant many people and companies lost money, and many lost jobs so that a buffoon could be "smart".PlatoSaid said:For Hillary fans - Apple did the same as Trump
Guess who else loss a billion dollars in one year? The left loved Steve Jobs. Hypocrites. #TrumpTaxReturns #RedNationRising https://t.co/eBhf4ctPLq0 -
Speaking as a right winger that wants Hillary to win I blame the overly complicated tax code that allows such loopholes that will inevitably be exploited. I pay my taxes in full and always have and want the government to introduce simpler, lower, flat taxes with no exemptions. Make it simpler to make everyone pay their fair share.surbiton said:
How can the moronic Right celebrate someone for not paying taxes ? This $916m meant many people and companies lost money, and many lost jobs so that a buffoon could be "smart".PlatoSaid said:For Hillary fans - Apple did the same as Trump
Guess who else loss a billion dollars in one year? The left loved Steve Jobs. Hypocrites. #TrumpTaxReturns #RedNationRising https://t.co/eBhf4ctPLq
Though if he hasn't paid taxes as he lost money that makes him a bad businessman and not a tax cheat.0 -
I sometimes have a tot of whisky, usually when watching Pointless. That's my wild drinking story.0
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If he lost a billion dollars in the early nineties and hasn't recouped it since then, he isn't "smart"RobD said:
I take it you are in favour of ending the practice whereby you can use previous losses to reduce future tax liabilities?surbiton said:
How can the moronic Right celebrate someone for not paying taxes ? This $916m meant many people and companies lost money, and many lost jobs so that a buffoon could be "smart".PlatoSaid said:For Hillary fans - Apple did the same as Trump
Guess who else loss a billion dollars in one year? The left loved Steve Jobs. Hypocrites. #TrumpTaxReturns #RedNationRising https://t.co/eBhf4ctPLq0 -
You are making the mistake of trying to reason with his lead cheerleader on here – from Blairite to Britain First Trumpite in a few short years.surbiton said:
How can the moronic Right celebrate someone for not paying taxes ? This $916m meant many people and companies lost money, and many lost jobs so that a buffoon could be "smart".PlatoSaid said:For Hillary fans - Apple did the same as Trump
Guess who else loss a billion dollars in one year? The left loved Steve Jobs. Hypocrites. #TrumpTaxReturns #RedNationRising https://t.co/eBhf4ctPLq0 -
I keep hearing about the "May honeymoon". Well it seems full of argumentative and disagreeing people, judging by all the electoral results since she took over. By any measure her results have been a calamity. If the same happens at Witney, and there are ominous signs they could, she will be in real internal trouble.0
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Next year I will be 50. I expect to spend that birthday in a cardigan!JosiasJessop said:
When I was 30 I was in the middle (*) of walking 6,200 miles around the coast.SeanT said:And here's one of those photos
https://twitter.com/thomasknox/status/783327877983010816
I think you had more fun ...
(*) Spent the birthday in Cardigan, at the end of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path.0 -
One thing about getting old is that, when health professionals ask about one’s drinking habit. one can cheerfully say "too much” in a tone of voice which precludes further discussion!Theuniondivvie said:
Thank goodness. Sounds like you were on a one way ticket to 4 or 5 units above the BMA recommended weekly maximum.Philip_Thompson said:AlastairMeeks said:@SouthamObserver @SeanT For similar reasons I can't look at Southern Comfort. An evening's drinking games with an ex has left me unable to go near the stuff.
I went off white wine for a year after drinking it like water one night (to the point someone handed me a tall glass with wine in and I thought it was water). It was only after having a similar night with a red wine that I got over that.AlastairMeeks said:@SouthamObserver @SeanT For similar reasons I can't look at Southern Comfort. An evening's drinking games with an ex has left me unable to go near the stuff.
Those were the days. I am much more boring now lol.0 -
Hendricks is the hipster's choice in trendy bars in Shoreditch.malcolmg said:
This one is lovely http://www.ginfoundry.com/gin/hendricks-gin/TOPPING said:
Monkey 47 is supposed to be the ne plus ultra of gins. I tried it in Paris. They served it neat in a carafe, with separate bowls of lemon and ice.Sean_F said:
Yes, that struck me as strange too. Tanqueray, Bombay Sapphire as well as various lesser brands are produced in this country.Ishmael_X said:
All good gin is distilled in the UK from uk grain, and tonic water is mainly water. Why is the price of G & T's sensitive to currency movements? I suppose there's the lemons...Sean_F said:
There doesn't seem to have been much public outcry about the price of overseas holidays or G & T's that I can see.SquareRoot said:What polling evidence is there to support this theory that People do not seem to have noticed???..Anyone holidaying post BREXIT WIill have and there a whole pile of doo doo coming down the line with imports costing more.
Nice enough.
Edit: no idea where it comes from. Google would reveal, I suppose.0 -
I'm on about 3 times the BMA limit.Theuniondivvie said:
Thank goodness. Sounds like you were on a one way ticket to 4 or 5 units above the BMA recommended weekly maximum.Philip_Thompson said:AlastairMeeks said:@SouthamObserver @SeanT For similar reasons I can't look at Southern Comfort. An evening's drinking games with an ex has left me unable to go near the stuff.
I went off white wine for a year after drinking it like water one night (to the point someone handed me a tall glass with wine in and I thought it was water). It was only after having a similar night with a red wine that I got over that.AlastairMeeks said:@SouthamObserver @SeanT For similar reasons I can't look at Southern Comfort. An evening's drinking games with an ex has left me unable to go near the stuff.
Those were the days. I am much more boring now lol.0 -
Does that make Dromedary one short of a Bactrian?Charles said:
the govetnment would simpky be enacting a provision in a treaty that parliament has approved. That is within their remit.Dromedary said:For all our talk on here, the Torygraph seems to have forgotten the basics of how the British state works when they say that "Theresa May will repeal the 1972 European Communities Act". She can't do any such thing.
Neither Theresa May nor the government have the authority to trigger Article 50 either. Why? Because doing so would reverse a decision by Parliament, which can only be done by Parliament. Only Parliament can give them that authority. Even if the leader of this pearls-and-hairstyle cackheap of a government, with its clown as a Foreign Secretary - a government which probably won't last long - did send in an Article 50 letter, the Supreme fCourt would declare that her act of doing so was unlawful. And that, dear Leavers, is what counts. The Commission would have to swallow that and rip the letter up.0 -
Is one enough when watching Pointless?frpenkridge said:I sometimes have a tot of whisky, usually when watching Pointless. That's my wild drinking story.
0 -
Don't show off: it's more than I can have at the moment.frpenkridge said:I sometimes have a tot of whisky, usually when watching Pointless. That's my wild drinking story.
(Sympathy please, people. Enforced tee-totality is truly a weighty cross to carry)0 -
The hypothesis is that autonomous trade deals negotiated by Liam Fox's department will lead to more actual trade with third countries THAN IS ACHIEVABLE on the EU set of trade deals. These are the issues:Philip_Thompson said:
Why won't it happen. It's the very purpose of Liam Fox's department.FF43 said:
It won't happen, but I guess if people think that Brexit frees up trade elsewhere, it makes sense to them. Perceptions are why we are on this site, after all.Philip_Thompson said:
It was this argument that we can liberate our trade with the rest of the world as well as just our continent that swung me from Remain to Leave. May not be why most leavers did but I suspect at least 3% of the populace did and it was arguments like that which helped make the difference between loud minority and getting a majority.
1. Will there be more of them? The Liam Fox deals don't exist and will take decades to negotiate. In the meantime we would on this scenario discard several dozen deals painfully negotiated by the EU over three decades. In the meantime there will definitely be fewer deals in place and the number of eventual deals is unlikely to meet or exceed the original EU number.
2. Will they be more favourable than the EU deals to the UK? Being a single country with just one set of interests, these deals may be more appropriate than the EU ones because they have to accommodate more interests. On the other hand the counterparty interests are just as important and they will favour the EU more simply because it has greater market clout. In practice, the UK could probably sign up with countries of a similar size to it with good deals. I am thinking specifically of Australia and Canada. Any deal with China, the USA or India is likely to be one-sided towards the other party, which is why the EU has refused so far to do FTAs with them. With the smaller countries the EU deals are likely to be at least as good as UK ones. It's a wash overall.
3. Do bilateral free trade agreements help trade that much? Not really. One issue is trade distortion. Say we agree an FTA to sell bedlinen to the USA, but the content rules require us to use American cotton to avoid import duties. It's a marginal call whether we wouldn't be better buying the better and cheaper cotton from Egypt and take the hit on the duties for the bedlinen we export to the USA. We can then buy and sell our linen to whomever we like. The Australian Productivity Commission concluded that preferential trade agreements (and in particular Australia's FTA with the USA) were at best neutral in terms of a net boost to trade. Multilateral agreements are good Unfortunately we are walking away from the most important of these. Apart from EU countries, we trade most with China and the US without bilateral free trade agreements in place.
0 -
Dons pedant's cap.SeanT said:Another drinking story.
On the Trans Siberian Railway, about 1993. Somewhere near Ulan-Ude?
I was SO drunk on vodka I thought I was Lenin. Literally. I thought I was Lenin. This realisation made me so happy I climbed out of the train and lay down flat on the platform, I've no idea why, and some East Germans had to come out and carry me back on board.
They'd have just been Germans by that point.
Removes pedant's cap but keeps it handy.0 -
Jezza is on PB? Where?SandyRentool said:
You and Jezza?Sunil_Prasannan said:OK, here's my story about alcohol:
I think I'm just about the only non-Muslim tee-totaller on PB-1 -
Good afternoon, everyone.0
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As a student in Xian in the late 1980s I once got royally mullahed on ErGuoTou - a Chinese spirit of 55% alcohol. Makes your eyes shimmer. Hardly able to stand I decided I'd make a dramatic entrance by slamming open the saloon style doors to the foreign students block. But they were glass doors and I simply put my hands through, cutting my right hand very badly. Needing urgent stitching I decided, fantastically, to cycle to the local hospital. (About 01:00 a.m. and a couple of miles away). I somehow arrived and tried to explain my predicament, but the blood pouring from my hand kind of did this for me anyway. Was ushered by the only doc on duty to the 'theatre'. There was a table covered in a sheet. At one end of which was a pile of black hair shavings, at least a pint of coagulating blood and what appeared to be some brain. Was made to sit at the other end while the doc splashed me with iodine and stitched me up. No anaesthetic - didn't really need any. I took the stitches out myself a week later!0
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We asked 100 member of the public...ReggieCide said:
Is one enough when watching Pointless?frpenkridge said:I sometimes have a tot of whisky, usually when watching Pointless. That's my wild drinking story.
0 -
How was the pollution back then ?Patrick said:As a student in Xian in the late 1980s I once got royally mullahed on ErGuoTou - a Chinese spirit of 55% alcohol. Makes your eyes shimmer. Hardly able to stand I decided I'd make a dramatic entrance by slamming open the saloon style doors to the foreign students block. But they were glass doors and I simply put my hands through, cutting my right hand very badly. Needing urgent stitching I decided, fantastically, to cycle to the local hospital. (About 01:00 a.m. and a couple of miles away). I somehow arrived and tried to explain my predicament, but the blood pouring from my hand kind of did this for me anyway. Was ushered by the only doc on duty to the 'theatre'. There was a table covered in a sheet. At one end of which was a pile of black hair shavings, at least a pint of coagulating blood and what appeared to be some brain. Was made to sit at the other end while the doc splashed me with iodine and stitched me up. No anaesthetic - didn't really need any. I took the stitches out myself a week later!
I went there about a decade ago, was a dump compared to Kunming (Where I'd travelled from) I thought !
Terracota army was a bit underwhelming.0 -
Thank you I will try it.malcolmg said:
This one is lovely http://www.ginfoundry.com/gin/hendricks-gin/TOPPING said:
Monkey 47 is supposed to be the ne plus ultra of gins. I tried it in Paris. They served it neat in a carafe, with separate bowls of lemon and ice.Sean_F said:
Yes, that struck me as strange too. Tanqueray, Bombay Sapphire as well as various lesser brands are produced in this country.Ishmael_X said:
All good gin is distilled in the UK from uk grain, and tonic water is mainly water. Why is the price of G & T's sensitive to currency movements? I suppose there's the lemons...Sean_F said:
There doesn't seem to have been much public outcry about the price of overseas holidays or G & T's that I can see.SquareRoot said:What polling evidence is there to support this theory that People do not seem to have noticed???..Anyone holidaying post BREXIT WIill have and there a whole pile of doo doo coming down the line with imports costing more.
Nice enough.
Edit: no idea where it comes from. Google would reveal, I suppose.0 -
Goodness gracious, the number of people on here who drink gin. Astonishing. Not for nothing is it known as "mothers' ruin" and if that were not signal enough it is also the favoured spirit of RN officers. Repent ye all, and turn to whisky or even whiskey.0
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My first post in some time. For happy reasons - pleased to say i became a daddy for the first time 5 weeks ago, so PB has quite naturally fallen down the list of priorities!
As many of you will recall, I was seriously torn on the EU referendum and came down on the safety first Remain side in the end. And I suspect I would vote the same if we had another go tomorrow.
That said, I cannot now see the point in fannying around trying to negotiate some half-arsed fudge with 27 other states and the EU institutions (who don't want to play ball) and which gives us basically all the same benefits and obligations of being in the EU but with none of the influence or say on any of it.
Let's grasp the nettle. Folk narrowly voted to Leave. So we must leave. Our stated position should be that we will make a clean break. The hardest of hard Brexits and be done with it. Nevertheless, we will extend the hand of friendship and co-operation to our European cousins. We will let them import their goods to the UK without imposing import tariffs or undue restrictions, we will let their people holiday and come on business trips here without undue let or hindrance, we will treat their people in our hospitals when they're here - and we'd very much like to put in place any number of formal agreements to co-operate on many matters including free trade and movement of people for work, where we have common ground, and all of which can be done in due course. But, if they wish to impose restrictions on our exports to them, or to our ability to travel to EU states or be treated in hospital there and so on - then we will, with a deep heart and regret, have to sadly reciprocate.
As for the Article 50 negotiations, that will be limited (as the Treaty, to my knowledge, intended) with simply divvying up the assets, transitional arrangements to pay some fees to Brussels whilst we transition out etc, and not trying to negotiate some new arrangements under the Art 50 process.
That sounds perfectly sensible and reasonable to me as a starting point. No arguing over pre-negotiations or the timing of Article 50. Tell them what we're doing, and just get on with it, including repealing the ECA1972.
If we're gonna leave, let's at least do it properly!
Sigh - I sound like Liam Fox....! :-)0 -
Drinking is going the same way as smoking.0
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If you want a killer hang over...Few bottles of Soju....0
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None. The Chinese economic / pollution miracle hadn't reached Xian in 1988. Xian is all glass office towers and swanky hotels now. Then it was still backward and deeply cool. I got given a bottle of whiskey by Lord Young, Maggie's trade minister when he came to visit China. Dude. The year before mine another Edinburgh student was the one who stupidly told the media about Prince Philip's 'slitty eyes' joke when HMQ and he visited. Tool.Pulpstar said:
How was the pollution back then ?Patrick said:As a student in Xian in the late 1980s I once got royally mullahed on ErGuoTou - a Chinese spirit of 55% alcohol. Makes your eyes shimmer. Hardly able to stand I decided I'd make a dramatic entrance by slamming open the saloon style doors to the foreign students block. But they were glass doors and I simply put my hands through, cutting my right hand very badly. Needing urgent stitching I decided, fantastically, to cycle to the local hospital. (About 01:00 a.m. and a couple of miles away). I somehow arrived and tried to explain my predicament, but the blood pouring from my hand kind of did this for me anyway. Was ushered by the only doc on duty to the 'theatre'. There was a table covered in a sheet. At one end of which was a pile of black hair shavings, at least a pint of coagulating blood and what appeared to be some brain. Was made to sit at the other end while the doc splashed me with iodine and stitched me up. No anaesthetic - didn't really need any. I took the stitches out myself a week later!
0 -
Talking of coagulating blood, easiliest the most disgusting thing I have ever eaten/drunk is fresh snake blood and snake bile. In Foshan, as I remember.Patrick said:As a student in Xian in the late 1980s I once got royally mullahed on ErGuoTou - a Chinese spirit of 55% alcohol. Makes your eyes shimmer. Hardly able to stand I decided I'd make a dramatic entrance by slamming open the saloon style doors to the foreign students block. But they were glass doors and I simply put my hands through, cutting my right hand very badly. Needing urgent stitching I decided, fantastically, to cycle to the local hospital. (About 01:00 a.m. and a couple of miles away). I somehow arrived and tried to explain my predicament, but the blood pouring from my hand kind of did this for me anyway. Was ushered by the only doc on duty to the 'theatre'. There was a table covered in a sheet. At one end of which was a pile of black hair shavings, at least a pint of coagulating blood and what appeared to be some brain. Was made to sit at the other end while the doc splashed me with iodine and stitched me up. No anaesthetic - didn't really need any. I took the stitches out myself a week later!
0 -
Thank goodness I say that we didn't have BMA limits in the period 1939-45HurstLlama said:Goodness gracious, the number of people on here who drink gin. Astonishing. Not for nothing is it known as "mothers' ruin" and if that were not signal enough it is also the favoured spirit of RN officers. Repent ye all, and turn to whisky or even whiskey.
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/harry-wallop-churchills-feats-impossible-to-match-beginning-with-his-daily-alcohol-consumption0 -
it's easy pushing against an open door....TheScreamingEagles said:Further proof Ruth Davidson is an absolute legend, who cares about the futures of ALL children, not just a select few.
Ruth Davidson opposes new grammar schools in Scotland
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/03/ruth-davidson-opposes-new-grammar-schools-in-scotland/0 -
Mr. Topping, I once had beef in lukewarm blood. Rather unpleasant, as it was starting to coagulate.
Mr. Sykes, congratulations 0 -
OldKingCole said:
One thing about getting old is that, when health professionals ask about one’s drinking habit. one can cheerfully say "too much” in a tone of voice which precludes further discussion!Theuniondivvie said:
Thank goodness. Sounds like you were on a one way ticket to 4 or 5 units above the BMA recommended weekly maximum.Philip_Thompson said:AlastairMeeks said:@SouthamObserver @SeanT For similar reasons I can't look at Southern Comfort. An evening's drinking games with an ex has left me unable to go near the stuff.
I went off white wine for a year after drinking it like water one night (to the point someone handed me a tall glass with wine in and I thought it was water). It was only after having a similar night with a red wine that I got over that.AlastairMeeks said:@SouthamObserver @SeanT For similar reasons I can't look at Southern Comfort. An evening's drinking games with an ex has left me unable to go near the stuff.
Those were the days. I am much more boring now lol.
Me too. And one can do it guilt free, after all it is not going to make much difference.0 -
Just trying to work out what 'BMA limits' were I googled the phrase and came across this as the top link:rural_voter said:
Thank goodness I say that we didn't have BMA limits in the period 1939-45HurstLlama said:Goodness gracious, the number of people on here who drink gin. Astonishing. Not for nothing is it known as "mothers' ruin" and if that were not signal enough it is also the favoured spirit of RN officers. Repent ye all, and turn to whisky or even whiskey.
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/harry-wallop-churchills-feats-impossible-to-match-beginning-with-his-daily-alcohol-consumption
http://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a748
No wonder they are so stretched for resources and reliant on doctors from other countries.
0 -
Um, I did Westbury-Taunton-Exeter-Newton Abbot by rail for the first time yesterday. Saw the sea wall at Dawlish!JosiasJessop said:
When I was 30 I was in the middle (*) of walking 6,200 miles around the coast.SeanT said:And here's one of those photos
https://twitter.com/thomasknox/status/783327877983010816
I think you had more fun ...
(*) Spent the birthday in Cardigan, at the end of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path.
#addiction0 -
Interestingly one of the potential positives of Brexit is an increase in the importance of the WTO. It would be feasible to imagine a scenario in which we don't really look to sign bilateral trade agreements but actually work much harder at the WTO level to remove/reduce tariffs across the board (and actually work on the punishment of those that don't follow the WTO rules). It has the effect of moving from 'multilateral FTA's' to 'globalateral Trade Agreements', albeit via no FTA'sFF43 said:
The hypothesis is that autonomous trade deals negotiated by Liam Fox's department will lead to more actual trade with third countries THAN IS ACHIEVABLE on the EU set of trade deals. These are the issues:
1. Will there be more of them? The Liam Fox deals don't exist and will take decades to negotiate. In the meantime we would on this scenario discard several dozen deals painfully negotiated by the EU over three decades. In the meantime there will definitely be fewer deals in place and the number of eventual deals is unlikely to meet or exceed the original EU number.
2. Will they be more favourable than the EU deals to the UK? Being a single country with just one set of interests, these deals may be more appropriate than the EU ones because they have to accommodate more interests. On the other hand the counterparty interests are just as important and they will favour the EU more simply because it has greater market clout. In practice, the UK could probably sign up with countries of a similar size to it with good deals. I am thinking specifically of Australia and Canada. Any deal with China, the USA or India is likely to be one-sided towards the other party, which is why the EU has refused so far to do FTAs with them. With the smaller countries the EU deals are likely to be at least as good as UK ones. It's a wash overall.
3. Do bilateral free trade agreements help trade that much? Not really. One issue is trade distortion. Say we agree an FTA to sell bedlinen to the USA, but the content rules require us to use American cotton to avoid import duties. It's a marginal call whether we wouldn't be better buying the better and cheaper cotton from Egypt and take the hit on the duties for the bedlinen we export to the USA. We can then buy and sell our linen to whomever we like. The Australian Productivity Commission concluded that preferential trade agreements (and in particular Australia's FTA with the USA) were at best neutral in terms of a net boost to trade. Multilateral agreements are good Unfortunately we are walking away from the most important of these. Apart from EU countries, we trade most with China and the US without bilateral free trade agreements in place.0 -
That reminds me of something that's really annoyed me recently. I was trying to do a little medical research, and despite there being some very good websites, the best pointed to papers that were behind paywalls.RobD said:
Just trying to work out what 'BMA limits' were I googled the phrase and came across this as the top link:rural_voter said:
Thank goodness I say that we didn't have BMA limits in the period 1939-45HurstLlama said:Goodness gracious, the number of people on here who drink gin. Astonishing. Not for nothing is it known as "mothers' ruin" and if that were not signal enough it is also the favoured spirit of RN officers. Repent ye all, and turn to whisky or even whiskey.
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/harry-wallop-churchills-feats-impossible-to-match-beginning-with-his-daily-alcohol-consumption
http://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a748
No wonder they are so stretched for resources and reliant on doctors from other countries.
Does anyone know how a mere pleb can gain access to papers, preferably from the comfort o my own home?0 -
Ask someone like me at a university to access them for you?JosiasJessop said:
That reminds me of something that's really annoyed me recently. I was trying to do a little medical research, and despite there being some very good websites, the best pointed to papers that were behind paywalls.RobD said:
Just trying to work out what 'BMA limits' were I googled the phrase and came across this as the top link:rural_voter said:
Thank goodness I say that we didn't have BMA limits in the period 1939-45HurstLlama said:Goodness gracious, the number of people on here who drink gin. Astonishing. Not for nothing is it known as "mothers' ruin" and if that were not signal enough it is also the favoured spirit of RN officers. Repent ye all, and turn to whisky or even whiskey.
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/harry-wallop-churchills-feats-impossible-to-match-beginning-with-his-daily-alcohol-consumption
http://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a748
No wonder they are so stretched for resources and reliant on doctors from other countries.
Does anyone know how a mere pleb can gain access to papers, preferably from the comfort o my own home? 0 -
You can access free "PMC" papers at pubmed, though it's a recent phenomenon.JosiasJessop said:
That reminds me of something that's really annoyed me recently. I was trying to do a little medical research, and despite there being some very good websites, the best pointed to papers that were behind paywalls.RobD said:
Just trying to work out what 'BMA limits' were I googled the phrase and came across this as the top link:rural_voter said:
Thank goodness I say that we didn't have BMA limits in the period 1939-45HurstLlama said:Goodness gracious, the number of people on here who drink gin. Astonishing. Not for nothing is it known as "mothers' ruin" and if that were not signal enough it is also the favoured spirit of RN officers. Repent ye all, and turn to whisky or even whiskey.
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/harry-wallop-churchills-feats-impossible-to-match-beginning-with-his-daily-alcohol-consumption
http://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a748
No wonder they are so stretched for resources and reliant on doctors from other countries.
Does anyone know how a mere pleb can gain access to papers, preferably from the comfort o my own home?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed0 -
Afternoon all
Not one of the world's great drinkers but did enjoy some wonderful single malts when on holiday in Inverness in the 1980s.
Good to see Mr Sykes back and congratulations on the new arrival. I finished up in the LEAVE camp and am probably pretty much where you are in terms of what I would like to see.
The British tradition for fudge (another delicacy), however, tempers my enthusiasm - I wanted us to rejoin and revitalise EFTA but Norway doesn't seem keen so we go it alone.
The process will force us to ask some difficult questions and confront some unpleasant truths I suspect but could be cathartic in a number of ways. We haven't really resolved the big questions as to our role in the world since 1945. We want to be a superpower and have an atomic bomb (or several) but in truth we aren't. We're not European but not American either - we are what we are and perhaps June 23rd was as much no longer trying to be what we aren't.
Establishing a defined British identity for the 21st century and beyond is going to be an interesting challenge - I hope Conservatives, who for the moment enjoy political supremacy, don't take that as a signal the answers can only be found in the Conservative tent. Non-Conservatives have to be involved as well.0 -
Very many Congratulations on parenthood - hope that all is going well for baby and mother.Bob__Sykes said:My first post in some time. For happy reasons - pleased to say i became a daddy for the first time 5 weeks ago, so PB has quite naturally fallen down the list of priorities!
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Congratulations Bob! (On the child, not on sounding like Liam Fox.) May you make it through the battle of the first few weeks of fatherhood relatively unscathed. The first 40 days are the hardest, in my experience (though older and more cynical heads than mine have said that actually the fist 40 years are the hardest, but don't listen to talk like that.)Bob__Sykes said:My first post in some time. For happy reasons - pleased to say i became a daddy for the first time 5 weeks ago, so PB has quite naturally fallen down the list of priorities!
As many of you will recall, I was seriously torn on the EU referendum and came down on the safety first Remain side in the end. And I suspect I would vote the same if we had another go tomorrow.
That said, I cannot now see the point in fannying around trying to negotiate some half-arsed fudge with 27 other states and the EU institutions (who don't want to play ball) and which gives us basically all the same benefits and obligations of being in the EU but with none of the influence or say on any of it.
Let's grasp the nettle. Folk narrowly voted to Leave. So we must leave. Our stated position should be that we will make a clean break. The hardest of hard Brexits and be done with it. Nevertheless, we will extend the hand of friendship and co-operation to our European cousins. We will let them import their goods to the UK without imposing import tariffs or undue restrictions, we will let their people holiday and come on business trips here without undue let or hindrance, we will treat their people in our hospitals when they're here - and we'd very much like to put in place any number of formal agreements to co-operate on many matters including free trade and movement of people for work, where we have common ground, and all of which can be done in due course. But, if they wish to impose restrictions on our exports to them, or to our ability to travel to EU states or be treated in hospital there and so on - then we will, with a deep heart and regret, have to sadly reciprocate.
As for the Article 50 negotiations, that will be limited (as the Treaty, to my knowledge, intended) with simply divvying up the assets, transitional arrangements to pay some fees to Brussels whilst we transition out etc, and not trying to negotiate some new arrangements under the Art 50 process.
That sounds perfectly sensible and reasonable to me as a starting point. No arguing over pre-negotiations or the timing of Article 50. Tell them what we're doing, and just get on with it, including repealing the ECA1972.
If we're gonna leave, let's at least do it properly!
Sigh - I sound like Liam Fox....! :-)
My level of activity on pb never really recovered after the birth of my first child. Probably a much healthier state of affairs.
Pretty much agree with the rest of your summary...0 -
Mr. T, nowhere near as well-travelled as most people, let along a travel reporter, but I had baby snakes (battered). They were rather nice.
Also had ox and sheep tongue. One was ok, shade rubbery, the other was displeasing as I could feel its tongue bumps on my own.0 -
Agreed, unfortunately the Labour party were too busy to discuss Brexit at their conference.stodge said:
Establishing a defined British identity for the 21st century and beyond is going to be an interesting challenge - I hope Conservatives, who for the moment enjoy political supremacy, don't take that as a signal the answers can only be found in the Conservative tent. Non-Conservatives have to be involved as well.0 -
*cough* Long term - #VotePirate - abolition of scientific copyright/access issues is kinda our raison d'etreJosiasJessop said:
That reminds me of something that's really annoyed me recently. I was trying to do a little medical research, and despite there being some very good websites, the best pointed to papers that were behind paywalls.RobD said:
Just trying to work out what 'BMA limits' were I googled the phrase and came across this as the top link:rural_voter said:
Thank goodness I say that we didn't have BMA limits in the period 1939-45HurstLlama said:Goodness gracious, the number of people on here who drink gin. Astonishing. Not for nothing is it known as "mothers' ruin" and if that were not signal enough it is also the favoured spirit of RN officers. Repent ye all, and turn to whisky or even whiskey.
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/harry-wallop-churchills-feats-impossible-to-match-beginning-with-his-daily-alcohol-consumption
http://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a748
No wonder they are so stretched for resources and reliant on doctors from other countries.
Does anyone know how a mere pleb can gain access to papers, preferably from the comfort o my own home?
Short term - https://doaj.org/ should give a reasonably comprehensive list of open access journals, albeit US based.0 -
For rail fans
BBC Archive
#OTD 1976 The InterCity 125 entered service. Passengers, trainspotters and makers of Italian foodstuffs rejoiced
#trains #britishrail https://t.co/JJwhlJvUDB0 -
Mr. T, funny how such things feel. Sounds reminiscent of people thinking eating dog, cat or maybe horse is revolting, but lamb, chicken and pork is fine.
Mr. Stodge, freedom of speech is a critical issue. Whilst I don't think any major party is 100% on this, I trust the Conservatives more than the Batshit Insane Communist Party.
Come back, non-mad Labour. The country needs an opposition which can oppose the Government whilst at the same time not being a danger to the UK itself.0 -
Best boozing story.
China in 2009, a group of us were at the top of a Chinese mountain range having just eaten wood ear fungus for dinner. 4 of us went through 8 bottles of rice wine (~35% vol) and had a synchronised piss off the side of a mountain into a valley below at sunrise.
To this day I'm not sure what possessed us to do it, other than the two bottles of rice wine we'd each had.0 -
Thanks to you and Sunil.RobD said:
Ask someone like me at a university to access them for you?JosiasJessop said:
That reminds me of something that's really annoyed me recently. I was trying to do a little medical research, and despite there being some very good websites, the best pointed to papers that were behind paywalls.RobD said:
Just trying to work out what 'BMA limits' were I googled the phrase and came across this as the top link:rural_voter said:
Thank goodness I say that we didn't have BMA limits in the period 1939-45HurstLlama said:Goodness gracious, the number of people on here who drink gin. Astonishing. Not for nothing is it known as "mothers' ruin" and if that were not signal enough it is also the favoured spirit of RN officers. Repent ye all, and turn to whisky or even whiskey.
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/harry-wallop-churchills-feats-impossible-to-match-beginning-with-his-daily-alcohol-consumption
http://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a748
No wonder they are so stretched for resources and reliant on doctors from other countries.
Does anyone know how a mere pleb can gain access to papers, preferably from the comfort o my own home?
The problem is that I'm not sure what I need to know, and therefore need access to scatter-gun my reading until I can narrow it down. Below is an example, though by far not the only one.
http://www.footanklesurgery-journal.com/article/S1268-7731(15)00092-2/abstract
Basically, I had an operation back in 1988, and the more I look into, the less I understand what they did. I seem to be the only person I can find who was treated (ahem) in the way I was. Since there's a distinct possibility my son will have the same problem, I'm getting my research in a decade early.
It's also made harder by the fact I'm an engineer, not a doctor, and the terminology can be somewhat vexing for someone who is currently lacking in the memory department. 0 -
I presume you missed the whole uproar about a certain site that is providing free access to a giant catalogue of journal papers. I am not going to link to it, but it was well reported and brought again the issue of should publicly funded research then be only accessible behind paywall run by a small number of academic publishers.JosiasJessop said:
That reminds me of something that's really annoyed me recently. I was trying to do a little medical research, and despite there being some very good websites, the best pointed to papers that were behind paywalls.RobD said:
Just trying to work out what 'BMA limits' were I googled the phrase and came across this as the top link:rural_voter said:
Thank goodness I say that we didn't have BMA limits in the period 1939-45HurstLlama said:Goodness gracious, the number of people on here who drink gin. Astonishing. Not for nothing is it known as "mothers' ruin" and if that were not signal enough it is also the favoured spirit of RN officers. Repent ye all, and turn to whisky or even whiskey.
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/harry-wallop-churchills-feats-impossible-to-match-beginning-with-his-daily-alcohol-consumption
http://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a748
No wonder they are so stretched for resources and reliant on doctors from other countries.
Does anyone know how a mere pleb can gain access to papers, preferably from the comfort o my own home?0 -
Nowadays I think that puts you on about a pint and a half of shandy thenSean_F said:
I'm on about 3 times the BMA limit.Theuniondivvie said:
Thank goodness. Sounds like you were on a one way ticket to 4 or 5 units above the BMA recommended weekly maximum.Philip_Thompson said:AlastairMeeks said:@SouthamObserver @SeanT For similar reasons I can't look at Southern Comfort. An evening's drinking games with an ex has left me unable to go near the stuff.
I went off white wine for a year after drinking it like water one night (to the point someone handed me a tall glass with wine in and I thought it was water). It was only after having a similar night with a red wine that I got over that.AlastairMeeks said:@SouthamObserver @SeanT For similar reasons I can't look at Southern Comfort. An evening's drinking games with an ex has left me unable to go near the stuff.
Those were the days. I am much more boring now lol. 0 -
Drunken shrimp? Pretty fucking weird.SeanT said:
I once did a travel piece in south east Asia where I had to eat all the weirdest stuff. Including dried frog, duck embryo, ants, cockroaches, some field rat, snake, and roast tarantulaMorris_Dancer said:Mr. Topping, I once had beef in lukewarm blood. Rather unpleasant, as it was starting to coagulate.
Mr. Sykes, congratulations0 -
@bbclaurak: 3 different ministers have said privately this week that we might stay in the single market after Brexit, whatever has been said....SeanT said:Something for Soft Brexiteers
Translation: We still have no fucking clue...0 -
I had that in Cambodia, a very odd thing to eat.SeanT said:
The weirdest thing was the duck embryo. It's a fertilised duck egg, just at the point of hatching - then they boil it. So you get the egginess but you are also crunching into a baby duck - brains, beaks, feathers, the works - but all soft and embryonic.Morris_Dancer said:Mr. T, nowhere near as well-travelled as most people, let along a travel reporter, but I had baby snakes (battered). They were rather nice.
Also had ox and sheep tongue. One was ok, shade rubbery, the other was displeasing as I could feel its tongue bumps on my own.
They call it balut.
It was actually very very tasty - meat and egg - but the concept and spectacle is so disgusting I nearly gagged
http://tinyurl.com/qblgz230 -
Translation, you're still a bit dim.Scott_P said:
@bbclaurak: 3 different ministers have said privately this week that we might stay in the single market after Brexit, whatever has been said....SeanT said:Something for Soft Brexiteers
Translation: We still have no fucking clue...0 -
The proof of the pudding is in the eating. I don't care how broad-brush the message is now, what matters is what gets negotiated.
Blair was great at style and media presentation, and utterly bloody useless at almost every policy.0 -
Damn, not's not a Free PMC article, you have to go to the Elsevier website.JosiasJessop said:
Thanks to you and Sunil.RobD said:
Ask someone like me at a university to access them for you?JosiasJessop said:
That reminds me of something that's really annoyed me recently. I was trying to do a little medical research, and despite there being some very good websites, the best pointed to papers that were behind paywalls.RobD said:
Just trying to work out what 'BMA limits' were I googled the phrase and came across this as the top link:rural_voter said:
Thank goodness I say that we didn't have BMA limits in the period 1939-45HurstLlama said:Goodness gracious, the number of people on here who drink gin. Astonishing. Not for nothing is it known as "mothers' ruin" and if that were not signal enough it is also the favoured spirit of RN officers. Repent ye all, and turn to whisky or even whiskey.
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/harry-wallop-churchills-feats-impossible-to-match-beginning-with-his-daily-alcohol-consumption
http://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a748
No wonder they are so stretched for resources and reliant on doctors from other countries.
Does anyone know how a mere pleb can gain access to papers, preferably from the comfort o my own home?
The problem is that I'm not sure what I need to know, and therefore need access to scatter-gun my reading until I can narrow it down. Below is an example, though by far not the only one.
http://www.footanklesurgery-journal.com/article/S1268-7731(15)00092-2/abstract
Basically, I had an operation back in 1988, and the more I look into, the less I understand what they did. I seem to be the only person I can find who was treated (ahem) in the way I was. Since there's a distinct possibility my son will have the same problem, I'm getting my research in a decade early.
It's also made harder by the fact I'm an engineer, not a doctor, and the terminology can be somewhat vexing for someone who is currently lacking in the memory department.0 -
@bbclaurak: Truth is, cabinet simply doesn't yet have an agreed position on what our relationship ought to look like...0
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The Royal Society of Medicine has an excellent online service, very exhaustive. I don't think that non-docs can join though.JosiasJessop said:
That reminds me of something that's really annoyed me recently. I was trying to do a little medical research, and despite there being some very good websites, the best pointed to papers that were behind paywalls.RobD said:
Just trying to work out what 'BMA limits' were I googled the phrase and came across this as the top link:rural_voter said:
Thank goodness I say that we didn't have BMA limits in the period 1939-45HurstLlama said:Goodness gracious, the number of people on here who drink gin. Astonishing. Not for nothing is it known as "mothers' ruin" and if that were not signal enough it is also the favoured spirit of RN officers. Repent ye all, and turn to whisky or even whiskey.
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/harry-wallop-churchills-feats-impossible-to-match-beginning-with-his-daily-alcohol-consumption
http://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a748
No wonder they are so stretched for resources and reliant on doctors from other countries.
Does anyone know how a mere pleb can gain access to papers, preferably from the comfort o my own home?
BTW: sorry to dissappoint but the BMA does not have any role in deciding the numbers of medical students. That is an issue for the Department of Health, the Universities and the General Medical Council.
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What was the vote in 08 about then? Seems ridiculous to limit the number in any case.foxinsoxuk said:
The Royal Society of Medicine has an excellent online service, very exhaustive. I don't think that non-docs can join though.JosiasJessop said:
That reminds me of something that's really annoyed me recently. I was trying to do a little medical research, and despite there being some very good websites, the best pointed to papers that were behind paywalls.RobD said:
Just trying to work out what 'BMA limits' were I googled the phrase and came across this as the top link:rural_voter said:
Thank goodness I say that we didn't have BMA limits in the period 1939-45HurstLlama said:Goodness gracious, the number of people on here who drink gin. Astonishing. Not for nothing is it known as "mothers' ruin" and if that were not signal enough it is also the favoured spirit of RN officers. Repent ye all, and turn to whisky or even whiskey.
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/harry-wallop-churchills-feats-impossible-to-match-beginning-with-his-daily-alcohol-consumption
http://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a748
No wonder they are so stretched for resources and reliant on doctors from other countries.
Does anyone know how a mere pleb can gain access to papers, preferably from the comfort o my own home?
BTW: sorry to dissappoint but the BMA does not have any role in deciding the numbers of medical students. That is an issue for the Department of Health, the Universities and the General Medical Council.0
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