politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Don’t expect a Street Coronation in the West Midlands Mayoral

HYUFD said:

GIN1138 said:

HYUFD said:

Theuniondivvie said:

Rejoice.

https://twitter.com/FraserNelson/status/844244849733853184

He was also at Cameron's side in 2014 and 2015 when he won

I don't think Lynton and that guy from the US thought much to him though...

Given Messina received 400 000 euro as a campaign adviser for Renzi's 2016 referendum campaign I don't think he is really one to lecture others on how to win referenda!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Messina_(political_staffer)

Well you win some you lose some...

Sean_F said:

viewcode said:

Regular readers may remember a television genre I dubbed "Shit Brexit Telly", where some minutae of Britain is examined each week by a minor sleb, and usually terminates with "...our wonderful British countryside" whilst the drone pans overhead and the sleb quaffs cider whilst staring at a white cliff. Examples I knew of at the time was that stupid villages thing with Penelope Keith and that really stupid railway thing with Michael Portillo.

Problem is, examples are beginning to pile up. Leaving aside the ones about canals (yes really) and underground cables/pipelines (yes, really really), I now find to my horror there exists a program called 'Rivers with Jeremy Paxman'.

Oh. My. God.

There has to be some kind of Shit Brexit Telly Generator, along the lines of [subnational British characteristic] with [media twit/luvvie/ex-pol]. Things like:

Lakes with David Dimbleby
Great British Mountains with Bear Grylls
Our Beautiful National Parks with Felicity Kendal
Dogs! Crufts finalists with Paul O'Grady
Antennae with Peter Snow
Wonderful Wonderful British Flowers with Miranda Hart

If you can think of more examples of Shit Brexit Telly, real-life or not, please make them known.

Inner City Sumo with Alan Partridge.

Monkey Tenn...oh, wait...

Philip_Thompson said:

HYUFD said:

Liberal by name, liberal by nature (now we know how Mark Senior is occupying his evenings!)
https://twitter.com/LeedsNWLibDems/status/844315718795644928

No blue tick, is that legit?

Well it says it is 'the official twitter account of Leeds NW LDs' and has 602 followers even if it is presently blue tickless

https://twitter.com/LeedsNWLibDems

Great British Political Blogs with Mike Smithson

GIN1138 said:

HYUFD said:

Liberal by name, liberal by nature (now we know how Mark Senior is occupying his evenings!)
https://twitter.com/LeedsNWLibDems/status/844315718795644928

Someone's been hacked...

Seems so

Sunil_Prasannan said:

Sean_F said:

viewcode said:

Regular readers may remember a television genre I dubbed "Shit Brexit Telly", where some minutae of Britain is examined each week by a minor sleb, and usually terminates with "...our wonderful British countryside" whilst the drone pans overhead and the sleb quaffs cider whilst staring at a white cliff. Examples I knew of at the time was that stupid villages thing with Penelope Keith and that really stupid railway thing with Michael Portillo.

Problem is, examples are beginning to pile up. Leaving aside the ones about canals (yes really) and underground cables/pipelines (yes, really really), I now find to my horror there exists a program called 'Rivers with Jeremy Paxman'.

Oh. My. God.

There has to be some kind of Shit Brexit Telly Generator, along the lines of [subnational British characteristic] with [media twit/luvvie/ex-pol]. Things like:

Lakes with David Dimbleby
Great British Mountains with Bear Grylls
Our Beautiful National Parks with Felicity Kendal
Dogs! Crufts finalists with Paul O'Grady
Antennae with Peter Snow
Wonderful Wonderful British Flowers with Miranda Hart

If you can think of more examples of Shit Brexit Telly, real-life or not, please make them known.

Inner City Sumo with Alan Partridge.

Sunil's Great British Railway Journeys

Apparently it doesn't work unless you have a stripey blazer for the Full Portillo.

viewcode said:

Sunil_Prasannan said:

Sean_F said:

viewcode said:

Regular readers may remember a television genre I dubbed "Shit Brexit Telly", where some minutae of Britain is examined each week by a minor sleb, and usually terminates with "...our wonderful British countryside" whilst the drone pans overhead and the sleb quaffs cider whilst staring at a white cliff. Examples I knew of at the time was that stupid villages thing with Penelope Keith and that really stupid railway thing with Michael Portillo.

Problem is, examples are beginning to pile up. Leaving aside the ones about canals (yes really) and underground cables/pipelines (yes, really really), I now find to my horror there exists a program called 'Rivers with Jeremy Paxman'.

Oh. My. God.

There has to be some kind of Shit Brexit Telly Generator, along the lines of [subnational British characteristic] with [media twit/luvvie/ex-pol]. Things like:

Lakes with David Dimbleby
Great British Mountains with Bear Grylls
Our Beautiful National Parks with Felicity Kendal
Dogs! Crufts finalists with Paul O'Grady
Antennae with Peter Snow
Wonderful Wonderful British Flowers with Miranda Hart

If you can think of more examples of Shit Brexit Telly, real-life or not, please make them known.

Inner City Sumo with Alan Partridge.

Sunil's Great British Railway Journeys

Apparently it doesn't work unless you have a stripey blazer for the Full Portillo.

The Portillo railway show is great! I'm hurt someone dislikes it

viewcode said:

Sunil_Prasannan said:

Sean_F said:

viewcode said:

Regular readers may remember a television genre I dubbed "Shit Brexit Telly", where some minutae of Britain is examined each week by a minor sleb, and usually terminates with "...our wonderful British countryside" whilst the drone pans overhead and the sleb quaffs cider whilst staring at a white cliff. Examples I knew of at the time was that stupid villages thing with Penelope Keith and that really stupid railway thing with Michael Portillo.

Problem is, examples are beginning to pile up. Leaving aside the ones about canals (yes really) and underground cables/pipelines (yes, really really), I now find to my horror there exists a program called 'Rivers with Jeremy Paxman'.

Oh. My. God.

There has to be some kind of Shit Brexit Telly Generator, along the lines of [subnational British characteristic] with [media twit/luvvie/ex-pol]. Things like:

Lakes with David Dimbleby
Great British Mountains with Bear Grylls
Our Beautiful National Parks with Felicity Kendal
Dogs! Crufts finalists with Paul O'Grady
Antennae with Peter Snow
Wonderful Wonderful British Flowers with Miranda Hart

If you can think of more examples of Shit Brexit Telly, real-life or not, please make them known.

Inner City Sumo with Alan Partridge.

Sunil's Great British Railway Journeys

Apparently it doesn't work unless you have a stripey blazer for the Full Portillo.

It's a pity Tony Marlow isn't around to present it.

Sean_F said:

HYUFD said:

Philip_Thompson said:

HYUFD said:

Liberal by name, liberal by nature (now we know how Mark Senior is occupying his evenings!)
https://twitter.com/LeedsNWLibDems/status/844315718795644928

No blue tick, is that legit?

Well it says it is 'the official twitter account of Leeds NW LDs' and has 602 followers even if it is presently blue tickless

https://twitter.com/LeedsNWLibDems

I think it is genuine.

Obviously taking their Focuses and barcharts in a whole new direction!

viewcode said:

Restharrow said:

But one of the principles of Christianity (even the semi-Pagan variant known as Catholicism) is Redemption. Without Redemption we are all doomed (atheists excepted, obviously).

No redemption without confession of sins, sincere contrition and attempt to make restitution. And atheists don't go to heaven: good works and a sinless life are not enough, there must also be belief in God. This is why deathbed confessions and conversions are a *really* good idea.

Leaving it till one's deathbed is a risky strategy. None of us is party to MMcG's confession so we only have his public life to go by. He 'buried the hatchet' and sought peace - that's all. It does't excuse anything, but it makes him a better person than he would otherwise have been. My point about Norman Tebbit (with whom I have immense sympathy and broad political agreement) is that he invoked Christianity to damn McG. This is not how Christianity works.

HYUFD said:

Liberal by name, liberal by nature (now we know how Mark Senior is occupying his evenings!)
https://twitter.com/LeedsNWLibDems/status/844315718795644928

Sounds like another lost deposit coming up...

isam said:

viewcode said:

Sunil_Prasannan said:

Sean_F said:

viewcode said:

Regular readers may remember a television genre I dubbed "Shit Brexit Telly", where some minutae of Britain is examined each week by a minor sleb, and usually terminates with "...our wonderful British countryside" whilst the drone pans overhead and the sleb quaffs cider whilst staring at a white cliff. Examples I knew of at the time was that stupid villages thing with Penelope Keith and that really stupid railway thing with Michael Portillo.

Problem is, examples are beginning to pile up. Leaving aside the ones about canals (yes really) and underground cables/pipelines (yes, really really), I now find to my horror there exists a program called 'Rivers with Jeremy Paxman'.

Oh. My. God.

There has to be some kind of Shit Brexit Telly Generator, along the lines of [subnational British characteristic] with [media twit/luvvie/ex-pol]. Things like:

Lakes with David Dimbleby
Great British Mountains with Bear Grylls
Our Beautiful National Parks with Felicity Kendal
Dogs! Crufts finalists with Paul O'Grady
Antennae with Peter Snow
Wonderful Wonderful British Flowers with Miranda Hart

If you can think of more examples of Shit Brexit Telly, real-life or not, please make them known.

Inner City Sumo with Alan Partridge.

Sunil's Great British Railway Journeys

Apparently it doesn't work unless you have a stripey blazer for the Full Portillo.

The Portillo railway show is great! I'm hurt someone dislikes it

We shall have to politely disagree. I can't watch it without sticking my fist down my throat and tearing my own stomach lining out.

Tykejohnno said:

TRADING BLOWS Theresa May is ‘ready to slap tariffs’ on goods from the EU as she plans new law to take back control of trade policy

New deal will send a message to European leaders that the PM will walk away from talks without a new UK-EU trade deal

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3145643/theresa-may-tariffs-on-goods-from-eu/

It's amazing how so many Brexiteers managed to see (rightly) how insulting the Obama "back of the queue" comments were to Brits, yet don't see by the very same logic how insulting this kind of sabre-rattling is to other EU countries.

Danny565 said:

Tykejohnno said:

TRADING BLOWS Theresa May is ‘ready to slap tariffs’ on goods from the EU as she plans new law to take back control of trade policy

New deal will send a message to European leaders that the PM will walk away from talks without a new UK-EU trade deal

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3145643/theresa-may-tariffs-on-goods-from-eu/

It's amazing how so many Brexiteers managed to see (rightly) how insulting the Obama "back of the queue" comments were to Brits, yet don't see by the very same logic how insulting this kind of sabre-rattling is to other EU countries.

Um, probably because Brexiteers ARE Brits?

Restharrow said:

viewcode said:

Restharrow said:

But one of the principles of Christianity (even the semi-Pagan variant known as Catholicism) is Redemption. Without Redemption we are all doomed (atheists excepted, obviously).

No redemption without confession of sins, sincere contrition and attempt to make restitution. And atheists don't go to heaven: good works and a sinless life are not enough, there must also be belief in God. This is why deathbed confessions and conversions are a *really* good idea.

Leaving it till one's deathbed is a risky strategy. None of us is party to MMcG's confession so we only have his public life to go by. He 'buried the hatchet' and sought peace - that's all. It does't excuse anything, but it makes him a better person than he would otherwise have been. My point about Norman Tebbit (with whom I have immense sympathy and broad political agreement) is that he invoked Christianity to damn McG. This is not how Christianity works.

Fair point.

Sunil_Prasannan said:

viewcode said:

Sunil_Prasannan said:

Sean_F said:

viewcode said:

Regular readers may remember a television genre I dubbed "Shit Brexit Telly", where some minutae of Britain is examined each week by a minor sleb, and usually terminates with "...our wonderful British countryside" whilst the drone pans overhead and the sleb quaffs cider whilst staring at a white cliff. Examples I knew of at the time was that stupid villages thing with Penelope Keith and that really stupid railway thing with Michael Portillo.

Problem is, examples are beginning to pile up. Leaving aside the ones about canals (yes really) and underground cables/pipelines (yes, really really), I now find to my horror there exists a program called 'Rivers with Jeremy Paxman'.

Oh. My. God.

There has to be some kind of Shit Brexit Telly Generator, along the lines of [subnational British characteristic] with [media twit/luvvie/ex-pol]. Things like:

Lakes with David Dimbleby
Great British Mountains with Bear Grylls
Our Beautiful National Parks with Felicity Kendal
Dogs! Crufts finalists with Paul O'Grady
Antennae with Peter Snow
Wonderful Wonderful British Flowers with Miranda Hart

If you can think of more examples of Shit Brexit Telly, real-life or not, please make them known.

Inner City Sumo with Alan Partridge.

Sunil's Great British Railway Journeys

Apparently it doesn't work unless you have a stripey blazer for the Full Portillo.

Not stripey, silly - it has to be pastel-coloured!

From memory, he did do the yellow blazer/red trousers thing once.
Death's too good for him...

Presumably someone has already done B Roads on a Penny Farthing.....

Looking forward to the 24 part Nigel Farage biopic 'Ego'


Roy Chubby Brown in the lead role and Trump playing himself.

Sean_F said:

Come Home to Faggots. A celebration of British food with Little and Large.

For those considering betting on the Conservatives in the West Midlands the votes by party in the local elections last May were

Lab 272,951
Con 163,537
LDem 42,945
UKIP 59,774
Green 31,330

glw said:

viewcode said:

Fry's Fry's Fried: Stephen Fry visits chip shops nationwide that fry Cadbury's Creme Eggs (this is a real thing). The fryer explains to Fry each week what a chip is. Each program ends with Fry holding a portion of chips whilst staring into the sunset and sussurating "Britain, Britain, Britain..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r35GVB_2xmk

My God, I'd forgotten!

Danny565 said:

Tykejohnno said:

TRADING BLOWS Theresa May is ‘ready to slap tariffs’ on goods from the EU as she plans new law to take back control of trade policy

New deal will send a message to European leaders that the PM will walk away from talks without a new UK-EU trade deal

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3145643/theresa-may-tariffs-on-goods-from-eu/

It's amazing how so many Brexiteers managed to see (rightly) how insulting the Obama "back of the queue" comments were to Brits, yet don't see by the very same logic how insulting this kind of sabre-rattling is to other EU countries.

Completely different. Obama was patronising, he was coming over here telling us how to run our country (without actually living here).

Sure, sabre rattling may or may not be a good idea, but unconvinced on the comparison.

viewcode said:

Sean_F said:

Come Home to Faggots. A celebration of British food with Little and Large.

Horrendous Hovels & Surburban Simpletons w Matthew Parris

augustus_carp said:

Presumably someone has already done B Roads on a Penny Farthing.....

Hairy Bikers? Two Fat Ladies? Damn, it's too close to the truth.

isam said:

viewcode said:

Sean_F said:

Come Home to Faggots. A celebration of British food with Little and Large.

Horrendous Hovels & Surburban Simpletons w Matthew Parris

That one will probably get made.

Casino_Royale said:

That David Goodhart article is superb.

It is very good, not least because it reads very much (apart from the autobiographical bits!) like Maggie's oft-misquoted 'no such thing as society' interview.

williamglenn said:

Tykejohnno said:

TRADING BLOWS Theresa May is ‘ready to slap tariffs’ on goods from the EU as she plans new law to take back control of trade policy

I'm increasingly convinced that Theresa May's nemesis is her deep need to prove that she's a better negotiator than David Cameron.

Considering Cameron's deal, not too much to ask..

isam said:

viewcode said:

Sean_F said:

Come Home to Faggots. A celebration of British food with Little and Large.

Horrendous Hovels & Surburban Simpletons w Matthew Parris

Famously, the pilot episode was not well received...

SeanT said:

Then when the moment came, in the Dynasty Grande hotel in Bangkok, in late January, I typed the first sentence: "The dead birds are neatly arranged in a row."

That's a jolly good first sentence.

Let me know if you need any help with the ending.

Y0kel said:

All this highbrow documentary stuff is all well and good for you BBC4 watching types but what about the common man and woman? Sport, we need more sport.

Celebrity Crocodile Baiting for Sports Relief

Crazy Golf - Live!

Bowls! With Fred Truman!

viewcode said:

Sunil_Prasannan said:

viewcode said:

Sunil_Prasannan said:

viewcode said:

We shall have to politely disagree. I can't watch it without sticking my fist down my throat and tearing my own stomach lining out.

Evening, Bulgy

?

[sigh]

Didn't you get the Thomas the Tank Engine reference?

Bulgy the Bus wanted to rip up the railways and turn them into roads!

http://ttte.wikia.com/wiki/Bulgy

I must confess my knowledge of Thomas the Tank Engine is not what it should be...

The scatological references are legendary!

"Poop, poop!" whistled Gordon

Y0kel said:

All this highbrow documentary stuff is all well and good for you BBC4 watching types but what about the common man and woman? Sport, we need more sport.

Celebrity Crocodile Baiting for Sports Relief

Crazy Golf - Live!

Pro-Am Celebrity Badger Baiting with Noel Edmonds.

Or perhaps that should be Pro-Am Celebrity Bungie Jumping.

viewcode said:

Y0kel said:

All this highbrow documentary stuff is all well and good for you BBC4 watching types but what about the common man and woman? Sport, we need more sport.

Celebrity Crocodile Baiting for Sports Relief

Crazy Golf - Live!

Bowls! With Fred Truman!

Have you ever seen Fred's tv show from the 1970's -The indoor league,that was classic tv ;-)

This Grindr killer programme on BBC1 is unreal. The police incompetence beggars belief

Tykejohnno said:

TRADING BLOWS Theresa May is ‘ready to slap tariffs’ on goods from the EU as she plans new law to take back control of trade policy

New deal will send a message to European leaders that the PM will walk away from talks without a new UK-EU trade deal

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3145643/theresa-may-tariffs-on-goods-from-eu/

Almost certainly now there will be tariffs or customs duties on most EU goods and services coming to the UK and most UK goods and services going to the EU given May is taking us out of the single market to introduce work permits for EU workers and the EU is in no mood to rush a free trade deal for us, probably we will get some bilateral agreements in a few key areas like financial services and car manufacturing in return for some limited continued EU budget contributions

FF43 said:

It's ABYSMAL negotiating tactics. Our EU partners are somewhat irritated with us. Most importantly they are indifferent to whatever deal we might offer. That's because the EU has a raft of issues. Getting a good deal with the UK isn't on that list, rightly or wrongly. The only way we're going to get their attention is if we make life easier for them (in the context of Brexit making things more difficult) or we offer something over and and above what they had already.

Not at all. What we need to do is help them see that their own interests are to give us a good deal, in return for which - and this is the crucial step which commentators both in the UK and on the continent don't seem to be able to get their heads around - we will give them a good deal.

In principle, they shouldn't need much persuading, by their own logic, repeated this very day:

"The EU is open for business," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday, before heading into a meeting convened to push for a swift conclusion of a free trade agreement between Japan and the EU by the end of this year.

http://en.europeonline-magazine.eu/1st-leadeu-open-for-business-leaders-say-as-japans-pm-pushes-trade-dealby-naveena-kottoor-dpa_527631.html

“This agreement is necessary. It is necessary because we believe in free, fair and rules-based trade.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-21/eu-japan-trade-talks-at-decisive-stage-as-trump-gives-impetus

In what conceivable world does it make sense for the EU to be really keen on a free trade deal with Japan, on the other side of the world, but not with the UK, the world's fifth-largest economy, which is right on their doorstep, is already 100% compatible in terms of regulatory issues, and with which they have a huge trade surplus?

Of course, sense might not trump politics. But that is the line we should be shooting.

RobD said:

williamglenn said:

Tykejohnno said:

TRADING BLOWS Theresa May is ‘ready to slap tariffs’ on goods from the EU as she plans new law to take back control of trade policy

I'm increasingly convinced that Theresa May's nemesis is her deep need to prove that she's a better negotiator than David Cameron.

Considering Cameron's deal, not too much to ask..

A very very low bar indeed.

Richard_Nabavi said:

In what conceivable world does it make sense for the EU to be really keen on a free trade deal with Japan, on the other side of the world, but not with the UK, the world's fifth-largest economy, which is right on their doorstep, is already 100% compatible in terms of regulatory issues, and with which they have a huge trade surplus?

In the world where the UK already has a far better deal and is intent on throwing it away and threatening tariffs.

The UK government has forfeited any right to speak for the people of the whole of the UK and deserves every minute humiliation it has coming.

williamglenn said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

In what conceivable world does it make sense for the EU to be really keen on a free trade deal with Japan, on the other side of the world, but not with the UK, the world's fifth-largest economy, which is right on their doorstep, is already 100% compatible in terms of regulatory issues, and with which they have a huge trade surplus?

In the world where the UK already has a far better deal and is intent on throwing it away and threatening tariffs.

The UK government has forfeited any right to speak for the people of the whole of the UK and deserves every minute humiliation it has coming.

It speaks for far more people than you do.

williamglenn said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

In what conceivable world does it make sense for the EU to be really keen on a free trade deal with Japan, on the other side of the world, but not with the UK, the world's fifth-largest economy, which is right on their doorstep, is already 100% compatible in terms of regulatory issues, and with which they have a huge trade surplus?

In the world where the UK already has a far better deal and is intent on throwing it away and threatening tariffs.

The UK government has forfeited any right to speak for the people of the whole of the UK and deserves every minute humiliation it has coming.

The UK is not 'threatening tariffs'. Quite the opposite, the UK government has made it 100% clear that it wants a deal with zero tariffs and as few non-tariff barriers as possible. All it has said it that it might have to plan for the worst case in which the EU27 create unreasonable difficulties, such as demanding a ludicrously high exit payment or refusing to discuss the package as a whole.

There is no getting away from the fact that the ball is in the EU's court on this. They can have a comprehensive free trade agreement with the UK if they want. Or not, if they want to damage themselves in the hope of damaging us.

It's either a win-win, or a lose-lose. There is no scenario which is a win for one side and a lose for the other, whatever the more excitable elements both in the UK and in the EU27 may think.

OUT said:

Tykejohnno said:

viewcode said:

Y0kel said:

All this highbrow documentary stuff is all well and good for you BBC4 watching types but what about the common man and woman? Sport, we need more sport.

Celebrity Crocodile Baiting for Sports Relief

Crazy Golf - Live!

Bowls! With Fred Truman!

Have you ever seen Fred's tv show from the 1970's -The indoor league,that was classic tv ;-)

Next week the final of the Shove Ha'penny.

I'll see thee

Dammit, you got there before I did.

First one to mention "Oh No, It's Selwyn Froggitt!" wins...

HYUFD said:

Corbyn's message on the UN International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
https://twitter.com/jeremycorbyn/status/844337847649763328

"Hitler was a Zionist, before he went a bit OTT."

williamglenn said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

williamglenn said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

In what conceivable world does it make sense for the EU to be really keen on a free trade deal with Japan, on the other side of the world, but not with the UK, the world's fifth-largest economy, which is right on their doorstep, is already 100% compatible in terms of regulatory issues, and with which they have a huge trade surplus?

In the world where the UK already has a far better deal and is intent on throwing it away and threatening tariffs.

The UK government has forfeited any right to speak for the people of the whole of the UK and deserves every minute humiliation it has coming.

It's either a win-win, or a lose-lose. There is no scenario which is a win for one side and a lose for the other, whatever the more excitable elements both in the UK and in the EU27 may think.

It depends whether you're talking about politics or economics. If you're talking about economics, the win-win is to carry on as we are, and if we're talking politics, then the win-lose is to carry on as we are (with Brexit as the loser).

There is no scenario which is a win in both the politics and the economics columns for Brexit UK.

The win is to impose the border controls Blair failed to do, even if only from 2019 until 2025 and a Labour government, perhaps, returns us to the EEA that would almost match the 7 year work permit controls Germany had from 2004-2011

kle4 said:

williamglenn said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

In what conceivable world does it make sense for the EU to be really keen on a free trade deal with Japan, on the other side of the world, but not with the UK, the world's fifth-largest economy, which is right on their doorstep, is already 100% compatible in terms of regulatory issues, and with which they have a huge trade surplus?

The UK government has forfeited any right to speak for the people of the whole of the UK and deserves every minute humiliation it has coming.

I know you are not happy with how things have gone down the last year, and I cannot say May's been as good as I had hoped, but what are you talking about? Who else is able to speak for the whole of the UK if not the government of the UK?

Economically and long term politically it would be great if humiliation was to be avoided for both sides in this, but there will be calls on both sides to humiliate the other which will need to be overcome. You seem downright eager for humiliation to occur!

I am hoping for peak williamglenn at some point.....

Richard_Nabavi said:

It's either a win-win, or a lose-lose. There is no scenario which is a win for one side and a lose for the other, whatever the more excitable elements both in the UK and in the EU27 may think.

Lose - Lose is politically preferable for both sides.

MikeL said:

Not sure if already posted but Labour Party membership will soon be 71,000 below the peak under Corbyn.

July 2016 - 554,000
December 2016 - 528,000

But 40,000 are now in arrears - number up to date with payments is only 483,000.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/mar/21/labour-membership-expected-to-fall-below-half-a-million

Do we know what the current SNP membership is after their post 2014 Indy Ref spike?

justin124 said:

SeanT said:

Sean_F said:

HYUFD said:

SeanT said:

It's fair to say Norman Tebbit remains a man not given to the mincing of words.

https://twitter.com/WelshToy/status/844116976121384960

John Kerry rather more gushing in his tribute
https://www.facebook.com/johnkerry/posts/10154190356892294

Pass the sick bag.

I normally agree with you, and Norman Tebbit's opinion is entirely and utterly understandable, but hmmm. I do think Martin McGuinness showed a degree of personal courage in driving Republicanism towards peace. If he WAS a British double agent (which I seriously doubt) this is even more the case, paradoxically.

I am sure McGuinness personally murdered - or personally ordered the murder - of innocent people in his youth. But so did Winston Churchill. So does every prime minister or president who authorises bombing.

On the day of his death, I'll honour the passing of Martin McGuinness. It is complex. And every man's death diminishes me.

I very much agree with those sentiments. Tony Blair was responsible for the deaths of more innocent people than McGuinness.

Yes, but Tony Blair was responsible for 600,000 Iraqi deaths.

Sean_F said:

Pro-Am Celebrity Badger Baiting with Noel Edmonds.

Or perhaps that should be Pro-Am Celebrity Bungie Jumping.

Damn, I didn't get the reference...

SeanT said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

SeanT said:

Then when the moment came, in the Dynasty Grande hotel in Bangkok, in late January, I typed the first sentence: "The dead birds are neatly arranged in a row."

That's a jolly good first sentence.

Let me know if you need any help with the ending.

I certainly will, because I am writing the last sentence, tomorrow. A brief 1000 word, final chapter epilogue is required, and shall be written, when I wake up. I will call upon your inestimable talents! If required.

"And that's how the dead birds came to be neatly arranged in a row. The End"