FrancisUrquhart said:

Keith chegwin is dead.

Cheggers Played Pop, in the days when on the other side there was Jimmy Savile...

Stark_Dawning said:

Well, I've been abroad for several days (Cornwall) and have just caught up with the Brexit fun and games. It seems that we're heading for EU membership without the voting rights. While this is infinitely preferable to cliff-fall Brexit, it does bring into focus what a pointless exercise the whole Brexit thing has turned out to be. Also, what a pair of miserable, gutless little creeps Boris and Gove are. I loathe Farage, but at least he has the strength of his convictions. That pair should resign. Instead they're pretending they've played a blinder when in fact all they've stood for has gone up in smoke. Pathetic!

The UK chemical industry saying they want to stay under EU regulation REACH regulation is quite amusing too, since this was one of Hannan et al's bête noire's, the removal of which was going to turbocharge British business. Oh well.

FrancisUrquhart said:

Saudi Arabia to allow cinemas to reopen from early 2018

Bringing 19th century social norms to the 21st century Saudi Arabia.

The new young guy in SA is doing an awesome job. They’ve got cinemas and theme parks under construction, although it will probably be a while before you can get a beer in the hotels of Riyadh.

Scott_P said:

https://twitter.com/steve_hawkes/status/940226425491279872

Putting it in to concede an oversight committee doesn’t seem all that far fetched.

Pulpstar said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

From the photos online of the would be attacker he is going to be in a shit load of pain...oh well.

He'll be wishing he had blown himself up. Supermax followed by THE CHAIR

New York doesn't have capital punishment.

Oh my word.

https://twitter.com/CrapLocalNews/status/940232230160527360

Sandpit said:

No deal, no money....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12/11/britain-will-not-pay-penny-leave-european-union-no-deal-theresa/

Britain will not pay its agreed £39 billion bill to leave the European Union if a trade deal cannot be agreed, Theresa May has told her MPs.

The Prime Minister said in a letter to her parliamentary party: “The Government has said that we are a country that honours its obligations, and that is what we will do.

“We have agreed a fair settlement of commitments we have made while a member of the EU, in the spirit of our future partnership.

“It depends upon a broader agreement being reached – as I have said, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed – so if there is no agreement then our offer also falls away.”

I'm sorry, archer101au says different. I don't see why I should listen to evidence or facts, when I can listen to him.

rcs1000 said:

Sandpit said:

No deal, no money....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12/11/britain-will-not-pay-penny-leave-european-union-no-deal-theresa/

Britain will not pay its agreed £39 billion bill to leave the European Union if a trade deal cannot be agreed, Theresa May has told her MPs.

The Prime Minister said in a letter to her parliamentary party: “The Government has said that we are a country that honours its obligations, and that is what we will do.

“We have agreed a fair settlement of commitments we have made while a member of the EU, in the spirit of our future partnership.

“It depends upon a broader agreement being reached – as I have said, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed – so if there is no agreement then our offer also falls away.”

I'm sorry, archer101au says different. I don't see why I should listen to evidence or facts, when I can listen to him.

Do you believe the financial settlement is contingent on negotiating a Canada-style FTA?

Richard_Tyndall said:

Jonathan said:

The Tories have played a blinder in the South on boundaries. Take a town, any town and wrap enough countryside around it to make it Tory. Doesn't matter how odd the boundary is.
That's how they get almost 100% of the seats with lest than 50% of the vote.

Great idea - except the Tories no more set the boundaries than Labour do. In fact the last time the boundaries were changed was when Labour were in power.
So I would suggest you are talking rubbish.

Except that the Tories fixed the number of seats, which determined the size of constituencies, which determined how much rural area should be in each constituency. A bit broad brush, but nevertheless....

Tories guilty as charged,

Jonathan said:

Richard_Tyndall said:

Jonathan said:

HYUFD said:

GarethoftheVale2 said:

Recidivist said:

OldKingCole said:

Roger said:

MikeSmithson said:

swing_voter said:

any chance of a UK byelection in early 2018?

I'd say probably no. TMay looks more secure than she has been since GE17 though maybe DGreen could be in trouble. If he has to quit as TMay's deputy then hard to see him staying in the Commons.

Unlikely his wife would let him. All those nubile journalists......

Ashord lowest Tory majority in recent times was the 5000+ ion 1997. The fight there is for second place. Lab, LD and UKIP all been there in recent years, so can’t really see it as ‘interesting'.

You are quite right looking at the numbers. But that is a part of the south east where Labour is stronger than it looks. It isn't that far from Hastings which was very nearly an upset in June and Canterbury that actually was one.

Lab have some pockets of strength in Ashford town but the constituency has a lot more rural territory than Hastings. It is massively oversized and so will look better for Lab after the next boundary review (whenever that is), although still fairly safe Con.

There are a number of Tory safe seats in Kent and Sussex that would be marginals if it was not for the villages, Folkestone, Maidstone and Tonbridge and Worthing for example. It was the villages which ensured they stayed Tory in 1997 even as several other Kent and Sussex seats went Labour or LD

The Tories have played a blinder in the South on boundaries. Take a town, any town and wrap enough countryside around it to make it Tory. Doesn't matter how odd the boundary is.

That's how they get almost 100% of the seats with lest than 50% of the vote.

Great idea - except the Tories no more set the boundaries than Labour do. In fact the last time the boundaries were changed was when Labour were in power.

So I would suggest you are talking rubbish.

You are wrong. Boundaries can be influenced by lobbying at a local level, building as they do on wards. Tories very organised in past.

Yes the boundaries are certainly influenced by political considerations. But to be fair to the Tories the typical geography in the south east is medium sized town surrounded by a lot of villages. That's good territory for them, and it means you can have a lot of Labour votes with little representation. But it also means that there are quite few potential Canterburys out there if Labour is doing well and the Conservatives badly.

https://twitter.com/foxnewspoll/status/940235553802477569

Philip_Thompson said:

It's a statement of intent, both parties have already said that!

https://twitter.com/albertonardelli/status/940142336352366593

Good afternoon, everyone.

Mildly amused the EU repeatedly says nothing's agree until everything's agreed, and when Davis makes a similar comment suddenly people are wetting themselves.

not_on_fire said:

M

Elliot said:

Scott_P said:

https://twitter.com/nicktolhurst/status/940173737156136960

That discrete audit found the CAP worked for the UK, which is obviously bonkers. It discredited the whole exercise. It made clear the whole thing was done by pro-EU civil servants seeking the conclusions they wanted to. Reminds me of the Yes, Minister line about independent inquiries being trains following the tracks you set before them.

“Obviously bonkers” was your conclusion of your professional audit? Or just from perusing Daily Telegraph headlines?

CAP is "obviously bonkers" in that it makes payments to landowners simply for owning land (designed for French smallholders) rather than encouraging productivity