British Airways is a shit service I refuse to use.
On more than one occasion they've lost or misplaced my luggage, one time for a wedding in New York and my morning suit and most of my clothes ended up in Australia I think.
They also billed me four times for the same journey once.
If BA were a pizza topping they'd be pineapple.
Talking about airlines, I'm quite happy for the police to user rubber bullets on Extinction Rebellion splitters this week if they actually do use drones at Heathrow.
You would like to see the use of firearms on people as a summary punishment for criminal activity? Is that in lieu of arresting them, or just an additional frisson of violence you'd like to see added to the equation?
These bellends could bring down a few airplanes, they need to know that there will be serious consequences for them.
I don't see how, if they stick to what they claim they are going to do. They are NOT planning to fly drones in the path of aeroplanes. If someone breaks the law, the normal course of action is to arrest them. Shooting people to make an example of them is not the way we do things here.
I was clear that using live ammo wasn't what I want, that's why I suggest rubber bullets.
It's still shooting them, when simply handcuffing and taking them to a police cell them will do the trick. You might as well be advocating they get hit with an iron bar before being arrested.
If ISIS pulled this stunt they'd get shot, ISIS needs to learn that we take this stuff seriously.
But ISIS generally are looking to injure or maim people, and therefore shooting them before they can do so may be a priority. So far, these environmentalists haven't killed anyone, and have just caused disruption.
Though I do fear it's a small step for some of their more lunatic contingent, by accident or deliberately.
BiB - Probably hard to attribute a death to their actions, but the disruption in London back in April resulted in difficulties in getting to St Thomas's Hospital. The usually mild Matthew Syed was especially angry that it had had a detrimental affect on the care his father was receiving at the hospital.
But not too many doctors/nurses commute by plane into and out of Heathrow!
The the thread header, I thought the betting markets were usually more or less derivatives of the polls? The polls are almost always wrong, so it follows the betting markets are too.
Too many people gambling on politics gamble with their hearts, not their heads. It's like Dr Foxy putting a tenner every August on Leicester to win the Premiership. Just once in a lifetime it comes off, but normally he's simply contributing to Shadsy's Christmas Party. In like manner many people would like to believe the Tories, Labour LibDems are doing well, so bet on them. They talk to their friends and family, most of whom think the same way that they do. And traditional Liberals don't gamble. The Tories are the bookmakers party. Or were. It's one of the reasons I like this site. People gamble thoughtfully. Some of them, anyway.
Probably guilty of it myself. With only subjective data to go on, your political thinking is bound to overlap with your betting mind. I thought I was a bit unlucky with UKIP in 2015 as I backed lots of seats and beat the price, but they only got one for 13%
If Leave hadn’t won the referendum if prob be a big loser on political punting, thank God they paid out before the weigh in!
406 constituencies voted to Leave, 242 voted to remain. 148 Labour constituencies voted to Leave, 84 voted to Remain 247 Tory constituencies voted to Leave, 80 voted to Remain. 9 regions voted to Leave, 3 voted to Remain. 160 MP’s voted to Leave 486 voted to Remain.
Which is why we need an election.
BUT - it seems vanishingly unlikely that BJ can win big, so we will remain in stasis, unable to decide anything, until the EU finally boots us out without a Deal. I can't really see a way that avoids No Deal.
"vanishingly unlikely"? The YouGov poll waves......
What we are most likely to get is Tories largest party but out of power, with some kind of bodged up "coalition of the losers", led by the most unpopular UK politician in history ensconced in No 10. Things could get a whole lot worse.
As the largest party, the Conservatives would be the losers if they can't find enough MPs to form a coalition. That's how politics works.
Yes, I get that. But a Corbyn-led arranaement will soon run into trouble and there is very likely to be a mighty voter backlash which would put his partners (LibDems and SNP, presumably) in a pretty awkward spot. Blackford and Swinson should be careful of what they wish for. The law of unintended political consequences has some way to run.
Could there also be a "mighty voter backlash" at a Conservative-led grouping that had 45% of the popular vote? Or does it only run one way?
Possibly, if they screw up. But there won't be a Conservative-led grouping as the only other party that would support them is the DUP.
My hypothesis is a Corbyn-led grouping in power in the face of a Tory opposition, in a HoC in which the Tories are the largest party. Just think that could make today's shenanigans look like a picnic.
There should be penalties for raising a 'point of order' that isn't a point of order
I'd suggest a week suspension (no pay) and unable to vote in that time - losing money and disenfranchising your constituents should make some of the thickies think twice...
We could shoot them with rubber bullets, to show ISIS we're committed to an efficient parliamentary process.
His tweet stream is intriguing. He used to be incensed about the supremacy of the English language in the EU (and elsewhere), now he is annoyed but weary. Almost resigned.
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
What a disgrace the honours list is. A load of TMs flunkys rewarded for completely nausing things.
On and on it goes...
I didn't think Westminster's standing could get any lower than the Expense's Scandal but that pales into insigifcantce compared to recent events.
I'd love a US President who did not use the hideous device of presidential pardons. I'd also love a PM who, when leaving office, refused to give out honours.
(Of the two, I'd say the former is orders of magnitude more worrisome).
Anyone betting on no GE this year would be very encouraged by interview with Stephen Pound on LBC just now.
He was completely dismissive of a GE in Nov or Dec - said can't have a GE in those months as too cold and dark - which would badly affect turnout. Also said the public don't want to be distracted from Christmas(!)
Furthermore he said little or no point in having a GE in any case as would produce another divided Parliament which would be unable to make any more progress on Brexit than the current Parliament.
As predicted. Didn't take long did it? Gutless, cowardly and frit!
What a disgrace the honours list is. A load of TMs flunkys rewarded for completely nausing things.
On and on it goes...
I didn't think Westminster's standing could get any lower than the Expense's Scandal but that pales into insigifcantce compared to recent events.
I'd love a US President who did not use the hideous device of presidential pardons. I'd also love a PM who, when leaving office, refused to give out honours.
(Of the two, I'd say the former is orders of magnitude more worrisome).
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic.
It can be overdone. Margaret Atwood on R4 this am was asked if Brexit had influenced the writing of The Testaments, her sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. After a short, nonplussed silence, she replied that she thought it more likely that THT had influenced Brexit (said with a sardonic laugh, I hasten to add).
it's true though. Thanks to Brexit, more people around the world probably know more about the British parliamentary system than any other system anywhere in the world.
I've been looking at the political values, % Leave and demographic measures of each constituency to find the most typical constituency - the bellwether which encapsulates the national picture. I think it used to be said to be Basildon.
My conclusion is that it is HIGH PEAK.
51% Leave, centrist political values, average demographic measures.
The Baxter prediction also encapsulates the national picture. For High Peak, Lab/LD is predicted at 48% Con/BXP is predicted at 47%.
But Con gain the seat from Lab with a 0.4% majority because the Lab/LD split is forecast to be more evenly split than the Con/BXP split. It's extremely close, Tactical voting will make all the difference.
The the thread header, I thought the betting markets were usually more or less derivatives of the polls? The polls are almost always wrong, so it follows the betting markets are too.
The polls aren't always wrong, provided you define "wrong" very narrowly. If you define a successful poll as "predicts who gets the most votes" then they are mostly right. There have been cases when they were wrong (2015 is the obvious one) but even in 2017 they correctly predicted con most votes.
Gamblers consider all sources of information and so can discard rogue polls. This makes them more accurate than polling. But "better" is not the same as "good" and the different risk appetite and wealth of gamblers introduces its own bias. Wisdom of crowds depends on wrong people being wrong at random, but right people being right in the same direction. But political gamblers are not all wrong at random and there are not enough right people to override them. So although they are better than polls, they are not as good as they could be. Hence the gyrations you see in the article.
What a disgrace the honours list is. A load of TMs flunkys rewarded for completely nausing things.
On and on it goes...
I didn't think Westminster's standing could get any lower than the Expense's Scandal but that pales into insigifcantce compared to recent events.
I'd love a US President who did not use the hideous device of presidential pardons. I'd also love a PM who, when leaving office, refused to give out honours.
(Of the two, I'd say the former is orders of magnitude more worrisome).
Blair didn't give any, did he?
He didn't because the cash for honours investigation was ongoing.
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic...
If you mash together Sean and Byron, you end up with Sauron...
British Airways is a shit service I refuse to use.
On more than one occasion they've lost or misplaced my luggage, one time for a wedding in New York and my morning suit and most of my clothes ended up in Australia I think.
They also billed me four times for the same journey once.
If BA were a pizza topping they'd be pineapple.
Talking about airlines, I'm quite happy for the police to user rubber bullets on Extinction Rebellion splitters this week if they actually do use drones at Heathrow.
You would like to see the use of firearms on people as a summary punishment for criminal activity? Is that in lieu of arresting them, or just an additional frisson of violence you'd like to see added to the equation?
These bellends could bring down a few airplanes, they need to know that there will be serious consequences for them.
I don't see how, if they stick to what they claim they are going to do. They are NOT planning to fly drones in the path of aeroplanes. If someone breaks the law, the normal course of action is to arrest them. Shooting people to make an example of them is not the way we do things here.
Britain elects forgot to tweet the bottom two. Ooops, an oversight that rather changes the overall picture
The projected majorities for Tory leads of 8% and 9% are wildly inaccurate. Even a 9% Tory lead would only produce 29 gains from Labour on UNS - offset by 11 losses to the LDs and perhaps 10 to the SNP. That would give the Tories 325 seats - on the cusp of a bare majority.
What a disgrace the honours list is. A load of TMs flunkys rewarded for completely nausing things.
On and on it goes...
I didn't think Westminster's standing could get any lower than the Expense's Scandal but that pales into insigifcantce compared to recent events.
I'd love a US President who did not use the hideous device of presidential pardons. I'd also love a PM who, when leaving office, refused to give out honours.
(Of the two, I'd say the former is orders of magnitude more worrisome).
So, what does the PB collective think about Day 2 of BAs attempt to trash a once great brand? The absence of much comment or care in the media about the fact that our National Carrier is grounded seems to me to reflect that BA is without much sympathy. Business users will not dare to book a flight with them for the next 6 weeks or more and that loss of revenue could be terminal. Good luck to pilots seeking to have a share in the profits - their actions means these will be as rare as a happy BA stewardess! BA= Bloody Awful
BA has cut costs so much to be turning a healthy profit now which can tidy it over for some time, the problem is it might have come at the expense of quality so it might need to redress the balance a bit and pay its pilots a bit more.
However with Ryanair, IAG's biggest European rival for UK continental flights now also seeing strikes shortly it is not alone having problems cutting costs too much and having striking pilots
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic.
It can be overdone. Margaret Atwood on R4 this am was asked if Brexit had influenced the writing of The Testaments, her sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. After a short, nonplussed silence, she replied that she thought it more likely that THT had influenced Brexit (said with a sardonic laugh, I hasten to add).
it's true though. Thanks to Brexit, more people around the world probably know more about the British parliamentary system than any other system anywhere in the world.
I've been looking at the political values, % Leave and demographic measures of each constituency to find the most typical constituency - the bellwether which encapsulates the national picture. I think it used to be said to be Basildon.
My conclusion is that it is HIGH PEAK.
51% Leave, centrist political values, average demographic measures.
The Baxter prediction also encapsulates the national picture. For High Peak, Lab/LD is predicted at 48% Con/BXP is predicted at 47%.
But Con gain the seat from Lab with a 0.4% majority because the Lab/LD split is forecast to be more evenly split than the Con/BXP split. It's extremely close, Tactical voting will make all the difference.
High Peak's not a bad shout, but it's a bit too white and rural to THAT nationally reflective.
Watford I think is slightly more of a bellwether -- the Brexit and 2017 results were slightly closer to the national average, demographically it's a bit more in line with average.
I once had a trainee who was formerly a colonel in the Marines, law being a second career for him. He told me that he once had to chair a Court Martial because a sentry had failed to shoot intruders at Faslane. Some environmentalists had broken in and then climbed onto one of the nuclear submarines to put up a banner of some sort.
Asked why he had not shot the person responsible the sentry replied, "well sir, I could see that he was only a woolly hatter."
He was of course convicted despite showing the level of common sense and proportionality that makes the British forces really stand out among serious armies.
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic...
If you mash together Sean and Byron, you end up with Sauron...
"As of the end of August, the Polling Observatory puts support for the Conservatives at 35.5% (16.9 points above where the party stood at the end of May), Labour at 24.5% (just one point higher than May), the Liberal Democrats at 18.0% (0.2 points down), the Brexit Party at 12.1% (10 points down) and the Green Party 5.3% (one point down) – with UKIP support statistically indistinguishable from 0%."
Perhaps Labour might yet regret their decision not to go for an early GE
Just wait until Bozo has to extend, and half the Tory vote jumps ship to Farage.
Boris will never extend, he will correctly take the Tories into opposition before October 31st and resign as PM rather than agree to extend though unless a Deal has passed he likely loses a VONC by the end of October anyway forcing a GE
One of the great things about pro rogation is you can now watch TV news without a bunch of flag waving dickheads yelling in the background
Unfortunately we will undoubtedly have them back at Parliament House in Edinburgh tomorrow when the Inner House are due to give their judgment. Its really weird because they go to town with blue cloaks with stars on them, a surprising number of laurel wreaths (1 would surprise me in fairness) and of course EU flags. I may try and work at home.
I've been looking at the political values, % Leave and demographic measures of each constituency to find the most typical constituency - the bellwether which encapsulates the national picture. I think it used to be said to be Basildon.
My conclusion is that it is HIGH PEAK.
51% Leave, centrist political values, average demographic measures.
The Baxter prediction also encapsulates the national picture. For High Peak, Lab/LD is predicted at 48% Con/BXP is predicted at 47%.
But Con gain the seat from Lab with a 0.4% majority because the Lab/LD split is forecast to be more evenly split than the Con/BXP split. It's extremely close, Tactical voting will make all the difference.
Thank you for that. Very informative. I take it this means, loosely, that a GE fought on leave/remain lines favours the Conservatives at present levels of support.
Useful insight for betting.
Yes - the data is from Electoral Calculus and shows an overall majority of 14 for the Tories. But is is very sensitive to assumptions on tactical voting (Con/BXP and Lab/LD/Grn) as well as share. It's extremely close and hard to predict.
But keep an eye on HIGH PEAK. Focus groups of LD and BXP voters there would be very useful!
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic...
If you mash together Sean and Byron, you end up with Sauron...
Dubravka Šuica (Croatia, EPP): Democracy and Demography + Vice Presidency. Šuica will also lead, from the Commission side, the work on the Conference on the Future of Europe.
Johannes Hahn (Austria, EPP) Budget and Administration
Didier Reynders (Belgium, ALDE): Justice, including rule of law
Mariya Gabriel (Bulgaria, EPP): Innovation and Youth.
Stella Kyriakides (Cyprus, EPP): Health
Kadri Simson (Estonia, ALDE): Energy.
Jutta Urpilainen (Finland, PES): International Partnerships.
Sylvie Goulard (France ALDE): Internal Market + responsible for the new Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space.
László Trócsányi (Hungary, EPP): Enlargement.
Phil Hogan (Ireland, EPP): Trade.
Paolo Gentiloni (Italy, PES): Economic and Financial Affairs.
Virginijus Sinkevičius (Lithuania): Environment and Oceans.
Nicolas Schmit (Luxembourg, PES) : Employment.
Helena Dalli (Malta, PES): Equality
Janusz Wojciechowski (Poland, ECR): Agriculture.
Elisa Ferreira (Portugal, PES) : Cohesion and Reforms.
Rovana Plumb (Romania, PES): Transport.
Janez Lenarčič (Slovenia, ALDE): Crisis Management
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic.
It can be overdone. Margaret Atwood on R4 this am was asked if Brexit had influenced the writing of The Testaments, her sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. After a short, nonplussed silence, she replied that she thought it more likely that THT had influenced Brexit (said with a sardonic laugh, I hasten to add).
it's true though. Thanks to Brexit, more people around the world probably know more about the British parliamentary system than any other system anywhere in the world.
I once had a trainee who was formerly a colonel in the Marines, law being a second career for him. He told me that he once had to chair a Court Martial because a sentry had failed to shoot intruders at Faslane. Some environmentalists had broken in and then climbed onto one of the nuclear submarines to put up a banner of some sort.
Asked why he had not shot the person responsible the sentry replied, "well sir, I could see that he was only a woolly hatter."
He was of course convicted despite showing the level of common sense and proportionality that makes the British forces really stand out among serious armies.
Boris will never extend, he will correctly take the Tories into opposition before October 31st and resign as PM rather than agree to extend though unless a Deal has passed he likely loses a VONC by the end of October anyway forcing a GE
I completely get the first bit but it's what happens IF an alternative Government is formed and agrees a 24 month extension which it then passes into law in the UK Parliament.
Boris has the polling numbers but not the Parliamentary numbers to force a GE and such will only happen IF no alternative Government can be formed in the 14 day period after a successful Vote of No Confidence.
Boris is presumably betting that won't happen but what if it does? The caretaker Government may prove more durable and popular than you and others suspect and if it stays around for 18 months before standing down for a GE will the Conservatives will be going down about respecting the 2016 Referendum result which, by 2021, will seem like ancient history?
I've been looking at the political values, % Leave and demographic measures of each constituency to find the most typical constituency - the bellwether which encapsulates the national picture. I think it used to be said to be Basildon.
My conclusion is that it is HIGH PEAK.
51% Leave, centrist political values, average demographic measures.
The Baxter prediction also encapsulates the national picture. For High Peak, Lab/LD is predicted at 48% Con/BXP is predicted at 47%.
But Con gain the seat from Lab with a 0.4% majority because the Lab/LD split is forecast to be more evenly split than the Con/BXP split. It's extremely close, Tactical voting will make all the difference.
High Peak's not a bad shout, but it's a bit too white and rural to THAT nationally reflective.
Watford I think is slightly more of a bellwether -- the Brexit and 2017 results were slightly closer to the national average, demographically it's a bit more in line with average.
I've been looking at the political values, % Leave and demographic measures of each constituency to find the most typical constituency - the bellwether which encapsulates the national picture. I think it used to be said to be Basildon.
My conclusion is that it is HIGH PEAK.
51% Leave, centrist political values, average demographic measures.
The Baxter prediction also encapsulates the national picture. For High Peak, Lab/LD is predicted at 48% Con/BXP is predicted at 47%.
But Con gain the seat from Lab with a 0.4% majority because the Lab/LD split is forecast to be more evenly split than the Con/BXP split. It's extremely close, Tactical voting will make all the difference.
High Peak's not a bad shout, but it's a bit too white and rural to THAT nationally reflective.
Watford I think is slightly more of a bellwether -- the Brexit and 2017 results were slightly closer to the national average, demographically it's a bit more in line with average.
With its LibDem mayor and strong LibDem track record on the council, it would be great it Watford were representative, but for these reasons isn’t, at least in terms of politics.
I once had a trainee who was formerly a colonel in the Marines, law being a second career for him. He told me that he once had to chair a Court Martial because a sentry had failed to shoot intruders at Faslane. Some environmentalists had broken in and then climbed onto one of the nuclear submarines to put up a banner of some sort.
Asked why he had not shot the person responsible the sentry replied, "well sir, I could see that he was only a woolly hatter."
He was of course convicted despite showing the level of common sense and proportionality that makes the British forces really stand out among serious armies.
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic...
If you mash together Sean and Byron, you end up with Sauron...
Just saying.
"Your message on PB horrifies me! Of course there is no possible connection between Byronic and SeanT. If you suggest such a thing anywhere, it will be the end of our beautiful friendship! For Christ's sake, lay off the idea of Byronic = SeanT. Just shut up about Byronic! F*ck you, Evelyn Waugh SeanT."
Wages rising at the highest rate since 2008, the lost decade of wage growth coming close to an end and employment remaining at record levels. Taken with Javid's splurge our economy really should grow quite quickly next year based on strong consumer spending, government spending and no doubt ever increasing levels of debt all round. Under any normal circumstances it would be a very good context in which to have an election but few seem to be paying attention.
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic...
If you mash together Sean and Byron, you end up with Sauron...
Just saying.
Where do you get the u from?
Just something that Sean Connery suggested to me...
Britain elects forgot to tweet the bottom two. Ooops, an oversight that rather changes the overall picture
The projected majorities for Tory leads of 8% and 9% are wildly inaccurate. Even a 9% Tory lead would only produce 29 gains from Labour on UNS - offset by 11 losses to the LDs and perhaps 10 to the SNP. That would give the Tories 325 seats - on the cusp of a bare majority.
A 3.5% swing from Labour to the Tories actually sees the Tories gain 31 Labour seats giving them 327 overall and a majority even with the losses to the LDs and SNP as above, plus they likely win Buckingham giving 328 Tory MPs
Boris will never extend, he will correctly take the Tories into opposition before October 31st and resign as PM rather than agree to extend though unless a Deal has passed he likely loses a VONC by the end of October anyway forcing a GE
I completely get the first bit but it's what happens IF an alternative Government is formed and agrees a 24 month extension which it then passes into law in the UK Parliament.
Boris has the polling numbers but not the Parliamentary numbers to force a GE and such will only happen IF no alternative Government can be formed in the 14 day period after a successful Vote of No Confidence.
Boris is presumably betting that won't happen but what if it does? The caretaker Government may prove more durable and popular than you and others suspect and if it stays around for 18 months before standing down for a GE will the Conservatives will be going down about respecting the 2016 Referendum result which, by 2021, will seem like ancient history?
Who will be PM? I cannot imagine any of the party leaders allowing another to be leader.
The caretaker Government may prove more durable and popular than you and others suspect and if it stays around for 18 months before standing down for a GE will the Conservatives will be going down about respecting the 2016 Referendum result which, by 2021, will seem like ancient history?
I think it is possible ... but rather unlikely.
I mean, opposition parties have not yet even coalesced around a Leader.
And the interests of the SNP are rather different to the interests of Lab & the LibDems. The SNP want an election asap, surely.
And Labour & LibDems are now squabbling over the same demographic, metropolitan Remain voters. Only one of them can win.
It is actually in the LibDem's interests that there is an election now.
A successful caretaker Government (inevitably Labour dominated, presumably with Corbyn sidelined) will actually destroy the LibDems (again).
Britain elects forgot to tweet the bottom two. Ooops, an oversight that rather changes the overall picture
The projected majorities for Tory leads of 8% and 9% are wildly inaccurate. Even a 9% Tory lead would only produce 29 gains from Labour on UNS - offset by 11 losses to the LDs and perhaps 10 to the SNP. That would give the Tories 325 seats - on the cusp of a bare majority.
A 3.5% swing from Labour to the Tories actually sees the Tories gain 31 seats giving them 327 overall and a majority even with the losses to the LDs and SNP as above
There’s no “actually” about it - all of these models are guesses, and all are likely to be wrong given that the one thing we can see about the coming election is that there are going to very different swings in different areas and regions of the country. Your comment is absurd.
I once had a trainee who was formerly a colonel in the Marines, law being a second career for him. He told me that he once had to chair a Court Martial because a sentry had failed to shoot intruders at Faslane. Some environmentalists had broken in and then climbed onto one of the nuclear submarines to put up a banner of some sort.
Asked why he had not shot the person responsible the sentry replied, "well sir, I could see that he was only a woolly hatter."
He was of course convicted despite showing the level of common sense and proportionality that makes the British forces really stand out among serious armies.
The Faslane intruders made into the inside of HMS Repulse when she was loaded with Polaris war shots. They absolutely should have been riddled with small arms fire and it wasn't "common sense" not to do so.
Boris will never extend, he will correctly take the Tories into opposition before October 31st and resign as PM rather than agree to extend though unless a Deal has passed he likely loses a VONC by the end of October anyway forcing a GE
I completely get the first bit but it's what happens IF an alternative Government is formed and agrees a 24 month extension which it then passes into law in the UK Parliament.
Boris has the polling numbers but not the Parliamentary numbers to force a GE and such will only happen IF no alternative Government can be formed in the 14 day period after a successful Vote of No Confidence.
Boris is presumably betting that won't happen but what if it does? The caretaker Government may prove more durable and popular than you and others suspect and if it stays around for 18 months before standing down for a GE will the Conservatives will be going down about respecting the 2016 Referendum result which, by 2021, will seem like ancient history?
The Tories will commit to backing Brexit Deal or No Deal until it is delivered with Leavers largely united behind them, up until 2022 if necessary.
As Scotland shows referendum impact does not go away and certainly not when the result is ignored
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic.
It can be overdone. Margaret Atwood on R4 this am was asked if Brexit had influenced the writing of The Testaments, her sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. After a short, nonplussed silence, she replied that she thought it more likely that THT had influenced Brexit (said with a sardonic laugh, I hasten to add).
it's true though. Thanks to Brexit, more people around the world probably know more about the British parliamentary system than any other system anywhere in the world.
Some are, some aren't. I think most aren't, but I might be biassed. Either way the entire world is being schooled in the rites and rituals of our great British democracy, which is a jolly good thing, as I am sure you will agree.
Boris is presumably betting that won't happen but what if it does? The caretaker Government may prove more durable and popular than you and others suspect and if it stays around for 18 months before standing down for a GE will the Conservatives will be going down about respecting the 2016 Referendum result which, by 2021, will seem like ancient history?
I have a (admittedly forlorn) hope that a caretaker government might inject a bit of common sense into the leaving process, make Corbyn and Johnson look like the 2nd-raters they are, and draw crossparty support to pass the WA.
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic.
It can be overdone. Margaret Atwood on R4 this am was asked if Brexit had influenced the writing of The Testaments, her sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. After a short, nonplussed silence, she replied that she thought it more likely that THT had influenced Brexit (said with a sardonic laugh, I hasten to add).
it's true though. Thanks to Brexit, more people around the world probably know more about the British parliamentary system than any other system anywhere in the world.
Some are, some aren't. I think most aren't, but I might be biassed. Either way the entire world is being schooled in the rites and rituals of our great British democracy, which is a jolly good thing, as I am sure you will agree.
I’m in the US now, and not a single person has yet to mention it. The one person I mentioned it to in passing just gave me a blank look. There are regular Brexit news updates on PBS but I doubt this is mass listening.
Unlike when I was in Europe in the spring, when every other person wanted to talk about it.
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic.
It can be overdone. Margaret Atwood on R4 this am was asked if Brexit had influenced the writing of The Testaments, her sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. After a short, nonplussed silence, she replied that she thought it more likely that THT had influenced Brexit (said with a sardonic laugh, I hasten to add).
it's true though. Thanks to Brexit, more people around the world probably know more about the British parliamentary system than any other system anywhere in the world.
Some are, some aren't. I think most aren't, but I might be biassed. Either way the entire world is being schooled in the rites and rituals of our great British democracy, which is a jolly good thing, as I am sure you will agree.
Plus with the US under Trump, Brazil under Bolsonaro, India under Modi, Israel under Netanyahu, Hungary under Orban, Salvini leading the polls in Italy, Australia under Morrison etc, Boris simply reflects a global trend to the populist right at the moment in many countries
Britain elects forgot to tweet the bottom two. Ooops, an oversight that rather changes the overall picture
The projected majorities for Tory leads of 8% and 9% are wildly inaccurate. Even a 9% Tory lead would only produce 29 gains from Labour on UNS - offset by 11 losses to the LDs and perhaps 10 to the SNP. That would give the Tories 325 seats - on the cusp of a bare majority.
A 3.5% swing from Labour to the Tories actually sees the Tories gain 31 Labour seats giving them 327 overall and a majority even with the losses to the LDs and SNP as above, plus they likely win Buckingham giving 328 Tory MPs
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic.
It can be overdone. Margaret Atwood on R4 this am was asked if Brexit had influenced the writing of The Testaments, her sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. After a short, nonplussed silence, she replied that she thought it more likely that THT had influenced Brexit (said with a sardonic laugh, I hasten to add).
it's true though. Thanks to Brexit, more people around the world probably know more about the British parliamentary system than any other system anywhere in the world.
Some are, some aren't. I think most aren't, but I might be biassed. Either way the entire world is being schooled in the rites and rituals of our great British democracy, which is a jolly good thing, as I am sure you will agree.
Plus with the US under Trump, Brazil under Bolsonaro, India under Modi, Israel under Netanyahu, Hungary under Orban, Salvini leading the polls in Italy, Australia under Morrison etc, Boris simply reflects a global trend to the populist right at the moment in many countries
I've been looking at the political values, % Leave and demographic measures of each constituency to find the most typical constituency - the bellwether which encapsulates the national picture. I think it used to be said to be Basildon.
My conclusion is that it is HIGH PEAK.
51% Leave, centrist political values, average demographic measures.
The Baxter prediction also encapsulates the national picture. For High Peak, Lab/LD is predicted at 48% Con/BXP is predicted at 47%.
But Con gain the seat from Lab with a 0.4% majority because the Lab/LD split is forecast to be more evenly split than the Con/BXP split. It's extremely close, Tactical voting will make all the difference.
High Peak's not a bad shout, but it's a bit too white and rural to THAT nationally reflective.
Watford I think is slightly more of a bellwether -- the Brexit and 2017 results were slightly closer to the national average, demographically it's a bit more in line with average.
Leave vote in Watford was 51%, the same as High Peak. Watford is also more right wing, wealthier and better educated than the national average.
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic.
It can be overdone. Margaret Atwood on R4 this am was asked if Brexit had influenced the writing of The Testaments, her sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. After a short, nonplussed silence, she replied that she thought it more likely that THT had influenced Brexit (said with a sardonic laugh, I hasten to add).
it's true though. Thanks to Brexit, more people around the world probably know more about the British parliamentary system than any other system anywhere in the world.
Some are, some aren't. I think most aren't, but I might be biassed. Either way the entire world is being schooled in the rites and rituals of our great British democracy, which is a jolly good thing, as I am sure you will agree.
I’m in the US now, and not a single person has yet to mention it. The one person I mentioned it to in passing just gave me a blank look. There are regular Brexit news updates on PBS but I doubt this is mass listening.
Unlike when I was in Europe in the spring, when every other person wanted to talk about it.
I do get asked about it now an again by friends, family and co-workers but mostly just "haven't you guys sorted it out yet?"
Boris is presumably betting that won't happen but what if it does? The caretaker Government may prove more durable and popular than you and others suspect and if it stays around for 18 months before standing down for a GE will the Conservatives will be going down about respecting the 2016 Referendum result which, by 2021, will seem like ancient history?
I have a (admittedly forlorn) hope that a caretaker government might inject a bit of common sense into the leaving process, make Corbyn and Johnson look like the 2nd-raters they are, and draw crossparty support to pass the WA.
You do understand that more than half of the Labour Parliamentary Party and virtually all the others except the DUP are full blown Remainers , i.e 2nd referendum would be their minimum option; revoke preferable.
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic.
It can be overdone. Margaret Atwood on R4 this am was asked if Brexit had influenced the writing of The Testaments, her sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. After a short, nonplussed silence, she replied that she thought it more likely that THT had influenced Brexit (said with a sardonic laugh, I hasten to add).
it's true though. Thanks to Brexit, more people around the world probably know more about the British parliamentary system than any other system anywhere in the world.
Some are, some aren't. I think most aren't, but I might be biassed. Either way the entire world is being schooled in the rites and rituals of our great British democracy, which is a jolly good thing, as I am sure you will agree.
Plus with the US under Trump, Brazil under Bolsonaro, India under Modi, Israel under Netanyahu, Hungary under Orban, Salvini leading the polls in Italy, Australia under Morrison etc, Boris simply reflects a global trend to the populist right at the moment in many countries
Convicted domestic abuser Geoff Boycott? Andrew Strauss??? Timothy and Hill get CBEs. As weid as Theresa herself.
At least Kim Darroch has been given something.
Has there ever been a Resignation honours list which was not controversial. It is peculiarly British. But we would not do away with it. Of course, the USA has its "pardons list".
Boris will never extend, he will correctly take the Tories into opposition before October 31st and resign as PM rather than agree to extend though unless a Deal has passed he likely loses a VONC by the end of October anyway forcing a GE
I completely get the first bit but it's what happens IF an alternative Government is formed and agrees a 24 month extension which it then passes into law in the UK Parliament.
Boris has the polling numbers but not the Parliamentary numbers to force a GE and such will only happen IF no alternative Government can be formed in the 14 day period after a successful Vote of No Confidence.
Boris is presumably betting that won't happen but what if it does? The caretaker Government may prove more durable and popular than you and others suspect and if it stays around for 18 months before standing down for a GE will the Conservatives will be going down about respecting the 2016 Referendum result which, by 2021, will seem like ancient history?
The Tories will commit to backing Brexit Deal or No Deal until it is delivered with Leavers largely united behind them, up until 2022 if necessary.
As Scotland shows referendum impact does not go away and certainly not when the result is ignored
Another prediction for the collection from the PB Borisites. File with 'filibuster will work' and 'royal assent won't be given' ?
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic.
It can be overdone. Margaret Atwood on R4 this am was asked if Brexit had influenced the writing of The Testaments, her sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. After a short, nonplussed silence, she replied that she thought it more likely that THT had influenced Brexit (said with a sardonic laugh, I hasten to add).
it's true though. Thanks to Brexit, more people around the world probably know more about the British parliamentary system than any other system anywhere in the world.
Some are, some aren't. I think most aren't, but I might be biassed. Either way the entire world is being schooled in the rites and rituals of our great British democracy, which is a jolly good thing, as I am sure you will agree.
Plus with the US under Trump, Brazil under Bolsonaro, India under Modi, Israel under Netanyahu, Hungary under Orban, Salvini leading the polls in Italy, Australia under Morrison etc, Boris simply reflects a global trend to the populist right at the moment in many countries
You don’t agree that he’s a liberal then?
He was as Mayor of London, he is not now but a populist conservative however he is not quite at Bolsonaro or Trump levels yet either
I've been looking at the political values, % Leave and demographic measures of each constituency to find the most typical constituency - the bellwether which encapsulates the national picture. I think it used to be said to be Basildon.
My conclusion is that it is HIGH PEAK.
51% Leave, centrist political values, average demographic measures.
The Baxter prediction also encapsulates the national picture. For High Peak, Lab/LD is predicted at 48% Con/BXP is predicted at 47%.
But Con gain the seat from Lab with a 0.4% majority because the Lab/LD split is forecast to be more evenly split than the Con/BXP split. It's extremely close, Tactical voting will make all the difference.
As my local eye keeper, I've noted a few times that the Peak District edges, with their semi-industrial, semi-rural, commuter, villagy mix are trending more strongly red than the UK as a whole over the last few years and that seems to.hold true from Pennine West Yorkshire to, High Peak to Staffs Moorlands. I've not fully looked to see if the like of Amber Valley are following the trend where the Peak side of the district is trending red even as ttownier bits go blue, but on a straw poll I think Labour was getting on for +15 or so in Peak District wards at the locals.
If Lib Dems and BXP roar back a bit, I would reckon Colne Valley would be as close a 4 way as any (more Lib Demmy than High Peak has tended to be, but conversely Con a bit more likely to fall.behind).
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic.
It can be overdone. Margaret Atwood on R4 this am was asked if Brexit had influenced the writing of The Testaments, her sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. After a short, nonplussed silence, she replied that she thought it more likely that THT had influenced Brexit (said with a sardonic laugh, I hasten to add).
it's true though. Thanks to Brexit, more people around the world probably know more about the British parliamentary system than any other system anywhere in the world.
Some are, some aren't. I think most aren't, but I might be biassed. Either way the entire world is being schooled in the rites and rituals of our great British democracy, which is a jolly good thing, as I am sure you will agree.
Plus with the US under Trump, Brazil under Bolsonaro, India under Modi, Israel under Netanyahu, Hungary under Orban, Salvini leading the polls in Italy, Australia under Morrison etc, Boris simply reflects a global trend to the populist right at the moment in many countries
Although Italy is now in the control of the centre-left despite your excitable predictions earlier in the summer.
I'm not sure I see a Commons majority for revocation, any more than No Deal*.
Even if that's the secretly-desired eventual outcome for a large proportion of MPs, they don't say so publicly, don't think it can/should be done without EURef2, and most importantly, don't want their fingerprints on it.
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic.
It can be overdone. Margaret Atwood on R4 this am was asked if Brexit had influenced the writing of The Testaments, her sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. After a short, nonplussed silence, she replied that she thought it more likely that THT had influenced Brexit (said with a sardonic laugh, I hasten to add).
it's true though. Thanks to Brexit, more people around the world probably know more about the British parliamentary system than any other system anywhere in the world.
Some are, some aren't. I think most aren't, but I might be biassed. Either way the entire world is being schooled in the rites and rituals of our great British democracy, which is a jolly good thing, as I am sure you will agree.
I’m in the US now, and not a single person has yet to mention it. The one person I mentioned it to in passing just gave me a blank look. There are regular Brexit news updates on PBS but I doubt this is mass listening.
Unlike when I was in Europe in the spring, when every other person wanted to talk about it.
People don't talk about politics on the street - or very rarely. They talk about it on social media. And right now "Black Rod" is trending number THREE in America.
It's a definite thing. I cannot imagine any arcane political procedure, in any other country, has ever achieved such weird global renown.
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic...
If you mash together Sean and Byron, you end up with Sauron...
I'm not sure I see a Commons majority for revocation, any more than No Deal*.
Even if that's the secretly-desired eventual outcome for a large proportion of MPs, they don't say so publicly, don't think it can/should be done without EURef2, and most importantly, don't want their fingerprints on it.
(*or Deal, tbf... hence where we are today)
If the EU don’t give an extension then revocation would be the only way to avoid No Deal. I think there would be a majority for it.
I'm not sure I see a Commons majority for revocation, any more than No Deal*.
Even if that's the secretly-desired eventual outcome for a large proportion of MPs, they don't say so publicly, don't think it can/should be done without EURef2, and most importantly, don't want their fingerprints on it.
(*or Deal, tbf... hence where we are today)
If the EU don’t give an extension then revocation would be the only way to avoid No Deal. I think there would be a majority for it.
I think I agree. Something impossible and unprecedented HAS to happen to break the Brexit logjam. Maybe it will be revoke, if the stark alternative, in a few days, is No Deal.
I could see a terrified Commons going for it, on October 29th, if Boris has managed to sidestep the Surrender Bill and we are nodealing over the edge.
"A source inside Number 10 tells me the PM & Gove have said if Yellowhammer documents are released into is the public domain “Brexit is over” in cabinet meeting.
This would explain why MPs raised information suggesting Gov't is circumventing publishing the Yellowhammer docs"
I'm not sure I see a Commons majority for revocation, any more than No Deal*.
Even if that's the secretly-desired eventual outcome for a large proportion of MPs, they don't say so publicly, don't think it can/should be done without EURef2, and most importantly, don't want their fingerprints on it.
(*or Deal, tbf... hence where we are today)
The Daily Mail today is quoting a Yougov poll of something like 52:28 in favour of extension as against no-deal - has that been posted up on here ?
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic.
It can be overdone. Margaret Atwood on R4 this am was asked if Brexit had influenced the writing of The Testaments, her sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. After a short, nonplussed silence, she replied that she thought it more likely that THT had influenced Brexit (said with a sardonic laugh, I hasten to add).
it's true though. Thanks to Brexit, more people around the world probably know more about the British parliamentary system than any other system anywhere in the world.
Some are, some aren't. I think most aren't, but I might be biassed. Either way the entire world is being schooled in the rites and rituals of our great British democracy, which is a jolly good thing, as I am sure you will agree.
I’m in the US now, and not a single person has yet to mention it. The one person I mentioned it to in passing just gave me a blank look. There are regular Brexit news updates on PBS but I doubt this is mass listening.
Unlike when I was in Europe in the spring, when every other person wanted to talk about it.
People don't talk about politics on the street - or very rarely. They talk about it on social media. And right now "Black Rod" is trending number THREE in America.
It's a definite thing. I cannot imagine any arcane political procedure, in any other country, has ever achieved such weird global renown.
That clip is terrible. It puts beyond all reasonable doubt that Bercow is siding with one side of the House, attacking one side with cheers from the other.
Boris will never extend, he will correctly take the Tories into opposition before October 31st and resign as PM rather than agree to extend though unless a Deal has passed he likely loses a VONC by the end of October anyway forcing a GE
I completely get the first bit but it's what happens IF an alternative Government is formed and agrees a 24 month extension which it then passes into law in the UK Parliament.
Boris has the polling numbers but not the Parliamentary numbers to force a GE and such will only happen IF no alternative Government can be formed in the 14 day period after a successful Vote of No Confidence.
Boris is presumably betting that won't happen but what if it does? The caretaker Government may prove more durable and popular than you and others suspect and if it stays around for 18 months before standing down for a GE will the Conservatives will be going down about respecting the 2016 Referendum result which, by 2021, will seem like ancient history?
The Tories will commit to backing Brexit Deal or No Deal until it is delivered with Leavers largely united behind them, up until 2022 if necessary.
As Scotland shows referendum impact does not go away and certainly not when the result is ignored
As things stand, if Tories go for “Deal or No Deal” they come up against Farage with “No Deal Is The Only Option” - at that point getting their vote split down to just those who want a deal, but don’t prefer a cuddly Labour deal, could be a bit catastrophic. As usual, it’s about which bloc can strategise better for an election and that remains pretty unpredictable.
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic.
It can be overdone. Margaret Atwood on R4 this am was asked if Brexit had influenced the writing of The Testaments, her sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. After a short, nonplussed silence, she replied that she thought it more likely that THT had influenced Brexit (said with a sardonic laugh, I hasten to add).
it's true though. Thanks to Brexit, more people around the world probably know more about the British parliamentary system than any other system anywhere in the world.
Some are, some aren't. I think most aren't, but I might be biassed. Either way the entire world is being schooled in the rites and rituals of our great British democracy, which is a jolly good thing, as I am sure you will agree.
Plus with the US under Trump, Brazil under Bolsonaro, India under Modi, Israel under Netanyahu, Hungary under Orban, Salvini leading the polls in Italy, Australia under Morrison etc, Boris simply reflects a global trend to the populist right at the moment in many countries
Scott Morrison represents a centrist victory over right wing culture war populism in the unlovely shape of Peter Dutton.
Re the honours system - I know this gets done to death each time, but I fail to see why someone gets an honour for doing their job (but only in certain jobs, typically politician, civil servant, sports person, actor, CEO). And why the disparity in the award if you are higher or lower in the social standing.
My view is awards should only be given for voluntary work and bravery and the level of the award should be dependent upon what you did not where you stand in the social hierarchy.
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic.
It can be overdone. Margaret Atwood on R4 this am was asked if Brexit had influenced the writing of The Testaments, her sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. After a short, nonplussed silence, she replied that she thought it more likely that THT had influenced Brexit (said with a sardonic laugh, I hasten to add).
it's true though. Thanks to Brexit, more people around the world probably know more about the British parliamentary system than any other system anywhere in the world.
Some are, some aren't. I think most aren't, but I might be biassed. Either way the entire world is being schooled in the rites and rituals of our great British democracy, which is a jolly good thing, as I am sure you will agree.
I’m in the US now, and not a single person has yet to mention it. The one person I mentioned it to in passing just gave me a blank look. There are regular Brexit news updates on PBS but I doubt this is mass listening.
Unlike when I was in Europe in the spring, when every other person wanted to talk about it.
People don't talk about politics on the street - or very rarely. They talk about it on social media. And right now "Black Rod" is trending number THREE in America.
It's a definite thing. I cannot imagine any arcane political procedure, in any other country, has ever achieved such weird global renown.
That clip is terrible. It puts beyond all reasonable doubt that Bercow is siding with one side of the House, attacking one side with cheers from the other.
Yeah, I think that's maybe why Bercow announced his resignation. It means he can abandon the last pretence that he is even-handed, safe in the knowledge that he'll be on the beach with his fat pension, very soon.
Re the honours system - I know this gets done to death each time, but I fail to see why someone gets an honour for doing their job (but only in certain jobs, typically politician, civil servant, sports person, actor, CEO). And why the disparity in the award if you are higher or lower in the social standing.
My view is awards should only be given for voluntary work and bravery and the level of the award should be dependent upon what you did not where you stand in the social hierarchy.
I'm not sure I see a Commons majority for revocation, any more than No Deal*.
Even if that's the secretly-desired eventual outcome for a large proportion of MPs, they don't say so publicly, don't think it can/should be done without EURef2, and most importantly, don't want their fingerprints on it.
(*or Deal, tbf... hence where we are today)
If the EU don’t give an extension then revocation would be the only way to avoid No Deal. I think there would be a majority for it.
I think I agree. Something impossible and unprecedented HAS to happen to break the Brexit logjam. Maybe it will be revoke, if the stark alternative, in a few days, is No Deal.
I could see a terrified Commons going for it, on October 29th, if Boris has managed to sidestep the Surrender Bill and we are nodealing over the edge.
And someone on the site £1,000 (formerly £10,000) poorer.
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic.
It can be overdone. Margaret Atwood on R4 this am was asked if Brexit had influenced the writing of The Testaments, her sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. After a short, nonplussed silence, she replied that she thought it more likely that THT had influenced Brexit (said with a sardonic laugh, I hasten to add).
it's true though. Thanks to Brexit, more people around the world probably know more about the British parliamentary system than any other system anywhere in the world.
Some are, some aren't. I think most aren't, but I might be biassed. Either way the entire world is being schooled in the rites and rituals of our great British democracy, which is a jolly good thing, as I am sure you will agree.
I’m in the US now, and not a single person has yet to mention it. The one person I mentioned it to in passing just gave me a blank look. There are regular Brexit news updates on PBS but I doubt this is mass listening.
Unlike when I was in Europe in the spring, when every other person wanted to talk about it.
People don't talk about politics on the street - or very rarely. They talk about it on social media. And right now "Black Rod" is trending number THREE in America.
It's a definite thing. I cannot imagine any arcane political procedure, in any other country, has ever achieved such weird global renown.
That clip is terrible. It puts beyond all reasonable doubt that Bercow is siding with one side of the House, attacking one side with cheers from the other.
He is siding "against" the executive and with the Commons.
How many Liberal PMs talk about tank topped bum boys or piccaninnies?
The tank topped bum boys was extremely homophobic, but the picaninnies line was mocking how Tony Blair saw Africans.
I don't think Boris is either racist or anti-racist. He has a strong desire to please those around him and would be either depending on his group.
Give your head a wobble, would you be okay if Boris Johnson used the n word or Zio to mock opponents?
Boris Johnson's description of women in burqas as letter boxes and bank robbers is the language of the far right.
Yes, it would be. If an opponent mocked the LotO by saying "Jeremy Corbyn is just pleased he can defeat the powerful Zios that control the banks and the media", it would be clear they were mocking Corbyn's bigotry and not siding with it.
I also don't think the far right should have exclusivity on mocking religious extremists. My secular Jewish friends and I have made fun of the appearance of the Ultra Orthodox enough.
Re the honours system - I know this gets done to death each time, but I fail to see why someone gets an honour for doing their job (but only in certain jobs, typically politician, civil servant, sports person, actor, CEO). And why the disparity in the award if you are higher or lower in the social standing.
My view is awards should only be given for voluntary work and bravery and the level of the award should be dependent upon what you did not where you stand in the social hierarchy.
Would add a criterion for outstanding positive world class achievement. But would limit it to say 100 living awardees, to make it properly exclusive.
The other striking thing from his account is how much he, a French journalist in France, tweets about Brexit. It's endless. For good or ill, the world is fascinated by our painful quasi-revolution.
Always with the Yookay-centricity, Sea..er..Byronic.
It can be overdone. Margaret Atwood on R4 this am was asked if Brexit had influenced the writing of The Testaments, her sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. After a short, nonplussed silence, she replied that she thought it more likely that THT had influenced Brexit (said with a sardonic laugh, I hasten to add).
it's true though. Thanks to Brexit, more people around the world probably know more about the British parliamentary system than any other system anywhere in the world.
Some are, some aren't. I think most aren't, but I might be biassed. Either way the entire world is being schooled in the rites and rituals of our great British democracy, which is a jolly good thing, as I am sure you will agree.
I’m in the US now, and not a single person has yet to mention it. The one person I mentioned it to in passing just gave me a blank look. There are regular Brexit news updates on PBS but I doubt this is mass listening.
Unlike when I was in Europe in the spring, when every other person wanted to talk about it.
People don't talk about politics on the street - or very rarely. They talk about it on social media. And right now "Black Rod" is trending number THREE in America.
It's a definite thing. I cannot imagine any arcane political procedure, in any other country, has ever achieved such weird global renown.
That clip is terrible. It puts beyond all reasonable doubt that Bercow is siding with one side of the House, attacking one side with cheers from the other.
He is siding "against" the executive and with the Commons.
Edit: as is his job.
"Take Back Control!" "Parliament Must Be Sovereign!"
Comments
I didn't think Westminster's standing could get any lower than the Expense's Scandal but that pales into insigifcantce compared to recent events.
But not too many doctors/nurses commute by plane into and out of Heathrow!
If Leave hadn’t won the referendum if prob be a big loser on political punting, thank God they paid out before the weigh in!
Get Heartbeat back on TV.
My hypothesis is a Corbyn-led grouping in power in the face of a Tory opposition, in a HoC in which the Tories are the largest party. Just think that could make today's shenanigans look like a picnic.
(Of the two, I'd say the former is orders of magnitude more worrisome).
https://twitter.com/OsamaRushdi/status/1171386833546203136?s=20
Gamblers consider all sources of information and so can discard rogue polls. This makes them more accurate than polling. But "better" is not the same as "good" and the different risk appetite and wealth of gamblers introduces its own bias. Wisdom of crowds depends on wrong people being wrong at random, but right people being right in the same direction. But political gamblers are not all wrong at random and there are not enough right people to override them. So although they are better than polls, they are not as good as they could be. Hence the gyrations you see in the article.
Probably denied Alastair Campbell a knighthood.
Just saying.
However with Ryanair, IAG's biggest European rival for UK continental flights now also seeing strikes shortly it is not alone having problems cutting costs too much and having striking pilots
Watford I think is slightly more of a bellwether -- the Brexit and 2017 results were slightly closer to the national average, demographically it's a bit more in line with average.
Asked why he had not shot the person responsible the sentry replied, "well sir, I could see that he was only a woolly hatter."
He was of course convicted despite showing the level of common sense and proportionality that makes the British forces really stand out among serious armies.
Ah, my coat. So kind...
But keep an eye on HIGH PEAK. Focus groups of LD and BXP voters there would be very useful!
Frans Timmermans (Netherlands, PES): Executive Vice President + European Green Deal
Margrethe Vestager (Denmark, ALDE): Executive Vice President + Europe Fit for Digital Age
Valdis Dombrovskis (Latvia, Greens): Executive Vice President + An Economy that Works for People
Josep Borrell (Spain, PES): High Representative for Foreign Affairs + Vice Presidency
Věra Jourová (Czech Republic, ALDE): Values and Transparency + Vice Presidency
Margaritis Schinas (Greece, EPP): Protecting our European Way of Life + Vice Presidency
Maroš Šefčovič (Slovakia, PES): Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight + Vice Presidency
Dubravka Šuica (Croatia, EPP): Democracy and Demography + Vice Presidency. Šuica will also lead, from the Commission side, the work on the Conference on the Future of Europe.
Johannes Hahn (Austria, EPP) Budget and Administration
Didier Reynders (Belgium, ALDE): Justice, including rule of law
Mariya Gabriel (Bulgaria, EPP): Innovation and Youth.
Stella Kyriakides (Cyprus, EPP): Health
Kadri Simson (Estonia, ALDE): Energy.
Jutta Urpilainen (Finland, PES): International Partnerships.
Sylvie Goulard (France ALDE): Internal Market + responsible for the new Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space.
László Trócsányi (Hungary, EPP): Enlargement.
Phil Hogan (Ireland, EPP): Trade.
Paolo Gentiloni (Italy, PES): Economic and Financial Affairs.
Virginijus Sinkevičius (Lithuania): Environment and Oceans.
Nicolas Schmit (Luxembourg, PES) : Employment.
Helena Dalli (Malta, PES): Equality
Janusz Wojciechowski (Poland, ECR): Agriculture.
Elisa Ferreira (Portugal, PES) : Cohesion and Reforms.
Rovana Plumb (Romania, PES): Transport.
Janez Lenarčič (Slovenia, ALDE): Crisis Management
Ylva Johansson (Sweden, PES): Home Affairs.
The victims from Bloody Sunday say hello.
Boris has the polling numbers but not the Parliamentary numbers to force a GE and such will only happen IF no alternative Government can be formed in the 14 day period after a successful Vote of No Confidence.
Boris is presumably betting that won't happen but what if it does? The caretaker Government may prove more durable and popular than you and others suspect and if it stays around for 18 months before standing down for a GE will the Conservatives will be going down about respecting the 2016 Referendum result which, by 2021, will seem like ancient history?
Wages rising at the highest rate since 2008, the lost decade of wage growth coming close to an end and employment remaining at record levels. Taken with Javid's splurge our economy really should grow quite quickly next year based on strong consumer spending, government spending and no doubt ever increasing levels of debt all round. Under any normal circumstances it would be a very good context in which to have an election but few seem to be paying attention.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBQmMEHqm-g
http://www.electionpolling.co.uk/battleground/targets/conservative
I mean, opposition parties have not yet even coalesced around a Leader.
And the interests of the SNP are rather different to the interests of Lab & the LibDems. The SNP want an election asap, surely.
And Labour & LibDems are now squabbling over the same demographic, metropolitan Remain voters. Only one of them can win.
It is actually in the LibDem's interests that there is an election now.
A successful caretaker Government (inevitably Labour dominated, presumably with Corbyn sidelined) will actually destroy the LibDems (again).
As Scotland shows referendum impact does not go away and certainly not when the result is ignored
https://twitter.com/jgforsyth/status/1171360728462311425?s=21
Unlike when I was in Europe in the spring, when every other person wanted to talk about it.
Is it some sort of final power play?
Convicted domestic abuser Geoff Boycott? Andrew Strauss??? Timothy and Hill get CBEs. As weid as Theresa herself.
At least Kim Darroch has been given something.
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/cgi-bin/seatdetails.py?seat=Watford
Nevertheless the prediction is similar to High Peak
Con/BXP 47%
Lab/LD 47.5%
but Con are predicted to keep the seat because Lab/LD are more evenly split.
What happens to the Green vote of about 3% could make a difference in High Peak and Watford.
If Lib Dems and BXP roar back a bit, I would reckon Colne Valley would be as close a 4 way as any (more Lib Demmy than High Peak has tended to be, but conversely Con a bit more likely to fall.behind).
Even if that's the secretly-desired eventual outcome for a large proportion of MPs, they don't say so publicly, don't think it can/should be done without EURef2, and most importantly, don't want their fingerprints on it.
(*or Deal, tbf... hence where we are today)
https://twitter.com/ShahrarAli/status/1171291044400586752
It's a definite thing. I cannot imagine any arcane political procedure, in any other country, has ever achieved such weird global renown.
https://twitter.com/NotThatRKelly/status/1171398529245437952?s=20
Wha's like us, indeed
Or (Mr) Bean
I'd better dig out my thermals.
I don't think Boris is either racist or anti-racist. He has a strong desire to please those around him and would be either depending on his group.
I could see a terrified Commons going for it, on October 29th, if Boris has managed to sidestep the Surrender Bill and we are nodealing over the edge.
This would explain why MPs raised information suggesting Gov't is circumventing publishing the Yellowhammer docs"
Extraordinary.
Boris Johnson's description of women in burqas as letter boxes and bank robbers is the language of the far right.
Hilarious.
My view is awards should only be given for voluntary work and bravery and the level of the award should be dependent upon what you did not where you stand in the social hierarchy.
A Parliament full of Loonies is no more than the loonies at Westminster deserve.
Edit: as is his job.
I also don't think the far right should have exclusivity on mocking religious extremists. My secular Jewish friends and I have made fun of the appearance of the Ultra Orthodox enough.
"Parliament Must Be Sovereign!"
Unless, er, I don't like it.