The point should surely to be to reach a point where rainbows are redundant? Where people can be themselves and not their sexuality. Where being gay or being straight does not define you and is viewed no more seriously than whether you have brown or blue or another colour eyes.
No, it should be more than that. Being blind to an important part of someone's identity is better than being bigoted against it, but not as good as valuing them as a complete person including that strand of identity.
You seem to have misunderstood me. I was including valuing them as a complete person including that strand when I said that you have reached the point where rainbows are redundant. I specifically gave the example of people being free [as much as is normal for others] to talk about their lives.
I think a man feeling free to go to work and gossip about his boyfriend as much as anyone else gossips about their love lives and its considered perfectly normal is more normal than someone going to work wearing rainbows but not talking on a day to day basis about their love life while others do.
Of course - but until that day, the rainbow is a nudge, welcome or unwelcome. If you hold those views, I don't see why it would bother you.
The point should surely to be to reach a point where rainbows are redundant? Where people can be themselves and not their sexuality. Where being gay or being straight does not define you and is viewed no more seriously than whether you have brown or blue or another colour eyes.
No, it should be more than that. Being blind to an important part of someone's identity is better than being bigoted against it, but not as good as valuing them as a complete person including that strand of identity.
You seem to have misunderstood me. I was including valuing them as a complete person including that strand when I said that you have reached the point where rainbows are redundant. I specifically gave the example of people being free [as much as is normal for others] to talk about their lives.
I think a man feeling free to go to work and gossip about his boyfriend as much as anyone else gossips about their love lives and its considered perfectly normal is more normal than someone going to work wearing rainbows but not talking on a day to day basis about their love life while others do.
Mr. Divvie, hmm. Still seems rather harsh, if that's it.
67 year old, of demonstrably questionable judgment, on a fat salary... they probably thought it a good way to cut costs.
And one wonders at the reaction had Corbyn quoted Merchant of Venice intemperately...
And presumably, no matter what is said in public, the actual paperwork will be a redundancy or retirement, with six months’ notice taken as gardening leave and full final salary pension entitlement - as opposed to being fired for cause with a severe loss of benefits, as might happen to any other pleb in a similar situation.
So here's a thought. Starmer - who pretty much seems a cert to be the next Labour leader at the moment - suggests there'd be a mandate for indyref 2 if there's a pro-indy majority in the 2021 Holyrood elections, but what on earth would Labour policy be at the 2024 GE on the matter if Boris refused one? Would they automatically enter into negotiations with the SNP if they won the election, on the grounds they had already achieved their mandate for indyref 2, or would they now insist - that given the time passed - there'd now have to be a pro-indy majority at the 2026 Holyrood elections? I get the feeling that Labour policy on indyref 2 is going to end up being just as much a fudge, if not more so, than it's previous Brexit position was.
Starmer would first take the UK back into the single market (which was the SNP's original Brexit 'compromise') then probably require a nationalist majority in 2026 for indyref2 after the new terms which he would argue are different to the Boris Brexit Deal which he would back indyref2 on if there was a nationalist majority in 2021
On topic, what happens if there’s Indyref2 and the Scots don’t secede?
Is that Scottish nationalism killed stone dead?
If Quebec is a guide yes, 25 years after the second referendum in Quebec on independence from Canada which No won by just 51% to 49% there has not been another one, though Quebec effectively has had devomax to compensate
I wonder if, for soft Remainer type floating voters in Scotland, channelling the reverse of Boris’s slogan in December might be quite effective: ‘do you really want to go through all this again?’
Why not? You'd go through it all again if the UK rejoined.
Yes, but (a) you wouldn’t be doing it in one step if it went via independence from the UK, and would probably need your own interim currency and hard border as a stepping point first and (b) rejoining (long process and changing lots of stuff to do it) isn’t particularly attractive to the electorate compared with remaining (status quo).
bollox, you just stay aligned with EU and it is easy
Like Brexit, Scottish nationalism it is a matter of identity, not well being. So although the header is correct to point out that Brexit greatly increases the self-inflicted economic damage that a successful independence referendum would bring, it does not much change the argument for dyed-in-the-wool nationalists. However the middle ground between nationalism and unionism is not quite empty, and increased problems of separation post-Brexit do change the balance for those who might casually vote SNP out of frustration with the main UK-national parties.
I personally think that Boris can and will hold the line of refusing a further referendum until the next Holyrood elections. if the SNP or even the SNP + Greens get a majority there on the back of a policy of having a second referendum further resistance will be pointless and ill advised. Whatever the leadership may have said in 2014 the people will have chosen a second referendum and that is their right.
By that time, of course, we will have a trade deal with the EU. The nature of that trade deal is going to be of considerable importance in the discussion since it is likely to form the basis of border regulation between Scotland and rUK should Scotland leave the UK and rejoin the EU. If that trade deal involves friction at the border Scotland has a major problem. If, as I expect, it doesn't with no tariffs, limits and broad mutual recognition of standards, it may be manageable. Nicola finds herself in the position of hoping that Boris gets a good deal for very similar reasons to those that Richard points out should have resulted in her backing May's deal. If it doesn't the consequences for Scotland of having such a border at Berwick would be severe.
Unionist dreams David, next you will be saying we benefit from being a colony of England.
The point should surely to be to reach a point where rainbows are redundant? Where people can be themselves and not their sexuality. Where being gay or being straight does not define you and is viewed no more seriously than whether you have brown or blue or another colour eyes.
No, it should be more than that. Being blind to an important part of someone's identity is better than being bigoted against it, but not as good as valuing them as a complete person including that strand of identity.
You seem to have misunderstood me. I was including valuing them as a complete person including that strand when I said that you have reached the point where rainbows are redundant. I specifically gave the example of people being free [as much as is normal for others] to talk about their lives.
I think a man feeling free to go to work and gossip about his boyfriend as much as anyone else gossips about their love lives and its considered perfectly normal is more normal than someone going to work wearing rainbows but not talking on a day to day basis about their love life while others do.
Of course - but until that day, the rainbow is a nudge, welcome or unwelcome. If you hold those views, I don't see why it would bother you.
It doesn't bother me whatsoever. I specifically said it was not wrong, it was just when someone said that was the ambition I disagreed - I don't think you're being ambitious enough if that's your ambition.
As an example I used to manage a team where everyone had to wear the same uniform but for health and safety reasons all jewelery and other adornments were banned. You were not even allowed to wear a poppy on remembrance day, nothing was permitted, so we never had rainbows, or poppies or anything else others might consider "normal". At one stage I'd say roughly a quarter of my team were gay and they were treated no differently to anyone else, one young single lad especially loved to gossip about whom he had hooked up with the night before.
Now was that team as I've described it accepting to gays and others? I think so. The absence of rainbows doesn't mean we weren't "gay friendly" any more than the absence of poppies didn't mean we didn't like remembrance or anything else.
Once we reach a point (as I think we had) that being gay is perfectly fine and normal and not something that even especially gets commented on - and instead you're talking about eg your boyfriend rather than your sexuality - then I think that is great. We are past the point of rainbows etc.
Until then if rainbows are needed wear them as much as you want and I will 100% support that. Wholeheartedly. And I think it is up to every individual to determine if they're needed, not me, that's not my call.
Anyway, I am being interviewed for my own job today, as part of a reorganisation. I’m almost hoping I don’t get it so I can claim redundancy and walk away. But we will see. So I need to be offski.
Have a good day.
I went through the same procedure a few weeks ago, though with a few extra management responsibilities in my new role, good luck
The significance of Brexit for Scottish independence does not exclusively relate to the pros and cons of a land border on the Tweed. Unless England and Scotland are both in the EU, that customs border is priced into the Scottish Independence issue.
The real significance is the divergence of political opinion in Scotland from England, of which Brexit is just one of many obvious issues. If Scots are going to be ignored then they will want and have their Independence, and I don't blame them at all. The divergence between rUK and Scottish opinion is now too much to be possible in one country for long.
Most polls contradict you. Despite what the SNP would like you to believe, on most issues there is little difference in attitude between Scottish and rUK voters.
But I suspect we are in for a lot of Remainer catastrophizing given Friday....
Usual misinformation from you I see, you and Huffy should just post the CCHQ garbage to each other.
One thing to think about in relation to any future vote on Scottish independence - who would lead the campaign for No? The list of popular and credible unionists is not exactly long and I imagine Boris Johnson would feature heavily in the pro-independence campaign literature.
It’s a good point. I imagine it’d default to someone like Ruth Davidson, but I agree there’s not an obvious stream of likely candidates.
I suspect many English Tories would secretly like Scottish Independence to happen. Best way for that to occur would be for a Tory MP to say something along the lines of 'itll never happen because the Scots don't have the bottle', and goad Scotland into a Yes vote.
Is there any evidence that Brexit was the deciding factor, or even a contributing cause?
I’ve read the article. I couldn’t see Brexit mentioned once. The company couldn’t pay a tax bill HMRC were pursuing it for, and had had cashflow problems for almost two years.
Unless this is one of those correlation equals causation things..
There is no evidence Brexit was involved at all.
However, you need to be prepared for every item of bad news in the next three years being blamed on Brexit. Some of it may even be Brexit related
One thing to think about in relation to any future vote on Scottish independence - who would lead the campaign for No? The list of popular and credible unionists is not exactly long and I imagine Boris Johnson would feature heavily in the pro-independence campaign literature.
Ruth has said she would come back for that and she will be sufficiently non party by then to do so.
She will want big bucks for sure and will never be anything other than Ruth party
I would have thought alignment on a sectoral basis - particularly in automobiles - might be reasonably sensible. Simply, we're not going to diverge meaningfully on auto standards, and this is an industry which runs on just in time production and close to zero inventories. If you have to add customs clearance time, that means requiring more inventories.
On Brexit Day tomorrow I'll be picking up my first new car for ten years. If the economy proceeds to go pear shaped at least I have done my bit.
Tomorrow morning will probably be the last time I ever drive a car with a manual transmission.
2019 was the first year autos outsold manual in the UK.
CVTs killed manuals in cheap cars and DCT/PDK (sub 200ms shift) killed them in fast cars.
I just ordered a manual sports car (new Cayman GTS 4.0), someone has to keep three pedals and a stick alive even if the new PDK autos are faster around the track. Oh, and the n/a six, that also needs to be kept alive until the last possible moment!
One thing to think about in relation to any future vote on Scottish independence - who would lead the campaign for No? The list of popular and credible unionists is not exactly long and I imagine Boris Johnson would feature heavily in the pro-independence campaign literature.
It’s a good point. I imagine it’d default to someone like Ruth Davidson, but I agree there’s not an obvious stream of likely candidates.
I suspect many English Tories would secretly like Scottish Independence to happen. Best way for that to occur would be for a Tory MP to say something along the lines of 'itll never happen because the Scots don't have the bottle', and goad Scotland into a Yes vote.
Given the Tories won an a manifesto of no indyref2 even with a nationalist majority in 2021 that is not the case, the Tories remain the Conservative and Unionist party and the only party committed to respecting the 'once in a generation' 2014 No vote
One thing to think about in relation to any future vote on Scottish independence - who would lead the campaign for No? The list of popular and credible unionists is not exactly long and I imagine Boris Johnson would feature heavily in the pro-independence campaign literature.
It’s a good point. I imagine it’d default to someone like Ruth Davidson, but I agree there’s not an obvious stream of likely candidates.
I suspect many English Tories would secretly like Scottish Independence to happen. Best way for that to occur would be for a Tory MP to say something along the lines of 'itll never happen because the Scots don't have the bottle', and goad Scotland into a Yes vote.
The SNP’s siding with Corbyn and the ERG to torpedo Theresa May’s softish Brexit, which would have produced a much more frictionless border than Boris Johnson is aiming at, looks short-sighted.
Up there with voting down the Callaghan administration.
Most PBers under 60 won't get that reference. It was the SNP that paved the way for Maggie in 1979
The SNP don't like being reminded of their past.
They tend to get a bit.. uppity about it.
It was a long long time ago, it doesnt exactly have much bearing on today's SNP.
No and fact it is utter bollox does not help either, the clown obviously does not read about real politics , assume he just sticks with SUN headlines.
Is there any evidence that Brexit was the deciding factor, or even a contributing cause?
I’ve read the article. I couldn’t see Brexit mentioned once. The company couldn’t pay a tax bill HMRC were pursuing it for, and had had cashflow problems for almost two years.
Unless this is one of those correlation equals causation things..
There is no evidence Brexit was involved at all.
However, you need to be prepared for every item of bad news in the next three years being blamed on Brexit. Some of it may even be Brexit related
Which is why it’s good that the next election is at least four years away!
The SNP’s siding with Corbyn and the ERG to torpedo Theresa May’s softish Brexit, which would have produced a much more frictionless border than Boris Johnson is aiming at, looks short-sighted.
Up there with voting down the Callaghan administration.
Most PBers under 60 won't get that reference. It was the SNP that paved the way for Maggie in 1979
The SNP don't like being reminded of their past.
They tend to get a bit.. uppity about it.
It was a long long time ago, it doesnt exactly have much bearing on today's SNP.
Thatcher (thanks to the SNP) was a long time ago too - does that stop anyone.....
Morning all. Interesting header. To me it seems that Brexit makes the case for Scottish independence stronger while making the practical challenges of an independent Scotland more daunting. Not sure how this will pan out but my hunch is Scotland indy by the end of the 20s.
No. Another referendum will be lost, Scotland will vote for the union
G you may wish it to be so but it looks more and more unlikely you will be anywhere near right, the union is on its last legs.
Brexit is pretty pointless if we can't set our own rules. Doing so is precisely what Johnson has argued for, for nearly 4 years now, so it shouldn't be a shock.
Yep, I agree. It’s silly to pretend we can have frictionless trade, get round rules of origin and have just in time supply chains. We need to accept there will be more barriers and plan accordingly.
I agree except for the "just in time" element. Companies trade even on WTO terms and still have just in time supply chains, they just plan accordingly for it to be just in time using however long it takes to arrive including customs etc
Do they?
The only sector I can think of that has pretty much universal just-in-time production is automobiles. And I can't think of any meaningful part of any firm's production that crosses a WTO barrier.
I guess you could say Tesla's battery production, which has historically come from the Far East (although even there mostly South Korea, which has an FTA with the US). But they've found the capital tied up there to be very signficant, and that - rather than straight costs - led to the creation of the gigafactory in the US.
One thing to think about in relation to any future vote on Scottish independence - who would lead the campaign for No? The list of popular and credible unionists is not exactly long and I imagine Boris Johnson would feature heavily in the pro-independence campaign literature.
It’s a good point. I imagine it’d default to someone like Ruth Davidson, but I agree there’s not an obvious stream of likely candidates.
I suspect many English Tories would secretly like Scottish Independence to happen. Best way for that to occur would be for a Tory MP to say something along the lines of 'itll never happen because the Scots don't have the bottle', and goad Scotland into a Yes vote.
Given the Tories won an a manifesto of no indyref2 even with a nationalist majority in 2021 that is not the case, the Tories remain the Conservative and Unionist party and the only party committed to respecting the 'once in a generation' 2014 No vote
The party policy overall maybe, but individual MPs and members might not shed a tear over the loss of a left wing Remainer anti English block of SNP MPs, which would reduce the opposition ranks by another 50.
The significance of Brexit for Scottish independence does not exclusively relate to the pros and cons of a land border on the Tweed. Unless England and Scotland are both in the EU, that customs border is priced into the Scottish Independence issue.
The real significance is the divergence of political opinion in Scotland from England, of which Brexit is just one of many obvious issues. If Scots are going to be ignored then they will want and have their Independence, and I don't blame them at all. The divergence between rUK and Scottish opinion is now too much to be possible in one country for long.
Most polls contradict you. Despite what the SNP would like you to believe, on most issues there is little difference in attitude between Scottish and rUK voters.
But I suspect we are in for a lot of Remainer catastrophizing given Friday....
Usual misinformation from you I see, you and Huffy should just post the CCHQ garbage to each other.
Although it's academic now as far as Scotland is concerned, there is a wider issue for the EU in how it will deal with territories which might want to split off from a member state. Catalonia is obviously the most prominent, but there are several more, of varying degrees of seriousness (parts of Belgium, Northern Italy, the Veneto, and so on). The point about how EU membership makes secession more straightforward applies generally; if you are a small territory with a distinctive culture, the fact that you'll be able to continue to trade seamlessly with all the existing EU countries as well as the state you are departing from is a key consideration. And if you can achieve it without economic damage, what's not to like about being a member state with its own voice in Brussels and with a PM who is treated, at least nominally, as an equal to Germany and France in the corridors of power, rather than just being a region of a larger state?
Of course, an association of member states is never going to look kindly on those member states breaking up, but the logic of the European project does tend towards them doing so. It's a paradox which the EU doesn't much discuss, but amongst those most committed to the ever-closer union, it's a subtext. These two articles, which I linked to in the header, are interesting on this point:
One thing to think about in relation to any future vote on Scottish independence - who would lead the campaign for No? The list of popular and credible unionists is not exactly long and I imagine Boris Johnson would feature heavily in the pro-independence campaign literature.
It’s a good point. I imagine it’d default to someone like Ruth Davidson, but I agree there’s not an obvious stream of likely candidates.
I suspect many English Tories would secretly like Scottish Independence to happen. Best way for that to occur would be for a Tory MP to say something along the lines of 'itll never happen because the Scots don't have the bottle', and goad Scotland into a Yes vote.
Given the Tories won an a manifesto of no indyref2 even with a nationalist majority in 2021 that is not the case, the Tories remain the Conservative and Unionist party and the only party committed to respecting the 'once in a generation' 2014 No vote
The party policy overall maybe, but individual MPs and members might not shed a tear over the loss of a left wing Remainer anti English block of SNP MPs, which would reduce the opposition ranks by another 50.
A few might but the vast majority of Tory MPs and members are unionists, there will be no indyref2 under a Tory government, the SNP will have to wait for a Labour led Government at Westminster to get another shot
Morning all and oh it is delightful to see the SNP battering themselves off a brick wall while Boris just keeps telling them to fuck themselves!
The SNP has replaced the Scottish Labour Party as the party of choice of the left and those with a constant grievance. They have reached 45% which was around the maximum Scottish Labour ever achieved. The young and idealists might be impressed by all the saltire waving crap and the Fat Laird standing up and talking shite every Wednesday at 12 noon when he gets his 2 questions but more and more Scots are getting angrier that the SNP is only interested in IndyRef2 when Scotland's education system is rapidly going down the international pan and our health service is starting to fall apart.
Let's see how good a shape the SNP as a party is once the Alex Salmond trial has concluded and indeed whether Nicola Sturgeon is still First Minister! Separately I am delighted the SCons held their seat in the Dumfries and Galloway council by-election last Thursday.
Oi! I lost money thanks to you. I bet on the SNP gaining CS&ER.
Morning all. Interesting header. To me it seems that Brexit makes the case for Scottish independence stronger while making the practical challenges of an independent Scotland more daunting. Not sure how this will pan out but my hunch is Scotland indy by the end of the 20s.
No. Another referendum will be lost, Scotland will vote for the union
G you may wish it to be so but it looks more and more unlikely you will be anywhere near right, the union is on its last legs.
Interesting poll today from YouGov on how people now feel about the EU referendum and leaving the EU. Sample 2000.
For those who voted Leave:
6% don't believe that people in the UK really wanted to leave the EU 2% are depressed at the result of the referendum 57% have come to terms with the fact that the UK will leave the EU but 32% DON'T KNOW HOW THEY FEEL!
Goodbye Len and Karie, thanks for everything, its been a blast...
Yeah, we need to see a Yougov poll of new members before getting our hope's up.
I'm not convinced Starmer is a massive enthusiasm driver.
He is amongst my peer group. He’s seen as the new Blair.
They're in for a few years of disappointment when they realise what a charisma vacuum he is.
On the other hand, at least Starmer hasn't been going round celebrating terrorists, and hanging out with assorted anti-semites.
So, he might be charisma-free, but he's not quite as dangerous to British values and British interests.
True, though he's no Blair. Not even a Dave. More like Michael Howard.
Even Michael Howard might have won after 13 years in opposition in 2010 (as Labour will be in 2023), or at least made the Tories the largest party. Howard of course gained 32 seats for the Tories even in 2005.
In 1992 Kinnock gained 42 seats for Labour after 13 years in opposition despite falling short of victory
In August 1962, a then 79-year-old Clement Attlee rose to his feet in the House of Lords to address the question of Britain’s application to join the European Economic Community, the EU’s forerunner. Attlee was no ordinary legislator but the Labour Party’s greatest prime minister and wartime deputy to Winston Churchill. His 1945 government had ushered in a postwar socialist consensus, established NATO, and clandestinely developed Britain’s independent nuclear deterrent. By 1962, though, Britain was falling behind mainland Europe economically, but still rejected an invitation to join its emerging union. Despite Britain’s troubles at home, Attlee remained adamantly opposed to British membership.
To Attlee, the prospect of Britain joining the EEC signaled a seismic change in the country’s foreign and economic policy. It would prioritize Britain’s relationship with Europe over the rest of the world and cede national control for regional influence. “We are going to be confined in our powers of running our own affairs,” he said. “It might be right, it may be wrong, but do not make any mistake: It is entirely different from anything we have had before.” In the EEC, he went on, Britain would become a mere “appendage to Europe.”
On Brexit Day tomorrow I'll be picking up my first new car for ten years. If the economy proceeds to go pear shaped at least I have done my bit.
Tomorrow morning will probably be the last time I ever drive a car with a manual transmission.
2019 was the first year autos outsold manual in the UK.
CVTs killed manuals in cheap cars and DCT/PDK (sub 200ms shift) killed them in fast cars.
Yeah, I had a CVT for my 6,000 mile trip around the States last autumn; that and the various safety and semi-autonomous features made driving my manual when I got back feel annoying. The CVT was good and without the pretend-gearshifts you get on an automatic; the only obvious downside was a tendency to over-rev now and again. Edit/ that and greater risk of boredom from having much less to do.
Manual transmission is destined to become a historical curiosity kept alive only by a few collectors and enthusiasts.
So it is confirmed that he got the boot for a single tweet where he quoted a passage from Shakespeare, that he has used before to reply to other trolls? Its a bit like Danny Baker sacking. Nobody with any sense genuinely thinks he is a massive racist.
So it is confirmed that he got the boot for a single tweet where he quoted a passage from Shakespeare, that he has used before to reply to other trolls? Its a bit like Danny Baker sacking. Nobody with any sense genuinely thinks he is a massive racist.
Exactly, but companies have adopted a "zero tolerance" approach to public comments that could if you cross your eyes, maybe, just perhaps be construed as possibly racist, even it that was unintended. It's very, very silly.
So it is confirmed that he got the boot for a single tweet where he quoted a passage from Shakespeare, that he has used before to reply to other trolls? Its a bit like Danny Baker sacking. Nobody with any sense genuinely thinks he is a massive racist.
Reminds me of the time someone complained to Mike about me being an Islamophobe.
(Was when I posted on PB that I really wouldn't want a deeply religious Muslim family living next door to me.)
On Brexit Day tomorrow I'll be picking up my first new car for ten years. If the economy proceeds to go pear shaped at least I have done my bit.
Tomorrow morning will probably be the last time I ever drive a car with a manual transmission.
2019 was the first year autos outsold manual in the UK.
CVTs killed manuals in cheap cars and DCT/PDK (sub 200ms shift) killed them in fast cars.
Yeah, I had a CVT for my 6,000 mile trip around the States last autumn; that and the various safety and semi-autonomous features made driving my manual when I got back feel annoying. The CVT was good and without the pretend-gearshifts you get on an automatic; the only obvious downside was a tendency to over-rev now and again. Edit/ that and greater risk of boredom from having much less to do.
Manual transmission is destined to become a historical curiosity kept alive only by a few collectors and enthusiasts.
When we (that's not the royal we, my wife and I both drive it) changed our car about 15 months ago elder son wanted to know if the new one was automatic and 'to change the order if it wasn't'. We didn't but I must admit it's 'made me furiously to think'. Think I'd rather have electric, though.
I do wonder about these MPs who basically say I could never be friends with a Tory (or other party). 40+% of the population are basically Tory or Labour, and surely they must realize that even some with be total bastards the vast majority of all MPs are doing it because they want to make society better. You might disagree with their solutions, but it doesn't instantly make them bad people.
And how do you think you will be able to work with the likes of business if you outwards claim you couldn't ever stand to be in their presence.
On Brexit Day tomorrow I'll be picking up my first new car for ten years. If the economy proceeds to go pear shaped at least I have done my bit.
Tomorrow morning will probably be the last time I ever drive a car with a manual transmission.
2019 was the first year autos outsold manual in the UK.
CVTs killed manuals in cheap cars and DCT/PDK (sub 200ms shift) killed them in fast cars.
Yeah, I had a CVT for my 6,000 mile trip around the States last autumn; that and the various safety and semi-autonomous features made driving my manual when I got back feel annoying. The CVT was good and without the pretend-gearshifts you get on an automatic; the only obvious downside was a tendency to over-rev now and again. Edit/ that and greater risk of boredom from having much less to do.
Manual transmission is destined to become a historical curiosity kept alive only by a few collectors and enthusiasts.
When we (that's not the royal we, my wife and I both drive it) changed our car about 15 months ago elder son wanted to know if the new one was automatic and 'to change the order if it wasn't'. We didn't but I must admit it's 'made me furiously to think'. Think I'd rather have electric, though.
Electric, and hybrid, cars are automatic (or CVT) - that's the point.
So it is confirmed that he got the boot for a single tweet where he quoted a passage from Shakespeare, that he has used before to reply to other trolls? Its a bit like Danny Baker sacking. Nobody with any sense genuinely thinks he is a massive racist.
Reminds me of the time someone complained to Mike about me being an Islamophobe.
(Was when I posted on PB that I really wouldn't want a deeply religious Muslim family living next door to me.)
What you aren't. I always had you down as a closet Britain First member ;-)
A question: if I fly to Europe and put my Irish passport on the personal details bit of the ticket, can I then - when I fly back - put my British passport details on?
A question: if I fly to Europe and put my Irish passport on the personal details bit of the ticket, can I then - when I fly back - put my British passport details on?
On Brexit Day tomorrow I'll be picking up my first new car for ten years. If the economy proceeds to go pear shaped at least I have done my bit.
Tomorrow morning will probably be the last time I ever drive a car with a manual transmission.
If January's GDP comes in at 0,000001% we'll know how to thank for "1" then!
But we won't have left yet.... (unless he's buying it at 23:01!)
Even thought I intend to keep the car, I've taken it on a 0% PCP so my payments will be spread over the first few years of Brexit. Although the accounting benefit falls to January and the production/employment benefit to December.
A question: if I fly to Europe and put my Irish passport on the personal details bit of the ticket, can I then - when I fly back - put my British passport details on?
I don’t see the Intelligence and Security Committee on that list. What’s happened to it?
And how the hell can Jeremy Hunt hold the government to account on health when he was in charge of that department for so much of its time in office?
Wednesday's elections do not include the intelligence and security committee (ISC) - the head of which is chosen through a separate process, with nominations provided by the prime minister after consultation with the leader of the opposition.
Such a huge contrast with the Heathrow Terminal 5 project, where a whole project "no blame" culture was imposed & contractors therefore able to bring problems to the attention of project management as early as possible so they could be sorted out at minimum cost.
What’s really frustrating about this is that we’ve managed big projects like this successfully in the UK, yet the lessons don’t seem to be learnt elsewhere. All these siloed government departments failing to learn lessons learnt elsewhere decades before. If there’s one thing Cummings is right about when it comes to failings in the civil service it’s this.
On Brexit Day tomorrow I'll be picking up my first new car for ten years. If the economy proceeds to go pear shaped at least I have done my bit.
Tomorrow morning will probably be the last time I ever drive a car with a manual transmission.
If January's GDP comes in at 0,000001% we'll know how to thank for "1" then!
But we won't have left yet.... (unless he's buying it at 23:01!)
Even thought I intend to keep the car, I've taken it on a 0% PCP so my payments will be spread over the first few years of Brexit. Although the accounting benefit falls to January and the production/employment benefit to December.
So it is confirmed that he got the boot for a single tweet where he quoted a passage from Shakespeare, that he has used before to reply to other trolls? Its a bit like Danny Baker sacking. Nobody with any sense genuinely thinks he is a massive racist.
Reminds me of the time someone complained to Mike about me being an Islamophobe.
(Was when I posted on PB that I really wouldn't want a deeply religious Muslim family living next door to me.)
What you aren't. I always had you down as a closet Britain First member ;-)
I'd have joined Britain First but they have far too many fans of Donald Trump and Nigel Farage as members.
So it is confirmed that he got the boot for a single tweet where he quoted a passage from Shakespeare, that he has used before to reply to other trolls? Its a bit like Danny Baker sacking. Nobody with any sense genuinely thinks he is a massive racist.
Exactly, but companies have adopted a "zero tolerance" approach to public comments that could if you cross your eyes, maybe, just perhaps be construed as possibly racist, even it that was unintended. It's very, very silly.
The problem with this kind of approach is it actually gives cover to the proper racists, as they can claim look everything / everybody is deemed racist these days.
On Brexit Day tomorrow I'll be picking up my first new car for ten years. If the economy proceeds to go pear shaped at least I have done my bit.
Tomorrow morning will probably be the last time I ever drive a car with a manual transmission.
2019 was the first year autos outsold manual in the UK.
CVTs killed manuals in cheap cars and DCT/PDK (sub 200ms shift) killed them in fast cars.
Yeah, I had a CVT for my 6,000 mile trip around the States last autumn; that and the various safety and semi-autonomous features made driving my manual when I got back feel annoying. The CVT was good and without the pretend-gearshifts you get on an automatic; the only obvious downside was a tendency to over-rev now and again. Edit/ that and greater risk of boredom from having much less to do.
Manual transmission is destined to become a historical curiosity kept alive only by a few collectors and enthusiasts.
When we (that's not the royal we, my wife and I both drive it) changed our car about 15 months ago elder son wanted to know if the new one was automatic and 'to change the order if it wasn't'. We didn't but I must admit it's 'made me furiously to think'. Think I'd rather have electric, though.
Electric, and hybrid, cars are automatic (or CVT) - that's the point.
Fully realise; just that I want petrol or electric. Most of my driving is within about a 50 mile radius although every so often we do more (ca 100), and once or twice a year a 500 miles round trip. As of 2020 THINK that means hybrid.
So it is confirmed that he got the boot for a single tweet where he quoted a passage from Shakespeare, that he has used before to reply to other trolls? Its a bit like Danny Baker sacking. Nobody with any sense genuinely thinks he is a massive racist.
Reminds me of the time someone complained to Mike about me being an Islamophobe.
(Was when I posted on PB that I really wouldn't want a deeply religious Muslim family living next door to me.)
What you aren't. I always had you down as a closet Britain First member ;-)
I'd have joined Britain First but they have far too many fans of Donald Trump and Nigel Farage as members.
Thinking about it, I would have thought before you even got to that, the standard of dress among members would have put you off.
A question: if I fly to Europe and put my Irish passport on the personal details bit of the ticket, can I then - when I fly back - put my British passport details on?
Can Irish citizens not use the UK line as Ireland is part of the CTA?
If not just leave your Irish details on your ticket and whip out your British passport when you reach UK immigration, no need to burden the airline with unnecessary details.....
A question: if I fly to Europe and put my Irish passport on the personal details bit of the ticket, can I then - when I fly back - put my British passport details on?
I don’t see the Intelligence and Security Committee on that list. What’s happened to it?
And how the hell can Jeremy Hunt hold the government to account on health when he was in charge of that department for so much of its time in office?
Wednesday's elections do not include the intelligence and security committee (ISC) - the head of which is chosen through a separate process, with nominations provided by the prime minister after consultation with the leader of the opposition.
A question: if I fly to Europe and put my Irish passport on the personal details bit of the ticket, can I then - when I fly back - put my British passport details on?
Comments
Auto/manual is going to be of interest only to old car collectors soon enough.
Electric taking over the mass market is only a couple of improvements in battery tech away.
If you hold those views, I don't see why it would bother you.
As an example I used to manage a team where everyone had to wear the same uniform but for health and safety reasons all jewelery and other adornments were banned. You were not even allowed to wear a poppy on remembrance day, nothing was permitted, so we never had rainbows, or poppies or anything else others might consider "normal". At one stage I'd say roughly a quarter of my team were gay and they were treated no differently to anyone else, one young single lad especially loved to gossip about whom he had hooked up with the night before.
Now was that team as I've described it accepting to gays and others? I think so. The absence of rainbows doesn't mean we weren't "gay friendly" any more than the absence of poppies didn't mean we didn't like remembrance or anything else.
Once we reach a point (as I think we had) that being gay is perfectly fine and normal and not something that even especially gets commented on - and instead you're talking about eg your boyfriend rather than your sexuality - then I think that is great. We are past the point of rainbows etc.
Until then if rainbows are needed wear them as much as you want and I will 100% support that. Wholeheartedly. And I think it is up to every individual to determine if they're needed, not me, that's not my call.
I'm not convinced Starmer is a massive enthusiasm driver.
However, you need to be prepared for every item of bad news in the next three years being blamed on Brexit. Some of it may even be Brexit related
But hey ho. We'll see.
He’s seen as the new Blair.
But I suspect Starmer is more a Kinnock. Which is probably what you need right now.
https://twitter.com/JohnRentoul/status/1222610473461350400
https://twitter.com/maomentum_/status/1222483875823263744?s=21
The only sector I can think of that has pretty much universal just-in-time production is automobiles. And I can't think of any meaningful part of any firm's production that crosses a WTO barrier.
I guess you could say Tesla's battery production, which has historically come from the Far East (although even there mostly South Korea, which has an FTA with the US). But they've found the capital tied up there to be very signficant, and that - rather than straight costs - led to the creation of the gigafactory in the US.
Starmer is more Blair in style but John Smith in policy
Although it's academic now as far as Scotland is concerned, there is a wider issue for the EU in how it will deal with territories which might want to split off from a member state. Catalonia is obviously the most prominent, but there are several more, of varying degrees of seriousness (parts of Belgium, Northern Italy, the Veneto, and so on). The point about how EU membership makes secession more straightforward applies generally; if you are a small territory with a distinctive culture, the fact that you'll be able to continue to trade seamlessly with all the existing EU countries as well as the state you are departing from is a key consideration. And if you can achieve it without economic damage, what's not to like about being a member state with its own voice in Brussels and with a PM who is treated, at least nominally, as an equal to Germany and France in the corridors of power, rather than just being a region of a larger state?
Of course, an association of member states is never going to look kindly on those member states breaking up, but the logic of the European project does tend towards them doing so. It's a paradox which the EU doesn't much discuss, but amongst those most committed to the ever-closer union, it's a subtext. These two articles, which I linked to in the header, are interesting on this point:
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/es/documents-publications/library/library-blog/posts/separatism-in-europe-3-new-states-and-eu-membership/# n
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264251698_Secession_in_the_European_Union
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-51306750#
This guy is the last of The Few, to whom we all owe our lives and freedoms. May they all rest in peace.
So, he might be charisma-free, but he's not quite as dangerous to British values and British interests.
For those who voted Leave:
6% don't believe that people in the UK really wanted to leave the EU
2% are depressed at the result of the referendum
57% have come to terms with the fact that the UK will leave the EU
but 32% DON'T KNOW HOW THEY FEEL!
Is this a sign of buyer's remorse?
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/survey-results/daily/2020/01/29/2d606/2
Click on the politics tab.
Or so some would have you believe.
What does the data say?
The proportion of people who view the economic and cultural consequences of immigration positively is similar on both sides of the border:
The relationship between attitudes towards immigration and demographic characteristics is also similar in both Scotland and England & Wales
http://natcen.ac.uk/our-research/research/do-scotland-and-england-wales-have-different-views-about-immigration/
https://twitter.com/RAIL/status/1222812020896141314
Confidence
Optimism
Clarity
Reliability
Blair had it when he won his elections. Reliability got a bit tarnished over Iraq.
In 1992 Kinnock gained 42 seats for Labour after 13 years in opposition despite falling short of victory
And various tram projects in regional cities. Same protests. Same people saying its wonderful when opened.
In August 1962, a then 79-year-old Clement Attlee rose to his feet in the House of Lords to address the question of Britain’s application to join the European Economic Community, the EU’s forerunner. Attlee was no ordinary legislator but the Labour Party’s greatest prime minister and wartime deputy to Winston Churchill. His 1945 government had ushered in a postwar socialist consensus, established NATO, and clandestinely developed Britain’s independent nuclear deterrent. By 1962, though, Britain was falling behind mainland Europe economically, but still rejected an invitation to join its emerging union. Despite Britain’s troubles at home, Attlee remained adamantly opposed to British membership.
To Attlee, the prospect of Britain joining the EEC signaled a seismic change in the country’s foreign and economic policy. It would prioritize Britain’s relationship with Europe over the rest of the world and cede national control for regional influence. “We are going to be confined in our powers of running our own affairs,” he said. “It might be right, it may be wrong, but do not make any mistake: It is entirely different from anything we have had before.” In the EEC, he went on, Britain would become a mere “appendage to Europe.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/01/britain-brexit-boris-johnson-influence-control/605734/
Let's hope he is reinstated. The bloke who took offence seems like a proper nause with an agenda if you look at his twitter
Manual transmission is destined to become a historical curiosity kept alive only by a few collectors and enthusiasts.
(Was when I posted on PB that I really wouldn't want a deeply religious Muslim family living next door to me.)
Think I'd rather have electric, though.
https://twitter.com/Millar_Colin/status/1222840090252271616
And how do you think you will be able to work with the likes of business if you outwards claim you couldn't ever stand to be in their presence.
And how the hell can Jeremy Hunt hold the government to account on health when he was in charge of that department for so much of its time in office?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-parliaments-51294094
What’s really frustrating about this is that we’ve managed big projects like this successfully in the UK, yet the lessons don’t seem to be learnt elsewhere. All these siloed government departments failing to learn lessons learnt elsewhere decades before. If there’s one thing Cummings is right about when it comes to failings in the civil service it’s this.
I quite enjoy driving my old manual banger around.
I've been driving automatics for like 15/16 years, I don't think I can drive a manual again.
If not just leave your Irish details on your ticket and whip out your British passport when you reach UK immigration, no need to burden the airline with unnecessary details.....