UK Politics - You can't correct a mistake, if you don't admit it was a mistake

[Heartofice]

8 minutes ago, A wilding said:

Indeed. It imposes regulatory harmony on its members (hence this "sausages" issue in Northern Island), er ... just like trading blocs do.

Yeah I guess thats all the EU does.

[BigFatCoward]

I'm all for Cummings making Hancock look bad (and embarrassing Boris), but nobody likes a grass or the sort of sneaky bitch that shares private messages. 

[Heartofice]

2 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

I'm all for Cummings making Hancock look bad (and embarrassing Boris), but nobody likes a grass or the sort of sneaky bitch that shares private messages. 

While I’m sure Hancock was hopeless, what is quite telling is that the solution to something like issues with PPE shortages seemed to be to simply change the guy at the top.

Pretty much everything Cummings has said so far suggests that many of the issues we faced during this crisis have been systemic, quite often a collection of poor processes and bad decisions all along the chain. 

If Johnson had put Gove in charge he’d simply be calling Gove hopeless later on ( or worse) 

[Derfel Cadarn]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-57498845
 

Awkward for Hancock. And for Johnson, for stating he’s fucking useless without replacing him. Seems clear he was being kept around as the sacrifice for when thr enquiries start

[SeanF]

15 hours ago, Heartofice said:

The Oz trade deal is really more political than economic at the moment, it’s also a first step towards the UK joining the CPTPP and opening up trade to a more global audience, not just the EU.

It's primarily political.  It rankled a lot in Australia (and New Zealand) that prior to the UK joining the EU they could trade freely with us in agricultural produce, but couldn't afterwards.  Trade deals make little difference in economic terms, but are more about fostering good relations between countries.  

[Spockydog]

52 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

I'm all for Cummings making Hancock look bad (and embarrassing Boris), but nobody likes a grass or the sort of sneaky bitch that shares private messages. 

Here's me thinking rozzers absolutely love a grass. 

[mormont]

Latest NI developments are... interesting to say the least. What a mess the DUP is in!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-57507176

To recap: the DUP threatened to no-confidence their last leader because they felt she wasn't hardline enough. So they got a new leader, who decided to nominate someone else to be First Minister, apparently because this would give him more freedom to threaten to bring the house down if the DUP didn't get their way.

So today, that candidate finally got nominated and 24 of the 28 DUP MLAs voted against their own man. Why? Because Sinn Fein comprehensively outplayed them over the Irish language legislation they wanted (and that the DUP hate), getting the UK government to agree to impose it if the DUP didn't play ball.

So 24 DUP MLAs would honestly rather bring down power-sharing even though it will have no practical effect, just out of principle - and they're mad enough at Poots for not going along with that, that they're considering a no-confidence motion in him, even though he just took over. 

We can presumably expect this latest effort at power-sharing to collapse very shortly while the DUP fight among themselves over who can deny reality the hardest.

[williamjm]

On 6/16/2021 at 10:49 AM, ljkeane said:

I stole your idea and changed my second appointment last night. I've managed to move it a couple of weeks earlier and, more importantly, changed the location from one that would have been about a 70 minute round trip to one about 10 minutes away. There actually were a decent number of appointments available anyway so I probably didn't need to be too concerned about losing my previous one.

Speaking of vaccination appointments they're apparently available to people over 21 now.

I saw someone mentioning today that apparently they have implemented an availability checker now on the website so people don't have to cancel first.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

1 hour ago, Angus McGonagle said:

So today, that candidate finally got nominated and 24 of the 28 DUP MLAs voted against their own man. Why? Because Sinn Fein comprehensively outplayed them over the Irish language legislation they wanted (and that the DUP hate), getting the UK government to agree to impose it if the DUP didn't play ball.

Out of curiosity. Does an Irish language legislation have any real world effect?

I was in Dublin roughly twenty years ago, and barely anybody really spoke Irish (personally I think you might have had almost as good a chance of finding somebody able and willing to converse in Latin), and the Irish language classes at school were some sorta torture to students. The teachers giving those classes were committed and put their heart into it, but the students didn't strike me as particularly enthusiastic about it. So that seems like such a silly hill to die on. Unless the enthusiasm about the Irish language has gained quite a bit of momentum over the past twenty years (which is obviously possible).

[Raja]

This channel is a gift

 

[williamjm]

25 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Unless the enthusiasm about the Irish language has gained quite a bit of momentum over the past twenty years (which is obviously possible).

A government trying to discourage something is often a great way of making that thing seem more interesting.

I suspect it's mostly about symbolism but a lot of Northern Irish politics are about symbolism.

[felice]

On 6/16/2021 at 9:17 AM, Werthead said:

On the plus side of things, Australia's long-term agricultural prospects are concerning due to climate change, so the remainder of the country may turn into a massive desert and remove that source of competition. I'm not 100% sure that'd be something to celebrate though.

Especially if it doesn't happen till after the UK farming sector has collapsed, so it no longer has the capacity to replace what was being imported from Australia.

[Hereward]

Much of the UK farming sector should collapse. We farm on marginal land, which is tough on the farmers, but large parts of Scotland, Wales and the north of England could replace subsistence sheep farming with rewilding projects that both improve our carbon goals and are more economically rewarding in the field of leisure and tourism. This would also potentially reverse the depopulation of many areas to allow for sheep farming in the first place.

[mormont]

1 hour ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Out of curiosity. Does an Irish language legislation have any real world effect?

Well, it gives Irish the same status as English but realistically, no. It's largely symbolic.

Previously the Unionists have demanded that any status for Irish Gaelic be matched by similar measures for Ulster Scots, meaning that the proceedings of the Assembly are available in three languages. But lately they have taken to just opposing any further recognition for Irish Gaelic at any cost.

And indeed, Poots has now paid that cost.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-57521158

Three weeks. Who's next on the block?

[Derfel Cadarn]

12 minutes ago, Angus McGonagle said:

Well, it gives Irish the same status as English but realistically, no. It's largely symbolic.

Previously the Unionists have demanded that any status for Irish Gaelic be matched by similar measures for Ulster Scots, meaning that the proceedings of the Assembly are available in three languages. But lately they have taken to just opposing any further recognition for Irish Gaelic at any cost.

And indeed, Poots has now paid that cost.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-57521158

Three weeks. Who's next on the block?

Is Poots the new Scaramucci time measure?

Absolute farce. 

[Maltaran]

1 hour ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Is Poots the new Scaramucci time measure?

Absolute farce. 

If we count it to today, one Poots equals three Scaramuccis

[williamjm]

34 minutes ago, Zlatan Ibrahimaltvic said:

If we count it to today, one Poots equals three Scaramuccis

Or 7 European Super Leagues.

[SeanF]

The Lib Dems have won Chesham & Amersham.  It's unusual, being a Conservative seat that voted 55% Remain, but the salient local issues were opposition to HS2, and opposition to new house-building.  

I bet on them at 7-1, so naturally feel quite chipper.

[lacuna]

10 hours ago, Hereward said:

Much of the UK farming sector should collapse. We farm on marginal land, which is tough on the farmers, but large parts of Scotland, Wales and the north of England could replace subsistence sheep farming with rewilding projects that both improve our carbon goals and are more economically rewarding in the field of leisure and tourism. This would also potentially reverse the depopulation of many areas to allow for sheep farming in the first place.

Out of curiosity, what would the ex-farmers, and the next generation would-be farmers, start doing instead? There are only so many B&Bs an area can take, I assume. And with a mass exodus of farmers, supermarkets, schools, local clinics, hairdressers etc gradually crumble for lack of customers. (Plus, without said supermarkets, schools and so on, even the B&Bs go under.)

And where do all these workers end up? In the cities, looking for work and a place to live. And some politician's heads to lop off, presumably.

Also, knock wood, what if another war or some other global crisis isolates the UK, or one elsewhere disrupts the supply chain? Having some domestic food production capability to pick up some of the slack seems like a good idea.

That said, I agree that agriculture is a huge environmental problem that needs to be adressed. I'd very much like Norway to do more hydroponic farming, mobile fish farms, free range meat and dairy, etc.

[Derfel Cadarn]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-57521972
 

Poots: "This has been a difficult period for the party and the country and I have conveyed to the chairman my determination to do everything I can to ensure both unionism and Northern Ireland is able to move forward to a stronger place.“

Interesting priority...

This party seems to be a delusional dinosaur, clinging on to ‘being British’ even though it is painfully clear most of the UK (and especially the government) gives zero shits about them or them being part of the UK.