Off Topic Thread 5.0

molloyjh

I'm sure the EU negotiators want nothing more at this point than to give the UK a big f you at this stage, but someone needs to be the grown up here. It would be quite impressive of the EU managed to deal with all of this professionally and get through it despite the antics of those eejits over the way. We dont want the EU being dragged down to BoJos level. They're better than that and this is the time to show it.

jacothelad

Deleted User wrote: »

Withdrawal Agreement.

Oddly it is clear that Bunter BoJo has never used withdrawal in his life.

Bazzo

jacothelad wrote: »

Oddly it is clear that Bunter BoJo has never used withdrawal in his life.

It may very well not be the first withdrawal agreement he's broken :pac:

Paul Smeenus

Deleted User wrote: »

I think the EU will move on fish and the UK will move on state aid.

Fish has been turned into a political issue by the British right wing media but there are plenty of ways that an agreement can be made that retains the current status quo whilst giving an impression that 'England' has won in that debate. State Aid is a more complicated matter but I get the sense that the compromise narrative is being tee'd up to satisfy low information voters in England.

They get fish (worth virtually nothing to the economy) but state aid rules in the UK are aligned with the EU and subject to European courts jurisdiction.

That's where I think it's going, but there is a lot of noise at the moment and an incredibly dishonest Government in the UK so who knows.

It's worse than that - it's not solely noise designed to distract from a dastardly plan. There's definitely "dead cat on the table" tactics but there's no plan. This isn't some kind of endgame of some Machiavellian plot.

They simply don't know how to achieve what they want to achieve whilst constrained by law and British institutions. The only consistent, guiding force directing their flailing about, their U-turns, their mercenary cronyism is a pathological selfishness. It''s not even really an ideological - it's just the opportunistic rich doing favours for the opportunistic rich.

If you had told me two years ago that I would see John Major display some kind of principled statesmanship during this whole debacle, I'd have pulled a muscle raising my eyebrows. But while my politics are a million miles from Major's, he has an identifiable ideology.

He's patrician. When PM, he fetishised "law and order". He was always gravely concerned about "a bloated public sector"...
But he genuinely believes in those things and actually gives a sh1te about what's best for the UK. He and I would agree disagree vehemently about values, but he genuinely cares about the country and the British public. he could put his hand on his heart and say "this will be best for the country, and that's what we must do".

He actually does cherish things like "duty" and "loyalty".That makes me snigger in a snarky way, but it is infinitely better than a venal chancer whose whole sense of self is fashioned out of privilege and a compulsion to power and self-aggrandisement.

Paul Smeenus

As if on cue!

https://twitter.com/PickardJE/status/1303707885256441857?s=19

Paul Smeenus

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

It's worse than that - it's not solely noise designed to distract from a dastardly plan. There's definitely "dead cat on the table" tactics but there's no plan. This isn't some kind of endgame of some Machiavellian plot.

They simply don't know how to achieve what they want to achieve whilst constrained by law and British institutions. The only consistent, guiding force directing their flailing about, their U-turns, their mercenary cronyism is a pathological selfishness. It''s not even really an ideological - it's just the opportunistic rich doing favours for the opportunistic rich.

If you had told me two years ago that I would see John Major display some kind of principled statesmanship during this whole debacle, I'd have pulled a muscle raising my eyebrows. But while my politics are a million miles from Major's, he has an identifiable ideology.

He's patrician. When PM, he fetishised "law and order". He was always gravely concerned about "a bloated public sector"...
But he genuinely believes in those things and actually gives a sh1te about what's best for the UK. He and I would agree disagree vehemently about values, but he genuinely cares about the country and the British public. he could put his hand on his heart and say "this will be best for the country, and that's what we must do".

He actually does cherish things like "duty" and "loyalty".That makes me snigger in a snarky way, but it is infinitely better than a venal chancer whose whole sense of self is fashioned out of privilege and a compulsion to power and self-aggrandisement.

I think the wider net you are looking for is 'realist'.

Major espoused a political ideology which I would personally reject, but he was a realist in that he at least understood consequence as it related to Government policy.

The current UK Government are being steered by elitists who it would appear have rarely interacted with consequence and the risks they are taking on behalf of the United Kingdom have very grave and long term consequences that they appear blind to.

I'm waiting for the 'movie' ending here where it all turns out fine, but I'm also increasingly trying to understand what the real world extrapolation of events is going to look like if Westminster stays on this current path.

As a business owner I'm fairly consumed at the moment trying to pivot around the challenges presented by covid. Having to also account for the unpredictability of brexit is a headache I could do without and limits the ability to forward plan.

pickarooney

Neil3030 wrote: »

s/come in peace/don't spark a sh*t show/

That's what she sed

Neil3030

2020 - the year John Major and George W Bush were the good guys.

jacothelad

BRITTANIA WAIVES THE RULES.


In my 71 years I don't think I have ever experienced such a deep seated burning rage as I do this day. (Not even over John Lacey and Clanger Clancy.:D). There were many terrible events in my corner of the country that should never have happened but somehow we managed to muddle through and out th either side. The vast majority of people were never part of those events but the anger and rage were still there. I never expected that the entire mechanism of government in Westminster would become party to sh1tting on the honour of the country and it's citizens.

If only there was some way that we could have predicted a government led by Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings as chief advisor would be prone to breathtaking dishonesty.

Well, how about the fact that every person in the U.K. knew that Johnson was a lying piece of rat crap and completely lacking in any semblance of morality. Oh well...
I remember Cummings angrily admitting before a parliamentary committee that his campaign had lied to win the vote. This guy is a filthy of piece of sewage. So is his bumboy, Johnson, who’s made a career out of lying and wouldn’t recognise honesty if it kicked him in the balls.

Where the Rabid Republican Party of the US goes, the Crooked Conservatives are sure to follow. They share the same appalling immoral play book. If the wider Conservative Party and its electoral base are willing to accept reneging on the Withdrawal Agreement, it will confirm that Johnson’s UK is no better than Trump’s America.

Austerity has been in place for over a decade. It has led to increased suicides, increased child poverty, the depletion of public services, homelessness, unemployment, insecure working practices, the gutting of the NHS, continued privatisation....!

The Tories are quite comfortable in imposing ideological pain, discomfort, ridicule and blame upon the common people. They are staggeringly comfortable enriching their friends from the public purse. What we simply have now are the Tories "unleashed". Turbo charged by many arrogant, ignorant, rampant nationalists within the electorate. And many whose political education extends no further than idiotic tabloid press headlines. Many truly believe that the Conservatives have their best interests at heart when in fact the former despise them. Their only use is to respond, on time, to the dog whistling come election time.

Johnson is not motivated to maintain the Union, quite the opposite in fact. Losing Scotland would remove over 50 opposition M.P.s permanently, entrenching the Tory criminal family in power forever. Someone has told him that the string pullers and filthy crims who bankroll the Tories are very keen to appeal to the narrowest possible base that will return a Conservative majority. And we all know what committed Brexiters are willing to forego in return for their precious 'freedom.' Isolating Scotland and Northern Ireland and alienating as many citizens as possibly will ensure that England has taken back control of itself. Getting rid of those 2 parts of the U.K. is really what the Tories, Britain First, UKIP et al want.

While Johnson and Cummings are particularly odious, let us not pretend that this has come out of nowhere. The recollection of Theresa May’s abject incompetence is perhaps distracting, but she has her own catalogue of malignant dishonesty and displays of bad-faith. Which makes her contribution to the House yesterday all the more galling.


"The first duty of Government is to uphold the law. If it tries to bob and weave and duck around that duty when its inconvenient, if government does that, then so will the governed, and then nothing is safe—not home, not liberty, not life itself."...Margaret Thatcher.

Despite their rhetoric they're not the party of law and order. They're not the party of business. They're not the party of free trade and open markets. They're not the party of defence. In short, they're most definitely no longer even the party of Thatcherism. They are the party of naked populism, state aid (but only to their cronies and donors) and short-termism no matter how grave the longer term damage. Britain is changing from a parliamentary democracy towards a clear elective dictatorship faster than people realise after Boris Johnson’s Brexit vote leave election victory and that has to be the greatest disaster of all and the greatest tragedy of my lifetime..

Johnson and his mob have shown how little they care about following the law. The Conservative party is more of a criminal cabal. I mean how else do you describe a party that intends on breaking international law by design? Rogue state and international pariah, here we come. Shocking and disgraceful. They prorogued Parliament unlawfully. Advisors broke the rules and then we had Cummings giving really insane lying excuses in the Rose Garden with impunity. Now they are looking to break international law and risk the good Friday agreement, while pissing on Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Can we all get away with breaking the law in a “Limited and specific” way? Could I beat gingers to death with a frozen pizza and be o.k.? Can Scotland or Sinn Fein in NI now violate the relevant acts of union etc in a “Limited and specific” way. By holding a referendum without Westminster consent.


BA5TARDS.

swiwi_

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Withdrawal Agreement.

Pfff. His girlfriend fell pregnant so that tells you all you need to know about Boris and WA.

Paul Smeenus

pickarooney wrote: »

That's what she sed

Odell? Is that you?

Paul Smeenus

See you knocked fifteen years off your age there, Jacko.

thomond2006

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

See you knocked fifteen years off your age there, Jacko.

Does that mean he's back to double digits?

jacothelad

thomond2006 wrote: »

Does that mean he's back to double digits?

I have been blessed / cursed with an eidetic memory.......I'll get even when you least expect it..:D:D

jacothelad

Tens of thousands of prisoners have been released from prison this afternoon after very swift appeal processes confirmed they had only broken the law in a ‘very specific and limited way’.

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis conceded a new bill to amend the UK’s Brexit deal with the EU would go against the treaty, breaking international law only in a “very specific and limited way”.

Mass tort ambulance chaser, Simon Williams, said, “I very quickly ceased ambulance-chasing this afternoon after realising that surely this government would not want to display rank hypocrisy by breaking international law with regards to Brexit whilst also keeping prisoners locked up when they have done less actual law-breaking than they themselves plan to do.

“I mean, it would be very unlike this government to say one thing and do another. Or to advise one thing, then say another. Or give advice to the public to stay at home, then drive themselves to Barnard Castle.

“For instance.”

Career criminal, Christopher James, said, “Excellent news! I’ve been released from prison just now. I was serving 15 years for armed robbery, but it turns out I only broke the law in a one very specific and limited way – which was by pointing a sawn-off shotgun at someone before taking all the bank’s money – whereas I would have had to break the entire Firearms Act of 1968 for them to uphold my sentence.

“Bully for me!!”

The criminals have all been simultaneously released this afternoon, in scenes reminiscent of The Purge.The Speaker of the US House of Representatives has warned London there will be "absolutely no chance" of a US/UK trade deal if Boris Johnson overrides the Brexit deal with Brussels.


In response to Johnson's latest criminality, Democrat Nancy Pelosi said the US Congress would never pass an economic agreement that it felt could "imperil" the Northern Ireland peace accord. In a statement yesterday, Ms Pelosi said: "The Good Friday Agreement is the bedrock of peace in Northern Ireland and an inspiration for the whole world. "Whatever form it takes, Brexit cannot be allowed to imperil the Good Friday Agreement, including the stability brought by the invisible and frictionless border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland.

prawnsambo

It's already happened Jaco. Saw a tweet yesterday from a barrister who said a defendant used that exact phraseology in his defence.

I'll try and find it for you.

Edit: Yep, here it is

Neil3030

Mr. Farrell is seeking mitigation on his ban, in accordance with the ‘specific and limited way' in which he swung his forearm at Atkinson's head.

thomond2006

I wish to post about NFL in a specific and limited way.

The season starts to tonight. Huzzah!

mfceiling

Neil3030 wrote: »

My main concern with a hard brexit is whether mfceiling can still get dodgy labourers down from the North to work for cash?

The money those feckers would want? You must be joking!!

DGRulz

Looking at the CAO points today, I'm very glad I got my results 10 years ago and not today. Wouldn't have been going anywhere.

Tomtom364

DGRulz wrote: »

Looking at the CAO points today, I'm very glad I got my results 10 years ago and not today. Wouldn't have been going anywhere.

I was just Looking at this myself.
I went into Computer Science in UCC 11 Years ago, 300 points, I got in handy enough, nothing majorly over that, didnt have higher lvl maths

This year Computer Science is at 468...

Christ...

Buer

Don't worry folks, this is nothing to do with the actual sport of gridiron....

It was incredible to see the crowd (17k allowed in) at the NFL opening game last night in Kansas City. Players from both teams linked arms for an official moment of unity in light of the unrest and conflict in recent times within American society against the back drop of racial tension.

The crowd booed. Incredible. To quote Steven Martin's guest appearance in The Simpsons many years ago....

You're screwed, thank you, bye.

awec

Buer wrote: »

Don't worry folks, this is nothing to do with the actual sport of gridiron....

It was incredible to see the crowd (17k allowed in) at the NFL opening game last night in Kansas City. Players from both teams linked arms for an official moment of unity in light of the unrest and conflict in recent times within American society against the back drop of racial tension.

The crowd booed. Incredible. To quote Steven Martin's guest appearance in The Simpsons many years ago....

Aren't NFL games mostly attended by rich white people?

thomond2006

I imagine the reaction would be different depending on where you'd go. Chicago is as blue as it gets and I'd be surprised if a crowd there would boo similar en masse.

Dave_The_Sheep

awec wrote: »

Aren't NFL games mostly attended by rich white people?

Whatever it is, it's also crossed with the section of society that would go to a football stadium in the middle of a pandemic with the way things are in the US.

Podge_irl

There is a pretty simple explanation for grades and points going up. Expected grades will be based off the student's ability, but inevitably a certain percentage simply screw up the exam and you don't know who that will be beforehand. So going off expected grades it is not surprising that they are overall higher.

Ultimately, this "screw up" percentage is close to random, where as the mistake the UK made was to apply it to the lower ranked students and punish them. Never mind the issue with outlier students in poor schools. I think Ireland has handled this better than the UK in general but the points rise was inevitable from this.

Buer

thomond2006 wrote: »

I imagine the reaction would be different depending on where you'd go. Chicago is as blue as it gets and I'd be surprised if a crowd there would boo similar en masse.

It's not so much that it was in Missouri or Chicago or NYC or Alabama.

It's that a significant portion of a large crowd anywhere thought it was appropriate to boo a group of people who silently linked arms in a symbol of peace. It's that they felt they could or should.

It's absolutely mind boggling. There's nothing to not support.

Zzippy

DGRulz wrote: »

Looking at the CAO points today, I'm very glad I got my results 10 years ago and not today. Wouldn't have been going anywhere.

10 years ago? Jesus, I feel old in here sometimes... you possibly weren't born when I got mine!

Synode

I'm in the 20+ years club. Still have nightmares about not studying the night before the exams

Buer

I have a recurring nightmare that I'm about to sit my French paper and I've done no study whatsoever.

Which is basically what happened in reality.