The dreadfully stultified pageantry of the British state has been on full display the last couple of days, all mouldy ermine, fraying gold braid and musty velvet. But forms which evolved as a vibrant display of Imperial might have transmuted into rituals of obeisance, as the nonogenerian Prince Philip stumbles behind the Chinese President along lines of men wearing decaying bears on their heads. The sickness of Britain’s monarchical system was never more bluntly revealed than by the rictus grins of the aristocratic clowns balancing their tiaras at the state banquet.
The Chinese are the imperial masters now. Cameron begs them to build a nuclear power station for which the British state guarantees it will pay double the market price for electricity produced, for twenty years. And a government which has just announced the extension of thought crime to the expression of non-violent or anti-violent thought deemed “extreme”, has no locus to talk about human rights, a concept at least as alien to Teresa May as it is to the Chinese Communist Party. Britain has its own war criminals like Blair and Straw running around, immune and very wealthy.
The British state is an immoral entity which I view with disgust. That is what drives for me the imperative to early Scottish Independence to be rid of it. Every day as a British citizen is like bathing in sewage.
RoS
“thankfully Scotland’s oil and gas sector is a bonus and not the main stay of the economy.”
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Glad to hear that.
What would you say is the mainstay of the Scottish economy (or the mainstays)?
Glenn says.
Ken2, I fear you’ve been taken in by the mythical “carbon capture” technology which – while very impressive – doesn’t actually exist.
Carbon Capture and Storage Association says:
CCS plants are operational today. There are currently 4 operational commercial-scale CCS plants globally:
Sleipner is in the North Sea, about 160 miles west of Stavanger, Norway: operational since 1996 and injecting over 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.
Weyburn is in southeastern Saskatchewan, Canada: operational since 2005 and injecting 26 million tonnes over the lifetime of the project.
In Salah is in central Algeria: operational since 2004 and injecting over 1 millions tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.
The Snøvit plant in northern Norway: operational since 2008 and, at full production, the plant has a capture and storage capacity of 700,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
The first demonstration plant in the UK will be operational from 2015.
Never let the truth get in the way of a good story….eh Glenn.
“Yes Fred we know, no need to keep parroting the bleeding obvious, thankfully Scotland’s oil and gas sector is a bonus and not the main stay of the economy.”
After you got it so wrong about oil how can we trust you about the rest of the economy?
Alcyone
I don’t know if I over-rate Ba’al but it is certainly true that I rate (many of) his posts more highly than I do those of the Eminences aka Original Trolls.
He writes well, is willing to engage, generally speaking is prepared to back up and defend what he says and displays a pleasing independence of thought (his posts on Mr Putin and Russia refer).
I would take issue with you, however, when you describe Mr John S Warren as “interesting”. To my mind he’s a hollow vessel, as you will see if you take the time to go back and re-read the little interchange I had with him recently. There was a lot of hot air, blown perhaps a little too elegantly, but little of substance (except for saying that one should not post about things one knows nothing about, which is an unexceptionable statement).
Alcyone
And of course I should have said good to see you back!
RobG
Our wonderful boys in blue
Defend me and you.
There you go, laddie!
“After you got it so wrong about oil how can we trust you about the rest of the economy?”
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After we got it wrong? You’re kidding right? I mean your lot have squandered and wasted and frittered away 40 odd years worth of massive profits, without have the sense of dog to create an oil fund for times such as now.
You and your lot have bloody cheek, I wouldn’t trust your lot as far as I could throw them, the b*stards are so incompetent that Britain is £1.5 trillion in debt.
The Mirror story I link to above is on the Daily Mail, of course, but when it comes to brainwashing/hatred we still get the Mail’s old favourite for top story…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3287510/Refugee-children-resorting-survival-sex-pay-people-smugglers-claims-record-56-000-migrants-land-Greece-just-six-days.html
Why don’t they just come up with something like this: RUSSIAN FINANCED BLACK, MUSLIM ECONOMIC MIGRANTS SMUGGLE IN ATOMIC BOMBS TO BLOW-UP BRITAIN.
I’m hiding in the cupboard under the stairs, again.
Mary
Remembering Hashem al-Azzeh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snj4k1Ybp6Y
Republicofscotland, not mentioned enough is that the 2010-2015 government doubled the national debt, and the Tories/fascist loons bill themselves as “a safe pair of hands” with the economy.
This debt can never be paid back, which is why the loons are constantly champing at the bit for war: stealing the resources of other countries is the only way that they can get their bank balances back in the black; but the millions who will die in the process will be kept in abject poverty.
It’s great, innit.
Wave your flag next time Queenypoos goes by in her golden carriage.
RoS: You appear to be rather belligerent, and incapable of having a serious discussion about anything very much. Using a person’s name a lot, talking about them in the third person, tossing around accusations and making silly assumptions – that is not debate. That is school-yard style name-calling.
It would be very easy to do the same back, of course, but I’ve never found it terribly productive.
“After we got it wrong? You’re kidding right?”
No, I’m not kidding, you got it well and truly wrong.
“What would you say is the mainstay of the Scottish economy (or the mainstays)?”
There’s the steel industry. Do you know the new carriers being built on the Clyde are being built with British steel? All navy ships are built with British steel.
Shame about the Queensferry Crossing.
“Republicofscotland, not mentioned enough is that the 2010-2015 government doubled the national debt, and the Tories/fascist loons bill themselves as “a safe pair of hands” with the economy.”
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Yes Rob-G I wouldn’t trust that lot to sell raffle tickets nevermind the economy.
Ken2: Btw, you might be interested in this :
http://e-futures.group.shef.ac.uk/publications/pdf/209_CCS-myth-IPPR.pdf
“Carbon Capture and Storage: Bury the myth and concentrate on alternatives”.
CCS is frequently cited by stooges of the fossil-fuel industry, and their useful idiots of course, who are in favour of further extraction and exploitation of finite mineral resources. The publication by Sheffield University, in conjunction with the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, is worth reading.
Of course, that won’t stop the angry screeching of the poorly informed that anyone denying how wondrous this technology is must be…. fill in the blank.
“Shame about the Queensferry Crossing.”
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You see Fred this is what I’m talking about, not content with squandering the huge oil profits your lot had to destroy Britain’s heavy industries, which led to this.
The Scottish Government has come under fire for awarding a Chinese firm the contact to supply the steel for the new Forth Bridge.
However, not a single bid came from Scottish steel companies to supply materials for the £790 million Queensferry Crossing.
Transport Scotland confirmed that “no company from Scotland or the UK made a bid for the contract”.
In a statement, it said: “During the procurement for fabricated steel works, no company from Scotland or the UK made a bid for the contract.
This would suggest the condition of the market in the UK did not have the capacity to take on an order of this scale.
http://www.thenational.scot/news/no-scots-bids-for-forth-bridge-contract.8986
Ken2: Btw, you might be interested in this as well.
http://www.ccsassociation.org/faqs/ccs-general/
No angry screeching just plain old info.
“RoS: You appear to be rather belligerent, and incapable of having a serious discussion about anything very much. Using a person’s name a lot, talking about them in the third person, tossing around accusations and making silly assumptions – that is not debate. That is school-yard style name-calling.”
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Oh I don’t know about that Glenn, I thought I asked some pertinent questions, questions you failed to answer, but we’ve had this conversation on other streams Glenn haven’t we.
‘However, not a single bid came from Scottish steel companies to supply materials for the £790 million Queensferry Crossing.
Transport Scotland confirmed that “no company from Scotland or the UK made a bid for the contract”.’
But an Indian company, Tata steel, which owns plants in Scotland did bid for the contract as part of a consortium and had they won jobs would have gone to Scottish workers.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/299742/SNP-snub-to-Scottish-steel-jobs
RoS (to Fred)
“After we got it wrong? You’re kidding right? I mean your lot have squandered..etc”
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The use of “we” and “your lot” gives one the impression that Republicofscotland is Scottish.
Is that correct, or is he merely giving those pronouns the same scurvy treatment as he gives to the rest of the English language?
Glenn
“RoS: You appear to be rather belligerent, and incapable of having a serious discussion about anything very much. Using a person’s name a lot, talking about them in the third person, tossing around accusations and making silly assumptions – that is not debate. That is school-yard style name-calling.”
_________________
Has the penny dropped, finally?
Tu as compris enfin?
Fred, the Express is probably the most anti-Scottish rag around, the indyref taught me a lot about the national press.
Here’s the REAL truth.
A further subcontract for steel fabrication was awarded to Cleveland Bridge (Darlington) – raw steel for this subcontract came from Tata Steel in both Scunthorpe and Motherwell. Contrary to misleading speculation, there were no Scottish bids for FCBC’s steel fabrication subcontracts.
“Tata Steel’s plant in Motherwell manufactures steel plate, it is not a steel fabricator. All of the steel for the south approach viaducts and the twin box sections of the north approach viaduct on the Queensferry Crossing was fabricated by Cleveland Bridge and amounts to over 7,000 tonnes of raw steel.
The Resident Invigilator corrects spelling mistakes. Typical.
He doesn’t realize how much more tactful it is to correct the error silently, by saying something like, “Oh, I don’t think I’m so pompous.”
Scurvy treatment.
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Glad to see Habb, your level of comments have reached new heights, I’m sure commentors will be rushing to their keyboards to discuss with you.
I will refrain from correcting the spelling mistake in the French of the Resident Invigilator.
But I will note that today he seems to be taking pleasure in spouting phrases in French and German. Something I don’t recall him doing before.
Another sign that several people use his screen name?
Glenn / Republicofcotland re. young mothers with many children
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I am in two minds about this. If the UK population is ageing then perhaps we should be encouraging British mothers to have more, not fewer children – and to spend the money, time and effort to make sure that those children have as good life chances as those born into more affluent and, dare I say it, more “conventional families”. Apart from the moral imperative of doing the very best we can for the nation’s children, they are our economic and social future.
Good evening Lysais, no doubt Le Merde, as Habb is better known, in France, will give you the “my transatlantic friend” crap again.
Like a love sick puppy he just can’t stop thinking about you….lol.
“I will refrain from correcting the spelling mistake in the French of the Resident Invigilator.”
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And to be tactful I shall refrain from commenting on the above.
Wednesday 28th October – 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm SNP Dr Paul Monaghan Policy review of resettlement in the Chagos Islands.
Lease on Diego Garcia is up for renewal – The population was ethnically cleansed by Britain so that the US could have a military base there. Recently used as a staging post for torture flights.
Chagossians’ past has been defined by 50 years of exile following cruel and unnecessary deportation by the UK. Next week there will be a debate in Parliament about Chagossians’ future. Tell your MP to attend and back Chagossians right to return on fair terms. Full details & advice on how to do so in the link below. Thank you.
http://www.chagossupport.org.uk
“I am in two minds about this. If the UK population is ageing then perhaps we should be encouraging British mothers to have more, not fewer children – and to spend the money, time and effort to make sure that those children have as good life chances as those born into more affluent and, dare I say it, more “conventional families”. Apart from the moral imperative of doing the very best we can for the nation’s children, they are our economic and social future.”
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My my my, Habb you are full of surprises, I can’t fault this particular comment, it’s well thought out with a hint of intuitive logic, there’s hope for you yet old boy.