For a decade Nigel Farage has been flung into our living rooms continually by the BBC. Even when UKIP barely registered a blip in the opinion polls, he was a regular on Question Time and the other news, current affairs and politics programme. Farage’s celebrity was a BBC creation. He served an important purpose. At a time when the wealth gap was growing exponentially, and working conditions and real incomes of ordinary people were deteriorating sharply, Farage helped amplify the Establishment message that the cause of these problems was not the burgeoning class of billionaires sucking up the world’s resources, but rather the poor immigrants also scratching to make a living.
Having undermined the prospects of a left wing reaction to massively increasing inequality, Farage has now served his purpose. The exigencies of fighting an election under first past the post are such that Farage has become a potentially serious problem for the wealthy elite. The Brexit Party is a fundamental threat to Boris Johnson’s strategy of moving the Tory Party decisively to the hard right and attempting to win seats on the back of working class anti-immigrant votes in the Midlands and North of England. More liberal Scottish, London and South Western Tory voters have been deliberately abandoned, and consituencies sacrificed, in order to chase hard racist votes. Those indoctrinated to hate their fellow man if he has a Polish accent, are now required by the elite to vote Tory, not to vote for the Brexit Party.
The remarkable result of this is that, at precisely the point where Farage’s influence will be most crucial in determining the future of politics in the UK, he has been dropped by the media. I am extremely confident in my perception that he has appeared less in the last month than at any period in the preceding decade. Having been boosted into prominence by the BBC when they were insignificant, the BBC will do everything it possibly can to dampen down Farage and his Brexit Party now they legitimately deserve coverage as a critical factor.
I am happy to state with confidence that this election will backfire on the Tories. The strong evidence from both the 2017 election and the Scottish referendum campaign, is that once broadcasting rules on equal time come into play, the impact on voters is profound of hearing direct from normally derided people and their normally ridiculed arguments.
The Johnson/Cummings electoral strategy is catastrophically bad. First past the post rewards regional voter concentration. Cummings plan is to sacrifice votes in traditional Tory areas in order to pile them up in traditionally hostile areas. The result will be to even out their vote, lose regional concentration and lose the election. They can pile on two million racist votes in traditional Labour constituencies without gaining more than a dozen seats. That will merely cancel out losses in Scotland. That people en masse are going to forget the devastation of their communities by Thatcher or the generations of fight for a decent living is far from probable. The antipathy to the Tories in parts of the UK is not “tribal”, it is the result of generations of hard experience.
The Brexit Party may have more appeal than the Tories in traditional Labour consituencies, but neither they nor the Tories will win any significant number of them. It is in the marginals of the Midlands and Lancashire where the Brexit Party may damage the Tories’ chances, not in Sunderland and Hartlepool which will stay Labour. The SNP is going to sweep Scotland, the Liberal Democrats make substantive gains in London and the South West and the Labour Party will do much better in London and the North than anybody now expects. The Midlands, both East and West, are hard to predict and the key battleground, but the number of possible Tory gains is not enough to compensate for their losses elsewhere. The Tories could end up with the largest share of the vote, perhaps 36%, but less seats than the Labour Party. That is what I expect to happen.
The fly in this alluring ointment is that the Liberal Democrats have shifted so decisively to the right on economic policy. In general I advise everyone in England to vote tactically to defeat the Tories in their constituency, but obviously both Lib Dems and Labour have individual right wing horror candidates I could never ask anyone to vote for.
Here in Scotland, Independence remains the overriding priority. We must escape from Tory domination and the right wing jingoism that so infects English politics; but also it is simply normal for a nation to be Independent. So we all have to vote and campaign for the SNP in what could be a decisive moment in our history.
Incidentally, there is not a single constituency in Scotland where there is a plausible argument that to vote SNP risks letting a Tory in. I am hopeful that we will sweep the Tories out of Scotland completely this time. I am also quite keen about the SNP helping Corbyn pass the basis of a radical left wing reform agenda through Westminster, whilst briefly on a swift route to Independence.
Now that would be a good Christmas present.
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The disappearing Nigel Farage? Spoken too soon. Nigel is now all over the place, endorsed live by Trump and this endorsement weidely broadcast and now live on the World at One, Radio 4.
Banks & Co will be using Farage to put pressure on Johnson to drop the deal and leave without one.
I don’t believe for a moment there is pressure being put upon any of them. For all intents and purposes there is no difference between Conservative Johnson/ERG and Farage Brexit Party. They must appear to be at odds during the campaign because they need to attract 2 totatlly different demographics, each of which despises the other. But they are working together for the same purpose, and that is to obtain a far right anti EU majority in the HoC. If they can achieve that then we can all forget about ‘deals’, there won’t be any. It seems quite obvious to me that they are all working together on this.
That’s what I was thinking. The incredible reappearing Farage.
Yes the Brexit plan is to tell Mr.Johnson drop your shitty deal or we will let Corbyn win.
Drop your shitty deal or we’ll deny you an outright majority, leading to weeks of limbo to be followed by a crash out, No deal Brexit on the 1st of February. An ideal outcome from Farage’s perspective and the chances of Macron permitting let another extension (for no plausible reason) are slimmer than an anorexic tapeworm.
I doubt if Macron will refuse an extension just to be nasty. If all falls into confusion after 12th december, as I would not be at all surprised, it will be a crisis that will have to be dealt with, on a joint European level.
It does seem quite obvious that there are behind the scenes communication between Boris, Donald and Nigel.
They are so obviously in chahoots.
Seem to be at each others windpipes, destroy the LibDem Remainiacs, shatter the Corbynistas, and romp home home to a one hundred majority, followed by NO DEAL CRASH OUT FREDOM.
Norton
I’m sure there are background communications, but why then did the Johnson campaign openly deny cahoots with Farage? We all know Johnson is a liar, and we don’t suppose his denial means very much.
The traditional county Tory reaction is going to be: we don’t like this much, we won’t go to vote.
@Michael – “Seem to be at each others windpipes, destroy the LibDem Remainiacs, shatter the Corbynistas, and romp home home to a one hundred majority, followed by NO DEAL CRASH OUT FREDOM.”
“No deal $$$$$” more like. “Freedom” is just some crap their political wing tells its punters.
The LibDems are just filler. They may pick up votes from a few dinner party Blairite barristers, but they’ll be lucky to clear 11%.
Things are becoming a little more clear.
The LibDem lot want no democracy and No Brexit.
The Brexit lot want Cliff Edge Brexit.
The Labourites admit they do not know what they want.
The SNP want and Independant Scotland within the EU.
wait for it
Boris has taken No Deal off his high table
norton
“The Labourites admit they do not know what they want.”
Not quite accurate. Corbyn wants Brexit, but most of the rest of his party don’t. So nobody is allowed to say what the policy is.
“Boris has taken No Deal off his high table”
Really? Are you sure? How do you know when a liar is not lying?
Well, the silver lining news is Jeremy’s going to pick up the idiot and nazi vote…
https://s3.amazonaws.com/supadu-imgix/plutopress-uk/pdfs/look-inside/LI-9781786805720.pdf
Craig
Boris and the Tories may have another problem: the late Màiri Anna NicLeòid of Lewis.
Her son wee Donald might just have learnt from her an ability to bear a grudge and want some revenge.
Russiagate has the Tories fingers all over it. It dovetails into Salisbury and Boris was sure as hell an active accomplice in that piece of theatre.
Beware of the Donald bearing gifts (or calling into Farage on LBC).
With friends like that, bestowing the kiss of death, who needs enemies?
“Her son Dòmhnall Iain” surely? 🙂
Meanwhile on his father’s side his grandmother was born “Elizabeth Christ”.
Craig, thank you for advising of your NatWest bank account for donations. I went into a NatWest branch to make a cash deposit into the account. However, it seems cash deposits into another person’s account are no longer allowed, unless the account holder provides an official paying in slip for the depositor to submit along with the cash when making the deposit. The staff advised me that this has been the case for about a year and is due to money laundering regulations.
Are you able to make these paying in slips available online, so donators can print them out and make cash donations?
You can just deposit the cash straight into his Coutts bank private account. NatWest is a bit low rent.
If you pay cash over the counter you will be identified using facial recognition and other surveillance, so it’s not appreciably more secure than paying by cheque or electronic transfer.
Why not just send it from your own account?
Because anyone should be allowed to make a donation to anyone else without the government knowing about it. That’s why.
Eh?
You mean that, hypothetically, say a drug dealer with lots of cash should anonymously be able to send the cash to someones bank account and the person receiving it would have no clue who sent them that money?
I suppose if CM put up a collection tin somewhere, peoples could put cash in it. I suppose he could be considered to be a bit of a busker! Lovely songs.
Craig, I hope Scotland gets independence and I hope Scotland gets at least 200 million immigrants – to start with, especially with you living there.
By the way, I don’t hate anybody with a ‘Polish accent’ yet I am a Brexiteer. Try again with your pathetic, puerile and juvenile slurs.
And yet you speak of immigrants as if they were not human beings but a plague. Your language gives you away.
No where do I claim that. You need a brain refit. You should upgrade to a mouse’s.
@Ralph – What grouping do you belong to that you believe was slurred by Craig? He referred to those who harbour such a hatred and he expressed the opinion that they will be “required by the elite” to vote Tory. If you don’t harbour such a hatred, then he wasn’t talking about you. Or do you feel he was? If so, why?
That people who hold such a hatred exist should be considered a given.
Now that Farage has reappeared, see my comment above (page 2 at 12.55)
That reminds me. For everyone’s amusement, this is what happened when Jeremy Clarkson put his bank details in the newspaper, daring people to steal from him: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2008/jan/07/personalfinancenews.scamsandfraud
(That was in 2008. Presumably security has gotten better since.)
Personally I am delighted that Trump has folded up Islamic State and repatriated Shimon Elliot to Israel with his family. If you’re going to lie, you may as well go for the Big One.
But does Trump understand that all British voters will do the exact opposite of anything he advises them? Yes obviously that’s why he’s telling us to do No Deal. He doesn’t want us to leave the EU where we are kept very nicely under control and he can grab our pussies on a spontaneous whim.
I agree with Craig, that Corbyn will win the election, especially if he’s allowed to explain that he personally wants to Leave the EU, and has only given the appearance of confusion because he knows many in his party want to Remain. I think people would have to have nanosecond memories to forget that Up Yours Swinson has categorically to;d us she will back the Tories while simultaneously posing as Remain.
I really don’t think people are stupid. Tories = austerity and Lib Dem = Tories. So long as Corbyn is clear that he will leave , with the current Boris Deal if necessary, he will win.
But he won’t. He’s already been bullied into a daft remain or remain second referendum.
Corbyn’s resisted taking a Remainer line now for three years, despite intense pressure. Why should he change now?
Corbyn has consistently stated, over and over again, that a Labour Brexit would keep the Customs Union, workers’ rights, and environmental protections, and separate amicably from the EU with reciprocal rights for spouses, retirees, and workers. He has also said that Labour’s Brexit deal will be offered in a second referendum, after, it has been approved by Parliament. This is not difficult to understand. It is not sitting on the fence, or changing his mind. It is simple, fair, and democratic
Except that, having negotiated a new deal (yeah, right), it will campaign for remain and a clean, no-deal Brexit won’t even be on the ballot paper. That’s not difficult to understand either.
I really don’t think people are stupid.
I admire your optimism, and wish you a happy birthday Mr G.
Thank you Iain.
If anybody is daft enough to think Jo Swinson will fight for Remain, when she has guaranteed the Lib Dems will back the Tories in a hung parliament, then they are not stupid; they are lying.
” she has guaranteed the Lib Dems will back the Tories in a hung parliament”
– source?
How I wish you were right but I am afraid the poisoned narrative of undecided Labour Party may impact the party more than others. In the coming elections the battle ground could not be clearer. You are either for or against Brexit or as the narrative has become – for or against “the will of the people”. There is not enough time for Labour and JC to change that narrative esp when airtime will get rationed. JC had Tim Farron to thank for stopping the “Strong and Stable” message from TM in 2017. Jo Simpson is not TF and will not manage BJ. I also can’t see anyone in JC ranks able to handle Johnson or Farrage. 6 weeks is not much time to turn things around. Unfortunately in the south we are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
At the lib dem conference in September Jo Swinson condemned Johnson and the Britannia Unchained mob for threatening to soften austerity. She is also on record demanding a statue to Margaret Thatcher.
Anthony
She’s already got a statue but it’s underground like the Terracotta Army. The lifelike warriors are modelled exactly on most Tory MPs, all LibDem MPs and 70% of Labour MPs. They provide the community heating which keeps Winston Churchill’s hollow bronze effigy engulfed in flames like a Christmas pud. Absolutely sickening to see newspapers getting Johnson to wobble his jowls in Churchillian poses.
The Liarbour establishment want Corbyn to lose then be unseated, hence even his “allies” are campaigning for the succession. Miliband D. is back in town by the way…..
Miliband D. One of the lesser barons of the Lord of the Rings whose only forces are low, swamp life from the failed neocon faction of the failed Blair T.
He hasn’t got a hope of getting Ziolected when we have young, fresh Raab and Patel ready to do Trump policy on Israel.
Nothing with the faintest whiff of Iraq will ever be touched with a bargepole in the H o C.
Labours Edinburgh South candidate aims hate speech at her SNP rival Joanna Cherry.
https://wingsoverscotland.com/a-letter-to-the-jo-cox-foundation/comment-page-1/#comment-2497766
I agree with the TERFs and I wouldn’t vote for this Labour candidate but I don’t think she’s done anything very much though its good to see these humbugs getting their own medicine.
“but I don’t think she’s done anything very much though”
She’s pointing something at Cherry’s head and adding the word bang. Lets not forget she’s a product of the Jo Cox Women in Leadership Programme, you know the Jo Cox who had something pointed at her head that went bang.
Republicofscotland
I agree RoS, Joanna Cherry is simply trying to stand up for women’s rights, something very logical. I could post hundreds of links to transactivist pages where they do a lot worse things aimed at women.
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOM9J_ZIrYtiMagVRr_jhagMR-XP59TBsJFLwNlcS13iIUT4ovqKRN9zttevr0PmA?key=NmJuV1AyRnVSU3dOS2VObVhLSm1uNUkxRjRBSk9R
By the way, I hope everybody understands who, not what, they will be voting for in any British GE.
According to the Cabinet Office, ‘electors cast their vote for individual candidates, not the political party they represent’.
So what is the purpose of Party Whips then?
“According to the Cabinet Office, ‘electors cast their vote for individual candidates, not the political party they represent’”.
I can actually see Sir Humphrey smiling gently as he writes those words. They are funny because they are plausible enough, but the precise opposite of the truth.
It has often seemed to me that there is no good practical reason why MPs should not be replaced by coloured plastic beads or counters, such as are used in board games. The leader of one party would get 193, the leader of another 98, and so on – then they could set about their bargaining and horse-trading exactly as they do today. Votes would be decided by counting beads. Indeed, the whole things could be computerised.
The reasons such a change will never happen are no doubt manifold. But the two main ones are that it would puncture the voters’ pathetic faith that their MP in some mysical way “represents” them and their interests; and, of course, that it would add hundreds of unemployables to the dole queue, to the dismay of the Treasury.
So now Farage announced he he will start campaigning. He got the support by Trump
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAxexKoMCgc
One reason why Farage is not so visible anymore is because Boris have took a proportion of his voters.
Afriaid you will see and hear more of Farage in weak Labour constituencies, and making a coalition with the Tories before the election occurs.
No, they need to appear ‘enemies’ until AFTER the election. The potential BP voters will be delighted that their Nigel is standing up against stupid toff Johnson and his deal. The more ‘conservative’ Conservative will be delighted that their Boris has a ‘sensible deal’ and has nothing to do with the nasty Brexit Party. Both groups will feel ‘safe’ to voting for their own man. The plan here has very little to do with party badges. Its all about getting a far right majority in HoC. And finishing off Corbyn (or anyone else with similar ideas). This isn’t even a national thing, its an international effort. And if it doesn’t happen with this election they will continue to chip away until the next big opportunity.
The Tories (Officials) and Exit won’t do a formal deal but I bet there will be a lot of reciprocal feeble campaigning in marginals where only one of them can “win”.
Interesting,
UK Spy Agencies Find No Evidence of Russian Interference in Brexit Referendum – Report
https://sputniknews.com/military/201911011077202012-brexit-report-russia-interference/
I wonder if it will have any impact on the coming coverge by the media on the coming election or if media will start blaming Russia like US media did with Trump?
Jack, please don’t try to hold your breath until that report appears in the Western MSM. We don’t want to lose you.
This is why they blame Sputnik, RT, RI etc. for issuing “fake news”. In fact what is objected to is that those outlets actually publish the truth, thereby showing up the Western MSM (and governments).
Apparently I was a bit late,
Mrs Cadwalladr is already on with her usual conspiracies with…Russia
https://twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/1190245683867111425
Luckily I have no Twitter or Facebook account, so I am not troubled with such froth.
I’ve always been puzzled by the accusations of Russian intervention. There’s no actual evidence. And secondly it’s not in Russian interests. Their interest is to sell as much as they can of oil and gas to the West. Confusion in the West, including Brexit, can only lead to less sales, and not lead to an increase.
Laguerre
Exactly, its so dumb – why would Russia irritate west? It makes no sense for them. I believe mainstream media is gaining alot of income by these Red scare articles and that is why we see it I guess.
Laguerre
It’s worth checking Voltairenet from.time to time. Meyssan sees a conflict of interests between global capital and sovereign nations. A treaty from Russia in 1899 apparently sets out the sovereignty of individual nations.
That is what Putin has restored by beating USUKIS in Syria..
Global capitalism has lost.
That’s probably why they keep snivelling like Gollum. That’s probably also why Jeremy Corbyn will win the election.
No, I don’t think voltaire.net is worth anything. It’s all conspiracy theory.
Global capitalism doesn’t mean anything. The present problem is that computerisation gives far too much control to business owners. They can economise in ways that didn’t exist before. Supermarket owners can know exactly what’s selling, and can sack the personnel they don’t need. They forget that if their former employees, or anyone else, doesn’t have the money to buy, it’s all going to go tits up.
Russian cruise missiles knocked out all USUKIS concrete bunkers for Al CIAda to attack Assad from
That’s not conspiracy theory, that’s a kick in the balls for the West’s evil plan to conquer the Middle East through mercenary terrorism.
Global capitalism in your theory needs the markets also of those countries they have destroyed . That’s because they believed they could rebuild them under Israeli control, by the Muslim Fratricide.
Every aspect of USUKIS plan has failed, not least because Israel realised that Syria would never allow the Muslim Fratricide to control them.
As with all colonial plans the planners assume that people are scared and stupid. One day the takfiri mercenaries will be brought to justice for not following the Qur’an which forbids fighting for the enemies of Islam.
But perhaps you think Allah’s book is conspiracy theory as well.
.
“No, I don’t think voltaire.net is worth anything. It’s all conspiracy theory.”
why does being all conspiracy theory make it not worth anything?
giyane
My comment at 20.26 was about Russian intervention in Western politics, as is accused endlessly in the MSM, not about Russian policy in Syria, which is a perfectly legitimate activity. My mistake for not being more precise.
Johny Conspiranoid
I read Thierry Meyssan from time to time for entertainment, not for being informed. You rarely get a useful ‘take’.
Is Trump winning? Australia, Italy, Ukraine etc…what about the UK? Things are heating up stateside.
Apologies,
It is completely outrageous that they blamed the Fireman, and Yes, I know many of them and have the most massive Respect for them
Just now, I was outside, smoking a cigarette. My wife comes running outside and screaming…
“There are flames and smoke coming from the kettle”
It did not set off either my smoke alarm (new) or carbon monoxide detector (well past it’s use by date)
No harm caused, except we no longer have a working kettle.
The gas cooker still works, and we still have water, and our house hasn’t burnt down.
Give our emergency services, the Police, and The Fireman and most of All The Ambulance Crews and The Nurses, The Respect for which They Deserve.
Vote Labour – all The Rest of Them are a bunch of c’nts.
My wife was telling the truth. I am amazed it didn’t blow a fuse.
It burnt itself out.
Get a new smoke detector and a carbon monoxide detector.
They might just save your life.
Tony
Thanks Tony, i am using an old kettel that leaks water, I turn the electric off after each use, I could very readilly buy a new kettle but nI am a tight old fashioned bastard who does not willing throw still functioning stuff away.
Trump Johnson and Farage are scamming, they know what they are doinging the ( more or less result) is in the BAG
it will be Cliff Edge Brexit, true Brexit.
Jingoism is like a leaking kettle.
Populism should have been discarded after Hitler, but somebody’s dusted it down and tried to use it again.
11/12/2019 is the day for chucking the death trap in the bin.
Moreover, what attracts mice and rats to cables? Is it the plastic or the electic current passing through it?
Could Prof. Giyane please explain.
They sharpen their teeth on the plastic outer sheath. I found this out to my cost when we had the kitchen flooded due to a rat chomping through the washing machine drain tube.
https://www2.theiet.org/forums/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=205&threadid=50783
Tony
No smoke alarms in kitchens.
What we all need is RCDs on our sockets.
I once saw a rat-chewed cable arcing like a sparkler on a circuit protected by a normal MCB. How does the MCB know what’s wrong?
Many electricians’ think you can’t force the customer to spend money. But there is a duty of care for vulnerable groups, which basically means humans.
And animals
Only heat alarms
I was reading below regarding bank account. Craig please consider Triodos bank, they are totally ethical. The big four banks are destroying us.
Triodos is Cypriot? Their website doesn’t say.
Netherlands originally, Uk HQ is in Bristol. They only accept ethical customers, refusing accounts to certain kinds of business they consider immoral. Last time I checked (a few years back) they had a Tier 1 capital ratio of 14% which puts most major banks to shame.
Greek name.
“The SNP is going to sweep Scotland“.
Scottish GE, 2016: SNP loses majority, clings to office with Green help;
British GE, Scotland, 2017: SNP, 37%;
EU election, Scotland, May 2019: SNP, 38%;
Latest Panelbase poll, 9-11 October 2019: SNP, 38%.
They’re unlikely to beat 38% on 12 December. But hey, it’s FPTP. Whatever the result, these crazies will say it means there’s overwhelming support for them.
“The strong evidence from both the 2017 election and the Scottish referendum campaign, is that once broadcasting rules on equal time come into play, the impact on voters is profound of hearing direct from normally derided people and their normally ridiculed arguments.”
The SNP were running the Scottish government at the time of the independence referendum. They weren’t some kind of oppressed group gagged from talking in the media, whether by whip-wielding foreigners on horseback or otherwise.
Anyway, enough about the SNP.
As for Nigel Farage, he may have appeared a lot on Russia Today and as we have seen recently he can cooperate with Donald Trump too, but the idea needs to be considered that he has been turned into a Remain snake in the grass.
He pulled out of the last public debate before the EU referendum. I always thought that was interesting. The man of the moment and…oh, where has he gone?
Set against that, it seems unlikely that a man such as Jeremy Corbyn who has supported the Palestinians will be allowed into 10 Downing Street, and even less likely that he will be allowed to lead a majority government. But stranger things have happened. I believe Jeremy Corbyn to be an honourable man, but pressure can be applied to honourable men. Ken Livingstone was tolerated for a while before he was removed from office in favour of a man whose stepmother’s family owns Marks and Spencer. I refer to Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, who went on to become prime minister and is now formally presiding over an effort to wreck to f*** what remains of Britain.
Labour needs to play this election on class, class, class.
I was very pleased to hear Labour statements on private schools. If they make an unequivocal promise in their manifesto to abolish private schools, I will send in my application to join the party on the same day.
Labour is currently soliciting suggestions as to what people want to see in their manifesto. I would encourage people who want to see a Labour government to tell them, and to tell them very clearly. Don’t waffle, OK?
Look at the possible Tory responses to “get rid of the private schools”:
1. You’re jealous.
2. Some top Labour people send their offspring to such schools.
3. You’re old-fashioned. Next you’ll be wanting dead bodies to pile up in mortuaries, as they did during the Winter of Discontent.
4. That’s so “Marxist”.
5. Getting rid of Eton etc. would cost the country billions.
It doesn’t look like strong ground for the Tories, does it? The only point they’ve really got is 2, and that’s easy to parry if Labour figures find some backbone.
As for Eugenics Cummings, there are indications that he is fighting the last war, becsause actually this election is not about Leave versus Remain. But that’s not the whole of the story, because Brexit is not really about Leave versus Remain either. Brexit is code for white power, for the idea that “people who aren’t from here” shouldn’t walk along the street as if they have the same rights as “people who are from here” – a view that is widely prevalent in much of Britain, not just in the Midlands and North of England but also in Scotland, far more so than in London.
Cummings will leave his best until late in the day. Wait and see. And it will be about immigration.
Note that when reporting the deaths of 39 Vietnamese would-be slave labourers in a refrigerated lorry in Essex, the BBC and other Tory media are referring first to the victims as “migrants”. That is how they frame the story. Then some Irishman aged in his early 20s gets arrested who I somehow doubt is a main man in the international movement of slave and semi-slave labour (“human trafficking” as it is so coldly labelled), but there you go. And British customs officials are oh so clean… Actually they are widely known to be even more corrupt than the police.
N_
You obviously live South of the Boarder ..and have no clue of what’s going on in Scotland..
Maybe tomorrow the Bias MSM in Scotland will Finally Show Our Numbers at ‘ Freedom Square ‘ Glasgow.. when Much of Glasgow will Grind to Halt
I’ll be there.
I live in Scotland. That’s how I know the SNP is a cult.
Not everyone in Scotland imagines they’re living on the set of Braveheart. “Freedom” indeed. Grow up!
Work out a reasonable figure you think the British government should pay to the victims of the British empire, then multiply by 10% and agree that the government of an independent Scotland should pay the resulting figure in reparations to those victims, or else drop the pretence that extreme nationalism coloured by some old Hollywood-style b***ocks about the Declaration of Arbroath by a bunch of landowners 700 years ago has anything to do with being left wing, rather than being a continuation of talking sh*t to get grants.
Dear N_
Might it just be possible that there is an important difference between your idea of ‘extreme nationalism’ (which you claim to observe around you) and a nationalism of emancipation?
No one mentioned Braveheart except you. Youre so far out of touch that you dont even realise most serious indy supporters wouldn’t think of mentioning it.
A cult, pfft.
You mean like the British state media where only Johnson and Corbyn are to debate each other whilst the other parties are sidelined.
Or do you mean like Scotlands unionist political parties (except the SNP and Greens) are branch offices of a foreign country south of the border.
Spare me the SNPBAD sentiment I’ve heard it all before, its old news that doesn’t wash anymore.
“The SNP is going to sweep Scotland“.
I sincerely hope so, and with some unionist politicians now seeing the light one by who knows.
Anne McTaggart, a former Labour MSP and Glasgow city councillor has ditched Labour to join the SNP saying Labour has done nothing positive for a long time. McTaggarat added that she wanted to be part of something positive.
Also the former LibDem Lord Provost of Fife Council Francis Melville has said she’ll support the SNP via Stephen Gethens in the GE, saying Stephen (Who only holds a two vote majority) has worked tirelessly for the community is the best candidate.
“I was very pleased to hear Labour statements on private schools. If they make an unequivocal promise in their manifesto to abolish private schools, I will send in my application to join the party on the same day.”
Just what do you imagine the effects of that policy would actually be? Perhaps a look at what happens today gives a good indication:
All the parents who currently send their children to private schools will send them to the best state school in the area, if necessary moving house. These schools would become a lot better and all the other schools, with the children of the poor in them, will stay the same. Over time, these schools will attract exactly the same cachet as private schools do at the moment. We will be back where we are now, except that the parents will be much better off (except that house prices and rents around the good schools will rocket), and the state will be a lot worse off. In fact, knowing the way that the UK funds education, the good schools will probably get extra funding at the expense of the not-so good ones, so, all in all the poor will be worse off than they are today. Don’t imagine that confiscating all the private schools’ assets will make much difference, that will all be blown in a year or two. Remember, this will all be managed by British politicians, who generally are unable even to find the brewery, let alone make a bollocks of a piss-up in it.
“White power” eh? I thought that I voted to cause as much trouble to the boss class as possible but then, I’m working class, not a middle-class tosseur.
There could possibly be too much FPTP psephology going on. If Nigel Farage plays an important role in the weeks between now and 12 December, it may be more at countrywide (British, party-political broadcast and news coverage) level than at seat level, not particularly winning many votes for the Brexit Party but making the Tories look moderate to some markets and keeping Brexit (i.e. immigration and xenophobia) as the main issue.
I’m guessing some at the Foreign Office are hopping mad at a foreign Presidente coming on British radio recommending how the Tories should play this election, and none too pleased at Nigel for inviting him either.
What seat might he stand in if he stands, BTW? It will be the eighth time he’s stood, if he does stand.
Any reports on Tommy Robinson?
N_
In fairness all little representatives of big parties are the same. Their job is to present their party to local people solely in terms of issues that directly affect them, like speed bumps that can nevertheless be driven over at 50 mph and similar items. Their job is not to present the main political issues. Froth is their medium and to froth they will return. Imagine having a full-time job of obfuscating burning political issues to burbling drivel. Could you do it , day in day out, just to be a sandwich board man?
I’ve been trying to install an extract hood for a man who has deliberately removed and lost the inverter installation instructions, and who won’t tell me what cable he normally uses even though he has done the job for 15 years. Obfuscation is the sole purpose of the local rep, It might look like a cult, or a cunt even, but maybe you’ve got the telescope the wrong way round.
I’ve been trying to install an extract hood for a man who has deliberately removed and lost the inverter installation instructions…
UK mains electricity supply has been exclusively alternating current (AC) since the late 1940s, AC induction motors are cheap and reliable, whether single or three phase. All extraction hoods, commercial or domestic, use AC motors (other than some highly esoteric units for laboratory fume cupboards you’ve never heard of, which use brushless DC (direct current) stepper motors for extreme accuracy of flowrate).
Inverters are devices which convert DC into AC (and – strictly speaking – vice versa, but AC to DC conversion devices are traditionally termed “rectifiers”). Inverters and “extract” hoods are therefore unmutual. Inverters are not used in conjunction with extraction fan motors, although additional control electronics in such units uses DC, so there’ll be plenty of bridge rectifiers for that.
You’re either confused, and therefore a very dangerous electrician, or more likely you’re talking bollocks. In the latter connection, and further to your comment above:
jingoism is like a leaking kettle
I should point out that “Love is like a violin”. Barclay James Harvest drew our attention to this in his 1977 album “Gone to Earth”, and even Harvest himself had been pre-empted by a certain Mr Ken Dodd in 1960.
ffs
Barclay James Harvest were a group not a solo artist.
Barclay James Harvest was a group… and may well still be.
ffs
Shocking. Imagine getting up early on a Saturday morning just to throw an electric fire into Giyane’s bath who was up all night celebrating his 65th birthday. Richard Rodney will fit in well with the other grumpy geezers round here, maybe as an electrical engineering substitute for the late lamented uomo universale Habbabkuk (who may be pressing his nose wistfully to the blog’s sweetie shop window even now, in the unlikely company of Sharp Ears, Rob G and other exiles of yore).
Oh. Has Sharpie been banished? I had assumed that the Ctrl C / Ctrl V tabs on her keyboard were busted. What was her fatal transgression?
My keyboard is connected to bluetooth. Maybe habba has hijacked hers. Sharp Ears is not banished. This is not the Tory party where no amount of Grievelling will get you back inside.
RRB
The extract hood motor uses an inverter to turn 230 volts a.c. to a three phase current . Was there any immediate satisfaction for yourself by having a go at me this morning? Ffs..ffs..ffs . Keep taking the meds and calm down darling.
That really is bullshit, as you very well know. Perhaps you’d like to rebut this assertion by providing the make and model of the appliance?
For others, who may be struggling with the intricacies, extractor hoods use small, (typically less than 250 watt) single-phase capacitative-start AC motors. Three phase motors are typically used for higher power applications, all the way up to traction motors (though these are frequently large DC units). If a consumer has three phase mains, there are appliances which take advantage of this with 3-ph motors, but not (as far as I’m aware) low-wattage units such as extraction hoods.
Any conversion electronics (for converting one to three phase, which would most likely be integral to the appliance) is therefore unlikely. If it was a freestanding converter unit, it would not be called an inverter either way.
Looking more like BS to me, but by all means entertain us all with the evidence that it’s not. Just a make and model will do. We can Google the rest.
Whahahahaha
ffs
RRB
Since neither you nor I have instructions or the appliance in our possession, could I just remind you this is a political, not a technical blog.
I was using the removal of the instructions as a metaphor for Brexit.
Ffs.ffs..ffs . Whatever blows yer skirts up. Bye.
Or is it my comments on the last thread on overvoltages in Grenfell tower that are getting you annoyed?
No giyane. Since we do not have the “instructions or appliance in our possession”, you are unable to rebut my assertion that your original statement was pure BS.
You may, however remind me that this is a “political, not a technical blog” and have just done so. I suggest that, as the self-appointed high priest (or imam?) of metaphor on this political blog, you concentrate more on my earlier comments about Barclay James Harvest than on the nuances of induction motors, electronics or inverters.
No, I didn’t read your comments on Grenfell, or indeed anyone else’s. I do not often actually read the guff on this blog (but a friend of mine is amusingly a self-confessed addict, to the extent he admits he has a bit of a problem). To your relief, I therefore extremely seldom comment, but do occasionally read the more outlandish nonsense my friend brings to my attention.
I think you would perhaps be well-advised to follow suit, for the sake of your own mental health.
RRB
Do you have manual for that or are just blagging again?
Ffs..ffs..ffs.
No offence Giyane, but when you’ve been caught out BS’ing to such an extensive degree, it would behoove you to admit it instead of blowing smoke like this.
An “inverter” to make a 3-phase supply for a small extractor hood fan motor, indeed.
Or indeed a large extractor hood, glenn_uk. Dank u wel!
I’m not an electrician (diplomatic service for 20 years, and now semi-retired, but I take on some work as a barrister to pay the bills). I do however know my way round a circuit board, inter alia. I also know BS when I smell it, and this place stinks.
Offence-taking optional, I couldn’t care less.
ffs
RRB
I took to the law, and argued each case with my wife..
And the muscular strength that it gave to my jaw
Has lasted the rest of my life.
Ffs ..ffs..ffs..
The right honorable Dominic Charles Roberts Grieve QC PC is a British politician, barrister, Queen’s Counsel, Privy Counsellor, and current Chair of the Parliamentary Intelligence & Security Cttee. It was alleged on BBC Radio Scotland just now (by a guest who they were trying to shut-up!) that Grieve is complaining about a Johnson ‘cover-up’ of the UK Parl Christopher Steele testimonied Russian influence investigation. (Pablo too?)
Seems to have been privished? lost behind the sofa??
more at https://sputniknews.com/military/201911011077202012-brexit-report-russia-interference/
The subject (and Grieve) were on R4 Today prog this morning. Johnson has failed to approve the publication of the report within the usual 10 days. Grieve said the report could affect voting intentions in the election, and if it were delayed more, it could not be presented to Parliament before dissolution. He did not say what was in the report.
Grieve will be running as an independent against a party approved Tory in the coming election. At the last election, Grieve had a 24.5K lead over his nearest rival, that’s a lead of 44% of the voting public! The point being, to reiterate Mr Murray bringing attention to the importance of regional concentration of votes. Publishing of national average support for parties is worthless. There are millions of “wasted” Tory votes in the SE of England.
Dominic Grieve has always struck me as a very intelligent guy.
He’s chair of the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee – not a position that’s on offer to “rebels”. Couldn’t imagine Andrew Bridgen getting it! I wonder how Grieve gets on with Richard “Paris Tunnel” Dearlove?
Beware missing the woods for the psephological trees. The 650 FPTP elections aren’t completely independent of each other, which is especially so for the 573 in E&W. I hope YouGov publish their constituency predictions. I’m not sure I’m remembering right, but last time didn’t they do it to keep up their cred, seeing as how they were apparently out on a limb? They included their estimations of sigma too, which was nice.
That’s the same committee (PISC) that compiled a report on Russian interference in both the 2016 referendum and the 2017 general election, publication of which is being kept back by 10 Downing Street. If it doesn’t get published before Parliament dissolves on Tuesday it could “disappear” in the “wash-up”. Watch this one. The report contains evidence from MI5, MI6, and GCHQ. Dominic Grieve says it contains information that is “germane to voters”.
What is Russian intelligence supposed to have done to influence the 2017 election?
As Attorney General, Grieve refused to grant an inquest for Dr David Kelly whose death was unnatural. He then fought a judicial review of that decision and won. The papers in Dr Kelly’s case were locked away for 70 years. Make of that what you wish. He is an establishment stooge.
If the Brexit “party” is a real political party, where are the local branches?
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/11694875
This should float your boat:
https://medium.com/@SJHolloway/this-is-everything-i-discovered-about-all-of-the-brexit-party-mep-candidates-2a59f8f850c5
Unsurprisingly, they all sound like a bunch of complete and utter scumbags.
However, in the interest of balance, it would be equally instructive to see an equivalent biographical list compiled by ‘S Holloway’, or anyone else for that matter, of prominent Remain and “People’s Vote” campaigners, and to have some of their connections, history, and dodgy dealings similarly catalogued.
That list could begin with the squeaky clean Tony Blair and Peter Mandleson, and continue perhaps with reputationally spotless Alistair Campbell, Ken Clarke, and Gordon Brown…?
Oh indeed. The difference being ‘Remain’ as such aren’t a political party and won’t be ‘representing’ us for the next five years in parliament after the election.
I really don’t know why the SNP all of a sudden decided to support an election. If they fight on the single issue of independence, it might serve some purpose in more petty arguments, but they’re unlikely to do that.
The likelihood is that this election will bolster Boris and he will come out of it with enough support in the Commons to do what he likes, with or without the Brexit Party. If or when that happens, we will be living in a nightmare and Sturgeon and Swinson will have some explaining to do.
The idea that Labour might come out of the election the strongest party but will only be able to govern with SNP support is really a million to one shot when you look at the polls and numbers.
So, why? We would have had more to gain by humiliating Boris for a few more months. Maybe it’s a privy council thing.
Hatuey
The SNP and LibDems have been flushed out like grouse by Corbyn’s totally u npopulist hand.
You can’t compare Corbyn’s anti austerity message with the two clusters of Remain round scotland and Jo Swinson. Both Remaineer groups are entirely artificial and contradictory political constructs of the kind British people loathe.
Corbyn respects the EU referendum and totall opposes the right wing swerve May and Johnson have both done. Trump Fargo have tried yanking us into the ditch as well.
The simple fact of the matter is that this country detests right wing politics but wants Brexit done. Simples. Vote Corbyn
Swinson might be a busted flush, although she is opening her parti to turncoats, she may not have noticed voters hate turncoats.
The main piece of Brilliant Swinsonism is do not allow Democracy to take hold.
How dare they have Democratic as part of their name.
Vote for the undemocratic turncoat parti.
Swinson is an opportunistic lightweight. Another flash in a pan who stands for nothing. When I watch her I love Brexit.
Where do you get the idea that Swinson is particularly undemocratic, when the Tories are the ace examples of that, but you give them a pass.
Laguerre, I can readily address that point,
She is going to Revoke article 50
So if the LibDeb lot gain a majority, she null and voids the 2016 Referendum.
She is not interested in what the people want, therefore she is undemocratic neoliberal scum.
So you give Tory undemocracy a pass, as I thought.
Corbyn won’t get Brexit done. His party won’t let him.
“this country detests right wing politics but wants Brexit done.”
Yeah, right. This country has been voting Tory since 1979. To be clear, when I say “this country”, I mean England. New Labour’s spell in office was only tolerated by the English electorate on the basis that they’d be more Tory than the Tories — which they were.
“So, why?”
Money?
O/topic. Congratulations to the excellent Springboks, whT an exillarating second half. A well earned result, England looked as if they were running on empty, no scrumage left in them.
Apart from pushing premature polls and or speculate about the froth that comes from politicians mouths, any of you pen pushers doing any campaigning for candidates?
I make an educated guess and wager £5 that Chloe Smith in Norwich North will have more time to look after her child in future.
That seat will go to Labour.
After reading some of the comments following this post on Brexit I am alarmed by the amount of racist input that it generated. As a 17 year old “Eco-Nomad” I left the UK travelled extensively, sailed offshore over 150,000 miles, across the north and south Atlantic 13 times in small boats, I lived, worked and have been made welcome among both rich and poor in a diversity of cultures all over the world, I seriously value tolerance. Although I wasn’t supported by wealthy parents, I know young people today often feel trapped by low pay and dismal circumstances, unable to leave home to seek freedom and adventure the way I did. Austerity has made them “Prisoners of Mother England,” but Brexit will limit their horizons even further and that is very regrettable.
I remain stubbornly determined to stick with the broad assumption that those who voted to leave the EU were motivated by reasons other than bigotry. I try hard to understand how the decades of extreme neglect and Tory austerity led to the Brexit vote in left behind areas of the UK. I am certain that Brexit does not offer the salvation that these people so richly deserve. I voted to remain, but when I discuss the subject of Brexit with others, I stress my concern that leave voters were far too trusting. There is nothing evil or toxic about people who are too trusting; we really should be able to trust all of our politicians: sadly we cannot. Many of the dubious ulterior motivations of the wealthy backers of Brexit have now been exposed and they do not bode well for the most vulnerable sectors of our population who will be open to increased exploitation under this hard right government if we cannot oust the Tories.
I fully recognize that there are significant flaws within the EU, but I do not believe this will improve if the UK abandons the project. I think that the Brexit vote has sent shock waves through the EU and whether we leave or not it will have cost them dearly and severely shaken up their thinking. If a Labour government prevails in December, I am confident that they will negotiate a workable option for leaving the EU that will provide security and prevent a regulatory bonfire following a confirmatory vote. There must be a credible leave option, but I am equally confident that Corbyn’s negotiating team will push for concessions that might persuade the UK to remain in the EU. However, such concessions must be mutually beneficial, not just selfish privileges that only apply to the UK as Tories have demanded in the past.
If this noble goal is accomplished the triumph will be thanks to the powerful outcry of British leave voters. Austerity has crippled countries throughout Europe, but it has become a discredited and dying concept that is no longer sustainable. The transformational policies of a Labour government under Corbyn would set a shining example for other countries on both sides of the pond to emulate. It was easy to discredit the efforts of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, but it will be far harder to blot out the achievements of socialist equality in the UK. I am also hopeful that Labour foreign policy will drive fair peace initiatives globally and reduce our repugnant export of weapons to oppressive despots overseas.
What radical policy change might transform the EU, restore confidence and credibility in the UK to the point where they would welcomed us back into the fold, but also convince Brexit voters that we should continue our EU membership? Freedom of Movement was principally designed to benefit large corporations, enabling them to move workers between countries to minimize their workforce costs. There are benefits for university students and for people who can afford to retire comfortably overseas, but such opportunities are well beyond the reach of the left behind. It is precisely because those in struggling cities in the deprived North of England saw no obvious material benefit for themselves personally, or for their families, that they were so easily persuaded to discard EU membership.
The myopic Brexit focus on fortress UK ignores the chronic deprivation that will continue to drive desperate migration; the perilous journeys that risk life and limb in search of work and a better life will not end. Following a ten country tour of sub Saharan Africa, where I saw the damage caused by our scavenging of Medical personnel from countries who cannot afford to train them, I started working on a concept I refer to as “Collaborative Circular Migration.” This strategy would fully democratize Freedom of Movement so that it was accessible to everyone young and old, not just the rich and most highly trained, but the poor and less well educated. The proposals I have devised would work just as well in or out of the EU and well beyond European borders, but they totally eradicate one of the major reasons for our leaving in the first place.
As a regular reader of this blog, I respect Craig’s opinion on most issues; I have also commented in the past under my full name. I am frustrated that no one appears to be seeking solutions and those I have shared my ideas with are too obsessed with gridlock thinking to contemplate any of the possibilities I have outlined. There are a number of documents I have prepared covering various aspects of Collaborative Circular Migration and I would like to share them with you Craig in the hope that you will review my work critically as I would greatly appreciate your input. Craig please contact me via my email if you are willing to accept this task.
An interesting post – but please note it’s exceedingly unlikely that C.M. will be reading comments this far down. If you want to contact him, you would need to use the Contact section at the top.
Good post.
Put your thoughts somewhere on the web and post links to it.
Kim Sanders-Fisher. While there are good people like you Kim – we have a chance…
There are some good arguments for leaving the EU (I voted to remain), as Bill Mitchell regularly reminds his readers.
Worth a look for anyone interested in more than slogans.
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?s=brexit
” I try hard to understand how the decades of extreme neglect and Tory austerity led to the Brexit vote in left behind areas of the UK.”
Not too difficult: the Tory government was for Remain, therefore these areas voted to Leave. If the government had been for Leave, they would have voted for Remain. Nothing to do with the EU and everything to do with giving the Tories and David Cameron in particular a bloody nose.
While Independence for Scotland from the UK might be a good idea in theory, how are they going to pay for it all considering the subsidy from Westminster would then disappear ? It would be great if Englanders could receive free prescriptions and free university tuition just like our Scottish friends north of the border already do but unlikely to happen in reality. The reason canny Scots voted to remain in the UK in 2014 was because cool heads prevailed and realised they could not have the same standard of living without the bribe from the south. Perhaps the EU would bail out Scotland, they would possibly forced to adopt the Euro as the Bank of England would not be backing the Scottish pound any more. So go on I dare you, vote for independence and see how it goes. Bon voyage Bon chance.
“they would possibly [be] forced to adopt the Euro”
Possibly? There’s no alternative.
“It would be great if Englanders could receive free prescriptions and free university tuition just like our Scottish friends north of the border already do but unlikely to happen in reality”
Unless Labour wins. Free prescriptions and university tuition throughout the whole of Britain are Labour policy. And tens of millions of people are going to know that if they don’t know it already.
This election isn’t over yet. It’s hardly started. Perhaps a Labour programme of social reform will blow the boring Tory mantra of “Get Brexit done” completely out of the water? As in
“Do you want your children to be £30K in debt by the time they’re 21 with Britain outside the EU? Or do you want your children not to be in debt, and another EU referendum to be held which may result in Britain remaining a member of the EU? Which is more important to you – your children’s futures or the British regime’s possible retention of its current international treaty arrangements?”
Of course for people to give the right answer to the question means that they must suss in large numbers what the filthy right-wing media, BBC included, is all about. But hey, there’s a precedent for that with the Sun in Liverpool.
This is a complicated election. It’s not just about setting the stage for independence, but also about governance in Scotland, and of course Brexit.
What with its oil and gas reserves, its huge fishery and the ingenuity of its people, Scotland is well positioned to move forward on its own. If the case for independence hinges on leaving the UK so that Scotland does not continue to be dominated by the London establishment or by England with its much greater voting population, then why would one want to be an even smaller minnow in a German / French dominated EU?
Of course I live in Canada and may be out of touch, Yet I have difficulty understanding why it is that a future independent Scotland would want to be shackled to the EU where it will count for little except as a target for its resources to be plundered.
“I have difficulty understanding why it is that a future independent Scotland would want to be shackled to the EU”
You’re not alone.
Being part of the EU isn’t being ‘shackled’, despite the crude and ignorant rhetoric.
No. It is about being in a partnership of equals with the economic powerhouse that is Malta. it means that you have to remain officially silent regarding the assassination of Maltese journalists.
It means that you have to cosset and nurture a form of societal mental illness by pretending that the UK economy benefits from increasing its population whilst Bulgaria benefits from decreasing its population.
It means that while you pretend that the British Conservative Party is Fascist you embrace by proxy actual fascists in Spain.
It means that you pretend Russians in Latvia Estonia and Lithuania are great people to be in partnership with, but that Russians in Russia interfere with elections and are all round evil people.
It means that you pretend not to notice that France is ablaze – and anyway who cares as it is not like they have any kind of revolutionary history.
It means that you entirely ignore declining life expectancy in Greece.
It means that you claim that the EU is a powerful, dynamic economic bloc and so entirely ignore how it surrenders to Turkish blackmail at every juncture.
It means that you entirely ignore all of the above (and much more beside) and simply respond with an ignorant ad hominem response.
“No. It is about being in a partnership of equals with the economic powerhouse that is Malta.”
Malta has more say currently in the EU than Scotland.
Remaining part of this unfit for purpose union means another decade of austerity and widespread deaths due to cuts aimed at the poor and sick.
More tax cuts for the rich whilst the NHS is all but privatised. The loss of many workers rights, the plummeting of food standards. The demonisation of any immigrants brave enough to remain in the UK, the loss of EU subsidies, the marginalisation of the devolved governments.
More soldiers dying in unjust wars, as Johnson kowtows to Trump at every turn. No Scots would be raving lunatics to remain in this union, give me the EU anyday.
Thankfully the unions days are all but numbered.
Loony
Turkish Blackmail .
NATO ORDERS.
Malta sends six MEPs to the European parliament, the same number as Scotland.
Meanwhile Germany has 96.
What were you saying about a partnership of equals?
Exactly there’s less than 500,000 people in Malta.
Thank you Kempe for reinforcing my point.
“Exactly there’s less than 500,000 people in Malta.”
Hmmm.
There’s around 80 million in Germany, 5 million in Scotland.
Germany has 16 times more peeps than Scotland and 96 is exactly 16 times 6, their number of EU seats respectively.
Is it possible someone at the EU boobed and misread Malta’s 500,000 as 5,000,000.
Six is the minimum number of seats.
So currently Malta has the same say as Scotland but both are drowned out by Germany.
“Six is the minimum number of seats.”
Thanks, Kempe.
Makes sense I suppose for sovereign states, a minimum, but still, you’re right. Don’t look so good for wee states as against large states in the EU. I suppose there are some balancing mechanisms.
But then again wee states are going to have the same problem in the wider world.
Herbie/Kempe.
Finland has roughly the same population as Scotland yet it has 13 MEP’s more than double Scotland’s voice.
Denmark with a slightly smaller population than Scotland also has 13 MEPs.
Even Lithuania with a population of 3.3 million has 12 MEPs.
No Scotland must dissolve this unfit union.
That’s right, you can check out anytime.
(But you can never leave).
It’s simple: it’s the political equivalent of “supporting whoever is playing against England” in sporting events.
why did Canada signed a trade deal with the EU after ten long years? Roderick.
Could it not do without Belgian chocolate and or foie gras? Unsustainable? or unable to make margarine from Albertas tar sands?
why did Canada want to have access to the most lucrative market in the world? was it a case of mutual greed?
NEVERMIND – Good point.
As I see things the EU is about managed trade in the interests of their big battalions (Germany, etc.) and not free trade in the true sense of the word. They are semi-mercantilists rather than free traders. I hate to think what they would do to Scotland in any negotiation. Start by giving the fishery to France, then move on from there? Look at the screwing around the EU are giving the UK at the moment, and it did take Canada 10 years to get a deal. I just don’t think that a newly independent Scotland needs that sort of hassle right at the start of its independence.
Dont think that Scotland, forced into this position like a shackelled slave, will get a ten year timetable to accept what is npw, still, a common market. They did not even have a voice at the negotiation table.
More important, Scotland is not seen as a Catalonia and nobody im the Eu would want to see a similar scene here? They said this from the beginning. But the EUs hand are tight, they cannot deal with a Scotland still in a union with Westminster.
“ What with its oil and gas reserves… …Scotland is well positioned to move forward on its own.”
Shouldn’t these be left in the ground?
I’d concentrate on wind, wave and hydro resources if you want to win hearts and minds over energy-generating national assets in the next decade or two.
The main thing will be that, as a developed country, with considerable resources in its “real” economy, as long as Scotland has its own sovereign, free-floating, non-convertible currency and understands and uses the spending power which that confers, it will be fine, post-Independence.
If it retains Sterling, worse still adopts the euro, or pegs a new Scottish currency to either, then all bets are off.
Farage may have been given a break from the tv screens but his show on LBC has been pushing for hard brexit for most of the year.
Even his Trump exclusive gets regular repeating on the other shows.
Has there ever been a political ‘leader’ who got a daily national radio show?
Should he be allowed it? Can the other parties have equal time?
Anyway I think if people believe Trump is endorsing Farage or Bullingdon boy and being anti -Corbyn in that interview-listen again.
When he tells Nigel JC is bad for ‘you’ – it is ambiguous. It could easily mean bad for Farage and bobo. Trump is just returning the favour that Murdoch ‘gave’ him. I don’t expect Pellosi or our presstitutes will get on their high horses about foreign interference in our elections by the US president – anyone?
Remember the blowback from russiagate is only just starting – it will take out our spooky bosses in full colour. The sudden non publication of the report by Grieve is funny.
Blowback? No, we arent there yet, not even half on that way I fear. It will get much worse.
Recently Trump defended Tulsi Gabbard and Jill Stein that are attacked with Russia-agent-claims by Clinton, media:
https://twitter.com/legendaryenergy/status/1188361953636306944
Encouraging to see.
The court cases in America are proceeding at pace. The phone data of Mifsud is likely to be produced. That is the smoking gun .
The Ukraine impeachment allegations just got blown as the initial whistleblower aint going to testify to that Committee.
I don’t think the tories or Farage will be able to hold up proceedings while we have our election.
Tick tock…
you think donald trump supports jeremy corbyn. please explain.
Potus hates the tory spivs and spooks who conspired with Hillary and their spooks to fabricate Russiagate upon him with the dodgy dossiers and than carried on with the attempted coup once he had won.
He will have his vengeance for sure.
They railroaded him on Skripal, Syrian false flag chemical attacks, Ukraine and Iran – not least with the oil tanker attacks.
He may not love Labour but he sure hates the tories. Actually he has much in common with Corbyn – the media monstering, the accusation of nazi-ite antisemetism, the desire to look after the leftbehind de-industrialised communities, world peace…etc
Clutch your enemy to your breast! And that enemies enemy is your friend. Etc.
Great turn out in George Sq today for the independence rally, many good speakers full of passion, Humza Yousef especially. Weather a bit dreich, Sturgeon spoke well putting independence first and foremost, Mike Russell also came across as a man on a mission for independence.
If you want see it for yourself here it is.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SI8XUYe99B8
Huge Turnout RoS..Regardless of Weather.. it was Impossible to get near the Stage.. But The Speakers ware all on Top Form –
Nicola Finishing –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEPjDn2-nBk
How many people attended, RoS?
N-.. We Will get accurate numbers..as it is a mainly static Crowd.. Unlike All Under One Marche’s
As opposed to Your 30 or so counter Nationalists
20,000 packed into George Sq and folk spread out sporadically in the side streets. Oh and a dozen or so unionists blowing whistles and protesting against it.
All and all not a bad turn out on a damp dreich Saturday afternoon.
More bad news for Boris. Ex-minister Stephen Dorrell has joined the LibDem lot and he will be the LibDem candidate for Speaker Bercow’s seat.
Speaker Bercow is standing down, he was nominally a tory.
As Boris has rebuked Nigel Farage, Boris’ ground is looking more shaky by the hour.
michael norton
Stephen Dorrell famously said that no-one could predict feeding cows with sheep offal would lead to BSE.
Nobody could predict what feeding LibDems with Tory offal might do. Also nobody could ever have predicted that fracking might make the earth shake for Tories. They spaffed quite a lot of money on that.
On the up side, Labour have dusted their 2010 plans for House insulation and Heat Pumps which were killed off by David Cameron in 2010 when he and Hague decided it was better to wreck Libya, Syria and Iraq instead. You can’t fault the Tories for not properly finishing the job,
“Scotland is a marginal country”
— An article is Sat’s “The Guardian” https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/02/general-election-key-contests-changing-tactics-fractured-nation