Tuesday 4th February 2020

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refitman
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Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by refitman »

Morning all.
frog222
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by frog222 »

sql error !
frog222
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by frog222 »

You bet !

” When Cain told the banned journalists to leave, the rest of the journalists decided to walk out collectively rather than allow Downing Street to choose who scrutinises and reports on the government.

Among those who refused the briefing on the UK’s trade negotiations with the EU were the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, ITV’s Robert Peston, and political journalists from Sky News, the Daily Mail, the Telegraph, the Sun, the Financial Times and the Guardian. ”

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... porter-ban" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The BBC online UK News does NOT mention it at all . As of 6am today.

Last night Kuenssberg makes no mention of it

” But gone today was Boris Johnson’s previous breezy optimism about there being “zero chance” of there being no deal by the end of the year. In its place a new claim that if there is no “Canada” deal, there could instead be an “Australian” deal.

Let’s be clear about one thing. There is no Australian free trade deal with the EU. Negotiations started on one last year, and at the moment the two sides trade under a decade old much looser partnership while trying to thrash through issues from fuel emissions to what producers on opposite sides of the world should be allowed to call their cheese.

And for Number 10, this sudden reference to an “Australian deal” seems to be an effort to rebrand what the government’s written statement later said was a relationship “based simply on the Withdrawal Agreement deal agreed in October 2019, including the Protocol in Ireland/Northern Ireland”.

In other words, if there isn’t a comprehensive trade deal by the end of the year, the UK would move to a situation trading with the EU on World Trade Organisation terms. This would mean taxes on exports and customs checks which, if it came to pass, could be massively disruptive for businesses and very costly for the economy.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-51360178" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Finally it was mentioned on this morning’s paper review on Radio4, quoting the Guardian but NOT the BBC journalist who was there .

Brave New World :-) !
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RogerOThornhill
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by RogerOThornhill »

Morning all.

I see that the gun which No 10 used to shoot itself in the foot yesterday found its way remarkably quickly across to Iowa...
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by gilsey »

Australia is just a nicer word for WTO.

I've spent the last 4+ years wondering what was so terrible about Ed Miliband.
I know people have genuine misgivings about JC but currently I'm not finding it any easier to work out what would have been so terrible about him. In comparison with what we've got.
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by gilsey »

RogerOThornhill wrote:Morning all.

I see that the gun which No 10 used to shoot itself in the foot yesterday found its way remarkably quickly across to Iowa...
The DP have the grace to look embarrassed.
Not sure No 10 care, sowing confusion is their modus operandi.
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by gilsey »

Alexander Clarkson
@APHClarkson

We'll sit through months of panic over the UK going for minimal links with the EU only with all likelihood the UK swerving towards accepting more alignment than it said it would. Johnson will successfully sell this as a triumph in England and ignore damage it does in Scotland

Alexander Clarkson
@APHClarkson

That's why I'm getting cantankerous about this atm. The UK government is in permanent campaign mode in ways that escalate tensions within UK politics and trap the UK in zero sum games with the EU in ways that afterwards will look completely unnecessary. Pointless even


Dr Matthew Ford
@warmatters
Replying to
@APHClarkson
but you put your finger on it. Permanent campaign mode. Why are they in permanent campaign mode?

What is it that is driving them into that approach to media management?

It has to be that the "consensus" over Brexit is fragile & this is the only way to construct the new reality.
One world, like it or not - John Martyn
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citizenJA
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by citizenJA »

gilsey wrote:---
I've spent the last 4+ years wondering what was so terrible about Ed Miliband.
I know people have genuine misgivings about JC but currently I'm not finding it any easier to work out what would have been so terrible about him. In comparison with what we've got.
(cJA edit)
Ed Miliband's Labour government would've been fine.
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citizenJA
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by citizenJA »

gilsey wrote:Alexander Clarkson
@APHClarkson

We'll sit through months of panic over the UK going for minimal links with the EU only with all likelihood the UK swerving towards accepting more alignment than it said it would. Johnson will successfully sell this as a triumph in England and ignore damage it does in Scotland

Alexander Clarkson
@APHClarkson

That's why I'm getting cantankerous about this atm. The UK government is in permanent campaign mode in ways that escalate tensions within UK politics and trap the UK in zero sum games with the EU in ways that afterwards will look completely unnecessary. Pointless even


Dr Matthew Ford
@warmatters
Replying to
@APHClarkson
but you put your finger on it. Permanent campaign mode. Why are they in permanent campaign mode?

What is it that is driving them into that approach to media management?

It has to be that the "consensus" over Brexit is fragile & this is the only way to construct the new reality.
Important and accurate insight of current events
I've made special note of it.
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citizenJA
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by citizenJA »

Good morning, everyone.
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by AnatolyKasparov »

We still don't know what happened in Iowa, save for one thing - Biden has seriously tanked. Yet another triumph for the "strategy of inevitability".
"IS TONTY BLAIR BEHIND THIS???!!!!111???!!!"
PorFavor
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by PorFavor »

Good morfternoon.
Boris Johnson doesn’t get climate change, says sacked COP 26 chair

Claire O’Neill says prime minister’s promises of action are not close to being met
(Guardian)
(Claire Perry as-was. Horrible woman. But stopped clocks, and all that. Or sour grapes. Take your pick. I'm going for the former.)

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ate-record
AnatolyKasparov
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by AnatolyKasparov »

PorFavor wrote:Good morfternoon.
Boris Johnson doesn’t get climate change, says sacked COP 26 chair

Claire O’Neill says prime minister’s promises of action are not close to being met
(Guardian)
(Claire Perry as-was. Horrible woman. But stopped clocks, and all that. Or sour grapes. Take your pick. I'm going for the former.)

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ate-record
Sometimes both happily coincide.......
"IS TONTY BLAIR BEHIND THIS???!!!!111???!!!"
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adam
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by adam »

Britain’s public finances face a black hole in three years if the economy follows the path forecast by the Bank of England, breaking chancellor Sajid Javid’s new rules to guarantee a current budget surplus. Financial Times calculations suggest that the lower rates of sustainable economic growth forecast by the BoE would leave the chancellor with a £12bn deficit by 2022-23, instead of the £5bn surplus laid out in the Conservative’s election manifesto
FT, reported in the guardian live blog. An interesting lack of the word 'unexpected'.
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by HindleA »

https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... of-options" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
PorFavor
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by PorFavor »

Ed Miliband

@Ed_Miliband

Today’s #cop26 shenanigans are deeply depressing: UK Gov has presidency of an institution it doesn’t understand, with a PM who doesn’t ‘get’ the most important issue facing humanity and can’t answer questions. This is amateur hour. Appoint someone as COP President and get a grip
181
12:33 PM - Feb 4, 2020 (Politics Live, Guardian)
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Willow904
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by Willow904 »

Yeah, I don't get it either.

Why do people want a moron for PM rather than Ed Miliband?

Do they think it's an act? That the 8 years of spectacular underachievement as London Mayor was some kind of hoax? That he deliberately failed as Foreign Minister as part of some clever, never to be revealed, plan?

Or were they simply misled by a media that treated him as a viable contender for PM. I mean, if he wasn't fit for office, the media would tell them, right? Like they kindly warned them about Jeremy Corbyn.
"Fall seven times, get up eight" - Japanese proverb
AnatolyKasparov
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by AnatolyKasparov »

I've actually heard people - you know, fairly switched on ones and not thickos - say "but he's so FUNNY!!"
"IS TONTY BLAIR BEHIND THIS???!!!!111???!!!"
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Sky'sGoneOut
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by Sky'sGoneOut »

At the assessment centre now, they're running 40 minutes late and have begun cancelling appointments. What an absolute fucking shambles. The waiting area is full of very unhappy people and the staff are not only no help but are becoming visibly irritated by people's complaints. Utterly disgraceful.
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by frog222 »

Sky'sGoneOut wrote:At the assessment centre now, they're running 40 minutes late and have begun cancelling appointments. What an absolute fucking shambles. The waiting area is full of very unhappy people and the staff are not only no help but are becoming visibly irritated by people's complaints. Utterly disgraceful.
Sky -- is anyone surreptitiously filming/recording them ?
frog222
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by frog222 »

( They don't like it up 'em ! )
PorFavor
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by PorFavor »

Sky'sGoneOut wrote:At the assessment centre now, they're running 40 minutes late and have begun cancelling appointments. What an absolute fucking shambles. The waiting area is full of very unhappy people and the staff are not only no help but are becoming visibly irritated by people's complaints. Utterly disgraceful.
What time are you due to be on, and are you likely to get guillotined? Or is there no way of
estimating that? Or are you pissed off with questions at such a stressful time?
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citizenJA
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by citizenJA »

@Sky'sGoneOut
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RogerOThornhill
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by RogerOThornhill »

Well this is interesting...
Alex Wickham

Verified account

@alexwickham
22m22 minutes ago
More
NEW: Tories under pressure from Jewish and Muslim groups to sack Daniel Kawczynski after he spoke at an event with far-right politicians

Calling for action:
— @BoardofDeputies
— @MuslimCouncil
— @JewishLabour
— @antisemitism

@CCHQPress no comment
I'm sure that all the usual suspects who tweet and retweet every single incident when it relates to labour will be jumping all over this soon...they will, won't they?
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Sky'sGoneOut
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by Sky'sGoneOut »

Ok so this is what it's like to be assessed by our delightful caring benefit system, or at least the outsourced privately provided part of it.

Turned up 10 minutes early (as stipulated in the letter they send out) and found myself in a waiting room that resembled an A&E ward exuding an atmosphere of anger, bitterness and frustration. It felt utterly toxic in there and there were no seats left so people were coming in who were clearly struggling to walk and there was nowhere for them to sit. Consequently after dealing with the churlish, patronising receptionist I decided to wait outside until my appointment time, only to be told upon my return that they were running 40 minutes late. Some of the other people heard this and a rumbling of discontent began culminating in a lad who was there with his mum freaking out at the receptionist saying he had Asperger's and he'd already waited half an hour and couldn't stand staying there any longer. Her response was to tell him to 'calm down' and that if he left he would lose his benefits, at which point his mum joined the fray and a slanging match ensued resulting eventually in the receptionist calling over the security guard. He took them outside and calmed the mother down at least, but the whole sorry, unpleasant incident could have been avoided if the receptionist had shown even the merest hint of compassion. After that they began cancelling appointments.

So I waited outside for another 45 minutes before being called in to be interviewed by a jolly Geordie woman (always a woman, I've never once been assessed by a man) who did what they always do, pretended to be my best most caring friend in the whole world whose sole purpose in life was to help me in any way she possibly could. I asked her what her medical qualifications were and she told me she was 'a nurse', trying to pin this down I enquired if she had any experience or training in mental health which she admitted she didn't but she'd once been on a course about 'dealing with trauma' or some other vague bullshit. I can always check, I had the whole thing recorded. Then we went through the whole pitiful charade of her pretending to be asking spontaneous questions about my life while actually following a set series of questions (called descriptors). How you answer these determines how many points you get, not enough points no benefits. And with mental health problems you're already at a disadvantage because most of the descriptors deal with physical problems. After the conclusion of said farce she asked me if I had any questions for her, the one that sprang most loudly to mind was 'How the fuck can you live with yourself working for these people?' but I just laughed and said 'No' then got up and left. The security guard had to run after me to give me a CD of the recording of the assessment. I might put it on Youtube to some fucked up music.

So now I play the waiting game. A game I shall begin by getting drunk (what a suprise eh :) ).
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Sky'sGoneOut
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by Sky'sGoneOut »

frog222 wrote:Sky -- is anyone surreptitiously filming/recording them ?
I was told by the receptionist that I was not allowed to film or record anything on the premises, apparently it's one of the conditions of a form you have to sign, can't have the public seeing vulnerable distressed people being treated like shit can we?
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by AnatolyKasparov »

Anecdotal reporting from China is starting to get increasingly hairy :shock:
"IS TONTY BLAIR BEHIND THIS???!!!!111???!!!"
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citizenJA
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by citizenJA »

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Anecdotal reporting from China is starting to get increasingly hairy :shock:
Is it the virus itself or response(s) to it making things hairy?
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citizenJA
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by citizenJA »

@Sky'sGoneOut
:rock:
PorFavor
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by PorFavor »

This is for tinyclanger2:
Former top judge calls for fundamental review of politics post-Brexit

Lord Sumption says electoral reform and role of monarch should form part of any constitutional review

“I think they need to look at whether some form of proportional representation should replace first past the post. I don’t think much of the alternative vote system. Some form of proportional representation would have the advantage – at a time when compromise is difficult to achieve within political parties – of [enabling compromise] to occur between parties.” (Guardian - my emphasis)
I assume that he's including my favoured option, AV+.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ost-brexit
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by HindleA »

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000f1xd" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
frog222
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by frog222 »

CRACE

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... expression" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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tinyclanger2
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by tinyclanger2 »

Hello all
LET'S FACE IT I'M JUST 'KIN' SEETHIN'
HindleA
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by HindleA »

As ever the "vulnerable,poor "othering guff rather than applicable to potentially everyone made it far harder to combat.Now after the event juicy stories served up as "news" for the orgasmic delight of the self deceiving superiors and the patronising left to shout oppose,pat on the head and be further than doing anythi g about it
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by HindleA »

Saying X by definition is vulnerable,ignores/obfuscates the manner in which they are made so,unnecessarily.You can't be (sufficiently)vulnerable if you are not being properly supported ;you can't be vulnerable if you are dead.
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citizenJA
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by citizenJA »

tinyclanger2 wrote:Hello all
I'm delighted you're here.
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by HindleA »

And as ever,in perfect proportion
HindleA
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by HindleA »

https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... ssion=true" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Guardian view on welfare policy: cutting out the poor


Aaargh
HindleA
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by HindleA »

"This calculated manipulation by rightwing politicians is why we are in the mess we are in. Some voters back politicians who are determined to cut the support that those same voters rely upon"


Begs the question if you know this,why facillitate/work within the same narrative.
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by PorFavor »

citizenJA wrote:
tinyclanger2 wrote:Hello all
I'm delighted you're here.

You're easily pleased . . .
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by tinyclanger2 »

The absolute cheek of it.
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tinyclanger2
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by tinyclanger2 »

[youtube]uJRGdQSvwjU[/youtube]
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by HindleA »

The othering is not a moot point,wherever it emanates.It leads to as but one example a loan scheme exempt from *normal* regulation.
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by tinyclanger2 »

Just because it’s great
LET'S FACE IT I'M JUST 'KIN' SEETHIN'
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by tinyclanger2 »

(Vis a vis lene lovich - not Mr A’s interstitial comment)
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by tinyclanger2 »

(I hasten to add)
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PorFavor
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by PorFavor »

tinyclanger2 wrote:Just because it’s great
I'll see your Lene Lovich and . . .

[youtube]JBJVVhn7iuo[/youtube]


(Lightly) edited - as suggested
Last edited by PorFavor on Tue 04 Feb, 2020 10:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by HindleA »

"interstitial"-'ark at 'im
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tinyclanger2
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by tinyclanger2 »

Crazy.
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Re: Tuesday 4th February 2020

Post by tinyclanger2 »

For some reason I have conjured a strong image of Mr A and Tarquin throwing serious shapes to the above.

Edited to add: PTO!
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