FlyTheNest

Downing Street reacted in dismay as Emmanuel Macron led EU leaders in warning Boris Johnson that he must swallow the bloc’s conditions, in what appeared to be taken as a direct challenge to the British prime minister’s threat to walk out on the talks.
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The intervention was evidently regarded as incendiary in No 10 as Johnson had said he would make a decision on Friday on whether there were grounds to continue the talks. In September, he had said that without agreement by the time of this summit the government would “move on” to focus on no-deal preparations.

Laurie Macfarlane
@L__Macfarlane
Serco’s share price is soaring today after it unexpectedly upgraded its 2020 profit forecast.

The statement to investors speaks for itself. The UK is a basket case.

In the UK, we have been awarded extensions to our contracts to provide test sites and call handlers for NHS Test & Trace, which is an indication of our customer's satisfaction with the quality of work we have delivered. We have also seen increases in the number of asylum seekers we are looking after on behalf of the Home Office, and our new Prisoner Escorting contract has been successfully mobilised. We have now secured an extension to the Emergency Measures Agreement on the Caledonian Sleepers to the end of the year.

The Welsh government has called for a military camp in south-west Wales that is being used to house asylum seekers to be shut down by the Home Office.

In a written statement the Labour-led government said the Penally camp in Pembrokeshire was not suitable for asylum seekers.

The camp was opened last month by the UK government. (Politics Live, Guardian)

Phil Syrpis
@syrpis
Replying to
@syrpis
My view is that it has happened because the Uni sector - like others - is strongly committed to 'the way things are'. It wants to deliver as 'normal' an education as it has been able to do in previous years. 14/

It wants students on campus, face to face teaching, accommodation blocks full, fee income received. Financially, it depends on student numbers. Reputationally, it has to deliver a world beating student experience. 15/

It has not been able to come to terms with the fact that - for now at least - things will not be 'normal'. And it has not made what seem to me to be sensible adjustments.

Could they not have stayed put and continued their learning online? Of course, learning would have been suboptimal. And University finances would have suffered. But it could have been done. 19/

But it would have required the Govt and the leadership of the sector to come together, and agree a set of priorities and some sort of financial plan. 20/

That - of course - seems like an impossible dream. Neither the Govt nor the sector leaders seem to be able to plan ahead, and anticipate likely problems. So we continue to lurch from crisis to crisis. 21/

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Johnson now saying we should prepare for no deal with "high hearts". Whatever that silly phrase actually means.

And given that they have refused to negotiate seriously for much of the last few months

12:59

Boris Johnson is going to hold a press conference at 4pm, it’s been confirmed. (Politics Live, Guardian)

PorFavor wrote:I hope Boris Johnson, whilst he's on TV, explains the clarity of his excellent 3 Tier system as it now stands. What's allowed to remain open, where, and why for example.

Chico Rodrigues, the Brazilian president’s deputy leader in the senate, was reportedly caught with the concealed bundle on Wednesday during a police search of his home. The raid was part of an operation against the suspected misappropriation of public funds for fighting Covid-19.

The Estado de São Paulo newspaper said two sources told it 30,000 reais (more than £4,100) were stashed in the underpants of Rodrigues, a senator for the Amazon state of Roraima.

“To give you a sense of just how preposterous the situation was, some of the recovered notes were stained with faeces,” reported Revista Crusoé, the conservative magazine that broke the story.

Brazilians shared the news under the viral hashtag #PropinaNaBunda (A Bribe up the Bum). Many suggested that the find would be remembered “in the anals of history”.

As with sectors like pharmaceuticals, auto, aerospace, chemicals and also some that get less attention (e.g. music, computer gaming, fintech) the UK is ripping up some of its biggest economic success stories – areas where, to use the government’s favourite phrase, Britain is ‘world-beating’ – in the name of the Brexit theology of sovereignty.

Sky'sGoneOut wrote:Not sure how I managed to miss this yesterday...

Police find cash hidden between Bolsonaro ally's buttocks

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... -rodrigues

Chico Rodrigues, the Brazilian president’s deputy leader in the senate, was reportedly caught with the concealed bundle on Wednesday during a police search of his home. The raid was part of an operation against the suspected misappropriation of public funds for fighting Covid-19.

The Estado de São Paulo newspaper said two sources told it 30,000 reais (more than £4,100) were stashed in the underpants of Rodrigues, a senator for the Amazon state of Roraima.

“To give you a sense of just how preposterous the situation was, some of the recovered notes were stained with faeces,” reported Revista Crusoé, the conservative magazine that broke the story.

Brazilians shared the news under the viral hashtag #PropinaNaBunda (A Bribe up the Bum). Many suggested that the find would be remembered “in the anals of history”.

Ash Sarkar
@AyoCaesar
You can only have 3 spices in your kitchen - the rest are consigned to the dustbin of history. What are they?

Sky'sGoneOut wrote:Wondered why Cumin was trending on Twitter and found it was caused by this this excellent question from Ash Sarkar.

Ash Sarkar
@AyoCaesar
You can only have 3 spices in your kitchen - the rest are consigned to the dustbin of history. What are they?

https://twitter.com/AyoCaesar/status/13 ... 7195676673

Evidently a lady of taste she goes with Chilli, Cumin and Smoked Paprika.

With a heavy heart I'd be forced to replace Chilli with Coriander but agree with the other two.

gilsey wrote:

As with sectors like pharmaceuticals, auto, aerospace, chemicals and also some that get less attention (e.g. music, computer gaming, fintech) the UK is ripping up some of its biggest economic success stories – areas where, to use the government’s favourite phrase, Britain is ‘world-beating’ – in the name of the Brexit theology of sovereignty.

https://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.co ... -haul.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

UK credit rating downgraded by Moody’s
Moody’s warns growth has ‘been meaningfully weaker’ than anticipated and points to weaker governance

citizenJA wrote:I've secured nutmeg and mixed spice today

tinyclanger2 wrote:Are you seething?

AnatolyKasparov wrote: the ongoing collapse of the LibDems in an area where they once flourished - they saw their share almost halved to just 10%. Labour also clearly down to just 3%, just ahead of the Greens who were standing here for the first time.

PorFavor wrote:

tinyclanger2 wrote:Are you seething?

Yes. 'KIN' seethin'.

Sky'sGoneOut wrote:Wondered why Cumin was trending on Twitter and found it was caused by this this excellent question from Ash Sarkar.

Ash Sarkar
@AyoCaesar
You can only have 3 spices in your kitchen - the rest are consigned to the dustbin of history. What are they?

https://twitter.com/AyoCaesar/status/13 ... 7195676673

Evidently a lady of taste she goes with Chilli, Cumin and Smoked Paprika.

With a heavy heart I'd be forced to replace Chilli with Coriander but agree with the other two.

citizenJA wrote:I've secured nutmeg and mixed spice today

Go out to smoke a cigarette and look at the people below hurrying to work or school. Remember feeling jealous of them. They have sharp minds capable of so much, while I am in my own fucked up Nutmeg world. Can feel a depression coming up. I want this trip to stop. I want to work hard like all these other people, and I'm wasting my life away on Nutmeg. Now I'll be like this (half insane) all life long, and just because I OD'd on Nutmeg?! What a loser I am.

Sky'sGoneOut wrote:

citizenJA wrote:I've secured nutmeg and mixed spice today

https://erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=22160

Nutmegged for 30 Hours

Go out to smoke a cigarette and look at the people below hurrying to work or school. Remember feeling jealous of them. They have sharp minds capable of so much, while I am in my own fucked up Nutmeg world. Can feel a depression coming up. I want this trip to stop. I want to work hard like all these other people, and I'm wasting my life away on Nutmeg. Now I'll be like this (half insane) all life long, and just because I OD'd on Nutmeg?! What a loser I am.

this experience made me realize that I was unable to stand up, or even sit up, at all without passing out after about 30 seconds to one minute. It was as if the nutmeg had made my veins so loose that when I stood up, my brain just couldn't hold onto the blood that was there. For the whole day, I had to stay lying down, preferably with my eyes closed. If I wanted to move, I had to crawl very slowly (I had to constantly remain horizontal, I could not bring my head up vertically) and I had to stop every few seconds to lay down and bring some of the blood back to my brain....Overall, nutmeg was definitely not worth it and it should not be underestimated. It is very powerful, especially considering the fairly small amount that I took. Please just stay away from nutmeg.

"Consider the fact that even though it is the approach its senior scientists believe would be most effective, the government believes that Keir Starmer’s having called for a two-week circuit-breaker now makes it “politically impossible”. Setting aside that events will overtake it anyway on that front, what grotesquely warped priorities that implies. As one cabinet minister told James Forsyth, writing in the Times: “If they do it after all this, they’ll be in the worst possible place.” To which the milder end of a response is: so effing what?! Even a career eunuch couldn’t give less of a toss about the “place” the government will be – what about the “place” the people they were elected to serve will be in? Perhaps it should be regarded as an honour to be sacrificed to some mad dick-waving agenda, in which doing the right thing is less important than Johnson’s government not being seen to lose face to the other guy."
- Marina Hyde

Sky'sGoneOut wrote:https://erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=52691

Frightening to Say the Least

this experience made me realize that I was unable to stand up, or even sit up, at all without passing out after about 30 seconds to one minute. It was as if the nutmeg had made my veins so loose that when I stood up, my brain just couldn't hold onto the blood that was there. For the whole day, I had to stay lying down, preferably with my eyes closed. If I wanted to move, I had to crawl very slowly (I had to constantly remain horizontal, I could not bring my head up vertically) and I had to stop every few seconds to lay down and bring some of the blood back to my brain....Overall, nutmeg was definitely not worth it and it should not be underestimated. It is very powerful, especially considering the fairly small amount that I took. Please just stay away from nutmeg.

Wuss.

That just sounds like a normal hangover to me.

"“Behold … a tiered system of leeches!”
Cut to the plague pit."

When seeing friends and family you do not live with (or who are not part of your support bubble), you must not meet in a group of more than 6, indoors or outdoors.
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Meeting in larger groups is against the law apart from specific exceptions where people from different households can gather in groups larger than 6 people. The police can take action against you if you meet in larger groups. This includes breaking up illegal gatherings and issuing fines (fixed penalty notices).

You can be fined £200 for the first offence, doubling for each further offence up to a maximum of £6,400. If you hold, or are involved in holding, an illegal gathering of over 30 people, the police can issue fines of £10,000.
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Exceptions where people from different households can gather in groups larger than 6 people

These include:
for work... .
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/local-covid ... vel-medium" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

citizenJA wrote:I recommend he try it with oatmeal. A big bowl of oatmeal with nutmeg keeps me hiking strong all day. I eat apple slices with peanut butter when I get back home.