Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

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PorFavor
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Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by PorFavor »

Good morfternoon.
AnatolyKasparov
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by AnatolyKasparov »

PorFavor wrote:Good morfternoon.
Hmmm, but early for that wasn't it?

(though it isn't now)
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RogerOThornhill
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by RogerOThornhill »

Morning all.

The Chumocracy continues...

Row as Boris Johnson ally lined up for top job at Office for Students

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... uV3oOUmVTs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Previously, the government spent two years and £40,000 of taxpayers’ money trying to hide how little Wharton had visited the north of England in his role as northern powerhouse minister, in what one prominent northern figure called “a blatant disregard for the principles of democratic accountability”.
:roll:

But...but Labour did it too!

Barber was a Labour appointee to things - the difference being is that he knew what he was talking about and was effective.
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PaulfromYorkshire
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by PaulfromYorkshire »

A good piece on free speech and Universities

https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... om-thought" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?
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RogerOThornhill
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by RogerOThornhill »

Truss & Foucault.

Liz Truss doesn't know about Foucault, but she also doesn't care

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... tmodernism" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I would feel uncomfortable marking Liz Truss’s homework in public like this, except that she was never really trying to understand Foucault. In fact, on the right, it is a badge of honour not to understand or care about these thinkers – much as Dominic Cummings proudly dismissed “Oxbridge English graduates who chat about Lacan at dinner parties”. (In typical fashion, Cummings managed to signal both his own cleverness – he went to Oxford, don’t forget! – and his lack of familiarity with what actual humans discuss at dinner parties these days.) The Conservative party needs these lefty intellectual bogeymen, to act as a helpful shorthand for everything that they find most alarming and infuriating.
The irony was that Truss was signalling that she wanted to get back to relying on facts and evidence and not posturing...
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AnatolyKasparov
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by AnatolyKasparov »

The bit about Foucault has apparently been erased from the online version of the speech?
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RogerOThornhill
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by RogerOThornhill »

AnatolyKasparov wrote:The bit about Foucault has apparently been erased from the online version of the speech?
Think that was because it strayed into party politics which apparently isn't allowed on Government websites.
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Willow904
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by Willow904 »

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55376727" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Covid: Boris Johnson to hold press conference amid surge in cases
Other European countries are introducing some pretty tough Christmas restrictions while we trail behind with our Christmas bubbles. Clearly the signs are worrying, though, for the measures in places like Germany and Italy to be felt necessary and we are seeing higher numbers of hospitalization in the South East than first time around so have we taken yet another wrong turn like our belated action earlier in the year?
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AnatolyKasparov
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by AnatolyKasparov »

I'm sure that effectively cancelling Christmas for London and the SE (as is currently rumoured) at such short notice will go down well :smack:
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refitman
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by refitman »

AnatolyKasparov wrote:I'm sure that effectively cancelling Christmas for London and the SE (as is currently rumoured) at such short notice will go down well :smack:
Anyone who kicks up a fuss over this, when Eid etc were 'cancelled' with less than 24hrs notice, can do one.
AnatolyKasparov
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by AnatolyKasparov »

Well there is that, granted.

But when we had our PM saying "Starmer wants to cancel Christmas" just *a few days ago*, some people are going to be a bit cross.
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RogerOThornhill
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by RogerOThornhill »

Son who lives in Cardiff had already decided not to come home but daughter in Cambridge was...I guess that means she won't now.
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RogerOThornhill
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by RogerOThornhill »

re the above

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Otto English
@Otto_English
·
3m
Johnson just 4 days ago accused Starmer of wanting to cancel Christmas.

Seems Keir was right.
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RogerOThornhill
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by RogerOThornhill »

Ouch.

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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gilsey
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by gilsey »

He speaks for many.
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by gilsey »

Simon Blackwell
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BBC just said this was ‘sobering news’. Not if I can help it.
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Sky'sGoneOut
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by Sky'sGoneOut »

I must confess travelling up to the Borders to spend Christmas with the folks is looking more of a foolhardy endeavour by the day. Even Northumberland, which was only ever dragged into tier 3 by Tyne and Wear, is having some really nasty outbreaks in the South West which are spreading. I'm going to have to have serious words with my Dad on Monday. He wants my brother and I there as it could well be the last Christmas we ever spend with my Mum but fucking hell this is a bastard of a decision.

In more cheerful news I just cooked a Christmas dinner (I like to have one on my own each year...long story) and everything went according to plan. Now I'm on the Port and blue Stilton. If anyone wants any roast potatoes or parsnip I've got quite a lot left over.

As for Johnson, anyone looking at the government's own Covid map over the last couple of weeks could see the number of infections in London and the South East exponentially rising. By all accounts it was him and Sunak who vetoed London going into tier 3 after the November lockdown despite knowing that tier 2 restrictions are like a gnat's piss in the wind in the face of major outbreaks. His spineless inability to make tough decisions until they're forced on him at the very last moment has once again resulted in horrible real life consequences for millions of people. He's a despicable coward and if I hear him say 'alas' one more time in regard to something that is his fault I'm going to divert all my efforts into contriving a situation where my foot gets a good clean shot at his balls.

Oh and I loved the bloke from the Telegraph implying our new super Covid variant must have come from abroad. Well done to Vallance for slapping him down. If anything else was 70% better at anything and came from London and the Shires the Telegraph would be cock-a-hoop, but because it's a killer virus it must have come from those dirty foreigners.
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Sky'sGoneOut
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by Sky'sGoneOut »

Anyone else care to share their Christmas plans?

(I've moved from the Port to a Bordeaux Merlot I got delivered from a local wine shop that was nearly 30 quid but tastes like something I could have got from Tesco).

Perhaps it's my unrefined palate.
PorFavor
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by PorFavor »

I quite enjoyed watching Boris Johnson suffering a slow puncture. Although it's a great pity that people are paying such a huge price for my fleeting moments of pleasure.
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Sky'sGoneOut
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by Sky'sGoneOut »

Not sure about the translation.

[youtube]ipgWnrHHCRw[/youtube]
PorFavor
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by PorFavor »

Yes - the lyrics (which were no great poetical work in the first place) are rather wide of the mark, but it's a pleasing musical arrangement.
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Sky'sGoneOut
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by Sky'sGoneOut »

A pleasing musical arrangement. I'm glad you approve.
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Sky'sGoneOut
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by Sky'sGoneOut »

[youtube]1nqWsHxzc5o[/youtube]
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Sky'sGoneOut
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by Sky'sGoneOut »

I like cheese.
Last edited by Sky'sGoneOut on Sun 20 Dec, 2020 1:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
PorFavor
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by PorFavor »

?
PorFavor
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by PorFavor »

Night night.
AnatolyKasparov
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by AnatolyKasparov »

Good morning all.

Hancock blaming the public for everything this morning, I see :twisted:
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gilsey
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by gilsey »

Sky'sGoneOut wrote:Anyone else care to share their Christmas plans?
We've not seen family on Christmas Day since Mum died so it doesn't make any difference to us. Usually we would go to Edinburgh to see niece and family earlier in the month though, last year we all went to the light show at the Botanics, it was lovely.

Apparently my sister was going to go in the 5-day window, she lives in Wakefield. Other sister, who lives on a Scottish island, was incandescent about it so at least we're spared that source of family friction, small mercies and all that.
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Willow904
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by Willow904 »

@Sky'sGoneOut

Re Christmas plans.

I got my husband a bottle of Stolichnaya vodka for Christmas. He then got his Christmas schedule which has him working the Boxing Day bank holiday and decided he might as well get cracking on it early as he won't actually get many opportunities for a drink over the holiday period.

So not only will we not be visiting anyone or having anyone visit us, we won't even be spending much more time together than normal. Which is true of a lot of essential workers every single year, I know, but my husband usually gets bank holidays off and used to work a four day week before Covid impacted schedules so would usually be off a bit more at Christmas. So it's all a bit crappy, really, except the vodka which is very nice indeed.
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gilsey
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by gilsey »

Just one example. FFS.
What's worse, the govt or the journos defending them?
Pippa Crerar
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Who would be a political leader right now? I know many will be (justifiably) angry at Government’s handling of Christmas but jeez it’s a tough gig.
" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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RogerOThornhill
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by RogerOThornhill »

Morning all.

Out for a 90 walk round the streets accompanying 'er out(in)doors delivering Christmas cards to Guides.

I've seen a few "That does it! I'm finished with the Tories!" tweets - almost like they thought that this PM would do a decent job when the chips were down...
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AnatolyKasparov
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by AnatolyKasparov »

gilsey wrote:Just one example. FFS.
What's worse, the govt or the journos defending them?
Pippa Crerar
@PippaCrerar
Who would be a political leader right now? I know many will be (justifiably) angry at Government’s handling of Christmas but jeez it’s a tough gig.
" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The responses to that are heartening, though.
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RogerOThornhill
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by RogerOThornhill »

Two good articles...on on the PM.

With his sudden U-turn over Christmas, Boris Johnson caps a year of debacles

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... f-debacles" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The coronavirus crisis could not have been more cunningly engineered to expose Mr Johnson’s flaws. He was made prime minister not because anyone thought that he was a cool and decisive head with the leadership skills and moral seriousness required to handle the gravest public health emergency in a century. He was put there because he was a successful representative of the entertainer branch of populist leadership that prospered in the pre-virus era. “We elected him to be a ‘good times’ prime minister,” comments one senior Tory. “His curse is to be prime minister in bad times.”
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RogerOThornhill
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by RogerOThornhill »

And the second on the National trust and renewed attacks on academics by the sillier brand of Tory.

I've been unfairly targeted, says academic at heart of National Trust 'woke' row

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... t-woke-row" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Colonial Countryside is one of several attempts to understand Britain’s slave trade past. University College London has run a project called Legacies of British Slave-Ownership, and English Heritage performed a similar exercise during the 2007 bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade.

But neither met the opprobrium that has greeted the projects run by the National Trust, which is Britain’s largest membership organisation, with 5.5 million supporters, and is celebrating its 125th anniversary.

“The countryside has turned out to be a particularly sensitive topic,” Fowler acknowledged. “There is a perceived attack on Englishness, partly because country houses have in recent decades come to be seen as quintessentially local and British, especially English. Historical evidence presents a very different picture.
Quite. NT members who apparently decided to leave in disgust seem to want a nice walk round a posh house to admire the pictures and furniture, followed by a look in the gist shop and afternoon tea.

But "here's how they got the money to pay for it and live like this"? - dear me, no thank you...
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PaulfromYorkshire
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by PaulfromYorkshire »

Brexit update

https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ine-missed" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by PaulfromYorkshire »

Euro tunnel closes this evening for at least 48h :-o
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by PaulfromYorkshire »

FERRY TERMINAL AT THE PORT OF DOVER IS CLOSED TO ALL ACCOMPANIED TRAFFIC LEAVING THE UK UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE DUE TO BORDER RESTRICTIONS IN FRANCE
PaulfromYorkshire
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by PaulfromYorkshire »

EU announced there will now be no deal in 2020

We’re on our own.
gilsey
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by gilsey »

Nicola Sturgeon
@NicolaSturgeon
It’s now imperative that PM seeks an agreement to extend the Brexit transition period. The new Covid strain - & the various implications of it - means we face a profoundly serious situation, & it demands our 100% attention. It would be unconscionable to compound it with Brexit.
Krishnan Guru-Murthy
@krishgm
New strain of COVID could be 70% more transmissible, Hancock hinting at months of lockdown, not clear if schools will return, British traffic cut off from Europe, No Deal days away - and MPs have broken up for Xmas, which has been cancelled. Make sense of that in a democracy.
Crisis, what crisis.
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gilsey
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by gilsey »

PaulfromYorkshire wrote:FERRY TERMINAL AT THE PORT OF DOVER IS CLOSED TO ALL ACCOMPANIED TRAFFIC LEAVING THE UK UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE DUE TO BORDER RESTRICTIONS IN FRANCE
What the hell is going to happen to all those wagon drivers???!!!
And how long will the queues be by this time tomorrow?

Project Fear? Surely nobody suggested anything nearly as bad as this.
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gilsey
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by gilsey »

Real life consequences.
Lochfyne langoustines Ltd & Lochfyne seafarms Ltd
@LochfyneLangous
Replying to
@scotfoodjames

@scotfooddrink
and 9 others
OMG , this is a disaster, Vivier trucks loaded with hundreds of thousands of pounds heading to Dover right now !!! What the hell are we Ment to do @FergusEwingMSP @Feorlean


There will be Vivier trucks from all over Scotland heading in that direction, millions of pounds worth of seafood at the time of the most important market of the year the last one before Xmas, Jesus if BREXIT wasn’t going to put us out of business by Tuesday this week we will be


Even if we get through 48 hours later we will miss the Xmas deadline, this is unbelievable
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gilsey
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Re: Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th December 2020

Post by gilsey »

If they end up having to dump that seafood, they should do it outside Downing St.
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