Brexit, for once some facts.
- Thread starter flecc
- Start date
Even the superslimeball is quoted in Wiki:
David Cameron
"We've got to stop this perception that parties can somehow be bought by big donations either from very rich people, or trade unions, or businesses."
The Conservative Party admitted that it has engaged in similar borrowing (but did not reveal any links to nominations for peerages). Such loans have been reported in party accounts though the annual accounts are not yet published for the period covering the 2005 general election.
David Cameron's proposals are:
Ban on all loans unless from financial institutions on fully commercial terms £50,000 cap on donations
Tax relief on donations up to £3,000
State funding of £1.20 per vote won at general elections for parties with MPs, plus annual payment equal to 60p per vote New commission to handle honours
General election party funds limited to £15 m
These proposals would also reduce the number of MPs from 650 to fewer than 600.
David Cameron
"We've got to stop this perception that parties can somehow be bought by big donations either from very rich people, or trade unions, or businesses."
The Conservative Party admitted that it has engaged in similar borrowing (but did not reveal any links to nominations for peerages). Such loans have been reported in party accounts though the annual accounts are not yet published for the period covering the 2005 general election.
David Cameron's proposals are:
Ban on all loans unless from financial institutions on fully commercial terms £50,000 cap on donations
Tax relief on donations up to £3,000
State funding of £1.20 per vote won at general elections for parties with MPs, plus annual payment equal to 60p per vote New commission to handle honours
General election party funds limited to £15 m
These proposals would also reduce the number of MPs from 650 to fewer than 600.
Yes, I knew about this when it happened. We Remainers did warn time and time again before the vote about the scope and scale of Brexit damage, but the fishermen and car manufacturing workers preferred to listen to the self seeking, unthinking, incompetent Boris Johnson.
I know exactly what I think about this news OG:
GOOD. What is happening now serves them right.
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Courtesy of New York Times
" Mr. Johnson (whose reputation for not just surviving career-ending controversies but thriving on them has earned him nicknames like “Teflon Johnson,” “Houdini” and, less flatteringly, “the greased piglet”)
Now probably the nickname that will stick
This amusing quote too
"Message just now from handler about Boris Johnson's closing G7 news conference as summit host: "Unfortunately the UK does not accept journalists from foreign outlets" Global Britain. Right. "
" Mr. Johnson (whose reputation for not just surviving career-ending controversies but thriving on them has earned him nicknames like “Teflon Johnson,” “Houdini” and, less flatteringly, “the greased piglet”)
Now probably the nickname that will stick
This amusing quote too
"Message just now from handler about Boris Johnson's closing G7 news conference as summit host: "Unfortunately the UK does not accept journalists from foreign outlets" Global Britain. Right. "
Are they accepted from Northern Ireland?Courtesy of New York Times
" Mr. Johnson (whose reputation for not just surviving career-ending controversies but thriving on them has earned him nicknames like “Teflon Johnson,” “Houdini” and, less flatteringly, “the greased piglet”)
Now probably the nickname that will stick
This amusing quote too
"Message just now from handler about Boris Johnson's closing G7 news conference as summit host: "Unfortunately the UK does not accept journalists from foreign outlets" Global Britain. Right. "
And doesn't "greased piglet" quite well describe sausages?
They fail at every blade of grass - and trip themselves up:
A visit to a beautiful open-air clifftop theatre in Cornwall by partners of the G7 leaders ended in embarrassment for the UK government after the culture secretary wrongly claimed it had received emergency funding during the Covid crisis.
Following the hugely successful visit to the Minack theatre, perched dizzyingly above the Atlantic, the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, tweeted that he was delighted that Jill Biden and Carrie Johnson had visited the “stunning” theatre.
But he added: “This unique venue was one of more than 650 theatres helped through Covid with support from the £2bn culture recovery fund, ensuring that it can entertain visitors for years to come.”
A visit to a beautiful open-air clifftop theatre in Cornwall by partners of the G7 leaders ended in embarrassment for the UK government after the culture secretary wrongly claimed it had received emergency funding during the Covid crisis.
Following the hugely successful visit to the Minack theatre, perched dizzyingly above the Atlantic, the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, tweeted that he was delighted that Jill Biden and Carrie Johnson had visited the “stunning” theatre.
But he added: “This unique venue was one of more than 650 theatres helped through Covid with support from the £2bn culture recovery fund, ensuring that it can entertain visitors for years to come.”
If only
Pity about the state of the tide
An Artillery Tank???
Pity about the state of the tide
An Artillery Tank???
From today's Irish Times ....
It has become fashionable to refer to the European Union as a “bloc”, a term which is inappropriate except perhaps when referring to the EU specifically as a “trading bloc”. This increasingly widespread misnomer could, over time, impact negatively on how the EU is perceived by the public.
For some time, bloc has been used by the US media to refer to the EU. This reflects a somewhat vague understanding outside Europe of the nature of the union and a slightly clumsy vocabulary to describe its complex workings.
However, it is only since Brexit that the term has become common parlance closer to home. The rapid spread of its usage seems to have originated in the British media to describe, in a deliberately distancing way, the voluntary grouping of diverse independent countries to which the United Kingdom had belonged for half a century.
The word bloc to describe the EU is also now frequently used in the Irish media, no doubt unthinkingly rather than in any calculated way. However, we should be conscious that the practice is becoming widespread, aware of the Brexit-driven psychology behind it and concerned that a particular worldview risks seeping into our own way of thinking.
Bloc carries five misleading connotations: First, it echoes – even if not always intentionally – the terminology used to describe the former Soviet bloc to which several Brexit supporters ludicrously compared the European Union during the 2016 referendum.
Second, it consequently carries an undercurrent of Cold War vocabulary with perhaps the hint of a military flavour. It is the language of confrontation in Europe, which in turn reflects the unnecessarily hard form of Brexit enthusiastically embraced by British prime minister Boris Johnson’s government. It is not appropriate language for friendly engagement with long-standing neighbours and friends.
Third, it conveys the sense of something that is monolithic rather than the reality of 27 independent democracies which freely share sovereignty in agreed areas and which, on a daily basis, vigorously assert their national interests and perspectives in those areas. Indeed, it is ironic that headlines about the so-called “EU bloc” are invariably followed by stories about divisions and unresolved differences between the individual member states. Referring to the 27 as a bloc tends to strip each state of its individuality and to obscure the reality that each one is, of course, every bit as free, distinctive and sovereign as the UK.
Fourth, the term implies an inward-looking, insular organisation rather than the reality of a Europe open to the world, one that has embraced an extraordinary series of historic enlargements, even at some expense to its own coherence; that is a champion of regional and world trade, and that has been the world’s most important consistent supporter of multilateralism and the co-operative inter-dependence of nations.
Finally, and most importantly, bloc displaces the term “union” which has more positive and appropriate vibes with its implicit connotations of inclusivity, shared values and mutual respect.
To those who might argue that the word bloc simply allows for a certain variety in our vocabulary, I would say that we never needed the word before. As one of many who have spent careers writing briefs, speeches and articles about Europe, I never found the need for any term other than “the European Union”, “the union”, “the EU” or, in the appropriate context, simply “Europe”.
To those who would make the point that language evolves, I would suggest that, while that may be true, we should not always be mere bystanders in the evolution of the words we use. This is one instance in which we should be sensitive to how our choice of words can shape our way of thinking and our public discourse.
To those who might ask what Ireland can do about it, I would reply first that at least we can choose the words we use in our own domestic discourse. However, I would add that, as the remaining English-speaking EU member state, our public representatives, journalists and commentators can contribute to restoring more widely the vocabulary that has served the European Union well.
A recent article in a British newspaper, referring to the increasing number of people in Northern Ireland who identify as neither nationalist nor unionist, argued that “this bloc” could swing an Irish unity referendum. The fact that non-aligned voters in Northern Ireland, the very antithesis of a bloc, a “non-bloc” as it were, could casually be referred to as a bloc is a reminder that the term is also now being used, misleadingly, in a wider context.
To some this article may seem to be a great palaver about a single word. But as the poet George Herbert observed: “Good words are worth much and cost little.”
Bobby McDonagh is a former ambassador to London, Brussels and Rome
It has become fashionable to refer to the European Union as a “bloc”, a term which is inappropriate except perhaps when referring to the EU specifically as a “trading bloc”. This increasingly widespread misnomer could, over time, impact negatively on how the EU is perceived by the public.
For some time, bloc has been used by the US media to refer to the EU. This reflects a somewhat vague understanding outside Europe of the nature of the union and a slightly clumsy vocabulary to describe its complex workings.
However, it is only since Brexit that the term has become common parlance closer to home. The rapid spread of its usage seems to have originated in the British media to describe, in a deliberately distancing way, the voluntary grouping of diverse independent countries to which the United Kingdom had belonged for half a century.
The word bloc to describe the EU is also now frequently used in the Irish media, no doubt unthinkingly rather than in any calculated way. However, we should be conscious that the practice is becoming widespread, aware of the Brexit-driven psychology behind it and concerned that a particular worldview risks seeping into our own way of thinking.
Bloc carries five misleading connotations: First, it echoes – even if not always intentionally – the terminology used to describe the former Soviet bloc to which several Brexit supporters ludicrously compared the European Union during the 2016 referendum.
Second, it consequently carries an undercurrent of Cold War vocabulary with perhaps the hint of a military flavour. It is the language of confrontation in Europe, which in turn reflects the unnecessarily hard form of Brexit enthusiastically embraced by British prime minister Boris Johnson’s government. It is not appropriate language for friendly engagement with long-standing neighbours and friends.
Third, it conveys the sense of something that is monolithic rather than the reality of 27 independent democracies which freely share sovereignty in agreed areas and which, on a daily basis, vigorously assert their national interests and perspectives in those areas. Indeed, it is ironic that headlines about the so-called “EU bloc” are invariably followed by stories about divisions and unresolved differences between the individual member states. Referring to the 27 as a bloc tends to strip each state of its individuality and to obscure the reality that each one is, of course, every bit as free, distinctive and sovereign as the UK.
Fourth, the term implies an inward-looking, insular organisation rather than the reality of a Europe open to the world, one that has embraced an extraordinary series of historic enlargements, even at some expense to its own coherence; that is a champion of regional and world trade, and that has been the world’s most important consistent supporter of multilateralism and the co-operative inter-dependence of nations.
Finally, and most importantly, bloc displaces the term “union” which has more positive and appropriate vibes with its implicit connotations of inclusivity, shared values and mutual respect.
To those who might argue that the word bloc simply allows for a certain variety in our vocabulary, I would say that we never needed the word before. As one of many who have spent careers writing briefs, speeches and articles about Europe, I never found the need for any term other than “the European Union”, “the union”, “the EU” or, in the appropriate context, simply “Europe”.
To those who would make the point that language evolves, I would suggest that, while that may be true, we should not always be mere bystanders in the evolution of the words we use. This is one instance in which we should be sensitive to how our choice of words can shape our way of thinking and our public discourse.
To those who might ask what Ireland can do about it, I would reply first that at least we can choose the words we use in our own domestic discourse. However, I would add that, as the remaining English-speaking EU member state, our public representatives, journalists and commentators can contribute to restoring more widely the vocabulary that has served the European Union well.
A recent article in a British newspaper, referring to the increasing number of people in Northern Ireland who identify as neither nationalist nor unionist, argued that “this bloc” could swing an Irish unity referendum. The fact that non-aligned voters in Northern Ireland, the very antithesis of a bloc, a “non-bloc” as it were, could casually be referred to as a bloc is a reminder that the term is also now being used, misleadingly, in a wider context.
To some this article may seem to be a great palaver about a single word. But as the poet George Herbert observed: “Good words are worth much and cost little.”
Bobby McDonagh is a former ambassador to London, Brussels and Rome
the NI protocol has an inherent fault: the chosen Irish Sea border is totally within UK territory. The job of implementing and policing is subcontracted to one Boris Johnson who has the least interest in defending it.
We should negotiate with the EU a quota system: how much British meat, butter, grain etc should be allowed into NI every year without rigorous checks.
We should negotiate with the EU a quota system: how much British meat, butter, grain etc should be allowed into NI every year without rigorous checks.
[QUOTE="Woosh, post: 618635, member: 8175"
We should negotiate with the EU a quota system: how much British meat, butter, grain etc should be allowed into NI every year without rigorous checks.
[/QUOTE]
I can't imagine the DUP would be delighted with such an EU permission system.
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We should negotiate with the EU a quota system: how much British meat, butter, grain etc should be allowed into NI every year without rigorous checks.
[/QUOTE]
I can't imagine the DUP would be delighted with such an EU permission system.
.
But it isn't the amounts that seem to matter - rather things like the phyto-sanitary arrangements.
One infected seed potato could have a major impact. Even if it is unlikely, lack of arrangements is not a good place to start from.
I find it difficult to believe, even now, that someone could agree the NI terms yet appear to completely fail to understand them.
As anticipated when you play the greased piglet's numbers game with vaccinations
To gain political advantage with those people easily impressed
To gain political advantage with those people easily impressed
Which leads you straight back to that paragraph in the original withdrawal agreement where this government mentioned it was likely to do whatever it wanted to.
I don't think that the issue is UK does not understand the implications of the NI protocol. It's a matter of practical considerations. The protocol hurts specifically the people of Northern Ireland for years and years to come until a new protocol is agreed. No UK government is going to do that voluntarily. The sooner a new protocol is agreed, the better.
Or we could sit it out for a decade to let the hurt continue for the people of Northern Ireland and the hurt of Brexit build up for the UK, making the latter less attractive. A process that can lead to the eventual inevitable, the re-unification of Ireland.
That would solve all the problems.
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I'm sorry Woosh, but the Westminster Cabal didn't giver a damn about it. It was a transactional action, to give enough cover to con the UK Electorate into going along with a Deal. The DUP were short changed and sidelined, so their opposition in Westminster was irrelevant.
Now the actuality is that the NI Protocol is potentially great for NI giving them access to Both the EU and UK , but the DUP are so ideologically bound up with a fictional British equivalence that they cannot see the advantages. Moreover they are determined to thwart its success.
Back in last December, BJ was in a tight corner, he needs to do a deal asap so he had to accept the NI protocol with 6 month grace period.
As far as I can see, it's up to the EU to start their grievance claim and as it subcontracted the policing of the sea border to the UK, I can't see how the EU is going to win anything out of this.
I am pretty sure the EU will accept to extend the grace period to the end of the year for some brownie points.
It costs them nothing anyway.