Brexit, for once some facts.

[oldtom]

The esteemed pillock parliamentarian, David Davis, leading the British contingent out of their depth against the EU's finest, has stated to the independent loyal members of the tory media wing fourth estate that the UK has made 'decisive steps forward' in the talks in Brussels.

I guess it all must be very hush-hush if he cannot even describe such progress with the people who employ him, pay his wages and expenses.

Curiously, the other side doesn't share his bullishness!

Tom

 

[oldgroaner]

Do y eyes deceive me? this on the front of the Daily Telegraph this morning
"
It's time to admit it's the Tories who are stuck in the past, not Jeremy Corbyn"

Are they allowed to say that? what an irony that Brexit's only hope is turning out to be a Labour Party that has, as usual got dire trouble with it's Sat Nav.

Corbyn's policies in theory have many good points, but are simply acting as life support to a basket case idea.
Had they been applied at the time Thatcher came to power, we might not be in the situation we are now,

Too little too late.

 

[OxygenJames]

A bit more anti-EU stuff to balance out the general love for a second vote that seems to be mainstream in this thread:

"High-tech breakthroughs are increasingly focused in North East America (around Harvard), West Coast America (around Stanford), and coastal China (e.g Shenzhen). When the UK leaves the EU, the EU will have zero universities in the global top 20. EU politicians are much more interested in vindictive legal action against Silicon Valley giants than asking themselves why Europe cannot match America or China. On issues such as CRISPR and genetic engineering the EU is regulating itself out of the competition and many businesspeople are unaware that this will get much worse once the ECJ starts using the Charter of Fundamental Rights to seize control of such regulation for itself, which will mean not just more anti-science regulation but also damaging uncertainty as scientists and companies face the ECJ suddenly pulling a human rights ‘top trump’ out of the deck whenever they fancy (one of the many arguments Vote Leavemade during the referendum that we could not get the media to report, partly because of persistent confusion between the COFR and the ECHR). Organisations like YCombinator provide a welcoming environment for talented and dynamic young Europeans in California while the EU’s regulatory structure is dominated by massive incumbent multinationals like Goldman Sachs that use the Single Market to crush startup competitors."

Dominic Cummings (Sept 29th 2017).

 

[OxygenJames]

A bit more for those with the stomach for it:

"We are escaping the Single Market / ECJ / Charter of Fundamental Rights quagmire that will deepen the EU’s stagnation (despite Whitehall’s best efforts to scupper the referendum). The UK should now be thinking about how we provide the most dynamic environment in Europe for scientists and entrepreneurs. After 50 years of wasting time in dusty meeting rooms failing to ‘influence’ the EU to ditch its Monnet-Delors plan, we could start building things with real value and thereby acquire real, rather than the Foreign Office’s chimerical, influence. Let Macron et al continue with the same antiquated rhetoric: we know what will happen, we’ve seen it since all the pro-euro forces in the UK babbled about the ‘Lisbon Agenda’ in 2000 — rhetoric about ‘reform’ always turns into just more centralisation in Brussels institutions, it does not produce dynamic forces that create breakthroughs and real value. Economic, technological, and political power will continue to shift away from an EU that cannot and will not adapt to the forces changing the world: its legal model of Single Market plus ECJ make fast adaptation impossible. We will soon be out of Monnet’s house and Whitehall’s comfortable delusions (‘special relationship’, ‘punching above our weight’) will fade. Contra the EU’s logic, in a world increasingly defined by information and computation the winning asset is not size — it is institutional adaptability.

Those on the pro-EU side who disagree with this analysis have to face a fact: people like Mandelson, Adair Turner, the FT, and the Economist have been repeatedly wrong in their predictions for 20 years about ‘EU reform’, and people like me who have made the same arguments for 20 years, and called bullshit on ‘EU reform’, have been repeatedly vindicated by actual EU Treaties, growth rates, unemployment trends, euro crises and so on. (The Commission itself doesn’t even produce fake reports showing big gains from the Single Market, the gains it claims are relatively trivial even if you believe them.) What is happening in the EU now to suggest to reasonable observers that this will change over the next 20 years? Every sign from Juncker to Macron is that yet again Brussels will double down on Monnet’s mid-20th Century vision and the entire institutional weight of the Commission and legal system exerts an inescapable gravitational pull that way."

 

[OxygenJames]

Tom you might like this from him:

"One of the consequences of these developments is that aircraft carriers are no longer safe from cheap missiles. I started making these arguments in 2004 when it was already clear that the UK Ministry of Defence carrier project was a disaster. Since then it has been a multi-billion pound case study in Whitehall incompetence, the MoD’s appalling ‘planning’ system and corrupt procurement, and Westminster’s systemic inability to think about complex long-term issues. Talking to someone at the MoD last year they said that in NATO wargames the UK carriers immediately bug out for the edge of the game to avoid being sunk. Of course they do. Carriers cannot be deployed against top tier forces because of the vast and increasing asymmetry between their cost and vulnerability to cheap sinking. Soon they will not be deployable even against Third World forces because of the combination of cheap cruise missiles and exponential price collapse and performance improvement of guidance systems (piggybacking the commercial drone industry). Soon an intelligent terrorist with a cruise missile and some off-the-shelf kit will be able to sink a carrier using their iPhone: see this blog for details. The MoD has lied and bluffed about all this for 20 years, this Government will continue the trend, and the appalling BAE will continue to scam billions from taxpayers unbothered by MPs."

 

[KTM Bike Industries UK]

hmmm...

http://www.fwi.co.uk/news/government-withholds-brexit-food-price-report.htm

I wonder why?

"Defra is under fire after choosing to withhold a report on the food prices changes it expects as a result of the UK leaving the European Union. It follows a freedom of information request by the union Unite, which represents food, drink and agriculture workers. Unite asked Defra to publish details of any assessment or estimate made of the increase in food prices in the run-up to Brexit and the first five years afterwards."

 

[flecc]

EU politicians are much more interested in vindictive legal action against Silicon Valley giants than asking themselves why Europe cannot match America or China. On issues such as CRISPR and genetic engineering the EU is regulating itself out of the competition and many businesspeople are unaware that this will get much worse once the ECJ starts using the Charter of Fundamental Rights to seize control of such regulation for itself, which will mean not just more anti-science regulation but also damaging uncertainty as scientists and companies face the ECJ suddenly pulling a human rights ‘top trump’ out of the deck whenever they fancy

Strange then that the USA so often wants to participate in European particle physics research. Strange then that the USA couldn't get either of their Tokamaks to work but Europe has no such problems. Strange then that both their attempts to create Skylab space stations failed miserably. Strange then that the USA couldn't get swing-wing technology to work and it fell to the French to solve the problems. Strange then that Europe has had to create it's own Galileo GPS system to get far better resolution, against huge opposition from the USA who tried everything to stop it. Strange then that the USA still uses antiquated multi-stage filtration to refine uranium while France and Britain use far more efficient centrifuges.

And I haven't even got round to detailing their miserable inability to create a water recycling system for the International Space Station after two years and $400 millions spent and the Space Shuttle fiasco.

The US scientific superiority you tout isn't quite so brilliant, is it?
.

 

[Danidl]

Strange then that the USA so often wants to participate in European particle physics research. Strange then that the USA couldn't get either of their Tokamaks to work but Europe has no such problems. Strange then that both their attempts to create Skylab space stations failed miserably. Strange then that the USA couldn't get swing-wing technology to work and it fell to the French to solve the problems. Strange then that Europe has had to create it's own Galileo GPS system to get far better resolution, against huge opposition from the USA who tried everything to stop it. Strange then that the USA still uses antiquated multi-stage filtration to refine uranium while France and Britain use far more efficient centrifuges.

And I haven't even got round to detailing their miserable inability to create a water recycling system for the International Space Station after two years and $400 millions spent and the Space Shuttle fiasco.

The US scientific superiority you tout isn't quite so brilliant, is it?
.

How much of the US research activities are based on immigrant students and post docs?.what the Americans are pretty good at is commercial exploitation.
But look at where they are deficient.... Their road system is a disgrace. The roads around New York are a patchwork of repairs. Their long distance electric power grid is a hodgepodge . Their disaster recovery processes leave a lot to be desired . I cannot talk about their railways and their regional airports seem to be good.

 

[oldtom]

As 'Brexit' approaches, let's briefly examine where we are at:

Apparently, the EU may be suggesting/have already suggested that there should be no internal Irish border for EU purposes and all ports and airports connecting with GB should form that secure border. That should be fun trying to police that!

In other news, expect increased air prices before much longer as difficulties begin to take their toll on Ryanair operations:



Elsewhere, it seems action to rein-in blatant right-wing bias on the part of BBC employees has failed miserably.........



A previously unpublished copy of a Ladybird book on the subject of evil and how to identify it has been unearthed by 'Antiques Roadshow' researchers preparing material for a show to be aired later this season:



Meanwhile, in America, this internet vlogger has pontificated once again about what democracy really means......



I can't fault his logic!

Tom

 

[flecc]

I cannot talk about their railways

Amtrak, their passenger rail service went into huge decline from the mid 1950s, passengers and rail mileages more than halving. The railtracks deteriorated to a dangerous degree, with severe speed restrictions commonplace, one could often watch the whole track move up and down as trains passed over, sometimes with voids beneath. The same lack of maintenenance and investment affected stations too. To try to tackle the problems they've closed many lines and stations, substantiually reducing the overall service.

Of course there are many causes, not least the very frequent internal flight services between US cities and large towns and the dominance of the car there, but they don't have a passenger rail service to be in the least proud of.
.

 

[PeterL]

But look at where they are deficient.... Their road system is a disgrace. The roads around New York are a patchwork of repairs. .

It's a big place and to generalise like that is a little unfair. If you want to see a really good and innovation road network go to San Antonio sometime - it really is amazing, as indeed is their River Walk. The Alamo is a bit naff though and about as factual as Braveheart, the film, is.

 

[PeterL]

Amtrak, their passenger rail service went into huge decline from the mid 1950s, passengers and rail mileages more than halving. The railtracks deteriorated to a dangerous degree, with severe speed restrictions commonplace, one could often watch the whole track move up and down as trains passed over, sometimes with voids beneath. The same lack of maintenenance and investment affected stations too. To try to tackle the problems they've closed many lines and stations, substantiually reducing the overall service.

Of course there are many causes, not least the very frequent internal flight services between US cities and large towns and the dominance of the car there, but they don't have a passenger rail service to be in the least proud of.
.

They don't need one which is the underlying reason, or at least not on the scale we do. Having said that the services out of the major cities, mainly freight are generally very good in my experience.

 

[Danidl]

It's a big place and to generalise like that is a little unfair. If you want to see a really good and innovation road network go to San Antonio sometime - it really is amazing, as indeed is their River Walk. The Alamo is a bit naff though and about as factual as Braveheart, the film, is.

That's fair comment, and my knowledge is pretty sketchy, but it appears to me that the two places I have visited New York and San Francisco , both had defects in their road networks, with New York very poor. The roads from Manhattan to the JFK airport in particular highly congested, incapable of the traffic and heavily repaired. Basically lack of investment. The roads around Mestre in Italy orders of magnitude better.

 

[anotherkiwi]

That's fair comment, and my knowledge is pretty sketchy, but it appears to me that the two places I have visited New York and San Francisco , both had defects in their road networks, with New York very poor. The roads from Manhattan to the JFK airport in particular highly congested, incapable of the traffic and heavily repaired. Basically lack of investment. The roads around Mestre in Italy orders of magnitude better.

You should try Boston one day! That said the country roads were pretty good including the Vermont gravel ones, which were much better than the NZ gravel roads.

 

[oldgroaner]

From the Guardian
More fun from the "Next leader of the Tory Party" that skilled Diplomat Boris
in the Guardian
"
Boris Johnson caught on camera reciting Kipling in Myanmar temple
Foreign secretary’s impromptu recital of colonial-era poem was so embarrassing the UK ambassador was forced to stop him
Boris Johnson was inside the Shwedagon Pagoda, the most sacred Buddhist site in the capital Yangon, when he started uttering the opening verse to The Road to Mandalay, including the line: “The temple bells they say/ Come you back you English soldier.
Johnson’s impromptu recital was so embarrassing that the UK ambassador to Myanmar, Andrew Patrick, was forced to stop him. The incident was captured by a film crew for Channel 4 and will form part of a documentary to be broadcast on Sunday about the fitness of the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip to become prime minister.

The previously unbroadcast footage shows the diplomat managing to halt Johnson before he could get to the line about a “Bloomin’ idol made o’ mud/ Wot they called the Great Gawd Budd” – a reference to the Buddha."

Sorry World..................
postscript
"Later in the documentary, titled Blond Ambition, Jacob Rees-Mogg describes Johnson as “a colossus on the political stage”

He missed out the words Blithering idiot

 

[Woosh]

He missed out the words Blithering idiot

if BJ and JRM are the best the hard brexiters can put up, then there is hope that brexit will work.

 

[oldtom]

The buffoon, Johnson, has been up to his stupid antics again in a foreign land. I believe this dunce of the first order should be sacked from his post as Foreign Secretary as unfit for purpose. He should also be removed from the cabinet and returned to the back benches.

This creature is an embarrassment to the UK and his 'Oh, I'm just a silly old buffer but I have the country at heart' act is only partly true; his self-promotion is his greatest motivation - the people of the UK and indeed the people of other lands merit no consideration at all in his little bubble.

boris-johnson-caught-on-camera-reciting-kipling-in-myanmar-temple

Tom

 

[oldtom]

As if Johnson's unwanted insulting behaviour in a Buddhist temple weren't enough, he then pontificates about the long overdue mooted pay rise for public sector workers, which, in his nasty mind, should be paid for by the workforce themselves through laying off workers.

Never trust a tory!

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/sep/30/pay-for-public-sector-pay-rise-by-cutting-staff-numbers-says-johnson

Tom

 

[oldgroaner]

As if Johnson's unwanted insulting behaviour in a Buddhist temple weren't enough, he then pontificates about the long overdue mooted pay rise for public sector workers, which, in his nasty mind, should be paid for by the workforce themselves through laying off workers.

Never trust a tory!

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/sep/30/pay-for-public-sector-pay-rise-by-cutting-staff-numbers-says-johnson

Tom

Never in the history of British politics has one man strived so assiduously to get the sack.
Someone please grant him his dearest wish.

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

 

[Woosh]

Never in the history of British politics has one man strived so assiduously to get the sack.
Someone please grant him his dearest wish.

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

TM must be muttering to herself 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer'.
She has nothing to fear from BJ and JRM as long as they don't say something doable.