BREXIT: the general forum (Second Thread)

[Lumpy Talbot]

I'll swerve the bicycle of relevance velocipedally back towards Brexit in a way, but one thing I have been encouraged and impressed by is the way our political representatives have handled themselves throughout on the international stage with the eyes of the political world on them.

This is a new thing, make no mistake. For a famously sociable and gregarious people we have been remarkably silent as a people on the international stage and predictable if anything. I don't think the confidence was there, previously and I have heard from people in the know that Irish representatives were remarkably quiet and seemed to make much more noise about their influence levels at home than they did abroad.

There's a visible and welcome change there. This approach shown during the Brexit issue is much more what I'd like to see. It plays to our absolute national strengths. We should be diplomatic experts with our culture, in fairness. We don't have many enemies. Bit more confidence and bending of the natural ingenuity to steering the ship in international waters is a good thing.

We have the ability to be honest brokers between other nations as we aren't involved in military alliances and are comfortably neutral in most of the world's war zones. We have a remarkable and known facility with dialogue, we speak the world's language used the most at international conferences in academia and many professions including politics. We have a deal of goodwill as fuel. We could develop these things as a national asset and advantage. It could be a much more powerful 'weapon' for us than any missile system if nurtured.

The pen is still mightier than the sword and we mastered the pen long ago.

 

[Sync]

A senior Labour politician changed the lyrics of the Beatles song “Hey Jude” to “Hey Jews” while his MP colleague repeatedly used the word “poof” during a late-night bus journey last year, BuzzFeed News can reveal.
Dan Carden, who is a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn and serves in his shadow cabinet as the shadow international development secretary, sang the adapted version of the song while on a raucous coach trip back from Cheltenham festival. At the time he was a junior shadow minister.

When the chorus reached the word “Jude”, Carden chanted at the top of his voice: “Jews, Jews, Jews”.

Conor McGinn, a former Labour whip who is now reportedly considering standing for the party’s deputy leadership after Tom Watson quit this week, repeatedly branded another colleague a “poof”.
The incident happened on the evening of Thursday March 15 2018. This reporter was sitting behind Carden and McGinn on a private bus back to London from Cheltenham races. Also present were other Labour MPs as well as MPs from other parties.

McGinn was sitting next to another male Labour colleague, who was tired from the day’s events and spent much of the coach journey asleep.
Several times during the journey, McGinn’s colleague slumped onto him across their seats. McGinn responded by loudly telling his friend to get off him, calling him a “poof”. McGinn repeatedly used the word to describe his colleague throughout the journey.

When approached for comment neither MP denied the claim.

 

[Sync]

Tory candidate's been put under review.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1193093095233138688

The key messaging this week seems to be that Labour and the Tories are just riddled with assholes.

Meanwhile the review of Islamaphobia promised by all the Tory candidates is no more. Hancock (Who has hilariously torpedoed every position he took during the campaign) defends this by saying Warsi isn't balanced. She is not happy.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1193097665283801088

 

[Sync]

She self referred herself for investigation and was cleared of that. Best to remove any defamatory claims against her.

 

[blinding]

Tory peer Baroness Warsi faces police inquiry over expenses

Baroness Warsi was is facing calls for a police investigation into her parliamentary expenses after she claimed up to £2,000 for staying rent-free in the home of a Tory party donor.

www.telegraph.co.uk

People should make their own mind up .

 

[Sync]

No they should refer to the fact that she was Found not to have cheated inthe subsequent investigation and not defame her.

 

[blinding]

No they should refer to the fact that she was Found not to have cheated inthe subsequent investigation and not defame her.

Politicians clear Politician of Expenses Fiddling ~ Shocker ~

 

[silverharp]

whats in the water in the english Labour party

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1193113687562825728

 

[galteeman]

I'd look at it in another way. There have been in the past considerable cultural exchange between Edinburgh and Dublin, most notably in the field of surgical and general medical training.

I'm not sure a thriving independent Scotland would be such an instant competitor for us. We both rely on distinct cultural context for our respective tourist industries. Scotland has gone great guns I understand in interesting areas such as the exporting of salmon to China which I believe is a roaring trade. The emerging Chinese middle class spenders on luxury goods like a pink fish, culturally its colour is a propitious one in much of Chinese culture. We could study that and make use of what the Scots have learned. We have all the ingredients for that trade too.

It would pay both Scotland and Ireland to have amicable relations, and I don't think that would present either country with much in the way of a challenge.

Don't they have to put food colouring into the farm salmon diet to make them turn pink otherwise they turn out grey?
To my shock I found out that they also put colouring into top Irish whiskey brands to make sure they all have uniform colour after they come out of different barrels.

When approached for comment neither MP denied the claim.

That hey Jews thing sounds harmless really, just a bit of drunken tomfoolery. To use the word Jews like that in a joke version of a Beetles song is hardly hate speech.

 

[galteeman]

I was there for a weekend in the spring, primarily for a rugby match. I did though, do one of the city bus tours and in the narrative, the underlying theme of lads getting titles from their royal majesties was pervasive. They seemed so honoured at these baubles too, that it would be hard for me to see them separate and certainly easier to understand why they voted remain. At the castle, it was more of the same and much as you found. I didn’t notice the tap water quality I have to admit, nor were there any notices promoting its excellence. A pity that, because it is a great exception to the rule now.

I thought the buildings generally to be in need of a bit of sand blasting. Very black and austere, perhaps in keeping with the Calvinist ethic. If it was Vienna, another city with world class drinking water, as soon as the blackness reached a certain level, the scaffolds would go up and they’d be cleaned in no time.

Overall though, a pretty positive experience.

yeah it's well worth a visit.
A couple of things I was interested in seeing:
Manus O'Cahan and Thomas Laghtnan were hanged from the wall of Edinburgh Castle and Montrose's head was stuck on a spike on top of St. Giles Cathedral.
The movie of Kidnapped with Michael Cane shows the Highland prisoners from Culloden being kept in chains in the castle.

 

[Sync]

2 days in and this is just the worst election ever.

Patrick Heneghan, CEO of People's Vote, has stepped down pending investigation into sexual harassment claims

He's accused of propositioning female staff and inviting them to his flat to take cocaine

 

[blinding]

2 days in and this is just the worst election ever.

I thought that was a Run of the Mill Evening for the Upper Middle Class and the Upper Class .

Sounds like going back to Michael Gove's Place a few years ago !

 

[Betson]

When approached for comment neither MP denied the claim.

Carden saying the storey is a compete fabrication.

Journalists have had it for a while and have not been able to corroborate it.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1193148269750341634

 

[Wasmanormouse]

I'll swerve the bicycle of relevance velocipedally back towards Brexit in a way, but one thing I have been encouraged and impressed by is the way our political representatives have handled themselves throughout on the international stage with the eyes of the political world on them.

This is a new thing, make no mistake. For a famously sociable and gregarious people we have been remarkably silent as a people on the international stage and predictable if anything. I don't think the confidence was there, previously and I have heard from people in the know that Irish representatives were remarkably quiet and seemed to make much more noise about their influence levels at home than they did abroad.

There's a visible and welcome change there. This approach shown during the Brexit issue is much more what I'd like to see. It plays to our absolute national strengths. We should be diplomatic experts with our culture, in fairness. We don't have many enemies. Bit more confidence and bending of the natural ingenuity to steering the ship in international waters is a good thing.

We have the ability to be honest brokers between other nations as we aren't involved in military alliances and are comfortably neutral in most of the world's war zones. We have a remarkable and known facility with dialogue, we speak the world's language used the most at international conferences in academia and many professions including politics. We have a deal of goodwill as fuel. We could develop these things as a national asset and advantage. It could be a much more powerful 'weapon' for us than any missile system if nurtured.

The pen is still mightier than the sword and we mastered the pen long ago.

It was the application of some of those traits by our diplomatic team that did much of the prep work for what we saw in the public domain from the politicians. I’d say that much of what you suggest is already in gestation if not even much farther advanced.
The other side of the coin - equation would be stretching things a bit - had a bunch of people who were so incoherent, divided, lacking in detail and so much else, that our unity of purpose was always going to end up in the better position. When you stir the personalities of the individuals into the mix, the world can see how oil and water will never mix.
I’d say that there is a fair bit of national pride at the performances under pressure of Varadaker, Coveny and McEntee at the front of house end of things. Rightly so I would think. That there is not more is probably down to another national trait we’d do well to shed, begrudgery.

 

[shiel]

2 days in and this is just the worst election ever.

Given the motivation for holding the election I am pessimistic about the results and their consequences.

But hopefully democracy will work better than my pessimism allows.

 

[cranberry1]

Ian Byrne hanging on. Gone by the end of the weekend though.


It’s genuinely surprising that either no screening took place or that Labour made a conscious decision that it was fine to run candidates who will celebrate when Tony Blair dies, called for a final Solution for Israel and called for its destruction.

Same thing for the Tory Norwich candidate. Did they REALLY think the rape stuff wouldn’t come out? It was in the news. He did it live on air.

It amazes me how far behind the UK and Ireland are compared to the USA as far as vetting people for work when it comes to sensitive positions take for example I have a friend who is in law enforcement and when he took all his tests and interviews his friends and past employers where contacted and his social media was looked at by his future employers and his credit score was also considered in the hiring process it really is an eye opener how far behind the times you really are , keep in mind this was over twenty years ago .

 

[Dearghoul]

His social media was checked over twenty years ago?

 

[cranberry1]

His social media was checked over twenty years ago?

How about there social media is still kept an eye on by the powers that be , and yes over twenty yers ago .

 

[petaljam]

What social media existed over 20 years ago?
Would employers have been aware of them?

 

[cranberry1]

What social media existed over 20 years ago?
Would employers have been aware of them?

Six degrees has been around since 1997 and was popular when it first came out .