Comments by "John Warner" (@johncrwarner) on "A Different Bias" channel.

  1. By doing Brexit we actually became what the Brexiteers pretended we were when we were in the EU. We moved from rule makers to rule takers.
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  2. Brexiteers said that Britain was a rule taker and lacked freedom The reality of Brexit is that we move from rule makers to rule takers The Brexiteers were wrong on that.
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  3. The “blank piece of paper“ case is the most dangerous to freedom. In Russia people have been arrested and prosecuted for holding up a blank piece of paper and that to me is a sign of an authoritarian regime which is frightened of dissent.
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  4. I remember a documentary in the 1970s about joining the EEC where a coach of British people went round the EEC One of the things was the camera equipment needing to go through customs taking several hours at each border. We have reverted to that.
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  5. I live in Germany and read a lot of English language books and DVDs. I used to use British providers as they were cheaper. Since January 2021 I have stopped using British providers and had to move to suppliers from Germany and other EU countries. I have received English language media from Germany naturally, but also Spain, France and the Netherlands. I am currently exploring Irish providers.
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  6. Anne Selzer the pollster is highly regarded in Iowa and only works on Iowa. Her previous polls have been highly indicative of final results on a very good percentage of occasions. But polls don't vote. people vote so they still need to get out there and VOTE
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  7. Brexit is like a large tanker at sea stopping and turning round are long slow processes longer than a single parliament. I am a retired English lanhuage teacher living in germany where I last worked. I like to buy English language books I used to get them from British suppliers but since the end of the transition period it has become problematic to the point of absurdity to use a small independent bookseller in Britain. So I don't. I use German importers and occasionally Irish ones. It is easier to import things from Canada than GB.
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  8. "The foghorn of ignorance" is indeed an excellent moniker for the former MEP for the South-East of England.
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  9. "Brexit" is a classic moan - like the guy in the pub who complains about everything - when asked what they want - it rare to get a coherent response - they seem to just want "brexit" like an infant "mewling and puking in the nurse's arms"
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  10. Brexit Britain reminds me of the power crisis last winter in Texas In the USA there are three power networks The Eastern States, the Western States and Texas Their crisis was by unusual weather conditions but Texas could not draw on anyone else's power cascading the problem leading to unnecessary deaths and a government that blamed a sector that didn't cause the problem. Eerily similar to Brexit Britain now.
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  11. Evidently the Air Purifier manufacturers haven't given to the Conservative Party recently.
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  12. That yesterday Switzerland joined the EU in its sanctions against Russia. This was amazing and still the British government isn't up to scratch.
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  13. As a British citizen who lives in the EU I read a lot of books but it is now easier to buy English language books from EU sources, American and Canadian sources than British sources especially small providers as they often act as if Britain is in the single market still and so I end up paying extra taxes on things that they can deal with if they understood the system. I now actively avoid British providers which is a shame.
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  14. My 90 year old mother was due for her second jab today but was phoned at the end of last week to say they have postponed the second jab for 12 weeks. So the February target will not be met for the most vulnerable.
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  15. Wonder what will happen when the English version of Michael Barnier's diary of the Brexit negotiations gets published in Britain. At present the French original is available I think the English version is due out in September
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  16. My ninety year old mother said she liked the messaging from Nicola Sturgeon - which she categorised as "stay home" when compared to the Westminster government which she described as bumbling and useless.
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  17. I feel sure that the current government will blame any price increases on Corona, Suez etc but NOT on Brexit "Brexit would have been brilliant if it weren't for that pesky _____" fill in the blank as appropriate.
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  18. The Tories have been running as the "opposition" for a while now. They don't actually seem to have any policies and the ones they have implemented have not worked
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  19. How quietly can the Home Office reverse the short term visa policy? Are they waiting for parliament to go into recess?
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  20. Last night on Heute the news programme on Germany's second channel they had a longish report on shortages in Brexit Britain cataloguing them over scenes of petrol queues
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  21. Not sure funding teaching numeracy skills is a good idea as if people can understand what the government are doing they might reject them.
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  22. I spent five minutes watching the lettuce last night after the chaos in the House of Commons just to check it was okay. I was Team Lettuce.
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  23. Muppet Christmas Carol is locked and about to be loaded LOL I am a Labour member but have voted LibDem and Green in the past.
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  24. Ursula van der Leyen is successor to Jean-Claude Junkers - president of the EU Commission.
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  25. And what the Brexiteers claimed was our status in the EU (as slaves to evil bureaucrats etc.) is what we got. Less control all round.
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  26. Hoping the Conservatives are on the lower end and the Lib Dems are on their higher end
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  27. The media sources for this story The Mail, The Sun and others makes me suspect it is a "plucky British soldiers rallying to the Motherland" story - with little practical help and lots of flag waving jingoism.
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  28. I too view myself as British not English even though I was born in Yorkshire my family have Welsh, Irish, Scots and English heritage and I do not want to see the dissolution of the union between Scotland and England. It would be sad but Brexit is, I would say, a "Little Englander" project - and that per force does not give balance to the union. So if I were Scottish - I would likely vote for independence in a new referendum though as a non-Scot I feel great sadness in losing Scotland.
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  29. The problem seems to be based on two versions of what a "red line" in negotiations represents. The British seem to view "red lines" as something to gamble with - like poker chips whereas the EU view "red lines" as positions it cannot take without major upheavals and major changes in policy.
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  30. Were the talks organised by Germany and France with the Ukraine and Russian Federation - a major diplomatic effort even reported in the UK - I thought it was interesting that neither the British (with the security risk in charge) or the impeached USA were anywhere to be seen - a major diplomatic effort with no anglophone player in it is a big shift in power.
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  31. My personal understanding for organisations I have been involved in: "If you have a plan, You can change the plan. If you don't have a plan, You are in a MESS" I suspect the current British government is in the latter situation.
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  32. Are the Tories using the scheme used in "The Producers" where lots of people are charmed into paying for a "turkey" that would flop and the producers just pocket the cash.
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  33. Doesn't the frog own 67% of Reform UK Ltd so he'd have to vote himself out of office LOL.
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  34. Grandstanding for effect in Europe and the UK - it has no real effect except to make the Brexit Party look incompetent.
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  35. Finland is also a member of the EU (since 1995). There are also Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania members since 2004 as well as Poland.
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  36. Two thoughts: 1) getting a high paid job and large influence in British society doesn't seem to correlate with intelligence or ability It more closely correlates with inherited wealth and who you know from school and university. 2) Probably the vast majority of the British population (well at least more than the 17 million who voted to leave!) can get behind being part of the single market and customs union After all these were driven by the Thatcher government in the 1980s.
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  37. Isn't it setting a precedent for Labour to use against the Tories in a future parliament?
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  38. Alexander B. de Pfeffel Johnson is a gift to Scottish independence cause the way "The Reverend" Ian Paisley was a gift to Irish Nationalism.
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  39. It is often said that generals usually fight the last war and the tories are still fighting like it is 2019 Others have moved on.
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  40. Sent my postal vote back from Germany over ten days ago so I hope it has made it.
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  41. If Alexander Boris de Pfiffel Johnson ever claims something as wonderful squirrel it away as the "Johnson x" as it will backfire on him often sooner rather than later.
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  42. I was reminded of a story told by a Hindu whose parents moved to Northern Ireland and he was stopped in the street by a gang of boys and was asked if he was a protestant and catholic. He said he was a Hindu and they then asked but are you a protestant Hindu or a catholic Hindu. The tribalism of this conflict is strong and is used to fuel hatred of the other inside the UK in our case.
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  43. When I was a teacher and that was well before the current austerity redistribution of wealth to the rich happened - we had kids where the family couldn't do the weekly washing so we had one of the learning assistants when the kid was doing sport to take their clothes and wash and dry them in the home economics department so the kid had some clean clothes to wear. Real poverty exists and has started to reach Victorian levels too.
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  44. I am fascinated to see who turns up for PMQs tomorrow.
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  45. We have a new game that children can play in the school yard - instead of "Simon says" we'll be playing "Trump says".
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  46. As a retired teacher of English as a foreign language in Germany The British Council was a great resource and support for English teaching providing resources, expertise, teacher training etc. It is a relatively cheap way to influence the world providing British English and orientating students towards Britain. I associate cuts to the British Council funding with the Tories and growing the sector with Labour so it is no surprise that this variant of Tory government are shrinking this sector.
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  47. The question is what happened in Argentina after Milei was elected and doing this to the largest economy in the world
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  48. Reminds me of the Major years when scandal after scandal broke. Though this time they are on speed!
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  49. Hilariously, when the rhetorical question about where did the Russian oligarchs leave their money, an advent for "visiting the United Kingdom" popped up.
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  50. Nor did the aides in the infamous picture Three EU officials all with wadges of paper and pens Davies and one aide with nothing and the second aide with a slim black item which could either be a smartphone or a small notebook The British side were woefully under prepared it seems and showed it to the world.
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  51. I think the slapping scene from the original Airplane! movie would be a good thing to do live.
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  52. Does this mean she cannot be ousted until the end of January 2026?
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  53. As a British citizen living in Germany I used the fact that I could while we were still in the EU swap my British driving licence for a German one I did this prior to Brexit so I have a German driving licence.
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  54. he'll do a Nadine Dorries who no showed for 12 months in Parliament and didn't do any surgeries either.
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  55.  @mesothelimoa341  I prefer the quotation from Isaac Asimov - "Violence i the last refuge of the incompetent" - in his novel Foundation. I however agree that they have and are continuing to be lose influence. They are no longer the adults in the room and are the toddlers rampaging round being dangerous to themselves and others.
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  56. Section 28 was repealed in 2003 after two Labour victories not earlier It was an evil piece of Tory legislation but it was never actually used so it was symbolic nastiness. It needed removing but there were other higher priorities.
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  57. What was it that Aneurin Bevan said about the Tories in 1948? "So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin," he went on. "They condemned millions of people to semi-starvation. I warn you young men and women, do not listen to what they are saying... They have not changed, or if they have they are slightly worse." That was 75 years ago
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  58. I was just writing “Isn't it a way to discipline Tory MPs?“ when you pointed it out.
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  59. I think Tom Tugendhat's uncle was an EU commissioner in the Thatcher years.
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  60. He might have had a plan but it is in tatters - in fact before he won it was destroyed.
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  61. Why is fishing such an issue to Brexiteers Farage never went to the Fisheries Committee when he was a member British fishermen sell their quotas to EU fishermen The fish in British waters are not the sort British people like to eat and governments for the last 50 or 60 years have not been interested in it (at all) Brexit is the worst thing for the British Fishing Industry yet it is a "sticking point" in the negotiations It makes no sense. It appears to be nonsense. Am I missing something?
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  62. At my first OFSTED observation for my class nearly three decades ago so the system was very different My favourite part was I was teaching mathematics using computers and the observer came up and said she loved the lesson and thought it was a good lesson which challenged all the students etc. etc. However she had because I was using a computer room to grade me using the IT criteria and it didn't meet their requirements at all so I got a very low mark for this lesson Mmmph, I left mathematics teaching two years later!
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  63. My bathroom shelf is a microcosm for Brexit economy - in February / March when the cliff was potentially close - I bought my preferred shower gel from the UK - I cleared the shelves of my local supermarket and I now have not bought any shower gel since then. When I run out and if we have crashed out of the EU trade relationships - I will move to a German shower gel - rather than paying through the nose for my preferred shower gel if it is even stocked.
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  64. I have long argued that the best arguments for unification are made by the existence of the DUP
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  65. I suspect that the "anti-Wokism" of the Daily Fail and others is just a desire to be "performatively cruel" to others especially those who are perceived to be weaker or less deserving than the reader or writer.
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  66. Sunzi in his 2500 year old book called in English "The Art of War" said that you should build your opponent a bridge to retreat over. William Ury in his negotiating books enhances this to "building a golden bridge to retreat across" These are hard tasks as they need to see the other side's view BUT is necessary for success.
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  67. You are right that no-one is celebrating Brexit today.
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  68.  @peterebel7899  Could you explain your comment? Geographically Britain is an island off the European continent and the overwhelming majority of people speak an Indo-European language mostly related to the nearest languages to the islands. So do you mean something else?
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  69. Sadly several industries in Britain will be no more before these foreseeable problems are acknowledges and plans are put in place to ameliorate these self-induced Brexit problems.
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  70. Good to be reminded that Biden is not a white knight for either side and has a clear set of agenda points for the EU and Britain both at the trade talks level and over the Good Friday Agreement over which the US is one of the guarantors.
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  71. That's rude to boxes of frogs.
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  72. The other loser is government tax receipts as banking moves abroad and banking jobs disappear from Britain. Loss of tax receipts by the government will be a great reason to cut services and benefits so everybody loses in Britain.
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  73. How long did parliament spend on the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 - which is a lot shorter and was one of the most flawed pieces of legislation in modern times. I suspect they got more than 3 days to pass through the commons etc.
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  74. My experiences of racism, sexism and classism have, because I am a white middle-class over-educated British man, been observing others being ignored or over scrutinised by folks in authority. After college I worked for a charity for young offenders and my boss was a woman and her boss was also a woman and the folks from the Manpower Services Commission came to talk about future funding. I was in the meeting to take notes. However every question was directed to me a 21 year old white man and I had to redirect them to my boss or her boss as they were the decision makers. I then became very aware of sexism. I have similar stories of sitting with a black friend and the ticket inspector not checking my ticket but asking for ID from the black guy. We both worked at the same location teaching but he was under more scrutiny than me.
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  75. Going from being part of the "rule makers" to being one of the "rule takers" which is what Brexit did and the Extreme Tory Brexit pushed us further into taking rules. Boris Johnson was a bad foreign secretary and regularly made bad decisions and rash statements and now when diplomacy is vital he and his ilk regularly put their feet in it and paddle around.
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  76. I had not thought about the "rationale" for the obsession with Pacific nations until you pointed out the two contradictory mantras of the current Conservatives "we love free trade" and "keep the foreign poor out" It made "sense" then.
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  77. The MP for Clacton is likely to do what he did in the European Parliament not attend and claim the salary. His record on the Parliamentary Fisheries Committee was he missed 42 out of 43 meetings.
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  78. Is “Poll Watch“ going to be a regular feature?
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  79. Why did I think of the Eric Morecambe quote: "I am playing all the right notes, not necessarily in the right order" in your introduction to this morning's video? LOL
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  80. As Brexit is a whine - this is always goping to be the case - it is fascinating that as soon as a Brexit proposal comes to the fore as an actual policy the Brexit supporters all say that it is NOT "true brexit" - as Brexit is a reflexive moan that at its core is incoherent.
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  81. All the opposition MP needs to work together to formulate a set of words which points out Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a liar and refuses to correct the record like "When will the Prime Minister correct the record on <specific lie>?" Sadly I think that the heat will go out of this before the next session.
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  82. I buy books mostly in English I used to purchase books from Britain Now I only occasionally buy from Britain when there is no choice. But those books often take twice as long to get here in Germany.
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  83. The USA and Britain seem to have parties who just do PR the Republicans and Tories just operate to provide "good" PR for themselves and have no interest in governing except to deny others the opportunity to do stuff.
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  84. The Swedish system has embedded several acts of parliament in law requiring that the equivalent of the Representation of the People Act to only be changed by a vote of parliament, a general election and a second vote in parliament.
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  85. The ETIAS scheme (as I understand it) is effectively a visa-waiver scheme designed to stop the need for stopping and deporting people at the border If memory serves it applies to countries which have visa-waiver schemes with the EU (like USA, Canada, Australia, large chunks of South America) but other countries that require full visas will still require full visas Perhaps the Brexiteers would prefer that system the requirement for a full visa? I suspect not but being in the ETIAS system speeds entry at the border, is valid for three years and can be used multiple times. The 7 Euro charge (6 GBP) is an administrative fee to run the system To get a US ESTA (valid for maximum of two years) cost 14 USD Can I hear the outrage from the Daily Express readers about that?
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  86. I always found the purveyors of Brexit who claimed it would enable "Global Britain" Leaving the Single Market and Customs Union was the opposite of that yet the Johnson deals ripped Britain out of them and gave importers and exporters pages of red tape in multiple languages to hinder trade which the modern British economy depends on.
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  87. It is a great big dead cat he's flinging on the table.
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  88.  @carlossaraiva8213  The single market coming from The Single European Act 1986 which Thatcher claimed as her legacy.
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  89. As a British citizen living in Germany I have been biometric data taken for my leave to remain.
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  90.  @almudenainesarchilla5633  Firstly, many of my providers didn't offer a service to Germany anymore, at least initially. There were also great delays from those who did ship due to having to travel through the customs office adding lots of time to deliveries. It would also often involve a trip to the customs office to collect items. Germany also changed its VAT regulations.
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  91. I will likely have to have a letter or card to go with my passport so my settled status in Germany remains in place so that I can go on holiday in other EU and EEA countries. I suspect the Netherlands who have been building a special Brexit area in Rotterdam (I believe) and have been training staff for customs and control (as have France, Belgium and Germany that I am aware of) are feeling smug at the moment.
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  92. The political culture of the UK has the binary model because of quirks in the electoral process that allow a party getting 36% of the vote getting 50+% of the seats. Living in Germany were we have wonderful names for coalitions - Paprika Coalition and the Jamaican Coalition based on party colours as well as the grand coalition which makes the federal government. They do tend to make an agreed programme after the election and negotiations can take months.
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  93. The Jersey authorities announced the "change" on 30 April - the day before a widespread public holiday in Europe and it would take effect on 3rd May. So the French fishermen responded fairly quickly - not sure they were aware of the local elections in Britain.
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  94. I wouldn't as she doesn't seem to know one end of an ethics issue from the other.
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  95. I am amazed he hasn't got a supply teaching job?
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  96. I am sixty-one years old this year since I was about eight years old (1970) we were taught in metric units. So there is an education process needed. I was made to do the imperial measures because I was good at mathematics (I ended up a mathematics teacher) so I improved my 16, 14 and 12 times tables so I could do the calculations solely in the imperial units. I live now in Germany and we have the Pfund (pound) which is 500 g and the Zoll which is the inch I recently bought a new computer monitor and needed to work out the size in inches with a metric only measure. I still think in ft and inches for height and have no image of people's heights so I still stay he is over six foot etc. and I have to think what the metric equivalent is.
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  97. I would prefer a presidential style of government BUT a model of president like the German model which interestingly was designed by British (and American) lawyers after the Second World War and is an indirectly election version of British Monarchy. My feeling is that what we need to focus on having as part of the coronation like the Dutch monarch making a contract with the people so it is clear that sovereignty comes from the people rather than heredity.
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  98. It's embarrassing to be British at the moment
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  99. "The unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible" Not sure which wag said it but it is still true
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  100. I voted tactically but as I point out to folks I am voting for a candidate not "Jo Swinson" or "Jeremy Corbin" etc. I vote for the local candidate.
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  101. In Germany they announce “Fahrtrichtung Links“ (in the direction of travel on the left) - it is helpful but assumed in English.
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  102. Would you hire the current Home Secretary as a barrister?
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  103.  @TorianTammas  Grandstanding when done in the USA often suggests an unconstitutional act that the base will lap up and the opposition will be angry about. This is a case of asking the MEP if he has forgotten to take his medicine this morning.
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  104. Brave Sir Boris ran away. ("No!") Bravely ran away away. ("I didn't!") When danger reared it's ugly head, He bravely turned his tail and fled. ("I never!") Yes, brave Sir Boris turned about And gallantly he chickened out. ("You're lying!") Swiftly taking to his feet, He beat a very brave retreat. Bravest of the braaaave, Sir Boris! (apologies to Neil Innes et al.)
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  105. As Sunzi wrote in the Art of War (the Chinese classic) " build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across" Can any actors in this high stakes game build that bridge.
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  106. Good job his advisers won't be watching this video as they might get some practical ideas for mitigating the damage.
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  107. Sadly as I live in Germany a) my status will be altered (and human rights will be stripped from me) b) this was technically my last election I can vote in (I lose my rights to vote in local elections here in Germany as a resident alien and I my 15 years is up for the UK elections shortly). I will need basically to get German citizenship to be a) enfranchised and b) an EU citizen with its freedom of movement.
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  108. I've just bought a microwave popcorn maker and lots of kernels.
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  109. 12th July isn't that a big day in the marching season in Northern Ireland The Battle of the Boyne when William III defeated James VII The date of the battle was in the new style dates was 12 July. It might be a plan for a quieter marching season as the unionists are the ones kicking off at present.
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  110. Except that there were not several existential crises whirling around, Belgium survived for 592 days without a government. It also, I have to say, has a federal structure and all the other constituent parts were functional at the time.
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  111. My investment in a microwave popcorn maker has made excellent returns and I love freshly popped popcorn with a little soy sauce on it and occasionally some smoked paprika Roll on the Tory Civil War!
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  112. At the local Quaker meeting we organised a meet the local MP - and this was in 1996 and our local MP was a Conservative. He must have thought he was on to a winner with a "nice Church group" but he was visibly shocked when he trotted out the cut tax routine and NO-ONE was biting even the folks who, I suspect, voted for him previously weren't biting - he went into panic mode as he had nothing less. He lost in the 1997 election and went to the House of Lords where I think he still is.
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  113. My constituency is new Bicester and Woodstock but it is on that list of 80 seats up for grabs I have therefore given my proxy vote to the best challenger in my constituency the Liberal Democrats and I have told them I want them as the official opposition.
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  114. Living in Germany however with no car I use public transport on a day to day basis but I had a British Driving Licence and I occasionally use the local car sharing programme to take my partner to awkward places. So... while I was still a EU citizen (in 2019) I went to the "Ordnungsamt" a department of the local authority to change my driving licence to a German one which was a meeting with an official hand over several passport pictures and a small fee (35€, I think) and did the swap. I haven't driven in Britain for nearly 15 years so there seemed no point not having a valid driving licence.
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  115. I fear there will be a lot of this kind of behaviour in the coming months and even years where the British government says to the EU: "You gave us what we asked for, how mean of you"
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  116. I was fortunately diagnosed with depression in the 1990s and got what was called "Cognitive Behavioural Therapy" which is a short-term focused form of "talking cure" I chose it over taking the then fashionable Prozac and I found it very helpful and it provides methods for keeping depression at bay in the future. Funding this sort of proven cheap therapy would be more use than blaming patients as malingerer and health professionals as liars.
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  117.  @hypsyzygy506  Good ole Cacun Cruz
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  118.  @DavidNull5  The Texas GOP and Fox News especially blamed renewables falsely in my opinion. You are right that there were two problems an unwinterised power system in Texas and no way to access power from elsewhere. The fact they had failed to winterise the electricity generating system was made worse by the isolation of the system so they could not draw on others to overcome the problems
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  119. Does "having full confidence in" still mean what it used to mean with previous Prime Ministers - that the minister is likely to go within the week? Or has the current Prime Minister changed the rules on that one too?
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  120. With Brexit And the Boris Johnson Withdrawal Agreement / Treaty Where the border is down the Irish Sea The long term goal of a border vote And unification of Ireland Are more certain in the medium to long term.
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  121. Here in Germany some British products seem to have disappeared from local supermarket shelves I have also for my English language books swapped to a German importer and reluctantly to Amazon DE who have added several days to their delivery times and now have several extra steps in their process (an average of five customs processes) also books enter Germany when imported from Britain into only one or two airports so the smaller more local airports don't get the business.
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  122. That is irritating as when I visit my mother in Britain I will have roaming charges on my EU based phone in Britain. I think we should all thank the government in Britain for taking away this simple and cheap rule in Britain
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  123. @Paul Geddes I have no idea I can only relate to my mother who had her first jab between Christmas and New Year She was scheduled to have her second jab today - but was told it would be delayed. She contacted her friends who had had their first jab on the same day and they had been told the same. Perhaps the Government, which "let slip" this data, might not be telling the whole truth. What do you think?
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  124.  @soniaspf9705  I am married to a German citizen so my pathway to staying in Germany should be okay - though I did visit the office about it and they are waiting for the **##!?! British government to have a plan - which if Boris Johnson is elected they still won't.
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  125.  @smalrast  Presumably you'll read it and critique it for its deviation from the truth?
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  126. This is eerily reminiscent of 1995 - 1997 but with clowns this time
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  127.  weaverspell  She does go out every day - for a walk - masked of course but is reading a lot of books too - sadly her great love which is going to the theatre is off the agenda so we are keeping her going with classic black and white films on DVD.
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  128. Have you been reading Daniel Kahneman's "Thinking, Fast and Slow"?
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  129. The fines in the US when you look at the profits they make in the illegal operation are often more like a 10 to 20 percent "tax" on their practices - not sure what the answer is but it isn't letting them off with a slapped hand and a bad report from a Common's committee. The regulatory system needs an overhaul to give it some teeth and take it out of political control and the culture of "anything goes" needs to be challenged and become unthinkable in the future.
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  130. I believe the editor of The Spectator thinks he is a "europhile" because he is married to a Swede I also think the Telegraph and The Spectator are both owned by the same people
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  131. I think the work will be done by others in Department for International Trade and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office coordinated by the Cabinet Office - but the problems are the leadership from the politicians.
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  132.  @geraldwagner8739  I am a British citizen living in Germany and a vegan so fishing is very irrelevant to me But the loss of rights that I have suffered via leaving the EU is supposed to be worth "fishing" (I put it in quotes as I think it is a red herring)
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  133.  @sigiriya5149  That was one of the saddest pieces of television watching some voters in Hartlepool say they were voting Conservative because there were more food banks under the Tories than under Labour.
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  134. The fourteenth amendment which has this clause in it does an awful lot of heavy lifting much more than just citizenship rights Section one of the amendment reads: All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. That is what he is actually flagging - he wants to remove the whole thing so he can then deprive folks of their rights. It is grandstanding and will tie up lawyers for months and he will say at the end that the "deep state" stopped him doing x,y and z. whatever x, y and z are at the time
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  135. I wonder if the people on the Costa Brexit who lose their free healthcare in Spanish hospitals will be the first victims. Living in Germany as a pensioner I pay health insurance (effectively a tax like National Insurance) so should not be affected though my freedom of movement night be curtained until I get a residency card.
    4
  136. I am not sure this sort of situation can last and the short-term profit taking of Brexit / Covid etc. Is the disease that needs to be tackled I am sorry your son is having to work longer and longer hours
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  137.  @soniaspf9705  German allows dual citizenship for EU citizens so claim it now before Brexit.
    4
  138.  @hasse102  The English edition has a publication date of 30 September and is published by Polity - the academic publisher.
    4
  139. As food taster for the UK?
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  140. His research is based on a very small sample size - one himself. He is less poor than he was in 2010 so "poverty has been reduced"
    4
  141. Sadly my 90 year old mother's grandfather was Irish (born in Ireland) so sadly I am not eligible for an Irish passport (I did investigate it too) A colleague from Northern Ireland made the choice when she was 16 and went on her first school trip to get an Irish Passport (as it was cheaper to get) and she has no problems now as she has an EU passport.
    4
  142. I worry that this might be a "one swallow" situation It is only with a cumulative set of articles and editorials and as you said cartoons that you can see a sea change in the Daily Mail or any of the other pro-Brexit media
    4
  143. I used to buy a brand of British shower gel, cruelty free, organic and vegan, sadly it has disappeared from the store where I used to buy it, a major chain in Northern Germany, I imagine that some of the ingredients as they are not grown in Britain make exporting difficult. I have sadly swapped to a European shower gel (not my preferred solution but needs must) I try not to buy books via Amazon but sadly again they being a large multinational do the customs checks internally a book from Britain has six extra steps and several days delay. Interestingly things used to go to a smaller German airport near to me now all incoming from Britain Amazon stuff seems to go to Leipzig - a bigger centre that probably has customs facilities.
    4
  144. What are British fuel (principally gas) reserves like? Germany built two gas terminals on the North Sea coast and have roughly 100% of their reserves.
    4
  145. Will the new bespoke blinds help with the "smurf effect"? LOL I think your videos you shook in the evening tend to have a blue hue what my partner and I call the "smurf effect".
    4
  146. I live in Germany and Germans were shocked that their friends (the UK) chose Brexit - and look with a mixture of horror and bemusement at the games that the British government are playing at - first with Theresa May and now doubling down with Boris Johnson (the charismatic version). I have been apologising and pointing out that the British government is not co-terminal with the British people or the British electorate and also explaining the UK constitution as it is understood. I teach English at an adult evening college and the students now know more than they possible need to about the English CIvil War and 17th century British politics because that is where the issues lie.
    4
  147. Nice to see the reference to Bastiat's broken window paradox where short term increase in activity comes at the expense of long term wealth.
    4
  148. There is a thing called, I believe, the "Scientific News Cycle" - which applies even here. Basically the further from the research you stray - the more interpretation is added and the tweaking of headlines etc.
    3
  149.  @FranzBieberkopf  I may have misremembered it but the idea that you have to fit into one of two tribes even when you don't is a perennial problem. Both for the person being asked AND the inquirer as they are trapped in binary thinking.
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  150.  @HenriZwols  It would be more like burning down the stadium but saying "at least we saved the mascot" even though you cancelled the mascot's contract because of the fire.
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  151. Alexander B. de Pfeffel Johnson throwing another pipe dream at the public to distract from the mess the Extreme Tory Brexit is making of the country.
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  152. Though I am a Labour supporter in my constituency (which was a new one) I voted tactically for the Liberal Democrat who won the seat. In my county we now have NO Tories Two Labour and four LD. I am very much on board for proportional representation and a common agenda politics at present as we have to keep the Tories as they are rippers down of our economy / well-being BTW I checked several friends and my sister's postcodes so I might have skewed their usage figures LOL.
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  153. My mother who is 89 - has no passport as she doesn't feel she wants to travel much more, has given up her driving licence though she has her bus pass which I think has a picture on it. But the assumption that everyone has ready access to photo ID is hilarious.
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  154. I think Boris Johnson is in the David Davis school of Brexiter - Davis is very much the bright six-former who performs well in class and is verbally good but never puts things down on paper (no homework, no good class notes etc.) - net result is Davis and now Johnson come a cropper when faced with the exam.
    3
  155. Doesn't Ranjit Singh Boparan own companies with processing plants in Ireland, the Netherlands and Poland. The extreme Tory Brexit should have been front and centre for his business
    3
  156.  @johnthorburn1913  That was a weird story about the reporter showing law-breaking, wasn't it?
    3
  157.  @hanskuijsten2380  they appear to be very ignorant and as a consequence are incompetent - also they seem to refuse to learn - and double down on their incompetence.
    3
  158. The EU that in the long term they have to have a relationship with Britain even if the current British government is looking at the shortest term profits for its disaster capitalist backers and d__n the consequences.
    3
  159.  @pyellard3013  for a Tory.
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  160.  @cidercik  My 89 year old mother and my sister still live in the UK.
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  161. The question is will the government act not throw money at the problem not get a "mate" to do it for them but actually work on this before there are severe shortages that cripple British industries and have scarily frequent empty food shops? I like a British shower gel and have bought it here in Germany for many years - from my local supermarket I stocked up - I had twenty bottles but late last year they have not been stocking it in the shop - so my supply is slowly dwindling and it will last some time but when it ends - I will buy a European brand of shower gel most likely a German brand It won't be what I want but I shower every day and use shower gel every day and so if I cannot because of Brexit get the gel then I will buy elsewhere. My bathroom windowsill is a microcosm of Brexit and it is not looking good at the moment.
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  162. Isn't that Jonathan Gullis' new job?
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  163. My first foreign holiday was aged 11 in 1973 to Italy fortunately it was a package holiday so the location part was fixed and done by the travel company (I suspect) though we had to fill in landing cards as all third country nationals have to even into Britain The holiday industry because of the pandemic has been furloughed to a large extent as those restrictions end the reality of Brexit Britain will dawn on more folks.
    3
  164. Do we need to add another dimension to the classic alignment matrix with good <-> evil and lawful <-> chaotic adding a third dimension of competent <-> incompetent to make so the current Tories would be evil, chaotic and incompetent An alignment tensor perhaps?
    3
  165. A spin of a spin - that is this government all over - they are whirling around and the most dangerous thing is that they might actually believe their own spin.
    3
  166.  @SirAntoniousBlock  I like how often the "heroes" of modern right-wing parties so Thatcher for the Tories and Reagan for the GOP in the USA are often only an empty shell. Their policies as declared and enacted would be anathemised by the current lot.
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  167.  @earthman6700  unless you are very rich there never were any benefits.
    3
  168.  @almudenainesarchilla5633  Delays in shipping, some suppliers not shipping to Germany, the paperwork being wrong (resulting in extra costs for me) and the customs tariffs necessary. A toxic brew of things to put me off.
    2
  169.  @geraldwagner8739  But is that a problem?
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  170.  @thehellyousay  Thank you for pointing out that she was nominated by the European Council and elected by the European Parliament. I had not thought that was necessary to point out to folks but my understanding is that the verb to succeed does not negate the verb to elect. So I) can say "Boris Johnson is Theresa May's successor" and be correct. He was also elected to that position by the Conservative Party and formally appointed by the Queen as well. I am not planning to drink and battery acid in the near future - though I do use quite a lot of vinegar in my cooking as it has a good flavour.
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  171. There is an interesting phenomenon (or series of phenomena) where attacks made (usually from the hard right-wing press in the UK) on a politician has a rebound effect on the politician - Diane Abbott, who I don't think is an "idiot" BTW, has been seen as at minimum an okay person and perhaps even a "woman of the people" because she did consume a mojito on the tube - breaking a minor by-law which is more often honoured in its breach by the public. The critics often end up looking nasty and mean spirited as well as desperate in their attacks on the politicians. Perhaps this is the way forward for the poisoned well of British politics?
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  172. PS I don't think Diane Abbott is an "idiot" but she isn't one of the greatest political tacticians and debaters in the Labour Party at the moment. Here is an idea - perhaps you could look at politicians on all sides of the house whom you find have useful ideas - I lived in a deeply conservative constituency - and still vote there - but I always made a point of when my MP did something I thought was positive - I wrote and thanked him - I also wrote and criticised some of his voting positions too.
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  173. Would you trust this government to organise a p*ss-up in a brewery? Not sure I would.
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  174.  @willtricks9432  Do the Tories have any seats left to lose?
    2
  175. In a dystopian novel the home secretary would announce that police officers were allowed to kill with impunity then to face a coup they have facilitated where she is assassinated by a police officer. And we would all criticise the plot.
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  176. Büsingen am Hochrhein is an interesting exclave of Germany Like many things it pre-dates the existence of a country called Germany. It was an Austrian possession in Swiss territory which when Napoleon defeated the Austrians at Austerlitz led to Austrian territory in Swabia (the region) going to the French ally the Kingdom of Württemberg So when German unification occurred in 1871 it became part of Germany. It is inside the Swiss customs area like Liechtenstein Check out The Tim Traveller's video on "Büsingen: The Strange German Village inside Switzerland"
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  177. The Tenth Man Rule is an idea devised to break "group think" If nine people agree it is the DUTY of the tenth person to disagree. This, I think, came from or was popularised by a film "World War Z" but it is a valid principle for quality decision making.
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  178.  @cobbler40  I write to my local MP (not of my party) regularly.
    2
  179. @jimbofatplum but we are choosing to be in that period of less control followed by even less control either it will be "Donnie says..." or "Brussels says..." - neither are appealing plus we lose rights in the EU.
    2
  180. and if we play "Brussels says..." it will cost us more to play and have no say.
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  181. Taking a look at American right-wing organisations and their personnel There are connections that I am aware of from post-WW2 red scare personnel, through variously little known organisations, to people in the Nixon era, to Reagan and all Republican presidents up to and including Trump. We need James Burke to make the connections both there and I am sure here.
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  182.  @javaman9010  I suspect the agreement is based on the reciprocal health agreement within the EU and no deal rips that basis up. I hope you are right.
    2
  183.  @caccioman  Corrected in post, serves me right for posting without my reading glasses on.
    2
  184. Are the Tories going for the Canadian option?
    2
  185. and I am technically a baby boomer born in 1962.
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  186. It is always harder to lie than tell the truth And this current government do not seem to have learnt that simple lesson. It is so sad that these people are killing people by their lies.
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  187.  @stevens7379  Though sadly the British government and a large number of folks who voted for them believe "just get Brexit done" which is folly our relationship with the various EU states will continue whatever the question is whether it is a beneficial relationship or a bad relationship.
    2
  188. The timetable for getting a new leader in just under over a week, firstly puts pay to the summer of paralysis we were subject to and is going to need to be very carefully organised to get a credible candidate.
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  189. Your comment about making a mess of this week - does sum up the current government - it is lurching from self-inflicted mess to another - it doesn't seem to end.
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  190.  @helloweener2007  Useful to know but at the time I did it there were no plans as the British government were still negotiating
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  191.  @helloweener2007  Though I don't own a car but do belong to a car sharing scheme and haven't driven since 2019 because of covid.
    2
  192.  @totoarriba  So my part-time evening degree course in Chinese that I took in the 1990s might come in useful LOL
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  193.  @stewartcampbell1786  She doesn't like or use the Internet and had it removed when my father died so not sure how I could get anything to her. Plus swearing is not my mother's thing. I have an Alan-Bennett-esque play to write of all her saying after she dies.
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  194. The "Bridge to EU 2.0" like the garden bridge, the channel bridge, the Scotland - Northern Ireland bridge and the "four nations tunnel complex under the Irish Sea" All brain farts.
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  195.  @joycastle.  The one with something in front of him in the infamous picture. Political memoirs are always vanity projects if you read any memoirs they tend to airbrush reality - I remember reading Richard Nixon's memoirs and reading the gloss he put on events. I believe the date for the Barnier book's publication in English translation is set for 30 September this year. I ordered a copy of the original paperback in French so it will be interesting.
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  196.  @Northstander  Indeed - well our power in Germany is a lot less than in the UK.
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  197. I hope he enjoys the “rubber chicken“ circuit of dinners at Conservative Party Associations. That is what his life will be from now on.
    2
  198.  @billpugh58  I have never used them "in anger" and do not want them to return It would be a step backwards for the British export market as all bar three countries in the world (US, Liberia and Myanmar) use the metric system. The original plan was to go metric in 1980 but the 1979 Conservative government mothballed the idea.
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  199.  @oliverseitz9215  True the UK doesn't have to sell products to anyone but sadly we aren't self-sufficient and economic theories (especially those of followed by the Conservatives) indicate that we should endeavour to have free trade with the maximum number of markets so we can make money to buy the imports we need. So a "pull up the drawbridge" approach to the EU is not very sensible. It is very simple.
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  200. I have always held that the only party which will alter the British Constitution.
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  201. A House of Ill Repute?
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  202.  @barbaracross7426  thanks I forgot to mention they've done it since Russia's attack on Ukraine.
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  203.  @saba1030  The German News has been full of it. I live in Bielefeld BTW.
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  204. It is interesting that all focus this weekend has been on Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and I suspect he liked that. If he had won the nomination process and then the election within the Conservative Party he would have had a lot of work to do. He likes being in the media but is definitely on the lazy side.
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  205. I remember arguing this point about becoming rule takers with people hyped on voting leave and they ignored that argument largely because they had a "British exceptionalism" mentality we can say stuff you to the others but they can't say it to us. Sadly that is not how the world works as we are learning.
    2
  206. As a fellow mathematician friend said at least the second derivative is negative LOL
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  207. As a British citizen permanently resident in Germany with my husband (who is German) I am still waiting for the call to visit the Ausländerbehörde (Foreigners Department) of the city council who will need to give me at some cost to me a permanent resident permit. This hasn't happened yet because the British government haven't signed any kind of agreement and it is still all up in the air. (I still have a vote in Britain and did not vote for Brexit nor for the current government)
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  208.  @soniaspf9705  I need to naturalise but need to get a certificate in German at B1 level I have a Steuernummer and a husband. My problem is my husband needs care so getting away to go to classes is tricky. As a long-term resident, I went to the Ausländerbehörde last year and after the formal part we had a chat They didn't have guidance from BAMF and it was frustrating for them and me (and my husband).
    2
  209. Oops, they did it again.
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  210.  @flitsertheo  Which is sad.
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  211. Isn't there a programme hosted by Jimmy Carr on Channel 4 entitled "I Literally Just Told You" where contestants are asked questions on information given them during the programme and have difficulty recalling it.
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  212. Does Johnson either want an EU trade deal or not? I am conflicted as if he doesn't get one the UK will be badly damaged as trade will be made more difficult by choice (of the UK) with all the EU and EU trade partners (which is a majority of the world's economy, I think) and Liz Truss and Dominic Raab are seriously underpowered by international standards as negotiators. The US "deal" would mean the UK accepts US standards (which are lower) but the US doesn't accept any more goods from the UK - not a brilliant idea. The EU - UK deal would mean accepting decisions on standards from the EU with NO input to the decision making process - so we literally have less say and less power than before Brexit - it will be what the Brexit supporters claimed that the current situation was like.
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  213.  G C  I know - but to call them moronic would be an insult to morons.
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  214. Isn#t your area "thick with Gammon"?
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  215.  @poplife123  Not sure what you mean. I am not sure of the source of this tale/joke but I would doubt it would have originated with Christopher Hitchens.
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  216. I was trained to do overlap data sets for a period so that the two methodologies can be seen in operation. Just moaning is not an answer.
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  217.  @sirmeowthelibrarycat  It appears from the information given that the data providers were “moaning“ that the data was not being interpreted correctly. I do not have access to the RAW data nor the old or new methodologies that are claimed. So I am unable to do it unless you have access to the RAW data and the methodologies, do you?
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  218.  @sirmeowthelibrarycat  I agree that brevity is not always advantageous. I was trained as a secondary school teacher in mathematics and special needs. My degree never involved statistics so I mugged up on it when teaching year 9, 10 and 11. I am acutely aware that when for example the basket of goods used in inflation calculations is changed that they run the systems in parallel to deal with these kind of comments.
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  219. Trump seems to now be believing his own hype and hasn't been having others campaign with him. He also seems to be siphoning off most of the cash for his legal funds so Farage, the Iranian looking frog, is expendable.
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  220. On the first of February the cost of the EU goes up as well.
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  221.  @skyblazeeterno  we lose all the negotiated reductions - don't get all the benefits and it costs us more.
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  222. or perhaps "go back to your own country (Dubai)"
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  223. Oh dear, how sad, never mind https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4uivPpzCGo
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  224.  @pf844  LOL Well a wooden effigy would do better than Liz Truss
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  225. Brexit depends on not being completed as any "completed Brexit" solution would alienate a majority of the "Brexit coalition" keeping Brexit in "permanent revolution" is the only way to keep power.
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  226. A soggy tissue
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  227.  @Steve_Coates  As I am unlikely to visit until next year I will await the outcome of developments I used to have a local prepaid SIM card for a second phone I let it lapse after roaming charges were abolished.
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  228. Is there a fridge big enough for the current prime minister?
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  229.  @jeanvines6646  My mother's GP practice was quick off the mark. One of her friends at a difference practice in the same town hasn't been called either.
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  230.  @scotttracy9333  We have no idea what the effect of the long delay is. It wasn't tested so it could be seen by the cynical as the government playing with the lives of the vulnerable.
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  231. Both my local MP (Liberal Democrat) voted AYE My nearest Labour MP - the neighbouring constituency also voted AYE BTW it is currently about third down on the voting record under parliament.uk
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  232. Royal prerogative powers need to be curtailed and taken into parliament - as Boris Johnson is currently driving a coach and horses through the accepted rules of conduct - aka the British Constitution.
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  233.  @raymccrae  I thought I had said that it was designed to be a chill wind and it was. I was also interested in how long the Labour government took to repeal it in England and Wales. Scotland repealed it in 2000, I think.
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  234. I was in school in 1970 and the plan was to metricate the country by 1980 All the textbooks were changed to metric units but because I was good at mathematics (I think the teacher wanted me to slow down) I was given extra material from the old books, so I worked with pounds, ounces, stones and hundredweights, as well as do calculations in pounds, shillings and pence up until I went to Grammar School in 1973. I can still chant most of the ratios of the Imperial system. The interesting question is the informal weights and measures I remember going into a supermarket to the deli counter and asking for 100 g of olives and the woman had no handle on the amount to put in the container so I said "that's about four ounces" and she set to work she had a informal idea of four ounces of things but the metric units were still foreign to her.
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  235. Okay, so here is the plan: Next year we get Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson in a lift (manufactured in Germany) and it "breaks down" but we "cannot" get parts to repair it he has to remain in the lift until he or his cabinet allow the CE marked items in. Wonder how quickly they would change their policies?
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  236. I am visiting Britain for my mother's funeral and I have been shocked by the lack of fresh fruit and veg in supermarkets. In Germany where I live - I haven't seen as severe shortages.
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  237. Though I cannot get my favourite tomatoes all the time in Germany but we have tomatoes.
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  238. @Robert Wallace Possibly to 2023
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  239. Isn't the right to have things removed from the internet an EU right?
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  240. @jimbofatplum what will happen on 01 February when we leave the EU and have to follow the rules with no input from the UK - basically the UK will transfer into a vassal state of its own free will - voluntary slavery as chosen by the current Conservative government.
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  241. @jimbofatplum BTW it is an ELEVEN month TRANSITION period after LEAVING the EU - the current UK government (in whom I have little faith) have eleven months to negotiate an agreement with the EU or the USA - plus all the other states in the world.
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  242.  @re1644  If they were able to do it "openly and proudly" surely they would have done it already is their failure to nip the problem in the bud (and avoid shortages in shops) because they are incompetent as representations to the Home Office have already been made. I think the current immigration policy (some red meat to the racists and xenophobes) is a key part of keeping the "Brexit coalition" together. Openly saying Britain needs foreign lorry drivers (and hospitality workers too) is not something a Home Secretary would like to announce this needs to be buried in the parliamentary recess.
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  243.  @miastrong151  Are you suggesting that two government policies raising educational levels and immigration policy have opposite results. Perhaps the government needs to choose which policy they want to prioritise.
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  244. Welcome to the land of perpetual electioneering (reminiscent of the the late 1920s in the then USSR) no longer the land of good governance.
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  245.  @Robidu1973  True and the conservative and radical right media would echo it too. Saying it was "unprecedented" etc. Even when we have the evidence that the Tories initiated it.
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  246. She's a rival to Failing Grayling for poor performance.
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  247.  @ADifferentBias  he was certainly disappointed that he got a second when he should have got a first in his own "ever so 'umble" opinion.
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  248. Surely the Tory ideology is that it should be a privatised event? Weird that they choose not to do that?
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  249. Archer sued the newspaper about allegations that he had paid money to a prostitute in 1987 He only won his case because he lied and perverted the course of justice He then went on to be made a life peer, chair the Conservative Party and become the candidate for Mayor of London. His trial was important as he got others to lie for him so he could win the case he brought. He was one of these people like Maxwell and Trump who use the courts to intimidate even newspapers. Not sure there were any noble motives in the Archer case.
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  250. Check out the 1993 Canadian election where the Progressive Conservatives went from the largest and ruling party to TWO seats.
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  251. I lived in Oxfordshire for twenty-six years And we had one Labour MP With a Liberal Democrat on occasion The other three have been Conservatives. When you look at the voting preferences This is not a system that represents the people. I have long been a proponent of multi-member constituencies With Single Transferable Vote. As it give the local representation And a higher chance of one of your MPs Being sympathetic to your positions. I believe it is like many Proportional Voting Systems Devised initially by a Briton In this case Thomas Wright Hill.
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  252. DIE LiNKE in Germany is a nearer analogy for some in Labour It is made up of leftist from Western Germany and the remnants of the former ruling party in Eastern Germany. They get between 5 and 10 percent in the General Election and have representatives in 10 of the 16 states plus one head of a coalition government in one state.
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  253. I was at school starting in the late 1960s (aged 5) and remember the new books coming out for decimal currency and also introduced the metric system. The plan was that by 1980 we were going metric. Sadly that didn't happen. Because I was good at mathematics I finished the new books very quickly and the teacher got me to use the imperial units books so my ability to use the 12, 14 and 16 times tables got very good. I have used the metric system for most things except weirdly height whether I have to convert to get a feel for what a metric height means.
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  254. Interestingly Parliament would have to pass a law To enable the British Museum to transfer ownership of the Elgin Marbles To Greece. Or can the new powers to make law without reference to Parliament be used To just alter the law?
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  255.  @kirkhunter146  One of the authors, Lillian Rosanoff Lieber, several of whose books I own wrote books on mathematics and physics in this style. Other than that I have bought several books in English or translated into English which would be classified as free verse or prose poetry which look like this.
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  256.  @kirkhunter146  Lillian Lieber wrote in a preface: “This is not intended to be free verse. Writing each phrase on a separate line facilitates rapid reading and everybody is in a hurry nowadays“
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  257. Smacks of Trumpian tactics where rather than talk to the Federal government he is the one who told the world about the FBI raid on his property in Florida. Neal Lawson publicised it in the Guardian I am more worried that the Guardian didn't check with the Labour Party first.
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  258.  @pyellard3013  but wasn't in charge of his party remember the Maastricht 14 and the moral failures of several of his MPs.
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  259. I remember going to a talk by Albie Sachs the South African jurist who served on the new Supreme Court after the fall of Apartheid He started his talk by saying he had been reading the papers the British papers and there was no news from South Africa in them This he said was good news as during the Apartheid years there had often been news stories from South Africa as it was a state in crisis He welcomed the "boring normalcy" of the new South Africa Sadly I think Britain can be viewed as being a state in crisis hence the large amount of political news around until something happens and we can return to "boring normalcy" this state will exist.
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  260. BTW Congratulations on the Silver Play button.
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  261.  @justmythought7658  Are the current government "the Johnson variant" are living up to the Sex Pistols song "Anarchy in the UK" where they sang: "Don't know what I want, But I know how to get it"?
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  262.  @peterebel7899  which implies the government are a) deluded b) stupid and c) not grasping the reality of their situation
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  263.  @prunabluepepper  The Federal land in Germany controls Education and there are definite preferences within each Land NRW where I was teaching participants often talked in the Adult Education sector about "Oxford English" as the premiere style of language Whereas I have colleagues in Bavaria whose clients definitely wanted American English. I always taught both even though my automatic responses when speaking English is to use British English I often pointed out differences in spelling and grammar to the higher level students especially.
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  264.  @garryferrington811  Government ministers act as if they are the opposition and Labour is in government already.
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  265.  @ruthguthrie1099  She seems to be doing well at the moment.
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  266.  @justmythought7658  The AFD have also been mired in corruption scandals so they are not expected to do well
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  267.  @korolev-musictobashbrexitby  I was wondering how long he'd last on a diet of dodgy pork products.
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  268.  @korolev-musictobashbrexitby  I was not aware of that, I will bear it in mind if I ever move Music Business circles. I agree he is a waste of space hence my suggestion he be put to work testing the dodgy pork products personally.
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  269. I have been hearing the "he's not fully recovered from COVID-19" from some family members so some weeks and that is definitely a position that some Conservatives and Conservative voters at the last election seem to hold.
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  270. I fear you are being to cruel to pirates!
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  271. It is the "backstop agreement" that brought Theresa May down in 2019, is it not?
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  272.  @nicodesmidt4034  I was talking about Phil's introductory comments Not what Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson said or did which are all about him saying or doing anything to stay in power for another week
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  273. Why are Brexiteers so keen to "prove" their case even down to desperately pretending UK shops are somewhere else or not bothering to read the sign in plain sight though it was in French what one lad in my class 30 years ago described as "foreign jibber jab"
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  274. As in January 2022 is the point where I can no longer vote in British General Elections so sadly I likely will not be able to vote in the next GE.
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  275. It will be the first election since 1983 I will not be able to vote in.
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  276.  @jimbop4499  I am sure that Britain can and will survive without me
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  277. The CEO of Marks and Spencer doesn't seem up to the job Blinkered by an assumption that Britain will still be in the game even when it has taken its bat and ball home in a huff His failure is not to realise the problems and rapidly find workarounds The ideas suggested in the video should have been first and foremost over the Christmas break in the department responsible. Just giving up shows a lack of imagination and a failure of leadership.
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  278.  @justmythought7658  Brexit was always going to be hard so the zero planning mentality that many CEOs seem to have adopted is going to lead to shrinking businesses and the shareholders will not be happy the result will be the CEO's neck on the chopping block. AND all of this could be foreseen and was
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  279. The trick is that the MAGA movement have convinced their own supporters not to believe their own eyes If it isn't coming from the orange one it isn't true.
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  280.  @susannehartl3067  I need to as I am now the principal carer for my German partner but the downside is getting to classes for the Integrationskurs etc.
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  281.  @GorinRedspear  my rights to vote in local elections are based on my EU citizenship which is being stripped from me by the British government sadly.
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  282.  @joopjansen9102  I am fine, thank you. Normally the word "mate" is used to express familiarity with someone - someone you know well - someone you've seen in the pub (and said hello to) Not sure that applies here so your comment sounded like a comment made by "the Coopers and Robinsons" in Goodness Gracious Me.
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  283. A classic policy to build an alliance on I would say a cross party alliance but the Tories would never support it as it attacks their current modus operandi but it could be used as part of a joint programme in an election pact for the non-Zory parties-
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  284. The technology behind Twitter isn't very cutting edge. So Musk bought the user group - the content creators. He doesn't seem to realise that - he will hit several brick walls including the EU regulations as well the potential dip in profits.
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  285. Brexit seems to be premised on "being in the American* camp" (* a mythical Ayn Randian vision of America) rather than "being in the European* camp" (* a mythical "socialist monster" vision of Europe) This fails to understand as you put it "the role of Britain for the USA is as a bridge between the US and Europe" and we have sadly and decisively "burnt our bridge to Europe" so sadly I would suggest we will like the Chinese map of the world in the 18th century become the small islands on the edge of the world rather than some sort of "global player"
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  286. Mark Blyth (the political economist) wrote a book about "Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea" - he is interesting even though he seemed to be pro-Brexit. He has done lectures on YouTube about it. Worth checking out.
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  287. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go2bVGi0ReE
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  288. I believe today's voting round ends at 19:00 BST.
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  289. In the 1980s as part of the Peace Movement I was introduced to a classic of negotiations "Getting to Yes" from the Harvard University Program on Negotiation by Fisher and Ury and it has served me well as a touchstone of principled negotiation The British government in its handling of the negotiations ignored all the guidance and in her first party conference speech issued a set of red lines which set the path to nothing but the Hard Tory Brexit we got but no planning for that outcome happened at any point I am not sure they are even trying now to set up the parallel institutions that we need after disconnecting ourselves from the EU life support machines
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  290. The Michel Barnier book "La grande illusion: Journal secret du Brexit" was published on 6 May 2021 in French in paperback I believe the English translation will be out on 30 September 2021 when presumable the largely monolingual British press will take an interest.
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  291. The Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA) is a cornerstone of long-lasting negotiated agreements - the UK's BATNA isn't teribly good nor have the government done the work to improve their BATNA - net result is that they will not have a satisfying agreement from their position.
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  292. Video quality comments incoming Video quality comments incoming... The camera certainly seems not to have been designed by Smurfs so it is nice to see you without the "blue tint" The sound seems okay until you mentioned it I would have noticed So that is a sort of carry on as you are.
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  293. As I am not resident in the UK and do not consume UK broadcast media except BBC Radio 3 I don't feel in a position to send a complaint.
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  294. Sadly Brexit is being shown once again to be a whinge a drunken whinge by a bloke down the pub on a wet Wednesday evening which is where it should have stayed. It is a whinge that to be realised needs the world to "magically" conform to what the whinger wants. When it doesn't they will whinge some more.
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  295.  @gerardvila4685  As a teacher it was one of the must read books about five or so years ago I even have two copies one to lend out and one for my own reference.
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  296.  swave158  But I remember the paradigm shift of neoliberalism (or neoclassical ideology) and it was fascinating and frightening to behold. This government is the death throes of that period which, I personally think, died intellectually with the "Great Recession". It is a question of what will replace it. I would like a greener and more socialist future but that is only one of a strand of options.
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  297.  @SirAntoniousBlock  Power and retaining power seem to be the only continuing drivers for the Tory Party Like the GOP went into an election with the programme to do what Trump wants they don't have any ideological goals.
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  298.  @rorykeegan1895  Not sure Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson's backers would be keen on capital restrictions
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  299. The difference is between bourgeois arts and sports and non-bourgeois arts and sports - it show the class dividing line in UK society sadly.
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  300. Who is there for them to field?
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  301. Is it not the case that more nuclear weapons mean more cash for the USA?
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  302. My constituency is a new one, so it has no sitting MP and it is fairly close to a three way split so I will when I get my postal vote it will be a tricky decision.
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  303.  @ADifferentBias  and even worse the postal votes are going out on 25 June so there is slim chance of it getting back in time. I need to get a proxy vote organisers.
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  304. International relations is a game of poker where EVERYONE is cheating.
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  305. Were the Nightingale Hospitals actually ever used? What has happened to them? That is likely a sorry tale of mismanagement and PR overcoming practical help.
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  306. I was wondering why the German government were saying yesterday in the press that the AstraZeneca vaccine was only to be given to under 65 year olds. It was a strange move but if AZ have scaled back deliveries by three-quarters then this makes some sense.
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  307. Today, I didn't need to raise the volume so the wireless sound is a great improvement. I have to say that I tend to listen to you rather than watch you As I am often checking items while the video is playing so for me the sound is very important I was used top raising the volume for your videos and then remembering to reduce it for others. Looks like you could have a good room for remote teaching Though whiteboards do tend to glare on video Have you tried any software like Openboard which is an opensource electronic board software package it works on Windows, Mac and Linux (though not on my Raspberry Pi which I use for teaching generally) Sound with the Røde wireless microphone was a great improvement. I now need to go and look at teleprompter rigs for tablets.
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