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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