Kevin's Watch

Agreed.

--A

Apparently Theresa May has pretty much agreed to a twenty billion pound Brexit bill for leaving the EU, but if Jacob Rees Mog is to be believed, we are under no legal obligation to pay anything at all. That being the case why I wonder has the emphasis been on the EU setting the figure rather than us coming up with a figure that we see as meeting our moral obligation, and that being the end of it? Surely the EU are not going to scupper any trade deals with us going forward, out of misplaced chagrin over the figure we give as a leaving fee: to do so would be to inflict as much self-harm as it would punish us for our .......whatever it is they would be punishing us for.

Jacob Rees-Mogg probably shouldn't be listened to about anything.

Yes, his recent comments on rape and abortion have somewhat opened peoples eyes as to how 'retrograde' some of his thinking really is; I don't know if he ever deliberately hid his more ..... challenging[?] ..... views, but his suave almost comic appearances on HIGNFY tended to highlight the more acceptable side of his conservatism.

peter wrote:I think there has to be a bit of an ironic aspect to Donald Trump standing before an organisation called the United Nations and telling them that he will wipe one of them from the surface of the earth.

Agreed!

It was a typical Trump event (he sees the UN as he does everything - a platform for self-aggrandisement... look at me, I'm the US, the biggest contributors and the most powerful country on the planet, "we" (the "royal" or "republic " we) care about the North Korean people suffering under KJU .. let's kill em all!!!

Yes he spoke some truths, but just like his coMments re: NFL players kneeling thru the national anthem (which I would think shows even more respect than standing) his comments are unmeasured and unnecessarily subversive. Such a dick! And a person in his office should show some restraint and dignity for pity's sake! And now he's behaviour is even more churlish!

Re: Brexit is it true that Blair has said it's not too late to pull out of Brexit! Oh dear ...

Mark Murphy said:

"It's unfortunate that the president decided to use his immense platform to make divisive and offensive statements about our players and the NFL.

President & CEO Green Bay Packers

Skyweir wrote:Re: Brexit is it true that Blair has said it's not too late to pull out of Brexit! Oh dear ...

Yes, Mr Blair has indeed come out with something to that effect - it has not been universally well received!

I bet!

I have been away from the forum for a while... away from home travelling with the job. (Domestic in Australia).
Add this to the fact that I maybe overdosed on Dan Carlin Hardcore History podcasts, and things are looking a little different today.

Notes to self:
1. Sometimes it is not easy to deal with different traffic conditions in different cities (I got $h1tty in my hometown traffic this morning, and I am generally a pretty forgiving driver).
2. I must stop trying to find comparisons or cures for the current situation in NKorea. No matter how scary or distracting it is .....
3. I must embrace that while history is a rear vision mirror, it will not change the creative chaos which comes from free world influences.
4. Don't believe everything you hear, but be prepared to laugh. The NYJets may win another game this season!
5. Breathe and enjoy the Festival of the Boot this weekend. (The North Queensland Cowboys play off against the Melbourne Storm in the rugby league grand final, while the Adelaide Crows play the Richmond Tigers in the aussie rule grand final.)
6 Gotta get that Curtis Lemay "back to the stoneage" quote outa my head.
7 Need to stop stressing about who has control over nuclear weapons.
8 Must buy the wife wine, and schmooze.

Best wishes to all.

Hi Kizza,

re NK - don't sweat the small stuff!

Nice to see ya on-site and BE LUCKY!

Peter.

In Germany we have seen the AfD enter parliament as the third largest party. In the USA the alt-right movement gains support and political clout by the day and in the UK the Brexit situation stokes nationalistic tendancies until it is at a palpable pitch in the public mood. Yet in France Macron storms from nothing to gain power and at home the Corbyn phenomena seems to be gaining momentum with every passing hour. The rise of the right? The rebirth of socialism? I have not the faintest idea. Strange times. Strange times indeed!

......or to put it another way

Do not rejoice in his defeat, you men, for though the world has stood up and stopped the bastard, the bitch that bore him is in heat again

[Bertold Brecht on the resurgence of fascism.][/i]

Nice to see you back Kizza.

As for the rest...in a hundred years we'll all be dust and forgotten anyway...today's crisis is tomorrow's history footnote.

--A

Around our way the chat has been about the thrills, pitfalls, joys and dangers of travelling. Our eldest son - 21 yrs - leaves this week for a Euro/UK trip for the next 10 weeks. (Definitely maybe this is the root of a little anxiety on my part.... even if I reckon I am passing at being a cool and firm, laid back and guiding dad.) And I don't want to talk about Las Vegas or Trump....

So we have a medium/large sized dog. A black groodle. Which is a standard poodle and golden retriever cross. Charlie (named after the bonnie prince with his black hair) is in his 8th year.
In our part of the world we are coming off winter and so with the promise of a days sunshine we put the plan into action and washed the dog.
While this is usually a job for the groomers, it was a spontaneous thing.
There aren't many things that can beat a smiling dog!

--A

David Cameron has much to answer for. In his pursuit of an election victory that came much easier than he expected, he has divided and quite possibly destroyed his own party, divided and quite possibly done long-standing damage to his country and quite possibly fatally undermined the European experiment that helped to maintain a fragile peace amongst the nations of that fractious continent for three-quarters of a century.

Theresa May is looking increasingly unlikely to be able to survive as PM for much longer and with no obvious successor it seems inevitable that there will be another general election before too long. The disarray of our domestic situation is seriously affecting our ability to negotiate an ordered exit from the EU, increasing the likelihood of a 'no deal' departure by the day. Under the circumstances it would seem that the 'Boris Option' is going to be the most sensible course - that of accepting our complete severance from Europe and trying to put as optimistic face on it [as the best of a bad job] as possible. I never thought I'd say it, but now the die is cast and Brexit is effectively a done deal, there seems little alternative but to accept it with good grace and to put as positive a front on it as possible. As the man said, if it is going to happen, then there is little alternative but for the British Lion to get out there and Roar! [and let the chips fall where they will].

Nice one David; Hope things look good from whatever tax haven you happen to be reading this from.

One of the things I hear often expressed over the shop counter, by staff and customers alike is their disinterest in politics; "I'm not interested in it, it doesn't effect me" runs the line. Well millions are about to find out that it does. The head of one of our largest food retailers Sainsbury's has said in the media that the inevitable effect of Brexit will be that we will have a smaller choice of goods on are shelves selling at a higher price. Meanwhile the Tories are set to unroll their Universal Credit scheme nationally, which see's six different benefits combined into one and involves a six week (at minimum) hiatus in payment of money during which the old benefits a person received are frozen as the new ones are calculated. For huge numbers of the most impoverished recipients of benefits who have no savings of any description and rely absolutely on each weeks payment to survive, this can mean disaster. There are stories from the areas where the scheme has been trialed of families being evicted, children being taken into care, people being totally reliant on food-banks etc as the negotiate the up to twelve week period without income. This is a shameful state of affairs for a wealthy country to impose on its worst off - and one that is absolutely unnecessary. There is no need for payments to be suspended while the new Credits are being calculated- it's a callous policy to force the 'won't work' fraction of claimants back into work irrespective of the suffering caused to the hugely greater number of genuine people in need.

You'd think they'd freeze stuff like evictions etc. to account for this...

--A

I think there has been some movement (due to media/public outrage) in this direction, and ex-pm John major told the party it must "get human" in its behaviour in respect of this issue - but it'll come way to late for many for whom the damage will long be done.