Things Noticeable this week

[vinceprince]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

realised how dangerous it was to vote "Remain" and expect to trust these people to defend British sovereignty. Why would they, when they have consistently not done so over 43 years of membership?

Of course you include among 'these people' long-time remain/supporter campaigner and senior member of the cabinet Theresa May?

Is it not quite difficult to trust someone who changes their mind on such a major issue so quickly for the sake of personal ambition.

[Wendigo]

Originally Posted by vinceprince

Of course you include among 'these people' long-time remain/supporter campaigner and senior member of the cabinet Theresa May?

Is it not quite difficult to trust someone who changes their mind on such a major issue so quickly for the sake of personal ambition.

Therese May is nothing unusual, look at St Anthony of Blair and his path from CND member to bullshitter extraordinaire
https://www.theguardian.com/politics...2/tonyblair.uk

I think we can say almost all politicians change their stripes on a pretty regular basis.

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by vinceprince

Of course you include among 'these people' long-time remain/supporter campaigner and senior member of the cabinet Theresa May?

Is it not quite difficult to trust someone who changes their mind on such a major issue so quickly for the sake of personal ambition.

Trust is not really an applicable word when I think of the Tories. I never thought the day would come when I would vote for these people but I fear me that the day has arrived.

If the Lib Dems were to feed the 5,000, raise the dead, heal the sick and lepers by divine touch, walk on water and ascend to heaven before my eyes sung upwards by choirs of celestial angels, I will never vote for them again. Not after the shameful disrespect they have shown for the verdict of the referendum. If you once defy the will of the people in an official democratic vote, that makes you a traitor and no punishment is harsh enough.

I lost my respect for the Labour Party a very long time ago.

One thing I have picked up as I get older is an antipathy for people who argue in strident and emotive language on policy issues. It is a tactic to bully opponents and avoid factual discussion and honest judgements. I was very struck by this change in myself when I watched for a few minutes the BBC Parliament Channel and they were playing the 25 April Scottish Parliament debate on the rape exemption to the Conservative government's change in child benefit rules. For the record, child benefit is being restricted so that you only get it to subsidise raising the first two children. Now:

1. With reservations, I agree with the basic change. As a matter of policy I do not see why people should be paid to breed. I do see why child poverty should be a policy issue, so some child support is valid, but not to reward people for not keeping their trousers on if they can't afford to raise children.
2. I also recognise that sometimes women suffer rape and sometimes they get pregnant when this happens. In such a case, and if the woman has made a choice to keep the baby, as she has to be allowed to have this choice as well as the freedom to abort if she so chooses, what then? Is she to be refused child support for a baby which she did not voluntarily conceive? In principle, the rape exemption seems to me to be fair. I like "fair".
3. In practice, the rape exemption is not going to be easy to offer in a gentle and sensitive way, in order not to give fresh hurt to women who deserve help and support rather than new humiliation. Sensible and humane people need to give this one a lot of thought and in the meantime I am of the opinion that a single page declaration form which can also be signed by a third party such as a doctor or a police officer if the claimant prefers this should be enough. Eight pages is not necessary. The less process the better IMHO. It should not even be necessary for the crime to have been reported. It will be up the woman to decide whether she wants to claim and if she chooses not to, then so be it.

Now: I was very struck by the uniform tone of rage and wild indignation of various SNP members of the Scottish Parliament and I liked the calm and unconcealed contempt for them shown by the Tory who spoke to defend the Westminster policy, the way in which he sat still and listened when they were ranting and then sturdily rejected their attempts to interrupt him until the Presiding Officer was forced to order them to sit still and keep quiet. The real killer point he made (IMHO) was that in England there are 43 specialist rape centres for the treatment and counselling of rape victims; Wales has six. The SNP, so loud in denouncing the rape exemption and the eight page form they were brandishing, has cut back on this provision since achieving office and in the SNP's Scotland, there is one specialist rape centre. As the Tory asked, if the SNP is really committed to supporting the victims of rape, why is there only one?


The answer, of course, is that the SNP, including Nicola Sturgeon, are a bunch of stinking hypocrites. Nowadays, when I see/hear people such as they raging against cruelty and injustice, I feel intensely suspicious and I ask myself whether they have ever lifted a finger to help or are only there to make noise and look good.


God help me, but my late father would be laughing at me now if he could read this. He warned me it would happen. He told me I would turn Tory but I swore I never would. He also told me it happened to him at a much earlier age but that this is because he was not an idiot, whereas I am.

[Devius]

I was going to post about the war of words between China and India over Tibet (having just watched "Dateline London" on BBC News), and revisit my concerns about today's increasing global frictions (Global defense spending has gone up for the first time since 2011, according to Deutsche Welle).
But after reading scoundrel's post, I admit to having a similar dilemma on the forthcoming UK election:

My mum (God rest her soul), never voted for anyone other than the Labour party and would crucify the rest of us (including our Dad), if she suspected any of us for even thinking of voting Tory.
Yet even my Mum would probably balk at voting for this Labour party.

As I have stated previously, I know and respect my local Labour MP - but this Labour Party appears hell-bent on revisting the mistakes that almost destroyed them in the early 1980s.

[diamelsx]

Originally Posted by rupertramjet

But the support available will include counseling, the team support, but the downside is he will have to go through a lengthy interview with the Police investigators, his weapon will have been taken for ballistic testing, he will then have to endure the Coroners Court, at which he will have to give evidence, and the jury could decide it was unlawful killing. So for him there are months of doubt and questions ahead.

Yes it leaves scars, but here it also leaves months of uncertainty and fear of prosecution. Whereas I believe in the US these things are done and dusted within days.

yeah if the policeman is on the side of angels, expediting the process can be a good thing but as in everything there are bad looking to exploit the expectation of good. Over here cop shootings are common and sometimes they are not pulling out cause their life is in danger. Just remember over here there is a class of criminal that have policemen as employees.

[haroldeye]

It's a problem with every family Scounds, the influence of children on their parents as the children grow up has a significant affect upon the good sense and intelligence of said parents. When I was fourteen my father was a rambling idiot, but by the time I was twenty one my advancing maturity had turned him into a man of great wisdom.

[haroldeye]

This morning as I came out of the shower I noticed a cat strolling through the garden. As usual at such times I informed our resident bull terrier who then proceeded downstairs in order to remind the cat that this was Staffie country and cats were only welcome for the sport.
Before opening the door to let the dog out I made sure cat was far enough away to avoid being caught. Sadly it panicked as 27kg of teeth appeared out of nowhere and ran the wrong way. I thought it's days were numbered but it made a huge leap, worthy of an olympic gymnast, and scrampled into a cherry tree. After a couple of minutes of angry barking the dog left the cat to it's fate and came in for breakfast.

What happened next was quite remarkable. Firstly a pair of magpies turned up and started chattering at the cat, then some jackdaws appeared and started on the beast. Within minutes there were two pairs of magpies and a whole squad of jackdaws surrounding and intimidating the poor cat. The moggie was obvioucly un happy in the higher branches of the tree and I suspect the birds were reacting to the smell of fear. But one of the jackdaws tried to peck at the cat and as they cat had a swipe at him another one had a go from the other side.

I cocked my air rifle and fired it out of the window without a pellet in, knowing that the noise would scare away the birds. But I have never seen or heard of birds like these ganging up on a live cat.

Anyone on here with knowledge of this.

[trailmaster]

In America, at least where I live the birds are too scared of cats. Cats here hunt , kill and eat a lot of birds, even big birds like pidgeons.

[scoundrel]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39755124

Guidelines for the EU negotiation with Britain have just been approved by all 27 EU heads of state. The clause demanding that Spain has to agree that the deal will include Gibraltar remains part of the guidelines.

After the United Kingdom leaves the Union, no agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom may apply to the territory of Gibraltar without the agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom.

Never do anything in a temper. But this clause is never going to be acceptable in the UK. There are a lot of options for Britain to hurt the EU as well as the other way around and if this clause is not removed, I think that is going to be the direction of travel.

[rupertramjet]

I was home for a day last week, and managed to sneak away from the dull folk I had had dinner with. In a Hotel with our UK counterparts, not as an invited guest at a home, so no disrespect!

I decided to watch question time, I lasted but a few minutes. Bumblebee, was pathetic! He interrupted the Tory every time the guy spoke, with pathetic jibes, which it appeared only he found funny! The SNP idiot started on pensions, so the Tory, coincidentally the minister for pensions, told him that as the SNP have the power to legislate a change, just go ahead and do it. We then got the mirror image of what scounds described, with him shouting at the Tory, who just sadi with a smile 'So change it!' It seems they are all talk as earlier stated, spending ion Scotland is £1200 higher than the rest of the UK and tax receipts are £400 lower. The deficit stands at £15 Billion.

What really got me though was the Labourite, saying they would spend more on the NHS, Care, Local Authorities and so on, they already spent we did not have, and with a mere £200+ Billion PFI debt, they obviously want to add to it!