Parliament is adept at voting down stuff. Any option, it votes down, including, ironically, not reaching agreement. We'll see tomorrow whether a spirit of consensus breaks out or whether they start turning on each other now that May has had to step back. Free votes? Sure, let Parliament try to find a solution. I'm betting it will fall on its face
You're right, joining Facebook accords with Clegg's philosophy. He's always supported the EU and the big multinational companies that pay no tax anywhere but do pay to lobby the EU bureaucrats and get law made that suits them. Facebook is one of the most discreditable of the FAANGS, linked to teenage suicides, information phishing, violent conduct, tax avoidance, serial trolling, child abuse, antisemitism, fake news, incitement to terrorism etc Clegg is ideally suited to making his millions from such a company.
Having renounced citizenship it is possible to get it back at a later date, if you can prove that you were compelled to do so in order to gain citizenship of a country which doesn't recognize dual citizenship. It is not easy to do but is still possible. Germany does not recognize dual citizenship outside of the EU. not even with Turkey, unless there are extreme circumstances. I know Hungarians who became German (before Hungary joined the EU.) who had to give up their nationality first - but later reapplied for Hungarian citizenship.
Possibly. However we are now two weeks further forward and a spirit of compromise to reach a consensus is now building. So much so that May's pathetic attempt to whip her party against it failed miserably and 3 of her ministers voted against "the Government" ie what she wants. Someone needs to point out to her that an indicative vote is intended to gauge the true opinions of all MPs. It is an abuse of that exercise for any party to whip its MPs to vote in a particular way. She is clearly too thick to understand that - it remains to be seen whether Corbyn is as well.
May had indeed failed miserably. Corbyn will not do any better with his responsiblities. Parliament is about to start eating itself.
As I understand it if correctly, they are all, at the same time, going to tick off options they could accept rather than one preferred choice. If so in theory at least, this should give a better chance of finding an option or options acceptable to most MP's.
Because it don’t wash with the commoners guv It’s not fair anyone who has made more than 15 pounds in this country is open game for the moaners... yet we all turn a blind eye if we get a trade that will do the job for cash ? We are all at it The commoners should of tried harder at school imo at least we all have clean water to drink
From the BBC: "Cabinet latest: Hunt, Truss, Grayling, Fox & others said they should be whipped" Sounds like the Cabinet is going sado today.........
good to see brunei has made it to the 16th century Brunei to pass law that will punish gay sex with death by stoning EXCLUSIVE: Extreme law to be passed in the next two weeks please log in to view this image Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei | Photo: Wikipedia 24 March 2019 10:50 GMT Calum Stuart Brunei will pass its Sharia Penal Code (SPC) by 3 April, Gay Star News has learned. The controversial penal code includes death by stoning for people convicted of sodomy, among other numerous brutal sentences. Other Sharia punishments include the amputation of limbs for those found guilty of theft. Anyone found guilty of apostasy will be handed a death sentence. ‘I am extremely concerned by this move. Some of the laws that we are about to see implemented are horrendous and unjustifiable,’ Matthew Woolfe, founder and director of The Brunei Project, tells Gay Star News. The Brunei Project is one of few civil society groups focused on advocating for LGBTI rights in Brunei. ‘While homosexual acts were already criminalized in Brunei under laws that were inherited from British colonial rule, we are going to see this taken to a new level. ‘Whippings and stoning to death [will be] added to the punishments potentially facing LGBT+ in Brunei if they are found guilty of engaging in same-sex relations.’ The Brunei Project has pledged to raise international awareness of the Sharia laws prior to their implementation in early April. ‘It all seems to be very hush-hush’ The Bruneian Attorney General’s Chambers website officially posted plans to fast-track implementation of the SPC on 29 December 2018. However there were no public announcements regarding the implementation of the law. The news was also not picked up by local media. ‘It all seems to be very hush-hush,’ says Woolfe. ‘I suspect the Brunei Government is trying to fly under the radar with the final implementation.’ The Sultan of Brunei, the country’s absolute ruler, first announced plans to introduce the SPC in three stages in 2014. However, the announcement was met with significant public outcry. A number of celebrities and public figures such as Ellen DeGeneres, Stephen Fry, and Virgin CEO Richard Branson boycotted Brunei-connected businesses. Brunei has signed up to the UN Convention against Torture While the first stage has been implemented, the latter two experienced significant holdups. ‘Implementation of the first phase was met with such an uproar internationally that I think Brunei wanted to delay further implementation until everyone had pretty much forgotten about these laws,’ Woolfe explains. Outrage over Brunei’s Sharia Penal Code has died down significantly over recent years. The country has since returned to relative international obscurity, rarely featuring in the international press. Woolfe is hopeful that with enough international attention, there is a chance Brunei could wind back the laws or never carry out the stoning sentence. He also maintains that by implementing the laws, the Bruneian government would be in violation of the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The country signed up to the UN convention in 2015 though is yet to ratify. ‘Implementing these laws is really going to tarnish the image of Brunei as a peaceful and harmonious society and also as a country that can be trusted to stand by the commitments it makes to upholding international law,’ he adds.
So far today, the EU has: - Passed #Article13, banning sharing of memes, screenshots, gifs, videos and music - Voted to put a time zone on the Irish border from 2022 - Voted to put mandatory speed limiters and data loggers on all new cars Can't imagine why people voted leave
No more memes? The EU’s latest threat to the net The EU’s new copyright laws will destroy the web as we know it. please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Fraser Myers Staff writer 26th June 2018 It has been dubbed the end of the internet as we know it. Inventor of the world wide web Tim Berners-Lee, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and 70 other tech figures have penned an open letter, warning of the ‘imminent threat’ to the internet’s future, which would turn it ‘from an open platform for sharing and innovation, into a tool for the automated surveillance and control of its users’. This threat to the net comes from the EU’s new copyright directive, which was passed narrowly by its Legal Affairs Committee, with 13 votes in favour and 11 against in a secret ballot. (A great deal of EU law-making occurs in secret.) The law is intended to crack down on the streaming of pirated films and music. But the actual scope is so large that it covers all and any copyrightable material. Of particular concern to campaigners is article 13 of the directive, which could outlaw the sharing of memes – a major aspect of today’s internet culture. The law shifts the burden of responsibility for copyright infringement from individual users to platforms. Platforms will be ordered to install ‘content recognition technologies’ to detect and delete copyrighted material. Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, tells me that ‘anything that matches a copyright database’ would face deletion, ‘so memes and the reuse of popular culture would absolutely be in scope for removal’ – even if done legally. Copyright laws are not inherently a threat to free expression. It is wrong fraudulently to take credit for other people’s work and it is important that artists and creators are paid for what they produce, unless they intend to share it for free. But we cannot reasonably expect copyright law to be enforced by algorithm. When copyright cases end up in court, the process is complex and lengthy. Recognition tools, on the other hand, would make judgements in split seconds. Arguments over the value of building on the work of others to create something new and original – the essence not only of meme culture, but of all artistic endeavour in human history – will be lost on the EU’s censorship machines. The European Commission has responded to complaints about the policy by saying that users will be able to appeal against deletion under a ‘parody exemption’. But this actually confirms campaigners’ worst fears – that platforms are expected to delete first, ask questions later. What’s more, we clearly cannot rely on social-media companies to stand up for their users. Now that the platforms will be liable for their users’ posts, the rules will be enforced zealously. In Germany, for example, the NetzDG law against posting ‘unlawful’ content on social media has led to the censorship of artists, of satirists and even of the government minister who drew up the law. Facebook and Twitter have been desperate to avoid hefty fines and so err on the side of censorship. Equally concerning in the EU’s copyright bill is article 11, which makes provisions for a so-called ‘link tax’. While some news publishers have lobbied hard for these changes, as they believe it will force Google and Facebook to fork out for hosting their material, Killock tells me they are ‘shooting themselves in the foot’. It could see previews of pages removed and search results suppressed, reducing traffic to news sites, he says. It would damage smaller, innovative websites while boosting the tech giants, ‘who may find ways to make arrangements with the news industry, whether that is paid for or free.’ All of this comes on top of existing laws like GDPR, which, a month after implementation, is blocking European users from accessing some US-based websites. The cost of complying with a fearsome 57,509 words of EU legalise is not worth it for many sites. Major news outlets like the LA Times, the Chicago Tribune and the New York Daily News are now inaccessible throughout the EU. Popular smartphone apps like Instapaper and Unroll.me are similarly blocked in Europe. Since the EU referendum, Remainers have peddled a fantasy of an open, free and liberal EU. That fantasy is colliding with reality on a daily basis. The EU’s protectionist trade arrangements are a barrier to open trade and now its new copyright policies threaten the open internet and, by extension, the open society. Thanks in part to the illiberal EU, Europe’s status as a beacon of liberty is dimming considerably. Brexit cannot come soon enough.
The only one who should be whipped, nay flogged, is Grayling. Seriously, now that he backs it doesn''t that prove to any other person with half a brain that it must be utterly wrong to do so.
Not surprised you are upset by this Kiwi. Without cutting and pasting other people’s work, where would you be?
Heard a snippet of an interview with Jacob Rees Mogg in full Panic mode in that fruity-Queens-English-and-Latin-only voice that proves he is a robot from planet Zog - practically begging for May's deal to be given another chance so that he can now vote for it. Sorry mate, that ship has now sailed. But the good news for him is depending on whether enough MPs now speak to each other to carve up a soft Brexit deal to put to our delegate in Brussels, the good lady herself, it might come back briefly before April 12. However he'd better be wearing his life jacket and be ready to trample over all the other souls fleeing the consequences of what they have sown. Another soundbite bites the dust. 'No deal is better than a bad deal' He obviously has forgotten the pigs in Orwell's 1984.
