Off Topic The Politics Thread

[sb_73]

Irritable Bowel Duncan-Smith burns his boats by basically accusing his boss of being unpatriotic. Blue on Blue carnage, they'll be siphoning the blood into port decanters for months. For Michael 'a touch of the night about him' Howard to slurp back whilst lying in his coffin, no doubt. Ex Tory leaders, doncha just luv 'em? Hague and Major still want to stay in I think. Was there another one I've forgotten about since Major?

Brexit campaign moaning that the ministers wanting to leave aren't getting civil service help. Well here's the thing, the Government position is to stay in, and the civil service does the government's work. Of course it's an advantage, but you wouldn't expect Ministry of Defence officials to be writing stuff for Corbyn on Trident would you?

 

[Kilburn]

We are taking 20,000 refugees from Syria. As our population is 8 times smaller than the UK, that is equivalent to you taking 160,000. Are you taking that many? No, didn't think so. I think the EU should round up all the refugees throughout the whole of Europe caused by the Syrian and Iraq wars and send them to the USA and UK. You both caused the crisis in the first place by invading Iraq.

Population Canada 35,749,600 (25,000 Syrian refugees) - In the Province of New Brunswick where I live (pop 750,000), we are taking in 1,500 Syrian refugees. At times the federal government initiative seemed more pre-occupied with fulfilling an election promise of 25,000 Syrians arriving by December 31st, but at local level they expect municipalities & provincial government to pitch in with funding,services and volunteers. My sister-in-law teaches at a French school in Saint John and indicated that she now has a new Syrian child in her class who doesn't speak English or French, has ADHD and other mental health issues (not surprising), so disruptive in class, and requires a one on one teaching aid.

Of the the 25,000 refugees I believe 10,000 are privately sponsored by community groups, churches etc, so federal government saying they will add another 10,000 refugees by year's end, so potentially 35,000 in total.

Locally (pop 55,000) the federal government just tendered for 150 hotel rooms + meals for 450 people - good money for hoteliers this time of year with vacant rooms.


25,000th Syrian refugee lands in Canada
Arrival marks milestone for federal program

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A young Syrian refugee looks up as her father holds her and a Canadian flag after arriving in Toronto on Dec. 18.

Canada hits refugee target

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• John McCallum cautions against putting Syrian refugees 'ahead of the queue'
• Syrian refugees feel excitement, nerves as they head to Canada on government plane
• Do government-assisted refugees receive more money for food than Canadians on welfare?

A plane touched down in Montreal on Saturday night carrying the 25,000th Syrian refugee to arrive in Canada since November.

It marks the end of the first phase of the resettlement program launched by the Liberal government shortly after taking office.

• Syrian refugees touch down at Montreal's Trudeau airport
• Syrian refugee emergency fund donations to be matched until Feb. 29

There was little fanfare on Saturday to mark the milestone, but Immigration Minister John McCallum is scheduled to give an update about the resettlement program in Toronto on Monday.

McCallum is expected to outline what actions the program will take in the future.

Officials with Citizenship and Immigration Canada had anticipated reaching the milestone at some point over the weekend, but were unclear exactly when given uncertainty about how many refugees board each flight.

Reaching the 25,000-figure represents an important step for the Liberal government, which made an election promise of resettling that many people fleeing the civil war in Syria.

The Liberals had initially promised to reach the goal by the end of 2015, but that was pushed to the end of February once they took power.

Of the 25,000 who have now arrived, more than half will have their costs covered by the government in their first year, with the rest supported by private groups or a mix of the two.

In the coming days, the new group of arrivals will spread to eight different provinces, joining those who've arrived in Canada since the government launched their Syrian refugee plan in November.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/25-000th-syrian-refugee-lands-in-canada-1.3467886

 

[rangercol]

Rod Liddle is a **** and Sacha Baron Cohen is excellent.

I think you have that the wrong way round!

 

[Star of David Bardsley]

I think you have that the wrong way round!

I really don't and I don't understand the sneering from the likes of Liddle over this. Why is it ok in his previous films to take the piss out of middle class kids, Eastern Europeans or the Middle East but not the North? Grimsby is a ****hole- I'm looking forward to seeing the film.

 

[sb_73]

Some twat of a minister on the Today programme essentially saying 10 years of economic chaos and uncertainty if we leave. He also didn't know the provisions of Article 50. Just as irritating as the other crowd. More negative case making in Project Fear vs Project Slavery.

Will the Brexiters point out that if Cameron really believes this stuff he was wilfully reckless in allowing a referendum at all, risking the health of the nation? Also, if it is true, and everybody knows we are doomed if we leave and can't possibly take that decision, why did the other nations of the EU give us any opt outs and concessions at all, when they didn't need to?

What a bunch of ****ers, what have we done to deserve them?

 

[sb_73]

SNP drop their opposition to all day Sunday trading, meaning that it will happen. For ****'s sake, don't we have enough opportunity to shop already? If you are that desperate to spend on a Sunday you can always go on line. I really don't see what is wrong with the current 6 hours. In Hannover to see a football match Sunday before last everything was closed. It was rather lovely, a real old time Sunday feel. In fact there was a brief moment of panic as it looked like the pubs were closed too, but we found two excellent establishments which brewed their own on site.

For me, of course, this has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with quality of life. Ideally the Internet and telly should be switched off at source and cars banned from moving on Sunday too, so we have to talk to each other and walk a bit as well. Of course the murder rate would rise, but a price well worth paying in my view.

 

[sb_73]

I really don't and I don't understand the sneering from the likes of Liddle over this. Why is it ok in his previous films to take the piss out of middle class kids, Eastern Europeans or the Middle East but not the North? Grimsby is a ****hole- I'm looking forward to seeing the film.

I think Liddle's point is that all of those previous films were equally sneering. I can't stand Liddle, very rarely look at anything he writes, so I was surprised to be in agreement with him on this. No axe to grind with Cohen. His agenda is to expose prejudice and apathy to prejudice, with an pretty explicit focus on anti semitism. Fair enough, I just don't think the way he goes about it is especially funny or clever. It was only a bit of fluff to fill the increasingly vacuous Sunday Times which relies on 4 equally egocentric, self consciously controversial and boring writers to provide most of its copy - Liddle, AA Gill, Clarkson and the odious Camilla Long.

You think Kazakhstan is in Eastern Europe? Didn't you go to a posh school?

 

[Star of David Bardsley]

I think Liddle's point is that all of those previous films were equally sneering. I can't stand Liddle, very rarely look at anything he writes, so I was surprised to be in agreement with him on this. No axe to grind with Cohen. His agenda is to expose prejudice and apathy to prejudice, with an pretty explicit focus on anti semitism. Fair enough, I just don't think the way he goes about it is especially funny or clever. It was only a bit of fluff to fill the increasingly vacuous Sunday Times which relies on 4 equally egocentric, self consciously controversial and boring writers to provide most of its copy - Liddle, AA Gill, Clarkson and the odious Camilla Long.

You think Kazakhstan is in Eastern Europe? Didn't you go to a posh school?

They let them into uefa. That'll do for me. Then again they let Israel in too

 

[Chaz]

I really don't and I don't understand the sneering from the likes of Liddle over this. Why is it ok in his previous films to take the piss out of middle class kids, Eastern Europeans or the Middle East but not the North? Grimsby is a ****hole- I'm looking forward to seeing the film.

The simple answer - it's not ok. But then Cohen has never been interested in anything but making himself look superior through kicking others, and as a result has never been of interest to me in any way. I find his 'work' deeply unfunny and puerile, and haven't liked him in any of the films or TV in which I've seen him.

 

[Stroller]

Some twat of a minister on the Today programme essentially saying 10 years of economic chaos and uncertainty if we leave. He also didn't know the provisions of Article 50. Just as irritating as the other crowd. More negative case making in Project Fear vs Project Slavery.

Will the Brexiters point out that if Cameron really believes this stuff he was wilfully reckless in allowing a referendum at all, risking the health of the nation? Also, if it is true, and everybody knows we are doomed if we leave and can't possibly take that decision, why did the other nations of the EU give us any opt outs and concessions at all, when they didn't need to?

What a bunch of ****ers, what have we done to deserve them?

I canvassed my children at the weekend regarding the referendum. My eldest will vote to leave because she is concerned about immigration, her sister will vote to stay because leaving would be 'too scary'. Quite a representative sample really and indicative of the level of debate from our politicians.

 

[GoldhawkRoad]

... so we have to talk to each other and walk a bit as well. Of course the murder rate would rise, but a price well worth paying in my view.

Is this on the basis that Sunday walkers have a tendency to set their spaniels on each other?

 

[sb_73]

Is this on the basis that Sunday walkers have a tendency to set their spaniels on each other?

It's on the basis that conversation between family members leads to violence.

 

[GoldhawkRoad]

Some twat of a minister on the Today programme essentially saying 10 years of economic chaos and uncertainty if we leave. He also didn't know the provisions of Article 50. Just as irritating as the other crowd. More negative case making in Project Fear vs Project Slavery.

Will the Brexiters point out that if Cameron really believes this stuff he was wilfully reckless in allowing a referendum at all, risking the health of the nation? Also, if it is true, and everybody knows we are doomed if we leave and can't possibly take that decision, why did the other nations of the EU give us any opt outs and concessions at all, when they didn't need to?

What a bunch of ****ers, what have we done to deserve them?

Agree about the minister, I think it was Matthew Hancock. His whole attitude was - be afraid, be very afraid. Of what? asks Sarah Montague who did a good job trying to pin him down. He couldn't give an answer but whatever it was, it was terrible, truly terrible. End of interview

 

[Chaz]

It's on the basis that conversation between family members leads to violence.

Which is the biggest argument for gun control that there is, and still the US chooses to allow their population the means to settle petty domestics with a shotgun...

 

[GoldhawkRoad]

It's on the basis that conversation between family members leads to violence.

Yes, it's usually the drink that does the talking in those situations...

 

[Star of David Bardsley]

The simple answer - it's not ok. But then Cohen has never been interested in anything but making himself look superior through kicking others, and as a result has never been of interest to me in any way. I find his 'work' deeply unfunny and puerile, and haven't liked him in any of the films or TV in which I've seen him.

Fair enough. Personally I don't see how anyone can watch the Ali G film and not be close to pissing themselves.

 

[Deleted 1]

Fair enough. Personally I don't see how anyone can watch the Ali G film and not be close to pissing themselves.

Some of his interviews with politicians were brilliant - especially the Tony Benn and Rhodes Boyson ones but I didn't think the film was all that. In fairness it's difficult to go from small screen to big screen as there's a tendency to try too hard and it's also difficult having to move from 30 minutes to 2 hours and be continually funny.

 

[sb_73]

Question Time from just down the road from me, in Stratford on Avon, a prosperous place with presumably prosperous well educated inhabitants. Sadly those in the audience seem just about as ignorant and soundbite ridden as the panel, although I exclude June Sarpong from this generalisation, as she only speaks gibberish and giggles. I have seized control of the remote and am now watching the Europa League highlights. The demise of BBC 3 is a disaster, where do I get my fix of Family Guy now?

Now here's an interesting thing (to me anyway). A colleague of my wife was in the audience for the Question Time I commented on above. Apparently it takes hours to record, including a couple of hours of selecting who would ask the questions before the panel arrived. The audience is meant to be politically balanced (presumably simply by asking applicant who they support). On this occassion about 30 UKIPers had claimed to be Labour supporters and infiltrated. A lot of them were Sikhs wearing UKIP branded turbans, who had a particular problem with immigration from Bangladesh. Apparently it got rather nasty, especially when my wife's colleague suggested that it might be a good idea to renationalise power generation, like in Europe. The kippers didn't like this. But it does explain why I thought the audience was especially dense that night. Loads edited out of course.

Still, Family Guy returns on ITV2 tonight, so all is well.

 

[TootingExcess]

Now here's an interesting thing (to me anyway). A colleague of my wife was in the audience for the Question Time I commented on above. Apparently it takes hours to record, including a couple of hours of selecting who would ask the questions before the panel arrived. The audience is meant to be politically balanced (presumably simply by asking applicant who they support). On this occassion about 30 UKIPers had claimed to be Labour supporters and infiltrated. A lot of them were Sikhs wearing UKIP branded turbans, who had a particular problem with immigration from Bangladesh. Apparently it got rather nasty, especially when my wife's colleague suggested that it might be a good idea to renationalise power generation, like in Europe. The kippers didn't like this. But it does explain why I thought the audience was especially dense that night. Loads edited out of course.

Still, Family Guy returns on ITV2 tonight, so all is well.

The power generation companies in the UK are owned by nationalised industries, but they belong to Germany and France. Why the Kippers thought that was good I don't know?

 

[GoldhawkRoad]

Now here's an interesting thing (to me anyway). A colleague of my wife was in the audience for the Question Time I commented on above. Apparently it takes hours to record, including a couple of hours of selecting who would ask the questions before the panel arrived. The audience is meant to be politically balanced (presumably simply by asking applicant who they support). On this occassion about 30 UKIPers had claimed to be Labour supporters and infiltrated. A lot of them were Sikhs wearing UKIP branded turbans, who had a particular problem with immigration from Bangladesh. Apparently it got rather nasty, especially when my wife's colleague suggested that it might be a good idea to renationalise power generation, like in Europe. The kippers didn't like this. But it does explain why I thought the audience was especially dense that night. Loads edited out of course.

Still, Family Guy returns on ITV2 tonight, so all is well.

Stan, are you seriously saying that 20 UKIP Sikhs wearing UKIP branded turbans tried to sneak into QT claiming they were Labour supporters?