She thinks she can censor the Internet despite not being the Chinese government? Oh dear, perhaps 'idiot' was a generous description.
Off Topic The Politics Thread
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All firefighters in the UK are forced to wear burqas #TrumpFactsOther than a Rangers win, this tweet is probably the best thing you will see this weekend.
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Maybe the bald eagle thought it could use Trumps hair as a nest.........
Lets hope that the sensible (?) Republican voters outweigh those rooting for Trump, he is seriously unhinged.......
Lets hope that the sensible (?) Republican voters outweigh those rooting for Trump, he is seriously unhinged.......
That's a lot of flatulence, Uber! Just hope for the other passengers you weren't on that flight to New York when it happened...
Interesting and worrying discussion on the Broadcasting House programme this morning. A US commentator was talking about the Trump phenomenon. He said that when Obama became President there was a mass desertion of white, school level educated, right wing democrats to the Republicans, which in turn shifted further to the right (I can't quite work this out). These are people who would never vote for Obama, despite the fact that the economy is good, employment up, prices falling etc. In other words (he didn't say this, and the others involved didn't pursue it), they are racist. Quite possibly they are sexist too and would never vote for Clinton, a deeply divisive figure in her own right (I have witnessed the hatred - no other word for it - she stirs up in otherwise well balanced, well educated Americans, especially women, oddly).
Trump could win this thing. The main hope may be the unearthing of huge sexual or criminal scandals in his past. It's terrifying. We would just have to hope that Congress blocks all of his policies.
Trump makes a lot of his business success and wealth (despite multiple bankruptcies). He estimates he is worth over $10bn. Most analysts put it more like $4bn. The thing is if he had simply invested the $40m he got from his Dad on sale of properties in the US stock market, he would have over $11bn.
Trump could win this thing. The main hope may be the unearthing of huge sexual or criminal scandals in his past. It's terrifying. We would just have to hope that Congress blocks all of his policies.
Trump makes a lot of his business success and wealth (despite multiple bankruptcies). He estimates he is worth over $10bn. Most analysts put it more like $4bn. The thing is if he had simply invested the $40m he got from his Dad on sale of properties in the US stock market, he would have over $11bn.
Had a look at the odds expecting Trump to be about 66/1 and he's third favourite as low as 9/2 (as high as 8/1). Clinton is odds-on favourite.
I've never understood why the US Presidential elections attract such a high proportion of nutters and other associated weirdos
The current election really has upped the ante with Trump. I keep wondering whether all of his utterings are actually part of a grand master plan rather then the ramblings of a madman with poor hair, but am unable to make my mind up on this
However, neither can I stand the re-invented Mrs Clinton. I'm always deeply suspicious of "political dynasties", and the US has quite a track record in those
The current election really has upped the ante with Trump. I keep wondering whether all of his utterings are actually part of a grand master plan rather then the ramblings of a madman with poor hair, but am unable to make my mind up on this
However, neither can I stand the re-invented Mrs Clinton. I'm always deeply suspicious of "political dynasties", and the US has quite a track record in those
Listened to Alan Johnson trying to make the case for the UK remaining in the EU. Emily Maitlis pointed out that residents in the UK
are increasingly concerned about the pressure on services, housing, education, schools, NHS etc due to high amounts of EU immigration. A recent poll indicates that over 70% of the country approve of what Cameron is trying to do (even if this was not a vote on the way he was doing it, which imo is ham-fisted at best, and embarrassing and frustrating at worst)
Maitlis says to Johnson, look, when voting on the forthcoming referendum, people have to look at what will happen in the future if we remain in the EU. Turkey will join soon, which will entitle a further 74 million people to come to Britain, for jobs, benefits, housing...
Johnson's answer is - UK voters have to look beyond their own little worlds. They can go and live in Turkey or another EU state, what a wonderful opportunity this free movement is
Maitlis - but perhaps people don't want to go and live in Turkey but would prefer to stay around their family in the part of Britain which they call home.
And I'm thinking...what planet are these pro-EU theorists living in...?
are increasingly concerned about the pressure on services, housing, education, schools, NHS etc due to high amounts of EU immigration. A recent poll indicates that over 70% of the country approve of what Cameron is trying to do (even if this was not a vote on the way he was doing it, which imo is ham-fisted at best, and embarrassing and frustrating at worst)
Maitlis says to Johnson, look, when voting on the forthcoming referendum, people have to look at what will happen in the future if we remain in the EU. Turkey will join soon, which will entitle a further 74 million people to come to Britain, for jobs, benefits, housing...
Johnson's answer is - UK voters have to look beyond their own little worlds. They can go and live in Turkey or another EU state, what a wonderful opportunity this free movement is
Maitlis - but perhaps people don't want to go and live in Turkey but would prefer to stay around their family in the part of Britain which they call home.
And I'm thinking...what planet are these pro-EU theorists living in...?
Many of them are living in a world either paid for by the EU (ie EU bureaucrats) or the UK political system, and for many of them it isn't sensible to bite the hand that feeds them. And (actually unlike Johnson) many have never had a job in the "real" world
What is your obsession with Turkey? It has applied to join the EU (in 1987 no less) and has been a 'partner' since 1963. Cyprus and Germany have blocked further discussion, there is no way Turkey can meet the accession criteria. Even its tinpot president says 2023 is the target (it used to be 2013), and that's a complete fantasy.
There are serious issues to debate here, scaremongering doesn't help. TURKEY WILL NOT JOIN THE EU 'SOON'. Sorry to go all Ted on you.
Obsession? I've only mentioned Turkey once before (but you have to admit it's seasonal...)
In today's post, I was quoting Emily Maitlis, she of the left-thinking programme Newsnight. Her words - it's inevitable that Turkey will join (and the fact that Turkey effectively controls the gateway into Europe from North Africa makes accession all the more likely - most commentators recognise that) and thus in the forthcoming referendum, voters will have to factor this into their thinking, because there won't be another referendum on the EU for a generation thereafter.
Johnson's response - up sticks, and go and work abroad - in my opinion is not going to win many friends. It's the kind of social engineering that's all theory and no substance practically.
Your average family in Britain likes where they live, don't want the disruption of moving, don't want their family fragmented, are conservative and don't like change. You have only to look at the miner's strikes in the 1980's to see what happens when you try to enforce changes.
This is not scaremongering, Stan. It's looking at the facts, that you seem to want to brush under the carpet.
You're right about the Eurocrats, of course.
Johnson has in the past struck me as a pretty down to earth politician, but he's losing touch with ordinary people with all this striving for Utopian happiness of a Schengen Europe, completely ignoring the seemingly unstoppable mass flight from the Middle East and Africa into Europe.
I've just done a quick search and you have mentioned Turkey in terms of politics on 12 separate posts, most of them with this 'the Turks are coming!' spin on this thread. Emily Maitlis is wrong (as she is an assumed leftie I thought you would be happy with this, but clearly not when she backs up your obsession).
Frankly I'm bored with the in out EU balls already, months or possibly years before a referendum. I've explained on here that, for personal reasons I'd like us to stay in, but not if we are going to be the fat kid at a party sitting in the corner moaning all the time. The only thing we all need to remember is that, whatever the result of the referendum, some of our friends and neighbours will have voted differently to us. The bile with which political discourse is carried out in this country (and most others I suppose) is poisonous. The Scottish referendum, the EU, Corbyn ((I'm no fan)......it stinks.
On another point we'll see how well the National Front in France has done in elections later. While not (quite) fascists they are definitely national socialists - nationalism backed up with populist state benefits for the true French only. And they have a lot of support amongst the young. Unlike UKIP which may get a few working class votes but is essentially a middle class, middle aged movement, and an increasingly redundant one at that.
I don't really know where I stand on the EU these days. As a leftie idealist, I have always been attracted by the notion of a group of like-minded European nations all getting along with one another and acting as a peaceful buffer between the extremes of America in the west and Russia/China in the east. Economic union could never work though, as Gordon Brown rightly identified.
Turkey can **** off imo.
Turkey can **** off imo.
For me, it works well if it's just the wealthy-ish countries which I guess was the original intention. Benelux, France, UK and Germany and Scandinavia. Once you go much outside of that it all falls apart.
French National Front routed in second round of voting. Vive La France! Good voting method, giving people time to reflect in between rounds. But probably not great for turnout.
I don't know how many years you've gone back to find 12 mentions of Turkey (unless you've included my descriptions of Redknapp). I hope for the sake of your sanity you didn't have to search manually.
There won't be anything like the same animosity between neighbours over the EU vote that there was among the Scots. There does seem to be damage done to our relations with other EU members however, and some have been quoted as saying that it will take years to repair, so it looks like we'll be punished for having the temerity to have a referendum.
As to the rise of the far right, it's not France but Germany particularly in the East that I am watching
Takes 15 seconds - press the search tab, press 'more' when you are there, put Turkey in keywords and search your own user name. As I said most are on this thread.
I can only assume you've spent time in a Turkish prison. I'm sure that would put you off them.