WDB
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Posts: 7,356
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Post by WDB on Dec 19, 2019 12:18:09 GMT
CD, could you maybe put up an Avatar? I can't go on thinking of you as a wee, grey, baldy alien ! 😉 In Scotland they call that ‘a wee bit flushed’.
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Post by tyrednexited on Dec 19, 2019 12:28:16 GMT
Anyway, while I know that some here are permanently on holiday, I am so looking forward to a few days off before we have to turn our attention to what happens next. ....yes, it's time to "Get Christmas Done!". (In my case, without much help from the unidextrous one - so it should be a bit easier than usual )
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Avant
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Post by Avant on Dec 19, 2019 12:43:20 GMT
For some reason, for me the people who do that usually seem to be in black cars. Nay be Audis, or BMWs, or even more often in Land / Range Rovers. I have to admit, very rarely a Merc.
I suspect that Mercedes saloons are status symbols: Mercedes estates are bought to do a job.
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Post by Humph on Dec 19, 2019 13:02:19 GMT
That's uncannily true about black cars ( and white vans I suppose ) 😉
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Post by Humph on Dec 19, 2019 13:07:38 GMT
A lot of "big" Mercs are private hire cars. Which might say something about their ability to swallow miles.
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Post by commerdriver on Dec 19, 2019 13:08:41 GMT
CD, could you maybe put up an Avatar? I can't go on thinking of you as a wee, grey, baldy alien !
Wee & grey (of hair and beard) i would admit to, i doubt that much else is different to anyone else round here Best left to the imagination for the rest I'm difficult to upset , easy to please , and don't bite :-)
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Post by Alanović on Dec 19, 2019 13:11:37 GMT
Well, next year, and for as far as we can tell, the next few years, will not be without their challenges. We have to trust that buried in amongst it all will also be some opportunities. It behoves us all to attempt to identify and capitalise on the latter, and to try to minimise any negative effects of the former. I'm not about to roll over and die just because the direction of travel is not my preferred route. Most of us here are, or have been, in jobs that require us us to adapt to positive or negative change and to direct ourselves, our efforts and those who rely on us to make the right choices, down the best paths. Trying to hold back the incoming tide will be fruitless, learning to swim in the new water is the only sensible approach. Anyway, while I know that some here are permanently on holiday, I am so looking forward to a few days off before we have to turn our attention to what happens next. All well and good Humph, but I can't help feeling millions of us are entitled to cry out "don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining" in response to the current political and cultural developments (not to you personally). It's really enormously difficult to take. Whilst I am resigned to the situation now, I simply will not ever be reconciled with it. And will not accept anyone's call to be so. If Brexit and the election of this Tory majority is supposed to be justified on the feeling of others, and my needing to have respect for those feelings and "legitimate concerns", then it is my right to feel that I cannot take that step. If they can have their feelings, I can have mine.
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Post by Alanović on Dec 19, 2019 13:13:13 GMT
CD, could you maybe put up an Avatar? I can't go on thinking of you as a wee, grey, baldy alien ! 😉 In Scotland they call that ‘a wee bit flushed’. If he were going to create one as discombobulating as yours, WDB, I'd rather the grey alien remained. ;-)
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Post by Humph on Dec 19, 2019 13:22:04 GMT
Not even slightly contesting your scepticism or ire Al, I share most, if not all, of those same feelings. Just think that we will all get on with our futures better if we look for the opportunities rather than the setbacks now. Life really is too short to allow the cancer of bitterness to take hold. It is all entirely regrettable, but it is the situation we face, the toolbox we have, and while we are all to be encouraged and entitled to our opinions, it's time to work with what we have.
Or at least that's how I'm going to approach it. I'm fed up with being miserable.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Dec 19, 2019 13:59:00 GMT
The best way to deal with the Brexit (a word I hate and have as far as possible resisted using — until now, when I discover that Johnson wants to ban it from official documents from January. So we should use it a lot) situation until the election was to oppose it in the hope of stopping it. That’s no longer possible, but there’s still something to be salvaged. I wrote this morning to Guy Verhofstadt, partly to thank him for his efforts so far and partly to express the hope that the EU will do what it can to save us from ourselves.
Beyond that, we need to prepare to defend our judiciary and our broadcasters. Don’t be fooled by Johnson’s ‘one nation’ rhetoric; he’s out for revenge on those who exposed his deceit and dishonesty, and the ‘one nation’ he has in mind is Hungary — or possibly Turkey. Be most suspicious of him when he sounds the most conciliatory. Bastard.
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Post by Alanović on Dec 19, 2019 14:17:07 GMT
Again, spot on WDB.
Is that expected bill, to curb judicial review of government in the Queen's Speech today - I can't find mention of it on the State Broadcaster's website?
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WDB
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Posts: 7,356
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Post by WDB on Dec 19, 2019 14:35:42 GMT
There will be ‘a Constitution, Democracy and Rights Commission’ and ‘work will be taken forward to repeal the Fixed-term Parliaments Act’.
The first of these will be after revenge on the judges.
Oh yes, and photo ID at polling stations to keep out the riffraff. (But presumably not for pensioners who vote Tory by post.) Bastard.
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Post by Alanović on Dec 19, 2019 15:02:15 GMT
Ah, splendid. Obviously this was the last worst option in front of us last week, not sure how I missed that.
Gronda gronda, God Save the Dear Leader.
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Post by tyrednexited on Dec 19, 2019 15:28:33 GMT
The approach was fairly obvious and flagged before the election.
Go after all the "checks and balances"; The Lords (watch out for a raft of new Tory peers), the Judiciary (look out for primary legislation restricting the judiciaries powers over parliament, and the possible politicisation of judicial appointments), The media (less than subtle revenge actions against the BBC and CH4), The Civil Service (I suspect there will be a bonfire of the departments, and probably quite a few of the experienced staff), Suffrage (the introduction of mandatory photo-id), etc, etc.
A new Government with a huge majority and given the other required workload maintaining the above as priorities for legislation or change should be at least a tad worrying for any rational person.
Given the comments previously on here about voting to provide some business direction and stability, I note that the pound rose directly after the election on just such emotion, only to rapidly plunge again when the statement about enshrining the end-date of negotiation in law was analysed. "No-deal Brexit, here we possibly come". So, no real direction or stability for at least another year, then.
I also notice that the statements rowing back on costly promises have already started. ("of course, we may not be able to do X, Y, Z if there is a downturn in the economy" - no sh1t Sherlock!). The economic trend is already downwards, and predictions are that Public Borrowing will need to increase just to maintain the status quo. What is our confidence in the initiatives that cost money?
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Post by dixinormus on Dec 19, 2019 23:37:53 GMT
Whilst I understand the teeth-gnashing and hand-wringing, at the end of the day the democratic process has been followed. “The people” get the government they deserve. If “the people” are largely ignorant, racist, narrow-minded, ill-educated, apathetic, or all of the above then that’s a whole new issue 😧.
If I felt that aggrieved, I’d consider relocation or emigration, as indeed Al for one has suggested more than once.
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