Brexit.

[Innula Zenovka]

Do you want to bring back the guillotine? Because this is how you being back the guillotine.

To be fair, it's nothing to do with the Royal Mint. It's a one-off commemorative object made by an Indian luxury goods manufacturer who, with doubtless intentional irony, bought the rights to the name The East India Company.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

The UK is becoming a pragmatic country again | Financial Times

Britain has turned against radical politics faster than other rich nations because it has lost more from it

www.ft.com

Evernote link

In order to turn against radical politics, a nation has to suffer quite tangibly from it. Britain is unique in that it didn’t just vote for an unconventional individual but for an unconventional project. In the form of Brexit, it has put post-liberal politics into direct effect to a degree that is rare among mature democracies.

I don’t suggest the disillusioned majority will reverse the decision any time soon. (That wouldn’t be pragmatic.) But they are inoculated against anything — leftist, rightist or hard-to-place — that smells of grand visions, easy answers, personality-led demagoguery. Even on the airwaves, the faux men-of-the-people and undergraduate communists who grifted so well in the Johnson-Corbyn years are less and less heard from. No, a nation is adamant: we’re not doing this anymore.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

The UK is becoming a pragmatic country again | Financial Times

Britain has turned against radical politics faster than other rich nations because it has lost more from it

www.ft.com

Evernote link

I certainly hope Britain behaves in the opposite manner of Germany with their hardships including the “life unworthy of life” stance with the long 1819 flu victims, post WW1.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Brexiters in outcry after crowds wave EU flag at Last Night of the Proms

The sight of thousands of European Union flags at the Last Night of the Proms has prompted outrage from Brexiters and a call for the BBC to investigate.

Those waving the EU flag in the Royal Albert Hall appeared to outnumber those waving the union flag at the event, which is usually a patriotic display, following a campaign by pro-Europeans.

The spectacle of so many EU flags being waved as the hall belted out Rule, Britannia! provoked disgust from leading Eurosceptics.

Harvey Proctor, a former Conservative MP, said it was a “disgraceful” display and called for an inquiry by the BBC, which organises and broadcasts the Proms.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, he said: “BBC must investigate how so many EU flags were waved & on display at The Last Night of the Proms. Disgraceful & misguided BBC messing up a British tradition; a political gesture which would make Sir Henry Wood turn in his grave. Utterly vulgar & wrong. Rule Britannia, not Rule EU!”

ETA

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Free]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

The Asian hornet invasion is obliterating the UK's bees – and Brexit could be to blame

The effect on our ecosystem could be disastrous

inews.co.uk

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

The City of Birmingham is bankrupt, and now under management of the UK's government. With 1,1 million people it's the second largest city of the UK.

Birmingham City Council issued a so-called section 114 notice on September 5, which means it must halt all spending except on essential services such as schooling, housing, social care, waste collection and road maintenance.

The council’s financial woes stem partly from hefty compensation claims it has had to pay former female employees who were historically paid less than men for similar work.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/19/economy/birmingham-bankruptcy-uk-government-control/index.html

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Plan for EU ‘inner circle’ designed to tempt Labour

France and Germany have tabled a plan for an “inner circle” of countries willing to sign up to radical integration in a blueprint featuring a new outer tier of

www.thetimes.co.uk

Evernote link

 

[Govi]

For Americans, the Times' use of "tabled" is confusing. In the US Congress, the verb "to table" something is to send it to political oblivion in a committee which is obligated to get something done in an ill-defined future after an near-infinity of discussion. My reading of the Times' article gives it the exact opposite meaning: to send something to a working group who will produce an actionable result in a well-defined period; c'est vrai?

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Plan for EU ‘inner circle’ designed to tempt Labour

France and Germany have tabled a plan for an “inner circle” of countries willing to sign up to radical integration in a blueprint featuring a new outer tier of

www.thetimes.co.uk

Evernote link

Well, this is not a new idea, having an EU of two speeds or more is actually quite old. It even has an own Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-speed_Europe

And IMHO this is something I would not count on at the moment. The far right AfD in Germany is at the moment at an epic rise in polls of all states, and what they want it having a less powerful EU, where every nation can make more own decisions again, amongst other things.

Actually to quote their manifesto for the EP:

"Wir halten die EU für nicht reformierbar und sehen sie als gescheitertes Projekt. Daher streben wir einen 'Bund europäischer Nationen' an, eine neu zu gründende europäische Wirtschafts- und Interessengemeinschaft, in der die Souveränität der Mitgliedsstaaten gewahrt ist."

In English: We consider the EU to be unreformable and see it as a failed project. Therefore, we strive for a 'confederation of European nations', a new European economic and interest community to be founded, in which the sovereignty of the member states is preserved.

Even if this party is not in any power yet, these ideas most likely will become more influential in Germany over the next years.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

For Americans, the Times' use of "tabled" is confusing. In the US Congress, the verb "to table" something is to send it to political oblivion in a committee which is obligated to get something done in an ill-defined future after an near-infinity of discussion. My reading of the Times' article gives it the exact opposite meaning: to send something to a working group who will produce an actionable result in a well-defined period; c'est vrai?

Thanks. I hadn't realised the US and British meanings were so different.

You're completely correct -- in British English, when a motion is tabled, it means it's been placed on the agenda for active consideration. What will come of it, and when, is another question, of course, since it has to be agreed by all EU member states, but the fact that France and Germany both think it's a good idea means it's bound to be taken pretty seriously.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Well, this is not a new idea, having an EU of two speeds or more is actually quite old. It even has an own Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-speed_Europe

And IMHO this is something I would not count on at the moment. The far right AfD in Germany is at the moment at an epic rise in polls of all states, and what they want it having a less powerful EU, where every nation can make more own decisions again, amongst other things.

Actually to quote their manifesto for the EP:

"Wir halten die EU für nicht reformierbar und sehen sie als gescheitertes Projekt. Daher streben wir einen 'Bund europäischer Nationen' an, eine neu zu gründende europäische Wirtschafts- und Interessengemeinschaft, in der die Souveränität der Mitgliedsstaaten gewahrt ist."

In English: We consider the EU to be unreformable and see it as a failed project. Therefore, we strive for a 'confederation of European nations', a new European economic and interest community to be founded, in which the sovereignty of the member states is preserved.

Even if this party is not in any power yet, these ideas most likely will become more influential in Germany over the next years.

Let's hope the German centre-right take note of the experience of the British Conservatives, who now, having metamorphosed into an anti-EU right-wing populist party, face a catastrophic defeat in the next elections now we've had the bitter experience of the chaos their policies cause.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

Thanks. I hadn't realised the US and British meanings were so different.

You're completely correct -- in British English, when a motion is tabled, it means it's been placed on the agenda for active consideration. What will come of it, and when, is another question, of course, since it has to be agreed by all EU member states, but the fact that France and Germany both think it's a good idea means it's bound to be taken pretty seriously.

In our parlance it would be "Put it on the table" which means discuss an proposal while "tabled" means to put it in an Excel spreadsheet where it is lost forever. Makes perfect sense.

 

[Essence Lumin]

Tabled etymology goes way back.

table (v.)

mid-15c., "enter into a list, form into a list or catalogue," also "provide with food," from table (n.). In parliamentary sense, 1718, originally "to lay on the (speaker's) table for discussion;" but in U.S. political jargon it has chiefly the sense of "to postpone indefinitely" (1866) via notion of "lay aside for future consideration." Related: Tabled; tabling.

also from mid-15c.

table | Etymology of table by etymonline

"board, square panel, plank; writing table; picture; food, fare" (11c.), and also a… See origin and meaning of table.

www.etymonline.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

How accurate is this?

Europe is sleepwalking into a far-right trap. Who will sound the alarm?

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Quite accurate IMHO. The thing is that since 9/11 the public view of Islam went down the hill in most European countries, kudos to American propaganda, and today it's being viewed by most as stone age religion, which is clearly against feminism and women's rights. In short something alien, which does not belong to Europe, had its glory days long ago in the past but nowadays is so outdated, that its unable to reach the civilisational height of Western countries.

Another thing is that younger generations of muslim immigrants, contrary to the older ones, are wearing a hijab in public or similar stuff, which makes them stick out like a sore thumb.

And tolerance for this also went down the hill in many countries, especially after the riots in Iran one year ago. You just need to have a look at France, for example, where recently Macron introduced a rule which forbids wearing Abaya in schools. Normal hijabs are already forbidden since 2004.

Or just have a look at the new immigrant politics in Denmark, which is made by a social democratic party. And by the way the Danish immigration minister himself, Matias Tesfaye, is the son of an Ethipion immigrant with a Danish mother. Or take a look at Sweden.

All these countries do view now most immigrants from muslimic countries as problematic, and act upon that opinion.

Many people nowadays view those immigrants as a new breed, because on the one hand they are leaving their home countries because of the better life they might have in Europa, but also on the other hand quite often are living in their own communities with little interaction to the domestic people, which really do keep up a lot of their old ways, in the eyes of many nowadays too many of the old ways.

Also stuff like the assasination of Charlie Hebdo, Anis Amri who drove a truck into a christmas market in Berlin in the name of Islam and much, much more makes also the moderate muslims suffer at great scale.

As one German politician recently put it: it's "strange" that we've always got lots of problems with immigrants from muslimic countries or North Africa, but rarely any with Chinese, Indians or people from Vietman.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Exterminate, exterminate!

 

[Innula Zenovka]

UK could rent space in foreign jails to ease shortage of cells

This has to be one of the worst ideas the prison service has ever come up with, and tells us a lot about the state they're in.

 

[Essence Lumin]

UK could rent space in foreign jails to ease shortage of cells

This has to be one of the worst ideas the prison service has ever come up with, and tells us a lot about the state they're in.

In somewhat recent years, the UK seems more and more to have a miniature version of many of the bad qualities of the US.