Westministers: The Lords Strike Back

[RedToothBrush]

This needs no fanfare or lengthy post. Just this:

The Lords are demanding amendments unilateral protection for EU citizens.

Labour was split 358 for an amendment to 256 against.

This is after Amber Rudd had tried to reassure the Lords by writing a letter assuring peers that EU citizens would be treated with the utmost respect.

Utmost respect = an amendment to guarantee unilateral support.

Today is a good day. It should have been done in the first place.

Some people are unaware of the world around them full stop I suppose.

I would put that person from Warwickshire in that category.

I'm assuming Empire 2 is a civil service joke.

I'm assuming Empire 2 is a civil service joke.
That's what I thought too, a somewhat scathing joke given the current government turn.

It must be... only a civil servant could come up with something that stupid.

Ninon It does depend on the willingness of schools to teach those modules and on the will of pupils to choose them but where they are offered they are popular. The problem is that as I found when I started area studies we all have an unconscious western perspective when studying the history of other cultures. History teachers rightly may not feel equipped unless they have studied area studies, and frankly that western perspective is evident in the actual curriculum too. Whilst the Africa syllabus did not shy away from the brutality and atrocities it was about the Europeans being the agents of terror on an "other"

It is a start though....

I'm assuming Empire 2 is a civil service joke Yes but one man's irony is another's appeal to patriotism.......

Or...one man's irony is enough for the whole world to question his sanity.

www.insults.net/html/world/england.html

well worth a read (don't worry, it's in English)

The English people fancy they are free; it is only during the election of Members of Parliament that they are so. As soon as these are elected the people are slaves ... In the brief moments of their liberation the abuse made of it fully deserves that it should be lost.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French philosopher, The Social Contract, 1761

To disagree with three-fourths of the British public on all points is one of the first elements of sanity, one of the deepest consolations in all moments of spiritual doubt.
Oscar Wilde, Irish author, playwright and wit, lecture, 1882

And - given the mention of Empire ...

A demon took a monkey to wife — the result by the Grace of God was the English.
Indian saying

I know it's not directly EU related - but we've often talked about Trump on these threads due to the many unfortunate parallels and connections.

Trump is set to re-introduce his restriction on entry. It's taken 2 weeks more than he said it would - presumably to try to make it less illegal . We'll see

Trump to sign new immigration order
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39183153

The English people fancy they are free; it is only during the election of Members of Parliament that they are so. As soon as these are elected the people are slaves ... In the brief moments of their liberation the abuse made of it fully deserves that it should be lost.

I like that - its a pretty damning indictment of democracy in general especially at the moment, though given the time I suppose English centric makes sense.

If you don't count parliment itself and the mps representing our constituencies and the fact that we have referendums on seriots issues and the fact that we can petition parliment and the fact that we have the right to protest... yep definately not free.

Serious

As a population we can not micro manage every aspect of government. Of course our elected government has to have the power to make decisions for us. If we don't like those decisions then we can kick up merry hell and vote for someone else in at the next election That's about as free as it is ever going to get folks.

Hashi, not to mention how incredibly unrepresentative our parliament is, given how a party can have an significant majority of seats, despite having only 35% or so of the vote.

Like the snp

"That's about as free as it is ever going to get folks."

You might be satisfied with that, but I'm not (and I suspect, neither are many other people given how many used the EU referendum as a protest vote).

Its all ok as long as we feel free right?

This was was vote per seat representation in 2015 so yes it is disproportionate and needs reform imo

It's all about the feelz now people!

We may not be free but as long as we feel it it's ok right??

When I voted out I did so as a vote against remaining in europe and it's structures. Nothing to do with the democratic structure of the uk, which I feel is pretty good, but does need improvement.

As you can see as a Scottish person if I were to vote conservative my seat representation wold have been very poor indeed in 2015.

You are only free if you manage to demolish government completely and all organisations/enterprises that would fill the empty space. You would probably starve to death and be miserable, but you would be free in a sort of cave man way.

Even then there would be elders/natural leaders etc. So man will never be "free"

The idea that they can be is complete rubbish.

We are about as close as it gets.

badders as long as you feel that head banging will stop the aneurysm, carry on. Don't bother talking to an expert.

I don't think votes per seat is a particularly great argument for change to our democratic system. And I'm not adverse to the argument for PR.

We're getting a stunning demo of why people voted leave (hint: it's not because of their killer arguments and their debating skills).

I think I've wasted enough time in this one, I am checking out until the standard of debate improves.

Bye misti