Westministenders: Money, money, money

[RedToothBrush]

The big developments are that the government have signalled they are prepared to pay more and to involve the ECJ when it comes to citizens rights on condition that we move to talk of trade. But no apparent progress on NI. Which is significant with Ireland threatening to veto.

The EU has not changed its stance at all. Since Day 1.

There is always a worrying omission and lack of commitment to retain the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The bonfire begins.

Talk is of Green still going in a reshuffle, possibly with Gove replacing him as Deputy PM.

Coalition talks in Germany have broken down, and the British have got excited about it, whilst the German response have largely been a slight shrug.

Its been a much quieter week, despite the budget. Thank goodness. There are lots of outstanding issues that are lurking in the background like the Green one though.

The main message coming from the budget, has not been any new policy, but the dreadful economic forecast for the next few years.

What is it LH? I got a "you're not authorised to see this tweet" message

We continue to respond to an incident at Oxford Circus. The station is currently closed, please avoid the area at this time. Officers are on scene. From British Transport Police.

It was BTPs original announcement ...

Back to Brexit ...

here's another ignored piece of a complex jigsaw puzzle:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-42110846

Women in England and Wales are having 1.9 children on average, fewer than their mothers who had 2.2 offspring, according to the Office for National Statistics.

That's a small decrease but the lowest level on record and continues the downward trend of the past few years. The decline is in part due to a growing number of women not having children, with one-fifth now childless.

There has also been a fall in the number of teenage pregnancies.

About 6% of women have a baby before their 20th birthday, again continuing a long-term downward trend.

But "it's not just childlessness," said Emily Knipe of the Office for National Statistics. More and more women are having fewer babies. The data showed about one in 10 mothers today having four or more children, compared with one in eight of their mothers' generation.

(contd)

Remember those immigrants were are starting to remove ? (Obviously those that can pay for themselves to go for now. I'm sure there's a tender for cattle trucks doing the rounds in the Brexiteers heads)

I wonder how much it going to take to tempt someone to come to the UK in - say - 2027, when we need that labour force ??????

Arborea

I got a "you're not authorised to see this tweet" message

What have been up to ?

Isnt it heartening to know that one of the most popular papers has retweeted news about a lorry incident at Oxford Circus. Shame they didn't check the initial tweet was from 2 weeks ago. Bloody hate mongering irresponsible twats at the fail. They've now deleted the tweet but not before it's taken its own life on social media.

I think there really is a terrorist incident at Oxford circus
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42117311

Isnt it heartening to know that one of the most popular papers has retweeted news about a lorry incident at Oxford Circus. Shame they didn't check the initial tweet was from 2 weeks ago. Bloody hate mongering irresponsible twats at the fail. They've now deleted the tweet but not before it's taken its own life on social media.

I'm hearing that no shots were fired, and no casualties, but that's not necessarily an official report, just FOF chatter.

Anyone else scouring below the fold on news sites to see what bad news is being buried today ?

Is it cos I is Irish? 😜

@metpoliceuk
We have not located any trace of suspects, evidence of shots fired or casualties. Officers still on scene. If you are in a building stay there, if you are on the street in #OxfordStreet leave the area. Officers continue to search the area. More updates as soon as we have them

You may have heard right lh

Although more seriously I can't think how I could have been blocked by BTP: a bit of a worry as I have to spend a fair bit of time in London in the next few weeks!

I'm blocked by Tim Walker. Am mystified by that but BTP is another level.

Are you in an odd location arb?
Ir's possibly just a weird error.
What did you do to Tim Walker Swedish?

DD is a history graduate and also credits her love of history to Horrible Histories (and my Dad who never passed up a chance to tell his grandchildren about the exploitation of the working classes by the rich capitalists).

I get that sometimes Arborea. If you close the page then re click on the link it usually opens the second time.

My mil gets very thin lipped when I talk to ds1 about the crimes of the British empire
😈😁

Seems the Daily Mail is picking up flak for spreading the story (which they lifted) so quickly.

I wonder if we can find the culprit of what happened in Mumsnets ranks

Maybe we need a pop concert to help the Daily Mail.

History - the Normans were not French but Vikings (Norse men) so 1066 and all that had nothing to do with the French (although they spoke Norman French), language of the court was Latin until Henry V en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleading_in_English_Act_1362. And the Angles, Saxons and Jutes were invaders from Germany/Holland etc. Before that it was the Celts, who fought the Romans ... then invited in the Angles, Saxons to see off the Vikings ... and they all just stayed ... A truly Heinz 57 nation ...

I have absolutely no idea Hashi .

History - the Normans were not French but Vikings

and just as popular in France as here - very much an outsider culture.

The BBC ran an excellent documentary a few years back (but aren't they all ? We'll miss it when it's gone) about the first Normans in England.

Robert Bartlett, if memory serves. I'm sure it's googleable.

Gaspode the Pleading in English Act which you like to points out that "the Act complained that because the Norman French language was largely unknown to the common people of England, they had no knowledge of what was being said for or against them in the courts, which used Law French".

The earlier Norman sovereigns and aristocracy used Norman French. That is why Edward III is supposed to have said "Honi soit qui mal y pense" in the mid 1300s.

Legal documents were written in Latin as well as Norman French, and Latin was the language of the church, as well as one of the the international languages amongst intellectuals. Amongst the aristocracy, the international language tended to be French - Lingua Franca, the language of the French.

As for the Celts inviting the Angles, Saxons and Jutes in, no they didn't. they fought them - Catraeth (Catterick) and Mount Badon being two of the most notable battles in the Welsh sources. You may thinking of the legend of Vortigern, who is supposed to have invited Anglo-Saxon settlers into Kent. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, on the other hand, name four places where battles were fought against the Britons / Welsh (the terms are interchangeable) in Kent, which hardly seems to square with an invitation.

"link" not "like", obviously.

Donald Tusk @eucopresident
Sufficient progress in #Brexit talks at December #EUCO is possible. But still a huge challenge. We need to see progress from UK within 10 days on all issues, including on Ireland.

So much for TM's offer of extra dosh

As for the Celts inviting the Angles, Saxons and Jutes in, no they didn't. they fought them - Catraeth (Catterick) and Mount Badon being two of the most notable battles in the Welsh sources. You may thinking of the legend of Vortigern, who is supposed to have invited Anglo-Saxon settlers into Kent. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, on the other hand, name four places where battles were fought against the Britons / Welsh (the terms are interchangeable) in Kent, which hardly seems to square with an invitation

But the 'Celts' were not one people, they were lots of different tribes (genetically different) and they had been warring amongst each other for centuries. There's no reason why the introduction of Anglo Saxons would change that - or any reason why they wouldn't join in. The legend of Hengist and Horsa is partially mythological - but it does seem to be agreed that Vortigern invited them over to help see off the picts. They then wanted payment and the island they were offered was not enough and this led to fighting between Vortigern's Celts and the Saxons they had invited over.

However a recent nationwide DNA study has proved that our previous understanding of invasion/settling on the British isles is inaccurate. The saxons were immigrants not invaders, they intermarried with the local celtic peoples and the culture developed organically. Science has proved the old 'invade and replace' model (including the invasion of the Celts and their replacing the original basque settlers) as wrong. Immigration and multiculturalism is the very bedrock of English identity it would seem - which makes the whole Brexit thing even more ridiculous.