Westministenders: BAH HUMBUG said Mr Rees-Mogg

[RedToothBrush]

"At this festive season of the year, Mr Scrooge Rees-Mogg, ... it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir."

"Are there no prisons hostels?"

"Plenty of prisons hostels..."

"And the Union workhouses foodbanks." demanded Scrooge Jacob. "Are they still in operation?"

"Both very busy, sir..."

"Those who are badly off must go there."

"Many can't go there; and many would rather die."

"If they would rather die," said Scrooge ^Rees-Mogg, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."

He continued "Besides I do not believe that anyone would die without them. I think Theresa is right, there are many complex reasons why nurses go to food banks. The real reason for the rise in numbers is that people know that they are there and Labour deliberately didn't tell them. To have charitable support given by people voluntarily to support their fellow citizens I think is rather uplifting and shows what a good, compassionate country we are"

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This thread is dedicated to Mrs8 and anyone else who is working to make life just a little better in the difficult circumstances that ALL politicians are currently doing their best to ignore (despite what they profess).

No Deal = even more poverty and destitution.

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HERES HOPING FOR A HAPPIER NEW YEAR
especially to those of you, who might be having a tough time or facing real uncertainity.

Thanks Red.

Mrsr8

"Not much but it will make a difference to them."

That's the whole point, isn't it? It may not be much in objective terms, but it means the world to the recipient.

April
asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, kale, onions, potatoes, salad greens, spinach, spring onions, swede.

May
asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, courgette, cucumbers, lettuce, peas, rhubarb, salad greens, spinach, spring onions

June
artichoke, asparagus, aubergine, blueberries, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, courgette, cucumber, fennel, garlic, gooseberries, kohirabi, lettuce, mangetout, onions, pak choi, peas, radishes, rhubarb, runner beans, salad greens, spinach, spring onions, strawberries, tomatoes, turnips

Yummmm broccoli.

Broccoli fritters and soup til June.

The latest version of the HMRC "partnership pack" lists a lot of additional work, documentation etc that firms will have to do if there is no deal

https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/business-46645130?

Businesses that trade with the EU need to take steps now to prepare for the possibility of a no-deal Brexit, a government minister has warned.

Financial Secretary to the Treasury Mel Stride told the BBC's Today programme "there is a call to action now".
...
However, Mr Stride called the prospect of the UK leaving the EU without a deal an "unlikely event".^
< hasn't he received the govt memo on that yet ? 🤔 >
....
Preparing for the changes in the import procedure was "quite an onerous task, and possibly [involving] extra cost in admin staff".

Interesting question DGR . When discussing the necessity of chaining unicorns with the DC last night I noted that the UK Coat of Arms Lion Rampant and the Unicorn are both Scottish. The lions on the shield are the English ones.

www.historyofparliamentonline.org/england-scotland-and-treaty-union-1706-08

Aditya Chakrabortty@chakrabortty

Forget about meal deals; now it's no-deal meals.

Apparently the sentence (if caught) could be up to life for drone activity if it is deemed to be terrorist related.
Unless a drone is actually captured 'alive' so it's workings can be evaluates as to source, sophistication etc all bets are off on that front.
If it is remote controlled by 4G or other less easy to pinpoint methods then it puts the 'controller' somewhere on the planet. Even a 5Km radius includes a lot of people and many possibilities. Someone sat in a car or van? The controller could even be a fancy phone app.
Have any of your children been playing an internet game where you fly drones? Rather than being in 'virtual reality' the code to actually get it to fly a real drone that happens to be in Gatwick is pretty easy in technical terms. Flight simulator programs have been around for years, it only takes linking someone's IP address to a real drone to do this.
Yes probably traceable eventually. Gone are the simple days of some dynamite, a reel of cable and a plunger thing to set it off.

I wish people would preface such articles with This is Self Inflicted.

This is a good idea. I'm going to make a habit of not using the term no-deal without the qualifier "self-inflicted".

So, now that UK companies are being told to SPEND and make preparations for no deal (if that happens) if there is a deal (WA or remaining) can these companies sue the UK government or claim back all that they are being TOLD to spend? Companies that will have to be getting in new software for customs and tax for example, maybe having to hire extra staff (or agency) to do the necessary work.

It seems the drone was autonomous - so no radio signals to jam.

Some excellent reporting here: www.theregister.co.uk/2018/12/20/gatwick_drone_non_shootdown_reasons/

Place Mat King Wenceslas looked out...

Very few can remember the rationing of WW2, although I think it partially lasted up to early 1950s

It did last until the early 50s although I was too young then to remember it. I remember food being very monotonous still until about the early 60s. This might partly have been because my DM didn't like cooking, but not entirely. The first Chinese restaurant opened in my town in about 1961 and then a bit later an Italian one appeared, and people began to go abroad and began to want more interesting food.

DGR
Interesting article, thanks.
It has reminded me I need to send Christmas greetings to a friend who has suitable 'detection' equipment. Associating with him is a cross between GCHQ and 'Last of the summer wine' and involves quite a bit of beer, exaggerating the latter aspects!
The 'shoot them' down doesn't seem to have been completely worked out as although as pointed out a bullet can travel 2.5 km if it hits nothing, surely marksmen on the runway shooting upwards would get any 'misses' dropping within the airport perimeter (and wear a hard hat).

The cynic in me thinks all the new Govt emphasis on No Deal preparation is an attempt to kickstart business investment which has been lacklustre so far this year due to uncertainty.

No @howabout . I think it's to put the shit up everyone. And rightly so.

If some people make money out of this terrible situation then, meh, that's on them and their conscience.

On food and diet I grew up in the 70s and 80s and the most memorable event for me was sanctions being imposed on South Africa and decent apples and oranges being replaced by European alternatives.

If anything I think meat and fish supplies are less varied than when I was growing up because supermarkets are so lazy and in response our producers export anything seen as in any way exotic.

The cynic in me thinks all the new Govt emphasis on No Deal preparation is an attempt to kickstart business investment which has been lacklustre so far this year due to uncertainty.

given the general dimness of those in power, it's not impossible. Even it it's having the polar opposite effect.

If anything I think meat and fish supplies are less varied than when I was growing up because supermarkets are so lazy and in response our producers export anything seen as in any way exotic.

Maybe now, but still a vast improvement on the 1950s.

Late PMK, thanks to red, to mrs8 and merry Xmas and New year to you all

If anything I think meat and fish supplies are less varied than when I was growing up because supermarkets are so lazy and in response our producers export anything seen as in any way exotic.

I laugh about "local butchers" - all of ours have less choice then the supermarkets (see also "greengrocers").

People whine about the demise of the high street, but if they don't sell what people (in this case, me) want, then what's the point ?

the Acts of Union would have to be repealed

But can that be done from Scotland alone ? If not, it's not really a "union" is it. Certainly not of equals.

So not really a union but a takeover then ? As per ....