Westministenders: No Australia Don't Have A Deal

[RedToothBrush]

Since Friday, far from letting things calm down, Johnson has doubled down stating that if we can't have a Canada Deal (which the EU says wouldn't be equal because we are much closer than Canada geographically) we will go for an Australia Deal.

This is the latest rehash of a managed no deal package up as something else which the EU have already repeatedly said no to.

So we are on track for no deal.

At the same time Johnson has got very excited about American food and how its great. Almost as if he wants no deal wit the EU to force a shitty bad deal with the us through.

Johnson and his chronies have also been trying to undermine journalistic transparency by blocking access to the lobby to some media outlets in a move that makes us look like a tinpot dictatorship. Fortunately there was a mass walk out of journalists but it remains to be seen how long that can be maintained.

Far from being a clean slate to move forward from its already proving that nothing has changed and old divisions are as deep as ever, if not worse...

Smart move by the Chinese on HS2. If Johnson says yes to them, it annoys Trump; if he says no, it annoys the vested interests in the UK who want to get it built.

The cultural bias in intelligence testing is first year A Level essay material. To quote Steven Jay Gould:

Of course there is cultural bias in intelligence testing (that's why there are different tests for each country, for starters) - but the main problem with "intelligence tests" isn't how they work (they're designed to perform a very narrow function i.e. assessing people on specific tasks that are thought to be linked to particular aspects of cognitive function, mainly for the diagnosis of learning disability - and they do this reasonably well), but their cultural significance and our obsession with "genius".

Andrew Sabisky also said richer people are more intelligent and backed prescribing mind-enhancing drug – even at cost of 'a dead kid once a year

This is freaking me out a bit Yougov had some really weird questions recently about:
Do Brits think gene editing should be allowed to change people's appearance?
Do Brits think gene editing should be allowed to make people more intelligent?

I know it could be from some other sponsor...or it could be Cummings gauging responses modifying human through drugs or genetics as one of his new shake it all up ideas..

I wonder whether Cummings is going for an übermensch/untermensch society. Including genetic engineering. That way, the rich's place in society would be invulnerable.

Smart move by the Chinese on HS2. If Johnson says yes to them, it annoys Trump; if he says no, it annoys the vested interests in the UK who want to get it built.

I suspect the Chinese had already worked out it's a fantasy plan. Just because Johnson says yes is not guarantee it will happen ... I can't help but feel they are calling his bluff.

And at the risk of a Godwin ban, I've just been catching up on a tiny %age of the TV I've got stashed, and seen a couple of episodes of "Nazi megastructures" (or something like that) which did hammer home the point about dictators being obsessed with grand engineering schemes ... just leave that there.

Very pleasing that the Leader of Sinn Fein has no truck with the gangsters
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-51515473

"Sinn Féin's leader has said the party will not be deterred by dissident republican threats made to MLAs Michelle O'Neill and Gerry Kelly. "

...Ex-Gangsters, maybe.

which did hammer home the point about dictators being obsessed with grand engineering schemes ... just leave that there.

Thats not Godwin. That's authoritarians with egos.

DGR
Abandoned engineering - WONDERFUL programme

I see Tugenhadt thinks a Chinese-built HS2 would threaten our national security. Presumably, someone in Beijing could flick a switch and our railways would be reduced to chaos.

(fill in your own punchline.)

I see Tugenhadt thinks a Chinese-built HS2 would threaten our national security.

And Hinckley C ?

And our 5G network ?

Man's a cretin. And (my POV) has pretty much fallen into the Chinese trap. Let's hope they don't take offence and pull out of all the infrastructure projects they are involved in. Or financing.

I wouldn't be too shocked to hear - possibly later this year, or earlier next year - the Chinese offer to build Trumps wall.

The day will come when Britain and America will regret bitterly forcing the Chinese isolation to end. You don't get to sail a gunboat up a river, torch a city or two and get to walk away from an empire which lasted 2,000 years without consequence.

Cartega delenda est, and all that.

Abandoned engineering - WONDERFUL programme

It was from that stable ... "Secret Nazi Ruins" was the proper title. Blockhaus in France and a really creepy villa in the Canaries were as far as I got.

"someone in Beijing could flick a switch and our railways would be reduced to chaos"

Oh, so they've already flicked the switch ?

DGR
La Coupole - one of the most astounding and sobering buildings I've ever visited
with Batterie Todt and the Vienna Flak tower and Torteval tower in Guernsey all in the follow up list

what is it about authoritarians and concrete
trump and his wall etc

Bigchoc
Wonderful article in the Economist recently about how the UK railways could be transferred from franchises to concessions in a very short space of time at minimal cost
if only there was the political will
and with a concession system, the integration planning of HS2/3/4 would become a doddle
so it will never happen

Abandoned engineering - WONDERFUL programme

It's like a list of places I'd like to go and visit whilst on holiday. Suffice to say I'm not exactly a beach bum!

This link is interesting
www.snopes.com/fact-check/1956-republican-platform

Talking about megastructures, here's an assessment of the feasibility of the Scotland-Ireland Bridge that no one except BJ wants except maybe the consultants he will hire for the bridge that never happens

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/northern-ireland-scotland-bridge

Listening I have long admired Eisenhower President and have quoted some of his speeches here
However, even though a Republican, if he were running now, he would be described as a dangerous leftwinger

I'd be a bit worried about the press coverage of Sabisky if I were in no 10.

And Braverman's association with a religious cult known for widespread sexual abuse is going to generate some headlines.

Who remembers Ruth Kelly?

Got a lot of flak for being in Opus Dei, and allegedly having a piece of barbed wire in her knickers or something.

Brexit: Ministers refuse to release secret studies believed to show little gain from trade deals with US and Asia

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-trade-deals-us-trump-asia-boris-johnson-eu-a9336331.html

In the last parliament, Labour was able to secure the release of similar studies by laying a “humble address”,
but this route has been shut off by the 80-strong Conservative majority.

The secrecy leaves a November 2018 Treasury document as the only official forecast
– putting the GDP gain from deals with the US, Australia and New Zealand at a puny 0.2 per cent.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51519687

"Staunch Tory" upset that Tory PM apparently doesn't give a shit and wants to be quarantined where "they speak our language."

I feel great sympathy for those abroad, or anywhere, in quarantine but this man's attitude is awful and quite frankly I feel little sympathy for him. Maybe he should use the time constructively and get on Babel to learn the language.

Sorry, not directly brexit related but I'm sure you can see the link to attitudes and the lack of realising that Tories like BlowJob don't give a shit about voters.

I've not have my cup of tea yet so am not at my most coherent, sorry.

I remember Ruth Kelly - as with others before her, e.g. the long forgotten John Patten - a stint at Education undid her. I don't think the connection with Opus Dei was responsible, but it didn't help her in any way.

But Mr Abel, who describes himself as a "staunch Tory", said he had "no confidence" in Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Why did he expect anything else from a man who is a known liar and cheat?

That’s interesting about Braverman.
I remember Ruth Kelly most for her spectacularly ill fitting suits. I’m shallow like that. Though if she was chastising her body they might have been an adjunct to that.