Westministenders: The Truth Isn't A Made Up Concept

[RedToothBrush]

“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

Not George Orwell but often attributed to him. But a powerful statement with resonance nonetheless

Why the U.K. is a democracy in name only....

For reasons that should be obvious Thoreau has starting ringing in my back brain (there's so much crap in there things can take a few days to get from back to front ...)

Thoreau asserts that because governments are typically more harmful than helpful, they therefore cannot be justified. Democracy is no cure for this, as majorities simply by virtue of being majorities do not also gain the virtues of wisdom and justice. The judgment of an individual's conscience is not necessarily inferior to the decisions of a political body or majority, and so "[i]t is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.... Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice."[6] He adds, "I cannot for an instant recognize as my government [that] which is the slave's government also."[7]

Anyway, I think there should be a concerted effort to press for etymological accuracy in UK government, and all references (and I imagine there are actually few if any) to "citizen" should be replaced by "subject" while that is the true state of affairs. We are none of us citizens.

It's unlikely. Has BJ ever met an obligation?

I think they are right to give HK citizens visas but when it comes to immigration in general I think this government's aim is purely to stop Europeans from coming to the UK. That's it.

Oh wait

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/52891220#click=t.co/8LKmFoKCop" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.bbc.com/news/amp/52891220#click=t.co/8LKmFoKCop
UK seeks allies to help with potential Hong Kong 'exodus'

The UK is in talks with allies about how to handle a potential "exodus" of people from Hong Kong, the foreign secretary has said.

Dominic Raab told MPs "burden sharing" had been raised with countries in the Five Eyes alliance if China imposes a new security law on the territory.

The Five Eyes group includes the US, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada.

What about those European allies who asked for help with Syrian refugees???!

I think with the Hong Kong idea we can see how the government sees the world very clearly and how much they are stuck in a post 1945 time warp of colonialism.

uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-sterling/pound-climbs-above-1-25-to-one-month-high-brexit-hopes-support-idUKKBN2390Y6

uk.reuters.com
Pound climbs above $1.25 to one-month high, Brexit hopes support
Ritvik Carvalho
2-3 minutes

LONDON (Reuters) - Sterling climbed above $1.25 on Tuesday to its highest in a month as signs that Britain might be willing to compromise on sticking points in Brexit negotiations with the European Union provided support.

Britain is expected to indicate flexibility over fisheries and trade rules if the European Union agrees to lessen its demands regarding regulatory alignment and fishing access, the Times newspaper reported on Tuesday as a new round of talks kicks off.

Britain has until July 1 to ask for an extension to the current transition period, which ends in December.

Well this is reassuring

Sam Coates Times @samcoatestimes

- Leaked figs cast doubt on test and trace success rate

- Only 1,831 of 4,456 (40%) of newly infected patients became part of contact tracing system AND handed over contacts

- The 1,831 people named 4,634 close contacts. 1/3 of these traced

1/2

2/2

- Tracers given average of 2.5 contacts per person

Remember:

** SAGE expects 30 “contacts” per infected person (not 2.5)

** SAGE wanted 80% of contacts traced in 48 hours. (Somewhere around 14% are being traced)

** Gvt says “early partial” data but don’t supply their own

Britain is expected to indicate flexibility over fisheries and trade rules if the European Union agrees to lessen its demands regarding regulatory alignment and fishing access, the Times newspaper reported on Tuesday as a new round of talks kicks off.

So this is completely meaningless then?

Wasn't the UK a bit leery over helping the US with refugees from Vietnam ? Let's hope they've forgotten.

So this is completely meaningless then?

What is meaning (anymore) ?

(Sounds like a dreadful chart-clogging summer song lifted from a Broadway musical. Covid ! .The whole extravaganza is performed socially distanced, and the chorus singers are all wearing masks. "More from shame than protection, you feel. 4 stars" - The Guardian )

Wasn't a Brexiter crowing the other day about how the closure of the Barcelona factory was good for Nissan?
Maybe they crowed too soon.

The UK market is sufficient to support at least one mass vehicle producer like Nissan, probably two.

However, they'd need to competely switch away from exports and just sell in the domestic market

Wasn't a Brexiter crowing the other day about how the closure of the Barcelona factory was good for Nissan?

Yes. They missed the point that it was old production lines that were being moved which would mean there was a vacuum in the EU for the new production lines.

The garage my DF owned (still does) in London used to be next to an old (pre-war) chemical plant. Some point in the late 80s the company was bought by a US concern, and the workers (some of whom were customers) were all bouyed by talk of investment etc etc etc. Indeed, a lot of money was punted over a couple of years to ramp up production.

Just before they closed it ... nearly 500 jobs gone.

Turned out they only wanted a specific patent or license (which they got immediately) and while they were building a new plant in wherever in the US, they stocked up on the chemical made in the UK.

If you like twists ... when they flogged the land to the inevitable housing developers, part of the deal was it had to be signed off as free from chemical pollution. In the process of doing that they discovered (to their horror) there was a previously unknown underground water course on the land and they had to drill to test it. And that cost a fucking fortune. (We came in on a Sunday, and 12 hours they'd had to source a drilling rig and then spend 3 weeks punching holes to plot teh course of the stream.). The US company sold the land at a loss eventually.

When they finally put the new builds up, I saw every day on site. Which is why you'll never ever ever catch me buying anything built after 1970.

Home Secretary taking questions on Mumsnet.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/guest_posts/3927682-Guest-post-from-the-Home-Secretary-The-most-vulnerable-children-urgently-need-more-protection-during-lockdown

Just a reminder, Priti Patel's parents came to the UK in the 1960s. Now I don't doubt that they could see the way the wind was blowing, but they weren't fleeing Amin. Still never mind the blurring of the details for us plebs.

Will all those Hong Kong residents want to come to the UK? At a guess, I think they would probably prefer Australia and New Zealand.
However, will people in the UK really want an influx of people who are ethnic Chinese?

Would people want an influx of people from Hong Kong? Asks Peregrina speaking purely for me, I’d say “yes please”

Of course, at the time, British Overseas Citizenship for HKers was specially crafted by the UK government to prevent a large influx of [people of ethnic minority background] so as not to distress the British populace. Making nicey-nicey noises about lurving HKers now, and how welcome they'll be, when the British populace have now repeatedly demonstrated that they loathe immigration and foreign influence, and love the hostile environment

British Airways intend to sack 45,000 people then take on 30,000 at a 60/70% drop in wages and slashing workers rights.. This is just awful! BA is only one so far intending to do this. It's taking government money for furlough (35 mill in April alone) and then threatening the workers with redundancy. If this happens then everyone should boycott this shit company.

Quite so, Elements. Especially now with the Corona virus emanating from China - I would not want to even look Chinese at present, so the idea that a majority in the country will willingly accept them is laughable.

Nissan : the people of Sunderland voted for Brexit. They say they knew what they were voting for.

COVID in the USA : most deaths are in states that vote Democrat because most Republican states are sparsely populated

UK Parliament : an utter embarrassment, but then that give Cummings the opportunity to undermine the charade even more.
How will the queuing work in the rain ?

Of course, at the time, British Overseas Citizenship for HKers was specially crafted by the UK government to prevent a large influx of [people of ethnic minority background] so as not to distress the British populace.

it's not citizenship, it's subjectship

Is the UK the only country in the world that has the concept of "citizen [subject]" without right of abode ? Isn't that what the 1981 act created ? To prevent our Empire cashing in it's Bill of Rights, to quote Strummer ?

Has BJ ever met an obligation?

I expect he's staggered into a few on a drunken night out.

Piers was on form this morning: "We have the worst death rate in the world. ....We have the worst death rate in the world!..."

Has BJ ever met an obligation?

Guppy ?

Thatcher's Nationality Act was all about keeping the HK Chinese out, and in a belated amendment written in crayon at the last minute, saying the Falkland Islanders were British after all. ....But the Chagos Islanders weren't. (What do you suppose is the difference?)

For years now, across much of the Western world, there has been over-capacity of mass-production auto plants
Consumers don't buy cars as often and the markets are saturated

We've seen a succession of mergers, rationalisations - i.e. closures & redundancies

Even before the Brexit referendum, most analysts expected at least one major foreign producer, probably more,
to be squeezed out of Europe - Japanese, Korean or American