Westminstenders: What the winds bring

[RedToothBrush]

The next few weeks are crucial. Eu talks, covid handling, the US election and any other unexpected events (its nearly November, lets face it will probably be the weather).

It feels a little like the car crash in slow motion is about to hit the wall of reality. I guess that just means all there is left to do is to brace for impact.

There WAS a catholic/protestant divide on Merseyside. Schools ended at different times to avoid mixing/fighting between catholic & protestant pupils. Football teams not split along sectarian lines. But it was stated that the protestant English fought the catholic Irish - and the Welsh and Scots held their coats. It's why Liverpool has 2 cathedrals.

Likewise there isn't a catholic/protestant divide.

Define "divide" ?

Is it simply being aware of peoples backgrounds ?

Or does it go further ?

A lot of people struggle to understand nuance these days. Which is a shame, as they're the ones who will ultimately lose out.

I always understood there to be a historical and cultural divide between Protestants and Catholics in both Liverpool and Glasgow.
Although coming from, and living in the soft South I am happy to be corrected.

@KonTikki

I always understood there to be a historical and cultural divide between Protestants and Catholics in both Liverpool and Glasgow. Although coming from, and living in the soft South I am happy to be corrected.

Well DWs scouse as they come (went to jail for being on the Militant council - RIP) aunt would certainly put you straight. She and DWs DM came from the Catlick side o' the tracks.

So it's certainly there . The question is "how much does it matter ?"

I'm a little disinterested in the modern fad for trying to pretend differences aren't, and that it's a mortal shaming sin to notice differences around you. Noticing that my neighbour (for example) is not Caucasian white isn't any form of "-ism" in and of itself.

@GaspodeWonderCat

There WAS a catholic/protestant divide on Merseyside. Schools ended at different times to avoid mixing/fighting between catholic & protestant pupils. Football teams not split along sectarian lines. But it was stated that the protestant English fought the catholic Irish - and the Welsh and Scots held their coats. It's why Liverpool has 2 cathedrals.

Yeah there definitely was a particular issue with Liverpool. It definitely existed and was a problem.

I know people in their 50s and 60s whom it very much was important to and still make a bit of a point of their religious schooling as a part of their identity. But i think for younger generations this definitely has become an historical rather than current thing and perhaps more to to with knowing your ancestry than anything more. My age group don't seem to have the same strong attachment to it in quite the same way.

I have Catholic and Protestant sides to my family (including some who grew up in Liverpool - though weren't born there) over two generations. So I have been taught a little about how it was a problem in terms of marriage and prejudices faced.

Incompetence seems to be this administrations signature move.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/03/ministers-prompt-confusion-over-england-covid-coronavirus-lockdown-rules

Ministers have prompted confusion over England’s new lockdown rules with Michael Gove apologising for incorrectly indicating tennis and golf could be played, as cabinet colleague Robert Jenrick apparently wrongly suggested a family would be allowed to meet a friend for a walk outside.

(contd)

although it's not all doom and gloom. I've noticed a few large organisations have started advertising their products as being "UK-proof", with a note that if their products can withstand the fucknuttery of Boris, Gove and the gang, then they are certainly robust enough for your mission critical system.

Somebody I know has just been sent away from a polling station after waiting in line
so that Melania could vote unmasked and alone

@ListeningQuietly

Somebody I know has just been sent away from a polling station after waiting in line so that Melania could vote unmasked and alone

Who remembers the near-riots back in 2010, when people were turned away from the polling stations in the UK ?

Oh, and what happened to all the people denied a vote in the 2019 EU elections ? I'm guessing fuck all, because your vote ain't worth the flying fuck the government doesn't give for it.

DGR Boris is pushing his "One Nation Conservative" ness, which is quite poorly timed when you look at how Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland not to mention some big chunks of the "North" of England want to give him/London/Westminster the bird and go it alone.

I think it's excellently timed for Scotland - 7 months 7 months from the next Holyrood elections

@ListeningQuietly

Somebody I know has just been sent away from a polling station after waiting in line so that Melania could vote unmasked and alone

That is outrageous and I'm sure illegal. But it doesn't surprise me either.

Ugh.

I must admit, I daren't watch the news about the US elections - unlike the times when Clinton and Obama were elected.
Now I just want to wake up when it's all over - hopefully soon, not 4 years hence.

Lobster
I'm sure Melania did not realise that Palm Beach ladies who lunch will reconsider their options after her performance.
Considering the social circles there, the SM comments are "interesting"

Wonder why she didn’t vote by post like the rest of the transnational crime syndicate Trumps?

Interesting that she’s in Florida and the Trumpster is presumably in his White House bunker (although I guess she’ll be sent to Washington to do the dutiful wife thing)?

Yes why is she in Florida not Washington?

Why are the Trumps registered to vote in Florida anyway? Mar-a-lago is a place of business, not a residence?

Vote early, vote often ?

Melanea is reportedly still to covering from Covid. So maybe why she is in the warmth of Florida?

Sabrina
Lots of people are registered to vote in two places (in the US and the UK)
its just doing so twice that is illegal.

I get the impression that because she can vote in Florida, which has such a large number of electoral colleges, this is (weakly) symbolic.

LQ I understand that (students in the UK for instance), but the Trumps are technically not resident in Florida because Mar-a-lago is registered as a business, not a residence.

Digging into the catacombs of local records to build an argument against the dock, a small group of loosely aligned preservationists, disgruntled neighbors and attorneys have unearthed documents that they assert call into question the legality of Trump’s much-publicized decision late last year to change his official domicile from Manhattan to Mar-a-Lago and to register to vote in Florida using the club’s address. According to those documents, and additional materials obtained by The Washington Post, Trump agreed in writing years ago to change the use of the Mar-a-Lago property from a single-family residence to a private club owned by a corporation he controls.

The distinction is significant. The property is taxed as a private club — not as a residence, according to Palm Beach County property appraiser records. Trump’s own attorney assured local officials in Palm Beach before they voted to approve the club in 1993 that he would not live there. Mar-a-Lago’s website says only that Trump maintains “private quarters” at the club.

www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/trump-made-florida-his-official-residence-he-may-have-also-made-a-legal-mess/2020/05/07/17d53fb2-849c-11ea-878a-86477a724bdb_story.html

baroque
New York and Florida both have 29 EC votes, but the New York outcome is not in doubt

www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1355585/brexit-news-uk-trade-deal-kenya-commonwealth-latest-eu

Wow! Big deal! ( Not)

Yay - Kenya ...... how much is our trade worth with them.....