Foggy
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Post by Foggy on Dec 4, 2017 17:52:24 GMT
The Spanish state broadcaster has organised a televised election debate for prime time on Thursday night.
Obviously Puigdemont will not be there in person, and following today's ruling Junqueras will clearly not be present either.
Personally I can't see how the ERC leader is likely to commit the same crimes he was imprisoned for during the campaign, considering the infractions he's accused of depend on him being both in office and in power.
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Post by Foggy on Dec 3, 2017 21:34:18 GMT
The Lib Dem MP here was a notable Eurosceptic That's more of a reference to her being called Caroline Leaver. She's a outspoken Remainer. Even if she had been a Brexiteer, that wouldn't be totally unusual down here in the South West. I couldn't vote Lib Dem in the County Council elections this year because their candidate in my division is a leaver, among other reasons.
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Post by Foggy on Dec 3, 2017 21:20:26 GMT
In Franco's time (although his régime self-identified as 'National Catholic'), no archbishop would've got away with defending the democratic order or referring to Catalonia as a nation. The 1978 Constitution only uses the phrase "historic nationality" rather than nation, and the courts unwisely struck down the latter phrase from the Catalan statute of autonomy in 2010. I do of course agree that La Razón is an utterly despicable publication. Yes, it's utter shite. Controversial headlines to grab attention and thin on news. It's owned by Grupo Planeta, which was set up by a man who seized other people's printing presses in (amusingly) Barcelona literally at gun point and got away with it because of his close connections to the regime. Whoa, I wasn't aware of how Grupo Planeta got started! Obviously I wouldn't want to see any newspaper banned, but you certainly have to treat headlines in that one with even more scepticism than most. It clearly still caters to a particular market of Spaniards who like their news slanted in that way. That said, even the normally more reliable El País went over the top with its parroting of the official position of the Spanish state a couple of months ago. Anyway, in other Catalan election news, ERC leader Oriol Junqueras – who must be the favourite to be the next President of the Generalitat – could well be released from prison tomorrow so that he can campaign properly. It's worth noting that for all their historical clout, the thought of his party topping the poll at elections to the Parlament seemed fanciful at best throughout the 80s, 90s and 2000s. The only party that looks like it has an outside chance of stopping them at the moment would be Ciutadans, and a victory for them would if anything be even more remarkable.
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Post by Foggy on Dec 3, 2017 20:39:46 GMT
In Franco's time (although his régime self-identified as 'National Catholic'), no archbishop would've got away with defending the democratic order or referring to Catalonia as a nation. The 1978 Constitution only uses the phrase "historic nationality" rather than nation, and the courts unwisely struck down the latter phrase from the Catalan statute of autonomy in 2010.
I do of course agree that La Razón is an utterly despicable publication.
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Post by Foggy on Dec 3, 2017 20:22:15 GMT
Well, since you asked: That's the less critical/ultra-pernickety version to boot! So your main correction involves adding unwarranted apostrophes (should that be apostrophe's?) to a bunch of plurals? Brilliant But no mention of the use of the word 'anonymity' as a noun to describe a person Come on Pete, you know me better than that! The apostrophes were in the original version and Ghyl has since edited them out. Yes, that was one of the ways I could've been even more fussy but chose not to be. If I were to critique the style it would take even longer. I'd have pointed out, in that case, that the use of plural place names in such a way sounds a bit football pundit-y, but I don't know how formal a register is required at whichever place Ghyl plans to publish the piece.
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Post by Foggy on Dec 3, 2017 3:10:39 GMT
Well, since you asked: Here's something I wrote and hope to release somewhere soon. May be errors, spellings, etc... Feedback appreciated. Links broken, may fix them laterIt’s now over a year since Paul Nuttall was elected leader of UKIP. [ ...] Nuttall as leader quickly became a joke and resigned after the election and was replaced by a total anonymity. There is currently no real sign of any UKIP recovery and their remaining councillors are defecting to the Conservatives en masse or losing their seats. Nigel Morris in the I The i claimed the election of Nuttall would “send a shiver down the spine” of Labour MPs on “soft majorities” and that UKIP’s “populist insurgency” would destroy them in the North like the SNP did for Scottish Labour, citing research that Labour could lose 14 seats if one in fifty 2015 Labour voters switched to UKIP. He also predicted that Nuttall’s UKIP could take Heywood and Middleton, Great Grimsby, Rother Valley, Rotherham, Blyth Valley, Bolton South East, Ashton Under Lyne, Hull East, Hull West, South Shields and Makerfield from Labour. The reality that this narrative eluded – that as well as the Rotherham’s and Hartlepool’s (both still comfortably Labour FWIW) of this world there were the Liverpool’s, the Manchester’s and the Newcastle’s and that these places were much larger – was ignored. Now you might be thinking “A -ha, the data is a distortion due to First Past the Post, a vote share chart would show the depth of Labour’s decline in the North”. A swing of 4% in the other direction would see Labour losing 13 seats in the same region, but this revert s them to levels of seats they saw under Neil Kinnock in 1992 but this time with a massive Tory majority of 78 unlike the meagre one John Major got. Suffice to say that rather than stopping in the post-New Labour era [ ?] the trend for the North to move towards Labour has actually got stronger since the establishment of the Coalition. That's the less critical/ultra-pernickety version to boot!
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Post by Foggy on Dec 3, 2017 1:15:48 GMT
Oh my, not you as well! I noticed but thought I'd leave it in to give you something to do.
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Post by Foggy on Dec 3, 2017 0:20:58 GMT
Why is German history bad, sir? It's not. In fact, it's positively fascinating. I just think that someone who has read lots about it and is still in favour of a contemporary ruinous, populist, separatist folly of a project either hasn't understood it or wasn't paying attention. Equally I can't see how a real patriot in this country can have a less than sensible position regarding the monarchy. To be fair, we already have plenty of members here with their own idiosyncratic and eclectic mix of positions. I suppose I just thought it'd be to have some new faces with logical, coherent, rational views... like mine. Anyhow, the more the merrier, I say. ETA: But these are of course all issues we can discuss in more detail in the relevant threads.
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Post by Foggy on Dec 2, 2017 23:35:38 GMT
I have taken note of the two usual posters are who seem to try and "enforce" this. If you're including me in this, I'd have to ask where I've seeked to enforce it (if not, ignore). Oh my, not you as well!
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Post by Foggy on Dec 2, 2017 23:14:12 GMT
Any comments on these, bearing in mind this was a 1940 suggestion. Interesting Disgraceful for the degree to which some of the boundaries would have crossed traditional county boundaries.. FTFY
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Post by Foggy on Dec 2, 2017 22:01:52 GMT
Good, but you might've wanted to do a bit more research into the gender of the new independent MP before posting that.
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Post by Foggy on Dec 2, 2017 1:16:17 GMT
Given I’ve already posted I guess I should introduce myself. My name is David, I’m 24, I live in Dundee, Scotland but I’m originally from Carlisle, Cumbria. I’m a Conservative but most of all I’m a Unionist. Politically I’m on the moderate right, with a slight nationalist tinge, and I’m a Brexiteer. I’m also a huge history nerd, especially German history. I should probably do an introduction as well. I'm Thomas, I'm a strongly anti-Brexit member of the Labour Party (how do I get my political leaning updated on my profile?). Originally from Bedfordshire, I now live in Gloucestershire (Stroud constituency). I consider myself a socialist, an atheist and a republican with some very socially liberal views. I consider myself a patriot, but in no way a nationalist, what else is there......? Oh yes, I also speak three languages! Out of politeness all I'll say at this stage is welcome to the forum.
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Post by Foggy on Dec 2, 2017 0:39:22 GMT
All I know of LePage is that my father does not speak highly of him, but that he is also apparently still alarmingly popular upstate where Trump won an Electoral College seat last year.
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Post by Foggy on Dec 2, 2017 0:21:04 GMT
The predicted Green gain appears to be based on the assumption that the Green candidate will definitely finish ahead of Labor as long as he's in front on first preferences, however narrowly. Under compulsory preferential voting (re-introduced to Queensland at this election), that isn't necessarily the case.
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Post by Foggy on Nov 30, 2017 17:37:22 GMT
Yes, but normally by now the overall results are clearly decided even when counting has not quite finished. I hate having to delay my electoral analyses... ... and I enjoy reading them. You'd have been able to publish one for Queensland by now if Australia were a developed country.
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Post by Foggy on Nov 30, 2017 17:17:06 GMT
Secretary of State is minded to approve plans to merge two groups of two councils: * Taunton Deane and West Somerset Not seen any plans for this - is there an associated move (or is there likely to be subsequently) to move that portion of the current West Somerset District which lies East of the Quantocks to Sedgemoor District? It's the West Suffolk plan that I hadn't heard about! (Technically a resurrection of that name, but as a district rather than a county.) Some kind of plan to get rid of West Somerset has been on the cards for a while. A simple merger with Taunton Deane isn't really an ideal solution. This move should really have triggered a complete rethinking of the internal borders of ceremonial Somerset, but the government isn't interested in opening up that can of worms at the moment. If this goes through, it would leave Rutland as the least populous 'proper' local authority in England, and neigbouring Melton would – if the Dorset mergers are also passed – end up as the least populated district.
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Post by Foggy on Nov 30, 2017 16:38:20 GMT
How much longer is this going to take? Weeks, which is normal for Australia and its third-world infrastructure.
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Post by Foggy on Nov 30, 2017 0:42:59 GMT
I thought he had enough to do running Queensland Do keep up! There have been quite a few general elections in that state since he retired, including one just last week that is likely to result in a continued Labor government, which I'd have thought you'd be pleased about. The actual election this thread is meant to be about is beginning to sound like a stitch-up.
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Post by Foggy on Nov 28, 2017 22:27:18 GMT
The A39 and A358 are both pretty major roads. Yes, Exmoor is remote, but hardly anyone lives there so that doesn't matter. Nearly everyone lives in towns along the A39. What's perhaps more relevant is that West Somerset is the lowest population "proper" council (i.e. not City of London or Scilly Isles). 1/3 of the population is retired. I suspect the real problem is that it's not a sustainable local govt unit and over generations that has shown and resulted in decline. Merger with another makes sense. Yeah, there's your answer. It can't be viable that so much of the populace is economically inactive.
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Post by Foggy on Nov 28, 2017 20:11:09 GMT
er, because it's difficult to get to? The boundary of West Somerset is 9 miles from the M5, so I'm not convinced that's the major factor. I believe the district council is one of those that has historically been run by independents; perhaps that gives insight into the culture there? The eastern boundary of West Somerset isn't too far from the M5, granted, but you have to go through B-roads and then carry on if you want to get to the main population centres of Minehead and Watchet. Exmoor and the inland settlements are even more remote. Plus, that's just for people with their own cars, of course. The public transport links between it and neighbouring authorities are abominable. The council has been broke for well over a decade and is constantly threatened by a mooted merger with Taunton Deane.
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