Britain - The Official Thread

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How will you vote in the 2024 UK General Election?

  • Conservative Party

    Votes: 2 6.9%

  • Green Party

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Labour Party

    Votes: 14 48.3%

  • Liberal Democrats

    Votes: 2 6.9%

  • Other (Wales/Scotland/Northern Ireland)

    Votes: 1 3.4%

  • Other Independents

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other Parties

    Votes: 2 6.9%

  • Spoiled Ballot

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Will Not/Cannot Vote

    Votes: 8 27.6%
  • Total voters
    29
  • Poll closed .
Robin.
Things couldn't have worked out better getting the Foreign Secretary position and it has left Gove with egg on his face.
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It's a toothless position nowadays, he gets nominal control of foreign policy and security but in reality those duties have been directly with the PM for about 10 years. This is a way to keep Boris both in the tent and away from it for long periods of time, a genius appointment.

Gove, bwa ha ha ha. And Nicky Morgan, bwa ha ha ha. Hopefully the Ofsted farce will be properly concluded now.

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Boris on Africa (language warning)

Boris
What a relief it must be for Blair to get out of England. It is said that the Queen has come to love the Commonwealth, partly because it supplies her with regular cheering crowds of flag-waving piccaninnies...

"They say he is shortly off to the Congo. No doubt the AK47s will fall silent, and the pangas will stop their hacking of human flesh, and the tribal warriors will all break out in watermelon smiles to see the big white chief touch down in his big white British taxpayer-funded bird
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On Uganda;

Boris
If left to their own devices, the natives would rely on nothing but the instant carbohydrate gratification of the plantain.
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On Obama and Churchill's bust;

Boris
No one was sure whether the President had himself been involved in the decision. Some said it was a snub to Britain. Some said it was a symbol of the part-Kenyan President's ancestral dislike of the British empire - of which Churchill had been such a fervent defender
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More at the Beeb;

BBC
Boris on Hillary Clinton

"She's got dyed blonde hair and pouty lips, and a steely blue stare, like a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital." - in 2007

Boris on Donald Trump

"I am genuinely worried that he could become president," Mr Johnson said in March. "I was in New York and some photographers were trying to take a picture of me and a girl walked down the pavement towards me and she stopped and she said, 'Gee, is that Trump?'

"It was one of the worst moments."

He's also accused Mr Trump of being "out of his mind" and of possessing "stupefying ignorance".

Boris on Iran
In a 2006 column, he said he supported Iran having the nuclear bomb, saying it was "the the only sure-fire means of protecting my country, and my poor huddled constituents...from the possibility of an attack by America."

While he acknowledges this was at a time the US was fighting two wars, it's fair to say Mr Johnson's opinion here is... unconventional.

Boris on Papua New Guinea
Some things never change: in 2006, the Labour party was (again) in the middle of another leadership crisis. And Boris was (again) apologising for more offensive comments - this time in relation to Labour's troubles.

He wrote: "For 10 years we in the Tory Party have become used to Papua New Guinea-style orgies of cannibalism and chief-killing, and so it is with a happy amazement that we watch as the madness engulfs the Labour Party."

Papua New Guinea's High Commissioner in London was not happy.

And what Boris is like abroad...
Staff at the Foreign Office may have their hands full, if one report is anything to go by.

"Foreign Office staff had to pick up a hotel bar tab, stop Mr Johnson from driving a sports car out of a showroom and arrange last-minute tours when the mayor of London travelled to Erbil, in the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, in January 2015," the FT reported.

While his visit did lead to more deals struck in Kurdistan, it reportedly proved a diplomatic headache. At one point, the FT said, Mr Johnson insisted on visiting the front line in the fight against IS.
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And finally, of course, there's his prize-winning poem... definite NSFW language warning; Spectator.
 
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I read a variant which went along the lines of "BJ and FO" written on a piece of paper and handed to Theresa May.
 
At least some good will come out of Brexit. Apparently the Department of Energy And Climate Change was scrapped by the new Prime Minister.
 
Johnnypenso
Apparently the Department of Energy And Climate Change was scrapped by the new Prime Minister.
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Yes, it's been merged with the Department for Business and Industrial Strategy to become Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. From what I've read the new minister is a known supporter of green energies and has expressed commitment for the department to continue tackling climate change.

Sounds alright to me. Glad you agree........ :)
 
:cheers:
justin credible
Yes I always liked the way she seemed to do her business. The idea of when I am on stage if you want to watch then watch me but when I am off and minding my own business leave me the hell alone, with a what I do in my house is my business attitude. Can't fault the woman. Remember her giving some photographer a dressing down and saying something along the lines of "you want my picture"? $5000 please or go forth and multiply.
I was surprised too she has an eye on Brit politics and even knows who Boris is but as you said she is old school a different breed to the spoilt brats of Hollywood like (maybe not an actor but you get my drift) Floyd Mayweather jnr.

Boris seems very crafty or damn right stupid with a touch of fairy dust sprinkled on him as he always seem to end up landing on his feet, Is it a deliberate ploy or should he be putting lottery numbers on?
Nah I still think he has a touch of the Forrest Gump about him.


Just seen this from XJ40 I usually steer clear of football, politics and religion, but I absolutely agree with this. And I like Boris.

Now now now a laugh is a laugh but steering clear of football:confused::eek: is not normal behaviour, what do you talk about in the pub?
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Those appear to be the three best ways to start a fight!
Although yes I do talk about football down the pub but I don't follow the local games, more the major tournaments like euro and World Cup
 
Andrea Leadsom should be in charge of the Department for Industrial Strategy, Air, Sanitation, Transport, Environment and Recycling.

To say this lady is gaffe-prone would appear to be something of a massive understatement. There are already calls for her to be sacked... I just hope that if she is sacked, it's American Football-style.
 
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After a recovery period after May was nominated for PM the pound is going down again both against the USD and the EUR. Is it the "Boris Effect"?
 
TRGTspecialist
Yes, it's been merged with the Department for Business and Industrial Strategy to become Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. From what I've read the new minister is a known supporter of green energies and has expressed commitment for the department to continue tackling climate change.

Sounds alright to me. Glad you agree........ :)
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Unfortunate. Maybe the next PM will come to his or her senses.
 
XJ40
:cheers:

Those appear to be the three best ways to start a fight!
Although yes I do talk about football down the pub but I don't follow the local games, more the major tournaments like euro and World Cup
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I see your point Religion is a subject which no matter what you say it causes someone offence so best not bother with that.
Politics is another but to be honest in the local I use average age is 50ish we have a good debate in-between banter on politics and up to now no fisticuffs a few agree to disagree and leave it at that.

Football is constantly debated among huge doses of banter but we are all adults and laugh it off as we laugh when we are giving someone a bit of a ribbing if there team has had a bad day.
We have Liverpool, Man Utd, Tottenham, Stoke, Port Vale, Crewe Alex, Macclesfield Town and Man City fans in our pub Oh yes and a Leeds fan but he has been very quiet for a while, we have a right laugh. may be it is an age thing which shoves the acceptance of criticism in to humour and not violence.
 
Touring Mars
Andrea Leadsom should be in charge of the Department for Industrial Strategy, Air, Sanitation, Transport, Environment and Recycling.

To say this lady is gaffe-prone would appear to be something of a massive understatement. There are already calls for her to be sacked... I just hope that if she is sacked, it's American Football-style.
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Perhaps move her to Central Research And Planning.

She may have made a few enemies in her own party recently but she's hardly the most gaffe-prone politician in the cabinet.
 
Pardon my ignorance on Nuclear Warheads :lol: but why does one need to 'renew' them? Surely a bomb is a bomb, why can't the sub's carrying them now carry the same bombs for the next 20 years? Are they designing new bombs or just new subs to carry the old bombs?
 
Robin.
Pardon my ignorance on Nuclear Warheads :lol: but why does one need to 'renew' them? Surely a bomb is a bomb, why can't the sub's carrying them now carry the same bombs for the next 20 years? Are they designing new bombs or just new subs to carry the old bombs?
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Warheads go in the missiles, missiles go in the submarine and submarines go in the... err... sea., but they do require service and maintenance. It can take decades to develop replacements, so even though things might not be so bad now, at some point they do need replacing...

... at least that's the theory. In this day and age mutually assured destruction doesn't seem like the safety blanket it perhaps once did. I'd imagine right now most people don't perceive the biggest threat to come from other nuclear powers, or at least not in a fashion that would justify us nuking the rest of the planet.
 
Agreed, it's not the warheads themselves which need replacing, although there is a bit of natural nuclear decay with the material, it's more the submarines which are swimming around in the water holding the missiles which need replacing. The best place to launch a surface to surface missile is somewhere where it can't be reached in the first place (unless you work for SPECTRE), so the sea works best. Sea water is notorious for causing rust, so the carriers need replacing.
 
The controversy about Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party rumbles on... now they are arguing about how long you have to have been a member of the Labour party in order to be allowed to vote in a leadership ballot. Unsurprisingly, Corbyn's opponents are insisting that recent members (less than 6 months membership) should not be allowed to vote - presumably because most of them will back Corbyn. But if I was a new Labour party subscriber, I'd be a tad miffed about being asked for my subscription fee, only to be told that I'm not allowed to vote for the party leader. The whole debacle would be rather hilarious to watch, if it wasn't for the fact that it is basically playing right into the hands of their opponents (the Tories and UKIP in particular) - meanwhile, Labour is self-destructing before our eyes.
 
Liquid
It's also somewhat amusing that some people are going great lengths to stop someone who is apparently unelectable from being put on a ballot because of the fear that he is, in fact, re-electable.
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That sounds suspiciously like what's happening in Cleveland right now!
 
I cringed so hard at one of Corbyn's allies tweeting that "winning is only for elites". An e-petition won't force a Tory government into becoming the ideal social democratic party. :rolleyes:
 
Robin.
Pardon my ignorance on Nuclear Warheads :lol: but why does one need to 'renew' them? Surely a bomb is a bomb, why can't the sub's carrying them now carry the same bombs for the next 20 years? Are they designing new bombs or just new subs to carry the old bombs?
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Just new subs at this time.

The missiles are of American design and origin.
 
Robin.
Bit off topic but as usual the governments brilliant idea to scrap tax discs has backfired to the tune of £93 million pounds of lost revenue. To think they did this to save a few quid on paper! Now they might bring them back.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36843393
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Given that every car that's sold second hand is now taxed twice in the month of sale that's an astonishing **** up.
 
Robin.
Bit off topic but as usual the governments brilliant idea to scrap tax discs has backfired to the tune of £93 million pounds of lost revenue. To think they did this to save a few quid on paper! Now they might bring them back.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36843393
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That was always going to happen. You'd be very unlucky to get caught driving a untaxed car now the general public has no way of knowing just by looking at a car whether it's taxed or not, so most will go unreported. This of course also means they'll be a ton of extra uninsured drivers on the road as well now. :banghead:

Then there's the untracked foreign registered cars that are all over the place and growing by the day that just add to the problems. Of course these are not all in the hands of the people who originally owned and brought them into the country anymore either.
 
Robin.
Bit off topic but as usual the governments brilliant idea to scrap tax discs has backfired to the tune of £93 million pounds of lost revenue. To think they did this to save a few quid on paper! Now they might bring them back.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36843393
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It's actually not that surprising when considering how many conventionally powered cars qualify for zero VED. And no doubt why the rules change in 2017.
 
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Robin.
Bit off topic but as usual the governments brilliant idea to scrap tax discs has backfired to the tune of £93 million pounds of lost revenue. To think they did this to save a few quid on paper! Now they might bring them back.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36843393
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It might help if the police around where I live actually turned on there PNR.
I have it from the horses mouth they turn them off or ignore them as there to busy to give a care if it shows up a car with no mot or no tax, they leave it to full blown traffic duty cops. PNR is in cars not on traffic duty apparently.
Trouble is most traffic duty cops are on duty on the motorways so towns folk have an easy ride.
No tax disc no grassers and traffic wardens don't check for tax anymore now they can't read a disc.
 

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