"oh you don't get me I'm the end of the union": lol brexit is how we're all gonna die

people have become so inured to national scandals we're probably almost ready to relegate mainstream cannibalism and the eating of babies to page 2.

leader of the opposition got punched in the head and it barely even registered (compare that to the week of outcry when angela eagle’s window got panned)

i had horrible unnecessary thoughts about a media compare and contrast if some nazi cunt had actually shot him

It got a lot less coverage than JRM being heckled with his kids too. A lot of the same people who write the news are the same people who hang out with each other on twitter and fantasise about Seumas Milne being some sort of malign presence & constantly subtweet Owen Jones.

When Owen Jones got heckled & then chased down a street by one of the yellow vest crowd calling him a faggot, you barely heard anything about that either. Same reason.

"Defence secretary Gavin Williamson says military 'ready to respond' to knife crime crisis"

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/knife-crime-uk-stabbings-gavin-williamson-military-police-cressida-dick-a8809581.html

Williamson needs to put it back in his pants, part #23

"Theresa May and her circle of advisers did not understand how the European Union works, and consequently followed a negotiating strategy in 2016 that was doomed to fail, the former UK ambassador to the EU Sir Ivan Rogers has said."

"Rogers said the issue of whether the UK should contribute into the EU budget would come up in April. He also said there was no chance that the UK would be able to disentangle itself from the EU even if Brexit goes ahead.
He said: “These fantasies of release and liberation – they are fantasies. We are going to be negotiating on everything from aviation to farming for evermore with our biggest neighbour. We cannot live in glorious isolation. Talk to the Swiss and to the Norwegians – they live in a permanent state of negotiation with the EU.”"

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/mar/04/theresa-may-did-not-understand-eu-when-she-triggered-brexit

huh no shit

the eternal brexit

ivan rogers' speech to idk liverpool guild hall or something a few montsh back is essentially a longer version of that and well worth reading

where most ministers have a stash of jazzmags in their office I think Williamson has his collection of Victor comics, mind probably the same thing for him.

corbyn loves cops

if williamson wants to assist, why doesn't he give a cut of the MOD's budget to youth centres, social workers etc cos that would be a lot more effective than deploying a load of squaddies on the streets

tough on crime, tough on TV

I like cops too, and 20k will only bring the numbers back to 2010 when knife crime was...oh....

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/dec/13/knife-crime-offences-rise-to-highest-level-since-2010-official-figures
Knife crime offences rise to highest level since 2010

I can think of a lot of things for soldiers to do if they're just sitting around the barracks all day long doing nothing, as seems to be the implication.

they're doing lots of things eg bullying each other to the point of suicide, beating up civilians, smashing up pubs &c &c

I mean I was thinking of litter picking but your ideas also have merit.

Basically, keep them away from policing. Tbf to Williamson (?) he was only reacting to Cressida Dick's reaction to a suggestion from Fallon and Dick was only saying they should have a "support" role. Not entirely sure what that would be tho.

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/m/morgyn1.jpg

williamson's self-image in the dream state, well and awake as well tbf.

one of that generation of politicians who were inspired by seeing images of the tiananmen square protests, except if it was him, he would've sent in more tanks

Morgyn the Mighty :D

would be prepared to kill for a big pile of old Victor comics

gone are those days when you can get a huge stack of 2nd hand comics from a church bizarre for 10p!

yes, they were very bizarre as well.

Spectacular misstep by NI SoS Karen Bradley in the Commons earlier – when the security forces kill people it's not a crime, she says pic.twitter.com/nY95drl4mQ

— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) March 6, 2019

saying the quiet bit out loud

wait, does her party not want to deploy squaddies to deal with the knife crisis ?

TM also gave a deeply sus answer about this during pmqs

Paul Girvan (South Antrim) (DUP)
Q12. The Prime Minister will be aware of our concerns about attempts to prosecute members of the security forces who conscientiously and courageously defended all the people of Northern Ireland against terrorism. Will she assure me that any proposal to provide greater legal protection for our armed forces will include those who served in Northern Ireland? [909633]

The Prime Minister
We have been clear that the current system for dealing with the legacy of Northern Ireland’s past is not working well for anyone. Around 3,500 people were killed in the troubles; 90% were murdered by terrorists. Many of these cases require further investigation, including the deaths of hundreds of members of the security forces. The system to investigate the past does need to change to provide better outcomes for victims and survivors of the troubles, but also to ensure that our armed forces and police officers are not unfairly treated. That is why we are working across Government on proposals to see how best we can move forward. We are carefully considering the very large number of responses that we received to the consultation on this issue. We will be publishing our next steps in due course and the MOD is looking at what more can be done to ensure that service personnel are not unfairly pursued through the courts, including considering legislation.

this interview with Jon Lansman is interesting in the context of arguments about whether anti-zionism necessarily = anti-semitism

In spite of the fact that there is still extremely wide support for, at least lip-service paid to, "two states" as the best way of achieving peace in Israel-Palestine, there is in many circles in the Labour Party very little acceptance of the right of Israel to exist. That is a problem.

Acceptance doesn't have to be based on Zionist ideology as such – Israel’s creation was a decision of the UN in the face of the plight of Holocaust refugees. I'd say that we live in a post-Zionist age. Israel is a major military power and will carry on existing. To achieve peace, a two-states solution remains the best prospect.

At present, especially with Trump, there is little prospect of any peace solution in the near future.

Zionism is a word which means different things to different people. There are sections of the Labour Party who can only see Zionism as an ideology, and as a monolithic ideology.

In fact Zionism has always been a set of ideologies - Labour Zionism, General Zionism, religious Zionism, revisionist Zionism, binational Zionism... but many British Jews do not see it as an ideology at all.

https://www.workersliberty.org/lansman-antisemitism

The Tánaiste Simon Coveney, the Irish deputy prime minister, is to meet with Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley this evening to seek clarification on the comments she made in the Commons earlier.

Bradley said that killings at the hands of the security forces were “not crimes”. Sinn Féin deputy leader Michelle O’Neill described the remarks as “offensive and hurtful”.

Coveney said there should be effective investigations into all deaths during the Troubles regardless of the perpetrator.

He added that Bradley’s reaffirmation this afternoon that “where there is evidence of wrong-doing it should always be investigated whoever is responsible” is important.

Bradley had returned to the House of Commons to make clear her position, saying: “The point I was seeking to convey was that the overwhelming majority of those who served carried out their duties with courage, professionalism and integrity and within the law.

“I was not referring to any specific cases but expressing a general view.

“Of course where there is evidence of wrongdoing, it should always be investigated - whoever is responsible.

“These are of course matters for the police and prosecuting authorities, who are independent of government.”

ah thats nice

id say they fuckin superglued the mask onto her for the return leg

I went to RTÉ to see if it’s a prominent story and lol, third highest on a day when there’s those parcel bombs AND it’s the first day of Lent?

look we'd love to have you here for the craic bit its important work youre at beyant too

I went to Slugger O'Toole (yes it's there, by one of their less readable writers - I know, pots, kettles) and got distracted by this piece about the BBC and Irish names instead:
https://sluggerotoole.com/2019/03/03/the-bbc-and-the-irish-language/
(Off-topic and yet kind of not off-topic)

Does seem odd given the BBC is so careful about pronunciation otherwise. (Though Paxman didn't take too much care over pronouncing "Stanisław Lem" on Monday iirc)

that's a fair article but jesus gaeilgeoiri as a rule

maybe not as a rule. as a group, maybe.

mob. yeah in mob form.

i suppose none of us are at our best in a mob tho.

anyway. gaeilgeoiri.

Stephen Nolan is a Northern Irish radio and television presenter for BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Radio 5 Live.

Born: 20 August 1973 (age 45 years), Shankill Road, Belfast

Writer of the article was a bit coy on that score.

im not sure, now im no expert you catch him here and there before motd like, but i think he keeps well out of it

insofar as anyone in current affairs in bbc ni does like

I've never listened to him but he seems like a tool to me. The Alan Green of UK political debate.

lol thats fair but not as biased

Thread on what Tom Watson is up to - essentially blackmailing the leadership into overturning party democracy.

This is what happened in @tom_watson’s meeting with Labour peers. Party’s deputy leader told them his new group of Labour moderates would be called the Future Britain Group. It would meet next week for first time. And would focus on long-term post-Brexit challenges. He also...

— Robert Peston (@Peston) March 6, 2019

I preferred him when he was fat.

Nolan likes to concern troll way too much but i've occasionally heard him not acting the cunt

I preferred him when he was fat.

A plan not unique to him!

i can't fucking stand Nolan's style - he's pure Talk Sport level high octane shite-talking.

I wish Watson would fuck off out of politics and take up the shitty tv career he clearly craves

now he's pumping iron and on some fucking macrobiotic teatotal diet of rabbit turds and quorn - the cunt will probably live till about 108.

The BBC has been bereft of a chummie Brummie since Adrian Chiles' career went west.

You just made Adrian Goldberg sad