I come from an air force family btw and spent my childhood on various bases, so I appreciated what a huge thing this is for the people that live there.
― scraping wheatus off the wheel (NickB), Monday, 18 July 2011 19:44 (1 year ago) Permalink
Yeah, me too - I've lived my whole life on or near RAF bases (and I'm a lily-livered pacifist too, though I've recently decided on certain revolutionary exceptions). But Fox even referred to the SNP's (very unlikely to succeed) threat of independence as a reason for the decision. He's punishing communities for how they vote.
― textbook blows on the head (dowd), Monday, 18 July 2011 19:54 (1 year ago) Permalink
Hadn't caught that aspect of it, but Fox has always been a huge cock.
Should say best wishes to you and yours dowd, dunno what you do but I hope yr okay.
― scraping wheatus off the wheel (NickB), Monday, 18 July 2011 19:57 (1 year ago) Permalink
It's kinda up in the air at the mo, but cheers.
― textbook blows on the head (dowd), Monday, 18 July 2011 20:01 (1 year ago) Permalink
i had thought the scots wanted uk armed forces off their patch??
― so brycey (history mayne), Monday, 18 July 2011 20:05 (1 year ago) Permalink
Doubtless some of them do - the minority who support independence. But no-one in communities around these bases wants them to go. We should have found another of Ewen MacGregor's siblings to protect Leuchars, as they (thankfully) did Lossiemouth.
― textbook blows on the head (dowd), Monday, 18 July 2011 20:09 (1 year ago) Permalink
Quite sad about this. I worked at Leuchars for 8 years and had a great time, still know a few people there and hope things will work out ok for them.
― The multi-talented F.R. David (Billy Dods), Monday, 18 July 2011 20:19 (1 year ago) Permalink
Brooks's husband Charlie says bag belonged to him not Rebekah. Spokesman says: "A cleaner thought it was rubbish and put it in the bin.
What cleaner throws a computer in a bin? loool
― prolego, Monday, 18 July 2011 20:21 (1 year ago) Permalink
scotland hates tories, tories hate us. this will never change.
― you've got male (jim in glasgow), Monday, 18 July 2011 20:24 (1 year ago) Permalink
also the nats don't want rid of the brit armed forces, salmond campaigned against this iirc.
― you've got male (jim in glasgow), Monday, 18 July 2011 20:26 (1 year ago) Permalink
Yes, he did - he gave a speech n the village hall across the road from my house. The SNP's position was that we've already lost a base, so expecting Scotland to bear 2 of it's 3 bases closed was ridiculous, so both Lossiemouth and Leuchars should stay open.
At least it will be quieter here - the Typhoons are noisy as hell. Now it'll just be rifle drills and the odd helicopter (assuming the vague ideas about an army barracks come to fruition, and even then it'll probably be about five years)
― textbook blows on the head (dowd), Monday, 18 July 2011 20:29 (1 year ago) Permalink
imo the defence review is classic osbornomics, ie unserious. it wasn't a real review: if they don't want the uk to be one of the big clubs, they should make that case, but doing it as part of a defence review *and then launching into a new war* was just derrrrrrrrrrrrp.
― so brycey (history mayne), Monday, 18 July 2011 20:33 (1 year ago) Permalink
Fox kept responding to questions by saying things like 'in order to achieve a regular/reservist proportion similar to the US we have to...' but he never explained why such a ratio was desirable. Of course, it's all about the £££'s, but he should have the guts to say so.
― textbook blows on the head (dowd), Monday, 18 July 2011 20:38 (1 year ago) Permalink
November 2006:
Shadow Olympics minister Hugh Robertson said: "The secretary of state has admitted to a 40% increase. "She has failed to disclose the true cost of VAT, contingency, building cost inflation and security, much of which was entirely predictable at the time of the bid. "Today's increase is just a starting point. While the figures remain ambiguous, we can only expect further increases."
"She has failed to disclose the true cost of VAT, contingency, building cost inflation and security, much of which was entirely predictable at the time of the bid.
"Today's increase is just a starting point. While the figures remain ambiguous, we can only expect further increases."
July 2011:
The Olympic Delivery Authority has announced 88% of the building programme for London 2012 is now complete.It has also been announced the anticipated final cost of the project fell by £16m during the last quarter.This has prompted Sports Minister Hugh Robertson to say for the first time he is "confident" the project will come in under its £9.3bn budget.He said: "With one year to go construction is 88% complete, ahead of time and under budget."
It has also been announced the anticipated final cost of the project fell by £16m during the last quarter.
This has prompted Sports Minister Hugh Robertson to say for the first time he is "confident" the project will come in under its £9.3bn budget.
He said: "With one year to go construction is 88% complete, ahead of time and under budget."
― James Mitchell, Tuesday, 19 July 2011 13:23 (1 year ago) Permalink
NHS services opened to competition
― stet, Tuesday, 19 July 2011 14:59 (1 year ago) Permalink
FUCK THESE PEOPLE.
― natalie imbroglio (suzy), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 15:04 (1 year ago) Permalink
Wheelchair services an interesting choice for the first round, given Cameron's been talking about his troubles with them.
― stet, Tuesday, 19 July 2011 15:05 (1 year ago) Permalink
Seriously, fuck these guys. They know it's completely buried.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 19 July 2011 15:05 (1 year ago) Permalink
I hear Champneys in Tring treats people in wheelchairs well...
― James Mitchell, Tuesday, 19 July 2011 15:43 (1 year ago) Permalink
Interesting choice of day to announce this eh?
― a million anons (onimo), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 15:52 (1 year ago) Permalink
The Guardian has the Lansley announcement story on page 15, the Independent on page 21, The Times on page 17 and the Daily Mail on page 31. And that's your lot.
― James Mitchell, Wednesday, 20 July 2011 07:16 (1 year ago) Permalink
iirc this was something that was going to happen. and now it has happened, kind of thing.
― only bad dog on the street (history mayne), Wednesday, 20 July 2011 08:14 (1 year ago) Permalink
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/benedictbrogan/100098140/george-osborne-wants-a-single-euro-state/
what does this all mean?
― only bad dog on the street (history mayne), Thursday, 21 July 2011 11:29 (1 year ago) Permalink
Osborne's lost his (Jonny) marbles?
― R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Thursday, 21 July 2011 11:34 (1 year ago) Permalink
Dorset County Council is closing 9 of its 34 libraries, with 11 of those left to be run by unpaid volunteers and community groups.
Apparently it's OK because 75 per cent of Dorset residents never set foot inside a library.
Wonder what the percentage of primary school age children is. Oh.
― James Mitchell, Thursday, 21 July 2011 14:04 (1 year ago) Permalink
They all vote Tory down there anyway, so fuck 'em, they're getting what they voted for
― R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Thursday, 21 July 2011 14:06 (1 year ago) Permalink
those primary school age child tory voters are the fuckin worst
― MY WEEDS STRONG BLUD.mp3 (nakhchivan), Thursday, 21 July 2011 14:07 (1 year ago) Permalink
Let them take it up with their parents
― R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Thursday, 21 July 2011 14:07 (1 year ago) Permalink
d-cam is editing the next issue of the big issue o_0 o_0
whose ideas was that? good god
― lex pretend, Friday, 22 July 2011 09:20 (1 year ago) Permalink
sure that's "editing" and not "selling" ?
― graveshitwave (Noodle Vague), Friday, 22 July 2011 09:23 (1 year ago) Permalink
get on with running the country into the ground you prick
― ledge, Friday, 22 July 2011 09:23 (1 year ago) Permalink
Yeah, in this current situation, that's bound to be a good idea.
Next up, Harold Shipman opens his own old people's home...
― Mark G, Friday, 22 July 2011 09:24 (1 year ago) Permalink
whose ideas was that?
[Big Issue founder, John] Bird revealed in 2010 "My guilty secret is that I’m really a working class Tory. There, I’ve said it. I’d love to be a liberal because they’re the nice people but it’s really hard work – I can’t swallow their gullibility and I think their ideas are stupid. I’d love to be someone who wonders around in a kind of Utopian paradise seeing only the good in everybody but I just can’t. I support capital punishment for a start. I know this will destroy my reputation among middle-class liberals but I’m 64 now and I should be able to breathe a bit. Wearing the corsetry of liberalism means that every now and then you have to take it off."
― R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Friday, 22 July 2011 10:44 (1 year ago) Permalink
My guilty secret is that I’m really a working class Tory
Form what i've seen of this guy over the years I wouldn't exactly call that a secret
― R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Friday, 22 July 2011 10:46 (1 year ago) Permalink
"working class"
― graveshitwave (Noodle Vague), Friday, 22 July 2011 10:48 (1 year ago) Permalink
Is that the British meaning of 'liberal' or the American definition?
― natalie imbroglio (suzy), Friday, 22 July 2011 10:53 (1 year ago) Permalink
US I imagine, I assume the sneer used when saying it is the same in any case
― R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Friday, 22 July 2011 10:54 (1 year ago) Permalink
Getting people to sell your product without having to worry about if they have enough to pay their mortgages...
― Mark G, Friday, 22 July 2011 10:55 (1 year ago) Permalink
Plus, of course, being pure 'profit-share' means the minimum wage doesn't apply, right?
― Mark G, Friday, 22 July 2011 10:56 (1 year ago) Permalink
I'm not slagging the whole enterprise, just defining it.
I used to write for the Big Issue in the '90s. I seldom see people buying them with the same enthusiasm today.
― natalie imbroglio (suzy), Friday, 22 July 2011 11:00 (1 year ago) Permalink
Yes, it's only middle-class liberals who wonder around in a kind of Utopian paradise seeing only the good in everybody who seem to buy it these days
― R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Friday, 22 July 2011 11:03 (1 year ago) Permalink
The rest of us have taken our corsets off and say "no thanks"
― Mark G, Friday, 22 July 2011 11:10 (1 year ago) Permalink
Huhne's a naughty boy then?
― R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Friday, 22 July 2011 13:31 (1 year ago) Permalink
Re: RAF Leuchars
Dowd / Billy Dods - please email me at albaba at gmail dot com if you're interested in writing a short blogpost about the closure for this series:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/series/the-cuts-get-personal
... or could put me in touch with someone who might be.
Cheers
― Alba, Monday, 25 July 2011 16:52 (1 year ago) Permalink
Does ilx just not have a norway massarcre thread? Or am I being dense looking at sna?
― I am Louise Boat (a hoy hoy), Monday, 25 July 2011 17:48 (1 year ago) Permalink
2011 Oslo/Utoeya Norway attacks
― Gukbe, Monday, 25 July 2011 17:54 (1 year ago) Permalink
Cheers.
― I am Louise Boat (a hoy hoy), Monday, 25 July 2011 17:56 (1 year ago) Permalink
What an amazing old duffer:
A DISTINGUISHED barrister has called on Theresa May to ban “left-wing” marches in Piccadilly after damage to the Ritz at anti-cuts protests earlier this year.John Beveridge QC (pictured) co-founder and chairman of amenity group the St James’s Conservation Trust, said such marches attracted “ragtag” protesters who “become violent and urinate all over the place”.He added: “I have written to the Home Secretary, who has responded in the usual pusillanimous and ambiguous way, that these marches should be sent on routes that don’t take them past Fortnum and Mason and Cartier and the Ritz, that pass ordinary shops that won’t so inflame them. There’s no fun for them in attacking Safeway or Costcutter, but they love beating up the Ritz. “The Home Secretary should have a bit more political guts and say that this type of march must be diverted elsewhere.”
John Beveridge QC (pictured) co-founder and chairman of amenity group the St James’s Conservation Trust, said such marches attracted “ragtag” protesters who “become violent and urinate all over the place”.
He added: “I have written to the Home Secretary, who has responded in the usual pusillanimous and ambiguous way, that these marches should be sent on routes that don’t take them past Fortnum and Mason and Cartier and the Ritz, that pass ordinary shops that won’t so inflame them. There’s no fun for them in attacking Safeway or Costcutter, but they love beating up the Ritz.
“The Home Secretary should have a bit more political guts and say that this type of march must be diverted elsewhere.”
― James Mitchell, Wednesday, 27 July 2011 06:33 (1 year ago) Permalink
ahem, safeway haven't existed in the UK for a decade or thereabouts?
― i'm not a lawyer, but i play one on a messageboard (stevie), Wednesday, 27 July 2011 07:05 (1 year ago) Permalink
(I like how it's "when", not "if"...)
― Mark G, Tuesday, 21 May 2013 09:40 (Yesterday) Permalink
the more i think about this "what then???" scenario the more baffled i am -- no matter where the sperm comes from, the child of a reigning queen would inherit 50% of its genes from the royal family, which is basically ideal unless you are a pharaoh (or a targaeryn).
the only way this works as a thought experiment is when the "other lady" is the one having a child? maybe Tebbit didn't feel the need to indicate that because it's clear that lesbians can't have children but must find ladies to marry who will bear them issue.
― ✌_✌ (c sharp major), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 10:14 (Yesterday) Permalink
But what if they both are pregnant?
― Mark G, Tuesday, 21 May 2013 10:22 (Yesterday) Permalink
But what if the babies get mixed up? What if a prince is brought up... as a pauper?
― ✌_✌ (c sharp major), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 10:24 (Yesterday) Permalink
And what if that pauper goes on to lead the resistance in the war against machines? And what if the machines send a robot back in time to kill his mother, and he sends a fighter back to protect her, who ends up sleeping with her and becoming his father?
― nagl dude dude dude (ledge), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 10:26 (Yesterday) Permalink
It's ridiculous isn't it? Think of the other scenarios where a female first-in-line might not be able to conceive and therefore adopts or if there is some sort of surrogacy arrangement. Sexuality is not the primary issue here, it's the idiotic importance we attach to genetic determination of our monarchy in a world where this just should not be relevant.
― dschinghis kraan (NickB), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 10:27 (Yesterday) Permalink
and what if the robot doesn't know the laws of cricket?
― bleeding like a stoke pig (imago), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 10:27 (Yesterday) Permalink
A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to caught behind.
― ✌_✌ (c sharp major), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 10:30 (Yesterday) Permalink
dunno who's gonna start the norman tebbit sci-fi thread but it's a promising avenue
― bleeding like a stoke pig (imago), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 10:34 (Yesterday) Permalink
Davros joke
― the league against cool sports (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 10:35 (Yesterday) Permalink
Dan Dire, Pilot of the Future?
― go cray cray on my lobster soufflé (snoball), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 10:39 (Yesterday) Permalink
Pilot of the Past, amirite?
― Mark G, Tuesday, 21 May 2013 10:39 (Yesterday) Permalink
Pilot of getting out of going to the Maggon's funeral by going to a different funeral.
― go cray cray on my lobster soufflé (snoball), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 10:41 (Yesterday) Permalink
Ice-cold of Kinnock to have his best friend murdered just so he could get out of Thatcher's funeral. But understandable.
― I turned away to leave these few in thought and contemplation (Bananaman Begins), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 10:44 (Yesterday) Permalink
^ talking about insemination?
― dschinghis kraan (NickB), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 10:49 (Yesterday) Permalink
It's like one of my colleagues said: we've got to make these same sex marriages available to all. It would lift my worries about inheritance tax because maybe I'd be allowed to marry my son. Why not? Why shouldn't a mother marry her daughter? Why shouldn't two elderly sisters living together marry each other?"
Erm....
― Hearing moyes confirmedare we hearing m (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 10:50 (Yesterday) Permalink
no you don't understand, he's equating the freakish unnaturalness of gay to incest or any other crime against nature
― the league against cool sports (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 10:55 (Yesterday) Permalink
Well, if Jimmy Savile was alive, he'd be voting for it...
― Mark G, Tuesday, 21 May 2013 10:58 (Yesterday) Permalink
^ he was lobbying for it back then
― dschinghis kraan (NickB), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 11:03 (Yesterday) Permalink
"What if I marry my dead mother to avoid inheritance tax?""Sounds good to me, Norman!"
― go cray cray on my lobster soufflé (snoball), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 11:42 (Yesterday) Permalink