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Proboscis
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Posts posted by Proboscis
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Of all the things that you might need to do with a person suffering from dementia, stoping them from driving has got to be the easiest. Leave out a false key and set it up so that they set of an alarm when they get into the car. Then tell them that the car is "broken."
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On 12/9/2020 at 2:02 PM, vinny41 said:
Your posts are idiotic and pointless as they have no bearing to the original post that implied that the British are incapable of growning their own food
Neither of us were around during the last time when it was really difficult to import food into the main island of the UK. THat was back in World War 2. But my mother was and she and her sister reported that the situation was quite dreadful. Very little fruit available. Power egg (not the real thing but somehow to stretch dried egg), a tiny butter ration and bread that tasted like sawdust (possibly because it did contain cellulose). There were enormous incentives for the British to grow their own food and they did their best under the circumstances but they were up against the climate - animals (except possibly sheep) cannot be left out in the elements for at least 4 months of the year. The harvesting of hay is a high risk business. Wheat and barley need to be dried because of the constant damp. Many crops that do grow well in the UK require a massive labour input which, during the war, was just not available as most able-bodied men and women went off to fight the war or work in the factories. Unless the UK is prepared to allow in large numbers of East Europeans to do this kind of work, these problems will be faced again.
So, to answer your accusation, the British are not incapable of growing their own food but they are up against it when providing sufficient food for the whole population, for the reasons given above.
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3 hours ago, tomazbodner said:
Yet. Wait till these guys get deported there.
Anyone coming into Laos (Lao PDR) has to undergo a two week quarantine. If these guys have covid-19, then it will be picked up that way.
I cannot understand why anyone is paying that kind of money to cross the border. From my balcony, I can see small boats with quiet engines moving against the current and seeming to drift across the river only to land on the other side and to return with the current but one person fewer. All done after dark and without lights, of course.
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15 hours ago, Loiner said:Who needs and Explainer from anti-Brexit Reuters? It's not going to change anything for anybody.
We know Project Fear has gone into its' final attack, all over over blown and misleading but standard fayre for Remainers.
Of all the organizations to accuse of bias, the last one would be Reuters. Under the company's stated mission is to protect the integrity of the company's news output, it holds one "Founders Share," which can veto all other shares if an attempt is made to alter any of the rules relating to the Reuters Trust Principles. These principles set out the company's aims of independence, integrity, and freedom from bias in its news reporting (which you can check on their website). Subsequent to the forming of Thomson Reuters the trust principles continued, with the RFSC now holding a Founders Share in each of Thomson Reuters Corporation and Thomson Reuters PLC.
Reuters is a British based multinational company with offices in 200 locations throughout the globe. Do you really think that they would be pedaling needless fear among their main audience, which includes a big customer, the Murdoch press, who have been pro-Brexit since 2012 and large sections of the business community both in the UK and abroad?
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It is great to see that the Aussie authorities are switched on to the fact that mass killings can arise from extremism of all types, whether Islamic fundamentalism or Christian extremist or Nazi-style right wing terrorism.
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7 hours ago, vinny41 said:
Macron's Brexit veto is 'dangerous game' that could backfire, warns French farming official
France's go-it-alone Brexit veto threat is "on a par with Hungary and Poland' blocking a €1.6tn Covid recovery plan Thierry Pouch
“If we lose some of our €2bn trade surplus to the UK on food products, it will be hard to conquer new EU markets as they will be flooded. That is what happened when we slapped an embargo on Russia
So the British are not going to eat? The Russians have a lot more opportunity to grow their own food and substitute for French products whereas the British do not. Sure, the French may sell less but the market will not disappear overnight.
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15 hours ago, Natai Beach said:
Currently the Aussies are getting caned by tariffs on hundreds of products (Over 200%) after our dopey happy clapping PM decided to start an a blue with our biggest customer (27%) China.
Resulting in many Aussie companies to the wall and people being laid off at a time when we are already being caned by the covid recession.
So Boris wants to start a blue with EU.........
Good luck with that.
While I think that it is more a case of China acting the bully with Australia, the point is well made - when you have an economy buying up half of your exports and supplying half of your imports, you should really consider a close and harmonious trading relationship with them!
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15 hours ago, BumpheadParrotfish said:
Thailand will never allow those with vaccines to stroll in. There's too much money in all the nonsense.
Guaranteed three years from now it will be at minimum 3 days and 10k thb at some marginal hotel owned by police / government flunkies.
And if that is the case, there will be no tourism industry in Thailand. Meanwhile in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia etc, tourism will be booming!
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On 12/7/2020 at 12:56 PM, vogie said:A very well written piece Proboscis unfortunately I think you have missed the point the poster you are replying to was making and indeed have missed out the most salient point you could have mentioned. I believe when the poster said "bitterness" he was not referring to the people of Paris or the citizens of Colongne, he probably was referring to the constant snide remarks from the Euro posters on this very site, the majority, but not all cannot go a post without a put down to the UK, especially England and there is no real need for it, it is not meant in fun, it is simply being damn right rude.
You see, the bitterness is all a fantasy of the extreme Brexiteers in the UK. They interpret the EU and all its members as always having been against the UK. And I suppose if anyone only ever read the Murdoch press, they would think that too. In the midst of all the hatred that has been fanned up by the Murdoch media, you fail to see the French people who are fans of Marks and Spenser, the Germans who love old British cars, the Belgians who like their fish done the English style - not to mention the number of people who were able to quote Shakespeare to me in the various countries in Europe whereas that hardly happens in the UK unless you happen to be in Oxford or some place like that.
The Brexiteers are certainly not bitter, BTW what is an "extreme" Brexiteer, you are either a Brexiteer or not, no such thing as extreme, which brings me to the most salient point in what you failed to mention, slowly and surely the EU is turning into a one nation federal state who gives it's orders to the rest of europe, we want no part of being run by these beaurocrats in Brussels, we want to make our own decisions, does that never come into a Euros mind instead of all this 'the UK wants to leave because we are all racists'. And does it make someone stupid because they don't want to quote Shakespear, personally I have better things to with my life, but if it makes the Euros any happier I wouldn't be surprised if Boris could quote the complete works of Shakespear in English, French and even Latin.
I can tell you that there are some people who are very bitter about what has happened, about the whole Brexit thing who live in Europe. They are the Brits who live very happily in Spain and whose lives will change rather drastically with Brexit, even if there is a deal, even if there is the most perfect deal possible. Now they will be considered a "third country" and will have to face all sorts of bureaucracy with respect to permission to say, work and travel with their pets than before. You should talk to those retirees, some of whom were in favor of the Brexit as it was sold to them at the time but are hopping mad now!
Brexit has never been about the Brits living in Torremolinos or the Dordogne or even taking our dogs to Dieppe, it is about doing what we think is right for our country and we can get on as friends after our divorce, all the better, if not, c'est la vie.
Bravo for your erudition in repeating some of the heart-felt views of at least Brexiteers. Although I find that like most political movements, the reasons for holding the views are quite broad and varied, from "I can't stand the French" to "Lets make our own laws." From idealism of a Burkean kind to a crude nationalism. There is even a selection of left wing Brexit views too - the neo-marxist one is that the EU is an extension of finance-capitalism in its most mature form designed to solidify the position of burgeois capitalism throughout Europe and against the interests of the working classes.
As regards your point that there are no extreme Brexiteers, I beg to differ. Before the referendum, there was a view of Brexit put to the voters that "we want to be out of Brussels" and so on but don't worry we will still have the Single Market or the Customs Union. Rather surprisingly for a couple of left wing London journalists, they predicted that this "soft Brexit" would disappear with the culling of the parliamentary Conservative party and the solidifying of views generally. But there is nothing incoherent with a Norway solution to Brexit which is a lot less extreme than the hard no-deal Brexit that we appear to be heading for now.
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14 hours ago, andyg75 said:
All these non Brits that come on here wishing to see the UK go broke or split up must be so jealous of us ,I can’t understand it. How bitter can you get,you need to get a life
I cannot speak for anyone here but a lot of non-Brits in Europe never wanted to see the UK go broke or split up. As I mentioned before, splitting up would give precedence for other countries to split up (Catalunia in Spain, even parts of German to split off, Italy to split in half, Belgium to split into French and Dutch speaking - enought already!). The other EU members wanted to see the UK in the heart of the EU - they remember well (although the Brits themselves forget) that it was from the UK that they got the idea and the push for the SIngle Market.
Don't get me wrong - the French may not be able to get their seafood so easily and the Germans will lose market for their cars after Brexit kicks in January 1st. But this has not bred incredible bitterness. If you read the newspapers in these countries, you will not see the German car industry beating the Government or the EU for losing this market for cars. Nor will you see the French consumers marching in the streets for loss of their seafood. The fact is that there will be other sources for seafood and other markets for cars. And while the EU citizens and their businesses will be sad to to see the Brits go on this new strange and inexplicable venture, there is no bitterness.
In fact, Brexit has much less coverage in European newspapers than in the UK. They are much more concerned with Covid.
You see, the bitterness is all a fantasy of the extreme Brexiteers in the UK. They interpret the EU and all its members as always having been against the UK. And I suppose if anyone only ever read the Murdoch press, they would think that too. In the midst of all the hatred that has been fanned up by the Murdoch media, you fail to see the French people who are fans of Marks and Spenser, the Germans who love old British cars, the Belgians who like their fish done the English style - not to mention the number of people who were able to quote Shakespeare to me in the various countries in Europe whereas that hardly happens in the UK unless you happen to be in Oxford or some place like that.
I can tell you that there are some people who are very bitter about what has happened, about the whole Brexit thing who live in Europe. They are the Brits who live very happily in Spain and whose lives will change rather drastically with Brexit, even if there is a deal, even if there is the most perfect deal possible. Now they will be considered a "third country" and will have to face all sorts of bureaucracy with respect to permission to say, work and travel with their pets than before. You should talk to those retirees, some of whom were in favor of the Brexit as it was sold to them at the time but are hopping mad now!
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3 hours ago, Captain Monday said:
What are natural borders? From pics online these ladies don't look up for Jungle treks or river crossings.
I can only speak for border crossings between Thailand and Laos that I know about. There are international border crossings/gates and traditional border crossings, possibly what people call here "natural borders." The former are formal border crossings where international travelers and trade can cross using all the formal documentation. The traditional border crossings are for locals to facilitate people who live in or around the border and are completely off limits to international travelers. Other conditions apply too.
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5 hours ago, Somtamnication said:Do not give our fisheries away nor become a legal client of the EU. Stay strong, Boris!
Don't worry. Boris will stay strong. He has made enough money and will have a pension for life paid for by the tax payer of the UK not to go weak.
However, our British chums may not find things so nice. There has been some talk about the "Spirit of the Blitz" - well, my grandfather fought in both world wars and my mum was in London during WW2 before being evacuated and they witness the so-called Spirit of the Blitz. Unfortunately what people don't mention was that because most of the able-bodied men were in military uniform, there were few policemen available and those that were did not have much time. Crime went through the roof - from petty theft to rape and even murder. If someone wanted to "off" someone at that time, what better time than to hit them over the head and pretend that they were hit by a flying brick during the bombing. Rationing and some food shortages gave way to a booming black market which was invariably run by mafias. A huge amount of crime went unreported and uninvestigated.
So if there is a no deal Brexit and the UK goes into a depression due to lack of trade and the aftermath of covid, our British chums may unfortunately experience the Spirit of the Blitz in the form of crime brought about by mass unemployment and to a lesser degree by disruption in supplies. But I suppose you can look on the bright side - you will not have anything to do with the EU or any of its member states. Even now, they are planning to use military exemption and military planes to fly in the vaccine from Belgium. That should indicate to you the seriousness of the situation.
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On 12/4/2020 at 2:24 PM, JonnyF said:
Are you aware of the difference between the EU and the individual member states? Even if you were correct about no member state wanting the break up of the UK (I wouldn't agree) that has no bearing on what the EU wants, they are not the same thing.
FWIW I wasn't referring to Scotland. Nobody cares about Scotland. The EU has clearly been trying to break NI off from the UK as the price of Brexit. That is what we object to.
Perhaps it is you who should do some reading. And I'm not referring to The Guardian.
I used to think that the myth of the "deep state" was confined to the edges of society in the USA. But clearly you think there is more to the EU other than the member states, which I can only presume is a form of "deep state." A deep state that wants something that its members do not want, that its voters (for the EU Parliament) and that individual state governments who appoint key officials in the EU do not want. Wow, the deep state concept has emigrated and is alive and well in Europe. Who knew?
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13 hours ago, 3NUMBAS said:its likely the parents are hard drinking, smoking and covered in tattoos as shown on tv progs dealing with this poverty stricken class of people with starving kids at food banks .their UC cash is fritered away on non essential items
We all like to have our prejudices confirmed, don't we?
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14 hours ago, Qualibus said:
There's a big difference between a person subject to an international reciprocal protocol that legally exempts certain people from extradition/prosecution and a person who is not entitled to that protection.
Lift that protection for Sacoolas and every British person in that category then risks having their diplomatic immunity removed obviating the reasons for it being applied worldwide in the first place. I'ts a two-way street that applies to the UK's diplomats also.
Ordinarily a few years ago I might have agreed with the idea of a reciprocal lifting of diplomatic immunity for foreign embassy staff and their families between the UK and the USA. But then we had Donald Trump who was demanding personal loyalty from senior law enforcement officers such as the Director of the FBI and whose Attorney General was far from independent. It meant that at least in theory Trump could errode the civil liberties of anyone who was not a citizen of the USA and lock them up.
So, since almost 50% of the USA population like the idea of a Donald Trump in the White House (and remember the next one might be more mannered, more "acceptable" in that he does not engage in such talk about grabbing women by their privates etc), the Diplomatic Immunity condition stays as far as I am concerned.
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4 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:
It is not a ponzi scheme, I have made plenty of money over time with the crypto currencies, a lot more then I am making in stocks.
Please remember that ponzi schemes make money, for a time. This is more like what people used to call "a long game." It is where you build up the confidence in an investment despite there really being nothing in it, nothing to back it. During a long game, and I would class some investments in the so-called dot.com bubble as long games, investors do make some money but it is crazy stuff. Look at the volatility!
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1 hour ago, Pilotman said:we are out aren't we, I call that a win.
Indeed. Brexit won. But if you read the UK press and hear what Brexiteers have to say, including on this forum, you would swear they had lost. All you hear about is the "spitful EU" and how dreadful the EU is blah blah. Well, the UK is out, gone. So there. You cannot continue to blame the EU for all your troubles now. They are yours. Brexiteers, please own your stuff and stop annoying us.
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12 hours ago, JonnyF said:Exactly. This internal market bill is the equivalent of a boxer wearing a groin protector because he suspects the opponent plans to punch him in the balls.
The fact the EU is so upset that we saw it coming tells you everything you need to know about their spiteful intentions to break up the UK.
The gloves are off. Time to ditch the WA in its entirety. While we're at it stop referring to them as friends and partners. They are anything but.
I have heard rubbish in my time but this is so bad it could not have been written by a Russian troll. A small bit of knowledge would indicate that no EU member state would want the UK to break up. For some EU states with significant minorities, such as the Catalans in Spain, a Scotland separating from the UK would provide precedence and the Spanish definitely do not want that.
Perhaps you should read a little bit more.
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7 hours ago, daveAustin said:Sour grapes much. Who cares what the ****** EU thinks! This is chess not checkers. Big reason why UK citizens voted out because they are unbearably condescending and always sticking their oar in.
What I love so much about the Brexiteers is that even in victory they are sour. The decision to bring out this vaccine early (which by the way was developed by a company led by a German couple of Turkish origin in combination with an American multinational) was heavily criticised by the Americans too. But you did not hear much about that in the British largely pro Brexit press.
A little news for Brexiteers and their supporters in the press - you have left the EU. Yes, you are gone. Yes, you are holding out on a number of strange issues that matter to less than 1% of your population (fishing and the so-called level playing field) but you have not fought for the export of services to the EU which is indeed strange, especially since the UK is a service based economy. Nor for a whole raft of other important issues that one would normally expect to be close to the heart of Conservatives but there you are.
But you have left the EU and really what the EU says no longer matters. Really. They do have the right to explain to their own much larger population, just as the Americans do, why they are not bringing out the vaccine at the same time. But that is nothing to do with you. The question for you is, has your government done the right thing by bringing out the vaccine early? IMHO, I think it is risky. Politically risky because any small wrinkle will be amplified by the antivaxers. Scientifically risky because there is always a possibility that a glitch could emerge. But that is my opinion.
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14 hours ago, ourmanflint said:
I am sure all those European citizens who die within the next month will be glad they didn't risk taking a vaccine with only 120* steps of risk assessment over one with 165* steps
* not actual numbers - for illustrative purposes only
Don't worry too much about that. The logistical problems with distributing a vaccine that requires storage at minus 80 degrees centigrade is not going to be rolled out very fast.
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It is interesting to see that while many of the posters here are quick to question Harry's intellect and a few other features of this not quite royal anymore (sorry but I am not British and have not been keeping up with such status changes as it really does not interest me. However, no one actually says what is wrong with what he is saying.
What is wrong is that Harry is making an ontological mistake. He treats nature as if it is an entity that is capable of rebuking, as if it is an actual being that is capable of emotions that could give rise to a rebuke. The truth is, of course, that nature does not harbour emotions and is incapable of giving a rebuke or being <deleted> off with humans or any such behaviour.
But he did say that it is "as if" nature is rebuking us. Again, the question here is whether this is helpful in any way. I am not saying that metaphors are not useful but they are useless when they convey the wrong message.
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20 hours ago, TigerandDog said:
My question is this.How can Trump pardon himself and all his cronies BEFORE they are convicted. None of them will be convicted until after Biden is sworn in.
As stated in my other answer, President Ford opened the door for the possibity of pardoning someone before conviction or even charging by pardoning former president Nixon before he was charged. Since no one thought to challenge that at the time, that created legal precedence.
So it does not even matter if they are ever convicted.
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2 hours ago, polpott said:
I thought ladyboys were exclusively attracted to straight men?
1. Not all transgender people are ladyboys
2. It is not beyond the realms of possibility for a ladyboy to be bisexual.
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17 hours ago, CorpusChristie said:
Just a recap : What exactly is a "transgender " person ?
There is so many variations these days , that I have lost track of who does what , who wears wears what and whom has sex with whom .
Transgender simply refers to the fact that the gender a person was born with is not the gender they feel comfortable being. It has nothing to do with the gender or type of person they might want or not want to sleep with.
Neighbor shoots twenty times at house next door - "because they were not friendly!"
in Bangkok News
Posted
No wonder the guy next door was not friendly if this is the way he behaves!