British lawmakers instruct May to demand EU reopen Brexitdeal; EU says 'No'

[Grouse]

14 hours ago, JAG said:

You really are a condescending arrogant individual aren't you?

Yes

[Grouse]

14 hours ago, nauseus said:

Similar to many similar old "news" stories. Interesting to see that the "recession" word is not used once in this article, so why claim this "mother of all recessions". Hard to credit the quoted percentages of British businesses considering relocating (29%), when less than 10% of UK businesses actually trade with the EU.  

 

Must try harder. 1000 lines.

 

Are you counting hairdressers again?

[Grouse]

10 hours ago, evadgib said:

As chomper has given this his customary stamp it's worth noting that the 'Facts' he has thrice presented were debunked by the disclosure of official data from the Met who were policing the events and by video evidence uploaded in real time by people in the much-bigger-than-he-says crowd(s) ????

So, give us your numbers!

[Scott]

Stay  on topic and keep it civil.  

[bannork]

Therese Raphael explaining that Article 24 doesn't cover services which account for 80% of the UK economy and 45% of total exports.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-02-01/busting-the-brexit-article-24-trade-deal-myth

[evadgib]

2 hours ago, Grouse said:

So, give us your numbers!

...again? Can't be bovvered????

[SheungWan]

On 1/30/2019 at 6:59 AM, Laughing Gravy said:

Well the farce continues. If only May was removed and someone who believes in Brexit was in charge. I find it boring and so predictable now. More interesting for me is waiting for the next GE and those like Cooper et al will be crying when they are booted out by the electorate.

Maybe boring but certainly predictable is the repetitive drivel coming from the Hard Brexit camp.

[evadgib]

2 hours ago, Grouse said:

So, give us your numbers!

...again?

[nauseus]

5 hours ago, Grouse said:

Aw! How sweet! I love the way Brexiters help each other! Bless????

Morning Grouse! Another bad night?

[nauseus]

5 hours ago, Grouse said:

Are you counting hairdressers again?

Just the numbers quoted in the lopsided link, Grouse. Reminds me of my haircut.

 

[nauseus]

6 hours ago, Grouse said:

Cognitive dissonance I think is more likely.

 

You can joke but the dumbing down of the masses is a genuine worry. People have so many sources of information at their finger tips but actually know far less than was typically the case before the ascent of digital media.

 

Discuss.

OK. But first a question. When do you consider that this dumbing down actually commenced? 

[melvinmelvin]

9 minutes ago, nauseus said:

OK. But first a question. When do you consider that this dumbing down actually commenced? 

that is a very very pertinent Q, assuming that dumbing down actually takes place - am not convinced,

 

 

[talahtnut]

7 hours ago, Grouse said:

Cognitive dissonance I think is more likely.

 

You can joke but the dumbing down of the masses is a genuine worry. People have so many sources of information at their finger tips but actually know far less than was typically the case before the ascent of digital media.

 

Discuss.

Well Grouse, for once I have to agree with you, I

attribute the dumbing down to the decline of the classical

education system which has been replaced by merely

acquiring skills that an employer would value.

'Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made

stupid by education'. Bertrand Russell

 

[Grouse]

1 hour ago, nauseus said:

OK. But first a question. When do you consider that this dumbing down actually commenced? 

When the internet took off and when we got multiple TV channels. I guess about 25 years ago? I'll look it up.

 

Yes, that's when we got terrestrial digital and also the first ISPs

 

The problem is that audiences became distributed over more and more stations resulting in a race to the bottom to grab audience share with low brow tripe.

 

The point is that when we had BBC1, BBC2, ITV and Channel 4 only, broadcasters could do "The Right Thing" and make us eat our greens! Huge audiences (20M for BBC 6 O'Clock news) and loads of current affairs and documentaries. A few sit CONs during the week and game shows at the weekend. I promise you, most people were far better informed due to that and also newspapers were universally read.

 

I have no doubt that Joe Public is far worse informed even with smartphones and Google.

 

I must research if reading has declined along with libraries

[welovesundaysatspace]

6 minutes ago, talahtnut said:

Well Grouse, for once I have to agree with you, I

attribute the dumbing down to the decline of the classical

education system which has been replaced by merely

acquiring skills that an employer would value.

 

 

Maybe after Brexit, you can take control of the education system and build one that aims to acquiring skills that employers don’t value. Some ideas for the curriculum:

- A Bachelor in Conspiracy Theories

- Practical studies on how to build castles in the sky 

- Marketing revisited: Using red busses and lies to manipulate everyone 

- How to live happy by ignoring bad news 

...and definitely don’t forget to throw in free transportation to cloud cuckoo land for enrolled students. 

 

 

[vogie]

6 minutes ago, Grouse said:

When the internet took off and when we got multiple TV channels. I guess about 25 years ago? I'll look it up.

Aye it were different in t'old days.

 

 

[Grouse]

40 minutes ago, Grouse said:

When the internet took off and when we got multiple TV channels. I guess about 25 years ago? I'll look it up.

 

Yes, that's when we got terrestrial digital and also the first ISPs

 

The problem is that audiences became distributed over more and more stations resulting in a race to the bottom to grab audience share with low brow tripe.

 

The point is that when we had BBC1, BBC2, ITV and Channel 4 only, broadcasters could do "The Right Thing" and make us eat our greens! Huge audiences (20M for BBC 6 O'Clock news) and loads of current affairs and documentaries. A few sit CONs during the week and game shows at the weekend. I promise you, most people were far better informed due to that and also newspapers were universally read.

 

I have no doubt that Joe Public is far worse informed even with smartphones and Google.

 

I must research if reading has declined along with libraries

https://www.euread.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Booktrust-reading-habits-exec-summary-2014.pdf

 

As you would expect - read it yourselves

 

One shocking statistic, the average reading level in the U.K. Is 9!!

 

https://www.jrf.org.uk/press/5-million-adults-lack-basic-literacy-and-numeracy-skills

 

So I do believe that inadequate numeracy and literacy are a major problem 

 

I also think there has been a mass dumbing down over the past 25 years

 

Dont get me started on poor linguistic skills!

 

Anybody following Andrew Marr's Modern History of the U.K.? Excellent! Latest episode deals with Heath - miners after 45% pay rise! Lest we forget! Everybody should watch this series before being allowed a vote!

[melvinmelvin]

9 minutes ago, Grouse said:

https://www.euread.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Booktrust-reading-habits-exec-summary-2014.pdf

 

As you would expect - read it yourselves

 

One shocking statistic, the average reading level in the U.K. Is 9!!

 

https://www.jrf.org.uk/press/5-million-adults-lack-basic-literacy-and-numeracy-skills

 

not to undermine your tales Grouse, far from it, but can't let this opportunity pass,

as an aside (kinda off topic but kinda funny and not too far off the mark):

 

re the pleasures of reading;

 

 

 

 

[melvinmelvin]

Just now, melvinmelvin said:

 

not to undermine your tales Grouse, far from it, but can't let this opportunity pass,

as an aside (kinda off topic but kinda funny and not too far off the mark):

 

re the pleasures of reading;

 

 

 

 

 

reckon numerous tangents/secants/hyperboles re Brexit can be plotted on the basis of this pic

 

[Grouse]

 

This is old. It predates Trump and Brexit. But it does look at inequality of the long term.

 

As you know, I have always thought that inequality is the key factor in countrywide dissatisfaction and unhappiness

 

This nicely shows the extreme positions of both the U.K. And USA as opposed to France and Sweden and Japan for example

 

Its heavy going but just scroll from graph to graph.

 

Sobering and enlightening.