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I’m fairly certain that Scotland is a net drain to the UK, as is pretty much everywhere outside of London.
London and the SE sucks so much out of the economy too, it's net wealth generating power is limited too.
Scotland has a lot more potential for renewable energy than England, hydro and wind, it also has offshore oil.
I'm pretty sure Scotland could be energy self sufficient and sell it to England for a lot more if they split and join the EU.
Good fishing too. Natural and farmed.
I wonder if the brexiters figured independent Scottish waters into the equation when spouting off about fishing areas.
I’m pretty sure Scotland could be energy self sufficient and sell it to England for a lot more of they split.
Or England can sell surplus nuclear to Scotland, I think that is how it works for non nuclear countries these days....
Or England can sell surplus nuclear to Scotland
The English nuclear that's mostly French owned? The one where we buy the energy back?
Or is England building a new top secret nuclear power station?
Well it will take up a lot less space than putting a turbine on every rooftop, damming every valley and filling all the inland seaways but whatever.
Potential does not equal delivered. When a Hinkley can deliver more than a tidal farm or a mountain of wind reliably and predictably where does it stand?
Mind you somewhere in UKIP/Tory HQ there is somebody chuckling that divided we fall. Want the UK and Scotland in the EU forget going it alone challenge it here and now. Don't give people the fall back option that it will almost certainly, probably really should be OK. Sort it out now.
I quite like the idea of micro power generation rather then centralised energy companies.
Imagine if every house had to have solar and a windmill on the roof..
There is a scotland / england interconnect that will show energy flows and its live on the net somewhere
One advantage of an independent scotland would be we would be able to set our own energy policy and would not have to face the rigged market that makes scottish suppliers supplying electricity to scotland pay more to access the grid than english suppliers supplying England
there is a perfectly workable plan to modernise Scotland electricity generation sitting on the shelf but Holyrood does not have the power to do it - partly because of the rigged market that is UK wide adn controlled by westminster
By my understanding Scotland generally exports power to england. dunno if its still so since longannet and cockenzie went tho.
Scotland produced IIRC ( and ican't be bothered looking it up again) more than half its electricity from renewables and the amount is increasing all the time. Thats not potentially half - thats in actual megathingies deliverd
So Energy is really not a good card to play to do down the idea of independence for Scotland as its one area that independence would be an obvious advantage
Infact here is some analysis - dunno how valid
http://euanmearns.com/scotland-england-electricity-transfers/
As we sit right now renewables are producing 30% of the UK electricity, Nuclear 20%
Reding a bit more losing longgannet and cockenzie has meant that in a winter high pressure event Scotland imports from england. this is far less that the exports over the year
Scotland desperately needs a new gas generator or two ( with all that gas found recently in the north sea) for these events but we are not allowed to build one / its made uneconomic by the rigged market Only would need to run around 30 - 40 days a year
Given how the last one went if people want an energy thread best start a separate one.... Otherwise it will just be a repeat of several others.
Indeed mike - and a scottish independence one a well
Just correcting some utter bollox tho 😉
The government published a list of brexit unknowns last week
It's a long list
https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-8408
The government published a list of brexit knowns last week
It’s a short list
1/ We're ****ed
2/ Er, that's it.
3/ No wait! Blue Passports!
The government published a list of KNOWN brexit unknowns last week
FIFY
That is only the list of things they have thought of so far. Add about 20-30% more for things they have not considered
So is anyone going to vote for mays deal which is unacceptable to everyone?
Boris did.
Depends on what that deal will look like by March. My guess is that, by then, she’ll have backtracked on all the red lines (I suspect she was always aware she’d have to do this anyway) so we’ll end up with Brexit in name only, Customs Union, single market and payments to Brussels
So the choice put to a parliamentary vote will be ‘its this or the no deal financial abyss of the headbangers making... so which is it to be?’
At that point, when reality bites, I expect it’ll be the Brexiteer loons who will then be screaming for a ‘People’s Vote’
Trouble is chequers or any varient similar is not going to be the deal. She wants 7 impossible things before breakfast.
However whatever cobbled together deal she does make will only get tory loyalists and a few deluded laboutr voting for it.
I rate her chances of getting any deal to put to parliament as less than 50/50 and her chances of getting anything thru next to zero
Whatever happens, as squeaky bum time approaches, and reality bites, I expect the political landscape is going to look very very different in this country
Good article in the graun link
We've moved so far from what the Leave campaign mooted before the referendum that models for Brexit that were never even considered before the vote now look like the centre way
The past two years have felt like a vast exercise in gaslighting – the method of psychological coercion that involves subtly undermining people’s confidence in what is real until they begin to question their own judgment. Thus have the parameters of sanity in the debate shifted. The norms have moved so far that any deal starts to look like a victory for common sense over extremism. But that is only because today’s political maps don’t even mark the spot where realistic accounts of Britain’s European interests used to appear.
An all this on a majority of 52%, which almost certainly no longer exists anyway
An all this on a majority of 52%, which almost certainly no longer exists anyway
Yes but in the wacky world of UK politics less than 40% can be enough to elect a majority government.
Brexit so far;
We’ve moved so far from what the Leave campaign mooted before the referendum that models for Brexit that were never even considered before the vote now look like the centre way
This.
Some leavers were saying 'oh there'll be a really close relationship' after Brexit, others were saying they needed a clean break. This is why a 2nd ref is essential.
LSHTM calls for international conferences to be held outside of the UK, due to British Visa policies
t's no longer acceptable to organise major international meetings in UK or US. If you create hostile environments you can't expect people to come & spend money. We had problems during @ASPHERoffice meeting in London - eminent colleague unable to get visa. Disgraceful.
But apparently, we're an outward looking global country that is going to g out into that big wide world and succeed!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45795833
Theresa May has been warned of "dire" electoral consequences for the Tories if she persists with her Brexit plan.
Yep, we can see what the real issue is there.... It's job security for the Tory Party
Did anyone else see this? Looks like we're going to get bitch slapped when we try and join the WTO as well, by not only Argentina and Spain - but our extra special friends across the pond as well!
Watching the worlds of chest thumping empire loving brexiters crumble around them is going to be good fun. Turns out, no one likes Britain and there is **** all we can do about it!
Someone in the express comments today said that thier human rights would be violated if there wasn't a no deal scanario.
I was almost tempted to sign up just so that I could point out that the human rights act is based on European law and that they wouldn't have any human rights if it were not for the EU.
But I thought it would be a wasted effort.. if you've ever read the comments on there you'll see they are a bunch of dribbling flag waving morons..
Noone, politically at least, is talking about problems with WTO membership. Just accepted as a done deal
The absolute state of politicians in the UK.
https://twitter.com/OwenPaterson/status/1049199778742063104
I was almost tempted to sign up just so that I could point out that the human rights act is based on European law and that they wouldn’t have any human rights if it were not for the EU.
Just as well you didn't, you avoided making a fool of yourself.
Just as well you didn’t, you avoided making a fool of yourself.
How so in the daily express context of no more European anything ..?
The human rights contained within this law are based on the articles of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Act ‘gives further effect’ to rights and freedoms guaranteed under the European Convention. It means:
- Judges must read and give effect to other laws in a way which is compatible with Convention rights.
- It is unlawful for a public authority to act in a way which is incompatible with a Convention right.
The ECHR is separate from the EU, for instance members include Russia, so when we leave the EU we will still be a member.
Noone, politically at least, is talking about problems with WTO membership. Just accepted as a done deal
That is because historically, even as late as 2003 - Britain has been used to being able to get it's way geopolitically. There has been a steady decline in our relevance since the collapse of the iron curtain , that has now come to an acute head. Mainland Europe has more power relative to us than it ever has - while the rest of the world still dislikes us due to empire etc. Our only friends were the yanks and Aussies and even they aren't reliable partners now.
Our politicians typical PPE education seems to equip them for the economic and political landscape of the 18th century as well - I should imagine a good understanding of game theory and thus how the newly developed world now operates and responds to British interests, is well beyond them.
<div class="bbp-reply-author">mefty
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The ECHR is separate from the EU, for instance members include Russia, so when we leave the EU we will still be a member.
Well that's not true is it. Leaving the EU won't make us leave the ECHR but that doesn't mean we'll remain a member. At the moment we're compelled to but a lot fo the far right brexit headbangers want to drag us out, and while May has committed to staying in even she accepted she has no commons majority to do so.And all through the campaign people used the ECHR as an example of things we need to turk back control of.
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If there is no Bill to leave the ECHR she doesn't need a majority because there will be no vote, the status quo will be maintained, leaving the ECHR is not an automatic consequence of the passage of any of the Bills going through parliament (or Acts already passed.)
Hopefully the EU will tie in ECHR membership to any deal they offer the UK… because May made plenty of noises about getting out from under it when she was Home Secretary… and there are plenty in her party that feel even stronger about it. Even though the ECHR is a huge success story for the UK… it looks like we may require other countries to make/encourage us to stick with it.
Now, back to business …
The absolute state of politicians in the UK.
https://twitter.com/propertyspot/status/1049261111340687360?s=21
It's a "bait-and-switch" con job.
<div class="bbp-reply-author">mefty
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leaving the ECHR is not an automatic consequence of the passage of any of the Bills going through parliament (or Acts already passed.
Nobody here suggested otherwise, as you well know.
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Nobody here suggested otherwise, as you well know.
I do and therefore I wonder how they are comfortable with saying my initial post is untrue.
The National Audit Office absolutely savaging Brexit this morning.
But of course, Brexit supporting MPs need no help in savaging themselves. Who votes for these people?
Peter Bone, the Conservative Brexiter, goes next,
He says Morse is being unusually frank for a civil servant. He is answering questions.
Morse says he isn’t a civil servant. He works for the House of Commons. (The NAO reports to parliament, not to government.)
Wow, that is a little blunt there, of course we all know what we think of experts. To the unicorn farm batman!
Wow, that is a little blunt there, of course we all know what we think of experts. To the unicorn farm batman!
Meanwhile, headline news at the BBC is "Gay Cake!"
DUP now threatening to vote against the budget, if May signs up to an Irish backstop that's acceptable to the Irish government. A circle that's hard to square.
Cross fingers … some circlesquaring … that may help keep DUP onboard … but then there's the ERG … multiplayer chess … of course it fits with Corbyn&Co's policy so far (because his position really does matter) …
https://twitter.com/peston/status/1049989093814398976?s=21
theres either an epic fudge or an epic flounce coming
Who was looking for Brexit positives? Here's one. Well.. a potential one...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/10/brexit-leaving-eu-farming-agriculture
ah the moon boot getting on in on farming again, in other news....
Farming subsidies can be crazy but the irony is leaving the EU does not give the UK power to unilaterally change them. Any subsidies would have to be agreed in WTO if we go that way. Obviously New Zealand would like to see no subsidies for lamb going to any farmers in the UK and no tariff for import of their product.
long term it might work out well but in the short term because the government is not organised in any way many people will get screwed
... and zero tariffs on meat would destroy the UK farming industry inside of a week.
Sorry, that's probably "project fear" again, isn't it.
Hell of a weapon those leavers have got there to dismiss any predictions or warnings that they don't like. I wish we'd thought of it.
Well.. a potential one…
Not really. Remember the British government had plenty of influence on the farming subsidies. Admittedly not as much as the French but in terms of how it was used in the UK with the massive upside for the big landowners, or tory peers as many are also known, a lot was down to UK implementation decisions.
A little while ago, someone was trying to defend the BBC as being not really biased about brexit. Someone else posted on Twitter a list of all the MEPs who had been invited on to question time in the last 5 years. 35 in total, 33 from ukip and twice hannan who might as well be a member. Not a single MEP from any of the other parties, not a single MEP to defend the European parliament or EU more generally and explain what it does for us.
The question would be were the UKIP lot on (farage) because they were mep's or because they were a handy representative of leave. Whereas there were plenty of non mep's to defend the eu.
I thought QT always had a token nutter on the panel to rant about something topical, so UKIP would have been a perfect fit over much of the past N years. If it was all people with moderate views it'd be a bit beige.
We need a bit more beige at the moment.
We need A LOT more beige at the moment.
Assuming beige means politicians with policies based on facts and issues not fear mongering, unicorns and sunlit uplands.
That £1bn bribe to the DUP looking mighty foolish right now, especially as barnier showed no sign of budging on cu cu proposals yesterday.
With Italys populists throwing a tantrum the EU have to make exit look tough or they'll be conceding on (& weakening) the SM/CU alll over the place.
With Italys populists throwing a tantrum the EU have to make exit look tough or they’ll be conceding on (& weakening) the SM/CU alll over the place.
Leaving has had to look bad enough (look but not necessarily be) that if you are not France/Germany you risk collapsing. Italy are always on that point anyway so it should not need to be so much to discourage them...
Assuming beige means politicians with policies based on facts and issues not fear mongering, unicorns and sunlit uplands.
Yes that is the sort of beige I had in mind. Perhaps it would be more acceptable if we rebranded it Magnolia.
Assuming beige means politicians with policies based on facts and issues not fear mongering, unicorns and sunlit uplands.
Oh yes, wall to wall beige would be nice for anyone actually making a decision (or likely to). The nutters do make for entertaining telly though, in a 'shouting at the screen with disbelief and waiting for someone to challenge the frothing nonsense spewing from their mouth' kind of way.
"there will be no downside to brexit, only a considerable upside" David Davis, 10 October 2016
10 October 2018
An unhappy Tory MP…
https://news.sky.com/story/mp-tom-tugendhats-fury-over-no-deal-brexit-plan-for-m26-motorway-11523504
(edit : sorry, that's pretty much a duplicate of your link @kimbers)
The nutters do make for entertaining telly though,
Poiltics as entertainment.
Look where it is taking us.
It is all going so well :
and
https://news.sky.com/story/obr-likens-no-deal-brexit-impact-to-three-day-week-11523664
if youre a subscriber, fascinating insight into how the negotiations have gone
https://www.ft.com/content/a7298efa-cc1c-11e8-b276-b9069bde0956
if youre not, to summarise...
that Olly Robbins has been the only grown up on the UK side
USA taking every opportunity to squeeze us, while the EU keeps backing us on international trade matters… as we Leave them…
…yet most UK media still painting it the other way around.
another evisceration of the brexiters from Ivan rogers here
long read but goes into detail about just how deluded many MPs still are about it all
Next batch of "Protect and Survive" guides are out.
Lights might be going out all over NornRland, come March.
Britain's space industry "success story" might need the prefix "former".
IT companies might be able to transfer data into the UK from the EU if its written in the contract. And the EU doesn't get petty.
Blimin' 'eck, we really need the grown ups to come charging in on the spitfire winged unicorns. Soon as.
Edit: Ooops! Two were from September...
next batch, and shock horror. No more eurotunnel in a no deal situation.
and because no one ever thinks about it.
Dublin Belfast train service, is that also shut down?
https://twitter.com/faisalislam/status/1050774444740882432?s=21
What is our government doing to help companies here prepare? Beyond writing notices that basically say "ask someone else about it, we don't really know" and keeping its own preparations secret 'till the last minutes?
But you have gotta love Arlene talking about 'dodgy' deals 🙂
Do these people have absolutely no sense of honour?
Do these people have absolutely no sense of honour?
They are the DUP.
They will tear down anything to preserve their position. Anything. Really. Anything. Present company excepted, it's no bad thing that everybody on the mainland is getting to see just how they operate.
I really can’t stress this enough, but if you voted for Brexit you should be absolutely ashamed of yourself. The damage you’ve done to this country should rest squarely on your shoulders, but sadly those of us with an ounce of common sense are going to be dragged down with the absolute shit show that’s really starting to unravel now
If you’d have asked who were the last people on Earth you’d with the power to hold the U.K. government to ransom then the DUP would top the list, closely followed by the hard right lunatic fringe of the Tory party.
The fact that these two groups of headbangers are now dictating policy is absolutely terrifying!
Christ only knows where they’re going to take us! Nowhere good, that’s for damn sure!
Do these people have absolutely no sense of honour
where have you been? All they care about is their own narrow spiteful interests. The majority in the north voted against brexit, but **** it the anti- everything party will stand firm ,no surrender, etc, etc
Do these people have absolutely no sense of honour
LOL I've been misreading that as humour, as it works just the same.
Pack of dogs basically, the DUP ERG really dont like each other, then you have the middle ground Torie brexitters looking after themselves, then the Tory remainers.
Four packs of dogs with varying sets of teeth and numbers of dogs. The DUP will get taken out by the other three packs at some point as will the ERG.
The real question is who will vote for Mays dodgy deal.
The real question is who will vote for Mays dodgy deal.
If May gets a deal they will all vote for it due to brown trousers
Whoa there, this one might get some traction
<h2>Spotify and Netflix</h2>
It also emerged on Friday that consumers may not be able to access online services such as Netflix, Spotify and Amazon Prime when travelling to the EU on holiday in the event of no deal.Regarding the “portability of online content service”, a notice published on 24 September but previously unreported said: “The portability regulation will cease to apply to UK nationals when they travel to the EU.”
My Netflix account is based on the US... I can still use in the UK and Europe... each location has unique catalogs
downloads don’t play from UK to USA but seem to in Europe