The Conservatives seem to want to sell off the NHS so that we pay for it through our taxes

The issues is that our taxes aren’t enough and higher taxes is an election losing slogan.

Everybody is happy with higher taxes to pay for the NHS. As long as it is someone else’s taxes that are higher. There was a poll done shortly after the NI fiasco. Can’t find it, but when presented with a list of tax rise options everyone almost exclusively wanted to raise the taxes that they didn’t personally pay.

Private medicine in any form is not the answer.

Yeah, those GP practices are total carp. Get rid of them entirely.

And the French system, with large scale private sector involvement – must be utterly useless. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Health_Organization_ranking_of_health_systems_in_2000

The elephant in the room is that we need to pay more taxes. significantly more. For example the Netherlands

You mean the Netherlands and their mainly private (for-profit) healthcare? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_health_consumer_index

From experience you can’t just take on a joint mortgage singularly, you have to apply for a new mortgage or that’s what my wife’s mortgage co have told us, so in this case exit fees would still apply

Yup. And make a new entry with the land registry. And pay stamp duty if it is due (which doesn’t arise on divorce).

You are transferring ownership from “A+B” to just “A”. And the same with the mortgage liability. If the mortgage company decide that they don’t want to lend to the single owner then that’s their commercial decision to make.

Pretty much ever lender on a residential mortgage will reduce the amount that they will lend by the amount of mortgage that she already has.

She will still remain liable for the mortgage payments, so if ex refuses to pay then the bank can come after her.

I strongly suggest selling up and going separate ways. Or he remortgages into his name only (without taking out a lump sum). She could take an IOU and put a second charge on the property to enforce it. If he can’t get a mortgage in his name at all, sell up and both of you take cash away.

Seems they’re already working on integrating DIRCM into the F-35 fuselage, not just bolting it onto some pods taking up valuable hardpoints…..

http://aviationweek.com/defense/northrop-develops-laser-missile-jammer-f-35

That’s some Star Wars type stuff, right there…

DIRCM is not new technology – it dates back to the nineties for the original DIRCM programme.

At one point post 9-11 the US govt wanted to put a DIRCM on all transatlantic and transpacific airliners. Then they worked out how much it would cost…

LDEW, now that’s more like star wars…

Does it have a conveyor belt?

C&CC site is nice, shop is rather basic but if you are in a motorhome you’ll be fine. Nip into dubnar for supplies, toilets are decent and you get your EHU. It can get a bit blowy though!

Belhaven is awesome, but falls foul of your “not a holiday park” requirement.

You want proof? You can’t handle the proof.

It does highlight the somewhat pointless nature of the Fixed Term Act though

It highlights that the name of the act is pointless.

The act still serves a purpose, even if only in principle, in that the decision to call an election is now in the hands of parliament and not solely down to the PM.

PM May isn’t stupid, she is well aware that Corbyn’s current fragile position

Her position is also rather fragile.

She can’t rely on her backbenches to support her Brexit plans at the moment so she doesn’t have a safe working majority to see Brexit through.

Assuming she campaigns on the basis of a particular Brexit approach, this also gets rid of arguments that she has no mandate for whatever her approach is.

Even harder Brexit with “mandate” to slaughter any opposition

But is that what we will see?

May has only called this because she can’t rely on her backbenches so she is worried about having a working majority on Brexit.

She will surely campaign on her view of Brexit and then claim a mandate to execute it. It won’t be placating the more eurosceptic elements of her party and it won’t be pre-negotiation posturing.

She could aim for a moderate Brexit, if she goes hard line then she risks losing votes. They have the votes to lose, but it’s not a slam dunk.

Repatriation of devolved powers to Westminster

Never going to happen.

Create a hive of scum and villany?

Put them in Room 101. Perhaps a suggestions for that article in the next issue?

“A vote for the SNP is not a vote for independence.”

Will we see that line again?

I predict that the SNP will lose a small number of seats and Labour will crumble. I also predicted Clinton would win and we would vote against Brexit.

I sometimes just wish politicians (of all colours) would just eff off for a while and leave the country alone. We had major votes in 14, 15, 16 and now 17 as well.

Yes – correcting your running style with ‘special people’ shoes will only end up giving you other injuries IMO

As someone with flat feet, and therefore a tendency to overpronation which causes hellish shin splints, I suggest your opinion is not correct. I basically cannot run without ‘special people’ shoes.

There is a lot of faddy crap out there and selling people things that they don’t need. Getting shoes that support your foot in the way your foot needs supported is sensible, not faddy crap.

Most people need nothing special. A good shop will not sell you anything special if you don’t need it. For those of us that need something a little different, a good shop will help you find the right shoe – in my case one with enough support but not too much.

She probably can’t, because of the fixed term parliaments act. Not without a supermajority in the commons. Normally that would be impossible, but Corbyn is such a **** that he will probably support it.

Alternatively she could pass legislation to amend/suspend/repeal the act with a simple majority but the lords would likely tell her to piss off and stop playing silly buggers.

She might be quitting, more likely a “oh brexshit” statement.

Dog community leaders should have to condemn it

I asked and they said “woof bark growl woof” and then peed on my leg.

Get goggles that don’t leak.

I wear contacts under goggles. But you MUST take your lenses out when you leave the pool or you risk nasty eye eating diseases.

If they are resuable, they need to go through a full disinfect cycle. If disposable, you should give your eyes a couple of hours to wash themselves before putting another pair in.

We have a hot water tap at work. It comes out at 90 degrees and blind tasting shows that the tea tastes crap.

So we use the hot water to fill the kettle.

Mostly use a one cup thing at home – that works fine.

No limescale problems because we are in Scotland where our water isn’t minging.

How does this work if I was towing a massive caravan one day, and then a towbar mount bike carrier with one bike on it the next day?

If you have an auto, the update sometimes changes the gearbox so having a bike rack might make the shifts different to normal driving. That’s probably the only downside. Most modern autos are fairly intelligent so should adapt to whatever your load is.

In terms of disabling reversing sensors, etc, then that applies whether you have a bike rack or trailer.

Stability programmes only apply to trailers, but that is really using sensors to detect snaking and the like so although the programme gets enabled it should never really do anything with a bike rack.

probably true, but if the car is in warranty and you have an[y] electrical problem the dealer could deny responsibility if the towbar had been fitted by a 3rd party.
So it depends on the car to some extent.

Which has been well done and dusted in consumer law in recent years.

The dealer would have to prove that the failure was a result of the third party work. The days when they can say “ah but you got it serviced somewhere else so it’s not our fault” and so on are well past.

if she simply refuses to do the training (outside of paid hours) and therefore gets fired (assuming this happens), isn’t there a very clear case for wrongful dismissal which would pay the time it takes her to find a new job?

No right to this until 2 years service.

We love our airbeam tent.

The beams are pretty solid, but if you are leaving it all summer then they will presumably need topped up occasionally.

The big feature of airbeam tents (and why we have one) is that they are really quick to put up. That isn’t really a factor if you are staying all summer, so why not just go for poles? It will also pack down a bit smaller.

A council is not a country.

And Scotland is not a sovereign state, nor an entity that has any sort of special status in international law.

If it is about democracy and the sovereignty of democratically elected bodies, why does it matter which particular set of lines within an internationally recognised sovereign state we are talking about?

Why choose the current borders of Scotland? Why should we not go back to Sodor, Noror, Strathclyde, Bernicia, etc? Why does “democracy” only apply as an argument to one particular set of boundaries?

That isn’t an argument against Scottish independence, but I do take issue with the “waaaagggghhhh it isn’t democratic” argument.

I think the realisation has sunk in that they are based on estimates made by those who have a vested interest in making sure independent seeking Scots do not have the whole story.

The SNP government in Holyrood? Because it is them that prepare them and, as National Statistics, they are held to a high level of accuracy.

GERS is as close as it is possible to get to understanding the finances and economics of Scotland at the moment.

You may also, under OSCR rules, need to treat this as a restricted donation. How that works with land/buildings, I don’t know.

The 10 meetings per year means that there are strings attached, which makes things more difficult (tax relief and annual accounting for starters).

There is a benefit threshold (10% maybe?) so as long as you document that the total benefit to the group is less than the permitted value based on the size of gift then should be OK I think.

The rules are there to stop tax fraud (make gift to charity, claim tax relief, get gift back by some means other than cash).

I suggest you instruct a solicitor and sort this out properly.

If you have to have permission to have a referendum its not democratic

So if a council decided it wanted to vote on regional independence (or greater powers from central government, or whatever), but had to ask Holyrood then that isn’t democratic?

There are many version of democracy. Not just the one that gives you what you want.

GERS, pensions, currency, jobs etc that’s the battle lines.

Not if the SNP can help it, those are exactly the areas where they are weak. Sturgeon’s plan is all based around a project fear exercise before there is any real clarity on the impact of Brexit (not the terms, the actual impact).

Moving a long way past GERS isn’t actually that complicated if we just create a functioning budget for the first year of Scottish independence.

Exactly what I would like to see. I expect it would look a lot like GERS. 10 years hence, it would look a lot different but I expect year 1 would look much the same.

The 2014 referendum was fought with the nats relying on GERS for much of their economic case (albeit ignoring updates as they came). But now they are useless and not representative apparently?

I used to think May an intelligent politician but her mishandling of things over the last while has changed that very much

I thought her intelligent and that her Brexit waffle was merely pre-negotiation posturing. And then Andrew Neil interviewed her last night. Car crash is an understatement.

There are more people wanting independence now than there was at the start of the last campaign.

Given most people had to make their mind up one way or the other during the last campaign, that is hardly surprising. Unless you subscribe to the theory that Leave gained 15% (or whatever) last time so they’ll gain it again this time and so win with nearly 60% of the vote.

Both sides are really quite entrenched after 2014 and the pool of floating voters is quite small.

Private companies are often guilty of inflating prospects.

Big, but not huge find. Probably rather expensive to exploit, might not fit with current oil price although it will surely have good value at some point in the future.

But a well spun press release will bump the share price up today and that is what matters most.

Definitely good news, how good remains to be seen.

Last time, Shetland asked for their own referendum after the Scottish one. Perhaps this will encourage them further?

No reason the EU would want iScotland as a member…

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-03-26/fish-eye-view-of-the-complexities-that-may-sink-brexit-talks

Fish probably won’t make much difference (although I am sure that we will have the SNP claiming Scotland was cheated when all is done). A boat 199 miles from shore (inside our EEZ) needs to be working to the same quota as a boat 201 miles from shore. Otherwise it just doesn’t work. Fish don’t respect international borders.

There are a limited amount of fish and if we don’t all work together through the annual CFP quota shout-a-thon then nobody will have any fish. That’s the point fishing was at when the CFP came along and quotas shrunk drastically. It wasn’t the CFP that did per se, it was that the waters had been overfished. I think the CFP (or something that does the same job) will stay.

In 2014, Salmond did threaten the EU with an illegal blockade to stop EU vessels transiting our waters (many go through ours to access North Atlantic fishing). Perhaps he could try that again? It might get the same silence that met him last time.

Don’t some airlines (I’m pretty sure Singapore did when I flew with them last year) have rules in place that mean laptops must go in the cabin, due to the fire risk from the lithium batteries?

Different rules for installed and loose batteries. Some airlines choose to apply the tightest rule to all (hand carry only) but it isn’t required. Many airlines distinguish between spare batteries and installed batteries. You can ship installed lithium batteries with no special marking or precautions.

Liquid bombs are a myth

No, they aren’t.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/10/liquid_bomb_verdicts/

(el reg was initially very sceptical, but evidence caused them to change their mind)

Are you also an expert of flight safety?

This is the internet. Better than that, it is STW. Everyone is an expert. Especially me.

Yes, but IMO it isn’t about whether Indy is Yes/No but something of while Scotland is important for the Brexit negotiation, is it as simple as we’re another 5m population plus natural resources or more to do with politics?

Because she believes that the whole of the UK benefits from a focus on the Brexit negotiations to get a good deal?

Because running the two arguments in parallel might not give both the proper attention?

Because the prospect of Scottish independence debate during the A50 period may undermine the Brexit negotiations?

If I’m not mistaken, as part the recent council tax increase for band E upwards, the SNP proposal was to ring-fence that extra money for the exclusive use of schools.

The SNP proposal was that council tax was unfair, regressive and not fit for purpose. It was frozen until they could replace it with something more appropriate.

So question Jamba, since you say that Scotlands ecomony will be oil based. How much oil/gas is the UK sitting on and how much of that is in Scotlands waters?

Bear in mind that the established practice in International Law and under UN rules is that existing deposits are split per capita and not geographically. The EEZ doesn’t apply. This would also include a Scottish entitlement to English shale gas which may be worth more than North Sea oil reserves…

The rules were developed to stop small, mineral-rich areas of African countries declaring independence and funding wars with their new found wealth. They probably aren’t the best suited to the UK. But they are, for now, internationally agreed and binding precedent if there is no mutual agreement.

I(f the scottish pooond was pegged to the euro with support from the ECB is that possible?

With a peg, somebody has to fund that peg. The two currencies will move as a result of market forces, so you have to spend money to move the market back to the peg. If you don’t, you just get arbitrage that screws up the lesser currency.

You would expect oor pooond to have to be funded by the Scottish Govt if it was to be pegged to GBP or euro (which is a sensible transition arrangement if you can afford it)

See Black Wednesday for further details 🙂

Westminster and BoE still control everything financial, interest rates, monetary policy, priniting money (UK will prevent iS printing £s as its no longer part of the UK)

Even at the moment, Scottish banks cannot “print money” in the usual sense of the phrase.

Although Scottish banks can issue banknotes, for every RBS pound that is issued RBS has to deposit a pound with the BoE. No Scottish bank can increase basic money supply.

I especially like the way you say a scottish pooond would be volatile.

It depends a lot on how it is implemented, but yes in the early days unless it is supported by a rapidly responding central bank. Simply, there will be little enough in circulation that traders will have an impact and I’m sure speculators will have a go. To stabilise it you need at least one of: no interest from speculators; loads in circulation so buying selling on a large scale doesn’t have an impact; the ability to print and buy back large amounts of currency (with consequences for domestic inflation).

It won’t be pegged to the oil price, but it will be influenced by it. Just a good dose of Adam Smith.

Allow us to set our own standards for immigration. Make it cheap and easy if we want.

What could be cheaper and easier for the 740 million EU residents than free movement? Why don’t they want to come here?

Also – the EU won’t let you for other countries.

Big and daft – have you ever been to scotland? Edinburgh is almost half immigrants!

Have you ever been to Edinburgh?

84% of Edinburgh residents were born in the UK. Roughly half the immigrants are EU, half are not.

well the fact there’s less immigration than oldham would suggest they possibly could increase it if they had the powers. not really seeing your issue here?

What powers? What legislation would be passed to change this? It’s easy to say “we want the powers for this, that and the other”. I’ve never seen the SNP or any of their supporters state what specific changes they would actually make.

So, given we currently have free movement from the whole of the EU (about 740 million people that could come to Scotland with no barrier at all), what legislative changes could be made to improve that number?

Scotland needs immigration. The problem is that immigrants don’t seem to want to come here. What’s the solution? What laws would be passed using powers currently reserved?

Stuff the warranty, as above.

Go for MOT, service and full tank of fuel if you want to close the gap a bit more. They are far easier for the garage to give.

Sturgeon continues to play a blinder. Love her or hate her – she is a canny political operator

In response to Mays “now is not the time” she said ( I paraphrase) “I agree. Now is not the time. I think it should be in a year or so. May might agree as she hasn’t said when would be the time. Lets see if we can find agreement on timing, we might not be far apart”

showing herself as being reasonable and open to compromise and putting May on the back foot again

Which is what Sturgeon’s supporters would say.

May’s supporters would say that Sturgeon is now on the back foot, having retreated from demanding total control to wanting a discussion over the timing. May’s statement clearly invited Sturgeon’s reaction (not even the most stupid politician would think that “not now” would be met with anything other than “OK, when?”).

Perception of events is generally rather tainted by our own political bias.

Sometimes I think one of them has been rather canny, at other times it is the other. Then I tend to settle on them both being effing hopeless. One does little more than whine (or is that just to get her voice heard?) while the other talks like a moderate but acts like a harcore brexiteer (or is that just posturing before negotiations?).

TJ is under the illusion that an iS would take it’s 8% of BoE

8% of the assets of the bank, yes. The institution does not get divided and the functions it performs for the state (central bank, LOLR) stay put. Much like HMRC, DVSA, etc. Nothing to stop Scotland using the pound post-independence, but it would not have an effective central bank and would not have a lender of last resort.

Just imagine Brussels had told the UK that they are not allowed to have a referendum. That’s the difference between Scotland’s ‘two Unions.’

The two unions are completely different, particularly in their legal structure. One is an international treaty, one is an internal domestic matter.

The UK membership of the EU is legally for the UK parliament to determine. The UK parliament can choose to leave if it wishes. Brussels has no say in the matter.

UK constitutional affairs are reserved to the UK parliament too. So under UK law, a referendum on constitutional matters is a matter for the UK parliament. That’s also the position of international law – internal devolution is an internal matter for sovereign governments to determine.

That’s the law. Do we not follow the law in this country?

(Before someone suggests it: In international law, self-determination is secondary to territorial integrity. UDI is not a lawful option and self-determination does not permit votes to break up a state.)

International law (as a starting point – it is all negotiation) is fairly clear on assets. Fixed assets (the Bank of England, Westminster, schools, hospitals) generally stay where they are – i.e. a geographical split. As do any assets purchased for local use (e.g. gritters in Inverness, dredgers on the Thames). Moveable assets for the benefit of the whole UK (aircraft carriers, bank reserves) get shared.

The idea the SNP mooted last time around that Scotland is entitled to 8% of the bricks in Harrogate High School has no place in the real world.

And now parliament will have to consider debating blocking another referendum:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/180642

Democracy at work!