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Master UK Political Discussion Thread


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Siimo van der fietspad

You're right, it is actually only a draft bill - but one that's still significant because it has the support of some ERG types.

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Forest Spirit
On 1/2/2021 at 7:11 PM, Purple Red Panda said:

from the tyrannical shackles of the EU

But... for what am I supposed to use my torture chamber now? I specifically put tea and custard creams in it to attract British people (or something like that, not good at stereotypes)

On 1/2/2021 at 9:21 PM, snowwarp said:

Definitely not the wurst outcome

Approving of what you did there😅

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Purple Red Panda
1 minute ago, Quasar.w said:

I specifically put tea and custard creams in it to attract British people (or something like that, not good at stereotypes)

That's a fairly accurate stereotype 🤣

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Purple Red Panda
5 hours ago, Quasar.w said:

So Northern Ireland is kind of squashed in between now? Don't know enough about the UK to really see if it's good or not

A key think to remember about Northern Ireland is that many (I suspect deep down most) people on the mainland don't actually give a shit about it. Northern Irish Unionists bang on about how British they are but a lot of the rest of us essentially see it as a sort of running sore of British politics and would happily hand it over to Ireland and let them deal with it.

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Forest Spirit
3 minutes ago, Purple Red Panda said:

people on the mainland don't actually give a shit about it

Yeah... it often seems to be forgotten in conversations about the UK (in my experience). Or at least more than Wales and Scotland

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Purple Red Panda
Just now, Quasar.w said:

Yeah... it often seems to be forgotten in conversations about the UK (in my experience). Or at least more than Wales and Scotland

Since the Good Friday Agreement levels of political violence have dropped (although not vanished) so we are content in general just to ignore the place.

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39 minutes ago, Purple Red Panda said:

Since the Good Friday Agreement levels of political violence have dropped (although not vanished) so we are content in general just to ignore the place.

Yes and the GFA explicitly lays a path for Irish reunification if at some point in the future both Irelands agree to it. Many of us suspected this will inevitably happen somewhere down the line, with or without Brexit. Brexit might well speed it up, but probably won't make a qualitative difference in that regard.

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21 hours ago, Merryman said:

Social media throws up some gifts sometimes, like this Twitter thread of people realising what "buy British" actually entails 😂

Geez... I thought that Britain's veggies are famous around the world! It's my first association whenever I hear the term "Britain": Veggies!

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Purple Red Panda
32 minutes ago, michaeld said:

Many of us suspected this will inevitably happen somewhere down the line,

I see it as likely within the next 30 years or so.

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Purple Red Panda
18 minutes ago, Homer said:

I thought that Britain's veggies are famous around the world!

Our manglewurzels are much envied

mangelwurzel-fodder-beet-group-beta-vulg

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On 1/4/2021 at 10:51 AM, Quasar.w said:

Yeah... it often seems to be forgotten in conversations about the UK (in my experience). Or at least more than Wales and Scotland

I think most people outside the UK don't really understand the difference between NI and ROI and lump them together. Tbf, most people outside the UK tend to think of England first, and then Scotland. Most folk I know from outside the UK know almost nothing about Wales, and I often get told it's part of England.

 

In terms of internally, I have to admit that in Wales, NI/ROI isn't often discussed. Growing up, NI was so far away, it was basically a foreign country with its own government, laws etc so we didn't really get taught anything about it. In fairness, our education about Scotland was not much better but at least if we were determined, we could drive there in a day.

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1 minute ago, Blaiddmelyn said:

Most folk I know from outside the UK know almost nothing about Wales, and I often get told it's part of England.

That's true as far as the cricket team goes. :)

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3 minutes ago, michaeld said:

That's true as far as the cricket team goes. :)

In fairness, we are pretty awful at anything that isn't rugby. Our 2016 Euro performance had the team hailed as heroes for getting as far as the semi finals precisely because that was several rounds further than we expected to get! So, I think the English may be adopting us to lend a hand there...

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29 minutes ago, Blaiddmelyn said:

In fairness, we are pretty awful at anything that isn't rugby. Our 2016 Euro performance had the team hailed as heroes for getting as far as the semi finals precisely because that was several rounds further than we expected to get! So, I think the English may be adopting us to lend a hand there...

Sadly you've been pretty poor at rugby as well in 2020. Not up to your usual standards at all. For its size Wales does pretty well, though. 2016 Euros was exceptionally good.

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Forest Spirit
11 hours ago, Blaiddmelyn said:

I think most people outside the UK don't really understand the difference between NI and ROI and lump them together.

I'd change that to outside Europe, at least in my experience I'd be surprised if someone from Europe does that (or let's say with a decent education. There are education problems in several countries, mine included)

11 hours ago, Blaiddmelyn said:

Tbf, most people outside the UK tend to think of England first, and then Scotland.

Yes that's true. I think it mainly comes from how the UK (or GB for that matter) portraits itself though, it's basically England first and then the other ones more as a side note or "technically separate from England but still part of the UK or GB". Scotland in particular is often shown/seen as it's own, separate thing and when I was there in 2014 enough people also gave off that impression. Don't remember who it was, but someone even said people don't like it if you pay with pounds from the Bank of Scotland in England f.e., which I found silly and hope is not true...

But yeah, I kind of get it as I've grown up in an (autonomous) region that is seen as "those others up there" or "who again?" by much of the rest of the country and many people here don't see themselves as "really" part of the country. It's just... not great and can lead to frictions, even just in people's minds.

 

> sorry for rambling <

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8 hours ago, Quasar.w said:

people don't like it if you pay with pounds from the Bank of Scotland in England f.e., which I found silly and hope is not true...

This is true, but not for the reasons you might think. I worked in a busy shop in Southern England for about 3 years and I saw a total of 4x Scottish notes, so whilst they are legal tender it feels risky to accept them if you’re a low-paid shop worker!

 

Add to that that they at least used to be very different to other UK notes, and someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe it at least used to be the case that 3x separate Scottish banks could issue (different) banknotes 🤔

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20 hours ago, Blaiddmelyn said:

I think most people outside the UK don't really understand the difference between NI and ROI and lump them together. Tbf, most people outside the UK tend to think of England first, and then Scotland. Most folk I know from outside the UK know almost nothing about Wales, and I often get told it's part of England.

Maybe most, but certainly not all. :) 

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30 minutes ago, Iam9man said:

This is true, but not for the reasons you might think. I worked in a busy shop in Southern England for about 3 years and I saw a total of 4x Scottish notes, so whilst they are legal tender it feels risky to accept them if you’re a low-paid shop worker!

 

Add to that that they at least used to be very different to other UK notes, and someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe it at least used to be the case that 3x separate Scottish banks could issue (different) banknotes 🤔

Yeah I worked in a shop as a teenager, I can remember getting maybe 2 Scottish notes... The first time I had never seen one before that, had no clue if they were valid currency or how to tell if they might be forged, and the customer shouted at me about them being "legitimate tender" when I said I had to check with my manager.

 

8 hours ago, Quasar.w said:

Don't remember who it was, but someone even said people don't like it if you pay with pounds from the Bank of Scotland in England f.e., which I found silly and hope is not true...

It's not so silly when you are the one behind the till and you know you could be held responsible and lose your job if you accept invalid money.

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45 minutes ago, Iam9man said:

This is true, but not for the reasons you might think. I worked in a busy shop in Southern England for about 3 years and I saw a total of 4x Scottish notes, so whilst they are legal tender it feels risky to accept them if you’re a low-paid shop worker!

Actually Scottish notes are not legal tender anywhere in the UK, including Scotland itself. Legal tender is only coins and Bank of England notes in England and Wales, and only coins in Scotland and N.Ireland. But then legal tender has a technical definition to do with paying off debts, and doesn't determine what what currency shops are obliged to accept:

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/knowledgebank/what-is-legal-tender

 

Quote

Add to that that they at least used to be very different to other UK notes, and someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe it at least used to be the case that 3x separate Scottish banks could issue (different) banknotes 🤔

Yes: Bank of Scotland, Clydesdale Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland. The RBS still even issues some £1 notes.

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2 minutes ago, michaeld said:

Actually Scottish notes are not legal tender anywhere in the UK, including Scotland itself. Legal tender is only coins and Bank of England notes in England and Wales, and only coins in Scotland and N.Ireland. But then legal tender has a technical definition to do with paying off debts, and doesn't determine what what currency shops are obliged to accept:

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/knowledgebank/what-is-legal-tender

 

Yes: Bank of Scotland, Clydesdale Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland. The RBS still even issues some £1 notes.

This information is somehow both interesting and incredibly boring at the same time 🤯

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Forest Spirit

Hmmm... maybe being used to Euros with different coin designs makes me confused about people not recognising other types/designs of the same currency. It seems like a minor thing to tell/teach people. But anyway, probably a bit off topic

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On 1/5/2021 at 9:52 PM, Blaiddmelyn said:

think most people outside the UK don't really understand the difference between NI and ROI and lump them together.

Reading this reminds me of the excerpt from the Royal Mail website (which I came across when I was wondering about an odd stamp on a book order from the UK a few years ago (funnily a couple of the books in the order dealt with national borders, though East Germany and West Germany) 

 

Quote

 

 


I don't post international mail. Why am I being charged for international items?

Your items may have been posted to The Republic of Ireland. Because it is not part of the United Kingdom any items posted there are classed as international mail.
 

 

 

https://business.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/711/~/franking-help---surcharged-items

 

I also remember that John Simpson meanwhile had once been told by the BBC that dublin was "not a demonstrably foreign capital" 

 

Quote

“Dublin doesn’t constitute a foreign capital so unfortunately we’re unable to pay you the full emolument that a correspondent in, say, Paris could expect”.

 

 

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/dublin-not-a-demonstrably-foreign-capital-bbc-told-correspondent-1.2819357?mode=amp

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On 1/9/2021 at 4:59 PM, iff said:

https://www.thejournal.ie/comreg-leave-eu-moves-to-waterford-5319947-Jan2021/

 

Brexit supporters Leave.Eu have had to register with an Irish address in order to keep their website name

Kind of ironic that they didn't want to leave .eu.

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I’m so proud we’ve Taken Back Control and are now enjoying The Exact Same Benefits 🇬🇧👍
 

In a snub at the previous 70 mph speed limit those Europeans used to forcefully impose on us, one of my local dual carriageways has now been closed in one direction and I get to drive at a patriotic 30 mph on the opposite carriageway.

 

This is because the other side has been turned into a Patriotic Customs Clearance Lane for trucks going into the EU.

 

I’m 45 mins from the coast, so our Dear Leaders are delivering on their promise of “no queues at the border”!

 

I’ve never been more proud.

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fooledbysecrecy

but the fish are happy!!1 what more could you ask.

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Forest Spirit
On 1/16/2021 at 6:16 PM, Iam9man said:

In a snub at the previous 70 mph speed limit those Europeans used to forcefully impose on us, one of my local dual carriageways has now been closed in one direction and I get to drive at a patriotic 30 mph on the opposite carriageway.

Maybe they thought the EU limit is in km/h😉 but great to hear you've got the freedom back to drive slower

(just kidding, obviously. Though 70 km/h are 43ish mph so not that far off)

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General speed limits for cars, motorbikes and light commercial vehicles aren't set by the EU, hence the variation from nation to nation. Whilst speed limiters are compulsory for large commercial vehicles, buses etc, individual nations can set different limits. 

Same with truck weights. The EU minimum standard is 38 tonnes on five axles, but individual nations can allow heavier vehicles. 

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