Changes afoot within UKIP then, as Paul Nuttall becomes leader of the party. Apparently he was branded a "bad Bootle UKIP meff" by his fellow Liverpudlians. I don't think he will have the same appeal as Farage did, I wonder what the odds are on Farage coming back? Farage holds no appeal to me, I think he is an oleaginous and egregious politician who is taking a shedload of money from the EU while not doing anything to earn it. He is fannying about in the UK and the US and not participating in EU business. If he were my representative at the EU Parliament, I'd be pissed off. I did hear him briefly on LBC yesterday and it does seem that his ego is boundless, he was saying something along the lines of he thought that he would be able to bring something to the role of U.S. ambassador, but it was up to others to decide.
That prat should and will never be ambassador to the U.S. He has too many flaws, he isn't a product of the civil service, and he isn't a Tory (although they sup from the same cup). Teresa May would be run out of office if she allowed that appointment. Similarly, Farage should not be given a peerage - virtually every assessment of Brexit concludes that there will be a cost to the UK, and the amount of extra work, if nothing else, that he has caused us all, should bar him from any recognition. He should be condemned to a lifetime of light entertainment shows, even (and especially) after it gets repetitive and he gets bored of it. Keep him away from anywhere he might be able to exert any influence, however slight.
If I'm ever in doubt on a political issue I look to see what Farage's approach is, and I take the opposite view. At least that way I know I'll be right.
I expect UKIP to disappear now, only half of their 30,000 members could be bothered to take part in the leadership vote, and I don't see why the rest of us should be bothered to listen to what they say.
Monday, November 28, 2016
Saturday, November 26, 2016
Saturday 16-11-26 Black Friday
So yesterday was Black Friday. We've not yet imported Thanksgiving into the UK, I don't think we're quite ready for a second turkey-based celebration. But we have imported the celebration of consumerism which is Black Friday, it's kind of Thanksgiving's boxing day. Normally Amazon and Asda use the occasion to sell off their ageing inventories at knockdown prices and try to make it look like they are doing us a favour.
Having said that, a couple of years ago I did buy an Acer Aspire E-15 for a knockdown price off the Tesco website, and to be honest I still don't think I've seen it as cheap, even the newer models.
Yesterday and for the previous few days Amazon have been advertising the Amazon Fire tablet for £29.99 instead of £49.99, which is actually quite a good deal, as far as I can see. £30 for a new and current tablet is very enticing, and it's probably less than I would spend on a big night out. But I managed to restrain myself, and I kept my wallet closed.
I did have a moment of weakness though, and I did buy a tablet. I was browsing eBay and found a tablet which was being sold for spares or repair, and the highest bid was £5. I put in a bid of £7.25, and watched the clock tick down. No-one outbid me, and so it was mine. With the £3p&p, I spent a total of £10.25. I'm kind of hoping that I will be able to repair / reset it, and then I will be able to re-sell it, either on eBay or maybe to CEX or something. Or it can join the hordes of tablets we already own - although I have been trying to rationalise.
I am looking forward to taking delivery of it, and seeing what I can do with it. There may be a further update in the next week or so. Until next time, have a good weekend!
TTFN.
Having said that, a couple of years ago I did buy an Acer Aspire E-15 for a knockdown price off the Tesco website, and to be honest I still don't think I've seen it as cheap, even the newer models.
Yesterday and for the previous few days Amazon have been advertising the Amazon Fire tablet for £29.99 instead of £49.99, which is actually quite a good deal, as far as I can see. £30 for a new and current tablet is very enticing, and it's probably less than I would spend on a big night out. But I managed to restrain myself, and I kept my wallet closed.
I did have a moment of weakness though, and I did buy a tablet. I was browsing eBay and found a tablet which was being sold for spares or repair, and the highest bid was £5. I put in a bid of £7.25, and watched the clock tick down. No-one outbid me, and so it was mine. With the £3p&p, I spent a total of £10.25. I'm kind of hoping that I will be able to repair / reset it, and then I will be able to re-sell it, either on eBay or maybe to CEX or something. Or it can join the hordes of tablets we already own - although I have been trying to rationalise.
I am looking forward to taking delivery of it, and seeing what I can do with it. There may be a further update in the next week or so. Until next time, have a good weekend!
TTFN.
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Saturday 16-11-12 Trump
I suppose he deserves a mention. It's not every day that the U.S. gets a new president, and it's certainly not every day that the pollsters get it so wrong. But this is subsequent to Brexit, where the pollsters were also wrong, and you would think that they might be careful about their prognostications.
A couple of weeks ago, the polls were very close, and our old friends PaddyPower were offering odds on Trump of 5-2. I thought at the time that the odds didn't reflect the close nature of the election, and so I wagered an almighty 40p on a victory for the Trumpster. As we got closer to the polling date, I did think that I wouldn't see that 40p again, since all the indications were that Hillary was going to win.
I had been out on the Tuesday night, seeing Such Small Hands again, and I got home having had a few beers, and I picked up a couple more on the way home. So you might say I was well-lubricated. I went to bed after the votes started coming in, so I guess that was about midnight or shortly after; Trump was already 26 electoral votes to 3. Then I woke up at about 3 in the morning, and checked my phone - Trump was still in the lead. PP were offering me 80p to cash out; I could have doubled my original stake and stopped worrying and gone back to sleep. TW roused, and she suggested I could put the radio on, so of course I did. There were some big states still to declare, and it wasn't all cut and dried. But as time went on, the amount PP were offering to cash out kept increasing. By 4:30 it was up to over a pound. I do realise that is small beer to most people, but it's not about winning big for me; it's about seeing if I was right. Anyway, remember that I'd had a beer or two and not gone to bed until after midnight? Being awake from 3am to 5am didn't help me rest, especially with such earth-shattering events going on. So Wednesday at work was a bit of a struggle. But there were others who were in the same boat, so I didn't feel as bad as I should have done.
I reckon that the Americans have the gap between the election and the actual swapping of the Presidential Office to mitigate any shock or surprise at the outcome of the election. There are currently demonstrations going on in the U.S. against Trump, but I think that his wilder suggestions will be kicked into the long grass by Congress and the Senate. He is already suggesting that he won't totally dismantle Obamacare, which was one of the cornerstones of his election campaign, and it is my guess that as time goes on, more of those pre-election promises will go by the wayside.
The electorate here in the UK and over there in the U.S. are becoming disillusioned with the political class, and it is showing. I think that in future politicians will need to do things differently, in order to ensure that the electorate are kept satisfied. There are elections in Germany and France next year, and it wouldn't be surprising if those threw up some unexpected results.
In the end, my bet of 40p at 5/2 returned me £1.40, which was much-needed because my sports betting had been woeful. I also won on Brexit, although that was a bit more impressive - £2 at 7/4 returned £5.50. The MiL had a fiver on the same and took home £15, which was nice. So overall I've bet £2.40 on political events and won £6.90.
I don't think Trump will be the nightmare that some people are fearing, but I wouldn't have voted for him. I think his agenda will be mostly domestic, so we might not hear from the U.S. again until 2021. And if that is the worst outcome, I think that is one that I can live with.
A couple of weeks ago, the polls were very close, and our old friends PaddyPower were offering odds on Trump of 5-2. I thought at the time that the odds didn't reflect the close nature of the election, and so I wagered an almighty 40p on a victory for the Trumpster. As we got closer to the polling date, I did think that I wouldn't see that 40p again, since all the indications were that Hillary was going to win.
I had been out on the Tuesday night, seeing Such Small Hands again, and I got home having had a few beers, and I picked up a couple more on the way home. So you might say I was well-lubricated. I went to bed after the votes started coming in, so I guess that was about midnight or shortly after; Trump was already 26 electoral votes to 3. Then I woke up at about 3 in the morning, and checked my phone - Trump was still in the lead. PP were offering me 80p to cash out; I could have doubled my original stake and stopped worrying and gone back to sleep. TW roused, and she suggested I could put the radio on, so of course I did. There were some big states still to declare, and it wasn't all cut and dried. But as time went on, the amount PP were offering to cash out kept increasing. By 4:30 it was up to over a pound. I do realise that is small beer to most people, but it's not about winning big for me; it's about seeing if I was right. Anyway, remember that I'd had a beer or two and not gone to bed until after midnight? Being awake from 3am to 5am didn't help me rest, especially with such earth-shattering events going on. So Wednesday at work was a bit of a struggle. But there were others who were in the same boat, so I didn't feel as bad as I should have done.
I reckon that the Americans have the gap between the election and the actual swapping of the Presidential Office to mitigate any shock or surprise at the outcome of the election. There are currently demonstrations going on in the U.S. against Trump, but I think that his wilder suggestions will be kicked into the long grass by Congress and the Senate. He is already suggesting that he won't totally dismantle Obamacare, which was one of the cornerstones of his election campaign, and it is my guess that as time goes on, more of those pre-election promises will go by the wayside.
The electorate here in the UK and over there in the U.S. are becoming disillusioned with the political class, and it is showing. I think that in future politicians will need to do things differently, in order to ensure that the electorate are kept satisfied. There are elections in Germany and France next year, and it wouldn't be surprising if those threw up some unexpected results.
In the end, my bet of 40p at 5/2 returned me £1.40, which was much-needed because my sports betting had been woeful. I also won on Brexit, although that was a bit more impressive - £2 at 7/4 returned £5.50. The MiL had a fiver on the same and took home £15, which was nice. So overall I've bet £2.40 on political events and won £6.90.
I don't think Trump will be the nightmare that some people are fearing, but I wouldn't have voted for him. I think his agenda will be mostly domestic, so we might not hear from the U.S. again until 2021. And if that is the worst outcome, I think that is one that I can live with.
Sunday, November 06, 2016
Sunday 16-11-06 Brexit Again
Brexit hasn't exactly been keeping me awake at night, but it has been keeping me entertained during the day. I find it hard to understand why people are so exercised (is that the right phrase?) about this issue - until the referendum, it wasn't a thing.
Now, there are threats of rioting in the streets if Parliament doesn't carry out the will of the people. And up until last Thursday, Parliament wasn't even going to get a say on things. But then some expert judges decided that if the invoking of Article 50 was to have any authority, it needed to be voted on by Parliament in its totality and not just Government.
Lots of people are hoping now that MPs will vote against Brexit, and certainly the members of the House of Lords may vote in majority against it, but actually my suspicion is that the vote for Brexit will pass with little (if any) controversy. The MPs in the Commons will state that they are carrying out "the will of the people", and if the Lords rebel, they will ping-pong until the Government invoke the supremacy of the Commons and the vote will pass.
I didn't comprehend that for a while, but I guess that the MPs are taking a macro view and they have seen that 52% of the nation who voted, voted for Brexit. So that is the decision that they must implement. However, if I were an individual MP, I would look at the breakdown of the voting in my constituency, and I would weigh up whether I should vote for or against Brexit. After all, come 2020 (if there is no General Election before then), other local factors may be more "top-of-mind" than Brexit. And that is why I have to poo-poo the idea that there will be rioting in the streets.
In my mind, I think (and I may have said this before, so excuse me if I have) that Andrew Marr had it right when he said that it won't be as bad as people fear, and it won't be as great as people hope. If anything does lead to rioting in the streets, I think that the cause of that can be squarely laid at the feet of David Cameron. Before he offered the referendum on membership of the EU, it was seen as a niche issue, debated by hardcore politicos - at least, that is my take on it. Now it's led to family splits and fallings-out between friends. And all because Cameron was trying to outflank UKIP and keep his own backbench MPs happy.
I quite enjoy listening to Redwood and Rees-Mogg, probably more than the next man, but after the interview ends and I have analysed what they said, it is at that point that I dismiss their ideas as "barking". I'm a bit slow on the uptake, still even after all this time, but at least I still maintain an open mind, and I would like that marked in my favour.
I still sincerely believe that we will get to the end of this process of Brexit and look back on it, and look at each other with puzzled expressions on our faces and we will say to each other, "was that it? Is that we've worried and sweated and argued about for the last two years? For this?" There is a reason it has been a niche discussion, and that is because, on the whole, we can get through our days without having to resort to the ECHR or European directives. On the whole the directives issued by the EU are common sense and practical, and it is the interpretation of those directives ("better safe than sorry") which cause the issue (e.g., recycling teabags). I do not believe that there will be an immediate and apparent change to daily life in the UK; after all, we have spent the last 40 years aligning with the EU over laws and regulations. Any divergence will be gradual and unnoticeable, until all of a sudden, certain things become incompatible. But if we made a point of shadowing the EU parliament, and implementing the changes they made which we agreed with, we would still be more closely aligned with their view on things than differing.
But as I have opined, I think, at the end of it, it won't amount to a hill of beans. The ride to get there might be exciting though.
TTFN.
Now, there are threats of rioting in the streets if Parliament doesn't carry out the will of the people. And up until last Thursday, Parliament wasn't even going to get a say on things. But then some expert judges decided that if the invoking of Article 50 was to have any authority, it needed to be voted on by Parliament in its totality and not just Government.
Lots of people are hoping now that MPs will vote against Brexit, and certainly the members of the House of Lords may vote in majority against it, but actually my suspicion is that the vote for Brexit will pass with little (if any) controversy. The MPs in the Commons will state that they are carrying out "the will of the people", and if the Lords rebel, they will ping-pong until the Government invoke the supremacy of the Commons and the vote will pass.
I didn't comprehend that for a while, but I guess that the MPs are taking a macro view and they have seen that 52% of the nation who voted, voted for Brexit. So that is the decision that they must implement. However, if I were an individual MP, I would look at the breakdown of the voting in my constituency, and I would weigh up whether I should vote for or against Brexit. After all, come 2020 (if there is no General Election before then), other local factors may be more "top-of-mind" than Brexit. And that is why I have to poo-poo the idea that there will be rioting in the streets.
In my mind, I think (and I may have said this before, so excuse me if I have) that Andrew Marr had it right when he said that it won't be as bad as people fear, and it won't be as great as people hope. If anything does lead to rioting in the streets, I think that the cause of that can be squarely laid at the feet of David Cameron. Before he offered the referendum on membership of the EU, it was seen as a niche issue, debated by hardcore politicos - at least, that is my take on it. Now it's led to family splits and fallings-out between friends. And all because Cameron was trying to outflank UKIP and keep his own backbench MPs happy.
I quite enjoy listening to Redwood and Rees-Mogg, probably more than the next man, but after the interview ends and I have analysed what they said, it is at that point that I dismiss their ideas as "barking". I'm a bit slow on the uptake, still even after all this time, but at least I still maintain an open mind, and I would like that marked in my favour.
I still sincerely believe that we will get to the end of this process of Brexit and look back on it, and look at each other with puzzled expressions on our faces and we will say to each other, "was that it? Is that we've worried and sweated and argued about for the last two years? For this?" There is a reason it has been a niche discussion, and that is because, on the whole, we can get through our days without having to resort to the ECHR or European directives. On the whole the directives issued by the EU are common sense and practical, and it is the interpretation of those directives ("better safe than sorry") which cause the issue (e.g., recycling teabags). I do not believe that there will be an immediate and apparent change to daily life in the UK; after all, we have spent the last 40 years aligning with the EU over laws and regulations. Any divergence will be gradual and unnoticeable, until all of a sudden, certain things become incompatible. But if we made a point of shadowing the EU parliament, and implementing the changes they made which we agreed with, we would still be more closely aligned with their view on things than differing.
But as I have opined, I think, at the end of it, it won't amount to a hill of beans. The ride to get there might be exciting though.
TTFN.
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