Brexit, for once some facts.

oldgroaner

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My suggesting Bercow as next leader of the Labour party was seen as amusing, but frankly they could do far, far worse from their present squad.

Remember, a leader and Prime Minister does not have to be an elected MP for that party or any party. Sir Alec Douglas-Home wasn't when he became the Tory Prime Minister and there have been earlier examples.
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An example if ever there was was one of a "Miscarriage of Democracy"
Come to think of it Brexit is an even bigger one!
 
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flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
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An example if ever there was was one of a "Miscarriage of Democracy"
An example if ever there was was one of the oft superiority of dictatorship. Though briefly in post, Sir Alec was an excellent PM.

And another form of dictatorship superiority. When a research team went to Wuhan (where Covid-19 started) to collect up virus samples from the population, they couldn't find enough, almost none in fact. And spreading out much further brought the same result. Clearly the way China had dealt with Covid-19 was near perfect.

How wicked was that, forcing their population to go without suffering and huge numbers of Covid-19 deaths.
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oldgroaner

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Winner of my "Tweet of the Day" award.
"



@TomEason1983


Today is the Solstice, The longest day so please refrain from looking directly at The Sun, even the shortest glance can do irreparable damage, the same goes for the Daily Mail, the Telegraph, The Times, The Mirror, The Daily Express and GB News.
 

Woosh

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May 19, 2012
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Remember, a leader and Prime Minister does not have to be an elected MP for that party or any party.
Can such person (not an MP) be allowed to table new laws, amendments, asking questions at PMQ and vote in parliament?
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
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Can such person (not an MP) be allowed to table new laws, amendments, asking questions at PMQ and vote in parliament?
They have the full powers of a Prime Minister. Strangely though if they become PM from being an MP and then lose their seat, they have to stand down.

Such unelected PMs only occur between GEs when they are chosen by the party, such as Sir Alec who was in the House of Lords at the time and relinquished his seat there to become PM.

Prime ministers in office without a general election
  • Lord Wilmington.
  • The Duke of Devonshire.
  • Lord Bute.
  • George Grenville.
  • The Duke of Grafton.
  • Lord Rockingham (served both his terms election-less)
  • Lord Shelburne.
  • Spencer Perceval.
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oyster

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 7, 2017
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They have the full powers of a Prime Minister. Strangely though if they become PM from being an MP and then lose their seat, they have to stand down.

Such unelected PMs only occur between GEs when they are chosen by the party, such as Sir Alec who was in the House of Lords at the time and relinquished his seat there to become PM.

Prime ministers in office without a general election
  • Lord Wilmington.
  • The Duke of Devonshire.
  • Lord Bute.
  • George Grenville.
  • The Duke of Grafton.
  • Lord Rockingham (served both his terms election-less)
  • Lord Shelburne.
  • Spencer Perceval.
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Our current model even failed to follow the example of (at least) the first and last in that list of leaving office in a coffin. Despite trying.
 
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oldgroaner

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Re the Trans Pacific bodge up of a trade deal
"Govt releases macroeconomic study of joining Trans Pacific Trade deal... based on existing members, it is a relatively modest £1.8bn in 15 year’s time, or 0.09% of GDP...

Hardly realises the ambition of a "Global Britain" does it?
 
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flecc

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Oct 25, 2006
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Covid news.

The Wimbledon Tennis Tournament goes ahead next week with full audiences packed shoulder to shoulder as usual in Centre Court and Number 1 Court for the finals week and a free for all on all the minor courts.

Seemingly it's thought tennis fans can't catch Covid-19 and are immune to the Delta variant.
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flecc

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Oct 25, 2006
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Remember the stupidity of Matt Hancock's fines for breaching Covid regulations, fixed penalties which rose to £10.000 regardless of ability to pay? A number of these have been issued to teenagers and matters have come to a head with one of them.

An 18 year old about to start his career, he'd invited 22 friends to join him at his Manchester house at a time when gatherings were limited to 30. As so often happens with such young events, a few more turned up and gate crashed, the police got wind of this and turned up. They were of the opinion that there were more than 30 present , though don't seem to have made an exact count, but regardless issued the 18 year old a £10,000 fixed penalty.

The legal position with such penalties is ridiculous. There is an impossibly short time limit for settlement before risk of imprisonment and there is no right of appeal against the penalty. At the time of it being issued one can opt to go to court and fight the case instead but few have the presence of mind to do so and once the penalty is issued one can't change one's mind.

Of course this 18 year old was very concerned since once not paid on time it becomes a criminal offence and a criminal record would threaten his intended career. By then even the police themselves became concerned at what they had done, so they rescinded the £10,000 fine and replaced it with a £400 fixed penalty.

You might approve of that and it certainly showed more common sense than Matt Hancock has ever been capable of, but I don't approve at all.

Firstly the whole principle of fixed penalties is wrong since it constitutes the prosecutor then determining guilt and finally determining the sentence. Nowhere else in our law can that happen, and having no right of appeal after the penalty is issued just makes this all the more inhumane and unjust.

And in this case the fact that the police have decided how much the penalty should be is also fundamentally wrong, despite their humane intentions. The whole point of parliament setting up the Crown Prosecution Service was to separate the police from the decision to prosecute and also from the court justice process since the CPS prosecute, not the police in major matters. And a £10,000 fine with a threat of a prison sentence and criminal record for an 18 year old is very much a major matter which should be beyond police powers to decide.

And of course at the core of the matter is a system that allows a minister like Matt Hancock to make such an arbitrary ill thought out order without any reference to parliament for MPs to judge the suitability of the decision or have the authority to be able overrule it.
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soundwave

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May 23, 2015
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court fines are means tested as they get you to fill in a form b4 you go in to court as no point giving someone a 10k fine if on benefits or do not have a job ect.

so it is just fear do this or else mantra.

 
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flecc

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Oct 25, 2006
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court fines are means tested as they get you to fill in a form b4 you go in to court as no point giving someone a 10k fine if on benefits or do not have a job ect.

so it is just fear do this or else mantra.

These are not court fines though, they are fixed penalties. They only become a court matter when not paid, by which time a criminal record has been gained.
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soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
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These are not court fines though, they are fixed penalties. They only become a court matter when not paid, by which time a criminal record has been gained.
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they can give you a fpn and hope you pay it but most will be unlawful and not in the public interest anyway and will just get thrown out.


either way id have my day in court ;)
 
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soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
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i had to take the dwp to tribunal because of this as they think they are above the law! and can just make it up as they go along.

https://flic.kr/p/Y5Dn5u
and 9 months later they lost in 9 mins pmsl.

https://flic.kr/p/YDtAHA
my work coach and line manager was sacked for gross misconduct in a public office as a result.
 
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Jesus H Christ

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Dec 31, 2020
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Sydney have had 16 people test positive for coronavirus yesterday so, Sydney's 5.3 million residents will have to wear masks indoors, and many will be banned from travelling out of the city.

We had 11500 people, and rising, test positive yesterday, so Party Boy Johnson still floats the idea of abandoning all Covid safety measures. Who’s got this right?

Coronavirus is here, it’s inconvenient but it’s not going to go away. We must live differently in the future. I’d rather return to the 2019 way of doing things, but we can’t.
 

oldgroaner

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Nov 15, 2015
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Sydney have had 16 people test positive for coronavirus yesterday so, Sydney's 5.3 million residents will have to wear masks indoors, and many will be banned from travelling out of the city.

We had 11500 people, and rising, test positive yesterday, so Party Boy Johnson still floats the idea of abandoning all Covid safety measures. Who’s got this right?

Coronavirus is here, it’s inconvenient but it’s not going to go away. We must live differently in the future. I’d rather return to the 2019 way of doing things, but we can’t.
And here is a wonderful piece of advice

If you value your life and those of your loved ones

Never vote Conservative again
 
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