Scrutable

sheldrake wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 19, 2021 7:16 am

Millennie Al wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 19, 2021 1:52 am

Considering what he has been doing since gaining power he clearly holds us in complete contempt and knows that he is completely beyond accountability.

I think this is hyperbole. He’s done a lot of what the electorate wanted him to do, its just that a lot of the electorate dont agree with you. You’ll be getting a vote again soon, its just that having a vote doesnt guarantee your opinions prevail.

Then explain why Boris' approval is 35% for, 58% against? (see https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/tr ... val-rating ). And with our electoral system, a vote is worth a different amount depending on your constituency. If you're in Uxbridge and South Ruislip you have much more influence on Boris than elsewhere - though in any constituency the worst candidate (as measured by voter desire) can still win.

Its much preferable to lawmakers not having to stabd for election at all.

Cardinal Fang wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 19, 2021 2:53 pm

NordVPN is very good. Not been anywhere where I can't access UK sites if I want to

(Likewise in the UK never been able to not access US versions of Netflix, Disney Plus etc)

CF

Thanks. I'll add it to my list after LFT test and PLF forms!. It took two days to get a phone signal. Apparently I should have contacted my extremely cheap phone provider before leaving the UK. I've had to manually select the right network

Trinucleus wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 21, 2021 6:15 pm

Cardinal Fang wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 19, 2021 2:53 pm

NordVPN is very good. Not been anywhere where I can't access UK sites if I want to

(Likewise in the UK never been able to not access US versions of Netflix, Disney Plus etc)

CF

Thanks. I'll add it to my list after LFT test and PLF forms!. It took two days to get a phone signal. Apparently I should have contacted my extremely cheap phone provider before leaving the UK. I've had to manually select the right network

I think that a better solution that VPN for watching UK TV is SmartDNSproxy (*). It only redirects requests to a certain small number of sites, whereas a VPN redirects everything you do, thus eating a decent amount of bandwidth and sometimes buffering with TV. Also I have never known the BBC to block it, which they do quite often with the major VPNs, leading to a couple of days of outage. You get a two-week trial with no credit card needed (so no "oops, your cancellation didn't go through, sorry" crap), and when you do pay they also give you a modest VPN which is fine for things like looking at US news sites that haven't updated for GDPR. And it's cheaper than most VPNs ($60 for two years including VAT).

(*) Full disclosure: That is an affiliate link and I get a free month or something if you become a paying customer. Feel free to look it up via Google if you dpn't want them to know that I recommended them.

UK could seek to join US-Mexico-Canada trade pact as Boris Johnson ‘gives up’ on deal with Joe Biden
Joe Biden has indicated he is not interested in pursuing new bilateral deals, but the UK could seek to join a pre-existing trade pact with Canada and Mexico

https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/uk-se ... en-1211275

They're making it up as they go along.

No change there, then.

It's an easy 7 step process.

1) Dump girl next door Europa despite her prosperity

2) because you're convinced Lady Liberty will fall in love with you instead

3) but she turns you down

4) so you announce to the world you couldn't care less because you gonna marry the exotic Usmexica instead

5) but she says, what, f.ck off, could have asked us first before saying that, already married and don't want you

6) sob uncontrollably for a few years

7) arrange to "accidentally" bump into Europa in the street and say, hey good to see you, long time huh, didn't we have a lot of fun back in the day, how about a drink

There's an extra couple of steps during the sobbing stage, where the balding bloke buys a convertible in the hope of wooing someone fancy, and then ends up with a lovely-looking but high maintenance nightmare that grinds him into alcoholism.

Does Brazil want a deal with us? Malaysia? There must be a market for Red Leicester in Malaysia.

plodder wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 8:25 am

There's an extra couple of steps during the sobbing stage, where the balding bloke buys a convertible in the hope of wooing someone fancy, and then ends up with a lovely-looking but high maintenance nightmare that grinds him into alcoholism.

Does Brazil want a deal with us? Malaysia? There must be a market for Red Leicester in Malaysia.

Brazil would be delighted to sign a trade deal with the UK, just so long as it involves tariff and quota free trade in agricultural products.

Yes, the Mercosur-EU negotiations probably give a flavour of how things would go. That Europa certainly gets around a bit.

Woodchopper wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 8:43 am

plodder wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 8:25 am

There's an extra couple of steps during the sobbing stage, where the balding bloke buys a convertible in the hope of wooing someone fancy, and then ends up with a lovely-looking but high maintenance nightmare that grinds him into alcoholism.

Does Brazil want a deal with us? Malaysia? There must be a market for Red Leicester in Malaysia.

Brazil would be delighted to sign a trade deal with the UK, just so long as it involves tariff and quota free trade in agricultural products.

The comic-tragedy of all this is that it's the traditional red-faced mutton-chopped people of great local importance (farmers, fishermen etc) who wanted Brexit so, so badly, and are going to be absolutely skewered by it.

I'd really like to see payments for ecosystem services used to subsidise the rural economy. It'll soon be clear that most UK farming is uneconomic even with monster subsidies, so we might as well stop trashing the countryside and pay folk to do something useful instead.

Bird on a Fire wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 10:24 am

I'd really like to see payments for ecosystem services used to subsidise the rural economy. It'll soon be clear that most UK farming is uneconomic even with monster subsidies, so we might as well stop trashing the countryside and pay folk to do something useful instead.

This is what Gove was talking about when he was Environment minister. Gone a bit quiet since then I think, but the subsidy regime is in the process of being reformed. Not been following the detail though.

plodder wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 11:08 am

Bird on a Fire wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 10:24 am

I'd really like to see payments for ecosystem services used to subsidise the rural economy. It'll soon be clear that most UK farming is uneconomic even with monster subsidies, so we might as well stop trashing the countryside and pay folk to do something useful instead.

This is what Gove was talking about when he was Environment minister. Gone a bit quiet since then I think, but the subsidy regime is in the process of being reformed. Not been following the detail though.

Yes, it was quite promising at one time. Gove at least seemed to be listening to the conservation sector. Sadly the new Environmental Bill looks a bit wan - lot of benefits for the usual suspects and little in the way of sharp-toothed oversight.

We'll see how useful the new "Office of Environmental Protection" is when they make a decision in the case of People vs Poo. It's their first case AIUI - will it make a big splash, or sink without a trace leaving only a nasty stench?

Bird on a Fire wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 11:19 am

plodder wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 11:08 am

Bird on a Fire wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 10:24 am

I'd really like to see payments for ecosystem services used to subsidise the rural economy. It'll soon be clear that most UK farming is uneconomic even with monster subsidies, so we might as well stop trashing the countryside and pay folk to do something useful instead.

This is what Gove was talking about when he was Environment minister. Gone a bit quiet since then I think, but the subsidy regime is in the process of being reformed. Not been following the detail though.

Yes, it was quite promising at one time. Gove at least seemed to be listening to the conservation sector. Sadly the new Environmental Bill looks a bit wan - lot of benefits for the usual suspects and little in the way of sharp-toothed oversight.

We'll see how useful the new "Office of Environmental Protection" is when they make a decision in the case of People vs Poo. It's their first case AIUI - will it make a big splash, or sink without a trace leaving only a nasty stench?

That's actually a really easy one. Ofwat will simply allow water companies to charge us more to deal with our sh.t properly.

Now fireworks, because uncertainty about rules, and container shortage. This* 5th of November won't be one to remember.

* i.e. the next** one

** i.e. 5/11/21.

Brightonian wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 4:27 pm

Now fireworks, because uncertainty about rules, and container shortage. This* 5th of November won't be one to remember.

* i.e. the next** one

** i.e. 5/11/21.

Expect prices to rocket (etc)

Financial services exports to the EU up too

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/20 ... te-brexit/

sheldrake wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 4:55 pm

Financial services exports to the EU up too

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/20 ... te-brexit/

Excellent news. I can't read it (paywalled) but I'll assume that's true in a meaningful way (over a relevant time period, and other things I can't think of at the moment). Excellent because my main sources of income now are a company pension (which I'm guessing is to a fair extent investrd in UK financial services products), plus the letting of my house to people who get paid massive amounts from their City jobs). Whilst I'm still a remoaner, I'm getting selfish and worn down by Covid restrictions and a bit past caring and just want a reasonable income till I kick the bucket.

Brightonian wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 5:37 pm

sheldrake wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 4:55 pm

Financial services exports to the EU up too

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/20 ... te-brexit/

Excellent news. I can't read it (paywalled) but I'll assume that's true in a meaningful way (over a relevant time period, and other things I can't think of at the moment). Excellent because my main sources of income now are a company pension (which I'm guessing is to a fair extent investrd in UK financial services products), plus the letting of my house to people who get paid massive amounts from their City jobs). Whilst I'm still a remoaner, I'm getting selfish and worn down by Covid restrictions and a bit past caring and just want a reasonable income till I kick the bucket.

If your pension is significantly in the FTSE 100 then it's finance-sector dominated, and I hope this sticks for the long term certainly.

Young people who want to work in startups are benefitting too
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/16/uk-pull ... rexit.html

sTeamTraen wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 21, 2021 11:23 pm

I think that a better solution that VPN for watching UK TV is SmartDNSproxy (*). It only redirects requests to a certain small number of sites, whereas a VPN redirects everything you do, thus eating a decent amount of bandwidth and sometimes buffering with TV. Also I have never known the BBC to block it, which they do quite often with the major VPNs, leading to a couple of days of outage. You get a two-week trial with no credit card needed (so no "oops, your cancellation didn't go through, sorry" crap), and when you do pay they also give you a modest VPN which is fine for things like looking at US news sites that haven't updated for GDPR. And it's cheaper than most VPNs ($60 for two years including VAT).

It's worth paying for one of the big VPNs because they have enough servers that even if the Beeb or someone blocks it you just switch to a different server. Not had an issue yet - and doesn't seem to be a bandwidth issue

Cardinal Fang wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 7:30 pm

sTeamTraen wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 21, 2021 11:23 pm

I think that a better solution that VPN for watching UK TV is SmartDNSproxy (*). It only redirects requests to a certain small number of sites, whereas a VPN redirects everything you do, thus eating a decent amount of bandwidth and sometimes buffering with TV. Also I have never known the BBC to block it, which they do quite often with the major VPNs, leading to a couple of days of outage. You get a two-week trial with no credit card needed (so no "oops, your cancellation didn't go through, sorry" crap), and when you do pay they also give you a modest VPN which is fine for things like looking at US news sites that haven't updated for GDPR. And it's cheaper than most VPNs ($60 for two years including VAT).

It's worth paying for one of the big VPNs because they have enough servers that even if the Beeb or someone blocks it you just switch to a different server. Not had an issue yet - and doesn't seem to be a bandwidth issue

I wouldn't use the SmartDNS VPN for watching TV on a regular basis, although it works fine for catching the cricket higligs on my phone. But I've weaned a few people off full-fat VPNs now and they all say that the SmartDNS method gives far less buffering. The main VPNs used here are ExpressVPN and NordVPN. (Of course, there are also the people with the "fully loaded" under-the-counter Fire Sticks that include Sky Sports for an implausibly low price, but occasionally stop working for a few weeks after a multinational set of police raids on server farms in six countries.)

Gfamily wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 4:44 pm

Brightonian wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 4:27 pm

Now fireworks, because uncertainty about rules, and container shortage. This* 5th of November won't be one to remember.

* i.e. the next** one

** i.e. 5/11/21.

Expect prices to rocket (etc)

Some people are going to be incandescent.

A few may be sparked into bursting with rage.