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Messages - More Than Mortal
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421
« on: December 24, 2016, 06:46:44 AM »
Bloomberg: U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May is increasingly isolated as her demands to control all areas of policy alienate key colleagues, according to more than a dozen officials who worry tensions will undermine planning for Brexit.
Speaking anonymously because the subject is delicate, many of the government figures said an early period of goodwill toward May had given way to division and resentment, leading to policy mistakes that had to be hastily corrected. Much of that stems from the influence wielded by her joint chiefs-of-staff, Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy, the people said.
“This sounds like echoes of the end of the Thatcher era with ministers feeling it would be wrong to risk her wrath and stifling rational concerns,’’ said Richard Hayton, who teaches politics at the University of Leeds, England. It’s the feeling that the prime minister’s office “is too much in the bunker.”
May’s office said in a statement they didn’t “recognize this version of events,” and said the premier governs in an “inclusive manner.”
May is said to have been centralizing power more than her predecessor David Cameron while grappling with the most difficult task facing a British leader since the end of World War II. Not only must she extricate the country from the European Union, she needs to orchestrate a set of new trade deals at a time of economic danger, and rally the expertise and talent to pull it off.
May has little time to play with. The government must agree on its Brexit strategy within the next 14 weeks given that May has promised to initiate formal negotiations by the end of March.
Political Missteps
In a speech to the country’s top business group last month, May promised the U.K. would have the lowest corporate levies in the Group of 20 biggest industrialized and emerging economies. However, her comment was made without consulting the Treasury, which sets tax policy, even as it effectively committed the government to slashing corporate tax from 20 percent now to below the 15 percent President-elect Donald Trump has proposed.
Another example: Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond was criticized for failing to free up more money for seniors in his budget statement, but it was May’s two top aides who had opposed his proposal to release extra resources, people familiar with the situation said.
Back in October, May’s office had to apologize to Bank of England governor Mark Carney after she publicly criticized monetary policy, saying quantitative easing and low interest rates had “bad side effects.” Again, the Treasury was not consulted before the remarks.
Similar complaints about May’s office intervening were reported by officials across government policy areas, including those working on Brexit plans, health and social affairs.
Tight Ship
Hill and Timothy are said to deny top officials access to May, with even senior ministers and security chiefs finding it difficult to get past them to schedule a meeting with the premier, according to people familiar with the situation. Some are said to be so demoralized that they have given up trying to tell May the truth about what they think of her policies.
The officials fear the breakdown in trust between the premier’s office and other government ministries risks undermining the government’s ability to function when Brexit negotiations begin next year.
Still, however much May’s critics within the government dislike the combative style of her administration, many Conservatives are pleased that the party under her leadership has been 14 points ahead of the Labour opposition in recent polls. The exclusivity of May’s office “either indicates someone who is in trouble or someone who is obviously the only person for the job,’’ said Professor Tim Bale, from Queen Mary University of London. “I suspect it’s the latter.’’
Fear of Defeat
In private, ministers complain that the duo refused to allow even uncontroversial measures to be put to lawmakers because they are so afraid that the government could be defeated in a parliamentary vote. May has a small working majority in the lower house of parliament, which even a minor rebellion would wipe out.
The pair run the premier’s office in 10 Downing Street, holding sway over the operations of the entire government, and also worked with May at the Home Office between 2010 and 2015. They had both left the government by the time of the Brexit referendum in June but returned immediately to front-line politics to run May’s leadership campaign.
They are paid more than any other political advisers in the government, with salaries of 140,000 each per year ($172,000), compared to May’s 149,440 pounds, according to an official pay disclosure.
May’s official spokeswoman, Helen Bower, resigned this month after tensions with Hill, according to people familiar with the situation. In 2014, Hill was forced to step down as May’s aide in the Home Office after a row with the then-education secretary over how to tackle Islamist extremism in schools.
422
« on: December 23, 2016, 06:44:03 PM »
I'm too drunk to read it atm, but just from looking at it it seems like it would make a better prologue. It's too short to be considered a full chapter, unless the entire novel will be composed of chapters significantly different in length, or of a similar length to the first.
I think you're right. Probably is better as a prologue. Thanks mate!
np man posting full chapters on a forum is difficult, especially if you're writing them with getting advice in mind the only thing i can really say is to just write; no matter how shit it is. Quality control and editing should come after you've written it up fully, no matter how much you hate the first write-up. Getting the plot and a basic structure down is the first priority
423
« on: December 23, 2016, 06:09:37 PM »
Don't write a sci-fi novel.
gtfo How goes your own, btw?
424
« on: December 23, 2016, 06:08:39 PM »
I'm too drunk to read it atm, but just from looking at it it seems like it would make a better prologue. It's too short to be considered a full chapter, unless the entire novel will be composed of chapters significantly different in length, or of a similar length to the first.
425
« on: December 23, 2016, 06:06:52 PM »
The settlements in the West Bank are condemnable, but honestly I don't see the point in the US abstaining. American policy/interests in the Middle East are going to be aligned with Israel regardless.
427
« on: December 23, 2016, 03:01:20 PM »
fucking newfags
428
« on: December 23, 2016, 01:16:26 PM »
Yeah, it picks up.
Pretty mad in season 4 when Clay kills Tara.
429
« on: December 23, 2016, 09:02:56 AM »
His route to Italy.
Why go via that route, as opposed to through Czechia and Austria?
430
« on: December 23, 2016, 09:02:06 AM »
 Based Italian police doling out justice.
431
« on: December 23, 2016, 08:47:23 AM »
How in kek did he get to fucking Italy?
He almost made it off the fucking continent. This is what happens when you don't have any fucking borders.
432
« on: December 23, 2016, 04:23:03 AM »
433
« on: December 23, 2016, 03:50:05 AM »
Yes. I'd be afraid he'd mug me if I didn't.
434
« on: December 22, 2016, 05:04:13 PM »
why does Spain beef with Scotland?
Allowing Scotland to do shit like this would set a precedent that Spain really doesn't want w/ regards to Catalonia.
436
« on: December 22, 2016, 01:20:21 PM »
Brexit and Trump legitimately have me worried about the direction we are moving towards as a Western society.
People underestimate the capacity for aged institutions--especially ones belonging to liberal Western democracies--to weather even the worst of storms. Sure, there are absolutely reasons for concern; but it's not like these concerns didn't exist prior to the election of Trump or Brexit, nor that different concerns wouldn't have cropped up had neither of those events happened. It will take a lot more than Trump, Farage, Le Pen, Wilders, AfD etc. to take down the greatest countries on the planet.
437
« on: December 22, 2016, 08:15:01 AM »
i've never bothered watching rick & morty, but i sure love rick
i can't commit myself to watching TV shows--i just can't
You're really missing out. There is no show on its level.
I'm walkin' 'ere.
WE'RE
WALKIN'
heheh, INSIDE JOKES!
The only inside joke here is the state of your mother's vaginal walls.
438
« on: December 22, 2016, 07:57:00 AM »
Trump is clearly a Republican of the Nixon tradition. Right down to the madman theory.
439
« on: December 22, 2016, 07:07:55 AM »
Washington Examiner: Boeing will build the new Air Force One for less than $4 billion, the CEO told reporters Wednesday after meeting with President-elect Trump.
Dennis Muilenburg, the Boeing CEO, praised Trump for his "business head" and said the two had a very productive meeting where they discussed how the country could build two new Air Force One planes for less than the $4 billion, which Trump criticized on Twitter this month.
"We're going to get it done for less than that," Muilenburg said. "I was able to give the president-elect my personal commitment on behalf of the Boeing Company. This is a business that's important to us. We work on Air Force One because it's important to our country and we're going to make sure that he gets the best capability and that it's done affordably."
When asked about the timeline, Muilenburg said "that's what we're going to work on together."
"We have an active 747 production line and we're eager to get started on the program. We haven't actually started the build of the airplane yet, but once we finalize the requirements and make sure that it's affordable we'll launch on building the aircraft. We've got a hot production line and we're ready to go."
The meeting comes weeks after Trump tweeted that the costs of the F-35 from Lockheed Martin are "out of control" and threatened to cancel the order with Boeing for the new Air Force One over costs.
Marillyn Hewson, the CEO of Lockheed Martin, met with Trump following the meeting with Muilenburg. She left without stopping to answer questions from reporters.
She later put out a statement saying it was a "productive meeting."
"I appreciated the opportunity to discuss the importance of the F-35 program and the progress we've made in bringing the costs down," she said. "The F-35 is a critical program to our national security, and I conveyed our continued commitment to delivering an affordable aircraft to our U.S. military and our allies."
Trump met with the defense industry during the campaign in June. The hour-long sit down included representatives from the Aerospace Industries Association, as well as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.
Following the CEO meetings, Trump received a two-part security briefing from a number of defense officials, including Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, the program executive officer for the F-35, Vice Adm. James Syring, the director of the Missile Defense Agency, and Adm. Bill Moran, the vice chief of naval operations.
"These are amazing people," Trump told reporters after the briefing.
Trump said the meeting was about "trying to bring costs down ... primarily the F-35, trying to get the costs down. A program that is very, very expensive."
440
« on: December 22, 2016, 06:14:25 AM »
I can't watch rick & morty or adventure time or stanger tides or whatever that show is called. As far as I can see they all just take a 90s/80s sci-fi/fantasy/adventure aesthetic and bring it up-to-date with today's trash TV standards. Fuck that. I'll just go back and watch the real deal shows that I grew up with.
I can't watch rick & morty or adventure time or stanger tides As far as I can see I can't watch
441
« on: December 22, 2016, 06:13:00 AM »
Transcript: Spoiler In London recently, I met a Jesuit priest from Syria. He gave me a graphic account of what life is like for those Christians he was forced to leave behind. He told me of mass kidnappings in parts of Syria and Iraq, and how he feared that Christians would be driven, en masse, from lands described in the Bible. He thought it quite possible there will be no Christians in Iraq within five years. Clearly for such people, religious freedom is a daily stark choice between life and death.
The scale of religious persecution around the world is not widely appreciated, nor is it limited to Christians in the troubled regions of the Middle East. A recent report suggests that attacks are increasing on Yazidis, Jews, Ahmadis, Baha'is and many other minority faiths, and in some countries even more insidious forms of extremism have recently surfaced, which aim to eliminate all types of religious diversity. We are also struggling to capture the immensity of the ripple effect of such persecution.
According to the United Nations, 5.8 million more people abandoned their homes in 2015 than the year before, bringing the annual total to a staggering 65.3 million; that is almost equivalent to the entire population of the United Kingdom. And the suffering does not end when they arrive, seeking refuge in a foreign land. We are now seeing the rise of many populist groups across the world that are increasingly aggressive towards those who adhere to a minority faith.
All of this has deeply disturbing echoes of the dark days of the 1930's. I was born in 1948, just after the end of World War II, in which my parents' generation had fought, and died, in a battle against intolerance, monstrous extremism, and an inhuman attempt to exterminate the Jewish population of Europe. That nearly 70 years later we should still be seeing such evil persecution is, to me, beyond all belief. We owe it to those who suffered, and died so horribly, not to repeat the horrors of the past
Normally at Christmas, we think of the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I wonder though if this year, we might remember how the story of the nativity unfolds, with the fleeing of the holy family to escape violent persecution. And we might also remember, that when the Prophet Muhammad migrated from Mecca to Medina, he did so because he too was seeking the freedom for himself, and his followers, to worship.
Whichever religious path we follow, the destination is the same; to value and respect the other person, accepting their right to live out their peaceful response to the love of God. That's what I saw when attending the consecration of the Syriac Orthodox cathedral in London recently. Here were a people persecuted for their religion in their own country, but finding refuge in another land and freedom to practice their faith according to their conscience. It is an example to inspire us all this Christmastime.
442
« on: December 22, 2016, 06:09:27 AM »
Guardian. You can watch/listen to him speak from the videos in the article: The Prince of Wales has warned that the rise of populist extremism and intolerance towards other faiths risks repeating the “horrors” of the Holocaust.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s religious Thought for the Day slot, the prince delivered an outspoken attack against religious hatred and pleaded for a welcoming attitude to those fleeing persecution.
He said: “We are now seeing the rise of many populist groups across the world that are increasingly aggressive to those who adhere to a minority faith. All of this has deeply disturbing echoes of the dark days of the 1930s.
“My parents’ generation fought and died in a battle against intolerance, monstrous extremism and inhuman attempts to exterminate the Jewish population of Europe.”
The prince did not mention any politicians by name, but his address will be seen by some as a veiled reference to the election of Donald Trump in the US, the rise of the far right in Europe, and increasingly hostile attitudes to refugees in the UK.
“That nearly 70 years later we should still be seeing such evil persecution is to me beyond all belief,” he said. “We owe it to those who suffered and died so horribly not to repeat the horrors of the past.”
Prince Charles said religious hatred was on the increase, leading to a rise in refugees fleeing persecution.
“According to the United Nations, 5.8 million more people abandoned their homes in 2015 than the year before, bringing the annual total to a staggering 65.3 million. That is almost equivalent to the entire population of the United Kingdom,” he said.
“The suffering doesn’t end when they arrive seeking refuge in a foreign land.”
The prince urged listeners this Christmas to remember “how the story of the Nativity unfolds with the fleeing of the holy family to escape violent persecution”.
He added: “We might also remember that when the prophet Muhammad migrated from Mecca to Medina, he did so because he too was seeking the freedom for himself and his followers to worship.”
The prince recalled meeting a Jesuit priest from Syria. “He told me of mass kidnappings in parts of Syria and Iraq, and how he feared that Christians would be driven en masse out of lands described in the Bible,” he said. “He thought it quite possible there would be no Christians in Iraq within five years.”
He continued: “The scale of religious persecution around the world is not widely appreciated. Nor is it limited to Christians in the troubled regions of the Middle East.” He then cited a recent report that found an increase in attacks on minority faiths.
The Labour MEP Claude Moraes, chair of the European parliament’s civil liberties, justice and home affairs committee, welcomed the prince’s intervention.
He said it was “obvious” which politicians the prince was referring to, “but for protocol reasons he can’t say”. Moraes told the Guardian: “It was a good intervention I think when the right and rightwing UK newspapers dominate the anti-refugee, intolerance, and anti-EU protectionist narrative.”
The prince was invited to speak as part of BBC Radio 4’s religious programming. It was the third time the heir to the throne had given the address. He first broadcast in the Thought for the Day slot on the anniversary of VE Day in 1995, and did so again in January 2000 to mark the new millennium.
He pre-recorded his message on Monday at his official London home, Clarence House, before it was announced that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh had delayed plans to travel to Norfolk for Christmas, because of illness. The prince did not mention the health of his parents.
443
« on: December 22, 2016, 04:21:45 AM »
i've never bothered watching rick & morty
mate. . .
444
« on: December 22, 2016, 04:01:38 AM »
Honestly, I think that every British politician who's reasonable about this backs a soft Brexit.
Eh, it would have the smallest economic cost, but the average estimate for cumulative cost of hard Brexit is to the order of two year's growth. Not massive, at all. Britain's domestic market is fairly large. But, I mean, I don't think 'soft Brexit'--defined, for this conversation, as EEA membership--would be a significant loss for the Brexiteers:  This image is accurate, no? Given that my own personal bugbear was sovereignty/constitutional concerns, it really doesn't look like the EEA is a bad way to go. Although Davis has also voiced his potential support for a transitional deal to be in place while a proper--I presume--FTA is worked out.
445
« on: December 21, 2016, 03:54:03 PM »
i still remember that picture of you with the lucozade bottle
lmao which one
he's like laying down on a bed, facing the camera, deepthroating a lucozade bottle
Oh shit, that was fucking years ago, man.
i have a pretty damn good memory when it comes to specific shit like that so y'all better watch out cuz if you post something truly embarrassing you better believe i'll bring it up 2, 4, 8 years down the line
nigguh gon get got
446
« on: December 21, 2016, 03:33:43 PM »
i still remember that picture of you with the lucozade bottle
lmao which one
he's like laying down on a bed, facing the camera, deepthroating a lucozade bottle
Oh shit, that was fucking years ago, man.
447
« on: December 21, 2016, 02:30:59 PM »
You're just being naive if you think she doesn't hold any power at all.
Functionally, she does not. The monarch has been but a figurehead for an epoch. Any power she can be said to hold is nothing but a constitutional formality. A monarch is required to be non-political, and if a monarch ever disregarded the well-established precedents in this country, it would spark the greatest constitutional crisis since the civil war. The monarch acts as an embodiment of the British people; she has no real power. Parliament, as it should be, is sovereign.
448
« on: December 21, 2016, 02:27:37 PM »
but he appears to be a good pick for Brexit minister.
Did you hear the news on him supposedly backing 'soft' Brexit? An interesting twist, given he an arch-Brexiteer. I only wish Davis were Tory leader, and Hillary Benn Labour leader. Maybe then our politics wouldn't be such a joke.
449
« on: December 21, 2016, 02:01:44 PM »
The fact that she has any say in anything
She really doesn't.
Gimme a break.
She doesn't. All she does it sit around and announce a new government's maifesto, rubber-stamps any law Parliament passes and gives a speech at Christmas. She's a figurehead.
450
« on: December 21, 2016, 01:59:51 PM »
(some of which I think are entirely unfounded while others are sound).
Care to elaborate?
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