UK Politics Mega-thread - Page 52

On July 15 2014 17:37 Silvanel wrote:
To be honest US internal issues have much higher chances of impacting people in other countries thus generating more interest from foreigners. Also they have those super lenghty disscussions about Obamacare and every supreme court verdict, they seem to love this stuff.

As to UK from continental perspective UK is stable, perhaps even stagnant. Your foreign policy wont change regardless of who wins elctions. You wont get involved anywahere without the approval of Your overgrown rebel son. And even if You could You are too busy taking russian and arab money to care. In short. Nothing to see here.

No offense. Peace.

On July 15 2014 20:34 urboss wrote:
I guess a "EU politics megathread" wouldn't draw nearly as much attention as the US politics megathread.
Most of the stuff that affects people is still decided in the individual European countries.
The US government simply has a lot more concentrated power than the EU one.

Michael Gove got stuck in the toilet on his first full day as government Chief Whip, according to Labour's Shadow Leader of the Commons, Angela Eagle.

The former education secretary was given a new job in charge of party discipline in this week's reshuffle.

Ms Eagle told MPs he had not had the "most auspicious of starts".

She said that on Wednesday Mr Gove "managed to get stuck in the toilet in the wrong lobby and he nearly broke his own whip".

The new Leader of the Commons, William Hague, offered a light-hearted defence of Mr Gove, saying "knowledge of who is in the toilets in whatever lobby is a very important piece of information for any chief whip and I take this as evidence that he was carrying out his duties very assiduously".

The UK's bid to become Europe's leading space nation took a giant leap forward today as government revealed the 8 locations now under consideration to base Britain's first spaceport.

Speaking at Farnborough Air Show's 'Space Day', Aviation Minister Robert Goodwill and Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency Dr David Parker unveiled the findings of a recent Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) report highlighting 8 possible airfields that could host a spaceport and the economic opportunities it could open up for the UK.

Government's ambition is for a UK spaceport to open in 2018 - providing a focus for regional and international investment for growth and establishing the UK as a leader in the rapidly-expanding space market.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said:

"Space is big business for the UK. It already contributes £11.3 billion to the economy each year, supporting nearly 35,000 jobs. That's why it's important for us to prepare the UK for new launcher technology and take steps towards meeting our ambition of establishing the first British spaceport by 2018."

"Exploring the opportunities that commercial spaceflight presents, and potentially making strategic investments in this area, will support the growth of this thriving industry and underpin the economy of tomorrow, making the UK the place for space."

France branded the British as ‘hypocrites’ yesterday over David Cameron’s demands that Paris abandon its £1billion warship sale to Russia.

The Prime Minister says it would be ‘unthinkable’ for French president Francois Hollande to go ahead with the supply of two helicopter carriers to Moscow.

European leaders have been under intense pressure to impose tough sanctions on Russian – or risk repeating the mistakes of Nazi appeasers in the 1930s.

But Mr Hollande has vowed to press on with the deal, with an ally warning Mr Cameron that he should ‘start by cleaning up his own back yard’.

Asked on Monday whether France should pull out, Mr Cameron said: ‘Frankly in this country it would be unthinkable to fulfil an order like the one outstanding that the French have.

‘But we need to put the pressure on with all our partners to say that we cannot go on doing business as usual with a country when it is behaving in this way.’

On July 14 2014 06:04 KwarK wrote:
As sleazy as it obviously is I don't see anything especially heinous about the rich and powerful having sex with 20 year old male prostitutes.

On July 24 2014 09:10 Dapper_Cad wrote:


Just want to check... Is this the elm guest house stuff you were talking about because if it is, that's not a very good description.

A new agreement critical to Britain's Trident nuclear weapons system, was signed the other day by British and US officials.

Whitehall was silent. We had to rely on the White House, and a message from Barack Obama to the US Congress, to tell us that the 1958 UK-US Mutual Defence Agreement (MDA) had been updated.

A new amendment to the treaty will last for 10 years. Obama told Congress it will "permit the transfer between the United States and the United Kingdom of classified information concerning atomic weapons; nuclear technology and controlled nuclear information; material and equipment for the development of defense plans; training of personnel; evaluation of potential enemy capability; development of delivery systems; and the research, development, and design of military reactors."

The UK, Obama added, "intends to continue to maintain viable nuclear forces into the foreseeable future." It was in America's interest, to continue to help Britain "in maintaining a credible nuclear deterrent".

There was no word from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Whitehall department responsible updating the UK-US treaty. Parliament, a spokesperson said in response to questions, would be informed "at an appropiate time". MPs would have a 21 day window before the end of the year in which they could debate the issues involved.

However, the content of the new agreement will remain secret. To reveal them, Whitehall officials say, could "assist proliferation" of nuclear weapons.

A black flag with white Arabic writing, similar to those flown by jihadist groups, was flying at the entrance of an east London housing state near Canary Wharf.

In a highly provocative gesture, the emblem was planted on top of the gates of the Will Crooks estate on Poplar High Street, and is surrounded by flags of Palestine and slogans.

The flag bears similar writing to the jihadi flags that have been flown by the extremist group in Iraq and other jihadi groups since the 1990s. When the estate was approached last night, a group of about 20 Asian youths swore at Guardian journalists and told them to leave the area immediately. One youth threatened to smash a camera.

When a passerby tried to take a picture of the flag on a phone, one of the gang asked him if he was Jewish. The passerby replied: "Would it make a difference?" The youth said: "Yes, it fucking would." Asked if the flag was an Isis flag, one local man said: "It is just the flag of Allah." But another man asked: "So what if it is?"

Police were today probing leaflets handed out in the West End by radical students encouraging British Muslims to join the Islamic State (Isis).

Dozens of the leaflets were circulated on Oxford Street last night saying it is the responsibility of Muslims to pledge allegiance to the “Khaleef” - a reference to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-appointed leader of extremists waging a murderous campaign across northern Iraq.

Images of the group were posted on Twitter by users angered by the claims, including one British Muslim who claimed she had been “racially abused” after challenging the group.

The men, from Luton, are former students of banned cleric Omar Bakri and firebrand preacher Anjem Choudary.

Scotland Yard today confirmed it was assessing whether the contents of the leaflets is in breach of anti-terrorism laws.

The spread of pro-Isis material has become a major concern for intelligence chiefs and last night’s demonstration is one of the most high-profile to date.

Britain's role in the Iraq crisis has moved beyond a "humanitarian mission" and its expanded operations could last for months, its defense minister said in a newspaper interview published on Monday. The remarks come after the United States launched a series of airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) to try to reverse territorial gains by the armed group.

Britain has so far limited itself to aid drops, surveillance and a deal to transport more military supplies to Kurdish regional forces allied with the Baghdad central government against IS fighters who have overrun much of northern Iraq. In addition, Britain's trade envoy to Iraq has said special forces are gathering intelligence there.

"This is not simply a humanitarian mission," Defense Minister Michael Fallon told The Times newspaper.

Warning that the operation could last months, Fallon was reported as saying that RAF Tornado military jets and a spy plane were flying further into Iraq, beyond the focus area of the humanitarian crisis in the Kurdistan region, to gather information on the forces of IS.

On July 31 2014 14:17 KwarK wrote:
The division and separation of combined assets such as the military would have to be arranged but I sincerely doubt that Scotland would wish to be a nuclear power. There is simply no need for it. The most likely arrangement in my opinion is that the continued use of HMS Clyde would be guaranteed to England and things would just continue as before.

On September 04 2014 15:54 Sub40APM wrote:
So whats going on, Scotland going to pull a Quebec and scare the crap out of the UK government or will they really try to go it alone as 3ish million outside of the EU, NATO?

On September 04 2014 15:54 Sub40APM wrote:
So whats going on, Scotland going to pull a Quebec and scare the crap out of the UK government or will they really try to go it alone as 3ish million outside of the EU, NATO?