Mickelicious comments

We could just declare a Republic

The Scouse That Roared

British lovers of civil liberties take note:

10 Belfast Catholics (including a priest, a serving British soldier home on leave, and a disabled WW2 veteran) shot dead by paratroopers in the 1971 Ballymurphy Massacre, have had their names cleared, a whole 23 years after the Good Friday Agreement.

Innocent UK civilians murdered by UK troops on UK streets, for 50 years they were condemned and dismissed as terrorists. Their killers however, will face no justice.

Rules, Britannia?

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-56986784

leave the Royal Navy without facilities

"You've sunk my battleship!"

Scottish MP's sit at Westminster. They have a democratic say to all of the above

How many Scottish, Welsh or NI MPs vs English MPs, and how many English MPs remain in the chamber for Scottish, Welsh or NI Questions?

When asked for a link someone instead gives us exceedingly good fakes.

In any other G7 country JICA (Robin Hood in reverse) would be subject to strict oversight and review.

Are the SNP aware of how much of the tax revenue spent in Scotland is actually raised north of the border?

Do you have a link for that?

Or is it have your cake and eat it English exceptionalism?

"Should Scotland be an independent country". Scotland always has been.

Nonsense. It has no say on the following:

the Crown

the Constitution of the United Kingdom

the UK Parliament

registration and funding of political parties

the making of peace or war

international relations and, treaties

international development

international trade

the Civil Service of the United Kingdom

defence

treason

Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish devolution basically created three overinflated county councils, and little else. The resulting democratic deficit in Westminster means that Scotland, which voted 62% Remain in the Brexit vote, is no longer in the EU.

Devolved powers are being squeezed by Boris Johnson who, despite Scotland now having 72 pro-independence MSPs versus 57 (nominally) unionist MSPs, still refuses to allow an IndyRef for which there's a robust legal precedent.

We've seen here on JT England being conflated with Britain, and thus it is with Tory hegemony. With diminished support in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, they still insist on ruling the roost, using the English media and voters as their enforcers. Not democratic and certainly not sustainable.

Which is the lesser evil, Japan: skateboarding or noisy biker gangs?

Skateparks, please.

NRA must die.

Nothing new to see here.

Mickelicious, I believe reunification and the costs involved will be the deal breaker both north and south of the boarder.

Does the boarder have any say? Will the rent go up?

Poll shows Irish support unification but don’t want to pay for it 

Clickbait for the partitionist Irish Independent. Next?

I suspect in the quiet confides of a voting booth the people of Scottish will think twice

In the confines of the voting booth yesterday the Scottish people sent Unionists haemwards tae think agen, just like they voted 62% Remain in 2016.

Sort yourselves out, guys. Hasn't the steel phallus had its day?

58.8% of London population that received a voting card, abstained. 

Not exactly a ringing endorsement for Khan tenure as Mayor.

Low turnout = dissatisfied voters. On what planet?

"Will the people of Irish Republic be willing to take on the full fiscal/monetary costs at £5,118 per head?"

Further analysis of that £10bn:

The single largest element of the subvention in 2019 was £3.4 billion in pension payments paid by the British state to pensioners in Northern Ireland.

Those are obligations from the UK pension pot for PAYE contributions.

Another sizeable component of the subvention relates to the North’s share of the UK’s national debt and the annual repayments arising from it. This was put at £2.4 billion in 2019.

This accounting exercise isn't actually levied on Ireland's northeastern 6 counties.

Another element of the subvention relates to defence spending, which was £1.1 billion in 2019. Most of this isn’t actual spending on defence in Northern Ireland but the North’s share of UK’s defence budget, much of which relates to its Trident nuclear programme and the cost of the Afghanistan war.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/northern-ireland-s-9-4bn-subvention-and-the-cost-of-irish-unity-1.4553553

(God knows where Faslane is going after IndyRef2. Port Stanley's safe, and the penguins and sheep loyal).

So that leaves, let's see... a theoretical £3bn that will rapidly reduce as productivity rises to Irish standards, employment increases and public sector synergies take effect. Ireland will bring NI's motorways beyond Protestant-dominated areas (yes, seriously). 23 years after the Good Friday Agreement there's still no motorway linking Belfast and Dublin, nor is there one to Catholic majority Derry, and the Belfast - Derry train link is slower than it was 100 years ago.

There are a lot of opportunities to get the North, once the powerhouse of Ireland, firing on all cylinders again after a 100 year sabbatical. Speaking of which, political Unionism has chosen to celebrate the centenary by imploding, like those crappy little indoor fireworks we had to make do with during the Troubles.

Lived in Edinburgh for a time, where rich English toffs live.

A lot of those rich English toffs were probably Scots.

The old castle-owning families speak RP, too.

Of course England would not be an island (sic), should Scotland become independent.

Such wilful ignorance gives the Yes team 56% of MSPs and certain victory in IndyRef2.

Ronald Reagon thought it was a great idea to support the Mujaheddin, giving them even Stinger missiles

and Osama Bin Laden too. That worked out well.

Spare us the external locus of control and suck it up, buttercup.

We had similar emptyheaded hype

Let's hope the Boring Company rescues us from boring company.

Kaitenzushiya are to Washoku what M©Dºnªld$ is to eating.

So now they feel like they do have a partner?

Big puffing deal!

Fake news!

Last year, the Department of Defense confirmed the reentry of the rocket at 1534 UTC, which is in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of West Africa.

Nonsense! That's afternoon tea time at the Ritz, Piccadilly.

Bandai Namco is considering using some of collected plastic waste as test material for "chemical recycling," a cutting-edge technology that breaks plastic down into raw materials so that plastics with the same quality as those made from fossil fuels can be made.

Bit how green is the end-to-end (recycling bin to production-ready plastic) process?

What other, more sustainable materials could be used for Gundam?

for the bargain price of 1,620 yen

No bargain, Connie.

Unbleached, recycled tissue paper does the job in a much more environmentally friendly way.

To Hades with this cynical, plastic spreading greenwash!

From welfare and environmental perspectives, it sure beats battery beef grown in sheds or on former rainforest land.

Perhaps lab-grown meat can become commercially viable, too?

There's another non-surprise for the Olympic ceremony.

Why can so many people here not keep a surprise?

(* to be sung in a broad Belfast or Glasgow accent)

Were they any good?

"B - A - Y,

B - A - Y,

B - A - Y - C - I - T - Y

with an R - O - L - L - E - R - S

Bay City Rollers are the BEST."

according to the girls in my class.