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8 minutes ago, aaid said:

Fair point - I guess the alternative is that if there's no tame presenters, then he won't do any interviews at all.  At least this way people get their own opportunity to make their own minds up about what he's saying - as you have done.

I honestly do not see the point of any interviews whatsoever if he is only going to choose his pals to interview him and make light of any awkward issues.
FFS,  the guy who has to make major decisions on the country is  unable to handle anyone other than his LBC mates, Philip Schofield and Holly Willouby. 

As I have said a million times before, I am not on social media so perhaps there is a bit more of an uproar than I think there is and people have made up their mind and do feel like me, but I have heard no one mention it.
Has it got to the stage that people just shrug their shoulders and say ‘meh, what can you do? ’.  
Or maybe I am just making more of an issue of it than is required. 

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1 minute ago, TDYER63 said:

I honestly do not see the point of any interviews whatsoever if he is only going to choose his pals to interview him and make light of any awkward issues.
FFS,  the guy who has to make major decisions on the country is  unable to handle anyone other than his LBC mates, Philip Schofield and Holly Willouby. 

As I have said a million times before, I am not on social media so perhaps there is a bit more of an uproar than I think there is and people have made up their mind and do feel like me, but I have heard no one mention it.
Has it got to the stage that people just shrug their shoulders and say ‘meh, what can you do? ’.  
Or maybe I am just making more of an issue of it than is required. 

People all over the UK have very entrenched political positions.  In Scotland its primarily about Independence, in England its more about Brexit, then you have the usual party tribalism.

So some people aren't going to change their views regardless of what he says - sometimes I think that he could take a dump on the despatch box at PMQs and some people would applaud him for it.

I genuinely think though that the shine is going off him very quickly in England - in Scotland, lets face it, even the Tories don't like him - and that's certainly the impression I get, although for obvious reasons, my usual network has been much reduced in recent months.

Problem is of course that the Tories aren't going anywhere for the next 4 years or so, that doesn't mean he'll still be the PM then though.

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22 minutes ago, aaid said:

People all over the UK have very entrenched political positions.  In Scotland its primarily about Independence, in England its more about Brexit, then you have the usual party tribalism.

So some people aren't going to change their views regardless of what he says - sometimes I think that he could take a dump on the despatch box at PMQs and some people would applaud him for it.

I genuinely think though that the shine is going off him very quickly in England - in Scotland, lets face it, even the Tories don't like him - and that's certainly the impression I get, although for obvious reasons, my usual network has been much reduced in recent months.

Problem is of course that the Tories aren't going anywhere for the next 4 years or so, that doesn't mean he'll still be the PM then though.

You are right about the entrenched positions, and it would be foolish  to say that the same tribalism doesn't apply to the SNP. 

The difference being, whether you like her or not , no one can accuse Nicola Sturgeon of shirking from difficult interviews or being unable to take action when someone has breached rules or guidelines. 

It beggars belief so many people still rally behind Johnson. Hopefully it may be diminishing , you are probably in a better position to witness this being in England, his stock up here couldn't really sink much lower. 

 

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3 minutes ago, TDYER63 said:

You are right about the entrenched positions, and it would be foolish  to say that the same tribalism doesn't apply to the SNP. 

The difference being, whether you like her or not , no one can accuse Nicola Sturgeon of shirking from difficult interviews or being unable to take action when someone has breached rules or guidelines. 

It beggars belief so many people still rally behind Johnson. Hopefully it may be diminishing , you are probably in a better position to witness this being in England, his stock up here couldn't really sink much lower. 

 

Only my impression but people who were previously pretty neutral about him are being pretty critical, others who would've been supportive in the past are pretty quiet.

I think that a lot of pro-Brexit people are sticking with him for the time being as they think he''ll deliver what they want - and probably more importantly for fear that if he's replaced, it might be by someone who might not.

If he doesn't deliver what they want, they'll turn on him.  Even if he does deliver what they want, they'll have no need for him anymore and I suspect that support will ebb away.

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4 hours ago, aaid said:

LBC to be fair do have a fairly large spread of political views amongst their presenters.  Nick Ferrari is pretty well known as being a supporter of the Tories - which is why Johnson would agree to go on his show - as is Ian Dale.   Following him though is James O'Brien who could hardly be any more different as is Sheila Fogerty, and then Eddie Mair, who generally gives everyone a hard time.

I don't tend to listen to it that much as I generally don't like phone-in style format but whenever I do listen its pretty decent in terms of its output.  NIght and day from other talk-radio style stations which just try to be outrageous and controversial to attract listeners.

The BBC could learn a lot from them.

Eddie Mair was a massive loss for the BBC. The way he took Johnson apart when he was standing in for that useless twitter Andrew Marr was a masterclass.

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2 hours ago, King Of Paisley said:

God knows how he will react if the SG ever has to close the border

I fully expect folk like Wilson and Ian Murray to don their best union jack suits, then attempt to cross the border. No doubt they will live tweet their bold escape from Frau Sturgeon's tyrannical police state. Then, like East Germans successfully crossing the Berlin wall under sniper fire, they will post pics of them celebrating from a pub in Carlisle, drinking their non minimum priced alcohol to 'get it right up the Snazis'.

 

 

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4 hours ago, aaid said:

Only my impression but people who were previously pretty neutral about him are being pretty critical, others who would've been supportive in the past are pretty quiet.

I think that a lot of pro-Brexit people are sticking with him for the time being as they think he''ll deliver what they want - and probably more importantly for fear that if he's replaced, it might be by someone who might not.

If he doesn't deliver what they want, they'll turn on him.  Even if he does deliver what they want, they'll have no need for him anymore and I suspect that support will ebb away.

I think we have yet to see the fallout for what damage he's done to the precious Union by what he's done to Northern Ireland. In the parlance of 2019, he threw the DUP under the bus. He is putting a border of sorts in the Irish Sea. He did what Theresa May said no UK PM would do. He cast aside the "blood red lines" that the Scottish Unionists had nailed their colours to. By his concrete actions (NOT empty gestures like calling himself Minister for the Union), he trashed their authentic loyal piety to the construct (myth?) of the precious union.  

The arrangement can surely only weaken NI's ties to GB, and (even if only by default) strengthen links to other parts of Ireland. Not only that, but when Johnson's own ministers are reduced to boasting that the deal will give advantages to NI for being closer to EU, as Scotland (and Wales to some extent) look on in envy,  that's a recipe for discord and a disintegrating union. 

The question becomes how many of the Brexiteer majority in the Tory party actually care. Those who actually genuinely care for the Union should be shocked and angry about Johnson putting the long term future of Union at risk for his own short term gain. Those who are simply English/British nationalists may not care if they "lose" Northern lreland or even Scotland., as long are they are liberated form the "European yoke" 

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28 minutes ago, exile said:

I think we have yet to see the fallout for what damage he's done to the precious Union by what he's done to Northern Ireland. In the parlance of 2019, he threw the DUP under the bus. He is putting a border of sorts in the Irish Sea. He did what Theresa May said no UK PM would do. He cast aside the "blood red lines" that the Scottish Unionists had nailed their colours to. By his concrete actions (NOT empty gestures like calling himself Minister for the Union), he trashed their authentic loyal piety to the construct (myth?) of the precious union.  

The arrangement can surely only weaken NI's ties to GB, and (even if only by default) strengthen links to other parts of Ireland. Not only that, but when Johnson's own ministers are reduced to boasting that the deal will give advantages to NI for being closer to EU, as Scotland (and Wales to some extent) look on in envy,  that's a recipe for discord and a disintegrating union. 

The question becomes how many of the Brexiteer majority in the Tory party actually care. Those who actually genuinely care for the Union should be shocked and angry about Johnson putting the long term future of Union at risk for his own short term gain. Those who are simply English/British nationalists may not care if they "lose" Northern lreland or even Scotland., as long are they are liberated form the "European yoke" 

I know what you're saying but you live in England, you know that the vast majority of English folk couldn't care less about Nirthern Ireland, they barely care about Scotland.

 

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36 minutes ago, aaid said:

I know what you're saying but you live in England, you know that the vast majority of English folk couldn't care less about Nirthern Ireland, they barely care about Scotland.

 

As I say, the question is how many, or what proportion. You estimate the vast majority, and that may be true. But then the spotlight then falls on who holds the power. Johnson as an individual Tory member (or when a back bench MP) may not care, but as PM, he'd on the whole rather not be the guy that 'loses the Union'  The question then becomes when, or in what circumstances, does (what seems to be) the majority view finally prevail? In the case of NI, the answers could well be "already" and "Brexit." For Scotland, who knows?

Edited by exile
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2 hours ago, 86glebestreet said:

Was that in a poll

My own impressions based on living in England for over 30 years.  For pretty obvious historical, cultural, political and familial reasons there's a lot of focus on what goes on in Northern Ireland in Scotland.   You just don't see that in England.  People are generally disinterested, especially after the GFA and the IRA stopped letting bombs off.  Before, that people just thought it was full of mad terrorists.

 

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43 minutes ago, aaid said:

My own impressions based on living in England for over 30 years.  For pretty obvious historical, cultural, political and familial reasons there's a lot of focus on what goes on in Northern Ireland in Scotland.   You just don't see that in England.  People are generally disinterested, especially after the GFA and the IRA stopped letting bombs off.  Before, that people just thought it was full of mad terrorists.

 

Things must have changed as I lived in England for over 30 years and never saw much of that .

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31 minutes ago, 86glebestreet said:

Things must have changed as I lived in England for over 30 years and never saw much of that .

Never saw much of what - a lack of interest in Northern Ireland?

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2 minutes ago, 86glebestreet said:

Barely caring about Scotland 

In my experience, the views of English people on Scotland - or more specifically, Scottish Independence - follow a spectrum.

On one side there is the whole "You fakkin Jocks wouldn't be able to do it without us bailing you out" to  - more recently - "go for it and if it happens I'm moving there"

Mostly though its either a bit of a disbelief that anyone wouldn't want to be part of the UK,  "well if you want to do it then that's up to you" or, most frequently, sheer disinterest.

Don't get me wrong, I think a lot of people would be very upset if the Union was dissolved but I think that's more to do with the symbolism of that rather than what it would actually mean in practice.

There was a fair bit of interest in 2014 for obvious reasons which died away pretty quickly afterwards and is only really picking up again recently.

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1 hour ago, aaid said:

In my experience, the views of English people on Scotland - or more specifically, Scottish Independence - follow a spectrum.

On one side there is the whole "You fakkin Jocks wouldn't be able to do it without us bailing you out" to  - more recently - "go for it and if it happens I'm moving there"

Mostly though its either a bit of a disbelief that anyone wouldn't want to be part of the UK,  "well if you want to do it then that's up to you" or, most frequently, sheer disinterest.

Don't get me wrong, I think a lot of people would be very upset if the Union was dissolved but I think that's more to do with the symbolism of that rather than what it would actually mean in practice.

There was a fair bit of interest in 2014 for obvious reasons which died away pretty quickly afterwards and is only really picking up again recently.

You fakkin jocks wouldn’t be able to do it wasn’t said much to me but when it was  said without the fakkin in the sentence it was said by my pals it was just to wind me up,  after answering them back it was followed up by the well known phrase we are better together. On the odd occasion when someone said it  with the fakkin in the sentence I knew he was just an arrogant arsehole and I met plenty of them. I have been back in Scotland for 10 years now so maybe things have changed in England ( not amongst all the friends I have ) and more people than before don’t care much about Scotland .

 maybe if you use the word fakkin, you have been down south to long.🤣

 

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19 minutes ago, 86glebestreet said:

 

 maybe if you use the word fakkin, you have been down south to long.🤣

 

See when you put something in these "" characters, it means that it's something someone else said.  It's called a quotation.  :moon:

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4 hours ago, Toepoke said:

Interesting reports in the press today that the virus was potentially being held for several years in a Wuhan laboratory...

https://news.knowledia.com/GB/en/articles/coronavirus-s-closest-ancestor-was-found-seven-years-ago-in-a-253740c7d20a6507e095a8aeb452f1089a4c39da

 

That's old news. Thplinth was posting about stuff like that months ago.

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45 minutes ago, Toepoke said:

That's the TAMB, ahead of the curve as always...

 

It would be interesting to know why a lot of papers seemed to pick up on it on the same day?

They can't all have just got round to reading thplinth on the TAMB at the same time, can they? There is a lot of pish to wade through to get to the interesting stuff like this, right enough. 

 

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16 hours ago, Toepoke said:

Interesting reports in the press today that the virus was potentially being held for several years in a Wuhan laboratory...

https://news.knowledia.com/GB/en/articles/coronavirus-s-closest-ancestor-was-found-seven-years-ago-in-a-253740c7d20a6507e095a8aeb452f1089a4c39da

 

The key thing is 'A virus 96 per cent identical' 

4 percent is a hell of a lot of genetics. We share 99% of our DNA with chimpanzees. 4 percent makes it significantly different.

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