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    He’s still denying having a Tommy at work it seems. I almost half believe him, but sharing a PC and passwords with an assistant is gross misconduct as well. But of course he still not sacked for that. But for denying knowing about the Coppers’ previous investigation.

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      Probably something else about to hit the tabloids but.

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        Lang, even I am losing the thread. Does 'Tommy' equal a "J. Arthur"?

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          Could really fuck things up with Holyrood and Cardiff. Appears himself and Mike Russell were close to a deal. Hope she appoints some tin-eared Hannanite prick.

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            Tommy tank. Sherman tank. Rubbing one out.

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              Originally posted by Gerontophile View Post
              Lang, even I am losing the thread. Does 'Tommy' equal a "J. Arthur"?

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                Fuck me I just about remember the Rank Filums with the Gong man. J Arthur didn’t live on in late 80s Fife but (was too well spoken to swear at all till 9. Insufferable wee cunt.)

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                  My brothers are 5, 7 and 10 years older than me. I grew up with a J. Arthur.

                  (There is also an old gag somewhere in my family history about the cubs, and J. Arthur, and the punchline is "I'm rubbing a gong on the chest of a slave...". I imagine you had to be there.)

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                    I never knew the word "J Arthur" signified anything else

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                      When You wrote Tommy, I found myself wondering what synomym for the sin of Onan rhymed with "Cooper." Is "Strangling the hooper (swan)" a euphemism somewhere? I mean it has to be. virtually every phrase in the english language can be turned into a euphemism for sex. including every technical phrase in cricket.

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                        Strangling the hooper should be a phrase. Especially as most people have never heard of a hooper swan.

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                          And fewer still apparently spell it with its silent 'w'...

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                            Haha, was thinking the spelling mightn’t be right (I know fuck all about birds) that it’s named for its call or something. And I’m so peasantic I think I might pronounce the w. Can’t be sure now I’ve started to think about it. Plus have to defer to Berba in the Ways of the Culchie. Was scared of coos and horses as a nipper, not a natural Scout.

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                              Getting back to Damien Green his remorse shines through.

                              "I apologise that my statements were misleading on this point," he said.

                              You can carry on discussing Jodrells now.

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                                Shouldn't this have its own thread (both the government in meltdown, and wanking rhyming slang). Hard though it may be for some to comprehend, not everything is a Brexit issue

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                                  Take it David Davis is going tomorrow then, or is he just a bullshitter and/or getting off on a technicality (that Green has resigned, not been sacked).

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                                    Originally posted by Antepli Ejderha View Post
                                    He'd clung on for so long that I thought he'd ridden out the storm. Did something new come to light?
                                    Yes, that it was safe to do so after the last PMQs of the year.

                                    Davis is...not resigning in protest. Well, what else would you expect from our master negotiator?

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                                      Originally posted by E10 Rifle View Post
                                      Shouldn't this have its own thread (both the government in meltdown, and wanking rhyming slang). Hard though it may be for some to comprehend, not everything is a Brexit issue
                                      I think there was a general election / post general election one which fits the bill.

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                                        Originally posted by Gerontophile View Post
                                        My brothers are 5, 7 and 10 years older than me. I grew up with a J. Arthur.

                                        (There is also an old gag somewhere in my family history about the cubs, and J. Arthur, and the punchline is "I'm rubbing a gong on the chest of a slave...". I imagine you had to be there.)
                                        Your mother must have been washing out wank stains 24 hours a day.

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                                            Someone needs to get out more...

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                                              Teletubbies will be on in minute, DG

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                                                I liked it.

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                                                  Wahey!

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                                                    Originally posted by Tubby Isaacs View Post
                                                    This is interesting in the way the Ivan Rogers piece/speech was interesting, on real difficulties with the EU that the UK had, and UK successes Cameron chose to leave unsung.

                                                    https://www.politico.eu/article/why-...david-cameron/

                                                    But like the other piece too much Cameron as statesman stuff, where "the xenophobic press" are like bad weather, rather than part of his core alliance.

                                                    It's hilariously lacking in self awareness.

                                                    Finally, as we tried to argue that the U.K. faced a unique set of circumstances, which required a fundamental redraft of the relevant European rules, we struggled to provide evidence to support our case.

                                                    We tried using absolute numbers: three million migrants likely to come over the next 10 years, 6 percent of Lithuania’s population living in the U.K. already. We highlighted the pressure on public services like schools and hospitals. And we appealed to European leaders to consider the impact of migratory flows on their own economies.

                                                    These arguments were quickly shot down. Our European counterparts pointed out that the number of immigrants moving to the U.K. was relatively limited, compared to, for example, Germany. Or they called attention to the fact that European migrants paid more tax and used fewer public services than British citizens, which was true.

                                                    They noted that our economy was growing, that we were almost at full employment, and thus that migration was more or less inevitable. They showed us how our rate of financial distribution to the areas under pressure was much lower than, say, Germany’s, and concluded that we should just spend a lot more money addressing the challenges there.

                                                    We were never able to counter these arguments. To be honest, we failed to find any evidence of communities under pressure that would satisfy the European Commission. At one point we even asked the help of Andrew Green at MigrationWatch, an organization that has been critical of migration. But all he could provide was an article in the Daily Telegraph about a hospital maternity ward in Corby. There was no hard evidence.

                                                    That is not to say we didn’t perceive immigration as a problem. Cameron was convinced it was a real challenge — if perhaps more of a cultural one than an economic one. And he worked tirelessly to bring immigration down to acceptable levels. But it was clear that immigration is at best just one of several factors that are putting pressure on public services, along with globalization, deindustrialization, automation and aging populations.


                                                    So the UK went to the EU and asked for major changes to the free movement of people, one of the crucial cornerstones of the Single Market, (Which was the UK's fucking Idea in the first place) even though 1) the UK's net migration rate of 0.5% of the population is resolutely midtable by European standards b) migrants are net contributors to the exchequer and are crucial to the provision and funding for public services c) Don't even seem to be using public services to any measurable degree d) you can't show even one specific example of damage caused to anything. e) in fact it would seem that the UK had precisely the level of migration needed to keep it's economy functioning as well as possible given the mess that the UK was making of everything.

                                                    Has it occurred to this man that this is why Cameron went home empty handed? The EU wasn't going to undo free movement to make some insane economically illiterate British xenophobes happy, particularly when they can never be made happy. Particularly when half of the UK's migration is from outside the EU and entirely within the gift of the UK. At what point did cameron notice that everyone else was holding their heads in their hands? If the UK wanted to get something out of the EU, they needed to have France and Germany on board and in favour beforehand, along with at least half the countries of the EU signed up. You need to be able to show specific damage from the way that the regulations currently are set up. Oh and keep your aim small and specific, otherwise it's going to be impossible to fucking get agreement from everyone to make this change, oh and here's the crucial bit, Don't have a position that can be boiled down to "No offense, but We're really not keen on Eastern Europeans, and we're prepared to damage our economy to keep them out." It's not a vote winner

                                                    The UK completely failed on all of those fronts. Everyone around that table knows what the Daily Mail is. Everyone around that table knows why Cameron was there. According to the Tony Connelly's book the Irish govt advised against this from the beginning, told them it wouldn't work, and warned them not to make a big deal out of it beforehand, because it might not go well, and that would just make the situation much worse. When Cameron said he was going to do this, the Irish govt stepped up preparations for Brexit in a meaningful way.

                                                    Jesus Christ. these people know nothing. There's another bit that I found particularly amusing.

                                                    Then there was the clash of political cultures. British politics is famously adversarial, and those who make it to the top are results-focused leaders. They start and end meetings promptly and go into a conversation with clear set of points. Once these have been made, they seek to end the conversation. Cameron is no exception; rather, he is the exemplar. He can be charming. But his style is functional, whether in telephone calls or in person.

                                                    Continental politics, on the other hand, tend to be more consensual. European leaders spend a lot of time discussing issues, talking around a subject. They even vacation together. Those differences served to maintain a gulf between what we needed and what they were willing to give — a gulf we did not bridge.


                                                    this boils down to "Our Primitive, undemocratic and brutal electoral system that allows you to rule like a king on 37% of the vote, gives us primitive unsophisticated politicians, ill suited to dealing with other people who also hold power, no practice at negotiations, and no concept that other people have their own interests."

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