Salt n Vinegar

I suppose that supporters of independence might argue on one of those points. For one of the partners in a political Union to only be allowed to ask its own people about their future participation in the Union if someone else says so would fall into the "manifestly absurd" category but I think we'll come back to that after the Supreme Court.

She could surely have packed her own arse and her brood into an Uber? To be fair, I've lost count of the number of times tha I've got a taxpayer funded plane to bring Mrs Salt n Vinegar and our lads back from a weekend in Pitlochry so I'm probably overreacting...

Just thinking... Forum seems a bit quiet today. Maybe a lot of the regular contributors are out for "a walk".

I know it's just my personal opinion but it seems to me that the long con has been used against Scotland since 1955. Too long IMO.

My younger lad asked me a question yesterday which I confess that my answer was "dunno". To me, the "powers" to hold a referendum without a S30 are legally dodgy but well worth testing for a variety of reasons. I explained to him that the Act was carefully worded to claim that in reality Scotland needs England's permission to have a vote on its constitutional future. To me, that's mental, but it appears to be the case. My lad asked me if the Supreme Court has the ability to take into account the fundamental fairness and reasonableness of the law itself, or if they have to set aside any of these considerations and look only at the strict wording. I don't know that answer. Anyone else? Would a challenge to the legitimacy of the restrictive section of the Act itself be competent in the submissions to the Supreme Court? While of course comments are open to all, even if, no doubt, I wont see some of them, I'd prefer ones from any folk well acquainted with constitutional law.

You know you're in trouble when the Chinese government think that THEY hold the moral high ground.

I trust you are enjoying retirement! Think about that folks. Someone born in the year the tories last won a majority of Scottish seats has now reached state retirement age.

'You are not a hostage.' 'Oh, great, can we see if we want to leave then?' 'Errrm, no.'

I confess to recently becoming a bit of a fan of James O'Brien on lbc. He likes to look at the things that the Government and the Maily Dail and similar outlets want the electorate to be angry about and the number of entries might surprise folk if they actually think about it. These are the kind of things that the Government doesn't like as they are critical of policy or even have the nefve to ask awkward questions. So far, he has listed the Monarchy and the Church of England (Rwanda), judges, lawyers, the law itself, universities and experts, the former head of the Bank of England, unions, the right to protest, select committees of the HoC (even the Committee on Standards which has a Conservative majority), the BBC, Channel 4 and now even seem to rage about a bank allowing its staff to have preferred gender pronouns on their name badges. I mean seriously - anger about name badges . There will be others that escape me at the moment. Now, call me suspicious if you like (form an orderly queue) but when a government sets out to demean, silence or even effectively abolish any meaningful questioning, or vehicles for criticism or protest, I doubt it will end well. So, is Brexit Britain a work in regress? Abso-bloody-lutely!

The explanation of what the Unionists think Scotland is supposed to do appears to be the same as what BoJo may have said to his mistress, now his wife, a couple of years ago when he was Foreign Secretary... "suck it up, baby, suck it up".

Timing in comedy is everything. Today on my Facebook feed, a video clip came up of the deflating autopilot scene from "Airplane". Maybe BoJo had just received some bad news and was feeling a bit deflated?

I wish that at the next election BoJo would lose his deposit in a more public way.

Has the thread title now run its course? Time for a change to "The Official Boris PM Bluster-Suck Thread"...?

Thank goodness you didn't claim that you knew for a fact that she wore Union Jack knickers.

Well, I watched it and it was better than I expected. Pity that FB didn't press the Labour rep on nurses' pay when she asked her if Labour would pay the 10%. Waffle and no answer was the reply.

I wonder how many participants will have used P&B user names other than their own?

When you see photos like that you don't know whether to sing the national anthem or "oh, spot the looney."

I wouldn't get too carried away about folk attending a garden party. Hell, I've been to one (through work) and I thought it was hilarious. The Royal Company of Archers, the Sovereign's bodyguard in Scotland, carry bows - unstrung - and as I recall, no arrows. The refreshments certainly didn’t constitute a "feed". About the only financial benefit I can think of would be some extra sales of posh frocks and silly hats. I wore my kilt as a limited act of defiance. Security were a bit alarmed at my sgian dubh, but they calmed down when the lower half was a bottle opener rather than a knife blade. The best part of the day was the stroll up the Royal Mile when we could scarcely get 10 yards without being asked for photos with (mainly oriental) tourists. Sometimes folk have to do things they'd rather not because of their role. I had to deal with members of the public that I'd rather have chased down the road with a brush, but sometimes you just have to smile and get on with it. The FM has to deal with Dross and the slimy Cole-Hamilton. Rather her than me!

And right on cue, the blessed Nadine again dispels any questions about her suitability for the position of Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport... "Nadine Dorries in major blunder at Rugby League World Cup event. " She confused rugby league and rugby union at a launch event for the Rugby League World Cup by talking about Wilkinson's drop goal in the Rugby Union 2003 World Cup final. She shouldn't be allowed out of her house.

This story keeps on giving. If this sooky scandal, of all things, ends up getting BoJo the boot, will the Sun revisit its headline from the David Mellor story.. which was "from toe job to no job"?

For such a salacious story, it's a bit surprising that no other news outlet has gobbled it up. Maybe they think the public won't swallow it?

That would be an interesting part of the application process for a job with BoJo, wouldn't it? I'm not at all saying that it was, I'm just just speculating. Nadine Dorries is in the cabinet and will tolerate no criticism of the PM. I'm simply mentioning that as a matter of fact. Not in the least linking any particular Private Eye story to it.

The idea of an elected leader of a Government bowing to a hereditary ANYTHING is servility on steroids.

James O'Brien on LBC refers to the UK as the only country that has ever imposed economic sanctions on itself. Fair point.

It's ok. It happened in his office. It was a "work event"...