Humphrey Appleby

One could argue that it was always traditional in speedway to have the support event during the 'second half'...

One of the issues of course, is that Brexit was always going to cause contraction in the UK economy, so the alleged '350 million we give every week to the EU' was never going to be matchable by the UK government, even it it had been a real figure in the first place. Then there's the Brexit severance agreement which is costing billions with no return to the country. Those UK communities that benefitted from the EU structural funds are now finding out how they've been conned by the Brexit Brigade, although it's frankly hard to have much sympathy for those who voted against the economic interests of the parts of the country that are expected to subsidise the rest...

How do you know how well educated they were or not? In fact, it seems quite a few 'ordinary' coppers protected him.

Babarxit this week as well...

It's of course also helpful for the government to have another scare to encourage people to get vaccinated or have the booster etc.. It's also good for the likes of government influencing Randox now that travellers are again forced into paying for the PCR test scam. I frankly take it all with a pinch of salt now, especially as doctors in Southern Africa don't think it's anything to be particularly concerned about.

Like so many Brexiteers, you don't want to debate because the effects of Brexit have now become apparently obvious and you don't like Remainers pointing it out. As the evidence mounts up, polls show public opinion is increasingly turning against Brexit, so clearly more than a few see things differently to you, which they're quite entitled to do. Meanwhile you seem to pre-suppose what we might actually think about the EU. It's now just kicking the can down the road with excuses such 'it would be fine if the right people were put in charge', and 'it needs to be given time' - ignoring the fact that a Brexiteer government implemented Brexit and has been in charge for the last 5 years. Also ignoring the fact there were all the assurances that trade would be the same as before, 'a matter of filling in a few forms', 'sunny uplands' and Remainers were just trying to make things complicated. I'd suggest that for particular industries, things are very much not like they were before, and not for the better either. Meanwhile, the UK economy faces the double whammy of inflationary pressures whilst not having sufficient production capability.

The administrative 'issues' are entirely the consequence of the UK insisting on diverging from common tariffs and standards. That puts them outside the common customs zone the UK was previously part of, which absolutely inevitably means more approvals, more paperwork, most administration, and more border checks are required. No matter how much the Brexiteers may claim otherwise, this was always going to be the outcome, in exactly the same way as it works elsewhere in the world. It's quite possible that some standards equivalence could have been agreed had the UK government not spent most of its time involved in silly posturing and trying to run out the clock in the negotiations, thus having to settle for a bare minimal trade deal which were now seeing the detrimental consequences of. But the fact remains that the UK decided to leave the EU and the EU can call the shots on the terms on which it does trade with other parties. It's the far bigger economy and the claim that the 'EU needs the UK far more than the UK needs the EU' is now being exposed be the nonsense we knew it was all along...

So you keep saying, yet the government that's actually in a position to fix or at least mitigate the problems, prefers to pick fights with the EU and utter mindless and vapid slogans.

They are problems that didn't need to be fixed in the first place, and we were assured didn't need to be fixed after Brexit. That has consistently proven to be a fallacy, so why should we now believe the Brexiteers know the right people who could fix all the issues...?

Because he was an exceptionally good driver from a relatively middle class background who couldn't be ignored. I honestly don't think there's any particular racism in motorsport, but the fact remains there are very few ethnic minorities who participate for whatever reason. That is changing a bit - maybe because of Lewis Hamilton - but it can't simply be down to money.

More COVID related sleaze... https://theguardian.com/politics/2021/nov/25/labour-calls-for-inquiry-into-tory-peer-michelle-mone-over-ppe-contract

It's not splitting hairs because you called them illegal immigrants when generally they are not. If you want to now call them 'irregular immigrants' that's fine with me, but please stop conflating those who clandestinely enter or overstay in the UK with asylum seekers. I think we all recognise there's a good number of boat people who are not refugees as such, although that does not change the fact that economic desperation is also a significant and genuine driving factor. If you believe that people would willingly leave their home countries to embark on difficult and dangerous journeys to live in poor conditions and to be treated with derision and disrespect when they reach Europe, then I think that shows a real lack of understanding about the world. However, the fact remains that something like 98% of the boat people do claim asylum, and something like 60% of those ultimately have their applications approved. That suggests to me that the vast majority of the boat people are not illegal immigrants, and that fake asylum seekers are the minority. That of course is an inconvenient fact for the likes of Priti Patel who's only response is to blame inflexible 'uman rights laws and of course not the fact that her government's policy is partly responsible for creating the situations in Syria and Afghanistan. She is a utterly vile individual, especially given that her parents were effectively refugees forced out of their country and allowed to settle in the UK.

And the underlying point is that asylum seekers are not entering the UK illegally if they ask for asylum upon arrival because many asylum seekers are unable to obtain passports far less visas. What is really sickening, is those who hide behind things like the Dublin Agreement and 'illegal entry' to justify pulling up the drawbridge and moving the problem somewhere else. People who talk about making 'proper provision' for asylum seekers without actually wanting to do anything about the problem, and using the excuse of other countries not doing anything to justify that position. Moreover, snarky comments purporting to know what concerns others might have. Of course there are traffickers exploiting the situation, but that's because there are desperate people trying to get away from war and other conflict. Equally, there are British politicians like Priti Patel who attempt to exploit the issue with their 'get tough' rhetoric to gain support from voters of a certain ilk.

Anyone donating to a political party should not be given government contracts.

The SCB is not really an independent body, nor is its role to be running the sport. It's there as a sort of regulatory and judicial body. An independent body would something that which oversees the day-to-day running of the sport in line with agreed principles, and whose members have no (longer any) affiliation with any track. Most major sports have moved in that direction, although some have mix of independent directors and club representatives. Ideally it would also make recommendations as towards the best way to run the sport, with some experienced financial and marketing people on board. However, a major issue is that speedway just doesn't have the money or cachet to attract such people.

https://theguardian.com/politics/2021/nov/25/hmrc-to-relocate-to-newcastle-office-owned-by-tory-donors-via-tax-haven

Not interested in whataboutery - this is actual peoples' misery we're discussing. Regardless of whether refugees are drowning elsewhere, the UK needs to be taking responsibility for the refugees turning up on its own shores instead of continually trying to move the problem somewhere else. Often these refugees are from the conflicts that have been caused by the result of the policy of UK and its allies anyway. That means finding adequate accommodation whether in the UK or elsewhere, processing claims more speedily, and yes actually deporting those who aren't legitimate asylum seekers. In general this needs wider international cooperation, but the UK of course much of that up with Brexit hoping to move the problem to the EU for the sake of some cheap votes...

https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnson-letters-of-no-confidence-leadership-challenge-conservative-party-1316451/amp

You're right, it was an old lady in a bank rather than post office..

How do you know what I knew? As it happens it's you that's making the false claim because I actually hadn't seen the news at that point. And for you of all people to accuse others of making false claims...

We've discussed before, but the narrative has tended to be written from the John Berry perspective. We don't fully know what the demands and conditions were, and I don't think it's realistic to expect complete autonomy as has been alluded to. John Berry was undoubtedly a good promoter, certainly had good if not visionary ideas on how the wider sport should be run, and was familiar with US sports practices which he suggested should been the model for speedway. However, any multi-stakeholder organisation needs a leader who is patient and persuasive, not one that quickly gets frustrated and falls out with people at the drop of hat. He also appears to have been reactionary about developments in other sports (e.g. World Series Cricket) that arguably revolutionised them (even if his underlying point about the demise of existing competitions was correct), so how things like the advent of satellite/cable television and the SGP would have been handled would have been interesting. I do think much of his vision for the way forward was correct, but i don't think his tenure would have lasted that long in that sort of role though. Plus speedway had already started on its long road to decline at that point, so it would have been in an environment of long under-capitalisation and increasing financial pressures.

Of course it's an opinion. Your little old lady in the post office apparently thinks Romanians are anti-social criminals, but that's also an opinion and certainly not a fact.

When I posted yesterday, I'd not heard that news, but it would not have changed anything I posted. 27 people were desperate enough to lose their lives in the Channel whilst you were talking about pulling up the drawbridge. It's quite pathetic for you to then indulge in virtue signalling in an attempt score points, but that sums you up... I also couldn't care less what Starmer thinks. I doubt he'll be Labour leader for much longer, and he'll certainly not get my vote whilst he panders to those who vote against the economic interests of the UK.

Yes, which causes the problems with refugees. But it does not change the fact that people are displaced as a result.

Yes, and they are illegal immigrants because they entered the country in a clandestine way and didn't claim asylum. I'm really not sure why you find it so hard to understand the difference.