404 as long as SKy can show premier league darts —what a match last night -Phil Taylor averaging near 120.!

“I used to be a conservative and I watch these debates and I’m wondering, I don’t think I’ve changed, but it’s a little troubling sometimes when people are appealing to people’s fears and emotion rather than trying to get them to look over the horizon for a broader perspective and that’s kind of where we are.”

–Jeb Bush

If you really believe most Swiss – or Londoners  - object to minarets because they “might clash architecturally” with native building styles, then you are clearly MUCH stupider than I thought.

It’s like claiming that opponents of the burqa want them banned because they don’t go well with jeans.

THE Plaid Cymru leadership campaign has taken a significant new turn with one of the party’s most respected figures urging tactical voting to stop Elin Jones being elected.

“It is an old cliché in politics that the next election is always the most important ever in history. But this time the truism is actually true. Whatever the result of the forthcoming referendum in Scotland – and the signs point increasingly to a positive outcome – the relationships between the countries of these islands shall surely be transfigured in the few short years ahead. This is a decade of decision that will influence the future course of Welsh history.”

 http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2012/02/24/adam-price-makes-tactical-voting-plea-for-plaid-cymru-leadership-election-91466-30395426/#ixzz1nJBDyvCA

Plato, you may be a great many things, but you are not a social democrat.

James, you may be a great many things , but you are not Scottish.

“James, you may be a great many things , but you are not Scottish.”

Oh you pupil you weave you sigh you cough.  Ha ha ha!

I think the Barca/Real hegemony is so strong because they can simply steamroller the other Spanish clubs and hoover up the money. One of the best aspects of the Premiership is the fact that Manu, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal (and probably Man C now) all compete at the highest level.

We’re getting into detail here. My objection was to the demonstrably false assertion that “we aren’t competitive in Europe”. Reaching all those European finals over the last 15 years proves that to be incorrect.

Are books copyrighted territorially within the EU? Or just between the EU and other places?

Without getting into it…it depends a lot on how the story is written if that is strictly true or not. I’m sure the fact that he is a ministers son is relevant to the newspaper in question being interested in. 

However, it could also be written as a piece about a promising 17 year old England rugby player …censored….is he just one example of a wider problem among teenagers, especially sportsmen / women?

“O, would, or I had seen the day
That Treason thus could sell us,
My auld grey head had lien in clay
Wi’ Bruce and loyal Wallace!
But pith and power, till my last hour
I’ll mak this declaration :-
‘We’re bought and sold for English gold’–
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!”

I must say those don’t instantly leap out at me as the words of one your fellow Brit Nats, Moniker, but who knows.

What turned me against the left wasn’t the policies the students espoused, but the people the left wing students were.

Invariably they were the progeny of wealthy solicitors, barristers, academics, civil servants, judges, quangocrats etc. etc. etc.

Most of them hadn’t been within five miles of a council house.

‘We are bought and sold for English gold’-Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!”
 A perfect description of Salmond’s disastrous relationship with the old RBS management.

Cinisello Balsamo, Lombardia, Italy    

“Pity him and move on.”

No, no, no. I live in hope that he, and several others on this site will eventually change their ways. All this exposure to rationality, reality, common sense and all-round rightness must sink in eventually. Mustn’t it?

 Perhaps he should be moved on.  Spamming is boorish.

I must admit that my prejudices took a well-deserved knock.

I missed the intros and assumed he was a union rep. I was very confused for a while. A little lesson in the dangers of presumption…

No, I was just wondering why you were googling your own name, that’s all.

Well there not even a partial consensus even within parties on reform let alone an absolute consensus. For it to be worth while it needs to be a sustainable solution, which doesn’t seem to be what is being offered. 

Edit in reply to James Kelly.

Ah, the old “shifting goalposts” gambit; very apposite. England have been underachievers as a national team, no argument there.

But just to refresh your selective memory, the discussion since the very beginning has been around national leagues and club football.

“For it to be worth while it needs to be a sustainable solution, which doesn’t seem to be what is being offered.”

Most western countries seem to find an entirely elected parliament sustainable.  Apart from the UK, I think the only exception is Canada.

That may be, but we were talking about consensus there isnt one in the United Kingdom, partial or absolute, you cant ignore that just as you believe an elected upper house is better. A deal without long term consensus will unravel and become unworkable.

 Will it necessarily affect you as an author?

It might not be legal to restrict publishing deals to one territory, but wouldn’t it increase competition over ‘worldwide’ publishing deals? Or would it just give the publishing trade carte blanche to try and undercut each other in opposing territories, based on the labour costs or printing and distributing hard copies?

Semifinalists? UEFA rankings? Money earned? Global appeal? Consistent clubs? Over what period?

You are boring, bigoted – and now frankly embarrassing. Why the inane repetition? Is it means to be some football chant and thereby cutting satire? Hint: it isn’t.

Do something useful, go get yourself some workfare at Tesco. This particular “argument” has been euthanised.

A few years back I was the chairman of the Spurs Supporters Trust. Part of this involved going to meet with Daniel Levy and other officials at the club. They were all very concerned about selling TV rights individually as their view was (and probably still is) that the only teams this would benefit in England would be Man Utd and possibly Liverpool. The other sides have much smaller supports in the UK and would not get as much by selling individually as they would through doing it collectively. In their view, after Utd and Liverpool the next three were Arsenal, Spurs and Everton, with Newcastle, City, Chelsea and West Ham in the next tranche.

Essentially, Man Utd subsidises the rest of the Premier League. But it makes sense if you think about it. For it to be interesting for Utd fans – and, therefore, good commercially - there have to be other strong sides.

What may well change, though, is the sale of foreign rights. I think Liverpool were pushing for this a while back. Liverpool’s problem, however, is brabnd loyalty outside England is much less strong than inside. A couple more years without CL football and Liverpool’s support in Asia could well collapse dramatically. 

In Spain, well over 50% of the football-interested population support either Real or Barca. Even Man Utd probably do not exceed 10% of football support over here though.

If you feel we dont have a democracy due to the Lords, thats your opinion of what democracy means with which I dont agree.   

“thats your opinion of what democracy means with which I dont agree ”

You disagree that democracy isn’t an elected parliament?

If the US, for instance, replaced direct elections to the Senate with a mixture of appointment and heredity, that wouldn’t have any impact on that country’s democratic credentials?

Talking of football, this is the annual Arsenal wage bill:

http://arsenaltruth.squarespace.com/

Extraordinary!

I believe you will find plenty of commentators who disagree with your comments.

It is hard to predict what would have happened under Labour whether worse or better.   Certainly growth would probably have been higher but less effort to tackle the debt through cuts and taxation.   What the net result would have been I dont know.

Of course better growth is the other way to tackle the debts and as we know the coalition talk about this quite a bit but as yet have not turned it into a reality.

Perhaps in 10 years time we will be able to look back and see whether Obama or Cameron had the better economic policy.

To be honest it doesn’t prove anything, but then neither did your ‘stat pulled from arse’. Which was the point.

And to Winston Churchill, Eden, Macmillan and Home!

“If the senate had greatly reduced powers which basically meant it was just another committee of congress that ensured a higher level of detailed legislative scrutiny then no, in some ways may enhance it.”

If that’s all the House of Lords is, why does David Herdson speak with such certainty that if the Commons doesn’t kill Lords reform, the Lords will?  That isn’t what a “scrutinising committee” does.

“If a country with universal direct democracy was replaced with a system of a representative assembly that wouldn’t have any impact on its democratic credentials?”

Because the people who make decisions are directly elected.  Where is the democratic chain of accountability for the Lords?

I suspect that’s a lot lower than the other top five team.

It also shows the big risk of going into football. If you get into the reserves at a team as good as Arsenal but never really make it beyond that, you’ll get a salary of £50k for a few years, and then you have to go into another job, but without a university education. No wonder so many pros come from rough estates.

One MP has said Gillard needs to stop Rudd getting more than 27 MPs. If he gets 40 then Gillard is a dead woman walking, even if she survives for a temporary reprieve the expected Labor trouncing in Rudd’s Queensland will soon put the pressure back on!

On social issues yes, but not economic issues. 60 years ago, in 1952, Eisenhower, a moderate Republican was president, and the top rate of tax was 92%! The key welfare liberalism of LBJ would still wait ten years, but Obama is not really that different on the economic front to Ike!

Did the UK courts look at the evidence? My understanding is that the High court decision only looked at whether the accusations of entrapment were sufficient to overturn the extradition request. As with previous disputed cases both of extradition to the US and with the EAW, there is no requirement for British courts to actually decide whether there is sufficient evidence nor even a case to answer. They simply have to decide if there are any extraordinary resons why extradition should not go ahead. 

Chelsea’s is £172 million
Man City £174 million.

Napoli, who are sixth in the Italian league and put out City and are on the verge of putting out Chelsea have a wage bill of 39 million Euros, and a higher percentage of Italian players in their squad than Chelsea or Man City have English players

Best in the world

Probably why the most successful right-wing leaders, eg Churchill, Reagan etc tend to be dreamers, while the most successful left-wing leaders eg Attlee are sometimes rather dull pragmatists!

Cripes – this sounds like a lot

RT @harikunzru: Fact of the morning: 845,000 Americans have Top Secret security clearance [Steve Coll in NYRB]

Rasmussen Michigan

Romney 40%
Santorum 34
Paul 10
Newt 9

Rasmussen Arizona

Romney 42
Santorum 29

Think I’ve told the story before here, but FWIW: I was initially influenced by my father when I was six – he was a Tory but gave me what seemed to be a neutral run-down of the main principles of every political philosophy from fascism to communism, and politely enquired which I liked. I said communism sounded good (from each according to ability, to each according to need) – he paused fractionally, then said, “Ah, yes, many people would agree with you.” “But not you?” “No, actually I’m a conservative, but you mustn’t let that influence you.”

The lasting effect of that curious exchange was to infect me with the idea of tolerance: as in all my dealings with my parents, I really liked them letting me explore ideas for myself. I eventually worked out that communism didn’t seem to work well in practice, not least because of the absence of the tolerance that he was practising, and I’m sure it would have been counter-productive if he’d said “Stupid boy!” My social democratic preference as an adult was a blend of the initial impulse (I still think that’s the way to try to live) and a recognition that it’s important to have systems that actually work (growing up in Denmark was persuasive on that point).

You have told it before, Nick, but I like that story.

If I’m reading it right, it means that I have to pretend to my little boy that I’m actually some sort of lefty.

The benefits of democracy are not self evident if you are part of the ruling class or elite! I see a few Tories here who are afflicted with that view of the world as well!