Let's Get Political!

[horlock07]

French red tape is horrific, but Bonaparte's division of the country in to clearly defined Regions and, below that, the 100 Departments which people properly identify with is something to be proud of.  Vastly superior to the disorderly mish-mash of counties (some historic, which do not even exist in the political sense any more) & unitary authorities that we put up with.

A Frenchman knows where he's from.  But is Swindon in Wiltshire any more?  Is Kingston in London or is it in Surrey?  Is Scunthorpe a part of Humberside, Lincolnshire or N Lincolnshire?  All open to debate.  It's a mess.

You say that but when my old man moved to France, it was considerably less bureaucratic than the hassle he had moving back 10 years later, its taken them nearly a year to get many of the things sorted now they are back in the UK.

[Reg Smeeton]

Does your suspicion of our Gallic cousins stem from a deep-rooted sense of inferiority, I wonder Reginald?

I think suspicion of people who came up with a calendar, with these months is justified....

1 Vendémiaire   7 Germinal
2 Brumaire   8 Floréal
3 Frimaire   9 Prairial
4 Nivôse   10 Messidor
5 Pluviôse   11 Thermidor
6 Ventôse   12 Fructidor

The months then divided into 3 sets of 10 days, with only 3 days of rest.....add in the attempt to decimalise time. Thank fuck for the Greenwich Meridian.

[Samdy Gray]

This man could possibly become US president... and we think we have problems....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34930042

There is absolutely no danger of Trump being elected.

More worryingly, there's a strong chance that Clinton will be elected.

[Abrahammer]

As long as it's the Democratic candidate, that's all that really matters

[Red Frog]

I think suspicion of people who came up with a calendar, with these months is justified....

1 Vendémiaire   7 Germinal
2 Brumaire   8 Floréal
3 Frimaire   9 Prairial
4 Nivôse   10 Messidor
5 Pluviôse   11 Thermidor
6 Ventôse   12 Fructidor

The months then divided into 3 sets of 10 days, with only 3 days of rest.....add in the attempt to decimalise time. Thank fuck for the Greenwich Meridian.

Well despite its pretty imagery, France dumped that before long, in the interest of international alignment (England take note). Generations of Brits should be eternally grateful to Europe for decimalisation though. 16oz to a lb (which obviously stands for pound) but 14lbs to 1 st; 8pts to 1gal; 12d to 1s; 1760 snappy yds to 1 mile. All very quaint, but makes for nightmarish calculations.

And Ardiles, if France used to be horribly bureaucratic, these days most admin things run much more smoothly than their equivalents in the UK, in my experience. Except I do wish they'd institute an Oyster card system on the Paris metro.

[Samdy Gray]

As long as it's the Democratic candidate, that's all that really matters

Sanders preferably.

[Ironside]

A full-scale invasion is the only thing that is going to get rid of them. Or at least troops on the ground anyway and so far the "strategy" of operating through limited proxies (a Kurdish force attacked by the Turks and hamstrung by our unwillingness to upset our "allies", the laughably inept and corrupt Iraqi army, Assad's murderers and various rag-bag equally murderous Shia militias) coupled with bombing has achieved jack-shit. If we want to get rid of ISIS by military means then we need to decide that we're prepared to do that and stay and sort out the mess after. And yes that means we need to be prepared for the body bags/pictures of POWs being brutally tortured and executed to come in too. But if we were prepared to take the casualties for some oil, neo-con hard-ons and Blair's mad ego for Iraq, this is a far more worthy cause. Plus we helped cause it so we kind of have an obligation to help sort out the mess we helped create.

Otherwise, we should sit at home and wait for them to go stronger and stronger until we can't dislodge them. Pretty much as we have done for the past four years, in fact. "Nicely stoking the flames a little" might sound nice but as Reg says, it's really just headline grabbing and political face-saving.

I agree with every word of this post.

[Ironside]

But they have quite a presence in the Lords, just a pity they seem to be having to act as her majesty's opposition whilst the Labour Leadership and PLP wave their bits around rather than trying to act for the good of the country....

The commons do not need the Lord's on their side to act on Foreign affairs.

[Ironside]

I'm keen on electoral reform myself, but pure PR applied to the results of the last election (which is dodgy as people may have voted differently etc.) would have given a Tory/UKIP coalition. Which is terrifying.

Or as sane people describe it, perfect.

[Ironside]

People like Coldplay and voted for Hitler Mark, you can't trust people.

You're absolutely correct. Here's a darkened room, a revolver with a single round in it and a bottle of Whisky.

You know it's the right thing to do but do let us know if you need anything else to assist you...

[Ironside]

I knew who would bite at that. 

Bonaparte's success, particularly in setting up institutions and administrations that remain to this day, has always been underplayed in the UK, not unnaturally. And his legacy of French influence in Europe is rather greater than plucky little England's.

Does your suspicion of our Gallic cousins stem from a deep-rooted sense of inferiority, I wonder Reginald?

I think we have an example of Stockholm syndrome right here.

[Ironside]

French red tape is horrific, but Bonaparte's division of the country in to clearly defined Regions and, below that, the 100 Departments which people properly identify with is something to be proud of.  Vastly superior to the disorderly mish-mash of counties (some historic, which do not even exist in the political sense any more) & unitary authorities that we put up with.

A Frenchman knows where he's from.  But is Swindon in Wiltshire any more?  Is Kingston in London or is it in Surrey?  Is Scunthorpe a part of Humberside, Lincolnshire or N Lincolnshire?  All open to debate.  It's a mess.

That's down to education.

[Ardiles]

You shouldn't need a degree to understand things like that.  That's the point.

[Ironside]

You shouldn't need a degree to understand things like that.  That's the point.

Indeed...

[Not that Nice If I'm Honest]

I like Ironsides

He gets a lot of hate on here, but he says what he thinks.

To be honest, some of it offends some people, but some people are offended by facts