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tzijlstra

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Everything posted by tzijlstra

  1. No, just getting fed up of the stale argument that 'so and so fought for our freedom of speech, so I can say what I want'. You can say what you want, nobody needs to fight over that. Also, painting the UK as a haven of freedom of speech as a result of a war where freedom of speech was heavily restricted by the UK government is a bit ironic.
  2. There is a number of interesting, and predicted, consequences developing right in front of our eyes. Lack of workforce - blocking labour from Eastern Europe (in particular) for tasks such as HGV driver, agricultural seasonal employees and low-skilled production tasks as well as retail and hospitality is creating enormous pressure on the existing workforce. It is pretty clear now that British workers tend to be well employed as they are not 'shifting' into the newly created vacancies fast enough. This has two marked effects: 1. Wage inflation is about to kick in, HGV drivers are already being paid upto 20% extra at places like Tesco and Aldi (two of the largest HGV employing organisations in the country). This will have a short term boost to lower incomes as a result, which is good and probably what Johnson labels as 'Levelling Up'. Question marks remain about the long term viability and the effect on the GBP. 2. Productivity is throttled. With lower productivity the internal economy will shrink, resulting in an increase in (expensive and inconvenient) imports where non existed before. The trade deficit will likely grow over the coming years as a result, impacting on the GBP. Combined the blossoming of the economy post-Covid is boosting the value of the GBP against the Euro/Dollar, but will it stand up long term? If the government can find a way to keep GBP relatively high than that will have a positive effect for import but harm export. if it devalues (as I think it will) than everything in the country will become more expensive at pace, inflation will be difficult to control and although people will see increased income, costs will probably rise faster.
  3. My Dutch grandfather lost a brother fighting for the SS. Not because he religiously believed in the cause, but because the government at the time didn't leave them much of an option. Freedom of speech does not equate defending the governments' faults, nor does it give you a wildcard to pull each time someone points out you are wrong.
  4. I quite agree, in fact, the people most responsible for the situation the Afghans are in is... the Afghans. At the same time, the situation has been exacerbated by meddling from 'The Great Power that is NATO'. Which therefore means the nations that decided to land their merciful benevolence in the form of smart bombs now have at least a partial duty to make sure the mess they created is tidied up in a humane and correct effort. Where are the refugees being housed in Sheffield HumbleNarrator?
  5. You clearly have too little. Not to mention the displaced already in neighbouring countries. One thing the UK should be doing is negotiating with Pakistan to set up refugee capacity there.
  6. Hmmm... 'We owe them???' - This question stems from the simplistic view that one Afghan is the same as the next. A bit like saying Keir Starmer is just like Adam Peaty because they are both British. The vast majority of Afghans had nothing to do with the one or two Al-Qaeda training camps that were allegedly based in Afghanistan. It suited the narrative of the warmongering Americans to point to 'evidence' nobody has ever seen, likely obtained in Guantanamo Bay (or similar torture camps) under illegal (Under international law) circumstances. 'what after 911?? london? and many other atrocities across the world' , - The 9/11 perpetrators were Saudi/Egyptian/UAE and Lebanese. Of the 19 there were 15 Saudi nationals. Yet the Americans invaded Afghanistan and Iraq? Almost like they only wanted to pick on 'weaker' and 'non-allied or aligned' nations, don't you think? Ever wondered why Saudi wasn't targeted? The overwhelming majority of the London attacks were... British. But it would have been a bit rich to target the Brits, wouldn't it? Easier to use the narrative to continue the 'war on terror' on territories far away, as long as the arms producers can continue the wheels turning! Most atrocities around the world are committed by nationals of the nation where the atrocity takes place. They are not generally considered 'Taliban sympathisers' but do believe that Muslims were targeted by 'the West'. Just like most atrocities committed by right wing terrorists are committed under a similar veined reason. Simple fact is that terrorism is the result of a feeling of being wronged, truth and fact is irrelevant. 'and hate the west and all we stand for until they hold their hand out.' Again, this stems from the simplistic view that one Afghan is the same as the next, a mindless trope. Let's look at that 'owed' factor. When NATO wrongfully invaded Afghanistan most people there were living in relative peace under their own set of rules. We do not agree with those rules as they do not align to ours. Upon invading a lot of Afghans that also did not agree with the current rules decided they would side with NATO and help them in a variety of roles, we hear of Translators a lot, but there were many thousands of functions carried out in name of NATO. Most of these roles were carried out by men, a result of Afghanistan not allowing women to be educated for decades. 'we occupied it for a reason the same reason thats happening now.' - NATO occupied under false pretences, as explained in the second paragraph. NATO claimed to want to eliminate Al-Qaeda, truth is that we haven't got a clue why. Once Osama Bin Laden was killed Al-Qaeda ceased to exist, no problem though, other similar anti-Western organisations will have already spawned since. The best way to keep these at bay is through intelligence and financial repression. This was already well known before 9/11 and many insisted on using this route, but Bush buckled under the pressure of the arms-lobby and decided he wanted 'boots on the ground'. There was nothing altruistic or humane about occupying Afghanistan, if there was than why is NATO not occupying North-Korea? Cuba? Turkmenistan? Saudi? If you are going to be vehemently against Afghan immigrants to the UK, be angry with the UK for following the US like the lapdogs the government are, not the refugees. That anger is also why so many take up negative ideas towards the NATO, an estimated 300,000 to 1,000,000 Iraqi and Afghan nationals were killed during the Iraq/Afghan wars in the last two decades, that is a multiple of the total civilians died in the UK in WW2. Can you imagine the anger in the UK if, let's say the Russians, killed a million Brits? Look a bit past your own rhetoric and apply some critical thinking about cause and effect.
  7. Now that I'm in Scotland and have an interest in my local teams, I have to say that my preconceptions were both right and wrong. Yes it is a different standard, much less money and indeed, unfortunately, dominated by two clubs. That said, the league below those two clubs is exciting and real fun to watch, probably because a lack of money. Cheering on local lads that are fighting every inch for the pride of their hometown is ace. I missed that, a lot, in England.
  8. Yep, Twitter has already pointed that one out in all its glory 🤣
  9. It's not exactly Dutch, so no clue! Although the Dutch pronunciation of Sow would definitely be as in Oats (elongated o).
  10. Resident Dutchman chipping in, not a great signing. No real track-record of anything special, a bit of a chequered history when it comes to injury/loyalty though... I don't think he has the skillset or mindset to be effective in League One. He'll be kicked across the pitch like a cardboard box as I don't think he is particularly strong. I hope I'm wrong, but I wouldn't count on him being anything other than a fourth option up front.
  11. Cummings, the architect of Brexit states clearly he doesn't know what to expect from Brexit, he also admitted that the 350 million and Turkey joining the EU were tricks to mobilise the people. He makes clear he convinced Johnson to switch to Leave. NI Border is still a huge sword of Damocles and now Gibraltar is entering the fray again as well. There are shortages of fresh fruit and veg in supermarkets all over the country. Covid put a halt to things, but the consequences of Brexit are about to come crashing into the news cycle again.
  12. I would argue that one of the reasons for the referendum being desired again by Scotland is exactly because of Brexit taking Scotland out of the EU against the wishes of the Scottish population. Over 62% of Scots wanted to remain vs 38% wanting to leave, but because the country is part of the UK it got dragged out of the EU. So not quite sure how you see the two as conflicting.
  13. Someone asked me what I would vote now that we are moving to Angus and a referendum came up in the next few years... Here are some of the points I have in my head that I think are relevant to understand: Scotland isn't half as dependent on England as it is often made out to be by the English. This is illustrated very simply by looking at the main roads between England and the UK, it is genuinely a long distance, unlike for example Wales, where there is little to no economic activity. That physical distance means that the Scottish Central Belt (which is the economic powerhouse of Scotland) is pretty independent in terms of economic activity from the UK. Scotland also benefits from having its own distinct economic profile, this extends beyond oil. It is already big on renewables, the whisky/distillery industry is significant enough to carry on contributing to the Scottish economy independently from England, Tourism in the more remote areas won't stop just because of a Leave vote and it has a well established engineering manufacturing base it can build on. If it can control its own finances, independently from Westminster it can pursue a more common Northwest European strategy of slightly higher taxes and more social infrastructure. It can also re-apply to the EU and hopefully Scotland will rewrite its constitution to further develop the fairer democratic system in place there. The negatives are quite small in comparison, loss of military influence, although it would still be a NATO member, a border between Scotland and England (which is a hell of a lot easier to achieve than a border between NI and ROI due to the geography around the border) and loss of the Barnett Formula. The latter will probably be the most significant barrier, but the freedom to develop its own government finances once independent offset this. So pragmatically speaking, yep, all for independence.
  14. I'm not surprised there are no recent comments. Very poor result, although not unexpected. 4 points behind, two games to go. Yes Forest are poor and on a bad run and yes Derby has to play Swansea before facing us, but... Rotherham have four shots at getting there and I know they are even worse than we are, yet this puts them in the driving seat.
  15. I think the real question is: Should the UK be properly federalised. Do away with the daft discrepancies between the national (Wales/Scotland/NI) governmental rights and make the whole country up out of ten federal states united under a clear constitution. (The nation states and six federal parts of England) Each area its own federal government, with the national government in charge of defence, national infrastructure, monetary policy, international affairs. Just campaigning for the North to have its own 'assembly' doesn't really solve the underlying issues.
  16. For any of you who want to see how the US/NATO actually ended up on the wrong side of the fence, I highly recommend you watch The Mauritanian on Amazon Prime.
  17. How did China and Russia react when the NATO invaded Afghanistan and Iraq? Don't want to come across as facetious, but it is important to keep that perspective in play. Since the nineties the NATO has 'ruled the world' and that is now being countered by advancing economies. That doesn't mean I would approve or condone or indeed not speak out loudly against either of those events. It does mean that the picture isn't as simple as expecting the US to counter with its own aggression.
  18. I'm not even going to dignify this with... wait. OK, I am. LOL. You didn't do a good job googling then. https://lmgtfy.app/#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=Is the UK still in the ERDF https://lmgtfy.app/#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=consequences of UK leaving erasmus%2B for research funding https://lmgtfy.app/#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=UK International Development Fund impact on research I'm not going to continue, as I genuinely can't be bothered trying to convince a brick of immoveable resistance. I sit on plenty (well sat, since my resignation) of boards at University level to know what is happening. You can dismiss that, but a sentence like: doesn't particularly inspire confidence that you will get the point I am making as you are conflating three issues. Which is fine.
  19. But... what exactly is the UK doing now that it couldn't do as part of the EU? All those countries 'we are going to get world beating deals' with, are already in far negotiation with the EU, the UK has just put itself at the back of the queue. The PBS for immigration could already have been implemented, the EU was not preventing that. You and many Brexiteers alongside you keep saying the EU must be worried for this 'global age' or the 'golden dawn of Brexit UK'. Can we at least hear what the tangible effects are?
  20. That's pretty much how I feel. I can't see us getting anything more than a draw, this team is so flaky and up and down that it is basically impossible to make a sensible prediction though. The one prediction that is nailed on: We are going down.
  21. Wellcome Trust welcomes participation in Horizon 2020 but warns that there are plenty of hurdles left: https://cms.wellcome.org/sites/default/files/2021-01/what-does-the-uk-eu-post-brexit-deal-mean-for-health-and-research.pdf EU students now have to pay full International Student Fee to study at UK Universities: Applications down 40 %. This last year there were 150,000 EU students. Since January 1st the UK no longer participates in ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) this fund was used, amongst others, to fund the AMRC Factory 2050 and other key investments in Sheffield's research environment. The loss of Erasmus+ means that UK Universities in European Research Alliances are unclear as to whether they can remain partners, the UK government has not committed any funding towards this significant group of partnerships. Although commitment to Horizon Europe is welcome, this is a limited time agreement. Once Horizon Europe ends (2027) there is no agreement in place. The fall in International Development Funding in the UK directly impacts on Universities that used the money to work with parties in nations eligible for this funding. The millions the government has pumped into Covid Vaccines were welcome investments, but clearly one-off. They also only arrive at a very narrow field in Universities and then only at very few Universities. This money has done very little to structurally improve the research landscape for the UK. So, in sum, my bit of truth is seeing Universities shedding staff at enormous pace, not due to Covid, this is something that started with the Brexit referendum, UoS and my current employer have had several rounds of voluntary redundancy already. The department I work in has seen at least 50% of senior staff roles disappear. A further 25% squeeze on basic front-of-house roles. We have programmes where a recruitment stop essentially meant that lecturers had to spend all their time trying to keep things spinning, whilst coping with the pandemic and learning to deliver from their kitchen table instead of in a lecture theatre. Internally all our communications about cuts are linked directly to Brexit, externally there is no such signal because it would potentially harm the position of the university with the government, not to mention that it isn't a great marketing message to potential students when you have to explain why you cut your staffing levels with 10% across the board, again. I haven't provided many links, you can Google
  22. Yup, this post. (Not a clue why it isn't including the blockquotes, afraid you'll have to go back a page to see the original)
  23. So, as it is my lunch-hour, here is a breakdown of the lies: Truth: Science funding in the UK is down enormously compared to before Brexit and research institutions across the country have sounded the alarm bell at the lack of commitment from the government to invest in science. Truth: Already could do that... It has just become a lot harder to recruit people from the EU though, so overall it is a net-loss. Truth: Dyson is HQed in Singapore since 2019. It is no longer a British company therefore. It might want to sell more goods in SEA, but there is no reason to move the entire HQ (and thus tax responsibility) to Singapore, he could have just opened a regional office there, which is what most other companies have done. Although the new Points Based System might make it easier for Dyson to hire non-EU engineering talent, it has also lost the ability to hire EU engineering talent without any system required. It is very difficult to see how Dyson wins from the new system... AstraZeneca is UK/Swedish, it works with an Italian manufacturer after the UK government asked Oxford to work with AZ and then thwarted the production agreement with a US manufacturer. Guess what, 2020 the UK was still operating as part of the EU. Also, I haven't a clue what 'independence of spirit' means but I am fairly sure every nationalist in the world will claim at least something similar. Yes it would, as it would be to suggest that you couldn't move to Asia due to the EU. Because you moved to Asia, when the UK was still in the EU. Even though Dyson doesn't say it explicitly, the article is about how it is great to be out of the EU... Smoke, mirrors and all that.
  24. Here is a brilliant take on Brexit by James Dyson. Brilliant, because once you start analysing what he is actually saying, you know that he is lying through his teeth about basically everything, but he is a Sir and an 'icon' of British ingenuity, so clearly he has to be right. The lack of criticality in this BBC article is disturbing to be honest. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56741000
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