boxedjoy

Well-known member
One night when I was a student I went for a drink with this lovely girl in my class and she brought some pals along including the most handsome guy I had met in ages. He was only out to a few close pals and I genuinely hadn't guessed but when he went to the toilet they all assumed I knew and told me to behave and stop flirting. Obviously that made me more determined to get a snog. When he came back they announced they were all heading to the Lib Dem Student Meeting, and suddenly there I was half-cut in a meeting room at the student union joining the Lib Dems because I thought it might help me score with this lad. I would not recommend joining the Lib Dems to pull, even in the days when the coalition seemed unimaginable.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Can you sell drugs for a living?
You mean using a 3d printer to create the supply? We were actually talking about this the other day for some reason. I see no reason why it shouldn't be completely possible. Unless of course all your customers got their own 3d printer and started making their own stuff. You'd have to 3d print some guns and some gang members to go and assassinate them for you if they started to flood the market with their own cheap stuff.
 

boxedjoy

Well-known member
Alas poor Lib Dem Lad was uncommitted in his policies and all I got was a years worth of marketing materials and a few quid out my bank until I finally got round to ending my membership. I've heard through the grapevine he still isn't actually out to anyone beyond his small inner circle and is pretending to be someone he isn't... which feels a bit too on the nose to be a metaphor I think
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Yes, very much so, reading through that post I couldn't really work out which bits were political metaphors, which were piss-takes of your Lib Dem crush and which were just matter of fact descriptions of what happened.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
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IdleRich

IdleRich
So EU has now formally taken UK to the European Court of Justice - UK agreed to be bound by that on disputes started before the end of the year so I guess it could theoretically have some teeth. It says cases normally take about three years though as the UK have said in parliament that they are breaking the law this one should be a fairly open and shut case one would have thought.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
The transport secretary has acknowledged that flights between the UK and the European Union could be grounded from 1 January 2021 in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
At present, UK and EU airlines are able to fly any routes they wish under the long-standing “open-skies” agreement within Europe.
That comes to an end on 31 December, as the Brexit transition period ends.
Grant Shapps told the virtual convention of Abta, the travel association: “We’re seeking arrangements that will maintain connectivity.”
But his remarks made it clear that, with 78 days to go, there is currently no legal framework for flights to continue to operate from 1 January 2021.
This seems quite bad.
A situation which potentially could result in a catastrophic event unless the government gets its arse in gear. It used to be that these stories could be presented to the reader by the papers for harmless titillation - casually flicking through a report of this nature you get a litle shiver of fear and start to focus somewhat, you consider how horrible it would be if it actually happened, and then this is compounded as you realise that technically there truly is an actual non-zero chance that it may. But really you know that the adults in charge won't let it, the consequences are so dire that they will take every possible step to make damn fucking sure it doesn't. And that moment of fear has gone as quickly as it came, it slides smoothly off you and away, receding until it's all but imperceptible - you are left with an enjoyable feeling of heightened senses, a small shot of adrenaline. The same thrill one gets from a horror film.
That's all changed completely. Now there are no adults in charge and it's basically fifty-fifty as to whether or not planes will be able to fly to and from Britain next year. No frisson of excitement, no relief, no adrenaline; instead just another depressing and mean consequence of the referendumb that can be chucked on to the ever-growing pile of "things caused by Brexit that will make life a bit worse for pretty much everyone and very significantly worse for a fair few people and won't benefit a single person in the world in any way whatsoever unless Cummings finds a way to give one of his mates a trillion pound (ie 50 euro) contract to sort it".
 
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john eden

male pale and stale
I think there is a bit of brinksmanship going on, on both sides @IdleRich

The bit in the negotiating process where both sides go "nah they won't actually let that happen, oh shit maybe they will".

Possibly I will be wrong about that but there are only a handful of people who will make a difference with this so adopting a doggedly fatalistic shrug seems like the sanest option.

It does all seem wildly more chaotic and mad than it needs to be though.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Well maybe it is brinkmanship and so on - but the point to me is why did we skilfully manoeuvre ourselves into a position where there is any kind of negotiation at all as to whether or not planes will be allowed to fly into the UK? How could this ever be a question - let alone a question we need skilful negotiations and hardball tactics to get right? And why did we raise it ourselves?
What kind of person would suddenly say "I've got an idea - let's toss a coin and if it comes up tails I'll put my bollocks in a meat grinder"?
I suppose that what I'm saying is that every now and again something makes me zoom out from the crazy trees so I can see the forest - and it reminds me that the forest is so fucking mad in its own right that there is very little point beavering away trying to sort the odd tree here and there... and probably everyone needs that reminder every so often... or something.
 

john eden

male pale and stale
But it's more like "ok we BOTH need to put our bollocks in a meat grinder unless we get [something tedious about fish]". The issue isn't planes - it's planes being used a ransom for something else.

Probably.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
On the plus size, the new lorry park that's covering half of Kent has been dubbed "the Farage Garage".
 
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