UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

[RTH10260]

Happy Christmas!

UK retailers offload Christmas trees for £1 or less as shoppers stay away
Trade hit because of Omicron, while some chains overbought after early sellouts in 2020

Sarah Butler
Mon 20 Dec 2021 18.55 GMT

Major retailers are having to offload Christmas trees for £1 or less after shoppers shied away from UK high streets and retail centres in the last weekend before Christmas.

B&Q has cut the price of its fresh trees – some costing £49 or more – to £1 or less at stores around the country. One shopper posted a picture on social media of trees priced as little as 10p in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

Homebase, which had already cut the price of all its fresh trees to £10 about a week ago, slashed prices to £5, while in some stores they were only £3.50.

Industry insiders said some of the major chains appeared to have overbought trees in reaction to last year when many sold out about two weeks early.



https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... nd-omicron

[RTH10260]

Covid related, but Brexit induced inconvenience

Britons with homes in EU told they can’t drive through France to get there
Eurotunnel operator issues warning to UK nationals after update to Covid travel rules by French government

Léonie Chao-Fong
Thu 30 Dec 2021 00.48 GMT

Eurotunnel is warning British citizens who live in the EU that they cannot travel through France by car from the UK due to new coronavirus restrictions imposed by the French government.

Getlink, the operator of the Channel rail link, issued an urgent warning on its website and Twitter page on Wednesday evening that appeared to confirm that the French government had changed its travel rules.

The statement read: “Following a French Government decision, on 28/12/2021, unless they hold French residency, British citizens are now considered 3rd country citizens and can no longer transit France by road to reach their country of residence in the EU.”



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... -get-to-uk

[Volkonski]

UK rail operator cancels London route due to COVID disruption

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-rai ... ce=twitter

LONDON, Dec 30 (Reuters) - A British rail operator has been forced to suspend all direct services to the busy London Victoria train station until Jan. 10 after staff fell ill with COVID-19 and others had to isolate.

Southern Rail said on Twitter that due to coronavirus isolation and sickness, there would be no direct services to or from London Victoria, disrupting commuter routes from south London and lines that run to the south of the country.

Britain is undergoing another heavy wave of the coronavirus pandemic driven by the Omicron variant, with a record 183,037 daily cases reported on Wednesday. Office workers have been asked to work from home where they can to reduce transmission.

While the government has said that the Omicron variant appears to be milder than others, it is highly transmissible and businesses across the country have been hit by staff shortages.

[Ben-Prime]

UK rail operator cancels London route due to COVID disruption

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-rai ... ce=twitter

LONDON, Dec 30 (Reuters) - A British rail operator has been forced to suspend all direct services to the busy London Victoria train station until Jan. 10 after staff fell ill with COVID-19 and others had to isolate.

Southern Rail said on Twitter that due to coronavirus isolation and sickness, there would be no direct services to or from London Victoria, disrupting commuter routes from south London and lines that run to the south of the country.

Britain is undergoing another heavy wave of the coronavirus pandemic driven by the Omicron variant, with a record 183,037 daily cases reported on Wednesday. Office workers have been asked to work from home where they can to reduce transmission.

While the government has said that the Omicron variant appears to be milder than others, it is highly transmissible and businesses across the country have been hit by staff shortages.

This caused me a direct headache today -- I don't use the Southern Line, but a few members of my staff do, and we already are at half our normal staffing levels due to the holidays. So my main mobile phone support guy (who is also my backup A/V guy and a pinch-hitter for all helpdesk-level sysadmin stuff) ended up not getting in until almost 10am. I had to cover him, plus my own boss and grandboss (both out on leave). I told my tech that if he needs to crash in my guest room next week, he should let me know. We get along fairly well and he's been meaning to explore the pubs on my side of London anyway.

[RTH10260]

Europeans may not apply...

UK ministers eager to ease immigration rules for Indian citizens
Offer could be on table in upcoming trade talks in Delhi in bid to access to country’s growing economy

Jane Clinton
Sat 1 Jan 2022 19.31 GMT

Ministers are keen to ease immigration restrictions in a bid to make it easier for thousands of Indian citizens to live and work in the UK as part of forthcoming trade talks.

The potential offer will be under discussion when the international trade secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, travels to Delhi this month, reports the Times. Relaxing immigration rules for Indian citizens is a key demand from Delhi.

Trevelyan is said to have the backing of the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, who is keen to curb China’s growing influence in the region. However, they are likely to meet strong resistance from the home secretary, Priti Patel, who opposes the offer.

According to the publication, visa relaxation options under consideration include a scheme similar to one agreed with Australia which would allow young Indians the right to live and work in the UK for up to three years. Another would be to cut visa fees for students and allow them to stay in Britain for a period of time after they graduate.

Visa fees for work and tourism – which can cost up to £1,400 – could also be reduced as a sweetener.

India has a GDP of about £2tn but it is a protectionist economy imposing significant tariffs on imports. Ministers believe a trade deal with Delhi would provide British businesses with a head start in what is predicted to be the world’s third-largest economy by 2050. It could also see Britain jump ahead as India does not have bilateral trade deals with either the US or the European Union.



https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... n-citizens

[RTH10260]

NI peace architect accuses Boris Johnson of ‘casual political vandalism’
Jonathan Powell says PM and Brexit ministers risking fragile peace in Northern Ireland and ‘don’t seem to care’

Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent
Sun 2 Jan 2022 17.40 GMT

One of the architects of the Northern Ireland peace deal has said Boris Johnson and the former Brexit minister Lord Frost have risked “all the work” the previous generation of politicians put into the Belfast Good Friday agreement by putting their hard ideological beliefs ahead of people.

Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s former chief of staff and chief negotiator on Northern Ireland, said he was concerned that neither the prime minister nor the recently resigned Brexit minister seemed to understand or care about the fragility of the political settlement in Northern Ireland in 1998.

He also questioned why Frost had made the issue of the European court of justice a red line in negotiations on the Northern Ireland protocol when it was not responsible for either the practical difficulties in trade or the identity politics that has been heightened by the row over the Irish Sea border.

He said it was irresponsible to stoke the fears of one side or another or to fail to calm nerves about British identity after rioting on the streets earlier in 2020.

“What worries me is the casual political vandalism. They really don’t seem to care. I mean the damage they are doing to the very fragile political settlements in Northern Ireland, by posturing on things like the European court of justice, which do not matter to voters in Northern Ireland,” he said.

“They may matter to Boris Johnson and some supporters [in the government] and the ideological base.

“But is it really worth sacrificing all the work that previous generations of politicians put into the Northern Ireland peace process on the ideological altar of the ECJ?” he asked.



https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... -vandalism

[RTH10260]

Britain Extends Pardons Policy for Consensual Same-Sex Partners
The government’s action expands earlier legislative efforts, but for some gay people it is too little, too late. “It impacted me my whole life,” one man said of his conviction.

By Isabella Kwai
Jan. 5, 2022

LONDON — A four-decade-old conviction has haunted Terry Stewart, a 68-year-old former social worker, throughout his adult life. Classified as a sexual offense, it came up when he applied for a mortgage or a job, and it stymied memberships to some social organizations.

The crime: He was convicted under a now-defunct law of “importuning,” or soliciting same-sex sexual activity. He pleaded not guilty but was convicted anyway.

“It’s not just a slap on the wrist and a 10 pound fine,” said Mr. Stewart, a London man who was active in the gay liberation movement in the 1980s. “It impacted me my whole life.”

Legislative changes over the years have allowed pardons to be granted to gay and bisexual people convicted of sexual offenses under laws that were later repealed. One such reform was known as Turing’s Law, named for the World War II code breaker Alan Turing who was chemically castrated after being convicted of gross indecency in 1952.

But the legislative paths created in the past had not encompassed crimes such as “importuning” or solicitation.

This week, Britain’s government tried to rectify that by pledging to pardon people like Mr. Stewart, who had been convicted of such offenses, said Priti Patel, Britain’s home secretary, adding that she hoped the new policy will “go some way to righting the wrongs of the past.”

Those seeking a pardon must apply through the government, though it has not yet released details.

This new path to a pardon came after years of campaigning by gay rights activists and organizations, and it broadened those eligible to include anyone who had been convicted under repealed legislation relating to consensual same-sex activity. The path was codified into law by an amendment to a policing bill.



https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/05/worl ... ardon.html

[Volkonski]

[RVInit]

The Queen has probably had good advice from her own legal counsel. Watching the Duke's ill advised interview, even half asleep, makes it seriously hard to believe his reasons for why you shouldn't believe he did the things he is being accused of. He couldn't even say "no, I did not do that". Instead, he tried to give logical reasons why you shouldn't believe he did that. Like for instance, Giuffre describes him as having been "sweaty". So, he tells us during his interview that we shouldn't believe it not because "I didn't do it", but because "I was suffering from a medical condition that prevented me from sweating". So, well, then, of COURSE you didn't do it.

And Dershowitz didn't do it because when he got a massage it was performed by an old Russian woman named Olga and he left his underwear on.

So, by the kind of reasoning the Duke would present, should we assume Dersh did it because "Jeffrey yelled at the "girls" when they brought a 21 year old as a potential "masseuse" because she was too old, ergo, why would he have an "old Russian woman named Olga" as a "masseuse".

[Foggy]

Is that Andrew's pickle?

[RVInit]

Is that Andrew's pickle?

[Volkonski]

Reuters
@Reuters
·
44m
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office apologized to Queen Elizabeth after it emerged that staff had partied late into the night in Downing Street on the eve of Prince Philip's funeral, at a time when mixing indoors was banned https://reut.rs/3rmyKOK

[Volkonski]

Jim Roberts
@nycjim
·
4m
Replying to
@nycjim
"From Winston Churchill to Theresa May, it would be hard to think of a more humbling and cringeworthy moment than having to apologise for their staff partying on the eve of the monarch’s husband’s funeral in the midst of a plague.”
Well put.
https://theguardian.com/politics/2022/j ... -minister-

[Volkonski]

Jim Roberts
@nycjim
·
13m
Operation Save Big Dog: Boris Johnson reportedly has drawn up a list of public officials who would offer resignations in effort to save his job as Prime Minister. https://theguardian.com/politics/live/2 ... cf9ed78952

[RTH10260]

The bloggers and vloggers with UK commentary I follow all have predicted that Boris Johnson would be replaced sometime this year when opportune for the Tory party. It seems to me that we now can expect this to happen within weeks, no longer months.

[RTH10260]

not espionage but influencer

[Kriselda Gray]

Reuters
@Reuters
·
44m
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office apologized to Queen Elizabeth after it emerged that staff had partied late into the night in Downing Street on the eve of Prince Philip's funeral, at a time when mixing indoors was banned https://reut.rs/3rmyKOK

I wonder which required the bigger apology - violating the ban on indoor mixing or having a party on the eve of Prince Philip's funeral?

[RTH10260]

‘Operation Rinka’: rebel Tories raise pressure on Boris Johnson to resign
Nicknamed after dog shot in Thorpe affair, plan afoot to oust PM over Downing Street parties scandal

Aubrey Allegretti, Jessica Murray, Steven Morris and Mark Brown
Tue 18 Jan 2022 06.00 GMT

Rebel Tories are raising pressure on Boris Johnson to quit over the Downing Street parties scandal, with one naming the plan “Operation Rinka” in reference to the dog killed in the Jeremy Thorpe affair in the 1970s.

While Downing Street insiders have reportedly devised a plan to sack officials and save Johnson, referred to as “Operation Save Big Dog”, some Tory MPs are stepping up pressure on colleagues to submit letters of no confidence in the prime minister.

One backbencher nicknamed the campaign to oust Johnson Operation Rinka after the great dane shot dead on Exmoor in 1975 – an incident that eventually led to the Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe standing trial for conspiracy to murder.



https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... et-parties

[Ben-Prime]

‘Operation Rinka’: rebel Tories raise pressure on Boris Johnson to resign
Nicknamed after dog shot in Thorpe affair, plan afoot to oust PM over Downing Street parties scandal

Aubrey Allegretti, Jessica Murray, Steven Morris and Mark Brown
Tue 18 Jan 2022 06.00 GMT

Rebel Tories are raising pressure on Boris Johnson to quit over the Downing Street parties scandal, with one naming the plan “Operation Rinka” in reference to the dog killed in the Jeremy Thorpe affair in the 1970s.

While Downing Street insiders have reportedly devised a plan to sack officials and save Johnson, referred to as “Operation Save Big Dog”, some Tory MPs are stepping up pressure on colleagues to submit letters of no confidence in the prime minister.

One backbencher nicknamed the campaign to oust Johnson Operation Rinka after the great dane shot dead on Exmoor in 1975 – an incident that eventually led to the Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe standing trial for conspiracy to murder.



https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... et-parties

I guess it would have been too American and not obscure enough to just call it "Operation Old Yeller". Er, I mean, uh...

[Uninformed]

Copy of a comment from an article on the BBC website about Boris and his drink/party problem.

“Boris sometimes seems affronted when criticised for what amounts to a gross failure of responsibility. I think he honestly believes that it is churlish of us not to regard him as an exception, one who should be free of the network of obligation which binds everyone else."
Is that a quote from last week? From 2016? No, it is from 1982, by a teacher at Eton.”

[RTH10260]

time is running out...

[Uninformed]

Well known asshole proves yet again he is an asshole.

“Tommy Robinson pursued by creditors for an estimated £2m”:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-m ... r-60052754

“People owed an estimated £2m by English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson have appointed an independent insolvency expert to try to recover their money before a March deadline.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, declared himself bankrupt last March.”

The bankruptcy laws and what courts can do really need revision. I suspect it is much the same in the US.

[Sam the Centipede]

time is running out...

(Courtesy of Twitter and Wikipedia, I don't remember this stuff!)

One amusing or intriguing aspect of that clip is Johnson's claim to not know the quote, which David Davis (a former fan of Johnson and pro-Brexit) indicated Johnson would be familiar with.

Davis identifies it as a quote from Leo Amery, although Leo Amery was himself quoting Oliver Cromwell from 1653 (y'know, the guy who led England's Civil Wars which led to the temporary downfall of the monarchy). The occasion was the "Norway Debate" in 1940 in the UK Parliament when Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was heavily criticized for the policy of appeasement with Hitler and the failure to prepare against the possibility of war.

Amery ended:

This is what Cromwell said to the Long Parliament when he thought it was no longer fit to conduct the affairs of the nation: "You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go".

speaking the last 6 words quietly, while pointing at Chamberlain.

Chamberlain was forced into resignation a day or two after the debate because the opposition parties refused to work with him to form a government of national unity, so a new Prime Minister was appointed - Winston Churchill.

Why is this relevant? Because Boris Johnson wrote a biography of Churchill! It was apparently sloppy work, infested with errors, but Johnson sees himself as a successor to Churchill (yeah, er, right, er, no, no way). So how could he not recognize the key quote in the events that led to Churchill becoming the leader of the UK in the Second World War?

Is Johnson really that ignorant of his hero's history? Or did he simply drop into his default tactic of deny, deflect, dissemble?

[Uninformed]

At the end of a long speech Amery said “…You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go.”

So either Boris was completely rattled or he was yet again being a smartarse about the quote being inaccurate.

[notorial dissent]

If nothing else, Boris has a very convenient memory. He may be running on borrowed time, but I have never yet figured out UK politics.