Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[garbon]

I can't recall. It is also possible I went with any other black background.

[Josquius]

There was write in space yes. Bernician and European here.

[The Larch]

Hopefully the new passport will be blue, ofc. 

Acclaimed British cellist has passport cancelled by Home Office
Spokesperson apologises to 22-year-old musician Sheku Kanneh-Mason for error and pledges to issue replacement

A British cellist who was the first black winner of the BBC Young Musician award in 2016 and played at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan has had his passport cancelled by the Home Office.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason, 22, who was born and raised in Nottingham and appeared alongside his siblings on ITV's variety show Britain's Got Talent in 2015, sent off his British passport as part of an application for an additional passport to assist with applications for visas and international work permits.

Kanneh-Mason, whose father is Antiguan and mother is from Sierra Leone, wrote on Facebook: "Applied for an additional British passport with the approval of Home Office to assist with applications for visas and international work permits in this post #Brexit #Covid world along with my sister, pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason.

"Appointments 15 mins apart, identical paperwork submitted. She receives original passport and second one within a week. Mine comes back cancelled 10 June (expiry 2029).

"Since then, despite constant calls I have NO explanation, NO forthcoming assistance and NO way of playing the engagements I am contracted to play. Ideas appreciated asap."

After being contacted by the Guardian, the Home Office said it had been an error and pledged to issue a replacement as soon as possible.

Kanneh-Mason was the subject of a BBC Four documentary entitled Young, Gifted and Classical: The Making of a Maestro in November 2016.

He signed a major recording contract with the music label Decca Classics the same month.

It was reported in February 2018 that Kanneh-Mason's album Inspiration had been "the biggest-selling British debut of the year to date", entering the UK albums chart at number 18, had become No 1 on the UK classical albums chart and achieved 2.5m streams on Spotify.

He has won the classical category of the South Bank Sky Arts awards, the Male Artist of the Year and the Critics' Choice award at the Classic Brit awards, and was made an MBE in the 2020 New Year honours for services to music.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "We are in contact with Mr Kanneh-Mason to resolve this situation and apologise for any inconvenience caused. A replacement passport will be issued as soon as possible."

[Tamas]

I guess next time he'll chose the skin colour to born with better!

[Josquius]

We really have entered an alternate reality lately as the daily star has become a bastion of quality.
It's front page headline today "hopeless bloke says hopeless bloke is hopeless says hopeless bloke"

[Sheilbh]

Really interesting article on how many decisions are being made in government over WhatsApp - it described as being like one continuous meeting.

I'm not sure that's particularly great for good government and it's a disaster for cybersecurity if serious decisions are being discussed over WhatsApp

I really hope this prompts GCHQ to come in and take away everyone's phones and tell them all to grow up

[Syt]

I'm not sure that's particularly great for good government and it's a disaster for cybersecurity if serious decisions are being discussed over WhatsApp

For reference see the odious chats of the Kurz government.

[Josquius]

Whatsapps rise always confused me. It seemed to just suddenly come out of nowhere and one day everyone had it. It's not like it doesn't do anything a million other apps do either.

[garbon]

Whatsapps rise always confused me. It seemed to just suddenly come out of nowhere and one day everyone had it. It's not like it doesn't do anything a million other apps do either.

I was confused by it when I moved to the UK. I didn't understand why I'd give someone my phone number to then have them contact me through an app.  But now I've grown used to it / prefer it as my free app to call to my family in the US. In fact, I think I'm the main reason that they first adopted it!

[Sheilbh]

I don't know - the only thing I can think of that did what WhatsApp does before WhatsApp was BBM which required everyone to have a Blackberry.

[Grey Fox]

Such an Euro thing. Never used WhatsApp.

[Duque de Bragança]

Was practical in Russia since it was cheaper than cell and/or land lines.

[celedhring]

90% of my communications with friends and family are done through Whatsapp nowadays. It's just convenient.

[Sheilbh]

So it looked like Northern Ireland will have a new executive. UK government is basically under-writing the rather contentious Language Act - basically it is core to Sinn Fein continuing to power-share. The UK government has said that if Stormont doesn't pass legislation by September then Westminster will, with government support. This has been described as providing for an "honourable climb down" for the DUP.

But it's not clear Poots actually has support within the DUP for his nomination for First Minister (someone who got into politics as an assistant to Poots). Apparently they did a quick vote and aside from Poots, Garvin (the nominee) and Paisley, barely any of the DUP MLAs/MPs support the nomination - it was apparently 26-8. Reports that the DUP are also furious that Poots didn't insist on changes to the Protocol (from the UK government - which isn't how this works) as a pre-condition for nominating a First Minister.

Now there are reports of a no confidence motion in Poots and lots of briefing that he's done as leader. Everything's a little less clear now.

[The Larch]

One of my current peeves with colleagues from work, including bosses, is convincing them to communicate through email or phonecalls rather than via Whatsapp. It's bad for work efficiency (I never answer on time because messages keep getting pushed down by new ones and I don't realize when I get one) and work - life balance (I'd rather keep WhatsApp as work-free as possible, as it's something linked to my personal phone, not a work phone).