Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[garbon]

According to Sky News' Beth Rigby, some Tories are unhappy about the possibility of David Cameron being given a cabinet job because that would imply that none of the 350 Conservative MPs in the Commons were good enough.

Well...

[Josquius]

In actual British topics,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-67381938

Edinburgh to be first Scottish city to ban pavement parking

Edinburgh is set to become the first city in Scotland to completely ban cars from parking on the pavement.

Under plans drawn up by the city council, drivers who mount the kerb will face a £100 fine.

Double parking and parking at dropped kerbs will also be banned - although there will be an exemption for delivery drivers.

National regulations will come into force on 11 December, with Edinburgh's enforcement to start in January 2024.

Across the UK, parking on the pavement is only currently illegal in London, although police can take action if a driver is causing an obstruction.

The Scottish government passed a law in 2021 that gives local authorities the power to stop pavement parking. The legislation will receive ministerial approval in December - meaning all councils are free to enforce the ban.

'Pavement parkers stop me from leaving the house'
Read more stories from Edinburgh, Fife and East Scotland
City of Edinburgh Council said pavement parking was a "persistent issue" on more than 500 streets across the city.

The authority carried out a survey which suggested 68% of residents support the proposals.

Cars and vans can cause particular challenges for disabled people and parents with pushchairs.

Niall Foley, lead external affairs manager at Guide Dogs Scotland, said: "Parking on pavements is a nuisance for everyone, but potentially dangerous if you are a wheelchair user forced onto the road, pushing a buggy, or have sight loss and can't see traffic coming towards you.

"When cars block the way, it undermines the confidence of people with a vision impairment to get out and about independently."

Stuart Hay, director of Living Streets Scotland, a charity which promotes everyday walking, also backed the plans.

He said: "Edinburgh is taking the right approach to the enforcement of pavement parking, recognising that footways are for people, not parking spaces for cars."

Despite the scale of the problem, no additional parking staff are being recruited to enforce the ban and the council said there were currently enough legal parking spaces in the city.

Councillors are due to debate the plan next week with implementation expected some time in the new year.

Other local authorities could be set to follow Edinburgh's lead in implementing the ban.

In South Lanarkshire, councillors this week showed support for the ban but have not yet committed to implementing it.

Councillors said levels of car ownership were higher than the amount of parking available in some residential areas.

If it goes ahead, the council said it would adopt a low key "soft approach" to ensure that any enforcement action considers the impact on drivers.

Scottish Borders Council has also held a consultation to identify areas where pavement parking currently happens.

It said information gathered would be used to implement a "case-by-case basis" on where to implement the ban.

Good news.
Though its weird to imagine how it would work if enforced strongly. Its basically an unwritten rule that you HAVE TO park a bit on the pavement.
And as great as it would be moves against on-street parking would be a very difficult task, likely a waste of political capital best spent elsewhere- eliminating the need rather than the problem itself.

According to Sky News' Beth Rigby, some Tories are unhappy about the possibility of David Cameron being given a cabinet job because that would imply that none of the 350 Conservative MPs in the Commons were good enough.

Well...

Yes.
Hope a direct quote comes out around that. They just keep getting stupider and stupider.

[Richard Hakluyt]

If they want a competent cabinet they will need a necromancer to revivify some tory figures from the past.

[Tamas]

I don't know about Scottish streets but a lot of English ones would be clogged if cars weren't parking partially on the pavement (by which I assume they mean the sidewalk).

[garbon]

I don't know about Scottish streets but a lot of English ones would be clogged if cars weren't parking partially on the pavement (by which I assume they mean the sidewalk).

Bro, learn some British terms.

[HVC]

Garbons gone native!

[The Brain]

Face it, he's Madonna.

[garbon]

And David Cameron is back in government.

[Sheilbh]

And David Cameron is back in government.

Yes. Just looking at foreign policy, I'm not convinced that it's a great role for the architect of the Golden Century with China, one of the key European leaders who "responded" to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2014 - and gambled the country's place in the EU with zero preparation.

Add to that the ongoing questions about the Greensill lobbying and that, while he's not gone full Paul Keating, he was (as reported last month) still lobbying for Chinese interests: https://www.politico.eu/article/the-smiling-new-face-of-chinas-belt-and-road-program-david-cameron/ or earlier this year Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee found that the Chinese state had helped appoint Cameron to one of his post-premiership roles: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jul/14/david-camerons-appointment-to-investment-fund-part-engineered-by-china (as an aside I find it wild how much attention there is to the merest hint of Russian influence, while China is paying loads of Western retired politicians)...

You can already see it's working in terms of Westminster correspondents because it's splashy and there's an easy narrative. Tomorrow - we'll see.

Right to get rid of Braverman, but this just confirms all the worst fears/judgements about Sunak on foreign policy. Also hope Cleverly is competent, I think he's been pretty decent at FCDO but Home Office is a very different task.

Separately and rarely for this government sad to see Nick Gibb go as Minister for Schools (he's not planning to run again in the next election). He's held that post since 2010 (with a couple of year gap in the coalition because the Lib Dems threw a tantrum and wanted David Laws back, and under Truss). In that time England have moved up the PISA rankings (particularly in reading where I think we've gone from 25th to 4th) and schools have improved. I've said before but I think education is probably the only significant achievement from the Tory time in government, which you can tell by Labour not significantly focusing on it, just improving pay and terms for teachers - on the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised if Labour did unwind parts of it because the vibes are bad.

Edit: Although he'll now join his father in law (an elected hereditary) in the Lords. His father in law was a minister under Major, so why not bring him back too....

[Tamas]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/13/indi-gregory-baby-girl-at-centre-of-legal-battle-dies-after-life-support-removed

A critically ill baby girl at the centre of a legal battle has died after her life support was removed, her father has said.

Eight-month-old Indi Gregory had an incurable mitochondrial condition and medics said they could do no more for her. Her parents, Dean Gregory and Claire Staniforth, wanted specialists to keep treating her but have lost fights in the high court and court of appeal in London.

Gregory said on Monday that the infant had died in her mother's arms shortly before 2am on Monday, hours after she was taken to a hospice where her life support was removed

The infant, from Ilkeston in Derbyshire, was last week granted emergency Italian citizenship by the country's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, as part of an extraordinary last-minute attempt to have her flown to Rome for treatment. However, judges said a move to Italy was not in Indi's best interests and called an intervention by Italian consular officials "wholly misconceived".

On Friday, three appeal court judges ruled that life support treatment could be withdrawn only in a hospital or hospice, not at the family home.

Like what the fuck. This is not the first case I read where a child gets killed to eliminate any theoretical risk of British doctors proven wrong. Why the FUCK does it matter to the British court or hospital that this kid is flown to Italy in vain? At least be honest and say they won't foot the bill, not say bullshit like it's not in the child's interest. What did the poor kid have to lose?

[HVC]

Sucks for the girls family, and obviously the kid, but spending money to prolong her life means you have less money for other children. Article also doesn't mention much about quality of life beyond treatment being painful. Although I can't imagine it was very good. 

[Tamas]

We spend a lot of money prolonging the life of terminally ill adults whose only wish is to die and they are denied of that. Apparently with infants its the other way around.

[Josquius]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/13/indi-gregory-baby-girl-at-centre-of-legal-battle-dies-after-life-support-removed

A critically ill baby girl at the centre of a legal battle has died after her life support was removed, her father has said.

Eight-month-old Indi Gregory had an incurable mitochondrial condition and medics said they could do no more for her. Her parents, Dean Gregory and Claire Staniforth, wanted specialists to keep treating her but have lost fights in the high court and court of appeal in London.

Gregory said on Monday that the infant had died in her mother's arms shortly before 2am on Monday, hours after she was taken to a hospice where her life support was removed

The infant, from Ilkeston in Derbyshire, was last week granted emergency Italian citizenship by the country's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, as part of an extraordinary last-minute attempt to have her flown to Rome for treatment. However, judges said a move to Italy was not in Indi's best interests and called an intervention by Italian consular officials "wholly misconceived".

On Friday, three appeal court judges ruled that life support treatment could be withdrawn only in a hospital or hospice, not at the family home.

Like what the fuck. This is not the first case I read where a child gets killed to eliminate any theoretical risk of British doctors proven wrong. Why the FUCK does it matter to the British court or hospital that this kid is flown to Italy in vain? At least be honest and say they won't foot the bill, not say bullshit like it's not in the child's interest. What did the poor kid have to lose?

Its about what is best for the kid. Not about the UK spending money.
She is dying. She can't be saved. Its horrible.
Best those last hours are made the best they can be for her rather than being put on a plane and flown to a strange foreign land to be prodded and poked in vain.

[HVC]

We spend a lot of money prolonging the life of terminally ill adults whose only wish is to die and they are denied of that. Apparently with infants its the other way around.

I'm also against that, but it's another issue.

[Tamas]

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/13/indi-gregory-baby-girl-at-centre-of-legal-battle-dies-after-life-support-removed

A critically ill baby girl at the centre of a legal battle has died after her life support was removed, her father has said.

Eight-month-old Indi Gregory had an incurable mitochondrial condition and medics said they could do no more for her. Her parents, Dean Gregory and Claire Staniforth, wanted specialists to keep treating her but have lost fights in the high court and court of appeal in London.

Gregory said on Monday that the infant had died in her mother's arms shortly before 2am on Monday, hours after she was taken to a hospice where her life support was removed

The infant, from Ilkeston in Derbyshire, was last week granted emergency Italian citizenship by the country's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, as part of an extraordinary last-minute attempt to have her flown to Rome for treatment. However, judges said a move to Italy was not in Indi's best interests and called an intervention by Italian consular officials "wholly misconceived".

On Friday, three appeal court judges ruled that life support treatment could be withdrawn only in a hospital or hospice, not at the family home.

Like what the fuck. This is not the first case I read where a child gets killed to eliminate any theoretical risk of British doctors proven wrong. Why the FUCK does it matter to the British court or hospital that this kid is flown to Italy in vain? At least be honest and say they won't foot the bill, not say bullshit like it's not in the child's interest. What did the poor kid have to lose?

Its about what is best for the kid. Not about the UK spending money.
She is dying. She can't be saved. Its horrible.
Best those last hours are made the best they can be for her rather than being put on a plane and flown to a strange foreign land to be prodded and poked in vain.

A teenage girl died a few years ago of sepsis because her doctor didn't recognise the signs early enough and then refused to transfer her (down the corridor) when the parents thought she might have sepsis, believing he knew better.

The child had a right to try whatever might give her a chance to survive, being an infant that decision for her had to be made by the parents and it should have been respected.

If nothing else than to avoid the state making a life or death decision on behalf of someone else.