Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Sheilbh]

Totally separate - good from Starmer (via Bloomberg reporter - can't find a non-Twitter clip):

Alex Wickham
@alexwickham
Keir Starmer is having a bilateral meeting with Xi Jinping in Rio now

PM words:

"We want our relations to be consistent, durable, respectful, and as we have agreed, avoid surprises where possible."

"A strong UK China relationship is important for both of our countries and for the broader international community."

"The UK will be a predictable, consistent, sovereign actor committed to the rule of law."

Starmer proposed a full bilateral with Premier Li in Beijing or London, and Rachel Reeves meeting with counterpart

He raised human rights, parliamentary sanctions, Jimmy Lai in the meeting, at which point British media were ordered out of the room by Chinese officials
PM seeks Reeves-He meeting to boost economic ties

Tells Xi: "I'm keen that my chancellor should meet with Vice Premier He for the upcoming economic financial dialogue early next year to explore more investment projects and a more level playing field to help our businesses."
Starmer tells Xi they have "respective concerns including on human rights and parliamentary sanctions, Taiwan, South China Sea and our shared interest in Hong Kong. We are concerned by reports of Jimmy Lai's deterioration."

At this point we were kicked out by Chinese officials

https://x.com/BloombergTV/status/1858535174289416643

[mongers]

I find the governments new promise to provide london style bus services across all of England somewhat amusing.

What does it mean, other than the obvious, a few too many buses on popular routes being stuck in traffic full of SUVs? 

[Josquius]

I find the governments new promise to provide london style bus services across all of England somewhat amusing.

What does it mean, other than the obvious, a few too many buses on popular routes being stuck in traffic full of SUVs? 

The opposite of that.
Franchised services that are centrally planned as one integrated network rather than largely left up to private companies to pack all their buses onto the profitable routes and requiring you to buy multiple tickets to get across town.
It's not perfect. It's not full local control. There's still unnecessary profit extraction. But it should be a big improvement

[garbon]

I find the governments new promise to provide london style bus services across all of England somewhat amusing.

What does it mean, other than the obvious, a few too many buses on popular routes being stuck in traffic full of SUVs? 

Bussess in London are pretty efficient compared to other cities I've lived in.

[Tamas]

It's thst time of the year again. School closures and travel chaos and the dramatic title to this picture saying "a person walks their dog through snow"



 

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Hmm, I see that others will be hogging all the snow this year... again. 

[HVC]

It's thst time of the year again. School closures and travel chaos and the dramatic title to this picture saying "a person walks their dog through snow"



 

What a lovely spring day

[Sheilbh]

It's thst time of the year again. School closures and travel chaos and the dramatic title to this picture saying "a person walks their dog through snow"

I find this very funny as someone who grew up in Scotland because Scotland generally does not have this chaos whenever there's a bit of snow because the assumption is it will snow at some point. They have ploughs and gritters out overnight etc. The only day of school I missed for snow was an unseasonal blizzard in April

I get that snow is less common and predictable in England so it probably isn't worth it to have snow ploughs etc ready to go - I feel like in London it snows maybe one in five years - but the lack of preparedness is always a bit mad.

[Josquius]

I miss snow. Really hope we get some this winter. FA today

[HVC]

It's thst time of the year again. School closures and travel chaos and the dramatic title to this picture saying "a person walks their dog through snow"

I find this very funny as someone who grew up in Scotland because Scotland generally does not have this chaos whenever there's a bit of snow because the assumption is it will snow at some point. They have ploughs and gritters out overnight etc. The only day of school I missed for snow was an unseasonal blizzard in April

I get that snow is less common and predictable in England so it probably isn't worth it to have snow ploughs etc ready to go - I feel like in London it snows maybe one in five years - but the lack of preparedness is always a bit mad.

You have snow tires right? Don't know what European countries have them. Unless you have a thaw and freeze cycle that amount of snow doesn't really need to be handled.

I get when like Kentucky freaks out when it snows. They don't have snow tires or even well insulated houses.

[garbon]

I miss snow. Really hope we get some this winter. FA today

Well come down south.

[Sheilbh]

You have snow tires right? Don't know what European countries have them. Unless you have a thaw and freeze cycle that amount of snow doesn't really need to be handled.

I don't think so. Never really heard of anyone using them.

As I say in London we get snow maybe one year in five. My parents live in the South-West and it's even less common - maybe one in ten years.

It might be more common in Scotland but I don't even think I've heard of it there. And even there it will be a cycle of thaw and freeze.

Edit: Just looked it up and obviously it varies (more in Cumbria or Scotland, say). But on an average year the UK has 13 days where snow actually settles. So I just think snow tires don't make sense.

[HVC]

A Christmas carol and other Dickens books turned movies always gave me the impression you had a lot more snow

I mean, not Montreal level several foot falls, but still.

[Sheilbh]

I think we used to - climate change and that.

But still nowhere near Canadian levels (or continental European levels at a similar latitude). We're surrounded by pretty warm seas (and the meeting point of several weather fronts) so the main feature of British weather is that it's changeable and relatively mild - rarely very cold, rarely very hot, but very, very mid