Slashdot Mirror
Running Great Britain? There's an App For That!
judgecorp writes "Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron will get a personalised iPad app to help him run the country. The 'government dashboard' will include health waiting list figures, crime statistics, economic statistics and a real-time news feed. Cameron is a committed Apple user — but British members of Parliament have only been allowed iPads in the House of Commons since March 2011."
Angry Birds will be running the country.
...doing the minimum possible for the voting public to get enough votes to gain the power needed to further those interests.
Which tool the Tory party's current spokespuppet uses to pretend to be interested in the country is completely irrelevant.
as "Ruining Great Britain"?
Hacking into those feeds sounds like a lot of fun indeed!
Pretty good is actually pretty bad.
Stop making apps for the sake of making an app. If the solution doesn't require any specific equipment on the device, just write make it a website.
"Cabinet Office developers are currently building the customised iPad app so the Prime Minister can remain abreast of government business . . . is expected to be ready by March."
I'd love to work for the government contractor that got that contract. As if the MPs expenses scandal wasn't bad enough, now we're bankrolling the Prime Minister's iTunes account.
"The app will essentially act as a government dashboard, providing the Prime Minister with all the latest information from across Whitehall – including the latest NHS waiting-list figures, crime statistics, unemployment numbers, and a wide variety of other data – at a glance."
I just hope that we, the taxpayers who are paying for this development work, will get a version of the app that we can use ourselves. It's fine if they scrub out the sensitive internal government data that it's (hopefully) tracking, but a sanitised version appropriate for public consumption would still be quite useful. I'd be interested to know things like crime and unemployment statistics, which can then be used to judge how well the Conservative government is actually doing.
Looks like "Dave" has a new tool to replace the old one (Nick Clegg)
an "oops" after a baby picks up the ipad would be really bad :p
Never antropomorphize computers, they do not like that
And if not, one is compelled to wonder how they are getting their app onto a device that *ISN'T* on the app store...
Is their iPad jailbroken?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Presumably you also criticized GWB, who literally took 3 times as many vacation days as Obama, right?
what, the UK only has one party like that? Hell, we have TWO! we're fucked either way! Gawd Blezz the Yewnited Corprit Bee-Yatch States of Merica!
Don't worry, Dave needs Clegg. It's not as if he managed to push through a Bill which fixes parliaments at 5 years and requires a majority of 2/3 to call an early election. Combine this with New Labour's Abolition of Justice 2003 and Castration of Parliament 2006 acts and I begin to wonder why Westminster hasn't been turned into luxury flats. 99 in every 100 pieces of legislation are already written by government with only a few dozen Acts per year actually resulting from Bills passed through Parliament. The people of England and Wales are too busy worrying about manufactured crises while one of the most stable democracies in the world self-terminates.
Oh well, we're getting what we deserve. It's not as if we've suffered a suffrage-abolishing enabling act yet - the Fixed Term Act merely gave the Tories the maximum allowed by the 1911 Parliament Act without Lords veto privilege.
Chile, 1971: http://davidszondy.com/future/Dystopias/project_cybersyn.htm
DNA in your Linux: DNALinux
Product placement much?
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
99 in every 100 pieces of legislation are already written by government with only a few dozen Acts per year actually resulting from Bills passed through Parliament.
Don't forget that 80 of those 99 are written by the EU and just rubber-stamped in Parliament.
No, it would ask the people what they wanted. Then, when overwhelming numbers of them respond with "smaller government," "abolition of the DHS," and "Legalize Marijuana," they will have paid for the app only to have their hopes smashed with responses of, "LOL GTFO idiot you're not supposed to actually respond."
Just put him to playing Civilization or the like, and tell him he's running the country.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Cameron was doing a test run with the ipad to see if he can run the country with it. Now he allowed others to have it, to run the country so that he can run the country with them. Without the ipad the country would have stalled, rocked and capsized as it is an island, as the US congressman mentioned (he probably did not have an ipad).
While your country is in a rescission, your people are in the streets protesting, and having to budget for a simple can of beans what does the government do?
Buy the most expensive, most shiny status symbol toy cause they cant be bothered to check their fucking email at their desk.
Quit hogging it, I want a turn.
Old Labour was built on the trade union movement and its legacy is clear in a (dwindling minority of) ideological backbenchers and through union funding and lobbying. It's true, however, that New Labour no longer really listened to the unions because of their message of protection for the working man, instead doing what was necessary in the short term for members of the largest sponsors to retain financial backing. Similarly, the LDs suffered a right wing coup which undermined the message of social justice in favour of unregulated business - a message traditionally twisted by the Tories into just enough regulation to protect big business but help no-one else.
.
The drill-down on that dashboard will be awesome.
Each Monday:
1) Click on Crime Stats
2) Drill-down by city
3) Drill-down by street
4) Sort by count, in descending order
5) Send a black ops team to deal with the top 10 addresses
As an alternative, the data could be plugged in Google maps and the info sent to a UAV.
lucm, indeed.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
what, the UK only has one party like that? Hell, we have TWO! we're fucked either way! Gawd Blezz the Yewnited Corprit Bee-Yatch States of Merica!
thank fuck we have another choice in Scotland... the SNP
I have no idea why the summary says MPs are only allowed iPads in the House of Commons. Members are allowed to use smartphones or tablet computers, there are no brand restrictions placed upon them.
they have sim-city for the iPad?!
It's really hard to identify when any president is really on vacation. Obama doubtless golfs with people he needs to talk to and discusses business just like GWB used to host foreign leaders at his ranch in Texas. Neither one is a vacation or 'just' a golf game in my book but each's political opponents count them as goof off time.
I didn't read TFA, but this sounds like a duplicate of the orangutang story.
Until theres a blasted postscript viewer.
steve jobs would have a tear in his eye if lady gaga is composing her next song on an app on his device
tim cook has a tear in his eye when an app on his device gets to direct a country or world. just like ibm times, eh, Tim?
ive should be ceo
I wonder if he knows he's actually running the country.
It's called SimCity. And yes, politicians really do think running a city, state, or nation is just a game by their attitude towards us.
Life is not for the lazy.
... who wants you to declare independence and try to be seen as a Nordic country.
Not that that would necessarily be a bad thing... ;)
Future headline #86: "GM to Recall Three Remaining Cars"
Yeah, that you noticed this amazes me. Slashdot is full of illiterate wankers who would have NO CLUE what your implication is.
This whole app sounds like a modern rip-off of Salvador Allende's star-trek-ish proto-internet, Cybersyn
Future headline #86: "GM to Recall Three Remaining Cars"
Apple really has the market sewn up!
Unless, of course, Cameron's just getting the same App as the Orangutans. If the App is made to run Great Britain remotely, would they be better off if they let the Orangutans run it? Would they even know the difference?
'... who wants you to declare independence and try to be seen as a Nordic country.'
This probably just means Alex Salmond has given his 'Braveheart' DVD a rest and got hooked by 'The Killing' like the rest of us:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killing_(Danish_TV_series)#UK_success
The ECHR may, or may not, be "vague and littered with exceptions", but it does not come from the EU - it's the product of the Council of Europe, which was formed in 1949, and of which the UK is a founder member.
There are two, quite distinct, legal Europes - the European Union, and the Council of Europe.
The EU has 27 members, the CoE has 47.
The EU court is the Court of Justice of the European Union, which sits in Luxembourg.
The CoE's court, the European Court of Human Rights, sits in Strasbourg.
The MOD develops the High-Velocity Irritated Avian Launcher and support personnel who don't shape up get rendered to Guantanamo?
Well, there is an element of truth to it. When talking about Icelandic with people, I've frequently found myself making references such as, "... kind of like the Scottish word (blank)". Many of the settlers of Iceland came from viking settlements in Scotland and Ireland.
Future headline #86: "GM to Recall Three Remaining Cars"
Why wouldn't you not want to have the important stats at hand ?
Is this slashdot or ludditedot ?
You could , in my view , legitimately argue that it is not his job to know all the detail all the time, but until you can educate the public to that fact ( and I'll give that a 20% chance over maybe the next 30-50 years) , as head of Govt. you are not allowed to say "I don't know, I'll find out" or "No idea mate, speak to the Minister I put in charge of that & I'll get involved if he has f***ked up".
So you should give fair credit for gaining a marketing advantage in the sale of votes to the public, and not just quietly aiming at the corporations with promises of friendly legislation like you tend to get in the US right now. In the UK, as we stand today, you still have to convince the floating individuals of you capability if you want to run the country, and there is a big enough 'floating voter' % to decide whether you are in or out.
Long may that continue.
Anyone happen to have a citation for that? I wouldn't be surprised if it was true, its just that I heard (from Fox News, so consider the source) that Obama had taken more vacations in [insert time period here] than Bush did in all eight years. I'd be curious to know if anyone is really keeping track of this beyond vacuous smear campaigns.
Of course, all decisions made on the device are subject to the approval of Apple Inc, which will receive a processing fee.
Politicians are hypocritical! Shock horror.
I'm in Scotland and we've got the Nationals in 'power' at the moment (we get Education, Health, Income Tax, Law and some others, but money and legislation on Power, Defence, Foreign Policy etc. comes from Westminster). There will be an Independence referendum in the next year or so and I'm still undecided myself which way I'll vote. There are pros and cons for each side. The biggest Pro would be finally kicking the Tories out of Scotland.
Sure, they got that bit of the Borders, but there's about 10 people living there and half of them are English. Ofcourse, then we're left with Labour as our most right-wing party of note, since our National Party are about as left as the Liberals.
The biggest Con would be keeping our economy working. Especially with the way Europe is at the moment (and no amount of increased trade with Norway will counter that).
What I'm scared of is that I don't know enough to make an informed choice. And that people in general have lost faith in politics in a broad sense because they feel they don't know enough, and don't CARE enough to find out. They just trust that each party is pretty much the same as the other ones and just vote for the person that shouts the loudest at them.
Here in Scotland we have Holyrood, who defer to Westminster for certain issues, who defer to the EU on top of that. I know here we have three systems to worry about, and three Elections to vote in. We vote in MSPs, MPs and MEPs. Each parliament is so monolithic and entwined in their own red tape that the general population don't know what each one of them *really* does, and who controls what and are so fatigued by it that voter turnout for the last Scottish Election was 50%. Half the people in Scotland didn't turn up to vote.
It's 2am here. I'm rambling. Hopefully some of it made sense :P
It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
You seriously don't think your average Tea Party/GOP'er can count do you?
At least Northern Ireland will be spared.
" while one of the most stable democracies in the world self-terminates."
HUH? I never though you people cared about the United States.
Or is your goverment full of assholes, ingrates, and scumbags like ours?
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
This seems more user friendly than using punch cards.
"On the contrary" to what? Everything I wrote is totally, 100%, correct.
Anyway, the only substantive changes the HRA made were (a) to allow the pleading of Convention rights cases in the UK courts (rather than pursuing them in Luxembourg), and (b) to require the UK judiciary to take Convention rights, and ECtHR jurisprudence, into account in reaching their judgements.
Here is a bit from CBS
predecessors? CBS Radio's Mark Knoller has kept track of presidential vacations for years and supplied the data.
So far, President Obama has taken 61 vacation days after 31 months in office. At this point in their presidencies, George W. Bush had spent 180 days at his ranch where his staff often joined him for meetings. And Ronald Reagan had taken 112 vacation days at his ranch.
Icelanders all wear knitted shirt made out of very thick brown and cream white wool yarn and smoke haschis. What else do you need to know?
We all knew that Apple was planning something evil, and this is the start of it. Once they can get the majority of the world's leaders to become reliant on their apps and devices, they can influence their decisions however they please, thus gaining control over the world. And noone will try to stop them, as all the sheeple just laugh at me when I try to explain it to them!
Jolly good indeed.
Now if only I could get one of these things to show me the pubs with maps of Piccadilly! Perhaps I would not be returing home so early in the day. Then again, perhaps I would just rent a cot under the bar and call it a good night.
Ha ha ha ladies.
Beautiful.
Just imagine how far we'd have come by now if the capitalist imperialists hadn't colluded to overthrow the democracy and install a ruthless tyrant, setting back progress of the internet for decades... (am I joking?)
It does make sense to collaborate with your largest trading partners to produce a common base of legislation for trade and issues that directly affect trade (eg employment rights, movement of labour etc.). Think of it from a systems engineering perspective - a single trading market needs protocols in place to function. EU Directives specify the basic protocols. Each nation is free to implement those protocols as they wish in national law. A single market that crosses national boundaries can not function without a corresponding legal system to regulate it. For an analogy, imagine every city in your nation implemented different laws regarding trade, freedom of movement, residency, contract law, currency etc. Trade between those cities would become more difficult, and more expensive, and there would be considerable barriers to individuals relocating for work, which would make acquisition of talented employees more difficult.
Wow! Everyone should obviously get to vote on everything they want anytime.
Why do they call it the "socialist" internet, though? Isn't this more about democracy than socialism? Or is capitalism, as opposed to socialism, somehow inherently un-democratic?
dude, wikipedia says they are totally separate. and wikipedia doesnt oversimplify or distort the truth EVER
Actually they are underselling. Cameron is prime minister of the United Kingdom, not just Great Britain.
Eh, pot smoking in Iceland doesn't seem any more common than anywhere else. But yeah, the sweater thing (lopapeysur) is pretty spot on -- you could have added "$80-200" to the list of descriptors as well ;) Hagkaup (common chain of Icelandic grocery stores) even has an entire (sizeable) lopi yarn section. You can have your choice from dozens of types of lopi but can't buy headache medicine there ;)
Future headline #86: "GM to Recall Three Remaining Cars"
Well, the goal was a socialism-inspired production/distribution management system. Just like how DARPA had no clue what the internet could become, neither did Allende's people. But what they created clearly was headed down a direction that likewise could have led to not only the internet, but instant, true (non-representative) democracy. An awesome system.
Future headline #86: "GM to Recall Three Remaining Cars"
Lemmings.
Great old game.
make imaginary.friends COUNT=100 VISIBLE=false
Postscript, being a Turing Complete language, would seem to violate the "no interpreters" rule.
-twb
>"The 'government dashboard' will include health waiting list figures'"
First on the list of dashboard info! Primary concern I suppose, for the model of socialized medicine....
Oh... but that is OK because it is "free"!
No disrespect to the great apes using the iPad but I bet they will be more productive that a bunch of politician. People that use an iPad think they are productive. Maybe this was the inspiration.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2080342/iPad-Theres-ape--orangutans-master-Apple-gizmos.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Based on the news we hear out of the UK every now and then, it seems that they're even further along the slide to a police state than we are. It's a shame.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
This is totally ridiculous. So, they are spending buckets full of cash to make an app for exactly 1 person? .. Ridiculous not even the right word, decadence is.
I'm all for supporting him to do his job. But very likely, this can be done with existing solutions. Use stuff the rest of the world uses, too. Is he the only one reading news? no. Is he the only one with an agenda? no. And the list goes on.
It's hard to say 'what-if', but if such thing happened overseas, both parliament and population wouldn't be pleased at all. If you spend money on the affair, start by paying him a personal teacher that learns him to get the best out of existing stuff... But who am i. I'm not british. But by this very act, no-one will take both brittain and Cameron serious as long as he's in this position.. I got no words left.. I apologize to /. readers for this rant. Have a nice new year ;)
Also Holyrood is the ugliest building ever built, and all MSPs are second raters who didn't get in to Westminster. Also Alex Salmond is a megalomaniacal idiot.
Imagine further that the trading block cost $30 million per day and that they also hated you because you don't think that Germany is fit to run your country. Additionally imagine that they want to directly tax an industry that only exists in your country to the tune of $11 billion every year.
I understand trade harmonisation, I do not understand paying for Spanish art galleries, or paying Italy, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Poland, the Czech republic and others because they don't want to tax their people as much as they spend.
On a side note I don't understand either giving financial aid to Brazil whose economy overtook the UK and wants to give British land to Argentina, or India who has a space programme when we don't, or Pakistan who wants to kill anyone who doesn't believe the claims of an illiterate pedophile.
Agree. A lot of the job of being president is to think about stuff, and you can literally do that anywhere.
Ahh, wasting government funds.
Reply to remove accidental moderation...
Does it include link to Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister library?
Probably a dumb question, but seeing how the PM is elect BY the people FOR the the people, wouldn't it make sense the give the people access to the same application? What better way for the people he's said to represent to keep tabs on how the government is doing, than for them to be able to see exactly the same information as the government itself? Seems to me, all this does it present statistics and news information in a handy format.
Let's see some citations for this. I'm very tired of Europhobes banging on about how the EU has ruined the country when I'm yet to see a serious problem that cannot easily be attributed elsewhere e.g. poor banking regulation. The HRA is the favourite bogeyman of Europhobes. Please also give a list of the rights that you think people covered by UK law should not have.
"Survey says..." is way way better than seat of your pants decision making based on just pure gut instinct. No matter how talented, charismatic a leader of a country, business, household. http://www.meinmaine.com/
http://www.ownmainerealestate.com
Yeah, because they probably don't know about Apple's Enterprise developers license for in-house use, which gives you the freedom to sideload applications without using the App Store...
Perhaps, you don't know about it either?
What could possible go wrong with this?
I think we need to update a famous yes minster sketch.
Sir Humphrey: Well briefly sir I am the Permanent Undersecretary of State known as the Permanent Secretary, Wooley here is your Principle Private Secretary I too have a Principle Private Secretary, and he is the Principle Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary, directly responsible to me are ten Deputy Secretaries, eighty-seven Undersecretaries and two hundred and nineteen assistant secretaries, directly responsible to the Principle Private Secretaries are Plain Private Secretaries, and the Prime Minister will be appointing two Parliamentary Undersecretaries and you will be appointing your own Parliamentary Private Secretary.
Jim: Can they all us the ipad app?
Sir Humphrey: None of us can type Minister, Mrs McKay uses the ipad, she's the secretary.
You think i jest but i talked to some one last year who worked for the lords and the amount of drafting and toing and froing just to publish one tweet was comical.
So by manipulating the data whoever maintains it can totally detach Cameron from reality and steer the Prime Minister's policy - because as we all know, computers never lie. ;-)
"I love my job, but I hate talking to people like you" (Freddie Mercury)
At first, the wording of TFS caused me a negative reaction: I think that (with the exception of emergencies) a PM should not be worried with real time data, but more with historical tendencies (because every decission from such PM would take some time to cause effects, and cause effects through a long time).
But, after thinking about it, it can be useful if it is provided also to MPs. Nowadays, if during a debate someone says somehing like "the unemployment in my district has never been higher", the only way to discuss the information is wait for the session to end, ask an underling to verify that data in the archives, and answer in the following session.
Having all the data available at hand could speed-up the law-making process, which is a good thing.
And of course, the app could have been done in either platform (it is just a front-end, anyway), so it really does not matter if it is Apple or Android.
Why can't
I'm not from Scotland or even UK, but if I were a Scot I'd vote for independence on the grounds of getting that intermediate Westminster layer out of the game; the presence of that only makes the UK government (the Tories for now...) present the de facto English opinion in Council of Ministers and in European Council as the opinion of the whole UK. If you'd become independence you'd get your own government to represent you in those institutions. Also, smaller countries get proportionally more MEP seats, so you'd also gain something in that.
And since this would all happen inside the EU, your access to UK markets next door wouldn't really be hindered at all. And you could still stay in the Common Travel Area as the Irish do, so the border wouldn't disturb you in practice. Heck, you could probably even make a deal to have a monetary union with the stub UK, if you'd prefer to stick with the Pound over the Euro. (I understand that right now the prospect of Eurozone membership doesn't sound all that great, although I personally think that the rumours of the future breakup of the Eurozone are greatly exaggerated.)
“Wait for Hurd if you want something real” –Linus
Let me help you.
First I should declare an interest: I am English.
First of all, your pro is erroneous. There would still be a Scottish Conservative party (perhaps not known by the same name), but they are already a spent political force and that's what counts.
The cons are very real, however. The Scottish economy would be dealt a huge blow. Yes, you have the oil, but that won't last forever. What's left of your shipbuilding industry would disappear since it mostly does work for the Royal Navy. Come to that, all the military bases would go. Your anti-nuclear people will be pleased about that, but not the thousands of people who work there.
What else would happen? Scotland would lose all influence it has on the World stage. So would England. There would be no permanent seat on the UN security council, no membership of G20 (England might just qualify there), no real influence in Europe (OK we just screwed that up for you anyway).
And what would you gain for all this? The right to be run by other people who are Scottish? You already have that in most important areas. Also, the "foreign power" that really runs your country will be based much further away in Brussels. In the last labour government in Westminster, Scots held some of the most important positions. That will never happen in Europe.
All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
we want to declare independence as that is what we want...... 69 seat majority in the Scottish parliament for the pro independence SNP .... Mel gibson is full of crapoica.. .. in fact him promoting the passion of the christ as "factual" whe it was written in the middle ages to foment anti-jewish feeling should be enough about that. :/
Alba Gu Brath agus Saor alba :P
increasing rates of approval all the time
independence getting higher % of the polls each time
Also what's wrong with drawing parallels between Scotland and Norway?
Norway has roughly similar population , slightly less oil/gas reserves and is also due to it's "national oil fund" coasting easily through this recession as it has over 300 billions in the bank to help it.... what's not to like about it?(except maybe the price of a beer there..lol)
As for braveheart ~shakes head~ the only thing that film did was get people interested in the story of William Wallace
his love interest in the film , in reality, would nt be born for another 100 years, ther are many other glaring historical inaccuracies therein as well. BUT those with half a r4ain can then go on to READ more about it andfind
As for Alex Salmond.. he is a politician of high standing, clean reputation, and can run circles around anyone who debate him. i have never in my 23 years of interest in politics seen him lose a debate
you are right about the killing thogh RDW..lol as long as you man the original Danish/Swedish production and not the American remake albeit i suspect the remake of the killing will be better than the remake of the millennium trilogy
Here is how I see the situation panning out.
All MoD bases in Scotland will have to be closed down and moved, I'm sure there will be a transfer of Scottish solders but the knock on effect to the economy will be huge. I imagine most of the bases could be transferred to Wales. With purely Scottish regiments remaining.
Devonport Dockyard is the only commercially viable shipyard in the UK, Babcock Marine have been trying to damage that but the others only exist because of the work the MoD gives them. Ever since hearing the size of the defects list on the HMS Ocean (brand new from Scottish Dockyards) and knowing how long that ship had to be refitted to be functional I think very poorly of the Scottish ship yards. Currently the Scottish yards are constructing Type 45 and Astute Submarines. I doubt the Scottish government could afford projects of those size.
If Scotland left the United Kingdom it would lose it's EU status (initially causing exports to become vastly more expensive) while I'm sure an EU trading agreement could be established quite quickly (or during the exit). I don't believe the new independent Scotland would meet EU membership criteria, assuming that it did it would take 5 - 10 years. The UK does benefit with £4-5 billion of investment from the EU. Scotland would no longer get that investment.
You would also have problems with passports, losing it's EU status would mean more restricted movement. You could no longer be in the EU isle when going through customs in France, Germany, etc... Scotland would have to negotiate hundreds of agreements across the world (e.g. extradition and trade), establish Embassy's in its key export markets (more cost).
What about the oil reserves? Without a fleet Scotland (unlike regiments there are no Scottish ships after all) couldn't enforce it's right to territorial waters. So the collecting tax on oil would prove difficult, I wouldn't be surprised if Scotland did leave that the UK tried to maintain rights to those oil fields. you also have drug smuggling/ human trafficking. Without a fleet Scotland becomes a great way to illegally import, either England polices the waters for a cost or England would have to build a giant fence along the border.
I tend to buy Scottish lamb in part to support the UK. If Scotland left the UK I would either buy Irish/Welsh/English lamb or just go for the cheapest (if I'm sending money out of the country I might as well minimise it). How many others do similar things and what would be the affect on Scottish trade? While I am sure all of these problems could be overcome I strongly doubt the SNP are capable, watching Holyrod in session made me feel a lot better about the competency of Westminster (and I think poorly of Westminster). The SNP like to talk about independence like it will solve all ill's, but unless it occurs over decades I strongly believe it will put Scotland in to a serve recession for a decade. Yes Scotland does well with its budget but once you factor in additional costs (it's own embassy, military, etc..) and the fact it wouldn't have the same bargaining power (losing the NHS) I think things like free prescriptions (possibly even free health care) and free university will have to go and Scotland will be worse for it.
I support every countries right to independence I just can't help but think if Scotland become independent England will be leading the way with emergency relief 10 years after it happens.
Westminster does have a English & Welsh bent to it and Scotland has be ignored (part of the reason for the Welsh and Scottish assemblies). I would suggest Scotland has caused this situation, there are often laws crafted which only cover England and Wales because Holyrod rejects them.
You forget if Scotland leaves the UK it will no longer have any agreements with the EU. While I'm sure trade agreements could be forged during the exit I strongly doubt the EU would let any country in to the EU at this time especially a brand new one that will be going through financial turmoil (setting up a health service, military, etc..).
Scotland is a country of 4 to 5 million people, it would be the smallest country in the EU and would most likely have the weakest voice. As part of the UK it is one of the strongest voices. MEP's equally cover Scotland, England and Wales and so independence wouldn't change the European Parliament representation.
Lastly when Ireland joined the Euro it went through some major problems (recession, etc..) because it's trade cycle matched the UK rather than mainland Europe. So exchange/interest rates were never set to what they needed to be for a healthy Irish economy. The leader of the SNP wants to join the Euro and I think such action would damage the Scotland economy.
I should point out I think the UK should join the Euro but I think we need to slowly match our trade cycle's first.
I thought more more Nordic people landed in England than Scotland. It's just Scottish people have held on to this celtic thing, while the rest of the UK moved on. If Scotland is Nordic then so is England, if you think that is silly then you see why calling Scotland Nordic and raising similarities is.
Well, if you are a criminal and you infringe certain rights of others, then some of your rights should probably be denied. Right to life should be absolute, but the others are fair game.
Also, what has having separate EU parliament achieved that the national parliaments could not have achieved on their own? See ASEAN, ECOWAS, etc.
Uhh, 8 EU countries have populations less than 5 million, and Ireland is one of them.
Which facts/laws do you want authority for? The Charter of Fundamental Rights was signed in 2000 and is based on the ECHR. Article 17 of the Protocol admits EU becoming a party and the Treaty of Lisbon declares that the EU shall access it. HRA s.19 requires the mentioned statement of compatibility.
EU competition philosophy leans toward the deregulation which brought about the latest crisis. It didn't "cause" it, merely encourage an atmosphere in which it became possible.
I think the HRA is one of the few good things to come out of EU membership. (The ECHR is still too vaguely written.) Most EUrophiles love the union because they think it has brought social justice, but its primary effect is the same as the WTO: to regulate trade for the benefit of big business.
I disagree with your views on the EU but I had to browse at -1 to read them as it seems some angry mod has gone through them all. It was refreshing to read a dissenting opinion which references the law rather than being some angry rant about foreigners.
Mods, there is no (-1, Disagree).
When I meet people who sing praises for the EU I note that they invariably have little idea of the directives and regulations it has actually imposed on its member states.
I have to work routinely within directives and regulations "imposed" by the EU, and although I recognise that they are not perfect they have led to an overall improvement across Europe in the relevant field. So you can delete that "invariably".
Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
You seriously don't think your average Tea Party/GOP'er can count do you?
I know what you mean! Look at that idiot that they ran for President who went to 47 states and had 7 more to go what a doofuss! And he said that he wished he learned Austrian so that he could speak to Austrians in their own language which is German.
Like you wouldn't believe. We have TWO laws which can rewrite the constitution without any debate in Parliament... thanks to Blair.
We are roughly in the constitutional state of soon-to-be-Nazi Germany.
Luckily, the current administration is unlikely to abolish elections and Blair's party, under a new leader, doesn't seem likely to get in.
I saw him giving a speech and he was leaning over reading his notes so all you could see was the starting-to-go-bawdy heid and the neckroll. He looked like Prescot.
Then again, when I see this I expect him to come out with something like "Eeee, my mother in law, she's a right bastard. What do you do if you see a sassenach drowning? Throw him a paki!".
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
And aren't they doing just fine and dandy!
You can add two to four more when Belgium splits up.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Isabella of France ~1295 -1358
Wallace died in 1305.
Are you American, by any chance?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Theirig a-steach . Tha thu 'nad faighean!