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The End… OR IS IT? 131

Posted on December 18, 2013 by

Spain’s supposed threat to veto Scottish membership of the EU is like one of those serial killers on a student campus in a slash ‘n gore movie. No matter how many times the evil maniac is stabbed, hit over the head with bricks, shot 46 times through the lungs with a depleted-uranium blunderbuss, drowned in boiling acid or baked in a kiln with the pottery-class homework, he’s still stalking the heroine in the final scene.

handgrave

Today the vampiric figure of a Spanish EU veto threat received yet another silver, garlic-coated stake through the heart. But we expect it to get up and walk again every other week until September 2014 regardless.

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What Mariano Rajoy didn’t say 234

Posted on November 28, 2013 by

In “breaking news” during a dull ding-dong of a debate on Wednesday’s Newsnight Scotland, we were breathlessly told that Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy had made an important intervention in the debate about whether Scotland should keep paying for railway lines between London and Birmingham, weapons of mass destruction and Ian Davidson’s expenses. (We paraphrase.)

rajoy

Stopping just short of a drum-roll or mariachi band (yes, those are Mexican, but are you telling us BBC Scotland would know the difference?), viewers were dramatically informed that in a major new development Mariano Rajoy had said… exactly what he’s been saying for most of the last two years. 

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The Great Gingerbread Robbery 216

Posted on November 02, 2013 by

When you’re a full time carer, managing to get out for an hour or so to the local branch of Morrisons to get the weekly shopping counts as ‘quality me time’. It allows me to stock up on favourite munchies and comfort food. I like a wee slice of Kirriemuir gingerbread, slathered with butter. The other half enjoys a thick slab of it in a bowl, covered in Devon custard with a dollop of double cream. Bugger the cholesterol.

But the other day there was none in the usual aisle, just a pile of Christmas cakes.

gingerbread

I asked a guy stocking shelves where they’d moved it to. He apologised, and told me there wasn’t any in stock. All the ordering is done by Head Office down in England he said, and they’d sent instructions that no more would be ordered until the New Year in order to make space for piles of Christmas cake. In October.

Who eats Christmas cake in October anyway?

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    • factchecker on Anything But That: “Just repeating this because it’s the best summary I’ve seen in years. Well done, Northy. “Independence requires maturity, realism, and…Sep 6, 17:09
    • Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “sam likes to present ideas as evidence and conjecture as fact. He never quotes any source until he’s satisfied its…Sep 6, 16:52
    • Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “” That is the opinion at least of the European Journal of International Law.” Who cares? You still do not…Sep 6, 16:49
    • TURABDIN on Anything But That: “IN THE IDEALIST’S UNIVERSE MAYBE. In the messy actuality any minority within a larger state cannot rely on the principle…Sep 6, 16:47
    • Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “I don’t know how you’re doing this, Northy, and I don’t care that much. Just stop reading my mind.Sep 6, 16:35
    • Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “The starship to Alpha Centauri left without him. The next one’s not due for 500 years. So he has no…Sep 6, 16:27
    • Northcode on Anything But That: ““I think your final paragraph needs to be amended…” No – it doesn’t. Read it again.Sep 6, 16:03
    • Northcode on Anything But That: “I support Scottish independence, but I’ve grown weary of the flawed rhetoric deployed in its name. When a movement clings…Sep 6, 15:50
    • sam on Anything But That: “I think your final paragraph needs to be amended. Scottish people need to be able to hold a referendum at…Sep 6, 15:46
    • Northcode on Anything But That: ““The UK Constitution…A bit of a myth that, point me to the stirring single document…” I’m not sure of the…Sep 6, 15:44
    • Young Lochinvar on Anything But That: “B Top ten in spending on military eh? I wonder how much of that is spent on the money-pit “nuclear…Sep 6, 15:31
    • Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “The UN is the record keeper of war. They list the conflicts in the world, keep records, take statements, give…Sep 6, 15:17
    • Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “Amen.Sep 6, 15:06
    • Young Lochinvar on Anything But That: “NC The UK Constitution.. A bit of a myth that, point me to the stirring single document will you? I’d…Sep 6, 14:59
    • Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “Any relation to Darius the Great? “subjugated Thrace and forced Macedon to become a fully subordinate client kingdom within the…Sep 6, 14:59
    • agentx on Anything But That: “Ultimately, while pro-independence groups look to the UN Charter as an overarching moral and political justification for independence, the UN’s…Sep 6, 14:11
    • Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “Shut up and eat your Lembas bread. You pointy eared trouble maker.Sep 6, 14:00
    • Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “I thought it would be obvious. He has the woke disease. The symptoms can be quite easy to spot; Constant…Sep 6, 13:57
    • Insider on Anything But That: “Bloody hell, Northy ! You’re beginning to talk sense for a change ! What happened to you ?Sep 6, 12:57
    • Captain Caveman on Anything But That: “So it’s true then: Alf’s much-vaunted UN delusion will achieve… … “Hee-Haw”, to coin a phrase. I’m sure much of…Sep 6, 12:57
    • sam on Anything But That: “The Convention declaration does not change the legal position. The claim of right was debated in the HoC and Sec…Sep 6, 12:36
    • Northcode on Anything But That: “For those who might have fallen under the delusion that the United Nations is planning to liberate the Scots from…Sep 6, 12:27
    • James Che on Anything But That: “Bilbo, Without a active 1707 treaty between Scotland and England, Scotland is not in a national debt situation with the…Sep 6, 12:25
    • sam on Anything But That: “But… another one ” We, gathered as the Scottish Constitutional Convention, do hereby acknowledge the sovereign right of the Scottish…Sep 6, 12:21
    • Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “What’s the point? Even if we managed to fit it up for serious sexual assault, it would be out again…Sep 6, 12:21
    • James Che on Anything But That: “Bilbo. Here is another thought to mull over, If Scotland is a independent Country since the 1707 treaty of unions…Sep 6, 12:17
    • Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “Of course! Duh! But it requires a hard-nosed realism at odds with the feel good vibes that an entire generation…Sep 6, 12:16
    • Northcode on Anything But That: ““So what happens now the treaty of union has passed its sell by date…” Well… we could have it framed…Sep 6, 12:08
    • Northcode on Anything But That: “The truth is this: The Treaty of Union is no longer a live international treaty. It’s a historical document whose…Sep 6, 12:03
    • James Che on Anything But That: “Has Westminster parliament informed the UN that the 1707 treaty between Scotland and England has come to its end date?…Sep 6, 11:54
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