Trump

[Sandydragon]

And yet more tweets about how this will be a fraudulent election. If the US avoids a civil war it will be something close to a miracle at this rate.

[Puja]

I'm hoping this is him laying the groundwork for retiring butthurt and able to exclaim, "I didn't really lose," rather than laying the groundwork for actually squatting in the White House.

On the bright side, he might be playing to his base, but these antics are going to be getting the Democratic vote out better than any amount of activists. If he shut up and let people hear Biden calling for additional funding for police and for "anarchists" to be arrested simply for being anarchists, a good chunk of Democratic voters would remember that they actively dislike their candidate and the enthusiasm for voting for him would drop. This constant stream of terrible means just about every Democrat will crawl across broken glass to get out and vote, no matter who the candidate is.

Puja

[morepork]

I'm hoping this is him laying the groundwork for retiring butthurt and able to exclaim, "I didn't really lose," rather than laying the groundwork for actually squatting in the White House.

On the bright side, he might be playing to his base, but these antics are going to be getting the Democratic vote out better than any amount of activists. If he shut up and let people hear Biden calling for additional funding for police and for "anarchists" to be arrested simply for being anarchists, a good chunk of Democratic voters would remember that they actively dislike their candidate and the enthusiasm for voting for him would drop. This constant stream of terrible means just about every Democrat will crawl across broken glass to get out and vote, no matter who the candidate is.

Puja

Broken glass and dog shit.


Just in case, can I crash at yours for 4 years?

[Puja]

I'm hoping this is him laying the groundwork for retiring butthurt and able to exclaim, "I didn't really lose," rather than laying the groundwork for actually squatting in the White House.

On the bright side, he might be playing to his base, but these antics are going to be getting the Democratic vote out better than any amount of activists. If he shut up and let people hear Biden calling for additional funding for police and for "anarchists" to be arrested simply for being anarchists, a good chunk of Democratic voters would remember that they actively dislike their candidate and the enthusiasm for voting for him would drop. This constant stream of terrible means just about every Democrat will crawl across broken glass to get out and vote, no matter who the candidate is.

Puja

Broken glass and dog shit.


Just in case, can I crash at yours for 4 years?

It's not quite out of the frying pan into the fire, but that's only because it's hard to match the garbage fire that is the the USA. It's got to the extent that if Sotland gain independence, I will sincerely consider moving just to get away from the electorate that gleefully voted for this bunch of hoofwanking bunglecunts. Same if N.Ireland joins Ireland.

Puja

[Digby]

I'm hoping this is him laying the groundwork for retiring butthurt and able to exclaim, "demon sperm" rather than laying the groundwork for actually squatting in the White House.

FTFY

[Sandydragon]

I'm hoping this is him laying the groundwork for retiring butthurt and able to exclaim, "I didn't really lose," rather than laying the groundwork for actually squatting in the White House.

On the bright side, he might be playing to his base, but these antics are going to be getting the Democratic vote out better than any amount of activists. If he shut up and let people hear Biden calling for additional funding for police and for "anarchists" to be arrested simply for being anarchists, a good chunk of Democratic voters would remember that they actively dislike their candidate and the enthusiasm for voting for him would drop. This constant stream of terrible means just about every Democrat will crawl across broken glass to get out and vote, no matter who the candidate is.

Puja

Oh, its definitely about getting his excuses in early. The down side, which he either doesn't realise or doesn't care about, is that the half wit militia types will take that as fact and may decide to 'support the President against the commies'. The idea of Trump being escorted out of the White House by Federal Marshals would be prime viewing, but I'm worried by how many insurrections it will cause.

[Puja]

I'm hoping this is him laying the groundwork for retiring butthurt and able to exclaim, "I didn't really lose," rather than laying the groundwork for actually squatting in the White House.

On the bright side, he might be playing to his base, but these antics are going to be getting the Democratic vote out better than any amount of activists. If he shut up and let people hear Biden calling for additional funding for police and for "anarchists" to be arrested simply for being anarchists, a good chunk of Democratic voters would remember that they actively dislike their candidate and the enthusiasm for voting for him would drop. This constant stream of terrible means just about every Democrat will crawl across broken glass to get out and vote, no matter who the candidate is.

Puja

Oh, its definitely about getting his excuses in early. The down side, which he either doesn't realise or doesn't care about, is that the half wit militia types will take that as fact and may decide to 'support the President against the commies'. The idea of Trump being escorted out of the White House by Federal Marshals would be prime viewing, but I'm worried by how many insurrections it will cause.

It's not Trump being escorted out of the White House or militia types that worry me, but this: https://www.newsweek.com/how-trump-coul ... on-1513975

1. Biden wins the popular vote, and carries the key swing states of Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania by decent but not overwhelming margins.
2. Trump immediately declares that the voting was rigged, that there was mail-in ballot fraud and that the Chinese were behind a plan to provide fraudulent mail-in ballots and other "election hacking" throughout the four key swing states that gave Biden his victory.
3. Having railed against the Chinese throughout the campaign, calling Biden "soft on China," Trump delivers his narrative claiming the Chinese have interfered in the U.S. election.
4. Trump indicates this is a major national security issue, and he invokes emergency powers, directing the Justice Department to investigate the alleged activity in the swing states. The legal justification for the presidential powers he invokes has already been developed and issued by Barr.
5. The investigation is intended to tick down the clock toward December 14, the deadline when each state's Electoral College electors must be appointed. This is the very issue that the Supreme Court harped on in Bush v. Gore in ruling that the election process had to be brought to a close, thus forbidding the further counting of Florida ballots.
6. All four swing states have Republican control of both their upper and lower houses of their state legislatures. Those state legislatures refuse to allow any Electoral College slate to be certified until the "national security" investigation is complete.
7. The Democrats will have begun a legal action to certify the results in those four states, and the appointment of the Biden slate of electors, arguing that Trump has manufactured a national security emergency in order to create the ensuing chaos.
8. The issue goes up to the Supreme Court, which unlike the 2000 election does not decide the election in favor of the Republicans. However, it indicates again that the December 14 Electoral College deadline must be met; that the president's national security powers legally authorize him to investigate potential foreign country intrusion into the national election; and if no Electoral College slate can be certified by any state by December 14, the Electoral College must meet anyway and cast its votes.
9. The Electoral College meets, and without the electors from those four states being represented, neither Biden nor Trump has sufficient votes to get an Electoral College majority.
10. The election is thrown into the House of Representatives, pursuant to the Constitution. Under the relevant constitutional process, the vote in the House is by state delegation, where each delegation casts one vote, which is determined by the majority of the representatives in that state.
11. Currently, there are 26 states that have a majority Republican House delegation. 23 states have a majority Democratic delegation. There is one state, Pennsylvania, that has an evenly split delegation. Even if the Democrats were to pick up seats in Pennsylvania and hold all their 2018 House gains, the Republicans would have a 26 to 24 delegation majority.
12. This vote would enable Trump to retain the presidency.

Puja

[Stom]

I had a weird dream last night with Trump and Robert Downey Jr...

Rdj was with us and a group of kids and we bumped into Trump. One of the kids wanted to meet Trump but he has to be somewhere so we agreed to meet him somewhere at a certain time. However, at that time, something happened and rdj took the kids off somewhere else, leaving me to explain to Trump what happened.

He arrived bang on time, I explained, and he was really nice...

End.

What the duck could that be about!?!?!

[Mikey Brown]

Was he wearing any clothes?

[Stom]

Was he wearing any clothes?

Lol.

Well, I assume so, but who knows...

[Digby]

I'm hoping this is him laying the groundwork for retiring butthurt and able to exclaim, "I didn't really lose," rather than laying the groundwork for actually squatting in the White House.

On the bright side, he might be playing to his base, but these antics are going to be getting the Democratic vote out better than any amount of activists. If he shut up and let people hear Biden calling for additional funding for police and for "anarchists" to be arrested simply for being anarchists, a good chunk of Democratic voters would remember that they actively dislike their candidate and the enthusiasm for voting for him would drop. This constant stream of terrible means just about every Democrat will crawl across broken glass to get out and vote, no matter who the candidate is.

Puja

Oh, its definitely about getting his excuses in early. The down side, which he either doesn't realise or doesn't care about, is that the half wit militia types will take that as fact and may decide to 'support the President against the commies'. The idea of Trump being escorted out of the White House by Federal Marshals would be prime viewing, but I'm worried by how many insurrections it will cause.

It does seem possible the Don't Step on Me Crowd whilst refusing to do other than encourage a move towards an authoritarian government would start to protest once there's a democratically elected President

[Mikey Brown]

What an age we live in. See the words 'Frorida' trending on Twitter and without any other context, or ever seeing that word before, you know pretty much 100% it's because Trump has either said it or tweeted it.

[Donny osmond]

I'm hoping this is him laying the groundwork for retiring butthurt and able to exclaim, "I didn't really lose," rather than laying the groundwork for actually squatting in the White House.

On the bright side, he might be playing to his base, but these antics are going to be getting the Democratic vote out better than any amount of activists. If he shut up and let people hear Biden calling for additional funding for police and for "anarchists" to be arrested simply for being anarchists, a good chunk of Democratic voters would remember that they actively dislike their candidate and the enthusiasm for voting for him would drop. This constant stream of terrible means just about every Democrat will crawl across broken glass to get out and vote, no matter who the candidate is.

Puja

Broken glass and dog shit.


Just in case, can I crash at yours for 4 years?

It's not quite out of the frying pan into the fire, but that's only because it's hard to match the garbage fire that is the the USA. It's got to the extent that if Sotland gain independence, I will sincerely consider moving just to get away from the electorate that gleefully voted for this bunch of hoofwanking bunglecunts. Same if N.Ireland joins Ireland.

Puja

You will be sorely, acutely, embarrassingly disappointed if you move to Scotland thinking politics is any better here.

Imagine the incompetence of successive Tory govts, but with the Brucie Bonus of openly not minuting meetings, or using official govt emails, to stop paper trails from incriminating you. That's our politicians that is.

This is the country where the First Minister can demand that the country judge her on her record on education, immediately remove the country (famously, a former gold standard of educational practice) from international comparison tables, take the unions to the brink of the biggest teacher strike since the darkest days of Thatcherism, pursue admission policies that simultaneously remove chances from poor pupils while bankrupting the country's universities .... and none of the opposition politicians are capable of scoring even from that most open of goals, and none of the voters can concentrate for long enough to take her at her word and judge her on her record in education.

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[Donny osmond]

Anyway, back to Trump, someone has as big a bee in their bonnet about him as I do about Elsie...



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[Donny osmond]

I know it's inappropriate, but I'm afraid I did actually laugh at this...

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[Puja]

Broken glass and dog shit.


Just in case, can I crash at yours for 4 years?

It's not quite out of the frying pan into the fire, but that's only because it's hard to match the garbage fire that is the the USA. It's got to the extent that if Sotland gain independence, I will sincerely consider moving just to get away from the electorate that gleefully voted for this bunch of hoofwanking bunglecunts. Same if N.Ireland joins Ireland.

Puja

You will be sorely, acutely, embarrassingly disappointed if you move to Scotland thinking politics is any better here.

Imagine the incompetence of successive Tory govts, but with the Brucie Bonus of openly not minuting meetings, or using official govt emails, to stop paper trails from incriminating you. That's our politicians that is.

This is the country where the First Minister can demand that the country judge her on her record on education, immediately remove the country (famously, a former gold standard of educational practice) from international comparison tables, take the unions to the brink of the biggest teacher strike since the darkest days of Thatcherism, pursue admission policies that simultaneously remove chances from poor pupils while bankrupting the country's universities .... and none of the opposition politicians are capable of scoring even from that most open of goals, and none of the voters can concentrate for long enough to take her at her word and judge her on her record in education.

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I would still take her over Boris. There's a pretty short list of people I wouldn't take over Boris. Trump is top.

Mind, she's basically running in a one-party state right now, isn't she? No-one likes any of the other options, so she could bum a dog on live television and still probably return a handy majority. If Scotland achieved independence and the other parties had to find a policy that wasn't, "Please don't go!" and/or "Please forgive what our national party is doing!" things might perk up with more competition? I certainly have more faith in your electorate than ours rn.

Puja

[Donny osmond]

It's not quite out of the frying pan into the fire, but that's only because it's hard to match the garbage fire that is the the USA. It's got to the extent that if Sotland gain independence, I will sincerely consider moving just to get away from the electorate that gleefully voted for this bunch of hoofwanking bunglecunts. Same if N.Ireland joins Ireland.

Puja

You will be sorely, acutely, embarrassingly disappointed if you move to Scotland thinking politics is any better here.

Imagine the incompetence of successive Tory govts, but with the Brucie Bonus of openly not minuting meetings, or using official govt emails, to stop paper trails from incriminating you. That's our politicians that is.

This is the country where the First Minister can demand that the country judge her on her record on education, immediately remove the country (famously, a former gold standard of educational practice) from international comparison tables, take the unions to the brink of the biggest teacher strike since the darkest days of Thatcherism, pursue admission policies that simultaneously remove chances from poor pupils while bankrupting the country's universities .... and none of the opposition politicians are capable of scoring even from that most open of goals, and none of the voters can concentrate for long enough to take her at her word and judge her on her record in education.

Sent from my CPH1951 using Tapatalk

I would still take her over Boris. There's a pretty short list of people I wouldn't take over Boris. Trump is top.

Mind, she's basically running in a one-party state right now, isn't she? No-one likes any of the other options, so she could bum a dog on live television and still probably return a handy majority. If Scotland achieved independence and the other parties had to find a policy that wasn't, "Please don't go!" and/or "Please forgive what our national party is doing!" things might perk up with more competition? I certainly have more faith in your electorate than ours rn.

Puja

The incompetence of the other parties is jaw dropping, but just think about what you're saying...

A group set up specifically to achieve separation from a larger union does enough damage, thru the sheer incompetence of all the other politicians, to gain that separation and then leaves everyone else to clean up the mess afterwards. Remind you of any other situations? Any other electorates around here allowed that to happen recently? You may imagine that having see it happen once, good and honest and canny folk wouldn't be minded to let it happen again?

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[Donny osmond]

It's not quite out of the frying pan into the fire, but that's only because it's hard to match the garbage fire that is the the USA. It's got to the extent that if Sotland gain independence, I will sincerely consider moving just to get away from the electorate that gleefully voted for this bunch of hoofwanking bunglecunts. Same if N.Ireland joins Ireland.

Puja

You will be sorely, acutely, embarrassingly disappointed if you move to Scotland thinking politics is any better here.

Imagine the incompetence of successive Tory govts, but with the Brucie Bonus of openly not minuting meetings, or using official govt emails, to stop paper trails from incriminating you. That's our politicians that is.

This is the country where the First Minister can demand that the country judge her on her record on education, immediately remove the country (famously, a former gold standard of educational practice) from international comparison tables, take the unions to the brink of the biggest teacher strike since the darkest days of Thatcherism, pursue admission policies that simultaneously remove chances from poor pupils while bankrupting the country's universities .... and none of the opposition politicians are capable of scoring even from that most open of goals, and none of the voters can concentrate for long enough to take her at her word and judge her on her record in education.

Sent from my CPH1951 using Tapatalk

I would still take her over Boris. There's a pretty short list of people I wouldn't take over Boris. Trump is top.

Mind, she's basically running in a one-party state right now, isn't she? No-one likes any of the other options, so she could bum a dog on live television and still probably return a handy majority. If Scotland achieved independence and the other parties had to find a policy that wasn't, "Please don't go!" and/or "Please forgive what our national party is doing!" things might perk up with more competition? I certainly have more faith in your electorate than ours rn.

Puja

Sorry, meant to add it has just, this afternoon, been confirmed (everyone knew it had happened anyway) that Sturgeon lied to parliament about what she knew and when wrt Salmond's sexual abuse allegations.

Nothing will be done about this, because no one cares enough to do anything about it.

You really think this is better?

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[Puja]

I would still take her over Boris. There's a pretty short list of people I wouldn't take over Boris. Trump is top.

Mind, she's basically running in a one-party state right now, isn't she? No-one likes any of the other options, so she could bum a dog on live television and still probably return a handy majority. If Scotland achieved independence and the other parties had to find a policy that wasn't, "Please don't go!" and/or "Please forgive what our national party is doing!" things might perk up with more competition? I certainly have more faith in your electorate than ours rn.

Puja

The incompetence of the other parties is jaw dropping, but just think about what you're saying...

A group set up specifically to achieve separation from a larger union does enough damage, thru the sheer incompetence of all the other politicians, to gain that separation and then leaves everyone else to clean up the mess afterwards. Remind you of any other situations? Any other electorates around here allowed that to happen recently? You may imagine that having see it happen once, good and honest and canny folk wouldn't be minded to let it happen again?

Heh, fair enough.

Sorry, meant to add it has just, this afternoon, been confirmed (everyone knew it had happened anyway) that Sturgeon lied to parliament about what she knew and when wrt Salmond's sexual abuse allegations.

Nothing will be done about this, because no one cares enough to do anything about it.

You really think this is better?

I would still say she's better. It says horrifying things about our lot to say that, but yes, still better. Might be incompetent, mendacious, and appalling, but I'd prefer that with a side of mildly progressive politics than the cronyism, austerity, and extreme supply-side economics that we get with our lot.

I think, based solely around sane leadership, we'd all like to emigrate to New Zealand right about now, but they (understandably) aren't particularly keen on dectupling their population by accepting in refugees from fucktard politicians.

Puja

[Donny osmond]

I would still take her over Boris. There's a pretty short list of people I wouldn't take over Boris. Trump is top.

Mind, she's basically running in a one-party state right now, isn't she? No-one likes any of the other options, so she could bum a dog on live television and still probably return a handy majority. If Scotland achieved independence and the other parties had to find a policy that wasn't, "Please don't go!" and/or "Please forgive what our national party is doing!" things might perk up with more competition? I certainly have more faith in your electorate than ours rn.

Puja

The incompetence of the other parties is jaw dropping, but just think about what you're saying...

A group set up specifically to achieve separation from a larger union does enough damage, thru the sheer incompetence of all the other politicians, to gain that separation and then leaves everyone else to clean up the mess afterwards. Remind you of any other situations? Any other electorates around here allowed that to happen recently? You may imagine that having see it happen once, good and honest and canny folk wouldn't be minded to let it happen again?

Heh, fair enough.

Sorry, meant to add it has just, this afternoon, been confirmed (everyone knew it had happened anyway) that Sturgeon lied to parliament about what she knew and when wrt Salmond's sexual abuse allegations.

Nothing will be done about this, because no one cares enough to do anything about it.

You really think this is better?

I would still say she's better. It says horrifying things about our lot to say that, but yes, still better. Might be incompetent, mendacious, and appalling, but I'd prefer that with a side of mildly progressive politics than the cronyism, austerity, and extreme supply-side economics that we get with our lot.

I think, based solely around sane leadership, we'd all like to emigrate to New Zealand right about now, but they (understandably) aren't particularly keen on dectupling their population by accepting in refugees from fucktard politicians.

Puja

Fair enough, I also don't think she or her party is/are as bad as Boris and his crowd. I also do not think that coming a close 2nd in terribleness is an acceptable alternative to coming 1st. We can all do better.

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[Son of Mathonwy]

The incompetence of the other parties is jaw dropping, but just think about what you're saying...

A group set up specifically to achieve separation from a larger union does enough damage, thru the sheer incompetence of all the other politicians, to gain that separation and then leaves everyone else to clean up the mess afterwards. Remind you of any other situations? Any other electorates around here allowed that to happen recently? You may imagine that having see it happen once, good and honest and canny folk wouldn't be minded to let it happen again?

Heh, fair enough.

Sorry, meant to add it has just, this afternoon, been confirmed (everyone knew it had happened anyway) that Sturgeon lied to parliament about what she knew and when wrt Salmond's sexual abuse allegations.

Nothing will be done about this, because no one cares enough to do anything about it.

You really think this is better?

I would still say she's better. It says horrifying things about our lot to say that, but yes, still better. Might be incompetent, mendacious, and appalling, but I'd prefer that with a side of mildly progressive politics than the cronyism, austerity, and extreme supply-side economics that we get with our lot.

I think, based solely around sane leadership, we'd all like to emigrate to New Zealand right about now, but they (understandably) aren't particularly keen on dectupling their population by accepting in refugees from fucktard politicians.

Puja

Fair enough, I also don't think she or her party is/are as bad as Boris and his crowd. I also do not think that coming a close 2nd in terribleness is an acceptable alternative to coming 1st. We can all do better.

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If it were not the raison d'etre of the SNP, the arrival of hard Brexit (probably no deal or as good as) should have made them at least reconsider Scottish Independence.

I know appalling incompetence (etc etc) of the UK government must be pretty galling for the Scots and presumably increases the emotional argument for independence.

But wanting independence before Brexit was a thing was a relatively safe idea (no trade barriers etc), now it is MUCH more difficult, leading to border controls (and tariffs?), and very likely a currency change. Another economic shock on top of Brexit and Covid.

None of which will change any minds, I suspect. I guess they aren't that likely to get another vote soon ... although getting shot of Scotland might well be the kind of crazy vandalism that might appeal to Cummings (lock in the Tory majority in what remains of the UK), it's hard to see Boris wanting the destruction of the UK on his legacy (and the Queen might not be entirely pleased with Balmoral winding up in a foreign land).

[Stom]

It's not quite out of the frying pan into the fire, but that's only because it's hard to match the garbage fire that is the the USA. It's got to the extent that if Sotland gain independence, I will sincerely consider moving just to get away from the electorate that gleefully voted for this bunch of hoofwanking bunglecunts. Same if N.Ireland joins Ireland.

Puja

You will be sorely, acutely, embarrassingly disappointed if you move to Scotland thinking politics is any better here.

Imagine the incompetence of successive Tory govts, but with the Brucie Bonus of openly not minuting meetings, or using official govt emails, to stop paper trails from incriminating you. That's our politicians that is.

This is the country where the First Minister can demand that the country judge her on her record on education, immediately remove the country (famously, a former gold standard of educational practice) from international comparison tables, take the unions to the brink of the biggest teacher strike since the darkest days of Thatcherism, pursue admission policies that simultaneously remove chances from poor pupils while bankrupting the country's universities .... and none of the opposition politicians are capable of scoring even from that most open of goals, and none of the voters can concentrate for long enough to take her at her word and judge her on her record in education.

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I would still take her over Boris. There's a pretty short list of people I wouldn't take over Boris. Trump is top.

Puja

It’s unfortunately longer than you may think...

Trump
Bolsonaro
Putin
Winnie the Pooh
Kim jong un
Orbán
Duda
Duterte
Lukashenko
Berdimuhamedow
...

Is there anyone else?

[morepork]

That list needs refining into "incompetent moron" and "actively cunty" categories.

[Donny osmond]

Heh, fair enough.



I would still say she's better. It says horrifying things about our lot to say that, but yes, still better. Might be incompetent, mendacious, and appalling, but I'd prefer that with a side of mildly progressive politics than the cronyism, austerity, and extreme supply-side economics that we get with our lot.

I think, based solely around sane leadership, we'd all like to emigrate to New Zealand right about now, but they (understandably) aren't particularly keen on dectupling their population by accepting in refugees from fucktard politicians.

Puja

Fair enough, I also don't think she or her party is/are as bad as Boris and his crowd. I also do not think that coming a close 2nd in terribleness is an acceptable alternative to coming 1st. We can all do better.

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If it were not the raison d'etre of the SNP, the arrival of hard Brexit (probably no deal or as good as) should have made them at least reconsider Scottish Independence.

I know appalling incompetence (etc etc) of the UK government must be pretty galling for the Scots and presumably increases the emotional argument for independence.

But wanting independence before Brexit was a thing was a relatively safe idea (no trade barriers etc), now it is MUCH more difficult, leading to border controls (and tariffs?), and very likely a currency change. Another economic shock on top of Brexit and Covid.

None of which will change any minds, I suspect. I guess they aren't that likely to get another vote soon ... although getting shot of Scotland might well be the kind of crazy vandalism that might appeal to Cummings (lock in the Tory majority in what remains of the UK), it's hard to see Boris wanting the destruction of the UK on his legacy (and the Queen might not be entirely pleased with Balmoral winding up in a foreign land).

You've pretty much nailed it there my friend.

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[Stom]

That list needs refining into "incompetent moron" and "actively cunty" categories.

Which one isn’t actively cunty?