89 thoughts on “Saturday’s Papers

    1. Charger Salmons

      Indeed it does.
      Some of us still look back fondly on Project Fear.
      From today’s Pink ‘Un …

      ‘ Brexit has failed to deliver a big hit to financial services employment in London, Financial Times research has shown, with international banks maintaining most of their staff since the vote to leave the EU and big asset managers hiring in the UK capital.
      ‘ Initial warnings that tens of thousands of jobs would leave the City as a result of the 2016 Brexit vote have been drastically scaled back. An FT survey of 24 large international banks and asset managers found that the majority had increased their London headcount over the past five year.
      ‘ Twelve overseas-based banks, which employed about 71,000 people in London five years ago, now have a reduced headcount of about 65,000. But most of the decline came from group-wide restructurings at Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Nomura.
      ‘ Nine of the world’s largest asset managers have ramped up hiring in the UK since the vote, with their total combined headcount rising 35 per cent to more than 10,000 employees over the period. ‘

      http://www.ft.com/content/0c7c2597-4afd-4ade-bc19-02c3bbc53daf?emailId=5fd4a50652ebd10004c78066&segmentId=ce31c7f5-c2de-09db-abdc-f2fd624da608

      1. Charger Salmons

        A year ago today in the general election Box Office Boris delivered a stonking 80-seat majority for the Conservatives as the only leader in Britain prepared to honour the referendum result.
        Since then Blighty has left the EU, Boris nearly lost his life, became a father and the UK experienced some of the worst Covid-19 fatalities in the world.
        Yet the Conservatives are currently averaging 38% of the vote — down just 6 points on the election. Only six points.
        Phenomenal.
        https://unherd.com/2020/12/why-boris-is-still-beating-labour/

  1. Charger Salmons

    Blighty has signed another trade deal – with Vietnam – making that trade deals with 57 countries signed in the past two years accounting for £193billion of annual trade.
    And there are many more trade link-ups in the pipeline.
    No other country has ever negotiated so many trade deals simultaneously.
    The EU has been talking about a trade deal with the US for 30 years and there’s no sign of one yet.
    In fact at this stage I expect the UK and USA to conclude one first.
    Afternoon tea for the Bidens with Her Majesty at Buck House will seal the deal and then Sleepy Joe can take his daily nap.
    Now the US election has been and gone the two long-time UN security council partners will resume their cordial relations.
    Anyone who thinks Biden will be all over the EU like a cheap suit has a surprise coming.

    1. ReproBertie

      Just out of interest, how many of those 57 trade deals are just rolling over of the same trade deals the UK had as an EU member?

        1. ReproBertie

          The EU trade agreements will no longer apply to the UK which is why the newly independent and sovereign UK flexed it’s mighty trade muscles and signed agreements to trade under the exact same terms that they were trading under as an EU member.

          “I sleep in a racing car, do you?”.

    2. Otis Blue

      Good man, that’s a straight lift from the rabid Daily Express.

      https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1371309/brexit-news-brexit-trade-deal-vietnam-free-trade-deals-latest-liz-truss-eu-trade-deal.

      And the view from Vietnam?

      “The United Kingdom’s core challenges lie in revitalising its economy through global dynamism and engagement. Success in this endeavour is the only way for the United Kingdom to justify its costly Brexit.”

      https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2020/11/12/the-uk-vietnam-free-trade-agreement-could-be-a-strategic-surprise/

    3. scottser

      Only another 100bn worth and the UK might reach the amount of trade it does with Europe so.
      Gunboats to protect your fish, eh?
      I rarely ROFL, but I’ve had a few and Tory logic is just the gift that keeps giving ;P

      1. Gerry

        I suggest a new policy, ignoring Trudger Trout and his Daily Express / Telegraph silliness.

        Don’t engage with Comical Ali, just let him post in a vacuum.

        1. Charger Salmons

          Well I ignore just about everyone on here and the same rag-tag rabble of losers follow me around every single post like Japanese tourists following a tour guide holding up an umbrella.
          I’ve only got to comment on what a wonderful morning it is out there and what a grand day lies ahead and they come tumbling in like fluffy little kittens playing with a ball of wool.
          It’s sweet to see but kinda sad at the same time.
          But mostly hilarious.
          You watch …

          1. Charlie

            “Well I ignore just about everyone…”. Haa…Dude, you gotta be the saddest Brit to ever grace shoe leather. Your daily desperate attempt for attention is only second to your delight in responding. You endorse the arrogance that many republicans believe to be inherent in Britain and amplify the rests belief that you’re pathetic. I believe the latter to be truer than true.

        2. scottser

          Send him to coventry? I believe we invented that to manners on uppity tans. It would be fitting indeed..

          1. Charger Salmons

            I can’t be Kate because that’s SOQ.
            Or is it Bodger ?
            It’s hard to keep up when you’re a multitude of users AND a very woke mod.

          2. Papi

            Self praise is the only praise in this case.
            But then of course charger would laugh at people suffocating in lorries.
            Racists gonna racist.

          3. GiggidyGoo

            Alexandria hasn’t made an appearance for a while…. oh I forgot, Mitty was pulled up on the ‘one username please’ on that one and threw his toys out of the pram. Currently using 3 usernames.

      1. Otis Blue

        Don’t forget the fish! They’re going to need some new recipes.*

        *that’s a new broadsheet column/competition right there.

        1. Janet, dreams of an alternate universe

          +1 foodie posts, interested in a smoked salmon terrine recipie, light/ healthy yet indulgent starter ?

          1. Charger Salmons

            A smoked mackerel paste on toasted sourdough.
            Or the smoked yellowfin tuna paste I had at the Up The Creek Raw Bar in Apalachicola.
            It was six years ago and I can still vividly remember the taste.

          2. Papi

            Translation: One time the fella in the chipper threw in a FREE battered sausage.
            Best day of a very sad empty life.

  2. f_lawless


    “The HSE paid €14.1 million to an Irish company for ventilators from China which were never used due to issues with their quality”

    That ROQU company just keeps getting shadier. How did it come about that a company which sprang out of nowhere – that “had no Irish trading history previous to the HSE deal” and is described as “an events management company”, was awarded such large sums of tax payers money to purchase medical equipment of such a critical nature?

    And why doesn’t the Irish Examiner article even mention that ROQU is the same company that has been pushing those dodgy “health passports” as the so called “solution” to allow the public to access normal life again? Everything surrounding the company stinks.

    1. Micko

      Roqu got 14.1 million investment this year from the HSE

      The company was only set up this year. Even their URL was only bought post March

      1. Andrew

        Have you heard anyone ask Paul Reid about this?Mots media interviews are PR jobs.
        Where does the buck stop with HSE incompetence and waste?

    1. ReproBertie

      Gosh, I certainly didn’t see that coming! He had all those GOP representatives signed up to it and it was chock full of rejected conspiracy theories. What could possibly have gone wrong?

    2. Rosette of Siriu

      Breaking news on the Lou Dobbs Sh@tshow tonite. Presidents hand-picked Catholic appointees are actually Chinese stooges.

      He’ll poo his White House linens later when he realizes he can’t fire them…

      Seriously tho, I honest to god can’t fathom how so many of you here fall for his schtick, his flim flam and utterly corrupt approach to life.

        1. bisted

          …haha…it’s you Bodger, isn’t it…we knew you were having great fun with the SOM sobriquet that it was an easy move to SOQ…you had me fooled…we know you have a taste for the absurd but this was really obscure…a gay activist showing common cause with every alt right nutjob on the internet…a practioner in a science discipline who is in denial of the most basic facts…and best of all…not a trace of that tell-tale sense of humour but signing up to the Trump baseball cap was irresistible…well played Bodger!

          1. Charger Salmons

            Yes Bodger and I’m getting pretty hacked off about this too.
            You know you’re meant to be me as well – a wealthy English cad and bounder with a taste for fine wine and persiflage.
            And now SOQ, a ‘ gay activist ‘ with a taste for alt-right nutjobs.
            There are three of us in this marriage.
            Harrumph.

        2. ReproBertie

          Your reaction to Trump’s latest failure is to drag out Hunter Biden’s finances? Whataboutery at its finest.

          Wait until you hear about the Trump debts to China and Ivanka’s fast tracked Chinese trademarks.

          1. Charger Salmons

            The way the American media deliberately avoided scrutiny of Hunter Biden’s financial affairs when his father was VP during the election and the announcement this week by the US Attorney’s office in Delaware that an investigation into them will now be opened is a far bigger scandal than Trump’s legal attempts to overturn certain election results.
            It stinks.

        3. Bitnboxy

          Yes indeed Charage- I have noted that for a “gay man” SOQ is very fond of endorsing individuals, groups and outfits that, let us just say, are not too fond of the gays to put it mildly. And I am putting it very mildly! I have always regarded SOQ as simply having created an alter-ego and fantasy in SOQ.

          To be fair, as this forum is resolutely anonymous, what posters tell you about themselves doesn’t really matter one iota.That goes for you too Charage. You’re about as much of a Tory as all those Mary Lounaticks.

          1. Charger Salmons

            But the most fun of all is to watch those posters I put on the ignore list still come trotting after me looking for attention in the same way supplicants kneel and kiss the Pope’s ring.
            I get my ring kissed a lot on here.
            But Charger’s Rules are very clear.Once you get put in a box marked Too Dull you never come out.
            Think of it as my own personal Hotel California.

          2. SOQ

            Oh dear- the cats are certainly hissing this morning. For the record Bitnboxy- I have wrote on the subject of gay activism for this very site- if you had bothered to check.

            As for the rest of your bullpoo, my sexuality is part of me but it does not define me and right now, I identify will all the people who are suffering because of this unscientific lockdown nonsense- whiter than be those who have lost their jobs and businesses or health or whatever else- and their sexuality is no more relevant than mine.

            Take your labels and shove em.

          3. Bitnboxy

            Well SOQ, no more than the rest of us on a totally anonymous forum, you are judged by what you say not who you claim to be – no person can verify this.

            My point stoll stands for one who claims to be a gay activist, you consistently align yourself in the guise of SOQ with those for whom the label gay is an aberration and would gladly roll back the clock to a pre-Stonewall cloak and dagger, sliding down drainpipes in the wee hours kind of times and with any physical expressions of homosexuality criminalized.

            @Charage – you are not half as clever as you think you are.

          4. GiggidyGoo

            So Mitty has an ignore list – yes doesn’t ignore it. ROFL. Intelligence not high in the list of priorities in that little mind.

          5. Micko

            “ that for a “gay man” SOQ is very fond of endorsing individuals, groups and outfits,”

            Yup Bitnboxy, coz all gay men think the same.

            I see you highlighted their love of “outfits” too…

            They love a good aul dress up :p

          6. SOQ

            I can be verified darlin- this forum is not as anonymous as you think.

            As for aligning myself- you remind me of the silly witch screaming homophobia at the organiser of a free speech rally in Cork- except he was gay and she was straight?

            When we get to the point of straight people telling gay people what to think and do- we are back to square one.

            That everything and everyone left wing is gay friendly is most definitely not the case- a quick trip to China or even a five minute chat with someone from the former eastern European block will soon clear up that misconception for you.

          7. Bitnboxy

            @Micko – yes indeed, gay people most certainly do not think uniformly but you’ll find they tend not to like those people who want to drive them back into the closet and deny them rights, including parenting rights.

            @SOQ No idea about this Cork rally although “Free Speech” rallies of late rarely have anything to do with free speech. Needless to say SOQ, you’ll probably agree not many alt-righters have too much time for gay people either or did I miss something? Most people tend not to want to associate with those who want to deny them rights, from the freedom to be themselves to the freedom to found a family. OK

            I do take your point re hard left being as bad as the hard and alt right. Indeed, same-sex marriage was a trend advanced by centrist parties mostly. Extremism of whatever hue is the enemy.

    3. Tom J

      Nellie the elephant pack her trunk
      And said goodbye to the circus
      Off she went with a trumpety trump
      Trump trump trump
      Now Nellie the elephant packed her trunk
      And trundled off to the jungle
      Off she went with a trumpety trump
      Trump trump trump

    4. Nigel

      They genuinely thought that just by getting a case, any case, to the Supreme Court, the justices would simply hand Trump the presidency. How this ties in with Bodger’s theory that Trump knowingly failed to protect the integrity of the election process in order to turn it into a huge machiavellian scheme to trap his enemies I don’t know, but I’m sure it will, somehow.

  3. Charger Salmons

    On the plus side of No Deal Brexit there’s going to be an awful lot of cheap Irish beef knocking around here.
    Those 70% tariffs are going to play havoc with exports to Blighty.
    There’s always a silver lining in every dark cloud.
    Marvellous.

    1. ReproBertie

      How sad that the only upsides about Sasamach you brag about are the negative impacts it will have on the country you live in.

      Any cheap beef in Ireland is here because it’s not going to feed the people in GB. Have they sourced an alternative or will they be facing food shortages?

  4. Charger Salmons

    Then there’s all that Irish cheddar being made but not being bought in Blighty because of tariffs.
    We’ll be flooded by cheap cheddar.
    I could live on steak and cheese on toast as they’re two of my favourite meals.
    No Deal Brexit here we come.
    Woohoo !

    1. Joe F

      So are you saying there’s going to be no deal now Nostradamus? A short while back you said the EU were going to “cave in” and a deal was imminent! So what do you have to say about that old boy? Nothing of course. Like everything else about you clown man, you ignore half of what’s going on and just talk about the rest. What a clown. Marvelous indeed.

        1. bisted

          …ah…bringing a nostalgic tear to my eye…I went to college in Bristol and no party was complete without a trip into Somerset to buy lethal farmhouse cider and a ploughman’s lunch in the Cheddar Gorge…chunks of proper cheese and pickle…not that plastic rubbish imported from the colonies or Ballymaloe Relish…

      1. Charger Salmons

        We’re both commenting on the same forum sister.
        Besides, my hobby is life.
        Enjoying every minute of it.
        It’s why I’m always so full of positivity on here.
        My username should really be Cheerful Charger.
        Marvellous.

        1. millie bobby brownie

          Only the most boring folk claim they don’t need a hobby, dear Salmons.

          I’d buy you a pint if you change your name to Cheerful.

          1. millie bobby brownie

            I tip my hat to you, Cheerful chappie.
            Your pint is being delivered by carrier pigeon as I type.*

            *don’t blame me if it doesn’t arrive

            @Papi
            I enjoy exchanging harmless jibes with him. Let’s call him an associate.

      2. Brother Barnabas

        that’s unfair, millz: charger does have a hobby – and he’s at it diligently several times a day. he only comments during the post-ejaculatory refractory period.

          1. scottser

            He only ignores those of us who hand his botty back to him on a regular basis – pretty much everyone.

  5. Kingfisher

    Medical negligence costs the State millionsin legal costs, so the solution is to slash the lawyers’ pay? Surely the solution is to stop doctors being negligent?

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