News you might not have heard

[Gullscorer]

Petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/i-su ... an-elliott
http://thoughtcatalog.com/lauren-jones/ ... e-rapists/

[Gullscorer]

Sky Broadband 'pirate' customers: http://www.blogs.findlaw.co.uk/solicito ... licitor%29

[Gullscorer]

New EU rules will mean many mortgage prisoners: http://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2015/ ... content=16

USA today: http://now8news.com/toddlers-lips-rupture/

[Gullscorer]

Earthquakes, floods, etc.: http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/catego ... h-changes/

[Gullscorer]

One third of the world’s population drives on the left side of the road.

There were historically good reasons for this (http://www.worldstandards.eu/cars/driving-on-the-left/).

Over the years, a number of countries changed to the right. Pakistan also considered changing to the right in the 1960s, but ultimately decided not to do it. The main argument against the shift was that camel trains often drove through the night while their drivers were dozing. The difficulty in teaching old camels new tricks was decisive in forcing Pakistan to reject the change.

After the Second World War, left-driving Sweden, the odd one out in mainland Europe, felt increasing pressure to change sides in order to conform with the rest of the continent. In 1955, the Swedish government held a referendum on the introduction of right-hand driving. Although no less than 82.9% voted “no” to the change, the Swedish parliament passed a law on the conversion to right-hand driving in 1963. (What do politicians care about the will of the people)?

Finally, the change took place on Sunday, 3 September 1967, at 5 o’clock in the morning. The day was referred to as Dagen H or, in English, H day. The ‘H’ stands for ‘Högertrafik’, the Swedish word for ‘right-hand traffic’.

In many ways, Sweden has been going downhill ever since..

Now for the news you might not have heard: the EU is secretly formulating laws to force the UK to change to driving on the right.

[Gulliball]

Right after they force us to straighten our bananas, carry identity cards and remove our tin foil hats.

[Gullscorer]

I see The Muppets have returned in a brand new series from ABC Television, and by all accounts they're as good as ever. Miss Piggy is, of course, as bad as ever, which is very good. I don't know if they're on UK television yet. Keep a look out..

[Orange Gull]

Now for the news you might not have heard: the EU is secretly formulating laws to force the UK to change to driving on the right.

Source?

[Gullscorer]

Source?

Could have been the Muppet Show! Unfortunately, I can't find the note I made at the time I found this, though it might have been here: http://www.statewatch.org/news/newsfull.htm However, much as I normally try to provide a few sources, I do so to encourage a spirit of enquiry for people to do their own research. You learn more that way. On the whole, asking for sources is, I feel, a lazy attitude to adopt.

Anyway, don't worry, driving on the right ain't gonna happen, it would be too disruptive and expensive (though that may not stop the EU from trying).

The important thing to remember is that we must all be constantly on the alert against those who would try to control us by ignoring democracy, particularly in the EU. Years ago the Swedish people voted in a referendum against driving on the right, but a few years later (in 1967), as a consequence of Sweden joining the EU, the Swedish government ignored their democratic wishes and made the change anyway!

As for the EU, here's a link to UKIP's recent conference speeches: http://www.ukip.org/

[Modgull]

Could have been the Muppet Show! Unfortunately, I can't find the note I made at the time I found this, though it might have been here: http://www.statewatch.org/news/newsfull.htm However, much as I normally try to provide a few sources, I do so to encourage a spirit of enquiry for people to do their own research. You learn more that way. On the whole, asking for sources is, I feel, a lazy attitude to adopt.

Anyway, don't worry, driving on the right ain't gonna happen, it would be too disruptive and expensive (though that may not stop the EU from trying).

The important thing to remember is that we must all be constantly on the alert against those who would try to control us by ignoring democracy, particularly in the EU. Years ago the Swedish people voted in a referendum against driving on the right, but a few years later (in 1967), as a consequence of Sweden joining the EU, the Swedish government ignored their democratic wishes and made the change anyway!

As for the EU, here's a link to UKIP's recent conference speeches: http://www.ukip.org/

Gullscorer - get your facts right before you try peddling your UKIP politics.

Sweden did not join the EU until 1995.

Although it is true they rejected driving on the right in a referendum in 1955, the government opted to drive on the right in 1967. It was nothing to do with the EU but everything to do with the fact that they were surrounded by countries who drove on the other side of the road and increasing numbers of accidents were occurring in border areas by people driving on the 'wrong side of the road'.

This is another case of UKIP making things up about the EU.

[Gullscorer]

Oops, sorry Phil, my mistake (I do make rare mistakes)! Oh, and this has absolutely nothing to do with UKIP, nor any other political party. I am completely independent. It so happens that, after careful consideration, I want our country out of the EU, to be able to control our own destiny, and that it would be to our advantage in more ways than one. But no doubt that will all be discussed when the referendum campaigns get under way.

But, increasing numbers of accidents in border areas? Are you serious? Take a look at a map of Sweden and the Scandinavian countries, all with relatively low populations. Does the greater amount of traffic between the UK and Europe cause more accidents? No, this was simply an excuse by government to attempt to justify ignoring the democratic wishes of the people.

However, the point I was making still stands: that those in power will ignore democratic processes whenever they think they can get away with it. And we should be even more on our guard against this when it comes to the EU. (Modern democracy, in any case, is hardly much more than a sham).

[PhilGull]

Oops, sorry Phil, my mistake (I do make rare mistakes)! Oh, and this has absolutely nothing to do with UKIP, nor any other political party. I am completely independent. It so happens that, after careful consideration, I want our country out of the EU, to be able to control our own destiny, and that it would be to our advantage in more ways than one. But no doubt that will all be discussed when the referendum campaigns get under way.

But, increasing numbers of accidents in border areas? Are you serious? Take a look at a map of Sweden and the Scandinavian countries, all with relatively low populations. Does the greater amount of traffic between the UK and Europe cause more accidents? No, this was simply an excuse by government to attempt to justify ignoring the democratic wishes of the people.

However, the point I was making still stands: that those in power will ignore democratic processes whenever they think they can get away with it. And we should be even more on our guard against this when it comes to the EU. (Modern democracy, in any case, is hardly much more than a sham).

As is brilliantly being demonstrated by the way some Labour MPs and seemingly the vast majority of the media are treating Jeremy Corbyn and the new labour Party leadership.

[Gullscorer]

Agreed. But I have a strange feeling Jeremy Corbyn will be the next Prime minister.

Torquay has a Thatcher Rock, and Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister.

Torquay also has a Corbyn Head.. :~D

[Modgull]

Oops, sorry Phil, my mistake (I do make rare mistakes)! Oh, and this has absolutely nothing to do with UKIP, nor any other political party. I am completely independent. It so happens that, after careful consideration, I want our country out of the EU, to be able to control our own destiny, and that it would be to our advantage in more ways than one. But no doubt that will all be discussed when the referendum campaigns get under way.

But, increasing numbers of accidents in border areas? Are you serious? Take a look at a map of Sweden and the Scandinavian countries, all with relatively low populations. Does the greater amount of traffic between the UK and Europe cause more accidents? No, this was simply an excuse by government to attempt to justify ignoring the democratic wishes of the people.

However, the point I was making still stands: that those in power will ignore democratic processes whenever they think they can get away with it. And we should be even more on our guard against this when it comes to the EU. (Modern democracy, in any case, is hardly much more than a sham).

No Gullscorer, I won't let you get away with this so easily!

The point you made, questioned by Orange Gull, was that 'the EU is secretly formulating laws to force the UK to change to driving on the right.'

You responded by saying that asking for confirmation of the evidence for such an outrageous statement (my emphasis) was 'a lazy attitude to adopt'. You then referred to Sweden's decision to change to driving on the right in 1967 'as a consequence of Sweden joining the EU'.

I did not believe this to be correct so I did do some research and quickly established via Wikipedia that the Government in 1967 decided to change because of the reasons I gave. Now I know that Wikipedia is not necessarily the most reliable of sources but I do think it more independent than state watch.org or UKIP who clearly have an agenda to pursue - i.e. withdrawal from the EU.

So, thank you for clarifying that you share their views so that we can see that your original statement about EU policy on the UK's (and ROI's) transport policy is more to do with your personal views, and a total fabrication, rather than a statement of fact.

[Gullscorer]

I assure you I saw the information somewhere, but cannot find the link; it may have been old news of course, so it's likely more correct to say the EU was secretly considering such action. As to the date of Sweden's entry into the EU, yes, as I already acknowledged, I made an error there too. On rare occasions I do make mistakes, particularly when I'm tired. I'm not getting any younger, and these things happen to the best of us.

By the way, Sweden's referendum on EU membership was non-binding: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_E ... ndum,_1994
This is how pro-EU politicians behave: if they cannot get away with a non-binding referendum, and a binding referendum goes against them, they simply hold another one, with even greater EU resources to ensure the result goes their way, as happened in Ireland in recent years (the Nice treaty?).

You obviously have pro-EU views. And it seems, from what you say, that only those who are anti-EU have 'an agenda'. In fact, The agenda belongs entirely to the undemocratic EU. But it's worse than that. The EU has been referred to as the EUSSR, and not without good reason: http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/865

I commend you on your digging out the facts to correct my error. For some people, of course, no amount of evidence, or argument, or citation of sources, will suffice to change their rigid dogmatic views. I trust we are both better than that, and will both look forward to considering all the arguments to be debated when the referendum campaign gets under way.