IT IS SAID THAT ENGLISH MINISTERS WANTED TO ENSURE THAT JOE BIDEN AND NICOLA STURGEON DIDN’T MEET… NOW, ISN’T THAT A SHAME?
Oh, fancy banging into you here. What’s your name again?.…Ah yes, well, seeing as I’ve run into you, purely by accident of course (because that bloke that looks like Trump, Johnson I think he said his name was, told me not to speak to you), I’d like to present you with this gift from America to Scotland.Is it any wonder that Johnson had to get super pissed and fall asleep?Who’s a grump then? Still never mind, your MPs have just been whipped (yes, some of them liked it a lot) to vote to make all MP corruption legal… so you’ll be up there with the royals now. Untouchable!
88 thoughts on “IT IS SAID THAT ENGLISH MINISTERS WANTED TO ENSURE THAT JOE BIDEN AND NICOLA STURGEON DIDN’T MEET… NOW, ISN’T THAT A SHAME?”
Wonderful, Tris!
That last bit though – have the Tories really voted to put themselves above the law? It is difficult to express just how frightening such a development is… will it become legal for them to kill people next?
Goodall: As a barrister, you know that a person is tried under the rules of the law at the time. Today, MPs have said they don't like the rules so they will get new ones
“Of the 250 Tory MPs that voted for the amendment, 22 MPs are either under current investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards or have had allegations upheld against them since the 2019 general election.”
Dross is leader of the Tories in Scotland, but he’s not a Privy Counsellor.
Jackboots is.
So, it follows that Union Jackie may have access to information, which, if he were a gentleman, he could not and would not share with the lowly Dross, who might gossip about it (not having the constraints of being a right honourable).
Once you venture into the rankings of those and such as those, you are heading for confusion.
In my professional life, for several years I was part of the team which wrote the records of the UN General Assembly, so I’ve been exposed to more speeches by Heads of State than I care to count. Since then, I have heard bits of Donald Trump addressing the GA, and now Johnson.
Those two were worse than anything I ever came across in all those years.
Rambling incoherent nonsense. The sort of thing that goes down well on a reality show or a comedy… or in a drunken deliberation of the Bullingdon Club…
But not really for the ears of people with brain cells that actually function.
Thank you Tris,made my day,especially the pics of our FM.
She talks about the future whereas Johnson and his cronies eulogise about the past,which is where they belong.
I recently got a blue passport and it feels dreadful, but I want to visit family in Canada, some of whom I haven’t seen for over 4 years.
I might feel better when the Scottish cover, currently on order, comes to hide the unspeakable blue-ness.
Yes, Niko. I think you are right. Paterson is incidental.
What really counts is the important people… Johnson, Patel, Sunak, Gove, etc.
Can’t have them being investigated.
I just had a look. He’s only 65, s I would have expected that he would stand next time round.
Still, if he doesn’t, or he loses to the Liberal Democrats, he can always pick fruit. He said pensioners should do that in these difficult times, so he can head the way.
I just heard that Paterson has resigned or whatever it is they do in their slightly weird world which sets them apart from mortals, Chiltern 100s or Northanger Abbey, or is that Jane Austin. With Rees Mogg aroung who would know?
💥@maitlis quotes Dominic Grieve “it cannot escape notice that the P.M. is currently the subject of an investigation for failure to declare his interest by that same Commissioner. EM”Was this Boris Johnson getting in early because he could see where this trail was going?”💥 pic.twitter.com/1jpFXaa4Yk
Yes, I’m sorry, I should have mentioned that it was a specially chartered private flight for his fat backside… Must have been in a hurry to get stuck into the free booze.
It looks like the US President’s diplomatic gifts are improving.
Barack Obama gave Gordon Brown a 25-disc box set of classic American films. (Gordon Brown gave Obama a pen holder carved from the timbers of an historic ship, and an expensive set of books.)
No. 10 was said to be insulted by the cheap set of DVD’s, but it got worse. When Gordon tried to play one he got a “wrong region” error message. Turns out they were only playable in North America (Region 1), and not in the UK (Region 2).
Whether they were later re-gifted to the Canadian Prime Minister is not known.
It must be hard to work out what to give people you barely know, and possibly don’t like. It’s a bit like Christmas really!
I suspect that the Daily Mail wouldn’t ever have liked anything that Obama gave Brown. That said they didn’t like Brown much, given that he was a) Scottish and b) nominally Labour. But Obama was a) Democrat and b) shhhh, black!
I once bought a dvd that was Region 1.
GRRRRR.
I can’t imagine Gordon Brown watching a film, to be fair, so maybe a collection of Nokia phones that he could use to throw across the room when he gets annoyed.
LOL Tris……You certainly have to be careful about those “Regions” when ordering DVD’s from Amazon. US and Canada in those pre-digital days was NTSC TV standard, and UK and Europe were PAL. Even now, I think that the Region specs still apply to DVD’s.
There is an interesting article on the subject of diplomatic gifts in the Times archives from back in the Reagan administration……..which probably won’t get past their paywall:
Sometimes, diplomatic gifts are lavish, but under US law, an American official cannot personally accept a gift which is worth over a “minimal value”…..presently $415 I think. (Anything more that that minimal value is by law a gift to the United States, and goes to the National Archives to be cataloged and stored.) In Henry Kissinger’s time as Secretary of State, the minimal value was $50. Once, he received a golden sword lavishly encrusted with precious stones. He turned to an aide and said something like “I’d estimate that at about $49.95.”
Yes, some richer countries give incredibly lavish gifts… mostly Middle East ones. Although, the rich countries mentioned in that article (Nordic) don’t waste money on that. Maybe that’s why they are rich.
I seem to recall that Old Liz went to Saudi, where she was treated like an honorary man, and was given priceless jewels, which, of course, like in the USA she wasn’t able to keep personally, although I think some of it was jewellery and I’m sure she wears it when she has to meet royalty form there.
She and Phil gave the King a photograph in a silver frame of the two of them. Yippee. I bet he was overwhelmed.
I guess it was thoughtful of the Obamas to buy that obnoxious child of wee Willie and Duchess Clothes Horse a rocking horse… but, if ever there was a kid that didn’t need an extra toy it was that child.
Maybe a gift to a poor kid would have been a better idea.
I like that idea of Pope Francesco. Sell the stuff off and give the money to charity.
Like that would happen here with the grippy money grubbing low life we have!!!
Tris……Yes, if there was ever a group of people who are hard to buy a gift for, it would be the royals.
I just posted below (before reading this) the story of Obama’s gift of an iPod to the Queen….who apparently already had one. 🙂
The articles also mentioned the Queen’s standard gift of the time that you pointed out. An autographed photo of her and Phil. WOW!……..LOL.
Tris…….It was soon after the Gordon Brown DVD faux pas that Obama was in England for a G20 summit. His gift to the Queen on that occasion was an iPod. Which also sounds a little strange, but it least the thing worked in England and was loaded with snapshots from her previous visit to the States.
Trouble is…….she already had an iPod. So did Obama make another gaffe with a diplomatic gift? There was more controversy.
Many years later, an iPod was spotted at Balmoral. Was it Obama’s….or the other one? As for the Queen, she always gives an autographed photograph of herself in a silver frame. Who can POSSIBLY quibble about an autographed picture?
Well, if I’d bought her a hugely expensive jewellery thing and I got a poxy photograph of her in return, I’d be incandescent. I mean her and Phil weren’t exactly attractive to look at. It’s like the kind of thing you put away in a trunk for the next time you’re doing a run to the charity shop with your old jeans!
An iPod, yes, why not? Better than a crap photograph that cost around £10.
If you want to give Johnson anything, make it either drink or female.
As for Andrew, maybe a cake with a file hidden in it?
LOL…….The legendary example of crap diplomatic gifts given out by American presidents was the sculpted bust of himself that Lyndon Johnson gave to Pope Paul VI. An autographed picture too I think…..LOL.
The Pope “admires” the bust while Lyndon looks on approvingly.
The article mentions that there’s a White House Gift office that keeps track of gifts the president receives and assures that all laws on the matter are complied with. That reminded me of a funny character on The West Wing TV series, named Bernard Thatch. He first appeared as an official of the Visitors Office, but was later the head of the White House Gift Office. Bernard was an expert on art, and he was Snooty! This clip involved a not-so-good painting that the president had admired at the National Gallery. The painting was actually owned by the French government, who then gifted the president with it.
Bernard’s foil was White House Press Secretary C.J. Cregg. Bernard: “You’re a freekish little woman.”
Niko……Yes, the Supreme Court seems poised to do away with a New York gun control law that restricts carrying guns in public.
I do always hasten point out that it’s actually the British who are responsible for the Second Amendment. We needed privately owned guns to shoot at the British army back in the day (1770’s), so the founders put it in the Bill of Rights just in case the Brits ever decided to come back. 🙂
Since 1911 New York has had the Sullivan Law against carrying pistols in public. This was instigated by “Big Tim”Sullivan a member of the Tammany Hall gang, of Boss Tweed’s crooked politicians, who was scared of being assassinated.
It may be unfair to refer to him as a “mad Irishman” as he did not eventually die in a lunatic assylum as he escaped and was found frozen to death in a railway truck. He may well be in a warmer place now after his death.
Gwyn
Gwyn……..That’s fascinating! I didn’t know that.
I know that gun laws in New York State are strict when compared with most of the other States, and that the gun laws in New York City are even stricter than in New York State. As I understand it, all firearms in New York City require a permit for purchase, plus a license for maintaining a gun in your home. Then, a separate permit is required to carry a firearm, and carry permits are rarely granted. However, about the current Supreme Court case, Wiki says: “On April 26, 2021, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to a case addressing the constitutionality of New York’s requirement that applicants for concealed carry permits show “proper cause.”
A friend who worked for the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York but lived in New Jersy said that the laws there were pretty tough as well.
When he was a banker in London in about 1980 the police visited him and said that the IRA were targrting his bank. On asking him wether he had a gun and being answered no asked him to send an application for a shootgun certificate. The certificate was returned within the hour and was told to get a pump-action shotgun and a box of buckshot.
Gwyn
Gwyn…….Amazingly fast and efficient gun certificate operation! 😉
There was an article in the NY Times a few years ago about how gun traffickers get around New York City and other big city and state gun laws by sales across state lines from states with lax gun laws.
This whole nation was utterly disgusted by a lunatic at Dunblane.
Here is the wiki:
——————–
Subsequent legislation
The Cullen Reports, the result of the inquiry into the Dunblane massacre, recommended that the government introduce tighter controls on handgun ownership[16] and consider whether an outright ban on private ownership would be in the public interest in the alternative (though club ownership would be maintained).[17] The report also recommended changes in school security[18] and vetting of people working with children under 18.[19] The Home Affairs Select Committee agreed with the need for restrictions on gun ownership but stated that a handgun ban was not appropriate.
A small group, known as the Gun Control Network, was founded in the aftermath of the massacre and was supported by some parents of the victims of the Dunblane and Hungerford shootings.[20] Bereaved families and their friends also initiated a campaign to ban private gun ownership, named the Snowdrop Petition because March is snowdrop time in Scotland.[21][22]
In response to this public debate, the Conservative government of Prime Minister John Major introduced the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997, which banned all cartridge ammunition handguns with the exception of .22 calibre single-shot weapons in England, Scotland and Wales. Following the 1997 general election, the Labour government of Prime Minister Tony Blair introduced the Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997, banning the remaining .22 cartridge handguns as well.[23] This left only muzzle-loading and historic handguns legal, as well as certain sporting handguns (e.g. “Long-Arms”) that fall outside the Home Office definition of a “handgun” because of their dimensions. The ban does not affect Northern Ireland.[24]
Evidence of previous police interaction with Hamilton was presented to the Cullen Inquiry but was later sealed under a closure order to prevent publication for 100 years.[25] The official reason for sealing the documents was to protect the identities of children, but this led to accusations of a coverup intended to protect the reputations of officials.[26] Following a review of the closure order by the Lord Advocate, Colin Boyd, edited versions of some of the documents were released to the public in October 2005. Four files containing post-mortems, medical records and profiles on the victims, as well as Hamilton’s post-mortem, remained sealed under the 100-year order to avoid distressing the relatives and survivors.[27]
The released documents revealed that in 1991, complaints against Hamilton were made to the Central Scotland Police and were investigated by the Child Protection Unit. He was reported to the Procurator Fiscal for consideration of ten charges, including assault, obstructing police and contravention of the Children and Young Persons Act 1937. No action was taken.
——————–
In the aftermath of that we did what any sane nation would have done and stopped slavering to gun worshipping lunatics.
But in Scotland there is no real need for members of the public to own guns.
It’s not like when you go out of a walk in the country there’s likely to be a brown bear round the corner waiting to attack.
The only reasons anyone has guns are target shooting, killing wild animals for fun, or in limited numbers (by farmers) to protect livestock, or for criminal activities.
Mr Hamilton was, it seems a friend of Saville and Charlie Boy, which may explain the “no action”.
Douglas, Tris…….Yes , every time there’s a new mass shooting here, there are calls for action on gun safety. But nothing significant ever happens. The NRA (National Rifle Association) (which has become a right wing political organization) is in financial and legal trouble now, but it still exerts considerable political influence opposing gun control. As the Times article pointed out, the vast differences in state laws involving handguns and open carry laws help to defeat local state and big city gun control ordinances, which are very strict in New York, California, Illinois, etc.
As we’ve discussed, one could honor the historical connection between the Second Amendment (the second of the constitutional Bill of Rights) with the use of privately owned guns during the revolution….and the need of personal and family protection on the American frontier…….and still ban guns and ammunition whose only conceivable purpose is to kill people.
These days, wildlife is better protected (by strict wildlife conservation laws and rigidly controlled hunting seasons, numbers killed, etc) than people. Farmers and ranchers can no longer kill endangered species such as the timber wolf and mountain lion, and the losses of livestock for example are reimbursed by federal law. If you kill a Grizzly Bear who is not endangering you for example, you are in BIG trouble with the feds. Strictly speaking, I understand that it’s illegal to kill a rattlesnake in Utah (at least an indigenous Utah species), although I doubt that anyone has ever actually been prosecuted for killing a rattler on their property. 🙂
Tris…….the various state laws on the subject no doubt generally have judicial wording that recognizes self-defense as a valid defense against criminal penalties. On the federal level, Wiki says:
“The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA or “The Act”; 16 U.S.C. § 15″31 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting imperiled species.”
Under “Penalties”, Wiki says:
“One provision of this law is that no penalty may be imposed if, by a preponderance of the evidence that the act was in self-defense. The law also eliminates criminal penalties for accidentally killing listed species during farming and ranching activities.”
So it sounds like if you kill a Grizzly Bear for example, you better have a good story for the feds about what happened. An affidavit from the bear that he meant you bodily harm would no doubt be helpful. 😉
People who work in bear country may carry a heavy hand gun, but would seldom shoot a bear. A powerful chemical agent commonly called “Bear Spray” is usually carried, and is a powerful deterrent to bear attack.
As for the state laws:
“Section 6 of the Endangered Species Act provided funding for development of programs for management of threatened and endangered species by state wildlife agencies. Subsequently, lists of endangered and threatened species within their boundaries have been prepared by each state. These state lists often include species which are considered endangered or threatened within a specific state but not within all states, and which therefore are not included on the national list of endangered and threatened species. Examples include Florida, Minnesota, and Maine.”
Tris……LOL…..LOL.
Bear spray is quite effective in deflecting bear or other wild animal attack without injuring the animal……even big brown “Grizzly” bears. Good to have with you if you’re hiking in the back country of the West.
Some of the insurrectionist Trump forces who attacked the Capitol to overturn the last election were armed with bear spray.
Tris…..The laws vary here among the states and local jurisdictions of course. I’m sure there are places here where Mace is illegal, but you can buy the stronger stuff…..Bear Spray. I don’t really know how that all works legally. 🙂
Reading about the Dunblaine case at the time no gun club for miles around wanted him as a member but he had friends in high places which allowed him to own guns when he was not a member of a club.
To placate the lynch mobs the government decided to punish anyone they disliked. Pistol shooting was mainly a working class sport as all it needed was a 25 yard range which could be indoors and where most people lived.
The longer the barrels you use seem to be the posher y Deer stalking rifles and double barrelled shotguns so rthe hoi-poloi were sacrificed.
Punishing innocents is the way of the fascist whether you be jewish, black or a gunowner. Also wnen people who have no regard for liberty and fairness rule watch out as who would like to live under the taliban type of state where anything not liked can be banned.
Gwyn
Niko, Tris……I do enjoy a good, tongue-in-cheek rant about how the English are responsible for every evil in the modern world, due to their mismanagement of the world in the days of empire. I’m always careful to blame the English in particular, since I figure that Scotland, Wales, and Ireland suffered more at the hands of the English than anyone else. 😉
There was however (I just discovered) a “71st Regiment of Foot”…..called “Fraser’s Highlanders.” Wiki: “The regiment was raised at Inverness, Stirling and Glasgow by Lieutenant-General Simon Fraser of Lovat as the 71st Regiment of Foot in 1775. It was intended for service in the American Revolutionary War….[Fraser’s Highlanders] arrived in New York City in July 1776 and the regiment was attacked by American troops on arrival at Boston Harbor.”
MUNGUIN'S NEW REPUBLIC 
Wonderful, Tris!
That last bit though – have the Tories really voted to put themselves above the law? It is difficult to express just how frightening such a development is… will it become legal for them to kill people next?
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Yes, Ed. They have, although clearly I can understand that it hard to believe, until you think… wait, it’s Johnson… Yep.
They voted to not remove that sleazy bloke, Patterson, who would only do things for constituents if they had paid his sorry arse £100,000.
And then Jacob Rees Mogg made himself Speaker and decided that questions about it beneath his contempt to answer.
There is a list of Tory MPs including four so-called Scottish ones, that voted for it.
https://evolvepolitics.com/heres-a-list-of-every-mp-who-just-voted-to-scrap-parliaments-anti-corruption-rules-and-let-a-corrupt-mp-off-the-hook/
Union Jack Boots and DRoss abstained.
I’m not sure that one day we won’t wake up to find that Mogg has appointed himself emperor or even god.
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“Of the 250 Tory MPs that voted for the amendment, 22 MPs are either under current investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards or have had allegations upheld against them since the 2019 general election.”
https://www.businessinsider.com/22-tory-mps-probed-parliament-watchdog-vote-to-overhaul-it-2021-11?r=US&IR=T
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It gets worse, doesn’t it?
Credit to Labour and the SNP (hopefully other parties will join them) for refusing to take a part in this new committee.
If it is a Tory only committee it will have no credibility.
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Does Alister Jack take his orders from poor Dross? In the way that Ian Murray follows the lead if his boss, Hereditary Sarwar.
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Hard question.
Dross is leader of the Tories in Scotland, but he’s not a Privy Counsellor.
Jackboots is.
So, it follows that Union Jackie may have access to information, which, if he were a gentleman, he could not and would not share with the lowly Dross, who might gossip about it (not having the constraints of being a right honourable).
Once you venture into the rankings of those and such as those, you are heading for confusion.
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Incidentally, he’s also the bloke who proposed this:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FDRclmwWYAAmkxm?format=png&name=small
Mind, if you slip him a quite legal brown envelope with £100,000 in, he should be able to get you excused.
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No edd, it’ll still be illegal to kill people…
… until they do, then they’ll change the rules afterwards.
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We’d better not point it out to Them, Drew, or They may decide to change the law preemptively.
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At the moment even Chicky can’t get away with murder. Only the queen can do that… although there is always “cover ups”…
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Obviously, Drew.
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https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FDS9tvrXEAAl08h?format=jpg&name=medium
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Good one, Tris! I want a copy.
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I thought that you wrote it, Ed.
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https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FDTQ2UMXEAgcZoW?format=jpg&name=small
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OT, but just brilliant!
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Does the real Laura Kuenssberg really make such egregious mistakes in her tweets?
I mean, we all make mistakes, but we’re not all highly paid BBC journalists.
Oh, and the Ladybird Books are brilliant, by the way.
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And @MichaelSpicer is brilliant as well. In the next room.
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I’m reading his book, “The Secret Political Advisor” at the moment. It’s hilarious.
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I see Laura is on the way out… maybe to be replaced by Labour’s Sarah Smith.
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In line with my policy of avoiding TV and radio, I hadn’t heard Bawris addressing the UN… Exruciating. If I were British, I’d be mortified.
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I know. Just imagine the utter horror of being a part of that sh*t show.
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In my professional life, for several years I was part of the team which wrote the records of the UN General Assembly, so I’ve been exposed to more speeches by Heads of State than I care to count. Since then, I have heard bits of Donald Trump addressing the GA, and now Johnson.
Those two were worse than anything I ever came across in all those years.
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Rambling incoherent nonsense. The sort of thing that goes down well on a reality show or a comedy… or in a drunken deliberation of the Bullingdon Club…
But not really for the ears of people with brain cells that actually function.
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Thank you Tris,made my day,especially the pics of our FM.
She talks about the future whereas Johnson and his cronies eulogise about the past,which is where they belong.
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🙂 Good to know we cheered you up Bringiton!
🙂 Munguin can retire peacefully for the night.
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https://www.facebook.com/groups/218015613377370/permalink/398700855308844/
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Loved it, especially that djaymanic video.
Nicola needs to talk to the real president not the one wearing the silicon mask.
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Oh really, Kangaroo!
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When is the coup going to start? I need to go out.
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We’ll wait till you get back from the shops then.
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Owen Patterson will be out at next election I’ve no doubt probably by the Lib Dem’s .
Boris is desperate to fix the standards committee not so much for Patterson
But to protect himself.
The fact is the Torys are now robbing us not only in plain sight but also
Waving 👋 it in our faces while laughing at us all 🤷♂️
The UK 🇬🇧 these days doesn’t even rate as high as a Banana Republic
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But isn’t it Great to have a blue Great British passport? That’s what makes our Great British Union so Great.
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Great British thievery like the olden days… 🇬🇧
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I’m sure you mean to say, Great British Values, Niko.
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It appears to be the only thing that makes it GREAT as opposed to GRATE.
I haven’t got one, so I’m feeling decidedly ungreat at the moment.
Mind you, I have a friend who lives in Croatia. He has a blue passport so I expect he can tell me how it feels…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatian_passport
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I recently got a blue passport and it feels dreadful, but I want to visit family in Canada, some of whom I haven’t seen for over 4 years.
I might feel better when the Scottish cover, currently on order, comes to hide the unspeakable blue-ness.
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LOL. Remember you will have to take it off at passport control, though.
They have to fit into the reader which only accepts passports of internationally accepted dimensions.
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Yes, Niko. I think you are right. Paterson is incidental.
What really counts is the important people… Johnson, Patel, Sunak, Gove, etc.
Can’t have them being investigated.
I just had a look. He’s only 65, s I would have expected that he would stand next time round.
Still, if he doesn’t, or he loses to the Liberal Democrats, he can always pick fruit. He said pensioners should do that in these difficult times, so he can head the way.
Get the man on a cherry picker.
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A Bedeguar Republic, maybe… parasitic, and full of disgusting maggoty things.
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The mud flung by the Tories at themselves might actually stick.
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Superb.
That’s opposition at work… for the first time in a long time.
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Sounds of frantic back-peddalling going on all around.
World At One is proving interesting…
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Yep. That’s a fast U-turn, even for this lot of chancers.
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I just heard that Paterson has resigned or whatever it is they do in their slightly weird world which sets them apart from mortals, Chiltern 100s or Northanger Abbey, or is that Jane Austin. With Rees Mogg aroung who would know?
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https://www.rt.com/uk/539373-paterson-mp-corruption-accused-resign/
Did he fall or did someone with common sense prevail (although who?) and he was given an almighty shove.
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https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FDXB4cvWUAYFRQ2?format=jpg&name=small
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I see Johnson took a plane back to London to go to a bachelor party at a London gentleman’s club.
I wonder how much that cost him, erm I mean, us.
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He didn’t just “take a plane”…he took a private chartered jet.
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Yes, I’m sorry, I should have mentioned that it was a specially chartered private flight for his fat backside… Must have been in a hurry to get stuck into the free booze.
Bet he looked like he was dead the next morning.
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Yeah a really massive big fuel ⛽️ guzzling one ☝️ and flew the long way via New York just to create more pollution.
There does that make him seem even worse ????🙄
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Does he need to have things made worse?
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It looks like the US President’s diplomatic gifts are improving.
Barack Obama gave Gordon Brown a 25-disc box set of classic American films. (Gordon Brown gave Obama a pen holder carved from the timbers of an historic ship, and an expensive set of books.)
No. 10 was said to be insulted by the cheap set of DVD’s, but it got worse. When Gordon tried to play one he got a “wrong region” error message. Turns out they were only playable in North America (Region 1), and not in the UK (Region 2).
Whether they were later re-gifted to the Canadian Prime Minister is not known.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2009/mar/06/obama-dvd-brown
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mandrake/5011941/Gordon-Brown-is-frustrated-by-Psycho-in-No-10.html
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Ha ha ha ha ha ha…
It must be hard to work out what to give people you barely know, and possibly don’t like. It’s a bit like Christmas really!
I suspect that the Daily Mail wouldn’t ever have liked anything that Obama gave Brown. That said they didn’t like Brown much, given that he was a) Scottish and b) nominally Labour. But Obama was a) Democrat and b) shhhh, black!
I once bought a dvd that was Region 1.
GRRRRR.
I can’t imagine Gordon Brown watching a film, to be fair, so maybe a collection of Nokia phones that he could use to throw across the room when he gets annoyed.
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LOL Tris……You certainly have to be careful about those “Regions” when ordering DVD’s from Amazon. US and Canada in those pre-digital days was NTSC TV standard, and UK and Europe were PAL. Even now, I think that the Region specs still apply to DVD’s.
There is an interesting article on the subject of diplomatic gifts in the Times archives from back in the Reagan administration……..which probably won’t get past their paywall:
Sometimes, diplomatic gifts are lavish, but under US law, an American official cannot personally accept a gift which is worth over a “minimal value”…..presently $415 I think. (Anything more that that minimal value is by law a gift to the United States, and goes to the National Archives to be cataloged and stored.) In Henry Kissinger’s time as Secretary of State, the minimal value was $50. Once, he received a golden sword lavishly encrusted with precious stones. He turned to an aide and said something like “I’d estimate that at about $49.95.”
https://qz.com/739866/the-power-of-giving-how-to-master-the-evolving-art-of-diplomatic-gifts/
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LOL.
Yes, some richer countries give incredibly lavish gifts… mostly Middle East ones. Although, the rich countries mentioned in that article (Nordic) don’t waste money on that. Maybe that’s why they are rich.
I seem to recall that Old Liz went to Saudi, where she was treated like an honorary man, and was given priceless jewels, which, of course, like in the USA she wasn’t able to keep personally, although I think some of it was jewellery and I’m sure she wears it when she has to meet royalty form there.
She and Phil gave the King a photograph in a silver frame of the two of them. Yippee. I bet he was overwhelmed.
I guess it was thoughtful of the Obamas to buy that obnoxious child of wee Willie and Duchess Clothes Horse a rocking horse… but, if ever there was a kid that didn’t need an extra toy it was that child.
Maybe a gift to a poor kid would have been a better idea.
I like that idea of Pope Francesco. Sell the stuff off and give the money to charity.
Like that would happen here with the grippy money grubbing low life we have!!!
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Tris……Yes, if there was ever a group of people who are hard to buy a gift for, it would be the royals.
I just posted below (before reading this) the story of Obama’s gift of an iPod to the Queen….who apparently already had one. 🙂
The articles also mentioned the Queen’s standard gift of the time that you pointed out. An autographed photo of her and Phil. WOW!……..LOL.
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Yes, there is a problem buying something for these really rich people. I mean what on earth could you buy the king of Saudi Arabia?
With no exceptions, anything he might want, he would simply have.
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Tris…….It was soon after the Gordon Brown DVD faux pas that Obama was in England for a G20 summit. His gift to the Queen on that occasion was an iPod. Which also sounds a little strange, but it least the thing worked in England and was loaded with snapshots from her previous visit to the States.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/apr/02/barack-obama-presents-queen-ipod
Trouble is…….she already had an iPod. So did Obama make another gaffe with a diplomatic gift? There was more controversy.
Many years later, an iPod was spotted at Balmoral. Was it Obama’s….or the other one? As for the Queen, she always gives an autographed photograph of herself in a silver frame. Who can POSSIBLY quibble about an autographed picture?
https://www.politico.com/story/2009/04/did-obamas-ipod-gift-make-the-cut-020788
https://www.vogue.com/article/queen-elizabeth-ipod-investigation
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LOL
Well, if I’d bought her a hugely expensive jewellery thing and I got a poxy photograph of her in return, I’d be incandescent. I mean her and Phil weren’t exactly attractive to look at. It’s like the kind of thing you put away in a trunk for the next time you’re doing a run to the charity shop with your old jeans!
An iPod, yes, why not? Better than a crap photograph that cost around £10.
If you want to give Johnson anything, make it either drink or female.
As for Andrew, maybe a cake with a file hidden in it?
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LOL…….The legendary example of crap diplomatic gifts given out by American presidents was the sculpted bust of himself that Lyndon Johnson gave to Pope Paul VI. An autographed picture too I think…..LOL.
The Pope “admires” the bust while Lyndon looks on approvingly.
View at Medium.com
At least, maybe the silver frame that the Queen’s picture comes in could be sold for a few dollars. 😉
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Yeah, I guess so, Danny.
Its melt down value might buy a couple of bottles of decent French red.
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Tris……I saw this information about White House gifts on the Reagan presidential library webpage.
https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/reagans/reagan-administration/presidential-gifts
The article mentions that there’s a White House Gift office that keeps track of gifts the president receives and assures that all laws on the matter are complied with. That reminded me of a funny character on The West Wing TV series, named Bernard Thatch. He first appeared as an official of the Visitors Office, but was later the head of the White House Gift Office. Bernard was an expert on art, and he was Snooty! This clip involved a not-so-good painting that the president had admired at the National Gallery. The painting was actually owned by the French government, who then gifted the president with it.
Bernard’s foil was White House Press Secretary C.J. Cregg. Bernard: “You’re a freekish little woman.”
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LOL LOL.
He’s a freakish little man!
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Hmm !! Danno I see your Supreme Court is on the cusp.
Of making the judgment that what the good ole US of A 🇺🇸
Needs.
Is MORE guns on the streets …
Only in America 🇺🇸 …. Shame
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Niko……Yes, the Supreme Court seems poised to do away with a New York gun control law that restricts carrying guns in public.
I do always hasten point out that it’s actually the British who are responsible for the Second Amendment. We needed privately owned guns to shoot at the British army back in the day (1770’s), so the founders put it in the Bill of Rights just in case the Brits ever decided to come back. 🙂
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Since 1911 New York has had the Sullivan Law against carrying pistols in public. This was instigated by “Big Tim”Sullivan a member of the Tammany Hall gang, of Boss Tweed’s crooked politicians, who was scared of being assassinated.
It may be unfair to refer to him as a “mad Irishman” as he did not eventually die in a lunatic assylum as he escaped and was found frozen to death in a railway truck. He may well be in a warmer place now after his death.
Gwyn
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Gwyn……..That’s fascinating! I didn’t know that.
I know that gun laws in New York State are strict when compared with most of the other States, and that the gun laws in New York City are even stricter than in New York State. As I understand it, all firearms in New York City require a permit for purchase, plus a license for maintaining a gun in your home. Then, a separate permit is required to carry a firearm, and carry permits are rarely granted. However, about the current Supreme Court case, Wiki says: “On April 26, 2021, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to a case addressing the constitutionality of New York’s requirement that applicants for concealed carry permits show “proper cause.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_New_York
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A friend who worked for the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York but lived in New Jersy said that the laws there were pretty tough as well.
When he was a banker in London in about 1980 the police visited him and said that the IRA were targrting his bank. On asking him wether he had a gun and being answered no asked him to send an application for a shootgun certificate. The certificate was returned within the hour and was told to get a pump-action shotgun and a box of buckshot.
Gwyn
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Gwyn…….Amazingly fast and efficient gun certificate operation! 😉
There was an article in the NY Times a few years ago about how gun traffickers get around New York City and other big city and state gun laws by sales across state lines from states with lax gun laws.
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Danny,
This whole nation was utterly disgusted by a lunatic at Dunblane.
Here is the wiki:
——————–
Subsequent legislation
The Cullen Reports, the result of the inquiry into the Dunblane massacre, recommended that the government introduce tighter controls on handgun ownership[16] and consider whether an outright ban on private ownership would be in the public interest in the alternative (though club ownership would be maintained).[17] The report also recommended changes in school security[18] and vetting of people working with children under 18.[19] The Home Affairs Select Committee agreed with the need for restrictions on gun ownership but stated that a handgun ban was not appropriate.
A small group, known as the Gun Control Network, was founded in the aftermath of the massacre and was supported by some parents of the victims of the Dunblane and Hungerford shootings.[20] Bereaved families and their friends also initiated a campaign to ban private gun ownership, named the Snowdrop Petition because March is snowdrop time in Scotland.[21][22]
In response to this public debate, the Conservative government of Prime Minister John Major introduced the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997, which banned all cartridge ammunition handguns with the exception of .22 calibre single-shot weapons in England, Scotland and Wales. Following the 1997 general election, the Labour government of Prime Minister Tony Blair introduced the Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997, banning the remaining .22 cartridge handguns as well.[23] This left only muzzle-loading and historic handguns legal, as well as certain sporting handguns (e.g. “Long-Arms”) that fall outside the Home Office definition of a “handgun” because of their dimensions. The ban does not affect Northern Ireland.[24]
Evidence of previous police interaction with Hamilton was presented to the Cullen Inquiry but was later sealed under a closure order to prevent publication for 100 years.[25] The official reason for sealing the documents was to protect the identities of children, but this led to accusations of a coverup intended to protect the reputations of officials.[26] Following a review of the closure order by the Lord Advocate, Colin Boyd, edited versions of some of the documents were released to the public in October 2005. Four files containing post-mortems, medical records and profiles on the victims, as well as Hamilton’s post-mortem, remained sealed under the 100-year order to avoid distressing the relatives and survivors.[27]
The released documents revealed that in 1991, complaints against Hamilton were made to the Central Scotland Police and were investigated by the Child Protection Unit. He was reported to the Procurator Fiscal for consideration of ten charges, including assault, obstructing police and contravention of the Children and Young Persons Act 1937. No action was taken.
——————–
In the aftermath of that we did what any sane nation would have done and stopped slavering to gun worshipping lunatics.
Your lot have a few miles to go.
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John Major, to his credit, acted swiftly on that.
But in Scotland there is no real need for members of the public to own guns.
It’s not like when you go out of a walk in the country there’s likely to be a brown bear round the corner waiting to attack.
The only reasons anyone has guns are target shooting, killing wild animals for fun, or in limited numbers (by farmers) to protect livestock, or for criminal activities.
Mr Hamilton was, it seems a friend of Saville and Charlie Boy, which may explain the “no action”.
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Douglas, Tris…….Yes , every time there’s a new mass shooting here, there are calls for action on gun safety. But nothing significant ever happens. The NRA (National Rifle Association) (which has become a right wing political organization) is in financial and legal trouble now, but it still exerts considerable political influence opposing gun control. As the Times article pointed out, the vast differences in state laws involving handguns and open carry laws help to defeat local state and big city gun control ordinances, which are very strict in New York, California, Illinois, etc.
As we’ve discussed, one could honor the historical connection between the Second Amendment (the second of the constitutional Bill of Rights) with the use of privately owned guns during the revolution….and the need of personal and family protection on the American frontier…….and still ban guns and ammunition whose only conceivable purpose is to kill people.
These days, wildlife is better protected (by strict wildlife conservation laws and rigidly controlled hunting seasons, numbers killed, etc) than people. Farmers and ranchers can no longer kill endangered species such as the timber wolf and mountain lion, and the losses of livestock for example are reimbursed by federal law. If you kill a Grizzly Bear who is not endangering you for example, you are in BIG trouble with the feds. Strictly speaking, I understand that it’s illegal to kill a rattlesnake in Utah (at least an indigenous Utah species), although I doubt that anyone has ever actually been prosecuted for killing a rattler on their property. 🙂
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Um, what about self defence, Danny?
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Tris…….the various state laws on the subject no doubt generally have judicial wording that recognizes self-defense as a valid defense against criminal penalties. On the federal level, Wiki says:
“The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA or “The Act”; 16 U.S.C. § 15″31 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting imperiled species.”
Under “Penalties”, Wiki says:
“One provision of this law is that no penalty may be imposed if, by a preponderance of the evidence that the act was in self-defense. The law also eliminates criminal penalties for accidentally killing listed species during farming and ranching activities.”
So it sounds like if you kill a Grizzly Bear for example, you better have a good story for the feds about what happened. An affidavit from the bear that he meant you bodily harm would no doubt be helpful. 😉
People who work in bear country may carry a heavy hand gun, but would seldom shoot a bear. A powerful chemical agent commonly called “Bear Spray” is usually carried, and is a powerful deterrent to bear attack.
As for the state laws:
“Section 6 of the Endangered Species Act provided funding for development of programs for management of threatened and endangered species by state wildlife agencies. Subsequently, lists of endangered and threatened species within their boundaries have been prepared by each state. These state lists often include species which are considered endangered or threatened within a specific state but not within all states, and which therefore are not included on the national list of endangered and threatened species. Examples include Florida, Minnesota, and Maine.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_Species_Act_of_1973
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Ah…
Dear Mr Bear, could you please just sign here to say that if I hadn’t shot you, you would have killed me and eaten me?
Thank you very much
Yours sincerely
A Hunter, Esq
It’s good to know that there are now things you can get to scare bears…
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Tris……LOL…..LOL.
Bear spray is quite effective in deflecting bear or other wild animal attack without injuring the animal……even big brown “Grizzly” bears. Good to have with you if you’re hiking in the back country of the West.
Some of the insurrectionist Trump forces who attacked the Capitol to overturn the last election were armed with bear spray.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_spray
Some Yellowstone Park rangers using a blast of bear spray to protect a group of bears from tourists. 😉
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Poor things. They need protecting from tourists.
I think Mace is illegal here.
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Tris…..The laws vary here among the states and local jurisdictions of course. I’m sure there are places here where Mace is illegal, but you can buy the stronger stuff…..Bear Spray. I don’t really know how that all works legally. 🙂
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I wonder if you can buy corrupt politicians spray!!! We have more need of that
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LOL LOL.
When you look around the world, the Brits are indeed, responsible for so many things. Most of them bad,
Trump lives on through the Supreme Court.
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Err Sorry 😢 Danno all our fault 😝
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Reading about the Dunblaine case at the time no gun club for miles around wanted him as a member but he had friends in high places which allowed him to own guns when he was not a member of a club.
To placate the lynch mobs the government decided to punish anyone they disliked. Pistol shooting was mainly a working class sport as all it needed was a 25 yard range which could be indoors and where most people lived.
The longer the barrels you use seem to be the posher y Deer stalking rifles and double barrelled shotguns so rthe hoi-poloi were sacrificed.
Punishing innocents is the way of the fascist whether you be jewish, black or a gunowner. Also wnen people who have no regard for liberty and fairness rule watch out as who would like to live under the taliban type of state where anything not liked can be banned.
Gwyn
Ch
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Niko, Tris……I do enjoy a good, tongue-in-cheek rant about how the English are responsible for every evil in the modern world, due to their mismanagement of the world in the days of empire. I’m always careful to blame the English in particular, since I figure that Scotland, Wales, and Ireland suffered more at the hands of the English than anyone else. 😉
There was however (I just discovered) a “71st Regiment of Foot”…..called “Fraser’s Highlanders.” Wiki: “The regiment was raised at Inverness, Stirling and Glasgow by Lieutenant-General Simon Fraser of Lovat as the 71st Regiment of Foot in 1775. It was intended for service in the American Revolutionary War….[Fraser’s Highlanders] arrived in New York City in July 1776 and the regiment was attacked by American troops on arrival at Boston Harbor.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/71st_Regiment_of_Foot,_Fraser%27s_Highlanders
But I digress! Indeed, the greatest power that the president has is the long term constitutional and judicial effect of Supreme Court appointments.
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