Andrew Fisher

In the nature of things, consent can't be obtained by deception. So it seems right to me.

Not if turnout is different. Racists aren't a random sample of the British population.

Difficult to compare a council by-election to a GE surely? Very different turnout and voter behaviour.

Yeah, I agree, 2e was an actually playable game which I quite enjoyed (and still own). Did people do playtesting back in those days?

Me too. Almost put me off for life!

Won't help with winning back the votes of their mums either...

I agree that this should be obvious to anyone who remembers twentieth century Britain. It is weird how little we do remember our own recent past.

I still have a chip on my shoulder about you getting a letter read out by Phillip Schofield. Anyway, enjoy Paris. Good luck when the President finally does call.

I think so. In Houghton-le-Spring?

It looks like a fair sized cake. Surely they have to let you finish it before the President calls you?

I am really sorry to hear that Smita. There are lots of us who value what you add and would miss you if you weren't here.

You are bang on. An extraordinarily bad exhibit.

It's a bit shocking that this even needs stating.

I hadn't seen the OBC link before. Thanks for that

That's a shame

Fond memories of this site. When I worked at UEL my eldest was a tiny baby and she's at Uni now.

Astonishing what a huge role he played, and how small the mark he left on the historiography of the war.

I can understand that, but there are so few morally defensible wars that that feels tantamount to cancelling almost every medal ever awarded. It's just too radical for me.

Just for the avoidance of doubt I agree with this completely.

I'm not that knowledgeable about Wounded Knee so I can't debate you on the specifics, but in principle that seems fair to me. 'Just following orders' isn't a defence, but orders and some other mitigating circumstances might be.

yes sure, but we don't generally hold soldiers accountable for the lawfulness of the wars they fight in, whereas we do (sometimes!) hold them accountable when they take part in war crimes. That's the distinction I'm trying to articulate.

Is that true though? While Rorke's Drift was certainly fought in the service of Empire it seems distinguishable from incidents like the Amritsar Massacre.

OTOH their theory of victory wasn't a very good one.

Is it dangerous? I think he has always chosen to deepen his connection with his fans rather than to broaden his base of support whenever the two are in conflict. He's very accomplished at finding the line and treading it.

I was today years old when I learned this, but I guess acronyms were less common when NACA was founded?

More generally if you look at www.sipri.org/sites/defaul... you will see that France or Italy (for e.g.) have growing arms sales, but the UK does not. So there is some basis for (economic) doomsterism even here

Yes, on the scale of the national economy £10bn is pretty small. It is enough to keep the University of Oxford running for a couple of years, so you can see how it can be good news in a particular community without making much difference nationally.

Joseph Bonaparte - Wikipedia

Sure, but OP was comparing the state power of revolutionary (and implicitly Napoleonic) France to the previous monarchy. So the point is that Franco didn't get to restore a Bonaparte: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_...

Counterpoint: Louis XIV took on most of Europe in the War of Spanish Succession and there's still a Bourbon on the throne of Spain.

The UoL case also established that the degree awarding powers remain with the teaching business, not the legal entity. Which makes a difference if you are selling a going concern rather than just the premises.