Henry Tanguy

Grumpy old lawyer; prosaic with too many history books and not enough literature

[Henry Tanguy @HenryTanguy]

@nialloconghaile I very much doubt that the UK is in any shape to contemplate negotiating for EFTA-EEA type Single Market arrangements, much less EU membership, until the near-bottomless ignorance of how the EU works among the public and political class is rectified.

[Henry Tanguy @HenryTanguy]

@nialloconghaile Given the official UK attitude toward long stays by foreign nationals largely shared by both major political parties, it's astounding that anyone in England thinks an asymmetrical FoM initiative would be met by anything better than raised eyebrows and pursed lips.

[Henry Tanguy @HenryTanguy]

@SimonWhiteley6 @charlotsmoore There is a scrappage scheme but it's not very well funded (gee, can't imagine why, given the Department of Transport's "generosity" with London during the pandemic) . . .

[Henry Tanguy @HenryTanguy]

@robertwoolley @msjanebond007 @Otto_English @drmpwalsh Exactly -- vehicles eight years and older. If we're talking about vehicles in daily use, and particularly commercial vehicles, you can well imagine how well-advanced they are in terms of useful life . . .

[Henry Tanguy @HenryTanguy]

@robertwoolley @msjanebond007 @Otto_English @drmpwalsh In terms of the tenor of the post-mortems on Uxbridge and South Ruislip, it should be noted that tradespeople for a variety of reasons were already hardened anti-Khan so ULEZ was hardly a "swing" factor . . .

[Henry Tanguy @HenryTanguy]

@robertwoolley @msjanebond007 @Otto_English @drmpwalsh Fine, there are likely to be economic hardship cases not addressed by the transitional subsidies (which are not lavishly funded, as if anything other performative cruelty against refugees is these days), but there's a lot of misery in this country at the moment to share.

[Henry Tanguy @HenryTanguy]

@robertwoolley @msjanebond007 @Otto_English @drmpwalsh It has also apparently escaped the notice of the opinion elite that we're not all paying the charge for driving non-ULEZ vehicles because, mirabile dictu, most of us has ULEZ-compliant vehicles. The furore is about the "right" of a few people to keep old bangers on the road.

[Henry Tanguy @HenryTanguy]

@dissident_the @MarinaHyde British history is replete with examples of how the British State has managed to renew itself through reform after first allowing the rot to set in -- but today we lack even the resolution to restore the crumbling seat of Government itself in the Palace of Westminster.

[Henry Tanguy @HenryTanguy]

@dissident_the @MarinaHyde The contrast between the "outrage" over Farage having to make do with a normal NatWest bank account and the bottomless cruelty and toxicity of the punishments endured by the innocent subpostmasters could not better illustrate the rot of complacency and corruption in Westminster.

[Henry Tanguy @HenryTanguy]

This clearcut observation can't be repeated enough -- and hard-working people aspiring to wealth shouldn't be bamboozled by the tiny handful who are hoarding real wealth and grasping for even more.

[Will Hutton @williamnhutton]

Abolish inheritance tax? This in a country where bad nutrition means we have among the smallest five year olds in Europe reports the Lancet - but Farnborough is the busiest private airport. One in ten flights are private. Let’s get real about wealth inequality.

[Henry Tanguy @HenryTanguy]

@hhesterm @DA_vienna Hearty congratulations -- please don't forget the embattled Europeans you are leaving behind here in the UK, especially keeping us on our toes with your insights and hard but necessary questions we must keep asking of ourselves to restore Britain to its proper place in Europe.

[Henry Tanguy @HenryTanguy]

@GeorgePeretzKC @danielrembrandt In addition, the built-in small state bias in the Senate has become ludicrous as the disproportionate representation of states with populations smaller than The Bronx gives the Senate a distinctive odour of rotten borough . . .

[Henry Tanguy @HenryTanguy]

@danielrembrandt @APHClarkson Where on earth did people who grew up with the Empire receding rapidly and Suez exposing Britain as subordinate to the two superpowers get the idea that the tide of history could be reversed, even as their parents determined to join the European Community?

[Henry Tanguy @HenryTanguy]

@colinrtalbot How else could a Johnson "comeback" after the Truss débâcle have been contemplated by any but a tiny handful of Tory MPs while the fall-out from his disgrace was still irradiating them with the voting public? So long as the media proprietors indulge this behaviour it won't stop.

[Henry Tanguy @HenryTanguy]

@colinrtalbot Magical thinking has dominated Tory politics ever since the Brexit Referendum hangover wore off and they started down a road of simply denying unpalatable reality, greatly assisted by a mass media likewise uninterested in facts as opposed to "stories".

[Henry Tanguy @HenryTanguy]

@CambeulJan @colinrtalbot @oldtrotter Once Governments lose interest in pushing nuclear power as a component of a national energy and environmental strategy, it's very challenging for a non-governmental enterprise to take on the panoply of risks relative to alternatives.

[Henry Tanguy @HenryTanguy]

@CambeulJan @colinrtalbot @oldtrotter Until a unit gets regulatory authorisation for construction (much less licensed) I think it's premature to characterise it as "doing well in development", given history of nuclear power in delivering anything resembling "fast" and in hailing distance of budgeted cost estimates.