Zompist Bboard Again

In theory, parliament can continue to apply punishments if the contempt continues. And don't discount the importance of a suspension, particularly right now - when the government's got a majority of under a dozen even with the help of other parties, it can't afford to have MPs on gardening leave. A...

Apparently Bercow has accepted the contempt motion. I personally find it very odd that the government (a) thinks it can defy the will of Parliament and (b) the consequences are just a slap on the wrist, not correcting the behaviour. If you break the law, normally the consequences are that you are f...

At this point I feel like I'm not so much gunning for reform of the system, because the amount of baggage that has built up over the years is still kind of hilarious even in these completely depressing times, but rather that some weird-minded irredentist would try and resurrect the old kingdom of N...

The BBC has a big scoop: Skai Jackson's face used to sell fried chicken.

Did it!? Was it acting unilaterally!??

So, constitutional crisis of the day! You may remember, recently Parliament passed a legally binding act to demand that the Government release "any legal advice, in full" it has received over May's proposed Brexit deal. The Government, however, has decided that the new law shouldn't have b...

From what I understand, it was originally /twɑː/, then raised to /twoː/ during the Great Vowel Shift, then further raised to /twuː/. w > ∅ / C_V[+round], see "who", "whore", "sword", but contrast "swoon", "swollen". swollen presumably sees reinstate...

One possible way out does occur to me: the rebels could back Labour in a VONC, and use that to demand May's resignation or replacement, then could have their new PM win a VOC within eleven days to avoid elections. But, since a real Tory leadership election lasts longer than eleven days, this would ...

I think there's a lot of deer-in-headlights syndrome here, yes. And it's not just one lorry! First, a lot of Tories see a fundamental ideological issue with the backstop, and won't vote for it at any price Second, the DUP see a fundamental ideological issue with treating NI differently, and won't vo...

So, nine more days before anything is allowed to happen in British politics. Word is, people are actually leaving May's corner rather than joining it, so it's not clear even why we're waiting at this point. May has said she won't renegotiate the deal (and so have the EU): it's this or nothing. She's...

Which is interesting because etymologically they're the same word even in English. Spelling pronunciation can be subtle. I have them the same, but i think if someone said the word in isolation i would be able to guess which one they meant from intonation. As is the case with wood/would. I just look...

Anybody with /ju/ in recuperate ? I've only ever heard it with a plain /u/, but it looks like a straightforward Latin loanword, so I'd expect the /ju/ pronunc to be the standard. I have it as a conscious careful pronunciation for the reason that you give, but my naturally acquired pronunciation has...

Proto-Aereic has a- and i-augments on nouns and verbs. They don't actually do anything, but they're there, except when they disappear occasionally. The reason they exist is because at some point I decided that the vast majority of Proto-Aereic roots were disyllabic, and that trisyllabic roots were ...

Do you think he's Portillo 2.0? He had a similar creepiness factor: shiny amphibian skin, a weird smile, and a perception of untrustworthiness. Or Michael Howard, who looked and sounded during his election campaign as leader like he was trying to lure children into the back of a van. ... in fact, w...

Relatedly, how bad is Michael Gove really, on a scale from "run of the mill Tory" to "thing that should not be"? (I suppose I'd be suprised at how narrow that range actually is.) Honestly, he's not that bad. He has some silly notions - he tried to personally (literally personall...

Huat! Gāsa-Denhō thāsō hāsāth aba glōirō uī, aba theod-cuinningem in dagem ieorō, ād hū framtēn ēht herō atheleng; Sceald oft Scābinga fram slōgō scathin fram manegēm theodom, miod-setlen abatāh, ād agesōid thā Irelēn, bisioith āirsta hī fand gahista uarth; dīned fāth hī fuilgedē ta thamm; uagsdi h...

There's a TV show here called simply Gordon Ramsay on Cocaine

Well, phthisie is an old spelling. :) There's also phtalate (English phthalate). Yes, very rare, but the French man up and plow through those initial clusters (cf. pneu, psychologie, ptérodactyle) where we skip the first consonant. Speak for yourself! I've always heard phthisis and phthalate with /...

Of course, it might not matter, since we may all be dead by then. One of those fun No Deal facts: our water purification systems run on chemicals imported from the EU, which cannot be stockpiled as they are volatile with a short shelf-life. The government expects water purification plants to stop o...

According to the Torygraph: it emerged that a Downing Street task force set up to save Brexit is already resigned to losing the vote on the deal, and is engaged in damage limitation. Aides reportedly believe that if Mrs May loses the vote on December 11 by more than 100 votes she will have to resig...

Yes, the US has NSA backdoors (e.g. the ones suspected to exist in every Intel and AMD processor) and national security letters and so on. You can be compelled to give up information if you are not under investigation for any crimes committed (the fact that you cannot be forced to give up informati...