The state of the UK

[Brian Peacock]

These Poots are made for walking...

[JimC]

[Hermit]

Nothing those North Irelanders do compoots.

[Scot Dutchy]

Yep when you slide gravitation takes over and the DUP are really sliding. Unification will be the only answer to NI's woes.

[Brian Peacock]

I fear they'll mobilise violence before they let that happen.

[Scot Dutchy]

Will they have any choice when the province is heading for the shitter?

[Brian Peacock]

They're science denying religious ideologues. They don't care about trivial things like facts, evidence, and reality - or even what the people might think.

[Scot Dutchy]

Being dogmatic at the cost of everything is a dangerous course and one that will lead to extinction politically.

[Svartalf]

I fear they'll mobilise violence before they let that happen.

I suspect they will go on causing Troubles even AFTER it has happened...

[Svartalf]

Will they have any choice when the province is heading for the shitter?

Better a British shitter than an Irish economic paradise.

[Svartalf]

Being dogmatic at the cost of everything is a dangerous course and one that will lead to extinction politically.

Which does explain the self dissolution of Sinn Féin about a century ago?

[Scot Dutchy]

A question of time?

UK criticises Leo Varadkar over united Ireland comments

Irish deputy PM’s remarks ‘unhelpful and ill-advised’, says Northern Ireland secretary

The British government has rebuked Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Leo Varadkar, for saying he believed there could be a united Ireland within his lifetime.

Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, told the Commons on Wednesday the comments were “unhelpful and ill-advised”.

The blunt reprimand came amid a fresh effort to defuse a political row in Northern Ireland that threatens to collapse its power-sharing government.

Boris Johnson told the Commons that people in Northern Ireland wanted a “stable, functioning and mature executive”. The prime minister said a deal in 2020 that revived the region’s assembly and executive – and included a commitment to Irish-language legislation – should be implemented.

Lewis is to meet the region’s party leaders in Belfast later on Wednesday to discuss an impasse over Irish-language legislation that has hobbled the executive and could trigger early elections.

Sinn Féin wants the British government to bypass the executive and assembly at Stormont and to pass the legislation at Westminster, but some unionist leaders have warned London to not intervene.

The language row has aggravated tension over a separate flashpoint – the post-Brexit Irish Sea border – that has fuelled loyalist street protests and rancour between London and Brussels.

Varadkar, 42, made a pointed intervention on Tuesday night in Dublin when he told the annual conference of his Fine Gael party that both sides of the island could be united in his lifetime.

“We should be proud to say that unification is something we aspire to. It should be part of our mission as a party to work towards it. We can do so in many ways,” he said.

“Unification must not be the annexation of Northern Ireland. It means something more, a new state designed together, a new constitution and one that reflects the diversity of a binational or multinational state in which almost a million people are British. Like the new South Africa, a rainbow nation, not just orange and green.”

Ireland’s deputy prime minister said the views of unionists must be understood and respected but that no one group had a veto on Ireland’s future. He said Fine Gael may start to organise, but not contest elections, in Northern Ireland.

Varadkar’s comments – unusually limpid for a centrist party accustomed to woolier sentiments about a united Ireland – followed a surge in support for Sinn Féin, the main opposition party in the republic.

A question of time...

[Scot Dutchy]

The UK is really fucked.

UK Covid live: Hancock suggests ‘stress’ was factor in Boris Johnson calling him ‘totally useless’

Latest updates: health secretary refuses to say whether he and PM have spoken about issue, but says it feels like ‘ancient history’

Johnson says it will be 'difficult year for travel', playing down hopes of significant easing of restrictions soon

Boris Johnson has played down the prospects of any significant easing of travel restrictions for people in England wanting a foreign holiday any time soon.

At the last review of the rules placing countries on the green, amber or red list for travel, Portugal was downgraded, moving from green to amber, meaning that travellers would have to quarantine on their return. The rules are due to be reviewed every three weeks, which suggests an update should be coming on Thursday.

But, in an interview this morning, Johnson implied there might be little, if any, change. He said:

I want to stress that this is going to be - whatever happens - a difficult year for travel.

There will be hassle, there will be delays, I am afraid, because the priority has got to be to keep the country safe and stop the virus coming back in.

Not for his friends of course. Chumocracy.

[Brian Peacock]

Johnson actually called him, "totally fucking useless." It's always handy to have a few incompetents around - you can pin the blame on them when you get found out.

[Scot Dutchy]

Chumocracy in action:

Funding for deprived schools in England has shifted to wealthy areas, study finds

Poorer students suffering as the government’s national funding formula results in increased payments to affluent schools

Government promises to level-up funding in education have resulted in money being shifted away from schools in the most disadvantaged areas and invested in pupils in more prosperous areas of England, according to the official parliamentary spending watchdog.

A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) found average per-pupil funding in the most deprived fifth of schools fell in real terms by 1.2% between 2017-18 and 2020-21, while it increased by 2.9% in the least deprived fifth.

It follows the implementation of the government’s new national funding formula in 2018-19 which introduced a minimum level of per pupil funding across England, triggering increased payments to schools in wealthier areas of the country with traditionally lower funding levels and leaving schools in cities with high levels of deprivation worse off.

The report was published on Friday amid mounting evidence elsewhere of the disproportionate impact of Covid on already disadvantaged pupils. Official new government data revealed that disadvantaged pupils who were eligible for free school meals (FSM) had higher rates of Covid-related absence from school during the autumn term than their wealthier peers. It also found that children from most ethnic minority backgrounds missed more school than their white classmates.