#poor Northern Ireland Scotland and wales

[rabbitcruiser]

Boxing Day

The best way to celebrate the day is to take part in festivities in a country where Boxing Day is a bank holiday or public holiday. Watch some soccer, rugby, or cricket games, or go on a traditional fox hunt. If you can’t be in a country where these events are taking place, you could still get together with family and friends and eat leftovers from Christmas, or make some foods traditionally eaten on Boxing Day. You could also go shopping, as this is another important part of the day in many countries.

Boxing Day takes place the day after Christmas and is primarily observed in the United Kingdom, where it started, as well as in countries that were once part of the British crown. There are a few possible theories as to how it got started, but its exact origin is unclear.

One theory says it was inspired by Christmas boxes. In seventeenth-century Great Britain, boxes holding a present or gratuity were given to tradesman and workers in service industries for their previous year’s work. This went back to an even earlier tradition where servants would wait on and serve their rich masters on Christmas Day and would visit and celebrate with their own families on the day after Christmas. Their rich masters would sometimes give them a box with leftover food, a bonus, or another type of gift.

The day may have also stemmed from alms boxes that were put in Anglican churches on Christmas Day or during Advent and opened on the day after Christmas. These boxes collected money for the poor. Similarly, boxes were put outside of churches to collect money on Saint Stephen’s Day, which is held the day after Christmas. The events in the song “Good King Wenceslas” take place on Saint Stephen’s Day. The song recounts a story of King Wenceslas, a Bohemian king of the tenth century, bringing food and wine to a poor man. There is one other possible source for the beginning of the day. Ships once set sail containing a box of money for good luck. If the trip was a success, the box would be given to a priest, and he would open it on Christmas and give its contents to the poor.

Boxing Day has been a bank holiday in England, Wales, North Ireland, and Canada since 1871. It is celebrated in Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, and Nigeria. It is celebrated in Hong Kong, where the United Kingdom held sovereignty until 1997. In Ireland and in parts of Spain, it is known as Saint Stephen’s Day. It is celebrated as Second Christmas Day in some European countries, such as Poland, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands; it is celebrated as such in Scandinavia as well. Boxing Day is generally not celebrated in the United States.

In some countries where it is celebrated as a bank holiday or public holiday, it is observed a day or two after December 26. If December 26 takes place on a Saturday, it may be observed the following Monday. If December 26 is on a Sunday, it may be observed on the following Tuesday. This is not always the case, however, as it is often observed on a Sunday if it falls on a Sunday.

Boxing Day is a day of the gathering of family and friends. Leftovers from Christmas are commonly eaten. Popular foods include baked ham, mince pies, Christmas cakes, and other desserts. In many countries of celebration, it is a shopping day similar to Black Friday. Sales take place and many retailers run them the whole week. Although, in some places, such as in parts of Canada, stores aren’t allowed to be open, in order to give families time to be together instead.

Sports are an important part of Boxing Day. In the United Kingdom, the top football (soccer) leagues of England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland play games. Lower leagues play games as well, and rugby leagues also hold matches. In various countries, events of other sports, such as cricket, horse racing, yacht racing, hockey, and boxing are often held to celebrate the day. Fun runs and swims in the cold English Channel take place. Fox hunting meets have been held for hundreds of years. A law passed in 2004, which went into effect the following year, banned the use of dogs to attack animals during hunts. But hunters have still used their dogs to chase artificial scents on the day, and have still gone on hunts where dogs are used to flush out foxes, but not to attack them.

Boxing Day, also known as Saint Stephen’s Day and Second Christmas Day, is being observed today! It has always been observed annually on December 26th.

Source

[balladofthewhitehorse]

14, 19, 28, and 46 for whomever you'd like!

Thank you for your ask! I appreciate it, I’ll answer these with England (and others, depending on my muse which is- fickle. Love how my brain can spend an hour and a half researching a singular event in Irish history, but not even lift a neuron to glance at my still unfinished fics).

Were they involved at school? Sports? Clubs? Debate? Were they unconnected?

This is a kind of hard one to answer given the lack of a curriculum or even any formal schooling outside of the clergy in the Anglo-Saxon era (the era I consider England to be spawned into like some shrub come to life); He would’ve mostly learned hands on from his father and his brother, learning how to defend himself and speak latin (Wessex would’ve most likely taught how to write in runic, with England learning how to write latin later on during Alfred the Great’s reign, who’s known for promoting education during the Saxon times and proposing for primary education to be conducted in English - making it more accessible to the those that weren’t just clergy or nobility, most likely).

The same would go for Scotland and Wales (in their own respective languages too, with Wales obviously learning Cymraeg while Scotland learned Gaelic and later on Scots as the language developed); All three of them are more familiar with learning skills as they go, far better with their hands than anything else. England even had a short while with Normandy learning French (and of all things, embroidery, mostly from sitting with France who acted as a bit of an impromptu babysitter whenever Normandy was away or too busy to focus on this new territory he’d gained).

The idea of sitting at a desk, listening to the teacher tell you things is a bit of a Victorian thing.

That. Is exactly what Northern Ireland is very familiar with: The poor mite was often a bit of an odd-one-out, initially homeschooled until Ireland decided it might be better for him to interact with people…more his age (or at least looking more his age). He did find it hard to connect, it is not uncommon for England, Scotland and Wales to forget that Northern Ireland at his core, no matter how youthful, that he is a nation. Northern Ireland had a bit of a tendency to flare up or argue with others, known to the teachers as a bit of a trouble-maker - which, of course: Scotland, Wales, England and Ireland all simultaneously gave one another the side-eye, wondering just where that came from.

The reality of it is that Northern Ireland is a deeply empathetic individual - and he’s very aware of all the little things that stop him from being allowed to simply exist. He takes part in the football club (but of course,) and the rugby club - as well as Irish hurling, mostly because it’s something he and Ireland can do together (like it or lump it, Ireland is probably the closest to understanding N. Ireland than anyone else here). Northern Ireland is prone to thinking his problems are very, very small compared to the others - it is hard to get a word in edgewise when they won’t stop talking about this or that battle (England, in particular, seems to have zero remorse about casually remarking on his father’s death occuring right in front of him).

But, nations have a way of feeling the impact of things on their land; Physical, Mental…it’s all the same to them, and Northern Ireland is a student throughout all of this…sucks, innit?

What were your character’s deepest disillusions? In life? What are they now?

England? England? England hasn’t even begun to crawl entirely from his disillusions.

The first one is the fact Wales doesn’t consider him a brother anymore. It was quite the shock when he realized, and initially England was very defensive; He was quick to push the blame onto her and spew vitriol. In recent years, it’s…better between them, but England always feels subtly disappointed that they’re not as close as they used to be - and well, all signs point to England as the main reason why, which…

Is the second disillusion. England is not a pleasant person to know; His actions have reasons, they’re guided by (twisted) morality and it’s not surprising that he’s like this. Yet, it must be said that England does not recognise himself as the villain, does not immediately connect the dots that all the things that have happened between then and now with Scotland and Wales, are entirely because of him. Spite, bitterness, loss…certainly, Scotland and Wales had their moments (Wales did ambush England in the midst of a forest and nearly decapitate him, but to be fair, England was invading her), but England was slow on the uptake to say the least and extremely arrogant, with…quite frankly alarming conceptions of what family and protection were - Normandy wasn’t exactly the grandest role model, but it’s not enough to wash England of the blood. He realizes this now, of course, and it’s a great shame - but perhaps the next disillusion is most likely…

The idea that he can never get better. It seems foreign to him that he could get better; He seems almost content to stew and it’s…tiring, frustrating trying to change when you know things are never going to go back to before. England struggles with the concept, with the satisfaction of retribution denied; Scotland and Wales are not going to retaliate, they are not going to seek revenge on him - nor is anyone else, and this deeply unsettles England who is all too familiar with the old adage of an eye for an eye, and a knife for the ribs.

As for the disillusions of the past, I will quickly two below:

The idea that Normandy cared for him as more than a vassal: England took a long time to come to terms with the fact his brotherhood was less than ideal and it was unfair of Normandy to have just left him with France, though at this point England was already winding up to fight with her, vicious and dog-toothed.

The idea that France was little more than a villain; For a long time, he tucked away any pleasant memories that had been shared between them - England had a tendency to think in shades of black and white back then, viewing France as an oppressor in its entirety. To him, she seemed to be a grown-up - but now, England views such a time as the feuding between two children; One of which was only a little older than the other.

Who is your character’s mate? How do they relate to him or her? How did they make their choice?

Hmm, I’ll answer this one for Scotland because I think it’s a tad easier with Scotland in comparison to Wales and England; He’s quite introverted for the most part, preferring peace and quiet in comparison to more social pursuits, but Scotland does have one close friend: Ireland. Obvious answer, but it just makes so much sense. While certainly they’ve had their ups and downs, with Scotland not always seeing eye to eye with Ireland (they are two individuals after-all, and there are plenty of situations where Scotland did not always do right by her - do please remember Scotland’s role in the Ulster Plantations/British Empire), but fundamentally they have each others back these days.

Scotland and Ireland have almost the same neuroses; Scotland doesn’t like insects while Ireland feels queasy about the prospect of mould, and so they tend to be very clean about their spaces around them. They’re also quite similar in humour, being very dry and quick-witted, with Ireland often affectionately teasing Scotland (‘’William Wallace wasn’t a drag queen-’’ ‘’He’s wearing a skirt and has a full face of foundation, Scotland’’ - Derry Girls, 2022). It’s not uncommon for some people to assume they’re dating, but Scotland is an AroAce icon and Ireland is just not into Scotland in that way.

I am not…really sure what the question means by ‘how did they make their choice’ mostly because it was more of a natural conclusion to them. Something that just happened naturally over time, through periods of ups and downs, finally settling into something comfortable. A good friendship, one that got them through periods of time, and perhaps the one that makes them feel the most close to human.

Is your character tall? Short? What about size? Weight? Posture? How do they feel about their physical body?

This is going to make the England-Stan Anon (pspspsps) very annoyed, but England is fat, always was to varying degrees. He did have an awkward growth spurt from chubby little rosy-cheeked infant to some sort of lanky teenager, but filled out quickly; Lanky teenagers have no place on a battlefield and England had to get used to wearing suits of armour…especially given his weapon of a choice was a fucking war-hammer, is anyone surprised to find him quite thick-set? As he grew up, he rounded out - and these days, England is more a little soft than solid due to a lifetime now mostly sedentary - and in his opinion, much more happy. Gone are aching muscles and hunger pangs, gone was the constant need to be on-guard, and now he can just enjoy the sweet treats he desires.

(Sweets back then were far, far less affordable.)

England is about 5’’9, just shy of beating Wales’ height; And yet, he still seems to tower over others, in part due to how he carries himself - constantly a brooding expression on his face, thick (one scarred and the other a prosthetic) arms crossed over his chest, big round belly only making him seem that much more formidable. Yet, one can recognise that England feels more at ease - He doesn’t walk so fast anymore, far less in a hurry, and he seems to genuinely for the first time take care of his appearance; England’s hair was a bird’s nest of greasy hair, England going in spirals and just simply hacking it off, too frustrated to do anything with it and just…generally feeling terrible about how he looked. He rarely thought about what he wore, mostly utilizing whatever fit the standards of the time - and now those expectations, those weighty standards are gone and England is much more satisfied now.

For a start, he’s not hiding his scars so much - he used to be ashamed of his missing arm, but these days, England recognises it as another part of himself; He’s more accepting of his disability and much more attentive about how he dresses and whether or not it makes him happy. Good lord, England absolutely went mad for the punk scene when it swept through England, I’ll tell you that much. He still has the studded leather jacket in his closet and wears it on occasion - and his hair is longer now, more brushed and genuinely healthier.

So in short, England’s in a much better place about his physical body.

[maximumwobblerbanditdonut]

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic 😷 did not affect all aspects of SH's life. He and his co-stars, including the director (pictured), broke the British film industry's Covid-19 guidelines.

There were COVID-19 restrictions for cast and crew in the UK. Film and HETV production was permitted in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. These restrictions covered all aspects of the production process.

Throughout the pandemic in the UK, SH declared himself an exception by allowing himself to break the law. The issue of “one rule for him and another for the rest of us” raised his head frequently. Don’t come here like a poor guy if you never obeyed the COVID-19 law like every one of us that took steps to reduce the risk.

Everybody Knows What You Did During the Pandemic 🤡 🐰

#COVIDIOT

[beeseverywhen]

A United Nations committee has accused the UK government of demonising disabled people and treating them as “undeserving citizens” by preparing to fund tax cuts through slashing disability benefits.

Members of the UN’s committee on the rights of disabled people provided a string of examples of how the government had continued to breach its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

They pointed to a benefits system that traumatised claimants and led to some taking their own lives; increasing rates of institutionalisation; and a disproportionate number of disabled people who were now too poor to heat their own homes or buy food.

The committee’s Australian vice-chair, Rosemary Kayess, said the social security system and rhetoric from ministers “devalues disabled people and undermines their human dignity”, and she suggested the government had breached its treaty obligations to “combat stereotypes, prejudices and harmful practices relating to disabled people”.

Kayess told a delegation of civil servants in Geneva that there was evidence of “regression” in how the UK government was meeting its obligations under the convention.

The committee was cross-examining the delegation, which included representatives from the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, on progress since the UK government was found guilty of grave and systematic violations of the UN convention in 2016 as a result of breaches of articles on social security, employment and independent living.

Following the session, and the “significant” amount of written and oral evidence provided by disabled people, disabled people’s organisations and allies, the committee will now prepare a report on its findings.

Kayess, a human rights lawyer and Australia’s new disability discrimination commissioner, told the UK’s delegation on Monday: “We see a reform agenda that is framed in a political narrative that demonises disabled people, including proposals to cut disability benefits to reward working people by cutting taxes, which tells disabled people they are undeserving citizens.

“And this is coupled with an onerous and complex social benefit system that is the basis for trauma and preventable mental distress.”

Kayess said the committee had found a “pervasive framework and rhetoric that devalues disabled people and undermines their human dignity” within the social security system, and she suggested the government had breached its obligations under the convention to “combat stereotypes, prejudices and harmful practices relating to disabled people”.

She said: “Reforms within social welfare benefits are premised on a notion that disabled people are undeserving and skiving off and defrauding the system.

“This has resulted in hate speech and hostility towards disabled people.”

She also pointed to “increasing rates of institutionalisation” of disabled people, including those “living in secure psychiatric facilities due to a lack of community-based support”, and others forced into residential homes because of inadequate care and support.

And she highlighted evidence of increased use of “restraints, restrictive practices and coercive measures” in institutions, and the shortage of safe, accessible housing.

She also questioned whether the government had failed to meet its obligations to “closely” and “actively” consult disabled people’s organisations when drawing up its National Disability Strategy.

Just as it did in 2016, the committee raised significant concerns about the “complex and onerous” work capability assessment process, and the use of “inexperienced and unqualified” assessors.

Another committee member, Professor Laverne Jacobs, a disability rights and human rights law expert from Canada, said there had been a “repeated pattern” of disabled people taking their own lives after being denied an adequate standard of living by the Department for Work and Pensions.

She asked the government what measures it would take to ensure that its benefit eligibility and work capability systems were “trauma informed so that they do not cause mental health crises, suicide, and death”.

But she also asked what “redress” it would offer to those who have experienced trauma caused by the social security and assessment systems, and to the families of those claimants who had lost their lives through this trauma.

Jacobs said the committee had heard of disabled people facing “intolerable situations, even death, while trying to comply with the eligibility requirements of the UK government’s benefit regimes”, including the work capability assessment process.

She said that evidence they had been given suggested a “significant and shameful gap” between the convention’s requirements and the lived experiences of disabled people in the UK.

And, she said, the evidence suggested a failure to provide an adequate standard of living for disabled people, including disabled women, girls and older people, with a “disproportionate” number of disabled people “living in poverty without the ability to heat their homes or purchase food”.

She also asked the UK government what measures it was taking to ensure that disabled people can enjoy their rights under the UN convention to live independently in the community, and to address the shortage of personal assistants.

And she asked what the government was doing to ensure that disabled refugees and asylum-seekers can enjoy their right to live independently and in the community in the UK.

She urged the UK government to “improve on its commitment” to the rights of disabled people and take “immediate steps to remedy the issues that we have highlighted today”.

A third committee member, human rights lawyer Miyeon Kim, from South Korea, asked the UK delegation about the “biggest death crisis in the history of the NHS”, after campaigners called last year for a criminal investigation into a mental health trust, following a report that found more than 8,400 deaths linked to the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.

There was little attempt by the UK government to answer the questions asked by the committee members, with disabled people’s organisations who were present at the evidence session describing their attempts as “half-truths, untruths and smokescreen” (see separate story).

Alexandra Gowlland, deputy director of the Disability Unit, who had earlier delivered the UK government’s opening statement to the committee (see separate story), claimed it was committed to the UN convention, and pointed to the protection offered to disabled people by the Equality Act, including the public sector equality duty.

She told the committee: “Ensuring the voice of disabled people is properly heard is something which is very important to us in the UK government.”

Jennifer Heigham, DWP’s deputy director for strategy and briefing, pointed to the £105 billion in cost-of-living support the government had provided from 2022 to 2025, but failed to point out that working-age disabled people receiving non-means-tested disability benefits received just £150 a year in 2022 and another £150 in 2023-24 in disability-related cost-of-living payments.

She claimed the government was “delivering the most ambitious disability reform agenda in a generation” and was “proud to have a proven track record of increasing disability employment, and acting on disability discrimination, providing vital protections”.

And she said the government was “committed to ensuring our welfare system encourages and supports people into work, while providing a vital safety net for those who need it most”.

She added: “In the future, removing the work capability assessment will reduce the number of assessments people need to take to access benefits, give people the confidence to try work, and enable us to provide a more personalised approach.”

David Nuttall, deputy director of neurodiversity, diversity and learning disability at the Department of Health and Social Care, said the government was “investing in better training, accredited qualifications and launching a new national career structure for the adult social care workforce”.

And he said it had given new powers to the Care Quality Commission to inspect how local authorities were delivering their duties under the Care Act.

He claimed the government had “substantially invested in adult social care funding”, while the NHS long-term plan included a “long-term aim to improve community support for people with a learning disability, autistic people and those with serious mental illness”.

He said the government’s draft mental health bill – which appears to have been dumped by the government – included plans to tighten the criteria on when someone can be detained under the Mental Health Act “to ensure detention only happens where absolutely necessary”.

Apparently in response to the question from Miyeon Kim, he said the Care Quality Commission was “the independent regulator of health and social care in England and is responsible for making sure providers adhere to the fundamental standards to ensure services are safe, effective, person centred, responsive and well led”.

[warningsine]

The gender pay gap has reduced to its lowest level since reporting became mandatory for businesses in 2017. However, women are still being paid just 91p for every £1 a man earns, according to analysis of official government data.

Almost four out of five companies and public bodies are still paying men more than women (78.4%) although the median pay gap reduced slightly from the previous year to 9.1% in 2023-2024, the lowest level since mandatory reporting became law in Great Britain in 2018.

However, the gender pay gap remains stubbornly higher in the public sector at 14.4% with almost nine-in-10 (87.6%) public sector organisations paying men more than women in comparison to just over three-quarters of private companies.

By 3pm on Friday – ahead of the midnight deadline for private companies – a record 10,380 organisations with 250 or more employees had filed data.

However, campaigners have called for further action by the government to tackle pay disparities, including the introduction of fines for companies who do not comply with the law.https://interactive.guim.co.uk/uploader/embed/2024/04/gender-paygap2024/giv-13425od72Cmb6X54x/

The general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, Paul Nowak, said: “Working women deserve equal pay but the gender pay gap is still a huge issue. At current rates of progress, it will take more than 20 years to bring men and women’s pay into line. That is not right … companies must now be required to implement action plans to close their pay gaps and bosses who don’t comply with the law should be fined.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission did not respond to questions on how many relevant companies and bodies had never filed a report despite having a legal obligation to do so but insisted that non-compliance with reporting this data was low, citing only eight known organisations failing to report by the deadline in 2023, and 28 in 2022.

A spokesperson added: “There have been no penalties or fines issued to date. It is important to note that the EHRC does not have the power to issue fines directly, which would be issued via a court order.”

The construction (22.8%), finance and insurance (21.5%), and education (20%) registered the biggest median pay gaps, according to analysis of the sectors reported by each body.

The educational sector’s poor standing is due, in part, to large gaps in Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs); of the worst-performing 100 public bodies with the largest gender pay gap, all but three were academy trusts.

Responding to questions on whether the government should intervene on the large and persistent gender pay gaps in MATs a spokesperson for the Department of Education said schools were responsible for their own decisions on employment issues but were expected to give due consideration to their obligations under the Equality Act 2010.

The accommodation and food, and health and social work sectors reported some of the lowest gender pay gaps, with women earning 0.5% and 1.5% less than their male colleagues, respectively.

Under the Equal Pay Act 1970, it is illegal to pay different amounts to men and women doing the same jobs.

Survey data by the Office for National Statistics, published in November 2023 which covers the wider UK population regardless of the size of the company, shows the gender pay gap declining slowly over time to 7.7% in April 2023. The data also demonstrated higher disparities among full-time employees in every English region than in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

A government spokesperson said: “The gender pay gap has been trending downwards since 1997, and the government is committed to ensuring women have equal access to employment, enterprise and investment opportunities.”

[the1975attheirverybest]

Westminster only cares about london not the entirety of the south east. (As someone living in a poor south east town).

In 2018 Scotland generated £66 billion (taxes north sea oil etc) public spending in scotland was £81 Billion. For example, in 2012-13, spending per head in England was £8,529, in Scotland it was £10,152, it was £9,709 in Wales and £10,876 in Northern Ireland.

I'm all for people have more say in their country laws. But by saying that scotland brings in more money than they spend is just a false statement and one that is thrown around without proper facts.

I see what you’re saying. I’m guessing that when people say that they mean compared to it’s size? Like Scotland is smaller so obviously the numbers have to factor that in as well. But also like the differences are TOO jarring if the numbers that you just laid out are correct.

That said, yeah, if Scotland were to go independent, there would need to be SOME sort of restructuring or plan to restructure the economy first of foremost or the country wouldn’t even get off its feet. It’s still reasonable to want independence (it seems to me. A non-Scottish / English person who’s education on this is limited ).

[insideusnet]

'Unprecedented' strike: 100,000 UK nurses set to walk off the job | CNN Business : Inside US

‘Unprecedented’ strike: 100,000 UK nurses set to walk off the job | CNN Business : Inside US

London CNN  —  Nurses in the United Kingdom have reached breaking point. As many as 100,000 members of the Royal College of Nursing will walk out across England, Wales and Northern Ireland on Thursday in the first of two days of strikes this month to protest poor pay and working conditions. They plan to walk out again on December 20. (Nurses in Scotland are negotiating a separate pay…

[theoptimisticpatriot]

The Commission on the Future of the UK - Briefing

Gordon Brown’s review of the Future of the UK may be published next week. This note, based on snippets of briefings and a few public statements, aims to highlight some key issues . It leans towards the English issues on which I do most of my research.

Updated on 3.12.22. after The Times reported that plans for an elected Senate had been dropped. The Time also reports that the Commission report will be launched on Monday 5th December.

What is the review for? Announcing the Commission in Scotland in 2020, Keir Starmer mentioned neither Wales (where there is a Labour First Minister) nor Northern Ireland. Brown has linked Lords abolition to stopping Scottish independence.  The first key question: - Will the review succeed in giving the UK a new foundation and purpose or have the more limited aim of keep Scotland in the current one? A limited ambition would leave the UK with half of Scots aspiring to leave, half of Northern Ireland having reunification sympathies (in both cases lacking a decisive majority for change), Welsh people increasingly disillusioned, and around half of England ambivalent – certainly opposed to financial or political concessions to Scotland. It would not be a happy or functional polity. The review must deliver for every nation as well as the UK as a whole. What’s the point of the union? The union was forged in empire and fostered by the post-war British state. Empire has gone and consent for a powerful unitary state eroded. Brown may propose economic and social union as foundations for the 21st century. The economic union rests on tax receipts from the south-eastern corner of England. Of these, Scotland and London get too much, England’s poorer areas and Wales too little. - Will economic union replace the Barnett formula with a UK-wide formula guaranteeing fair funding for all parts of England, or just be a way of telling Scotland it gets a good deal?   The social union may give ‘constitutional guarantees’ including rights to health care, education, and social protection. - As only the UK state can make such a guarantee how is it delivered without overriding devolution? - Each nation has different university fees, for example: is this a breach of a union-wide guarantee or an expression of it? - The NHS has different legislation in each part of the UK? Breach of guarantee or expression of it? Will the review consider the sovereignty of its member nations as the principle on which it is founded? Union, the UK, nations, regions? Today’s asymmetric constitution combines elements of a unitary UK state, significant devolution to Wales, Scotland and Norther Ireland and an England with no recognised existence. Both Brown and Starmer talk of a ‘union of nations and regions.’ A more genuine union of nations such as that being explored by the Labour led Welsh government seems to have been ruled out. Key issues to look for: - Will Scotland’s internal regions be given distinct identities within the UK?  (Probably not.) - Will the changes be more than a slight modification to the status quo in which England’s regions (however defined) might gain some additional powers and resources (although nothing akin to the devolved nations) within an essentially unreformed UK state. - Will England, which has its own domestic national policy receive any recognition as a nation? A review of Scotland’s borrowing powers has been briefed. - Will this be extended to Wales and Northern Ireland? - Will the devolved nations gain other new powers? - Will Scotland get additional powers other devolved nations do not? Where will the devolved nations stand in the UK? The practice of devolution has been challenged by Supreme Court decisions upholding the primacy of the Westminster government and ruling against the Scottish government holding an advisory referendum on independence. Relations between the UK government and devolved governments are poor. Will the Commission: - Create stronger new mechanisms for the flawed intra-government relationships and strengthen rights of nations to be consulted? - Suggest changes to the Sewell convention to protect devolved rights? - Set out how a nation might legally leave the UK? Where will England stand in the UK? The governance of England and the UK are currently conflated. The UK government represents both the union and England in relationships with the devolved nations, a constant source of resentment. The UK Cabinet contains Ministers with English only responsibilities while their devolved counterparts are excluded. But England itself has no political representation in the UK. Will the Commission: - create mechanisms – such as a Secretary of State for England - to give England its own representation within the UK? How will England be governed? The conflation of the UK with England prevents the effective government of England. Government departments – some UK wide, some England and Wales, and some England only – do not form an effective government machinery of government and there is no political coordination of English policy by Ministers. The UK Treasury micromanages spending without ensuring joined-up policies.  Without a coherent centre, English devolution will always be flawed. A central question is whether the identifies the problem of England’s national governance and proposes mechanisms to address it at civil service and ministerial level. Will it propose - An English first minister or Secretary of State? - An England wide Cabinet Committee? - Reorganisation of Whitehall to delineate UK and England only functions? - Accountability of English Ministers to MPs? A new elected Senate? This had seemed to be a committed policy after press reports that Starmer had briefed Labour peers, but The Times now reports that it has been dropped in favour of ‘Lords Reform’. If the proves to be true then the key question is:

- will there be any meaningful institutional expression of the ‘Union of the Nations and Regions’ that both Brown and Starmer have advocated?

In the past Brown has floated a consultative council of some sort: if this is proposed:

- will it have any actual powers or relationship with the government of the UK, or simply be a talking shop? 

The elected Senate idea did raise a series of issues:

Will a Senate of the Nations and Regions have members elected in national elections, local/regional elections, a mix of both? - If national, will that apply to England too (and if not, why not)? - If local – for example on the old Euro constituencies – how will it work when, say, Welsh Senators have different politics to the Senedd or Welsh MPs What electoral system will be used? - FPTP would replicate Westminster unless elections were held ‘mid-term’. PR would guarantee a permanent political tension with the Commons How will it handle legitimacy? - An elected chamber will feel itself and be seen as more legitimate than the Lords. Future clashes with the Commons will be hard to avoid. Will these end up in the Supreme Court? Relationship with UK government? - The government has Lords Ministers who answer to the Lords. Will the UK Senate hold Ministers to account, and if so, how? If not, what role does the Senate play in governance other than as a talking shop? Relationship with England? - Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland domestic legislation is passed by unicameral chambers. English domestic legislation is also scrutinised by the Lords. Will English legislation now have to pass two, differently constituted UK wide bodies (leading to the rejection of laws England wants)? Why not an appointed Senate instead? - Brown previously floated an appointed/nominated Senate – perhaps including representatives of the devolved government, UK government and local government across the UK. (Brown has never acknowledged any role for England).  How will England’s laws be made? The Conservative government abolished the limited and bureaucratic English Votes for English Laws (a principle with majority support in England for twenty years). England is also the only UK nation to have its laws made by a parliament elected by FPTP. - Will the report recognise the democratic deficit or insist that England, alone of the UK nations, have domestic laws subject to the UK parliament? - Will it bring back EVEL in a better form? (Almost certainly no) What future for devolution within England? England is the most centralised nation in Europe. Brown is certain to recommend further devolution. Key things to ask are: Which areas and structures will gain devolved powers? Different briefings have talked of mayors, regional mayors and regions. Most of England does not have mayors and most mayors do not represent regions. Regional government is deeply unpopular. Different functions require different scales of decision-making bodies. Will the Commission - Build on existing structures, propose moves towards regionalisation, or insist on mayors in areas without them? - Where large scale decision-making is needed (regional transport, strategic planning), encourage collaboration between empowered local bodies, or favour a top-down design? - Recognise the importance of local identity to local democracy, engagement and empowerment? How will powers be gained? Current devolution policy is based on ‘deals’ (where powers are conditionally delegated if localities agree to central government priorities), or competitive and wasteful bidding. Will the Commission: - Let areas to draw down powers and resources by right? - Allow localities to set locally determined priorities? What centrally held powers will be devolved? - Briefings emphasise powers for economic development and ‘levelling-up’– skills, transport, infrastructure, possibly an element of research funding. - New funds for high streets, community and historic assets have been suggested Critical question again is whether devolution is by right or subject to Whitehall approval/control What about public services? Briefings have said less about devolving public service delivery. When Brown was PM he pioneered pooled local public service budgets (‘Total Place’). - Omission of public services would be a retreat from earlier ambitions Will there be fiscal devolution? A complex issue: poorer areas need redistribution from the richer areas, but without local autonomy the UK Treasury will insist on micromanaging policy. Land and property do not move so local authorities often aspire to control property-based taxes such as stamp duty, business rates, share of development gain. GM Mayor Andy Burnham has advocated a Land Value Tax. - Commission ambitions on fiscal devolution are key measure of real commitment empower localities - Hotel taxes – much smaller impact though locally important – have been briefed Electoral reform for Westminster Will not be proposed Whither Northern Ireland? Northern Ireland has a status guaranteed by international treaty, including the (weakly defined) conditions for a border poll on unification. The NIP has ‘complicated’ the relationship with the rest of the UK and with the Republic of Ireland.

Will the Commission - address the constitutional implications of the NIP? - confirm Labour’s neutrality on a border poll if held? Entrenching change Briefings suggest constitutional changes will be ‘entrenched’ i.e. cannot be changed without a two-thirds majority in the Commons: - How will the changes be agreed in the first place? By simple majority (so why require two-thirds to change them)? By two thirds majority? By referendum? - A sufficient majority of English MPs could re-write the UK constitution without consent from Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, but those nations could not get change without support from a majority of England’s MPs. Is that still a union of consent? Timing, commitment, and implementation Radical change is essential for Labour to achieve its social and economic ambitions. The temptation to have big visions and take small steps will be strong. Key questions: - How far? - How fast? - Where will the UK be at the end of a first Parliament? Perhaps the most important issue Beneath the rhetoric, will the changes be sufficient to enable us to tackle shared challenges: zero carbon transition, inclusive growth, building the post Brexit economy, and rebuilding public services in a UK in which everyone feels they belong to place, nation, and union? Prof John Denham 2.12.22.

[petnews2day]

Cats Protection calls for ban on Scottish folds breed popular with Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift

New Post has been published on https://petnews2day.com/pet-news/cat-news/cats-protection-calls-for-ban-on-scottish-folds-breed-popular-with-ed-sheeran-and-taylor-swift/

Cats Protection calls for ban on Scottish folds breed popular with Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift

The breeding of a pedigree cat, favoured by celebrities including Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift, should be banned says an animal charity over concerns for its long-term health.

With their giant eyes and misshapen shortened ears, the popularity of Scottish folds has increased dramatically in the last 12 months perhaps as a result of their almost cartoon-like appearance and newfound internet fame.

Cartilage issues are behind the unique look of Scotting Folds, say animal experts. Image: Stock photo.

But welfare charity Cats Protection says the breed suffers from a number of health problems as a result of the genetic disorder which is behind its unique look.

While A-listers including singers Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift often share images on social media of their beloved feline friends – with the UK chart-topper even having set up an Instagram account called The Wibbles for his – Scottish folds have also become increasingly popular with other pet owners in the last year as cat lovers look to buy pedigree breeds.

Cats Protection’s 2022 report says that 38% of felines bought in the last 12 months were pedigrees as the trend to ‘shop’ rather than rehome continues – while Scottish folds are estimated to now number around 110,000.

Despite being mostly unknown a year ago, with very few numbers able to be counted, their popularity has soared to now make up almost 1% of the UK’s cat population, adds the charity.

Writing in the annual report, Cats Protection veterinary officer Dr Sarah Elliott explained: “Prospective cat owners appear motivated to seek out pedigree cats, often with rare and unusual physical characteristics. This has no doubt been fuelled by the positive social media attention these cats often enjoy.

“The effect of breed-related health problems has received widespread publicity in the dog world but many cat lovers remain largely unaware of similar problems in feline breeds.

“One example is the Scottish fold, a breed that has grown in popularity in recent years. These cats suffer from a genetic mutation that is known to cause significant painful disease due to severe abnormalities of the bone cartilage.”

Ed Sheeran has given his cats their own instagram account called The Wibbles. Picture: Ian West/PA.

Those problems, says Cats Protection, can lead to issues with joints and mobility, which it had also highlighted in a previous report into the regulation of cat breeding and ‘extreme’ cat breeds.

That report explained: “The intentional inbreeding of these cats has resulted in an inherited defect that causes abnormalities with joints and bone growth, an inflexible tail and short, stiff legs. Arthritis is rife among the breed and many Scottish folds will be unable to perform normal cat behaviours like pouncing and jumping due to painful early-onset arthritis. Long-term pain relief is frequently required to cope.”

There are currently no feline breeding regulations in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, but Scotland bans breeding cats with poor health, and this includes Scottish folds.

Cats Protection and the BVA have both raised concerns about health problems associated with Scottish Folds. Image: Stock photo.

Cats Protection is also not the only animal welfare organisation to have called for more government regulation when it comes to breeding animals with usual or extreme features.

In 2018 the British Veterinary Association appealed to animal lovers to avoid pets like Scottish folds alongside bubble-eye goldfish and miniature horses – concerned that the internet was fuelling a craze and a desire for creatures with ‘cute’ features.

[rabbitcruiser]

Boxing Day

The best way to celebrate the day is to take part in festivities in a country where Boxing Day is a bank holiday or public holiday. Watch some soccer, rugby, or cricket games, or go on a traditional fox hunt. If you can’t be in a country where these events are taking place, you could still get together with family and friends and eat leftovers from Christmas, or make some foods traditionally eaten on Boxing Day. You could also go shopping, as this is another important part of the day in many countries.

Boxing Day takes place the day after Christmas and is primarily observed in the United Kingdom, where it started, as well as in countries that were once part of the British crown. There are a few possible theories as to how it got started, but its exact origin is unclear.

One theory says it was inspired by Christmas boxes. In seventeenth-century Great Britain, boxes holding a present or gratuity were given to tradesman and workers in service industries for their previous year’s work. This went back to an even earlier tradition where servants would wait on and serve their rich masters on Christmas Day and would visit and celebrate with their own families on the day after Christmas. Their rich masters would sometimes give them a box with leftover food, a bonus, or another type of gift.

The day may have also stemmed from alms boxes that were put in Anglican churches on Christmas Day or during Advent and opened on the day after Christmas. These boxes collected money for the poor. Similarly, boxes were put outside of churches to collect money on Saint Stephen’s Day, which is held the day after Christmas. The events in the song “Good King Wenceslas” take place on Saint Stephen’s Day. The song recounts a story of King Wenceslas, a Bohemian king of the tenth century, bringing food and wine to a poor man. There is one other possible source for the beginning of the day. Ships once set sail containing a box of money for good luck. If the trip was a success, the box would be given to a priest, and he would open it on Christmas and give its contents to the poor.

Boxing Day has been a bank holiday in England, Wales, North Ireland, and Canada since 1871. It is celebrated in Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, and Nigeria. It is celebrated in Hong Kong, where the United Kingdom held sovereignty until 1997. In Ireland and in parts of Spain, it is known as Saint Stephen’s Day. It is celebrated as Second Christmas Day in some European countries, such as Poland, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands; it is celebrated as such in Scandinavia as well. Boxing Day is generally not celebrated in the United States.

In some countries where it is celebrated as a bank holiday or public holiday, it is observed a day or two after December 26. If December 26 takes place on a Saturday, it may be observed the following Monday. If December 26 is on a Sunday, it may be observed on the following Tuesday. This is not always the case, however, as it is often observed on a Sunday if it falls on a Sunday.

Boxing Day is a day of the gathering of family and friends. Leftovers from Christmas are commonly eaten. Popular foods include baked ham, mince pies, Christmas cakes, and other desserts. In many countries of celebration, it is a shopping day similar to Black Friday. Sales take place and many retailers run them the whole week. Although, in some places, such as in parts of Canada, stores aren’t allowed to be open, in order to give families time to be together instead.

Sports are an important part of Boxing Day. In the United Kingdom, the top football (soccer) leagues of England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland play games. Lower leagues play games as well, and rugby leagues also hold matches. In various countries, events of other sports, such as cricket, horse racing, yacht racing, hockey, and boxing are often held to celebrate the day. Fun runs and swims in the cold English Channel take place. Fox hunting meets have been held for hundreds of years. A law passed in 2004, which went into effect the following year, banned the use of dogs to attack animals during hunts. But hunters have still used their dogs to chase artificial scents on the day, and have still gone on hunts where dogs are used to flush out foxes, but not to attack them.

Boxing Day, also known as Saint Stephen’s Day and Second Christmas Day, is being observed today! It has always been observed annually on December 26th.

Source

[winterwrites23]

How tall are the brothers?

From tallest to shortest, we have:

Scotland: Mountain of a man at 6 foot 3 inches that looms over you on a good day. When in public places or crowds, he's the designated landmark for his brothers if they get lost. Will use his height to his advantage to hide the last bag of Mackie’s crisps. The kind of guy who says ‘how’s the weather down there?’ Uses North's head as an armrest.  

Ireland: With a height of 6 foot, his lanky figure makes him look like an inflatable tube man. Often reminds Scotland that just because he’s the tallest doesn’t mean he’s the oldest. The one who purposely puts England’s favourite tea in the deeper part of the upper cupboard whenever he visits. 

England: At a respectable 5 foot 10 inches, he’s more than happy of his height because as a gremlin child, he was tiny. Like unusually small for a child and Scotland took advantage of it many times. In retaliation, he always makes fun of Scotland and Ireland whenever they need to hunch down or duck their heads to avoid smacking into something.  

Wales: Technically, he’s the same height as England but he’s a sloucher. So everyone believes he’s shorter by an inch or two and he doesn’t bother to correct them. For a hot second, when they were kids, he was taller than Scotland for some reason until Scotland desperately caught up to him and surpassed him. Will subtly move around Ireland or Scotland just so to block out a light glare, and they still hadn’t caught on.    

Northern Ireland: Smol bean at 5 foot 4. The poor guy has been stuck with 14-15 years old body for at least 2 decades now. He yearns for his growth spurt like a pearl clutching maiden waiting for her husband to return from the war. He’s already the baby of the family, he doesn’t need a constant reminder he’s the shortest. Though, according to Wales, he may be as tall as Ireland when he reaches adulthood (much to England’s laments). He will climb the countertop to find that Mackie’s crisps bag. In retaliation of being an armrest for Scotland, he jumps over his brother’s shoulders to use him as a watchtower when looking for the others. 

[draculasstrawhat]

I don’t really know how to communicate how scary everything is in the UK right now. Just… that we are running on 12 years of austerity politicise, the knowledge that we don’t have a free, independent press, that given our broken FPTP system and the way constituency boundaries have been redrawn, we’ve probably *had* our last free and fair - and that it’s only going to get worse - that our NHS is on its knees, and that in 2019 a leader running on a truly progressive platform garnered mass support and a vast number of votes, but *lost* seats, and the way that this absolutely *terrified* our commentariat, so that he was persistently smeared in our allegedly unbiased and independent press until public opinion turned against him, and that meanwhile just under 50% of the population are convinced that what we actually need is something more adjacent to fascism.

The fact that during the pandemic, the government has lied, broken the law, laughed at the mass death, handed public money to their mates, sold off public assets and handed the money to their mates and that all of this is just the continuing trend of this 12 year government of liars and frauds. Some of these mates, incidentally, have alarmingly close ties with organisations like Kiwi Farms who have *absolutely* been interfering in our elections and national discourse generally.

Meanwhile, we’re having a cost-of-living crisis, wages are stagnated, and people are having to decide between feeding their families and paying their rent and heating their homes. People are literally dying of hunger after being penalised by our broken welfare system in ways that are declared unlawful which I’m sure was a *great* comfort to their grieving families. Meanwhile, we are deporting and imprisoning people fleeing international violence, and homophobic hate crimes are skyrocketing, and racial violence is only increasing. Meanwhile protest has been more or less criminalised and we are entering the early stages of ethnic cleansing against our traveller population. Meanwhile a tiny, but *very* well funded and connected little cabal of bigots have decided that trans people are to blame of all of this.

Meanwhile, let’s drape everything in the fucking flag and spend a couple of billion on the fucking jubilee. Never mind that around half the population don’t want ANY of this, but that we’re stuck here, our votes meaningless, our healthcare precarious, the very basics of our lives becoming unaffordable… All our industrial safety, food safety, environmental safety legislation is looking to be stripped - and has already taken a battering. Our unions have been rendered nearly powerless. We are looking at throwing away the Good Friday Agreement. Politicians have been touting the idea of forcing the unemployed, elderly and disabled to work in the fields. We’ve lost any real social safety net this country ever had. There is spreading popular support (presumably among the aforementioned pro-fascism contingent) for bringing back the death penalty.

And before anyone goes “lol, Britain” on this post, believe me, the people who are going to die from this will not be the white, cis, het conservatives you’re thinking of. It will be people of colour, immigrants, our Jewish and Romany communities, it will be poor people, disabled people, queer people. It will be our passionate, left wing organisers, and our political dissidents. It will be Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland, and the former ‘red wall’ of the North who suffer. Even in England… if you can get it round your heads that there are good people in the Deep South of America, who are disenfranchised and afraid - then can you please understand there are good people here, too? People who are scared and don’t have the resources available to them to leave, whose votes will never count for anything because of our broken electoral system. People who should not have to leave their families and homes because of this.

Anyway, I’m fucking terrified. I don’t know that we can turn this around. I just pray every single day that I’m wrong and try to help build resilient communities of care where I can.

[whumpzone]

The football kick thing made me laugh, then I wondered how on edge col would be if linden was really invested in the World Cup or something (I’m American idk anything abt soccer), like would he be the type to get invested in watching the games and stuff and cheer for his teams and boo the other teams, or is he too much of a hermit?

you can get invested in any sport if you watch a match long enough!! on his own he's too much of a hermit to care (and it's just not his thing anyway) BUT his brother Vik would come swaggering over to Linden's door with some beers and tell him to stick it on

whether it was England/Scotland/Wales/Northern Ireland/basically any country in a vague proximity they'd support them, cause it's fun. India has never been good enough to qualify😭😂 so they can't cheer for them lol

and in about.... 30 minutes, Linden would reluctantly find that it is quite exciting when their team scores. and in 20 MORE minutes he'd be rising out of his chair the closer they get to the goal. and soon he and Vik would be shouting COME ON and GET IT IN THERE!!!! like a pair of true footy fans. man this makes me miss watching football😩

but yes poor Col would either be in his room shaking as his Master and Master's brother shout and scream and get worked up downstairs, or he'd be watching from the floor and flinching every time one of them makes a loud noise. poor babby. and he would be worried that if they don't win they'll need a slave to take their aggression out on

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Do you know what's going on with the flags? I swear when I read it it said that the Union Jack had to be flown IF there wasn't another UK nation flag already up. Which made the whole thing about having the Union Jack be higher even weirder, since doesn't that dissentivise flying both? Did I misunderstand?

In fact, the Westminster government themselves don't know what's going on with the flags. Different officials keep saying different things. Sometimes within the same statements.

But, what I'm specifically talking about is the practice of double flagging, which is where you put two flags on one pole because the country is poor and doesn't have the money to spare installing extras in small towns. Union flag has to go on top, or to put it the way they phrase it, "it must be flown in the superior position."

But, we may have another problem, which is whether or not we get classed as a nation. The official statements from Oliver Dowden are going hell for leather on stressing that there are THREE nations in the UK, which are Scotland, Northern Ireland, and "England and Wales". My suspicion is that it's to shut down the union flag representation issue - Wales being folded into England means we are technically on the union flag because, and do brace yourself for the taste of your own vomit on this one, we are therefore graciously represented by the St George’s Cross, i.e. the English flag. So when we say "Where's the fucken dragon" they can say "You're the boring stripes, Taffy, now shut up and eat your cheese".

But if they therefore want to be REAL dicks, they could make the argument that the Ddraig Goch is not a "national" flag - just a regional one, like a county. I'm not saying they will - but the seeds certainly feel like they've been sown for the option, and these days I'm jaded and cynical like a grizzled Scandinavian detective who is inexplicably lurking under the fancy streetlamps around Swansea marina.

[ssuckitlosers]

rest of the british isles drinking headcanons? dunno if you've already done this

Sorry this took so long for me to actually post, my ability to write headcanons left the station for a hot sec but anyways. I feel like they’d all chose a pub over a club anyway, with maybe the Ireland’s maybe being the exception.

Hws Drinking Headcanons:

Hws England’s: here

Hws Scotland: Alistair is the most frequent drinker in the British Isles. Most nights, he’ll have pint or two and talk with the other regulars at, what is definitely, a old man pub. Even when he opts to stays at home he’ll usually pour himself a scotch to drink. Alistair’s reason for drinking is probably a mix of habit and that he just likes it. But, unless he’s drinking with another nation, he’s very rarely drunk. He usually only drinks enough to be slightly buzzed. (When he is drunk though-he’s an extroverted drunk. He’s usually pretty standoffish with anyone that he doesn’t know but as soon as he’s drunk he’ll have full on conversations with strangers. He’ll go to the bathroom and not return for an hour cause he stopped to chat with people kinda vibe.)

Hws Ireland: Whenever they drink, their aim is usually just to have a good time. So they tend to only drink when with other nations, which is still pretty frequently. Beer is their drink of choice, it’s usually Guinness, but it’s always Irish and good luck to any poor soul who tries to argue that another country makes better beer. Wagers should be expected on a night out with them. They’re the first one to suggest putting a bet on pub games or on who’ll win the sports game they’re watching. (I’m sure you can imagine how competitive UK countries gets.) And some bad decisions are guaranteed when they’re drinking with Alistair or Arthur (“I bet you can’t-“just you fcking watch me”) They’ll either end a night out having earned some money or a new memory of Arthur embarrassing himself, so win-win. (They’re a pretty laidback drunk I think, they’re just vibing. Probably the friend leaves without telling anyone and decides that the hour long walk is better than getting a taxi. I also imagine they tell good stories when their drunk.)

Hws Northern Ireland: How physically old is he?? I can never decided but I’ll say he’s at least 18 for now. Regardless though, the other countries in the British Isles will still tease him. He’s doesn’t let any of the British isles order his drinks for him because without fail Ireland or Scotland will always order him a half pint and then make a joke about him being a kid… Anyway, he’s drinking to have fun. He’s the one whose trying to get everyone as drunk as possibly and starting the chants to get his friends to chug their drink. And he’s notoriously good at bouncing coins into people’s drinks so they have to finish their drink. Plus he’s probably the person convincing everyone to play a drinking game. If he’s having a pint he’ll also chose an Irish beer but probably favours a spirit and a mixer. In hindsight I realise that he’s essentially a mix of Ireland’s ‘here for a good time’ and England’s ‘here to get plastered’ attitudes. (He’s probably a pretty high energy when he’s drunk. Probably cracks a lot of childish jokes and laughs too much at things that weren’t that funny.)

Hws Wales: Dylan probably drinks the least often out of the UK countries? He’ll have a few pints when he’s watching a rugby game or something but he doesn’t frequently go to the pub or drink at all. That being said though, somehow he can still drink the most alcohol in one sitting out of the British Isles. Does he have a high tolerance or is he just act the same drunk as he does sober? Who knows, but it annoys Arthur and Alistair to no end. He doesn’t drink a lot of spirits though, he prefers beer or cider. (I kind of feel like he just acts the same as if he was sober when he’s drunk. Like he’ll give a proper goodbye to everyone at the end of the night but still wake up the next morning in a field somewhere and just never mention it.)

[dwellordream]

“...Medieval western Europe had two basic patterns of settlement — the hamlet and the village. In general the hamlet was found in the least productive regions such as Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Brittany, and the mountainous districts of France. While it is possible that the hamlet was essentially a Celtic institution, it seems just as likely that it was simply the natural form of settlement in the barren lands into which the Celts had been driven by their Germanic foes. The rest of western Europe was a land of villages. There would be a cluster of houses, or rather huts, each with a small fenced garden and perhaps a fruit tree, a church, and usually a manor house or castle. Around the village lay its arable land and meadow — beyond lay the pasture, waste, and woodland. The men who lived in these villages and hamlets used three fundamentally different ways of cultivating their arable land. The crudest of these is commonly called the infield and outfield system. Although it was not completely confined to the regions of hamlets, it was most common there. 

Under this system the farmer had a small garden or infield near his house that he kept in continuous cultivation by using the manure from his animals. Then he would go out and plow a piece of land some distance away, grow crops on it until it lost its fertility, and then abandon it and plow another piece. This method of exploitation was suited to a region with a large amount of available land, none of which was very fertile. Another system was to divide the arable land of a village into rectangular plots assigned to the various houses. This was the standard practice in southern France and in Italy. But over the major portion of western Europe the dominant method of cultivation was what we call the two- or three-field system. The arable land of the village was divided into two or three large fields. When there were two fields, one was cultivated and one allowed to lie fallow each year. When there were three fields, two were cultivated and one lay fallow. It seems likely that originally all villages used the two-field system and that the third field was adopted as an improvement in the more fertile regions.

These large fields were divided into long, narrow strips and each house in the village had an equal number of strips in each field. The region of the two- and three-field systems comprised the richest and most populous part of western Europe, extending from the border of Wales through England, northern France, and the major part of Germany. The agricultural methods of the eleventh century were not very efficient. As the plows were heavy and clumsy and the harness poorly designed, from four to eight oxen were required for a plow team. Moreover, the slowness of the oxen made the area that a team could care for rather small. The sole crop in the arable fields was grain. It was sown broadcast to the delight of the birds. The seed was simply a part of the previous year's crop. The land as a rule received no fertilizer beyond the manure deposited by the cattle that grazed upon it while it lay fallow. Hence the production per acre, per bushel of seed, and per man was extremely low. 

This meant that if the people of the village were to have enough to eat, all land that could be plowed had to be utilized. As good meadow should be as fertile as arable land, there was nearly always an acute shortage of meadow and therefore of hay. Most villages could only hope to gather enough hay to keep their plow teams and a few breeding cattle alive through the winter. The pasture land was usually poor and often simply waste. In summer the cattle found a meager living in the pastures and in the fall most of them were slaughtered. In some regions such as England and parts of Germany the grain grown on the arable supplied both food and drink. It is estimated that in England about half the grain was used for bread and the other half for ale. The wine-growing districts were more fortunate, as land too steep to plow would grow vines. From the gardens behind their houses the villagers obtained a few common vegetables. The cattle were valued for their hides, milk, and meat. 

The milk was made into cheese. Every village had a few sheep to supply wool for clothing and chickens for meat and eggs. But the chief source of meat was the pig. Pigs could find their own food in the woods in both summer and winter. In Domesday Book the size of a village's woodland is commonly measured by the number of pigs it could feed. Each house or tenement in the village had its strips in the fields and a share of the meadow. The other resources of the village territory were used in common. The villager pastured his cattle in the common pasture and waste, fed his pigs and gathered his firewood in the common woodlands, and fished in the village stream. All the agricultural activities of the village were conducted by the community as a whole. The villagers decided when to plow, when to plant, and when to harvest, and all worked together. Certain men were assigned special tasks such as herding. The villager lived in a rude hut with a thatched roof. A hole in the roof let out some part of the smoke from the fire. 

His clothes were crudely fashioned from the hides of his cattle and the wool from his sheep. He was never far removed from the threat of starvation. In general, throughout the village region thirty acres of arable land seems to have been considered a normal tenement and experts have calculated that this would support a family in ordinary years. But many tenements were smaller than thirty acres and there were bound to be bad years. And the high cost of transportation by ox-cart over bad roads meant that even a local crop failure would result in a famine. For the mass of the population of western Europe the village was the political, economic, social, and religious unit. The villager found his amusement in the village fetes. The village priest performed the sacraments and gave his flock what little knowledge they had of the world of ideas. As he was likely to be barely literate, this knowledge was bound to be slight. 

The villagers were both devout and superstitious. The countryside abounded in miracle-working springs and trees and its people venerated a multitude of local saints never officially recognized by the church. The legal status of the villagers and the proportion of their produce that they could keep for their own use differed sharply from region to region and even from village to village. By the end of the third quarter of the eleventh century the seignorial system was firmly established in England, France, and western Germany. In these broad regions almost every man who worked the land owed some form of rent or service to a lord. In Saxony and parts of eastern Germany the villagers still depended directly on the king, but the seignorial system was spreading rapidly, aided by the political anarchy of the last quarter of the century. But even where the seignorial system reigned there were striking differences in conditions. 

In southern England, most of France, and Alsace and Lorraine, the vast majority of the villagers were unfree, bound to the soil and with no property rights against their lords. In eastern and northeastern England, the ancient Danelaw and East Anglia, a fair proportion, probably over half, of the villagers were freemen who paid rents and certain carefully defined services to their lords. Some parts of France such as the region about Bordeaux contained many freemen. In eastern Germany the free villagers were gradually being reduced to serfdom but the process was by no means complete. The seignorial system was a set of institutions through which the feudal class, soldiers and prelates, drew their support from those who tilled the land. In most of the vast region occupied by villages using the two- and three-field systems it was based on what we call manorial organization. 

The lord of the village had his demesne, strips in the fields that his tenants cultivated for him. The villagers plowed the demesne, sowed it, harvested the crops, and stored them in the lord's barns. The demesne might occupy as much as a third of the arable land, but was usually rather less. Then the villagers paid the lord a percentage of the crops grown on their own strips. The lord considered that he owned the common resources of the village and charged his tenants for their use. Thus the villager paid a rent in pigs for feeding his swine in the woodlands and in cheese for having his cattle in the common pasture. When the villager fished, the lord got a share of the catch. In short, the tenants owed a rent in kind for the use of every resource of the village. In addition, they worked for the lord at cultivating his demesne, harvesting his hay, or any other task he might set. 

Sometimes these labor services occupied as much as three days a week. The lord and his household obtained their food from the rents and the produce of the demesne. The lord's clothes were made from the wool of his sheep spun and woven by the village women under his wife's direction. His dwelling was built by his tenants' labor services. The rents and services mentioned in the last paragraph were due to the lord as the owner of the land. In addition, the lord usually had extensive and profitable rights that were essentially political. As the feudal system developed, the functions and powers of government had been parceled out among the members of the feudal hierarchy. Although in strict theory they exercised these rights as representatives of the king, the fact that the powers were hereditary made "them regard them as their own property”. The extent of these seignorial powers differed according to the custom of the land and the status of the lord. 

In England the king kept a firm grip on the higher criminal jurisdiction and the lords of villages could have little more than what we would call police-court justice. In Normandy the duke was equally jealous of his rights. But in most of France and western Germany a man of importance in the feudal hierarchy would have complete jurisdiction over the people of his villages. A lesser lord would have more limited rights. These rights of jurisdiction were important to a lord from several points of view. For one thing they contributed to his prestige — lords with powers of life and death considered their gallows one of their prized possessions. Then they gave a firm control over tenants and complete freedom to discipline them at will. Finally they were extremely profitable. When a man was hanged, the lord could seize all his possessions, and the penalty for many offenses was a fine. 

The possession of seignorial authority gave a lord many opportunities for profit. He could hold a market in his village and collect a toll or sales tax on all goods sold. He could establish fees for crossing a bridge or sailing down a stream. He could also establish monopolies. Thus many a lord compelled his tenants to have their grain ground at his mill and to bake their bread in his ovens, paying generous fees in grain and flour. He forbade his tenants to keep doves while his waxed fat on their crops. The unfree villager was almost completely subject to his lord, especially when the latter had rights of jurisdiction. In theory criminal justice was a function of the state and the unfree as well as the free were subject to it. In England this theory was a reality. Except in minor offenses the lord had no criminal jurisdiction over his unfree tenants and if he committed a crime against one, he could be haled into a royal court. 

But in France and western Germany the governmental powers were so distributed that if the lord of a village could not hang his serfs, the lord next above him could, and would be delighted to do so at his request. Nowhere did unfree tenants have any civil rights against their lord. He could demand any rents and services he desired and take any of their property that struck his fancy. The arbitrary authority of the lord was, however, restrained by several circumstances. The men of the Middle Ages were basically conservative — their tendency was to do what their ancestors had done and distrust innovations. Hence a lord hesitated to increase the customary dues of his villagers. Then it was obviously to his interest to keep his labor supply alive and this in itself limited the rents and services he could demand. Finally the church insisted that serfs had souls and urged the lords to treat them as fellow Christians. Rather grudgingly the lords admitted that serfs could marry, but they insisted on calling their families stquelae or broods. 

Throughout history progress in agricultural methods has been slow and gradual. As our information concerning the eleventh century is extremely scanty, it is almost impossible to say to what extent and in what ways agricultural techniques were improved. There is some evidence that villages were changing from the twoto the three-field system and thus increasing their utilization of their arable land. It seems likely that improvement in the design of plows and the harnessing of oxen was allowing a reduction in the size of the plow teams and by this means lessening the demands on the meadows. Perhaps the chief problem connected with eleventh-century agriculture is the extent to which the available arable land was increased by reclamation. We have clear evidence that in the early twelfth century there was extensive clearing of wood and brush land and that some inroads were made on the edges of the great forests. 

There was also some draining of marshes, especially when it could be done by a system of dikes. In the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries colonists from all over Europe settled the lands to the east of the Elbe in Germany. There is evidence that this great reclamation movement started early in the eleventh century, at least to the extent of returning to cultivation the lands that had been deserted during the Viking invasions, but it is impossible to estimate how much was accomplished. It seems clear that the initiative in this movement was taken by lords who wanted to utilize as much of their lands as possible. They made attractive offers to peasants who would reclaim land and settle it — greater personal freedom and lower rents and services. The result was an increase in the lord's resources both material and human. His total rents were larger and more people lived on his lands.”

- Marshall W. Baldwin, “Western Europe on the Eve of the Crusades.” in A History of the Crusades, Volume 1: The First Hundred Years