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Charles Stewart

@charlescharles

Former research engineer, former corporate treasurer, recent MA Classics and Ancient History. I block for rudeness, idiocy and whataboutery, even if it's not directed at me. South Oxfordshire, UK

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15.11.2023
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Latest posts by Charles Stewart @charlescharles


Headline from the New York Post 

“Trump tells The Post there's no reason to panic over Iran war oil-price surge: 'I have a plan for everything' “

Headline from the New York Post “Trump tells The Post there's no reason to panic over Iran war oil-price surge: 'I have a plan for everything' “

Calm down. He’s going to unroll Operation Baldrick.

09.03.2026 19:29 👍 21 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0

"Dear Senior Tutor, Yours is a college at which brains are neither here nor there, I'm told. Indeed, my inquiries lead me to understand that duffers are more than welcome so long as their fathers measure up financially. That being the case, I'm prepared to send my boy to you in three years' time."

27.02.2026 20:10 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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"Family voting" US version. When you just want to be sure ...

27.02.2026 13:38 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Very good!!

11.02.2026 09:34 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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nyway, whatevs, main issue stands... 2/2 revisedacts.lawreform.ie/eli/1956/act...

09.12.2025 22:36 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Correction - I was looking before at the pre-2004 amendments text. The post-amendments text is complicated, but the way I read it there is the paradox that the NI parent has to declare citizenship, but the UK child is automatically a citizen, parent declaration or no. 1/
bsky.app/profile/char...

09.12.2025 22:31 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

But the main issue remains: there will be plenty of UK-born children of Irish-citizen parents who are automatically Irish citizens 5/5

09.12.2025 19:23 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Not sure of the exact legal position for children of parents born after 6 Dec 1922, although afaik they don't have to go through a citizenship registration to get a passport unless born after 2004

4/n

09.12.2025 19:22 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Ditto for that person's child. I'm a special-special case because my father was born in Belfast (just!) before 6 December 2022 (partition), so was strictly speaking born in Ireland and automatically a citizen per the legislation. Which means that I am automatically a citizen too. 3/n

09.12.2025 19:19 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0
Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, Section 6

In the case of a parent born in NI, Chris C may be right, although the available information is confusing. Here's the (pre-2004) legislation www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1956/act...
www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1956/act...
A person born in NI isn't automatically a citizen but can choose to be 2/n

09.12.2025 19:14 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 1

We're slightly counting angels on a pinhead here, in that I'm a particular case (parent born in NI). In the case of a parent born in Ireland (the state), the child is definitely automatically a citizen, as far as I can tell. So the original general issue (UK-born child of Irish parent) remains. 1/n

09.12.2025 19:11 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

I'm not dismissing this, but could you provide authoritative evidence? Paradoxically, some of what I've seen asserts that although citizenship is elective for a parent born in NI, their child born outside the island of Ireland is automatically an Irish citizen.

09.12.2025 18:40 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

My mother was English and unconnected with Ireland. My father had been dead 10 years when I applied for an Irish passport in 2016. I am certain he would not have declared himself an Irish citizen. What is your interpretation of the link and screenshot I posted from the Irish Dept of Foreign Affairs?

09.12.2025 17:48 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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Includes those with parents born in NI too, including me, whose NI-born father never had an Irish passport or considered himself an Irish citizen. From www.ireland.ie/en/dfa/citiz...

09.12.2025 13:54 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Best I've been able to do -
a,b,c not 0.
Last two digits multiple of 4
c is 2,4,6,or 8
4abc=100a+10b+c
a = (10b+c)/(4*(bc-25)) [1]
bc >=26
4 <= c <= 8
4 <= b <= 9
Possibilities for last 2 digits 48,56,68,76,84,88,96
Then pencil-and-paper elimination using [1] above to solve for integer value of a

06.12.2025 15:26 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Agreed. I have a PHEV (self purchase not company car) and do 85% of my miles on electric. If there is to be a charge at all, 50% discount seems reasonable to me. Maybe not so much for company PHEVs chosen solely for the tax benefit with drivers who rarely bother to actually charge their cars.

03.12.2025 10:35 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Preview
Trump Has a Recipe for War and Corruption, Not Peace Who would benefit from the White House’s 28-point proposal for Ukraine?

This is not a peace plan. It is a proposal that weakens Ukraine and divides America from Europe, preparing the way for a larger war in the future. In the meantime, it benefits unnamed Russian and American investors, at the expense of everyone else.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

22.11.2025 11:11 👍 9279 🔁 4276 💬 326 📌 310

Called in to my local [insert brand of car] main dealer to book a service. Lady at reception told me I could only do it by phone. She did offer me a seat while I phoned the actual building I was in.

12.11.2025 19:07 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Ha ha! Personally I wouldn't, I think it's cooler to just help, bit maybe that's just me. It's quite likely she will realise (or has already realised) for herself.

12.11.2025 18:43 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Minister behind Labour's mansion tax spends £900 on a desk Torsten Bell also charged taxpayers £600 for three chairs for his office and claimed more than £200 on his Parliamentary expenses for professional help to assemble the furniture.

Article doesn't refer to his thinking. Times just says desk "was later returned, as Bell received a refund and instead submitted an Ikea receipt for £1,056, including three desks at £150 each". DM (on which Times piece is based) says "days later". Here's DM. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

27.10.2025 12:44 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

The headline (accidentally, I'm sure) omits to say that he returned the £900 desk after a few days and bought three £150 desks from Ikea instead. But "Bell DIDN'T spend £900 on a desk" wouldn't be a story, would it.

27.10.2025 11:45 👍 9 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0

Agreed. I'm not saying that the bill is not mad in numerous respects (including Syrians issue), just that there may be wriggle room for Cons on the specific point of social protection without withdrawing or amending. And yes, it's reasonable to infer that everything is in until they say otherwise.

24.10.2025 14:08 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

I'm sorry to bang on about this, but they wouldn't striclty need to amend the bill. The FT summary is inaccurate. The full wording: "where “social protection” is defined according to the Treasury’s Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses, *subject to any further definition by immigration rules*"

24.10.2025 12:48 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Agreed - accuracy is important, not least because inaccuracy can be attacked, but parsing the detail makes little difference to that central point.

24.10.2025 10:53 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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This is an eye-catching statistic. We need to move to PR in some form. (Confession - as a non-subscriber I haven't read the full piece. Not because I don't rate Sam's writing - I very much do - but I subscribe to too many things already).

24.10.2025 08:01 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Thanks, hadn't see that. In that case, isn't the position
-the drafting would permit, in theory, a carve-out for pensions
-in a March speech Lam indicated pensions would be included
- LOTO has just said they wouldn't.
Result: actual position unclear?

23.10.2025 22:17 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Not to say the bill isn't mad - it is - but not strictly correct, I think, to say it's untrue of the bill as drafted. That clause specifically permits modification of the definition of 'social protection'. So in theory (and Cons could argue) state pension could be excluded under the bill as drafted.

23.10.2025 20:56 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
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Iceland. Needless to say, it wasn't.

17.10.2025 10:45 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
The Beacon of Democracy Goes Dark For nearly 250 years, America promoted freedom and equality abroad, even when it failed to live up to those ideals itself. Not anymore.

"We always think about America’s postwar role in Europe as an act of great generosity, the defense of allies from Soviet aggression. But by putting democracy at the center of our international identity, we also helped strengthen our own political system"
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

14.10.2025 10:25 👍 2124 🔁 808 💬 85 📌 50
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Accurate.

#academia #academy #philsky #philosophysky #philosophy #science

11.10.2025 11:02 👍 403 🔁 85 💬 4 📌 2