Liz Truss does not know her Baltics from her Balkans .

vegansrock

You would think a foreign secretary would have some grasp of geography. Obviously not.

No, not really. It is a political appointment after all, not one based on any special knowledge of the subject.

It does, however, shock me that if this was not a slip of the tongue - yes I know, an excuse worthy of Mr. Johnson, that anyone who paid attention in either history or geography at school could make the mistake.

But perhaps she spent her time looking out of the window when at school.

Wouldn't bother, Kali2. It's like the eternal question we all keep asking from this side of the table: "What are the benefits of Brexit?". We don't ever get an answer to that one and we won't, I suspect, get an answer to your one about where the border should be. Perhaps there are some people who prefer to put a bag over their heads and hide behind the sofa rather than figure that out!

Kali2

There MUST be a border. It can be in England or Scotland, before ships leave for NI, or in the sea between the two, or on arrival in NI, or between NI and Ireland/EU.

So I shall ask, politely, again- where will the border go. Because a border there will be, somewhere, and the EU is totally right to insist upon it..

Indeed. And just how rude is that post! It is clear that they do not have a viable answer, bar blaming the EU for a situation which is entirely home-made.

MerylStreep

LincsLass
Just don’t feed them. If you stop throwing them fresh meat they’ve got nothing to chew on.
You know it makes sense ?

I would actually prefer a sensible answer to a reasonable question rather than fresh meat.

She was only asked a simple question, Meryl. What would she do about the border?

When people go huffing off when asked a simple question one is inclined to think that they have no answer to it.

As Lincslass appeared to be adamant that she knew all about the Irish situation when she voted Leave then perhaps she might have had a solution to offer us...

LincsLass
Just don’t feed them. If you stop throwing them fresh meat they’ve got nothing to chew on.
You know it makes sense ?

Jaberwok

Linclass, your last post sums up beautifully why quite a few of us are 'out of here'. The twisting of words and the endless rather childish sneery comments get beyond tedious. It's always the same I'm afraid, and a pity, but there you go!

It's not twisting of words. I am fed up of people who voted for Brexit, but can't come up with a solution for something which was inevitably going to be an issue with Brexit. People were warned, but brushed it aside as an inconvenience.

Linclass, your last post sums up beautifully why quite a few of us are 'out of here'. The twisting of words and the endless rather childish sneery comments get beyond tedious. It's always the same I'm afraid, and a pity, but there you go!

There MUST be a border. It can be in England or Scotland, before ships leave for NI, or in the sea between the two, or on arrival in NI, or between NI and Ireland/EU.

What is the alternative, whether you want ir, or not? Is the issue?

growstuff

Lincslass

Kali2

Raab didn't quite realise the UK is surrounded by water, and that it is quite significant in the Brexit context! And so many Brexiters never realised there was land border, between NI/UK and Ireland/EU.

How do you know so many who voted leave didn’t know there was a land border between NI and Ireland.. Suppose you think they had never heard of the troubles either, which often included talk about the border.

So what do you think the solution should be? There has to be a border - either between NI and Ireland or between NI and mainland UK. Where would you put it?

In 2018, Johnson compared the lack of a border between the London boroughs of Camden and Westminster as evidence that a hard border could be avoided in Northern Ireland. How naive is he or does he really think everybody else is stupid?

The GFA was a fudge but the majority both sides of the border supported it. Only the DUP opposed it. The agreement succeeded in stopping most of the violence and has enabled those living on the border to trade with their natural neighbours. If that's stopped and the border is situated between NI and Ireland, it will give extremists an excuse to start up again. Is that what you want?

I beg your pardon, who do you think you are pontificating about me. I answered about the border, as Kali2 insinuated those that voted for Brexit were ignorant about the border, the usual insult. You pile in saying I want the troubles to start again, how bloody dare you. I’m out of here, because twisting peoples words seem to be a happy past time for many on here.

I suspect there are quite a lot of people who mix up the Baltic and the Balkans, or even Crimea and Korea and in the most extreme case, Austria and Australia.

You just hope that if any of these confused folk were to become Foreign Secretary, they would make an effort to learn which was which.

Liz Truss is 46 and yes, I remember DS doing 'A' level geography which seemed at the time to involve a lot of geology.
Geography can be a Science or an Arts subject at degree level.

However, I would recommend she buys a good map and pins it up on her office wall.
Or a spinning globe lamp.

There you are then. Explains a lot doesn't it?

I've just realised why people don't know about Geography. It's because it's not taught (or at least I don't think it is) in the way that we were taught.
It's not, Dinahmo
We learnt not only countries but crops they grew, the winds of the world as well as oceans and seas, the Great Lakes, languages etc.

I must admit, though, I'm a bit shaky on American State capitals which are often quiz questions.

I've just realised why people don't know about Geography. It's because it's not taught (or at least I don't think it is) in the way that we were taught.

I remember that when I was at junior school there were maps of the world in the class rooms. We had lessons about a particular country which included the names of the capital city, the major rivers, mountain ranges, main trades etc etc. We also learned about the oceans and the continents.

When we lived in Suffolk we were regularly accosted by school children with clip boards and a questionnaire, the questions included why were we there, where had we come from, how did we get there, if we drove where did we park and one or two more. This was their Geography lesson.

One day my employer's son who attended an expensive fee paying school was telling us about a music festival he'd been to in Spain. He remarked how beautiful it was looking over the sea. His father asked him which one was that and the response, after some thought, was the Pacific.

I'm constantly amazed at how when a geography question comes up on a quiz programme most contestants reply that they haven't been to that country so they don't know.

Not very nice Nezumi.

Well Royal Mail did send a Christmas card sent to me to Slovakia instead of Sweden ...

I had a school friend who lived in Alexandria, near Dumbarton, and they regularly got post which had been to Egypt and back. Of course maybe Liz Truss used to work in the sorting office...

Or Nadine in luurrrvvve!

Whitewavemark2

I bet the loons in the shires vote her in as leader given the chance

Dear oh dear.

I hope they do. She’ll make so many errors that the only people who will vote for her in a GE are the Tories who would vote for a dung heap with a blue rosette. Gives us a chance of getting rid of them.

Maybe Truss is competing with Amanda Holden for title as Bimbo of the Year:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS66LC51ejI

Greta

I'm sure there are many who mix up the Baltic and the Balkans. But if LT can't get her head around it that is rather worrying. As a Swede I am very familiar with the Baltic; we call it 'Östersjön' (=the East Sea). It amused me when I first arrived in the UK that some people didn't know the difference between Sweden and Switzerland. Not sure if Liz Truss knows...

Well Royal Mail did send a Christmas card sent to me to Slovakia instead of Sweden ...

And then there was his daft idea for a bridge or tunnel between Scotland and NI.

Lincslass

Kali2

Raab didn't quite realise the UK is surrounded by water, and that it is quite significant in the Brexit context! And so many Brexiters never realised there was land border, between NI/UK and Ireland/EU.

How do you know so many who voted leave didn’t know there was a land border between NI and Ireland.. Suppose you think they had never heard of the troubles either, which often included talk about the border.

So what do you think the solution should be? There has to be a border - either between NI and Ireland or between NI and mainland UK. Where would you put it?

In 2018, Johnson compared the lack of a border between the London boroughs of Camden and Westminster as evidence that a hard border could be avoided in Northern Ireland. How naive is he or does he really think everybody else is stupid?

The GFA was a fudge but the majority both sides of the border supported it. Only the DUP opposed it. The agreement succeeded in stopping most of the violence and has enabled those living on the border to trade with their natural neighbours. If that's stopped and the border is situated between NI and Ireland, it will give extremists an excuse to start up again. Is that what you want?