I thought the article was more observational than outright scathing but very pertinent for all that. Reminded me of a placard I saw at one of the anti-Brexit demos, something along the lines of "Let's Make Politics Boring Again!" I think that sums up a lot of the Remainer mindset; the idea that everything was jogging along nicely, certainly for them, until the existential threat posed by Brexit. No need for much political engagement prior to that. (Corbyn is also bundled into this thesis of an Inexplicable Fit Of Madness).
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I never got asked for a passport or ID card. Obviously currying favour for the future US trade deal.
(more boringly, I registered back in 2007 and I suspect that’s more pertinent)Comment
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We came in 2012 and weren't asked for anything until 2015. Probably around the same time as the vans telling people to fuck off back to where they came from appeared.Originally posted by Flynnie View Post
There are already reports of many people not going to hospital until it's too late.
It's another scandal in the UK that will come out in a few years time post Johnson.Comment
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"Scandal" implies they'd be embarrassed by it.Comment
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What is the Backstop and how is it helping?Comment
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The backstop is just a contingency. It shouldn't ever be implemented. The point of it is that if everything goes to shit in the UK-EU negotiations, there's a fall-back position that keeps the Irish border open and stops the Good Friday Agreement being broken. It helps because its presence would stop the UK holding Ireland hostage once we get to negotiating the future trade arrangements.Comment
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I see. Would this cause NI to leave the UK?Comment
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Not directly, although lots of people see it as an implicit risk.
I can't remember what "backstop" was agreed by the May government, but the possible backstops are either:
- Leave the border between Ireland and NI open, and the border between NI and rumpUK open. This, though, would require rUK to be in regulatory alignment with the EU, because without that all kinds of shitty, poorly made things coming from the sweatshops of Britain could flood the EU market.
- Leave the border between Ireland and NI open, and instead place a pseudo-border on products moving between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. This would mean that Northern Ireland is treated differently to the rest of the UK, and the Unionists think this is the thin end of the wedge, because if they're more aligned with Dublin than London isn't that the first step to cutting them loose.
The second option is the one that appeals to English Brexiters (well, the ones who actually understand the problem) because it leaves them free to deregulate to hell. But it massively pisses off the Northern Irish unionists who are currently propping up the Conservative government.
The EU refuses to deal with a Britain that doesn't adhere to its treaty obligations to EU members, and therefore won't do a trade deal with a Britain that doesn't keep the Ireland-NI border open. The "No Deal" brigade thinks that's a price worth paying for keeping the integrity of the UK and also for being able to deregulate like crazy and make pharmaceuticals that aren't fully tested and childrens toys full of lead and mercury.Comment
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Thanks
Thar points out a horror I hadn’t even considered. Not only will the UK be cut off from Europe, it will be cut off from Europe and run by morons who think deregulation is “freedom.” It means more freedom for conmen and oligarchs and more problems for everyone else.Comment
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And you have - quite genuinely - described the people pushing for this, enabling this and financing this.Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post
Rees-Mogg went on QT and said the first thing in their sights is the Working Time Directive. And nobody in the media batted an eyelid.Comment
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And Sarah Wollaston leaves Change UK to join the LibDems
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49353240Comment
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Corbyn has written to the other opposition parties saying they should join together to stop No Deal.
The Lib Dems, party of Remain, have said no.
The Greens, party of Remain, have said no.Comment
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Political posturing.
Plus time for all parties to change their minds, again.Comment
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The Greens welcomed the suggestion, but said a referendum should precede a general election. I'm not convinced that is the correct position, but it's not a hypocritical one.Comment
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It is clearly not the correct position, given that there is no parliamentary majority for a second referendum.Originally posted by Etienne View PostComment
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A referendum takes 22 weeks - I think. A GE can be done and dusted in around 8.Comment
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Swinson feels like she was designed to be used as a cudgel on the doorstep by Labour. Vote Lib Dem, get Tory. And here’s the person who’s saying so!Originally posted by Snake Plissken View PostComment
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But they are different things that achieve different ends, and people have different ideas about that. I think a rival party is allowed to say "cool, but we disagree with you about this bit".Originally posted by Snake Plissken View PostComment
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There's no parliamentary majority for a Corbyn PM either. And I can't see a GE producing one either at the moment. Swinson is backing herself into a corner though.Comment
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If the Centrists weren't a bunch of idiots, they would realise that a minority Labour Government with Corbyn as PM is unlikely to last the full five years and just suck it up for a while. I mean, you'd think Tom Watson would shut the fuck up for a while just to get into power and be given the ability to extract revenge on Murdoch and the Barclays but maybe I'm just being wacky and thinking long term.Comment
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I don't think you can spend 3 years saying to yourselves and everyone else that Corbyn is a Marxist, lexiter, antisemitic cunt who would unleash Stalinist purges on the Labour party and turn the UK into Venezuela and then say you'd be cool with him as a caretaker PM. But you've got to give yourself wiggle room in case that's where the maths takes you.Comment
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Corbyn's only proposing an emergency interim government to block no deal and oversee an election. I'm not confident he'd win a parliamentary majority so we might end up with another impasse, but we need something - anything - with more democratic legitimacy than the current stalemate.
Which is why his proposal in that letter last night is absolutely the right thing to do. Corbyn should be the person leading this, in the short-term, not because he's great or anything, but as the leader of the largest of the opposition parties that want to fight no-deal, he's constitutionally the most appropriate person to do so. I'd say this if Blair was still leader too. Democratic legitimacy - or some semblance of - is absolutely key here, to spike the "people v parliament" nastiness that Cummings and Johnson are planning. Which is why this Government Of National Unity bollocks, led by the "parliamentary grandee" who has the most agreeable lunches with lobby hacks, is such utter, utter, self-defeating nonsense. And perhaps the worst political idea of a year that's been chocka with thenComment
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Surely that should be “ Chuka with them”?Comment
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Of course it doesn't help that the Blue Labour Brexiters of the Labour right, who've always been a far bigger threat to all this than the shadowy Lexiters of media imagination, are now agitating against anything that stops their Legitimate Concerns being addressed. Trigger ballots anyone?Comment
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