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    https://twitter.com/chunkymark/status/1020007979314278400?s=19

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        Tony Connelly of RTE summarises the current state of play:

        https://www.rte.ie/amp/980069/?__twi...mpression=true

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          Haha, they can’t even get the basics right! Those Tories really are hilariously incompetent and therefore fucking dangerous. But they get voted in time and again so they must be doing plenty right.

          The Government’s Brexit white paper was translated into German so badly it barely makes sense in parts They mispelled "German" in German - and it was downhill from there. One Dutch Twitter user wrote: “Dear UK government. We appreciate the effort and you probably have no clue, but please stick to English if you want us to understand you. This is horrible. Kind regards, The Netherlands.”



          Brexit: British government's botched German translation of Chequers white paper met with ridicule
          The translation was branded ‘unreadable’ by German speakers

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            After two weeks away, I watched the C4 news last night and had forgotten just how supercilious and offputting May's aren't-I-grown-up speaking manner is. Of course the EU are the ones who need to get their shit together and stop wasting time, just as obviously as Wolves' failure to sign me as centre forward for next season demonstrates a deep rooted malaise in their player recruitment processes.

            In other lighter side of Brexit news, this installation by Michael Landy at the inaugural Riga Biennale was quite entertaining. The kiosk is placed in a yard round the side of the main venue and fairly well hidden. I noticed a slightly feeble 'Open For Business' sign rotating above a fence and bushes and initially thought that it was some absurd example of Liam Fox's handiwork, cooling down once the truth became apparent. The Brexit souvenirs are quite good; purposely shoddy to accord with the sentiments they commemorate.


            Tubby, I bought a spare 'Why should I do the hard s**t' fridge magnet in honour of your favourite lazy chancer and wrecker of the nation; if you PM me your address I'll stick it in the post to you.

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              That sounds great. So many of them now, but I assume you mean Hilarious Boris.

              I liked this reply from another Tory MP to his speech (or more precisely, Zac Goldsmith quoting from it).

              Ed Vaizey
              @edvaizey
              Follow Follow @edvaizey
              More Ed Vaizey Retweeted Zac Goldsmith
              I believe in my country and what it can do. What’s the next decision?

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                Good blog post http://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot....anning-be.html

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                  Originally posted by Benjm View Post
                  In other lighter side of Brexit news, this installation by Michael Landy at the inaugural Riga Biennale was quite entertaining. The kiosk is placed in a yard round the side of the main venue and fairly well hidden. I noticed a slightly feeble 'Open For Business' sign rotating above a fence and bushes and initially thought that it was some absurd example of Liam Fox's handiwork, cooling down once the truth became apparent. The Brexit souvenirs are quite good; purposely shoddy to accord with the sentiments they commemorate.

                  Tubby, I bought a spare 'Why should I do the hard s**t' fridge magnet in honour of your favourite lazy chancer and wrecker of the nation; if you PM me your address I'll stick it in the post to you.
                  Very good.

                  It sure beats an art installation I recently saw at Lindisfarne Castle on Holy Island, which was opened with great fanfare about 2 months ago to mark the end of major restoration work at the iconic castle, where Turner prize-nominated Anya Gallaccio has strewn a few organically dyed blankets on big wooden frames and thrown dried flowers on them, and plonked those frames in the middle of the poky castle rooms (not ideal to really appreciate the interior of that great building – space is tight as it sits on top of a rocky outcrop – but we’d been there before so it didn’t bother us).

                  Still, it’s conceptually strong as they say and we had a good laugh, and that’s what art is also about. I can’t say I like it but it sure beats looking at, and bumping into, the old pieces of furniture that these hulking frames swaddled in blankets have replaced and you can hide behind them too. And it does get people talking, inside and outside of the castle, in the pubs there etc. (fabulous little island), and that in itself is a success.

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                    That Chris Gray blog is excellent. Amazing really how he keeps his standard so consistently high.

                    The conclusion I thought was telling

                    Regardless of how that plays out, the big danger emerging is one I warned of some months ago. It is that Brexit, and especially the form in which Theresa May’s government have pursued it, is almost certain to bring humiliation to Britain – either through being forced to back down on what Brexiters promised in the face of reality or through the kind of catastrophe than no deal will unleash. Either way, the political fallout will not, to put it mildly, be pretty since, as pointed out in that previous post, history and psychology tell us that the consequences of humiliation are almost always rage and violence.
                    And On Cue Bannon moves to Europe

                    Trump’s former White House chief advisor told The Daily Beast that he is setting up a foundation in Europe called The Movement which he hopes will lead a right-wing populist revolt across the continent starting with the European Parliament elections next spring.
                    These fuckers are really fucking scary. The BBC is already open to them we have to resist them by any means necessary.

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                      I'm very curious as to who is funding Bannon in Europe. His break from the Mercers seems to be real, and it would be very unlike him to spend any of his own money.

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                        It’s not the Front National that’s for sure, they’re utterly skint. A ST journalist recently asked him about money, he replied: "I’ve made enough money [notably with Seinfeld], got not just fuck-you money, I’ve got fuck-everybody money. I could live any lifestyle." [...] "I advise them financially [them = the Euro populists he meets, Le Pen, Orban, Salvini etc.] and I want to put together an infrastructure that helps them."

                        But does he actually need much money for what he’s currently doing in Europe? To me, it sounds more like narcissistic PR and preening about, with a bit of fascist consultancy thrown in. He pops up in France, Hungary, Italy, the UK with Farage etc., called everybody "Marxists", gobs off a lot, insults Macron, Merkel and the EU ("My advice to May? To tell Brussels to go fuck themselves, I’m not gonna pay 50 billion so fuck you Brussels.") but isn’t doing much as far as we can see, he seems to be laying down markers and pushing others to take their populist roadshow across Europe (as Marion Maréchal Le Pen has been doing of late in Italy, her new boyf’ is Italian too, she’s always been close to Lega Nord) but is he actually spending any real spondoolicks himself? (apart from the posh hotels he stays in, chickenfeed for him), not sure. Does anyone know re his plans for Breitbart Europe, what stage they've got to etc.? Breitbart London is just a website, isn't it?

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                          His claims about his wealth are very Trumpian and his whole lifestyle in Washington was funded by the Mercers.

                          I'm quite sure he isn't spending his own money.

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                            I'm sure they are but my question is: is he actually spending much money in Europe apart from his stays at the Principe di Savoia in Milan? It doesn't appear so, if he were I think he's the sort who would brag about it. He stirring up shit but not sure he's spending much.

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                              It is hard to tell, because there is no sense of what kind of infrastructure, if any, he's building. I'm sure his personal burn rate is close to 1000 euro a day, but if he doesn't have a large entourage, then that isn't that much.

                              I'm sure that he is looking for a new sugar daddy, but may be finding that Euros are less likely to burn cash on him.

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                                  €1,000 a day while "holidaying" in Europe must surely be peanuts for him? He is 65, many people that age (not even wealthy) spend lavishly and he will have made quite a bit in Hollywood I guess (with Seinfeld etc.), I mean he must surely have a few millions in savings.

                                  He mentions "infrastructure" in that recent ST interview but doesn't elaborate (ITW (available online). The British New-York-based journalist, Josh Glancy, notes that his replies "are a little vague" or something of that nature. I think the infrastructure he alludes to in the ITW is probably a Breitbart Europe but given that he's been talking about it for about 3 years and nothing has materialised so far, let's just hope that he is just full of shit (as far as Europe is concerned anyhow) like so many of these attention-seeking gobshites, and that his effort tp Trumpify Europe will come to nada.

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                                    We are talking past each other.

                                    It's not that he doesn't have money, it's that he doesn't spend money.

                                    And his Seinfeld royalties are nowhere near as munificent as he claims.
                                    Last edited by ursus arctos; 21-07-2018, 15:25.

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                                      OK, he is a complete skinflint, I get it, plenty of rich people are as tight as they come, so it's not terribly surprising. But my main point is: is he actually spending any money in Europe apart from holiday expenses? (as per my previous posts). I'm not sure, there is no evidence of him having spent anything so far other than a few nights in European palaces. He is tight but surely, he doesn't mind spending a bit on himself, does he? (or who knows, maybe he gets his stays at the Principe di Savoia paid for by the Lega Nord).

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                                        As you note, there is no real evidence that he is, which means that he hasn't been able to find a Euro Mercer for three years.

                                        And that is interesting in and of itself.

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                                          Quite, I think otherwise he would have bragged about it, intentionally or not.

                                          You wondered earlier who could be funding Bannon in Europe but thankfully, and I hope I'm right, for all his media exertions when he visits us, he has come a cropper financially and his Breitbart Europe fantasies will hopefully remain piped dreams. I would imagine you need millions for that sort of network to take off and flourish, as well as excellent contacts in Europe and a solid pan-European strategy with advertisers, sponsors behind you etc, and I'm not sure he's got either.

                                          I can't speak for Italy or Hungary, but certainly in France I get the impression that the Le Pens have used him (superficially, once or twice a few months ago) to bounce back after a shit year for them since last June, he got them a little more airtime and attention but I'm not sure that's who they would want to put forward, he is foreign, well-known but the grassroots aren't that familiar with him, he's probably seen as too "exotic", too trumpian even for the Front National who would much prefer to use a proper homegrown celebrity bastard rather than some distant "emmet" as they say in Cornwall (non-native) that nobody is too sure about. They (FN] are "flattered", it gives them a semblance of international dimension etc. but that's all. (and they connected with him also possibly because they were under the impression he was loaded and they direly need a sugar daddy, as we've discussed in the French thread a while ago. Particularly Marion Le Pen, she needed money for her "school of politics" that I talked about in February - oh, it's been launched BTW, in Lyon, fucking hell...)

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                                            Can't he have a car accident, or fall down a flight of stairs?

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                                              Salvini has endorsed the invasion of Crimea.

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                                                The Russians will find a way to funnel money to him.

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                                                  One doesn't need advertisers, sponsors or any sort of real network if you can find wingnut billionaires willing to throw you 25 million a year or more.

                                                  I imagine that Bannon, who knows very little about the world outside his bubbles, is quite surprised that he hasn't been able to do that yet.

                                                  Salvini and the Lega have been getting Russian money for years.
                                                  Last edited by ursus arctos; 21-07-2018, 16:32.

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                                                    A thread on aviation:

                                                    https://mobile.twitter.com/brianmluc...03084806840320

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