The UK Politics and EU Referendum thread - merged

[nirvana]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn8-4tjPxD8

Deffo on the lash, what’s the occasion? Or just an early weekend? 

I have glandular fever, my gf has (successful) kidney surgery. Just sleepin and listenin.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QNAVrQ96mpA

GWS to you both.

No BS, you are genuinely one of my favourite blondes, & might just be the nicest person on the site. Sadly, "nice" is almost an insult these days, but there you go.

Thank you Tony. That means a lot to me 😊. It’s funny, I think we’ve met only twice (at the Gutshot and Luton) and didn’t even know who each other were at the time but I’ve come to have a great deal of respect for you, you set an excellent example in the nice guy stakes.

Gutshot, blimey. What memories.

Anyway, I'll be charged with getting off-topic, so whilst I am here.....

I saw something on Twitter yesterday which really made me think.

Back in 2015, when the Referendum was first proposed, I really don't recall much noise or hoohah about the EU at all. Just a few Brits having a little grumble now & then, as per our national character.

Then the Referendum was called, since when we have become a Nation torn in two, with both sides entrenched, & bad blood galore, Brexit dominating headlines & Social-Media day after day, several Prime Ministers, & Ministerial resignations by the score.

Was there really such a national uprising that demanded we leave the EU & cause all this bad blood?

Meanwhile, Government seems to have had no sense of urgency throughout. Easter & Summer recesses have taken place, nobody considered (until the last few days) the very thought of sitting at weekends or on Bank Holidays. The upcoming Party Conference Season will cause another 3 weeks of no action, & yet Party Conferences have no real purpose except ra ra & back-slapping.

It's all so surreal.

This is so true. Ive spent a few years getting re-interested in politics since 2014 to no earthly benefit. Mostly stunned by the ridiculousness but sometimes a few spikes of anger because, well, I took a side. Ludicrously it was on an issue where although I was clear why I would vote the way I did, at the time I voted, I didn't really give a monkeys what the outcome of the vote would actually be. Hard to have foreseen the way it would go over these last 3 years.

Anyway. As you say. All quite mad and surreal

[Pokerpops]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn8-4tjPxD8

Deffo on the lash, what’s the occasion? Or just an early weekend? 

I have glandular fever, my gf has (successful) kidney surgery. Just sleepin and listenin.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QNAVrQ96mpA

GWS to you both.

No BS, you are genuinely one of my favourite blondes, & might just be the nicest person on the site. Sadly, "nice" is almost an insult these days, but there you go.

Thank you Tony. That means a lot to me 😊. It’s funny, I think we’ve met only twice (at the Gutshot and Luton) and didn’t even know who each other were at the time but I’ve come to have a great deal of respect for you, you set an excellent example in the nice guy stakes.

Get well soon.

I call on the ‘nicest person on the site’ though.
That’s almost certainly Ralph. Or JonMW. Or HutchGF. Or Ironside. It used to be RedsGirl but she’s not around so much these days. Can’t recall any of the above calling people ‘dumb’.

[Archer]

Saw Barry Neville mentioned somewhere today, and nicked this from his FB page.


Its old and linked to the Brexit Party around election time, but it still astounding how easy it is to make these politicians look totally untrustworthy. Did they not think about the possibility of them losing face??

I like it.
And on a similar theme from yesterday with current cabinet ministers:

https://twitter.com/Channel4News/status/1167010726088773632

[MANTIS01]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn8-4tjPxD8

Deffo on the lash, what’s the occasion? Or just an early weekend? 

I have glandular fever, my gf has (successful) kidney surgery. Just sleepin and listenin.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QNAVrQ96mpA

GWS to you both.

No BS, you are genuinely one of my favourite blondes, & might just be the nicest person on the site. Sadly, "nice" is almost an insult these days, but there you go.

Thank you Tony. That means a lot to me 😊. It’s funny, I think we’ve met only twice (at the Gutshot and Luton) and didn’t even know who each other were at the time but I’ve come to have a great deal of respect for you, you set an excellent example in the nice guy stakes.

Gutshot, blimey. What memories.

Anyway, I'll be charged with getting off-topic, so whilst I am here.....

I saw something on Twitter yesterday which really made me think.

Back in 2015, when the Referendum was first proposed, I really don't recall much noise or hoohah about the EU at all. Just a few Brits having a little grumble now & then, as per our national character.

Then the Referendum was called, since when we have become a Nation torn in two, with both sides entrenched, & bad blood galore, Brexit dominating headlines & Social-Media day after day, several Prime Ministers, & Ministerial resignations by the score.

Was there really such a national uprising that demanded we leave the EU & cause all this bad blood?

Meanwhile, Government seems to have had no sense of urgency throughout. Easter & Summer recesses have taken place, nobody considered (until the last few days) the very thought of sitting at weekends or on Bank Holidays. The upcoming Party Conference Season will cause another 3 weeks of no action, & yet Party Conferences have no real purpose except ra ra & back-slapping.

It's all so surreal.

People didn’t realise they were very anti-smoking until a hoo-ha was made about it

Now that they’re shining a light on EU we can see what a filthy habit it is and that we should quit immediately

[Marky147]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn8-4tjPxD8

Deffo on the lash, what’s the occasion? Or just an early weekend? 

I have glandular fever, my gf has (successful) kidney surgery. Just sleepin and listenin.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QNAVrQ96mpA

Speedy recoveries all round

+1

Stop mixing her meds with your Jura, though

[Doobs]

Since when could Dominic Cummings sack people who work for other people?

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/aug/30/sajid-javid-was-not-told-in-advance-of-advisers-sacking-by-cummings

Seems a strange state of affairs, but the other reports all suggest that it was Cummings that sacked her, and not Cummings that told Javed to sack her because of x,y and z.   You'd think if you'd reached the level of a senior minister, you'd reached the stage where other people couldn't just sack your people without you having a say?

[kukushkin88]

This is political suicide. Education is the greatest enemy Conservatism has, they can’t survive a knowledgeable electorate.

(Obvs this “funding” will never happen)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-49515002

[Doobs]

This is political suicide. Education is the greatest enemy Conservatism has, they can’t survive a knowledgeable electorate.

(Obvs this “funding” will never happen)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-49515002

They are talking a 2.5% increase in the education budget, and some of these kids can't vote for 13 years.   Think it may take a bit more than that to dislodge them.

[Pokerpops]

This is political suicide. Education is the greatest enemy Conservatism has, they can’t survive a knowledgeable electorate.

(Obvs this “funding” will never happen)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-49515002

What will a knowledgeable electorate vote for in 2032?

[kukushkin88]

This is political suicide. Education is the greatest enemy Conservatism has, they can’t survive a knowledgeable electorate.

(Obvs this “funding” will never happen)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-49515002

What will a knowledgeable electorate vote for in 2032?

A coalition that is ~centre left or maybe slightly left of that. We’ll be trying our best to look after a lot of disenfranchised oldies though 😊.

[kukushkin88]

Well I must admit that I never saw a preemptive perogi coming

He needs there to be time for people to pull him out of the hole, so he has to go early. Would be gold if everyone holds their ground (spoiler alert: he has to back down.)

I could also see the EU deciding that the deadline can be extended if a member doesn’t have a sitting parliament and refuses to communicate on an ambiguous situation, like for example the border. The UN Security Council should be interested now.

Mind you don’t cut yourself on those straws you’re clutching.

Looks like EU is going to remove the deadline. It is shrewd, dipshit is in a tough spot now.

[BigAdz]

Such a nice bloke.

[aaron1867]

Does anyone else feel like they'd struggle to nail a vote to a party if a General Election was called in the coming months? I can see it myself and from other points of view.

Tory voters disappointed with their party and government not completing Brexit? Tory, Brexit Party or not vote at all?

Labour voters struggling to know what kind of party they are and Corbyn's approach. Do they keep loyal, go lib dem or not vote?

Brexit supporters, would they vote for the Brexit Party who don't have much of an agenda but for hard Brexit?

I don't think I would know where to vote on it all - I am a Labour/Remain voter who would now put Labour at the very bottom of the parties I would vote for. Whilst the Lib Dems have become more unappealing since Jo Swinson joined.

[Pokerpops]

Well I must admit that I never saw a preemptive perogi coming

He needs there to be time for people to pull him out of the hole, so he has to go early. Would be gold if everyone holds their ground (spoiler alert: he has to back down.)

I could also see the EU deciding that the deadline can be extended if a member doesn’t have a sitting parliament and refuses to communicate on an ambiguous situation, like for example the border. The UN Security Council should be interested now.

Mind you don’t cut yourself on those straws you’re clutching.

Looks like EU is going to remove the deadline. It is shrewd, dipshit is in a tough spot now.

From the Guardian, which presumably is ok as a source for you

Speaking at the launch of a new think tank Our Scottish Future, Brown said he accepted EU leaders could not unilaterally withdraw the deadline but were poised to say they would extend it if asked, adding to pressure on Boris Johnson to avoid a no-deal Brexit.

“I have actually been talking to some European leaders this week. I believe that next week the European Union will withdraw the October 31st deadline and remove the excuse that Boris Johnson has, and the claim that he’s making, that it’s the European Union being inflexible in their timing, and make it possible for MPs to vote [against] no-deal Brexit.”

His remarks were met with incredulity in Brussels, since there has been no discussion of that strategy at all; it was not on the radar. One official there described them as “bizarre”. The EU requires unanimity of all 27 member states on such a change – a process which involves heads of government involvement, and the UK’s agreement to it


Mind your hands on those straws.

[TightEnd]

Interesting take

Proroguing Parliament is constitutionally suspect, but is it a viable political strategy, as far as Brexit is concerned?

https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/08/29/shutting-down-parliament-is-worse-than-a-coup-its-a-mistake/