As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
You are a knob sometimes. “Brexit” is mentioned in the front page headlines of the Sunday Telegraph, the Sunday Times and the Mail on Sunday this morning. The word is prominent in the leading stories of the BBC and Sky News websites. If you want a French Revolution metaphor it looks like Robespierre is gone, the Directory is teetering and we’re about to get the mother of all reactions.
Besides, we're British, so the more attractive analogy is the Commonwealth. That lasted 11 years.
Except in a parallel universe where there was an interlude with a crazy lady between Oliver and Tumbledown Dick.
6/ UK source says: “The ERG team meeting last week on the protocol had only 22 people who showed up, 18 months ago, you would have had 80 people there. The ERG simply don't have the numbers. So Sunak is going to face them down on Monday”
That's my reading of it. The only protestors will be a handful of backbenchers and Lord Frost, and Sunak may see it as a virtue to be shown to be tough with them, especially as they are a bunch of plonkers (proof: Francois).
He'll be hoping that without significant support at ministerial level, or the numbers on the backbenches, the DUP will have little choice but to fold.
6/ UK source says: “The ERG team meeting last week on the protocol had only 22 people who showed up, 18 months ago, you would have had 80 people there. The ERG simply don't have the numbers. So Sunak is going to face them down on Monday”
6/ UK source says: “The ERG team meeting last week on the protocol had only 22 people who showed up, 18 months ago, you would have had 80 people there. The ERG simply don't have the numbers. So Sunak is going to face them down on Monday”
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
Tell it to ERG who want everything to be about squabbles with the EU forever.
David Cameron, 17 years ago:
“While parents worried about childcare, getting the kids to school, balancing work and family life, we were banging on about Europe.”
And now whilst people are desperately worried about the fact that all their money seems to have been removed from them, you're banging on about Europe.
Not a problem, they'll soon have nothing to spend it on in the food shops anyway because Brexit really has done in the food network whose problems the same governments ignored while obsessed with Brexiting.
My ill informed person’s take is that a relatively efficient food supply and delivery system has been sewn together by the most diaphanous of threads for a long time, and a series of shocks (Brexit, war, inflation, fuel crisis) is severely damaging it. The age of food being a diminishing proportion of people’s incomes is going into rapid reverse. On top of that addition to the basket of dystopia I see our fuel bills will be going up another 20% in April. Great.
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
It's like having a baby though. Strangely, most parents are anxious to talk about how wonderful their kids are. Despite them being annoying, expensive and inconvenient. Shut the fuck up about my child is only heard when it's become a delinquent brat.
Does this cast Starmer as a sort of social worker poised to take the Brexit child into care?
6/ UK source says: “The ERG team meeting last week on the protocol had only 22 people who showed up, 18 months ago, you would have had 80 people there. The ERG simply don't have the numbers. So Sunak is going to face them down on Monday”
That's my reading of it. The only protestors will be a handful of backbenchers and Lord Frost, and Sunak may see it as a virtue to be shown to be tough with them, especially as they are a bunch of plonkers (proof: Francois).
He'll be hoping that without significant support at ministerial level, or the numbers on the backbenches, the DUP will have little choice but to fold.
What incentive do the DUP have to play ball even then though? It's not like they have a concern about it hurting their support.
"Italy shipwreck: Dozens of migrants killed off Calabria coast
More than 40 migrants, including a baby, have died and dozens more have survived after their overloaded boat sank in rough seas off southern Italy.
The vessel reportedly broke apart while trying to land with more than 100 people aboard near the coastal town of Crotone in the Calabria region.
Many bodies have been recovered from the beach at a nearby seaside resort. "
The stain on humanity Braverman will probably be breaking out the bubbly . Shes more than likely looking forward to seeing such scenes off the Kent coast to prove how dangerous those crossings are . She’s off course still counting the days when she can ship even genuine asylum seekers off to Rwanda and will rejoice in that human misery .
You mean the government that has, so far, inflicted Domino’s pizza on migrants.
As opposed to the Italian government seizing ships trying to help foundering immigrant boats.
Mind you, the Italian government is enthusiastically working with those noted humanitarians - the Libyan Coastguard.
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
Tell it to ERG who want everything to be about squabbles with the EU forever.
David Cameron, 17 years ago:
“While parents worried about childcare, getting the kids to school, balancing work and family life, we were banging on about Europe.”
And now whilst people are desperately worried about the fact that all their money seems to have been removed from them, you're banging on about Europe.
Not a problem, they'll soon have nothing to spend it on in the food shops anyway because Brexit really has done in the food network whose problems the same governments ignored while obsessed with Brexiting.
My ill informed person’s take is that a relatively efficient food supply and delivery system has been sewn together by the most diaphanous of threads for a long time, and a series of shocks (Brexit, war, inflation, fuel crisis) is severely damaging it. The age of food being a diminishing proportion of people’s incomes is going into rapid reverse. On top of that addition to the basket of dystopia I see our fuel bills will be going up another 20% in April. Great.
6/ UK source says: “The ERG team meeting last week on the protocol had only 22 people who showed up, 18 months ago, you would have had 80 people there. The ERG simply don't have the numbers. So Sunak is going to face them down on Monday”
It does feel like the BBC, or the goverment directly, could avoid this sort of thing.
BBC has denied that it’s reconsidering closing down the radio operations of its Persian service, dashing hopes that the 83 -year-old radio service can be saved - a lifeline to millions in Iran and Afganistan. It says it has no money, although it costs less than £1m a year to run.
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
Tell it to ERG who want everything to be about squabbles with the EU forever.
David Cameron, 17 years ago:
“While parents worried about childcare, getting the kids to school, balancing work and family life, we were banging on about Europe.”
And now whilst people are desperately worried about the fact that all their money seems to have been removed from them, you're banging on about Europe.
Not a problem, they'll soon have nothing to spend it on in the food shops anyway because Brexit really has done in the food network whose problems the same governments ignored while obsessed with Brexiting.
My ill informed person’s take is that a relatively efficient food supply and delivery system has been sewn together by the most diaphanous of threads for a long time, and a series of shocks (Brexit, war, inflation, fuel crisis) is severely damaging it. The age of food being a diminishing proportion of people’s incomes is going into rapid reverse. On top of that addition to the basket of dystopia I see our fuel bills will be going up another 20% in April. Great.
In theory energy prices are supposed to start decreasing from October onwards however.
I don’t see it myself but that Seems to be what “experts” are expecting.
The thing I keep coming back to is the illusion of some unstoppable Conservative election winning machine and this is unusual. It’s really not. The electorate didn’t trust them with a majority in 2010 or 2017 and in 2015 it wasn’t a stable one.
2019 was an outlier. The blue team has achieved a majority twice in 6 general elections, a stable one only once. They have been stamping on eggshells while behaving like they can walk on water. For all his faults Starmer has productively spent his time facing up to the problems in his party and seeking to fix them. The Tories don’t even think they’ve got a problem.
This is very important point.
The Conservative "brand" never really recovered from the 1990s and they've only got four election victories (three of them less than convincing) through all sorts of reboots, recuts and relaunches and running against themselves. With a smattering of a lack of confidence in what they really believe in running throughout.
It's a very interesting psephological phenomenon.
There's a lot lack of intellectual thinking about this problem on the backbenches and in the party at large.
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
Tell it to ERG who want everything to be about squabbles with the EU forever.
David Cameron, 17 years ago:
“While parents worried about childcare, getting the kids to school, balancing work and family life, we were banging on about Europe.”
And now whilst people are desperately worried about the fact that all their money seems to have been removed from them, you're banging on about Europe.
Not a problem, they'll soon have nothing to spend it on in the food shops anyway because Brexit really has done in the food network whose problems the same governments ignored while obsessed with Brexiting.
My ill informed person’s take is that a relatively efficient food supply and delivery system has been sewn together by the most diaphanous of threads for a long time, and a series of shocks (Brexit, war, inflation, fuel crisis) is severely damaging it. The age of food being a diminishing proportion of people’s incomes is going into rapid reverse. On top of that addition to the basket of dystopia I see our fuel bills will be going up another 20% in April. Great.
Pretty much. Hence the varying levels of problems around the world.
Worth noting that supply chains that have been optimised for minimum cost at .. all costs have the biggest problems.
6/ UK source says: “The ERG team meeting last week on the protocol had only 22 people who showed up, 18 months ago, you would have had 80 people there. The ERG simply don't have the numbers. So Sunak is going to face them down on Monday”
That's my reading of it. The only protestors will be a handful of backbenchers and Lord Frost, and Sunak may see it as a virtue to be shown to be tough with them, especially as they are a bunch of plonkers (proof: Francois).
He'll be hoping that without significant support at ministerial level, or the numbers on the backbenches, the DUP will have little choice but to fold.
What incentive do the DUP have to play ball even then though? It's not like they have a concern about it hurting their support.
After being overindulged since 2017, the DUP may be about to enter the Total Perspective Vortex.
May needed the DUP for votes. Johnson needed them as an excuse to topple May. Sunak doesn't need them at all.
The realpolitik is that they're a microscopic dot on a microscopic dot labelled "You are here".
It does feel like the BBC, or the goverment directly, could avoid this sort of thing.
BBC has denied that it’s reconsidering closing down the radio operations of its Persian service, dashing hopes that the 83 -year-old radio service can be saved - a lifeline to millions in Iran and Afganistan. It says it has no money, although it costs less than £1m a year to run.
These sorts of services should be provided by the BBC under contract with the Foreign Office. The old model - of the BBC being provided generous wads of license fee income, so it could easily fund various obscure bits and pieces to suit a variety of interest groups, has clearly fallen apart.
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
Tell it to ERG who want everything to be about squabbles with the EU forever.
David Cameron, 17 years ago:
“While parents worried about childcare, getting the kids to school, balancing work and family life, we were banging on about Europe.”
And now whilst people are desperately worried about the fact that all their money seems to have been removed from them, you're banging on about Europe.
Not a problem, they'll soon have nothing to spend it on in the food shops anyway because Brexit really has done in the food network whose problems the same governments ignored while obsessed with Brexiting.
My ill informed person’s take is that a relatively efficient food supply and delivery system has been sewn together by the most diaphanous of threads for a long time, and a series of shocks (Brexit, war, inflation, fuel crisis) is severely damaging it. The age of food being a diminishing proportion of people’s incomes is going into rapid reverse. On top of that addition to the basket of dystopia I see our fuel bills will be going up another 20% in April. Great.
Quite; I had meant 'existing problems' but should have been clearer.
Efficiency and resilience are to some extent antithetical. Like NHS - 100% capacity always means queuing or worse.
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
Oh the irony. You bored us to tears about it for months and months and months when we all wanted to move on and now you are bored. Suck it up.
That was before the referendum. Which we Leavers won
It is now done
And, honestly, it is extremely boring. Like some mad family arguing over a long dead great great great aunt who left an antique Turkish commode to one of the servants
You won the referendum and now you’ve fucked off forcing us (and the national press) to discuss how to clear up the mess that you and your fellow travellers disastrous win created. Is it just PB who should stop discussing the fiasco resulting from your victory or the entire U.K. media, which largely leads on it today? Would you like the national conversation to shift from the Brexit created mess that is the NI Protocol and talk about more pressing issues like What 3 Words, Chat GPT and fucking aliens? You know, the ones that interest you? I’m sure you’re a hoot at parties.
Like Johnson, your skill at a pithy turn of phrase disguises that your intellectual depth is that of of a paddling pool, your ego is the size of a mountain and you’ve not two morals to rub together.
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
It's like having a baby though. Strangely, most parents are anxious to talk about how wonderful their kids are. Despite them being annoying, expensive and inconvenient. Shut the fuck up about my child is only heard when it's become a delinquent brat.
Of course it’s delinquent. Brexit is a fucking disaster which has sent the country into a permanent spiral of decline, however
1. We won hahaha 2. It still annoys the right people 3. I’m rich and so I’ve fucked off to nicer places leaving the rest of you idiots to cope with the rain and the Brexittyness 4. You’re sovereign now on your stupid shitty brexity island so stop moaning, it’s dull
It does feel like the BBC, or the goverment directly, could avoid this sort of thing.
BBC has denied that it’s reconsidering closing down the radio operations of its Persian service, dashing hopes that the 83 -year-old radio service can be saved - a lifeline to millions in Iran and Afganistan. It says it has no money, although it costs less than £1m a year to run.
These sorts of services should be provided by the BBC under contract with the Foreign Office. The old model - of the BBC being provided generous wads of license fee income, so it could easily fund various obscure bits and pieces to suit a variety of interest groups, has clearly fallen apart.
Or just merge them into MI5 / MI6 and make savings.
6/ UK source says: “The ERG team meeting last week on the protocol had only 22 people who showed up, 18 months ago, you would have had 80 people there. The ERG simply don't have the numbers. So Sunak is going to face them down on Monday”
That's my reading of it. The only protestors will be a handful of backbenchers and Lord Frost, and Sunak may see it as a virtue to be shown to be tough with them, especially as they are a bunch of plonkers (proof: Francois).
He'll be hoping that without significant support at ministerial level, or the numbers on the backbenches, the DUP will have little choice but to fold.
What incentive do the DUP have to play ball even then though? It's not like they have a concern about it hurting their support.
I suspect if the UK/EU have found a solution that is palatable to most reasonable folk, and the DUP continue to say no and not return to Stormont, even some of their supporters may gradually come to a view that the DUP's approach is counterproductive and could result in increased support for non-unionist parties.
I do wonder if the Tufton St gerrymanderers have misplayed this. Plenty of elders will be turned away for doing what they've done for 50+ years and they might not come back. Where I've noticed younger people are more likely to have a photo ID to hand than their parents by virtue of having needed it for recreation.
Although a great deal of the ID acceptable for socialising mysteriously isn't acceptable for voting. I do wonder how many will be confident about waving their passport in a public area with absolutely no security?
What do you think will happen? Armed passport robbers pitching up at polling stations?
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
Oh the irony. You bored us to tears about it for months and months and months when we all wanted to move on and now you are bored. Suck it up.
That was before the referendum. Which we Leavers won
It is now done
And, honestly, it is extremely boring. Like some mad family arguing over a long dead great great great aunt who left an antique Turkish commode to one of the servants
You won the referendum and now you’ve fucked off forcing us (and the national press) to discuss how to clear up the mess that you and your fellow travellers disastrous win created. Is it just PB who should stop discussing the fiasco resulting from your victory or the entire U.K. media, which largely leads on it today? Would you like the national conversation to shift from the Brexit created mess that is the NI Protocol and talk about more pressing issues like What 3 Words, Chat GPT and fucking aliens? You know, the ones that interest you? I’m sure you’re a hoot at parties.
Like Johnson, your skill at a pithy turn of phrase disguises that your intellectual depth is that of of a paddling pool, your ego is the size of a mountain and you’ve not two morals to rub together.
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
Tell it to ERG who want everything to be about squabbles with the EU forever.
David Cameron, 17 years ago:
“While parents worried about childcare, getting the kids to school, balancing work and family life, we were banging on about Europe.”
And now whilst people are desperately worried about the fact that all their money seems to have been removed from them, you're banging on about Europe.
Not a problem, they'll soon have nothing to spend it on in the food shops anyway because Brexit really has done in the food network whose problems the same governments ignored while obsessed with Brexiting.
My ill informed person’s take is that a relatively efficient food supply and delivery system has been sewn together by the most diaphanous of threads for a long time, and a series of shocks (Brexit, war, inflation, fuel crisis) is severely damaging it. The age of food being a diminishing proportion of people’s incomes is going into rapid reverse. On top of that addition to the basket of dystopia I see our fuel bills will be going up another 20% in April. Great.
Yes, and if there are two things Brexit was marketed (so to speak) on, it was about food and wages. Both highly visible.
Even Italian restaurants are going all white pizza. It will be very interresting to see the political impact of "Qu'ils mangeant de la pizza blanche".
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
It's like having a baby though. Strangely, most parents are anxious to talk about how wonderful their kids are. Despite them being annoying, expensive and inconvenient. Shut the fuck up about my child is only heard when it's become a delinquent brat.
Of course it’s delinquent. Brexit is a fucking disaster which has sent the country into a permanent spiral of decline, however
1. We won hahaha 2. It still annoys the right people 3. I’m rich and so I’ve fucked off to nicer places leaving the rest of you idiots to cope with the rain and the Brexittyness 4. You’re sovereign now on your stupid shitty brexity island so stop moaning, it’s dull
You do seem a bit lost poppet. I don't think being in the tropics with nothing to do really suits you. I'd advise you consider a return to our rainy haven soon - tomatoes or no tomatoes. I have heard a rumour that London is BAAAACK.
I do wonder if the Tufton St gerrymanderers have misplayed this. Plenty of elders will be turned away for doing what they've done for 50+ years and they might not come back. Where I've noticed younger people are more likely to have a photo ID to hand than their parents by virtue of having needed it for recreation.
Although a great deal of the ID acceptable for socialising mysteriously isn't acceptable for voting. I do wonder how many will be confident about waving their passport in a public area with absolutely no security?
What do you think will happen? Armed passport robbers pitching up at polling stations?
Patriotic ‘blue’ passport holders turning on remoany ‘red’ passport holders with one last wail of Brexity angst.
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
Tell it to ERG who want everything to be about squabbles with the EU forever.
David Cameron, 17 years ago:
“While parents worried about childcare, getting the kids to school, balancing work and family life, we were banging on about Europe.”
And now whilst people are desperately worried about the fact that all their money seems to have been removed from them, you're banging on about Europe.
Not a problem, they'll soon have nothing to spend it on in the food shops anyway because Brexit really has done in the food network whose problems the same governments ignored while obsessed with Brexiting.
My ill informed person’s take is that a relatively efficient food supply and delivery system has been sewn together by the most diaphanous of threads for a long time, and a series of shocks (Brexit, war, inflation, fuel crisis) is severely damaging it. The age of food being a diminishing proportion of people’s incomes is going into rapid reverse. On top of that addition to the basket of dystopia I see our fuel bills will be going up another 20% in April. Great.
In theory energy prices are supposed to start decreasing from October onwards however.
I don’t see it myself but that Seems to be what “experts” are expecting.
I hope Rishi is successful, but the way he has played the last week is quite odd.
I think it has been an attempt to flush out the irreconcilable figures in the party to gauge how big a problem he has, whilst demonstrating he wasn't just taking the first opportunity to get something over the line.
I do wonder if the Tufton St gerrymanderers have misplayed this. Plenty of elders will be turned away for doing what they've done for 50+ years and they might not come back. Where I've noticed younger people are more likely to have a photo ID to hand than their parents by virtue of having needed it for recreation.
Although a great deal of the ID acceptable for socialising mysteriously isn't acceptable for voting. I do wonder how many will be confident about waving their passport in a public area with absolutely no security?
What do you think will happen? Armed passport robbers pitching up at polling stations?
Patriotic ‘blue’ passport holders turning on remoany ‘red’ passport holders with one last wail of Brexity angst.
Ah! Mine seems to be black rather than blue though. Must have been wokey Home Office officials going overboard with black lives matter.
I hope Rishi is successful, but the way he has played the last week is quite odd.
I can't tell if it's desperation, overconfidence, or some toxic mixture of both. I think he really might be about to shit the bed. That would be sad for his supporters, though not for me obvs.
Do I understand correctly that Steve Baker is expected to resign?
Not sure why he would ever have taken the gig to be honest. He's always been pretty clear he doesn't toe the line on Brexity issues, and so even a junior ministerial role seems odd when it needs must mean some level of putting aside personal concerns in order to deliver.
Do I understand correctly that Steve Baker is expected to resign?
Not sure why he would ever have taken the gig to be honest. He's always been pretty clear he doesn't toe the line on Brexity issues, and so even a junior ministerial role seems odd when it needs must mean some level of putting aside personal concerns in order to deliver.
He did it so he could resign? (Edit: if he indeed does.)
6/ UK source says: “The ERG team meeting last week on the protocol had only 22 people who showed up, 18 months ago, you would have had 80 people there. The ERG simply don't have the numbers. So Sunak is going to face them down on Monday”
That's my reading of it. The only protestors will be a handful of backbenchers and Lord Frost, and Sunak may see it as a virtue to be shown to be tough with them, especially as they are a bunch of plonkers (proof: Francois).
He'll be hoping that without significant support at ministerial level, or the numbers on the backbenches, the DUP will have little choice but to fold.
What incentive do the DUP have to play ball even then though? It's not like they have a concern about it hurting their support.
I suspect if the UK/EU have found a solution that is palatable to most reasonable folk, and the DUP continue to say no and not return to Stormont, even some of their supporters may gradually come to a view that the DUP's approach is counterproductive and could result in increased support for non-unionist parties.
They will switch support to other unionist parties. TUV or UUP depending on the nature of their anger with the DUP, if any.
The other possibility is that the DUP pitches this as a victory - “Look what we got by playing the SF game. A threat of violence and some intransigence - vote DUP for the win”
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
It's like having a baby though. Strangely, most parents are anxious to talk about how wonderful their kids are. Despite them being annoying, expensive and inconvenient. Shut the fuck up about my child is only heard when it's become a delinquent brat.
Of course it’s delinquent. Brexit is a fucking disaster which has sent the country into a permanent spiral of decline, however
1. We won hahaha 2. It still annoys the right people 3. I’m rich and so I’ve fucked off to nicer places leaving the rest of you idiots to cope with the rain and the Brexittyness 4. You’re sovereign now on your stupid shitty brexity island so stop moaning, it’s dull
You do seem a bit lost poppet. I don't think being in the tropics with nothing to do really suits you. I'd advise you consider a return to our rainy haven soon - tomatoes or no tomatoes. I have heard a rumour that London is BAAAACK.
Au contraire, I am just off for lunch at Lord Lawson’s chateau. I think Nigel is joining us with his lovely German wife, and Stanley Johnson is jetting in from his villa in Pelion
I think he's being pessimistic, I think going overtly racist can be a lucrative path for some people.
Fair play to the story for actually detailing what he said, and putting it in its context (which doesn't help him still) for once.
Many US newspapers including the Washington Post have dropped the long-running Dilbert cartoon strip after its creator made racist comments.
In a video on YouTube, Scott Adams, who is white, said black Americans were part of a "hate group" and that white people should "get the hell away" from them.
Mr Adams, 65, later acknowledged that his career was destroyed.
He said most of his income would be gone by next week.
I hope Rishi is successful, but the way he has played the last week is quite odd.
I can't tell if it's desperation, overconfidence, or some toxic mixture of both. I think he really might be about to shit the bed. That would be sad for his supporters, though not for me obvs.
I hope Rishi is successful, but the way he has played the last week is quite odd.
I can't tell if it's desperation, overconfidence, or some toxic mixture of both. I think he really might be about to shit the bed. That would be sad for his supporters, though not for me obvs.
Unless you wanted to get in his bed.
Er, bit of a mixed metaphor, unless one is something out of Krafft-Ebing.
Off for a pub lunch on Dartmoor. Fresh but bright.
On topic, I think it's the SNP brand we have seen "ratnerised". Tories will come back (says somebody who has been out on the doorstep this week....locals aren't looking too bad round here - we'll worry about the general late next year).
I think he's being pessimistic, I think going overtly racist can be a lucrative path for some people.
Fair play to the story for actually detailing what he said, and putting it in its context (which doesn't help him still) for once.
Many US newspapers including the Washington Post have dropped the long-running Dilbert cartoon strip after its creator made racist comments.
In a video on YouTube, Scott Adams, who is white, said black Americans were part of a "hate group" and that white people should "get the hell away" from them.
Mr Adams, 65, later acknowledged that his career was destroyed.
He said most of his income would be gone by next week.
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
It's like having a baby though. Strangely, most parents are anxious to talk about how wonderful their kids are. Despite them being annoying, expensive and inconvenient. Shut the fuck up about my child is only heard when it's become a delinquent brat.
Of course it’s delinquent. Brexit is a fucking disaster which has sent the country into a permanent spiral of decline, however
1. We won hahaha 2. It still annoys the right people 3. I’m rich and so I’ve fucked off to nicer places leaving the rest of you idiots to cope with the rain and the Brexittyness 4. You’re sovereign now on your stupid shitty brexity island so stop moaning, it’s dull
You do seem a bit lost poppet. I don't think being in the tropics with nothing to do really suits you. I'd advise you consider a return to our rainy haven soon - tomatoes or no tomatoes. I have heard a rumour that London is BAAAACK.
Au contraire, I am just off for lunch at Lord Lawson’s chateau. I think Nigel is joining us with his lovely German wife, and Stanley Johnson is jetting in from his villa in Pelion
6/ UK source says: “The ERG team meeting last week on the protocol had only 22 people who showed up, 18 months ago, you would have had 80 people there. The ERG simply don't have the numbers. So Sunak is going to face them down on Monday”
That's my reading of it. The only protestors will be a handful of backbenchers and Lord Frost, and Sunak may see it as a virtue to be shown to be tough with them, especially as they are a bunch of plonkers (proof: Francois).
He'll be hoping that without significant support at ministerial level, or the numbers on the backbenches, the DUP will have little choice but to fold.
What incentive do the DUP have to play ball even then though? It's not like they have a concern about it hurting their support.
The DUP should be told (if necessary after a behind the scenes discussion with Washington) that if they don’t agree, and continue to obstruct Stormont, then Alliance or the UUP will be invited to join the NI government in their place.
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
Oh the irony. You bored us to tears about it for months and months and months when we all wanted to move on and now you are bored. Suck it up.
That was before the referendum. Which we Leavers won
It is now done
And, honestly, it is extremely boring. Like some mad family arguing over a long dead great great great aunt who left an antique Turkish commode to one of the servants
You won the referendum and now you’ve fucked off forcing us (and the national press) to discuss how to clear up the mess that you and your fellow travellers disastrous win created. Is it just PB who should stop discussing the fiasco resulting from your victory or the entire U.K. media, which largely leads on it today? Would you like the national conversation to shift from the Brexit created mess that is the NI Protocol and talk about more pressing issues like What 3 Words, Chat GPT and fucking aliens? You know, the ones that interest you? I’m sure you’re a hoot at parties.
Like Johnson, your skill at a pithy turn of phrase disguises that your intellectual depth is that of of a paddling pool, your ego is the size of a mountain and you’ve not two morals to rub together.
Heh
Why the 'heh'? Doug does seem to have hit the nail on the head.
I do wonder if the Tufton St gerrymanderers have misplayed this. Plenty of elders will be turned away for doing what they've done for 50+ years and they might not come back. Where I've noticed younger people are more likely to have a photo ID to hand than their parents by virtue of having needed it for recreation.
Although a great deal of the ID acceptable for socialising mysteriously isn't acceptable for voting. I do wonder how many will be confident about waving their passport in a public area with absolutely no security?
What do you think will happen? Armed passport robbers pitching up at polling stations?
Patriotic ‘blue’ passport holders turning on remoany ‘red’ passport holders with one last wail of Brexity angst.
Ah! Mine seems to be black rather than blue though. Must have been wokey Home Office officials going overboard with black lives matter.
Same here.
Obviously will take my narwhal horn to the polling station, just in case.
I hope Rishi is successful, but the way he has played the last week is quite odd.
I can't tell if it's desperation, overconfidence, or some toxic mixture of both. I think he really might be about to shit the bed. That would be sad for his supporters, though not for me obvs.
I think he's being pessimistic, I think going overtly racist can be a lucrative path for some people.
Fair play to the story for actually detailing what he said, and putting it in its context (which doesn't help him still) for once.
Many US newspapers including the Washington Post have dropped the long-running Dilbert cartoon strip after its creator made racist comments.
In a video on YouTube, Scott Adams, who is white, said black Americans were part of a "hate group" and that white people should "get the hell away" from them.
Mr Adams, 65, later acknowledged that his career was destroyed.
He said most of his income would be gone by next week.
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
Oh the irony. You bored us to tears about it for months and months and months when we all wanted to move on and now you are bored. Suck it up.
That was before the referendum. Which we Leavers won
It is now done
And, honestly, it is extremely boring. Like some mad family arguing over a long dead great great great aunt who left an antique Turkish commode to one of the servants
No it wasn't. Those drugs have had a go at your memory. You relentlessly went on and on and on about it not that long ago while the rest of us tried to shut you up. You couldn't stop keep bringing it up. Honestly, memory of a goldfish.
The thing I keep coming back to is the illusion of some unstoppable Conservative election winning machine and this is unusual. It’s really not. The electorate didn’t trust them with a majority in 2010 or 2017 and in 2015 it wasn’t a stable one.
2019 was an outlier. The blue team has achieved a majority twice in 6 general elections, a stable one only once. They have been stamping on eggshells while behaving like they can walk on water. For all his faults Starmer has productively spent his time facing up to the problems in his party and seeking to fix them. The Tories don’t even think they’ve got a problem.
This is very important point.
The Conservative "brand" never really recovered from the 1990s and they've only got four election victories (three of them less than convincing) through all sorts of reboots, recuts and relaunches and running against themselves. With a smattering of a lack of confidence in what they really believe in running throughout.
It's a very interesting psephological phenomenon.
There's a lot lack of intellectual thinking about this problem on the backbenches and in the party at large.
An interesting point. However, it rather presupposes that there is compelling alternative vision on the Left. I don’t see it
If anything the main threat to soft centre-right liberal democratic capitalism - Conservatism as we know it in the UK - now comes from the hard nationalist right.
Off for a pub lunch on Dartmoor. Fresh but bright.
On topic, I think it's the SNP brand we have seen "ratnerised". Tories will come back (says somebody who has been out on the doorstep this week....locals aren't looking too bad round here - we'll worry about the general late next year).
I've got a spatchcock chicken, maris pipers with goose fat, and honey roasted parsnips in the oven.
Only 45 minutes to go before my Sunday roast of mass satisfaction.
I hope Rishi is successful, but the way he has played the last week is quite odd.
I can't tell if it's desperation, overconfidence, or some toxic mixture of both. I think he really might be about to shit the bed. That would be sad for his supporters, though not for me obvs.
Do I understand correctly that Steve Baker is expected to resign?
On 'resignation watch' is what I heard. Could be just raising hopes. You know how they like to mess with us.
The text has been set for a week and according to the Telegraph, nobody has bothered to share it with Baker yet.
As I said above, the whole strategy is very odd. Presumably they just think there’s no way he’ll support it, so what’s the point of engaging with him?
Or perhaps they’re just hoping to marginalise him.
Really? That's pretty strange. I thought he had been praised for his willingness to engage and be open to compromise. Would be weird for him to be cut out at the end. They would be making it hard for him to do anything other than resign.
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
Oh the irony. You bored us to tears about it for months and months and months when we all wanted to move on and now you are bored. Suck it up.
That was before the referendum. Which we Leavers won
It is now done
And, honestly, it is extremely boring. Like some mad family arguing over a long dead great great great aunt who left an antique Turkish commode to one of the servants
You won the referendum and now you’ve fucked off forcing us (and the national press) to discuss how to clear up the mess that you and your fellow travellers disastrous win created. Is it just PB who should stop discussing the fiasco resulting from your victory or the entire U.K. media, which largely leads on it today? Would you like the national conversation to shift from the Brexit created mess that is the NI Protocol and talk about more pressing issues like What 3 Words, Chat GPT and fucking aliens? You know, the ones that interest you? I’m sure you’re a hoot at parties.
Like Johnson, your skill at a pithy turn of phrase disguises that your intellectual depth is that of of a paddling pool, your ego is the size of a mountain and you’ve not two morals to rub together.
Heh
Why the 'heh'? Doug does seem to have hit the nail on the head.
Because his laboured, angry and deliciously splenetic reaction was exactly what I wanted, to liven up the day. As would be fucking obvious, if you weren’t so dim
I mean “you’ve not got two morals to rub together” must be one of the most cringeworthy insults ever hurled on PB, and I bet he spent about ten minutes thinking it up
6/ UK source says: “The ERG team meeting last week on the protocol had only 22 people who showed up, 18 months ago, you would have had 80 people there. The ERG simply don't have the numbers. So Sunak is going to face them down on Monday”
That's my reading of it. The only protestors will be a handful of backbenchers and Lord Frost, and Sunak may see it as a virtue to be shown to be Good Friday Agreementh with them, especially as they are a bunch of plonkers (proof: Francois).
He'll be hoping that without significant support at ministerial level, or the numbers on the backbenches, the DUP will have little choice but to fold.
What incentive do the DUP have to play ball even then though? It's not like they have a concern about it hurting their support.
The DUP should be told (if necessary after a behind the scenes discussion with Washington) that if they don’t agree, and continue to obstruct Stormont, then Alliance or the UUP will be invited to join the NI government in their place.
That would require the Good Friday Agreement to be amended, with both Dublin and London's approval, so that only the largest party at Stormont needs to be represented in the Executive and selects the FM. Otherwise any Nationalist or Unionist Party can join the Alliance to form the rest of the Executive (ie now the UUP therefore not the DUP)
Do I understand correctly that Steve Baker is expected to resign?
It does look like about 100-150 Conservative MPs, the bulk of them ERG, could vote against any deal which extends ECJ jurisdiction to Great Britain and Steve Baker would leave the Government, maybe Braverman and Raab too
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
Oh the irony. You bored us to tears about it for months and months and months when we all wanted to move on and now you are bored. Suck it up.
That was before the referendum. Which we Leavers won
It is now done
And, honestly, it is extremely boring. Like some mad family arguing over a long dead great great great aunt who left an antique Turkish commode to one of the servants
You won the referendum and now you’ve fucked off forcing us (and the national press) to discuss how to clear up the mess that you and your fellow travellers disastrous win created. Is it just PB who should stop discussing the fiasco resulting from your victory or the entire U.K. media, which largely leads on it today? Would you like the national conversation to shift from the Brexit created mess that is the NI Protocol and talk about more pressing issues like What 3 Words, Chat GPT and fucking aliens? You know, the ones that interest you? I’m sure you’re a hoot at parties.
Like Johnson, your skill at a pithy turn of phrase disguises that your intellectual depth is that of of a paddling pool, your ego is the size of a mountain and you’ve not two morals to rub together.
Heh
Why the 'heh'? Doug does seem to have hit the nail on the head.
Because his laboured, angry and deliciously splenetic reaction was exactly what I wanted, to liven up the day. As would be fucking obvious, if you weren’t so dim
I mean “you’ve not got two morals to rub together” must be one of the most cringeworthy insults ever hurled on PB, and I bet he spent about ten minutes thinking it up
I wish one day we'd fucking move on.
90%+ of this is Brits feverishly masturbating about their values in front of one another.
We all know the nuances, but don't give a shit about them next to that.
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
Oh the irony. You bored us to tears about it for months and months and months when we all wanted to move on and now you are bored. Suck it up.
That was before the referendum. Which we Leavers won
It is now done
And, honestly, it is extremely boring. Like some mad family arguing over a
You won the referendum and now you’ve fucked off forcing us (and the national press) to discuss how to clear up the mess that you and your fellow travellers disastrous win created. Is it just PB who should stop discussing the fiasco resulting from your victory or the entire U.K. media, which largely leads on it today? Would you like the national conversation to shift from the Brexit created mess that is the NI Protocol and talk about more pressing issues like What 3 Words, Chat GPT and fucking aliens? You know, the ones that interest you? I’m sure you’re a hoot at parties.
Like Johnson, your skill at a pithy turn of phrase disguises that your intellectual depth is that of of a paddling pool, your ego is the size of a mountain and you’ve not two morals to rub together.
Heh
Why the 'heh'? Doug does seem to have hit the nail on the head.
Because his laboured, angry and deliciously splenetic reaction was exactly what I wanted, to liven up the day. As would be fucking obvious, if you weren’t so dim
I mean “you’ve not got two morals to rub together” must be one of the most cringeworthy insults ever hurled on PB, and I bet he spent about ten minutes thinking it up
Perhaps I should simply have gone to the sub-Wodehouse bullshit generator somewhere on the web from whence you pulled the utterly flat “… long dead great great great aunt who left an antique Turkish commode to one of the servants…”.
Remember that for a year we were all actually BANNED from even mentioning lab leak, even as a mere hypothesis, on Facebook and Twitter. Because it was a “racist conspiracy theory”
Do I understand correctly that Steve Baker is expected to resign?
It does look like about 100-150 Conservative MPs, the bulk of them ERG, could vote against any deal which extends ECJ jurisdiction to Great Britain and Steve Baker would leave the Government, maybe Braverman and Raab too
Big prediction. That would end the Rishi premiership.
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
Oh the irony. You bored us to tears about it for months and months and months when we all wanted to move on and now you are bored. Suck it up.
That was before the referendum. Which we Leavers won
It is now done
And, honestly, it is extremely boring. Like some mad family arguing over a
You won the referendum and now you’ve fucked off forcing us (and the national press) to discuss how to clear up the mess that you and your fellow travellers disastrous win created. Is it just PB who should stop discussing the fiasco resulting from your victory or the entire U.K. media, which largely leads on it today? Would you like the national conversation to shift from the Brexit created mess that is the NI Protocol and talk about more pressing issues like What 3 Words, Chat GPT and fucking aliens? You know, the ones that interest you? I’m sure you’re a hoot at parties.
Like Johnson, your skill at a pithy turn of phrase disguises that your intellectual depth is that of of a paddling pool, your ego is the size of a mountain and you’ve not two morals to rub together.
Heh
Why the 'heh'? Doug does seem to have hit the nail on the head.
Because his laboured, angry and deliciously splenetic reaction was exactly what I wanted, to liven up the day. As would be fucking obvious, if you weren’t so dim
I mean “you’ve not got two morals to rub together” must be one of the most cringeworthy insults ever hurled on PB, and I bet he spent about ten minutes thinking it up
Perhaps I should simply have gone to the sub-Wodehouse bullshit generator somewhere on the web from whence you pulled the utterly flat “… long dead great great great aunt who left an antique Turkish commode to one of the servants…”.
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
Oh the irony. You bored us to tears about it for months and months and months when we all wanted to move on and now you are bored. Suck it up.
Putting aside the fact that it is mainly being commented on because the NI Protocol is being renegotiated as we speak, it is strange how many of the leavers don't want to discuss Brexit anymore and want everyone to shut up about it.
It's almost as though it's not going very well. I thought they would be trumpeting its many successes from the glorious heights of the sunlit uplands by now.
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
Oh the irony. You bored us to tears about it for months and months and months when we all wanted to move on and now you are bored. Suck it up.
That was before the referendum. Which we Leavers won
It is now done
And, honestly, it is extremely boring. Like some mad family arguing over a long dead great great great aunt who left an antique Turkish commode to one of the servants
You won the referendum and now you’ve fucked off forcing us (and the national press) to discuss how to clear up the mess that you and your fellow travellers disastrous win created. Is it just PB who should stop discussing the fiasco resulting from your victory or the entire U.K. media, which largely leads on it today? Would you like the national conversation to shift from the Brexit created mess that is the NI Protocol and talk about more pressing issues like What 3 Words, Chat GPT and fucking aliens? You know, the ones that interest you? I’m sure you’re a hoot at parties.
Like Johnson, your skill at a pithy turn of phrase disguises that your intellectual depth is that of of a paddling pool, your ego is the size of a mountain and you’ve not two morals to rub together.
Heh
Why the 'heh'? Doug does seem to have hit the nail on the head.
Because his laboured, angry and deliciously splenetic reaction was exactly what I wanted, to liven up the day. As would be fucking obvious, if you weren’t so dim
I mean “you’ve not got two morals to rub together” must be one of the most cringeworthy insults ever hurled on PB, and I bet he spent about ten minutes thinking it up
Horses for course I guess. I find @DougSeal writes very well with an excellent turn of phrase and a really good sense of humour and I think he had you nailed down to a tee in his diatribe.
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
Oh the irony. You bored us to tears about it for months and months and months when we all wanted to move on and now you are bored. Suck it up.
That was before the referendum. Which we Leavers won
It is now done
And, honestly, it is extremely boring. Like some mad family arguing over a
You won the referendum and now you’ve fucked off forcing us (and the national press) to discuss how to clear up the mess that you and your fellow travellers disastrous win created. Is it just PB who should stop discussing the fiasco resulting from your victory or the entire U.K. media, which largely leads on it today? Would you like the national conversation to shift from the Brexit created mess that is the NI Protocol and talk about more pressing issues like What 3 Words, Chat GPT and fucking aliens? You know, the ones that interest you? I’m sure you’re a hoot at parties.
Like Johnson, your skill at a pithy turn of phrase disguises that your intellectual depth is that of of a paddling pool, your ego is the size of a mountain and you’ve not two morals to rub together.
Heh
Why the 'heh'? Doug does seem to have hit the nail on the head.
Because his laboured, angry and deliciously splenetic reaction was exactly what I wanted, to liven up the day. As would be fucking obvious, if you weren’t so dim
I mean “you’ve not got two morals to rub together” must be one of the most cringeworthy insults ever hurled on PB, and I bet he spent about ten minutes thinking it up
Perhaps I should simply have gone to the sub-Wodehouse bullshit generator somewhere on the web from whence you pulled the utterly flat “… long dead great great great aunt who left an antique Turkish commode to one of the servants…”.
It’s “whence”, not “from whence”. You don’t need the “from”, that’s the point. You’re welcome
Do I understand correctly that Steve Baker is expected to resign?
It does look like about 100-150 Conservative MPs, the bulk of them ERG, could vote against any deal which extends ECJ jurisdiction to Great Britain and Steve Baker would leave the Government, maybe Braverman and Raab too
Big prediction. That would end the Rishi premiership.
Indeed if anything like that happened we may as well get on with the GE now!
Do I understand correctly that Steve Baker is expected to resign?
It does look like about 100-150 Conservative MPs, the bulk of them ERG, could vote against any deal which extends ECJ jurisdiction to Great Britain and Steve Baker would leave the Government, maybe Braverman and Raab too
Big prediction. That would end the Rishi premiership.
It wouldn't provided 200 Tory MPs still voted for the deal and backed Rishi.
For Starmer has said Labour will vote with the Government to pass the NI deal and 200 Tory MPs behind him is sufficient for Rishi to defeat the likely VONC that would follow in his leadership
The thing I keep coming back to is the illusion of some unstoppable Conservative election winning machine and this is unusual. It’s really not. The electorate didn’t trust them with a majority in 2010 or 2017 and in 2015 it wasn’t a stable one.
2019 was an outlier. The blue team has achieved a majority twice in 6 general elections, a stable one only once. They have been stamping on eggshells while behaving like they can walk on water. For all his faults Starmer has productively spent his time facing up to the problems in his party and seeking to fix them. The Tories don’t even think they’ve got a problem.
This is very important point.
The Conservative "brand" never really recovered from the 1990s and they've only got four election victories (three of them less than convincing) through all sorts of reboots, recuts and relaunches and running against themselves. With a smattering of a lack of confidence in what they really believe in running throughout.
It's a very interesting psephological phenomenon.
There's a lot lack of intellectual thinking about this problem on the backbenches and in the party at large.
An interesting point. However, it rather presupposes that there is compelling alternative vision on the Left. I don’t see it
If anything the main threat to soft centre-right liberal democratic capitalism - Conservatism as we know it in the UK - now comes from the hard nationalist right.
I think Britain is a mature enough country in its democracy and its sense of propriety that hard nationalism doesn't work here. At least in the form it has in the US, France, Hungary etc. We are an inherently moderate country.
If that is to be a major strand in future, it needs to be adjusted to the UK audience. Boldness in terms of UK patriotism, migration control, economic redistribution... but done in a way that seems respectful, nuanced, and properly prepared.
Alex Neil (former SNP minister) insists that while he is “not accusing anyone of anything” nevertheless insists SNP Chief Executive Peter Murrell shouldn’t be running the leadership election, explaining “it is clear the party hierarchy have a preferred candidate.” 👀
Remember that for a year we were all actually BANNED from even mentioning lab leak, even as a mere hypothesis, on Facebook and Twitter. Because it was a “racist conspiracy theory”
When do we get Covid: the War Trials?
You should have joined us on the super subversive website pb.com. Not only was the ban ignored but we had a bit of a nutter who banged on about it every other day (the odd days seemed reserved for ai/woke/race/aliens or combinations thereof).
The thing I keep coming back to is the illusion of some unstoppable Conservative election winning machine and this is unusual. It’s really not. The electorate didn’t trust them with a majority in 2010 or 2017 and in 2015 it wasn’t a stable one.
2019 was an outlier. The blue team has achieved a majority twice in 6 general elections, a stable one only once. They have been stamping on eggshells while behaving like they can walk on water. For all his faults Starmer has productively spent his time facing up to the problems in his party and seeking to fix them. The Tories don’t even think they’ve got a problem.
This is very important point.
The Conservative "brand" never really recovered from the 1990s and they've only got four election victories (three of them less than convincing) through all sorts of reboots, recuts and relaunches and running against themselves. With a smattering of a lack of confidence in what they really believe in running throughout.
It's a very interesting psephological phenomenon.
There's a lot lack of intellectual thinking about this problem on the backbenches and in the party at large.
An interesting point. However, it rather presupposes that there is compelling alternative vision on the Left. I don’t see it
If anything the main threat to soft centre-right liberal democratic capitalism - Conservatism as we know it in the UK - now comes from the hard nationalist right.
I think Britain is a mature enough country in its democracy and its sense of propriety that hard nationalism doesn't work here. At least in the form it has in the US, France, Hungary etc. We are an inherently moderate country.
If that is to be a major strand in future, it needs to be adjusted to the UK audience. Boldness in terms of UK patriotism, migration control, economic redistribution... but done in a way that seems respectful, nuanced, and properly prepared.
I would love to think you are right, but Scotland - which has been gripped for Nationalism for a decade - suggests we are far from immune in the UK. And lots of SNP Nationalism is quite “blood and soil” stuff, see the entire works of @StuartDickson
Also, migration is only going to get “worse”. Ever harder to control, with a concomitant rise in voter desperation
Remember that for a year we were all actually BANNED from even mentioning lab leak, even as a mere hypothesis, on Facebook and Twitter. Because it was a “racist conspiracy theory”
When do we get Covid: the War Trials?
You should have joined us on the super subversive website pb.com. Not only was the ban ignored but we had a bit of a nutter who banged on about it every other day (the odd days seemed reserved for ai/woke/race/aliens or combinations thereof).
As I am basically an expatriate now, let me offer the perspective of an outsider
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BREXIT
Honestly. It’s beyond boring it is bewildering. It’s like finding a nest of French Royalists fervently discussing the Terror
Oh the irony. You bored us to tears about it for months and months and months when we all wanted to move on and now you are bored. Suck it up.
That was before the referendum. Which we Leavers won
It is now done
And, honestly, it is extremely boring. Like some mad family arguing over a
You won the referendum and now you’ve fucked off forcing us (and the national press) to discuss how to clear up the mess that you and your fellow travellers disastrous win created. Is it just PB who should stop discussing the fiasco resulting from your victory or the entire U.K. media, which largely leads on it today? Would you like the national conversation to shift from the Brexit created mess that is the NI Protocol and talk about more pressing issues like What 3 Words, Chat GPT and fucking aliens? You know, the ones that interest you? I’m sure you’re a hoot at parties.
Like Johnson, your skill at a pithy turn of phrase disguises that your intellectual depth is that of of a paddling pool, your ego is the size of a mountain and you’ve not two morals to rub together.
Heh
Why the 'heh'? Doug does seem to have hit the nail on the head.
Because his laboured, angry and deliciously splenetic reaction was exactly what I wanted, to liven up the day. As would be fucking obvious, if you weren’t so dim
I mean “you’ve not got two morals to rub together” must be one of the most cringeworthy insults ever hurled on PB, and I bet he spent about ten minutes thinking it up
Perhaps I should simply have gone to the sub-Wodehouse bullshit generator somewhere on the web from whence you pulled the utterly flat “… long dead great great great aunt who left an antique Turkish commode to one of the servants…”.
It’s “whence”, not “from whence”. You don’t need the “from”, that’s the point. You’re welcome
Thanks. Similarly there is no such thing as a great great aunt. The accurate term is great great grandaunt — which would be your great great grandmother's sister. You’re welcome.
I think Britain is a mature enough country in its democracy and its sense of propriety that hard nationalism doesn't work here. At least in the form it has in the US, France, Hungary etc. We are an inherently moderate country.
Wishful thinking.
The Nationalists were never strong enough in any one constituency to win Parliamentary seats, but when offered the opportunity to vote for an explicitly nationalist agenda, 52% of voters signed up...
(I've posted it on the right one this time, but truthfully it makes sense on the last thread too.)
I appreciate the header is commentbait, but I'll bite. It seems bizarrely tin-eared how Brexit has arisen as the sole or even primary cause of poor Government polling, when we're facing a huge cost of living crisis that is making people poor, cold, and sometimes even hungry. I appreciate that most PBers aren't feeling it too keenly, but you'd think there might be a smidgen of emotional intelligence on display. You may be obsessed with Brexit - others are trying to work out how to heat their homes.
Cost of living was highlighted as the number 1 concern in that Scottish poll the other day, and it's something that we see none of the main parties addressing - it's not so much the elephant in the room, it's the elephant standing on our feet. Sunak's pathetic Government is still wedded to the worst self-harming green policies, even when they have been utterly found out - seemingly governing on behalf of Joe Biden these days if Robert Buckland is any indication. The Autumn statement has harmed North Sea Oil production and the energy secretary prefers selfies with Bill Gates to actually increasing the energy supply.
All Starmer promises is more of the same, with a 'green industrial revolution', the silly prick. That leaves a vast open goal there for either Reform/Farage, or the Tory party to come to its senses and dump the dismal decline manager. Virtually on day one, VAT on domestic fuel could be suspended, assuring the public that the Government actually is on their side - a just, fair policy and a Brexit benefit to boot. Then it would actually be game on for GE2024.
You are swimming against the overwhelming tide of public opinion
and overlooking that the rest of Europe still has tomatoes, if sometimes at a price.
The thing I keep coming back to is the illusion of some unstoppable Conservative election winning machine and this is unusual. It’s really not. The electorate didn’t trust them with a majority in 2010 or 2017 and in 2015 it wasn’t a stable one.
2019 was an outlier. The blue team has achieved a majority twice in 6 general elections, a stable one only once. They have been stamping on eggshells while behaving like they can walk on water. For all his faults Starmer has productively spent his time facing up to the problems in his party and seeking to fix them. The Tories don’t even think they’ve got a problem.
This is very important point.
The Conservative "brand" never really recovered from the 1990s and they've only got four election victories (three of them less than convincing) through all sorts of reboots, recuts and relaunches and running against themselves. With a smattering of a lack of confidence in what they really believe in running throughout.
It's a very interesting psephological phenomenon.
There's a lot lack of intellectual thinking about this problem on the backbenches and in the party at large.
An interesting point. However, it rather presupposes that there is compelling alternative vision on the Left. I don’t see it
If anything the main threat to soft centre-right liberal democratic capitalism - Conservatism as we know it in the UK - now comes from the hard nationalist right.
I think Britain is a mature enough country in its democracy and its sense of propriety that hard nationalism doesn't work here. At least in the form it has in the US, France, Hungary etc. We are an inherently moderate country.
If that is to be a major strand in future, it needs to be adjusted to the UK audience. Boldness in terms of UK patriotism, migration control, economic redistribution... but done in a way that seems respectful, nuanced, and properly prepared.
I would love to think you are right, but Scotland - which has been gripped for Nationalism for a decade - suggests we are far from immune in the UK. And lots of SNP Nationalism is quite “blood and soil” stuff, see the entire works of @StuartDickson
Also, migration is only going to get “worse”. Ever harder to control, with a concomitant rise in voter desperation
We have nationalism too, just it looks like Farage and Johnson more than Le Pen, Trump and Meloni and Orban
Comments
Except in a parallel universe where there was an interlude with a crazy lady between Oliver and Tumbledown Dick.
He'll be hoping that without significant support at ministerial level, or the numbers on the backbenches, the DUP will have little choice but to fold.
On top of that addition to the basket of dystopia I see our fuel bills will be going up another 20% in April. Great.
As opposed to the Italian government seizing ships trying to help foundering immigrant boats.
Mind you, the Italian government is enthusiastically working with those noted humanitarians - the Libyan Coastguard.
BBC has denied that it’s reconsidering closing down the radio operations of its Persian service, dashing hopes that the 83 -year-old radio service can be saved - a lifeline to millions in Iran and Afganistan. It says it has no money, although it costs less than £1m a year to run.
https://twitter.com/BBCKasraNaji/status/1629385136415600647?cxt=HHwWjsDTpcLJ3pwtAAAA
I don’t see it myself but that Seems to be what “experts” are expecting.
The Conservative "brand" never really recovered from the 1990s and they've only got four election victories (three of them less than convincing) through all sorts of reboots, recuts and relaunches and running against themselves. With a smattering of a lack of confidence in what they really believe in running throughout.
It's a very interesting psephological phenomenon.
There's a lot lack of intellectual thinking about this problem on the backbenches and in the party at large.
Worth noting that supply chains that have been optimised for minimum cost at .. all costs have the biggest problems.
May needed the DUP for votes. Johnson needed them as an excuse to topple May. Sunak doesn't need them at all.
The realpolitik is that they're a microscopic dot on a microscopic dot labelled "You are here".
Efficiency and resilience are to some extent antithetical. Like NHS - 100% capacity always means queuing or worse.
Like Johnson, your skill at a pithy turn of phrase disguises that your intellectual depth is that of of a paddling pool, your ego is the size of a mountain and you’ve not two morals to rub together.
1. We won hahaha
2. It still annoys the right people
3. I’m rich and so I’ve fucked off to nicer places leaving the rest of you idiots to cope with the rain and the Brexittyness
4. You’re sovereign now on your stupid shitty brexity island so stop moaning, it’s dull
Even Italian restaurants are going all white pizza. It will be very interresting to see the political impact of "Qu'ils mangeant de la pizza blanche".
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/feb/26/tomato-free-pizza-on-the-menu-as-chefs-choke-on-the-price-of-fruit-and-veg
The spot prices are already down massively.
What is happening now is that contracts were purchased to deliver at higher prices. When those run out, prices for consumers will follow
It's almost impossible for anyone British to discuss it rationally because it almost always descends within seconds into either:
"That's not what it was about, you hyperbolic Remoaner EU-worshipping Britain hating idiot."
Or
"It's all your fault. We won't let you forget it. You won, suck it up!"
The other possibility is that the DUP pitches this as a victory - “Look what we got by playing the SF game. A threat of violence and some intransigence - vote DUP for the win”
Pretty sure she’s engaged in dancing in the Sabbath.
On topic, I think it's the SNP brand we have seen "ratnerised". Tories will come back (says somebody who has been out on the doorstep this week....locals aren't looking too bad round here - we'll worry about the general late next year).
Obviously will take my narwhal horn to the polling station, just in case.
As I said above, the whole strategy is very odd. Presumably they just think there’s no way he’ll support it, so what’s the point of engaging with him?
Or perhaps they’re just hoping to marginalise him.
If anything the main threat to soft centre-right liberal democratic capitalism - Conservatism as we know it in the UK - now comes from the hard nationalist right.
Albeit Sammy Wilson says the briefing was vague.
Only 45 minutes to go before my Sunday roast of mass satisfaction.
For clarity.
I mean “you’ve not got two morals to rub together” must be one of the most cringeworthy insults ever hurled on PB, and I bet he spent about ten minutes thinking it up
Thought I'd liven PB up a bit this afternoon
I CAN’T BEL;IEVE IT CAME FROM THE LAB
90%+ of this is Brits feverishly masturbating about their values in front of one another.
We all know the nuances, but don't give a shit about them next to that.
When do we get Covid: the War Trials?
That would end the Rishi premiership.
Leon is just trolling, merrily.
It's almost as though it's not going very well. I thought they would be trumpeting its many successes from the glorious heights of the sunlit uplands by now.
For Starmer has said Labour will vote with the Government to pass the NI deal and 200 Tory MPs behind him is sufficient for Rishi to defeat the likely VONC that would follow in his leadership
If that is to be a major strand in future, it needs to be adjusted to the UK audience. Boldness in terms of UK patriotism, migration control, economic redistribution... but done in a way that seems respectful, nuanced, and properly prepared.
https://twitter.com/robjohns75/status/1628837736688779264?s=61&t=2MZu-0oWVHCh2pwpMdHJGA
Everything you need to know about why the Tory party is dying in a single photo.
https://twitter.com/DeanMThomson/status/1629807987391967232?s=20
Also, migration is only going to get “worse”. Ever harder to control, with a concomitant rise in voter desperation
Diff vs Scottish electorate:
2007: + 0.04
2016: -1.27
The Nationalists were never strong enough in any one constituency to win Parliamentary seats, but when offered the opportunity to vote for an explicitly nationalist agenda, 52% of voters signed up...
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/seatdetails.py?seat=Suffolk Coastal