Even I'm a little shocked at the anger and suspicion against the Establishment. It's a symptom why so many still vote Labour viscerally. And why Labour is beginning to have such a problem. It's becoming a middle-class London party, a student-protest movement.
But keep a sense of perspective. The great majority treat politics as something less important than day-today reality.
I wonder if a LD voter can explain their tactics here. No real pretence at accepting the referendum result. Hoping to load up the Art 50 bill with unreal demands and then ask for a second referendum on a choice between what May finally negotiates (very little if they have their way) and an abrupt exit, thereby hoping for a rebellion against the very situation they intend to engineer. Piss-taking on a mighty scale (and hoping no one notices) Not so much childish (which it is), but doomed to failure.
King Cole, if nothing else, there'll be hope after such a long reign that had not served the interests of the fans well in recent years.
Mr. Observer, that's disturbing.
On a related note, wrote a short piece on the politics of Milo and Clodius I'll put up this Friday, which is, sadly, relevant to modern politics on both sides of the pond.
Labour losses in Copeland and Stoke would be very good news for the party's long-term future.
Not unless the Corbynista membership takes any notice which it probably won't at the moment but just write it off as a Brexit protest by the uneducated plebs taken over by 'false consciousness'!
Whilst I completely condemn these juvenile threats, probably made by some uninformed wannabe, I can understand the frustration that people that voted leave are feeling.
I see that the now the SC verdict has been given, the remainer 'deplorables' are shedding their false colours and creeping out the woodwork. 'Of course we'll vote for article 50...but only if x, y, and z are conceded'.
The vote on article 50 is not a done deal. The views of the majority of people that voted in the referendum are now held to ransom by the mechanics of the HoC and HoL where compromise and deal making dilutes and demeans the original vote.
Probably won't be DNC chair much longer but as I have consistently said mid term elections have nothing to do with the opposition party and are de facto referendums on the president. That is why the opposition party made big House gains in 1982, 1994 and 2010 and Trump's ratings are already well below those of Reagan, Clinton and Obama at this stage
Well, a lot of sound and fury over the Supreme Court ruling yesterday. To be honest, I don't think it matters very much, The Government always had a way out if they lost and had the original referendum legislation been better drafted and worded, the huge expense of the Supreme Court could have been avoided.
May will get her majority to invoke A50 - that's never been in any doubt - and even those planning to oppose are much less about wanting to stop A50 now as putting down a marker for the outcome in a couple of years and whether that should go to a referendum.
There's a debate for the future about the role of referenda in a parliamentary democracy - I know there are many who oppose all referenda and that's a coherent position. If you start arguing there are issues which transcend parliamentary sovereignty, then where do you stop ?
As we saw with the Scottish Independence referendum in 2014, it's not so much a case of the question as to whom you ask it or rather those you exclude.
On other matters, while some may be gleefully hoping for the death of Labour and the permanent demise of centre-left politics, it won't happen and one day it will be the centre left who will again be in the ascendancy. The way back for the centre left isn't as much through marching and protest though that's a fine tradition but though thinking about the core issues .
Labour should now be working on a blueprint for Britain in the 2020s and trying to envisage the kind of society they want to help create. As I argued yesterday, one of the key areas will be care for and treatment of older people. I've heard it said you can tell a lot about a society from the way it treats its old and its young and there's a lot of truth in that,
What should it be like to be old in the 2020s and 2030s ? The opportunity to continue working, learning and contributing is for me a given but there's also a place for integration and involvement - we know that keeping active, both physically and mentally, is a key element in maintaining health and it's something to think about - the huge success of walking football is an example of how a simple idea has enabled thousands of older people to participate in sport and remain part of society.
Labour losses in Copeland and Stoke would be very good news for the party's long-term future.
No, the candidates look like the sort of sensible, local Labour folk who will rebuild the party. They are not Trots, they are grassroots activists that have been marginalised by the central party for years.
Jezza will pass, but these are the people that will rebuild the party. Lay UKIP in Stoke.
"Throughout this entire legal saga, I have kept resolutely to the facts. I have also, from the start, made it clear that I respect the unambiguous decision that the people of the United Kingdom took in the referendum on 23 June 2016."
Really, Gina? Is that actually true? Here you are in an interview with Reuters just after you launched your challenge.
"Gina Miller, a co-founder of London fund manager SCM Private, is the main claimant in a growing queue of litigants hoping to force Prime Minister Theresa May to let parliament decide when, how and WHETHER to leave the EU, rather than taking such decisions herself following last month's referendum.
In her first interview since taking her case to London's High Court, Miller said she wanted Britain to remain in the EU and the best decision would be to renegotiate membership and reform the EU...
Miller outlined three possible outcomes [of her legal challenge]: Brexit, but arrived at in a considered manner followed by triggering Article 50; the middle ground of a so called "Brexit-Lite"; or another type of EU membership."
"I would prefer us to have a different sort of membership," she said."
Just a total, total liar.
All the words after the second are superfluous. Unless you don't really think it's unacceptable.
Probably won't be DNC chair much longer but as I have consistently said mid term elections have nothing to do with the opposition party and are de facto referendums on the president. That is why the opposition party made big House gains in 1982, 1994 and 2010 and Trump's ratings are already well below those of Reagan, Clinton and Obama at this stage
I'm unconvinced given the media war - approval ratings mean much at all. The avalanche of MAGA orders this week sets the tone - let's see how these strongman/delivers what he said does.
Well, a lot of sound and fury over the Supreme Court ruling yesterday. To be honest, I don't think it matters very much, The Government always had a way out if they lost and had the original referendum legislation been better drafted and worded, the huge expense of the Supreme Court could have been avoided.
May will get her majority to invoke A50 - that's never been in any doubt - and even those planning to oppose are much less about wanting to stop A50 now as putting down a marker for the outcome in a couple of years and whether that should go to a referendum.
There's a debate for the future about the role of referenda in a parliamentary democracy - I know there are many who oppose all referenda and that's a coherent position. If you start arguing there are issues which transcend parliamentary sovereignty, then where do you stop ?
As we saw with the Scottish Independence referendum in 2014, it's not so much a case of the question as to whom you ask it or rather those you exclude.
On other matters, while some may be gleefully hoping for the death of Labour and the permanent demise of centre-left politics, it won't happen and one day it will be the centre left who will again be in the ascendancy. The way back for the centre left isn't as much through marching and protest though that's a fine tradition but though thinking about the core issues .
Labour should now be working on a blueprint for Britain in the 2020s and trying to envisage the kind of society they want to help create. As I argued yesterday, one of the key areas will be care for and treatment of older people. I've heard it said you can tell a lot about a society from the way it treats its old and its young and there's a lot of truth in that,
What should it be like to be old in the 2020s and 2030s ? The opportunity to continue working, learning and contributing is for me a given but there's also a place for integration and involvement - we know that keeping active, both physically and mentally, is a key element in maintaining health and it's something to think about - the huge success of walking football is an example of how a simple idea has enabled thousands of older people to participate in sport and remain part of society.
Sound words on rethinking social democracy.
I am hoping that Jarvis, Chukka, Reeves and co are spending this quieter time in their political lives doing some serious thinking.
Probably won't be DNC chair much longer but as I have consistently said mid term elections have nothing to do with the opposition party and are de facto referendums on the president. That is why the opposition party made big House gains in 1982, 1994 and 2010 and Trump's ratings are already well below those of Reagan, Clinton and Obama at this stage
I'm unconvinced given the media war - approval ratings mean much at all. The avalanche of MAGA orders this week sets the tone - let's see how these strongman/delivers what he said does.
Probably won't be DNC chair much longer but as I have consistently said mid term elections have nothing to do with the opposition party and are de facto referendums on the president. That is why the opposition party made big House gains in 1982, 1994 and 2010 and Trump's ratings are already well below those of Reagan, Clinton and Obama at this stage
I'm unconvinced given the media war - approval ratings mean much at all. The avalanche of MAGA orders this week sets the tone - let's see how these strongman/delivers what he said does.
They will in 2018
I'm fascinated by his use of his personal Twitter - he's bypassing the media a dozen times a day, and sanctioned Skype seats for alternative voices in the WH press corps. As a former PR bod - I'm glued. He's taking no prisoners.
"Throughout this entire legal saga, I have kept resolutely to the facts. I have also, from the start, made it clear that I respect the unambiguous decision that the people of the United Kingdom took in the referendum on 23 June 2016."
Really, Gina? Is that actually true? Here you are in an interview with Reuters just after you launched your challenge.
"Gina Miller, a co-founder of London fund manager SCM Private, is the main claimant in a growing queue of litigants hoping to force Prime Minister Theresa May to let parliament decide when, how and WHETHER to leave the EU, rather than taking such decisions herself following last month's referendum.
In her first interview since taking her case to London's High Court, Miller said she wanted Britain to remain in the EU and the best decision would be to renegotiate membership and reform the EU...
Miller outlined three possible outcomes [of her legal challenge]: Brexit, but arrived at in a considered manner followed by triggering Article 50; the middle ground of a so called "Brexit-Lite"; or another type of EU membership."
"I would prefer us to have a different sort of membership," she said."
Just a total, total liar.
All the words after the second are superfluous. Unless you don't really think it's unacceptable.
Sad to see SeanT joining the anti-Gina pitchfork mob. She's a hero, and has stuck to her guns in the face of multiple death threats.
Comments
Even I'm a little shocked at the anger and suspicion against the Establishment. It's a symptom why so many still vote Labour viscerally. And why Labour is beginning to have such a problem. It's becoming a middle-class London party, a student-protest movement.
But keep a sense of perspective. The great majority treat politics as something less important than day-today reality.
I wonder if a LD voter can explain their tactics here. No real pretence at accepting the referendum result. Hoping to load up the Art 50 bill with unreal demands and then ask for a second referendum on a choice between what May finally negotiates (very little if they have their way) and an abrupt exit, thereby hoping for a rebellion against the very situation they intend to engineer. Piss-taking on a mighty scale (and hoping no one notices) Not so much childish (which it is), but doomed to failure.
Mr. Observer, that's disturbing.
On a related note, wrote a short piece on the politics of Milo and Clodius I'll put up this Friday, which is, sadly, relevant to modern politics on both sides of the pond.
Feel sorry for those punters that got taken in by this bullshit
https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/labourleave/pages/270/attachments/original/1485302931/Labour-can-win-in-Stoke-on-Trent_v4.pdf?1485302931
I see that the now the SC verdict has been given, the remainer 'deplorables' are shedding their false colours and creeping out the woodwork. 'Of course we'll vote for article 50...but only if x, y, and z are conceded'.
The vote on article 50 is not a done deal. The views of the majority of people that voted in the referendum are now held to ransom by the mechanics of the HoC and HoL where compromise and deal making dilutes and demeans the original vote.
NEW THREAD
Imagine they impose a single market membership clause. The EU then asks for £10bn a year fee for that. What happens?
Well, a lot of sound and fury over the Supreme Court ruling yesterday. To be honest, I don't think it matters very much, The Government always had a way out if they lost and had the original referendum legislation been better drafted and worded, the huge expense of the Supreme Court could have been avoided.
May will get her majority to invoke A50 - that's never been in any doubt - and even those planning to oppose are much less about wanting to stop A50 now as putting down a marker for the outcome in a couple of years and whether that should go to a referendum.
There's a debate for the future about the role of referenda in a parliamentary democracy - I know there are many who oppose all referenda and that's a coherent position. If you start arguing there are issues which transcend parliamentary sovereignty, then where do you stop ?
As we saw with the Scottish Independence referendum in 2014, it's not so much a case of the question as to whom you ask it or rather those you exclude.
On other matters, while some may be gleefully hoping for the death of Labour and the permanent demise of centre-left politics, it won't happen and one day it will be the centre left who will again be in the ascendancy. The way back for the centre left isn't as much through marching and protest though that's a fine tradition but though thinking about the core issues .
Labour should now be working on a blueprint for Britain in the 2020s and trying to envisage the kind of society they want to help create. As I argued yesterday, one of the key areas will be care for and treatment of older people. I've heard it said you can tell a lot about a society from the way it treats its old and its young and there's a lot of truth in that,
What should it be like to be old in the 2020s and 2030s ? The opportunity to continue working, learning and contributing is for me a given but there's also a place for integration and involvement - we know that keeping active, both physically and mentally, is a key element in maintaining health and it's something to think about - the huge success of walking football is an example of how a simple idea has enabled thousands of older people to participate in sport and remain part of society.
Jezza will pass, but these are the people that will rebuild the party. Lay UKIP in Stoke.
I am hoping that Jarvis, Chukka, Reeves and co are spending this quieter time in their political lives doing some serious thinking.