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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » TMay caves in to the Brexit Taliban over Chequers plan

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  • RogerRoger Posts: 19,914

    Roger said:

    So the hard right Ultras have now taken over the Tory Party.......

    Long Live Corbyn! (and Abbott and McDonnell and Long Bailey and Rayner and Watson)

    Clowns on the left, Jokers on the right?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11ZkH2pWwK4

  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,816
    edited July 2018
    Mr. Observer, indeed.

    There's a real possibility Corbyn will get into Number Ten. Curious as to your own position, regarding the Labour Party.

    Edited extra bit: bugger. Got to leave at once, apologies for raising a point and then sodding off before the answer comes.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,754
    MJW said:

    Fenster said:

    Soubry in action in House. 3 people in prison for death threats to her alone.

    She's an excellent communicator. She's been driven a bit mad by Brexit though.
    Alternatively, politics has been made mad by Brexit and she's one of the few sane ones on either side of the house prepared to stand up and point out that both parties are living in a fantasyland dreamt up by their own hardliners.
    Yes, as she said last year: "History will condemn this period. It will condemn those who’ve sat back and kept their view to themselves, who haven’t stood up and tried to stop all this nonsense.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/nov/26/anna-soubry-interview-brexit-history-will-condemn-this-period
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,630
    "You gonna pay for an army for that united, confident and sovereign Europe then?" asks Trump. "If so, my work is done here. Losers...."
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,169
    edited July 2018
    As was explained in the Jewish Chronicle, all the internationally recognised definitions allow for criticism of Israel, Labour decided in their wisdom to hack those paragraphs out and replace them with their own...its like they don't take this antisemitism stuff seriously or something.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,630

    Soubry: "who is actually running Britain?"

    Wow!

    Not you, luv.....
  • William_HWilliam_H Posts: 346
    Do you think it is anti-Semitic to believe that the denial of self determination to the Palestinians was racist? Or to say that the mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians was racist?
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,161

    "You gonna pay for an army for that united, confident and sovereign Europe then?" asks Trump. "If so, my work is done here. Losers...."
    So the US takes all its military out of Germany and the EU and applies tariffs on their cars.

  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,003

    The ERG will set you free.

    I doubt it. An erg is the energy required to accelerate 1 gram at 1 cms^2 or about the same energy as a housefly uses to stretch its legs.

    It is also the same amount of energy expended by certain "Leave" politicians to examine the feasibility of their preferred Brexit, thus the name of the group
    LOL
  • PeterCPeterC Posts: 1,275

    GIN1138 said:



    I have lost track of the number of times May has been written off as completely useless...yet here she still is, wading grimly on through a mess largely (Brexit - she owns GE17) not of her making.....

    As I keep saying The Good Ship May sails on serenely... :D
    I doubt she is serene. More like on the edge of a nervous breakdown with all this madness around her.
    She seems to have got off the fence and moved to ERG

    I believe she knows Chequers would run into trouble with the EU and is preparing to walk out when they do, blaming them for the failure, and announcing hard Brexit contingency planning.

    In these circumstances I believe remain becomes impossible
    I agree. I think that Chequers was perhaps a signal from TM that she was prepared to go the extra mile to compromise. She must know we are heading for NO DEAL but did not want to make herself into an enthusiastic cheerleader for it.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,169
    68 rabbis say Labour chooses to ignore UK Jewish community

    Letter to Guardian criticises party for ‘rewriting’ accepted definition of antisemitism

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jul/16/68-rabbis-labour-chooses-ignore-uk-jewish-community
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,212

    MJW said:

    Fenster said:

    Soubry in action in House. 3 people in prison for death threats to her alone.

    She's an excellent communicator. She's been driven a bit mad by Brexit though.
    Alternatively, politics has been made mad by Brexit and she's one of the few sane ones on either side of the house prepared to stand up and point out that both parties are living in a fantasyland dreamt up by their own hardliners.
    Yes, as she said last year: "History will condemn this period. It will condemn those who’ve sat back and kept their view to themselves, who haven’t stood up and tried to stop all this nonsense.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/nov/26/anna-soubry-interview-brexit-history-will-condemn-this-period
    And what did you do for the Remain campaign in the Referendum Wiliam Glenn?
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,212

    Today feels like a big day:

    1. Brexit has hit a brick wall which means we stay in the EU or crash out; there's no middle way now.

    2. Trump has backed Putin over his own intelligence services.

    In peace time it doesn't get much bigger really.

    On the domestic front, what May has done today has ensured that however ambivalent Corbyn is over Brexit, the 2017 Labour voting alliance will hold together. He must be loving this.

    Labour Remainers were never going to go Tory anyway but some may still go LD given Corbyn's opposition to staying in the single market. A few Labour Leavers might possibly go UKIP if their revival continues
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,169
    There are suspicions of minimum wage, environmental, planning, and health and safety violations, tax evasion – as well as labour exploitation and modern slavery.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/16/true-human-cost-5-pound-hand-car-wash-modern-slavery

    Guardian missing the elephant in the room with their list of "suspicions"....
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,654

    GIN1138 said:



    I have lost track of the number of times May has been written off as completely useless...yet here she still is, wading grimly on through a mess largely (Brexit - she owns GE17) not of her making.....

    As I keep saying The Good Ship May sails on serenely... :D
    I doubt she is serene. More like on the edge of a nervous breakdown with all this madness around her.
    She seems to have got off the fence and moved to ERG

    I believe she knows Chequers would run into trouble with the EU and is preparing to walk out when they do, blaming them for the failure, and announcing hard Brexit contingency planning.

    In these circumstances I believe remain becomes impossible

    If that is the decision she has taken, she will need to have squared it with the Cabinet Remainers, and she will need to carry her party and the country with her. Not just in the short-term, but in the longer term, too. That would be an immense gamble with the future of the Conservative party, not to mention the living standards of millions and millions of people. For me, a stronger likelihood is that she really doesn't know what she is doing anymore.

  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,212

    To think of the abuse I used to get when I said Mrs May wasn’t very good back in 2016/early 2017.

    #IAmAVisionary

    At least she had a plan for Brexit eventually, Cameron called a referendum to head off UKIP without putting any real effort to get the concessions from the EU on FOM needed to win it then buggered off the day after it was lost
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,630

    Roger said:

    So the hard right Ultras have now taken over the Tory Party.......

    Long Live Corbyn! (and Abbott and McDonnell and Long Bailey and Rayner and Watson)

    Clowns on the left, Jokers on the right?
    Who's stuck in the middle with you?
  • MyBurningEarsMyBurningEars Posts: 3,651

    "You gonna pay for an army for that united, confident and sovereign Europe then?" asks Trump. "If so, my work is done here. Losers...."
    https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/aussenpolitik/internationale-organisationen/uebersicht-node-nato/nato-contributions/2117838

    This is the German foreign office's official response to those "Germans are not investing enough in defence" allegations. They freely admit they are not satisfying the spending criteria, but argue that "expenditure alone is an inadequate indicator of fair burden-sharing", ridicule the idea that "more money equals more security" and instead of cash, point out that "Germany invests in solidarity" instead.

    Not the world's most convincing argument.

    From what I have gathered about NATO defence bods, there is a fear that a minimally funded European defence project will simply take those resources which actually are functioning and ready to respond to a crisis, and switch them from NATO's ambit to "Europe"'s.

    Incidentally that tweet is one of the reasons I think Brexit is irrevocable (at least until or unless there is a generational shift in the perceived identity of inhabitants of these isles). It's all very well wanting to trade and be nice to one another. These are Good Things. But if the institutions you are using to achieve these goals are devoted to a goal that the majority of British voters - even Remain voters - simply do not share, then that is not the right club to be in.
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,654

    68 rabbis say Labour chooses to ignore UK Jewish community

    Letter to Guardian criticises party for ‘rewriting’ accepted definition of antisemitism

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jul/16/68-rabbis-labour-chooses-ignore-uk-jewish-community

    The far left has developed a definition of anti-Semitism which allows it to be as anti-Semitic as it likes.

  • TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633

    Today feels like a big day:

    1. Brexit has hit a brick wall which means we stay in the EU or crash out; there's no middle way now.

    2. Trump has backed Putin over his own intelligence services.

    In peace time it doesn't get much bigger really.

    On the domestic front, what May has done today has ensured that however ambivalent Corbyn is over Brexit, the 2017 Labour voting alliance will hold together. He must be loving this.

    Meh - the Kabuki play churns on - lots of drama but we head for the exit with a deal of sorts.

    The great collapse never happens.
  • FregglesFreggles Posts: 3,486
    Putin didn't deny having compromising material on Trump. Wow.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,630
    HYUFD said:

    MJW said:

    Fenster said:

    Soubry in action in House. 3 people in prison for death threats to her alone.

    She's an excellent communicator. She's been driven a bit mad by Brexit though.
    Alternatively, politics has been made mad by Brexit and she's one of the few sane ones on either side of the house prepared to stand up and point out that both parties are living in a fantasyland dreamt up by their own hardliners.
    Yes, as she said last year: "History will condemn this period. It will condemn those who’ve sat back and kept their view to themselves, who haven’t stood up and tried to stop all this nonsense.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/nov/26/anna-soubry-interview-brexit-history-will-condemn-this-period
    And what did you do for the Remain campaign in the Referendum Wiliam Glenn?
    He exerted 0.004 of an ERG.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,212

    HYUFD said:

    MJW said:

    Fenster said:

    Soubry in action in House. 3 people in prison for death threats to her alone.

    She's an excellent communicator. She's been driven a bit mad by Brexit though.
    Alternatively, politics has been made mad by Brexit and she's one of the few sane ones on either side of the house prepared to stand up and point out that both parties are living in a fantasyland dreamt up by their own hardliners.
    Yes, as she said last year: "History will condemn this period. It will condemn those who’ve sat back and kept their view to themselves, who haven’t stood up and tried to stop all this nonsense.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/nov/26/anna-soubry-interview-brexit-history-will-condemn-this-period
    And what did you do for the Remain campaign in the Referendum Wiliam Glenn?
    He exerted 0.004 of an ERG.
    On a good day
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,630

    "You gonna pay for an army for that united, confident and sovereign Europe then?" asks Trump. "If so, my work is done here. Losers...."
    So the US takes all its military out of Germany and the EU and applies tariffs on their cars.

    You have to wonder what May and The Donald cooked up in their London meetings.....
  • FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,857

    Today feels like a big day:

    1. Brexit has hit a brick wall which means we stay in the EU or crash out; there's no middle way now.

    2. Trump has backed Putin over his own intelligence services.

    In peace time it doesn't get much bigger really.

    On the domestic front, what May has done today has ensured that however ambivalent Corbyn is over Brexit, the 2017 Labour voting alliance will hold together. He must be loving this.

    The irony I suppose is that people always assumed no deal would be the result of the UK and EU not being able to come to agreement. I doubt anyone ever thought we'd be unable to agree amongst ourselves.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,169
    edited July 2018
    I don't watch that much Sky News, but do they regularly have Novara Media people on?

    These were one of the fake news lot that were spreading all the conspiracy theories about government D-notices after Grenfall to allegedly hide the true number of deaths.

    I was quite frankly shocked that they would have them on.
  • YorkcityYorkcity Posts: 4,382

    GIN1138 said:



    I have lost track of the number of times May has been written off as completely useless...yet here she still is, wading grimly on through a mess largely (Brexit - she owns GE17) not of her making.....

    As I keep saying The Good Ship May sails on serenely... :D
    I doubt she is serene. More like on the edge of a nervous breakdown with all this madness around her.
    She seems to have got off the fence and moved to ERG

    I believe she knows Chequers would run into trouble with the EU and is preparing to walk out when they do, blaming them for the failure, and announcing hard Brexit contingency planning.

    In these circumstances I believe remain becomes impossible

    If that is the decision she has taken, she will need to have squared it with the Cabinet Remainers, and she will need to carry her party and the country with her. Not just in the short-term, but in the longer term, too. That would be an immense gamble with the future of the Conservative party, not to mention the living standards of millions and millions of people. For me, a stronger likelihood is that she really doesn't know what she is doing anymore.

    That is a big accusation , which is hard to believe.
    Surely the current PM knows what she is doing.
    She has civil service and legal advice.
  • FregglesFreggles Posts: 3,486
    Can't wait for "travels in Trumpland" with Ed Balls.
    Just saw him in a wrestling ring on the advert, doing an elbow drop.
  • ralphmalphralphmalph Posts: 2,201

    I don't watch that much Sky News, but do they regularly have Novara Media people on?

    These were one of the fake news lot that were spreading all the conspiracy theories about government D-notices after Grenfall to allegedly hide the true number of deaths.

    I was quite frankly shocked that they would have them on.

    Yes Ash Sarkar is on regularly.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,169

    I don't watch that much Sky News, but do they regularly have Novara Media people on?

    These were one of the fake news lot that were spreading all the conspiracy theories about government D-notices after Grenfall to allegedly hide the true number of deaths.

    I was quite frankly shocked that they would have them on.

    Yes Ash Sarkar is on regularly.
    Its a bit like giving Alex Jones a regular guest slot on CNN....
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,003
    edited July 2018
    .
    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    MJW said:

    Fenster said:

    Soubry in action in House. 3 people in prison for death threats to her alone.

    She's an excellent communicator. She's been driven a bit mad by Brexit though.
    Alternatively, politics has been made mad by Brexit and she's one of the few sane ones on either side of the house prepared to stand up and point out that both parties are living in a fantasyland dreamt up by their own hardliners.
    Yes, as she said last year: "History will condemn this period. It will condemn those who’ve sat back and kept their view to themselves, who haven’t stood up and tried to stop all this nonsense.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/nov/26/anna-soubry-interview-brexit-history-will-condemn-this-period
    And what did you do for the Remain campaign in the Referendum Wiliam Glenn?
    He exerted 0.004 of an ERG.
    On a good day
    That is a disappointingly personal and snide attack from you, HYUFD.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    Yorkcity said:

    GIN1138 said:



    I have lost track of the number of times May has been written off as completely useless...yet here she still is, wading grimly on through a mess largely (Brexit - she owns GE17) not of her making.....

    As I keep saying The Good Ship May sails on serenely... :D
    I doubt she is serene. More like on the edge of a nervous breakdown with all this madness around her.
    She seems to have got off the fence and moved to ERG

    I believe she knows Chequers would run into trouble with the EU and is preparing to walk out when they do, blaming them for the failure, and announcing hard Brexit contingency planning.

    In these circumstances I believe remain becomes impossible

    If that is the decision she has taken, she will need to have squared it with the Cabinet Remainers, and she will need to carry her party and the country with her. Not just in the short-term, but in the longer term, too. That would be an immense gamble with the future of the Conservative party, not to mention the living standards of millions and millions of people. For me, a stronger likelihood is that she really doesn't know what she is doing anymore.

    That is a big accusation , which is hard to believe.
    Surely the current PM knows what she is doing.
    She has civil service and legal advice.
    Though she seems (A bit like Trump) to be too often saying whatever the last person to speak to her wants.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,212
    edited July 2018
    TOPPING said:

    .

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    MJW said:

    Fenster said:

    Soubry in action in House. 3 people in prison for death threats to her alone.

    She's an excellent communicator. She's been driven a bit mad by Brexit though.
    Alternatively, politics has been made mad by Brexit and she's one of the few sane ones on either side of the house prepared to stand up and point out that both parties are living in a fantasyland dreamt up by their own hardliners.
    Yes, as she said last year: "History will condemn this period. It will condemn those who’ve sat back and kept their view to themselves, who haven’t stood up and tried to stop all this nonsense.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/nov/26/anna-soubry-interview-brexit-history-will-condemn-this-period
    And what did you do for the Remain campaign in the Referendum Wiliam Glenn?
    He exerted 0.004 of an ERG.
    On a good day
    That is a disappointingly personal and snide attack from you, HYUFD.
    What was personal about it? Did William Glenn deliver one pro Remain leaflet, knock on one door, man one street stall or make one phone call in the Referendum campaign the result of which he has been dismissing virtually 24/7 ever since? I at least have some respect for Remoaners if they put in the work for Britain Stronger in Europe beforehand and tried their hardest for a Remain win
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,888
    The can is just that bit further down the road
  • MundoMundo Posts: 36
    Do Boris and Co get to unresign now?
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,742

    Today feels like a big day:

    1. Brexit has hit a brick wall which means we stay in the EU or crash out; there's no middle way now.

    2. Trump has backed Putin over his own intelligence services.

    In peace time it doesn't get much bigger really.

    On the domestic front, what May has done today has ensured that however ambivalent Corbyn is over Brexit, the 2017 Labour voting alliance will hold together. He must be loving this.

    The irony I suppose is that people always assumed no deal would be the result of the UK and EU not being able to come to agreement. I doubt anyone ever thought we'd be unable to agree amongst ourselves.
    I said exactly that pre-referendum: the divide between different strands of Brexiteers, yet alone between them and remainers, meant that in a close-run result, it would be exceptionally difficult to get an agreement on a way forward.

    The only thing that could have saved it was a big win for one side or the other, e.g. 70-30.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,161
    How many of my fellow posters believe TM is lining herself up to walk out if the EU try to reject her deal
  • FregglesFreggles Posts: 3,486

    How many of my fellow posters believe TM is lining herself up to walk out if the EU try to reject her deal

    Resign as PM? It's plausible. Difficult to see her wanting to preside over an EEA or No Deal outcome.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,888
    PeterC said:

    GIN1138 said:



    I have lost track of the number of times May has been written off as completely useless...yet here she still is, wading grimly on through a mess largely (Brexit - she owns GE17) not of her making.....

    As I keep saying The Good Ship May sails on serenely... :D
    I doubt she is serene. More like on the edge of a nervous breakdown with all this madness around her.
    She seems to have got off the fence and moved to ERG

    I believe she knows Chequers would run into trouble with the EU and is preparing to walk out when they do, blaming them for the failure, and announcing hard Brexit contingency planning.

    In these circumstances I believe remain becomes impossible
    I agree. I think that Chequers was perhaps a signal from TM that she was prepared to go the extra mile to compromise. She must know we are heading for NO DEAL but did not want to make herself into an enthusiastic cheerleader for it.
    Basically it's pass the parcel. The public voted for the parcel to be delivered, but no politician wants to be holding it when the music stops.
  • JohnOJohnO Posts: 4,291

    How many of my fellow posters believe TM is lining herself up to walk out if the EU try to reject her deal

    I don’t think she now has any alternative. Any further concessions during the ‘negotiation’ with Barnier et al would surely bring her down - that’s a bit of a paradox in strengthening her hand.

    I did some informal soundings locally here in Remainsville Esher and Walton (where we very comfortably held a by-election on Thursday) and a lot of the troops are distinctly underwhelmed by the plan...
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,222

    How many of my fellow posters believe TM is lining herself up to walk out if the EU try to reject her deal

    It'd be a big moment, uuuuge.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,212

    How many of my fellow posters believe TM is lining herself up to walk out if the EU try to reject her deal

    Most likely she has included the Mogg amendments as she knows the EU will reject them to show it is her way or the high way, then she goes back to the original Chequers Deal unamended to get the transition period. She will only resign if that is rejected
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,222
    This is a Priti good contribution to the debate ;)
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,216

    How many of my fellow posters believe TM is lining herself up to walk out if the EU try to reject her deal

    I think she’ll try to keep talking - and getting the EU27 to fudge the EU’s red lines....
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,222
    HYUFD said:

    How many of my fellow posters believe TM is lining herself up to walk out if the EU try to reject her deal

    Most likely she has included the Mogg amendments as she knows the EU will reject them to show it is her way or the high way, then she goes back to the original Chequers Deal unamended to get the transition period. She will only resign if that is rejected
    So she's not serious about adopting the amendments ?

    She should argue her case against the amendments in the first place then, not adopt them then welch on them. It'd bring the letters against her pdq.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,249
    As an aside, the customs amendment is totally toothless. The EU would love to collect customs duties for us at Rotterdam for UK bound containers. They already do this for the Swiss (and the deal works efficiently for both parties).
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 21,678
    Can we have a competent government please?
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,212
    edited July 2018
    Pulpstar said:

    HYUFD said:

    How many of my fellow posters believe TM is lining herself up to walk out if the EU try to reject her deal

    Most likely she has included the Mogg amendments as she knows the EU will reject them to show it is her way or the high way, then she goes back to the original Chequers Deal unamended to get the transition period. She will only resign if that is rejected
    So she's not serious about adopting the amendments ?

    She should argue her case against the amendments in the first place then, not adopt them then welch on them. It'd bring the letters against her pdq.
    She will let either Parliament or the EU reject them for her, they are Moggites amendments she is just allowing to go forward, they were not part of her original Chequers Deal so it is not her job to promote them but Moggites
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,169
    Jonathan said:

    Can we have a competent government please?

    Bring back Dave, George, Nick and Danny?
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,161
    HYUFD said:

    How many of my fellow posters believe TM is lining herself up to walk out if the EU try to reject her deal

    Most likely she has included the Mogg amendments as she knows the EU will reject them to show it is her way or the high way, then she goes back to the original Chequers Deal unamended to get the transition period. She will only resign if that is rejected
    I may not have worded my question as well as I should. I was talking of her walking out on Barnier, not resigning
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,169
    edited July 2018
  • ralphmalphralphmalph Posts: 2,201

    Jonathan said:

    Can we have a competent government please?

    Bring back Dave, George, Nick and Danny?
    You miss all those "Nick does not agree with that" one week after the Govt has floated it.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,249
    justin124 said:

    currystar said:

    Sean_F said:

    One should not underestimate the value of optimism.
    I have lost track of the number of times May has been written off as completely useless...yet here she still is, wading grimly on through a mess largely not of her making.....
    So completely useless we have full employment in this Country for this first time in my 50 years
    Full employment is what we had from 1945 - late 1960s when the jobless figures were well under 500,000 in most years.Moreover , when account is taken of the many 'adjustments' to the figures ,unemployment today remains well above mid-1970s levels - indeed on a like for like basis we are probably still looking at circa 2 million unemployed.
    Are we? Our employment ratio (15+) on World Bank numbers is 60%, and I suspect it wasn't that high in the 1970s.
  • trawltrawl Posts: 142
    Taliban. Sigh.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,169
    edited July 2018

    Jonathan said:

    Can we have a competent government please?

    Bring back Dave, George, Nick and Danny?
    You miss all those "Nick does not agree with that" one week after the Govt has floated it.
    The quad worked surprisingly well when it came to their core job of agreeing a budget. And the likes of Danny the Park Ranger, Norman Lamb, and Steve Webb were far from incompetent.

    And the reports post government from those part of the machine said that Call Me Dave was actually pretty decent for doing his red box, making decisions and generally making sure the machinery of government was allowed to work etc..unlike Big Gord.
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 37,394
    justin124 said:

    currystar said:

    Sean_F said:

    One should not underestimate the value of optimism.
    I have lost track of the number of times May has been written off as completely useless...yet here she still is, wading grimly on through a mess largely not of her making.....
    So completely useless we have full employment in this Country for this first time in my 50 years
    Full employment is what we had from 1945 - late 1960s when the jobless figures were well under 500,000 in most years.Moreover , when account is taken of the many 'adjustments' to the figures ,unemployment today remains well above mid-1970s levels - indeed on a like for like basis we are probably still looking at circa 2 million unemployed.
    Beveridge reckoned full employment was 3%, which would be a million or so.

    The employment rate is almost 76% which is almost as good as it can get.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,216
    Nick Cohen acknowledges the BBC "follows the highest journalistic standards". Were he to apply those standards to his own essay, he would find he has ignored a number of inconvenient facts. (How the BBC lost the plot on Brexit, 12 July)......

    .....For Panorama to make a programme, it needed to be confident of the underlying evidence behind the whistleblowers’ claims. Panorama asked for access to all the evidence, but that was not forthcoming. Limitations were placed on the BBC’s own investigation of the allegations and constraints on who we could approach. In short, we did not have the scope to make a programme which met our standards of robust independent investigation in the time available.


    https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/statements/james-stephenson-nyr-daily
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 21,678

    Jonathan said:

    Can we have a competent government please?

    Bring back Dave, George, Nick and Danny?
    They’d be better than this lot.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,216
    rcs1000 said:

    As an aside, the customs amendment is totally toothless. The EU would love to collect customs duties for us at Rotterdam for UK bound containers. They already do this for the Swiss (and the deal works efficiently for both parties).

    You and your facts! Begone - what we need is more hysteria.....
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,169
    edited July 2018
    Jonathan said:

    Jonathan said:

    Can we have a competent government please?

    Bring back Dave, George, Nick and Danny?
    They’d be better than this lot.
    I think you would be hard pushed to find somebody who disagrees with that.
  • ralphmalphralphmalph Posts: 2,201

    Jonathan said:

    Can we have a competent government please?

    Bring back Dave, George, Nick and Danny?
    You miss all those "Nick does not agree with that" one week after the Govt has floated it.
    The quad worked surprisingly well when it came to their core job of agreeing a budget. And the likes of Danny the Park Ranger, Norman Lamb, and Steve Webb were far from incompetent.

    And the reports post government from those part of the machine said that Call Me Dave was actually pretty decent for doing his red box, making decisions and generally making sure the machinery of government was allowed to work etc..unlike Big Gord.
    I read the Rawnsley account of Gordo's time in office, he really should have been charged with some form of crime for abuse of staff.
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 21,678
    edited July 2018

    How many of my fellow posters believe TM is lining herself up to walk out if the EU try to reject her deal

    There is a train of thought that for some, for some time government policy has been about winning the blame game. Party before country.

    I don’t put May in that camp, but others are playing that dangerous game of brinkmanship.

  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,169

    Jonathan said:

    Can we have a competent government please?

    Bring back Dave, George, Nick and Danny?
    You miss all those "Nick does not agree with that" one week after the Govt has floated it.
    The quad worked surprisingly well when it came to their core job of agreeing a budget. And the likes of Danny the Park Ranger, Norman Lamb, and Steve Webb were far from incompetent.

    And the reports post government from those part of the machine said that Call Me Dave was actually pretty decent for doing his red box, making decisions and generally making sure the machinery of government was allowed to work etc..unlike Big Gord.
    I read the Rawnsley account of Gordo's time in office, he really should have been charged with some form of crime for abuse of staff.
    Kept Nokia in business for an extra year or so though....
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,212
    edited July 2018

    HYUFD said:

    How many of my fellow posters believe TM is lining herself up to walk out if the EU try to reject her deal

    Most likely she has included the Mogg amendments as she knows the EU will reject them to show it is her way or the high way, then she goes back to the original Chequers Deal unamended to get the transition period. She will only resign if that is rejected
    I may not have worded my question as well as I should. I was talking of her walking out on Barnier, not resigning
    She won't do that, she clearly wants a deal or at least a transition period confirmed.

    If it ends up hard Brexit she will let Boris or Mogg or Davis deal with it as they are so enthusiastic for it, I doubt she now has any interest leading a Britain on WTO terms
  • PolruanPolruan Posts: 2,083

    How many of my fellow posters believe TM is lining herself up to walk out if the EU try to reject her deal

    Not so much “walk out” as “run away” seems to be the big strategic plan https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/theresa-may-accused-of-running-scared-of-her-brexiteers-amid-plans-to-let-mps-take-early-summer-break_uk_5b4cbd9ee4b022fdcc5bf073

    Good thing that there’s not much important going on that could necessitate MPs sitting, I guess.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,888
    Jonathan said:

    Jonathan said:

    Can we have a competent government please?

    Bring back Dave, George, Nick and Danny?
    They’d be better than this lot.
    +1

    'Twas when the Tories lost the common sense brake that the LibDems provided, that they went off the rails
  • StereotomyStereotomy Posts: 4,092

    HYUFD said:

    How many of my fellow posters believe TM is lining herself up to walk out if the EU try to reject her deal

    Most likely she has included the Mogg amendments as she knows the EU will reject them to show it is her way or the high way, then she goes back to the original Chequers Deal unamended to get the transition period. She will only resign if that is rejected
    I may not have worded my question as well as I should. I was talking of her walking out on Barnier, not resigning
    I think that's very unlikely
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,169
    IanB2 said:

    Jonathan said:

    Jonathan said:

    Can we have a competent government please?

    Bring back Dave, George, Nick and Danny?
    They’d be better than this lot.
    +1

    'Twas when the Tories lost the common sense brake that the LibDems provided, that they went off the rails
    I don't think many of the Lib Dems in leading roles were politically that different to the leading Tories...they were just decent at their jobs.
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 37,394
    rcs1000 said:

    justin124 said:

    currystar said:

    Sean_F said:

    One should not underestimate the value of optimism.
    I have lost track of the number of times May has been written off as completely useless...yet here she still is, wading grimly on through a mess largely not of her making.....
    So completely useless we have full employment in this Country for this first time in my 50 years
    Full employment is what we had from 1945 - late 1960s when the jobless figures were well under 500,000 in most years.Moreover , when account is taken of the many 'adjustments' to the figures ,unemployment today remains well above mid-1970s levels - indeed on a like for like basis we are probably still looking at circa 2 million unemployed.
    Are we? Our employment ratio (15+) on World Bank numbers is 60%, and I suspect it wasn't that high in the 1970s.
    Far fewer women sought work back then. In 1971 the employment rate for men was 90%, compared to 50% for women. The figures are now 78% to 71%.
  • justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527
    Sean_F said:

    justin124 said:

    currystar said:

    Sean_F said:

    One should not underestimate the value of optimism.
    I have lost track of the number of times May has been written off as completely useless...yet here she still is, wading grimly on through a mess largely not of her making.....
    So completely useless we have full employment in this Country for this first time in my 50 years
    Full employment is what we had from 1945 - late 1960s when the jobless figures were well under 500,000 in most years.Moreover , when account is taken of the many 'adjustments' to the figures ,unemployment today remains well above mid-1970s levels - indeed on a like for like basis we are probably still looking at circa 2 million unemployed.
    Beveridge reckoned full employment was 3%, which would be a million or so.

    The employment rate is almost 76% which is almost as good as it can get.
    Unemployment was well below 2% for most of the 1945 - 1970 period despite the fact that benefit entitlements were much less restricted.
  • StereotomyStereotomy Posts: 4,092

    HYUFD said:

    How many of my fellow posters believe TM is lining herself up to walk out if the EU try to reject her deal

    Most likely she has included the Mogg amendments as she knows the EU will reject them to show it is her way or the high way, then she goes back to the original Chequers Deal unamended to get the transition period. She will only resign if that is rejected
    I may not have worded my question as well as I should. I was talking of her walking out on Barnier, not resigning
    I think that's very unlikely
    Well to be a bit clearer, I think it's possible she'll be bounced into doing that by leavers, but it seems very unlikely that it's her strategy at the moment. I can't think of anything she's said or done which would indicate that, nor does it seem consistent with the way she's behaved as PM
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,414
    Trump taking some stick at last from Senior Republicans for his entertaining as ever, but jaw-droppingly suspicious performance today.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,888

    IanB2 said:

    Jonathan said:

    Jonathan said:

    Can we have a competent government please?

    Bring back Dave, George, Nick and Danny?
    They’d be better than this lot.
    +1

    'Twas when the Tories lost the common sense brake that the LibDems provided, that they went off the rails
    I don't think many of the Lib Dems in leading roles were politically that different to the leading Tories...they were just decent at their jobs.
    Which given their collective lack of experience is significantly to their credit.

    Compare and contrast, as the exam question goes...
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,307
    HYUFD said:

    TOPPING said:

    .

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    MJW said:

    Fenster said:

    Soubry in action in House. 3 people in prison for death threats to her alone.

    She's an excellent communicator. She's been driven a bit mad by Brexit though.
    Alternatively, politics has been made mad by Brexit and she's one of the few sane ones on either side of the house prepared to stand up and point out that both parties are living in a fantasyland dreamt up by their own hardliners.
    Yes, as she said last year: "History will condemn this period. It will condemn those who’ve sat back and kept their view to themselves, who haven’t stood up and tried to stop all this nonsense.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/nov/26/anna-soubry-interview-brexit-history-will-condemn-this-period
    And what did you do for the Remain campaign in the Referendum Wiliam Glenn?
    He exerted 0.004 of an ERG.
    On a good day
    That is a disappointingly personal and snide attack from you, HYUFD.
    What was personal about it? Did William Glenn deliver one pro Remain leaflet, knock on one door, man one street stall or make one phone call in the Referendum campaign the result of which he has been dismissing virtually 24/7 ever since? I at least have some respect for Remoaners if they put in the work for Britain Stronger in Europe beforehand and tried their hardest for a Remain win
    Think you might be missing the point about how democracy works ?
  • justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527
    edited July 2018
    rcs1000 said:

    justin124 said:

    currystar said:

    Sean_F said:

    One should not underestimate the value of optimism.
    I have lost track of the number of times May has been written off as completely useless...yet here she still is, wading grimly on through a mess largely not of her making.....
    So completely useless we have full employment in this Country for this first time in my 50 years
    Full employment is what we had from 1945 - late 1960s when the jobless figures were well under 500,000 in most years.Moreover , when account is taken of the many 'adjustments' to the figures ,unemployment today remains well above mid-1970s levels - indeed on a like for like basis we are probably still looking at circa 2 million unemployed.
    Are we? Our employment ratio (15+) on World Bank numbers is 60%, and I suspect it wasn't that high in the 1970s.
    Many of those in work are in reality only partly employed - working barely in excess of the 16 hours per week required to keep them off the registers and earning very little. Little wonder that there is so little upward pressure on wages given the significant real pool of unemployed who would like much longer hours.
  • StereotomyStereotomy Posts: 4,092
    dixiedean said:

    Trump taking some stick at last from Senior Republicans for his entertaining as ever, but jaw-droppingly suspicious performance today.

    The position that there was no interference is much harder to defend than no collusion
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,414

    dixiedean said:

    Trump taking some stick at last from Senior Republicans for his entertaining as ever, but jaw-droppingly suspicious performance today.

    The position that there was no interference is much harder to defend than no collusion
    The position that he chooses to believe Putin over his entire National Security apparatus is the one they seemingly can't get behind.
  • OchEyeOchEye Posts: 1,469
    According to C4 news, reports are coming in that May is trying to force the recess to start on this Thursday instead of Tuesday next week....
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,442
    justin124 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    justin124 said:

    currystar said:

    Sean_F said:

    One should not underestimate the value of optimism.
    I have lost track of the number of times May has been written off as completely useless...yet here she still is, wading grimly on through a mess largely not of her making.....
    So completely useless we have full employment in this Country for this first time in my 50 years
    Full employment is what we had from 1945 - late 1960s when the jobless figures were well under 500,000 in most years.Moreover , when account is taken of the many 'adjustments' to the figures ,unemployment today remains well above mid-1970s levels - indeed on a like for like basis we are probably still looking at circa 2 million unemployed.
    Are we? Our employment ratio (15+) on World Bank numbers is 60%, and I suspect it wasn't that high in the 1970s.
    Many of those in work are in reality only partly employed - working barely in excess of the 16 hours per week required to keep them off the registers and earning very little.
    If I were feeling malicious I could make such a brutal comment about civil servants at the Department for Education...
  • MortimerMortimer Posts: 14,127
    ydoethur said:

    justin124 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    justin124 said:

    currystar said:

    Sean_F said:

    One should not underestimate the value of optimism.
    I have lost track of the number of times May has been written off as completely useless...yet here she still is, wading grimly on through a mess largely not of her making.....
    So completely useless we have full employment in this Country for this first time in my 50 years
    Full employment is what we had from 1945 - late 1960s when the jobless figures were well under 500,000 in most years.Moreover , when account is taken of the many 'adjustments' to the figures ,unemployment today remains well above mid-1970s levels - indeed on a like for like basis we are probably still looking at circa 2 million unemployed.
    Are we? Our employment ratio (15+) on World Bank numbers is 60%, and I suspect it wasn't that high in the 1970s.
    Many of those in work are in reality only partly employed - working barely in excess of the 16 hours per week required to keep them off the registers and earning very little.
    If I were feeling malicious I could make such a brutal comment about civil servants at the Department for Education...
    Time for a repeat of that very informative chart that shows that most new employment since 2010 is FTE PAYE positions.

    Was it Mr Eagles who found it?
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,414
    OchEye said:

    According to C4 news, reports are coming in that May is trying to force the recess to start on this Thursday instead of Tuesday next week....

    More on that here.

    https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/theresa-may-accused-of-running-scared-of-her-brexiteers-amid-plans-to-let-mps-take-early-summer-break_uk_5b4cbd9ee4b022fdcc5bf073
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 119,701
    Mortimer said:

    ydoethur said:

    justin124 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    justin124 said:

    currystar said:

    Sean_F said:

    One should not underestimate the value of optimism.
    I have lost track of the number of times May has been written off as completely useless...yet here she still is, wading grimly on through a mess largely not of her making.....
    So completely useless we have full employment in this Country for this first time in my 50 years
    Full employment is what we had from 1945 - late 1960s when the jobless figures were well under 500,000 in most years.Moreover , when account is taken of the many 'adjustments' to the figures ,unemployment today remains well above mid-1970s levels - indeed on a like for like basis we are probably still looking at circa 2 million unemployed.
    Are we? Our employment ratio (15+) on World Bank numbers is 60%, and I suspect it wasn't that high in the 1970s.
    Many of those in work are in reality only partly employed - working barely in excess of the 16 hours per week required to keep them off the registers and earning very little.
    If I were feeling malicious I could make such a brutal comment about civil servants at the Department for Education...
    Time for a repeat of that very informative chart that shows that most new employment since 2010 is FTE PAYE positions.

    Was it Mr Eagles who found it?
    This one?

    The one that shows George’s golden economic legacy.

    https://twitter.com/frasernelson/status/1013497661121589248?s=21
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,161
    edited July 2018
    She has gone all Adonis and is having a collective breakdown

    The ups and downs this weekend have almost certainly increased a hard Brexit by some margin and made a second vote very unlikely

    I suspect Justine Greening intervention this morning infuriated no 10, especially as they said yesterday that there will not be a second vote
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 21,678
    dixiedean said:

    OchEye said:

    According to C4 news, reports are coming in that May is trying to force the recess to start on this Thursday instead of Tuesday next week....

    More on that here.

    https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/theresa-may-accused-of-running-scared-of-her-brexiteers-amid-plans-to-let-mps-take-early-summer-break_uk_5b4cbd9ee4b022fdcc5bf073
    Pretty desperate stuff. Like Cricket, could the opposition ask the umpire for a few more days/overs to get a wicket.
  • Ishmael_ZIshmael_Z Posts: 8,981
    Nigelb said:

    HYUFD said:

    TOPPING said:

    .

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    MJW said:

    Fenster said:

    Soubry in action in House. 3 people in prison for death threats to her alone.

    She's an excellent communicator. She's been driven a bit mad by Brexit though.
    Alternatively, politics has been made mad by Brexit and she's one of the few sane ones on either side of the house prepared to stand up and point out that both parties are living in a fantasyland dreamt up by their own hardliners.
    Yes, as she said last year: "History will condemn this period. It will condemn those who’ve sat back and kept their view to themselves, who haven’t stood up and tried to stop all this nonsense.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/nov/26/anna-soubry-interview-brexit-history-will-condemn-this-period
    And what did you do for the Remain campaign in the Referendum Wiliam Glenn?
    He exerted 0.004 of an ERG.
    On a good day
    That is a disappointingly personal and snide attack from you, HYUFD.
    What was personal about it? Did William Glenn deliver one pro Remain leaflet, knock on one door, man one street stall or make one phone call in the Referendum campaign the result of which he has been dismissing virtually 24/7 ever since? I at least have some respect for Remoaners if they put in the work for Britain Stronger in Europe beforehand and tried their hardest for a Remain win
    Think you might be missing the point about how democracy works ?
    No, you are. Canvassing for votes is no less part of the democratic process than voting is, and there comes a point at which it is legitimate to ask those who bemoan the outcome what they actually did in the war, daddy?
  • justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527
    Mortimer said:

    ydoethur said:

    justin124 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    justin124 said:

    currystar said:

    Sean_F said:

    One should not underestimate the value of optimism.
    I have lost track of the number of times May has been written off as completely useless...yet here she still is, wading grimly on through a mess largely not of her making.....
    So completely useless we have full employment in this Country for this first time in my 50 years
    Full employment is what we had from 1945 - late 1960s when the jobless figures were well under 500,000 in most years.Moreover , when account is taken of the many 'adjustments' to the figures ,unemployment today remains well above mid-1970s levels - indeed on a like for like basis we are probably still looking at circa 2 million unemployed.
    Are we? Our employment ratio (15+) on World Bank numbers is 60%, and I suspect it wasn't that high in the 1970s.
    Many of those in work are in reality only partly employed - working barely in excess of the 16 hours per week required to keep them off the registers and earning very little.
    If I were feeling malicious I could make such a brutal comment about civil servants at the Department for Education...
    Time for a repeat of that very informative chart that shows that most new employment since 2010 is FTE PAYE positions.

    Was it Mr Eagles who found it?
    But that does not contradict the fact of there being hundreds of thousands of people forced to work part time in a way that was not true back in the 1970s. Similarly many have been 'encouraged' to declare themselves self employed and earn peanuts - the Government is not bothered because it gets them off the unemployment register.
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,318

    Goes onto PB
    Sees the Brexit loons are trying to wreck the country.
    Goes back to reading about asteroid mining.

    +1.

    Only in my case I'm going back to my garden.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,442
    justin124 said:

    Mortimer said:

    ydoethur said:

    justin124 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    justin124 said:

    currystar said:

    Sean_F said:

    One should not underestimate the value of optimism.
    I have lost track of the number of times May has been written off as completely useless...yet here she still is, wading grimly on through a mess largely not of her making.....
    So completely useless we have full employment in this Country for this first time in my 50 years
    Full employment is what we had from 1945 - late 1960s when the jobless figures were well under 500,000 in most years.Moreover , when account is taken of the many 'adjustments' to the figures ,unemployment today remains well above mid-1970s levels - indeed on a like for like basis we are probably still looking at circa 2 million unemployed.
    Are we? Our employment ratio (15+) on World Bank numbers is 60%, and I suspect it wasn't that high in the 1970s.
    Many of those in work are in reality only partly employed - working barely in excess of the 16 hours per week required to keep them off the registers and earning very little.
    If I were feeling malicious I could make such a brutal comment about civil servants at the Department for Education...
    Time for a repeat of that very informative chart that shows that most new employment since 2010 is FTE PAYE positions.

    Was it Mr Eagles who found it?
    But that does not contradict the fact of there being hundreds of thousands of people forced to work part time in a way that was not true back in the 1970s. Similarly many have been 'encouraged' to declare themselves self employed and earn peanuts - the Government is not bothered because it gets them off the unemployment register.
    Or that there are 5,000 people who are in full-time employment but do no work and appear intellectually incapable of doing any.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,161
    Just received an e mail from the Telegraph with Boris's column even though I cancelled my subscription months ago

    Wonder if anyone else has received the same e mail
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 21,678
    Cyclefree said:

    Goes onto PB
    Sees the Brexit loons are trying to wreck the country.
    Goes back to reading about asteroid mining.

    +1.

    Only in my case I'm going back to my garden.
    Wise, but frustrating. Enjoy the last of sunshine.
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 37,394
    justin124 said:

    Mortimer said:

    ydoethur said:

    justin124 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    justin124 said:

    currystar said:

    Sean_F said:

    One should not underestimate the value of optimism.
    I have lost track of the number of times May has been written off as completely useless...yet here she still is, wading grimly on through a mess largely not of her making.....
    So completely useless we have full employment in this Country for this first time in my 50 years
    Full employment is what we had from 1945 - late 1960s when the jobless figures were well under 500,000 in most years.Moreover , when account is taken of the many 'adjustments' to the figures ,unemployment today remains well above mid-1970s levels - indeed on a like for like basis we are probably still looking at circa 2 million unemployed.
    Are we? Our employment ratio (15+) on World Bank numbers is 60%, and I suspect it wasn't that high in the 1970s.
    Many of those in work are in reality only partly employed - working barely in excess of the 16 hours per week required to keep them off the registers and earning very little.
    If I were feeling malicious I could make such a brutal comment about civil servants at the Department for Education...
    Time for a repeat of that very informative chart that shows that most new employment since 2010 is FTE PAYE positions.

    Was it Mr Eagles who found it?
    But that does not contradict the fact of there being hundreds of thousands of people forced to work part time in a way that was not true back in the 1970s. Similarly many have been 'encouraged' to declare themselves self employed and earn peanuts - the Government is not bothered because it gets them off the unemployment register.
    I think what's changed is that there are far more women in the workforce now than 50 years ago, and they find that part time jobs suit them.
  • geoffwgeoffw Posts: 8,726
    Cyclefree said:

    Goes onto PB
    Sees the Brexit loons are trying to wreck the country.
    Goes back to reading about asteroid mining.

    +1.

    Only in my case I'm going back to my garden.
    Worry not Candide, all is for the best in this best of possible worlds.
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 17,208
    The immediate issue is getting a Withdrawal Agreement in place so there is a somewhat orderly Brexit. This in turn depends on the UK signing a NI backstop for customs, which today's amendments formally exclude. So we will hit full-scale crisis this autumn. Either the EU backs down on the backstop (unlikely), or we will have a chaotic Brexit, or we cave into EU demands in the most humiliating circumstances, or Brexit will be delayed indefinitely.

    I suspect Mrs May carries on because she knows all the realistic outcomes are disastrous for her and the conservative party and she is sticking her finger into the dyke to keep the flood waters bursting for as long as possible, while hoping someone or something will come along to make the problem go away.

    Replacing May by someone competent won't work. It isn't an issue of competence. The problem is Brexit itself.
This discussion has been closed.