One of the oddest features of Brexit is that as the negotiations have got more and more shambolic and further and further away from the promised Shangri La, Leavers have got steadily more and more extreme in their hatred of the EU and more and more certain that Brexit is the true path.
Wait until they get to Michael Gove's reported position.
That sustained No Deal means we rejoin within a decade.
That'll be a glorious realisation.
Gove apparently wants a shock advertising campaign on TV to warn about No Deal.
On the subject of Macron and France, it is worth noting that France and Spain are the only EU countries showing any positive economic momentum right now. Both showed strong upticks in their January PMIs, both showed pretty decent and accelerating Q4 GDP growth. (It seems to be forgotten on here that France matched the Uk at 0.6% in the last quarter of last year, and Spain managed 0.7%.)
Going to be fun when Corbyn breaks cover and says that "Due to the impossible, intransigent position adopted by the EU, particularly over the backstop, I have informed the Prime Minister that my MPs will be whipped to support a No Deal Brexit...."
Negotiating Brexit must be the equivalent of being posted to Frankfurt.....
He's probably had enough, does sound like he's completely given up on us remaining. It doesn't reflect well on his legacy that the EU has gone through such a torrid time on his watch.
Going to be fun when Corbyn breaks cover and says that "Due to the impossible, intransigent position adopted by the EU, particularly over the backstop, I have informed the Prime Minister that my MPs will be whipped to support a No Deal Brexit...."
Why would he ever say that?
It''s just more of MM's Brexit fanfic. You should read his Selmayr/Leadsome slash. Absolutely red hot.
Negotiating Brexit must be the equivalent of being posted to Frankfurt.....
He's probably had enough, does sound like he's completely given up on us remaining. It doesn't reflect well on his legacy that the EU has gone through such a torrid time on his watch.
I heard he is to return to politics in Poland.
If this does go to a no deal Junckers, Tusk, Barnier and Varadkar will be forever seen as jointly responsible with the UK for the disaster
Negotiating Brexit must be the equivalent of being posted to Frankfurt.....
Tusk's pattern of successfully triggering brexiteer snowflakes on social media with shady reads has proven remarkably entertaining. I think we're gonna miss him when he's gone.
Funny though, that he never mentions who he was talking about, but he didn't have to because we all know EXACTLY who he means.
Even then, sending them to a special place in Hull seems a bit harsh.
Negotiating Brexit must be the equivalent of being posted to Frankfurt.....
He's probably had enough, does sound like he's completely given up on us remaining. It doesn't reflect well on his legacy that the EU has gone through such a torrid time on his watch.
I heard he is to return to politics in Poland.
If this does go to a no deal Junckers, Tusk, Barnier and Varadkar will be forever seen as jointly responsible with the UK for the disaster
Well given Poland's hard right turn, that makes UKIP look liberal lefties, he is going to have to do some serious work.
Negotiating Brexit must be the equivalent of being posted to Frankfurt.....
Tusk's pattern of successfully triggering brexiteer snowflakes on social media with shady reads has proven remarkably entertaining. I think we're gonna miss him when he's gone.
Funny though, that he never mention who he was talking about, but he didn't have to because we all know EXACTLY who he means.
Even then, sending them to a special place in Hull seems a bit harsh.
Well given trollboy gympsumfantastic who has been posting for about a week and uses phrases like 'snowflake' says so then I'm sure it's true
Negotiating Brexit must be the equivalent of being posted to Frankfurt.....
Tusk's pattern of successfully triggering brexiteer snowflakes on social media with shady reads has proven remarkably entertaining. I think we're gonna miss him when he's gone.
Funny though, that he never mentions who he was talking about, but he didn't have to because we all know EXACTLY who he means.
Even then, sending them to a special place in Hull seems a bit harsh.
PMQ - Lidington v Thornberry - about 50/50. Both good in parts
Agreed. But Thornberry was very nervous and that detracted from her performance.
Did you think so - I wasn't aware of it but she did falter over the contradiction between her position and Corbyn. Truth is Lidington and Thornberry would have agreed a deal some time ago
He cannot have said that in all honesty. If he has he owes 17.5 million an apology
Why? It looks like a sober statement judging by the clowns who at every stage have pushed for Brexit without a clue what they want or how to achieve it.
Surprised you're not out and about, reaching out to leavers.
With your revenge cudgel.
There was something very Liam Neeson about some of your posts yesterday.
Oh I just have no time for people who mewl and puke about how unfair it is that the limited resources should be spent on the bits of the country that actually make money, while voting to reduce those limited resources because foreigners.
The dynamo part of the country - London, specifically, the City of London - is also the part of the country which damn nearly broke the economy in 2007-2008, which has cost the country a huge amount, is still costing it - RBS will never repay the money put into it - and which has disgusted many with the criminality and bad behaviour which has been exposed (and there is far more which has gone on than has ever been made public).
It is also arguable how much money the City actually makes for itself without the effective guarantee provided by the government for its operations. It is that guarantee for the retail side which enabled much of the casino banking to go on. I know that there have been changes since then to try and separate the two but I am not at all sure how effective they will be in practice should something like the 2008 financial crash happen again.
Frankly, a period of humility on its part is needed not lectures about how social cohesion requires other parts of the country to do what it wants and listen to lectures about how people outside London are losers.
The lectures come the other way around. Britain is an economy like Switzerland's yoked to an economy like Portugal's. But Portugal seeks to dictate to Switzerland how it should spend its money, seeks to shackle its economy and complains about its values.
Negotiating Brexit must be the equivalent of being posted to Frankfurt.....
He's probably had enough, does sound like he's completely given up on us remaining. It doesn't reflect well on his legacy that the EU has gone through such a torrid time on his watch.
I heard he is to return to politics in Poland.
If this does go to a no deal Junckers, Tusk, Barnier and Varadkar will be forever seen as jointly responsible with the UK for the disaster
They certainly would bear their fair share of blame, but would be far from alone.
Negotiating Brexit must be the equivalent of being posted to Frankfurt.....
He's probably had enough, does sound like he's completely given up on us remaining. It doesn't reflect well on his legacy that the EU has gone through such a torrid time on his watch.
I heard he is to return to politics in Poland.
If this does go to a no deal Junckers, Tusk, Barnier and Varadkar will be forever seen as jointly responsible with the UK for the disaster
Very true, the pressure on both sides to secure a deal is immense. Tusk will not want to be seen as a failure any more than May does.
A fine portrait by your daughter-in-law Mike ... clearly she has an outstanding talent (your daughter-in-law that is, not the subject!)
O/T with apols, but I've just noticed a new betting market offered by smarkets, based on Labour's share of the vote at the next GE (odds are also available for other parties), which at first glance appears to offer an almost guaranteed return by selecting two tranches of support. For 20%-29% they go 6.6 For 30-39% they go 2.14 Therefore, by staking 24.49% on the lower band and the remaining 75.51% on the upper band, a 60.4% profit is achieved, net of their 2% commission, should either band prove successful. EXCEPT for the fact that there's just an itsy, bitsy snag. Should Labour's share of the vote fall in the 1% band between 29.01%-29.99% range, you would then lose your dough. Clever but crafty marketing by smarkets it would appear. Still they appear to be alone in coming up with innovative markets for the next GE, which is no bad thing considering that the bookmaking fraternity consider there is a 30% likelihood of this taking place during 2019.
Did Smarkets really intend a gap in their markets like that? Surely their upside is at 40+
I feel absolutely sure Smarket's 1% gap between each band is intentional ... representing a very useful part of their *cough* profit margin and doubtless one explanation as to how they are able to boast about 2% commission rates, when comparing themselves with Betfair's much higher 5% rate.
BF have introduced their three tiers, meaning I can drop my commission rate to 2% as long as I give up my "free spins" and best rates guarantee on horse races (which I never bet on). Pretty easy choice for me...
Really? I hadn't heard about this reduced 2% commission deal from Betfair ... I must check it out. thanks.
Negotiating Brexit must be the equivalent of being posted to Frankfurt.....
He's probably had enough, does sound like he's completely given up on us remaining. It doesn't reflect well on his legacy that the EU has gone through such a torrid time on his watch.
I heard he is to return to politics in Poland.
If this does go to a no deal Junckers, Tusk, Barnier and Varadkar will be forever seen as jointly responsible with the UK for the disaster
Very true, the pressure on both sides to secure a deal is immense. Tusk will not want to be seen as a failure any more than May does.
Tusk's position is a very odd one. He's President of EUCO, which means he's in charge of setting its agenda, scheduling meetings, coordinating the diplomatic machinery behind EUCO decisions, chairing meetings, working compromises etc.
But he doesn't have any actual power on his own, beyond the prestige of his position. So Tusk will be in near-constant communication with the EU27 leaders.
If he's given up on the UK, that's a pretty clear sign that so have the EU27, and that's very bad news. Everyone is succumbing to nihilism.
Tusk is right, though, however tactless he may have been in spelling it out.
It is embarrassing watching May turn up to "negotiate" something she agreed to a few weeks ago when any likely result of such "negotiations" will be another defeat in Parliament.
The Leavers have had no realistic or realisable plan.
I was prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt, if they had a plan.
But they don't. And are now blaming everyone else for their own failure.
That I cannot forgive.
The result will almost certainly be a disastrously chaotic exit with who knows what economic, political and social consequences, long-term damage to Britain's reputation as a stable, competent polity, harm to other European countries, a Corbyn government and the likely destruction of the Tory party (which is a shame for those decent Tories - both MPs and voters - out there, if not for anyone else).
And all this despite having two options which would help us climb out of this mess - revocation of Article 50 or a further referendum to decide what we want to do now, in light of the facts as they are now, in the real world, not what people thought prior to 23 June 2016, let alone the facts inside some peoples' heads.
When you're drowning in an icy lake you take the stick proffered to you, no matter how covered in shit it may be.
Negotiating Brexit must be the equivalent of being posted to Frankfurt.....
He's probably had enough, does sound like he's completely given up on us remaining. It doesn't reflect well on his legacy that the EU has gone through such a torrid time on his watch.
I heard he is to return to politics in Poland.
If this does go to a no deal Junckers, Tusk, Barnier and Varadkar will be forever seen as jointly responsible with the UK for the disaster
Well given Poland's hard right turn, that makes UKIP look liberal lefties, he is going to have to do some serious work.
The Polish general election is due to be held before the end of the year - although Tusk's Civic platform party is stuck on only 20% in the polls so I am not sure why he would want to return.
A new party - wiosna (or Spring) - has just been launched and it is at 10% to 14% in the latest polls. It is described as social democratic, centre-left, green, populist and pro-european. So something for everyone!
The Tories allies in PiS (law and justice) are still ahead in the polls but this new party could well shake things up.
On the subject of Macron and France, it is worth noting that France and Spain are the only EU countries showing any positive economic momentum right now. Both showed strong upticks in their January PMIs, both showed pretty decent and accelerating Q4 GDP growth. (It seems to be forgotten on here that France matched the Uk at 0.6% in the last quarter of last year, and Spain managed 0.7%.)
France from a very low base though, composite PMI of 48.2 vs a preliminary reading of 47.9, it's still shockingly bad.
On Germany, the worrying part is that their economy seems to be slowing down even as industry has been stockpiling due to various factors (brexit, trade instability are the primary ones). That should have added 0.2-0.3% to Q4 growth but it seems as though there was a recession in Q3/4 despite the inventory build up.
Macron has had a bounce since the new year. The issue he faces is that he is promising lots of things to lots of people from his debat nationale. He is raising expectations looking at what is on his plate he can only disappoint.
The PB Tory Leavers are weirdly obsessed with Macron – to the extent that they simply cannot see what is staring them in the face.
The Yellow Bellies (or whatever they are called) have been a massive boost for Macca, who can now present himself as a sensible, pro-business moderate in the face of a bunch of crackpot Brexity nutters.
His approvals are very strong given that France has a run-off system. Looks a strong bet for re-election to me, as much as the PB Tory Leavers fantasise otherwise.
Its no more or less unusual to 'obsess' about the Head of State of our nearest neighbour (bar the Irish) than our media and chatterati obsessing about every other tweet of the head of state of a country over 4,000 miles away!
Macron has got a modest boost because he bribed sections of the electorate by cutting taxes for pensioners and raising the minimum wage. Certainly noble things - but not exactly taking those radical steps to reform France.
He was celebrated on his election as some centrist, reforming saviour of Europe - not so more as even on recent polls he has a disapproval rating of around 70%.
Perhaps he is 'pro business' - but it seems to be more 'big' business. And its of course far too easy to label the yellow vest protestors as 'crackpot Brexity nutters' - it avoids having to deal with some of the genuine concerns they have. I wasn't aware they were protesting in favour of Brexit?
His overweening arrogance has made him ridiculous in the eyes of many French voters.
Isn't that par for the course for a French leader?
Its 95% of the Northern Ireland parliamentary delegation at Westminster who are dictating to the UK government and driving the agenda - but of course if Sinn Fein bothered to turn up they might have more of say in things!
The Leavers have had no realistic or realisable plan.
I was prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt, if they had a plan.
But they don't. And are now blaming everyone else for their own failure.
[snip]
It's actually even worse than that. They campaigned and won the referendum with no plan at all and on the basis of mutually-incompatible assurances. Theresa May and Olly Robbins managed, against the odds, to come up with a reasonable implementation of Brexit which would satisfy a remarkably large proportion of what Leave promised, with minimal economic damage, and then the Leavers trashed it. So not only did they fail to put in the hard work themselves, they've knee-capped those who did.
He cannot have said that in all honesty. If he has he owes 17.5 million an apology
Why? It looks like a sober statement judging by the clowns who at every stage have pushed for Brexit without a clue what they want or how to achieve it.
Surprised you're not out and about, reaching out to leavers.
With your revenge cudgel.
There was something very Liam Neeson about some of your posts yesterday.
Oh I just have no time for people who mewl and puke about how unfair it is that the limited resources should be spent on the bits of the country that actually make money, while voting to reduce those limited resources because foreigners.
The dynamo part of the country - London, specifically, the City of London - is also the part of the country which damn nearly broke the economy in 2007-2008, which has cost the country a huge amount, is still costing it - RBS will never repay the money put into it - and which has disgusted many with the criminality and bad behaviour which has been exposed (and there is far more which has gone on than has ever been made public).
It is also arguable how much money the City actually makes for itself without the effective guarantee provided by the government for its operations. It is that guarantee for the retail side which enabled much of the casino banking to go on. I know that there have been changes since then to try and separate the two but I am not at all sure how effective they will be in practice should something like the 2008 financial crash happen again.
Frankly, a period of humility on its part is needed not lectures about how social cohesion requires other parts of the country to do what it wants and listen to lectures about how people outside London are losers.
The lectures come the other way around. Britain is an economy like Switzerland's yoked to an economy like Portugal's. But Portugal seeks to dictate to Switzerland how it should spend its money, seeks to shackle its economy and complains about its values.
I think, with the greatest respect, you are missing my point.
What the last decade has revealed is that the Switzerland of the UK has behaved rather more like a Monaco or a Panama. (Not that Switzerland has been particularly squeaky clean either.) In those circumstances, it needs to look to the beams in its own eyes before commenting on the motes in others.
The Leavers have had no realistic or realisable plan.
I was prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt, if they had a plan.
But they don't. And are now blaming everyone else for their own failure.
[snip]
It's actually even worse than that. They campaigned and won the referendum with no plan at all and on the basis of mutually-incompatible assurances. Theresa May and Olly Robbins managed, against the odds, to come up with a reasonable implementation of Brexit which would satisfy a remarkably large proportion of what Leave promised, with minimal economic damage, and then the Leavers trashed it. So not only did they fail to put in the hard work themselves, they've knee-capped those who did.
True.
They are - as I have said - the Militant tendency of the Tories and will do as much damage to the economy (and their party), if not more, as Militant and people like them did all those years ago.
He cannot have said that in all honesty. If he has he owes 17.5 million an apology
Why? It looks like a sober statement judging by the clowns who at every stage have pushed for Brexit without a clue what they want or how to achieve it.
Surprised you're not out and about, reaching out to leavers.
With your revenge cudgel.
There was something very Liam Neeson about some of your posts yesterday.
Oh I just have no time for people who mewl and puke about how unfair it is that the limited resources should be spent on the bits of the country that actually make money, while voting to reduce those limited resources because foreigners.
The dynamo part of the country - London, specifically, the City of London - is also the part of the country which damn nearly broke the economy in 2007-2008, which has cost the country a huge amount, is still costing it - RBS will never repay the money put into it - and which has disgusted many with the criminality and bad behaviour which has been exposed (and there is far more which has gone on than has ever been made public).
It is also arguable how much money the City actually makes for itself without the effective guarantee provided by the government for its operations. It is that guarantee for the retail side which enabled much of the casino banking to go on. I know that there have been changes since then to try and separate the two but I am not at all sure how effective they will be in practice should something like the 2008 financial crash happen again.
Frankly, a period of humility on its part is needed not lectures about how social cohesion requires other parts of the country to do what it wants and listen to lectures about how people outside London are losers.
The lectures come the other way around. Britain is an economy like Switzerland's yoked to an economy like Portugal's. But Portugal seeks to dictate to Switzerland how it should spend its money, seeks to shackle its economy and complains about its values.
That's been the case ever since poorer constituencies started returning Labour MP's, who got money transferred to their constituencies from richer areas of the country.
In the splendid BBC series on Europe currently running, Tusk refers to '...the stupid Referendum', a phrase he used in front of Cameron apparently.
Tusk just doesn't get it.
Yes, Tusk is the one that doesn't get it. The one who warned David Cameron a referendum would lead to division and chaos.
HE is the one who doesn't get it.
Yep, just like you, he doesn't get it. The reason we are at this point now is because people like Tusk and all the other politicians down the years have ignored the legitimate concerns of the electorate with their 'we know better' attitude. More than that they have insulted and belittled the electorate as if they didn't matter. Which is exactly what they thought of them.
Well now they do matter. And Tusk and his ilk, having learned absolutely nothing from this, will continue to make the same stupid mistakes and harden opposition to the EU even more across the bloc.
PMQ - Lidington v Thornberry - about 50/50. Both good in parts
Agreed. But Thornberry was very nervous and that detracted from her performance.
Did you think so - I wasn't aware of it but she did falter over the contradiction between her position and Corbyn. Truth is Lidington and Thornberry would have agreed a deal some time ago
I'd rather repress that I helped her gain her seat, although it was mostly down to David Herdson's brilliance.
Not guilty! (Well, only ever-so-slightly).
Jenkyns' win (and Morley & Outwood's independence from Wakefield District Conservative Association) came before my term of chairman began. Apart from a few hundred leaflets well before the election, I don't think I did anything to contribute to her win.
The lectures come the other way around. Britain is an economy like Switzerland's yoked to an economy like Portugal's. But Portugal seeks to dictate to Switzerland how it should spend its money, seeks to shackle its economy and complains about its values.
If that means anything at all, it means that Britain has rich parts and poor parts, like all countries, and that the rich parts sometimes vote one way and the poor parts another, like in all democracies, but the overall outcome is binding, like in all nation states.
So Britain is, in this respect, a fairly typical democratic nation state.
In the splendid BBC series on Europe currently running, Tusk refers to '...the stupid Referendum', a phrase he used in front of Cameron apparently.
Tusk just doesn't get it.
Yes, Tusk is the one that doesn't get it. The one who warned David Cameron a referendum would lead to division and chaos.
HE is the one who doesn't get it.
Yep, just like you, he doesn't get it. The reason we are at this point now is because people like Tusk and all the other politicians down the years have ignored the legitimate concerns of the electorate with their 'we know better' attitude. More than that they have insulted and belittled the electorate as if they didn't matter. Which is exactly what they thought of them.
Well now they do matter. And Tusk and his ilk, having learned absolutely nothing from this, will continue to make the same stupid mistakes and harden opposition to the EU even more across the bloc.
Meanwhile Selmayr sits in the Berlaymont stroking his cat...
He cannot have said that in all honesty. If he has he owes 17.5 million an apology
Why? It looks like a sober statement judging by the clowns who at every stage have pushed for Brexit without a clue what they want or how to achieve it.
Surprised you're not out and about, reaching out to leavers.
With your revenge cudgel.
There was something very Liam Neeson about some of your posts yesterday.
Oh I just have no time for people who mewl and puke about how unfair it is that the limited resources should be spent on the bits of the country that actually make money, while voting to reduce those limited resources because foreigners.
The dynamo part of the country - London, specifically, the City of London - is also the part of the country which damn nearly broke the economy in 2007-2008, which has cost the country a huge amount, is still costing it - RBS will never repay the money put into it - and which has disgusted many with the criminality and bad behaviour which has been exposed (and there is far more which has gone on than has ever been made public).
It is also arguable how much money the City actually makes for itself without the effective guarantee provided by the government for its operations. It is that guarantee for the retail side which enabled much of the casino banking to go on. I know that there have been changes since then to try and separate the two but I am not at all sure how effective they will be in practice should something like the 2008 financial crash happen again.
Frankly, a period of humility on its part is needed not lectures about how social cohesion requires other parts of the country to do what it wants and listen to lectures about how people outside London are losers.
The lectures come the other way around. Britain is an economy like Switzerland's yoked to an economy like Portugal's. But Portugal seeks to dictate to Switzerland how it should spend its money, seeks to shackle its economy and complains about its values.
That's been the case ever since poorer constituencies started returning Labour MP's, who got money transferred to their constituencies from richer areas of the country.
Portugal needs to explain to Switzerland why it should care about them at all. With very different values and an attitude of mutual disdain and incomprehension, that's not at all obvious right now.
Tusk is right, though, however tactless he may have been in spelling it out.
It is embarrassing watching May turn up to "negotiate" something she agreed to a few weeks ago when any likely result of such "negotiations" will be another defeat in Parliament.
The Leavers have had no realistic or realisable plan.
I was prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt, if they had a plan.
But they don't. And are now blaming everyone else for their own failure.
That I cannot forgive.
The result will almost certainly be a disastrously chaotic exit with who knows what economic, political and social consequences, long-term damage to Britain's reputation as a stable, competent polity, harm to other European countries, a Corbyn government and the likely destruction of the Tory party (which is a shame for those decent Tories - both MPs and voters - out there, if not for anyone else).
And all this despite having two options which would help us climb out of this mess - revocation of Article 50 or a further referendum to decide what we want to do now, in light of the facts as they are now, in the real world, not what people thought prior to 23 June 2016, let alone the facts inside some peoples' heads.
When you're drowning in an icy lake you take the stick proffered to you, no matter how covered in shit it may be.
Rubbish. Leavers did have a realistic and reasonable plan but May decided that being a xenophobe was more important than anything else in the negotiations. So the sensible plans were ignored and we had the ridiculous mess that May has driven us in to.
And your two 'options' are both code for Remain, however much you might delude yourself about it.
It will provide fleeting amusement for remainers who can't see beyond the latest tweet but it was incredibly unprofessional and has offered nothing of value at this point in the negotiations...and that is being charitable on the assumption the papers don't run hard with it in the morning.
It's actually even worse than that. They campaigned and won the referendum with no plan at all and on the basis of mutually-incompatible assurances. Theresa May and Olly Robbins managed, against the odds, to come up with a reasonable implementation of Brexit which would satisfy a remarkably large proportion of what Leave promised, with minimal economic damage, and then the Leavers trashed it. So not only did they fail to put in the hard work themselves, they've knee-capped those who did.
I keep trying to put myself into the shoes of an ultra-brexiteer, and see what drives them. They consider May's deal a capitulation and a humilation. Which given their world view, makes perfect sense.
You, of course, would argue that the nature of Brexit is that any deal must look like a capitulation and a humiliation to an extent, and that a rational brexiteer would surely accept that necessity.
But, of course, the reasoning all falls down at "rational brexiteer".
It's painfully clear no brexiteer ever bothered to think through the inevitable consequences of their actions, so it simply hasn't occurred to them that the capitulation and humiliation they hate so much was entirely unavoidable.
Thus they can blame the whole thing on May, rather than political inevitability, and hold on to the idea that she was the one who robbed them of their Brexit dream.
It also doesn't help that May fed the Brexiteers so much fresh red unicorn meat at the start. The impossible promises of Lancaster House ring roundly in the heart of every scorned Brexiteer.
The lectures come the other way around. Britain is an economy like Switzerland's yoked to an economy like Portugal's. But Portugal seeks to dictate to Switzerland how it should spend its money, seeks to shackle its economy and complains about its values.
If that means anything at all, it means that Britain has rich parts and poor parts, like all countries, and that the rich parts sometimes vote one way and the poor parts another, like in all democracies, but the overall outcome is binding, like in all nation states.
So Britain is, in this respect, a fairly typical democratic nation state.
Tusks actions look part of a wider strategy to intimidate other countries who might think about leaving rather than Brexit. He's certainly not helping the Remain clause.
Tusks actions look part of a wider strategy to intimidate other countries who might think about leaving rather than Brexit. He's certainly not helping the Remain clause.
I would challenge you to find a remainer in the country who hasn't said far worse about the brexiteer brain trust than merely demanding eternal damnation in Yorkshire.
It's actually even worse than that. They campaigned and won the referendum with no plan at all and on the basis of mutually-incompatible assurances. Theresa May and Olly Robbins managed, against the odds, to come up with a reasonable implementation of Brexit which would satisfy a remarkably large proportion of what Leave promised, with minimal economic damage, and then the Leavers trashed it. So not only did they fail to put in the hard work themselves, they've knee-capped those who did.
I keep trying to put myself into the shoes of an ultra-brexiteer, and see what drives them. They consider May's deal a capitulation and a humilation. Which given their world view, makes perfect sense.
You, of course, would argue that the nature of Brexit is that any deal must look like a capitulation and a humiliation to an extent, and that a rational brexiteer would surely accept that necessity.
But, of course, the reasoning all falls down at "rational brexiteer".
It's painfully clear no brexiteer ever bothered to think through the inevitable consequences of their actions, so it simply hasn't occurred to them that the capitulation and humiliation they hate so much was entirely unavoidable.
Thus they can blame the whole thing on May, rather than political inevitability, and hold on to the idea that she was the one who robbed them of their Brexit dream.
It also doesn't help that May fed the Brexiteers so much fresh red unicorn meat at the start. The impossible promises of Lancaster House ring roundly in the heart of every scorned Brexiteer.
That is a good summary and why I believe the ERG/DUP need to be called out, no matter the political consequences
Tusks actions look part of a wider strategy to intimidate other countries who might think about leaving rather than Brexit. He's certainly not helping the Remain clause.
I would challenge you to find a remainer in the country who hasn't said far worse about the brexiteer brain trust than merely demanding eternal damnation in Yorkshire.
Yorkshire is God's own county.
If you want damnation I suggest Lancashire, Lincolnshire, or Middlesbrough.
He cannot have said that in all honesty. If he has he owes 17.5 million an apology
Why? It looks like a sober statement judging by the clowns who at every stage have pushed for Brexit without a clue what they want or how to achieve it.
Surprised you're not out and about, reaching out to leavers.
With your revenge cudgel.
There was something very Liam Neeson about some of your posts yesterday.
Oh I just have no time for people who mewl and puke about how unfair it is that the limited resources should be spent on the bits of the country that actually make money, while voting to reduce those limited resources because foreigners.
.
Frankly, a period of humility on its part is needed not lectures about how social cohesion requires other parts of the country to do what it wants and listen to lectures about how people outside London are losers.
The lectures come the other way around. Britain is an economy like Switzerland's yoked to an economy like Portugal's. But Portugal seeks to dictate to Switzerland how it should spend its money, seeks to shackle its economy and complains about its values.
That's been the case ever since poorer constituencies started returning Labour MP's, who got money transferred to their constituencies from richer areas of the country.
Portugal needs to explain to Switzerland why it should care about them at all. With very different values and an attitude of mutual disdain and incomprehension, that's not at all obvious right now.
Why? Every country has rich and poor people and rich and poor areas.
200 years ago, one might have expected deference from the poor, but they don't give it in this day and age.
But, if you want a reason it's this. A country where rich people have some of their income redistributed to the poor is likely to be freer and safer for the rich to live in than a country where they don't.
Tusks actions look part of a wider strategy to intimidate other countries who might think about leaving rather than Brexit. He's certainly not helping the Remain clause.
Portugal needs to explain to Switzerland why it should care about them at all. With very different values and an attitude of mutual disdain and incomprehension, that's not at all obvious right now.
They share a currency (the UK, not Switzerland and Portugal).
Portugal needs to explain to Switzerland why it should care about them at all. With very different values and an attitude of mutual disdain and incomprehension, that's not at all obvious right now.
Perhaps because (to use your metaphors) without Portugal, Switzerland will starve.
Your attitude is that of a person who decides that, since all his thinking and awareness is concentrated in his head, he can amputate his body and survive perfectly well without one.
The Leavers have had no realistic or realisable plan.
I was prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt, if they had a plan.
But they don't. And are now blaming everyone else for their own failure.
[snip]
It's actually even worse than that. They campaigned and won the referendum with no plan at all and on the basis of mutually-incompatible assurances. Theresa May and Olly Robbins managed, against the odds, to come up with a reasonable implementation of Brexit which would satisfy a remarkably large proportion of what Leave promised, with minimal economic damage, and then the Leavers trashed it. So not only did they fail to put in the hard work themselves, they've knee-capped those who did.
Was it actually against the odds? It seems like most of the time was spent on May saying no to the backstop before giving up last November.
He cannot have said that in all honesty. If he has he owes 17.5 million an apology
Why? It looks like a sober statement judging by the clowns who at every stage have pushed for Brexit without a clue what they want or how to achieve it.
Surprised you're not out and about, reaching out to leavers.
With your revenge cudgel.
There was something very Liam Neeson about some of your posts yesterday.
Oh I just have no time for people who mewl and puke about how unfair it is that the limited resources should be spent on the bits of the country that actually make money, while voting to reduce those limited resources because foreigners.
.
Frankly, a period of humility on its part is needed not lectures about how social cohesion requires other parts of the country to do what it wants and listen to lectures about how people outside London are losers.
The lectures come the other way around. Britain is an economy like Switzerland's yoked to an economy like Portugal's. But Portugal seeks to dictate to Switzerland how it should spend its money, seeks to shackle its economy and complains about its values.
That's been the case ever since poorer constituencies started returning Labour MP's, who got money transferred to their constituencies from richer areas of the country.
Portugal needs to explain to Switzerland why it should care about them at all. With very different values and an attitude of mutual disdain and incomprehension, that's not at all obvious right now.
Why? Every country has rich and poor people and rich and poor areas.
200 years ago, one might have expected deference from the poor, but they don't give it in this day and age.
But, if you want a reason it's this. A country where rich people have some of their income redistributed to the poor is likely to be freer and safer for the rich to live in than a country where they don't.
You assume it remains a single country with a single demos. The values divide is increasingly matched onto the economic divide.
It is routine to hear Leavers decry London and its values. They don't hate it enough to give it back its money. But the mutual loathing is obvious, all-pervasive and growing.
The dynamo part of the country - London, specifically, the City of London - is also the part of the country which damn nearly broke the economy in 2007-2008, which has cost the country a huge amount, is still costing it - RBS will never repay the money put into it - and which has disgusted many with the criminality and bad behaviour which has been exposed (and there is far more which has gone on than has ever been made public).
It is also arguable how much money the City actually makes for itself without the effective guarantee provided by the government for its operations. It is that guarantee for the retail side which enabled much of the casino banking to go on. I know that there have been changes since then to try and separate the two but I am not at all sure how effective they will be in practice should something like the 2008 financial crash happen again.
Frankly, a period of humility on its part is needed not lectures about how social cohesion requires other parts of the country to do what it wants and listen to lectures about how people outside London are losers.
The lectures come the other way around. Britain is an economy like Switzerland's yoked to an economy like Portugal's. But Portugal seeks to dictate to Switzerland how it should spend its money, seeks to shackle its economy and complains about its values.
That's been the case ever since poorer constituencies started returning Labour MP's, who got money transferred to their constituencies from richer areas of the country.
Portugal needs to explain to Switzerland why it should care about them at all. With very different values and an attitude of mutual disdain and incomprehension, that's not at all obvious right now.
"Portugal" 's kids end up as the next generation of key employees in "Switzerland" 's industries.
Edit: incidentally this neatly illustrates why the UK is one demos, and the EU, isn't.
He cannot have said that in all honesty. If he has he owes 17.5 million an apology
Why? It looks like a sober statement judging by the clowns who at every stage have pushed for Brexit without a clue what they want or how to achieve it.
Surprised you're not out and about, reaching out to leavers.
With your revenge cudgel.
There was something very Liam Neeson about some of your posts yesterday.
Oh I just have no time for people who mewl and puke about how unfair it is that the limited resources should be spent on the bits of the country that actually make money, while voting to reduce those limited resources because foreigners.
.
Frankly, a period of humility on its part is needed not lectures about how social cohesion requires other parts of the country to do what it wants and listen to lectures about how people outside London are losers.
The lectures come the other way around. Britain is an economy like Switzerland's yoked to an economy like Portugal's. But Portugal seeks to dictate to Switzerland how it should spend its money, seeks to shackle its economy and complains about its values.
That's been the case ever since poorer constituencies started returning Labour MP's, who got money transferred to their constituencies from richer areas of the country.
Portugal needs to explain to Switzerland why it should care about them at all. With very different values and an attitude of mutual disdain and incomprehension, that's not at all obvious right now.
You assume it remains a single country with a single demos. The values divide is increasingly matched onto the economic divide.
It is routine to hear Leavers decry London and its values. They don't hate it enough to give it back its money. But the mutual loathing is obvious, all-pervasive and growing.
We were once politically divided on religious and constitutional issues; then we became divided on grounds of class; now we're divided over the EU. There's nothing strange about political division in this country, even if the grounds for division have altered. Nor has political division prevented us from holding together.
As for "London's money" it's a portion of the income of a number of very wealthy people who are very lucky to live in this country.
Portugal needs to explain to Switzerland why it should care about them at all. With very different values and an attitude of mutual disdain and incomprehension, that's not at all obvious right now.
Perhaps because (to use your metaphors) without Portugal, Switzerland will starve.
Your attitude is that of a person who decides that, since all his thinking and awareness is concentrated in his head, he can amputate his body and survive perfectly well without one.
It's a deceptively simple but inaccurate analogy.
Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh/Cardiff/Belfast and Glasgow are major business and commercial centres.
Further, many parts of Cheshire, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria are very prosperous.
Tusk has given me an idea for how we could re-unite the country.
A referendum on eternal damnation for Boris Johnson.
He's fat, balding, in late middle age, his career aspirations have died, he's failed in all his jobs and relationships, and he's on his third wife. He seems to be damning himself, to be honest...
The dynamo part of the country - London, specifically, the City of London - is also the part of the country which damn nearly broke the economy in 2007-2008, which has cost the country a huge amount, is still costing it - RBS will never repay the money put into it - and which has disgusted many with the criminality and bad behaviour which has been exposed (and there is far more which has gone on than has ever been made public).
It is also arguable how much money the City actually makes for itself without the effective guarantee provided by the government for its operations. It is that guarantee for the retail side which enabled much of the casino banking to go on. I know that there have been changes since then to try and separate the two but I am not at all sure how effective they will be in practice should something like the 2008 financial crash happen again.
Frankly, a period of humility on its part is needed not lectures about how social cohesion requires other parts of the country to do what it wants and listen to lectures about how people outside London are losers.
The lectures come the other way around. Britain is an economy like Switzerland's yoked to an economy like Portugal's. But Portugal seeks to dictate to Switzerland how it should spend its money, seeks to shackle its economy and complains about its values.
That's been the case ever since poorer constituencies started returning Labour MP's, who got money transferred to their constituencies from richer areas of the country.
Portugal needs to explain to Switzerland why it should care about them at all. With very different values and an attitude of mutual disdain and incomprehension, that's not at all obvious right now.
Portugal's kids end up as the next generation of key employees in Switzerland's industries.
There is no shortage of would-be immigrants to London from around the world.
It will provide fleeting amusement for remainers who can't see beyond the latest tweet but it was incredibly unprofessional and has offered nothing of value at this point in the negotiations...and that is being charitable on the assumption the papers don't run hard with it in the morning.
If nothing else interventions like Tusk's will ensure that the second referendum is too close to call.
But, if you want a reason it's this. A country where rich people have some of their income redistributed to the poor is likely to be freer and safer for the rich to live in than a country where they don't.
That's one reason. Another, perhaps more important, economic reason is that the larger a country is, the more its industries reap various economies of scale. I won't weary people with the studies that show that (I looked at them professionally in another context a couple of years ago). But, other things being equal, large countries' industries are more innovative and dynamic than smaller ones.
So, London benefits hugely from being joined to the rest of the country.
One of the oddest features of Brexit is that as the negotiations have got more and more shambolic and further and further away from the promised Shangri La, Leavers have got steadily more and more extreme in their hatred of the EU and more and more certain that Brexit is the true path.
Wait until they get to Michael Gove's reported position.
That sustained No Deal means we rejoin within a decade.
That'll be a glorious realisation.
Gove apparently wants a shock advertising campaign on TV to warn about No Deal.
Tusks actions look part of a wider strategy to intimidate other countries who might think about leaving rather than Brexit. He's certainly not helping the Remain clause.
I would challenge you to find a remainer in the country who hasn't said far worse about the brexiteer brain trust than merely demanding eternal damnation in Yorkshire.
Yorkshire is God's own county.
If you want damnation I suggest Lancashire, Lincolnshire, or Middlesbrough.
Lancashire has some pretty bits. Lincolnshire has Lincoln, which is nice. But Middlesbrough is unrecoverable. It makes your heart cry. It's like the worse parts of Essex without the quick train to London.
Surprised you're not out and about, reaching out to leavers.
With your revenge cudgel.
There was something very Liam Neeson about some of your posts yesterday.
Oh I just have no time for people who mewl and puke about how unfair it is that the limited resources should be spent on the bits of the country that actually make money, while voting to reduce those limited resources because foreigners.
The dynamo part of the country - London, specifically, the City of London - is also the part of the country which damn nearly broke the economy in 2007-2008, which has cost the country a huge amount, is still costing it - RBS will never repay the money put into it - and which has disgusted many with the criminality and bad behaviour which has been exposed (and there is far more which has gone on than has ever been made public).
It is also arguable how much money the City actually makes for itself without the effective guarantee provided by the government for its operations. It is that guarantee for the retail side which enabled much of the casino banking to go on. I know that there have been changes since then to try and separate the two but I am not at all sure how effective they will be in practice should something like the 2008 financial crash happen again.
Frankly, a period of humility on its part is needed not lectures about how social cohesion requires other parts of the country to do what it wants and listen to lectures about how people outside London are losers.
The lectures come the other way around. Britain is an economy like Switzerland's yoked to an economy like Portugal's. But Portugal seeks to dictate to Switzerland how it should spend its money, seeks to shackle its economy and complains about its values.
That's been the case ever since poorer constituencies started returning Labour MP's, who got money transferred to their constituencies from richer areas of the country.
Portugal needs to explain to Switzerland why it should care about them at all. With very different values and an attitude of mutual disdain and incomprehension, that's not at all obvious right now.
Because it's a massive misunderstanding to believe that 'Switzerland' generates its income and wealth independently of 'Portugal'.
Also, because 'Portugal' has 58 million people and 'Switzerland' has 8 million and, you know, democracy. You'd have thought that Brexit might have driven that home but no, like so much else about Brexit, all it's done is reinforce pre-existing prejudices rather than challenge them.
The dynamo part of the country - London, specifically, the City of London - is also the part of the country which damn nearly broke the economy in 2007-2008, which has cost the country a huge amount, is still costing it - RBS will never repay the money put into it - and which has disgusted many with the criminality and bad behaviour which has been exposed (and there is far more which has gone on than has ever been made public).
It is also arguable how much money the City actually makes for itself without the effective guarantee provided by the government for its operations. It is that guarantee for the retail side which enabled much of the casino banking to go on. I know that there have been changes since then to try and separate the two but I am not at all sure how effective they will be in practice should something like the 2008 financial crash happen again.
Frankly, a period of humility on its part is needed not lectures about how social cohesion requires other parts of the country to do what it wants and listen to lectures about how people outside London are losers.
You are if anything too kind about the City, or at least the part of it that I worked in - investment banking.
I did that for quite some time and was often possessed by a feeling of absurdity at the amount of money routinely 'earned' by people (including myself) for doing stuff that was (i) not particularly difficult and (ii) not particularly useful. I would describe it as not so much a career as grand larceny.
As to the implicit state guarantee of the sector, yes, that is effectively an enormous government subsidy. If it was priced and charged for at commercial 3rd party (credit swap) rates the IB bottom line, ceteris paribus, would not be a pretty sight.
Comments
https://twitter.com/Steven_Swinford/status/1092835757650337792
Negotiating Brexit must be the equivalent of being posted to Frankfurt.....
Read her. Slay her. Yaaaaasssss hunty.
If this does go to a no deal Junckers, Tusk, Barnier and Varadkar will be forever seen as jointly responsible with the UK for the disaster
Funny though, that he never mentions who he was talking about, but he didn't have to because we all know EXACTLY who he means.
Even then, sending them to a special place in Hull seems a bit harsh.
No one ever mention Andrea Jenkyns again on PB.
I'd rather repress that I helped her gain her seat, although it was mostly down to David Herdson's brilliance.
But he doesn't have any actual power on his own, beyond the prestige of his position. So Tusk will be in near-constant communication with the EU27 leaders.
If he's given up on the UK, that's a pretty clear sign that so have the EU27, and that's very bad news. Everyone is succumbing to nihilism.
It is embarrassing watching May turn up to "negotiate" something she agreed to a few weeks ago when any likely result of such "negotiations" will be another defeat in Parliament.
The Leavers have had no realistic or realisable plan.
I was prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt, if they had a plan.
But they don't. And are now blaming everyone else for their own failure.
That I cannot forgive.
The result will almost certainly be a disastrously chaotic exit with who knows what economic, political and social consequences, long-term damage to Britain's reputation as a stable, competent polity, harm to other European countries, a Corbyn government and the likely destruction of the Tory party (which is a shame for those decent Tories - both MPs and voters - out there, if not for anyone else).
And all this despite having two options which would help us climb out of this mess - revocation of Article 50 or a further referendum to decide what we want to do now, in light of the facts as they are now, in the real world, not what people thought prior to 23 June 2016, let alone the facts inside some peoples' heads.
When you're drowning in an icy lake you take the stick proffered to you, no matter how covered in shit it may be.
A new party - wiosna (or Spring) - has just been launched and it is at 10% to 14% in the latest polls. It is described as social democratic, centre-left, green, populist and pro-european. So something for everyone!
The Tories allies in PiS (law and justice) are still ahead in the polls but this new party could well shake things up.
On Germany, the worrying part is that their economy seems to be slowing down even as industry has been stockpiling due to various factors (brexit, trade instability are the primary ones). That should have added 0.2-0.3% to Q4 growth but it seems as though there was a recession in Q3/4 despite the inventory build up.
Even Barnier's language has been more measured than Tusk, who seems rather emotional and gaffe prone to me.
HE is the one who doesn't get it.
They want to make a point about the 800 years.
What the last decade has revealed is that the Switzerland of the UK has behaved rather more like a Monaco or a Panama. (Not that Switzerland has been particularly squeaky clean either.) In those circumstances, it needs to look to the beams in its own eyes before commenting on the motes in others.
Turns out if there's one thing France hates more than an arrogant president, it's one who isn't.
They are - as I have said - the Militant tendency of the Tories and will do as much damage to the economy (and their party), if not more, as Militant and people like them did all those years ago.
Well now they do matter. And Tusk and his ilk, having learned absolutely nothing from this, will continue to make the same stupid mistakes and harden opposition to the EU even more across the bloc.
Jenkyns' win (and Morley & Outwood's independence from Wakefield District Conservative Association) came before my term of chairman began. Apart from a few hundred leaflets well before the election, I don't think I did anything to contribute to her win.
Edit: 'Trident wielding cabal' - does he know something we don't?
https://twitter.com/eastantrimmp/status/1093126875524878336/photo/1
So Britain is, in this respect, a fairly typical democratic nation state.
Is that your point?
And your two 'options' are both code for Remain, however much you might delude yourself about it.
It will provide fleeting amusement for remainers who can't see beyond the latest tweet but it was incredibly unprofessional and has offered nothing of value at this point in the negotiations...and that is being charitable on the assumption the papers don't run hard with it in the morning.
You, of course, would argue that the nature of Brexit is that any deal must look like a capitulation and a humiliation to an extent, and that a rational brexiteer would surely accept that necessity.
But, of course, the reasoning all falls down at "rational brexiteer".
It's painfully clear no brexiteer ever bothered to think through the inevitable consequences of their actions, so it simply hasn't occurred to them that the capitulation and humiliation they hate so much was entirely unavoidable.
Thus they can blame the whole thing on May, rather than political inevitability, and hold on to the idea that she was the one who robbed them of their Brexit dream.
It also doesn't help that May fed the Brexiteers so much fresh red unicorn meat at the start. The impossible promises of Lancaster House ring roundly in the heart of every scorned Brexiteer.
Tusks actions look part of a wider strategy to intimidate other countries who might think about leaving rather than Brexit. He's certainly not helping the Remain clause.
If you want damnation I suggest Lancashire, Lincolnshire, or Middlesbrough.
200 years ago, one might have expected deference from the poor, but they don't give it in this day and age.
But, if you want a reason it's this. A country where rich people have some of their income redistributed to the poor is likely to be freer and safer for the rich to live in than a country where they don't.
If we did Remain and we eventually had direct elections to European leadership positions, it would be a pleasure to be able to vote for Tusk.
Your attitude is that of a person who decides that, since all his thinking and awareness is concentrated in his head, he can amputate his body and survive perfectly well without one.
It is routine to hear Leavers decry London and its values. They don't hate it enough to give it back its money. But the mutual loathing is obvious, all-pervasive and growing.
She can't revoke - political suicide.
A50 extensions serve little purpose other than as a staging post to R2 or revoke - political suicide.
Ref2 - political suicide.
No Deal - political suicide.
It leaves her with a GE as the only 'out' following the next rejection of her deal.
A referendum on eternal damnation for Boris Johnson.
The poor Brexit snowflakes can’t handle the truth .
Edit: incidentally this neatly illustrates why the UK is one demos, and the EU, isn't.
As for "London's money" it's a portion of the income of a number of very wealthy people who are very lucky to live in this country.
Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh/Cardiff/Belfast and Glasgow are major business and commercial centres.
Further, many parts of Cheshire, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria are very prosperous.
Isn't that quite obvious?
So, London benefits hugely from being joined to the rest of the country.
https://youtu.be/9SqRNUUOk7s
Also, because 'Portugal' has 58 million people and 'Switzerland' has 8 million and, you know, democracy. You'd have thought that Brexit might have driven that home but no, like so much else about Brexit, all it's done is reinforce pre-existing prejudices rather than challenge them.
I did that for quite some time and was often possessed by a feeling of absurdity at the amount of money routinely 'earned' by people (including myself) for doing stuff that was (i) not particularly difficult and (ii) not particularly useful. I would describe it as not so much a career as grand larceny.
As to the implicit state guarantee of the sector, yes, that is effectively an enormous government subsidy. If it was priced and charged for at commercial 3rd party (credit swap) rates the IB bottom line, ceteris paribus, would not be a pretty sight.