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.
And of course, similarly, we gain hugely from being part of the Single Market.
He is having a go at both sides there which rather does suggest he´s having a Liam Neeson moment.
Tusk does look a bit like Liam Neeson as well. So if they need to replace Neeson in any films he has already shot perhaps they could use Donald as a body double?
Of course one of Neeson's most famous roles was playing Michael Collins - who won Ireland its freedom but in doing so made compromises which led to civil war and his ultimate death.
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.
Mind you, out of ugliness can come beauty (& I don't mean the 2049 iteration).
'Trailer for Blade Runner 2049 takes us back to a world inspired by Teesside'
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.
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.
I think Alistair's comment about mutual disdain and incomprehension was actually a reference to his attitude to democracy.
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.
So Tusk has just made No Deal a Racing Certainty. I can't help feeling that wasn't what he intended. Both sides have gone nuts.
Such a good job that the EU doesn't have the Bomb. The concept of Mutually Assured Destruction seems to be utterly alien to Donald "First Strike" Tusk.....
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.
Anecdote: Am listening to some posh twit on the tube mansplain that No Deal is the “only ethical” outcome because “tariffs are immoral”, that we must become like Singapore, and that “businesses will fail but others will replace them in time”.
Just posting it here for amusement. I wonder if this is the mean Brexiter view?
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.
That should be true, but it isn't really reflected in the graduate applications my firm receives.
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.
He does get it and that's why leavers go into paroxysm of rage when he says it.
He could phrase it more diplomatically certainly but his central point is essentially correct - we are largely in the current mess because the Brexiteers never had a credible plan that they could all agree upon. There is no form of Brexit that the leavers themselves agree on let alone one the other half of the country or the EU might accept.
The poor Brexit snowflakes can’t handle the truth .
You do realise he's just gleefully and stupidly poured petrol all over the Brexit fire, with no idea what this might provoke, even as he claims it is the clueless Brexiteers causing chaos?
He has a history of losing it, and hysteria, when it comes to Brexit: remember he once said Brexit would be the end of western political civilisation?
My guess it that Brexit offends him in some deep emotional way, like a kind of heresy (hence the talk of "hell" - a Freudian insight there). Also he looks like a man with a growing and fearful awareness that he might get some of the blame if No Deal happens. Even as he's just done his very best to make it happen.
A slightly troubled man has just made a very foolish remark. As someone says downthread, it is his Liam Neeson moment.
I think you credit Tusk with too much influence. We're heading for No Deal and have been for some time - it's what the ERG and Jezza are desperate for. Yes, I'm sure some of that crowd will blame No Deal on Tusk's being beastly, but they were always going to find something else to blame no matter what, so the consequences of his utterance are actually none existent.
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.
I was thinking more "Threads" directed by Eli Roth...
Threads would be considered too optimistic by the People's Vote Campaign.
It scared the living shit out of my little sister...
What's the Australian film in which a meteor strikes the North Atlantic and they have twelve(?) hours before the firestorm hits Stralia?
Threads is one of the most frightening films ever produced, It doesn't rely on the supernatural, or stylish serial killers, it's low budget, entirely believable horror.
Honestly if the PM can secure a legally binding time limit on the backstop then the deal goes from crap to good. The ERG would join the camp of traitorous pigdogs if they voted it down to try and force no deal. I might actually start to prefer remain over no deal just so they don't get their way.
Agree, but the change has to be in the actual Treaty.
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...
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.
And of course, similarly, we gain hugely from being part of the Single Market.
Unless you call 1.3% of GDP a huge amount (and obviously that's likely to be on the high side as it's an EU study) - I've also seen estimates of 0.75% and 0.5%.
Because, obviously, the EU single market isn't remotely comparable to the UK in terms of economic integration.
The poor Brexit snowflakes can’t handle the truth .
You do realise he's just gleefully and stupidly poured petrol all over the Brexit fire, with no idea what this might provoke, even as he claims it is the clueless Brexiteers causing chaos?
He has a history of losing it, and hysteria, when it comes to Brexit: remember he once said Brexit would be the end of western political civilisation?
My guess it that Brexit offends him in some deep emotional way, like a kind of heresy (hence the talk of "hell" - a Freudian insight there). Also he looks like a man with a growing and fearful awareness that he might get some of the blame if No Deal happens. Even as he's just done his very best to make it happen.
A slightly troubled man has just made a very foolish remark. As someone says downthread, it is his Liam Neeson moment.
I think you credit Tusk with too much influence. We're heading for No Deal and have been for some time - it's what the ERG and Jezza are desperate for. Yes, I'm sure some of that crowd will blame No Deal on Tusk's being beastly, but they were always going to find something else to blame no matter what, so the consequences of his utterance are actually none existent.
And he hasn't said anything that has not been widely thought, and expressed here from time to time by posters representing a wide range of political viewpoints.
In fact I thought the incompetence and lack of leadership on the Leave side since the referendum was a generally accepted truth.
"She was a Remainer she took the view on becoming the PM that it was her duty to implement the result but at the same time to do so in a manner that would cause least damage to the economy."
She is certainly not prioritising the economy by taking us out of the single market and the customs union.
"She was a Remainer she took the view on becoming the PM that it was her duty to implement the result but at the same time to do so in a manner that would cause least damage to the economyConservative Party."
The poor Brexit snowflakes can’t handle the truth .
You do realise he's just gleefully and stupidly poured petrol all over the Brexit fire, with no idea what this might provoke, even as he claims it is the clueless Brexiteers causing chaos?
He has a history of losing it, and hysteria, when it comes to Brexit: remember he once said Brexit would be the end of western political civilisation?
My guess it that Brexit offends him in some deep emotional way, like a kind of heresy (hence the talk of "hell" - a Freudian insight there). Also he looks like a man with a growing and fearful awareness that he might get some of the blame if No Deal happens. Even as he's just done his very best to make it happen.
A slightly troubled man has just made a very foolish remark. As someone says downthread, it is his Liam Neeson moment.
I think you credit Tusk with too much influence. We're heading for No Deal and have been for some time - it's what the ERG and Jezza are desperate for. Yes, I'm sure some of that crowd will blame No Deal on Tusk's being beastly, but they were always going to find something else to blame no matter what, so the consequences of his utterance are actually none existent.
And he hasn't said anything that has not been widely thought, and expressed here from time to time by posters representing a wide range of political viewpoints.
In fact I thought the incompetence and lack of leadership on the Leave side since the referendum was a generally accepted truth.
Is it not precisely because it is a generally accepted truth that his words are causing such fury?
Honestly, so much nonsense is being spoken. To the extent that anything is happening, it's happening between politicians. If they can't negotiate and make decisions effectively without being able to put to one side each other's view of the other, they're in the wrong job.
We are all in the gutter, but Leavers are looking at the gutter.
Alastair, just stop. Go home. Have a cup of tea. Your stream of tweets over the last two or three days have just been embarrassing and mortifying - for you. Last night you literally called yourself "one of society's dynamos". Today you are gleefully loathing millions of your fellow citizens, apparently because they are poorer than you.
This is just sad. You are clearly a decent chap, but maybe experiencing some turmoil? Stop it now. Take a break. Come back refreshed.
If I was spitting out comments like yours, I would hope a kindly PB-er would take me aside, and give me the same advice.
I literally didn't. I appreciate that you're a writer, but reading is something you might wish to take up.
The poor Brexit snowflakes can’t handle the truth .
You do realise he's just gleefully and stupidly poured petrol all over the Brexit fire, with no idea what this might provoke, even as he claims it is the clueless Brexiteers causing chaos?
He has a history of losing it, and hysteria, when it comes to Brexit: remember he once said Brexit would be the end of western political civilisation?
My guess it that Brexit offends him in some deep emotional way, like a kind of heresy (hence the talk of "hell" - a Freudian insight there). Also he looks like a man with a growing and fearful awareness that he might get some of the blame if No Deal happens. Even as he's just done his very best to make it happen.
A slightly troubled man has just made a very foolish remark. As someone says downthread, it is his Liam Neeson moment.
I think you credit Tusk with too much influence. We're heading for No Deal and have been for some time - it's what the ERG and Jezza are desperate for. Yes, I'm sure some of that crowd will blame No Deal on Tusk's being beastly, but they were always going to find something else to blame no matter what, so the consequences of his utterance are actually none existent.
The UK Parliament voted for a deal with one simple change. A change that will happen anyway in a no deal scenario. If there is no deal now then that is because Tusk and others have chosen it.
They wanted the backstop, they're not getting it. Oh well sucks to be them. They have a choice no backstop and no deal or no backstop but the rest of the deal. If it's no deal that's their choice.
The poor Brexit snowflakes can’t handle the truth .
You do realise he's just gleefully and stupidly poured petrol all over the Brexit fire, with no idea what this might provoke, even as he claims it is the clueless Brexiteers causing chaos?
He has a history of losing it, and hysteria, when it comes to Brexit: remember he once said Brexit would be the end of western political civilisation?
My guess it that Brexit offends him in some deep emotional way, like a kind of heresy (hence the talk of "hell" - a Freudian insight there). Also he looks like a man with a growing and fearful awareness that he might get some of the blame if No Deal happens. Even as he's just done his very best to make it happen.
A slightly troubled man has just made a very foolish remark. As someone says downthread, it is his Liam Neeson moment.
I think you credit Tusk with too much influence. We're heading for No Deal and have been for some time - it's what the ERG and Jezza are desperate for. Yes, I'm sure some of that crowd will blame No Deal on Tusk's being beastly, but they were always going to find something else to blame no matter what, so the consequences of his utterance are actually none existent.
Tusk is an experienced negotiator, and I'm sure he must have thought hard about the effects of his comment. I can see two reasons for him to make it.
Firstly, given that the negotiations have reached such an impasse, he might have decided that there is nothing to lose from dropping the odd verbal grenade and that just possibly the pieces might fall in a more favourable position. It's an act of desperation after all else has failed.
Secondly, his comment gives the impression that the EU have given up on any sort of deal, thus winding up the pressure on the UK HOC to compromise. The EU is walking towards the door, and the UK has one last chance to shout, "Wait!"
Tusk's #DanteGate comment doesn't look like a mis-speak. It looks premeditated, because he (or someone on his team) immediately repeated it in a tweet - and that was the only bit of his press summary which was tweeted at the time.
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.
Lincolnshire is the most under estimated and unvisited county in England. Much of it is pure heaven. Looks like most people plan to stay away and keep it that way. I visit as often as I can.
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.
Lincolnshire is the most under estimated and unvisited county in England. Much of it is pure heaven. Looks like most people plan to stay away and keep it that way. I visit as often as I can.
It does have Richard Tyndall there so make of that what you will. That said you are right, much of it is beautiful.
Tusk's #DanteGate comment doesn't look like a mis-speak. It looks premeditated, because he (or someone on his team) immediately repeated it in a tweet - and that was the only bit of his press summary which was tweeted at the time.
So he was trying to achieve something with this.
Isn't it obvious? It's an attempt at a wake-up call and to force matters to a head. He would be well-aware that the Leavers would go into meltdown. Those that are potentially open to doing a deal are being spurred on to consider their terms. Those that are not will be flushed out definitively. And erstwhile Remainers who see some form of controlled management of Brexit or who want a second referendum are being pushed to stand up now.
We are all in the gutter, but Leavers are looking at the gutter.
Alastair, just stop. Go home. Have a cup of tea. Your stream of tweets over the last two or three days have just been embarrassing and mortifying - for you. Last night you literally called yourself "one of society's dynamos". Today you are gleefully loathing millions of your fellow citizens, apparently because they are poorer than you.
This is just sad. You are clearly a decent chap, but maybe experiencing some turmoil? Stop it now. Take a break. Come back refreshed.
If I was spitting out comments like yours, I would hope a kindly PB-er would take me aside, and give me the same advice.
I literally didn't. I appreciate that you're a writer, but reading is something you might wish to take up.
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.
Lincolnshire is the most under estimated and unvisited county in England. Much of it is pure heaven. Looks like most people plan to stay away and keep it that way. I visit as often as I can.
It does have Richard Tyndall there so make of that what you will. That said you are right, much of it is beautiful.
But a county without a motorway. And most of the A-roads are death traps. Fast cars and slow moving agricultural machinery driven by the village idiot do not make happy bedfellows. I have twice been almost an ex-poster here thanks to crazy tractor manoeuvres.
Tusk's #DanteGate comment doesn't look like a mis-speak. It looks premeditated, because he (or someone on his team) immediately repeated it in a tweet - and that was the only bit of his press summary which was tweeted at the time.
So he was trying to achieve something with this.
Isn't it obvious? It's an attempt at a wake-up call and to force matters to a head. He would be well-aware that the Leavers would go into meltdown. Those that are potentially open to doing a deal are being spurred on to consider their terms. Those that are not will be flushed out definitively. And erstwhile Remainers who see some form of controlled management of Brexit or who want a second referendum are being pushed to stand up now.
We are all in the gutter, but Leavers are looking at the gutter.
Alastair, just stop. Go home. Have a cup of tea. Your stream of tweets over the last two or three days have just been embarrassing and mortifying - for you. Last night you literally called yourself "one of society's dynamos". Today you are gleefully loathing millions of your fellow citizens, apparently because they are poorer than you.
This is just sad. You are clearly a decent chap, but maybe experiencing some turmoil? Stop it now. Take a break. Come back refreshed.
If I was spitting out comments like yours, I would hope a kindly PB-er would take me aside, and give me the same advice.
I literally didn't. I appreciate that you're a writer, but reading is something you might wish to take up.
Ah well, I tried to help.
I'd worry about your own postings, insight (and/or lack thereof) and understanding before opining on others'.
We are all in the gutter, but Leavers are looking at the gutter.
Alastair, just stop. Go home. Have a cup of tea. Your stream of tweets over the last two or three days have just been embarrassing and mortifying - for you. Last night you literally called yourself "one of society's dynamos". Today you are gleefully loathing millions of your fellow citizens, apparently because they are poorer than you.
This is just sad. You are clearly a decent chap, but maybe experiencing some turmoil? Stop it now. Take a break. Come back refreshed.
If I was spitting out comments like yours, I would hope a kindly PB-er would take me aside, and give me the same advice.
"If I was spitting out comments like yours..."
Do you genuinely erase from your memory all those time you have been, shall we say, less than temperate?
Never mind 'offer you advice', kindly PB-ers know to steer well clear. Alastair is a paragon of moderation in comparison.
Tusk's #DanteGate comment doesn't look like a mis-speak. It looks premeditated, because he (or someone on his team) immediately repeated it in a tweet - and that was the only bit of his press summary which was tweeted at the time.
So he was trying to achieve something with this.
Isn't it obvious? It's an attempt at a wake-up call and to force matters to a head. He would be well-aware that the Leavers would go into meltdown. Those that are potentially open to doing a deal are being spurred on to consider their terms. Those that are not will be flushed out definitively. And erstwhile Remainers who see some form of controlled management of Brexit or who want a second referendum are being pushed to stand up now.
Parliament has decided terms it can ratify a deal on already.
Tusk's #DanteGate comment doesn't look like a mis-speak. It looks premeditated, because he (or someone on his team) immediately repeated it in a tweet - and that was the only bit of his press summary which was tweeted at the time.
So he was trying to achieve something with this.
Yes, I speculated about that on Twitter. Did he plan it, if so, why? Does he actively want No Deal? - that would seem to be the obvious result of his stoking the fires so recklessly.
I think Alastair's explanation is probably right. It could be combined with some kind of concession on the backstop tomorrow, but we shall see.
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.
Lincolnshire is the most under estimated and unvisited county in England. Much of it is pure heaven. Looks like most people plan to stay away and keep it that way. I visit as often as I can.
I had no idea they grew so much cabbage in heaven.
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.
Well, the same might also be said the other way. Why should Portugal care about Switzerland is just as valid a question. Indeed, it was a question I posed a while back.
We are all in the gutter, but Leavers are looking at the gutter.
Alastair, just stop. Go home. Have a cup of tea. Your stream of tweets over the last two or three days have just been embarrassing and mortifying - for you. Last night you literally called yourself "one of society's dynamos". Today you are gleefully loathing millions of your fellow citizens, apparently because they are poorer than you.
This is just sad. You are clearly a decent chap, but maybe experiencing some turmoil? Stop it now. Take a break. Come back refreshed.
If I was spitting out comments like yours, I would hope a kindly PB-er would take me aside, and give me the same advice.
"If I was spitting out comments like yours..."
Do you genuinely erase from your memory all those time you have been, shall we say, less than temperate?
Never mind 'offer you advice', kindly PB-ers know to steer well clear. Alastair is a paragon of moderation in comparison.
More to the point, in a Tusk like piece of undiplomacy, you have alienated every PB pedant.
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.
I don't delude myself. I would be OK with leave with a plan and a WA. That is not what we are going to get.
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.
Lincolnshire is the most under estimated and unvisited county in England. Much of it is pure heaven. Looks like most people plan to stay away and keep it that way. I visit as often as I can.
It does have Richard Tyndall there so make of that what you will. That said you are right, much of it is beautiful.
But a county without a motorway. And most of the A-roads are death traps. Fast cars and slow moving agricultural machinery driven by the village idiot do not make happy bedfellows. I have twice been almost an ex-poster here thanks to crazy tractor manoeuvres.
It's an agriculturally rich county what can you do?
Tusk's #DanteGate comment doesn't look like a mis-speak. It looks premeditated, because he (or someone on his team) immediately repeated it in a tweet - and that was the only bit of his press summary which was tweeted at the time.
So he was trying to achieve something with this.
Yes, I speculated about that on Twitter. Did he plan it, if so, why? Does he actively want No Deal? - that would seem to be the obvious result of his stoking the fires so recklessly.
I think Alastair's explanation is probably right. It could be combined with some kind of concession on the backstop tomorrow, but we shall see.
Let's hope he is an arsehole with a plan, because at the moment...
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.
Rubbish back at you, Richard. A minority of leavers had a realistic plan. They have never been in the driving seat.
Yes because when Farage says something Ian Dunt would never reply with an angry tweet. Farage was fairly measured by his standards. Fantastic satire from Dunty.
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.
Lincolnshire is the most under estimated and unvisited county in England. Much of it is pure heaven. Looks like most people plan to stay away and keep it that way. I visit as often as I can.
It does have Richard Tyndall there so make of that what you will. That said you are right, much of it is beautiful.
But a county without a motorway. And most of the A-roads are death traps. Fast cars and slow moving agricultural machinery driven by the village idiot do not make happy bedfellows. I have twice been almost an ex-poster here thanks to crazy tractor manoeuvres.
It's an agriculturally rich county what can you do?
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.
Indeed so. Much of investment banking is not and never was profitable. The tax revenues were froth and not sustainable. And this is something that is routinely ignored by many of those who think that London earns its money, independent of the rest of the country and is simply a source of funds rather than also a drain on the country's resources.
There is also the opportunity cost of having so much talent sucked into the City as opposed to other industries/sectors.
I am not often accused of being too kind about investment banking. I spent decades investigating and pursuing its crooks. If anything, I am far too cynical.
Tusk does look a bit like Liam Neeson as well. So if they need to replace Neeson in any films he has already shot perhaps they could use Donald as a body double?
Of course one of Neeson's most famous roles was playing Michael Collins - who won Ireland its freedom but in doing so made compromises which led to civil war and his ultimate death.
Caught a bit of Liam's interview yesterday in which he made it clear that revenge not race was the driver for his desire, back then, to kill a random black man.
If his friend's attacker had been Lithuanian, he stressed, he would have been motivated to seek out and terminate a Lithuanian man.
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.
Rubbish back at you, Richard. A minority of leavers had a realistic plan. They have never been in the driving seat.
Richard, you will have to tell us what this 'realistic plan' was. I can't say I ever saw one, and I was looking.
No Deal is realistic, at least in the sense it can be put into practice, so I guess it is a plan of sorts, but I guess that wasn't what you had in mind?
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.
Lincolnshire is the most under estimated and unvisited county in England. Much of it is pure heaven. Looks like most people plan to stay away and keep it that way. I visit as often as I can.
It does have Richard Tyndall there so make of that what you will. That said you are right, much of it is beautiful.
But a county without a motorway. And most of the A-roads are death traps. Fast cars and slow moving agricultural machinery driven by the village idiot do not make happy bedfellows. I have twice been almost an ex-poster here thanks to crazy tractor manoeuvres.
It's an agriculturally rich county what can you do?
Drive more slowly?
In the spirit of Leaver/Remainer cordiality I didn't dare suggest that.
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.
Lincolnshire is the most under estimated and unvisited county in England. Much of it is pure heaven. Looks like most people plan to stay away and keep it that way. I visit as often as I can.
It does have Richard Tyndall there so make of that what you will. That said you are right, much of it is beautiful.
But a county without a motorway. And most of the A-roads are death traps. Fast cars and slow moving agricultural machinery driven by the village idiot do not make happy bedfellows. I have twice been almost an ex-poster here thanks to crazy tractor manoeuvres.
It's an agriculturally rich county what can you do?
And it's way off the A Roads you need to be in Lincolnshire, and without any sense of rush. It is huge with amazing variety, history, buildings and space. Lots of sky. Takes your mind off Brexit.
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.
Lincolnshire is the most under estimated and unvisited county in England. Much of it is pure heaven. Looks like most people plan to stay away and keep it that way. I visit as often as I can.
It does have Richard Tyndall there so make of that what you will. That said you are right, much of it is beautiful.
But a county without a motorway. And most of the A-roads are death traps. Fast cars and slow moving agricultural machinery driven by the village idiot do not make happy bedfellows. I have twice been almost an ex-poster here thanks to crazy tractor manoeuvres.
It's an agriculturally rich county what can you do?
And it's way off the A Roads you need to be in Lincolnshire, and without any sense of rush. It is huge with amazing variety, history, buildings and space. Lots of sky. Takes your mind off Brexit.
Tusk does look a bit like Liam Neeson as well. So if they need to replace Neeson in any films he has already shot perhaps they could use Donald as a body double?
Of course one of Neeson's most famous roles was playing Michael Collins - who won Ireland its freedom but in doing so made compromises which led to civil war and his ultimate death.
Caught a bit of Liam's interview yesterday in which he made it clear that revenge not race was the driver for his desire, back then, to kill a random black man.
If his friend's attacker had been Lithuanian, he stressed, he would have been motivated to seek out and terminate a Lithuanian man.
Fair enough.
If his friend's attacker had been an Irishman, presumably he would have been motivated to seek out and terminate an Irishman?
Tusk does look a bit like Liam Neeson as well. So if they need to replace Neeson in any films he has already shot perhaps they could use Donald as a body double?
Of course one of Neeson's most famous roles was playing Michael Collins - who won Ireland its freedom but in doing so made compromises which led to civil war and his ultimate death.
Caught a bit of Liam's interview yesterday in which he made it clear that revenge not race was the driver for his desire, back then, to kill a random black man.
If his friend's attacker had been Lithuanian, he stressed, he would have been motivated to seek out and terminate a Lithuanian man.
Fair enough.
If his friend's attacker had been an Irishman, presumably he would have been motivated to seek out and terminate an Irishman?
He have thrown himself off the top of the local NCP multistory, obviously.
Tusk does look a bit like Liam Neeson as well. So if they need to replace Neeson in any films he has already shot perhaps they could use Donald as a body double?
Of course one of Neeson's most famous roles was playing Michael Collins - who won Ireland its freedom but in doing so made compromises which led to civil war and his ultimate death.
Caught a bit of Liam's interview yesterday in which he made it clear that revenge not race was the driver for his desire, back then, to kill a random black man.
If his friend's attacker had been Lithuanian, he stressed, he would have been motivated to seek out and terminate a Lithuanian man.
Fair enough.
If his friend's attacker had been an Irishman, presumably he would have been motivated to seek out and terminate an Irishman?
Having finished a) an energetic gym session, b) an enjoyable, if short walk (since that's all I can manage at the moment and c) an excellent homemade soup and sandwich lunch I put on the TV for the ITV News and heard Donald Tusks's remarks, which, IMHO are entirely justified. The poor man, and his colleagues, are clearly totally fed up with British shilly-shallying.
The only coherent 'plan' is coherent is the right word, I have heard from Leavers is that of cutting all ties at one feel swoop and letting nature take its course thereafter.
Which is generally, or at least 86%, agreed will lead to short-term at least disaster and long term misery.
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.
Lincolnshire is the most under estimated and unvisited county in England. Much of it is pure heaven. Looks like most people plan to stay away and keep it that way. I visit as often as I can.
It does have Richard Tyndall there so make of that what you will. That said you are right, much of it is beautiful.
But a county without a motorway. And most of the A-roads are death traps. Fast cars and slow moving agricultural machinery driven by the village idiot do not make happy bedfellows. I have twice been almost an ex-poster here thanks to crazy tractor manoeuvres.
It's an agriculturally rich county what can you do?
Having finished a) an energetic gym session, b) an enjoyable, if short walk (since that's all I can manage at the moment and c) an excellent homemade soup and sandwich lunch I put on the TV for the ITV News and heard Donald Tusks's remarks, which, IMHO are entirely justified. The poor man, and his colleagues, are clearly totally fed up with British shilly-shallying.
The only coherent 'plan' is coherent is the right word, I have heard from Leavers is that of cutting all ties at one feel swoop and letting nature take its course thereafter.
Which is generally, or at least 86%, agreed will lead to short-term at least disaster and long term misery.
Are they? I don't recall people saying that there are places in hell for their political opponents in normal discourse.
Tusk does look a bit like Liam Neeson as well. So if they need to replace Neeson in any films he has already shot perhaps they could use Donald as a body double?
Of course one of Neeson's most famous roles was playing Michael Collins - who won Ireland its freedom but in doing so made compromises which led to civil war and his ultimate death.
Caught a bit of Liam's interview yesterday in which he made it clear that revenge not race was the driver for his desire, back then, to kill a random black man.
If his friend's attacker had been Lithuanian, he stressed, he would have been motivated to seek out and terminate a Lithuanian man.
Fair enough.
If his friend's attacker had been an Irishman, presumably he would have been motivated to seek out and terminate an Irishman?
He have thrown himself off the top of the local NCP multistory, obviously.
Having finished a) an energetic gym session, b) an enjoyable, if short walk (since that's all I can manage at the moment and c) an excellent homemade soup and sandwich lunch I put on the TV for the ITV News and heard Donald Tusks's remarks, which, IMHO are entirely justified. The poor man, and his colleagues, are clearly totally fed up with British shilly-shallying.
The only coherent 'plan' is coherent is the right word, I have heard from Leavers is that of cutting all ties at one feel swoop and letting nature take its course thereafter.
Which is generally, or at least 86%, agreed will lead to short-term at least disaster and long term misery.
Ah, but we'll be free from the tentacles of the undemocratic, unaccountable, federalist EUSSR!! So worth it. Also, Selmayrs basically Hitler without the moustache or charisma.
Having finished a) an energetic gym session, b) an enjoyable, if short walk (since that's all I can manage at the moment and c) an excellent homemade soup and sandwich lunch I put on the TV for the ITV News and heard Donald Tusks's remarks, which, IMHO are entirely justified. The poor man, and his colleagues, are clearly totally fed up with British shilly-shallying.
The only coherent 'plan' is coherent is the right word, I have heard from Leavers is that of cutting all ties at one feel swoop and letting nature take its course thereafter.
Which is generally, or at least 86%, agreed will lead to short-term at least disaster and long term misery.
Are they? I don't recall people saying that there are places in hell for their political opponents in normal discourse.
Political opponents in normal discourse are rarely as purely evil as brexit.
Having finished a) an energetic gym session, b) an enjoyable, if short walk (since that's all I can manage at the moment and c) an excellent homemade soup and sandwich lunch I put on the TV for the ITV News and heard Donald Tusks's remarks, which, IMHO are entirely justified. The poor man, and his colleagues, are clearly totally fed up with British shilly-shallying.
The only coherent 'plan' is coherent is the right word, I have heard from Leavers is that of cutting all ties at one feel swoop and letting nature take its course thereafter.
Which is generally, or at least 86%, agreed will lead to short-term at least disaster and long term misery.
Are they? I don't recall people saying that there are places in hell for their political opponents in normal discourse.
The DUP are, I agree not normal discourse. I got the distinct impression, though, that Tusk has had more than enough of people agreeing something after long and detailed negotiations and then coming back and saying they've changed their minds.
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.
Having finished a) an energetic gym session, b) an enjoyable, if short walk (since that's all I can manage at the moment and c) an excellent homemade soup and sandwich lunch I put on the TV for the ITV News and heard Donald Tusks's remarks, which, IMHO are entirely justified. The poor man, and his colleagues, are clearly totally fed up with British shilly-shallying.
The only coherent 'plan' is coherent is the right word, I have heard from Leavers is that of cutting all ties at one feel swoop and letting nature take its course thereafter.
Which is generally, or at least 86%, agreed will lead to short-term at least disaster and long term misery.
Are they? I don't recall people saying that there are places in hell for their political opponents in normal discourse.
The DUP are, I agree not not,mal discourse. I got the distinct impression, though, that Tusk has had more than enough of people agreeing something after long and detailed negotiations and then coming back and saying they've changed their minds.
Having finished a) an energetic gym session, b) an enjoyable, if short walk (since that's all I can manage at the moment and c) an excellent homemade soup and sandwich lunch I put on the TV for the ITV News and heard Donald Tusks's remarks, which, IMHO are entirely justified. The poor man, and his colleagues, are clearly totally fed up with British shilly-shallying.
The only coherent 'plan' is coherent is the right word, I have heard from Leavers is that of cutting all ties at one feel swoop and letting nature take its course thereafter.
Which is generally, or at least 86%, agreed will lead to short-term at least disaster and long term misery.
Are they? I don't recall people saying that there are places in hell for their political opponents in normal discourse.
The DUP are, I agree not not,mal discourse. I got the distinct impression, though, that Tusk has had more than enough of people agreeing something after long and detailed negotiations and then coming back and saying they've changed their minds.
I just think it's unnecessarily personal. I don't think the government has changed its mind, it was instructed by parliament that the deal was unacceptable. There is still time for them to change their mind though.
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.
Indeed so. Much of investment banking is not and never was profitable. The tax revenues were froth and not sustainable. And this is something that is routinely ignored by many of those who think that London earns its money, independent of the rest of the country and is simply a source of funds rather than also a drain on the country's resources. There is also the opportunity cost of having so much talent sucked into the City as opposed to other industries/sectors.
I am not often accused of being too kind about investment banking. I spent decades investigating and pursuing its crooks. If anything, I am far too cynical.
"Tax on business" said Buffett about IB. Which it is.
Have bolded the sentence above because it is IMO one of the very biggest negatives of having a bloated financial sector.
A lot of IB is a con. It pretends to be risk-taking and operating in an ultra free market. In fact the risks are to others and there is more cartel than competition. The sector is actually cossetted and inefficient and MASSIVELY over-remunerated, although if you work there it is important, to preserve self-esteem, to kid yourself otherwise.
"I made £20m for the bank last year so I deserve a £1m bonus. That's still £19m for the bank, right?"
Mmm, except that -
- Anybody bright and robust could have done it with the right training. - You have used the bank's balance sheet. - And been supported by all of the bank's middle and back office, staff and IT. - You already have a big salary. - If you had lost money there would be no negative bonus.
Joke, it really is. I benefited but it bugged me then and it still bugs me now.
Tusk wasn't, I think 'getting at' May. He was, though getting at those like the ERG and DUP for whom nothing is acceptable, and who are unable to accept that in negotiations such as these 'half a loaf' is the best you are going to get.
Tusk wasn't, I think 'getting at' May. He was, though getting at those like the ERG and DUP for whom nothing is acceptable, and who are unable to accept that in negotiations such as these 'half a loaf' is the best you are going to get.
Tusk wasn't, I think 'getting at' May. He was, though getting at those like the ERG and DUP for whom nothing is acceptable, and who are unable to accept that in negotiations such as these 'half a loaf' is the best you are going to get.
The ERG and DUP voted to back the deal with one small change. A change that happens anyway if there's no deal.
Comments
Insane.
But obvious.
Of course one of Neeson's most famous roles was playing Michael Collins - who won Ireland its freedom but in doing so made compromises which led to civil war and his ultimate death.
'Trailer for Blade Runner 2049 takes us back to a world inspired by Teesside'
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/trailer-blade-runner-2049-takes-13007760
What's the Australian film in which a meteor strikes the North Atlantic and they have twelve(?) hours before the firestorm hits Stralia?
Just posting it here for amusement. I wonder if this is the mean Brexiter view?
He could phrase it more diplomatically certainly but his central point is essentially correct - we are largely in the current mess because the Brexiteers never had a credible plan that they could all agree upon. There is no form of Brexit that the leavers themselves agree on let alone one the other half of the country or the EU might accept.
http://www.amchameu.eu/sites/default/files/amcham_eu_single_market_web.pdf
(see Table 7)
Unless you call 1.3% of GDP a huge amount (and obviously that's likely to be on the high side as it's an EU study) - I've also seen estimates of 0.75% and 0.5%.
Because, obviously, the EU single market isn't remotely comparable to the UK in terms of economic integration.
In fact I thought the incompetence and lack of leadership on the Leave side since the referendum was a generally accepted truth.
economyConservative Party.":face-pray:
1) Remainers
2) Not Brexity enough Brexiters
3) Keir Starmer
4) Homework-eating dog
5) All PB Remainers
6) Norway/Switzerland
7) The Peoples' Vote campaign
8) Donald Tusk
Honestly, so much nonsense is being spoken. To the extent that anything is happening, it's happening between politicians. If they can't negotiate and make decisions effectively without being able to put to one side each other's view of the other, they're in the wrong job.
They wanted the backstop, they're not getting it. Oh well sucks to be them. They have a choice no backstop and no deal or no backstop but the rest of the deal. If it's no deal that's their choice.
Firstly, given that the negotiations have reached such an impasse, he might have decided that there is nothing to lose from dropping the odd verbal grenade and that just possibly the pieces might fall in a more favourable position. It's an act of desperation after all else has failed.
Secondly, his comment gives the impression that the EU have given up on any sort of deal, thus winding up the pressure on the UK HOC to compromise. The EU is walking towards the door, and the UK has one last chance to shout, "Wait!"
So he was trying to achieve something with this.
Hello - I am sending you a vm.
Thanks.
Lincolnshire is the most under estimated and unvisited county in England. Much of it is pure heaven. Looks like most people plan to stay away and keep it that way. I visit as often as I can.
"I am considerably less sinful than yow."
It is unlikely to increase the numbers of MPs prepared to swallow hard and support May's Shit Deal.
Do you genuinely erase from your memory all those time you have been, shall we say, less than temperate?
Never mind 'offer you advice', kindly PB-ers know to steer well clear. Alastair is a paragon of moderation in comparison.
Insofar as it was ever a real thing, that doesn't bode well for Jezza's 'elect us and we'll negotiate a better deal' bollox.
See http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2017/01/20/cyclefree-asks-are-banks-the-new-unions/
and, in particular, the penultimate two paragraphs.
'If I were...'
A minority of leavers had a realistic plan. They have never been in the driving seat.
Fantastic satire from Dunty.
There is also the opportunity cost of having so much talent sucked into the City as opposed to other industries/sectors.
I am not often accused of being too kind about investment banking. I spent decades investigating and pursuing its crooks. If anything, I am far too cynical.
If his friend's attacker had been Lithuanian, he stressed, he would have been motivated to seek out and terminate a Lithuanian man.
Fair enough.
No Deal is realistic, at least in the sense it can be put into practice, so I guess it is a plan of sorts, but I guess that wasn't what you had in mind?
Edit: I remember this - https://gov.uk/government/news/country-roads-deadlier-than-you-think
It offers No Deal Brexiteers encouragement - and assistance in shifting the blame for its consequences onto the unreasonable EU.
And it's way off the A Roads you need to be in Lincolnshire, and without any sense of rush. It is huge with amazing variety, history, buildings and space. Lots of sky. Takes your mind off Brexit.
Not the first time an EU disagreement has been down to talking at cross purposes
The only coherent 'plan' is coherent is the right word, I have heard from Leavers is that of cutting all ties at one feel swoop and letting nature take its course thereafter.
Which is generally, or at least 86%, agreed will lead to short-term at least disaster and long term misery.
Have bolded the sentence above because it is IMO one of the very biggest negatives of having a bloated financial sector.
A lot of IB is a con. It pretends to be risk-taking and operating in an ultra free market. In fact the risks are to others and there is more cartel than competition. The sector is actually cossetted and inefficient and MASSIVELY over-remunerated, although if you work there it is important, to preserve self-esteem, to kid yourself otherwise.
"I made £20m for the bank last year so I deserve a £1m bonus. That's still £19m for the bank, right?"
Mmm, except that -
- Anybody bright and robust could have done it with the right training.
- You have used the bank's balance sheet.
- And been supported by all of the bank's middle and back office, staff and IT.
- You already have a big salary.
- If you had lost money there would be no negative bonus.
Joke, it really is. I benefited but it bugged me then and it still bugs me now.
May, on the other hand, might have. But that's not the same thing.
It's clear who the hardliners are.