He certainly does have a get out clause from a GE whose timing would lead to No Deal (e.g. Nov 1st)
I think Labour would simply amend the proposal to include a suspension of Brexit for 3 months while the election was held and the public had the chance to consider the options. Hardline Tories can say "ha, ha, and you were calling for an elevtion, now you're frit", but I don't think that line would hold.
How long would a process like the Justin Welby Citizens Panel take?
I’ve been in Greece a few weeks now. Reading history as I go.
What I now realise - and which I didn’t before - is that Brexit is far far beyond a reset of our trading arrangements, it is a genuine revolution. Hopefully, it will be a very British revolution - largely bloodless - but it is a revolution, nonetheless. The ancien regime - the Europhile elite, the rich metropolitan Remainers - will be sidelined. Or even swept away. Hence their cries of pain, as they subconsciously sense this.
All revolutions are painful. This will be no different. But if Brexit works - in the long term - it will threaten the order everywhere. This is why elites in other countries hate it, too.
Will the rich metropolitan leavers be left standing?
If they have any sense they will flee to Greece, and a hideaway in the sun. I can recommend the mountains of Zagoria. Utterly stunning.
I wonder what Mr O'Hara would have written about Howe's 1981 budget? Surely there was a party throwing itself off the cliff in the mad pursuit of monetarism, against the advice of the famous 364 economists, with an MP crossing the floor and others walking out, dooming itself to never winning an election again or at best squeaking through one election on the back of divided opposition before its inevitable and final annihilation?
What happened instead was the underlying inflation that had so dogged our economic performance for more than a decade was finally brought under control and unemployment fell sharply rather than the increase forecast. The ground was set for strong future economic growth and a new consensus was created that remained in place until the latter days of Brown's hubris.
So let it be with Brexit. If we leave (and it is still not certain) there will be a new consensus and all to play for.
Thatcher made a massive u-turn over her original monetarist plan though. And I'm not sure where your idea of a sharp fall in employment comes from, it steadily rose until the mid 80s...
Unemployment fell sharply after the 1981 budget until a second recession in the late 80’s. I checked my memory of this this morning before posting but can’t access the table on my phone.
I think you're mistaken on that, it rose until the mid 80s, then declined in the late 80s whilst still being higher than when she took office. The highest point on record is in 1984 I believe.
Are these year on year figures comparable? In this period the definition of "unemployed" for the purposes of the headline figure changed several times.
I wonder what Mr O'Hara would have written about Howe's 1981 budget? Surely there was a party throwing itself off the cliff in the mad pursuit of monetarism, against the advice of the famous 364 economists, with an MP crossing the floor and others walking out, dooming itself to never winning an election again or at best squeaking through one election on the back of divided opposition before its inevitable and final annihilation?
What happened instead was the underlying inflation that had so dogged our economic performance for more than a decade was finally brought under control and unemployment fell sharply rather than the increase forecast. The ground was set for strong future economic growth and a new consensus was created that remained in place until the latter days of Brown's hubris.
So let it be with Brexit. If we leave (and it is still not certain) there will be a new consensus and all to play for.
Thatcher made a massive u-turn over her original monetarist plan though. And I'm not sure where your idea of a sharp fall in employment comes from, it steadily rose until the mid 80s...
Unemployment fell sharply after the 1981 budget until a second recession in the late 80’s. I checked my memory of this this morning before posting but can’t access the table on my phone.
A sharp fall in unemployment from the highest levels since the great depression and still substantially above the level inherited by Thatcher is what I'm sure you meant (and lets not even get into the finagling of the definition of unemployment).
Tories always fiddle the numbers in any case
And that i a nutshell is your mentality - "our opppnents are liars, scoundrels and morons."
Doesnt win many votes amongst the undecided.
It’s a long time since I saw a SCon, SLab or SLD politician trying to win over an undecided. Brit Nats haven’t got anything positive to offer.
The great news is that whatever crap No Deal Brexit throws at millions of UK citizens at home and abroad, Johnson, Rees Mogg, Raab, Williamson, Patel, Javid and co - and their families - will be absolutely fine. Their wealth, privilege and connections will see them through. Phew!
Just like Blair and Brown then.
Plus Cameron and Osborne.
You can add the failed bankers and the incompetent Sir Humphreys.
When was it last different ? Admiral Byng perhaps ?
Yep, the elite will be absolutely fine. They will carry on being the elite. That’s what makes claims that all this is a revolution ridiculous. It is merely a shifting of power from one immensely privileged, entitled bloc to another.
Seen from the distant yet fitting perspective of the Byzantine ghost city of Mystras, in the southern Peloponnese, just west of Sparta - where I lie on my sunbed, typing this - Britain looks like a stricken young woman in a Jane Austen novel.
She has been confined to bed for months with a progressively worsening illness. But now the crisis comes. The fever must break, in the next few days...
Who are the quack doctors recommending more bleeding and consumption of mercury in your metaphor?
Hah. I actually went to Missolonghi last week. To see where Lord B died.
It is a suitably bleak, flat, sunburned, melancholy place, hard by a swamp which still occasionally executes locals via malaria. Byron’s last view - of the seething sea, and the brooding islands - as beautiful and desolate as death itself - might have consoled him, I think.
The Remainers seem surprised and dismayed that the ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous Boris Johnson, has turned out to be a ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous prime minister.
Do we know how Theresa May will vote through all these rebel legislations? She can't feel she owes anything to Boris, and she clearly doesn't want no deal or else she would've gone for it when PM. The government has spent half its time shitting on her premiership. Or will party loyalty win out? Because it could be the ultimate challenge to Boris if she can be persuaded to back rebel legislation, they couldn't expel the previous PM from the party, it would look ridiculous.
Do we know how Theresa May will vote through all these rebel legislations? She can't feel she owes anything to Boris, and she clearly doesn't want no deal or else she would've gone for it when PM. The government has spent half its time shitting on her premiership. Or will party loyalty win out? Because it could be the ultimate challenge to Boris if she can be persuaded to back rebel legislation, they couldn't expel the previous PM from the party, it would look ridiculous.
There remains a significant cohort of Cons MPs who always have and always will vote for the government. I think TMay is within such a cohort.
The great news is that whatever crap No Deal Brexit throws at millions of UK citizens at home and abroad, Johnson, Rees Mogg, Raab, Williamson, Patel, Javid and co - and their families - will be absolutely fine. Their wealth, privilege and connections will see them through. Phew!
Just like Blair and Brown then.
Plus Cameron and Osborne.
You can add the failed bankers and the incompetent Sir Humphreys.
When was it last different ? Admiral Byng perhaps ?
Yep, the elite will be absolutely fine. They will carry on being the elite. That’s what makes claims that all this is a revolution ridiculous. It is merely a shifting of power from one immensely privileged, entitled bloc to another.
That's Orwell's description of revolutions, isn't it? The Middle co-opt the Low to displace the High, before dumping the Low back in their place.
Do we know how Theresa May will vote through all these rebel legislations? She can't feel she owes anything to Boris, and she clearly doesn't want no deal or else she would've gone for it when PM. The government has spent half its time shitting on her premiership. Or will party loyalty win out? Because it could be the ultimate challenge to Boris if she can be persuaded to back rebel legislation, they couldn't expel the previous PM from the party, it would look ridiculous.
I don't know for sure but I'd assume she'll vote with the leadership, she's opposed Great Patriotic Flounce Prevention legislation before.
Do we know how Theresa May will vote through all these rebel legislations? She can't feel she owes anything to Boris, and she clearly doesn't want no deal or else she would've gone for it when PM. The government has spent half its time shitting on her premiership. Or will party loyalty win out? Because it could be the ultimate challenge to Boris if she can be persuaded to back rebel legislation, they couldn't expel the previous PM from the party, it would look ridiculous.
I don't want to disappoint(?) Lord Byron but I doubt the ancien regime in Britain is going to collapse. What may happen is they have their wings clipped and we end up with something more democratic - hopefully not governments elected by one-fifth or less of the electorate.
Maybe I'm just being optimistic though. I honestly believed the British elite would be more open to change than it has thus far shown. At the moment the only urge for many seems to be to fight Brexit.
Not discounting a certain number of the privileged who would very much like Brexit to happen.
Do we know how Theresa May will vote through all these rebel legislations? She can't feel she owes anything to Boris, and she clearly doesn't want no deal or else she would've gone for it when PM. The government has spent half its time shitting on her premiership. Or will party loyalty win out? Because it could be the ultimate challenge to Boris if she can be persuaded to back rebel legislation, they couldn't expel the previous PM from the party, it would look ridiculous.
I expect TM to remain loyal to her party
To the government you mean. There are about five different parties within the Conservative Party.
The Remainers seem surprised and dismayed that the ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous Boris Johnson, has turned out to be a ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous prime minister.
Just because we believed him to be without principle doesn't mean we shouldn't point it out.
The Remainers seem surprised and dismayed that the ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous Boris Johnson, has turned out to be a ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous prime minister.
Maybe they're three steps ahead of us. Most treacherous electorate in the world, no?
They couldn't block Boris in the last leadership election because it only took 1/3 of their colleagues to get him through to the final round, and if he got that far then they knew the members would pick him.
So nod him through, wait for him to show himself as ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous, profess to be surprised, send in some letters, sack him in a secret ballot, and now he's banned from running again...
Yet ANOTHER shouty mouth "BoJo is a moron" article on PB...
So dull.
A genuine question. Can anyone point to the last article on this site that was written by a Leaver?
If leavers don't bother to write articles then it is not really the site's fault. Richard Tyndall confirmed a couple of threads back that his leave article were always published.
I don't want to disappoint(?) Lord Byron but I doubt the ancien regime in Britain is going to collapse. What may happen is they have their wings clipped and we end up with something more democratic - hopefully not governments elected by one-fifth or less of the electorate.
Maybe I'm just being optimistic though. I honestly believed the British elite would be more open to change than it has thus far shown. At the moment the only urge for many seems to be to fight Brexit.
Not discounting a certain number of the privileged who would very much like Brexit to happen.
Brexit is just continuity Thatcherism. It is a project of the elite, presented as a project against the elite.
If leavers don't bother to write articles then it is not really the site's fault. Richard Tyndall confirmed a couple of threads back that his leave article were always published.
I may be wrong but thought David Herdson voted leave???
Yet ANOTHER shouty mouth "BoJo is a moron" article on PB...
So dull.
A genuine question. Can anyone point to the last article on this site that was written by a Leaver?
If leavers don't bother to write articles then it is not really the site's fault.
I imagine Leavers, being sensible, hardworking people, only write for money. Hence this site’s bias to effete, pampered, boring Remainers, who will give you thirty eight hundred tediously slanted and utterly witless paragraphs, all for free.
Yet ANOTHER shouty mouth "BoJo is a moron" article on PB...
So dull.
A genuine question. Can anyone point to the last article on this site that was written by a Leaver?
If leavers don't bother to write articles then it is not really the site's fault.
I imagine Leavers, being sensible, hardworking people, only write for money. Hence this site’s bias to effete, pampered, boring Remainers, who will give you thirty eight hundred tediously slanted and utterly witless paragraphs, all for free.
And were there any doubt that Byronic is SeanT he has just removed it.
Yet ANOTHER shouty mouth "BoJo is a moron" article on PB...
So dull.
A genuine question. Can anyone point to the last article on this site that was written by a Leaver?
If leavers don't bother to write articles then it is not really the site's fault.
I imagine Leavers, being sensible, hardworking people, only write for money. Hence this site’s bias to effete, pampered, boring Remainers, who will give you thirty eight hundred tediously slanted and utterly witless paragraphs, all for free.
Yet have you like a puppy on a chain commenting and hence credentialising everything they write.
Any moves to install anyone as PM without a GE will result in uproar in the public
An administration of Labour + Lib Dem represents a larger share of the popular vote than a Conservative + DUP one.
If so it has to be tested in a GE
Technically they won a higher percentage of the popular vote at the last election compared to the DUP and Tory party. If they also have more votes in Parliament they deserve a chance of Government as that is the purpose of the FTPA.
Just because you don't like an argument when it's used against you doesn't invalidate the argument.
Maybe but it is not about me liking an argument, a GE is the only answer
A General election won't solve a thing - this issue was created by a referendum another referendum is the only thing that will lance this boil...
I don't this is right.
Tony Blair probably has a technical point, as repeated by you here, but for sound political pragmatic reasons I don't think another referendum is the way to resolve this.
Referenda are bad things. They often present complex issues in simplistic ways. But, worse, they don't cater for subsequent shifts in opinion. In the case of Brexit, a very complex process of divorce was presented in a crassly simplistic binary manner. That has now well and truly come home to roost.
Regular elections are much better because it allows for the provisionality of positions to be tested by the litmus of public opinion expressed through the ballot box.
In this case, whilst it's true that a General Election will not be confined to Brexit, it is nevertheless the case that nearly all the parties will have a very clearly defined Brexit policy. Therefore, how the people vote will lead to a result.
I wonder what Mr O'Hara would have written about Howe's 1981 budget? Surely there was a party throwing itself off the cliff in the mad pursuit of monetarism, against the advice of the famous 364 economists, with an MP crossing the floor and others walking out, dooming itself to never winning an election again or at best squeaking through one election on the back of divided opposition before its inevitable and final annihilation?
What happened instead was the underlying inflation that had so dogged our economic performance for more than a decade was finally brought under control and unemployment fell sharply rather than the increase forecast. The ground was set for strong future economic growth and a new consensus was created that remained in place until the latter days of Brown's hubris.
So let it be with Brexit. If we leave (and it is still not certain) there will be a new consensus and all to play for.
Thatcher made a massive u-turn over her original monetarist plan though. And I'm not sure where your idea of a sharp fall in employment comes from, it steadily rose until the mid 80s...
Unemployment fell sharply after the 1981 budget until a second recession in the late 80’s. I checked my memory of this this morning before posting but can’t access the table on my phone.
A sharp fall in unemployment from the highest levels since the great depression and still substantially above the level inherited by Thatcher is what I'm sure you meant (and lets not even get into the finagling of the definition of unemployment).
Tories always fiddle the numbers in any case
And that i a nutshell is your mentality - "our opppnents are liars, scoundrels and morons."
Doesnt win many votes amongst the undecided.
Except that it is true. I think you will find that the vast majority of voters think that Boris is simply a duplicitous shit. Some may even be prepared to vote for him on that basis, but the polling numbers are extremely clear.
And you were bitching about Blair getting a 66 seat majority on 35.2% of the vote were you?
Yeah, right. Plenty of hypocrites on that one.....
For the millionth time: I sure did. It was a disgrace.
You might just have me confused for a labour voter...
No, I had no problem with that 2005 result on the basis of a long standing FPTP system. And I respect the fact that, if you look at the manifestos and numbers, this parliament was never going to produce a majority for any one form of Brexit; I respect the impasse and the democratic reasons for it. And if Boris wins the next GE on 31% and has not been legally prevented from pursuing No Deal, I'll give that due respect as well as an impasse breaker, although the free speech right to whinge and protest that also stands, as does the right to regroup and pitch for a rapid EFTA solution post No Deal.
Voters know the system and can behave accordingly.
Blair complimenting Corbyn for standing aside for a GONU
I have not heard that and has Corbyn's office agreed ?
Blair complementing Corbyn with working with the opposition to no deal. He also said Johnson was creating an elephant trap of a GE before Brexit which Labour should not fall into.
Yet ANOTHER shouty mouth "BoJo is a moron" article on PB...
So dull.
A genuine question. Can anyone point to the last article on this site that was written by a Leaver?
If leavers don't bother to write articles then it is not really the site's fault.
I imagine Leavers, being sensible, hardworking people, only write for money. Hence this site’s bias to effete, pampered, boring Remainers, who will give you thirty eight hundred tediously slanted and utterly witless paragraphs, all for free.
Thirty eight hundred paragraphs ? Even the best Cyclefree articles don't quite run to that.
Though if you count up the last week's comments from HYUFD...
Seen from the distant yet fitting perspective of the Byzantine ghost city of Mystras, in the southern Peloponnese, just west of Sparta - where I lie on my sunbed, typing this - Britain looks like a stricken young woman in a Jane Austen novel.
She has been confined to bed for months with a progressively worsening illness. But now the crisis comes. The fever must break, in the next few days...
Who are the quack doctors recommending more bleeding and consumption of mercury in your metaphor?
Hah. I actually went to Missolonghi last week. To see where Lord B died.
It is a suitably bleak, flat, sunburned, melancholy place, hard by a swamp which still occasionally executes locals via malaria. Byron’s last view - of the seething sea, and the brooding islands - as beautiful and desolate as death itself - might have consoled him, I think.
I think that's known as wine dark prose...
It's like one of the poems Adrian Mole keeps sending to Hugh Trevor-Roper.
The Remainers seem surprised and dismayed that the ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous Boris Johnson, has turned out to be a ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous prime minister.
Maybe they're three steps ahead of us. Most treacherous electorate in the world, no?
They couldn't block Boris in the last leadership election because it only took 1/3 of their colleagues to get him through to the final round, and if he got that far then they knew the members would pick him.
So nod him through, wait for him to show himself as ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous, profess to be surprised, send in some letters, sack him in a secret ballot, and now he's banned from running again...
Sadly not. One of the great revelations of late stage Brexit is how the stupid the supposedly “smarter” Remainers have turned out to be. They profess to be the educated Ubermenschen, the suave and worldly experts, the guys with the doctorates and names like Jolyon - yet they have been outwitted at every turn by the likes of Nigel Farage.
Even now they stare across the Commons, unable to use their majority, due to some innate infirmity of purpose, allied to a gross over-estimation of their own abilities.
Yet ANOTHER shouty mouth "BoJo is a moron" article on PB...
So dull.
A genuine question. Can anyone point to the last article on this site that was written by a Leaver?
If leavers don't bother to write articles then it is not really the site's fault.
I imagine Leavers, being sensible, hardworking people, only write for money. Hence this site’s bias to effete, pampered, boring Remainers, who will give you thirty eight hundred tediously slanted and utterly witless paragraphs, all for free.
Thirty eight hundred paragraphs ? Even the best Cyclefree articles don't quite run to that.
Though if you count up the last week's comments from HYUFD...
His best was claiming opinion polls gave Johnson moral authority to peruse his policies
If leavers don't bother to write articles then it is not really the site's fault. Richard Tyndall confirmed a couple of threads back that his leave article were always published.
I may be wrong but thought David Herdson voted leave???
All lies! What would the growers/importers/packers/manufacturers/wholesalers/retailers know about it? Anyone would think these traitors knew anything about how to negotiate. The should Simply Back Boris and we will be fine.
To be fair, water finds its level. Freighters will continue to ship as long as their additional costs are passed on. Combined with the further fall in the pound, we will see the prices in the shops rocket upwards. Brexit is pointless and extremely costly but we will still get tomatoes at twice the price.
I can't see the No 10 strategy working, but then I am nearly always wrong!
The chances of a pre October 31st election providing a majority of MPs for No Deal if there is no renegotiation looks slim at best.
The chances of Parliament allowing No Deal on 31st October look to be around zero. If Parliament outlaws No Deal, the chances of a new negotiated deal or slim to zero.
These add up to not leaving on 31st October.
Post election there is likely to be an unstable minority / coalition arrangement. Although we should note that has been the case since 2010, with the exception of Cameron 2015 - 17.
Any referendum is likely to take too long. I agree with Boris that we need a fixed date and asap to eradicate so much of the uncertainty in the economy.
Is it time to push revoke as a serious option? It is always at the back of the queue, a misty and far of figure.
It has lots of advantages, such as not changing anything! I believe it to be a bad option, as it leaves us in our rather odd half in half out position, which will therefore continue to give us numerous opportunities to have differences with the EU, it does nothing to eradicate the causes and foundations of Euroscepticism, which would therefore continue and possibly grow in numbers or intensity.
My view is that we do need to reset our relationship with EU. I would rather achieve that and be in fully (Euro, Shengen etc). If that isn't an option then a No Deal scenario is probably best in the long term.
Yet ANOTHER shouty mouth "BoJo is a moron" article on PB...
So dull.
A genuine question. Can anyone point to the last article on this site that was written by a Leaver?
If leavers don't bother to write articles then it is not really the site's fault.
I imagine Leavers, being sensible, hardworking people, only write for money. Hence this site’s bias to effete, pampered, boring Remainers, who will give you thirty eight hundred tediously slanted and utterly witless paragraphs, all for free.
Yet have you like a puppy on a chain commenting and hence credentialising everything they write.
Lol. I’ve commented maybe twice in a fortnight. I’m too busy enjoying the Agiorgtiko wine and sea urchin gonads. You, however.....
The problem the Remainers have is that following the referendum, many of the Brexit scum expected the Elite to delay things as long as possible until they could renege on the promise to implement the result. A gold star for the LDs who thought thirty seconds was long enough.
All this mock democracy talk about a People's election (only animals voted the first time?) is just that. I remember Remainers complaining that Leavers weren't all celebrating. "What wrong?" they asked. "You've got your wicked way. Stop complaining."
Many Leavers remained sceptical it would ever be allowed. All this latest whingeing proves is that we were right all along. Democracy is only allowed for the self-selected minority.
I might vote for a communist or a fascist next time. At least they're honest anti-democrats,
The Remainers seem surprised and dismayed that the ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous Boris Johnson, has turned out to be a ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous prime minister.
Maybe they're three steps ahead of us. Most treacherous electorate in the world, no?
They couldn't block Boris in the last leadership election because it only took 1/3 of their colleagues to get him through to the final round, and if he got that far then they knew the members would pick him.
So nod him through, wait for him to show himself as ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous, profess to be surprised, send in some letters, sack him in a secret ballot, and now he's banned from running again...
Sadly not. One of the great revelations of late stage Brexit is how the stupid the supposedly “smarter” Remainers have turned out to be. They profess to be the educated Ubermenschen, the suave and worldly experts, the guys with the doctorates and names like Jolyon - yet they have been outwitted at every turn by the likes of Nigel Farage.
Even now they stare across the Commons, unable to use their majority, due to some innate infirmity of purpose, allied to a gross over-estimation of their own abilities.
Truly, the ancien regime. As I said.
"Late stage Brexit"? We haven't even left yet! Once we are five years into negotiating the UK-EU FTA we might just about be in mid stage Brexit. And you call Remainers stupid? How many bottles of raki in are you?
Yet ANOTHER shouty mouth "BoJo is a moron" article on PB...
So dull.
A genuine question. Can anyone point to the last article on this site that was written by a Leaver?
If leavers don't bother to write articles then it is not really the site's fault.
I imagine Leavers, being sensible, hardworking people, only write for money. Hence this site’s bias to effete, pampered, boring Remainers, who will give you thirty eight hundred tediously slanted and utterly witless paragraphs, all for free.
Yet have you like a puppy on a chain commenting and hence credentialising everything they write.
Lol. I’ve commented maybe twice in a fortnight. I’m too busy enjoying the Agiorgtiko wine and sea urchin gonads. You, however.....
Conclusive evidence that you're not the great man, I seem to recall S****T being extremely scathing about Greek food and drink. It wouldn't be like him to change his mind.
Listening to Jacob Rees Mogg and his callous disregard for medical experts, if No Dealers are going to let people die because of their ideology then once Brexit is overturned then the likes of Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Dom Cummings, and JRM should be charged with crimes against humanity.
The Remainers seem surprised and dismayed that the ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous Boris Johnson, has turned out to be a ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous prime minister.
Maybe they're three steps ahead of us. Most treacherous electorate in the world, no?
They couldn't block Boris in the last leadership election because it only took 1/3 of their colleagues to get him through to the final round, and if he got that far then they knew the members would pick him.
So nod him through, wait for him to show himself as ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous, profess to be surprised, send in some letters, sack him in a secret ballot, and now he's banned from running again...
Sadly not. One of the great revelations of late stage Brexit is how the stupid the supposedly “smarter” Remainers have turned out to be. They profess to be the educated Ubermenschen, the suave and worldly experts, the guys with the doctorates and names like Jolyon - yet they have been outwitted at every turn by the likes of Nigel Farage.
Even now they stare across the Commons, unable to use their majority, due to some innate infirmity of purpose, allied to a gross over-estimation of their own abilities.
Truly, the ancien regime. As I said.
One of the challenges that Remain has always had to deal with is that the world does not operate in black and white. Understandably, many people think that it should and wish that it did, so are minded to give time and votes to those who say that it does. Unfortunately, though, it never, ever works.
The Remainers seem surprised and dismayed that the ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous Boris Johnson, has turned out to be a ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous prime minister.
Just because we believed him to be without principle doesn't mean we shouldn't point it out.
Any moves to install anyone as PM without a GE will result in uproar in the public
An administration of Labour + Lib Dem represents a larger share of the popular vote than a Conservative + DUP one.
If so it has to be tested in a GE
Technically they won a higher percentage of the popular vote at the last election compared to the DUP and Tory party. If they also have more votes in Parliament they deserve a chance of Government as that is the purpose of the FTPA.
Just because you don't like an argument when it's used against you doesn't invalidate the argument.
Maybe but it is not about me liking an argument, a GE is the only answer
A General election won't solve a thing - this issue was created by a referendum another referendum is the only thing that will lance this boil...
I don't this is right.
Tony Blair probably has a technical point, as repeated by you here, but for sound political pragmatic reasons I don't think another referendum is the way to resolve this.
Referenda are bad things. They often present complex issues in simplistic ways. But, worse, they don't cater for subsequent shifts in opinion. In the case of Brexit, a very complex process of divorce was presented in a crassly simplistic binary manner. That has now well and truly come home to roost.
Regular elections are much better because it allows for the provisionality of positions to be tested by the litmus of public opinion expressed through the ballot box.
In this case, whilst it's true that a General Election will not be confined to Brexit, it is nevertheless the case that nearly all the parties will have a very clearly defined Brexit policy. Therefore, how the people vote will lead to a result.
Tony Blair could tell me he was personally going to fund state of the art cancer treatment for my wife and give me 10 million quid, and I'd still be hard pressed not to head butt him. That's why he's the wrong messenger.
Yet ANOTHER shouty mouth "BoJo is a moron" article on PB...
So dull.
A genuine question. Can anyone point to the last article on this site that was written by a Leaver?
If leavers don't bother to write articles then it is not really the site's fault.
I imagine Leavers, being sensible, hardworking people, only write for money. Hence this site’s bias to effete, pampered, boring Remainers, who will give you thirty eight hundred tediously slanted and utterly witless paragraphs, all for free.
Yet have you like a puppy on a chain commenting and hence credentialising everything they write.
Lol. I’ve commented maybe twice in a fortnight. I’m too busy enjoying the Agiorgtiko wine and sea urchin gonads. You, however.....
Conclusive evidence that you're not the great man, I seem to recall S****T being extremely scathing about Greek food and drink. It wouldn't be like him to change his mind.
It's ok for about 2-3 days, and a bit of a novelty, but then becomes extremely repetitive and boring.
You can only get excited about feta cheese, salad and moussaka so many times.
Listening to Jacob Rees Mogg and his callous disregard for medical experts, if No Dealers are going to let people die because of their ideology then once Brexit is overturned then the likes of Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Dom Cummings, and JRM should be charged with crimes against humanity.
I suspect there is enough evidence in today's debate for JRM to be charged if it's required.
"Late stage Brexit"? We haven't even left yet! Once we are five years into negotiating the UK-EU FTA we might just about be in mid stage Brexit. And you call Remainers stupid? How many bottles of raki in are you?
I think the smarter observers have realised just how much of a disaster ongoing negotiations with the EU post Brexit will be for Labour.
Fighting hard to stay in the EU is understandable.
Fighting against your own country when it comes to post exit negotiations is something quite different.
Interesting results from the German State elections in Saxony and Brandenburg yesterday. Starting with Saxony, Kretschmer's CDU held off the AfD who put up an extraordinary 27.5% of the vote (up 18 points) whereas final polls were suggesting 25%. The CDU took a hit but the big losers were Linke, the SPD (who crawled home fifth) and the FDP who, despite polls showing they might get back into the Landtag, missed out.
In terms of seats, the CDU has 45 but while the AfD technically won 38, I don't think they put up enough candidates on their list to fill 38 places so it may be some of those "gains" will be re-distributed.. A CDU coalition with the SPD would be a minority (55 out of 129) but it seems the obvious option.
In Brandenburg, the final polls showing a near dead heat between SPD and AfD at 22-21 turned out incorrect. The SPD outpolled AfD 26-23.5. The SPD were down but not by as much as the CDU who were well back in third. Linke again took a big hit and the Greens moved forward a little just outpolling Linke for fourth place. The Free Voters got into the Landtag but again the FDP, despite some progress, were short of the 5% threshold.
The SPD won 25 seats, AfD 23, the CDU 15 and the Greens and Linke won 10 seats each. I think there's a coalition there somewhere led by the SPD - an SDP, Green, Linke grouping would have a majority in the Landtag.
Lessons? A bad night for the CDU and SPD but it might have been worse. The final polls understated AfD who finished a strong second in both states but they may be disappointed not to have topped the poll in Brandenburg. A disastrous night for Linke who may well struggle to keep Bundestag representation on this evidence. Modest progress for the Greens in areas of traditional weakness and ditto for the FDP.
The Remainers seem surprised and dismayed that the ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous Boris Johnson, has turned out to be a ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous prime minister.
Maybe they're three steps ahead of us. Most treacherous electorate in the world, no?
They couldn't block Boris in the last leadership election because it only took 1/3 of their colleagues to get him through to the final round, and if he got that far then they knew the members would pick him.
So nod him through, wait for him to show himself as ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous, profess to be surprised, send in some letters, sack him in a secret ballot, and now he's banned from running again...
Sadly not. One of the great revelations of late stage Brexit is how the stupid the supposedly “smarter” Remainers have turned out to be. They profess to be the educated Ubermenschen, the suave and worldly experts, the guys with the doctorates and names like Jolyon - yet they have been outwitted at every turn by the likes of Nigel Farage.
Even now they stare across the Commons, unable to use their majority, due to some innate infirmity of purpose, allied to a gross over-estimation of their own abilities.
Truly, the ancien regime. As I said.
"Late stage Brexit"? We haven't even left yet! Once we are five years into negotiating the UK-EU FTA we might just about be in mid stage Brexit. And you call Remainers stupid? How many bottles of raki in are you?
Yes, this is clearly late-stage. The climacteric approaches. The strings build towards the crescendo. In the next two months - maybe the next week - we will know whether we are headed for Deal, No Deal, Referendum or Revoke.
Sure, Brexit will rumble on after this, but it will be like a thumping, dwindling, post coital heartbeat. We will have a cigarette, maybe some pillow talk with Brussels. Then we will rise and get on with the day.
Yet ANOTHER shouty mouth "BoJo is a moron" article on PB...
So dull.
A genuine question. Can anyone point to the last article on this site that was written by a Leaver?
If leavers don't bother to write articles then it is not really the site's fault.
I imagine Leavers, being sensible, hardworking people, only write for money. Hence this site’s bias to effete, pampered, boring Remainers, who will give you thirty eight hundred tediously slanted and utterly witless paragraphs, all for free.
Yet have you like a puppy on a chain commenting and hence credentialising everything they write.
Lol. I’ve commented maybe twice in a fortnight. I’m too busy enjoying the Agiorgtiko wine and sea urchin gonads. You, however.....
In case Byronic enjoys the finer foods in life - tried Hide yet? 85 Piccadilly. Mouth-wateringly wonderful, eye-wateringly expensive....
Yet ANOTHER shouty mouth "BoJo is a moron" article on PB...
So dull.
A genuine question. Can anyone point to the last article on this site that was written by a Leaver?
If leavers don't bother to write articles then it is not really the site's fault.
I imagine Leavers, being sensible, hardworking people, only write for money. Hence this site’s bias to effete, pampered, boring Remainers, who will give you thirty eight hundred tediously slanted and utterly witless paragraphs, all for free.
Thirty eight hundred paragraphs ? Even the best Cyclefree articles don't quite run to that.
Though if you count up the last week's comments from HYUFD...
His best was claiming opinion polls gave Johnson moral authority to peruse his policies
Mr. B, it was even a brief article (300-400 words). I considered padding it out but decided against that.
One thing I could've added, and didn't, was that the initial frontrunner to succeed Alexander was a rabble-rouser of no real authority called Meleager. His 'reign' ended when Perdiccas had his supporters trampled to death by elephants.
Listening to Jacob Rees Mogg and his callous disregard for medical experts, if No Dealers are going to let people die because of their ideology then once Brexit is overturned then the likes of Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Dom Cummings, and JRM should be charged with crimes against humanity.
I suspect there is enough evidence in today's debate for JRM to be charged if it's required.
The show trials are going to be spectacular
Looking forward to the "Auschwitz for Leavers" guy up first.....
Lessons? A bad night for the CDU and SPD but it might have been worse. The final polls understated AfD who finished a strong second in both states but they may be disappointed not to have topped the poll in Brandenburg. A disastrous night for Linke who may well struggle to keep Bundestag representation on this evidence. Modest progress for the Greens in areas of traditional weakness and ditto for the FDP.
Concur with your conclusions except that I think there was a lot of Linke->SPD tactical voting in Brandenburg to make sure they stayed ahead (even some CDU-SPD tactical votes, according to the CDU state chair). But polarisation is certainly happening there too.
This is a magnificent puncturing of the delusional mindset taking hold in the UK over Brexit. Sir Ivan Rogers knows more about these issues, literally, than all Brexiteers put together. I've been lucky enough to meet him and he is just as impressive in person. The fact that May's government forced him out was an early signal of the dismal national humiliation that awaits us.
Is it time to push revoke as a serious option? It is always at the back of the queue, a misty and far of figure.
It has lots of advantages, such as not changing anything! I believe it to be a bad option, as it leaves us in our rather odd half in half out position, which will therefore continue to give us numerous opportunities to have differences with the EU, it does nothing to eradicate the causes and foundations of Euroscepticism, which would therefore continue and possibly grow in numbers or intensity.
My view is that we do need to reset our relationship with EU. I would rather achieve that and be in fully (Euro, Shengen etc). If that isn't an option then a No Deal scenario is probably best in the long term.
If we revoke, then the question of Scottish independence won't go away, so there will be other opportunities to reset our relationship with the EU in a positive direction.
Yet ANOTHER shouty mouth "BoJo is a moron" article on PB...
So dull.
A genuine question. Can anyone point to the last article on this site that was written by a Leaver?
If leavers don't bother to write articles then it is not really the site's fault.
I imagine Leavers, being sensible, hardworking people, only write for money. Hence this site’s bias to effete, pampered, boring Remainers, who will give you thirty eight hundred tediously slanted and utterly witless paragraphs, all for free.
Yet have you like a puppy on a chain commenting and hence credentialising everything they write.
Lol. I’ve commented maybe twice in a fortnight. I’m too busy enjoying the Agiorgtiko wine and sea urchin gonads. You, however.....
You have commented many more times than that and it is only just past midday in your foreign EU paradise.
The Remainers seem surprised and dismayed that the ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous Boris Johnson, has turned out to be a ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous prime minister.
Maybe they're three steps ahead of us. Most treacherous electorate in the world, no?
They couldn't block Boris in the last leadership election because it only took 1/3 of their colleagues to get him through to the final round, and if he got that far then they knew the members would pick him.
So nod him through, wait for him to show himself as ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous, profess to be surprised, send in some letters, sack him in a secret ballot, and now he's banned from running again...
Sadly not. One of the great revelations of late stage Brexit is how the stupid the supposedly “smarter” Remainers have turned out to be. They profess to be the educated Ubermenschen, the suave and worldly experts, the guys with the doctorates and names like Jolyon - yet they have been outwitted at every turn by the likes of Nigel Farage.
Even now they stare across the Commons, unable to use their majority, due to some innate infirmity of purpose, allied to a gross over-estimation of their own abilities.
Truly, the ancien regime. As I said.
One of the challenges that Remain has always had to deal with is that the world does not operate in black and white. Understandably, many people think that it should and wish that it did, so are minded to give time and votes to those who say that it does. Unfortunately, though, it never, ever works.
This does not remotely explain why Remainers, most especially elite Remainers - who never cease to tell us how clever they are, and how they are MUCH cleverer than the awful, chavvy, smelly, racist old Leavers - have turned out to be so utterly shit at politics.
First, they lost an unloseable referendum, now they are losing the Brexit endgame, outsmarted by Boris and Cummings, two people they loudly dismiss as clowns.
The only answer is that Remainers are not remotely as smart as they like to think. They only appear smarter because life has favoured them, and they have prospered. Hence their Remain tendencies. They like the status quo ante.
"Late stage Brexit"? We haven't even left yet! Once we are five years into negotiating the UK-EU FTA we might just about be in mid stage Brexit. And you call Remainers stupid? How many bottles of raki in are you?
I think the smarter observers have realised just how much of a disaster ongoing negotiations with the EU post Brexit will be for Labour.
Fighting hard to stay in the EU is understandable.
Fighting against your own country when it comes to post exit negotiations is something quite different.
Every single GE this will be an issue...
Strong but fair negotiations with the Tories.
Or,
Weak, supplication with Labour.
If we’re still negotiating with the EU when the election after next is called everything the Tories have said will be exposed as a lie.
Do we know how Theresa May will vote through all these rebel legislations? She can't feel she owes anything to Boris, and she clearly doesn't want no deal or else she would've gone for it when PM. The government has spent half its time shitting on her premiership. Or will party loyalty win out? Because it could be the ultimate challenge to Boris if she can be persuaded to back rebel legislation, they couldn't expel the previous PM from the party, it would look ridiculous.
I expect TM to remain loyal to her party
Hence why we need rid of these parasites who will vote for self rather than the mugs that voted for them. Rotten to the core.
The Remainers seem surprised and dismayed that the ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous Boris Johnson, has turned out to be a ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous prime minister.
Maybe they're three steps ahead of us. Most treacherous electorate in the world, no?
They couldn't block Boris in the last leadership election because it only took 1/3 of their colleagues to get him through to the final round, and if he got that far then they knew the members would pick him.
So nod him through, wait for him to show himself as ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous, profess to be surprised, send in some letters, sack him in a secret ballot, and now he's banned from running again...
Sadly not. One of the great revelations of late stage Brexit is how the stupid the supposedly “smarter” Remainers have turned out to be. They profess to be the educated Ubermenschen, the suave and worldly experts, the guys with the doctorates and names like Jolyon - yet they have been outwitted at every turn by the likes of Nigel Farage.
Even now they stare across the Commons, unable to use their majority, due to some innate infirmity of purpose, allied to a gross over-estimation of their own abilities.
Truly, the ancien regime. As I said.
"Late stage Brexit"? We haven't even left yet! Once we are five years into negotiating the UK-EU FTA we might just about be in mid stage Brexit. And you call Remainers stupid? How many bottles of raki in are you?
Yes, this is clearly late-stage. The climacteric approaches. The strings build towards the crescendo. In the next two months - maybe the next week - we will know whether we are headed for Deal, No Deal, Referendum or Revoke.
Sure, Brexit will rumble on after this, but it will be like a thumping, dwindling, post coital heartbeat. We will have a cigarette, maybe some pillow talk with Brussels. Then we will rise and get on with the day.
I think your writing style is better suited to airport porn than to serious analysis. Read the Ivan Rogers piece. He is short on ejaculation metaphors but long on facts, analysis and knowing his arse from a hole in the ground. You could learn a lot from him.
Opposition to Johnson consoling itself that he's doing long-term damage to the Tory brand is an exercise in self-delusion.
If you can't work out what you need to do now to win over the voters you have a problem. There's no guarantee that time will solve that problem for you.
The Remainers seem surprised and dismayed that the ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous Boris Johnson, has turned out to be a ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous prime minister.
Maybe they're three steps ahead of us. Most treacherous electorate in the world, no?
They couldn't block Boris in the last leadership election because it only took 1/3 of their colleagues to get him through to the final round, and if he got that far then they knew the members would pick him.
So nod him through, wait for him to show himself as ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous, profess to be surprised, send in some letters, sack him in a secret ballot, and now he's banned from running again...
Sadly not. One of the great revelations of late stage Brexit is how the stupid the supposedly “smarter” Remainers have turned out to be. They profess to be the educated Ubermenschen, the suave and worldly experts, the guys with the doctorates and names like Jolyon - yet they have been outwitted at every turn by the likes of Nigel Farage.
Even now they stare across the Commons, unable to use their majority, due to some innate infirmity of purpose, allied to a gross over-estimation of their own abilities.
Truly, the ancien regime. As I said.
"Late stage Brexit"? We haven't even left yet! Once we are five years into negotiating the UK-EU FTA we might just about be in mid stage Brexit. And you call Remainers stupid? How many bottles of raki in are you?
Yes, this is clearly late-stage. The climacteric approaches. The strings build towards the crescendo. In the next two months - maybe the next week - we will know whether we are headed for Deal, No Deal, Referendum or Revoke.
Sure, Brexit will rumble on after this, but it will be like a thumping, dwindling, post coital heartbeat. We will have a cigarette, maybe some pillow talk with Brussels. Then we will rise and get on with the day.
But as we keep repeating, without an agreement, there is no pulling out cleanly.
Full marks to the Remainers for being the shouty and arrogant side.
Continually declaring you have a much larger brain that the other lot is a sure way to win support. Carry on as you are, please. Much appreciated by we Leavers.
"Late stage Brexit"? We haven't even left yet! Once we are five years into negotiating the UK-EU FTA we might just about be in mid stage Brexit. And you call Remainers stupid? How many bottles of raki in are you?
I think the smarter observers have realised just how much of a disaster ongoing negotiations with the EU post Brexit will be for Labour.
Fighting hard to stay in the EU is understandable.
Fighting against your own country when it comes to post exit negotiations is something quite different.
Every single GE this will be an issue...
Strong but fair negotiations with the Tories.
Or,
Weak, supplication with Labour.
If we’re still negotiating with the EU when the election after next is called everything the Tories have said will be exposed as a lie.
Without a deal we will be negotiating with the EU for the next 50 years...
On topic, there are things I agree with in this article and things I don't.
Is Britain really more urban than the 70s and 80s? The population has increased, sure, but mostly through housebuilding outside the big cities. The rural/suburban to urban move is an oversimplification and reflects the youth only, who then move out again.
One big difference in terms of urban and suburban, is that in the 70s and 80s the big city centres were not seen as attractive places to live. Not all but most middle class adults wanted to live somewhere where they could easily reach the city centre for non-food shopping and their monthly entertainment but did not want to live in the rundown city centre accommodation, where it was difficult to be an owner occupier, poor parking and the threat of crime was a a bit too present. It was also socially acceptable (if not legal) to drive into town and have three pints before driving back home. Many people aspired to living on the edge of the city not near the centre.
Now much of the "desirable" accommodation is in the city centre, both rental and owner occupied. The cities have put a lot of money into rejuvinating the city centres and made them tourist friendly. The benefits of having the city entertainment on your doorstep is now seen as a big plus, and frankly many people would rather not to have to drive to work and back every day and then drive to shops or the pub and back most days.
Of course many middle class people do still move to suburbia when they start a family, but the attractions of living in a city centre are very different from 40 years ago.
Comments
https://twitter.com/HuwMerriman/status/1168287556712185858
Come on this is one eyed partisan guff. I assumed it was written by a Labour MP, turns out to be some professor I've never heard of.
Next
I'm not sure if that helps or hinders as the new marxist Labour party hates him
Principle. It's not that difficult to get your head round. Even for Tories.
The Middle co-opt the Low to displace the High, before dumping the Low back in their place.
Maybe I'm just being optimistic though. I honestly believed the British elite would be more open to change than it has thus far shown. At the moment the only urge for many seems to be to fight Brexit.
Not discounting a certain number of the privileged who would very much like Brexit to happen.
https://twitter.com/DavidGauke/status/1168447811169456128?s=20
They couldn't block Boris in the last leadership election because it only took 1/3 of their colleagues to get him through to the final round, and if he got that far then they knew the members would pick him.
So nod him through, wait for him to show himself as ruthless, ambitious, scheming and duplicitous, profess to be surprised, send in some letters, sack him in a secret ballot, and now he's banned from running again...
Tony Blair probably has a technical point, as repeated by you here, but for sound political pragmatic reasons I don't think another referendum is the way to resolve this.
Referenda are bad things. They often present complex issues in simplistic ways. But, worse, they don't cater for subsequent shifts in opinion. In the case of Brexit, a very complex process of divorce was presented in a crassly simplistic binary manner. That has now well and truly come home to roost.
Regular elections are much better because it allows for the provisionality of positions to be tested by the litmus of public opinion expressed through the ballot box.
In this case, whilst it's true that a General Election will not be confined to Brexit, it is nevertheless the case that nearly all the parties will have a very clearly defined Brexit policy. Therefore, how the people vote will lead to a result.
Cons & BXP: No Deal Brexit
LibDems, SNP, Plaid, Greens: Remain
Labour: God only knows
Voters know the system and can behave accordingly.
He also said Johnson was creating an elephant trap of a GE before Brexit which Labour should not fall into.
Even the best Cyclefree articles don't quite run to that.
Though if you count up the last week's comments from HYUFD...
Even now they stare across the Commons, unable to use their majority, due to some innate infirmity of purpose, allied to a gross over-estimation of their own abilities.
Truly, the ancien regime. As I said.
I think they just drew in crayon. Outlines, blobs that sort of thing - I mean, who needs detail?
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/09/ivan-rogers-the-realities-of-a-no-deal-brexit/
The chances of a pre October 31st election providing a majority of MPs for No Deal if there is no renegotiation looks slim at best.
The chances of Parliament allowing No Deal on 31st October look to be around zero. If Parliament outlaws No Deal, the chances of a new negotiated deal or slim to zero.
These add up to not leaving on 31st October.
Post election there is likely to be an unstable minority / coalition arrangement. Although we should note that has been the case since 2010, with the exception of Cameron 2015 - 17.
Any referendum is likely to take too long. I agree with Boris that we need a fixed date and asap to eradicate so much of the uncertainty in the economy.
Is it time to push revoke as a serious option? It is always at the back of the queue, a misty and far of figure.
It has lots of advantages, such as not changing anything! I believe it to be a bad option, as it leaves us in our rather odd half in half out position, which will therefore continue to give us numerous opportunities to have differences with the EU, it does nothing to eradicate the causes and foundations of Euroscepticism, which would therefore continue and possibly grow in numbers or intensity.
My view is that we do need to reset our relationship with EU. I would rather achieve that and be in fully (Euro, Shengen etc). If that isn't an option then a No Deal scenario is probably best in the long term.
All this mock democracy talk about a People's election (only animals voted the first time?) is just that. I remember Remainers complaining that Leavers weren't all celebrating. "What wrong?" they asked. "You've got your wicked way. Stop complaining."
Many Leavers remained sceptical it would ever be allowed. All this latest whingeing proves is that we were right all along. Democracy is only allowed for the self-selected minority.
I might vote for a communist or a fascist next time. At least they're honest anti-democrats,
Labour is another referendum on a deal v remain.
You can only get excited about feta cheese, salad and moussaka so many times.
The show trials are going to be spectacular
Fighting hard to stay in the EU is understandable.
Fighting against your own country when it comes to post exit negotiations is something quite different.
Every single GE this will be an issue...
Strong but fair negotiations with the Tories.
Or,
Weak, supplication with Labour.
Moving rapidly off-topic:
Interesting results from the German State elections in Saxony and Brandenburg yesterday. Starting with Saxony, Kretschmer's CDU held off the AfD who put up an extraordinary 27.5% of the vote (up 18 points) whereas final polls were suggesting 25%. The CDU took a hit but the big losers were Linke, the SPD (who crawled home fifth) and the FDP who, despite polls showing they might get back into the Landtag, missed out.
In terms of seats, the CDU has 45 but while the AfD technically won 38, I don't think they put up enough candidates on their list to fill 38 places so it may be some of those "gains" will be re-distributed.. A CDU coalition with the SPD would be a minority (55 out of 129) but it seems the obvious option.
In Brandenburg, the final polls showing a near dead heat between SPD and AfD at 22-21 turned out incorrect. The SPD outpolled AfD 26-23.5. The SPD were down but not by as much as the CDU who were well back in third. Linke again took a big hit and the Greens moved forward a little just outpolling Linke for fourth place. The Free Voters got into the Landtag but again the FDP, despite some progress, were short of the 5% threshold.
The SPD won 25 seats, AfD 23, the CDU 15 and the Greens and Linke won 10 seats each. I think there's a coalition there somewhere led by the SPD - an SDP, Green, Linke grouping would have a majority in the Landtag.
Lessons? A bad night for the CDU and SPD but it might have been worse. The final polls understated AfD who finished a strong second in both states but they may be disappointed not to have topped the poll in Brandenburg. A disastrous night for Linke who may well struggle to keep Bundestag representation on this evidence. Modest progress for the Greens in areas of traditional weakness and ditto for the FDP.
Sure, Brexit will rumble on after this, but it will be like a thumping, dwindling, post coital heartbeat. We will have a cigarette, maybe some pillow talk with Brussels. Then we will rise and get on with the day.
I'll bet that was relaxing.
Any number of court cases tell you that is utter nonsense.
It is very dangerous nonsense if Ministers really believe that and are willing to act on it.
"Be you ever so high the law is above you."
One thing I could've added, and didn't, was that the initial frontrunner to succeed Alexander was a rabble-rouser of no real authority called Meleager. His 'reign' ended when Perdiccas had his supporters trampled to death by elephants.
It was a very good historical comparison so I can understand why you might have thought it was written by me.
http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2019/08/31/boris-johnson-invites-himself-to-the-battle-of-ipsus/
First, they lost an unloseable referendum, now they are losing the Brexit endgame, outsmarted by Boris and Cummings, two people they loudly dismiss as clowns.
The only answer is that Remainers are not remotely as smart as they like to think. They only appear smarter because life has favoured them, and they have prospered. Hence their Remain tendencies. They like the status quo ante.
"The Tories are a pragmatic, moderately Eurosceptic party, and he must tolerate that..."
I bet you're a Polyperchon fan.
@AlistairM has been right to raise this question.
Boris is Ace, Fab, Brill...
Opposition to Johnson consoling itself that he's doing long-term damage to the Tory brand is an exercise in self-delusion.
If you can't work out what you need to do now to win over the voters you have a problem. There's no guarantee that time will solve that problem for you.
Continually declaring you have a much larger brain that the other lot is a sure way to win support. Carry on as you are, please. Much appreciated by we Leavers.
Now much of the "desirable" accommodation is in the city centre, both rental and owner occupied. The cities have put a lot of money into rejuvinating the city centres and made them tourist friendly. The benefits of having the city entertainment on your doorstep is now seen as a big plus, and frankly many people would rather not to have to drive to work and back every day and then drive to shops or the pub and back most days.
Of course many middle class people do still move to suburbia when they start a family, but the attractions of living in a city centre are very different from 40 years ago.