I can state with absolute clarity it was not my wife or I who were invited to our vaccinations today by Betsi Cadwaladr
You're positively cherpy following the shots. Good on you Big G and Mrs Big G.
Thank you and we are both grateful and incredibly impressed with the whole operation. The kindness shown by everyone from the army personal, to the volunteers, to the doctors and nurses who administered out Pfizer vaccinations and it only took 35 minutes from arriving in the car park, resting for 15 minutes after the vaccination , and actually leaving the car park.
Also the doctor was most interesting when talking about the Pfizer vaccine itself, the logistics and storage of it, and the actual method of injection
We are so grateful, and would urge everyone to follow the rules for a few more months, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Presumably Boris was literally on his knees, begging to be forgiven for that bust nonsense. Nevertheless, I approve of the fact that Boris is doing his bit to exorcise the spectre of Trump. (I suspect Boris is secretly ashamed of both his dalliance with Trump and Brexit and wants us to regard them as a mere unfortunately blip.)
BoZo almost always agrees with and makes promises to whoever he is speaking to, with the memory of a goldfish. Expect an application to Rejoin before the week is out 😅
Presumably Boris was literally on his knees, begging to be forgiven for that bust nonsense. Nevertheless, I approve of the fact that Boris is doing his bit to exorcise the spectre of Trump. (I suspect Boris is secretly ashamed of both his dalliance with Trump and Brexit and wants us to regard them as a mere unfortunately blip.)
"Boris, Joe here. I've found this ugly old bust that I'm throwing out, do you want it back?"
Got to be a huge push on getting Shapps's scalp here - come on Keir, come on Jim, let's go for this.
Shapps is an actually decent communicator, you'd think Boris would fight hard for him if he will fight so hard for Williamson, given how few good communicators he has.
I can state with absolute clarity it was not my wife or I who were invited to our vaccinations today by Betsi Cadwaladr
You're positively cherpy following the shots. Good on you Big G and Mrs Big G.
Thank you and we are both grateful and incredibly impressed with the whole operation. The kindness shown by everyone from the army personal, to the volunteers, to the doctors and nurses who administered out Pfizer vaccinations and it only took 35 minutes from arriving in the car park, resting for 15 minutes after the vaccination , and actually leaving the car park.
Also the doctor was most interesting when talking about the Pfizer vaccine itself, the logistics and storage of it, and the actual method of injection
We are so grateful, and would urge everyone to follow the rules for a few more months, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Well done on getting your jabs.
I hope you warned the doctor that you are the North Wales Correspondent for a major media outlet, before pumping him/her for information! 😉
I mean according to the Express Biden will have told the PM to rejoin the EU, what's not to love?
You have become one of those weirdo Remoaners that wants Bad Things To Happen To Britain, so as to punish us for our wicked Leave vote.
People don't want bad things to happen. But bad things ARE happening. The Department for International Trade is telling UK companies to set up EU subsidiaries and send jobs and money there. If the DiT know that Brexit means trade is fucked then the "remoaners" whine is almost funny.
Some encouraging news for Unionists in ST poll in that less than half of Scots want independence now including don't knows, more Northern Irish voters oppose a United Ireland than back it and the vast majority of English and Welsh voters wish to stay in the UK
BUT how would the concept of an independent Northern Ireland - independent of both UK and ROI - poll?
Would be interesting to find out AND see the sub-samples on THAT.
Upto now, no-one in Northern Ireland has taken the idea of an independent country seriously. A benign scenario, I think, is that NI over time gets more and more anchored into the Irish and EU sphere, while nominally remaining part of the UK. People will eventually say, this is an anachronism, let's move properly into the Republic. It avoids early and divisive border polls. Problem with this approach is the lack of democratic accountability, seeing no-one was asked whether they wanted this. Unionists will feel particularly aggrieved, but here's the thing. It wouldn't be Republicans that are the handmaiden of a United Ireland. It would be their very own DUP working in cahoots with the UK government.
There are other scenarios that are less benign, unfortunately.
Per the Good Friday Agreement a border poll is a requirement for Norn Iron to join the Republic.
Once again for the Hard of Learning, once the dust of Brexit has settled., the Norns will realise they are in a uniquely favoured position. Able to trade freely with the single markets of the EU and the UK (apart from a few forms on the Irish Sea, which will be progressively minimised by London). EU AND UK citizens by right. No border with Ireland, but no border with the UK either. They enjoy the UK subsidies and the UK NHS.
Unionists and Sinn Fein happy.
At the same time they are able to avoid the tiresomeness of EU rules, the bureaucracy, the sheer shittiness of tolerating unelected governments. The daily, tiny, but incremental humiliation.
If they vote to reunite with Ireland, they will lose all that, the Troubles will resume, probably the CTA will be scrapped, proper border in the Irish Sea. What's the point?
Irish people in Northern Ireland can feel fully Irish and have an Irish passport. British people in Northern Ireland can feel fully British and have a British passport. Uster is now a kind of EU/UK condominium, and I predict it will prosper from its unique privileges. Meaning there will be no overwhelming desire for reunification. They have nothing to gain and a lot to lose.
All very true, but maintaining the new status quo does rather depend on the continued existence of the UK.
Scotland goes, everything changes. Northern Ireland is then geographically and culturally isolated from the remainder.
Would the English want to keep the North? Would the Irish want it back? The prospect of a Northern Irish state shouldn't be entirely discounted.
If Scotland goes Northern Ireland swiftly follows, after all you can't really continue to be British if there is no longer a British state to belong to.
If Scotland stays then its simply a crude matter of waiting for the elderly unionist majority to die out rather than the aftermath of Brexit changing many minds either way.
Not necessarily, many middle class Catholics are soft Unionists.
You could even have diehard Protestant Unionists in Glasgow etc moving to Antrim in the event of an independent Scotland too
I'd missed this - is it appropriate for an "expert" to block other experts?
No.
Yes, of course it is. It's entirely her choice.
Sure. But for a professional, it is NOT a good look, and thus probably a bad choice by (and for) her.
If you like. In balance I would point out that Twitter is cesspit and people, women especially, have to put up with a lot that they shouldn't have to. What looks like a hair-trigger overreaction in a couple of screenshots might actually be the culmination of a long and problematic pattern of behaviour. I don't know, and probably most on here don't either. We shouldn't moralise about people excluding themselves from certain conversations, they are the best judge of what they want.
Or, more likely, it's a hair-trigger reaction for her being called out on the rubbish in her original tweet.
Possibly, but once again it's her choice.
Who said it wasn't? People are questioning the optics of that choice.
It's nothing to do with anyone. Even if you think you know the full story, and you don't. There's no "optics". It's just nothing to do with you.
What a tremendously silly thing to say. People comment on what others, particualrly those in the public eye, do all the time.
I am actually gobsmacked at how silly that reasoning is - why do any of us comment on anything to do with anyone then? We don't know the full story - we never can - and apparently being a public figure in a position of influence doesn't mean there are any optics (as though this is just an issue of a personal twitter account) to something people do, so nothing should be commented on by anyone.
This certainly was not a big issue, but you are being weirdly hyper defensive about it.
I hope you pay the some courtesy to every other public figure talked about on here from now on, and tell people it is nothing to do with them and we cannot know the full story.
Certainly when it comes to blocking someone on Twitter. Absolute nonsense that anyone would think this matters to them.
Well, I am guessing you want to reverse Brexit, judging by the aggrieved, anti-Brexit tones of your last 19,483 comments.
Am I wrong? Have I misconstrued?
Presuming I am right, and you are not *entirely happy* with Brexit, then you must surely seek to reverse it. So you need to start a party with that explicit desire, or take over a party and put that in its manifesto, then seek power, and win a referendum. It will be a long haul, is my guess, and possibly not do-able, but it will surely be better than sitting impotently on the sidelines of PB, raging raging raging, against the dying of the light.
Yes Roger. And if he had called Macron or Merkel first we'd have had the usual suspects on here crowing about how Britain had been snubbed, how it was all the fault of Brexit, how Britain was irrelevant and so on.....
I can state with absolute clarity it was not my wife or I who were invited to our vaccinations today by Betsi Cadwaladr
You're positively cherpy following the shots. Good on you Big G and Mrs Big G.
Thank you and we are both grateful and incredibly impressed with the whole operation. The kindness shown by everyone from the army personal, to the volunteers, to the doctors and nurses who administered out Pfizer vaccinations and it only took 35 minutes from arriving in the car park, resting for 15 minutes after the vaccination , and actually leaving the car park.
Also the doctor was most interesting when talking about the Pfizer vaccine itself, the logistics and storage of it, and the actual method of injection
We are so grateful, and would urge everyone to follow the rules for a few more months, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Well done on getting your jabs.
I hope you warned the doctor that you are the North Wales Correspondent for a major media outlet! 😉
I was so impressed by her, just lovely and caring, explained a lot about the vaccine itself, and even though we were through the process in 35 minutes, she took her time and I did check if she had been vaccinated and she affirmed all the medical staff had
Got to be a huge push on getting Shapps's scalp here - come on Keir, come on Jim, let's go for this.
Shapps is an actually decent communicator, you'd think Boris would fight hard for him if he will fight so hard for Williamson, given how few good communicators he has.
From a Labour pov not getting the man is fine, if you do a good enough job of making sure the kerfuffle puts you on the side of right, then it's Cummings all over again. Winner-winner.
I can state with absolute clarity it was not my wife or I who were invited to our vaccinations today by Betsi Cadwaladr
You're positively cherpy following the shots. Good on you Big G and Mrs Big G.
Thank you and we are both grateful and incredibly impressed with the whole operation. The kindness shown by everyone from the army personal, to the volunteers, to the doctors and nurses who administered out Pfizer vaccinations and it only took 35 minutes from arriving in the car park, resting for 15 minutes after the vaccination , and actually leaving the car park.
Also the doctor was most interesting when talking about the Pfizer vaccine itself, the logistics and storage of it, and the actual method of injection
We are so grateful, and would urge everyone to follow the rules for a few more months, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Well done on getting your jabs.
I hope you warned the doctor that you are the North Wales Correspondent for a major media outlet! 😉
I was so impressed by her, just lovely and caring, explained a lot about the vaccine itself, and even though we were through the process in 35 minutes, she took her time and I did check if she had been vaccinated and she affirmed all the medical staff had
My elderly father had it 10 days ago or so and said similar, incredibly impressed by the organisation and efficiency....and he is a hard man to inpress.
The one consolation for me is that I am unlikely to be around for the next seven years talking brexit or even interested in brexit and listening to your obsession
I mean according to the Express Biden will have told the PM to rejoin the EU, what's not to love?
You have become one of those weirdo Remoaners that wants Bad Things To Happen To Britain, so as to punish us for our wicked Leave vote.
People don't want bad things to happen. But bad things ARE happening. The Department for International Trade is telling UK companies to set up EU subsidiaries and send jobs and money there. If the DiT know that Brexit means trade is fucked then the "remoaners" whine is almost funny.
The first six months of Brexit will be totally shit. The following two years will be fairly shit. You read it here first. It is a painful and expensive divorce, which benefits no one but the lawyers, like all complex divorces. Brexiteers are "lucky" this constant drizzle - and occasional monsoon - of shit will be almost entirely obscured by the global apocalypse of Covid.
In three years time, however, both sides will start to see new opportunities, new lovers, new trades, new freedoms, I predict the UK will quite enjoy its new abilities to maneuver, and the reinvigoration of its democracy.
From Brexit on, we British get to directly elect, or deselect, those who govern us. This is not the case in the EU, and there are no signs of it reforming.
I can state with absolute clarity it was not my wife or I who were invited to our vaccinations today by Betsi Cadwaladr
You're positively cherpy following the shots. Good on you Big G and Mrs Big G.
Thank you and we are both grateful and incredibly impressed with the whole operation. The kindness shown by everyone from the army personal, to the volunteers, to the doctors and nurses who administered out Pfizer vaccinations and it only took 35 minutes from arriving in the car park, resting for 15 minutes after the vaccination , and actually leaving the car park.
Also the doctor was most interesting when talking about the Pfizer vaccine itself, the logistics and storage of it, and the actual method of injection
We are so grateful, and would urge everyone to follow the rules for a few more months, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Well done!
Drakeford needs to give you the second Pfizer vaccine within four weeks according to Welsh and Scottish Doctors. If he does not it is another outrageous dereliction of duty by Drakeford.
The premise posted was that Brexit is done, which is not true.
You were the one who likened Brexit to childbirth. Was your daughter "done" at the moment of birth?
Nope.
Brexit continues.
Actually I agree Brexit is a permanent state and due to Remainers and Leavers being in denial about what Brexit means, it's a state that is not at all resolved, much as people might want it to be.
However, I said "Brexit is a done deal", which is slightly different.
If workers are at their jobs ... not least at car factories (and driving buses) ... why should not people at the DVLC?
Well??
Just because a desperate newspaper and prejudiced politicians complain about a non issue... that does not make it important.
Erm, I don't think the issue is their being in the office (although it might be relevant to know why it is so many of them couldn't work from home, given that these are presumably desk based roles,) but rather the appearance at least of the Plague having spread out of control through the building.
Under current circumstances, properly functioning workplaces insist that confirmed or suspected Covid cases don't come into work, and they send close contacts home to isolate. They also do temperature monitoring at the entrance at our place, although I'm dubious as to how accurate those scanners actually are.
Anyway, if they've somehow accumulated hundreds of cases in one building then I think we're bound to wonder why.
I mean according to the Express Biden will have told the PM to rejoin the EU, what's not to love?
You have become one of those weirdo Remoaners that wants Bad Things To Happen To Britain, so as to punish us for our wicked Leave vote.
People don't want bad things to happen. But bad things ARE happening. The Department for International Trade is telling UK companies to set up EU subsidiaries and send jobs and money there. If the DiT know that Brexit means trade is fucked then the "remoaners" whine is almost funny.
The first six months of Brexit will be totally shit. The following two years will be fairly shit. You read it here first. It is a painful and expensive divorce, which benefits no one but the lawyers, like all complex divorces. Brexiteers are "lucky" this constant drizzle - and occasional monsoon - of shit will be almost entirely obscured by the global apocalypse of Covid.
In three years time, however, both sides will start to see new opportunities, new lovers, new trades, new freedoms, I predict the UK will quite enjoy its new abilities to maneuver, and the reinvigoration of its democracy.
From Brexit on, we British get to directly elect, or deselect, those who govern us. This is not the case in the EU, and there are no signs of it reforming.
In three years time we will either still have our new barriers to trade or we will have given up on them and gone back to at least customs and standards deal. Lets assume that we have doggedly insisted that we stick to the deal. I would love to know what new trading opportunities you see - the rest of the world we could already trade with, our biggest market will now no longer be traded with much as UK companies set up abroad as the only way to survive the deal.
This - very literally - is not the Brexit I voted for. This is grotesquely fucking dumb, a trade deal that stops trade. These aren't teething troubles, they are insurmountable barriers that the lying sex pest insisted on because sovereignty.
As for your final paragraph I have no argument or objection to your description of the EU. Other than to point out that the EEA is not the EU. The CU is not the EU. Walking away from the EU didn't have to involve walking away from free trade. Yet you and people like you still foam on like the EEA and CU really are the EU. Which we both know is bollox.
Lie to me, I don't care. But you are lying to yourself. Or yourselves more accurately in your particular case...
The premise posted was that Brexit is done, which is not true.
You were the one who likened Brexit to childbirth. Was your daughter "done" at the moment of birth?
Nope.
Brexit continues.
Seriously, Scott. Just forget about it. You think it was a terrible, strategic error - that's fine, and it is very arguable. I can see why you believe this.
But as I said in a comment the other day, bemoaning it constantly, yet doing nothing about, is equivalent to someone who warned about shoddy tsunami warnings in Phuket, now constantly droning on about the Asian tsunami years after the event, talking about the bloated corpses, the way the huge wave came in, muttering to himself over a dodgy Mekong whisky in Pattaya.
Either dedicate your life to solving the "problem" - become a committed Rejoiner - or just deal with the new reality, and make it work as best you can.
I mean according to the Express Biden will have told the PM to rejoin the EU, what's not to love?
You have become one of those weirdo Remoaners that wants Bad Things To Happen To Britain, so as to punish us for our wicked Leave vote.
People don't want bad things to happen. But bad things ARE happening. The Department for International Trade is telling UK companies to set up EU subsidiaries and send jobs and money there. If the DiT know that Brexit means trade is fucked then the "remoaners" whine is almost funny.
The first six months of Brexit will be totally shit. The following two years will be fairly shit. You read it here first. It is a painful and expensive divorce, which benefits no one but the lawyers, like all complex divorces. Brexiteers are "lucky" this constant drizzle - and occasional monsoon - of shit will be almost entirely obscured by the global apocalypse of Covid.
In three years time, however, both sides will start to see new opportunities, new lovers, new trades, new freedoms, I predict the UK will quite enjoy its new abilities to maneuver, and the reinvigoration of its democracy.
From Brexit on, we British get to directly elect, or deselect, those who govern us. This is not the case in the EU, and there are no signs of it reforming.
Quite right. I have a fond memory of voting for Arthur Charles Valerian Wellesley, 9th Duke of Wellington, 9th Prince of Waterloo, 9th Duke of Victoria, 10th Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo. I'm trying to remember when his seat is up for re-election... perhaps you can remind me so I can vote for him once again?
I can state with absolute clarity it was not my wife or I who were invited to our vaccinations today by Betsi Cadwaladr
You're positively cherpy following the shots. Good on you Big G and Mrs Big G.
Thank you and we are both grateful and incredibly impressed with the whole operation. The kindness shown by everyone from the army personal, to the volunteers, to the doctors and nurses who administered out Pfizer vaccinations and it only took 35 minutes from arriving in the car park, resting for 15 minutes after the vaccination , and actually leaving the car park.
Also the doctor was most interesting when talking about the Pfizer vaccine itself, the logistics and storage of it, and the actual method of injection
We are so grateful, and would urge everyone to follow the rules for a few more months, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Well done!
Drakeford needs to give you the second Pfizer vaccine within four weeks according to Welsh and Scottish Doctors. If he does not it is another outrageous dereliction of duty by Drakeford.
Drakeford never crossed my mind other than he is inept, but the doctor did say the second dose will be in 11 weeks or less and they will text us. You receive a personal vaccine record card with the name of the vaccine, the batch number and venue, and you are required to present it for the second injection where it will be updated and effectively becomes written confirmation of your dates of covid vaccinations
Presumably Boris was literally on his knees, begging to be forgiven for that bust nonsense. Nevertheless, I approve of the fact that Boris is doing his bit to exorcise the spectre of Trump. (I suspect Boris is secretly ashamed of both his dalliance with Trump and Brexit and wants us to regard them as a mere unfortunately blip.)
Is that his desk? Wrong college on the wall, phones set up for left hander which he isn't, clunky looking computer. Caught on the hop?
Or not ...
Do you think old Biden just picks up the phone and calls +44 etc to ring the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
Dearest Scott, how are you going to reverse it? Do tell
We should just let Scott be Scott. It takes all sorts to make PB's rich tapestry. I quite like thinking we'll all be posting 20 years from now (that's an order everyone - stay healthy) and that Scott will still have a dastardly scheme to get us back in to the EU. It's quite endearing really.
Never mind anything else, look at what it says at the end of that clipping. The current numbers of arrivals - about 10,000 a DAY?!?! I mean, who the fuck are all this lot?
I can state with absolute clarity it was not my wife or I who were invited to our vaccinations today by Betsi Cadwaladr
You're positively cherpy following the shots. Good on you Big G and Mrs Big G.
Thank you and we are both grateful and incredibly impressed with the whole operation. The kindness shown by everyone from the army personal, to the volunteers, to the doctors and nurses who administered out Pfizer vaccinations and it only took 35 minutes from arriving in the car park, resting for 15 minutes after the vaccination , and actually leaving the car park.
Also the doctor was most interesting when talking about the Pfizer vaccine itself, the logistics and storage of it, and the actual method of injection
We are so grateful, and would urge everyone to follow the rules for a few more months, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Well done on getting your jabs.
I hope you warned the doctor that you are the North Wales Correspondent for a major media outlet! 😉
I was so impressed by her, just lovely and caring, explained a lot about the vaccine itself, and even though we were through the process in 35 minutes, she took her time and I did check if she had been vaccinated and she affirmed all the medical staff had
Good news that you and Mrs Big G have got it! Hopefully Boris can crack on with it and all those post 50 + medical problems have it by 31 March.
Don't forget to vote Drakeford to show your gratitude! 😊👍
Never mind anything else, look at what it says at the end of that clipping. The current numbers of arrivals - about 10,000 a DAY?!?! I mean, who the fuck are all this lot?
All these people who went on "essential" business during the dark days of winter.....its an absolute f##king joke. Some people have just been taking the piss for the whole pandemic.
I can state with absolute clarity it was not my wife or I who were invited to our vaccinations today by Betsi Cadwaladr
You're positively cherpy following the shots. Good on you Big G and Mrs Big G.
Thank you and we are both grateful and incredibly impressed with the whole operation. The kindness shown by everyone from the army personal, to the volunteers, to the doctors and nurses who administered out Pfizer vaccinations and it only took 35 minutes from arriving in the car park, resting for 15 minutes after the vaccination , and actually leaving the car park.
Also the doctor was most interesting when talking about the Pfizer vaccine itself, the logistics and storage of it, and the actual method of injection
We are so grateful, and would urge everyone to follow the rules for a few more months, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Well done!
Drakeford needs to give you the second Pfizer vaccine within four weeks according to Welsh and Scottish Doctors. If he does not it is another outrageous dereliction of duty by Drakeford.
Drakeford never crossed my mind other than he is inept, but the doctor did say the second dose will be in 11 weeks or less and they will text us. You receive a personal vaccine record card with the name of the vaccine, the batch number and venue, and you are required to present it for the second injection where it will be updated and effectively becomes written confirmation of your dates of covid vaccinations
BMA is slating Drakeford's 12 week second dose strategy.
I mean according to the Express Biden will have told the PM to rejoin the EU, what's not to love?
You have become one of those weirdo Remoaners that wants Bad Things To Happen To Britain, so as to punish us for our wicked Leave vote.
People don't want bad things to happen. But bad things ARE happening. The Department for International Trade is telling UK companies to set up EU subsidiaries and send jobs and money there. If the DiT know that Brexit means trade is fucked then the "remoaners" whine is almost funny.
The first six months of Brexit will be totally shit. The following two years will be fairly shit. You read it here first. It is a painful and expensive divorce, which benefits no one but the lawyers, like all complex divorces. Brexiteers are "lucky" this constant drizzle - and occasional monsoon - of shit will be almost entirely obscured by the global apocalypse of Covid.
In three years time, however, both sides will start to see new opportunities, new lovers, new trades, new freedoms, I predict the UK will quite enjoy its new abilities to maneuver, and the reinvigoration of its democracy.
From Brexit on, we British get to directly elect, or deselect, those who govern us. This is not the case in the EU, and there are no signs of it reforming.
In three years time we will either still have our new barriers to trade or we will have given up on them and gone back to at least customs and standards deal. Lets assume that we have doggedly insisted that we stick to the deal. I would love to know what new trading opportunities you see - the rest of the world we could already trade with, our biggest market will now no longer be traded with much as UK companies set up abroad as the only way to survive the deal.
This - very literally - is not the Brexit I voted for. This is grotesquely fucking dumb, a trade deal that stops trade. These aren't teething troubles, they are insurmountable barriers that the lying sex pest insisted on because sovereignty.
As for your final paragraph I have no argument or objection to your description of the EU. Other than to point out that the EEA is not the EU. The CU is not the EU. Walking away from the EU didn't have to involve walking away from free trade. Yet you and people like you still foam on like the EEA and CU really are the EU. Which we both know is bollox.
Lie to me, I don't care. But you are lying to yourself. Or yourselves more accurately in your particular case...
We now elect and reject those who govern us. As a wealthy flint-knapper, I am prepared to take a GDP hit for this. I can see how this annoys people, but WTF.
I also believe greater democracy will lead, ultimately, to greater freedom and prosperity in the future. Could be ten-twenty years before we see it, mind. My children will benefit, not me
I mean according to the Express Biden will have told the PM to rejoin the EU, what's not to love?
You have become one of those weirdo Remoaners that wants Bad Things To Happen To Britain, so as to punish us for our wicked Leave vote.
People don't want bad things to happen. But bad things ARE happening. The Department for International Trade is telling UK companies to set up EU subsidiaries and send jobs and money there. If the DiT know that Brexit means trade is fucked then the "remoaners" whine is almost funny.
The first six months of Brexit will be totally shit. The following two years will be fairly shit. You read it here first. It is a painful and expensive divorce, which benefits no one but the lawyers, like all complex divorces. Brexiteers are "lucky" this constant drizzle - and occasional monsoon - of shit will be almost entirely obscured by the global apocalypse of Covid.
In three years time, however, both sides will start to see new opportunities, new lovers, new trades, new freedoms, I predict the UK will quite enjoy its new abilities to maneuver, and the reinvigoration of its democracy.
From Brexit on, we British get to directly elect, or deselect, those who govern us. This is not the case in the EU, and there are no signs of it reforming.
"Globalism" is a dirty word in many countries a long way away from the EU precisely because of the perception that elected politicians are in control of less and less. What if it turns out that being in the EU actually mitigated this?
I can state with absolute clarity it was not my wife or I who were invited to our vaccinations today by Betsi Cadwaladr
You're positively cherpy following the shots. Good on you Big G and Mrs Big G.
Thank you and we are both grateful and incredibly impressed with the whole operation. The kindness shown by everyone from the army personal, to the volunteers, to the doctors and nurses who administered out Pfizer vaccinations and it only took 35 minutes from arriving in the car park, resting for 15 minutes after the vaccination , and actually leaving the car park.
Also the doctor was most interesting when talking about the Pfizer vaccine itself, the logistics and storage of it, and the actual method of injection
We are so grateful, and would urge everyone to follow the rules for a few more months, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Well done!
Drakeford needs to give you the second Pfizer vaccine within four weeks according to Welsh and Scottish Doctors. If he does not it is another outrageous dereliction of duty by Drakeford.
Drakeford never crossed my mind other than he is inept, but the doctor did say the second dose will be in 11 weeks or less and they will text us. You receive a personal vaccine record card with the name of the vaccine, the batch number and venue, and you are required to present it for the second injection where it will be updated and effectively becomes written confirmation of your dates of covid vaccinations
BMA is slating Drakeford's 12 week second dose strategy.
I also believe greater democracy will lead, ultimately, to greater freedom and prosperity in the future. Could be ten-twenty years before we see it, mind. My children will benefit, not me
The breakup of the UK benefits nobody, especially your children.
Presumably Boris was literally on his knees, begging to be forgiven for that bust nonsense. Nevertheless, I approve of the fact that Boris is doing his bit to exorcise the spectre of Trump. (I suspect Boris is secretly ashamed of both his dalliance with Trump and Brexit and wants us to regard them as a mere unfortunately blip.)
Is that his desk? Wrong college on the wall, phones set up for left hander which he isn't, clunky looking computer. Caught on the hop?
The "dog that didn't bark" is the absence of at least four ginormous union flags flanking Johnson at the time of the call. I mean, Liz Truss has a couple in her kitchen - between the fridge and the microwave. She is properly prepared.
Presumably Boris was literally on his knees, begging to be forgiven for that bust nonsense. Nevertheless, I approve of the fact that Boris is doing his bit to exorcise the spectre of Trump. (I suspect Boris is secretly ashamed of both his dalliance with Trump and Brexit and wants us to regard them as a mere unfortunately blip.)
Is that his desk? Wrong college on the wall, phones set up for left hander which he isn't, clunky looking computer. Caught on the hop?
Or not ...
Do you think old Biden just picks up the phone and calls +44 etc to ring the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
Dearest Scott, how are you going to reverse it? Do tell
We should just let Scott be Scott. It takes all sorts to make PB's rich tapestry. I quite like thinking we'll all be posting 20 years from now (that's an order everyone - stay healthy) and that Scott will still have a dastardly scheme to get us back in to the EU. It's quite endearing really.
I can say with certainty I will not be posting in 20 years, even 10, but while I am I hope that along the way the UK does achieve a successful Brexit
I mean according to the Express Biden will have told the PM to rejoin the EU, what's not to love?
You have become one of those weirdo Remoaners that wants Bad Things To Happen To Britain, so as to punish us for our wicked Leave vote.
People don't want bad things to happen. But bad things ARE happening. The Department for International Trade is telling UK companies to set up EU subsidiaries and send jobs and money there. If the DiT know that Brexit means trade is fucked then the "remoaners" whine is almost funny.
The first six months of Brexit will be totally shit. The following two years will be fairly shit. You read it here first. It is a painful and expensive divorce, which benefits no one but the lawyers, like all complex divorces. Brexiteers are "lucky" this constant drizzle - and occasional monsoon - of shit will be almost entirely obscured by the global apocalypse of Covid.
In three years time, however, both sides will start to see new opportunities, new lovers, new trades, new freedoms, I predict the UK will quite enjoy its new abilities to maneuver, and the reinvigoration of its democracy.
From Brexit on, we British get to directly elect, or deselect, those who govern us. This is not the case in the EU, and there are no signs of it reforming.
In three years time we will either still have our new barriers to trade or we will have given up on them and gone back to at least customs and standards deal. Lets assume that we have doggedly insisted that we stick to the deal. I would love to know what new trading opportunities you see - the rest of the world we could already trade with, our biggest market will now no longer be traded with much as UK companies set up abroad as the only way to survive the deal.
This - very literally - is not the Brexit I voted for. This is grotesquely fucking dumb, a trade deal that stops trade. These aren't teething troubles, they are insurmountable barriers that the lying sex pest insisted on because sovereignty.
As for your final paragraph I have no argument or objection to your description of the EU. Other than to point out that the EEA is not the EU. The CU is not the EU. Walking away from the EU didn't have to involve walking away from free trade. Yet you and people like you still foam on like the EEA and CU really are the EU. Which we both know is bollox.
Lie to me, I don't care. But you are lying to yourself. Or yourselves more accurately in your particular case...
The coming years will be all about sorting out Boris's mess. As you rightly say, we can't carry on like this. My own employer, for example, has had to hire a proxy in the Netherlands to be able to distribute to the EU - a ludicrous situation. Although it will take years, the goal now will be to quietly and coolly go about rebuilding for a time when Boris, Farage and the other zanies are all but forgotten.
Dearest Scott, how are you going to reverse it? Do tell
We should just let Scott be Scott. It takes all sorts to make PB's rich tapestry. I quite like thinking we'll all be posting 20 years from now (that's an order everyone - stay healthy) and that Scott will still have a dastardly scheme to get us back in to the EU. It's quite endearing really.
I can say with certainty I will not be posting in 20 years, even 10, but while I am I hope that along the way the UK does achieve a successful Brexit
Big G, Jack W posts and he is rumoured to be 115 so you have a good chance of 20 more years' posting. But we will still be talking about Brexit.
That story at the bottom of the Telegraph front page: "£1000 benefit payments to boost economy" would, if true, surely be one of the stupidest ideas ever from the Treasury.
Of course the £20 pw UC uplift should be continued, but to pay it as a one-off lump sum in the middle of a pandemic where significant lockdown restrictions are inevitably still going to be in place is utter madness!
People who can barely manage on UC with the uplift, let alone without, many of whom are not especially competent with money are going to be tempted to splurge the cash on unnecessary 'stuff' they later regret and/or will seek to spend it in ways that challenge the lockdown restrictions. Bad idea.
If HMG is genuinely unwilling to extend the £20 uplift indefinitely, just extend it for a year at this point for the same cost as the £1000 one-off payment and kick the decision into 2022.
Presumably Boris was literally on his knees, begging to be forgiven for that bust nonsense. Nevertheless, I approve of the fact that Boris is doing his bit to exorcise the spectre of Trump. (I suspect Boris is secretly ashamed of both his dalliance with Trump and Brexit and wants us to regard them as a mere unfortunately blip.)
Is that his desk? Wrong college on the wall, phones set up for left hander which he isn't, clunky looking computer. Caught on the hop?
The "dog that didn't bark" is the absence of at least four ginormous union flags flanking Johnson at the time of the call. I mean, Liz Truss has a couple in her kitchen - between the fridge and the microwave. She is properly prepared.
I think it's pretty clear what happened here. Boris upped his game to four whole flags when Keir went flagging as well, but this arms race was unhealthy and destructive to all.
Boris demonstrated his statesmanlike behaviour by taking the first step to deescalate the situation, in the hopes Keir will also stand down, and we should all be grateful for his action to soothe tensions.
That story at the bottom of the Telegraph front page: "£1000 benefit payments to boost economy" would, if true, surely be one of the stupidest ideas ever from the Treasury.
Of course the £20 pw UC uplift should be continued, but to pay it as a one-off lump sum in the middle of a pandemic where significant lockdown restrictions are inevitably still going to be in place is utter madness!
People who can barely manage on UC with the uplift, let alone without, many of whom are not especially competent with money are going to be tempted to splurge the cash on unnecessary 'stuff' they later regret and/or will seek to spend it in ways that challenge the lockdown restrictions. Bad idea.
If HMG is genuinely unwilling to extend the £20 uplift indefinitely, just extend it for a year at this point for the same cost as the £1000 one-off payment and kick the decision into 2022.
Stupidest idea ever? Similar schemes have been used in other countries.
I can state with absolute clarity it was not my wife or I who were invited to our vaccinations today by Betsi Cadwaladr
You're positively cherpy following the shots. Good on you Big G and Mrs Big G.
Thank you and we are both grateful and incredibly impressed with the whole operation. The kindness shown by everyone from the army personal, to the volunteers, to the doctors and nurses who administered out Pfizer vaccinations and it only took 35 minutes from arriving in the car park, resting for 15 minutes after the vaccination , and actually leaving the car park.
Also the doctor was most interesting when talking about the Pfizer vaccine itself, the logistics and storage of it, and the actual method of injection
We are so grateful, and would urge everyone to follow the rules for a few more months, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Well done on getting your jabs.
I hope you warned the doctor that you are the North Wales Correspondent for a major media outlet! 😉
I was so impressed by her, just lovely and caring, explained a lot about the vaccine itself, and even though we were through the process in 35 minutes, she took her time and I did check if she had been vaccinated and she affirmed all the medical staff had
Good news that you and Mrs Big G have got it! Hopefully Boris can crack on with it and all those post 50 + medical problems have it by 31 March.
Don't forget to vote Drakeford to show your gratitude! 😊👍
The key thing is that when people say government they need to realise that in this case that means the MHRA, JCVI, CMOs, and public health bodies have agreed on this approach. It's not like Drakeford, or Boris or any other politician, just picked a schedule out of thin air. People who ought to know what they are doing think that the more people we vaccinate and sooner the quicker we will bring down cases and save more lives. Critics need to explain why they think it is better to more slowly vaccinate fewer people.
Dearest Scott, how are you going to reverse it? Do tell
We should just let Scott be Scott. It takes all sorts to make PB's rich tapestry. I quite like thinking we'll all be posting 20 years from now (that's an order everyone - stay healthy) and that Scott will still have a dastardly scheme to get us back in to the EU. It's quite endearing really.
I can say with certainty I will not be posting in 20 years, even 10, but while I am I hope that along the way the UK does achieve a successful Brexit
Nonsense. You cannot say that with any certainty whatsoever. I am draining the last of my dram of Scotch to your next PB decade.
I also believe greater democracy will lead, ultimately, to greater freedom and prosperity in the future. Could be ten-twenty years before we see it, mind. My children will benefit, not me
The breakup of the UK benefits nobody, especially your children.
I don't believe it will break up. BoJo will obviously deny a referendum, and long-grass it with a Commission on Federalism. The Norns will realise they got a massively lucky deal (inside the SM and CU but also inside the UK).
Even if it did break up the UK, it would - just about - be worth it. The EU Constitution/Lisbon Treaty was an outrage against democracy. It was a rape of democracy. Fuck the EU. Fuck the europhiles who wanted to INGORE or even REVOKE the referendum. Their behaviour showed their true colours.
They had to be defeated, and visibly defeated. The referendum had to be honoured, or we were no longer the country we thought. An ancient and honourable democracy, home to the Mother of Parliaments.
Thank God, at the end, we saw sense. We honoured the vote. We remain democratic. Every single British voter now knows that, when they go out to vote, that vote will be respected, and obeyed. No matter how uncomfortable it is for the elite, metropolitan Londoners and their friends in the shires.
This is beyond precious. Britons have had it confirmed that our democracy WORKS. The politicians are the employees of the PEOPLE.
Imagine what might have happened if people like you had got their way, and the referendum had been reversed or ignored. Unthinkable. We'd be headed for US-style Trumpite insurrection.
I mean according to the Express Biden will have told the PM to rejoin the EU, what's not to love?
You have become one of those weirdo Remoaners that wants Bad Things To Happen To Britain, so as to punish us for our wicked Leave vote.
People don't want bad things to happen. But bad things ARE happening. The Department for International Trade is telling UK companies to set up EU subsidiaries and send jobs and money there. If the DiT know that Brexit means trade is fucked then the "remoaners" whine is almost funny.
The first six months of Brexit will be totally shit. The following two years will be fairly shit. You read it here first. It is a painful and expensive divorce, which benefits no one but the lawyers, like all complex divorces. Brexiteers are "lucky" this constant drizzle - and occasional monsoon - of shit will be almost entirely obscured by the global apocalypse of Covid.
In three years time, however, both sides will start to see new opportunities, new lovers, new trades, new freedoms, I predict the UK will quite enjoy its new abilities to maneuver, and the reinvigoration of its democracy.
From Brexit on, we British get to directly elect, or deselect, those who govern us. This is not the case in the EU, and there are no signs of it reforming.
In three years time we will either still have our new barriers to trade or we will have given up on them and gone back to at least customs and standards deal. Lets assume that we have doggedly insisted that we stick to the deal. I would love to know what new trading opportunities you see - the rest of the world we could already trade with, our biggest market will now no longer be traded with much as UK companies set up abroad as the only way to survive the deal.
This - very literally - is not the Brexit I voted for. This is grotesquely fucking dumb, a trade deal that stops trade. These aren't teething troubles, they are insurmountable barriers that the lying sex pest insisted on because sovereignty.
As for your final paragraph I have no argument or objection to your description of the EU. Other than to point out that the EEA is not the EU. The CU is not the EU. Walking away from the EU didn't have to involve walking away from free trade. Yet you and people like you still foam on like the EEA and CU really are the EU. Which we both know is bollox.
Lie to me, I don't care. But you are lying to yourself. Or yourselves more accurately in your particular case...
The coming years will be all about sorting out Boris's mess. As you rightly say, we can't carry on like this. My own employer, for example, has had to hire a proxy in the Netherlands to be able to distribute to the EU - a ludicrous situation. Although it will take years, the goal now will be to quietly and coolly go about rebuilding for a time when Boris, Farage and the other zanies are all but forgotten.
Correct. People are fed up with Brexit and would rather not engage with the nonsense that is the inevitable consequence of it, but we don't have the choice. If all the effects essentially are bad that drives the effort towards making them less bad, rather than finding new vague"opportunities". As a lot of the mitigations are at the discretion of the EU, they will name a price for their consent. We will have decide whether we are prepared to pay it.
People who can barely manage on UC with the uplift, let alone without, many of whom are not especially competent with money are going to be tempted to splurge the cash on unnecessary 'stuff' they later regret and/or will seek to spend it in ways that challenge the lockdown restrictions. Bad idea.
Presumably Boris was literally on his knees, begging to be forgiven for that bust nonsense. Nevertheless, I approve of the fact that Boris is doing his bit to exorcise the spectre of Trump. (I suspect Boris is secretly ashamed of both his dalliance with Trump and Brexit and wants us to regard them as a mere unfortunately blip.)
Is that his desk? Wrong college on the wall, phones set up for left hander which he isn't, clunky looking computer. Caught on the hop?
The "dog that didn't bark" is the absence of at least four ginormous union flags flanking Johnson at the time of the call. I mean, Liz Truss has a couple in her kitchen - between the fridge and the microwave. She is properly prepared.
I think it's pretty clear what happened here. Boris upped his game to four whole flags when Keir went flagging as well, but this arms race was unhealthy and destructive to all.
Boris demonstrated his statesmanlike behaviour by taking the first step to deescalate the situation, in the hopes Keir will also stand down, and we should all be grateful for his action to soothe tensions.
We need a SFLT and a STFRT, with the parties authorised to carry out unannounced wildcat fleg inspections of each others' premises.
Dearest Scott, how are you going to reverse it? Do tell
We should just let Scott be Scott. It takes all sorts to make PB's rich tapestry. I quite like thinking we'll all be posting 20 years from now (that's an order everyone - stay healthy) and that Scott will still have a dastardly scheme to get us back in to the EU. It's quite endearing really.
I can say with certainty I will not be posting in 20 years, even 10, but while I am I hope that along the way the UK does achieve a successful Brexit
Nonsense. You cannot say that with any certainty whatsoever. I am draining the last of my dram of Scotch to your next PB decade.
You are very generous but I doubt I will be posting when I turn 100
Presumably Boris was literally on his knees, begging to be forgiven for that bust nonsense. Nevertheless, I approve of the fact that Boris is doing his bit to exorcise the spectre of Trump. (I suspect Boris is secretly ashamed of both his dalliance with Trump and Brexit and wants us to regard them as a mere unfortunately blip.)
Is that his desk? Wrong college on the wall, phones set up for left hander which he isn't, clunky looking computer. Caught on the hop?
The "dog that didn't bark" is the absence of at least four ginormous union flags flanking Johnson at the time of the call. I mean, Liz Truss has a couple in her kitchen - between the fridge and the microwave. She is properly prepared.
I think it's pretty clear what happened here. Boris upped his game to four whole flags when Keir went flagging as well, but this arms race was unhealthy and destructive to all.
Boris demonstrated his statesmanlike behaviour by taking the first step to deescalate the situation, in the hopes Keir will also stand down, and we should all be grateful for his action to soothe tensions.
Boris may have deescalated the flag war but has surely inflamed another by not photoshopping in half a dozen busts of FDR. And going back to an earlier point, aren't the phones set up for a right-handed caller (phone in the left hand; take notes with the right)? Still, it was lucky a photographer just happened to be passing.
I also believe greater democracy will lead, ultimately, to greater freedom and prosperity in the future. Could be ten-twenty years before we see it, mind. My children will benefit, not me
The breakup of the UK benefits nobody, especially your children.
BoJo will obviously deny a referendum ... We remain democratic. Every single British voter now knows that, when they go out to vote, that vote will be respected, and obeyed. No matter how uncomfortable it is for the elite, metropolitan Londoners and their friends in the shires.
I can state with absolute clarity it was not my wife or I who were invited to our vaccinations today by Betsi Cadwaladr
You're positively cherpy following the shots. Good on you Big G and Mrs Big G.
Thank you and we are both grateful and incredibly impressed with the whole operation. The kindness shown by everyone from the army personal, to the volunteers, to the doctors and nurses who administered out Pfizer vaccinations and it only took 35 minutes from arriving in the car park, resting for 15 minutes after the vaccination , and actually leaving the car park.
Also the doctor was most interesting when talking about the Pfizer vaccine itself, the logistics and storage of it, and the actual method of injection
We are so grateful, and would urge everyone to follow the rules for a few more months, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Well done!
Drakeford needs to give you the second Pfizer vaccine within four weeks according to Welsh and Scottish Doctors. If he does not it is another outrageous dereliction of duty by Drakeford.
Drakeford never crossed my mind other than he is inept, but the doctor did say the second dose will be in 11 weeks or less and they will text us. You receive a personal vaccine record card with the name of the vaccine, the batch number and venue, and you are required to present it for the second injection where it will be updated and effectively becomes written confirmation of your dates of covid vaccinations
BMA is slating Drakeford's 12 week second dose strategy.
I also believe greater democracy will lead, ultimately, to greater freedom and prosperity in the future. Could be ten-twenty years before we see it, mind. My children will benefit, not me
The breakup of the UK benefits nobody, especially your children.
I don't believe it will break up. BoJo will obviously deny a referendum, and long-grass it with a Commission on Federalism. The Norns will realise they got a massively lucky deal (inside the SM and CU but also inside the UK).
Even if it did break up the UK, it would - just about - be worth it. The EU Constitution/Lisbon Treaty was an outrage against democracy. It was a rape of democracy. Fuck the EU. Fuck the europhiles who wanted to INGORE or even REVOKE the referendum. Their behaviour showed their true colours.
They had to be defeated, and visibly defeated. The referendum had to be honoured, or we were no longer the country we thought. An ancient and honourable democracy, home to the Mother of Parliaments.
Thank God, at the end, we saw sense. We honoured the vote. We remain democratic. Every single British voter now knows that, when they go out to vote, that vote will be respected, and obeyed. No matter how uncomfortable it is for the elite, metropolitan Londoners and their friends in the shires.
This is beyond precious. Britons have had it confirmed that our democracy WORKS. The politicians are the employees of the PEOPLE.
Imagine what might have happened if people like you had got their way, and the referendum had been reversed or ignored. Unthinkable. We'd be headed for US-style Trumpite insurrection.
Not sure that Norniron will benefit that much. As trade internally within the UK is now really difficult thanks to the Conservative and Unionist Party, Norniron is being reconfigured to be supplied and supply the Republic and the EU, not the rest of the UK.
As for all your mouth-foaming about democracy, that is all about the EU. None of it applies to the EEA or CU which are not the EU.
You are talking Bollocks. You Know you are talking Bollocks.
Presumably Boris was literally on his knees, begging to be forgiven for that bust nonsense. Nevertheless, I approve of the fact that Boris is doing his bit to exorcise the spectre of Trump. (I suspect Boris is secretly ashamed of both his dalliance with Trump and Brexit and wants us to regard them as a mere unfortunately blip.)
Is that his desk? Wrong college on the wall, phones set up for left hander which he isn't, clunky looking computer. Caught on the hop?
The "dog that didn't bark" is the absence of at least four ginormous union flags flanking Johnson at the time of the call. I mean, Liz Truss has a couple in her kitchen - between the fridge and the microwave. She is properly prepared.
I think it's pretty clear what happened here. Boris upped his game to four whole flags when Keir went flagging as well, but this arms race was unhealthy and destructive to all.
Boris demonstrated his statesmanlike behaviour by taking the first step to deescalate the situation, in the hopes Keir will also stand down, and we should all be grateful for his action to soothe tensions.
Boris may have deescalated the flag war but has surely inflamed another by not photoshopping in half a dozen busts of FDR. And going back to an earlier point, aren't the phones set up for a right-handed caller (phone in the left hand; take notes with the right)? Still, it was lucky a photographer just happened to be passing.
I've never really understood the official communication 'picture of X on the phone with Y' thing. I mean, most big stories come with photos and weird people on both sides of politics pretend such things are big stories (and they might also do it not for a first call, but during some crisis when they speak), so I hope it is just that and not that they are worried people won't believe a call took place unless we show a photo of X on the phone.
The first government caught out for reusing an old photo, or being shown to have lined up a dozen 'I'm on the phone' shots in advance for future use, will earn my respect.
I mean according to the Express Biden will have told the PM to rejoin the EU, what's not to love?
You have become one of those weirdo Remoaners that wants Bad Things To Happen To Britain, so as to punish us for our wicked Leave vote.
People don't want bad things to happen. But bad things ARE happening. The Department for International Trade is telling UK companies to set up EU subsidiaries and send jobs and money there. If the DiT know that Brexit means trade is fucked then the "remoaners" whine is almost funny.
The first six months of Brexit will be totally shit. The following two years will be fairly shit. You read it here first. It is a painful and expensive divorce, which benefits no one but the lawyers, like all complex divorces. Brexiteers are "lucky" this constant drizzle - and occasional monsoon - of shit will be almost entirely obscured by the global apocalypse of Covid.
In three years time, however, both sides will start to see new opportunities, new lovers, new trades, new freedoms, I predict the UK will quite enjoy its new abilities to maneuver, and the reinvigoration of its democracy.
From Brexit on, we British get to directly elect, or deselect, those who govern us. This is not the case in the EU, and there are no signs of it reforming.
In three years time we will either still have our new barriers to trade or we will have given up on them and gone back to at least customs and standards deal. Lets assume that we have doggedly insisted that we stick to the deal. I would love to know what new trading opportunities you see - the rest of the world we could already trade with, our biggest market will now no longer be traded with much as UK companies set up abroad as the only way to survive the deal.
This - very literally - is not the Brexit I voted for. This is grotesquely fucking dumb, a trade deal that stops trade. These aren't teething troubles, they are insurmountable barriers that the lying sex pest insisted on because sovereignty.
As for your final paragraph I have no argument or objection to your description of the EU. Other than to point out that the EEA is not the EU. The CU is not the EU. Walking away from the EU didn't have to involve walking away from free trade. Yet you and people like you still foam on like the EEA and CU really are the EU. Which we both know is bollox.
Lie to me, I don't care. But you are lying to yourself. Or yourselves more accurately in your particular case...
Here's the dilemma.
On one hand, everyone's fed up, everyone wants to move on, in the short term it would be good to make the Johnson Plan work.
But there are reasonable reasons to think that the Johnson Plan is unworkable. Certainly now, and quite possibly forever, without unacceptable costs.
If the Johnson Plan really is unworkable, the sooner we work out what Plan B is, and move to it, the better. (Whisper it, but the business logistics probably involve EEA-ish, and then the democratic argument implies that EU membership is preferable to following the rules with no say.)
So. The dilemma. If you accept that a democratic decision has been taken, but you have reason to believe that it's a really bad decision that can't be finessed, what's your democratic duty? To shut up, or keep arguing? Especially if you don't have the need to get elected?
That story at the bottom of the Telegraph front page: "£1000 benefit payments to boost economy" would, if true, surely be one of the stupidest ideas ever from the Treasury.
Of course the £20 pw UC uplift should be continued, but to pay it as a one-off lump sum in the middle of a pandemic where significant lockdown restrictions are inevitably still going to be in place is utter madness!
People who can barely manage on UC with the uplift, let alone without, many of whom are not especially competent with money are going to be tempted to splurge the cash on unnecessary 'stuff' they later regret and/or will seek to spend it in ways that challenge the lockdown restrictions. Bad idea.
If HMG is genuinely unwilling to extend the £20 uplift indefinitely, just extend it for a year at this point for the same cost as the £1000 one-off payment and kick the decision into 2022.
Politically that would be a dangerous move.
As we've seen with the hand wringing over fsm, which were only ever a term time commitment, there would be clamour to continue it ad infinitum.
And of course we know that ongoing expenditure requires tax rises; whereas one off cost can be paid off/inflated away over the decades.....
Presumably Boris was literally on his knees, begging to be forgiven for that bust nonsense. Nevertheless, I approve of the fact that Boris is doing his bit to exorcise the spectre of Trump. (I suspect Boris is secretly ashamed of both his dalliance with Trump and Brexit and wants us to regard them as a mere unfortunately blip.)
Is that his desk? Wrong college on the wall, phones set up for left hander which he isn't, clunky looking computer. Caught on the hop?
The "dog that didn't bark" is the absence of at least four ginormous union flags flanking Johnson at the time of the call. I mean, Liz Truss has a couple in her kitchen - between the fridge and the microwave. She is properly prepared.
I think it's pretty clear what happened here. Boris upped his game to four whole flags when Keir went flagging as well, but this arms race was unhealthy and destructive to all.
Boris demonstrated his statesmanlike behaviour by taking the first step to deescalate the situation, in the hopes Keir will also stand down, and we should all be grateful for his action to soothe tensions.
Boris may have deescalated the flag war but has surely inflamed another by not photoshopping in half a dozen busts of FDR. And going back to an earlier point, aren't the phones set up for a right-handed caller (phone in the left hand; take notes with the right)? Still, it was lucky a photographer just happened to be passing.
I think, as a diplomatic maneuver, Boris should now erect a 1200 metre high, hardened whale-wax statue of Theodore Roosevelt, in St James' Park, depicting him hunting buffalo.
That story at the bottom of the Telegraph front page: "£1000 benefit payments to boost economy" would, if true, surely be one of the stupidest ideas ever from the Treasury.
Of course the £20 pw UC uplift should be continued, but to pay it as a one-off lump sum in the middle of a pandemic where significant lockdown restrictions are inevitably still going to be in place is utter madness!
People who can barely manage on UC with the uplift, let alone without, many of whom are not especially competent with money are going to be tempted to splurge the cash on unnecessary 'stuff' they later regret and/or will seek to spend it in ways that challenge the lockdown restrictions. Bad idea.
If HMG is genuinely unwilling to extend the £20 uplift indefinitely, just extend it for a year at this point for the same cost as the £1000 one-off payment and kick the decision into 2022.
Politically that would be a dangerous move.
As we've seen with the hand wringing over fsm, which were only ever a term time commitment, there would be clamour to continue it ad infinitum.
And of course we know that ongoing expenditure requires tax rises; whereas one off cost can be paid off/inflated away over the decades.....
What then was the logic of the £20 uplift in the first place? The politically 'dangerous move' was made last March.
I mean according to the Express Biden will have told the PM to rejoin the EU, what's not to love?
You have become one of those weirdo Remoaners that wants Bad Things To Happen To Britain, so as to punish us for our wicked Leave vote.
People don't want bad things to happen. But bad things ARE happening. The Department for International Trade is telling UK companies to set up EU subsidiaries and send jobs and money there. If the DiT know that Brexit means trade is fucked then the "remoaners" whine is almost funny.
The first six months of Brexit will be totally shit. The following two years will be fairly shit. You read it here first. It is a painful and expensive divorce, which benefits no one but the lawyers, like all complex divorces. Brexiteers are "lucky" this constant drizzle - and occasional monsoon - of shit will be almost entirely obscured by the global apocalypse of Covid.
In three years time, however, both sides will start to see new opportunities, new lovers, new trades, new freedoms, I predict the UK will quite enjoy its new abilities to maneuver, and the reinvigoration of its democracy.
From Brexit on, we British get to directly elect, or deselect, those who govern us. This is not the case in the EU, and there are no signs of it reforming.
In three years time we will either still have our new barriers to trade or we will have given up on them and gone back to at least customs and standards deal. Lets assume that we have doggedly insisted that we stick to the deal. I would love to know what new trading opportunities you see - the rest of the world we could already trade with, our biggest market will now no longer be traded with much as UK companies set up abroad as the only way to survive the deal.
This - very literally - is not the Brexit I voted for. This is grotesquely fucking dumb, a trade deal that stops trade. These aren't teething troubles, they are insurmountable barriers that the lying sex pest insisted on because sovereignty.
As for your final paragraph I have no argument or objection to your description of the EU. Other than to point out that the EEA is not the EU. The CU is not the EU. Walking away from the EU didn't have to involve walking away from free trade. Yet you and people like you still foam on like the EEA and CU really are the EU. Which we both know is bollox.
Lie to me, I don't care. But you are lying to yourself. Or yourselves more accurately in your particular case...
The coming years will be all about sorting out Boris's mess. As you rightly say, we can't carry on like this. My own employer, for example, has had to hire a proxy in the Netherlands to be able to distribute to the EU - a ludicrous situation. Although it will take years, the goal now will be to quietly and coolly go about rebuilding for a time when Boris, Farage and the other zanies are all but forgotten.
Correct. People are fed up with Brexit and would rather not engage with the nonsense that is the inevitable consequence of it, but we don't have the choice. If all the effects essentially are bad that drives the effort towards making them less bad, rather than finding new vague"opportunities". As a lot of the mitigations are at the discretion of the EU, they will name a price for their consent. We will have decide whether we are prepared to pay it.
Most of us don't have to engage with it. The bulk of the UK economy is domestic and roughly half of international trade is outside the EU as well.
People are fed up with Brexit, but most of the population can happily ignore it. The most they'll have to do with its consequences is having to go through the dirty foreigner gate when they fly in for their holidays, in whatever year those are allowed again.
Presumably Boris was literally on his knees, begging to be forgiven for that bust nonsense. Nevertheless, I approve of the fact that Boris is doing his bit to exorcise the spectre of Trump. (I suspect Boris is secretly ashamed of both his dalliance with Trump and Brexit and wants us to regard them as a mere unfortunately blip.)
Is that his desk? Wrong college on the wall, phones set up for left hander which he isn't, clunky looking computer. Caught on the hop?
The "dog that didn't bark" is the absence of at least four ginormous union flags flanking Johnson at the time of the call. I mean, Liz Truss has a couple in her kitchen - between the fridge and the microwave. She is properly prepared.
I think it's pretty clear what happened here. Boris upped his game to four whole flags when Keir went flagging as well, but this arms race was unhealthy and destructive to all.
Boris demonstrated his statesmanlike behaviour by taking the first step to deescalate the situation, in the hopes Keir will also stand down, and we should all be grateful for his action to soothe tensions.
Boris may have deescalated the flag war but has surely inflamed another by not photoshopping in half a dozen busts of FDR. And going back to an earlier point, aren't the phones set up for a right-handed caller (phone in the left hand; take notes with the right)? Still, it was lucky a photographer just happened to be passing.
Mmm good point, but I think in the days I had a landline on the desk I had it on the left and I am left handed.
Another thing, it is a really mean sized and cramped desk. A talking-to-POTUS desk for me would be an acre of mahogany with a £50,000 Apple monitor and a Churchill bust on it, and nothing else.
Would you have been in favour of a referendum on European membership in 1982, or would you have considered the issue settled for a generation by the 1975 referendum?
If we apply the same intervals to Scotland, they can expect their next Indyref sometime in 2055.
On-topic. Ossoff would need Biden to serve a full first term then retire, so that the incumbent is not standing, as Harris would be if Biden goes early. Biden would have had to announce his intention not to stand in 2023.
I think it might be safer to wait two years and then see how things look. If Ossoff runs he will not be 250/1 but you can have more on once you know he is a contender.
Maybe we have been spoiled by being able to back the winning side in six state contests as well as the presidency itself for two whole months after the result was known, but this seems too speculative.
I mean according to the Express Biden will have told the PM to rejoin the EU, what's not to love?
You have become one of those weirdo Remoaners that wants Bad Things To Happen To Britain, so as to punish us for our wicked Leave vote.
People don't want bad things to happen. But bad things ARE happening. The Department for International Trade is telling UK companies to set up EU subsidiaries and send jobs and money there. If the DiT know that Brexit means trade is fucked then the "remoaners" whine is almost funny.
The first six months of Brexit will be totally shit. The following two years will be fairly shit. You read it here first. It is a painful and expensive divorce, which benefits no one but the lawyers, like all complex divorces. Brexiteers are "lucky" this constant drizzle - and occasional monsoon - of shit will be almost entirely obscured by the global apocalypse of Covid.
In three years time, however, both sides will start to see new opportunities, new lovers, new trades, new freedoms, I predict the UK will quite enjoy its new abilities to maneuver, and the reinvigoration of its democracy.
From Brexit on, we British get to directly elect, or deselect, those who govern us. This is not the case in the EU, and there are no signs of it reforming.
In three years time we will either still have our new barriers to trade or we will have given up on them and gone back to at least customs and standards deal. Lets assume that we have doggedly insisted that we stick to the deal. I would love to know what new trading opportunities you see - the rest of the world we could already trade with, our biggest market will now no longer be traded with much as UK companies set up abroad as the only way to survive the deal.
This - very literally - is not the Brexit I voted for. This is grotesquely fucking dumb, a trade deal that stops trade. These aren't teething troubles, they are insurmountable barriers that the lying sex pest insisted on because sovereignty.
As for your final paragraph I have no argument or objection to your description of the EU. Other than to point out that the EEA is not the EU. The CU is not the EU. Walking away from the EU didn't have to involve walking away from free trade. Yet you and people like you still foam on like the EEA and CU really are the EU. Which we both know is bollox.
Lie to me, I don't care. But you are lying to yourself. Or yourselves more accurately in your particular case...
The coming years will be all about sorting out Boris's mess. As you rightly say, we can't carry on like this. My own employer, for example, has had to hire a proxy in the Netherlands to be able to distribute to the EU - a ludicrous situation. Although it will take years, the goal now will be to quietly and coolly go about rebuilding for a time when Boris, Farage and the other zanies are all but forgotten.
Correct. People are fed up with Brexit and would rather not engage with the nonsense that is the inevitable consequence of it, but we don't have the choice. If all the effects essentially are bad that drives the effort towards making them less bad, rather than finding new vague"opportunities". As a lot of the mitigations are at the discretion of the EU, they will name a price for their consent. We will have decide whether we are prepared to pay it.
Most of us don't have to engage with it. The bulk of the UK economy is domestic and roughly half of international trade is outside the EU as well.
People are fed up with Brexit, but most of the population can happily ignore it. The most they'll have to do with its consequences is having to go through the dirty foreigner gate when they fly in for their holidays, in whatever year those are allowed again.
I sell goods D2C into Europe.
No problems. Buyers were expecting to pay TVA. Just as they do for books they buy from the States.
I also believe greater democracy will lead, ultimately, to greater freedom and prosperity in the future. Could be ten-twenty years before we see it, mind. My children will benefit, not me
The breakup of the UK benefits nobody, especially your children.
I don't believe it will break up. BoJo will obviously deny a referendum, and long-grass it with a Commission on Federalism. The Norns will realise they got a massively lucky deal (inside the SM and CU but also inside the UK).
Even if it did break up the UK, it would - just about - be worth it. The EU Constitution/Lisbon Treaty was an outrage against democracy. It was a rape of democracy. Fuck the EU. Fuck the europhiles who wanted to INGORE or even REVOKE the referendum. Their behaviour showed their true colours.
They had to be defeated, and visibly defeated. The referendum had to be honoured, or we were no longer the country we thought. An ancient and honourable democracy, home to the Mother of Parliaments.
Thank God, at the end, we saw sense. We honoured the vote. We remain democratic. Every single British voter now knows that, when they go out to vote, that vote will be respected, and obeyed. No matter how uncomfortable it is for the elite, metropolitan Londoners and their friends in the shires.
This is beyond precious. Britons have had it confirmed that our democracy WORKS. The politicians are the employees of the PEOPLE.
Imagine what might have happened if people like you had got their way, and the referendum had been reversed or ignored. Unthinkable. We'd be headed for US-style Trumpite insurrection.
Not sure that Norniron will benefit that much. As trade internally within the UK is now really difficult thanks to the Conservative and Unionist Party, Norniron is being reconfigured to be supplied and supply the Republic and the EU, not the rest of the UK.
As for all your mouth-foaming about democracy, that is all about the EU. None of it applies to the EEA or CU which are not the EU.
You are talking Bollocks. You Know you are talking Bollocks.
We are not in disagreement.
My point is: we had to honour the vote. And now we have
After this, everything is up for grabs.
I predict (with modest confidence) that we will end up in an EEA-ish bespoke arrangement. It benefits both sides. Immigration and emigration are going to collapse post-covid, anyway. So the FOM issue becomes less salient. That by itself opens doors. Both sides want to trade.
But I do not believe the UK will ever rejoin the formal, political structures of the EU, at least not in the foreseeable future (about 20 years)
I mean according to the Express Biden will have told the PM to rejoin the EU, what's not to love?
You have become one of those weirdo Remoaners that wants Bad Things To Happen To Britain, so as to punish us for our wicked Leave vote.
People don't want bad things to happen. But bad things ARE happening. The Department for International Trade is telling UK companies to set up EU subsidiaries and send jobs and money there. If the DiT know that Brexit means trade is fucked then the "remoaners" whine is almost funny.
The first six months of Brexit will be totally shit. The following two years will be fairly shit. You read it here first. It is a painful and expensive divorce, which benefits no one but the lawyers, like all complex divorces. Brexiteers are "lucky" this constant drizzle - and occasional monsoon - of shit will be almost entirely obscured by the global apocalypse of Covid.
In three years time, however, both sides will start to see new opportunities, new lovers, new trades, new freedoms, I predict the UK will quite enjoy its new abilities to maneuver, and the reinvigoration of its democracy.
From Brexit on, we British get to directly elect, or deselect, those who govern us. This is not the case in the EU, and there are no signs of it reforming.
Quite right. I have a fond memory of voting for Arthur Charles Valerian Wellesley, 9th Duke of Wellington, 9th Prince of Waterloo, 9th Duke of Victoria, 10th Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo. I'm trying to remember when his seat is up for re-election... perhaps you can remind me so I can vote for him once again?
True, though he did at least gain his place in the Lords in an election.
Ok, with an electorate of 48, but hey, that's something.
My favourite ever election is the election of Viscount Thurso (Member of the Lords 1995-1999, Member of the Commons 2001-2015, Member of the Lords 2016-date), which had 7 candidates and only 3 eligible voters, who all voted for Thurso.
I mean according to the Express Biden will have told the PM to rejoin the EU, what's not to love?
You have become one of those weirdo Remoaners that wants Bad Things To Happen To Britain, so as to punish us for our wicked Leave vote.
People don't want bad things to happen. But bad things ARE happening. The Department for International Trade is telling UK companies to set up EU subsidiaries and send jobs and money there. If the DiT know that Brexit means trade is fucked then the "remoaners" whine is almost funny.
The first six months of Brexit will be totally shit. The following two years will be fairly shit. You read it here first. It is a painful and expensive divorce, which benefits no one but the lawyers, like all complex divorces. Brexiteers are "lucky" this constant drizzle - and occasional monsoon - of shit will be almost entirely obscured by the global apocalypse of Covid.
In three years time, however, both sides will start to see new opportunities, new lovers, new trades, new freedoms, I predict the UK will quite enjoy its new abilities to maneuver, and the reinvigoration of its democracy.
From Brexit on, we British get to directly elect, or deselect, those who govern us. This is not the case in the EU, and there are no signs of it reforming.
In three years time we will either still have our new barriers to trade or we will have given up on them and gone back to at least customs and standards deal. Lets assume that we have doggedly insisted that we stick to the deal. I would love to know what new trading opportunities you see - the rest of the world we could already trade with, our biggest market will now no longer be traded with much as UK companies set up abroad as the only way to survive the deal.
This - very literally - is not the Brexit I voted for. This is grotesquely fucking dumb, a trade deal that stops trade. These aren't teething troubles, they are insurmountable barriers that the lying sex pest insisted on because sovereignty.
As for your final paragraph I have no argument or objection to your description of the EU. Other than to point out that the EEA is not the EU. The CU is not the EU. Walking away from the EU didn't have to involve walking away from free trade. Yet you and people like you still foam on like the EEA and CU really are the EU. Which we both know is bollox.
Lie to me, I don't care. But you are lying to yourself. Or yourselves more accurately in your particular case...
The EU insists on free migration as part of the EEA. That’s a political decision on their part - it’s not intrinsically essential. Similarly the U.K. has determined they don’t want to accept that
I mean according to the Express Biden will have told the PM to rejoin the EU, what's not to love?
You have become one of those weirdo Remoaners that wants Bad Things To Happen To Britain, so as to punish us for our wicked Leave vote.
People don't want bad things to happen. But bad things ARE happening. The Department for International Trade is telling UK companies to set up EU subsidiaries and send jobs and money there. If the DiT know that Brexit means trade is fucked then the "remoaners" whine is almost funny.
The first six months of Brexit will be totally shit. The following two years will be fairly shit. You read it here first. It is a painful and expensive divorce, which benefits no one but the lawyers, like all complex divorces. Brexiteers are "lucky" this constant drizzle - and occasional monsoon - of shit will be almost entirely obscured by the global apocalypse of Covid.
In three years time, however, both sides will start to see new opportunities, new lovers, new trades, new freedoms, I predict the UK will quite enjoy its new abilities to maneuver, and the reinvigoration of its democracy.
From Brexit on, we British get to directly elect, or deselect, those who govern us. This is not the case in the EU, and there are no signs of it reforming.
Quite right. I have a fond memory of voting for Arthur Charles Valerian Wellesley, 9th Duke of Wellington, 9th Prince of Waterloo, 9th Duke of Victoria, 10th Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo. I'm trying to remember when his seat is up for re-election... perhaps you can remind me so I can vote for him once again?
True, though he did at least gain his place in the Lords in an election.
Ok, with an electorate of 48, but hey, that's something.
My favourite ever election is the election of Viscount Thurso (Member of the Lords 1995-1999, Member of the Commons 2001-2015, Member of the Lords 2016-date), which had 7 candidates and only 3 eligible voters, who all voted for Thurso.
That story at the bottom of the Telegraph front page: "£1000 benefit payments to boost economy" would, if true, surely be one of the stupidest ideas ever from the Treasury.
Of course the £20 pw UC uplift should be continued, but to pay it as a one-off lump sum in the middle of a pandemic where significant lockdown restrictions are inevitably still going to be in place is utter madness!
People who can barely manage on UC with the uplift, let alone without, many of whom are not especially competent with money are going to be tempted to splurge the cash on unnecessary 'stuff' they later regret and/or will seek to spend it in ways that challenge the lockdown restrictions. Bad idea.
If HMG is genuinely unwilling to extend the £20 uplift indefinitely, just extend it for a year at this point for the same cost as the £1000 one-off payment and kick the decision into 2022.
If they are really considering that, the economy is even more buggered than it appears to be.
Would you have been in favour of a referendum on European membership in 1982, or would you have considered the issue settled for a generation by the 1975 referendum?
If we apply the same intervals to Scotland, they can expect their next Indyref sometime in 2055.
I keep having to remind you all: Quebec had referendums in 1980 and 1995.
Comments
Also the doctor was most interesting when talking about the Pfizer vaccine itself, the logistics and storage of it, and the actual method of injection
We are so grateful, and would urge everyone to follow the rules for a few more months, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
I hope you warned the doctor that you are the North Wales Correspondent for a major media outlet, before pumping him/her for information! 😉
You could even have diehard Protestant Unionists in Glasgow etc moving to Antrim in the event of an independent Scotland too
Am I wrong? Have I misconstrued?
Presuming I am right, and you are not *entirely happy* with Brexit, then you must surely seek to reverse it. So you need to start a party with that explicit desire, or take over a party and put that in its manifesto, then seek power, and win a referendum. It will be a long haul, is my guess, and possibly not do-able, but it will surely be better than sitting impotently on the sidelines of PB, raging raging raging, against the dying of the light.
Well??
Just because a desperate newspaper and prejudiced politicians complain about a non issue... that does not make it important.
The premise posted was that Brexit is done, which is not true.
You were the one who likened Brexit to childbirth. Was your daughter "done" at the moment of birth?
Nope.
Brexit continues.
In three years time, however, both sides will start to see new opportunities, new lovers, new trades, new freedoms, I predict the UK will quite enjoy its new abilities to maneuver, and the reinvigoration of its democracy.
From Brexit on, we British get to directly elect, or deselect, those who govern us. This is not the case in the EU, and there are no signs of it reforming.
Drakeford needs to give you the second Pfizer vaccine within four weeks according to Welsh and Scottish Doctors. If he does not it is another outrageous dereliction of duty by Drakeford.
https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1353097636505657345?s=19
You won. You don't need to convince anyone, except perhaps yourself.
However, I said "Brexit is a done deal", which is slightly different.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55780431
This seems to be the equivalent of shouting out the window in a traffic jam for people to get out the way, after you set off during rush hour.
Under current circumstances, properly functioning workplaces insist that confirmed or suspected Covid cases don't come into work, and they send close contacts home to isolate. They also do temperature monitoring at the entrance at our place, although I'm dubious as to how accurate those scanners actually are.
Anyway, if they've somehow accumulated hundreds of cases in one building then I think we're bound to wonder why.
This - very literally - is not the Brexit I voted for. This is grotesquely fucking dumb, a trade deal that stops trade. These aren't teething troubles, they are insurmountable barriers that the lying sex pest insisted on because sovereignty.
As for your final paragraph I have no argument or objection to your description of the EU. Other than to point out that the EEA is not the EU. The CU is not the EU. Walking away from the EU didn't have to involve walking away from free trade. Yet you and people like you still foam on like the EEA and CU really are the EU. Which we both know is bollox.
Lie to me, I don't care. But you are lying to yourself. Or yourselves more accurately in your particular case...
But as I said in a comment the other day, bemoaning it constantly, yet doing nothing about, is equivalent to someone who warned about shoddy tsunami warnings in Phuket, now constantly droning on about the Asian tsunami years after the event, talking about the bloated corpses, the way the huge wave came in, muttering to himself over a dodgy Mekong whisky in Pattaya.
Either dedicate your life to solving the "problem" - become a committed Rejoiner - or just deal with the new reality, and make it work as best you can.
Even Blair gets this. Time you did, too
Do you think old Biden just picks up the phone and calls +44 etc to ring the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
Maybe you do.
Don't forget to vote Drakeford to show your gratitude! 😊👍
I also believe greater democracy will lead, ultimately, to greater freedom and prosperity in the future. Could be ten-twenty years before we see it, mind. My children will benefit, not me
Even arch Remoaner John Redwood gets this...
That might be true, I suppose, though I'm not sure what could be done about it with the 'available legal tools'.
BoZo already has it. He is World King.
UK business and consumers, not so much...
Of course the £20 pw UC uplift should be continued, but to pay it as a one-off lump sum in the middle of a pandemic where significant lockdown restrictions are inevitably still going to be in place is utter madness!
People who can barely manage on UC with the uplift, let alone without, many of whom are not especially competent with money are going to be tempted to splurge the cash on unnecessary 'stuff' they later regret and/or will seek to spend it in ways that challenge the lockdown restrictions. Bad idea.
If HMG is genuinely unwilling to extend the £20 uplift indefinitely, just extend it for a year at this point for the same cost as the £1000 one-off payment and kick the decision into 2022.
Neither of those statements indicate anything other than someone who has not come to terms with brexit and never will
Boris demonstrated his statesmanlike behaviour by taking the first step to deescalate the situation, in the hopes Keir will also stand down, and we should all be grateful for his action to soothe tensions.
And thank you
Even if it did break up the UK, it would - just about - be worth it. The EU Constitution/Lisbon Treaty was an outrage against democracy. It was a rape of democracy. Fuck the EU. Fuck the europhiles who wanted to INGORE or even REVOKE the referendum. Their behaviour showed their true colours.
They had to be defeated, and visibly defeated. The referendum had to be honoured, or we were no longer the country we thought. An ancient and honourable democracy, home to the Mother of Parliaments.
Thank God, at the end, we saw sense. We honoured the vote. We remain democratic. Every single British voter now knows that, when they go out to vote, that vote will be respected, and obeyed. No matter how uncomfortable it is for the elite, metropolitan Londoners and their friends in the shires.
This is beyond precious. Britons have had it confirmed that our democracy WORKS. The politicians are the employees of the PEOPLE.
Imagine what might have happened if people like you had got their way, and the referendum had been reversed or ignored. Unthinkable. We'd be headed for US-style Trumpite insurrection.
After illegally proroguing parliament, and "denying" a vote, you still claim BoZo as your champion for democracy.
Deluded doesn't begin to cover it...
As for all your mouth-foaming about democracy, that is all about the EU. None of it applies to the EEA or CU which are not the EU.
You are talking Bollocks. You Know you are talking Bollocks.
The first government caught out for reusing an old photo, or being shown to have lined up a dozen 'I'm on the phone' shots in advance for future use, will earn my respect.
On one hand, everyone's fed up, everyone wants to move on, in the short term it would be good to make the Johnson Plan work.
But there are reasonable reasons to think that the Johnson Plan is unworkable. Certainly now, and quite possibly forever, without unacceptable costs.
If the Johnson Plan really is unworkable, the sooner we work out what Plan B is, and move to it, the better. (Whisper it, but the business logistics probably involve EEA-ish, and then the democratic argument implies that EU membership is preferable to following the rules with no say.)
So. The dilemma. If you accept that a democratic decision has been taken, but you have reason to believe that it's a really bad decision that can't be finessed, what's your democratic duty? To shut up, or keep arguing? Especially if you don't have the need to get elected?
Democracy, eh?
As we've seen with the hand wringing over fsm, which were only ever a term time commitment, there would be clamour to continue it ad infinitum.
And of course we know that ongoing expenditure requires tax rises; whereas one off cost can be paid off/inflated away over the decades.....
Dare the Americans to do better.
People are fed up with Brexit, but most of the population can happily ignore it. The most they'll have to do with its consequences is having to go through the dirty foreigner gate when they fly in for their holidays, in whatever year those are allowed again.
Another thing, it is a really mean sized and cramped desk. A talking-to-POTUS desk for me would be an acre of mahogany with a £50,000 Apple monitor and a Churchill bust on it, and nothing else.
If we apply the same intervals to Scotland, they can expect their next Indyref sometime in 2055.
I think it might be safer to wait two years and then see how things look. If Ossoff runs he will not be 250/1 but you can have more on once you know he is a contender.
Maybe we have been spoiled by being able to back the winning side in six state contests as well as the presidency itself for two whole months after the result was known, but this seems too speculative.
No problems. Buyers were expecting to pay TVA. Just as they do for books they buy from the States.
Deeply weird that the Brexiteers championing democracy claim it stops at the border.
Little Englanders one and all...
https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1353107001757356034
My point is: we had to honour the vote. And now we have
After this, everything is up for grabs.
I predict (with modest confidence) that we will end up in an EEA-ish bespoke arrangement. It benefits both sides. Immigration and emigration are going to collapse post-covid, anyway. So the FOM issue becomes less salient. That by itself opens doors. Both sides want to trade.
But I do not believe the UK will ever rejoin the formal, political structures of the EU, at least not in the foreseeable future (about 20 years)
Ok, with an electorate of 48, but hey, that's something.
My favourite ever election is the election of Viscount Thurso (Member of the Lords 1995-1999, Member of the Commons 2001-2015, Member of the Lords 2016-date), which had 7 candidates and only 3 eligible voters, who all voted for Thurso.
Edit: And they are conducted under AV too.