"oh you don't get me I'm the end of the union": lol brexit is how we're all gonna die

oops

Global Britain is just some pissed up old wet-brain aristo-tramp with delusions of grandeur, talking to themselves.

we're pioneers.

Lol we're all going to die. https://t.co/LahTGf8cmE

— My Actual Face (@redrichie) February 11, 2019

Unless you're an ilxor if so apologies for dragging your face here.

Bg will be getting a royalty cheque for tuppence any day now!

boris johnson is big joe joyce and brexit is his youtube channel ouvre

russia is james quinn mcdonagh

i think europe may be the extended joyce clan but it could also serve as the garda allocation for the kilbeggan area in the buildup to a fight

america is, in this metaphor, america

The staggering incompetence and venality of Australian politics is such that I have to keep coming to this thread just to remind myself that elsewhere it is, unbelievably enough, even worse.

nice to see political discourse finally reaching my level, thx redrichie

not sure what's worse re: davis' galaxy brain take on the devalution of sterling - that he knows he's spouting shit but he's doing it to try to keep dimwitted leavers on-side or that he's stupid enough to actually believe what he's saying

either way, lol we're all gonna die obv

In stopped clock is right news, Simon Jenkins is spot on on Gavin Williamson: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/11/gavin-williamson-defence-policy-uk

lol thinking gunboat diplomacy against the military behemoth that is China is still going to cut it in 2019 is so ... addled.

brb gonna photoshop gavin williamson's face over the man facing down the tanks in tianamen square

I think the last time I looked the Chinese military-industrial complex wouldn't even fit in the UK.

jeremy gilbert on labour brexit strategy is worth a read

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2019/02/labour-cannot-ride-brexit-wave-socialism-it-must-fight-nationalist-right

That's an excellent article, but does anyone in the country, including those who vote Labour and oppose free movement, seriously believe that Labour is an anti-immigration party, even vaguely? It's more likely that they don't, and continue to vote for them anyway.

There's a logical issue whenever somebody tries to argue that "Brexit was only a small majority" and "there's no point differentiating between the reasons people voted Leave" in the same piece. Also I don't think he addressed the idea that Labour is a permanent coalition and is always compromised on its policies to some extent because of this.

starmer is not this dim - someone pulling peston’s leg imo

I am told @Keir_Starmer is not the happiest member of the frontbench. According to multiple sources, he had agreed that the final part of Corbyn’s letter to May would say “if you do not accept this [Brexit offer] there will be a People’s Vote”. One source...

— Robert Peston (@Peston) February 11, 2019

That is why, ultimately, the members should be leading on this — and we all know that if that were happening, then Labour would be campaigning for a “Remain and reform” position, arguing for a second referendum...

gilbert article def worth engaging with more broadly but on this specific point I’m not sure this is necessarily true. in the leaked PV poll which showed 72% of labour members support a second referendum - it also showed labour members support (46:29) the labour leadership’s current policy/strategy on brexit

I mean it’s probably true - given strength of feeling on it but at the same time ppl are probably 1 fairly resigned to brexit happening now and 2 happy with a pragmatic approach which privileges a labour govt above all other considerations

Not news to anyone here but it's good to see it in the papers:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/universal-credit-food-bank-amber-rudd-welfare-department-work-pensions-dwp-a8773931.html

"Universal credit to blame for soaring food bank use, government admits after years of denial"

zebra, would it be rude to point out that everything after 'probably' there is fanfic?

Wow, this new caring and cuddly, one nationist Rudd will make a tory voter out of me at this rate.

#cuddlerudd

I know that "in normal times..." is now way overused as a rhetorical device, but I can't help but feel that in normal times a government minister openly admitting that the government is literally starving some of its citizens might be considered beyond the pale.

My fave response to foodbank UK was JRM's : more ppl are using them now because we had the decency to tell them where they are!

"in the leaked PV poll which showed 72% of labour members support a second referendum - it also showed labour members support (46:29) the labour leadership’s current policy/strategy on Brexit"

I wouldn't put too much stock in this as things can change very rapidly depending on what the leadership does next - it's not exactly unconditional support.

In other words that support is, I think, conditional on the implied chain of events in the conference motion (yes I know its not an exact chain of events). If the leadership is seen to break that then things could get fractious.

Not unconnectedly the Tories have been talking up the areas of agreement between May and Corbyn on Brexit talks. That is extremely unlikely to be motivated by genuine bipartisanship - they want Labour to erupt into infighting again.

It feels like the idea with foodbanks is to shift the overton window on them to being a 'normal' part of everyday life, showing the kind nature of an inclusive society that not only cares about its fellow citizens but also how environmentally conscious we are in preventing wastage. I don't know at what point or if that succeeds. RIght wing statements seem considered and intentional on this rather than merely out of touch

If there are any food shortages after brexit (highly likely) then people will no longer be able to donate to food banks.

I think that's what JRM was getting at. When Amber Rudd makes a statement on something this it's because they can no longer keep a lid on it for whatever reason.

With both this and Windrush the real damage was done before she was in position but she can be relied upon to gamely take over just before the shit hits the fan and take full blame for all of the resulting mess. And at the end of it all there will still be enough gullible fools out there to pretend she's some kind of liberal.

None of this will help her at the next election where she is virtually certain to lose her seat. I wouldn't be surprised if they were already casting round for a safe Tory constituency to parachute her into.

her charming ex was a lifelong member of the labour party and kept a Stalin portrait in his study, but I think he was a vile uber-tory twat as well tbh.

they’ll definitely be looking for somewhere to parachute her into - she’s already said she’ll stand and fight for her current seat though. good luck w that

boris / IDS potential best portillo moments next time out

MRP poll out this morning interesting - particularly because labour still within spitting distance. remember it had tories at 80 seat majority last time round (before social care policy) - and eventually predicted a hung parliament

Theresa May is going to give a statement to MPs about Brexit this afternoon. As the Guardian reports in its overnight story, she is going to ask the Commons to her another fortnight’s grace to keep pushing for changes to the Irish backstop. Or, as May herself will put it, according to an extract from her statement released by Number 10 in advance, she will urge MPs to told their nerve. She will say:

"The talks are at a crucial stage. We now all need to hold our nerve to get the changes this House has required and deliver Brexit on time.

By getting the changes we need to the backstop; by protecting and enhancing workers’ rights and environmental protections; and by enhancing the role of parliament in the next phase of negotiations I believe we can reach a deal that this House can support."

What's the strategy here, if any? Is it a stubborn attempt at saving face and keeping a straight line while the wheels are already falling off? The EU still doesn't seem to want to budge. Loosening the bolts of her own previous "best and only deal" will likely put the cat among the pigeons in the Tories, amplifying the differences between the different factions of her party?

Someone explain what May might think this will achieve, and how it will secure a majority. #maysplaining I just don't see it.

lol we’re all gonna die
https://m.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/theresa-may-no-deal-brexit-fallback-plan_uk_5c617348e4b0910c63f30fc8

Since taking up the job in November, Ms Rudd has promised a more “compassionate” approach to universal credit and has slowed down the scheme’s rollout.

If there is a country left we will be entering into a General election pretty soon.

That more or less answers my q's, ||||||||

it's all talk from Rudd, the UC rollout isn't being paused, cuts sewn into it are not being reversed. There has been some weak lip service about getting money to claimants faster, but that is not the only reason for queues at foodbanks. But being held to account for talking shit isn't going to happen soon.

May: Compromise? Absurd. What about my job and my friends’ jobs. No no, it’s no deal for us.
Hacks: EXCLUSIVE video from 2010 casts FRESH DOUBT on Corbyn’s CLAIM to have voted Remain two years ago.

— Running Dog (@benton_dan) February 12, 2019

Read it and weep:

After more than three solid years of glass-shattering shrieking about the Stalinist threat to democracy of Momentum thugs, a bitter lol at the Tory grassroots being more effective than the hard left at deselecting ideologically opposed MPs. pic.twitter.com/yf9wcd2X37

— Lafargue (@Lafargue) February 12, 2019

Hahaha I saw that and thought exactly the same. No doubt we’ll soon have soft focus longreads with him in the Observer lamenting the party’s extreme turn.

He is horrible so I shudder to think what the Grantham Conservative Association have lined up to replace him.

I was getting him mixed up with the upskirt bill filibuster. Lol, he's one of the "moderates" then. oh dear.

Yes, he's a Nice Tory. Also a smug smarmy creep.

he is tall af too. slender man looking weirdo

The only tory moderate I have had any time for recently is Baroness Warsi for putting principles before career and publicly criticising her own party's Islamophobia and nasty UKIP direction. But if she was back in frontline politics, it wouldn't take long for me to think she's a complete arsehole probably.

I wonder how long it'll be before we end up with a new right-wing party.

Chuka's working on it

I could see Boles, etc, joining up with the centre-right Labour rebels more easily than a new party to the right of the Tories gaining much ground with their MPs.

how quickly we forget that nigel farage has pledged to stand for the brexit party if the uk doesn't leave the eu on march 29

The party’s founder Catherine Blaiklock told The Daily Telegraph that “a number of hundred” Conservative members had been in touch to say they wanted to defect to the new party.

“Never in peacetime has such a betrayal been attempted by this treacherous Conservative government. No country has ever signed a treaty like this except under war terms,” she said.

“This is a wakeup call. We are going to have thousands of people who will just leave the Conservatives and vote for us in the event of the European parliament election.”

inspiring stuff

I like Jeremy Gilbert a bunch and having read that essay linked above the arguments against Lexit, the instinct to say just NO on PV and on the need to counter the narrative of the right-wing press are all well and good (the latter is just necessary - if we this country isn't to go down in flames we need this more than anything). Its a powerful point to make on the membership - they were formidable in 2017 and that we shouldn't underestimate what they are capable of in the next election.

Less digestible is the notion of letting the membership when they choose to vote for a bunch of ppl (i.e. the Leadership) that is able to express its desires the most. These are mostly in sync, but not so much on the question of Bexit. What if instead of "reform and remain" the membership wanted to campaign on People's Vote, or to simply revoke Art 50 without a referendum? And is reforming Europe from within possible? Does reform matter anyway? After all transnational capital is the only game in town so maybe we should be subservient to it. When we all know that isn't quite the case as the EU have a bunch of problems of its own to contend with, ones bigger than Google or Amazon..