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

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..

And is reforming Europe from within possible?

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

I understand he's already reconsidering that..

https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/blaiklock-farage-brexit-islam

EU gotta kill more migrants. xp

lol that was a quick turnaround xp

Blaiklock complained that when she ordered a Thai takeaway meal in the US city it was delivered by a woman in a burka.

There is also some truth in the statement that Muslim men were impregnating white British girls to create Muslim babies”.

Just imagine if even a small proportion of these pubs get turned into Mosques. That is what seems to be happening in East Anglia.”

Blaiklock then described one of her daughters as having “Mongoloid” eyes. She wrote: “To complicate things further, one of my daughters looks Asian. She has ‘Mongoloid’ eyes and an epicanthic fold. My other daughter doesn’t — she has white skin and dark hair and eyes. She is often told she looks Spanish or Brazilian. If she were to apply, would she need to prove her ethnic mix?”

Approached by BuzzFeed News, Farage declined to comment on whether he will continue to support the Brexit party in light of its founder's views.

I feel really sad for Farage, a dude who just wants to belong to a Nationalist party that isn't full of racist nutjobs

Blaikblock re her kids is just brutal.

I think it's sweet that she has the language of racial essentialism down

chances of blaiklock having got the calipers out to measure the racial purity of her own kids seems certain to be approaching 100%

Blaiklock is the one who carried around a huge framed photo of her Jamaican husband to hustings to show she wasn’t racist iirc.

the Lolico "me not racist" card.

xyzzzz- do you think labour will commit to a second ref at some point ? the fact the membership want it so much must weigh on the leaderships mind

of course timing is key - they’ve been right to push back against the so called progressives who’d terminate labour w extreme prejudice simply to secure a referendum they’ve shown themselves all too capable of losing again

my wife carries a picture of me around everywhere so people can see my ethnic origin for themselves
jamaica?
no she started of her own accord

labour shd be very alive to big risk in next GE of potentially low turnout ie remainers choosing to stay home

not getting into labour hq with those trousers pal, sorry I don't make the rules pic.twitter.com/MNdsgJ5oTK

— joe (@cillanoir) February 11, 2019

do you think labour will commit to a second ref at some point ? the fact the membership want it so much must weigh on the leaderships mind

Unlikely although I'd rule nothing out. There are one or two things that need to happen before the Leadership make that call. Yes I know < 50 days to Brexit.