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

She's on fire...

The route to a referendum - that doesn't involve Corbyn - just became a bit clearer. Independent group MPs force May to agree to putting her deal to a referendum when and if Labour next calls a confidence vote.

— Sonia Sodha (@soniasodha) February 20, 2019

How would this work? Really, they haven't got a clue. And how would something "that doesn't "involve Corbyn, also involve Labour calling for a VONC? Does she think he's going to resign?

How to people become leader writers? Serious question.

i would prob be opening myself to the normal or implied accusations of faux naivety or bad faith questioning if i were to again ask, as i did a few days back re brexit, exactly wtf my ukilxors actually feel about this.

genuinely im sure you all feel and read and ride the currents but as an outsider looking in it does look like no two of ye agree on anything and most of yr posts, while v interesting, dont seem to refer vuch to....the gist of things, its all periphery and smoke and stuff i mean i like it its very atmospheric

Eh? I’d say the thread is fairly united on Brexit being bad and in despair about knowing what could realistically be done about it?

I feel exhausted.

no im clear now on brexit but tbh i did have to ask.

now im doin the same re the blairite splitters who are also maybe the only ones who care about bullying and antisemitism

The answer you’re after is Luciana Berger, the rest are terrible.

genuinely im sure you all feel and read and ride the currents but as an outsider looking in it does look like no two of ye agree on anything and most of yr posts, while v interesting, dont seem to refer vuch to....the gist of things, its all periphery and smoke and stuff i mean i like it its very atmospheric

― ɪmˈpəʊzɪŋ (darraghmac), 20. februar 2019 16:43 (forty seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

There's got to be a new board description in there somewhere

its not a criticism i promise carry on carry on

The positive press these guys are enjoying will last until the exact moment they table a motion for a second referendum upon which moment the Brexit tabloids will devour them like a swarm of locusts.

otm re “vested interests”

Gary Lineker, J.K Rowling, Brian Cox and all your shit fave celebs won't pick up on this because they genuinely don't give a fuck about racism. They just like shagging the EU flag for some reason.

— Muzakir Ahmed (@MuzakirAhmed) February 20, 2019

oh good fred’s here

a) Fuck Chris Leslie but b) that's a massively disingenuous reading of his comments (particularly since they can be dinged for borderline anti-semitism much easier!)

Leslie defended a colleague who said something quite racist live on TV, what's disingenuous?

Only takes six or seven more Tory defections to offset the DUP and effectively trigger an election right? I mean six or seven is a lot in that context and I don't believe there are enough prepared to make the jump, but it would be pretty funny.

tom watson’s shadow shadow cabinet (effectively a party within the party ERG style setup?) seems like an under remarked upon aspect of the past couple (!) days

Leslie defended a colleague who said something quite racist live on TV, what's disingenuous?

Yes he did, and see my point A - but he's presenting it as a simple slip of the tongue (see point A again) and saying that there's going to be a lot of scrutiny from all over because they have powerful enemies. Which is bollocks, but it's not the same as 'the coloureds are out to get us' - the picture he's painting is of a molehill made into a mountain by third parties (er, so to speak).

I suspect the ex-Tories here will be willing to support the government if the alternative is facing an election - I suspect the same of the ex-Labour too tbh.

At least while politics gets ever more insane we can reply on Hedges.

Even the actual homeless would be tempted to take shelter under the sturdy, welcoming roof of Osbornenomics House, Gary. No second bedrooms though.

— Simon Hedges (@Orwell_Fan) February 20, 2019

pls get soubz and umunna on channel 4 news and ask them if the coalition was good or bad

ppl signal boosting nicola sturgeon again is it

never knew so many sensible centrists were committed to the dissolution of the united kingdom

Thread re the citizenship decision yesterday

This is the serious point: it's a law that permits the stripping of citizenship rights of a large proportion of Jews in particular (Israel/German/Spain.Portugal...) no matter how long those Jewish families have been British. https://t.co/mgy4vy9JKv

— Chris Cook (@xtophercook) February 20, 2019

The votes from Bangladesh are: no fucking way.

Well...yeah.

It's weird though - as a member of the Commonwealth, you think they'd row in.

The banter is so so good today

Derek Hatton suspended from the Labour party days after rejoining https://t.co/Cqn8ImEsbI pic.twitter.com/ArGPGbGCvH

— Henry Mance (@henrymance) February 20, 2019

amazing line from woke soubz' interview on newsnight regarding may: "I think she has a problem with immigration"

Only takes six or seven more Tory defections to offset the DUP and effectively trigger an election right? I mean six or seven is a lot in that context and I don't believe there are enough prepared to make the jump, but it would be pretty funny.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, 20 February 2019 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Heidi Allen says she only wants 'two or three' more Tory defections because any more would cause a general election

— Ned Simons (@nedsimons) February 20, 2019

Just enough damage to get what we want is a pretty stupid gameplan.

- form independent group
- draw backing from both labour and tories
- trigger general election by mistake
- majority of independent group members lose their seats
- ?????
- profit

not what you'd expect from these savvy political grown-ups

Another brainless Guardian writer on your timeline:

Guardian writer: (squeals) OMG slay queens of austerity pic.twitter.com/cn2cdVUIcj

— Flying_Rodent (@flying_rodent) February 21, 2019

Hahaha otm with all of these links. This should hopefully provide some clarity for anyone confused by the points I’ve previously made about how these morons will get us all killed.

I note a number of commentators made the point yesterday wrt Shamima Begum that a future Corbyn government could use the precedent to strip British Jews of their citizenship so we had the deeply unsavoury situation of people getting angry at a (fucking far fetched) hypothetical and literally just fucking dismissing the actual brown and black British people experiencing this right now under the actual! real life! government!

yeah but corbyn tho

the PFI group offered to prop up may’s govt and vote through her deal if she’d put it to a PV

(xp) Are there no depths to which this man will hypothetically sink?

hypothetically? no

Do you remember when the last three major votes we had revealed that the UK's political media were living in a bubble and were completely thrown when things didn't work out how they expected? All indications are that it's actually got worse rather than better over the last year or so.

equally pertinent: do the media themselves remember

lol no of course they don’t

btw this is Gilbert again on the split. Going through it now..

https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/jeremy-gilbert/inevitable-division-politics-and-consequences-of-labour-split?fbclid=IwAR18MgjQnGXzy-bY5HZqF5Z8VwTrskKsOWkZgIBetFS6CJQt5eShFTzJSx8

Grieve and Justine Greening have said they'll quit in the event of No Deal. Presumably while continuing to vote against the deal on the table.

The positive press these guys are enjoying will last until the exact moment they table a motion for a second referendum upon which moment the Brexit tabloids will devour them like a swarm of locusts.

or they express any opinion more specific than "everyone else is bad", at which point everyone will disagree with the specifics, same as with Labour's delicate fence-sitting act, or the no deal crew's less delicate fence-and-bridge-burning act

Just enough damage to get what we want is a pretty stupid gameplan.

I'm not even clear what they want tbh. what do these people want? some column inches to go "we're not like other MPs, when everything is on fire please remember us striking a pose and forget that we didn't actually do anything to stop it"?

by ILX standards I am a total centrist melt (NB I mostly like Corbyn, but only mostly, which == total melt iirc) and also have become perhaps unreasonably terrified by the prospect of no-deal Brexit, so I might be the target audience - buuut most of these people are bad and AFAIK they have no policies except they say they don't want Brexit, but they don't say what they'll do about it or whether there are softer Brexits they'd settle for, and meanwhile their existence only seems to nudge us closer to the cliff edge

not that anyone needed to know where I stand, but just so dmac can fill in the .xlsx (xp)

Perhaps intended as to put pressure on May? Can't see May being worried by that tbh xp

Oh I just read that Gilbert article! It's fantastic. Dunno if xyzzzz wants any filthy Greens mixing with his pure bois tho

Great piece indeed. But do I really have to listen to Chapo Trap House now? :-/

I don't mind reading about CTH. Other people can do the actual listening

I’ll have to read the piece later. But yeah, incredible how the media have closed ranks and just glossed over that massive fuckup they had. Never mind that the people they’re fawning over now are part of the reason Labour lost five million votes in the first place!

Ofc they’re all drooling over soubs saying TM is racist despite none of them calling for TM to go at the height of Windrush or pressing her on any of her policies, but hey.

I say it often but the infamous pmqs where Corbyn talked about buses was a masterpiece of commentariat sneering. The British election survey found that people outside London not owning a car was one of the biggest predictors of being a Labour voter, but it’s Corbyn who’s out of touch!

can someone point me to the CTH episodes on antisemitism pls

That Gilbert piece is very good but I think Stevie T's burn yesterday said it a lot more succinctly.

It's pretty good but jarring in a few places - I don't know the writer (unless I do - I'm rubbish at remembering bylines), but does he really mean "I'm not saying that this thing I'm clearly painting as bad is bad"?