I have only ever been able to discern two underlying motivations in Theresa May’s career; a love of office and a hatred of immigrants. It is possible to love office without loving power; loving power means you want to do something with it, whereas loving office is just for prestige and personal economic opportunity. I do not imagine May’s hatred of immigrants is driven by actual racism, easy though it is to read that into her hostile environment, go home van, end free movement, career. It is rather that the incredibly successful Tory narrative remains the false attribution of working class poverty to immigration, rather than its actual cause, massive inequality and an entire legal structure and system of government geared to promoting the interests of the super wealthy.
I do not understand the notion that we have a constitutional crisis. The solution seems self-evident. England and Wales voted to leave the EU, by a large margin if you take those two countries, which share a legal system, alone. Let them leave the EU. Scotland voted by a still larger majority to remain in the EU. Let it become Independent, remain in the EU, and not need to thwart the will of the English and Welsh to leave. And let Ireland forget its bigots and be a united country.
Constitutional crisis over. Indeed, that there is no other viable solution, and the UK is no longer a viable political unit, I can guarantee you will be universally recognised by the year 2030 as having been a self-evident truth. The actual dissolution of the UK will come ten years before that.
The BBC TV News was hyping the success of the British economy under Theresa May a couple of days ago on the basis of figures from the Office of National Statistics showing that the economic inactivity rate had fallen to 21%, the lowest since records began. But that needs to be considered alongside the fact that purchasing power of average wages is still below where it was ten years ago, and a huge swathe of the population is in insecure, part time and low paid employment.
The decline of leisure is not something to be celebrated. The shrinking of the “economically inactive” figure to 21% means that many pensioners are forced to keep on working because they cannot make ends meet on the developed world’s most miserly pensions, that parents of young children are forced both to stay in jobs rather than provide all the love, protection and affection they may wish. Every time Theresa May is questioned on the heartless fiasco of universal credit, she states its aim is to “get people back into work”, by which she means choose between starvation and vicious drudgery; with no rights, no prospects and low paid hours handed down as a favour.
Whether or not May stays as head of the Tory government, or is replaced by some other heartless Tory bastard, I really do not care. I have not been blogging much recently, in sheer exasperation at the enormity of societal injustice and the utter irrelevance of the available political system. But I guess we have to get back to chipping away at the marble facade of power with our tiny social media picks. One day it will fall.
And when it falls, then what?
The meek shall inherit the earth
Although Theresa May is on the ropes, it is possible that the E.U. will back down, as France is in a terrible pickle.
The French Economy is taking a nose-dive and France will be breaking E.U. rules if it eases Austerity.
Wildly exaggerated. The French economy is not in a pickle. Your idea is just typical Brexiter – shall we be polite? – nonsense.
Oh yes it is.
Of EU countries the French banks are more exposed to Italian debt, is constrained by the Euro has even higher government debt to GDP than the UK, and is unable to monetise this debt as it cannot create currency and is dependent on the ECB to provide liquidity to its overexposed banks via the discount window. French economic structural fundamentals are far stronger than the UK, but it is constrained by the deflationary Gold Standard like Euro. It is also hobbled by a currupt political class intent on selling off French technical know built out of long term government investment (such as Alstrom to GE) to the highest bidder for short term returns. It is quite indicative that Macron came form the financial sector, not the industrial sector. Frances economic fundamentals may be better than the UKs financial model, Macron intends to correct that. There are also interesting parallels in the US cynically extending criminal jurisdiction to the whole world to force competitive advantage for its companies such as the Huawei case.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alstom-britain-sfo/uk-serious-fraud-office-pursues-investigation-of-alstom-ft-idUSKBN0EP0N320140614
https://www.timesunion.com/business/article/Macron-was-key-to-GE-s-deal-for-Alstom-11098926.php
https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2018/03/12/1520868093000/Bank-exposures-to-Italy–ranked/
https://data.oecd.org/gga/general-government-debt.htm
@michael norton,
Quite correct, a lot of people are saying that Macron will temporarily cut the taxes and then be forced to reinstate them. However, the EU have refused to accept Italy’s budget, and are in the process of sueing Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic fro breaching EU dictat on immigration. The EU has also suspended Hungary’s right to vote at the EU council. Other countries which may fall foul of the EU shortly are Slovakia and Austria.
what EU rules will France be breaking if it eases austerity? I thought the fuel tax increases were intended as a “Green” measure?
The Fiscal compact that requires all budgets of Eurozone countries to be pre approved by the EU commission on threat of a fine of 0.1% of GDP. This requires a balanced budget with a structural deficit of no more than 0.5% of GDP, if government debt to GDP is less than the convergence criteria of 60%, the deficit can rise to no more than 1% of GDP. It is worth noting that for France government Debt to GDP is 99% for June 2018 and for Italy is 131.2% as of Dec last year. The central framework of the EU are the treaties starting with the treaty of Rome in 1957. These outline the founding principles of the EEC/EU, these are the single market, the Stability and Growth Pact that the UK is a signatory too (that developed into the Fiscal compact that the UK is not a signatory too) and EU State Aid rules. The four freedoms include the single market include free movement of Capital, that helped to destroy the worlds economy in the 1930s particularly in Germany, which Keynes in the Bretton Woods agreement sought to limit as free moment of capital is incompatible with economic stability or democracy as it undermines the ability of Governments to manage the economy.
Everything else including ‘green measures’ is just window dressing for the EU’s corporate agenda.
Italy is a good example of this as although it has a low government deficit to GDP it has a legacy of a very high Government to GDP and burdened with low investment and low growth mainly due to the Eurozone framework. The EU has rejected the last two proposals for increasing the deficit to overcome a crisis of investment economic growth and inequality in Italy, as it expects Italy to run a budget deficit lower than the convergence criteria of 3% of GDP due to it high levels of debt. Greece and Italy indicates the scale of failure of the EUs economic plan as Greece is expected to run austerity a primary surplus up to at leat the 2060s.
World Wars have not led to that level of austerity over such a long time scale.
It is going to be difficult for the EU commission to continue to crack down on Italy with a excessive deficit procedure, if it does not do the same with France as this will look like procedures against Italy are politically motivated. Italian Government deficit to GDP is after all lower than in France although Government debt to GDP is higher in Italy. The other problem is this, France via its banks has the largest exposure to Italian default if the Italian banks fail as they are dependent on ECB QE that is being withdrawn to remain solvent.
This is not to excuse the EU’s economic illiterate austerity, just to point out France is breaking EU rules on excessive deficit procedure, and no mechanism exists to be able to reform this framework as this would require unanimity among EU members.
https://tradingeconomics.com/france/government-budget
https://tradingeconomics.com/italy/government-budget
https://data.oecd.org/gga/general-government-debt.htm
Here is a copy of the Lisbon treaty, this contains the Fiscal Compact, State Aid Rules and the operation of the single market based on the four freedoms.
http://en.euabc.com/upload/books/lisbon-treaty-3edition.pdf
This is the EU’s own website on the Fiscal Compact
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/other/mb201203_focus12.en.pdf?0ea5f8ccbeb103061ba3c778c8208513
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-16057252
https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/economic-and-fiscal-policy-coordination/eu-economic-governance-monitoring-prevention-correction/stability-and-growth-pact_en
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/stability-growth-pact.asp
“Debt relief deal gives Greece hope after years of austerity ” FT 22 Jun 2018
Contains the Trokias 2060 projection
“EU rejects Italian budget in unprecedented rebuke” FT 23 Oct 2018
https://www.euractiv.com/section/economic-governance/news/italy-sleepwalks-to-instability-commission-resorts-to-excessive-deficit-procedure/
Lot of work Reg, it’ll take me days to get through all that!
Before i set into it could you opine on a couple of things please?
1. PIGS – are all still flying.
Given that there has been almost a decade of non-stop crisis that has hit the Euro or banks and austerity etc, when these countries were going to crash and burn and fatally damage the EU.
Why hasn’t the sky fallen in on any of them yet?
2. Besides from a slap on the wrist or a euro in the swear box – is there an ultimate automatic sanction on the non-complying EU members?
It seems they can carry on trying but failing but that is ok!
Dungroanin
1/ Because of QE introduced by Draghi head of the ECB in 2015, (US and the UK brought in QE much earlier in 2009). ECB base rate is also even lower at 0.00% than the UK at 0.75% indicating the weakness of the Eurozone.
Essentially Italy is too big to fail, Greece could be relatively safely made an example of, Italy on the other hand is the 4th largest economy in the EU, (3rd when the UK leaves). Financial crisis always take longer to happen than predicted, then happen all at once. Warberg predicted the 1929 crash early and was ridiculed. If Mario Draghi is stupid enough to withdraw QE as planed (given the lack of fiscal stimulus and with interest rates zero bound) deflation in the Eurozone cannot be long in coming.
France is also the country most exposed to Italian debt so if the EU pushes Italy into default by imposing its budget on Italy the French banking system will collapse. Never underestimate the power of stupidity (particularly when the EU is concerned). The EU after all is facing a number of problems politically (rise in the far right in Europe and dissent in France) and economically, US tariffs, reciprocal sanctions with Russia, yield curve inversion in the US pointing to a downturn, China overburdened with debt, EU austerity undermining demand for German exports, a coming 3rd world debt crisis due to countries borrowed in $ exposed to US interest rates and an appreciating $, overheating housing markets in a number of countries including Canada. If any of these triggers, all the rest will follow. Just because a disaster has not happened it is dangerous to predict it wont on this previous data as this is what happened before the 2007/8 crisis. As the man said after jumping out of the 75th floor, so far so good.
This is what Galbraith said in 1954
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/history-lessons-galbraiths-the-great-crash-1929-is-still-essential-reading-today-956710.html
Economic crisis always happen, and are generally facilitated by deregulation and inequality, the only question is when.
https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/6864/economics/financial-instability-hypothesis/
The other point is for countries such as Greece and Italy the sky has already fallen in on their heads, as the massive increase in Greek suicides documented in a BMJ paper and the collapse in health provision and GDP without any significant improvement in its debt or employment in Italy and Greece.
https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/1/e005619
GDP per capita, PPP (constant 2011 international $)
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.KD?locations=GR-IT
https://tradingeconomics.com/greece/government-debt-to-gdp
https://tradingeconomics.com/italy/government-debt-to-gdp
“ECB unveils €1.1tn QE plan to stimulate eurozone economy” Heather Stewart Thu 22 Jan 2015 14.31 GMT
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jan/22/ecb-unveils-1-trillion-qe-plan-stimulate-eurozoen-economy
“Financial Times Draghi confirms plan to end QE despite weak economic data” FT 26 Nov 2018
2/ The automatic sanctions is the withdrawal of funds from errant members private banks, as the ECB did during the Greek referendum. The European Commission can also fine Eurozone members up to 0.5% of GDP, (see links in post below for proof of this).
Thanks for this. Who/Which branch of EU monitors and enforces the Fiscal Stability Pact and how is it actually enforced? Has any action been taken against Italy so far, besides threats?
MaryPau!
The European Commission monitors compliance with the Fiscal Compact, it then makes recommendations to correct this excessive debt. In the Eurozone members pay into a fund that is sequestered as a fine if a member country does not adhere to the EU commissions recommendations of correcting excessive Government Deficit/Debt. Eurozone countries can have fines of 0.2% of GDP rising to 0.5% imposed by the EU commission if statistical fraud is detected.
This is not the only way in which the EU commission ensures compliance to the Fiscal Compact, as debt and the discount window where the ECB provides liquidity to members private banks is used. This is where the EU commission and ECB use the financial markets to discipline (as they threatened to do with Italy as rising bond yields were meant to discipline Italy’s budget) errant members as withdrawal of liquidity from its banks (such as during the Greek referendum starting a bank run) and rising interest rates on errant members bonds as a result of capital flight (facilitated by the free movement of capital provision in the single market that also undermines measures against tax evasion) will require either a default on unpayable debt or going to the Troika for a loan adjustment which will require adherence to another austerity package (similar to a IMF Structural Adjustment Package used in the 3rd world) and selling off of assets with the Troika acting like a vulture fund. For example even the threat by the Trokia of not honouring another bailout procedure starts a run on Greek bonds in the financial markets.
So far Italy has not been fined, but as the Bloomberg article below states the EU has started the first stage of imposing a fine on Italy if it does not reduce the projected deficit in its proposed budget.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-21/salvini-seen-open-to-compromise-on-budget-italy-update
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/21/eu-opens-disciplinary-procedures-against-italy.html
https://www.dw.com/en/eu-shoots-down-italys-budget-plans-again/a-46388939
“EU budget chief accused of ‘bullying’ Italian voters after suggesting markets won’t tolerate populist government”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/italy-election-eu-markets-budget-populist-vote-gunther-oettinger-five-star-a8374796.html
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/eurozone-esm-bailout-fund-on-the-road-to-expansion-a-1232958.html
https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/economic-and-fiscal-policy-coordination/eu-economic-governance-monitoring-prevention-correction/european-semester/framework/eus-economic-governance-explained_en
This appears to indicate EU is taking a soft line on Italy breaking fiscal stability rules. https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/eu-commissioner-signals-soft-line-on-italy-budget-showdown-20181026
Not accounting to what I have read, that article seem more like wishful thinking as the ECB increased interest rates twice during the developing financial crisis, and is still proposing withdrawing QE despite economic slowdown worldwide and in the Eurozone indicating the level of financial illiteracy in the EU. As the article below states Italy has been forced to reduce its protected deficit in its proposed budget from 2.04% from a previous target of 2.4 percent, it is still unclear whether even this will be satisfactory to the EU commission (despite running a far lower deficit than France). This does not point to any softening of the EU commission to Italy’s deficit.
As the Reuters article states:
“Conte has offered to lower the headline deficit to 2.04 percent of Italian economic output from a previous target of 2.4 percent, but it is unclear whether the new figure is low enough to dissuade the Commission from moving ahead with disciplinary steps.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-eu-budget/italys-conte-sees-eu-budget-deal-close-no-changes-to-2019-deficit-idUSKBN1OD26X
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/12/14/business/14reuters-italy-eu-budget.html
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-14/conte-says-his-budget-deficit-offer-is-the-best-italy-can-do
Both Bloomberg and the NYT come to similar concisions.
So the English Supreme court gave the British government the opportunity to delay a Scottish bill opposing a power grab (EU powers), so the British government could change the laws to thwart the bills most important parts.
We in Scotland really need to dissolve this onesided union as soon as possible.
https://mobile.twitter.com/DanVevers/status/1073159628530311168
I’m still reading the judgment, but so far it doesn’t seem too bad.
Or do you object to the general principle of the reference to the Supreme Court? Because it hardly seem fair to blame the Supreme Court for that. Also, I’d think you’d support a constitution that, unlike the UK one, provides for clear boundaries on legislative (and executive) competence, together with a process for making sure everyone stays in their corner. Rule of law, human rights, and all that. The Irish have a similar procedure, whereby the President can refer bills to the Supreme Court. (See art. 26 of the Irish Constitution.)
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A bent and easily manipulated (perfidious) constitutional.
Please maintain accuracy. Otherwise, war crime complicit?
Just saying.
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Apologies. Re-try. . . .
A bent and easily manipulated (perfidious) constitutioN.
Please maintain accuracy. Otherwise, war crime complicit?
Just saying.
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In hindsight Martinned yes you’re correct, it was the UK government that moved the goal posts half way through and not the Supreme court.
OK, finished reading now.
1. It is clearly bonkers for the Scottish Parliament to purport to restrict what Westminster ministers can do.
2. The whole point of devolution is that the Westminster Parliament continues to be competent to make any laws it likes applying to Scotland. When it does, such legislation trumps Scottish laws. The relative time when such Scottish and Westminster legislation is enacted doesn’t really matter. Either way the Scottish legislation is not law.
Point one, would you go as far as to say even on devolved matters?
agriculture, forestry and fisheries
education and training
environment
health and social services
housing
law and order
local government
sport and the arts
tourism and economic development
many aspects of transport
Point two if so why give the illusion of devolved matters then, when you can trump them anytime you like.
It’s by that very fact of negating a devolved parliaments powers, that shows the people where the real powers lie, and why independence is the only way forward.
Power devolved is power retained.
The laws are a pack of trumps? If the law is not equal in the UNION, its not a union, but a colonial arrangement, we say and you listen and do.
The Torys are breaking this Union they go on about so much, because they are not interested in equality or a democratic system, they dont care about voters. Laws dont come into this chaotic horse trading.
You’ve summed it up in a nutshell
Well written,you should be sorting
This mess out
13.12.2018 for CM with thanks.
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
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Topic —
May (racism; warmonger; racist; inept; DSM5 self-entitled); May, along with her unspeakable ‘Thatcher’ puppeteers—Promoting Nationalism; Greed; Self-Regard and its underlying self-important, blind and virtue-signalling message.
. . .All, of course, intentional and deliberate divisiveness in order to enfeeble and confuse the ‘plebs’, those who don’t matter according to the not very lawful ‘Regime’.
Scene 1
* ****** * *
(voice of past, more than tainted BBC status-worthy-talking head)
. . . .“Now. . . Step forward, the great “T Welsh”. . .(comment earlier)
(Some one else; stage left. . said using a racist, snarky nasal voice, mimicking “T Welsh”. . interrupting ‘talking head’)
. . . .“Really!? You T Welsh say. .‘pure-blooded Scots like me’. . . . Really?
(“T Welsh”, for it is he? confused air, purportedly centre stage)
. . . .“Why does calling myself a pure-blooded Scot make me a bigot?
. .Would it sound better if I wrote “I am descended from Scots parents for at least five generations”?
(voice of reformed 2019 AD-for-the-many-BBC)
. . . .”The Dark Arts of Divisiveness. Oh. Dearie all of us!
Better no Belsen than a racist Belsen.”
(voice of reason, speaking on BBC)
. . . “Obviously, normal humans, healthy humans, with their families, by far prefer to live contented lives in a community/State. . . of whatever description. . a State…
. . . .a/ that doesn’t lie and rob and thieve, and. . .
. . . . .b/ a State that does not kill, maim, enslave; does not murder does not ever psychologically-harm.”
(long pause). . .
(V of R, continuing)
. . . .”And finally, on that collaborative note, actions speak louder than words, let’s now turn to the weather.”
**********************
©️Molloy
¡No pasarán!
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Honestly Molloy this is unintelligible to a native English speaker.
He may be related to the well-known Italian comic-book character of the same name, an intergalactic tax-collector.
“Malloy è il più efficiente esattore del Paravatz, l’onnipotente Imperatore Galattico. È inarrestabile, carismatico e porta sempre a casa il risultato.”
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Fordyce — the ‘law’ of an unlawful May Regime.
An apparent typo error?
“The law is not set in stone. The law is an instrument designed to fashion a cohesive society.”
Obviously should read. . . .
“The law is not set in stone. The law is an instrument far too easily manipulated to benefit the elite and privileged.”
(When I last looked, recently, Jurisprudence was and is a compulsory course unit. Have a wee peep in your notes, please.)
Sláinte
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In the US, people not counted in the workforce remains at record highs. It’s currently at about 96 million people or nearly a third of the population. Worse still, while workforce participation rates increased for older workers, they have decreased for younger people. That is, while almost twice the percentage of workers over 65 have jobs now compared to 1996, a smaller percentage of young workers have jobs. It’s hard to believe things are so rosy in the British economy. I mean they wouldn’t tell fibs or tweak things here or there would they?
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Faslane = War Crime
Therefore an error to imply Faslane continues to blight Scotland.
Referring to the earlier unintentional, May Regime apologist. . . .
“ Paul Greenwood
December 13, 2018 at 07:17
Faslane gets the Cyprus treatment and becomes a Sovereign base open to the US NavyPaul Greenwood
December 13, 2018 at 07:17
Faslane gets the Cyprus treatment and becomes a Sovereign base open to the US Navy.”
¡No pasarán! Please take care, Paul.
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Well, everyone. Today, is a lovely day for trolling, step forward. . . . .
Paul Greenwood
December 13, 2018 at 07:23
a bunch of corrupt, incompetent, boorish, arrogant and thieving bunch of public school boys
Enough material there for a psychologist…………clearly you feel better now after that ejaculation
Reply ↓
flatulence’
December 13, 2018 at 08:17
“clearly you feel better now after that ejaculation”
Doesn’t everyone?
Well spotted, Jo.
¡No pasarán! Tories Out.
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The R’sWipe in May’s World Who Won’t Go Away —
“
Iain Stewart
December 12, 2018 at 21:44
Poor Sharp Ears. But cheer up, Craig has posted these new thoughts! ?
“
Catch on to yesself?
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Let us not forget what a thoroughly evil nuclear warmonger she is:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-4439090/Ex-defence-chief-Corbyn-t-trusted-protect-nation.html
Do you remember Luciana Berger obtaining a police escort into the Labour conference? In fear or her life! All part of the concerted smears on Jeremy Corbyn in the anti-semitism propaganda.
She would like a people’s vote. Obviously she is hoping for a reversal of the referendum result. A remnant of the Blairite persuasion,
Her constituency party gives her what for. Why on earth did they elect her?
https://twitter.com/WavertreeCLP/status/1072823079477350400
Hi there,
Thanks for the article.
We can also had that unactivity rate cannot be genuinely compared to others as there as much method to figure it out as you have countries in Europe for example. Unemployment figures are part of it. What we have here is an astonishing system of manipulation : in the uk one is considered «in employment’, and therefore out of the unemployment figure as soon as one works 1h EVERY TWO WEEKS.
How that could be allowed ?
Take care
Paul
The Senate has moved to end US support for the Saudi invasion of Yemen, yet our state broadcaster doesn’t deem this newsworthy. Given that the UK is still supporting the Saudis – RAF personnel helping them target school buses and funerals – the state broadcaster’s silence on this is understandable.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/13/defying-trump-us-senate-advances-to-end-support-for-saudis-in-yemen.html
Mike
This link has been posted by others before. According to Mark Curtis, Yemen is Britain’s war and has been supporting the Saudis in every way., That explains your observations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM9EYrE3wqA
8:30 minutes onwards
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Yes. Seen video at 8 minutes.
Mark Curtis. Integrity.
* * * * *
Apparently HMG is preparing for a no deal…….
Civil service told to ramp up no-deal Brexit plans with 24/7 crisis centre
Whitehall told to accelerate plans as doubts grow about future of May’s deal
Thu 13 Dec 2018 17.33 GMT
Civil servants across Whitehall have been instructed to ramp up their emergency no-deal planning, with preparations including hiring staff for a 24-hour “emergency centre”.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), one of those likely to be worst hit by a no-deal Brexit, has advertised 90 new posts for civil servants to staff a crisis centre. The centre is being set up to plan for and manage “the reasonable scenario of no deal”, the job advert says.
/..
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/dec/13/civil-service-seeks-staff-for-no-deal-brexit-crisis-centre
Can you imagine getting through to one of the newbies in the call centre for help with a problem.
Exactly Sharp Ears, Theresa may is messing up Brexit and putting off the Meaningful Vote untill the end of January, next year, there will only be a few weeks left after that before we crash out, this is her cunning plan.
Michael Norton – I am not disagreeing with you as what you say is probably part of the truth. For me though, she is the embodiment of the Republicans in the USA – she is a power made politician whose sole focus is on remaining in power and bringing the poor and vulnerable and the middle classes down further so her very wealthy chums can become richer and richer. Her sole focus right now is to stay in power – something she is not willing to relinquish – she doesn’t really care about anything else. Stuff what is good for the nation – she cares about what is good for Treason May and her cronies.
And her hubby as well as other insiders will make a mint
Second vote now. Stop fooling us!
Woolly thinking Craig. It’s not strange that the Tory leader is a Tory Remainer. There’s nothing we can do about her Tory poison. Mrs Thatcher shifted the UK to the right and the Thatcher spawn want to shift it again to the right , but much further. The Thatcher shift to the right included globalisation, by which against all commonsense, bits of cars can be shifted daily over/under the channel to be tweaked.
If May was an ALT Right Tory + Leaver, we’d be importing GM food from the US and syncing with US foreign policy. But she isn’t, so the very things she is doing in her withdrawal agreement are what you agree with, viz, continuing to operate under the Thatcher globalisation and European integration. You are Thatcher spawn and you think your Thatcher globalisation exempts you from racism.
But the brown car widgets, brown milk and veg, and brown immigration, using Brown to mean ‘ not Green, i.e. not local ‘, all follow the god of the market, which says if it’s cheaper to move it, stick it in a lorry burning fossil fuel and move it. The EU is a truly Thatcherite ‘market ‘ brown, not green, fuel-consuming project. and you also think that all those things that are shipped by lorry for the benefit of the market prove you are an internationalist. No, they prove you are a Thatcherite.
Unfortunately the Brown EU project, based on cheap oil, is based on garbage in garbage out economic logic.
In order to sustain all this vast shifting of stuff for profit, firstly the government has to tax oil in order to sustain the cost of all this transport and secondly it MUST invade the Middle East + anywhere else that has oil, like Africa, Libya, Somalia. Considering that all those places want to do is live in safety and peace, the EU and its essential colonial expansion to maintain its wasteful market-based logic, is the most racist organisation on the planet.
The logic of belonging to the EU is the logic of EU colonialism, which might suit the Thatcherites and the current ALT Tory Right, Chancellor Merkel definitely thinks that the acquisition of EU power in the Middle East justifies the one million immigrants per annum who want to come to Germany because of EU aggression by nutter pro-Zionist Islamists.
But Craig, from a Green perspective, the Thatcher globalisation with its inbuilt need for colonising the Middle east for oil is totally racist , and the current Transatlanticists with their dream of US global hegemony for satisfaction of their NAZI wet dreams is not only totally racist, but also brings them , intentionally, into conflict with the places from which they want to continue to import cheap stuff. Starting a war with China might look like a good idea to Trump, but it looks pretty daft to ordinary people who currently don’t have to think about war from that quarter.
I agree with you Craig that the Right is bonkers, but your vision of the EU is based on the Right being right, and they’re not right.
The Guardian would take a metrocentric view on these findings by the TUC and see the decline for Londoners
Average UK workers earning a third less than in 2008 – report
TUC study finds London workers hit hardest with real wages down by £20,000
14th December 2018
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/dec/14/average-uk-worker-earn-third-less-than-2008-tuc-real-wage-report
S*d the rest of the country.
This is the actual TUC report.
Workers in middle of ‘longest pay squeeze in 200 years’, says TUC
11 Dec 2018
https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/workers-middle-‘longest-pay-squeeze-200-years’-says-tuc%C2%A0
more people in work than ever before in Scotland.
Scotland now has the highest rate of employment in the United Kingdom
Wages rose at the fastest pace in nearly a decade in the three months to September,
Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46193571
Scottish unemployment rates are three times better than French figures.
Almost a quarter of young people are out of work in France.
The European Central Bank
has so far pumped more than two trillion euros into the bloc’s economy, while maintaining ultra-low interest rates.
The bank argues this has countered deflation and staved off a deeper economic crisis.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46552147
The European Central Bank has confirmed it is ending its huge net asset purchase programme to stimulate the eurozone economy this month.
So we can expect the E.U. to go swiftly into stagnation, they are very keen for the U.K. to give them our forty billion.
The ECB has stopped its bond-buying scheme, worth €30bn a month, despite a recent slowdown in the bloc’s recovery.
I would definitely take this rosy economic data with a large pinch of salt.
If you are looking for a job, you will find that wages don’t buy anything like what they did in 2007 and employers are able to demand all sorts of experience and qualifications that would be absurd if the economy were really doing that well. Even if you just want to get a job as a van driver, you will often be asked to provide your own van and pay all the running costs!
Probably a good parallel with today’s official data would be the sort of info put out by places like East Germany and Romania in the mid-1980s.
The E.U. Bigwigs are giving Theresa May the bum’s rush in Belgium, today.
I think it is looking very likely that we are going off the cliff-edge next Spring.
Make up your mind Mr Norton. Unless you were being ironic, you were putting out Tory propaganda in the two posts at 8.36 and 8.41 worthy of one of Mrs May’s PMQ answers.
So what was the point of the vote of no-confidence in May?
It seemed obvious that this was at the worse possible time and therefore May was more likely to win. She did, no surprises. I was wondering if it was timed this way so she would win and it would be advantageous to May. My suspicions were enhanced when I learnt that May is now immune from no-confidence votes for 12 months.
French president Emmanuel Macron’s government survived a no-confidence vote in parliament on Thursday without difficulties. The motion was put forward by the Socialist Party, the far-left Defiant France, and the Communist Party over the government’s handling of the “yellow-vest” protests, which brought chaos and violence to the country for weeks. The motion was supported by just 70 MPs, far fewer than the 289 that it needed.
https://euobserver.com/tickers/143712
So Mrs. Theresa May messes it up, no-confidence vote – she gets to stay
Emmanuel Macron messes it up, no-confidence vote – he gets to stay
Not very inspiring, is it?
To trigger the vote 48 letters had to be sent in and they may have been sent in by her own supporters to as you say trigger the vote early.
I see that as well as advertising Walkers Crisps, Mr Lineker is also promoting a second vote/referendum/do it all again until you get the right answer.
In his capacity as the highest paid BBC presenter*, he should be advised to keep his opinions to himself and to stick to football.
Gary Lineker criticised by Jonathan Agnew for ‘political’ Brexit tweets
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/dec/14/gary-lineker-criticised-by-jonathan-agnew-for-political-brexit-tweets
* An annual report released by the corporation disclosing the salaries of all on-air staff showed Gary Lineker is now its highest paid employee with a salary of £1.75m; Claudia Winkleman, its highest paid woman, earns between £450,000 and £500,000.11 Jul 2018
Those salaries are obscene.
I shouldn’t worry about the BIG salaries of the BBC Pundits.
As we crash out of the E.U. there will be much belt-tightening to come
and I think we will find a huge belt-tightening for the BBC,
which is profligate.
.
Really, MN?!
Are you saying that there will be an end to Greed?
¡No pasarán!
* * * *
.
Here, of course bent BBC “profligate” is easily interchangeable with “corrupt” and BBC$ abusing public trust in return for money of any kind.
Psyops Pay As You View. Anybody?!
* * * *
I presume he calculates that’s the way to remain so highly paid. Would he prosper if he advocated Leave?
I’m alright Gideon cont’d
He has just taken his ninth job with his brother’s venture capital outfit based in San Francisco.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/dec/14/nine-jobs-george-osborne-adds-new-role-at-venture-capital-firm
To them that hath should be given.
The likes of Osborne have no idea about the lives of the 99%.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/14/nine-jobs-george-poverty-british-workers-failing-wages
Gideon is our version of Macron, imagine if ( as planned) Gideon had taken over from David Cameron?
Surely. SURELY, at some point, the electorate will send the Tories packing? if we vote them in again, we deserve the complete unravelling of everything and anything that made our society civilised. I’m the chair of small branch of an opposition party, with ten active members in a dying community, totally under Tory control, doing what I have to do, because giving in is a poor option.
I find this blog a source of inspiration. Thank you.
Mrs. May is very angry with Tony Blair sticking his oar in. He has said there should be a peoples vote, Mrs. May said the people have already said they want Brexit.
A lot of people are very angry with Tony Blair, especially the Corbynistas, who feel Tony Blair is working to destroy them.
On the BBC if you have the time to read 4,000+ words..
Can’t Afford to Tell the Truth
Owen Bennett-Jones on the state of the BBC
Depending on how one defines the BBC’s purpose, its licence fee income of £3.8 billion is either too much or not enough. In a world dominated by Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google, it’s ever harder for the BBC to keep up. It is estimated that Netflix alone will have spent upwards of $12 billion on content in 2018. It has a global audience of more than 130 million, a figure that is increasing by more than two million each month.
/..
https://www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n24/owen-bennett-jones/cant-afford-to-tell-the-truth
Craig, we’ve been slowly, slowly trying to “forget our bigots” for some years now. Sadly it will take another generation, so don’t try and rush the process. Your solution will surely come but not quickly…! Meanwhile we are where we are. See https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/travel/ireland/cycling-the-border-2018-at-least-yous-are-prods-you-f-kers-1.3727569
Mrs. Theresa may is stepping-up the governments
Cliff-Edge-Brexit preperations,
as are the E.U.
Jacob and Boris and others are coalescing around Mrs. May,
it really is looking like the plan is for no deal.
Or no Brexit.
Billions are being put in to Cliff-Edge-Brexit planning, three and a half thousand troops are being readied to “assist”
we are leaving, come what May.
The last two years has been a smokescreen
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is facing calls to apologise for apparently calling Theresa May a “stupid woman”
during Prime Minister’s Questions
I should think he is correct.
Excellent analysis but very depressing that people are taken in by this nasty rhetoric. Tories never take responsibility for the mess they always create. It’s either the foreigners, the EU or Corbyn to blame. I have never and probably will never understand why anyone who is not rich would vote Tory. If they are that stupid, how do they manage to vote at all?
To help understand people are not bothered by the inequality of wealth, they want more money themselves, but are worried about their immediate environment and broader national issues. This means high salaries for the rich is secondary to whether its safe to walk the streets and the identity of those who do.
This is where the ‘Left’ make a big mistake. Saying we are manipulated by the 1% is true, but that doesn’t mean you want a foreigner as a neighbour, hence why despite everything Labour are behind in the polls!
Russia’s leader Vlad Putin said British Prime Minister Theresa May has no choice but to follow through with Brexit,
as failing to do so would undermine UK democracy.
“She must enact the will of the people, expressed during the referendum,” he said. “Or otherwise it is not a referendum at all: doing it over and over again if someone did not like it [the result]. Is it a democracy?”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46630723
Mrs. May has said we are leaving, no ifs no buts.