It appears sadly impossible not to comment on Brexit at the moment; the astonishing scale of the government defeat in Parliament yesterday and the appalling self-serving behaviour of politicians on all sides compels attention.
The first and most obvious point is this; had Theresa May any honour, she would simply resign after her major political objective was rebuffed so dramatically by the legislature. But honour appears to be entirely out of fashion, so I shall not refer to it again today.
Parliament now appears ready to vote that it has confidence in the government when, clearly, it does not. This is because MPs wish to keep their jobs and careers intact. So from hereon the UK proceeds under the lie that it has a government which has a majority in Westminster for its views.
Even more remarkably, Theresa May has no intention of seeking a proposal that could command a majority. She seeks to move forward with cross-party discussions which exclude the leadership of other parties. She also insists that such discussions must be limited by her infamous “red lines” – but within those constraints, there is no deal materially different to the deal Parliament has just rejected which will ever be available.
The truth of course is that May’s “red lines” were in fact motivated by the only consistent strand that can be traced through Theresa May’s political career – hatred of immigrants. If you are going to end freedom of movement, then you have to leave the single market. That is very plainly the rule on which the single market was predicated, and the EU have repeated that ad nauseam in all negotiations. You cannot “cherry pick” to end free movement and keep free market access.
All of May’s “red lines” can be traced to a single source. If you ask “If you end EU immigration, what are the necessary consequences?” you get May’s red lines. Their basis is racism.
Both the SNP and Labour parties had put forward ideas that were broadly compatible. The Labour Party wants customs union, effective single market participation, and retention of worker and environmental protections. The SNP suggested permanent customs union and EEA membership. With minor differences, both these approaches are broadly “Norway plus” and both would limit the effects on the economy and remove the need for a hard border with Ireland.
But there was one major difference. The SNP accepted that single market membership must entail freedom of movement, and boldly argued that EU immigration is a good thing. The Labour Party position is entirely dishonest and predicated on a pretence that you can have single market access without freedom of movement – a position which is a lie.
The Labour Party has a large number of voters frequently described as “white working class”. The phrase is continually deployed as an euphemism for “racist”, which is highly unfair to the very many white working class people who do not share those attitudes. The desire not to alienate what I prefer to call the “John Mann voter” causes many in the Labour Party to adopt this dishonesty about the immigration consequences of single market access.
But it is worse than that. Many at the heart of what I might call “Old Labour” still harbour the dark thoughts that led in my youth to support from many trade union members for the views of Enoch Powell – the idea that immigrants depress wages and damage the working class. Unfortunately both Jeremy Corbyn and John MacDonnell, for both of whom I have much respect in general, still harbour this dinosaur opinion.
In July, Jeremy Corbyn said that immigration “would be a managed thing on the basis of the skills required… What there wouldn’t be is whole-scale importation of underpaid workers from central Europe in order to destroy conditions, particularly in the construction industries.”
Here Jeremy is putting forward a line on immigration “a managed thing on the basis of skills required” that is identical to the Tory line and plainly rules out free movement. Further he is promoting anti-immigrant myths. The economy is not a thing of fixed size with a limited number of jobs. Dynamic EU immigration has been entirely responsible for all growth in our economy this last decade; without it we would have been plunged into the deepest and still continuing recession. The cause of poverty is the obscene proportion of national wealth looted by the super wealthy, not the poor immigrant. The answer to the particular question Jeremy addressed is the establishment, or possibly post-Thatcher re-establishment, of strong legal protections for working conditions in the construction industry, to protect all workers there. The answer is not to attack Central European immigrants.
Until the Labour Party accepts the need to challenge anti-immigrant views head-on, it will continue to talk nonsense on Brexit.
For good measure, Nicola Sturgeon also played politics with a statement after last night’s vote which, remarkably, did not mention the word “Independence” at all. Sturgeon now appears entirely focused on keeping England and Wales inside the European Union against the will of the English and Welsh people, as opposed to having a clear and fixed aim of achieving Scottish Independence from this debacle.
[Update: Subsequently, at 5.32 am. Nicola corrected her position with the following tweet, presumably having absorbed party concerns overnight at her original key omission:
The criticism therefore falls, though it still worries me her first reaction was wrong.]
It seems to me the ultimate solution is plain. Scotland should become Independent and remain in the EU as its citizens overwhelmingly wish. England and Wales should leave the EU as its citizens wish (by a very clear majority if you take out Scotland and Northern Ireland). England and Wales should move to a Norway style relationship broadly as proposed by the Labour Party, with the racists told they cannot have everything they want. Northern Ireland should finally return to Ireland. Some bits of that will happen sooner than others – Scottish Independence in particular – but in a decade or so, I expect all that will have finally happened. If politicians were not so conniving and self-interested, we could get there a lot sooner.
“Je ne regrette rien” says Cameron.
Really?
https://www.politico.eu/article/david-cameron-i-dont-regret-calling-brexit-referendum/
He’s a double negative.
Are you saying Cameron’s a no-no?
The MPs have been wearing on for hours on the No Confidence Motion. It’s surprising that they still find something to say. A lot of windbags.
The vote is at 7pm approx.
May won the vote by a majority of 19!
Yes 306
No 325
What a bunch of unprincipled shits these Tories are! Even Dominic Grieve, who postures like a man of principle turns out to be a gutless follower.
Agree. Grieve, in his capacity as Attorney General, refused to grant an inquest for Dr Kelly (there had never been a proper inquest) and then
contested an application for a judical review of that decision
which cost the applicant well over £70,000.
The Tories are swine. Perhaps that’s why Cameron has an affinity
for pigs.
Nigel Dodds reminded Theresa immediately that without DUP votes she’d have lost by one vote. (Maybe he’s hoping for another bung to keep them onside!)
Grieve “represents” a Leave constituency.
Absolute toerag.
Piggate – “Piggate” refers to an uncorroborated anecdote that, during his university years, former British prime minister David Cameron put a “private part of his anatomy” into a dead pig’s mouth as part of an initiation ceremony for the Piers Gaveston Society. The anecdote was reported by Michael Ashcroft and Isabel Oakeshott in their unauthorised biography of Cameron, Call Me Dave, attributing the story to an anonymous Member of Parliament who was a “distinguished Oxford contemporary” of Cameron’s. Extracts from the book were published in the Daily Mail on 21 SEPTEMBER 2015
When was the EU referendum announced?
20 FEBRUARY 2016 – Referendum date is announced. David Cameron says the UK’s in/out referendum will be held on 23 June this year. 20 FEBRUARY 2016
Just saying. There was no huge demand for a referendum, it came out of the blue. Britain’s entrance to the EU happened during Ted Heath’s tenure, Ted the Paedophile Heath that is, and rumour has it that he was blackmailed into it because of the dirt they had on him. I have no idea if this is relevant, true, bullshit or not, but it is interesting. I suddenly thought of this, checked the dates, and they tally up perfectly. Piggate is in the press, and boom, EU referendum announced a few months later. We hear that the reason for all this sexual deviance is to control the powerful players.
Having a good troll, @123Bakery? The Tories promised a Brexit referendum in their 2015 general election manifesto.
I was just throwing it out there, and made it clear this was not solid info
And there’s no good in wasting a golden opportunity to remind ourselves of Piggate, as it helps us to understand the nature of The Beast. That’s a Britsh Prime Minister strongly rumoured to be involved in a highly deviant sexual act with a pig, as part of his indoctrination into the upper echelons of Britshit, sorry British, society. Ummm, I’m a bit uncomfortable with that…..
123Bakery, interesting post and worth considering. However, I am not sure if my memory serves me well but negotiations with the EU were undertaken by Ted Heath who was then succeeded by the Harold Wilson Labour Government. Wilson decided to take the decision as to EU membership to the electorate and was 100% the British nation would vote a resounding ‘No!’. They did not and so we entered – I voted to enter the EU, it was my first vote. Cameron was of the overwhelming view the national would vote a resounding Yes! and by a very narrow margin and a very low polling figure, they voted Out!
Gove’s contribution was absolutely disgusting.
Yes – Gove was much upset that Corbyn is opposed to the possession of weapons of mass destruction, i.e.Trident. Presumably Gove is a bit like Fallon and believes we should be prepared to use H bombs as a first strike weapon.
He was also much upset that Corbyn laid a wreath in a Tunis cemetery to those killed by an Israeli bombing raid on Tunis. Gove made much of the fact that both he and Tom Watson are friends of Israel. Gove also had lots of praise for the independent MP John Woodcock.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Wooden_Leg
I felt sick listening to him and lost count of the vicious and poisonous lies he hurled across the despatch box.
Here’s a thought, though. I’m not an admirer of Tom Watson but I found his contribution, immediately before Gove’s, dignified and accurate in summarising May’s time in office. But just consider the reaction had Watson adopted such an aggressive approach towards May! Imagine if he’d hurled abuse at her, in the way Gove did to Corbyn, with Labour MPs roaring like bulls behind him.
I think the reaction would have been swift and terrible. I think Watson would have been accused of bullying the PM, of verbally attacking her and seeking to demean her and humiliate her because she is a woman! Equality, eh?
Jo1, Well said and so true. Gove’s speech showed one thing very very clearly, the Tories have an empty tank, totally empty, helmed by a driver who is so incompetent she has crashed the tank in No Mans Land. The only thing they’ve got is Corbyn bashing why would a Tory Friend of Israel not take every or any opportunity to Corbyn bash after all, it is well known the Israelis do not want a Labour Party in power as they would officially recognise Palestine. Gove’s speech was rather ridiculous, venomous and showed how much in disarray the Tory party are. I agree with you, Tom Watson was dignified, relevant, truthful and restrained. Give me Corbyn and Watson as Prime Minister and Deputy any day over this bunch of incompetents. The fact is, the Tories own MPs only a month ago were going to take a No Confidence vote in their disastrous Leader yet, they don’t have the courage to stand by their principles putting their thirst to stay in power before what is good for the Nation. The other thing Gove’s speech gave me was that he provided some good reasons as to why Corbyn’s Labour Party should be voted into Government – Peace, equality, job creation etc
Needed all DUP votes.
May used one of her three days. She has just two more to return with her plan. As required by the Grieve amendment. The Leaders of the opposition require the red lines to be off the table. It is not going to happen. The only way to snatch the hard brexit is to prevaricate. A 10 pm Downing St. announcement – for nothing different! She must be on a meter. Million every extra day?
That this crisis of immigration was created by the EU in the first place is often overlooked. The freedom of movement within the EU is a good thing and works well when this freedom is shared by countries with an equal human development index, economies and political maturity (not the same as the veneer of ‘democracy’ often accepted). But the EU undermined this by deliberately accelerating the accession of former soviet union client states for purely political and military reasons which was to get these countries to join NATO and ultimately to neutralise Russia. Witness how Ukraine is being prepared to join the EU b antagonizing Russia, by ruining its population, by increasing fascist tendencies and increasing corruption. This is certainly more alarming than Turkey joining the EU. But of course these countries, with the big disparities in income from the old EU countries will suffer from a brain and talent drain to the west which will pay more, and yes this will mean that people highly qualified will accept less well paid jobs to come and share the prosperity in UK, France and Germany and other countries, often to the detriment of their homeland. This negative side to the lesser fortunate countries is not often mentioned in places where it is considered racist to comment on this unequal emigration and its effects.
The purpose of accession was to decisively suppress the cost and power of labour in Western Europe – both through unrestricted immigration from low wage accession countries and by outsourcing native industry to low wage accession countries. As a consequence of the movements in both directions, Germany now has the highest proportion of people in tbe EU earning less than two thirds of median income and has become the most unequal society in Europe. Another purpose of unlimited immigration was to undermine support for welfarism in Western Europe, as the perception grew among natives that they were paying for ‘outsiders’ to avail of their services. (The US had provided the model in this regard, with whites reluctant to fund welfare because of the perception it benefits blacks and hispanics).
Accession has already proven to be astonishingly successful for the EU’s neiberal project, notwithstanding the unexpected British vote of 2016 which I fully expect to be overturned or at least rendered meaningless.
SA I cannot agree your statement about the EU being responsible for this tide of immigration. A lot of talk in this Brexit mess has been about becoming a ‘Sovereign Nation’ again but the truth is, Immigration to the UK is not just from EU Central European nationals but from other continents as well such as Africa, Australia and New Zealand. People forget that it was the Blair/Brown Government who introduced the first caps on immigration and streamlined the criteria for acceptance. The problem is the employers and the Government. They would prefer to import cheap foreign labour and reduce the working conditions and salaries of the indigenous population than ensure fair, equitable and effective terms of conditions of employment. Specifically, this is oh so true of the Manufacturing industry. I worked in manufacturing for a good few years and witnessed how employers exploited the situation to shut out unions, to reduce pay, holidays and sick pay (the latter wiped out totally) to a culture of employing eastern European labour. Let’s first bust the myth that eastern Europeans work harder and are more reliable. This is balderdash and piffle quite the opposite is true. Employers have allowed English in the manufacturing work place to be all but eradicated choosing instead to employ non English speaking eastern Europeans. They are also allowing these same workers to bring in their relatives, friends etc who have arrived in this country and signed up with the same agency at the expense of jobs for British people. This suits the Government well as a tool to label the British working class as ignorant, lazy louts when the opposite is true. I do not believe it is racism fuelling May’s attitude to Brexit but the pressure applied by the CBI on the Government (Close allies) who have maximised profits at the expense of British jobs. Experience dictates, and I am clear about this, the Nation with the worst track record and who are racist are the Polish. They seek to secure their own positions (despite being largely incompetent) by sucking up to management, snitching on colleagues, creating incidents etc. All supported by the employers. It is the duty of a Government to secure the jobs and rights of their own indigenous population when there is significant numbers of immigrants. This Government couldn’t give a damn.
Joi
I can’t quite understand what you mean. You start of by saying that it is not all immigration is from the EU immigration (which is true) but then go on to contradict yourself by saying how bad this has been and how they have undermined our workers wages.
As to non/EU immigration it is irrelevant to the Brexit vote because it has always been and will remain up to our government to limit the numbers. There is no doubt that the major immigration, let’s call it freedom of movement, from poorer East European countries that has been a major factor in whipping up the Brexit vote.
SA – “There is no doubt that the major immigration, let’s call it freedom of movement, from poorer East European countries that has been a major factor in whipping up the Brexit vote.”
Non EU net immigration has mostly always been far higher than EU net immigration. Lately the numbers have moved closer together.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_immigration_to_the_United_Kingdom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UK_Migration_from_1970.svg
FranzB
Yes I understand that and that is exactly the irrationality of the discussion and on how ‘freedom of movement’ has been the main driver for Brexit when it was not the only or major factor in ‘foreigners taking our jobs’.
“They would prefer to import cheap foreign labour and reduce the working conditions and salaries of the indigenous population than ensure fair, equitable and effective terms of conditions of employment. Specifically, this is oh so true of the Manufacturing industry.”
And many other sectors too, such as construction and hospitality.
“Employers have allowed English in the manufacturing work place to be all but eradicated choosing instead to employ non English speaking eastern Europeans. They are also allowing these same workers to bring in their relatives, friends etc who have arrived in this country and signed up with the same agency at the expense of jobs for British people. This suits the Government well as a tool to label the British working class as ignorant, lazy louts when the opposite is true.”
Yes – another good point. The Tory attitude towards the indigenous working class is similar to racial hatred.
N_,
“The Tory attitude towards the indigenous working class is similar to racial hatred.”
I agree, and I also think that applies to the Blairites and the Liberal Democrats, plus the MSM who are the mouthpiece for them.
To restrict our ability to work and live abroad is totally racist against ourselves. Racism gets knees jerking towards the Tories . A double whammy because it hits us at home and abroad. Lose lose.
I voted leave to extricate the UK from Europe’s federal ambitions which no doubt Churchill thought would be run by us. 70 years later the Tories are mustering for empire2.
Fantasising about the future and the past is what prevents us from enjoying the present.
Mrs May is tripping on our crushed aspirations choking our youth and tightening the shackles of corporate power.
Conservatism is poison. Racist is just daft. I wish the Tories would just collectively ouef ouef
Giyane, well said, very well said and succinctly put.
giyane – Indeed, we will have two new aircraft carriers for corporal Gavin to project our power….they say one of the reasons why Empire1 set, was the huge cost of the building the Dreadnoughts…
@Wikikettle
Yes, aircraft carrier = large, slow moving target.
I was Shocked by Nicola’s initial Tweet, It’s as if the Ruk staying in the EU is more important than Independence.
I Love Joanna Cherry.. But on ch 4 she has said the same thing.. That the people of Britain should be given a new vote on brexit ” I’m confident we’ll chose to remain and If we don’t the Scots will be going their seperate ways ”
So If we do remain Independence is off the table.. That thought is So Depressing
Makes you wonder if she did stab Alex Salmond in the back so that he couldn’t make the come-back he was intending.
Brian
Indyref2 only appeared because of the Brexit vote! It wasn’t on the table before then. We weren’t even two years along from Indyref1.
Right now, the SNP people at Westminster are defending the Scottish Remain vote which came from voters of more than one Party. Why do you criticise them for doing the job?
Jo1
Yes To your first Sentence
But I Don’t think it’s the SNP’s job to make sure the RUK remain in EU.. against England and wales Wishes.. We were all told lies yes, as were Scotland in 2014.
I just hope the SNP have a Plan.
Brian
That’s not what they’re doing. They’re our MPs defending the Remain vote in Scotland. It’s their duty to do that.
They are Jo.. I do Agree..
Anyhoo, it wont stop me fighting for indy..I’ll be in a couple of days pounding the streets posting Leaflets with Inverclyde for Independence..And the First Big AUOB march is in May..then Oban for us in June.
Cheers Brian.
testIs that what she said in her tweet then? Some of us don’t use Twitter.
How hard will she campaign for a Britain-wide result that she implies (I doubt many of her listeners will distinguish between a converse and a contrapositive) will – for a while at least – remove the possibility of a second Scottish independence referendum?
The result of Brexit Ref 2 that the SNP leadership want is for Britain as a whole to vote Leave while Scotland votes Remain. They would then want another independence referendum, which if they were successful would lead to another hard border.
The SNP line that “Brexit makes a stronger case for Scottish independence, because independence would enable Scotland to ‘stay’ [sic] in the EU, along with its natural friends Romania and Bulgaria” is a complete bunch of lies. It is a hypocritically “polite” version of supporting “whoever is playing against England”.
And while I’m here, the DUP’s line that Brexit is so wonderful is another complete bunch of lies. They’re only in favour of it, as everybody in Northern Ireland knows, because their sectarian rabies tells them that the continentals are mostly Roman Catholics.
hm… racist…
there is difference in using this word in Russia.
Racist – a person who hates other races or nations, racism – irrational hatred towards appearance (e.g. skin color) or the country of origin.
Immigrants, migrants – people who come to live in the country, buy/rent homes, have jobs, pay taxes.
Guest workers (common word is German ‘gastarbeiter’) – a worker whose family lives abroad, underpaid, usually doesn’t pay taxes here.
Refugees – come here looking for a shelter, live on benefits.
‘Also Russians’, ‘people without nationality’ (conversational, sarcastic) – used to refer to non-Slavic Russian citizens when police reports on certain types of crimes e.g. speedy racing, rape/violence made by a group.
In Russia ‘racist’ is a strong word, we usually use it describing historical events.
Modern attitude to guest-workers in Russia is very similar to @Pat Marie ‘s opinion on page 1
” … ending the importation of underpaid migrant workers is because they are underpaid, not because they are migrants.”
Tatyana – “racist” used to be a strong word in the West too. Now it is thrown about like confetti at a wedding.
However, the police report a substantial increase in racist attacks in England in the wake of the Brexit poll. How do you explain that?
The “57% increase in hate crime” was plucked from a single press release issued by the National Police Chief’s Council on June 27, four days after the EU ballot took place. The document in question specifically stated that police forces had recorded ‘no major spikes in tensions’ since Britain went to the polls.
However, its footnote added that 85 people had logged hate crime ‘incidents’ on True Vision, a website that records unverified allegations of such behaviour, during the four days in question, up from 54 during the corresponding period a month earlier.
So there you have it. A new online tool was created for reporting hurty feels, real or imagined, and lo and behold, hate crime officially went up by 57%.
Trying to portray people as racist for opposing the direction being taken by their corporate, political and media masters is a growth industry.
You sound like an apologist for racism. Contrary to what you say this article which obtained the information from the pollice using FOI and paints a much more serious picture – https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/racist-hate-crimes-surge-to-record-high-after-brexit-vote-new-figures-reveal-a7829551.html
I fail to see how your statement contradicts mine, in fact it seems to support it.
It is a strong word in the English language, too. It has been so thoroughly devalued by the likes of Craig that it is now almost meaningless. It is used by the liberal left in attempts to close down opposing views. Many non-racist people who are called “racist” by the liberal left are now simply ignoring the slur and saying “And? What’s your point?”. Soon the liberal left will have to make their arguments rather than hide behind their slurs. It is a shame because though small in number, genuine racists do exist and now thanks to the likes of Craig we have no meaningful term with which to describe them.
[0] delta – nice
able
We share this language with quite a lot of people you know. It’s like saying ” Craig, your tummy sticks out “.
” Yes , so do most tummies.”
” Now I haven’t got a relevant word for describing tummies any more.”
Invent a way to describe it then , like all the other English do.
Indeed able, the word is becoming meaningless.
But it does provoke lots of comments on this board.
That’s why Craig loves to lob it in here regularly, click bait..
So Tatyana, what do you make of this social experiment on racism in Russia?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqQZEPUisaM&app=desktop
Do you think Russia has a problem with bad behaviour towards black people?
Republicofscotland
I’m ashamed of what I’ve seen. Nevertheless, I will answer and try to explain for myself.
People with black skin are VERY rare in Russia, at least in my region. I may meet in the street one or two during a week, and it only because there’s Academy of Medicine in my city, and those people are students.
I had conversation with African girl only once in my life, she was also a medical student and me a patient at a hospital. All I had known about African people before the meeting was that they fought for social equality, they are sensitive to the ways they are treated, and that staring at her would be very impolite (though I was eager to look at her I felt it is wrong and could embarrass her). This is stupid yet awkward. I’m sorry.
I think this experiment is not telling, they’d better invite guys from Caucasus – Dagestan, Chechnya etc. – it would be informative.
—
Also, I think most people just don’t want to be involved in a quarrel of young men in the street. But I see the passers-by defend Russians more often, it is with no doubt is defending ‘ours’, a tribal emotion.
I should add, for better understanding, that Russia is Federation, we are multi-national country. There are no native African people in Russia, and there are very few Asian (Mongoloid), so the population is mostly of one appearance.
When USSR dissolved there were a lot of anti-russian crimes in former republics, especially Caucasus and Middle Asia. So, many people know what racism (better say nazism) is.
Nowadays, the federal law prohibits any discrimination or inciting nationality-based hate, new generations learn to be tolerate again, as it were in USSR.
But as always, you cannot prohibit people think what they think, there are samples of nationalism and even nazism here. Usually they are male, without higher education, doing low paid jobs, thinking that people of another nationality are the root of their problems 🙂
Thank you Tatyana for your thoughts, of course racism is a global problem, and not just endemic in Russia.
However on a positive note Peter the Great freed a black African slave and took him into his household and raised him as his godson.
He went on to become Russian nobility as did his family he was of course the renowned General Gannibal. Gannibal was a great-grandfather of the author and poet Alexander Pushkin.
Racist is used by pompous snobby idiots to undermine anybody who questions the negatives of Freedom Of Movement.
It’s much loved by Guardian readers who love the idea of the “low information” plebs having to compete for wages with people from 50p an hour countries. The slippery “i’m alright Jack” crowd who’ve done well out of the immigration ponzi scheme, pulled up the drawbridge, and enjoy looking down their noses at their inferiors.
Perceived inferiors
Humility may lead to meanness, But vanity may lead to violence. Therefore it is better to be humble
Corbyn is the worst person to lead Britain — for Israel.
Says the joker in front of Mrs. May.
bj, yes but, I thought he was brilliant yesterday and acting like a proper Leader should – strong, focussed, committed and informative. A senior Tory politician made a comment that the Tories main objective is to prevent a Corbyn Government – that is a ridiculous objective for any Government. I therefore think it is evidence that the Tories really really fear a Labour party victory because it will show the British Nation what a proper, functioning, socialist Government looks like – focussed on the needs of the people rather than the vested interests of the few – even funding the Integrity Initiative some £100,000 to dish the dirt and propaganda against him. Added to which of course, May has refused to invite Corbyn to a ‘cross party’ discussion about how to progress with Brexit and hasn’t bothered even entering into a dialogue with him for over 2years. This truly is rising fascism. A Prime Minister with a non working majority failing to engage with HM Leader of the opposition is school playground mentality. What a shambles the UK are in politically, democratically and moving towards totalitarianism.
Dear god Michael Gove is despicable!
They all (the Tories) make me puke. What a bunch of nakedly self-interested, morally bankrupt creeps.
Yep. A disgusting individual.
I have to go and get some luridly coloured gaffer tape, ready for the Burkelian self-servers to call another racist referendum, their way of saying that the burkes among them failed to get together when changes to our, voters, lives and futures are concerned.
Whilst austerity is killing disabled people and those at the margins of society, the disunited Tories who chanced their PMs standing by voting against her cobbled up suits all deal, will today deny that their collective mumblings FAILED and vote to keep their jobs, their perks and power to inflict further hardship on us.
Pensioners are next as a stealth bill/ sorry via a written ministerial statement, will ensure that mixed-age couples will lose out by £140,-/week.
For those Burkeans who still do not understand that the general public is not represented by these crooks, please stop talking about forgotten principles, they will be crushed by fascist power huggers.
The gaffer tape is free to any of the 3 million EU citizens who made their lives here, so they can tape their mouth shut.
Since they have no say in their future, should they stop paying taxes here like all those worried offshore merchants who want no deal and walk away so we dont have to comply with the 1.April financial regulatory policy?
So basically the shit-show continues unabated, the country is a global laughing-stock under the same incompetents, while the voters get no chance to get rid of them. Some Democracy.
Its all made possible bu the national embarrassment on the opposition front bench.
It’s all made possible by the unalloyed support the corporate gangster, criminally corrupt and useless idiots in the Tory party receive from the corporate media, including the BBC, and most of the public institutions where ideologically subservient individuals have been placed in positions of authority and power over the last ten years. The country is being turned into a one-party state in plain sight. Shame of the British people I say, including those who call the political opposition a ‘national embarrassment’ in the face of the unprecedented international embarrassment and national disaster that is the current Tory government.
Deb O’Nair, well put and totally agree. There is a very good statement by Tucker Carlson (link on RT today) giving clearer evidence to what you are saying the only difference is he states we are being governed by a bunch of Mercenaries. Even now, after a brilliant and dynamic presentation by Corbyn, very little of it is reported anywhere. I also say shame on the British people who cannot be bothered to analyse things and look deeper into things. This is all May’s fault as she shouldn’t have triggered Article 50 without a proper, workable, negotiation strategy yet the MSM persist in trying to get people to feel sorry for her. Where we go from here I have no idea.
95% media support for Tories, tacit, indirect or direct. The people you imagine you speak for, you don’t, can not decide who to vote for without the relevant information. Guardian to the Times, BBC to Sky they’ve all propped up the corruption and filth of this government. If you believe what you write, you’re not as bright as you think you are. For the record I don’t believe you’ve made a sincere contribution to this blog.
Michelle Thomson is back in the SNP.
https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/former-mp-michelle-thomson-has-rejoined-the-snp-1-4857567
As the allegations against her were flimsy and ultimately proven false, I have no issue per say. I have every sympathy with her given the outrageously tardy investigation by Police Scotland.
The problem is that Michelle has subsequently been a very naughty girl.
Last September, she attended the Paris annual conference of Mossad’s, happy little terrorist cult, Mojehedin-e Khalk. The MEK have a track record of gathering up waifs and strays from the political word to try and lend their annual pantomime a borrowed suit of legitimacy. Michelle’s fellow delegates for the all expenses paid trip included former Lib Dem, MP for Portsmouth, Mike “handy” Hancock. I would use the term “alleged” sex pest, but I’m willing to go out on a limb with sex pest.
The point is, I don’t imagine Michelle was shaking hands and introducing herself as a non-political Scottish business person. She will have been trading on her position as a former SNP, MP. As such, she was benefiting personally from bringing the party into disrepute.
That is very well spotted. The MEK have absolutely no support inside Iran and life under them would be no different than under the current regime, especially in terms of women’s rights. If she were a real feminist and democrat, there are plenty of grass-roots organisations inside Iran she could support. Mojahadin literally translates as “jihadists”. As in jihad, holy war. Lots of MPs flock to their meetings, I presume they are well paid in “expenses”.
So, the aparachichs at head office are either a’ sleap at the wheel or they buy into to the neocon, permanent war. Which do you suppose?
Here, I fear, blog writer is misguided. If immigration is not “a managed thing on the basis of skills required”, what should it be? Is this not an entirely sane objective for immigration? I concede that it’s just a phrase, which can be used as cover for other, more cynical policies, but for many people in Scotland and the UK, immigration is the most important issue of the day. And whilst Craig himself is an honorable man I’m sure, I personally have begun to loathe the all too swift references to ‘racism’, or ‘misogyny’ or – laughably – ‘hate speech’ that pour out of vitriolic Guardian writers, and others, who use insults instead of argument. It’s a dark spell.
And for the record, I don’t think May is racist. It’s quite the opposite: she is a globalist. Which means she is entirely for freedom of movement, and will happily invite millions of Somalians to your shores to ‘do the work the locals will not’. It’s this kind of policy the white working class have a problem with, and bluntly I don’t blame them. I don’t think it’s really about EU freedom of movement, or white Christian Poles doing the plumbing.
So, I think a reasonable question can be put to all political leaders: what is the maximum amount of immigrants that Britain will accept per year? This means the question becomes about practicalities: the numbers. Reasonable people can discuss whether the UK can accept 50,000, or 150,000; only mad-eyed globalists would argue for total open borders, and huge influxes from the 3rd World, few of whom have much interest in integrating. They do argue that, of course, worth bearing in mind.
Also, I should emphasise, I’m an immigrant, so not for a second blaming anyone moving for a better life. I did, and I don’t regret it for a millisecond.
Excellent. Labour’s PPB broadcast earlier tonight.
https://skwawkbox.org/2019/01/16/video-another-new-labour-ppb-that-will-have-the-tories-trembling/
Tories out!
Having witnessed two referendum reversed to support ‘Nice’ and ‘Lisbon’ so called ‘Treaties’, there is only one way to defeat the power of the agenda that created those exercises in those states under their control – begin with NEVER returning ANY incumbent (with exception of fully known and carefully vetted individuals and then only when over 60% of the vote concur for the first re-election and 67% for each re-election thereafter. This should apply to any and all parliaments, congresses, senates and holders of all executive office not term limited. Only those firmly demonstrating exceptional public service should qualify for consideration for incumbency in any voting district – no exceptions. It may be beneficial that candidates are drawn from citizenry by lot, the public would be as well served as by presently ordained by political party. Britain was as well served by their inherited kings as the United States was by their elected presidents (if history has any indication).
Curious, if we are to have referenda like these, should they require a “super majority”?
interesting point – tbere are plenty of Remainers busy saying that the last Referendum should have had a much larger majority, say 55% minimum, to be enacted. What would they say if they only got say 52% in a second one? would they declare the result null and void?
And would they apply the same margins to Scottish independence?
I asked about this on a different thread. Deb O’Nair kindly explained that since the 2016 referendum was advisory and therefore not legally binding, no conditions were set regarding the majority required.
I’m now wondering, if there’s to be a second vote, there will be conditions this time.
To stay on topic, this is a post about “Racist Poisons”
I was innocent to the internet in the 1990’s. we used to post under own own real names, and used to phone each other up, and even meet each other. Very little of it was about politics,
Everyone thought I was a bit nuts, but was not doing illegal drugs. I was growing sunflowers. I had gaven up the drugs more than 10 years before…so I posted to many of my internet friends – using their real names and addresses, the sunflower seeds from my most amazing sunflowers.
It never occurred to me, that the seeds I had bought a year before were Genetically Modified Terminator Seeds. I could not believe that any company in the UK or America, could be that evil.
So my friends received their seeds from me in November 99, not knowing – and I didn’t know until the Spring of the Year 2000, that all the seeds were sterile; they could not be germinated.
I felt like a fool, and I had to apologise. Maybe it was me, that I had done something wrong.
I did not know until I travelled several times during the Next Decade to India, that Monsanto, had done the same thing to ordinary Indian people (who we really Love). Sure they could grow food the first year, but if they wanted to grow food the next year, they couldn’t use the seeds they had harvested: they had to buy some new seeds from The enormous American Company Monsanto, now flogged off to Germany.
I accept The EU, has displayed great resistance to Genetically Modified Food, and it’s entirely possible that the European Population, is now far more intelligent than the American Population, as a result.
India is a big place, and they have not all been infected, and neither have we.
Near a festival, we go to nearly every year, we always stop off to photograph their sunflowers…
These old gentleman invited us in to see their community allotments, and merely asked, if they could have their photographs published in Gardeners World. Since then, we have used their seeds, and we have had people coming round, asking us if they can photograph ours.
So of course my wife and I invite them in, and feel honoured.
Tony
I feed sunflower seeds to the birds. In the Summer, some of them which had been dropped had germinated and there was a wonderful show of flowers. The plants were more than 6ft high and the flowers 12ins across.
The latest arrivals to the ground below the feeders are two male pheasants and four females. Their plumage is very beautiful.
If immigration control is racism then is birth control misopedia?
Does that mean that open borders are like unprotected sex?
I’m not sure but it’s an interesting question. I would say there are similarities but you could be supportive of the one ideology and not the other. I’m open-minded about both but there is a time and place of course…
What about unprotected borders and open sex? Sorry, on a roll here.
No I like it Freddy, but amusing though it is I have to say that your line of enquiry is a formal fallacy. It’s like if I asked the question: “If 2x = 4 does 10x = 20?” And you replied “Does that mean that 2 = 10?”
The thing is; if Scotland stayed in the EU and the rest of the ex UK left would it be necessary for a an EU border to be set up between Scotland and England?
Unfortunately the SNP and others spent enough time attacking Labour and not enough time attacking the real enemy of progress the Tories.
It doesn’t auger well for any Coalition government of the future.
One positive thing though – we all know how many MPs need to be won over for success.
Also the electorate now know that the Tories ( and a many others ) would rather have a No Deal than a Corbyn led government. Even a Labour/SNP one.
The closer the possibility of that becomes the more smears and attacks will be on members of the SNP.
Next business is to get a No Deal off the table and if it means a revocation in the end then so be it.
There cannot be a referendum unless a government puts it through Parliament.
May or any other Tory leader is not going to do that.
Any ideas?
Amendments can get through parliament without government support.
Well, by the same token, KK, perhaps had Labour MPs spent more time focusing on the consequences of Brexit than on trying to bring down their own leader, they could have achieved more too.
I’ve just been listening to one of those Labour MPs, Lisa Nandy, on Peston, babbling about an idea she and another of her pals, Stella Creasy, have come up with. They want “Citizens Assemblies” to help MPs sort out the Brexit mess! Idiots the pair of them.
The Uk is a bloody joke. Sorry
Den, unfortunately, I have to agree with you and I am British. Still there is no criticism or challenge to May and this fascist Government by the MSM including the BBC and the people are not inclined to dig deeper for the truth. Our nation is indeed in terrible disarray, politically, economically, increasing poverty levels and the fairly rapid decline in our manufacturing industry. People’s houses will start to be repossessed in the coming year once this Government have to implement a series of crushing interest rates to prop up its appalling economic policy and decisions this Government has made and he increasing poverty of not just the working but also middle classes. Please though, do not tar us all with the same brush – a lot of us are truly in despair at the moment.
The crucial question is this: Will the DUP or (preferably) a few Tory Remainers vote against the Government the closer we get to a no-deal Brexit? Which do they fear the most: no deal or a Corbyn Government?
The DUP will only vote against the tories if the tories insist in the backstop . Otherwise they’re enjoying their own new relevance and also the fact they’re in a position to get whatever funds they want from mainland .
If may gives assurances there will be no backstop they’ll even go for a hard border with the republic . Never mind the chaos that will cause .
Mike, according to a senior Tory politician, their main and only aim is to prevent a Corbyn Government taking power.
Why is Sturgeon backing the “People’s Vote” which has such charming characters such as Peter Mandelson behind it? Yet claims to be “grassroots” ? I smell a rat.
Peter Power
Maybe Sturgeon would like to be seen trying to get Brexit reversed. Once you put colour in your hair to make you look 30, you have to keep stopping your roots whitening making you look 90 and crazy.
You could call Trading Standards and complain that you bought red colour and it turned out to be blue colour, and it said it was permanent, but it grows out with your hair.
Why is Mandy joining NS on a 2nd referendum outcome?
I’ve got an opinion on immigration. It is a question of economics, finding right places for people. Just the same we do when hire employees.
If I were a prime-minister, I would primarily estimate resources of ‘my company’ and then decide, if I have any vacancies for new people.
In general, if I accept new people, so I must ‘expand bussiness’. What are those new directions?
Suppose, I’ve got some new fields to work in and I really need more employees.
What are those ‘new people’, what are their qualifications, how much should I spend to teach them ‘corporate rules’, do I have enough room, tables and chairs for everyone?
Problems of newcomers – will they obey ‘dress-code’, where would I settle them, is the salary high enough or would they starve and steal from me?
What I’m trying to say, before inviting new working hands (they usually arrrive together with non-working ones, which I should take into account while estimating pro-s and contra-s) I must know for sure it is really necessary.
Tatyana, genuinely interested, would you classify yourself as a conservative? Small c? Would most Russians?
Freddy, I’m not sticking to one or another ‘ideology’, I see no one is perfect 🙂 there are logical, reasonable and good in result features, so I support them.
Strange that some people tend to accept something in whole, despite that ‘whole’ may consist of several parts.
I just consider ideas separately.
And, this is my view on religion, too.
I do not believe mystical parts, I don’t agree with many ideas from holy books, yet I welcome and support ideas of love and humanism in Christianity and the Commandments are very reasonable rules for people.
На Бо́га наде́йся, а сам не плоша́й.
Tatyana
“I welcome and support ideas of love and humanism in Christianity and the Commandments are very reasonable rules for people.”
I think that is a very good way to live your life, and it is a very similar concept to my own.
As far as politics and political parties in the UK are concerned, I have always regarded politics as flexible, that the party line is sometimes in conflict with personal beliefs and standards.
At the moment, I feel that all the UK parties are deeply flawed and very ignorant, insensitive to the needs of the majority of people.
Freedom of movement in the EU means as a member country you have no control over how many citizens of another EU country move to your country to live and see employment and settle as a migrant. Or when or where.. Or what their qualifications should be. All EU ctizens are entitled to settle anywhere in the EU and receive the benefits available to the citizens of that country
And if one member state allows non-EU citizens in…?
Many EU states sell citizenship…e.g. Portugal.
Geoffrey , we don’t sell citizenship . We sell long stay visas for people buying property or investing or creating employment . A questionable action but certainly not selling citizenship .
Mary, saying of benefits, do you mean social payments like pensions or wellfare?
I want to understand what is the difference between usual migration and EU migration. Working visa?
Any EU citizen can move to any EU country broadly speaking. They must be looking for work, or self employed, or have a pension if retired but that is about it. No other requirements, no work visas needed. All sorts of restrictions are placed by EU countries on immigrants from outside the EU. That will depend on the county’s own laws controlling immgration from outside the EU.i
Once an EU citizen is settled and working in an EU country they are broadly entitled to the same welfare benefits as other citizens of the country. What these benefits are and how they have earned, contributory or non contributory, will depend on the country. David Cameron tried to introduce policies which gave more favourable benefits to UK citizens and the EU said he could not do this, could not discriminate against them in this way. If the UK felt their welfare benefits were attracting too many
EU migrants, they should cut them back for everyone.
there is no working visa required for an EU citizen to work in another EU country.
Mary that is incorrect . If after 3 months the citizen has not obtained employment the host country can deny residence . Your government just never applied that . That’s an EU rule regarding freedom of movement .
Yes it is a problem that we do not enforce this. Partly because we do not have identity cards or a system of registration so hard to check up on where people are living. We have Social Security Numbers but they are just used to register to pay taxes, get jobs and obtain welfare benefits. We do not have any system of identity cards or registration like that. The government departments which responsible for issuing the numbers and awarding benefits are quite separate from the department which controls immigration.
There is no department to control migration from the EU. Deportation after being unemployed for 3 months – if you are from the EU – assumes there is a system in place and there is not in the UK. I expect a lot of migrants know this. Also there are a lot of people who have come to the UK illegally over the years and work in the black economy. And the EU deportation rule on deportation after being unemployed after 3 months, does not apply to self employed people (EU loophole.) Word seems to have got round about this among Romanians and Bulgarians as a high percentage claim to be self employed.
Well done the SNP for agreeing to work constructively with the government. It’s good to see they have got their priorities right.
It is possible to have concerns about levels of EU migration to the UK without being racist. Regrettably the debate has been taken by that wing of the liberal lobby which takes the view that any expression of concern is racist so it is not possible to have a rational debate on the subject.
Liberals do extremely well from immigration – lots of workers for their poncy coffee shops, their polish au pairs, they can impress everyone by showing demonstrating how international they are, and above all, the ultimate British liberal indulgence – they can pretend that they have more In common with the supposed intellectualism of europeanism than of the drab home life – and of course, oh so far removed from those nasty working class ‘racists’ I’ve noticed that English liberals tend to limpit onto the Scots (only Edinburgh mind) for this one too.
There’s a term for this type of bigotry. And it’s disappinting that the above article appears to indulge in it.
https://www.revolvy.com/page/Narcissism-of-small-differences
For everyone that seems to think that immigration is a terrible thing, please watch some Mark Blyth, e.g.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BsqGITb0W4A
This is related to the rise in populism – in political economic terms – in Trump America, but is applicable to Europe, and he makes many references to it. That includes the uk, we are not exceptional, far from it.
Being anti-immigration is a self-destructive stance to take, from the view having a successful economy. In Scotland we are in a far worse position than in England, with such a low population – after centuries of asset stripping by England, causing depopulation – we do really need that immigration, we need the free movement of people – the SNP is not being nice and friendly to make themselves look good, they are telling the truth that we need this commodity, desperately – Young people paying taxes – we need our overseas PhD and undergrad students staying to work for a few years after their qualifications. This is a reserved matter. The English Westminster government is destroying Scotland with their toxic policies. Toxic, and with no view to ensuring a stable economy in the future.
The thing you actually need is your government ensuring the infrastructure is in place to cope with the numbers of new people – but the English government doesn’t want to do that.
Mark Blyth explains why your views are understandable. It doesn’t make them acceptable to everyone though.
Genuine question: if Scotland needs so many people, why is it struggling to attract them from the EU? is it that EU citizens have the wrong qualification’s? Is it the weather? I thought educated young Romanians and Bukgarians moved to wherever in the EU they could find well paid work?
Watch the Mark Blyth video.
And, RESERVED means that it is wholly in Westminster’s hands, so you can ask them why.
I am still missing something here – why don’t educated young East Europeans want to work in Scotland?
Who said anything about educated east Europeans? The laws passed by Westminster regarding PhD and other students was for international students, and banned them from staying in the uk. There wasn’t a problem with anyone from the EU living and working in Scotland up until now. Free movement? There are different rules for international citizens, and even those that are living and working and running businesses are getting visas revoked. RESERVED matters. ‘Want’ isn’t relevant here.
My point is that very large numbers of educated Romanians and Bulgarians have moved to the UK in recent years. If there is a shortage of jobs in Scotland, I would assume some of them to have moved there. There is a very large pool of educated East Europeans or indeed Greeks or Spanish, who could improve their living standards considerably by moving to the UK including Scotland. Maybe a slow down since Brexit but not before that. Craig’s article was about Brexit and the EU and that is what I was discussing, not broader immigration quotas for people outside the EU.
Why don’t you start by asking why 800,000 Scots born people are currently living in England? Why don’t those people return to Scotland?
Don’t give me any garbage about Scotland being destroyed by the English. Take a good look at places like Liverpool and Newcastle and explain how these places are so much wealthier that Scotland.
Scotland’s problems have less to do with immigration and more to do with answering the question as to why Scotland effectively drives out so many of its native inhabitants. I don’t see any English “kidnap” squads going around forcibly removing Scottish people from Scotland.
A lot of the policies afflicted on the UK today have their origins with the Scotsmen that actually ran the entire UK government between 1997-2010 in the personages of Mssrs. Blair and Brown and their Scottish henchmen like Robin Cooke (possibly killed on the orders of Scotsmen) John Reid, Alistair Darling, Donald Dewar, George Robertson, Lord Irvine etc. etc.
Maybe one reason why people don’t move en masse to Scotland is because of the all pervasive anti English culture that is deployed to avoid discussion of the massive damage inflicted on Scotland, the rest of the UK and large parts of the world by Scotsmen in Westminster.
I suggest you check how many English people have come up to live in Scotland.
You are a complete ignoramus.
There are 400,000 English born people living in Scotland.
400,000 is exactly half of 800,000.
As I am a complete ignoramus I will leave it to you to work out whether a higher percentage of the Scottish born population live in England or whether a higher percentage of English born people live in Scotland. The math is not hard.
And the jocks and paddies of yesteryear now hide in plain sight, personable enough and coping with knives and forks, have escaped the cuts and building sites becoming almost as colourless as the natives.
I am not sure why one tweet from Nicola Sturgeon that doesn’t mention independence is such a big deal, all the SNP politicians are now saying ‘independence is the only option’ on a regular basis, I even heard it mentioned more than twenty times on radio Scotland this morning (usually they only allow that word when it’s used by Scottish Conservative and Labour Party members, SCALP, in conjunction with ‘no appetite’) – yes they could have started a lot earlier, but criticising one tweet seems bordering on obsessive.
Theresa May is soft in the head – was she abused as a child and groomed to have the ‘correct’ opinion, that would explain some of her behaviour and robotic character? She really shouldn’t be in charge of the country however much sympathy I have for whatever troubled past she’s had. And I agree with Craig that she is racist, or bigoted if that’s too strong a word, and it’s that hatred-of-other that is driving her unreasonable demands.
https://theswamp.media/theresa-may-s-father
Well well. Very interesting, even if I feel a bit ill after reading about it. I have read some of the court transcripts on Ball and Rideout, until I couldn’t stand it anymore. Really does make me feel physically sick.
Thanks. I asked on here the other day about progress of the inquiries into historic child sexual abuse.
Of course dead men can tell no tales or be prosecuted viz Lord Janner and Edward Heath.
And of course, Theresa May hates human rights too, she blamed the European court of human rights quite a lot for her failings in the post of Home Secretary, and was quite active in spreading misinformation, here is a good and simple myth buster website, see if you can spot the ones Theresa spread around
https://rightsinfo.org/infographics/the-14-worst-human-rights-myths/
I will have to find the tweet that mentions that as Home Secretary, T May actually cancelled the contract for aerial surveillance of the English Channel – you know, surveillance that would stop all those refugees crossing it.
She lets prejudice rule her decision making, and doesn’t appear to even pay lip service to actually running the country.
casual racism can be shocking – fortunately because it is relatively rare compared to being run down by a bus. the god fearing state can however keep the gene pool clean without much fuss.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_genocide
LARGE NUMBER OF BLACK PRISONERS
Blacks, particularly young black males, make up a disproportionate share of the U.S. prison population. In 2008, young black men (ages 18-34) were at least six times more likely to be incarcerated than young white men (see Table 2), according to a recent analysis by Becky Pettit, a University of Washington sociologist.7 She finds that young black males without a high school diploma were more likely to be in prison or jail (37 percent) on any given day in 2008 than to be working (26 percent).
https://www.prb.org/us-incarceration/
5 Biblical Principals
The United States of America had 5 main Biblical Principals that were used in the
Declaration of Independence. These helped form our Biblical foundation.
1. God created all people equal~Genesis 1 and 2
One Nation under God evidently. Interestingly ‘under God’ wasn’t added until 1954
correction – relatively common compared to a bus
Or run down by a dustcart or tractor.
Personally I was ran over by a pick up truck.
I expect more die from being fat than are run over by pick up trucks, buses, tractors and dust carts combined.
Theresa May is criticised for making a mess of “Brexit”. I thought that was why she was given the job! As a committed remainer she was pushed into the front-line to play for time and muddy the waters until the whole thing could be turned around. She has almost completed her task, for which she will no doubt be well rewarded.
ie Lady May of Sonning Common plus a few seats in the boardrooms?
DavidP – I think sometimes the simple answer is the right one – basically as set out by Tom Watson in his closing speech in the Brexit Deal debate. May is a grossly incompetent, cold-hearted, arrogant individual who has not an iota of empathy or care for the indigenous British population or for the country for that matter. She is putting her own needs, the needs of her rich friends, the needs of the USA and Israel and the needs of her Party before anything else. She has made a mess of Brexit because she triggered Article 50 as a sensational piece of electioneering just prior to calling a snap election. She had no framework or plan for how the negotiations to proceed or what indeed, was open to negotiation and what was not. She deployed the most rabid brexiteers including Bojo the Buffoon to negotiate who spent a whole two years insulting the EU negotiators, refusing to negotiate anything and just making demands as to what they wanted making statements such as ‘we shall have our cake and eat it’. If you read press articles throughout those 2 years you will see that at various intervals the EU negotiators requested that the British Government come to the table with proposals for issues for negotiation which are within the Treaty originally signed. The Government came up with nothing time and again instead of which, their negotiators just keep issuing threats and demands to the EU as to what would happen if they didn’t get their own way. Well, one week prior to the end of the negotiations, May realised the dire consequences to the UK of crashing out on a No Deal basis so, bypassed her own cabinet and Parliament and signed her own deal. The outcome of which is the current mess we are in. It is all down to Hubris, gross incompetence, the continued quest to remain in Power (which is very high on the list of the Tory Party) and a complete contempt for the British public. That’s the truth. We are now in a chronic mess and yes, I guess very shortly, to be crashing out of the EU on a No Deal basis. She has already made a clear statement to EU diplomats that nothing in her stance is going to change – no review of the red lines, no concessions nothing. So we are back to where we started. This country is now becoming a Totalitarian state (all the conditions are in place) with the aim of supporting a Prime Minister (Acting more like a Dictator) to remain in power.
“England and Wales should move to a Norway style relationship broadly as proposed by the Labour Party, with the racists told they cannot have everything they want.”
This makes no sense politically for any party. Nothing is gained, and it annoys both Leavers and Remainers. The advisory nature of the referendum, and the illegality of the Leave campaign, may be irrelevant to Leavers but is important to Remainers, particularly Labour Remainers, who are astonished that the party is pursuing a right-wing agenda.
CM – “The first and most obvious point is this; had Theresa May any honour, she would simply resign after her major political objective was rebuffed so dramatically by the legislature. ”
If she had had any honour she would have resigned when the Windrush scandal was unearthed. The momentum to this scandal was given by May’s 2014 immigration act. Most of the Labour party abstained on the vote. Corbyn, McDonnell and Abbott voted against as did the SNP MPs, Plaid, Caroline Lucas and a few Lib Dems. Amber Rudd took the fall for May.
The Windrush scandal was an essay in vindictiveness against British citizens who were black. What exactly was the point of persecuting a handful of elderly people? It was a racist policy designed by Theresa May. Here’s David Lammy lambasting the Tories:-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-43789247/david-lammy-lambasts-government-over-windrush-deportations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windrush_scandal
Good that you reminded us about that example of her racism. There are many others too.