Westministenders: The Art of the Deal

[RedToothBrush]

Well Trump seems to have put his foot in it.

Not that this should come as a surprise. For all the talk of closer ties with the US that was never going to happen. All that was need was for Trump to over step once too many.

By chance (?) Barnier also raised questions about our commitment to working with the EU on security.

Its almost as if we are being asked to choose whom we look to for security.

Meanwhile it sounds like the divorce bill is sorted - though this may not be as settled as that, if it comes with conditions. The deal might also be backtracked on, seeing as that appears to be the done thing presently.

Talks on Ireland are stalemated with Ireland threating to veto. No sign of a breakthrough here yet.

Talks on EU citz rights are reportedly going backwards (again) rather than going forward.

All of this is theatre for a British audience though, with the UK agreeing to everything. Because they gave again their cards when a50 was triggered.

The crunch is coming on whether we move to stage two before Christmas. We have no time to lose.

Cheers red 🍸

for rtb

Thanks red.

.

Plaice marking with news that the TUC have definitively nailed their flag to the single market mast.

This will shift the Labour Party further surely to openly acknowledge that the single market ( or staying in) is their preferred option?

The TUC may be old news, but their stance can only help.

And talking of help, thanks to RTB for doing something that makes a difference.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/sep/11/brexit-workers-rights-best-secured-by-staying-in-single-market-says-tuc-chief

thank you red

Going to be an interesting week. Thanks Red.

placemarking

Oh, oh, I completely missed most of the last thread due to other stuff going on. Must place mark this one early, while it's still here.

Did I miss the supplementary part of Barniers discussion on European security being discussed ?

That post-Brexit UK is also out of Europol.

www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/brexit-britain-to-be-kicked-out-of-europol-against-its-will/ar-BBFUkXt

Fits in, though, with Amber Rudd's emphasis (this lunchtime in House of Commons) on the importance to UK security that the US intelligence links provides. Hence not burning those US bridges.

LH - Can this be a surprise to anyone? How can people possibly have thought that we can cherry pick EU agencies to belong to?

The non-reporting in the UK is par for the course, obviously.

I was a tad surprised at there being no non-Anglophone reportage. But then a couple of friends in Europe asked me if I was expecting their press to carry stories about Catholic Popes, and arboreal defecating ursine mammals every day. Which raises an interesting notion that the absence of European news on - to European minds - "the bleeding obvious" might be (dangerously) fuelling a "they think it's all over now" mood in the UK.

This popped up in one of my feeds ...

The DUP trying to bring a court case against an LGBT protestor for having a banner with some words they didn't like? Well we can't have that can we...

(story)

Worth checking MT out if you can in a live show. Very intelligent, and very funny.

www.markthomasinfo.co.uk/store/#!/Fuck-the-DUP-badge/p/95102987/category=13417861

I love Mark Thomas. I've seen him a few times live and he is always great. I have a saboteur badge I got from his site awhile ago.

Fits in, though, with Amber Rudd's emphasis (this lunchtime in House of Commons) on the importance to UK security that the US intelligence links provides. Hence not burning those US bridges.

Nowhere near as important as the UK is to the US as a proxy for spying on US citizens.

Hopefully the Appeal Court will give the US a bloody nose (again) in the Lauri Love case.

www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/29/lauri_love_extradition_appeal_us_submissions/

Just for going back in time a bit.

Hello regulars, though you may appreciate this.

As a remainer saddo who occasionally trawls for pre referendum guff I stumbled across this short Newsnight clip from April 2016. Lots of stuttering at 1:13 when questions raised about a border in Ireland. Nothing has changed.

I can’t find it now but there was a very good photo story on the BBC website about the NI border with Ireland. Really brought home the potential impact of a hard border on the everyday lives of people living close to either side of the border, living one side and working, shopping, going to school etc in the other.

Pity they didn’t do something like that before June last year.

Thanks for the thread, Red and thanks for the clip, Ghost. Why didn't Alan Johnson and Shami Chakribati jump up and down when the Leave bods started on about a "simple checkpoint" at the RoI/NI border? It does remind me how lacklustre the Remain side often was during the referendum campaign .

Is there any point in Johnson?
news.sky.com/story/amp/irelands-govt-told-to-ignore-boris-johnson-by-foreign-office-11150411

.

The charity regulator has launched an investigation into the charitable status of Legatum, a free market think tank with close links to leading Brexit ministers
theferret.scot/doubts-raised-legatum-charity-work/