Westministenders Continues. The one where are being grateful for having a Boris rather than a Trump and UKIP show Labour how it’s done.

[RedToothBrush]

THE BREXIT FALLOUT CONTINUES - THREAD TWELVE

The calm of the eye of the storm is upon us. The signs are there that more trouble is ahead. What now for Brexit, the blank cheque for our future?

May’s honeymoon can only last the Summer, until she has to do some proper graft. Her Cabinet have all gone on holiday and to swat up on their new specialised subject, and by god have they got some homework to do.

Well, all of them apart from Liam Fox, who has bugger all to do for some time.

Johnson needs to… well we all know what Boris needs to do. Bend over and take it like a good boy.

Davies needs to learn the entire structure and workings of the EU and its variations of trade agreements and relationships with other nations. Juncker has the FUKD in his little black book of people who have crossed him (yes, he actually has one of these) and has put Brit Hating Barnier in charge of the EU Brexit team. Davies must somehow hold his own against this experienced EU hardnut. In French. Oh and find a permanent office.

What do the others need to learn? Hammond - how to perform a bloody miracle. Patel - it is illegal to use foreign aid as a leverage for trade deals. Leadsom – er everything? Rudd – how to do bigger assault on liberty and human rights than her mentor. Fallon – how we will afford to defend ourselves with pitch forks, especially if we can’t use Trident for some reason and it becomes necessary. Our enemy; Russia? North Korea? Turkey? Isis? Na. Trump if he wins.

Brexit is now officially in the hands Whitehall’s unbelievers. Those overstretched officials who are already saying there is a gap in their capacity to deliver what Parliament wants without additional the burden of Brexit. These discredited experts are left wondering if their challenge is, in reality, Mission Impossible, and this is made worse by the pressure that just about every senior Brexiteer seems to say is ‘easy’ despite all the mounting evidence to the contrary. Which is cold comfort to everyone who voted – Remain or Leave alike.

We still don’t even know what Brexit is. It is still something which has no coherent ideology and no clear set of prescriptions for what ailes us as a society. It is a bundle of contradictions, united chiefly by what, and who, it opposes. Whatever the problem, Brexit can fix it. Whatever the threat, internal or external, Brexit can vanquish it, and it is unnecessary for Brexiteers to explain how.

May’s plan? Some say that she is the Dear Leader, some say she is an evil genius with Larry the Cat on her lap waiting for the Brexiteer Boys to fuck it up so we can Remain, some say she is blessed by the Ghost of Thatcher but we know her as The PM. –Sorry I’ve been itching to make the May/Hammond Top Gear gag for several weeks— The truth is, we just don't know yet.

Plus anything Brexit related about the Labour and UKIP leadership and the rest of the world thrown in to boot.

This is the quest for the answers that everyone wants and trying to keep an eye on those politicians and accountability (both here and abroad in the era of post-fact politics in the trail of Brexit). There maybe no single ‘truth’ but there sure as hell is a lot of bullshit to wade through. Get your wellies out, and plough on through with us.

No experience necessary. Sense of humour required.

-------------------------

Brexit Fall Out Timetable
Labour Hustings Nottinghamshire: Wednesday 17th August
Labour Hustings Birmingham: Thursday 18th August.
Labour Hustings Glasgow: Thursday 25th August.
Labour Hustings London: Thursday 1st September
UKIP Leadership Result: 15th September
Labour Leadership Result: Saturday 24th September
The Department for Exiting the European Union first question sessions in Parliament: Thursday 20th October
High Court hearing on a50: due 'no earlier than the third week in October'
US Presidential Election: 8th November
French Presidential Election 1st Round: 23 April 2017
French Presidential Election 2nd Round: 7th May 2017
German Federal Election: Between 27 August and 22 October 2017

Last thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eu_referendum_2016_/2690632-Westminstenders-Continues-Boris-is-having-a-bad-week-Corbyn-resists-Its-gonna-be-a-long-summer?pg=1

[SwedishEdith]

My only request re the passport is that we can have black and white photos.

I do hope they prosecute him. Me too.

[TheBathroomSink]

To compound the ridiculous editorial from earlier, the Telegraph has decided to commission an opinion piece on the Ukip leadership challenge from Godfrey Bloom - yes, that one. Apparently, only the guy who wants to bring back widespread coal-mining and the death penalty can be trusted to make Ukip the force it should be, and stop it following all the other parties to the left (yes, all of them) and worrying about what Polly Toynbee thinks. Everyone else is a little bit liberal for his tastes...

[TheABC]

What do you think the chances are of an electable opposition to hold the Tories to account? FWIW, I actually like JC, but I can't see him as Prime Minister.

We need a good awkward squad asking questions in Westminster.

[prettybird]

If Simon Weston had to declare the caution he got as a juvenile (and felt he had to withdraw) then Woolfe has absolutely no excuse. It wasn't as if there hadn't been publicity about the need to have a squeaky clean record

[TheBathroomSink]

The best opposition we've got, and are likely to have, for the foreseeable future, are the Tory backbenchers. There's fuck-all chance of Labour getting its act together any time soon. The leadership election will be going on for another 6(?) weeks, then we either go back to now, with the majority of MPs doing their own thing and leaking whatever they can to the media plus a shadow cabinet consisting of a bunch of newbies each covering three portfolios with no direction from the Leader's office, or they split and spend the next 6 months infighting over who gets Len McCluskey and the big pile of cash the election just generated.

Of course, the Tory backbenchers now include a bunch of the idiots that got us into this mess.

As Red's DH so succintly put it, way back at the start of these threads, we're FUKD.

[prettybird]

Ahem - it was my dh who came up with the FUKD term (after the term rUK was used frequently during the Indyref).

I came up with FUK while we were ranting talking about the Brexit result while out for a walk and he came up with "and its Dependancy meaning Wales", to end up with FUKD.

Ignore me if it was suggested in one of the first few threads as I didn't get involved until about Thread 4 and put it down to "great minds thinking alike"

[RedToothBrush]

It wasn't my DH. I can't let him claim that honour. I'm afraid I forget whose DH it was.

The Brexit Department to be manned by 110 people. No budget as yet.

[RedToothBrush]

X cross post!

Is it okay for me to boo Belize tonight?

[TheBathroomSink]

Sorry pretty's DH and pretty, I have no excuse other than prosecco and sunburn. 4 and a half hours in the park while the children hunted bloody Pokemon, and I have the skin tone of a milk bottle. There was liberal use of factor 30 before leaving, and I don't live on the south coast and I still have freaking sunburn for the second time this year!!

I think booing Belize is required, if I can stay awake!!

[prettybird]

Dh has just poured me another glass of Cava, which I didn't really want but I'll force down

I'm planning on staying up for the Olympics Ceremony, so I hope I don't doze off.

I have fond memories of London 2012, when dh, ds and I stayed with a MNer and her family, as she lived close to the Road Race route (ds was mad about cycling). She and I had met up for the first time a few months before so that she knew I wasn't a hairy trucker before we arrived. We watched the Opening Ceremony together with faces.

This is my view while I wait for the programme to start. One cat has stayed with me but dh and ds have both buggered off to bed

[TheBathroomSink]

And people say cats aren't loyal...

I wish my DS would bugger off to bed. He's watching episode of Neighbours that DD watched an hour ago. I am now into my second prosecco, vodka, cointreau and rhubarb cocktail

[prettybird]

She's now deserted me to go and join the other cat (and dh) . They sleep on his side of the bed at night and my side in the morning (he's a lark, I'm an owl).

I'm looking forward to booing Belize. At least they should be amongst the first to come out for the parade. I'm sure to be asleep by the time that the United Kingdom team, led by Andy Murray comes out. (They'd come out earlier when they're FUKD - and Scotland would also be earlier! ).

[TheBathroomSink]

Belize will be almost as unpopular as Russia tonight!

[pastygothboy]

Couldn't we just have blue passports and forget the whole Brexit thing?

Would that be enough for Leave voters?

[mathanxiety]

www.heraldscotland.com/news/14662808.UK_steel_hails_EU_tariffs_on_Russian_and_Chinese_product/

UK steel leaders wanted the EU tariffs on cold rolled steel from Russia and China. China faces lower tariffs than Russia. This means Russian steel will be exported via China .

One of the commentators on this article remarked 'This will act as a tax on exports. Import substitution policies, such as tariffs and technichal standard regulations, should be targeted exclusively at manufactured goods, not industrial inputs.'

[StripeyMonkey1]

Fantastic thread. Red - I love your summaries.

This Guardian article is concerned about the lack of a proper opposition in parliament to May's government on Brexit. The essence of it seems to be that Corbyn is more interested in leading a social movement than in leading the opposition in parliament at a moment when pressure for a soft Brexit is so greatly needed.

In a wider context, I think this extract is particularly worrying:
"Recall too that in 2012, John McDonnell listed parliament as only one of three legitimate methods for change, the others being industrial action and “insurrection”." I''m pretty clear that I don't want insurrection. Corbyn and O'Donnell appear to be adding to the UKIP anti-expert, anti-establishment narrative which helps to undermine confidence in our institutions on which our democracy is based.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/05/corbyn-cant-dismiss-mps-brexit-centre-stage?CMP=share_btn_link

[RedToothBrush]

ukconstitutionallaw.org/2016/05/16/sionaidh-douglas-scott-what-happens-to-acquired-rights-in-the-event-of-a-brexit/
Acquired rights as EU citizens

This is a BIG legal minefield for the government and will almost certainly end up in court. And costly

blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/56747-2/?utm_content=buffercb8b2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
LSE - 6 deals May must make
(This has been linked previously from another site I believe, but still worth reading if you haven't already)

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/06/mps-reveal-their-summer-books-jeremy-corbyn-reads-study-of-chern/
MPs summer reading
Meanwhile Mr Davis, whose new role leading exit talks with the EU has been dubbed “chief Brexit negotiator”, won’t be straying far from his ministerial red box.

Asked what he will be reading this summer, Mr Davis said: “Thousands of pages of European Treaties, international trade law, sectoral analysis of UK industry, City regulations and foreign policy analysis.

"Beyond that, no time for anything more testing than The Beano.”

Well yes.

Its otherwise pretty quiet. I suspect the Olympics will get a lot of attention instead for a couple of weeks.

[LumpySpacedPrincess]

Thank you so much for this thread and the others

The information has stood me in good stead with my brexiteer family and friends, muppets.

[Unicornsarelovely]

There is an interesting book review in New Scientist. The book is called "denying to the grave: why we ignore the facts that will save us" and covers Trump, Brexit, climate change, even vaccinations.

The authors conclude that stupidity is not one of the reasons for rejecting scientific evidence. An appeal with inflammatory words activates emotions and inhibits reasoning and emotional control and once the emotions have been engaged, this cannot be changed either by emotion or reason. "Charismatic leaders are good at this. Often portraying themselves as 'lone wolves' standing against power they tap into this emotional brain."

I wonder if the way the Fail and the tabloids are written also predisposes this emotional engagement to take place. The Daily mail doesn't often accept that bad stuff just happens of that good people sometimes make mistakes - look at all the hospital mistreatment type stories. These are incredibly difficult to answer by responsible public bodies because they do want to check the facts first...or at least I hope they would.

[RedToothBrush]

Simon ‏@PerturbSecular
UK. We want to stop free movement
EU. You know that would apply to your citizens too
UK. No
EU. Yes
UK. It's so unfair

blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/08/lords-try-end-brexit-nightmare-will-end-badly/
The Lords intervening in Brexit will end badly

www.itv.com/news/2016-08-06/snp-may-block-brexit-if-plans-are-not-in-scotlands-interests/
SNP may block Brexit if not in Scotland's interest

www.politico.com/story/2016/08/clinton-democrats-hacking-dnc-october-surprise-226743#ixzz4GYZP3lmN
WikiLeaks threaten October surprise for the Democrats

[officerhinrika]

red how are you going to keep us all up to date here and do the olympics? I've already lost this afternoon to cycling rugby & dressage!

[officerhinrika]

I read that acquired rights article this morning, fascinating stuff if a little challenging for a Saturday morning. A two coffee article.

[prettybird]

RedToothBrush - I'm reading that Simon Twitter exchange in Kevin The Teenager's voice:

"It's sooooo unfair". .

A bit like the very good teenage advice book, "Get out of my life but first take me and Alex into town"

[Peregrina]

I am not sure that Scotland could block Brexit, however much they might like to. I also think that an Independent Scotland will have difficulty staying in the EU, with Spain almost certain to block it.

[TheNorthRemembers]

Thank you for this thread and the previous ones. This was a shitty week at work - thank you Brexiteers - and you all help me make a little sense of it all.

I forgot what was the other reason (other than Jeremy) I left Labour: the constant spamming. Why did I pay the £25, oh why?! My inbox is clogged up.