Westministenders: Boris and The By-Elections

[RedToothBrush]

You lot post too fast!

A50 has made it out of the Commons without any amends. Its on its way to the Lords, but this week is half term, so in theory not much going on (in the UK at least). It hit the Lords on the 20th where it might not get such an easy ride. The Lords will not (and CAN NOT) stop brexit or frustrate it. But the numbers are in perhaps more favour of amendments if they choose to go that way, than the Commons. This would throw the bill back to the Commons. This is pretty reasonable.

In the meantime its 12 days to go until the Copeland and Stoke Central By-Elections.

Leave.Eu think UKIP have Stoke in the bag. They think there will be a 33% turnout. I think a turnout that high is the land of fantasy. Paul Nuttalls who was at Hillsborough is now a devout Stokie who has lived there all his life. Except of course he isn't.

Copeland looks like it will go Conservative. Its theirs to throw away. It would be the first victory for a sitting government in a by-election since 1983 if they make it. They intend to use a victory as another argument for a 'mandate'. But have they managed to drop a nuclear booboo?

One more Question. What are the chances of this thread making it to the 23rd?!

May looks exactly like those robots from the Doctor Who episode where the UK was on the back of the Star Whale when the children misbehaved. The more I think about it the more parallels there are to that episode on the entire situation.

On your post at 11.46 Red about suggestibility, pretty true. The Led Zeppelin one has been doing the rounds for a few decades now.

Hanif Khureishi wrote pretty amusingly about it in The Black Album about religious visions in an aubergine.

It's daft, it's dangerous, and analogue programming has caused a bitter storm with the combination of the easily led, on the easily programmed.

Anonymous are operating in a digital world, using old school anarchist principles.

We are living in times which prove that ignorance and more pertinently the inability to think critically, is dangerous.

LH - there can only be an 'acceptable level of violence' if the press is either gagged or coverage presents a picture of what is going on that is totally at odds with the truth. Or if a region and its people have been so 'othered' by what I will call 'mainland privilege' that lives there do not count at all. I suspect a combination of all three conditions exists wrt NI (and Ireland in general actually).

NY Times: FBI - Trump Campaign Aides Had Repeated Contacts With Russian Intelligence

“Phone records and intercepted calls show that members of Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election, according to four current and former American officials”

“Officials said the intercepted communications were not limited to Trump campaign officials, and included other associates of Mr. Trump”

"A report from American intelligence agencies that was made public in January concluded that the Russian government had intervened in the election in part to help Mr. Trump,
but did not address whether any members of the Trump campaign had participated in the effort"

www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/us/politics/russia-intelligence-communications-trump.html?_r=0

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/14/donald-trump-campaign-russia-intelligence-contact

I'm concerned that May be getting her info from the 3 Dunces - who seem to get their info from the Fail and the most ignorant of Leave's referendum soundbites

They may not even have heard of MRAs (Mutual Recognition Agreements ) - MRA=Mens Rights Activist and on their side ?

It's quite understandable that ordinary voters think the WTO is just standard tariffs (and easily offset by the devalued Sterling) so no problemo.

It's terrifying to wonder if the UK PM and her cabinet share this ignorance and are negotiating on the basis of this ignorance.

Please assure me this isn't possible < anxious >

I note the comment below the Brexit blog:
"We will be just fine. Experts were all wrong before. "
That's a deep analysis

BigChoc since 24th June there has been repeated signs that they are operating from a position of ignorance.

Davis posted things pre-ref which are just no possible and back tracked several times over those.

They now appear to have fixated on one particular approach which is also full of a bunch of fallacies.

People pointing out these fallacies seem to be removed or targeted in some way.

Sorry!

BCF belief seems to have replaced thought, everywhere!

www.politico.eu/article/brexit-negotiation-issues-worrying-the-european-parliament/
13 things you didn’t know about Brexit
More than a dozen European Parliament reports on the nitty-gritty of quitting the EU — distilled into digestible data.

'Bargaining chips' worth pondering.

Who needs FACTS when we have FEELINGS
FFS

She's an anarcho May bot, programmed to destroy british capitalism and constitution. Doing rather well, I'd say.

Mist referred to the NI select committee, this week.

Daniel Mulhall, Ambassador of Ireland to the UK, was charm and diplomacy personified as he had to try to explain the inexplicable on the impact on NI and ROI of potential hard border.

The sole contribution of a DUP member was to bark about belief and hope.
The sheep in Animal Farm, were programmed to behave like this by Squealer and his attack dogs. (Lenin and secret police).
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08gpr3p

You're all mean [sulks] I want my unicorn back

Red I'm a long time lurker but just wanted to thank you so much for these threads.

I have the double whammy of an eu spouse and a disabled child and have been genuinely verging on terror often since the referendum.

The thought of the likes of Theresa May getting to decide my child's future (she prefers the disabled starved if the cuts are anything to go by) makes my blood run cold.

These threads and the well reasoned, intelligent posts have kept me sane. And hopeful that there will be people watching and fighting for what's right, so thank you again.

The unicorn theory of international trade deals is well known to un elitist patriots, haven't you read it BCF
Better than that Keynsian rubbish.

My 13 year old is already planning to emigrate 😞

Ultimate - I'm scared too. I have an elderly frail mother and 2 young children.

The thought of the likes of Theresa May getting to decide my child's future (she prefers the disabled starved if the cuts are anything to go by) makes my blood run cold.

Then some Leavers get cross when we say that we are afraid of the move towards fascism.

TMs time in the home office tells us all we need to know about how she views those who aren't mc, able bodied and white

Where does a 78 year old woman get the money to print 42,000 leaflets and distribute them...

42,000 A5 leaflets are relatively cheap to print these days. Distribution isn't that expensive either. I think you could probably do for around the £1000 mark or thereabouts.

Its certainly a lot cheaper than the £5000 deposit she's about to lose...

Oh, well, this is interesting.

The 'dark money' that paid for Brexit

Speaking of campaign funding, have you seen this? £250,000 funnelled through the DUP to fund Pro-Brexit campaign material, exploiting the fact that political donations in NI do not have to be made public. This apparently makes the DUP's funding of Brexit more than the total combined spending of all the political parties in NI for the 2015 general election. It stinks.

www.opendemocracy.net/uk/peter-geoghegan-adam-ramsay/you-aren-t-allowed-to-know-who-paid-for-key-leave-campaign-adverts

x-posts!

Joe Anderson (Liverpool's Mayor) calls on Nuttall to resign as MEP and step down from Stoke byelection

I keep forgetting that, as MEP for the NW of England, he is Liverpool's MEP - makes it all the more appalling.

The Liverpool Echo seems to be getting stuck into Nuttall. As you'd expect, I suppose.