Westministenders: Danger of "accidental" Brexit (whoops !) ?

[BigChocFrenzy]

i.e. Brexit without a deal - NOT intentionally so - due to UK govt incompetence and mutual UK/EU misunderstandings

The govt is proceeding from abysmal ignorance on a Brexit journey which may blunder into disaster.

Prominent Leave campaigner Richard North:

"The UK Government's narrative seems to rest on the belief that the EU will cave in under pressure, and is thus giving every sign that it is prepared to push negotiations to the wire.

If, on the other hand, the EU are determined not to budge, especially as, with their own White Paper on "The Future of Europe" triggering internal discussions unrelated to Brexit, they are not necessarily fully focused on the "British problem".

As a result, we could end up with an "accidental Brexit",
where the UK negotiators overplay their hand, ending up in the UK leaving without an agreement, forcing it to rely on WTO rules.

Most likely, it will take very little to convince the EU that Mrs May is bluffing – as the effect of the WTO option is likely to be disastrous for the UK economy.

We could thus have each side misreading each other, making the accidental Brexit all the more likely."

www.eureferendum.com/blogview.aspx?blogno=86395

It's amazing how small European countries, of a similar size to Scotland and are part of the EU, are such economic basket cases and so politically unstable

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/denmark-rids-itself-of-foreign-debt-for-first-time-in-183-years-1.3017088?mode=amp

Congresswoman tweets to Trump, 'Get ready for impeachment.'

www.washingtonexaminer.com/maxine-waters-tells-trump-to-get-ready-for-impeachment/article/2617959#!

mother and pretty please tell me an independent Scotland will send an expeditionary force to liberate us from the rule of eejits? England still has plenty of brassicas which we'll trade for irn bru.

hester peculiar administration, this trump one. but Pence is evil and clever.

Banning kindles, laptops and tablets on planes flying in from certain airports sounds bizarre. Surely a real terrorist would just fly in from a country where you can bring your electronic devices on board. We are either facing a blanket ban, or airport security officials have lost the plot.

Shh now elena. Some people still haven't worked out you could get someone to give you a lift to get over a wall.

Unicorns No shortage of Lindt.
Ye gods, what a dreadful thought: a choc shortage

woman Somehow swapping my delicious Lindt < slurping noises >
for your patriotic turnip pie < gagging noises >
isn't appealing

Warning: I read that cocoa is priced in dollars, so now more expensive in sterling.
As that works its way through the manufacturing / supply chain, you may get a nasty shock wrt prices and / or shrinking choc bars.

Maybe some brands will be difficult to obtain, as with beers.
So whatever Brexit brings, you may be facing it with rationed choc
I could post choc essential food parcels, but the choc may be held up in a Kent truck park.
Or confiscated as contraband, if HM Customs are also short of choc

I posted this on the other thread but here it is again, wrt possible Trump impeachment..

What FBI director James Comey didn't say during intelligence hearings today on possible Russian meddling in the 2016 US election was as important as what he did say.

Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, who had ties to pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians? No comment. Long-time Trump adviser Roger Stone, who reportedly had communications with individuals who hacked the Democratic National Committee emails? No comment. Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who was forced to resign after leaked evidence surfaced that he had communicated with a Russian ambassador about US sanctions? No comment.

"Will they do anything in the end, or is it just all for show ?" [Motheroffourdragons]

I believe it is all just for show. It is being done because there is a small group around John McCain who want Trump out. The rest of the GOP would be very happy with Pence as President. Pence is Paul Ryan's political soulmate.

It is notable that Manafort was once John McCain's campaign director. I think this is the reason Manafort was not mentioned - to do so would be to tarnish McCain.

Dianne Feinstein said in an interview recently that she thought Trump would resign. She referred to a trip DT's sons made to somewhere in the Gulf to strike deals for Trump's companies, with travel and expenses paid for by public funds it seems. The emoluments clause forbids this sort of conflict of interest and the funding is also very dodgy. The NY attorney general is gearing up to take on Trump on this issue. This is not even about Russia. It is about Trump's own very crooked business empire. There are also many conflicts of interest stemming from his position as employer, his IRS audit, etc.
www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/gs_121616_emoluments-clause1.pdf - this is a persuasive argument imo.

(And actually, Manafort's ties were all over the place in Ukraine, which is a cesspit of corruption no matter what political side you look at.)

As it is only certain airlines to which the laptop ban applies in the US it is more likely to be business related than terror related - I.e American Airlines are losing too much business to Etihad etc.

I understand there are reports of laptops catching fire spontaneously and if that happens to a laptop which is unsupervised in the hold, it would be catastrophic.

"pps someone said earlier you do know that equal pay legislation was started in the 60's, championed by Barbara Castle long before we entered the EU"

This was a great achievement. However, what was a great improvement was the concept of equal pay for work of equal value. When there was/is a feminisation of certain jobs, the pay may not have been so good. Maybe not as good as jobs traditionally done by males. The idea of the value of the jobs was a boon for women.

'The 1970 Act only dealt with equal pay for the same work but in 1975 the EU directive on Equal Pay was passed based on article 119. A 1982 judgement by the European Court of Justice led to the UK amending the Equal Pay Act in 1983 in order to incorporate the concept of equal value into UK law.'

www.unionhistory.info/equalpay/roaddisplay.php?irn=785

The idea of the relative value of the jobs...

Do you think this was GOP and Pence's game plan all along, bit like Atlantic Bridge, Freedom Association and Banks' here? math

concept of equal value into UK law Thanks for that, I didn't realise how important that act was. Calleach 1
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/15/birmingham-council-equal-pay-women-nec
www.spectator.co.uk/2014/03/the-scourge-of-equal-pay/ (the scourge of equal pay, I've hit pay wall)

Isn't the laptop ban to prove racist credentials as a vassal state?

Pence was not going to win on his own. Trump was alt right wet dream.
'1984' and the state of permanent war: when it's not ISIS, it will now be Germany and the traitors.

.

Article in the Independent about that de Volskrandt article we were talking about yesterday.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-latest-divorce-bill-eu-take-uk-court-leaked-strategy-documents-a7641406.html

www.theguardian.com/law/2017/mar/22/uk-must-retain-link-with-european-court-of-justice-say-mps?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
UK must retain link with European Court of Justice, say MPs
Committee says role for ECJ in British legislation will be ‘price worth paying’ for effective cross-border justice after Brexit

www.irishnews.com/opinion/columnists/2017/03/21/news/tom-collins-last-rites-for-britain-as-theresa-may-triggers-article-50-969286/
Tom Collins: Last rites for Britain as Theresa May triggers Article 50

What London has forgotten is that its role in the world post empire was secured only because it positioned itself as the bridge between the United States and Europe. The Brexiteers have burnt the bridge.

Decline and fall is inevitable.

Britain will be no use to the United States, no use to the European Union, and it is an irrelevance in most other parts of the world.Britannia might once have ruled the waves, her most famous naval vessel now is a yellow robot submarine called BoatyMcBoatface.

Ooo this is an interesting promoted tweet that just came up on my feed.

Tesco@Tesconews
More British cauliflowers in Tesco, at a bonus price, as we help our suppliers reduce farm. #foodwaste

Isn't that interesting. A British seasonal vegetables being promoted by Tesco.

Peak cauliflower season is December to mid April.

(Turnip season ends in feb).

Funny isn't it. Tesco now seem to be supporting iniative to reduce food waste that Hugh Furry-Whit started. They previously said they didn't stock wonky fruit and veg as consumers wouldn't buy. (What do you mean it wasn't the EU that forced supermarkets?)

Now Tesco seem to be embracing the concept as a marketing strategy.

This Hugh Furry-Whit fella. Isn't he the same guy who was better than Farage was at his job despite not getting a fat EU salary?

What's Andrea been up to lately? Apart from talking about jam? I wonder if she's been doing much lobbying of the supermarkets.

It's almost as if British politicians have been shit at their jobs and can be shown up by a man from the shires with a funny name and a clue about what he's talking about. Imagine that. A country run by people with a clue rather than a belief and 'a feeling'.

God, if only we were rational rather than emotional creatures. If only I could think of a country with a similar population and a reputation for thinking like that. You'd expect them to be really well run and efficient in comparison to the Uk.

Camilla helps Jamie Oliver turn food waste into feast
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39347994
unable to write anything legal about the above.