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Brexit

Westministenders: Up Shit Creek without Wifi.

999 replies

RedToothBrush · 29/04/2017 22:12

Theresa May is being held hostage.

There is mounting evidence that all is not as it seems at CCHQ. It makes you don your tin foil hat and ask who is in charge.

Theresa May was a Remainer. She suddenly abandoned that when she became leader. Her proclamation of what would follow next seems directly at odds with her actions. This is not her fault. This is her plea for help and way of telling the outside world that she is a prisoner of Brexit.

At first it seemed like perhaps she had been locked up with Brexiteers for too long. She seemed to be developing a survival strategy which seemed totally irrational to outsiders. The signs of intimidation everywhere though. Instead of criticising those who did this, May joined in with them or was complicit in her silence.

Things are now taking a sinister turn. After repeatedly saying ‘No Election’, May crumbled and called one. She has now not been seen in public since. Instead she is being wheeled out at closed events to the party faithful. They are being dressed as mixing with the people but they are no such thing. The plebs in attendance are set to ‘mute’ or locked out completely.

Behold the coming of the May-Bot. She seeks to ‘prevent tourism’ in Wales. She now no longer knows which town she is currently in. (Much less have a plan for Brexit). She accuses an organisation set up to use its numbers to get better deals, of doing what it is supposed to, except she calls this ‘ganging up’.

May is not transported in a bus. Oh no. Instead she travels by the Bond Villian’s choice of transport; the helicopter.

More worrying still is the mantra ‘Strong and Stable’ repeated as many times as possible. It is almost as if, if she says it enough she might start believing it. She certainly has got her party members brainwashed and acting as if they were Zombies. Who needs ‘Spice’ when you are a Conservative? They ‘Believe’…

The ploy is to hoodwink people into voting for May instead of the Tories. CCHQ have removed Conservative branding from literature and campaigning in the North. The party are still too toxic, but May apparently scores well especially against Corbyn. Ironically however negatively I think of Corbyn he does display something May increasingly seems incapable of: humanity.

Many people might think of May as some sort of dictator figure. Its true. Every vote for her strengthens her hand. But not for Brexit negotiations. Mainly because Brexit is without merit or reward. Not unless you hold power. This is part 2 of the grab for it.

This is May’s power paradox. SHE is not powerful. She isn’t persuasive. She isn’t a healer of divides. She relies on authoritarian measures to get her way. This isn’t a sign of her personal power, but a sign of her personal weakness. She is sly and sneaky in her methods rather than compelling others to come along with her. They are doing so more because they dislike the alternative in Corbyn less.

She is not stable. She has lurched from one drama to the next, and has repeatedly been forced to back down from what she wanted. Nothing says ‘stability’ and ‘good leadership’ like appointing Boris Johnson Foreign Secretary. The lady is not so much for turning and leading, but is already staggering around dizzy whilst blindfolded playing pin the tail on the donkey. And Christ she’s got a lot of them in her Government. Including the numpty who decided to do a live event and broadcast it in an area with no wi-fi. Mind you, that is soon to be the entire country. Or what’s left of it.

She had said she had a mandate for Brexit and did not need this to be approved by the country as she was getting on with the job. This is why we are having a General Election to give her a mandate…

Not only that, but there is a lurking question here that should not be forgotten. Who is pulling May’s strings and making her dance as her actions are not natural? Every puppet show has puppet masters behind the scenes of the stage, hiding in the shadows.

They will dispense with their toy once she has outlived her usefulness like every good baddie.

Is she the one we should be most fearful of?

Hold on tight this is going to be a very bumpy ride over the next two years. Just how many casualties will be sacrificed on the altar of Brexit?

OP posts:
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RedToothBrush · 02/05/2017 22:35

Faisal Islam@faisalislam
original Franco-German finance ministry paper on Brexit Bill last yr was €30-40 billion - now @FT reporting €100bn..
app.ft.com/content/cc7eed42-2f49-11e7-9555-23ef563ecf9a?emailId=5908ec96a1f8ac0004832ab6&segmentId=3d08be62-315f-7330-5bbd-af33dc531acb
...that's gross..(arguably in many ways) increases percentage chance of No Deal, if confirmed in European Commission paper released tomorrow
.. German press reported that Davies told BArnier there's no way of enforcing the bill, as UK wont be under ECJ jurisdiction when due ...
... but tomorrow @JunckerEU and @MichelBarnier might be about to show that there is no monopoly on being "bloody difficult"...

Going swimmingly isn't it?

OP posts:
woman12345 · 02/05/2017 22:39

Still, it gives me ideas for our Westminstenders manifesto. Melassa and banning air pollution will be in there.

The upside to impending energy and food crisis/ shortage is that it could do wonders for the environment.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/may/02/centre--moderation-wins-uk-elections-eu-referendum
The Tories aren’t winning because Britain has finally learned to love radicalism. They are winning because enough people believe that their radical leader is a moderate.

RedToothBrush · 02/05/2017 22:44

Been talking to someone tonight and it got me thinking.

Just how many local authorities and NHS trust etc are effectively insolvent. Cuts aren't working ( mainly because they end up being more expensive than the money they were supposed to save)

Much of the argument leave made was about how the eurozone was about to go south.

There is a real case that even pre-ref it was the UK. Using Brexit as 'an excuse' or cover story for poor management is politically to the advantage of the Conservatives.

OP posts:
woman12345 · 02/05/2017 22:44

Davies told BArnier there's no way of enforcing the bill, as UK wont be under ECJ jurisdiction when due ...
Really? That is gross.

optionalrationale · 02/05/2017 22:48

30/04/2017 14:41 Bearbehind
"It's quite astounding. At what point will her disciples realise she is not getting her own way in this no matter how many times she says 'let me be clear'. Why are people accepting that she is so arrogant that she thinks things the EU have been very clear about are still up for discussion. Far from strengthening her hand- it's just making her look an almighty twat."

So what would you suggest would make her less of "an almighty twat"? Accepting anything Junkers suggests?

optionalrationale · 02/05/2017 22:54

Today 22:33 Melassa
"Luckily I live outside the UK so can filter out a lot of the lunacy and glaring ignorance, but like a moth to a flame I get drawn back in."

So wait, you are blessed with living in the wonderful success story thatbis the EU, you think the UK is full of lunancy and ignorance...why are you sad exactly? Surely you should be delighted that you will far less to do with a country you so obviously disdain.

optionalrationale · 02/05/2017 22:59

woman12345
"Still, it gives me ideas for our Westminstenders manifesto. Melassa and banning air pollution will be in there"

Yes but until you get a total and absolute ban on all air pollution perhaps you should take Melassa's advice and just not breathe. It is the way forward.

woman12345 · 02/05/2017 23:01

Warm greetings to you option rationale. I am sure you don't mean to be, but your tone is a little aggressive to the lovely posters here. We're a friendly bunch. Could you moderate it a tad? Peace Smile

optionalrationale · 02/05/2017 23:06

Yes indeed referring to the PM as "an almighty twat" is clearly very lovely, friendly and not aggressive at all. Peace right backatchaWink

prettybird · 02/05/2017 23:22

Inevitable Consequences that we had already forecast Wink

https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/10883/uk-gov-speechless-over-spanish-acceptance-possible-united-ireland-eu

SwedishEdith · 02/05/2017 23:50

And yet, if I've read between the lines correctly, there are people who are refusing to vote for the 2nd place candidate who might unseat their Tory MP because Corbyn or because tuition fees. Both of which are at least in principle reversible and short term in their impact relative to Brexit.

I know, this is head-bangingly frustrating.

SwedishEdith · 03/05/2017 00:11

Dan Davies‏ @dsquareddigest

The 100bn is a gross number. My guess is it's been given to the UK press mainly for a bit of fun, partly to see how different parties react

Also some possibility that it's a tiny bit of retaliation for "bloody awkward". EU thinks, probably correctly, that they benefit from...
...raising the temperature, and shaking up the British people (like me) who were presuming that EU27 could be relied on to be the grown-ups

Sort of "see, we can do stupid too!". Hans-Werner Sinn was used in this capacity in the Greek crisis.

All this is of course assuming (HT @thomasforth ) that the FT has been pointed to the Bruegel €100bn estimate by comments from Team Barnier>

... Rather than going there off their own bat driven by an admirable sense of mischief.

Tom Forth replying to @dsquareddigest

it's just been calculated by the British press no? Like, it's some think-tank and the FT that have just guessed it I think.

Dan Davies‏ @dsquareddigest

Kind of. The FT has presumably been guided that the demands are heading toward the Bruegel scenario with that number, and nobody so far has questioned Bruegel's work. But yes, there's a lot of masala sprinkled on to make it an "EU demand" let alone an "up front" one

David Whitley‏

It's a gentle 'remember we have you by the balls here if you really want to be antagonistic' reminder.

Three Peace‏

Relegated to a cat's toy. Sad

optionalrationale · 03/05/2017 06:18

Today 00:11 SwedishEdith
"It's a gentle 'remember we have you by the balls here if you really want to be antagonistic' reminder"

What would you suggest is the most appropriate response when your opponent deploys this tactic in a negotiation?

mathanxiety · 03/05/2017 06:24

It's the Gove burn down the building and start over mentally. It won't work. Mainly because we'll have food riots first. It will get that bad. I'm afraid my imagination over a worse case scenario is getting pretty dark.

Very afraid you are right, RTB.

Motheroffourdragons · 03/05/2017 06:50

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ to protect the privacy of the user.

HashiAsLarry · 03/05/2017 07:06

I see the completely untransparent EU's complete transparency has rattled a cage or two Grin

Davies told BArnier there's no way of enforcing the bill, as UK wont be under ECJ jurisdiction when due ...
TBF, there won't be an option of any deal with the EU soon as the UK is positioning itself below the necessary commitments to law etc.

Badders123 · 03/05/2017 07:09

I can't vote lib dem
I want to. But I can't.
The coalition mostly. Voted LD in 2010 and felt betrayed.
I think TF is right to keep harping on that there will be no LD coalition - it was nearly the end of the party and they still aren't trusted
I'm holding my nose and voting labour.
I don't like corbyn and I'm utterly baffled by labours stance on brexit but they are my only option
It's that or spoil my ballot

HashiAsLarry · 03/05/2017 07:10

The same could be said for every political party mother. They all make manifesto promises they drop like hot potatoes when power comes in. Because you know, power. Labour have never been any different.

missmoon · 03/05/2017 07:11

"it was about the fact that this was the Lib Dems USP going into the election, and it was dropped like a hot potato in order to do a deal with Cameron."

It was one of several key Lib Dem policies. Most of the others (like the pupil premium) were implemented. If the other policies that were actually progressive (unlike low tuition fees, which mainly benefit middle income families) had been dropped, would people have been happier with the coalition? Or perhaps they shouldn't have gone into coalition at all, in which case we would have had a weak Tory government, and none of the progressive policies at all?

Badders123 · 03/05/2017 07:11

I agree red
I'm old enough to remember the 3 day week and power rationing
I think it's totally possible we could see food riots and soaring unemployment
But that make me a saboteur 🤔🙄

woman12345 · 03/05/2017 07:13

Cages are rattled, Hashi.
They can rest on their JC and lib dem laurels, and make death threats, or worse, but EU.................. Grin
Like most wars, it's ultimately unnecessary and not even about the thing they're telling the populace it's about.
Sad thing is the collateral: peace, food security, young lives.
Fibbers, being found out.

HesterThrale · 03/05/2017 07:13

I can see what everyone says about the LDs and Labour, but with the situation that we find ourselves in, I think we have to go for the least worst option in order to try and reduce the Tory majority. Labour -useless leader - possibly, but they're not committed to a hard Brexit. Lib Dems - tuition fees - inexcusable, yes, but that was then, this is now. We are now on the cusp of a decade worse in every way. We have to dilute it in any way we can.

Badders123 · 03/05/2017 07:16

Yes Hester
Best case scenario imo is a reduced Tory majority and a coalition that will provide a soft brexit and save the NHS

illegitimateMortificadospawn · 03/05/2017 07:20

I am in a bind. We are in a Lib/Lab marginal. Our current Lab MP is a decent constituency MP, strongly Remain (backed up by their voting record & recent actions), so if we want a post Corbyn Labour party to have any chance of survival, my current MP is a good person to have around. I have zero beef with my Lab MP and would email them to explain why I'd voted against them & commiserate if they lose their seat. However, I cannot abide Corbyn. At a time when we really, really needed effective opposition he has been a disaster. I worry that my vote may bolster him clinging on after the election. However, I don't want to increase TM's majority. Also, after the LDs went into coalition with the Tories and screwed over their student voters on tuition fees, I did say I'd never vote LD again... Our LD candidate is experienced in regional politics & would also likely do a decent job. What to do?

HashiAsLarry · 03/05/2017 07:23

Just out of curiousity - How many people clutching their pearls regarding LD tuition fees voted Labour in 2001 and 2005?

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