Westminstenders: The Brexit Apprentice

[RedToothBrush]

Theresa May is increasing looking like she is running an episode of the Apprentice with two teams trying to compete in their plan for Brexit. Complete with the obligatory reprehensible contestants.

On one side we have Team Creationists intent on hard Brexit and on the other we have Team Sensibles desperate to get a softer deal.
May herself has been held hostage by seasoned expert negotiators the DUP. Once No 10 has reported the deal was done, only for the DUP to say it wasn’t. Then it said, it would be settled today. But the DUP disagreed and said ‘the weekend’. Now its 'next week'.

Meanwhile the Queen has been messed about with a scapegoat over when her Queen’s Speech will be. It’s likely to be a week on Monday.
Meanwhile the Brexit department is also in chaos.

The Number two in the department was sacked and replaced by a Remainer, and the number three quit amongst reports that he no longer thought Brexit was achievable and that there was no way that the Great Repeal Act could pass through the Lords. He has been replaced by the Head of the infamous Arch-Brexit Whatsapp group.

Oh and Gove got hired. Nuff said on that one.

After some slight back tracking from David Davis, Hard Brexit is still on in all its glory. Negotiations are going ahead next week. Well that’s what we are saying. The EU, on the other hand, don’t won’t to go ahead until we have an officially sworn in government. Which seems pretty fair enough.

Tune in to find out which Team wins this week’ The Brexit Apprentice

jackofkent.com/2017/06/has-the-uk-made-a-u-turn-over-the-brexit-timetable/
Has the UK made a U-Turn over the Brexit timetable?

David Allen Green.

I guess some deal is better than no deal?

I wonder if this is going to be a society changing event, the anger being displayed at the press, anger at the conservatives, anger at the austerity and anger at the inequality, is this the moment we look back on in say 10, 20 years and think thats when Britain changed, I hope so

I hope so too just, I really really do.

Maybe I'm too much of a cynic these days, but I think it's going to and will get a whole lot worse before it moves on from angry mutters and empty platitudes.

The Conservative woman on QT last night was beyond parody

Alex Wickham‏*@WikiGuido*
Tory backbenchers increasingly alarmed about the state of the government this afternoon...

Is Guido speculating that the 1922 committee have been talking? About 50 of them?

The Conservative Woman on QT was beyond parody, she made Leadsom look like a broad minded genius.....

www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jun/16/most-of-central-london-hospital-to-be-sold-off-secret-plans-reveal?CMP=twt_gu
Most of central London hospital to be sold off, secret plans reveal
Exclusive: Charing Cross hospital to be cut to 13% of current size and services diverted to facilities around the city, proposals seen by the Guardian show

The Charing Cross plan contains a map detailing how just 13% of the current hospital site will remain, with the rest of its prime real estate in central London sold off. The plan is to introduce the changes after 2021.

Good timing to drop this to the press...

When will this stop?? :(
I'm moving between anger and deep sadness at all these cuts. Whether it's the NHS, the fire services, the police, H&S, benefits (I've just supported a dear friend with MH trying to get through a PIPs assessment - not a pretty picture), schools, CAMHS etc etc

Has someone actually stopped and stepped back to look at the effects of all those in general

I have said to my son more than once that I think 2016 will be seen historically as a wierd "blip"
Trump will be impeached and the traditional media will be vilified and abandoned.
One can hope....

Tory backbenchers increasingly alarmed about the state of the government this afternoon...

This country was always prized for its 'sweet moderation'
Tories seem to have succeeded where the others have failed, in pressing an 'on' button to some sort of revolt.

The poll tax march was a peaceful large family day out. I was there. Some one, presumably thatch, suddenly had us kettled in Trafalgar Square, sent in the riot vans and attacked the demonstrators. Utterly terrifying and shocking.

She went the full fat Pinochet.

And even then, she was lucky that that didn't ignite a continuing fire, and the tories still got back in.

This time's different and morality as well as capability (they just seem like an utterly clueless administration) is clearly involved.

didn't ignite a continuing fire metaphor fail, sorry.

It looks like the feared unrest has started in Kensington. People shouting 'we want justice have stormed the town hall

They want to know if their families are dead. They have been treated disgustingly. What on earth are the authorities doing?

2 days in and there is no spokesperson or rescue co ordination.

Self-Regulation Means No Regulation
The FT wrote that after the 2008 financial crash, but it applies to all types of regs, including of course health & safety

www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/14/perks-end-uk-eu-guy-verhofstadt

@johnsimpsonnews
It's a year since Jo Cox was murdered: the worst year for Britain in my lifetime. We badly need a return to Jo's concept of moderation now.
Just seen this though it's from this morning. I can't disagree in the slightest.

We always knew that if we leave, then a new generation of voters choose to rejoin, the UK would have to apply from scratch.
Very unlikely to be able to obtain all the previous optouts
Of course, the EU is also changing, so a modified FOM may be less of a problem, but new issues may also arise

That article also notes that Juncker will only be spending 30 mins per week on Brexit now.
Presumably Barnier will be doing the donkey work - if he ever gets someone on the UK side with sufficient mandate to negotiate

Fucking furious about Charing Cross that's my nearest A&E.

I expect the residents will become even more furious, once they see that some papers and social media seem to be following some organized hard right line of blaming immigrants
i.e. blaming victims

Just an aside, does anyone know why the Glenfell hashtag is being used by some rather than Grenfell? David Lammy for example. What have I missed?

Best what do you mean? I do know David Lammy has lost a friend in Grenfell. I don't know about the hashtag but he is also devastated and grieving

Had an email from 38 degrees:

Health Minister Jeremy Hunt is about to sign-off secret plans to force changes to local NHS services. And it’s all just to cut costs. The plans could mean cuts to hospital beds, making waiting times longer, and cutting NHS staff. [1]

The plans - called a "capped expenditure process" - are being finished right now. Because the plans are secret it's hard to say exactly which services could be at risk. But the scale of the threat is clear - NHS bosses have been told to 'think the unthinkable' for these plans. [4] No wonder Jeremy Hunt doesn't want us to see them!"

If you’re thinking this all sounds a bit familiar, you’d be right. Together, we’ve exposed Jeremy Hunt’s secret plans before. Last summer, thousands of us chipped in to investigate the first round of secret NHS cuts called "sustainability and transformation plans". [4] We made headlines, from BBC News, to the front page of the Guardian. Our people-powered research was even quoted in Parliament as MP after MP said how shocked they were about the plans. [5]

Now the threat has grown, it needs more of us to get involved. NHS bosses are being forced to think about closing services like A&Es and maternity units, and stopping funding for treatments like IVF, all because of concerns about not having enough money. [6] This could change the NHS as we know it.

If we're going to stop these cuts, it’s going to take all of us to force them into the spotlight. None of us could have exposed Jeremy Hunt's first round of secret cuts plans on our own. But that's what's special about 38 Degrees. Hundreds of thousands of us club together to sign petitions, chip-in for investigations and tell our MPs what we care about. And it works.

Matthew Price‏*@BBCMatthewPrice*
For what it's worth here are some thoughts from the people I'm speaking to at Grenfell protest at town hall.
They are angry. They believe there is a coverup. They believe authority is not telling them the truth.
The families I spoke to and the people who have been comforting them know the likelihood is their missing are dead.
They believe the likelihood is the death toll is very high indeed.
They feel that they are being "drip fed" a death toll. They feel that amounts to a "lie"
They want honesty. Even if that is just someone telling them the top floor contains "x" bodies. Even if they can't identify them.
The longer they don't get such guidance the more their frustration will build.
One family told me they had found no central point where they could ask whether their named loved one is in hospital.

Lily Allen and Squawkbox have a lot to answer for.

Responsible journalism is needed from both the right and the left. The problem of rolling news is it doesn't help in this. It only serves to heighten the need for instant answers.

But the buck has to stop with the sheer disorganisation of the emergency response. It has been disorganised and disjointed and people clearly haven't been properly informed. Instead the housing association has used its time and resources to distribute anti-social behaviour letters.

The worst bit is that due to the high temperatures of the fire meaning it was like a cremation there may be nothing left. Not even DNA. Only serving to make it all so much worse.

The lack of leadership is astonishing.

Yes, I knew he had lost a young friend that's why I wondered if there was some significance to the spelling - if you search twitter there are lots of #glenfell posts as well as #grenfell.

It wasn't a criticism of him at all he is understandably devastated and furious. I have huge admiration for him.