Westminstenders: The wrong homework

[HashiAsLarry]

I'm no rtb but I'll give it a shot, though her efforts deserve much more than me.

The August negotiation round has, well, fizzled out in much the same way as any other. It's taken over a year to get to written position papers and there's still no clue as to a direction from the UK government.

Japan, meanwhile, is about to sign off on a deal with the EU. A deal we want to copy.

@faisalislam
^but if post brexit britain's trade deal with third biggest economy in world is to be based on Brussels' deal, what about rest? TTIP? Canada?
...when PM signs off statements like this on primacy of EU-third party deals, one wonders how temporary the temporary customs union will be^

The NHS is now launching a drive to recruit foreign GPs, like the ones that have left thanks to Brexit. It's a good job they'll be £350m a week better off now. Oh hang on...

Remember 1588 - England defeats a potential Catholic Spanish invasion. In fact such was the English horror of a Catholic King, they preferred a foreign protestant to an English catholic !

Spain was under the Inquisition at the time, and the Armada was expressly set up to free England from heresy, so I think it is fair enough to characterize the Armada as Catholic. And it wasn't so much the religious leanings of the monarch, but that the Catholic rulers tended to believe in the Divine Right of Kings, which (by 1701) the country had fought the Civil War to dispel.

As a Catholic, JRM must believe that the Pope is supreme sovereign - trumping even the UK parliament.

So not only is he a bit dim, he's also a hypocrite and full of cant (you need to speak their language).

Now you can obviously be ok with this or not, but it definitely will impact on Irish citizens too.
Absolutely. The entire campaign and spiel afterwards has been very disingenuous towards Irish citizens and the impact on them. Of course that's probably largely due to the fact they were allowed to vote in the referendum so 'we are potentially going to sell you up the river' wouldn't have been a massive selling point.

Lurking - the Counterreformation (and common sense) seems to have passed you by. There are all sorts of Christian Democrat parties across Europe whose loyalty is unquestionably to their country rather than the papacy....

Meanwhile, TM's full title has been revealed

Lurking - the Counterreformation (and common sense) seems to have passed you by. There are all sorts of Christian Democrat parties across Europe whose loyalty is unquestionably to their country rather than the papacy....

But by definition a Catholic has to regard the pope as Gods servant on Earth and is beholden to him (until we get our first female pope ...). If they do not accept that the pope is supreme on Earth they are not a Catholic. That and transubstantiation.

I vaguely recall some talk of whether a pope is speaking ex cathedra or not.

I only know this stuff because it annoys people . I'm actually a committed atheist ....

That may be the theory, LH, but most Catholics are rather more nuanced in their beliefs (the vast majority I know - and I was brought up one - don't believe in transubstantiation, for example ).

Lurking - it annoys me, though I'm not a Catholic, because it is drivel. The fact that he thinks that the pope is the final authority on doctrinal questions doesn't mean that he will be beholden to the pope or anyone else when deciding other matters.

This idea that Catholic/Hindu/other politicians are are potentially disloyal is both offensive and clearly not borne out by the facts...

So even Catholics can't agree what it is to be Catholic ?

Seems like an excellent reason to keep religion out of politics.

he is entitled to his views.

But not to foist those views on people who don't share them.

The problem is politics is all about foisting - or having foisted - ideas which not everyone agrees with. So the temptation to slip a little religion in - for our own good, naturally - will always be there.

Meanwhile the ECHR has just weighed in and taken a decision that employers do not have unfettered rights to monitor employees at work

preview.tinyurl.com/yc3hnqka

(I had to use TinyURL as the real URL breaks MNs URL engine which doesn't know that "[" and "]" are valid characters in URLs ...)

What's the betting this won't be transferred into the UK ?

but most Catholics are rather more nuanced in their beliefs

Well yes, you said it there - Most.

We are however discussing, Rees-DroptheDeadCat.

A man not known for his more flexible approach to tradition and the modern world.

@faisalislam
Exclusive @MarkKleinmanSky - FTSE-100 bosses express incredulity at being asked to sign a Number 10 letter backing PM's Brexit strategy
FTSE100 boss asked to sign No10 Brexit letter told Mark "There's no way we could sign this given current state of chaos surrounding talks"

The DUP are having a great time in gov't. One of them stood up and elucidated how they were doing everything to get Stormont up and running they are honouring an Irish language Act, then and SF are the ones who won't budge.

They certainly have control the ear of the Cons. TM happy to confirm no Irish involvement. Good and well, but went on to say on another question that they stand firm on the consent principle and democratic mandate. I wonder how firm if or when demographics did want out. I think you'd find it would be 'destabilising' or blackmail to give in to the consent principle. You can see the headlines ..' They think they can blackmail or bully because of their numbers'.

The question about PSNI inquiries was interesting too. Don't forget there was no recognition of Irish people in NI not being or wanting to adopt British identity. Therefore any 'unlawful' killings would have been on what the state viewed as British citizens. Obviously not the first tier. May went on to say that 90% of killings/murders were from terrorism. There seemed to be no linking at all that there was allegedly state involvement or collusion in that 90%. No 'mani pulite' there.

I imagine the GFA is for the bin in all but name. Depends what the DUP want, of course.

"DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said there would be repercussions for Theresa May's government if Dublin was given a say on the internal affairs of Northern Ireland.

"If that were to happen it would have grave consequences for the stability of the government at Westminster and for the prospect of restoring devolution in Northern Ireland," he said.

There you go. Bringing the DUP into gov't will not affect the balance in NI one jot, they said. There is Jeffrey telling her what will happen. Other instances may not be public. Brokenshire a independent arbitrator, my a*se.

uk.businessinsider.com/brexit-britain-expat-welcoming-internations-rankings-eu-2017-9?r=US&IR=T

The UK came in at 54, below Kazakhstan (35), the US (43), and Peru (47).
No real surprise to see thatbthe UK has dropped so far in the ranking as a nice place to immigrate. I'm still at the idea that it's coming well below Kazakhstan!

Quite a few articles around too about how unwelcome EU citizens are feeling thanks to the new 'proposals' from TM

FTSE100 boss asked to sign No10 Brexit letter told Mark "There's no way we could sign this given current state of chaos surrounding talks"

Rather unhelpful.

What would be much more useful is if they told us what it would take for them to sign. I suspect we'd need to start importing paper now .....

Peter Apps‏*@PeteApps*

Australian govt tested Grenfell-style cladding and discovered it was flammable in February 2016
www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/australia-committee-calls-for-outright-grenfell-cladding-ban-52303

Tests of the cladding material, released publicly in February 2016, showed it was so flammable the test had to be abandoned after 93 seconds due to the height of the flames. As a result it was deemed non-compliant with building regulations for buildings higher than three storeys.

This was 16 months before the Grenfell disaster and three months before the refurbishment of the tower, which installed the cladding, completed.

Lurking I was just about to post about that.

Are they nuts??? (This is a rhetorical offering) Fiona didn't like letters.

news.sky.com/story/ftse-100-chiefs-fury-at-no-10-letter-backing-ministers-on-brexit-11023229

FTSE-100 executives expressed incredulity at the approach from Downing Street, with one saying: "There is no way we could sign this given the current state of chaos surrounding the (Brexit) talks."

Simon the Stylite‏*@Sime0nStylites*
1. Some reasons why this is a really bad idea.
2. It's pretty much 100% likely to leak pre publication (QED).
3. Asking for this, looks very weak. If large corps thought everything was going well, they'd do it themselves via the IoD etc.
4. Many of the corps in the FTSE 100 have substantial European earnings. The last thing anyone wants to do is to be seen to take sides.
5. Equally, some corps may be concerned about govt contracts etc. Puts them in an uncomfortable position.
6. Dangerous precedent. Corps don't want to be politicised as a general rule. This could go the other way. Not this letter...this letter.
7. All in all. Bad idea. F grade. /ends

Not to mention the ones who think Brexit is Bollocks.

@profmarkelliott
At PMQs today, PM asserted that Lords Constitution Committee has "endorsed" the approach to secondary legislation in EU Withdrawal Bill +
That statement is highly selective & profoundly misleading. The Committee acknowledged Government would need secondary legislative powers +
But Committee also called for those powers to be carefully limited & for a bespoke regime including opportunities for enhanced scrutiny +
As presently drafted, the Bill confers powers in extraordinarily broad (and unclear) terms and provides for only very limited scrutiny. +
So while Constitution Committee recognises inevitability of secondary legislation, it has certainly not "endorsed" the approach in the Bill.

TM purposely misleading parliament. Surely not? (Rhetorical too)

A good demonstration of why church and state should be separate