Westminstenders: The beginning of the dictatorship and the end of Boris?

[RedToothBrush]

Brexit is being fought in the UK media and parliament on the premise that the EU is being difficult and obstructive.

The fallacy can not be understated.

What the UK fails to understand is the right of the EU to put their own interests before the UKs. It doesn't under that our demands cannot be met even if the EU wanted to for practical and legal reasons - not political ones because our understanding of the situation and law is so poor.

The net result is the slippage of the next phase of Brexit talks being pushed to Christmas by the EU due to lack of progress by the UK. Barnier is open to more regular and intense talks but this is bad news for the UK with the a50 clock ticking.

The main stumbling block is NI a with Barnier warning not to use the border as a way to test EU resolve. Brexit always about the NI border. The UK have never provided a solution to the EU that does not produce a hard border. The idea being pushed by the UK will create one despite claiming it won't. The reality is the only viable solutions are either staying in the single market and customs union or NI being granted special status and being different to the rest of the country. The former is opposed by the government, the later opposed by the DUP.

The DUP are getting a taste of their own medicine. They have been warned that Assembly Members might have pay frozen and if they don't reform Stormont they won't get their Billion Pound Booty. Plus Ian Paisley Jr just found a new scandal for the party.

May is trying to channel Venezuela by getting rid of democracy when it suits. The Great Repel Bill (aka as the Withdrawal Bill) faces it's challenge. The much feared Henry VIII in clause 9 are not only facing criticism from Remainers but also from the secretive crackpots of Tory Bastard Club (aka ERG). The TBC want hard cliff edge Brexit. May seems to support given her goodwill burning interference at the Home Office which seeks to discriminate against all foreigners and make them sign a register. The visa system and how it will attract much needed staff for the NHS makes the mind boggle.

The Repel Bill also could end the possibility of transition due to clause 6 which requires us to leave the ECJ. Given the May's ambition to make EU citizens display their stars in job applications this is totally unable to the EU. If it passes the chances of transition drop dramatically. Bye bye Smooth and Orderly.

Then there is the May-Bot paradox: the one were she gives a friendly speech to the EU and a nasty on to the Swivel Eyed Loon gathering. As if neither will be reported to the other audience.

On top of this May is attempting the Parliament Rigging Act as she has a 'majority Government'. Yep I know, this is the general election version of 'will of the people'. The Rigging Act seeks to stack parliamentary committees with Tory majorities so they can stop any bill they don't like getting anywhere need the main chamber this limiting the power of opposition to irrelevant. Sadly I think this one will get through due to maths of the HoC atm.

We shouldn't forget the role of the HoL though and the lack of a majority government (why do you think May is saying majority government? It's down to the Sewell convention and trying to make the case it applies when the argument is it doesn't for a minority government).

The other development is the rumours that Boris is for the boot. And Rees-Mogg might get a promotion.

Parsons Green is overground, but the District line continues on into central London underground

Not really ... the District line is cut'n'cover - not a deep tube line like (say) the Piccadilly or Central lines.

There are several locations in London where a well aimed fling from a car could see a bag landed on the tracks below.

Well, yes, the District line isn't as deep as some of the others but it does go properly underground, including through a number of high profile and heavily populated stations and locations... Not sure that the cut n cover nature of much of the line is really relevant...

Lurking it certainly has 4 Lions about it or something else not quite right about it. My 'Spidey Senses' think this has an 'odd' vibe about it. Its not that it didn't work, its also how inconsistent it seems. Its not so much that the bomb didn't go off properly, but other details about it. I can't put finger on what it is that's bothering me most though.

Perhaps because the bucket was just so bloody suspicious. That's more than just 4 Lions incompetence to me. If you want something to cause maximum impact, why do you make it so obvious to maximise the chances of it being spotted and reported? Maybe its simply a case of hiding in plain sight as a strategy and making the assumption that no one would report or have the time to report it, but it still seems really strange and sloppy to me, to a degree that almost make the 4 Lions good.

I don't know. I think this is the thing that is making me feel most uneasy. Perhaps that is actually the point though too. That they can be this brazen and obvious and it go unreported. (Even this logic doesn't really work though, as a bag of some description would perhaps be more effective at scaring the public as these are everywhere). Chances are I'm overthinking it (as usual) but my point though is that logic dictates that there has to be a reason why it wasn't better hidden and I can't think what that might be. Its almost as if the person wanted it to be found (and perhaps cause a lot of disruption and fear) rather than cause maximum damage.

I dunno. Just 'odd'.

Agree

Yes, agree too.
My spidery senses are telling me this is more of the vain of fearing terrorism than an act actually designed to kill.

My spidery senses tell me that it just wasn't that well-planned/executed, not that the intention to harm/kill wasn't there. The Borough Market attackers wanted to hire a lorry to do maximum damage but didn't have enough money so had to settle for a van. The Buckingham Palace attacker was actually heading for Windsor Castle, iirc. The killers in Barcelona had wanted to blow up a landmark but ended up accidentally detonating their own bomb and killing one of their own.

In my experience, especially at rush hour, Londoners are very much focused on getting to wherever it is they have to go and the trains are often have builders carrying toolboxes, power tools and buckets. It would not be unusual to see a bucket in a corner and assume it belonged to someone standing nearby on a busy train.

Perhaps I am too cynical now, but I couldn't help think of the Reichstag fire. People at the time thought the Nazis did it themselves so that they could crack down. I don't think that was the case. I certainly don't trust the extreme right wingers in this country.

It would be interestingly amusing if Trump had tweeted about the outrage before it happened ....
You just can't get the staff these days.
Love Chris Morris.

Not saying it is. But not saying I'm not thinking it either.

My first thought this morning. But I guess that's tinfoil hat territory.

Peregina, its not just you with that cynicism. I guess it will be confirmed one way or another pretty damn quickly.

It smells of being afraid of killing themselves and didn't really know what they were doing. It also suggests they think they can get away and not get caught. It doesn't feel 100% 'committed', in a world where suicide attacks are now the norm. That's probably why it feels inconsistent, if that makes sense. Upon reflection perhaps how I'm feeling is purely a symptom of becoming desensitised to terror attacks and expecting them to be the height of horror and total fanaticism.

The only other logic I can come up with is that someone wants to attract the police to them at a location of their choosing.

A little bit like the New York bombings almost exactly a year ago.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_New_York_and_New_Jersey_bombings

My spidery senses tell me that it just wasn't that well-planned/executed, not that the intention to harm/kill wasn't there. The Borough Market attackers wanted to hire a lorry to do maximum damage but didn't have enough money so had to settle for a van. The Buckingham Palace attacker was actually heading for Windsor Castle, iirc. The killers in Barcelona had wanted to blow up a landmark but ended up accidentally detonating their own bomb and killing one of their own.

Or so we are told.

Much as I love to hear stories about dorkish terrorists, there comes a point at which even my credulity is strained. OK, no one expects hooded James Bonds, but really ....

The reality is going to be that - for all our amusement - there are many cases where the intelligence services do get it right. At which point we enter the world of Churchills "bodyguard of lies".

Not that long ago, near to me, the police stopped a car on the motorway "because it wasn't insured". By "luck" the boot was full of firearms, and the occupants were arrested on suspicion of "terrorism offences".

Now, in this day and age, it would be trivial (if not preferable) to nobble the AskMID database (what the police use) to temporarily show a car as uninsured, and this trigger a police operation. (Better not ask questions as to how come the traffic stop was armed). This fiction would disguise the real intelligence and provide a perfect "reasonable suspicion" which can be put before a court.

What's that ? The terrorists checked AskMID that very morning, and their car was showing as insured ? Must have been a computer glitch. Maybe there was a problem with the insurer upload.

All of that said, if the price of effective policing is that the police have to endure some ribbing, it's a small price.

(Although generally, I'm not too wowed with the intellectual prowess of terrorists)

It doesn't feel 100% 'committed', in a world where suicide attacks are now the norm.

Western decadence ....

Just watching Theresa May give a statement on the attack, is it just me or does she really look unwell ?

Regardless of who it is, it does seem that many of us don't trust the government or are fearful of it being right wing as well as the obvious jihadi suspicions.

I'm actually glad its not just me in a way and that at least some of you haven't gone 'its just you, you nutter'.

That's not a healthy state of affairs regardless of how much tin foil might need to be applied to our heads. There's obviously an underlying feeling of being under siege from all directions and as if there are multiple threats to our society.

Whilst that's actually a more depressing thought than knowing who did do it, as I say, I'm glad its not just me.

David Allen Green‏*@davidallengreen* 3 hours ago
"My source tells me the suspect was already known to UK police."

Editor: Great scoop. Wow, classified info. Who is your source?

"Well..."

Donald J. Trump‏*@realDonaldTrump*
Another attack in London by a loser terrorist. These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!

Regardless of who it is, it does seem that many of us don't trust the government or are fearful of it being right wing as well as the obvious jihadi suspicions.

I blame Tony Blair, and his boys own escapade (with innocent peoples lives) back in 2003.

For me that is probably the single most identifiable point at which it was clear we were governed, not guided, and that democracy was the right to do what you are told without being molested.

From that point the corrosive cynicism (which has always been there) just started to eat into our collective fabric.

Wasn't the majority of the public against the war in Iraq ? So much for the will of those poor sods.

I think you are right Lurking. I protested that one too. Expensive trips to London by myself cos no one else would go with me.

We should have faith that what we are told is correct. That we don't, is a sign that corruption and lack of standards within public office.

Its a mentality that has come out of Grenfell too. Its not just one that has come out of terrorism.

Transparent democracy shouldn't suffer from this problem. That's part of the point.

I think it right that we should make the point about how slippage of the principles of democracy and who has a real stake in that democracy have huge consequences.

Its the breakdown in trust, where you find yourself questioning everything to a degree that you never previously would.

Conspiracy theories only gain traction because there is a void in political communication and a breakdown in trust between the electorate and those who represent them.

Love that David Allen Green tweet.
The dc have just asked why I'm howling with laughter!

I got distracted about Tony Blair (blood pressure rising) ...

Back in 2003, despite being incredibly anti-war, I was taken in by Blairs bullshit. The defining moment being when MrsLH and I watched him on TV lying to us. Up until that point, neither of us could even conceive in our wildest dreams that a serving Prime Minister would lie to the country - and parliament - to further a war. It still boils my blood typing it.

From that moment on, there is nothing I would not believe of a politician.

...politicians argue; sharpening their knives; drawing up their bargains; trading baby lives...

Dan Bloom‏ @danbloom1
Oh god, Trump is on TV. "I'm gonna call the Prime Minister right now"

Steve Peers‏*@StevePeers*
"Your call is important to us
Press 1 to blame Sadiq Khan
Press 2 to praise your own Muslim ban
Press 3 to blame Obama
Press 4 to play golf"

At least May HAS said that Trump's comments have been unhelpful. I hope she gives him a mouthful. She won't but I can still dream that she might.

Orgreave, Hillsborough, child abuse enquiry too, no wonder the Grenfell residents have no faith in the system.

I don't believe he lied, LH. I think that, like a lot of politicians, he fell victim to his own vanity. Post 9/11 no one was thinking straight. We got suckered, like this time.

Worked out well for the right didn't it, having Blair and labour labelled as liars.

Wheels within wheels.

Lurking did you write this script? It's good.

@JohnSimpsonNews
How does @realDonaldTrump know that the idiots who put a device on the Tube were 'known to Scotland Yard'? Intelligence leak? Or guesswork?