Westministers: May Shares the Cake

[RedToothBrush]

May's Speech Abbreviated:

We still have nfi how we are going to do this. EU this is your fault. You sort it out. We are too lazy, workshy and fighting like high school children to work it out ourselves. Be our whipping boy.

I support democracy as long as I get to do whatever I like
I support human rights as long as I can ignore them when I like.
I support the rule of law except when it doesn't suit my agenda.

Waffle waffle.

"Creative", "Dynamic" PR for my Premiership.

Waffle waffle

We really need policing cooperation, PLEASE keep it with us. I know I threatened to withdraw this, but I'm sorry, I was wrong and a bit of a dick about this.

Gets to the point FINALLY.

"2 year transition period"

(With another time bomb lock which is still too short for IT departments. Nothing to do with the next general election, honest).

RULE BRITANNIA!

Polite Applause.

So, responding to my inbox, is anyone off to Manchester ?

Where? Cathedral Gardens, Manchester, M4 3BG

When? 2-6pm

What? Bring your flags, facepaint and voice to help us show our support for the UK's place at the heart of Europe

Who? Sir Vince Cable MP, Stephen Dorrell (European Movement and former Health Secretary), Richard Corbett MEP, Julie Ward MEP, Mike Galsworthy (Scientists for EU), Jolyon Maugham QC, Terry Christian, Tom Hingley (Ex Inspiral Carpets), Classical Evolution, No.10 Vigil, Madeleina Kay, EU Elvis...and more!

(How many MNetters will be going in the hope of a Mike Galsworthy and Brian Cox mashup )

I make jam and chutney, bake and make tablet. I even send tablet on occasion to MNers A RAOK in these dark times helps me feel better - and I hope the recipient enjoys it too! (I have to message them to ask for their address which somewhat spoils the full surprise though )

.

The fuck ups by the home office don't surprise me. I once had to explain to them in words of one syllable why you don't need a passport to fly between the UK and the channel Islands.

Wish I could go on a pro-EU March.

I'm currently stress baking!
Though that's due to family stuff making me rage and it being too early to drink and it being a school night
Poor DH when he gets home, he's going to have to listen to me rant and he's only caused a teeny bit of this rage.

I have to do most of my ranting on here - dh complains if I rant too much to him.

Yes, I know. LTB

BTW (from a post on the last thread): my legal friend who is off today to discuss the implications of Brexit on telecoms says that immigration or rather restrictions on immigrations is an issue: the guys digging the fibre into the ground are often eu migrants; Virgin use loads of Polish engineers to install their services; the UK has a shortage of IP engineers; the list goes on.....

www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/brexit-latest-news-uk-eu-dual-citizenship-european-union-countries-ireland-a7792971.html

So apparently 80%!!! of Brits wants a second passport to be able to enjoy all the opportunities available. And yes Germany is even part of the countries mentioned the most.

Does it means that most Leavers are now convinced too that Brexit isn't that great after all???

theworld I'm constantly enraged about Brexit. I'm amazed that all my (intelligent) friends are so oblivious to it. Maybe it's my level of awareness due to this thread. If they all read it, they might start getting militant.

I struggle with how resigned many people seem about Brexit too, Hester. Among my friends, there is this general feeling that it will be bad but not disastrous. This photo represents how I feel about the whole process ( you have to imagine that I am out of shot and have been screaming, "Run! Run for your lives!" for quite some time while everyone else is saying, "Nah, I think we still have time for a couple more holes..." )

Cailleach I remember back in the 75 referendum, that SInn Fein were then for Leave and there was only a 2% majority to stay in.

So, most Republicans seem to have changed their attitude, probably from seeing how the RoI has benefited from membership - totally transformed

world I handled my fury by emigrating to Germany last July !
(I've worked there a lot, anyway, and I've no close family left, so not such a big deal for me)
So, I'm with you all in spirit, but not in body

This shows the hard geographical split in NI for Leave / Remain:

2% majority in NI to stay in, in 1975, I mean.
So that has clearly increased
I think identity politics playing a role on both sides, with formerly Remain unionists moving to Leave, offsetting to some extent the Sinn Fein switch to Remain

Sinn Fein switch to remain
But but but, they voted leave over 40 years ago, surely democracy never changes even in the face of evidence

I share the frustration! I prep so have a kitchen and garage full of preserves and frozen stuff, candles, torches, water purification tablets and stacks of booze. I'm not sure it's entirely healthy, but at least we're ready for the curfews and martial law

I'm glad I'm not alone and you've cheered me up no end

@J_amesp
Gathering flow of rumours May is going to trigger a walk out of Brexit negotiations as early as tomorrow. Single Market trigger in question.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-department-more-than-20-per-cent-civil-servants-david-davis-staff-left-14-months-permanent-a7967156.html
Brexit department: More than 20% of civil servants working for David Davis have left in the last 14 months
High turnover could suggest civil servants don’t enjoy working in the department

So apparently 80%!!! of Brits wants a second passport to be able to enjoy all the opportunities available.

Huh. So about 30% are hypocrites?

I prep so have a kitchen and garage full of preserves and frozen stuff, candles, torches, water purification tablets and stacks of booze.

I've never been a prepper, but have been gradually gathering supplies of non-perishables for ages. Couple of extra tins of tomatoes or bags of rice when they're on offer, that sort of thing. Builds up to a surprisingly substantial level of backup after several months. Also shopping around for a cheap, small chest freezer so we can store frozen veg and fruit.

May is going to trigger a walk out of Brexit negotiations as early as tomorrow.

And then what? We certainly don't get the trade deals that the rest of the world are just itching to make with us, apparently.
So complete stalemate and we do absolutely nothing for the next 18 months? When will someone knock some sense into the Tory party?

And then what?

And then Sunlit Uplands. Duh.

High turnover could suggest civil servants don’t enjoy working in the department
Or for this administration?
www.thecanary.co/uk/2017/09/26/distracted-labours-conference-theresa-mays-office-quietly-reveals-spent-43m-just-agency-staff/

^Some of the most notable spending compared to 2015/16 was:
£43.8m on agency staff, up 54%.
£2.47m on staff “termination benefits” when they left the CO, up 162%.
£8.86m on staff travel, food and “hospitality”, up 63%.
£196.8m on total staff costs, up 20%.
£50.2m on Police and Crime Commissioner elections.
£1.54m on Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts, up 387%.
£21.7m on renting buildings, up 38%.
Writing off £2.3m of “bad debt”, up 5,342%^.

Dh has come home, listened to me rant about my family, ranted back as he's also apparently been on the receiving end which I hadn't realised, handed me some booze. So I'm a bit calmer.

Touching back on earlier 're tech. My dcs school have been on a bit of a mission to stop people moaning about them on social media. As policing people's social media went down like a lead balloon, they're now trying a different approach. They've taken to telling people that once you post anything on any social media anyone can see it. So post a picture of your dc in uniform and you don't know who's hands it'll end up in. Some parents left the meeting terrified, others left angry at how distorted they'd made it all sound. This is solely to protect their reputation. But why would teachers lie someone asked.

John McDonnell reported to have said the labour party has contingency plans for a run on the pound and capital flight if labour come into power . Anyone else listen to this and think , hmm wonder if the Tories have similar contingency plans following a hard brexit ?