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.

The Freedom Association @ tfa4freedom
Imposing tariffs on #Bombardier is protectionism & protectionism never works. It's time for the USA to realise this

Errrrr, I think you'll find the US aren't interested in what you have to say and probably can cope with protectionism as they are so big. Whereas the UK might struggle without it.

I wonder will Con's investment be more favourable in areas where the DUP (or at the very least Unionist) voters are in larger numbers.

Old habits die hard...

Viewed alongside a stated aim to get more British students to come to NI, expanding a Belfast campus over Magee unfortunately makes sense. Belfast is a big enough jump for a lot of parents to get their heads around - Derry would be a non-starter. (As someone told me last year after hearing I'd been in Derry for the weekend... "Derry? Good god! Why didn't you go to Belfast - at least they have a John Lewis.")

US armaments industry will probably benefit from Trump upping the ante with North Korea and elsewhere.

Can't speak for others here, but MrsLH and I have long got into a system of shopping of doubling up "on the off chance".

Nothing to do with Brexit though. Just because it seems all UK retailers seem incapable of retailing. The nadir came around 2007 when we went shopping and on a list of 15 things, 10 were not available.

(Oh, and if anyone from Sainsburys or Tescos is scanning these forums, a little tip. When an item is not in stock, you don't solve the problem by filling the shelf space with the next item along. You know - the one nobody wants. Leave the shelf empty. Be honest with the customer - and yourselves).

We could probably survive 2 weeks easy without leaving the house. But there's just us two, and we eat like sparrows anyway. (And in a pinch and a nod to Somerset Maugham, we could eat sparrows too )

But as I have repeated pointed out to the idiot "prepper" community ... beyond 2 weeks, what ? The more society breaks down, the less anyone can really do. As James Burke said when exploring the scenario in "The Day The Universe Changed". ^When was the last time you made something from scratch ? Including the tools to do it ?". So unless you can build a kiln to smelt the ore you have dug, you really have to ask how long could you survive.

For myself, the only "prepping" would be how to fashion the appropriate weapon to either get a better weapon from anyone who has one, or to get food from people who haven't.

I'd be curious to see, in an I've-had-a-good-life-so-whatever way, how quickly a breakdown in society led to disease and pandemics. Starting with the fact that there won't be enough knowledge about water management to arrange fresh water and sanitary sewage disposal.

interesting point about the vast majority of workforce being protestant. Some historical as well as current reasons.

Special Bs ?

I'd also like to know what isn't protectionist about cutting immigration

LurkingHusband "I'd be curious to see, in an I've-had-a-good-life-so-whatever way, how quickly a breakdown in society led to disease and pandemics. Starting with the fact that there won't be enough knowledge about water management to arrange fresh water and sanitary sewage disposal."

Noooooo!

I have to say, that is something I am not curious to see!

Sound like a J G Ballard novel.

There are good reasons to be married to a Scout Leader. We have a 'zombie plan'.

We don't however have a big freezer so it makes certain things more difficult.

Anyone given any thought as to how they'd cope with electricity blackouts?

Dept. for Int. Trade‏ @tradegovuk
.@GregHands announces that to start new trade dialogue with emerging markets Colombia, Ecuador and Peru

Samuel Lowe‏*@SamuelMarcLowe*

Narrator: All countries the EU already has a trade agreement with.

i'm a child of the 70s, RTB. I remember electricity blackouts. One of my strongest memories as a child was visiting my Aunt's house, settling down to watch a much-anticipated episode of 'The Persuaders' and a blackout curtailing the excitement.

As someone told me last year after hearing I'd been in Derry for the weekend... "Derry? Good god! Why didn't you go to Belfast - at least they have a John Lewis."

No John Lewis stores in NI at all AFAIK. There has been talk of one at Sprucefield for years.

When was the last time you made something from scratch ? Including the tools to do it ?

Exactly this. I'm pretty handy with food preparation from the basics (and not squeamish about killing and gutting fish/birds/small mammals, for example) but everything else? Not a chance.

Although (perhaps for my own peace of mind) I refuse to believe we're going to end up that bad. Food shortages, panic buying and some civil unrest for a period, yes. Actually needing to drink our own urine and boarding up our windows against looters, probably not.

I have a certain amount of morbid curiosity about such things too Lurking, but I satisfy it through fiction and fantasising about cosy-apocalypse type scenarios. I know the reality would be awful, and would not like to see it happen in practice! Weirdly enough, I had a similar curiosity about "what if we voted out?" prior to last year's vote, but it still wasn't enough to make me vote out!

"Anyone given any thought as to how they'd cope with electricity blackouts?" jumpers and dressing gowns, a gas cooker, matches, wind up torches, candles and board games is all I can think of! Communication would be a problem (we don't even have a landline) I think it is possible to get wind up chargers though.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/bombardier-michael-fallon-boeing-donald-trump-commerce-tariff-defence-secretary-uk-government-a7969676.html
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon hints government may ban new contracts with Boeing over Trump administration's Bombardier decision
Minister suggests Britain could initiate trade war with US over military contracts

Oh my God. THIS IS HILAROUS!!!

But more seriously, if they are considering doing it over this, image how the next few years might go, if we crashed out of the EU with no deal, and went to WTO rules, not understanding the WTO or knowing we are definitely able to join WTO.

Loving the last paragraph of that article too:

His comments come after Theresa May said she was "bitterly disappointed" by the decision. She is thought to have lobbied Donald Trump personally on the decision.

I don't think there is any chance that Brexit will cause the type of doomsday scenario where we will be cooking rats, hacking down the trees in the local park for firewood, and forming local militias with the neighbourhood watch and I am a fairly pessimistic person!

CCHQ Press Office‏ @CCHQPress
The only thing Labour is ready for is a run on the pound

Tweeted at the same time as the news about the trade war was published by the Independent.

Anyone watching the Corbyn speech? He's currently talking about Brexit. The spontaneous "happy birthday" song to Diane Abbot was touching.

Anna Soubry MP@Anna_Soubry
US Court ruling #Bombardier #Belfast is not only wrong but shows all trade deals require a loss of so called "sovereignty"

Ouch.

AFP news agency‏*@AFP*

#BREAKING Ryanair extends flight cancellations plan to mid-March

Well it looks like cheap flights to Europe are finishing early ahead of Brexit. Nice work Ryanair.

twitter.com/Conservatives/status/913001800663527424

Conservatives‏ @Conservatives
Brexit seems to be one big game for Labour. When will they take it seriously and decide on a position? #lab17

This is a real tweet. Just thought I had to clarify this

Re: coping without electricity.

I was brought up in the country where a strong wind could bring trees down on power lines, so I know a bit about this. You need:

a couple of camping stoves - keep the gas cylinders/cartridges in an outside shed if you're nervous
several gas camping lanterns - ditto
Calor gas heaters - though they do take up a lot of room - gas supplies, see above

My parents had paraffin lamps and paraffin heaters (less bulky than the gas ones) but I don't know how easy it is to get hold of them and the fuel for them nowadays.

Candles
Battery camping lights and batteries
Battery radios and batteries
At least one wind-up radio

Modern doodahs they didn't have when I was young:
Solar panel and leisure battery (from caravan supplies places) - bulky and expensive but worth having if you want to use a tablet to access the internet

If you can put solar panels in a useful orientation anywhere around your home and/or garden, now would be the time to do it.

I am old enough to have watched a TV series called "Survivors", the original one not the rubbish remake, about surviving in a post apocalyptic world (post an epidemic ) I am therefore confidant I would be able to come up with strategies for survival including finding nice people to live with in a pretty welsh farmhouse and hooking up with an engineer and a doctor (though I will not be letting the nice doctor go off to tend ill people in rat infested supermarkets )

I have to say, that is something I am not curious to see! Sound like a J G Ballard novel.

One thing getting older teaches me is that the future - as a rule - doesn't particularly care what I think. Maybe that's what separates me from the beasts Brexiteers ?

Having a fridge/freezer that can run off gas is a start (any carvanners ?).

Failing that, having a weapon you can point at someone that has a gas fridge is a fair substitute.

I love the fairy tale land that most preppers inhabit, where they believe that their few weeks of supplies will allow them to live whilst those with less foresight quietly perish with no fight.

Kevin Maguire‏*@Kevin*_Maguire
Corbyn now mocking Mail's editor Paul Dacre. Wants 14 pages attacking him at the last election doubled to 28. And they might!

Jim Waterson‏**@jimwaterson**
If you're currently in the Daily Mail newsroom staring at Paul Dacre, get in touch!

Mark Di Stefano @MarkDiStef

From Daily Mail reporter: “No one knows where (Paul Dacre) is. Probably launching a commando attack"

Jim Waterson‏**@jimwaterson**

It's definitely a sign media power has shifted that a political leader feels able to use their conference speech to tell the editor of the UK's second most popular newspaper to piss off without worrying about the consequences.