Westministenders: The Art of the Deal

[RedToothBrush]

Well Trump seems to have put his foot in it.

Not that this should come as a surprise. For all the talk of closer ties with the US that was never going to happen. All that was need was for Trump to over step once too many.

By chance (?) Barnier also raised questions about our commitment to working with the EU on security.

Its almost as if we are being asked to choose whom we look to for security.

Meanwhile it sounds like the divorce bill is sorted - though this may not be as settled as that, if it comes with conditions. The deal might also be backtracked on, seeing as that appears to be the done thing presently.

Talks on Ireland are stalemated with Ireland threating to veto. No sign of a breakthrough here yet.

Talks on EU citz rights are reportedly going backwards (again) rather than going forward.

All of this is theatre for a British audience though, with the UK agreeing to everything. Because they gave again their cards when a50 was triggered.

The crunch is coming on whether we move to stage two before Christmas. We have no time to lose.

Interesting that the 'flabbergasted' story is in the Telegraph.

I would hope the ICO investigates Nadaine Dorries office on behalf of her constituents as a matter of urgency.

I wonder if the Home Office will be sending one of their hostile letters to Meghan Markel
and telling Prince Harry to leave the country ?

So far I have only learnt that statesman Cameron had no choice but calling a referendum. It was beyond his control - for those of you who like Dangerous Liaisons.

I wasn't convinced myself.

Ah, yes, it will be Sunday edition.

A GP would probably be suspended if they were so negligent with their password, giving casual staff access to private medical details, allowing porn surfing in between.

An MP receives letters from constituents containing information that can be just as confidential, not to mention highly sensitive HoC documents on defence, trade, foreign relations, large govt contracts

I'm shocked that there aren't professional standards - and effective penalties - specified for MPs, wrt data security, conduct in a work environment, conduct towards staff and colleagues

Some MPs are not generally very IT literate. BIgChoc. I think they assume that their PA do a lot of the IT admin that us ordinary joannas do as a normal part of everyday work.

Security risk though. Bet that's been noticed too.

Most people in a workplace would be suspended. I have to log out every single time I leave my desk.

I imagine that quite a lot of the GPs that BigChoc mentions aren't especially IT literate either, but they can't trot that out as an excuse for not keeping a patient's data confidential. Indeed, you hear of the odd case where a health centre worker accesses data without authority and gets the sack for it.

Even those very ignorant about IT should at least know to keep passwords confidential
Anyone too stupid or arrogant to realise this shouldn't be an MP

Do MPs give their personal bank PINs to those 6-month interns ?
Then how dare they be so casual about personal information from their constituents ?

10 suicides this year in detention centres, several hundred serious self-harming

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/dec/03/marcin-gwozdzinski-immigration-centre-detention-death

Britain remains the only country in Europee* with no time limit on immigration detention

Things aren’t looking great on the immigration front in America either

The Seattle Times
@seattletimes
ICE tracks down immigrant who spoke to media in SW Washington: ‘You are the one from the newspaper’ (story by @NinaShapiro) (link: st.news/2AFWR2C )

sean. 🎅🏽
@SeanMcElwee
ICE literally hunted down and imprisoned an immigrant in retaliation for talking to media.

Also this

As Hurricane Irma Neared Florida, Immigration Agents Kept Picking Up Undocumented People Despite Promises

After the Department of Homeland Security said non-criminal immigration enforcement would be temporarily suspended because of the approaching storm, immigration enforcement agents in Florida continued normal operations for another four days.

www.buzzfeed.com/amphtml/salvadorhernandez/as-hurricane-irma-neared-florida-immigration-agents-kept

Couldn't really listen to Farage and Kate Andrews this morning. One thing which was so absent was any questioning of Farage. When asked about the EU pension, he was just evading the question and wasn't pressed on anything. The EU is 'arbitrary' and is fining him. No, it is not arbitrary. He is being fined for misuse of funds. He wasn't the fifth one in the door that morning and they decided to fine every fifth person. He was investigated by Olaf (the EU anti-fraud body) and found to have been guilty of misuse of funds. He wasn't even asked why he was being fined.

He has been all over the BBC this week. Are there only 10 people in the country they can get on at the moment and he has to be continuously on? Imagine in a parallel universe the UK has 73 MEP's. That means you could have a rotation of 72 people before Farage has to be on again.

The British media are pathetic at the moment and are letting the public down. I really think they are failing the public. Another gutless crew along with remain MP's. Marr has a set of questions to ask and it doesn't matter what the answers he receives are, he just goes onto the next question. You may as well have the questions prerecorded and the interviewee just presses the button for the next one.

The map on Peston showing the areas which will be affected most in the event of Brexit was a little ironic. Certainly considering the hot topic of the question of the Irish border. Only Britain. No NI. So is Britain leaving on it's own, then?

Heard some interesting non official chatter tonight that the government may make some movement on the potential for a sea border with Ireland. Apparently the feeling is that Parliament is totally stuffed with brexit stuff which labour are largely backing so DUP involvement is looking less necessary. The only question is whether they're willing to put that into enough clarity for the eu without stirring up problems in ni. I say problem, because the feeling is largely that roi just want a united Ireland and some people seem relatively shocked when that's refuted. If any of that is remotely true, it works progress wise but its going go be bumpy as hell.

PainInTheEar
Revealed: Universal Credit Requires The Terminally Ill To Meet ‘Work Coaches’

Exclusive: Campaigners lament ‘thoughtless’ regulations under flagship benefit reform.

This is the Third Reich all over again. I believe they are actually trying to normalise this level of inhumanity so that other policies waiting in the wings will not cause a ripple.

Yes, it might be more insidious than in America but the dehumanising of huge swathes of the population is definitely happening here too.

Is this good news for those wanting “no deal”?
Tony Connelly
@tconnellyRTE
An EU source has told @rtenews there has been no breakthrough in the overnight talks between British, European Commission and Irish officials on the Irish border issue post Brexit. It now looks unlikely the Irish cabinet will have a text to approve when it meets in Dublin at 9am

Beth Rigby
@BethRigby
If no agreement reached May will have to ask for a last-minute extension to today’s deadline. Only 10 days to Council summit.

7:20am
@ManfredWeber
In #Brexit negotiations, money is one of the problems, but it is not the biggest one. We are much more concerned about the fact that negotiations are stalled on the protection of EU citizens’ rights & on the Irish case. 1/2
We will not change our red lines. The lives of millions of families are at stake. If no clear commitment is made, the @EPPGroup will not be ready to assess the progress made as sufficient to enter a 2nd phase of negotiations. #Brexit 2/2

Hashi - if the UK were to agree to put the border in the Irish Sea, would that really be an acceptable solution? It would be seen as a very provocative move by Unionist extremists and therefore likely to undermine the GFA, wouldn't it?

lala AFAIK, and in fairness I'm not fully knowledgeable about the terms of the gfa, a sea border is the far less problematic approach. However I'm not really sure that the gfa will come out of this intact unless the UK as a whole stays in the single market. I can't really see the UK coming out of this intact either, not with the epic speed approach that's being taken.

The beeb says we’re close to an agreement on Ireland. The graun says we’re not. Meanwhile Blair makes another intervention
www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/dec/03/tony-blair-confirms-he-is-working-to-reverse-brexit

As with all Blair interventions I’m not sure if this is helpful, even though I largely agree with him. I’m skeptical there’s such a large number of Labour voters willing to change their mind - they were only a couple of percent behind the LDs when it came to voting Remain. That said the increase in support for a 2nd ref (which I find problematic for all the reasons that have been rehearsed here, plus if Remain isn’t on it then there’s literally no point) could hint otherwise.

Eeee - listening to Today on BBC at the moment, we don't sound very close...

if the UK were to agree to put the border in the Irish Sea, would that really be an acceptable solution? It would be seen as a very provocative move by Unionist extremists and therefore likely to undermine the GFA, wouldn't it?

How many nations have an internal border, which is what this would effectively be? On the other hand, each of the 4 countries of the UK have their own rules to a greater or lesser extent, so there is some argument for another different rule for NI. It saddens me greatly, the GFA was brought about for the benefit of the whole of Ireland and to end the violence, this is coming about because Tory PMs can't face down their extreme right wingers. Right wingers, like Redwood, don't forget, who, by the investment advice he has given, is quite happy to show where his loyalty doesn't lie.