Westminstenders: Stuck in the twilightzone

[RedToothBrush]

Just want to remind everyone if what really matters and what the priority if Theresa May is.

May isn't interested in a new referendum. There is barely time to hold one, and anyone remotely interested in one, isn't named Theresa May. Forget it. Its not happening.

Nor are Brexit talks the most important thing. Whilst Jeremy Corbyn seems finally to be playing with some sort if EEA type solution he's not the one named Theresa May. If she doesn't want one, then it won't happen.

May does seem to favour something along these lines but she has to sell it to her party. If she ends up relying on the support of Labour to push it through against what her party want, then that doesn't end well for her or her party. So Corbyn seeming to squeeze her here isn't necessarily a good thing. It could push her to no deal.

Why?

Cos petty party politics.

THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING, and don't forget this, is the EU withdrawal Bill. As it stands, May has to concentrate her efforts on this. If it doesn't pass by the art 50 deadline then we have legal chaos. May isn't big on the courts, but I'm not sure she would want that situation either. It would be even more unthinkable than queues at Dover coupled with food shortages.

If it doesn't pass, and the Lords will do all they can to delay and obstruct as long as they can, May's only option is to beg for an art 50 extension. Which the EU might not be inclined to give. Which might leave us in a situation where our only option is to revoke a50.

The only predictable thing, is this will be last minute brinkmanship.

All the talk of a second ref is a distraction. Talk of Labour's position at this point, is all about positioning for the next election and not about Brexit at all.

So try to keep your eyes on what really matters and what battles are May's big ones and which are merely side shows.

I wonder who Side Show Bob will turn out to be.

And that the Labour party would be putting politics before the national interest (rather than self-interest before the national interest like the Tories).

I think ^Mistigri* that it would become a lot more dangerous and the lorry drivers would be reluctant to keep going.
What I don't know is how much of a joint effort goes into policing the small boats crossing with migrants. I suspect that the Calais crossing attracts only the poorest and most desperate.

I don't know Emily - I think part of the reason it's dangerous for lorry drivers is that people who want to get to the UK are driven to desperate measures. If you were to imagine a world in which, for e.g., Eurostar inward immigration controls took place in the UK on arrival (as they used to) I suspect you would see attacks on lorries disappear almost overnight. I'm not saying that this is the answer, but it's not necessarily true to say that removing French border policing would increase violence towards lorry drivers; you could make a credible argument in the opposite direction.

What? The Tories don't like Labour doing their job and being an Opposition?

Yes ai think that is true. They still wouldn't be able to board without proper documentstion though would they? As a foot passenger I have seen lots of people turned away because their documents weren't valid. I even know of one women who went on her honeymoon on her own because her new husband's carte d'identité was out of date.
I think passports and visas would always be checked.

I not ai. How refained. 😀

Love the responses to the John Redwood tweet objecting to the Bayeux tapestry coming to England because it depicts the “French” killing the “English” king.
I especially like “You lost, get over it”.

Just noting that the "DUP" is still an official money measure of the Register, from last year

www.theregister.co.uk/Design/page/reg-standards-converter.html

(because I saw the story about double-deckers )

Love the responses to the John Redwood tweet objecting to the Bayeux tapestry coming to England because it depicts the “French” killing the “English” king.

Yes, the point when centuries of Anglo-Saxon democracy (elected kings with limited power, the Witan) was replaced by force with an imposed royal family believing in the divine right of kings with absolute power passed down by blood.

It would be funny if 50% of our land wasn't still owned by the same families from 1066.

Ni chredaf fod John Redwood yn gwneud eironi

(V qba'g guvax gung Wbua Erqjbbq qbrf vebal)

Don't expect Deadwood to understand your penultimate sentence, Rossetti - he doesn't do Welsh.

Mae hynny'n wir; Nid yw John Redwood yn gwneud y Gymraeg naill ai

Better be careful now. Don't want a bunch of internet cops swooping and requiring me to render that intelligible under RIPA (idly imagines being caught with a copy of Ulysses)

(Anyone catch Cariad Lloyd and Rob Brydon Welshing it up on WILTY this week ?)

Redwood:

Spouts nonsense about tapestries from the 1070's nearly 10 centuries ago and comes up with some tortuous link to migration?

Fakes singing Welsh in public, very badly!?

Expressly recommends investors “look further afield” because of the state of the UK economy.

Suggests we only buy British cars which don't exist apart from Caterhams and Morgans.

Seemed in some article to bemoan the demise of coal mining, surely not thinking reviving it is viable?

And people in Wokingham VOTE for him ! I've never been to Wokingham, is it weird?

.

My brother lives in Wokingham. He is quite nice, but I did get the impression the place was a bit weird now you mention it.

Imagine if a muslim country "jokingly" showed their leader standing over decapitated British corpses

I've just had some sort of epiphany - it's all explained now ...

From the emerging story over Trumps Mexican wall.

"Campaigning is very different from governing" (chief of staff, John Kelly)

WOW !!!!!! What a great line. I expect BoJo et al to start using it, when it's been explained to them.

So that's the future of politics. You can promise whatever you like to get the votes of the critically impaired, and then just fail to deliver with no comeback because

"Campaigning is very different from governing"

(as an aside, I am impressed by the addition of very. Not only is campaigning different to governing. But it's bigly very different. Just in case you felt like trying to challenge the assertion).

Imagine if a muslim country "jokingly" showed their leader standing over decapitated British corpses

I believe it would have to remain in the imagination, no ? Doesn't Islam have some quite strict prohibitions on depicting the human form ? Like Christians ?

Is it not just the Prophet and religious figures that are prohibited - in order to discourage idolatry?

And the narrative that an opposition party which votes in opposition damages the interests of a country
A very worrying narrative.

Interesting couple of stories on the BBC at the moment ... kinda hints at where we might go ...

Woman jailed for 30 years for having a miscarriage.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/stories-42716655/i-miscarried-and-now-am-serving-a-30-year-sentence

Taxi driver sentenced for refusing to take blind passengers guide dog.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-42732832

Thank goodness parliament is keeping our rights safe.

Not sure what to make of this ... the Daily Mail in a brief flash of calling it like it is. I'll post the full text before they realise, and rewrite it to slam the EU ....

www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-5284071/Satellite-security-centre-leaving-UK-Brexit.html

A security centre for the EU’s Galileo satellite system is to be moved from London to Spain as a result of Brexit.

A committee of representatives of member states voted by a large majority on Thursday to approve the European Commission’s recommendation of Madrid as the Galileo Security Monitoring Centre’s new home.

The centre, which is not yet fully operational, has only one full-time member of staff in London, a press conference in Brussels was told.

A security centre for the Galileo satellites is leaving the UK due to Brexit.

But the Commission said that when it is up and running in Madrid, its staffing is expected to grow to as many as 30.

The centre is one of a number of EU institutions leaving the UK as a result of the 2016 referendum vote, also including the European Banking Agency, which is relocating to Paris, and the European Medicines Agency, which is going to Amsterdam.

A Commission spokesman said that the centre had to be relocated to one of the 27 remaining member states “as a consequence of EU withdrawal”.

The Commission will formally adopt the choice of Madrid at a meeting on January 24.

GSMC monitors and acts on security threats to the Galileo global navigation satellite system, which is being developed by the EU so European nations do not have to rely on the US GPS system or Chinese and Russian alternatives.

amp.ft.com/content/1aa17614-fab7-11e7-a492-2c9be7f3120a?__twitter_impression=true
Interserve under government watch over financial health fears
Collapse of Carillion raises concerns on UK outsourcing industry

Interserve next to do a Carillion

blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/01/karen-bradley-gets-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-dup/
Karen Bradley gets on the wrong side of the DUP

It’s been reported that in a sit down with written press this morning, Bradley indicated that ‘release of the £1 billion from DUP/Tory confidence & supply deal at Westminster is contingent on ministers being in place at Stormont’. However, this is news to Nigel Dodds – the DUP’s Westminster leader. He has taken to social media to voice his concern that this is ‘not correct’

Interserve next to do a Carillion

They might have to queue ....

www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2018/01/i-felt-rushed-voting-leave-now-i-know-facts-i-want-stay-eu?amp&__twitter_impression=true
I felt rushed into voting Leave – now I know the facts, I want to stay in the EU

Looking back, I think Farage successfully diverted their attention from the true problems in the country - austerity, inequality, the failing health and social services, lack of housing.

facepalm