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.

what we spend the money on (windows or rehabilitation? For example).

Well we don't do rehabilitation, so it may as well be the windows. At least glaziers might benefit ?

Well we don't do rehabilitation, so it may as well be the windows. At least glaziers might benefit ?

A fair point. There is some. I know someone who used to teach English in a prison and my brother received a lot of support to give up heroin when he was inside. There are still pockets of good practice, but it is one of the things that has already suffered from the massive cuts.

Which of course just leads to more people ending up right back in prison as soon as they get out. Really, locking people up in prison for years with nothing to do and then sending them back out into the world with no means of supporting themselves is just a bloody stupid way of trying to cut crime. I really can't see how anything thinks it would work.

DG Rosetti We could also dump some of the snowflake "internet offence" laws ?
Not sure what you mean by this. Can you expand?

Which of course just leads to more people ending up right back in prison as soon as they get out.

Forget the EU, cake-and-eat-it is alive and well in the criminal justice system. We have Schroedingers criminal, who on the one hand emerges from prison/probation/court-ordered-fine as someone who has "paid their debt to society", and who at the same time has to remember his crime for a DBS check, or whenever someone Googles them and is therefore never able to move on from a previous mistake.

(Of course their only mistake was not to be rich or famous, where previous behaviour is minimised by your media chums).

Being an awkward cuss, if I were to ever serve a jail term, I might refuse to leave when it's completed to underscore the point that I may as well stay in jail than wait for it to inevitably happen in the future ... maybe when I'm arrested for the crime of being homeless. (A crime which doesn't seem to result in many jailings .....).

Now I appreciate there are a lot of complex issues around offending. In particular sexual offences which whilst criminal are more the result of an underlying pathology. But - as with drug "addiction" - if sexual offending is the manifestation of mental instability then why the hell is it left to the criminal justice system to sort it out ??????

Again, Schroedingers offender. Simultaneously a criminal, and someone needing medical attention.

Thank goodness we don't have people with a vested interest in ensuring a steady prison population, like private firms running them. We'd just end up with more and more and more criminal laws, with none being removed.

Will Hurst
@WHurst1
BREAKING: Charity behind the #gardenbridge accused of 'going rogue' after refusing official request from its public sector sponsor @TfL to hand over records of its board meetings @tomcopley @FourthStreetDan @Architectsjrnal @mayoroflondon @Chtycommission

www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/garden-bridge-trust-refuses-to-hand-over-meeting-records/10027419.article?blocktitle=top-2-news-stories&contentID=19633

I have nothing to offer other than emoticons

Jack Blanchard
@JackBlanchard
David Cameron caught on camera talking Brexit in Davos: "It’s frustrating. As I keep saying – it’s a mistake but not a disaster. It’s turned out less badly than we first thought... But it’s still going to be difficult”

mobile.twitter.com/5_News/status/956198367826194432

wait a minute.... Dave thinks Brexit is going less badly than he initially thought? How bad did he think it was going to be? And if this is not as bad as it could've been - wasn't he being criminally negligent in allowing the referendum in the first place?

No serving PM should be allowed to let the country hold a vote on whether or not to destroy itself. If he thought Brexit could go worse than this - then that is exactly what he did. That should be treason - it really should.

I read about places like GOSH returning previous donations to the charity organisers (which seems to be a spur for a debate on whether a sick child cares where the money for their toys came from).

I wonder if donors will seek return of their contributions too ? After all, you can bet they kept very good records for tax purposes.

Cameron you Spam faced bastard 😡

Oh a just a cataclysmic mistake, not a disaster- that's ok then....

For Cameron and his wealthy chums it's only a mistake because they will be able to buy their way out of problems. His children will be able to take up university places abroad if they wish, because daddy can afford to stump up the money.

Fuck Cameron.

Insightful I know

Well, that didn't take long...

The Club That Hosted The All-Male Dinner Where Female Staff Were Allegedly Harassed Has Shut Down
www.buzzfeed.com/alanwhite/the-national-body-for-english-charities-says-they-shouldnt?utm_term=.shKkkMLGzD#.lkpDDMbXgr

I read about places like GOSH returning previous donations to the charity organisers (which seems to be a spur for a debate on whether a sick child cares where the money for their toys came from).

I have been thinking about this and for me is that these people use the 'but it's for charity' as a cover for their abuse and a salve on their consciences. If a charity accepts this money on behalf of children (some of which will have suffered abuse or grow up to suffer abuse) from those people in full knowledge of their actions the charity becomes complicit in the normalisation and covering up of abuse.

So while I understand that the children might not care where their toys come from I suspect the woman who has grown up a victim of sexual abuse sure as hell would care that the toy they played with as a child came from money raised by selling access to women's bodies.

Jimmy Savile made much of his charity work for Stoke Mandeville Hospital. That surely says enough.

A fair point mother. I'm not sure who you return it to now that the charity who gave it to them has shut down as well. However, part of the "prize" was “the chance to name the new Evelina children’s high dependency unit after yourself, a loved one, or a company”. The fashion and restaurant entrepreneur Richard Caring put forward the winning bid, offering £400,000 for the naming rights.

I can't see how it would be appropriate for them to allow this person to have their name on the Children's ward.

Sorry, I meant to add...so it may be they have no choice but to return the money as that is basically what he has bought.

Agreed! Least he deserves

re how many the Uk jails:

I'm old enough to remember the horror expressed by liberals, liberal Tories, penal reformers etc
when they warned the prison population was reaching "the shocking figure of 40,000"

.... iirc, it's now around 90,000

All the President's Men...

Tom Newton Dunn @tnewtondunn
Nadhim Zahawi appears to be in trouble. Has been summoned to see the Chief Whip in Downing Street tonight "to explain himself", I'm told.

The President's Guest Listwww.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/24/guest-list-presidents-club-all-male-charity-gala