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Brexit
Original poster

Westministenders: Groundhog Day

994 replies

RedToothBrush · 14/02/2018 16:20

Groundhog day is 2nd Feb.

Its also today. And yesterday. And the day before. And the day before. And the day before. And the day before. And the day before. And the day before. And the day before. And the day before. And the day before. And the day before. And the day before. And the day before. And the day before. And the day before.

We have all turned into Bill Murray.

That's Brexit in the UK.

The only progress seems to be linguistic gymnastics not policy.

No action has been implemented, we are still on words going nowhere.

Tick tock, tick tock.

OP posts:
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Dobby1sAFreeElf · 27/02/2018 16:56

At the moment I think goats would be far better than the govt.

DGRossetti · 27/02/2018 17:11

At the moment I think goats would be far better than the govt.

You're kidding, surely ?

prettybird · 27/02/2018 17:20

I was actually a unionist 39 years ago and would've voted No in the referendum held back in 1979 (but my "vote" still counted as NO as it counted against the Yes threshold required, as I wasn't actually allowed to vote as I wasn't yet 18 but I was on the electoral register Confused) for some of the reasons mentioned on here: I didn't believe in nationalism and I felt simultaneously Scottish, British (UK-ish Wink) won't stop being British even after Scottish independence as Britain is a geographical entity ) and European.

However, over the intervening years - a process that has been accelerating in recent years - I have come to realise that my form of "nationalism" is at odds with English British/UK nationalism. Mine is a pride in being Scottish, ordinary patriotism, combined with a desire to look outwards; being a constructive part of Europe and from there the world. Maybe it is part of the Scottish cringe Blush - but I don't feel the need to believe that the world owes us a living and that the British Empire still exists, or should exist - if only those "furriners" would show us the proper respect Hmm. Scots are used to being the underdogs Grin - unlike the English who seem to be shocked every time they don't win the football World Cup Confused after all, England won it in 1966 Wink (Should I mention the rugby at the weekend? Wink)

Hence my desire for self-determination: the ability to make our own mistakes and to be responsible for our own destiny. I am happy for that to be as part of the EU - but increasingly, I don't feel I have anything in common with what comes out of Westminster.

DGRossetti · 27/02/2018 17:27

prettybird

It's only in the past 2 years I have had cause to remember that I am only half English. Despite being born in Paddington Green hospital, and bought up in Kilburn and Harrow.

Poor DW and DS are now hearing things they've never heard before, just because of a foreign name.

We do indeed live in interesting times.

DGRossetti · 27/02/2018 17:29

Wow - just had an email from Dominic Grieve pop in. Not a circular ! Thanking me for my support last year.

Only fair to say ....

prettybird · 27/02/2018 17:50

I actually wasn't born in the UK - but have been here since I was 3 so as far as I am concerned I am Scottish Smile.

I have an unusual Germanic surname (which I kept when I got married) and have spent my life saying my names when having to give them as "My first name, my second name-I'll-spell-it-for-you" Grin Maybe it's a testament to the different attitudes in Scotland or maybe just the company I keep Wink but even now, I've not experienced any negative attitudes or comments.

OnTheDarkSideOfTheSpoon · 27/02/2018 17:52

I had one from him at lunch too! In response to an email I sent in December in appreciation for his stance on clause 9

mrsreynolds · 27/02/2018 17:58

My married name is unusual
But originates from Middlesbrough afaik 😁

Dobby1sAFreeElf · 27/02/2018 18:12

DG boom boom Grin

Dobby1sAFreeElf · 27/02/2018 18:22

My maiden name is British in origin, but grew up with the taint of being not fully British in a small town which was mainly because they knew my other side, and partly because I look more stereotypically like that side. Things moved on, or so I thought, until post referendum.

My married name is, we think, Norman in origin but is fairly similar to a common Asian surname so that gets commented on as well as my looks. It's at the point I feel lucky I don't have an accent well different enough for round here. I've mentioned previously a Scottish man being told to go back to where he came from by some randoms, he'd only asked someone where the butter was in a supermarket.

It's oddly those things that keep the fire burning in me. I want the UK I'd grown to like back, not the one of my childhood that is also the one now.

lonelyplanetmum · 27/02/2018 18:26

Credit Suisse-250 jobs
RyanAir -300 jobs
Toys R Us - ?

All today. Just spreading my incredulity among you all.

OnTheDarkSideOfTheSpoon · 27/02/2018 19:11

Am a fully fledged brown person with a very obviously furrin surname but luckily have not noticed any overt hostility, both pre and post June 2016. I know that’s luck though, and possibly due to living in leafy suburbia near London, though I don’t really know if that would have an effect or whether it is just down to pure luck.

Faisal Islam
@faisalislam
NEW: Coming up at 7 - major leak - Sky News obtains leaked Cabinet deliberations on Irish border, letter from Foreign Secretary to PM playing down a hard border saying “wrong to see the task as maintaining ‘no border’

AgnesSkinner · 27/02/2018 19:17

woman could this be some ramping up of pressure to at least stay in the CU after Corbyn’s speech?

prettybird · 27/02/2018 19:18

Given that BoJo seems to think that the border (and associated border issues) is no more complicated than billing cars for crossing the congestion zone (quite apart from the fact that in that situation, the car was the "goods" Confused), then I'm not surprised at his ignorant approach Angry

BigChocFrenzy · 27/02/2018 20:03

The UK has gone from being the “sick man of Europe” before it joined, to becoming the “thick man of Europe” as it leaves ...

Icantreachthepretzels · 27/02/2018 20:17

Well - Sunderland can join Grimsby and the fishing villages of Wales in asking to be exempt from the hardships of Brexit. Because obviously it is the leavers who most deserve to still reap the benefits that the EU has to offer....
Remainers - they can get to fuck - hard brexit all the way for the cities that didn't beLEAVE.

I get so angry when I read about leave areas harping on about how hard this is all going to be for them. FUCKING TOO LATE MATE! Angry Angry Angry

Peregrina · 27/02/2018 20:23

Does Boris really think that a couple of London Boroughs had a 30 year civil war? Honestly, if a sixth former handed in an essay with rubbish like that in, they would be failed.

Peregrina · 27/02/2018 20:30

I've just read the piece in the Sunderland echo. Someone needs to point them in the direction of the Brexit Arms where they can reassure themselves that there is a bright future ahead. Seriously though, I do find it difficult to sympathise. Did they really expect a Tory Government to care about Sunderland?

woman11017 · 27/02/2018 20:30

agnes I wish I knew!
I know that people who want to stop brexit will keep up the pressure up till and beyond what ever happens. Wiser heads said the game was over 18 months ago. As in, crash out.

Boris Johnson appears to have told the Prime Minister "it is wrong to see the task as maintaining 'no border'" on the island of Ireland after Brexit - and that the Government's task will be to "stop this border becoming significantly harder

news.sky.com/story/boris-johnson-tells-pm-wrong-to-see-govt-task-as-no-irish-border-after-brexit-11270041

Original poster
RedToothBrush · 27/02/2018 21:11

Do you remember that the uk made a deal in December in which we agreed the terms of a no deal situation, which are completely at odds with what Johnson is now saying. That ship.has already sailed - unless he's saying we should break a legally binding international agreement. No wait. TWO international agreements with the GFA.

And this man is Foreign Secretary?!

How will breaking an international agreement improve trade and help us make new trade deals and replicate existing ones?

Anyone?

OP posts:
GaspodeWonderCat · 27/02/2018 21:41

How will breaking an international agreement improve trade and help us make new trade deals and replicate existing ones?

We is special peoples and special rulez 4 us. You just need to BELIEVE. Boris is a chap and went to Oxford so he knows stuff ....

Else no idea ...

woman11017 · 27/02/2018 21:42

@FaisalIslam is just doing a thread now on Johnson and the border.
Deals, laws and constitutional norms are from the olden days, red?

Hasenstein · 27/02/2018 21:43

Is Johnson trying to force May to sack him? He's already given her plenty of good cause to do so and this latest waffle is just another reason. But she hasn't yet and probably won't now. Some say this is because she's too weak. I think it's more likely it's because she doesn't want him slipping out of his responsibility for the whole cock-up and wants him to be there facing the music when there's nowhere left for any of them to hide.

brownelephant · 27/02/2018 21:44

I said it before. the 'believers' sound an awful lot like mlm sellers.