Westminstenders: From Russia with Love

[RedToothBrush]

Things just got scary.

The colony of US puppet state or a vassel state of the EU?

Why not just let market forces take their course and let Russia buy the UK?

How did we get to stories of spies and mafia who buy politicians?

Just who are our enemies and allies?

Won't someone think of the effect on house prices in Salisbury?

Try not to don your foil hat, brace yourself and resist shouting 'money laundering too loud'.

More turbulence ahead.

Brexit still seems like such a cracking idea doesn't it?

Fun article in today's FT - sorry, it's behind a paywall but I know a number of you can access it - telling the story of what Unilever's Rotterdam move says about Brexit, from the perspective of the Remainers, then the Leavers, and then "those losing the will to live" :) Quite educational.
www.ft.com/content/4fcd127c-282e-11e8-b27e-cc62a39d57a0

Michael this was posted many many threads ago. For some unknown reason stayed in my head. Is this what you're after? www.parliament.uk/business/lords/whos-in-the-house-of-lords/get-in-touch-with-members/

Davis also needs to be enlightened about how this all works

Adam Bienkov
‏*@AdamBienkov*
David Davis asked why the government is refusing to put Brexit legislation through the commons, blames Labour for planning to vote against it.

pain that literally made me snort. Thankfully I'm not in public.

Can I offer Gavin Williamson in return?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-43402531/williamson-russia-should-go-away-and-shut-up

It isn't often that I literally put my head in my hands and physically cringe, but I read Gavin Williamson's comments and did exactly that.

I care for 3 year old children with better diplomatic skills.

Bath school governors refuse to expel boys accused of 'mock slave auction' of black pupil. Police are investigating, but alleged culprits are back at school.

And 18-year-old Mariam Moustafa has died following a racist assault in Nottingham.

She was killed

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5501941/Teenager-attacked-Nottingham-induced-coma-dies.html

Apologies for lowering the tone with a DM link but the other article doesn't explicitly state that this is a suspected racist attack.

^Her family believe she was targeted in a racially-motivated attack by a group of women who had previously hurled abuse at her in the street.
According to an Egyptian newspaper, Moustafa's mother Nessrin Shehata posted a video on social media saying: 'Four months ago, two of the same ten women abused my daughter in the street with no specific reason.
'We went to the police station and issued an official complaint; however, nothing happened'.^

This happened last month.

It just featured on the BBC News home page.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-43413487

Her family say it was a racially motivated attack.

@MichaelBendfaster

I have just written to Lord Adonis who intervened on the subject. I have asked what can be done to prevent this in future and whether Lord Callanan can be invited to make a clarification and/or apologise.

Not sure whom else to write to. Perhaps Lord Callanan himself?

Dobby, thank you. I'm not sure writing to Callanan will yield anything useful; but I suppose there's no harm in telling him what I think.

Olivia, thank you too. I might write to Adonis, yes –good idea

Sos...

Leavers want no regulation

That is really frightening. Truly, I am scared for this country on so many fronts.

Prof Tanja Bueltmann
‏*@cliodiaspora*
So people, in all seriousness: wake up! I mean look at the state of this. Fascist Tommy Robinson who, only a few days ago, punched a migrant in the face in Rome, invited to Parliament. And now he’s exploiting that for his ends. As is Leave.EU .

[the photos can be found here: twitter.com/cliodiaspora/status/974258632421531654

Her twitter feed also documents the hatred EU migrants have been facing ]

Oh and the DM have already lowered the tone so is taking a leave from Eu bashing with this grand headline
Britain's Allies stand shoulder to shoulder to condemn Russia: UK, US, France and Germany declare spy poisoning Europe's first offensive use of nerve agent since World War Two

Allies, eh?

I can't find a link to the study - anyone stumbled across it?

Rachael
‏*@Rachael*_Swindon
recent study revealed disabled people are now twice as likely to attempt suicide since the introduction of the Work Capability Assessment. 43% of out of work disabled people forced through this process have attempted to take their own lives. That is nearly half.

Pain
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/disability-benefit-claimants-attempted-suicides-fit-to-work-assessment-i-daniel-blake-job-centre-dwp-a8119286.html

Thanks elena

Just waiting for that big brown envelope myself. Well the good news is I do get to retire 5 years after I should have done but at a lower rate, some £120 month lower than I would have got if I had been born 3 years earlier. Now all I'm keeping fingers crossed over is that I don't get that 40 page form between now and November otherwise I might be one of the attempted /successful suicides also. Think of the money the government will save by not having to pay me a penny pension.

Plenty of twitter attacks on Jack Straw/David Milliband by Owen Jones and more for accepting money from pro-Kremlin think tanks. Counterattacks on Corbyn by others. Regardless of motives or who the main players are etc, divisions being riven deeper.

Alan Wager: Mutineers could reject hard Brexit without letting in Corbyn

www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/can-europhile-tory-mps-have-their-cake-and-eat-it-kcpjnjxbx

^Brexit: Government 'paranoia' over secret business agreements
An attempt to enforce silence about outside discussions on trade border changes post-Brexit raises eyebrows across industry^

Some have refused to sign them, citing concern about Brexit secrecy curtailing political debate about the economic consequences of the Government's red lines and suggesting the "bizarre, Secret Society" agreements were preventing trade bodies from discussing their Brexit approach internally

A key member of a different industry collaboration body, the Joint Customs Consultative Committee, Peter MacSwiney, told Sky News: "I don't understand what the secrecy is, I don't know what is causing this paranoia, they are petrified that someone is going to release something that will reveal to the EU what we are trying to achieve, but that is straightforward - frictionless borders

news.sky.com/story/brexit-government-paranoia-over-secret-business-agreements-11290344

@faisalislam

1. MPs responding to the story, however, such as Chuka Umunna say it is a “shocking and very serious development” and that “MPs must be provided with this information in order to reach an informed view on the Customs and trade Bills”

@faisalislam
Lastly - private sector chair of Joint Customs Consultative committee on Brexit, Peter MacSwiney, told me: “I don’t understand what the secrecy is, I don’t know what is causing this paranoia”.
Since interview he was asked to sign NDA, and refused, citing Brexit secrecy concerns

Fear is contagious. So is courage. Kudos to Peter MacSwiney

No matter what happened in britain, we used to say.
"At least it's a free country'.

pain Owen Jones ; awful wee man. And shame on any politician who takes freebies from crumby sources. They are not all like that.

Maybe Labour's going to split formally into remain labour and the others soon, and maybe the tories are too.

I think the UK is slowly being turned into a theme park, where overseas visitors can come and see how life was in the old GDR. Complete with deserted shopping centres and lucky dip shops.

If anyone has any Trabants, Yugos, Polskis, Ladas or Skodas, they could make a fortune.

That's not a bridge Boris is talking about ... it's a wall.

Maybe Labour's going to split formally into remain labour

Would have my vote in a shot.

Mine too

@DGRossetti But we don't have Honecker.

Oh wait. Here's Corbyn!

There becomes less incentive to stick with Labour with Corbyn's foreign policy if you believe its dangerous.

Sure you might be deselected, but could you live with saying in as a prisoner? And chances are your cards are already marked.

Corbyn getting in after a hard Brexit might scare you every bit as much as soft Tories.

If you have a common goal with soft Tories to protect the country from both left and right by binding the uk to a soft exit in order to prevent excessive moves by either the left or right later, you might start to see this as your only option.

David Allen Green @ davidallengreen
Those demanding strict judicial standards of proof and for due process regarding the Russian chemical attack...

...seem also to be those who readily call politicians "war criminals" without any trial at all.

www.weeklystandard.com/the-truth-about-putin/article/2011882#.WqoqL2TLuUM.twitter
The Truth about Putin

A must read about Russia - and the weakness of democracy and linguistic acrobatics by Garry Kasparov (yes that one)

Very much worth a follow on twitter if you don't already.

@kasparov63