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Brexit

Westminstenders: From Russia with Love

996 replies

RedToothBrush · 13/03/2018 21:11

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?

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31
OnTheDarkSideOfTheSpoon · 16/03/2018 17:22

Maggie Chapman
@Maggie4Scotland
The crassness and ignorance of John Humphrys today on @BBCRadio4, asking if the scientific community gave Stephen Hawking some slack because he was disabled. Can I ask the @bbc, do you give Humphrys slack because he's a white, wealthy, middle-aged man?

DGRossetti · 16/03/2018 17:30

Maybe John Humphrys should tell us what his thoughts on Hwaking radiation are ?

Without slack.

What a fucking knob. I can only wish that I didn't dislike him before, so I could make a point of especially disliking him now (obscure nod to Nathan Hale, but I don't feel like hiding learning today)

He was the interviewer who gave Tony Blair one of the hardest grillings I have heard on R4 over the idea on a second referendum. Shame he doesn't apply the same vigour to people who then spout a load of shite about unicorns in Brexit land.

Luckily for the BBC (or rather, their license income) one minute of BBC4 is generally worth any weeks of JH and the Today crew on R4.

mrsreynolds · 16/03/2018 17:46

Infuriates me...

Women presenters are sacked once they get past 40 and JH is slowly turning into fucking Gandalf and still has his job
😡😡😩

DGRossetti · 16/03/2018 17:48

Women presenters are sacked once they get past 40

I am a massive Mary Beard fan Smile.

OnTheDarkSideOfTheSpoon · 16/03/2018 17:53

Brexit 'Should Be Delayed' To Give UK More Time For A Better Deal, MPs Set To Urge

Brexit committee bitterly split over call to extend Article 50

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/brexit-should-be-delayed-to-give-uk-more-time-for-a-better-deal-brexit-select-committee-set-to-urge-jacob-rees-mogg-furious-article-50-extension-request_uk_5aabeb41e4b0337adf836a5d

Britain is so unprepared for Brexit that Theresa May should consider postponing the UK’s leaving date, an influential committee of MPs is expected to declare.

In a move that has infuriated Tory MPs, the Commons Brexit Select Committee is set to recommend that the PM should request an extension to the EU’s Article 50 process beyond next March, HuffPost UK has been told.

The idea of delaying the process beyond the official withdrawal date of March 29, 2019, is seen as so inflammatory that Conservative members of the Committee have refused to sign off the proposal and have tabled their own minority report instead.

But after a two-day drafting session, the majority of the committee have backed keeping open the option of a short, time-limited extension to Article 50 to help May get a better deal.

Their report explicitly excludes making the extension “indefinite” in any way, in order to head off claims that the MPs want to countermand the EU referendum result.

The Select Committee’s highly confidential report, due to be published on Sunday morning, has bitterly divided its members, some insiders claim.

In approving the final report, seven pro-Leave Tories and DUP MP Sammy Wilson were outvoted by their 11 colleagues, including Labour, Tory, SNP, Lib Dem and Plaid Cymru members, sources said.

Multiple amendments to the report have been proposed by the Brexiteers on the committee, a reflection of just how much they disagree with many of its findings, which they view as ‘scathing’ of the Government’s approach so far.

Among the senior Brexiteers on the committee are Jacob Rees-Mogg, who chairs the European Reform Group (ERG) of backbench Tory MPs and former Cabinet minister John Whittingdale.

But other Conservatives decided to back committee chairman Hilary Benn in what they viewed as a measured set of proposals.

Divisions in Select Committees are not unprecedented, but it is rare that they are so deep that as minority report is published alongside a main report.

The idea of applying for an extension to Article 50, which would have to be approved by the 27 other members of the EU, has long been proposed by former Remain campaigners. [...]

mrsreynolds · 16/03/2018 17:55

She is awesome 😁

She got a battering on Twitter recently 😔

DGRossetti · 16/03/2018 17:56

Brexit 'Should Be Delayed' To Give UK More Time For A Better Deal, MPs Set To Urge

Fancy that. Colour me surprised ...

DGRossetti · 16/03/2018 17:58

She got a battering on Twitter recently

I know she has to fend off an enormous amount of misogyny Sad. But it brightened my day last year, when she responded to someone trying to mansplain Roman history to her.

Cailleach1 · 16/03/2018 18:00

That remark about Stephen Hawking was incredible. And ridiculous.

DGRossetti · 16/03/2018 18:03

That remark about Stephen Hawking was incredible. And ridiculous.

Not really. He's only an expert, not someone to be respected and admired and to learn from. That would be Michael Gove.

TheElementsSong · 16/03/2018 18:11

John Humphrys is also a Brexiter, IIRC.

OnTheDarkSideOfTheSpoon · 16/03/2018 18:11

I really like Mary Beard too but I think she made a misstep with some of her comments re: haiti (but nothing to justify the misogyny directed at her)

This was interesting:

medium.com/@zen.catgirl/response-to-mary-beard-91a6cf2f53b6

thecatfromjapan · 16/03/2018 18:18

Honestly. Imagine a situation where a committee are too worried to sign (put their names to) a completely obvious assertion and recommendation.

Oh. We don't have to.

mrsreynolds · 16/03/2018 18:21

As is Andrew Neill...

Dobby1sAFreeElf · 16/03/2018 18:25

Britain Elects forecasting is interesting
twitter.com/britainelects/status/974706342983290880?s=19

DGRossetti · 16/03/2018 18:28

The UK really needs to get used to coalitions ...

OnTheDarkSideOfTheSpoon · 16/03/2018 19:06

Aeroflot!

Russian described as gun developer for Kalashnikov charged in Las Vegas sting

www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/local/public-safety/russian-described-as-gun-developer-for-kalashnikov-charged-in-las-vegas-sting/2018/03/15/705da78e-27ea-11e8-bc72-077aa4dab9ef_story.html

A Russian citizen described as a gun developer for Kalashnikov Concern, that country’s famed maker of assault rifles and a company under U.S. sanctions, is expected to plead guilty to a federal charge of attempting to violate U.S. export controls, according to court filings.

Evgeny Viktorovich Spiridonov, 39, of Moscow, was arrested Jan. 27 at Los Angeles International Airport after leaving a major gun show in Las Vegas and attempting to board a flight for Moscow, according to court records.

He had ordered a $2,400 restricted advanced tactical rifle scope from a Pennsylvania gun dealer, according to the filings. U.S. investigators learned of the sale from the dealer and interceded, staging a controlled delivery of the scope to Spiridonov’s Las Vegas hotel, the filings said.

Surveillance video showed Spiridonov accepting the shipment at the front desk. Agents then followed him as he ate breakfast, left for Los Angeles and checked his bags with the scope inside for his Aeroflot flight home, federal investigators said.

Dobby1sAFreeElf · 16/03/2018 19:10

I always thought there was something dodgy about Jeremy. Well now I know why Wink

Westminstenders: From Russia with Love
Cailleach1 · 16/03/2018 19:22

someone to be respected and admired and to learn from. That would be Michael Gove.

What? Learn how to be a Shyster Extraordinaire. IMO, Mumsnet.

woman11017 · 16/03/2018 19:23

Some of my family were on an internal Russian Aeroflot flight in USSR times. The plane wouldn't start. They saw actual workers with actual spanners heading towards the plane. They fixed it, it flew. It just used to be a bit of a joke airline; I wondered if RT was being wry. But they probably don't do 'wry'.

RedToothBrush · 16/03/2018 21:00

Got the YouGov raw data.

On the question do you think Theresa May is handling the Salisbury incident well or badly, there is only ONE demographic (Leave/Remain/Male/Female/Age/ABC1/C2DE/Region) in which Badly scored higher than well.

The 18-24 age group.

People who voted Labour in 2017, marginally thought she was handling well rather than badly. What's noteworthy is people who intend to vote Labour next time marginally thought she was handling it badly.

On whether they thought Russia was responsible, Labour Voters from 2017 are rather indecisive and not sure. This is significantly different to LD and Con voters, who were much more firm in their thinking that it was the Russians.

On the Westminster voting intention, I've looked at this week and compared with the previous three weeks. The last three weeks are pretty similar, with slight changes. I've looked at previous weeks before and there hasn't been much going on since January. But this week there is a noticeable difference.

Where Labour seems to have taken the hit, is amongst remainers, amongst men and in the 25-49 and the 50-64 age groups. There is a noticeable tick up of Remainers intending to vote Conservative.

People who voted Labour in 2017, who intend to vote Labour again at the next election is down in the unweighted numbers by 5%. When weighted this goes to 6%. This is the first time this has appeared on the YouGov poll since at least Oct (I've not looked further back). Until now its been a constant level of 2017 Labour voters sticking with Labour.

They don't go to the Conservatives. They either go to other parties, the LDs or Don't intend to vote.

Its not a Lab to Con shift.

Where this jump up in the Conservative vote from Remain voters is coming from is 2017 Liberal Democrats. The last month has seen a significant movement from 2017 LD sticking with the party, and moving to the Cons but this isn't being noticed in the headline figures because they are being replaced by disgruntled Labour voters turning Yellow.

Leave voters seem to have a slight uptick in intending not to vote at all. (I guess that moving to the LDs if you are Labour and hate Corbyn, isn't really an option).

There is an increase in the unweighted figures of 18 - 24 year olds who intend to vote Labour, so Corbyn is obviously really hitting with them. However this isn't showing at all in the weighted figures. So the numbers must be small here. In other words, Corbyn seems to have alienated a significant number from other groups in return for very nothing.

There's slightly more movement away from Labour in the North and Scotland, but its only marginal. London also hasn't like Labour in the last week. But generally this shift is repeated across the country and there's no gains anywhere for Labour.

In other words, it seems that Salisbury incident seems to be pushing voters to the right away from Corbyn across the board. Its created more polarisation. Its not going to help Labour even if they pick up the youngest voters, as there simply aren't enough of them.

Student politics indeed.

Of course, this is a single week. Whether this continues to be the shape of future polls remains to be seen. The thing that did really surprise me was that shift from the LDs to the Cons though, as that seems to have been a gradual shift over the last 4 weeks and hasn't been just this week. And that's the thing to keep an eye on imo.

The centre and the right of Labour do not like what is going on in Labour and they fear it more than Brexit by the look of it.

(I am not surprised in the slightest as it does reflect where I with it, but its interesting to see appearing in the figures. I didn't expect to 'see' it and I certainly didn't expect to see how its apparently manifested).

I can see why the Far Left is really into conspiracy theories on this one, rather that then examine their own behaviour and how its alienating the centre - and was doing so BEFORE Salisbury.

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mrsreynolds · 16/03/2018 21:14

Red..thanks.

I'm a 2017 labour voter who will not be voting labour next time...
No party I can vote for really.
Any party that is anti brexit and stops self ID bollocks gets my vote
Even if they are Tory (god help me)

woman11017 · 16/03/2018 21:24

I'm a 2017 labour voter who will not be voting labour next time...
I've voted and campaigned for labour for 4 decades. It is going to be really really odd, not voting for them, and incredibly sad, but they are untenable in their current form and policies. Sad
And thanks too, red amazing analyses you put together.
shift from the LDs to the Cons Confused

BigChocFrenzy · 16/03/2018 21:25

Towers with Grenfell-style cladding ‘at risk of arson and terrorism’
Exclusive: fears for vulnerable buildings lead councils to keep locations secret

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/16/towers-with-grenfell-style-cladding-at-risk-of-arson-and-terrorism

One council-owned block in Slough, Berkshire, with combustible insulation has already been attacked by arsonists several times,
the local authority confirmed.

Another private block in the town, fitted with aluminium composite material panels similar to those at Grenfell, has a fire crew and wardens on 24-hour watch.

RedToothBrush · 16/03/2018 21:33

How politics goes in the next couple of weeks could get very interesting with the upcoming locals.

Labour are supposed to be on track to thump the Cons. Particularly in London. I know that people tend to vote differently at locals but those figures might suggest its not going to go as people have been thinking it might.

If - at this stage I don't think will be the case - the results are poor for Labour and below what they expect - things might happen. But it depends on how the next couple of weeks pan out. It could happen.

Remain Labour voters are disproportionately in the London area, so that does make me wonder. Especially since both Labour and the LDs are trying to get EU nationals to vote.

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