Westminstenders: Throwing Boomerangs

[RedToothBrush]

British politics and media in a nutshell.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boomerang_effect_(psychology)#Political_beliefs

No EU progress, no discussion. Just this. Keep everyone in line by bouncing boomerangs.

Disaster capitalism looms, they just have to get us to the edge of the cliff before the centre reforms. That's it.

If the legal roads to stop Brexit are closed as David Allen Green says, then how do you force the political flood gates to open, especially with both the far left and the far right using micro-aggression against the public to keep the centre ground weak?

Answers on a ballot paper on 3rd May.

Yes I did say that in an earlier post Mistigri. I was pondering on older people in the UK and think most people would have driving licence or bus pass.

and think most people would have driving licence or bus pass.

You would think wrong. As I said, my parents didn't. My MIL is still alive and has never driven. I don't think she catches buses anywhere, so doesn't have a bus pass. She used to travel so will have a passport until it expires, but I doubt whether she will renew once it does.

Been away so not caught up completely.

Joining 'the ' or 'a ' customs union will not sort everything out.

We need also to join the single market/ EFTA

Things are getting very dire, and Brexit is out of the news.

m.huffingtonpost.co.uk/amp/entry/customs-union-theresa-may_uk_5adccff7e4b089e33c8925ce/?__twitter_impression=true
Brexit: Cabinet Unrest After Report Theresa May Is To 'Accept Staying In Customs Union'
Ministers warn UK 'must leave' trading pact.

Alex Wickham @ wikiguido
No10 source: "We will not be staying in the customs union or joining a customs union."

So basically, they're running various scenarios through the media to see which gets the worst reaction from backbenchers. Has there ever been a government more craven and spineless than this one?

Meanwhile, last week's Labour polling on Brexit gives an unqualified Remain which JC will continue to pretend is unimportant because it suits his potty view of the world

twitter.com/MSmithsonPB/status/988020846257197056

MP's aide made rape allegation 5 months ago

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/police-failed-to-tell-tory-mp-charlie-elphicke-about-rape-claim-jcj79n806?utmsource=newsletter&utmcampaign=newsletter_101&

Scotland Yard was last night facing questions over its handling of a rape allegation made against a senior Conservative MP by a female former member of his staff.

The Sunday Times can reveal that Charlie Elphicke, 47, a former government whip and married father of two, is alleged to have forced a former aide to have sex when they were alone together.

The alleged victim first contacted the Metropolitan police in November last year at the height of the Westminster sex scandal
and was accompanied to her police interview by Stuart Andrew, a Tory whip.

She has since provided a signed witness statement to specialist detectives working for the sexual offences command.

It is understood that officers interviewed the MP for Dover

Did anyone hear John Humphrys arguing with Ken Clarke on Today this morning about the CU? I was spluttering with outrage. He was interrupting continually, but that wasn't the worst. Stating that the public voted explicitly to leave the CU etc etc. Ken held his ground though.

Listen when you get the chance. It was at about 8.07am:
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qj9z/episodes/player

Arguable most people voted to stay in the CU and SM. Isn't that what the Leavers promised before the vote? The primary thing they wanted to stop was Freedom of Movement, and for some, more money for the NHS.

I listen to radio 4 today program on way to work. I swear it’s giving me high bp. It is so pro brexit in its bias. And the way the presenter badgered ken Clarke today

I switched to classic in the end

HesterThrale I did sorry didn’t see your message before. It made me so angry. He kept going over ken. He didn’t let ken put his point across at all.

The primary thing they wanted to stop was Freedom of Movement, and for some, more money for the NHS.

The primary thing Leave voters wanted was 17 million diverse and often mutually incompatible fantasies, which also conveniently jump from one thing to another, depending on which aspect of the Big Brexit Fuck-Up happens to be headlining.

Sam Coates Times @ samcoatestimed
The promise by No10 to turn next month’s crunch customs union vote into a vote of confidence in Theresa May is the ultimate display of ERG’s power - the 70 strong Brexit grouping inside the Tory party - over her administration.

No10 gambling Tory remain rebels not as brave

This is the calculation, I would generally take if I were May; the rebels fear a Corbyn government more than anything.

BUT

Colin Talbolt @ colinrtalbolt
It is not a “confidence vote” unless in the terms of the FTPAct - it would have no legal force and certainly would not trigger a General Election or even necessarily force May’s resignation.

She can promise to resign if she looses, but that’s different.

Sam Coates Times @ samcoatestimes
This is correct and worth remembering: it can’t be a technical confidence vote; but can be treated as an issue of confidence

But given this is the case, I would not underestimate the rebels. They fear hard brexit and think it their duty to stop it. Especially since polling currently doesn't look as good for Labour as it has of late. How well/badly the Conservatives do in the local elections before the vote becomes crucial.

Sam Coates Times @ samcoatestimes
^Update: while 8am radio 4 headlines suggested No10 wd make next month’s customs vote a confidence issue, now language is softening. Note

• it can’t be a formal confidence vote because of fixed term Pt act
• remain rebels were promised by @JulianSmithUK it wouldn’t be confidence^

So its not been decided and the rebels are still prepared to stand their ground.

Sam Coates Times @ samcoatestimes
Will next month’s customs union vote be a matter of confidence. Senior gvt source now: “People are getting ahead of themselves”. The official line is gvt will not back down on the issue (meaning we’ve gone back in time to the 730am BBC headline, forgetting 8am ever happened)

It depends on who this senior government official is. Clearly not a done deal and its still being argued over.

May could face a leadership challenge if she ignores the ERG. But leaving the customs union is not an option and the rebels know this and the EU know this and May knows this.

The question is whether May will put clinging on to power ahead of reality.

If she does. Cliff Edge.

Jim Pickard @ pickardje
if Mandy Richards remains a Labour Parliamentary candidate with tweets like this then I’m beyond words

I think we know how this will end. It shows that certain CLPs have really lost the plot.

The Tories have been renowned for their swivel eyed loon. I think its very safe to say that Labour are demonstrating their own equivalent.

Apparently Mandy Richards is a teacher too.

twitter.com/ariehkovler/status/988288937708974080
A thread on some of Mandy Richards twitter gems.

Did the party learn ANYTHING after Jared O'Mara and the entire anti-Semitism row?

Quite clearly not.

BTW, keep your eyes peeled for news being buried by government today...

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tv-consumer-champion-martin-lewis-12410215
TV consumer champion Martin Lewis seeks damages for 'fake' Facebook adverts
The social media site has put out more than 50 of the fake ads in 12 months - many with big pictures of money saving expert Martin alongside a raft of false promises or endorsements

fleetstreetfox @fleetstreetfox
This is a massive deal. To win a defamation case you need to prove they are responsible for publishing false information - so if he wins, Martin Lewis will have rendered Faceache legally liable for everything produced on its site.

In other words, social media platforms will be like newspapers - publishers, with responsibilities and need for regulation, rather than as they argue platforms no more liable than a tree is for what is written on the paper it produces.

So Faceache can't cave - the legal bill for it would be infinite. It can drag it out legally, and has more £££ than Lewis. But it's possibly the beginning of the end for the Wild West Web.

Mike Holden #FBPE @MikeHolden42
It would of course also end Twitter in a heartbeat.

fleetstreetfox @fleetstreetfox
Or teach everyone a useful bit of law. The lesson of Sally Bercow seems to have passed a lot of people by.

Big implications for MN too.

Two hours ago:

Sarah Wollaston MP @sarahwollaston
I’m not voting to make my constituents poorer & to prevent businesses being able to trade as quickly & smoothly with their biggest market. If Govt can produce convincing evidence that their new deals will replace what is lost then let’s see it
This Thursday’s debate on #CustomsUnion will be followed by symbolic, non-binding vote. An opportunity for MPs to express their view. It has always been those on the right issuing their threats to remove the PM over this issue, never those of us in the centre

Sam Coates Times @SamCoatesTimes
Worth saying - as I did in Saturdays piece - I think May is more at risk from the 48 letters going to Graham Brady if she loses the customs union vote, than by any mechanism on floor of the Commons
The 48 letter catch is how something can be a vote of confidence and not a vote of confidence at the same time

#schrodingersvote

red - Lewis was on today this am explaining why the action was distinct from treating Facebook et al as a publisher in the context of postings - his action is in the context of advertisements that Facebook choose to accept and are paid for - where they'll find it hard to argue they aren't a publisher.
ie relatively straightforward and no implications as to responsibility for posts?

Google have hit a similar issue in the right-to-be-forgotten judgement.

Their faux hands-up "not us guv" playacting was rather undermined by the fact that they deliberately process search results (and are paid to do so) - making them more than a mere conduit, but complicit in what they display.

Be curious if the fact Facebook has been strong-armed into revising it's privacy policy and inform every user of that has any effect on their user base come 26th May.

I suspect a lot of accounts will become deactivated by default ... which will thrown some light on how many "users" Facebook really has.

Facebook will struggle with that one.

And thinking about it, the law in the UK on political advertising is pretty lax; you can say more or less anything because its a political issue and free speech issue, so differs from selling a product or service.

I'm appalled by the choice of Mandy Richards as Worcester's candidate.

What on earth were they thinking?

I've put my cards on the table with regard to conspiracy theories and theorists. I don't think they're benign or amusing; I think they're a poison for democracy. This is choosing a candidate that effectively knowingly releases that poison into the mainstream. It pollutes the mainstream.

I'm so, so angry. Worcester is winnable for Labour. This is not OK. The people of Worcester deserve better but, most of all, this is incredibly worrying for what it does to democracy, truth and facts.

Unbelievable. We really are in the most horrible political moment. And we have no-one like Hilary Clinton (for example) to make speeches, rallying people to hold on to facts and the valid truth-ground of politics.

Horrible.

More control not coming back to the UK

www.theregister.co.uk/2018/04/23/sanctions_of_usa_affect_on_supply_turkey_f35_euro_engine_supply/

+Comment Uncle Sam has raised the possibility of sanctions against Turkey for buying Russian anti-aircraft missile systems – putting the UK's supply of overhauled F-35 fighter jet engines at risk.

(contd)

Do we really want to chain ourselves closer to the US ?