Westministenders: May's Turd Way covered in Donald's Glittery Tickertape from his Parade

[RedToothBrush]

Where next?

Auditions for chief turd polisher to Mrs May are in full action, whilst those who don't believe in the turd, wade about knee deep in their own shit, still searching for that illusive plan for Brexit which doesn't stink to high heaven of crap.

After the dual resignation of Davis and Johnson, amongst the stench there is an air of uncertainity and expectation of all hell breaking loose.

In the last 48 hours we have been told that

1. May is more secure having crushed the brexiteers,
2. May about to be ousted by a no confidence vote, triggering a leadership election,
3. The Tory Party are about to split,
4. Brexiteers are in disarray fighting amongst themselves,
5. We will remain in the EU,
6. We get an EEA deal,
7. We will get no deal,
8. A People's vote is inevitable and
9. There will be a General Election.

Which only serves to merely highlight just how little of a clue ANYONE has about what happens next.

What bothers me now, is that Johnson seems not to have surfaced yet and there are rumours that Gove has gone to ground, whilst Donald Trump is practically on the plane and is stirring the pot praising Johnson.

Instead we seem to have a series of junior ministers and Tory HQ figures quitting in a long drawn out coordinated toy throwing out of the pram exercise, to try and get what hard brexiteers want.

If I had to hazard a guess at the general silence from key figures, I might be tempted to say that someone is going to use Trump's visit to throw a political grenade and actively invite him to endorse them.

That might sound ridiculous given that the public hates Trump, but that loses sight of the fact that the people who will vote for the next leader of the Tory Party are overwhelming authoritarian leaning and likely to be those who like Trump and would be impressed by such a move.

I note this tweet today from the wise Sarah Kendzior:

Sarah Kendzior @sarahkendzior
"There are parallels to past authoritarianism, but what's happening with Trump, in the digital age, is new and transnational. The president's loyalty is not necessarily to a state but to foreign leaders and multinational criminal alliances. The state is just something to sell."

It is clear that others in the parliamentary party will be very alarmed at the prospect. There were Tory MPs who were openly tweeted how please that disgusting Johnson had gone and are no fans of Trump.

May still seems to think that she can get her plan through and approved by the EU in its current form. The White Paper is due on Thursday.

Much speculation is that it will be significant if she fails to produce this on time, as she will have capitulated to the Brexiteers. And this will lead to the EU just giving up on us anyway.

She also announced to the Cabinet today, that preparations for No Deal were to be stepped up significantly.

We still are left wondering who, she is stitching up; the Brexiteers whose heads are currently exploding or the friends she keeps closest to her (friends? or ideological enemies).

The problem is that there just no other viable way forward at the moment, as the country is divided, both Labour and the Conservatives are divided and are more interested in their own future than that of the party and there are far too many ambitious 'celebrity MPs' who want to make their mark. No one gives a shit about ordinary workers or business. Plus there is the divine observation that DGRossetti made at the end of the last thread: The biggest obstacle to Brexit has been Brexiteers

The grab for post-Brexit power shows the whole of Westminister up as the cess pit of self interest it is, with Boris Johnson merely its biggest figure head.

Wait until the GFA officially has its head put on the chopping block awaiting its fate. Perhaps we can flog NI to Donald and get a Brexit Dividend afterall.

I must admit to finding it hard to have a view that is altogether different to this:
James Patrick @J_amesp
There is no way back from all of this. The next seven days simply decide how badly - on a scale of fucked to smouldering crater - it is going to end.

One final predictation, which I am DAMN certain of: Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday are all going to be grim for political watching if you are into democratic values and principles. It will be a 4 day sales pitch for Brand Trump in all its All American Overblown Horror that Brits tend to find utterly distasteful. Expect the red carpet of full of turd glitter to be rolled out for Donald Trump Show. Expect May to embarass herself in her fawning all over him, as if she's star struck. Expect that hideously cringeworthy photo thats totally inevitable.

Politics is going to get worse. It may never get better.

(But yay football gets to cover it all up... Come on England!)

Rosetti, that list doesn't seem to include Boris Johnson?

Events, dear Arborea, events ...

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/brexit-carillion-mesh-jared-o_uk_5b44901ce4b0c523e262a667?ncid=tweetlnkukhpmg00000001
5 Bits Of News Buried By Brexit Chaos
Including a damning report on government outsourcing

1) Public Services Suffering As Government Prioritises Cost Over Quality
A damning report into the collapse of Carillion would have normally led the news on Monday, as MPs launched a scathing attack on the government’s entire approach to outsourcing.

The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee warned the government’s “preoccupation” with delivery services for as cheap as possible “has led to worse public services as companies have been sent a clear signal that cost, rather than quality of services, is the government’s consistent priority.”

2) Journalists And Academics Threatened By New Anti-Terror Laws
MPs have warned that new anti-terror laws could effectively ban debate about the government’s powers and hinder freedom of expression,

A report from the Joint Committee on Human Rights has flagged up “serious concerns” with the new powers in the Counter Terrorism and Border Security Bill.

Journalists and academics could be targeted by anti-terror police because of the nature of the new laws, the committee warned.

Among the concerns are that criminalising “expressions of support” for banned organisations could prevent debate around the government’s use of its powers; criminalising the publication of images online which arouse suspicion that a person is a member or supporter of a banned organisation goes too far and also risks violating the right to freedom of expression; and criminalising the viewing of terrorist material online, where such material is viewed three or more times is a breach of the right to receive information.

3) Vaginal Mesh Implants Banned In NHS Hospitals

4) Jared O’Mara Asks For A Second Chance

5) US Trade Deal Up In The Air

"The British were a joke"

How long before we get some Leaver-contorted-explanation of how the Balkan summit debacle is another example of EU Punishment/Bullying and why we must Leave Now!!!11!1!!!

Jacob Rees-Mogg: What I’d do as UK Home Secretary

Is that also setting a dynamic with Savid for a leadership spat ? Sort of "Here's what he has done" vs. "Here's what I would have done."

If if and buts were fruit and nuts it would be Christmas every day.

Actually, I've got it !!!!!! I've got it !!!!!

We're moving towards the UK having the worlds first Virtual Reality government. Where MPs get to imagine in their minds what life under them would be like. They then get this bullshit reported on in the (frankly) fairytale press, and we're all living in fucking paradise.

And if we were to live in a Virtual World, and be ruled by Virtual politicians, it's hard to think of a more accurate rendition than JRM.

God, it's hot.

Speaking of anti terror bollocks, did anyone catch the story last week that Facebook had flagged the US Declaration of Independence as hate speech ?

www.theregister.co.uk/2018/07/05/us_declaration_of_independence_labeled_hate_speech_by_facebook_bots/

Wait until the UKIP manifesto gets flagged as hate speech ....

twitter.com/JasminMuj/status/1016886001057325056
Today is the 23rd Anniversary of Srebrenica.

And now we are told Novichok will stay active for 50 years
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44791374?ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbcnews&ocid=socialflow_twitter&ns_mchannel=social

And now we are told Novichok will stay active for 50 years

Maybe it should be in power.

Eurosluggard @eurosluggard
ERG statement today supporting Theresa May and denying they had ever been threatening resignations to bring her down: “Oceania was at war with Eurasia; therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia.” #LeaveLiars #twats #ERG #ERGtwats #BernardJenkin #JacobReesMogg

I keep asking this question but why is the ERG allowed to exist? It uses taxpayers' money and MPs time and operates with its own agenda within parliament.Why ?

We have DexEU and it's civil servants and TMs team dealing with Brexit and Liam Fox's department dealing with Trade.

Why is a faction with its own agenda allowed to operate within the heart of government?

It's easier to stab someone in the back when you are supporting them. You can hardly do it from a distance.

Sam McBride @SJAMcBride
Verging on Orwellian: Northern Ireland's state-owned water company is using a law which doesn't apply to NI to set a sweeping hosepipe ban, threatening criminal records to those who break it - with the 'crimes' prosecutable by NI Water, not the police.

www.newsletter.co.uk/news/ni-water-used-wrong-law-to-implement-hosepipe-ban-and-is-threatening-criminal-records-for-nonexistent-crimes-1-8563304
NI Water used wrong law to implement hosepipe ban and is threatening criminal records for nonexistent ‘crimes’

I keep asking this question but why is the ERG allowed to exist?

in a non-dysfunctional world, then there should be space for various special-interest groups to exist. Ideally non-partisan (are there any Labour ERG members ?) with a clear agenda and membership.

It's not so much we have an ERG that's the issue. It's the murky nature of it's agenda, membership and connections - internally to government, and externally to that's the problem.

I'm sure Tony Benn could have provided some succinct questions to ask of interest groups ...

are there any Labour ERG members

Actually that is what needs to happen.

Ronnie Campbell, Frank Field, Kelvin Hopkins, John Mann, Dennis Skinner, Graham Stringer and Hoey need to pay over their MPs expenses to join.

If the ERG was cross party then it becomes less shadowy.

I still think it's wrong to pay £2,000 each a year from our taxpayer-funded expenses for a secret group which is ostensibly trying and achieve something that a multi billion government department has been set up to do.

If some one were to set up a USA reform group would that be equally permissible?

Verging on Orwellian: Northern Ireland's state-owned water company is using a law which doesn't apply to NI to set a sweeping hosepipe ban,

There was a case a few years ago where some folk got sent to jail for something which the court of appeal had to point out wasn't illegal. (The exact phrase was "unknown to law"). It was a charge the CPS dreamt up, the judge waved through, and the defendants got locked up for.

Seems it's happened more than once :

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10768731/Lord-Leveson-raps-CPS-for-blunders-in-fraud-case.html

the case I remember involved "incitement to grow cannabis" - an offence which doesn't exist.

www.theguardian.com/society/2008/jul/14/drugsandalcohol.law
.
.
.
But in the appeal court judgment, published last week, Lord Phillips, the lord chief justice, ruled that the offences of conspiracy to aid and abet and counsel the production of cannabis were "unknown to law" and had to be quashed. "There can be no conviction for aiding and abetting, counselling or procuring, unless the offence is shown to have occurred," he said. "It is not an offence to attempt to aid and abet, counsel or procure the commission of an offence."
.
.
.

Oh, and here's Orwellian. There was a case reported in the US a few years ago where a judge ruled that being innocent was no defence.

www.nytimes.com/2015/08/12/opinion/when-innocence-is-no-defense.html

No. I have not taken over the internet and planted ludicrous stories.

Brazil anyone ?

Incidentally, for all it's flaws, this is why the concept of Royal Pardon in the UK is a good thing. It's a way to break these impasses.

We're being drawn back to state-funded political parties.

Meanwhile, it seems the Universe is taking it's cue from fiction ...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-44777938

A little known sexually transmitted infection could become the next superbug unless people become more vigilant, experts are warning.

Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) often has no symptoms but can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, which can leave some women infertile.

(contd).

Europe Elects
Europe Elects
@EuropeElects
·
5h
UK, TNS poll:

CON: 40% (+1)
LAB: 38% (-1)
LDEM: 9% (+1)
UKIP: 3% (-1)
GRN: 3% (+1)

Field work: 05/07/18-09/07/18
Sample size: unknown

#brexit

Amazing that Tories are still ahead, but then I guess with the last few days this poll may already be out of date.

Amazing that Tories are still ahead, but then I guess with the last few days this poll may already be out of date.

I've always thought there's an inbuilt Tory bias in England - bit like a prevailing wind. In the absence of a credible opposition we get Tory governments again and again.

That's what the 80s and 90s were, by the way.

So Tories polling high is an indication more that their opposition is shite.

Completely off topic:

I've just finished watching 'Turn: Washington's Spies' on Amazon Prime. Its about the American Revolutionary war. The last two episodes have had me in buckets of tears as I think of how the ideals of liberalism are fading fast. Its about the Culper Ring of spies and how important they were to the revolutionaries winning the war. The underlying message right at the end was that freedom is an ongoing war, and is preserved in the blood of those who names we will never know. Which I am fairly sure is very much a nod to the CIA (I note that the series was filmed around the same time Trump was dishonouring veterans) but also to all resistance to tyranny.

Excellent drama series, with something of a gut wrenching poignancy today. Deliberately so.

Dan Hodges @ DPJHodges
Here's a single, simple fact the Brexiteers can't escape. They told us, unequivocally, that if we voted for Brexit there was no risk of No Deal. It would not happen. The EU wanted to sell us their cars. So actually, it's No Deal that would be an explicit betrayal of the voters.

This is how you reframe a debate...

I'm watching the BBC4 re-run about Napoleon. Interesting slant in that the monarchies of Europe (including Britain) were terrified of the levelling of the French Revolution, and that Napoleons "aggression" was in reality defending France against various alliances intended to crush the upstart nation that dared to say all men are created equal.

I'll never stop pointing it out, but a lot of land in England is still held by the families of William the Bastards mates from 1066. Or to put it another way, the English ruling class have maintained a hold on power for 1,000 years. Through plague, war, famine, insurrection, religious turmoil, and frequent changes of Royal house.

Even Rome fell.

Here's a single, simple fact the Brexiteers can't escape. They told us, unequivocally, that if we voted for Brexit there was no risk of No Deal. It would not happen. The EU wanted to sell us their cars. So actually, it's No Deal that would be an explicit betrayal of the voters.

No deal should just default to Remain then. Sorted.

Who likes visual metaphors ?