Westministenders: A Pickling Summer

[RedToothBrush]

May has survived. The Turd Way has survived.

Whether this is true is another matter. The Turd Way was hijacked by the ERG who ripped it up and turned it from being a starting point to another ridiculous declaration of believing in Royal Unicorns. Rees-Smug has declared May LINO (Leader in Name Only) in tribute to BINO (Brexit in Name Only).

No one yet has grasped the consequences for NI. The backstop was absent from the White Paper except to say, it would never be used.

Johnson also in his commons resignation statement lives in a fantasy land, saying we had 2 and half years to get something in place for the Irish border. Except we don't because we don't have an agreed plan, we haven't hired the people to do it, there is no guarentee the way we are going that we will get a transition agreement agreed to afterall; its entirely dependent on us meeting certain criteria.

Even the Irish themselves haven't got to the point of admitting the possibility that there will be an Irish Border. Under WTO rules, members are legally required to secure their borders. If we are separate members to the EU we have to secure our border and they have to secure their border. In theory NI could be a separate member to the rest of the UK but this would breech the priniciple of a border in the Irish Sea.

No Deal has moved from being an option to being a distinct possibility.

The Trade Bill passed through the Commons unscathed with a dodgy pairing, the assistance of Labour rebels and the brewery tour organising skills of the LD and Labour whips despite the best efforts of Tory Rebels. It suggests the ERG have the numbers to force things but there still are no guarentees of anything.

We've had calls from Justine Greening for another referendum; despite it being obvious that the laws on referendums being ridiculously weak and just about everyone ignoring the findings of the electoral commision and the Leave Campaign's referal to the police. Even then the maximum penalties are wholly inadequate to prevent and deter electoral rigging.

We've had calls for a cross party government of National Unity. Which has been dismissed by Corbyn as an attempt at an establishment stitch up.

We've had the former Head of DexEu (the department who have refused the most FOI requests) and various ERG backbenchers (who said that publication of documents would damage the governments negotiations) ask for transparency and for draft DexEu documents to be published.

Ian Paisley Jr appears likely to be suspended from sitting in the HoC from 4th September for a month for breeching parliamentary standards, losing May one vital vote. She has however been bolstered by the resignation of John Woodcock from the Labour Party pledging his ongoing support of Brexit (he's been a Labour Rebel in the past). Plus there is the O'Mara Factor whereby the whole country could be at the mercy of whether Jared can be fucked to turn up to work at all or not.

There are growing signs out there for increasing support for EEA though despite it all.

The Trade Bill now goes to the Lords, where there is suggestion they might throw it out, after the Speaker declared they had the power to do so as it was a Supply Bill rather than a Money Bill thanks to the Amendments the ERG supplied.

All the while jobs are lost and companies are abandoning the UK and NI has had the most violence in years, but no one cares because Brexit means Brexit and its all worth it.

And finally, when being questioned by the Liason Select Committee, May said that 70 Technical Notices for Households and Businesses in the Event of No Deal would be published in August and September.

The country is in a total pickle.

Ds regularly every time Eurovision is on speculates about how well Scotland would do once it achieves its independence and is able to put in its own entry

Scotland might have the sense to choose a well-known artist or group who can sing in tune,
plus an entry that actually has a decent tune

Funnily enough....that's what he says plus of course unlike England/Westminster, we don't go round putting people's backs up with our arrogance and sense of superiority

I remember the Eurovision contest after Bloody Sunday and the quite decent Uk entry getting zero points from Ireland
The UK commentator sounding hurt

I was started grammar school the year the Troubles started
Especially after Bloody Sunday, in our history - and English - lessons we asked questions and the teachers delved into Irish history.

Those were the days when teachers could afford some lessons to be led by current affairs and students' questions
when school helped us understand the background and causes of violence we read in newspapers and saw on the TV.

We researched in the school library, eager to bring new books and ideas to discuss with our teachers.
We'd go into class the next day and the history and English syllabuses would be put aside to help understand oiur country and what it had done.

I've no kids, but MN tells me this no longer really happens in school

Brexit delivers the UK bound and naked before all the countries it has invaded, bombed, looted, colonised.
It won't be surprising if some of them take the opportunity to put the boot in.

And Remainers wonder why Leavers don't give much of a shit about people who nurture such a vicious hatred for Britain.

Britain has not shaken off its imperial delusions

This more than anything else is responsible for Brexit. Imperial delusions die really, really hard, especially for my parents' generation who were told how wonderful the Empire was at school in the 1950s and believe it still. It was impossible to discuss e.g. Scottish independence with them because their underlying assumptions were: We are the best, everyone wants to be us, why would anyone even think of leaving? I couldn't convince them otherwise, it was like telling them the sky is green.

This problem can only be resolved in schools, by confronting our past the way Germany has theirs. Instead Empire history disappeared from the curriculum - 20 years ago you could study history to degree level without encountering it. I can't imagine what history teaching looks like now after being mauled by Gove.

I don't think it helps that English is the world's most popular second language. If it wasn't, perhaps our language teaching wouldn't be so woeful. And then perhaps more people would be able to read the Suddeutsche Zeitung or Le Figaro online and get a view from outside our own media bubble. The EU know exactly what our papers are telling us, if they want to, but we don't read their media because we can't read it.

It will be the very people who care most about preserving the Union and our remaining territories who are going to be responsible for breaking everything up. First and foremost, the Conservative and Fucking Unionist Party. If they care so bloody much about the Union why didn't they do more to protect it?

And one more point while we're at it - without the resources of the British Empire to fight them, the Nazis would have subdued every last pocket of European resistance in 1940, and might have held on for decades, perhaps even to the present day. And then you'd have a hell of a lot more to complain about than the Irish backstop!

I see the spirit of plucky little Britain and 'the Empire' with backs against the wall and the spectre of the Gerries is still alive and kicking. We have moved on somewhat at this point but not apparently in the minds of some.

I think you are mistaking the independent Dominions of the Commonwealth for something called the 'British Empire'. From the 1931 Statute of Westminster on, the distinction was important (understatement).

The Nazis did subdue every last pocket of European resistance by 1940 apart from the UK, Sweden and Ireland, with Yugoslavia, Greece and the Soviet Union invaded in 1941. They either directly invaded countries or pro-Nazi regimes did their work for them, and of course there was fascist Italy.

The resources of the US at the disposal of Britain from September 1940 included 50 destroyers exchanged for 99 year leases on bases in the Caribbean and Newfoundland. Britain had been paying the US upfront for other war materiel too. In December 1940 Britain's money ran out and FDR initiated Lend Lease. Britain bought munitions and materiel from India and also from Canada. It wasn't free.

FDR greatly disliked both the reality and the principle of colonisation and the British Empire and succeeded in destroying it in the end by means of some hard bargains when Britain thought help would be a gift, that reduced the global reach of the UK considerably and magnified the global reach of the US exponentially. There was also direct interference by the US in the affairs of India during WW2. Brexiteers should be careful what they wish for if a 'free trade agreement' with the US is on their wish list.

I've no kids, but MN tells me this no longer really happens in school
Whilst its been a while since I was at school (in England I hasten to add), we did very briefly cover some of latter Irish-from-a-British-point-of-view history and the creation of NI. It didn't, then at least, shy away from the actions of the British in forcing the partition. I'm guessing that changed over time too.

everyone wants to be us, why would anyone even think of leaving?

Actually that’s exactly what most still say about immigrants nowdays isn’t it?
The idea that other ciuntries could be just as attractive to immigrants seem to baffle a lot of people too

The views of British rightwing historians are in contrast to those of nearly everywhere else, but unfortunately are still mainstream in the UK

That’s an interesting idea.
I was talking about NI and the Troubles with H and the dcs. I explained how from my foreigner POV, NI is basically a civil war with Britain (England?) supporting one side of it.
H was shocked. Nope. They are just terrorists and the British Army was just maintaining the order there, as you would expect the army to do.

BCF you are right, that isn’t happening in schools anymore - or not in my DS’s school. He has opted for GCSE history and is really interested in the subject and was asking about the NI situation yesterday. To my shame I don’t know anywhere near enough about it so am going to get DH to explain properly to build on my very basic explanation whilst I bring myself up to speed. These threads are really helpful.

His GCSE syllabus covers Germany 1890 to 1945, history of medicine, Vietnam war and Norman castles I think from memory. As he had a German Grandparent it does mean that he will learn some valuable and uncomfortable facts about his great Grandparents generation but I think he’s the only one in his class who will.

What I meant re schools is that teachers then had the freedom to decide to set aside some of the planned lessons in favour of teaching - and setting up debates - to clarify current affairs.

The English lessons certainly were not originally planned as debates on Ireland, or on the use of torture against suspected terrorists.

Yes sorry, I got that. I think they do firmly stick to the curriculum now as far as I can tell. Huge amounts of pressure with the ever changing curriculum and I think I read somewhere that History is one of the ones which has stepped up steeply. I’m really pleased that DS taking it as he’s very into STEM and I think it is good for him to do something else. German was removed just before he arrived and now they’ve scrapped Computer Science so he can’t do that either so I’m hugely relieved History is still an option.

Delivering your own country bound and naked to its enemies must surely be the ultimate treason

The UK would have to concede things in trade deals that it would never have had to consider if they were part of an EU deal with those same countries.
Rather like Britain had to accept the US dismantling some foundations of the British Empire during WW2 - in a desperate position

btw, it's an odd pov that some Leavers have:
equating Remainers and the economy
Apparently if they are angry about Remainers' pov on past British torture and murders, then their revenge is a no deal for economic catastrophe

We do keep seeing the idea from Leavers that the economic consequences won't affect them.
Well, it's true of their multi-millionaire MPs and MEPs, billionaire oligarchs who advocate no deal

I explained how from my foreigner POV, NI is basically a civil war with Britain (England?) supporting one side of it.

How my foreign DF also saw it. Ironically having a nasty little civil war going on was on of the things that made the UK a paradigm of Europe.

If you want your kids to have scope to discuss current affairs at school then push them towards the arts. I left school 14 years ago, so this may be out of date, but my most interesting lessons were English lit and RE because we had the time and "artistic license" to chat about things in the real world. Teachers encouraged us to draw parallels between real events and the texts we were reading.

Maybe Gove's influence has damaged even these subjects, but I doubt it.

BigChoc, I have always done what you describe in each and all of the subjects I have taught. (You can get a lot of critical thinking into Maths, especially on the so-called “Functional” side.) I was very pleased when I was asked to teach Critical Thinking and covered many issues including the use of torture, colonialism, proportional representation, childhood obesity, e-cigarettes, big pharma and trans issues, some topics long before they became mainstream. Now I teach in FE I and my team explicitly cover crit thinking in our courses.

Maybe an unintended consequence of brexit is that we will all find out more about our colonial past as countries get their own back in future negotiations and the media explains why.

Did anyone see Anna Soubry on last leg last night? There was even a joke about stock piling in a bunker.

(FT paywall) Britain steps up doomsday planning for no-deal Brexit

https://www.ft.com/content/9f494eea-8b77-11e8-b18d-0181731a0340?

Sudden rupture would affect almost every aspect of daily life

• M26 motorway in Kent to become lorry park
• Contingencies being prepared on both sides
• Companies begin to stockpile food and medicine

A 10-mile-long motorway in south-east England can be shut and turned into a lorry park to cope with tailbacks from the port of Dover
if Britain crashes out of the EU with no deal, under one plan being considered by the government.

The M26 in Kent would become a “holding area” for up to 1,400 goods vehicles to try to ease the gridlock as up to 10,000 lorries a day suddenly require customs checks to enter the EU.

The idea is just one part of a vast effort by the government to brace Britain for the possibility of chaos if relations sour with the EU and co-operation ends after next March.
...
With London and Brussels still deeply at odds over their post-Brexit relationship, the chances of leaving without a deal are growing rapidly and contingency planning is being stepped up on both sides.

But after 45 years of integration, a sudden rupture would affect almost every part of British life,
with companies already stockpiling food and medicine,
and the government looking at whether it needs to use the military to keep the country running.

Weekly advice on no-deal planning
John Manzoni, the chief executive of the civil service, told MPs on Thursday that a breakdown between the UK and the EU could have some “horrendous consequences” that the UK is not yet ready to cope with.

“There needs to be a narrative to say,
‘Actually we don’t want this to happen but we have to prepare just in case it does and here are all the things that we have to do’,” he said.
“There are supply chains for food and medicines; we have to put in place contingencies for those.”

Over the summer, the government will start issuing weekly advice to businesses and households on how to prepare for a “disorderly” Brexit and 70 technical notes are being prepared.

As part of the preparations, some 250,000 small businesses will be asked to start making customs declarations, in a dry run for a hard Brexit.

The public campaign about no-deal planning is partly designed to show the EU that it should take Theresa May seriously when she says she is prepared to walk away without a deal.
But the government also wants to convey the message that preparing for no deal is not just a matter for the civil service, but also one for companies and individuals.
...
UK businesses are already spending heavily on their preparations.
Adam Marshall, head of the British Chambers of Commerce, said companies have been thinking through the potential impact of changes to cross-border trade, staffing, contracts, VAT and intellectual property.

“The government needs to do the same — and demonstrate to business that it has clear answers to all the big questions that are within its own control,”**

without the resources of the British Empire to fight them, the Nazis would have subdued every last pocket of European resistance in 1940,

Absolutely, as we Remainers have constantly pointed out to those Leave voters who make no secret of their Brexit vote being an anti-immigrant one. You forgot the Polish Air force squadron - a key part of our survival. Doesn't fit your narrative.

I also feel really uncomfortable about the assertion that schools don't encourage pupils talking about stuff that's not in the curriculum anymore. It sounds a bit like "in my day, it was all so much better".

And “No deal is better than a bad deal”, is it?
Hahahahahahaha