Westministenders: A LOOOONNNGGGGGGGG Hot Summer

[RedToothBrush]

May has officially demoted Raab and the Brexit Department to just being responsible for practical implimentation in the UK and not negogitions.

This shouldn't be a surprise, its been the case in reality for some time, much to David Davis annoyance.

The official government position now seems to be scare the shit out of everyone about the possibility of No Deal in order to force the EU to make a deal. Jeremy Hunt has been dutifully spelling this out, by talking about an 'accidental' Brexit.

The government are already outsourcing responsibility for this potential eventuality to industy and business by telling them they need to stockpile food in order to keep supply lines going. This WILL mean price rises will start to happen soon. It also means there is no coordinated government plan and if businesses can't afford to do this as its heavily dependant on having sufficient cash flow in reserve to be able to do it, or don't want to, then you, me and everyone else is going to be well and truly on their own. Whilst the public are not being told to stockpile, its hard to justify not doing so, if this is the current government line.

The government has also done a u-turn on when the repeal of the European Communities Act will come into force. They fought hard to have it fixed for 29th March 2019. Thats now been rolled back to Dec 2020. This is fine, but in practice, makes no difference what so ever if we have no deal or the EU refuse to honour a transition deal on the terms the UK want. The ERG will also go nuts at it and try to get May to roll back on it.

Raab has also made a point of saying that if we don't have a deal by October (rather than midnight 29th March 2019) we are going into No Deal land by default.

Parliament has now broken up for the summer, with May surviving, so things are likely to be a little quieter for a few weeks, but come September this is all going to blow up with avengance.

If you think the last few weeks have been a rollercoaster, just wait for the Autumn.

Does anti-Semitism exist on a fringe on the right ?

is there anti-semitism on the far right? I am 100% sure there will be.

Faisal Islam @ faisalislam
NEW: Sky News obtains under Freedom of Information 30 studies on Brexit impact by local councils across the UK making contingencies and expressing concerns as Brexit clock ticks down, from social care, to food/medicines availability, border checks, to “social unrest”...

Thread here via @zachjourno and @katewilsea social care concerns very significant...
t.co/2ip2FzeHj7

FULL STORY: fears about social care and social unrest revealed in pan UK Council Brexit impact studies obtained by Sky News under FOI
news.sky.com/story/amp/councils-preparing-for-social-unrest-amid-brexit-uncertainty-11455918?__twitter_impression=true
Councils preparing for social unrest amid Brexit uncertainty
Local authorities are struggling to work out what they need to plan for after the UK leaves the EU, a Sky investigation finds.

Combine the above story with this story I posted earlier today

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/49cc0fc6-950d-11e8-821b-8d0d10bd0d40
Philip Hammond orders Whitehall to plan for more cuts

Philip Hammond has told Whitehall to plan for another round of cuts before next year’s spending review, putting him on a collision course with some cabinet colleagues who want tax rises instead of austerity.

The chancellor wants ministries without protected budgets, including public health, further education, local government and transport, to work with the Treasury in the summer to identify potential areas for savings.

Let me translate, local councils are having to plan for social unrest and the loss of 11% of their social care staff whilst having their budgets cut. Whilst councils like Northampton which has already gone bust, yesterday announced they would have to cut services to vulnerable people and children to the barest minimum legal levels.

When is anyone going to face up to this and take some responsibility?

I guess vulnerable children and old people who need carers can't vote or will be sorted by voter id

Are they trying to blame Charles Kennedy's death on the SNP again?? I do despair at the quality of our Scottish media.

In other alarming happenings, it appears the BBC's clampdown on "dissenting" voices came from London, not BBC Scotland.

I appreciate that this is slightly OT, relating to Scottish independence rather than Brexit, but it does have worrying implications if there is political pressure being put on YouTube.

Also worrying news re "Tommy Robinson" being released on bail.

Chaos everywhere seems to be the agenda of the day.

Serious question, and one I never thought I'd find myself asking in the present tense. But does anyone believe in evil ?

Growing up, reading and studying history - particularly 20th century history - I was never able to shake the awful sense of evil that permeates it. And I say that as an atheist Higgs-Boson-believing scientist. I always found myself wondering if our forebears themselves felt they were fighting "evil". For how else could you describe the horror and madness of those years ?

And if not evil, what ?

Because chaos and confusion is where things like that start.

I'm wondering what form the Home Office tender for an industrial process to solve the immigration problem would look like ? Bearing in mind there are probably still patents held on past favourites like the Gaswagen. There's probably a drinking game in guessing who'd tender.

(Potters off to research buying shares in Zyklon-B manufacturers).

I appreciate that this is slightly OT, relating to Scottish independence rather than Brexit

As far as this English-dwelling voter is concerned they are indivisible.

Scotland was conned big style by all Westminster parties, and has every right to act accordingly.

@DGRossetti Hannah Arendt should be studied by all 6th formers. She describes so well the 'banal' nature of evil and how easy it is to enable it:
'The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil' - one of her most famous quotes (and first that comes up when googling her name). Sadly hasn't aged a day.

Jennifer Williams @JenWilliamsMEN
A brief thread about trains. Nobody in power in London seems to care about this but it still sucks so, hi. 1/

Apparently Transport for the North are still very unhappy indeed about the train situation here but, it transpires, can basically do absolutely nothing about it

Probably the most interesting and telling thing Ive learned in recent days is that no minister went to the latest TfN meeting, despite this allegedly being a partnership between the north and the government. No minister.

So here you have Chris Grayling trying to have his ropy cake and eat it. Here’s devolution, so it’s all your fault. But also, here’s no devolution at all and I can’t even be arsed to turn up or even send a mate along

TfN apparently would quite like to bring in a troubleshooter to find out wtf is going on and why these train operators cant run trains. But no; they can’t. Because that would require ministerial approval. And hey, what do you know. No ministers could be arsed going to the meeting

These trains allegedly connect up the north. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if this was London, a minister would have been in that meeting. They wouldn’t dare ignore it

It’s the sheer, barefaced contempt that’s so staggering (and so politically imbecilic). Leaders here cannot do anything. Passengers can’t do anything.

Also, hey. It transpires that potentially the biggest reason the trains through Manchester don’t work is because the government literally did a third of the upgrade they said they’d do then left the rest of it sitting around on Chris Grayling’s desk

Ordsall chord? Sure: we’ll go and pose next to that (that’s Paul Maynard incidentally, presumably Grayling couldnt be bothered to do the photo op)

But when it comes to expanding Piccadilly station’s platforms so the ordsall chord actually works...nah. Because that would be competent

This isn’t a short thread after all. It was meant to be a short thread

Anyway in conclusion, they can all get in the sea. But not Blackpool because you can’t get a train there.

Can't blame it on the EU. Its fine, we can blame it on devolution and local government now. Who have no power. Same trick seems to be working just swell in NI doesn't it?

twitter.com/MarcusFysh/status/1024273637086584834

Conservative MP Marcus Fysh MP and 'crawl back under your Lib Dem rock'.

Ciaran Jenkins @C4Ciaran
Up to 300 asylum seekers in Glasgow will have locks changed on their homes by housing provider Serco, making them destitute and homeless.

Change of policy implemented without warning this week..

Serco says it can no longer house those whose claims have been rejected for ‘excessive’ periods.

Claims it’s been housing 250-300 people at its own expense and that up until now it’s been lenient.

Serco says it will change locks on homes of those who have had asylum claim rejected.

Previously Serco gave people time to mount an appeal.

Serco now claims these people are effectively awaiting removal. They could be made homeless at any time.

Bad breaking news: Refugee Survival Trust announces it will suspend destitution grants for asylum seekers at the end of the month due to shortage of funds. Just when destitution rates likely to increase.

Ryan Gallagher @rj_gallagher
Revealed: Google is planning to launch a censored search engine in China that will blacklist websites & search terms about human rights, democracy, political opposition, academic studies, religion, & peaceful protest:
theintercept.com/2018/08/01/google-china-search-engine-censorship/
Google Plans to Launch Censored Search Engine in China, Leaked Documents Reveal

The confidential project - code-named "Dragonfly" - has been underway for more than a year. It's a dramatic shift in Google's policy on China nearly a decade after the internet giant pulled its search engine out of the country, citing concerns about "forces of totalitarianism."

A source familiar w/ the plans is raising concerns about the censored search platform, saying Google is "collaborating in the oppression of [China's] people." Amnesty International has condenmed the project, calling it "a big disaster for the information age."

Google's CEO Sundar Pichai has spearheaded the project, saying he cares about "servicing users in every corner." In December, Pichai travelled to China & held a private meeting with Wang Huning, known as “China’s Kissinger,” one of president Xi Jinping's top advisers.

The plan is to launch the search engine in a custom Android app designed for China. Versions of the app have been given names such as “Maotai” and “Longfei.” It could be released within the next six to nine months, pending Chinese government approval.

Documents & sources say the app has been designed to automatically identify & filter websites blocked by the so-called Great Firewall. It will remove any blocked pages - such as news articles from the New York Times website - from the first page of results users are shown.

The search app will also “blacklist sensitive queries” so that “no results will be shown” at all when people enter certain words or phrases, documents state.

The censorship will apply across the platform: Google’s image search, automatic spell check & suggested search features will incorporate the blacklists, meaning that they will not recommend people information or photographs the government has banned.

Coming to the UK sooner than we expect no doubt.

Why is the non entity Robinson getting so much press?

Google: Don't be evil

Why is the non entity Robinson getting so much press?

Cos the puppet masters see him as useful.

He appeals to a certain part of the populace that politians can't reach.

He is being primed for future political moves.

When you consider that Arron Banks has gone full on Jeremy Kyle today, and done a lie detector test it makes sense.

Trump's success in the US owes a lot to how he speaks like a wrestling commentator and because he was a reality television star

What would that translate to in the UK?

Cos that's what they will try to do. Try and make a celeb in that kind of mould to harness a particular section of the vote. They don't have to win anything, just be big enough to swing an election so that both Labour and the Conservatives pander to it.

The YouGov poll today is interesting as it says catergorically Brexit is not the end. There are too many leavers who feel unrepresented about other issues and have no party loyalty. Once Brexit is done, there is still a vacuum politically.

Brexit is just the cruciable to boil frogs in for a later date.

Adam Bienkov @AdamBienkov
EXCLUSIVE: Leaked Home Office contingency plans reveal free movement could continue in a no-deal Brexit.

Leaked notes from a Home Office meeting of border officials reveals plans for "no more border checks" in a no-deal Brexit with ministers asked to "tolerate higher risk for security."

uk.businessinsider.com/exclusive-theresa-may-no-deal-brexit-home-office-leak-free-movement-2018-8
Exclusive: This Home Office leak reveals Theresa May could keep free movement in a no-deal Brexit

A source close to the Home Office explained that the Border Force would likely have little other choice than to carry on treating EU citizens preferentially because it does not have the staffing capacity to cope with a surge in the processing of non-EEA citizens.

BAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA!

sits rocking in the corner

Seriously reading todays news is just one horror show of incompentence after another.

It currently takes an average of approximately 45 seconds to check an EEA citizens' passport, compared to an average of 4 minutes for an non-EEA arrival.

If every new arrival was subject to 4-minute checks, there could be days-long queues at some British airports without a dramatic increase in the number of trained immigration officers.

I'm guessing thats the real reason why May wants a British only lane.

thesecretbarrister.com/2018/08/01/the-tommy-robinson-judgment-what-does-it-all-mean/
The Tommy Robinson Judgment - an explainer