Westminstenders: In the Brexit Lane

[RedToothBrush]

I honestly couldn't think of a better starter to the thread than simply just this tweet

Robert Peston @ peston
We’ve got an official opposition tearing itself apart over antisemitism, the founder of the EDL running rings around the judiciary and a government negotiating a Brexit plan that its own MPs and ministers tell me is dead. When will we pull ourselves together, as a nation?

But don't worry, your blue passport will get you an extra special long wait at passport control. And no deal could lead to continued freedom of movement anyway. Something for everyone in there.

Ah yes, before Brexit I remember lots of people saying that it just took too long to become a qualified doctor, and what we really needed was to speed things up so that they could start practicing with less experience.

Oh wait, no, no-one has ever said that

Maybe if someone identifies as a doctor, we will have to accept them as one.

Back on Cornwall and the German tourist industry. The Germans love of Rosamund Pilcher has led to them holidaying here in large numbers for years - way before all the Poldark hype.
Coach loads, and also large numbers of motorhomes, camper vans and cars. Always a pleasure to interact with.
There are also a plethora of German productions that take place in Cornwall every year employing local actors, film/theatre people as well as musicians etc. It provides gainful employment for a section of our creative community.
I wonder this will continue post-Brexit?

He explained that it was nothing to do with growing sweet corn for food: that farmers (like his uncle) got massive subsidies from the government for the amount of acreage that they put under sweet corn to then be used as a biomass fuel shock. It doesn't even need to ripen or even be picked when it is is ripe. It can rot and still be used for biomass fuel

You should read P.J. O'Rourkes investigation into the US farming world in the late 80s (nothing has changed). It really is Alice in Wonderland. You could get grants for growing stuff nobody buys (at a guaranteed price per ton, in case the market went wrong) alongside grants (different agency) for not growing crops. You got more, depending which crops you weren't growing, regardless of whether you could grow them or not. That's if you had land. If you didn't you could get subsidies. And if you couldn't fill the forms in, there was a government grant for business aid and education. .....

Know why ?

The troll Francine whatever hangs around on other threads pretending to be a psychopathic Remainer, either to distract us, or to poison the well for lurkers who don't know him / her.

I have had spats with Francine on other threads where he or she tried desperately and unsuccessfully to bait me into being rude to him or her.

Maybe I should have reported some of his or her more egregious posts (he or she hated me using "long" words )

Maybe if someone identifies as a doctor, we will have to accept them as one.

This made me really laugh out loud.

As it happens, I chose not to report his or her posts on the thread where he or she got particularly angry petty about me as they reflected more on his or her inadequacies and made the reasonable posts (not just by me) all the more obvious

But I've noticed than on recent threads, Francine's posts have become ever more troll-like - and that many of them end up getting deleted.

It's very unfortunate if his or her posts have ended getting someone to react to his or her deliberate provocations strongly enough to be banned

Awful about 54321go

Those of you with an interest in history might find a this 'article' by Daniel Hannan MEP from a few days ago on how British capitalism over threw slavery ….. who knew? Please do circulate to any historians, especially those that have may have been misinformed up until now!

www.facebook.com/notes/conservative-meps/capitalist-britain-literally-overthrew-slavery/1785042238227566/

So if I understand him correctly, people who made their fortunes from slavery weren't capitalists?

Or is it that making money from slavery doesn't count as capitalism?

I suspect the petition for Ian Paisley Jr to stand down will fail unless there is a well publicised mass petitioning for postal signing, and even then voters will be concerned about how secure their names and addresses are, with reprisals uppermost in their minds. I think it would take a very brave voter indeed to present him or herself in person to sign the petition at any of the three locations where it will be available.

In the last GE, SF got 7,878 votes, 16% of the total cast,and the SDLP 2,574, which was 5.3% of total votes cast. If all of those voters were able to sign the petition he would be out on his ear. But I suspect the petition period will be very tense.

British capitalism over threw slavery

Well slave owners were compensated for losses due to abolition ?

Market forces would probably bring rents down if there is a Brexit recession and house price crash.
BigChoc

I suspect what would actually happen quite a lot is that rising interest rates would force LLs to increase rents, thus squeezing the poor out of housing.

Depends on how many LLs don't have much of a financial cushion and bought property as a long term investment which they will try to save by means of higher rents before considering a fire sale.

I suspect there are also many LLs whose own personal finances will take a hit after Brexit, and who will be forced to sell income properties to make ends meet, or forced to sell their residences and move into income properties.

Depending on what part of the country they are in, some will find it easier to find somewhere to rent if they can prove stable income. There will be LLs who can subsidise renters in part as a preference to earning nothing at all. Some parts of the country will be devastated by Brexit though.

As with every other scenario involving Brexit, there will be a windfall for those who are secure - "to those that have, much shall be given".

With the Chequers 'plan' safely balled up and lying at the bottom of the waste paper basket awaiting the shredder, maybe the time fast approaches when Labour must nail its colours to the mast?

politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2017/12/28/brexit-corbyn-is-playing-a-clever-long-game-that-could-benef

The demand for a second referendum could prove irresistible - and if the government dares to attempt a no-deal Brexit, a general election and Corbyn government would swiftly follow. A general election could indeed take place even in other circumstances. Either way, if the government isn't on track to negotiate a deal, and Corbyn replaces them with too little time, Article 50 will have to be extended at the very least. If it then becomes a choice between revoking it altogether or departing via the cliff-edge, that choice has already been made.

If Corbyn is following Napoleon's advice not to interrupt his enemy while she is making mistakes, he is not showing great courage, or even perhaps acting in the immediate national interest - but he is playing a clever long game that in the end could benefit us all. If Labour has finally abandoned the delusions of Brexit, they also uncover a political space that carries with it electoral spoils. If they want it, they only need a few short steps to take it.

While the 7th Cavalry are sorely needed, I wonder if this article is too much a case of adding 2+2 and getting 5?

Math I can only say what happened - as an LL - in my area of SE England during 1992 ERM debacle:

• house prices crashed
• interest rate on my mortgage rocketed to 15%
• ... and my tenant quit and I had to accept the next tenant at significantly lower rent

It doesn't matter if an LL's expenses have risen, whether that is due to interest rate hikes or expensive repairs
If an LL tries to charge more than the going rate, then the place stays empty until they drop the rent to match similar properties.

pretty, MrsR8, Hekickedtheball, EVERYONE

Do report whenever you think trolls overstep the mark
Obviously don't reply in kind - you won't be as skilled at skating the edges of the rules.

We may be able to keep calm, but others may be not in a good place and can react

that's one of the main purposes of trolling on a monitored site like this: to get the opposing posters banned

and Francine seems professional - and prolific - rather than a nasty amateur
Report her / him (/ them = may be more than 1 person)

We don't want other Remainers to be caught out - a professional knows how to target posters individually and to optimise their approach to provoke that particular target until they are banned.
54321go may have been a professional hit

The majority in the 1975 referendum was 34% , the majority in the 2016 referendum was what ?

I think May could revoke Art 50 and say as the 2016 majority was miniscule in comparison to the 1975 majority , the Sovereign Parliament has looked at all the facts and decided that those in 1975 were right and to continue there would need to be a 3rd referendum with a much higher majority or at least the same or we are staying put. If you want parliamentary sovereignty you need to accept what it says.