Westministenders: Talks Walk Out?

[RedToothBrush]

We are now on the countdown to whether we get a backstop Withdrawal Deal. May is hoping to get the EU to backdown on this saying that we will stay in the customs union until a deal is agreed on NI. That would mean come 29th March, we'd have no transistion period, but we'd still have a hard border in NI because we were out of the single market. And if the EU don't agree to it we are into the chances of accidental Brexit being sky high. The only way out would be revoking a50. May has hinted that if Tory MPs don't give her support we could end up with no brexit at all - whether she means revoking a50 or Beano isn't clear.

So onward to 18th October...

You can't help people if they are too 'Wombleist'.
Tobermory wants to remain in the EU too.
Never mind Mme Cholet.

Anyone under 20 will be wondering what the hell we are talking about!

Would Uncle Bulgaria be a brexiteer though? I mean he can remember the days when he wasn't behind the times.

In slightly worse news possibly I've just been told apparently you can get odds of 100/1 on Osborne being the next lib dem leader.

I feel I should clarify why I think that's worse. Not because it's 100/1 so an outside chance. But because its being considered as a chance at all.

Osborne ?

That’s it. The Gove story, the Osborne story. It’s finally confirmed for me. None of this is happening. All of it is some terrible nightmare I’m having and I shall wake up soon to find it’s the morning of 23 June 2016 and the referendum hasn’t happened yet. Or, better still, was never called in the first place.

Because there is honestly no other explanation for any of this madness.

Michael Gove has a plan to boost post-Brexit Britain — open the nation’s waste dumps for business.

He's an idea's man Gove. I give you:

1. The fabulous changes to the school syllabus. All back to time's tables chanting and the Battle of Britain for primary schools. Then there's the great new 1-9 Grades for GCSEs. (Teachers don't seem keen on the reforms but what do they know?)

1. Then there was his insight into the great post Brexit opportunities. The only concrete example he could think of was selling pigs ears to China without the pigs' ears having ear tags. Except nothing's stopping us selling to China now. Plus his own department's website said animals could be labelled by shoulder tattoos, thereby enabling unpierced ears to be produced anyway if there was this huge market ( which there isn't).

1. Now we can root for rubbish to replace all the stuff that will become too expensive to import.

He's a genius 💡!

On the Womble front I can decide if Wellington would be ok as he represents our great new trading relationship based on timber and sheep with handily located little NZ. Or if being of scientific bent he'd be a member of Scientists for the EU.

Can't not can

Babooshka I agree. It is all either a dream or an elaborate Tory prank (on us all).

Essex Tory councillor from Clacton (UKIP stronghold) defects to Lib Dem’s:

Andy said, ''I have spoken to lots of residents over the past weeks who are telling me they are unhappy with the way things are going in Clacton and the country as a whole, this is why today I have resigned from the Conservative Party. I no longer believe that they are listening to the ordinary person on the street, you only have to look at what is happening to Brexit to see this.''

essexlibdems.org.uk/en/article/2018/1279415/essex-conservative-cllr-switches-to-lib-dem

Blimey. Surely Clacton is prime UKIP land too? If only he'd start a trend...

What an interesting graphic.

I'd love to see a BBC response to this.

norman smith @BBCNormanS
No 10 trying to hose down speculation of likely Brexit withdrawal deal next week . "Big issues" remain.

Tony Connelly @tconnellyRTE
Draft text over future EU/UK relationship will "not be adopted" on Wednesday
www.rte.ie/news/brexit/2018/1008/1001697-european-commission-brexit/

Withdrawal Agreement up to 90% complete apparently.

red Extraordinary table of MEPs on QT, 100% Brexiters
There are far brighter MEPs than Farage and Hannan ... including far less rightwing ones

No explanation except extreme fixing

Meanwhile, back at the coalface, BBC has noted that buying a house is becoming a pipedream for the upcomng generations

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45776289

In a previous life, where I looked at trends and stuff, this was picked up about 6 years ago, and is slowly starting to influence the shape of the society we're growing. The most obvious being, what use is there for a homeowning Tory party in a land of renters ? I'd suggest "fuck all". However there are more subtleties here too. That money not being saved for deposit, is being splurged on a cornucopia of tat stuff. Only recently DS spunked £300 on a watch, and £80 on a shirt. (Which really suits him, but that's not the point).

Now you or I might think £1,000+ for the latest iShiny is ridiculous. But, like the lyrics of rock'n'roll ....if you can't understand them, you're not meant to understand them.

Following Hanlons razor, this could all be accidental. But it seems to me we really are moving back into a much more feudal age.

I had my first ever flu jab last week, having eschewed them since they were introduced (as DWs carer, I get offered them). Mainly because the idea of battling Brexit and the flu seemed a little too challenging this year. DW and I probably halved the average age of the queue when we joined (it was a "turn up and get jabbed, no appointment necessary event").

Let's hope the other Donald T is not just talking things up:

www.politico.eu/article/brexit-talks-shake-toxic-mood-as-diplomats-michel-barnier-jeremy-hunt-report-progress/

Kraków Saturday, European Council President Donald Tusk said:
“I have a hope, which is close to certainty, that at the end we’ll manage to achieve an exit deal and a declaration about future relations which will be the best possible.”

Negotiations & meetings schedule

Important dates mostly from
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/calendar/?filters=2031

16 October The General Affairs Council (27 members) meets to decide which topics go on the agenda for the European Council (heads of govt) meeting

17 October The Article 50 European Council meeting

• Heads of govt review Barnier's report & UK govt submissions, then decide if there has been enough progress, especially on NI border, for a November meeting If May is still red-lining at this meeting, there won't be

18 October European Council meeting - all the non-Brexit issues

(17-18 November European Council meeting)

• ONLY if deal is basically ready i.e. if NI backstop agreed, formally present the draft deal to all leaders for approval to put into final text for signing

13-14 December European Council meeting

• Last possible date to sign deal, before sending to European Parliament for approval

21-22 March European Council meeting

• the 1st scheduled meeting of 2019, a few days before Brexit and time only for hand-wringing

Shinyelena perhaps we should hope for the prank rather than the dream, otherwise one of us doesn’t really exist

Let's hope the other Donald T is not just talking things up:

Or he/EU are carefully preparing the narrative for any failure to be the UKs

It's what I would do.

‘Swallow the lot, and swallow it now’: Britain is, and was, deluded about its negotiating power with the EU

The govt should have read about the negotiations to join, back in the 1960s,
when they wanted to join a fledgeling EEC of only 6 members

Same tactics:
The EEC stuck together and refuserd to change their rules;
the UK thought it could go above / around the EEC org and talk directly to heads of govt

Hopefully same result:
in the end the UK realised it had to swallow everything and there was a deal - but it took many years !

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2017/11/09/swallow-the-lot-and-swallow-it-now-britain-is-and-was-deluded-about-its-negotiating-power-with-the-eu/

That money not being saved for deposit, is being splurged on a cornucopia of tat stuff.

Yup, same with my DD, but she blues it in on travel.

My grandparents bought a house in 1933 for £330. I gather that the average wage then was £200 p.a. which I would expect my grandfather earned or maybe a little more. So about 18 months earnings. The average house price now is something like £250,000 and the average wage is £25,000 pa!

Mind you, there is no particular reason why home ownership should be taken as a given, and I think other countries like Germany have quite a large rental sector. But we need proper rent controls and proper tenancy agreements with right to stay for extended periods. Labour might do something, the Tories won't unless they realise that they will lose more votes until they begin to consider it.

Mind you, there is no particular reason why home ownership should be taken as a given, and I think other countries like Germany have quite a large rental sector. But we need proper rent controls and proper tenancy agreements with right to stay for extended periods. Labour might do something, the Tories won't unless they realise that they will lose more votes until they begin to consider it

It's a fetish of the Tories ? To be fair, historically so few people did own property - and doing so was the mark of a certain class. So maybe the origins of the notion are actually quite noble

That said, a fluid rental market works great for singles/childless couples to "follow the work" without too much worry about where to live (which then eases transport problems).

"If" the current trajectory continues (the work I've seen suggests it's going to grow) then the electorate will start voting in parties that look after their interests. Which is the last thing the Tory-backing housebuilding/property developing backers want. We might need a few more tragedies to nudge the swing, but I have no doubt they will happen.

Incidentally, stemming immigration and reducing demand for housing is also exactly the last thing the Tory-backing housebuilding/property developing backers want. Or rather ... if by some miracle immigration were to be reduced and demand for housing fall, then the government had better have a plan B to keep rents/prices high. So watch out for those interest rates.

Yup, same with my DD, but she blues it in on travel.

I half-wrote "tat" because it's a new generation. And if we learn one thing from our parents and their generation, it should be that every generation has a different way of doing "stuff". Not necessarily right, or wrong. Just different. I admit I had a slight "WTF !" moment when DS waved his timepiece around. But luckily at the last, I caught myself just about to sound like my DF, so stopped . His money. His choices.

The next Big Thing to start to worry "the system" should be the increasing reluctance of the youth of today to actually drive. DS has had a pot of money put to one side for driving lessons for 6 years now. He hasn't even got a licence. Like most of his friends. It's walk/bus/Uber. But drive ? Even if he could, why own, insure, and try to park a car ? Not in this city. Which shows how delicate the modern world is. Make public transport too good, and why do people need to buy cars. Did no one wonder why the SMMT bought the rail franchises years ago, using the Virgin brand ? And surely we all know Tesla own Southern Rail ?