Westministenders: The Slow Reveal

[RedToothBrush]

The DUP are playing silly buggers.
The EU are getting nervous and turning down the pressure.
The ERG still want Schroedingers Brexit.
The Budget is coming. So is a government defeat or climb down.
The M26 is closing.

Keep thinking of the glorious freedom your blue passport will give up whilst you search waste tips.

Maybe I did my maths wrong - it may have been 58%.

Are you calling them thick?

Have you read the comments ?

Those comments are incredible and similar to those of Redwood. What no-one considers is the amount the care bill will have to go up by for paying higher wages. Not that I'm against carers being paid higher wages but I suspect Redwood would not support increases in taxes either.

Have you read the comments ?

No way! My blood pressure couldn't take it. I'll leave that to you DGR - taking one for the team

Wow! You are right. Those comments are another rabbit hole I shouldn't have gone down in.

A CARE home in Poole is closing next month after “uncertainty over Brexit” led to difficulties recruiting qualified nursing staff, its owner said.

I visit businesses for work and visited a care home just after the vote. I met with the manager who told me how bad she felt for her staff, half of whom were from the EU. They had made it a bit of a day out for the residents and wheeled them all down to the polling station where they all voted Leave complainingly loudly about too many immigrants.

I'm sure my nonagenarian kipper voting grandmother is going to be thrilled to hear of the problems in her town. She's had problems getting carers for the last five years and is close to needing to go into a home as the sheltered accommodation she's living in, is becoming too much for her.

But she won't be as thrilled as my mum...

Had offer on the house this morning. DH laughed at it and said no. Then told me. My reaction wasn't much different.

Oh dear. Is the housing market tanking already?

Are you calling them thick?

You cannot generalise -I know a really clever Oxford educated bloke who was a vocal Leaver but is quite quiet now.
But my favourite comment was on a 48% group. It may have been on here too? It was a comment from a Brexiteer about the customs union, along the lines of
' How dare they try and control our customs-like Christmas".

Seriously he thought by leaving the main reason was to stop the EU harmonising our Christmas traditions.

Seriously.

I'm sure my nonagenarian kipper voting grandmother is going to be thrilled to hear of the problems in her town. She's had problems getting carers for the last five years and is close to needing to go into a home as the sheltered accommodation she's living in, is becoming too much for her.

For better, for worse, the UK/Britain, has acted as a bellweather/canary/trailblazer in the industrial age. Meaning that we've tended to hit the problems first (whether or not we've dealt with them effectively is another matter).

I wonder if this is merely a preview of what will start happening across the rest of the industrialised world, in a few years.

Critically, how can a country look after it's elderly in the years to come ?

I hope the good citizens of NI aren't paying for this shitshow ...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-44726676

The Department for Communities has said it has no plans to alter its definition of terminal illness for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) applicants.

In June, six NI parties signed a letter calling for changes to the rules.

The system requires people with a life expectancy of longer than six months to undertake a face-to-face assessment to prove they qualify for the benefit.

The department said any deviation from the rules existing in GB would require a functioning Stormont executive.

(contd)

A CARE home in Poole is closing next month after “uncertainty over Brexit” led to difficulties recruiting qualified nursing staff, its owner said

This is an extract from my post last week on the 'Civil Unrest' thread - on which I was immediately attacked by bots for being a bit of a drama llama.

What should the Emergency Planners be concentrating on? The impact of a No Deal Brexit may well result in civil unrest, but before the country reaches that point there are a number of intermediate stages.

From New Year 2019:

• EU citizens leave in increasing numbers. Skilled staff can move anywhere and will move if their employers move. Farm workers leave once the autumn harvest is over.
• Skilled British workers (doctors, scientists, engineers etc) leave the UK. Their funding and jobs will already have been under threat and this is the last chance for them to take up posts in the EU or elsewhere.
• A number of companies confirm closures in the UK and relocate to the EU.
• Care homes, schools and nurseries notify families that after Easter, they will no longer be able to provide their usual services due to lack of staff.
• People begin to stock up in earnest and to withdraw cash from banks.
• Cashflow problems cause several travel companies to declare bankruptcy.
• Government orders emergency census and citizen registration in preparation for Brexit.

It's beginning to look like even my New Year 2019 date was a bit optimistic.

May is only scheduled to address the Council for 10 minutes, before the meal

They obviously don't want her to stay on and try to negotiate directly with individual leaders - as she has been trying to do without success for 2 years.

They'll also be miffed if she goes over time and delays their meal - maybe as the delic smells waft on, 2 strong aides would firmly lift her outside and close the door after her.

The agenda is that afterwards, over the meal, they freely discuss in her absence what she said and what they think.

Brexiters said all along they would divide and conquer, but that is why the EU appointed a highly competent top civil servant with a clear mandate to head the negotiations on behalf of them all (Barnier is a former politician, but is only working in his EU civil service role)

The UK should have appointed Ivan Rogers or Ollie Robbins like this, but the govt could not agree on a negotiator's mandate and wanted to micro-manage
So our side of the negotiations has been controlled by arrogant ignoramuses

The govt and Brexiters have always been determined to do things their way,
but with a large organisation who have you over a time-limited barrel, before you crash down over Niagara Falls, you always follow their procedures

May is only scheduled to address the Council for 10 minutes, before the meal

I'm surprised there's not been more comment on her decision to address the council using the medium of interpretive dance.

Thankfully there is still some humour to be wrung out of the current situation:

newsthump.com/2018/10/16/finalised-brexit-deal-immediately-shreds-itself-in-frame/

Havana I was part of the trickle of scientists that left the UK immediately after the ref.
That trickle looks like becoming a flood, at least to Germany, which put out an immediate welocme mat when I visited the town offices to register

The Civil Contingencies Act enables emergency powers without returning to the HoC,
e.g. to prevent any lorries carrying UK exports to ports, to avoid logjams for essential imports of food and meds

They're in.

The govt does not need parliamentary permission if it invokes the Civil Contingencies Act (brought in by Labour)

• which gives it Emergency Powers -

but after 30 days it needs Parliamentary approval to continue

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/36/contents

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2004/jan/07/politics.terrorism

the government has tightened its definition of an "emergency" to make clear
the new powers cannot be triggered by
an event which merely threatens the "political, administrative or economic stability" of the country.

< so only to ensure the distribution of essential supplies - food, meds, power - maybe not JIT components ? >

Critics had worried that this could be used by a future government to protect its own status, no matter the level of public dissent.
...
The bill will confer sweeping authority on ministers to do almost anything that once an emergency has been declared.

According to the Guardian, its poses
"potentially the greatest threat to civil liberty that any parliament is ever likely to consider".
...
-"The powers available to the government and state agencies would be truly draconian:"_

Cities could be sealed off,
travel bans introduced
all phones cut off, ^
and websites shut down.
Demonstrations could be banned
and the news media be made subject to censorship.

New "offences against the state" could be "created" by government decree.

I know it's childish, but I feel an urge to taunt some Brexiteers (a second time ). Does anyone know where they can be found ?

Um, after Brexit, we might find it quite hard to find out what is happening, circulate it and protest

Um, after Brexit, we might find it quite hard to find out what is happening, circulate it and protest

Might be time to learn what VPNs are ....

after Brexit, we might find it quite hard to find out what is happening, circulate it and protest
I'm presuming Saturday's march is the last one. As in the last one.
Remain twitter accounts are being hacked and used by the usual suspects.

SM has a brief life left.

I do recommend watching what's happening in Turkey as a clue for how the country will look in a few months.

I also think that Turkish resistance trades union, mothers, ecology activists are a hell of a lot braver than us.

A bit of light relief; the Mash nails it again.

Five idiotic Irish border solutions Brexiters will love

ARE you a Brexiter with no grasp on reality? Here are some solutions to the Irish border problem you’ll consider perfectly sensible.

Invade the Republic of Ireland

The Republic of Ireland used to belong to Britain anyway, so the Irish are unlikely to object to the country reverting to the wise and compassionate rule of the British army.

A quick blitzkrieg will quickly overwhelm the Irish army and Dublin will be renamed ‘Stag-Do-on-Sea’. It is impossible to spot a flaw in this excellent plan.

No border at all

After years of screeching “We’re full!” it might seem odd to have no border. However Brexiters are mainly concerned with keeping out Eastern Europeans and Muslims, whereas the Irish are okay, like Liam Neeson or Val Doonican.

Herbaceous border

An eight-foot wide border planted with a mix of brightly-coloured hardy perennials and South American grasses too delicate for smugglers to step across or terrorists to bomb without ruining its splendour for everyone.

Trained leprechauns

Leprechauns are small and crafty and thus ideal to sneak onto lorries travelling from Ireland to Britain and inspect their goods. If contraband or migrants are discovered the ‘little people’ will simply impound the vehicle using magic.

Killer robots

Swarms of nanobots will locate economic migrants and turn their brains to mush. Any IRA members smuggling arms will be blown away by Terminator 800s saying things like “Top o’ the mornin’ to ya – ASSHOLE!”.

I really want a trained leprechaun.

- Government orders emergency census and citizen registration in preparation for Brexit

What could possibly go wrong ?

I see this smug, disagreeable little corner of mumsnet rolls on

Good luck with your march by the way - if such impotent action makes you feel important more power to ya...