Westministenders: Reality Bytes

[RedToothBrush]

Tonight the Corbyn and McDonnell Labour Party supported the Tory Party in improving the tax allowance for higher rate tax payers.

Yes you read that right. Did you even blink?

You've been so conditioned into seeing non existant opposition which seems to go against everything the Labour Party stand for that you no longer are shocked.

That's what 2 and a half years of Brexit has done to you.

You no longer care that Boris Johnson got £14,000 from the Saudis a couple of days before the Khashoggi murder. You know longer care that the former Defence Secretary is employed for £75,000 a year to advise a major Saudi Investor.

You are just happy that Trump hasn't started a war with Iran or North Korea yet. And hasn't started a civil war. (Though he's trying hard and next week is his best opportunity to stir it all up). You aren't surprised to hear that predictions are that the Democrats will fail to make gains in the mid terms.

You've suffered the 4657 story about how Therea May is just about to be challenged for the leadership.

You've heard about the squad set up at the Home Office to clear up all the cases the media get their hands on as the latest burning injustice. You are hearing that EU nationals who have been promised they are 'safe' are being subjected to questions about their right to stay. And you just shrug and say, "Yeah well thats the Home Office for you. The Bastards". And you do mean it, but you are so jaded by it all. And you worry that another 12 months from now, you won't even be interested in another story like that, and the press will stop printing them as they no longer interest the reader. What happens to your friends, your family, or even you then? Who is going to care then?

And then you have today.

A day where you hear that Bannon is being investigated by the Senate Intel Committee, Farage has been upgraded to the FBI's Really Naughty List and Banks has (FINALLY) been refered to the NCA. (We were only speculating on the possibility, on the 26th March...)

And you go 'Ooooooooo maybe there is hope'.

Maybe we COULD remain in the EU and avoid Turnip Soup and wiping your arse with leaves because of the national bog roll shortage. Or at least get a decent deal which suits us as a nation. Maybe, just maybe!

And that lasts for about 2 minutes before you log into twitter and the very first thing you see this:

Tom Newton Dunn @tnewtondunn
Excl: David Cameron tells friends he’d like a return to frontline politics, and fancies Foreign Secretary
www.thesun.co.uk/news/7639377/david-cameron-return-to-politics/

And you let out a high pitched screech as if you are were a dying cat as you remember this is 2018, and it just wants to beat the life out of you.

On the plus side, it shows you do still care enough to think 'Don't let that fucking bastard anywhere near power ever, ever again.'.

Ho hum.

Keep on, keeping on. Don't let the bastards win.
Keep caring. It matters.

You Do the Math: Can May Get Her Brexit Deal Through Parliament

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-09/you-do-the-math-can-may-get-her-brexit-deal-through-parliament

First time that I have seen numbers on how tight the vote for the Brexit Deal will be.
One thing interesting is the assumption that Labour will vote against it.
I would prefer labour to let MPs vote according to their own conscience, incl what is actually best for the country?

My own view is that ANY agreement is better than No Deal so I’m not sure how any MPs could vote against it, even as strong Remainers.
I also think that if labour votes against it and we end up with a No Deal then they will held responsible for the mess too. Regardless or whether you are a remainer or a leaver.

Apart from the DUP, who in NI would be totally against a border for TRADE in the Irish sea?
The EU has repeatedly stated there will be no border on Irish soil but it is the UK that wants to take back control of it's borders and end FoM.
So which is it to be, FoM or a border?
Since you can happily walk with your sandwiches across the 'non border' on the Irish soil up to Belfast to get a ferry to England (OK Wales probably) where is the point that the border that the UK (supposedly voted for) actually lie?

imo, Raab's "Dover discovery" may be a game-changer^
but WTF could so many CABINET MINISTERS be so ignorant until now^

[ paywall]

https://www.ft.com/content/ae6dd81e-e35b-11e8-a6e5-792428919cee

UK Brexit secretary Dominic Raab has let slip a Eurosceptic discovery 🤦🏻‍♀️ that could prove crucial as Theresa May seeks to push through a Brexit deal: 

Britain depends on a single, fragile trade route which leaves it highly vulnerable to a chaotic no-deal exit.
< there are several other massive problems, but at least the Cabinet now know of this one >

Although some Brexiter ministers including Michael Gove concluded months ago that a no-deal Brexit in March next year could be disastrous
others in the cabinet only recently appear to have realised how quickly trade to the island nation could be choked off.
...
Although Mr Raab explained the risks in terms of less consumer choice in the shops,
in reality the cabinet is drawing up contingency plans to try to maintain supplies of food and medicines.
About 30 per cent of the UK’s food comes from the EU.

“Michael is terrified by no deal,”*
said one friend of the environment secretary, who is responsible for food.*
Ministers are contemplating hiring ferries to try to keep vital supplies flowing smoothly.

Cabinet sources say that only Esther McVey, work and pensions secretary, Penny Mordaunt, international development secretary, and Andrea Leadsom, leader of the Commons,
appear relaxed about the possibility of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
< a reminder not to blame men for Brexit stupidity ! >

The dawning realisation in the cabinet that a no-deal exit could block Britain’s vital trade artery in the Strait of Dover has changed the political equation
as Mrs May prepares to present her ministers with a final Brexit deal.

The prime minister’s allies say that since a no-deal exit would be too grim to countenance, the cabinet must act in the national interest and sign up to an agreement aimed at preserving free trade with the EU.
...
The cabinet was briefed this week that in the best-case scenario
these checks would reduce trade on the route to just 25 per cent of its current capacity;
in some scenarios that could fall to just 12 per cent

<span class="italic">David Lidington, Mrs May’s de facto deputy, has told the cabinet that the subsequent economic chaos would be akin to the Black Wednesday currency crisis in 1992,</span>

which tarnished the Conservatives’ economic reputation for a generation.

Many MPs say that the House of Commons would vote to prevent any prime minister taking Britain out of the EU without securing an exit agreement,
leaving Tory Eurosceptics who oppose Mrs May’s deal with a series of unpalatable choices.

mother i agree that having aborder within your own country is crazy.
However, so many people see England/Scotland/NI as different COUNTRIES that I wouldn’t be surprised that some wouldn’t be plussed by the idea.

This wouod Be very dangerous for the United Kingdom though and risk seeing it exploding....

BCF well I’m happy for them to realise that Britain is an island heavily reliant in imports. And those imports tend to through ONE route.

Massive discovery isn’t it?

But why, why has it taken them so long to learn what most people a tiny bit interested in brexit knew months and months ago??
It’s like they purposely refused to listen to anyone who brought very legitimate worries as ‘moaning Remainers who are not patriotic enough to believe in Britain’.
We need new politicians.

England/Scotland/Wales/NI ARE different countries and part of a union.
France/Germany/Belgium/Holland ARE different countries as part of a union.
Rules and regulations change as you go across the border and as many of the EU countries signed up to the Schengen agreement traveling across a border can usually be done at 130Km/h (110Km/h if it's raining) with only a change in tarmac colour to signify you have crossed a border.
There are different tariffs and taxes for products across the EU but as much of trade is 'continuous' popping the relevant codes into the shipper's computer sorts most of it out for a lot of cases.

the UK has essentially been pushed around by Ireland

I don't think this is the case. It is more that, for once, someone has Ireland's back in helping it in not being actively screwed by England. Insert UK/GB if you want. It is a defensive measure, not offensive.

You have to wonder if the likes of MPs that have been traveling to Brussels and across Europe have actually made the connection that as they show some form of ID to enter mainland Europe that in March next year their RIGHT to travel ought to be diminished, the same as it will be for all the rest in the UK?

The penny dropped with Gove months ago. I think it did with Johnson too tbh, but he got caught up in a dick swinging contest on Davis in which if he didn't quit and prove how much of a leaver he was, he was politicially screwed anyway. Davis quit precisely because he worked it out, but knew he could still get off the hook by just being a pest to May. Raab is just the latest one to realise it, but doesn't know how to get out of it.

Its fascinating to see how many of these leavers are twisting themselves up in circles to absolve themselves of responsibility once they realise quite how big the clusterfuck really is.

If you go up to the cliffs above Dover on a clear day and watch for a while, you can see the ships coming out of Calais, and then coming into Dover. The sheer volume of traffic amazed us, when we did this. This isn't accounting for the stuff going via the Channel Tunnel. Worst of all for Raab and Co, perishable stuff like food, and the JIT parts required for manufacturing come in this way. Stuff like cheapo goods from China can be banged into a container and take a couple of weeks to get here, and then go to e.g. Fexilstowe. The worst thing about Raab was he didn't seem to realise how stupid he was.

Obviously others did, or why would there be plans afoot to turn the motorways in Kent into giant lorry parks?

It really feels that relationships within the UK are now imperial rule by England. There is no attempt of weighting or balancing the disparity in populations. One nation has 5/6ths of the power of all the others combined.

It is quite depressing. Whatever about doing it. To do it in the most moronic, choatic and damaging way possible takes quite some mentality.

As a reminder.
A German supermarket had a special day a while back to emphasise how being isolationist and rejecting worldwide trade can look. It removed all products that were not entirely German from the shelves. It was pretty bare!
It was only for a day, to make a point but quite an eye opener.
I suppose it is 'preaching to the converted' on here but a quick read of the 'origin' labels of food and other products you have would give you an idea of things that may become difficult to obtain.

Really good summary and links to the jaw dropping stupidity of those in power, on Chris Grey's Brexit blog today.

Rich wall of shame pickings.

Brexit is the ‘biggest FARCE in history’ claims Finnish MEP in EU showdown

www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1042909/brexit-news-brexit-latest-deal-Alexander-Stubb-european-union-european-council-epp-debate

I suspect this reflect well what most diplomats in Europe have been feeling.

Chris Grey blog is an interesting one.

However, so many people see England/Scotland/NI as different COUNTRIES

well England and Scotland are different countries, surely

Certainly reading the excrement being spouted by the 'comments' contributors (reference the Express above) makes me almost ashamed to be British.
Referring to jackboots and control from Brussels doesn't sit well with the UK who have not suffered this from the feet of another nation.

DGR. And Wales is....................Wales!

The worst thing about Raab was he didn't seem to realise how stupid he was.

Bear in mind all ministers should have a bodyguard of civil servants whose sole brief is to stop such idiocy making the headlines.

If Raab was ignoring any advice he was given to perhaps "keep quiet and smile", then he is a moron.

If Raab did not solicit advice before opening his mouth, then he is a moron.

If Raab was not given advice by his team not to open his mouth then either he has been abandoned by his media minders because he's a moron, or there are darker forces afoot.

I can't help but remember when "Whacky" Jacqui Smith was allowed to make a tit of herself on the world stage by showing she really hadn't got a clue about her job. It proved to be (as was called at the time) a sign she wasn't long for this government.

Motheroffour and MyBrexit
Can I ask why you feel that an Irish Sea customs border is would lead to NI being less part of the Union, or to the breakup of the UK?
FWIW, I don’t see it that way at all, a regulatory border for livestock checks has existed between NI and rUK as far back as I can remember and that hasn’t led to a diminished sense of Britishness for those who identify as such. Why would checks and controls happening at a point away from me, which I am not involved in, have an impact on my identify? I’ve always had to show my ID to travel to UK, as have all the other passengers and I genuinely don’t ever recall anyone getting insulted at the attack on our Britishness.
The fact that I, as a woman, and my gay friends, can’t avail of all the same human rights as the rest of the citizens of the UK DOES make me feel less British at times, but the current government have given no shits about that, ever.
My British identity doesn’t extend to being happy to be pulled over a cliff with the rest of the UK, if there is the chance of an out for us.

Yes, it is important to remember there are already checks on livestock - and people - between NI and Britain.

I feel the backstop could be an escape clause for NI

• there must be business opportunities of being in the SM & CU of both the UK and the EU

I wish all 4 countries could have an escape, but if Tory party politics mean that England - and Wales and Scotland -
can't,
then I cannot justify dragging NI over the cliff with us
especially if that means we don't get a parachute

iirc, Polls show that a majority in NI prefer the Irish Sea checks to a hard border

As a Scot albeit one who has been pretty keen on being British almost nothing would make me crosser than NI staying in CU and Scotland having to leave. I am aware that this is a response heavily influenced by emotion but emotion can be a powerful thing. It would not be a sensible move for the long term stability of the UK.

DGR. And Wales is....................Wales!

Technically Wales is a "principality" ? Not sure what that means going forward, but I know it got that way because, not to put too fine a point on it, the English told them that was how it was going to be. One of the Edwards ... III I think.

Only Scotland and England are sovereign countries, I believe.

Funny, growing up, none of this was explained - nor did it need to be. It's only now it matters we realise how little we learned about our own country at school.