Westminstenders: Dear Santa for Christmas I'd like...

[RedToothBrush]

The ERG to be the grinch that stole the Tory Party Christmas who ultimately get what they deserve.

To remain in the EU

Donald Trump's impeachment

For politics to be boring again

A trex toy for my son

What you are doing is helping those you can, which is all anyone can do

We have to change attitudes, including on MN, so that people are not automatically blamed for being poor
not disbelieved or regarded as "entitled" when they are disabled.

Challenge those who lack empathy but don't get banned
Post the facts, to answer their prejudice

Wonderful Obama quote, red 👏🏼

Another spitting image from 1987.
Relevant snippets for current state of play.

Aww mrs I feel much the same to be honest and distract myself frequently to stop spiralling. we are so fucking vunerable
The other wk you posted about being sworn at in the supermarket. I spoke to DP and we decided to do a foodbox for Christmas because of you sharing here.

No Deal or WA it'll get worse... it just will. And that's not your fault or your responsibility. Your doing more than most and that's more than enough. It ent over til it's over and 'they' can't kill us til they kill us... I repeat that a lot to myself

We adore you here and I am sorry you've had a bad day but thank you for making it a better day for others.

mrsr

No Deal or WA it'll get worse... it just will.

It may get worse- but then it will get better. If it's a no deal or an economically punishing WA then finally the electorate will turn on the current Tories. That will happen.

There have been tiny glimmers of hope. We forced a parliamentary vote on Article 50 with the help of the sensible judiciary involved. The House of Lords rejected the Withdrawal Bill first time around and eventually Parliament managed to get a meaningful vote.
May hasn't been replaced with JRM. Compensation is being paid to the Windrush victims. Boris was being prosecuted for his lies last I heard.

I know it's not much and they're desperate straws to cling to but they are chinks of light.

then finally the electorate will turn on the current Tories. That will happen.

But they might turn on others too - the Tories have a way of passing the buck to others.

lonely
Your right there are plenty of chinks of light. I have my heart and mind on revoke and my compromise is a PV. I hope after this shite is over people will find some compassion for others. I'm oddly reassured by all the I know someone racist yet they don't have a problem with their mixed race grandchild/polish neighbour because I think that means person to person humanity is still there. It just gets misplaced in the hype of them and us.

mrsr8, I have you can share. We all need a decent moan every now and then - it's good for the soul.

mrs

I was in dispear the other wk. So much so I thought I better start praying....issue is I'm not religious in the slightest. However sometimes we have to just give it up to something more than ourselves don't we? just me?

(Disclaimer: I mean this in no way in an offence to those who practise religion.)

I prayed to the fucking dog. I got on my knees, his paw clasped between my hands and prayed hard. In my defence, a) it's been a hard year and b) the dog has an air of graceful all knowing.

Moral of the story? Don't think you need to feel silly and yes you are relatively sane in comparison

I too am sick of it all. There’s sod all I can do, so no point getting stressed over it. It probably won’t make much difference to anyone of pension age (I’m in my 30s).
I think TM is not mad enough to bring the UK into absolute turmoil. She couldn’t be that stupid. Therefore I’ll trust her, to get the best deal she can. As I said the remainers that object to it will just increase the chance of a no deal Brexit.
It’s unlikely there will be a second referendum or general election.
As the saying goes, what will be ,will be.

Praying to the dog is an excellent start. Maybe we could all channel something through in that way...

Various recent family bereavements etc made me revisit my atheism anyway and as a result I'm more interested and open minded to it now.

Open mindedness is generally a good thing. I've tried hard to be open minded to the Leave arguments too- but I just can't see it. However hard I try.

There's a cross over with faith issues in my friendship group because two of the most vocal Leavers I know are active Christians. I'm talking heavily involved in the church, running groups, social life hinges around it, fund raising, some missionary type work, fostering and Sunday schooling children. Somehow their EU stance annoys me more,...because on the one hand they profess a sort of Christian benevolence to their 'African brothers and sisters ' yet on the other hand want to close borders to EU citizens and quote Farage and make FB comments about this small country being full.

Thinking about it, if you do have a faith it perhaps makes rejection of facts and figures a little easier -as the Lord will provide perhaps?

I'm not anti religion at all. I was a bit in my lefties student 20s but due to some personal experiences I have recently taken some steps to start exploring it.

I still do think that in the case of the two people I know, their faith is hard to reconcile with the views they circulate daily on FB.

However in the 16 million and 17 million (2016 figs) there are people of faiths on both sides.

To me faith looks like this: I have faith in human kindness, from little things like praising a colleague who needs it or getting a hot tea for the homeless guy outside the tube station to big commitents like that of mrsr8 and humanitarian workers.
I believe in respecting the beauty of our planet. In embracing others, not just tolerating them. In knowledge and wisdom instead of vanity. In generosity rather than blind ambition.

Religious spread is fairly evenly balanced actually..,

www.brin.ac.uk/how-religious-groups-voted-at-the-2016-referendum-on-britains-eu-membership/

😆 @hazardswan

Reminds me of the atheist dyslexic insomniac who stayed up all night wondering if there was a dog.

It will make a difference to people of pension age - their incomes are fixed, so will be hit by price rises. If an economic crash helps kill off the NHS then it will affect pensioners worse, because the young tend not to need the NHS as much.

People of pension age are also more likely to need care workers in the short(ish) term. The impact of losing EU workers alongside a crash in the economy would (imo) have a seriously detrimental effect on the quality of life of people along the whole age range.

The analysis by religion is interesting. The Anglican Church is however a very broad church, with the very High elements like Theresa May, most definitely the Tory party at prayer. There are quite a number of low church parishes which won't be all that much different from non-conformist churches, so probably centre/liberal/moderately left, and then the evangelical/ fundamentalist wing. These tend to be very conservative in outlook and I would expect those being concerned about their African brothers and sisters to belong to this wing. I may be wrong - it's just observing the religious scene locally.

I can't remember if religion has been covered on these threads before? I'm curious so have been googling ...There's more here.

blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionglobalsociety/2016/07/the-eu-referendum-religion-and-identity-analysing-the-british-election-study/

Peregrina you're right about a sort of traditional and evangelical distinction. The person I know who posts daily on FB I would be described as evangelical I think.

blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2018/09/20/how-anglicans-tipped-the-brexit-vote/