Westminstenders: It's oh so quiet...

[RedToothBrush]

It's oh so quiet // It's oh so still // You're all alone // And so peaceful until

You ring the news // Bim bam // You shout and you yell // Hi ho ho // You broke the spell // Gee, this is swell you almost have a fit // Brexit is fab and I got hit // There's no mistake get on with it

'Til it's over and then // It's nice and quiet //
Shh shh // But soon again // Shh shh // Uh oh let's start a big riot

You blow a fuse // Zing boom // The devil cuts loose // Zing boom // What's the use
Wow bam // Of leaving the EU

It's gone quiet.

May was supposed to go on a tour of the EU to get concessions. She hasn't.

Instead we are currently stuck in an internal never ending debate about Alternative Arrangements (which is being abbreved too A. A. by less convinced souls) and how Germany got all the money from Marshall Aid (it didn't) and how navy ships can suddenly sprout front opening hulls to become roll on roll off ferries to emulate the spirit of Dunkirk. One of our greatest ever military defeats, which merely had good PR.

The idea that there is going to be any shift in position between now and 14th Feb seems unlikely. It suits the EU and it suits the ERG to be blunt about it. It does not suit the UK national interest though.

Instead our livihoods and futures are slowly drip, drip, dripping away. Invisible to those loved up on the idea of Leaving. But like a newly wed, how long does that feeling last? 42% of British marriages end in divorce after all. When do people fall out of love with Brexit?

The revelation of the need for the WAIB is scary too. The WAIB is the Withdrawal Agreement Implementation Bill. You can read more about it here:
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1091734003265224708.html
Well I say you can read about it, but from the thread you can see that the WAIB hasn't been published yet. And for us to Brexit without a legal and constitutional nightmare parliament needs to pass both the WA And the WAIB. And if you thought it was difficult to get the WA through just wait until you clap eyes on the WAIB details.

With this in mind there are noises from the ERG about an A50 extension. Y'know the one we can't have unless the EU think it's it their interests too.

mlexmarketinsight.com/insights-center/editors-picks/brexit/europe/the-uk-rips-out-its-eu-law-drip,-only-to-hook-up-to-another
More on the WAIB.

Of course there is a more sinister explanation: May does indeed intend to no deal and or use civil contingency law to pass the WAIB in whatever form she sees fit without parliamentary scrutiny.

Tick, tick, tick.

A friend told me today not to worry about brexit as "we survived before and we'll survive again". I didn't say much. My history lessons were rather grimmer in reminding me, that the ones who didn't survive don't get to be so optimistic.

Good on Tusk!

Why should there be any political stance for remain ? They have to respect the referendum, they are voted in to represent the public, most of the trouble is being caused by to many politicians etc who want to remain, they voted to give us the vote, voted to implement A50 without a plan, they should have all accepted we are leaving and decide on the best way to leave

I see some of the twitter FBPE people as getting as bad as hardline brexiteers in the sense that they lack a plan and pragmatism. Its deeply frustrating. There is a lack of vision and leadership there. I see many of the same faults. The Remain collective has been handicapped by competing campaign groups who never wanted to work together and didn't communicate effectively with each other. The Corbyn blinkers haven't helped some. In others, the lack of awareness of the world has been quite striking too. And don't get me started on Gina Miller. For all the good she did (and she was brilliant) beyond the court case, she's never really 'got it' and connected with people. It not hard to see why some leavers dislike their tone, the entrenched position, the lack of awareness of social problems and have something of an superior attitude. Many have been text book examples of how not to win friends.

I don't know. I get annoyed by it all. I've never been a remainer who thinks 'we should accept the referendum and get on with it' yet neither have I been a 'we must save the country by revoking a50' type either.

I don't think either path really solves the problem. They both hampered by a short termist popularist approach without any real substance.

Everything that has been suggested by any party has, in all honesty.

Our downfall has been ideology over realism.

I have to say, for this reason, thats why I find Tusk's bluntness so refreshing. His comments are not necessarily purely aimed at leavers; he is also by default refering to remainers who arrogantly thought they would win and therefore lacked any foresight into what would happen if leave won. (He may as well have named Cameron tbh).

I don't know. I don't see any leadership forthcoming from anyone even now. And thats the biggest worry, regardless of what happens on the 29th March.

You can't solve a problem if you can't recognise the exact nature of the problem and you simply assume what the problem because thats your gut instinct.

I wouldn't normally do this - but, just to add a palate-cleanser before the next round of crappy news, here is Owen Jones, in a classic piece of Corbyn arse-licking whataboutery gaslighting brainwashing:

Twitter, Owen Jones, Just now, sub-tweeting the Donald Tusk 'circle of hell' remark:

This is a very reasonable question. But another reasonable question is, what will the special place in Hell look like for the EU leaders partly to blame for the mass drowning of thousands of refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean?

13:06 6/2/19

Honestly. Corbyn's betrayed his members, his MPs, the disadvantaged and vulnerable of the UK. Why? Because he is incompetent and has neither the political skill nor the intelligence to develop a political strategy adequate to the demands of the C21. He 'leads' within Labour within s tightly-knit, unelected, unaccountable, secretive cabal.
He's crap.

And this is what Jones comes up with. The Bully's Lieutenant's toadying reinforcement of an insult-laden, intelligence-free message to keep the cult members half asleep and still drinking the kool-aid.

cat Corbyn seems to have checked out as leader of the Opposition:
it doesn't interest him, he cba to put in the time and he's no bloody good at it - even those who like his policies must realise that

He'll be 70 in May
imo, if there isn't a GE by this summer, or if the Tories win a clear majority, I expect him to stand down
Party membership is strongly pro-EU, so there would be a good chance of electing a leader of the left who wants SM+CU, or would even go for Rejoin if Brexit turns out v badly.

You can't solve a problem if the solution you propose isn't properly scrutised. If you just say that people who criticise you are ideologically incorrect, you are on a hiding to nothing.

You need to acknowledge and be honest about the potential pitfalls.

The lack of honesty all around is staggering.

Meanwhile, maybe Germany beckons ...

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-28/german-cannabis-office-seeks-local-growers-to-secure-pot-harvest

Germany’s leap into homegrown medical marijuana is nothing if not orderly.

The government is moving to assure a local supply of the drug by giving out grower contracts for 10,400 kilograms (22,928 pounds) of pot over the next four years. The Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices’s so-called Cannabis Agency will choose between 79 bidders from growers by the end of June, the agency said on Monday.

(contd)

Why should there be any political stance for remain ? They have to respect the referendum, they are voted in to represent the public, most of the trouble is being caused by to many politicians etc who want to remain, they voted to give us the vote, voted to implement A50 without a plan, they should have all accepted we are leaving and decide on the best way to leave
Total word salad.
Politicians implement stuff all the time that the next government rescind after an election. Not sure why Brexit should be immune?

Also, our MPs are representatives, not proxies. They get to choose what they think is in the best interests of their constituents. There is no reason they have to "respect the referendum". If they don't, they can be fitted out at the next election . That's how it works.

I'm still waiting for a grown up to come and take charge. Brexit is a deeply damaging national embarrassment.

I'm very keen on tusk.

He certainly shows up our pathetic so called public servants.

they voted to give us the vote, voted to implement A50 without a plan, they should have all accepted we are leaving and decide on the best way to leave

Well, i believe that if you make a mistake, you try and learn from it!

If a course of action no matter how well intentioned, throws up insurmountable problems (decline of the economy/NI border) then a mature and wise Government should change course.

To simply carry on regardless is folly and in no other walk of life would anyone accept this as what must be done.

Cat, Owen Jones is the King of Straw Men.

He always does this, on everything, when he's run out of other ways to defend the Dear Leader.

He would definitely go on my list of people to go to a special place in hell.

I suspect for him this would be merely require him to be locked in a room with Boris Johnson which works quite well for my own conscience tbh.

The EU is changing, ironically in a direction Brexiters would like:

the EU public is against accepting migrants from the Middle East / North Africa, or even large numbers of refugees from there.

Policy is already changing to reflect that and the EP elections will probably speed that up.

The EU is moving on; the UK - including blind Labour loyalists like Owen, not just the Tories - is still fighting old battles

I really hope you're right, BigChoc.

It's why I've kept my membership. 🙂

I know, Red.

Usually, I can laugh at him. But I've been talking to too many Corbynites and following them on Twitter recently to laugh about it. ☹️

jasjas1973 Where was the plan ? Nothing has changed from the time they voted, they were ( or should’ve been ) well aware of their actions

@Hesta54 - 58% of people voted stay . Shouldn't they be represented? Did I wake up and this country is not a democracy? Because you have diff veliefs you shouldn't be represented- and don't roll out the leave claptrap - we all know it. It is woefully short of facts and is just slogans.

Hesta54 - Honest answer? i don't think the MPs or Govt realised what they were embarking on, they live in a different universe to you or i.
e.g. Raab not realising the importance of Dover to our trade, Bradbury the NI sec, not understanding why loyalists vote differently to Nationalists or Grayling and trains!
It is only now they are starting to realise what they've gone and done and are looking for someone else to blame.

They will fcuk off with their directorships, seats in the Lords and leave us to live with their mistakes.

mrslaughan Please can you tell me where you get that figure, please don’t tell me you’ve included the people that didn’t vote or the ones that couldn’t vote,
Unfortunately in a democratic country when is the majority’s opinion represented,

Sorry 48%!

jasjas1973 You may be right or wrong but we have to carry out the referendum result now, to see/show how good, bad, indifferent leaving will be, it’s what the public voted for

Sorry for my mistake Hesta - but you are just spouting leave rubbish. Demographic's show that enough of leavers have died - that if the exact people voted today - and the same way it would end up with the opposite result.
But none of this gives a way forward.
It's all very playground - we won so we get to have it all our way - thing is none of you know or knew what "our way" meant, and have made little effort to make it up as you go along.....

Hesta why- when the assurance was given again and again that it was advisory?

mrslaughan Please can we stop this nonsense about advisory, Parliament have taken the result and ran with it, DC could have easily said the next day that the government have listened to the people etc blah, blah, but they didn’t, it sad to say that Parliament have let all of us down

I don't quite understand the argument that if leavers should have had a plan, then so should remainers. The remain plan was to stay in the EU. The leave side were the ones pushing for large-scale change, but without any apparent pragmatic idea as to how this was supposed to be implemented to the benefit of the country, apart from "to see/show how good, bad, indifferent leaving will be".

'they are voted in to represent the public, most of the trouble is being caused by to many politicians etc who want to remain, they voted to give us the vote, voted to implement A50 without a plan, they should have all accepted we are leaving and decide on the best way to leave'

Christ. What a lot of gobbledegook.

They're elected to govern. Driving the country off the cliff edge is irresponsible governance.