Westminstenders: 1001 Ways to wait for EUCO - Sprouts, Nits and Brexit

[RedToothBrush]

Not much more to say other than, all we can do is wait to hear our fate.

Which seems to lie in the hands of Macron.

I think these tweet sums a lot of it up from a couple of jaded soft leavers

Iain Martin @ iainmartin1
This terrible farce in Brussels tonight is like being British during the eurovision song contest. British entrant awaits fate, watching humiliating results come in, trying to smile for the audience back home.

George Trefgarne @georgetrefgarne
To be honest I think Buck’s Fizz and Cheryl thingummy would have made a better job of it

My advice: Don't wait up!

Pippa Crerar @pippacrerar
EU source on Macron: "He is in a bit of a schizophrenic situation - (his) domestic audience demands that he is tough on Britain for historic reasons. On the other hand, France is among the most-hit in any no-deal Brexit. It will take hours before we pull him down from his tree."

So Macron may end up being the one who gets the UK what it wants but is doing it to be tough on us. I'm not sure I understand EU politics.

lol fair enough, I thought you were going to start hating on the English/England there for a minute.

As Scot who has lived in England for most of their adult life I can see the basic logic in thinking that Scots have plenty of MP's and nothing to whine about. But this doesn't make any allowances for the understanding that if you see Scotland as being in an equal political Union with England it isn't getting an equal political say or anything like it.
I do think that one of the reasons that the EU is more popular in Scotland isn't that Scot's have better education or nicer, less racist people just that all of the blame England dumped on the EU, Scotland has dumped on England.
(Although I do think the Scottish education system is better, with a little wink just for louise)

I had a very interesting chat with a pro Brexiter while working today.
He now agrees its a waste of money shower of &&&&&
BUT
He was really concerned that the EU would punish the UK if it revoked.

I managed to reassure him that many EU leaders are so pleased that the UK has lanced the populist exit boil in their countries that we'll be welcomed back with open arms
so long as we have a different prime minister
he agreed
and now believes that revoke is the best option

one down, several more to go

we also discussed the May 2nd elections - senior Tories are expecting an absolute bloodbath.
The shires may change colour.

Interesting times

Meanwhile, possibly a tad under the radar, but maybe of interest ...

www.reuters.com/article/ecuador-imf/imf-board-approves-42-bln-financing-deal-with-ecuador-idUSL1N20Y1O6

QUITO, March 11 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund’s executive board on Monday approved the $4.2 billion financing deal with Ecuador its staff reached last month, the Fund said in a statement.

The deal will allow the Andean country to receive an immediate disbursement of $652 million, and opens the doors for it to receive an additional $6 billion in loans from other multilateral institutions as it struggles with tight liquidity because of a wide fiscal deficit and a hefty foreign debt load.

“The Ecuadorian authorities are implementing a comprehensive reform program aimed at modernizing the economy and paving the way for strong, sustained and equitable growth,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in the statement.

(contd).

So some (but not I) might suggest that inflation since 33 AD means 30 pieces of silver are now worth $4,200,000,000 ?

I was actually (and admittedly against form) trying to be serious ... the reason Scotland is different to England is because ... well it's next to England to be compared to, and yet isn't England. It's almost as if England is one country, and Scotland another ?

Isn't that the most fundamental level at which geography bleeds into politics ? When peoples views are sufficiently varied - whether by language, population, religion, military might, geography or history - that they become distinct enough to be a "country" ?

If any good is to come out of the clusterfuck that Brexit continues to be, it could (and should) be a really thorough examination of all those issues to help us try and understand what the future could be, and will be.

DGR I recently wrote to Sadiq Khan, as I want to visit an exhibition, saying how inaccessible London is for disabled people, particularly scarcity of BB parking with some areas only accepting ones they have issued.
I got the usual spiel back about some wheelchair accessible tube stations and buses, completely missing the point that I need to travel by car as public transport would be far too difficult and tiring for me.
I really think that in my situation I should be allowed to and I also need to write to him again saying that, while I 100% support the necessity for further congestion charges, I do think BB users should be exempt from them.
I can travel to my local city and park right in the centre which makes my life so much better.
Even if I was able to travel by public transport the cost is prohibitive. £200 train fares for me and DH from E Midlands to London main line station (can’t buy in advance as there’s only a 50% chance I will be able to go on any particular day).
Your DW probably feels, like me, that London is closed to her. It’s very sad.

But tip....change to what colour?
I'm very concerned the far right will benefit

iambuffy
Some seats will go yellow, some will go green, some will go purple, some will go whatever Nigel is using
BUT
Many of us in the shires have experience of UKIP councillors and the majority of them are spectacularly ineffective so will not get voted in by people who know the area

also if Batten and Farage both put up candidates
and the Libdems and greens do not have too many candidates up against each other
it could be exciting

TANGENT ALERT! Because I know you lot know everything...
I've recently started a blog on wordpress, and someone asked me today how they subscribe - I am a complete technofuckwit, but will go back to the site and see if I can work it out. Just wondered if anyone has any idiot-proof instructions? Thank you.

Annunziata good catholic girls' name, along with Immaculata (Immy for short, but Immaculata on the birth cert obvs if you ever follow baby names threads...)

I suggested on another thread that a federal system where everything was devolved except defence/foreign affairs and England had its own parliament (not in London - and maybe not in Birmingham either, maybe somewhere like Leicester?) could work. The Channel Islands are self governing with limited interference from the UK and that could work for all parts of the UK too.

England would still be dominant in the "federation" by its size but you could have vetos for constitutional change and other significant decisions (so eg Scotland and NI could not be dragged out of the EU against their will).

Though I suppose an English parliament would be Tory dominated. That said, things do change. Labour is a lost cause in Scotland these days.

The are not meant to be "super goady" - they are supposed to a be a humorous acknowledgement that most but not all of the people who post of these threads understand a) the "federal" decision making of the EU (via the European Council) and b) that the voices of the individual countries do , via the QMV and the veto for important decisions, have more of a say than Scotland does in WM. The support for Ireland is a good example.

Whereas all the the Indyref "vow" got Scotland was the ability to change road signs, minimal extra ability to change income tax and to keep the "difference" - and EVEL The new Scotland Act didn't even enshrine the permanency of devolved powers - with would have stopped the "power grab" in the Withdrawal Bill.

It doesn't matter that Scotland is represented slightly more per head of population than England . With a population ten times the size of Scotland, England will always have the deciding say

I have already said on previous threads that a proper federal structure would have probably stopped the impetus for Scottish independence. I would, in the past, have supported it. FFA (Full Fiscal Autonomy: keeping all monies raised in Scotland in Scotland and paying the appropriate proportion for "UK services like Defence including Trident ) or Devo Max (whatever one wants to call it) would have also stopped the complaints about the Scots being "scroungers". But I wonder why WM is so resistant to the idea

Your DW probably feels, like me, that London is closed to her. It’s very sad.

We both went on the marches in 2017 - but she would have struggled without me (you never forget the tube ).

Accessibility is getting worse, not better. New St. in Brum is agony if you use a wheelchair, thanks to the textured flagstones. Not that you could get into many shops if you could bear it anyway. Brindleyplace is also subtly (and not so subtly) engineered to ensure wheelchair users get the message loud and clear.

Of course even if you can get inside without incident, there's so much crap strewn around shops, it's impossible to navigate in a wheelchair.

And of course the only way you can be sure of getting anywhere is by car - unless you like English bus roulette. At least I can drop DW off and park in a regular space if push comes to shove (now there's a phrase that fits in this rant). Good job too, since last time we went into town for a night, the police had commandeered all the BB spaces with zero fucks given about replacement provision. I'm still waiting for my FOI request about how they discharged their obligations under the Equality act to be returned.

Sos have just PM'd you after some unexpected delay! Make sure you wear warm clothes for Cambridge tomorrow - there's been a nasty north easterly for the last few days, certainly enough to upset a few brass monkeys

Annunziata good catholic girls' name, along with Immaculata (Immy for short, but Immaculata on the birth cert obvs if you ever follow baby names threads...)

Not foreign to my ears

When I first saw it, it briefly reminded me of the Spanish actress in "Sharpe" ... Assumpta Serna ....

Havingtochangeusernameagain - cross posted with you but I agree about a better federal structure

Concepta is the best of those properly Catholic names.

ooh had forgotten Assumpta and Concepta!

Wow. I’ve never heard any of those names. But then again I know like 2 catholics and was brought up in an atheist household, so not too surprising. I guess Assumpta is still better than KVIIIlyn...

Sos just caught up with the thread - I’m an alumna of one of the colleges you mentioned; my take on things will be a couple decades out of date, but if you’re looking for further info feel free to PM me. And have a lovely time with DGD tomorrow.

horseshit may I recommend the film nuns on the run as a good way to get familiar with these names and some other basic catholic ideas.

Testicles, Spectacles, wallet and watch!

Spectacles,
Testicles,
Wallet & watch ....

I love mad Catholic names too. Consuelo is a good one.

It "doesn't matter" that Scotland has proportionally more of a say than England does? just wow! Basic fairness would tell you that can't be right.

Scotland has its own Parliament, and these additional MPs, that an imbalance in favour of Scotland not against it. England having a population of 55m plus is hardly England's fault, is it?

From wiki on The Scotland Act 2016

The Act[edit]

The act gives extra powers to the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government,[1] most notably:[2]
The ability to amend sections of the Scotland Act 1998 which relate to the operation of the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government within the United Kingdom including control of its electoral system (subject to a two-thirds majority within the parliament for any proposed change).
The ability to use such amendment to devolve powers to the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Ministers over areas such as abortion, welfare foods, onshore oil and gas activity, rail franchising, energy efficiency, and advice
Management of the Crown Estate in Scotland.
Control over Air Passenger Duty in Scotland.
Enhanced control over 8 social security benefits including Best Start Grant, Carer's Assistance, Cold Spell Heating Assistance, Disability Assistance, Discretionary Housing Payments, Employment Injury Assistance, Funeral Expenses Assistance, Winter Heating Assistance and the housing elements of Universal Credit and also the ability to top up reserved benefits.
Substantial control over income tax including Income Tax rates and bands on non-savings and non-dividend income.

Are the Scottish Parliament using all those new powers yet?

Hahaha

Got it wrong.

And me a good Catholic school girl 😃😬