Westminstenders: One Pepperoni Pizza Please. And a Milkshake To Go.

[RedToothBrush]

On the Eve of the EU Elections that we never met to happen, and we don't know what the next hour next mind day might bring.

Farage is enjoying the theatre of milkshakes. It means he gets attention and gets to play the victim. And avoid talking about his dodgy friends and even dodgier financing. The Brexit Party are polling so highly its possible he could be PM. And boy does he know it. The temptation is there and its too much to resist.

May has refused to resign so far tonight after a day of asking her to. The 1922 Committee refused to change the rules to help oust her - possibly because they don't want the next PM to be beset with challenges to the leadership at the drop of a hat. Graham Brady is seeing her on Friday... The ERG are not happy bunnies.

May is still apparently planning to plough on with the WAB with a referendum possibly attached. Though this remains to be seen.

Meanwhile Leadsom has just quit the Cabinet. She was one of the Brexit 'Pizza Club'. Rumours are this might be the Cabinet withdrawing support for her. Though Gove has said he doesn't intend to resign (tonight at least).

Rumour is that May's senior staff have abandoned her to let her make the decision to go. And rumours are that when Leadsom rang May to tell her she was leaving cabinet, May didn't tell her senior staff. This comes two weeks after rumours where that Phillip May was at the point of telling her it was time to resign. The rumours of course may be just that, rumours but it's hard to see how or why anyone would tell her to carry on now.

And so tomorrow. Who would vote for this utter shower of shit? Even if you were the most loyal of Tories?

The thing tomorrow is to get the remain vote out. It doesn't matter ultimately what people vote for. Every vote cast for remain keeps the Brexit Party popular vote down. Even if it doesn't win seats. And that is psychologically important.

Tomorrow make sure EVERYONE you know who is anti brexit party votes. More so if they are a Remainer voting for a Remain party, but also if they are solid Labour or the rarest of things, a true blue.

It MATTERS. Narratives will be set.

If you are not sure if you are registered to vote, please TRY ANYWAY. The worst case is you are turned away and have lost 20 mins of your life. But you might also be able to vote and that might change the course of events.

Talk to people tomorrow. Remind them. Make sure it's about preventing a hard right foothold. Apathy will destroy our futures. Being fed up of politicians so refusing to vote is actively shooting yourself in the face.

Who am I voting for?

Still no idea. But I will vote.

Were any people wearing purple or turquoise dg and why did you not buy any chocolate?

And tactical.vote/ep2019/west-midlands/?new says i need to vote lib dem. And now i have come full circle in my over thinking and checking my thinking and rechecking my thinking and balancing the pros and cons and looking at it from a national angle and a local angle i will STOP now a voting site confirms my original thinking 😀

I like to be sure about things....

{....it's not as if they can "de-select" him: he's there in perpetuity.}

You mean they don't even take the bodies out when they die?
Obviously not wishing it to be any time soon but factually it comes to us all eventually.

RIP Judith Kerr. My family loved our collection of your books.

This quote from her obituary just made me cry:

"On Desert Island Discs in 2004, Judith Kerr told Sue Lawley: "I think of the business of the Holocaust, and the one and a half million children who didn't get out as I got out, in the nick of time -- I think about them almost every day now, because I've had such a happy and fulfilled life and they'd have given anything to have had just a few days of it.
"And I hope I've not wasted any of it: I try to get the good of every bit of it because I know they would have done if they'd had the chance.""

An example of a refugee family who contributed so very much to our life and culture. Things could have been so different. They had an anonymous warning that there were plans to confiscate Judith Kerr's father's passport so they fled immediately just 24 hours before the Gestapo arrived at their home to arrest them.

And today fascism is rising again.

Sorry, inopportune X post with Lonely.

One of the reasons I kept well clear of the Brexit grannies yesterday was because if they had engaged me in conversation I would have felt obliged to inform them in no uncertain terms that they were facilitating the rise of fascism in this country, and it might have led to an unseemly brawl outside Asda.

Pink Milkshake KomingUp.

Quite a few from my street have voted which surprised me, but good on everyone for getting out!

Let's hope the turnout from your (admittedly quite small!) street is indicative of the turnout nationwide!

(I'm not a stalker; I've known Dontlick for almost more years than I care to consider!)

@borntobequiet, we had an unseemly brawl inside our local Asda recently. Over sprouts of all things. So outside would be a step up!

A friend shared this and it seemed so appropriate. RIP wonderful storyteller

Just remind everyone that not all grannies voted Brexit. I'm in my fifties and used to wheel my Remain voting 80+ year old mum in her wheelchair.
I arranged for her last vote, a postal vote and she voted Remain (or do she told me ). I set up a secret ballot situation for her. And posted her vote.
She has kids and grandkids whose work depends on us being in the EU (not me but others). I miss her today.

Were any people wearing purple or turquoise dg and why did you not buy any chocolate?

Didn't notice. One thing both DW and I did notice was a security guard outside on pavement into the school, which we haven't seen before.

We don't do chocolate. It's how I lost 5 stone.

Well.
I've done it.
Voted green, and have instructed dh and my mum to do likewise:)

Just been up to vote - seemed to be a steady turnout, like the other week's council elections which was 40% + in our ward.

@CatherineWest1
Sadly, my office has already received scores of reports of EU citizens being turned away from polling stations, despite the fact that they were all registered to vote in local elections a few weeks ago. I'm furious that the Govt refused to act. #DeniedMyVote

@davidallengreen
The force of nature known as @thatginamiller is on to the #DeniedMyVote systemic disenfranchisement of EU citizens.

Please contact her if this happened to you.

@lisaocarroll is also writing about it.

@remainutd
Hi Emma,
We're currently putting together a dossier right now of all of these examples, so if you are happy to do so then you can email us at '[email protected]'

to stripeychina . I’m so sorry about your dog. Lots of luck for your grievance call - I don’t know any useful things to say but I hope you get the right outcome, it’s a very stressful process.
“Goodbye Mog” by Judith Kerr is a great help with departed dear pets - but I’m rapidly tearing up now even thinking about it, and it’s been several years since Scoobycat Senior died.

Waiting until DCs get home from school before voting as I insist they come too - hoping to instil good habits .

Just voted Green.

we may vote today, many others cab’t.

We are no longer living in a Democracy

Well I'm a granny! The Brexit ladies I saw seemed to have gone to some lengths to match their cardigans to the leaflets they were handing out, they looked nice and smiley and sweet but I thought that might be in order to deceive.

No worries LeClerc.
Mog books were a very memorable part of my children's pre school days so I'm posting off pint I guess but it is linked.

I just listened to the desert islands discs with Judith Kerr as a tribute to her . There is some very poignant material at the beginning about how wonderfully England treated her and her family as refugees. She praises the British and our welcome and the tolerance shown to her - her immense gratitude is heart breaking.

It's so very poignant -the contrast with what is happening today is so shameful. I'm all weepy now and can't stop. It's something about the contrast between someone like Judith Kerr who gave so much to 'our' country. Then the contrast with the vile pro Brexit bigotry I've just seen on a FB page.

desert~island~discs~With~Judith~Kerr

{Sadly, my office has already received scores of reports of EU citizens being turned away from polling stations, despite the fact that they were all registered to vote in local elections a few weeks ago. I'm furious that the Govt refused to act.}

It's almost like someone is trying to rig the vote. Doesn't sound very democratic to me.

Will vote LD although I had conflicting advice from the vote websites for Eastern region. Not helpful.

The BJ court case hearing continues. This statement yesterday (from the private prosecutor who brought the case) is important:

Update: Court hearing tomorrow
Dear backers,
Tomorrow, on the 23rd of May 2019, my legal team and I will be attending Westminster Magistrates' Court in Marylebone for a summons hearing in the case of Ball V Johnson. The hearing will take place at 10am.
The court will consider arguments by my legal representatives and Mr Johnson's as to whether or not a summons should be issued against Mr Johnson.
The judge has ruled that this hearing should be open and public, it will not be closed and private as the previous hearing was. However, as I understand it there will be very limited seating in the court. I presume that all seats will be taken by journalists.
I would like to remind all you that Mr Johnson is innocent unless proven guilty. Also, as all of you know, our purpose in bringing this prosecution case is to address lying in politics and set a precedent against it occurring in future. The courts do not have the power to stop or delay Brexit in response to our prosecution. This is not an electoral law or judicial review action.
Over the last three years we have carried out a wide ranging investigation. We've considered prosecution cases against political leaders from both remain and leave. In the early days we even considered judicial reviews and other actions against Brexit itself. However, after a great deal of research, learning and discovery we have decided that addressing the biggest problem is the most important objective. Lying in politics is the biggest problem. It is far more important than Brexit and certainly a great deal older.
Historically speaking, lying in politics has assisted in starting wars, misleading voters and destroying public trust in the systems of democracy and government.
When politicians lie, democracy dies. Working with you all to do something about that has been the greatest honour of my professional life so far. Thank you, all of you. Best of luck to everyone for tomorrow.
Thank you and kind regards,
Marcus J Ball
Private Prosecutor

Whatever happens, if it makes politicians more careful about the claims they make, then it’ll be worth it.

www.crowdfunder.co.uk/brexitjusticeprosecution/updates/92928#start

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/23/boris-johnson-lied-during-eu-referendum-campaign-court-told

^Surely a second referendum that resulted in Remain winning would take the wind out of the SNPs sails a little? em no...because we wanted to remain. So it actually seals it even more in the SNPs favour.
Patronising "little" there hmm^

Whiskey apologies if that came across as patronising. It wasn’t my intention at all. I was simply commenting on the Tory fears that a PV would further justify a second Indy ref and, rather clumsily it would appear, opining that if we don’t have a second referendum on EU membership then a second Indy ref is even more justified. Unless I’ve misunderstood, a lot of voters in Scotland voted to stay in the U.K. because of EU membership and this was used as part of the Remain argument. If they are dragged out of the EU against their will, having voted to remain in the U.K. to retain EU membership, then their justification for wanting a second Indy ref is, I would have thought, stronger than if a PV overturns the Leave vote and so their original reason for voting to stay in the U.K. hasn’t been snatched away from them. That was all I meant by the ‘wind out of the sails comment. For what it’s worth, although I’d be very sad to see you go, I have a great deal of sympathy for those who want Scottish independence.

Runningintothesunset 'attacked' me with that picture. Now thinking of 'my' cats now passed. Afternoon wrecked.

Although Hitler is frequently taken as the most terrible, most of what he 'inspired' to happen were taken from the activities of British, American and so many others previously who managed to cover their activities better.

DG well done on the weightloss. Sercurity is a either reassuring or unnerving.

DP is still not dressed.....

Not that I'm getting impatient or anything

It's not going to be the usual turnout in our area. Running much higher at the moment.