Westminstenders: Game On?

[RedToothBrush]

Johnson has had prorogation approved by the Queen.

There has been widespread outrage and horror both in the UK and in Europe. Johnson has ripped up the principle of Liberal democracy even if constitutionally what he has done is legal. In shredding convention and the 'gentlemans agreement' of understanding we teeter on the edge of democratic collapse.

Talk is tha Dominic Cummings is persuing a game theory principle of deliberately putting us on collision course with the EU. The idea being that they will blink first because the alternative of what will happen is just too awful for them to allow. The idea is to force others to make the moves whilst Johnson appears principled and strong, even without a proper strategy and plan for a deal.

And there is the rub. Despite all the Talk of no deal, at some point a deal MUST be made, regardless of whether its before or after 31st October. There is no sense of what that could be and how it could be done. And then there's the prospect of a US deal which suffers from the same lack of tangibility.

All there is, is how things look for a General Election. Nothing else.

Johnson is pitching for an election with no sense of what's needed for Brexit - including the legislation needed for no deal. Not to forget that Cummings, strategist that he is, apparently isn't here for the long haul, only being contracted until 31st October, when he goes for surgery he postponed to take on this job.

So what's the plan for Johnson Post Cummings? Or is he going to do even more 'winging it'.

Meanwhile there's an awful lot of moderate Tory MPs getting very nervous and already failing to stick to the Cummings script.

Johnson, until there is an election is going to firmly blow hot and cool, trying to play to the hopes and fears of leavers and remainers to keep them hanging on to hope and the notion that x or y will happen, when x and y can't possibly both happen because they are completely opposing strategies. Hope leads us blindly to stumble like fools into his trap and to win his reelection.

Next week looks very bumpy indeed. Chances are this thread won't make it past Saturday...

There are laws on toilet provision in schools.
womansplaceuk.org/mixed-sex-toilets-ins-chools/

How can the Tories claim they have a majority if even talking to an MP they include in that majority is a sackable offence?

How can they claim prorogation is about the general business of parliament if communication is forbidden with the previous
chancellor?

How can Johnson claim legitimacy as PM from the parliament elected in 2017 if this is a clean break from the government elected in 2017?

It’s very clear that the version of ‘taking back control’ that Cummings and Johnson are selling has nothing to do with sovereignty or democracy.

Hazard
I don't know if this is any use to you:
www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/healthcare-abroad/healthcare-when-travelling-abroad/healthcare-in-ireland/

You might like to look up some random chemists/pharmacies in Dublin and other parts of Ireland and simply make phone calls to find out if a UK prescription could be filled in Ireland, would the patient himself have to pick it up, cost/any reciprocity with the NHS, what specific information is needed on the prescription...

Numberfaker - well done for highlighting the toilet provisions - it's ammunition like this which is needed. This is another cause to get behind.

Also pressure to provide proper toilet facilities for the disabled.

Can't click on the link numberfaker

I agree mother - both dh and I said WTF were they thinking when we saw it on the news?!

Although the "Republican" matches are a lot less common than the Orange marches, one in Govan is just as deliberately provocative as the one that got cancelled because they weren't allowed to walk past the Catholic Church where last year they spat at at the priest.

....and there is an Old Firm game on Sunday

I could be wrong on this, but is Govan not majority Celtic?

Sky News talks of 'disruptive' counter demonstrators seeking to break up the planned march.

Chief Superintendent Mark Hargreaves said: "Police Scotland has a duty to facilitate processions and any peaceful protest, but this kind of behaviour by persons demonstrating against the parade is utterly unacceptable.

City Council hinting at ending marches.
Do I hear, 'Good, finally and thank you'?

I suspect this march was a show of resolve not to take any further insult to RCs in Govan lying down (esp with the match ahead), with the opposing mob demonstrating how little respect they felt.

We had a sanitary bin in the year 5/6 girls toilets at school 20 years ago, and I don’t think any of us had started our periods yet.

In AIBU there are two threads about racism, one is by a Spanish lady and the other is by an English lady with a EU accent.

It feels like society’s going backwards

Govan wasn't majority Catholic; the Catholics were mostly in the East End, hence Celtic Park being located there.

Govan housed the workers in the shipyards, where the Catholics were discriminated against So the area was majority Protestant. Hence Ibrox being there.

Dh lived in Kinning Park but as a catholic was in the minority. His dad was Protestant though - that rare thing (at the time), a mixed marriage (They met at the dancin' )

Obviously, the city is more mixed now - but a republican walk there, past all the Rangers/Unionist pubs (festooned with Union flags all year round) is a provocative act. Especially with an Old Firm game this weekend.

I feel sorry for the police stick in the middle. Plus for the DV support groups, which always see a big spike in referrals on Old Firm weekends.

Has this been posted:
Barclay wakes up to car industry problems.

Link worked for me? Here’s a link to the actual legislation too
www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/1943/regulation/4/made
And guidelines that are slightly easier to read.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/720244/Advice_on_standards_for_school_premises.pdf

I’ve still not found an answer to the “does VoNC stop prorogation?” question, (I’m presuming not, so they need to be organised if they follow that option) but need to focus on other stuff this weekend.
Best of luck and stay safe to all those protesting today. Especially @borntobequiet who was a wonderful march companion in July!

numberfaker If the VoNC is passed AND a new PM is chosen, then that PM makes policy:
stop prorogation, ask for an extension, call a GE before Brexit

It is possible the shameless BJ might try to stay PM despite the HoC choosing a new one, but the Speaker woud squash that.
Constitutionally, Queen would have to step up, invite the new PM to Buck House and make it clear BJ is out on his arse

If the VoNC is passed, but no new PM agreed, then BJ remains PM until a GE, with date date chosen by him presumably to be after Brexit

That GE period could enable him to shut down Parliament for even longer

That's why a VoNC is a high risk option,
likely only to be used if the other legal / Parliamentary options fail and No Deal is otherwise inevitable anyway.

I thought the plan now was that they weren't going to put in a VoNC but instead are going to put forward something under the SI24 (or 27, I forget which)?

That's the Statutory Instrument that Bercow kept massively hinting at in Parliamentary sessions around the time of the indicative votes.

I think I heard this on the Remainics podcast that came out on Weds.

I don't think it's been widely reported but this might be the 'plan' that they are all staying tight lipped about.

@borntobequiet

Hoping you will pick this message up - sadly I can't make the March after all today as I need to work (mainly as I was so distracted yesterday by all this stuff I barely got any work done)

The plan is to try everything else, thn when the everything else fails, try the VoNC only if they have the votes for a new PM

*standing order not statutory instrument

If there is no Deal, imo it is better that BJ is kept on a knife edge with a 1-vote majority,

rather than let him have a GE and then a probable working majority to carry out the hard right wet dream project