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...

Yes, an alternative Parliament would have no power

Its only use would be to raise sufficient public outrage for strikes etc to topple the govt - that might work if we had a year, but it won't work if there are only a few weeks

Bercow's place in the history books would be in one of those quirky side stories that illustrate the inevitability of other events

I read an analysis that Cummings blog, if you wade through the endless screeds,
is basically calling for something like the Brexit party, but with Cummings controlling it instead of Farage

It lays out a radically different party setup, very like 5 star & the Faragists, in which the leader manipulates the voting of its supporters

His aims have nothing to do with a Conservative party, which by definition broadly aims to "conserve" the status quo

He is a far right nihilist, wanting to bring everything crashing down

Mike Galsworthy is one of the leaders of Scientists for the EU. He has been speaking up for U.K. Science and the vast majority of Scientists since the referendum campaign. In particular he has a track record of reaching out to prominent leavers for dialogue including Cummings. My WiFi is dodgy but I will post some links later when I am back in signal. If he has a weakness in terms of credibility it is a tendency to swagger and run his hands through his long flowing locks in a way that suggests he knows he is gorgeous 😂 disclaimer: not my type

My apologies for derailing: I just wanted to answer/thank people regarding the toilet provision at school.

The school is an academy. It has an “Executive” head 🙄 and she is female.
The day-to-day head is more approachable and I will speak to her.
Thank you for the link to the regulations. I noticed that, while they say girls’ toilets should have sanitary provision, they don’t say that they must.
In my experience, this can be a get-out clause: “must” is understood to mean exactly that, “should” is merely good practice.

Great atmosphere at the London protest. LOTS of people!

No cite as yet

Sajid Javid, Chancellor of the Exchequer, is to be deprived of policy power with all major economic & financial decisions to be made through Dominic Cummings & his team at Nr. 10.

If that's the way it's going to go, then the Saj might as well throw his lot in with the Tory rebels. In fact this all starts to sound far too desperate / outrageous and actually designed to provoke a rebellion so that Johnson can blame others (AGAIN) for stopping him delivering Brexit.

I think Cummings is a pure theorist. Hence his passion for mathematics. If the equation balances, QED. The messiness and compromises of realpolitik aren't interesting to him. The rest is about how to sell the equation he's decided is best. Im sure that gove's 'the British people have had enough of experts' was one of his. At a stroke it silenced anyone with knowledge or facts on their side.

One day he will write a book saying he was wrong to be involved in this. But at least i feel unsilenced now. I may be the metropolitan elite but so is he.

Great Oxford demo, lots of Conservative voices. I feel hopeless as ever but my stockpile isnt bad and we are healthy enough.

If that is the case DGR , then wow just wow

I can just about understand the policy and economic decisions being No 10's responsibility, but financial decisions?

So much for "taking back control from the unelected EU bureaucrats"

Remind me, who elected Dominic Cummings?

girls’ toilets should have sanitary provision, they don’t say that they must

'should'

Young girls are taught through this to be ashamed of our bodies.

Our periods, fecundity, and 'agreement' to carry on reproducing are the only biological fact which keeps the human race going.

Periods should be celebrated and girls nurtured through them. They should not continue as they have always been in the west, to be a source of shame.

Rant over. Sorry.

None of these things should be allowed to happen in a country like this

Like bullies say: "Who's going to stop me?"

That's the whole point of today's protests.

As I said, no cite (I move in a lot of dark places) so it may be FAKE NEWS ?

If not, I note my posting last night - "The Saj" has served his purpose and is now having a knot tied in the bottom before being discarded like all prophylactics.

I suspect if Priti Patel had any ideas about "doing her own thing", they are being hastily reassessed. So Daniel Hannon is going to learn why it feels like when Tories say "fuck you" to their own too. Although clearly he's go to go as well. Can't have people like him around when there's real work to do.

Since an autumn election can be assumed, how does that fit with the Tory/Labour seasonality ? I've only ever voted April/May/June, although my school would have been shut October 1974.

Javid - relationship with PM is fantastic and as strong as ever.

Some links www.scientistsforeu.uk/who_we_are

They are worth following in Facebook

www.facebook.com/scientistsforeu/

This is very painful in several ways but particularly as it is in the dark days of May’s incompetence from the start but as proof he reaches out here he is in discussion with prominent Brexiteer Pete North, albeit he is a Brexiteer you can respect for actually knowing what he is talking about

mobile.twitter.com/mikegalsworthy/status/919239307889487877?lang=en

Galsworthy's cheeriness and strategising has been eminently useful throughout the last 3 years. I posted that clip cos he was predicting darkness for the 1st time, and particularly concerned about how JC is going to play it today. Still hoping it will be ok.

BBC is reporting london protest, strangely. I do not trust them.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49534940#

Thanks, Emily.

I've been hiding from the Westminsterenders threads most of the time as I find the whole thing excruciating, but with enough strong cups of tea and rest breaks maybe I should actually get into the grimy details of what Brexit really is likely bring.

[gulp]

BBC1 1pm news had Mark Easton saying, "There are thousands here in London but not the millions that were here before. And just as significant are those that aren't marching as they support what's going on"

I'm paraphrasing what dh told me as I got in from hanging the washing out a few minutes after 1pm and he'd already turned back to Sky News in disgust. But they're just covering what's happening in Hong Kong (almost uninterrupted for the last 45 minutes) - but at least, 14 minutes into Sky News' 1pm, they're now doing a decent piece about it from around the UK.

Alexei Sayle wrote a short story about a load of OAPs who turned hitmen .. quite aside from being inconspicuous , they knew they'd have a better life in prison if caught than trusting to the local council and their pension.

Not quite sure why I remember it, now

(FWIW if you like short stories, AS is a good writer. Unlikely to see him on the syllabus though, with lines like and her arm had grown from all the handjobs she was giving .... )

If anyone was at the Manchester protest, do they agree with the Sky assessment that there was "about a thousand" there?

I like AS books too.
His autobiography was v funny

Signing in from the York demo.

What the actual fuck is happening?

Can't make it to any marches today a) DP is worried about it kicking off and me being caught up in it (should i be concerned about what he thinks about me he seems worried about me being arrested ) B) DP is wiped out and asleep.

Avoid stress the doctor says - stress causes flares.

Thanks maths for the link it looks like useful info.

Once we've gone through the process of obtaining meds when the UK has no meds I'll name change and start a thread. Heads up it costs money

Also I'm worried no one is taking stock over what meds are being cut off and they are leaving patients isolated and alone. Pharmacist was depressed and not being kept informed by the powers at be instead he's left dishing out bad news.

Can't make it to any marches today a) DP is worried about it kicking off and me being caught up in it

Not sure where the LeaverBots have been these past 3 days ? Last time they were in full force trying to scare all and sundry off.

prettybird numbers don't need to be big for these to be very useful events. They will inevitably be small and will have brave people who've never done this before. These protests may be the 1st time that unhappy leavers/remainers, and people from all parties have got together.

Could be very useful for coming election.

to hanah thanks for going