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...

Very sketchy on the detail of that when pushed @Peregrina!

does anyone know if the supply of Olanzipine (or similar antipsychotics) or heavy duty tranquillisers is being affected?

My goodness that's a massive change in Trump!

Aroom Olanzipine is showing as in stock at Lloyd’s online.

Hooo don’t think Hazard is on FB.

Singing thanks,
(sorry I didn't realise it was so easy to check for myself)x

Interesting letter from CofE bishops.

I think it's very measured in its approach. And, regardless if you're religious or not, it raises important points.

He's being more slippery than ever, implying that even if stop no deal legislation is passed they might not abide by it

Back to the point made previously on Westminstenders -(tweet of a scribbled note with words, action and then reaction off in the distance that I can't find )
What is said by this rabble Government has nothing to do with what they intend to do. Isn't it to bully and confuse enough Tories to not rebel and to play to the hard core no dealers at the same time?

As for the polls, for those who know far more than I do, how much do they mean given we have FPTP? How good a predictor of seats are they? Starting with if SW England marginals go LibDem and Scotland loses Tory seats?

I think there is a lot of gamesmanship going on. All the talk going on about us being prepared for no deal, yet we all, including the EU, can see that we are not in any way fully prepared.
I wonder if the leaks are happening accidentally-on-purpose so that we are in reality being told that the govt know no deal would be disastrous. The confusion about drug supplies point to this too.
Personally I am starting to believe that this is an elaborate trap to get the WA through at the last minute whilst looking like the govt did want no deal.
We all know that no deal was not on the table, despite what a few odd'uns think.

No on the table originally, I mean.

Will people run out of food?

People will have the food they need.....

Now that was an interesting answer by Gove.

How many people - unable to obtain their regular medication - will not then be able to do their daily jobs ?

How will replacements be found at short notice ?

How many organisations, lacking key employees will begin to be unable to function as usual ?

And - crucially - how quickly would that start to create a knock-on effect ? Upthread someone was lazily thinking "fuel shortage ? won't affect me I work from home." Could they say the same of a meds shortage.

Of course drivers who rely on medication to control their conditions may no longer be insured to drive.

We live in a complex world.

I have to admit it. I’m still in denial. I can’t BELIEVE that THIS country I’m so proud of (even if I wasn’t born here) could be so stupid. I look at it on a rational level and I think it’s possible; it definitely looks probable by the words on press and tv, but it can’t possible be true.

I know we said it before.
I know my relatives in Caracas went through the same process, probably
I know my friends in former Yugoslavia did (and they came through, luckily, but the scars are still there)
But why, Jesus, why would anyone take this risk?????

Someone, somewhere else is thinking that an election will be declared on Thursday.

Regarding the Javid story yesterday, all attempts to find a cite have failed, but the original source admits they've lost it too It briefly popped up on a blue-ticked account for no.10, apparently.

Either way, it wasn't a shock. Javid has clearly been undermined with contempt - the message is clear. Although I do wonder with his advisors name - S. Khan - whether there wasn't some sort of confusion about "deal with that Khan" order ?

Fans of Nazism (note the upcoming BBC documentary) will know that Hitler used to frequently give identical unwritten orders to two or more subordinates, and let them fight it out to deliver them.

We really are living through a very crap Nazi tribute government. They haven't even managed to appropriate any mystical symbols, and come up with a natty uniform. Say what you like about the Nazis, but they were stylish. Grey is so versatile I find.

Btw the EU is consistent

Brexit: Michel Barnier rejects demands for backstop to be axed - BBC News
apple.news/A6QlMuBzZRfy-wUC2Azq3og

But an election can't be 'declared', it has to be voted for. So that's duff news in and of itself.

It's terrifying cherin. I'm worried for the future of this country.

They haven't even managed to appropriate any mystical symbols, and come up with a natty uniform

Yet.

I've lived in a country that had a fuel shortage.

It affected everyone, all the time, including the majority who didn't have their own transport or didn't work out of the home. And this was in a country that wasn't heavily dependent on Just In Time ordering.

Even if you're not travelling on a given day, the food you'd like to eat and the services you'd like to use will travel, or require you to travel.

One day's stoppage is mildly annoying. Longterm shortages completely degrade functioning of the country.

I've lived in a country that had a fuel shortage

Remember the UK in about 2000? I was abroad at the time but it was news there.

Long queues, rationing, etc

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/924574.stm

And that was because of strikes. Something relatively easily solved. But this will be disruption at ports.

Carpediem1, it was this tweet + doodle. Which I think are bang on.

twitter.com/J_amesp/status/1166965322752167936?

But an election can't be 'declared', it has to be voted for. So that's duff news in and of itself.

(peeves)

I did note that upfront. I'm rightly wary of uncited and unproven sources, but by the same token, not all news can be cited and proven while it's news. My immediate reaction was it originated outside the UK, and indeed may have been based on something being discussed well away from UK sources.

Either way, I just left it there for thought.

Meantimes, why does Johnson say that anti-no-dealers are making no-deal more likely and then in the same breath say they won't achieve anything ?

Or - more importantly - are todays journalists so shit they can't spot an oxymoron anymore ?

Or was Johnson continuing trying to goad remainers ?

Well done to everyone who marched. We had tickets for a small festival thing and so feeling very fickle decided (as we've done 5 previous marches) we could miss this one -although I still feel guilty.

On the Sonia Khan thing...

1. Yes It's outrageous that temporary employee Cummings can end someone's career without the chancellor even knowing.
2. It's wrong she wasn't given an opportunity to put her side of events properly and clearly.
3. It's very wrong she was escorted immediately off the premises by armed police.

But the most worrying thing is that the only thing she is accused of is ...just talking to Philip Hammond. So someone who until a few weeks ago held the second most important office in the land is now an outlaw.

How can current Tory popularity be increasing? Surely if the situation is so bad that the recent chancellor of the exchequer is seen as public enemy number one then it should be clear to everyone that something is fundamentally rotten?

There should be dialogue, debate and to enable this there was no need for urgency or deadlines. We had the 5 th strongest economy before - if the country and parliament couldn't agree on how to change our trade then we should have continued the status quo until the best course of action became so clear it ultimately achieved consensus. That may have taken 5 years, 10 years etc- but there was no deadline other than a self imposed one.

Everyone should be worried that the an individual who was recently chancellor can become an outcast so quickly. What next? In other countries the next step would be be to imprison former ministers on trumped up charges or placing them under house arrest.

You may well be right Socksontheradiator

that could be BJ's plan - de Pfeiffel managing to do what May couldn't - particularly since the threat of crashing out has been whipped up to fever pitch. On the other hand there is nihilist Cummings who wants everything to crash and burn while mates and family, Max Johnson make millions speculating. Either way they win; BJ is a hero as we leave with a deal even though the threat of no deal was of the Government's making or there is no deal and they become ever richer having made zillions against sterling no deal anyway being the fault of the EU. BJ and Cummings's behaviour, and now the cabinet as a whole, reminds me of Pride and Prejudice and the passage assessing the villain Wickham
It really is too great a violation of decency, honour, and interest, for him to be guilty of it. I cannot think so very ill of Wickham. Can you, yourself, Lizzy... believe him capable of it?
Not perhaps of neglecting his own interest. But of every other neglect I can believe him capable....We both know that he has been profligate in every sense of the word. That he has neither integrity nor honour. That he is as false and deceitful, as he is insinuating.

BJ (and the rest of the cabinet being part of this) don't care. This is about power. Whatever it takes.

Thanks for finding the tweet Perkingfaintly. It is spot on

Unfortunately, I think that Corbyn has a Pavlovian reflex about the idea of a GE (viz his continued insistence on trying for a GE and not looking for a PV, going against what the Labour Party Conference had agreed ), so if he is presented with the opportunity to over-ride the FTPA and go for a GE, he would walk straight in to the trap go for it