Westminstenders: Silly Season

[RedToothBrush]

It's that time of year again when politicians seem to completely lose their marbles in order to impress the faithful. And it is beginning to feel like conference season is increasingly an exercise in religious ferver to the party rather than considering what's in the best interests of the whole country.

Labour have got off to a good start before their conference opens, by almost starting complete melt down.

The Tories have promised to break from convention and try and over shadow the others, so that's something to look forward to.

And early this week we have the supreme Court ruling which could, regardless of which direction it swings, have massive ramifications for our democracy.

Big week ahead.

This John Smith guy sounds fascinating. Before my time and in another country, I'd never heard of him till this year. Can anyone recommend a good biography of the man?

www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/the-noblest-work-if-john-smith-had-lived.393282/

There is also a TV programme (might be BBC) from years ago (part of a series of historical "What ifs ...?"). which covered JS.

All else being equal, he would have been PM in 1997, and the UK would never gone to Iraq and JS might have acted to pull the US back from that too.

It's a world tragedy.

I still think Boris is going to take us out with no deal so all these arguements in Labour about a second referendum are just a destructive distraction. Maybe I am too pessimistic.

Away with the john Smith worship please, I lived through the demolition of Kinnock by the MSM - Smith had no qualities that meant he would have fared any better. They were still strong enough to trash milliband many years later.
Blair/Brown delivered more socialism than Benn, Foot, Smith - and yes I am old enough to remember Benn in government.
Left wing purists never seem to 'get' that what matters is being in government - its long past time for a realistic assessment of whether a corbyn government could get into power - if not then his cohort need to get out of the way.

I'm in a baking frenzy

I've got a lemon drizzle and choc loaf in the oven already...

At this point in time I'm jealous of those voters who are in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. They at least have viable options to vote for in the next general election. Not so England.

I made two batches of tablet, a melktert (milk tart: a South African dish that is sort of like a custard tart, but milkier and infused with cinnamon and almond essence plus cinnamon sprinkled on top), a big batch of chewy chocolate chip cookies and some cheese scones at the weekend

It was for the cake stall at the rugby club's Minis Festival: I'm now baked out

Depressing analysis by John Crace in the Guardian today not even funny

National Crime Agency (NCA)
@NCA_UK
NCA concludes investigation following Electoral Commission referral regarding loans to Better for the Country Ltd and Leave EU.

nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/public-statement-on-nca-investigation-into-suspected-eu-referendum-offences

I was hoping some one had finally nailed that snake Banks down but clearly not

Gina Miller’s looking happy this morning.

What do you predict as the judgment, @LarkDescending?

I was woken by thunder and lightning at 4:45 am.
Cat was retching last night but I can't find evidence of actual throwing up! Perhaps it's an omen.

An omen of prorogation illegal but no clear direction as to how to proceed.

My prediction:

Justiciable
Unlawful
Indication that Parl needs to be put in a position to decide what next
Liberty to the parties to apply back to the SC if need be

I agree Lark.

It seems to me the choice was between

1. Not justiciable
2. Justiciable and unlawful.

I don't see any real basis on which they could conclude that it was justiciable and lawful, given the failure of the government to provide any evidence. I wish I was there instead of spending the day with my nose in a contract!

That was my thought after listening for 2 of the 3 days too, Lark. Let's hope we're right.

The last part of Friday’s hearing was interesting (re remedies) in that Pannick’s position was “we just want a declaration of unlawfulness” and there was significant pushback from the Justices about whether he needed more - do you need a direction to the PM to reconvene, can the Speaker and Lord Speaker reconvene without being directed to do so/without PM being on board, etc. Pannick stood fairly firm - we just need a declaration. That is all.

Yes, kings! I'm wading through medical records though. Slightly less high brow than a contract!

Medical records sounds much more interesting!

Meanwhile, Barnier repeating that talk of a new deal is just BJ bollocks:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-deal-michel-barnier-boris-johnson-irish-backstop-eu-a9116856.html

“The new UK government wants us to get rid of this solution, the so-called backstop. I am sure you understand this is unacceptable.
My mandate is clear:
safeguarding peace and stability in Ireland and protecting the integrity of the single market,"

Mr Barnier said after meeting Germany's foreign minister in Berlin on Monday.

"Based on current UK thinking it is difficult to see how we can arrive at a legally operative solution which fulfils all the objectives of the backstop
.....
I don’t know how to inspect a cow with virtual methods" 👀
.....
Speaking in New York, Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar [Taoiseach ! ] warned that a hard border would be the UK's fault in the event of a no-del Brexit.

"There is one thing I do know about Brexit from the last two or three years, is that there are some people in Britain, perhaps not in government,
but some people who took the view that France and Germany and the bigger countries would gang up on Ireland,
and that's never happened ....

There are also some people that believe at the last minute that Ireland will somehow fold or give up our position
and that's not going to happen."

ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAKBN1W81LD-OCATP

An EU diplomat said on Monday that Johnson’s government was sticking to a counter-productive approach imposing
“its own, self-made problems on us and demand(ing) that we fix them

“... Why would we bend our rules for a country that is leaving?
Why put ourselves at risk for a third country?

Why help smooth their departure at our own cost?”

LarkDescending I am so sorry, I inadvertently unleashed my Nightwatch superpowers whilst scrolling the thread and have managed to 'hide' your post

I've asked MNHQ to reinstate it

I was hoping some one had finally nailed that snake Banks down but clearly not.

Indeed not - from the link;

"The NCA has found no evidence that any criminal offences have been committed under PPERA or company law by any of the individuals or organisations referred to it by the Electoral Commission. It will therefore take no further action against Mr Banks, Ms Bilney, Better for the Country Ltd or Leave.EU in respect of this specific matter."

"This investigation has been subject to press and social media commentary. The NCA has not received any evidence to suggest that Mr Banks and his companies received funding from any third party to fund the loans, or that he acted as an agent on behalf of a third party."

Records can be fascinating actually. And illegible when handwritten!

I have tea and half-price fancy biscuits passes around ready for the ruling.

I reckon, Justiciable, Unlawful, but not sure who it will be up to to get them back in, government or speakers?

Also surely they can't go back in today, or tomorrow really as all of the Labour party are at their shambolic conference?