Westministenders: Conference Cult

[RedToothBrush]

Is it over yet?

The Tory Party Conference is in full swing in the Manchester Rain, and is proving to be its usual fun.

Johnson is caught up in all sorts of allegations of abuses of power - the non-declaration of his "friendship" to a busty blonde whom was getting a large tax payer grant, and then there the Odey question after his sister said he was under the control of the Hedge Funders.

And thats before we talk about the 40 hospitals, his provocative language and how many times he can say the word surrender.

There is lots of distancing from Lyton Crosby. And accusations that Johnson has gone 'rogue' only listening to the wisdom of Cummings and Symonds.

The Queen apparently has asked for advice as to under what circumstance she can dismiss a PM.

AND NO ONE IS EVEN TALKING ABOUT A DEAL.

Lewis Goodalll@lewis*_goodall

The point is, if these proposals are real, then not only are we not progressing, we’re going backwards to December 2017,
because the govt is resiling from the promises on Ireland the UK entered into then (no border infrastructure etc).

My DM and her DB bought their DM a fridge in the 1960s. When my DGM got a new one in the 1980s she gave the old one to my DM. We had it until around 2005.

The cooker was bought by my parents in the early 70s and lasted until around the same time.

They don't make em like they used too.

DGR I'm typing this on an old Motorola I use when my phone is charging. DH bought me a new phone as a gift as the screen on this is cracked and not worth fixing apparently. It's about 4 years old I think, and if I hadn't dropped it, it would still be fine. My laptop was bought in 2012 and it's still going fine (new battery and new charger bought a couple of years ago).

DH has gone through 3 phones in the same time - Sony ones seem to just give up after a while (screen stops working even though no cracks, headphone jack, charger port, battery life). All too expensive to fix compared to getting a new phone. (Though I do intend to fix one despite the cost of fixing being nearly the same as a new phone.)

I am sick of hearing the phrase "dither and delay" It will go down in history along with "strong and stable" as part of how the tories fucked the UK.

A Brexiter fantasy finally killed, but noone cares:

Ian Duntt@IanDunt*

You'll notice no-one claims you can have have frictionless trade outside the customs union and single market anymore.

Funny isn't it.
How long did we live with that nonsense? Two years?

Countless interviews and debates filled with incessant gibbering horseshit.
Plainly false.
Stated anyway.

And then one morning you wake up and it's gone.

The alternative arrangements lot accept trade won't be frictionless.

The PM admitted today there'd be a need for checks.

But no acknowledgement, let alone apology.

This is how a post-truth society takes hold:
people switching positions without even realising that they're doing it.
A complete disconnect between objective reality and what people say.

Farage & half the ERG would always have attacked any deal as surrender

And they're going to continue to be stuck in that groove for the rest of their careers. It's their raison d'être. Even if we get the glorious departure they all want on the 31 st then still on the 1st the third party procedure on the new relationship starts.

The Irish backstop, the UK’s financial contribution, and EU citizens’ rights, the Court of Justice of the European Union all have to be readdressed as a precondition for trade talks
Each and every step along this way will be attacked.

What was good about the Jo Swinson interview, please?

I'd quite like the 80s back minus....

Don't forget the disasters. Piper Alpha, Exxon Valdees, Herald of Free Enterprise, Bradford City stadium fire, Clapham junction train crash, Kings Cross fire. And a few more I've forgotten. All having massive influence on current engineering design and build standards.

But hey. Bonfire of Red Tape is such a catchy phrase

Swinson interview was a bit of negotiating time.

fwiw I have no time for her or her 'ambition'. She would ruthlessly 'do anyone' to get some power.

Calling them "customs clearance sites" instead of "customs posts" is the usual British govt trick of renaming a problem instead of solving it

Jonathan Powell@jnpowell1 (ex civil service, was Blair's chief of staff)

If this is the British Government proposal to replace the backstop it is taking the mick.
It doesn’t matter if the hard border is five miles, ten miles or twenty miles back, it is still a hard border.

Suggests the government was always aiming for no deal.

"I've always been in favour of women on top"

Does R4 usually ask about people's sex lives?

The point is, if these proposals are real, then not only are we not progressing, we’re going backwards to December 2017, because the govt is resiling from the promises on Ireland the UK entered into then (no border infrastructure etc).

As I recall, Boris claims that his shower of cunts - sorry "cabinet" - constitute a "new government", so fuck off with anything that Theresa May agreed to.

Weren't there reports month ago that the EU had flagged up the UK was already breaking undertakings given in 2017 ?

In fact I just thought the ERG and Farage remind me of an ex boyfriend I had in the early 80s. He had come from a very deprived background, five siblings in a two bedroom house, unemployment issues, truancy etc. Whenever things went well for him as a 20 something in London- getting promotions etc he'd then mess it up almost deliberately by arguing with his boss or going off sick. It's hard to explain but psychologically it was like the struggle was his comfort zone as that's all he'd known..

The ERG Faragist comfort zone is like this - it's attacking the EU. It's all they've known. They will continue to do that always, whatever relationship we have with it. As a member, as a distant trading partner even hypothetically ( as it's impossible) as a non trading partner. Whatever the relationship they need their raison d'être - which is to oppose it.

It’s too depressing. Here is JRM in icing sugar and glycerin.

No Brexiteer will ever need to apologise for getting anything wrong, as it will always be the EUs fault.

In a time full of analogies, it's a little like gathering together a class of 8 years olds with the promise of a free day out at Alton Towers, and when you get there and discover that Alton Towers (being a commercial concern) actually want paying. At which point you tell your disappointed charges that it's all the fault of those nasty Alton Towers people that they can't have their free day out.

It could so easily be an AIBU posting

Potentially stupid question klaxon

Re Irish border - I agree that the current proposal is lunacy.

However, if the government does engineer No Deal, there will still have to be some form of customs control and inspection post won't there? So how will that be achieved?

Posting another pic of Mr Tom. Please compliment him, he's getting restive!

It could so easily be an AIBU posting

As could I don’t want to be with my partner anymore I wish to go and start new relationships with other people but I think I should still have access to my nice warm house but I don’t want to pay towards this because I might not use all it’s facilities all the time. AIBU.

@Grinchly

Yes a No deal will mean checks on the British border in Ireland, probably very like the ones being suggested now but they will be temporary.

The UK needs a trade deal, they need the temporary deals that keep planes flying etc extended. The first thing they will have to deal with to get those or any meaningful trade deal is the border.

Oh and the person who is negotiating for the EU is Ireland’s Phil Hogan. He wants a strong successful UK post Brexit but he will put Ireland’s and the EUs interest first.

NoCryingInEngineering good point. I was born in 76 so young during the 80s but I remember all too well the disasters.

Thanks Innui. Am being hard of thinking today

Apparently during the Anglo-Irish agreement negotiations, the Irish politicians used to refer to "angel papers" from the British, basically testing out proposals with deniability built in. The Irish media have been referencing this even before these "non-papers" started being used in Europe.

"Are they on glue" seems to be the collective reaction of Irish Twitter. Effectively three borders instead of none.

Mark_Coughlan
@Mark_Coughlan
Sean O'Rourke to @MichaelAodhan
of Northern Ireland Retail Consortium.

"What kind of reaction has this new idea received among businesses there?"

"Well that rather large bang you heard, was the sound of the Northern Irish business community banging it's head off a brick wall."

625,000 people, including my parents, live inside the British governments proposed buffer zone.

So essentially what they are saying is no deal Brexit will mean a border checks

Or.

We can do a deal and move the border checks a little but further away from the border.

I recently joined the Lib Dem's - but I despair of there policy . I can't believe they would veto JC as a caretaker PM

Lib Dem’s aren’t the only problem not wanting Corbyn as temporary PM Tory rebels won’t go for it either at the moment then there is Hoey and Austin too.