Westminstenders: The Slow No

[RedToothBrush]

Have to make this quick.

Johnson has made an 'offer' to the EU. Let's stress this isn't a deal because they haven't agreed.

The EU have made kind noises about it but will say no thanks.

The UK are expecting this, and despite what's been said apparently are expecting more negotiation on this.

The DUP and the ERG seem to be on board with the proposal meaning in theory Johnson might have numbers to get through parliament. Except its not a deal so this is currently meaningless.

Parliament is prorogued again from next week with the Queen's Speech the following week.

I see your intray Tuxie @yolofish and I raise you my WTAF Tuxie.
Thanks Red. Heroic work.

pmk

Oooh, early PMK for me :)

Thanks, Red

Place marking with a unicorn.

On the day a new last minute plan is put forward a unicorn falls from Buckingham palace.

Yes it really did.

Thank you legendary RTB.

Thanks Red.

As you can imagine lonelyplanetmum - the Indy supporting FB groups had great fun with the fallen and broken unicorn as the unicorn is Scotland's national animal

Mship Those are really dreadful crimes and only the tip of the iceberg on the "Dirty War" the security forces waged during the Troubles.

We need also to see those brought to justice for the murders of people like Pat Finucane, in which the security forces colluded

So long as all the guilty are treated equally - Republican , the Loyalist and the security forces - then I hope that the prosecutions are allowed to proceed

Especially with an authoritarian govt and quite likely to have one after the next GE too,
it is v important to send a message to the military and intelligence services that they will eventually answer for any crimes they commit

I’m a Corbyn supporter JustAnotherPoster00

DP who was originally from a south west Tory/lib dem town keeps telling me about friends who have always voted Tory who are now saying they are going to vote labour and are sickened by all this.

Starting shift, will check in later.

Yes the fallen unicorn is doubly symbolic both for the union with Scotland and the Brexit fantasy too.

PMK in orange

And a question. I'm following various people on twitter - the usual suspects - who analyse events very well from a pro-remain point of view. But I'm aware that I am living in my bubble. Is there anyone on the leave side who is doing this, and not just yelling "get it done" at random passers by?

A govt always requests a short prorogation before the Queen's Speech

However, I don't know if there must legally be a QS in October, since it is appears pointless from a govt that has no majority, even with C&S ?

It is just part of the strategy to:

• use up several more days - including the usual 5 days to debate the QS

• to get another attempt to call a GE, since failing to pass the QS normally means a VoNC.
  However, the Opposition can foil this part of the plan by not calling one.

PMK. I’m largely avoiding the news at the moment as work is hectic and parenting is also requiring extra attention.

PMK with another tuxedo cat!

Tuxies Assemble!

PMK!

Why do we need a Queens speech-what is it for? Is there always one in October or is it because of Brexit?

Isn't Johnson's "offer" the Ireland simply a way of dumping the whole "island of Ireland" Brexit problems on them and walking away?

If a cat picture is an obligatory entrance fee to this thread, please find attached

James Gray, ERG Conservative MP, currently on All Out Politics, first of all claiming that "the technology exists" for the NI Border and then when challenged, elided seamlessly to "most of the technology exists".

He then goes on to claim that "all" customs checks are done by barcodes and that customs personnel "don't check" what's in the lorries and just go by the scanned barcodes.

Sounds like a charter for smuggling to me

If I could find Fat Tuxie Cat as opposed to Bruiser Tuxie Cat I would add his pic too!

PMK!

A sort of random ramble based on my train of thought whilst brushing my teeth this morning...

You know how Trump and Bozo are both mocked for endlessly spouting apparently delusional and easily-disproved bollocks that a deaf-blind sloth could see through? Like the path of the hurricane, or “there’s no press here” or fusion reactors or “we wiped out the national deficit” or “Turkey is joining the EU”? And then normal people wonder why Bozo and Trump and Brexiteers keep saying these idiotic things?

Now, like the rest of the posters on these threads I realised a long time ago that these gems were deliberate. A bit less obvious with Trump because he’s clearly suffering from cognitive decline, but very obvious with Bozo.

My revelation this morning was a dimly-recalled piece of writing by Richard Dawkins, in which IIRC he compared the extremes of religious practice to the peacock’s tail. It turns out this is called Signalling Theory, in which the peacock signals the superiority of his genes by growing and dragging this ostentatious dangerous ornament around. In the case of religious extremes, it’s not a direct genetic benefit per se, but the idea that intragroup cooperation was beneficial to members and therefore Costly Signalling to demonstrate one’s unquestioning allegiance was psychologically rewarding to the adherent.

In other words, the never-ending blatant idiotic bollocks isn’t just deliberate, it’s calculated. Calculated to shore up the cult by rewarding cultists who can demonstrate and escalate their fervour by embracing every lie. Team Trump and Team Brexit must have evolutionary psychologists (or similar) on the payroll. Now, obviously, Orwell got there back in 1948: “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” And people on these threads have discussed this before, especially RTB who saw this clearly before most of the rest of us.

But now I know there’s an actual name for this insane phenomenon: Signalling Theory. And somehow that’s satisfying to know

Richard Burgon MP
@RichardBurgon
·
38m
The way out of this crisis is simple: a caretaker government led by Jeremy Corbyn that secures an extension to prevent No Deal and then calls a General Election so we can kick Boris Johnson out by Christmas.

Jennifer Forbes
@Jen4TruroAndFal
·
1h
Jo Swinson is the biggest obstacle to stopping a No Deal Brexit. We don’t need the student-politics, tokenistic, revoke-but-actually-working-against-it nonsense, that we are getting from the Lib-Dems. We need them to work with the progressive majority.

twitter.com/i/status/1179650163318693888

💐

TheElementsSong

YES!!!! Thank you. Fascinating.

The scenario outlined on Farming Today sounded like a charter for smuggling to me as well.
These people are nuts.

That was in response to prettybird