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.

Thanks BCF and others.
It was a stroke, brought on by extreme stress caused by some solicitors.
Brexit is merely a 'sideshow' in comprison.
Having a team of Neurosurgeons standing by your bed saying 'you must not attempt to stand up or there could be dire consequences' so we will not allow it' is an interesting start to your day. 4 days strictly horiontal' is not as much fun as it might sound.
Fortunately I am getting back towards normality and grateful thanks to the (European health team).
For anyone in a group with increased chance of a stroke, do all you can to avoid it.

Relating things to Brexit slightly. I notice the anticoagulants often used for this condition, are already on short supply in the UK.
Take care!!

Same to you @54321go!

54321go wishing you a speedy recovery

And flippin heck re the stress!

Can I ask a bit of a stupid question?

This whole bojo paying off a foreign power to prevent our sovereign parliament from achieving its aims, isn't that treason?

I'd have thought so, yes

The whole situation is so unprecedented, unpredictable and frankly insane that I don't think that there is such a thing as a stupid question.

Anything that might have seemed like common sense a year ago has probably gone out the window... useful things like intelligence, honour and so on.

Also, I was reminded today of which is a year old but, sadly, even more appropriate now.

There's nothing more satisfying than watching Donald Trump and Boris Johnson be taken down by older women

Keeps our morale from sinking too low

https://twww.independent.co.uk/voices/trump-boris-johnson-brexit-pelosi-clinton-lady-hale-impeachment-a9143706.html

In America, our president’s impeachment is being led by a woman almost 10 years older than the president’s first wife
(for those playing at home, that was two wives ago),
the one he traded in during the early 90s.
........
Across the Atlantic, another false prophet is being tormented by another fierce female in her seventies.

.... posh, born-with-a-silver-spoon Boris is being held to account by a self-made woman 20 years his senior.

Lady Hale is not just 74; she’s also from the wrong side of the tracks in a world of lords.

According to a profile in The Guardian, she worked in a pub while studying for her bar exams,
and was the first in her (non-fee-paying) school to go to Cambridge University

Not a stupid question at all granny.

My dad's cancer doctor said he had come out of retirement "because of Brexit. " I didn't want to ask, but do you think that means that there's a shortage of cancer specialists because many of them are from EU countries and they have decided to leave the UK?

@NigellasGuest - maybe, or maybe Brexit has become so toxic, it is literally giving us cancer... (Sorry, dark times, dark humour).

.........

54321go

Good to see you back and to hear you're feeling better.

But also infuriating to hear that, after receiving seemingly first-class care from the (European) medical team, there's now yet another stupidly self-imposed risk of medicine shortage. I hope you will get the medications you need.

Meanwhile, in a taste of things to come ...

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/05/wife-of-us-diplomat-leaves-uk-after-becoming-suspect-in-fatal-road-collision

The wife of a US diplomat has left the UK after becoming a suspect in an investigation into the death of a motorcyclist involved in a fatal road collision, police said.

Harry Dunn, 19, died after his motorbike and a car collided near RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on 27 August.

Northamptonshire police said a 42-year-old American woman who was being treated as a suspect in their investigation had left the UK.

The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, said he had called the US ambassador to “express the UK’s disappointment that she had left the country.

(contd)

Well even if Brexit hasn't caused a shortage of doctors, it looks like it has caused a shortage of fruit pickers
www.itv.com/news/2019-10-04/tonnes-of-british-grown-fruit-wasted-over-shortages-of-eu-workers-amid-no-deal-brexit-fears/

US diplomats and their families also get away with not paying the congestion charge, unlike almost all other countries.

Locals getting run down by yanks in their enormous LHD tanks is nothing new in East Anglia. Under the Visiting Forces Act they are exempt from UK justice and go before a US court on base that fines them $1 for killing someone and excuses them on the grounds that all the locals drive on the wrong side of the road.

I remember many years ago, a US diplomat's husband returning to the US after allegations he sexually abused the small child of a British friend for whom he was babysitting.

The end of the liberal Tory

Good long read about the politicians, national & local level and the voters who are politically homeless

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/the-end-of-the-liberal-tory-conservative-party-boris-johnson-rory-stewart

The quiet exodus of moderate Tories has been masked in the polls by Johnson’s greater success in winning Tory Leavers back from Nigel Farage.

But beneath the radar a sizeable minority

• not just Remainers but some Leavers who wanted a soft, orderly Brexit and are spooked by talk of a “do or die” departure without a deal -

are wrestling with their consciences.

Their decisions will shape not only election battles across the country, or the future of a Conservative Party stripped of its soft edges,
but also the nature of the parties they migrate towards instead.

BigChoc

That line from Brecht about the GDR is not wide of the mark when it comes to today's Tories:

"The Party has expressed no confidence in the people and has decided to elect itself a new people."

The talk about rebranding and becoming "The Workers Party" is over a decade old. Osborne's Bob The Builder Act was an effort to bring this closer, with his comments about a party that backs "The workers not the shirkers."

The comfortable suburban middle-class is changing. It is becoming more liberal (small l) and distinctly brown at the edges. The Thatcher-Voting C2's by contrast are consistently pro-authoritarian solutions to law and order, anti-immigrant, anti "welfare" (a term consciously and deliberately imported from across the Atlantic) and taking an increasing interest and stake in private healthcare and education.

As Corbyn's Labour moves increasingly onto Islington dinner party territory, the gap is there to be exploited.

Hasenstein
I used to post as Itisileclerc and am a Brit residing in France.
By chance, I had been communicating with a MNetter by text IRL and she told me to get to a doctor immediately as I just thought I had sunstroke as it was hot weather and I had been outside a lot. I had not associated the inability to use the left side of my body with a stroke. Although a stone ot two overweight I was relatively fit, never smoked and only very moderate drinking.
If she happens to read this, please get in touch!
Not sure about Medical shortages here, I will find out on Monday.
Having had a lot of time to ponder things, it is easy to see that even relatively little things can make a huge difference, something that Brexit will expose when it really happens. A delay of a few minutes over 'incorrect' paperwork, can have very significant knock on effects.
This has been partly mentioned in terms of Calais to Dover truck movements but the overall effect will be far more significant.
Of course, most on Westminsterenders are fully aware of the ridiculous situation the UK is in, and the inceassant barage of 'untruths' being bandied about by so many.
The French nurses were lovely, but I might need to redefine the term, as their arrival usually meant yet more needles!

Welcome back 54321go your { } have been missed! I can't remember what name I had when you were last around maybe BercowsSilkTie. Keep recovering well and look after yourself.

@54321go I’m so sorry to hear that you have been unwell, but sounds like you are receiving excellent care, I had a stroke a few years ago so can empathise with how you are feeling, yes I believe that the blood thinners could be subject to shortages which is a worry.
I wish you a speedy recovery💐

Welcome back 54321!
You've been missed- so glad to hear you are on the mend

Damn leclerc I wondered where you'd got to, hope you have a good recovery