Westminstenders: From Uxbridge to...?

[RedToothBrush]

Speaker Bercow is gone.

Speculation that Johnson is parachuting into Rutland.

Rumours that the Brexit Party won't contest the election.

A new speaker to be elected on Monday.

Parliament to dissolve next week.

Brexit? Oh we've forgotten that until Friday 13th...

The excuse I heard was that a three-way debate tends to exclude one more than the other two. Sounded pretty lame and presumably will be the job of the chair to ensure a fair hearing.

I've no intention of voting for the Lib Dems but of course Swinson should be there.

Why on Earth Shouldn’t People Be Able to Be Billionaires?
by Grace Blakeley
@graceblakeley

novaramedia.com/2019/11/01/why-on-earth-shouldnt-people-be-able-to-be-billionaires/

Johnson and Corbyn: We stand for change against the establishment.

As long as it doesn’t disadvantage us.

Interesting tweet.

Need to ponder it a little before I decide if I agree.

Politically it is a game changer. For now...

The trouble is we still have an issue of transition coming to an end and there no deal agreed and not having infrastructure in place...

Roland Smith @rolandmcs
No Deal has receded to a point where it is unlikely.

It's worth taking a moment to let that sink in.

mrslaughan - having emigrated to NZ in the mid 70s, one of the reasons we emigrated back to the UK was because an election was fought and won in 1975 by Piggy Muldoon purely on the basis that the All Blacks would break the Sporting Boycott would go to SA with the Government's blessing

As ex-South Africans, that was the last straw for my mum and dad . (We'd also made the mistake of going to a small town the "city" of New Plymouth).

To be fair, I think NZ is much more outward looking and "comfortable in its skin" now than it was in the 70s.

...and my Dad could only become a "true Scot" after 1995, when he could finally support the Boks if they were playing England

(I'm told he still speaks with a South African accent, even after being here for 55 years minus 2 years in NZ , but I can't hear it )

"No Deal has receded to a point where it is unlikely."
.... until 31 December 2020

and even if BJ extends transition to get the minimum FTA they plan with the EU,
the Tories will be able to carry out their Bonfire of Regulations - that's the ERG plan

So not much difference to No Deal there for GB

Of course NI would be protected, which is a big positive for those 1.8 million people and for those in Ireland,
just a shame about the 65 million living in GB.

Asda is threatening to sack its workers unless they sign a punishing new contract

Asda ... as owned by Walmart.
A terrifying glimpse of what will happen to us all under our new American overlords.

I don't know about the debate, my initial thought was that of course Swinson should be there (personally I don't like her at all), but actually SNP have more seats don't they, so they should also be there, and the DUP. And then I personally feel the greens should because they get a big proportion of the vote even though they only have one seat, but I don't know about brexit party... hmm.
Then it becomes a massive round circle debate which is a different thing.

Also I've been very busy last few days and missed all this madness... every day a new plot twist!

My DP who works in digital marketing says around 25% of online comments are written by paid people or bots, and even though he is usually more pessimistic than me about our electoral chances, he is adamant that online polls are paid to produce the answer the buyer requests and they don't reflect opinion at all. He says there is some value in the trend, and that unfortunately they do work in influencing opinion, hence why they spend so much money on them. It's all a crazy world to a simple A&E doc

Look at a referendum map.... Areas that are typical middle-class Tory tended to vote Remain, working-class northern areas tended to vote Leave.

It's complicated but I think we can say with some confidence that this is NOT true as a generalisation.

For a start, we know that about two thirds of Tory voters voted leave, while about two thirds of Labour voters voted to remain.

Even in Labour constituencies which voted leave, you can't assume that leave and Labour voters are the same people. Most constituencies are won with well short of 50% of the vote, so it's statistically possible (though in practice unlikely) that all Labour voters in a Labour-held leave constituency voted to remain, and that all Tory voters in a Tory-held remain constituency voted to leave.

Some of the highest remain votes were in London constituencies with a large working class population and a high deprivation rate (remain vote estimated at over 75% in my old constituency, which is a London borough with some notoriously deprived estates and a large ethnic minority community, and a large Labour majority).

Fresh crops of SM influencers have arrived on MN, as expected (see the election threads).

Roland Smith @rolandmcs*
No Deal has receded to a point where it is unlikely.

It's worth taking a moment to let that sink in.*

Think it's a bit naive tbh.

Boris will promise what Boris needs to win the election. And right now he has made the judgement that he needs business-minded tories more than he needs BXP loons. He is probably right tbh; as I said yesterday I think Farage's 15 mins are over, at least for now.

But once our Fatberg overlord has to deal with parliamentary arithmetic involving the ERG and what is probably going to be a highly ideological clutch of new Tory MPs (a British Tea Party, if you like) then things will look quite different. In particular, these highly ideological MPs agree to an expensive transition extension, especially as it will need to be agreed by June, when they are still on an election high? I'm very sceptical about that personally.

Pffft.
They couldn't influence me out of burning car...

Fresh crops of SM influencers have arrived on MN, as expected (see the election threads).

I'm gonna go bug MN about this on twitter.

You see, I’ve always even France as so heavy in red tape that ut was just over the top.
Now I’m wishing for a system like France where each candidate has exactly the same amount of time on TV/radio .... as the others. And there are some strict rules on spending (not always followed but the point is that small parties are not at an obvious disadvantage if they can’t pay for adverts in Tv/billboards etc....)

They couldn't influence me out of burning car...

Some of them are pretty transparent, but I wonder if that's at least slightly deliberate, like a version of the Nigerian prince letters

It's all getting very postmodern ironic:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-50218615

They couldn't influence me out of burning car...

basil do tell!

Looked great on the glam Instagramer But I insisted on them as a Birthday present so force myself to wear them even though I am not that keen on them. Veja trainers look a bit ‘orthopaedic’ on a mid forties mum.

I now follow cute pets and cooking sites only.

Basil mid-40's mums unite!

I think I need a Brexit break.

I now follow cute pets and cooking sites only

So you'll end up with a high-maintenance lapdog and a kitchen full of gadgets you won't use . I think those trainers look quite inoffensive (but then I wouldn't consider myself as a reliable source of fashion advice ).