The Brexit Arms: Are We Nearly There Yet? 🇬🇧🚗↩️🇪🇺

[SingingLily]

No, not yet, but soon. Just 24 more sleeps until we legally leave the EU at 11pm on 31 January and finally enter the transition period after what seems like centuries of argument, dither and delay. We do so with hope, optimism and a determination to be a good friend and neighbour to the EU, but for now, no one said it better than Winston Churchill.

“This is not the end, this is not even the beginning of the end, this is just perhaps the end of the beginning.”

The Pub Rule is the same as it always was: all welcome but only if you leave goadery outside. The first drink is on the house.

Plus I'll take any flack given towards myself, but diss my severely disabled brother and all bets are off. I'm presuming you weren't the poster disrespecting him or indeed anyone else "mentally deficient" many moons ago, so there's no reason for you to take anything in that regards personally

I don't know why you keep harping on that, or use the word 'presuming' - it was nothing to do with me and feel free to check with HQ for confirmation.

It's irrelevant whether it's on a par, the hypocrisy stands

Latest Poll
Britain Elects @britainelects

CON: 47% (+2)
LAB: 30% (-3)
LDEM: 9% (-3)
GRN: 4% (+1)
BREX: 3% (+1)

Boris is killing it.

Morning, all

1304 days since the result of the EU referendum but only 13 more to go so, yes, we are nearly there. It’s been a long haul but it will be worth it.

Please ignore the building work taking place at the far end of the bar. The new hot air vents have packed up due to overload and as they are still under warranty, the installer has agreed to upgrade the capacity. Walsall will now benefit as well as Birmingham. We are nothing if not energy efficient here in the Brexit Arms.

Walking, those poll results are looking very healthy indeed. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, changes when the new Labour leader takes over. Of course, that won't happen for another eleven weeks. Plenty of time for Boris to crack in with things...

In keeping with a lazy Sunday morning routine, it’s a full English today although our signature sautéed mushrooms on sourdough toast are also available. Please help yourselves.

Kettle’s on ☕️☕️☕️

Photo fail...but here it is.

Ooh, that breakfast Singing, amazing as usual.
I'll just throw a log on the fire and settle in to read the Sunday telegraph.

Yes, Boris is getting it spot on.
House of Lords going to York. Or maybe Birmingham.

I think CCHQ should go to Newcastle.

Due to reports of raised voices and a strong smell of sour grapes, I'm taking the opportunity to do a Sunday morning inspection of the Arms. I see the landlady has already been proactive in scrubbing the bar and upgrading the venting system. I feel I must remind you not to use zoflora where it could taint the food/drink.

I'll partake in one of your delicious Sunday full English breakfasts please Lily.

I'm lurking with interest in all the Brexit threads and enjoying the memes and banter in the Arms, but not so much the occasional slanging matches.

We are absolutely crying out for a credible opposition in parliament, especially at this critical time. I haven't seen a shred of evidence in the labour leadership contenders (happy to be corrected) that they are ready and willing to look forward and be remotely positive about our situation as we leave the EU. They're all still too busy focusing on reuniting their party and analysing the GE result. If just one of them came forward and said a single positive thing about our future they would get my vote. Do they want to win the heartlands back or not? It's almost as if they are ignoring it.

Nah, reporting's not my style, others here can knock themselves out.

“17/01/2020 14:46 NiceGuyNeddie

#NiceGuyNamechangeForGoadyPurposes

Reported. Completely in-called-for bullying

I know that tactic”

#Awkward

Bold fail...

Try again!

Nah, reporting's not my style, others here can knock themselves out.

“17/01/2020 14:46 NiceGuyNeddie

#NiceGuyNamechangeForGoadyPurposes

Reported. Completely in-called-for bullying

I know that tactic”

EMBARRASSING.

Morning all! I’ll have one of those lovely breakfasts lily, and a macchiato please!

Morning, Epic, Copper and Hospitality,

Glad the Arms held on to its 5 ⭐️ rating for cleanliness and hygiene. There's been an army of volunteers in through the night scrubbing out the smell. Actually, our cat is missing his brother and woke me up at 5.18 because he was lonely and wanted a cuddle.

We are absolutely crying out for a credible opposition in parliament, especially at this critical time.

This is something we have said over and over again in the Arms for years - and even more so since the GE result. It isn't what "Brexiters" (the ones apparently connected to the hive mind) want. Allegedly. Ironic that so many people in this country blithely assumed for 43 years that everyone in the UK was fine and dandy with the EU yet were horrified that we dared to vote Leave. Not only that but - having been blissfully unaware of the extent of Euroscepticism in the general population - they now possess perfect insight into what was exactly in our minds when each of us did vote Leave.

In other news - and just for comic value - Jezbollah has nominated John Bercow and Karie Murphy for peerages. The first is the subject of alleged bullying and the second is part of a hierarchy currently under investigation by the EHRC for anti-semitism.

The man really does know how to read the public mood, doesn't he?

Morning all.

Just catching up with last nights shenanigans and one comment really stood out for me

We’ve probably only got one more thread tbh. Not much to say after 31st.

Is that honestly how most Leavers see it?

"in-called-for"

Wouldn't have got past my autocorrect, never mind Mrs Archibald in primary school.

Is that honestly how most Leavers see it?

No, Bear, one poster perhaps sees it that way. I don't. I don't know any other Leaver either on here or in real life who does.

That's why the opening post quotes Winston Churchill apropos of the 31st January:

“This is not the end, this is not even the beginning of the end, this is just perhaps the end of the beginning.”

Still, please help yourself to breakfast and here's ☕️ for you.

“This is something we have said over and over again in the Arms for years - and even more so since the GE result. It isn't what "Brexiters" (the ones apparently connected to the hive mind) want. Allegedly.”

It’s a classic tactic, they don’t care what we say or don’t say or what we think or don’t think, they just want to have their moment to shout and gaslight us for thinking differently to them, it’s all just a convenient ruse to be a twat. When you point it out to them, with evidence and examples, they just switch tactic and start dragging in other unrelated stuff that they can tenuously pin us to, like Trump??? This one always particularly baffles me! no one to my knowledge on this thread, has ever given tacit support for the Orange Man, yet somehow we are linked to his supporters and election? It’s a UK thread for ffs. We would have to be pretty fucking amazing to make that happen wouldn’t we?

It’s just boring and churlish. These people are so dogmatic and craaaazy 🤪 that they believe their own lies and assumptions. Weird.

A quick search shows that the offensive knuckle-related term being quoted on here as referring to the punters in the Brexit Arms did not, in fact, refer to them.
Unless the punters are responsible for project-managing events on Jan 31st. That's the context in which it was used, suggesting it refers to members of BJ's team.

I don't condone that language.
But it's v misleading, at best, to suggest it referred to anyone on here.

Glad to hear it singing

I think it’s the ‘Big Ben bongers’ and the ‘it’s all over on 31st Jan’ Leavers who wind those who never wanted this up

It really isn’t that simple

It’s good to know not everyone thinks that way - those that do are in for a shock

Ah, but it suits a binary way of thinking, Epic. Good/bad, black/white, Left/Right, even Remain/Leave. No shades of grey, no nuance, no weighing up of all the options and deciding where the balance lies, however marginally.

The rest of us left such binary thinking behind when we left the playground and acquired a bit of life experience.

No Bear, I think the thread should continue as discussed on a previous thread, but others are entitled to a different view point! Also, I can kind of understand why some wouldn’t volunteer to stick around for yet more verbal abuse from of our ‘visitors’ after the 31st. I know that Brexit isn’t done on the 31st, as do others, but for some, the date represents an opportunity to move on with their lives, whatever happens after that happens IYSWIM. Don’t think there’s a hard and fast rule, or a hard and fast belief here, just different strokes and all that.

I think it’s the ‘Big Ben bongers’ and the ‘it’s all over on 31st Jan’ Leavers who wind those who never wanted this up

Glad to hear it, Bear. Mark Francois cheers me up no end but I wouldn't want him as my MP.

If you look back over this thread, you will see some support for Big Ben bonging and others who think Meh, waste of time and money.

Not A Hive Mind.

Perhaps that should be the slogan for the next thread.

epic the thing with the post I quoted is it genuinely sounded like that poster thought 31st Jan was the end of Brexit

The trouble with Brexit is and has always been that we’re going to be spending the transition period trying to negotiate to keep what we already have, a great cost in terms of both time and money, and it’s still not clear what we gain from it other than the ability to ring a bell to signal we’ve left

And even that is at midnight in the EU and not the UK - which is more than a little ironic

singing you’re quite right - there’s a middle ground with both Leavers and Remainers and we have to build on that

The extremes on either side are just fuelling the fires

Do they want to win the heartlands back or not?
I think there's a strong argument to be made for not winning the heartlands back, because the heartlands are now fundamentally right wing in their views (not all of them, obviously). It is a mistake to assume that because areas are poor, they will support socialist principles. There's an interesting article about the changing demographics of these once working-class areas and the pointlessness of Labour trying to regain them. What is the point of a socialist party trying to woo right wing voters? They should concentrate on urban areas IMO, where the age and social demographic is more mixed. If Labour focuses too much on the red wall, they are liable to alienate many of their other voters. Why should parties stay static? Look what the Tories have turned themselves into: a party so right wing that members of groups like Britain First are joining in droves; a party that says 'fuck business'. That's not what they were historically. They've changed in order to appeal to different voters. Labour can do the same.

and it’s still not clear what we gain from it other than the ability to ring a bell to signal we’ve left

The immediate impact is that we regain the right to set our own tax rates such as VAT, regain supremacy of UK law and have the freedom to begin negotiating our own trade deals. All of those freedoms alone need time to take effect and bed in. There will be still be lots of untangling and sorting out to do. Some standards and regulations and laws we will choose to keep (EU law, after all, has been adopted into UK law specifically as a holding measure while we take stock). In the meantime, we have a transition that acts as a legal standstill that will be of some benefit to both the UK and the EU while they discuss and try to agree the future relationship.

*singing you’re quite right - there’s a middle ground with both Leavers and Remainers and we have to build on that

The extremes on either side are just fuelling the fires*

Hurrah to that, Bear! I do believe that most of us actually occupy that middle ground - whichever way we voted - and in the end, we are the ones who will make it work.