Westministenders: No Australia Don't Have A Deal

[RedToothBrush]

Since Friday, far from letting things calm down, Johnson has doubled down stating that if we can't have a Canada Deal (which the EU says wouldn't be equal because we are much closer than Canada geographically) we will go for an Australia Deal.

This is the latest rehash of a managed no deal package up as something else which the EU have already repeatedly said no to.

So we are on track for no deal.

At the same time Johnson has got very excited about American food and how its great. Almost as if he wants no deal wit the EU to force a shitty bad deal with the us through.

Johnson and his chronies have also been trying to undermine journalistic transparency by blocking access to the lobby to some media outlets in a move that makes us look like a tinpot dictatorship. Fortunately there was a mass walk out of journalists but it remains to be seen how long that can be maintained.

Far from being a clean slate to move forward from its already proving that nothing has changed and old divisions are as deep as ever, if not worse...

More look a 🐿 !

In fact 🐿 🐿 🐿🐿🐿 all over the press today!

Johnson is now on the point of promising £5 bn for bus services.

Until it translates into something I can see locally, it may as well be £5 bn spunked on the design of the antennae for the UKs GPS system that literally no-one is talking about.

Now if I were King for a day (and at the current Royal attrition rate that may not be so far away) my first diktat would be to create a travelcard system for outside London, so you don't get gouged 4 times for journeys that involve multiple operators.

Wake me up when that's announced.

What I want to know is why Johnson, Leasdom and Co don't want to talk about Brexit. Surely it's their great achievement? Most of us like to celebrate our achievements.

Wanted, thousands of new Customs Officers. Must be prepared to work in Portakabins.
floating portacabins
as the land used for clearance has been sold off

the clearance agents (who prepare the papers that HMRC check)
will be presumably be held aloft with balloons in their portacabins

as there is no land at the Channel ports or at the Irish Sea ports to carry out clearance and inspection procedures
as has been made abundantly clear by those pesky "EXPERTS" for several years

DGR - it used to cost ds over £5 to travel less than miles to rugby training in Aberdeen as he had to get one bus into the centre from his halls of residence and another bus (different bus company) out to the rugby club as there are no, no circular (or even semi circular, given that Aberdeen is a coastal city ) routes

When he was looking for a flat for his 2nd year, the ability to get there on one bus was a deciding factor

Anyone else ponder whether Johnson wants No Deal coz it's the lazy option?! No work involved!

Actually no... It can't be the lazy option judging by the amount of crap he'll then have to deal with.

Meanwhile, Lord Ashcroft's poll on the reasons behind Labour's defeat is brutal (if not unsurprising...)

twitter.com/MattSingh_/status/1226998579908300801

....but then BJ can abdicate any responsibility for the work required because he can wail, " 'Sno ma fault. It wisnae me. A big boy did it an' ran away."

Aka it's the EU's fault

Tobee I've been saying that for a while.
Songs it will be the easy option for Johnson as he'll run away to a shepherds hut and write his memoirs, not hang around

Moreover, at its best, the Labour Party has been a great force for decency, speaking up for people throughout the country and ensuring nobody is forgotten. We need it to reclaim that role.

I am glad that Lord Ashcroft can acknowledge that. It's galling to me that it looks as though Johnson and his Tories are trying to steal Labour's clothes, but given that he is all talk, this might not happen. Ultimately though, if there is real investment for everyone and not just the high earners, then it won't matter what the party ticket was.

My CLP voted for nandy and rayner 🙄
Starmer only got 4 votes!😵
Not surprised. Momentum rules the roost here.
Ds1 and I will be voting for starmer for leader.
No idea re deputy. They are all dreadful imo.

Also Songs he's short termist. Like most lazy asshats.

I think DH's CLP went for Starmer. I don't know about the Deputy.
DH joined the party with the intention of being able to vote, but doesn't seem able to commit himself yet. A Lexiter at heart, he would probably prefer Rebecca Long-Bailey but thinks she's a poor speaker.

Not really paying enough attention, but Nandy is favoured by Momentum?

Regarding Gove's missive yesterday on import/export controls, I note this from the government Brexit email statement

This ( import export control) is aimed at GB/EU traders. This approach does not apply to the flow of trade between Northern Ireland and Ireland, or between Northern Ireland and GB.

Forgive me for being a bit thick, but if it doesn't apply to to NI to Ireland, or between NI and GB, then doesn't logic dictate that GB to Ireland via NI (i.e to the the EU), will also not require any controls?

But I thought that Johnson had put a customs barrier down the Irish Sea? Are we now being told that they haven't? Or are we just being told that they haven't a clue what they are doing?

My CLP voted Starmer & Rayner

I would think that either Starmer or Nandy would be an improvement on Corbyn, when you think of how Corbyn came across.

We need someone who makes the Tories look as incompetent as they are, now that the decent ones have been thrown out of the party.

Or are we just being told that they haven't a clue what they are doing?

A very good analysis of why Britain joined the EEC and what next for Britain.

A very good analysis of why Britain joined the EEC and what next for Britain.

I was when we joined, so can't claim to have been too aware of the adult issues. However DM (who, having married an Italian was quite sensitive to such things) did note that the biggest single pull of the EEC appeared to be the French veto on the UK joining. I don't know if there's any extant polling from those days, but I can imagine the graph of UK desire to join the EEC spiking up with every "Non" from de Gaulle.

Good article Peregrina - although it ignores the impact of the Marshall Plan/Aid (of which the UK got by far the largest amount).

That explains why the "ruins" of continental Europe were able to recover and overtake the UK, as those countries used to to build infrastructure, while the UK "spaffed it up the wall" (to use BJ's terminology ) trying, in vain, to hold on to the Empire.

So the Empire - or the loss of it - does have an enduring effect, beyond simply being a captive audience of customers and/or indentured suppliers of resources.

As I understand it, the loss of Empire was the price Roosevelt demanded of the UK in return for pre-Pearl Harbour aid.

Whether or not Churchill remembered to communicate this to his party or country is another matter. As we've only recently been reminded, there are lots of things between the US and UK that the plebs aren't privy too.

You'd have thought Suez was a bug enough hint/reminder that the US was serious about that too.

It's also a bit Schroedinger's Empire too, isn't it ? Nowhere to be seen when the "plucky little island standing alone" trope is wheeled out, yet simultaneously "the biggest Empire the world has seen" when a bit of bollock swinging is called for.