Westministender: Amen to that!

[RedToothBrush]

On the Anniversary of the Battle of Britain, Johnson went to Westminster Abbey and was trolled. Its almost divine in its irony.

In a week where just about the entire right wing press has turned on him, for being... well shit... They have the dawning realisation that yes all those annoying lefties were right all along when they said he was full of nothing but hot air. He's been ridiculed for being paid £150,000 a year and not being able to feed his 5000 kids and the pictures to mark the anniversary of him becoming PM do little more than look like a man who couldn't tie his own shoe laces without a nanny to help him.

But its not really a laughing matter. This man doesn't understand what legal agreements he's signed so his solution to his ineptitude is to throw his toys out of the pram together with the rule of law. Which he also does not understand.

Johnson is also ever increasingly keen on ripping up inconvient human right and workers right and he has ample opportunity to do all this in the middle of a pandemic.

Unfortunately the hypocrisy of his cronies isn't exactly helping the behaviour of the public and you have to pity the poor behavioural scientists who have to tell him that 'of course the public are going to give you the vs when you tell them you shouldn't do this when your chief advisor claims to be maybe going blind'.

It seems the whole government strategy on managing the virus seems to be falling flat on its face rather sooner than planned cos they stuck Dildo in charge who wouldn't know her Rs from her elbow if it hit her in the face. And we've got Hancock going full on 1984, telling us not to believe the reports that no one can get a test because its all lies - except half the country has either first hand experience of the travesty of Track and Trace or has a close mate who they know is a hell of a lot more reliable than any of these fuckwits when it comes to telling the truth.

Meanwhile in America Bader Ginsburg has managed to die at possibly the most inconvient and dangerous time possible just as the future of democracy in the US is clinging on by its finger nails.

And yes. Money laundering. Haven't we talked about that a lot on these threads. Its almost as if FinCEN was predictable...

Taking back control was always about the elite taking back control from the masses. But if you've managed to keep following all this time, we've been saying that since April 2016 and no one listened then, so why would they start listening now?

@ICouldHaveCheckedFirst

Come on, DGR that's just project fear . Otherwise, why would a majority have voted to leave...? It'll all be fiiiine.

Cheap food. Cheap energy. Freedom of movement.

Clearly all things that weren't as important as taking back control.

Not admitting it was all a big mistake.... HUGE.

@DGRossetti

Hancock presumably is the most knowledgeable minister about Covid

What. The. Fuck ??????

This is the man who said months into the pandemic "I wish someone had told me it could be spread by asymptomatic sufferers"

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-latest-uk-matt-hancock-asymptomatic-spread-sage-guidance-infections-b519138.html

I trust you'll excuse me if I choose not to believe a word he says either ?

...... I was comparing to all the other ministers, not even to other MPs

• but he does seem to have become less ignorant over the last 6 months

but he does seem to have become less ignorant over the last 6 months

damning with faint praise ...

Well many ministers and backbenchers have learned nothing over the last 4 years about Brexit consequences
and some seem to have become even more ignorant (if that is possible)

Just reading a bit of the New York Times expose

its amusing that the leaders of the UK and the USA are both financially incompetent liars

sucking up to a man who may be bankrupted in office if he wins does not seem like a good idea to me

Any scepticism about (English) reportage or a deal being close seems justified. But the fact Gove has been sent as Frosts handler does speak volumes. I guess the cabinet are terrified he might "do a Truss" and leave them in the shit.

yorkshirebylines.co.uk/gove-travels-to-brussels-to-begin-the-climb-down/

The fact that Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove is accompanying Lord Frost, chief UK negotiator, to Brussels this week for the ninth round of talks says everything. Crunch time is coming, as Brexit finally collides with reality.

Optimistic noises coming out of Downing Street in the last few days (with both The Times and the FT reporting unnamed UK government sources predicting that a deal is within touching distance) have been rebuffed, and met with stony faces in Brussels.

The usually reliable Europe editor at the Irish broadcaster RTE, Tony Connelly, claims two sources in the EU have now told him that during last week’s informal talks in London, Frost pressed hard for negotiations to enter the so-called “tunnel”. This is the stage where both sides agree to a black-out of press briefings and where the real horse trading begins, before the deal is finally agreed.

The fact that it is Britain doing the pressing reveals just how desperate the government is to secure a deal.

Barnier apparently refused the request to enter the tunnel until the UK has made “visible progress” on the level playing field issue and fisheries. The EU had apparently expected concessions last week, but nothing was forthcoming.

Johnson’s self-imposed deadline is now, as expected, working against him. The government is ill-prepared for a no deal exit, as Gove himself outlined in parliament last week. Disruption in Kent could include a queue of up to 7,000 HGVs with traffic across the Channel reduced to 20–40 percent of normal levels.

(contd)

I'm guessing the BrexitBots are overwhelmed at the moment ? It's certainly become harder to keep up with the flood of good news at the moment. Farages distance from the UK might make sense now.

www.politico.eu/article/brexit-brinksmanship-on-medicines-risks-lives-meps-warn/

The U.K. pharmaceutical industry is facing a nightmare scenario — the looming possibility of no trade deal with the EU resulting in a disruption to the movement of medicines amid an ongoing pandemic.

Once again the industry is being forced into frantic no-deal preparations à la 2019, with unanswered questions on issues such as the status of Northern Ireland and the future of medicines regulation in the U.K. To top off the confusion, the recent controversial Internal Market Bill threatens to allow the British government to renege on rules previously agreed with the EU on the movement of goods.

(contd)

Apparently EU standing firm and not shifting their position according to BBC news and statement of vice chair of EU.

@Sostenueto

Apparently EU standing firm and not shifting their position according to BBC news and statement of vice chair of EU.

I'm imagining an Express headline IN BOLD screaming about "EU rattled by UKs whip hand" or some such bollocks*

*I wonder if there's a mood for getting "Boris" adopted as a word meaning "complete bollocks" in modern argot ?

e.g. You're talking Boris, mate.

Along with the concept of "Johnsonian drift", where any vague load of cobblers or outright whoppers gravitate to the animated loft insulation himself ?

Whom Gods destroy, they mock first ...

Apparently EU standing firm and not shifting their position according to BBC news and statement of vice chair of EU.
As has been the case since early 2016'

The UK either abides by the EU's rules or it is excluded from the perks
its so simple
but absolutely beyond the ken of the Government

yorkshirebylines.co.uk/gove-travels-to-brussels-to-begin-the-climb-down/?fbclid=IwAR0bg9fea-9bYqd7zy0ZtJvZBkJP-n7SRHypsmWP2g0Q8EjHYYvErDz_rV8
Gove travels to Brussels to begin the climb down

Oh just seen it's already been posted!

EU Commissioner says ' many difficult issues remain and the UK positions are far apart from what the EU can accept'

Taoiseach Micheál Martin 'not optimistic' about Brexit trade deal

www.thejournal.ie/taoiseach-micheal-martin-brexit-5216426-Sep2020/

Martin said there was still the “potential for a deal”, but warned that the government’s controversial legislation which enables the UK to break international law had “eroded trust”.

He told the i newspaper in an interview to be broadcast at the Liberal Democrat conference today that the UK Internal Market Bill “damaged the credibility” of agreements already entered into.

Asked if he believes a free trade agreement is likely, he said: “I’m not that optimistic, if I’m honest. Just to let you know that the [Irish] government is preparing its budget in three weeks’ time on the basis that there will be a no-deal Brexit.

“That’s the basis on which we’re preparing the budget and we’re warning and alerting businesses to that terrible reality.

“I think progress has been slow in the talks so far, I think there is still potential for a deal, I believe a deal is the sane and sensible thing to do, and I think all of us as politicians have an obligation to those we represent – and in terms of Brexit that means the least damage possible to workers, to employers and to business and economy.”

Anyone want to start guesses on the nature of the climbdown? Will it involve SM and CU, freedom of movement, or just a barrier with NI? Or a barrier with Surrey and then Oxford?newsthump.com/2020/09/24/surrey-to-introduce-new-permit-scheme-to-avoid-queues-at-kent-border/

For anyone not watching, the news on TRA this week has been hopeful. Did someone forget to add the crazy drugs into the water this week, or have the supply lines been hit early ?

That moniker "Bad Boys of Brexit" really was spot on, wasn't it ?

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/sep/28/hedge-fund-boss-crispin-odey-in-court-on-indecent-assault-charge

I bet there are going to be a slew of subtle (and not so subtle) postings along the lines of not judging people by the company they keep.

il ore ha bocca sta sera

Will it involve SM and CU, freedom of movement

Can they not just go full climbdown and apply to join the EEA, on the basis that most of their own MPs would hate this but the opposition benches would probably help them get it through?

(I know, I know, but at this stage it's only wild flights of fancy that get me through)

@unmarkedbythat

Will it involve SM and CU, freedom of movement

Can they not just go full climbdown and apply to join the EEA, on the basis that most of their own MPs would hate this but the opposition benches would probably help them get it through?

(I know, I know, but at this stage it's only wild flights of fancy that get me through)

The EEA would never admit the UK in a million years.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/sep/28/business-leaders-urge-uk-government-to-avoid-no-deal-brexit

I refer the honourable confederation to my point upthread about 6.1 million people being told to go fuck themselves.

Well this is going to encourage take up of the app and not create any conspiracy theories at all...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-54328644
Police told not to download NHS Covid-19 app

The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) has confirmed officers are being told not to install the NHS Covid-19 app on their work smartphones.

The app detects when users have been in proximity to someone with the virus.

Some officers have also been told they may not need to obey self-isolate alerts generated by the app when downloaded to their personal phones.

Lancashire Constabulary has told staff to call the force's own Covid-19 helpline instead.

The BBC contacted the North-West of England force after a source said the advice had been given because of "security reasons".

The source also said officers had been told not to carry their personal phones while on duty if they had activated the app.

This applies to staff working in public-facing roles as well as those in back-office positions.

Well this is going to encourage take up of the app and not create any conspiracy theories at all

Even if they mandated it, I'd just put it on a phone that doesn't live with me.

Not really surprising. Many professions have already been told to switch the app off in some circumstances. It’s easier not to have it instead as the risk of forgetting is too high.

The advice. From the app is only an advice re self isolation. It’s different than track and trace who you legally have to follow.

Their advice sounds very similar to what I would do myself tbh (due to my line of work)

And that is why the app is a waste of money