Westministenders: The Beginning of Negotiations

[RedToothBrush]

Transition has a few hours left.

Then negotiations start and trade stops.

Far from being over, there are huge numbers of issues that lay unresolved.

And businesses both now in the UK and EU will cease to trade with each other just because the red tape is such a pain.

So whilst people will celebrate and think things are 'done' that just shows how much people are paying attention.

It will be interesting to see people gradually realising what has been lost...

Hannibal that Twitter made me cry. Right on cue.

Well, sadly, we have now left.

Finale of Beethoven 9th now on...

GB has left. NI is still in.
Separation of NI from UK begins now.
Scotland will get its referendum. Hopefully a Labour government (even a minority one) will make electoral reform for PR or equivalent the quid pro quo.
It's just beginning.

So Johnson has split the country formally. I hope to God that the Troubles don't start again.

Turn it up to 11
Because we are worth it

What a shit end to a shit year.

@Peregrina

and Turing will be even narrower

And calling it this utterly sickens me. For all the Brexiter's bombast about the winning the War it wouldn't have done as quickly without men like Turing, but he was outed as a homosexual and accepted chemical castration as an alternative to prison. He is thought to have committed suicide although some say it might have been an accidental death. A posthumous pardon in 2013 barely makes up for it.

Agreed, well said. A mark of the hypocrisy and callous disregard for historical fact, and lack of respect for intellect or human compassion demonstrated by our current leaders.

@Peregrina

and Turing will be even narrower

And calling it this utterly sickens me. For all the Brexiter's bombast about the winning the War it wouldn't have done as quickly without men like Turing, but he was outed as a homosexual and accepted chemical castration as an alternative to prison. He is thought to have committed suicide although some say it might have been an accidental death. A posthumous pardon in 2013 barely makes up for it.

They are USING him. He wasn’t “worth” anything whilst alive and wasn’t accepted and it’s only with movies and books in the last...15 years? Maybe even less? that he started to become more of a name, but he’s very convenient. Clever, very british, ww2, Bletchley Park, enigma, no one less than benedict cumberbatch played his role etc etc I bet Boris (or most of the other cabinet members) would not know what his degree actually was. Bah humbug

Happy new border! Shit just got real.

O Babooshka! For tonight I am trying not to think and trying not to feel. It's just all so overwhelming.

I'm 81 and I too feel I shan't see us rejoining in my lifetime.

I'm thankful for all the experiences and interactions I sought out over the years in different countries and with the people I encountered there. Recently I've been reliving so much of that in my mind and despite my sadness tonight I know I am the richer for it. My anger at our loss is another matter - and something else I dare not let loose just yet for my own peace of mind...

for you and everyone who feels this way.

Blue Passports are neither an end or a beginning ;-)

@ListeningQuietly , that flash mob is beautiful. They are keeping a light on.

Re Kate Pickett and ‘The Spirit Level’, the authors also set up the Equality Trust www.equalitytrust.org.uk/ , always worth keeping tabs on.

Re Brexit this is so stupid and unnecessary .

everyone.

Thanks everyone on these threads for helping to keep me sane over the last few years. to all.

Government preparedness continues to amaze - tonight I've had over 200 emails from gov.uk regarding things you must do before they take effect 43 minutes ago.

Thanks for the Ode To Joy.

This seems appropriate.
vimeo.com/74780418

Something for tonight. The bastards'll never break the chains. We'll be back.

I will be seventy in the year about to start, so virtually all of my adult life has been spent in the EEC/EU. Most of the times of difficulty have been cause by Westminster Governments.

I hope to see us return to the EU in my lifetime but as a much more humbled nation which finally manages to stop harking on about a war which no one now under 92 can have fought in, and no one under 75 can remember not having been born.

I just realised something UTTERLY POSITIVE about 2021

There are no Brexit Deadlines
Party on folks

Happy New Year all.

We've been zooming tonight and it went on rather longer than I'd expected.

We've made the best of a bad situation and I now feel sick from cake and alcohol.

DH and I did mark the evening with EU flags, and our friends took the piss (good natured) and asked whether we wanted a minutes silence or whether we wanted to sing something. Jerusalem was veto and we settled on listening to some german tunes. And bitching about the bellends letting off fireworks. (Taking a note of who to avoid in the future!).

I'm sad. But this isn't done as much as its said it is... oh no.

Everything still to fight for as people start to realise what is actually gone.

Here's to 2021 being a better year for all x

Happy New Year,

The struggle continues. But now the Brexiters have finally realised their brexit, I expect to see the benefits start arriving in short order.

I am not sure what I will say to a friend who voted leave and whose son is a musician, who had done gigs in France and Italy. I don't think it will need rubbing in that her vote has helped to ruin her son's livelihood.

Does you friend care about that though Peregrina?
I read some polling that leave voters would willingly sacrifice the livelihoods of adult children for Brexit.

Anyone notice that London Bridge was doing Blue and Yellow?

Excellent trolling Sadiq!