Westministenders: This is not the Brexit we voted for

[ListeningQuietly]

UK Shellfish industry destroyed because our inshore waters are not clean enough
Welsh Ports on their knees because the Land Bridge has found another route
Horticulture seed producers lost all of their mainland EU customers

Antique dealers lost access to their suppliers
Small businesses being told (by UK Govt) to relocate to the EU to avoid red tape
Brits in the EU discovering that stopping Free Movement applies to them too
Northern Ireland in Unionist flames because there is a border between them and Great Britain, but not the Republic
And the UK has still not taken control of its borders

Brexit is shaping up as predicted, but none of those who voted for it seem to have what they wanted

Pmk with a picture of my cat and her shadow.

Have just read Chris Grey.
Quite chuffed that my thread title is time stamped before his blog and the tweet from last night
petty, moi ?

@ListeningQuietly

Have just read Chris Grey. Quite chuffed that my thread title is time stamped before his blog and the tweet from last night petty, moi ?

And you were worried???! You were spot on!

@bellinisurge

BBC coverage of NI is starting to remind me of Soviet state television coverage of the Berlin Wall in 1989. I was in the Soviet Union at the time. I listened to the BBC World Service to find out what was actually going on and when the Wall came down it was about the 9th or 10th news item on Soviet news. They covered it reluctantly and downplayed it as hard as they could. And now the BBC, which had been my source of real news all those years ago, is doing the same. It's the top story on RTÉ (after not being for a while). I suppose that's where I need to look to find any coverage of it.

It's been on the radio all week.

Duke of Edinburgh has died.

Do you think certain elements will somehow manage to blame Megan Markle and the EU for his death.

I hope the queen doesn't die anytime soon.

@prettybird

Duke of Edinburgh has died.

And Boris Johnson looks like a total scruffy bastard slob on the steps of Number 10. An utterly embarrassing image of the UK for the world to see

The ultimate (well, penultimate) dead cat for this government? I feel for the Queen, but I dread to think what the government will do while nobody (especially the press) is looking.

Also interestin' to think that Pritti Awful wouldn't have wanted him in the country...

That was dh's immediate comment HannibalHayes

TBF to Johnson, having a haircut before Monday wouldn't be a good look either.

I wonder if the government have just dodged the expensive funeral by a couple of months. There were a few 100th birthday events planned so thats now a bit of a mess.

Can't Boris just as someone to chop it or him, like Carrie? Not like it could look worse.

Or, he could comb it.

I think someone should give him a number 2.

And a haircut

@prettybird

Duke of Edinburgh has died.

A nation unites in an outpouring of indifference.

I am sad for the Queen
but relieved for the family that they do not have to go through the rigmarole of 100th birthday celebrations with politicians trying to suck up to them.

Johnson's physical presentation was appalling.
Made Michael Foot's jacket look like dress uniform.
Hopefully the worldwide reaction to it will limit the political bounce.

It would appear that Philip wanted a private funeral which also limits political grandstanding.
Good.

Clavinova singing "Nearer my God to thee" on the Titanic - iceberg what iceberg and of course THE VACCINES, THE VACCINES , THE VACCINES. Your mate Boris is a serial wrecker of everything he touches - you were warned royally about the clusterfucks he creates but hey ho keep on drinking the Tory kool-aid and keeping the statues safe and the flag's flying.

I've turned off all media now and am re-visiting my music collection - I shall resurface when normal service resumes.

Yes, I was looking forward to the Masterchef final tonight. With the best will in the world, what can the BBC say until the Breakfast progs start tomorrow morning. Plus the mawkishness of wearing black and solemn faces. I remember the fuss when a newsreader, was it Huw Edwards, didn't wear a black tie when the Queen Mother died.

I come from a family which always tells people that they need not wear black for one of their funerals.

Like others I wonder what bad news will be hidden. The violence in NI now gets wiped off the front pages.

Johnson's physical presentation was appalling.
Made Michael Foot's jacket look like dress uniform.

Ditto with Corbyn, yet Johnson looks as though he's been dragged through a hedge backwards and not a murmur.

Ed Miliband eats a bacon sandwich and all hell breaks loose. Johnson throws £££ at his mistress and not a squeak out of the Tories.

Chris Grey's Blogspot is as accurate as ever. Our own dear Clav illustrates his point beautifully - no matter how bad it will get, they will deny it's anything to do with them and their choices.

After all, why should they accept responsibility for their shitty decisions, when the costs fall on everyone else?

Very sad for the family of course, but I have turned radio off and will be avoiding the endless mawkish outpourings.

@ListeningQuietly

Just checking, has anybody heard from DGR ?

Just checked advanced search and he was posting about olives and stuff last Friday and on Monday this week

Regarding NI,
I don't know if this thread has been posted

twitter.com/shockproofbeats/status/1380180573528936451

I found it an interesting perspective, suggesting that Brexit certainly isn't helping, but the picture is more complicated (and rather depressing).

I was particularly struck by this

The DUP are geared explicitly toward generating, and harnessing, resentments within loyalist communities. It is almost their only function. They create conditions whereby people feel justifiably aggrieved, and redirect said grievances toward targets of their own choosing

It's one of the things that's most depressing about the current braindead anti-woke culture war shite that's seized British politics and huge sections of its press - it's just the same remedial divide and conquer nonsense we've seen in NI for decades. It's mortifying bollocks.

There are fears that Labour might well lose the Hartlepool by-election. Why? Because Johnson has 'Got Brexit Done' so he's a man who delivers. Covid restrictions are hiding the effects of Brexit so people are not yet fully aware of it.

A tough call for Labour with local headlines like this;

March 2021 -
Teesside awarded 'biggest' Freeport with promise of tsunami of jobs.

Covering 4,500 acres, the equivalent of 2,550 football pitches, the Teesside Freeport will be the biggest in the UK and will increase inward investment into Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool by over £1.4 billion.

www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/19132397.teesside-awarded-biggest-freeport-promise-tsunami-jobs/

Chris Grey's Blogspot is as accurate as ever.

Chris Grey's Blogspot suggested that 22% of January's fall in goods trade with the EU were due to Brexit factors (including stockpiling). I'll take that estimate - quite encouraging for the first month after the transition period if there are "teething problems" - certainly not as bad as other reports.

THE VACCINES, THE VACCINES/keeping the statues safe and the flag's flying.

We definitely need more flags - Angela Merkel and her Health Minister had six flags on stage a week ago;

www.politico.eu/article/merkel-and-spahn-no-more-oxford-astrazeneca-vaccines-for-under-60s/

The violence in NI now gets wiped off the front pages.

Sadly and so, so predictably, I think the violence in NI will be with us long after prince Philip has been buried and will have plenty of time to make the front pages.

@Clavinova

How can you be so devoted to Johnson and co? It's not just you, the man is hugely popular.

He has written and said numerous racist comments, racist, homophobic, misogynistic, hideous things about people. After the Dunblane killings he wrote an article describing guns as toys he didn't want taking away, flippant comments after the killing of a class full of children.
He was asleep on the job at the start of the pandemic, went on holiday, encouraged us to carry on as normal, delayed locking down until the last minute costing thousands of extra lives. Spraying money at his cronies like confetti.
And the lies. He lies routinely everywhere. He tells lies to peoples faces while making jokes (did you see him in the video I posted?) he lies in parliament, he lies to the electorate while campaigning. He's not mistaken, or even telling half truth, they are complete and utter lies.
He wasted public money on vanity projects, gives, what was it, 100k, of public money to a women he's shagging (was the even married at the time?)
Do you remember, he even conspired to have a journalist assaulted.
The man is despicable.
And yet knowing all of the above, none of this was hidden from the electorate or the Tory party, first, the Tories decided that this was the sort of man they wanted to lead them and then the public gave him a big majority. What does that say about us as a nation? What sort of people have we become? That a man like that can become PM and somebody like Rory Stewart gets nowhere.
And the public love him, and you defend every single thing he does.