The Westminster Arms

[DustyDiamond]

Shiny new thread 😍😍

The Westminster Arms:
A non-partisan politics pub-thread for varied political chit-chat & other such stuff

Cheers all 🍷

Apologies for omitting Chile, NZ and S. Africa.

Good point from Harry Cole about Corbyn’s selectivity with the press.

Very difficult to see how journalists win in a stand off. They are already lacking credibility with the public and this just feeds the narrative of prima donnas on the spin.

LimitedSamba that is an unusual reading of certainly my pps. I would rather have Remained than TM's Deal.

Dan Hodges getting a lot of flack for asking why Parliament didn't accept TM's Deal or even better once they had added bells and whistles amendments or even better still one of the indicative options. I disagree with his fanciful notion that either side could have agreed in the joint negotiation with Labour or that it was ever realistic that Grieve and Soubry and co would accept Corbyn as caretaker or that Labour could have accepted anyone else.

In any case I doubt any of this would have lasted with the electorate in the long term given the rapid rise of the Brexit Party.

All water under the bridge now except to say that any Deal on trade which isn't mutually beneficial and balanced tends not to last.

On the journalism thing I'm not sure. How much of a cartel is the lobby system? I don't like cartels, but I think the answer is to blow them open - open access to all journos, live stream etc - rather than choose the favoured publications to get the scoop. But I'm probably missing great chunks of information.

We don't need Spanish salad in winter. Eat local and seasonal! and our farmers can do a lot with polytunnels nowadays. Brassicas ftw.

Salad from Spain is hard to replace without massive food miles TBH.

My mother was telling me yesterday about some delicious tomatoes from Morocco she had bought in Tesco. So the supermarkets are already on it. Morocco isn't that much further than Spain.

if I might perhaps, please, add a post more than I am due (because there weren't responses...) Parker's daughter triumph trumped me, and I am delighted...

asking the question, am I the only person who considers Washington's diplomacy the most sophisticated and intelligent game at the moment? For reference, I am not congratulating the orange person, but the general level of comment from DC is currently really considered and thoughtful, or am I deluded?

At the moment I trust the bunch of bastards who through hell and High water delivered what the majority of the people of this country asked for.

Brexit.

Those bastards wrested democracy out of the clutches of anti democratic vote stealing morons.

If it wasn't for the those bastards in no 10 the UK would be looking a little more like a dictatorship, where votes are robbed, fudged, lost... Forced to re run.

Very difficult to see how journalists win in a stand off. They are already lacking credibility with the public and this just feeds the narrative of prima donnas on the spin

Exactly, feed that narrative! Why should anyone care about press freedom, they probably deserve to be excluded anyway and then, if any of the 'chosen' ones start to play up they also become Univited and the narrative says it's their own fault...etc etc...until there is no free press.

This is how evil takes hold, right in front of your noses

If it wasn't for the those bastards in no 10 the UK would be looking a little more like a dictatorship

So you're happy with the unelected Cummings in charge at No.10? Banning the press? I think the UK is looking a lot more like veering towards dictatorship with those type of decisions. Like I said, this is exactly how it starts but let's keep feeding that narrative

I thought Brexiters detested unelected, unaccountable types running the show?

Cummings is the chosen adviser to a democratically elected PM with a huge 80 seat majority Arse.

Or, as Cameron observed, a 'career psychopath'. Nice choice 'Boris' - not that it was a choice I suspect, he couldn't detach himself from Cummings now if he wanted to. Cummings, like Arcuri, knows all his secrets.

Holly Interesting - thank you for that. I was interested to read "...must be able to hold the Government to account." Surely that's the job of the opposition which they have abjectly failed to do with Corbyn at the helm.

Yes, the additional invitation was specifically to political editors. Others turned up and demanded entry.

They were told that only political editors.
So they had a strop.

They tried it a few weeks ago when Guido was live tweeting. They protested because he was not a member of "the lobby" so their rules did not apply to him.
They changed the rules.
The daily mirror was excluded because they will only write good things about the Labour Party.
We have a free press. Their political editors would have been invited.
Even Robert Peston was invited.

"...must be able to hold the Government to account." Surely that's the job of the opposition ....

And, ultimately, the electorate. Passing judgement on governments (and oppositions) is our job. Something they keep forgetting. Until we remind them.

asking the question, am I the only person who considers Washington's diplomacy the most sophisticated and intelligent game at the moment? For reference, I am not congratulating the orange person, but the general level of comment from DC is currently really considered and thoughtful, or am I deluded?

No Xing DH and I were pondering on this just this evening.

And as a committed salad dodger I won't miss lettuce in winter! I live less than 100m from an organic farm so I just buy whatever they have available every Friday.

Who eats salad in winter?

Classic Dom has to sort out the Civil Service so that they serve the needs of the government rather than themselves.

Then the BBC which is bloated and suffers from inequality, opaqueness and bias.

Then the press pack.

But I have every confidence in him. He will sort them out.

I grow all my own salad in my greenhouse. But I realise I am fortunate to be able to do that.

Surely that's the job of the opposition which they have abjectly failed to do with Corbyn at the helm.

So you would have liked them to hold the tories to account more SilverySurfer? Good for you, though i'd have to say you're in a minority of Brexiters who have been encouraged to view that sort of thing as 'dither and delay' and 'undemocratic'

Were you also interested to read the comments of Paul Waugh, a notably non-partisan journalist of 20+ years standing, on the exclusion of out-of-favour journalists from No.10 briefings?

But I have every confidence in him. He will sort them out

Can Classic Dom sort out some winter salad?

Wingland Foods in Warwickshire grows lettuce all year round - including winter. I doubt they are the only winter producers.

but the general level of comment from DC is currently really considered and thoughtful

Undoubtedly, Xing, although they've had to do a lot of extra work on the back channels to counteract the Donald's tweets. They are actually the ones keeping the show on the road, in terms of international relations.

Maybe ask yourselves why other journalists decided to walk out of the press briefing in support of those who were told to leave.

Can Classic Dom sort out some winter salad?
It's always winter in Cummings-world (but never christmas..)

Isn't our salad chlorinated?