The On-going Never-ending Brexit Story Part Four

Didnot he ride the Brexit horse to do a coup in the conservative party, but didnot expect the Brexit actually getting voted for?

 

Took trains this weekend for a trip. Absolutely miserable experiences, both of them. Time for Labour to nationalise and raise tax to return service to what it used to be. Tax drivers 10p/litre to fund railroad revitalisation.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/28/no-10-set-to-allow-new-onshore-wind-projects-in-england-in-u-turn

Who, exactly, is in charge over there?

 

The BBC a couple of years ago had in their news(?) an item about the Dutch NS railways (probably because of problems with the railway services in the UK/England). The reporter was very pleased, talking about clean, comfortable trains that run in time.

And we were complaining about the NS all the time.
But I've got to say we Dutch are a bunch of spoiled brats

 

Nobody... nobody at all.

We're not into government and other forms of management of national affairs. They're too reminiscent of 'the man' telling us what to do.

We're trying a new form of 'stream of consciousness' government, albeit more a stream of UNconsciousness. A kind of gonzo government... fear and loathing in Westminster, so to speak.

 

As your attorney I advise you to take a hit out of the little brown flask in my shaving kit.

 

Comfortable Labour hold in the Chester by-election, but maybe not with the swing they were hoping for based on the national polls (although maybe more realistic in seats Labour currently hold). Still, winning a seat by almost 40 points that the Tory's won in 2010, and Labour only won by 93 votes in 2015 is bleak for Sunak.

City of Chester parliamentary by-election, result:

LAB: 61.2% (+11.6)
CON: 22.4% (-15.9)
LDEM: 8.4% (+1.5)
GRN: 2.8% (+0.1)
REF: 2.7% (+0.2)
REU: 1.0% (+1.0)
UKIP: 0.6% (+0.6)
MRLP: 0.6% (+0.6)
FA: 0.3% (+0.3)

— Britain Elects (@BritainElects) December 2, 2022

 

Also confirmed that Johnson will stand in Uxbridge again, so there's one result definitely worth staying up for on election night.

 

Hard to go up after a certain point.

If we treat Chester's swing as "uniform" across the country, that's still a massive collapse for the Tories.

 

Definitely - I doubt Labour are worried about anything from last night. It's a by-election in what was expected to be an easy Labour win, so lower turnout and lower motivation for some. Also Lib Dems held up pretty well given it was a safe vote.
I'd expect bigger swings in seats Labour don't currently hold, as the anti-Tory vote will be more galvinised.
If anything, it's the Tory vote that held up (even at 22%) that stopped the bigger margin. Based on national polling that could easily have dropped under 20. And RefUK did nothing - if they start getting dodgy money and Farage back then they'll eat away at that.

 

The dodgy money is gonna be hard to come by since it's going to pay for body armor and tanks in the Donbas.

 

Sajid Javid joins the list of Tories not standing again. That's a bit of a shock, but it's a nice safe seat for someone.

 

Holy crap but not totally surprising. Bromsgrove is 41-37 Labour according to Britain Predicts. If we had the same swing in the constituency from last night, the 2019 result would be 48-32, his closest contest in a long time.

 

It may be close, but if Labour were to win Bromsgrove you'd likely be looking at the SNP as the offical oppostion. They got 20.8% last time around though they hit 37.8% in 1997, and that looks like around their absolute max there (in line with that prediction).

Would almost certainly need someone else to be taking votes from the Tories for it to flip, although there could be the votes there were someone prominant to also stand. In 2010 UKIP hit 5.7% and the BNP 3.7%.

Imagine Johnson jumping ship to somehwere like that, Farage standing as well and Labour overturning a 40% majority. Delicious.

It's only a few months since Javid was campaigning to lead the party. Things move quickly.

 

Looking good

Britain Predicts — model update

If an election was held today...

LAB: 459 (+257)
CON: 101 (-264)
LDEM: 23 (+12)
SNP: 42 (-6)
PC: 4 (-)
GRN: 1 (-)

Tactical voting not [yet] accounted for.

Drilldown:https://t.co/dmeySodP2q pic.twitter.com/KqVxGJ7JtL

— Britain Elects (@BritainElects) December 2, 2022

 

Is Gove jumping ship?

We’ve just received a tip off that @michaelgove will be making an important statement to his local association this evening. Perhaps he will be joining @sajidjavid in the departure lounge?

— Surrey Heath Liberal Democrats (@SurreyHeathLDs) December 2, 2022

 

The Lord Goveth and the Lord Toketh Away.

 

We interrupt this Brexit nonsense with some Olde Timey racism

A black British charity boss who was repeatedly asked where she was "really" from at a royal reception has told the BBC the encounter was "abuse".

Ngozi Fulani was questioned about her background by Lady Susan Hussey, Prince William's godmother, at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday. The late Queen's lady-in-waiting has since resigned.

Ms Fulani likened the conversation with Lady Hussey, 83, to "an interrogation".

The palace described the remarks as "unacceptable and deeply regrettable".

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-63819482

 

More appropriate for the racism thread, isn't it?

 

I understand Starmer rationale not to create news about this issue, however a bit more honestly would be a welcome change. Who the fu** does he think he is fooling? They should ask him to explain a "better brexit deal". Does he think the EU will just open the door and give him unfettered access, w/out conditions, just because? To say that that rejoining the Single Market would not boost economic growth in the UK is simply stupid and I would argue bad politics.

Rejoining the EU’s single market would not boost UK economic growth, Keir Starmer has argued, saying it would create “years of uncertainty” for UK businesses, which would be worse than the closer trade links that would come.
In another sign of Labour’s extreme reluctance to be portrayed as seeking to dismantle or reverse Brexit, Starmer said that as prime minister he would instead seek to improve the post-departure deal agreed by Boris Johnson.

 

This is Royal Racism tho which is completely different

 

And how telling that he is deliberately not saying that.

 

I agree it would be nice if politicians could be more honest but I think, (as you imply, tbf), it probably wouldn't be wise saying anything before a general election.

Apart from brexit, seared into labour's memory is the planned tax increase by 1% which it was always said cost us the 1992 general election. Obviously, there was a LOT more to it than that but the 'mythology', (only partly a myth because it probably DID make a difference), still holds.

But, also, the 'unfettered access' element runs in both direction as it's also harmed their sales to us, (albeit not as much as the other way around, of course). So there's a very good reason for BOTH sides to want to increase trade between us.

Also, don't forget that Switzerland isn't IN the single market but might as well be because of a series of separate 'deals' and 'arrangements'.

The nub of the issue is we're competiting against people who aren't bothered about lying and, because of the 'meeja' apparently never ave to explain what they mean.

Bluntly, all he's doing is taking a leaf out of their book by coming up with a form of words that seem to say something but, in reality, mean very little and I doubt, (for the reasons stated), the EU care one way or the other.

Don't forget, it would likely cause THEM as many political problems as it would us. They'd be under enormous pressure to make us 'pay a price' which, (like most emotional responses to real world probles, including brexit itself, of course), would only make things worse.

 

Yeah, I guess the lack of precision in his language is a 'feature', not a 'bug'