This government should chuck it in and call an election. Use this DUP fiasco ( of her own making) to say to the people give me a majority or kick me out.
Will they do that ? Of course not. Power grasping shytehawks that they are.
Ireland just rubbing it in, flexing their sovereignty like that
Varadkar on a roll now talking to his surprise and disappointment that May couldn't follow through on an agreement made at lunchtime.
Something has to give this week else there is a three month delay. That in turn could see May turfed out of office? May can either ditch the DUP and run a minority government or ?
If she went for a minority government, would the DUP have to return the £1BM?
Ireland just rubbing it in, flexing their sovereignty like that
Varadkar on a roll now talking to his surprise and disappointment that May couldn't follow through on an agreement made at lunchtime.
Something has to give this week else there is a three month delay. That in turn could see May turfed out of office? May can either ditch the DUP and run a minority government or ?
If she went for a minority government, would the DUP have to return the £1BM?
Ireland just rubbing it in, flexing their sovereignty like that
Varadkar on a roll now talking to his surprise and disappointment that May couldn't follow through on an agreement made at lunchtime.
Something has to give this week else there is a three month delay. That in turn could see May turfed out of office? May can either ditch the DUP and run a minority government or ?
If she went for a minority government, would the DUP have to return the £1BM?
100% not. If that were the case then we really would have to think it was a bribe instead of much needed investment in a under investe£ in part of the UK
Amusing if not so serious. May appears to have upset the Scots and Welsh Nats who would also like a special deal keeping them in the Customs Union etc and many of her own party Brexiteers and remainers.
There is a majority for EEA membership in the commons and the Lords, so she could call all the loons bluff and get that. But she boxed herself in with the Lancaster House speech.
The way the Conversative and Unionist party are willing to destroy the union for the ideological purity of few backbenchers, is a disgrace
There was a game I used to play on the mega drive when I was younger called lemmings
Basically hoardes of lemmings (us), used to come running out into a scene laden with many traps and pitfalls (brexit). The idea was to (negotiate) all the lemmings (or as many as you could) to the safety of the exit or other side.
The lemmings had to do tasks to try and achieve this. Some had more important tasks than others (David Davis) and were required to dig holes, parachute down, fire canons. Sometimes you would learn a lesson like diggers can’t dig through steel or if you didn’t action your lemming’s parachute in time, you hit the ground with a splat and the lemming dies (Irish boarder for instance)
And the best thing is, you’re up against the clock. You only have a certain amount of time to guide as many lemmings to safety as possible (the time period since envoking art 50)
Some lemmings will die and not make it (we’re yet to see who in society those groups are), but you can be sure of one thing, many lemmings do not make it
I am listening to Farage on LBC at the moment. He's on the verge of apoplexy. It's the funniest thing I have heard in a long time.
Please tell me someone has called him to remind him of speaking up the Norway option ie staying in the SM/CU and that he only changed his mind after the referendum.
I am listening to Farage on LBC at the moment. He's on the verge of apoplexy. It's the funniest thing I have heard in a long time.
Please tell me someone has called him to remind him of speaking up the Norway option ie staying in the SM/CU and that he only changed his mind after the referendum.
If you have 10-15 minutes please read and digest. The author takes various thoughts shared by @seth plum in the past year and articulates the enormity of what the Leave campaign have done in terms of changing the landscape. O'Toole has the language and the traction in Dublin to know the angles and how to describe them. And how to dismiss the vexatious tortology from 2016.
The PM either knew that the DUP would respond this way or she didn't - or perhaps she gave them the choice? We cannot be sure which but she has a window to keep the government together and deliver agreement this week. However, it's unlikely that Varadkar or the EU27 will move since they already agreed the deal. It is what it is and either the UK of Great Britain and N.Ireland agrees to "regulatory alignment" or it doesn't.
There is a majority for EEA membership in the commons and the Lords, so she could call all the loons bluff and get that. But she boxed herself in with the Lancaster House speech.
The way the Conversative and Unionist party are willing to destroy the union for the ideological purity of few backbenchers, is a disgrace
The government do not need the DUP to make the right choice. As you say the Lords and Commons can carry this though. Labour or the SNP could step in and assist? But May is in quicksand up to her neck - why would political opponents assist in an all party approach to help her when she is the one who created this situation by placating Farage and UKIP 12 months ago? They want an election not a coalition of national unity. On that note there has been a 4% swing in Scotland - now 68% remain whilst Scottish Tories are down 4% to 25% and behind Labour in third place.
Perhaps May does the honorable thing and continues without the DUP? The next phase of the discussions will be even harder and more complex as the Mail, Express and Telegraph tell us all about sovereignty etc. etc. And the rest of us find whatever replaces the Irish Times to explain what the EU27 are asking the UK to sign up to... and thus whoever is PM next October needs to sign.
And finally one can look up the poll to which @PragueAddick referred. 50:36 in favour of a second referendum. Perhaps that might happen or maybe that is the canary down the coalmine signifying that the current approach is on it's last legs. There are many who are not particularly pro Corbyn or pro Remain who would go much further than a second referendum. For once we have clarity on the next phase outcome, they may well reach a WTF moment! We might skip the niceties of a second vote and end up with a general election to establish a new Government which is not in thrall to Farage and the DUP?
There is, is there not, a certain irony in this snippet from the BBC report: "But Mrs Foster then said her party will not accept any form of regulatory divergence" that separates Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK?
This from a dump with the population the size of Essex which insists upon having a whole raft of its own legislation entirely separate from the rest of the UK. The best known example of this is the fact that the Abortion Act does not apply in Northern Ireland. But there's a whole raft of other stuff which is very different from the laws we have in England & Wales. Then there's the huge number of its own pointless governmental departments.
Arlene and her gang of fellow dinosaurs are nothing more than dangerous hypocrites, in so many regards.
(She won't) but May should grow a pair, tell Arlene that NI deserves no more than having a government with the same status as an English county council and will be treated as such in the future. Stormont should be closed permanently and turned into a rather nice hotel. Other separate bollocks like the issuing of driving licences should be moved to the DVLA in Wales, etc, etc.
Whatever your views on Brexit, we shouldn't be having to put up with this from a bunch of god-bothering nutters stuck in some time wrap.
There is, is there not, a certain irony in this snippet from the BBC report: "But Mrs Foster then said her party will not accept any form of regulatory divergence" that separates Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK?
This from a dump with the population the size of Essex which insists upon having a whole raft of its own legislation entirely separate from the rest of the UK. The best known example of this is the fact that the Abortion Act does not apply in Northern Ireland. But there's a whole raft of other stuff which is very different from the laws we have in England & Wales. Then there's the huge number of its own pointless governmental departments.
Arlene and her gang of fellow dinosaurs are nothing more than dangerous hypocrites, in so many regards.
(She won't) but May should grow a pair, tell Arlene that NI deserves no more than having a government with the same status as an English county council and will be treated as such in the future. Stormont should be closed permanently and turned into a rather nice hotel. Other separate bollocks like the issuing of driving licences should be moved to the DVLA in Wales, etc, etc.
Whatever your views on Brexit, we shouldn't be having to put up with this from a bunch of god-bothering nutters stuck in some time wrap.
There is, is there not, a certain irony in this snippet from the BBC report: "But Mrs Foster then said her party will not accept any form of regulatory divergence" that separates Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK?
This from a dump with the population the size of Essex which insists upon having a whole raft of its own legislation entirely separate from the rest of the UK. The best known example of this is the fact that the Abortion Act does not apply in Northern Ireland. But there's a whole raft of other stuff which is very different from the laws we have in England & Wales. Then there's the huge number of its own pointless governmental departments.
Arlene and her gang of fellow dinosaurs are nothing more than dangerous hypocrites, in so many regards.
(She won't) but May should grow a pair, tell Arlene that NI deserves no more than having a government with the same status as an English county council and will be treated as such in the future. Stormont should be closed permanently and turned into a rather nice hotel. Other separate bollocks like the issuing of driving licences should be moved to the DVLA in Wales, etc, etc.
Whatever your views on Brexit, we shouldn't be having to put up with this from a bunch of god-bothering nutters stuck in some time wrap.
I'm starting to wonder if we've met....
It certainly sounds like you know me, almost like family.
Speaking as a key member of the pointless Government Department responsible for, among other things, the issue of driving licences.
There is, is there not, a certain irony in this snippet from the BBC report: "But Mrs Foster then said her party will not accept any form of regulatory divergence" that separates Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK?
This from a dump with the population the size of Essex which insists upon having a whole raft of its own legislation entirely separate from the rest of the UK. The best known example of this is the fact that the Abortion Act does not apply in Northern Ireland. But there's a whole raft of other stuff which is very different from the laws we have in England & Wales. Then there's the huge number of its own pointless governmental departments.
Arlene and her gang of fellow dinosaurs are nothing more than dangerous hypocrites, in so many regards.
(She won't) but May should grow a pair, tell Arlene that NI deserves no more than having a government with the same status as an English county council and will be treated as such in the future. Stormont should be closed permanently and turned into a rather nice hotel. Other separate bollocks like the issuing of driving licences should be moved to the DVLA in Wales, etc, etc.
Whatever your views on Brexit, we shouldn't be having to put up with this from a bunch of god-bothering nutters stuck in some time wrap.
I'm not sure I would have put it in the same terms as you, but I do agree - today Brexit descended into a whole new level of madness.
Does anyone else think that today's fine example of leadership in the face of adversity was the result of Theresa May taking literally the notion that the DUP are stuck in the 1690s, and assuming it would take them at least 300 years to catch up????
It does, however, give the lie to the idea that the DUP are motivated by a desire to avoid a hard border with Ireland/the EU (or, IMHO, that they are interested in the greater good within the UK, unless it agrees with their world view).
There was a game I used to play on the mega drive when I was younger called lemmings
Basically hoardes of lemmings (us), used to come running out into a scene laden with many traps and pitfalls (brexit). The idea was to (negotiate) all the lemmings (or as many as you could) to the safety of the exit or other side.
The lemmings had to do tasks to try and achieve this. Some had more important tasks than others (David Davis) and were required to dig holes, parachute down, fire canons. Sometimes you would learn a lesson like diggers can’t dig through steel or if you didn’t action your lemming’s parachute in time, you hit the ground with a splat and the lemming dies (Irish boarder for instance)
And the best thing is, you’re up against the clock. You only have a certain amount of time to guide as many lemmings to safety as possible (the time period since envoking art 50)
Some lemmings will die and not make it (we’re yet to see who in society those groups are), but you can be sure of one thing, many lemmings do not make it
Hopefully we won't see a reappearance of the bomber lemmings. While these were great fun in the game (5, 4, 3, 2, 1 "oh no" *BOOM*) they're less so in real life.
Does anyone else think that today's fine example of leadership in the face of adversity was the result of Theresa May taking literally the notion that the DUP are stuck in the 1690s, and assuming it would take them at least 300 years to catch up????
It does, however, give the lie to the idea that the DUP are motivated by a desire to avoid a hard border with Ireland/the EU (or, IMHO, that they are interested in the greater good within the UK, unless it agrees with their world view).
Impossible to comment on May/Whitehall perception and how that might differ from @cafcfan but the DUP have been lured into playing the traditional "no surrender" card by Monday lunchtime in a process that needs to be closed by CoB Friday. A week is a long time in politics!
Things will shift during the week because the alternative for this centre right / alt-right coalition is to let Corbyn take over or to take the no-deal option. No point in getting into the detail of the week as beyond our influence and pay grade. But there is a view that May is trying to swerve around obstacles and deliver a soft Brexit? Wishful thinking from Newsnight or genuine analysis?
Can't venture an opinion on the DUP nor the alternatives for that segment of the electorate but they have clearly been played by bigger forces in the alt-right movement - one nutter in a rival group was defending Trump retweets FFS. She had a 30 day facebook / twitter ban a couple of years back for sectarian abuse.
Does anyone else think that today's fine example of leadership in the face of adversity was the result of Theresa May taking literally the notion that the DUP are stuck in the 1690s, and assuming it would take them at least 300 years to catch up????
It does, however, give the lie to the idea that the DUP are motivated by a desire to avoid a hard border with Ireland/the EU (or, IMHO, that they are interested in the greater good within the UK, unless it agrees with their world view).
Impossible to comment on May/Whitehall perception and how that might differ from @cafcfan but the DUP have been lured into playing the traditional "no surrender" card by Monday lunchtime in a process that needs to be closed by CoB Friday. A week is a long time in politics!
Things will shift during the week because the alternative for this centre right / alt-right coalition is to let Corbyn take over or to take the no-deal option. No point in getting into the detail of the week as beyond our influence and pay grade. But there is a view that May is trying to swerve around obstacles and deliver a soft Brexit? Wishful thinking from Newsnight or genuine analysis?
Can't venture an opinion on the DUP nor the alternatives for that segment of the electorate but they have clearly been played by bigger forces in the alt-right movement - one nutter in a rival group was defending Trump retweets FFS. She had a 30 day facebook / twitter ban a couple of years back for sectarian abuse.
Can you shed light on the TUV?
Traditional Unionist Voice are, in many ways, a throwback to the politics of the Seventies, I'll leave the exact century for your own interpretation. They are traditional in the same way that Orange marches through Catholic residential areas are traditional, it may have been going on for some time, but it's hardly the best of British...
Essentially, TUV is that element of the Unionist spectrum for which the DUP is too dangerously bleeding heart liberal (for being willing to enter into any kind of political arrangement with Sinn Fein).
Under Dr Ian Paisley (and I'm concerned that I keep seeing online ads for Oral Roberts' University, but perhaps that is for another time), the DUP was less bothered with TUV than it is now.
TUV are to DUP what UKIP is to the Tories.
As for May, I think she's firefighting all the time, and could not see much beyond the divisions in Cabinet to recognise the danger posed by her BFF & co. over here. Personally, I think she's in a no win situation, lacking true vision to identify the best course for the UK, and not strong enough to effectively lead, she is effectively a prisoner in no. 10. So she ends up weak and vacillating, appearing to change course, when she's really not capable of going anywhere.
There is, is there not, a certain irony in this snippet from the BBC report: "But Mrs Foster then said her party will not accept any form of regulatory divergence" that separates Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK?
This from a dump with the population the size of Essex which insists upon having a whole raft of its own legislation entirely separate from the rest of the UK. The best known example of this is the fact that the Abortion Act does not apply in Northern Ireland. But there's a whole raft of other stuff which is very different from the laws we have in England & Wales. Then there's the huge number of its own pointless governmental departments.
Arlene and her gang of fellow dinosaurs are nothing more than dangerous hypocrites, in so many regards.
(She won't) but May should grow a pair, tell Arlene that NI deserves no more than having a government with the same status as an English county council and will be treated as such in the future. Stormont should be closed permanently and turned into a rather nice hotel. Other separate bollocks like the issuing of driving licences should be moved to the DVLA in Wales, etc, etc.
Whatever your views on Brexit, we shouldn't be having to put up with this from a bunch of god-bothering nutters stuck in some time wrap.
What a charmer you are.
You don't get it do you? I have rellies in NI. Arlene has apparently without much thought or imagination just declined a fantastic opportunity.
Forget about the rest of the UK for a moment, think of Ulster in a few years as some sort of giant version of Dubai (without the sun, obviously). A kind of vast free port. With just a soupçon of smart thinking, Arlene could have really turned this to her advantage. She could have found herself, entirely accidentally, and with no forethought or planning by anyone at all, in the envious position of seeing companies from around the world flocking to NI to set up shop in a place where, uniquely, they would have had a foot in both the EU and the UK. From the giants of manufacturing to the import/export chancers like Trotters Independent Traders: they would all have sat up and taken notice.
Some swift marketing with siren voices thrown in and there was a golden chance for NI to both have its soda bread and eat it. Ulster was just given the opportunity to shine and become truly prosperous with huge prospects for regeneration and future progress. But no, instead it seemingly finds it much more preferable to stay sitting in the UK's doorway with a dog (licensed of course) on a string, holding out a paper cup and saying "spare some change" to every passing Westminster politician.
There is, is there not, a certain irony in this snippet from the BBC report: "But Mrs Foster then said her party will not accept any form of regulatory divergence" that separates Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK?
This from a dump with the population the size of Essex which insists upon having a whole raft of its own legislation entirely separate from the rest of the UK. The best known example of this is the fact that the Abortion Act does not apply in Northern Ireland. But there's a whole raft of other stuff which is very different from the laws we have in England & Wales. Then there's the huge number of its own pointless governmental departments.
Arlene and her gang of fellow dinosaurs are nothing more than dangerous hypocrites, in so many regards.
(She won't) but May should grow a pair, tell Arlene that NI deserves no more than having a government with the same status as an English county council and will be treated as such in the future. Stormont should be closed permanently and turned into a rather nice hotel. Other separate bollocks like the issuing of driving licences should be moved to the DVLA in Wales, etc, etc.
Whatever your views on Brexit, we shouldn't be having to put up with this from a bunch of god-bothering nutters stuck in some time wrap.
What a charmer you are.
You don't get it do you? I have rellies in NI. Arlene has apparently without much thought or imagination just declined a fantastic opportunity.
Forget about the rest of the UK for a moment, think of Ulster in a few years as some sort of giant version of Dubai (without the sun, obviously). A kind of vast free port. With just a soupçon of smart thinking, Arlene could have really turned this to her advantage. She could have found herself, entirely accidentally, and with no forethought or planning by anyone at all, in the envious position of seeing companies from around the world flocking to NI to set up shop in a place where, uniquely, they would have had a foot in both the EU and the UK. From the giants of manufacturing to the import/export chancers like Trotters Independent Traders: they would all have sat up and taken notice.
Some swift marketing with siren voices thrown in and there was a golden chance for NI to both have its soda bread and eat it. Ulster was just given the opportunity to shine and become truly prosperous with huge prospects for regeneration and future progress. But no, instead it seemingly finds it much more preferable to stay sitting in the UK's doorway with a dog (licensed of course) on a string, holding out a paper cup and saying "spare some change" to every passing Westminster politician.
Have to agree with this.
I was going to award my "dick of the year" vote to Theresa. But I've changed my mind and am giving it to Arlene!
There is, is there not, a certain irony in this snippet from the BBC report: "But Mrs Foster then said her party will not accept any form of regulatory divergence" that separates Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK?
This from a dump with the population the size of Essex which insists upon having a whole raft of its own legislation entirely separate from the rest of the UK. The best known example of this is the fact that the Abortion Act does not apply in Northern Ireland. But there's a whole raft of other stuff which is very different from the laws we have in England & Wales. Then there's the huge number of its own pointless governmental departments.
Arlene and her gang of fellow dinosaurs are nothing more than dangerous hypocrites, in so many regards.
(She won't) but May should grow a pair, tell Arlene that NI deserves no more than having a government with the same status as an English county council and will be treated as such in the future. Stormont should be closed permanently and turned into a rather nice hotel. Other separate bollocks like the issuing of driving licences should be moved to the DVLA in Wales, etc, etc.
Whatever your views on Brexit, we shouldn't be having to put up with this from a bunch of god-bothering nutters stuck in some time wrap.
What a charmer you are.
You don't get it do you? I have rellies in NI. Arlene has apparently without much thought or imagination just declined a fantastic opportunity.
Forget about the rest of the UK for a moment, think of Ulster in a few years as some sort of giant version of Dubai (without the sun, obviously). A kind of vast free port. With just a soupçon of smart thinking, Arlene could have really turned this to her advantage. She could have found herself, entirely accidentally, and with no forethought or planning by anyone at all, in the envious position of seeing companies from around the world flocking to NI to set up shop in a place where, uniquely, they would have had a foot in both the EU and the UK. From the giants of manufacturing to the import/export chancers like Trotters Independent Traders: they would all have sat up and taken notice.
Some swift marketing with siren voices thrown in and there was a golden chance for NI to both have its soda bread and eat it. Ulster was just given the opportunity to shine and become truly prosperous with huge prospects for regeneration and future progress. But no, instead it seemingly finds it much more preferable to stay sitting in the UK's doorway with a dog (licensed of course) on a string, holding out a paper cup and saying "spare some change" to every passing Westminster politician.
I think there's a lot of truth in this but ultimately she is a politician and, as we've seen with our own PM, is less interested in what's good for her country and more interested in what's best for her party. I'm sure there's still some twists to come and if she can extract some further concessions from Westminster this week, that she can sell domestically, she will.
As ever the real villian of the peace in all this mess remains the Tories not the DUP, although I'm sure that will be the version pushed by the government and their press this week.
There is, is there not, a certain irony in this snippet from the BBC report: "But Mrs Foster then said her party will not accept any form of regulatory divergence" that separates Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK?
This from a dump with the population the size of Essex which insists upon having a whole raft of its own legislation entirely separate from the rest of the UK. The best known example of this is the fact that the Abortion Act does not apply in Northern Ireland. But there's a whole raft of other stuff which is very different from the laws we have in England & Wales. Then there's the huge number of its own pointless governmental departments.
Arlene and her gang of fellow dinosaurs are nothing more than dangerous hypocrites, in so many regards.
(She won't) but May should grow a pair, tell Arlene that NI deserves no more than having a government with the same status as an English county council and will be treated as such in the future. Stormont should be closed permanently and turned into a rather nice hotel. Other separate bollocks like the issuing of driving licences should be moved to the DVLA in Wales, etc, etc.
Whatever your views on Brexit, we shouldn't be having to put up with this from a bunch of god-bothering nutters stuck in some time wrap.
What a charmer you are.
You don't get it do you? I have rellies in NI. Arlene has apparently without much thought or imagination just declined a fantastic opportunity.
Forget about the rest of the UK for a moment, think of Ulster in a few years as some sort of giant version of Dubai (without the sun, obviously). A kind of vast free port. With just a soupçon of smart thinking, Arlene could have really turned this to her advantage. She could have found herself, entirely accidentally, and with no forethought or planning by anyone at all, in the envious position of seeing companies from around the world flocking to NI to set up shop in a place where, uniquely, they would have had a foot in both the EU and the UK. From the giants of manufacturing to the import/export chancers like Trotters Independent Traders: they would all have sat up and taken notice.
Some swift marketing with siren voices thrown in and there was a golden chance for NI to both have its soda bread and eat it. Ulster was just given the opportunity to shine and become truly prosperous with huge prospects for regeneration and future progress. But no, instead it seemingly finds it much more preferable to stay sitting in the UK's doorway with a dog (licensed of course) on a string, holding out a paper cup and saying "spare some change" to every passing Westminster politician.
The sentiments of your post are I think understandable. The terminology and language used to put that across are unnecessary. You’re not the only one with relatives there by the way.
There is, is there not, a certain irony in this snippet from the BBC report: "But Mrs Foster then said her party will not accept any form of regulatory divergence" that separates Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK?
This from a dump with the population the size of Essex which insists upon having a whole raft of its own legislation entirely separate from the rest of the UK. The best known example of this is the fact that the Abortion Act does not apply in Northern Ireland. But there's a whole raft of other stuff which is very different from the laws we have in England & Wales. Then there's the huge number of its own pointless governmental departments.
Arlene and her gang of fellow dinosaurs are nothing more than dangerous hypocrites, in so many regards.
(She won't) but May should grow a pair, tell Arlene that NI deserves no more than having a government with the same status as an English county council and will be treated as such in the future. Stormont should be closed permanently and turned into a rather nice hotel. Other separate bollocks like the issuing of driving licences should be moved to the DVLA in Wales, etc, etc.
Whatever your views on Brexit, we shouldn't be having to put up with this from a bunch of god-bothering nutters stuck in some time wrap.
What a charmer you are.
You don't get it do you? I have rellies in NI. Arlene has apparently without much thought or imagination just declined a fantastic opportunity.
Forget about the rest of the UK for a moment, think of Ulster in a few years as some sort of giant version of Dubai (without the sun, obviously). A kind of vast free port. With just a soupçon of smart thinking, Arlene could have really turned this to her advantage. She could have found herself, entirely accidentally, and with no forethought or planning by anyone at all, in the envious position of seeing companies from around the world flocking to NI to set up shop in a place where, uniquely, they would have had a foot in both the EU and the UK. From the giants of manufacturing to the import/export chancers like Trotters Independent Traders: they would all have sat up and taken notice.
Some swift marketing with siren voices thrown in and there was a golden chance for NI to both have its soda bread and eat it. Ulster was just given the opportunity to shine and become truly prosperous with huge prospects for regeneration and future progress. But no, instead it seemingly finds it much more preferable to stay sitting in the UK's doorway with a dog (licensed of course) on a string, holding out a paper cup and saying "spare some change" to every passing Westminster politician.
The sentiments of your post are I think understandable. The terminology and language used to put that across are unnecessary. You’re not the only one with relatives there by the way.
Wow, guy on the radio reckons May should cut a deal with Sinn Fein now instead, get them over to Westminster and you practically have a united Ireland , so they are happy and she wouldn't need the DUP anymore to prop up her government
Wow, guy on the radio reckons May should cut a deal with Sinn Fein now instead, get them over to Westminster and you practically have a united Ireland , so they are happy and she wouldn't need the DUP anymore to prop up her government
Could this whole process be any worse than it currently is. We are a laughing stock.
It's probably going to get worse! We will soon see. The latest is that Ms. Foster is refusing to fly to London until there is something to agree. It's all over the Irish press North and South. Kier Starmer sounded impressive on the radio today with his urgent question.
Even if we could imagine a scenario where all previously antagonistic people on the island of Ireland put aside all differences now and forever, and even agreed they got on so well the Good Friday Agreement can be by-passed, due to the result of the referendum and under the present approach of the Government, there would still be a hard border in Ireland. Unless somebody can tell me where I am going wrong in the following:
The UK is out of the EU Ireland is in the EU They are two different trading entities, with different laws and procedures after brexit. There is a land border between the EU state, and the UK. Unless the whole world puts their fingers in their ears, shuts their eyes and goes la la la, there is a de facto border which will have to be managed somehow.
Comments
Will they do that ? Of course not. Power grasping shytehawks that they are.
May appears to have upset the Scots and Welsh Nats who would also like a special deal keeping them in the Customs Union etc and many of her own party Brexiteers and remainers.
Lord Buckethead, man of the year.
The way the Conversative and Unionist party are willing to destroy the union for the ideological purity of few backbenchers, is a disgrace
Basically hoardes of lemmings (us), used to come running out into a scene laden with many traps and pitfalls (brexit). The idea was to (negotiate) all the lemmings (or as many as you could) to the safety of the exit or other side.
The lemmings had to do tasks to try and achieve this. Some had more important tasks than others (David Davis) and were required to dig holes, parachute down, fire canons. Sometimes you would learn a lesson like diggers can’t dig through steel or if you didn’t action your lemming’s parachute in time, you hit the ground with a splat and the lemming dies (Irish boarder for instance)
And the best thing is, you’re up against the clock. You only have a certain amount of time to guide as many lemmings to safety as possible (the time period since envoking art 50)
Some lemmings will die and not make it (we’re yet to see who in society those groups are), but you can be sure of one thing, many lemmings do not make it
The PM either knew that the DUP would respond this way or she didn't - or perhaps she gave them the choice? We cannot be sure which but she has a window to keep the government together and deliver agreement this week. However, it's unlikely that Varadkar or the EU27 will move since they already agreed the deal. It is what it is and either the UK of Great Britain and N.Ireland agrees to "regulatory alignment" or it doesn't. The government do not need the DUP to make the right choice. As you say the Lords and Commons can carry this though. Labour or the SNP could step in and assist? But May is in quicksand up to her neck - why would political opponents assist in an all party approach to help her when she is the one who created this situation by placating Farage and UKIP 12 months ago? They want an election not a coalition of national unity. On that note there has been a 4% swing in Scotland - now 68% remain whilst Scottish Tories are down 4% to 25% and behind Labour in third place.
Perhaps May does the honorable thing and continues without the DUP? The next phase of the discussions will be even harder and more complex as the Mail, Express and Telegraph tell us all about sovereignty etc. etc. And the rest of us find whatever replaces the Irish Times to explain what the EU27 are asking the UK to sign up to... and thus whoever is PM next October needs to sign.
And finally one can look up the poll to which @PragueAddick referred. 50:36 in favour of a second referendum. Perhaps that might happen or maybe that is the canary down the coalmine signifying that the current approach is on it's last legs. There are many who are not particularly pro Corbyn or pro Remain who would go much further than a second referendum. For once we have clarity on the next phase outcome, they may well reach a WTF moment! We might skip the niceties of a second vote and end up with a general election to establish a new Government which is not in thrall to Farage and the DUP?
This from a dump with the population the size of Essex which insists upon having a whole raft of its own legislation entirely separate from the rest of the UK. The best known example of this is the fact that the Abortion Act does not apply in Northern Ireland. But there's a whole raft of other stuff which is very different from the laws we have in England & Wales. Then there's the huge number of its own pointless governmental departments.
Arlene and her gang of fellow dinosaurs are nothing more than dangerous hypocrites, in so many regards.
(She won't) but May should grow a pair, tell Arlene that NI deserves no more than having a government with the same status as an English county council and will be treated as such in the future. Stormont should be closed permanently and turned into a rather nice hotel. Other separate bollocks like the issuing of driving licences should be moved to the DVLA in Wales, etc, etc.
Whatever your views on Brexit, we shouldn't be having to put up with this from a bunch of god-bothering nutters stuck in some time wrap.
It certainly sounds like you know me, almost like family.
Speaking as a key member of the pointless Government Department responsible for, among other things, the issue of driving licences.
PS. I'm not disagreeing.
It does, however, give the lie to the idea that the DUP are motivated by a desire to avoid a hard border with Ireland/the EU (or, IMHO, that they are interested in the greater good within the UK, unless it agrees with their world view).
Things will shift during the week because the alternative for this centre right / alt-right coalition is to let Corbyn take over or to take the no-deal option. No point in getting into the detail of the week as beyond our influence and pay grade. But there is a view that May is trying to swerve around obstacles and deliver a soft Brexit? Wishful thinking from Newsnight or genuine analysis?
Can't venture an opinion on the DUP nor the alternatives for that segment of the electorate but they have clearly been played by bigger forces in the alt-right movement - one nutter in a rival group was defending Trump retweets FFS. She had a 30 day facebook / twitter ban a couple of years back for sectarian abuse.
Can you shed light on the TUV?
Essentially, TUV is that element of the Unionist spectrum for which the DUP is too dangerously bleeding heart liberal (for being willing to enter into any kind of political arrangement with Sinn Fein).
Under Dr Ian Paisley (and I'm concerned that I keep seeing online ads for Oral Roberts' University, but perhaps that is for another time), the DUP was less bothered with TUV than it is now.
TUV are to DUP what UKIP is to the Tories.
As for May, I think she's firefighting all the time, and could not see much beyond the divisions in Cabinet to recognise the danger posed by her BFF & co. over here. Personally, I think she's in a no win situation, lacking true vision to identify the best course for the UK, and not strong enough to effectively lead, she is effectively a prisoner in no. 10. So she ends up weak and vacillating, appearing to change course, when she's really not capable of going anywhere.
Forget about the rest of the UK for a moment, think of Ulster in a few years as some sort of giant version of Dubai (without the sun, obviously). A kind of vast free port. With just a soupçon of smart thinking, Arlene could have really turned this to her advantage. She could have found herself, entirely accidentally, and with no forethought or planning by anyone at all, in the envious position of seeing companies from around the world flocking to NI to set up shop in a place where, uniquely, they would have had a foot in both the EU and the UK. From the giants of manufacturing to the import/export chancers like Trotters Independent Traders: they would all have sat up and taken notice.
Some swift marketing with siren voices thrown in and there was a golden chance for NI to both have its soda bread and eat it. Ulster was just given the opportunity to shine and become truly prosperous with huge prospects for regeneration and future progress. But no, instead it seemingly finds it much more preferable to stay sitting in the UK's doorway with a dog (licensed of course) on a string, holding out a paper cup and saying "spare some change" to every passing Westminster politician.
I was going to award my "dick of the year" vote to Theresa. But I've changed my mind and am giving it to Arlene!
As ever the real villian of the peace in all this mess remains the Tories not the DUP, although I'm sure that will be the version pushed by the government and their press this week.
:-)
Unless somebody can tell me where I am going wrong in the following:
The UK is out of the EU
Ireland is in the EU
They are two different trading entities, with different laws and procedures after brexit.
There is a land border between the EU state, and the UK.
Unless the whole world puts their fingers in their ears, shuts their eyes and goes la la la, there is a de facto border which will have to be managed somehow.