518 thoughts on “Wednesday 18 September: The PM’s treatment in Luxembourg was typical of the vindictive EU”

  2. The Liberal Democrats, never has a party had a more misleading name, closely followed by Labour and the Conservatives.

    1. Quite, following with this theme, it seems the only sensible party putting up for election are the monster raving loonies.

      1. They have been the only sensible party for ages. Together with a good dollop of much-needed humour.

      2. I may well be voting for them again at the next election when it comes. I haven’t voted for any of the main parties for many elections now and though I’ve voted UKIP more recently, but I now have reservations about voting for them in view of the shenanigans going on in that party at the moment. In fact I’ve reached the stage where I wonder if there is any point in voting at all – and in the past I’ve always thought it was important to vote in all elections, big & small.

        1. That’s what the Establishment is hoping for. If people don’t bother to vote, they can do what they like because then they can say, “you didn’t express an opinion, so you can’t complain”.

  3. Have I got this right?
    If you cross the North Korean border illegally you get 12 years hard labour
    If you cross the Iranian border illegally you are detained indefinitely.
    If you cross the Afghan border illegally, you get shot.
    If you cross the Saudi Arabian border illegally you will be jailed.
    If you cross the Chinese border illegally you may never be heard from again.
    If you cross the Venezuelan border illegally you will be branded a spy and your fate will be sealed.
    If you cross the Cuban border illegally you will be thrown into a political prison to rot.
    If you sail illegally into Britain you get a job, a driver’s license, national insurance card, welfare, credit cards, subsidized rent or a loan to buy a house, free education, free health care, billions of pounds worth of public documents printed in your language, the right to carry your country’s flag while you protest that you don’t get enough respect from the British and, in many instances, you can vote.

    I just wanted to make sure I have a firm grasp on the situation!

    1. You get to bring in your extended family and the extended families of four nominated “spouses” along with their “business” associates. In order to keep immigration down, we just shut out a few thousand Filipina nurses. They’re not cool or hip-hop or sufficiently oppressed.

  4. Only Labour will give the people a final say on Brexit. Jeremy Corbyn. Tue 17 Sep 2019.

    A Labour government would secure a sensible deal based on the terms we have long advocated, including a new customs union with the EU; a close single market relationship; and guarantees of workers’ rights and environmental protections. We would then put that to a public vote alongside remain. I will pledge to carry out whatever the people decide, as a Labour prime minister.

    Morning everyone. So Jezza we will get to decide between remain and remaining? How generous. Why have these people not yet twigged that we have figured out this double tongued twaddle?

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/17/labour-final-say-brexit-boris-johnson-britain-eu

    2. The intellectually challenged grandpa doesn’t even seem to realise that if he keeps us in the EU, he won’t be able to carry out any of his nationalisation plans.

  5. Good morning.

    It looks as if the prime minister of Luxembourg may emerge as the hero of Brexit by convincing any doubters that Britain can and must not remain in this odious organsisation any longer.

    DT Article today

    Luxembourg has reminded British ‘why they don’t want to be in Europe’, says US envoy Woody Johnson
    Save
    1744
    Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel gestures to an empty podium at a news conference after his meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
    Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel gestures to an empty podium at a news conference after his meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson CREDIT: YVES HERMAN /REUTERS

    Camilla Tominey, associate editor James Crisp, brussels correspondent, in luxembourg
    17 SEPTEMBER 2019 • 9:42PM
    Follow
    Boris Johnson’s treatment at the hands of Luxembourg’s prime minister is a reminder of why the UK wants to leave the European Union, the US ambassador said on Tuesday night.

    In a show of solidarity, Woody Johnson said that having “built the greatest empire” and “held off the Nazis”, the British “didn’t need a lecture from anybody on how to run their country … and that includes Brussels”.

    He added: “We stand with the people of the UK and we always will.”

    It came after Xavier Bettel, the Luxembourg prime minister, was accused of “disrespecting” Britain after he tried to force Mr Johnson to hold a news conference in a street full of anti-Brexit protesters, leaving the Prime Minister no choice but to pull out.

    Speaking at the Carlton Club on Tuesday, the US ambassador praised Mr Johnson’s handling of the situation, 
insisting that “he knew he was walking into a trap”. “He knew this was a set up. Of course he knew, but he’s British. He said: ‘What the hell. I can do this’.

    U.S. Ambassador to Britain Woody Johnson
    U.S. Ambassador to Britain Woody Johnson CREDIT: MATT DUNHAM/AP
    “I thought the people in Luxembourg accomplished something that maybe even Boris couldn’t accomplish – show this is not where (the British) want to be, over there, when they treat us like that – your Prime Minister.”

    Addressing a Conservative Foreign & Commonwealth Council lunch at the private members’ club in Pall Mall, the ambassador said that while “some had cast doubt” on the British people’s 
decision to leave the EU, “the US 
administration believes it’s the start of a new golden era for the UK.”

    He said: “The people who built the greatest empire, the people who held off the Nazis, who contributed so much to the progress of mankind, you can go down a long list – they don’t need a lecture from anybody on how to run their country, and that includes Brussels.”

    Mr Bettel’s “empty chairing” of Mr Johnson appeared to cause unease in Brussels and Berlin on Tuesday.

    Norbert Röttgen, an ally of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and chairman of the German foreign affairs committee, wrote on Twitter: “Xavier Bettel’s speech yesterday did not serve the European cause. His public venting ignored that a deal is still in everyone’s interest. Even without a deal there will be a post-Brexit life, which means that right now everyone needs to behave in a way that avoids animosity.”

    It came as Mr Bettel met Emmanuel Macron, the French president, for talks at the Elysée Palace in Paris.

    Senior diplomatic sources told The Telegraph that it was never 
 acceptable to embarrass a country such as the UK and that a solution should have been found to hold the press conference elsewhere.

    EU sources expressed doubts that a similar farce would have happened in Paris or Berlin. “I think leaders of bigger countries might not have chosen the Brexit negotiations as a platform to raise their own profile,” one EU diplomat in Brussels said.

    Another EU source warned that the outcry could actually help Mr Johnson domestically. “The main problem is that this only reinforces the ‘them versus us’ narrative that Johnson has used before,” said the insider.

    There was also anger that Mr Bettel’s behaviour overshadowed Mr Johnson’s earlier meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker, the EU Commission president, where he offered an olive branch by declaring that negotiations would continue “at high speed” in a bid to build a sense of momentum behind talks before the Oct 31 Brexit deadline.

    On Tuesday, a Government source revealed that the UK negotiating team has been showing Brussels papers with proposals of backstop alternatives – but not leaving them with the EU because “once you share it with 27 countries, you’re not in control of the document”.

    The source said: “We showed them the text of the Northern Ireland protocol, without the backstop in it, to show them the precision of removal that we’re looking for.” Proposals the UK has discussed concerned areas such as agri-food, the source added.

    Ambassador Johnson insisted that Britain could have agreements with both Washington and Brussels. “The US cannot wait to do a deal. Together with Britain, we are going to show the world how free and fair trade can promote peace and prosperity around the world. So it’s full steam ahead  … the minute the UK is out, America is in.”

    Referring to a pre-referendum claim by Barack Obama, that the US would not prioritise a trade deal with the UK, he said: “It’s not back of the queue days any more, sorry.

    “This is the real deal. So if you want it, you’re going to get it and you’re 
going to get a good one. When it looks bleak, you’re going to get the US and you’re going to have a great relationship with Europe, I guarantee it.”

    on Tuesday night, YouGov polling showed Mr Johnson’s popularity rating rose five points since he took office, from minus 21 to minus 16. The PM reached a high of minus 12 last Thursday, before dropping back to minus 16 on Tuesday.

    Jeremy Corbyn is polling at minus 49, down from a high of 0 in June 2017.

    1. Even without a deal there will be a post-Brexit life, which means that right now everyone needs to behave in a way that avoids animosity
      I wish so many would realise this, and tone it down a lot.

    2. Let the EU eat cake. Mrs May has some leftovers from the one they served her.
      Is it not high time that the representatives of the UK, high and low, official and unofficial, stopped allowing themselves to be treated like doormats and gave tit for tat.
      A few comments such as;
      “The last time the British came to Holland it was to save your sorry Dutch arses . The last time the British came to Paris it was to win the Tour de France and the time before that it was to save your sorry French arses.”
      I am utterly cheesed off by our people smiling at these vile and repellent bullies, who are ignorant jumped-up guttersnipes.

      1. If they want to talk to Boris, they should come to London.
        Boris can then arrange a crowd of shouty types who humiliate the arris of the fluckers.

  6. Saudi oil attacks: Drones and missiles launched from Iran – US. BBC 6 hours ago.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a0f5037eb0f5802b4330b4bccc4985e8f2e06f0e4571f2102095dce08ce0ae44.jpg

    The US has reportedly identified locations in Iran from which drones and cruise missiles were launched against major Saudi oil facilities on Saturday.
    Senior US officials told media outlets that the locations were in southern Iran, at the northern end of the Gulf.
    Saudi air defences did not stop the drones and missiles because they were pointed southwards, to prevent attacks from Yemen, they added.

    As can be seen from the satellite photograph the weapons impacted with high precision which argues for onboard GPS navigation while the distance from any hostile territory suggests cruise missiles not drones. The Houti’s last strike against a Saudi target managed a single hit on the roof of the concourse of a civilian airfield in the South of the country so we are talking about entirely different capabilities! Could the Iranians have shipped these weapons to Yemen and launched them from there? Yes but it would be risky. They could have been intercepted en-route (there is a sea blockade little talked about in the MSM) which would have been embarrassing if they were discovered and of course the crew, facilities and infrastructure to do so would have been needed as well.

    Was it a False Flag operation which is always a consideration after the Skripal Affair? Well even the Saudi’s would balk at betraying their own vulnerabilities and cutting their own revenue to spite the Iranians and the only other player with the expertise needed would be Israel, and this seems unlikely, though not impossible, for a variety of reasons, not least that it would require possession of Iranian weaponry and a place to launch them from.

    So all in all it was very probably an Iranian operation designed to show both the Saudi’s and the Americans that they are not going to just sit back and take it and are prepared to go to war if necessary. None of this is an argument for an American strike which would precipitate a Middle East catastrophe that would eventually involve major players like Russia and China with all the risks entailed in such a clash.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-49733558

    1. What strikes me is that those pictures are very clean. No evidence of leakage, or fire anywhere, neither on the tanks nor on the ground. Did they wash it all off so that they could get a clear satellite picture? Or, were the pictures taken earlier and the “damage” photoshopped on later?
      In any case, these look like gas tanks – propane, butane, that kind of thing. If there was a fire, even with clean-burning gas, where’s the evidence of burned ground, scorched and damaged piping? There isn’t any. So, maybe the tanks were empty? So much unexplained…

      1. I don’t believe they are photographs in that sense Oberst. There is a technique of imaging objects using radar through a limited aperture which eliminates atmospheric distortion and clouds. An essential for satellite surveillance!

        1. Still no fire damage.
          The tanks and piping would be all bent & twisted (like Bercow’s mind) had there been a fire; tanks would have likely BLEVE’d (blown up). None of that visible. There’s even a car just above & to the right of the upper tank.
          This photo is bollox.

    2. “Saudi air defences did not stop the drones and missiles because they were pointed southwards, to prevent attacks from Yemen, they added.”
      I did not realise that the Saudis were so confident of their friendship with Iran that they had no need to bother guarding , or even looking at, their Northern and Eastern borders?
      I spoke to our oil supplier and he said that the Saudi oil refineries would be up and running within weeks. It had initially been said that it would take months. The effect on price was less obvious. There has been an increase in price the last month but there are many other factors involved, world production capacity, the mess in Venezuela, American reactions, and the lower demand for oil because of slight recession, and fear of further dips in economies. Not to mention the manipulation of prices for profit, as is normal.

      1. ‘Morning, Angie, are you referring to the gap in her teeth or the even wider gap between her ears?

  8. Lib -Dems perhaps the most undemocratic party in the UK

    The Brexit vote had a turnout of over 73% and gave an absolute majority yet the Lib-Dems want to ignore that and say if they are elected they will overturn Brexit on Day 1, Well first they cannot and second should they by some remote chance win the typical General Election turn out is about 65% and the winning party typically has about 35% of the vote but this is apparently fine with the Lib-Dems the 52% 48% issue no longer matters

    1. Morning Bob. No system can work in which three quarters of the legislature are in service to a Foreign Power!

  10. SIR – Mr Johnson needs to be prepared to stand up and talk where there are people who disagree with him (given that roughly half of Britain does). His behaviour was cowardly.

    Jenny Mahony
    Abingdon, Oxfordshire

    Right. I’m going to find where you live and show up with 100+ of my mates equipped with loudspeakers. Come out and debate you cowardly cow.

    BTL:

    Real Captain Sensible 18 Sep 2019 6:51AM
    What utter rubbish. These people were not there to listen to him, rather to prevent him speaking. If he stood in front of them, they would not have listened. Did their organiser not say that Johnson “had nothing to say worth listening to”?

    There are none so deaf as those like Jenny Mahony who will not listen, especially to the collective voice of 17.4 million of her fellow countrymen and women.

    1. Laura Kuennsberg was there and likes putting words into Boris’s mouth so she missed a golden opportunity to stand in for our PM and say what she wants without Boris trying to get in a word edgeways.

        1. Anything, in fact, contaminated with the Common Purpose cancer that has metastised through the entire Establishment body of this country.

    2. I found Macron’s reaction when greeting Bettel afterwards to be very illuminating.

      It was a very public display of support.

  12. Morning all

    SIR – The treatment of Boris Johnson in Luxembourg (report, September 17), just like the treatment of Theresa May in Salzburg last year, confirms that the EU is a club of which no self-respecting nation should be a member.

    David Gardiner
    Newbury, Berkshire

    SIR – Britain’s last three prime ministers have now all been publicly humiliated by the EU.

    What does this say about the potential for a good long-term relationship with Brussels?

    Graham Shipley
    Leicester

    SIR – As a result of the Luxembourg prime minister’s actions, the number of Leavers in Britain has increased by at least one.

    Tim Bailey
    East Coker, Somerset

    2. What does this say about the potential for a good long-term relationship with Brussels?

      Graham Shipley has hit on the point that Johnson must NOT bring May’s WA or any part of it back into play. The EU cabal cannot wait to get their hands on their first rich colony and suck it dry.

    3. Good morning Epi

      I am not surprised to witness the rude bad tempered un gallant behaviour of Eurocrats towards our own Prime Ministers past and present .

      I have a festering dislike for the seismic bullying faults that are prominently evident in the European character.

      6 million Jews and and millions of others were bullied , persecuted and murdered by perpetrators who lived in many nations .. those people betrayed their own ..

      The people running the EU will have had relatives who probably watched and witnessed the Holocaust and did absolutely nothing .

      We should not be surprised that our exit from the EU would incur the wrath of those controlling humourless ill mannered bureaucrats.. nothing in their national character will have changed since 1933.

      1. The problem with this theory is that most of the protesters prepared to howl down the PM are British expats. The EU hosts were simply stirring the pot of our own making.

        You are right though to point out the ease by which very unpleasant gangs of people can manipulate their way to absolute power under the EU constitution as it has evolved. The BBC2 documentary ‘The Rise of the Nazis’ chronicled this well.

        Don’t imagine for one moment that we are protected once we compromise our long-won freedoms, checks and balances in the name of “progress” and “business-friendliness”. I myself was once the victim of the suspension of Habeas Corpus when it comes to civil family law.

        1. I’m a British expat, have been for over 20 years. In common with most here in Norway, we can’t wait for Brexit – bring it on!
          So, yer Belgium-dwellers are probably EU Commission employees frightened that their wonderful EU will fire their sorry asses once Brexit happens, as a point of revenge.
          Who wants to be a part of that? If you do, take Belgian nationality!
          (I just reread that last sentence… HA HA HA! Funniest suggestion all year! Who’d actively choose to be Belgian, FFS?)

          1. I’m also a British expat and I don’t (nor ever did) “howl down Bozza” (though I’m guilty as charged of howling down his five pathetic predecessors).

  13. SIR – A surfeit of blackberries (Comment, September 16) can be turned into wonderful gin or vodka.

    My recipe is: 1kg blackberries, 500‑600g sugar and a litre of spirit. Shake every day for a week, then once a week for eight weeks, before straining out the fruit and bottling the liquid. It keeps very well, especially if hidden in the back of a cupboard.

    Sandra Hancock
    Exeter, Devon

        1. ‘Morning, Stormy, as it is now just 6 minutes to 10, I’m sure the sprout called Druncker is already soaking.

      2. I put the sloes in the freezer compartment before use; they split when added to the gin. The gin is better for having blanched almonds in the mix with brown sugar.

    2. Blackberries may very well make a good spirit but the DT letters page is not a recipe channel. I expect that in the coming days the editor will receive a slew of ‘arent I clever, my recipe is best,’ etters. I just hope we aren’t graced with too many of them.

      2. Is there a racist order, i.e. is it more racist to scream against a person of darker colour than a person of colour….?

    2. Good morning HL from chilly sunny here

      Funny really , how these migrant people are protected and no one can intervene or say a word out loud .

      Another example is none of us can say a word about travellers or gypsies who chuck their rubbish around , boot their dogs up the backside , and advertise puppies for sale in cages by the roadside.. NO one dare’s to speak out.. because , well because we aren’t allowed to!

      1. Morning, Maggie,

        Take at look at the people who decided that we’re not allowed to. Scum of the first order in the HoP.

  15. Morning, all. Shortly off on our travels. Midland first stop via Cheddar. Might be able to dip in and out.

    2. Good morning DB

      It will be a beautiful journey , the colours in the countryside are so pretty, the hedgerows and trees are the work of God’s almighty hand .

      1. Morning m’dear!
        I’ve picked and stewed for use with my breakfast a few pounds of blackberries, but sadly my apple crop is very disappointing.

        However, it’s a beautiful morning and I ought to get the roof panels onto the shed I’m building by close of play, that it’s temporarily sheath the whole lot in plastic sheeting until I can afford the tongue & groove for the walls and the wriggly tin to clad the roof.

  16. Good morning, all. Late on parade. Bad night. Filling came out during supper. Feeling p*ssed off generally. Best if I stay away!

    1. I can better that Bill. I was enjoying a lovely bruschetta with palma and mozzarella and a whole bloody crown dropped out.

      1. Those pledges were made when the electorate had a two unambiguous choices on the ballot. The establishment will not make that mistake again. A, heads they win, tails we lose scenario.

  18. Independent reporting that Barnier has told Boris to stop pretending to negotiate Brexit. The EU is refusing to budge on Brexit so it’s the pot calling the kettle black.

  19. Why have we suddenly got adverts in the middle of the comments as well as at the top?

    I haven’t changed any settings, so I’m guessing it’s a disqus issue.

        1. I have it on Firefox (for NoTTLing) and Chrome for everything else and in the main it works well. Only occaisional links to local newspapers won’t let me in unless I suppress Adblock which I refuse to do on principle.

          1. I only have the problem on the new RED forum. That also prevents me from posting pictures and asks me to log in every five minutes.

            To get around that I invariably click on my notifications, select a post, click on ‘View in Discussion’, and that takes me onto the old BLUE version of the page where all my problems are solved.

        1. I suppose that what I put up earlier was a depressing statement of fact; Here’s tomorrow’s funny:

          Three blondes were all applying for the last available position on the Texas Highway Patrol. The detective conducting the interview looked at the three of them and said, “So y’all want to be cops, huh?”

          The blondes all nodded.

          The detective got up, opened a file drawer, and pulled out a folder. Sitting back down, he opened it, pulled out a picture, and said, “To be a detective, you have to be able to detect. You must be able to notice things such as distinguishing features and oddities like scars and so forth.”

          He stuck the photo in the face of the first blonde and withdrew it after about two seconds. “Now,” he said, “did you notice any distinguishing features about this man?”

          The blonde immediately said, “Yes, I did. He has only one eye!”

          The detective shook his head and said, “Of course he has only one eye in this picture! It’s a side profile of his face! You’re dismissed!”

          The first blonde hung her head and walked out of the office.

          The detective then turned to the second blonde, stuck the photo in her face for two seconds, pulled it back, and said, “What about you? Notice anything unusual or outstanding about this man?”

          “Yes! He only has one ear!”

          The detective put his head in his hands and exclaimed, “Didn’t you hear what I just told the other lady? This is side picture profile of the man’s face! Of course, you can only see one ear! You’re excused too!”

          The second blonde sheepishly walked out of the office.

          The detective turned his attention to the third and last blonde and said, “This is probably a waste of time, but….” He flashed the photo in her face for a couple of seconds and withdrew it, saying, “All right, did you notice anything distinguishing or unusual features about this man?”

          The blonde said, “I sure did. This man wears contact lenses. “The detective frowned, took another look at the picture, and began looking at some of the papers in the folder. He looked up at the blonde with a puzzled expression and said, “You’re absolutely right! His bio says he wears contacts! How in the world could you tell that by looking at his picture?”

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c0c5d987814771ccaca241d64f1665cebf408a669d54d22c93cb480b0b99149b.gif

          The blonde rolled her eyes and said, “Well, Hellooooooooooooo! With only one eye and one ear, he certainly can’t wear glasses.

        1. Not yet. The option arrives later in the year.

          If I eventually get the newest plague, whatever it turns out to be, I suspect it will be because some halfwit aid worker in “typhoid Mary” mode will have unknowingly brought it home with them.

  21. Ultimate sovereign authority lies with the people, not Parliament

    PHILIP JOHNSTON

    Which is sovereign, the people or Parliament? Is the Crown – i.e. the Government – entitled to interpret the wishes of the former and override the latter? Should the courts intervene in these arguments, something they have been reluctant to do since 1689?

    Such arcane questions, once the dusty preserve of academic jurists, are now central to our politics. The bedrock of the UK’s constitutional settlement, the separation of powers, has been shaken to its foundations by Brexit.

    There have been so many unprecedented political events since the referendum in 2016 that is easy to be blasé about the proceedings taking place in the Supreme Court. And yet this is arguably the most extraordinary moment of them all. Here are 11 judges sitting to decide whether the Queen was right to agree to the prorogation of Parliament or whether the advice she received from her Prime Minister was unlawful.

    First they must rule on whether this matter is even for the courts to consider at all. The High Court in London concluded that this was non-justiciable because it was concerned with “high policy” and politics, areas that the courts have conventionally stayed away from. Three senior judges in Scotland took the opposite view. Who is right?

    A compelling argument for the latter was made by Lord Pannick QC, who successfully spearheaded the previous case before the Supreme Court brought by the businesswoman Gina Miller, insisting that a decision to trigger Article 50 must be taken by Parliament not the Government alone.

    On the opening day of the hearing in London, he contended that the exercise of executive power must be proper otherwise it was unlawful. This applied both to statutory and prerogative powers; and since the courts had a duty to enforce rules of constitutional law, the matter was justiciable. It was, Lord Pannick said, the “fundamental principle of our constitutional law that the executive is answerable to Parliament.” Ministers are the junior partners and therefore cannot effectively close down the latter for political purposes.

    While all this may be true, he chose to ignore the great big constitutional elephant in the room: the referendum. Parliament is sovereign only in so far as it derives that authority from the people. It does not exist as a discrete phenomenon. Had there not been a referendum there would not be an issue. The principle that Parliament is supreme and the executive is answerable to it is not seriously questioned. But there must be a source for that sovereignty. When Parliament is preventing the implementation of a majority decision of the people taken in a referendum it is arguable that it is Parliament, not the executive, that is behaving unlawfully.

    Our system is a balance between the powers of its institutional components. To hear some MPs and, indeed Lord Pannick, you would imagine that what Parliament says goes. Yet once it handed the decision on Britain’s membership of the EU to the people, then it was required to enact the public will and not seek to frustrate it.

    Perhaps MPs agreed to the referendum thinking they were doing nothing other than allowing the country to reaffirm its support for the UK’s continued membership of the EU. Certainly David Cameron thought so, as he has made apparent in his new memoirs. But it didn’t; so Parliament is no more entitled to thwart the June 2016 referendum result than it was the 1975 outcome in favour of staying. The fact that the latter was heavily in favour while the former was much narrower is irrelevant – at least in principle, if not politically.

    Even if we leave the referendum aside, the prerogative to prorogue in this instance does not undermine parliamentary sovereignty. It has not removed Parliament’s power to scrutinise the actions of the executive, even if has limited the time for that to happen.

    Furthermore, it was open to the Commons to pass a motion of no confidence in the Government if it did not like what it was up to. The reason it didn’t was because it did not suit the purposes of the Opposition to have an election at this time.

    Lord Pannick said he was not questioning the right of a Prime Minister to prorogue Parliament for political reasons: after all, any prorogation in order to bring forward a Queen’s Speech setting out a new programme is a political act. His objection was that the suspension in this instance is for much longer than is necessary because the Government wants to block scrutiny of its actions as the clock ticks down to Brexit Day. It was a political decision.

    This is true. It is stretching credulity to breaking-point to claim that a five-week suspension is needed to prepare for a Queen’s Speech that the Government can’t even get through because it has no majority. But if it is political it is not a matter for the courts.

    As has become the case in any Brexit argument, the finer legal points are secondary to the entrenched positions of both sides. Those who want the UK to leave the EU are behind Boris and those who want to stay consider his actions to be those of a despot.

    But these are dangerous times. We are pitting the institutions that make up our constitutional settlement against each other with no real understanding of the consequences. Moreover, the People versus Parliament is not a banner under which any Conservative government should be happy to campaign; yet this is where the Brexit debate has taken us. If the Prime Minister has abused his power then he is answerable to the Commons, who can bring him down, and then to the voters. His call for a general election has been blocked by the Opposition, aided by the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act which removed the exercise of the Crown’s prerogative power to dissolve Parliament.

    The case before the Supreme Court is unique. The justices are being asked to decide between an executive acting to uphold what it believes to be the democratic will of the people expressed through a referendum and a Parliament seeking to frustrate it. If that is not a political matter then nothing is. The judges should steer well clear; but I’m not sure that they will.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/09/17/ultimate-sovereign-authority-lies-people-not-parliament/

      1. The subtext is “with me and my friends in charge”.
        But – what if someone else and their friends take power?
        Empires have a habit of killing off those who look like usurpers – and so, the Germans would kill off the French, when it suited them!
        Be careful what you wish for.

  22. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5e717da2375b47b118f8d1af6ead276c6587bd396b5b8990136c30338ebaa494.png With reference to my recent posts highlighting the hourly incremental increases in the level of stupidity in the human species, this couple present today’s irrefutable evidence.

    I have produced personal effluence that has more brain cells (and common sense) than this pathologically idiotic pair.

    Is this poor baby a boy, a girl or a guinea pig?

    Last Christmas, a friend tried to adopt a guinea pig for her two daughters from a shelter. It was incredibly difficult. Staff demanded pictures and dimensions of the hutch and garden before letting her choose a pet and would not allow one to be given as a present. If only the same strictures were applied to those who think they can raise a baby human.

    Take parents Hobbit Humphrey and Jake England-Johns. When Hobbit was pregnant, the couple decided they would bring up a gender-neutral child, keeping its sex a secret, even from family, because like, you know, the like, er, unconscious bias around like girls and boys, yeah?

    Baby Anoush, who looks like an absolute poppet I must say, is dressed in both boys’ and girls’ clothing and is addressed by the pronoun “they” in order to let them/him/her/ it/whatever “grow into their own person”. The couple says that the

    child can choose their own gender “when they’re old enough”.

    Never mind deciding whether they’re male or female, in due course the 17-month-old may well request a transfer from this pair of house boat dwelling numpties who happen to be their mum and dad. In the meantime, the poor infant has to endure “some pretty confused looks”. I bet. Granny only found out what sex her grandchild was after she changed a nappy when the baby was 11 months.

    Father Jake says that when genderbiased passers-by, like, well, like pretty much everybody actually, ask if the child is a girl or a boy, “we are quite good now at holding space for people’s discomfort in us going, ‘Well, actually we don’t tell anyone.’”

    My wish that a barefoot Jake be blindfolded and locked in a room with Lego strewn across the floor is greater than I can possibly say. At best, he and Hobbit are woefully naive. At worst, they are guilty of perpetrating a cruel experiment on a child, inflicting their fashionable concerns on Anoush while publicising their story to the world. That’s child abuse in my book.

    The bemusement in their immediate circle is as nothing to the reaction the child will get when they go to nursery. If, that is, they are permitted to enter a toxic environment booby-trapped with patriarchal constructs like, um, a doll’s house.

    I’m afraid it’s the loony, selfish parents who are guilty of stereotyping. A baby’s sex doesn’t determine whether it can play with a tractor or a tea-set or wears pink or blue. That’s up to the adults who raise it.

    I hate to break this to Hobbit but if, as I strongly suspect, her baby is a boy, then it won’t be long before he has a hand permanently down the front of his PJS playing with his Bilbo Baggins. Little boys have an intense fascination with the joystick that comes as a free gift at birth (I believe it fizzles out around the age of 76). In the end, no amount of gender-neutral claptrap will stop a child doing what comes naturally.

        1. Why are people so stupid, and one wonders what sort of conversations they use together ..

          Do they tell the “it” that daddy has a doodah, and mummy has a hole where you popped out from?

          How do they converse with each other .. especially when it really wants to mix with other children and parameters are confusing and muddled ..

          Rearing children can be hard enough as it is , my word I know, but to deliberately confuse and deny a child it’s natural identity is wicked?

          1. “Why are people so stupid?”

            Stupidity comes from a combination of inferior genes, shit parenting, crap teaching, crud politics, effluent religion, manure heap television, cess-pit social media, and sewer farm peer grouping.

            Choose any combination of the above and there you have it.

          2. It’s all part of the worldwide Frankfurt School programme that spawned Common Purpose and other idiotic doctrines.

            These people realised that humans are intrinsically stupid people and if you deny them a proper education you can control their minds. This is similar to how religious leaders (of ALL religions) discovered mind control millennia ago and have continued to use it to great effect ever since.

            Mind control is a powerful weapon. Hitler realised this when he advocated, in Mein Kampf:

            “The best way to take control over a people and control them utterly is to take a little of their freedom at a time, to erode rights by a thousand tiny and imperceptible reductions. In this way, the people will not see those rights being removed until past the point at which these changes cannot be reversed.”

            Take a close look at how successive British governments, aided and abetted (and coerced) by their meisters in the EU, have eroded your rights over the past four decades. This is all part of the same great plan to control you, your lives and your minds.

          3. Father-of-three on benefits admits work ‘is not in his psyche’ but DENIES abusing the system – and reveals his children eat what they like, go to bed when they want and brushing teeth is optional
            Matt and Adele Allen live in social housing in Brighton with their three children
            Matt works a few hours as a yoga teacher and his wife is a full-time mother
            Dad-of-three says he has ‘no intention’ of finding work as it’s not in his ‘psyche’
            Family co-sleeps together, has no set bedtimes and shun mainstream medicine
            They say they’re not abusing the social housing system because they had home births and they have a lifestyle that has a ‘minimal effect on society’

            https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-7473545/Father-lives-social-housing-insisted-no-intention-finding-time-work.html

            Dear me , what ever next?

          4. “…his wife is a full-time mother,”

            I’ve noticed, recently, that the vacuous, air-headed title “full time mum” is the modern, pathetic, Pinko way of describing a housewife.

            Does anyone remember “Full-time Mum’s Choice” at 9:00 a.m. each weekday on the old Light programme? I don’t!

          5. Hate crime, one section of the population give a green light to everything while the indigenous people are screwed into the ground.

            Thank Grizzly it all falls into place.

    3. “… parents Hobbit Humphrey and Jake England-Johns…” – so woke, one wonders which one was pregnant…?
      Anoush – named as a sneeze?
      Poor kid :-((

    4. Here’s a DT writer on the subject conflating it with an entirely different matter (comments disabled).

      Trying to bring up a child as gender neutral is fighting the wrong battle entirely

      LUCY DENYER

      Almost every parent I know frets, at some point, about the extent to which they are “gendering” their child. Little flutters of anxiety about dressing a male child in blue and a female in pink, or giving boys trains to play with and girls dolls. We roll our eyes at aisles in department stores that differentiate their aisle offerings between the two, and grit our teeth about the fact that you can now buy a globe for a girl where the sea is coloured pink.

      That said, I know plenty of small boys who will spend hours happily playing with a toy kitchen, and little girls who refuse to wear pink and spend their lives in practical dungarees. Mostly, I think, the fact we worry about this stuff is a good thing: we’re wary of socialising our children in this way, and act to mitigate against it as much as we can. We’re all middle class parents; of course we do.

      I have some sympathy, therefore, with the couple who are trying to bring up their 17-month old child in an entirely gender-neutral manner, choosing to keep its sex a secret, referring to it by the pronoun “they” and dressing it in both girls’ and boys’ clothing. (And also some sympathy for the poor befuddled grandmother of said child, who has only just been let in on the secret in being allowed to change its’ nappy).

      Nevertheless, I think they are living in fantasy land. And also that they’re fighting the wrong battle.

      Pink globes aside, the world has arguably never been less gendered than it is now. And by gendered I don’t mean what we buy for our children to play with, or wear, but what we can expect of them, or for them. That men might choose to be nurses, and women engineers. That a man might want to stay at home and raise children while his wife goes out to work. That women can vote, for goodness’ sake. Slowly but surely, gender equality is starting to permeate through society.

      But we’re not there yet. A report earlier this year by the World Bank, which has tracked legal changes for the past decade, found that only six countries in the world have enshrined gender equality in laws affecting work – which is good news if you’re a woman who wants to be on an equal footing with men and live in Belgium, Denmark, France, Latvia, Luxembourg or Sweden, but less good for everyone else. Even in relatively forward-thinking Britain, women still earn 8 per cent less than their male peers. And think of the battles yet to be won for the rights of women in countries like India, Pakistan or North Africa.

      And this is what the fight should be about. Not a battle to destroy the concept of gender entirely, through pronoun use, or types of clothes (leaving aside that there’s much to celebrate in identifying as either male or female), but the war on gender equality that’s yet to be won. Gender wars are a distraction – and besides, once there’s a level playing field, surely worrying about gender neutrality becomes a moot point.

      In a choice between a world stuffed with pink globes and one where women in some countries still don’t have the vote, I’ll suck up the pink globes and focus on the far larger latter problem. And I reckon that ultimately, this couple might want to as well. Already they’re running into problems with their little experiment – not wanting to deny their offspring “the joy of playing naked” becomes tricky when you don’t want to reveal their gender. They even acknowledge that all they want is for their child to “grow up in their own little bubble”.

      Don’t we all. But every bubble has to burst. And when it does, hopefully all parents will realise there are other issues far more worth fighting for.

      1. I have never had children but if had done, you can bet your bottom groat that I would have dressed my sons in apple green and black, and my daughters in jasmine yellow and white.

        That would set the tongues wagging on both sides of the equation.

      2. I don’t recall either of my parents ever fretting about the extent to which they were “gendering” my brother and me. We just got on with life.

    1. Well they have their EU Army underway

      The Remainers keep saying we have a veto but that is not correct. The EU changed the rules and managed to get around that little problem. We can opt out of involving our forces in the EU army but we have to contribute to the EU Army and no doubt in time they would force us totally into the EU army

  25. REmainers still falsely claiming that Leave UK broke the law. The police investigated the REmainers claims that millions of pound had been funneled into Leave UK and not declared. T Hose claims were found to be totally false. They did find a few minor breaches of the electoral commission rules but nothing illegal and the police then dropped the investigation as nothing was found

  26. Would it not be possible for Boris Johnson to humbly request that Her Majesty, the Queen, intercedes to end the Brexit impasse by commanding that there is a general election?

    If not, why not?

    We need a clear offer to the electorate on this matter: the Lib/Dems, Labour and the Greens can offer Remain while a TBP Conservatives electoral pact can offer unequivocal WTO leave.

    A general election is the only way in which we shall get a parliament capable of carrying out the wishes of Her Majesty’s subjects – whatever these wishes may be.

    1. I think there may be ground to claim that in thne current circumstances the fixed tern parliament ct does not apply. It was intended to stop PM just choosing a date for an election. It was not intended to keep a government in power that no longer commands a majority

      There may be another way around this and that is the Qeuens Speech. This has to be voted o and the convention is that the government has to get it passed. If it fails the government falls and a general election is called

      1. Despite all the shenanigans in Westminster and the courts, and all the possible scenarios being discussed on this site and elsewhere, I have to admit that this is a fascinating time for those interested in politics. The suspense and daily “changes of direction” make this a riveting time for us all. I think that in a perverse fashion I will be disappointed when it is all over. And now, goodbye for the rest of the day, as I must leave to catch the coach to London for my tour with the Wrinklies of St. Paul’s.

        1. Morning Elsie. We are living through one of those times that provide benchmarks in History Books only this time we don’t know how it will end.

    2. Johnson has declared that he is not interested in a pact with Farage’s TBP and it is not difficult to see why. Johnson is set on bringing May’s WA back into play, probably in part but any part is bad news for the UK. Johnson’s fallback position is if the EU reject any meaningful changes to the WA he will force through a WTO deal, become a hero and win the following GE all on his own. Hubris could be his downfall.

  32. Prerogative powers

    It is quite clear the government has prerogative powers and that whilst typically they have been used for preparation of the Queens Speech it is not the only reason they are used

    6 judges in two different court all came to the decision that it was not a matter for the law yet the Scottish higher court overturned that

    In the Supreme court they are describing it as highly complex but will decide it in days instead of several months. It is clear to me that if they decide the government could not use prerogative powers it would be a political decision by the judges and thats a highly dangerous road to go down

    The proper recourse with this is if the MP’s do not like prerogative powers i to change the legislation

    1. This is not the United States where SCOTUS is a part (a mistake by the Founders according to many Americans) of the political system by virtue of the Constitution. The Supreme Court of the UK has no say in the political system here which is the prerogative of Parliament!

    2. BJ, I don’t think that the Scottish court “overturned” the decision of the English and Irish courts. After all, the Scottish court reached their verdict first, so one could argue that the later courts “overturned” the Scottish one.

      1. The low Scottish court made the first decision and they decided it was not a matter for the law, An English court also came to the same decision
        It then went to the Scottish Higher Court that overturned the earlier Scottish decision and now it has gone to the UK Supreme court to adjudicate and make the final decision

    3. As I understand this argument from its reporting, prerogative power exists but the argument is over the reason for its implementation in this situation. So, does it comes down to a “he said, she said” case?
      With Johnson giving one reason i.e. ending a very long Parliamentary session so that a new Queen’s speech can be presented to Parliament and Johnson’s opponents claiming that it was to stifle debate re Brexit. If there is no hard evidence e.g. voice recordings or written matter etc to confirm why Johnson took the decision he did then the Supreme Court appears to be judging on Johnson’s opponents’ opinions of why he prorogued Parliament. If there is no hard evidence how can a judgement even be made, let alone be impartial? Or have I got this wrong?

      1. Does there have to be a “valid reason” for proroguing parliament? How can that be judged legal or otherwise?

        1. As far as your first question is concerned, Johnson’s opponents appear to think so. Second, will that depend on whether or not the Supreme Court want to extend their remit in to the political sphere, a very dangerous move if they try to.

          1. I am confident that when Blair set up the Supreme Court and put in train the rest of his changes to the Legal structure he was confident that the SC would do precisely that: extend their remit into the political sphere.

            The judiciary has been politicised intentionally and appointments have been heavily biased towards the lberal-left throughout the tiers.

          2. An Orwellian definition of “liberal-left” being applied, since what Blair did was neither liberal nor left-wing, unless one considers that Stalin was both.

          3. Blair is a creature striaght out of Orwell.
            How would you define his actions?

            Blair and his acolytes politicised and stuffed every institution with left-wing placemen, from the judiciary to the civil service, from the police to the armed forces, from Academia to the NGOs. He was and is poison.

        2. Well, John Major had a valid reason. He did not want Parliament to have the chance to discuss a report criticising corruption within his party.

      1. Don’t Sos.my blood pressure spikes every time I think about the EU/Japan free trade deal compared to what they want from us!!!!!!!!!!!

  34. SIR – Jonathan Pearson (Letters, September 16) doesn’t appear to realise that 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, which led to the birth of the gay liberation movement.

    The movement has fought for LGBT equality, achieving (in this country) equal age of consent, the abolition of Clause 28 and same-sex marriage.

    Surely this is well worth celebrating at the Proms.

    Alan Trendell
    Croydon, Surrey

    Begger orff, Trendell. We have been continually reminded that 2019 is the 50th anniversary of Stonewall and are sick to death with all the Prancing Policemen and the rest of it up and down the country. The Proms are the Proms and worth celebrating in their own right with a modest homage to Sir Henry Wood. It’s sickening enough to see the EU fanatics muscle in and show disrespect for our national flag and traditions. All you bolt-on ’causes’ are just attention seeking narcissists.

    If an anniversary was worth celebrating this year it was the 75th of D-Day without which neither you nor those waving their blue flags with a crown of thorns would be here.

    1. SIR – This year’s Proms season has been excellent and included a fine emphasis on the legacy of the founder, Henry Wood. Highlights were the performance by the National Youth Orchestra and Nicola Benedetti, under the baton of Mark Wigglesworth, and the performance of Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No 1.

      It was saddening, then, that the BBC introduced ideology into the Last Night of the Proms (Letters, September 16). This event has always celebrated the diversity of British music lovers, represented under the sea of Union flags waving along to Jerusalem and Rule, Britannia!. Planting Pride flags everywhere only served to politicise it.

      Frederick Frostwick
      Truro, Cornwall

      1. When are we going to get a parade of flags in solidarity for PIE (also a sexual liberation movement of the 1970s) at the Proms? Maybe with a re-run of ‘Clunk Click’ with Jimmy Savile and Gary Glitter?

        2. Don’t look now but SaH the Elder tells me that Paedophilia is now presented to students in some American colleges as being just another sexual preference.

          2. Somebody fiddles with a grandchild of mine, they’ll find I have a preference for 44 magnum.
            Just saying.

        3. Once the taboos start to fall, there can be no end until they all come down. Paedophilia next then only bestiality will remain. Goats at the Proms anyone?

    2. Next year will be the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. Something we need to celebrate and remember or we’d all have been speaking German and under the jackboot. It seems we are struggling to avoid that fate once more.

  35. Politician Beauty Contest 2019 (sorry, ladies only )
    Which is the odd one out ?
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d286f6323391cac5446d4953a6a7b53590ae129cbbb019bbad016a02558f4802.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/70d7a406649878607588f86de168c57acca694301c54b0798ea3a2bebd6a7451.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/50dbca4470bfa9e2a152765224ada485fe265b1a04e0535d075c6fcf00a776e7.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0da4fa26363d155b2703c1d74d4b56f6e8031adc251753defdb15ddc8dc135f7.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/efa44bf2553bd83bf444ce5ec0229c5a29a30cd61824c532050fe186b2e696fb.jpg

  36. From the John Longworth article in today’s DT:-

    ‘What makes this truly “extraordinary” is that it must be rare in the history of our nation that we have people in positions of power who have been and are, colluding with a foreign state against their fellow countrymen and are not called out as traitors.’

    Well, maybe it is about time we started calling them out, loud and clear.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/09/18/unless-boris-johnson-has-ace-sleeve-taken-cleaners-brexit-party/ (Premium unfortunately)

    1. Afternoon DW,
      That is the consequences of the keep him / her, hold your nose, best of the worst, tactical, year on year voting pattern adhered to by the electorate, many putting party before Country.
      The time of calling them out was past many a year ago.

      1. o

        Here you go….

        ‘“Extraordinary” is one of the most overused and devalued words of recent times, I know a number of people who think the sun coming up or the rain falling from the sky is “extraordinary” . However, sat here in the Strasbourg Parliament, watching events in Luxembourg, I can say that we truly do live in extraordinary times.

        What is transpiring is like a giant game of poker, bluff and counter-bluff, with very high stakes. The tricky thing in this game is that the PM is playing with a hand marked by the players and with others looking over his shoulder. Is it any wonder that the UK appears to be playing a bad hand, even when there is no such thing?

        What makes this truly “extraordinary” is that it must be rare in the history of our nation that we have people in positions of power who have been and are, colluding with a foreign state against their fellow countrymen and are not called out as traitors. We did of course survive the Reformation, the English Civil War and for a year stood alone despite the europhile, defeatist elite exemplified by Halifax and Chamberlain.

        A close look at the history of those events indicate the importance of a poker face and of bluff and counter-bluff. It is partly because of this that it is so difficult to predict with certainty what the long term outcome and consequences of current events will be.

        The PM may be playing his cards close to his chest while bluffing to hide the expected outcome, at least in the short term of the next few weeks. But who is he bluffing and does he have an ace up his sleeve? If he doesn’t, he is likely to be taken to the cleaners by the Brexit Party. Is he bluffing his own Party in order to bring back the “pig with lipstick” treaty which he himself called vassalage, has he been smoking the dope from Mr Gove’s pipe?

        Even if this is his bluff, is it a straight flush that will bring Parliamentary approval and can he out bid the ERG. Furthermore, will the collaborators in the UK, the EU Commission and their masters in Berlin, mark those cards? Certainly, one of my MEP colleagues, who this week met with the usually cool hand Mon Barnier, reported that he was shuffling his cards nervously. Interestingly, Barnier suggested that he would favour negotiating an FTA should we leave with a clean break. Amazing how the Single Market and Irish questions suddenly evaporate if we “just leave”. Perhaps even the implacable Gaullist is beginning to realise the implications of having overplayed his hand, especially when you are playing against Anglo-Saxon buccaneers rather than taking tea with a Maiden Aunt.

        On the other hand, Boris may be bluffing in order to fool his real adversaries in the Remain camp, in order to create a glide path to a Clean Break Brexit. How marvellous if there really were a “Cummings Plan”, but is the master card player really that clever?

        The awful truth may be that, when the chips are down, it will be a choice between a referendum where the terms of the game are set by a Remain Parliament and a reshuffled Withdrawal Treaty, basically a choice of “the devil and the deep blue sea”. For true Brexiteers, a truly knavish outcome, good for the Brexit Party who will sweep the board, but very bad for Brexit and the hope this endeavour engendered in vast numbers of my fellow citizens.

        Sadly, it is possible Johnson is truly the joker in the pack, just bluffing and with no decent cards left to play. But then, if anyone can bluff, it is certainly him.

        John Longworth is a Brexit Party MEP and chairman of Leave means Leave

        1. If you can keep your head when all about you
          Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
          If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
          But make allowance for their doubting too;
          If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
          Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
          Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
          And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

          If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
          If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
          If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
          And treat those two impostors just the same;
          If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
          Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
          Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
          And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

          If you can make one heap of all your winnings
          And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
          And lose, and start again at your beginnings
          And never breathe a word about your loss;
          If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
          To serve your turn long after they are gone,
          And so hold on when there is nothing in you
          Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

          If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
          Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
          If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
          If all men count with you, but none too much;
          If you can fill the unforgiving minute
          With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
          Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
          And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

          Look, I want to believe in Boris ..

          He seems watertight and bombproof .. I have to believe in some one, I am sure he is not messing around.

          1. I took heart when Laura K interviewed Boris and mentioned David Cameron who, of course, accused BoJo of supporting Leave only to further his career and said that he’d lied, and Boris was not at all nasty in his reply – he was quite gentlemanly in fact and I admire that. Very pertinent to the poem you posted.

          2. Rudyard missed a trick with If!:

            “If you can meet with TriumphPolitics and DisasterReligion

            And treat those two impostors just the same.”

            Makes much more sense.

        2. DW,
          IMHO I have no reason to trust the bojo in the least and to my mind he is not so much as playing political poker more like losing crib as in filling the box with our goodies, then losing.
          What he needs more than a poker face is
          lower down the torso contained in a sack
          between the legs, no more talking, much
          more walking.

    4. I sense part of their desperation is the knowledge that if we manage to get out of this EU nightmare the real truth about their sulphorous project is going to come out and yes – a lot of them are going to face a judge and jury charged with the attempted genocide of their own people.

      1. No wonder he is hated: he is clear, he is honest, he is not a hypocrite.

        His unforgivable fault is that he shows up so many politicians for the scum they are.

        If the Conservatives do no form an electoral pact with him and help Britain achieve a proper Brexit then Johnson and the Conservative Party will be as dead as mutton

  38. ConWoman

    This febrile Conservative insult to Farage however opens up the

    question of the persons not fit and proper to be near government. Those

    who are now raging and wrecking our Parliamentary mode of government, in

    order to close it down in favour of rule by Brussels, seem to be

    fitting the job specification far more closely than Farage. Destroying

    the government’s executive right to control Parliamentary business and

    indeed to negotiate with a foreign power thereby, does raise questions

    as to their fitness to be anywhere near government, notably the rogue

    Speaker.

    It cannot be repeated enough that the Tory (now former) rebel MPs all

    voted to have a referendum, for their party manifesto, for Article 50

    and for the procedure to displace Mrs May and bring in Boris Johnson.

    Yet they have acted with the opposition to lay low the government. They

    are, however, still deemed very fit and proper by party grandees

    mortally offended at the 21’s expulsion from the party. Lord Hague for

    example said that this was egregious and wrong. It was in fact utterly

    just, fair and necessary.

    His outrage at much-needed discipline betrays the culture of the

    party, its high opinion of itself, disdain for the public and lack of

    democracy at its soul.

    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/so-who-are-fit-and-proper-persons-not-this-tory-rabble/

    1. We all know that Hague’s brain surgery went very wrong and virtually everything in his head was lobotomised.

  40. House price growth slowest for seven years, says ONS

    This is good news. a slow down in house prices ids over due,. The big problem still though is the politicians do not want to reduce the rate of migration to the UK. We are a very overcrowded country and the last thing wee need is on going mass migration

    The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said there had been general slowdown in UK property price growth in the last three years.
    This was driven by a slowing market in London and south-eastern England.

    Post Brexit we should change the benefits rules. You should have to be resident and working in the UK for 5 years before you can claim benefits and use the NHS for free

  41. Pete North at the Leave Alliance has tweeted that if the 2016 referendum result is overturned by Parliament then the U.K. must become a living hell for the politicians involved.

    I’m not one for violence – but I can imagine a number of non violent things I could do to make life very unpleasant for them.

    1. There is no reason why we shouldn’t make life as miserable for them as their arrogant and aggressive overturning of our hard-won democracy deserves.

    2. Civil disobedience in the face of the abandonment of democracy seems an entirely appropriate reaction. Intrigued by what you have in mind, the only thing that has occurred to me so far is not paying my TV licence!

      1. Cancel your council tax DD pay monthly by cheque which is “Late By Mistake” “Oops I forgot to sign it”

        1. During the poll tax period, MOH (who objected to it) used to wait until the threatening letter arrived at the end of the year before settling up. Could be happening again with our joint tax bill.

  42. Mr Allman’s legal team will claim the order has had a “chilling effect”

    because they fear anyone who criticises the school’s teaching online

    could end up in contempt of court.

    They will tell the judge that the definition of “abusive comments” is

    too wide-ranging, adding that the order should be clarified so it

    applies only to those who plan to protest at the school.

    Mr

    Allman, from Devon, has brought the case because he writes a blog about

    his religious and political beliefs. He said: “I am defending a modern

    freedom that is in jeopardy – the freedom to believe or not to believe

    LGBT doctrines, and to say what we believe.” The hearing will be held at

    the high court in Birmingham on Friday.

    ‘I am defending a modern freedom that is in jeopardy – the freedom to

    believe or not to believe LGBT doctrines, and to say what we believe’

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/09/11/christian-campaigner-challenges-lgbt-school-protest-ruling/
    Chilling stuff,Judges ruling LBGTQWWERTY beyond criticism??
    Not in my name thanks

  43. Anyone know what percentage of UK imports and exports go through Dover. I know it is quite a modest amount but cannot find any actual data

  44. Brexit pain blamed as Car Store owner cuts 300 jobs

    They have been in trouble for years it has nothing to do with Brexit, Confusing message from the government over cars has not helped so at present most people are hanging on to the current car rather than buy a new one and find the government puts a big tax on it for not being environmentally friendly enough

          1. Saw an advert for a car I was interested in a few months back – took a look at Car Store advert on-line. It was more expensive than the main dealer for a similar car/age & mileage, charged something like 12% IIRC – interest rate and were promoting other snake oil add-ons.
            Obviously aimed at people who look at the monthly rental and don’t ask questions or understand APR – the car is unsold & is still on the forecourt.

  45. Waterloo death: Engineer killed working on walkway

    The report is not clear but it sounds as if he was working on it and something went wrong

    A man has died while working on a moving walkway at Waterloo station.
    Paramedics were unable to save the worker, who has yet to be identified, and he was pronounced dead shortly after 02:20 BST.
    British Transport Police officers are investigating the death, which is being treated as unexplained.
    Vernon Everitt, London Underground’s managing director, expressed “deepest condolences” to the man’s family from the rail network.
    “We are also very conscious of the impact this sort of incident has on first responders and station staff, and a full support network has been stood up,” he added.

      1. I’ve always wondered why those road signs asking for witnesses to an accident use ‘fatal injury’ when ‘death’ would be more succinct and be less for drivers to read.

        1. Leave it as it is, or the illiterati would think it meant the prdestrian didn’t hear the car coming.

    2. Moving floor? How people get hurt with those is that they get trapped in the workings as the floor moves, and get torn to bits. Utterly horrible. No wonder the “First Responders” and staff get a mention.

      1. They’re doing up the House of Commons right now. Wouldn’t a couple of these save MPs the effort of walking to their division lobbies?

  46. Teachers: Take your child out of school for a week’s cheaper holiday and you are a criminal and bad parent who must be fined for damaging your child’s education
    Teachers: We are fully supportive of children taking a series of days off school to support the Climate change lobby,in fact we’ll lead them

    No inconsistancy there,no sireeeeee

    1. Perhaps parents should all start claiming they are taking their child to protest for a week about climate change in XXXXXX so as to bring awareness to the local inhabitants,who appear to be very complacent about the problem, that that their homes are about to be inundated by rising sea levels due to global warming.

  49. Musing on history about the last “EU Empire”,how we castigated the likes of Quisling and the Vichy government for helping to round up and ship out the Jews,we hanged William Joyce
    How proudly we said even if we were invaded such things would never happen here………………..
    Today the Antifa Brownshirts dream of concentration camps for their opponents and as for our politicians…………………….
    Ugly thoughts aren’t they

    2. The real horrors were perpetrated by the brave members of the Resistance, especially those who laid low until their liberation by the bloody British, yet again. Old scores settled, execution without trial, women heads shaved in public etc etc.
      In reality anyone who sold a loaf to a German or served them in a cafe, or filled their car with petrol, or carried out the orders and regulations of the German administration was a collaborator. So, all of them.

  52. Hysterical little Luxembourg’s dirty trick proves we are right to leave the EU

    PATRICK O’FLYNN

    A micro-state that has become a byword for corporate tax-dodging is trying to play in the premier league

    Boris Johnson has been utterly humiliated by the prime minister of Luxembourg as he embarks on his most disastrous week since the last one and it is all the fault of the Brexit unicorn.

    Or at least that is the version of events being pumped out by our Remain-dominated media and political establishment as they try every trick in the book to stop the United Kingdom leaving the European Union.

    Back in the real world the British public will, as usual, see things rather differently. Far from being humiliated, Boris Johnson played a blinder by refusing to walk tamely into a disgraceful ambush laid by his host, Luxembourg premier Xavier Bettel. Whoever among the Downing Street inner team advised Johnson to rip up the diplomatic rule book by refusing to appear at a pre-scheduled outdoor press conference did a very good day’s work.

    One of the few genuinely sloppy moments of Boris Johnson’s premiership to date had come exactly a fortnight earlier, as the Prime Minister spoke directly to the nation from a podium in Downing Street. A couple of hundred noisy leftists in Whitehall could be heard chanting about stopping “the coup” and pro-Remain journalists had a field day hyping the scale and importance of the protest, many making it the top line of their reports.

    In Luxembourg the situation was potentially far worse. Though protesters were fewer in number, they had been allowed within a few yards of the press conference podiums and had even brought along their own sound system. The fact that this had been permitted clearly indicated that the scheduled occupier of the second podium, Mr Bettel, was at the heart of a hostile plot. And so it proved.

    Mr Bettel wasn’t going to let the Prime Minister’s non-appearance stop him from enjoying a rare moment at the top of the European political billing and as we witnessed, launched into an hysterical rant not only aimed at Mr Johnson but also at the very referendum verdict of the British people.

    Who could have guessed that Belgian Guy Verhofstadt’s appalling speech promoting an EU empire and the end of nations at the Lib Dem conference (cheered by that party’s activists, naturally) would prove to be a mere hors d’oeuvre to a Benelux banquet against Brexit?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fc0e27e93e4978d5ee47064cc9797890b4f36da3853cb3fdf354a0c142a69a64.jpg
    It is not hard to understand why Luxembourg, Europe’s capital of corporate tax avoidance and prime per capita beneficiary of EU spending, should feel threatened by Brexit. As a micro-jurisdiction with a population of just 600,000, it has taken advantage of the Brussels rule that entitles corporate businesses to headquarter themselves for tax in any EU country, no matter where the bulk of their sales occur. In return for offering a sweetheart tax rate, Luxembourgers enjoy bulging revenues that would more logically reside in the exchequers of much larger countries, such as the UK.

    EU budgetary spending in Luxembourg, at €1.8bn, forms fully 5 per cent of its national income. This compares to its budget contribution of just €0.3bn, giving it a surplus equivalent to €2,500 per person. In addition many Luxembourgers work for EU institutions, again benefiting from sweetheart tax rates.

    Such a tiny, landlocked country has no difficulty with the idea of a full political union with its vastly bigger and more powerful continental neighbours.

    But the Bettel outburst is neither here nor there in the story of Brexit negotiations. There is a very well-established convention that Germany and France get to decide how Brussels should respond on major issues and the others go along with it. No EU member state is such an assiduous observer of it as Luxembourg.

    So the real story is as follows: a pipsqueak politician who heads a micro-state that has become a byword for corporate tax-dodging tried to play in the premier league. Aware that dirty tricks were afoot, his opponent did not take to the field. So he kicked the ball into an empty net and was cheered by the sort of crowd that would be produced were rent-a-mob staffed by tax accountants.

    Meanwhile an extra sliver of stone-cold certainty will have entered the hearts of every Leave voter in Britain and many a fair-minded Remain voter of 2016 vintage will have been moved towards the inevitable conclusion that such rancid behaviour shows we are well off out of this club.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/09/17/hysterical-little-luxembourgs-dirty-trick-proves-right-leave/

    2. If anyone doubts Mr Dung Bettel’s motivation, let’s remember this “EU budgetary spending in Luxembourg, at €1.8bn, forms fully 5 per cent
      of its national income. This compares to its budget contribution of just €0.3bn, giving it a surplus equivalent to €2,500 per person. In addition many Luxembourgers work for EU institutions, again benefiting from sweetheart tax rates.”       And as for the ever more disgusting Verhovtwat ..

    2. In the 2011 census the declared religious affiliation of the population was: 56.7% Muslims, 13.79% undeclared, 10.03% Catholics, 6.75% Orthodox believers, 5.49% other, 2.5% atheists, 2.09% Bektashis and 0.14% other Christians

    4. There’s a bright side here as far as I am concerned. If the EU encompasses “all the Balkans”, they can deal with the inevitable next conflict there themselves, without expecting the US military to bail them out.

    2. The body count was up to 89 in ’96 from a quick search of the web, but couldn’t find anything listing more recent suspicious deaths (perhaps now considered too risky an activity).

  55. Britons overseas urged to register for proxy not postal votes

    Tower Hamlets, one of the councils that has contacted voters, outlined
    how little time authorities have if an election is called with the bare
    minimum five weeks’ notice.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/18/britons-overseas-urged-to-register-for-proxy-not-postal-votes

    ” Mr. Abdul, I’m not suggesting that you have done anything wrong,but I am just curious as to how you come to be carrying 27.000 proxy votes, for voters all named Muhammed ? “

    1. Yup, if there is any way of cheating, they will find a way. After all, lying and cheating are an intrinsic and accepted part of some enrichers’ belief system. The fact that it is not the way we do things here is totally irrelevant to them (and to our elite).

  56. Just wondering. How great a threat is an army equipped by the EU Commission with Ursula von der Leyen at the helm?

    6. Good evening, Our Susan. Just think of how well that Ashton woman did – and divide by 100…..

    8. The Germans would have to build an Army and Navy and an Airforce. They retain the lignite mines stolen from the Jews, the textile factories ditto (I wear Boss stuff, the German sizes suit my overlarge body) and they have kept both the steel manufacturing capabilities (Krupp etc.,) and their shipbuilding yards in Hamburg and elsewhere.

      By contrast, as a result of our adherence to the EU and its dictates, we have lost our equivalent resources.

      I suppose we will yet again have to rely upon America for our salvation when push comes to shove.

    1. Just like UKIP the wreckers and fith columnists are planted at the beginning
      Just surprised they’re showing their hand so soon

      1. I think it’s Henrik who has no place in the Brexit Party if he’s so dim he can’t tell refugees from economic migrants!

        1. But but but – Bleausard – have you not noticed how the MSM have morphed the words – so that every unwanted, illegal economic wanqueur who lands up on our shores is, by that very fact, a “refugee”….

          Makes me sick.

          1. Refugees from the EU, presumably? You can see why Brussels is increasingly concerned the UK will prosper…

      2. You do wonder who “David Vance,” who I have never heard of, is trying to help by attempting to drag Nigel Farage into commenting on migration at this time. It is certainly not in the interests of this country to allow the media to tar and feather him with their gasps of mock horror when someone tells the truth.

        We all know that immigration must be dealt with, but there are timid, wide-eyed, lolly-pop suckers out there who will bolt at the merest whiff of “manufactured racism.”

        They let these people have a vote as well, when they know almost nothing of the real world. Ignorance is a powerful tool of the Remainers.

      3. Sad to say that UKIP is indeed wrecked. Conference this week but the new leader will not be attending. Its the result of some internal wrangling but I can not really understand what has gone on.

        1. K,
          You cannot understand what is going on
          yet you make a judgement to the effect that UKIP is indeed wrecked.
          Should you not really find out first then
          make a judgement ?

          2. By the same token are seats a benefit to the welfare of this nation currently because up to now they have proved to be very anti UK as we are witnessing daily.
            Mind you do come across as a “more of the same” supporter / voter.

          3. That’ll be none then.

            And thus a vote for UKIP is a vote wasted. Better to vote Libdem or Green where at least the vote might have value.

          4. Lets get this straight are you really,really saying that the winning of seats in parliament say since the mid 70s has been beneficial to this country ?

          5. Let’s get this straight.

            What’s the point of voting for a bunch of idiotic no-hopers who can’t even stay together for a few months before they implode.

            Yes, we’ve had cráp governments but from what I’ve seen of UKIP they would have been worse.

          6. You still continue with the smear campaign whilst making a judgement on the very party that designed & activated the referendum.

          9. Yes, it was noticeable that you denied GB leading UKIP directly into the Globalist controlled MSM ‘s ‘almost total lack of airtime’ trap.

          11. It’s also noticeable that you deflect attention away from the Globalist complicity in creating the current global political situation by victim blaming the UK electorate.

          12. By the same token are seats a benefit to the welfare of this nation currently because up to now they have proved to be very anti UK as we are witnessing daily.
            Mind you do come across as a “more of the same” supporter / voter.

          13. ..conference, less than 200 tickets sold so it is now free. I am still a member but I can not understand why the leader will not attend and support the faithful. (I think it is to do with the attitude to GB)

          14. K,
            Believe me it is the faithful that are supporting the current & ex leader.
            Read up on whats happening.

          15. Apparently, Richard told the NEC that the conference was in too large a venue and in the wrong place for people to travel to (as appears to be the case – it certainly is for me) so it should be postponed until October. The NEC refused, so Richard declined to attend.

    2. To be fair to the kid I recall joining the Young Socialists during Freshers’ Week at the University of Sheffield in 1970.

      It was when I was tasked with interrupting a football match in order to sell Socialist Worker to the players that I had my doubts. Those doubts were compounded when I was subsequently tasked with selling the same rag to a queue inside a chippie in Broomhill.

      The final straw was a ‘lecture’ given by a scrubber from some South American shithole, possibly Venezuela, who instructed us to “defend the word socialism”.

  61. By the way – the last instalment of “The Rise of the Nasties” was a wonder to behold. Can see it all happening again in our dear country.

    With Leavers on the wrong end of the gunfire.

    1. It’s happening now… scary or wot?
      i did wonder why the BBC screened the prog during such political turmoil…

  62. Number of planes in air will more than double by 2038

    The number of planes in the air is set to more than double over the next 20 years, according to a new forecast.
    By 2038 there will be 48,000 passenger and freighter aircraft flying, predicts the latest Airbus Global Market Forecast, up from almost 23,000 today.
    The increase will require more than 39,000 new aircraft to be built, and more than half a million new pilots.

  64. That’s me – still feeling p*ssed off – car has MOT tomorrow. Yer French have places that only do it. None of yer taking the car to your local garage, slipping matey a tenner and asking him, “To do a full service so as to ensure the car passes the MOT…”

    Fingers crossed.

    1. At least if it passes you don’t have to worry for another two years.

      It might even see you out, if you are unlucky.

      I hope not, where would I get my Trombetti seeds?

      1. Unless I sell – the CT has to be not more than 6 months old.

        When I see the clapped out, smoke producing vehicles that some of the locals manage to “get through” the CT – one does wonder.. Perhaps their uncle runs the CT outfit…..

        1. Or they forge the little stickers, It can’t be all that difficult so that they can pass muster from a cursory examination.

          1. Except that the CT outfit informs yer French Swansea – so if yer pleurd stop you and check online – they’ll discover.

            Frankly, I think the compulsory display of insurance vignette and CT is a VERY good idea.

          2. re second piece: I completely agree on that score.

            But watching yer plod in the supermarket car parks, and in the town centres, they are not checking beyond there being a little sticker there. They only get you after an offence at which point it’s too late if some clapped out old banger, driven by an ex-pat or a farmer, has killed you.

          3. But when they lurk in ditches with the speed camera, one of the things that is on the film is whether or not there is a valid vignette/CT….

          4. That sounds like the complaint of a man who has been caught accelerating too soon before the “crossed out village” sign.

      1. My guess is that he’ll choose to put himself in one of the “bands” where there are numerous fellow troughers AND will change his terms of employment so that the Beeb has to hire him from a controlled company for each show, to hide his total take. (I use “take” rather than earnings).

      2. My guess is that he’ll choose to put himself in one of the “bands” where there are numerous fellow troughers AND will change his terms of employment so that the Beeb has to hire him from a controlled company for each show, to hide his total take. (I use “take” rather than earnings).

  66. These claims of shortages of Fresh food and drugs are complete and total nonsense

    Why an earth are the EU going to delay their own exports ? Good remain the property of the sender until landed so hey just delay when they get paid and if the goods go off in transit due to delays it is the sender that picks up the tab

    We are imposing no additional checks on EU imports so no delays their neither

    There could potentially be some slight delays on exports but Calais are well prepared so they should be minor any initially problem with paper work and they ll let the good through and chase up the paperwork later

    2. They could also send stuff over in small dinghies where the Royal Navy or RNLI will see the goods safely ashore and housed.

    2. “Labour activist campaigning against Brexit and for a socialist Europe.”

      You might as well identify yourself as a brain-dead simpleton living in a fantasy world.

      Given the amount of weight that he has put on, since that highly misleading photo of him that he uses to promote himself, you suspect that he does nothing active for a living. But as he is on a children’s ward, then he has managed to find time to breed more airhead momentum followers.

      Unless he just likes being around defenceless children… But then he would be better suited to the Liberal Democratic party. They take all the dregs.

    4. Hi Rik. Yep, that’s what I thought and I started to look for his name to look him up. Interestingly, the Daily Mirror has a bit at the bottom of their item saying ‘If you are, or if you know, this man please get in touch’, which suggests it may not actually be a setup after all.

  68. Dramatic Change in EU stance on Brexit

    Today the EU changed their stance on Brexit significantly. The language was now all about reach an agreement .Their language was all conciliatory as well. They clearly bow want an agreement and pretty much nothing is of the table

    It looks a if they have now accepted we are leaving and reaching a deal is now an EU priority. This is a massive change in stance by the EU

    1. Problem is, we don’t want an agreement. After the way they have behaved we just want to get the hell out.

      1. Depends what the agreement is if they are talking trade it is good. WE do as well need agreement on a number of things such as riights of UK national living in the EU. Travel for tourism and business. EHIC . Health arrangements for pensioners living in the EU, Europol, Civil aviation etc

    2. You sure they don’t just want to exchange 39,000,000,000 GBP for a promise to stop scowling. No thanks.

      1. Who knows but there t least now seem to be genuinely prepared to negotiate so it is wait and see. The one hint they were dropping is there may not be enough time to get there. Which is probably true. Hopefully Boris is a far better negotiator than May. Well it would be hard to find anyone worse than here

        1. EU “genuinely” prepared? The EU don’t “genuinely” do anything. Don’t trust them – unless you are a fool who has learned nothing from the past few years.

    2. Recalling my 3 months in Bangalore, the basically purple haze one often confronts there will probably do you in well before any vaping – besides which Indian trucks (Indian rule of road is ‘might is right’) fill their papers with many road deaths on most mornings.

  70. The Beeb are reporting that the cost of living is falling due to the reduced price of computer games.
    I’m going to put any savings I make into a fund to pay for my nice new tv licence.

    2. Heaven forbid that TR is assassinated, but I can well imagine what the reaction of the Leftwaffe would be.

  74. C4 Extreme Right Spin

    C4 seems to be trying to pretend that the UK has ultra right wing extremists. I cannot say I have ever come across. They are running a plot in Hollyoaks where they have invented this extreme right wing group that is plotting to blow up Muslims. Now I may be wrong but I cannot think of any right wing group that has gone in for bombings

    1. All these bollards around important places, all that airport security and all those beheadings in the street carried out by extreme right-wing. Its about time the slammers are classified for what they are.

  78. Vaginal birth and Caesarean: Differences in babies’ bacteria

    It seems the big increase in Cesarean births may account for the big increase in many health conditions

    It is already known that children born by Caesarean are at higher risk of some disorders such as type 1 diabetes, allergies and asthma.
    An errant immune system – the body’s defence against infection – can play a role in all of them.

    1. I’d blame it on all the injections they give young children myself, especially as just saying that causes the sky to fall in

    1. I think Andrew Neil has just fainted. This is the best comedy on the Beeb. Please repeat it.

      1. And when one listens to the lyrics it sounds as if they are singing, “there’s a bad moon on the right”

        3. Actually, it’s “There’s a bathroom on the right”. One of the guys was interviewed a while back, and admitted they actually sang those words on some gigs just to wind the audience up.

  81. Why a Brexit deal would make it through Parliament
    James Forsyth – Coffee House – 18 September 2019 – 3:53 PM

    It might not feel like it after Monday’s press conference theatrics and the briefings coming out of Brussels, but there is still a chance of a Brexit deal.

    It should be stressed that it is still odds against an agreement being reached. There has, though, been some shifting in positions in the last few weeks. The EU is now open to reworking the withdrawal agreement in a way that it simply wasn’t a month or so ago. The British government, the DUP and Dublin have all—to varying degrees—moved; meaning that there is now some hope of finding a way to replace the backstop. As one senior British government source puts it, ‘We have moved on SPS. They have moved on consent’.

    If a deal can be reached, I think it will pass in parliament. There are two reasons for this. If the DUP can accept whatever alternative to the backstop is proposed, then that would give the plan a fair wind. It is hard for an MP to declare that they are objecting to something on Unionist grounds if the DUP are prepared to accept it. All but a handful of Tory Brexiteers would vote for a deal that the DUP could accept; even one of those who sounds most dogmatic in public admits in private that he would fold in behind Johnson in these circumstances.

    Another reason to think that a deal would pass if one could be reached is, as I write in tomorrow’s magazine, that No. 10 and Brussels are discussing saying that a condition of any agreement is that no further extension will be offered. In other words, if MPs won’t take the deal, it will be no deal. MPs couldn’t use the Benn Act to try to delay Brexit in these circumstances, as no extension would have been offered. Indeed, the only option left for the Stop Brexit crowd would be to attempt to revoke Article 50.

    In these circumstances, I think a majority of MPs would vote for the deal. Revoking without a referendum or a general election is too extreme a position for most of them and the Commons is extremely hostile to no deal, so–with a fair amount of grumbling—a deal would pass. We are, obviously, a long way off this point right now. But I think the chances of a deal are slightly higher than generally appreciated.

    *******************************************************************************************************************
    BTL:

    Lord of Valhalla • 2 hours ago
    Referring to Barnier’s treaty as a deal factually incorrect as well as totally dishonest.
    There is no deal in this treaty, that comes later – the WA is purely signing over everything the EU wants out of a future deal before that deal is even discussed.

    It is an absolute disgrace for any government to sign up to it and it will guarantee the Conservative Party being decimated at an election.

    Silly Calabrese Lord of Valhalla • an hour ago
    You can always tell when the British establishment is doing something disgusting and devious. First they work out how to lie about it. They they move. From the very beginning, nobody mentioned that the ‘deal’ Theresa May had signed up to was an international treaty, binding the UK forever to its terms. And they chose the word deal so all the low-infos would think that what was being discussed was the FTA, and go back to sleep. What disappoints me is that the fight-back by people who know the truth has been almost invisible, and not effective. How many British voters know that the WA is an international treaty, which we cannot EVER unilaterally escape from?

    nearhorburian • 3 hours ago
    I doubt that a single person who voted in the referendum wanted anything like this.

    The choices were remain or leave. Vassal status wasn’t offered.

    Those MPs who vote for it are traitors.

    1. “How many British voters know that the WA is an international treaty, which we cannot EVER unilaterally escape from?”

      Ever since the backstop was bolted on to the Withdrawal Agreement all that time ago, people said that it was just there so that it can be removed later to show that the EU was “being helpful” and negotiating. They do not need the backstop to trap us in the EU. If we keep electing Remainer politicians then they will never let us leave.

      But that line in the story about not ever being allowed to leave is too dire. Treaties can be unmade and if they want to stop us they can try using their new islamic EU Army and see where that gets them. They will have enough trouble as it is trying to control the European Citizens under their jackboots / sandals.

      However they try to trap us, all we need to do to actually Leave the EU is to only vote for REAL Brexiteer Conservatives or for The Brexit Party if your local Conservative is a Remainer. Labour voters from all over the country will be doing the same. With almost open warfare between The Liberals and Labour now, with the former going after the latters Remain voters, the Remain vote will be splitting all over the place. The only thing that can stop us breaking free of the EU is ourselves.

    2. My fear is that we will not be given the opportunity to express our anger at the ballot box. If WA.4.0 goes through and we ‘Leave with a Deal’ then we may suddenly find that a General Election is kicked into the long grass. Less politically-astute people will just be relieved that something called Brexit has been delivered, and with enough sweeties in the Queen’s Speech they will just get on with their lives without reading the small print.

      We are about to witness a monumental betrayal, and thanks to the Fixed-Term Parliament Act I am not sure if there is anything we can do about it.

      1. And that would mean BoJo would give them the dosh without so much as Barnier et.al. having whistled a note

      2. The very point I have been making for the last few weeks.

        The treacherous Clegg’s Fixed parliament Act has buggered us all as we knew it would. The one thing that unites MPs is their desire to avoid a general election.

  83. Now Gibraltar is at it. Some dignitary now saying that the Leavers in the UK didn’t know what they were voting for. Have you ever heard of “no taxation without representation” Mr. Deputy Chief Minister? Well here’s one for you “no representation without taxation” – no votes for Gibraltar of any of the other Crown Dependencies and Allied Territories. We are the ones who have to live with the bulk of what we vote for – not you.

    https://independencedaily.co.uk/gibraltar-deputy-chief-minister-disrespects-uk-eu-referendum-result/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=INDEPENDENCE+Daily+Newsletter1

    1. It just happens that a week ago yesterday it was Gibraltar’s National Day, which they celebrate each 10th September on the anniversary of their 1967 Referendum. All sorts of festivities to celebrate their vote not to be part of Spain. Did they know what they were voting for then?

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibraltar_National_Day

      I was sitting across the bay watching their fireworks.

      They’ve got short memories when it suits them and conversely, long memories when that suits them.

      And – they aren’t even in the EU!

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/47c9ab1472f138745757e5735160f10722d4533cd5f3e09011260b0ebd28fbab.jpg

      1. Well, they shouldn’t be allowed to vote themselves a say in what this country does. They didn’t want to be part of Spain but they want to force us (i.e. the 60+ million of us in the UK) to be part of the EU. Sorry Gib, you and your Barbary apes can’t have your cake and eat it.

  84. Off topic question for the resident bird watchers, Grizzly, Bassetlaw et al.

    There are lots of Egrets down in the valley at the moment, but we never see any here. (not totally true I’ve seen a few in 10 years)
    We’re only a couple of hundred feet higher up but have similar open grass although closer to the forest. The only thing I can see is that they run cattle in the valley but all I have is hares and the locals have goats, horses and various waterfowl.

    Why no egrets?

    2. If they are hanging about with stock, then they’ll be cattle egrets, rather than the similarly-sized little egrets. Little egrets are more closely tied to water. Having said that the cattle egrets don’t give a stuff whether they are with cattle or any other stock. They don’t need stock at all, but they prefer to be there for the insects knocked up by grazing animals. It’s easier pickings than having to do it on their own. They will hang about with stock on greener and damper land, given the option. There are more insects there and the ground is softer for probing if need be.

      I’d say they are staying lower down, not because of the altitude, but because the land will be damper and more fruitful in the valley. If the land was brown and dry, they’d put up with it, but not if there’s some green to be had nearby. Any pools with marsh frogs will attract them too.

      1. Many thanks.

        Insects are in super-abundance here, as are frogs, but that’s because I keep my meadow very overgrown and create “tree-frog spaces”. The land is not damp and that might probably be the reason.

  85. Post-Brexit threat from Dublin, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam – huh!

    US law firm Alston & Bird launched an office in London today in a bid to build a transatlantic finance and payments powerhouse.

    Finance partner Andrew Petersen said Alston & Bird’s management: “Firmly believe that London, with everything going on, is the place to be and I think that’s incredibly exciting for London.”

    The Atlanta-headquartered firm, which had revenue of $812m (£650m) last year, has hired seven lawyers – including three partners – to launch the new office.

    Petersen, who joined from the London office of US firm K&L Gates, said the firm’s aim was to “develop a seamless link between New York and London.

    “They have been growing New York as well and that was a big attraction for us, we want the finance group to have the same deep bench on both sides of the pond.”

    Petersen said the firm took Brexit into account when planning to open its office, but said: “Notwithstanding Brexit this is still a really exciting and remarkable city to do business in.”

    Petersen has been joined by fellow K&L Gates finance partner James Spencer and competition and payments partner James Ashe-Taylor who joins from US firm Constantine Cannon.

    Read more: US law firms struggling to displace UK elite in FTSE boardrooms

    The office will be led by Alston & Bird payments partner, Rich Willis, who also leads the firm’s Brussels base.

    The firm’s hometown, Atlanta, is a US payments powerhouse, responsible for processing roughly 70 per cent of US card transactions.

    Alston & Bird’s payments systems head Duncan Douglass said London’s strength in payments and fintech was a key attraction for the firm.

    “With the UK consolidating its position as a world leader in digital banking and other payments channels, both Rich and James strengthen our London offering as a leading platform from which to advise clients on transactions, product development, and regulatory issues related to retail and wholesale payments systems and products.”

    https://www.cityam.com/major-us-law-firm-launches-first-office-in-exciting-and-remarkable-london/

    Pretty sure this news will prove hard-to-find on BBC website.

  88. Evening, all. I am surprised that anybody who doesn’t fanatically hate this country could possibly think the EU is a fit partner for us.

    2. EU tells Boris Johnson ‘you have 12 DAYS to find a Brexit plan or it’s OVER’: Leaders order Britain to submit deal proposals by the end of the month or face No Deal
      PM given until September 30 to submit alternative to the Irish border backstop
      Emmanuel Macron and Finnish PM Antti Rinne discussed it at Paris meeting
      Rinne said both were ‘concerned about what is happening in Britain right now’

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7478565/EU-tells-Boris-Johnson-12-DAYS-Brexit-plan-OVER.html

      I just don’t know what to say about this .. I feel a sense of outrage!

      1. EU tells Boris Johnson ‘you have 12 DAYS to find a Brexit plan or it’s OVER’: Leaders order Britain to submit deal proposals

      2. I hope it’s a case of 12 days to find a Brexit plan or you’re OUT. Can’t come soon enough for me.

        1. I hope it’s a case of 12 days to find a Brexit plan or you’re OUT. Can’t come soon enough for me.

      3. “The ultimatum was hammered out at a meeting between French president Emmanuel Macron and Finnish PM Antti Rinne in Paris today, reports in Finland claim. However it is unclear if the deadline will be backed by other European leaders, who would have to come on board with it to enable it to carry any legal weight.”

        This is just Macron playing for the crowd and it has no meaning. He has done this before when he said he would block the last extension that we were given. So the comment means nothing.

        Macron is just the “pretty face” that went from obscurity to President in a curiously well funded / co-ordinated campaign, to stop France from voting for someone who might help to free the country. He is a puppet-boy and does not say anything unless he is told to. He is there to play a part not to make decisions.

  89. I just saw this in the Daily Express –

    Duchess to have fourth child as body language reveals subtle clue

    KATE,
    DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE has been subject to huge pregnancy speculation in
    recent weeks. Royal baby news looks more likely than ever after
    bookmakers slashed the odds on a Kate announcing a pregnancy very soon.”

    Something else to blame Brexit for ?

    3. Also in the Express today:

      “ANTARCTICA scientists captured evidence of “human intruders” after breaking the ice around the frozen desert and lowering a camera.”

    1. (You must be logged in to upload an image. I am logged in but this is the message.)

      (Oops! We’re having trouble posting your comment. Check your internet connection and try again)

  92. How many EU countries have children in care .. how do they cope ..
    Why do we have so many children in care .. why aren’t parents being blamed for their bad parenting?

    1. Well Belle I can attest in Romania and Moldova there are many children in “care”,useful profit centres for Faganism and the Organ and Sex trades,we used to be far behind them in this commercialisation but Rotherham et al show we are catching up fast

  94. Is a QC in court supposed to speak like a foul-mouthed adolescent ?

    “The supreme court has been told that “the mother of parliaments is being

    shut down by the father of lies”. Aidan O’Neill QC,
    counsel for the SNP MP Joanna Cherry and the other parliamentarians
    challenging the government’s decision to suspend parliament for five
    weeks, delivered the jibe against Boris Johnson as he wound up his
    speech to the court this afternoon. As well as accusing Johnson of
    lying, O’Neill said Johnson and his government could not be trusted not
    to engage in “low, dishonest, dirty tricks””

    1. Just to spoil your evening even more:

      “Aidan O’Neill is a “double silk”, being Queen’s Counsel at both the Scottish and English Bars. He has a wide ranging legal practice north and south of the border. He has a particular expertise in commercial judicial review and in constitutional law. He is a specialist in European law/public law, specifically in relation to planning and environmental issues. He has a thriving employment law practice. He is a highly experienced pleader before the House of Lords/UK Supreme Court where he has appeared as senior counsel in over twenty appeals. He has also led cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union and has appeared before the European Court of Human Rights. In 2015 he was awarded the Legal 500 UK Bar Award for EU law silk of the year.

      The Legal 500 (2012 edition) observed that “the ‘fantastic’ Aidan O’Neill QC is ‘perceptive and thorough, with a good understanding of clients’ needs’ and that ‘the Supreme Court is his natural environment’”. The Chambers 2015 Guide reiterates that “the Supreme Court is his natural forum – he can more than hold his own in that environment and is clearly well-respected there.” In addition he appears regularly in the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the Administrative Court, the Court of Session (Inner and Outer House) and in a variety of statutory tribunals. He is also a widely published legal author with numerous legal articles, blogs posts and practitioner texts to his name to date. His books include EU for UK Lawyers (2nd edition, 2011), Judicial Review in Scotland: a practitioner’s guide (1999) and Decisions of the European Court of Justice and their constitutional implications (1994). He is currently engaged in writing a new book for Hart Publishing entitled Brexit, law and trade: a guide for the perplexed.”

          2. The most useless will be appointed – that’s the EU way – cf Druncker; Tusk; Hair-cut Git etc etc etc

      1. I think it’s disgusting that you have to buy a ticket to enter, Shirley that’s discrimination?

    2. My turd of an MP (Tory) voted 3 times for May’s surrender treaty, I will never vote for him again, he is not worthy of my support.

  100. Just watching a programme about Glasgow trams on Talking Pictures. Good grief what have we done to deserve the demolition of everything we held as of worth.

    In Glasgow, in my lifetime, we have lost the fabulous ironwork of St Enoch’s Station, and now the loss of the Glasgow School of Art, written off by not one but by two repeated levels of utter incompetence by supposed management.

    Management? Give me a break, these Scots left in charge of a great icon of Universal Architecture have destroyed the best work of a Scottish Architect. They are incapable of appreciation of everything they have. So blinded are they by resent of the “English” that they neglect their own. What a pathetic bunch of Moron’s they are.

    Edit: I make my comment having read the submission of the Scottish WC, O’Neill I think, whose obvious dislike of the English is so apparent in his arrogant submissions to the Supreme Court.

    What is it with the Scots that they so despise us and seek to undermine us at every turn. Without the English the Scots would have long been dead in the water, not just now in the last provocations but too for centuries. When are these Scots going to clue up.

    1. I was born and brought up in Glasgow, and remember the “last tram” (in 1962 I think). It was a sad day. I left in 1964 and didn’t go back till the late 90s. What a change, no Gorbals, no Charing Cross, no St Enochs, I understand the need for progress but I was very sad that day. The only thing that wasn’t too sad was that the house I was born in hadn’t changed.

    1. Yes, that happened last night. This means I can’t upload pictures on this idiotic RED site!

      Not much point wasting time on here if I can’t do that.

        1. You tell me. Every time I attempt to upload a picture it either tells me I must be logged in (I am fucking logged in you electronic twat!) or it tells me that I must use another form of gif, jpg or whatever!

          I have no problems on the old BLUE platform but that’s now been shut off. I can only comment on the crap RED site or on my ‘most recent’ platform.

          1. Are you trying to use the whatsit at the bottom of the comment box??
            I always just copy/paste into the comment box and have no problems

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