935 thoughts on “Wednesday 4 September: In this battle between Parliament and the people, the Government is on the people’s side”

  1. Boris Johnson is threatening his own MPs, but I’ll be voting to stop no-deal Brexit. Sam Gyimah. Tue 3 Sep 2019

    Frustratingly, many in Westminster are still unable to face the facts on Brexit, even when they’re as apparent and clear as they are now. The sorry state of our political debate means we are reduced to the same old blame games and shouting matches that have characterised this debate from the start. Nothing of substance is being achieved or even proposed, while the country remains trapped in the Kafka-esque misery that Brexit has become. Almost two months into the Johnson premiership, there is no evidence of progress in securing a deal.

    The facts, as I see them, are simple. First, leaving the EU without a deal would be a historic mistake and a catastrophe for our country and everyone living in it. Our national dashboard is already flashing red: sterling is in freefall, Britain’s economy is on the brink of recession, and sober government assessments show that no deal would cause disruption to our food and water supply, and our transport system, and access to vital medicines. Given what we know, it would be utterly reckless and irresponsible to proceed on this path.

    Morning everyone. This is just a personal example of the voluntary collective amnesia that afflicts all remainers. Nothing about the result of the referendum! The reason for votes in politics is not simply to ascertain the majority view; it also acts as a cut off to interminable debate. You argue and then you vote and that vote is itself an act of governance; the winners have their way and the losers move on to something else. It is only this common understanding that allows Democracy as a system as opposed to Political Theory to work at all. This has now been abandoned and since countries cannot function without some form of order the next step will be a period of chaos until a new system is created. What this system will be is in the hands of Fate. Though it will probably receive a helping hand from the globalists!

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/03/boris-johnson-brexit-voting-stop-no-deal

    1. leaving the EU without a deal would be a historic mistake and a catastrophe for our country and everyone living in it. – so, I wonder what the content of this “deal” should be? And, given taht the EU have repeated themselves until they are hoarse, why anyone would expect them to negotiate one?
      Thus, the “deal” position really means “No Brexit”.

      2. It does, and I can imagine that last night’s shambles will have given the EU spivs sore hands from all that high-fiving…

        ‘Morning, Herr Oberst.

      3. Barnier said only last Sunday that the only deal on offer was May’s WA. No other deal is available.

      1. It would be poetic justice if this is a) true and b) happens.

        It might even have the added benefit of ensuring the HoL is reformed and ceases to be a well paid sinecure for failed politicians.

      2. ‘morning Hugh, interesting idea, it would be a brilliant use of procedure to thrawt the unconstitutional actions of the Remainers & Bercow.
        Hoisted by their own petard, you could say.

          2. A split toasted fruit scone with butter & slices of Emmental, followed by a hunk of date & walnut cake, all washed down with a pint of cow’s milk – w/rose had no goat’s milk yes’day.
            Now I’m waiting for the man to collect my suitcase.

            Y tu?

          3. The usual, Peddy: orange juice, toast and (home-made) marmalade, finished off with a couple of cups of tea. Very boring, I’m afraid.

            PS – Are you sending your suitcase off to be repaired, or do you have another holiday about to begin?

          5. Buen viaje. Be sure to come back for the snap election (or organise a proxy vote before you leave). And have a good time!

          7. He does indeed, Elsie – by some spooky (and for Peddy, unfortunate) coincidence it seems that we are booked on the same journey of discovery on the Danube, commencing on Wednesday.

          9. On the contrary, we may both be put off the ship if we start jointly winding up any Ramainiacs in our midst…

      4. We voted to leave the EU. If I have to go there and personally waterboard the blasted lot of them in one furious display of utter abject rage I will.

        The whole pile of anti democratic authoritarian unelected, unaccountable scum must burn.

        Oooh, hate speech! Well if government can ignore our laws, so too must we ignore theirs.

    3. `i care not what you want. We voted to leave. No deal is offered. You’ll do as you are told and vote as we have commanded you.

      The country is a mess because of you, not despite you you stupid woman. Your ‘facts’ are an invented fiction to suit your own narrative.

  2. Good Morning, all

    SIR – I think I can clarify the position for Andrew Pierce (Letters, September 3), who asks whether it is Philip Hammond or David Gauke who is now the Leader of the Opposition.

    It is in fact neither. That post is now held by John Bercow, nobly combining two onerous roles, and it is the nation’s good fortune that he is neither accountable nor sackable.

    Tony Morgan
    Taunton, Somerset

    Bercow is beneath the pits and has done more than anyone else to blow up Parliament.

    2. Nobly? Good fortune?

      To be ruled by an unaccountable, unelected dictator? That’s what we voted against. How can Morgan want that? Ah. Of course. He’s a remainer. A traitor. A supporter of the corrupt and poisonous.

  7. SIR – Implicit in Stephanie Cobbold’s alarmist view of bats living in churches (Letters, September 3) is the reason these creatures have been in such rapid decline and why, belatedly, they now receive protection.

    The Church was responsible for the wanton massacre of bats wherever they appeared in its buildings, so it is perhaps natural justice if they are now left in peace on Church property to re-establish themselves.

    As excrement goes, that of bats is perhaps the least offensive, consisting almost entirely of dry, comminuted insect exoskeleton. The droppings themselves are also an excellent soil conditioner.

    Steve Haynes
    Chichester, West Sussex

    The man is batshit crazy!

        1. Bats are amazing. Last year one flew into the house and roamed the corridors until it zoomed around a corner and flew straight out of an open window.

          3. They are over protected and thats why many people now hate them, when you are not allowed to get rid of them out of your home.

          4. Try and love ❤ nature instead of killing things off.

            It’ll make you a happier person and give you the inner peace you seem to lack.

          6. The real world is nature.

            You are part of the natural world yourself.

            Live in peace with your surroundings and treat other creatures as you would wish to be treated yourself.

          8. I do and if I foul up an atick i would expect trouble. just get real will you. You must be an early snowflake.

          10. I actually love bats and am delighted to have them chomping the flies in my attic.

            However, when I applied for an extension to bring a bit of sunlight into my cottage, the Planning Officer insisted I employ a consultant to report on the bats in my roof, and to recommend how to protect them. The report lied, and based on these lies recommended I pay several thousand pounds on a full bat survey provided by his company. The Planning Office accepted his Report in full despite my objections. I withdrew the application.

            I did some repairs to my roof the following year (which does not require planning consent) knowing that no bat would hibernate in my unlined south-facing roof when next door put up a jerrybuilt bat paradise faced with rough sawn planks. The roofer put in gauze on the soffit to prevent further entry of bats (which also shut out the nesting sparrows), and did all the modifications required for the extension. This was all done because of the planners, not because of the bats. I also got the roofer to make a little bat entry point out of lead in a bit of the roof well out of sight of the planners.

          22. Now, that’s what I call a brilliant idea. But why bats? Surely we ought to start with parrots?!?!?

            Sorry, Polly, I just couldn’t resist that! But I promise to behave for the rest of the day.

  8. If you take notice of the project fear mainstream media the narrative over Brexit is that we are in uncharted waters, politics is in a new unprecedented situation, when in fact the same thing has happened in all other EU member states that have voted against the EU in a referendum, years of obfuscation and keep voting again and again until the EU gets it’s way, there is nothing new happening here, they just break the will of the people with disillusionment in politics.

    1. Remain looks dominated by a kind of globalist mafia acting purely in their own interests and oblivious to the opinions of outsiders.

        1. The whole issue of what might be going on in the shadows is fascinating. Both for now and for decades past.

          1. Morning PP< Coming on stronger & stronger day by day since the mid 70s and on a daily basis a new electorate is being built, housed, fed, schooled, medicated, and in some cases even incarcerated.

          2. When our business was new we lost a considerable amount of money caused by Soros’s manipulation of the money markets and his attack on sterling during the ERM fiasco. We survived but many businesses were crippled by extremely high interest rate as Major tried to track the deutschmark.

            Soros should never be forgiven. What a curse upon mankind that he is still alive! Remember this odious man once claimed that the time he was helping the Nazis send Jews to the gas chamber was the happiest time of his life. Sheer filth.

            He and Traita May should be placed in the same innermost inferno in hell.

          4. Good morning.

            Doesn’t the context make it obvious to whom I am referring?

            As far as I know Major, for all his many grave failings, never actually sent any Jews to the gas chambers as Soros did.

            I have amended my post to clear up any perceived ambiguity.

      2. They’re not oblivious. They’re very aware of what we want. They just know they don’t have to support it because they’re untouchable.

        Another unaccountable, unelected elite controlling our lives. Where is Jack Cade?

    2. I utterly despise that *****
      Her pathetic performance, over the last 3 years, has brought us to this fiasco.

      1. I agree with you, Girly, although Dodgy Dave must take his share of the blame for this shambles, as it was he who instructed the Snivel Service not to prepare for a Leave vote. Another master-stroke…

      2. Morning 70s G,
        Orchestrated may leadership farce, ALL partakers complicit, 9 month delay confirmed it.
        The cameron ( the wretch) fall back plan if the unbelievable happened, and it did.
        As a blueprint for treachery the last 3 years could not be faulted.
        I still hear the cry on the 25 / 6 / 2016 of “job done leave it to the tories”, this after years of the cameron/may combo, no need of UKIP now.

      3. The fact that she looks so happy after her party suffered such a humiliation, and when a bunch of lying MPs look set to overturn the democratic wishes of over 17.4 million voters shows what an utterly vile person she is!

        1. Morning B,
          Did you not have teenie / weenie bit of a clue after the cameron (the wretch) / may
          combo in the prior government ?

    2. After the dull start referred to earlier, up the page, Derbyshire is brightening up now.

  18. Morning all

    SIR – The BBC has reported the current situation in Westminster as a battle between Parliament and the Government. That is wrong. It is a battle between Parliament and the people, with the Government on the side of the people.

    We voted to leave the EU and there was no question of conditions of any sort. We then elected some 85 per cent of the current MPs on the basis of manifesto commitments to comply with and implement the referendum result.

    What gives MPs in a supposedly democratic country the right to ignore the wishes of those people who elected them on those manifestos?

    Geoffrey Wyartt
    Newent, Gloucestershire

    1. SIR – Michel Barnier (Comment, September 1) says that the backstop “is not about changing the constitutional status of Northern Ireland. That is none of the EU’s business…” Yet that is precisely what the backstop does do.

      He goes on to say that “the backstop fully respects the carefully negotiated balance found in that [Belfast / Good Friday] agreement between competing political views and different identities in Northern Ireland”. He is wrong. That is why Unionists oppose it and why the UK Government, having listened and learned, now insists that the backstop must go.

      It is true that the backstop avoids a hard border on the island of Ireland, but it does so at the expense of the “carefully negotiated balance” in the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement.

      As it stands, the backstop is not a legally operational solution, as it is not in keeping with the spirit and letter of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. We need to think again, and fast.

      Merkel and Macron have listened and realised that something has changed, and are open to alternatives. It is time Mr Barnier listened too.

      Lord Trimble
      London SW1

      1. He doens’t have to. Still people do not understand? The EU is supreme over what Germany and France and any other EU nation. It is not a gathering of equals. it is a control system of the corrupt.

        There’s the bureau, the controllers and then there are the slaves, the nations and the taxes the bureau wastes on itself.

          1. Corruption.

            La garde got it because she’s a crook who supports the EU entirely.

            Merkel is the money box. She has influence but no power.

      2. Trimble is hardly a shining light of reason and sense. The Good Friday Agreement, as he must know, says nothing about the management of the border. If we had ever wanted a hard border, with wire fences cutting farms in half, with watch towers and searchlights and armed guards, with full body searches at the two only crossing points, the time for that would have been in the 70s.
        Passport checks, if ever instituted, documentation of trade goods, hardly constitute a hard border. There has never been one, nor need there be.
        the suggestion is, of course, a put-up job by the EU and their stupid catspaw, Varadkar.

    2. Nothing. They believe themselves immune and, sadly, they are from us.

      If as soon as they voted against us they were sacked, do you think they’d vote as they choose? They’re voting for what they, personally want.

      What’s the point of representative democracy if they elected refuse to represent us? If they ignore our instructions? What is the point of obeying any law if those imposed on us won’t do the same? They’re liars, cheats and thieves. Why should we not be?

  19. Rebels to have the Whip Removed

    Not sure if it has happened yet but when the Whip is Removed these MP’s by default become Independents

  20. SIR – Why does the BBC persist in broadcasts from the area opposite the Houses of Parliament?

    The background is a sea of EU flags and endless bellowing from a leather-lunged protester. We viewers are pretty fed up with the whole mess.

    C W Joll
    Mansfield, Nottinghamshire

    2. It’s very simple, C W Joll; all those flags of the EUSSR make a wonderful backdrop for the Brussels Broadcasting Corpn, as well as helping to keep the money flowing into their coffers.

      ‘Morning, Epi.

  21. Late last evening I tuned into LBC’s Tom Swarbrick programme not knowing that the excrement had hit the fan. Swarbrick is a Leaver but he appeared really shocked by what had happened in the HoC.
    He wants to Leave but with a “deal” of some kind and for someone who previously had worked at No 10 for May he, in my opinion, displayed a level of naivety when he stated that those deprived of the Tory whip last night had voted to leave the EU i.e. May’s surrender to become a vassal state, WA. He also had a pop at the ERG, claiming that it was that group that had voted not to leave and yet retained their party whip.
    Swarbrick is a bright man but if he really believes that May’s “deal” was anything else than, firstly, a punishment tactic from EU/May and secondly, remaining in all but name in the EU until they decided we had been punished sufficiently to know our place and be allowed to return, chastened and very much poorer, to their corrupt club, then he hasn’t understood the implications for the UK if the WA/PD are ratified. No one who has read the WA and its partner in servitude, the Political Declaration, or any one of the many available briefings could believe that these instruments mean leaving the EU’s control.

    1. You cannot negotiate a deal if you have declared that under no circumstances you would Leave without one, It clearly shows that these MP’s have no business experience at all. Although I suspect that with some of them they know that and they are trying to force us to REmain

  22. Morning again. I taste the familiar flavour of Milton each night when I pick out my anti snoring mouth piece.

    SIR – There is a well-known brand of sterilising fluid that is made from sodium hypochlorite, used for sterilising baby bottles. The instructions even say that the bottle does not need to be rinsed after soaking.

    Edwina Jenkins
    Snettisham, Norfolk

  23. SIR – As a veterinary surgeon, I would ask the British Veterinary Association whether, if its members object to chlorinated chickens (Letters, September 2), they also object to adding chlorine to our drinking water.

    Ken Tyrrell
    Shrewsbury, Shropshire

    2. Bagged SAlads and other products are washed in chlorinated water and of cause swimming baths use it but in a much higher concentration

  24. Reposted from late last night:

    The evil that men does lives after them
    [Mark Antony: ‘Julius Caesar’]

    Nick Clegg, for his own interests saw to it that the Fixed Term Parliament was introduced when he was Deputy PM. Look at the potential disaster this is now causing the current prime minister.

    Clegg, again for his own interests, reneged on his agreement to amend constituency borders.

    Clegg determined to interfere with the Royal Succession

    Clegg tried (but failed) to get the alternative voting system introduced which, had he succeeded, would very ironically have given UKIP twice the number of Parliamentary seats as the Lib/Dems.

    In spite of seeming like an ineffective little wimp he has proved to be one of the greatest constitutional vandals we have seen.

    To finish the Shakespeare quotation:

    The good is oft interred with their bones

    (A pun suggests itself as what should be interred with Clegg’s bones when he dies)

    2. AV is more akin to FPTP than PR. It is unlikely to have benefit UKIP. It would mainly benefit Labour and Conservatives. A system that forces people to vote for a party they dont want is not a good system in my view and probably was why it was rejected

  25. Good morning all. Another glorious day in view.

    I am going to ignore politics from now on. A plague on all politicians of every hue.

    1. I am going to ignore politics too, especially whilst in Devon .
      A plague upon all their houses, or the pox .

      Good morning btw and off out with my pork and sçrumpy pies,
      mustard pickles, crisps and fruit and nothing but countryside
      and sunshine . Adios .

    2. Dull, damp & dreary in Derbyshire so far this morning.
      We had a bit of rain through the night.

    3. ‘Illegitimi non carborundum’.

      And before some clever clogs pops up to say that this isn’t proper Latin and is just and English-Latin pun…I know, but it’s the best I could do.

      ‘Morning, Bill.

      1. Good day to you, young sir.

        Some irritating clouds building up – but the MR informs (instructs) me that swimming will proceed as normal in an hour and a quarter.

        1. How very precise…has she also specified the type and number of strokes required during your aquatic activity?

  27. During my latest physical examination, my doctor asked me
    about my physical activity level.

    I described a typical day this way, “Well, yesterday afternoon, I took a five-hour
    walk, about 7 miles, through some pretty rough terrain. I waded along the edge
    of a few lakes. I pushed my way through brambles. I got sand in my shoes and my
    eyes a number of times. I avoided standing on a snake. Ran a short distance
    after being attacked by a wasp. I climbed several rocky hills. I banged my toes
    on roots of trees. I took a few ‘leaks’ behind some big trees deep in the
    woods. The mental stress of it all left me shattered.

    At the end of it all I ate an all-beef Kosher hot dog and drank eight
    beers.”

    Inspired by the story, the doctor said, “You must be one hell of an
    outdoors man!”

    “No,” I replied, “just a shitty golfer.”

      2. …and this particular morning! I do hope Nanners keeps up the good work in these grim times.

  28. Good article from John Redwood on yesterday’s debacle. A quote from the article that if correct should be added to along list of decisions that must exclude the disgraceful Bercow from any honour when he is finally prised from the Speaker’s chair. His performance as Speaker should be held up as THE example of how not to execute the role of that great office of state.

    There are usually constraints on MPs other than the government legislating. Only a Minister can move a Money Order, so any new legislation entailing substantial expenditure requires government agreement. This proposed Bill involves spending £1bn or more extra a month for however long we have to stay in the EU. Yet we are told the Speaker is unlikely to agree it needs a Money resolution.

    A billion pounds a month not substantial expenditure?

    1. Morning KtK,
      Should in future have a gauge attached to the speakers
      chair showing the performance levels & depths one can sink to, old shorty would take some beating.

    2. ‘Morning, Korky. It was indeed a debacle, but in every such event there is usually a lone voice of reason and sanity. If you did not see JR-M’s contribution, as Leader, to the debate, may I recommend that you do so? It was masterful and very well researched. His knowledge of Erskine May is no idle boast. In my view he will, in time, be a very strong candidate for the top job.

      2. He doesn’t need the hassle. He has his own money, and a wife and family. He prefers the role of consigliere.

    3. It will only buy you 1/80 of a railway line.

      They can always pass the cost on to the councils. Let the councillors justify that with their voters; it’s not Westminster’s problem.

    4. Not in the terms of this bureaucracy. Government spends about 1bn a day. It wastes another £1bn and then borrows more.

    3. Fascinating to see that the White Man is placed higher than the rest, and the Dark Bloke down below. The BBC is even more racialist than I imagined.

  31. Day by Day we are seeing just how undemocratic and how unaccountable our politicians. As I have said before in my view we have an elected dictatorship
    We seem to have the bizarre situation where the MP’d are saying the 40% have to be listened to but the 52% can go and get lost

    We have seen significant numbers of MP’s ignoring the manifesto they were election and MP’s flitting from party to party all without the authority of their electorate

    WE have an unfair voting system which needs c hanging as well. It looks as well that the changes to constituencies to bring them into line with current population and to reduce the number of MP’s to 600 is going to be quietly swept under the carpet

    WE had the legislation to give the electorate the power to recall their MP watered down and the real power be given to the MP’s so in practice we cannot recall our MP/ How many MP’s would be recalled iff we had the power to do so? Quite a lot I suspect

  32. Fixed Parliament Act

    WE could now be in an interesting position that the fixed Parliament Act does not cover. If Boris expels the Rebels from the Conservative Party he no longer commands a majority. Labour seem to be trying to claim they should be able to form a Government but that would be unconstitutional and I am not aware that’s even allowed. After a General election the basic rule is the party with he largest number of seats tries to form a government. If that fails the next largest can have a go but that’s only immediately after a general election

    1. I hope we don’t find ourselves in the position of a Left-wing rabble led by Corbyn trying to form a government, without then having a General Election. Would that be possible? I can see them giving it a go, they only believe in democracy when it suits them.

      1. As I understand it if a government no longer commands a majority a General Election would have to be called. The Fixed term parliament act though appear not to have considered this possibility so Labour are trying to claim they should be allowed to form a government. Knowing the Speaker he would probably allow it. It would in my view be the final straw breaking our Undemocratic system

        1. God forbid Corbyn gets in via the back door without an election. It seems we have no rules around parliamentary procedures any more, the rules are whatever John Bercow says they are. The Remainers have the cheek to talk about a ‘coup’ but that is exactly what they are doing by hijacking the parliamentary procedures and trying to install a ‘government of national unity’ which involves purely remainers.

          I do worry where this is all going to end – civil disobedience?

  34. Non-EU chuckle …

    A Night on the Town

    This guy goes out with his buddies for a night on the town and they cap off the festivities by going to a house of ill repute.
    A week later, the guy visits his doctor complaining of a large green lump on the end of his penis.
    Thedoctor does a thorough exam, then pulls down a weighty medical book and flicks through it till he finds what he’s looking for. He looks up and
    says, “I’m afraid this is serious. We’ll have to operate!”
    “Operate?”, exclaims the fellow, “Why, Doc? What’s the problem?”

    “Well, you know how boxers can get a cauliflower ear? You’ve developed the same sort of thing. You’ve got a brothel sprout.”

  36. Sanctuary for bats

    Sir – Implicit in Stephanie Cobbold’s alarmist view of bats living in churches (Letters, September 3) is the reason these creatures have been in such rapid decline and why, belatedly, they now receive protection.

    The Church was responsible for the wanton massacre of bats wherever they appeared in its buildings, so it is perhaps natural justice if they are now left in peace on church property to re-establish themselves.

    As excrement goes, that of bats is perhaps the least offensive, consisting almost entirely of dry, comminuted insect exoskeleton. The droppings themselves are also an excellent soil conditioner.

    Steve Haynes
    Chichester, West Sussex

    It is not only the wanton massacre of bats that the Church is responsible for, Steve. It is also responsible for the wanton destruction of the minds of millions of people over many centuries.

    You see the result of this in every country, worldwide. Atrophied brains are responsible for overpopulating the planet and killing it. This is all, directly, the result of religion.

    1. Good morning, Grizzly. I think you are mistaken in blaming all religion for “overpopulating the planet”. The culprit, surely, is the Roman Catholic edict on forbidding contraception.

      2. Certain methods of contraception. Has no one noticed that even Catholic families now have fewer than four children? In any sensible Western country there would be awards to big (non muslim) families*. We currently do not reproduce to sustainable levels. The population of natives is shrinking. Free and easy abortion has deprived the UK of millions of nice white people.

        *Like Hungary.

          1. We have millions more than we need. I watched the train film posted yesterday. Ubiquitously white in living memory.

    2. Clearly Mr Haynes has never been in a church which has been infested by bats – whose droppings wreck the furniture, pews, altars.

  37. For the record, here is the list of 21 Tory MPs who voted against the
    government last night, and who have subsequently lost the whip:

    Guto Bebb

    Richard Benyon

    Steve Brine

    Alistair Burt

    Greg Clark

    Ken Clarke

    David Gauke

    Justine Greening

    Dominic Grieve

    Sam Gyimah

    Philip Hammond

    Stephen Hammond

    Richard Harrington

    Margot James

    Sir Oliver Letwin

    Anne Milton

    Caroline Nokes

    Antoinette Sandbach

    Sir Nicholas Soames

    Rory Stewart

    Edward Vaizey

    1. I staggered back in amazement to see my local donkey has supported the Government!
      Given that he is likely to stand down at the next election I was expecting him to shove two fingers up!

      1. Our raging Remainer MP has supported the government.

        Very strange after making a speech on local BBC TV stating that he would prefer a Corbyn government to Britain Leaving without a deal.

  38. For those that missed it, an early morning BTL comment:_

    Robert Spowart 4 Sep 2019 4:44AM
    If there is, as seems increasingly likely, a General Election in the near future, can action be taken against fraudulent voting, both by postal ballots and by paying migrants to register & vote for a particular party, of the sort we saw in the recent Peterborough By Election?

    1. Not to mention the students who probably voted twice, in their home and university constituencies.

    2. ‘Morning, BoB,

      Of course action can be taken against the things you mention. It could have been taken ages ago. The reason that didn’t happen then, is probably the same as the reason that very little, if anything, will be done now.

      Exactly what that reason is, I’m not sure, many possibilities spring to mind (objection to ID cards, offending the perpetually offended, accusations of disenfranchising people (who shouldn’t have been allowed to vote in the first place, IMO – S. Irish and people from the former colonies spring to mind) etc. etc.) Or perhaps vested globalist interests in keeping the system open to abuse…

  39. As my country tears itself apart I’m reminded of Enoch’s wise words.

    As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see “the River Tiber foaming with much blood.
    Enoch Powell

    1. ‘Morning, P-T and there is a river very adjacent to The Palace of Westminster that will do nicely, so let’s get it foaming.

      1. Morning Nanny,
        I’m not usually this downbeat Nanny believing in the common sense of the British people….but they are
        beginning to disgust me!

  40. Last night JRM performed very well again, he really has excellent knowledge of Parliament’s constitutions, conventions and procedures – far more knowledge than the pipsqueak, pompous, ar5e Bercow.

    ” “Jacob Rees-Mogg, the new Leader of the House of Commons, criticised Mr Bercow’s decision saying: “Usurping the executive’s right is unconstitutional, the use of emergency debates to do so is unconstitutional and the Bill itself is yet more unconstitutional.”

    And he took the fight to Sir Oliver, accusing him of “stunning arrogance” and of failing “to understand where sovereignty comes from”.

    He added: “Sovereignty in this House comes from the British people and the idea that we can overrule 17.4million people is preposterous, and the idea that our rules do not exist to protect the people from arrogant power grabs is mistaken. Those rules are there for the protection of the people.” ”

    Well said Jacob, it truly is Parliament against the People. Who could ever have believed that we would end up in this mess – a mess totally created by:

    Those opposed to Brexit,

    MPs reneging on manifesto pledges

    T.May – the most mendacious, inept PM ever

    Hammond and the ‘Gauke squad’ – constantly colluding with the opposition and the EU.

    Corbyn – cares not one bit for the UK, just wants to be PM so he can wreck the country.

    The BBC & MSM who have collectively promoted fake anti Brexit news & reports.

    Bercow, the most poisonous, bullying, pompous pipsqueak to ever hold the position as Speaker of the House.

    The EU who have refused to negotiate but just demands compliance with what they want – to punish us for having the temerity to vote for our sovereignty.

    A plague on all their houses.

      1. ‘Morning Citroen,

        Re. Bercow, apologies if this has been shown before, but I tend to flit in and out of NoTTL and miss some things…[the article contains the first photo I have seen of Bercow with his mouth shut, for ages if not ever].

        If there is an election, the Tories should go after Bercow
        Harry Phibbs, CapX

        Convention dictates that the Speaker stands unopposed, but if there is to be a general election perhaps the Tories should buck the trend and try to oust John Bercow. After all, he has long dispensed with impartiality, especially when it comes to the key question of Brexit. If he won’t play by the rules governing his position, why should anyone else?

        https://capx.co/if-there-is-an-election-the-tories-should-go-after-john-bercow/?omhide=true&utm_source=CapX+briefing&utm_campaign=59f5dac2a0-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_07_17_COPY_03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b5017135a0-59f5dac2a0-241789473

    2. Nothing ever disappears. It’s there somewhere. And your comments will be produced against you when THEY get in power.

  42. VACANCY FOR MP

    Job Requirements

    Must be good at lying

    Must be good at generating hot air

    Must be good at ignoring the electorate whilst pretending to represent them

    Must enjoy very long holidays

    Must show an aptitude for maximizing expenses

    Must be good at pretending to look busy whilst achieving next to nothing

  43. Good morning, all!

    OT but pertinent article: In time, the current spat between French President Emmanuel Macron and his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro regarding the Amazon rainforest may become a mere footnote. But other rows between collective and national interests are sure to erupt, and the world needs to find a way to manage them.

    https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/amazon-highlights-need-to-douse-the-sovereignty-wildfire-by-jean-pisani-ferry-2019-08?a_la=english&a_d=5d6cdf084f6e1904e4957d4b&a_m=&a_a=click&a_s=&a_p=homepage&a_li=amazon-highlights-need-to-douse-the-sovereignty-wildfire-by-jean-pisani-ferry-2019-08&a_pa=curated&a_ps=main-article-a2&utm_source=CapX+briefing&utm_campaign=59f5dac2a0-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_07_17_COPY_03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b5017135a0-59f5dac2a0-241789473

  44. Sebastian Payne

    @SebastianEPayne

    Labour’s @Keir_Starmer confirms his party won’t vote for a general election tonight. “We’re not dancing to Johnson’s tune…he’s not a man who can be trusted”. So the dissolution motion won’t pass. Then what?

    1. Hi Polly,
      If MPs refuse to have an election, the electorate will have to create a Revolutionary Parliament elsewhere. Perhapa your pal would contribute some funds?

    2. So having continually demanded a General Election they now dont want one

      I think there is a possibility Boris may be able to call one in spite of the fixed parliament act

        1. If he withdraws the Whip from the rebels he no longer commands a majority and I would have though that forces an election at least that the normal convention

  45. 1.21386
    The pound-dollar rate just goes up and down a bit. I am waiting for the BBC to report that it has collapsed again.

    2. The BBC avoids mentioning the £ going up though whilst even ).1% fall is reported as the £ crashing

      1. …and this also applies to employment, foreign investment in this country, manufacturing output…

    3. I’ve just been out to buy some USD for a trip to New York next week. I first tried our local Barclays only to find that they ‘hadn’t had any USD delivered today’! I then went off to the Post Office and queued for 30 minutes before being told that I needed two forms of ID – ‘to prevent money laundering’! Now, if i wanted to launder cash, a) I wouldn’t do it by paying with my debit card as it’d leave a very easily auditable trail and b) I wouldn’t do it for a trifling figure of £200. I landed up going to Hays Travel who didn’t bat an eyelid and I got a better rate there than at either Barclays or the PO.

  47. Girls start to break boundaries in world of sumo

    Women are making inroads into male-only national sport of Japan.

    Good god, The UK could have a gold medal-winning squad. All they have to do is tour all the nightclubs of the country at 2:00 a.m. and they will find thousands of suitable candidates for the sport in all the wobbly, fag-lipped, screeching, aggressive, pisshead ‘female’ chavs who stagger around the towns, shouting, swearing and pissing in shop doorways.

        1. ‘Cos he used to work in Brussels and he developed the snout for trough work. I do have other smileys of course. {:^ ) /: >] (;>)) but I prefer the snout! It could be worse……😄

  48. ‘Morning All

    I shall be making no comment on the current political shenanigans as my thoughts if published would see myself and Geoff arrested and this blog closed down.

    Instead and to lighten your day I give you a hilarious send up of the posturing ponce Harry

    “I cannot tell you how delighted I am that Prince Harry has decided to

    become woke. Today he made a speech in which he highlighted the urgent

    need for us to cut down on unnecessary travel. Harry, his wife Meghan,

    and their royal entourage flew to Amsterdam (because going by sea would

    take too long), in order to attend the launch of an eco-tourism project.

    While there, Harry made an inspiring plea to the rest of the world to

    do everything we can to reduce our carbon footprints.

    Harry was unfairly criticized

    at the event for his use of private jets. To this, he responded: ‘I

    came here by commercial. I spend 99 percent of my life traveling the

    world by commercial.’ Figures published by the royal household showed

    207 trips last year were made by helicopter, and with a mere 56 flights

    on specially chartered planes. The helicopter trips were for short hops

    and cost a mere £15,000 ($18,128) each time. So, at a total of

    $3,752,496 in taxpayer’s money, this really was value-for-money. In

    evaluating the carbon footprint of a helicopter, a Bell 206 will use

    around 16 gallons of fuel to travel 58 miles, while a van would burn

    around five gallons to cover the same distance. So honestly, 207

    journeys of say, 250 miles by helicopter, using a total of 14,276

    gallons… is the equivalent of one of us traveling 165,603‬ miles in a

    small pick-up truck. Given that the average UK driver travels

    approximately 8,000 miles per year… in order to offset the royal

    family’s annual helicopter carbon footprint, each year we should

    nominate one person to give up driving for 21 years. Hey presto! Problem

    solved. I don’t know what all the fuss is about. Obviously we’d also

    need to factor in the 56 chartered flights per year and given that a

    medium-sized jet consumes 233-336 gallons per hour, that person would

    more likely need to quit driving for 164 years (I’m thinking the ‘fuel

    debt’ could be passed down to future generations), but that’s a small

    price to pay for the comfort of a handful of people for one year.

    Especially if those people are educating us on how much the rest of us

    need to save fuel because saving the planet is incredibly important.”

    Rest here

    https://spectator.us/carbon-footprints-prince-harry-private-jet/

    1. Instead of getting upset, why not turn sleuth to find out the reasons behind the problems ?

      There’s a lot of evidence out there to go through… and then you can fit the jigsaw together.

      I don’t think it’s a conspiracy theory that there’s a conspiracy !

      1. Anti-semitism is soo boring. In the UK we have a secret ballot; it enables people to say one thing but to vote for another.
        I have no idea if there is a market for postal votes, but your target would need to buy 17.5 million, and by then the authorities would notice.

        2. Well, the authorities can hardly have “failed to notice” so far. However, no action has been taken. The authorities now know that they can fix ballot boxes (South Thanet, Scotland) and that bought votes can decide elections (Peterborough, Tower Hamlets). the postal vote scandal rumbles on like an ever growing snowball coming down a mountain. Has anyone drawn a graph of postal votes at GEs in the last 30 years?
          You don’t need to fix 17.5m votes, only the marginal number required to win.

    2. Instead of getting upset, why not turn sleuth to find out the reasons behind the problems ?

      There’s a lot of evidence out there to go through… and then you can fit the jigsaw together.

      I don’t think it’s a conspiracy theory that there’s a conspiracy !

    3. This chap is obviously a former pupil of the Dianne Abbott Edukaayshonul Skool.
      “…a Bell 206 will use around 16 gallons of fuel to travel 58 miles, while a van would burn around five gallons to cover the same distance.”. So he thinks small van gets under 12 miles per gallon. We have a small van, we average around 55 mpg.

    5. How about Eurostar London – Amsterdam? Direct service and not that difficult, I would have thought, and no need for a tree-planting frenzy by way of carbon mitigation afterwards…or some such pseudo-scientific greenie bolleaux.

  49. Tony Blair is to warn Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn not to fall for ‘elephant trap’ of snap general election.https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7417393/Tony-Blair-warn-Jeremy-Corbyn-not-fall-elephant-trap-snap-general-election.html

    Where should they dig the Very Deep Pit?
    Piglet said that the best place would be somewhere where a Heffalump was, just before he fell into it, only about a foot further on.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fc5911292b4d4814890028263ac38330d414f4bda9d8764f18ee8093dd4b244f.gif

  51. Scottish Court backs Boris so a win for Boris. There are court case going on in the English and NI courts still

      1. I dont really understand why a case was going on in the Scottish courts as Westminster is in England and MP’s are based in Westminster so logically it would have to be decided in the English courts

  52. In the midst of the political chaos the old warmonger Con Coughlin is chuntering on about not “abandoning” Afghanistan

    Has the idjit never read a single history book??

    The full might of the British and later the Soviet Empire found the state ungovernable,the whole poxy country isn’t worth a single Western life.

    Leave them to it with the warning

    “You can do what you like in your own country,try and export your vile ideology and we’ll turn you into a glass carpark”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/09/04/18-years-war-cannot-leave-afghanistan-taliban/

    2. It was never about the Afgaffs or terrorists. Both America and Russia wish to build oil pipelines there. It has only ever been about money.

      Good afternoon, Rik.

  54. BBC Radio 4 Today cock-a-hoop this morning. 31 October is a Thursday. Boris can’t have an election until November. edited i thought I had put in 31 and I now see it was 1 October. At least I got November correct apologies

    1. A November election would easily be best because then we’ll know what happened on October 31.

        1. It would be great for Boris if he plays his cards right. A frustrated Brexit could mean a huge Leave majority.

          1. I would settle for a modest, working majority, Polly, as welcome as a Leave landslide would be. The wish for a huge Leave majority is over-optimistic in my view as the right wing vote will be split as things stand. Some rapid horse-trading between BoJo and Nigel will be essential if this is to be avoided.

          2. Everything hinges on how they vote where a Remainer MP in a safe seat is standing in a constituency that is predominately Leave, and the only Leaver is a fringe party candidate.

          3. The Conservative Party must offer the electorate a solid front totally in favour of a proper Brexit. Remainers must be deselected. If the party cannot do that and if Boris is too full of hubris to make a pact with Nigel then Goodnight Britain, goodbye the Conservative Party and Good riddance to Boris.

          4. There are 21 constituencies where Nigel Farage is welcome to put up candidates against ex-Conservatives for starters.

          5. You are right. I have been banging on about the need for an electoral pact between Boris and Nigel for some time.

          7. “What I tell you three times is true”

            (Lewis Carroll: ‘The Hunting of the Snark’)

            What I tell you more than three times is even truer!

          8. I think he still has a chance of delivering a clean Brexit on 31 October if he is still PM. A further extension will achieve nothing and the Conservative Party will suffer badly in future elections.

          9. If he deselects all the traitors and allows Brexit Party candidates to stand in their places then he could win a substantial majority.

          10. But now he must talk to Nigel Farage.

            If he does not make an electoral pact with the Brexit Party then the country, the Conservative Party and Boris himself will be finished for ever.

  55. “Transgender

    children who undergo medical or surgical treatments risk “serious and

    irreversible damage”, a leading psychiatrist has warned, as he accuses

    lobby group of “silencing debate”.

    Critical discussion about the phenomenon of transgenderism and gender

    dysphoria has been “shut down” by activists, according to Dr David

    Bell, a consultant psychiatrist at The Tavistock and Portman NHS

    Foundation Trust.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/09/04/transgender-children-medically-treated-risk-serious-irreversible/
    Indeed debate on this important topic is sooooooooo important once again there are no comments allowed
    FFS grow a pair DT !!

  56. We have total confusion now. The Conservatives no longer have a majority even if we include the DUP and the Fixed Term Parliament act does not clarify this neither. So we have a situation where we have a Government that cannot govern and no clarity as to whether a General Election can be called. It s a crazy mess

    My view is that the Fixed term Parliament act only applies to stop a PM choosing the election date. IT does not in my view apply where a government cannot command a majority

    Current state of play below. In the past the speaker has been ignored as the convention is he does not vote but that seem to have gone out of the window. Sinn Fein are also normally ignored as they have never taken up their seats but technically can

    What an undemocratic mess we are in

    Conservative 289
    Labour 247
    Independent 36
    Scottish National Party 35
    Liberal Democrat 15
    Democratic Unionist Party 10
    Sinn Féin 7
    The Independent Group for Change 5
    Plaid Cymru 4
    Green Party 1
    Speaker 1

  57. Dr Philip Lee

    There is more to this MP than came to light. His Constituency are deeply unhappy with him as their MP and in fact a Vote of No Confidence i him was called and was held and he lost so in part I think he was sticking two fingers up at his electorate knowing there is nothing at all they can do to get rid of him at present

    I my view it is just ridicules that the local electorate can say they have no confidence in him yet he can remain their MP . Yet another part of our broken system

    1. He jumped before he was pushed, Bill. Having betrayed his constituency, he didn’t even have the decency to become an independent; he chose instead to join the “Bollocks to Brexit” Party, in order to demonstrate his dummy-spitting abilities. Pathetic, but not untypical of the kind of person who now infest the House of Clowns.

      PS I need hardly add that Bracknell voted Leave in the referendum (53.9%).

      PPS I agree with you: deserting one’s party should trigger a by-election automatically.

      1. His claims that if we leave without a deal people will dies is in my view just lies. There is no basis for that ludicrous claim at all

        1. “.. is in my view just lies”. Quite so, Bill. This applies to very element of Project Fear. It is a great pity that so many of our MPs are not made of sterner stuff.

    2. Yep. Constituents must be able to remove a failing MP.

      If the referendum has taught us nothing it is that the system cannot continue as it is. MPs must be reminded that it is our boot on their neck. Disobey and we sack you, even if that means the entire commons is empty.

  59. Baffled with bafflement.

    Why are many of those who wanted a ‘People’s Vote’ now shying away from a general election when a general election is a people’s vote?

      1. Johnson is unlikely to pick up enough seats from the Labour heartlands to offset losses to the LibDums down south and to the SNP in Scotland. It is imperative that Johnson and Cummings come to an agreement with Farage and his party to ensure a Leave majority and finally put Corbyn back in his box. Corbyn is unlikely to survive another GE defeat and then the Labour infighting will intensify as they try to find a new leader.

  60. Last night’s vote was a Vote of No Confidence in the Government, which passed by a majority of 27. The Queen now does not have a Prime Minister who commands the confidence of the House. She must now decide what to do about it. If she does not, then there is nobody with the authority to guarantee the Civil List, and her crown is in jeopardy.

    Regardless of the wording, under the Fixed Term Parliament Act, I consider that losing control over the Order Papers is sufficient to declare a vote of No Confidence has occurred, and therefore Boris Johnson no longer has the authority to require a two-thirds majority to call a general election himself. The clock has started ticking against him, and Parliament has now fourteen days to appoint a successor or pass a Vote of Confidence in Boris Johnson, restoring to him control over the parliamentary agenda.

    Failure to do so means that the Queen, if she values her crown, must dissolve Parliament on the 18th September and order a General Election.

    If Parliament wants a general election in good time (which is the expressed desire of the Labour Opposition), then they should use their power today to repeal the Fixed Term Parliament Act, dissolve Parliament on Thursday, and announce the date of the Election being the minimum time required for a campaign, and in good time to revoke Article 50 upon its return.

          3. A curious piece of Orwellian newspeak therefore that to call a lie a FACT is sufficient to make me believe it. If it looks like a duck, waddles like a duck, quacks like a duck… it is a goat.

          4. Morning Jeremy and Bill – it is just a difference of opinion. I am pretty sure the Queen’s crown is safe and the Vote of Confidence and/or an Election will come in due course, not immediately.

          5. At the moment, the agenda is being set by a leaderless rabble. Who do they send to the Palace? Boris Johnson?

          7. Does he lie if, at their next Audience, the Queen asks him if he continues to command the confidence of the House?

    2. ‘Morning, Jeremy.

      Last night’s government defeat may have seemed like a vote of no confidence, but it didn’t take place as such. For an early election Subsection 2 of the FTPA requires two things: firstly a specific ‘no confidence’ motion and, secondly, such a motion has to be carried by at least two thirds of the 650 seats in the H of C. Ergo, BoJo is safe for now, as is Her Maj.

      Sorry to disappoint!

      Typos corrected.

      2. We therefore have a situation where the Government palpably does not even have the confidence of the House to set its agenda, and the position of the present “Prime Minster” is untenable, yet this is somehow a way to run a country because they didn’t use the correct terminology for something that is perfectly and constitutionally obvious.

        No wonder the public has contempt for our legislators!

  61. Every day I am presented with more and more evidence of mankind’s exponentially-rising stupidity.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c7e404526730e02c50f29364b17b66cbd46330630e15acb8f6b3de7e14479549.png

    There are daily reports of lorry drivers blindly following the ‘advice’ of route on GPS systems and getting stuck under low bridges or smashing into cottages.

    It is no use blaming foreign lorry drivers since British drivers are just as complicit.

    I have said for years that HGVs should be banished from our roads and all freight should travel by rail; but those affected by this rising tide of stupidity continually disagree with me.

    Morons!

    1. There are many trucks that carry goods from California all the way across to Ontario. If that can be justified, what chance do you have with the shorter distances in Europe?

      1. Two points. Rail freight in North America is slow and not designed for speedy point to point deliveries. Plus, most RR’s operate on the concept that the train will leave when it is fully loaded, not to a published schedule. No concept of “express freight”, European style. Road haulage is significantly more expensive, but is a lot quicker and delivery schedules can be met.

      3. Many ways have been tried to transport goods by rail but they have not worked. Rail is only of use for bulk point to point traffic ie from Container ports to Warehouse Hubs etc for local deliveries it is a non starter

        Rail tried the roll on roll off movement of containers but it was to slow and costly

    2. Partly a result of lorry drivers using car satnavs, not the more expensive lorry-oriented ones that would direct them elsewhere.

      1. Correct. When I owned a huge American fifth wheel I had a HGV satnav. I fed in the dimensions of the vehicle and it selected safe routes.

        1. The technology exist so why it is not implemented I dont know. The other big problem is lorries and buses going or trying to go under bridges. Decades ago some had a crude warning system, A string of bells across the road

          How drivers can miss all the signs I have not a clue. With some bridges it is so bad that they put a dummy beam across the road so if it gets hit it takes that out rather than the bridge

      2. My satnav has a “truck” mode, as well as car, bicycle or pedestrian mode. And it’s ten years old, was cheap. No excuse there…

    3. Not many rail lines to the back of shops for delivering goods Grizz. Any good driver will see a hazard well before having to negotiate it. I never get into a situation I can’t reverse out of.

      1. I’m mainly referring to idiotic historical decisions made by greedy twat politicians, Spikey. Pre Beeching, if Britain’s railway network had been maintained and every town had a marshalling yard; goods could be picked up (mainly) by fleets of small vans and lorries and delivered locally.

        That way, town centres could be kept free of juggernauts as could the motorways, which would be just for the use of cars and buses. It is only the (totally contrived) rat race that says differently.

        As I said, only a stupid species , such as mankind, could dream up such a ridiculous system as we now have.

        1. Wasn’t that the purpose of the “Iron Horse” 3-wheeler local delivery van, Grizz? Nowadays can be replaced by the Ape 500 Piaggio 3-wheeler

        2. It was the small item, wagon load, mixed goods trains that become the loss-makers on BR. Rail is very good at block loads, less so at the van or lorry load. Containerisation and IT has helped but that still leaves us with a relatively small number of interchanges rather than a large number of small yards with their very high labour costs.

          And of course there is a big difference between a marshalling yard and a goods depot.

          1. “And of course there is a big difference between a marshalling yard and a goods depot.”

            Of course!

  62. Deal or no deal, we will do just fine — despite what broadcasters would have you think

    MICHAEL FABRICANT

    MPs up and down the land have been receiving a string of emails – often identical – talking of the ‘catastrophe’ that will strike our islands if we leave the EU without a deal. And by ‘deal’ they mean the one negotiated by Theresa May with or without the Irish backstop.

    But in his statement to the House of Commons yesterday, Michael Gove said:

    “There are also opportunities for life outside the EU. We can reform Government procurement rules, get a better deal for taxpayers and forge new trade relationships. We can innovate more energetically in pharmaceuticals and life sciences, develop crops that yield more food and contribute to better environmental outcomes, manage our seas and fisheries in a way that revives coastal communities, and restore our oceans to health.

    “We can introduce an immigration policy that is fairer, more efficient and more humane, improve our border security, deal better with human trafficking and organised crime, open new free ports throughout the country to boost undervalued communities, and support; business more flexibly than ever before.”

    He is right.

    Indeed, the growing frenzy generated by 24-hour TV news seeking worst-case Brexit scenarios has made many of our constituents quite hysterical at the thought of no deal. The “self-harm” it will do us, as arch Remainer and now well-paid Facebook executive, Nick Clegg, eloquently put it, understandably worries many.

    But is a no-deal Brexit really such a big deal? Eighteen months ago, it might have been. Since then, however, just under 600 Orders have been passed in the UK to mitigate any effects of a no-deal Brexit. A corresponding number of Orders have been passed in Brussels too.

    These include joint recognition of air and road transport with the Mayor of Calais claiming there will be no hold-ups on their side. Privately, HMRC says 94% of all goods worldwide entering the UK are cleared in 5 seconds using trusted trader status and this percentage will rise overall with goods arriving from the EU. Of course, there will still be DEFRA and Border Force checks for illegal imports: drugs, exotic meats and live animals, and illegal immigrants. But these checks go on right now with imports from the EU so no change there.

    The scope of legislation for a no-deal Brexit is breathtaking. It includes aviation noise, equine regulations, human medicines and medical devices, international driving licences, trap and pelts imports, and air quality standards.

    Early predictions that British airlines would not be able to fly over EU air-space because the Civil Aviation Authority is not recognised or that British trucks would not be able to travel on continental roads have proven to be unfounded. And remember those claims by Gina Miller that we will need to apply for and buy visas to visit elderly relatives in Costa Brava? They, too, have evaporated.

    Back at the end of June when Theresa May was still Prime Minister, David Lidington – most certainly not a Brexiteer or a member of the ERG – said:

    “We have published approximately 750 pieces of communications on No Deal since August 2018, including 106 technical notices explaining to businesses and citizens what they need to do to prepare. Our advice covers a wide range of information, from maintaining funding for EU-funded programmes to driving in the EU after Exit…

    “Since 12th, April the Government has laid SIs to address deficiencies in retained EU law in areas such as the environment, aviation safety, emissions trading and Euratom. The Government will continue to bring forward further statutory instruments to ensure we are fully prepared for Exit.”

    Of course, high protectionist import duties on continental Europe will hit some British exporters such as farmers selling lamb into the EU until a trade deal is agreed. But in the meantime, Michael Gove, now replacing David Lidington and who was formerly agriculture Secretary of State, and Sajid Javid, Chancellor of the Exchequer, have both said that the Government will support farmers from the many billions saved each year from not being members of the EU.

    And Michel Barnier and Jean Claude-Juncker have added, that while a trade deal can only be agreed after the UK has left the EU, it should then be negotiated without delay and swiftly concluded. Both Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron have said it is neither in the EU’s nor the UK’s interest to engage in a trade war. Germany is already suffering from a decline in its manufacturing exports; the UK is a leading importer of German cars.

    So deal or no-Deal, Britain will do just fine. It would just help if broadcasters occasionally allayed the fears of its many millions of viewers.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/09/04/deal-no-deal-will-do-just-fine-despite-broadcasters-would/

    1. The UK functioned when Napoleon ruled the continent and under air attack and sea blockade by Germany during WW2. Why would it succumb to our exit from the EU?

    2. Also of note is the small paragraph in the WA that states that the UK cannot subsidise any UK industry without the approval of the EU. That would include farmers. The idea that the EU is going to support a future UK Government to subsidise any British enterprise in competition with the EU is risible.
      Of course it is risible, the whole point of the WA is to hamstring, hornswoggle, emasculate, and surpress anything and everything that we do.

    5. The State of Israel started on a bit of sand, and look where it is now. No withdrawal agreement needed.

    6. Can anyone explain to me exactly why No Deal will be such a disaster? Are we going to war with Europe? Are they going to refuse to sell us food and medicine?

      Can anyone also explain why we should listen to the doom-mongers now, when the consequences they predicted of a simple vote to Leave (“immediate and profound recesssion, loss of 500,000 jobs, emergency budget) haven’t come to pass?

        1. People to not go to F1Grand Prix to see cars going round in a procession they go to see crashes.

    1. You’d think that both of them would have learnt from their mistakes, but no, they just keep repeating them.

    2. The chain in the first gif should never have been attached to that unsecured unit.

      The second gif………… Women. Don’t ya just love ’em.

        1. Ignoring the technical aspects; it’s a short movie-like clip that repeats over and over again.
          Some are amusing, some serve as background, eg. a revolving globe on a news programme.

          The name comes from the suffix, .gif, similar to .jpg or .doc

          1. Thank you, Sos, I was as ignorant as Grizzly. Can you (or anyone else on here) tell me what a “Meme” is? In my younger years, people in this country spoke English.

          2. With technological advancements people find new uses for it and these then require names.

            I found this explanation of a meme in old technology. A thing called a dictionary. If you don’t know what a dictionary is…ask Lottie. :o)

            1. An element of a culture or system of behaviour passed from one individual to another by imitation or other non-genetic means.

            2. An image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that
            is copied and spread rapidly by Internet users, often with slight
            variations.

          3. Thanks, but I think I need to get my head around that one. Can you give me an example or two of each of the two explanations, please?

          5. I can’t improve on the dictionary definition:

            “an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by Internet users, often with slight variations.”

            The underlying aim is usually to satirise an event or action by a person or group. Often the humour can be very pointed and sometimes even cruel, but it is often a better/more effective way of pointing out foolishness and inconsistencies than purely verbal/written responses.

            The “picture paints a thousand words” principle.

          6. So when, for example, Bob of Bonsall copies a funny riposte from the NoTTL site on to a Twitter site in order to ridicule someone else’s Twitter post and then posts the two together on here, that is a meme?

          7. It could become a meme if several people picked up on the post and forwarded it to their followers. The followers could alter BoB’s post slightly too and then it starts to take on a life of its own. Rik regularly posts such memes. Recall the one where a young man is walking with his girlfriend and he turns to stare at another pretty girl. There is usually either a caption or the girl is wearing a sash or similar, one sees numerous variations on that theme.

          9. Yes, I do recall the photo of the man walking with his girlfriend and looking away to stare at the pretty girl. But I have just seen a large collection of photos of Jacob Rees-Mogg lounging on the government benches last night photoshopped into various funny situations. I really do get what a meme is now.

        2. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3c86be0656d16fd2da7c403c328e40364f1f6246603e5da93cf4c2fd810830b8.gif

          Short description of GIF’s – the letters .gif are found at the end of the name of a file or a picture. A .gif file can contain moving images, compared to a standard .jpg file which is normally a still picture. So it just means a “movie clip” short or long. Slightly more “techy” or detailed information that I have just copied:

          “GIF Stands for “Graphics Interchange Format.” GIF is an image file format commonly used for images on the web and sprites in software programs. Unlike the JPEG image format, GIFs uses lossless compression that does not degrade the quality of the image. However, GIFs store image data using indexed color, meaning a standard GIF image can include a maximum of 256 colors.

          The original GIF format, also known as “GIF 87a,” was published by CompuServe in 1987. In 1989, CompuServe released an updated version of the format called “GIF 89a.” The 89a format is similar to the 87a specification, but includes support for transparent backgrounds and image metadata. Both formats support animations by allowing a stream of images to be stored in a single file.”

    2. And the first of ‘Billy Connolly’s Great American Trail’ is on ITV tomorrow at 9pm. I gather it’s mainly about the Scots who settled there and of their influence.

  66. Why Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings are wise to weaponise the culture war – the next election will be fought on issues beyond Brexit
    BENEDICT SPENCE – Premium – 3 SEPTEMBER 2019 • 4:30PM

    For too long, the British centre-Left has claimed the moral monopoly on all things

    Amid the babble last night over the prime minister’s statement to the nation, and the myriad theories over the path Brexit could yet take in its aftermath, one piece of information eked (sic: leaked?)out, further confirming that Conservatives were not only gearing up for an election – but for one that would be fought on issues beyond Brexit.

    A number of journalists reported that No 10 had been busy polling “Culture War” issues, with the incendiary idea that this included “transgender rights” in several traditionally Labour seats that the Tories will target over the issue of leaving the European Union.

    The claim brought the response you might expect from left-leaning commentators, who branded it disgusting and morally wrong. It has, also, been denied by the government, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Nor, in fact, does it mean it’s a bad idea. At least, the broad concept of it may not be.

    The leaking of the idea that transgender rights might be, for want of a better phrase, “up for discussion” under Boris Johnson was a strategic one, meant to play to fears that he and his team are bigots itching to drag the country backwards towards repression and illiberalism. But the idea that the Tories are sounding people out over cultural flashpoints more generally is a wise strategic move. This isn’t Theresa May’s cavalier cabal, about to launch the prospect of free votes on fox hunting into the public sphere.

    Whether we like it or not, the cultural clashes that had their genesis in the US are upon us, and here, they are being played out, as with all things, against the backdrop of Brexit. For many, the vote to leave the EU was indeed about the black and white issue of regaining sovereignty from Brussels, and removing themselves from a political bloc they did not agree with. But for many others, it was also about freeing themselves from the shackles of London, Westminster, and the direction the country is being steered in by those often lumped in together as “the metropolitan elite.”

    For a long time, now, the British centre-Left has claimed the moral monopoly on all things. It is clearly visible — one need only look at how its perspective on issues like climate change, multiculturalism or gender-based causes are pushed, incessantly, on the airwaves, in classrooms and in print, as gospel truth. Any deviation from it is viciously attacked, with accusations of fascism, bigotry and chauvinism more frequent than suggestions those who question this orthodoxy may be simply mistaken. Proponents claim that their views are “common sense” or based on rationality. The inference, then, is that those who disagree are more than just incorrect: They are morally contemptible and incapable of rationality.

    The thing is, though, most of the public does not obey the line on this. Their voting patterns certainly don’t suggest they do. And, if Brexit is anything to go by, they are tired of being told they are backwards and wicked for not sharing the same views as a Guardian editorial.

    You can tell why there was so much anger at the suggestion the Tories were asking members of the public for their thoughts on cultural issues — for many on the left, it is heresy to question their values, and dangerous to ask ordinary people who, unenlightened provincials that they are, cannot be trusted to think the right way. This is not about fear that LGBT or women’s rights are about to be trampled underfoot; it is anger that people who aren’t the self-appointed doyens of social justice might have a view.

    But the Tories are both morally right to raise these issues, and politically astute to do so. The whole reason for our politics being upended by Brexit was to reshape and reform it. Enough people were discontented with how it was being run to justify change. And, if people really are to “take back control,” it cannot be that Westminster continues to ignore the people it claims to serve. Governing a country should not mean telling people what to think or feel. That goes for minorities for whom social justice campaigns have done much work to empower, but equally, it goes for the silent majority who do not wish to be dictated to. The starting point must be asking people what they think.

    It may be met with shrieking and indignation, but again, for the Conservatives, that is exactly what they want: for the electorate to see Labour, the Lib Dems, Greens and the Scottish Nationalists for the hectoring, lecturing, unrepresentative ideologues they really are. Don’t be fooled that they are action with protective zeal for the rights of the oppressed. Their outrage comes because those expressing it fear the masses might say what they think.

    ************************************************************

    Plenty of applause BTL

    1. And an awful lot of whinging remainers as well arguing the toss.

      They’re wrong, of course, but they keep fighting away, taking the silver.

    3. ‘morning P-T, I believe that the toss is scheduled for 10:30, play starts at 11:00 – all subject to local weather ‘events’.

  69. They’re never going to let us leave.

    Hearing the BBC interview Kinnock, who was so smug in his belief we would never be allowed out or worse, sign that hateful WA..

    You really want the BBC to say ‘Well, you’re biased, aren’t you? You’re deeply conflicted here, as your parents are both millionaires from the EU, from our taxes. You’re no doubt expecting the same route.’

    But no. It was the usual whitewash.

    These creatures need to be held at gunpoint and reminded who they serve. Otherwise, what is the point of law? What point voting? What point society?

    1. Neil Kinnock was the ultimate hypocrite deeply against the EU until he ceased to be an MP then he and his entire family jumped on the EU gravy train

  70. I have had enough of the wafflings of the media .

    Who else feels angry and confused?

    I feel just little bit of admiration for Boris’s cavalier leadership, but I do feel very angry when I listen to MP’s saying that they have been MP’s for x amount of years, and how dare they be treated so badly, but my thoughts are that MP’s DO NOT serve their constituencies well, and never have.. They just draw their salaries and grunt!

    Am I correct in thinking that the WA deal will keep us attached to the EU re their judiciary and economically ?

    1. WE have been constituents for x number of years and never have we been treated in such a disgraceful way by our undemocratic politicians

      If we had a proper system for recalling MP’ there would be a significant number being recalled instead they are currently sticking two fingers up to us

      It is the electorate that need to seize back control of Westminster

      1. Indeed that is precisely what JRM pointed out yesterday in the House when he said that the Government was the executive authority to carry out the wishes of the electorate.
        There can be no doubt that the Conservatives undertook to implement the mandate of the people by holding the referendum on whether to stay or leave the EU.

        1. Some tart in the opposition criticised him for lolling on a bench. She said, “he was contemptuous… of the people”.
          The tart was making speech to stop the implementation of the expressed will of the People.
          Topsy is turvy.

          1. They’re insane. I can think of no other explanation.

            The degree of doublethink, the sheer hypocrisy, the belief that they are ‘democratic’ when they’re expressly preventing democracy is ludicrous.

        2. The current excuse seems to be to try to claim that No deal was never an option. It clearly was and Article 50 itself made that clear
          In fact at the very start we were offered a deal that would have been an acceptable basis for talks but May just turned it down. What was on offer was a Canada ++ type trade deal. In fact I suspect that it is this that Boris may be trying to negotiate with the EU with time so limited it may not be possible to get it agreed by the 31st October. I suspect it may be what Boris comes back with after the EU meeting

          1. Yes, it is becoming clear that many Parliamentarians failed to understand Article 50, just as around 430 MPs voted for a Referendum Bill because they felt 100% certain that they would win.
            And people say that Leavers are stupid!

  71. It’s probably only a little way along the road that those who are trying fairly succesfully to destroy our parliament will turn their attention to the removal of our Queen.

    1. They have probably got the Speaker lined yo replace her. HE is very compliant with giving the opposition what they want

    2. There is no guarantee that the situation will be resolved peacefully, in fact it is quite likely that the political crisis will deteriorate further and with it public order. The possibility exists of services and food supplies being affected and wise persons would make provision for such events!

  72. Tory Rory Stewart sacked by text while he accepted politician of the year award. 09:07, 4 SEP 2019.

    A Tory rebel dumped by the Conservative Party has revealed he was sacked by text while accepting a politician of the year award.

    Rory Stewart was one of 21 Conservatives with 350 years’ experience brutally purged by Boris Johnsonlast night after supporting a move to block no-deal Brexit.

    Odd! I haven’t heard that any others have been sacked yet and the awards were last night before the vote! Was he in two places at the same time?

    https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tory-rory-stewart-sacked-text-19428060

    2. Despite all the shouting, I think it was pretty obvious before the vote, that he would lose. The numbers suggested it.
      Reasonable to assume that it was not entirely a shock to him.

      1. Well thats why they have the Whips and I am sure they would have feed their results back to Boris. There is always a chance though that some might lie to the whips. Lying i something MP’s are good at

  74. There is a Parliamentary precedent for the Queen to reject a bill of Parliament:

    By giving the Royal Assent, she approves the proposed law. She technically also can reject bills. But the last monarch to do that was Queen Anne, who in 1708 vetoed a measure that would have restored the Scottish militia.

    https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/queen-elizabeth-ii-power.html/

    The Scottish Militia Bill (known formerly as the Scotch Militia Bill) was a bill that was passed by the House of Commons and House of Lords of the Parliament of Great Britain in early 1708. However, on 11 March 1708,[1] Queen Anne withheld royal assent on the advice of her ministers for fear that the proposed militia would be disloyal.[2]

    Read more: Scottish Militia Bill | Revolvy https://www.revolvy.com/page/Scottish-Militia-Bill?smv=2064889#ixzz5yYo2ogpw
    Follow us: @RevolvyEarth on Twitter | RevolvyEarth on Facebook

    Given that Parliament has usurped the executive powers of HM Government it is thus within the scope of Her Majesty’s powers to reject a bill that seeks to undermine her subjects’ wishes following a referendum.

        1. THe government has to do a certain amount of work on the bill before it goes to the Queen for signing

          Another option is for Boris to have a word in the Queens ear about the need for her to take a month long holiday abroad

          4. If we got rid of about 400 remain MPs things would improve. Was having a chat this morning over coffee and my companion said what a mess it was. I pointed out that if they’d done what they were supposed to do on 24th June three years ago, it would all have been done and dusted by now. If there had only been ONE vote majority for remain, it would have been “it’s a majority and you have to accept it”. Now 1.1m is “a narrow margin”. No, a narrow margin was winning the Battle of Britain!

    2. The trouble is that our Queen is 93, and used to being aloof from politics. I guess the traitors are banking on that.

      1. It has been let slip that the Queen wishes her Government to resolve the current impasse on EU membership with due haste. All it should take is for the DoE to tell Parliament to pull its finger out of her Government’s affairs.

        2. Given that the Government now has no majority have fired 20 odd MP’s there are valid reason for dissolving the government as it is now in no position to govern. The fixed term parliament act may not apply as it is not from choice the government wants to be dissolved but from necessity as it no longer has a working majority and is not able to perform its function as a government as any proposed legislation can be voted down for example they probably will not be able to get the Queens speech passed

          1. I told you that for an impotent little w*nker that t*osspot Clegg has wrought an incredible amount of damage to our country.

      2. HM also seeks to avoid confrontation always, which she dislikes, and follows a policy of ‘everything will sort itself out eventually’. The mess in which her own family is embroiled is witness to this. Our salvation will not come from this direction. It will be up to Us, The People – once again.

        Good afternoon/early evening, Hl.

        1. Good evening poppiesmum – a shame if we can’t rely on our monarch who swore a Coronation Oath, and is proceeding to break it. Again.

    1. And the choppers wouldn’t need engines – they would generate power simply by turning their rotors………{({¬))

    4. Rik,
      Would it not be cheaper in the long run to drag Birmingham 15 minutes travel time closer to london ?

  76. History will be kind to Heathrow climate protesters who stop us flying. George Monbiot. Wed 4 Sep 2019 .

    We owe our right to vote, our freedom from servitude and subjection, our prosperity and security to people reviled in their time as lawbreakers and reprobates. Breaking the law on behalf of others is a long and honourable tradition. Next week, a few dozen unaffiliated activists intend to start something they call Heathrow Pause. They will each fly a toy drone within the restricted zone around Heathrow airport. The drones will fly nowhere near the flight paths, and never above head height, ensuring they present no risk. But any drone activity forces the airport to suspend all flights. The activists know they face arrest and possibly long prison sentences.

    Yes and when there is an accident due to the increasing confusion in air traffic control the relatives of the passengers killed can all console themselves that they died in a worthy cause.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/04/history-kind-heathrow-climate-protesters-stop-us-flying

        1. It was a stoopid man wot gave Britain away, Fizzle, and then a series of other stoopid men made it even worse.

          1. Hate crime. Hate crime! Assumption of gender. You can get your front door kicked in for that you know.

  77. I love Kirsty Blackman’s Scottish accent. I wish I could understand what she was saying.
    I think she is moonlighting for a call centre.

  78. 15:00 is when it all kicks off again today. 17:00 First vote on bill. 19:00 Second vote on bill. Difficult to see how the government will defeat it

    20:30 possible motion on calling a general election followed by a vote

  82. From Twitter.

    He won’t be in breach of the law. Boris will rightfully refuse to give the bill Royal Assent.

    This happens all the time. Just ask Tony Blair and Harold Wilson, who have done the same.

  83. Tea break.

    Dennis: I told you, we’re an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as sort of executive officer for the week…
    King Arthur: Yes…
    Dennis: …but all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special bi-weekly meeting…
    King Arthur: Yes I see…
    Dennis: …by a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs…
    King Arthur: Be quiet!
    Dennis: …but by a two thirds majority in the case of more…
    King Arthur: Be quiet! I order you to be quiet!
    Peasant Woman: “Order”, eh? Who does he think he is?
    King Arthur: I am your king.
    Peasant Woman: Well, I didn’t vote for you.

    Sums it up

    1. “Ow!”
      “Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help! Help! I’m being repressed!”

      So good that you can still remember the words 35 years after you last watched it. 🙂

        1. Aha – But the last time that I sat down and watched the whole film was in 1985 in the school Summer holidays. 🙂

          Or… Damn, I think I watched it once at University as well, because there was a guy there who had never seen a Monty Python film before and we chose the Holy Grail to be his first one. It was so long ago now, and some wine was involved later that night. Still excellent lines though. 🙂

  84. Can’t stay here being insulted…shed/ladders/trombetti – etc.

    Down to the beach for the ninth swim since Sunday. Only slight snag are the 154 steps each way. So far 2,464…. more to follow…({¬(

    4. Come over here.
      You too can be insulted by some snooty 6’6″ tall size 0 coat hanger who thinks that the sun rises in the morning just to fill her bank account.

          5. Then keep on fizzling, Fizzle, and if you feel you’re fizzling out, you can always ask my help…

      1. Surely if we are going to impress the EU Spanish, that question mark should be upside down.

  87. Sod it.
    My Disquisting page has gone into delayed reaction mode and is reacting a second or two behind the keystrokes & mouse movements.

    1. 13 convictions for 27 previous offences. Are our Judges and Magistrates mad?

      1st serious offence, 5 years jail with deportation to the country of origin, despite any subsequent citizenship granted.

      Either that or bring back birching, flogging and the death penalty – we cannot afford to let this dross run around the streets unchecked.

  89. From BT

    Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid clashed with a veteran DUP politician who said same-sex couples should not be allowed on Strictly Come Dancing
    because it would be too “challenging” to watch.

    Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Jim Wells said he believes the BBC should not let two people of the same gender dance together on the programme after the broadcaster said it was “completely open” to having same-sex couples competing on the show in the future.

    They really do not want ‘normal’ viewers do they

    https://tv.bt.com/tv/tv-news/gmbs-morgan-and-reid-clash-with-dup-politician-in-strictly-same-sex-couples-row-11364390182130

    1. I wonder if it is two women whether they would still be required to do the “lifts” that are part and parcel of the competition or marked down if they don’t?

      1. Yes, Belle, making the abnormal the new normal. I feel sorry for the younger generations as they’ll never know and we’ll all be gone. Brave new world.

        1. Oddly that book espoused precisely that – that control wouldn’t be claimed by force but by apathy. Unless we do something, we will never get a say.

          It’s going to take all of us saying something together as the state simply imprisons those who disagree with it alone.

    3. In the world of amateur competitive ballroom dancing, all female couples have long been an accepted norm since there was always a shortage of men.

      I took medalist exams doing the mens steps myself and was both partnered by and partnered other women in amateur medalist competitions. I won 4 bronze, 3 silver and 2 gold medals overall, sometimes with male partners and sometimes with other females.

      All this wan in my teens, in the late 60’s and early 70’s but I don’t suppose very much has changed since then with regards to the shortage of young men interested in strict tempo dancing to Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing rules – unless Strictly has encouraged more to give it a try.

        2. The zest goes out of a beautiful waltz
          When you dance it bust to bust.

          She was a brilliant woman. She could make you laugh – but she could also make you cry.

      2. Hello Sue

        During my b/school years , all girls school of course, we practised country dancing , ballet and tap, and ballroom dancing ..The ballroom dancing was quick quick slow to radio progs by Victor Sylvester band .. All dancing was fun , but oh dear as youngsters dancing together , ball room dancing to the strained tones of Victor’s band was very disciplined .

        Congratulations to you for taking part in competitive dancing , and I know you must have been very elegant and agile.

        I remember watching some of the sequence dancing on the old Come Dancing shows.. one had to be so coordinated.

        Forever in my life and frustrating for many who know me .. I get my lefts and my rights muddled up!

      5. Hi, Sue.

        I have always suffered from finding the waltz (3-4 time) challenging. Three beats but only two feet persistently defeats me!

        Where were you when I needed expert tuition? :•)

    6. I don’t know though, OLT. When she was alive I used to dance regularly, stately as a galleon, with Joyce Grenfell. She even wrote a very successful song about our partnership!

      :-))

  90. Just heard a lady MP in the house say that in a democracy we have to respect the minority’s decision. Eh?

  91. Applause as MP demands apology for Johnson burka remarks

    I don.t see why Boris should apologies it was not racist and it is not unreasonable to compare the slot in a letter box with a slot in some versions of the face veil

    Personally I dont agree with the face veil. There are security risks and in British culture face contact is important and hiding your face or looking down etc is seen as a sign of rudeness
    I have no issue with them wearing it in private homes or religious building though just not in public places. Clearly exception would have to made where there are justifiable reasons such as welders Motorcyclists etc. How can it be right that banks and many shops require motorcyclist to remover there helmets yet woman can go in with there faces covered ?

    Labour MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi asked Boris Johnson when he would “finally apologies” for his Telegraph column in which he described Muslim women as looking like “letterboxes”.
    Mr Johnson said that if Mr Dhesi had read the whole piece then he would have seen it was a “strong liberal defence” of a person’s right to wear whatever they wanted.

    3. It’s because Sharia Law regarding blasphemy is pretty much in place in this country. That MP was just recognising the fact

      1. As far as I can establish the covering of the face is not a religious requirement at all it is purely a cultural thing in some countries. It is a cultural thing i the UK to show your face but that seems to count for nothing. I am sure many of you got told off at school for not looking at the teacher when he was talking to you

        1. I completely agree. The requirement to wear a burqa is neither in the koran nor the hadith. But the MP in question has no idea about any of that. They just want to jump on the PC bandwagon and have fun feeling offended for the sake of someone else

    1. They have said they will not have us leaving without a deal but leaving on WTO is a deal so we would not be leaving without a deal

  96. EXCLUSIVE – Revealed: Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell’s idyllic riverside SECOND HOME (with three boats) on the Norfolk Broads where he can plot his latest war on middle class buy-to-let landlords
    Labour’s John McDonnell and his second wife Cynthia Pinto own a pretty riverside chalet bungalow in Norfolk
    The couple have a second home – their main residence – in a £760,000 property in Hillingdon, west London
    McDonnell and his wife paid £135k in cash in December 2013 for the two bed leasehold property in the holiday village of Potter Heigham
    Wooden bungalow has its own jetty and quayside on the banks of the River Thurne as well as a smart garden
    It comes as McDonnell said he wants to offer private tenants the same right to buy their home for a bargain price as council tenants in his latest battle with second home owners
    One near neighbour of McDonnell said: ‘When I saw the news about him banging on about punishing people for being private landlords, I thought, ‘Hang on a minute, he’s a second home owner himself.’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7423415/Shadow-Chancellor-John-McDonnells-idyllic-riverside-SECOND-HOME-Norfolk-Broads.html

    I wasn’t surprised when I saw his wife further into the article.. Diversity rules ..

    1. Marxist hypocrisy at its most disgusting.

      All animals are equal; some animals are more equal

    2. Well I thought he was dead against people owning second homes

      I dont mind people getting modest discount for buying their council homes but the discounts are excessive. In general council house rents are only about 50% of market rates . I think a 5% to 20% discount is more sensible the discount rate being based on how long they have lived in the property, Say 5 years for 5%, 10% years for 10%, 20 years for 20%

      Making all council homes shared ownership might be sensible as well . If people have a financial stake in there home they are more likely to look after it and you are more likely to see less anti social behavior. You can see clear evidence of this in blocks of flats
      where some are owned and some are council rented. Nearly always the problems are with those rented

  98. Just back for the beach – sea just unbelievable. And to be able to spend half an hour in the water and WITHOUT any pain is brilliant.

    Interesting chat to a French chum on the beach about how France is going to hell i a hand-cart, thanks to their appalling politicians encouraging unlimited immigration. And the immigrants, handed loads of dosh by yer French govt, then create an internal economy so that only they and their ilk benefit…..

    Still glass of medicine in hand; mustn’t grumble….

  99. If anybody has any doubt that the fancy-footwork by Remoaners in Parliament is anything less than a ‘putsch’ against out nation, conceived in Brussels and executed in Westminster by the EUSSR’s fifth-column of traitors, read on:

    https://order-order.com/2019/09/03/philip-hammond-admits-receiving-legal-advice-eu/

    There’s nothing for it ……. time for a military coo ……….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ef5bdf322c512888094a19b3c1e0b60c0589b84f4f0dbda348782e989371bd02.gif

  101. AS expected on the first vote they have backed the Brexit delay. The EU must be laughing their heads off

    1. I am expecting the second vote to go the same way

      Will Boris then call a General Election ? WE are in uncharted territory though as we have the fixed term parliament act bu Boris has substantially lost his majority and can no longer govern so I think he can go to the Queen to ask her to dissolve parliament

      It may trigger another legal challenge though but I think Boris could win this one

    1. I believe that when they tried it on with Indian girls the Sikh community soon put a stop to it.

      Violently.

    2. Sikh girls were the first targets T_B,a group of Sikh men well and truly “sorted” one such gang
      They were rewarded with 9 years apiece for affray,but the ‘slimes got the message

        1. Because there are rotten apples in every community,see self loathing Jews who hate Israel for details

  104. Pound has risen against the dollar, dammit. Now 1.22018

    International traders and speculators interfering in our politics.

  105. O/T

    It is years since I had a superficial brush with Game Theory in its pure form and have largely forgotten what I ever knew. I’m sure there are NoTTLers who know more.

    But…

    it seems to me that Dominic Cummings’ avowed belief in Game Theory’s all conquering power was justified in a binary contest such as the In/Out Referendum of distant and fading memory. It may be of some relevance in the next GE which will have multiple shades on the field of play, not just black and white. The biggest single obstacle to an effective (Game Theory) strategy is Cummings’ personal animosity for Farage.

    Clearly Cummings’ Gaming of the past two days has been knocked into a cocked hat by the fragmented forces, friendships and personal skin-saving, etc. which he couldn’t foresee because he’s a sociopath who could never understand the interplay of personalities and history. He may be a useful back-room boy but has been handed far too much power.

          3. But if we are honest, the MA Cantab. in most cases, is awarded for staying out of prison for three years!

    2. I think that the Boris / Cummings desire for a pre 31st October Election is merely a May Mark II ploy to try to neutralise the Brexit Party threat. Given that almost 50% of conservative members will continue to vote conservative, they calculate that the other 50% dare not vote for TBP… lest Corbyn is elected. However, I think a large proportion of the voting public is so pissed off that the Brexit Vote will indeed be split….

      1. I wrote to tell my MP in March that if we were still in the EU at dawn on 30th March I would never vote conservative again.

        I meant it.

    3. Are you (g)Nashing your teeth over this?

      The entire EU negotiation process with May might have tested the equilibrium to breaking point.

    4. In the current internecine war, the Conservative Party is in danger of self-immolation. The only way out of the inferno is a strategic alliance with Nigel’s Brexit Party.

  106. Off topic

    Autumn has arrived here too soon.
    {:-((

    The autumn lady’s tresses orchids are starting to appear.

        1. I imagine that living with you is a daily hell – only compensated when you are doing lengths in your filthy pool – and she has a chance to relax.

          1. She does her lengths there too, about five times as many metres as you manage.

            Presumably the MR has two defibrilators fully charged and on standby at the top and bottom of the stairs.

    3. Just been saying that it’s as if the Year has decided that 1st of September is the arrival of a pre-equinox autumn this year!

      1. Indeed.

        All sorts of things are happening much earlier than usual here; yet we have a hot spell due at the end of next week, if the forecasts are to be believed.

        The test for me will be when I get the field/lawn cut at the end of September/early October when we usually get large numbers of swallows, swifts and martins feasting on the insects that the cutting throws up. The numbers are well down locally.

        1. Around here the swallows all left a couple of days ago.

          Surprisingly early, they don’t usually leave until the second or even third week of September

          1. I suspect we might be in for a hard winter in Europe this year.

            I wrote a couple of days ago that I thought I had heard cranes going south and west. Far earlier than usual. None since, so I’m hoping my first guess, that it was geese up the valley, will be correct.

  111. I am off – borage ravioli with a cheeky little 13.5% red plonk. Guaranteed to help one sleep.

  112. If only Winston’s Grandson stood up for Britain as well as Hitler’s Granddaughter has done for Germany.

  115. Why is it that most of the prominent Remain politicians are all failed discredited creeps and why is it the the mainstream media gives them so much air time when under different circumstances they would be slagging them off.

      1. I wrote to one who writes for a “Third Sector” paper. His article was about a round robin letter some charities had sent somewhere to complain that the Government had not explained to charities what will happen on Brexit. I pointed out that the charities concerned neither imported nor exported so nothing much would happen. I also suggested that a proper journalist would not simply republish nonsense issued as a Press Release.
        I don’t think he liked what I said judging from his response.

  116. Whenever I copy a piece on our MPs’ betrayal of Brexit to my Desktop and when I subsequently want to delete it, the command appears “Move to Trash”….how appropriate….

  117. Too little too late?

    “Philip Hammond has been deselected as a Conservative candidate by his local association after losing the party whip in Parliament.
    The former Chancellor was one of 21 Tories to have the whip removed on Tuesday after defying orders and backing a plan to give MPs the power to pass a law blocking a no-deal Brexit.
    Mr Hammond was only reselected as the Conservative candidate for Runnymede and Weybridge in Surrey on Monday, with the local association emailing members to confirm the move.
    Fewer than 48 hours later and the association u-turned after Mr Hammond was kicked out of the party on the orders of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.”

  118. In praise of Jacob Rees-Mogg and the illustrious art of parliamentary lounging

    CHRISTOPHER HOWSE

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e22ee42fc476b50acad63fc0aa5d15b7e77ed59c050e07a0337d6af3e59ed8fd.jpg

    He only did it to annoy because he knew it teases. It worked very well. Jacob Rees-Mogg, lounging in his double-breasted lounge suit across the green front-bench leather, was harangued from across the chamber on Tuesday night by Caroline Lucas, the Green MP.

    “His body language throughout this evening has been so contemptuous of this House and of the people,” she scolded, as though he had deliberately sat upon a rare orchid in a garden of remembrance for vulnerable children.

    She should know better, for Mr Rees-Mogg was behaving in a traditional manner for the Commons. Perhaps that is really what she did not like. I shouldn’t think she much likes Hon and Rt Hon members going “Hear-ar-ar-ar-ar-ar,” like Newfoundland dogs playfully growling as they mouth Pedigree Dentastix.

    Mr Rees-Mogg has been called by some wit the “Member for the 18th-century”, but I feel he’d have been more at home in about 1880, when Gladstone was Prime Minister. Then he could have tipped the brim of his tall hat over his eyes as he pretended to take no notice of the nonsense droning over him from the Opposition benches.

    That was the thing to do in the 1880s. I bet Joseph Chamberlain, orchid in his well-cut buttonhole, lolled for England on the Treasury benches as President of the Board of Trade. Gladstone himself was generally as near supine as makes no difference, shoulders pressed into the rather plumper leather available before the Commons was bombed in the Blitz.

    Today, a semi-recumbent posture gets up the nose of those who think MPs should not behave like members of Pop (properly “The Eton Society”) sporting new waistcoats of their own design. It so happens that Mr Rees-Mogg was at Eton; Boris Johnson was in Pop. But that is not strictly the point.

    The daily comportment of Members of Parliament within living memory was that of a man at his club. That is now seen almost as a hate crime. It once seemed that the main advantage of being appointed to Cabinet was that you could sit on the front bench and put your feet on the despatch-box table. It didn’t annoy the Opposition much; it merely showed you at ease in your own House. I used to feel sorry for short members of Callaghan’s administration because they could only reach the table by extreme efforts of stretching, lest their upper bodies plopped off the bench. This was not held contemptuous of anyone, or rude in any way.

    Some things definitely are rude in the House. One is clapping. That was put down even by Mr Speaker Bercow (who, in pursuit of modernity has designed his own outfit of schoolmaster’s gown and snazzy tie in place of the wig, breeches and buckled shoes that God intended). When SNP MPs wanted to show approval in unfamiliar Westminster, they clapped. John Bercow said: “I would invite them to show some respect for the traditions of this Chamber of the House of Commons.”

    Caroline Lucas was once ticked off by the chair for wearing a T-shirt (T-shirts are not allowed) bearing a slogan (slogans on dress are not allowed). That certainly was contemptuous, though done with the greatest sincerity.

    What has annoyed some Telegraph readers, driven in these strange times to watch Parliament on television, is the habit of MPs of playing with their phones all the time. Very contemptuous. They’ll be swigging from bottles of water next.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/09/04/praise-jacob-rees-mogg-illustrious-art-parliamentary-lounging/

    1. I view that as a bloke who, after working his arse off trying to devise a means of delivering what a majority of voters demanded having a “Why did I fing bother?” moment.

    2. John Bercow said: “I would invite them to show some respect for the traditions of this Chamber of the House of Commons.” A pity he doesn’t show any respect for the traditions of that Chamber.

    1. Excuse me. I find your comment offensive. I am not a robot, In am an advanced humanoid A.I

    1. MOH read that Kinnock’s amendment was passed because allegedly there were no “No” tellers – i.e. went through by mistake…

      ‘Evening. Belle

  122. More than flesh and fur can stand. I’m off to read my book.

    See you later, or if not, night,night. Survive!

  124. Wera Hobhouse. Anna Soubry. My eardrums are shattered.
    Anna Soubry was hit by a bus while crossing the road. The bus died.

          1. There are several extremely clever/wiise females on the Tory sides – this obviously excludes T.May and J. Greening.

  125. Just one thing before I go. Too little, too late no doubt. But nevertheless

    “This petition is addressed to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

    The petition reads:

    ‘John Bercow’s unrestrained anti-Brexit bias is a disgraceful abuse of his position and of the traditional neutrality of the role of Speaker of the House of Commons.

    ‘We, the undersigned, demand the tabling of a no-confidence motion to force John Bercow’s immediate resignation as Speaker.’

    Can you spare just thirty seconds to sign this petition and help restore honour and dignity to the office of the Speaker of the House after Mr Bercow’s flagrant abuse of his position and his open opposition to the sovereign Will of the people as expressed in the Brexit referendum?

    We, the People, are Sovereign NOT John Bercow OR Parliament. It seems that we must remind ALL of Parliament that…THEY WORK FOR US!

    Please sign the petition and let us take back OUR Parliament from the likes of “Speaker” Bercow!

    Sign here: http://www.englishdemocrats.party/sack-bercow-now?recruiter_id=45638
    Yours sincerely,
    Robin Tilbrook”

  126. Tonight our undemocratic MP’s have overthrown the will of the people. They are going to pay a very high price for that

    Politics has to change . It the MP’s want to take on the people so be it. If they want a battle they are going to get it

  128. It’s time the Tories went nuclear on this flagrantly partisan Speaker, who has evaded democracy for too long

    TOM HARWOOD

    Bercow’s theatrics and put downs have reached new levels of purple-faced absurdity

    Parliament’s supposed referee has attempted to cast himself as the Leader of the Opposition this week, with an outrageous display of naked partisanship in the Commons. The Speaker Bercow delighted in interrupting the Chancellor’s Spending Review statement today, repeatedly reprimanding him for being too “political” with delightful faux-naivety, as if this seasoned Parliamentarian had never encountered George Osborne, Gordon Brown or indeed any other Chancellor of recent years. Later, and in a clear breach of Parliamentary rules, he sat back as opposition benches whooped and clapped at questions from their own side.

    When challenged by Tory MPs on his inaction after multiple clapping outbursts, Bercow smugly informed the House that it may change its rules if it wishes. Parliament has been subjected to an unbelievable barrage of bias spewing from the increasingly dramatic Speaker all week – not so much playing to the gallery as craving recognition from an international audience. His theatrics and put downs have reached new levels of purple-faced absurdity.

    MPs received a crucial warning shot over recess. Even from his holiday our graciously impartial speaker was able to brand Boris setting in motion a new Queen’s Speech a “constitutional outrage”, just weeks before the Scottish High Court decided the inverse was in fact the case.

    Yet for all of his clear disdain towards the referendum result (and the Government’s attempts to implement it), Bercow’s attempted slap-down of Michael Gove last night reached a new low. The Speaker used his bullying pulpit to not only lay into the Government and its personalities but to launch a shockingly personal attack, weaponising the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster’s own children. In an age when MPs are installing panic buttons in their homes and being advised to take irregular routes to and from work for fear of attack, the speaker – outrageously – chose to expose to the world the name of Michael Gove’s son’s school.

    As Gove’s wife Sarah Vine tweeted last night, attacking politicians is one thing, but bringing children into it is a whole other ball game. “Insult me, insult my husband – but don’t bring the kids into it.” She is right. There is a shocking lack of solidarity from the other side of the political spectrum. If Bercow had made his disdain for any issue other than Brexit so well known, he would not still be sitting in the Speaker’s chair. Had he, for example, driven in a car bearing a garish sticker denouncing another hypothetical partisan issue, ripped up precedent over it, overruled the advice of his senior clerks to stop it, secretly met with political leaders opposed to it, and facilitated dozens of attempts to frustrate or cancel it there would be widespread outrage.

    But because this is Brexit, and the London letter-writing classes approve of his antics, it seems that anything goes. When Bercow faced accusations of widespread bullying last year, Margaret Beckett told the House that she would put up with it because “Brexit trumps poor behaviour”. Remainers have become so blinded by partisanship that they are willing to ignore basic human decency.

    That is why the news that the Conservatives will put up a rival candidate in Mr Bercow’s constituency at the next general election is to be welcomed. Attempts to oust him have manifestly failed in our rotten Parliament, and despite promising to serve only nine years as speaker over a decade ago, Mr Bercow will not be shifting by himself soon. It’s time the Tories took a leaf out of the Speaker’s book, let precedent slide, and stood against him in his Buckingham constituency. He has been immune from democracy for far too long.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/09/04/time-tories-went-nuclear-flagrantly-partisan-speaker-has-evaded/

  129. Bollocks to politics. I needed some comfort food so I baked some this afternoon (I made the rough puff pastry myself).

    Eight sausage rolls (my own sausage meat) with fennel seeds and sea salt; and five Eccles Cakes.

    I feel better now. [No, Philip. I only had one of each!]

        1. Never mind the calories, the Remainers keep assuring us that the sky will fall in after Brexit so it’s “Live for today!” for me, P-T.

      3. Must pop over to Sweden one of these days, Grizzly. When I do, please can you bake me some of your home-made Eccles cakes? Pretty please?

          1. Ah you remembered, OLT. I did once write how that occurred, but for the life of me I can no longer recall! :-))

    3. Hard to beat home made sausage rolls. You know what’s in ’em and the perfect time to eat ’em is about 15 to 20 minutes out of the oven. Which is why I only make ’em on Christmas morning. They’re not the same cold or re-heated.
      Oh, and some fresh sage in ’em if available. Making me hungry.

          1. It is also an essential ingredient of that old summer picnic favourite, the mashed egg and tomato sandwich, along with a good knob of butter to bind the mix.

            That sandwich is the taste of summer for me, because in those days that was the only time we could get tomatoes. We awaited the Jersey tomatoes with the same anticipation that we awaited Jersey spuds in the days before they had their flavour excised and were called Royals by the marketing men.

          2. Also necessary with mashed canned red salmon with a touch of vinegar.

            Spread on brown bread and butter with thinly sliced cucumber.

          3. Canned (Cireo) tomatoes with a fry up needs white pepper.

            I also season my home-made sausage meat (and sausages) with white pepper, salt and sage. [2% of the weight of meat in salt and 0·2% of the weight of the meat in white pepper and sage is the perfect ratio].

          1. Use the leaves when they’re nice and vigorous (to use your own words!) it’s how I like my women….!!

    4. I made myself a cottage pie today, Grizzly. Looking forward to trying some of it on Friday. (I already have other food prepared for tomorrow.)

      1. I shall make a cottage pie when the weather turns a bit colder. I like to put canned tomatoes in with the beef mince and grate cheddar cheese on top of the mashed spuds.

        1. My recipe was a Delia Smith “special” which included leeks in the mashed potatoes but, since they are out of season, I substituted with grated cheese on the top and it looks fantastic. Delia’s recipe suggests adding half a pint of beef stock with a tablespoonful of tomato puree which I duly did, but next time I shall follow your suggestion and add a can of chopped tomatoes. Bon apetit!

          2. Isn’t that an illegal substance, KenL? Does it give you a high? Better than LSD (now banned since we went decimal)? :-))

    5. Can you make gluten free puff pastry? If so please give Caroline a recipe as she has Coeliac disease.

      She made some excellent gluten-free Yorkshire pudding last week with the delicious beautifully underdone roast beef.

      1. I’ve never tried to make it, Rastus, but I shall ask my friend Marianne who also suffers from that condition. She makes lots of gluten-free recipes.

  132. Why can’t Boris ask the Queen to prorogue the Commons from this Friday? That’d put the cat amongst the pigeons. Then come back with the Queen’s speech in October ….

  137. SWMBO and I being a tad glum at all the distressing kerfuffle around you know what spent a soul soothing morning and afternoon wandering around the Bishop of Bath and Well’s gardens. We bought some promising artisan sausages in the market so will finish off the amiable day with Sausages and Mash and a cheeky Shiraz. Sorted.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/897381638a7104a5d831c943465d39059400918f0811f5883224551aa2f1665e.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e910249a48b4f3ff7b078eb9e4797fc5cac903f2dd51d2a72fe7cc60e189d581.jpg

        1. I crossed my lines slightly. the B of B&W was the baby eater, unspeakably violent Jack was the bull buggerer.

  138. So, we’re not having a General Election, but we are planning to extend Brexit by another three months – is that right?

    What happens if Boris simply refuses to go to Brussells to request another extension? Can he collapse his own government and demand an election? Or does Corbyn get the chance to cobble together a nightmare coalition of remainers?

    What the flippin’ ‘eck is going on?

    1. I think he can ask Brenda to dissolve Parliament and force an election, but I’m not sure.

    2. In theory Boris could declare a vote of no confidence in his own government. He could then possibly achieve a working majority of one in a subsequent vote.

      This whole shenanigans has been constructed by the prat Bercow, by dismissing constitutional precedent and the advice of the Clerks and allowing irregular voting where opposition are given precedence over the governing party in respect of the order paper for government business.

      1. May got an election, why can’t Boris. Another extension to Article 50 is a waste of time but another step to No Brexit.

      2. The whole thing has gotten so complicated it makes my head ache. How did we come to this farcical situation?

        1. The rot set in when everybody let duplicitous Mrs. May go on kicking the can down the road indefinitely. The remainers knew what she was doing and everyone else sat back for an easy life.

        2. The whole episode has been orchestrated byJohn Bercow, a small and insignificant man, placed into a position of enormous power by the Labour Party, to whom he shows fealty.

          This small man is a disgrace and should be expunged as soon as possible.

          Watching the Labour Party representatives I feel physically sick that such ignoramuses should have gained any access to the levers of power. They appear to be universally thick between the ears. A bloody disgrace, as is Corbyn and his acolytes.

          And don’t get me started on the Liberal Democrats. They are nothing but liberal and anything but democratic.

    3. Extend the extension until the Lisbon Treaty kicks in, January 2020? We are stuffed if that happens.

  139. Just watched Andrew Neil’s new 7 o’clock show. The only politically unbiased man on the BBC, he despises them all.

    1. I saw it too and was a bit disappointed that the only ‘live’ interview was with the Kuennsberg woman, who sneered her opinions across. Andrew Neil is worthy of more than a weekly 30 minute slot, particularly as it is live.

      I thought the Hon. member for Richmond (Yorks) did well. Sorry, I haven’t memorised his name yet but it will be a household one in a few years – he’s a rising star.

        1. But so did Boris and JRM.

          John Redwood, Mark Francois, Kate Hoey and Steve Baker are the ones we can really trust.

      2. A half hour show at 7pm on Wednesdays is going to be tough for live stuff. Rishi Sunak just seemed like another guy who was good at deflecting questions, better than some, granted.

    1. 1975. Smack. Smack. Two down. I didn’t take any prisoners who were still capable of twatting me.

      No sirree!

  144. This whole political farrago is turning into an episode of “I Claudius”. The episode where Claudius allows all the filth to come to the surface.
    Too bad that they are all tainted.

  145. I thought my MP should know:

    In the light of your colleagues actions to deny 17.4 million the result they crave, you would wish to know that I will not vote Conservative at the next election whenever that may be and if Corbyn is elected PM as a result – so be it – the folk voting Remain deserve him and the catastrophe that will inevitably follow.

    Yours sincerely,

    1. I feel the same way.
      Let the UK stay in the EU, let them have Corbyn.
      The elites will see their assets confiscated and the millenials will watch their inheritances vanish.
      The UK will have a financial collapse and that will take down the EU and the whole damned world’s economies with it.
      To Hell with the lot of them.

        1. Majority = losers; tiny minority (esp if of colour/diverse/vibrant) = winner.

          New Illiberal Undemocratic RULE.

      2. Just in: A polite Thank you.

        “I take it that you mean you will not be voting for me who wants BREXIT. Thanks a lot”

        My response:

        I appreciate your stance on this – but how else can I get my views across to your colleagues who seem intent on locking us into the EU except by letting you know how strongly I feel about the diabolical behaviour of senior MPs within the party who stood for election on a manifesto to deliver Brexit, when clearly they are doing everything to frustrate Brexit.. Mrs May’s “Withdrawal Agreement” was anything but, the Political Declaration even worse. I understand even your former Party Chair voted against the Government!!

        1. Did you explain, tactfully, just how virtually every Tory MP has betrayed his constituents?

          Or is life too short…….??

          1. I didn’t think it possible to hurt a Colonel but clearly he’s feeling hurt:

            “Presumably you want the country led by a party (all opposition parties support this) who will ditch Brexit. I despair with people who are meant to be supporters. I have enough people attacking me from the opposition which you now join.

            Good evening.”

            PS He’s wrong on the last point. I’ve been waiting 3 years for Brexit…

          2. Time to twist the knife then.

            It might, just might, get him talking to his own people in parliament about how badly the plebs feel.

        1. He will need to be very clever and very strong to beat the traitors and the remainers. He is currently stuck and the risk is that he may attempt to produce a ” deal ” of some kind to create a Brexit that is not a no-deal.
          The best answer to your question is, I would like to be able to say, afterwards, ” I would have trusted him if I had known he was going to do the right thing “.

          2. It suits his plans to play straight with us, and come out covered in glory as ” The Man who saved Brexit “.

          3. Well, if he does, so good. If he screws us us up then then there’ll always be a convenient lamp post.

    1. Crude, but about right.
      The problem with democracy is that it gives a voice to people who do not agree with us.

      1. In a Democracy, the minority ALWAYS Rule

        The concept of democracy does not merely mean ‘majority rule’; it means that individuals enjoy certain rights against the State which will trump the will of the majority.

        We see it daily:

        ‘Travellers’ set up camp, where they wish

        Not ‘properly’ addressing an LGBTQWERTY (ie how THEY want) is now a Hate Crime

        There are no Terrorist attacks in UK, just a misguided, person venting their feelings

        Challenging Climate Change is heresy and again a Hate Crime

        WASPs can do no right and are no longer allowed to appear as family units in adverts

        Remoaners are the only ones who get to state their case, Re Brexit

        Please list the other similar cases

        https://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/constitutional-law/democracy-does-not-merely-mean-majority-rule-constitutional-law-essay.php

        1. Not true. When the minority can overrule the majority, democracy is dead.

          Individual rights may exist if there is a robust constitution which delivers “inalienable rights”. Britain does not have any form of written constitution, therefore there is no basis to challenge the actions of parliament – except the ECHR. Not that you wanted to hear that.

          1. I started with the list of some of the situations, when the ac tions of minorities are ignored by the Police and Government

            Thsy are just allowed to do as they please.

        2. Not true. When the minority can overrule the majority, democracy is dead.

          Individual rights may exist if there is a robust constitution which delivers “inalienable rights”. Britain does not have any form of written constitution, therefore there is no basis to challenge the actions of parliament – except the ECHR. Not that you wanted to hear that.

      1. I have indeed. I use my real name on the DT BTLs so I decided I may as well do the same here.

          2. Stig. His comments on the DT letters were in his real name, so I was not surprised when he posted here as his real name.

          3. Ah, I didn’t know that. I used to chat occasionally with the other David Walker over at the DT – was that Stig then?

    1. Only just read this (I couldn’t sleep so got out of bed an hour ago and am catching up on late NoTTL posts). So good night (belatedly) Peddy. I too am now off to bed to resume my night’s rest.

  151. Allegedly, according to the Daily Express in June 2018…………………….

    ”Best For Britain claimed it had been in contact with the Bracknell MP before he resigned (as a minister in 2018) and made a speech calling for a second EU referendum.”

    ”Best For Britain, funded by billionaire Hungarian financier George Soros, said it had been “working tirelessly” to secure a second referendum and was targeting ministers and opposition MPs it believes are sympathetic to its cause.”

    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/973529/brexit-news-best-for-britain-tory-ministers-second-referendum-phillip-lee-george-soros

  152. Watching the continuing saga of the Hong Kong crisis. I know several people who have escaped from Hong Kong more than several others in decades ago. These includes an architect (big Shakes but much less if truth be told).

    Hong Kong was always the destination ride those who failed in London.

    1. They can only delay us for so long. There WILL be an election at some point. Then we can kick the Remainers into the long grass. Or keep voting for them and let this charade of democracy carry on until they don’t let us have votes anymore.

      They cannot stop us from leaving, only drag it out. 🙂

    2. It springs to mind that Wilson had one around that date in 1964. We got a day off school because our school was used as a polling station. I spent the day in Newcastle Central and Gateshead loco shed, travelling on the train from my home town, the last time I ever did so, because our station, along with the entire line closed 16 days later because of the ’Beeching’ cuts.

  155. Ignore the Remainer triumphalism – Boris is still on course for victory

    ALLISTER HEATH

    Despite tonight’s defeat, the PM will eventually get his election

    The Tory party is dead; long live the Tory party. The seismic realignment that was supposed to take place in 2016 is finally upon us, and a tougher, rougher, non-deferential conservatism is making its explosive debut.

    Ruthlessly focused on the public’s priorities, its ideology is complex. In some ways, it will be more pro-capitalist and pro-freedom: especially on tax, motoring and the nanny state. It will be more conservative on law and order, defence and immigration. In yet other areas, such as health and overall public spending, it will back a larger government, as we saw in a Spending Review that increased overall expenditure by 0.5 per cent of GDP over two years.

    But the biggest difference, of course, is that 31 years after Margaret Thatcher launched the modern Eurosceptic movement with her Bruges speech, her side has finally triumphed. Following the expulsion of the 21 most committed Remainers, Eurosceptics are in almost full control of the Tory party for the first time since the Fifties. If Boris Johnson’s massive, historic bet pays off – by no means certain – he will win the general election by scooping up a fresh demographic attracted by his domestic and European policies. He will then engineer a real Brexit, ensuring the period between 1973 and 2019 is remembered as a historical curiosity, an aberrant era during which the UK was conned into giving up its self-government.

    As such, Remainers’ triumphalism these past two days is misplaced. Their hatred of Boris Johnson and his adviser Dominic Cummings, their inability to look outside of the Westminster bubble and their obsession with the minutiae of process is blinding them to the true state of play. The Remainers may still win in the end, of course, but only if Jeremy Corbyn becomes prime minister, laying waste to everything else many of them believe in.

    Right now, Johnson and Cummings are still on a path to success, even if they have had to recalibrate their journey several times as obstacles have emerged. The situation is tense, the PM is feeling the pressure and much of the Cabinet is in a state of shock. But Boris hasn’t been “humiliated”. He hasn’t been “wrong-footed”.

    The semi-prorogation didn’t “backfire”: it flushed out his hardcore opponents and allowed him to expel them. He knew he would have to do something drastic at some stage and there was no way that those committed to derailing his plans would ever have been allowed to stand under Tory colours at the election. His party was already split de facto, if not de jure; he was always leading a minority government in all but name. The sackings merely formalised this.

    Part of the misunderstanding is that Remainers still see themselves as members of the natural governing class, with the Brexiteers as insolent interlopers. Such ultra-Remainers are so blinded by credentialism, by their hero worship of the likes of Kenneth Clarke – who, as chancellor, helped John Major gift power to Tony Blair – that they cannot understand why their removal actually helps Johnson.

    They see the purge of their favourite Tories as a terrible loss of talent, a cataclysmic blow to the credibility of the party, its final death even; yet to Leave voters, losing anti-Brexit irreconcilables, especially overrated establishment figures, is a huge step in the right direction and proof of Boris’s seriousness.

    In any case, the Prime Minister needs a party with a single message: every candidate will have to sign up to his plans. This will be the only way that he can fight off the Brexit Party. If he wins, perhaps with a slender majority, Johnson will need to be able to count on every one of his MPs.

    In the first few hours after Johnson called for an election, when it became clear that MPs would seize control of Parliament, Remainers were elated: they thought they had crippled their enemy.

    But they are now realising, to their horror, that their victory may be ephemeral. The MPs’ vote may not really matter; the PM is ready for an election, and he has in fact guaranteed one by making it clear that he doesn’t have a technical majority any longer. Paradoxically, weakness is strength for Boris. He might have preferred to go to the polls after Brexit, but the present path comes with its own advantages.

    Hence Labour’s dithering, and the too-clever-by-half plan by some to try to outfox Johnson by delaying any vote until November or December. Combined with Parliament’s power grab, this could theoretically prevent Brexit on October 31, force Johnson to break his promise and ensure his destruction, with the help of a resurgent Brexit Party.

    It won’t work: Labour will be forced to blink first. Such scheming implies Corbyn believes Johnson would win on October 15 – not a good look, as they say on Twitter. Delaying the election for months will prolong the life of a useless, unworkable, anarchical Parliament. The Government would relentlessly tell voters that Labour and the Lib Dems are blocking any progress and have decided to pay MPs not to work, reinforcing the Boris vs the establishment narrative.

    Johnson may not get the blame for delaying Brexit either. Tory supporters and Leave voters increasingly hold his opponents responsible for the chaos, and that is even before he spends months repeating his mantra that Corbyn is a coward for refusing to face the electorate. The PM’s description of the Leader of the Opposition as a “chlorinated chicken” is a harbinger of things to come. Labour can’t go on refusing an election for much longer.

    Last but not least, engineering a delay in Brexit would simply encourage the Government to go for broke. If they were to back a no-deal Brexit, Nigel Farage would step aside and the Leave vote would unite. I am sure those in No 10 genuinely and rightly want a deal. But they may not have a choice if furious voters begin to turn to the Brexit Party again. Do the Remainers really want to goad Downing Street in this way?

    Johnson’s gamble was breathtaking in its ambition: he would take over a fatally divided Tory party with no majority, forcibly reform it in his image and gain a pro-Brexit majority. For all of the madness of the past few days, I’m still predicting that he will pull it off.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/09/04/ignore-remainer-triumphalism-boris-still-course-victory/

    1. William: you have posted this just before midnight on Wednesday NoTTL site. Please repeat this early on Thursday’s NoTTL site, as it gives all Leavers the opportunity to start the day with hope instead of despair after Wednesday’s Parliamentary shenanigans. All-star Heath’s article plus the plan by Brexiteers in the House of Lords to filibuster – and thus destroy – the Bill passed on Wednesday in the Lower House give us all hope for the future.

  158. Gawd. Watched a bit of the crap proceedings today. What a bunch of ignorant hypocrites on both sides. The only person to come out of it with any credit is Boris Johnson.

    The first of several matters to be addressed is the position of Speaker Bercow. This small person has acted abominably for several years. He proclaims that his actions are in favour of giving voice to Parliamentarians whereas the reality is that we have been subjected to inane hollow speech after inane hollow speech by people who are quite obviously lacking in basic intelligence.

    Bercow’s facial expressions and obvious sneering towards those of whom he disapproves is blatant and sickening. The idiot has to go and the sooner the better for our democracy.

    Forget ‘Bollocks to Brexit’ and replace the slogan with ‘Bollocks to Bercow’.

    1. I still have a vote in his constituency and I hear on the grapevine that there are plans afoot to unseat him.

      1. Evidently that is the only way to be rid of the ghastly little shit. I had hoped the Queen would have taken action. Her Majesty removed a certain Australian Prime Minister for far less.

          1. I remember Les Patterson, Australian Cultural Attaché. I saw him in London Theatre back in the seventies with his other character Dame Edna Everage, both superb comic characters.

            Les Patterson sort of vomited on me as I sat in a theatre front seat and after the second set I was struck by gladiolas violently thrown from the stage by Dame Edna.

            The show was so funny that I could forgive them.

            To be honest I would rather have Dame Edna or Les Patterson running our country than Jeremy Corbyn and Jo Swinson. The latter an indescribably horrid gap-toothed hag and the former a poor sad version of Albert Steptoe.

          2. I saw that show too. I was crying with laughter at Sir Les, not so much at Dame Edna. All very good though and very clever too. I’m a big fan of Barry H.

      2. In my opinion Bercow is the biggest traitor in the HoC. The Brexit Party will finish him off.

      3. Didn’t Farage stand against Bercow in 2009? He lost – but as many of us believe there is a certain amount of skulduggery in the counting of votes where Farage or his colleagues stand.

        South Thanet?

        Peterborough?

        1. Yes, he stood in Buckingham, along with another 5-6 ‘independents’ who diluted the vote. Bercow’s winning margin was substantial. Farage was on a light aircraft trailing a banner on the morning of the election, the plane crashed and he is lucky not to have been more seriously hurt. Thanet South – yes, Peterboro’ – no.

  159. Another first rate article from Sherelle Jacobs.

    My goodness how well the young woman writes and how clearly she thinks.

    She is inspirational.

    The Establishment plot to shut down Brexit has entered its odious final phase
    SHERELLE JACOBS

    DAILY TELEGRAPH COLUMNIST

    The Opposition’s outrageous move to block Brexit is the logical culmination of its piteous and imperious 119-year history
    The bogus Labour party and Blairite forces are sabotaging British democracy
    A spectre is haunting Brexit and its name is Tony Blair. Not merely the man himself – though, my, how stirringly his anti-Brexit diatribes this week have embodied the desolate passion and antisceptic piety of the arch-Remainer cause. But also the cunning and ruthless Europhile Establishment that the former Labour leader bequeathed to Britain and has declared total war on No 10. Sadly, following tonight’s Government defeat in Parliament, Leave voters must now brace themselves for the most unscrupulous orchestrated attempt in modern British history to undermine a democratic vote.

    In a generation, Blairism – a globalist, post-modernist strain of authoritarianism, cleverly adapted to the pretences and exigencies of the modern Western world – has utterly colonised the minds of the British ruling class. The anti-intellectual dustbowl of an ideology – which stands for vaporous concepts like “compromise” and “the centre ground” – has bewitched the most bungalow-minded of today’s Tories, from those possessed by the dullard’s disdain for big ideas, like Philip Hammond, to vain mediocrities who would rather plunge the country into a Corbyn abyss than fade gracefully into oblivion, like John Bercow.

    But perhaps more astounding is how Blairite anti-Brexit forces have, in recent months, reclaimed Labour by stealth. The party’s centrist ruling caste, which comprises not only snob yobs like Emily Thornberry but also not-so-banished alumni like Alastair Campbell and Blair himself, have effectively neutralised the movement’s Eurosceptic Left. They have achieved this by preying partly on Mr Corbyn’s intellectual sluggishness but mainly on Marxism’s acute appetite for power at any cost.

    Tony Blair is openly coaching his successor; Labour’s move to block the PM’s vote for a general election tonight followed his suggestion. Corbyn is also strategising straight out of the New Labour rulebook. Absurd as it sounds, his overriding aim now is to depict Boris Johnson as Britain’s most dangerous extremist.

    By blocking a general election until no deal is off the table, the Opposition leader is trying to sabotage the Tories’ electoral message; Corbyn aims to peddle Labour as the only force that can stop legally-enshrined protection against a “disastrous” no deal from being ripped up by a fundamentalist Tory cult in an October election – or perhaps even deny the PM a national vote before Halloween altogether, in the hope it will drive him into a humiliating EU extension.

    Appalling as it is to see the so-called party of the people block not only the democratic vote for Brexit, but a general election to boot, it comes as little surprise. Labour is a bogus “party of the people”. In the early 20th century, it infiltrated and smothered the individualistic free-trade populism that was organically emerging across the country. Today, the party’s hard Left is a whingeing, despotic claque, gripped by bourgeois control-freakery and a vain messiah complex.

    Over the past century, its full-fat socialists and watery centrists have sought both to crush the concept of freedom within the bosom of socialist compassion, and to tranquillise the potential of the masses via soothing fairy-tales of victimhood.

    Moreover, its followers deeply resent democracy, which, after countless embarrassing election routs, it believes to be systemically incapable of delivering “the right result”. Labour’s outrageous move to block Brexit is thus merely the logical culmination of its piteous and imperious 119-year history. And, crucially, Blairism and Corbynism are two sides of the same coin. Both feed off the top-down impulses of urban intelligentsia. The Trotskyists are also willing to embrace synthetic Blairite soundbites, if it offer a path to power.

    Disturbingly, the metropolitan Establishment that dominates British big business and 24-hour media seems only too happy to help Labour in its quest to stop Brexit. Analysts at Citibank and Deutsche Bank have declared that a high-tax Corbyn government would cause less harm than no deal. Meanwhile, the BBC, brainwashed by the Blairite concept of a neutral and sensible political centre ground, now habitually depicts a World Trade Organization (WTO) exit as extreme.

    As we enter the Brexit endgame, Project Remain will put up a blistering fight. From triangulating narratives, to convoluted positioning which deliberately attempts to render the most deplorable anti-democratic tactics barely comprehensible, in the coming weeks the forces of the status quo will forensically draw on the techniques that have kept the political elite in power for decades.

    But for all its political skills, the Establishment – which now, hysterically, has a Marxist as its main mouthpiece – is vulnerable. The public is not fooled by the post-modernist information chaos spewed out by the political elite. Voters cannot be bullied into believing that wanting to leave the EU is a radical view.

    A moment of reckoning is coming, and when Britain finally goes to the polls, granted Labour will pick up support in leafy Remainia, but across its heartlands the counterfeit party will be permanently obliterated.

    1. Tony is only the operative… the guy who does the work. Rather like a gardener who is employed by his client to follow directions and a plan.

      Who is the client ?

      I think we have discussed his identity already.

    2. That article is as gratifying to read as savouring and chewing a very minty flavoured mint humbug , or enjoying a nice piece of cheese , pickle and fresh bread.

      That brat Kinnock sought to do utmost damage earlier, and now this .

      We must give Boris the benefit of the doubt.

      I hope he survives this assault on his personality and motives.

      1. IMHO Maggie, Boris – and the Tory Party – cannot survive without a strategic arrangement with Nigel’s Brexit Party.

        I understand that this conflicts with the advice of Dominic Cummings.

        Perhaps Boris has the wrong advisor …

      2. The article is ok but inevitably leaves out who is at the centre of the web of intrigue.

        Tony is there to do as he is told and fix things on the ground.

        1. Most of the electorate wouldn’t care who is behind Tony B. Tony B is bad enough by himself.

          1. I don’t think they would like the whole story if it was explained to them one little bit.

          2. Unfortunately a large proportion of the electorate are not interested. I meet lots when out canvassing “I’m not interested in politics” “Not even if something political affects you and your family in a bad way? [most wouldn’t understand the word ‘detrimentally’] “. “No”

            Yet someone like that has the vote – I only hope they don’t bother to use it.

    3. “Analysts at Citibank and Deutsche Bank have declared that a high-tax Corbyn government would cause less harm than no deal.”

      Watching how the Nazzis came to power on the telly the other night, it told how the manipulators became the manipulated then became the dead.

      The bankers should be extremely careful of what they wish for.

      As for current events, even David Copperfield couldn’t make 17.4 million people disappear – which they won’t.

    4. Those of you who saw the Peter Hitchens video ‘The British Revolution WAS Televised’ will know how well Blair disguised his Left-wing leanings.

      1. According to wot I’ve been told, Tony wanted to be a Tory… but the only path to the top was with Labour.

        When in power, Tony was not ”left wing” and apparently had no problem with wealth which he didn’t heavily tax.

        1. True. He looked at the odds and decided it was easier to become the leader of the Labour party, than the Conservatives. Well documented at the time.

        2. Blair’s Marxism goes back a long way, right to his days at Oxford in the mid-70s (he joined the Labour Party in 1975). He simply exercised it in office in ways other than economic. His ‘war on conservatism’ most certainly wasn’t hidden. I doubt he went anywhere near a Tory office. Back then they’d have smelt him from 200 yards.

          1. I think Tony was pretty well a blank sheet of paper except for the fact he wanted to get to the top. Labour was the pathway, and I think he rapidly became influened in ”progressivism” by an international investor and political manipulator when he got there. Looks to me there’s plenty of circumstantial evidence to support that opinion.

  162. ”The regular assistance of one Tony Blair”

    Interesting words !

    What exactly is Tony doing now, and who for ?

  163. Anyway……….

    If you take a look at Tony’s alleged employer (past or maybe present), an interesting alleged 100% certain money making process emerges……

    Peter Schweizer has outlined the alleged details….. please scroll down………..

    https://politicalarena.org/2012/01/14/democrats-sugar-daddy-george-soros-helped-craft-stimulus-then-invested-in-companies-benefiting/

    Even more interestingly, if this is true, where does this pattern of behavior maybe go ?

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