In the news

http://mosesfarrow.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/a-son-speaks-out-by-moses-farrow.html

That's a read, and a half.

ETA - assuming it is real....

I guess we could go around in circles forever, each saying the other has misunderstood the rules.

The EU rules would allow the introduction of state-owned operators as competitors within the rail industry. They would not allow for a state monopoly over the entire rail industry because there is by definition no competition there. These are entirely different and most on the left (including Corbyn, to get back to the point) believe that the former would be an insufficient fix.

The EU is openly pursuing a programme of increased liberalisation, so I think it's reasonable to assume worst case scenarios in respect of its opposition to sweeping renationalisation.

Well, no - one of us is right and the other is wrong.

Lets say, for the sake of argument, that it is you who is right, what then?

If we exit the single market and have no customs union then there is a hard border in Ireland and we break the GFA. Is exclusive control of the railways worth that price?

If the answer is yes to that, what happens to your calculus when we include things like social care and welfare, which would have to face further austerity as the economy violently contracts?

Wow

What a mess.

Cripes.

Can de UK not veto things either?

I know the EU has to be watched RE economic liberalisation (the bolkenstein agreement is just an example) but that was amended and the UK has a veto...which is rarely uses. It's actually powerful enough to go up against Germany/France, so Corbyn could use his power for good here.

A nice quiet inbox this morning, that's what GDPR is all about right?

Seriously.

At first it was lols getting email from cunt marketing companies or DWP asking for permission to "stay in touch" but now it's like a blanket of electronic ash from a fucking volcano and I'm the guy in Pompeii that got pefrified into stone whilst having a tug....

It amazes me how many people left it literally until the last bloody minute to ask me if I wanted to keep in touch.

This date has been known for what 18+ months now? Yet you ask me the day before. Or even this morning in some cases.

Enjoy your quiet inbox for a while anyway...

Apparently they don’t have to ask. In a lot of cases.

But they are all asking because they don’t want to be the one that didn’t and got caught out.

Some of it depends on whether they actually asked permission in the first place - or whether they assumed they could spam you, or pre-ticked your consent. If they were open initially, told you what they'd do and gave you the choice then there's much less for them to do now.

Of all the emails I've received by far and away the most passive-aggressive has been Bike Radar, the irony here being that I lost my password for them five years ago and have not been able to make their password reset system work since...

I think a lot of it comes under the "you can't keep using the data ad infinitum" so people are naturally covering their backs.

the number of unsubscribe links that don't seem to work is pretty fucking lols too...

Thr Labour Party can fuck off with their passive aggressive ‘i’m a little disappointed with you’ attitude!

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Why, Alex?

Why do you want to make Jeremy cry?

On his birthday?

Why, Alex?

Why?

Free movement of people is the essential issue. It is not by accident that it is one of the four freedoms recognised by the European Community as a fundamental element of free trade. Without free movement of people low wage economies have an advantage which undermines the employment and welfare of workers in the richer countries.

Under the Imperial model beloved of Brexiteers the UK owned the low wage countries and reaped the benefit of black and brown people working for stavation wages (formerly slaves). Under the Emipire only the richest and whitest of the British subjects could exercise our theoretical right of entry and abode in Britain.

At the 1975 EEC referendum I voted no with the left socialists who saw the EEC as a rich capitalist club that excluded the majority of European workers in the socialist eastern and fascist southerrn countries.

Things have changed. In the 1980s along with many thousand others I discovered that free movement allowed Brits to work in Europe. We were the low wage earners like the Romanians and Bulgarians today. Personally I am not entitled to free movement in Europe but I remained resident here crossing the channel 4-6 times a month to earn more, enjoy far better working conditions, benefit from supportive labour regulations and bring money back to impoverished Thather's Britain.

It is saddening that the Labour Left and xenophobic unions have not recognised the benefits of free movement and the potential of improving workers rights and benefits is best achieved through international partnership. Over decades they have disengaged and allowed the globalist capitalists to gain advantage. Over the past couple of decades the expansion of the EU and the botched Euro project have been enormously damaging. That is not an argument for disengagement by Left and progressive forces, it should be an argument for dedicated engagement.

Free movement of people should be welcomed and promoted as the best route for improving workers rights and worker power, across many countries not just in one country. To do otherwise is to play into the xenophobic, anti-immigrant, bigoted agenda of Farage, UKIP and all their racist fellow travellers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44241521

Irish vote on referendum to repeal the 8th amendment, which blocks abortion if the fetus has a heartbeat -even when it has no chance to live after birth - until a pregnant woman is close to dying. There are no exceptions, so you can imagine the horrors this leads to.

This can affect NI also, as if this vote is YES, the Republic will have laws that are more liberal than what we have here, and they are considering allowing abortion for NI women under the EU Ehic health scheme.

There are no exceptions, so you can imagine the horrors this leads to.

I know the laws are ridiculous, but isn't it effectively decriminalised if one can afford to travel to England/Wales/Scotland? And surely a NI woman can use NHS in those countries without EHIC?

Not saying she should have to of course! Just wondering if worse situation than I thought.

You monster

Not everybody can afford it
Not everybody can leave (health issues, abusive partner)
People with babies that won't survive birth have to get the ashes back via the post (I wish I made this up...)
Refugees/asylum seekers are stuck
One women got forced into a c-section
Several women have died

So yes in theory, people can travel but if you don't have the money, or are sick, forget about it. It's the same in NI, with the only difference that our laws are not so ridiculous people have actually died.

Abortion Support Network provides money but they can't help people with no travel papers/with abusive partners...

I love this post :)

Not everybody can leave

Govt. services have actively prevented people from leaving, once they cotton on to what they want to do.

I think I missed that bit, I know in 1984 the x-case (where they did try to stop women from leaving!) meant that the state could not stop women from leaving.

But that still happens? It would in a way not surprise me...

Is there a good summary somewhere of what the fuck is happening at TSB? I'm not a customer but some of the stories are nuts. How are they still able to trade?