EU referendum, brexit and the aftermath

All foreign foods, I see.....

What's the difference between a chickpea and a lentil?

Sure..they all look the same. RACIST.11,!!

Donald Trump never had a lentil on him?

What's the difference between a chickpea and a lentil?

Pronounced differently

https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/glenryck-pilchards-in-tomato-sauce/022442-10936-10937

Nice!

Catfood and toilet roll. Taps nose

Catfood and toilet roll. Taps nose

Suggesting @greenhell smells?

So, we've gone from 'Brexit means Brexit' through 'Red, White and Blue Brexit' to 'Pantomime Brexit'.

ACT 1

Barnier: The withdrawal agreement you've negotiated is the only deal on the table.
Theresa May: Oh no it isn't.
Barnier: Oh yes it is.
The ERG: Oh no it isn't.
Barnier: Oh yes it is.
UK Parliament: Oh no it isn't.
[Barnier shakes head, exits stage left]

ACT 2

[Britannia is centre stage, the evil No Deal is behind her]
Crowd: It's behind you!
Britannia: When?
Crowd: It's behind you!
Britannia: When? When?
Crowd: It's behind you!
[The clock strikes midnight, 29th March 2019]
Britannia: Oh yeah. Fucksticks.

ACT 3

Son: Dad, this rat tastes funny.
Father: Blue passports, son. Blue passports.

ACT 4

[Cancelled due to a power cut, civil disturbance and a credible IRA bomb threat]

THE END

Turned out better than expected.

Might have to watch more Sky news

https://twitter.com/ladyhaja/status/1090373079723896836

Nothing has changed.

I have to say, I'm getting more and more exasperated by this. At first it was just unreasonable unicorn expectations that were clearly never going to happen. Now the whole debate has degraded to arguing purely counterfactually. "The PM to reopen the WA", "Voting for an extension of A50", have these people still not realised they're not just negotiating with themselves?

They're bluffing with crashing out to get a better deal. Won't work. Question is if they'll be stupid enough to do it

have these people still not realised they're not just negotiating with themselves?

Not yet, but they will eventually.

The EU don't want us to leave.

The EU know that Parliament has indicated that it does not want no deal (Spelman's amendment was only advisory, but it is useful in of itself). Coopers amendment was voted down because it had too much baggage (delays/etc).

The EU will watch us cut off our entire face to spite our limited brains rather than capitulate at this point.

At least one of the EU27 will veto any request to extend/delay our withdrawal.

There isn't time before 29th March to negotiate anything radically new (and no unicorns exist to solve the Eire/NI border problem anyway.)

I can't help but think that May is doing everything she can to end up in a situation where she is forced to withdraw A50 as there isn't sufficient backing for anything (her deal has been voted down by Parliament, no deal is voted down by Parliament, no time to renegotiate a new deal) therefore withdraw A50 is the only option. She'll have to do this under the guise of 'going back to the people' and coming up with a new plan, and the EU will be 'happy' with this (in terms of possible re-invoking A50 at a later date) as it would have the further backing of the country. At which point we'll kick off another few years of constant nonsense, but at least without the impending doom of a hard brexit looming.

Anyway, that's my delusional thinking.

I hope you're right

I think it’s 50/50 no deal or revoke now.

I can't help but think that May is doing everything she can to end up in a situation where she is forced to withdraw A50 as there isn't sufficient backing for anything (her deal has been voted down by Parliament, no deal is voted down by Parliament, no time to renegotiate a new deal)

This has been my thinking for the past 18 months or so.

The simple fact that they haven't prepared the logistics to leave, nor passed most of the necessary legislation (something like 1000 bills needed, but outstanding I read recently?) has always suggested that they've got no intention of actually going through with it. I always thought that they were looking for a face saving way to back down.

I've wavered more recently though, not sure if that's because it's getting to squeaky bum or something else; possibly my own lessening engagement. It's such a cretinous waste of time and effort.

Glenryck Pilchards

Atlantic Glenryck Pilchards are of the finest quality.
Eating Omega-3 fatty acids (3 g per week), as part of a healthy lifestyle, helps maintain heart health. "Omega-3 fatty acids naturally found in Glenryck Pilchards add to the dietary value of a good, hearty meal."
Origin
Produced in Thailand

Come the Glorious Day when we are released from our penury under the jackboot of the EU,
surely one of our plucky entrepreneurs, unshackled from the wealth-destroying red tape of petty EU bureaucrats, will set up a pilchard canning facility in one of the many recently vacated industrial units littering what was once our green & beautiful land?

Oh hi vassal state.

This is why I think we'll have No Deal, I'm about 80% on that now. Both sides have completely hunkered down and fortified their positions now, I can't see them change anything:

• on the EU side mostly because the damage wouldn't be as high, is distributed amongst several member states, and there's an overruling interest to maintain unity and the guiding principles of the Union.

• on the UK side because of the overall deadlock, but mostly due to "will of the people", and this has now been repeated often enough that it's no longer about brexit for a lot of them, but about whether politicians will "listen to the people" - a matter of principle and to hell with any actual reason for doing this. For a lot of politicians, the situation is that they're doing well enough for themselves that they can survive a No Deal, but they could very well be slaughtered in the next vote if they reverse brexit.

So what I could see happening is a number of low-level emergency agreements between the EU and the UK (once it's 100% clear that there will not be any actual deal, i.e. like 3 days before the deadline) that might mitigate some of the most immediate impact, such as the whole "planes not being allowed to land" thing. The EU has actually already talked about such measures - they know what's up.

I.e. my current prediction is: No deal, a mitigated version of the apocalypse, and then slow languishing of the UK economy for the next two decades or so, exacerbated by deep social and political divisions that, while not being healed by repealing Brexit now, will also not be healed by pushing through "Brexit at any cost" either.

I'm sorry it's looking a bit bleak, but I honestly can't see this mess resolving itself agreeably.

I can't help but think that May is doing everything she can to end up in a situation where she is forced to withdraw A50 as there isn't sufficient backing for anything

To do that would destroy the Conservative Party at Westminster. Once again Mrs May has chosen party over country. She has given their hard Brexit minority a significant victory. BBC TV showed them heading for another celebration at Rees-Mogg Towers.

When she and her bedraggled unicorns return defeated from Brussels everyone will blame the dastardly devious foreigners for trying to destroy Our Brexit. Anything Corbyn/Labour do or say can and will be ignored.

If Brexit destroys the country then Cameron and the Brexiteers will be blamed. If a botched deal destroys the Conservative Pary she and she alone will be blamed.

I quite liked Ian Blackford's summing up after last night's vote:

Tonight the Conservative Party has effectively ripped apart the Good Friday Agreement. This House should be ashamed of itself . . .
Scotland has been sidelined, silenced and shafted by the Tories

https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/fa6b40ec-a334-405d-8dbb-ea7ea1422619 -from 20:45:49

Don't worry, once we've abandoned our closest trading partners and pissed off Nissan to the point they've left, we'll have tonnes of leverage.