EU referendum, brexit and the aftermath

Interesting to see that the remain parties have received about three quarters of a million more votes than the leave parties so far. I was expecting it to be the other way.

Although even though this was viewed as a big election in the UK the turnout was still down on the rest of Europe.
Maybe we should just fuck off and leave them to it

Pretty good if you're on the right side of Hadrian's wall...

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Poor UK turnout.
Electoral Commission needs to modernise to prevent limited companies without manifestoes running in UK elections, and reduce the threshhold for donations down to £10, without anonimity.

The Brexit Party vote roughly 1/3 by 1/3 is no mandate for a 'No Deal' brexit,
nor,
for their bunch of shyster MEPs to be included in any further discussions with the EU negotiators.

It'll depend how weak/deluded/stupid the new PM is going to be

Whichever Tory is elected, within Parliament they will be 'weak' even of they can keep the DUP onside. It seems likely to be a deluded brexiteur, who believes either another Withdrawal Agreement without the backstop can be negotiated in a matter of weeks, or 'managed No Deal' is a viable option. Stupid? All the contenders have shown a willingness to subscribe to 'stupid policies' to further their political careers.

I'm stuck in a locked room with a Bexiteer, already had the following conspiracy theories:

1. Jeremy C and the labour chancellor are terrorist sympathizers
   
2. MMR causing autism
   
3. Left hand vs right hand 'molecules' of food flavourings behaving differently
   
4. I know what I voted for (no European state and the UK is big enough a country for me) and that's what's all other leave voters voted for.
   
5. Yorkshire communities that "overnight" became Polish or Romanian.
   
   

TBC if I don't strangle the cunt before the day is through.

That chart is a bit worrying for if there's a GE called and BP fields candidates in all constituencies in our FPTP system.

I think we've reached a point where folks would vote similarly, with the opposing vote watered down across 3+ parties.

Yep, about 1 in 9 of the electorate voted Brexit party. I'm just astonished that even in this climate, c.63% didn't vote at all.

Yorkshire communities that "overnight" became Polish or Romanian.

Mamnick?

Feels like I just hit the motherlode of Brexit nonsense.

For extra spiciness, press for opinions on flat / hollow Earth, cultural Marxism, globalists & feminazis.

Point 3 isn't all wrong
but I'm going to assume your brexiteur colleague does not understand the subtleties.

Yep,
even after, what nearly 3 years of daily coverage of matters EU,
we still have 2/3rds of the electorate not giving a toss.
We need some method, beyond PR, to ensure that all political parties have a vested interest in ensuring a high (legal) turnout.
Currently the best I can come up with is, that instead of a complete or unit vote for elected MEPs, their vote is reduced by the factor of their constituency turnout,
so a London MEP would only have 0.41 of a vote in EU parliamentary votes,
whereas a Belgian MEP would have about 0.80.

All the contenders

Overheard some people discussing Rory Stewart as "more intelligence/integrity than your average politician". What opinions? (Other than the obvious - he's still a Tory.)

That chart is a bit worrying for if there's a GE called and BP fields candidates in all constituencies in our FPTP system.

Thankfully this is why we have the House of Lords.

Except in the last 20 years parliament has been trying to build in overrides that allow them to push through things that overrule the Lords and so we may well be without safety mechanisms.

Left hand vs right hand 'molecules' of food flavourings behaving differently

I have no idea where to start with this. What does this mean?

If only that were where the border was

Half true. It's called chirality and is exploited as a property for artificial sweeteners. Proteins, sugars, enzymes, etc. all have a handedness and only work with molecules of the same handedness.

There's an easy way to understand chirality. Hold out your hands, palms facing each other. Imagine that each hand is the chemical structure of a molecule. Most complex molecules are chiral. Like your hands, the two structures of chiral molecules - in sugars, they're referred to as D and L, from the Latin dexter and laevus - differ only in the arrangement of their elements. Put your hands together and they seem to match exactly. In the same way, the common sugar D-glucose is the mirror image of L-glucose, its rare counterpart. But put your hands down one on top of the other, both facing down, and you'll see that they're not identical at all; they're what chemists call non-superimposable.

Two enantiomers of a molecule will respond identically in a chemical reaction, but not so in biological systems. Proteins and cell receptors are designed to react only with particular enantiomers. For example, the enzymes in your stomach can digest only right-handed sugars. Just as a glove fits only on the proper hand, our bodies distinguish between the enantiomers of any given molecule.

https://www.wired.com/2003/11/newsugar/

Say a left-handed human (in terms of chemistry, not hands) shows up on a right-handed planet - they'd probably die after a couple of weeks despite eating normally because they would be unable to digest any protein, fat, complex sugars, etc.

Corbyn's response was pitiful this morning.

He's got the temperature of the country so wrong it's unbelievable. Just fucking stand for something, people vote for leaders.

There are at least few well known isomeric pairs that smell different, e.g.:

Carvone - optical isomers

Carvone provides a classic example of how isomerism can determine odour. Carvone exists as two optical isomers, D-carvone and L-carvone. ... the L- isomer smells of spearmint while the D- isomer smells of caraway. 

http://resources.schoolscience.co.uk/ICI/16plus/smells/smellsch2pg4.html

The temperature of the country is that it's massively divided. The fault line runs right down the middle of the likely Labour vote.

It's natural both sides are pissed off because Labour didn't pick their side. But it's also understandable to try to pitch yourself as the party that thinks there are bigger issues than Brexit, and that will want to try to continue to get votes from both sides.

Their strategy was never really going to work in this election. But in an election that is not on a single issue, which is Labour's aim, it might not be the wrong strategy.

Does it matter if he’s right and the country is too polarised to see sense?

Honestly, only a GE with parties stating their strategy for Brexit will sort this mess out.

Any referendum alienates vast swathes is the population because the options;
No Deal,
Europe’s Deal,
Remain
... this splits the leave votes and would be a shoe-in for Remain.

Personally I have no problem with that result... but it’s not ‘fair’. Referendums have unforeseen consequences but this one would cement a hard-right, anti-europe movement as political force in British politics for decades.

Any Tory not rabbitting the brexiteur drivel of 'they need us more than we need them' or 'managed No Deal', sounds more sensible in comparison,
but,
I'm guessing he has voted straight down the line on every Austerity vote?
'All the contenders': are there enough (closet) Tory Remainers to get him through the first couple of rounds of voting?

Poor UK turnout.

new thread motto

Left hand vs right hand 'molecules' of food flavourings behaving differently

This is an intersting one as there is a grain of truth there (c.f. chirality), but as usual not in the way that it is blown up

Edit: new page fail someone else got there first