Dial M for Brexit

A bit of a fun one today. On one of my other blogs I sometimes note how popular and iconic names from history often contain the double "M" sound.

To name just a few; Muhammad, Mary Magdalene, Marilyn Monroe, Jim Morrison, Maid Marian, Mahatma, Master Mason, Eminem, Mickey Mouse, and so on.

I've speculated that this is because we associate the "Mmm" sound with eating, as it's the sound made when opening and closing the mouth. Hence words like mother, milk, mouth, mamma, etc. So it naturally comes with positive associations from early childhood. Meaning that we perhaps intuitively like hearing this sound, and prefer names that contain it.

(More speculation about that kind of stuff can be found here - Oink - A Phonetic Alphabet)

Anyway, special advisers are featuring a lot in our political discussion at the moment. With the two most prominent ones being Dominic Cummings on the Tory side and Seumas Milne on the Labour side. As you can see both contain this double "M". (In fact, Cummings actually has a third "M" as his middle name is McKenzie.)

So, could it be that people are talking about these two so much partly because they just like saying the names?

With Cummings in particular it feels like people can't help but mention him. Especially in the media where journalists can't seem to stop making mention of his name. It's almost like his name is a meme - another double "M" word :)

"Collusion"

Well, interesting things have been happening since my last post. We now have No. 10 probing "collusion" between British politicians and foreign powers apparently, i.e. the EU/France.

(Mail headline)

I'm not too sure how the law works when it comes to things like this. Or if I would support such laws or actions myself (it's something I'm going to have to think about). However, whatever the legality we have certainly seen some very poor behaviour in this regard from remain politicians.

For a start we've had Tony Blair heading back and forth briefing the EU. Often completely behind the back of Theresa May. No doubt Boris now too. We've had Labour delegations heading over trying to negotiate alternative deals. There was the slip a few weeks back where Philip Hammond admitted receiving advice from EU lawyers.

We have seen extensive undermining of the UK position by UK politicians. Completely destroying the government's ability to negotiate. In fact, largely with the help of Speaker Bercow, we've seen executive action on the part of the British government almost made impossible.

Legal or otherwise it's pretty poor stuff.

November Election ??

Another day where I almost forgot to post. Which tells you I don't really have very much to talk about :)

So a nice short post.

Though saying that I was reading some interesting tweets earlier on. Suggesting that we'll be looking at an election in November. I think the plan being on the Boris side to force through a no deal Brexit (if parliament doesn't back a deal). Then go to the people. Essentially saying "you be the judge of my actions", "this is not an issue for the courts".

It's an attractive plan. If indeed it is the plan. After all, I am getting this from Twitter.

Again, as I've mentioned before. My general view is that the "remain alliance" will go to any lengths to postpone an election. Hoping to push something devastating to Brexit through parliament while they still have the numbers. Can Team Boris stop that though? I'm now a bit more optimistic.

Finally, it's also worth noting that the GLA (the Greater London Authority) have referred Boris to the police watchdog over alleged impropriety whilst he was mayor of London. Meaning a possible criminal investigation. The convenient timing shouldn't need pointing out to anyone. It's no doubt yet another example of the remain establishment pulling every single possible lever at their disposal to stop Brexit actualising.

Wow, the parliament really are using their time well..

Well, parliament has been back, but all we've seen so far is outrage about language. First we saw politicians demanding that Boris apologise for proroguing parliament, then that moved on to demands that Boris apologise for the language he was using.

It was like watching a man get abused by a huge harem of hysterical housewives.

An apology. Is that really a huge priority? Don't these people have incredibly important work to be getting on with? Wasn't that the whole argument for getting parliament back.

I don't want to be too rude, but it's hard not to. Many of the people in parliament. Particularly on the Labour side are simply not cut out for that environment. If you're hysterically offended by someone using the word "surrender" in a political debate then you're probably not the best person to be representing 100,000 constituents in a debating chamber.

I probably should stop there. Let's see what happens going forward now.

Geoffrey Cox gives 'em both barrels

I'm just going to share this footage of the Attorney General Geoffrey Cox in parliament yesterday. Absolutely barnstorming stuff. I was watching it all unfold yesterday. He started off quite calmly explaining the situation and answering questions. However, the remain politicians were so rude, hysterical and incoherent that he slowly started taking the gloves off. Eventually giving them both barrels - barrels of plain truth. As seen below.

Many other things happened yesterday of course. The major furore now being over the "language" MPs (especially Boris) are using in parliament. It's yet more appeals to emotion and sophistry of course. Hopefully it'll blow over and I won't have to comment further.

This however was brilliant..

The Remain Brain vs The Leave Perceiver

I'm writing at seven o'clock in the morning today! Very early for me. I don't normally like even being awake at this time. Anyway...

Yesterday there was an incident on the BBC that reminded me about something I was going to touch upon a few weeks ago, but completely forgot. They had one of those news segments where they get the views of the public by sticking a microphone in front of random people out on the street for ten seconds. They interviewed one young man who misspoke and called Boris Johnson "Joris Bohnson".

To be fair this was quite funny. It's hard not to laugh. However, it's an understandable mistake to make. The guy looked a bit bedazzled. So perhaps he was a bit nervous or starstruck, which is perfectly natural when you're in that situation. I'm sure I'd end up looking like a bit of an idiot if someone stuck a microphone in front of me on live TV. Alternatively he might just not have been that bright. Which is no crime.

Either way it was just a minor bit of amusement. Adding to the general Brexit spectacle. I won't share the footage on here, the poor guy's been retweeted enough, but a quick Twitter search for the hashtag #JorisBohnson will soon bring it up if you haven't already seen it.

..Oh, and I forgot to mention. He was, of course, a leave voter. So it came with the inevitable cries of "look how stupid leave voters are!", "how are these people even allowed to vote", etc.

(The Remain Brain vs The Leave

Perceiver)

This has been a familiar theme over the last three years or so. Yes, leave voters do tend to be poorer and less well educated on average. So there's been plenty of this type of ammunition for remainers to use. However, when remainers do this they're also highlighting their own ignorance in a more profound way. A way that actually highlights why leavers, for all their crude miscommunications, actually grasp our situation regarding the EU much better than their remainer counterparts.

The classic example comes in relation to immigration. You'll often see a leave voter, let's say a little old lady, get her ten second soundbite on TV. And she'll say something quite crude, along the lines of;

"Well, y'know, we have to leave, there are too many Somalis and Romanians over here. We can't cope. We need to control our borders."

The watching remainers will then jump up and comment;

"OMG, she thinks Somalia is in the EU. How stupid can these people be? Don't they even understand the difference between EU and non-EU migration?"

Seeing such views then brings a sense of confirmation; yes, these leavers are uneducated. Yes, they had no idea what they were voting for. Yes, they have been manipulated by unscrupulous actors. All the time reinforcing a sense of superiority and certainty.

However, they're being quite dumb in doing this. Firstly, because as per the comedic "Joris Bohnson" example. It can be difficult for people to express their views when they're put on the spot in this way. It's very easy to misspeak or get a bit flummoxed. Then secondly, and more importantly, it mistakes a lack of technical precision or knowledge for a lack of general understanding.

Though the little old leave-voting lady may not be able to name every country in the EU, or explain the technicalities of immigration law. She knows full well that many non-EU migrants are coming through the EU. She likewise understands that by being part of the EU free movement area it essentially means that we have a much larger external border with the non-EU world. She also understands only too well that the same people promoting the EU also tend to be the same people advocating mass open borders in general. So she knows that by voting against the EU she can kill two birds with one stone essentially. She understands all this both intuitively and experientially through her everyday life.

It's like going to a football match. If I go to a football match and there are 20,000 football fans there almost every one of them will understand the offside rule. So much so that they'll be screaming at the referee if he gets a decision wrong. However, if I went up to one of those fans and asked them to explain the offside rule to me most would probably struggle. Even if I sat them down exam-style with a pen and paper they'd still maybe find it difficult. That's because it's hard for us to distil our knowledge and understanding down into a few sentences of speech or a few bits of text on a piece of paper.

It can be hard for us to articulate our understanding of something to another person. Especially if it's an understanding about a complex topic, or a broad ranging subject. And doubly so if you're not used to doing this sort of thing. Or don't have the formal education or vocabulary to do it.

Of course, poorer people also tend to do jobs that are more manual and less verbal. If you work in a factory or on a shop floor you're probably not used to standing up and communicating ideas the way that a lawyer or school teacher is. So this adds to it too.

A typical remainer (or remoaner rather - I'm being very unfair on the remainers who are simply pro-EU and just want to get on with things).

Start again :)

A typical remoaner, on seeing a football fan struggle to articulate the offside rule, would then use that as the basis to claim; look, all these people don't have the foggiest idea how football works. However, the opposite of course would be true. These people understand football very well indeed. They watch it obsessively every week.

Likewise the myriad leave voters across the country understand the EU very well indeed. They've lived with it. Watched it develop over the years and decades. Experienced its negative and positive consequences. They understand the game - they've lived and breathed it. They just can't always condense their feelings and views about it down into a coherent, precise argument.

It's very similar with the Supreme Court verdict yesterday in fact. Remainers get bogged down with technical arguments. Unable to see the wood for the trees. Whereas leavers, with their more basic and broad common sense will simply say;

"Sure, the decision to prorogue is politically motivated, but Boris offered an election. He's obviously not a dictator, this is just silly".

A further (and final, - sorry I know it's been long) example of this dichotomy came recently when remainers were again pointing to the lack of education of leavers when the hashtag #BritishIndependance started trending. Where leavers had misspelled independence, using an 'a' instead of an 'e'.

Again, this is a very easy mistake to make. Especially when the online spellchecker doesn't pick it up because "British" and "Independance" are compounded together in a single hashtag. We've all made spelling mistakes. So it can be a bit hypocritical pulling other people up about such things. Yet once more it highlighted the same difference though. Remainers getting obsessed and pedantic about technicalities and details. Leavers trying to make a broader point about the wider state of affairs. Not being especially bothered (or in many cases even aware to be fair) of minor spelling errors and mistakes.

It's almost beginning to look like the extremes on the autistic spectrum.

Supreme Mistake

So the Supreme Court has went against Boris and deemed the prorogation unlawful. Truly terrible decision in my opinion. For the courts to intrude into the political sphere when there was a clear route to hold Boris to account politically (i.e. via the offered election) is just absurd in my view.

..but it's just spilt milk now. So what's next.

Many today in Brexit Party circles were rounding on Dominic Cummings. Blaming him for the decision to prorogue. Personally I think this is a mistake (though I'm obviously not privy to all the goings on so I can't think this with any degree of certainty). Going after Cummings makes it look as though Boris and Cummings are in the wrong, and that the Supreme Court was correct in their judgement. It also creates more bad blood over what is again now just spilt milk.

In fact, I had one person on Twitter today arguing with me. Stating that the decision was right, and that even Farage agrees with it. I had to try to explain that Farage views it as a strategic mistake on the part of Cummings. Believing that it gave the remainers a window of opportunity and a standard to rally around. That doesn't mean that he agrees with the decision of court.

If this was a mistake on the part of Cummings (assuming it isn't part of some grander scheme) then it's an understandable one. He tried to bounce the remainers into an election, but he underestimated how low they would go. I don't think he factored into his thinking that remainers, including the likes of Corbyn and many other parliamentarians, would literally be prepared to stand there with a straight face and cry "dictator" as they voted to block an election.

It's a stunning low. No doubt they'll now go lower as they capitalise on their numbers in parliament and push through a new referendum or some other brexit blocking scheme, and ignore calls for a general election even longer.

Housing crisis ..with comments

I've just read an article from the BBC which states that the current housing crisis affects an estimated 8.4 million people in England.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49787913

Half the comments under the article (do the BBC now allow comments again ?) were stating that high immigration numbers are the main driver of this crisis. I did see one comment on the other side of the argument stating that this was due to right-wing websites linking to the article. Hopefully I don't fall under that category 😄

Anyway the link between immigration and housing is a pretty obvious one to make. How can such high levels of immigration not affect housing?

I'm really hoping that the overwhelming number of comments stating this simple reality will force people at the BBC and in other such sectors to at least begin to acknowledge that this is a genuine part of the explanation. And not just brush it off as racism or ignorance.

Personally I used to think that the "liberal elites" were deliberately doing this to the country to some extent. After all;

How can someone not understand that hundreds of thousands of extra people each year requires lots of extra housing capacity?

However, I've slowly began to realise that they've just never really thought about the issue in real practical terms that much. And when they're confronted with someone attempting to make the argument their ideological belief that anyone discussing the issue is racist means they immediately shut off and refuse to hear the argument.

Not too long ago I was talking to someone who was campaigning locally for the Labour Party. I remember trying to get them to acknowledge that the levels of immigration are really big, whatever your political views about it and however you choose to measure it. Not necessarily to convince him that immigration should be cut - which is of course my view - but just to get him to acknowledge that more people means more need for housing and services. However, it was almost impossible to get him to accept this. It was like I was saying something incredibly rude and horrible.

I suppose it's much easier to have a grasp of this reality if you have direct experience of it. If you can't get on the housing ladder. Or can't afford the rent. Or if you're stuck in overcrowded housing, or still living with parents. Or even worse actually homeless.

If you haven't experienced this firsthand you may just not realise that it's an issue. So it's a kind of ignorance on the part of the people constantly badmouthing the working classes as dreadful racists. Hopefully with articles like this appearing it will help those people see there's a genuine problem to be reckoned with. They're much more likely to take it from a BBC article than from a person they immediately assume is a racist. Though again, it's only really the comments that link it to immigration.

Tories At War. A and B.

Think I'll do a little late night post. I've just watched the Channel 4 documentary Tories At War. As ever with these behind-the-scenes type documentaries they're always fascinating to watch for anyone interested in British politics.

My main takeaway from it was that;

a) the Brexiting Tories aren't especially good at concealing their intentions.

And that;

b) it seemed from watching it that some were genuinely considering promising an election in October, only to then switch it to November 5th.

Firstly with (b). I'm not sure if it was simply the editing of the documentary that made it look like this. The bit that gave this impression was a section where the Brexit-backing billionaire Crispin Odey was being interviewed. In it he seemed to be relishing the prospect of this happening. Though again, he may just have been reacting to the prospect of it. It having been suggested by the interviewer, on the back of it being suggested in the press at the time. So it doesn't necessarily imply some prior or inner knowledge of what the Boris plan was.

Still, it's moved me to now think that it was more on the table than I first thought. I initially just assumed it was an excuse not to call an election on the part of the remainers. After all, you'd have thought a Tory / Brexit Party alliance would've cleaned up whenever an election was called. Before or after the leave date. Again though, I'm guessing.

As for (a). I get the impression that Brexiteers in parliament and elsewhere don't quite understand what they're up against. It's certainly not just remainer politicians in parliament.

It's; The EU and the whole globalist project itself. The mainstream media for sure. Perhaps intel. agencies - (as if those backing the EU don't have spies and intelligence networks). In fact, it's probably intel that reaches very much into Britain's intel itself. Just as much of the civil service are essentially pro-EU, and, it could be said, working to those ends.

The remainers in parliament are just the visible tip of the sword. So giving Channel 4 full access is a bit like letting the enemy in at the gates. We're certainly not seeing behind the scenes footage of Blair, Mandelson, Macron and the various billionaire globalists backing them on our TV screens that's for sure.

Obviously it's easy for me to sit behind a laptop screen and criticise, but I can't help but feel we on the Brexit side are getting outmanoeuvred again. Hopefully I'm wrong. Of course, it should be the High Court judgement tomorrow (or rather later today I should say). So we'll see where all that leaves things. If the Brexit side were trying to out-sneak the sneaks with this prorogation in a big way then that really would give added impetus and moral high ground to those on the remain side. Especially if they have more knowledge of what's going on behind the scenes than I do sat here with just what I'm shown on the TV screen.

For what it's worth my advice to any high ranking Brexiteers would be to always act as though the remain elite can see and hear every conversation.

Underestimating the remain alliance

I'm sat listening to Nigel Farage on LBC on this Sunday morning. Obviously the talk is Labour. The infighting, the drama, etc. A caller has just phoned in and expressed his fears that Corbyn could sneak into No. 10 by the back door if Boris is forced out by the courts and parliament. Going on to say he could enter as caretaker and hang on until 2022. Nigel sympathised with his concern, but stated that if Corbyn did get in like this a general election would very soon follow.

This probably explains why everybody is in campaign mode at the moment. However, I think Nigel is really underestimating what he's up against. If Boris is ousted and these people get the reigns they'll attempt to hang on as long as possible in my opinion. No matter how ragtag their coalition. They may somehow ditch Corbyn along the way and get someone more amenable in. Though saying that Corbyn seems to have became very manageable of late. So perhaps they feel they can herd him long enough to get Brexit blocked. To only then ditch him much later when there is an election.

The remain alliance are all at each other's throats at the moment, but they'll quickly re-amalgamate like a T-1000 is they find a route to put the breaks on Brexit.

Labour Party conference

Wow, it's still really warm, perhaps the climate activists are on to something xD we've had a very summery last few days or so.

The main news today is that it's the Labour Party conference. We're seeing all manner of infighting. The classic Corbynistas versus the Blairites it seems. There have been moves to get rid of Tom Watson so far, which I think are on hold at present. I've also noticed that parts of the press are softening their opposition to a Corbyn Labour government. I think this is mainly because Labour are now almost wholly remain.

For example, we have this article from the Guardian today;

Even bankers are starting to think Corbyn might be the safe choice now

Stating that some bankers are coming round to the prospect of a Corbyn/McDonnell economic project. Essentially saying "hmm, maybe it won't be that bad after all". Again, it's pretty clear that the "liberal elite" are prepared to support anyone and anything that will block Brexit. Their vision of globalism must succeed at all costs, no matter how much damage it does.

***

I was going to write a little more about Labour and Corbyn today, but got sidetracked with other things. Watching the infighting unfold has really got me thinking. However, now I've had time to pause I think I'll sit back, watch and learn a little more before I comment. Perhaps I'll revisit this over the next week or so.

More Endless Protests and Pageantry

Are you an attention seeker? Are you rather blasé about globalism? Do you like getting dressed up to stand in the street and block traffic? ..Well, great news. It's the global climate strike today.

Sorry, that was a little harsh, but nevertheless it is the global climate strike today, and it's yet another example of well meaning people getting emotionally whipped up to head out onto the streets to push a wider agenda they're not aware of. I won't go on too long. I've touched upon all this before. It's always worth taking the opportunity to challenge people as to why they're so emotionally invested in these things though. Do they consider how these events and protests are funded? ..and by whom?

I always get the impression that many of the people taking part in these events just enjoy the pageantry of it all. I heard someone earlier suggest that the modern climate movement has manifested to fill the void left by religion. It's quite a fitting comparison. What with the "end of world" prophecies, the idea of "carbon footprint" sin and self-flagellation ..and, of course, the way it can be mobilised by the powerful to herd the masses.

Indian Summer ..and more court

Wow, it's really warm today. Could be the middle of June. Making it doubly hard to sit down and type anything. I'm a bit fed up with the endless political drama. I watched a bit more of the Supreme Court hearing today. I thought Lord Keen QC spoke very well defending the government position. Again, hopefully the court will come down on the side of Boris. The judgement's now expected early next week. I was hoping the eleven judges would give their verdict there and then, like X Factor judges, but alas we'll have to wait. To Be Continued...

Also, yesterday we saw a situation where, first of all, Boris was embarrassingly accosted on camera by an angry father, who was complaining about the NHS. Stating that his new born daughter had had to wait too long for treatment due to shortages. Then, hot on the heels of this furore, it was then discovered that the "angry father" was in fact a Labour Party and remain activist who'd worked for Emily Thornberry.

The revealing of the man's identity then in turn led to criticism that those drawing attention to him were harassing him, or encouraging others to harass him. The main focus of this criticism quite surprisingly was Laura Kuenssberg, who'd simply shared a link to the man's Twitter profile. The hashtag #sacklaurakuenssberg then started trending.

It was quite fascinating to watch this unfold. Normally it's me stating that many of these media events are somewhat staged. So it was quite refreshing to watch senior people in the media ask some of these questions. Even if simply inadvertently. It was clearly a bit of a set up on poor Boris, who's been set up a few times for bad publicity over the last week or so.

The political commentator Owen Jones also retweeted a tweet (in condemnation) where someone had questioned if the man even had a baby at the hospital. Obviously this tweet was met with widespread criticism and disdain. I'm not even going to go there myself, I'm sick of being an online social pariah for asking these questions. So I have no idea if there's any possibility that this could be the case. It is quite a logical question to ask though in such circumstances, if a little heartless. What if he is lying? People do lie.

I think most people in the media, even the good decent people in the media, would rather not look in that box though. Just in case it leads to bigger questions.

..more Supreme Court

I've watched some more of the Supreme Court prorogation hearing today. I'm not going to attempt to comment or sift through it. I just hope these judges make the correct decision.

As I'm watching I can't help but wonder how the judges voted in the referendum. Not that I'm suggesting they would be deliberately biased, but we all have our natural political biases. We can't escape them, we can only attempt to temper them.

This is so clearly a political issue. The law is supposed to serve and protect the people. We shouldn't be slaves under the law. If the courts begin to supersede the elected government in areas such as this we'll find ourselves in endless spirals of technicality. Leaned upon by those with the money and leverage to use them. Completely circumventing the basic common sense judgement of the masses.

Brexit Politics Comedy Cocktail

So yesterday we had the scenes in Luxembourg where Boris refused to speak at the joint press conference, citing the cacophony of noise caused by protesters. In my opinion it was the right thing to do, but then I would say that. It did look very much like a deliberate trap to make Boris, and by extension his Brexit plans, look unpopular. So it's just more games. To be honest it's getting boring discussing the endless student protests and publicity stunts played by the remain side.

In many ways the meeting in Luxembourg went to the heart of the problems regarding our relationship with the rest of Europe. Really we should be having bilateral talks with Germany. Instead we're playing silly games in Luxembourg.

Supreme Court challenge

As I'm writing this I'm also listening live to the Supreme Court challenge over the PM's suspension of parliament. This is more silliness in my opinion. In fact, when I started listening the lawyer prosecuting the case was quoting from an interview Boris Johnson had given to Sky News. It just seems a bit surreal. Clearly this is a political issue, not an issue for the courts. The court is focusing on the prorogation itself, citing various precedents and technicalities, but obviously this is all happening in a wider political context. A context where parliament had the opportunity to call an election, and where the general public at large are sick and tired of hearing these politicians bicker. Which they've now been doing in parliament for three solid years.

Hopefully this case will find in favour of Boris & Co, if it doesn't it will set a bad precedent and create a lot of bad feeling in the country.

It's quite boring to watch and it's hard to second guess how it will go. I have no idea how these things work. It just seems to be endless references to bits of paper in various ring binders. All I can keep thinking though is how Lord Pannick, the lawyer arguing that the prorogation is unlawful, looks a lot like the Australian comedian Sam Simmons.

(Lord Pannick QC/Sam Simmons)

Fortunately I've banned myself from posting on Twitter for the foreseeable future. So I won't be sharing this sort of silliness ..or expressing my discontent if things head the wrong way. Which is probably for the best.

Election, when?

So what will this week bring?

It's quite odd because it feels like a lot of politicians are very much in campaign mode. There seems to be a bit of niggle between the Labour, SNP and Lib Dems too. Suggesting they'll all be competing with each other on the doorstep instead of having accommodating arrangements. That bodes well for the pro-Brexit parties, which perhaps suggests that either they're all beginning to resign themselves to the idea of Boris getting us out on Halloween (hard to imagine they'll give up that easily though). Or, more likely, the remain head honchos are hunkering down for the long game. Delaying an election as long as possible, whilst letting the more naive party minded politicians think there's an election around the corner.

Then again perhaps it's all just spiralling out of control for the Remainers. After all, it must be difficult keeping all those varying factions on board.

On the pro-Brexit side everyone's calling for a Conservative/Brexit Party pact, which would be an eminently sensible thing to do. However, it's probably better to wait until closer to an election to announce such a thing as otherwise both parties will get tarred for the mistakes any one party makes. They'll also constantly be having to defend the policies and people they're getting into bed with. So it makes more sense to wait.

Vote Lib Dem Get EU Army

So it seems the Liberal Democrats are fully %100 pro-EU now. They've announced that it's their policy to essentially cancel Brexit, and at their party conference they were openly applauding Guy Verhofstadt as he espoused his dreams of an EU superstate.

Personally I think it's good that they're starting to take an honest position. Obviously they're still not quite honest enough to say "yes, we want an EU army". Though to be fair I think many of the people in and around the Lib Dems simply haven't really thought about it all that much.

I disagree with these pro-EU enthusiasts of course, but they are entitled to their opinion and deserve to see it represented as an option at the polls. It's going to make it hard for the "remain alliance" at any upcoming election though. As it now means the Lib Dems and the Labour Party are taking visibly different stances. So a potential non-aggression pact will be a difficult sell to their members and voters. Meaning it's probably all the more likely that we won't be seeing a GE too soon.

..short post, long way from GE (I think)

I'll keep it short and sweet today. I'm too distracted by football. I keep telling myself to take a step back from Brexit, and yet I continue to annoy people on Twitter. I just can't help it. It's like shooting fish in a barrel. Across the country it feels like Remainers are losing support and losing the argument. However, this parliament isn't going anywhere near an election.

Corbyn seems in campaign mode, but I think they just keep telling him there'll be an election soon knowing full well they can spin another crisis a few months down the line. I think the people really pulling the strings - the likes of Blair, Starmer, etc - have plans to either have another referendum or just cancel Brexit outright. The gap between the people and parliament will only get bigger and bigger the longer we go without a general election. So it'll be interesting to see what happens.

Bank Robber's Brexit

So Speaker John Bercow has compared the idea of disobeying a potential parliamentary request to extend Article 50 to "robbing a bank".

The Speaker in the House of Commons is kind of like an umpire or referee. Their jobs is simply to facilitate the discussion. Making sure things proceed in a fair way. Normally in football we have a saying that if you're talking about the referee it means they've had a bad game. So the fact that we're constantly talking about John Bercow would tell us all we really need to know.

Of course, he's soon to step down ..but sadly it'll be this house choosing his replacement. Great. So it'll no doubt be someone following in his tradition. Or un-tradition rather.

Europe Beginning To Understand Britain Better Than Remainers?

I almost forgot to post today. Which is probably a good thing as it means I haven't been as wound up today as I have been recently. I said earlier in the year that I was going to take a more Buddhist attitude to life, but it hasn't really panned out like that lol. I probably should try to remind myself of that a bit more.

I didn't think I'd have much to talk about, but I've just read an interesting article in The Times with the headline EU officials regret getting into bed with Remainers. It essentially states that officials on the EU side are becoming frustrated with Remainers, particularly those within Labour. The general sense being that these hardline Remainers are misrepresenting the situation here in the UK, and also misrepresenting what they can achieve here. Stating in effect; don't worry, leave it to us, we'll keep the UK in.

It reminded me of an article I read from a German newspaper perhaps over a year ago now. I remember coming across it and thinking "Ooh, an article on Brexit from the German perspective, this should be interesting". However, when I read it it was exactly like reading an article from the British mainstream media, with all the same talking points. I could've been reading a Guardian article.

It immediately made me think, "oh, right, so they're just getting their information from our media". Obviously it makes sense when you think about it. Where else would they get their information about the UK if not from our media and our politicians. Once you realise that you then begin to see a problem. They're getting their information about the UK from people within the Westminster bubble (or should I say SW1 now we're in the post-Dominic Cummings world) that are unable themselves to understand what's going on in wider Britain.

You have to feel for people across the channel if they're getting their information from people like Tony Blair. I remember when Blair came out and badmouthed the May Deal straight after it was released. I immediately knew it couldn't have been that bad a deal. "It must take us out of the EU if Blair hates it" I thought.

Perhaps if these figures from within the UK hadn't been causing so much trouble we'd be on a much smoother path by now.

The Serpent is in the Cradle

I really need to stop following the news it just annoys me. I thought we might get a nice break with the parliament being prorogued, but sadly no. Today I awoke to the news (I slept in a bit) that the courts have ruled that the prorogation of parliament is unlawful. Once again we see remainers dragging the courts in to rule on political decisions ..and this time they've actually won it seems. It's a dangerous road we're going down. I kind of feel like the serpent is well and truly in the cradle now.

Choosing to block an election and instead appealing to the courts to force a Prime Minister's hand. Well, I shouldn't really have to explain why that's a bad idea.

Parliamentary Shambles

Well. What can be said about last night in parliament. Unsurprisingly remain MPs blocked another general election. The more notable thing though was the furore surrounding the ceremony to close parliament. We had remain MPs protesting, singing and shouting during the ceremony. Like it was some kind of student protest.

(Black Rod, like the British people,

looking very unimpressed)

It was pretty shocking. I sat aghast as I watched it live in the early hours last night. Normally people protest against governments as the government has power and a protest is seen as a way of sending a message to those with power. To get the government to listen to and take notice of the governed. However, here we see politicians. Elected into their positions. Refusing to take the opportunity to have an election and win power, and instead behaving like street activists.

Obviously people may debate how relevant some of these archaic ceremonies are, but nevertheless they are important events pertaining to the governing of our country. We need to formally start and end parliaments somehow. It requires some ceremony highlighting the importance. These images were going out around the country and to the rest of the world. It's incredibly poor stuff and undermines our entire country.

Whatever view people have on these traditions most will see this as behaviour quite unfitting to the circumstances. I'm not a Catholic, but when I enter a Catholic church I show respect. This is just basic decency. Normal people understand this.

On another, but in a way similar note, footage of Ringo Starr speaking in support of Brexit (from 2017) started trending on Twitter. Leading to a backlash from remainers. Once again, it's really bad optics. A week ago they were criticising the Queen, now they're trampling on parliamentary tradition and badmouthing the Beatles. I wouldn't be surprised if they soon start attacking Premier League football and Jane Austen.

They're losing the general public day by day, but sadly we have no election to call them to account.

This image from back in July has once again proven useful though :)

(..don't attack the Beatles, man)

WTO Is The Deal (!)

Let's see what happens today.

I was half-jokingly thinking about what I would do were I in Boris's shoes last night. We've seen suggestions that he could just ignore the parliament vote to block no deal. Essentially breaking the law potentially. Though I think this would be highly, highly unlikely.

So I was thinking how would I justify going down that route and it occurred to me .."just say we already have a deal". Everyone's already signed up to WTO, that's essentially an agreement. There are rules in place. It's not nothing.

So just start called that a "baseline deal", and insist that the parliament are wrecking any attempts to upgrade that deal by their intransigence.

It sounds a bit odd at first, and it would be stretching things quite a bit, but often in politics if you keep repeating something it eventually becomes the truth - or at least a truth held as true by one side. Just as remainers have done with ideas such as "soft" and "hard" Brexit, etc. They've been repeated into existence. It's a kind of sophistry.


"What are you on about, of course we have a deal, WTO is the deal. How's that not a deal."

"..but the parliament voted to block a "no deal"!"

"The parliament have no idea what day of the week it is. They voted to block an election when they're in opposition. Labour are now planning to campaign to negotiate their own deal to only then campaign against that very deal in a referendum. They're idiots."


Keep repeating that sort of argument for a few weeks and months and suddenly you're shifting the parameters. It's probably a bit late in the day to start doing it now, but worth a try. Of course, I wouldn't do it in reality (I don't think lol). It sets a bad precedent. Plus of course, there's the prospect of jail! In fact, given that remainers use the courts to prosecute people for putting fairly standard political slogans on buses they'll probably be calling for the death penalty if Boris pulls that sort of sleight of hand.

Again, like the "hard" and "soft" swindle, and all the other word games, it's more of a remainer trick.

No Elections On Planet Earth

I'll bring it back down to Earth today. At the moment we're just waiting to see what happens now in British politics. My expectations are that we won't get an election any time before Christmas and that the remainers will just prolong our collective misery as long as possible. I keep trying to remind myself that there may be some cunning plan in the offing, centring around the Kinnock amendment that "slipped" through. That's not what my instinct is telling me though. My general feeling is one of deadlock.

Boris will have to either go grovelling for an extension, hand over the reigns to the remainers, or just break the law and ignore their edict altogether (or perhaps find some as yet unseen way around it). It's hard to imagine him ignoring parliament and going down the unlawful route. So it's a toss up between him going to Brussels and asking for more time or the remainers taking charge (I'm not exactly sure how possible or likely that is, but if they have the will and the numbers then I can quite well imagine it).

Perhaps there will be some cunning plan though.

One thing that could have an effect is this public mood. I thought it was just me that was in a rage last week, but it turns out a very many people feel that way. Polls seem to be showing that people want an election, and Boris's numbers are getting higher with each resignation.

..time out.

I'll take it easy today. I think I probably need to stay off social media and forget about politics for the weekend. It still looks as though the remainers are going all out to avoid an election. I'm expecting it'll all be posturing and soundbites over the next few days now. Feels like it's probably best to save my batteries until Monday. I think I need to detach myself a little, stop being so emotional, and to try and take a big picture view of things.

Oh Right, The Kinnock Amendment

Another post. So soon after the last one. I'm super sleepy, but I feel like I better post while it's fresh in my head. I've just had one of those moments, moments that I hate, where I realise I might not be as smart as I think I am.

I was reading some posts on a forum putting forward, what are I guess conspiracy theories, about the passing of the Stephen Kinnock amendment. This was an amendment tagged onto the bill blocking no deal and passed by "accident" because the government forgot to put forward tellers to count the vote (!) I watched quite a bit of the arguments put forward by Stephen Kinnock and Caroline Flint for this amendment on the day of the vote, and then later overheard on TV that it had passed by mistake. However, the accidental passing of it completely passed me by, and its potential significance never occurred to me. Like I said, I'm not as smart as I think I am.

Anyway, the conspiracy theories basically state that it's a deliberate ruse to bring back the May Deal. Maybe a grand Dominic Cummings scheme or some other act of political chicanery.

I don't really mind so much the idea of the May Deal going through. Like I've said before, though it's certainly not what I voted for, it is a sword in the ground that says we have definitely left. Something to then build upon going forward (or to undermine if you're a remainer elected on a manifesto of closer relations with the EU). Leaving was always going to be a long term struggle. Globalism never sleeps. However, though I view the May Deal as tolerable, and as a pragmatic way out of a bind, I do hate being duped.

So if this is some type of grand strategy, and I've been getting all worked up taking things on face value then I'll be even more miffed off.

Hard Day For Boris

I'm in a much better mood today. Yesterday was quite infuriating watching some of the performances in the House of Commons (as was the day before). I woke up this morning with a bit of a bee in my bonnet, but I think I've found my zen cool now. I still think this week has put a bit of fire in my belly though. I may even actually campaign locally should there be a general election any time soon. I'm not really expecting that to be before the October 31st deadline though. Sadly I think my predictions are correct and these remainers in parliament will literally stoop to any low regardless of public opinion to avoid facing the public.

Anyway, on to Boris. He seems to have had quite a hard day. I've been out most of it so haven't been able to follow the news too thoroughly - no doubt why my mood's improved. Firstly I saw the headline that his brother, Jo Johnson, had resigned. Truly incredible timing. I would suspect shenanigans (that age old game of a family playing both sides) were it not for the very visible emotion. It seems to have shaken Boris a little judging by what I've seen of his public appearances today. It must be quite a blow, but perhaps it'll be for the best in the long run. No point being in there if the heart's not in it.

On a more positive note I saw another headline where Boris stated he would "rather be dead in a ditch" than delay Brexit. It brought me great joy when I saw he'd said that I must say. He continues to say all the right things. If the remainers continue to play saboteur though he might have put himself in the position where he'll have to resign to avoid that. I'm not sure what would happen then. No doubt the remainers would jump at any chance to try to take the reigns by forming some chaotic emergency government. That would mean Corbyn at the helm though. So no doubt they're plotting some way to sideline him too.

Their plans always tend to be poorly formed and they can't ever seem to be able to see beyond the next few months. They seem to operate more like an ooze or virus that adapts and evolves constantly to cling onto power, rather than as a collection of sentient human beings. Emily Thornberry's failure to see that she was essentially arguing for a situation where she'd be campaigning in an election to negotiate a deal with Brussels, then campaigning against that very same deal in a referendum to follow on BBC Question Time tonight being a classic case in point.

I think my language is getting a little pejorative again. I should probably tone it down a bit. It really is hard to hide my disdain for these people though. They're simultaneously crying that we're living in a "dictatorship" whilst at the same time blocking an election. Every word they say just sounds like Orwellian double speak to me now.

In fact, if they do succeed in ousting both Corbyn and Boris, and then put a Keir Starmer type figure in charge it will feel like we're living in very dark times. They'll try to cling on as long as possible to undermine Brexit, simply ignoring public opinion if necessary, riding it out 'til 2022. Or as close as they can possibly get before their numbers in parliament drop away.

If I was Dominic Cummings right now I'd seriously be thinking about finding ways to put a wedge between the conscientious, but duped members of the Labour Party, like Corbyn, and the hardened 5th columnists like Starmer and John McDonnell.

Election or no election?

I'll keep it short again. There's so much going on at the moment, and so much commentary about it all, that it's hardly worth adding my two cents. So I think I'll just step back and watch it all unfold. I still think the more sapient members in the Labour Party will push to delay a general election as long as possible. I've just watched the Labour shadow housing minister John Healy on the Andrew Neil Show. Without meaning to be rude he didn't seem like someone capable of long term political gamesmanship. He seemed eager for a general election, but clearly had no idea what Keir Starmer was cooking up. I would guess a lot of the more traditional Labour MPs (your old skool socialist union types) will be equally clueless. So I think they'll easily be maneuvered into position by the likes of Starmer. The same can possibly be said for Corbyn.

Let's see what happens.

Early Night I Think

I was going to wait until a little later to post. Hoping the day's House of Commons discussions would be done and dusted and I'd be able to react to something more tangible. However, I've been following the drama for most of the day and it's beginning to get exasperating.

A few days ago I posted what was essentially a list of examples highlighting remainer word games and sophistry. Today they've once again excelled themselves. For the last week or so they've been crying and protesting over the prorogation issue. Quite literally claiming that we're living in a "dictatorship" because of a few days prorogation. Now that it's looking ever more likely that Boris wants an election they're suddenly finding every excuse to avoid one. It's pretty shameful stuff.

I've spent the day watching these people squirm around stating things like "well, of course we want an election, but we can't possibly have one now. It's an awful time to have one". It's quite astounding how they can behave this way. How can you simultaneously claim your democracy is under threat while at the same time refusing to assent to any elections?

It probably comes through in my tone that I'm quite annoyed. So I should probably call it a day.

Votes from the Dark Side

I'll keep it short. It already looks as though this week is going to deliver some real drama. The general sense now seems to be that there'll be an election in October if MPs try to scupper no deal.

I think the thing that has stood out most to me are the pleas from Tony Blair and Alastair Campbell that an election won't solve anything. Very telling lol. Which kind of reinforces my general view that the remainers (excluding Corbyn) will do anything to avoid one.

There are so many moving parts it's hard to predict where things go from here.

It's really all eyes on Corbyn, and how much he plays along with the remainer plotters. (They're being called the "rebel alliance" by the media, but I can't bring myself to use the term - it's ruining Star Wars for me more than the endless sequels and prequels.)

If he works hand in glove with the "alliance" leaders - the shadowy Alastair Campbell type figures behind the scenes (more Sith like in reality) - then we may see some incredibly shamefaced voting. Voting to actually block a general election is going to look very bad indeed if it comes to that.

If alternately Corbyn is happy to go down the election route then it's game on.

All Hearts On Sleeves

Another late night post. This time I'm listening to 2Pac. I like to mix it up.

Anyway, I'm posting more in anticipation today. This week looks like it'll be a big one for British politics. Who knows what'll happen. It should be interesting though. It occurs to me that we're only now at the beginning of September. So we still have two full months of this. Plus whatever problems and drama we may face after we leave - if that actually happens.

Boris is promising Brexit. Remainers are promising chaos to stop it. Planning to block the roads and bring the country to a standstill if necessary. Causing chaos to stop Brexit, because Brexit will cause chaos. It's a bit crazy.

As I've mentioned before I think the weather will play a big part in all this. No one likes to protest in the rain. So as it gets colder it may dampen remainer spirits, quite literally. Likewise if we leave and have bad weather in the weeks following it will no doubt amplify the problems.

We're British, we talk about the weather. So it's a little odd that I seem to be the only person thinking along these lines at the moment. Some things are beyond our control. I feel like some kind of ancient druid looking at the sky trying to divine the future. Whether the weather works in the favour of remain or leave, or just washes us all out, I'll just accept it as a sign. Of course, that doesn't mean you abandon your values or views, you soldier on. But you soldier on knowing you're defeated. Accepting the result. You tried to do what you thought was right and ultimately that's all you really can do.

I'm getting a little overdramatic here lol. The effort to leave though does often feel like some kind of noble last stand. It's Italia '90 all over again. We were so close. It feels like it's normal, simple people, playing with their hearts on their sleeve, up against something that's just much more ruthless, relentless and sophisticated. Not that I would compare the EU machine to the West German football team of course.

Our simple demands are constantly taken, repackaged and given back to us. We're told that we don't think what we think we think. Or that we didn't know what we were voting for. Like we're having an endless conversation with a very slick and relentless salesman.

The constant twisting of words. It was just leave or remain before the referendum. Somehow afterwards that became "soft" or "hard" leave.

Before the referendum the EU was just a tiny little thing. "Of course it wasn't a behemoth subsuming our country." Afterwards it was so big and important that it would be impossible for us to untangle ourselves. "We can't just leave, don't you realise how big and complex these things are."

Now we have remainers crying and storming the streets in "defence of parliament". Hang on a minute, wasn't it us that was defending parliament from its increasing erosion by the EU? Wasn't that the whole point of leaving? How have they flipped that one on us too? And how can they keep doing this with a straight face?

They lose a referendum, refuse to accept the result ..then cry that the country is divided and that people are unwilling to compromise.

They get offered a deal that's essentially half remain, refuse to sign up to it ..then again cry that people are unwilling to compromise.

They switch party, refuse to face by-elections ..then cry about a lack of democracy.

The list goes on. You ask them what relationship they want with Europe. They refuse to offer an answer. Even the most staunch Europhiles can't bring themselves to simply say "yes, I want a single EU superstate, with a single government, army and single parliament."

You'd respect them more if they just said that. It's a perfectly acceptable position and they're perfectly entitled to advocate for it democratically. But no, they never say that, and when they state the opposite, that they don't want that, as is often the case, and you ask "okay, so at what point do you say no to the EU?", "where are your red lines?" Again they offer no answer and just shift the conversation.

How can they avoid full integration for Britain if they refuse to ever say "no" or walk away from the EU? It's a simple, logical question, and one they should be answering as they're the ones that are taking us ever forward into the EU, as they have been for decades now. But once again they've flipped it back on us. "If only Brexiteers would tell us what relationship they want with the EU" they state with feigned innocence. It really is quite amazing.

Leavers in contrast are perfectly plain speaking. With their heart on sleeve they say "I want to leave", "I want Britain to govern itself through the British parliament". Leave means leave. We leave it all and go back to being a normal independent country. That's what we want. It's not a difficult concept, but the remain sophistry splits leave into an infinity of remains. It's a level of guile that would embarrass Satan.

Christ, I really have had a bit of a rant here haven't I. I've forgot where I even started. Wasn't I saying something about the weather 😅

This is the thing when I post so late. I'm much more lucid, and perhaps a little too honest. I should go a little easier on remainers really. After all, many of the people out protesting simply don't know what they want or believe. So it's perhaps unfair to accuse them of insincerity. I very much suspect that some of the people leading them know very much what they're doing though. It's hard to have sympathy for those people, but you have to try I guess. I think many of them genuinely believe that they're creating some type of one world utopia. I think they genuinely believe that they know better than all the uneducated plebs, and that what they're doing is for the greater good.

How can you build paradise on a foundation of lies and dissimulation though?

It Looks Like Boris Is Serious About Brexit :)

I'm currently in quite a good mood, sat listening to Kate Bush. In almost complete darkness except for this laptop screen and Kate Bush whirling around on the TV in the corner. Yes, it's one of those posts where I'm posting late at night, in the early morning hours.

I'm only really posting so late to make note of some news that seems very worthy of mention. Namely that Boris is now apparently threatening to deselect any Tory MPs that don't toe the line on Brexit. Essentially threatening to sack them from the party.

This is quite good news, at least in my opinion anyway :)

The news that he would prorogue parliament is something that didn't sit too well with me. I don't see it as a huge deal. After all it's only a few extra days they'll be missing, but it's nevertheless a cynical political move, and one that allows people on the remain side to finally claim some moral high ground. Though saying all that, given what Boris is faced with it's perhaps something I would do myself were I in his shoes.

He's up against rebels that are;

a) trying to overthrow the government and get rid of him (even though they haven't given him time to even try to get a deal yet).

And that b) would probably delay another general election for as long as possible if they got one of their number in charge (unless it's Corbyn, who to be fair probably does genuinely want an election).

So you could make a good argument that proroguing parliament is in both Boris's interest and in the national interest - if you think Brexit is in the national interest that is. As I do. Plus, again, they'll only be missing 4 to 6 days because of it, and they've already had a full three years to debate Brexit. So they're pushing their luck big time quite frankly in complaining about this.

Anyway, though I have mixed feelings about prorogation, I have no such hesitations about the deselection threat. It's exactly what I would do were I in his position. These remain politicians are so out of touch with Tory party voters that they need to get with the program or find another party. This is a huge issue of national importance, so the country should be pulling together. It's completely ridiculous that Tory politicians are seeking to undermine a freshly elected leader at this moment. So the news (if it is indeed true) is very, very welcome.

Sadly my general scepticism means I'm always second guessing politicians and wondering if it's wise to take them at their word. So I really hope this is all as it seems. It looks like Boris is doing all the right things at the moment. So I'm optimistic. It looks like we now have someone in charge that wants to get this thing done, and that is prepared to exercise decisive leadership to do it.

We currently have all the remain protesters out and about on the streets over what he's doing, but they look a bit lame and desperate. The numbers just don't look that big from what I've seen. You get the feeling that perhaps the wider country is coming together and just wants to get on with things.