Oh Britain, what have you done (part ∞+14)?

[Tony L]

May has capitulated to her hard Brexit MPs by agreeing to attempt to renegotiate the backstop away when the EU has said the negotiations are over. It’s all about the political survival of the party and their ongoing grotesque incompetence.

Indeed. The thing that irks me is how the media narrative simply ignores the utterly delusional intransigence and sheer fantasy of our whole parliament regarding this whole issue. The entire world must be pointing and laughing at us. The UK is behaving like some tantrum-throwing banana republic with May in the Idi Armin role.

 

[Vinniemac]

Indeed. The thing that irks me is how the media narrative simply ignores the utterly delusional intransigence and sheer fantasy of our whole parliament regarding this whole issue. The entire world must be pointing and laughing at us. The UK is behaving like some tantrum-throwing banana republic with May in the Idi Armin role.

That’s because the media has the same blinkers on as the politicians. Parochial, ill-informed, no self-awareness, no capacity to see us as others see us, solely concerned with who’s up/down/in/out at Westminster.

 

[drummerman]

Cooper dealt with swiftly and proficient by PM.

Where was the Mabbott?

 

[NeilR]

That’s because the media has the same blinkers on as the politicians. Parochial, ill-informed, no self-awareness, no capacity to see us as others see us, solely concerned with who’s up/down/in/out at Westminster.

When you live outside of the UK this become painfully obvious. I am tearing my hair out at the goings on in Westminster.

 

[Konteebos]

Did the water supply at the HoC get corrupted with LSD by some hippie terrorist group? Nothing much else could explain the latest refusal to engage with reality...

 

[Seanm]

That’s because the media has the same blinkers on as the politicians. Parochial, ill-informed, no self-awareness, no capacity to see us as others see us, solely concerned with who’s up/down/in/out at Westminster.

At some stage the political media establishment began to identify entirely with the Conservative Party and is now incapable of distinguishing the party's interests from those of the country or itself. For weeks now everything May has done has been designed to feed headlines to the press, and thereby broadcast media, so that they have something to publish other than "May Continues to Run the Clock Down" every single day, and not one reporter or commentator seems willing to bat them aside and ask her if running the clock down to save her party is actually a sensible thing to do.

They've been doing great work reporting on the wobbles of every Labour back bencher though so at least they're keeping busy.

 

[matthewr]

So too the imf...

That's not really true. The IMF dropped some clangers in the post-crisis turn to Austerity but it later acknowledged its mistakes and went back to thinking austerity is a neoliberal nonsense with literally no support in economic theory.

 

[stephen bennett]

At some stage the political media establishment began to identify entirely with the Conservative Party and is now incapable of distinguishing the party's interests from those of the country or itself. For weeks now everything May has done has been designed to feed headlines to the press, and thereby broadcast media, so that they have something to publish other than "May Continues to Run the Clock Down" every single day, and not one reporter or commentator seems willing to bat them aside and ask her if running the clock down to save her party is actually a sensible thing to do.

They've been doing great work reporting on the wobbles of every Labour back bencher though so at least they're keeping busy.

It's so frustrating. Snow on last night's C4 news completely failed to challenge the Conservative MP spouting lies (it can only be lies now) about the WTO and tariffs.

Evidence, it seems, is optional these days.

Stephen

 

[sean99]

https://www.dw.com/en/brexit-showdown-in-uk-parliament-live-updates/a-47279346

Seven amendments have been chosen for debate this afternoon:

Amendment A: Proposed by opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, it requires parliament to consider alternative options to prevent a no deal exit, including seeking a permanent customs union with the EU and holding a second referendum.

Amendment O: Put forward by the Westminster leader of the Scottish National Party, Ian Blackford, it calls on the government to seek an extension to Article 50 and rule out a no-deal Brexit. It also demands that Scotland — which voted in favour of remaining in the EU — should not be taken out of the bloc against its will.

Amendment G: Proposed by Conservative MP Dominic Grieve. It demands that lawmakers are given six days to propose their own debates on Brexit. Any proposals approved by parliament on those days would not be binding on the government but would be politically difficult to ignore.

Amendment B: Labour lawmaker Yvette Cooper's proposal requires the government to make time for legislation giving May until February 26 to get a deal approved, otherwise Brexit would be postponed until December 31.

Amendment J: Proposed by lawmakers from Labour, May's Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats, this calls on the government to request an extension to the Article 50 deadline if a deal has not been approved by February 26.

Amendment I: Put forward by Conservative MP Caroline Spelman and supported by lawmakers from most political parties, it seeks to rule out a no-deal Brexit.

Amendment N: Theresa May has asked her MPs to support this proposal — authored by senior Conservative lawmaker Graham Brady — which calls for the backstop to be replaced with alternative arrangements to avoid a hard border in Ireland and says parliament would support May's Brexit deal if this change were made.

It will be interesting to see what happens to these amendments - it seems like they will provide a useful guide to whether Brexit might be steered to sanity or not.

Though I do have to laugh at this:
"Any proposals approved by parliament on those days would not be binding on the government but would be politically difficult to ignore."
Theresa May has demonstrated an ability to ignore anything and everything which does not align with her narrow worldview. I would never underestimate her ability to ignore the blindingly obvious.

 

[Still]

source: https://twitter.com/ByDonkeys

 

[ff1d1l]

Same to you. It’s about making you and me pay for the banking collapse. Do you think any government would be allowed to start talking about the banks and large corporations paying back the money. Get real! Of course there’s wriggle room involved and of course the Tories and lib dems have made matters worse than they might have been, but honestly?

Brown bailed out the banks. Not the EU. The EU is a separate issue, and I'd say the EU's most important agenda is not austerity, but the cohesion through trade and free movement of members peoples of it's member states. The decision to pass on the cost of the bank bailout to the sections of society least able to afford it is a tory one, national, and not from the EU.
Now you might counter with the argument that the IMF and pressure to maintain a flawless international credit rating was enforced and perpetrated as some sort of EU masterplan - the truth is we were conned into voting for that, and the credit rating turned out to be not very important as it has slipped twice, with little remark, since the brexit tory-plan-with-labour-enabling tossfest.
No, austerity is a home grown confection, and your assertion that it originates in the EU is lexit bollocks.

 

[Colin L]

Cooper dealt with swiftly and proficient by PM.

Where was the Mabbott?

If so, this would be the only things she's ever done swiftly or proficiently (or indeed competently).
Drummerman, have you ever considered the "Spinal Tap" option?

 

[gavreid]

Brown bailed out the banks. Not the EU. The EU is a separate issue, and I'd say the EU's most important agenda is not austerity, but the cohesion through trade and free movement of members peoples of it's member states. The decision to pass on the cost of the bank bailout to the sections of society least able to afford it is a tory one, national, and not from the EU.
Now you might counter with the argument that the IMF and pressure to maintain a flawless international credit rating is was enforced and perpetrated as some sort of EU masterplan - the truth is we were conned into voting for that, and the credit rating turned out to be not very important as it has slipped twice, with little remark, since the brexit tory-plan-with-labour-enabling tossfest.
No, austerity is a home grown confection, and your assertion that it originates in the EU is lexit bollocks.

As i said above I didn't offer an opinion on Brexit! Rant away...

 

[ff1d1l]

Austerity is central to the agenda of the EU.

Really?

 

[HarryB]

The EU has rejected the Brady amendment before it’s even been moved in the Commons. https://mobile.twitter.com/IanWishart/status/1090244783354851329 What a surprise. Britain has become its own fantasy island.

Fabulous scoop by Wishart. Just another embarrassing illustration of what an incompetent f*ckwit Mad Mrs May is. She really is living in a parallel universe. The EU negotiators must be pissing their pants laughing at her.

 

[gavreid]

Really?

absolutely - look at Greece, Spain, Italy...

 

[ff1d1l]

absolutely - look at Greece, Spain, Italy...

Absolutely not. Look at Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

 

[gavreid]

Absolutely not. Look at Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

your point being

 

[ff1d1l]

your point being

...they are the central agenda of the EU, not austerity. They are its achievement too.

 

[gavreid]

...they are the central agenda of the EU, not austerity. They are its achievement too.

Ah, I thought you were listing the countries that are happy to support imposing austerity on others.