if a government is prepared to openly break laws why can’t individuals?
They really haven't grasped the "leading" part of being leaders, have they?
Have you seen the latest pie-in-the-Sky Brexiteer nonsense?
Cummings and Bozo want to use a no deal Brexit to then use state aid to set up trillion pound tech giants in the UK.
I think they’re not just pissed, they’re smoking crack!
https://twitter.com/mattuthompson/status/1304006231389024257?s=21
All going well I see...
I think they’re not just pissed, they’re smoking crack!
No, they want to divert your tax money to their friends, clients and backers.
Just look where they've been spending the millions earmarked for Coronavirus.
It's a heist.
Cummings and Bozo want to use a no deal Brexit to then use state aid to set up trillion pound tech giants in the UK.
Step one: Give Dido Harding $1,000,000,000,000
Step two: ????
Step one: Give Dido Harding $1,000,000,000,000
Step two: ????
Step 2: ensure that you own / manage / consult for a company that can apply for some of that money.
The PPE train has long since left, this is just the next step of that; they've seen that you can get away with giving hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of pounds to companies with no assets and no experience so why not do the same with IT?
Maybe Jennifer Arcuri is back giving technology lessons to the PM and she'll need paying off a bit as well.
I heard Bernard Jenkin on R4 a couple of days ago, sounded like a fundamental nutter, the ERG are full of like minded souls. Like a cult, start drinking the Kool Aid.
What timescale does cummings see for these tech behemoths to come into being, doing what and how long would it take for them to achieve any worthwhile scale?
Any tech company outside of the US or China which shows real growth potential will be targeted for acquisition.
Seems to be a great way to export technology.
But, hey, what do I know when compared with the omniscient cummings?
We had one, it got sold
Fintan O’Toole in the Irish Times has always been one of the most coherent writers on Brexit, with that degree of separation in viewpoint. Today’s article is a good one, pointing out that Johnson is so slippery, dishonest and duplicitous that even as he signed the agreement, he knew full well he would do this. He never had any intention of honouring the terms of the WA
Boris Johnson's 'oven-ready' Brexit had a secret footnote: we'll rehash it later
What’s particularly terrifying is the quote from Dominic Cummings from March 2019, when May was still PM
“dear Vote Leave activists”: “don’t worry about the so-called ‘permanent’ commitments this historically abysmal Cabinet are trying to make on our behalf. They are not ‘permanent’ and a serious government — one not cowed by officials and their bullshit ‘legal advice’ with which they have herded ministers like sheep — will dispense with these commitments.”
That man really is like a cancer in our society
They already staffed half a billion $ in buying One Web, a bankrupt satellite communication business in the vain hope they can somehow use the technology to build a replacement GPS systems - the considered opinion is they're trying to re-invent betamax.
pointing out that Johnson is so slippery, dishonest and duplicitous that even as he signed the agreement, he knew full well he would do this
Several ERG types claimed AT THE TIME that this was the case, and said that was why they could vote for it, because Johnson had promised that it would be dumped long after we signed it... the media chatted about it as if Johnson was lying to the hardline hard Brexit MPs in private, but telling the truth to the public.. in public. No idea why they thought/claimed that, given his track record when it comes to telling us the truth.
technology lessons
A great new euphemism for 'noshing off'.
In a statement published after Mr Sefcovic’s talks with Cabinet Secretary Michael Gove, The commission said Brussels will “not be shy” in bringing court proceedings against the UK if the PM drives ahead with the bill, which it believes breaches the Good Friday Agreement.
And quite correct too.
The Americans won't deal with us an the EU certainly won't if boris rips up an international peace treaty and the already agreed withdrawal agreement in one fell swoop.
What actually is our governments game plan? ... There isn't one that I can see, unless it's grab a bit more cash for their chums and quickly scarper offshore like the true believers in our country that they are.
I did initially think they'd go the USA way with substandard food etc. Just to secure some sort of 'lip service' deal so they could at least say they've struck some sort of trade deal.. But it seems they have burned that bridge too...
Wtf
They were pushing for a quick USA trade deal, and had rolled back on promises about food and farming standards… but once we’d shown we were willing to do whatever it takes… USA stopped talks on a deal with us… but carried on with their tariff reciprocation talks with the EU. If we are desperate to do anything it takes to get a deal with the USA now… they are astute enough to know they can get something even less balanced next year or later… the USA deal is off for now.
A brexit cheerleader speaks up…
https://twitter.com/hugogye/status/1304040489499402242?s=21
My thoughts…
https://twitter.com/spittingcat/status/1304104926721847297?s=21
I've got to say that all through the Brexit process I've felt my job was reasonably secure being a software developer in a specialised field but the willingness to go back on things we've legally agreed to has made me worried. If you are an international company looking at your European operations how the hell do you judge investments in UK sites, especially if you also have other EU locations available. There's no way of knowing what business environment you'll be operating under in the UK and there's little chance it'll settle down after Brexit as we'll be flip flopping between whatever is Cummings big idea this month's or what polls well with the hard of thinking. Surely you'd just invest in the EU and view the UK as an export market with a local sales office?
How that can be painted as taking back control.. I'm at a complete loss.. But people still seem to be buying it.
It's not like it can even be tested with a general election any time soon. We are all basically held hostage to the whims of Cummings and Johnson. That's not democratic.
David Gauke sums up his take on his ex-colleagues approach
‘Britain is on the verge of punching herself in the face in order to have the freedom to shoot herself in the foot.’
It's fascinating to watch a government with the talent to **** up horrifically on multiple fronts simultaneously. Future historians will have a field day with this lot.
It’s fascinating to watch a government with the talent to **** up horrifically on multiple fronts simultaneously. Future historians will have a field day with this lot.
The basic lesson will be 'the more bullshit and lies you come out with, the deeper the hole'.
The advanced lesson will be 'how to ensure that you personally are not in the hole'.
Can we arrange an open top car ride for Johnson through Dallas at some point?
I absolutely love John Crace.
One of the glories of Matt – the thing that makes him a near national treasure – is that he has no idea that it is the seriousness with which he now takes himself that makes him a laughing stock to the rest of us.
😊
doggybollox
😅
Stand back everyone! Suella Braverman has published her legal advice
Attorney general Suella Braverman has published her legal advice in defence of the government’s position, arguing that “ in the difficult and highly exceptional circumstances in which we find ourselves, it is important to remember the fundamental principle of Parliamentary sovereignty”.
In other words: everything is ok because we say so. Ok?
So there you have it.... what happens when you accidentally promote someone who looks like she’d be out of her depth as a nursery teacher to the role of Attorney General
Just remind yourself that the most senior legal role in government, making ultimate legal judgements at this most critical time in our countries history is presently Suella Braverman
Suella Braverman
Hope she's got herself a good retainer sorted as that has just spelled the end of any prospect of future employment in the respectable side of the law.
Mind you, plenty of well-paid work around defending ill gotten gains from boring stuff like taxes or keeping the protagonists out of jail, so swings and roundabouts. Easy if you have no moral compass.
Text of an email I just sent my toady, greasy pole climbing, useless nobody of a MP.
If one of your constituents is caught driving at 35mph in a 30mph will you stand by them if their defence is that they are only breaking the law in a 'specific and limited way'?
Or is it still preferable for them to claim they didn't see the 30mph limit signs because they were driving to test their eyesight?
I can't be arsed typing long specific emails to him any more. Hopefully this will get on his tits just as much.
I think suella was given her brief and went off to her law library, a dog eared copy of "The Dummies Guide to.....Constitutional Law" which she keeps in the glove box of her Range Rover.
Page 1, something about parliament being sovereign
Page 2 was about international law but she didnt get that far
Jobs a good un. Well done suella, and there are some idiots that are calling for you to resign
Any sign of this backfiring on Johnson with the base? Interesting to see what polls show
Even some of the daftest old brexiteers don't like it
https://twitter.com/HarryYorke1/status/1304096951747719171?s=19
(Tho Cummings would love another 'will of the people' thwarted by House of Lords battle)
Just had the misfortune to hear lumpen bridgen wittering on radio - parliamentary sovereignty trumps a signed international treaty agreement.
As for johnson's oven-ready deal...was good to go but we didn't expect the EU to play dirty; the EU needs us more than we need them; wtf is he on about?
As for the claim that both johnson and trump are similar in that they are both skilled negotiators - what bollocks.
johnson took May's deal, made minor amendments and presented it as all his own work.
trump specialises in stiffing anyone who has the misfortune of dealing with him; he couldn't have built anything in NYC in the 80s/90s without paying off the mafia - he confuses negotiation with bribery.
They are both well described as bags of malignant cells in ill-fitting suits.
The parade of useless members who are wheeled out to defend/justify johnson's latest emissions are embarrassing in their incompetence, lack of knowledge of the details, inability to think on their feet - and these are our elected representatives?
God help us all.
How that can be painted as taking back control.. I’m at a complete loss.. But people still seem to be buying it.
We might have to resort to eating warm gravel, but it's good honest British gravel rather than that foreign muck?
I’ve got to say that all through the Brexit process I’ve felt my job was reasonably secure being a software developer in a specialised field but the willingness to go back on things we’ve legally agreed to has made me worried. If you are an international company looking at your European operations how the hell do you judge investments in UK sites, especially if you also have other EU locations available
+1 I work in the polyurethane industry, all our raw materials are from Europe and we export 85%. We have a huge amount of infrastructure on site but I fully expect it to be gone in <5years and with it the last large employer in a northern ex mill town.
frankconway
Full MemberJust had the misfortune to hear lumpen bridgen wittering on radio – parliamentary sovereignty trumps a signed international treaty agreement.
The entire point is that it is parliament and parliamentary sovereignty that created the treaty agreement. It doesn't "trump" it, it IS it. And yes you can use parliamentary sovereignty to destroy a treaty but only because in the act, you make parliament meaningless.
It's like saying you can overwrite a promise by making another promise that says something different- again, true, but only because it simultaneously breaks the original promise, and the integrity that made any future promises worth making.
The entire point is that it is parliament and parliamentary sovereignty that created the treaty agreement. It doesn’t “trump” it, it IS it. And yes you can use parliamentary sovereignty to destroy a treaty but only because in the act, you make parliament meaningless.
Bridgen wouldn't realise or care about that. He is a proper old fashioned Tory crook. Look at his dealings around HS2 and pools of industrial waste at his businesses.
johnson took May’s deal, made minor amendments and presented it as all his own work
That is all the ****less lazy shagger has ever done. Although when he couldn't be arsed to do that he made it up - hence why he got the sack from The Times.
trump specialises in stiffing anyone who has the misfortune of dealing with him; he couldn’t have built anything in NYC in the 80s/90s without paying off the mafia – he confuses negotiation with bribery
I heartily recommend 'Hypernormalisation' by Adam Curtis. It documents the sewer pipe that Trump first emerged from.
I think Kelvin is right,
"We’re being kneecapped (by our own government) just to make sure the damage is not recoverable. Remember, people are ready to build on their fortunes thanks to that damage… making sure no future government can quickly reinstate us as a rule based economy after 2021 is the aim.
"
Boris and co are not stupid, they are doing this for a reason, and that reason is to make any backpedal after they leave impossible. seen from that point of view alot of their actions make more sense.
Nadhim Zahawi currently being ripped a new one on R4.
When an interviewer has to pointedly 'remind' a senior figure in government 'this is how interviews work' you know it is a shambles.
But I guess there is some sort of rota in place. The 'Who is going to have to make themselves look stupid to defend stupid policies today' rota.
And with every evisceration they receive, they are bound tighter to Johnson because their credibility outside of the gang is smashed on the floor. Stockholm syndrome on the Bullshit Bus hurtling towards the cliff edge.
Boris and co are not stupid, they are doing this for a reason
indeed. An article from this mornings Guardian saying just that. What they’re doing is as calculated and deliberate as Thatchers de-industrialisation policies in the 80’s. And they have the same casual disregard for the millions who are going to have their lives destroyed by their actions...
The Tories aren't incompetent on the economy – they know exactly what they are doing
Please be careful associating my current multi-cultural and relatively liberal European home city with this bunch of Brexit cultists
calculated and deliberate as Thatchers de-industrialisation policies in the 80’s
It does seem most policies seem to focus on the sustained destruction of any area where collective opposition could come from. Started with shrinking the public sector but now seems to have spilled over into breaking up traditional employment - everyone for themselves as a self employed or the laughably misrepresented freedom of zero hours.
It seems there are couple of different layers of playing on the go here - the economic one which benefits the few. Although they seem to be blinded by their greed. Risk break up of the union. You'd think that's not what the true blue would want. No matter how enticing the money is. In the case of specificities, illegalities and possibility the lords defeat this - whipping up another round of will of the people and remove the lords sentiment. Again at odds with what the average blue would want.
Maybe at the end there be a realisation England is not the UK.
It seems there are couple of different layers of playing on the go here – the economic one which benefits the few. Although they seem to be blinded by their greed. Risk break up of the union. You’d think that’s not what the true blue would want. No matter how enticing the money is. In the case of specificities, illegalities and possibility the lords defeat this – whipping up another round of will of the people and remove the lords sentiment. Again at odds with what the average blue would want.
Oh absolutely, but this is where social media has been a gift to them.
Why struggle to reconcile the needs and desires of a comfortably retired Home Counties blue-rinser with a perpetually angry northern zero hours contract worker who is starting to blame anyone who look a bit different to them?
No need when you can just feed them different lies. Lies that are actually their own prejudices played back to them as news.
I think even the densest home-counties true blue is starting to realise that they don’t actually have a Tory government.
They have a ‘Vote Leave’ government, and that’s a very different thing
I think even the densest home-counties true blue is starting to realise that they don’t actually have a Tory government.
They have a ‘Vote Leave’ government, and that’s a very different thing
Too late, though. And they have less time left living with the consequences.
‘Festival of Brexit’ can play ‘powerful role’ in healing UK, organiser says
Do they really not get it? Thinking that having a knees up will heal the divisions within the UK as day upon day most of what comes out of government just ingrains it more so?
I suspect the economy will be so bad by 2022 that this event/events will be rather "interesting" to police. The organiser must be utterly deluded in his use of the word, healing...
"Obviously we've got significant funding in place so we can be big and bold. The three key words are - we want the projects to be open, original and optimistic."
Ah, I see why the optimism now.
Money. Check.
Catchy 3 word catchphrase. Check.
Money spaffing and catchphrase. Standard government playlist then.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-54069456
breach international law and crash out with no deal.
project fear seems to have become goverment policy.
can any probrexit folk explain to me what is the good bit?
Brussels could 'carve up' UK if Tories reject Brexit bill, says Johnson.
The 'shift the blame to the nasty EU' stage has begun in earnest. It's going to be a Daily Mail reader's wet dream, defeat the enemy, save the Union, wave the Union Jack etc.
The main issue here is that you can't have Brexit AND GFA, the two are intrinsically incompatible. All the sophistry in the world can't change that immutable fact.
Don’t come here with your “facts”, unbeliever.
