I guess 'puzzles' is the wrong word.
'Confounds' might be better.
Important news. UKIP have selected 'Peter Gammons' as their london mayoral candidate 😀
In an interesting interview with the FT's Lionel Barber on Five Live this morning, he confirmed what we all knew already about Dominic Cummings roll in Brexit. He said he interviewed the evil one during the campaign and asked him if he knew that Brexit would cause huge economic damage to the UK?
Once he had confirmed he was off the record, he replied "you know that, I know that, but the average voter doesn't"
He said that after decades covering politics he was still surprised by the cynicism of the Brexiteers. We knew Boris never believed in it. It appears Coummings didn't either. It's all just a game to them. Cummings just wanted to show everyone how clever he was. The rest of us will be left paying the price of his cleverness for decades
Don't forget the personal side... Cummings really wanted revenge on Cameron and the other Tories that saw straight through him, knew what he was, and wanted rid of him. Many involved in the Leave campaign just wanted to unseat those in power... it was nothing to do with the EU for them, and everything to do with taking back control in the UK, by destroying and reshaping the Conservative party.
EDIT: for those that have forgotten... Cameron said that Cummings was a "career psychopath", "bilious" and "dripping with poison", long before a referendum was due to happen.
It's a pity Call Me Dave's 'suave, assured PR Man act' was just that. An act. It was his pathetic insecurity that led to all this with Farage doing his age old trick of nicking the Tories' racists and only offering to give them back if his bidding was done.
It was a question that didn't need asking and should never have been asked. Now we are looking at decades of hardship for less than **** all in return. And Farage got his way, which really grinds my gears. Vile little man.
Tick. Tock.
Based on all the above comments, the only tiny shred of joy for me is the opportunity to say "you wanted this" to any Leave voter. It's not really worth the complete catastrophe that this shaping up to be but I'm taking what positives I can, just as all the Leavers told me to.
Have to wonder what next week brings with Cummings having walked/been kicked?
Have to wonder what next week brings with Cummings having walked/been kicked?
EU Council leaders have suggested they need a deal on the table by this Thursday if it is to be ratified before the end of the year. Boris' "oven-ready deal" (which is more realistically a Fray Bentos tinned pie that's past its sell-by date) with be duly presented having thrown the fishermen under the bus.
Let’s hope the nicotine-stained man-frog is right
https://twitter.com/nigel_farage/status/1327303343245561856?s=21
Part of me is wondering if this just a scam. That Cummings is just working from home for a few weeks.
The "oven ready deal" was the withdrawal agreement not a future trade deal
the Johnson cabal have not been negotiating seriously right from day one. the aim has been to blame the EU for no deal and a hard border in Ireland, not to get a deal
NO deal has always been the intention
Let’s hope the nicotine-stained man-frog is right
But in reality a deal they'll sign (to get it over the line) is the worse possible deal - BINO.
It's like leaving you wife because she does your head in, but you still had all the 'benefits' plus could go out cycling whenever you wanted. And ending up back in the spare room paying all the bills, getting zilch and a max of an hour a week on the turbo.
BINO
This is not happening. The liars like Farage might portray the likely* minimum possible deal we’re heading for as “BINO”… don’t let him get away with that framing… it is not going to be that. They want people to believe that the failings of Brexit are because of the flavour of deal we agree with the EU, rather than because any new relationship with the EU will make things harder than staying in the SM & CU.
[ I’m with TJ in thinking that no deal is still more likely, and has been since May was sidelined ]
It was Theresa May who committed us to come out of the Single Market and the Customs Union. It was always going to a disaster from that point on.
I always believed that No Deal was the only thing the headbangers would settle for. I'm probably being over-optimistic in thinking that a Biden victory and the repercussions might actually allow some reality to intrude on the Brexit fantasy. And with a couple of the architects of this lunacy on their way, maybe some calmer voices will prevail
Any deal signed now will be terrible, but anything is better than No Deal, which will be utterly catstrophic
Keeping your eyes on the Brexit press feeds is always worthwhile, and the hardliners are getting jumpy indeed
Important news. UKIP have selected ‘Peter Gammons’ as their london mayoral candidate 😀
Who's his running mate, Pete Racist ?
dannyh
Full MemberFurther to the above. You have to look at our ‘government’ and ask yourself who in that cabinet of none of the talents would be there if it wasn’t for Brexit. I.e. if something other than loyalty to a stupid project was paramount.
Forget about cabinet, Dominic Raab became effective PM while Johnson was in hospital, and the only thing, literally the only one thing that qualified him to do it, was being such an enthusiastic brexit fantasist/liar. He went from "average ineffectual backbencher" to "running the country" and it's not like there's any doubt why because there's literally nothing else in his career to explain it.
there’s literally nothing else in his career to explain it.
You mean looking menacingly at anyone who either questions the sense of Brexit or asks him a question that confuses him (basically all the time) with a sheen of sweat and a pulsing vein in the forehead isn't a qualification?
Raab is as thick as pig shit. He likes to try to play the 'Young Hannibal Lecter' look, but he ends up looking like what he is. An ineffectual, thick bully.
Interesting perfect storm on the horizon - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54908129
Also interesting is the next to last paragraph, from which:
Two months ago, the former Transport Secretary Chris Grayling was hired to advise the port's parent company Hutchison Ports Europe, which is based in London. The register of MP's financial interests shows he's being paid £100,000 for "around seven hours" of work per week.
It's what we voted for. Stop moaning and get behind it, that's all we need.
whitestone - the Felixstowe problem has been building for at least 18months.
In mid-2019 Peel Ports who own the Port of Liverpool were telling shippers about the delays and the situation has only worsened since then.
I have little doubt that grayling will resolve the problem...
Anyone else heard that another extension might be on the cards??
£100K a week for 7 hrs work...... It's hopeless.
@frankconway - yeah, looks like it's the lorry slot booking system that's struggling to cope. These massive ships can't afford to be in port for any longer than necessary. This: "the large number of empty containers and a large amount of unusually long-stay containers held at the port" seems strange. I know there'll be some slack in the system but it can't be in anyone's interest to have empty or long-stay containers messing things up.
Poopscoop
Full Member
Anyone else heard that another extension might be on the cards??
We should have paused everything during the pandemic but this bunch of ****s are too arrogant for that.
Hoping that Cummings departure and Biden's appointment mean we will be forced to make a deal.
Anyone else heard that another extension might be on the cards??
Wouldn't surprise me.
Maybe the constant knocking on the door of No10 by (very) concerned businesses is finally being heard.
No doubt it will be dressed up as "There's a deal in the offing so we've agreed an extension to finalise it." The reality is that there'll be more can kicking.
There cannot be an extension and the EU wouldn't grant one even if they could - Nor will Johnsons cabal ask for one
You have to understand - No deal has been the aim the whole time.
£100K a week for 7 hrs work…… It’s hopeless.
£100k per annum for 7 hours work per week, I suspect. Although £10/hr would be too much to pay that idiot.
I think EU were happy to pause proceedings because of covid
6 months ago before the deadline to ask for an extension. why would the EU grant one? Whats in it for them? Its clear that Johnson cabal have no interest in a deal and right from the word go have set out demands that the EU cannot grant and made them red lines.
I think all member states would have to vote for it and I imagine a few are getting mighty pissed off with us.
I think all member states would have to vote for it and I imagine a few are getting mighty pissed off with us.
Brexit, to most member states now, is resigned to the middle pages of the newspapers, it's just something going on in the background for most of them. They're all fine (mostly) so most no longer care.
There's no real reason for them to grant an extension, nothing in it for them.
I guess there's still a chance that BJ could completely fold, like he's been playing a top hand at poker but is finally revealed to have a 2 of clubs and a joker but he's surrounded himself by Brexiteers so the cabinet won't go for it.
If he had a cabinet made up of sensible competent people, sane heads would likely have prevailed by now but they're not in it for running the country, they're in it to.line their own/their mates' pockets.
IF johnson or Frosty, on his behalf, requested an extension I think the EU would agree - with conditions.
The EU will continue to behave like the adults in the room and act professionally.
As for likelihood of this happening, I think it has increased.
Still no real cause for optimism but...I live in hope.
For there to be an extension it would need a unanimous vote in the EU.
Again guys - get real. No chance of Johnson asking, no chance of the EU agreeing
I think the EU would agree
How? Everything done under A50 has completed… the WA agreed included a one time extension, short or long, could be offered by the EU, but also stipulated a last date that could be accepted by the UK. That date passed this summer… “we” turned it down, despite knowing full well what was happening Europe wide as regards the pandemic. The EU now has no legal way to extend… it would require a new treaty to do so… and all that means… full buy in and ratification by all the EU countries and bodies… why would they all say yes? Where are they going to find the time and political capital to make this happen, given all that they are currently dealing with this winter? For most EU politicians, Brexit is done, and the UK can go jump off a cliff for all they care. They don’t need us, and aren’t going to waste time and effort on us now. Accept what the EU are already offering, or go away.
I'd have thought false rumours of a potential extension will have originated somewhere Brexity.
It would serve at least two purposes from their point of view. Firstly to flush out any remaininess in less than savvy politicians and commentators, but more importantly it allows them to create a sense of the nasty old EU being vindictive. 'We' dug this hole for ourselves.
You also have to remember the utterly disgraceful and underhand way this government has conducted itself during all this.
Sending unsigned letters, trying to pass bills that contravene international law etc.
Even if the EU was otherwise disposed towards granting an extension (which it isn't and rightly so) you would find the blocker is 'our' cheating and lying.
If you listen really carefully you can hear the clucking of a massive flock of chickens coming home to roost.
Google usually finds rumours, the most recent thing I can find is an Express article about a "grace" period:
TJ has it and Kelvin adds the detail.
What does Carrie think of Brexit? with Dom gone she must be the one running the country.
Ha ha.
The Express talking about 'grace'.
Excuse me whilst I step back through the looking glass.
Assuming that the people who were really orchestrating/pushing for Brexit (and I mean those with a means to make it happen, not the fools down on the ground floor who wouldn't know a punch in the face if it hit them) did actually understand the full import of what they were doing - rather than actually believing the "cake and eat it" version they were selling everyone else - then nothing that has happened so far is a surprise to them. It's all going exactly as they knew it would.
Their problem, if you could even call it that, is in selling the reality of the situation (the predictable disaster) to all the people who previously believed the various "cake and eat it " stories that were their original reasons for them voting "Leave". When it turns out that almost no one gets what they were promised they would get from Brexit someone else will be blamed and the people who were desperate enough to believe the Brexit bullshit back in the day will be just as desperate to happily believe that it was all the fault of the nasty Germans (or whomever fits their personal agenda).
@Scotroutes, not sure if that pic's of the site but the core of the story is true:
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/ashford/news/heavy-rain-holds-up-brexit-lorry-park-construction-236994/
And that's even before the ocean of shit
Here's another article from July about govey's lorry park; would appear to confirm it's a known flood risk area.
https://shepwayvox.org/2020/07/16/work-begins-on-brexit-clearance-lorry-park-in-ashford/
Genuine, or fake news?
You’re aware that the planning for no deal, which this comes under, was assigned to a certain Mr M Gove?
Have a look at his track record and ask yourself again?
OK so, that picture's just along the road, not the actual site (the distinctive circle thing in the corner is where the A2070 and A2042 join). It's about 50 feet higher (the road that runs through it is called Highfield Lane, which is a Clue) but there is a stream running right through the middle. So, clearly it gets wet but not actually on the river plain and the photo probably isn't at all representative.
Some of that was actual independent thought btw! Research and that. Felt weird not just repeating something on the internet.
