Conservative MPs prattling on that any trade deal that includes upholding workers rights and environment standards is not Brexit and so isn’t acceptable to them. At least they are finally being clear about what they want from Brexit.

It gets funnier

EXCLUSIVE: Former Oz PM Tony Abbott to be Britain’s new joint President of the Board of Trade in major revamp. Forthright Aussie to “bang the drum for Brexit Britain around the world” in shock signing: https://t.co/AKZDzKca3o

— Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) August 25, 2020

He’s white, speaks English as his first language, and hates immigrants (who don’t also fit that description). Perfect for Brexit Britain.

From a NI haulier’s perspective and brought to you by Polly Toynbee
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/24/irish-sea-border-chaos-brexit-northern-ireland

As for the Tony Abbott story above – Sir Les Patterson returns, now batting for the UK.
Talking with sophisticated and educated politicians from putative trade partners I can’t see that a Bruce, cobber approach is going to work.
So we’ll have truss and Abbott as joint presidents of UK Board of Trade – intellectual midgets both; hardly going to be seen as challenging negotiators by…anyone really.
This means that johnson believes there isn’t a single person in the UK with the required ability.
He truly is a clown.

This ruins my Truss-Abbott joke which was all set to go viral.

— Diogo Mills (@DavidMills73) August 25, 2020

I wouldn’t trust Liz Truss to negotiate her way around Waitrose, never mind complex international trade agreements.

So now she’s joined by another intellectual heavyweight.

Simple answers to complex problems, delivered by simpletons, really does sum up Brexit.

… as the clock ticks on towards disaster

Simple answers to complex problems, delivered by simpletons, really does sum up Brexit.

Yep.

Just listening to Gavin ‘Private Pike’ Spencer on R4. Jesus wept. What a ****ing idiot.

Choose your ‘Top Team’ (ha!) based on loyalty to a fundamentally stupid project and you end up with either idiots or cynical opportunists. Williamson is definitely the former.

What a w***er.

1) once we had given up the opportunity to extend the transition period, US trade talks were stalled ‘till next year by the US so that they could maximise their leverage … we were told by our pliant leaders and the media that it was because everything stops for the presidential race

2)

We have a deal. The EU and the US have agreed on a significant tariff reduction, the first in more than 20 years. The agreement eliminates or reduces tariffs for € 168 million in EU and US exports. Read our joint statement here: https://t.co/nnaNXoI9lf #EUtrade

— EU Trade 🇪🇺 (@Trade_EU) August 24, 2020

^^^^

Is it just me or does that, basically, completely **** us?

Not that exciting on its own. Just one of many things that (predictably) add up to us being in a very week position next year (and for many years).

But don’t worry we can have a trade deal with Brazil.. Cheap havaianas for all

That tariff removal statement can be viewed as either irrelevant or significant:
– irrelevant if the focus is on the narrow range of products covered unless you buy Maine lobster tails from Waitrose
– potentially significant if it is followed in the short term by further agreements with a wider range of products and much larger value

Labour MP Neil Coyle vocalises the thoughts of many…

I have spent years warning local people that these fat old racists won’t stop blaming the EU when their sh*t hits the fan. Here they come blaming others. Absolute sh*tbag racist w*nkers. https://t.co/RLLuHmm8Xu

— Neil Coyle (@coyleneil) August 25, 2020

I have read many intelligent and thoughtful comments on all the Brexit threads but I feel they miss the point. Brexit is more like a war or supporting a football team. Even though you may be losing, your team is rubbish and it is going to be a disaster you keep supporting your team. The reason people voted for Brexit was that it was patriotic and they thought they were supporting their team. Intelligent arguments do not work. I can also understand that the builder mentioned would be in competition with cheaper and a lot better trained trades people from the continent.

Co-opting your opponents language and symbols is much more important than intelligent discussion.

Even though you may be losing, your team is rubbish and it is going to be a disaster you keep supporting your team.

This, and “owning the libs” as well. The abbot thing is funny and disturbing as well, as the usual gang boasting about how great he’s going to be…well they have said that many times before about recent “signings” to quote a football term, and when abbot fails, it will be onto the next messiah.

I know the likes of Binners keep calling this a disaster, and yes it will be a total disaster(but for a few), and its looking unavoidable, but the focus now has to be on what happens after this shower of sh*t have destroyed themselves and their cause. Because if we aren’t in control of that, history teaches us that something far worse could rise and fill the void.

To borrow their phrase, we have to take back control.

I guess control of a sinking ship means at least you have less distance to swim to shore.

This, and “owning the libs” as well.

It can be about what they like, they will always be laughed at, and rightly so.😊

I agree with GEDA and Elbent however its too late that war was lost long ago.

All we can be now is a form of “resistance” which in itself may not have any positive impact.

I am 57 years old and have seen a lot of economic ups and downs but we as a country we were more or less in control of many of the tools that allowed us to fix things (rarely to the benefit of poorfolk) Covid and Brexit have left us in a position in which we have little control of anything and we are literally at the mercy of a Virus and other countries generosity around trade deals.

I think we are in a lot more trouble than most folks realise, there is a real fear in the Tory backbenchers and i would suggest a view from the Labour backbenchers that this is a Tory issue.

In short no political party has or wants ownership of this shit show.

A government can fix covid and brexit but i doubt anyone wants to deal with the long term implications of that decision making process that will include mass unemployment, huge tax rises including VAT, huge reductions in public services including the NHS, more borrowing and huge raids on pensions and corporates.

We will be poor for many decades.

We are indeed going to be very much poorer for a long time.

Covid is one thing, but with Brexit this is the first ever incidence in history of a country demanding that the rest of the world impose economic sanctions on it.

Absolute idiocy of the highest ****ing order

Still… every cloud… we’ll have blue passports.

I feel patriotic but for very different reasons. I really think we need to start showing that these are the real reasons to be proud about being British and create some more:

1. The rule of law and especially common law and the separation of powers of state.
2. Pluralism and being accepting of other ways of thinking.
3. Experts. 🙂
4. The enlightenment

I was thinking about art, music, landscape but wanted to be more specific to why Britain is a cool place. I don’t recognise the people shouting about Brexit being anything to do with what I am proud to be British about.

4. The enlightenment

Britain’s main contribution to the enlightenment was Bacon…who died when; late 1600’s?

I feel patriotic but for very different reasons. I really think we need to start showing that these are the real reasons to be proud about being British and create some more:

London 2012.

How quickly a once-proud nation can eat itself. They’ll be writing books and dissertations about this for centuries.

2012 was half the problem. It lulled us into thinking we were an open, inclusive, forward-looking multicultural society.

Well that didn’t last long.

It seems the majority in this country are the polar opposite of that.

Petty, small-minded, insular and xenophobic, waving little flags and gazing backwards into a nationalist, sepia-toned fantasy of empire. All spitfires, St George’s crosses on white transit vans, two world wars and a World Cup and bargain basement Winston Churchill impersonators

I’m utterly ashamed to be British English

I was a performer in the 2012 Opening Ceremony (hence my forum name) one of the best experiences in my life – really made me appreciate the benefits of multiculturalism and mixing with so many different people from around the world.

Since then the UK’s really gone down the shitter.

I think we are in a lot more trouble than most folks realise, there is a real fear in the Tory backbenchers and i would suggest a view from the Labour backbenchers that this is a Tory issue.

The tory back benchers have every right to be fearful, its their party that’s largely going to cop the blame for the next four years, even though they aren’t really in power.

The party in control of Government is the vote leave party, and once they have achieved the objective of whoever was funding them…and of course the objectives of the supposedly intelligent psychopath that the PM has as his adviser, they will walk off into the sunset and the political parties, particularly the tories will be wrecked.

The tory back benchers have every right to be fearful, its their party that’s largely going to cop the blame for the next four years, even though they aren’t really in power.

Indeed. The present party leadership isn’t really, and never has been ‘Tory’. They are a small sect that has successfully colonised the Tory party for their own ends.

The traditional Tory party values don’t even figure with this lot. When Boris said “**** business” he really meant it. He couldn’t care less the businesses that are going to go bust due to Brexit. This is a post-business party that represents the offshore uber-rich, oligarchs, and speculators. Disaster Capitalist Parasites.

I think Boris and chums will be gone by February once the true horrific reality of Brexit becomes obvious. And why hang around? They’ve achieved what they set out to achieve. And once done, its irrevercible. They’ll be off into the sunset to count their billions

Remember when we were told that we’d get a deal easily because German carmakers would ride to the rescue and insist on it?

Germany scraps plans for Brexit talks at EU ambassadors summit

The German government, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU council, had intended to discuss Brexit during a meeting of EU ambassadors on 2 September but has now dropped the issue. “Since there hasn’t been any tangible progress in EU-UK negotiations, the Brexit item was taken off the agenda,” an EU diplomat said.

The German car industry has established that the average brit will stand 10% on a monthly pcp and the fact you cant buy their “badges” elsewhere.

The Tory backbench fear is complex and multifacted, they are no longer the slightly right wing broadly homogenised group of even Camerons time. They are split roughly as follows..
1. The ERG Brexiteer fundamentalists- Reece Mogg Mark Francois
2. Disaster capitalists/opportunistic mob – Boris Gove (also Mogg)
3. The old guard – any Tory Mp who has held a seat for many years and generally reside in the shires
4. The Red wall – or the great unwashed as they are internally referred to.

The above four groups all have fears but not the same fears…. the torment is obvious by the deafening silence and complete lack of engagement with social media etc.by the back benches is plain to see.

Oh and Rishi will be king very soon, but like Boris he will have no where to go and the Bank of England will have cut up his credit card.

Oh and Rishi will be king very soon, but like Boris he will have no where to go and the Bank of England will have cut up his credit card.

Yep.

The parasitic organism that is ‘Leave’ will gut the country and whoever takes over will have no room for manoeuvre.

The parasite, now fully sated, drops out of the anus of the Tories and they realise it has destroyed the internal organs.

I think you’re all over optimistic for a Tory fall out. They’ll be blaming Covid right up to the 2023/4 election. Brexit would have been great, if it wasn’t for the EU, project Fear and Covid, and only Boz & Dom can see it through to the sunny uplands due to appear any second.

They’re smarter than that… “this is the vital point at which we can start to really take advantage of Brexit… don’t let ‘them’ in to mess this up*… let us sort this out”.

*yes we know who have really messed things up… but that’s how this works… projection works… ask the [ deleted to avoid Godwin’s Law ].

They’ll be blaming Covid right up to the 2023/4 election. Brexit would have been great, if it wasn’t for the EU, project Fear and Covid,

Covid has been a huge ray of sunshine and a massive stroke of luck for the Brexiteers.

Brexit would have been amazing if the country hadn’t been crippled by Covid (largely ignoring that the crippling was done by a woefully incompetent Government).
Brexit hasn’t impacted your Freedom of Movement, that’s all down to Covid restrictions.
Brexit would have saved the NHS but Covid tipped it over the edge (and now we’ve been forced to sell it to the Americans and privatise the lot of it, please pay your healthcare insurance to this Cambridge Analytica / Matt Hancock corporation, in which your private data is managed by Dido Harding).

You can see the excuses being lined up now. Alongside the new opportunities to asset strip everything.

I think you’re all over optimistic for a Tory fall out. They’ll be blaming Covid right up to the 2023/4 election. Brexit would have been great, if it wasn’t for the EU, project Fear and Covid, and only Boz & Dom can see it through to the sunny uplands due to appear any second.

That’s if people such as yourself continue to let them control the narrative.

It will only be the typical british attribute of shrugging the shoulders and believing you can’t do anything about it that will let them win.

When Boris said “**** business” he really meant it.

I think a lot of people still don’t understand what this actually means. The current Government and its backers really couldn’t care less about GDP, growth, how many people will lose their jobs etc, its all about the wealth of a small group of people and their ability to rinse money through the city of London, and asset strip the rest.

This is why Brexit happened, eventually trading blocs will form(the EU is an advanced version of this), and they will have laws in place preventing such money laundering and off-shoring, so those who get up to this sort of thing needed to take control of state machinery (Politics, Laws, regulations, taxation etc,) to keep funnelling their ill gotten gains through.

In essence, the UK(London) is just one off-shore money laundering off shore tax haven, and those outside this bubble…can just f*ck off. And as long as the current Government can win majorities in the HOC on between 37-43% of the vote, it will continue.

They just need to keep the minorty that vote for them sweet, the current thrown dead cat being immigrants in dinghies. The FPTP voting system is THE single cause of all of these problems. This Government will gerrymander the boundaries again and again to hold onto power.

It is way past time for the majority who didn’t vote for the tories to force a change.

It is way past time for the majority who didn’t vote for the tories to force a change.

How?

You are spot on that “taking back control” is all about removing checks and balances on those who make up the government, and that the government will ensure that stay (to look after their sponsors) in even if their vote share drops at the next election… so, what do you do about it?

And, if it’s not already clear to every body… this isn’t just about “European courts” and “Brussels eurocrats” and “gravy train MEPs”… it is also about court systems and civil servants and parliaments and assemblies on these islands… all will be weakened or made supplicants to this lot.

What’s taken place over the last five years in this country amounts to a coup. A well planned and executed one. They colonised, then occupied the party of government, expelling or neutering any critics, then they took over the country.

It’s been a bloodless coup so far. It remains to be seen if that’s still the case when the true scale of the impending carnage unfolds in January.

I’m absolutely amazed at the bovine nature of most people in failing to even acknowledge the huge juggernaut presently barrelling towards them

I’m absolutely amazed at the bovine nature of most people in failing to even acknowledge the huge juggernaut presently barrelling towards them

The likes of Cumstains know that all they need to do is paint ‘the huge juggernaut’ as being ‘dirty and foreign’ and the sheep will believe them.

I mean, ‘we’ won the war for them and now they’re not even grateful….

That’s if people such as yourself continue to let them control the narrative.

Judgemental much?

Meanwhile there is this…

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/barnier-flabbergasted-at-uk-attempt-to-reopen-brexit-specialty-food-debate/ar-BB18tkek?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=mailsignout

Tories banging on about cheese and wine whilst the country burns… and no one was surprised.

How?

Well, what do you think? You either allow this to continue until they p*ss so many people off that they lose an election…how long have you got? And what measures will be put in place to cling on to power?

Or you look at alternatives.

Judgemental much?

I’m beyond the point of being ‘nice’ to people regarding this issue. Being nice, passive, or pointing out facts and history didn’t stop this car crash from happening, in fact history teaches us that if you don’t brutally shoot down these issues right from the start then it accelerates out of control.

Like the boris f*ck business quote, I don’t people really understand what is really at stake here. Our democratic freedoms are being eroded, this has been going on for a few decades, but now it is accelerating, and those who seek to remove our rights and protections are pretty much the same groups who ruled over us prior to us having democracy for ourselves. When you start getting ruled by minorities, and they give you a kind of democracy where they can fashion the circumstances and control the narrative, then our fleeting glimpse of post WW2 social democracy is over.

Honestly, did anyone think that those with most to lose would let the ‘great unwashed’ control the the fortunes of this country, or any other country?

Or you look at alternatives.

Such as…?