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Recent political stuff:
- The vote to see if Britain should adopt Alternative Voting has failed.
- Lib Dems lose lots of councils and councillors, whilst Labour make the majority of the gains in England.
- The Scottish National Party do really well in the elections.
A link to the BBC politics page containing relevant information.
Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 3rd 2023 at 11:15:30 AM
Wait...what? The Johnson Government is saying that?
I did not expect this particular Shocking Swerve; I thought the whole raison d'etre of the Government was to force a hard Brexit. Asking for an extension independently completely defeats the point of prorogation and gives the UK time for either a referendum or a VONC and new government.
Did Barclay have a sudden attack of sanity independent of his boss or something? This makes absolutely no sense.
I despise hypocrisy, unless of course it is my own.
A procrastination in of itself
I don’t think they’re after an extension on Brexit, just on working out a deal.
So we would leave with No Deal and spend another year minimum trying to work out a deal.
"And the Bunny nails it!" ~ Gabrael "If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we." ~ Cyran
I think John Major may have won the Internet today.
During the Supreme Court hearing he said, to quote:
Disasturbator
He is the only man to run away from the circus to join a travelling Circus Parliament
Figure of Hourai
The government also chose the defence of "the court shouldn't say this is justiciable because if they find against the government we will just prorogue parliament again lawfully". I don't know who came up with "we'll do it again" as a legal defence.
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![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
An Etonian.
I'm still wondering whether they'd be able to convince the Queen to do it again, given how this has all unfolded.
Especially with Cameron's foot-in-mouth job that has triggered a palace response expressing the Queen's 'displeasure'.
For those that don't know, when the Palace inform the media that the Queen is displeased, you can regard that as the diplomatic equivalent of a nuclear power hitting the big red button.
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
Figure of Hourai
Or how a government that has been found by the courts to have mislead the Queen could in any way remain trusted with such a role.
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She's made it plain before that she doesn't like the twerp.
And, then the idiot uses "purred" to describe her tone of voice.
She has every justification, as far as I'm concerned.
Ah, but... It's OK if you're a Tory! 
Edited by Euodiachloris on Sep 19th 2019 at 9:55:57 AM
The Queen is not amused.
...I don't like reading people's minds over typed media, but I'm getting the feeling that the Queen's temper is very, very frayed right now.
I despise hypocrisy, unless of course it is my own.
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Let's see... one former PM has blathered about getting her to make a political statement on top of being an annoying twit. The current PM has basically taken advantage of the palace's official neutrality to sabotage the Commons. The only MP she might be considered a friend of was kicked out of the Conservative party BY said PM.
Quite upset, yes.
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Deranged X-Mas Figure
Don't forget that the only other active politician that she considers a close friend is a former PM who is currently part of the legal challenge presenting the argument to the Supreme Court that the Queen was misled on the reasons for prorogation (the aforementioned John Major).
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
That's Dr. Title, thank you!
I'm just an American on-looker, but I'm a bit too amused that one of the important players in the Prorogation court case is literally named Lord Pannick.
Yes, his name certainly seems to have become a meme.
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
A procrastination in of itself
What the hell is going on with the Labour NEC? Apparently they’re trying to oust Watson by abolishing his post, while he’s away from conference taking care of his son.
The fuck are they playing at?
Edited by Silasw on Sep 21st 2019 at 1:40:13 PM
"And the Bunny nails it!" ~ Gabrael "If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we." ~ Cyran
Figure of Hourai
Yeah, I'm not sure what's going on or... why. For some reason people have been pushing to have the deputy leader post abolished (on top of moving to deselect Watson), and Corbyn actually had to do something to remove the vote from the conference. In exchange for a review of the post, but that's still less nonsensical.
And I don't have the faintest idea why this is happening.
Edited by RainehDaze on Sep 21st 2019 at 2:30:31 PM
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I had the impression that they had been trying to get rid of Watson for quite some time already. I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine that.
Life is unfair...
A procrastination in of itself
Like sure Watson hasn’t been the most loyal person to Corbyn, but he doesn’t have to be, he won the deputy leader election fair and square, he has a party-wise democratic mandate the same as Corbyn.
There’s an argument for there being a way for members to recall the deputy leader, but that’s not what’s being introduced here.
I’m seeing it theorised that this is happening now due to fears that Corbyn might resign if he loses the next election, which would make Watson interim leader, where he could try and destroy Corbyn’s legacy.
"And the Bunny nails it!" ~ Gabrael "If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we." ~ Cyran
I can't imagine Watson being all that chuffed at having to be handed a save by Corbyn.
On the other hand, he might be a whole lot less chuffed that the move had enough steam behind it to get as far as it did. If he's got his thinking cap on, that's a sign to reposition rather than dig in. If he's got his emotional hat on, well... how he deals with this in the next few days will say which particular one is prominent.
For now, an angry lambasting of the move is pretty standard and not indicative of much.
Edited by Euodiachloris on Sep 21st 2019 at 3:25:00 PM
Hm. I've tried to do some digging around about this Watson issue. From what what I can see, the background appears to be the following:
Issues have been building for some time between Watson and grass-roots for a couple of reasons, including: constituents feeling unrepresented, a CLP that feels he's undermining the entire party, and Corbyn supporters who feel he's damaging the party just to damage Corbyn. He also has an historic reputation for back-stabbing, which doesn't help people trust him.
A combination of Corbyn's speech to the Unions on Labour's Brexit referendum/GE policy and a deselection 'trigger' vote against Watson (which happened on the same day) seem to be what's brought this to a head. Apparently, there was a leak from Watson's camp that Watson's team was hastily putting together a speech for the following day to undermine Corbyn's speech, that was to be pre-released to 'friendly' media only after the deselection vote had concluded. At the same time, there were also reports coming from Watson's constituency that voter suppression tactics were used for the deselection vote. Watson did win the trigger vote, but apparently it was an extremely small turnout and victory margin.
Personally, I have no idea about the veracity of any of the above accusations (I have been able to locate the leak, but I don't trust the outlet (Skwawkbox) that it was leaked to). What I would say is that my reaction is exactly the same as it was to the previous coup attempts to oust Corbyn: You cannot claim to be a member of a party that prides itself on upholding democracy if you're willing to discard that democracy just to oust a leader you don't like, and you do not react to a person accused of undermining party democracy by engaging in actions that undermine party democracy.
Edited by Wyldchyld on Sep 21st 2019 at 9:29:12 AM
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
If anything, all these attempts to subvert Corbyn's leadership have only highlighted that, when it comes to sticking to the principles of democracy despite itself, no party can beat the Labour party.
It's in it for the long haul. <mourns the Lib Dems turning full Whig>
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What a course on nonanswers they've taken.
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Ah, "we can totally have everything ready to leave by the 31st."
"No wait, we can't, can we just put the most important thing to sort out aside until we'd need to implement it?"
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