O'Kelly Isley III

That is one helluva post for a dreich Wednesday night, and either there is some bootleg Doom Bar doing the rounds (geddit ?), or there is some substance to this. If these are FACTS as you say, is the Board of Directors of DFC aware of them ?

In the middle of this crisis, there is a huge element of black comedy in the fact that the 'natural party of Government' is digging itself further into a hole almost on an hourly basis. Any moment now we can expect Andrea Leadsom to produce a tumbler and the Scrabble letters, enquiring 'Are you there Mrs Thatcher ?'

Whilst I agree entirely, the danger with that is that it feeds in further to the narrative already being successfully peddled that the current maelstrom is due to the EU's intransigence and unreasonable behaviour. At the very least the EU should ensure that there are no maverick comments or suggestions which can be seized upon, and they present the case for an orderly outcome in a calm and reasoned manner. Having said that, I listened last night to the DUP still suggesting that, contrary to all evidence, an alternative deal can still be won - bampots, one and all.

Holy f**k, here we are again this morning with the deep-thinking folk of Bolton making a bold and blindly simplistic bid for the title of Brexit Central. Nine people interviewed and broadcast by Jane McCubbin and every one a rabid Brexiteer. Then cut to Brexitdorm for another dollop of spittle-flecked bile..... not an alternative viewpoint anywhere, WTF is going on at BBC television ?

It is indeed, and I'm all for that even if I don't always agree, but I really prefer them to be reasonably informed. But it seems that the BBC editors are incapable of finding, or perhaps more accurately broadcasting, any supporter of Brexit who doesn't come across as a lobotomised Danny Dyer. Worse than that, these 'innits' are seldom ever challenged on their views - maybe a wise course of interviewing. I would comment on the Remain mob, but they seem noticeable only by their absence on the BBC.

Can anyone explain why the BBC is now producing vox pops with woefully ill-educated members of the great British public on a daily basis ?

Yep, and if I hear another plummy retired English voice on Reporting Scotland demanding that 'they just get in with it' I'll put my boot through the telly.

No, the full thing is about gaining power to enact that manifesto, and you simply won't achieve that if said manifesto doesn't appeal to enough of the electorate. But wait, I'm actually wrong there, it's even more than that. It also involves inspiring a broad enough range of people to form a consensus to deliver power, and forming a team which inspires confidence. For you, taking part seems to be more important than winning. Politics and its effects on peoples' lives is too important for that sort of self-indulgence.

Aye, I saw that, and whilst I don't condone bombs anywhere I'm struggling to understand why the IRA would countenance targeting Glasgow - it doesn't add up.

Would that really matter to Corbyn and his camp followers ? He strikes me as a guy who would happily see Labour become the East Stirling of UK politics rather than temper his own ideological purity.

And in the context of the UK's future replace it with what exactly ?

If ever there was a time for politicians to put the country's interests before party allegiances then it is now. A crazed Theresa May has almost driven the bus over the cliff and it's now time the adults took over. Request an extension from the EU and put May's deal to the electorate along with No Deal and Remain options. ( Yes I know the headbangers would go crazy, with the Leave vote risking a split, but these are effectively the three choices). Every last MP would do well to consider that if they shove May's deal over the line then it might generate some positive headlines in the scarecrow press but it would be a truly dire outcome.

If anyone's under any misapprehension under how potentially disastrous Brexit is likely to be for the people of the UK then they need only listen to the rhetoric coming on an almost hourly basis from the American ambassador to the UK, the billionaire Woody Johnson.

Anyway, with relegation now averted we can turn to other matters. Hard on the heels of Hazza and Meghan becoming Earl and Countess of Dumbarton, blow me if the old Baked Bean hasn't just made Prince Ted and Sophie the Earl and Countess of Forfar. Isn't this interest in Scottish League Division One by the House of Windsor just marvellous ?

This is getting less a case for the Men In Grey Suits and more a job for The Men In White Coats.

Indeed, but since then only someone living in a cave on Rockall would be unaware of the lies, duplicity, wild promises of the Leave campaign never mind Cambridge Analytica, Arron Banks, the mounting job losses and shambolic political attempts at leaving the EU. In other words a lot has altered since 2016.

Oh yes it would - you expect Swindon for example to repeat the idiocy ?

Aye, I notice the right-wing papers are attempting a hard sell that a growing number of the electorate are moving towards a No Deal. Apart from the fact that there is almost certainly no firm impartial evidence to support this, it's indicative of the desperation setting in and confirms that Telegraph, The Mail and The Express will throw the propaganda kitchen sink in the coming days. Expect The Express to run with a cut-out and keep Spitfire this Tuesday [emoji927]

May, the ERG and the DUP are now desperately taking the piss; in the face of all evidence and reason they are playing the democratic deficit card. If there is an extension I hope the EU makes it conditional on a further public vote but my real fear is that THEIR bottle crashes in the final days and May gets to push her shite deal across the line.

Just been watching the 10 O'clock BBC News - please, FFS someone put a hard border around Grimsby, and quickly. What is it about fishing ports and thickos ?

It's not a 'definite issue', it's the desperate utterings of a man who knows he and his Prime Minister are fast running out of road. And had it been such an issue, then why did that eminent lawyer and former Brexit Secretary, Dominic Raab, not cotton on to it all those months back ? Cox is a Poundland Brian Blessed, a man who thinks bluster will pass for policy. And oh the fucking irony of it; the Tories, visceral haters of European Human Rights legislation, now desperately trying to deploy that very card. Farce indeed.

Too true. The wife and I now point blank refuse to watch any telly programme that doesn't contain scenes that may upset us

FTFY

Perhaps not, but nothing that has happened in the interim convinces me that a parallel set of greedy, uncontrolled feral bankers couldn't easily repeat the dose. And that brings us back to Corbyn; whilst I believe that he and McDonnell would welcome a tilt at their reckless modus operandi, I also believe they simply won't get the chance. The Tories may be venal, heartless, psychopathic and racist b*****ds but they know how to win elections. Corbyn with the likes of Abbott in tow simply won't cut it with a sizeable swathe of the electorate, he simply doesn't have the stuff that takes the fight to the opposition and can inspire people - that is the current reality.

I agree with all of that but there remains a big problem where Corbyn is concerned - he is totally unsuited to leading a major UK party.