Fullerene

As far as they are concerned, if there is a return to a hard border then that is because the EU are being pig-headed, inflexible, stubborn and bloody-minded. Imagine being accused of that by the DUP.

The Labour membership chose Corbyn to be Labour leader because he shares their aspirations ... .. except when he doesn't.

Leeds voted Remain.

It also means returning to some golden era that never was. For them, it represents patriotism and if it all goes wrong that is somebody else's fault.

Good point. BTW, somebody has asked me to make carrot cake. No idea. Never made one in my life. Any suggestions welcome.

Fascinating to read that Stalin could sometimes be a nice guy. That is definitely news to me.

Nothing changes because not enough people get angry about it. You have the leak of the Panama papers and the Paradise papers. A single episode of Panorama reveals that Lewis Hamilton saves millions by flying his plane to the Isle of Man just once. He doesn't need the extra money but so what. People are annoyed but not that annoyed. Lewis Hamilton lives in Monaco. What can you do? In any case, they can't relate to Lewis Hamilton because he lives a completely different lifestyle to themselves. Then you get dozens of programmes about benefit cheats. Tom down the road got £20 from the council to help buy a new washing machine when there was nothing wrong with the old one. People love that. Terrible Tom. Lock him up. Throw away the key. Oh but would you like £20 to help you buy a new washing machine? Yes please.

Exactly. That's why they keep saying "Leave means Leave" because it is the one thing they agree on. "They means They" "Are means Are" "Idiots means Idiots"

People might talk about tuition fees but for me the most uncomfortable aspect of the Liberal Democrats going into coalition with the Tories was about how comfortable they seemed with the arrangement. Nick Clegg sat beside David Cameron, and the rest were just as cosy. When the Tories blamed the Labour Government for the financial crash, the Liberal Democrats were quite happy to concur. They reinforced the Tory agenda and gave austerity a legitimacy it did not deserve. I can easily imagine a lot of Liberal Democrat voters who despised the Tories were horrified. Now it seems Jeremy Corbyn will play the role of "useful idiot" for the Tory agenda. For people in England who dither between Labour and Liberal Democrat but are definitely not Tory, I suspect voting Liberal Democrat might seem appealing. The main problem is the electoral system, FPTP, where the anti-Brexit vote is split leading to a pro-Brexit win. Ah but that is what we call democracy!

It is not impossible to leave the EU. However it is impossible to leave the EU and cease to be a member but continue to reap all the benefits of being a member.

There is a bit of ' how dare Britain speak out' to this. The proles will be shafted when Brexit is ditched and Mr 'left wing' Corbyn is replaced by a Blairite. Anyone who actually believes we are living in a free democracy needs their head examined. Elitists and big business will prevail. The big problem with Brexit is this - "There is no plan". Jeremy Corbyn thinks he can win an election, go to Brussels and say "Hey, it's us." and for some reason the EU will offer him something better. Theresa May, for all her faults, voted Remain but feels obliged to negotiate the people's will. Jeremy Corbyn has always been opposed to the EU. Why would they be friendlier to him? As soon as anyone criticises Jeremy Corbyn on anything - the conspiracy theorists come racing to his side. Nobody is forcing him to say the stupid things that he says. How is it a free democracy to see that Brexit will be a disaster but have no means to elect a government that will stop it?

Yes, they did fix their position - to keep all options open - including a second referendum. However Jeremy Corbyn ignores this position and states his own position instead. Nobody really believes him when he says he is not a Brexiteer. That was his position forty years ago and he is not willing to change it.

If it was just the Guardian than that might be true but other papers and news channels are saying the same thing. Other Labour politicians are more careful about how they say things to allow all options to remain open. However Jeremy Corbyn then comes out and says what he thinks - which is an opinion that hasn't changed in decades. Jeremy Corbyn is all for following the wishes of the membership but that is only if they wish for the same things that he does. I suspect he expresses a lot of opinions that Labour party members agree with but on Europe he does not.

It must be depressing spending your whole life surrounded by toadies. For example, every time the Queen farts, somebody else says "excuse me" and pretends it was them.

This sentiment alone is worthy of a knighthood. Arise Sir Danger.

Newspapers tend to reinforce the opinions of their readers - otherwise their readers would desert them. However they also form opinions for their readers on those subjects where their readers have none. So, yes, the Daily Mail can stop rowing so hard against the EU and it doesn't matter - the mood and direction has been set, so the hatred of the EU can continue without much assistance from the Daily Mail. What gets me is why anyone should have had strong opinions about the EU in the first place. It was set up to create a level playing field so that 6 countries, and now 28, could trade easily with each other as well as with other countries in the world. Yes, it has its good points and its bad points but not to the extent of "let's have nothing to do with it". UK newspapers are far less influence on the EU than they have with any UK government. It was in their interest to whip up hostility to the EU and that goes a long way to explaining where we are now.

Again I agree with you but that leader is not Corbyn. Yes, all those other things are wonderful but Brexit has an urgency that overrides everything else. His attitude to the EU is the same as it was 40 years ago yet he refuses to admit it. How do you demonstrate leadership while being so duplicitous on a matter like this?

I totally agree with you on that but if he did not realise that was part of the job then he should not have accepted the role. Resorting to claims of conspiracy is never going to lead to success. Believe me, I probably agree with him on a lot of things but I think he is his own worse enemy. He comes across as dogmatic at a time when it is hopelessly inappropriate.

I have strong opinions on some things but I also have no opinion on other things. For the latter, I rely on politicians to do the hard work and then convince me one way or the other. In other words, he should have made up his mind and come out fighting - just like he did for the 2017 election. Also, some of your recent replies suggest paranoia and conspiracy similar to North Korea and Enver Hoxha's Albania. Jeremy Corbyn is supposedly one of two people who could be Prime Minister at the next election and yet he was easily outmanuevred by Jack Straw's son. Good luck as PM combatting Trump, Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim Jung-un - and the EU as well. IIRC: He blocked efforts by Alan Johnson to push a more pro-EU campaign during the referendum.

Jeremy Corbyn loves giving speeches where he says "I have always believed." It demonstrates conviction. Jeremy Corbyn does not like giving speeches where he says "I now believe." It suggests he is fickle. He made up his mind on the EU a long time ago and he will not budge. If he was persuaded otherwise on state aid, he would simply grab some other excuse. He is totally out of step with his own membership even though they were the ones that got him where he is now.

You are right but I was listing reasons that might not be applicable now. I think there are plenty of people who just don't like foreigners - let alone immigrants. They are probably furious that cheap flights and a drop in the pound encourages tourists to come here. The irony is that it will still be easy for people to visit here but a poor exchange rate and long queues in the blue passport lane will make it more difficult for us to go to Europe. Q.: What do you call a tourist in Burnley? A.: Lost

We use to dream about living in a shoebox.

I think people should stop saying "we" as if everybody who voted the same way on anything did so for the same reasons. Some people voted Leave because they believed it would mean more money for the NHS. Maybe not you - but they did. People were told it would be the easiest deal in the world and some people believed that. The impression was given that it would all be straightforward and you would hardly know the difference. In that case, if membership hardly affects things then why bother with it. Some people only made their decision in the polling booth and decided to vote Leave. They weren't angry, outraged or furious with anyone. They simply decided on balance that we might as well Leave. Some people voted Leave as a protest vote. Some people voted Leave because they don't like austerity. Some people voted Leave to have a go at David Cameron and George Osborne. Given the complete absence of any workable plan, it seems ridiculous. It is like deciding to sell your house, and after two years looking for a new house and failing to find one, you still want to stick by your original decision to sell your house.

Yikes. I will rephrase. "If it wasn't for the unelected editors of the Sun, the Telegraph, the Daily Mail and the Daily Express, we would probably never have had this mess in the first place."

Actually I agree. In fact, if we had replaced all the unelected editors of the Sun, the Telegraph, the Daily Mail and the Daily Express a long time ago, we would probably never have had this mess in the first place.