Brexit slowly becoming a Farce.

[renton]

20 minutes ago, Granny Danger said:

In the wake of Michel Barnier's comments we now have Jean-Claude Juncker criticising the UK 'position papers' and simply restating the EU position that has not shifted one iota. This was apparently followed by the spokesperson for No 10 saying that Britain is in a "good position" in the talks.

Whichever side you take on this I'm pretty convinced that if this is developing into a game of chicken then the EU will be the winners.

I suppose the thing is that the majority of British government activity is aimed at presenting itself in a good light for a given situation, rather than actually proposing or drafting policy.

[welshbairn]

Frankfurt is winning the battle for Brexit spoils

[DA Baracus]

1 hour ago, welshbairn said:

Frankfurt is winning the battle for Brexit spoils

Best quote from that article;

"We don't live in the middle ages, so we can't say this is a castle and we keep the drawbridge up."

[zidane's child]

a quote from a caller on Nick Ferrarri's Breakfast Show this morning on LBC

"We need to get back to the days of the Empire where we had deals with New Zealand and the rest of them"

I don't even know where to start with this p**h

[DrewDon]

I suppose McSpreader has to find a way to fill his mornings now that he has been emptied from here. 

[Granny Danger]

3 hours ago, renton said:

I suppose the thing is that the majority of British government activity is aimed at presenting itself in a good light for a given situation, rather than actually proposing or drafting policy.

You may be right.  As a strategy it's pretty shit though.

[welshbairn]

Boris coup in bringing the EU and Trump's Whitehouse onto the same page shocker.

Quote

One diplomatic source told The Times newspaper that officials in the White House “don’t want to go anywhere near Boris because they think he’s a joke”.

“The French think Boris is totally unreliable, the Germans think he’s a liar and the Italians think he’s dangerous,” a Tory MP added.

 

Boris Johnson Ridiculed As 'A Joke' By Trump White House, EU Diplomats

 

[mjw]

What exactly happens after that?
"Okay, if we can't talk about trade, my flight home isn't until Thursday, any sightseeing you might suggest.  I quite like a good walk."

Hari kari might be an option.

[bob the tank]

Apparently David Davies gave it an hour at the negotiations today, then chucked it.

 

 

[zidane's child]

1 hour ago, bob the tank said:

Apparently David Davies gave it an hour at the negotiations today, then chucked it.

 

 

Probably wanted to get home in time to catch The Great British Bake Off

[TheProgressiveLiberal]

7 hours ago, welshbairn said:

Frankfurt is winning the battle for Brexit spoils

Yes, I'm sure people all over England are weeping that a few bankers in London might have to tighten their belts a little bit. I'm fairly sure that Brexit was about opposition to the idea that bankers should order society to fit their narrow economic interests, ignoring the broad economic and cultural interests across the rest of the country. Maybe I'm wrong on that. I can't recall having personally discussed the issue with British people. I'm just doing the math in my head.

[welshbairn]

Just now, TheProgressiveLiberal said:

Yes, I'm sure people all over England are weeping that a few bankers in London might have to tighten their belts a little bit. I'm fairly sure that Brexit was about opposition to the idea that bankers should order society to fit their narrow economic interests, ignoring the broad economic and cultural interests across the rest of the country. Maybe I'm wrong on that. I can't recall having personally discussed the issue with British people. I'm just doing the math in my head.

I'll do it for you. Our financial sector represents 15% of the UK economy .

[TheProgressiveLiberal]

1 minute ago, welshbairn said:

I'll do it for you. Our financial sector represents 15% of the UK economy .

And that's the problem. It was specific government policy which led to this imbalance. It's a smaller subset of people who have the skills to achieve prosperity in an economy which is so ordered around pushing paper assets around and pushes economic investment towards those paper assets rather than brick and mortar. Eventually people got fed up and threw a brick through the window of British politics.

[TheProgressiveLiberal]

The problem with globalization is that it's sucking capital into a few financial capitals. Now, maybe that wouldn't be disastrous, except it's been combined with mass unskilled immigration. Now it's becoming harder and harder for the native Western working classes to follow that capital because immigrants are crowding these financial capitals. Higher crime. Decreased quality of public services like schools for your kids. Cultural alienation compared to the small British / French / American town where you grew up. It's a terrible combination. Inability to provide the type of life for your family you've been culturally conditioned to expect. (Living space for instance. Working class Americans following the capital into NYC don't just have to compete with Chinese immigrants. They have to compete with Chinese immigrants who are willing to raise their family in a box because that's what they're used to.)

[Baxter Parp]

Trying to remember who was Home Office minister 18 months ago....

[Fullerene]

16 hours ago, TheProgressiveLiberal said:

And that's the problem. It was specific government policy which led to this imbalance. It's a smaller subset of people who have the skills to achieve prosperity in an economy which is so ordered around pushing paper assets around and pushes economic investment towards those paper assets rather than brick and mortar. Eventually people got fed up and threw a brick through the window of British politics.

So people were rebelling against people like (former city broker) Nigel Farage by voting exactly how he wanted them to vote.  Not sure I can follow your logic there.

Similar to Americans protesting about the super-rich by voting for Donald Trump - I guess

Edited August 30, 2017 by Fullerene

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Fullerene said:

So people were rebelling against people like (former city broker) Nigel Farage by voting exactly how he wanted them to vote.  Not sure I can follow your logic there.

In fairness I believe he has a good point, there was nothing Black or White about the Brexit referendum, on one side you had horrible individuals and on the other side you had equally horrible individuals.

Let's face it when Cameron and Osborne tell you to do something for "the good of the country", then any sensible person would automatically see that as a negative meaning the "good for them" not the country, but unfortunately you had people like Farage and many of the UK elitist establishment on the opposite side.

The bottom line is that the ordinary working person gets screwed whatever way and the Rich and Powerful win whatever way.

Such is life in a modern ubercapitalist world I'm afraid.......

[welshbairn]

I don't get why people would vote to be in or out of the EU based on whether they like the campaign leaders or not. It wasn't like you were voting for them to be in charge of anything.

[Baxter Parp]

[Cerberus]

8 hours ago, welshbairn said:

I don't get why people would vote to be in or out of the EU based on whether they like the campaign leaders or not. It wasn't like you were voting for them to be in charge of anything.

Numerous Scots voted No because Alex Salmond has a fat wife.