The Political Thread

[TordelBack]

This is great news,  I'm skint at the mo: PayPal will be fine for me, Frank.  Good old Boris, finally doing something that benefits the common squaxx. But I won't spend it quite yet,  eh?

[Jim_Campbell]

Looks like it might be the 9th. Corbyn's moved an amendment to change the date that seems to be picking up support in the house. The difference between this and the 12th is that the 9th doesn't leave Johnson enough parliamentary time to try and force his Withdrawal Agreement through the Commons again.

That's actually fairly shrewd from Corbyn... not only is it politically a good idea, it shows up Johnson's real intention (he couldn't give a toss about an election) if he fights it, and also puts the Tories on the back foot as the ones trying to delay an election.

[Frank]

So Frank, do you have Venmo, or...?

PayPal will be fine for me, Frank.

I'll pay up after Brexit.

[radiator]

I feel like this period of history will be very interesting to watch a documentary about in twenty years time, when we know how everything worked out and we can see the bigger picture, but its so exhausting trying to keep up with it all in real time.

[Professor Bear]

Really looking forward to six weeks of "I don't know Labour's Brexit position", an act of performative ignorance with no possible negative repercussions.

[Jim_Campbell]

I feel like this period of history will be very interesting to watch a documentary about in twenty years time, when we know how everything worked out and we can see the bigger picture, but its so exhausting trying to keep up with it all in real time.

Basically, follow Ian Dunt and David Allen Green on Twitter.

(Dunt is a known Squaxx and Green is not averse to littering his tweets with comic book metaphors...)

[Professor Bear]

The obvious caveat is that both are notorious horseshoe theorists, or "melts" as the commulists would say in their jive youth lingo.

[Jim_Campbell]

December 12th it is, then. Corbyn's alternative date was defeated by ten votes, coincidentally the exact number of Tories Johnson just restored the whip to.

[JayzusB.Christ]

So what now for Brexit? This isn't rhetorical or anything, I really would like to know. I've lost track

[Jim_Campbell]

So what now for Brexit? This isn't rhetorical or anything, I really would like to know. I've lost track

All up in the air. A 1.4% swing to the Tories gives them a majority and Brexit is on, a 1.9% swing to Labour makes them the largest party and they should be able to cobble together a coalition which puts a second referendum on the cards. My gut tells me the Tories are going to take it, but May had bigger poll leads and lost her majority.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Cheers Jim. We worry about this over it over here; a hard Brexit means we're in deep trouble too. 

[Tjm86]

It's also interesting to look at the number of MP's that are jacking it in, even in safe seats.  We're in Labour Donkey Territory here and Smith has announced that he is not standing in this Sh** Show.  By all accounts he's one of over 50 MP's to say 'sod it'.  Not to mention that Alex Johnson is looking at his own seat very carefully.

[Professor Bear]

I suspect there may be another reason why right-wing MPs who have made a career of late in biting the hand that feeds them are leaving a Labour Party whose trigger ballot system was recently revised to make deselection easier.

Smith is a good example of someone jumping before they were pushed, as he's not only a running joke in the party because of his "negotiate with ISIS" and "I have a 30 inch penis" gaffes, but he has relatively little support locally, and a lot of people still can't tell him apart from Owen Jones, a man to whom he bears no physical resemblance.

[Dandontdare]

Smith is a good example of someone jumping before they were pushed, as he's not only a running joke in the party because of his "negotiate with ISIS" and "I have a 30 inch penis" gaffes,

Typical partisan lies and fake news - it was 29 inches.

[Professor Bear]

The obvious joke is, of course, that I was confusing it with Owen Jones' penis.