The Political Thread

[IAMTHESYSTEM]

Well, the EU Brexit deal is apparently done. I don't think the ink is dry on it yet, but you have to wonder what the details are of course. It seems we're not crashing out over a cliff which I feared the more deranged amongst the Brexiteers wanted. That has to be good news for future relationships with Europe and the Irish peace process though it might be a mess of new regulations for small businesses. Not quite the Christmas present they'd want to receive.

[Jim_Campbell]

The UK government chooses to withdraw from the Erasmus exchange scheme.

Chooses to perpetrate an astonishing, enraging act of cultural and intellectual vandalism. Removing opportunities for a generation or more of students in order to... what? Prove a fucking point?

[Professor Bear]

Rich kids will still be able to do it.

[IndigoPrime]

Exactly that. In the same way we are now paying far more for the vaccine than tiny Iceland, because our idiots in charge refused to throw their lot in with the EU on a bull purchase. (On Erasmus, like everything else, the UK argument is we will set up our own thing instead. That gets a headline, they do nothing, and everyone moves on. Rinse and repeat.)

[JOE SOAP]

The UK government chooses to withdraw from the Erasmus exchange scheme.

Irish government has stated students in Northern Ireland will still have access to Erasmus.

[Smith]

It must have been a slow month since all the politigrifters pulled out the old "War on Christmas" bit.

[Funt Solo]

The EU:




The UK:

[Professor Bear]

It must have been a slow month since all the politigrifters pulled out the old "War on Christmas" bit.

To be fair, most alternative news outlets have also been running long-completed pieces specifically debunking "The Left's War On Christmas" - Hbomberguy's vid has been on the metaphorical shelf for the better part of 2 years before he finally released it a few days ago, though his dissection of the eternally-dreadful PragerU remains as topical as ever.

[Smith]

It must have been a slow month since all the politigrifters pulled out the old "War on Christmas" bit.

To be fair, most alternative news outlets have also been running long-completed pieces specifically debunking "The Left's War On Christmas" - Hbomberguy's vid has been on the metaphorical shelf for the better part of 2 years before he finally released it a few days ago, though his dissection of the eternally-dreadful PragerU remains as topical as ever.

It gets revived every year for the last ... well,forever. Pat Boone wrote a book about it back in the 60's.

[Funt Solo]

Some copy-pasta that (alongside the Excel spreadsheet shit-show earlier in the year) demonstrates the establishment's firm grip on the modern world: Brexit deal mentions Netscape browser and Mozilla Mail

[IndigoPrime]

It's a dirty text, in part copied from earlier deals/docs. This is down to the UK pissing about and running down the clock. It provides a framework to sign, and the text will be cleaned over the coming weeks.

[Rately]

DUP now blaming everyone for a deal they brought about.

Hilarious, tragic. Predicted years ago.

[IndigoPrime]

They had so much power and influence and squandered all of it. They made the same mistake as Labour c. 2005 and Lib Dems c. 2014, thinking they'd be in power forever. But power is fleeting. You must make the most of what you have at the time, to further your own goals. They never did. Looking at the numbers, one of their biggest fuck-ups was the IVs, where they voted with the government. Had they switched, to provide the UK with more options, Customs Union would have passed with a majority of 17 (thereby potentially creating a path to eradicating the Irish sea border), public vote on the final deal would have passed with a majority of 12 (thereby—if it managed to get through—almost certainly reversing Brexit entirely), and Common Market 2.0 would have only lost by a single vote, thereby arguably becoming viable for consideration as well.

A united Ireland now looks inevitable. How the DUP exists within that scenario, who knows?

[Rately]

Hopefully Unionists and Loyalists are finally able to form or reform one of the Unionist parties to better serve them, and actually help their community. Perhaps to deliver a better message.

Time they realised you can' eat a flag, and that the bigger issue than preserving the "precious Union" is actually improving their voters lives, and perhaps actually being honest with them rather than selling them fantasies and the same old bollix.

The DUP have made a United Ireland almost inevitable, I just hope that if it comes about, that we actually change NI society from top to bottom. Education, integration. I'm fed up of living in a zombie state, that is served by crony Politicians maintaining the Status Quo as our Economy turns to shit and our young people leave for better opportunities and to escape the sectarian shite. Throw all the flags in the sea. If I was never to see a Union Flag, Irish flag, Paramilitary flag ever again, I'd feel blessed.

[Tjm86]

Johnson has all but guaranteed that this issue is going to run and run, either side of the Irish sea.  3 hours to debate a bill of such massive importance?  After a similar number of days to scrutinise the text?  How do you reach any conclusion at all?

No, Johnson deliberately ran down the clock knowing that nobody was willing to risk the UK shifting to WTO terms, a land border in Ireland, the ire of the Americans and any number of issues that would result from a failure to conclude some sort of agreement.  The only problem is that as the reality of this deal emerges there will be a drip of revelations to keep the issue open like a festering wound.

He may well believe that he has outmanoeuvred his opponents.  I think the truth is that it is he himself that has been manipulated.  He has been set up as the perfect fool, willing and eager to take on the mantle of 'leader' at this time. 

I'm also now starting to become incredibly suspicious of Cummings' very public departure several weeks ago.  Was it designed to give him the excuse that he was not there for the final days of negotiations?  If his rumoured involvement in the 2024 campaign is to be believed has he bolted to give himself the veneer of innocence when the matter of Johnson's deal comes up?

Maybe that latter is tin-foil-hattery.  Then again I sometimes fear that I am nowhere near cynical enough for British politics these days.