Now that Brexit Succeeded...

[pr126]

Brexit begins in 9 days

The Prime Minister will formally notify Brussels of the UK's exit in nine days time, beginning the two-year countdown until Brexit is complete.

It will also kick off the timetable for formal talks on Britain's exit, with the 27 remaining EU member states set to outline their negotiating position later next week.

Britain's ambassador to the EU Sir Tim Barrow this morning informed the office of European Council President Donald Tusk of the UK’s intention to invoke Article 50 next Wednesday.

Brexit Secretary David Davis said: "Last June, the people of the UK made the historic decision to leave the EU.

"Next Wednesday, the Government will deliver on that decision and formally start the process by triggering Article 50.

"We are on the threshold of the most important negotiation for this country for a generation.

I wonder if this will become a domino effect. I am sure thre will be other countries thinking the same.

[manfred]

I am worried about that Sturgeon woman causing problems. To here every single issue only has one answer... Scottish Independence. I think they should tell her to ask for another referendum in 30 years' time, and not before.

[Fernando]

It probably all depends on Turkey. If I were a conspiracy theorist, I'd suspect that the recent spat between The Netherlands and Turkey was cooked up to boost Rutte's chances. If the EU now presses on regardless with its appeasement of Erdogan, it could spark a revolution - so they'll probably hold off until the French and German elections are out of the way. Meanwhile watch out for similar "provocations".

[manfred]

The way the Dutch elections are reported are also rather odd... Wilders made some gains and got more seats, and was "routed" and Rutte "won" by merely holding on for power with a reduced majority. The writing is on the wall, and I doubt he will be quite to lucky again.

And you are right, Fernando, the Turkish "incident" was quite lucky for Rutte, but I think it will mean the "migrant" crisis will start up again as a result.

[manfred]

Honestly, if you like a good laugh, you should occasionally look at the daily rants about brexit in the Guardian...

Here is one suggesting that Brexit will cause chocolate Easter eggs to be smaller.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... ter-brexit

Of course no comment section, because this would get a lot of hoots.

[Fernando]

Here is one suggesting that Brexit will cause chocolate Easter eggs to be smaller.

The only reason this could occur would be because of exchange-rate changes. These are controlled by international financiers, who would be delighted to make money from them. As exemplified by the deliberate machinations in the past by George Soros. Who would himself hardly be displeased with anything that punished anti-globalists.

[manfred]

Oh, here is another good one...

According to former US vice-president Al Gore, the Brexit vote was caused by GLOBAL WARMING!

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/783 ... referendum

[pr126]

Global warming has been re labeled as climate change.

Brexit is causing global warming. There. That's better.

[manfred]

Ode to the EU

[Fernando]

The irony is that Schiller's and Beethoven's work is generally associated more with Freedom than with Joy. It would be better as an anthem against, rather than of, the EU.

[Fernando]

"Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics"

.
Seven months, to the day, since the previous post in this thread. Seven months of festering and lies. By way of an example of what's going on, the Daily Mail has a revealing article about the droves of EU staff allegedly leaving the NHS. It turns out that... lets see:... BBC Radio 4; BBC2 TV; Royal College of Nursing and Midwifery; the Gruardian; British Medical Association; Sir Vince Cable (LibDem leader); Labour's health spokesman: all these have claimed that the NHS is suffering a massive loss of EU workers.
However, it turns out that there is a high TURNOVER of EU workers in the NHS but the number in post HAS ACTUALLY INCREASED since the Brexit vote.
Never mind the statistics, feel the lies.

Did the Brexit vote cause a staffing crisis in an NHS heavily reliant on EU workers? No, this investigation proves the story is utter hokum

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5071847/Brexit-vote-did-not-cause-NHS-staffing-crisis.html

[Fernando]

FROM PRITI TO SEX PESTS: THE SCANDAL OF 'REMAINERGATE'

More interesting Remainer news this weekend from a different part of the journalistic spectrum: Spiked Online. I'd had my suspicions about the fuss over ministerial peccadillos and suspected that they were somehow down to Corbynistas and Momentum - especially as the Labour ones seem to be brushed under the carpet while Tory ones have a red carpet rolled out for them.

Not so, it seems. Spiked reckons that the underlying force is the Remain camp, be it Left or Right. Particularly telling is this:

A Tory MP on the other side of the debate, Jacob Rees-Mogg, told the BBC’s Newsnight programme that the leaks which brought down Patel had probably come from Remainers inside the Foreign Office: ‘There are still some people who are still very bitter about the result a year ago and inevitably that colours their behaviour.’ That bitterness was evident recently, when Rees-Mogg’s own reactionary-but-principled opposition to abortion made outraged headlines. Why was this Conservative’s well-known backward view of abortion suddenly made the stuff of scandal, at the time when he was being discussed as a possible successor to Theresa May? Not because anybody seriously believed that an imaginary Rees-Mogg government was about to outlaw abortion, but because they wanted to discredit and delegitimise the most eloquent Tory Brexiteer.

The article's author, Mick Hume, ends with this:

But what about ministerial protocols or the personal ethics of Westminster MPs? The truth is that none of that will matter much if we lose the battle for Brexit. If the biggest vote for anything in British political history can be undermined or overturned by a conniving elitist political class then we can hardly claim to live in a democracy, no matter how many new codes of conduct MPs impose on themselves.

As far as democracy is concerned, it’s now Brexit or bust. Which is why, if it’s scandal you’re after, the hidden affair that most needs to be exposed is Remainergate.

http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/from-priti-to-sex-pests-the-scandal-of-remainergate/20518#.Wgc5z7VpF6o
EDIT
I hadn't read the comments when I posted. I've since seen this, with which I very much agree and which is worth a thread of its own:

Dreadnaught • 2 days ago

We are living in the age of the phenomenon of Social Network Frenzy.
Never has so much been said about so little.
The present generation of Millennials absorb their life experiences through their obsession with virtual reality so much so that it does not bode well for those yet to be born. Glad I'll be out of it, but sad for my grandchildren.

[Fernando]

Latest Brexit outrage.

The latest potential deal with the EU has been scuppered, seemingly by the Irish but it could easily be at the behest of the EU. In the process, an outrage seems to have been committed. According to Sky News, Theresa May has declared that the reason the NI Democratic Unionist party MPs did not see the highly dubious deal she seems to have cooked up with the EU and Southern Ireland was... wait for it... because the Southern Irish wouldn't let her show it to them!
It beggars belief - either that such a situation could actually come about, or that she would think that we'd believe her. Take your pick.
I'm so staggered that I could do with a drink, but I'm unlikely to swallow the Irish variety. OTOH, Scotch is as bad, as the wee fishwife is jumping on the Irish bandwaggon and wanting a similar deal of her own. Nor can I go for London gin, as Sadiq Khan also wants a similar deal to isolate Londistan from the rest of the UK. Must it be French brandy after all? Or Rick Stein has just been extolling the virtues of Mexican Tequila and the food looked deliciout too. Roll on a free trade deal with Mexico!

[manfred]

The EU "negotiation" strategy is: "First give us EVERYTHING we want. Then we MAY listen to what you would like, but we will ignore most of it."

The Northern Ireland red herring is also rather stupid. Once we leave the EU, obviously there will be some sort of border in Ireland, but the exact nature of that will depend on what kind of agreement is reached. However, we will be unable to discuss that unless we unilaterally first say what the border should be like, as if we had a crystal ball or something. And the way things are going, the EU and Ireland seem to favour a "hard border" by forcing a "no deal" exit from the EU. They hope it will bring back terror attacks, possibly, and hence make the UK a less attractive place to live in or invest in, or even better, the very fear of such attacks will stop us leaving.

I think the discussions with the EU go nowhere, and the structure of them has been designed to do just that. The way it looks to me, the best choice would be to just walk away, and stop paying all contributions to the EU immediately, as they threatened to freeze our investment funds. Then, if they want a trade deal, let them come to us.

[Ariel]

Tony Blair is actively working to 'overturn Brexit' 'It is reversible. It's not done until it's done,' he says.

The arrogance.

Tony Blair confirms he is actively working to 'overturn Brexit'

[Fernando]

Shock discovery - survey reveals Leavers not racist!
Praise where it is due - the BBC's Newsnight devoted a large section on January 10th to a survey - of which I've seen or heard no mention elsewhere - of largely older, poorer, white English people. The sort of "deplorables" who would have voted for Brexit.
The survey, by Demos, covered quite a lot of areas where such folk might be unhappy but a significant finding, expressed on the programme by a lady from Demos, was that opposition to the EU and/or immigration was not motivated by racism: something she was at pains to point out. Could this be why the survey has gone un-noticed?
It's well worth a listen on iPlayer - from about 14mins to 32 mins.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b09ly74f/newsnight-10012018
The preliminary report of the survey is here:
https://www.demos.co.uk/project/citizens-voices/

[Fernando]

It's ain't over 'til the fat lady sings old gambler pays.
Anything Putin might have done with his twitter-farm is as nothing compared with this foreign attack on our democracy - £400,000 will buy a lot of treachery.

George Soros, the man who 'broke the Bank of England', backing secret plot to thwart Brexit

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/02/07/george-soros-man-broke-bank-england-backing-secret-plot-thwart/
That's behind a paywall, but you can read two articles a week if you register. The public-facing paragraphs follow.

Nick Timothy Kate McCann Claire Newell Luke Heighton
8 FEBRUARY 2018 • 7:21AM
George Soros, the billionaire known as the man who “broke the Bank of England”, is backing a campaign to overturn Brexit, the Telegraph can disclose.

The investor is one of three senior figures linked to the Remain-supporting campaign group Best for Britain who plan to launch a nationwide advertising campaign this month, which they hope will lead to a second referendum to keep Britain in the EU.

The campaign is trying to recruit major Tory donors in an attempt to undermine Theresa May.

It also plans to target MPs and convince them to vote against the final Brexit deal to trigger another referendum or general election, according to a strategy document leaked from a meeting of the group.

The document says the campaign, which will begin by the end of this month, must “wake the country up and assert that Brexit is not a done deal. That it’s not too late to stop Brexit”.

It adds that a series of...

EDIT:
Reading further in that edition, I see this article - free to read.

Elitist Remainers are plotting to bring down the Government. This is a wake-up call for Tory MPs

Nick Timothy

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/07/elitist-remainers-plotting-bring-government-wake-up-call-tory/
It contains much of the material in the first article, with extra reading between the lines. Soros is probably untouchable but if a group of UK citizens are taking foreign money to bring down the government, they'll probably be thankful Tony Bliar ended the death sentence for treason.

[manfred]

What gets me is the sneaky way Ireland is being used in this. The argument of the EU goes if the UK leaves the EU there has to be a solid border in Ireland. This will result in Terror attacks. To avoid that, Northern Ireland should follow all EU regulation even after leaving. And because Northern Ireland should not be make a "special case" all of the rest of the UK should also follow EU regulation indefinitely, stay in the common market and the customs union. We only resign any part in the decision making process, but we will remain a EU dependency.

If we disagree, there will be no trade deal, and there will be renewed terror attacks.

It does not seem to get into their heads that an independent country decides how to handle its own border. We have repeatedly said we will not put border controls. If the EU wants a Berlin wall in Ireland, well that is their choice. I am sure the Irish farmers specially will be eternally grateful.

[Fernando]

It does not seem to get into their heads that an independent country decides how to handle its own border. We have repeatedly said we will not put border controls. If the EU wants a Berlin wall in Ireland, well that is their choice. I am sure the Irish farmers specially will be eternally grateful.

The Irish government is only too happy to do the EU's bidding because it is trying to face down the fact that it betrayed the Irish people by ignoring the results of their referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in 2008 and fudged the issue by having a second referendum to get the result it wanted.