We've managed to get past the danger of Trump endorsing anyone in the election; he's flown away in a fit of pique that a playground gang of other NATO leaders were caught laughing at him. I really can't knock Trumpy, despite his manifold failings; Hillary would have been far, far, worse - and the US would have been mired in another trillion dollar war by now if Clinton had been in the White House, with a stream of transport aircraft bringing the coffins home. Better Trump, and families having their husbands and fathers home alive at Christmas.
Macron's desperation came through. He can only hold France together if everyone else continues to pay for it. His thrust to take greater control of the German treasury has foundered, and his defence strategy is centred on getting money, including NATO money, from all of the other EU26 to invest in French defence industries. Islamist terrorism is forcing his internal security to the limits, and the Gilets Jaunes are a continued irritant. No wonder he will be willing to use a fight over French access to UK fishing waters after Brexit (if the Conservatives win) to try to win back his collapsing popular support.
I'm hoping for a Conservative fireworks strategy - that we've been keeping the brightest bursts, the loudest bangs and the greatest impact fireworks in the box until last, to give a crescendo display over the next seven days. Our social media presence has also been risibly poor to date - our supply of talented 17 year-old video makers seems poorer than Momentum's.
One of the highlights of my social media week has been the piss-taking of the Guardian under the #TrollingtheGuardian tag. The newspaper's banning of a parody account on Twitter on copyright grounds has unleashed an amusing flood of pisstaking - leading to what one observer has termed ironic confusion, with the Guardian's real straplines reading like the Onion and the parodies having the flavour of authenticity. Hey ho.
18 comments:
We seem to escaped everything, except remaining in the EU!
Andrew Neil's relatively gentle skewering of Anti-Democrat Jo Swinson was embarrassing to watch. How anyone could think this inexperienced, self-righteous prig is Leadership material is beyond me.
I'm bored rigid by the election now. Without Nigel seriously challenging the CONs and forcing them to up their game, they simply can't perform. It's a Party going through the motions and hoping to win because the alternative is so awful.
Those, Raedwald, who continually appeal for Nigel to stand down aren't doing the CONservative Party any favours in the long run. They will only improve if they are forced to in order to survive.
We're probably in the period when the 'don't knows' and the 'can't be arsed' voters suddenly realise that there's only a few days to go, so they'll probably vote the way they always have done, to save time from thinking about it all.
I do think however, that the leavers will come out more in force than the remainers - it's just a gut feeling, but it's the sort of gals and guys who really do care, this time, about stuffing the EU, who are out in front of the elite/lefties who still think they're impregnable.
Snow and -9 temps already being forecast for next week by MSM which gives them a good ‘reason’ why turnout will be low.
Sixteen year olds are liable for tax.
"No taxation without representation" was the rallying cry of the American Revolution.
What's wrong with that?
Uhm, A two-year old is also liable for tax (e.g. income from a trust fund above the personal allowance) but that's not an argument to give them the vote, Cheesy ..
Sure, the Tories will probably get a modest majority, Boris will jump up and down but then what? As the year 2020 dawns and springtime unfolds its buds and leaves, where will the sunny uplands and unicorns be? Well they won't. Boris will surely struggle to get any useful trade deals, the EU will not play nice and yes, Donald or his best mates do want the NHS with or without a silver tray.
Meanwhile lack of housing, lousy roads and rails, floods, a tumbledown Parliament and a knackered justice system will still be with us. But safely enseated our Parliament will do nothing, manifesto promises always quietly evaporate away.
I voted Remain but I could see that a hard Brexit might eventually have a useful effect. After crashing the economy, provoking revolution, seeing Parliamentary heads on Parliamentary railings we might just have emerged with a lighter more efficient and probably rather brutal form of government. Whether this would have benefited the 'left behind' I doubt. Brexit was and is promoted by the very rich and very right wing. Very wisely they have kept a low profile, after December 13th they will likely be seen more prominently, perhaps too prominently.
But we are not getting a hard Brexit, just more fudge and muddle. Unless you are very rich the year 2020 looks likely to become rather like 1816, The Year Without a Summer.
Jim said: Brexit was and is promoted by the very rich and very right wing.
Typical misrepresentation of the definition of 'very right wing' which, far too often, is used to denigrate anyone who has thoughts that can be seen to be pragmatic or simple common sense.
Maybe you missed the fact that many staunch Labour voters - the arch-typical 'flat-cap-wearing, whippet owning, beer-swiller' voted Brexit as did many small business owners (that comprise the greater number of businesses in the UK).
This election needs to see CHANGE - not a simple replacement (or continuance) of the old order and change will not come about by reliance on the same-old, same-old parties and their policies.
I pray that BXP get at least a couple of members in Parliament - double figures would be astounding and a potential game-changer.
The result of the GE is, to me and I guess many others, a 'nothing event' if anyone is seeking change unless the people of this country stand up and make their vote count.
If Jizz and his 4 mikilion fixed voters win that is it for Brexit and the UK itself. So forget about TBP--it is a 2 horse race. Tory if you want Brexit. We can force Blojo to deal square. Marxism with 4 million add on voters we can't.
@JPM: ""No taxation without representation" was the rallying cry of the American Revolution. What's wrong with that?"
I suspect you already know. In the Colonies, everybody who bought tea would be paying tax, but not all of them would be entitled to vote. Bit cavalier with the actualité today! Or is this a lawyers'-moot approach?
JPM @ 07.58
"No taxation without representation ... what's wrong with that"
OK - so no representation without taxation - if you don't pay tax you don't vote. What's wrong with that ?
I am as keen on change as anyone, but I am not holding my breath.
In my safe Tory seat a majority of >16,000 pay our MP to drag their feet on housing and on roads and campaign against business parks or anything so vulgar as industry. They like grammar and private schools and a spot of flooding keeps the developers away. This symbiosis holds the country back, no harsh realities are faced and the 5 year electoral cycle means that even demographic changes will take 3 or 4 electoral cycles or 20 years even to register on the political dashboard. Recruit some more of the young into the housing ponzi scheme and the safe majorities are restored forever.
Wonderful news for NIMBYs and for lazy parliamentarians but bad news for the country, the economy and people not on the ladder.
There is a difference between voters and promoters. One lot believe the advertisement, the sales pitch will solve all their problems, the other lot have an agenda and need the voters - any voters but just once is enough. The Brexit project has been a long time in gestation with support going back before even The Ridley Plan. The ERG are out the same barrel, their agenda is not happy times for all those ex Labour voters, their agenda is power and to squeeze the have-nots and also the have-a-little-bits. But hey-ho, it is change.
To be fair sticking with Remain was not too bright either. Rumble along much the same while we watch the French and Germans rise up the heap a bit and we slip behind. We will be facing the same problems in 10 years time but amusing to watch the game.
Jim--"Same problems in 10 yrs time" --rubbish mate. Out of the EU we will thrive.
Jim @ 08:43 :
“Brexit was and is promoted by the very rich and very right wing”
Quite the reverse. Remain is promoted by the bankers, the corporates, the hedge fund managers and the very wealthy such as Lords Heseltine and Adonis, Richard Branson, Hugh Grant, Gina Miller etc.. It was the poorer areas of the UK which voted the most heavily for Brexit.
“Meanwhile [after Brexiting] lack of housing, lousy roads and rails, floods, a tumbledown Parliament and a knackered justice system will still be with us.”
No government of any colour can solve the UK’s shortages of housing, schools, hospitals, GPs or general infrastructure if we remain in the EU and continue with freedom of movement simply because no government will ever know just how many people for which they must plan.
A position made even worse by those parties who wish to extend freedom of movement to the whole world.
“As the year 2020 dawns and springtime unfolds its buds and leaves, where will the sunny uplands and unicorns be?”
No-one can foretell the future. But I would rather be able to influence our laws and policies (trade, fiscal, taxation, energy, environmental, foreign, military, immigration etc.) through retaining the right to elect and remove those who make these decisions.
Remaining in the EU, where decisions are made by those we did not elect and cannot remove and hence cannot influence, is truly a journey into the unknown.
Are jim and JPM one and the same?
Anyway, I fly out for my final trip this year at 06:30 on Friday 13th (oooer!) so will miss the wound-licking, excuse-making, shock, learning of lessons, hearing that the people have spoken and we are listening etc.
Labour should get less than 29% (what Brown got) and they deserve 5% but I doubt that dream will come true.
If the country turns blue we'd better Brexit PDQ...and not BoJos shitty deal.
What I quite like, is the silence of eliters like Heseltine, Major, Bliar, Brown et al.
The bluster and pomp they tried to display just a few weeks ago, is now a deflated, tired, faded old balloon, caught in the trees and sagging under the weight of its own string which connected them to their perceived entitlement as 'grandees'.
'Bye you sorry lot!
Gone yet?
@Sen O'Blene
"the silence of eliters like Heseltine, Major, Bliar, Brown"
They might be silent, but they, along with Starmer, Mandelson, Clarke and all the other establishment drones are plotting, I assure you. Before the returning officers announce the results their obstructionist plans will start to come to fruition. This is not the end ... etc.
Span Ows - I kinda feel that JPM is Jim's elderly dad. They may both laugh at such an absurd notion, but by such inventive fantasies must we put flesh on the bones of the comment columns ....
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