|
Post by jdredd on Sept 26, 2018 23:30:10 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/world/europe/jeremy-corbyn-uk-labour-conference.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage"Support for Mr. Corbyn remains high among his party members and from trade unions delighted at the party’s shift to the left. But the conference lacked some of the euphoria of last year’s gathering, which followed a general election in which Mr. Corbyn performed better than critics had expected, depriving Mrs. May of her parliamentary majority. Some of the shine has been removed by months of feuding over the party’s approach to anti-Semitism, a dispute needlessly prolonged by Mr. Corbyn, who ultimately retreated on the issue, but not before damage had been done to Labour’s reputation. On Wednesday, Mr. Corbyn acknowledged that the summer had been “tough” and that the dispute had caused “hurt and anxiety” to the Jewish community. He promised that his party would “always be implacable campaigners against anti-Semitism and racism in all its forms.” A big majority of Labour members favor another referendum, according to pollsters. But Brexit has been difficult for the party because the issue splits its base. While many of its voters in big cities wanted to remain in the bloc, many others in working-class communities left behind by globalization opted to leave. Not only are senior Labour figures divided on whether to keep open the option of a popular vote on any Brexit deal the government negotiates, they are also split on whether to include in a vote the option to remain in the bloc. At a meeting held on the fringes of the conference, Carolyn Fairbairn, the director general of the Confederation of British Industry, said she had been “really careful about language” when discussing Brexit. She said she had “only started using the word ‘catastrophe’ in the last few months.” But at the same meeting, Caroline Flint, a lawmaker who had argued for Britain to remain but who now wants to proceed with Brexit, warned that any move to stop it could inflame voters and lead to a resurgence of the far right.It is hilarious to watch the UK self-destruct over somthing as stupid as Brexit. I expect the far right to keep growing.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Oct 18, 2018 17:39:40 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/opinion/england-ireland-border-brexit.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=HomepageTwo weeks ago I visited Birmingham while the Conservative Party Conference was being held. All around me were examples of the worst elements of the English ruling class: their solipsism, their hatred of the poor, their amazing rudeness. A man in a boater hat and cravat, drinking Champagne and smoking a cigar, ignored a homeless woman asking for change and then chided me when I gave her some. Fed up and demoralized, I wandered off to the cinema and saw “Black '47,” a thriller set during the Irish famine. In it, an Irish deserter from the British Army returns home to find his family dead and his homeland ravaged as a result of British rule. He hunts down those responsible — the landlords, the judges, the army, the lord in his manor — and metes out fitting punishments. An older couple next to me in line, both wearing lanyards from the conference, were deciding what to see and asked me what “Black ’47” was about. “It’s a sort of revenge fantasy, I think,” I replied, “Set during the famine, the Irish against the English.” “Oh, really?” the woman asked. And then, ponderously, more to herself than to me: “Revenge for what?” Ha-ha! Here's an Irishwoman discovering that the English are still slimy a-holes.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Nov 16, 2018 1:49:20 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2018/11/15/world/europe/brexit-theresa-may.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage"LONDON — Theresa May rose to her feet before the British House of Commons on Thursday to make the sales pitch of her life, promising that the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union would be “smooth and orderly.” It was not supposed to be a laugh line. But the members of Parliament laughed out loud at Mrs. May. They laughed uproariously, and for long enough that she had to pause, eyes flickering over her papers, and wait for them to stop, so she could continue. Over the past two and a half years as prime minister, Mrs. May, 62, has plenty of experience being derided and conspired against. On Thursday, the day she publicly presented her long-awaited, 585-page deal to withdraw from the bloc, or Brexit, she took such a pummeling that her survival as prime minister was in question." Uh-oh! Worthless Trump-hugger Ms. May may become a victim of of UK's moronic Brexit!
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Nov 28, 2018 15:01:54 GMT -5
I do have to admit that I am impressed that the Brits had the guts to thumb their noses at the EU, while the Scots were too chickenshit to thumb their noses at the UK.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Dec 13, 2018 0:39:33 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2018/12/12/world/europe/brexit-theresa-may-vote.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage"LONDON — Britain’s prime minister, Theresa May, survived the gravest threat yet to her embattled leadership on Wednesday, winning a party confidence vote and averting a leadership battle that threatened to plunge the country into prolonged crisis. But the victory celebration, if any, is likely to be short-lived. While Mrs. May survived to fight another day, the future of her stalled plan to leave the European Union looked bleaker than ever. She still lacks the votes in Parliament to pass it. She stands little chance of winning the concessions from Europe that she needs to break the logjam. And the surprisingly strong vote against her within her own party underscores the difficulty she faces in winning approval for any plan for Britain to leave Europe, or Brexit, as the deadline for withdrawal looms." This is so much fun watching the UK implode. And Corbyn is waiting in the wings, despite the anti-Semite smear..
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Feb 5, 2019 12:10:00 GMT -5
It's doubly amusing to watch the Brexit thing go down. First, I read that Brexit was driven mainly by anti-immigrant paranoia. What a foolish reason to put yourself through this for. I say: if you worry about immigration, get a life. Jeez, I'm having a senior moment, I forgot the other thing.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Feb 7, 2019 1:52:00 GMT -5
Read an article today that cast a little more light on the hard to explain: The reasoning behind Brexit. Apparently some of it had to do with a Trumpian "Britain First" mindset which made membership in the EU subservience to (ewwwwww) THE GERMANS. And Brexit was way more popular in the sticks than in London, or so I've read.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Feb 25, 2019 18:21:04 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2019/02/25/world/europe/Jeremy-Corbyn-brexit-referendum.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage"LONDON — Britain’s opposition Labour Party said on Monday that it was prepared to support a second referendum on withdrawal from the European Union, a shift that could have significant ramifications for the fate of Brexit and for the country’s future. After the resignations of nine Labour Party members last week, and amid the prospect of more, the party’s leader, Jeremy Corbyn, dropped his longstanding resistance to a second vote on leaving the bloc. Mr. Corbyn’s support for a new vote is certainly no guarantee a new vote will happen. Still, it will cheer pro-European Britons, who have been fighting to reverse the outcome of the 2016 referendum decision." The view from way over here is kind of hazy, but it looks like Corbyn is finally getting off his duff.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Mar 27, 2019 1:37:01 GMT -5
So what's happening to Brexit? Who cares? Well, I kind of care. The UK might be like the USSR in the eighties: it looks like it might be self-destructing. Who knows what kind of ugliness could happen. If things really went south, they could end up as a republic. Queen, pack your bags! Ok, maybe not. She's too much of a tourist draw.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Apr 5, 2019 19:40:42 GMT -5
I named this thread "The New British Thread" until I could find a more fun name, and here it is. I love the term "Brexiteers". I originally had no interest in Brexit (just another stupid trade dispute), but now almost three years after the Brexit vote, it has grown into a real laugh riot! Lots of Brit Nationalism now involved, nationalism always being a source of hilarity. ("USA! USA!" for instance) But I'm sure the UK will pull back from the brink, and not self-destruct like the USSR.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on May 15, 2019 1:53:57 GMT -5
While it would be good to know what is going on politically in Britain, keeping track of the ups and downs of all those bozo parties is more work than I want to do. It's almost as hard as keeping track of all the Democrat clowns running for President.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on May 24, 2019 14:35:09 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2019/05/24/world/europe/theresa-may-resign-brexit-parliament.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage"LONDON — An iconic image of Theresa May was published on the front page of almost every London newspaper this week, as Britain waited for her to step down. It showed her in the back of her car, her face pale and sheened with sweat, her eyes red-rimmed and watery. The image resonated because it was nearly identical to one taken of Margaret Thatcher in November of 1990, as a car whisked her away from her own resignation. “Tears in the Back Seat,” read the Daily Mirror’s headline, on both days. The tears were notable because they were out of the ordinary. In two years and 10 months as prime minister, Mrs. May has made toughness into a personal brand, plowing forward even as her hopes of delivering Brexit faded. It became one of the central mysteries of British politics: What exactly would it take for Mrs. May to give up? The answer became clear on Friday. Contemplating a fourth humiliating defeat in Parliament, abandoned by the last of her allies, Mrs. May at last concluded that she had exhausted every possible pathway to success. She said she would stand aside as leader of the Conservative Party on June 7, but remain as prime minister until a successor was chosen." Another Middle-of-the-roader bites the dust. We are in an era where many voters prefer the lunatic fringe (Trump, Sanders, Firage). Do you really want to run Biden, Democrats?
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Jun 2, 2019 1:41:21 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2019/06/01/us/politics/trump-brexit-britain.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=Politics"WASHINGTON — Just before his state visit to Britain was to begin, President Trump subverted diplomatic norms by rattling an already precarious political situation there: He suggested that the next prime minister of Britain “walk away” from trying to reach a deal to withdraw from the European Union and that the far-right populist Nigel Farage be sent in to negotiate. In an interview with The Sunday Times, of London, Mr. Trump also said he had told the current prime minister, Theresa May, who announced last month that she would step down after repeatedly failing to get her Brexit plan through Parliament, to sue the bloc for greater leverage in talks. Mrs. May left her government in a weaker position, he said, for not threatening to walk away “in the form of litigation or in the form of a request.” The president and Melania Trump, the first lady, are set to arrive in London on Monday for a full state visit, which Mrs. May had been trying to arrange for years. Coincidentally, it will be her last week as the leader of the Conservative Party. With the government five months away from an exit deadline, uncertainly looms over her potential successor. The British economy has also taken several hits, which businesses have blamed on Brexit." I gotta ask: why? But then I'm not a righty Brit. Even that old hag the Queen is going to host him. Isn't there one Brit with the huevos to tell him to go eff himself? Guess not, but it sure would be appreciated by some of us on this side of the pond.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Jun 4, 2019 0:49:58 GMT -5
Watching the Queen kiss Trump's ass was almost more than I could handle.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Jun 25, 2019 3:08:28 GMT -5
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/25/brexit-union-conservative-party-northern-ireland-scotland"Will the Conservative members preparing to vote for Johnson even care if Brexit ends up leading to the dissolution of the union? Last week’s YouGov survey of Tory members revealed just how far the card-carrying zealots will go, revealing the majority were happy to see Scotland and Northern Ireland leave the union as long as Brexit was delivered. The majority of members are English, and when patriotism is discussed in the British media, it is English nationalism that is discussed, even when people claim to be discussing a “British” identity. The cultural uniqueness of Scotland or Wales is a matter of indifference. The Conservatives are happy to see almost anything happen to secure any form of Brexit whatsoever." It would be hilarious if the unintended side effect of the Brexit buffoonery was the breakup of the United Kingdom! And the unification of Ireland!
|
|