|
Post by jdredd on Jul 22, 2019 2:38:42 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2019/07/22/opinion/boris-johnson-prime-minister-britain.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage"LONDON — Boris Johnson, to whom lying comes as easily as breathing, is on the verge of becoming prime minister. He faces the most complex and intractable political crisis to affect Britain since 1945. That should be concerning enough. But given Britain’s political system — which relies for its maintenance on the character and disposition of the prime minister — it carries even graver import. Mr. Johnson, whose laziness is proverbial and opportunism legendary, is a man well-practiced in deceit, a pander willing to tickle the prejudices of his audience for easy gain. His personal life is incontinent, his public record inconsequential. And his premiership could bring about the end of Britain itself. The state of the United Kingdom, a constitutional compact founded in 1922 and stretching back, in one form or another, for centuries, is severely strained. Though Brexit is primarily driven by English passions, two of the four territories in the Union — Northern Ireland and Scotland — voted to remain. Both present immediate problems for Mr. Johnson — and for the future of Britain." It's hilarious watching the UK self destruct over economics. Kind of like the Soviet Union. But Boris and Donald are like two peas in a pod.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Aug 29, 2019 12:18:16 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2019/08/29/world/europe/boris-johnson-brexit-parliament-backlash.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=undefined"LONDON — Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, faced a growing and angry backlash on Thursday as his decision to suspend Parliament next month prompted protests and legal challenges, and political opponents scrambled to salvage efforts to stop a disorderly Brexit. The normally fractious opposition swiftly united in outrage at Mr. Johnson’s maneuver on Wednesday, which brought protesters onto the streets in London and other cities across the country, while an online petition against the action drew well over a million signatures." MEANWHILE, while nothing is happening in America, back in Merry Old England they continue their march to self-destruction.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Sept 4, 2019 10:02:11 GMT -5
One thing I've noticed about the British press: Even more boring sports coverage than the US press.
|
|
|
Post by Turk on Sept 4, 2019 12:25:17 GMT -5
No matter what side of the fence you are on I think it is hilarious what's happening in the UK. They should abolish the parliament and let the royals govern again to one big family orgy.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Sept 6, 2019 2:37:38 GMT -5
www.nationalreview.com/2019/09/jeremy-corbyn-labour-party-threat-most-important-us-ally/"Tory prime minister Boris Johnson has, to his credit, seized the initiative in the battle over whether Britain will truly exit the EU, and on what terms. But no one can know how this high-stakes gamble will turn out. Johnson just lost his slender parliamentary majority, and the prospect of a new election looms. If things break the wrong way, the winner could be opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, a throwback leftist redolent of the bad old days of Britain’s self-imposed stagnation. It’s hard to exaggerate the threat represented by Corbyn and Co. taking control of our most important ally. In U.S. terms, Corbyn is a mashup of Bernie Sanders and the Squad, mixing orthodox socialist economics with a hostility to U.S. foreign policy and Israel." "Every election in a democratic society is important. But Britain in the coming weeks will be faced with unquestionably momentous choices: Whether to take back its full sovereignty from the EU, and whether to throw in with a dangerous radical. Its modern history, and perhaps that of the West, is in the balance." Ha-ha! This article has cheered me up. But it would be foolish to get my expectations too high. He would probably get in and be another Tony Blair. Still, I can dream about a PM who might ban Donald Trump from England. But thank you Brexiteers for putting Jeremy in range of 10 Downing.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Nov 2, 2019 13:16:34 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2019/11/02/world/europe/brexit-uk-election-johnson-trump.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=World%20News"LONDON — It was shaping up as an ordinary day of campaigning in Britain’s extraordinary general election. Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited a primary school in Suffolk where he showed children old pictures of London and told them about the days when rulers “used to stick the decapitated heads of the enemies on spikes.” His opponent, Jeremy Corbyn, promised a crowd in London that the Labour Party would never sell out Britain’s National Health Service to greedy American companies. Then, shortly after 6 p.m. on Thursday evening, Nigel Farage, the insurgent leader of the Brexit Party, welcomed a special guest to his national radio show: President Trump, calling in from Washington to disparage Mr. Corbyn and urge Mr. Johnson to forge a hard-line pro-Brexit alliance with Mr. Farage." Who knew Britain had so many Deplorables? But at least Boris is not unhinged like Trump. Why doesn't the EU just tell the UK to go f*ck itself?
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Nov 3, 2019 20:15:52 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2019/11/02/opinion/sunday/uk-brexit.html"LONDON — Over the centuries, Great Britain spawned the Industrial Revolution and nurtured representative democracy. It ruled the waves and created common law. It nurtured the first antislavery movement and stood up to Hitler. And now Britain has gone nuts. To paraphrase rchill, if the nation should last for 1,000 years, people may look back and say: This was their saddest hour. Actually, never mind: Brexit may cause the United Kingdom to fragment, so that the country might not last a decade more, let alone last a millennium." Maybe countries DO have karma, and England's is finally coming true.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Nov 25, 2019 14:40:08 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2019/11/25/world/europe/uk-election-conservatives-labour.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=World%20News"That frustration, combined with a fraying social fabric and long-term corrosion in economic opportunity, has created a volatile atmosphere in Ashfield: anti-immigrant, distrustful of the political elite and receptive to populist appeals from the right that would have been jeered a few years ago. “What I voted for is to leave the E.U., make a clean break and then negotiate a new deal with them from a position of strength,” said Glyn Street, 57, who drives a street sweeper. “We’ve got to get out of Europe, because otherwise our kids will be under a dictatorship.” I keep trying to figure out Brexiteers like I'm trying to figure out Deplorables, and here is one more small clue: Are they are both paranoid? We know Deplorables are up to their necks in conspiracy theories.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Dec 8, 2019 20:28:41 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2019/12/08/world/europe/young-voters-uk-election-brexit.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=World%20NewsSOUTHAMPTON, England — As students from the University of Southampton zigzagged across campus on a recent cold afternoon, youthful activists with Britain’s main opposition Labour Party intercepted them with cups of tea and a leaflet with detailed instructions on how to register to vote in December’s election. “Vote for jobs, vote for housing, vote for youth services, vote for the climate,” the campaigners chanted, as students gathered around them to learn more. Brexit, generally supported by older generations, is seen by many young people as a threat to their ability to travel, study or work abroad, and continues to be one of the most important issues for youth voters, alongside the environment, education and housing, according to an analysis by YouGov, an internet market research firm based in Britain." Here's another clue for you all: Brexiteers are geezers.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Dec 11, 2019 5:00:15 GMT -5
Tomorrow is the election in the UK. I expect the Tories to win big. I hope so because I look forward to anything that might help dismember the UK. And unite Ireland.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Dec 12, 2019 18:12:15 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2019/12/12/opinion/uk-elections.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage"The rationales vary and multiply. But they stop at this: Under Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party has become, in the words of many of its own members (or former members), “institutionally anti-Semitic.” Dwell on the word “institutionally”: It means it isn’t just a matter of some bad apples. The question for the British electorate — and for anyone else who takes a rooting interest in the country’s politics — is whether or not they seriously care. The latest evidence comes in the form of a recently leaked 53-page document by the 2,500-member Jewish Labour Movement (J.L.M.) to Britain’s Equality and Human Rights Commission. It chronicles “relentless” and “daily” incidents of anti-Semitism within the party." Here is Bret's predictable screed against Corbyn. He needn't have bothered, it looks like Boris is winning. F%%k the UK. All I care about is: What's in it for Ireland?
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Jan 5, 2020 19:23:22 GMT -5
While it still could be a long way away, the possibility of a united Ireland seems closer. The revival of British nationalism could lead to a revival of Irish nationalism. Thanks, Boris.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on May 5, 2020 15:35:20 GMT -5
www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/05/eu-uk-brexit-talks-hurtling-towards-new-crisis-point-says-irish-foreign-minister"Brexit talks are hurtling to another crisis point unless progress is made in the next two rounds of talks, the Irish foreign minister, Simon Coveney, has said. His warning comes as industry analysis of deliveries from Britain to high-street supermarket chains in Northern Ireland found that firms could incur costs of more than £100,000 per lorry unless the special Brexit arrangements for the region were sorted out. The new protocols involving customs and food certification checks begin in January next year whether the UK’s future relationship with the EU is agreed or not. Ireland has expressed renewed concerns that there would not be a trade deal that could at least mitigate some of the worst effects of Brexit on Northern Ireland." OK, no one is dying because of Brexit, but it just shows the stupidity of it.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on May 9, 2020 14:03:03 GMT -5
Wow, if you think America is sports-obsessed, you should read the Irish or English press.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Jun 28, 2020 13:43:31 GMT -5
And here I though Ireland was saner than the USA. But no, they are considering spending a billion euros on probably some Typhoons, because a couple of Bears strayed into their airspace, even though their health care system is under great financial stress. The claws of the greedy defense contractors have even reached Ireland, just like the special interests continue to pressure European governments to spend no less than 2% of their GDP on unnecessary war weapons. Perhaps Covid-19 will sabotage that. Always a silver lining.
|
|