Brexit

Yes, and I’m wrestling with that, but frankly I voted in a referendum and parliament is trying to overturn the result of that vote (Chuka Umunna at least having the decency to be honest about that, even if some of the others won’t).

What’s the point in voting if all they’re going to do is overturn the electoral decisions they don’t like?

Having a vote has always been very important to me but I’m feeling decidedly *shrug* about it at the moment.

I know why you are angry Jean, why is the monkey angry at this time? 

I reckon Jean should back Jezza if you want to leave. Corbyn led government will be leaving the EU as he can't nationalise the railways in the EU

Because their job is to act in the best interests of the country as a whole, not just a tranche of it.

And the best interest of the country as a whole is not to create an entirely avoidable economic catastrophe by claiming people voted for a crash exit that wasn't an option on the ballot paper or a risk properly explained by those advocating leaving the EU. Parliament is entitled to correct mistaken decisions, and this is the biggest mistake in history...

The Government is acting on the will of the people.

On analysis of the manifesto’s of all the Parties at the last election
- 52% of voters voted for Parties which clearly stated that they would NOT leave without a Deal..
- 48% of voters voted for Parties which said leave on any terms.

None of this week’s shenanigans has changed that, all that has happened is the electoral majority for leaving without a Deal has been protected and is why it is important that the General Election, (which will come ) is after the will of the people to leave with a Deal has been enacted and why the opposition Parties should not give in on Monday.

At the moment we are democratically bound to leave the EU as per the referendum as both Labour and Conservatives went to the electorate on a Leave platform.

The fun starts with the proposed General Election, all Parties other than Labour are going to clearly state Leave / People’s Vote / Remain. The only one we have no indication for is Labour and their manifesto will be when we find out and personally believe it will be a People’s Vote as they are unlikely to go on a clear Remain platform.


The other thing to remember is that the Tory/DUP coalition were the majority Party, if the ERG, Johnson included had voted with their Party this mess could have been avoided and we would have left by now no matter what the other Parties did.

What I have found over the last week is that we need to be more engaged when we vote, I am undecided on which of the Remain Parties I will vote for as it will be on their Manifesto which I will read this time and the particular voting pattern to achieve Remain in my Constituency with the Manifesto being the primary driver.


The sadness in all this is the amount of time it has taken me to understand all the minutia around leaving the EU and try to make sense of it, the digging to get the above analysis has been difficult, if only it was the duty of the mainstream press to clarify rather than listen to who shouts louder or pays the reporters.

Brexit keeps on moving at a break neck speed, I have tried to minimise my involvement in this thread (wasn’t planning to post today) and keep as factual as possible as most people are understandably tired of it all and once I have digested days events.

We now move onto Monday where
- The No-Deal Bill should get Royal Assent.
- The request for a General Election by the Government will be heard.
- A possible vote of No Confidence, with the Prorogation this will naturally move the Election after the extension is in place as per the No-Deal Bill or may not even be started as usually goes to Parliament the day after it is requested and at the moment the Governments Prorogation request will close Parliament on Monday and ironically to stop this the Government will have to eat into the Prorogation time table they have set out.

Thought yesterday would be my last day at College Green now looks as if there will be an encore on Monday as everything comes to a head and then (maybe) everyone goes to their Party Conferences.

That news article is from June this year and refers to whether Ms May will stand down immediately after quitting being kicked out from being Prime Minister. It doesn't say that she won't quit in the general election.

And some people care about the future and avoiding chaos and an economic crisis that I will likely spend a great deal of my working life paying taxes and higher prices to resolve.

I voted to Remain, I believe passionately in Remain even though I am not blind to the EU's inefficiencies (no institution is perfect, but a framework is workable and malleable whereas nothing is just nothing) and I very much begrudge my future being gambled on a knife edge by people who campaigned on lies and claim legitimacy from a vote where it is crystal clear that many, and possibly a majority, of those who voted and those who did not were fed and blindly believed that misinformation. That I cannot and will not look past.

But despite that, I will take leaving with a deal because that is currently the least worst potentially achievable option. And because I have done enough reading and know enough from past studies to understand the depths of trouble that a no deal crash out would bring, without seeing any cogent argument in its favour.

The people who have a funny idea about democracy are the people who think that an effective negotiating tactic is to threaten to throw their toys out of the pram and threaten to trigger the outcome which leaves the UK in the worst possible situation. The fact that they actually seem to think that would ever work in any context shows both their lack of intelligence and their arrogant self-importance. They are not my government and they never will be, and as far as I'm concerned they have no legitimacy - their party membership do not speak for me, in fact they speak for less than 1% of the population, that is how wafer thin the current government's mandate actually is.

I get that, but even if over fifty percent of people spoiled their ballots in a particular constituency, it would surely be the unspoiled votes that were counted to determine the result? I’m genuinely asking because if it could actually make a difference then I’d consider doing it.

To quote Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin

“She (He) knows herself (himself) to be at the mercy of events, and she (he) knows by now that events have no mercy.”

I wonder if it's not simply the slow realisation that his current situation (hated by huge portions of the population, unable to do anything he wanted to, likely to out of the job very soon, and in this bind about stating never to ask for an extension, but with no one to pick up the batton before Oct 31st) is pretty much what he's been working towards for his entire life. This short, painful few weeks will be the pinnacle of his career.

I don't really see why anyone who wasn't completely deluded or happy to sacrifice themselves completely to whichver side they believe in would want to be PM right now.

People didn't vote for Brexit in the spirit of wanting to leave the EU, come what may, at the expense of the economy, whatever it takes.

All of the pro-Brexit campaigning was predicated on the idea that we'd have more money afterwards - more money for the NHS specifically. People voted for a deal - an advantageous deal, the easiest in history.

Now obviously, those campaigns were lying - and anyone who'd done their homework knew they were lying.
But a lot of people didn't.

So it's the age old question that anyone in a service role faces - do you give the customer what they asked for, even though you know that's terrible, and deal with their inevitable complaints afterwards by saying 'but I gave you what I asked for!' Or do you attempt to get them what they actually want, even though it's not what they asked for?

Democracy has to include the ability to change your mind when you get more information, and hold the people you elect to account when they don't keep their promises. The pro-Brexit campaigns made a lot of promises that couldn't be kept.