ml1dch

I got through about four fifths earlier and then work finished. There's nothing new, but it's as good as you'd expect.

http://www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2018/10/10/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-final-weeks-of-brexit This is excellent. Thorough, easy to digest and solid on accuracy on where things are and where they might realistically go. Well worth 5 / 10 minutes of your time.

No, it probably wouldn't be. But that's not because it would be a referendum (the Scottish independence referendum would have been legally binding if passed), simply that making the result of this legally binding would be a really silly thing to do whatever the potential result.

I fear my point may have been missed. No, I don't want proof. Of course every country in the EU (and pretty much every country outside the EU) has dealings with big investment banks. I'm just not sure why you believe that it's some kind of scandal.

28 European countries, including some of the biggest economies in the world may have had dealings with the world's second largest investment bank? I wonder how much the film rights will sell for.

It's obviously not going to be as black and white as that, but it's what our choice is basically going to boil down to. Do we want to be in the EU's regulatory orbit, which will mean large-scale US trade isn't an option or do we want to be in the US's regulatory orbit which will mean large-scale EU trade isn't an option. Unfortunately our current society is dependent on it being the former, but there are people in positions of power pushing for the latter. The "third way" probably means we can't do large-scale trade with either of them!

The bit of your post I've removed I fully agree with, and was basically a far better, more concise version of what I was going to post. What I think brommy's definition of "successful" in his original post is something that is agreed and passes acceptably through the UK parliament and the various EU machinery. Even though what that basically has to amount to is "everything as it is now, but UK input and representation is removed". And I'd bet a lot of money that there weren't many voters in 2016 who would describe that as their resolution of choice, so whether it's now a "success" is pretty arguable. The bit I've quoted, I disagree. There are a significant number of people for whom success is defined as "leaving, whatever the cost". Whether for democratic reasons or ignorance reasons, the consequence isn't important it's simply the fact that we've left.

I've taken the liberty of removing all the bits of your post which are wrong.

And it also risks masking the underlying point behind the original post - specifically that Jeremy Hunt is a complete whopper who should be thoroughly ashamed of himself.

Nope, it was inevitable that we were going to cave in and agree to everything eventually. It was just a case of how long it was going to take. If reports are true, then it seems the answer is "as long as it took to get the party conference out of the way".

To play Devil's advocate, journalistically it makes sense. Corbyn doing a competent speech in front of a hall full of people who love him and who clap and cheer in all the right places isn't really news. "Corbyn now says that the Tories are shit. The crowd seem to like it /3" "Corbyn now saying that the railways are shit and should be nationalised. Gets a cheer and a round of applause /4" May doing a speech and not tripping over her own feet, or the stage caving in, or a stripper accidentally turning up at the wrong hall, and a room full of people who apparently hate her clapping along and laughing at her silly dancing is a bit more of a surprise, so I'd expect it to get a bit more journalistic interest.

Yes, that's probably fair. Elderly trade unionists and angry teenagers at the Labour one, tumbleweeds and a stench of lonely decay at the Lib Dem one.

These days, journalists and lobbyists mainly.

Still, pretty apt choice of song.

When Twitter plagiarises "Turn A Blind Eye" by Half-Man Half-Biscuit.

Given that the substance is an embarrassing shambles, I'd say that focusing on the style right now is probably beneficial for her.

And of course the only major political party in Northern Ireland to oppose the Belfast Agreement was...

Donald Tusk, just after he became leader of the Student Committee of Solidarity in Gdańsk, after his predecessor had been thrown out of a window by the Security Bureau. He literally risked his life to help bring about the end of Communism in Poland. If Farage had been around at the time, he'd either be reporting people to the secret police while running some local enclave of the black market, or keeping his head down waiting for the sell-off of national assets. The reprehensible little cockroach.

Remember though, the Government has treated the EU with nothing but respect. Theresa said so. It's once again like they are too stupid to realise that they do have things like the internet and journalism in Europe.

Heh. They only found out because an MP read about it on Twitter and posted it in the Tory MP WhatsApp group.

Conservatives design a hip new "app", to get the kids interested in their party conference, yo. Rate and review the speeches from your favourite ministers in real time, just like you're on the Instagrams. Sam Gyimah's in the house y'all! (and accidentally forget to make it password protected, and let anyone who downloads the app to log in to anybody's account, revealing the personal details, including telephone numbers, of the Prime Minister and any other attendee of the conference) Still, I'm sure all that "technology" they are planning for Ireland and for the millions of people whose residency status needs to be changed will be just fine.

Precisely. Trial after trial, same offence at every single one. Turn up with a camera, trial gets adjourned. "The establishment are persecuting us, please visit our JustGiving page and help us fight the people who want the Muslim pedos go free". Would be quite an impressive money-making scam if it weren't being perpetrated by such reprehensible people.