HanoiVillan Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 1 hour ago, LondonLax said: There are not many votes in NI the Tories care about. His audience are the voters back on the British mainland. His audience are also in Congress in Washington, and the Democrats are going to hold the House this year, and probably win the presidency as well. Johnson's hand is weaker than it looks IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 7 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said: His audience are also in Congress in Washington, and the Democrats are going to hold the House this year, and probably win the presidency as well. Johnson's hand is weaker than it looks IMO. I think I disagree with Enda. If it came down to it I don’t think the EU would go through with a border in Ireland. I think they would keep it open and take the hit for a period whilst looking at every avenue they could to find a way to force the UK to respect the withdrawal agreement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 3 minutes ago, LondonLax said: I think I disagree with Enda. If it came down to it I don’t think the EU would go through with a border in Ireland. I think they would keep it open and take the hit for a period whilst looking at every avenue they could to find a way to force the UK to respect the withdrawal agreement. I would be interested to know if @Enda thinks that would fly in Irish domestic politics, which is surely what matters (after all, the EU can't stop the Irish government putting up border crossings if they were minded to). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enda Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 55 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said: I would be interested to know if @Enda thinks that would fly in Irish domestic politics, which is surely what matters (after all, the EU can't stop the Irish government putting up border crossings if they were minded to). There can be a delay while everyone figures implementation out, but of course there will have to be a border if the UK departs from the customs union/single market. We will need to check every truck for your hormone-pumped beef, illegal state aided-manufactures, and patriotism-stained carrots. Iirc the obligation is on the member state (not the Commission) to enforce border controls, so it will be the Irish government setting up the checks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ml1dch Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 47 minutes ago, Enda said: There can be a delay while everyone figures implementation out, but of course there will have to be a border if the UK departs from the customs union/single market. We will need to check every truck for your hormone-pumped beef, illegal state aided-manufactures, and patriotism-stained carrots. Iirc the obligation is on the member state (not the Commission) to enforce border controls, so it will be the Irish government setting up the checks. And to supplement this, if they don't then the checks will likely just move to mainland Europe and it will be French and Spanish controls checking Irish lorries. Which is probably a worse look for the Irish Government. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enda Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 27 minutes ago, ml1dch said: And to supplement this, if they don't then the checks will likely just move to mainland Europe and it will be French and Spanish controls checking Irish lorries. Which is probably a worse look for the Irish Government. Exactly. This is all so tragic because our two countries are on such good terms at the moment. For example Irish police helicopters are sometimes allowed to cross into UK airspace to “point at” cars Belfast police might want to investigate, and ambulances can take a patient to the nearest hospital regardless of which side of the border it’s on. Good, neighbourly behaviour, but harder to sustain with a breakdown in trust. Instead we’re back to borders, costly delays for supply chains, considerable inconvenience for normal people going about their business, and the inevitable opportunities for “disgruntled republicans” to run smuggling operations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 Yes exactly. My opinion of Boris Johnson is that he would see that as a weakness that could be exploited during a negotiation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post HanoiVillan Posted September 8, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted September 8, 2020 Tomorrow's Telegraph headline: It's funny, because I seem to recall him being very proud of it last year, and I seem to remember his entire party voting for it immediately after the election because they were so keen on it. Funny way to act with something that 'never made sense'. 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 How quickly we've gone from oven ready to half baked Never saw that coming.... Bunch of incompetent buffoons 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ml1dch Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 Oh. Wonder what changed? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 Another famous Boris u turn? It's beyond me how anyone can support this man. He's making May look half competent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 Thread: ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted September 8, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted September 8, 2020 Like everything else since he's become PM (and probably a hell of a lot before) Boris doesn't have a **** clue what he's doing. He's an absolute joke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bielesibub Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted September 8, 2020 Author Moderator Share Posted September 8, 2020 39 minutes ago, Stevo985 said: Boris doesn't have a **** clue what he's doing. More worrying is the reason he doesn't have a clue. I mean, hypothetically you could have a clueless fool in charge, but as long as those around the fool were able to basically run things, then you'd be kind of OK-ish. But with Johnson the double problem is his character is so utterly flawed in so many respects AND that those around him are zealots or incompetents, or both, of various different shades. Brexity zealots, disruption zealots, bone numbingly dense zealots, fundamental incompetents. Grim. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 2 hours ago, ml1dch said: Oh. Wonder what changed? From May 24th, 2020, written by Brexiteer MP Steve Baker: '[Cummings] said we should vote for the original Withdrawal Agreement without reading it, on the basis Michael Gove articulated: we could change it later.' https://thecritic.co.uk/boris-must-take-back-control/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desensitized43 Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 3 minutes ago, snowychap said: They don't care as it'll just give them an easy opportunity to replace with a Brexit-supporting sycophant who'll do as he/she is told...see everyone around the cabinet table. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted September 8, 2020 Author Moderator Share Posted September 8, 2020 13 minutes ago, desensitized43 said: They don't care It's deliberate. They do care, or Cummings does - it was pretty much his stated aim to disrupt/destroy the civil service. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ml1dch Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 I look forward to indulging in a bit of "very specific and limited" shoplifting at some point then. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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