diable rouge

alex_b Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I wasn?t referring to a voting agreement between the parties which is almost certainly impossible. What makes you think this?...

The Hartlepool by-election got its own thread, so why not C&A, after all it's arguably a much bigger, unforeseen shock. So why did it happen, is it simply a one-off due to distinct local factors, or perhaps a sign of a much more permanent Post-Brexit shift in the political tectonics of the old established north/south/labour/conservative orders? Tories unsurprisingly have been trying to spin it as solely down to the local issues of HS2 and planning reform, but this conveniently ignores that these are long-term issues going way back over the past decade, with the Tory vote consistently holding-up during that time. Roland Smith has been quoted on here a few times and he actually lives in the constituency so I was interested in his take on the result. He's a Tory voter and also voted for Brexit, yet voted for the LDs. It appears for him it was more about the incompetence of what he calls this Vote Leave Gov. That Tory voters in the Blue Wall are less inclined to 'factor in' Johnson's lies and attempts to shoehorn in a cultural war at every opportunity. That they are not happy that the once party of business is now seen more as the party of spivs, shady deals, and cronyism. In his Twitter feed he references a thread by a Lib Dem with their take on the result, as some of you don't like clicking on links I've copied it over... First, obvs, it?s a by-election, the message that ?this won?t change the Gov?t but can change how they see us? resonated, and the Libdems had a brilliant candidate, good recent local elections and a ton of helpers piling in. Tories seemed complacent, voters like to be wooed. NIMBY issues were part of the campaign - impossible to ignore HS2 locally and it affects the Tory villages more than the towns. Planning concerns showed here - as across SE in May?s elections - but far from the whole story. So what else was going on? Issues I got on the doorstep and from my family in Amersham were varied but pointed to the Tories being complacent locally and ?nasty? or incompetent nationally. People here care passionately about education. Many families move here for the (grammar) schools and pay a premium to do so. The impact of the Government?s handling of Covid on schools and exams, and university experiences, has left them livid. It?s also an older than average demographic - lots of care homes, lots of elderly households. The shockingly incompetent and callous treatment of care home residents, freshly highlighted in election week, undermined the core Conservative vote. Chesham and Amersham voted Remain. #Brexit may no longer be the main issue but a lot of people work in City, locally-based global tech & pharma companies, lots of educated professionals. Nationalist rhetoric not very popular here. People did not like the nasty party aspects of today?s Tories. This is an area where there?s a big annual Christian Aid fundraiser, people unhappy about cuts to international aid. Also some disgusted by treatment of well-respected next door MP Dominic Grieve. Boris was not a hit here either, he?s perambulated around adjacent areas (Henley, London, Uxbridge), seen as unreliable, selfish, a disappointment - and out of touch eg by small business owners, which is a big dent in his brand. Plus @calibdems have had hardworking councillors in the two towns for years, building up base and tactical votes. People readily understood that only the #LibDems could beat the Tories, and this time they wanted that to happen. So my take is that if the Conservative Gov?t continues to pursue nasty party policies while taking educated Home Counties for granted, we can expect more election upsets to come. Although there's no official 'Progressive Alliance', it does look like that those voters who consider themselves to be of that persuasion, took matters into their own hands, with Labour and Greens, together with this substantial swathe of disgruntled Tories, all voting for the Lib Dems. I read somewhere that the LDs are 2nd in about 80 Tory seats, and C&A was considered one of their safest. One thing that's not been mentioned which I think is an important factor, is that the bogeyman of Corbyn has been removed, thus making it much easier for disgruntled Tories to place their vote elsewhere. At the last election a lot of Tory voters despite being against Johnson/Brexit etc, held their nose and voted Tory. They don't have to do that now...

(Blue) Walls Come Tumbling Down...

Group Stage (Round 2) fixtures... Wednesday 16th June Finland v Russia Turkey v Wales Italy v Switzerland Thursday 17th June Ukraine v North Macedonia Denmark v Belgium Netherlands v Austria Friday 18th June Sweden v Slovakia Croatia v Czech Republic England v Scotland Saturday 19th June Hungary v France Portugal v Germany Spain v Poland

Round 1 points and Leaderboard...

TheCat Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > diable rouge Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > "Re-subscribes" > > > > 'Unsubscribes' was shorthand for ''don't bother > > wasting your time replying as I can't be arsed > > engaging with your fuckwittery'', and wasn't a > > bail-out of the thread as a whole. > > > > You're not as insightful as you like to think > you > > are... > > Lighten-up pal. Believe it or not I somehow > managed to crack your enigma code. Its a joke. I don't believe it. That was your cue to post *Unsubscribes...* Get with the project...pal

TV viewing for the next 11 days sorted...:)

"Re-subscribes" 'Unsubscribes' was shorthand for ''don't bother wasting your time replying as I can't be arsed engaging with your fuckwittery'', and wasn't a bail-out of the thread as a whole. You're not as insightful as you like to think you are...

Pretty disingenuous to say the 'excitement' was about the WA as a whole and not specifically the NIP, especially when you consider the Irish border problem was THE reason why we were hurtling towards a No Deal scenario, the proverbial can that got kicked down the road over several years, that led to a couple of extensions and even the fall of a PM. It's like all the cheering and backslapping that greeted Johnson's breakthrough walk-in-the-garden moment with the Taoiseach and the subsequent dashed meetings to Brussels never happened...

keano77 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > diable rouge Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > The Gov didn't 'find' themselves in a situation > of > > sign the deal or leave with no deal, they > > willfully engineered it. They could've asked to > > extend the transition period and given > themselves > > more time to negotiate - Dominic Raab take > note, > > that's actually what being pragmatic and > flexible > > looks like, especially in the midst of a global > > pandemic. But no, that wasn't deemed Brexity > > enough for the purists... > > The EU signed the deal and made it an > International Treaty. They see the damage their > interpretation and implementation of the rules is > causing. Question: what are they going to do to > minimise the difficulties? And the gibbering shite continues. *Unsubscribes...*

keano77 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > diable rouge Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Not my problem > > > > Wow, just wow... > > Sorry to disappoint but I don?t have any control > over what our Prime Minister says. You don't have any control over what the EU says but that doesn't stop you gibbering shite...

Not my problem Wow, just wow...

The Gov didn't 'find' themselves in a situation of sign the deal or leave with no deal, they willfully engineered it. They could've asked to extend the transition period and given themselves more time to negotiate - Dominic Raab take note, that's actually what being pragmatic and flexible looks like, especially in the midst of a global pandemic. But no, that wasn't deemed Brexity enough for the purists...

Just been looking at Roland Smith's feed and there's this latest gem... Dominic Raab - "We want a flexible, pragmatic approach to the Irish protocol, but the EU must be less purist, more pragmatic & more flexible in the implementation of it... the ball is very much in the EU's court." The lack of self-awareness is off the scale. It's because of the purity and absolutism of Brextremists like Raab that we ended up with the NIP. There were several Brexit solutions available that would've got round the Irish border issue but they weren't deemed Brexity enough. It's embarrassing seeing a Foreign Secretary talk about an international treaty his Gov wilfully negotiated, signed-up to and promoted as a great deal, wallow in blame-gaming and self-pity like this...

Working from home Detroit stylee. Disco/Acieeeed treat at 54.40...

The wait is over. Group Stage (Round 1) fixtures... Friday 11th June Turkey v Italy Saturday 12th June Wales v Switzerland Denmark v Finland Belgium v Russia Sunday 13th June England v Croatia Austria v North Macedonia Netherlands v Ukraine Monday 14th June Scotland v Czech Republic Poland v Slovakia Spain v Sweden Tuesday 15th June Hungary v Portugal France v Germany

Keano, name me one element of the NIP that the EU has contravened. If you can do that then there would already be a case for third party intervention/arbitration etc, because there will be a mechanism in the agreement for such a scenario. And you can guarantee that if this was indeed the case we'd be hearing about it non-stop from Leavers. Instead we get constant gaslighting about the NIP as if it's been imposed on us against our will, conveniently ignoring that parliament wasn't allowed time to properly scrutinise it, which in turn was clapped and cheered like performing seals by the Brexit supporting press. And what is this so-called 'bad faith'. What does that even mean in the context of the NIP? Again, give me examples instead of conjuring up manufactured phoney wars about ham sandwiches. Try taking a ham sandwich through US customs or a CANZAC country and see how far you get. If you want actual bad faith or as is often the case, downright lies, look no further than the British PM telling a group of NI business people that there would be no border down the Irish Sea. Where's your outrage at that? The problem is and always has been your British exceptionalism, you won't accept the known consequences of what you voted for...

Reminder that the Euros start this Friday evening so still plenty of time to join in, password details posted above, here's a link to the main page for any newcomers... https://www.predictaddict.co.uk/

Abe_froeman Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > 3 now? Make that 4...

Paddy Evra > Liam Gallagher...

During the Hartlepool by-election, Labour decked out it's HQ in Union Jacks nd put the flag of St George on leaflets. Instead of apeing the Tories flag-waving plastic patriotism, they should be having a grown-up conversation that patriotism is more about doing what's best for a country and it's people as a whole. There was nothing patriotic in the Tories trying to stop free school meals, and Labour should be ramming home issues like that. Likewise the Brexit deal the Tories negotiated, where's the patriotism in a deal which has economically separated NI from the rest of the UK, as well as threatening the Union with Scotland? Starmer seems scared to mention Brexit. It is possible to criticise the Tories Brexit deal without criticising Brexit per se...

I'm not 'on' Twitter Quids but I do browse around it, mainly journos across the political spectrum and legal experts so as not to expose myself (oooerr missus) to too much political bias. Agree that Mr Teflon will survive, but isn't that the problem?...

Well, there's this for starters...https://twitter.com/StevePeers/status/1397868514795470851 It was kinda ironic to see Cummings wanting/needing people to believe him. The man who helped create and nurture a political culture where it's ok to lie and feed disinformation, and even get rewarded for it. Never forget, this is the man that sought to undermine our democracy and the rule of law with the illegal prorogation of parliament. But, I actually think that Barnard Castle aside, what he said was based on truth and actual events, we knew most of it already, but it was important to get it from someone who was actually there right in the thick of it (no pun intended). And at least he had the decency to admit to his culpability and apologised, something you won't get from Johnson et al. I agree that this could well be seen as the beginning of the end of Johnson, it was only a matter of time before this Vote Leave Gov started eating itself, the question is how long will it take. Like with Trump, Johnson's base will continue to support him regardless, but that base isn't the majority and unlike the US two-party system where all the anti-Trump vote could go to the Democrats, here the anti-Johnson vote is split, and unless that is addressed by some sort of 'progressive alliance', Johnson will keep on winning under our first past the post system. The two upcoming by-elections in traditional red and blue wall constituencies should be an ideal opportunity to put that to the test...

Alan Medic Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Thanks for organising RD. It's quite a > commitment. It was this season with the season condensed and matches stretched out over a week instead of a long weekend. Hopefully back to normal(ish) next season. > Well done to 3 out of 4 PD. Shouldn't you be > retiring or something? Updated roll call of past winners... 2012/13 - Red Devil - 249pts (this was pre-Predict Addict, I think with a different scoring system) 2013/14 - Rhinestone Cowboy - 270pts 2014/15 - Park Drive - 262pts 2015/16 - Park Drive - 253pts 2016/17 - Red Devil - 303pts 2017/18 - Park Drive - 292pts 2018/19 - Jah Lush - 295pts 2019/20 - Alan Medic - 283pts 2020/21 - Park Drive - 289pts