diable rouge

Seabag Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > This must be Bob Buzzard?s new account Innit. Sign of the times what with the EU builder's having gone home before Jan 1st, Bob needs to plough new furrows, there could actually be plenty of mileage in that as we all go back to the land and pick fruit... Oooh, that's a nice couple of plums you've got there Sid! #CarryOnScrumping

???? Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Genuine question, what are the circumstances that > give us a GE next year? 80 seat majority, trade > deal done, Covid probably looking rosier next. I > just don?t see where you get a vote of no > confidence in 2021 or in fact anytime before the > next scheduled election. It?s almost inconceivable > without some black swan event? Ok, some post-Christmas musings as to why there could be a change of leader (I think that's more likely than a GE next year). The Tory party is ruthless when it comes to self-preservation, who would ever of thought Thatcher getting kicked out the way she was. A good swathe of Tory MPs are very twitchy over Johnson's handling of Covid, Labour's poll ratings have improved under Starmer especially in the much vaunted Red Wall seats, this new intake of Tory MPs don't have any historical allegiances to Johnson. It's never a good sign when a Prime Minister has to meet with the 1922 Committee to reassure them that everything's tickety boo. Gove and Sunak are clearly positioning themselves as a future leader. There's a good argument that Johnson was allowed to continue unchallenged despite his calamitous handling of Covid until the Brexit deal was 'done', one way or the other. We've now passed that point, he's not needed anymore in that respect. And of course there's Covid, great news about the vaccines, but before they take effect there will be a post-new year third wave, probably worse than anything we've seen so far. Jan/Feb always sees the NHS stretched to the limit with seasonal flus, Covid could easily push it beyond capacity. Any third wave will be tied to Johnson more than previous waves. His tier system has failed to contain the spread of the virus, he went against scientific advice and carried on with it. He sat on info about the mutant strain including when he stood up in Parliament just before Christmas mocking Starmer saying he wanted to cancel Christmas, then two days later he cancelled Christmas and London train stations looked like the last days of Saigon. There's a lot of anger about that. I don't think we've seen the full economic impact of Covid yet, particularly with respect to unemployment, there will be a bounce back when the vaccines taka effect but probably not until 2022. Younger working generations are used to being in work and have not experienced the high levels of unemployment seen in the 70's an 80's. It's an unknown factor how they will react. Allied to when the vaccines take effect, disgruntled people will feel safer to go onto the streets, the whole political atmosphere could quickly change with mass protests. He's just not very good in a crisis. Yes he's been unlucky that Covid happened, but he was inept during the floods, he's a Poundshop Churchill in that respect. Lastly, he might want to step down himself, he's clearly not the same politician pre-Covid...

This deal is the withdrawal agreement playbook all over again, lots of threats of no deal ''we'll prosper mightily'' etc, followed by the inevitable last minute concessions to get it over the line. Then issue it with a ''what a great deal it is'' fanfare courtesy of the Tory friendly press. Allow no time to scrutinize it in Parliament in the hope no one notices the full implications etc. And so the Tory psychodrama with Europe rolls on. See you in 5 years time Monsieur Barnier...

JohnL Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Either way unless everybody stays in step it'll > mutate to something beyond the current vaccines - > and that means the rest of the world as well. It could equally mutate to a weaker version and naturally die out as I believe Spanish Flu did...

diable rouge Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Sephiroth Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > "I think it was TD just having s dig..." > > > > ah - silly me > > I never spotted that this was you, perhaps because > you weren't having run-ins with ????...;-) Spoke too soon!.. :) :) :)

If someone like Burnham had been Labour leader I think it highly likely that there would've been some kind of pact with the Libs and SNP. People quickly forget that the Tory 80-seat majority came courtesy of the Brexit party standing down i.e. a Leave pact. As for the future, rather than thinking about an immediate 'rejoin' movement, there needs to be a change in the electoral system towards something like PR. It's in Labour's self-interest to go down this path, and Starmer should form a pact with the Libs and SNP to this effect, especially if it looks likely that NI and/or Scotland leaves the UK, because if that happened, Labour's chances of winning another GE under FPTP is zilcho..

Getting rusty in his old age, missed the 1000th post...

Trinnydad Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > One opportunity to consider is making a deal with > Hyundai, Kia and Toyota to set up factories that > use 100% LOCAL CONTENT and so reduce the volume of > VWs BMWs and Mercedes that have no UK content. Why > give jobs to the Germans? Why indeed, or to the French. Perhaps we should ask Brexit-backing billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, you know, the one who recently announced he's moving his car production operation from Wales to the EU...https://www.businessinsider.com/brexit-billionaire-jim-ratcliffe-ineos-grenadier-france-not-wales-2020-12?r=US&IR=T #projectdreamon

Trinnydad Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > One such example was > allocating the printing of UK passports which had > to go out to EU wide tender. Ok, hands up who wants to tell him first...:)

Trinnydad Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Sephiroth Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > just making general points - nothing > specifically > > about the deal > > Let's hope Remainers consider becoming un-stuck > from the same old groove. It's like an old cracked > 78rpm. Stuck in the same negative conversation > since 2016 propagating "economic doom and gloom" > theories based on fear. So, let me get this right, it was ok for Eurosceptics to bang on about the EU for 40 years prior to 2016, but anti-Brexiters now have to keep schtum. How very Brexit...

Spoiler alert: They couldn't find 3 wise men...

Santa's Double Bubble Week 14 fixtures... Saturday 26th December Leicester City v Manchester United Aston Villa v Crystal Palace Fulham v Southampton Arsenal v Chelsea Manchester City v Newcastle United Sheffield United v Everton Sunday 27th December Leeds United v Burnley West Ham United v Brighton & Hove Albion Liverpool v West Bromwich Albion Wolverhampton Wanderers v Tottenham Hotspur Monday 28th December Crystal Palace v Leicester City Chelsea v Aston Villa Everton v Manchester City Tuesday 29th December Brighton & Hove Albion v Arsenal Burnley v Sheffield United Southampton v West Ham United West Bromwich Albion v Leeds United Manchester United v Wolverhampton Wanderers Wednesday 30th December Tottenham Hotspur v Fulham Newcastle United v Liverpool

Week 13 points... Week 13 table...

No idea if related to the above, but I read somewhere a couple of days ago that Denmark considered No Deal, with respect to fishing rights, was better for them than some of the % proposals being bandied about...

Someone else occasionally posts on Trump's Twitter, either that or he has lucid spells between his narcissistic psychotic episodes...

Sephiroth Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > "I think it was TD just having s dig..." > > ah - silly me I never spotted that this was you, perhaps because you weren't having run-ins with ????...;-)

JohnL Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think Admin can see IP addresses of posters - > so the games up if they have the same IP all the > time (of course users then claim they are flat > mates and share an internet connection). Isn't there such a thing as an IP blocker? And isn't it possible to run two accounts, one using wifi, the other 3/4G? Just have to remember which is which. Very difficult to change a posting style though and keep it up, certainly if you post regularly, old habits die hard, eventually they slip up. There's one multiple poster who makes the same typos, and as Sue mentioned, even the timings of someone's posts can give the game away...

Sephiroth Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > does anyone apart from TB actually think me and BB > are one and the same? I think it was TD just having s dig...

I can't believe Spartacus hasn't made a joke about Uranus Sue...

Trinnydad Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The style is very similar and BB has been accused of > multiple IDs before. It's been a while since BB was accused of multiple IDs, I'm guessing before your time as Trinnydad. If that's the case, care to tell us what you're previous ID('s) were?...

TheCat Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > diable rouge Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > The 1500+ lorry jam shows the folly of 'taking > > back control of our borders'. > > Borders are shared, and Brexiters waving their > > magic sovereignty wand doesn't make a blind bit > of > > difference... > > We haven't left yet. Actually, we have. We left the EU at the end of Jan this year, that was Brexit. The 11 month transition period we're in now is to allow for finalizing a trade deal and also to allow all parties/businesses etc to get ready for a deal...

Borderus Openus...

The 1500+ lorry jam shows the folly of 'taking back control of our borders'. Borders are shared, and Brexiters waving their magic sovereignty wand doesn't make a blind bit of difference...

Just like Brexit, if you ask Leave voters what sovereignty means to them, you won't get the same answer. And, as has been said numerous times, the minute you start negotiating trade deals, certain aspects of a country's sovereignty is on the negotiating table...

...until the inevitable tax rises come home to roost