Bye Bye Boris!

[speedingfine]

Yeah. Still the electorate will vote for them in the main because they protect the interests of the rich. And what choice have they got

“It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see..."
"You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?"
"No," said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, "nothing so simple. Nothing anything like so straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."
"Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy."
"I did," said Ford. "It is."
"So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't people get rid of the lizards?"
"It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want."
"You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"
"Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."
"But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?"
"Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?"
"What?"
"I said," said Ford, with an increasing air of urgency creeping into his voice, "have you got any gin?"
"I'll look. Tell me about the lizards."
Ford shrugged again.
"Some people say that the lizards are the best thing that ever happenned to them," he said. "They're completely wrong of course, completely and utterly wrong, but someone's got to say it."
"But that's terrible," said Arthur.
"Listen, bud," said Ford, "if I had one Altairian dollar for every time I heard one bit of the Universe look at another bit of the Universe and say 'That's terrible' I wouldn't be sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.”

Very good Let's hope Jo Swinson doesn't drop the ball eh

[V8Granite]

Do you think there’s any real people, who were educated in the last 30 years, who still think that Brexit is a great idea?

There are yes, I’m not one of them but I work with a few of them. None of them actually need to work for an income, draw from that what you will.

Yet most of the people I know who voted are low earners, make of that what you will.

It’s like different parts of the country have different experiences, crazy.

Dave!

[GG.]

Wow. 17.4 million people in this country don't need to work for a living, apparently. Well either that or OC exclusively hangs around with Toffs "draw from that what you will"

[Rich B]

Generalisations are always bullshit...

[V8Granite]

Generalisations are always bullshit...

Richards always say that.

Dave!

[ZedLeg]

Can't even win a vote to hold his own party conference

I'm starting to think that Boris became Prime Minister by wishing on a Monkey's paw.

[Broccers]

The problem I see is Parliament are very good at saying no but not forthcoming with anything in a forwards motion. A bit pathetic really.

I'm sure a GE will provide unexpected results

[Swervin_Mervin]

Can't even win a vote to hold his own party conference

I'm starting to think that Boris became Prime Minister by wishing on a Monkey's paw.

Hilarious. It's only worth £32m to the Manchester economy.

[ZedLeg]

It's awful when people make voting decisions that hurt other people isn't it.

[JLv3.0]

Not if the person is really busy when they vote.

[Swervin_Mervin]

[Jobbo]

The problem I see is Parliament are very good at saying no but not forthcoming with anything in a forwards motion. A bit pathetic really.

You know that is what they're supposed to do. The Government puts forward motions for Parliament to approve.

Boris has made all sorts of statements about progress towards a deal but none of it seems to be true. If he'd actually done what he said, Parliament would have a new deal put before them to approve (or not) - but Boris doesn't seem capable of anything but bluster. Actual achievements are rather beyond him.

[Jobbo]

I see Boris has just lost his seventh vote in Parliament. That's seven out of seven. Perhaps he should change the motions so that 'aye' is the option he doesn't want

[Broccers]

Yep.

[Broccers]

The problem I see is Parliament are very good at saying no but not forthcoming with anything in a forwards motion. A bit pathetic really.

You know that is what they're supposed to do. The Government puts forward motions for Parliament to approve.

[Jobbo]

Roll your eyes all you want, Broccers - the Government needs to do some governing rather than just talking about it.

[Broccers]

Roll your eyes all you want, Broccers - the Government needs to do some governing rather than just talking about it.

Impossible without the ability to steamroller through anything.

Until there is an election it wont change.

[Jobbo]

On the contrary, it is for the Government to find a deal which will gain the approval of the House. Boris has even said previously that we would do that, and that good progress was being made. Utter bollocks, as has become apparent with the passage of time, but he had to say it because if he didn't, he would have made it quite apparent that he wasn't intending to do his job.

We had an election in 2017. Why do you want another one?

[GG.]

All this tells us is that the Fixed Term Parliaments Act manifestly does not work where there is a minority administration as it locks them into a zombie parliament and allows the oppposition to hold on for political advantage (the mirror image of what it was trying to prevent). The government cannot 'do some governing' in this scenario which is why it needs to go to a general election.

In reality Barnier & Juncker's great misjudgment was to think that the UK government's weakness played completely to their advantage. It of course did to the extent that May agreed a pitiful withdrawal deal but that just in turn lead to paralysis when she tried to sell that back home - they overplayed their hand by forcing the UK into a form of political meltdown where the chances of parliament (in its current form) passing absolutely any form of withdrawal that looks or smells like the previous one with small changes, are now miniscule. A little compromise earlier might have worked but we will now probably never know.

[Jobbo]

I agree that the Fixed Term Parliaments Act is a pretty rubbish piece of legislation. I can see that being repealed in the future.

But: we had a general election in 2017. There wasn't an overall majority then, and there's every reason to believe that will again be the case after a further election. So don't think an election will do anything to resolve things.

Anyway, there isn't time to have an election before 31 October, and Corbyn has indicated he would support an election after extending the Brexit date, so why on earth doesn't Boris just extend the date?