I had some sympathy with this, in the Guardian this morning:
On this occasion Juncker is right.
But of course, he's also ignoring the fact that they are his problem too, as hard Brexit would make them.
And that sometime, someone has to break the deadlock in the UK.
As it is it feels like the march to WW1 right now: we got an outcome no one wanted or really planned for because no-one would actually stop it happening.
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I think you are wrong, some of us do want a chaotic exit from the EU although I doubt they would admit it. The central tenet of neolib dogma is profit, first, last and always. Adam Smith and Karl Marx both agreed on the tendency for profit to decline over time. They disagreed on how to manage that issue. One of the strategies of neolibs employ is to exploit difference, in currency exchange, wage rates, regulatory disparity, variation in tax, wherever difference exists there is profit to be made. Where little difference exists it can be created. A harmonious EU-UK existence runs counter to that strategy ergo wreck the deal.
I wish I could follow your logic or argument – or even decide who or what you are arguing for
This self-inflicted crisis is entirely the product of the Conservative Party. They dreamt up a referendum to fix an anachronistic ideological problem in the Conservative Party, thereby making a profound change to the British Constitution on the basis of a very narrow majority vote; a process that was inevitably deeply divisive. No wise constitution would allow a profound constitutional change on a narrow majority. It is madness. This was utterly irresonsible, and unforgivable.
The Conservatives then elected Theresa May to deliver Brexit. The Prime Minister and a feeble, witless Cabinet have bungled the negotiations, establishing red lines that closed off all the available options (before negotiations even began) rather than opening any, and in the process demonstrating what we all had guessed when May was elected; that the PM possesses neither the judgement nor wisdom necessary for the task; and is, frankly, and obviously out of her depth.
It appears that the Conservative Party cannot distinguish between the terms ‘compromise’ and ‘fudge’; but of course, they never do. It is a measure of the mess we are in that the media still widely praise the PM for her “tenacity”; tenacity in committing the country to a catastrophic policy. What Theresa May has demonstrated is something that is valuable, but alarming; the PM has proved that the British Constitution she has relied on to provide the tortuously devious instruments of procedure to create this parody of policy; is is quite clearly no longer fit for purpose in the modern world. The Constitution, and Parliament have become an embarrassment. All of this the gift, solely, of the Conservative Party.
The Conservatives have failed to deliver the Brexit promised: because it is undeliverable. It is a dreadful indictment of the Conservatives that they cannot see this, still less do anything about it. Indeed they keep the PM in office (but not in power), not because they have confidence in her (only 200 MPs out of 650 MPs actually have any confidence in the sitting Prime Minister – a definition of absurdity); because the Conservatives believe that only by blaming her, but keeping her in office, can they distance themselves from responsibility for the consequences of their own total inadequacyand ineptitude, or even save the Party’s skin.
I agree John.
Christine Lagarde said about the GFC that the banking sector had set itself up to help itself rather than help others.
You could apply the same logic to the Tories and BREXIT – they rule for themselves and their agendas – not for the good of the country.
Over to you Labour etc.
To the Corbyn refuseniks (whom I think have had an easier ride in this than Corbyn himself and many other factions indicating what a pain this BREXIT division is) I say ‘You can only lose this yourselves’.
‘Stop playing internal politics and bring these rancid Tories down with a compelling offer to the British people’.
You know, I feel that we should just stop talking about this now and get on with something else. The Tory insurgents are still ripping up our nation as it is.
I really do.
‘Alea iacta est’ : The die is cast.
I’ll go back to my analogy of ‘black holes’ and ‘event horizons’.
In other words I’ll see you on the other side folks on this one.
Wow, that is so depressing – and sums up exactly how I feel – particularly the tone in which some hard Brexiteer acquaintances talk about Europeans now. If we were to crash out, and the right somehow stayed in power, I can genuinely see us being at war within 30 years. Horrific.
Whatever you think of Tony Blair, what he is reported to have said in his speech at a People’s Vote event today encapsulates the whole mess perfectly for me:
“This pursuit of incompatible ends through inept means has led us to the present impasse.”
@Pilgrim Slight Return
I don’t accept alea iacta est. I don’t believe alea exists at all actually. So while we can still push to stop this disaster, we push. Till we drop if we fail. If we do, we can regroup later, and push some more when the time is right.
This is in my view a really good summary of just how bad May and her colleagues have been about this issue.
Their behaviour has all the hall marks of the emotionalism we see in the alt-Right rather than ministers of state:
http://blog.spicker.uk/how-mays-government-messed-things-up/