Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[garbon]

That's two in the Republic and one in Northern Ireland. Larch had three in the Republic.

Yeah I know. I was there. I was speaking of Ireland, which encompasses both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (the clue is right there in both names).

That said, I can't count - I only saw two on the Larch's map 

No, need for snark () as yeah we already could see there was someone with 3 spots on that island.

[Threviel]

But the worst movie that I like the most is probably "Dude, where's my car?". Pure gold.

[Sheilbh]

That's two in the Republic and one in Northern Ireland. Larch had three in the Republic.

Yeah I know. I was there. I was speaking of Ireland, which encompasses both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (the clue is right there in both names).

BBoy incoming.

[Jacob]

No, need for snark ()

Who are you and what did you do with the real garbon?! 

...as yeah we already could see there was someone with 3 spots on that island.

Not only on that island, but concentrated in the Republic of That Island 

[Josquius]

Getting some brexit bollocks messing with my life right now.
Son has reflux problems. Needs to take infant gaviscon to keep it under control.
Went around 3 different pharmacies before I could find one that could sort my prescription. Pharmacist there told me they'd had 15 boxes this morning but were onto their last one now. There's big supply problems with it at the moment. And checking up as expected it seems to be made elsewhere in Europe. Supply chain fuck wittery threatens  babies. If only the sensationalist tabloids were left leaning.

[Tamas]

Getting some brexit bollocks messing with my life right now.
Son has reflux problems. Needs to take infant gaviscon to keep it under control.
Went around 3 different pharmacies before I could find one that could sort my prescription. Pharmacist there told me they'd had 15 boxes this morning but were onto their last one now. There's big supply problems with it at the moment. And checking up as expected it seems to be made elsewhere in Europe. Supply chain fuck wittery threatens  babies. If only the sensationalist tabloids were left leaning.

Maybe the non-British grandparents can help somehow?

[Sheilbh]

The Mail really seems to really have it in for Johnson at the minute. After breaking the home decorations scandal (which is definitely going to stick) and the "let the bodies pile high" comments, they've now landed on his free holiday to Mustique:


I feel like this is sort of the Mail at its most Mail-ish - the home decoration and holiday thing may be relatively small amounts of money in the scheme of corruption but they'll cause most outrage. Everyone has saved money or taken a loan to go on holiday/decorate - and as Danny Finkelstein pointed out most people think John Lewis furniture, which Johnson was replacing, is nice if over-expensive. So it's stuff that people can relate to and will cut through very quickly. They're absolutely brilliant at identifying the detail in a story that their readers will get outraged about and leaving the rest to the FT/Times etc.

I could be wrong but I suspect the Mail have always disliked Johnson - too louche.

[Richard Hakluyt]

The style appears to be 1890s upmarket Parisian brothel :

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9518183/Boriss-despairing-cry-Downing-St-aides-lavish-new-decor.html

Unless the designer toned it down.

There is an allowance of £30k a year for refurbishing the flat, so Johnson has no excuse there. There is also the criticism made by the Johnson camp of the "John Lewis horror show" left by the Mays....more modest decor which likely corresponds to the tastes of most Mail readers.

[celedhring]

I'm not sure what's more outrageous, the cost or the utter tackiness of it

[Richard Hakluyt]

Some details of individual costs are emerging, wallpaper at £840 a roll for example.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/apr/27/drafted-in-to-say-nothing-about-anything-therese-coffey-finds-her-forte

This will go down badly.

They can't even say that "Corbyn would have been even worse" on this occasion; everyone knows that Corbyn would just have put up a poster of Che Guevara (costing a mere £10) and that would have been that.

[Sheilbh]

There is an allowance of £30k a year for refurbishing the flat, so Johnson has no excuse there. There is also the criticism made by the Johnson camp of the "John Lewis horror show" left by the Mays....more modest decor which likely corresponds to the tastes of most Mail readers.

Yeah - I think there is a personality/class thing. The Mail likes PMs like Brown and May even if they attack them on politics, they don't like entitled, louche posh-boys like Johnson and Cameron even if they support them politically.

And it's Danny Finkelstein's which I think is really true. For most people's John Lewis is upmarket - it's too expensive but a brand people sort of do aspire to - so to be talking about it as a horror show is something lots of voters will react to because it's a very "I'm better and more rarefied than you" sort of thing.

It reminds me of Lord Derry Irvine's £60 grand hand-printed wallpaper.

Their resistance to revealing who originally paid for the renovation is absurd. If people are lending a lot of money to the PM while their in office then we need to know.

I'm not sure what's more outrageous, the cost or the utter tackiness of it

So.....I think that's from the designer's portfolio. There are no photos as yet from the flat (but I imagine every newspaper will be trying to get it). And....while I wouldn't personally go for that room. I don't hate it.

I'm a big fan of the current trend for maximalism and lots of patterns after a few decades of minimalism. If they'd paid for it themselves, I'd almost admire the choice of not going for bland identi-kit design you had with the Cameron's refurb.

[Josquius]

Have to say 30k a year budget to refurb the flat...
Yeah it's nothing in the grand scale of government budgets. But jesus that puts them way out of touch  of ordinary people. Most wouldn't spend that in a decade.
10 (or is it 11? I know there's switchy stuff goes on) should be the way it is and it's the responsibility of any resident to pay to change it and then change it back when they leave.

[celedhring]

I stand corrected on the pics (I still need my morning coffee), but they are still 
You can move away from minimalism in better ways.

[Sheilbh]

Have to say 30k a year budget to refurb the flat...
Yeah it's nothing in the grand scale of government budgets. But jesus that puts them way out of touch  of ordinary people. Most wouldn't spend that in a decade.
10 (or is it 11? I know there's switchy stuff goes on) should be the way it is and it's the responsibility of any resident to pay to change it and then change it back when they leave.

Yeah - I am fairly relaxed about that.

I think Number 10 is not great - like it's a relatively big flat, but I think in the last 2-3 decades it's started to look a little bit less appropriate as PMs are more likely to have young children (Blair, Brown, Cameron, Johnson). I think the Chancellors sometimes move into their flat but it's more common for them to stay in their own homes which are nicer.

To be honest I generally think we should either pay for security for their own home (which would be more than £30k) or have a sort of state house they can move into that is more suitable to young families (rather than men with country estates who need a pied a terre/place to see their mistress while Parliament's in session), but is maintained at the state's cost with a reasonable budget to re-do a few "private" rooms every few years (bathroom, kitchen, bedrooms, living room etc).

Also love that startling decor choices seems to be a thing for current leaders - from Macron's refurb of the Elysee (although I assume this is from the office part and there's not a 40 inch TV on the other wall)

(I like the Miro - but not in that room. And I am genuinely repulsed and enraged by the couch.)

Edit: Also the weird uplight/torch things which look like something from a hella expensive but tacky club. And the coffee table is awful.

[The Brain]

Is that an East European porno set?