Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Josquius]

Well. This extension solves my immediate personal problems with brek shit.
Also happily opens up another year of graduates to get their lives started.
Maybe also allows another year of British involvement in Erasmus?
Overall a good thing. A minor victory. The British Resistence continues to fight.
Let's hope they announce the referendum soon.

[Tamas]

See? Wtf is this collective British sigh of relief?! What has been solved by this?!

[Josquius]

See? Wtf is this collective British sigh of relief?! What has been solved by this?!

Every day brexit is delayed flips the numbers more and more in our favour.
Nothing has been solved. But it is progress.

[Grey Fox]

See? Wtf is this collective British sigh of relief?! What has been solved by this?!

As long as the executioner doesn't swing the axe, no one dies. No matter what the court says.

[The Brain]

In my day they let kids who couldn't behave cool off outside the classroom.

[Syt]

Yesterday I witnessed the first real life usage of Brexitear. We were at a party, somebody said goodbye to everybody (hugs and all) saying he had to leave because stuff, but then he stayed on for like an hour more, and people started joking he was "brexiting us".

Qwertee is having a t-shirt for that tomorrow (I think):

[Zanza]

This is a bit anticlimactic, but muddling through is a tried and tested EU approach to challenges. Not a big fan of the decision, but so far I can live with it. Just hope that Britain does not get a wrecker as next PM.

That said I do not expect any particular progress in Britain in half a year. As Tamas said, there is no reason for anybody to compromise after this either, so status quo prevails.

[Barrister]

I would think an extension of that length opens the door to a second referendum...

[Zanza]

[Josquius]

___

A post from elsewhere which gives me something to think about in regards to the European elections

This is a multi-layered matter. If you view the EU parliamentary elections through the lens of it being a kind of mini-referendum on the whole Brexit matter by whom you vote for, then I'd say voting Labour puts you in a kind of middle no-mans-zone in that regard. I think a fair breakdown from that viewpoint would be thus:

Brexit Party/UKIP/Tories - definitely pro-Brexit, anti-EU

Labour - since they've been more publicly supportive of a 2nd ref, they seem like a now more neutral choice overall

ChangeUK/Lib Dems/SNP/Greens - definitely anti-Brexit, pro-EU

So if you're a very strong Remain supporter, by this criteria you'd want to vote one of the four positive EU parties. But...

There are essentially two parties vying for control over the EU presidency and probably thereafter a lot of other key positions within the hierarchy of the EU.

There is the EPP, who currently holds almost all positions of importance within the EU. They are a centre-right party, and although they are now currently more towards the centre, the fear is that with a stronger overall showing by more right-wing parties throughout Europe, they might also drift more to the right. Their candidate for the presidency is a German, Manfred Weber. The UK has no member party in this alliance, so no UK votes will count towards this party. But for those interested, this is their manifesto.

The other party is the PES Social Democrats. They are the centre-left party. Their candidate is a Dutchman, Frans Timmermans. He wants to move Europe much more to the left and embraces things like a standardized minimum wage for every member country, increased environmental protections, and beefed-up worker's rights. The manifesto for the party can be found here. Their UK member party is Labour, and as the article in the main post demonstrates, votes for Labour in the UK can actually be the big deciding factor in getting this party into control of the EU.

___________________________



So, very TL;DR - voting for one of the four pro-EU parties on a singular microcosmic UK level is a good way to demonstrate your opposition to Brexit, however voting for Labour can change the entire direction of the EU as a whole to a more liberalized bent. Hard decision, TBH.

(conversely, voting for the three anti-EU parties could demonstrate support for Brexit but will have no bearing how the EU is run... but I guess if you are pro-Brexit you don't care about that anyhow)

I've been largely planning to vote Lib Dem-  looking at the results last time around there were still an awful lot of votes dropped on the Greens who I would much prefer. They really ought to form a coalition with the Lib Dems.

But considering the possibility of a wasted vote existing even in the more democratic European elections.....The temptation to boost Labour in the hope it will help the decent size of the EU and give them more reason to have us hanging around... Plus reducing the % share the nutters have (thankfully their vote should be split)....

[Tamas]

https://thebrexitparty.com/

[mongers]

Could a mod lock this thread for 5 months 18 days? 

[garbon]

Could a mod lock this thread for 5 months 18 days? 

A thread that should have been put in the gaming forum is still chilling on page 2, so the mods are dead or just indifferent.

[mongers]

Could a mod lock this thread for 5 months 18 days? 

A thread that should have been put in the gaming forum is still chilling on page 2, so the mods are dead or just indifferent.

Woosh?

[Josquius]

For once I'm glad of the Americanisation of the UK I have to say.
I can just see it now.
"OCTOBER 31 WILL BE OUR INDEPENDENCE DAY!"
"Dude. Thats already Halloween"
"A day can be two things!"