Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[The Brain]

Headline: Internal logic not internal enough.

Quite right as Corbyn is against Trident and nukes, which is inconsistent. A full-scale global nuclear war would do wonders for income inequality.

This.

[The Brain]

Fascinating to watch one major UK political party deliberately slam the accelerator to drive the bus off the cliff.  While the other major party watches calmly pausing only to point out there is a better and higher cliff to drive off.

It's hard not to just stare in awe at the consistent and complete ineptitude of the entire UK political class.

[crazy canuck]

Corbyn is senile, isn't he?

That would be more comforting.  he is in fact doing this purposefully consistent with his ideological view of the world.

[Zanza]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/brexit/9764957/boris-johnson-ireland-no-hard-border/amp?__twitter_impression=true

The Sun has learned that Mr Johnson is ready to propose a new bilateral deal between London and Dublin to act as a bridge until stand-off border checks – dubbed 'alternative arrangements' – are ready.

Under the new idea, Ireland would win a special dispensation from Brussels to diverge from EU rules temporarily so it can stay aligned with the UK.

In turn, the London government would agree a common rule book on goods and standards with Dublin while the temporary arrangement lasts.

But the plan risks infuriating Irish politicians, who risked being accused of being dependent on Britain again, almost 100 years after Irish independence.

A senior minister told The Sun: "The solution is a bilateral agreement to agree a common rule book for Britain and Ireland for as long we need one.

"Ireland would also keep all the advantages of its single market membership, if the EU is prepared to be flexible.

I know it's The Sun, but if this is seriously their plan, they are even more delusional than I thought. But it surely shows the mindset of English nationalists when it comes to the Irish.

[Valmy]

Why would Ireland want to help Britain set up border checks? Do they get something out of this?

[Tamas]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/21/1914-brexit-calamity-inevitable-remainers

We are transfixed by frenzy on the stage before us: manoeuvres in anticipation of a no-confidence vote. We suppose that all possible routes are still open. Pro-Europeans must hope that there is a way back, that it is not a just a choice of gradient on the downward slide. Yet I sense fatalism creeping into formerly strident anti-Brexit voices. I glimpse shudders of dread that events are being driven not by the MPs who will vote in the coming weeks but by a critical mass of cowardice, ignorance and ideological prejudice that was reached months ago, maybe years. The past is harrying the present.

It could be an illusion. I hope I am wrong. But already it feels as if decisions not yet taken this autumn are shrouded in a mist of inevitability – the accretion of a million mistakes already made. Looking back, maybe historians will judge that the point of no return, the laying of the rails, happened long before the summer of 2019.

[Josquius]

So basically the plan is Ireland makes things massively inconvenient and disruptive for itself due to no fault of Ireland's own?

[Tamas]

So basically the plan is Ireland makes things massively inconvenient and disruptive for itself due to no fault of Ireland's own?

To be fair, the cabinet has since then disowned the story. They probably wanted to float it, see if it calms down people.

[Maladict]

Boris Johnson will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin later, where he is expected to reiterate his call for the Irish border backstop plan to be scrapped.

The PM has said the arrangement to avoid a hard border after Brexit is "anti-democratic" and must be removed to secure a deal.

But the EU has rejected the possibility of any changes to the backstop.

Mr Johnson said the EU's response to his demands was "a bit negative".

However, he said he would enter Brexit talks with "a lot of oomph" and there was "a real sense that something needs to be done" with the backstop.

"We can't get it through Parliament as it is," he added.

The backstop is part of the withdrawal agreement negotiated between Brussels and former Prime Minister Theresa May, which has been rejected by Parliament three times.

Mr Johnson has vowed to do all he can to renegotiate the agreement, but has insisted the UK will leave on 31 October with or without a deal - "do or die," as he put it.

I guess that means dying is still on the table as an option.

[Valmy]

Glad to see the hard border across Ireland is so democratic and has a popular mandate. Can I see the vast popular support for it in Ireland and Northern Ireland that the PM is referencing?

[garbon]

So Merkel and Macron give Boris the 'come up with something in 30 days' line which I guess is politic so as to avoid thoughts they are the bad guys?

Telegraph reports that top Brexiter Conservatives have said they won't vote for withdrawal agreement even if Boris found a magical solution to replace the backstop...

[Maladict]

So Merkel and Macron give Boris the 'come up with something in 30 days' line which I guess is politic so as to avoid thoughts they are the bad guys?

It's also the only sensible answer. The UK hasn't come up with a single specific proposal on how to deal with the Irish border, other than "Ireland/EU should be more flexible so we don't have to be" and saying no to any attempt at compromise coming from the EU.

I really hope the EU doesn't give in for fear of bad PR. Let Boris choke on his own turd.

[garbon]

So Merkel and Macron give Boris the 'come up with something in 30 days' line which I guess is politic so as to avoid thoughts they are the bad guys?

It's also the only sensible answer. The UK hasn't come up with a single specific proposal on how to deal with the Irish border, other than "Ireland/EU should be more flexible so we don't have to be" and saying no to any attempt at compromise coming from the EU.

I really hope the EU doesn't give in for fear of bad PR. Let Boris choke on his own turd.

Well for politics. The most sensible would be there's nothing we are going to change about the deal given there is no magical solution you can come up with...bar having NI stay in customs union with hard border on ports into rest of UK.

[Tamas]

Politicians really have no shame. David Davis was the effin' Brexit minister for what, a full year? Achieved precisely nothing, then now stands up and gives a "shopping list" (his quote) of things that absolutely have to change in the WA beside the backstop, all deemed "perfectly reasonable and acceptable by the EU" by him. I'll spare you the exact list because its cakeism of the most horrible kind.

[Josquius]

All part of the attempt to paint the EU as the bad guys despite their side being clear from the start.