Octopus Overlords

Prime Minister Theresa May’s plans to leave the European Union are overwhelmingly opposed by the British public and more than a third of voters would support a new right-wing political party committed to quitting the bloc, according to a new poll.

May’s political vulnerability was exposed by the survey which found voters would prefer Boris Johnson, who quit as her foreign minister two weeks ago, to negotiate with the EU and lead the Conservative Party into the next election.

Only 16 percent of voters say May is handling the Brexit negotiations well, compared with 34 percent who say that Johnson would do a better job, according to the poll conducted by YouGov for The Sunday Times newspaper.

The Sunday Times poll found voters are increasingly polarized, with growing numbers of people alienated from the two main political parties.

Thirty-eight percent of people would vote for a new right-wing party that is committed to Brexit, while almost a quarter would support an explicitly far-right anti-immigrant, anti-Islam party, the poll found.

Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage and U.S. President Donald Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon are in discussions about forming a new right-wing movement, according to The Sunday Times.

[T]he British government is also warning — and panicking — British consumers and companies that they should brace themselves for a cold-turkey withdrawal, a “no-deal Brexit” or “Brexit doomsday.”

“I believe we will get a good deal, we will bring that back from the E.U. negotiations, and put that to Parliament,” Prime Minister Theresa May said in an interview with the BBC that aired Monday. But she added that if the British Parliament rejects her proposals, then the alternative “would be not having a deal.”

May’s government once sang a song of “Global Britain,” a vision for a 21st-century trading dynamo, exploiting new markets in new lands. But now Brexit secretary Dominic Raab is encouraging drug companies to stockpile extra medicine in case supplies cannot get onto the island after a no-deal Brexit.

Cadbury has started hoarding chocolate for fear that ingredients will become difficult to obtain.

On Thursday, the French minister for European affairs warned that British trains and planes might not be allowed into France without a deal, while the governor of the Bank of England told the cabinet that a no-deal Brexit would wreak havoc rivaling the financial crisis of 2008.

In its latest assessment, the International Monetary Fund warned Monday that the British economy would incur “substantial costs” without a deal in place.

It has gotten so bad that British authorities have had to downplay rumors the army would be deployed to maintain civil order.

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Mon Sep 17, 2018 3:15 pm Don't put it to a vote, dumbasses.

That's why people voted for you.

About 32% are deplorable in any case and will burn the country to the ground in a tantrum about how unfair everything is.

El Guapo wrote: ↑Mon Sep 17, 2018 3:19 pm It wouldn't really have worked even if Remain won, and they wound up starting this countrywide fire over their political bullshit.

LEAVER: I want an omelette.

REMAINER: Right. It’s just we haven’t got any eggs.

LEAVER: Yes, we have. There they are. [HE POINTS AT A CAKE]

REMAINER: They’re in the cake.

LEAVER: Yes, get them out of the cake, please.

REMAINER: But we voted in 1975 to put them into a cake.

LEAVER: Yes, but that cake has got icing on it. Nobody said there was going to be icing on it.

REMAINER: Icing is good.

LEAVER: And there are raisins in it. I don’t like raisins. Nobody mentioned raisins. I demand another vote.

DAVID CAMERON ENTERS.

DAVID CAMERON: OK.

DAVID CAMERON SCARPERS.

LEAVER: Right, where’s my omelette?

REMAINER: I told you, the eggs are in the cake.

LEAVER: Well, get them out.

EU: It’s our cake.

JEREMY CORBYN: Yes, get them out now.

REMAINER: I have absolutely no idea how to get them out. Don’t you know how to get them out?

LEAVER: Yes! You just get them out and then you make an omelette.

REMAINER: But how?! Didn’t you give this any thought?

LEAVER: Saboteur! You’re talking eggs down. We could make omelettes before the eggs went into the cake, so there’s no reason why we can’t make them now.

THERESA MAY: It’s OK, I can do it.

REMAINER: How?

THERESA MAY: There was a vote to remove the eggs from the cake, and so the eggs will be removed from the cake.

REMAINER: Yeah, but…

LEAVER: Hang on, if we take the eggs out of the cake, does that mean we don’t have any cake? I didn’t say I didn’t want the cake, just the bits I don’t like.

EU: It’s our cake.

REMAINER: But you can’t take the eggs out of the cake and then still have a cake.

LEAVER: You can. I saw the latest Bake Off and you can definitely make cakes without eggs in them. It’s just that they’re horrible.

REMAINER: Fine. Take the eggs out. See what happens.

LEAVER: It’s not my responsibility to take the eggs out. Get on with it.

REMAINER: Why should I have to come up with some long-winded incredibly difficult chemical process to extract eggs that have bonded at the molecular level to the cake, while somehow still having the cake?

LEAVER: You lost, get over it.

THERESA MAY: By the way, I’ve started the clock on this.

REMAINER: So I assume you have a plan?

THERESA MAY: Actually, back in a bit. Just having another election.

REMAINER: Jeremy, are you going to sort this out?

JEREMY CORBYN: Yes. No. Maybe.

EU: It’s our cake.

LEAVER: Where’s my omelette? I voted for an omelette.

REMAINER: This is ridiculous. This is never going to work. We should have another vote, or at least stop what we’re doing until we know how to get the eggs out of the cake while keeping the bits of the cake that we all like.

LEAVER/MAY/CORBYN: WE HAD A VOTE. STOP SABOTAGING THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE. EGGSIT MEANS EGGSIT.

REMAINER: Fine, I’m moving to France. The cakes are nicer there.

LEAVER: You can’t. We’ve taken your freedom of movement.

malchior wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 12:06 pm I agree, My take on May postponing this vote is that it is to prevent a second referendum from being feasible. If it had failed today, they would have had to talk about another referendum or crashing out plus a no confidence vote. In other words, this move was to probably partially to protect herself and force people to eventually accept her plan. Ugly stuff.

El Guapo wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 12:22 pm The main problem is that Corbyn won't push for a new referendum either, because he's a fool who also dislikes the EU for different reasons (views it as impeding a socialist state in the UK).

Sepiche wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 12:52 pm The obvious play for some time has been to have another vote and hope they can convince the EU to take some sort of payoff and forget the whole thing ever happened.

Given Nigel Firange's disappearing act after the Brexit vote and his potential ties to Russia they have every reason to question the motivation of many of the Brexit campaigners.

Alefroth wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 1:13 pm

Sepiche wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 12:52 pm The obvious play for some time has been to have another vote and hope they can convince the EU to take some sort of payoff and forget the whole thing ever happened.

Given Nigel Firange's disappearing act after the Brexit vote and his potential ties to Russia they have every reason to question the motivation of many of the Brexit campaigners.

No payoff required. EU said they could reverse their decision at any time.

Sepiche wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 1:15 pm

Alefroth wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 1:13 pm

Sepiche wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 12:52 pm The obvious play for some time has been to have another vote and hope they can convince the EU to take some sort of payoff and forget the whole thing ever happened.

Given Nigel Firange's disappearing act after the Brexit vote and his potential ties to Russia they have every reason to question the motivation of many of the Brexit campaigners.

No payoff required. EU said they could reverse their decision at any time.

I thought I remembered the EU president giving dire warnings about the UK trying to just go back to business as usual, but that might have been posturing that I misinterpreted.

Alefroth wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 1:20 pm

Sepiche wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 1:15 pm

Alefroth wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 1:13 pm

Sepiche wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 12:52 pm The obvious play for some time has been to have another vote and hope they can convince the EU to take some sort of payoff and forget the whole thing ever happened.

Given Nigel Firange's disappearing act after the Brexit vote and his potential ties to Russia they have every reason to question the motivation of many of the Brexit campaigners.

No payoff required. EU said they could reverse their decision at any time.

I thought I remembered the EU president giving dire warnings about the UK trying to just go back to business as usual, but that might have been posturing that I misinterpreted.

The ruling just came out today.

Sepiche wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 2:02 pm

Alefroth wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 1:20 pm

Sepiche wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 1:15 pm

Alefroth wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 1:13 pm

Sepiche wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 12:52 pm The obvious play for some time has been to have another vote and hope they can convince the EU to take some sort of payoff and forget the whole thing ever happened.

Given Nigel Firange's disappearing act after the Brexit vote and his potential ties to Russia they have every reason to question the motivation of many of the Brexit campaigners.

No payoff required. EU said they could reverse their decision at any time.

I thought I remembered the EU president giving dire warnings about the UK trying to just go back to business as usual, but that might have been posturing that I misinterpreted.

The ruling just came out today.

Wow, that makes the right path even more obvious.

Sepiche wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 2:02 pm

Alefroth wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 1:20 pm

Sepiche wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 1:15 pm

Alefroth wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 1:13 pm

Sepiche wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 12:52 pm The obvious play for some time has been to have another vote and hope they can convince the EU to take some sort of payoff and forget the whole thing ever happened.

Given Nigel Firange's disappearing act after the Brexit vote and his potential ties to Russia they have every reason to question the motivation of many of the Brexit campaigners.

No payoff required. EU said they could reverse their decision at any time.

I thought I remembered the EU president giving dire warnings about the UK trying to just go back to business as usual, but that might have been posturing that I misinterpreted.

The ruling just came out today.

Wow, that makes the right path even more obvious.

Fireball wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 3:36 pm This is where the mistake of Labour picking Corbyn becomes painfully clear. Any reasonable Labour leader would be demanding a new referendum now, and would be poised to tear away a lot of reasonable Tories in the next general election. Unfortunately, Corbyn is the Sanders of the UK, and refuses to consider any path but the one he's alway been on. He's incapable of seizing this moment... incapable of saving a country that desperately needs someone to save it.

British Prime Minister Theresa May embarked Tuesday on a whirlwind tour of European capitals to try to win concessions on her deal to pull Britain from the European Union, a day after the plan’s unpopularity forced her to cancel a key parliamentary vote.

But the issue that has made the Brexit deal politically toxic at home is nonnegotiable on the European side, and it was unclear whether May could do anything to alter her own political math as she bounced from The Hague to Berlin to Brussels.

Leaders in those capitals offered kind words and said they would do everything they could to help her sell the deal to her own public, but they refused to back down from an ironclad backup plan to ensure there will never be a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

“There is no room whatsoever for renegotiation,” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday. “Ireland will never be left alone.”
...
In Brussels, European leaders said one after another said they could imagine no change in the fundamentals of the deal.
...
Asked whether the European Union could do anything to help May, German Minister of State for Europe Michael Roth said “it’s always good to talk to each other.

But on Tuesday, leaders instead appeared to be talking past each other. Roth’s British counterpart, Martin Callanan, said that May wanted “additional, legal reassurances that the U.K. cannot be permanently trapped in the Irish backstop,” using the term for the backup plan that would keep an open border on the island of Ireland. “That’s been the issue all along, and that’s the issue at the heart of the concerns expressed by many members of parliament.”

malchior wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 6:47 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Tue Dec 11, 2018 12:54 pm

malchior wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 6:47 pm

Fireball wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 3:36 pm This is where the mistake of Labour picking Corbyn becomes painfully clear. Any reasonable Labour leader would be demanding a new referendum now, and would be poised to tear away a lot of reasonable Tories in the next general election. Unfortunately, Corbyn is the Sanders of the UK, and refuses to consider any path but the one he's alway been on. He's incapable of seizing this moment... incapable of saving a country that desperately needs someone to save it.

raydude wrote: ↑Wed Dec 12, 2018 12:15 pm

Fireball wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 3:36 pm This is where the mistake of Labour picking Corbyn becomes painfully clear. Any reasonable Labour leader would be demanding a new referendum now, and would be poised to tear away a lot of reasonable Tories in the next general election. Unfortunately, Corbyn is the Sanders of the UK, and refuses to consider any path but the one he's alway been on. He's incapable of seizing this moment... incapable of saving a country that desperately needs someone to save it.

I don't understand. What the hell could possibly be his long game?

El Guapo wrote: ↑Wed Dec 12, 2018 12:22 pm

raydude wrote: ↑Wed Dec 12, 2018 12:15 pm

Fireball wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 3:36 pm This is where the mistake of Labour picking Corbyn becomes painfully clear. Any reasonable Labour leader would be demanding a new referendum now, and would be poised to tear away a lot of reasonable Tories in the next general election. Unfortunately, Corbyn is the Sanders of the UK, and refuses to consider any path but the one he's alway been on. He's incapable of seizing this moment... incapable of saving a country that desperately needs someone to save it.

I don't understand. What the hell could possibly be his long game?

As Labour leader, he is at the moment the main alternative to the Conservatives. If things get bad enough, and the conservatives get unpopular enough, it's not hard to imagine him becoming PM after the next election. So he doesn't totally have the strongest of political incentives to get the best outcome for the country.

raydude wrote: ↑Wed Dec 12, 2018 5:17 pm

El Guapo wrote: ↑Wed Dec 12, 2018 12:22 pm

raydude wrote: ↑Wed Dec 12, 2018 12:15 pm

Fireball wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 3:36 pm This is where the mistake of Labour picking Corbyn becomes painfully clear. Any reasonable Labour leader would be demanding a new referendum now, and would be poised to tear away a lot of reasonable Tories in the next general election. Unfortunately, Corbyn is the Sanders of the UK, and refuses to consider any path but the one he's alway been on. He's incapable of seizing this moment... incapable of saving a country that desperately needs someone to save it.

I don't understand. What the hell could possibly be his long game?

As Labour leader, he is at the moment the main alternative to the Conservatives. If things get bad enough, and the conservatives get unpopular enough, it's not hard to imagine him becoming PM after the next election. So he doesn't totally have the strongest of political incentives to get the best outcome for the country.

So he gets to be ruler of a broken and ruined land? I guess whatever floats his boat.

El Guapo wrote: ↑Thu Dec 13, 2018 10:31 amChaos is a ladder.

malchior wrote: ↑Thu Dec 13, 2018 10:55 am

El Guapo wrote: ↑Thu Dec 13, 2018 10:31 amChaos is a ladder.

+1

Corbyn has been waiting a long time for his opportunity and this is probably his best, greatest chance to become PM and make real change. He can with some honesty point at this whole mess and say that global capitalism is the cause. That the level of inequality in the West is the real problem, etc. His problem is that his party is divided in a similar way to the Tories. He can't even get his own people to not call him out in parliament and embarrass him (especially Gardiner). If I were to handicap it as I see it now, the chance for a no deal are probably higher than should be possible. I could see May throwing in the towel on her deal and relinquishing to a 2nd referendum but there will be hell to pay. However, I think there is a lower chance of that because only part of the left want it and almost no one on the right does. If I was to lay money out, I'd bet on them driving over that cliff.