OH DEAR, OH DEAR, OH DEAR…

SHOULD THIS BE A RESIGNATION MATTER?

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I mean, just how much more of a joke can this government become before something happens?

Today Davis admits lying (which explains all the prevarication when he was told by the queen to produce copies of the analyses for the Commons). How can we believe anything he says now? Did he tell the Prime Minister he was lying about these analyses or absence thereof? If not how can he stay on as SoS for Brexit? If he did, how can she stay on as PM

Yesterday Theresa May made a fool of herself in Brussels by appearing to come to an agreement with Jean-Claude Junker over the Irish border situation, only to be stopped in her tracks by a phone call from an incandescent DUP leader, presumably warning her that she would bring the government down if it went ahead. Why wasn’t Foster, as a de facto coalition partner, kept informed of the steps her partner was taking, at least over a matter of significance to the Irish parties? What was May thinking keeping it secret? And how can we tolerate an effectively unelected person (Foster) undermining the government, in the middle of an international negotiation?

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Added to all this Brexit clutterwhatsit, we shouldn’t forget that there is an ongoing investigation into the personal habits of the First Secretary of the Presidium (and others in the party) and the use of workplace computers for personal pleasure of erotic nature. (Sacking offences in many organisations.)

Add to that that several Tory MPs have, in a misguided attempt to save their friend, Mr Green, admitted (seemingly unaware of the security implications) that they allow their staff to know and use their personal logins. (Also a serious offence for which, in some organisations, you can be sacked.)

And all the time Tempus Fugit and that clock on the wall is getting closer to the point at which the wee bell will right and negotiations must stop so that individual governments and parliaments all over Europe can scrutinise the work of the Commission, and say Yae or Nae.

Isn’t it time that we got rid of the whole rotten bunch of incompetents? After all, what’s another two months taken out of negotiations now? We’re never going to get there on time anyway.

But then, what would replace them? Has anyone any idea what Labour’s position on Brexit would be? It changes by the day depending on who you ask.

&

Not that that’s exclusive to the Labour Party!!!

67 thoughts on “OH DEAR, OH DEAR, OH DEAR…”

    1. Nor is she really an elected AM, becasue the NI assembly has been suspended and budgets decided by London.

      So although, in fairness, she has been elected, she isn’t in power. She most certainly is NOT the first minister of Northern Ireland.

      If anyone has a legal explanation of what her position is, I’d appreciate it.

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      1. Is it true that the Honorary Colonel is a member of the Cabinet, or something along those lines? I wonder just how much influence she has down there … maybe while Mundell makes the tea, she just puts out the Jammy Dodgers.

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        1. She sits on cabinet meetings. How much of a member she is, I’m not sure.

          Of course, this is a MASSIVE insult to Mundell, but who can blame her for that? I mean would you trust him with a teapot all by himself?

          Well, not with hot tea in it, anyway.

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  2. It just keeps going from badder to worsest, doesn’t it? Everyone will be utterly astonished to discover that I believe the case for independence is now stronger than ever, as the Westminster regime becomes even more toxic by the day.

    The gall of Those People is quite insufferable, really: at the same time as they keep telling us that we Scots are too wee, too poor and too stupid, They have an unparalleled record of sheer short-sighted, blinkered stupidity and incompetence. Chuck in the usual pigswill of venality, mendacity and overall perfidiousness, and Presto! – you can forget democracy, forget justice, forget the rights, the welfare and the interests of almost everyone in the “unitary” State that is the UK. Enough already.

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    1. Yes, and given that Starmer used an ancient legal loophole (useful being a QC) to get the queen to order Davis to produce them, and he still said nothing, isn’t that some sort of high treason or something, y’know, lying to her maj

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  6. I wonder if perhaps there is a special door sign for the offices where works computers are being used for ‘erotic purposes.’

    eg. MID MORNING CHUG IN PROGRESS
    PLEASE
    DO NOT DISTURB

    It’s a fair assumption that an open door policy is not encouraged.

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  7. Davis’s reasoning for not producing the “impact assessments” seems to be 1. Such assessments always get it wrong and 2. He’s “not a big fan” of them anyway. Why, because it is such a huge subject, no amount of analysis will tell you what might go wrong, what might go right.
    That is my summary of his answers to the Select Committee this morning, 6 Dec. It took a few moments for this to sink in. So, in other words, we have absolutely no idea of how Brexit will affect the UK. For god’s sake man, then why are we leaving?

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    1. Oh yes. These assessments would have told him what a complete clutter-thingy we were heading for, and Davis is well known for not wanting to hear what doesn’t suit him.

      But there. The UK is facing the biggest and most dramatic change in 50 years and David didn’t do any impact assessments… despite tellling us, and parliament that he had.

      But it does explain why they had nothing prepared for Northern Ireland. I assume Gibraltar will be the same.

      Where is Cameron (whose fault this is)?

      Sunning himself on a beach somewhere?

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      1. TRIS: (got this bit right) : Yes, but it’s not just that. (Although I agree he has misled parliament and the public, and should resign. Bercow is the key man now.) He has been saying (to the Select Committee) that the reason they have not been done is because the subject is too big and too complex for any analyses to be undertaken!
        I think it’s reasonable then to conclude that we don’t have, and never will have any idea what will happen when we leave. That in itself is as good as any reason you could find to say, no, let’s think again and have another vote.

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        1. I don’t think they would have the time (or maybe the expertise) to do them. Therefore what they are demanding of us is that we go into this with absolutely no idea of what is coming.

          It’s not acceptable.

          Another vote? Yes, maybe, on the final deal?

          Although I think most people won;t realise what the final deal will mean for them.

          I’m not sure we can trust the newspapers or indeed the BBC to tell us.

          A friend of mine , a Greek guy who was born in Geneva and has lived all his life there, so is used to referenda at all levels, town, cantonal and national told me that for referenda to work you have to have a reasonably honest set of information (press) and a mature democracy. It seems we have neither.

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      2. He said there were 500 weeks of work in the released documents. That is just 7 days per person at DeXEU. He said that as a boast but it is a matter of national shame and embarrassment. It was probably also a lie because a good chunk of it was scraped from select committees and google.

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        1. I suspect it was a lie. Most everything he’s been saying is a lie. Perhaps some of it unintentional, but I’ve read in various articles that he WILL NOT LISTEN TO ANYTHING that is anti Brexit.

          If you only hear one side, you can hardly be expected to make proper judgements or know what the truth is.

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          1. I also think it was a straight out lie. This time it is a lie that cuts across his department and involved lies to select committees and parliament. In saner times he would be forced to resign but there is no meaningful opposition these days cos Labour and Corbyn are utterly dreadful.

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                2. Scotland being denied a voice? Well, there’s a first time for everything, I suppose (hollow laugh). Seriously, though, if They had a plan, post-Brexit, to keep Scotland in the CU and SM, at least, in recognition of the way we voted (2014 referendum good, 2016 referendum bad), if They had a plan to give us complete – complete! – control over devolved matters, at least, if They at least had a plan to give us control over immigration matters in Scotland – then it would be understandable that there wouldn’t be any SNP MPs on that committee.

                  They have no such plans. In fact, as far as I can tell, They plan the exact opposite: take all powers back to Westminster, let that uppity pretendy wee parliament in Edinburgh keep control over road signs, maybe, as long as they don’t put any Gaelic on them… merge it with COSLA, maybe.

                  Seguing seamlessly into my next point, I have not seen it mentioned that the current status of our minority language(s) is threatened by Brexit: that whole business of policy towards minority languages is part of the acquis communitaire, I think – I expect Terry knows. I note that the Spanish granted it to Catalunya proper, but not to Valencia, and tried to make out that Valenciá is not the same as Catalá – I couldn’t tell you off hand what the status of the language is in the Balearics.

                  It is also clear to me that as far as They are concerned, none of the human rights agreements that the UK is supposed to abide by, having freely signed up to them, is worth the paper it is printed on. EU, Council of Europe, UN treaties and conventions – we don’t have a constitution, we don’t have an explicit recognition of the primacy of international law, and the current regime is inimical to the whole notion of a rights-based State. That is to say, They are actively against the notion of what is termed in French, succinctly, l’Etat de droit, which roughly translated means a State based on law, a State in which citizens have rights, and a State where the rule of law prevails .

                  The disrespect towards democratic institutions, and the failures to abide by law and precedent that we see from the likes of David Davis, should be seen in that light. They aim to junk all limits to Their powers, and not only that, They are so savagely lusting after Brexit and a State where Tories can have untramelled power over anything and everything that they are perfectly happy to ignore legal dispositions that are currently in force.

                  In a way, they are acting as if Brexit had already happened. It is no wonder that the Europeans find them well-nigh impossible to negotiate with – and we should expect any commitments They make, any promises, any vows, to be discarded just as far and just as fast as They think They can get away with without incurring too much pushback and backlash. In other words, we should probably ignore those areas in which the regime has apparently ceded to the EU’s demands – it may have no intention of actually performing its obligations. For Them, nothing that they sign up to de jure means anything at all unless it coincides with what They want to do de facto: They have no respect for law.

                  You will recall that the Tories have already given the Cabinet the power to make law without parliamentary scrutiny. Only one more step lies between that and dictatorship. In that context, we should not forget that even if the Westminster Parliament adopts a no confidence motion against the Executive branch, the circumstances in which such a motion will in fact and in law cause the government to fall have been quite seriously limited – the blame for that lies at the door of David Cameron and his nasty little regime.

                  Scotland needs its independence from all that, it needs its independence from Them, and as a corollary we must be prepared to defend our properly democratic and representative Parliament – it’s not perfect, of course, but then no human institution is. Maybe some kind person will give me a lift to Edinburgh if we need to turn out en masse…

                  We Scots need our country not to be dependent on the rUK in general and Westminster in particular, but what the English (vague sense) need is a revolution. As I see it, England needs a revolution because neither of the two main parties is ever going to support, let alone propose, anything that would likely deny them the possibility of a majority at Westminster, and all the power that that entails when you take it as axiomatic that ultimate sovereignty flows from the parliament, not the people.

                  In other words, we cannot expect either of the two main parties to introduce PR for elections to Westminster, or a constitution that sets limits the powers of the Executive and the Legislature, recognizes people’s rights as human beings, and defines us as citizens, not subjects. As for the rights of peoples, such as we Scots – as the transatlantic cousins say, fuhgeddaboudit.

                  Exceptions to this rule, such as that AV referendum, should be interpreted as sudden rushes of principle to the head, or as the result of pressure from outside institutions such as the Council of Europe and the EU (e.g., devolution, gay rights legislation under Thatcher). The Tories are unlikely to suffer from the former, and are currently attempting to insulate their regime from the latter, in perpetuity. The Blairite wing of the Labour party – ditto. The Corbynista wing – possibly less so.

                  That’s the way I see things, anyway – I look forward to being challenged with superior interpretations and conclusions.

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                  1. You’ll not get a challenge from me, Ed. That was a seriously good piece.

                    I worry too about all the little (and big) things that we have been able to take for granted as European citizens. Because as you say there is nothing to stop this lot simply dropping commitments to anything decent for people other than themselves and such as themselves.

                    Rights? What rights?

                    I was talking with a friend this afternoon about the matter of low productivity, and it occurred that really the only people who have had pay rises in the last 10 years are the royals, MPs and top executives. (And thus why would anyone be incentivised to work harder?)

                    The amazing thing is that while MPs get 10% wage increases and we get sod all, we sit here a girn about it, shaking our heads and tutting. And we let them do up Buck House at multi million pound cost to us, and parliament at a multi billion pound cost to us.

                    In the meantime people are hungry and cold and dying on the street. And still we do nothing.

                    If you need a lift to Edinburgh for a protest, Munguin says you may join him in his limo for cocktails.

                    Incidentally, the referendum on voting was a pointless exercise. The alternatives were hardly much different. No one cared.

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                    1. Do thank Mr. Munguin for me for the offer of a lift and cocktails! And thanks too for the kind words.

                      The AV referendum – I wasn’t actually in the UK for that one – reminded me strangely of the 1979 devolution referendum. In 1979, the package on offer was so piss-poor that even I, a committed independentista even then, wasn’t 100% sure about voting for it. In the end I did, but as you know, it failed on the obnoxious turnout limitation imposed on it thanks to Teddy Taylor, if I remember correctly, who was himself an obnoxious git with obnoxious attitudes, thereby getting himself a knighthood. Such are the great and the good in our green and pleasant, forward-looking democracy.

                      All in all, both those exercises in mealy-mouthed prevarication were a bit like your theatrical impresario putting on some turkey of a play in the West End or Broadway, and then blaming the public for not turning out to see it…

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                    2. Good analogy.

                      I didn;t know how to vote in the PR referendum.

                      In the end I decided that I’d marginally rather Cameron be humiliated than Clegg. The outcome was of no interest to me at all, but I always vote.

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    2. Can I add: a true blue, Tory voting friend, who lives in an enclave just north of London, but is otherwise a decent guy, says of Davis, “his self serving arrogance is just unbelievable”. Sums him up perfectly.

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      1. Yes. He seemed to think it was one great joke.

        I’ve a suspicion that he’s fed up with the job and is looking forward to being sacked for lying… and seemingly enjoying it.

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      2. Tree: It seems he had much to laugh about:

        https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/dec/06/david-davis-escapes-mps-criticism-over-lack-of-brexit-assessments?CMP=share_btn_tw

        So, apparently it’s OK to lie to parliament now.

        If you add that to the prime minister being orders about by the leader of a minor party with 0.6 of the votes, who isn’t even a parliamentarian, you can see we are now living in a “Theresa through the Looking Glass” world.

        I’m off to feed the fairies at the bottom of the garden.

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  9. Ken Clarke, conservative MP, on TV parliament channel.
    The governments position is ludicrous on NI border.
    The two terms are mutually exclusive in reality, ie open border and no customs.
    , and the DUP position.
    To The DUP, “you can’t object to a UK government agreement with the government of Eire”. so your telt.
    Pathetic progress on brexit.

    Do they really think we think they know what they’re doing.
    The Tories continue to support Mother Theresa and Davis.
    Roll on Independence

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    2. You know, I think we need Ken Clarke to be the Prime Minister, at least until this mess is over.

      He’s the only one who can see it as it is.

      He’s a far better opposition to May than most of the opposition.

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    1. Dunno what happened there.

      My minor point was that denying the space for facts or evidence means that everyone’s opinion is in some way equal. This is the crazy politics that the USA and it’s wee chum GB now occupy.

      A fight back is required, as soon as possible.

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  15. Just listened to Davis and Mogg, the creators of the New World Order.
    Here we were all concerned about the future effects on our well being and the planning that our government foresee in the crystals.
    According to the Davis-Mogg New World Order, we needent worry at all. You see since it is too difficult, expensive and is always wrong anyway, we dont do things that way any more.
    So if you are a bean counter, accountant or similar occupation, we are making you redundant.
    Likewise if you are a town planner, utilities planner or even an MP, we dont need you since we are doing away with governments, ministers,Budgets, Prime Ministers and parliaments.
    No longer any need, since its too difficult.
    Maybe they’ve missed out a few wee things missing in that analysis, like society, no the Iron Lady said there is no such thing.
    My good friend says we are heading to a War, Red Donald, the BBC’s Scottish president has just declared a new capital in Palestine. Firework follow.
    I commend to the house,
    The Davis-Mogg-Trump New World Order

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    1. Oh Lord. Don’t even go there. War seems almost inevitable now.

      I almost can’t believe it.

      Between Trump and Foster… I mean May… it’s like a bad comedy.

      Maybe we’ll all wake up and it will be fine?

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    1. Tris: They are truly treating us with contempt. My view now is that Davis was telling the truth when he said 57/58 Sector Analyses were done/being done. But the results..the predictions…the probable outcomes were so catastrophic for the UK that he & the govt don’t want us to see them.
      For me that makes more sense as an explanation that he was just lying outright.

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  17. I tried to post this on Pheonix, but it said it was spam. 😦

    A statement from the public. “It’s politics, it doesn’t affect me personally.”
    Maybe if we lived in sunnier climes the public might, just might, get off their arses and protest.

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    1. I’ve always said that. I don’t think that’s the only reason, though.

      Look at what happened in Iceland when the government let the banks fail. Half the population of the country descended on Reykjavik and the government was gone. It happened again when the prime minister was found to have invested money in tax havens.

      And of course, when they did so spectacularly well in the footie.

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