#brexit shambles

[ivovynckier]

The Financial Times' must-see documentary on the Brexit.

[starfleetwitch]

AM I HAVING A FUCKING STROKE?!

or did Rishi Sunak really basically just admit IN FRONT OF THE WORLD that taking the UK out of the EU was a terrible decision? Also what I heard: "This country we took but dont acknowledge until it benefits us is in the best position in the world in terms of access to the market"

[sucka99]

[seachranaidhe]

Eddie Mair rips Boris apart with questions about lying and integrity. Johnson turned up for interview not realising Andrew Marr was sick with Mair standing in. Mair, a working class boy from Dundee had no time for Johnson’s pomp, arrogance and entitlement.

IS IT A SECOND CHANCE FOR THE DUP OR WILL THE TORY PARTY THROW THEM UNDER THE BUS ONCE AGAIN? Eddie Mair rips Boris apart with questions about lying and integrity. Johnson turned up for interview not realising Andrew Marr was sick with Mair standing in. Mair, a working class boy from Dundee had no time for Johnson’s pomp, arrogance and entitlement.pic.twitter.com/WSoOH1LMIi— Ragged Trousered…

[purlturtle]

I just read this line in a post, and I can't stop staring at it:

"I lost my faith in humanity at that point and I don't think I'll ever be able to get it back."

(Ruminations about my own faith in humanity, and what happened to it in 2016 and onwards, below the cut. CW/TW (will also tag) for Brexit, Trump, Covid. Also descriptions of feelings of fatalism, helplessness, generalized uncertainty. Please only read if you're in the right mindspace; I do NOT want to drag you down with me.)

I've always had faith in humanity. I think being a Star Trek fan and also a Discworld fan kinda inoculates you with that. But those are both stories, visions that one person thought up - even though both of them acknowledge how cruel and vicious humans can be, they still very much work on the premise that humanity as a whole, and even most individual humans, are Better Than That.

And then 2016 happened. Yes, this isn't about Covid, at least not yet. No, this is about Brexit first, and then the election of Trump. Both of those threw me for a massive loop - truly a crisis of faith for me, of my faith in humanity. Not so much in the way of "how can people be so stupid", as in "how can people actively pursue and push these kinds of agendas; how can they lie and twist facts to their purposes, why is their purpose (power. it's always about power. and I don't understand that particular desire - why do they want that kind of power? what's in it for them that they couldn't get any other way that wasn't so cruel?) so important for them that they'll *knowingly* be so cruel and heartless?"

I don't blame the people who were misled by constant fake or clickbait-y news so much as I blame the people who *make* those news, who set out to mislead, y'know?

But one way or another, the Brexit vote got a yes, and Trump was elected, and I was left staring, at those two train wrecks and at the shambles of what I had always thought about humanity.

And THEN Covid happened.

And beyond anything personal (what with me having asthma and thus being at risk from Covid), because personal isn't the same as important as Sir Pterry has taught me - beyond that, just the way it played out publically, in ways even my most cynical thoughts couldn't believe...

Yeah. Big crisis of the faith that has guided me all my life (and I know I'm employing a Christian phrasing here - it rings true to me to use it, probably because I was raised culturally Christian).

I still have faith in the people I know personally - including my mutuals here (although to be honest? If I see people posting about going to conventions or concerts or sports events? It's hard. I don't know what to think or how to feel about it. On the one hand, I know how amazing such events can be, how happy, even elated they can make a person. On the other, multi-spreader events, one and all. I have no solution for this for anyone else than me: I'm not going, both because of Covid and because of my newly acquired sensory issues. But every time I read a post about it, it reawakens that feeling that I don't know how to feel about it, don't know what to think.) But that faith that I have in my friends is a personalized, small, individual faith, not the sweeping generalized feeling it was before, and so it cannot carry me the same way anymore. And the hope that I choose, that I find - that's also more often than not small hope, localized, individualized. Not even the Labour sweep of this week could really buoy me - not after the European elections in June. *big sigh*

I haven't seen anyone talk about this part of - not just the pandemic! but world politics in general, so far. I still choose to choose hope, because what else is there, but it's hard to look at politics, at the reach that evangelical/reactionary/hard right forces are getting, at their concerted efforts on all levels of government and business to gain power - and again: for what? For their petty shit ideas? Why? What the fuck?! - it's hard to look at all that and not despair. It's hard to look at government leaders *choosing war*, pushing for war, closing borders, refusing to help those in need, actively making their situations worse - why? Why? Again I ask, what the fuck?!

I don't talk about this stuff often. Not on here and not off here. There is no... solution, really. It is how these people in these positions are, and there is nothing I can do to remove them from these positions, and the things I do, *can* do, to keep people in my own country from reaching positions like that, I already do. And that helplessness doesn't help matters, at all. All these three things I've mentioned: Brexit, Trump election, Covid, were things I had no hand in and cannot really influence.

I dread the results of the French election (today). I dread the results of the November election in the US. I dread how the world will look in five, ten, thirty years' time. I still have a lot of decades to live, hopefully, and I used to be excited for the future. It is hard to scrounge up that excitement, these days.

I still choose hope. I refuse fatalism. But it's a choice, a chore, and it's hard. It doesn't come easy anymore, it's not the normal anymore. Imagine having to choose to breathe - that's how it feels, some days.

[lindyloosims]

So who caved first, Truss or the lettuce?

The only political thing I will ever say on this blog is this:

For a short time in the early 1980′s, Liz Truss went to a Primary School in Paisley, Scotland and one Halloween she went dressed as Margaret Thatcher. Now this would have been during the time of the miners strikes and the Falklands war. What I’m getting at here is that she’s lucky to be alive after showing up to a school in Paisley as the devil incarnate, Thatcher was not well liked all over the UK as a whole but she was absolutely despised in Scotland. She shut down the shipbuilding industry here making our country practically a ghost town and we were her guinea pigs for the poll tax when it was first introduced. She hated us just as much as we grew to hate her. Also Scotland hasn’t voted Tory since 1955 and the rest of the world, including England (sorry but it’s true), wonder why Scotland wants independence? 

You may say, but you had a referendum in 2014, you voted no. Most of the people who voted no did so under false pretences, they were lied to like Boris lied about the hundreds of millions that would go into the NHS on his blunder bus during Brexit. Others, like the elderly, thanks to a lot of scaremongering, feared for their pensions. We were told that if we voted yes we would be forced out of the European Union and the only way to remain was to vote no. In 2016 62% of Scots voted remain in the Brexit referendum, we wanted to stay but because we are “part of the UK” our votes counted for nothing and we were forced out of the EU. You may also say, but the independence referendum was a once in a lifetime thing, you had your chance and you said no, well it was but wouldn’t you say all bets are off when we are not given what we were promised? When we vote for one thing and get another? Plus our then Scottish First Minister was the one who signed a document stating that he would never call for another referendum should we vote no, hence once in a lifetime, so he resigned. Our current First Minister, who is calling for a second referendum, signed no such thing. She was elected to power by the Scottish people under this promise: “The SNP Government was elected in an explicit manifesto pledge that the Scottish Parliament should have the right to consider an independence referendum if Scotland is faced with the threat of being dragged out of the EU against its will.” Now the Westminster government are telling her no, that now is not the time. They’ve been telling her this since Theresa May was Prime Minister. Now the current shambles of a Prime Minister says the only way to deal with our First Minister is to ignore her. Ignore a leader that was elected into the position she has today by the people of her country, unlike Liz Truss who was chosen as the lesser of two evils by Tory party members!

So to those now grown up kids who were in Thick Lizzie’s class, I say this: Well done on your strong will powers, it might have taken forty years but you may just have freed your country with that one act of self reserve! We’re about to have a third Prime Minister in one year, she’s gone and fucking resigned! Is it any wonder that Scotland wants out?

I will also say this, Scotland is not anti English, this is not an attack on England and it never was. Scotland is anti Westminster, a government that we never voted for telling us what we can and cannot do. Sneering and laughing at us and treating us like something on the bottom of their shoe. Anyone who watches what goes on in the Commons can see how our SNP MPs are treated with contempt every time they stand up and open their mouths, the Tories don’t even bother to hide it, we’re nobodies...but they sure do love draining us dry of the plentiful resources we provide, but that is another story. Because of my stance on this subject I’ve been constantly shouted at, unionists cannot have a calm conversation with you, all they can do is shout and be aggressive, I’ve had the words nationalist scum spat in my face many times, and my best friend has literally been physically spat on when she was in England during the indy ref and someone heard her Scottish accent, that was her crime, her accent. She was passing that person in the street talking on her phone and he just gobbed on her out of nowhere! I leave you with the wise words of the amazing Scottish actor, Peter Mullan, who sums up the feelings of the majority. Sorry for this rant, but I’m sure a lot of people don’t know much of this, they just see us as English hating scrounging jocks which we are not! We gave you the television, the telephone, penicillin and many other wonderful things. A man in Skelmorlie on the west coast of Scotland invented the Vanish line with soap! We’re not stupid, we’re not English hating yobs, we’re just tired and we want fairness! Something we will never get under Westminster rule!

Neighbours not Masters! Sounds fair no?

[thessalian]

Thess vs Being an Immigrant

WIth things a little more set up for this evening’s D&D session, I did a thing that was either going to depress me too much to play at all or really put me in the mood to go full-on feral: I looked at the news.

The Tories are ... bad, okay? They’re mega-super-ultra bad. Problem is, Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour party, is giving worse and worse takes on everything, every time he turns around. He keeps going on about how he will Make Brexit Work, without actually explaining how, and I tolerated it only because I was hoping he was saving the “I’m going to at least get us back into the single market if the EU can ever forgive us the Tory issues” bombshell for when he was safe in office. He keeps going on about how strikes shouldn’t be happening and Labour MPs should not be on the picket lines, never mind that the entire fucking Labour party was started by labour unions; that is why they are the Labour party, because I was hoping that he was saving the “Everybody needs to sit down, shut up, and make sure people get proper pay and job security, and they shouldn’t need strikes to make their voices heard” bombshell for when he was safe in office. I tolerated a lot because frankly he seemed - and honestly still somewhat seems - better than the alternative.

Thing is, his issue today is ... well, the NHS. Because it always comes back to the NHS. Or, more specifically, using the NHS to underline, highlight, and carve in stone how much he’s actually supporting the mess of a Brexit we have. Because his comment has been, “We’re recruiting too many people from overseas! We don’t want open borders! Points-based system! Freedom of Movement is gone and it’s never coming back, so it’s time to hire BRITISH!”

...’scuse me? Sir? That’s going to be a problem. Here are the reasons why, from someone who has worked in or at least with the NHS for decades:

While not at US level yet, UK university costs more than just about anywhere in Europe. Interest rates are sky-high, making loans a problematic prospect at best. Add to that the cost of living increase, which is going to hit university students particularly hard, and the number of people who can actually qualify to work in the health care sector drops dramatically.

So let’s talk about nurses. There used to be bursaries for people to qualify for nursing, free of charge. I know because I was actively considering it at one point. Then the Tories nuked it. Unless you want to bring that back, welp, we’re still screwed in terms of the financial outlay required for nursing training.

“Ah,” I hear you say, “but the wealthy could do it!” Except ... why would they want to? We have all heard the stories about the NHS and how the government has been treating it - everyone. The pay’s crap (which is why so many doctors also run private practices, which reduces the overall availability of doctors), the stress is unbelievable, the hours expected are ludicrous, and the government has a tendency to try to make their lives even more miserable in the name of false economy. So the wealthy will probably want cushier jobs, since ‘doctor’ is not a profession that denotes wealth, status, and prestige anymore. As for nursing? I can’t see that at all, given what a nurse has to do day-to-day.

Even if all of those issues were fixed tomorrow (AND THEY WON’T BE; WE ALL KNOW THIS), training up medical professionals takes time. Years of study, more years being shadowed by senior doctors before real, proper qualification happens. Rush that, and you’re risking people’s lives. So it will be minimum 5-10 years before a meaningful number of British people could qualify to work as healthcare professionals even with abolition of university fees, the return of the university grant, and the salvation of the economy from its current shambles. We can’t wait a decade to fix this. Therefore, our only hope is to get already trained people in the interim and then we can talk about how to get more British people qualified to work in the health sector.

Starmer has to learn that waving the Brexit flag is not going to have the desired effect. Yeah, the people who still support Brexit are either exceedingly loud or, worse, quiet but powerful (say, the ERG). But just because they’re loud doesn’t mean there are all that many of them. A lot of people who were for Brexit during the vote are starting to rethink now, especially when at least one expert made no bones about stating, loudly and clearly, how much Brexit has to do with our current economic shambles.

“Labour has pledged to take on an extra 7.5k medical students every year if their party wins the next general election”, they say. Okay ... how? Who pays for it? What’s the economy going to look like in two years that means that this is possible? Even if the numbers can somehow be massaged to make that possible, that’s extra medical students who have only just started training. See above re: it takes time to train a doctor.

You know, this country keeps making it clearer and clearer how much it hates me. It hates me because I’m disabled. It hates me because I’m queer in any way you care to name. And, for all “they don’t mean me” because I’m white, they hate that I wasn’t born here. My paternal grandparents were, sure, but I was not. So every time they talk about immigrants, they are talking about me. I don’t care if they mean ‘the bad ones’; the ones who don’t speak English as their first language, or are darker of skin tone, or live in a country just across the Channel that they keep insulting at every turn. I am an immigrant, and I’m not even a citizen, so everything they are saying, they are saying about me. Because I am no different than anyone else who lives and works here but wasn’t born here. In fact, I’m nowhere near as well-educated or well-qualified as most of them.

I mean, I hate it here anyway. I hate this country as much as it hates me. So maybe I shouldn’t care. But I do. I know a lot of people can relate to feeling like their country hates them because of who they are. I’m not sure if it’s better or worse if the country isn’t even yours but you’re stuck in it, with it hating you the whole way.

Suffice to say, I’m still going to vote Labour but only because the Tories are still, unbelievably, worse, and voting for anyone else guarantees the Tories a win. Especially given that the next general election is going to involve voter ID and government oversight over the Elections Committee, and when you add that to First Past The Post, shaking the Tories is going to be hard enough without trying to swing Lib Dem or the Greens into 10 Downing Street. We’re a two-party system in all but name, honestly. Besides, Lib Dem and the Greens have been keeping their heads down lately. I have a feeling that neither of them really want to win the next election because whoever does is going to have the hugest mess to clean up and no one really wants it. Except the Tories, probably, who are profiting off of making it worse.

Still not sure if angry or too depressed to cope. But at least there’ll be some fun later. Time for a trip to the shops, food, and painkillers, I think.

[copiosis]

How Brexit May Foretell The New World Order

The New World Order offers something compelling. But challenges it comes with are daunting. Does Brexit offer any teaching moments?

Photo by Adrian Raudaschl on Unsplash I wondered this morning how the UK fares these days, three years since their momentous decision. On January 31, 2020 Britain formally withdrew from the European Union (EU). Are they thriving? Or is the county in shambles? How about individual lives? Brexit represents the closest real life analogue to transitioning to Copiosis. A slim majority of Brits…

[alaturkanews]

Former Bank of England governor Mervyn King describes handling of Brexit as a shambles

A former governor of the Bank of England has described the UK’s handling of Brexit as a “shambles”.  Mervyn King, who was the governor between 2003 and 2013, criticised the inability of the political classes to choose a version of Brexit to follow and said the atmosphere around negotiations was unnecessarily bad.  “I think it’s been a shambles since 2016,” King told LBC radio in the UK.…

[buzz-london]

ULEZ will define the next election for London Mayor. 

[kookaburrabugle]

DOVER TRAFFIC CHAOS DUE TO IMMIGRANTS HEADING TO FRANCE TO SELL FREE CARS THEY RECEIVED IN BRITAIN

Wire Services BREXITEERS ARE BLAMING huge traffic jams outside the English port of Dover on immigrants driving free cars they have received from the British Government to France, to sell at a profit. “They then come back to Britain, get another free car and do they same bloody thing,” claims Oswald Mosley of the extreme Brexit group Britain Britain Britain Britain. “The traffic shambles has…

[ivovynckier]

Is the force unusually strong with him or will they need a bigger boat?

[redhairedwolfwitch]

Hello my Precious Paprika (you know a stranger actually randomly called me paprika once),

That pancake sounds interesting, to say the least. I am actually quite into game theory, so I like this analogy you presented. I don't recall exactly which theory this is from or who said it, but I once read about the concept of "recoverable loss". I think it might have been in an addendum to Deci & Ryan's Self Determination Theory (which you might know), but essentially it refers to refers to a type of loss that can be recovered or offset in the future by making different choices or taking different actions.

The concept of recoverable loss is important in decision-making and game playing because it can influence the strategies that individuals use. If a person or player knows that they can recover from a loss, they may be more willing to take risks or make moves that initially appear to be disadvantageous, in the hopes of gaining an advantage later. Conversely, if a person or player knows that their losses are not recoverable, they may be more cautious and conservative in their choices or moves.

I think this concept factors into many real life situations as well, and I think it plays a huge roll in todays society's opportunity inequality. People who come from disadvantaged backgrounds may be more risk-averse because they do not have the resources or safety net to recover from a loss. Of course, this is largely a mental thing as well, as many factors are involved in how one experiences the weight of a loss and whether it seems recoverable to them.

So I wish real life was like a (well designed!!) video game, made with concepts like recoverable loss in mind. Sometimes, however, you can gamify your own life! Just make sure it doesn't turn into chocolate covered broccoli (another term from game theory I feel explains itself).

I realise now that you are probably not at all in the mood to dive into a (potentially) new theory right now, as you said you weren't very focussed, so please don't feel obligated to do so.

I feel like the whole world is in utter shambles, but I will also refrain from diving into that. As an EU citizen, I will say we miss you dearly, and its annoying that we now need a passport to travel to the UK.

Much love and smiles,

-Chaotic Anon

hello hello, isn't paprika ground bellpeppers? (that's a little odd of a stranger to say, yikes... although i was called several swear words and soulless by a boy being nasty when i was walking home in secondary)

it was a nice pancake when my parents only allow pancakes once a year... i am definitely intrigued by your recoverable loss theory, even though i had spider-man ps4 gameplay in my head when reading and was comparing it to that (like how the game will make you restart a scene if you miss a cue and people get hurt because of it).

'how one experiences the weight of a loss' me sat here with my mental health knowing i overthink every possible action... eek.

i'm doing better now, just couldn't focus this morning trying to remember every user that i enjoy reading a woso fic from, especially since i was worried i'd forget some important ones, y'know.

yeahhhh, i'm not exactly happy with the uk and how things are going over here, especially since the media and government won't admit how things are bad because of brexit and how energy companies are making huge profits but don't get taxed and ahh, people were choosing between food and heat this winter, and people were dying... and this country loves to reveal itself as even more racist and transphobic and i hate hate it all... yeahh my escape plans are hindered when i can only go to the EU for 90 days in a 180 day window... but the good news is, i'm learning to drive so i can drive out of this town where my only friend is moving away... insert fall out boy lyric here "you were the last good thing about this part of town..."

probably a lot but i'm just harbouring all this anger and feel trapped in this country that thinks that it's great, but its a steaming pile of... yep. someone adopt me, although i'm technically i'm an adult but yeah... (i'm 22💀)

[opedguy]

Biden Says Twitter Spews Lies

LOS ANGELES (OnlineColumnist.com), Nov. 6, 2022.--Speaking at a Democrat fundraiser in Chicago Nov. 4, President Joe Biden slammed Twitter CEO Elon Musk, claiming the Twitter “spews lies around the world.”  Considered the top social network program for disseminating information, Twitter can’t possibly control, under their 329 Congressional protection, that a few bad apples spread propaganda and disinformation on the platform.  But no one’s more guilty of spreading disinformation and propaganda than Biden or his acolytes that write the president’s talking points.  Biden ripped Twitter as “an outfit that sends and spews lies all across the world,” not specifying which lies he’s talking about.  What could be a bigger lie than the U.S. tries to save democracy from an evil tyrant, 70-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin.  Biden’s proxy war against Putin using Ukrainian troops is about settling an old score with Putin.

Biden was Vice President under former President Barack Obama when he decided to spend billions backing a civil war, paying Syrian insurgency groups to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.  Eight-years of proxy war in Syria under Obama and Biden killed over 500,000 Syrians, displacing 15 million more into neighboring countries and the European Union.  Called the worst refugee crisis since WW II, Obama and Biden’s proxy war created havoc around the Middle East and practically broke the EU.  Back in 2016, British citizens voted for Brexit, mainly because of a refugee backlash and terrorism from the refugee crisis.  U.K. citizens had enough of Mideast terrorism, voting to remove themselves from the EU.  Obama and Biden’s proxy war was spoiled by Putin in 2015 when Putin decided to protect Bashar al-Assad, leaving Obama and Biden’s  proxy war in shambles.

Biden hasn’t leveled with the American public or EU, for that matter, about his aid to topple the Russian government of Vladimir Putin.  No one in the EU, holding sympathies for the Feb. 24 Russian invasion, signed up to watch the U.S. fund a proxy war against the Russian Federation.  Not a single EU country believes that the U.S. or Kiev has any chance of vanquishing the Russian Army. Biden made his thoughts known March 26 when he said in Warsaw that Putin cannot remain as Russian President.  All the walking back by White House didn’t work with 69-year-old Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin saying April 26 that the aim of the U.S. military was to degrade the Russian military from waging war.  None of the real facts about the Ukraine War showed up on Twitter or any other social network.  Biden concealed the fact that he’s footing the bill to the bankrupt Ukraine government.

Biden says Twitter’s the platform that spews lies all over the world. But what does the White House do when they deny the Ukraine War has an adverse impact on financial markets around the globe.  If the Ukraine War ended, global financial markets would seen an automatic rebound from the global equity sell-offs that’s brought the U.S. and global economy on the verge of recession.  “Now what are we all worried about? Elon Musk goes out and buys an outfit that sends and spews lies all across the world,” Biden said in Chicago.  What evidence does Biden have that the vast majority of Twitter users disseminate lies and misinformation, whatever their particular agenda or business?  White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden wants Twitter to “reduce hate speech and misinformation,” not specifying what hate speech and misinformation they’re talking about.

White House propagandists like 45-year-old National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan lie continuously to the public about the Ukraine War or efforts underway to help cut a deal to get 31-year-old WNBA Brittney Griner out of Russian jail.  Sullivan says freeing Griner is the White House’s top priority.  But is it a top priority when the White House wage proxy war against the Russian Federation, knowing there will be no deal for Griner until they end the Ukraine War.  Casting aspersions is easy for the White  House while they divert the public’s attention away from the real causes of hyperinflation, forcing the Federal Reserve Board to hike rates to slow the economy.  Where are the real lies, on Twitter or coming from the White House.  “There’s no editors anymore.  There’s no editors.  How do we expect kids to be able to understand what is at stake,” Biden asked about Twitter.

Twitter has Congressional 329 protections, prohibiting social networks from censoring content on the Website.  Where are the White House editors that Biden’s talking about?  Biden gets away with making up stuff about the economy or foreign policy as he goes.  Biden refuses to admit that his Russian oil embargo fueled global shortages and skyrocketing prices, driving inflation around the planet.  Why is it OK for the White House to fabricate its narrative daily, including rubbish about the Midterm elections, but it’s not OK for social networks to allow content freely on their platforms?  Biden says Twitter spews lies across the world but what does White House do?  Biden hasn’t leveled with the American public why he’s spent over $70 billion on Ukraine when the American public suffer daily with inflation?  Time for Biden to stop spewing propaganda and disinformation.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

[relationstoday]

'Unadulterated shambles': Probe launched into £120m 'Festival of Brexit' | Politics News

‘Unadulterated shambles’: Probe launched into £120m ‘Festival of Brexit’ | Politics News

An investigation has been launched into the £120m “festival of Brexit” amid concerns visitor numbers were less than 1% of early targets. A cross-party parliamentary committee has asked the National Audit Office (NAO), the public spending watchdog, to look into how the project was managed to “help get to the bottom of how so much taxpayer money could be frittered away for so little…

[hkaffilates]

'Unadulterated shambles': Probe launched into £120m 'Festival of Brexit' | Politics News

‘Unadulterated shambles’: Probe launched into £120m ‘Festival of Brexit’ | Politics News

An investigation has been launched into the £120m “festival of Brexit” amid concerns visitor numbers were less than 1% of early targets. A cross-party parliamentary committee has asked the National Audit Office (NAO), the public spending watchdog, to look into how the project was managed to “help get to the bottom of how so much taxpayer money could be frittered away for so little…