More than likely, it’s been their reaction to every other defeat in recent memory.

Unclear if this means he gives no fucks, or Pincher has dirt on him, or others leant on him, or some combination. But pathetic regardless.

Today's Observer makes for thoroughly depressing reading. Stuart Lee's column in particular. Then there is the omnishambles of the conditions of the Palace of Westminster - featuring some alarming photographs of the communications infrastructure, not unlike the pics I was given of Belfast City Hall's used to look like before it got an infrastructure renovation several years ago.

And thanks to Private Eye - who actually said Johnson was getting a blowjob from his mistress (now wife) when Foreign Secretary , in the Houses of Parliament ,at the time he was trying to get her a £100,000 per year job.

Experiment626 wrote:

If you want a political party as left wing as you’d like, you’re going to have to start a sufficiently left wing political party. You’re not going to shift Labour to the left by not voting for them, and you’re definitely not going to shift Labour to the left by interminably writing barely coherent posts about how insufficiently left wing they are for your liking.

Think this is but much. Escape's post here was very coherent and his ideology clear - and that particular post was an obvious olive branch (if it were even necessary) to those who accuse him of holding ideology above utilitarianism. Add to the conversation or don’t but at the very least aim for better than pointless and insulting

There weren't previous allegations when Pincher was appointed.
The PM didnt know of any previous allegations when Pincher was appointed.
The PM knew about previous allegations when Pincher was appointed but there were no formal complaints.
The PM knew about previous allegations when Pincher was appointed but they had as far as the PM knew been resolved.

Where have we seen this pattern before?

My view is that undoing Brexit is going to take a long, long time and will require very small steps.
Pushing for rejoining the Single Market now is too soon. It will just kick off division again which only benefits Johnson.

We need sensible, boring foreign policy first. Not Daily Mail headline fuel.

The Irish Sea border is the best we have for now. Its not better than those solutions but its the best that is likely to happen this decade.

For once I agree here. Electorally, saying "single market or customs union" right now is at the very best a can of worms, and at worst electoral suicide.

Rejoining anything EU, from where I'm looking at this country, is going to need generational time: a lot of positive effort to make the positive persuasive case, a lot of Brexit harm, a change in attitude in a lot of people (or simply, a bunch of old bastards dying and the younger bastards being persuaded not to automatically take their place).

They may or may not have a clue (ie: they may or may not know that rejoining at least the CU is the best move), but that doesn't stop this policy announcement being sensible.

So we're saying we're going to wait a generation for Stormont to restart then? Or are we expecting reunification to solve that problem for us?

Stormont not sitting is a political decision by the DUP, who I might have some more sympathy for if they didnt court this Brexit shite when it suited them.

It is, but the Irish Sea border is also a political decision by the Tories.

The fact that NI seems to be doing relatively better than anywhere else in the UK is a difficulty that Brexiteers have to face down. But that's admitting that Brexit is a fuck up.

So lets bang drums about borders, protocol issues etc.

davyK wrote:

Diluted Dante wrote:

So we're saying we're going to wait a generation for Stormont to restart then? Or are we expecting reunification to solve that problem for us?

It's a fucking mess and the conservatives trying to please the DUP for reasons I can't fathom isn't helping. At all.

The DUP were the difference between them being in and out of power not too long ago.

davyK wrote:

The fact that NI seems to be doing relatively better than anywhere else in the UK is a difficulty that Brexiteers have to face down. But that's admitting that Brexit is a fuck up. So lets bang drums about borders, protocol issues etc.

This is what it is all about, Johnson gives no shits about the DUP. I would say he might be hoping they would give him the confidence backing like they did May in the event of a GE not returning a Tory majority but the idea of Johnson not winning at least the same amount of seats as 2019 won't have crossed his mind.

Nope this is just sabotage of NI to drag them back down to our level. Of course if that happens the UK GDP will be even worse but who cares about that.

While there’s good reasons for Labour saying no customs Union, no single market, it’s ultimately driven by fear. And will limit how much growth they can get out of the economy. Shooting themselves in the foot before they even start.
Think the customs Union can easily be added as a pledge without too much blowback. It’s not the single market so you don’t have to worry about immigration being an issue. No one voted for departing the CU in the referendum, it was done, and can therefore be undone, in a general election.
Also helps NI and other EU border issues and trade. Good for business etc. And leaving it has been a disaster so if the Tories want to debate that, good luck. It was done primarily to facilitate these mythical trade deals that haven’t shown up.

The only thing it does do is give the Tories (both parliamentary and tabloid) the opening to make everything about Brexit again. But they’ll do that anyway.