Europe IV: The Final Hour

[Dogg Thang]

The Soft Left. The Lefty Leaners. The Vegan Vets. The Beardy Brigade.

[Neon Ignition]

Beardy Brigade! I'm in!

[Asura]

Although on a serious note. I actually do think parliament should now be dissolved with the military taking over the governance of the country, until a new system of hiring politicians based on merit and skill is put into place.

To be honest, this is the closest I've ever gotten to seriously forming a group to advocate for total political reform - starting with moving all of Parliament's business out of the most expensive few square kilometres of the country and converting Westminster into what it should've been for decades - a museum.

Then getting on to fixing all the embarrasingly crap stuff. Like having a written constitution with a clear amendment process. Fixing the problem where the constituency of the Speaker effectively has no MP (and fixing that the speaker is chosen by the ruling party)... Even getting rid of that daft ceremony where the speaker is dragged to their post an a theatrical "unwilling" manner. Allowing MPs to call each other by name within the House. Formalising that the queen's position in the government is entirely ceremonial.

All that jazz.

[MartyG]

and fixing that the speaker is chosen by the ruling party

Not sure where you got that from, but it isn't correct: https://www.instituteforgovernment.o...ommons-elected

[Asura]

Not sure where you got that from, but it isn't correct: https://www.instituteforgovernment.o...ommons-elected

Not sure what you mean? The MPs vote for the speaker. The speaker is, therefore, going to be of the existing government nearly all the time, unless it's a minority or coalition government, because I imagine most parties want a speaker from their party. Admittedly I don't know what would replace it but that has to be a source of conflict of interest.

EDIT: Before anyone says "Bercow has been considered a good speaker" this isn't really about Bercow.

[Zaki]

I saw someone being called a left wing nazi on Twitter yesterday :S

Gay Muslim Jewish Black Nazi. Checks out.

[Mayhem]

Gay Muslim Jewish Black Nazi. Checks out.

You missed feminist out there.

[Dogg Thang]

I'm sure you have seen the original video which was entertaining on its own but I got a laugh out of this one:

Embedded Tweet

[charlesr]

lol, what was the original?

[Dogg Thang]

lol, what was the original?

It was a coffee cup and she took it off him and told him he couldn’t have disposable plastic.

[MartyG]

Not sure what you mean? The MPs vote for the speaker. The speaker is, therefore, going to be of the existing government nearly all the time, unless it's a minority or coalition government, because I imagine most parties want a speaker from their party. Admittedly I don't know what would replace it but that has to be a source of conflict of interest.

EDIT: Before anyone says "Bercow has been considered a good speaker" this isn't really about Bercow.

Each candidate requires at least three nominations from an opposition party, so it's a fair system. If the opposition don't support a candidate, it doesn't matter how big the majority of the government is.

[Neon Ignition]

The one thing that MP's are put to task about but are actually hitting targets for is global warming. Doesn't make much difference with the rest of the world failing though so here's the main cities facing being submerged within 100 years:

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/empowering-the-planet/cities-that-will-be-drowned-in-100-years/ss-AAI7Y4o?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=iehp#image=2

-Shanghai
-Tianjin
-Dhaka
-Kolkata
-Mumbai
-Hong Kong
-Jakarta
-Taizhou
-Khulna
-Hanoi
-Tokyo
-Osaka
-Rio de Janeiro
-New York
-Buenos Aires
-Quenzon
-Vancouver
-Miami
-Alexandria
-Lagos
-Houston
-Venice
-Bangkok
-New Orleans
-Rotterdam
-London
-Boston
-Shantou
-Ho Chi Minh
-Surabaya


Manchester to be UK Capital by 2120!

[Neon Ignition]

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/maverick-no10-chief-dominic-cummings-is-like-a-small-child-in-meetings-because-he-constantly-asks-why-about-routine-government-decisions-says-cabinet-minister/ar-AAI6MLe?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=iehp

Apparently Dominic Cummings has indicated he will leave as Johnson's aid after 31 October regardless of whether Brexit is done

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/01/corbyn-caretaker-government-mcdonnell-labour

Some members of Labour have told Corbyn that if a Caretaker Government took over they would prefer a Second Referendum to take place before a General Election. This is near impossible though as the Caretaker Government would never last long enough to get near doing what was needed to achieve this.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/oct/02/brexit-latest-news-conservative-conference-boris-johnsons-plan-for-alternative-to-backstop-gets-early-frosty-reception-from-eu-live-news

Tories table a 'let's broadly set up a hard border in Ireland' option on a 'accept it or we'll never negotiate with you again' basis which remains stupid given it's a blatant lie.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/oct/02/brexit-latest-news-conservative-conference-boris-johnsons-plan-for-alternative-to-backstop-gets-early-frosty-reception-from-eu-live-news?page=with:block-5d947b8e8f081108db9c0b9b#liveblog-navigation

Johnson has delivered his conference speech:


-He says if Corbyn gets into power there'll be 2 referendums next year (Brexit and Scottish Independence) lie
-Brexit will be over by leaving on 31 October lie
-He spent time making an open attack on Parliament, you know, the thing many leave voters wanted to give more democratic control to
-There was a lot of fear mongering for the attention of the upper classes suggesting that the replacement of Ofsted in Labour policy means abandoning the expectation of excellence in schools


The rest was election campaigning, no specifics of relevance to bring up. Post-speech commentary seems to sum up as it being typical Johnson - high on glib, low on substance