Europe III: April F-EU-Ls

[QualityChimp]

So I get to work today to find a Daily Mail article printed out for me to read.

"PINT-SIZED NAPOLEON SHOULD BE CUT DOWN TO SIZE"
I've found a link that's not the Daily Mail, so you don't have to visit their website, but I can't be held to blame for your blood pressure:

https://www.pressreader.com/uk/scottish-daily-mail/20181005/281805694874106

Basically it's Dominic Sandbrook's recollections about when he was a teacher and had a meal with the French teacher who revealed the French will always hate us, claims Macron hates us and we don't need the French because we didn't need them in WWII.

Here's a piece about the article:

http://www.britishdemocrats.uk/dominic-sandbrook-the-daily-mail-rewrites-d-day-history/

It criticises Sandbrook for rewriting history but only because soldiers went to fight for King and Country, rather than against Hitler.
The article then goes on to quote several veterans of WWII and how they resent the country they fought for, but a lot of their reasons seem like Mail-fuelled rants rather than factual observations ("People come here, get everything they ask, for free, laughing at our expense").

There are many good reasons why people voted Leave, and heaven knows the Remain team did a piss-poor job of explaining the benefits for staying, plus the Leave team outright lied (on buses) and it's hard to compete with that, but articles like this really upset me because it's just button-pushing.

Every time somebody reads the Daily Mail, it feeds the fear.

Words are so powerful and they way the article is constructed is particularly clever at praising us and demeaning others.

The guy who printed it out voted Leave and I just want an honest conversation about how these things nudge his world view, but he won't listen.

On a side note, he had to print it at home because we banned access to The Daily Mail website at work, claiming it triggered the web filter's "hate" words.

[Cassius_Smoke]

The Daily Mail performs no actual journalism, its just a mouth piece for hateful people to defend their opinions to the hilt.

[Neon Ignition]

Macron seems like an easy target for this stuff because he's fairly plain talking and does come across as a bit of a p**** but stuff like the Mail in general shows why 'freedom of the press' shouldn't exist as it does. They do need regulating for content closely - not in terms of their reporting being filtered but they should have to thoroughly evidence every story they report and be fully accountable for them. The Mail would have to shut down overnight if that that happened.

[Cassius_Smoke]

Think how many time the Mail has been sued for Libel.
They need to be careful when ever they mention WWII because didn't they back the Nazi Party for a while?

Edit:
Here is a link highlighting some of the BS they've published over the years...

https://www.globaljustice.org.uk/blog/2017/oct/31/horrible-history-daily-mail

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/05/cataclysm-brexit-welsh-independence-plaid-cymru-adam-price

Apparently the risk of Wales declaring independence will rise up to a staggering 0.1%!

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/oct/06/snp-could-back-second-brexit-referendum-tied-to-independence-vote

Turns out the SNP really are Pro-Leave! They may support the idea of a second EU referendum as long as their support guaranteed a second independence vote. So basically they get to either leave the EU with the rest of the UK or stay and then vote to leave the UK and therefore the EU anyway! Brilliant strategy there.

After the embarrassment Sturgeon faced at the GE when the SNP took a hit for pushing that agenda I suspect trouble may loom if she stays this keen on pushing it.

[Asura]

After the embarrassment Sturgeon faced at the GE when the SNP took a hit for pushing that agenda I suspect trouble may loom if she stays this keen on pushing it.

The whole SNP thing is going to become a bit tiresome, isn't it? I don't even begrudge them, so to speak - it's a problem with politics. They need to constantly say stuff to be relevant, to try and maintain that relevance until they get another Scots referendum in 20-30 years' time. They can't just rest on their laurels.

[Neon Ignition]

It's just so relentless. Their central goal of an independent Scotland is fine but they make so little effort to show that they have Scotland's best interests at heart, instead giving the impression of being willing to stand over its smouldering embered remains as long as they could cry Freedom over it. If they backed off a little and said 'it's not on the cards now because now isn't the right time, but we will be coming back to it' they'd likely stand in a better place come the time rather than pushing an agenda there's not strong enough support for.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/oct/07/nicola-sturgeon-snp-undoubtedly-back-peoples-vote-brexit

It's like today's story, it's fallen through time from early 2016. She's been told repeatedly that the EU will not accept an independent Scotland that hasn't applied through the same membership process as other nations which means them leaving the EU yet instead she keeps banging on about the same old lies. The UK reversing Brexit and Scotland abandoning independence is the only scenario where Scotland remains as it is and if you want the best for Scotland she paints it has there being only one option - to stop voting for her

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/oct/08/snp-delivers-brexit-ultimatum-to-theresa-may

The SNP has clarified its Brexit voting stance. I'm not sure if this really is an ultimatum though, surely the Tories would have always taken all this as a given?

[Zaki]

The only cards we hold are.....

https://www.activitychest.com/Files/75747/Img/13/Jungle-Snap-Children-s-Card-Game-Front-Main.jpg

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/09/record-160m-paid-for-uks-most-expensive-home-ever-sold

What housing price problem?

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/oct/14/brexit-theresa-may-domestic-vulnerability-talks-knife-edge

The wheels on May's deal are beginning to wobble again

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/live/2018/oct/15/brexit-uk-accuses-eu-of-trying-to-impose-backstop-to-the-backstop-politics-live

It's a bit of a repeat but the crux is the ongoing failure to get a foothold on Ireland. The original backstop premise was that the EU pushed that until further notice Northern Ireland should remain in the customs union, thereby avoiding a border. May said that for that to happen the union should cover the whole UK until a final agreement is made, the EU then said that instead of the whole of the UK Northern Ireland should be the sole union and instead there should be a customs border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. Then things fell apart.

Frankly, it all sounds so much like a broken record of repeating bad ideas that it simply sounds like zero progress is or is going to be made.

The DUP are blaming the EU and have said they feel No Deal is now inevitable

[charlesr]

Why does everyone keep talking about no deal as if it's a valid option.

[Neon Ignition]

Basically sadly it looks like it is by virtue of no alternative. Everyone seems intent on shooting down every single approach going all whilst completely ignoring the realities of the situation. Like this today:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/oct/15/labour-may-force-softer-brexit-position-says-party-source

Labour will happily shoot down whatever May comes up with if it doesn't include a permanent customs union. Something they know isn't going to happen and they have some secret alternative plan which they irresponsibly won't divulge but realistically can only be the Brexit in name only option that would itself never get voted through.

Both parties seem to completely miss the point that No Deal isn't even an option, it's a consequence of their failure. Either they vote through whatever is served up next month or we're crashing out. I still don't get why they think they have a say on such basic stuff, the EU has been clear from day one.

I know a lot is said of May leaving post-Brexit - I completely agree, I don't see how she'll survive five minutes once they can throw her under the bus - but at this point Corbyn should go too, give us a completely clean slate for whatever situation we're in. It's staggering how ineffective both May and Corbyn have shown themselves to be.

[Dogg Thang]

How May has lasted this long is a bit of a mystery. All the early stuff she said or agreed to (whether feasible or not), she has gone back on. She demonstrates a total inability to achieve anything. But then I suspect part of this is that everyone knows a positive Brexit doesn't exist so they're happy for someone else to take the fall. Any talk of a positive coming from Brexit has been absent for months. What's funny looking in from outside is that there was a bit of flag-waving talk of wanting autonomy during the referendum (even though completely incorrect) and these are the people it leaves you with. These are the people you will be alone with. Tory MP Andrew Bridgen only just said on NI radio that everyone in England has a right to an Irish passport. That's the level of idiocy and ignorance you're being left with. Good luck with that, my friends.