Wednesday 22nd June 2016

[Willow904]

I really don't know how this referendum is going to go, but what I do know is that if you are in charge and don't want to leave, given how far ahead leave was in the polls just a few years ago during the Euro crisis, you would be extremely reckless to risk holding one.

[JonnyT1234]

Perhaps Nigel Farage should ask some experts what will happen...

PS Thanks for welcomes and responses to initial post. Been busy with work so hadn't had a chance to say so until now.

[AnatolyKasparov]

We all know that Dave doesn't do long term thinking or detail.

Add to that a classic "toff" over-estimation of his own ability to control events, and that's how we got where we are.

[ohsocynical]

A homeless couple are living in a tent on a Mansfield industrial estate , someone informed Britain First that a migrant camp had been set up , who promptly sent one of their representatives over to harrass them, the tent actually had a padlock on after a previous assault on the female ocuppier. BF even made a video, this is what my mum was alluding to by reposting the video . She was pointing out the stupidity of the racist morons, not supporting them , my mistake. The story even made the HuffPo . Here is an update from our local rag http://www.chad.co.uk/news/local/update ... -1-7973396" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They - BF - are becoming far too bold. They need stamping on. Hard!

[ohsocynical]

Perhaps Nigel Farage should ask some experts what will happen...

PS Thanks for welcomes and responses to initial post. Been busy with work so hadn't had a chance to say so until now.

No, no, Gove said we're fed up with experts.

[TobyLatimer]

Jo Cox Memorial: Outrage After Planes Flying Brexit Banners Pass ‘Repeatedly’ Over Event. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/j ... f1704fdfed" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ohsocynical]

Kevin Maguire ‏@Kevin_Maguire 2h2 hours ago

People muttered "disgusting" as the Leave aircraft with the banner flew back over as Jo Cox's husband Brendan talked about his dead wife

[TR'sGhost]

Am expecting a link posted for BNP for the EU now !

Nah, the days when the likes of Oswald Mosley waxed lyrical about the "European project" are long gone.

Yes and no.

While on the one hand much of the current openly far right is comprised of asssorted football hooligans who'll happily fight anyone, anytime, anywhere the more openly head-on Nazis and some of the hooligan's leadership take more of a "fascist internationalist" position.

So while the "casuals" and "infidels" try and beat the crap out of their Russian political fellow-travellers, the likes of Griffin, "Tommy Robinson" and so on tour Europe and Russia, meet their foreign equivalents and try and form alliances. The attempts to expand the Pegida movement beyond Germany being an example.

Populist fascism is full of that kind of contradiction because it's based on lies and not much else but lies. Mussolini fantasised about a pan-European movement of allied but distinctively different nations. His fascism wasn't even racist or anti-semitic when it started - Italy has been a melting pot since Roman times. Unfortunately for Il Duce, Franco in Spain wanted nothing to do with anyone else, overtly at least, and Hitler made Mussolino offer after offer he couldn't refuse.

The snag with fascist internationalism as an ideology is every leader of a little gang wants to be Fuhrer, and there can only be one Fuhrer. So while they may preach about a Europe of independent and equal racially and culturally unique nations, they all have ambitions about being the boss of all bosses and having the same relationship to their ostensibley "equal" allies as Hitler did to the French, Hungarian, Rumanian, Polish and Ukranian fascists after he invaded their countries.

Fascism has never come to power thanks to a popular uprising alone. The populism recruits and energises the foot-soldiers, but fascism is a capitalist phenomona and requires the backing and support of a dominant faction of capitalists to take power - otherwise it gets squashed once it becomes a liability to profits and good order. Can anyone really imagine a significant faction of British capitalists turning to Griffin, Dowding, Prodromou, Robinson etc. to run the UK? I can't.

An already established group of right-wing politicians and military figures ready and willing to govern the dirty way and who do have monied backing on the other hand, that's plausible. In some ways the UK has been creeping towards a genteel fascism for quite some time, with the increasing marginalisation and neutering of trades unionism and the presentation through the media of an ideology that consistently supports a steady shift rightwards.

[JonnyT1234]

@JonnyT1234

I suspect Japan may provide some clues. Another advanced economy, island nation, Japan has a growing elderly population and a low immigration culture. They have been experiencing persistent weak/zero growth for some years now. Standard of living has held up well overall but there are noticeable disparities, with the poorest doing least well as always. So, Tory politicians aside, although no Nirvana, Brexit needn't be a catastrophe in the long run, or at least not particularly worse than they are now. Unfortunately, however, there appears to be no opportunity to put Tory politicians aside in the near future and in the short term economic uncertainties are best avoided, always impacting more heavily on the least well off, as they do.

At the end of the day we face the same issues of a growing elderly population and shrinking manufacturing base whether we are "in" or "out". This is an issue many other advanced economies face and none have yet really solved. Which is why the EU referendum is such a waste of time and really quite toxic as its getting in the way of tackling far more fundamental problems.

Hi Willow, Japan is in many ways actually a terrible example for what could happen. There are two major reasons they have low immigration: the first is the significant language barrier and the second is the physical difficulty of actually getting there - it's an extremely perilous journey from the continental mainland to Japan unless you are flying. And flying is extraordinarily expensive (comparatively speaking - it sometimes costs more to get to Japan from e.g. Hong Kong than it does from here, for example). They also have barely any social security system for the unemployed worth the name. That latter point is undoubtedly very attractive to the leaders of Brexit but, one hopes, not to the general public supporting it. Conversely, the way they've pumped money into their economy and kept it afloat is the direct opposite of austerity - massive infrastructure spending, several publicly funded 'non-jobs' to keep people working rather than not - would not be tolerated by those same leaders of Brexit. And, despite the low immigration, I challenge any Brexiter to experience the Tokyo and Tokyo's (absolutely excellent) public transport at rush hour relative to London's and come away thinking that the tube - or London, or the UK - is ever remotely close to being crowded...

P.S. Standard of living has held up well in Japan because, unlike us, they have very sensibly spent an awful lot of money on updating and maintaining infrastructure. So while GDP etc is depressed, the actual act of living is very, very pleasant for most people - trains do actually run on time and they are actually fast, roads are not full of potholes, food is of extremely high quality, cycling in cities is a credible possibility for everyone, including the young and elderly, etc. Just a shame it's so horrifically misogynist as a culture, otherwise I would be extremely tempted to go and live there. I may still do it if we do Brexit and everything goes tits-up here.

[TR'sGhost]

Welcome Jonny, the more the merrier. Ruder the better is fine by me.

Thanks Toby.

Forgot to say in my post that the John Barnes article today is quite possibly the only decent thing I've read that's been published in the Guardian during this whole referendum.

I also forgot to say that, having dressed themselves in Farage's clothes, Gove and Johnson can rot in hell with their, "it wasn't me, guv, that poster.... didn't like it, you know... Did we mention the Turks?" weasel words. I hope to Christ those utter swine lose not only their jobs but any future public platform after Friday.

Which leads me onto my final question for Brexiters?

5. If the immigration thing isn't based on racism, why is there any need to mention Turks when talking about the number of immigrants. If it weren't racist, there'd only be the need to say how many people you're worried about coming, not where they are from. So why keep on banging on about Turks. Or Romanians before them. Or Poles before them. You never hear anyone on the Leave side say, "I don't want those hundreds of thousands of French/German/Dutch/etc folk here" do you?

edit: typo

What nationalities were in Farage's disgusting poster? That wasn't an accident.
I truly believe it's based on racism and religion and that's why we're not getting any answers. It's because they daren't express what they really believe, so how the hell can they tell us what they plan/would like to do?

[White] Eastern Europeans slips off the tongues far more easily doesn't it?

Unless those white Eastern (or Western) Europeans happen to by Gypsies or identifiable as Gypsies of course. That's the "acceptable" racism which not even the Guardian will moderate thoroughly. The number of lies and quantity of hatred that appears under any article remotely connected with Gypsies is quite remarkable.

Edited to add -

One of the ironies about the complaints about East European immigrants is that much of the seasonal agricultural work they're recruited to do was once done by Gypsies and other travellers...

[TobyLatimer]

13166043_1124604414268727_4732257255702246923_n.jpg (105.03 KiB) Viewed 6882 times

[TobyLatimer]

Nigel goes to Glastonbury

Cli-Q5dUsAAPEN3.jpg (46.1 KiB) Viewed 6879 times

[yahyah]

Also, what went hand in hand with it back then was the philosophy that compassion was a weakness, an abhorrence, something against nature.

That is here already. Witness Katie Hopkins and her ''play violins'' about dead immigrant children washed up from the sea.

[TR'sGhost]

The latest YouGov survey, taken after last night's televised debate, gives remain a one point lead.

Hope it proves to be a bit more conclusive than that, still a remain is a remain however small.

There should also be an understanding that the result is final for at least a generation.

I am to be honest, after the Scottish vote, a dismal GE result and EU vote referendumded out.

The problem is that if the result is narrow (much less than 60:40 IMO) the Leave campaign will be crying foul - as reported here yesterday, already 50% of people intending to vote Leave think that the referendum is rigged against them. Coupled with anything unpopular coming from the EU, and the refrain from Farage et al will be "If the British people had known about this at the time, they would have voted Leave. We need another vote now".

Any result other than Brexit will be held up as "proof" that the whole referendum was rigged by "the powers that be" and that the ballot box is no longer the way forward.

[TR'sGhost]

One of the things I get with these attacks is a strange resonating feeling in the bones in my jaw and mouth, and near the ear - doctor said it had to do with the change of blood flow in one of the main arteries.

Those Nugget tracks and the Amboy Jukes sound sets it off and it is actually quite a good buzz ! Who needs drugs ?

Ah, the anti-establishment good 'ol redneck Ted Nugent. Who in the 1970s claimed to hunt all his own meat using a bow and arrow because rifles are for inadequate, weak, cissy excuses for men.

And now has a career that's pretty much reduced to playing at NRA events.

[JonnyT1234]

Every bloody day for weeks now, Stratagem has been first to post on the AS blog

Laughable isn't it, you'd think that the guardian would have noticed by now and started to randomise the order of the first few posts to any article so that a handful of people don't end up dictating the tone of the whole conversation every day. Particularly ones who are so blatantly being paid to do it.

I saw BuckHuckleBuck respond yesterday that he's keeping a record of everything Strategem's saying against the Tories during this referendum, which is probably the only benefit that can be got out of the whole sorry affair.

[yahyah]

Night all. I'd advise anyone who doesn't want to get upset to avoid Cif at the moment.
The creeps are out and making really nasty comments regarding Jo's death.
A few have gone right over the line. I've spent my time reporting them for modding, hard to keep an eye on them all.

[ohsocynical]

Bugger! I've got this horrible sinking feeling about tomorrow.

Please let me be wrong.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Latest (and final) poll from SurveyMonkey has "remain" leading by 52-48 (their last one had Brexit ahead by a point)

Maybe that cheers you up a bit, ohso?

[ohsocynical]

Latest (and final) poll from SurveyMonkey has "remain" leading by 52-48 (their last one had Brexit ahead by a point)

Maybe that cheers you up a bit, ohso?

Thanks ... I'm extremely uneasy. I hate the feeling.

I hope I'm wrong this time.

[Hobiejoe]

From G's Liveblog:

It has just been announced that Nigel Farage has pulled out of tonight’s debate on Channel 4, citing family reasons.

Jeremy Paxman is to present the final live European Referendum debate, a 90 minute discussion including 150 handpicked guests, consisting of 50 remain, 50 leave and 50 undecided, starting at 9pm.

Is he frit? Would be unusual for him, I guess.

[citizenJA]

Night all. I'd advise anyone who doesn't want to get upset to avoid Cif at the moment.
The creeps are out and making really nasty comments regarding Jo's death.
A few have gone right over the line. I've spent my time reporting them for modding, hard to keep an eye on them all.

Goodnight, yahyah! Sorry I didn't get to say goodnight sooner.

[PorFavor]

11m ago 19:18

It has just been announced that Nigel Farage has pulled out of tonight’s debate on Channel 4, citing family reasons. (Politics Live, Guardian)

I hope this isn't some sort of last-minute stunt.

[tinyclanger2]

Boris Johnson takes it to a higher level....virtually snogging a fish. Yeuk.

poor fish

[ohsocynical]

GMB Press Office ‏@GMBPressOffice 3h3 hours ago

Ambulance workers' phones cut off as provider fails to pay phone bills

http://www.gmb.org.uk/newsroom/ambulanc ... es-cut-off" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; … #GMB #Sussex #Ambulance

[ohsocynical]

Boris Johnson takes it to a higher level....virtually snogging a fish. Yeuk.

poor fish

Oh yucky, yucky. Hope they didn't put it on sale afterwards....

[ohsocynical]

11m ago 19:18

It has just been announced that Nigel Farage has pulled out of tonight’s debate on Channel 4, citing family reasons. (Politics Live, Guardian)

I hope this isn't some sort of last-minute stunt.

Sometimes he blames traffic.

[Willow904]

@JonnyT1234

I suspect Japan may provide some clues. Another advanced economy, island nation, Japan has a growing elderly population and a low immigration culture. They have been experiencing persistent weak/zero growth for some years now. Standard of living has held up well overall but there are noticeable disparities, with the poorest doing least well as always. So, Tory politicians aside, although no Nirvana, Brexit needn't be a catastrophe in the long run, or at least not particularly worse than they are now. Unfortunately, however, there appears to be no opportunity to put Tory politicians aside in the near future and in the short term economic uncertainties are best avoided, always impacting more heavily on the least well off, as they do.

At the end of the day we face the same issues of a growing elderly population and shrinking manufacturing base whether we are "in" or "out". This is an issue many other advanced economies face and none have yet really solved. Which is why the EU referendum is such a waste of time and really quite toxic as its getting in the way of tackling far more fundamental problems.

Hi Willow, Japan is in many ways actually a terrible example for what could happen. There are two major reasons they have low immigration: the first is the significant language barrier and the second is the physical difficulty of actually getting there - it's an extremely perilous journey from the continental mainland to Japan unless you are flying. And flying is extraordinarily expensive (comparatively speaking - it sometimes costs more to get to Japan from e.g. Hong Kong than it does from here, for example). They also have barely any social security system for the unemployed worth the name. That latter point is undoubtedly very attractive to the leaders of Brexit but, one hopes, not to the general public supporting it. Conversely, the way they've pumped money into their economy and kept it afloat is the direct opposite of austerity - massive infrastructure spending, several publicly funded 'non-jobs' to keep people working rather than not - would not be tolerated by those same leaders of Brexit. And, despite the low immigration, I challenge any Brexiter to experience the Tokyo and Tokyo's (absolutely excellent) public transport at rush hour relative to London's and come away thinking that the tube - or London, or the UK - is ever remotely close to being crowded...

P.S. Standard of living has held up well in Japan because, unlike us, they have very sensibly spent an awful lot of money on updating and maintaining infrastructure. So while GDP etc is depressed, the actual act of living is very, very pleasant for most people - trains do actually run on time and they are actually fast, roads are not full of potholes, food is of extremely high quality, cycling in cities is a credible possibility for everyone, including the young and elderly, etc. Just a shame it's so horrifically misogynist as a culture, otherwise I would be extremely tempted to go and live there. I may still do it if we do Brexit and everything goes tits-up here.

Well quite. Japan was my 'best case scenario' for a Brexit sans immigration and that was assuming Tory ideology could be completely excluded from the equation, which it obviously can't, at least for the next 4 years, anyway. And even then Japan has problems, such as high levels of homelessness. At least they have the excuse that large parts of the country are dense forest that can't be developed. All we have are golf courses, vested interests and nimbies holding building back. And that's the real problem with the EU, isn't it, that it's not really the problem, UK government is.

[ohsocynical]

11m ago 19:18

It has just been announced that Nigel Farage has pulled out of tonight’s debate on Channel 4, citing family reasons. (Politics Live, Guardian)

I hope this isn't some sort of last-minute stunt.

Sometimes he blames traffic.

I think he's done that more than once. Probably chickened out because he knew he'd get a pasting. Didn't want to lose his side any votes at the last moment.

[letsskiptotheleft]

By Jove Gordon still has it, in spades!

[tinyclanger2]

http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/89th- ... tory.html?
Lineker's backing for Remain sparked a hail of abuse from social media users, with one posting the message: "That's because your (sic) rich like all the establishment."

He responded: "If you vote leave, then I'll respect your view, as you should respect mine.

"The hatred and bitterness is neither helpful nor necessary."

UK footballers more eloquent (by far) than politicians

[ohsocynical]

@JonnyT1234

I suspect Japan may provide some clues. Another advanced economy, island nation, Japan has a growing elderly population and a low immigration culture. They have been experiencing persistent weak/zero growth for some years now. Standard of living has held up well overall but there are noticeable disparities, with the poorest doing least well as always. So, Tory politicians aside, although no Nirvana, Brexit needn't be a catastrophe in the long run, or at least not particularly worse than they are now. Unfortunately, however, there appears to be no opportunity to put Tory politicians aside in the near future and in the short term economic uncertainties are best avoided, always impacting more heavily on the least well off, as they do.

At the end of the day we face the same issues of a growing elderly population and shrinking manufacturing base whether we are "in" or "out". This is an issue many other advanced economies face and none have yet really solved. Which is why the EU referendum is such a waste of time and really quite toxic as its getting in the way of tackling far more fundamental problems.

Hi Willow, Japan is in many ways actually a terrible example for what could happen. There are two major reasons they have low immigration: the first is the significant language barrier and the second is the physical difficulty of actually getting there - it's an extremely perilous journey from the continental mainland to Japan unless you are flying. And flying is extraordinarily expensive (comparatively speaking - it sometimes costs more to get to Japan from e.g. Hong Kong than it does from here, for example). They also have barely any social security system for the unemployed worth the name. That latter point is undoubtedly very attractive to the leaders of Brexit but, one hopes, not to the general public supporting it. Conversely, the way they've pumped money into their economy and kept it afloat is the direct opposite of austerity - massive infrastructure spending, several publicly funded 'non-jobs' to keep people working rather than not - would not be tolerated by those same leaders of Brexit. And, despite the low immigration, I challenge any Brexiter to experience the Tokyo and Tokyo's (absolutely excellent) public transport at rush hour relative to London's and come away thinking that the tube - or London, or the UK - is ever remotely close to being crowded...

P.S. Standard of living has held up well in Japan because, unlike us, they have very sensibly spent an awful lot of money on updating and maintaining infrastructure. So while GDP etc is depressed, the actual act of living is very, very pleasant for most people - trains do actually run on time and they are actually fast, roads are not full of potholes, food is of extremely high quality, cycling in cities is a credible possibility for everyone, including the young and elderly, etc. Just a shame it's so horrifically misogynist as a culture, otherwise I would be extremely tempted to go and live there. I may still do it if we do Brexit and everything goes tits-up here.

Well quite. Japan was my 'best case scenario' for a Brexit sans immigration and that was assuming Tory ideology could be completely excluded from the equation, which it obviously can't, at least for the next 4 years, anyway. And even then Japan has problems, such as high levels of homelessness. At least they have the excuse that large parts of the country are dense forest that can't be developed. All we have are golf courses, vested interests and nimbies holding building back. And that's the real problem with the EU, isn't it, that it's not really the problem, UK government is.

Tories who are for leave seem to be blaming all the bad decisions they've made since 2010, on the EU. Patel has been blaming class sizes? on the EU.

[ohsocynical]

Hi Willow, Japan is in many ways actually a terrible example for what could happen. There are two major reasons they have low immigration: the first is the significant language barrier and the second is the physical difficulty of actually getting there - it's an extremely perilous journey from the continental mainland to Japan unless you are flying. And flying is extraordinarily expensive (comparatively speaking - it sometimes costs more to get to Japan from e.g. Hong Kong than it does from here, for example). They also have barely any social security system for the unemployed worth the name. That latter point is undoubtedly very attractive to the leaders of Brexit but, one hopes, not to the general public supporting it. Conversely, the way they've pumped money into their economy and kept it afloat is the direct opposite of austerity - massive infrastructure spending, several publicly funded 'non-jobs' to keep people working rather than not - would not be tolerated by those same leaders of Brexit. And, despite the low immigration, I challenge any Brexiter to experience the Tokyo and Tokyo's (absolutely excellent) public transport at rush hour relative to London's and come away thinking that the tube - or London, or the UK - is ever remotely close to being crowded...

P.S. Standard of living has held up well in Japan because, unlike us, they have very sensibly spent an awful lot of money on updating and maintaining infrastructure. So while GDP etc is depressed, the actual act of living is very, very pleasant for most people - trains do actually run on time and they are actually fast, roads are not full of potholes, food is of extremely high quality, cycling in cities is a credible possibility for everyone, including the young and elderly, etc. Just a shame it's so horrifically misogynist as a culture, otherwise I would be extremely tempted to go and live there. I may still do it if we do Brexit and everything goes tits-up here.

Well quite. Japan was my 'best case scenario' for a Brexit sans immigration and that was assuming Tory ideology could be completely excluded from the equation, which it obviously can't, at least for the next 4 years, anyway. And even then Japan has problems, such as high levels of homelessness. At least they have the excuse that large parts of the country are dense forest that can't be developed. All we have are golf courses, vested interests and nimbies holding building back. And that's the real problem with the EU, isn't it, that it's not really the problem, UK government is.

Tories who are for leave seem to be blaming all the bad decisions they've made since 2010, on the EU. Patel has been blaming class sizes? on the EU.

I don't know much about Japan, except I was in a jumble sale queue a while back and a Japanese lady was in front of me. She'd recently returned from a holiday there visiting her relatives and was moaning about how expensive everything was...

[PorFavor]

@ohsocynical

Re your earlier post about the possible result -

I must admit to feeling a bit sick.

[ohsocynical]

@ohsocynical

Re your earlier post about the possible result -

I must admit to feeling a bit sick.

I knew something bad was going to happen, and sadly it was the murder of Jo Cox. I wish I could think that after tomorrow, as bad as the Tories are, we'll be back to normal but we won't.

I've not felt right about any of it and still don't.

Edited to add: I dislike feeling obliged to take part in it ...

[citizenJA]

Every bloody day for weeks now, Stratagem has been first to post on the AS blog

Laughable isn't it, you'd think that the guardian would have noticed by now and started to randomise the order of the first few posts to any article so that a handful of people don't end up dictating the tone of the whole conversation every day. Particularly ones who are so blatantly being paid to do it.

I saw BuckHuckleBuck respond yesterday that he's keeping a record of everything Strategem's saying against the Tories during this referendum, which is probably the only benefit that can be got out of the whole sorry affair.

I agree! Strategem shares wanting the UK staying in the EU and not much else in common with me. That's fine, disagreement is fine. It's a good thing, commenting below the line, trading ideas with others, it works when commentators do that - commentators I don't like or don't agree with are important. Some I'm able to respect most of the time. Using disingenuous argument isn't authentic or credible. Chronic personal abuse is an attempt to stop a conversation and a different thing entirely.

[citizenJA]

GMB Press Office ‏@GMBPressOffice 3h3 hours ago

Ambulance workers' phones cut off as provider fails to pay phone bills

http://www.gmb.org.uk/newsroom/ambulanc ... es-cut-off" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; … #GMB #Sussex #Ambulance

Was it the same company the bailiffs repossessed ambulances?

[citizenJA]

I must not worry about who's going to feed the birds and cats when I move....I must not worry about ........

They'll follow you.

[HindleA]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/democrats-s ... n-control/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Democrats stage sit-in on House floor over gun control

[PorFavor]

@ohsocynical

Re the cats and birds -

If you mention to your purchaser what you do, chances are good that they'll pick up where you leave off.

[ohsocynical]

@ohsocynical

Re the cats and birds -

If you mention to your purchaser what you do, chances are good that they'll pick up where you leave off.

It's a single bloke. Probably going to buy to let. Nice young man, but I think those are his plans...

I suspect he'll rip the garden out and make it maintainence free.

Have to swallow it though and move on. Needs must.

[JonnyT1234]

Bugger! I've got this horrible sinking feeling about tomorrow.

Please let me be wrong.

Not to worry. In a little over 24 hours everything will once again all be Jeremy Corbyn's fault.

[citizenJA]

Mike Smithson ‏@MSmithsonPB 10h10 hours ago

Electoral Commission figures showing that there's been a 2m increase in voter numbers since December

Oh God, please don't let them all vote Leave.

It wasn't the "leave" campaign running the recent registration drives, I think

This, at least, is something to be hopeful about.

The franchise for the EU referendum is the same as that for UK Parliamentary elections, with the addition of peers and
citizens of Gibraltar who can vote in European Parliamentary elections. EU citizens are not eligible to vote in the EU
Referendum unless they otherwise meet the eligibility criteria.

46,499,537 - Total Eligible electorate: EU referendum

24,117 - Gibraltar
800 - eligible to take part in the work of House of Lords - majority are life peers

http://www.parliament.uk/business/lords ... eir-roles/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i ... referendum" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

46,354,197 - May 2015 General election

44,441,081 - Entries on UK parliamentary registers in Dec 2015

http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i ... referendum" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[citizenJA]

Do I have that right?
Provisionally, almost 2 million more voters have been added to the register since the end of December 2015.
Subtracting Gibraltar and the House of Lords, the number of voters on the electoral register able to vote now in a GE is about 46,474,620.
That's only around 120,000 additional voters registered since the May 2015 GE.

[ohsocynical]

InFacts ‏@InFactsOrg 3h3 hours ago

NHS not "creaking under weight of migrants". Express corrects headline after InFacts complains to press watchdog.

[HindleA]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... MP=soc_568" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Swedish footballer sent off for farting during match
• Defender Adam Lindin Ljungkvist sent off for breaking wind
• Referee called it ‘unsportsmanlike’ and ‘deliberate provocation’

[tinyclanger2]

[howsillyofme1]

Do I have that right?
Provisionally, almost 2 million more voters have been added to the register since the end of December 2015.
Subtracting Gibraltar and the House of Lords, the number of voters on the electoral register able to vote now in a GE is about 46,474,620.
That's only around 120,000 additional voters registered since the May 2015 GE.

The comparison is with December where there had been a significant drop in registration due to the Tories trying to prevent anyone who may vote for another party from being easily registered

Cameron realised his folly

[ohsocynical]

The GMB union has called on MPs to hold an official inquiry into health commissioners after bailiffs seized five ambulances as a private contractor went bust.

The union wants the House of Commons Health Committee to investigate the problems besetting the patient transport service (PTS) in an area that includes Brighton and Hove.

http://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2016 ... goes-bust/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[citizenJA]

The GMB union has called on MPs to hold an official inquiry into health commissioners after bailiffs seized five ambulances as a private contractor went bust.

The union wants the House of Commons Health Committee to investigate the problems besetting the patient transport service (PTS) in an area that includes Brighton and Hove.

http://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2016 ... goes-bust/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Their phones don't work any more either. It'll interfere with this company providing a public service.