Thursday 30th March 2017

[NonOxCol]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Alex compiled this after watching last night's BBC News. Particularly the breathless Laura and the stupefying jury segment from Dover.

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AnatolyKasparov]

Vox pops - a pox upon them. Instead, journalism (especially the broadcasters) should realise they have a duty to INFORM.

[NonOxCol]

Yes, but these days this is what happens when broadcast journalists do their duty, day in day out:

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What a country.

[citizenJA]

Henry VIII powers for the executive, eh?

I wonder how Giles Fraser's apples taste today.

"Theresa May has set her sights on restoring a mythical period...
It isn’t fascism. It is an attempt to regenerate the authoritarian powers locked in the UK’s pre-democratic absolutist system and give them a national form."

- Anthony Barnett
Founder openDemocracy

edited to add
I wish I'd researched better before posting the above. Please see my post giving an update.

[gilsey]

You're quoting from this cja?

https://www.opendemocracy.net/anthony-b ... ple-s-home" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

edited - I see that signature works as a link.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Unsurprisingly, I agree with the Prince of Darkness on Starmer

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk ... g-national" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Starmer has gone up a bit in my estimation, then.......

[SpinningHugo]

Series of interviews in the NS on Labour.

Robert Harris is quite good, until the last para

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk ... r-it-takes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[SpinningHugo]

Unsurprisingly, I agree with the Prince of Darkness on Starmer

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk ... g-national" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Starmer has gone up a bit in my estimation, then.......

Labour might win if it could learn to love Mandleson again.

It never will.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Back in the 1990s he wasn't the wholly malign and wrong headed individual that he is now. Just a plaything of billionaires these days.

[StephenDolan]

Back in the 1990s he wasn't the wholly malign and wrong headed individual that he is now. Just a plaything of billionaires these days.

For starters the car scrappage scheme was an excellent idea.

[SpinningHugo]

Back in the 1990s he wasn't the wholly malign and wrong headed individual that he is now. Just a plaything of billionaires these days.

As it happens, I'd ban ministers from holding advisory posts in, say, banks for at least 5 years after leaving office. These are given not as a reward for worth, but as a promise to those currently doing the job as to what they can expect if they act in the corporate interest.

So I disapprove of some of the posts Mandleson holds (see also Osborne).

But, that said, most of Mandleson's wealth is from independent consultancy. He is an able man, good at what he does.

Regardless of what I think about his money making, he is still right about how Labour can win. As he always was. We've spent 7 years testing the proposition that things are all very different nowadays, requiring a different approach. It hasn't gone very well.

[SpinningHugo]

Back in the 1990s he wasn't the wholly malign and wrong headed individual that he is now. Just a plaything of billionaires these days.

For starters the car scrappage scheme was an excellent idea.

That was 2009, rather later than AK's cut off point.

[AnatolyKasparov]

There is no "cut off point" as such, but there is no doubt the 1997-2010 government delivered diminishing returns over time.

[SpinningHugo]

There is no "cut off point" as such, but there is no doubt the 1997-2010 government delivered diminishing returns over time.

I blame the change at the top.

As I am sure you do....

[citizenJA]

Which speech was the one the Home Secretary delivered? Does anyone know?

ConservativeHome
Published: April 25, 2016
Theresa May’s speech on Brexit: full text

http://www.conservativehome.com/parliam ... -text.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"A different European policy

For each of the principles I set out earlier, however, I cannot help but think there would be more still in the credit rather than debit column if Britain adopted a different approach to our engagement with the EU. Because we should be in no doubt that, if we vote to remain, our relationship with the European Union will go on changing. And that change – with new treaties on the horizon – might be for the better or worse.

We all know the game that has been played in the past. Prime Ministers like Tony Blair and Gordon Brown went into the Council of Ministers without a positive agenda for what Britain wanted, their advisers briefed about the five red lines they were not prepared to cross, they gave way on three, and returned triumphant claiming to have stopped the Europeans in their tracks. If we go back to the same way of doing business, Britain will not get what it needs from the EU and the public will grow more cynical and more dissatisfied.

We have become so used to being in this permanently defensive crouch that when it comes to the EU, Britain has forgotten how to stand up and lead. And to those who say Britain cannot achieve what it needs in Europe, I say have more belief in what Britain can do. I say think about how Britain built the single market, and let’s be that ambitious – in the British national interest – once again.

Let us set clear objectives to complete the single market, to pursue new free trade deals with other countries, to reform the European economy and make it more competitive. Let’s work to ensure the countries of Europe can protect their borders from illegal immigrants, criminals and terrorists. Let’s try to make sure that more of our European allies play their part in protecting western interests abroad."

Same event and speech posted on the UK government website below

Theresa May [Home Secretary] addresses audience at the Institute of Mechanical Engineers in central London
Home Secretary’s [Theresa May] speech on the UK, EU and our place in the world (Archived)
25 April 2016

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/ ... -the-world" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"A different European policy

For each of the principles I set out earlier, however, I cannot help but think there would be more still in the credit rather than debit column if Britain adopted a different approach to our engagement with the EU. Because we should be in no doubt that, if we vote to remain, our relationship with the European Union will go on changing. And that change - with new treaties on the horizon - might be for the better or worse.

And to those who say Britain cannot achieve what it needs in Europe, I say have more belief in what Britain can do. I say think about how Britain built the single market, and let’s be that ambitious - in the British national interest - once again.

Let us set clear objectives to complete the single market, to pursue new free trade deals with other countries, to reform the European economy and make it more competitive. Let’s work to ensure the countries of Europe can protect their borders from illegal immigrants, criminals and terrorists. Let’s try to make sure that more of our European allies play their part in protecting western interests abroad."

[citizenJA]

Nearly everything T May said in whichever speech she gave were the benefits the UK provided the EU for good reasons to vote Remain.

[AnatolyKasparov]

There is no "cut off point" as such, but there is no doubt the 1997-2010 government delivered diminishing returns over time.

I blame the change at the top.

As I am sure you do....

No, that made little difference (*) And we can probably still be thankful Brown rather than Blair was there when the storm finally broke in 2008.

* this is of course an indictment of GB, given how he had made many think he *would* be significantly different from his predecessor. In the event, he had spent so much time and energy plotting and scheming to get the leadership he had forgotten why he originally wanted to be PM so much. A salutary lesson.

[citizenJA]

You're quoting from this cja?

https://www.opendemocracy.net/anthony-b ... ple-s-home" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

edited - I see that signature works as a link.

Oh, damn it! I should have researched that better. Yanis Varoufakis gave a brief within an article on the Guardian. I found Anthony Barnett's article below from the same website and didn't read their mission statement prior posting my link. Many apologies.

https://diem25.org/brexit-is-an-old-peoples-home/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The title wasn't nice but Barnett explained in the article what he meant - it wasn't a derogatory generational dispute. I thought he made some good observations. However, I don't think the EU is in imminent danger of breaking up, I don't want the EU to break up. I didn't realise Varoufakis' and Barnett's current work these days included these views when I quoted the article.

[citizenJA]

There is no "cut off point" as such, but there is no doubt the 1997-2010 government delivered diminishing returns over time.

I blame the change at the top.

As I am sure you do....

No, that made little difference (*) And we can probably still be thankful Brown rather than Blair was there when the storm finally broke in 2008.

* this is of course an indictment of GB, given how he had made many think he *would* be significantly different from his predecessor. In the event, he had spent so much time and energy plotting and scheming to get the leadership he had forgotten why he originally wanted to be PM so much. A salutary lesson.

Contemporary UK leadership scheming requirements will f**k up the soul of the purest saint

[citizenJA]

T May doesn't act, speak or read like a Remain voter.

[AnatolyKasparov]

But she gets away with it, whilst we are endlessly told that Corbyn "really supported Brexit".

[gilsey]

And we can probably still be thankful Brown rather than Blair was there when the storm finally broke in 2008.

I think history will drop the 'probably'.
Brown did ok when it really mattered.

[citizenJA]

And we can probably still be thankful Brown rather than Blair was there when the storm finally broke in 2008.

I think history will drop the 'probably'.
Brown did ok when it really mattered.

I've always liked Gordon Brown.

[gilsey]

I liked him better as PM than as Chancellor, I know some here would say the opposite.

[citizenJA]

But she gets away with it, whilst we are endlessly told that Corbyn "really supported Brexit".

I wanted to see if the links to T May's speech were the same, the one posted on the government website and the one published by conservativehome. No kidding, T May made it sound like the UK was doing the EU a favour by staying in. If I didn't have profound reservations about Tory capabilities, their baffling, idiotic White papers thrown together full of nothing, their zero visible planning documentation for a 'Brexit' result, I'd think they planned it this way.

I've not seen Corbyn for a long time. Has he been on camera anywhere other than in the House?

[AnatolyKasparov]

Henry VIII powers for the executive, eh?

I wonder how Giles Fraser's apples taste today.

He won't care - he is of course a religious man and Brexit is a literal article of faith for him.

[gilsey]

Have we had Wren-Lewis today?
https://mainlymacro.blogspot.co.uk/2017 ... rexit.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If there is a lesson for the left in all this, it is to be smarter about what the hard right is doing, and not to play along by talking about British jobs for British workers.

The main lessons are really for those in the centre and the soft right. Don’t appease those on the hard right by using migrants as a political weapon (a lesson that was once understood). Don’t appease them by offering them referendums. Don’t appease the right wing tabloids by trying to befriend their owners and protecting their backs. Don’t appease them by being unbiased between truth and lies. If you continue to do these things, have a look at the Republican party in the US to see what you and your country will become.

[citizenJA]

"We have become so used to being in this permanently defensive crouch that when it comes to the EU, Britain has forgotten how to stand up and lead."

- Theresa May
25 April 2016

http://www.conservativehome.com/parliam ... -text.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

hmmm

[PaulfromYorkshire]

But she gets away with it, whilst we are endlessly told that Corbyn "really supported Brexit".

I wanted to see if the links to T May's speech were the same, the one posted on the government website and the one published by conservativehome. No kidding, T May made it sound like the UK was doing the EU a favour by staying in. If I didn't have profound reservations about Tory capabilities, their baffling, idiotic White papers thrown together full of nothing, their zero visible planning documentation for a 'Brexit' result, I'd think they planned it this way.

I've not seen Corbyn for a long time. Has he been on camera anywhere other than in the House?

Here he is

[citizenJA]

Many thanks, Paul!

[citizenJA]

Brexit: the options for trade
27 March 2017

Dear George and Mark,

Thank you for your letter of 28 February, responding to the report Brexit: the options for trade.

A number of the responses did not address the issues raised by the Sub-Committees, and in other cases points were not addressed with the appropriate level of rigour and analysis.
This suggests that the Government is not taking our concerns, or those of our expert witnesses, as seriously as it should.

[- cJA note - more specific questions asked for clarification]

Your response states the intention of achieving “frictionless” trade. We would welcome clarification on what this means, and how it could be achieved, in particular with regard to non-tariff barriers such as rules of origin, regulatory standards and customs administration. Your letter also raises the use of digital technologies and infrastructure as a means by which trade that is “as frictionless as possible” may be achieved. We would welcome examples of such technologies and infrastructure.

We note that there was disappointingly little detail in your response on the issue of the border with Ireland, and how this challenge might be resolved. We would welcome further information on this.

Finally, your response states, in relation to the possible dispute resolution mechanisms outlined in the White Paper, that “none ... involve direct authority of the Court of Justice of the European Union.” We would welcome clarification on whether the Government would be willing to accept some form of indirect oversight or authority, through a similar arrangement as seen in the EFTA Court, or in a disputes procedure that involved some sort of joint jurisdiction.

Love,

Verma & Whitty

http://www.parliament.uk/documents/lord ... 0FINAL.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(cJA emphasis)

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

[citizenJA]

Have we had Wren-Lewis today?
https://mainlymacro.blogspot.co.uk/2017 ... rexit.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Excellent below -

...the big news is that Leave voters were conned. The only people who will gain from Brexit will be the tabloid owners whose power will be enhanced and the ideologues who for some reason think the EU was stopping them reaching their promised land. That, as I suggested at the beginning, is not something I have seen in UK politics in my lifetime.

The parallels with Trump’s election are in this respect apt. We can no more 'reconcile' ourselves to Brexit as we can think that Trump is in any way presidential. If your takeaway from both events is that Labour should better represent the working class and Clinton was a poor candidate I would politely suggest you are missing something rather important.

(cJA edit)

[citizenJA]

Theresa May hosted a private dinner for the Daily Mail editor, Paul Dacre, at 10 Downing Street last year, the government has disclosed. Dacre was the only media figure to receive hospitality from the new prime minister in the first six months she was in post.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/ ... itor-no-10" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Unholy piece of work

[HindleA]

Supported housing is a vital lifeline for thousands. So why is it being cut

https://www.theguardian.com/housing-net ... government" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[HindleA]

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... review.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Second Independent Review of PIP Assessment

[Bonnylad]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... ll-cartoon" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[citizenJA]

From employment rights to environmental standards, many of the most cherished legal protections in British life could be rewritten at will by the government under sweeping new powers proposed by the “great repeal bill”.

David Davis, the minister in charge of shepherding this giant legislation through parliament, insists such authority will only be used to carry out whatever “technical changes” are deemed necessary to keep British law functioning as he negotiates the UK’s departure from the European Union.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... s-security" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've been pouring over other documents all day and I'm tired. What's it's purpose? How bad is this, please?

[HindleA]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... are_btn_tw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Painting disabled people as ‘workshy’: that’s what benefits cuts are all about

Frances Ryan

[tinyclanger2]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... -parasites" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
And when we use terms like “welfare state”, “redistribution” and “solidarity”, we’re implicitly subscribing to the view that there are two strata: the makers and the takers, the producers and the couch potatoes, the hardworking citizens – and everybody else.

In reality, it is precisely the other way around. In reality, it is the waste collectors, the nurses, and the cleaners whose shoulders are supporting the apex of the pyramid. They are the true mechanism of social solidarity. Meanwhile, a growing share of those we hail as “successful” and “innovative” are earning their wealth at the expense of others. The people getting the biggest handouts are not down around the bottom, but at the very top. Yet their perilous dependence on others goes unseen. Almost no one talks about it. Even for politicians on the left, it’s a non-issue.

[tinyclanger2]

Record number of EU citizens quit working in NHS last year
Surge in number of doctors and nurses from other EU states leaving renews fears that Brexit could exacerbate staffing crisis
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... -brexit-eu" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[tinyclanger2]

Mr Steel

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/art ... 58631.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Great Repeal Bill, rightly sounding as grand as Abraham Lincoln’s law abolishing slavery, will be full of language like ‘This truth shall evermore be stated, that from this noble day, a nation arose in magnificence to grasp the light of the heavens and tear away the hideous chains of being unable to negotiate a separate agreement on spring onions with Canada’

[tinyclanger2]

Because history will now regard the great figures who dedicated their lives to creating their nation as Garibaldi, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Chris Grayling.

[tinyclanger2]

Eventually Article 50 will be thought of as a holy scripture itself. Anyone appearing in court will have to swear by Article 50 to tell the truth, the whole truth, and so much truth it could fill the side of a bus.

[tinyclanger2]

So let’s celebrate our new freedom. Let every boy born in 2017 be called Nigel. Let’s dance through the night every 29 March, because now no one can tell us what to do. We’ve smashed open our chains and won the liberty to rule ourselves, no longer dominated by anyone, free to say: “Please Mr Trump, we’ll do anything, we’re desperate, we’ve got to sell something to someone, whatever you say sir, whatever you say.”

[tinyclanger2]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 58571.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
“Impartiality has always been the cornerstone of BBC News. It remains so today,” he said. “We go to great lengths to ensure that we balance our coverage and address all issues from a wide range of different perspectives.”

My.
Arse.

[RogerOThornhill]

If anyone's interested...

David Dimbleby chairs topical debate from Carlisle.

On the panel are Scottish Conservatives leader Ruth Davidson, Labour MP Lisa Nandy, Ukip leader Paul Nuttall, Unite general secretary Len McCluskey and the news editor of the Institute of Economic Affairs think tank, Kate Andrews.

Since when did this bunch of hard right loons become respectable enough to have regular invites on to this?

And as has been noted before, the party without a single MP and MEPs that are effectively even more useless than normal.

Avoid.

[HindleA]

https://www.scope.org.uk/press-releases ... ond-review" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Scope responds to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment to what the Government calls the second independent review
Read more at https://www.scope.org.uk/press-releases ... iGfT9Mu.99" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

edited according to self imposed swearing limit

[Tubby Isaacs]

If anyone's interested...

David Dimbleby chairs topical debate from Carlisle.

On the panel are Scottish Conservatives leader Ruth Davidson, Labour MP Lisa Nandy, Ukip leader Paul Nuttall, Unite general secretary Len McCluskey and the news editor of the Institute of Economic Affairs think tank, Kate Andrews.

Since when did this bunch of hard right loons become respectable enough to have regular invites on to this?

And as has been noted before, the party without a single MP and MEPs that are effectively even more useless than normal.

Avoid.

The IEA have an expensive office in Westminster.

[HindleA]

Back home tomorrow.Lesson learnt as to future request as to size of cupboards and hanging upside ability,possible with doors opened which somewhat defeats the object.

[HindleA]

http://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/sh ... cuts-vote/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Shabby’ Labour fails again on disability rights, after abstaining on PIP cuts vote