Oolite Bulletins

<nods>
The whiff of that singed beard still hangs heavy in the air...

<grins> I was living in Spain during the Falklands war - it became a little unpleasant for Brits at times.

There are a lot of countries all over the world that don't like Britain … we do have a bit of a history. This may well make things awkward for us trying to rejoin the WTO, as any existing member (Argentina, say, or Iran, or one of the other 162 WTO nations) could veto it.

Meanwhile, the Spanish government has stated that it would not block an independent Scotland from joining the EU:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... to-join-eu

The Guardian headline, "Spain drops plan to impose veto", is misleading - it implies that Spain had previously planned to veto Scottish membership when, in fact, they said back in 2014 that they had no problem with an independent Scotland joining the EU:
https://www.ft.com/content/977a39ea-8c2 ... 144feab7de

Gibraltar voted by a huge margin - 96%, equating to 81% of the electorate - to remain in the EU. The UK government has so far made zero effort to find any sort of compromise for Gibraltar, or for Scotland (I don't think they've even yet acknowledged receipt of the Scottish government's extensive proposals for negotiation, delivered back in December), or for Northern Ireland, where the entire peace process is underpinned by open borders and EU membership. Mind you, since the UK government has done little except shout slogans, deny that things were ever painted on buses, and witter on about jam, this shouldn't come as a huge surprise.

Disembodied wrote: ↑Sun Apr 02, 2017 2:33 pm

Meanwhile, the Spanish government has stated that it would not block an independent Scotland from joining the EU:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... to-join-eu

I saw that just after making my post earlier. I suppose if anything that will act in favour of independence as the Scots will feel their potential path back into Europe just got a lot easier.

Of course, given that Brexit is supposed to be turning the clock back to the 1950s, it is possible that Michael Howard's threat of war with Spain is because he misread it as "turning the clock back to the 1590s". Easily done.

@Smivs: I think Spain's willingness to make a public statement, now, that they have no problem with an independent Scotland joining the EU is probably aimed mostly at Westminster. This sort of thing could be fairly common over the next couple of years: UK gets shirty over some point - EU holds warm and friendly press conference with Nicola Sturgeon.

Disembodied wrote: ↑Sun Apr 02, 2017 2:55 pm

@Smivs: I think Spain's willingness to make a public statement, now, that they have no problem with an independent Scotland joining the EU is probably aimed mostly at Westminster. This sort of thing could be fairly common over the next couple of years: UK gets shirty over some point - EU holds warm and friendly press conference with Nicola Sturgeon.

<nods>

And now it seems the ultimate 'hard Brexit' involves nuking the channel tunnel!

That does seem a bit OTT … I wonder if somewhere in the bowels of the MoD, there's a plan c. 1950 for dealing with a flying saucer invasion? We know that Churchill asked questions about UFOs; is there, somewhere, a manila folder with a pink ribbon around it, detailing planned responses to alien contact? Part of the UK's nuclear defence relied on the Prime Minister calling the AA … maybe alien invasion was subcontracted to the RAC?

Meanwhile, back in the Med, Spain's foreign minister Alfonso Dastis said that he was surprised that the UK government was so excited about the dispute over the rock.

The Spanish government is a little surprised by the tone of comments coming out of Britain, a country known for its composure.

Composure? It's more like we're de-composing these days!

Here we go... a snap general election!

Brexi-ref 2

There should be no general election until 2020.

—Theresa May, 30 June 2016

I’m not going to be calling a snap election. I’ve been very clear that I think we need that period of time, that stability, to be able to deal with the issues that the country is facing and have that election in 2020.

—Theresa May, 4 September 2016

She's a liar. (Note: other liars may be available.) There's more than a whiff of desperation about this.

Also: did no-one tell her that Northern Ireland is currently in the middle of a series of very delicate power-sharing negotiations? Or does she just not care? Answers on the back of a fag packet to 10 Downing Street, London, SW1A 2AA.

She was very clear on 'No Election' on at least five occasions (and they wonder why no-one trusts politicians!).
My hope is that all the opposition parties can for once work together to get these morons out and put the Country back to being a forward-looking, tolerant and inclusive nation again.

Smivs wrote:

My hope is that all the opposition parties can for once work together to get these morons out and put the Country back to being a forward-looking, tolerant and inclusive nation again.

It's a nice thought - there are certainly far more non-Tory voters than Tory voters - but with our first-past-the-post electoral system, and the shambles in the Labour Party, it all but guarantees an increased Tory majority. Which is what Theresa May needs, to avoid being held to ransom by the wingnut element in her own party.

I suspect that's what all this is about: a realisation among mainstream Tories that Brexit is going to be a long and hideous farcical nightmare, requiring a large number of pragmatic compromises and quiet surrenders to reality; a dawning awareness that we can't live on selling jam and money-laundering services, and that we actually desperately need to be closely partnered with our largest, closest market. But with a majority of just 12 (and the Old Bill breathing down the necks of a few of those, for electoral expenses fraud), she currently depends on the votes of the swivel-eyed fringe of her own party, who think that Empire 2.0 is about to dawn and it'll be solar topees and chota pegs all round before tiffin.

Smivs wrote:

My hope is that all the opposition parties can for once work together to get these morons out...

You want a different bunch of morons?