Brexit

The BBC's political department or the Addams Family as I call it now due to the weird and wonderful characters in it is still one of the best and has always been the place I go for political news. What annoyed me was the self entitled female mob many on over 150k per year before we throw in all their speaking, conference facilitating, writing books on triathlons etc complaining they weren't being paid enough.

Though they aren't paid salaries in the conventional sense of there being a salary for a job type. Each has an agent and the agent negotiates a contract on behalf of their client. If there was a set salary for the job type, paying men and women differently would be illegal under the Equal Pay Act 1970.

And then there's ... the gender pay gap, which is a whole other ballgame.

Yes and you're also entitled to, aside from whatever job you hold, write books about whatever you like including strenuous endurance events, do conference speaking or indeed anything else. And you shouldn't then be expected to think "Despite my being paid less than men doing the same broadcasting job, I'm doing all these other things too do I should probably just keep quiet really. Lest I be seen as part of a, oh I don't know, mob or something."

Prieto Patel as Home Secretary is brextremely scary. Her views on equal marriage and the death penalty in particular.

Boris and chums have a majority of 1. This looks like it could get interesting

www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/aug/02/brecon-radnorshire-byelection-lib-dems-jane-dodds-win-cuts-johnson-commons-majority-to-one

It's as though they wanted to lose.

I love that the expenses fabricator then complained of other parties' "dirty" campaigns.

The Tories lost this seat at a by-election in the 1980's. The Brexit Party voters were more likely disgruntled Tory than Labour voters I'd think. Labour likely lost a fair few to Lib Dems.

The maths in the commons get very tight now, factor in the guy in Sheffield who is stepping down next month. That was Nick Clegg's old seat so I could see that going back to Lib Dems too.

Does Boris try to button down the hatches for a No Deal and then maybe have an election afterwards. That would negate Farage and once we are out then to get back in would be much harder for Remainers to demand immediately.

Any coalition between Labour and SNP would only happen if SNP got another independence referendum and minus the SNP and their own Scottish seats Labour would find it impossible to win enough seats to govern unless it was a 1997 landslide type result.

Plus I'll throw in - The Tories have been in power 9 years - will be 12 if this Parliament runs it's full term. Few parties remain in power longer than that so if Labour don't win next election, I'd say they are fairly certain to win the one after that be it 2027 or anytime before that.

So I'm guessing everyone is feeling super relaxed at the minute what with it all going so swimmingly well?

I am currently toying with buying another freezer (chest?) to fill up with food whilst we still have access.

I get so frustrated at all this....it really is not worth watching the news on a regular basis as it changes so much day to day. The most sensible suggestion I can see is to revoke article 50 and then have a series of people’s assemblies throughout the country trying to establish what caused people to vote for “Brexit” and what they meant by it....seems to me we still don't even know that! Surely if this technique can be used by the Irish to tackle the most sensitive issue of abortion then it should be possible to use it to investigate this further (see Wikipedia on it, it’s fascinating how it worked).
I have very little hope that that is what will actually happen....how the hell have we got to the state where it seems as though Boris will do anything to crash us out with a no deal Brexit even though parliament has shown that’s not something they would vote through? Take back control? Democracy?

Nothing 'hard right' about Johnson. He's a lot of things - possibly including incompetent - but he is most definitely not hard right.

Quite enjoying Project Fear rebooting, but this time having to resource its narrative other than from the *Treasury sources* which so well served Chancellor Osbourne and PM Cameron. The Guardian currently seems keen on 'The Food and Drink Federation' for its Brexit dramas.

Fascinating to see Cummings becoming the figure of hate. Almost intentionally drawing the sting from elsewhere ...

Well, he's socially and economically liberal so after 31st October he will throw money at the NHS, schools, social care and then hold an election. Why wouldn't he. Cummings knows - believes he knows - exactly the targets to hit so as to counter McDonnell's radical manifesto.