Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Abroad and Home

Ian Dalziel

Fri, 28 Sept 2018 11:05:51 +1200

Speaking of international relations
– a reminder about Nicky Hager's public meeting in Chchch on Monday night.
7.30pm at the cardboard/transitional cathedral, Latimer Square.

Rich Lock

Thu, 27 Sept 2018 23:34:32 +1200

That one's been going around for a while, and it's really a bit too conspiracy theory for me to take it seriously.

The EU has offered a range of options, up to and including the Norway-and-virtual-border-in-the-Irish-Sea option.

Which would basically solve the NI land border issue, and leave the UK…

Brent Jackson

Wed, 26 Sept 2018 11:23:47 +1200

Nice wee article in Newsroom about how it is in the EU's interest to make Brexit a mess, to disuade other countries from trying it on.

It sums up with :

Seen this way, the EU would be foolish to make Brexit easy for the Brits. It would only encourage…

Kumara Republic

Sun, 16 Sept 2018 03:41:13 +1200

At least it seems like the Government are doing their damnedest to crank out housing. It's long overdue, and Ardern has showed just how easily solved it really is, it only involves having a will to actually do it. I think it's going to take a long sustained bipartisan effort…

Ian Dalziel

Fri, 14 Sept 2018 09:07:36 +1200

The Met police have cancelled all leave around the end of March next year, as they anticipate severe civil unrest (potential food riots, basically). ….
So. I’m quietly laying in extra tins, batteries, candles, and so on, because nothing that’s happened so far fills me with any confidence that this…

BenWilson

Fri, 14 Sept 2018 08:47:17 +1200

Maybe a little holiday in Europe or down in the land of plenty while it's going on?*

The world is watching in steadily increasing astonishment at a formerly prosperous and powerful country imploding. It's not pretty. The worst part is that it's entirely an own goal. No external party can…

Rich Lock

Thu, 13 Sept 2018 22:00:59 +1200

Well, let's put it this way: I have started stockpiling food. That's not a joke.

Pretty much zero progress has been made in over two years. The 'best' that the government has managed to achieve in that time is the so-called Chequers 'deal'.

It's not actually a 'deal' because the…

Brent Jackson

Thu, 13 Sept 2018 13:42:35 +1200

Thanks for your summary Rich. I haven't heard much about Brexit of late and assumed that progress was being made. Somewhat scary that it isn't. Glad it doesn't directly affect me.

Kumara Republic

Wed, 12 Sept 2018 22:52:36 +1200

She's 48, slightly older than me. She grew up during the conflict. I can remember bombs going off in the UK. I can remember mortars being fired at Downing Street. I can remember riots during marching season. I've probably heard or read the word 'sectarian' (as in: 'sectarian violence in…

Ian Dalziel

Wed, 12 Sept 2018 11:08:03 +1200

(not) making plans for Nigel?
Not so much Brexit
as a Farage-go?

Rich Lock

Tue, 11 Sept 2018 03:35:03 +1200

For anyone on your side of the world still interested in Brexit:

1) Here are the main upcoming dates for your calendars:

– EU leaders meeting Sept 20th. It's likely that they will simply rubber-stamp a 'carry on on the present course' arrangement, with perhaps minor alterations.

– UK Conservative…

Rich Lock

Thu, 07 Dec 2017 07:59:26 +1300

Theresa May could well become this century's Anthony Eden.

Neville Chamberlain, maybe?

Scene: an airport in London. Prime Minister Teresa May climbs out of aeroplane just landed from mainland Europe.

TM: I have in my hand a piece of paper...

Arlene Foster: Not so feckin' fast there, Teresa, ye wee…

Rob Stowell

Wed, 06 Dec 2017 21:41:35 +1300

And this approach to Northern Ireland has also got the Scots – including the Scottish Tories, I think – interested in the same sort of deal, despite there being a land border and all that. It's a mess that almost everyone wants to back away from, and noone can.
David…

Kumara Republic

Wed, 06 Dec 2017 20:17:19 +1300

For those who want an update, the British Prime Minister Teresa May has just had her legs kicked out from under her by the DUP, a bunch of swivel-eyed religious loons who would rather cut out their own tongues than think the word 'compromise'.

Theresa May could well become this…

Sacha

Wed, 06 Dec 2017 12:04:29 +1300

and we worry about Winston ..

Rich Lock

Wed, 06 Dec 2017 10:50:02 +1300

nzlemming

Thu, 30 Nov 2017 10:55:55 +1300

Much like "Make America Great Again"

linger

Wed, 29 Nov 2017 13:05:18 +1300

"Take back control" sounds such a powerful slogan,
until you realise that the MPs telling you that's the goal
are the ones hoping they will be taking control,
and you see what a bunch of cockwombles they are.

Ben Austin

Wed, 29 Nov 2017 01:19:32 +1300

Greece came up on the campaign trail all the time by Leavers and the Brexiteers. Still does – to this day I get lectured about youth unemployment in Greece by earnest middle aged or retired men who are fanatical Brexit supporters. So I agree with Tom that it was and…

Rich of Observationz

Mon, 27 Nov 2017 12:46:47 +1300

I love how you're attributing such a level of analytical thought to the UK electors, who've mostly been through an education system that equips them to ask and answer deep questions such as "would you like fries with that".

Ian Dalziel

Sat, 25 Nov 2017 20:51:07 +1300

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/nov/23/uk-no-earnings-growth-budget-brexit-productivity-ifs?
UK faces two decades of no earnings growth and more austerity, says IFS
Thinktank’s budget analysis says forecasts for lower productivity, earnings and growth until 2022 were ‘pretty grim reading’

Kumara Republic

Sat, 25 Nov 2017 17:58:11 +1300

According to the Political Compass, there are 3 major types of Brexiteers (the same goes for Trumpniks, with my additions in boldface):

Like The Political Compass itself, the EU comprises a social dimension and an economic dimension.
...

D. Those rejecting the EU's prevailing economics but accepting, at least to…

Rich of Observationz

Sat, 25 Nov 2017 16:04:40 +1300

My belief is that it will be similar (if obviously different in nature) to the 73/74 coal dispute. That ended with a Labour government being elected with a mandate to settle – not because the electorate particularly favoured Labour or the miners cause, but due to a desire to restore…

Ian Dalziel

Sat, 25 Nov 2017 09:15:57 +1300

Will England lose its marbles?
A large section of the Oxbridge British elite are still liberally educated and they carry a big soft spot for the Greeks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgiX5Las3KE

Tom Semmens

Sat, 25 Nov 2017 07:55:33 +1300

No, far earlier than that. The notorious ‘bendy banana’ stories first appeared in 1994, for example, and the Murdoch press’s antipathy was well established by that point.

Oh yeah, that a bigger proportion of the British public than was ever suspected were susceptible to anti-EU propaganda from the crackpot right…

John Farrell

Sat, 25 Nov 2017 07:46:51 +1300

I've been watching the Brexit fiasco from the inside, as a contributor to a UK photography blog. One of the posters there suggested that the anti Europe sentiment whipped up by the gutter press, was done to preserve the influence of the press owners . They can lean on Whitehall,…

Rich Lock

Fri, 24 Nov 2017 21:53:21 +1300

Unemployment will increase, probably to the point where the government will be no longer able to pay benefits.

My 'best case' thinking at the moment is that we'll get a return to something like the '80's – mass unemployment, sporadic inner city unrest, etc.

However, I suspect a more realistic…

Rich Lock

Fri, 24 Nov 2017 21:45:58 +1300

the path to Brexit started ten years ago

No, far earlier than that. The notorious 'bendy banana' stories first appeared in 1994, for example, and the Murdoch press's antipathy was well established by that point. I personally remember a TV ad for The Sun which ran around the same time…

Rich Lock

Fri, 24 Nov 2017 21:31:15 +1300

While pragmatism may mean that the whole of Kent doesn't actually get turned into a lorry park with traffic backing up the M20 all the way to London, there are multiple other issues that are nowhere near being resolved.

For example, the open skies agreement will lapse when the UK…

Tom Semmens

Fri, 24 Nov 2017 18:57:04 +1300

Brexit won because the UK is in the middle of a gigantic identity crisis and as part of that a majority in deep England decided they just wanted out of Europe. They want their country back – whatever that means – and as right or wrong or as delusional as…

Rich of Observationz

Fri, 24 Nov 2017 16:41:30 +1300

The EU is a huge chunk of the world economy. It's an even bigger chunk of the bit (e.g. not Trump's US) that care about the WTO. If the WTO rules trouble them, then in realpolitik terms, they get to change the rules.

And the EU has, as a minimum,…

Asinius

Fri, 24 Nov 2017 15:27:43 +1300

The most likely situation is a cliff edge exit. As of 29 March 2019, all freight leaving the UK will be unpacked and examined. Taxes (maybe 30%, or 60% if the EU decided to recoup the UKs debts through import tariffs) will need to be paid.

Are the Dutch, French,…

Tom Semmens

Fri, 24 Nov 2017 13:45:52 +1300

Toynbee is a Blairite apologist who rode point in the spiteful "liberal" media's assault on Corbyn for daring to challenge their cosy New Labour club. If you believe she has any insights into Corbyn's inner circle and his thinking on anything then I've got some magic beans for sale you…

Rich of Observationz

Fri, 24 Nov 2017 13:12:48 +1300

The government and a large number of people in the UK are delusional.

All 27 EU states need to approve any deal, transitional or otherwise. They won't do anything against their real or imagined interests (Irish border, status of Gibraltar, French aircraft manufacturers, German and Czech car manufacturers, etc).

Britain's…

Rich Lock

Fri, 24 Nov 2017 09:59:14 +1300

It seems rather a shame he didn't have his journey when it might have mattered.

What has been forgotten, now that the battle lines have hardened into absolutism on both sides, is that there are plenty of very good reasons to think the EU is not a shining beacon of…

Russell Brown

Fri, 24 Nov 2017 08:50:11 +1300

I see that Jeremy Corbyn has spotted there's a problem:

Where has Corbyn been? On a journey, say those close by. A lifetime of instinctive “capitalist club” Euroscepticism has been shed. Passionate distress over Brexit from his young supporters and his trade union allies has brought him round. Besides, the…

Russell Brown

Fri, 24 Nov 2017 08:38:39 +1300

The whole thing is just…..fuck.

Oh, man.

Rich Lock

Fri, 24 Nov 2017 07:45:08 +1300

"Is it as bad as it seems from this far away?"

Yeah, it really is. I have only realised at quite an advanced stage in life that the metaphor 'jaw-dropping' is actually taken from a literal physical effect that can happen when spectacular what-the-fuckery occurs. It is currently happening to…

Public Address

Fri, 24 Nov 2017 07:45:08 +1300

Discussion from blog post.