Game of Morons: The UK General Election Thread

So is there any option of Parliament saying, "Hey EU, we have new blokes in -- can we call Brexit off?" or is a 'soft' Brexit the best anyone can hope for, which I doubt is an option the EU's willing to persue?

There is a legal argument both ways.

Couple of fun tidbits

Firstly, it appears there may have been some dodgy voting as students are allowed to register in two places, and the mechanism to prevent any abuse of this is, uh, well, non-existent. There is something like a 5k fine if you get caught. If.

Absolutely no idea if it was widespread or impacted any of the results, but it's not exactly a glowing reference for the UK democratic process.

And the other is that there are a number of Tory supporters trying to find parallels with the Major government, in that you had a dying government that had been ejected out of a European project (the ERM in that case) which led to a massively successful economy. It also led to 3 Labour victories on the trot, so really not sure what they're hoping for there.

Major happens to the most economically successful PM, didn't really help at the ballot box and a combination of the pound-devaluation after exiting the ERM and globally low interest rates may have more to do with it than policy.

Yes, the EU has said Article 50 can be stopped.

Fortunately few MPs are stupid enough to have a crack at that.

Lol at Tim Farron resigning, and apparently realising that being a bible-thumper is somewhat out of kilter with being the leading liberal in the country.

A bit ironic. A party which claims to be tolerant exposed as being intolerant.

Yeah - McDonnell stated he and Corbyn would resign if they lost, which they duly did, May ought to resign, yet it's Nice But Tim who went first*!

I wasn't aware his LGBT voting record was spotty, but the Lib Dems have form - they once went against a gay opponent and had on their leaflets 'the STRAIGHT candidate' - my, I wonder what they were intimating there?

On the plus side, it looks like a main-ish left-leaning political party may finally be getting a female leader.

*Not including Nuttall...

Most tolerance is virtue-signalling. You'd be amazed at how uncomfortable a lot of the over 30's lefties get when a couple of guys start getting fruity - the look in their faces is awesome. Fucking kodak moments.

Case in point is an acquaintance who once spent 10 minutes at 3am screaming that the homeless were scum because I was getting some food for some, then 18 months later wrote a wonderfully snotty comment on FB about how the homeless were people too. I'm sure his new liberal friends where he'd moved to had nothing to do with his sudden conversion.

Being tolerant is what you do when you're not being watched. Virtue-signalling is what you do when you are.

John McDonnell is now calling for a million people marching against the Tories.

Apparently they're not the legitimate government because they haven't a majority, so they should let in Labour who also don't have a majority but would be legitimate because reasons.

Now Labour have a decent shot of getting a majority if an election gets called in the next 6 months, which has a high probability given the DUP are demanding all kinds of sweeties and needing to be told to fuck off forthwith, so they're... What? Doing a 'May' here?

One of the reasons the Tories failed to get a majority was it appears large numbers of the older core voters decided they're rather stay in and watch telly than vote for their pensions to be hit, their winter fuel allowance removed and the 'dementia tax' to take their homes away - which came as a shock to the Tories, thus telling you a tale of their relation to the real world - but would likely come out in droves if McDonnell keeps this up.

You look at the math and the Tories took a large voter share, and that is before they were abandoned by the blue-rinse brigade, than for many a year. If the Tories stop pissing those off and Labour start to, well, game over for Corbyn.

Also Facebook number crunching

1 million - the approximate number of popular votes Hillary Clinton gained over Donald Trump leading to claims on the left Clinton should be President
1 million - the approximate number of popular votes Theresa May gained over Jeremy Corbyn leading to claims on the left Corbyn should be Prime Minister

Imagine posting this as an election prediction 6 weeks ago.

May is continuing to be terrible, in light of the terrible tower block fire she appears too incapable of displaying empathy.

I've no doubt she's upset, but image counts - her aloofness alienates people, and at a time where a hug, and arm across a shoulder or a kind word whispered isn't just the right things to do as a human being.

This continues she has weeks before events conspire to shift her out.

There is also surprise that, after a few days, the council hasn't organised things very well. This should not be a shock, and should be a warning to the Corbynistas of what to expect if they manage to nationalise everything.

Aiming for more government when what we already have is barely fit for purpose is a fools errand.

Convince me you can get the the state working in some semblance of competency, then you can tell how more government will make things better, otherwise I'm just going to drown you in guffawed mocking spittle.

Wrt to Corbyn wanting to nationalize everything... I am reminded of a story I read in Winston Churchill's biography. After a particularly long winded speech had finished a recess was called so MPs could take a brief break. Winston immediately made for the restrooms as he had to take a leak only when he got there he found all the urinals occupied and the one he was standing behind had the labor leader in front of it relieving himself. Finally, one of the urnals was free yet Churchill kept stand there not moving to make use of it. The labor leader said "Feeling a bit sheepish today, Winston?"

Churchill replied "It is only because every time you see something big you want to nationalize it!"

The local council which has been Tory for many decades and has been bragging about all the money it has saved up by reducing spending?

They saved £5,000 by using the shitty, flammable cladding and then rejected complaints from tenants about it, the lack of sprinklers and there being only one escape route. In one case I hear they even threatened to sue the person complaining.
This against the backdrop of a Tory governments austerity program and their doing away with "red tape" such as safety regulations.

To add context, that's £5000 saved on a £12 million contract. Or, given there are 53 still missing, less than a hundred each.

Tory, Labour, Lib Dem... Councils always tend to be the same when it comes to local government - Blackadder meets House of Cards

It was a newly Labour-run council that once put a stop on a number of things in order to recolour things red (including, FFS, replanting flowers), much to the frustration of its employees. In that instance public safety wasn't endangered, but the public were an afterthought. I'm working with something like my 10th council now, most have been Labour, but some have been Tory and Lib Dem, and all have pretty much the same prioritization of the people they're meant to be looking after - which isn't 'top of the list'

And everyone in that council responsible for those should be facing a manslaughter charge. Should focus minds wonderfully in the future.

AFAIK the cladding used met EU regulations, if so then the regulations were followed and need updating beyond those EU ones, especially as we're leaving.

And the debate of regulations being good/bad as one block is as asinine as the everything public/everything private one, it strips all nuance from the debate. Only absolute idiots are saying all regulation is bad, but in an atmosphere where kids can't go on school trips because elfnsafety, it's equally stupid to believe they're some completely perfect entity that shouldn't be questioned.

And there is no way austerity should be used either to defend (by the council) or attack (by anti-austerity) the 5k saving. That's on the council, pure and simple, a politicized cop out to excuse local government incompetence by blaming central government policy is letting those actually responsible get away with it.

I'd bet good money some of the more poshly-named members of the council, or with friends in commercial places, have vanity projects whose costs eclipse that 5k by some way.

Although there is one thing the government can most definitely cop the blame for, I recall that they voted down the use of sprinklers in such blocks. That needs resurrecting.

Whilst I'm a more than a little irked at some of the politicization (put down the SW banner, now is not the fucking time) going on, maybe now would be a good time to strongarm May into adding a requirement for active fire suppression in all new, and with a timeframe and a budget, for retrofitting them into existing blocks within the Queens Speech.

That would indicate lessons learned rather than the usual short-term fix and return to square one.

If I ever lived in a tower I would buy myself a parachut just in case. The image of people jumping was terrible and reminded me of 9/11 where people also had to jump.

Hmmm. Looks like the cladding may not have met the standards, which opens up a can of worms.

Do we know who does the legal checks and regulates them? If council-based, then it's still the council's fault, if it's central government, then they've got some questions to answer.

The planning department would do the checks and paperwork, but I'd expect something above them - but then I don't trust government, more naive types may be content with trusting the stamped papers are all above board.

Corbyn's speech at Glastonbury seems to be popping up a bunch of places. His opponents will no doubt criticise him standing there holding notes he glances at, his supporters love his message and informal approach, but I'm more and more convinced that if the Tory's can't hold on for a full term he will be the next UK Prime Minister.

Now that the UK has caved on parallel negotiations the odds of them getting a good deal have decreased.

By the time it's all worked out and the full price and benefits are known, do you not think the people should have an educated vote?

Not sure I agree with that. I think the odds are the same, and it all depends on the people. In some ways May losing her majority could be a boon - she has a tendency to fold under pressure, and now she won't be allowed to do that. The Tories have been pretty merciless to her, she's been stripped of almost influence and her own support. A bit like a puppet, she's there to provide a bit of stability until they can do away with her. Quite viciously pragmatic really.

Both sides are going to have to cave on things, and this is a small thing to lose ground on. More interested in seeing what happens with the EU demand that the ECJ has sway over EU citizens in the UK, if we cave on that without something really tasty in return that's a sign we're screwed. It's a completely unreasonable request, and they know that - or they ought to - so it's posturing. It's a sign they want to be harsh, and if they continue that way we really need to retaliate. Point blank refusal to agree to geographical protection of food or the leak that there are thoughts on German car manufacturers facing multi-billion fines for gaming emissions tests should do it.

If Merkel wakes up one morning to the German auto industry kicking down her door in rage, you can be assured Barnier will be know about it in no uncertain terms.

If the UK government hasn't already figured out it's the man behind the curtain you need to kick, they soon will.

We had an educated vote. Stay or Leave. Both sides in the run up to the referendum laid on the bullshit as heavily as they could, but the core was there - in or out - and now we deal with the fallout from the fact we voted out.

In fact it was a far more educated than the one we had about entering the EEC.

So no, no more votes on it. In fact in the general election the electorate was pretty much asked that question by the Lib Dems, and they were loudly told to get fucked.

Depends. Labour still have plenty to do.

So African Democracy then; One Man, One Vote, One Time?

Corbyn would be an absolute disaster for the British economy.

In addition to being a really poor loser you are also being especially stupid. The vote was held, the side you supported lost, live with it.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/820856/European-fishing-chief-Britain-control-UK-waters-Royal-Navy

This is why the EU lacks any moral authority. Can you believe an EU official opens declaring they will just act illegally?