Questions Of The Day (Politics)

[Wile E. Coyote]

EU 574 for 3 Declared
England 122 & 74 for 7

The EU have now called for the additional half hour, on the third day, to bowl England out after previously enforcing the follow on....

"This is interesting, they are sending out Gove."

"Yes it's Gove."

"Err, is he Night Watchman."

"No, he is the new Captain."

"Cripes." "Well it's Gove, can he turn the game around?"

"Barnier is coming in to bowl" "Gove has raised his hand" "Extraordinary" "He is rearranging his box."

"Yes, Good work by Gove, he has taken another minute off the clock."

"Barnier starts his run again" "Gove has raised his again."

"Yes, good work by Gove he wants the sightscreen adjusted" "He is signalling frantically that the screen needs to be moved to the left."

"That's better" "It's Barnier coming in again" "What is this?" "Gove is signalling."

"Yes, the sun has moved." "Gove wants the screen moved to the right again." "Well played that."

"Hang on." "What a turn up. Barnier has collapsed with exhaustion."

"Yes the umpire's coming over." "He is waving his hands." "It's all over." "England have won by a technical Knockout."

"Cripes." "Who would have expected that moving Gove, up the order, would have turned it around? "

[Mick Harper]

Both amusing and useful. I hadn't realised it was us against them. I thought they were just spectators in danger of drifting off to attend some more important fixture.

[Mick Harper]

Nick Boles is manoeuvring himself into taking over as Prime Minister, whether de facto or de jure, of a coalition consisting of all the opposition parties (save the DUP) and the thirty odd Tory MP's who rebelled tonight. I have to warn them though that the last time the Commons wrested power from the executive was in the 1640's and it didn't end well.

[Mick Harper]

Joe Biden kissed a Democratic candidate on the back of the head at a rally in 2014, resulting in her feeling 'uneasy, gross and confused'. That's put paid to Biden's run for the White House, he'll be lucky to avoid jail time, as they spell it over there. It will have to go all the way to Kavanagh and the Supreme Court.

That's not the problem. On this evidence I'm worried about the general level of mental toughness on the part of Democratic candidates as a whole. We may have to run some Boot Camp-type courses alongside the therapy sessions. Getting Trump out is not for the faint-hearted. Except they're all we have.

[Ishmael]

You need to see the videos of Biden with Children! If you can watch them without your skin crawling.

Here's a small sample.

[Mick Harper]

Mrs May is crazy to have talks with Corbyn. Either she offers him the single market and the Tory Party is split asunder for a generation, or she doesn't and she is lost under a tide of derision. Corbyn is crazy to have talks with May because either he comes to an agreement and the Labour Party is out of office for a generation, or he doesn't and is lost under a tide of derision. That's what happens when you put country before party.

[Mick Harper]

Brexit has now reached what is called Iraq War Syndrome. This is when things have reached such a fever pitch that the demand to do something means that nobody can decide to kick the can down the road. Then it was, some of you will recall, that the Coalition forces couldn't wait for the UN Inspectors to complete their work, so it had to be war. Now there is this silly business about not holding Euro-elections (Oh my God, the horror!), or some damn deadline or other. The solution is obvious enough.

1. Article 50 is suspended sine die
2. The EU just parks the whole problem and gets on with whatever it is up to at the moment
3. The Brits just relax and work out what they want to do
4. They tell the EU
5. The EU say OK.

It could take days, it could take weeks, it could take months, it could take years. So what? We can invade Iraq any time we want, including not invading Iraq at all.

[Wile E. Coyote]

Britain can legally revoke Article 50, but only on the proviso that we genuinely intend staying in the EU, not on the basis that we then retrigger at a time of our choosing.

No the European Courts are not going to allow that sort of nonsense.

[Mick Harper]

You are wrong on all counts, Wiley. The EU has just demonstrated that it can suspend Article 50 by simple declaration -- it just has. To 12th April and/or May 22nd and or June the something and/or something else. A lot of this nonsense derives from the fact that everybody goes round saying Article 50 gives a two year deadline. It doesn't -- it gives two years as an indicative time-frame but says specifically it can be "varied with mutual consent" or some such formula.

There is no evidence that either the European Court or the European Commission or any of the countries in the EU bear us any ill-will or has any reason not to cut us whatever slack we need. As I keep on saying, they do have a reason to make sure the whole thing isn't a cake-walk (to disencourager les autres) but apart from that they don't really mind what we do. Even crashing out is something they are all prepared for (except maybe the Irish). Yes, there's talk of 'But I wish they'd get on and do it' but even this will cease as soon as the whole thing is parked on a sine die basis and they don't have to be involved in the day to day agonising.

[Grant]

[Ishmael]

[Boreades]

A chance for Harpo to reconfirm his astonishing polymathic abilities.

Do you know more science than the average American?
Take the test here:
https://www.pewresearch.org/science/quiz/science-knowledge-quiz/

But don't forget:
Zoo Chimps are more intelligent than University Students.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm5xF-UYgdg#action=share

[Mick Harper]

Kindly post in the relevant section. Unless you are making the general point that politicians are more intelligent than the rest of us. This is often forgotten since human beings have an overwhelming need to suppose that people they disagree with are ipso facto less intelligent than themselves. [Otherwise they would abandon their own position and adopt the position of the person they disagree with.]

[Mick Harper]

An interesting aside from a Newsnight panellist last night. He'd been in Austria for weeks and reported that in general the Austrians were rather impressed by our vibrant political discourse (I paraphrase) but also 'why didn't they get together early doors and sort it' (I paraphrase). This is now a theme and everybody is saying that's what they would have done if they'd been in charge and Mrs May is therefore a steaming pillock (I don't paraphrase) for not having done so. Even now 'at the thirteenth hour', as another panellist put it. Since this is mostly garbage I must explain, with my usual patience, what is really going on.

There are two methods of collective problem solving:
1. by a consensual process to achieve the best available solution (it may not be the best overall) and
2. by an adversarial process in order to identify the best solution (it may not be available)
They both have their good and bad points and should not be treated as mutually exclusive as procedures even though they are mutually exclusive in any given procedure. I think that has taxed brains sufficiently for now but I will return to the matter if the country continues to misbehave.

Including misremembering what they advocated at the time. e.g. David Davies who mumbled once it might be a good idea to involve the opposition a bit more but was brutally put down by Theresa May. Yeah, right, I'd like to have been a fly on that wall.

[Boreades]