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33 minutes ago, Kim said:

Everyone knows she was planning to trigger it on Tuesday but Sturgeon's intervention put paid to it. She's still not going to pay any attention to what anyone wants anyway, and "touring" the UK is just a token gesture. 

I'm waiting for the upcoming Tory election fraud story to take hold soon...which may even result in a few by-elections taking place.

 

:chuckle:

 

Today in her speech she also boasted about a £5bn deal with Qatar. Hope they don't end up turning London more and more into a no holds barred thug life Las Vegas Casino. Apparently they're not happy enough to have created the perfect conditions for money-laundering types from Gulf Countries and Russia to have driven prices insane and made life hell for ordinary Londoners and British home owners/tennants in general I would say

I mean Assad must go but selling weapons to absolutely vile run, corrupt countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar is very important, high priority to the British people and the health of their economy. I love the hypocrisy of it all, well regarding the Middle East situation the hypocrisy is shared equally by all Western establishments

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/14/theresa-may-accused-losing-momentum-making-errors-delaying-formal/

Theresa May accused of 'losing momentum' and 'making errors' by delaying formal start of Brexit talks

 

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Theresa May has been accused of “losing momentum” and “making errors” by delaying the formal start of Brexit talks in the wake of Nicola Sturgeon’s shock demand for a Scottish independence referendum. The Prime Minister was expected formally to start negotiations with other European Union member states as early as this week once Parliament had passed a law allowing talks to begin. But The Telegraph understands that the Queen is likely to give the legal assent to the law that allows Mrs May to start Brexit talks on Thursday.

Mrs May is then understood to be targeting triggering Article 50 on Wednesday March 29, after a speaking tour of Britain when she will sell her vision for the UK outside the EU. This delay has led to concerns that Mrs May now cannot begin formal talks until May, missing the chance of talks with EU leaders on April 6.

Speaking in the Commons Mrs May said: "I prefer not to use a term of divorce from the European Union because very often when people get divorced they don't have a very good relationship afterwards." Lord Jones of Birmingham, a crossbench peer who was a trade minister in the last Labour government, said he “cannot understand why she has done it”.

The peer – who was head of the CBI for eight years – praised Mrs May for the way she has “handled” the period leading up to the start of negotiations. But he told The Telegraph: “If she has delayed it by two weeks, I am disappointed, it is an error.” The issue was not whether bilateral talks with Germany or other countries might not happen but more about the sense of stalling “momentum”. Lord Jones said: “The issue is momentum. She is in mid-innings, she is dealing with the bowling. Don’t declare your innings now!” Other MPs urged Mrs May to trigger Article 50 to avoid the chance of another legal challenge to the process being made to the process in the High Court.

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10 hours ago, Kim said:

I don't even know where to start with this nonsense that reads like it's from the pages of the Daily Mail or Express. Scotland is a COUNTRY that formed a (supposedly equal) union with England , not some county or principality of England like Yorkshire. It has it's own legal, education and healthcare systems. It is REPEATEDLY represented on a national level by a government it hasn't voted for and while it remains open, inclusive and left of centre, the complete opposite is happening in England where xenophobic, inward looking, right wing rhetoric flourishes. The devolved parliament in Scotland is SNP run, out of the 59 MPs at Westminster, 56 of them are SNP. The clue is in the name; Scottish NATIONAL party. Independence for Scotland is their raison d'être so as long as they keep getting voted in, then the question of independence will never go away.

And you obviously don't realise that the Tories have an overall majority at Westminater, which means they have more MPs than all the other parties combined. So no, teaming up with Labour makes no difference on anything, and seeing as the Labour party are seen as nothing but a joke in Scotland (and everywhere else in the UK) these days, it would be unwise anyway. They are no longer a party of the left. You might want to watch PMQs some time and see that the only effective opposition to May comes from the SNP benches in fact. The point has been made in the media over and over that Angus Robertson keeps asking the questions that Corbyn doesn't.

And the reason for this referendum has nothing to do with not liking who's in power in Westminster,. It was part of the SNP mandate that only if there was a material change in circumstances or in public opinion would another referendum be mooted so soon, and that has undoubtedly happened. Scotland voted overwhelminglty to stay within the EU and the threat of being taken out of the EU was one of the mainstays of the previous Scottish referendum "No" campaign. Broken promises all round.

To think that England would not trade with Scotland is ridiculous. Although maybe we should think about sending our oil, gas and water somewhere else to be honest. And there's no point in crushing non-existent numbers at this point either, especially ones based upon the economic policies of the current UK government. This latest news btw, is a notification of intent. To be asking for full economic and fiscal breakdowns right now is stupid. One could also say it's a way of getting May to take a little more notice than she was previously of the asks being made by Sturgeon for the upcoming Brexit negotiations. The alternative, as she said in her speech, would be to stand back and do nothing (like everyone else with a real voice seems to be doing)

 

The point still remains that every country has the government that some parts of the population don't like and feel unreprensted but thats a democracy. California has power like a devolved Scotland so should they break away from the US just because they don't like this president or how they state votes isn't always the same as the winning president? It's only been since 2010 the SNP have had a majority so they always sent Labour or Tory MPs and for the last 100 years we have had Labour or Conservative governments. People are voting for the SNP not just for independedence a poll in a few years ago showed 28% of their voters do not want full independence, the SNP have simply mirrored the decline of Scottish Labour for the left wing vote. 

Of course the Consevarives have a majority but it is rare that every mp votes so their actual majority is dependent on everyone voting in the commons which does not often happen for many reasons. There were many Tory MPs who voted remain and it would not be difficult if Labour were strong they, the snp and a few rebels could influence brexit. Indeed Just because Labour is at the moment in-effective should not be used as an excuse for another independent votes, governments and oppositions are in constant flux that just how it works. The figures I quoted are from the Scottish government so they are not 'non existent' just look for yourself. They have had 3 years to come up with a real answer to all the unanswered questions over independence and we are still waiting. I don't expect a 100% detail but they haven't answered any of the major concerns.

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Just two days after MPs rejected Lords amendment to have a final say on UK EU deal David Davis admitted that the government HAS NOT assessed economic impact on no Brexit deal. 

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:lmao:what a useless bunch of waffling irresponsible arrogant imbeciles this class of politicians on BOTH sides are. Such an example to set for younger generations, such a waste.

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8 hours ago, kangarooz said:

The point still remains that every country has the government that some parts of the population don't like and feel unreprensted but thats a democracy. California has power like a devolved Scotland so should they break away from the US just because they don't like this president or how they state votes isn't always the same as the winning president? It's only been since 2010 the SNP have had a majority so they always sent Labour or Tory MPs and for the last 100 years we have had Labour or Conservative governments. People are voting for the SNP not just for independedence a poll in a few years ago showed 28% of their voters do not want full independence, the SNP have simply mirrored the decline of Scottish Labour for the left wing vote. 

Of course the Consevarives have a majority but it is rare that every mp votes so their actual majority is dependent on everyone voting in the commons which does not often happen for many reasons. There were many Tory MPs who voted remain and it would not be difficult if Labour were strong they, the snp and a few rebels could influence brexit. Indeed Just because Labour is at the moment in-effective should not be used as an excuse for another independent votes, governments and oppositions are in constant flux that just how it works. The figures I quoted are from the Scottish government so they are not 'non existent' just look for yourself. They have had 3 years to come up with a real answer to all the unanswered questions over independence and we are still waiting. I don't expect a 100% detail but they haven't answered any of the major concerns.

It's impossible to have a discussion with someone who pulls 'alternative facts' out their arse every time they respond. California is a stupid comparison. The political landscape in Scotland has shifted dramatically so there's no point in referencing the past., I will repeat; this proposal has nothing to do with who got voted in at Westminster, it's to do with the fact that an inclusive, open, forward thinking, left-leaning European nation does not want its economy ruined by its rabid right-wing xenophobic neighbours pulling it out of the European union. 

Your comments on Brexit show how little attention you seem to be paying to its journey through parliament. The Tory MPs who voted remain have been whipped by the party into voting the opposite, so even if if every other party  got together they could still not defeat any bill, especially as Labour also have been told what to vote for. The only ones sticking to their original vote are SNP and Lib Dems. The recent (very reasonable) amendments made to the Article 50 bill were also voted down by the Commons twice .The reason for this is the hysterical populist nonsense that's swept across England, fuelled by the right-wing media, accusing anyone thinking otherwise of being a traitor, "remoaner", evil enemy of the state etc. Not to mention this DISGUSTING fascination with vilifying immigrants.

The SNP have had no reason to answer any specific questions about independence the last three years as it wasn't on the table and in the meantime it has a country to run and in my opinion are doing quite well at it.  As my cousins' free university education and aunt's free personal care and niece's free childcare and my pretty good pay packet and wonderful local hospital all attest to. Not perfect of course, but getting there. Now if those few remaining economic and fiscal powers were just handed over (which is what "independence" actually means) then even better.

 

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What alternative facts,  I'm the one using actual facts and numbers  to make a point, not just an opinion that can't not be proven. I have always looked at independent analysis and surveys to ensure I am factually correct when I am discussing anything.

Labour MPs had the whip but still rebelled? So if there was political will the brexit bill could have been defeated but mps have made up thier own minds to follow the results of the referendum. 

Yes I understand a they voted to remain but as part of the United Kingdom they have to take the good and the bad, you can't just throw your toys from the pram when you don't get your own way? What about all he good things Scotlands gets from the UK like relative financial stability, a strong world wide influence, a vital internal economic market etc

The only reason Scotland has all those is that it has a huge monetary  overspend which they themselves have shown, who will pay for free education and hospitals when they can only spend what they earn and borrow very little? Do the SNP even want full fiscal powers last time they wanted to be under full control of the Bank of England, so they want independence yet the protection and security of rUK?

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1 hour ago, kangarooz said:

What alternative facts,  I'm the one using actual facts and numbers  to make a point, not just an opinion that can't not be proven. I have always looked at independent analysis and surveys to ensure I am factually correct when I am discussing anything.

Labour MPs had the whip but still rebelled? So if there was political will the brexit bill could have been defeated but mps have made up thier own minds to follow the results of the referendum. 

Yes I understand a they voted to remain but as part of the United Kingdom they have to take the good and the bad, you can't just throw your toys from the pram when you don't get your own way? What about all he good things Scotlands gets from the UK like relative financial stability, a strong world wide influence, a vital internal economic market etc

The only reason Scotland has all those is that it has a huge monetary  overspend which they themselves have shown, who will pay for free education and hospitals when they can only spend what they earn and borrow very little? Do the SNP even want full fiscal powers last time they wanted to be under full control of the Bank of England, so they want independence yet the protection and security of rUK?

Throwing out pointless comparisons to US states and the nationality of Prime Ministers like they are cogent  to your argument is similar to the media culture of the day... alternative facts that have nothing to do with the discussion. This "throwing the dummy out" is the exact same rhetoric thrown around about Brexit and it's shockingly juvenile considering the dire economic consequences it's about to have on the entire country. 

A handful of Labour MPs held onto their principles yes. And if you seriously think that every other MP of all parties "made up their own mind" then you're kidding yourself. They follow the party line with very few exceptions...always.

Scotland's "overspend" is within the framework of current UK economic policy and stands at 15bn out of 69bn UK wide. When dealing with national debt, first of all a new UK register of assets needs to be drawn up. This was due to be done again in 2013 but was somehow cancelled by Cameron in 2010. Based on these figures for Scotland, the door is then open to offset part of that asset share against any debt burden. It is up to Scotland to negotiate cleverly and refinance national debt sensibly. This can be done in 4 ways; the subtractive case with refinancing, the additive case with no refinancing, the zero option case or the historical net contribution case. Look it up if you're that interested.

Maybe you should be more worried about the crisis-level, almost 2.5 billion deficit in English NHS hospitals alone or the 1.56 TRILLION national debt of the entire country (which is predicted to rise for rUK by two percentage points if /when Scotland leaves) And as for paying for those things that make a country a decent and inclusive place, I know this is anathema for a Tory supporter, but a few pence on my tax to pay for a fairer society for ALL is no problem for me or many more like me. 

 

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They were not pointless comparisons as it shows the federal like system the us has compared to the uk nations. Blair and Brown were both Scottish and Scottish mp so it is a valid point that Scotland has had a powerful impact on the highest office of the uk.

Yes I agree about the potential  " dire economic"  consequences of brexit but you are ignoring the "dire consequences" to the Scottish economy of independence? Access to the European single market and the world in general is minuscule compared to the trade with rUK and so aren't the all independence supporters juvenile for ignoring these dire consequences and assuming they can get a "good deal" ? The SNP have said today they may not even join the single market and aim for an agreement like Norway, Brexit may or may not have dire consequences but you can't ignore that there are exactly the same economic risks for an independent Scotland. 

Even if Scotland take on no share of the national debt they will still be running a high deficit and on day one as their books will not balance they  will be heading to international creditors with open hands. They will have to cut spending or raise taxes somewhere. Yes our debt is horrendous we are on borrowed time, potentially going back to the 70s crawling the the IMF for help. But look at a tiny increase in National Insurance both the SNP and labour opposed this, look at the uproar created that people would have to pay a few pence more tax on incomes over £16,000. Neither opposition have offered an alternative to this and find £2bn that was for social care. You are assuming most people are willing to pay a bit of extra tax but evidently that isn't the case. 

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1 hour ago, kangarooz said:

They were not pointless comparisons as it shows the federal like system the us has compared to the uk nations. Blair and Brown were both Scottish and Scottish mp so it is a valid point that Scotland has had a powerful impact on the highest office of the uk.

Yes I agree about the potential  " dire economic"  consequences of brexit but you are ignoring the "dire consequences" to the Scottish economy of independence? Access to the European single market and the world in general is minuscule compared to the trade with rUK and so aren't the all independence supporters juvenile for ignoring these dire consequences and assuming they can get a "good deal" ? The SNP have said today they may not even join the single market and aim for an agreement like Norway, Brexit may or may not have dire consequences but you can't ignore that there are exactly the same economic risks for an independent Scotland. 

Even if Scotland take on no share of the national debt they will still be running a high deficit and on day one as their books will not balance they  will be heading to international creditors with open hands. They will have to cut spending or raise taxes somewhere. Yes our debt is horrendous we are on borrowed time, potentially going back to the 70s crawling the the IMF for help. But look at a tiny increase in National Insurance both the SNP and labour opposed this, look at the uproar created that people would have to pay a few pence more tax on incomes over £16,000. Neither opposition have offered an alternative to this and find £2bn that was for social care. You are assuming most people are willing to pay a bit of extra tax but evidently that isn't the case. 

California's relationship to/in the USA is in no way comparable to Scotland's with England. Tony Blair (who's about as Scottish as you are, no matter what city he was born in) was not a Scottish MP, his constituency was Sedgefield. Neither he nor Brown's nationality had any bearing on policy for Scotland or anywhere else in the UK. Those points are egregious and tenuous.

There is NO QUESTION of England refusing to trade with Scotland seeing as the rUK exports more to Scotland than the reverse and is England’s most important market, or of them looking elsewhere to get the natural resources that are sitting on their doorstep over the border, certainly not at a time when they're scrabbling for a deal...any deal...with Mozambique and Bangladesh and any other commonwealth corner that they can. Scotch Whisky alone accounts for one full quarter of all the UKs food and drink exports generating nearly 4bn for the UK balance of trade (sent straight to London) Should Scotland break free of this Brexit fiasco, it will either remain in the EU or the EEA with access to the internal market. An independent Scotland, with control over taxation, finance, business regulation and global promotion would be well placed to expand exports enormously, it just needs the full autonomy to do so. Brexit is a disaster for the Scottish economy.

No one knows what deal would be made re assets and debt so there's no point speculating. That no party has the guts to touch the big "no-no" of taxation is ridiculous at this point. The ASSUMPTION is that there would be uproar (and there generally is when there's no parity between the tax CUTS for the very top earners and the rest of the population; as is the Tory way)   in actuality, most people would be willing to pay more to fund the NHS etc. No one is willing to touch it for purely political reasons, but it will come eventually.

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We can't compare Scotland to America.  The USA has different states but they all make up the one country and call themselves American.   Scotland is their own country.  They may form the United Kingdom with England, Wales and Northern Ireland but all are seen as being distinctly different as nations. 

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They are comparable many us states have similar localised powers to Scotland, similar size economies and similar problems. They are still legally Scottish, Scottish leaders in charge of the uk= Scottish influence and power at the head of government just because they weren't nationalists doesn't mean they didn't pursue Scottish policies . The only reason they are having referendums is due to Blair's devolution. How can you say Scotland hasn't been represented in government, when they have had such an impact on uk politics for the past few decades and gained such power?

I have seen no evidence that Scotland is the biggest export market for rUK and regardless Scottish exports to rUK are over 60%, any exports the other way around will be no where near this high. If I was to believe there would be NO QUESTION of a trade deal then you must agree the EU has to do a good deal with Brexit as the EU exports more to Britain than any other country at 16%. So how does the Scottish Economy gain here by independence ? Britain will gain good trade deals with the EU and have freedom to do elsewhere, will Sturgeon get better deals negotiating alone or as part of the UK? 

The Scottish government already has some control over much of what's you've listed. There first budget with tax powers last year yet they didnt really use them to makes changes to tax the SNP has been talking about for years instead just freezing some thresholds. This is simply what will happen after independence where tax and regulations will mirror rUK so it seems unnecessary to have independence when they are not utilising all the power they have now.  

The uproar from the National insurance doesn't show me any evidence that people are willing in reality  to pay more tax. Why didn't the SNP use there power to increase tax rates in thier budget?

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17 minutes ago, jazzyjan said:

We can't compare Scotland to America.  The USA has different states but they all make up the one country and call themselves American.   Scotland is their own country.  They may form the United Kingdom with England, Wales and Northern Ireland but all are seen as being distinctly different as nations. 

I class myself as British and we are officially British citizens. Britain has been together before most of Europe even existed and the US as we know it. While each parts keeps its nations name they have been intertwined to create Britain. 

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32 minutes ago, kangarooz said:

I class myself as British and we are officially British citizens. Britain has been together before most of Europe even existed and all of America existed. While each parts keeps its nations name they have been intertwined to create Britain. 

It doesn't matter, that are still separate countries. Scotland retained it's own legal system and education system even before devolution. In fact the only country that doesn't have it's own government at this point is England...maybe IT isn't really a country afterall.

As for your other post, we can go back and forth with supposition and hypotheticals forever. No one knows and we'll just have to wait and see. 

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39 minutes ago, kangarooz said:

 

I have seen no evidence that Scotland is the biggest export market for rUK and regardless Scottish exports to rUK are over 60%, any exports the other way around will be no where near this high.

Oh and just quickly on this point. English only figures are hard to find as they are always combined with rUK, but in 2013 alone Scotland exported £50.5bn in goods and services to the rest of the UK, rUK sold £62.7bn in goods and services to Scotland. To think for one second that rUK will not trade with an independent Scotland is ludicrous but certainly the kind of 'project fear' rhetoric that gets passed around as fact.

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2 hours ago, jazzyjan said:

We can't compare Scotland to America.  The USA has different states but they all make up the one country and call themselves American.   Scotland is their own country.  They may form the United Kingdom with England, Wales and Northern Ireland but all are seen as being distinctly different as nations. 

 

Exactly

 

Comparing the American States, all birthed as part of an entirely new political entity alltogether (and more or less at the same time) to nations that albeit being part of a sovreign state called United Kingdom all have their own strong national, cultural, historical identity is flawed and not pertinent. The comparison to the US because the US also happens to be a federation is wrong, that's where the similarity in terms of the nature of this issue ends, it is vastly more intricate as far as British politics and history goes

Last but not least because of very delicate dark violent history pages during the 20th century and how all of those issues pertaining to Brexit could inflame the Ireland/ Northern Ireland scenario and resuscitate old divides, among other things

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Today Angus Robertson's the Lady Is For Turning to Theresa May

 

 

We once had a prime minister who said the lady was not for turning. My goodness. Isn’t it welcome that the prime minister today has admitted she is for turning with her screeching, embarrassing U-turn on National Insurance?

Mr Speaker only days remain unti the prime minister is going to invoke article 50 on leaving the European Union and last july she promised to secure a UK wide approach, an agreement between the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the UK govt before triggering Article 50 so when will the prime minister announce the details of the agreement?

 

As I said yesterday we will trigger Article 50 at the end of this month, there will be further opportunities to discuss with the devolved administrations but when the right hon gentleman looks at the issue of membership of the European Union and his view of Scotland not being part of the United Kingdom, I say this to him, he is comparing membership of an organisation we've been a member of for 40 years with our country, we have been one country for over 300 years, we have fought together, we have worked together, we have achieved together and constitutional game playing must not be allowed to break the deep bonds of our shared history and our future together

 

 

 

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OMG  Sinn Fein MEP told Theresa May to stick you border where the sun doesn't shine but you're not putting it in Ireland   :rotfl:

 

 

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5 hours ago, XXL said:

OMG  Sinn Fein MEP told Theresa May to stick you border where the sun doesn't shine but you're not putting it in Ireland   :rotfl:

 

 

Love her!!!!!

I might well understand how she feels about Theresa May's hard Brexit. After all it looks as if it will have profound negative repercussions on both sides of a border the significance of which has diminished over the years.

But the conversations, need to be calmer and less aggressive, on all sides. Neither side has the monopoly on the use of language which alienates those with a different vision. Talk of "holding your nose" and "crocodiles" do the opposite of providing conditions whereby each can sit around a table and work towards getting this place functioning. "This place", now means all parts of this island, though immediate attention should be focused on avoiding Direct Rule.

I do anticipate that as a result of the Assembly election, the case is now stronger for a border poll. However, the EU Referendum should teach us to prepare the electorate better by providing them with verifiable economic information and visions as what a united Ireland would look like, from both Republican and Loyalist perspectives.

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6 hours ago, XXL said:

OMG  Sinn Fein MEP told Theresa May to stick you border where the sun doesn't shine but you're not putting it in Ireland   :rotfl:

 

 

She made my day! What a wonderful woman. 

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9 hours ago, XXL said:

OMG  Sinn Fein MEP told Theresa May to stick you border where the sun doesn't shine but you're not putting it in Ireland   :rotfl:

 

 

Haha. Love it!

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It seems like there are very few politicians willing to stand up against this Tories tirrany led by Mrs May.  Once again women are our only hope for some change. The North Ireland border debate is very important but still no words on the matter. Even the assumption that the Scottish are a willing part to descend into this Brexit fiasco is another way for the people in power to sweep all those problems under the carpet and I'm not even mentioning the millions of English peeps who actually voted to stay in the EU. I just don't get how the Tories took this referendum results as such a huge demand to leave the EU when Brexit only won with a small margin. Still no planning, no deals, no reassurance about the future for the millions of EU citizens living in the U.K. and also the Brits living in the EU by the way. Once out of Europe who's going to challenge this Tories regime I may ask. They will privatise everything from NHS to the education system; the poor will be more marginalised alongside the few immigrants left and the wealthy will have total control. No wonder May even suggested they might transform the UK into a tax haven. And yet no one is doing anything. No political figure or even TV personality taking a stand. Everybody is quite and accepting what may come ( no pun intended lol). Only thing we seem to have achieved is to get rid of Piers Morgan from a daytime tv show. 

 

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1 hour ago, LSD said:

 

Nicola is great. Hopefully her actions would lead to the following: 1) Scotland staying within UK; 2) UK staying within EU.

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18 hours ago, XXL said:

Today Angus Robertson's the Lady Is For Turning to Theresa May

 

The FACE on her at 0:14 :rotfl: To put this into context, just before PMQs started, the chancellor backtracked on national insurance changes made only a week ago in the budget. A humiliating climb-down that the opposition should have grabbed with both hands. Bumbling Jeremy, with no time to re-draw his questions and his inability to think on his feet made a mess of PMQs again; at one point standing up making a point and sitting down again FORGETTING to actually ask a question, which May ran with to make him look a fool again. At the end of his questions she sat down and threw her head back laughing with relief that she'd had it easy again. Then with that one line, Robertson gets her and her face tells the whole story. Her demeanour always changes when she's facing him. 

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Maybot stuck on repeat as Sturgeon lets rip over referendum

Nicola Sturgeon and Theresa May.
 

 

“Now is not the time for a second independence referendum,” said Theresa May, tilting her head to one side like a patronising Princess Diana and fluttering her eyelids over the shoulders of ITV’s Robert Peston into what she imagined was the hearts of the Scottish people. The Scots stared back impassively.

“Then when is the right time?” enquired Peston reasonably.

“Now is not the time.”

Peston tried again. “Can we be clear about when you do think is the right time?”

“Now is not the time.” A virus had reinfected the Maybot and she was stuck on repeat.

“Yes, I get that, but...

“Now is not the time,” said the prime minister, unaware she was turning her bad week into a worse one.

“So what you’re saying is...”

“Now is not the time.”

 

 

Over in Holyrood, the Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, was only too happy to agree. Now was not the time to hold a second referendum. But sometime late next year when the Scots had had a chance to see how badly they were going to be screwed over Brexit would be.

The promised UK consensus that the prime minister had offered on any Brexit deal had already been relegated to a few text messages: “Soz. We R leaving the single market” and Sturgeon didn’t trust Westminster not to sell her country even further down the river.

First minister’s questions in Scotland is an altogether more enlightening affair than prime minister’s questions down south. Not least because serious questions get asked. And answered. It helps that the two main adversaries, Sturgeon and Conservative Ruth Davidson, are rather sharper than their UK counterparts – not difficult for Davidson as Jeremy Corbyn hit a new low at PMQs the day before by even forgetting to ask a couple of questions. It’s also a major plus that the rest of the chamber manages to listen without sounding like a Bash Street Kids school reunion. When each speaker has finished talking, there is a round of applause. Or silence. It’s disconcertingly polite.

Davidson opened by asking whether Sturgeon thought it was the right time to call for a referendum when Scottish schools were in such a mess. The first minister eyed her up. A civil question deserved a civil answer. Yes, there were problems in schools and she was doing her best to deal with them but that didn’t stop her multi-tasking in the national interest.

“Is it not true, though,” said Davidson, “that independent forecasts suggest independence would put Scotland £11bn in the red?”

This was Sturgeon’s moment to let rip. Ever so nicely, of course. The reason Scotland was running a deficit was because it had been under the control of the Westminster purse strings for so long. Surely it was time for Scotland to see if it could do better on its own, rather than risk being made even worse off by a hard Tory Brexit? And if they couldn’t then at least there would be the consolation of knowing the pain was self-inflicted?

Davidson kept going. She rather had to, as she’s the last politician standing in the UK between Scotland remaining in the UK and declaring a Unilateral Declaration of Independence. Unlike in the last independence referendum, Labour is now dead in the water in Scotland and the appearance of May on the campaign trail would send voters running into the arms of the SNP.

“I choose to put this parliament first,” said Davidson.

Bad move. Sturgeon quickly reminded her opposite number that she had a far higher share of the vote than Theresa – even taking into account the dodgy counts in Thanet and elsewhere – and had been elected on a manifesto that had promised a second referendum. “So I issue a direct challenge,” she concluded. “If next Wednesday, the Scottish parliament votes for a second referendum, will the Tories respect the will of this parliament?” Sod it. A party that lived by “The Will of the People” could also die by it.

Back in London, Theresa experienced a glimmer of hope. She may have just made a second independence referendum inevitable. But at least she’d given herself an even chance of delaying it until the Scots were completely penniless.

 

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20 hours ago, XXL said:

OMG  Sinn Fein MEP told Theresa May to stick you border where the sun doesn't shine but you're not putting it in Ireland   :rotfl:

 

 

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Some Scots and Irish politicians right now are the only ones making sense.

May those motherfucking Brexiters all choke to death on their fucking borders. Fuck 'em all. Ignorant bastards.

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