there was the tram attack yesterday in Utrecht, and there's elections tomorrow. Which is scary, the shift to right wing Wilders and Baudet will be even larger than expected :-(
You probably don't know Baudet, he's as big of a dick as Wilders, but a different party.

It's elections for Provincial Parlements, so it's not that important. But three months later the people in Provincial States will elect the Senate (what we call First Chamber)

From what I understand, any extension, long or short, can only be granted after a unanimous vote of approval from all member nations. If just one country vetoes it, that's it.

Christian Death Toll Rises to 200 in 4-Day Muslim ‘Killing Spree’ in Nigeria......no boohooing media covering this.

hey pendejo no t-word here

lolol ok but this is an escape from the ever present overbearingness you know

skuj shat the bed first, now please be kind to animals

damn

yes but chances are vote will be unanimous. heard on bloomberg that nobody wants to be blamed for being the one who ruined things.

then again spain wants gibraltar hahaha.

between bercown and the french statement today there seems to be a weird sort of agreement that may has to come up with something else otherwise no go

You Sir are 100% correct......no more flash photography from me around the animals.

thanks! srsly

France will have its own agenda, just like every other country involved.

Meanwhile Bercow needs to stop using his role as speaker as some kind of X-Factor audition. The whole "odd-eaur" act. The little one liners. Far too fond of himself for my liking.

Surprising.

i think most countries would rather have a smooth brexit but that has to be balanced against the continuous uncertainty.

looks like gonna be 3 months tops but can’t see your parliament coming to another agreement. it’s may or hard brexit and no extensions for their own sake.

july 1 is final date. gonna be a hot summer...

so there you go, june 30 or bust

i think it’s gonna be a russ meyer movie. i can’t see your parliament agreeing to may’s deal. even if the man with the funny retro glasses jumps on board. moog something. synthesizer.

bercow yeah holding you by the huevos. since i am only a spectator i find him entertaining. like the circus. but since you’re directly affected of course it will grate.

i don’t know why may bothered sending this letter since everyone knows the options. i did read the letter and it was all obvious. and your parliament has voted hard brexit by default, and it will continue to do so.

everyone puts it on may may may but is there something that the majority of your parliament would agree on? no?

OOORRRDEEEEEEEER (ordure...)

you’re getting hard brexit unless some miraculous hail mary. everything else seems so much kabuki.

on other news, germany opened the fiscal faucet this morning, and the fed poised to make an announcement at... 1pm east? 18gmt?

daylight saving is pure ordure...

2017 and now:

 

LMAO

thanks for that

—

i must spread more spread

Dude look at the date of that article. It was a year ago, of course the media isn't covering it. Also Breitbart is racist right-wing propaganda so the article is naturally misleading: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ni...tians-muslims/

may is gonna talk...

...

what for?


...

will she self-defenestrate?

“knife crime” :D

what the fuck was that????

“l”

same old same fucking old

may 22 deadline europa sez

may asked to leave? by her own party? just heard

That'll be on top of the 17 million people who asked for the same thing, 2 1/2 years ago.

Now that I think about, why not a second vote? If the government believes in the certainty of the people's will then the result will be the same? Riiiight?

Over 3 million people signed the petition to revoke article 50. Whoa!

the washington post’s european correspondent skewers theresa may and blames her for everything

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...a41_story.html

choice quotes (these are just mostly insults, there are long explanations in the article) :

She is not sensible, she does not know what she is doing, and, increasingly, she doesn’t seem to be entirely sane either.

[...]

almost everything about Brexit — from the nature of the deal she negotiated to the divisions in her party and her country — is very much her fault.

[...]

She is not to be pitied: She is the worst prime minister in living memory, presiding over a crisis of her own creation.

[...]

The list of her mistakes is not short.

[...]

But her errors go even deeper. In fact, all of the events of the past two years have been shaped by a decision she made, by herself, following bad advice, at the very beginning of this process.

[...]

Her decision also created potential problems for anyone who trades with Britain or works with Britain — and for Brits who trade and work in Europe. But she was not sorry: She accompanied her decision with a speech that called “a citizen of the world” nothing more than “a citizen of nowhere” and immediately alienated a large part of the country.

[...]

She went on to alienate almost everyone else. Until this week, nearly three years after the referendum, she made no effort to reach across the aisle and include opposition parties in the planning for this momentous national change.

[...]

Although the E.U. has been entirely transparent about its negotiating goals from the beginning, she kept hers secret. She tried, and failed, to prevent parliamentary scrutiny of her deal.

[...]

She does not respond to pleas, advice, suggestions. Columnist Matthew Parris has described her as “the Death Star of modern British politics,” a black void that sucks in people and ideas and never provides a response.

[...]

Her secrecy and incompetence have created ill will in Europe, and real anger in the House of Commons, some of whose members have belatedly tried to take control of the Brexit process.

[...]

she spent her whole life, motivated by loyalty to the Tory party, training for this job. Now she has it — and she has used it to steer her country into a humiliating crisis.

[...]

The slogan of the “Leave” campaign, back in 2016, was “Take Back Control.” But Europe has now taken back control of May’s botched Brexit. And however it ends, it won’t be a success.


lmao

now i finally get it

Making "taking back control" is not particularly wise given the complete and utter failure of the country's political process regarding Brexit.

Can we have MORE control from Europe, please? Some competent politicians would be absolutely great rather than the constant Labour/Tory farce of the last 3 years. Two years completely fucking wasted and the promise of a weaker economy and country to come. Get May and Corbyn to fuck, seriously. Cannot imagine two worse people to have navigated this crisis.

In light of the last 3 years, I admit this is very hard to argue against.

curious, i know you voted to leave, but would you be a remainer at this point?

No, I'd still vote Leave. mainly on the issue of democratic accountability - not that that too isn't currently being made a mockery of in Parliament.

oh i see you meant that europe could give you a better exit deal than the idiot may & co.

ps i did not know till i read that article that it was may's choice to leave the customs union [edited some errors out]

I'm in favour of leaving the customs union, too. I would back no-deal. It's not just that I consider the EU undemocratic, I disagree with how it does business. I disagree with it on a whole host of issues. I disagree with a lot of how the British Parliament does lots of things but, again, there's a democratic process that, in principle anyway, at least allows for the possibility of change.

I don't understand how you can still be fine with a no deal when all the signs point that it'll be an absolute total mess. When people say "oh it'll be fine eventually" how can they not wonder at what cost in the immediate aftermath?

oh then i dont understand your reply to gravity slips

but anyway, how would you deal with a hard irish border then? isn’t that a result of leaving the customs union? and isn’t this what supposedly nobody wants? i’m new at this...

The hard border would be an option but so far neither the UK, Ireland or the EU show any interest in enforcing it.

I think Britain needs radical reform. The customs union prohibits that and, as I don't see any evidence of the EU reforming itself, I want out. There's risks, but I'd prefer those to the slow strangulation by the EU, with no chance of change.

option how? without an agreement and exiting the customs union you get a hard border by default. no?

i’ve read of talks of a fast “electronic” border but that’s still vaporware

As a Scot, I think that now (and I was previously ambivalent about it), I'd use similar arguments for wanting Scottish independence after all this. Previously I'd erred on the side of preferring radical reform to the UK electoral system rather than the risks of outright independence, but it just feels difficult to deny the complete fracture in sentiment between Scotland and elsewhere at the moment. That said, it looks like similar divides are seen throughout different areas of England, too (London vs the North East, for example).

Interesting times ahead - lots of people are going to be angry, regardless of what happens next.

It's only as hard as the resources put in place to enforce it. Remain-favouring MPs are threatening it but without any public will for it I see no reason why they would.

I think that's inevitable now. This is an irreconcilable split, greater even, I think, than the current one in the US, over Trump.

so the problem with the backstop was the potential return to the customs union then?

Basically, yes.

I've linked this argument for not signing the customs union cos it's not from a 'well he would say that wouldn't he?' Leaver, but from someone from the Remain camp who still rejects it:

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...imports-brexit