The Dictatorship of the Etonariat

[eighthobstruction]

If they get a protes from No 10, get Cummings on to Face the Press - as bloomin; if.
Glad to hear the rising tide of displeasure and resentment on just the TORY benches over the behaviour, language and influence of this dangerous entryist.

....some folk using Alastair Campbell as being same role as Cummings....rubbish, anyway Campbell faced the press everyday....

....Even Chief Constable of West Yorks criticising BoJo ref politicing his officers yest'....

....think i'll start playing Boris Bingo....using his repeated phrases as #....prize will be an election Nov 28th

[MrGongGong]

Indeed. It's very unusual to find anyone "on the left" who has an uncritical view of the EU, for reasons we've discussed here many times. I guess one might find some "rabid" opposition to it in Greece, but then the Greek people have had to bear the full horror of the EU's inherent neoliberal ideology laying waste to their country in defiance of the result of the 2015 referendum on accepting the EU's "bailout" terms. Criticism of the EU from a socialist perspective is of course not at all the same thing as the kind of little-England nonsense spouted by Farage et al. Remember the discussions we were having here before the referendum about the TTIP, which would curtail the ability of future EU-member governments to carry out (in the UK) such obviously beneficial and popular policies as renationalising public transport, just as surely as Johnson's selloff of the country to Trump would. It's clear that being outside the EU in the hands of far-right Tory ideologues is worse than being in the EU. But none of these issues is simple. Nothing is achieved by accusing those who acknowledge that complexity as "rabid".

I think that many of the folks on the "left" in the UK really need to check their privilige (and not talking about you RB)
Sure being anti-EU from a "socialist perspective" isn't the same as being like Farage and chums
BUT, those who have facilitated this chaos from a "socialist perspective" have put some very nasty people in charge.
I've had many arguments with those on the "left" about this and it really does boil down to people voting in a way that empowers the "little-Englanders" , racists and xenophobes regardless of what people might imagine their "perspectives" to be. You don't have to be a bigot to put one in charge.
Leaving the EU will impoverish the very people that the "left" claims to care about.

[gradus]

As someone who was working before we joined the EU I don't recall any transformation for the better in my working life after we joined; as someone said at the time the main benefit seemed to be that we could travel to Luxembourg without border formalities. It is suggested that we will have serious food shortages and medicine shortages are already making the News but since all our import/export channels will continue working and as far as I know nobody has claimed that organisations will stop trading when/if we leave, surely nobody really knows what will happen once things settle down.
Similarly why are our export businesses suddenly going to grasp the fantastic trade opportunities that we are told await us to accelerate us up the champion exporters league from our relatively modest current position. Why haven't we done it thus far, it will be the same people running the same businesses?
So much of what we're told is opinion dressed up as fact and a sceptical attitude to both sides claims seems the only sensible choice.

[Joseph K]

Re: Labour/antisemitism...

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/first-time-my-life-im-frightened-be-jewish/?fbclid=IwAR3ty8kSjvzjgt_fDuJ0DrWh8byU0PfcWEAirGCP8xtmT8FERxrwff5lnDk

[Richard Barrett]

Re: Labour/antisemitism...

Yes, that's good too. As Stewart Lee's racist taxi driver indignantly says, "you can prove anything with facts!".

[cloughie]

As someone who was working before we joined the EU I don't recall any transformation for the better in my working life after we joined; as someone said at the time the main benefit seemed to be that we could travel to Luxembourg without border formalities. It is suggested that we will have serious food shortages and medicine shortages are already making the News but since all our import/export channels will continue working and as far as I know nobody has claimed that organisations will stop trading when/if we leave, surely nobody really knows what will happen once things settle down.
Similarly why are our export businesses suddenly going to grasp the fantastic trade opportunities that we are told await us to accelerate us up the champion exporters league from our relatively modest current position. Why haven't we done it thus far, it will be the same people running the same businesses?
So much of what we're told is opinion dressed up as fact and a sceptical attitude to both sides claims seems the only sensible choice.

Yes but, in all probability, it will be more expensive and less convenient, despite the fact we are told we are paying a fortune to be in the EU. No one has really said where all these markets are that we are going to benefit from. Presumably if we cannot produce all our own food it is great that we can fly it in from all these places across the globe, or maybe, just maybe to hop it across from Holland or France might be a good idea and all the British population who have had their income decreased by austerity will be delighted to dip their hands in their pockets to pay the duties to Brussels to get their inported sprouts!

[oddoneout]

As someone who was working before we joined the EU I don't recall any transformation for the better in my working life after we joined; as someone said at the time the main benefit seemed to be that we could travel to Luxembourg without border formalities. It is suggested that we will have serious food shortages and medicine shortages are already making the News but since all our import/export channels will continue working and as far as I know nobody has claimed that organisations will stop trading when/if we leave, surely nobody really knows what will happen once things settle down.
Similarly why are our export businesses suddenly going to grasp the fantastic trade opportunities that we are told await us to accelerate us up the champion exporters league from our relatively modest current position. Why haven't we done it thus far, it will be the same people running the same businesses?
So much of what we're told is opinion dressed up as fact and a sceptical attitude to both sides claims seems the only sensible choice.

The channels may remain open but the terms under which goods move through those channels will change if the UK is no longer an EU member - basically more checks/documentation etc. Hold-ups at ports while paperwork is checked aren't good news for perishable items such as fresh food, and autumn isn't a good time of year to be trying to store extra stocks of non-perishable/frozen food as capacity is already taken for Christmas stock.

[un barbu]

My main anxiety is that we will be at the mercy of the USA, in short, Donald Trump. As Cousin Jasper said of Antony Blanche in other circumstances, 'Now there's a man there's absolutely no excuse for.'

[Dave2002]

The channels may remain open but the terms under which goods move through those channels will change if the UK is no longer an EU member - basically more checks/documentation etc. Hold-ups at ports while paperwork is checked aren't good news for perishable items such as fresh food, and autumn isn't a good time of year to be trying to store extra stocks of non-perishable/frozen food as capacity is already taken for Christmas stock.

Perishable food may be problematic. Some manufacturing, which often relies on just in time delivery, could be severely affected, and lead to production losses and loss of revenue. Presumably big contracts which might have been rather profitable, will now migrate to other parts of the EU.

[Frances_iom]

...and all the British population who have had their income decreased by austerity will be delighted to dip their hands in their pockets to pay the duties to Brussels to get their inported sprouts!

I'm confused - aren't any tariffs paid to the importing country ie to the UK which it appears will still need to impose tariffs under the WTO rules otherwise UK farmers having become accustomed to operating within the EU price structure could not quickly adapt.

[LMcD]

Tomorrow's headline, suggested in an email from our son:
'He Taurus Apart', Claims Conservative Party
(… and there are those who might think that DC is the Cancer at the heart of government)

[Pulcinella]

Tomorrow's headline, suggested in an email from our son:
'He Taurus Apart', Claims Conservative Party
(… and there are those who might think that DC is the Cancer at the heart of government)

A previous DC might justifiably be held to account for not dealing with the cancer in his party.

[Bryn]

From:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2734312016579095&set=a.158008594209463&type=3&theater

Click on the link above the image for further info.

[MrGongGong]

From:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2734312016579095&set=a.158008594209463&type=3&theater

Click on the link above the image for further info.

and there's always this

[Serial_Apologist]

From:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2734312016579095&set=a.158008594209463&type=3&theater

Click on the link above the image for further info.

Both very laid back!

I'm thinking, the John Whiting contributing to the comments attached could well be the sound engineer guy, and Christopher Fox quite possibly the well-known composer.