May is nearly out and so is May

[Bryn]

............Or Genghis Khan, maybe, which is how I suspect that Farage sees himself and the Brexit party.

To which message posted here is that intended to be a response?

[see below!!]

[Bryn]

That's a very pertinent point which I've not heard or seen mentioned elsewhere - and that tally of signatories (the only worthwhile Tories, peut-être!) continues to increase steadily even though the momentum has slowed a while back; almost 85,000 have signed since it passed the 6m mark.

Bear in mind that the NI results are yet to be determined, let alone announced. Currently, it looks like being DUP 1, SF 1, Alliance 1, but as to first preference votes, that is, as yet, a mystery.

[sidneyfox]

My comment a perfectly serious one, not surprising, a chastened silence for a few days only to be expected. A few links, for anyone who's missed the reviews, starting with a review by the former Regius Professor of History at Cambridge, followed by one by AN Wilson, author of The Victorians and a biog of Queen Victoria......

https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2019/05/jacob-rees-mogg-the-victorians-review

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-victorians-by-jacob-rees-mogg-book-review-zqltrw5rz

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-victorians-by-jacob-rees-mogg-review-bad-boring-and-mind-bogglingly-banal-3wlg2stts

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/t...uled-8pf36xnck

If you are perfectly serious that R-M is not centre stage in the media because his book has received bad reviews, then that's the infantile attitude that I'm commenting on.

[Richard Barrett]

If you are perfectly serious that R-M is not centre stage in the media because his book has received bad reviews, then that's the infantile attitude that I'm commenting on.

I suppose the thought was that he might be reluctant to appear in public after the reception of his book since people would obviously be asking him his opinion on the subject, and decided instead to wait until it had been forgotten, as Johnson's book on Churchill seems already to have been. I don't really see what's "infantile" about that.

[sidneyfox]

Anyway: I see that the total vote for explicitly Remain-supporting parties was 38%, that for the hard Brexiters 36.8% and that for the two (usually) main parties 23.4%. Hardly something that's likely to translate into a decisive result in a hypothetical second referendum, given that Labour and Tory votes would be split. But if promising one at a hypothetical general election is going to deliver a government that will also address the kinds of issues that burning dog has mentioned, then I'm for it. And after yesterday that seems more likely than it did before.

Agreed. A second referendum is likely to produce a similarly close result. I'm not sure it's a good idea and there must be another way to secure a government that focuses on the real issues, not Brexit.

[sidneyfox]

I suppose the thought was that he might be reluctant to appear in public after the reception of his book since people would obviously be asking him his opinion on the subject, and decided instead to wait until it had been forgotten, as Johnson's book on Churchill seems already to have been. I don't really see what's "infantile" about that.

That sounds a little less infantile, but it's a very unlikely explanation. Calling J-M a 'carper' and focusing on the pretty irrelevant issue of his book reviews etc, reflects the infantile nature of Westminster politics that we have to suffer these days.

[Richard Tarleton]

If you are perfectly serious that R-M is not centre stage in the media because his book has received bad reviews, then that's the infantile attitude that I'm commenting on.

Perfectly serious - why would I not be? The timing of R-M's self-promoting book was of his (and his publishers') choosing. The universal derision with which it has been received was, I daresay, not anticipated. I fail to see what is infantile about a perfectly reasonable observation. And calling fellow forumites "infantile" is objectionable.

[french frank]

If you are perfectly serious that R-M is not centre stage in the media because his book has received bad reviews, then that's the infantile attitude that I'm commenting on.

Although he might become centre stage if he follows his younger sister's example into her new party (though they didn't do especially well in his neck of the woods, coming a distant second). His current party gained less than 8% of the vote in Bath & NE Somerset, and they also lost the ward in which Mr Rees-Mogg lives in the local election two weeks ago. I suppose he could go off and stand in another part of the country if he feels his seat is at risk.

[Conchis]

I think ‘Mr. Foxe’ has been in these parts before....

[Bryn]

I think ‘Mr. Foxe’ has been in these parts before....

surely?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

A second referendum is likely to produce a similarly close result.

Possibly - maybe even probably; but people do change their minds about leaving institutions. Is the suggestion that there is no "second chance" for such people - that once they've chosen to go, they shouldn't be given the opportunity to change their minds, but should be "made" to face up to their decisions and accept the consequences?

[Richard Barrett]

I think ‘Mr. Foxe’ has been in these parts before....

You don't say!

[Bryn]

BBC NI News have just used Berlioz SF (that's Symphonie Fantastique, rather than Sinn Féin) as the backdrop to their summing up of the Tory debacle. The rationale being that it was claimed to be popular the last time they (the Tories) fared so badly.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

BBC NI News have just used Berlioz SF (that's Symphonie Fantastique, rather than Sinn Féin) as the backdrop to their summing up of the Tory debacle. The rationale being that it was claimed to be popular the last time they (the Tories) fared so badly.

Well, yes - it was popular last week, too.

[Bryn]

Well, yes - it was popular last week, too.

What surprised me was that the presenter actually offered the rationale.