The UK Voting Referendum

I'm yet to meet anyone who was voting no, but maybe that's just a London thing, or the circles I move in. The idea that anyone could fall for that bare-faced bullsh*t is kinda shocking (and a sad reflection on democracies' built-in limits, but hey ho )

The Tory war chest was definitely in evidence in terms of the 'public debate'. The Evening Standard's press academic made the interesting point that the papers have been almost entirely no-friendly (& in the '75 referendum were equally status quo orientated). The Murdoch rags I can understand, but I guess what it reveals is that the rest are labour aligned, and in the absence of a party line, were going for the pragmatic "let's not make a fuss" stance / keep our guys near power. Pretty disappointing.

I get that AV (-) is a paltry option, but still, this basically ensconces the Tories without response (they got their gerrymandering through the door in the AV bill) and means Lords reform will go the same way (just 'balancing' it, IE getting rid of Labourite lords and plonking Tory ones in). Pretty tepid democracy all told.

I'm consoling myself with sarcasm



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*EDIT* - dammit Ash you negged me. Talk about insult to injury

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My mum voted 'No'!

When pressed (and when I mentioned that the DUP and UUP were firm No advocates) she started to blush. I didn't press the issue.

Complete farce over here in the count(s) with the vast majority not being declared until this afternoon and the local councils not even beginning until Monday. The Omagh count centre was the funniest of the lot - Ballot boxes getting soaked and workers asked to bring hairdryers to dry out the ballot papers, count staff locking themselves out of laptops which had the verified vote figures and a table collapsing with thousands of counted votes on it, necessitating a recount. Reports are now coming through of a full recount for the West Tyrone constituency (Omagh is in charge of two constituency's counts) after two candidates have already been deemed 'elected' in the first round.

Total and utter shambles.

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

You're right, Tacitus, it was a shambles, both campaigns were a disgrace (both in terms of what was said and the level of infomation and debate) but, sadly, aimed at about the level of politics in this country now.

For the record, had I voted, I'd have voted "no". But then, I have little to no respect for the electorate of this country and wouldn't trust half of them to sit the right way on a toilet.

Rar, they actually set up a polling station at my gym the other week. All I know is that the Tories are ****ing us hard. Real hard. Without a condom too.

D'Hondt has, as they say, been triggered at Stormont and I actually kinda know how it works now:

Party with largest number of seats gets first ministerial pick, then party #2. The two party's number of seats gets halved and the biggest again (to facilitate a party in a strong 3rd place) gets 3rd pick, then 4th. Etc Etc.

We've got the DUP in charge of Finance, Enterprise, Social Development and Health

Sinn Féin with Education, Agriculture and Culture, Arts and Leisure

UUP with Regional Development (basically roads, electricity, water, gas)

SDLP with Environment and Alliance with Employment

Alliance, even though they're the smallest party in the Executive get another post in Justice because it was decided a while back not to run that particular ministry through D'Hondt until, basically, everyone in the country grows up a bit so they've given it to the only sizeable 'unaligned' party.

Quick shout out to the mayor of the town where I live, who is the new Agriculture minister, Michelle O'Neill. She's one of her party's rising stars and extremely capable.



She's also the most attractive Sinn Fein politician by a long way - Google John O'Dowd (Education) or Carál Ní Chuilín (culture). I dare you!

Warning: If you've got young children or nervous animals around the monitor, shade their eyes first.

EDIT - To keep things politically balanced, here's a picture of the DUP's Edwin 'my surname means something naughty in Aussie slang' Poots: Relax girls, he's married

Oo careful! The Nazis always coveted the Justice positions (And Education. Not that I'm slurring your good Fein mind you ).

That's interesting that everyone divvies up the ministerial roles in order. 'Environment' & 'Employment' are the skinny kids who got picked last then .

(Did the DUP want Health for ideological reasons d'you know? The 'NHS' is a bit of a hot potato in recession times. Do they favour ringfence or pillage etc?)

Slur away at Sinn Féin, Golg, can't stand 'em. I'm shallow enough, though, to figure that there should be more attractive blondes in politics, no matter what their party.

Truth of the matter is that no one wanted Health and it was the second last ministry to be picked. It's a funding matter - the NHS eats the most out of a Block Grant which has been reduced significantly by the Tories. It's probably best that the party with charge of the Finance position takes it on, so the new Health minister can't whine and politick as much as the last one, from an opposing party, did.

Mandatory coalition is a strange beast indeed - there's no formal Opposition so the various ministries are only held to account by Committee Chairs. It's a bit of a carve-up to be honest, but a necessary one at this moment in time.

Bump for the Brexit.


For those MoFos who don't know what's going on, in a few days, Britain votes on whether or not to stay in the EU.


France has said that if we leave, they're going to stop border control and let anyone and anything, terrorists or not, get across the channel and into the UK.


Germany's finance minister is sending threats to the UK saying that if we leave, the UK will not have access to the single market and will not be allowed any sort of negotiation like the other non-EU countries have. We will be blanked, ignored, blocked and basically banned. Apparently.


It's all scare mongering and tactics. Ok, sure, they may well blank us in market negotiations... but the fact is, the EU will lose £14b annually if we leave the EU... that's £14b minimum, there's also the £10b+ from trade taxes... and they're panicking as they don't have the ways or means to replace the cash they'll lose from our exit.


I think an annual £14b-£24b would be better spent on the NHS and Schools than lining the pockets of the suits that dictate what we can and can't do in our own Kingdom.
If trade is the only thing the EU can threaten us with... I'd suggest that as a country, we start producing things again, build industry back up again, make cars, farm. Reopen coal mines maybe?
Like we did in the old days.
And then trade with Switzerland, Iceland and Norway, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan... et al.




Where I stand right now on Stay Or Go... I'm currently on the fence... still researching and crunching numbers so I can make the right choice.
But if the suits across the channel keep throwing threats at us to hide their fear of losing their little money-maker, I'll be ticking Leave without even thinking about my decision and flicking my bowfingers to their childish posturing.

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What are the advantages of leaving?

Basically this is a choice of what you want. Most people don't care and, as there isn't really a 'right' answer, most are confused. I've spoken to quite a few people about this over the last year or so and, with the exception of those who want to be out to be out and those who want to be in to be in, I've found most people don't really understand what it is they're being asked to stay in or opt out of. The arguments change from day to day but, for the most part, immigration seems to be the largest motivating factor for those who want to leave and the economy for those who want to stay.

The problem is that there isn't a solid answer to either argument. There's no certainty that we'll be better or worse off outside the EU in terms of the economy. Likewise, there's no way we can know whether there'll be less immigration if we leave because part of any trade deal with the EU will almost certainly have to include jobs being advertised in the EU without discrimination.

This is all a result of a cluster**** of a policy by a weak Prime Minister who's having to go through with an election promise he never thought he'd have to back up..

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People want to "leave" so that less people arrive?

Yes. Being a member of the EU means you have to agree to the free movement of labour. That means that about 500 million people have the legal right to come to work in your country. Now that's the same for every member, but obviously those with larger economies are the most likely destinations for anyone wishing to do that.

Of course, we also have the former colonies and Commonwealth countries to consider and there's some people who don't like that those people (with whom some feel we have a debt or connection to) shouldn't be pushed aside for someone from the EU.

Hmmm.

I never got that. Why is work a right? It's an exchange of labour for tender, it's essentially a deal between two people.

Why do I have to ask for permission to mow someone's friggen' lawn?

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"Well, at least your intentions behind the UTTERLY DEVASTATING FAULTS IN YOUR LOGIC are good." - Captain Steel

You don't expect to ask permission to fly out and mow someone's lawn in China? Australia?

Another way to understand it is thusly: I could go and live (and work), tomorrow, in France, permanently, but couldn't expect to do that in a non-EU country.

So they want to impose restrictions because other countries impose restrictions?

No. Think of the EU like a club. You pay your fees to be a member and, as a member, you get the benefits of the club and being part of the club. Those who want to leave don't want to be part of the club for varying reasons, depending on the person.

Some don't like the rules, some don't like the club, some don't think it's worth the fees, while some don't think we get enough from it.

The main argument for leaving the club being that you get people wanting to work in your country...

For some people, yes.

That's silly.

It is, what baffles me as well is that people who are voting out are half of the time moaning about immigrants from outside the EU, for example, my sister and her boyfriend are voting leave because of "pakis" to directly quote them.