BREXIT! BREXIT! BREXIT!

[JimC]

"Australian option"

This option involves wearing shorts and singlets, getting pissed, then wandering round to find something to shoot and/or fuck...

[rainbow]

Oliver Dowden on Brexit trade deal: We are 90% of the way there

https://news.yahoo.com/oliver-dowden-br ... 21635.html

...so in 3 and a half years, 90% there.

Not much chance of having this done by Christmas, then.

[Scot Dutchy]

Well the Brexiteers will be rejoicing:

No-deal Brexit is now likeliest, Ursula von der Leyen tells EU leaders

European commission president says ‘higher probability for no deal than deal’ after all-night summit

EU leaders have been told by Ursula von der Leyen that Britain exiting the transition period without a trade and security deal is now the most likely outcome.

During a 10-minute briefing at the end of an all-night summit in Brussels, the European commission president refused to put a percentage on the chances of agreement but told the leaders there was a “higher probability for no deal than deal”, sources said.

With the Sunday deadline agreed by Von der Leyen and Boris Johnson looming, Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said all capitals should agree a common line in the event of the negotiations ending in failure over the weekend.

Ireland’s prime minister, Micheál Martin, whose country would be the EU member state most impacted by the lack of a deal, emphasised the damage that would be reaped if the negotiators in Brussels could not agree on terms.

He repeated the EU mantra, however, that a deal would not be at any price given the risk to European businesses if their British counterparts were to benefit from lower environmental, social and labour standards while enjoying zero tariff terms for their exports into the bloc.

Pity for the rest though.

[Brian Peacock]

"Brexit means Brexit," is going to be my stock reply to complaints from Leave voters about Europe from now on. To be honest, most of them were given the impression that nothing would change - just that we'd have less brown people, fewer Polish plumbers, and prisoners wouldn't get to vote.

[Scot Dutchy]

Yep but thanks to corruption and misinformation they thought nothing would change. Now when they finally wake up and realise that it is a totally different game with no Trump cheering them on.

[Hermit]

"Brexit means Brexit," is going to be my stock reply to complaints from Leave voters about Europe from now on. To be honest, most of them were given the impression that nothing would change - just that we'd have less brown people, fewer Polish plumbers, and prisoners wouldn't get to vote.

Actually, they were told that lots of things would change - for the better. More jobs for the natives, border control and so on.

When you tell leavers that Brexit means Brexit, remind them also, that they better get used to having missed the bus. That they were suckers too. That bus was a big, fat lie.

[Sean Hayden]

--democracy!?

[pErvinalia]

Yeah yeah we know you hate democracy..

[Sean Hayden]

You could have said the same to anyone posting about the wonders of democracy...yeah yeah we know you love democracy.

I don't hate democracy btw. I don't believe it will be the final word on the best government, and I'm increasingly at odds with those who see it as a good in itself.

[Hermit]

I don't hate democracy btw. I don't believe it will be the final word on the best government, and I'm increasingly at odds with those who see it as a good in itself.

I certainly do not see democracy as a good in itself. Do let me know of a better form of government as soon as you think you found one, though.

[Sean Hayden]

If I could figure that out I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you lot!

[Brian Peacock]

[JimC]

I see the general principle of the members of a community having a say in how the community is run as a definite good. The implementation of that principle in large populations has been distorted to a greater or lesser extent in various times and various places. No particular iteration of "democracy" is or has been perfect, but some versions are less compromised than others.

[Scot Dutchy]

The fishing red herring just put up a notch.

Four navy ships to help protect fishing waters in case of no-deal Brexit

Exclusive: two vessels to be deployed at sea with two on standby in case EU fishing boats enter EEZ

Four Royal Navy patrol ships will be ready from 1 January to help the UK protect its fishing waters in the event of a no-deal Brexit, in a deployment evoking memories of the “cod wars” in the 1970s.

The 80-metre-long armed vessels would have the power to halt, inspect and impound all EU fishing boats operating within the UK’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which can extend 200 miles from shore.

Naval sources said the deployment had been long planned, but it comes after Conservative ministers quietly doubled the total fleet of patrol ships from four to eight, partly in case of a crisis caused by a no-deal Brexit. “We have done a lot of work to ensure we are ready for every eventuality,” one insider said.

[Scot Dutchy]

Tories are not happy.

Tories criticise Boris Johnson over navy gunboats Brexit threat

Threatening to send navy to patrol fishing waters in event of no deal is irresponsible, says Tobias Ellwood

Senior Conservatives have criticised Boris Johnson’s handling of the Brexit trade negotiations and his threat to deploy Royal Navy gunboats to patrol UK fishing waters in the event of no deal.

With the Sunday deadline for reaching an agreement fast approaching, the Ministry of Defence confirmed four 80-metre armed vessels had been placed on standby to guard British waters from EU trawlers from 1 January, in the absence of an agreement on fishing rights.