theresa may: is her project subtly machiavellian or merely cunning, baldrick-style?

if a bank manager yells aufstehen! at you in the Reichsbank, that is known as a standing order. apologies, my best material etc.

Yeah Mason has been good on this - but it feels like these cautionary voices are a relatively recent (ie post-financial crisis) thing.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/news/kate-bush-theresa-may-wonderful-best-thing-happened-us-long/

um... would like to read what she said and not just the bits the telegraph chose to quote.

Q: A track called “Waking the Witch”—which was released in 1985—was performed for Before The Dawn. You once said that the song was about “the fear of women’s power.” With regards to Hillary Clinton’s recent defeat, do you think that this fear is stronger than ever?

A: We have a female prime minister here in the UK. I actually really like her and think she’s wonderful. I think it’s the best thing that’s happened to us in a long time. She’s a very intelligent woman but I don’t see much to fear. I will say it is great to have a woman in charge of the country. She’s very sensible and I think that’s a good thing at this point in time.

http://www.macleans.ca/culture/arts/in-conversation-with-kate-bush/

I hope someone tells her about the home office Go Home vans.

too busy writing her next album, the leopard print shoes

Pull Out The Pym on The Dreaming had an effect on Thatcher's post-election cabinet reshuffle the following year.

you've some way to go to beat your old "Salami Dreamers" pun, mike.

"I don’t see much to fear."...

Do we like that chain necklace though?

The problems with the plan to let the Brexiteers embarrass themselves on this issue is that a) they don't embarrass and b) they are more than capable of acts that would embarrass May (E.G. Boris doing a book signing of his Churchill book while on a diplomatic trip, on Armistice Day).

nothing says "take back control" like tory mps and beloved uk sports stars being banned from travelling to the us

lol special relationship

May leaving the US after publishing Brexit bill and leaving Labour to deal with the fallout seemed a competent manoeuvre unless Trump was seen to bully her.

And then the airport ban and protests happened.

I mean who could possibly have foreseen something like this????

tbf who knew there are good muslims?

As hashtags go the #theresatheappeaser is a pretty fucking brutal one.

Obviously this shows the sheer weakness and friendlessness of the UK's position right now but anyone with even the tiniest bit of foresight could have seen themselves caught up in this.

should really be #teresateappeaser

is she really bothered at the moment tho? can't see her core supporters or the average foaming Brexiteer getting worked up about the human rights of a few islams

I doubt it. If people were really that bothered they would have made more of a fuss when Yemeni grandmothers visiting their children, Iranian filmmakers or all but a handful of Syrian refugees were either denied visas to come to the UK or refused access at port of entry. Our policy isn't as nakedly crass but May has been making it as difficult, expensive and humiliating to visit the UK as possible - cheered on by a press saying it didn't go far enough. Holding hands with Trump might look infra dig (the current petition to stop him coming argues he should be denied a visit because it might embarrass the Queen to have to meet him) but I don't think it will be damaging.

Incidentally:

Sophy Ridge‏ @SophyRidgeSky

Dan Jarvis on immigration: for too long we have run the risk of demonstrating that we don't understand the concerns people have #ridge
10:19 am · 29 Jan 2017

He couldn't even take one morning off!

This story has quite a way to go - and this is just week 1, the ongoing association might be under pressure.

keep being tempted to engage Jarvis on Twitter but my depression hasn't bottomed out yet so

She's unlikely to be too bothered at the moment but it's the sort of thing that becomes embarrassing when British citizens are caught up with it and damaging if and when she basically lets them swing. The political wind can seem to be behind you until suddenly it isn't and there's going to be a huge and ferocious backlash. The question is how far away that actually is and how much damage will be done in the meantime.

May is less stupid than Trump and has introduced her policies in a much quieter way and on the occasions where she has been tone-deaf (eg the Go Van) she's backtracked reasonably quickly. She is acutely conscious of her public perception and I think will get rattled once she loses control of that, even if the entire discourse and direction of travel is basically in her favour right now.

If we weren't at a particularly febrile point in the Brexit process there'd be a few Tory MPs sensing blood, but I doubt many of them would voluntarily step out of line at this stage.

*all* the uk rightwing papers have gleefully gone with "may held tiny hand bcz trump afraid of stairs" btw

the WH never really warmed to greece-to-their-rome as a trope, but this is next-level material

I agreed w/Matt but this is getting bigger than I thought. Labour and LDs both flatly calling for no state visit for Trump while the ban is on; laying it on thick against May. She'll hate this.

May is less stupid than Trump

A proud boast.

it's kinda soothing to watch this petition to the uk government to deny trump a state visit rack up hundreds of signatures a minute: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/171928

i was gonna join that but then realized its premise required some concern for the royal family

yeah, that stuck in my craw a bit too tbh

still signed it using the loophole that brenda will probably be dead by the time of the state visit

I did sign cause why not but yeah funny wording, wgaf if hrh nazisalute is embarrassed

signed it anyway, gotta love a pile-on

https://www.dougsguides.com/sites/default/files/High%20Five.jpg

Think living with Prince Philip for several decades might have inured her to embarrassment tbh.

petition closing on 200,000 signatures, no sign of slowing

May isn't being boxed into appeasing Trump, her entire career to date indicates that her guiding principles are similarly nativist and anti-immigrant. But this is probably the most damaging look for her yet - for all the waffle about the special relationship and Thatcher/Reagan nostalgia there's kneejerk anti-Americanism on the British right as well as left (GWB was never seen as an ally by the Tories iirc?), which might come from a place of anti-vulgarity rather than actual morality but the point is that even jingoistic empire-obsessed Brexiteer racists mostly hate Trump too.

(Maybe they don't like to think about America because even more than the EU it's a reminder of how small and un-great Britain is now.)

GWB was never seen as an ally by the Tories iirc?

No need, New Labour got in there first.

360,000 signatures and counting.

half a mil, not bad

Wonder if it can break a million.

The last petition on Trump, to prevent him from entering the country, reached 550,000 and managed to crash the website - so far so good with this one.

the uk's failing petition site's cyber is weak, can't handle more than a few visitors at a time. sad!

nice

I remember when Bush visited London and the protests and security were off the chart and that's going to be tiny compared to when Trump turns up. I wouldn't be surprised if the government concluded they just couldn't be fucked. But then you remember we've alienated every other country so all bets are off.

There's always Erdogan.

https://twitter.com/wheatles/status/825657230565445632

Approaching three quarters of a million.

britons' fears of dangerous foreigners reaching these shores can v occasionally be justified i guess

the concerns are legitimate

unlike his presidency amirite

Within about about 10 minutes, it'll be the second-most popular petition on there, beating "Give the Meningitis B vaccine to ALL children, not just newborn babies" (823,348). It'll have a while to go to beat "EU Referendum Rules triggering a 2nd EU Referendum", which asked for a recount if there was less than 60% or a turnout less than 75% (4,150,260). That got a debate last September.