Rolling Brexit Links/UK politics in the neo-Weimar era

also i just read* that -- in the case of a snap early election like this -- the next fixed-term election will happen in 2021 not 2022

*courtesy david allen green bcz i haven't yet got round to the mass muting that the next six weeks urgently demands

Corbyn does not wear woolly jumpers very much in public.

c) hasn't said the LC words

'la cucaracha'?

Unless you were referring to me, Tracer?

haha you're always doing a good job, pinefox :)

The other thing here is that virtually no one has developed detailed policies on anything at all, which would favour the incumbent almost regardless of the situation.

"the next fixed-term election will happen in 2021 not 2022"

That is quite reassuring if true, maybe when many of the Local Authority's (going into the financial "jaws of death" over the next 2 years) don't even have the budget to empty the bins anymore - the backlash will start here!

What's the fucking point of the fixed-term parliaments act and the two-thirds majority rule if the opposition won't say no to an election for fear of being told they look scared of the electorate? I mean, there could scarcely be a more blatant "election being called for political expediency" than this one.

I wonder if they have even pondered opposing it?

may was saying a couple of weeks ago that it's not fair to ask scotland to vote on a brexit vote that doesn't exist yet.

I strongly endorse Alba's great post.

It is another aspect of the cynical vileness of TM's intervention.

It is nice to see Alba taking a strong stance despite his professional need for calm and neutrality.

What's the fucking point of the fixed-term parliaments act and the two-thirds majority rule if the opposition won't say no to an election for fear of being told they look scared of the electorate?

The point is really to keep coalitions together. The opposition would be expected to oppose it if the junior coalition partner did as well

in the indie piece i just linked from last month, labour was quoted as saying it would be "very hard" for them to block an election if called (but the reasoning isn't given)

the fixed-term act was always a bit of a stunt and was never going to stop this kind of stuff: it's just too powerful a weapon for the PM to wield

If they tried to block it and failed it they would get absolutely rinsed for it.

pinefox where did you get that jeremy gilbert bit from? can't see it on his twitter

tbh i quite like that corbz is all "yeah, let's go for it"

Why would he not be?

Why would he not be singing that line from "In the air tonight" right now?

i imagine he is, i know i am

i know this is lunacy but there is a timeline in which jean-luc mélanchon and jeremy corbyn are leading their countries by the second week of june

best birthday ever dude

🙌

anything is possible, well apart from that!

"What's the fucking point of the fixed-term parliaments act and the two-thirds majority rule"

The fixed term parliament act was itself an piece of political expediency, designed for a specific set of circumstances that lasted until the last general election. Its was always going to be circumvented or binned by the first majority government that found it inconvenient.

The Manchester Gorton by-election is going ahead on May 4th.

Before Easter I spent a few days walking in Wales with my husband, thought about this long and hard and came to the decision that to provide for that stability and certainty, this was the way to do it.

Blame Wales, whydontcha!

it could be construed as a burgeoning messiah complex in the works, or maybe just absolute twaddle!

" I stared up at the sky, and a glowing effigy of Mick Hucknell looked down and said ... "

"on the fourth day, we stopped to break our fast at a greggs in swansea, and it was then i decided to call an election"

Lol wait whut

(We had declined the Patisserie Valerie, for obvious reasons...)

.. in quotes..

"as i bit into the grey sausage meat, flakes of pastry falling onto my lap, i was filled with a profound sense of what britain stood for and what it could be."

'gazing across the blasted hellscape of contemporary wales i thought i wish all of the uk looked like this'

looks like it's time to initiate my Project Uzbekistan a few years early

or at the very least make a timely judgement on when to withdraw from reading anything about politics for the next 3 months

Channel 4 now saying that May has ruled out any televised leadership debates.

handy

doesn't everybody who's not UKIP and the tories have a duty to band together now and stop this? are the parties really going yo go it alone and treat this like just another election?

The SNP are not going to band together with anyone. Third biggest party in parliament.

there's a strong doubt whether openly forming a broad coalition would be effective - it's not just the parties, but many of their voters - Tory Lib Dems, unionist Labour, who would be turned off by potential deals to be made. better maybe to encourage a tactical voting infrastructure and try to cobble together a coalition after the results are in. unlikely to make much difference.

if Sturgeon or Corbyn have got any sense they won't countenance a coalition before the vote

didn't the tories weaponise the prospect of a Labour/SNP in the last election? Like voters don't like it cos erm.. it's a bad thing apparently.

exackly

yes. i am grasping at straws.

in this country the idea of a coalition is in itself something to be feared - imagine a political party co-operating with another one rather than defiling the country for 20 years at a time.

i think it would be nice for the forces of non-evil to collaborate, just don't call it a coalition, yet

Channel 4 now saying that May has ruled out any televised leadership debates.

Idgi, is this her call? If she doesn't want to, let the others do it then right? Not that it will matter. Not that anything matters.