the day after the deadline: can the union survive brexit and other deep questions

I think they've blown it with Corbyn, short of him being revealed as a PIE enthusiast

i believe we've already esatblished itt that there's nothing wrong with being interested in news for professionals in international education

Fatigue or not, that won't stop them.

May doesn't seem to be shamelessly rinsing the Syria situation to look authoritative and strong, so that could suggest doubt.

One Russian paper today asks "Is macho Trump starting World War 3?" & warns that a US missile strike on Syria "...risks spilling over into open conflict between nuclear powers." Today's Russian press review. pic.twitter.com/cvPNMvxfNg

— Steve Rosenberg (@BBCSteveR) April 11, 2018

i hope she's taking into account that her government has achieved literally nothing of any note since last summer and is still in the process of comprehensively fucking up brexit, so adding a war into the mix is probably a bad idea

gotta balance that against all those conservative donors in the defence industry jizzing themselves at the prospect of sexy night-vision footage of their missiles raining down on syrian women and children tho i suppose

Syria is a former French mandate, so yeah, it speaks to a sense of French imperialism, like Mali did.

He's fairly likely to have some loose associates with extremely dodgy opinions here

every politician associates with people who have extremely dodgy opinions on foreign policy

Yes but only Corbyn gets attacked for them.

by a media which continually weakens its position with every new bit of rubbish

I think he should have sacked Gardiner by now. Couldn’t get over his cavalier comments about the border, and can’t imagine him commenting that the 6 Brexit are “bollocks” is doing anything for the party mood.

I like Gardiner, it was a bit careless of him, but what the hell - shame the devil!

Anyone shit-talking the Good Friday Agreement needs to go really.

i missed that one tbh.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/09/barry-gardiner-good-friday-deal-played-up-for-economic-reasons-labour-brexit-hard-border-paramilitary

ok not good, but he always seems so decent on AQ. Probably not best measure of a politician tho!

He has a nice voice, I say keep 'im.

The Times is reporting May has demanded more evidence from the US before signing off on any bombing, which you can take with as large a pinch of salt as you like.

― Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Wednesday, 11 April 2018 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

If any of that is true it would point to May's reluctance to go anywhere with Trump on this, just too unpredictable. strong and stable

Getting in the middle of a proxy war between Trump and Putin without any guarantee of improving the situation on the ground in Syria, with Brexit on top. I don't think she wants to turn into a combination of Blair and Major with her hold on power as fragile as it is.

I wouldn't bank on her being able to resist any pressure from her own benches, especially when Boris Johnson inevitably starts shooting his mouth off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j_Z1f84Ps8

my dad is a tory-voting, telegraph-reading, jingoistic, ex-military, gung-ho, delusional brexit-loving lunatic and even he thinks that getting involved in this is a terrible idea

former ambassador to syria peter ford otm

the bbc won't be asking him back on any of their radio shows in a hurry, too much grown-up talk.

Sorry guys but there are literally thousands of batshit internet conspiracy theorists making roughly the same points as he makes from four minutes on.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/18/syria-white-helmets-conspiracy-theories

'The images are faked and you're all having your chains jerked by jihadists' - well it's a good job Putin or Assad have absolutely no vested interest in having the world think like that, and that the Russian state has no recent record of deliberately and systematically spreading online disinformation.

George Soros. People don't half hate that guy.

Yes OF COURSE Soros is involved in the conspiracy. You don't have to be all 'YAY BOMBS!' to accept that there is some deeply unsavoury and fucked up stuff going on on the other side.

Sometimes thousands of batshit internet conspiracy theorists are not completely wrong imo.

It inevitably happens at times.

matt I can't believe your reaction to seeing a former ambassador repeat things you've seen dismissed by such authorities as a californian tech journalist is to assume it's former ambassador who's a batshit internet conspiracy theorist w no credibility

idk if someone has rebutted the points made here but I'm not sure what reasons there are not to at least take it seriously:
https://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/how-white-helmets-became-international-heroes-while-pushing-us-military

http://zelo-street.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/tory-grenfell-spinner-has-previous.html
Maxwell Woodger, Tory candidate for Queen’s Gate Ward in South Kensington is allegedly overheard making scandalous/offensive comments in a pub about Grenfell survivors, and then is asked to leave.

Maxwell Woodger - imagine the hilarity on ILB if John Lanchester invented the character of a Young Conservative and called him Maxwell Woodger.

I was thinking if you made some very complex Tory name generator software, it couldn't do much better than that.

https://soundcloud.com/maxwell-woodger

I can't believe there isn't an ILM thread on him.

Oh my goodness.

Woodger like to funk with me?

i used to love the ‘maxwell woodger and his tiny toodger’ strip in viz

a pisstake of Woodger the Doodger iirc

Dear Valued Cuntstomer: https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/theresa-may-sends-oaps-letter-asking-for-donations-to-the-tory-party-addressed-dear-mr-fingjoking/11/04/

matt I can't believe your reaction to seeing a former ambassador repeat things you've seen dismissed by such authorities as a californian tech journalist is to assume it's former ambassador who's a batshit internet conspiracy theorist w no credibility

The fact that he's a former ambassador doesn't make him infallible, and tbh when I see someone claiming that an atrocity was faked then yes my impulse is to assume it's batshit conspiracy theorism at best, and knowing Assad apologism at worst.

As reasons to oppose the bombing go, 'it will make an already catastrophic humanitarian situation immeasurably worse' is enough for me.

but we did such a good job in Libya

I don't think anyone on this thread thinks he's infallible, Matt. Broadly agreeing with what he is saying in a one-off radio interview isn't quite conferring infallibility on the mofo! He seemed quite passionate and all too human in his response.

xxp yeah that's my reason too. everyone involved has reasons to lie, reasons to cast doubt, and are very aware of how things play in the media, so I am wary of anyone dismissing people as some loony fringe. my (worthless) instinct is that assad or someone on his side has used chemical weapons again but it's obviously not absurd to imagine people faking an attack like this, things are more than desperate enough

There is apparently going to be a Cabinet meeting tomorrow to discuss / sign off on bombing. I’m not entirely sure they’re going to know what they’re signing up to bomb yet. The UK can obviously control its own part of any activities but if the US decides it wants to start hitting Iranian soldiers fighting alongside Syrian ones, which is rumoured to be on the table, they aren’t going to be able to disentangle themselves.

Well, at least Threads has had a timely re-issue.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/world-braces-war-russia-triggers-12344867?1

I had a football messageboard argument with the main Threads actor. He was an Owen Smith supporter in the '16 leadership election. Some things in retrospect, actually seem worse than the incoming apocalypse at times!

Reece Dinsdale? He'd turned into a nazi* by the end of I.D, so Sensible Labour is a small improvement I guess

*he didn't of course. That was just the character he was playing

He was an Owen Smith supporter

right up there with 'for sale: baby shoes, never worn' as far as impossibly sad sentences go

I've lost count the amount of times he's linked a youtube clip from I.D. onto Down at The Mac wiv loads of thicko yobs clicking like, he's obv very proud of that terrible movie. Threads absolutely rules though. But some of the rong comments he made about John McDonnell suggest he would probably join that LoveFilm party.

yeah, threads is one of those rare movies that i really appreciate but have no desire to ever see again cuz it is harrowing as fuck