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

To be honest if anyone in the country other than his wife had been at all bothered by BJ's serial infidelities then the last decade or so of British politics would have looked very different.

"Luton South MP Gavin Shuker said he was "sorry a handful of people" wanted to overturn his 2017 win."

he lost his vote of no confidence by 33-3!

anyone got any men in black style mind-erasers to tackle the revival of the phrase "BONKING BORIS"?

the next phase of his Murdoch rehabilitation will be him coming out as a sex addict.

did anyone else have the misfortune of watching Julie Burchill talk about her brexit play on Newsnight? yeesh.

I caught bits of it , just minutes ago. Really deep analysis there, if you are a lobotomised Sun reader!

Her and Tony Parsons ..eh? Match made in heaven!

I can remember in the 90's, Burchill proclaiming Patrick Marber a genius. So she's going to set impossibly high targets for her own debut.

I also remember her declaring her younger-self outrageously or ridiculously good looking in her NME days so I have the utmost faith in her judgment of her own talents.

lool!

Is anyone else thinking “f**k it, I might I might give the Lib Dems a go”?

— Eddie Marsan (@eddiemarsan) September 7, 2018

fao Suzy who, just in case she did mute Marsan!

Celebrity centrists, they're the best kind of centrist

around the time Thatcher died, he said his parents buying their council house was good, but now there are 4 families living in it, so her legacy was a "mixed blessing".

oh and Ray Donovan has got be one of the most crass, ugly, boring, misogynistic, macho-shitfest Sopranos knock offs ever made. Fuck knows how they've managed to run this on for multiple seasons, if you were to believe Marsan's twitter, it would be something to do with his tour-de-force performances in it!

'I might I might'

I thought they might be looking for someone without the toxic baggage of the ConDem period to succeed Cable. But it seems Jo "Bedroom Tax" Swinson is the odds on fav to take them into this exciting new post-brexit era.

There are rumours of a leadership challenge from Johnson on Monday. If so, he’s picked an interesting time. I can’t really see it happening.

For Boris to say that the PM’s view is like that of a suicide bomber is too much. This marks one of the most disgusting moments in modern British politics. I’m sorry, but this is the political end of Boris Johnson. If it isn’t now, I will make sure it is later. #neverfittogovern https://t.co/rdI0FWQhbi

— Sir Alan Duncan MP (@AlanDuncanMP) September 8, 2018

Still has his fans though.

There are a number of possible motives behind this tweet, but given its author, we can be certain ‘principles’ aren’t one of them. https://t.co/hlGKGattBx

— Zac Goldsmith (@ZacGoldsmith) September 9, 2018

mmm yes, the famously principled zac ‘my opponent for mayor of london is a muslim therefore he is suspect’ goldsmith certainly has the moral high ground here

if you're having Boris problems I feel bad for you, son. got 99 problems but we can be certain ‘principles’ aren’t one of them.

<3 jed

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/sep/10/windrush-people-wrongly-deported-jamaica-criminal-offence

After a lifetime out of the country he had no ties in Jamaica. As a child in the UK he remembers being abused in the streets. “I was called black monkey, asked if I came on the banana boat, and told go back home,” he says. Back in Jamaica he is seen as an alien. “I’ve been called names – deportee, foreign. I’ve been threatened. I often feel frightened.”

another Amelia Gentleman Windrush piece that illustrates Javid lip service hasn't made fuck all difference to the plight of those in the stateless hell the Home Office has dumped them into.

Harry Cole has spent so long trying to be a dark haired Poundland Boris and his wife was just like “why have the high street knock off when I can get the real thing” tragic https://t.co/719G30b1cM

— Congolesa Rice (@judeinlondon2) September 10, 2018

this has made my day.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DmuMIprWwAA6v2m.jpg

insert your own ironic star wars quote here i'm so fucking tired

https://i.redditmedia.com/-q0FDtkJotzhbeWYt91H1Qd06foQI6bgN8UVhstpRUU.jpg?w=431&s=eecf13941c4a40b623f1f04f0f990543

the force .. is weak as piss in this one.

my favourite part of the original trilogy is when luke agrees to share power with the emperor and then lets the emperor cut a swathe of destruction across the galaxy while luke hops anxiously from foot to foot in the background looking upset

can never decide if stuff like this is because of politicians being idiots or politicians believing the electorate are idiots

I couldn't remember that cosy coalition with vader bit of the plot, so they could exercise a non-existent "moderating influence" on him. "Here's the deal, you obliterate as many planets as you like, as long as we get plastic bag bill through parliament".

this just in: quinoa-eating labour are fucked, electorate says in shock new research

Labour has evolved from being the party of casseroles and bingo to the party of quinoa and student protests, according to research with swing voters in marginal constituencies.

Political analysts from the consultancy firm Britain Thinks carried out a pair of focus groups with swing voters from two marginal constituencies, Crewe and Thurrock and, separately, polled 2,000 people nationwide.

Participants in the focus groups, which in Crewe were 18-44 year olds, and in Thurrock, older voters, repeatedly mentioned the fancy grain quinoa when asked what food best represented the Labour party of 2018.

The Britain Thinks director, Deborah Mattinson, said there had been a consistent message from many of the voters they interviewed.

“It was so striking that what people said to us was: Labour used to be working class, it used to be a pie and a pint – it’s now a protesting student. It used to be someone playing the bingo; now it’s someone going on a demo,” she said.

The much larger-scale polling, carried out last week, underlined those perceptions and sounded a warning that taking a definitive position on Brexit could hurt Labour’s standing.

Voters were asked whether Labour represented a series of different groups well or badly. The net balance said the party did a good job of representing the working class, at 25%, and fell below that for “people who weren’t born in the UK”, at 27%. A balance of just 17% felt the party was good at representing “traditional Labour voters”.

A typical comment from one participant in Crewe was “I think they’re trying to appeal to literally anyone now”.

labour supporters historically v much opposed to protest, of course

turns out that this whole article is tendentious nonsense

(1)One single participant in a "Britain Thinks" focus group in Crewe said Labour had gone from "Pie & a Pint" to "Quinoa" (tbh they sound like a very Waitrose LibDem ) this was transformed by the Guardian into "research with swing voters". pic.twitter.com/EQrPYomh6r

— Solomon Hughes (@SolHughesWriter) September 11, 2018

shocking

they must have some posh foodbanks in Crewe if working class scratters have heard of quinoa, sort it out Tories!

the net balance said the party did a good job of representing the working class, at 25%, and fell below that for “people who weren’t born in the UK”, at 27%

I'm probably misunderstanding what net balance means but how is 27% below 25%?

they must have some posh foodbanks in Crewe if working class scratters have heard of quinoa, sort it out Tories!

Ditto some old biddy in Thurrock.

The stench of bullshit is totally humming off that survey obvs.

A typical comment from one participant in Crewe was “I think they’re trying to appeal to literally anyone now”.

Brilliant.

At the Economists for Free Trade launch where they have supplied this handy guide to dealing with a no-deal Brexit. Glad that’s sorted. pic.twitter.com/hTJPoMy3Bu

— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) September 11, 2018

phew, glad that's sorted

the thread that follows is full of gems

eg

Jacob Rees-Mogg praises the two “towering” figures of Boris Johnson and David Davis for attending the event and then adds “and of course we also have Steve Baker.”

— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) September 11, 2018

Here's the previous draft... pic.twitter.com/rBgtxQ8oIh

— chrispaston (@chrispaston) September 11, 2018

Also just in case you thought that was cherry picking:

https://www.twitter.com/AdamBienkov/status/1039496424206094336

A lot of it appears to be stupid, smug and flaunting a first-class education, IE has JRM written all over it.

It is odd that someone in the survey, who thinks Labour are getting too refined for them, should mention quinoa -- I am a middle-class metropolitan Labour voter and I still don't even know what quinoa is.

it is cutting-edge analysis:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dm1PBV0W4AEPM1Z.jpg

If it’s anything like the standard focus group, some bright spark will have made a list of terms and invited respondents to choose from that list, which will also have glib summaries of what is meant by each item.

thx for that heartening skip down twitter wasteman memory lane mark

gotta catch em all

"I am a middle-class metropolitan Labour voter and I still don't even know what quinoa is."

I'll give you a brief quinoa lesson here, Pinefox. It's basically absolutely minging winter hen feed or something, that even the very posh raw vegetable eating vegetarian Stafford Cripps had never heard of!