Dark Alex's Really Long Post Thread.

[Alex]

Dug old my old gig going jacket. It sort of still fits 32 years later....

[ER]

We in our ignorance owe more to our protectors in uniform than we will ever know. I don't care if it is a cliche, thanks for your service.

That goes to military, police, firefighters, those in intelligence services and all others who put their lives on the line.

I can shave your head for you if that would help?

Hmm, dare I go retro and rediscover the statement of crazed liberation that was the Britney'07 look?

[Alex]

Oops, I appear to have quoted the wrong post.

[ER]

Dug old my old gig going jacket. It sort of still fits 32 years later....

Nice to see you keep Scotland above your heart.

[Alex]

So the UK government has just been handed a huge defeat on Brexit. They were defeated by 230 votes, which you'd have to go back almost 100 years I believe to find a sitting government being defeated by that amount. We are supposed to be leaving the EU in March and even if the EU were willing to renegotiate (which they have stated they are not), there simply isn't the time to come up with a new deal.

Puts us in the position where either we leave with no deal, or we cancel Brexit.

I don't believe it is possible for any politician to come up with a deal that the EU would be willing to accept and that the MP's in the UK would be willing to support. The leader of the opposition has reportedly called for a vote of no confidence, which if it passes means we'll be facing a general election (UK elections do not run on as long as US ones. I think the quickest I've seen is 6 weeks from the announcement to the vote and people still complained that was too long to have to listen to politicians).

The Tories might not be entirely happy with their leader, but they are terrified of a Jeremy Corbyn government. My guess is they and the Northern Irish party that supports them will rally around the stricken Mrs May and give her enough support for her to remain in power. She will stagger on just as ineffectually as she has for the past couple of years and nothing will get sorted. No one will be happy, but no one else has a better plan that would actually work (unless either Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg has some sort of magic wand they can wave to deliver on their promises).

[Alex]

Oh I should also mention that because of (another) government defeat in Parliament the government isn't allowed to leave the EU without a deal and with (yet another) defeat they have 3 days to return to the house with a new plan.

[Alex]

Hmm, the people who want to leave the EU are cheering about the defeat last night. This confuses me slightly.

This is the only deal on the table. Europe has said it will not negotiate a new one.

Parliament has voted that the government is not allowed to leave the EU without a deal.

Unless some body (and I mean a political body here rather than any particular person) changes their stance, I believe this now means we are stuck in the EU. Not that I am complaining, but it seems odd to me that the Brexiteers would be happy about this outcome.

[Svengoolie 3]

So a majority of  british people vote to leave the EU,  and the government just decides not to and that's that?

Basically the peolle clearly express tneir will and the government just ignores it and goes on as usual?


No wonder the British government confiscated guns from the public...

[ER]

So a majority of  british people vote to leave the EU,  and the government just decides not to and that's that?

Basically the peolle clearly express tneir will and the government just ignores it and goes on as usual?


No wonder the British government confiscated guns from the public...

Holy cow.........I....I agree with Sven? I think I need to go for a walk.

[Alex]

Arranged a games night with some friends as a birthday thing for Kristi on Saturday. She has arranged one for Friday and of course, we have D&D on Sunday so I guess we'll be gaming this weekend.

Maybe I'll even get to move some off the shelf of shame and get them played. I'll have to have a look and see what is playable. Garry and Karen (Saturday), are also bringing their grandkids while Ross (Friday, plays Nigel in D&D) is a germaphobe of some kind and can only touch his own dice and snacks. Plus he lives even more in the middle of nowhere than we do, so getting here and back is tough for him.

Guess we are having a gaming weekend then. If Garry and Karen can't make it the back up plan is to go see 'Ralph Breaks The Internet' in the new camp cinema. Asked Kristi for a list of games she wants to play. 'Revolution', 'Brigands & Browncoats' and 'Mansions of Madness' are all contenders. Also means I have to find the time to actually go through the rules and prep the games. I am finding my hours increasingly in demand these days.

[Alex]

So a majority of  british people vote to leave the EU,  and the government just decides not to and that's that?

Basically the peolle clearly express tneir will and the government just ignores it and goes on as usual?


No wonder the British government confiscated guns from the public...

A bit more complicated than that. There is just a whole morass of things to wade through.

Interesting aside though, the government hasn't confiscated guns from the public in the UK. Indeed the part of the country I live in has the highest percentage-wise ownership of long barreled weapons in the UK. You do require to be vetted to own such a weapon however to show that you are not a criminal or mentally unstable and have a reason to own such a weapon, which generally works in preventing idiots getting guns and going on shooting sprees. Been a long time since we've had one of those.

[Alex]

I'll try and explain the whole thing a bit more later, just about to head off for my night shift just now.

[Alex]

Ok, so as far as Brexit goes there are three main camps.

The Remainers, the Brexiteers who want to have a deal with the EU when we leave and the Brexiteers who want no deal at all (ok, in reality, there are camps within camps, but that would take way too long to explain every separate faction). Each of these groups is fighting their own ground).

So each faction is totally against what the other factions want and isn't willing to compromise (at least not publically).

All sides have been insisting on various safeguards being put in place to make sure Parliment has primacy when it comes to the exit rather than the government (much of the drive towards Brexit from the political side comes down to MP's wanting to have ultimate power over the law rather than Europe, although mostly they used immigration as their big headline). The combination of all these competing groups has left us in a situation where it would now be difficult for us to leave the EU without a deal in place (and it is surprising which factions have led to this situation).

The vote itself was a 51/49% split, so there isn't exactly a big mandate for a no deal Brexit and current opinion polls (not always the most accurate things in the world it has to be noted), currently suggest people have changed their minds and the majority would now vote against leaving if another referendum were to be held. Not to mention given how long this whole thing has been running people are completely fed up of hearing about the whole damn thing.

So we have assorted factions, none of which can muster a majority all pulling in different directions. The Brexiteers have put a block into Brexit. It would be like trump stopping his wall being built.

Anyway, this is still an over simplification of everything going on and how overly complicated everything has gotten.

[Svengoolie 3]

Well,  the brexit move still won the people's vote even if it was by 51%.  In america the ochre tumor lost the popular vote.

[Alex]

And as I said, the people who want it seem to be doing all they can to stop it actually happening. All sides of the debate were cheering the defeat of the bill to leave. Some people are predicting riots, but somehow I doubt it, any more than I think you'll see mass demonstrations of people in the states demanding that the government sorts out the shutdown and gets everything back to work.