Uncategorized

BREXIT UPDATE 31: The Maybot’s Fate is Sealed

BREXIT UPDATE 30: THE MAYBOT AND THE MEN IN GREY SUITS There have been dramatic developments since I posted Brexit Update 29 last Friday.  It is best to divide them into four main overlapping areas: 1) The Withdrawal Agreement Bill  (WAB) and the Maybot’s future; 2) The Labour/Conservative talks; 3) The latest polls for the European Parliament elections on May 23, together with hypothetical polls for a General Election, if it were to be held tomorrow;  4) Divisions within Labour over a second referendum. 1) The Withdrawal Agreement Bill and the Maybot’s Future

BREXIT UPDATE 29: A DISINTEGRATING GOVERNMENT The main developments since last Friday fall into three overlapping areas:  1) the Labour/Conservative talks; 2 ) pressure on the Maybot to resign;  her future and that of her deal; 3) the forthcoming EU elections (with debate on the meaning of the results of the local elections). 1)  The Labour/Conservative talks

By Nico Arcilla and Maren Hackmann-Mahajan   For our inaugural post, please visit: http://normanfinkelstein.com/2019/03/13/birdwatchers-corner/ 1 – Platte River, Great Plains: Red-winged Blackbirds and Sandhill Cranes (by Nico)

BREXIT UPDATE 28 What has happened in the week since Brexit Update 27, posted last Friday? Three key developments: 1) a meeting by Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to decide on Labour’s manifesto for the European elections, in particular the policy on a second referendum; 2) the local elections held yesterday (Thursday May 2); 3) reported progress on the Labour Conservative talks. 1) The NEC decision on a second referendum

A BREXIT SONG FOR PASSOVER

BREXIT UPDATE 26:  Brussels, Brexit and the Black Hole

BREXIT UPDATE 25: On the Eve of the European Council’s Emergency Summit At the end of Brexit Update 24 on Sunday, I wrote that this week looked set to be crunch week.   So what has happened so far?  These are the main developments: 1) The Cooper/Letwin Bill

BREXIT UPDATE 24: THE MAYBOT’S NEW STATEMENT Last night (Saturday April 6), the Maybot issued a new statement, justifying her decision to talk to Corbyn about the way forward.  The statement is reproduced below.  The major changes in her attitude are: 1) She finally admits that her deal “was rejected three times by Parliament and there is no sign it can be passed in the near future”.  However, the last words suggest that she is still determined it will be passed in the end, however long it takes.

BREXIT UPDATE 23 There have been so many complicated developments since Brexit Update 22 (posted on Tuesday night) that it is best to divide them into five areas: 1) The Cooper/Letwin bill debate on Wednesday (April 3). 2) An amendment calling for a further “indicative votes” session on Monday (April 8) in order to continue the search for a consensus on the way forward. 3) The ongoing talks between Labour and Conservative leaders. 4)  Internal divisions among both Labour and Conservative MPs. 5) New proposals from the Maybot and the EU. 1) THE COOPER/LETWIN BILL

BREXIT UPDATE 22:  THE MAYBOT’S STATEMENT After a seven hour “crisis meeting” of the Cabinet, today, the Maybot has issued a statement that is set out in full below (it is fairly brief).  The main points to be noted  are: 1) She has often said in speeches “I have always been clear that we could make a success of No Deal in the long-term” and she repeats this here.  This is why many MPs have been concerned that she is capable of leading the UK into a No Deal Brexit.

BREXIT UPDATE 21: THE APRIL FOOL’S DAY DEBATE Yesterday (Monday April 1) was a dramatic day – including a climate change protest in the House of Commons public gallery during the debate that made an April Fool out of Brexit, pointing out that, in the scale of things, it comes very low compared with the danger of the extinction of the planet.  At the end of the debate, a Conservative MP publicly resigned from his party and crossed the floor.  Just before the debate started, another Conservative MP publicly apologised for having voted for the Maybot’s deal.

BREXIT UPDATE 20: THE MARCH 29 DEBATE Friday, March 29, two days ago, was meant to be the momentous day on which the UK left the European Union.  Instead, the Maybot presented her deal to Parliament for a third time, albeit in the form of only half of it, in order to fulfil the Speaker’s requirement of “substantial change”: only the Withdrawal Deal, not the Political Declaration on the Future Relationship.

BREXIT UPDATE 19: THE RIDDLE OF THE SPHINX

BREXIT UPDATE 18: THE LETWIN AMENDMENT The debate yesterday (Monday March 25) centred round the crucial amendment – referred to in Brexit Update 17 – that had been tabled, with strong cross-party support, by the Conservative MP and former Cabinet Minister Sir Oliver Letwin.  This amendment called for this Wednesday (March 27) to be a day in which Parliament would set the agenda, debating and voting on options decided by the House of Commons, not the government, in order to find a consensus on the way forward, by means of “indicative votes”.

BREXIT UPDATE 17: A Look at the Coming Week

BREXIT UPDATE 16:  THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL’S COMPLEX DECISION At the end of Brexit Update 15, I imagined a possible scenario in which Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council of Ministers, saved the UK, literally “at the eleventh hour”, from the catastrophe of exiting the EU without a deal, by summoning, on the night of March 28, an emergency meeting of the Council that would decide on a long extension of the leaving date.

BREXIT UPDATE 15: THE ELEVENTH HOUR Brexit Update 14, posted on Wednesday afternoon (March 20) reported news of the letter sent on that day by the Maybot to Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, asking for a three-month extension to Article 50.  Since then, there have been three main developments.

BREXIT UPDATE 14: CHAOS AND UNCERTAINTY

BREXIT UPDATE 13: THE MARCH 14 DEBATE:  THE MAYBOT’S GAMBLE At the end of Brexit Update 12, I wrote that on March 13 the Maybot — in her brief, extremely hoarse comments after the government’s motion on No Deal had nominally won but had in fact lost because she had ordered the entire Conservative Party to vote against it –

BREXIT UPDATE 12:  A Day of Mayhem Today (March 13) was a day of high drama, farce and utter confusion, combining in extreme form all the typical aspects of Brexit.

BREXIT UPDATE 11: SMOKE AND MIRRORS

Brexit Update 10:  On the Eve: The Invisible Contents of Cox’s Codpiece

BREXIT UPDATE 9:  The February 27 Debate:  Countdown to March 29 To begin with a brief recapitulation of Brexit Update 8: in her statement on Tuesday, February 26, the Maybot, faced with the prospect of Cabinet resignations in order to vote for the threatened Cooper-Letwin Amendment, presented a timetable according to which: 1) On March 12 she will present a revised version of her deal to Parliament 2) If her deal is voted down, MPs will vote on March 13 on whether or not to accept No Deal

BREXIT UPDATE 8: SWIMMING ROUND IN CIRCLES Today, in yet another “Groundhog Day” statement to the House of Commons, the Maybot, making use of the Alice-in-Wonderland logic that we have come to expect from her, set out her March Hare timetable: 1) On March 12, she will present a revised version of her deal to Parliament for debate and vote. 2)  If the deal is again voted down, Parliament will vote on March 13 on the question of whether or not it wants to leave the EU on March 29 with No Deal.

BREXIT UPDATE 7: REMAINERS BECOME QUITTERS

BREXIT UPDATE 6:  The VALENTINE’S DAY DEBATE: NOT A MASSACRE BUT NOT A LOVE-IN EITHER FOR THERESA MAY The government motion put forward on Valentine’s Day for debate and vote was: “This House welcomes the Prime Minister’s statement of 12th February, 2019; reiterates its support for the approach to leaving the EU expressed by this House on 29th January 2019; and notes that  discussions between the United Kingdom and the European Union on the Northern Ireland backstop are ongoing.”

Brexit Update 5:  The Maybot Speaks

Dear Dr Finkelstein,