Brexit 1.02

[Glamdring]

Wonderful.
https://www.quora.com/q/mlywfqwpbqllsdfa/James-OBriens-Unmissable-Exchange-With-Jacob-Rees-Mogg-Over-Brexit-Vote?ch=10&share=3a8f9731
JRM torn to shreds.

[Wooster]

I'm amazed at the way he can filter out the shit and come back with salient points while checking various comments and feeds on his desktop and phone....that's a rare talent. 

[Glamdring]

Much closer call than I expected. This really is a cluster****.

[Wooster]

It was a lot closer to defeat than I thought as well.


Talking of the way to work this morning about last nights events and hearing a reply that Corbyn seems no better than the Tories (I can't disagree),  I mentioned that I'd read that much of the left wing in Europe are against the EU, and was about to say I didn't know why.
But it immediately occurred to me that the EU has probably delivered better workers rights, pay and working conditions than many of the Trade Union movements have managed in recent decades...and that could be the crux of it.

If the goal of the EU is to make things fairer, then the Trade Unions will find themselves in the same situation as UKIP.....completely irrelevant and, as far as Corbyn et al are concerned, the Labour Party's funding, relevance and influence could dwindle into obscurity.

I'm not saying that the Trade Union movement wasn't on the whole, a force for good, but they could have been looking at a time when many people may have said their goal had been achieved.
(Tbh I'd started thinking that back in the late 80's as a shop steward when I was seeing a lot of 'grievance for grievance sake' disputes that resulted in factory closures and subsequently cancelled my automatic donations (part of Trade Union membership at that time) to the Labour party)

[Glamdring]

Do Eskimos hire out igloos so I can go and live in one until it's all over. I'll just sleep the next ten years away and come back to a country that's broken and bitter and even more violent than it already is.

[Wooster]

Apropos of ma previous post, in regards to the Labour Party and its principles of standing up for the working man.
(but not the working woman, if you read on)

The previously Labour led Glasgow City Council fought for 12 years to stymie women having equal pay rates through the courts, but there was never any strikes, but almost as soon as the SNP took control of the council the strikes began and Labour began blaming the SNP for the £500million cost to settle the dispute they had created..

It's sorted now...GCC will mortgage public properties to fund the settlement, but if Labour had agreed that men and women in similar roles deserved equal pay 12 years ago, the bill would have been far less.

Thing is:
Labour and the Unions will try to claim this is a success for them, when they actively fought against it for over a decade, but the mainstream UK press will go along with this myth rather than acknowledge the SNP's role in the settlement.

If you look at any offerings from the usual channels....you'll see strike actions that had no presence until the SNP became involved, and had no bearing on the settlement they'd already promised.
https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/3761012/glasgow-council-women-equal-pay-agreement/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-46904784
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/women-equal-pay-glasgow-city-council-strike-gender-sexism-feminism-scotland-a8734246.html

In a nutshell:
It was a problem created by the Labour led Council and the strikes had no relevance beyond a bit of publicity spin for the very people who created it.
(But they can't miss an opportunity to cast the SNP in a bad light...can they?)

p.s. the Labour run council also shirked on their responsibilities to maintain some public buildings over the years....they're blaming the SNP for that now as well. 

[richietog]

 

[Wooster]

 

With Dyson fucking off, Singapore has now come into the spotlight as a possible post (hard)Brexit Nirvana that we Britons should aspire to. (to the strains of that tune they play at the proms)

As usual though, these reports fail to mention that you need to be very well off if you hope to stand the smallest chance of making any real material gains, or even living well, in a City State such as Singapore, which has it's own poverty problems.

It's like saying everyone in Britain could live in Canary Wharf.    (-edit- a personal nightmare that would be for me)
(Singapore is a city that probably has very little use for manual workers, unless shipped in from miles away in the early hours of the morning, then right back out again before 9am)


If only we belonged to some kind of collaborative entity that didn't recognise class, protected workers and human rights, ensured that the cost of food was kept as low as  possible and had a long term goal of eradicating poverty (regardless of where you choose to live) if we put in a bit of thought when it came to electing those who represent us.

[richietog]

That's the only the problem. These companies going abroad because of Brexit

They should stay, but it will cost them money, possible jobs because they can't sell abroad if they stayed in the UK

[Wooster]

Are you a member of the European Research Group?

By Law, you have to tell us if you are.

[Glamdring]

I have little time for Dyson, but being honest, he's paying his taxes to the full, as far as we know. Millions.

[richietog]

Are you a member of the European Research Group?

By Law, you have to tell us if you are.

Where did you get that strange idea?

[Wooster]

 

[Glamdring]

I thoroughly approved of Tusk's remarks today. He said that we have a bunch of numpty politicians in Westminster and he's perfectly correct.

[Glamdring]

With Honda now closing, that leaves only Vauxhall as a major car maker in the UK. I wonder how many of their workers voted Leave.   

[Wooster]

Nissan is still there, but for how long.
Vauxhall is part of GM as well, with all their cars in the EU branded as Opel....so that could be a shaky peg as well.

I did say Brexit would fuck us right back to the 70's.

[Glamdring]

Last year Opel said they were still investing here, but we'll see. Time the brought back the Manta. Great looking car.

[Wooster]

Guy at the bottom of my street has one rotting in his garden.
It's one of those baby poo brown ones with the vinyl roof.