Doctor Blind
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Posts posted by Doctor Blind
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The simplest question ever. Revoke Article 50.
I completely disagree with this - if you want to erode or even destroy trust and faith in democracy further by all means, but otherwise we need to make the case for remain and reform and WIN the debate. That involves looking at the underlying reasons for the vote in the first place*, and acting to address these issues.
* I don't mean banning/burning the Daily Mail and the Sun (though that would help).
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Okay if you were PM now what would you think was the answer. There seems to me no way around the Ireland issue to please everyone. I can't see one.
Oh come on Chris, there are very clear ways to solve the Ireland issue - many of which were possible through the WA (thrice voted down by the Brextreemists on the Conservative benches), but they require compromises which some were prepared to countenance before the referendum but seemingly nothing will placate them now.. you can't have frictionless trade without accepting some form of Customs Union, that's a fact. I voted remain but was quite prepared to accept, given the result, leaving the EU but retaining a close relationship say through membership of EFTA and the EEA. Like you and many others I am completely sick of Brexit now, however exiting on to WTO rules would be extremely damaging and disproportionately affect the most vulnerable and poorest in society; I (and I'm sure you too deep down) am therefore completely against such an outcome simply to 'get it done' in a completely half-arsed manner, because it won't be the end - there will be 10 or more years of negotiations from a much weaker position with consequences that may continue for many, many decades. I wasn't a fan of having a second referendum, but I have slowly come round to it as the ONLY way of solving the deadlock.
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It's not propaganda. It's the stark staring truth. Extending will achieve nothing as Boris will win an overall majority with MP's ready to vote for no deal. As the EU, Ireland, Parliament and the Courts are trying to keep us in against the will of the UK electorate then they should realise that delay will achieve nothing. I just wish one EU country's leader had the balls to veto the extension. 100+ seat majority for Boris if they campaign on a Brexit platform and str4ss they've been frustrated at every turn.
No EU state is going to block a delay. You may be right Chris but IMO whilst the strategy from number 10 is pretty transparent (take an impossible position to force no deal and then put the blame on both the EU and Parliament) - it has been tried already and I think it will ultimately fail. Don't forget that Theresa May started her 2017 General Election with a similar strategy, with a plea to the public to strengthen her hand in the EU negotiations, frustrated that Parliament was deliberately working against her and undermining the Brexit process - the verdict from the public: Tough.
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Tonights Propaganda from Cummings and Co. :
‘The negotiations will probably end this week. Varadkar doesn’t want to negotiate. Varadkar was keen on talking before the Benn Act when he thought that the choice would be ‘new deal or no deal’. Since the Benn Act passed he has gone very cold and in the last week the official channels and the backchannels have also gone cold. Varadkar has also gone back on his commitments — he said if we moved on manufactured goods then he would also move but instead he just attacked us publicly. It’s clear he wants to gamble on a second referendum and that he’s encouraging Barnier to stick to the line that the UK cannot leave the EU without leaving Northern Ireland behind.
There are quite a few people in Paris and Berlin who would like to discuss our offer but Merkel and Macron won’t push Barnier unless Ireland says it wants to negotiate. Those who think Merkel will help us are deluded. As things stand, Dublin will do nothing, hoping we offer more, then at the end of this week they may say ‘OK, let’s do a Northern Ireland only backstop with a time limit’, which is what various players have been hinting at, then we’ll say No, and that will probably be the end.
Varadkar thinks that either there will be a referendum or we win a majority but we will just put this offer back on the table so he thinks he can’t lose by refusing to compromise now. Given his assumptions, Varadkar’s behaviour is arguably rational but his assumptions are, I think, false. Ireland and Brussels listen to all the people who lost the referendum, they don’t listen to those who won the referendum and they don’t understand the electoral dynamics here.
If this deal dies in the next few days, then it won’t be revived. To marginalise the Brexit Party, we will have to fight the election on the basis of ‘no more delays, get Brexit done immediately’. They thought that if May went then Brexit would get softer. It seems few have learned from this mistake. They think we’re bluffing and there’s nothing we can do about that, not least given the way May and Hammond constantly talked tough then folded.
So, if talks go nowhere this week, the next phase will require us to set out our view on the Surrender Act. The Act imposes narrow duties. Our legal advice is clear that we can do all sorts of things to scupper delay which for obvious reasons we aren’t going into details about. Different lawyers see the “frustration principle” very differently especially on a case like this where there is no precedent for primary legislation directing how the PM conducts international discussions.
We will make clear privately and publicly that countries which oppose delay will go the front of the queue for future cooperation — cooperation on things both within and outside EU competences. Those who support delay will go to the bottom of the queue. [This source also made clear that defence and security cooperation will inevitably be affected if the EU tries to keep Britain in against the will of its government]Supporting delay will be seen by this government as hostile interference in domestic politics, and over half of the public will agree with us.
We will also make clear that this government will not negotiate further so any delay would be totally pointless. They think now that if there is another delay we will keep coming back with new proposals. This won’t happen. We’ll either leave with no deal on 31 October or there will be an election and then we will leave with no deal.
‘When they say ‘so what is the point of delay?’, we will say “This is not our delay, the government is not asking for a delay — Parliament is sending you a letter and Parliament is asking for a delay but official government policy remains that delay is an atrocious idea that everyone should dismiss. Any delay will in effect be negotiated between you, Parliament, and the courts — we will wash our hands of it, we won’t engage in further talks, we obviously won’t given any undertakings about cooperative behaviour, everything to do with ‘duty of sincere cooperation’ will be in the toilet, we will focus on winning the election on a manifesto of immediately revoking the entire EU legal order without further talks, and then we will leave. Those who supported delay will face the inevitable consequences of being seen to interfere in domestic politics in a deeply unpopular way by colluding with a Parliament that is as popular as the clap.
Those who pushed the Benn Act intended to sabotage a deal and they’ve probably succeeded. So the main effect of it will probably be to help us win an election by uniting the leave vote and then a no deal Brexit. History is full of such ironies and tragedies.’
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Doctor Blind Chart - 29th September 2019
TW - LW / Artist / “Song” / (Peak- if not current)
01 - 04 Black Country, New Road “Sunglasses” *New #1*
02 - 01 Anna Meredith “Paramour” (01)
03 - 03 Squid “The Cleaner”
04 - 02 Foals “Black Bull” (02)
05 - 08 Bombay Bicycle Club “Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing But You)”
06 - 12 Grimes & i_o “Violence”
07 - 07 Big Thief “Not”
08 - 05 Charli XCX & Christine and the Queens “Gone” (01)
09 - 15 Brittany Howard “Stay High”
10 - 06 Pongo “Tambulaya” (05)
11 - 19 Bat For Lashes “The Hunger”
12 - 11 black midi “Ducter” (11)
13 - 10 Sampa The Great “Final Form” (01)
14 - 20 Francis and the Lights ft. Bon Iver and Kanye West “Take Me To The Light”
15 - 09 TR/ST “Iris” (03)
16 - 22 Lana Del Rey “The Greatest”
17 - 27 IDLES “Never Fight A Man With A Perm”
18 - 26 Michael Kiwanuka “You Ain’t The Problem”
19 - 13 Brockhampton “No Halo” (13)
20 - 25 Normani “Motivation”
21 - 14 Caroline Polachek “Door” (03)
22 - 28 Danny Brown “Dirty Laundry”
23 - 34 Girl Band “Going Norway”
24 - 31 Bodega “Shiny New Model”
25 - 17 Mura Masa & Clairo “I Don’t Think I Can Do This Again” (17)
26 - 16 Jenny Hval “Ashes to Ashes” (02)
27 - 36 Perfume Genius “Eye In The Wall”
28 - 35 JPEGMAFIA "Jesus Forgive Me, I Am a Thot”
29 - 18 DJ Shadow ft. De La Soul “Rocket Fuel” (12)
30 - 37 M83 “Temple of Sorrow”
31 - 24 GHUM “Saturn” (09)
32 - 21 Angel Olsen “All Mirrors” (16)
33 - 45 Sampa The Great “Freedom”
34 - 39 Battles ft. Sal Principato “Titanium 2 Step”
35 - 23 Oscar Jerome “Gravitate” (20)
36 - 49 (Sandy) Alex G “Hope” *Biggest Climber*
37 - NE The Comet Is Coming “Lifeforce Part II” *Highest New Entry*
38 - 29 Thom Yorke “Not The News” (04)
39 - 47 Pixx “Peanuts Grow Underground”
40 - NE slowthai x Denzel Curry “Psycho” *New Entry*
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Unless there is an election called pretty shortly I can't see their being one until 2020. It's what - 6 weeks of planning and we're coming up to winter. Have we ever had a winter election? We'd probably see the lowest voting turnout ever.
Yes, there was a December GE in 1923! It was the first ever Labour government (propped up by the Liberals). :D
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Brexit may poll well but get no seats. Can't see them getting a single seat myself.
The Brexit Party came within 683 votes of taking Peterborough in June, they could very easily pick up a few seats if their support holds through a GE.
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Why is the Government spending millions on TV ads to "prepare for Brexit on 31st October" if there's a good chance we won't leave then? Sheer waste of money.
There it is - a complete waste of money. There is close to zero chance of us leaving on 31st October. A deal (an incredibly slim chance at this point) being ratified will require a large amount of legislation and a technical extension, likely into 2020 anyway.
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Doctor Blind Chart - 22nd September 2019
TW - LW / Artist / “Song” / (Peak- if not current)
01 - 01 Anna Meredith “Paramour” *2 weeks at #1*
02 - 02 Foals “Black Bull”
03 - 06 Squid “The Cleaner”
04 - 08 Black Country, New Road “Sunglasses”
05 - 03 Charli XCX & Christine and the Queens “Gone” (01)
06 - 05 Pongo “Tambulaya” (05)
07 - 11 Big Thief “Not”
08 - 14 Bombay Bicycle Club “Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing But You)”
09 - 04 TR/ST “Iris” (03)
10 - 07 Sampa The Great “Final Form” (01)
11 - 13 black midi “Ducter”
12 - 19 Grimes & i_o “Violence”
13 - 18 Brockhampton “No Halo”
14 - 09 Caroline Polachek “Door” (03)
15 - 23 Brittany Howard “Stay High”
16 - 10 Jenny Hval “Ashes to Ashes” (02)
17 - 22 Mura Masa & Clairo “I Don’t Think I Can Do This Again”
18 - 12 DJ Shadow ft. De La Soul “Rocket Fuel” (12)
19 - 26 Bat For Lashes “The Hunger”
20 - 29 Francis and the Lights ft. Bon Iver and Kanye West “Take Me To The Light”
21 - 16 Angel Olsen “All Mirrors” (16)
22 - 31 Lana Del Rey “The Greatest”
23 - 20 Oscar Jerome “Gravitate” (20)
24 - 17 GHUM “Saturn” (09)
25 - 34 Normani “Motivation”
26 - 38 Michael Kiwanuka “You Ain’t The Problem”
27 - 40 IDLES “Never Fight A Man With A Perm” *Joint Biggest Climber*
28 - 36 Danny Brown “Dirty Laundry”
29 - 21 Thom Yorke “Not The News” (04)
30 - 15 The Comet Is Coming “Super Zodiac” (06)
31 - 37 Bodega “Shiny New Model”
32 - 24 Blanck Mass “Love Is A Parasite” (14)
33 - 27 Biig Piig “Sunny” (27)
34 - 47 Girl Band “Going Norway” *Joint Biggest Climber*
35 - 44 JPEGMAFIA "Jesus Forgive Me, I Am a Thot”
36 - NE Perfume Genius “Eye In The Wall” *Highest New Entry*
37 - 42 M83 “Temple of Sorrow”
38 - 41 Groove Armada “I’ll Be Searching (For You)”
39 - 50 Battles ft. Sal Principato “Titanium 2 Step”
40 - 28 Jai Paul “Do You Love Her Now” (02)
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Although this is still very much fan-fiction territory (terrible fan-fiction, but fiction nonetheless), I would be interested to know what constituency that the Brexit Party would win in that scenario. Clacton or South Thanet probably.
Thurrock apparently, where UKIP were <1000 away from taking in 2015.
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Let me be completely clear, I do not in any way find the language used by the PM acceptable - nor justify its use because of equally abusive behaviour intended to incite violence from the other side (e.g. Slowthai holding up a severed head of Boris Johnson at the Mercury Music Award Ceremony). Merely that we must accept that this is coming from both sides and we need to resolve and heal these divisions.
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Boris was unanimously found to have acted unlawfully by the highest court in the country just two days ago. So, other than not understanding constitutional law, no.
One side inciting hatred in MPs and encouraging violence — whether they mean to or not — is just not comparable
Acted unlawfully and breaking the law are different. Trump incites chants of 'LOCK HER UP' and that is not ok, but as long as it is directed against someone that you fundamentally disagree with that's fine then is it?
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The comments and attitude from the PM in the HoC yesterday was, quite frankly, disgusting. I do think though that both sides are as bad as each other, and that the spirit of compromise should have been sought a long time ago to bring the country back together - sadly we are too far past this point now and those on both sides are just becoming more entrenched in their views.
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No. At least 80% of the focus will be on one issue and for a general election that absolutely shouldn't be the case. If there's a vote it should be on that one issue.
Agreed - it is possible that it won't break the deadlock in Parliament anyway (see the Opinion Poll thread), however worth noting that the 2017 GE was predicted to be a Brexit dominated one and it was anything but in the end..
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Latest Survation:
CON: 27% (-2)
LAB: 24% (-)
LDEM: 22% (+4)
BREX: 16% (-1)
SNP 4%
Grn 3%
Highest Lib Dem poll for a decade.
Would put the Conservatives on around 280-290 seats, so about where there are now and well short of a majority, Lib Dems up to 45 and Labour down to 240-ish. Just 1 seat for the Brexit Party.
At the moment a GE would change little in the HoC (Con gains quite limited but massive losses in Scotland to SNP and S England to the Lib Dems) except perhaps a Lab/Lib/SNP coalition which would likely have a mandate to govern for a short period..
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I do find 6 Music give too many free passes to indie veterans phoning it in. If it shared more indie/alternative music with R1, I'd be far more interested. It used to! Iggy Pop and Johnny Marr are prime examples of people trading on former glories and getting away with it, excuse the pun.
Yes, the Iggy Pop track - “James Bond” - is literally unlistenable and just gets a free pass because of his association with the station. See: Guy Garvey's solo stuff.
Infuriating but worth sticking with because of the great tracks that do get played.
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Brexit-y Things
in News and Politics
Ah, that's alright then. The man who brought Dominic Cummings into the Government as a special adviser in the early 2010s says all of the extensive research, evidence and published reports that his own department has produced can just be ignored on his word. Why you are taken in by this total bullshit (save for trolling because of boredom) I do not know.