BREXIT -- Are you ready?

May we assume Ena Sharples is the UK equivalent of Vivian Vance?

No, I think that would be Yootha Joyce.

It will probably cause a recession.

I expect it will infect the world economy. Especially if Trump is still fighting with China. I don’t know the details of what Trump’s people are doing, but Trump is irrational, ignorant, and petulant. So, I don’t trust him, even if he’s got a good point, in any way, he’ll fuck it up. So, I’ve sold off most of my investments and am holding cash. I just have to hope he doesn’t ruin the value of the dollar.

"A recent poll shows, 4 out of 10 Brits are stockpiling items including food medicine and other supplies as a preparation for the growing prospect of the UK’s no-deal Brexit later this year."

It's a great time to visit England as the pound is diving.

I love how they show a photo of people "stockpiling" produce that will be dust in two months.

Buy turnips people! Turnips!

In case anyone is interested in the prospects for Brexit under Boris Johnson, here is an unusually lucid analysis of the EU's standpoint on the issue.

"Britain will be hit by fuel, food and medicine shortages"

R8

The author, perhaps unintentionally, points out why a “No Deal” would be the best option for the UK.

This is starting to be like Streisand's Gypsy. We keep hearing about it but it never happens.

Regrettably I say, as a remainer, that if we have to leave we have to leave with no deal because the backstop is not acceptable as it would mean the breakup of the UK. We can't have another referendum either as that would also mean the breakup of the UK: the Scots govt would demand a new referendum until they got the result they wanted. This is all the fault of the Conservative Party.

Has London changed a lot in recent years? I was there last month and it felt much more dangerous than it did when I was there 15 years ago as an exchange student. (or was I just paranoid from the bad press?)

London is now the knife and acid-attack center of the universe. Not so much gun crime as guns are rather difficult to source. The supermarkets don't stock thin bleach anymore cos the schoolkids were throwing it in each other's faces during breaks.

[quote]Has London changed a lot in recent years?

Yes, the local government has changed.

At least we will still have the consolation of faggots.

79 yo QC to become PM.

Not cottaging in post-Brexit Britain, boys.

A unified Ireland and an independent Scotland will be the best things to come from this exercise in stupidity.

Then we can concentrate on returning Gibraltar to Spain and the Malvinas to Argentina.

The Falklands don’t want to be given to Argentina.

And Gibraltar will never be given to anyone as long as the British Isles stay afloat. It’s not like Malta, another strategically important area, with a large indigenous population yearning for independence. Gibraltar is small and happy staying British. What’s so awful about being British? Being born British is to win first prize in the lottery of life.

The Malvinas belong to Argentina. Gibraltar belongs to Spain.

I was a Remainer, and then cautiously optimistic about the deal that was negotiated (which really isn't that bad, and better than every other deal that the EU has with its trading partners). Now I am despairing. I have begun to stockpile in a sensible sort of way - buying extras of staples and long-lasting foodstuffs that I normally eat anyway. I really don't know what is going to happen. I am hoping for an outbreak of sanity, but I am fearing the worst.

I have dual nationality (UK and Ireland) so I do have an escape route. But I've lived in the UK all my life (I'm nearly 50). My family, friends, roots... all here. As is my job. My retirement plans are UK-based too, although fortunately my investment portfolio is globally-balanced.

I don't want to be forced to spend my retirement working as a go-go dancer in a seedy Latvian strip-club. But I fear I may have to.

The people of the Falklands don’t want to be given to Argentina. Do you not believe in self determination? And the British claim seems as valid to me, or more so, than the Argentinian, based on Wikipedia.

On what basis would Gibraltar belong to Spain? It’s been British for hundreds of years.

Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain in perpetuity, in 1713.

Gibraltarians rejected proposals for Spanish sovereignty in a 1967 referendum and, in a 2002 referendum, the idea of shared sovereignty was also rejected.

Why on earth would Britain cede part of its territory to Spain when the populous is against it, and it is of such strategic importance to Britain?

Huh, Gibraltar has actually been under British rule for longer than it was ever under Spanish rule, by over 60 years.

Not to worry, R22. If you have to become a senior stripper, I'll come stuff dollar bills in your g-string.

Do you become a senior stripper after an apprenticeship?

[quote]Now I am despairing. I have begun to stockpile in a sensible sort of way - buying extras of staples and long-lasting foodstuffs that I normally eat anyway. I really don't know what is going to happen. I am hoping for an outbreak of sanity, but I am fearing the worst.

After Brexit, you will able to commiserate with those who stockpiled for Y2K and together talk wistfully about what might have been. So just keep stockpiling and think about those new connections you’ll have.

R28, buy T paper.

I buy in bulk under normal circumstances. I’ve lived in my place for 20 years so, if I buy too much soap or tissue paper by mistake, it doesn’t matter, I’ll use it. Especially over the last 15 years when interest rates were low, it didn’t cost anything to have a little inventory at home.

So go ahead and stock up, especially on dry goods. Maybe you make large purchases early, like a washing machine or car or whatever, if you planned on buying anyway.

How long can you store potatoes?

Will the £ collapse? Is this a good time to import something expensive from Jolly Old Disaster?

Buy a hand bidet hose instead of an excess of T paper.

If necessary, I am ready, willing and able to foster Tom Hardy, James Norton, Shaun Evans and Idris Elba (singularly or in any combination thereof) until the Brexit situation is safely resolved.

Messrs. Jeremy Northam and Mark Strong comprise the top of the waiting list should a vacancy occur.

R32, keep your fucking hands off Jeremy Northam. He's mine.

R29, that's basically my approach. If Brexit turns out to be a non-event, or is all done-and-dusted in a couple of months, then the only effect of my stockpiling will be that I don't need to do much shopping for a few months. The kitchen cupboards are filling up nicely, but there's not a thing in there that I wouldn't normally eat.

My friends and I are fully prepared, and have made detailed post-Brexit plans!

Baked beans, spaghetti rings, sardines on toast.

You think it's just consumer goods that will be affected? Clean water, sewage, any municipality delivered service will be in financial disarray as they decide who, what and how anything gets funded. Yay, racists, you are gonna show them!

Will this affect the British film industry. Too many of those horse faced actors have been coming over and stealing our Oscars.

Give us back the Elgin Marbles before you go!

I don't think this is going to be apocalyptic. I think it's going to be a rather severe depression. High unemployment, travel to other countries will be curtailed because the pound will have lost so much of its value, shortages of some goods and foods that are not grown in Britain (oranges, bananas, pineapples, olives, etc). Items made in other countries will be much more expensive....computers, cars, and the like. When it shakes down, which might take 4-5 years, Britain will rank much lower in the world's economies - perhaps 12th or 13th. Something like Italy or Spain. But its advantages - good ports, decent land for agriculture, temperate climate, decent infrastructure, infrequent natural disasters - are not going to go away, so it will probably weather all of this, and, on the other end, brag about its stiff upper lip and all of that.

The £ in freefall, reaches under US$1 and under €1. Johnson institutes emergency powers. Betty Windsor told to keep in line or Parliament will declare a republic.

Yes, R39. If the UK is no longer in the European Union, there goes the last argument for UK possession of the Elgin Marbles. They are European and they must remain in Europe. Their return to Europe should definitely be part of any Brexit agreement.

Someone with a bit of clout should make that argument. Perhaps someone at The Guardian. Perhaps a consortium of artists and historians. Keep the Elgin Marbles European!

Drop that little bomb and watch the Conservatives get apoplectic!

R42, Europe and the European Union are two different things. The UK is not leaving Europe.

And clout? The Guardian? Jesus wept.

There’s an automatic ban on porn on everyone’s internet until you tell them you want to see nude people and hand over your full identification.

What are the real possibilities of Scotland breaking away, or Ireland re-unifying?

R42, because Greece has been such an upstanding EU member? Yeah, right.

For Scotland, r45? Better than 50-50. Ireland may re-unify, but not for a while. Since the Good Friday Agreement over 20 years ago and the removal of border controls, people from both Irelands have traveled, shopped, and vacationed freely. BTW, it's only about 35 pages -- read it some time. And the Irish State has become much, much more secular. The Roman Catholic Church doesn't hold as much sway as it once did. I think in another ten years or so, we may see a movement from the North to reunite. The young there aren't as nationalistic as their parents.

R19 & R21 are insane.

Ena Sharples was Jimi Hendrix's favourite character on Coronation Street. Yes, really.

If Ireland reunites, will a united Ireland return members of parliament to Westminster again? As for the porn ban: like Brexit, it's unworkable; the porn-ban has been scrapped; Brexit should be scrapped; only BoJo can scrap Brexit. Scotland had a separation referendum (I don't say independence 'cos it was, after all, the Scots king who took over England, not the other way around) recently and provided there is not a second Brexit referendum, there is unlikely to be a fresh Scots referendum for some time to come. The Elgin Marbles were bought fair and square not plundered or stolen.

A united Ireland will not send members to Westminster. They will send them to Oireachtas Éireann. Why should the Irish bow to the will of Westminster?

R48, no, they are speaking the truth. It was about time.

R22, you sound rich. What do you do, if you don't mind me asking?

I don't travel to the UK anymore, OP, if that's what you're asking.

R53, not rich, just in my late 40s and saved and invested carefully over the last 20 years. I’m a software engineer and I have designed and sold a couple of specialist systems. This has put me in a theoretically comfortable retirement position, as long as I can get through the next 15 years without a major financial crisis. Which is looking increasingly unlikely.

Lucky you.

There was an article in yesterday's Times how shitty life has become from Brits on the margins. It will only get worse. I wonder how many voted to leave?

Just drop a nuke on the place and start over from scratch. Britain is responsible for the majority of the world’s problems.

I went to the wholesaler (Booker) and bought a pallet of spaghetti rings cans.

Not to worry R59, some members of parliament have finally grown a pair and seem ready to do something about 'the loose cannon' in cabinet.

R59, did you notice that one portion constitutes one of your five-a-day? Eat five cans a day, and you've got a balanced diet.

BoJo is about to be given instructions by parliament on how to run the government including the UK's relations with the EU on withdrawal. Parliament is supreme, there are no co-equal branches of government; the executive is accountable to parilament; the executive has now lost control of the parliamentary timetable (which it usually retains). When the government lost control of the parliamentary timetable yesterday, BoJo could see that the legislation which parliament was planning would bind his hands on how to run the government including the UK's relations with the EU, so as next best he proposed a general election but although he won the general election proposal he failed to secure 2/3rds of the votes. The only possible way now seems to be for him to refuse to advise the Queen to grant royal assent to the bill which went through the Commons today and is due to start going through the Lords tomorrow: if he did that, advised the Queen not to assent to a bill which had passed both Commons and Lords then the UK will pass from crisis to meltdown.

[quote] the UK will pass from crisis to meltdown.

But this is not the meltdown?

No, this is not the meltdown R63. The UK is on the edge, the very edge, of the meltdown. Follow tomorrow in the Lords online. If you see or hear of the Queen flying to Canada (or even out of the country) then get your NBC kit out.

Yootha Joyce!

Failure to deliver Brexit will further erode confidence in democracy.

Halloween will be interesting.

I believe this is why the US always has an enemy. Blacks, Gays, Communists, fascists, Catholics, Italians, Irish, etc. it just seems like we always need to have somebody to pick on.

Boris apparently did his homework.

—

Johnson goaded 21 problematic Rebel Tories into voting against him. Those Tories have been removed from the party and will lose their seats in the next election. Good riddance.

Because of foolish Remainer actions, Johnson will no longer have to go through the charades of working out a deal with the EU.

Johnson's hands are effectively bound and he welcomes that! He will not have to work out a deal. Instead he can lay the blame on the EU and on the Remainers for removing the option to negotiate with the EU.

By removing the 21 rebels, Johnson won the support of Nigel Farage thereby allowing a coalition between the Brexit Party and the Tories minus the rebel problem makers.

The Remainers are hopelessly split. Corbyn wants a referendum or the right to work out a customs deal with the EU. The Liberal Democrats want to remain. Many Labour party members want Brexit.

Delusional Remainers

My 5 comments from yesterday are backed up by events and independent analysis today.

Meanwhile, delusional Remainers keep believing they have the upper hand.

In reality, the Remainers do precisely what Johnson says: strip him of any chance of working out a deal.

It's debatable if Johnson really wants a deal. I don't pretend to know. I do know he cannot live with the backstop.

The deal question is moot even though the result sure isn't.

Johnson will form an alliance with the Brexit party if for no other reason than Remainers forced him into that hard stance.

Look for a big Johnson win in the next election whether or not he gives into the Benn bill to get it.

R68 *sigh*, they have backed him into a corner. He cannot have his no-deal, that is off the menu. Next, is the snap election, but only when there has been an extension of article 50. And finally, there is that other option — the wisest for him, if you ask me — of him resigning when he doesn't achieve what he has set himself out to do, to get Britain out of the EU. I can't wait.

This is Halloween, right?

I’m in the US so don’t hear much. I’m guessing it will still impact us here, especially since Trump is still messing with tariffs.

[quote] Because of foolish Remainer actions, Johnson will no longer have to go through the charades of working out a deal with the EU.

R68, you were so wrong. He's currently down on his knees — where he truly belongs — sucking them off.

R70 Yes, Virginia, All Hallows' Eve