And he goes and proves me wrong on both points 
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@John_Scully …one of the biggest problems is that Johnson is having a free easy ride. There is no effective opposition whatsoever…the tories are presiding over reduced products on shelves, potential cost of living crisis, rocketing power costs and NHS melt down…and what do Labour do…engages in internal strife about how they elect their leader…I rest my case!
And whilst there maybe still a very significant number of people who think Brexit wrong etc no politician or serious media channel is prepared to put their head above the parapet…until they do nothing will change, and if they did they would get howled down.
It’s now unfortunately teeth gritting time, or do suggest there is another option…even that most anti brexit party LibDems know there is little to be gained.
And a new political group is unlikely to gain traction unlike here because of UK FPTP electoral system. And don’t forget a change was voted down in 2012.
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…And what is also lacking is no credible person is to even suggesting they could lead c a rejoin movement…at the moment and for foreseeable future they wouldn’t get any air time or print coverage, other than mocking.
I think a lot depends on just how bad things get in the current crisis.
If it’s still bad at Xmas the Tories’ ruthless side will try to ditch Johnson - as they did Thatcher, May, etc - but if this collapses in chaos, or a new leader sees the opportunity to win their own mandate, a spring general election is not impossible.
The only way a Labour Party could win under Starmer is by default - but it is possible by then enough people will be so fed up that the ‘let’s give the other side a go’ feeling will get Labour elected. But it’s equally possible that under a shining new leader lying through his teeth (I say ‘his’ deliberately) the Tories could win again.
More likely the current crisis will not get that bad, and instead the UK will get back to a long painful but less headline-grabbing decline until the next scheduled election in 2024. If Starmer is still Labour leader, my guess would then be another Tory win - followed by replacement of Starmer by, hopefully, somebody capable of communication the transformational vision, and forming an electoral pact with the Greens, that will be necessary to get them elected (other than by default). By then, the failure of brexit will be common knowledge, and part of that mandate would be some sort of proposal to effectively rejoin the customs union and single market (albeit disguised by some marketing-speak about prosperity-with-neighbours or some such) - but once that is accomplished I would see the start of negotiations to rejoin the EU as inevitable.
Interesting swing to the left in Germany yesterday by the way - SPD and Greens gained over a hundred seats between them, and will almost certainly be the main players in the next coalition government.
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I know at least one company that might find it hard to get the required number of chickens and turkeys onto their shelves for Christmas - M & S. And not just because of lack of HGV drivers.
Some years ago someone tipped me off that an industrial agency was hiring for a 10 day job at M & S’s depot at Avonmouth, loading their freezer trucks with frozen chickens and turkeys. It paid £400.
I went in to the agency, signed the forms but was told I was on the reserve list because every year a plane was ‘chartered’ by Poles who came for this specific gig. It was a done deal.
I didn’t get to do any chicken chucking or turkey tossing then - but if I was in Brsl now I might.
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And so it carries on… now a van driver shortage and the implementation of another “hard Brexit” contingency plan being discussed.
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More proof, as if it was needed, that turkeys voted for Brexit.
And butchers for the abbattoirs, although this does not seem to be mentioned as, perhaps, it might offend the sensibilities of those who were stupid enough to vote for them in the first place.
@John_Scully @ Geof_Cox, not sure if you heard Rachel Reeves interviewed on the Today programme this morning.
She unequivocally said there would be no return to free movement of people, or an attempt to reverse any of the resulting outcomes. She implied the UK voted to leave we respect that and now we need to move on and make it work.
As neither big parties support a reversal, or even a softening…(customs union or single market) and we all know how that stance sank the LibDems. So it is for the birds that any great change to move back within or significantly nearer the economic/political block is going to account certainly in the medium term.
Better in my view to accept it and enjoy living here casting off the emotional baggage of Brexit …even if it has made it more practically difficult.
I don’t see the connection between your 2 propositions Strudball (I’ve forgotten your real name again).
How does your view on what will happen over brexit in the future affect your enjoyment of life here in France?
For myself, it’s not about ‘accepting’ reality - I always do that, indeed if you look at my posts anywhere on this or any other forum you’ll find they are all about realism, evidence and truth.
But I enjoy a bit of reasoned speculation about what might happen in the future. If you don’t - why do it?
Not just the UK……a shortage of champagne in the States, and toy shops here in France also worried about Christmas supplies…
@Geof_Cox …not sure what you mean about two propositions, all I was trying to say was that there is now no credible leadership of an emerging movement to move to some kind reversal of Brexit , so we just have to grin and bear the scars, and not let it become a knawing cancer on enjoying life here. …and my name is John!
I thought there some sort of US sanctions against French wine, doesn’t that hit the old Champers too? And I wouldn’t but a Ludo shortage in the same bracket as a dearth of pigs in blankets (or indeed M&S’s ever popular Percy the Pig).
Ah yes, John! (No comments about age and memory please!)
The two proposition were
- Brexit won’t be quickly reversed.
- Thinking that it will be might affect somebody’s enjoyment of life in France.
I don’t see why. My own view is:
- It depends what you mean by ‘quickly’ (I don’t see the current positions of UK political parties as relevant, by the way, since the previous posts had been about what would happen in maybe 10 years - perhaps you’ve heard the aphorism ‘a week is a long time in politics’?)
- I just don’t understand why you think the way somebody views the likelihood or not of brexit being reversed affects their enjoyment of life.
It’s an interesting discussion - no more - but as such surely it adds its two-penn’orth to life’s enjoyment?
I have only just read the Marina Hyde article you quoted a lot earlier in this thread, John and most of it was well up to Marina’s usual standard - nor that I’ve read much in the UK press recently. What shook me though was the last paragraph, in which she quoted the final bit of Johnson’s speech to to COP26 conference. I had to read it twice in order to believe that even he could get up on his hind legs and say this. Has she quoted him correctly?
“We still cling with part of our minds to the infantile belief that the world was made for our gratification and pleasure,” explained Johnson, “and we combine this narcissism with an assumption of our own immortality. We believe that someone else will clear up the mess we make, because that is what someone else has always done. We trash our habitats again and again with the inductive reasoning that we have got away with it so far, and therefore we will get away with it again.”
That was the speech where he quoted Kermit the Frog and as an aside said he thought Kermit had been to0 hard on Miss Piggy. The man is a blithering idiot, just a highly manipulative one.
And judging by the bit I quoted, he hasn’t the faintest shred of self-awareness. Weird…
My mum has a district nurse twice a day…her prescription is delivered when needed by a local chemist…lifts to hospital and doctors appts are via a local group of retired volunteers….
All are just now spending far too much time trying to make sure they have enough fuel in their cars….
The alleged shortages were in a handful of garages in a specific area….the MSM headlines exploded it out of all proportion worrying all those who serve local communities including all those I mentioned and including ambulance drivers and paramedics….
I’m certain that the government such as it is has benefitted enormously from the panic buying as the vast majority of fuel is heavily taxed…
I find it outrageous
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Very interesting and in depth interview with Michel Barnier by Emily Maitlis on Newsnight last night 27/09…worth watching if you’re into Brexit and French Politics…and he’s vying to be Les Républicains candidate in 2022.
