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[Hiberno-Britannic Politics] 240 Days Till Brexit
Bogart
Streetwise HerculesRegistered User, Moderator Mod Emeritus
Streetwise HerculesRegistered User, Moderator Mod Emeritus
Credit for OP goes to RMS, I think. I dunno, it's been the same one for a while. So this archipelago
Has these nations.
These nations are almost completely (not) unique in that they're run by a system known as Politics!
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Run by these folk.
These folk would rather they didn't.
[img][/img]
The Issue
A spiffing place to keep up to date with the latest developments.
An Poblacht na hÉireann
I really need to start paying attention to the political situation down south, especially with that threatened and justified EU veto. It looked like there might be an election but now there isn't?
GeocitiesInConstruction.gif
A shockin' good place to see what the feck the craic is.
So, discuss the goings on in the Dail and the Commons!
Has these nations.
These nations are almost completely (not) unique in that they're run by a system known as Politics!
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Run by these folk.
These folk would rather they didn't.
[img][/img]The Issue
A spiffing place to keep up to date with the latest developments.
An Poblacht na hÉireann
I really need to start paying attention to the political situation down south, especially with that threatened and justified EU veto. It looked like there might be an election but now there isn't?
GeocitiesInConstruction.gif
A shockin' good place to see what the feck the craic is.
So, discuss the goings on in the Dail and the Commons!
Bogart on
+1
This discussion has been closed.
Posts
The foreign office is now deleting tweets that said Russia definitely did it. This is probably fine, right? Not embarrassing at all.
Russia still did it, or, in the other alternative, has lost control of their own chemical weapons. Neither is good.
Anyway, Corbyn's Jewdas faux pas looks far less iffy than it might have done at first glance, the brown tube of Brexit continues to squeeze itself out of the sphincter of time, May's cabinet still looks like like the worst in half a century and nothing, absolutely nothing, looks likely to wrest power from them any time soon.
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There's a joke in here somewhere
Steam | XBL
I wanted to but my title of "Clowns to the left, jokers to the right. Here I am stuck in middle with [Hiberno-Britannic Politics]" was too long.
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An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar
Leader of Fianna Gael. He's young! He's passionate! He's Ireland's first openly gay Taoiseach! He's the son of an Indian immigrant! He shot to fame during Ireland's Same Sex Marriage Referendum! Surely he is ushering in a glorious new age for the Irish political left?
Not so much. He leans distinctly right of center, has been in the press a lot for his "crusade" against "social welfare fraud" and during his tenure as Minister for Health when a reporter questioned him on his anti-choice stance he a) didn't understand how women having to leave the country to have abortions could be seen as a class issue b) refused to see it as a class issue when the implications of abortion only being available to women who could afford the cost of the travel and procedure were explained to him and c) complained that they weren't supposed to be talking about abortion anyway because his interview was "supposed to be about health and politics."
But that's okay, it's not like his party has an overall majority. Who is his coalition partner?
Minister for Transport, Sport and Tourism Shane Ross
Leader of the Independent Alliance. He's not young! He's not openly gay! He's so Irish what's left of his hair is red! Instead he is a passionate, dedicated, loyal representative of those most voiceless of people! The... upper middle class...
He doesn't lead a party exactly. Instead he's the spokesperson for a group of similarly minded Independent TDs who agreed to form a government with Fianna Gael in return for cabinet positions and attention brought to their various raisons d'être, a distinctly unstable arrangement that is holding together, so far... Though Leo Varadkar recently refused to test it by allowing a vote of confidence on his Tánaiste (Deputy PM) Frances Fitzgerald. She resigned to prevent the chance of an election being called. Simon Coveney is Tánaiste now.
Shane Ross saw himself appointed as Minister for Transport at a time that saw strikes on Dublin Bus, Bus Eireann, Irish Rail and the LUAS tram system. He tackled this through the novel approach of ignoring every single one of those strikes and telling the various bodies involved to sort it out themselves.
No, I am not kidding. That is literally what he did. He is currently pushing for us to put in a bid to host the Olympic Games.
But that's okay, it's not like this rickety cobbled-together government is unopposed. Who is the leader of the opposition?
Fianna Fáil Leader, Micheál Martin
He's been Minister for Education and Science! He's been Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment! He's been Minister for Health and Children! He's been Minister for Foreign Affairs! He didn't suck at any of them! Surely he's the man to turn to as an experienced statesman, a steady hand and a cool head for the rocky road ahead?
He probably would be, if it weren't for the fact that he held every one of those positions as part of the government that mismanaged Ireland's economy so badly it sent us crashing to the brink of economic doom.
But that's okay, it's not like Ireland has a two-party political system. Surely there's a third party we can turn to! Who leads the party with the next highest amount of Dáil seats?
Sinn Féin Leader, Mary Lou McDonald
Oh FFS! NEXT!
Labour (Ireland) Leader, Brendan Howlin
Labour! At last! A left-wing party without a history of terrorism! Surely they have the best interests of the Irish people at heart? Surely they can take advantage of the Irish government's weakness to ensure the lower classes are considered in government policies?
You'd think so, wouldn't you? Sadly the Labour party is suffering from what you might call "Lib Dem Syndrome." They went into government with Fianna Gael, rolled over on everything they were supposed to take seriously and helped them bring in a bunch of austerity policies that left the lower and lower middle classes struggling desperately in the fallout of the economic crash.
Those are the biggies, but they're by no means the only parties out there.
Solidarity, who used to be called The Anti Austerity Alliance / People Before Profit. They do exactly what it says on the tin, and they tend to do it loudly in public with protest signs.
Independents 4 Change, who used to be called Independents for Equality Movement because rebranding is all the rage this year. Think of an Independent Alliance aimed at the lower and lower-middle classes. Their focus is on health, housing, jobs creation and dealing with Ireland's debt.
Social Democrats Similar to Solidarity and Independents 4 Change, but much calmer. They're becoming an increasingly popular choice for those sick of the irony of a right leaning Labour party.
And finally The Green Party who, like Labour, are suffering the after-effects of "Lib Dem Syndome", except unlike Labour, The Green Party went into government with the party that sent us crashing to the brink of economic doom.
After that all you have left are the Independent TDs nobody wants to ally with. Like these guys.
Michael Healy-Rae who with his brother Danny Healy-Rae represents the all important Kerry farmer vote because of course he does.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the political situation in Ireland, a country facing the fallout of Brexit, a housing crisis, a debt crisis, Garda corruption scandals, a weakening health service, increased pressure on social welfare, a struggle for basic reproductive rights and mounting tensions north of the border.
What could possibly go wrong?
Curry houses furious over plan to give EU migrants priority
Oh my god thats amazing
I feel like this is just a misunderstanding about the limitations of science. I was never under the impression that the labs at Porton Down would be able to confirm the nerve agent came from Russia - it's just not technically possible.
However, they were able to identify it as Novichok, a nerve agent developed by the Russians and confirm that its production required State-level resources. That governments around the world responded as they did suggests that we possess additional evidence (ie intelligence sources) that further supports the pretty reasonable idea that Russia was the one that carried out the poisoning.
Confusion appears largely down to the inability of Boris Johnson to speak in an accurate fashion (fyi Nazanin Zaghari-Radcliffe remains in an Iranian prison).
Results in me tearing my hair out at my brother-in-laws delusional pro-Russian Facebook postings (he's of the anti-Imperialist leftist bent where anti-Western imperialism=good)
I'm not sure why these people thought Brexit would make immigration from outside of Europe any easier or more attractive.
I guess Brexit was just supposed to turn the UK into whatever sunshine land of rainbows and unicorns people wanted it to be.
At this point, is there any group left who voted to Leave for mostly economic reasons (rather than mostly racist reasons) who hasn't been told that actually, whoops, no, Brexit isn't going to do shit for them after all?
I think everyone's expecting them to be able to CSI/Batman this and say that the nerve agent is derived from a rare ingredient that only occurs in the back garden of the Russian Ministry of Defence, or something.
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Steam | XBL
Which is nonsense. He's obviously Mr Logic in a suit.
Except for his lack of logic.
Steam | XBL
In any reasonable state of British politics, this would be utterly hilarious and devastating enough to banish the man for all eternity.
Wouldn’t the OPCW technical report eventually come around to saying the same thing? It’s probably better for the Brits that first correction comes from them, and not an independent entity.
So he’s really into that Eastern imperialism huh
Sure. The problem isn't what Porton Down has said, but what the foreign secretary has publicly said and then deleted.
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The problem is that your Foreign Secretary is Boris Johnson.
Eet is a stupid fucking problem to have, but eet is a problem none the less.
Christ that's a depressing thought.
Arby's, through a series of jokes probably originating with the Daily Show became associated with hopeless nihilism.
Enjoy your Ginsters Chicken Wrap?
"We have decided to cause irrevocable economic harm in a futile effort to reclaim a past glory that never existed and everybody understands will never work.
Eat at Arby's."
Who could possibly have predicted that the tories would betray promise made to working class asians
pub?
As the son of Indian immigrants, my parents voted to leave because (and I quote) "it wasn't fair that European immigrants got preferential treatment over people like us" and they thought after Brexit, immigration from India would become easier. Yes, they thought it would become easier for people from India to get visas.
I tried to explain to them that immigration was a major issue for most (if not all) Leave voters, who were not going to want to swap one bunch of immigrants for another. They still disagree.
"Happy Eater next exit"
Better or worse than Rees-Mog becoming PM?
Yes.
Goodreads
SF&F Reviews blog
I would favour "Every little helps" given the parody nihilist context.
Maybe we could open a transdimensional portal to Anhk-Morpork and swap Boris Johnson for Bloody Stupid Johnson.
At least he would have actually delivered a garden bridge.