The Boris Johnson thread.

Started by vandermolen, June 15, 2019, 04:21:09 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

DaveF

Too appalled by today's events to comment coherently.  But I have torn the dedication page from the score of the symphony I composed in his honour and trampled it underfoot.
"All the world is birthday cake" - George Harrison

vandermolen

Quote from: DaveF on August 28, 2019, 11:57:40 AM
Too appalled by today's events to comment coherently.  But I have torn the dedication page from the score of the symphony I composed in his honour and trampled it underfoot.

Good for you!
:)

I also feel too angry to discuss it coherently.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

SimonNZ

Bumbling Boris's speech at police academy was classic Dom

"Boris Johnson's speech at a police academy in Wakefield was the shitshow to end all shitshows. It made his dystopian performances at the dispatch box over the previous two days look like models of sanity and coherence. Even May's P45, loss of voice and collapsing scenery at the Tory party conference weren't as excruciating to watch as this. The Clown Prince completely out of his head. Acid? Heroin? Cocaine? Or a cocktail of all three? If the UK is to be a failed state, it has found its ideal leader. Classic Dom.

When half the country is shouting, "Stop the coup!" in protest at the prime minister shutting down parliament, choosing to launch your election campaign surrounded by police recruits at a training academy is not the best of looks. Either for the government or the police. But this was Boris. A man for whom other people are mere satellites orbiting his sun. Rushing on his run. He felt just like Jesus's son. And he guessed that he just didn't know. Classic Dom.

What followed was a full-on breakdown. Both physical and mental. The narcissistic wound exposed as an infected open sore. Most leaders at least turn up with a speech they have prepared. However deathless the prose. Johnson prefers to wing it. The arrogant stream of pure unconsciousness. The bumbling worked for £25K after-dinner speeches when everyone was a bit pissed. It would work here. Classic Dom.

He was pleased to be wherever it was he had come to. Ah yes, he thought, for the first time noticing the grim faces of the policemen and women whom he'd kept standing around waiting for more than an hour. Police. We needed more of them. Especially if he was going to waste their time like this. Classic Dom.

"I used to be ..." His voice tailed off. Boris couldn't quite remember what it was he used to be. Prime minister? Surely not. That would be ridiculous. Then he had the most excruciating flashback. A wild hallucination of an incriminating laptop and wine stains on the carpet. The last time he had been surrounded by so many police. Classic Dom.

Johnson started rambling, desperately trying to navigate a way back to the present. A caution. That's what the police had done when he had been collared. "Um ... er ..." he began. How did it go again? "You do not have to say anything ... um ... you know how it goes, don't you?" he continued, turning round to ask the police lined up behind him. They looked blankly ahead, avoiding his gaze. Who was this man? "If you fail to mention ... shomefing on swhich shoo later rely." By now he was slurring every other word. Classic Dom.

There was this plan. He didn't want an election. Oh no! And when didn't he want an election? 15 October. That was why he was making an election speech for an election he didn't want. He didn't want the election so much he was going to try a second time to fool the Labour party into giving him the election he didn't want. Thank you and goodnight. His eyes closed briefly as he appeared to pass out. Classic Dom.

A few seconds later, he came to. What happened next? That was it. Questions. There were some people to ask him questions. Hello, Wakefield! Almost all the questions predictably focused on the resignation of his brother earlier that day. If he couldn't even keep Jo in the party – let alone the other 21 other moderates he'd also slung out – what chance did he have of gaining the trust of the entire country? His mouth opened and closed, wordlessly. Classic Dom.

Finally he managed something approaching a sentence. "My brother has been a fantastic ..." What was the job he had given his backstabbing, dumbass brother again? His mind had gone blank. Say something, Boris, he told himself. Something. Anything. Have a guess. "Science minister." Shit. He knew he'd got it wrong. Jo was the sodding universities minister. Anyway, who cared? Jo was dead to him. Since when did a Johnson ever have a fit of conscience? It would tarnish the brand. Classic Dom.

Johnson continued ad-libbing. He'd die in a ditch if Britain wasn't out of the EU by 31 October. Probably preferable to dying on his feet, as he was now. Just then, he heard a noise behind him and turned round. A policewoman had collapsed. He shrugged, took a sip of water, and carried on talking. She needed to toughen up a bit. Post-Brexit Britain was no place for the weak. Besides, his need was so clearly greater than hers. He was the World King. And if she died, he could always just recruit 20,001 new recruits. Classic Dom.

Slowly, the drugs began to wear off, and Johnson stumbled back indoors. "You nailed it," said Dom and Dommer encouragingly. "You were so bad, you were brilliant. We've got them exactly where we want them." Classic, classic Dom."

Que

#103
So, Boris Johnson has been convincingly defeated in his attempt to force a no-deal Brexit by a united front of opposition and Tory rebels.

But this game isn't over yet...

No chance in hell that Johnson is going to Brussels to ask for an extension. He will resign and the Queen will turn to Corbyn to form a government, which will immediately expose the divisions amongst Boris' opponents.

Now suppose some provisional caretaker government will have secured an extension on Brexit, elections will follow...

Johnson is going to reap all angry pro-Brexit voters that have been duped once again, possibly in a alliance with the Brexit Party. The Conservatives will be wiped out in Scotland and pro-European Tory moderates will switch to the Liberal Democrats.

Corbyn will fight the elections on a disastrous, fudged "Labour Brexit" ticket, and will be slaughtered since no Brexiter or Remainer will vote for that.

Johnson might actually win these elections by an (English) landslide and end up with a comfortable majority in Parliament, purged of any rebels.

Q

Harry

Quote from: Que on September 07, 2019, 01:12:51 AM
So, Boris Johnson has been convincingly defeated in his attempt to force a no-deal Brexit by a united front of opposition and Tory rebels.

But this game isn't over yet...

No chance in hell that Johnson is going to Brussels to ask for an extension. He will resign and the Queen will turn to Corbyn to form a government, which will immediately expose the divisions amongst Boris' opponents.

Now suppose some provisional caretaker government will have secured an extension on Brexit, elections will follow...

Johnson is going to reap all angry pro-Brexit voters that have been duped once again, possibly in a alliance with the Brexit Party. The Conservatives will be wiped out in Scotland and pro-European Tory moderates will switch to the Liberal Democrats.

Corbyn will fight the elections on a disastrous, fudged "Labour Brexit" ticket, and will be slaughtered since no Brexiter or Remainer will vote for that.

Johnson might actually win these elections by an (English) landslide and end up with a comfortable majority in Parliament, purged of any rebels.

Q

Well yes that might be an option, but there are other possibilities. Do not forget that politics in its workings is alike to Mafia structures, and they have a lot of things up their sleeves. A rabbit could come out any moment. :)
Quote from Manuel, born in Spain, currently working at Fawlty Towers.

" I am from Barcelona, I know nothing.............."

Que

Quote from: "Harry" on September 07, 2019, 02:35:01 AM
Well yes that might be an option, but there are other possibilities. Do not forget that politics in its workings is alike to Mafia structures, and they have a lot of things up their sleeves. A rabbit could come out any moment. :)

It's all very unpredictable due to the British "winner takes it all" electoral system.

If Johnson doesn't win, a hung parliament seems the most likely other option.

Q

vandermolen

Quote from: SimonNZ on September 06, 2019, 05:04:42 PM
Bumbling Boris's speech at police academy was classic Dom

"Boris Johnson's speech at a police academy in Wakefield was the shitshow to end all shitshows. It made his dystopian performances at the dispatch box over the previous two days look like models of sanity and coherence. Even May's P45, loss of voice and collapsing scenery at the Tory party conference weren't as excruciating to watch as this. The Clown Prince completely out of his head. Acid? Heroin? Cocaine? Or a cocktail of all three? If the UK is to be a failed state, it has found its ideal leader. Classic Dom.

When half the country is shouting, "Stop the coup!" in protest at the prime minister shutting down parliament, choosing to launch your election campaign surrounded by police recruits at a training academy is not the best of looks. Either for the government or the police. But this was Boris. A man for whom other people are mere satellites orbiting his sun. Rushing on his run. He felt just like Jesus's son. And he guessed that he just didn't know. Classic Dom.

What followed was a full-on breakdown. Both physical and mental. The narcissistic wound exposed as an infected open sore. Most leaders at least turn up with a speech they have prepared. However deathless the prose. Johnson prefers to wing it. The arrogant stream of pure unconsciousness. The bumbling worked for £25K after-dinner speeches when everyone was a bit pissed. It would work here. Classic Dom.

He was pleased to be wherever it was he had come to. Ah yes, he thought, for the first time noticing the grim faces of the policemen and women whom he'd kept standing around waiting for more than an hour. Police. We needed more of them. Especially if he was going to waste their time like this. Classic Dom.

"I used to be ..." His voice tailed off. Boris couldn't quite remember what it was he used to be. Prime minister? Surely not. That would be ridiculous. Then he had the most excruciating flashback. A wild hallucination of an incriminating laptop and wine stains on the carpet. The last time he had been surrounded by so many police. Classic Dom.

Johnson started rambling, desperately trying to navigate a way back to the present. A caution. That's what the police had done when he had been collared. "Um ... er ..." he began. How did it go again? "You do not have to say anything ... um ... you know how it goes, don't you?" he continued, turning round to ask the police lined up behind him. They looked blankly ahead, avoiding his gaze. Who was this man? "If you fail to mention ... shomefing on swhich shoo later rely." By now he was slurring every other word. Classic Dom.

There was this plan. He didn't want an election. Oh no! And when didn't he want an election? 15 October. That was why he was making an election speech for an election he didn't want. He didn't want the election so much he was going to try a second time to fool the Labour party into giving him the election he didn't want. Thank you and goodnight. His eyes closed briefly as he appeared to pass out. Classic Dom.

A few seconds later, he came to. What happened next? That was it. Questions. There were some people to ask him questions. Hello, Wakefield! Almost all the questions predictably focused on the resignation of his brother earlier that day. If he couldn't even keep Jo in the party – let alone the other 21 other moderates he'd also slung out – what chance did he have of gaining the trust of the entire country? His mouth opened and closed, wordlessly. Classic Dom.

Finally he managed something approaching a sentence. "My brother has been a fantastic ..." What was the job he had given his backstabbing, dumbass brother again? His mind had gone blank. Say something, Boris, he told himself. Something. Anything. Have a guess. "Science minister." Shit. He knew he'd got it wrong. Jo was the sodding universities minister. Anyway, who cared? Jo was dead to him. Since when did a Johnson ever have a fit of conscience? It would tarnish the brand. Classic Dom.

Johnson continued ad-libbing. He'd die in a ditch if Britain wasn't out of the EU by 31 October. Probably preferable to dying on his feet, as he was now. Just then, he heard a noise behind him and turned round. A policewoman had collapsed. He shrugged, took a sip of water, and carried on talking. She needed to toughen up a bit. Post-Brexit Britain was no place for the weak. Besides, his need was so clearly greater than hers. He was the World King. And if she died, he could always just recruit 20,001 new recruits. Classic Dom.

Slowly, the drugs began to wear off, and Johnson stumbled back indoors. "You nailed it," said Dom and Dommer encouragingly. "You were so bad, you were brilliant. We've got them exactly where we want them." Classic, classic Dom."
Yes, I agree. It was excruciating to watch. Even the BBC reporter Vicki Young wondered whether he had dropped his speech on his way to the podium. The Gestapo look with the police lined up behind him spectacularly misfired.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Muzio

Did Boris Johnson Just Rope-a-Dope His Way into a Hard Brexit?
By Mark Hanna

As of Friday, September 6, an extension of three months to prevent the U.K. leaving the E.U. without a deal passed the Houses of Commons and Lords.  In order for that legislation to become law, there must be consent by the monarch — in this case, Queen Elizabeth II.  Once she assents, the bill becomes law.

While most everyone is considering her assent a formality on Monday, it should not quite yet be considered a fait accompli.  The queen can lawfully refuse assent or delay her approval, which would effectively veto the bill and keep it from becoming law, thereby paving the way to a No Deal Brexit on October 31.

There are two occasions when the monarch can and should, according to most academic experts in the matter, refuse assent.

According to Anne Twomey, professor of constitutional law at the the University of Sydney in her book The Veiled Sceptre, the first occasion is that where a "serious error is discovered in the bill."  No one is arguing that there is an error in the Remainers' meticulously crafted bill of extension.

But the second occasion in relation to royal assent, "the predominant academic view ... is that the Sovereign ... must act upon the advice of responsible ministers."

Professor of public law at the University of Glasgow School of Law Adam Tomkins concurs.  From his book Public Law: "If the monarch were given clear and firm Prime Ministerial advice that she should withhold her royal assent to a Bill which had passed through the Houses of Parliament, it seems to be the case that the monarch should follow that advice."

As Robert Craig noted, Twomey uses the example of where a new government that has the confidence of the House and "objects to a bill passed ... by a defeated predecessor ... then its advice to refuse assent to a bill should be accepted."

While this is not the exact set of circumstances the U.K. is facing, Boris Johnson has demonstrated he has the confidence of the House, triumphantly pointing out that "this is the first time in history that the opposition has voted to show confidence in Her Majesty's government" by refusing to allow an election and refusing to table a vote of no confidence.  Now all that's left is for Johnson to give clear and firm advice to the queen, who should then refuse to assent to the opposition's legislation to stop a No Deal Brexit.

If this is indeed BoJo's strategy, the U.K. Parliament has cut off its nose to spite its face.  Hyper-leftist and self-avowed Marxist Jeremy Corbyn, opposition leader of the Labor Party, has gleefully led this self-mutilation, stating, "When No Deal is off the table, once and for all, we should go back to the people in a public vote or a General Election to decide our country's future."

Using the limited time the U.K. Parliament had to address the possibility of a No Deal Brexit, Corbyn, the other opposition parties, and 21 Tories clearly decided to spend their few days left in Parliament obsessed with passing a law that demands that BoJo, against his own will and government, ask the E.U. for an extension of Article 50 until January 31, 2020.

But Johnson may have been way ahead of them.  He launched the epic play by proroguing parliament, which is basically closing the current Parliament session, until mid-October with the queen's approval.  This means that all Parliament business must be concluded by Monday (or at latest Thursday).  Once proroguing had occurred, the Remainers went into a Boris-induced tizzy to make sure a law was passed to stop him from taking the U.K. out of the E.U. without a deal on October 31, as long as no deal had been reached with the E.U. by October 19.

This is precisely where the PM has likely wanted them all along.  Employing a "rope a dope" strategy, Johnson has effectively forced Parliament to use all the time left, now that the proroguing has occurred and been declared legal by the U.K. courts, to mire itself in passing the Article 50 extension law.  Like the boxer Muhammad Ali, who made rope-a-dope famous, BoJo leaned back into parliament's ropes and took hit after hit, causing the opponents to not only wear themselves out, but provide time for him to get ready for his final counter-punch.

If the above analysis is correct, Johnson's knockout blow is happening now, as he meets the queen this weekend in order to clearly and firmly advise the queen to withhold assent.

Beautifully orchestrating and executing his stratagem, BoJo will have outwitted his opponents again in this well thought out fight plan by 1) forcing the opposition to spend the very short time they had to stop a No Deal Brexit mired in creating the extension legislation, then 2) sifting out the twenty-one traitors within his own Tory Party who voted against him, while at the same time 3) casually scheduling a meeting with the queen this weekend in order that 4) he can quietly advise the Queen not to assent to the bill he has called the "surrender" bill.

His opponents were so busy patting themselves on the back for their seemingly witty and unstoppable legislative efforts to thwart the will of the U.K.'s people (who voted 52% to 48% to leave the E.U. in 2016), heaping insults, lies, and half-truths on the prime minister and arguing among themselves how to take power, that they failed to see that Boris was, like any great boxer, simply setting them up.

His arguments to the queen are strong.  First, a group of disingenuous Tory traitors betrayed the government by voting with the non-government opposition.  The U.K. system is a parliamentary government, not a system of parliamentary rule.  The queen can reinforce this distinction by refusing assent upon receiving the P.M.'s advice, proving that the government elected by the people ultimately has the power.

Second, extensions have been passed before under Theresa May, but to no avail in bringing the U.K. to a better deal with the E.U.  What good would another extension to January 31, 2020 bring?  Even France's President Macron agrees here and has indicated he'll veto an extension anyway.  Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel is also under pressure to veto any request for an extension.  Any one of the 27 E.U. member-leaders can veto an extension, thereby virtually assuring a No Deal Brexit on October 31.

Finally, the current House of Commons has tacitly given its vote of confidence to Boris Johnson as prime minister by not agreeing to an election and not tabling a motion of no confidence.  The Commons chose instead to focus on creating legislation that is opposed by the government, thereby giving Johnson an effective argument that the government was defied, not rejected.

And so we'll know in the next few days if this was the plan all along.  For if the prime minister is truly committed to his promise to bring the U.K. out of the E.U. on October 31, he'll advise the queen to refuse the bill.  In accordance with the unwritten constitution of the U.K., the queen will agree with her prime minister's advice.

If the queen agrees, Boris Johnson will have turned the Remainers' nightmarish Halloween Day extension ploy into a historic Reformation Day, indeed.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/09/did_boris_johnson_just_ropeadope_his_way_into_a_hard_brexit.html#ixzz5yxxQhx6V


JBS

The American Thinker devotes itself to promoting Trumpian propaganda. So it is no surprise its coverage of Brexit is similarly detached from reality.

The simple answer is that in passing the legislation, Parliament demonstrated it has no confidence in the current government, and that by the rules of the UK constitution Johnson should have resigned.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

SimonNZ

I'm going to be using "BoJo The Clown" from now on.

Muzio

#110
Report: PM Boris Johnson Has Simple Plan to Legally Stop Brexit Extension....
September 8, 2019

If this simple procedure is true, wow... It would mean all of last week's parliamentary teeth gnashing by the usurping Never-Brexit MP's was essentially irrelevant.

According to a Reuters report, Prime Minister Boris Johnson simply needs to attach a letter to the Brexit delay legislation saying the U.K. government officially does not request any extension beyond October 31st.  Then ignore it.  That was easy.

(Reuters) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has prepared plans to legally stop any Brexit extension, the Daily Telegraph bit.ly/2ZP87Yc reported late on Sunday.

Johnson's advisers held a meeting on Sunday to counter the strategy to prevent the British parliament's attempts at enforcing a three-month Brexit extension if no new deal is agreed, the newspaper reported.


A plan under consideration would see Johnson sending a letter alongside the request to extend Article 50 setting out that the government does not want any delay after Oct. 31, according to the report.  The prior remarks by President Trump (last week) now take on a new context:

Q Have you been following the situation in London with Boris Johnson and the Brexit vote?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, Boris is a friend of mine. And he's — he's going at it. There's no question about it. He's in there — I watched him this morning. He's in there fighting.  And he knows how to win. Boris knows how to win. Don't worry about him. He's going to be okay.


https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-parliament-johnson-idUSKCN1VT0SK?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=5d759ad0145a57000154149c&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

SimonNZ

#111
Quote from: Muzio on September 10, 2019, 01:11:20 PM

Q Have you been following the situation in London with Boris Johnson and the Brexit vote?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, Boris is a friend of mine. And he's — he's going at it. There's no question about it. He's in there — I watched him this morning. He's in there fighting.  And he knows how to win. Boris knows how to win. Don't worry about him. He's going to be okay.



Translation: "I have no idea what you're talking about, it can't have been covered on Fox and Friends, but countries are best ruled by the whims of individual muppet-haired narcissists. Obviously."


vandermolen

"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Que

This matches my own impressions:

Supreme court poised to rule against Boris Johnson, say legal experts

So chances are that the Supreme court might clonclude that Boris has been a naughty boy!  :)

But the worst consequence of this would be that he involved HM the Queen in an unlawful and unconstitutional act....

Now, what would the political repercussions of that be?
In the good old times that would mean resignation and the end of any polital career... but in these troubled times of a breakdown of political integrity?  ::)

Q

Florestan

Quote from: Que on September 22, 2019, 12:14:21 AM
This matches my own impressions:

Supreme court poised to rule against Boris Johnson, say legal experts

So chances are that the Supreme court might clonclude that Boris has been a naughty boy!  :)

But the worst consequence of this would be that he involved HM the Queen in an unlawful and unconstitutional act....

Now, what would the political repercussions of that be?
In the good old times that would mean resignation and the end of any polital career... but in these troubled times of a breakdown of political integrity?  ::)

Q

The probability of the Queen's abdicating might be higher than that of Johnson's resigning.  :laugh:
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Que

#116
Quote from: Florestan on September 22, 2019, 12:28:03 AM
The probability of the Queen's abdicating might be higher than that of Johnson's resigning.  :laugh:

I think you are right....

Whether Boris Johnson will achieve Brexit, only time will tell.

But he definitely achieved a constitutional crisis and the end of the British political system as we knew it. Though he shares the blame for that with David Cameron and Theresa May.

Q

PS What will the future fate of the English judiciary be without the excellence and integrity of Scottish judges?

Papy Oli

Do we know yet when One is expected to unleash One's corgis on the Commons' front bench today ?  >:D ;D
Olivier

vandermolen

I think that the Conservatives will eventually get rid of Johnson when they start to see him as an electoral liability rather that asset. The misleading of the Queen will have gone down very badly.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Karl Henning

Quote from: JBS on September 08, 2019, 12:31:00 PM
The American Thinker devotes itself to promoting Trumpian propaganda. So it is no surprise its coverage of Brexit is similarly detached from reality.

The simple answer is that in passing the legislation, Parliament demonstrated it has no confidence in the current government, and that by the rules of the UK constitution Johnson should have resigned.

I suppose Boris has no more regard fir the UK Constitution, than Trump has for the American.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot