please empty your brain below
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I'm dreading Mar 31st and onwards. I've got quite used to skipping the first six pages of my paper each day, and using this time to great effect (to me).
I was at 'work' at midnight on Millennium Eve, we actually left the office at 10:00pm to return at 3:00am to allow New Yorkers time off to celebrate. That was the only time I was able to expense champagne, and we watched the smokey Thames firework display from a roof terrace.
Nothing untowards happened then, and nothing untowards will happen now - I hope ...
Ken | 16.02.19 - 7:12 a.m. | #
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Oh DG. There will be comments today...
MY IDEA: have another referendum (with possibly more than just "in" and "out" binary choices) that really IS advisory to see what the public think now ... not binding, but just to guage the mood now.
Dave Green | 16.02.19 - 7:23 a.m. | #
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Ken, Of course, the reason that nothing untoward happened that night was because of the two years of effort that huge teams or programmers had put into fixing the worst of the problems.
Dave Cross | Homepage | 16.02.19 - 7:25 a.m. | #
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Ken - Never mind Brexit, if 'expense' has become a verb we truly are in the end times.
Sarah | Homepage | 16.02.19 - 7:41 a.m. | #
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Article 50 should be revoked, (which the EU say is possible).
Then have a general election.
Then another referendum with the public more aware of the true circumstances of leaving.
If result is still leave then submit Article 50 again and no turning back.
John | 16.02.19 - 7:43 a.m. | #
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It's not a 'deal', just an agreed holding pattern whilst further negotiations take place, so they'll then go on and on about each element.
No more This Week after July either, the BBC has successfully removed another good male presenter and the last remaining politics programme that was worth watching.
Still Anon | 16.02.19 - 8:23 a.m. | #
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The trouble with a general election is who to vote for? The Tories are now further right wing than UKIP. Labour are just as toxic, with Seamus Milne pulling the strings and pushing for exactly the same hard Brexit as Jacob ReesMogg (not to mention the hideous pockets of anti semitism in parts of the party). The Lib Dems seem to have evaporated.
I feel like I have no options.
IslandDweller | 16.02.19 - 8:31 a.m. | #
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Meanwhile, across the Atlantic there is the ongoing battle of:-
MY WALL vs. NO WALL
Bob L-S | 16.02.19 - 8:32 a.m. | #
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I don't think the 2017 election result was strictly speaking 'another coalition' - it's a minority government with a supply and confidence agreement. Remember when the Tories were all about warning against a "coalition of chaos"?
martin | 16.02.19 - 8:45 a.m. | #
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Did anyone mention anything about a deal, or Northern Ireland, before the referendum ?
dg writes: Yes. Obviously.
kev | 16.02.19 - 8:51 a.m. | #
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A very neat way of summarising a ridiculous situation, and how we got here.
The trouble with the phrase "we can always revoke article 50" is that we can't. The only revocation which would be recognised by the EU would be one made by the de-facto government of the UK. Which means (unless there has been some sort of coup) Theresa May. She has repeatedly said that she will not revoke. Although she has been known to break promises ("no early election"), this seems to me to be one which she will not break. Unfortunately.
Malcolm | 16.02.19 - 9:51 a.m. | #
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My prediction is that in 1000 hours, the EU will agree to extend the deadline to allow more time for negotiation. The EU don't want a hard Brexit, so why would they force that route?
Of course, that just extends the agony, so my solution for coping? I can't influence it, so I just try to ignore it. In the meantime, my thanks go to David Cameron for not standing up to his party and getting us in this mess to start with.
Jimbo | 16.02.19 - 10:16 a.m. | #
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I wouldn't say I'm panic buying, but I have been slowly stocking up on the items we use the most for the last few months now! As the Scout motto says: Be Prepared!
Cornish Cockney | 16.02.19 - 10:31 a.m. | #
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I have long likened this business to a carry-on, in the best traditions of Ealing. My current moniker for it is Carry On Clueless (it's apt on so many levels) but I have a depressing feeling - whichever way the points switch at the next junction - that this will continue to apply long after April Fools Day.
Not wanting just to be sneering about the situation, recovery time from a hospital visit last month gave me the opportunity to watch the main 'meaningful vote' debate uncut. I was actually reassured by the quality and depth of debate, and the process (if not the likely outcome). This was in stark contrast to how much unwatchable rubbish is spouted out by certain 'usual suspects' in front of the pundits on the politics shows. Sadly, it was no coincidence that the whole string of votes kept coming out in the region of 52/48... and on we go...
NickW | Homepage | 16.02.19 - 10:41 a.m. | #
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There isn't any form of Brexit that will be good for the economy or people either of Britain, or the rest of Europe. The only right thing to do now, irrespective of the result of the 2016 referendum, is for the government to fess up and say that it cannot be done and revoke article 50. And I live in hope, but not much.
Pamela Stocks | Homepage | 16.02.19 - 11:48 a.m. | #
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The EU may well be prepared to extend the deadline, as they do not want a disorderly exit either.
But, sadly, the EU cannot do so unless the UK requests an extension. (They might not, even then). It looks very much as if so such request is going to be made.
Malcolm | 16.02.19 - 12:00 p.m. | #
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The whole system is at fault with this ridiculous use of first past the post in deciding such important complicated matters as this and choosing a government.
Jerym eedy | 16.02.19 - 12:10 p.m. | #
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Brexit is the perfect example of an idea without a plan.
What ever happens on March 29, a lot of people in the UK are going to be unhappy.
The only sure thing is that the poor will end up paying the highest cost.
YDU | 16.02.19 - 12:24 p.m. | #
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Brexit means Brexit. When I voted in 2016, I was specificly for Teresa May to do a managed WTO exit on 29 March 2019. All 17.4 million of us ordinary people voted on the same basis. It would be a massiv betrayal - the worse since Scooch - if the sacred promise was binned. David Camerons promised us we would be getting rid off the French and the Japanese.
If the remoaners in Parliament stopped there moaning the EU would of given us our demans from the start.
The economy of Tuvalu and Sudan has quadrupled since 1995, but the EU GDDP has only increased 5perccent since 2008. I now who I want freetrade with!!!
Barry | 16.02.19 - 12:35 p.m. | #
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No comment which says "All 17.4 million of us ordinary people voted on the same basis" can be taken seriously.
Caitlyn | 16.02.19 - 12:50 p.m. | #
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I'm in the "head in the sand" brigade ... wake me up when it's all over
Caz | 16.02.19 - 12:54 p.m. | #
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Bloody Cameron.
Chris | 16.02.19 - 12:58 p.m. | #
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Kev: On the Irish border, Leave campaigners roundly criticised Tony Blair and John Major for pointing out there could be problems, and George Osborne for saying there may be a need for border controls. For example: here and here. Label something as "project fear" and there is no need to address the substance of the point.
On the withdrawal agreement, I doubt anyone expected the UK government to be quite so incompetent for quite such a long time.
Andrew | 16.02.19 - 1:26 p.m. | #
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If (for exercise) you ignored their politics, is there a single person in the Commons who has the remotest ability to be a good PM?
dg writes: Yes. Obviously.
Scrumpy | 16.02.19 - 2:53 p.m. | #
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Barry,
You are an embarrassment.
Who can't spell.
BB.
BexleyBoy | 16.02.19 - 5:18 p.m. | #
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But Barry mentions Scooch (2007 Eurovision medoicrities), whose nomination was itself controversial.
He can also spell 'Tuvalu' correctly.
Is Barry therefore a humorist, working on a satirical plane above our comprehension? Or is BB correct?
Isambard | 16.02.19 - 6:28 p.m. | #
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I'm with Bexley Boy here.
And Hurrah to Sarah! Expense is NOT a verb.
Victor Vectis (of NB 'Red Wharf') | 16.02.19 - 6:31 p.m. | #
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I've a feeling Barry was going off on one with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek!!
DG's readership is of a much higher calibre than that!
Cornish Cockney | 16.02.19 - 7:31 p.m. | #
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Barry's contribution was clearly a satirical take on the sort of febrile frothing to be found on many a comments section. KentOnline's Brexiters are especially rabid. Investigate at your peril.
Burntweenie | 16.02.19 - 8:17 p.m. | #
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@Jerym eedy: If you blame first past the post for choosing a government, I rather think the good politicians are a bit responsible for unable to rally enough people to unseat the rear-end-openings.
Patrickov | 16.02.19 - 9:23 p.m. | #
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@Sarah and Victor Vectis: I humbly refer you to any search engine, 'to expense' something has been a verb as long there has been accounting (although I am not an accountant).
And, @Dave, it is true that a lot of people worked for two years, but they simply kept their heads down and pocketed the money (for doing nothing). Not apocryphal. In China, they simply set the system date to 01/01/2000 and waited to see what happened - and planes did not fall out of the sky, etc. Probably apocryphal, but reality was much closer to this than what you have written.
Ken | 16.02.19 - 9:42 p.m. | #
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Ken: China's response to the millennium bug was not to ignore it: the government ordered airline bosses to take a flight on 1 January (the sort of thing you can do in a totalitarian dictatorship) so they had a real personal incentive to make sure it was fixed. For example.
No doubt everything will be for the best, in this best of all possible worlds. (Well, we can hope.)
Andrew | 16.02.19 - 11:11 p.m. | #
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Aha, but your argument is actually wrong, so listen to mine which is correct, etc. etc. etc.
Tedious Brexit Commenter | 16.02.19 - 11:31 p.m. | #
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What this whole two years has taught me is that arrogance is inversely proportional to intelligence, as is self proclaimed expertise
PC | 16.02.19 - 11:43 p.m. | #
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Why can't grown-ups just get on with the whole thing and stop playing stupid games! It's in nobody's interest to have a bitter Brexit, all of this is being caused by a PM whose heart isn't in it but knows that it has to happen. Things will only collapse if people make it so out of spite. It's become obvious that the EU only want us for the money they get out of us; they have made it clear that they have zero respect for the UK, so let's get on with it and make it work instead of giving into bullies and idiot politicians that are trying to block what we voted for.
Darren Eddy | 17.02.19 - 12:18 a.m. | #
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@Darren Eddy: Sometimes sense cannot be brought to without great physical force. There are too many tangled interests. And yes, I know this is usually where wars start...
Patrickov | 17.02.19 - 1:22 p.m. | #
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"No more This Week after July either, the BBC has successfully removed another good male presenter and the last remaining politics programme that was worth watching.
Still Anon"
Brillo - is that you?
Glad you're gone.
Love to Rupert. Not.
drD | 17.02.19 - 2:52 p.m. | #
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Barry - you may have voted for WTO
Let's remind ourselves of what we were told about brexit shall we...
"Absolutely nobody is talking about threatening our place in the Single Market" - Daniel Hannan MEP
"Only a madman would actually leave the Market" - Owen Paterson MP, Vote Leave backer
"Wouldn't it be terrible if we were really like Norway and Switzerland? Really? They're rich. They're happy. They're self-governing" - Nigel Farage, Ukip leader
"The Norwegian option, the EEA option, I think that it might be initally attractive for some business people" - Matthew Elliot, Vote Leave chief executive
"Increasingly, the Norway option looks the best for the UK" - Arron Banks, Leave.EU founder
“Absolutely nobody is talking about threatening our place in the single market” - Dan Hannan, co-founder of the Vote Leave campaign
David T-Rex | 19.02.19 - 9:58 p.m. | #
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