Considerable wisdom? Maybe so, but IMO 3 years too late.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water...

Scottish judges rule Parliament suspension is unlawful

Boris really hasn't got the hang of this 'Governing' schtick yet, has he?

I can only think of two explanations. (a) the single judge sitting last week thought 'ooh, err ... this is above my pay grade, they'll check it upstairs anyway, I'll play it safe'. Or (b) the three judges sitting today all thought 'no skin off our noses, we're all retiring soon anyway, no one can touch us, we can have a bit of fun with this'.

On the whole, I think the first explanation is more likely. Which will make the Supreme Court hearing next Tuesday even more fun.

What planet are these politicians on?

Boris Johnson confronted on east London hospital visit

@ 00:38: Boris Johnson, live to camera - "Well, actually there's no press here" (BBC subtitles, but perfectly audible). Just listen to the shutter clicks on the soundtrack.

The politicians are living in their la-la-land as the upset father said.
Sounds familiar...

Sir Paul gets it right. Sir Paul McCartney: Brexit vote probably a mistake

Reflecting on the 2016 Brexit vote, Sir Paul said the arguments made during the campaign had been "all crazy promises".

"What put me off was that I was meeting a lot of older people, kind of pretty much my generation.

"And they were going, 'All right Paul - it's going to be like it was in the old days, we're going to go back.' And it was like, 'Yeah? Oh, I'm not sure about that.' And that attitude was very prevalent.

"I vote for someone I believe in and so often there's nobody I believe in. I have to get a bit inspired. At the moment I'm not really inspired."

Breaking News.
Suspension of Parliament illegal. Unanimous decision by Supreme Court.

And that word 'unanimous' is huge. The judgement is the strongest possible slap-down to the Prime Minister. The judges went to the furthest limit possible, with a declaration that the whole process was null and void - they were hardly even asked to do that, even though the Scottish court had reached the same conclusion.

Sounds like it is "off with their head" time.

"A house divided against itself cannot stand."
I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.

Have fun "over there."

Sitting next to Trump living it up 1 minute, on a plane home the next to cover his ass and then Trump's impeachment inquiry knocks him off the front page news.

The life and times of politics.

A rather nice song with Boris Johnson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0pTpwqkB48

This parliament is a disgrace

+1

Rory Stewart
And in a direct criticism of Boris Johnson, Mr Stewart said: "I would not serve in the cabinet of someone explicitly pushing for a no-deal Brexit."

Someone should tell him that he is there to serve the best interests of the country, not his own personal agenda. If he cannot do so, then stand down as an MP.

He's gone
Some light relief. :-)
Can we sell & export the current bunch?

Here we go again...
According to reports to the BBC, the UK government will ask for further extension of Brexit if an agreement with the EU has not been reached by 19 October.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-court-extension/uk-pm-johnson-will-ask-for-brexit-extension-if-no-deal-by-october-19-court-documents-idUSKBN1WJ1BR

And Ireland's Prime Minister Leo Varadkar announced on Friday that he would consider an extension should such a request come from the UK. Varadkar, who is currently visiting Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Fredriksen in Copenhagen, added that an extension of the negotiating period would be preferable to the UK leaving the EU without an agreement.
The Irish Prime Minister has been in the limelight since the border question on Ireland became a central part of the Brexit negotiations. Varadkar criticized Boris Johnson's latest agreement plan as recently as yesterday for lack of clarity regarding a possible border on Ireland.

I actually think the legal side of this situation is breath taking.

As regards to the Supreme Court Judgement, the Judges don't identify (and they have a duty to do so), which Law Boris is supposed to have broken for them to make a judgement, the argument is supposition based on the absent testimony of a former Prime Minister who Prorogued Parliament for six weeks to avoid the Cash for Questions Scandal prior to a General Election, didn't do him any favours, he lost that Election. The suggestion by him that normal prorogation of four weeks should only be subject to an extension of 6 or 7 days, seems to fly in the face of the evidence of his own past, and the fact that Boris only extended Prorogation by 4 days.

The more concerning fact is that the Constitutional practice is that the Judiciary don't have jurisdiction over how the Executive runs Parliament, this flies in the face of centuries of precedent.

Then there's the Benn Act, or Surrender Act, which seeks to force the Prime Minister to ask the EU for an Extension to the deadline on the UK leaving the European Union, set by Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, in the event that No Deal has been agreed by that point.

The Benn Act is a UK Law seeking to control the process of the Lisbon Treaty, an EU Law. It has been established for some time that EU Member States, and the UK is currently an EU Member State, ia subject to EU Law, which supercedes UK Law. The UK Parliament, or UK Government, cannot seek to unilaterally alter EU Law by creating a new UK Law. Therefore to follow the Legal Procedure of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty the Prime Minister would be acting illegally if he were follow the instructions of a UK Law that seeks to modify the Process of Exiting the European Union. Such modification requires the consent without Veto (at least until the Lisbon Treaty removes EU Member States ability to Veto decisions/agreements), of all 28 Member States of the European Union, this would require European Parliamentary time, and the holding of 28 separate EU Referendums on the modification of a major piece of EU Legislation, all before 31st October 2019.

So I believe that the Prime Minister, at least for the last time in British History would abstain from following the Benn Act , on the basis that the UK Legislation undermines the Lisbon Treaty, and is therefore illegal. So I believe him when he says he's going to follow the Law, and we will be Leaving the EU on 31st October.

There's been some speculation by the same former Prime Minister that gave evidence in absentia at the Supreme Court, that the Prime Minister could suspend the Benn Act by Order of Council, a power reserved by the Prime Minister and certain Government Officials that are members of the Privy Council, to suspend any UK Act for a time. The suggestion being that Boris would suspend the Benn Act until after 31st October, and thus be able to ignore the Act after we Leave the EU by the Lisbon Treaty. I don't personally think he will use this power, unless he's forced to do so.

After all, what can the Opposition do about this? Call for a Vote of No Confidence in the Government, and hand Boris the power to set the date of the General Election, which would obviously be set after 31st October, and we will Leave the EU by the Lisbon Treaty anyway.

The current mess we have in Parliament, where nothing can be done except argue, the so called Zombie Parliament, is due to the fact that the Government are in Minority, a situation normally solved by a Vote of No Confidence, which the opposition Party's refuse to call, because we all know the result, every Remainer MP will lose their seat, the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats will be decimated as Westminster Party's, and Boris will get a Landslide Victory, and get on with the business of actually running the country for the first time since the EEC became the EU, and slowly took over to the point of forcing us to Brexit. The public have watched how self righteous and self interested these MPs have been, riding rough shod over democracy, and the Sovereignty of the people, they mistakenly think that Parliament has Sovereignty, it doesn't is merely holds Sovereignty that the People invest them with at a General Election.

Anyway, its a mess, and whilst I am not a Tory Voter, I think Boris will take the UK out of the EU, with or without a deal, with the majority of the UK Public now wanting No Deal.

I'm likely not to care, I'll be recovering from an operation on 31st October, bless the NHS.

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Who writes the headlines for the BBC? Whoever it is needs to go back to school.
Lorry tariffs to be cut
They are currently 0%
Will be imposed after Brexit at 10% in the 1st year instead of 22%
Nice cut! :-(

T-23 & counting

They copied it from the DIT Press Release

These are to:

lower tariffs on HGVs entering the UK market, ...

Well make that government employees need to go back to school as well.

Lower tariffs on HGVs entering the UK market, striking a better balance between the needs of British producers and the SMEs that make up the UK haulage industry, ensuring that crucial fleet replacement programmes that help to lower carbon emissions can continue.

0% to 10% is lower?
No wonder the country is screwed!

Well make that government employees need to go back to school as well.

Lower tariffs on HGVs entering the UK market, striking a better balance between the needs of British producers and the SMEs that make up the UK haulage industry, ensuring that crucial fleet replacement programmes that help to lower carbon emissions can continue.

0% to 10% is lower?
No wonder the country is screwed!

That sounds like one of the comedy sketches from the old "Yes Minister" sitcom series... Reminds me of the old classic comment: YouTube: Why the UK is in the EU


So more accurately for the spin on introducing new charges is that they might be a "lesser increase" in charges rather than a 'cut' as such...


All a silly game of politics?

All in our only one world,
Martin

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