the EU has said unequivocally that it is not open to renegotiation, that the deal that's been offered is the only one available. — Wayfarer
the EU has said unequivocally that it is not open to renegotiation, that the deal that's been offered is the only one available. Johnson's threat of leaving 'deal or no deal' is only that - a threat, or a bluff. So he actually has no room to move, other than to get Parliament to agree with the existing deal, although he's bullshitted everyone to think otherwise. (Trump: 'that's my boy!') — Wayfarer
Certainly, we have no idea what Johnson’s Brexit policy will be. The options he has promoted are mutually incompatible. He says he wants a deal with the E.U., but he has ruled out the key requirements of what such a deal would entail. He says he will force through a no-deal exit if necessary, but parliamentary opposition makes it highly unlikely he can do so. He says he won't hold a general election, which would at least give him a chance of getting past the parliamentary deadlock. And he says he won't countenance another referendum, which might allow him to get his Brexit plan through. He's ruled out all his options. At least one of these promises is going to be broken, but it's not immediately clear which one it will be.
That’s all we really know about the man behind the clown mask: It’s a person with no convictions, delivering a political project he does not believe in, with a plan that does not exist.
It’s proper, next-level postmodern politics. There are numerous layers of understanding, and it does, indeed, seem “terribly clever.” But once you get past the knowing winks, there’s nothing there at all. — Ian Dunt
If you want to feel happy for a fleeting hour or so watch this excellent debate regarding Greek vs. Rome and which culture modernity is more indebted to between Mary Beard and Boris Johnson. Boris ends up looking like an undergrad compared to the magisterial expertise of Mary. — Maw
In 2015 at Central Hall Westminster, Johnson debated Greece versus Romewith the historian Mary Beard. He presented his beloved Greece as a brilliant, sophisticated, multifaceted cradle of democracy. But as Beard pointed out, political Athens was all romantic bluster. It was Rome that triumphed. Greece might fashion marble but, as Virgil said: “These be your arts, to impose the ways of peace.” Beard won the vote. — Simon Jenkins
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As Boris Johnson moves into Number 10, who better to talk to this week than Peter Foster, the Europe Editor of The Daily Telegraph – widely seen as the best plugged in analyst of the Brexit saga on the bloc…
And Francis Elliott – The Times Political Editor – the first to spot a snap election was coming down the tracks back in 2017. What does he think is coming down the tracks now?
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Corbyn is a Marxist, he’s going to nationalise the banks and ruin the economy. — Wayfarer
Vote Lib Dem — Michael
That's not true. He's a democratic socialist, and he has pledged to nationalise the railways and end the energy consumer rip off. He has said nothing about nationalising the banks, and you won't hear the sort of Marxist rhetoric you'd find from the Communist Party of Great Britain from the mouth of Jeremy Corbyn. The Labour party is not a Marxist party, Militant members were expelled, and they removed clause four many years ago. — S
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