As Merkel and Macron seem to have differing views on the matter that doesn't follow. Any one of the 27 could veto an extension. If the Uk stayed in the EU they would have equal power as France and slightly less than Germany , simply because of their population. Like London has more influence over the UK because of it's population and therefore more seats.
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As Merkel and Macron seem to have differing views on the matter that doesn't follow. Any one of the 27 could veto an extension. If the Uk stayed in the EU they would have equal power as France and slightly less than Germany , simply because of their population. Like London has more influence over the UK because of it's population and therefore more seats.
Merkel will have a word in his shell and normal eu service will be resumed, thats how it works, how its always worked.
So you're saying it's not Merkel and Macron, just Merkel.
On the other hand, if the 26 other than Germany thought differently to Germany they would far outweigh Germany's influence.
Except they dont
They don't have to disagree just to disagree no more than the UK did, during their time in the EU the UK agreed with most things.
Take ECOWAS, the West African equivalent of the EU (which also has a peacekeeping force) and has a total population of 350milllion and rising - Nigeria is by far the biggest population and has 35 seats out of 115. Wonder who has the most influence there.
Can't wait for the trade discussions between UK 64m v ECOWAS 350m.
I'm sure given our history in the region the talks will go swimmingly
As in fek off and swim home
Some are more equal than others right?
Why do you say that as if it’s a bad thing? Why should 5m people have an equal amount of influence to 50m?
And pray tell me oh wise one who is full of bile and vitriol. Just exactly what compromises will find a majority amongst the current crop of parliamentarians? The reality is that the lot of them could not agree on how to organise a P*** up in a brewery let alone have the wit or intelligence to run the country.
Ask Ms Sturgeon about that one!
Last I checked Sturgeon wanted Scotland to be independent, not to have an exactly equal voice to England.
Yes, that bit in Brexit about 'taking back control' is starting to weigh heavily when we see just what calibre of politician we have in the UK. Mind you its us who put them there, remember! Lots of our politicians must be yearning to get David Cameron in an empty room!
Not in terms of Brexit!
Guess its my strange interpretation of equality.
I just had a look on Wikipedia and whilst Nigeria do have about 30% of the seats, they also have 53% on the total population, so if you break that down influence per person you could say Nigerians have less influence individually
I mean as a country but yes individually. In the EU parliament Denmark has 13 seats and Malta 6 seats whereas Denmark has more than 10 times the population of Malta. Also in the EU each country has one Commissioner and one member on the European Council (heads of state). All of this is decided between the countries/member states.
Am I right in thinking that the commissioner is appointed by the relevent MEPs? Cos if so, the voting decisions of the voting individuals are represented in every appointment. Then when the countries are deciding between themselves, it is down to the representatives to get the best for their country. The EU is a representative democracy, just like the UK. Of course, it's down to us who we vote in to represent us, so if we're voting clowns like Farage, it's no surprise so many British people feel let down by the EU
It's not your interpretation of equality but it's misusage that is strange. Ideally what you want is equity not equality because the member states are objectively not equal and in reality the EU isn't even equitable since the smaller countries have a lot more weight than they normally would have.
One of the big reasons the rUK gave for Scotland remaining in the UK was that they would lose their EU membership if they left. The irony was not missed after the 2016 referendum.
The sheer hypocrisy of many of the same political figures now telling the Scots to shut up and deal with it, after that and after a large majority of Scots voted Remain, is not lost on Scotland.
Bile and vitriol? Is that you Francois?
The entire reason Boris wants the GE is because he fears amendments that he doesn't want will pass parliament. That's not seeking compromise but running away from it, as he has at every turn.
Let's not forget if he and the rest of the loony ERG had compromised they'd have got May's deal through and probably still would.
I can only imagine you'd prefer something like the below so that Boris doesn't have to deal with a parliament not bending to his will.
"The nation and the government are one thing. The will of the people is the will of the government and vice versa. The modern structure of the state is a higher form of democracy [ennobled democracy] in which, by virtue of the people’s mandate, the government is exercised authoritatively while there is no possibility for parliamentary interference to obliterate and render ineffective the execution of the nation’s will."
"I'm too stupid to follow what's going on, please don't ask me any more questions"
Agree: 89%
Not sure: 11%
One of the weirdest thing about Brexit so far is that everyone claims to be fed up of talking about it and just want to ''GET ON WITH IT'' but its clear no one has any fecking idea about the process of the last 3 years.
So what the feck are people fed up with ?
Also shock horror
This is what I’ve started to ask too. Imho people just have become lost in terms of can’t follow what’s going on, so everyone just wants it to go away
It's also sort of become a lazy catch-all term that's convenient for both sides to use irrespective of how much it's grounded in reality. For the Leave side it's a useful argument to try and convince everyone to just get it done; for Remainers it's a handy way to say that the entire Brexit process has been alienating for everyone and no one actually wants or cares about it that much.
I'm unsure how much people actually are fed up with Brexit - certainly there's plenty of disillusionment and anger, but then that can often be said for politics in general, especially when it comes to big stories and major policy arguments. The idea Brexit's more alienating seems to have just been taken at face value without too much scrutiny, I think. Although open to figures which suggest otherwise.
Gina Miller: Police investigate contract killer crowdfunding page
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50202060
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50202060
You're being charitable, they're just parroting another line given to them. The level of engagement for a lot of them is seeing headlines in their paper, news on the radio and even that is too boring. Most politics will be boring to them but at least it's not the same issue every day.
We probably shouldn't run a country on the basis that the politically disengaged are bored with hearing a word.
I'm not British and I don't follow it's daily politics particularly closely, so I might be wrong, but to me it seems like Brexit made the cynicism in politics abundantly clear.
I'm thinking about Farage feigning amnesia about the bus ads right after the vote, Johnson campaigning for Brexit with "conviction", then passing on leadership in favour of a remainer when it came to implementing it. And on the other side there's Labour, their complete lack of a position on the matter and a strategy that seems to be most concerned with what's best for Corbyn. To the point where people who made up basically half of the vote had to create a new movement, which if that earlier tweet is to be believed is also being lead by someone whose primary motive isn't Brexit.
This is might be the most important political issue in people's lifetimes and yet it couldn't be clearer that their representatives are most concerned with how to use it for personal gain, be it money or power.
I have absolutely no faith in Labour to actually do something meaningful about Brexit, so I can understand people who say that if no one is fighting for them they might as well accept the deal that's on the table.
Really pathetic and hypocritical of Labour:
I think that was less about 'conviction' than the fact he got knifed by Gove the morning he was going to announce his leadership bid and pulled out because he didn't think he would win. Brexit was always a cynical ploy by him to get his hands on the top job and, as his next two years agitating in May's government showed, he was going to try and engineer a situation where he could get another shot. His support for Brexit is little more than personal ambition, but he is and was arrogant enough to think that that his utter magnificence would make it successful if he blessed it with his attention.
Johnson is lots of things, but first and foremost he's a public school boy with classic public school boy delusion about his own ability and magnificence. His entire political career is an exercise in making you know how highly he thinks of himself.
Tusk confirms EU has agreed an extension until 31st January.
Will this change the votes today?
I guess not as probably most people assumed it would happen
What time is the vote?
So, can someone update me in brief what is likely to happen in the next few days? I avoid all Brexit news now as I don't like the negative energy it brings.
To be fair he has won:
Three elections as an MP over 2 constituencies
He won 2 london mayor elections (something supposedly a conservative was not going to achieve)
He won the conservative leadership election (albeit after withdrawing before)
Has been foreign secretary
Is PM
And lead vote leave to the shock referendum victory
Like him, loath him or somewhere in-between I think its fair to say he has had a pretty successful political career and given his election record clearly he has something that has worked pretty well for him to date in terms of others thinking highly of him (or certainly more highly than I do)
I don't see him as a great leader, a political giant, a superb orator... but if hes as incompetent as people make out then hes played a very bad hand very fecking well
I do wonder how he would be shaping up against a half competent labour leader but that is such a hypothetical at the moment that most probably he is also going to add to his CV a general election victory and taking the UK out of the EU - so in some way hes not deluded to think hes got a better CV than most politicians
3:30 i think the debate starts with the vote around 5pm - I guess results around 5:30
Who knows.
Its strange timing I think as last week all the talk was while they would agree an extension they wouldnt state what it was until after this vote on a GE. Wonder what prompted the change of mind?
I guess maybe the thinking is, heres another three months, now feck off and have your election and sort this out once and for all.
I guess their thinking is “we’re done negotiating, your current prime minister has got a deal that you need to make a decision on, now feck off for 3 months and figure out on your own what you’re going to do with it”