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recent bookmarks from jmBrexit: Opening the Seals2019-03-21T16:25:38+00:00
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/03/brexit-opening-the-seals.html#comment-3122935
jmWhat happens if the EU, as expected, just reaffirms what Tusk said before the summit, that the EU might approve a short extension if the House approves the Withdrawal Agreement and Parliament again says no? Is it possible that submarine May would execute one of her U-turns on March 28 or 29 and revoke Article 50? By then, the petition for revocation could easily have 2 million signatures, giving her air cover in addition to Parliament’s “no ‘no deal’ motion. She’s guaranteed to go down in history as the worst PM the UK ever had if she presides over a crash out. That might change even her fabulously rigid mind. It seems highly unlikely given her well-established pattern of carrying on despite repeated defeats (Richard Smith recalled a famous deportation case when she was at the Home Office) but it can’t be ruled out.
]]>brexit fail disaster uk politics eu theresa-may torieshttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:a0928352c85c/Theresa May's Blue Monday -- Fintan O’Toole2017-12-05T22:11:35+00:00
http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2017/12/05/theresa-mays-blue-monday/
jmHaving backed down, May was then peremptorily informed that she was not even allowed to back down. She left her lunch with the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, to take a phone call from the DUP’s Arlene Foster, who told her that the deal she had just made was unacceptable. May then had to go back in and tell Juncker that she could not agree to what she had just agreed to. It is a scarcely credible position for a once great state to find itself in: its leader does not even have the power to conduct a dignified retreat.
]]>eu ireland brexit uk theresa-may dup politics ec fintan-otoolehttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:9848778d8fa3/May's Brexit plan is falling apart and the press are talking about Easter eggs2017-04-05T10:55:36+00:00
http://www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2017/04/04/may-s-entire-brexit-plan-has-fallen-apart-and-the-press-are
jmNow the prime minister has embroiled herself in a negotiation in which we are at a disadvantage in terms of time and negotiating capacity. There will of course be no admission from Brexit MPs about this. They fixate on the one prediction economists got wrong - the surprising resilience of consumer spending - while ignoring everything their side was wrong about, like the fall in sterling, the announcement of a second Scottish independence referendum, the threat of a sudden hard border in Ireland or the crisis over Gibraltar.
This is not point scoring. Unless there is a sober assessment of what is going right and wrong on both sides there can be no realistic negotiating posture. We are condemned to keep making the same mistakes again and again and working ourselves into ever-more disadvantageous positions.
]]>eu politics brexit uk fail theresa-mayhttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:40fb40ecf305/