Thought I'd start a new thread as this is going to be a major talking point this year...have not made up my mind yet...(unlike bucksfizz)....but thinking of voting for an exit as Europe is not doing Britain any good at all it seems....

She loves me really :-)

Stan , at least the Tories have a defence policy unlike Burnley and the Labour rabble.

Thanks for the concern, Dilbert, but if ever I need to go to the UK, I can fly Sovereign into Biggin Hill. They'll continue to operate after Brexit gets cancelled.

Andrew Adonis argues Brexit has all the morbid symptoms of being in its death throes

I don’t have direct experience, but from my increasingly frequent observation as a 55-year-old, there is no such thing as a ‘good death’. Just death, which is always horrible and sometimes horrendous in its final stages. Brexit is no exception.

We are clearly in the death throes. Morbid symptoms are overwhelming. The ‘last chance’ operation had to be cancelled before Christmas because the patient wasn’t well enough.

There were hopes that Dr Merkel would offer a more favourable second opinion after the country GP, Jean-Claude, and the in-house surgeon, Barnier, pronounced the case hopeless. A big attempt was made to persuade Theresa, the adoptive parent with power of attorney, to transfer poor Brexit to a hospice with the attractive name ‘People’s Hope’.

But it came to nothing. Like her mentor Margaret Thatcher during the long agonising demise of her favourite child, Poll Tax, Theresa simply can’t let go of Brexit. She continues to dream that a new cure will appear from Germany, so the operation has been rescheduled for January 15. But Dr Merkel is so busy trying to resuscitate her close friend Emmanuel that she has no time or inclination to help.

Anyway, the cause is hopeless. Brexit’s vital organs are ceasing to function. The original prescriptions on the side of a bus – notably ‘£350m a week for the NHS’ – were long ago abandoned. An experimental treatment tried last autumn – ‘Irish backstop’ – has had appalling side effects, including delusions of an invasion of orange men with VASSAL and MOGG emblazoned on front and back.

The question now is what to do after January 15, assuming the patient does not die immediately. There is some chance that Theresa will transfer Brexit to the People’s Hope hospice after all, which would be best for all concerned. The hospice’s two living rooms, called ‘second referendum’ and ‘extend Article 50’, are loud and boisterous. No one pretends that the end will come peacefully. But at least there will be no more operations and Theresa and her family can soon get on with their lives, including the increasingly urgent task of earning money and paying bills after so long on compassionate leave.

The problem is what happens if Theresa still refuses the hospice. There is much debate about whether the nurses, led by Hammond and Lidington, will use morphine, while everyone turns a blind eye.

But the whole issue might end up again in the High Court of Parliament, where eminent lawyers like Dominic Grieve and Sir Keir Starmer are likely to press the case for Brexit’s transfer to People’s Hope being taken out of Theresa’s hands because of diminished responsibility.

Uncle Jeremy is a problem here. He is curiously fond of his adoptive niece Brexit, having played a large part in her childhood, although historically the two branches of the family were estranged. But another uncle, John Mac, is increasingly forthright on the need to end the suffering. He has started holding secret consultations with Sir Keir and others, and is likely to present Jeremy with a fait accompli, supported by the wider Labour part of the Britannia family which can’t see any point in delaying the inevitable.

The problem for Theresa isn’t only the handling of Brexit’s final days but also her obituaries and funeral. Usually these ease the pain at the end, on the principle de mortuis nil nisi bonum (‘of the dead nothing but good’).

But of Brexit, who went so badly astray in her last two years in particular, almost no one has a good word to say. Theresa, like Scrooge at Marley’s funeral, may be the sole mourner. And even she may be too ill to attend.

However, all is not lost. I have seen a copy of Brexit’s will. It gives explicit instructions that there are to be no funeral or eulogies. “I realise I have been a cause of much pain and grief,” it reads. “But I am part of a proud and prosperous European family. I know I was a rebel but the truth is that through this severe illness we all came to realise that, after all, Europeans are a good and wise people. I want my friends and relations to be reconciled to them and make the best of their lives.”

Amen. Hallelujah.

A two-way referendum would see 29% of Tory members endorse the PM’s stance, with 64% voting for a no-deal Brexit, according to the YouGov poll funded by Economic and Social Research Council.
The overwhelming rejection of Mrs May’s deal shown in the survey comes at a crucial time for the PM as she faces a crunch Commons vote on her plans.

How dare you Dil, now that Tom is in charge our defence is water tight.. well nearly -):

Is it just me or are the remoaners getting louder as our time in the EU draws closer to its end ?

I'm going to need ear plugs soon if it gets any worse.

Stan , he'll throw it for us.

Imagine if this had anything to say about the navy and Trident.

He's all for giving us a referendum on whether he should press the red button. It'll only take a few weeks to sort the paperwork

The Labour MP facing jail for lying to police to avoid a speeding charge has been kicked out the party.
Fiona Onasanya, who compared herself to Jesus and Moses after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice, had said she intended to remain a Labour MP despite calls for her to quit.

Perhaps, you have forgotten the spivs who many "thugs" thought sold out the UK.

A pity that it wasn't TM.

And everyone at the table on our side is "Con"sevative...well well!

Ha! Ha! I thought I would post about the Labour liar facing jail before you did Fred, I only just made it by the look of it.

May I just remind you George that thread is about the Referendum that the Tory dummy Cameron called that has gone horribly wrong not only for you Tories but for the whole of the UK.

Any other stuff should go on another thread.

Yes, and all Englishmen with the name George are liars?

Aren't they?

-=-----

Get somebody to buy you a book recently published.

HOW TO BE RIGHT by JAMES O'BRIEN.

Then try reading it.

(The book irritated me a little, but the underlying message is appropriate, for some.)

Cue Stan for Fred's post? I won't hold my breath.

Actually the Onasanya thing is very pertinent to Brexit!

Peterborough is hyper-marginal - Onasanya snatched it from the Tories in 2017 by just over 600 votes, and it's 13th in the Conservative hitlist to regain. She's pro-EU, calling for a second referendum, whereas the former Tory MP was an arch-Brexiteer.

A by-election there could influence the Brexit outcome dramatically.

Edit: If sentenced to less than 12 months, she'll be allowed to hold on to her seat, so there wouldn't be a by-election.

Interesting possible effect!

==--=-=-


UK house prices take pre-Brexit hit - Nationwide
2 MIN READ

A worker uses a stair at a construction site in central London, Britain November 2, 2016. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth
LONDON (Reuters) - British house prices took a pre-Brexit hit in December, falling by the most in monthly terms since mid-2012 and rising by their slowest pace in nearly six years in annual terms, according to data from mortgage lender Nationwide.

House prices fell by 0.7 percent from November, the biggest monthly fall since July 2012, Friday’s data showed.

Compared with a year earlier, prices rose by just 0.5 percent compared with a 1.9 percent rise in November.

Both readings were below all forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists.

Nationwide said it expected prices to rise at a “low single-digit pace” in 2019 but its forecast was dependent on the economy continuing to grow modestly, something that looked “unusually uncertain.”

Prime Minister Theresa May is struggling to overcome deep opposition in her own Conservative Party to the Brexit divorce deal she agreed with other European Union leaders, raising the prospect of an economically damaging no-deal departure from the EU in March.

Britain’s housing market has weakened since the June 2016 Brexit vote, led by price falls in London.

At the time of the referendum, Nationwide’s measure of house prices was rising by about 5 percent a year.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said last month that in the event of a “disorderly” departure from the EU — not the central bank’s base-case scenario — house prices could slump by 30 percent as part of a broader economic shock.

Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by John Stonestreet

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

No, she has promised to stay on and serve her constituents diligently, jail time permitting. It is reported that she has more than 5,000 unanswered messages from constituents so she needs to get cracking.