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....

Most of you on here will know I'm a 'big time' JRM fan.

I like the clarity of his communication which is always backed up with strong facts.

Here's a clip which is very interesting to listen to and well worthwhile watching as JRM clarifies the actual position on things as he answers listener's questions about the Chequer's Brexit Meeting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb-IJngnLsM

https://www.politico.eu/article/jacob-rees-mogg-the-beano-walter-brown-the-softy-warned-to-stop-impersonating-cartoon-character/

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Jacob Rees-Mogg warned to stop impersonating cartoon character
‘A swift response on the matter would be greatly appreciated to avoid getting Teacher involved,’ say makers of The Beano.

By PAUL DALLISON

The makers of a British comic sent a cease-and-desist letter to leading Tory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg, asking him to stop impersonating one of their long-running characters.

The Beano, based in Dundee, Scotland, accused Rees-Mogg of “masquerading” as Walter Brown, better known as Walter the Softy, the next-door neighbor of the comic’s most famous character, Dennis the Menace.

It says this is “a clear breach of our copyright” and lists attributes that Rees-Mogg shares with Brown, including his hairstyle, glasses, “bullish behaviour” and “snootiness.”

The letter says: “It has been brought to our attention that you have been infringing the intellectual property rights of one of our cartoon characters and masquerading as Walter Brown.

“We firmly request that you cease and desist in your ongoing impersonation of the character, which remains the exclusive property of Beano Studios.


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I think I prefer Billy Bunter to this.

Inside the tory tent.

Outside the tent, is that the next con party leader?

Boris Johnson's former aide RIDICULES May's Chequers proposal with this BRILLIANT point

BREXITEER Conor Burns trashed Prime Minister Theresa May’s Chequers proposal and said it is not what 17.4million British people voted for when they chose to leave the European Union.

By CHARLOTTE DAVIS, Telegraph
PUBLISHED: 10:12, Tue, Sep 4, 2018 | UPDATED: 10:12, Tue, Sep 4, 2018

Mr Burns, a former parliamentary aide to Boris Johnson who stood down in protest against the Chequers deal, insisted the Brexit proposal is a “very very bad deal for Britain”.

Speaking on BBC’s Newsnight, Mr Burns says: “The view of many of us is that Chequers proposals are actually in many ways worse than staying in.

“They would leave the United Kingdom in full regulatory alignment on goods with the European Union. We would be obliged indefinitely to follow the court judgement of the European Court. It is just not compatible with what we campaigned for and what people voted for, which was taking back control. Taking back control of our laws, our borders, our money, and crucially – the ability to have our own bilateral international trade agreements. Chequers is a very very bad deal for Britain.”

Theresa May's Brexit plan, calling for close regulatory alignment with the EU’s single market for British exports, is a firm push towards a soft Brexit.

The proposal includes plans to create a ”common rule book” – involving a free trade area with the EU on industrial and agricultural goods.

Both Remainers and Brexiteers have ridiculed Mrs May’s Chequers proposal, with Remainer Tory MP Justin Greening claiming it is hated more than poll tax.

Prominent Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg travelled with the House of Commons’ Brexit Committee to Brussels for a private meeting on Monday with the EU’s Chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.

Speaking in Brussels following the meeting, Mr Rees-Mogg ripped into the Chequers proposal and said politicians in both the UK and EU think it is “absolute rubbish”.

Mr Rees-Mogg said: “Mr Barnier was, as you would expect, was extraordinarily charming and well informed. He and I found that we were in a considerable degree of agreement that Chequers is absolute rubbish and that we should chuck it and what we should have is a Canada-style free trade deal. He seemed to think that was the way forward and has published charts showing that. So, interestingly eurosceptics and Michel Barnier are in a greater agreement than eurosceptics and the Government or Michel Barnier and the Government, it was very encouraging.”

The Prime Minister defended her Chequers plan this weekend claiming that she would not accept any compromises to her blueprint “that are not in our national interest”.

She'll never get that deal through parliament let alone get the EU to agree to it.

The EU want and need a deal and our money just as much if not more than we would like a deal so it's time to ditch May and her half hearted attempts and let a real Brexiteer negotiate our exit.

206 days to go.

Lord Mervyn King getting in on the act to pile pressure on the failings of TM and Parliment plus of course the Civil Service which is responsible for not putting forward the actions needed before the vote, as they were always lead to believe that David and the crew would win.

Heads should roll for their failings, and with it should go TM`s and make room for a natural leader that can give them the finger and get out ASAP.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45400994

Make the ditch big enough to put the Brexiters in as well.

Or even a well.

I use 'NewsNow.co.uk' which is a compilation of news headlines from across the world or the EU or the UK or a combination of anything you want. Each headline has a few descriptive words and a link to the actual article. I recommend it.

This morning, I was greeted with lots of 'blacked out headlines' instead of the actual headlines themselves - all preceded by a large message box saying:

The EU is threatening your access to online news.

By making news headlines from certain publications pay-per-view, Article 11 of the Copyright Directive will diminish choice and limit your freedom to share online, compromising the free flow of information NewsNow is part of and democracy relies on.

MEPs vote next Wednesday. You still have time to act.

There were also three link boxes for the reader's selection within the main box. I've included the link URL's for you:

1. Unblock headlines - This did what it said and it unblocked the headlines
2. Read more on Article 11 - https://juliareda.eu/eu-copyright-reform/extra-copyright-for-news-sites/
3. Contact your MEP - Please click to email one of the following influential UK MEPs: (There was a list of all the MEPs with clickable links) and the following example e-mail:

Example email

Subject: Please vote against Article 11


Dear [MEP's NAME HERE],

I am writing to express my objections to Article 11 of the proposed new EU Copyright Directive.

Article 11 will limit freedom of expression and access to information, as search engines and social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google stop displaying or prohibit the sharing of news snippets from charging publications.

Article 11 may also facilitate the spread of fake news, published by websites which do not charge for reproduction of their snippets.

Similar measures tried in Germany and Spain have not worked. They have disadvantaged smaller publications - who rely on search engines and social media platforms to reach their audiences, and do not have the resources to pursue legal claims - and cemented the dominance of the largest media corporations, diminishing choice and media diversity. There is no evidence they will work at an EU level, and even the EU Commissionâs own internal Joint Research Centre report highlights that there is no evidence that online aggregators have a negative impact on original newspaper publishers' revenue, and to the contrary, aggregators likely complement newspaper websites and boost visits.

While some news publishers may be facing genuine funding pressures, there is no evidence that any new revenues publishers would receive from Article 11 will exceed the revenues lost as a consequence of reduced traffic due to reduced hyperlinking. I am therefore calling on you to stand up for freedom of information and media diversity, and vote against the proposed Article 11.

Yours sincerely,

[YOUR NAME HERE]
[YOUR ADDRESS, OR TOWN OR POSTCODE]

Don't worry we'll be out in 204 days and then they can stick their Articles where the sun don't shine.

And Fred , it would be quicker to dig a hole for the remoaners as there are fewer of them.

h/t to MT across the road fro flagging this up.




There's a way out from Chequers for Mrs May - Liam Halligan


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/09/06/way-chequers-mrs-may/



'Trading with the EU under World Trade Organisation rules “isn’t the end of the world” said Theresa May, during Prime Minister’s Questions. She was quoting the WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo, the world’s leading trade diplomat.

Azevedo first publicly said those words in a Telegraph interview with me in November 2017. He also described UK-EU trade under WTO rules, with no formal free trade agreement, as “perfectly manageable” – discrediting the doom-mongers who claim Britain must bow to Brussels’ every demand as “crashing out” would be “disastrous”.

His words won’t surprise anyone with an open mind and knowledge of global trade. Britain conducts most of its trade outside the EU, largely under WTO rules. Such trade is growing, forms the majority of our exports and generates a surplus. Our EU trade, in contrast, accounts for well under half our exports, is falling and in deficit – despite us making massive annual EU contributions and accepting Brussels-derived rules to gain “single-market access”.

It is vital Britain declares “no deal” a realistic and acceptable outcome – not least as it’s true and, with the clock ticking ahead of March 2019, could well happen. Unless we prepare for “no deal”, we’ll be forced to accept any trade agreement the EU offers, however much it favours Germany, France and other member states.

May has lately played down “no deal”, keen to promote her Chequers proposals. Philip Hammond has pitched in, with yet another blood-curdling Treasury prediction that “no deal” would reduce GDP by 8% over 15 years. The idea is to present Brexit as a choice between Chequers and “no deal” – hence the need to make “no deal” look ghastly. Such a strategy is misguided and, if the Prime Minister is to survive beyond next month’s party conference, she must rapidly change tack. Citing Azevedo across the Commons dispatch box suggests she just might understand.

For the truth is, Chequers is dead. Plans to accept EU rules on goods, a modified customs union and ongoing Brussels diktat, with no say, have been viciously rejected by May’s party. Boris Johnson’s description – “vassalage” and “miserable permanent limbo” – was right. Even arch Remainer Justine Greening, foreseeing a grassroots rebellion, says Chequers is “more hated than the poll tax”.

Michel Barnier, too, has dismissed May’s plan as “insane, illegal, and fraudulent”, seeing as it breaks single market rules. Perhaps the EU’s lead negotiator is bluffing and will suddenly relent if Britain makes even more concessions. All the more reason for the Prime Minister to abandon this Whitehall-contrived nonsense and take Chequers off the table, returning to the coherent vision she outlined in January 2017 at Lancaster House.

For the real choice isn’t between Chequers and a “no deal disaster”. It’s between “no deal” – “perfectly manageable” – and a free trade agreement with the EU. Barnier has long acknowledged that “Canada-plus” is acceptable, a comprehensive trade deal similar to the recent EU-Canada agreement. That could happen quite quickly. Trade deals are normally very complex, as both sides start with conflicting regulatory regimes. Not so here – the UK and EU have been trading freely for decades, so begin “perfectly aligned”.

A formal UK-EU trade agreement may be impossible before next March. I’ve long said the chances are limited, given required ratification by 27 member states and the European Parliament. So, if the EU won’t accept ongoing tariff-free trade, we go to WTO rules. That’s a good platform to strike a trade agreement with the EU once the tensions of Brexit itself have passed, helping Britain secure a better long-term deal.

As such, May must ditch Chequers and reassert, as she did at Lancaster House, that the UK is unequivocally leaving the single market and customs union. She should publicly stress our preparations for WTO rules, not least the ongoing HMRC upgrade that means required extra “no deal” border checks are possible from January 2019.

May should state the UK won’t put up customs posts across Ireland and that technological solutions are available and adequate – as both British and Irish border authorities have said. And while declaring “no deal” on trade is fine, May must press hard for a basic “withdrawal agreement” on issues such as trade facilitation and airspace – stressing the £39 billion “divorce payment” is contingent on rapid progress.

The EU is legally obliged to extend such non-contentious administrative protocols to the UK, as it has to almost all other non-EU countries. To refuse would break EU treaties, WTO rules and make the eurocrats a global laughing stock.

The world understands trading under WTO rules. It wouldn’t understand the deliberate destruction by Brussels of UK-EU commerce, costing member states billions of euros in profit and countless jobs. And neither would EU voters.

So Chuck Chequers, Theresa! Or be replaced by someone who will.'

That is the most sensible article I have read on Brexit for months.

I've said right from rage beginning the EU would play silly buggers with us and we should have just left with no deal and no payments to them at the earliest opportunity.

Then a proper deal could have been worked out by now.

Well done Dil.

The Brexiters remind me of "The Neighbours from Hell", or the "Leader from Barry Island".

Strange how 27 countries are prepared to continue in their madness and negotiate their problems, while the more "knowledgeable" who are not getting their own way are happy to jump off the cliff.

Mind perhaps the leadership will not be paying the future bills.

You can see a Tory government blaming future NHS and Welfare cutbacks and failing economy being blamed on the EU next door.

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Liam Halligan and Farage would make fitting leaders for the "New Tory Party", with running mates Moggie and Boris.

We would see a new revitalised Littler England after NI and Scotland devolve.

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PS. what has been the cost of administration of the failing EU simple Brexit "negotiations" so far?

Mind it is other people's money, not mine comes to mine.

Daft.

A lot less than staying in the EU for a day.

And you do realise there are more countries outside the eu than in it don't you Fred so I'd rather be with the majority.

They weren't invited to the party!

But many seem to wish to join the EU and or deal with its members.

Many wish to join the €U for a hand out .. 20 of the 27 are on the take, why else do you think they are there?

If so, why are the rest so gullible?

Because unlike us they haven't been given a vote ..... YET !

Talking about gullible - anyone that follows JC must be the most gullible of all.

I bet he changes his underpants less often than he changes his mind, and rather than being like a strong oak tree is a little weak sapling.