[Mezla PigDog]

I just wrote to my MP for the first time ever. I requested that in the event of a parliamentary vote he vote against triggering Article 50. My reasoning for this is that my county council area within which his constituency sits voted to remain in the EU by 42,234 to 35,438 so I don't think he has a mandate to vote in favour of anything that helps us leave. Obviously the stats don't narrow down exactly what the constituency voted so he'll weasel his way around it especially as he is the eurosceptic Tory MP Peter Lilley. But it's nice to write! I'm going to do it again when the murk becomes a bit more clear.


If all MPs voted according to the majority in their constituency then I assume we would still leave the EU but I feel like when they are all saying "the people have spoken" then I want my vote to be counted appropriately! Unfortunately he won't fear for his seat at the next election by voting against the local majority because the Remain vote will be mostly split between Lib, Lab and Green so it would probably be political suicide for him to vote against the government but I do feel like it's against the spirit of democracy to do otherwise as it wasn't a party political referendum.

So there you are. I wonder if I'll get a reply!

Edit - how the fuck did my life come to writing to my MP on a Friday night??????

This post has been edited by Mezla PigDog: 11 November 2016 - 06:53 PM

[Gorefest]

Well, I guess it still is a form of partying. Political partying!

You know, because Friday night is usually for parties but there are also political par.....


I'll get my coat.

This post has been edited by Gorefest: 11 November 2016 - 10:01 PM

[Mezla PigDog]

His assistant wants my address! Oo-er.

[Morgoth]

Ooh, you have some many options to truly terrify the man.

[Gorefest]

Beats Tinder.

[Khellendros]

The new edition of the game Football Manager is now out. You may have heard that it has implemented a 'Brexit' twist with one of I think three different situations developing after you've played for around 3 game years, each having a different impact on British clubs' ability to buy or attract foreign players (basically, the makers of the game have thought more about Brexit than the government).

Well, players are encountering it now and a lot aren't happy:

http://www.kotaku.co...ll-manager-2017

The metacritic user reviews are generally amusing to read.

[Tiste Simeon]

That's genuinely hilarious...

[Darkwatch]

Tiste Simeon, on 06 November 2016 - 08:39 PM, said:

Farage will stick around, is my guess. I know he's not meant to but he sticks around like a bad smell...

There's rumours going around that he'll emigrate to the U.S. I emphasise rumours because who knows, but...
If he doesn't renounce his British citizenship and maintains an address in England does he get to continue to be an MEP? Still absorbing as much salary as possible while he closes the gap to retirement age until Article 50 is triggered +2 years.
Also does that mean he can go back to the UK every now and then to use the NHS for somethings to avoid using the US system and drawing UK old age pension (if you guys have it) avoiding the medicare gutting under Ryan in the U.S.?

[Mezla PigDog]

Yes he would keep his state pension and access to the NHS. It's a price worth paying for getting rid though. Shame it never worked out for Piers Morgan.

[Khellendros]

So the Richmond Park by-election - in which I voted - results are currently being counted. For those unaware of what's going on, the Conservative MP, Zac Goldsmith (who unsuccessfully ran for London Mayor a few months back, with his main platform being that Sadiq Khan, who won, probably loves terrorism because, you know, Muslim), stood down from the seat (where he enjoyed an enormous 23,000 majority) because he had made a promise years ago to do so if his party backed the expansion of Heathrow airport (which is nearby).

A promise which, by the way, he admitted he regretted making while he was campaigning for Mayor. Once he quit, he immediately announced he would run for the vacant seat as an independent. The Conservatives decided to field no official candidate and basically openly backed Goldsmith, so he was running again as the Tory candidate in all but name. He was also endorsed by UKIP, who also haven't fielded a candidate. On the other side, the Greens decided not to stand and endorsed the Liberal Democrat candidate.

Why was he endorsed by UKIP? Why was the Lib Dem candidate endorsed by the Green Party? Well, this is where Brexit comes in. Goldsmith is a prominent pro-Brexit supporter. The catch is, his constituency is most definitely not (Richmond voted 70% remain). So the question became, would this by-election reflect local concerns about Heathrow, or local concerns about Brexit and Goldsmith's stance on it?

The Lib Dems have been campaigning with all their might in Richmond (this used to be a Lib Dem seat until 2010), urging residents to elect someone who will be fully representative of their concerns (all the candidates are anti-Heathrow expansion) and, oh yeah, not run hate-filled, divisive campaigns.

So there's been a lot of nudging toward tactical voting from the various parties, and yes, I did tactically vote Lib Dem even though I'm a Labour supporter (they have no chance of winning in Richmond). Still, a 23,000 majority is a lot to make up, so the best I hoped for was reducing Goldsmith's margin to the low thousands.

But...it's just been announced, the Lib Dems have won!!! By around 2,000 votes.

For me personally, this wasn't so much about Brexit or Heathrow. Richmond is very atypical, clearly, in terms of the Brexit referendum votes. So the result here does not by any means indicate some massive turnaround in opinion. Instead, for me this was purely about getting rid of at least one Tory MP.

And who knows eh, maybe this is the way to go - stand a single progressive candidate in every Tory-held seat***



***Yes, Labour did have a candidate in Richmond, but they may as well have not bothered.

[Mezla PigDog]

Khellendros, on 02 December 2016 - 02:11 AM, said:

And who knows eh, maybe this is the way to go - stand a single progressive candidate in every Tory-held seat***

Labour will never get in on it. They're too tribal. If the Lib Dems and Greens go for it then I think I'm in as a progressive alliance is probably better in the long term than even best case scenario Corbyn.

I always think Zac Goldsmith speaks like the Moon in The Mighty Boosh.

[Gorefest]

I did a really stupid thing last night. I read a Guardian article which said that there was an insane backlog in processing of permanent recidency requests from EU citizens in the UK post-referendum. As I am one of those, it obviously piqued my interest and I am now rather worried as I haven't even bothered to make a request yet because I thought my specific case (lived in the UK for over 10 years, married to an English woman, own a property and pay a mortgage, paid my taxes since day 1 and never drew a penny from social services) would mean I didn't have much to worry about. But now I feel that I'm royally fucked.

That wasn't the really stupid thing though. No, I got this crazy thought in my head which went something like: I wonder how a typical Daily Mail reader would respond to EU citizens beying 'held hostage' by the UK government as a bargaining chip with the EU? How will they feel about the distress and the anxiety that this is causing a lot of their foreign neighbours, colleagues and acquaintances? So, yes, I went to the DM website and looked at the comments section. Fuck me.



England warrior, Outer London
And the government still turn a blind eye, before full brexit from the despicable EU, every single EU citizen will come here to claim their stake, in benefits



Dammedannoyed, South of England
Instead of acting straight away and preventing more EU nationals coming here, we have sat around for 5 months and achieved nothing. Our new government have talked and talked and talked, no actions no new preventative legislation to halt the now massive influx. WE ARE DROWNING IN PEOPLE, so for god sake do something!!!!!



Park Lane, London
Don't grant residency... the country is full. Simple.



BRITISH, EXETER
If Theresa May takes any longer we shall be over run by immigrants. Our Hospitals and Schools will be full and our roads will be cramed full and Police will not be able to cope.



Tynemouth Geordie., The Real World
This is the direct result of giving everyone who comes in from abroad circa £21,000 of taxpayers money each year, plus free homes and NHS care.. STOP the BENEFITS and STOP mass immigration.

(WTF? I never got any of that? Did I miss out?)




jill2welling, london
And when they get here they start breeding like locusts. More spawn, more benefits.



northern pommy, sunderland
There should be ABSOLUTELEY NOBODY from the EU given residency from the date of the referendum .VISAS only .Why would you give residency to these people when the people voted OUT and the main issue was immigration .Our government is being to look even more STUPID AND WEAK .



persephone, bristol
EU nationals, just go. The people are sovereign and if May can't do the job, the next majority in Parliament will be UKIP or the far right. Either way, your time here is up.



BertGate, Newcastle
Of course they want to come. How many other countries do you get tax credits, social housing, benefits, free health care, schooling and not pay a penny into the system. It about time we got our own 2 million unemployed back to work before we allowed the unskilled in.





LucidLucinda, Kensington
We've tried to be adult and decent about this by voicing our opinions at the ballot box. Now we need to take more direct action by making these people's lives incredibly uncomfortable here so that words spread that they and their kinsman are no longer welcome nor wanted.



Etc etc etc...

[champ]

Is the UK holding EU citizens to "hostage" or the EU holding UK citizens "hostage"?

http://www.politico....nion-residence/

[Gorefest]

The UK is holding EU citizens hostage.

The UK is the party that voted to leave. None of the non-nationalised EU residents in the UK were allowed to vote. After the Brexit vote, there were concerns what this choice (made by the UK, not the EU) would mean for the rights and living situation of British citizens living in the EU. May and her party then basically turned around to the EU and told them in no uncertain terms that if any future treaty would have an impact on British expats, this would reflect back on EU nationals living in the UK (again, EU nationals who never had a vote and an EU who never wanted the UK to leave in the first place). All that Merkel is saying is that she is not making any formal promises until the UK decides to start formal negotiations, which is sensible as the EU has no clue whatsoever about what the UK is going to propose as a Brexit strategy. Heck, even the UK government itself or anyone living in the UK has got any clue what the UK actually wants for a Brexit deal. But using EU citizens as a bargaining chip like Teresa May is doing to get a more favourable deal is sickening.

This post has been edited by Gorefest: 02 December 2016 - 03:33 PM

[Mezla PigDog]

If the Daily Mail commenters got what they wanted so many of our public services would cease to work immediately. How many non-UK EU nationals work in the NHS or public transport or service industry. Nevermind professionals in other work. I don't get how people carry around so much anger and hate all the time without dropping down dead. Anyway, I'm telling you what you already know. It's just despairing rambling.

I read the same article. Better get saving your utility bills Gorefest!

[champ]

Gorefest, on 02 December 2016 - 03:32 PM, said:

The UK is holding EU citizens hostage.

The UK is the party that voted to leave. None of the non-nationalised EU residents in the UK were allowed to vote. After the Brexit vote, there were concerns what this choice (made by the UK, not the EU) would mean for the rights and living situation of British citizens living in the EU. May and her party then basically turned around to the EU and told them in no uncertain terms that if any future treaty would have an impact on British expats, this would reflect back on EU nationals living in the UK (again, EU nationals who never had a vote and an EU who never wanted the UK to leave in the first place). All that Merkel is saying is that she is not making any formal promises until the UK decides to start formal negotiations, which is sensible as the EU has no clue whatsoever about what the UK is going to propose as a Brexit strategy. Heck, even the UK government itself or anyone living in the UK has got any clue what the UK actually wants for a Brexit deal. But using EU citizens as a bargaining chip like Teresa May is doing to get a more favourable deal is sickening.

Well put, thanks.

And the Daily Mail is just a cesspit, similar to the Express, total car crash newspapers.

[Tiste Simeon]

The Daily Mail is awful. Doesn't mean a thing. An echo box for racists and idiots.

[Mezla PigDog]

I had a thought that really cheered me up the other day. I don't know anyone under 50 who reads the mail (apart from the mail online sidebar of shame but that's different....). That means that barring misfortune the fuckers will all die before me and it has to die out.

Now nobody ruin that warm fuzzy feeling by saying it will be replaced with Breitbart.

[Gorefest]

Another great thing about the Daily Mail: without it we would be forever bereft of Dave Gorman's "found poems".

http://youtu.be/jTZmDPhJ5NM

This post has been edited by Gorefest: 02 December 2016 - 09:30 PM

[Tiste Simeon]

Gorefest, on 02 December 2016 - 09:24 PM, said:

Another great thing about the Daily Mail: without it we would be forever bereft of Dave Gorman's "found poems".

http://youtu.be/jTZmDPhJ5NM

Oh wow, that was superb.