Tell that to every sport in history.

It's not, it's a satirical take on the clusterfuck that is Brexit in a Trials fashion, there are no winners.

I'm a long way from being an expert here, but I really don't see how any deal on the Irish border can simultaneously be acceptable to the Republic, the press / Hard Brexitish MPs, and the DUP. Someone is going get pissed off, which will either mean talks stalling, or there being a pretty good chance of the government collapsing.

I'm a long way from being an expert here, but I really don't see how any deal on the Irish border can simultaneously be acceptable to the Republic, the press / Hard Brexitish MPs, and the DUP. Someone is going get pissed off, which will either mean talks stalling, or there being a pretty good chance of the government collapsing.

It's simply amazing how ill thought out and half arsed this whole thing is, and I'm amazed on a daily basis that presins whom I thought vaguely competent can continue down this car crash of a path. It, surely, must end soon.

Necessity
Yes, long overdue. Should have had one over Lisbon, frankly. For too long the EU has been an elitist project, and the public tend to be excluded and alienated from the communnity. I think the public are smart enough to decide on whether they are happy with the set-up or if we should bid a fond adieu.

I'm a long way from being an expert here, but I really don't see how any deal on the Irish border can simultaneously be acceptable to the Republic, the press / Hard Brexitish MPs, and the DUP. Someone is going get pissed off, which will either mean talks stalling, or there being a pretty good chance of the government collapsing.

It does seem to be an entirely unfixable problem. No customs union means a hard border, and Irish/Norn Irish politics can't accept a hard border.

And the government seem to be trying to ignore it.

BREAKING: UK will concede that there will be no "regulatory divergence" on the island of Ireland on the single market and customs union, acc to a draft text seen by @rtenews

European editor for RTE, the Irish national broadcaster (and presumably trustworthy):
https://twitter.com/tconnellyRTE/status ... 5467986944

BREAKING: UK will concede that there will be no "regulatory divergence" on the island of Ireland on the single market and customs union, acc to a draft text seen by @rtenews

— Tony Connelly (@tconnellyRTE) December 4, 2017

So a hard border between NI and the rUK, if true. Good luck getting the DUP to swallow that.

Cue Scotland and every other bit of the UK that was a Remain majority asking for the same thing.

Now it is with that very last concession that the PM is taking the political risk of her life, because in that concession she is in effect saying that a trade deal for the whole UK will also be based on a promise of close regulatory alignment between our country and the EU, in perpetuity.

That permanent regulatory convergence between the UK and EU is her preferred route, because without it her government would collapse: Northern Ireland’s DUP MPs, which are sustaining the Tories in office, have made it crystal clear that they will not accept a separate regulatory set-up for Northern Ireland from that prevailing in the UK as a whole.

But here is what I assume will be scaring the PM witless (it scares me, just as a bystander). She is signing up for close regulatory alignment between the UK and EU without ever having secured agreement for that from the cabinet.

And for Johnson, Gove and most of the other more ardent Brexiteers, in and out of the Cabinet, almost the whole point of leaving the EU was for the UK to “take back control” of setting rules and regulations for British businesses.

Two days later the animals were called together for a special meeting in the barn. They were struck dumb with surprise when Napoleon announced that he had sold the pile of timber to Frederick. Tomorrow Frederick's wagons would arrive and begin carting it away. Throughout the whole period of his seeming friendship with Pilkington, Napoleon had really been in secret agreement with Frederick.

All relations with Foxwood had been broken off; insulting messages had been sent to Pilkington. The pigeons had been told to avoid Pinchfield Farm and to alter their slogan from "Death to Frederick" to "Death to Pilkington." At the same time Napoleon assured the animals that the stories of an impending attack on Animal Farm were completely untrue, and that the tales about Frederick's cruelty to his own animals had been greatly exaggerated. All these rumours had probably originated with Snowball and his agents. It now appeared that Snowball was not, after all, hiding on Pinchfield Farm, and in fact had never been there in his life: he was living–in considerable luxury, so it was said–at Foxwood, and had in reality been a pensioner of Pilkington for years past.
The pigs were in ecstasies over Napoleon's cunning. By seeming to be friendly with Pilkington he had forced Frederick to raise his price by twelve pounds. But the superior quality of Napoleon's mind, said Squealer, was shown in the fact that he trusted nobody, not even Frederick. Frederick had wanted to pay for the timber with something called a cheque, which, it seemed, was a piece of paper with a promise to pay written upon it. But Napoleon was too clever for him. He had demanded payment in real five-pound notes, which were to be handed over before the timber was removed. Already Frederick had paid up; and the sum he had paid was just enough to buy the machinery for the windmill.

It reminds me of this

It would be quite something if the offer put forward by the UK Government is accepted by the EU, but rejected by the UK Government.

... tactical porn ....

...tactical porn...

Is that one with camo pants?

edit: damn you, Trousers!

https://twitter.com/spleenal/status/937662411783462913

Confidence early on Monday that an agreement was within reach came to nothing when, during a working lunch with the European commission president, Jean Claude Juncker, May was forced to pause discussions to take a call from Arlene Foster.

The unionist leader, whose party currently provides the Tories with a working majority in the Commons, told the British prime minister that she could not support Downing Street’s planned commitment to keep Northern Ireland aligned with EU laws.

In London, Tory Brexiters, including Iain Duncan Smith and Jacob Rees-Mogg, told the Brexit minister Steve Baker, and the prime minister’s chief of staff, Gavin Barwell, that they were also rallying behind the DUP’s stance.

Lord Trimble, a former first minister of Northern Ireland told the Guardian said Tory MPs at the meeting had shown “unanimous backing for opposition to the draft proposal he said was “minted in Dublin”.

The development raises fresh questions about May’s ability to deliver on any deal she proposes to the 27 member states, and has filled diplomats in Brussels with a deep foreboding for future talks, should they develop in the new year to take in the future relationship.

Diplomats were waiting for two hours in a negotiating room at the Council of Ministers headquarters, for a meeting that had been planned to follow the Juncker-May lunch. When it became clear the two sides could not get an agreement, the officials were sent home.

Yes, that was what I just saw on the news... fucking embarrassment

I'm so impressed that the opposition party are taking so many shots at this massive open goal and about to bring the government down.

Oh, sorry. Wrong timeline.