Boris wants to bounce back.

Well like his predecessor, Boris Johnson wasn’t elected, and Jeremy Corbyn might be waiting to use this like the proverbial “Ace up one’s sleeve”.

Boris needs an Election, Jeremy has conditions, and the EU won’t grant an extension until they see satisfying movement in the UK’s Parliament.

The 31st of October…

…will just be Halloween in the UK.

Boris Johnson’s insistence for a Brexit on the 31st of October is not happening. For weeks we have heard him scream that he insists on the UK being out of the EU by no later than the 31st of October or “rather be dead in a ditch”. But he’s not dead, and he isn’t in a ditch, in fact, now the push is for an election.

Boris needs an election

Being in government but not the majority is quite possibly one of the most stagnant forms of a parliament.

And if that wasn’t enough, Boris is always under a little extra scrutiny with him being embroiled in scandals such as the speculated affair with Jennifer Arcuri or the allegations of his misuse of public funds. As well as the suggestions that all this insistence on getting Brexit done is just to help him and his precious friends get even more rich. As it stands, the Labour party acts like it is stepping in his way, but not strong enough to change the government’s intended course of action. Which is why he is pushing for a general election on the 12th of December. The reason, of course, is simple; to attempt to gain the majority once more and be able to move Brexit forward. So why hasn’t this happened yet?

Click here to read on what Boris needs for an election.

Boris would only need 1 of the following 3 :

• A motion for a general election
• A one-line bill
• A no-confidence motion

How can one of these happen, click here for our post on this

Saturday evening held our latest plot twist though as the Liberal Democrats(Lib Dems) and the Scottish National Party(SNP) have suddenly put forward terms for their support to Boris’s next motion for a general election. The terms include the EU granting the extension till January,  and if it was separated from Brexit legislation. This could spell trouble for Corbyn and the polls reflect this…

Corbyn isn’t inspiring anyone.

It can be argued that the only reason that Theresa May’s weak government wasted 3 years to deliver no actual results is because of an even weaker opposition. Jeremy Corbyn has shifted position on so many issues that some of his own party members don’t trust that he would be the right person to stand for a general election. The conservatives have been delighted by him being the leader of the opposition as they see him as a weak opponent now just as they saw him as a weak opponent in 2015 when he became the leader of the opposition.

Currently, it is whispered among some of his MPs that he is seen as a LINO, Leader In Name Only.

Between the antisemitism scandals by some of his party members and having the worst poll rating in nearly 40 years, several of his MP’s don’t want to go to an election as they feel he will be more of an anchor than a winning leader. 

A poll carried out by Opinium Research from Wednesday to Friday showed support for the conservative party had reached 40% while the labour party had only 24%. It has been pointed out that the Labour party would like to avoid an election because MPs actually fear that they will lose their seats.

So the question from many to the Labour Party is, why are you sticking with Jeremy Corbyn?

 

The State of the Union

Scotland also wants out of a union…

With the now near-certain fate of the UK leaving the EU, Scotland is resorting to calling for a second referendum that would see Scotland take independence to re-enter the European Union. 

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is to address a pro-independence rally in Glasgow on the 2nd of November. This will be the first time that she has attended such an event and has previously tweeted a video in which she states that Scotland values the EU citizens that live there and that the Scottish Government will do everything in its power to “help them stay.”

As it currently stands though, Nicola Sturgeon requires two things to bring this about.

1. She needs to force a no-confidence motion in Boris Johnson 
2. Get the support of who succeeds him to hold an independence referendum.

She also needs Brexit to actually happen to gain the momentum she needs from the public.

As it stood last week, polls showed that a desire for independence had grown to 50%.

 

“Whether you have lived here for months or many years, Scotland is your home, you are welcome here, and we want you to stay.”

Listen to First Minister @NicolaSturgeon’s message to EU citizens. pic.twitter.com/VSXlEklRle

— Scottish Government (@scotgov) October 25, 2019

In Conclusion…what do we expect to happen?

Boris Johnson could claim that his government are merely following the will of the people. However, it would seem that he is actually spearheading the dissolution of the United Kingdom. 

At the moment, there lies a stalemate as Brussells have said that they do not expect to have an answer on the Brexit extension until Tuesday. So Monday’s session could be met with one of two outcomes.

1. MPs vote to have an election in December. This will set in motion a chain of events that will have all the political parties to go into a hard-driving campaign mode, and one can expect that the media will be flooded with political messages. It will also prompt the EU to grant an extension. This is to allow the extension with enough time for a general election to take place and then get back into Parliament to either get the bill through(if the Conservatives hold government) or throw it out and or hold a second referendum (should Labour win).
2. Further delays that will force another emergency session that will probably take place on the 30th of October, where some last-ditch effort will be made to get the bill through. However, there still lies the possibility of a crash-out, some hold the belief, is the ultimate way that Boris plans to get Brexit done but not have to take any blame.

I expect he’ll say something along the lines of, “I struck a deal that Parliament wouldn’t allow through and the EU didn’t help. But I got us out of the European Union didn’t I.“

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October 27, 2019February 10, 2020 by Matthew Sciriha

The aftermath of Brexit Saturday

Super Saturday came and went, so what happened?

The last time the British Parliament sat in the House of Commons on a Saturday was 37 years ago during the Falklands War. Boris Johnson needed to convince members of the opposition to vote in favour of his deal. This is because his government don’t have the numbers to carry the bill forward on their own. On Friday he expressed, however, that he was confident that the House would support it because if they didn’t, it’s no deal, or is it?

Jeremy Corbyn was obvious on his thoughts though…

At 9.30 am (British time), Parliament convened, and Boris Johnson has been subjected to Parliaments questions and statements. Some in favour, some not so; but none as scathing as Jeremy Corbyn’s who said :

“He(Boris Johnson) has renegotiated the withrawal agreement, and made it even worse….
He has renegotiated the politcal agreement, and made that even worse”

The People’s vote March

As these debates went on inside Westminister, a protest was amassing outside parliament. Thousands of people had descended upon London to join a march to demand parliament give the British people a second referendum and to put a stop Brexit.
There are of course MPs that are in favour of a second referendum. Perhaps as an ironic twist of fate, Boris Johnson’s own brother Jo Johnson is one of them. But the number of MPs that support a second referendum is growing on both sides of the House.

Over at the #peoplesvotemarch John Bercow features heavily on signs pic.twitter.com/NYGgDLicAO

— The New European – Think Without Borders (@TheNewEuropean) October 19, 2019

John Bercow being featured heavily on many signs.

Political Satirist Kaya Mar Source

Kaya Mar, who has been very harsh in his criticism of both leaders across the house is not alone. Many protestors displayed signs of disappointment in the MPs. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is also believed to have attended the march and was walking at the front.

Chants of “EU, WE STAY, WE REALLY WANT TO STAY” amongst other chants were heard as the march proceeded from its starting point at Pall Mall. Many political groups formed alliances on the matter and were attending in support of the #PeoplesVoteMarch.

We're joining @Another_Europe's Left Bloc at the #PeoplesVoteMarch, come join us and make your voice heard! 📢📢📢 pic.twitter.com/V54jZR1pxK

— The Green Party (@TheGreenParty) October 19, 2019

…The Vote…

The drama doesn’t stop, as Speaker Bercow selected the “Lentwin Amendment” for the MPs to vote on.

Quick re-cap on the “Lentwin Amendment.”

Well basically :
The amendment says parliament will withhold approval of the prime minister’s deal until the withdrawal bill implementing Brexit has been passed.
This is, as you can imagine quite the spanner in the works for Boris. It meant that if the amendment passed, he could not get parliament to approve the deal. So even if it had unanimous support, until the Withdrawal bill had been passed, nothing could move forward. So what did that mean?

If the deal passed, Boris would have to ask for an extension.
Precisely the opposite of what he repeatedly said,
even up until the start of yesterdays Super Saturday sitting.
He would not ask for an extension.

The Results rolled out.

The Ayes to the right 322, the Nos to the left 302. So the Ayes have it.

Now, at this point, you would think the British Prime Minister would perhaps raise a white flag, and ask for an extension. As is required of him by law. Instead, he sent three letters to Brussells, but only one letter is required for an extension request.

…So what were the letters?

The first letter was the request to the President of the European Council to grant an extension of the Brexit Deadline to the 31st of January 2020 11pm.
But the letter wasn’t even signed by the prime minister.
Boris Johnson has gone even further and called all the European leaders, including Donald Tusk, just to tell them that the letter was “parliament’s letter, not my letter.”
The second letter, which was initially obtained by BuzzFeed News, was written by Sir Tim Barrow(Uk’s permanent representative to the EU). This letter was addressed to Jeppe Tanholm-Mekkelsen the secretary-general of the Council of the European Union.
The letter was essentially a covering letter for the first letter that explained how the reason that the first letter was sent was that law obliged it. Or to put it a little more bluntly; the reason the first letter was sent was that the law demanded the prime minister had to send a letter to request an extension but that the British prime minister didn’t actually mean it. Boris Johnson still trying to get away with no asking for the extension on a technicality now.
The third letter, which was once again addressed to Donald Tusk, described how the Prime Minister regretted that “parliament missed the opportunity to inject momentum into the ratification process for the new Withdrawal Agreement.”
You can say that the prime minister is trying to sidestep away from being legally required to request a Brexit extension.
Adding that he would have prefered a different outcome, he said, “The government will press ahead with ratification and introduce the necessary legislation early next week. I remain confident that we will complete that process by 31 October.”
Even now, many of us are still wondering how that would also be possible.

So what happens next?

Everything now rests on the Withdrawal Agreement passing through the House of Commons on Monday the 21st of October. Without it, parliament cannot vote on a Brexit deal.
If it doesn’t go through, it will lead to the government to have no choice but to ask for an extension. And at the rate things are going, it looks like this battle is far from over.

Conclusion

The British government must either call for a general election or for a referendum. Now keep in mind that a general election could lead to a referendum anyway, but that depends on which side of the house takes power. The government continues to lose support in the house as members of his own party continue to turn on him. One thing is sure, as Theresa May said in the house of commons yesterday, that she felt a sense of Deja Vu from the circumstances. And for once she was right on the bullseye. It can be argued that this was history repeating itself on having another prime minister that has been appointed by their party and not by the public.
So chaos in Westminister, protest on the streets of London and despite Boris’s claim to be fighting for a stronger union of the nations of the UK he is on the verge of losing one. The Scottish government is well underway to back laws to trigger a Scottish Independence vote with a second Scottish Referendum.
The Brexit storm seems to be tearing apart the UK, and it might be time for the government to start asking if this is all really worth it anymore.

Should Brexit be put on hold and a second referendum held?

October 20, 2019February 10, 2020 by Matthew Sciriha

BORIS’s one major obstacle in delivering Brexit; The Law.

Header image source

Boris tried to force the EU to choose, the Northern Irish people and all those affected by Brexit or their word.

So why was the deal he presented such a dangerous gamble? Should the EU concede to his demands, then it opens up the possibility of other countries attempting to make more significant demands on the EU as well. However, Boris would have had a credible threat had there not been the Benn Act.

On the 6th of September 2019, parliament passed a bill the would require the Prime Minister to seek an extension to the Brexit withdrawal date. Now nobody has mentioned what the penalty is if this law is broken. One could speculate though that it is probably a hefty fine which will probably be paid for by those that will gain millions out of Brexit.

Here’s the rub, Boris is set to prorogue parliament on the 8th of October with the queen’s speech to be on schedule for the 14th of October. This only brings to light how Johnson’s dangerous gamble is walking the razor’s edge whilst carrying the future of the UK.

While everyone is getting anxious, it is as if the British Prime minister wants to play a game of chicken with the EU. To see who backs down first. One thing is sure, Boris is now expected to seek the extension if no deal is reached by the 19th of October. The only other alternative is that Boris is fully aware and willing to break the law.

What could he be planning? Or rather; how does he expect things to unfold should he break that law?

Hypothetically: 

October 19th rolls by and Boris continues to refuse to request the extension. Parliament will, of course, be in an uproar and an election would be called. As we previously mentioned above, there is no known penalty should the British Prime Minister break that law and he expects to get a simple slap on the wrist. Meanwhile over those few days, the clock ticks away the days until the election and its results come in. The conservatives win government and Boris gets to be the one man that delivered Brexit.

 

Meanwhile, Brussels is saying that what has been presented is not good enough. Guy Verhofstadt, chair of the European Parliament’s Brexit steering group, said they were “absolutely not positive” about Mr Johnson’s plan, adding “It doesn’t provide the necessary safeguards for Ireland.“

 

 

As expected, the two border system has not gone down well with Ireland and Leo Varadkar is scheduled to meet with Boris Johnson. Varadker said: “he believes a Brexit deal can still be struck“. 

 

Everyone is feeling the pressure as the deadline looms and the only thing agreed is that time is running out. Meanwhile, a video displayed by the Irish times talking to the common man on the street, presented some people in Ireland are afraid that the violent days of the past could return.

 

October 6, 2019February 3, 2020 by Matthew Sciriha

Did Boris Johnson have a stroke of Genius or did he just gamble with the UK’s future in a high stakes game?

A Deal is on the table, but what happens if it fails?

29 days to Brexit and Boris Johnson has put forward a deal that is raising eyebrows. You could say that this deal forces the EU to choose between the people in Northern Ireland and their own pride. 

 

 

Jeremy Corbyn  (UK opposition party

“…It’s worse than Theresa May’s Deal. I can’t see it getting the support…..”

 

 

 

 

“…the proposals do not fully meet the agreed objectives of the backstop…” 

Leo Varadkar (Taoiseach / Irish Prime Minister)

 

 

 

 

So while he avoids allegations of an affair, Boris Johnson is proposing two 2 separate checkpoints at a distance, either side of the border and the other being at sea. We all knew it would be a complex solution for the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Chief Eu Negotiator, Michael Barnier said that while there was progress, a lot of work was still left to be done.

In an interview with Sky News, Jeremy Corbyn continued to explain that he believed it would lead to a lot of de-regulation and could even undermine the Good Friday Agreement.

The alternative is out.

Northern Ireland has seen tensions flare up as the country faces the hard border again, and talk of the New IRA is becoming a cause for alarm. The assistant chief constable Barbara Gray, who heads up the counter-terrorism response unit for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), recently told The Guardian :

“I think in the last few weeks, probably since the new cabinet, the new PM and his announcements [on the exit date] that ‘this is October 31, this is what we’re looking at’, I think generally you can almost feel a bit of anxiety rising across society.”

Gray added: “Anything that brings the border issue into question in Northern Ireland brings tension.”

Earlier this year, Journalist Lyra Mckee was murdered by activists of the New IRA during a riot she was reporting on. The New IRA gave the statement:

“On Thursday night, following an incursion on the Creggan by heavily armed British crown forces which provoked rioting, the IRA deployed our volunteers to engage. We have instructed our volunteers to take the utmost care in future when engaging the enemy, and put in place measures to help ensure this.

“In the course of attacking the enemy Lyra McKee was tragically killed while standing beside enemy forces. The IRA offer our full and sincere apologies to the partner, family and friends of Lyra McKee for her death.”

A certain choice of language used in the statement is cause for concern:

…deployed our volunteers to engage…: volunteers aren’t deployed, Soldiers are, and that is exactly what this group feels they are. But this is slowly shaping into not only the end of the UK in the European but also the end of the UK as we know it. 

In 2014 Scotland held a referendum and asked it’s citizens:
“Should Scotland be an independent country?”

Scotland answered “No.“

But since the Brexit result, this has been shifting. More and more people in Scotland are seeing the dangers of being outside of Europe and the damage it could leave on the Scottish Economy.

So is the Uk on the brink of collapse and isolation?

 

October 3, 2019October 27, 2019 by Matthew Sciriha

What is taking so long about Brexit? Or is the UK scared about the aftermath?

Source

Since the BREXIT referendum of the 23rd of June 2016 and today, it’s been 2 years 10 months and 15 days. By the time that the final date on the 31st of October comes, and the UK leaves, it will be over 3 years of exhausting negotiations between two parties which have left the British public, waiting and disappointed.

But is Brexit limited to just the UK?

But the UK is not the only country to have had a growing anti-EU movement. The two others who were rumoured to have started talking about leaving were Sweeden and the Netherlands.

Source

The Sweedish Democrats leader Jimmie Åkesson, who held an anti-Eu sentiment has now changed this to :

 

“Cooperation is needed to achieve results, and it is through collaboration that opportunities for reforming the EU from the inside are improved,” he wrote, adding that the Sweden Democrats are now a part of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group within the European Parliament and that it has established good relationships with its “Nordic friends in the Danish People’s Party and the True Finns”.

Source

However, while the world focused on the UK in the run-up to 2016 referendum, a Dutch pole by polling firm EenVandaag(source) revealed that at the height of the run-up to the 23rd of June, the popular opinion with a 3% lead, was to leave the EU. Since then, the popular vote returned the popular belief to the remain side; with a 56% lead.

But why?

Those within the EU have been given a cold shower of a wake-up call, on the benefits of the EU; not to mention the costs of leaving. This doesn’t mean that the process is easy for the EU member states, Jean Claude Juncker has been reported to describe it as a tragic failure but has also, to put it frankly, thrown David Cameron under the bus.

but can it be stopped?

The European Court has ruled that with if a democratic resolution is achieved in the British parliament to cancel Brexit or decided upon via a referendum, then the whole process can be stopped.

Source

Can this happen?

maybe…

If the British parliament cannot agree on the deal by the 22nd of May, then the UK must take part in the European elections. People are also expecting Theresa May will be forced to resign as MP’s continue to leave her side after she made the following speech and blamed the delay of Brexit on Parliament.

So now it seems the only way that the UK can hope to move to a U-turn out of article 50 will probably require two options:

1. Theresa is forced to stand down as Prime Minister
2. For Nigel Farage to repeat the same anti-EU message.

Wait, number 2 doesn’t sound quite right.

Hear me out.

As the Brexit party drives forward, so have the other parties started to speak. This time people who were silently leaning to remain will make their opinions heard to avoid Nigel Farage being successful again, if possible, loud enough to force another referendum to remain.

So, is the British Parliament just trying to buy more time for democracy or to try and restore a remain situation?

Do you think the UK can back out of this crisis? Or will Brexit go-ahead?

 

May 10, 2019October 6, 2019 by Matthew Sciriha

What do you think about the rise of the far-right in Europe?

Fans of Czech far-right ‘Freedom and Direct Democracy’ party attend a rally during a conference of the Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF) group in the European Parliament, on April 25, 2019, in Prague. Source

When we hear of the far-right in the same sentence as Europe, we picture Matteo Salvini or Marine Le Pen; we certainly don’t need to approach a Scandinavian country like Sweden, or should we?

A recent election in Sweeden nearly saw a far-right party with roots in neo-nazism take power. While this never came to pass, the threat of this was real.

It’s not just Sweeden though…

 

Far-right movements with anti-immigration messages are on the rise all over Europe. Many of the countries are also countries who took in a lot of asylum seekers during the Syrian Crisis.

Spain –

Vox Barcelona rally Source

 

For the first time since the death of Franco Francisco in 1975, a far-right party has seats in parliament. For the first time, political party VOX has 24 seats in the Spanish Senate.

 

 

Finland –

Jussi Halla-aho leader of the True Finns Party Source

 

The social democrat party defeats the right wind party, the True Finns, by only 0.25%. While relief was a general sentiment, the concern that the gap was so tremendously small and that ultra-nationalists were so close to a victory was eye-opening.

 

 

Hungary

Hungarian ultra-nationalists  Source

 

Whose Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, recently won his third term on a campaign that weighed heavily on the subject of immigration. He believes that Europe is “being invaded” and he is adamant that he won’t let the same happen to Hungary

 

 

Britain – 

Nigel Farage with his newly formed Brexit Party Source

 

The well known Pro-Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage with a new Brexit Party. Having one of its core foundations firmly set to get the UK out of the EU.

But why the rise of far-right sentiment in Europe? Many supporters of these far-right groups like to highlight three problems they blame on mass immigration.
Crime Loss of Identity Economic Burden

Refugees who did not live in communities dominated by asylum seekers like themselves, assimilated well into the host culture, became integral parts of their communities and formed strong friendships with locals. Regrettably, many countries who took in a large volume of asylum seekers and refugees decided to house them all together in the hope of them being more comfortable if they had communities of similar heritage or backgrounds. This strategy, however, has seen ghettos forming and the crime rates are spiralling out of control.

Countries who advocated inclusion are now seeing a rise of hard nationalism at an alarming rate.

Some European citizens, however, are advocating that perhaps, the reason for the sharp increase in those who support anti-immigration policies are not due to racist reasons but for economic ones.

It has been argued that countries who have taken in a large volume of asylum seekers, now have a more substantial burden on the social welfare schemes.

Is Europe concerned about this rise in hard nationalistic sentiment amongst its citizens?
Why are more people showing support for nationalistic policies in a European Climate?
Can it be that these supporters feel that their government has abandoned them?

May 4, 2019May 4, 2019 by Matthew Sciriha

Gender quotas… Well-intentioned, but illogical.

“Most of the evil in this world is done by people with good intentions.” 

                                                                                       ― T.S. Eliot

When a progressive idea has to be enforced by the rule of law, you have a clear indication that you are faced with a destructive communal problem.

…and that’s exactly what imposed gender quotas are. 

While I’m all for equal opportunity, I don’t think that gender quotas are. I will be the first person to say that anyone can try to achieve a dream or goal and I would be the first to applaud it…but this is about choosing the best person for the job.

When it comes to performance in a career, a regular job or even trying to gain recognition for your passion; people expect a lot. It’s that simple… Some people scream that’s not fair, but I think that it is. Anyone can at the very least endeavor, to take on a task with the right combination of guidance, experience and hard work (and let’s be honest a good bit of luck at the right time), anyone can achieve any realistic goal they pursue. 

Sometimes, this leads to certain imbalances in certain work environments and this is to be expected. Society itself chooses its preferred opinion on various matters..much like politics. This is reflected also in various industry studies where men were more likely to choose certain career paths than women while women themselves held dominion over other industries.

Has this been affected differently across various cultures?

Of course.

Does that mean we can enforce a U-turn? 

Absolutely not.

So what can we do?

Well, the thing is this… 

Let’s think of a job(or whatever requirement for some sort of earning) environment. Now let’s think of the team. If you want your team to win, then you need the right teammates. Anyone who has the capacity for rational thought and/or is leading a team understands that the package in which the right teammate comes in; is irrelevant…it’s the performance that counts.

It’s also important to point out that in reality, you can in the interest of equality quotas even continue to subdivide people into so many more groups that it is a short and fast shortcut to ridiculous. Instead of trying to impose a quota, the positive attitude towards working towards a dream needs to be taught from an early age onward. 

I’m not talking about unrealistic expectations here, but if people can be instilled with the courage to attempt regular baby steps towards achieving a goal…then society will start to experience many more winners, a lot fewer whiners. 

 

May 16, 2018October 6, 2019 by Matthew Sciriha