BREXIT

I don't hate the EU at all. And if you think the EU have any respect for the poorest members of society, I suggest you have a look at what their policies have done to those very people in Greece. Who do you think feels the brunt of their enforced austerity and the firesale of all public services to private oligarchs? I'll give you a clue - it isn't well-off Greeks.

Just like the Tories, when there is a choice to be made regarding where government belt-tightening lands, their policies always hurt the poorest the most. 

And yet you feel comfortable imposing austerity on the British people for a generation or more through Brexit. And don’t kid yourself it won’t be the poorest bearing the brunt of the economic carnage.

Blimey. Some sense in here amongst the detritus but what a way to miss the mark. All major economists (or the Elite, or EU apologists or whatever I’m sure you’ll want to call them) accept that leaving the EU will have huge economic ramifications for the UK. This is not Project Fear. There are ways to mitigate these effects but that means staying in both the customs union and single market. Problem if we leave those is who do we trade with? Trade, you know, that thing that drives economic growth and if you join the dots, and if it starts to shrink, is linked with austerity and homelessness and food banks etc etc. The UK will be desperate for trade so chances are Donny can add chlorinated chicken, salad laced with e.coli to the platter of shit poor people will continue to have to deal with outside of the single market.

Voting Leave has just increased the likelihood of austerity being far more severe than it has been previously and lasting far longer than the previous 2008 crash unfortunately. Throw in a possible return of The Troubles and an already crumbling NHS with staff shortages and you’ll see what an emphatic victory for the left and for those already barely coping.

Those impact assessments commissioned by Parliament make grim reading. Still, at least that smug grin will be wiped off Nick Clegg’s face.

It’s a decent point that Brexit has been a catalyst for some positive change, including a more galvanised left. If Remain had won, we’d still have Cameron and Osborne with their slick but cruel austerity measures that a lot of people accepted under the believe that they inherited a mess from Labour.

I’ve always said if Brexit can force a change of government, it may be a necessary evil. I’m not that bothered about Brexit per se. I’m dismayed at the amount of lies and xenophobia that’s come out of it, but EU membership is not high on my list of priorities. The way I see it, Europe is basically a Conservative Party issue that they’ve squabbled about for decades, and rather than sort it out themselves, they’ve fobbed it off on the public, misinformed them and then used the guise of ‘the will of the people’ to execute it in their usual ham-fisted and self-absorbed way.

Heh, and that's why Brexit divides the country so much. I watched Question Time last night and I thought Tim Martin was an absolute idiot who spouted impossible beliefs and fantasies which do not have any basis in fact at all. It was eerily reminiscent of listening to Jon McCarthy explaining how we dominated the game and were unlucky to lose, despite the fact that we didn't have a shot on goal all match.

As regards fishing, I believe a no deal Brexit would destroy fishing in this country. We export 75% of the fish we catch. Europe love our fish, and our frictionless trade arrangement with the EU means it can be off the boat in Whitstable and in a restaurant in Paris in a matter of hours. When that fish has to sit for a day in a lorry parked on the M26 before going through customs, it will rapidly lose it's appeal. Again, there's plenty of researched fact on it EU trade is 'key' to success of UK fish industry (tried to find one form a "Brexit Neutral" source, but there's no shortage of information).

It's true of course, that English fishermen get a pretty crap deal from the EU currently, but ironically, that's mainly the fault of Nigel Farage.
Nigel Farage is no fisherman’s friend: he’s been ignoring them for years

And so frustrated about people trotting off the line "control of our borders". Nothing makes me angrier than the fact the my daughter's are going to lose their right to freedom of movement, I can't believe the way May talks about taking away our rights as some sort of victory. Brilliant, we will win the right to not be able to work in 27 countries and need to apply for a visa to go on a holiday in Spain.

And finally, the Bank of England say that a no deal Brexit will be financially catastrophic for the UK. The treasury say a no deal Brexit will be financially catastrophic for the UK. Jacob Rees-Mogg's Hedge Fund says (to it's customers) that a no deal Brexit will be financially catastrophic. The bloke who runs Weatherspoons (who, lets not forget, is still sporting a mullet in 2018) says we will save billions. 

Pick your side folks.

You know, I'm almost at a point where I want a no deal Brexit, because as much as I think it will be absolutely catastrophic, I'm just so arsed off with the whole thing now and I think that this is the only way it will end.

If we don't Brexit for whatever reason, the whole "will of the people" crew will be up in arms and the fall out will go on for years. Likewise, if we go for May's deal, I just see both sides being unhappy with it and again, the arguments will just carry on.

If we do a no deal Brexit, the hardcore Brexiters will be happy and the Remainers will just have to live with it. Then it will go one of two ways. If, as I suspect, it goes properly tits up then in two years time we can say we tried, we can all see it was catastrophic, lets get back in.

However, if I'm wrong, and it leads to a golden age for the UK, then I for one will be delighted and will be happy to buy all my Brexit friends a pint and say "fair play boys, you were right I was wrong, isn't life great."

Again, just to clarify, I think a no deal Brexit will be horrendously apocalyptically awful (can't be bothered explaining why any more). I just think it may be the only way to put Brexit behind us in the next couple of years and concentrate on education, health, transport etc etc etc again.

Yep he would know a thing or two. Think about his demographic. He’s desperate to shrink the economy. That is all. Therefore people come out of swanky wine bars and restaurants and drink in Wethers. Same reason the fella who owns Butlins ploughed £500K into Vote Leve. Make people poorer so they can’t afford to go abroad anymore? Bingo.

What upsets me is that these lying bastards are stealing out of everyone’s pockets and hardly anyone seems to notice/care.

And what will no deal do to food prices? Send them sky high? Presumably another one of your genius ploys to end starvation, food banks and austerity?

What deal are you in favour of then? Norway? No seat at the table. Canada plus? Border in Northern Ireland. May’s deal? No seat and £100 billion wiped off the economy in 10 years.

Brexit in any form is a gun at our head that’s the point I’m trying to make. Whereas you seem to sneer at Remainers as some kind of Shoreditch by product who have no understanding of working class struggles. Believe me, it is all bad for the working class.

As a Socialist, what I dont get is why Labour Leave, would want to get in bed with the likes of Farage and Tommy Robinson? Because like it or not you have empowered a very damaging form of English Nationalism.

‘Successful businessmen’ are the absolute last people we should be listening to political guidance from in my opinion.

Everything Tim Martin argues is based on how it affects his particular business. It speaks volumes that the only aspect of Brexit he doesn’t like is the effect it will have on immigration, because he’s aware that low-paid immigrants are crucial to his business.

Indeed, Martin is probably aware that Brexit will make the poor poorer, but they’ll still want to get hammered and his discount pubs will help them do it.

Don’t necessarily agree with all of this, but it’s worth watching.

Meanwhile the BBC have scrapped their plans for a televised debate on Sunday in a tremendous victory for impartiality.

ITV is still interested in hosting the debate, meaning Mayhem has the difficult decision of either accepting JC's preferred format or appearing to run away from a debate that she proposed, lol.