Hey-ho, it's off to the races! The runners and riders for the Tory Party Classic are forming up and you will never see a bigger collection of monstrous and deluded egos, er, outside of the candidates' list for the Democratic Party, of course! I have lost count of the number of hopeless dreamers who have rushed forward to offer their names. I have never heard of most of them. Why do they do it? Well, as W. C. Fields never said, but should have, "You'll never go broke over-estimating the egos of politicians!"
Peter Hitchens makes uncomfortable reading: So no change there then! His column in today's Mail begins thus:
If your car breaks down and won’t go, do you think you will solve the problem by giving it a new coat of paint? Not unless you are very stupid. So why does anyone think that ditching Theresa May and replacing her with Al ‘Boris’ Johnson will make any important difference?
If you are a Tory party supporter, have a large whiskey to hand when you read him!
'MDK' obviously needs me: Of course, I am referring to My Darling Keeley Hawes who, er, 'smote' me when I first saw her in an early series of "Line of Duty" during which, alas, she was shot dead!
She isn't a classic beauty but there is just something about her that 'presses my buttons', so to speak! Looking at that photo, it may be the way her upper lip very slightly protrudes over her lower lip which gives her an air of vulnerability. Anyway, according to The Mail, she has confessed to suffering with frequent depression. The solution, 'My Darling Keeley', is only a 'phone call away! (Er, not a word to the 'Memsahib', chaps!)
There's trouble brewin' on them thar prairies: Greenies vs. cowboys, according to The Telegraph which reports that some 'yuuuuuuge' conservation group wants to buy 'zillions' of acres of prairieland in Montana and re-introduce native animals to the area, such as bison, elk and prairie dogs. The cowboys are not amused because they say it will put them out of business. See y'all soon down at the 'OK corral'!
Oh no, I'm in love again! This time the lucky lady is Ms. Madeleine Kearns and I needs must tread carefully because she hails from Glasgow - or 'Glesga', as our friend Jimmy would have it! - although she is now based 'over there' and is learning journalism at The National Review Institute, an excellent choice. She has written a review of two feminised Shakespeare productions in New York and they are shrewd and perceptive. Go, girl, go!
Where's that damned crafty Frenchman hiding? No, no, not 'mini-Macron', I mean Talleyrand. I came across his name the other day when I was up here cruising the net, ooops, sorry, I mean tidying my attic, of course! Anyway, his name popped up somewhere and as I have a weakness for wily statesmen, which is why I am enjoying Thomas Cromwell's life so much, it reminded me that I had an excellent biography of Talleyrand - somewhere! Can I find it? Can I hell!
(Sir) Lewis wins again! What an incredible driver he is! Surely now, the greatest of them all. Mind you, Monaco has to be the most boring race of the season. It is virtually impossible to overtake so that makes the practice sessions more interesting and exciting than the race! Even so, how those guys thread their cars through the narrow, twisty streets is quite incredible.
No more rumbles
Does Keeley have a body, or have the Jihadis been at her?
Posted by: Whyaxye | Sunday, 26 May 2019 at 11:26
I think not for the first time Hitchens has missed the point completely.
A leaver PM can sack all the treacherous bastards who connived the Selmayr-Robbins treaty for a start, and can tell the Euros that we are going to leave on October 29th or whenever the heck it is, and if they want to continue to sell their overpriced cars and overpriced food to us after that date we are open to suggestions.
It really isn't that hard, or wouldn't be if a determined leaver had been in charge from the start.
Posted by: Jack the dog | Sunday, 26 May 2019 at 12:39
Ms Kearns' review should "trigger" snowflakes and their low end faculty teachers to derision. "If something is left wanting — like female representation, for instance — then either amend it (if you’re up to it; and with Shakespeare, you’re probably not) or write a different play. These supposed penumbras have the potential to collapse the genius of the entire project."
That quote is a shot across the bow of PC culture.
Posted by: Whitewall | Sunday, 26 May 2019 at 13:19
David, since there has been much talk about gender switching in literature as well as your obvious "loose nature" when it comes to female writers...it was Count Talleyrand that came to me early this am:
"In order to avoid being called a flirt, she (he) always yielded easily."
Gotcha!
Posted by: Whitewall | Sunday, 26 May 2019 at 14:17
If she's not reading the DT, I hope she's reading the Indie ...
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/theresa-may-no-deal-brexit-law-eu-leave-boris-johnson-dominic-raab-a8929791.html
If a Brextremist like BoJo or Raab gets the job they'll get nothing through parliament.
Would they dare to evoke prorogation at or near 31st October so as to get No-deal by default without parliament's consent?
Or will Teflon in her dying moments between now and 7th June throw a stick in the spokes of the No-deal bandwagon by proposing a motion making rejection of No-deal binding on the government (the current bill on the statute is not binding on the government)?
Or, after her passing away, will parliament call a motion of no confidence in the future leader's government to avoid No-deal?
This wonderful constitution of Blighty's that's so superior to the EU's sees the next PM chosen by a political party's membership, just like Lenin's Bolsheviks. Effectively Blighty is a 5 year one party state.
Yet if Juncker gets the boot it's the elected representatives of the 28 states that choose the next prez.
Just remind me: Which constitution is the more "democratic"?
SoD
Posted by: Loz | Sunday, 26 May 2019 at 14:35
From your beloved Guardian:
"Following the second day of debate over Theresa May’s Brexit bill in the House of Commons, 498 MPs have voted to give the government authority to invoke article 50 [to leave the EU], while 114 voted against."
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/01/full-list-mps-voted-against-brexit-bill
So we shall see what we shall see and then find the truth of the matter!
Posted by: David Duff | Sunday, 26 May 2019 at 14:46
Also from the Graun ...
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/mar/13/mps-reject-no-deal-brexit-by-majority-of-four
Parliament rejected no-deal Brexit by 43 votes. However, it's not binding on the next PM.
But it means the next PM will not get a no-deal motion through parliament as a proactive piece of legislation. It'll have to be done by evoking procedural trickery. Don't read me wrong again, if it's in the rules it should be allowed. But so should any legitimate constitutional response, like a vote of no confidence, or any other procedural trickery.
Any no-dealer PM is going to be able to do: (1) nothing and get mullered by the MSM and peeps, or, (2) trigger the above sort of conflict and get mullered by parliament, or (3) call an election and get mullered by the opposition.
Such is the thirst for power of these pol-gened scumbags they throw themselves willingly at the national razor and let the revolution devour them; blinded by ambition they cease to reason and lose the instinct of self-preservation.
Even Michael "The Bastard" Gove, of this manor, the only one with some proper logical Machiavelli going on, has thrown his hat in the ring. However, in his case I wonder if it's because he knows it's a poisoned chalice, but also knows he won't get the job? Yet by trying and failing he keeps himself in the premiership group for a future shot at it when the chances of survival are better.
In fact, you might even say: when the Bastard goes for it and gets it, it'll be because there's light at the end of the tunnel and the revolution is over.
Mind you, with most revolutions it's not what happened in the revolution itself that was most gruesome, as rather what happened next.
SoD
Posted by: Loz | Sunday, 26 May 2019 at 21:13
Loz, dinnae worry son death goes on after life.
Posted by: Glesga | Sunday, 26 May 2019 at 23:19
It could get worse:
"Once the world’s bastion of liberal, democratic values, Europe is now having to confront demons it thought it had laid to rest. The old pathologies of anti-Semitism, populist nationalism, and territorial aggression are threatening to tear the European postwar consensus apart. In riveting dispatches from this unfolding tragedy, James Kirchick shows us the shallow disingenuousness of the leaders who pushed for “Brexit;” examines how a vast migrant wave is exacerbating tensions between Europeans and their Muslim minorities; explores the rising anti-Semitism that causes Jewish schools and synagogues in France and Germany to resemble armed bunkers; and describes how Russian imperial ambitions are destabilizing nations from Estonia to Ukraine. With President Trump now threatening to abandon America's traditional role as upholder of the liberal world order and guarantor of the continent's security, Europe may be alone in dealing with these unprecedented challenges."
The End of Europe: Dictators, Demagogues, and the Coming Dark Age
by James Kirchick
https://www.amazon.com/End-Europe-Dictators-Demagogues-Coming/dp/0300218311
Posted by: Bob | Sunday, 26 May 2019 at 23:37
https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-new-world-order-failed.html?spref=tw
People are tired of being left behind by their own governments and their "betters".
Posted by: Whitewall | Monday, 27 May 2019 at 00:52
Whitewall, people are fed up being told by clever people that they should not say what they want unless it is cleared by the clever people.
Posted by: Glesga | Monday, 27 May 2019 at 01:24
Looks like the Remain parties are beating the Brexit parties in the EU election results, 10 out of 12 regions in.
Jezza looks like he's throwing the towel in and going for a second referendum as a result.
By George and all the St Theresa of May's, is it possible that the next Tory leader will be obliged to lift Teflon's fourth motion from her cold dead hand and present it to parliament - where it will be voted through by a compliant Labour party and Tory Remainers!?
So that's Teflon's compromise Brexit with a second referendum thrown in as she proposed: No-deal, her deal, or Remain, with preferences voting.
Or even more amazing: will the fritted Tory and Labour parties beg her to table the motion before she goes?!. So she gets to see the fruits of her labour come to, errr, fruition as the blood drains from her body on the field of glory!?
If there's any justice in this world ...
Game of Thrones has nothing on this.
SoD
Posted by: Loz | Monday, 27 May 2019 at 03:03
Obviously Bob, thanks greatly.
That'll be certain to help somebody.
Posted by: JK | Monday, 27 May 2019 at 06:21
an afterthought:
well at least he hasn't nuked 'em.
yet.
Posted by: JK | Monday, 27 May 2019 at 06:23
JK, just doing my job. "Yet" indeed.
Posted by: Bob | Monday, 27 May 2019 at 16:29