The Brexit Day that never was

Quote of the day from The Guardian (here):

This was the day when Big Ben was supposed to ring at 11pm to mark the UK’s departure from the EU. When the Red (white and blue) Arrows did a fly past. When new 50p coins were worth 40p. Instead, we were back in a looking-glass world where everyone knew less than they did before. It can’t be long before no one knows anything. Back to the future.

Everything was up for grabs in Schrödinger’s Brexit: when we were leaving, if we were leaving and how we were leaving; who would be the prime minister, and if there would be a general election. Anything and everything was still possible. Parliament had said something but no one could interpret the language it was speaking. A delegation of ministers was going to No 10 to speak to Lino, but there was no guarantee she would be there. She is lost even unto herself.

There was just one certainty. By voting with the government, Boris Johnson had traded his principles for his career. But then we had always known he would. Johnson’s untrustworthiness is the only solid thing the country has left to hang on to. A Newtonian rock in a Quantum Brexit. We really are that far up shit creek.

   

Shades of the Cuban Missile Crisis

The Monroe Doctrine was adopted by the US in the early 19th century to discourage European powers from interventions in Latin America.  It appears to be thriving in the 21st century.  The Times reports:

President Trump has called on Russia to “get out” of Venezuela after it deployed troops and equipment in the crisis-torn country.

American officials said the Russian team that arrived in Caracas at the weekend included cybersecurity personnel and special forces. The 100 officers, one official said, came to Venezuela to prop up President Maduro’s embattled regime and secure investments.

Several tonnes of equipment were seen being unloaded from two Russian planes, an Antonov An-124 and an Ilyushin Il-62, at Caracas airport.

Worrying.  Especially as President Trump is no JFK ...

 

Lies and consequences

This is what happens when you give credence to anti-MMR propaganda.  The Wall Street Journal reports:

A New York county has declared a state of emergency over one of the worst measles outbreaks in the state in decades, banning unvaccinated minors from public places to help curb the spread of the disease.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day said Tuesday the ban—the first of its kind in the country—will go into effect at midnight.

The extreme measure comes as the county has recorded 153 confirmed measles cases in the past six months, mostly in children under 18, according to the county’s health department. The outbreak is concentrated in the orthodox Jewish communities in Rockland County, including the towns of New Square, Spring Valley and Monsey. Some in those communities oppose vaccinations for religious reasons.

This guy has a lot to answer for.

Spot the difference

Noddy:

Iain Duncan Smith:

More here.

Futility

From The Times (here):

The Luxembourg prime minister, the deliciously named Xavier Bettel, thinks Brexit is like waiting for Godot. So here’s my quote of the week. At one point in Samuel Beckett’s play, the two key characters look at each other. “I can’t go on like this,” says one. “That’s what you think,” replies the other. Beckett is our Brexit guide. Who knew?

   

The headlines say it all

   

So much for "taking back control"

The Times reports:

Theresa May will ask the EU to delay Brexit today amid warnings from Brussels that the price of an extension could be a general election or second referendum.

Cabinet ministers are expecting the prime minister to ask for the Brexit deadline to be pushed back to June 30 with the option of requesting a longer delay left open.

Mrs May will then travel to Brussels tomorrow with little to offer the 27 other EU countries, all of which must agree to any postponement. By law Britain will leave the EU with or without a deal in nine days’ time.

She has made a horlicks of it.

   

Round and round the garden ...

Speaker Bercow's latest intervention has caused a minor kerfuffle.  The Guardian reports:

This was a whole new level of Brexit clusterfuckery. The previous week’s chaos now merely looked like one of the more unfeasible Matrix plotlines. Just with no Keanu Reeves. A room full of chimps could make a better fist of things. Some MPs talked of proroguing parliament; others of a general election – with 11 days to go till 29 March. Hey, at least it’s still double figures.

For Lino [Leader In Name Only] it was just one more humiliation. Not only would she be going back to Brussels to ask for changes to the withdrawal agreement she wasn’t going to get. She would now be asking for an extension on a deal she was now unable and too scared to put to a vote. Not even the Four Pot Plants can help her now. But on the plus side, at least we’re giving the rest of the world a good laugh. The UK: not just a reality freak show, but also a feel good movie. We fail so they don’t have to. It’s a legacy of sorts for the government.

   

Insanity?

The Times reports:

Theresa May will ask the European Union to delay Brexit until at least the end of June after narrowly seeing off an attempt by MPs to seize control of the talks.

The prime minister is set to make a third attempt to win Commons backing for her deal on Tuesday. Even if she is successful Mrs May must now ask Brussels for extra time to complete the necessary legislation.

Acording to Albert Einstein (allegedly), the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. And if the prime minister wants to keep banging her head against a brick wall, it merely confirms the diagnosis.

   

   

Of course, it may not happen like this

The Times has a rather complicated decision tree:

  

Comforting?

Everything will be all right.  Well maybe.  Bloomberg reports:

Forget about continental specialties like foie gras or Wienerschnitzel, or the Champagne toasts. Yet even if the U.K. leaves the European Union without a deal, there’ll be plenty of that British staple, fish sticks, on the menu.

Nomad Foods Ltd., which sells frozen fish and vegetables under the Bird’s Eye brand and other labels, said it’s building stocks of fish sticks -- known in Britain as fish fingers and often served for school lunch with peas and carrots -- to eight weeks from five weeks to prepare for a chaotic Brexit.

“It’s millions, millions of fish fingers, as you can imagine,” Nomad CEO Stefan Descheemaeker said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.

I think I'm more concerned about the likely absence of foie gras ...