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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49084605
Boris Johnson has been elected new Conservative leader in a ballot of party members and will become the next UK prime minister.
He beat Jeremy Hunt comfortably, winning 92,153 votes to his rival's 46,656.
The former London mayor takes over from Theresa May on Wednesday.
In his victory speech, Mr Johnson promised he would "deliver Brexit, unite the country and defeat Jeremy Corbyn".
Speaking at the Queen Elizabeth II centre in London, he said: "We are going to energise the country.
"We are going to get Brexit done on 31 October and take advantage of all the opportunities it will bring with a new spirit of can do.
"We are once again going to believe in ourselves, and like some slumbering giant we are going to rise and ping off the guy ropes of self doubt and negativity."
Any other comments would be editorializing...
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bradley13 on Wednesday July 24 2019, @01:42PM (35 children)
AFAIK, that's exactly right: the EU is done negotiating, no changes (beyond purely cosmetic) are possible. Take it or leave it.
Of course, the EU absolutely must play hard ball here. If they give the UK any sort of reasonable, amicable parting terms, that would encourage numerous other countries (Greece, Italy, Portugal, etc.) that are also wondering if the EU is really such a great deal for them. Politicians in general cannot stand the thought of reducing their own power, so this is not an option.
Really, the EU would be a great thing, if they had stopped at the common market stage. The unified currency, however practical, prevents weaker countries from devaluing their own currencies. It's like yoking Great Danes to Dachsunds: the different economies are just too out of sync for this to work very well.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 5, Informative) by aim on Wednesday July 24 2019, @02:00PM (24 children)
That's quite obviously a british view, and it is opposed to everyone else's. The EU was created to prevent another great war on the continent, it is a political construct. It never was only about trade.
(Score: 2, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday July 24 2019, @02:03PM (14 children)
That is also at least one American's view - mine.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by ikanreed on Wednesday July 24 2019, @02:27PM (10 children)
Unsurprising because you're fucking stupid.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday July 24 2019, @02:45PM (9 children)
No, actually, I'm pretty fucking smart. I can name all the bits and pieces of the human female anatomy. Lots of guys are fucking stupid, and don't know one bit from another. Many are so fucking stupid, they don't even know their own anatomies. Fucking is more fun when you're educated. Where are you in the fucking intelligence spectrum? Do you know your labia from your taint?
(Score: 5, Funny) by driverless on Wednesday July 24 2019, @02:51PM
I know my arse from my elbow, does that count?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by ikanreed on Wednesday July 24 2019, @03:02PM (4 children)
This is a weird sexual psychosis you've got. It does help explain the "fucking nazi retard" aspect.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday July 24 2019, @03:17PM (1 child)
Tain't me who brought it up, remember?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 24 2019, @07:27PM
I've heard of teabagging, but "taint me"? Gross.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ikanreed on Wednesday July 24 2019, @03:18PM (1 child)
Here's another post to mod flamebait, I know nazi retards have a lot of rage at that basic truth.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 26 2019, @12:10AM
Complaining about partisan moderation? Are you going to claim that you don't engage in it yourself? If not, do you complain when the people on your side do the same?
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 24 2019, @07:45PM
Why would I Kan Read need to know that? I's not like he's ever going to see any in his life.
(Score: 3, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Thursday July 25 2019, @05:27PM (1 child)
Let's not confuse terminology here. "Labia" is pretty formal language. "Taint" is weird slang that for some reason seems popular lately. If you asked "Do you know your labia from your perineum?" that would make more sense. Or, if you want to be vulgar, "Do you know your roast beef curtains from your taint?" at least it would demonstrate consistent type of language. Well, unless you're talking about labia minora, which seem to have a dearth of common slang synonyms. Which is really the problem with your post -- specificity. After all, "labia" is just a medical word for "lips." Technically, I assume you're talking about "labia pudendi," which are the "lips" located in the genital area. Most people also have labia on their faces too.
[/pedantry]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday July 26 2019, @12:41AM
Truth be told, I was about to type "cervix" where I put "taint". I thought that might require thinking too deeply for some of our fellow males, so I fell back to more shallow terms. ;^)
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 25 2019, @01:44AM (2 children)
And my view as a European too. The dregs of national politics get sent to Brussels, which was ok while they couldn't make policy on much more than trade. But under the illusion that the EU is a semi-state in the process of creation, non-democratic nonsense gets washed over all aspects of the people's lives. I truly believe the EU as currently set up exists as a scheme to disenfranchise the population of the member states by the national governments. It is a danger for democracy. Several Central European nations that 30 years ago shook off the yoke of Russian domination are not willing to trade in their hard won freedom for dependence on Brussels, and by extension Washington. The British people voted to leave the EU for their own reasons. There are other nations in the EU that wouldn't think of letting their people decide on EU matters. I wish the British well on their course.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 25 2019, @02:33AM (1 child)
I suppose when leaving the EU doesn't magically bend the properties of capitalism to your liking, it'll be socialists next who are to blame. And so on and so forth.
It took humans a few thousand years to figure out that the priests were lying about the gods. Wonder how long the present scheme will last?
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday July 25 2019, @11:55AM
Much longer. Mammon may be an evil God, but he's one you have direct evidence of...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Arik on Wednesday July 24 2019, @03:34PM
Creating another imperial superstate in Europe is NOT a better way to prevent war - quite the opposite.
And this is not only understood in Britain. This is part of why the EU is deadset on making Brexit as ugly for the UK as they possibly can - because there are other nations lining up to follow them, and the EU would like to scare them away from that idea now.
Prediction; it won't work. Their only effective weapon was T. May, who appeared to be working for Brussels rather than her constituents at every turn. She's gone, they have no leverage over the UK, there's nothing they can do to 'punish' the UK for democracy that won't hurt their own constituents as much or more than the UK.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Wednesday July 24 2019, @03:59PM
The American experience on the topic of refusing to allow states to exit a union agreement is exceptionally bloody. Just an anecdote but I wonder if being too hardnosed on forcing union doesn't come with its own great war risk.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 24 2019, @04:08PM
...by handing control of the fucking continent over to the shitheads who lost both of those great wars...
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 24 2019, @05:02PM (1 child)
As if the war was not due to the machinations of international Jews in control of Poland, the British crown, the US stock market and Russia in the first place. Now the Jews set up the EU to finish off their project of complete domination of Europe, including bringing in millions of muzrats and monkeys to degenerate the Aryan race down to a mixed race with inferior intellect who can never oppose the Jew again.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 24 2019, @05:37PM
I thought that there was more internal evidence that it was the culmination of plans laid down by Hanoverian and various other 'Teutonic' noble families from the late 1600's/early 1700's onwards, rather than the Jews, the machinations of these Germanic shitheads in their quest to plant their scions of their houses as 'heirs' to as many other European royal dynasties I thought was well known....
Whatever route, the endgame was Deutschland über alles, and if not 'Über alles in der Welt' then at least 'Über alles' in Europe..
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Nuke on Wednesday July 24 2019, @07:15PM
You mean like uniting the American colonies into the USA prevented a war breaking out between them?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 24 2019, @09:24PM
...true, but
...this isn't. While that may be true for the European Union as such (as established by the Treaty of Maastricht in 1992), all of its predecessor unions (the EEC, the ECSC and EURATOM) were trade treaties only: borne out of the realization that if you supranationalize the warfare industry (coal, steel, and nuclear energy), one nation cannot use its leverage to wage war on a co-dependant.
The goal of the original European Communities was not to bring political unity, but to remove (national) political influence from critical industries. So yes, it is a political construct, but it was explicitly about trade only. Specifically, to separate industry and state.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Coward, Anonymous on Wednesday July 24 2019, @11:15PM
At the beginning, after WWII, was the Common Market. It was thought that having close economic ties would prevent a future war. There is no reason to think that closer political integration reduces the chance of war further. It probably increases the chance of war, because the reaction in many EU countries is a rise of nationalism.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 25 2019, @07:25AM
And that's how *exactly* it was sold to the UK public...it was always called the 'Common Market' during the propaganda campaign carried out back then, I can't remember much being said about the vote being for anything else other than that, joining a trading block.
I was too young to vote back then, but my parents both voted to join, I asked my late father a couple of years before he died why the hell he voted to do so, his response was basically it was sold to them as a glorified trade deal, and that, being a working man bringing up a family, this looked like the proverbial 'good thing' as far as future job security was concerned, all the 'community' and 'union' stuff might have been there, but was played down.
Having a very quick look through what material *is* still available online, he was right, the emphasis was all on 'Common Market', Business, markets for UK products, etc. etc. and it's obvious that even when they referred to it as the EEC, they loudly stressed the 'Economic' part, and quietly mumbled about anything else this deal may have meant..
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 24 2019, @02:16PM (2 children)
The Euro is one of the biggest problems with the EU. You can't have financial union without political union. No one in the US cares if money is flowing from New York to Alabama or the reverse, but people in Germany do care about whether their money is going to Greece. This is made worse by the EU not having a proper single central bank. As a customs union, it's fine, but as a unified currency, it's not.
The EU has also managed to create a system where cultural barriers to movement of people are greater than legal ones. This maintains the financial problems because people don't naturally move for better economic opportunities like they do in the US.
The EU is roughly the size and population of the US, and they tried to skip ahead to get the economic benefits of unification but while trying to pretend they can skip the political and cultural part. It kind of works as long as everyone is good at pretending, but it's always going to be a source of trouble.
Ironically, of course, whoever wants out first has the worst of both worlds.
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 24 2019, @06:09PM (1 child)
The Euro covers a sub-optimal currency zone with huge imbalances being inevitable. It's a joke currency, a ponzi scheme that demands EU expansion while ripping wealth from poorer countries. Any country impoverished by their Eurozone membership leaving and defaulting on a large deficit would probably collapse the entire system.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 24 2019, @10:13PM
The idea of money is that you can spend it.
Competitive devaluation may be a way of exploiting the weak in your own country, but it is a very short sighted solution to anything.
We in the UK are stuffed, partly because we did not join the Euro, and are victims of our own politicians stupidity. For money to work, you have to be
able to use it to trade. Its not the Euro that is ripping money from the poor countries - its their own politicians - but, with the aid of liars like
Boris, they blame it on the EU. Imbalances are caused by lying about your productivity. Its not the Euro that stuffed Greece - it was corruption.
Brexit is a wonderful thing - for a small bunch of rich crackpots (Boris, Rees Mogg and his Moggies, Farago etc - who, incidentally, all have
homes in FRANCE in preparation for the forthcoming disaster). The rest of face a rapid descent into poverty and starvation.
The EU is not "playing hardball" - it is attempting to explain the concepts of reality to people like Boris. A truely pointless waste of time,
but someone has to do it.
Your post shows that you have swallowed the Boris lies, hook line and sinker. You might want to read a bit more widely.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Webweasel on Wednesday July 24 2019, @02:38PM (3 children)
Which is exactly why we need to leave.
No deal, give them the finger and walk away.
Customs can be handled by software. Fuck northern Ireland.
Priyom.org Number stations, Russian Military radio. "You are a bad, bad man. Do you have any other virtues?"-Runaway1956
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Wednesday July 24 2019, @02:41PM
Wow. Just.... wow.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 24 2019, @08:12PM (1 child)
Now this is a Brit I'm proud to call my cousin.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Wednesday July 24 2019, @08:48PM
Just say, "Hey there, Uncle Dad!"
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Interesting) by quietus on Wednesday July 24 2019, @03:49PM (2 children)
Ofcourse the EU is not done negotiating. The EU has already "won" in the sense that the locus of financial power is relocating from London to a triangle between Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt. What's left is to make the transition as comfortable as possible.
There could be some opportunities there for the UK, if they would take their own negotiating team seriously, and give it serious political support. The negotiations weren't so drawn out because of inherent complexity (that's something for the transition period, now): but David Davis having spent only about 5 hours total in Brussels over the whole 2 year period, according to the Financial Times, and continuous artificial political hubbubs about non-issues like the Divorce Bill and the timing, did.
That's not going to change suddenly. Which is a pity really, as the same issues will simply return post-Brexit, and have to be negotiated anyway. Brexit will not stop suddenly, even after a hard Brexit: in fact, it will only then start in earnest.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 24 2019, @06:14PM
Wrong [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 24 2019, @07:48PM
Wrong again [duckduckgo.com]