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How do we deal with a divided polity?
We can't have another referendum because that would deny the first one, even though the first one was tainted. (However, parliament can and will vote on the same measure considerably more than once to get an answer the government wants.)
Parliament is sovereign, but can't go against the will of the people.
No-one listens to the PM but she can't be forced out of office because of the Fixed Term Parliament Act and the constitution of the Tory party. So Parliament itself is a chaotic and random place of little or no discipline on the Tory side and subject to breakaway and walkout on both sides of the House.
We have a titular PM who does not command parliament in the job of a person who needs to be able to command parliament; even if that command is normally exercised through the Whip's office.
No one can negotiate on our behalf who does not speak for a majority, and there is no majority for anything, only against things.
And instead of giving folk the actual information needed to be able to understand the nation's predicament, the propaganda rolls on.
Even if we were to revoke Article 50, the opportunity cost of the last three years, in terms of institutions etc upping sticks and moving to the EU, will come to billions.
I must state here that I am a remainer.
But, alas, what England needs is an ultra-hard Brexit that brings it to its knees. It's the only language that folk in favour of Brexit will understand. Then they can champion their freedom to their heart's content. And, knowing the way things are going, it may just lead to enough of a revolution to really unsettle things and turn us into a failed state proper.
And I don't need to be able to read sacrificial entrails or interpret the flight of birds on the Capitoline to make that prediction; just the normal amount of sense coupled with my own hubris.
We are fucked; but I've said that since the day after the referendum. Either democracy loses, or we have committed the most public act of self harm since Mishima.
Because I am a believer in democracy, seppuku it is. Woefully, there appears no other way. And this is what has brought Parliament to a standstill. Maybe we need some friend to step up to be our Kaishakunin.
As an aside, why hasn't anyone flung Cicero at Boris? Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra?
We can't have another referendum because that would deny the first one, even though the first one was tainted. (However, parliament can and will vote on the same measure considerably more than once to get an answer the government wants.)
Parliament is sovereign, but can't go against the will of the people.
No-one listens to the PM but she can't be forced out of office because of the Fixed Term Parliament Act and the constitution of the Tory party. So Parliament itself is a chaotic and random place of little or no discipline on the Tory side and subject to breakaway and walkout on both sides of the House.
We have a titular PM who does not command parliament in the job of a person who needs to be able to command parliament; even if that command is normally exercised through the Whip's office.
No one can negotiate on our behalf who does not speak for a majority, and there is no majority for anything, only against things.
And instead of giving folk the actual information needed to be able to understand the nation's predicament, the propaganda rolls on.
Even if we were to revoke Article 50, the opportunity cost of the last three years, in terms of institutions etc upping sticks and moving to the EU, will come to billions.
I must state here that I am a remainer.
But, alas, what England needs is an ultra-hard Brexit that brings it to its knees. It's the only language that folk in favour of Brexit will understand. Then they can champion their freedom to their heart's content. And, knowing the way things are going, it may just lead to enough of a revolution to really unsettle things and turn us into a failed state proper.
And I don't need to be able to read sacrificial entrails or interpret the flight of birds on the Capitoline to make that prediction; just the normal amount of sense coupled with my own hubris.
We are fucked; but I've said that since the day after the referendum. Either democracy loses, or we have committed the most public act of self harm since Mishima.
Because I am a believer in democracy, seppuku it is. Woefully, there appears no other way. And this is what has brought Parliament to a standstill. Maybe we need some friend to step up to be our Kaishakunin.
As an aside, why hasn't anyone flung Cicero at Boris? Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra?
