That will be an Official Secret that no one will be allowed to reveal to the public.
Oh snap! UK Prime Minister Theresa May calls June election
Prime Minister Theresa May has called a snap general election to be held on 8 June. The 11am statement – delivered 15 minutes earlier than political journalists had been led to believe – confirmed that an election would be held in seven weeks. In a veiled reference to last June's referendum vote to leave the European Union, …
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Tuesday 18th April 2017 16:51 GMT Nick Kew
May's speech
Anyone hear May's speech? She put up a bunch of strawmen about all those nasty people - like the house of Lords - trying to frustrate her, and how she needs to crush them. Some outright lies about those Bad People.
Last time I recollect a prime minister doing that was when Blair told us the French had promised to veto any possible UN resolution to invade Iraq (when all they had in fact promised to veto was any such motion while the weapons inspectors were at work and getting cooperation). Playing the anti-French card was the sure sign that invasion was imminent. This time, I guess it's a ****storm of blame forthcoming.
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Tuesday 18th April 2017 23:48 GMT Geoffrey W
Re: May's speech
Yes. She emphasised the *Unelected* Lords. When they do something you like then they're a valuable balance to power. When you dislike their actions they suddenly become *Unelected* and you make sure everyone knows it.
Cameron got them all in this mess by playing politics with his referendum, which he couldn't possibly lose, to try and quell his parties malcontents, and now May is doing the same to quell all her opponents. "Oh no, Nicola Sturgeon; we're far too busy with Brexit to have another independence referendum. Lets have a general election instead!" BAH...
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Tuesday 18th April 2017 18:00 GMT Red Bren
Re: Feeding children properly is generally
"Feeding children properly is generally regarded as a good thing. It is also an investment in the future many of us share at least a portion of."
Feeding and educating the next generation is a no-brainer, If only out of self-interest. After all, who is going to feed and clothe us in our dotage? Or will today's children solve the housing shortage and pension crisis by instigating a "Logan's Run" style policy of geriatric care?
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Wednesday 19th April 2017 08:29 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Feeding children properly is generally
Without ~200,000 extra workers each year paying every penny of their tax towards the extra pensions for the retirees, or ~5% tax increases across the board over the next 10 years, Logan's Run is the only other option to pay the pension deficit. Make it 80 instead of 21 though.
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Tuesday 18th April 2017 18:22 GMT Anonymous Coward
Technical education required
Before the election, maybe someone will be able to explain to her in words of half a syllable how the internet actually works and how encryption is an "all-or-nothing" affair. She seems impervious to the sound advice given by numerous experts in the field that there can be no half-way house. If the "good" guys can get in, so can the bad guys. I despair with so-called politicians who are talking out of their backsides all the time about topics they basically know b-all about. Trump is another prime example.
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Tuesday 18th April 2017 18:43 GMT amanfromMars 1
Crooks caught in a RAT* trap?
Can anyone confirm the veracity of this tale of concern ...... Did Theresa May time her snap election to limit the damage of an expenses scandal?
*Remote Access Trojan
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Wednesday 19th April 2017 00:05 GMT Geoffrey W
Re: Crooks caught in a RAT* trap?
Who could confirm it but Theresa and her compadres. Not sure Russian Television is the most reliable source for stories of this kind. It was being talked about on BBC radio 4 this afternoon and it would be an awesome distraction. though a bit severe for her own side. Risky too, given recent polling successes.
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Wednesday 19th April 2017 07:23 GMT amanfromMars 1
Re: Crooks caught in a RAT* trap?
Be the following further report ...... Farage on a Rampage? ..... fake news from a hostile non-state actor or a dirty truth seeking sanctuary in a party of fool tools, Geoffrey W?
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Wednesday 19th April 2017 08:29 GMT codejunky
Re: Crooks caught in a RAT* trap?
@ amanfromMars 1
I hope Farage doesnt try to get elected. UKIP fell apart when he left and thats fine, they won. He would be one of the better people to negotiate with the EU because he wont put up with their nonsense or delusions but there is so little time for campaigning (a blessing and a curse) that May has this in the bag unless the Tories do something radically stupid to lose it.
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Wednesday 19th April 2017 10:29 GMT codejunky
Re: Crooks caught in a RAT* trap?
@ Justicesays
"Sure, I find that calling the people you are about to negotiate with a bunch of lazy tossers is definitely the best way to begin important negotiations."
It did burst their little bubble didnt it. I smiled a lot after watching that, and when he exposes the many problems the EU has to the EU politicians. Maybe they will now do something about their many faults now we are leaving.
As I said he would ignore their delusions and only accept a deal that was good for the UK. The wool is slowly coming from the EU's eyes as they realise we dont NEED them. They however do rely on us, and that isnt a statement that we should be awkward with them just an observation they are coming around to quickly. We shouldnt use it to bully them as they keep trying to do to us. We should go ahead as an open country and treat the world equally. Unfortunately some of our politicians seem to be as petty as the ones over there.
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Wednesday 19th April 2017 11:41 GMT Justicesays
Re: Crooks caught in a RAT* trap?
"It did burst their little bubble didn't it. I smiled a lot after watching that"
So you think that Ad hominem attacks are fine, and a good way to negotiate or win arguments?
Fine.
You twat.
"Unfortunately some of our politicians seem to be as petty as the ones over there"
And Farage has the distinction of being petty both here *and* over there. His action was the fucking *definition* of petty.
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Wednesday 19th April 2017 12:14 GMT codejunky
Re: Crooks caught in a RAT* trap?
@ Justicesays
"So you think that Ad hominem attacks are fine, and a good way to negotiate or win arguments?"
No but after putting up with it for so long it was nice to see it being given back. And after having dished it out for so long it appears the EU and staunch remainers cant seem to take it coming back.
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Wednesday 19th April 2017 16:13 GMT amanfromMars 1
They who Pay the Piper Calls ITs Tunes
The wool is slowly coming from the EU's eyes as they realise we dont NEED them. They however do rely on us, and that isnt a statement that we should be awkward with them just an observation they are coming around to quickly. .... codejunky
What on earth would they be relying on us for, codejunky, other than the fulfilling of our hearts desires with the purchase via our pretty fiat currency paper of their myriad goods and erotic services?
Are you suggesting that leading secret intelligence services are for sale and being sold, for such are solely that which certainly drivers the uncertain future and all current upcoming events which are mired in chaos and the madness of mayhem in deed indeed, for it seems to be what needs to be for now in order to drain the swamp and purge corrupt systems.
You realise of course that it is individual persons of vital interest, and not spooky agencies of national security, who/which provide all such proprietary intellectual property, and the world has its many rich sources for the purchase of such as can so easily lead sublimely and surreally with IT and Media their playgrounds of first choice for Cyber Command and Creative Control of Computers and Communications ...... Man and Machines.
I Kid U Not.
And you think Blighty is able to provide such Advanced IntelAIgent Lead? Where is the almighty evidence for Main Stream Media to leak it and deliver lashings of fresh hope in the present impotent sees of great despair and depression and recession?
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Wednesday 19th April 2017 16:29 GMT codejunky
Re: They who Pay the Piper Calls ITs Tunes
@ amanfromMars 1
"What on earth would they be relying on us for"
This is interesting. Are we so insignificant that we dont matter in the EU and if so why is this such a big deal to them? Anyway- our vote against bad EU ideas (Germany commented on this), Euro clearing (they are realising how hard it is to move the banks), trade (the point of the project originally), intelligence services (from what I hear ours is better than theirs), and confidence (as an early member and developed country our exit has meaning).
I must admit I have no idea what the rest of your post is about.
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Thursday 20th April 2017 14:20 GMT amanfromMars 1
Re: They who Pay the Piper Calls ITs Tunes @codejunky
It is only a big deal to them [the EU], and everyone else too for that matter, if their intelligence services are better than anyone else's.
I must admit that I am not aware of that being a demonstrable fact in the light of the evidence being presented in the media in all of the prevailing fanciful fictions.
Such though does invent and present an opportunity and position to be filled, doesn't it.
:-) cc... GCHQ/MI5 {i.e. MOD}/MI6 {i.e. Foreign Office}/Bank of England/Buckingham Palace :-)
I Kid U Not. Poe's Law Rules in Anyone's and Everyone's Reign.:-)
And there are more than just a few revolutionary ideas shared in this post, codejunky.:-)
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Wednesday 19th April 2017 23:20 GMT TheVogon
Re: Crooks caught in a RAT* trap?
"Sure, I find that calling the people you are about to negotiate with a bunch of lazy tossers is definitely the best way to begin important negotiations."
Farage is quality. We need him + BoJo in charge of negotiations to show the EU we really don't care what they think:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bypLwI5AQvY
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Thursday 20th April 2017 02:39 GMT Lars
Re: Crooks caught in a RAT* trap?
"to show the EU we really don't care what they think:".
Why would they, they define the rules now. Look at the bright side, the more cool and intelligent part is in charge now and soon the unelected bureaucrats will take over and everybody will cool down.
Believe it or not, and isn't it funny, any country would survive half a year without even one politician but not even one week without its unelected bureaucrats.
I sometimes wonder if you Brits ever actually understood that old superb program "Yes Minister". Look again, who is up in the clouds and who is in charge. The damned truth is that there is only one profession where absolutely no qualifications are required and the unelected bureaucrats are not in that group. Hard as it is to understand, I have survived, regardless of the fact that my dentist is unelected too.
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Thursday 20th April 2017 10:37 GMT TheVogon
Re: Crooks caught in a RAT* trap?
"they define the rules now"
Not for us they don't. That and control of borders were the 2 major reasons for Brexit.
We are in the positon of being able to walk away, not pay their £50 billion, and switch to WTO rules - knowing it will likely hurt them more than us. The EU are in a much weaker positon that we are.
They have already made it clear that they know this and are trying to make ransom demands - as well summed up by Farage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=54&v=vTIRTyNUoiA
"soon the unelected bureaucrats will take over"
That's already how it works in the EU.
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Tuesday 18th April 2017 19:31 GMT Ken Moorhouse
She should have sought this mandate months ago
When she became leader would have been the best time. That way there would have been no question as to the way Brexit would pan out.
Now the timing could bite her on her leather trizers. The Lib Dems will go from strength to strength, there is nothing to stop them. The coalition gave people a taster, and for all the flak that was flung, that wasn't a dire experience. Cable is rubbing his hands with anticipation, and so is Clegg. Ashdown of course, predicted this would happen.
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Wednesday 19th April 2017 12:56 GMT strum
Re: She should have sought this mandate months ago
>Now the timing could bite her on her leather trizers.
Not just the timing - the act itself is dumb. She's doing this to free herself from her own backbenchers - but the only thing keeping them in check now is their narrow majority.
If she's returned with a landslide, all those fractures in the Tory party (which have not been resolved by Brexit*), will explode on her. Her enemies aren't across the dispatch box; they're behind her.
[*There's a myth that the divisions in the Tory party were all about the EU - but the EU was just a proxy, for a much deeper divide, going much further back.]
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Tuesday 18th April 2017 20:02 GMT Doctor Syntax
I can see her point. This way she doesn't have to face the electorate post-Brexit.
In 2020 we'd be a year post-Brexit and everyone could see how it was going to work out and, whatever the deal, she'd not win.
In any Brexit insufficiently hard to produce an economic disaster that would take at least a decade to climb out of she'd be hounded by the UKIP/Gove true believers for having been too soft.
Otherwise she'd have to face a large percentage of the population who'd finally be cottoning on to the idea that their jobs would be migrating to the EU.
This way she gets an extra couple of years to enjoy running her police state without having to look over her shoulder at the ECJ and, if she gets her way, the ECHR although that might be more difficult. About the end of March 2022 she announces her retirement and leaves someone else to sort out the mess.
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Tuesday 18th April 2017 21:09 GMT Jason Hindle
A win, win win, win election?
- May wins by a landslide and the country is no longer hostage to the Tory lunatic fringe: Win.
- While Corbyn is tested in the crucible of reality and found wanting: Win.
- Alternatively, a resurgent Liberal party blunts May (or even denies her an outright majority): Win.
- Alternatively, Labour extricates itself from its current, painful Yoga* position and actually achieves something: Win.
* Translated from the original Hindi, the technique translates, roughly, as the La La La I'm Not Listening posture, and involves the expert practitioner bending over backwards and inserting their head into their own bottom. The current Labour leadership are all experts at getting themselves into this position.
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Tuesday 18th April 2017 23:26 GMT Anonymous Coward
Dodgy ads!
Lets hope whomever gets elected brings in a law pronto that brings back the birch, hot tarring and feathering, and indeed hanging, drawing and quartering as punishment for those who inject nasty code into adverts such as those on here that make automatic redirects to dodgy websites pretending to be "Chrome Update!"
Cheeky fuckers.
Oh, and whomever at the REG is keeping an eye on where ads are sourced from here, I suggest you buck your ideas up.
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Tuesday 18th April 2017 23:35 GMT Lars
The brexit party is over
The hot air is escaping the balloon. I think May has come to understand that the enthusiasm for a hard brexit is diminishing. And as always it's about the next election so she has decided there is more hot air in the balloon now than in 2020. And then there is, of course, the question if she was lying when she was against Brexit or has she been lying to you since the referendum. Politics. This time dear Brits vote using what you have between your ears and stop listening to the talking arseholes.
There is only one way to deal with the EU, take part, make it better, stop whining, it's a work in progress.
PS. nobody is going to steal the pound, Turkey is not joining the EU against your will, you will do well as long as you use your head for thinking, and you can restrict the number of immigrants just by using the EU laws available like some other EU countries do.
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Wednesday 19th April 2017 09:55 GMT Phil O'Sophical
Re: The brexit party is over
There is only one way to deal with the EU, take part, make it better, stop whining, it's a work in progress.
20 years of taking part has only confirmed that it will never change, and is a work in decline. Every time anyone highlights a problem the only response is "we just need 'more Europe', that will fix it". It's a pity that things have reached this stage, but right now the only way to fix it is to break it & start again with just common market & not a political/fiscal union, painful though that may be.
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Wednesday 19th April 2017 11:31 GMT Kaltern
Can I just say, I made the brain-shinkingly bad mistake of reading some of the BBC HYS comments. After being slightly ill for a few hours, I came to read the comments here.
It's refreshing to know that, while some are misplaced ( :D ), the opinions here on the whole appear to have been written by adults with far less blue cabbage between their ears.
Can El Reg just start a sideline for politics? Perhaps call it 'The Reality Check'.
