Evening all. It’s time for another of my threads looking at the steady progress being made by good people in fixing the mess of Brexit/Trump/Russia. Stand by for some good news...
First up, if you haven't seen my previous threads like this, here is the last one so you can catch up...
...Big headline this week is parliament getting its mojo back and government losing 3 key votes - including becoming the first gov in British history to be found in contempt of parliament. But the other 2 votes were significant too. @IanDunt has details... politics.co.uk/blogs/2018/12/…
...What's also key is that all the parties, other than the Tories, began to stand together to stand up to the government on Brexit. This time, that even included the DUP - the party the Conservatives rely on to keep their minority government in power...
...Meanwhile, the work of the @GoodLawProject continued with another success. As the European Court of Justice considers its verdict on whether the UK can unilaterally revoke Article 50, one of its senior advisers published a legal opinion that it can... theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
...The ECJ has said it will publish its verdict on 10th Dec. That date is significant, because MPs are due to vote on Theresa May's proposed deal on 11th Dec - and will want to know what the alternative options are if they vote it down...
..The defeats for the government, and the ECJ appearing to be ready to clarify that the UK has complete power to simply cancel the Article 50 notification, has had an immediate effect - increasing the chances that Brexit may simply not happen...
...and public opinion has continued to shift against Brexit...
... and multiple surveys are finding that Remain would now win any second referendum...
... all of this is happening while the economic effects of Theresa May's Brexit are becoming clearer to politicians, business people, and the markets... bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…
... The government has been buying ads all over social media to promote May's deal, but with criticism of the honesty and completeness of the information - so the tech industry campaign group @TechForUK has helped correct them...
...And it's increasingly common to hear about people having conversations like the one in this thread with Leave-voting neighbours, friends, family...
... Stephen Fry made a brilliant short film to help people understand what's been going on, and what a second referendum means...
... and Steve Bullock compiled this handy thread of facts for people (especially MPs) to get to grips with...
...all of these facts have not only led to a change in public opinion, but have also brought about a bolder political will to act...
...a petition to require the government to hold a second referendum if Theresa May's deal is rejected has reached over 100,000 signatures 9and climbing), requiring parliament to debate it... petition.parliament.uk/petitions/2329…
...Meanwhile, the government is facing yet more obstacles and setbacks as it tries to force Brexit through. Tomorrow morning, the Article 50 challenge finally gets its day in court, arguing that the A50 notification was not made lawfully...
...Campaigners at MyBrexitVote have created this downloadable ballot paper for you to print out, fill in, and send to your MP to express your views...` (spread the word about this one) mybrexitvote.uk/MyBrexitVote.p… 
...and MPs are taking note of the correspondence they receive like this...
...meanwhile the slow and steady due process of justice rolls on, and the government is about to face more uncomfortable scrutiny over its actions relating to Brexit...
...while the Charities Commission has taken (at least some initial) action following the Observer newspaper's revelations about rightwing campaign groups posing as independent charitable think tanks... theguardian.com/politics/2018/…
...and a parliamentary select committee which seized documents from Facebook last week as part of its investigation into FB/Cambridge Analytica's role in Brexit/Trump/Russia has now published them - this thread from @carolecadwalla gives the highlights...
...Summary: May's deal looks likely to be voted down. MPs don't want No Deal, seem to favour 2nd referendum, with a Remain option. Public opinion turning against Brexit. UK might have the power to revoke A50 unilaterally. Justice is slowly being enacted by regulators & courts...
...So the message, as always with these threads, is that there are good people working steadily to bring a sensible positive outcome. In this thread I've focused on Brexit, but in the US the Mueller inquiry has also made steady progress in investigating Trump and Russia...
...and while the BBC may not be holding our political leaders to account very effectively over Brexit, at least it seems to have been making some 'creative' programmes on the subject :D...
...So, take heart, millions of us are together on this. There are things you can do:
(1) Write to your MP (you can also use the temple ballot paper earlier in this thread)
(2) support the @GoodLawProject : goodlawproject.org/membership/
(3) support the Guardian support.theguardian.com/uk/subscribe
(1) Write to your MP (you can also use the temple ballot paper earlier in this thread)
(2) support the @GoodLawProject : goodlawproject.org/membership/
(3) support the Guardian support.theguardian.com/uk/subscribe
...and have conversations with friends, family and colleagues to point them towards all this information (or RT this) - because reading newspapers and watching TV doesn't give people the full facts at the moment, sadly, and has the effect of making people want to give up...
...progress is slow, because it is thoughtful, factual and careful as opposed to the shoot-from-the-hip Brexiters... but progress is being made. It can be fixed.
That's all for this thread. I'll do another when there's more news of progress. Sleep well, and don't have nightmares
That's all for this thread. I'll do another when there's more news of progress. Sleep well, and don't have nightmares
