You cannot stop a disastrous No-Deal while trying to position well, for next election. First, the two goals may be incompatible; second, nobody can predict how it will play out.
So, just swallow your bloody pride and self-interest and do the right thing.
And the fact that so many of you have interpreted this to be either definitely addressed to Jeremy Corbyn or definitely addressed to Jo Swinson, means t's probably addressed to you.
Because part of the equation right now, is people like us giving the space to the people in charge of the various moving parts of a possible Remain alliance to compromise and come to an arrangement, knowing that they have our trust and support.
In short, it is very much if-you-have-nothing-helpful-to-say-then-shut-the-fuck-up time.
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The poet Odysseas Elytis wrote that the truth of someone is contained in the character that only they know and the memories that only they value - and so, it is lost when they die.
It wasn’t so with Mama. And this was the gift Alzheimer’s granted us, along with the horrors. 1/
There was a time - fleeting and at once immense - when she was still well enough, but the disease had lightened every burden and stripped every veneer - of duty, of marriage, of self-consciousness, of the rush to cook and scrub and wash, of work, of motherhood, of religion… 2/
… of propriety, of bereavement, of fear, of pretence, of pride and false modesty. And, for a time, the truth shone through. I met the girl that predated the woman, and the woman that predated the mother. The three coexisted like friends at ease with each other. 3/
Last night, my beautiful, darling Mama, having been serenaded by her grandson on the guitar, obviously decided it didn't get much better than that, drifted off to sleep, and didn't come back to us this morning. 1/
She snuck off - just like she used to, far too early, to go and clean somewhere before her 9-5, to make sure that we wanted for nothing. There were times she worked three jobs and yet was somehow, miraculously, still, always there - to cook and iron and help with the homework. 2/
She was the love of my life. I feel numb and inconsolable, as well as happy for her and relieved. And guilty about feeling relieved. I feel, above all, exhausted. For fifteen years, since her diagnosis, there has been a part of me permanenantly on alert for That Phone call. 3/
Blessed as I feel to be unblocked, you’re doing it again. Screen grabs don’t carry the time of the grab, but of the tweet. You were in a Twitter storm before Phillips got involved, to the extent that you’d already deleted your original post before she first tweeted you. 1/4
You say I excused her behaviour. I didn’t. Maybe you feel she shouldn’t get involved; lthat she should be more mindful of her position and following. But that’s NOT the argument you chose to make. You chose to say she instigated the issue and did so because she’s a racist. 2/4
I simply assessed the material you provided to support a serious allegation and found that it fell apart on inspection. You complain that JW did not engage with your argument. But *I engaged with it* - civilly and in detail. Your reaction was to call me a racist and block me. 3/4
The timing of events, as described, is entirely misleading - and I would point to the time being cropped off tweets selectively as evidence that this is deliberately. Birbalsingh's original post was all over twitter and trending, an hour before Phillips got involved. 2/
What really set Twitter aflame was Birbalsingh claiming it was a GIF (she may well have intended that, but it's clear in every screengrab she actually posted a static image), and that anyone saying otherwise was "a lunatic". That tweet also PRECEDES Phillips' and got 1m views. 3/
Watch Badenoch get into trouble, saying bilateral FTAs are no substitute for comprehensive multilateral deals, "we haven't joined a bloc like this in 50 years", "there is strength in numbers", etc.
Then slowly panic, as she realises she's basically making the case for Rejoin. 🤣
"Being in a trade bloc means you have more influence," she added.
No. Way.
Badenoch went on to admit the CPTPP deal is not worth much now, but said "people should look at it as buying a start-up".
I'm sure all those former colonies, not to mention G7 members Japan or Canada, will be delighted to know the UK sees them as a "start-up" it just "bought".😬
Three years later, the same people who attacked me for this arrive at the same conclusion.
The proof was always there. What's changed is that their pro-Johnson 'he got the big calls right' zeal has been overtaken by anti-lockdown fanaticism; the conclusion now fits their agenda.
Only this time, they're going the opposite way. Trying to suggest the science was certain about, for instance, masks being no use at all, when this is patently still the topic of live debate. AND going on to assess it against entirely imagined, faux libertarian harms.
It's laughable, actually. This is the only sort of stuff for which gov't should NOT be criticised. If the scientists tell you a measure like mask-wearing, that is relatively cheap and harmless, *might* make even a small difference, OF COURSE you implement it. Why wouldn't you.