From: martin@address-in-sig.invalid   
      
   On Fri, 09 Jun 2017 12:07:50 -0700, The old geezer wrote:   
      
   > BTW,   
   > Martin, with fhis latest election did Great Britain just surrender to   
   > ISIS?   
   >   
   Don't get me started on it! In summary (hah!), here's what has happened,   
   starting from last year:   
      
   - Cameron was having trouble controlling the right-wing elements of   
     the Conservative party, so ran the referendum in an attempt to shut   
     them up and stop them joining UKIP. The run-up showed exactly the   
     same symptoms as got Trump elected: the ruling elite had no clue how   
     much they were out of touch/hated by the electorate (though the   
     reaction to Osborn's final no-thought budget should have given them a   
     clue) and so did bugger-all in the way of rational thought or planning   
     to make sure he won the referendum. Consequently there was a lot of   
     lying, misinformation and fake news which resulted in him losing the   
     referendum 48%:52% *AND* the silly sod didn't think to put limits like   
     requiring a 2/3 majority for anything as serious as leaving the EU and   
     all the economic and legal problems it would cause. All this compounded   
     by an idiots chorus from both Labour and Tories of "The People Have   
     Spoken: we must obey" despite the face that all the referendum   
     literature having said its result would merely serve to inform the   
     government.   
      
     During all this May had been keeping her head down and saying nothing   
     though she did claim to be a Remainer, i.e. to stay in the EU.   
      
   - Cameron promptly resigned as PM and as an MP. Osbourn followed out   
     the door as soon as it became obvious that nobody was going to let   
     HIM be PM or even stay on as Chancellor.   
      
   - May, who had been the worst Home Secretary that I can remember, passing   
     ever more draconian snooping laws while sacking 12,000 police, snuck in   
     as PM, and promptly came out for Brexit and favouring a hard Brexit at   
     that: complete break with EU, leave the common market, the CJEU and   
     the European Court of Human Rights, which had been created by Britain   
     in the first place.   
      
   - She signed Article 50, the exit clause from the EU, 8 weeks ago, still   
     without telling anybody apart from her cronies what exit terms she was   
     seeking. At this point nobody knew what terms she wanted and we still   
     don't know.   
      
     Speculation: at this point the enormity of what she'd signed up to do   
     in two years, i.e. get unanimous agreement from all other 27 EU states,   
     change all 700+ UK laws and regulations that are to varying degrees   
     also EU laws and regulations, seems to have penetrated her tiny mind   
     and I think she realised she hadn't a clue how to do it or a cats   
     chance in hell of succeeding. Hence the election, used as a distraction.   
      
   - Anyway, a week later, she called this election for 7 weeks time to near   
     universal surprise, without a game plan or manifesto or any clue how to   
     win it except by parading round saying that she needed "strengthen HER   
     position at the bargaining table". She refused to campaign apart from   
     repeating that ad nauseum or to debate anything on radio or TV.   
      
   - now the election has happened.   
      
     - The Conservatives got a kicking. They lost 20 seats so are now 8   
       seats short of having a majority in Parliament with 318 seats.   
       326 are needed to form a government.   
      
     - So did UKIP. They lost all their seats. UKIP is largely the break-away   
       rabid right wing of the Tory party and the gang that Cameron was   
       trying to control.   
      
     - Scottish Nationalists and Plaid Cwmry also lost seats.   
      
     - IIRC no change for Sinn Fein or the DUP (Northern Irish Protestants)   
      
     - Everybody else, especially Labour, gained   
      
     Everybody remembers the kicking the Lib Dems got in 2015 for forming a   
     coalition with the Conservatives in 2010. In fact they put through the   
     few sensible things that government did and somehow got blamed for   
     all the Tory stupidities such as increased school fees, NHS cuts,   
     military cuts and the austerity program. So, last night May was greeted   
     with a barrage of refusals to form a coalition even before she'd asked   
     anybody.   
      
   - It turns out that only the DUP (10 seats) are stupid or desperate   
     enough to join her, so this afternoon bloody May went to the Queen   
     and is forming a new government with, AFAICT, 2 seats.   
      
   - Just in: the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker,   
     has just reminded May that she's already wasted 7 weeks of the two   
     years before Article 50 takes effect, pointing out that she'd better   
     get her beans in a row real quick because the 2 years won't be   
     extended. He also said that he and his team is expecting to see her and   
     her team in Brussels on Monday. This is deserved: she shouldn't have   
     been wasting time pissing about and setting up the fiasco that happened   
     last night.   
      
     Juncker is part of world_population - 1 which has no idea of what   
     May wants out of Brexit, because the bloody woman still won't tell   
     anybody what her position is or if she even has one.   
      
   Thats where we are now, 9 June 2017, evening 24 hours after the polls   
   closed.   
      
   AFAIK the new cabinet isn't yet formed because several Ministers,   
   including the one that managed the so-called Tory election campaign, lost   
   their seats and their replacements haven't yet been selected or announced.   
      
   It seems that the May thinks she's in power for another 5 years, but   
   everybody else, including a number of influential Tories, thinks she'll   
   be lucky to last a year.   
      
   My view is that she thinks she can do no wrong and will easily control   
   the situation while, in reality, she's arrogant, stupidly overconfident,   
   and doesn't understand the situation or the damage she's done and is   
   doing to the country.   
      
   If she does get kicked out within a year, the Tories will probably be   
   buried with her simply because almost the whole of the UK electorate will   
   be thoroughly pissed off by being subjected to one referendum and three   
   elections in under three years.   
      
      
   --   
   martin@   | Martin Gregorie   
   gregorie. | Essex, UK   
   org       |   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)