CHAPEL END CHARLIE

Talk is cheap I suppose and I can remember Margaret Thatcher making a similiar address back in 1979. Nevertheless, I was very impressed indeed with the new PM's speech outside Number Ten just now. I was especially encouraged with the stress she placed on the importance of maintaining the union - both with Scotland and with all the diverse peoples of this 'one nation'. The coming months and years are going to be exceptionally difficult time for the UK one suspects, and as her predecessor will confirm all political careers end in failure. But for the first time in weeks I find myself experiencing a faint glimmer of hope that somehow our wonderful old nation can pull through and avoid disaster. As the lady has said - all things are possible.

Edit.

Apparently Theresa May taking over from Cameron was delayed by a day because the Queen is at Sandringham and she does not change her plans for anybody. Also Cameron wanted to have one last Question Time in the Commons - where MPs by tradition line up to say nice things about departing Prime Ministers - bless! Given the opportunity my message to him might not be quite so nice ...

Well I don't suppose it will be much of a consolation my friend, but we here in the UK are experiencing the very same ongoing extension of the state retirement age process - the justification for this being that longer average life expectancy allows this economy measure. For example I already have had - without ever being asked or consulted mind you - two years added to my working life and a further review is now underway that will probably add yet another year on top of that. Methinks that our Government would be quite happy if the day you retire, and the day you die, could all be arranged to take place in the same week! This stinks of course because many will not now live long enough to reach the state retirement age. Furthermore, we don't all enjoy relativly sedate working lives sat on our backsides in a office somewhere. But short of making sure you win the national lottery there does not seem to be a single thing the average working man can do about any of this.

Well the point is a moot one now that we are leaving the EU. Nevetheless, I was under the impression that the UK was specifically exempted from any eurozone bailout efforts. Should any EU nation apply to the IMF for support however then we would still be obliged to contribute of course.

I'm inclined to agree - being in the Single Market, but outside of the Single Currancy, is not a bad place to be. I understand that included in the terms of their EU membership agreement Poland is obliged at some point in the future to scrap its currency and join the Euro. That'll be a somewhat 'interesting' matter for the Poles to contemplate.

I not sure that she is really made of the 'right stuff' - time will tell I suspose. However, I thought that Angela Eagle actualy came across quite well at her campaign launch yesterday.

Those who seek to place the blame for Italy's woes at the door of the EU might want to explain why it is then other EU members - such as Poland for example - are somehow experiencing very strong growth rates.

Steady! Jordy Clasie and Gaston Ramirez were on the recieving end of much the same hype before we'd even seen them kick a ball in the Premier League. We do players no favours methinks if we decided that they are your stereotypical 'next big thing' quite this prematurely.

Well the best candidate has ended up getting the job I think - which is quite surprising in a way given the national mood. And good luck to her because it is hard to imagine of a more problematic time - war excepted of course - to take on this always difficult position. I must also say that there is a delicious irony here in that all the plotters and schemers who have done so much to damage our nation in pursuit of their own petty agendas and career prospects ended up with EXACTLY what they truely deserve. Nothing.

My post is merly a response based on the actual facts of the matter - which anyone can easily confirm for themselves should they doubt it.

'Project Fear' was not restricted to just one side of the argument was it? I can only restate my perception of the situation our nation finds itself in today. Mirroring the referendum result itself my family, my workplace, my friends and acquaintances are all (as far as I can tell) pretty much 'split down the middle' on this the great issue of our age. Perhaps I exist in some utterly atypical enviroment that is divorced from the reality that you and others live in - that would certainly not be first time on here this has been put to me on here - but that is nevertheless my personal preception of the state of the nation at this time based on my own experience. How do you think the British people will react if we ultimately have to agree to some kind of unsatifactory 'fudge' in which EU immigration continues much as it does today in order that the UK might retain an acceptable level of Single Market access? What about the predicted recession that lays ahead or how your fellow 'Leave' voters will feel when that promised £350m a week never reaches the NHS? The storm isn't over - indeed you ain't seen nothing yet.

This aircraft order for the RAF was first announced as part of the 2015 Strategic Defence and Securty Review and therefore has nothing to do with Bretix.

I can only agree with all of the above. The Labour Party finds itself in a Hell of a mess just at a time when the British people need an effective opposition in Parliment the most. If this impass situation between the party's increasing left wing and ideological membership, and most of its more centerist and pragmatic MP's persists, then the only outcome I can see is that the party will split again - in a broadly similiar way perhaps to how it did before with moderates departing to form the short lived SDP. You will not need me to remind you that the SDP would eventualy merge with the Liberals to become the Liberal Democrate Party of course. The British people need their centre-left politicans to coalesce together far more quickly and effectivly this time I think. However, the lack of any apparent strong leader for this future grouping to unite under is a real problem - the likes of Nick Clegg and Angela Eagle really won't do I think. Step forward Chuka Umunna? I started this thread with the prediction that Jeremy Corbyn would be the death of the Labour Party as we now know it. I see no reason to rethink that opinion now - far from it.

If you really think that this issue has not divided the country more or less 'down the middle' then I can only say that you seem entirly out of touch with the nation you live in. And all this long before the real consequences of Bretix have even struck home. You ain't seen nothing yet.

It seems to me that this referendum has left a scar on the 'boby politic' of this nation that might take as long to heal as you have been arguing that we should leave. The notion that half a nation, people who fundamentaly disagree with this decision, are somehow going to forget about the matter is naive frankly.

Angela Eagle finally set to press the button on a new Labour leadership race: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36753769

So you continual moaning about the other half of the British population who are not happy with the referendum result is itself somehow different from "whinging" is it? As for your hoping that this division of opinion within this country will not go away, something tells me that you can rest assured this argument is here for a generation - or more.

To the best of my knowledge a British citizen's basic human right to freedom of thought does not come with a time limit attached. Are the many millions of your fellow citizens who just don't agree with, or othrwise cannot afford, the decision to leave the EU all supposed to suppress their opinion on that subject just because the likes of you don't like it? If so, then the expression 'dream on' does comes to mind ...

The notion that Vote Leave's blatant '£350m' lie might form the basis of a successful legal challenge to the referendum result is certainly a attractive idea in theory - indeed a lorry load of jam doughnuts crashing into a sugar refinery could hardly be more sweet. Unfortunately, if mere lying were to be considered grounds for invalidating votes then methinks that every British election result since 1708 would also have to be rerun ...

As a non Tory voter myself watching that party return to its pre-Cameron 'nasty party' roots has a certain gruesome appeal - almost like watching a blood sport in a way. For Theresa May however having your inability to produce either children, or indeed insulin, employed against you in the same week must be somewhat upsetting to put it mildly. But politics is notoriously rough business, so if she wants to climb to to top she will have to get used to it.

Of the two Teresa May is clearly the better qualified, more consensual, and altogether superior candidate for the job. But we live what has been described as 'post rational' times, so none of that may matter very much. Not that the vast majority of the British people are even going to be asked who their next PM will be of course.

You don't feel that part of the democratic process is that EVERYONE gets to freely express their opinion?

It's all kicking off in Dallas this morning as a protest against murderous police violence directed against America's black population has suddenly turned into a vicious firefight. Five US Police officers have been shot dead and 6 more have been wounded by sniper fire. A deadly nexus of social media agitation, unchecked police brutally and a politcal system that seems utterly incapable of introducing any meaningful gun-control measures seems to be steering the USA towards a ever more violent future.

The establishment of Official Inquires into the possible corruption and/or misdeeds of the powerful has become a valuable and important part of our famously 'unwritten' constitution. It is surely a good thing that people are held accountable for their actions both before Parliament and in court if need be. I doubt however that this nation's long term strategic relationships and foreign policy are really matters fit for judges to evaluate and pass judgement on. In a democracy these are issues that can only be decided by our politicans and, ultimately, the electorate who appoint them.