UK General Discussion: 2017 and onwards, Mayhem

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I just realized the UK hasn't had a left wing government in nearly 40 years.
That is all.

Wow, thanks for this blisteringly hot take, random american.

LOL

No but really, when I first realized this I was shocked.

Weak hot take. If you wanted to go further you should have claimed Wilson's and Callaghan's governments were not left either, and a true hot take master would suggest the UK, in fact, has never had a left wing government.

Not even Attlee's government was left wing! He was very, very dedicated to the monarchy!

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Kenneth Clarke is among the best Tory MPs. He's a principled parliamentarian. It would be better if the Tories were more like him in general.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Would the Tories let May call a new election over Brexit? After all, that's been done before. How well did that end up?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

And anyway why should we be the ones to swallow our pride about it? Given the fairly obvious popular support for remaining part of the UK, it should be the Spanish who swallow their pride and accept they're not going to control every bit of land that they want. I'm no imperialist (to put it mildly) but it astonishes me how many people are willing to throw the self-determination of places like Gibraltar and the Falklands out the window for little more than posturing.

I don't see the evidence, how can you say that? because of a referendum conducted 16 years?!
people change their views when the circumstances change,

A 16 year old referendum is still a more reliable indicator of opinion than 'they might have changed their minds.' Sure, they might have done, but 98% support even 16 years ago doesn't bore that out as particularly likely.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkland_Islands_sovereignty_referendum,_2013

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

And anyway why should we be the ones to swallow our pride about it? Given the fairly obvious popular support for remaining part of the UK, it should be the Spanish who swallow their pride and accept they're not going to control every bit of land that they want. I'm no imperialist (to put it mildly) but it astonishes me how many people are willing to throw the self-determination of places like Gibraltar and the Falklands out the window for little more than posturing.

I don't see the evidence, how can you say that? because of a referendum conducted 16 years?!
people change their views when the circumstances change,

A 16 year old referendum is still a more reliable indicator of opinion than 'they might have changed their minds.' Sure, they might have done, but 98% support even 16 years ago doesn't bore that out as particularly likely.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkland_Islands_sovereignty_referendum,_2013

What's that got to do with anything?

I was mainly backing up your arguments relating to the Falklands and to Gibraltar.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

And anyway why should we be the ones to swallow our pride about it? Given the fairly obvious popular support for remaining part of the UK, it should be the Spanish who swallow their pride and accept they're not going to control every bit of land that they want. I'm no imperialist (to put it mildly) but it astonishes me how many people are willing to throw the self-determination of places like Gibraltar and the Falklands out the window for little more than posturing.

I don't see the evidence, how can you say that? because of a referendum conducted 16 years?!
people change their views when the circumstances change,

A 16 year old referendum is still a more reliable indicator of opinion than 'they might have changed their minds.' Sure, they might have done, but 98% support even 16 years ago doesn't bore that out as particularly likely.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkland_Islands_sovereignty_referendum,_2013

It's not related to Gibraltar,
but of course they would vote to remain part of the UK,
people vote with their wallet,
they gain subsidies and protection by being part of the UK,

It's like Moray in Scotland, an area with traditional SNP roots but voted no to Scottish independence by quite a margin as people feared the military bases might be lost...  

fact remains that Gibraltar has been British since 1713. Would they really join Spain just to stay in the EU, and give up a British identity in the process?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

on an issue that nobody even cared about

Repeating a blatant lie doesn’t make it any more true.

Oh, so the consistent polling pre-2016 that consistently rated EU membership as a marginal issue was lying was it?

...And those polls rated by far the most pressing issue as immigration, which is intimately tied to freedom of movement and thus EU membership.   

The fact that the referendum vote was the largest democratic mandate in this country's history, larger than any general election, proves you are talking bollocks.

As someone who voted leave and will probably vote leave again...

Pull the other one. This is just gaslighting, and frankly it's a bit pathological.

The Fleet Street rags have worked hard for years to foster ignorance about the EU. Of course the British voting public wouldn't have a proper understanding about how the EU works...

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Rest in Peace.