BREXIT: Revocation

Francis Drake said:

You missed my point.
Sending the letter, signed or not, was compliance of the Law.
Sending his personal letter was not breaking any law.

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I think if we all can agree on one thing, it's that this is all very silly.

mindlight said:

I very much doubt that our current PM will be campaigning from Wormwood scrubs for this at the next general election. But how the EU responds is important. Will they give only enough time to accept or reject the current deal or will they give time for an election also as the opposition wants.

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I think there are many more "high crimes and misdemeanours" than this in recent years.
If Blair can get away with his criminal warmongering, whatever anyone thinks of Boris's action, it will pass with the next breeze.

mindlight said:

The Germans are telling me that the PM is not as important as parliament in their view and looks a little silly as a result of these shenanigans.

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His hair isn't help either.

Most germans see him as the british trump, which is not a compliment.

mindlight said:

Yes I find Germans quite ignorant regarding Boris possibly cause he is a well known comedian and they cannot take him seriously. That says a lot about Germans and their early specialisation in singular careers. Boris Johnson is a highly educated and intelligent man who has a long history of Commentary in the newspapers which has always been cutting edge. Whatever I may think of his determination to push BREXIT through I do not underestimate the man and he is a better alternative to Corbyn. But then I guess the mockery is part of the reason the British are leaving and the Americans are increasingly isolationist.

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Of course. It's all the fault of the other side laughing.

Goonie said:

Well I was wrong. He sent 2 letters but the request was unsigned, the signed letter telling the EU to reject the request.

he is blatantly breaking the law.

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Just picking this up again.-
The whole of this article is interesting, although I shall post the odd bit.
The Loopholes of the Surrender Act


3a) In the famous 'Gay Cake' (2018) Supreme Court ruling, following a dispute over a cake request in a Belfast bakery, Lady Hale declared: "Nobody should be forced to have or express a political opinion in which he does not believe.''
How can Lady Hale make a ruling on principle in 2018, and then make a reverse principle in 2019?

b) Article 51 Vienna Convention - a coerced signature cannot be valid.
This also makes it clear that the demand for a Boris signature is void.

The very fact that the EU is extending UK membership when our prime minister has basically said not to, is a sign of how desperately we're needed.

Also 39 Chinese people died smuggling themselves across Europe to the UK. People are crossing the channel in dinghies. One has to wonder what's so wrong with the EU that people are willing to risk their lives to leave it.

A Gerbil said:

The very fact that the EU is extending UK membership when our prime minister has basically said not to, is a sign of how desperately we're needed.

Also 39 Chinese people died smuggling themselves across Europe to the UK. People are crossing the channel in dinghies. One has to wonder what's so wrong with the EU that people are willing to risk their lives to leave it.

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Nothing much. Many immigrants settle in the EU. One thing that drives people to the UK is language.

Goonie said:

Nothing much. Many immigrants settle in the EU. One thing that drives people to the UK is language.

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You can get by in many European countries if you can speak English. Three of my friends worked in Holland for years, and picked up only a smattering of Dutch, as all of their colleagues spoke English. Most Germans and Swedes also speak English too, and when I was in Helsinki I heard it spoken on the street, in pubs and in restaurants.

English as a second language: Who in Europe speaks it best?

According to the above website more than 70% of the Dutch and Swedes speak English proficiently, and from my experience in Finland it's just the elderly who tend not to be able to speak it. Besides, I don't think most people would risk their lives rather than learn a language, and many immigrants to the UK cannot speak the language.

A Gerbil said:

The very fact that the EU is extending UK membership when our prime minister has basically said not to, is a sign of how desperately we're needed.

Also 39 Chinese people died smuggling themselves across Europe to the UK. People are crossing the channel in dinghies. One has to wonder what's so wrong with the EU that people are willing to risk their lives to leave it.

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China is not part of the EU.

A Gerbil said:

You can get by in many European countries if you can speak English. Three of my friends worked in Holland for years, and picked up only a smattering of Dutch, as all of their colleagues spoke English. Most Germans and Swedes also speak English too, and when I was in Helsinki I heard it spoken on the street, in pubs and in restaurants.

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It will be highly amusing if after Brexit, they carry on using English as a common language in the EU Parliament.
You will note that many non British speakers over there still give their speeches in English when addressing parliament.
However, I suspect that France will do its utmost to prevent it.

Francis Drake said:

It will be highly amusing if after Brexit, they carry on using English as a common language in the EU Parliament.
You will note that many non British speakers over there still give their speeches in English when addressing parliament.
However, I suspect that France will do its utmost to prevent it.

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A few french politicians in the EU have started to use english, too. Been quite a scandal.

English is the global "lingua franca", which has more to do with the USA than with the UK, though you guys colonising half the world 2 centuries ago certainly helped things along.

Nithavela said:

English is the global "lingua franca",

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This has to be the funniest post on this thread.
"English is the global "lingua franca""
Given that "Lingua Franca" in effective means "French language", try telling the French that and they will go berserk!

which has more to do with the USA than with the UK, though you guys colonising half the world 2 centuries ago certainly helped things along.

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...….and where did the USA get their language from?

Back to the French, -they get really angry at the way their language is being lost or mangled. In fact so angry, that they enacted the "Toubon Law in 1994, mandating the use of the French language in official government publications, in all advertisements, in all workplaces, in commercial contracts, in some other commercial communication contexts, in all government-financed schools, and some other contexts.

I'm pretty sure it was aimed at English and American English, but perhaps German Italian etc.

Rightly or wrongly we English are always accused of pillaging the world of its riches during the Empire, which we of course deny, but one part of that is true, we love to pillage the world of its languages and words. Stealing foreign words is our speciality.

English speakers tend to forget that not all words actually belong to them. George Bush is famously reputed to have said, "The trouble with the French, is that they have no word for 'entrepreneur'".
And don't ask what this has to do with Brexit, except of course, another word we invented that has to remain entirely British.

I wonder how the French academics will react when Le Monde starts quoting "Frexit".

Francis Drake said:

...….and where did the USA get their language from?

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From Britain, which also gave the USA the incentive to kick their colonial masters off the continent. German was also pretty popular both as a language of science and of the USA, but then WWI started.

Back then, people speaking german were propably treated the same way people are treated now in the USA when they speak something arabic-sounding.

Nithavela said:

China is not part of the EU.

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You clearly got an A for geography at school. The Chinese boarded the lorry inside the EU however, which therefore indicates they were risking their lives to get from continental Europe to the UK. Clearly the British people are not the only ones desperate to leave (continental) Europe...

Nithavela said:

From Britain, which also gave the USA the incentive to kick their colonial masters off the continent. German was also pretty popular both as a language of science and of the USA, but then WWI started.

Back then, people speaking german were propably treated the same way people are treated now in the USA when they speak something arabic-sounding.

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Erm, I think you will find Canada is also part of North America and remained a British territory.

A Gerbil said:

Erm, I think you will find Canada is also part of North America and remained a British territory.

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Canada? Please, everyone knows they are more french than british.

A Gerbil said:

You clearly got an A for geography at school. The Chinese boarded the lorry inside the EU however, which therefore indicates they were risking their lives to get from continental Europe to the UK. Clearly the British people are not the only ones desperate to leave (continental) Europe...

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Actually many Chinese are victims of trafficking being brought to the UK to work as slaves to pay of gambling debts in China.
China-UK people trafficking often driven by debt, experts say

They likely did not have the choice on whether to stay in continental Europe.