Why aren't votes in Parliament in secret to .....

Still time for Johnson to offer the DUP an enhanced massive bung to support him - money that could be going to the English regions (but wouldn't have). Maybe even the DUP have realised that whatever comes out of his gob is lies. They've even said remaining is better for them than this deal.

 

How many times does it have to be repeated that an MP's duty is to act in the best interests of the country above their constituents?

 

Saturdays vote isn't leave or remain though is it?

 

Love all these people with a crystal ball... Wasn't the world supposed to end if we dared to to vote out in the first play..

 

yet again someone who fails to understand what an MP is elected to do.

 

Remaining is better than any agreement as far as I can see. I can’t wait until we agree our first big trade deal and it’s actually on worse terms that we have now.

 

Take a step back and look at this through the course of history and societal development.

Throughout history, species have grouped together in larger groupings - either as a colony where ants or bees work together for the good of the colony, to herds and packs for survival (penguins, zebras, etc) and better hunting (lions, wolves).

People are the same. From family groups in a cave through small tribes of hunter-gatherers to larger tribes of farmers. These have grown from GB consisting of over 20 such groups into 3 (England, Wales, Scotland) into one - the UK. We group together as it gives us strength, protection and makes it easier to survive. Over the last 2-300 years, this has become increasingly important as other people have also grouped into larger, stronger societal blocks. For a long time, these blocks as kingdoms, countries or fiefdoms fought against each other for power and money. Now we are at the stage where a war can leave millions dead and the cost is higher than the benefits.

Today, the biggest, most powerful of these blocks are USA, China, India, the EU and the second tier is MERCOSUR, the African Union, Russia, Indonesia and others. Others are being left fighting for the scraps.

If it follows that society develops through time (evolves), then there have to be times when mutations develop. Successful ones (like the EU) take that evolution onto the next step and it is followed by others who see that it is working - MERCOSUR, the AU, CARICOM, ASEAN, etc are moving down that path, but there are also unsuccessful ones. Think of the Khmer Rouge, who cut off contact with the outside world, spurned experts and many died. North Korea, who have cut themselves off from the world and have lots of poor struggling people under an authoritarian dictatorship. Both of these examples show countries that stepped back in time as a result of choices made by the country and its leadership. Zimbabwe was the same - getting rid of the white farmers and giving the land to the native population could have be great if they actually knew how to farm!

This bring us to Brexit, which for the UK is one of those societal mutations. It *could* be a success, in which case other countries might follow it. But, it isn't looking like way so far. It is increasing tensions within society and increasing the factionalization of the country. Last time this was seen in Europe was in Sarajevo in the early 90s. Now, we might all come together in one happy family frolicking with unicorns, but more likely is that a few people are going to get richer and most people will be much poorer. Which takes us back to the Victorian era, but with wi-fi. As people lose what they have, they are going to get increasingly upset and angry with those who advocated this. Generally, people in this position start to listen to more right-wing politicians, leading to the rise of the BNP, EDL and others. That doesn't cover that 48% didn't vote for this precisely for this reason, and the young are over 70% against it and you can see that it will become increasingly nasty over the next few years - especially when the results of Brexit become apparent.

 

My local MP has just tweeted this. Votes against a deal 3 times then agrees to vote for a deal that’s worse. I really can’t get my breath.

 

The original referendum was a free vote and not based on 'party policy'. MPs should have a free vote and vote for what they think is best for the country not their party.

 

So if they do that and you don't like it...vote for someone else next time. It's pretty simple.

 

As someone said yesterday, the main difference (of the 6) between the deals is that Johnson has a johnson and May didn't.

 

I’ve just been reading an interesting article in the evening standard.... The ERG are all going to vote for this deal as it keeps no deal alive. If we haven’t agreed a full deal after the transition period it’s no deal and we leave. Don’t be fooled by suellas weasel words above.... I was initially, She’s doing no one a favour here and doesn’t care about integrity or democracy.