BREXIT

So, John, you left me in suspense.

He, of course, would be too dead to ask, but I think his point might have been that “hopefully” is an adverb which can only qualify a verb.

So, “to journey hopefully” would work.

But “Hopefully, the Tories will have a change of heart” doesn’t. The verb in there is “have”, yet the “hopefully” has nothing to do with that!

I suspect it was this sort of usage he was referring to.

But then he was a pillock, and Welsh (English as a second language?)!

A Welsh pillock? An unusual combination, that.

“Hopefully, the Tories will have a change of heart”

Full of hope, the Tories will have a change of heart.

?

I believe that that is indeed the literal meaning, if not the meaning generally intended by that construction.

To avoid all ambiguity (fat chance!) you could put it like this:

The Tories, full of hope, will have a change of heart.

Full of hope, the Tories will have a change of heart.

The Tories, full of hope, will have a change of heart.

Thanks for expressing clearly the possible meaning I was getting at earlier.

Another song, this time from our French friends sure that we Brits will be deprived of many useful loan words.

IDS, a true blue Tory who seems to enjoy the idea of kicking the poor while they’re down, is about to receive an honour.
B****rd doesn’t deserve a knighthood, he deserves to go to jail.¹

Here’s a petition that might be of interest. I doubt it’ll change anything (the turds in power seem quite oblivious to anything beyond themselves), but it’s better than whinging on a forum…

https://www.change.org/p/uk-government-and-parliament-we-object-to-iain-duncan-smith-receiving-a-knighthood

¹ My opinion.

B****rd doesn’t deserve a knighthood, he deserves to go to jail

Perhaps a small building on Gruinard Island?
Since it’s now ‘clean’ the human rights people couldn’t object.

Isolating irredeemable psychopaths is reasonable I think.

Isolating irredeemable psychopaths is reasonable I think.

There aren’t enough unwanted small islands to isolate all of them. Perhaps we should put them all on one island. Kerguelen might be appropriate, difficult to escape from there. It’s a long way to swim, and the water’s lovely bloody cold.

We could even supply them with weapons, a well-established game they like to play.

Ah, a flaw in that: I believe it’s against some convention or other to import unwanted biological material to Antarctica.

We could even supply them with weapons, a well-established game they like to play.

<chants>
Two men enter, one man leaves.
Two men enter, one man leaves.
Two men enter, one man leaves…

So let me see if I’ve got this right…

A Brexit party MEP is complaining that following Brexit, the UK will no longer be represented in the European Union?

This deal gives us no voice, no votes, no MEPs, no commissioner.

Just what exactly did she imagine Britain leaving the European Union actually meant? Sort of sitting in the corner on the naughty step?

She’s complaining that she will lose her cushy job. Oh dear, never mind…

I can’t help it. ROFL.

Conversation at work:

“Is she some kind of idiot?”

“She’s a BREXIT MEP”

“Yeah, is she some kind of idiot?”

“She’s a BREXIT MEP”

“Yeah, is she… oh!”

You apparently have at least one colleague who is very slightly slow in the uptake… 8~D

Meanwhile, in an amazing display of “talking back control”, Trump says no more Huawai and no taxing American internet giants, and Johnson says yes sir. Because in the EU at least the UK had a vote and a voice. Now, in an effort to take back control they will have neither, and will soon realise the effects of that.

Our last day of being European Citizens.

Enjoy it while you can…

😭

Yes, the freedoms we have enjoyed these last decades are coming to an end, along with the ease of doing lots of things. More bureaucracy…

More bureaucracy…

Don’t forget your green cards – has to be on paper again like in the olden days!

And you can’t print your own out!

More bureaucracy…

Having used the Channel Tunnel many times over the years, I don’t think much will change there – I’ve been stopped and had a session with UK customs on return twice, and the amount of time it takes to get through French passport control when leaving the country can’t get much worse.

get through French passport control when leaving the country can’t get much worse.

(my emphasis)
I hope you understand that that is because the UK thought that everybody else could sort out their immigration for them?
As a non-EU third country, they might eventually decide that the UK can deal with its own problems.

Meanwhile some of the useful things the EU did are already evaporating, here’s an example: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/01/30/uk_government_confirms_surchargefree_eu_roaming_will_end_after_transition_period/

And in a case of “must resist punching them all in the goddamn head”, the outgoing ambassador is pointing out the bleeding obvious – that the nationalistic crybaby whose rallying call was “America First!” is going to want to favour US companies over UK ones in any trade talks. I mean, DUH. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jan/31/trump-will-put-us-interests-first-in-trade-talks-says-kim-darroch-ambassador
Part of what gave the UK strength against America was the bloc that they’re quitting. So, yeah, good luck with getting any of the talks in the UK’s favour…

…but, as of nine hours from now the UK will no longer be a part of the EU so I guess we can look forward to all these unicorns. I trust, by Monday, the hard working MPs will have developed plenty of agreements with other countries that will replace what the bloc offered.

Careful with that lump in your cheek, Rick. If it gets any bigger it’ll merge with the lump in your throat.

get through French passport control when leaving the country can’t get much worse.

I should have made this clearer – when leaving the UK heading for France. This is the French checkpoint before you can board the Shuttle from the UK end. The queues can be very long and slow.

The queues can be very long and slow.

I wonder if this is post 9/11 or post Charlie Hebdo or something?

When we used to go on the ferry (BF, !P&O), they’d check my mother’s passport and the ferry ticket before letting us board. When “something was up” they would stop and search every 13th car ¹ until some twat managed to start a legal case over it being “discriminatory”. Only once was I asked to go and show my passport to the information desk on board.

On the way back, well, show ticket. Show passports. I was even asked for a proof of residence in the UK, which of course I didn’t have (who takes their payslip on holiday?). Instead I had to give my address. He got a map and had me name other nearby towns and where they were in relation. The hell?!

Don’t even talk about what happened when we took a cockatiel on holiday. Suffice to say that one country didn’t care while the other demanded certificates, home quarantine, and three visits from a MAAF approved vet.

¹ We know because mom liked to be early. HOURS early. So we just sat and watched.