OneGuyFromBarlick

"Life's a bitch and then you die".
The Washington Post published excerpts of a discussion between high school classmates in 1982 and this exact phrase was credited to the composer, 15-year-old Tony Daniels.

BBC political correspondent Chris Mason on the proposed debate between May and Corbyn:
`It would be a discussion between two people who voted Remain and are committed to delivering Brexit, talking to an audience that doesn't have a say on what happens next.'

"This is the new 'Great Game' and China is winning."

Ch 4 News - following a piece on the establishment of a naval base in Southern Sri Lanka. Created as Chinese sovereign territory, on a 99 yr lease. Shades of Hong Kong.

Last week there was mention of a Chinese financed Serbian coal fired power station, fed by a nearby open cast coal mine .

"It's a funny old world!"
Stanley, frequently!

"All referendums polarise opinions"
Norwegian politician on World Service this morning.

Ian Hislop on the BH programme this morning, answering the comment that all his Private Eye front covers seem to be about Brexit:
`We did do one on Philip Green but the number of people who subsequently cancelled their subscriptions suggests we should have stuck to Brexit.'

That was tongue in cheek Tiz. Some people forget that PE is a satirical magazine....
He was calling the queen a 'fat old kraut'. Not a million miles away from what he could have been thinking perhaps. Some of us do remember that the royal house name was changed from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the English Windsor (from "Windsor Castle") in 1917 because of anti-German sentiment in the British Empire during World War I.

Mystery object reminder..
Two nations between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other's habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets. The rich and the poor.
Benjamin Disraeli

Sybil...... and as true today as it was then, some things never change!

Except it might be four nations now - left remainers, right remainers, left brexiters, right brexiters.

I'm a simple minded bugger Tiz, to me its rich and poor, us and them.

I think his suspension from the house for undeclared trips to Sri Lanka must be over -

DUP MP Ian Paisley Jr said: “This isn’t a backstop, it’s a backstab.”

Ahhhhh the joys of Irish politics! Can you imagine what would be happening if his dad was still in the House?

Frank Field on the Motability Operations boss who is in line for an extra £1.86 million bonus on top of already "generous" pay...
"...beyond appalling to learn that money that could have been used to improve the lives of disabled people will be lining his pockets instead".

I've had some personal experience of the Motability scheme. It's one of the many reasons why asylum seekers reject any other country en route and single mindedly strive to reach UK.

And if he stays in post until 2019 it rises to over £2million. What struck me was that they supply cars and services 44% cheaper than the market but still make a healthy profit.

Heard this morning on Today on R4.... An anonymous Tory MP, talking about the men in grey suits who run the Tory Party going into the Leader's office with a large whisky and a loaded gun for 'an honourable exit'. He said that this was dangerous because the mood she is in now she'd drink the whisky and shoot the men in the suits.
Isn't politics interesting!

"There are vertebrates, invertebrates and there are Tory MPs"

Laura Kuenssburg BBC Political Editor.


"I now know the meaning of the modern expression post truth"

Tripps.

Government minister, Alistair Burt, on Twitter: "They never, ever, stop. Votes against them, letters going in late - nothing matters to the ERG. After the apocalypse, all that will be left will be ants and Tory MPs complaining about Europe and their leader."
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IDS, commenting on the possibility of Tory MPs taking sides with Labour to force things along: "How can you expect that to happen with the Labour Party in such disarray?" Could this be the ultimate example of `pot calling the kettle black?

Author Craig Brown this morning saying that the royal family should be boring rather than trying to impress us with their activity...
"George V is a good example, he was a boring stamp collector. His diary for June 28th, 1914 reads:
Morning: Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria assassinated in Sarajevo.
Afternoon: Stamps until tea time.

I heard that and liked it also. This quote keeps coming to mind:-
"All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of human affairs.”
Enoch Powell - The Economist, 12 Feb 1998.

I've just got back from her next door's (the poet's ) Christmas lunch.
I enjoyed the 'banter with her super intelligent friends, and I think I held my own. They seem not to be in favour of Brexit and Margaret Thatcher, and I must confess to being a tiny bit provocative.

A memorable quote :

"Then of course it was entirely up to the Mongolian Ambassador."

"But not so much in the South I think......"