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Author: TSE

Coming back to EU – can A50 be revoked?

Coming back to EU – can A50 be revoked?

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Picture: The justices of the CJEU Alastair Meeks, who correctly forecast the outcome of the Article 50 Supreme Court case, gives his view if Article 50 is revocable. Britain is not going to be rescinding its Article 50 notice.  The Government doesn’t want to and nothing in the current progress of negotiations is bringing Britain back closer to the rest of the EU.  All of which makes a lot of the speculation about whether Britain could revoke that notice rather…

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Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?

Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?

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All around the developed world, political loyalties are breaking down.  Electorates in Britain and the USA have gambled on reckless options in Brexit and Trump.  The hard right is a formidable political force in traditionally prosperous countries such as Sweden and Austria (where they may enter coalition government after the imminent election), and anti-immigrant voters have found their voice in France and Germany.  Secessionists ride high in Scotland and Catalonia.  Centrists find themselves outflanked on the left too, with centre…

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Picking up the pieces. Disintegrating Europe

Picking up the pieces. Disintegrating Europe

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EU: Support for Independence, Katapult poll of polls: Veneto: 56%Catalonia: 44%Sardinia: 41%Scotland: 40%Basque: 31%#Catalonia — Europe Elects (@EuropeElects) October 5, 2017 For 160 million years, overlapping substantially with the age of the dinosaurs, the entire landmass of the world was gathered together into a supercontinent called Pangaea.  And for much of the last 30 years, many devotees of the EU have imagined a single supercontinental system of government, as first western Europe and then much of eastern Europe has gloopily…

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For everyone’s sake, Mrs May shouldn’t demote Boris but engineer a job swap between her Foreign Secretary and the editor of the Evening Standard

For everyone’s sake, Mrs May shouldn’t demote Boris but engineer a job swap between her Foreign Secretary and the editor of the Evening Standard

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SUNDAY TIMES POLITICAL LEAD May ‘plots to demote Boris’ by @ShippersUnbound #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/G2Sx86cP47 — Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) October 7, 2017 Mrs May attempts undo the strangest political appointment since Caligula wanted to make his horse a Consul When Theresa May’s political obituary is written people might conclude she destroyed her premiership within minutes of becoming Prime Minister when she fired George Osborne as Chancellor and appointed Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary. At a stroke she made a needless enemy and…

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A European Strategy?

A European Strategy?

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It was Napoleon who famously described the English as “a nation of shopkeepers”, not meant as a compliment, one imagines.  Still, a bit rich coming from someone who sold Louisiana to the US to enrich his Treasury and help create a rival to England.  The English may have paid others to do their fighting for them, usually against the French, but they have yet to sell bits of their country off.  (The easily offended should look away now: dare I…

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Be careful what you wish for

Be careful what you wish for

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Alastair Meeks on EU politics and Brexit How they chortled.  For three months, loyal Conservative Leavers have had to endure the taunts of their opponents, sneering at the way in which Theresa May called an unnecessary election to secure a Brexit mandate and mislaid her majority.  And now their nemesis, Angela Merkel, has suffered a similar fate.  Despite many months of polls showing them cruising to a healthy win, the CDU and the CSU tallied just a third of the…

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PB / Polling Matters podcast: German election special & Labour conference reaction

PB / Polling Matters podcast: German election special & Labour conference reaction

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On this week’s PB / Polling Matters podcast, Keiran is joined by Dr Roland Kappe of UCL to discuss the recent German election results and what happens next. Keiran and Roland look at the results that stood out, why the AfD did so well (and whether comparisons with UKIP are valid) plus what form of coalition Angela Merkel could form and why the German election result might be bad for Brexit negotiations. Elsewhere on the show, Keiran reviews the latest polls and…

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