Very often, what matters in politics is not how you play the game, but how you place the blame. No one knows this better than Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson. His career would have been terminated long ago did he not possess a talent for wriggling out of responsibility for his behaviour in both his personal and political life. The biographer of Margaret Thatcher, Charles Moore, who once employed him as a journalist, sometimes refers to Mr Johnson as “the greased albino piglet”.

We are now entering the most intense round of the Brexit blame game. For three years, Remainers have pointed infuriated fingers at Mr Johnson and the other frontmen of the Leave campaign for flogging a bogus prospectus that Brexit would be a painless “piece of cake”, not never-ending agony. Since it cannot be the Brexiters’ fault that their promises have not been fulfilled, they must find someone else to blame and that would be intransigent Europeans, obstructive parliamentarians, quisling civil servants and meddling judges. With less than a month to go before the Halloween deadline, and an election hovering on the horizon as well, the issue of culpability is going to become even more fiercely contested. We approach the endgame of the blame game.

This is the lens through which to examine the 11th-hour Brexit “plan” unveiled by the Tory leader. He presents it as a “fair and reasonable compromise”, a demonstration of his bend-over-backwards desire to find an agreement with “our friends and partners in Europe”. He does so not because he thinks there is a hope in hell of the EU accepting his propositions, but the better to make himself look like the injured party when the “offer” is rejected. “Victim” is not usually how anyone would describe an Eton- and Oxford-educated politician. “Victim” is not usually a recommended status for a prime minister, but in this case he calculates it may suit him. Rather than own his failure to secure the deal he promised to the timetable he pledged, he wants Brexit voters to see him as a man who did his utmost only to be thwarted by scheming Remainers.

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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/06/boris-johnson-is-s...

Britain and the European Union traded ill-tempered barbs on Tuesday as the UK said a Brexit deal might be impossible, with just over three weeks until its scheduled departure from the bloc.

• Angela Merkel said that a deal was "overwhelmingly unlikely", according to Downing Street
• Any deal depends on Northern Ireland remaining in the EU's custom union, she reportedly said
• The Labor Party said Boris Johnson was trying to "sabotage the negotiations"

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office said EU intransigence had led to a breakdown in negotiations, prompting a top European leader to warn against playing a "stupid blame game" — and chide Mr Johnson in Latin.

Mr Johnson's office gave a gloomy assessment after a call between the Prime Minister and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday morning.

In a statement to British media, Downing Street said Ms Merkel had told Mr Johnson that a deal was "overwhelmingly unlikely" unless the UK agreed to allow Northern Ireland to continue to follow EU customs rules in order to maintain an open border with EU member Ireland.

That's something the British government says it cannnot accept. Downing Street said that "if this represents a new established position, then it means a deal is essentially impossible not just now but ever."

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-09/brexit-deal-essentially-impossibl...

Of course Boris' game is to blame "the others" for his own failure... A sociopathic trait.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/series/guardian-comment-cartoon

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the UK and EU have agreed to a "great new deal" on Brexit and urged Parliament to approve it this week.

• The deal will still need to be approved by both the UK and EU parliaments in order to pass
• Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn indicated his party would not support the deal
• Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party has reiterated it cannot support the deal

Mr Johnson posted on Twitter: "We've got a great new deal that takes back control — now Parliament should get Brexit done on Saturday so we can move on to other priorities like the cost of living, the NHS, violent crime and our environment."

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-17/brexit-deal-reached-boris-johnson...

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The British Government has formally asked the European Union for a delay to Brexit — but also sent a letter from Prime Minister Boris Johnson arguing against it.

• British media reports that Mr Johnson made it clear that he personally opposed an extension
• EU Council President Donald Tusk said he would consult EU leaders on how to respond to the request
• Mr Johnson said he would press on with his Brexit strategy "undaunted"

Mr Johnson was forced to request an extension after Parliament voted to delay a decision on whether to back his Brexit deal. 

A law passed last month compelled the Government to try and postpone Britain's departure if no deal was agreed to by Saturday night (local time).

British media said Mr Johnson made it clear in the correspondence that he personally opposed an extension, with the Prime Minister previously saying he would rather be "dead in a ditch" before asking for a delay.

The letter asking for the extension was not signed. 

It was accompanied by a second letter, signed by Mr Johnson, arguing that delay would "damage the interests of the UK and our EU partners".

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-20/brexit-delay-request-sent-to-eu-b...

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If Boris had to do one decent thing in his entire miserable life, it would be to free Assange and tell the Yanks to sod off... He can do it... and should do it...

The centrists really didn’t want this election. The reasons were never made especially clear. I know some people said it was a trick to force through No Deal Brexit, and apparently it means some (as yet unidentified) school had to cancel its Christmas fete.

That all seems rather shallow, or even stupid, reasoning on which to object to a chance to take power and reform the country. And yet hundreds of Labour MPs abstained the vote to approve the election.

Why is this? 

Why are Labour MPs upset at the idea of being in power? 

Why didn’t notionally “liberal” or “progressive” columnists cheer on the idea of removing Britains “hard right” government?

Because the only alternative is Jeremy Corbyn, and a whole raft of policies they pretend to support, but would never vote for.

As is so often the case, The Guardian is the perfect case study. A little ants nest of neo-liberals, scurrying around in desperate efforts to excuse their loyalty to the wealthy elite. None daring to even vaguely endorse Labour.

Polly Toynbee would prefer a hung parliament.

Suzanne Moore rails against the “forced binary” which forces us “fix identities and form hierarchies” , whilst artfully neglecting to endorse any particular candidate. 

She smugly rides above it all, sneering at people who invoke “austerity” and “the working class”, brandishing her lack of values as a sign of her hip modernity. Her line…

I reject the false binary between “austerity” and a tolerable amount of antisemitism”

…gives just a taste of bitter gruel ladled out by Jonathan Freedland today.

Nowhere is the situation better encapsulated than in his column, “Many Jews want Boris Johnson out. But how can we vote for Jeremy Corbyn?”

Here we see four years of carefully cultivated black propaganda being efficiently harvested by a master of intellectual dishonesty. 

From the unctuous tone, to the incredibly manipulative (and presumptuous) use of the word “we”. To the frankly appallingly inappropriate invoking of the holocaust. It’s a master-class in Guardian editorial style.

“Style”, as opposed to “substance”.

I have nothing but contempt for Johnson and his hard-right party, the prospect of Prime Minister Corbyn fills me with dread. Not, I stress, the prospect of a Labour government, committed to spending billions on schools, hospitals and houses – Britain needs that badly – but specifically the notion of Corbyn and his inner circle running the country.

You’ll notice here he just off-handedly endorses the policies, which makes a change because I don’t think he’s ever previously written anything in support of any decision of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, their proposed policy or their manifesto. 

But, in this instance, he needs to make his readers understand he’s a nice guy who likes all the right things. 

This isn’t about policy – he “stresses” it – this is about something else.

What is that something else?

We’re not sure, he doesn’t say. He suggests, he implies, but he doesn’t say.

Because he can’t. Because “don’t vote for Corbyn or he’ll round up all the Jews in camps” is an absurd argument.

He cites a survey – of only 700 people, and commissioned Jewish Leadership Council – which claims 87% of Jews believe Corbyn is an antisemite.

This number is, of course, ridiculous. And meaningless, because the number of people who think something has no relation to whether or not it’s true. There was a time, not so long ago, when that wouldn’t need to be said.

He mentions Chris Williamson, and that mural, and the “English irony line”, and the BBC Panorama episode. Lies and distortions all. Readily and easily debunked over and over and over again.

Why retreat to tired arguments, long ago discredited? Well, sadly, because they work. But also because he can’t do anything else.

He can’t say “Jeremy Corbyn hates the Jews”, because that’s libel.

He can’t say “Labour will enact anti-Jewish policies”, because that’s laughable.

And he can’t say “vote for the Conservatives”, because that would be bad for his brand.

Instead, he simply gives a vague, fear-mongering, deliberately deceptive account for his refusal to endorse a party, despite their policies being everything his carefully cultivated media person should agree with.

Jonathan Freedland really wants to vote for Labour, honest. 

He really wants to redistribute wealth, and re-nationalise industry, and reform our militaristic foreign policy…he really would love to do all that.

But he can’t.

Because the lies he’s been telling for the last four years force him not to.

Funny how that works out.

Read more:

https://off-guardian.org/2019/11/09/ge2019-reveals-true-purpose-of-antis...

FREE ASSANGE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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