Brexit about to be triggered?

Franco's Spain having held Gibraltar during WW2 is the stuff of nightmares....I'd say 300+ years of stability speaks for itself.

Okay, while we are making claims Hungary would like Croatia, Jugoslavia ie Serbia, Bosnia, Herzogovina, Montenegro, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, assorted pieces from other countries and the port of Trieste, please, and the restablishment of the Dual Monarchy.   I hope I am not demanding too much? LL  

And it's about time Erdogan handed the north side of Constantinople back to its rightful owners, so they can get those damned minarets off the cathedral of Hagia Sophia.

Aye, and while we are at it, I'd like the return of Berwick to Scotland.    LL

Good point, LL!

And it's only right that Orkney and Shetland go back to Norway, and the Lord of the Isles runs things on the west coast again.

Spain won’t block Scottish EU membership.

The move will boost Nicola Sturgeon ahead of a planned second independence referendum.

The Spanish government signaled it won’t veto any attempt by an independent Scotland to join the EU.

“If [Scottish independence] happens legally and constitutionally, we would not block it,” Alfonso Dastis, Spain’s foreign minister, told the Guardian. However, he added that “we don’t encourage the breakup of any member states, because we think the future goes in a different direction.”

Last week, Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, formally requested permission to hold a second independence referendum. She has made clear her desire to keep Scotland in the EU on the grounds that 62 percent of Scots voted to remain in last year’s referendum on the U.K.’s membership of the bloc.

Her plans have faced resistance from Madrid, which is tackling a renewed push for independence in Catalonia. Ahead of the last referendum on Scottish independence in 2014, Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s prime minister, warned that a victory for the Scottish National Party could destabilize other EU countries.

Dastis made clear that Scotland would have to apply for membership in the same manner as other candidate countries. “They would have to join the line of candidates at some point and would have to start negotiations,” he said.

The foreign minister also told El País that Spain preferred a “soft Brexit” but if the U.K. is “leaving the single market and the customs union, it’s difficult to think of a soft Brexit.”

If [Scottish independence] happens legally and constitutionally

That's a key phrase, LL, as what Sturgeon is doing at present is neither legal nor constitutional.

She is one of the signatories of the Edinburgh Agreement, which she has torn up and used as toilet paper over the past few weeks.

Spain is playing diplomatic games, as is to be expected. Sturgeon doesn't want Brexit to succeed, any more than she wants devolution to succeed.

I have NO doubt that EU nations will use her as a weapon against Perfidious Albion, as has happened throughout history (generally ending with piles of dead Scots), but they will have been following her antics and know how untrustworthy she is.

She is, to use an old-fashioned word, an oathbreaker.

This chart, of last year's Holyrood votes, explains the real situation:



45% of Scottish voters - didn't bother voting.

Sturgeon is strutting round with the backing of 25% of the population - the other 75% either voted for someone else, or couldn't be bothered voting at all.

There is a lot of trouble brewing here; I just hope the SNPs Sinn Fein Lite face painters don't do anything stupid and nasty when they are frustrated.

Pete Wishart‏Verified account @PeteWishart 11h
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OK Scotland, what we thinking about this mad hard Brexit they've got us shackled to? Fancy taking matters into our own hands?

That is an SNP MP. Instead of making threats, I suggest it might be a better idea for the useless 50+ troughers to resign their seats, and let the electorate decide....

Unfortunately, they are all too fond of their wage packets and expenses from Westmonster to chance it, because a lot of them - him included - would be out on their privileged ears from the rural, fishing and farming seats. They'd hang onto their formerly Labour seats in the Central belt, and that's it.

Old Holborn✘ Retweeted
Lewis Henshall‏ @ljhenshall 19h19 hours ago
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Racist, xenophobic Brexit Britain.

Teenage asylum seeker brutally attacked in Croydon

Brexit racists, was it? Because there may be a bit of a problem with that narrative....

http://news.sky.com/story/police-release-images-of-three-wanted-over-croydon-asylum-seeker-attack-10823141

Police release images of three wanted over Croydon asylum seeker attack
A witness says "there was a group of roughly 10 people kicking and punching" the boy, while "another 10 or 20 were watching".



I won't be at all surprised if, when the full story comes out, it has more to do with someone's girlfriend being dissed, or something equally trivial. As is generally the case with fights outside pubs.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/03/eu-will-not-give-way-gibraltar-diplomats-say-talk-war-dismissed/

Gibraltar has accused the European Union of behaving like a "cuckolded husband who is taking it out on the children" by appearing to hand Spain a veto over "the Rock's" future in Brexit negotiations.

Fabian Picardo, the chief minister, made the comments after Spain accused Britain of "losing its temper" over Gibraltar.

It came as talk of a "war" between Britain and Spain over the row was dismissed as "absurd".

Alfonso Dastis, Spain's foreign minister, said he was "surprised" by Britain's response after the EU’s draft Brexit negotiating guidelines appeared to hand Spain an ­effective veto over whether an eventual deal will apply to Gibraltar.

He said: "The Spanish government is a little surprised by the tone of comments coming out of Britain, a country known for its composure."

Mr Picardo said: "Gibraltar is not a bargaining chip in these negotiations. Gibraltar belongs to the Gibraltarians and we want to stay British."

Boris Johnson has insisted this morning that there will be no change to Gibraltar's sovereignty without Britain's consent.

Speaking on arrival at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, he said: "The sovereignty of Gibraltar is unchanged and is not going to change, and cannot conceivably change without the express support and consent of the people of Gibraltar and the United Kingdom, and that is not going to change."

It came as Jack Straw, the former Labour foreign secretary, said he did not believe the status of Gibraltar posed a great danger to a Brexit deal and he thought the suggestion of war "reeks of 19th century jingoism"....etc

No, it's setting down a marker, because Spain was chancing its arm. I do like the 'cuckold' insult, though.

Oh, and it does rather demonstrate the contempt the EU has for the little people, that Spain thought it could try a Rock-grab despite what the Gibraltarians wanted.

At least the Sun's having fun.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-39489107

Sturgeon to mount defence of globalisation
2 hours ago




Nicola Sturgeon and Jerry Brown signed an agreement pledging to work together on climate change


Scotland's first minister is to mount a staunch defence of globalisation in a speech in California later.
Nicola Sturgeon will argue in favour of immigration and free trade in an event billed as discussing Scotland's place in the world.
The speech at Stanford University will come on the second day of her visit to California.
On Monday she signed a climate change agreement with the state's governor, Jerry Brown.
In her speech on Tuesday evening, Ms Sturgeon will reflect on Brexit and her subsequent call for Scotland to have a second independence referendum.
Low incomes
She will also set out her views on the challenges and opportunities of globalisation, migration and climate change....etc.


I KNEW IT!

The smell of Soros has been coming off her and a few other leading lights in the current SNP for a while now; it's been glaringly obvious that they weren't actually acting in the best interests of Scotland.

Oh, and please note - she and Governor Moonbeam are pretending to 'sign' blank sheets of paper. Which just about sums up this whole farce.

While Sturgeon is gallivanting in the States....

Sorry. I think I've lost the plot again.

I so wanted Scotland to be independent. And now I don't understand anymore.

So did I, Sabot, but what the SNP has turned into appalls me. They are incompetent, deceitful control freaks; I don't know who is pulling their strings, but someone sure is. They are intolerant of any criticism whatsoever - one journo who did criticise them was immediately attacked by two SNP MPs, Pete Wishart and John Nicolson, and was sacked from his job with STV.

They've gone very, very bad in a very short space of time and bear little resemblance to the party of a decade or two ago. Their supporters don't actually care much about Scotland nowadays, they just hate England. There is NO point in involving Sturgeon in Brexit talks, as she is actively trying to wreck them.

The sensible thing for Sturgeon to have done when she took office would have been to prove she could make a good job of running Scotland; instead, she is causing one f*ck-up after another, and doesn't care, just goes around shouting about Toaries! Referendum!

The education system has been run into the ground, having formerly been one of the best in the world...the list is endless.

About the only thing the current SNP have succeeded in doing is sparking a Tory revival here.

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/823729/nicola-sturgeon-stanford-independence-referendum-court/?CMP=Spklr-_-Editorial-_-ScottishSun-_-News-_-TwImageandlink-_-Statement-_-TWITTER

And in questioning after her speech, the First Minister added: “One of the things reserved to the UK government is the constitution.

“It is quite a vague term. It’s never been tested in court but in 2014 we accepted that for there to be a referendum in Scotland it required the legal consent of the UK government.”

That seems like a clear threat to take the referendum demand through the courts if Mrs May refuses to clear the way at Westminster.

Oh FFS, yet more money wasted on her trying to force her will on the rest of us.

And it HAS been tested in court, just a few months ago, in fact.

When Sturgeon very foolishly sent Scottish legal types to the UK Supreme Court to oppose Brexit, and was firmly slapped down, as these are all reserved matters.

I've seen some liars in politics before, but NEVER one as bare-faced as Sturgeon. Or one as good at spending other people's money on her pet obsession.

That is the Edinburgh Agreement, complete with Sturgeon's signature. Is she going to claim she was forced to sign it under duress?

Gareth Quinn‏
@GarethBQuinn

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.@NicolaSturgeon Our identity "remains open, outward-looking & inclusive. People around world will still be welcome to call themselves Scottish"

Except for all the ACTUAL Scots who vote Tory, LibDem or Labour. Or who voted NO in the last referendum. Or who voted LEAVE.

They are all regularly called quislings, traitors, shills, etc, by Sturgeon supporters. Oh, and the worse of all - 'Yoon', a racist term of abuse just as bad as 'Jew' or 'n___er', but which trips off the tongues of SNP supporters - including Salmond.

It's no wonder so many long-term supporters of real independence, self-reliance and self-respect have fled her party of intolerance and pig-ignorance.

Why not? Ignoring Nige has worked out really well for the EU so far, hasn't it? Why, it's almost as clever as telling the V4 group they can take Merkel's unwanted, unwashed party guests, or they can leave the EU!

Morons.

UK News‏
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FT graph shows how Scotland's economy has performed since Nicola Sturgeon became First Minister in 2014.

Fancy you having your very own Moonbeam of a First Minister.   

Can't you keep her? Get Trump to send her to Gitmo?

You know how it's Tartan Day in New York tomorrow, Scotland's big day there?

STURGEON HASN'T BEEN INVITED.

Why, you may ask? Why, because when SNP politicians have been invited on previous occasions, they've tried to take over, tell everyone else what to do, and to subvert the festivities for their own ends. Yes, the First Minister of Scotland is persona non grata at Tartan Day - another example of her sheer genius for diplomacy.

Excuse me while I