I read the news today (oh boy) - Current world events | Page 97 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

It is definitely a historic moment, @AppleScruffJunior, and important to note that all major social changes in the Republic of Ireland (contraception, divorce, same sex marriage, abortion) have happened because of referendums.

And now the spotlight swings to Northern Ireland.

As a citizen of the United Kingdom I am ashamed that rights given in the rest of the UK (England, Wales and Scotland) are withheld from the citizens of Northern Ireland because of the religious views of the main Unionist party (the DUP), and rightly Theresa May is under pressure in Westminster to do something about the unequal treatment. In England, Wales and Scotland you can the “morning after pill” for free at your local chemist, in Northern Ireland you can face prosecution for obtaining drugs that induce a miscarriage. A mother who obtained pills for her daughter is currently awaiting trial, and any woman from NI faces the risk of prosecution if they travel overseas, most commonly to somewhere else within the UK, for a termination.

It is a disgrace, pure and simple. While I agree that parts of the UK should be able to vary their laws to a degree, I don’t believe that big social questions should be given to a religious party driven by dogma in any one part of the Union. I watched a DUP MLA yesterday spouting that many people who wouldn’t dream of voting for the DUP would stand with them to vote against abortion. He was probably right. What he didn’t mention was that many people who vote DUP because of the sectarian divide that still exists, would vote in favour.

I watched another DUP MLA today saying the decision should be left to the people of Northern Ireland, something I wholeheartedly agree with. There’s a big but in that though, he didn’t mean the people of NI, he meant the elected DUP politicians. The DUP will never allow a referendum on either abortion or same sex marriage, and because of the flawed political system in the North, which dictates agreement on issues between Unionists and Republicans, even were the DUP to find themselves in the minority, they would still block.

Not that that matters as the Northern Ireland Assembly broke down around 16 months ago, and so there is no devolved Assembly in place, and no signs of the elected representatives getting back to work (despite the fact that they are still on full pay!).

Any referendum in Northern Ireland on any issue would need the approval of the Westminster Government, and if Theresa May had real courage, using the fact that the devolved Assembly has broken down, she should call a referendum in the North on the issues of abortion and same sex marriage to find what the people of Northern Ireland really think, and then act on it, instead of hiding behind that the powers are devolved when there is no devolved governance.

Of course, she won’t, because the 10 DUP MPs in Westminster are propping up her Government.

If Labour have any sense, they will make it the subject of an Opposition Day debate, as there are many Conservatives MPs – especially women – who would vote in favour of a motion calling for change.

After Labour have come out against the Government’s position on this, it will be interesting to see how far they will take it.

The fact the Northern Ireland Assembly has been non-functional for 16 months gives Westminster every right to intervene, and I truly hope Theresa May is forced into a position where doing nothing is an embarrassment seen as a political ploy to keep herself in power, and that that forces her to act to at least ask the people of NI what they think about something – abortion – that has been legal in the rest of the UK for 50+ years (it was passed in the rest of UK in 1967).

Saddened to hear that Aretha Franklin, who has been battling cancer, is reportedly “gravely ill” in a Detroit hospital surrounded by family and friends.

The signs seem ominous.

Truly one of the great voices of my lifetime. My thoughts are with her. 

Feck! Another mass shooting in America with “multiple fatalities” at a video-gaming tournament. Jacksonville, Florida…

I will bite my tongue so as not to offend any of our American friends with my thoughts. You already know what I think about America’s gun laws…

@Starr Shine? said

Ron Nasty said
Feck! Another mass shooting in America with “multiple fatalities” at a video-gaming tournament. Jacksonville, Florida…

I will bite my tongue so as not to offend any of our American friends with my thoughts. You already know what I think about America’s gun laws…  

I did pose the question, with no major shooting going on.  

And much appreciated that was. I’ve been working on my comments for that thread off-line, there was some research needed on a couple of points I wanted to make, and it would have been posted over the weekend. I thought it right not to do that given the changed circumstances. I shall probably look at posting it next weekend, after the dust has settled (especially since, very thankfully, the fatalities were not as high as early reports suggested they might be).

Sorry, @Ahhh Girl, missed your above, but we have spoken about it away from the forum.

So, today, the UK is just 100 days from leaving the EU, and we are no clearer on what lies ahead.

May and the Government postponed their vote on the withdrawal agreement she negotiated because she knows she can’t get it through Parliament, delaying it by a month because she claims she’ll get further legal assurances about the Irish border and the backstop from Europe that will somehow make her bad deal acceptable. Europe has already rejected this possibility. She is just running down the clock hoping the threat of a no-deal crashing-out of Europe will scare MPs into supporting her bad deal. A high-risk strategy that looks likely to fail.

There can be no second referendum unless the Government allows it. Parliament could vote for one but they can’t force the Government to have one, and May is completely against the idea, despite the people having a far better idea of what Brexit looks like.

At the moment it is written into UK law that we will leave the EU at 11pm on 29 March 2019 deal or no deal, and no deal looks the most likely outcome at the moment.

Yesterday the Government stepped up plans for no deal, putting a further £4 billion into planning, and saying 3500 troops would be on standby in case needed. Today the EU released their no deal plans.

Our Government should be sitting over Christmas, just taking off three days next week, to deal with the seriousness of the situation we’re facing, as many MPs want, instead of going off on holiday until the week of the 7 January, with the vote meant to happen the following week (and there is nothing to stop May pulling the vote again).

Instead, we had the disgrace today of much time wasted on whether the Leader of the Opposition muttered “stupid woman” in regards to the PM or “stupid people” referring to the shambles of a Government we have, even bringing lip speakers in to look at it because whatever he muttered it was to the people sitting beside him, rather than said at the Dispatch Box.

Our politics are a, and I rarely do this, f*****g disgrace at the moment.

I dread the months ahead.

Oops, yeah. Sorry. Typo. Corrected it in post.