Category: Europe
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The Parrot Keeps Lecturing as the Rain Pours in
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“The Parrot Keeps Lecturing…” was written a day after the previous one, as news was coming in that – despite the DUP’s dissent – our Mr Toad had gone ahead and agreed a deal with the EU, for a “harder” Brexit than that envisaged by Theresa May in her earlier lengthy attempt. Her “deal” was…
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The Parrot Finds Himself Ahead of the Law
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Has the parrot started confusing himself with Dr Who ? And his cage with the Tardis ? One thought here is that – post computers and social media etc – we are settlers in the new country, the new world, which these discoveries have made for us. Essentially, we are still strangers in it and…
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Mr Toad Falls Foul of the Law (Again)
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On September 24th, the UK Supreme Court ruled against our Prime Minister’s prorogation of Parliament, finding unanimously that the prorogation was unlawful and that Johnson had misled the Queens on his reasons for implementing it. Effectively, Johnson was being named a plain liar by the highest court in the country and Parliament’s position in the…
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The Parrot in the Ring of Chaos
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This stanza was written just one day after the event it describes – the Labour Conference vote on campaigning for Remain. That event seemed significant for at least a few hours. But the following day’s judgement by the Supreme Court was so much more significant and – still finishing this stanza – I felt that…
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The Parrot is Witness to an Attempted Stabbing
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“The Stabbing” in the title above is of course a reference to Jon Lansman’s (mostly unsuccessful) attempt to render the Labour Party’s Deputy Leader Tom Watson null and void. Jon Lansman founded the “Momentum” organisation. He is on the Labour Party Executive Committee and a Corbyn supporter. He made his move without warning and as…
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Mr Toad Makes a Furtive Connection
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The reference here, of course, is to the announced intention of Mr Johnsons’s government to increase the number of the country’s jails, already very high and yet short staffed, so that even more people can be imprisoned and people jailed for certain crimes can serve their full sentences. This despite finding after finding that jail…
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The Toad Falls Foul of the Law
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The UK’s Supreme Court has just finished hearing the Government’s appeal against the Scottish High Court’s finding that Johnson misled the Queen as to his reasons for closing down the Parliament. It was not a matter of creating more time to prepare the Queen’s Speech. Instead it was to stop parliamentary scrutiny of his Brexit…
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The Parrot Takes Stock of the Flotsam Hulk
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When this was written, Mr Johnson had just come back from a meeting with some EU representatives, who had the unenviable task of being adult to his juvenile. Before going, he gave a jolly (though pernicious) description of himself as the “Incredible Hulk,” a character from the world of comics. And then off he greenly…