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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/dec/23/queen-gives-theresa-may-royal-seal-of-disapproval-over-brexit
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Queen gives Theresa May royal seal of disapproval over Brexit Queen gives Theresa May royal seal of disapproval over Brexit | |
(about 14 hours later) | |
Monday | Monday |
The party given by my close friend with terminal brain cancer that I wrote about last week turned out to be even more extraordinary than expected. It somehow managed to be both joyous and heartbreaking in equal measure – I’ll never forget it – and most people managed to save their tears for the way home. Stephen set the tone for the evening by saying that everyone had been sympathising with him about how difficult it must be. “It isn’t,” he said. “It’s actually incredibly easy. The diagnosis has given me an absolute clarity. A clarity of what really matters.” He then asked five friends who were personally involved in local and national charities to give presentations and invited everyone present to turn the occasion into a fundraiser for them. That, in turn, gave me a little clarity of my own. I’d been wondering about which charities should benefit from the Wasim Akram cricket sweater I sold at auction a couple of weeks ago. Now I know. | The party given by my close friend with terminal brain cancer that I wrote about last week turned out to be even more extraordinary than expected. It somehow managed to be both joyous and heartbreaking in equal measure – I’ll never forget it – and most people managed to save their tears for the way home. Stephen set the tone for the evening by saying that everyone had been sympathising with him about how difficult it must be. “It isn’t,” he said. “It’s actually incredibly easy. The diagnosis has given me an absolute clarity. A clarity of what really matters.” He then asked five friends who were personally involved in local and national charities to give presentations and invited everyone present to turn the occasion into a fundraiser for them. That, in turn, gave me a little clarity of my own. I’d been wondering about which charities should benefit from the Wasim Akram cricket sweater I sold at auction a couple of weeks ago. Now I know. |
Tuesday | Tuesday |
In the run-up to the general election last year, Nick Clegg described George Osborne as “a very dangerous man” whose plans were “harder than anything arch-Thatcherites would do”. The former Lib Dem leader was also scarcely less disobliging about his old coalition mucker in his book Politics: Between the Extremes, in which he called out the former chancellor for being “petulant and underhand” when he didn’t get his own way. But a few months can be a long time in politics, and Clegg appears to be willing to let bygones be bygones as the pair were spotted having a long and convivial lunch. With recent polls suggesting that more people now identify as being for or against Brexit than Conservative or Labour, there are rumours that Clegg and Osborne are preparing to launch a new political alliance aimed at hoovering up those voters who want to keep links with the EU as close as possible. Stand by for Coalition 2.0. | In the run-up to the general election last year, Nick Clegg described George Osborne as “a very dangerous man” whose plans were “harder than anything arch-Thatcherites would do”. The former Lib Dem leader was also scarcely less disobliging about his old coalition mucker in his book Politics: Between the Extremes, in which he called out the former chancellor for being “petulant and underhand” when he didn’t get his own way. But a few months can be a long time in politics, and Clegg appears to be willing to let bygones be bygones as the pair were spotted having a long and convivial lunch. With recent polls suggesting that more people now identify as being for or against Brexit than Conservative or Labour, there are rumours that Clegg and Osborne are preparing to launch a new political alliance aimed at hoovering up those voters who want to keep links with the EU as close as possible. Stand by for Coalition 2.0. |
Wednesday | Wednesday |
The Labour party may be 14 points behind the Tories in the polls – imagine how far they might be behind if Theresa May had anything resembling a Brexit plan – but it is awash with cash. One of the knock-on effects of two leadership campaigns, which saw the party membership grow to more than 500,000 with new members paying anything from £3 to £25 for the privilege of voting, has been that Labour is no longer broke. Whether that money is being spent wisely is another matter. Week by week the numbers of people working in central office seems to be growing exponentially as Labour gears itself up for another general election in May or June next year. The thinking goes that once the supreme court has rejected the government’s appeal and parliament gets to have a laugh about the paucity of the Conservative’s Brexit strategy, the Maybot will call an election in a fit of pique. Given the polling figures, the Tories will romp home with a massively increased majority and Labour will have to make redundancy payments to all the new staff it has just taken on. And you thought 2017 couldn’t be any worse than 2016. | The Labour party may be 14 points behind the Tories in the polls – imagine how far they might be behind if Theresa May had anything resembling a Brexit plan – but it is awash with cash. One of the knock-on effects of two leadership campaigns, which saw the party membership grow to more than 500,000 with new members paying anything from £3 to £25 for the privilege of voting, has been that Labour is no longer broke. Whether that money is being spent wisely is another matter. Week by week the numbers of people working in central office seems to be growing exponentially as Labour gears itself up for another general election in May or June next year. The thinking goes that once the supreme court has rejected the government’s appeal and parliament gets to have a laugh about the paucity of the Conservative’s Brexit strategy, the Maybot will call an election in a fit of pique. Given the polling figures, the Tories will romp home with a massively increased majority and Labour will have to make redundancy payments to all the new staff it has just taken on. And you thought 2017 couldn’t be any worse than 2016. |
Thursday | Thursday |
Given the volatile economic times in which we live, we should be encouraging Boris Johnson to double up his overseas visits as foreign secretary as opportunities to do a spot of book signing on the side, rather than demanding an investigation into his moonlighting. If the government could persuade the publishers to pay half the travel costs, everyone would be better off. The possible savings are considerable. The most recent publication of MPs’ financial interests shows that Theresa May is the recipient of an Amanda Wakeley discount card. With all the free publicity the prime minister has given the fashion designer in recent weeks, it would seem only right that she should coincide her first visit to Donald Trump with next year’s New York fashion week. And with Chris Evans having ducked out of Top Gear, the transport secretary, Chris Grayling, must be in line as a possible presenter as he has received donations from both Toyota and the RAC in recent months. Liam Fox might be a harder sell. No one can give away copies of his 2013 epic Rising Tides: Facing the Challenges of a New Era, let alone pay for him to sign them. | Given the volatile economic times in which we live, we should be encouraging Boris Johnson to double up his overseas visits as foreign secretary as opportunities to do a spot of book signing on the side, rather than demanding an investigation into his moonlighting. If the government could persuade the publishers to pay half the travel costs, everyone would be better off. The possible savings are considerable. The most recent publication of MPs’ financial interests shows that Theresa May is the recipient of an Amanda Wakeley discount card. With all the free publicity the prime minister has given the fashion designer in recent weeks, it would seem only right that she should coincide her first visit to Donald Trump with next year’s New York fashion week. And with Chris Evans having ducked out of Top Gear, the transport secretary, Chris Grayling, must be in line as a possible presenter as he has received donations from both Toyota and the RAC in recent months. Liam Fox might be a harder sell. No one can give away copies of his 2013 epic Rising Tides: Facing the Challenges of a New Era, let alone pay for him to sign them. |
Friday | Friday |
Reports that even the Queen is getting fed up with Theresa May’s lack of clarity on Brexit will come as no surprise to anyone in Whitehall. Though the Maybot often finds it impossible to answer any question with a straight yes or no – odd for someone who gives every appearance of having been programmed in binary – she isn’t that keen on letting anyone else answer on her behalf. Civil servants are tearing their hair out over her micro-managerial insistence that she has to sign off every detail from every department, not least as it is taking at least 10 weeks for her to come back with a few preliminary queries. Government is almost at a standstill. One can only imagine what the conversation between the Queen and the prime minister must have been like: | Reports that even the Queen is getting fed up with Theresa May’s lack of clarity on Brexit will come as no surprise to anyone in Whitehall. Though the Maybot often finds it impossible to answer any question with a straight yes or no – odd for someone who gives every appearance of having been programmed in binary – she isn’t that keen on letting anyone else answer on her behalf. Civil servants are tearing their hair out over her micro-managerial insistence that she has to sign off every detail from every department, not least as it is taking at least 10 weeks for her to come back with a few preliminary queries. Government is almost at a standstill. One can only imagine what the conversation between the Queen and the prime minister must have been like: |
HM: Can you tell me what your Brexit plan is? | HM: Can you tell me what your Brexit plan is? |
PM: I’m not going to give a running commentary. | PM: I’m not going to give a running commentary. |
HM: One’s only asking for a few details. | HM: One’s only asking for a few details. |
PM: Brexit means red, white and blue. | PM: Brexit means red, white and blue. |
HM: That’s a sodding flag, not a plan. | HM: That’s a sodding flag, not a plan. |
PM: Do you want to borrow my Amanda Wakeley discount card? | PM: Do you want to borrow my Amanda Wakeley discount card? |
Digested week: Nukes away! | Digested week: Nukes away! |