Boris Johnson loses parliamentary majority in UK

[Steeleballz 7,550]

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party lost its parliamentary majority Tuesday after a member of parliament defected to the Liberal Democrats.

 

   https://thehill.com/policy/international/459728-boris-johnson-loses-parliamentary-majority

 

     Well that didn't take long. 

[yuna628 9,528]

5 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party lost its parliamentary majority Tuesday after a member of parliament defected to the Liberal Democrats.

 

   https://thehill.com/policy/international/459728-boris-johnson-loses-parliamentary-majority

 

     Well that didn't take long. 

Its a delicious sideshow of a dumpster fire.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

1 minute ago, yuna628 said:

Its a delicious sideshow of a dumpster fire.

 

   Really, who would have predicted that British politics would be more entertaining than what we have in America. 

[laylalex 7,247]

Am I a bad person for thinking that this opens up a whole bunch of shopping opportunities once the pound gets even weaker against the dollar???  

[Steeleballz 7,550]

8 minutes ago, laylalex said:

Am I a bad person for thinking that this opens up a whole bunch of shopping opportunities once the pound gets even weaker against the dollar???  

 

  Just think of it as helping the British export industry. I think I'll stop in the British shop later and see if I can find some nougat and Yorkie bars.

[yuna628 9,528]

1 minute ago, Steeleballz said:

 

  Just think of it as helping the British export industry. I think I'll stop in the British shop later and see if I can find some nougat and Yorkie bars.

No trade deals. No airplane flying deals... sure....so much help. I'd just like to be able to find my husband his chocolate and Jacobs without traveling five hours and paying an arm and a leg, but if this all comes crashing down, you'd better start hoarding those things like gold. Aside from worrying about my in-laws during this entire fiasco.

[laylalex 7,247]

4 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

No trade deals. No airplane flying deals... sure....so much help. I'd just like to be able to find my husband his chocolate and Jacobs without traveling five hours and paying an arm and a leg, but if this all comes crashing down, you'd better start hoarding those things like gold. Aside from worrying about my in-laws during this entire fiasco.

Half of my friends and my soon to be family-in-law are over there. Really worried about them.  Half minded to start setting some of them up with Americans I know...  

[yuna628 9,528]

Just now, laylalex said:

Half of my friends and my soon to be family-in-law are over there. Really worried about them.  Half minded to start setting some of them up with Americans I know...  

LOL.. perhaps it'll be a new wave of young eligible English bachelors looking for American heiresses of rich and poor as in the old days.

 

Joking aside though... we are going to have to have 'the talk' with the in-laws. What have they prepared for and such.. the sad fact is so many feel lost and drowning over there, but suppress all those feelings deep down with the ever-present 'keep pressing on' sunny optimism fake-out mentality.

[elmcitymaven 9,711]

2 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

LOL.. perhaps it'll be a new wave of young eligible English bachelors looking for American heiresses of rich and poor as in the old days.

 

Joking aside though... we are going to have to have 'the talk' with the in-laws. What have they prepared for and such.. the sad fact is so many feel lost and drowning over there, but suppress all those feelings deep down with the ever-present 'keep pressing on' sunny optimism fake-out mentality.

Almost all of my nuclear family (except parents, who live in Connecticut) live in the UK; they're all dual UK/US citizens. I'm flat out scared. My brother has a chronic disease that he has been getting treatment for for years on the NHS, and I can't imagine what it would be like if he came back to America, where he hasn't lived in 12 years. He'd lose his vision from his disease, I have no doubt about that. My sister-in-law is in remission from breast cancer. My older nephew would probably be able to hack it -- he has a girlfriend who is a French/Russian dual national, and I suppose they could just get married and move to France. My younger nephew is about to start his PhD programme in history at Sussex -- what happens to that opportunity? And yes, everyone seems to have the 'we made it through the Blitz, we can handle this' mentality that I am too familiar with when stuff gets real.

 

My parents have said their house is open, always, to them to come to CT. And they are lucky to have the option to leave and come here. But it's not just them, it's all my friends, my first husband and his family, my second husband's parents... the list goes on and on. My life is intertwined with theirs, even years after I left the UK. 

[Steeleballz 7,550]

11 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

No trade deals. No airplane flying deals... sure....so much help. I'd just like to be able to find my husband his chocolate and Jacobs without traveling five hours and paying an arm and a leg, but if this all comes crashing down, you'd better start hoarding those things like gold. Aside from worrying about my in-laws during this entire fiasco.

 

   I have my own relatives in Britain. If I offered my advice, which I don't anymore, they would likely tell me to worry about our own problem child. I'm sure there will be tough times ahead. Last time I lived in the UK I was 17, before the EU existed. Tough times back then too, which is part of why I am here and not there. Experience is a great teacher, but often only for the person who lives through it. If the consensus in the UK is to find things out the hard way, nothing I can do about it. However, if push comes to shove, I will survive without Yorkies.

 

[elmcitymaven 9,711]

4 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

 

   I have my own relatives in Britain. If I offered my advice, which I don't anymore, they would likely tell me to worry about our own problem child. I'm sure there will be tough times ahead. Last time I lived in the UK I was 17, before the EU existed. Tough times back then too, which is part of why I am here and not there. Experience is a great teacher, but often only for the person who lives through it. If the consensus in the UK is to find things out the hard way, nothing I can do about it. However, if push comes to shove, I will survive without Yorkies.

 

Honestly, I'm glad I got out when I did -- pre-austerity, pre-market crash. I was miserable living there, but my lifestyle wasn't too bad. I had a cushy job in the City doing eff-all most of the year, travelling around Europe and America on my company's tab.

 

The pound was just over $2 when we came over here and I made out like a bandit from the sale of my old flat. Glad I did then too, as the mortgage was with Northern Rock and we all remember what happened with them...

[Steeleballz 7,550]

1 minute ago, elmcitymaven said:

Honestly, I'm glad I got out when I did -- pre-austerity, pre-market crash. I was miserable living there, but my lifestyle wasn't too bad. I had a cushy job in the City doing eff-all most of the year, travelling around Europe and America on my company's tab.

 

The pound was just over $2 when we came over here and I made out like a bandit from the sale of my old flat. Glad I did then too, as the mortgage was with Northern Rock and we all remember what happened with them...

 

   I miss a lot of things there. Sometimes I even miss the candy whose first 3 ingredients are sugar, glucose and corn syrup. Once in a while I'll go buy one and it reminds me that nostalgia is not what it used to be. It's hard to get by on just charm.

[elmcitymaven 9,711]

3 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

 

   I miss a lot of things there. Sometimes I even miss the candy whose first 3 ingredients are sugar, glucose and corn syrup. Once in a while I'll go buy one and it reminds me that nostalgia is not what it used to be. It's hard to get by on just charm.

I don't miss how everything seemed to be a bit of a bodge job, and how all plumbing seemed to have a trick you had to perform to make it operate properly. I enjoy having a shower that I don't have to operate manually, or having a water heater in the kitchen that I was constantly terrified would give out. I *do* miss toilets that are not low flow and heated towel rails, now that I'm thinking about the relative comfort of bathrooms!

[Steeleballz 7,550]

14 minutes ago, elmcitymaven said:

I don't miss how everything seemed to be a bit of a bodge job, and how all plumbing seemed to have a trick you had to perform to make it operate properly. I enjoy having a shower that I don't have to operate manually, or having a water heater in the kitchen that I was constantly terrified would give out. I *do* miss toilets that are not low flow and heated towel rails, now that I'm thinking about the relative comfort of bathrooms!

 

  I do think a lot of the stuff we miss is just the memory of it and not actually doing it. I miss going on a double decker sometimes, but I'm not sure why. I always hated being way up there crammed in like a sardine and wondering if we were going to topple with every sharp corner.

[Neonred 3,446]

5 hours ago, laylalex said:

Am I a bad person for thinking that this opens up a whole bunch of shopping opportunities once the pound gets even weaker against the dollar???  

May have to take another look at that Land Rover.