It's an extremely tough situation, a unionist from the Belfast Newsletter was nearly emotional on Newstalk this morning lamenting how this was painted as the DUP throwing a tantrum by all and sundry whereas this represents everything they oppose, how could they support it. He says they have come towards the deal so much to even get to this point, and it's hard to argue otherwise. This goes against their identity. They are dismayed that middle englanders who they identify with so much don't give a shit about them (this was always obvious to everyone except them of course but there are none so blind as will not see) and would rather have Brexit than Norn Iron. They are raging against the dying of the light.
Have they removed the level playing field? My understanding was that they had agreed to maintain it as to not let the UK under cut the EU by reducing costs through lower regulations, standards and wages.
It's been moved from the legally binding withdrawal agreement to the non legally binding political declaration.
The BBC's political editor selling the deal by saying "Hey Brexiters,you know the backstop you didnt want because you were afraid the situation would become permanent,well it's not needed anymore because this deal practically guarantees it stays permanent" With this from the state broadcaster I think what I'd be most annoyed about if I was British is not that she's willing to shill for Johnson,but that she thinks I'd be stupid enough to buy such ridiculous logic. But nobody in England gives a fuck about Northern Ireland so they'll just stop pretending they do and move on.
I have a lot of time for Kuenssberg .. by and large she is very fair, especially to Ireland. I didn't read her text the way you have. For me she is saying "Barnier is saying that they have replaced the backstop ... "
I think her bias has been evident since her coverage of the 2016 election. Her reporting of Corbyn was a disgrace. John Simpson the other day spoke about how the reporting of messages given from anonymous sources in Downing Street had been greatly reduced under Thatcher and had continued because everyone realised you were just spreading government propaganda but she's ratcheted it right up to never before seen levels,she's the Tories go to journalist. The access Teresa May (who was deeply reluctant to speak to anybody who was willing to scrutinise her)gave Kuennsberg and Johnson gives her now tells it's own story imo and as a stand alone tweet I'd probably be willing to give her the benefit of the dpoint on that one but I think theres a big pattern of those type of tweets along with a pattern of negative tweets about Labour,Corbyn or Remainers on days where the Tories would rather there was a little bit less attention on them. She's all over the anti semitism in Labour but hasn't been too concerned with Islamophobia in the Tories. I think the BBCs coverage of Brexit in general has been disgraceful.
The reaction in the British media is crazy. Johnson being hailed as an excellent negotiator for capitulating and The DUP being criticised for what in a normal world would be considered the reasonable position of a unionist party to not accept a border between the north of ireland and the rest of the UK.
In the Brexit thread here mate crazy is the norm. I've lost the will to make sense of it all. Today I had to check myself as i guffed at a remainer speaking nothing but sense on tv. Its warped me.
One thing I've learned over the last few years is that people are guided by labels and slogans without having a clue what they mean. The reaction from so many today to the backstop being removed is just one more example.
Just looking at another thread of hers there about Johnson sending two letters,one contradicting the other. She's quoting Lord Pannick who beat the government in the supreme court and he says by sending conflicting letters hes breaking the law. She ends the thread by asking how can you define conflicting? She's unreal.
They're going back to the polls, December 12th to see if they can give the Tories a majority! Going to be a bloodbath of a campaign.
If more people in the media were like James O'Brien Brexit wouldnt have happened. If you haven't seen it check out his interview of Nigel Farage a few years back on YouTube. He left the BBC because he felt he couldn't operate under their impartiality rules and has watched the likes of Andrew Neil and John Humphries ignore them with impunity since. That he felt giving people telling lies more rigorous treatment than those telling the truth meant he couldn't keep working there probably sums up their impartiality rules anyway.
I enjoy listening to him tear some of these guys apart but overall I think he's probably counter productive. If you were a thick Brexit stooge the way he talks to your fellow thick Brexit stooges would infuriate you and entrench your views further. I have no issue with him being condescending to supposed experts but his manner and smugness to ordinary people would get on my tits pretty quickly if I was a regular listener.
I see your point and sometimes he can go a bit far but I also think the media placating idiots has caused untold damage and if it's not called out you end up exactly where we have ended up,with our media deciding that facts dont matter when it comes to programmes that are supposed to inform.