Vocal Voices

that the Markets are scared to death of Soft Bexit.

When the HOL started it's political breakdance act, the £ went into a tailspin, ending at €1.13 from €1.18. Now that the Tories are looking like whipping themselves into line and Labour are looking like supporting the bill with no changes, the £ has climbed right back to €1.15.

Those are some pretty dramatic changes and it makes it totally clear that the biggest worry in the markets, over Brexit, is that the UK politicians will tie themselves into a really bad deal before they have even started and then keep getting a worse deal as time goes on.

The markets have already decided that no deal is infinitely better than a bad deal and are, slowly, coming to the appreciation that no deal at all may be the very best the UK can actually expect. As any deal is likely to come with so many conditions that it will be no better than EEA submission.

About time the press picked up on that.

It is what us nonsperts have been saying for ages.

But you have to see it from the media's point of view... Nicola has called for indyRef2. It suits their agenda to give air time to this divisive little woman. I mean, MPs and their Lardships look like pushing the A50 Bill through, so the media has lost that one, but they still need to keep up the fight.

And so the A50 Bill has gone through, as most of us sensible people expected and predicted. It will now get Royal Assent and be enacted.

The media, especially the BBC, tried everything to muddy the waters, to slow things down. We had the 'existential threat' to Labour, and it never materialised. We had the Tory rebels, and they simply disappeared. We had UKIP, the SNP, Uncle Tom..... it was all fluff and nonsense.

A50 can now be triggered by the end of March, then we get down to business.

Can we now, please, put all this Remoaner/Brexiteer stuff behind us and just get on with it?

Nice thought except that Nicola has thrown a spanner into the works now

Send her to the Tower with no mobile or internet connection. and no interviews or publicity.

Sturgeon is playing the "you forced my hand" game so that if, not when, they lose the next referendum she won't have to fall.

It will stop nothing.

I received a mail from the Scottish Tories signed by Ruth Davidson asking me to support her to block Sturgeon in her attempt to get a second referendum.

Sadly you can't reply otherwise I'd have said "chill, 38% of Scots voted to leave and have no intention of giving the SNP carte blanche to take Scotland back into the EU on worse terms than the UK already holds today". Add that 38% to the rest who simply don't want to separate and that's a fairly emphatic NO vote to separating.

Sturgeon is playing politics and being opportunistic, at the same time.

She has caught May 'tween a cleft stick, but one partly of May's own making. During the past few months of Sturgeon bleating about IndyRef2 May should have been up-front and told her in no uncertain terms that she could go sit on one; that it was for the UK parliament to allow one and that 'once in a generation' meant just that. Sturgeon would have taken that back to Scotland telling them how intransigent the English (not the UK, but the English) were being and go out banging her drum for support.

Now things have changed somewhat. Sturgeon knew yesterday that the A50 Bill would be passed, that is why she came up with her new cunning plan and announced it on the day of the vote.

However, according to comments I have seen and heard, May has a few options:

*Say "No", and quite rightly, on the grounds that to hold a referendum during Brexit talks would be too much.

The problem for me is that sounds a bit like "you can have one later" once things are sorted.

*Allow it to go ahead on fixed terms laid out by the UK and with no negotiations. The Scots could then vote in full knowledge of the facts.

This, however, plays back into the hands of "English intransigence", in Sturgeon's mind at least.

* Take the view that if a stroppy sibling wanted a divorce from the family then the family should get their say. That would mean a UK wide referendum.

Quite pragmatic. Sturgeon gets a referendum, and we all get to hear and send a message.

Of course all the options would be advisory and not legally binding.

There are a couple of other common remarks. Brexit negotiations will be tough on both sides, but especially for the EU. It would not know for sure what type of UK it was negotiating with: A full UK as today; a UK with Scotland on its way out - maybe; a UK with Scotland already left - perhaps. Any one scenario will probably irk the EU, no end, and force it to look differently at an independent Scotland wanting to give up its independence and join their club. Sturgeon would do well to clock that.

Then there was Stoltengberg's announcement that an independent Scotland would have to apply to join NATO. Applying does not automatically mean acceptance and the process, if allowed, would take some time.

I think it is quite strange that Scottish people who are living in England or other parts of the world are not entitled to vote, but migrants living in Scotland are allowed to vote. If I were a Scot not currently residing in Scotland I would be annoyed at this. Who has decided who qualifies to vote in a referendum, was it the SNP or the UK Government?

Meds, Sturgeon isn't bothered who gets to vote so long as they are anti-English.

I imagine that most ex-pat Scots are not that way inclined, but foreigners within can be 'persuaded' a lot easier, so that is how her rules pan out.