It seems Theresa May is finding it so hard to get the support she needs for her 'deal' from her own party that she is negotiating with Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party.
I should find the idea of cross-party talks comforting. The idea suggests compromise, something not too extreme in either direction. The coalition government should have managed this (except the LibDems gave away too much in the first place) though we were not aware at the time of just how extreme the Tories would have liked to have been.
But a compromise that would be acceptable to a majority on this particular issue? It seems unlikely. What is even more irksome is that they still seem to be debating the details of a deal for exiting the E.U. They just don't seem to understand that the other 27 countries need to agree with the details and if any of them don't, then it's back to no deal or no Brexit.
Strength is in numbers. The E.U. was set up in such a way as to make it hard for any country to leave without losing out, and there are 27 other countries there to make sure that happens. If we stay in, there are 28 countries in a negotiating bloc, whether for economic/trade deals or for diplomatic stands. That's a pretty large bloc. And the little information emerging now about the details should encourage many leave voters to wonder if they voted the right way, and to consider that another referendum would at the very least be considerably more informed.
Showing posts with label compromise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label compromise. Show all posts
Sunday, 14 April 2019
Friday, 25 January 2019
The Art of the Possible
The latest 'top news' story on the BBC news pages is headed "Trump announces deal to lift shutdown".
If only the news were as good as the headline suggests.
It's a temporary measure, getting people back to work for three weeks, and then the US government and all the federal employees face the same predicament.
Trump insists that he's going to get the funding for his wall, either in the budget or via declaring a national emergency, presumably thinking that the threat of the constitutional crisis this would evoke will be enough to bring the Democrats into line and make them write the budget he wants.
It must be hard for him to realise that being President is not the same as being CEO and that sometimes the dreaded C word needs to be used - and no, I don't mean covfefe.
As some students of US history know, and all those who have seen Hamilton know, originally when one of two candidates was elected US President, the loser/runner-up became the Vice-President. The gentle art of compromise (not to mention decent campaigning without resorting to derogatory comments about your opponent) was essential for anything to get done.
There seems to be a view in governments on both sides of the Atlantic that if you compromise with the opposition, you have somehow lost. You haven't, you've governed. And the people you are governing have won.
Fingers crossed that someone with the ear of the President/control of his Twitter account can help him understand this some time in the next three weeks.
If only the news were as good as the headline suggests.
It's a temporary measure, getting people back to work for three weeks, and then the US government and all the federal employees face the same predicament.
Trump insists that he's going to get the funding for his wall, either in the budget or via declaring a national emergency, presumably thinking that the threat of the constitutional crisis this would evoke will be enough to bring the Democrats into line and make them write the budget he wants.
It must be hard for him to realise that being President is not the same as being CEO and that sometimes the dreaded C word needs to be used - and no, I don't mean covfefe.
As some students of US history know, and all those who have seen Hamilton know, originally when one of two candidates was elected US President, the loser/runner-up became the Vice-President. The gentle art of compromise (not to mention decent campaigning without resorting to derogatory comments about your opponent) was essential for anything to get done.
There seems to be a view in governments on both sides of the Atlantic that if you compromise with the opposition, you have somehow lost. You haven't, you've governed. And the people you are governing have won.
Fingers crossed that someone with the ear of the President/control of his Twitter account can help him understand this some time in the next three weeks.
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