Project Fear Redux

[darmstadt]

So let me check I've got this right. David Cameron initially called the EU referendum in the hope that the Tories would nick a few votes off UKIP at the 2015 General Election, but then lost it after a massive and unlawful campaign of lies that was mainly fronted by . . . . Conservative MP's.

Cameron then walked off into the sunset, and Theresa May appeared. She decided that the best response to this debacle was to appoint several of the biggest liars to her government and then trigger Article 50 with no real negotiating strategy other than "give us what we want or we'll explode an economic bomb over our own country with a "no deal" flounce.

Then the Tories wasted 15 months doing almost nothing other than bickering among themselves as the Article 50 clock ticked away.

Then the guys who were supposed to have been negotiating Brexit flounced off in a strop because Theresa May's hard-right anti-democratic farce of a white paper wasn't hard-right or anti-democratic enough for them, leaving their replacements just six weeks or so to thrash out a deal.

And now the Tories are actually trying to preemptively blame the European Union for the dire consequences of their own reckless gambling with the nation's future, their own lying MPs, their own ridiculous negotiating strategy, their own time-wasting incompetence, and their own arrogant disregard for the welfare of the British economy and the British people.

Have I missed anything?

[GreenMirror]

Have I missed anything?

Yes. Everything.

[WTFH]

Yes. Everything.

More specifically?

[darmstadt]

More specifically?

"Brexit is Brexit"

[GreenMirror]

More specifically?

Why ruin a good argument with facts?

Okay, I will add an alternative view for balance(though the truth lies somewhere in the middle).

Anyway, "Call me Dave" wanted to silence Tory MPs - he believed he would get a similar result to Scottish referendum. He badly got it wrong - first he should have done something about non-EU immigration (which is getting more out of control).

The EU cannot let the UK succeed on its own. It would be the end of the EU gravy train.

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I do agree with the comments over May. No-one has any idea what she believes in. She just tries to placate both sides.

Also I agree the UK negotiated badly. Agreeing to talk about money settlement without trade deal was a huge error. It let the EU dictate the pace of the talks.

[GreenMirror]

"Brexit is Brexit"

You should put your jokes in the right place. LR. You had some funny ones there - old enough to have been forgotten.

I suppose with sassy the cretins need a new leader.

[darmstadt]

Why ruin a good argument with facts?

Okay, I will add an alternative view for balance(though the truth lies somewhere in the middle).

Anyway, "Call me Dave" wanted to silence Tory MPs - he believed he would get a similar result to Scottish referendum. He badly got it wrong - first he should have done something about non-EU immigration (which is getting more out of control).

The EU cannot let the UK succeed on its own. It would be the end of the EU gravy train.

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I do agree with the comments over May. No-one has any idea what she believes in. She just tries to placate both sides.

Also I agree the UK negotiated badly. Agreeing to talk about money settlement without trade deal was a huge error. It let the EU dictate the pace of the talks.

So nothing to do with the EU then, a UK problem on it's own and once again, it comes down to furriners...

[scooterscot]

Continued gammon infighting with result in corned beef.

[GreenMirror]

So nothing to do with the EU then, a UK problem on it's own and once again, it comes down to furriners...

The problem is nothing to do with foreigners. But it is perceived to be to do with foreigners. DC could have pointed to stats if he had been a bit smarter.

Of course, partly people wanted to give a kicking to an old-Etonian who was out of touch. But soon we will have JRM - a man of the people!

[Cirrus]

I suppose with sassy the cretins need a new leader.

Green, you are typical of Brexiteers. You diss everything but come up with nothing, or next to nothing in response.

You've said you believe the EU will not give the UK a sweetheart deal because it threatens the future of the bloc. To me that sounds logical. I'd do the same if I was them. I don't particularly see the gravy train angle but it's immaterial. The situation is we said we are leaving and they've said "OK, we can handle that. It's going to hurt us a bit but that's where we all are".

So I can only think you are peeved that the EU have not said "Look guys, just do whatever you want. We'll be "reasonable" and cancel all our current policies and principles. Send us some tweets when you're ready just so we know what's going on".

New leader Darmstadt's overall position is the Tories and the Brexit voters recklessly embarked on a project that had no details of what was supposed to happen, how long it might take, how much it might cost, what risks were involved and how those risks might be mitigated. Once started the project management made totally inadequate attempts to ramp up resource. They have also seriously failed to change the ambitions of the project in the light of emerging reality. They've been given analysis that reveals in moving toward some vague notions of sovereignty, immigration control and free trade we will suffer significant disruption because we are organically intertwined with the EU. Their solution has to been to say to the EU "You know we are leaving? Well we are also staying in. Just suck it up and stop whingeing"

Now if Darmstadt has got that all wrong, it would be very interesting if you could present your view of where we are and what is the best way forward. Or, like most Brexit voters, you might say "Everyone's making a big fuss. There will be some pain but eventually we'll be alright" This is what David Davis said at the weekend, and it is a logical view. Remainers would say it is reckless to take an agile approach given the enormous stakes but it is a way of living your life. However if you're choosing this style of project management surely you need to assess progress as you go along. You ideally should see some stories being delivered as time moves on. In the case of Brexit, nothing has been delivered so far apart from a series of impossible design documents, and there is little in the way of definition of outcomes (eg what advantageous trade deal with what bloc). And having disastrously declared a go-live date far, far too early, the project has not taken advantage of opportunities to negotiate some substantial re-planning. There needs to be a delay of years not months. That would help the likes of the Dutch as well as us (they've got a huge amount to do to cope with the fallout)

So what is your project guidance at this stage?