Banter Brief: The Very Odd British Edition
1. Most important story of the week
Boris Johnson’s humiliating defeat in the House of Commons over his drive to crash Britain out of the EU was the big news this week. If this wasn’t bad enough, the government faced more defeats on other key votes, failed to get an early election, then Johnson’s younger brother, Jo Johnson, quit the cabinet and left his Parliamentary seat over the “conflict of interest” between his party and his country. The younger Johnson, a Remainer, clearly does not believe his brother intends to secure a deal with Europe, and believes Johnson is now completely controlled by bonkers hardliners who want to crash out no matter the cost.
Johnson’s bold plans to “take back control” from Europe look to be coming unstuck as opposition forces unite to oppose his recklessness and call him out for his incessant lying. It’s high stakes drama, and the future of Great Britain still hangs in the balance without any clear indication of what might play out.
RUNNER UP: Hurrican Dorian has devastated much of the northern Bahamas, hit the U.S. Virgin Islands badly, reached Florida and the coasts of Georgia and the Carolinas. It is now on a path towards the Mid-Atlantic coasts and New England, and will then move towards Canada. If you want to support great non-profits helping those devastated by the hurricane, The Washington Post has some great tips here.
2. Poll Analysis
Probably the most important poll to look at this week is Wisconsin, a crucial battleground for 2020. Joe Biden, the leading Democratic candidate, is beating Trump by an extremely healthy nine percentage points. This was even reported by Fox News, so it must actually be true too:
The Marquette Law School Poll released Wednesday indicates the former vice president is ahead of the Republican incumbent by a 51 percent to 42 percent margin among registered voters in Wisconsin in a hypothetical November 2020 matchup.
It is hard to underscore just how important it is for the Democrats to run a candidate who can beat Trump in swing states like Wisconsin. There is no doubt most Democratic candidates could win the popular vote, but that doesn’t mean taking back the White House.
3. Quote of the Week
"Only a socialist could do that to his brother, only a socialist could regard familial ties as being so trivial as to shaft his own brother."
Boris Johnson on stabbing family members in the back in 2013 after Ed Miliband stood against his brother for the Labour leadership.
4. What to Watch on Netflix
‘Flowers’
‘Flowers’ is a stunningly original black-comedy that is in equal parts hilarious, grim, and touching. Commissioned by Channel 4 in the UK, ‘Flowers’ features Oscar winning Olivia Colman as Deborah, the long suffering mother of the Flowers household, and her suicidal cartoonist husband Maurice, played by the brilliant Julian Barratt.
The Flowers live with their two equally dysfunctional adult children and a sex obsessed Japanese houseguest, Shun, played by Will Sharpe — who incidentally, also wrote the series. The dynamics of the family are shambolic and completely dysfunctional, as is the tumbledown house they live in. They all love each other, but no one gets along and they clearly can’t live together. But in true British fashion, they soldier on regardless of their own personal pain, lashing out at each other in increasingly crazed ways. Shun provides a hilarious outsiders perspective on the oddities of British culture as he tries to keep the family together, but he is suffering too, having lost his family in an earthquake in Japan.
‘Flowers’ is about family, failure, and depression, and the struggle to find meaning in life. It is also about misfits and outsiders searching for love, and more importantly, their place in the world. The darkly funny series will have you in stitches throughout, despite the heaviness of some of the topics. It received an astonishing 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and for good reason.
5. Good News
Heating homes by using the subway could be the future of “smart cities”. From the Guardian:
The sweltering temperatures on the tube’s Northern line will soon begin keeping homes in Islington, north London, cosy through the colder months, under a scheme to harness the heat from the underground.
By the end of the year the project will pipe heat from the underground into hundreds of homes and businesses that are part of a heating scheme in the borough.
The project is one of a growing number of schemes across the UK designed to warm homes using “waste heat” from factories, power plants, rivers and disused mine shafts.
Us humans are pretty smart when we want to be.
Have a great weekend everyone!
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