For England expects to take back control from the EU. England needs to stop the European interference with English rule over (Northern) Ireland, Scotland and Wales!
Make England great again!
cc: @theresa_may @ByDonkeys @theSNP @NicolaSturgeon pic.twitter.com/9LL4uZ49TJ
— Goetz Kluge (@Bonnetmaker) April 14, 2019
Tag: inspired by Lewis Carroll
“The Hunting of the Snark” Is about Discourse
I think that the "Hunting" in "The Hunting of the Snark" as the subject of Carroll's tragicomedy is as important as the "Snark" itself. In my view, the book is about the discourse which could lead you Snark, or, if it turns ugly, to the Boojum.https://t.co/UW3xWZFNrh
— Goetz Kluge (@Bonnetmaker) February 25, 2019
Alice-themed Brexit Caricatures
Lewis Carroll's Alice again being evoked to make sense of #Brexit by @fotoole, interpreting the Sun title page after the #MeaningfulVote "a lot of frantically anarchic running overseen by a defunct creature, the Brextinct dodo." – Not the first May Dodo! https://t.co/wHVVvrgRO6 pic.twitter.com/NibbRndPtP
— Franziska Kohlt (@frankendodo) January 18, 2019
On the occasion of the renewed #brexitchaos let me remind you of the frabjous Brexit-Jabberwocky by the fantastic @JohnMinnion https://t.co/l67KR1sM4n #AliceInWonderland #Brexitland @madeleinakay @luciendyoung pic.twitter.com/WIeH2HMVGH
— Franziska Kohlt (@frankendodo) November 15, 2018
There have in fact been a few great Alice-inspired Brexit caricatures and parodies, here's 'Alice in Sunderland', on Brexit and Nissan's super-plant plan, by Martin Rowsonhttps://t.co/VeHM2nyTNe pic.twitter.com/N9MVntqyK6
— Franziska Kohlt (@frankendodo) November 16, 2018
"Down the Brexit-Hole" was also a common theme, here by Ingram Pinn for @FT https://t.co/Vcne2eVLti pic.twitter.com/mIbu4Ig6EO
— Franziska Kohlt (@frankendodo) November 16, 2018
“But the principal failing occurred in the sailing”
I reshuffled some lines of The Hunting of the Snark a bit:
“Just the place for a Snark!” the Bellman cried,
As he landed his crew with care;
Supporting each man on the top of the tide
By a finger entwined in his hair.“Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:
That alone should encourage the crew.
Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice:
What I tell you three times is true.”
Then the bowsprit got mixed with the rudder sometimes:
A thing, as the Bellman remarked,
That frequently happens in tropical climes,
When a vessel is, so to speak, “snarked.”But the principal failing occurred in the sailing,
And the Bellman, perplexed and distressed,
Said he had hoped, at least, when the wind blew due East,
That the ship would not travel due West!
This was charming, no doubt; but they shortly found out
That the Captain they trusted so well
Had only one notion for crossing the ocean,
And that was to tingle his bell.
“The thing shall be done!”
349 “The thing can be done,” said the Butcher, “I think.
350 The thing must be done, I am sure.
351 The thing shall be done! …”
Links:
- Snark and Brexit
- “Brexit” is a “portmanteau”, by Merrill Perlman, 2016-04-18
- But the principal failing occurred in the sailing
- No Pause for Thought? Brexit, Bias and Political Manipulation, by Volker Patent, 2017-05-16
- On Brexit, What the EU Tells You 10 Times Is True – Prime Minister Theresa May should finally stop ignoring her negotiating partners’ red lines., by Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg Opinion, 2018-07-27
- The Trumping of the Snark – and why Brexit means Boojum, by Tom Evans, Liverpool Echo, 2017-01-27
- Dean Burnett
- www.referendumanalysis.eu
A Boojum
"For the snark was a boojum, you see." For Mythic Monsters 12: Fairytale Creatures by @LegendaryGamesJ #lewiscarroll pic.twitter.com/saFQJ0Sd2G
— Mike Lowe (@MikeLoweArt) June 6, 2014
But the Failing Occurred in the Sailing
But the principal failing occurred in the sailing,
And the Bellman, perplexed and distressed,
Said he had hoped, at least, when the wind blew due East,
That the ship would not travel due West!
※ www.nicholassoames.org.uk (2018-12-06): Full speech
※ Youtube: The Snark reference starts at 00:09:03.
※ Twitter | Reddit | Facebook
Lewis Carroll and Australia’s Real Political Story
The world of Lewis Carroll and our real political story combine in Behind the Lines 2018, open now! Explore the exhibition onsite with our Behind the Lines school program: https://t.co/6QeTVy1n5F pic.twitter.com/yFzuMSMqn4
— MoAD Learning (@moadlearning) November 20, 2018
Brexit, Hunting a Fantastical Beast
"The talk in recent months has suggested that the Irish border is the last remaining obstacle to a deal. This is misleading, as the Irish border stands in for a much larger set of issues on which discussions have barely begun – single market, trade …" https://t.co/suqhngP9qT
— The Conversation (@ConversationUK) November 19, 2018
- Article mirrored from theconversation.com
- Co-published with: centreonconstitutionalchange.ac.uk
- See also: ukandeu.ac.uk
May government’s Brexit aims were never achievable – we’ve been hunting a fantastical beast all along

Image: Segment of an assemblage by G. Kluge of illustrations by C. Martens & T. Landseer, H. Holiday & J. Swain
Michael Keating, University of Aberdeen
The Brexit process started in March 2017 with the triggering of Article 50, allowing two years to complete the process. The main story since then has been of postponing difficult decisions in the hope that something would turn up. Ministers have insisted they have a mandate from the people but have struggled to agree on what it entails in practice. Negotiations within the UK government have been as difficult as those with the EU.
It might have been expected that, before March 2019, we would have a clear idea of what Brexit would look like. Instead, we have a 20-month “transition period”, which the UK government has been calling an “implementation” period. It is neither a transition nor an implementation phase, but the period in which the real negotiation of what Brexit means will take place; it can be extended once by agreement of both parties.
What has been achieved now is the minimum required for the formalities of withdrawal: the financial settlement; an agreement on citizens’ rights; and an ambiguous commitment on the Irish border question. The talk in recent months has suggested that the Irish border is the last remaining obstacle to a deal. This is misleading, as the Irish border stands in for a much larger set of issues on which discussions have barely begun – from the single market to trade to regulations.
Red, red lines …
At the beginning of the process, the UK government laid down a series of red lines. These included withdrawal from the single market, the customs union and the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union, and no differentiated Brexit for the different parts of the United Kingdom. These have all been breached.

Benedek Alpar
The Chequers agreement in July 2018, which formed the basis of the UK negotiating position, conceded that the UK would align with EU standards in manufactured and agricultural goods, a central principle of the single market. The new agreement concedes the customs union in the form of a “single customs territory”.
This is purportedly to deal with the Irish border, but extending the customs union to the whole UK also serves a wider purpose. British manufacturers have been telling the government that they need a customs union to secure frictionless trade and their just-in-time production chains.
The Irish government wants to maintain access to markets in Great Britain. The idea is that the customs agreement is a backstop, to be superseded by an overall trade agreement with the EU. Yet, unless that agreement also includes customs union, it is difficult to see how it could serve the purpose – since you need customs union to prevent the hard border. The UK can also withdraw from it only with the agreement of the EU. And differential treatment for Northern Ireland is certain to spark demands for a special deal for Scotland, as the Scottish government proposed in December 2017.
During the transition, meanwhile, the UK will be subject to the Court of Justice of the European Union. Thereafter, disputes about agreements will be subject to binding arbitration, another form of supranational jurisdiction. Arbitration panels will have to follow the Court of Justice’s interpretation of EU law.
Like Oslo, but different
The UK will therefore remain tied to the EU and have to accept many of its policies. This bears comparison with the Norwegian model (the European Economic Area) that was explicitly rejected at the outset – though with some differences. The UK will be tied to the EU customs union, which Norway is not. It will not enjoy all the single market benefits, which Norway has (except in agriculture and fisheries).

goodmoments
It will not, like Norway, have a consultative voice in the making of EU policies. The UK will not be bound to accept free movement of workers, but this question might come back in return for access to EU markets, especially in services.
Finally, there is to be a differentiated Brexit for Northern Ireland, which will be more closely tied into the customs union and product regulation. There is to be a special designation of products as UK (NI), and a need to meet both UK and EU regulations.
Brexit was never going to be easy, especially after the UK government rejected off-the-shelf solutions such as the European Economic Area. What it has ended up with – customs union and bits of regulatory alignment – looks rather like the model at which the Labour Party, after its tortuous internal arguments has arrived, not that Labour will agree.
Had both parties started off with the Norway model, they might have found common ground and a clearer and more comprehensible arrangement. Instead, to cite Lewis Carroll, they have been hunting a Snark.
Michael Keating, Chair in Scottish Politics, University of Aberdeen
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
No Collusion
The Bellman’s rule: “What I tell you three times is true!”
Kelly Ramsdell Fineman told us …
… that President Theodore Roosevelt and Edith Wharton were huge fans of the Snark. On one visit to the White House, Wharton learned of the following exchange that occurred between the President and the Secretary of the Navy (undoubtedly unaware of Carroll’s poem, or at least unaware that Roosevelt was quoting):
During discussion, Roosevelt said to the secretary of the Navy,
“Mr. Secretary, what I tell you three times is true!”
The Secretary replied stiffly,
“Mr. President, it would never for a moment have occurred to me to impugn your veracity.”
So far for three times. But 16 times is fine too:
Trump sat for 30 minutes at his golf club with the Times. He said “no collusion” 16 times https://t.co/BOwHyvlCUb
— Amy Fiscus (@amyfiscus) December 29, 2017
001 “Just the place for a Snark!” the Bellman cried,
002 As he landed his crew with care;
003 Supporting each man on the top of the tide
004 By a finger entwined in his hair.005 “Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:
006 That alone should encourage the crew.
007 Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice:
008 What I tell you three times is true.”
329 “’Tis the voice of the Jubjub!” he suddenly cried.
330 (This man, that they used to call “Dunce.”)
331 “As the Bellman would tell you,” he added with pride,
332 “I have uttered that sentiment once.333 “’Tis the note of the Jubjub! Keep count, I entreat;
334 You will find I have told it you twice.
335 ’Tis the song of the Jubjub! The proof is complete,
336 If only I’ve stated it thrice.”
The Bellman’s Rule is stated in Lewis Carroll’s The Hunting of the Snark, line #7 and line #335. I said it in Lua – wrote it in Python, I made that indeed, but I wholly forgot (when finally done), that Haskell is what you need! So, here is an example for how to implement that rule:
#! /usr/bin/haskell
import Data.List
statementList :: [String]
statementList =
["No collusion."
,"No collusion."
,"No collusion."
,"I am a stable genius!"
,"No collusion."
,"No collusion."
,"No collusion."
,"No collusion."
,"No collusion."
,"No collusion."
,"No collusion."
,"I am a stable genius!"
,"No collusion."
,"No collusion."
,"No collusion."
,"I am a stable genius!"
,"No collusion."
,"1+1=2."
,"No collusion."
,"No collusion."
,"Collusion is not a crime."
,"Collusion is not a crime."
,"Collusion is not a crime."
]
atLeastThrice :: [String] -> [String]
atLeastThrice sL =
[head grp | grp <-
group $ sort sL, length grp >= 3]
Result (if loaded and executed in GHCi):
*Main> atLeastThrice statementList
["Collusion is not a crime.","I am a stable genius!","No collusion."]