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So the UK is finished says Theresa Mayhem


fatshaft

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52 minutes ago, Freggyragh said:

I don’t know about Woolley, but my opinions on China are reasonably well informed - having first visiting the PRC in 1992 and most recently in 2018. I would never apply a stereotype to the character of Chinese people in general - who I have always found to be highly intelligent, creative, individually unique, and good company.   I talked about two things in my comment:

1.  The official Chinese Communist view of history. This is important to understand because it portrays Britain (quite accurately as far as Asia goes) as a nation of aggressive, racist thieves. It might be just me, but sometimes it seems that brexiters really think the rest of the world associates the U.K. with fair play and the Beatles. It’s also important to understand that the Chinese do have an official view on history that is hard for people who grew up in a democracy to understand. Have a look at some of the links below, and understand that when Xi says the Brits are the bad guys, no one dare argue. 

2. Britain’s weak position when negotiating with China back in the 80’s. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/qz.com/1019826/hong-kong-handover-xi-jinping-invokes-opium-wars-at-the-inauguration-of-hong-kongs-new-leader/amp/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2143085/hong-kong-textbooks-row-much-ado-about-nothing-says-carrie

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.economist.com/christmas-specials/2017/12/19/the-opium-wars-still-shape-chinas-view-of-the-west

The Chinese are indeed intelligent, creative, cultured, good company and more. Going back for many centuries too. Everyone thinks everyone except themselves are the bad guys. That's just human nature. It's OK for them to think westerners are aggressive racists. Tibet and Mongolia among others might have a different view. Of course you are correct insofar as when the leadership says that the moon is made of rice, everyone is wise to agree promptly.

Britain's weak position in the 1980s? Well, the thing was done and dusted long before then. Don't fool yourself that things would have been different had the mighty EU been involved. I doubt that even Uncle Sam could have held that line at the end of the 20th century.

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59 minutes ago, Freggyragh said:

Hong Kong In 1972 - that must have been a pretty amazing time. 

Of course neither Thatcher or Deng wanted to mention the threats at the time, but the threat was definitely military:

https://www.scmp.com/article/48108/thatcher-reveals-dengs-threat-seize-hong-kong-day

Yes, Deng made the point in the 1980s negotiations when preening himself, but it was only made explicit in the 1990s when, at the eleventh hour of British rule Patten, who was trying to build a legacy for himself decided that he was going to award Hong Kong greater democracy going forward into Chinese rule than it had ever been granted under British rule. In the circumstances one can understand Beijing being somewhat irked.

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2180764/declassified-files-reveal-disagreement-heart-british

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23 minutes ago, Freggyragh said:

Oh, it was theatre, right enough. No doubt written as a thriller, but with Davis miscast as protagonist you might have expected the tragicomic outcome. The amazing farce that it turned into was pretty special though. 

I wonder what the sequel will be like. 

Indeed. I fear we shall not live long enough to find out, to paraphrase Zhou Enlai.

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1 hour ago, Barrie Stevens said:

Or as Jacob Rees Mogg might say...Que Sera Sera...

Little Lord Snooty wouldn’t stoop to modern Italian, Barrie.

More

Quis erit, erit

or more likely 

Τι θα είναι, θα είναι

but even that is modern, rather than classical.

its his patrician humanity, man of the (Eton) people, common touches that make him so popular with Brexit voters who want to be ruled.

(NB. I’m aware that the Greek is contemporary, and not classical, like whots tort at Eton)

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