Your predictions, please, for the state of play on Brexit Day 29 March 2019:
1. who will be PM?
2. has there been a GE? If so, what headline outcome?
3. has a 2nd referendum happened? If happened - question? result?
4. in broad terms, on what basis is the UK / EU relationship set for the immediate 12 months following that date?
5. has Gove disappeared up his own fundament?
6. do the LibDems still exist?
7. tie-breaker: any other colourful details concerning British politics you care to append?So now we know. Sort of. There were 16 valid entries, which is just a few more varieties than MPs voted on the other night. Most people inevitably got 1, 2 & 3 correct; though the left-field players were anon#3, Hopper, CU and anon#4 who went for Corbs (and had thus also given the GE & result wrongly, too); Jan (Jacobus) and GridBot (Sadiq, & thus GE wrong also). But a special mention to Andrew, who said "TM will announce resignation on 29/3/19", which is pretty damned close. Kev reckoned R2 would have been scheduled, but not yet taken place.
So 4 becomes the main battleground, but let's look first at 5&6. BQ had Govey for Foreign Sec by now; DJK had him as ultra-loyal, and Bogotol as beavering away on enviro-stuff (both pretty close); AndrewZ had him as "head down" (is that the same as head-up-bum?). Anon#4 reckoned him as facing Sadiq across the Despatch Box as Tory leader; and I had him as "positioning" (is that the same as ...?) I also had Cable as having gone by now, which I'd like to think is almost right ... Otherwise the Libs didn't feature much - which is only fair and proportionate.
I direct y'all to the original post for the tie-breaker contributions
Now for 4. We had 2 x Hard Brexit (Jan, anon#3); 4 x Remain (with more or less bitterness expressed - Kev, CU, GridBot and anon#4) and DJK with "indistinguishable from today"; 7 x leaving, or leaving-ish (BQ, Charlie, AndrewZ, Andrew, ND, Bogotol; and Hopper saying "trade war" which I take to be in the Leaving camp). Two got closest: anon-newbie with "status quo - can kicked down the road" and TBHall with extension of A50.
As for today's rider, we have the following: DJK closest on margin (70) with Jan runner-up at 40. And Radders had a good stab at the absolutes: 299 plays 335. CU reckons everything's coming his way, and he's the proprietor ...
So - with the one special mention for Andrew, and a couple of other creditable near-misses, in the spirit of the Indicative Votes I declare ... nobody wins! Ain't that a fact.
But (assuming we are all spared, as they say) - I'll buy anyone a drink at the next C@W gathering. That's a solemn & binding manifesto promise ...
ND