Reaction to the live blog’s updates on whether the UK will leave the single market and the customs union provoked some of the most interesting discussion on site today. We’re also looking at your views on whether there’s a culture shift around drinking and the Windrush row and the Conservatives.
To join in the conversation you can click on the links in the comments below to expand and add your thoughts. We’ll continue to highlight more comments worth reading as the day goes on.
Brexit: No 10 rejects claims customs union vote to be made a confidence issue - Politics live
Today’s politics live blog has generated a lot of conversation below the line about the whether the customs union vote should be a made a confidence issue.
‘I’ll wait for a more trustworthy opinion, thank you Theresa!’
Theresa May says there will not be permanent membership of the EU customs union. But then she said only last year that there would not be a general election to seek a renewed mandate for Brexit. And then she herself decided to call an election, and things didn’t go as she planned. So I’ll wait for a more trustworthy opinion, thank you Theresa!
squareroot
‘The u-turn is a classic cause for a vote of no confidence’
Oh I’d definitely call the customs union u-turn as a classic cause for a vote of no confidence, with bells on. Not because I want to leave the CU - I don’t and consider it a disaster of an idea, a flaying of the country on the altar of May’s ideological bent. So I am more confident in a government that’ll keep us in the CU that confers so much benefit to the UK. But it’s not a vote for confidence in the CU. It’s expressing that it is impossible to retain confidence in a government that devotes, what, nine, 12 months of its time in power trying to move heaven and earth to achieve that unpleasant objective, treating the people of Ireland with disdain, and blathering often incoherently about hi-tech frictionless borders..
variation31
Few Tories even grasp what Windrush says about them
Assistant editor of the Spectator Isabel Hardman discusses the Windrush row. You’ve been sharing your own views below the line.
‘There is no empathy, compassion, common sense and fairness present in this government’
The fact that this injustice went on for three or four years before it was acknowledged by the Tories to be cruel and inhumane (and only after a campaign by The Guardian), clearly shows that there is no empathy, compassion, common sense and fairness present in this government at all.
Joe3000
‘Shame on the Tories and shame on the country’
It says a lot about the state the UK is in that the Tories believe racially profiling and deporting people who have legally lived in the UK for decades is a ‘vote winner’. The sad truth is that brutal assaults on the rights of both legal and illegal immigrants is probably a vote winner. They may have overstepped the line here but the strategy is consistent and long-term, promoting the Tories as “tough on immigration and tough on the causes of immigration”. Shame on the Tories and shame on the country.
BobDodds
Time, please: is drinking becoming as socially unacceptable as smoking?
You’ve been sharing thoughts on Hannah Jane Parkinson’s piece about young people’s changing attitudes to drinking alcohol.
‘Everything in moderation is fine’
Being middle aged and amongst the “last generation of boozehounds” (possibly) I can genuinely say some of the best times of my life have been spent with friends drinking in pubs/clubs/at festivals etc etc. And while I’ve certainly cut back these last few years, I don’t think I’ll ever give up on a cheeky pint or two on a weekend. Everything in moderation is fine.
bunk1975
‘Giving up alcohol has resulted in a loss of my social life which is 50/50 sadness and relief’
After many years of general alcohol abuse I decided enough was enough and went straight-edge in October 2016. The article mentions that people react oddly to those who have decided to stop drinking - I can wholeheartedly say that this is the case, including family members, close friends and the general public. Wine is routinely given as a gift; drinks are purchased in bars and pubs without asking. And when I turn them down, it’s very much a crapshoot as to what the reaction will be.
It’s resulted in a loss of my social life to a large degree, which is 50/50 sadness and relief. Sadness because I rarely see my friends; relief because I don’t have to hang around with drunk people any more. It’s encouraging to see that the younger generations are discarding alcohol. It’s an unhealthy, unpleasant habit when you get beyond a couple of drinks every now and again.
anthropolyte
Comments have been edited for length. This article will be updated throughout the day with some of the most interesting ways readers have been participating across the site.
