BREXIT: THE DRAMA DRAGS ON
DRAMA in Old Blighty! Theresa May temporarily dodged the bullet by postponing yesterday’s scheduled vote on her negotiated Brexit deal and is now scurrying about Europe, looking for concessions that would make it more palatable to her own party and the House of Commons.
It seems a forlorn exercise. What next? Does May lose the vote, then, with a crazed gleam in her eye, lead the Brits in a mad lemming-rush off the white cliffs of Dover?
Will Parliament allow such a thing as a no-deal Brexit which – it now seems widely accepted – would be disastrous economically?
Will somebody else take over as prime minister, cancel Brexit and start again with negotiations? Perhaps stay in the EU anyway? If so, who?
Dominic Grieve, Tory MP and former attorney-general, is the fellow who steered through the Commons the motion that, if May’s deal is voted down, Parliament takes over.
He might be worth a few bob with the bookies. If it happens, remember where you read it first.
I WAS somewhat bemused the other evening watching the Cape Town leg of Sevens Rugby. Who were these fellows in the brownish jerseys (from a distance) who were so spectacularly socking it to the New Zealanders?
Then – blow me down – it turned out to be none other than the Blitzbokke, making up for their iffy performance in Dubai.
I’d somehow missed the news that this year they’d be wearing a jersey designed after the colourful shirts worn by Nelson Mandela.
The new Blitzbok jersey is based on a largely gold shirt favoured by Madiba and, seen close up, it’s intricate, ornate and rather splendid.
Also, these Sevens
jerseys
are
so
graham.linscott@inl.co.za
tight-fitting they give an impression of intricate tattoo work on the upper body, like some of the damsels in the Street Shelter for the Over-Forties.
The big difference, though, is that bodily contact with one of the tattooed damsels of the Street Shelter is no momentary thing as on the Sevens rugby field. It leads to prolonged scrimmage with no quarter given, the damsels having no scruples whatever about playing the man on the ground.
It can be a horrible experience, heh, heh.
THE Egyptian authorities are investigating after online images and video show a naked couple sunbathing on top of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
The minister of antiquities has referred the case to a prosecutor for investigation, according to the Huffington Post.
Climbing Egypt’s ancient pyramids beyond carefully assessed paths is forbidden, and the whole area is out of bounds after 5pm, patrolled by security and police.
The pyramids have always exuded mystery. By what wonders of mathematics and engineering were they constructed? Do they really align with points in the distant galaxies?
And now a new layer of mystery. Did the couple start out starkers or drop their gear when they got to the top? Egyptologists could mull over this for some time. They are no doubt giving the images their close attention.
Tailpiece
THE manager of a brokerage firm is watching a new employee counting put-and-call slips at astonishing speed.
“Where did you learn to count like that?”
“Yale.”
“Yale? I also went to Yale. What’s your name?”
“Yimmy Yohnson.”
Last word
ECONOMICS is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.