Nick Clegg should take his own advice - except he won't, of course!

You never used to be abusive Andrew, I nearly said John Ash there for a moment

Just relax Andrew, put your slippers on, pull up a chair and throw another log on the fire, you know what they say when you worry about something, "most of the time your worries are unfounded" and I am sure Brexit will be the same.

OK "arrogant ****" was unfair.

Make that "arrogant individual".

Your own Great Leader, Mr Nigel "I will carry on drawing my salary and benefits whilst not turning up" Farage said himseld on the eve of the election that a 52/48% vote could not be considered binding.

He did say that yes, but he was wrong in saying that, remember, he was not in the official Leave campaign although in my view he was the one who made glorious Brexit happen and I'm sure a lot of people are of the same opinion.

You may be wishing for that but I suspect you may be disappointed. I predict that there's a greater chance of Roxas being arrested than Duterte being toppled.

Oh Andrew, get a grip. Please Nobody (here) is forcing you to leave, that's a decision that you are making all by yourself. But I suggest that you have no intention of doing any such thing and are simply saying that hoping that it pricks our consciences. You are not reliant on an EU law or right for your wife and stepson to remain in the UK since neither are EU citizens. Furthermore I suggest that you would not have gone to the great expense of obtaining Visas and FLR(M)s times two if you were planning to leave the UK when you could have obtained Schengen Visas for K and K AT NO COST had you preciously decided to move to another EU country.

Whilst I'm delighted Britain has voted as it did, I am concerned for my and my family's future. I honestly thought that the referendum would be very close but Remain would just win and had that been the case, I'd have no worries. But Cameron, Osbourne and the rest of the BSE camp piled toxic prediction on top of toxic prediction and grossly over-egged its case. Rather than explain the benefits of continued membership, they campaigned negatively and tried to frighten the electorate into voting for the status quo. Bad decision and one whose aftermath showed Cameron to be worse than Blair. The electorate didn't just vote to leave the EU, their vote was an indicator of their displeasure with the crony-filled, aloof establishment who neither understand the ordinary voter nor want to.

Oh that's rich and completely and utterly wrong. The Referendum Bill was passed by a margin of 6-1 MPs following its normal passage through Parliament. Do remember that your lot were in government at the time! In its Manifesto for the 2015 General Election, the Conservative Party made it very clear that the government would accept the referendum result without question and act upon it immediately. Right up to Referendum day itself, Cameron made it very clear that if the result is to leave the EU, he would trigger Article 50 very quickly. No Lib Dem or Labour voices saying "oh no, you can't; the referendum is only advisory". If the Referendum had been run in the same way as the General Election, then 422 out of 650 constituencies would have voted to leave the EU.

Some legal firms have done very nicely out of EU membership including Mishcon de Reya the law firm behind yesterday's legal challenge but it and its London-based clients - most of whom are anonymous lawyers - live within the establishment bubble and have no conception what life is like for ordinary people. They don't mix with the populus, don't understand the populus and strive to keep the populus unseen and unheard.

What you fail to understand is that yesterday's so-called victory for the remainers is actually no such thing. It is those who voted to leave the EU who voted to preserve Parliament's sovereignty. It is your lot that wants Parliament to be subservient to EU institutions. So for you to accuse Tim (and others who voted to leave) of ignoring Parliament is somewhat ironic and entirely wrong.

I realise that you're very upset that your utopian bubble has been burst and that Britain will soon cease to be a province of the US of E but you now doing precisely what you criticised another for.

I know I have already responded to the above but upon reflection I consider a harsher response is necessary. But unlike you, I will avoid attacking members by personalising the issue: instead I'll use collective nouns as appropriate.

So the Lib Dems and their allies demand that because Britain has a representative Parliamentary democracy only Parliament can authorise the triggering of Article 50. They claim they are protecting the sovereignty of Parliament. Very laudable but where were these self-styled champions of British sovereignty when the Mother of Parliaments was being forcibly sterilised by the European Communities Act and then politically raped by the treaties of Maastricht, Dublin and Lisbon? Did they speak out against? On the contrary they actively supported those treaties and, like their political masters in Brussels, want closer integration leading to an end to the need for national Parliaments.

Nevertheless, or perhaps predictably, the High Court yesterday ruled that because of the British constitution the decision on whether we trigger our departure from the EU can only be taken by MPs – not by a government carrying out the will of the people. In handing down this judgement, the Court determined that the votes of 17,410,742 in the referendum do not count. You do realise, do you not, that the Court also determined that the 16+ million votes for Remain are equally worthless. The judiciary have slapped 34 million people in the face by ruling that the ballot box no longer reigns supreme and that the electorate can no longer determine how their country is run. This is the establishment reasserting its control over the populus - and then some.

From the barking mad Paddy Ashdown to the diminutive Farron, Lib Dems are united in their commitment to frustrate the electorate's decision with the aim of having the referendum result set aside. Lib Dems are showing their true colours: they only support democracy if they are on the winning side. As losers, they behave like spoilt brats, screaming "foul" and accusing the 17 million of being racist traitors and screwing-up their country - "And I don't choose to share my plans with traitors who have chosen to destroy my country."

How exactly are we, the 17 million traitors, destroying your country? Are we the ones who are giving-away Britain's national sovereignty? Is it the British Parliament that has passed countless acts which do little other than add to the cost of doing business and place heavy burdens on SMEs? Is it the British Government that has imposed artificially-high prices on home produced foodstuffs? Was it the British Government that forced the nation's fishing fleets to be done away with and gave our fishing grounds to the French and Spanish? Is it the British Government's aim to allow (American) multinational corporations to determine national policy with the threat of being sued if the government doesn't comply with their wishes?

And answer me this: why would HSBC here in Malta advise me to keep my savings and pension credits in a Sterling account - could it be that the Bank has little faith in the viability of the Euro?

As for bandying the word "Fascist" to those whose views you disagree with, it's simply an emotive term for someone who's inclined towards authoritarianism. You, being a Liberal, would be opposed to anyone with such tendencies. Woefully for you, authoritarianism is a growing phenomenon in the world today as more and more people have had enough of being ruled by self-serving Liberal elitists. That accounts for Duterte's overwhelming victory, for the rise of the far right in France, Germany, Austria and Hungary, the newly elected centre-right Polish government and why there's a pretty good chance that Trump will be the next US President (I don't endorse or support either candidate who are equally bad). But maybe you intend to invoke images of swastikas and jackboots.

It strikes me that the Lib Dems prefer to be self-serving hypocritical protesters rather than credible politicians. How the mighty have fallen.

Nice to see you posting again, Jim, we've missed you .

Agreed.

A narrow margin? Okay so because the margin was fewer than ... oh 5 million, we'll discount it and maybe give the plebs another vote in another forty years' time .... Is that what you're saying? Or perhaps we plebs should have absolutely no say in who runs our country and how it is run with all such decision being made by the self-serving metropolitan establishment?

The Irish have more cause for concern than the Scots given that they will have the only land border with the EU. As I understand it, both the Irish and British governments are committed to maintaining the Common Travel Area which treaty has been in legal force since the 1920s. Of course Brexit will put an end to the lucrative payments made by the EU when sheep and cattle cross the border. As for the Scots, it appears their politicians aren't entirely wedded to the EU which is more than a bit embarrassing for their leader who abhors Westminster rule - but adores Westminster's cash - and would happily consign Scotland to Brussels' rule.

Despite the omission in the primary legislation, the government made it very clear that the Referendum result would be respected and acted upon regardless of outcome. That commitment was contained within the party's General Election Manifesto and was repeated in Parliament and elsewhere by Cameron, Osbourne and others throughout the campaign, including on the day before polling took place. Had the vote gone the other way, I very much doubt you'd accept that the result was only advisory and not binding on Parliament.

Yes, the word for people like you is Fascist.

It's an Italian term; like you, I have Italian relatives.

That is the only thing that we have in common.

Now ban me from what was a good forum whilst Sean was alive but which you and Mark and Boots have turned into a cesspit of racist bile. Like Jim, I have better things to do with my time.

Where is the "cesspit of racist bile" Andrew?

This is a tolerant, multicultural bulletin board. I am sure that the very people you mention would be the first to rally against any hateful racist or sexist posts made on it.

Shameful rhetoric

Anyone who is against liberalism, Marxism or anarchism is a Fascist according to the Wikipedia definition. So that would encompass anyone who is an upholder of law and order or politically to the right of the Lib Dems and Labour. In other words most of the country. It would also include a larger than comfortable - for you - percentage of the population of the European Union. And the Philippines!

You write as if threads such as this did not exist whilst Sean was here and you would be completely mistaken if you believe that to be the case. Not only did such threads exist, they thrived under his leadership and, not only that, but he took part in, what was often, robust debate. But he never personalised issues, didn't resort to insulting other members nor did he ever portray himself as a morally superior being.

As for your charge that Aromulus, Boots and myself are racists, you really need to get a grip on reality. Seeking to control our country's borders does NOT of itself infer racism but the term "racist" is used as an insulting taunt by arch-Europhiles, such as yourself, to promote themselves as being morally superior. According to your definition, therefore, Filipinos must be racists, so must the Japanese, Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians and don't forget, the European Union which controls its external borders: all racists. Really?? A good number of those who voted to leave the EU are themselves immigrants and include many Poles, Indians, Pakistanis and West Indians who came to Britain before, during and after the War and yet they are, according to you, also racist. My Russia-born daughter voted for Brexit, is she a racist too?

As for banning you, I somehow doubt that will happen. But I would not be surprised if the powers that be around here have noted that your recent antics bear a striking similarity to those deployed by JohnAsh, someone you rather liked. However you have a long way to go before you can claim his clothes but if and when you do, your future here may not be quite so certain.

So you have said on a number of occasions, Andrew, but let's get real: you enjoy parading your liberalism here with your biased, critical analysis of President Duterte's every move and utterance and blaming us for all your woes arising out of the Brexit vote. You give vent to your frustrations knowing that your words are unlikely to be edited or your messages be deleted. Your missives receive greater tolerance by us than those we write in response: in that regard, you behave in a similar vein to JohnAsh whose total intolerance of others' points of view led to him being banned.

Having spent about three weeks in your company - for which I remain very grateful - I believe know you better than anyone else here and I know that your current behaviour is totally out of character; I think I know the reasons for that but I won't discuss them here. But I have no intention of cancelling our friendship or abandoning you as a friend.

It appears that Nick Clegg has unilaterally decided that he is leader of the Lib Dems. This will come as some surprise to the man who was elected as that party's elected leader a year or so ago, Tim Farron. Clegg intends to deploy Lib Dem peers to vote against any and all Brexit legislation thereby frustrating the government's resolve to carry-out the will of the electorate. This is the same Nick Clegg and Lib Dem party that wants to replace the current unelected upper house with a directly-elected body. This is the same Nick Clegg who led almost 60 MPs but who dropped all his party's election pledges in order to become Deputy Prime Minister and who then lost all but 8 of his MPs in the next election.

The government would be perfectly within its rights to make use of the Parliament Act to force legislation through the House of Lords, so Clegg's guerrilla campaign will be fought in vain. But he has now stencilled the words "Sack Me!" on his forehead and I'm sure the voters of Sheffield Hallam will be only too happy to oblige - his constituency voted to leave the EU and yet their MP is actively working to prevent that very thing from happening.

A disgraceful betrayal by an unprincipled man who continues to draw £100,000 in allowances for being a former deputy prime minister - that's in addition to the almost £75,000 salary he gets as a backbench MP. Snout well in the trough.

Nicks busy now looking after the trees of Sheffield as any good mp should do.