I'm afraid not, no. You can't be remotely surprised? Mark Francois and his ilk are going to be thwapping themselves stupid over all this. The Torygraph is very excited
‘At least the Nazis kept the lights on’: UK hits out at French threats to Jersey
And then theres this...
https://twitter.com/ITVChannelTV/status/1390209161317728257?s=20
There are no words....
Oh, I see, the Telegraph put it out there... so pretty much a joke.
This is just episode one of what Johnson actually means when he signs 'a deal'. The other party think he's signing in both the spirit and letter of the agreement. In fact he has his fingers crossed behind his back and is thinking up ways to wriggle out of stuff on trumped up technicalities.
All wizard pranks and laughs, but what it means in the longer term is that other countries will be wary of signing 'deals' too. And will thus either extract more concessions or make the deal so watertight that it can't be wriggled out of, or just not bother.
All this damages the credibility of this country and makes life more difficult in the future. Still, blue passports and the gammons got to wave plaggy union jacks (made in China) around for a bit.
How have we stopped so low?
🤦♂️
I think this one might be the other way around… we’ve got the EU to agree to new mind numbingly boring red tape for those that want to fish in crown waters around the Channel Islands… and the French are hoping that we’ll apply the policies liberally rather than fastidiously, and we have done so for a few months, but now want all the boxes ticking, knowing that the French small boats don’t really have the records to do so. This also dovetails in nicely with the fact that those small boats are after shellfish that Cornish and Scottish fisherfolk can no longer sell to the EU, so the suspicion on “our side” is that they are trying to catch more from waters off Jersey than they have historically to help meet demand.
I thought it was because the permit/licence paperwork ran to several pages with practically impossible hoops to jump through when 'we' had specifically told the French it wouldn't....?
This really is how it is going to be - when it is to 'our' advantage the paperwork will be 20 pages long, but 'we' will moan when the reciprocal paperwork is also 20 pages long because... El Alamein or something...
n a statement as depressing as it was predictable, a UK government spokesman has just said “at least the Nazi’s kept the lights on” with reference to the French government.
The correct reply is:
When it comes to Jersey the Nazis actually managed to build a hospital there. Johnson has promised 40 and how many has the fat lying bastard actually managed?
This really is how it is going to be – when it is to ‘our’ advantage the paperwork will be 20 pages long, but ‘we’ will moan when the reciprocal paperwork is also 20 pages long because… El Alamein or something…
Of course, it should be none of "our" business... but part of "taking back control" included taking control from the crown dependencies as regards "their" water. It's all a Westminster power grab and a costly painful bureaucracy multiplying exercise.
How’s this refocusing of exports to other countries going post Brexit? Pretty well, it seems…
https://twitter.com/dennisnovy/status/1390698711500705796?s=21
Start playing the land of hope and glory
oh there are people genuinely saying this should be played at foreign fishing vessels from our gunboats on facebook.
Looks like you’ve got to be a bit careful in the details of your trade deals when it comes to Freeports 🙂
Who woulda thunk it.
(Cut and paste baaad)
Freeports, loved by criminals, corrupt politicians and gullible voters the world over.
@dudeofdoom if you've read it can you post a few lines of summary please?
How are we all doing for stock shortages btw? In B&Q there were some gaps on the shelves yesterday. Almost no hose sprayers available at all, and a few other sections completely bare. Not a big problem but strange to see.
A little precis:
officials disclosed on Sunday that the trade agreements with 23 different countries included clauses that prohibit manufacturers in freeports from benefiting from the deals.
Labours saying the clauses could have been removed from the deals.
^^^^
But remember...
We've had enough of 'experts' you hand-wringing, pinko, metrosexual elite folk.
You can get round the FT paywall by putting the title (verbatim) into google, in thise case
UK freeports blow as exporters face tariffs to 23 countries
As we go further and further through the Brexit looking glass, having ‘Taken Back Control’ from Brussels, the government is now being told what to do by the UVF
You really couldn’t make it up
UK ministers meet representatives of NI paramilitaries to discuss Brexit
They do run significant import businesses to be fair.
Before this post of mine, the post count on this thread stood at 8888 - quite apt given much of the motivation behind the popular vote for Leave...
This is what has happened to our country:
"They took me to prison; then I burst into tears". The "nightmare" of a young graduated Italian woman at UK border after Brexit
Marta, 24, was supposed to work as au pair in London. However, without a working visa, she was sent to the Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre. Every personal belonging was seized, including her smartphone, "because they didn't want me to take pictures or videos: my window had bars, walls barbed wire. I was shocked. Another young woman from Tuscany told me she had been held there for 5 days". Dozens of EU citizens have reportedly suffered the same since January the 1st
^^^^
Remainers think "shame on us".
Leavers think "that's more like it".
Labours saying the clauses could have been removed from the deals.
If, for example, a manufacturer imports raw materials into a Freeport and then turns out finished goods. Neither the raw materials nor finished goods are actually from the UK, so you'd expect them not to be included in any 'trade deal'. Or is this too simplistic?
What's wrong with a ticket on the next flight back and a free latte at Costa? Probably a lot cheaper.
What’s wrong with a ticket on the next flight back and a free latte at Costa? Probably a lot cheaper.
My daughters fiance went to Norway a week ago and although not part of EU they sent him home as his company had not filled out the proper paperwork. Told him not to work and be out of Norway in 24 hours or they would book him a flight out (at his expense)
How does that work if he can't afford it?
They pay for your flight and try to get it back later....
FCO (or whatever Johnson has called it now) will lend you the money.
Interesting. I guess now we'll get an answer to the question of whether the Great British youth will step up to fill the gap left by absent immigrant labour? Anyone want to place bets as to the outcome?
I've got an ad going at the minute for a receptionist, it has [checks listing] 347 applicants...so, my bet is that there are plenty of folk looking for work.
Not exactly hospitality though, is it. It will vary a lot by sector.
I’ve got an ad going at the minute for a receptionist, it has [checks listing] 347 applicants
I"ve got an ad for a senior javascript developer and have had 1 applicant in 3 months. My 16 year old had her first day yesterday in one of the local pubs working tables/glass collecting etc. £5 an hour, and they wonder why they struggle to recruit.
We've had an advert on indeed for a yardsman/handy man for over a month now and nothing. Very few British nationals applying for other jobs either. We're having to rely on agencies at the moment for temps. (Manufacturing and wholesale)
£5 an hour, and they wonder why they struggle to recruit.
But this is one of the main reasons for Brexit. The Brexit Tories want a massive reservoir of low-skilled, indigenous (can't 'go back home'), insecure 'gig' labour. This gives them and their mates free reign to make more dosh for themselves.
Gove wasn't kidding when he said he'd had enough of experts - what he really meant was he doesn't like being challenged, so keep the plebs in their place and keep the dividends up.
^^^^
I.e. a nation modelled on Sports Direct 🤢
Hmmmmm, the gift that keeps giving
https://twitter.com/campbellclaret/status/1394222170671353860?s=19
The Brexit Tories want a massive reservoir of low-skilled, indigenous (can’t ‘go back home’), insecure ‘gig’ labour.
Well they're not going to get it. If there's a shortage, wages and/or conditions will have to rise. You can't have a booming economy, low wages, and labour shortages at the same time. My 16 year old is doing that job because she wants a job and more independence, not because she needs the money. If she doesn't like it she'll walk away without even thinking about it.
You can’t have a booming economy, low wages, and labour shortages at the same time.
Of course you can, in a highly stratified society, with some sectors booming and others falling away.
My 16 year old had her first day yesterday in one of the local pubs working tables/glass collecting etc. £5 an hour, and they wonder why they struggle to recruit.
I've noticed a lot of jobs advertising at minimum wage (not specific as it varies by age) but if you dig back through the company's previous adverts the same jobs were being advertised for £9-11/hr. That's across lots of different sectors. One of my ex-colleagues secured work a few weeks ago but he has a clause that says he can't discuss his hourly rate with his colleagues who have the same clause. Somehow he managed to let one of them know he was on £8.99/hr only to be told that others were on anything between minimum and £10 for doing the exact same thing depending on when they joined. I even know one friend who can't get workers for the warehouse he manages as they advertise at minimum wage but his bosses refuse to let him increase it to get workers. They presume that with lots of unemployment people will just take what they can get, completely forgetting that even with reasonable wages they relied heavily on workers from Eastern Europe as they were the few who would put up with the working conditions.
These are going to become the new normal.
I am reasonably sure that clauses like that are legally unenforceable. My last but one job had one and I am sure its legality was thrown into question.
Google* provides the following: https://www.mytipsandadvice.co.uk/2019-09/are-pay-secrecy-clauses-legal-UKPPPSAR_EU03050301
Another link says pretty much the same thing, but then goes on to say roughly "but if you do discuss it, then your boss may well just fire you for being difficult"
You can’t have a booming economy, low wages, and labour shortages at the same time.
Of course you can, in a highly stratified society, with some sectors booming and others falling away.
Was going to concoct my own response to that bollocks blanket assertion, but kelvin has done it better than I can.
It is a kind of asymmetric, 'flexible', insecure workforce the Tories crave. See Britannia Unchained. Skills? Just enough to clean the moat, no more under any circumstances - that just leads to the plebs getting uppity.
Skills? Just enough to clean the moat, no more under any circumstances
That's not enforceable since if people cannot get skilled staff they will have no choice but to employ unskilled people and train them up, and I don't think the Tories will be able to stop that happening.
+1 Kelvin nailed it
and they wonder why they struggle to recruit
And you don't?
The benefits of FOM to business wasnt about low skilled labour cheap
European workers here were better qualified and paid more than non European
Its about flexibility - hence why UK never used the powers they had to send EU workers home who were out of work.
Brexit simply means more non European workers, who can be paid less and have a higher chance of becoming illegal when work dries up.
This is all part of the societal change that led to Brexit in the first place. There are fewer skilled jobs, but the pay gap between them and the unskilled jobs is widening. As the government continues to reduce state support, people will have no choice but to take those jobs - just look at the US. The only thing that puzzles me is that people who are in poverty don't make great consumers - so how are the people driving all of this going to make money?
Meanwhile Frost is crying that he didn't redirect EU to enforce the deal he negotiated & is threatening Article 16 (again)
They've released a new implementation plan, but vague on dates other than wanting an answer before loyalist marching parties in July!
Still requires checks but no rush to build facilities to carry them out
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-57133682
Can't see the EU agreeing to all of that
Options remain as they anyways were
https://twitter.com/Usherwood/status/1394178871562485762?s=19
