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Poops, as I see it, johnson is not quite persona non grata with biden -but near to it.
GCHQ and the five eyes programme have some value to the US; other than that the UK is an irrelevance.
UK armed forces are not required in US military incursions but the optics are helpful.
Can someone - anyone, anywhere - give me a reason, just one, to believe that brexit will benefit the UK.
I cannot paste any of the text, but the conclusion is that the UK's economy will be significantly smaller as a result of Brexit.
A question on the weekends events. Just asking for explanation BTW.
Is it within the powers of the EU commission to invoke article 16 without prior consultation with member states?
As Michael Martin wasn't actually given prior notice about an issue which would affect his country.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he was given no advance notice of the intention by the EU to trigger Article 16 of the NI Protocol.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-55877649
Is it within the powers of the EU commission to invoke article 16 without prior consultation with member states?
Yes... but to do so without talking to the Irish government first is well out of order. Doing so without consulting with the Maltese or Czechia governments if need be is a different matter.
EDIT: actually, doing so without talking to both the Irish and UK governments is well out of order.
Pacific trade pact, members include Canada, Australia and New Zealand... wonder what Dan Hannan is thinking.
I am really surprised the EU have acted in this way.
Only because you believe the spin/propaganda in the British media. The lawyers will sort it out and until they have it would be unwise to take what the British papers publish at face value.
Investigations at the factory haven't been completed yet.
Not respecting contracts for either political or financial reasons, or both is likely to blow up in the faces of both AZ and the UK. Short term gain for long term pain.
Not respecting contracts for either political or financial reasons, or both is likely to blow up in the faces of both AZ and the UK. Short term gain for long term pain
The general view I've seen is that neither party would be publishing contacts if either of them (EU/AZ) thought they had a clear cut case?
6 of one and half a dozen of the other?
It seems like the cobbled together bodge that was supposed to be the solution to the Northern Ireland problem is all being exposed as the nonsense it is.
Businesses there have been well and truly thrown under the bus and are incurring huge additional costs and additional paperwork to ship things between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
They've now got the worst of both worlds as they will have to meet all the requirements of still being in the customs union, while simultaneously being outside the single market, so having to also comply with the 'third country' requirements from the EU.
It's utter madness. It was never going to work. Boris and co have put a hard border within the UK and the realities of what that means are now becoming clear. It's an absolute mess.
And these aren't 'teething problems'. This is for good
It’s utter madness. It was never going to work. Boris and co have put a hard border within the UK and the realities of what that means are now becoming clear. It’s an absolute mess.
There is a very easy solution... might not be appreciated by about half NI's population though. But what's another group being thrown under a bus.
I'd say that is now looking increasingly inevitable (along with Scottish independence), no matter what the bowler-hatted marching squad want. Surely even the DUP can't still be under any remaining illusions about where they now stand in the grand scheme of things
I don't thing this Brexitty, English nationalist government could care less if they ended up with a united Ireland really. Or an independent Scotland. They're so insular, inward-gazing and parochial, nowhere outside the South East even registers with them
Obviously it#s going well.
They’ve now got the worst of both worlds as they will have to meet all the requirements of still being in the customs union, while simultaneously being outside the single market, so having to also comply with the ‘third country’ requirements from the EU.
The rest of the UK also has to meet all the requirements of being in the customs union, doesn't it? I haven't seen that bonfire of red tape I've heard so much about.
What these imbecilles have created truly is the worst of all worlds. Its almost as if nobody had actually thought of putting any planning in place other than some catchy 3 word slogans
As someone that married into a family from Northern Ireland I think most people over simplify how the voting in a border poll would go and the issues it raises. The biggest being moving from a free at the point of use health service to a paid one (although with subsidises and exceptions for different groups).
As someone that married into a family from Northern Ireland I think most people over simplify how the voting in a border poll would go and the issues it raises. The biggest being moving from a free at the point of use health service to a paid one (although with subsidises and exceptions for different groups).
The last thing anyone (sensible) wants is a purely sectarian outcome. The offer needs to be something most unionists support, going from republicans being treated as third class citizens to unionists being treated as such, really isn't the way forward.
Maybe one outcome will be how Ireland treats healthcare, less money for the church etc.
As someone that married into a family from Northern Ireland I think most people over simplify how the voting in a border poll would go and the issues it raises. The biggest being moving from a free at the point of use health service to a paid one (although with subsidises and exceptions for different groups).
Very much, I've commented about this on this thread myself. Its 50 euro for a doctors appointment for example. Would all the national insurance contributions be honoured by Westminster, the dail?
The offer needs to be something most unionists support, going from republicans being treated as third class citizens to unionists being treated as such, really isn’t the way forward
Sorry but I don't think the third class bit is really relevant at this stage, its not the 60s. It is true though that all people in N.I are disadvantaged compared to the rest of the UK, our politics being partially to blame for this.
Our healthcare systems have been travelling in opposite directions for the last 20 years... they might meet in the middle by the time there is a vote on NI leaving the UK... which isn't going to be anytime soon.
I didn't want to derail the thread into NI stuff but thought it worth mentioning that it's not a purely sectarian thing and it'll be regular people weighing up the pros and cons on all sorts if issues that will swing any border poll one way or the other.
Scotland on the other hand, unless the EU's vaccine cock-up and subsequent miss-handling of the situation has changed people's views looks ripe to leave.
unless the EU’s vaccine cock-up and subsequent miss-handling of the situation has changed people’s views looks ripe to leave.
The jury is still out on that, there is an alternative view. Be patient, it'll all come out in the wash.
EDIT: actually, doing so without talking to both the Irish and UK governments is well out of order.
1m18s
Just had a painful conversation with a friend of mine. He's somehow got to break the news to his small team of staff that he's moving the business to Ireland. The extra costs of importing and exporting his materials and products means he has no option, the price he would have to charge means he would be 30% more expensive than the competition which is a lot when the cheapest item he sells is just under £1k (specialist electronics to industry). His wife is Irish so can move there that way but it means having to uproot his kids and leave his family behind. He was hoping to be able to make it work with cutting his profit margin down and persuading the customers to pay a little bit more than they so now but his 3 main customers who provide 90% of his work have just left to go to his main competitor based in Italy. His team is only of 5 people but they've all been there since he set it up back in 2009 and have very specialist knowledge, he's hoping that he can persuade at least one of them to move with him so he has a way of training new staff up. It's either that or he just shuts up completely. A small business of highly skilled and well-paid jobs gone from an area of quite high unemployment and deprivation. He says they've got work to continue to April but nothing after that with work booked on a 3 month lead so even if he manages to sort something out in the next month he'll have the whole of May doing nothing.
He's been working on finding a way to make it work since last summer so it's not a flash decision, absolutely heartbroken for him.
1m18s
That would also be well out of order... if done without consultation with Ireland and the EU.
@reluctantjumper - he must be gutted. Its all just so unnecessary.
The scariest thing about that story is that those very same decisions will presently being agonised over in small businesses all around this country, with most of them reaching the same somewhat inevitable conclusion
Imagine how let down you must be to have been held up as some paragon of Brexit and then when it comes down to it, you are under the bus in an instant and it screeches to a halt on top of you.
And no one cares. Not the politicians, not the media, just a few lonely voices. The people that got you here are being made peers, or making jokes about fish in parliament, all while the polls show continued support for their actions.
They’re so insular, inward-gazing and parochial, nowhere outside the South East even registers with them
There were insular, inward-gazing, parochial types that voted a tory in for your constituency wasn't there Binners? I know you like to blame Corbyn for a lot of stuff, and you are right in a lot of regards, but you need to look at those living around you as well.
This constant blame of London and the south east, where admittedly you can place a blue rosette on a lump of sh*t and it and its stink heads off to parliament, can also be said of the south-west, the midlands, large parts of the North(I'm looking at you Yorkshire) Wales, parts of Scotland...
This constant blame of London and the south east,
London is mostly Labour, isn't it?
Physical checks at ports suspended by department due to safety fears for the workers there.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-55895276
I can't see anyway this is not going to get nasty in NI.
I agree with Binners, this government couldn't give a damn if NI/ Scotland go their own way. In fact I think some see that as a positive, seeing them as "hangers on". I suspect a good percentage of the English populous think the same unfortunately.
So no hard border between N and S to avoid inflaming the situation. Replace with a border in the sea to inflame the situation instead. Long time since I left but sad to see threats returning to my home town. Perhaps rather than visit Scotland, the PM could try some essential travel to Larne and try and staff a border post for a bit, demonstrating the quality of jobs in the new red tape sector the government has been so keen on developing.
Unionist politicians are throwing fuel on this fire, they need to reign themselves in. The issues at the borders are being sorted according to the news, with a solution around groupage being found. A bit of patience is needed I think. There are too many unionist factions in N.I at the moment which is also driving tensions.
Unionist politicians are throwing fuel on this fire, they need to reign themselves in
There's a first time for everything.
Stating the obvious of course 😀
https://mobile.twitter.com/StephenFarryMP/status/1356531493481439232
actual surprised just how quickly things are starting to go downhill.
History will decide. I think I said at the beginning of this interview that the terrible thing here is that I am pretty sure that, in the end, the one thing I can guarantee is that, whether we have a no deal Brexit or a hard Brexit with a deal, the price, the cost that that imposes on the economy, will be pretty much 100% absorbed by exactly the demographic profile that voted Leave and then voted Boris Johnson, having never voted Tory before, in December 2019. I’m pretty sure that is almost exactly the definition of the people who are going to bear the costs of Brexit.
- Phillip Hammond, Nov 2020
In an extraordinarily interesting interview here
I have no doubt Philip Hammond is correct, but many of them know this and voted for it.
Explained this elsewhere, it was and remains at the heart of it a vengeance vote, the more i talk to folks in the family that voted for it the clearer it becomes, the current debacle with fish, livestock, empty trucks, dumped food matters not. They can still pop down to lidl or whatever and buy all they need.
They will become the frog, but there is not much to take away.
Destruction of shellfish industry actually made it to front page of BBC website:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55903599
The comments are interesting - my current favourite is that apparently the Chinese are crying out for our shellfish. Unfortunate that China is quite a long way away...
Just wait until they find out about the new rules China will put on fish imports. It'll make EU border controls look lightweight.
Loving the fact that the fishing industry is kicking up a stink about the bottom trawling ban.
Thanks for the link nickc, the arrogance of Hammond and co. is gob smacking. They really thought they could change the rules of a community of 28 countries just to suit their Tory political agenda. The observations about French diplomacy amused me, they really should have known that Michel Barnier would have them choking on their cake.
To admit that his objective was to curb the power of the EU (sabotage the European project would be more precise) and then acknowledge that Britain had managed to gain considerable influence within the EU which was valuable to the UK - and then be prepared to gamble away that value with a referendum tells my béret wearing me that the European projet has benefitted from Brexit.
As I read Hammond the Tory party was never really into contributing to the collective EU project and was only a member out of economic self interest. A self interest that was and is secondary to pandering to the worst instints of the electorate.
Today's Brexit win.
Brexit: Millions of bees could be 'destroyed' over import rules
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-55901419
That bees story has right in its heart something that the last few Tory governments have loved to do- you ask "can I do this" and they refuse to tell you, but do tell you that if you do it and they decide you're not allowed, it's your problem. Used to happen to us all the time with student visas, now it's bees... And import duties, and probably countless other things. Somehow they know what the rules are when it comes to punishment but not when you ask them.
Edukator
Free MemberAs I read Hammond the Tory party was never really into contributing to the collective EU project and was only a member out of economic self interest.
Oversimplistic this, but more and more these days conservatives seem to struggle with the idea of mutual benefit. In the worst cases it's "it'll hurt them more than it'll hurt us" but even at the saner end, "we will each benefit by the same amount" is often seen as a problem and god forbid it's "we benefit by X billion but the germans benefit by X.00001 billion"
Shit is hitting the fan. It's quite amazing how quickly it's all unravelling.
Luckily our man Gove is on the job.
https://twitter.com/ITVJoel/status/1357035473470976004
Newsnight has a series of Unionist and Conservative politicians complaining about the border in the Irish Sea. All unrepentant over Brexit, and none offering even an outline sketch of a workable alternative, of course.
Ahhh... an outline sketch of an alternative... where’s Soft Border Patrol when you need them?
Conservative politicians complaining about the border in the Irish Sea. All unrepentant over Brexit, and none offering even an outline sketch of a workable alternative, of course.
It's absolutely insane. I wish Emily maitlis had pushed Ian paisley harder but it wasn't a Marr or kuensberg dereliction of duty more she was just allowing the panel to each speak in a short section
I was screaming at the TV when paisley responded belligerently to the Irish politician, I can't believe he kept his cool in the face of that
The cognitive dissonance on display is astonishing. It's beyond satire now. Although it has been for years now. Predictably the old EU threatening Article 16 last week is now being milked by the Tory and DUP nutbags
And Johnson, denying the border in the Irish sea today. ...no words
"unforeseen"
**** off.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55887043
This is frictionless trade?
Non-tariff barriers at their finest.
Clearly a template for how a country can 'prosper mightily'.
Thanks to one of the most incompetent governments ever - probably the most incompetent - this is being replicated across multiple market sectors.
As for services, no room for them in the world beating trade agreement with the EU.
I will happily dance on the graves of johnson, gove and cameron when their time comes; as for farage, I will have a very full bladder to show my appreciation.
Johnson sold non tariff as free trade..
Johnson wouldn't sign the EU offer for free movement "light" for musicians..
Johnson sold fishing a dummy...
Johnson is selling UK Farming a dummy..
Johnson has ****ed up and the real cross border challenges start in April and June.
^^ Yep, these genuinely are mere niggles in relative terms.
Later this year there won't be many places to hide from the muck spreading to come.
Johnson has ****ed up and the real cross border challenges start in April and June.
Which is why Gove is now trying to extend the grace periods. More can kicking.
I've now read more about what Hammond said and this analysis about his interview for me shows just how sucked in & conned the average poor-middle income Leaver has been.
This comment.
He believes that the person ultimately responsible for Brexit was Tony Blair, who allowed unlimited immigration from eastern Europe after 2005 – but he also believes that something like Blair’s policy was essential and quite right. Even a Britain that managed its own borders would follow it: “We’d decide our regime and then, in practice, let in hundreds of thousands of European workers because our economy would have collapsed without them.”
And I go back to my comment (from pages ago), "Brexit isn't the destination, it's the vehicle".
They whipped up the gullible to vote for something that will fundamentally enable the post-war promise to be dismantled.
You think it's s**t now, wait until you can't afford (quality) healthcare never mind all the 'protections' we take for granted. Oh, and no your taxes won't come down, but they will for the rich.
Conservative politicians complaining about the border in the Irish Sea. All unrepentant over Brexit, and none offering even an outline sketch of a workable alternative, of course.
they can’t offer even a sketch of a workable solution because there is only one workable solution:
for the whole UK to remain in the single market and the customs union.
That’s it. There are no others, without torpedoing the GFA. Theresa May made this inevitable when she caved in to the ERG headbangers, drew her ridiculous red lines and painted herself and the whole country into a corner
NI was always going to end up under the bus from that point onwards
The thing is that we’re experiencing all these problems now when during a ‘grace period’, but also when traffic and trade across borders has never been lower, due to Covid. Just imagine the fun and games that await when it gets back to something resembling normality. It’s going to be absolute carnage!
And surely everyone can see that these aren’t ‘teething troubles’. This is it. This is what the reality of Brexit looks like. Just like so many of us knew it would, but we’re shouted down
Project Fact.
Not all is bad in N.I
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-55942076
Two companies seeing brexit bonuses
Thanks for the link nickc, the arrogance of Hammond and co. is gob smacking. They really thought they could change the rules of a community of 28 countries just to suit their Tory political agenda.
I didn't read that as arrogance. Obviously its super popular in here to bash anything remotely Tory, but, fighting to shape the EU from inside is simply what I imagine all the EU countries do to whatever extent they can.
You think it’s s**t now, wait until you can’t afford (quality) healthcare never mind all the ‘protections’ we take for granted. Oh, and no your taxes won’t come down, but they will for the rich.
A bit like the Land of The Free on the other side of the really big channel?
Not all is bad in N.I
At the expense of GB companies.
Can we gave the "best of both worlds" again here on the mainland, please?
Not all is bad in N.I
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-55942076
Two companies seeing brexit bonuses
Interesting that being in the single market is a huge advantage. Now why wouldn't the rest of the UK want that!?
Hopefully this will shut the (article 16) unionists up
Doubt it... they don't want a carve out for NI business... they want the same treatment for NI companies as GB companies... even if that's worse for them. Ultimately, some people never accepted the Good Friday Agreement, and they have been pursuing a path to undermine it for years.... they want an end to all Ireland cooperation, and Brexit is just the path to that end. The current situation isn't what they hope Brexit would give them... so they'll keep pushing. The idea that Brexit is "done" is the most facile ideal in UK politics right now. It's only just begun.
More brexit benefits for animals. Fishermen, livestock farmers, cheese-makers, and now live exporters. I did a fair bit of campaigning back in the day against this vile trade, I never imagined it would be shut down by us leaving the EU. Probably only temporary for now but hopefully the negative impact on the business will tip it over the edge.
What are all the former employees of these industries going to do instead? Knit yurts?
Seriously, though: wasn't it Gove who listed as one of the Brexit Dividends that they planned on banning live animal exports anyway? I didn't believe him any more than at any other time he's ever opened his mouth
What are all the former employees of these industries going to do instead?
Get jobs elsewhere. Don't ask me to feel sympathy for them, I'm a vegan so by definition want them all out of a job.
Those firms benefitting, loads of money...
But a Dunmurry-based ventilation manufacturer that supplies the construction industry says it has won a six-figure contract in the Republic because of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
FFS that'll probably cover the costs for one lorry loads' documentation between GB & NI.
I will happily dance on the graves of johnson, gove and cameron when their time comes; as for farage, I will have a very full bladder to show my appreciation.
Controversially I'd also add the previous labour party leadership to this for sitting on the fence in the last election. Also the arrogance of the Lib Dems. By doing so they have enabled this pile of s...t of a government to do whatever they want.
Not all is bad in N.I
That's because essentially they remain in the EU.
Two companies seeing brexit bonuses
Everything else is slowly going to shit and you've found a sandwich shop that says it's doing OK. You really are getting desperate now, aren't you?
I’m
a veganan anarchist so by definition want them all out of a job.
FTFY.
Everything else is slowly going to shit and you’ve found a sandwich shop that says it’s doing OK. You really are getting desperate now, aren’t you?
Getting desperate would suggest that I'm trying to sell Brexit, which I'm not. I'm just pointing out that a local company has turned the situation to its advantage.
What are you trying to do then?
I mean, fair enough, we did ask for you - someone, anyone - to show us some positives. But a random sandwich shop in the middle of Neverheardofit being headline news when Nissan and a supporting cast of hundreds have already ****ed off to the mainland kinda says the opposite.
https://twitter.com/CornishCheese/status/1357037441492877316
Brexit bonus for customers... not for the company involved.
I mean, fair enough, we did ask for you – someone, anyone – to show us some positives.
Done, sorry if they are of limited scope.
Nissan and a supporting cast of hundreds have already ****ed off to the mainland kinda says the opposite.
I thought they stayed in Sunderland?
Honestly, they might have, I didn't check. They were just the first company I thought of. Insert one of dozens (hundreds, thousands?) of other big players in that example instead if you like. Dyson, there you go. Jaguar Land Rover. Didn't Panasonic bugger off too?
Brexit bonus for customers… not for the company involved.
To be honest January is a very quiet month in the cheese industry, plus on top of the pandemic it's not helped either, so not just related to brexit, although we've had some stumbling blocks trying to send a pallet of cheddar to France today!
Five seconds' googling:
https://metro.co.uk/2019/09/23/companies-collapsed-moved-abroad-since-brexit-10795029/
On Cheese and other products, is the UK-EU still bound by recognising the designated origin regs?
@Cougar I wasn't trying to start an argument over who's left or whatever, I was just pointing out the silver linings that exist in every cloud, I don't want to have an argument over how many companies have left the UK thanks, that's been done to death on here.
https://smallbusinessprices.co.uk/brexit-index/
Brexit Job Loss Index: 436,296 Jobs Lost As Of 31 January 2020
> Total Jobs Lost: 436,296
> Total Annual Wages Lost*: £12,511,660,392
> Reduction in Annual Income Tax & National Insurance Receipts**: £3,747,289,625.52
Still. A sandwich shop's doing OK so yay brexit! Price worth paying, sovereignty, commemorative 50p piece, something about the war, fish, brown people.
I’m
a veganan anarchist so by definition want them all out of a job.FTFY
Curious why you think my anarchist politics mean I want people out of a job? I just want them doing useful productive 'jobs' which make them happy. I'm not sure driving trucks full of live animals would meet those critieria though.
Brexit Job Loss Index: 436,296 Jobs Lost As Of 31 January 2020
> Total Jobs Lost: 436,296
> Total Annual Wages Lost*: £12,511,660,392
> Reduction in Annual Income Tax & National Insurance Receipts**: £3,747,289,625.52
Apart for criteria 4, that list seams subjective or speculative at best, but see my previous reply please.
anarchist politics
I don't think a lot of people really understand what the principle of anarchy is.
Curious why you think my anarchist politics mean I want people out of a job?
I'm curious* why you'd want anyone out of a job for any reason, to be honest with you. Seems like a shitty thing to desire.
Who are you or I to say what jobs are productive or makes them happy? Plenty of folk have jobs, or 'jobs' as you say, that I don't really understand outside of them maybe inheriting a family business. Who the hell wakes up one day and decides they want to be a podiatrist? Or for that matter a butcher? Little schoolboy Darren goes to his careers advisor and tells them "I want to cut up animals into bite-sized chunks," that's surely a letter home to the parents at the very least, if not a psychiatric referral.
(* - For some value of 'curious,' anyway. I don't actually think I care beyond the purposes of having a petty argument on the Internet. Are you here for the full half hour?)