Remind me again why we left the EU

[drfchound]

It looks like the French are acting as level headed as ever!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56984886

Is that an abuse of power?

It is very close to threatening an act of war. There is a hospital on Jersey and to deliberately cut power to it could be seen as an attack threatening lives. If I were a senior British representative within NATO I would be calling France out on this.

Note however that this is one nation, France, behind this, not the EU.

IMHO it is always better to be in Alliances with neighbouring countries.

I’m sure you are right there Dutch but just in case you didn’t see the intended joke in my “abuse of power” words, I was saying it as a joke, you know, in case they cut the power off to Jersey.

[SydneyRover]

Barnier

''In the early hours of Christmas Eve - the very day the Trade and Cooperation Agreement was sealed - Mr Barnier describes the British unexpectedly serving up a dish of revised fish quotas as "a text riddled with pitfalls, false compromises and flashbacks"

Lol
It even reads like a fairy tale.

Do us a favour Sydney - post a snippet every night about 7pm (BST). It’ll make a change from reading the Gruffalo (not much of a change, mind).

4 years to prepare, looks like this oven ready deal went into the compost tumbler

[selby]

  Syd, I think you should make this thread your last stand, all this whataboutary is getting you and  the disciples exactly nowhere, as last night shows.

[wilts rover]

Update from the German car industry on 'they need us more than we need them'.

German exports, 2021 v 2021

total + 16%

rest of EU + 21%
US + 8.8%
China + 37.9%
UK - 13.2%

https://twitter.com/DennisNovy/status/1390696525282615302

[Glyn_Wigley]

Update from the German car industry on 'they need us more than we need them'.

German exports, 2021 v 2021

total + 16%

rest of EU + 21%
US + 8.8%
China + 37.9%
UK - 13.2%

https://twitter.com/DennisNovy/status/1390696525282615302

Of course they were going to sell more to the rest of the EU once British cars had a 10% tariff on them to knock them out of the market. Any idiot could see that happening. I wonder why so many didn't.

[belton rover]

Is it because everyone who voted leave is an idiot?

[Glyn_Wigley]

That would be your conclusion, not mine.

[belton rover]

It’s a question, Glyn, not a conclusion.
It’s all in the punctuation.


Edit: actually that might be the wrong question to ask, and it should be this one instead: if every idiot did know, then who are the ‘so many’ who didn’t?

[Not Now Kato]

It looks like the French are acting as level headed as ever!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56984886

Is that an abuse of power?

It is very close to threatening an act of war. There is a hospital on Jersey and to deliberately cut power to it could be seen as an attack threatening lives. If I were a senior British representative within NATO I would be calling France out on this.

Note however that this is one nation, France, behind this, not the EU.

IMHO it is always better to be in Alliances with neighbouring countries.

The hospital on Jersey, (like all hospitals), has an emergency generator in case of power cuts of any type.  Also, the French weren't threatening any such thing, it was the words of one French person only - not the French government.
 
Talk about over reacting!  Still, it sells newspapers!
 

[Glyn_Wigley]

It’s a question, Glyn, not a conclusion.
It’s all in the punctuation.


Edit: actually that might be the wrong question to ask, and it should be this one instead: if every idiot did know, then who are the ‘so many’ who didn’t?

I'm talking about the idiots who said what has happened wouldn't happen. And then also the idiots who believed them when they said it. Whether it affected their voting intentions I couldn't say, so I haven't.

[belton rover]

Thanks for clearing that up, Glyn.

[Dutch Uncle]

It looks like the French are acting as level headed as ever!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56984886

Is that an abuse of power?

It is very close to threatening an act of war. There is a hospital on Jersey and to deliberately cut power to it could be seen as an attack threatening lives. If I were a senior British representative within NATO I would be calling France out on this.

Note however that this is one nation, France, behind this, not the EU.

IMHO it is always better to be in Alliances with neighbouring countries.

The hospital on Jersey, (like all hospitals), has an emergency generator in case of power cuts of any type.  Also, the French weren't threatening any such thing, it was the words of one French person only - not the French government.
 
Talk about over reacting!  Still, it sells newspapers!
 

Hi NNK

After reading the great article linked to by Wilts Rover in a separate thread I can see this looks like an over-reaction.

Maybe not such a large one though. My suggestion was based on, as far as I can see, the fact that a French Government Minister raised the threat of cutting off electricity, and also as far as I could see, no other person of authority in the French Government spoke out against it. The UK delegation at NATO raising the issue would be designed to shame the French Delegation into seeking governmental guidance on a reply, and hopefully would have forced the senior echelons of the French Government to backtrack and officially rescind the threat, thus de-escalating. It is part of what NATO is for.   

I get that Hospitals have emergency backup generators. What I don't know in general and for the Hospital in Jersey in particular is whether a hospital can work 100% under a generator (e.g. do any elective surgeries need to be postponed) and how long can it operate under the generator - days, weeks, months? What if something happens to the generator?

Yes of course it sells many newspapers and generates huge numbers of clicks, and is very useful and convenient to play up just before an election.

And by the way, as the article Wilts refers to why on earth was the Bay of Granville Treaty nullified.

And finally, all in all absolutely nothing to do with Brexit.

[SydneyRover]

''Post-Brexit trade deals mean firms will miss out on freeport benefits

Government admits agreements with 23 countries include clauses prohibiting use of tax breaks''

This on top of any dubious benefit, as some experts are saying freeports take jobs and wealth from other areas.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/may/10/post-brexit-trade-deals-mean-firms-will-miss-out-on-freeport-benefits

Added

''Freeports formed a key part of the Tory election campaign in the north-east, where the Conservative mayor of Tees Valley, Ben Houchen, championed plans for a zone in the area''

[BillyStubbsTears]

It's well established that Freeports do next to nothing to boost overall economic performance of a wide region. They draw in money and jobs from adjacent areas.

[SydneyRover]

How times change aye? you put your right foot in, your right foot out ..........

Michael Gove authored a 58-page document attacking the Good Friday Agreement, likening it to the appeasement of the Nazis and even managing to attack the rights of trans people, women and the disabled in the process.

'The Price of Peace' was published by the Centre for Policy Studies in 2000 and written by then home editor of The Times, now candidate to be prime minister, Michael Gove.

Gove described the peace process as a "moral stain," "humiliation," "denial of our national integrity" and "indelible mark against [our Government.]" The pamphlet represents the peace process as a capitulation to the IRA.

https://www.joe.co.uk/news/michael-gove-good-friday-agreement-peace-process-northern-ireland-235438

''UK ministers meet representatives of NI paramilitaries to discuss Brexit

Lord Frost and Brandon Lewis spoke with loyalist delegation this week about border check concerns''

Does this make them te ter terrorists?

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/may/12/uk-ministers-meet-representatives-of-ni-paramilitaries-to-discuss-brexit

[Glyn_Wigley]

Ah, but he was an expert then so you shouldn't now listen to what he wrote then.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Interesting read here from an economics journalist who has a very strong track record for getting his shit right.

https://mobile.twitter.com/BenChu_/status/1393153483369500680

tl:dr. After Brexit, the ONS changed the way it records exports. If you use the old method, the drop in UK exports to the EU in March 2021 compared to a year earlier is not 15% as the ONS says and was widely reported here - it is 32%.