Getting Brexit done

[Little waster]

Last couple of days have had headlines in the Telegraph suggesting No Deal is now the most likely option, with the EU set to take the blame.

Very, very divisive stuff, this.

Look at my face, this is my shocked-and-surprised face honestly, it might look like my "No sh.t, Sherlock" face but it is definitely my shocked-and-surprised face.

[Vertigowooyay]

Last couple of days have had headlines in the Telegraph suggesting No Deal is now the most likely option, with the EU set to take the blame.

Very, very divisive stuff, this.

But... but... Johnson said the chance of No Deal was a million to one. He was emphatic about that. Does this mean that he... misled us?

[Martin Y]

Last couple of days have had headlines in the Telegraph suggesting No Deal is now the most likely option, with the EU set to take the blame.

Very, very divisive stuff, this.

But... but... Johnson said the chance of No Deal was a million to one. He was emphatic about that. Does this mean that he... misled us?

Not at all. No Deal is an impossibility. Vote Leave has reassured us that we'll negotiate the terms of our new deal before we trigger article 50. So you can relax.

[shpalman]

Last couple of days have had headlines in the Telegraph suggesting No Deal is now the most likely option, with the EU set to take the blame.

Very, very divisive stuff, this.

But... but... Johnson said the chance of No Deal was a million to one. He was emphatic about that. Does this mean that he... misled us?

The EU will of course back down at the last moment and give the UK everything they're asking for in order to ensure that... checks notes... Italy can keep selling 20% of its prosecco to British middle-class high-functioning alcoholics.

[Little waster]

Johnson said the chances of No Deal was a million to one ...

*channels Jeff Wayne*

... but still they IMPOSE TRADE TARIFFS IN ACCORDANCE TO WTO GUIDELINES IN THE ABSENCE OF AN EXISTING TRADE DEAL!!!


Bomm-bomm-bomm!!!





Dover customs inspection, yesterday

Spoiler:

[bjn]

Johnson said the chances of No Deal was a million to one ...

*channels Jeff Wayne*

... but still they IMPOSE TRADE TARIFFS IN ACCORDANCE TO WTO GUIDELINES IN THE ABSENCE OF AN EXISTING TRADE DEAL!!!


Bomm-bomm-bomm!!!





Dover customs inspection, yesterday

Spoiler:

It wasn’t just me then.

[Gfamily]

Last couple of days have had headlines in the Telegraph suggesting No Deal is now the most likely option, with the EU set to take the blame.

Very, very divisive stuff, this.

But... but... Johnson said the chance of No Deal was a million to one. He was emphatic about that. Does this mean that he... misled us?

Has anyone noticed anyone standing on one foot with a handkerchief in their mouth?

And a dragon.

[individualmember]

Johnson said the chances of No Deal was a million to one ...

*channels Jeff Wayne*

... but still they IMPOSE TRADE TARIFFS IN ACCORDANCE TO WTO GUIDELINES IN THE ABSENCE OF AN EXISTING TRADE DEAL!!!


Bomm-bomm-bomm!!!





Dover customs inspection, yesterday

Spoiler:

It wasn’t just me then.

No, me as well.

[individualmember]

The EU will of course back down at the last moment and give the UK everything they're asking for in order to ensure that... checks notes... Italy can keep selling 20% of its prosecco to British middle-class high-functioning alcoholics.

WTO tariff on wine is, I think, 32%. But what is that 32% of, given that most of the price of a sub-ten quid bottle of wine (and you can easily find Prosecco under a tenner a bottle in any of the supermarkets around here) is tax?

TBH, I suspect that the falling value of sterling is probably going to make more difference to the retail price of Prosecco than anything else.

[JQH]

Last couple of days have had headlines in the Telegraph suggesting No Deal is now the most likely option, with the EU set to take the blame.

Very, very divisive stuff, this.

But... but... Johnson said the chance of No Deal was a million to one. He was emphatic about that. Does this mean that he... misled us?

Has anyone noticed anyone standing on one foot with a handkerchief in their mouth?

And a dragon.

Because million to one chances come up nine times out of ten.

[PeteB]

Last couple of days have had headlines in the Telegraph suggesting No Deal is now the most likely option, with the EU set to take the blame.

Very, very divisive stuff, this.

Yeah, suspect this is our inept attempts at negotiating by talking up No Deall. Noticed some of the trade commentators were more optimistic. I think the thing to remember is the difference between No Deal and the Deal we are trying to get is pretty indistinguishable for most industries and a million miles away from the current situation (inside the Single Market and Customs Union). I hope people don't think that getting a deal means the continuation of the status quo - it is far from it.

[Woodchopper]

Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned he would allow a post-Brexit border down the Irish Sea “over my dead body,” just days after pledging to help Northern Irish businesses cope with a new wave of customs red tape after the U.K. leaves the European Union.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... hecks-loom

Pity he agreed to the border last year.

[Little waster]

Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned he would allow a post-Brexit border down the Irish Sea “over my dead body,” just days after pledging to help Northern Irish businesses cope with a new wave of customs red tape after the U.K. leaves the European Union.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... hecks-loom

Pity he agreed to the border last year.

An obvious solution to the conundrum presents itself here.

IIRC I think a glass of whisky and a Webley Service Revolver with one bullet is traditional in cases like this.

[lpm]

One bullet? That does not seem to provide a necessary allowance for incompetence.

[TopBadger]

Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned he would allow a post-Brexit border down the Irish Sea “over my dead body,” just days after pledging to help Northern Irish businesses cope with a new wave of customs red tape after the U.K. leaves the European Union.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... hecks-loom

Pity he agreed to the border last year.

It's just how Johnson and Cummings do politics. Say one thing and do another. You know, stay at home whilst visiting castles, saving lives by making choices that cost lives... etc etc.

His supporters remember what he says. Only the small fraction of them that experience the reality will notice he's lying, and some of those may think the price is worth paying.

[bjn]

Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned he would allow a post-Brexit border down the Irish Sea “over my dead body,” just days after pledging to help Northern Irish businesses cope with a new wave of customs red tape after the U.K. leaves the European Union.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... hecks-loom

Pity he agreed to the border last year.

An obvious solution to the conundrum presents itself here.

IIRC I think a glass of whisky and a Webley Service Revolver with one bullet is traditional in cases like this.

There's an empty ditch near Heathrow that has his name on it.

[Little waster]

Another completely unexpected shock development in our post-Brexit relationship with the EU.


In other shock news, a golf club has confirmed that ex-members will not be allowed to play golf there anymore if they let their membership lapse.

[Bird on a Fire]

How's the easiest trade deal in history going?

Brexit: UK-EU trade deal 'seems unlikely' says Michel Barnier

The issues seem to be fisheries policy and state aid, though the Beeb is disappointingly light on details.

According to Barnier, the UK is trying to get access to the single market without committing to a level playing field, but I'm not clear on what the UK's position is.

[plodder]

The EU is insisting that the very tricky, highly politicised, and minor issue of fishing rights is sorted before they’ll talk about anything else, and also the very tricky and major issue of state aid. They know that a compromise can be reached on the first but the second is impossible. They’re being obstinate and difficult just like everyone said they would be.

The UK negotiators are doing their best with the sh.tty hand they’ve got but they’re going to have to start conceding ground soon, or we’ll be a whisker away from No Deal come Xmas.

[headshot]

The EU is insisting that the very tricky, highly politicised, and minor issue of fishing rights is sorted before they’ll talk about anything else, and also the very tricky and major issue of state aid. They know that a compromise can be reached on the first but the second is impossible. They’re being obstinate and difficult being extremely reasonable and protecting their interests, rather than helping out the historically obstinate nation that just voted to shoot their own foot off...just like everyone said they would be.

The UK negotiators are doing their best with the sh.tty hand they’ve got voted for but they’re going to have to start conceding ground soon, or we’ll be a whisker away from No Deal come Xmas - which is exactly what everyone warned about four f.cking years ago.

FIFY.

[bmforre]

... exactly what everyone warned about four f.cking years ago.

Precisely. So you already know this makes no impression on the Merry Exiters.

And all resulting problems and troubles will be because of Evil EU clearly showing you're well out of that.
Thank Brexit.

[headshot]

... exactly what everyone warned about four f.cking years ago.

Precisely. So you already know this makes no impression on the Merry Exiters.

And all resulting problems and troubles will be because of Evil EU clearly showing you're well out of that.
Thank Brexit.

It wasn't that it made no impression because they didn't care. It's that they didn't believe it would happen. That's changing and people are starting to see the reality of their decision.

[individualmember]

I have always struggled to get a grasp on what the UK want done about fisheries. I’ve got this far: in the 1980s quotas were agreed at international level, each country got to allocate who got what share of its national quota. In the 80s and 90s the British government deregulated the markets and there became a market in these quota allocations. A lot of British fishing boat owners sold their quota (often/usually as I understand it by selling the boat which had the quota attached to it) and the main buyers were Dutch, Spanish and Icelandic. So there’s a lot of what was originally (in the 1980s) British quota allocation being used by fishing boats owned by businesses outside the UK. I gather that over the years our governments have toyed with such things as ruling that some proportion of catches under British quota must be landed in the UK in order to manipulate the market in our fishing businesses favour but they never got anywhere because of free movement regulations and the fact that some british fishers would get a better price by landing their catch in other countries (such as Spain) so being obliged to land in the UK would have been unpopular anyway.

So what needs to be resolved is the fact that a lot of non-british owned vessels are fishing with UK quotas which they bought fairly and above board, with a british fishing industry which now thinks it shouldn’t have sold the quota allocations for a quick buck when they did and want them back, basically for free.

It seems to me this is more of an issue of contract law than nationalist politics, but no one seems to talk about it in that way so I guess that I’m missing something.

[Lew Dolby]

^^^ This has been my confusion all along. Plus the fact that exactly how the national quotas are divied up was down to each government. The UK gov decided to give the vastly largest part of the UK quota to seven (I seem to remember) very large companies who operate the largest boats leaving little for the small independent fishers - the ones who appear in the news complaining about the EU and their lack of quota.

[Martin Y]

So what you're saying is we can have the fish back when we give Greece the Elgin Marbles back.