Westminstenders: Throwing Boomerangs

[RedToothBrush]

British politics and media in a nutshell.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boomerang_effect_(psychology)#Political_beliefs

No EU progress, no discussion. Just this. Keep everyone in line by bouncing boomerangs.

Disaster capitalism looms, they just have to get us to the edge of the cliff before the centre reforms. That's it.

If the legal roads to stop Brexit are closed as David Allen Green says, then how do you force the political flood gates to open, especially with both the far left and the far right using micro-aggression against the public to keep the centre ground weak?

Answers on a ballot paper on 3rd May.

[BigChocFrenzy]

Thanks, red

[Dobby1sAFreeElf]

thanks red

[BigChocFrenzy]

View from Germany: Brits are in denial about their diminishing importance

https://global.handelsblatt.com/opinion/germany-brits-are-in-denial-brexit-905941?

One year after Brexit negotiations started, Britain's place in the world is shrinking fast.

At some point, Theresa May will have to tell her people the truth …

On the other side of the English Channel, Ms. May’s upbeat message met with near-total incomprehension.

British nationalists have failed to win over European public opinion.

Contrary to fears, no other EU country has shown any sign of following the British lead.
Even the right-wing nationalist governments of Poland and Hungary remain firmly committed to the EU.

Britain’s impending exit has shifted the balance of power between the UK and the EU, but not at all to London’s advantage.

When the Brexit negotiations began in March 2017, some in the EU feared they could be bamboozled by savvy British diplomats, well-schooled in the country’s imperial tradition.

A year later, things look very different.
Britain’s diplomats are still brilliant, but they have little say in their own country, making little headway against demagogues and populist deniers of reality like Boris Johnson or David Davis.

Long after the loss of its colonies, Britain continued to benefit from the Empire’s fading aura.
But with Brexit, that magic has finally worn off.

Left to its own devices, Britain is just a medium-sized state with limited global influence, its Empire long gone.

The Commonwealth does not have a seat at the table with the world’s great powers.

So now the prime minister travels the country, trying to hold together the tiny remains of the empire on which the sun never set.
…
Last year, the German chancellor made it known that EU heads of government had better things to do than discuss Brexit.

In future, could the British prime minister deal directly with Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, please?

[mrsreynolds]

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[Globetrotter100]

[mathanxiety]

/// at work and sneaking in a place mat.

[Peregrina]

Place mat here too.

[BigChocFrenzy]

Brexit trade deal: US lays out 'wishlist' and it does not look good for the UK

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/brexit-us-trade-deal-uk-wish-list-representative-negotiations-chlorine-washed-chicken-tariffs-a8292006.html

… it will not make easy reading for David Davis and Liam Fox’s team of negotiators.
< they agree with the US rules, but know that the UK public don't >

The 500-page tome from the US Trade Representative (USTR) published this week firmly espouses the virtues of free trade and less regulation
…
It wants to get rid of “onerous” rules on everything from animal welfare to chemicals to the import of crops for biofuel.
…
What does this mean in plain English?
Essentially, it’s health and safety

[MangoSplit]

Thanks Red

[GreenEyedGoose]

Marking

[Jellykat]

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[OhYouBadBadKitten]

thank you :)

[Arborea]

At risk of being pedantic, I wanted to comment on some of D G Rossetti's comments on the previous thread about large scale wealth:
It's all tied up in trusts which - for the purposes of taxation - are treated as companies.

This isn't actually true: companies are taxed much more leniently. Trusts typically suffer tax at the same as the highest income tax payers, and have reduced CGT allowances.

The thing about a company - as opposed to an individual - is that it can never die.

This is true for companies, but not trusts which are required to have a 'perpetuity period' which prevents them existing indefinitely (unless they are charitable trusts).

If it never dies, it never needs pay inheritance tax.

Again, true for companies, but not trusts. Many are assessed for a 10 yearly IHT charge, and the person who sets one up may also have to pay IHT even if they are still alive: there's a lifetime IHT rate of 20% which applies for most transfers to trusts which exceed £325,000 (and it may have to be topped up to the death rate of 40% if the settlor doesn't survive 7 years).

Modern British Governments have been actively legislating against trusts for the past 12+ years, even though many are used by 'ordinary' people for fairly pedestrian reasons (blended families, disabled/spendthrift beneficiaries etc). One reason for this is that trusts are private vehicles (for the time being), i.e. not registered centrally. Of course, recent rule changes primarily affect new trusts, meaning that the drawbridge may have been pulled up to prevent future generations maximising any benefits that might accrue, but it's not accurate to equate trusts with companies.

[Motheroffourdragons]

Place mat here too, thank you Red. Not much to say recently, struggling to keep up with the holidays.

[RedToothBrush]

Not a great deal going off with the easter recess to be fair.

I've lost the will to live following Labour's shenanigans. Adonis appears to have gone stark raving mad tweeting about the BBC every ten second. Cadwalladr is chasing everything thats ever talked to a Tory atm rather than keeping focused. May is walking in Wales, god help us all with what big decisions she decides off the back of that. Ukip have decide to have an unelected leader. Oh and sunshine has been spotted across these fair islands.... that also means the craziness will start again shortly.

You really are not missing much.

[Dobby1sAFreeElf]

Oh and sunshine has been spotted across these fair islands..
I have somehow ended up sunburnt today. It wasn't even that sunny ffs. Things are really going nuts

[mathanxiety]

The wind here today would skin a brass monkey.

Apologies if this was posted on the previous thread:
www.businessinsider.com/why-britains-vision-for-post-brexit-trade-deals-is-probably-an-illusion-2018-4?r=UK&IR=T
Positive or negative, a trade agreement with a medium-sized country [Oz] on the other side of the world will have little impact on the UK's economy as a whole. At its best the negotiations might prove instructive - getting rolled over by the experienced Australians would be quite the learning experience for our fledgling trade negotiators.

Sam Lowe casts a cold eye on the brave new Global UK.

[DGRossetti]

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[OnTheDarkSideOfTheSpoon]

Thanks for the thread


Carole Cadwalladr
@carolecadwalla
BIG news. HUGE news. Facebook suspends AggregateIQ. The data firm Vote Leave spent £2.9 million with. VL's chief strategist Dom Cummings: "We couldn't have done it without them."

//www.nationalobserver.com/2018/04/06/news/exclusive-facebook-suspends-canadian-tech-firm-aggregateiq-over-data-scandal

This really is massive. AIQ is right at the very heart of Brexit. It was used by four different campaigns: Vote Leave, BeLeave, Veterans for Britain & the DUP.

...and it's already at the centre of another scandal. If you haven't already, please read @shahmiruk's story of how Vote Leave used BeLeave as an overspending vehicle. He showed such bravery coming forward. And has been treated by govt with such contempt

[rest of thread with links here
mobile.twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/982395421556400128 ]

[BestIsWest]

[QuentinSummers]

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[DGRossetti]

Went with DW for a Drs app yesterday.

Ended up signing a "retirement" card for a Dr at the practice.

I say retirement, he's actually got 15 years left, but decided he misses Holland to much and has just had enough of hearing "Britains full".

Since he's been there since 1995, and we've spoken many times, I know this wasn't the original plan.

[TomRavenscroft]

Marking place. Thanks Red.

[Peregrina]

I say retirement,

Same with my dentist, although he always planned to retire to Denmark, he's gone a few years early, after being at the practice 17 years.

[Peregrina]

Yet Leavers keep telling us it wasn't immigration which made them vote the way they did, until someone bobs up and says that there are too many immigrants