No Deal Brexit and Millenium Bug are NOT the Same!

[KennDodd]

Ffs. Why would somebody even think that?

Anyway, aibu to be frustrated by this?

To many people, losing jobs is a bit more worrying than ‘inconvenience’

@Wonderbag - It would be comforting to hear that new laws etc are in place for protection though. So we know we’re covered by safety standards, maternity rights etc when we leave.

It depends on whether the laws are based on directives or regulations. Directives require member states to enact national legislation to implement them. They have some flexibility in how they are enacted. The law is already a British law so would require the UK government to change it. An example of that would be consumer rights. A regulation is enacted throughout the EU as is (e.g. standards for goods in the EU). There is no flexibility within member states. I think that these would no longer automatically apply post-Brexit unless it is agreed by the UK.

Maternity rights are covered by the directive so they are enacted in British law. Some safety standards are covered by a directive that requires compliance with EU standards so again, I think this would require legislation to change them.

So basically, the laws currently governing most of these things are UK laws and will remain in place unless explicitly changed. Provided you trust your government not to change them, you're fine......

I was just downloading a game earlier today and, sad git that I am, read the whole terms and conditions before clicking Accept. There was a lot in there about if you're in the US, this law applies, whilst if you're in the EU, that law applies. If you're in neither, it said in not quite so many words, you're on yer own matey. And it occurred to me, when we're not in the EU all these licence agreements will have to be covered separately by UK law as well, or won't be covered at all. Just one more thing that needs doing that we don't have the time or manpower to do in ONE FUCKING MONTH. Brexit doesn't have to be the end of civilisation as we know it, but they sure aren't going about it in a way that will maximise success.

Re the Y2K comparison, it's almost the opposite actually. There was all the whipped up panic in the papers about planes falling out of the sky etc, which did not in the end happen due, as you say, to excellent forward planning. But in the present day, most of the papers seem to be keen to reassure us there will be no problem come March 29th. We don't need a plan, we just need freedom, it will all be fine... However, if May were to have a sudden brainstorm and actually do the sensible thing, i.e. postpone leaving for a couple of years until things were properly worked out, there would be much fury and calls for revolution. The Will of the People (how I loathe that phrase) is being arrogantly thwarted, and all that jazz.

Thanks doireallyneedto.
It makes some sense. It’s things like the EU charter of fundamental rights, safety laws etc that worry me - or rather, the unscrupulous people or businesses who may take advantage of the weak spot while legislation is still to be put in place.

You could compare it to a number of events from that time that people thought the world was going to end because the Mayan clock came to an end to princess Diana death and the ott public mourning and totally innaproptiate and disproportionate grief. It’s the group think element that they are picking up on is all.
My DH was one of the people who did work on Y2K . No deal Brexit is similar in that we don't know exactly what will happen. It is different in that we are woefully ill prepared for Brexit. I am not one for hysteria though. The above comment angered me because Diana's death was a tragic event and people were deeply moved by it. Of course it's cool on here to sneer about it. I miss Diana. The world was better with her in it.

YANBU.
The Y2K issue was well understood by those that needed to understand it (dates with 2 digits, so 2000 might get misunderstood to be 1900),
and the concept of how to avoid problems was simple (fix the s/w so dates had 4 digits).
The solution was time consuming, but just needed 100s of computer professionals around the world to check all their source code.

Brexit on the other hand is a myriad of unknowns. Including the conditions under which we are due to leave in a few week's time. There of course will have been planning, but decoupling from EU agreements to an unknown state is way more complicated than Y2K.