Westministenders: Transition

[RedToothBrush]

Last thread opener, it was all about the government buzz word being shown to listen at every opportunity.

Now transition is creeping in as people realise that no we can't just do a settlement, arrange a new trade deal with the EU and have a whole host of other deals in place in two years.

Who'd have thought.

We will be getting Brexit because we give in to threats of terrorism. Not quite getting how that takes back control.

But Brexit will be good. It will be glorious. And in the long term we will be better off for it.

Er ok.

mrsm hope your DM is better now

I'm a bit surprised that a left winger such as yourself would support maintenance of land for deer and grouse hunting, how. This involves laying waste to large tracts of land for the benefit of a small number of privileged people. I live on the edge of a large tract of moorland managed for grouse (and some sheep farming) and the surrounding towns and villages are regularly flooded in part because of mismanagement of the moorland by gameskeepers. I go up there regularly and it is an ecological wasteland. Looks pretty, but the biodiversity is very low- basically just Heather and grouse. There is a marked contrast with areas of the Moor that aren't used for grouse hunting and are managed by the council for public use. This is where you find the interesting plants and animals as they allow plants other than heather to grow and there is a mix of wooded areas and moorland. No raptors on the Moor either- these are routinely persecuted by the games keepers. That they do this on publicly owned land gets my goat tbh.

news.sky.com/story/the-bbc-pay-gap-is-bad-its-class-gap-is-worse-10957166
The BBC gender pay gap is bad - but its class gap is worse

Good article.

This stuck out to me:

It's no secret that it's hard to get into journalism and the media. Unpaid internships and an expensive postgraduate degree from City university (£9,000 a year) are almost as obligatory as passports at the border these days. Not to mention the fact that virtually all opportunities are concentrated in London.

I went to a northern comprehensive and got a degree at a northern city university. I struggled with people on my course. They were overwhelmingly what were best described as 'London Yahs' with rich parents. Several had family members already working at the BBC, C4 or ITV. Many had done unpaid work experience. Many had gone to private schools. Amongst the other reasons I never pursued a career in media, I never felt I fitted in with them. And I'm still horribly middle class and pretty privileged in relative terms.

I can well see how difficult it is for anyone outside even that would struggle. Nor even try. Work experience in London with one of Daddy's mates just isn't an option.

Even with the BBC moving north, only so much improvement has been made. Most employees moved up from London. I applied and did get to the second round. However I later found out just how few people from the NW did get jobs in the end. I think I did well to get to the second round in retrospect, but it seems it was largely an exercise which I never really had much of a chance at.

She is thank you x

I know northern journalists, Red! For some reason, the local press in Yorkshire is (relatively) healthy, which is how friends have managed to get a foot in the door in a career in journalism. The death of local journalism has cut off this path for people outside of London.

Bolshy I don't support badly managed Highland estates but Brexit gives an opportunity to incentivise good management to the benefit of the environment, the local economy and the community. The "ecological" alternative I alluded to earlier was a proposal to privatise large tracts of the Highlands and police them with wild predators - one way around Scotland's right to roam legislation.

So todays news (from BBC radio)

It seems to be "accepted wisdom" now, that a transitional deal will be made - for up to 3 years - to cushion small businesses.

1. Has anyone told DD (but then again (a) what's the point ? and (b) what could he do anyway ?)

2. (more imporantly) has anyone told the EU, and ...

3. What is possible, given the clanking iron fist of A50 due in 20 months ?

Theses - and many other questions - will be ignored over the coming days ....

Theses? I think we can be fairly sure where Davis is concerned there will be no discussion of anything remotely intellectual / expert/ complicated.......

And what's the difference between "implementation period" and "transition period" anyway

I'm very sceptical regarding the chances of our current government legislating to enforce or incentivise proper management of grouse moors, how. Why would they? They'd be penalising their supporters.
I have actually been pretty impressed by places I have visited in Scotland that have fenced off deer and sheep and started replanting native woodland- the effect on biodiversity is pretty instantaneous (lack of ticks is a bonus too ). Introducing predators is a different matter although the presence of large predators does not prevent access to countryside in most of the rest of the world, if they are situated in an appropriate environment. Reintroduction should always be approached with caution because of the shift in food webs it can create.

My Scottish inlaws would welcome some large predators tbh, they have huge problems with deer as lack of predation means the population has grown to an unsustainable size. They sometimes starve to death as there is not enough food to support them where they live.

I think that Howabout raises a valid point about predators though - although I'm more cynical about grouse moors.

We take our "right to roam" for granted in Scotland (can always recognise the English tourists by the fact that they picnic right beside the road ) but one of the ways round it is through "safety" excuses reasons - whether that be during shooting season on the land or the need to "constrain"/"protect" predators.

As I understand it this sort of management is currently devolved and the EU programmes will also be devolved (current huffing and puffing notwithstanding). I think this is definitely an area where more local decision making gives better outcomes.

The problem with reintroducing predators is that inevitably there will be winners and losers on a local level and in this case it can be helpful to have some higher authority to manage disputes. The reintroduction of bears in the Pyrenees has been fiercely resister by farmers, although it is likely that they do less damage to livestock than dogs.

I actually don't have an issue per se with the reintroduction of predators (or of beavers to help with flood control) but some landowners are using it as justification to fence their estates and thereby reducing our traditional "right to roam" . It's not as simple as just "keeping footpaths open".

Yeah, not used to the right to roam down here! Had shotguns pointed at me as a child for daring to get lost on someone's land, and the local Moor has plenty of arsey signs warning the public not to stray from footpaths (and not for ecological reasons).

Our council allows grouse hunting and management on a large chunk of the Moor that they own, how. They could enforce proper management if they wanted, but they don't because £££. This is what I'm saying- I don't think Brexit will make any difference because there is no political will to change things.

It's something I had difficulty adjusting to when I lived in England bolshy. Going where I wanted in the countryside (as long as I didn't cause any damage) was the norm to me.

If we're drifting into reintroducing predators ... has anyone seen the BBC documentary about the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone ?

(Here's a cheeky YouTube version ...)

The effect was astounding and far reaching ... who would have thought that wolves would stop flooding ?

From The Times, 1 July apparently. Behind paywall for me but here's screenshot of relevant bit.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/opiates-of-the-noble-people-k5r3rrw9m

Nigel Farage has been ordered by the EU to pay back £80,000 because one of his EU staff was also working for UKIP (a banned practice).
A Justgiving page set up to support Farage has so far raised £0.

eutoday.net/news/farage-ordered-to-repay-gbp80k-to-eu

www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/marty-lee-1

Swedish, that is just

That's hilarious Swedish

The Mail online is today reporting that "recession is looming". Oh dear, trouble in paradise.

What's also funny about the Crowdfunding link (with zero contributions) is the "More crowdfunding stories like this" at the bottom of the page.

JustGiving seems to have a sense of humour great insight as they are for playgroup related funds!

The total is still £0. Snerk. It seems not even Kippers are contributing to poor old Nigel's fund, and not even when it's the EU being beastly to him.

What are things coming to?

trouble in paradise

You can tell things are going pearshaped by the volume of posts on some of the other threads, from one poster in particular who gives the impression that she must be paid by the word, with a bonus for underlining and overtime for bold text.

Crowdfunding still at zero. If it were your page, wouldnt you donate yourself to make it look less sad?