Rumour has it, some remainers are a little glum.....

[Carolinesbeanies]

So in the spirit of sharing our deluded brexiteer cheerfulness, heres a round up of some of this weeks good news.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-5040279/UK-exports-booming-outside-Europe.html

http://www.londonlovesbusiness.com/business-news/london-news/big-boost-world-bank-ranks-uk-seventh-in-its-doing-business-report/18554.article

https://global.handelsblatt.com/politics/world-trade-makes-a-comeback-845798/amp

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-volkswagen/vw-explores-uk-banking-licence-ahead-of-brexit-idUKKBN1D22KR

The government have 'found' £60billion to put is a slush fund for brexit.

https://amp.ft.com/content/f3271ac7-7439-319f-ba90-9252f59aafee

And in the week that saw the interest rate rise, the Bank of England said gloomily "as migration tightens, we will see wage growth". Note the 'we will'.

Excellent. All this whilst the media obsess over impotent politicians as Britain works.

You can’t run a single question referendum campaign like a party political campaign, unless of course your name is David Cameron in which case you do and then your surprised when it doesn’t go your way.

OK I was being a bit facetious there. But I do think that if you are so dedicated to leaving the EU like Nigel Farage, John Redwood, Priti Patel etc; who have all spent years campaigning on the issue you should have some ideas on how to implement it.

Hollie, some very good points. Im really not sure how much further Lord Dyson thinks we can deregulate employment, zero hours contracts already exist for example, but where workers have lost rights in recent decades, theres been a double whammy of plenty of fish in the sea who will work under those conditions. This is clearly shifting as the pool of available labour shrinks. And to be honest, iMO, itll only be this labour restriction that will see better pay, and better conditions, in a labour market currently under protected. Its really not hard to sack someone today, though its unclear that that was what he was refering too.

His views on corporation tax, are just that, his views. But theres an element of 'legalising' prostitution to this. Cant knock him for stating the obvious. It would have been interesting, to say have had Richard Branson sat opposite him, explaining why his companies are currently based in tax haven territories. (The most revolting of which being his Virgin Care company, providing expensive 3rd party services to the NHS, that would have been provided if hed paid tax in the first place).

A huge number of UK business, are indeed abusing the EU tax haven situation, and if that continues, Id have to agree with Lord Dyson. Make it a legal level playing field. Either stop the EU supported haven abuse, or remove it completely.

Lots of highly profitable UK businesses outsource sections of their business overseas. It enables domestic investment in other areas. Theres certainly no problem with that, indeed its seen India launch itself economically. Its an area of business thats under reported, just as UK exporters are under reported. We have a huge quantity of exporters, who are exporting from one country to another, without goods coming anywhere near the UK. Lord Dyson looking at supply chain issues isnt a negative thing. Nor is profit a swear word.

Just on politics, the referendum wasnt an election. Policies werent being decided (not that they are in a GE anyway with the amount of U-turning all major parties do). There was an expectation that the 'grown ups' both here and in the EU, could actually do the jobs that theyre paid to do. Id agree with your disappointment.

But I will just add, that if the country had a stomach for a second referendum, Tim Farron would be PM today.

Part of my reason for this thread, was to highlight how the UK is indeed working, and it is indeed resolving Brexit issues at grass roots levels, even as I type. There are good men and women in politics, and its a shame this current farce, the ridiculous narcisitic power battle, is deflecting away from the good work that is being done. And that I find cheers me.

Hollie I would imagine Nigel Farage has plenty of ideas on how to implement it, however, I don’t think they wouldn’t even make it to first base😊!!

would even make it ......

I do think that if you are so dedicated to leaving the EU like Nigel Farage, John Redwood, Priti Patel etc; who have all spent years campaigning on the issue you should have some ideas on how to implement it.

I do agree with this Hollie.

And I also think that Cameron was woefully arrogant: not setting proper parameters for the Ref, forbidding any planing in the event that Leave should succeed, and then ditching his post as soon as things got tough for him.

Like her or loathe her, TM has taken far more knocks & setbacks than most PM’s and yet she hasn’t run away like Cameron did. Him & Osbourne showed themselves to be odious, cowardly, inadequate weasels.

Faith, we agree on something. That’s got to be positive.

In the spirit of a cheery thread shhh 😊

I think all of us on both sides of the debate think David Cameron has to take as great deal of the blame. Its probably one of the main things we can all agree on.

True dat Hollie

Chief brexiteer John Vulcan redwood advises his Charles Stanley investor clients to stay away from the uk. (FT) I guess he doesn't share the OP's cheery optimism.

The trouble is that 'making the most' of brexit, requires FTAs, and Jeremy Corbyn is not going to sign any FTAs with anybody ever.

And ironically, as Macron 'liberalises' the French employment market, making France more open and attractive as an investment partner, we will be heading in the opposite direction.

So with the current political turmoil, we are on a cliff edge in more ways than one.

At least we have the OP's regular upbeat links to keep us cheery. I searched for brexit good news and came upon this upbeat article from Daniel Hannah in the NYT. A bit old, but the sentiment is clear. www.google.co.uk/amp/s/mobile.nytimes.com/2017/07/31/opinion/brexit-european-union-good-news.amp.html

I have lunch with him this week, will be interesting to hear what he has to say.....

John Redwood, nor Daniel Hannah!

Ooo muesli, we'll be thinking of you! (I was about to say 'taking one for the team', but in light of current PC correct language, thats really the wrong phrase!)

On a day Barnier threatened our dogs holidays, Cheery Dave appears to have rattled a few cages today, though Im not sure why, as they were told a few weeks ago this was coming. So whilst MPs spend a couple of days working out why they think they should be mad, but arent sure, but of course theyre mad, this little snippet from the Lib Dem spokeman this evening, made me chuckle and for me, summarises the day.

"Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesperson Tom Brake said a parliamentary vote "simply isn't good enough".

Cheery news from the EU today. After months of declaring how the EU had ensured peace in europe for 70 years, agreement was today made amongst the majority of member states (UK and Ireland not included) to move forward with PESCO.

"The decision to launch PESCO indicates Europe's move towards self-sufficiency in defense matters instead of relying solely on NATO."

Excellent cheery news for NATO.

http://www.dw.com/en/pesco-eu-paves-way-to-defense-union/a-41360236

City am today, published a piece again explaining why theres no 'cliff edge' for financial services and debunking some of the claims made in protest at the repeal bill.

http://www.cityam.com/275570/great-repeal-bill-helping-remove-phantom-financial-services/amp

and also explains a tad why this is happening.....

https://www.ftadviser.com/platforms/2017/11/13/aj-bell-fastest-growing-uk-platform/

Facebook are allegedly looking at a new London HQ. Whilst this is clearly simply gossip at this stage, its worth a reminder of Googles £billion HQ thats going ahead. Its a very exciting development.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/facebook-reportedly-looking-at-an-office-over-the-road-from-googles-london-hq-2017-11

Meanwhile, The Telegraph told us something we didnt know ....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/11/13/growth-accelerates-almost-every-corner-uk/amp/

Lord Dyson has received a bit of backlash today for yesterdays interview, so in the spirit of cheeriness, Im urged to repost details of his University. (Plus the BBC simply refuse to even acknowledge it exists).

Lord Dyson put his money where his mouth was a few years ago, having been an open critic of tuition fees for a long time.

Not only do we have a 'tuition free' Uni now in the UK, but successful entrants receive a £15k a year 'salary' to attend. Heres 'Alex', one of this years intake. Congrats to all of this years intake.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/a-cambridge-reject-dyson-university-13489321

Applications now open for 2018 intake if anyone has any up and coming future engineers and innovators.

https://www.dysoninstitute.com

It does remind me of how poor we are at encouraging corporate 'sponsorship' in education. Visit almost any public childrens sport park in France, and around the edge of the footy pitch, or tennis court, will be local business sponsorship of those who paid for the facility. Its a fantastic idea and feeds right into the heart of community.

The Bruges Group published a cheerier and more uplifting view today also. Its why I watch DIY SOS. I like kind and caring. Its cheery. And good.

http://www.brugesgroup.com/blog/a-historian-s-vision-post-brexit-britain-will-be-kind-and-caring

Oh and this mildly bemused me today...back to Italy. It appears from data published today, the most intelligent Italians, voted for the right wing 5 star movement. (M5S) Really? Im not sure whose citizens are getting the worst 'identity' politics assault, us or them. Update: There will be a sizeable shift in national mood this evening, Italy have failed to qualify for the World Cup! First time since 1958 I believe. Uh oh......

Thanks Carolines I will be giving those a good read in a mo. Always good to end the day on a positive.

My dog has been a bit off with me this evening, couldn’t think why until I realised I had left the radio on when I popped out and he must have caught the lunchtime news, no overseas adventures for him. Still if I tickle his belly I’m sure all will be forgiven😊

Barnier (aka Desperate Dan), well you must be if you gonna pull that one out and expect it to make one iota of difference. We are a nation of dog (and cat) lovers but that’s stretching it a bit.

Hope hes feeling better soon time4!

Know your sources. I am not posting at the moment because I am so busy providing consultancy for all the strategy work being done by service companies preparing their plans for what is increasingly seen as a likely cliff edge that will hit the business environment for services, and all mean job losses in London. I don't normally bother with the Brexit beanos anyway, not good for mental health but the quoting of good old Barnabas Reynolds stuck out as particularly deluded. He is a Lawyer who has long argued in favour of Brexit so that we can put aside EU regulations and let the City set its own regulations. No risks there, they did such a good job back in 2007. He is a Lawyer though and his arguments rest on possible legal ways through for existing contracts (but not new) if customers and the EU play ball. He knows nothing of actual markets and likely customer needs / motivations for which many City businesses consider financial passporting to be an important USP. However to be clear his argument is basically that the city was one third destroyed in the Blitz and recovered, it can do so again. One third of City activities is a lot of jobs, and a big loss of tax revenue. Of course probably not his and he is one of the minority in the city who stand to benefit........

Thanks for the links Carolines. On the Dyson Uni just wanted to blow the Scottish trumpet. All Scottish children have access to tuition free Uni in the UK. However Dyson is not the only member of the business community pioneering educational partnerships.

Jim McColl has a similar project running in Glasgow aimed at re-engaging teenagers. This is an interesting article on leveraging private investment with public sector.

www.heraldscotland.com/news/14429004.Scots_businessman_Jim_McColl_warns_groundbreaking_college_for_teens_needs_state_support/

Great thread Caroline, the problem is we don't hear much Brexit positivity because the Beeb is biased and few Brexiters get heard on the TV.

Cheer up whatwouldrondo.

www.londonlovesbusiness.com/business-news/london-news/in-case-you-missed-it-uk-service-sector-sees-best-results-for-six-months/18622.article

www.ft.com/content/1b99624a-c545-11e7-b2bb-322b2cb39656

But glad youre busy. A lot of people are, and thats really cheery news when considering the alternative.

Howabout, well done Mr McColl. You know, I do wonder if theres a debate to be had that corporate tax could be diverted directly to local education at corporate level? The issue is, the Mr McColls and the Lord Dysons are so few. I fear the Branson school of economics (he wrote about his delight at scamming the tax man to save his Virgin records company back in the 70's) is widespread.

Just a side piece from yesterday, and before we get bogged down later with todays cheery news, Boris has come under fire re his position on NATO/Pesco. Ive come round to agree with him.

All members of NATO agreed 10 years ago to allocate a minimum of 2% of GDP to NATO spending. Only 5 nations have done that. US, UK, Estonia, Poland and heres a big cheer, Greece. Germany on the other hand, for example, allocated 1.19%. In real money, thats 28 billion dollars this year, short of their commitment. 28 billion.

I start to undestand why German manufacturing has indeed done so well. Thats quite some boost to the domestic coffers.

Theres clearly lots of concerns surrounding the EUs breakaway 'army', but Im feeling pragmatic. And cheery. Theyre clearly modelling their defence force on the EU Commision model. Lots of new Generals will be created. Lots of very very important titles and smartly pressed uniforms. All of which will utterly fail to make any sort of effective decision, (if you thought ego's in politics were bad, wait till you witness military too brass!) though Id imagine this winters military exercises in Alpe D'Huez will be a knee raising, rip roaring success. Its their money. (Well its not actually, its the EU citizens money, but Im being churlish).

But in short, NATO have been left high and dry by these, less than honourable, eu states. Committing to world wide peace keeping operations on promises of joint funding, has left the bulk of the costs with those of us overpaying for their shortfall.

We do of course await more of Barniers threats that he'll refuse to share intelligence with the UK if we dont concede in negotiations or some such like, but I'm struggling with that european contradiction in terms. Show us how intelligent you are Mr Barnier, youre trading hens teeth, and under funded hens teeth at that.

uk.businessinsider.com/nato-share-breakdown-country-2017-2

And whilst its going to be a busy day methinks, this starts the day with a cheer!

www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-13/sydney-ferry-will-actually-be-called-ferry-mcferryface/9146446

Definitely a debate to be had Caroline. My interest mainly stems from involvement in the music community. Sistema Scotland (Big Noise) acts as a charitable trust delivery community development through music education.

One of the issues initally, however, was that they tended to draw funding away from local authority embedded education. Over time they have been building out towards local authorities and working more in partnership and this is starting to be mutually beneficial.

www.makeabignoise.org.uk/funding/funders/

On banking this amused me yesterday.

"Mr Cryan told the FT: “I don’t understand why the Europeans want clearing. There’s confusion about what it is. The idea of 74,000 jobs being at risk is ridiculous, it’s more like 74.”"

www.express.co.uk/news/uk/879037/Deutsche-Bank-CEO-John-Cryan-European-Union-Brexit-London-financial-clearing-houses

Not sure what is motivating him to rattle cages?

I missed that John Cryan piece howabout. Nice. And how great is your 'Bignoise' project. Music is simply marvelous! Ive been a pan and wooden spoon basher with my little ones for years. Make a noise, any noise, music follows.

Had a tad of a busy day, so not been watching as closely as usual. But cheery news that MPs have voted 318 to 68 in favour of repealing the 1972 Communities Act which took the UK into the Common Market. And a nice shot of Frank Fields shooting down the Labour MPs attempting to intervene.

The Guardian are (quelle surprise) running a brexit letters page special tomorrow. As one elegant tweeter has observed, 'a kind of points of view, but without any point'. Goes without saying, Ill be avoiding that one.

Jacob Rees Mogg has got behind Economists for Free Trade today. Just the fact the 'alternative' view is getting an airing is excellent. Heres their latest paper, and no, theyre not a pair of back bedroom bloggers.

https://www.economistsforfreetrade.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Economists-for-Free-Trade-NME-Paper.pdf

The Croydon redevelopment was unveiled today. 7000 jobs 1000 homes. Excellent. Homes, homes, homes. We need homes. Bovis published a 'bullish' update today, they forsee strong growth in new builds which is excellent and cheery.

http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/187214/housebuilders-boosted-by-bullish-update-from-bovis-homes-187214.html

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/minister-for-london-welcomes-14-billion-croydon-redevelopment

And C4 have announced the line up for the next series of 'Undateables'.

What fun!

So how many russianbots on the thread?