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.

Planning approval has been granted for the new dock complex at Cork and work will start this year.
Co-financed by the EU which is supporting the RoI in building infrastructure to cope with Brexit

(the UK govt doesn't do such planning - that would be indulging Remoaner pessimism )

*RoI Parliament - EU Finances Post-2020: European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources
*
6 March 2018 Talking to EU Commissioner

http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/Debates%20Authoring/DebatesWebPack.nsf/committeetakes/FPJ2018030600002?opendocument

Deputy Joan Burton:

I have… more questions on a hard Brexit

Does the Commissioner have a sense of the areas where the European Union might assist Ireland?

I am aware that the Union does not want a hard Brexit in Northern Ireland
but I am sure he will appreciate that the matter is a very pressing political issue for us.

It also means that if there was a hard border we would have to develop our ports in Dublin, Cork and Rosslare.

Has the European Union considered plans to counter that eventuality?

Günther Oettinger, European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources:

'What can we do if there is a hard Brexit?
The Commission and Mr. Barnier are really near to the Irish Government and Chambers Ireland and are looking at the risks facing the EU 27 and Ireland, in particular.

Ireland's ports were mentioned.

If we need more capacity to transport products from Ireland to the EU 27 and from Amsterdam, Rotterdam or Antwerp to one of Ireland's ports,
we can invest in respect of connecting to Europe.

We have more flexibility via our reform of the financial regulation.
We can take money from this programme to co-finance a project that is important for Ireland if there is a super-hard Brexit.

My dad and his circle of friends (80+ years old) are all strongly Remain #justsaying

Even dh's Daily Mail reading 84 year old mum was a Remain voter although she's perhaps not as exercised by the fallout as we are

Maybe it's because we're in Scotland and have a different perspective

Isn't the case that the people who are the generation above the over 65s (i.e the people who actually remember the war) tend to be remain?

Pils and my mother (all in their 70s) voted remain

Improved port in Cork? That means even more halal beef can be exported to the Middle East.

halalfocus.net/ireland-creed-secures-enhanced-access-for-irish-beef-to-saudi-arabia/

Amazingly, even though Ireland is a member of the EU, Ireland exports beef to about 70 countries worldwide. And Green Isle Foods exports frozen foods to about 30 countries.
Someone should tell Liam Fox.

This reports centers around the recent efforts of Irish govt minister to increase trade with Saudi Arabia in light or Irish exposure to the UK market with Brexit looming. More planning in other words.

“This [agreement] is testament to the high regard in which Irish beef is held here and marks the culmination of intensive work by my Department, our Embassy here in Riyadh and the industry over recent months.

“Last year Ireland exported some €2.4 billion worth of beef to around 70 countries.

“I am very cognisant of the need both to expand the number of beef markets but also to enhance existing market access given our current exposure to the UK beef market.

“Minced, processed and cooked beef are all potentially valuable products and we want to develop export opportunities for them, in addition to intact cuts of beef.

The Minister also discussed a number of technical certification issues of interest to the dairy and other sectors, and both sides agreed that the process for Irish sheepmeat access should commence, and arrangements are being made to follow up on the necessary technical steps.

Minister Creed and his delegation, including representatives from his Department, Bord Bia, Enterprise Ireland and the SFSI, also met his counterpart HE Eng. Abdulrahman A. Alfadley to discuss a number of potential areas for mutual cooperation in the agri-food sector.

Minister Alfadley was formerly CEO of Almarai a major Saudi dairy company with close historical ties to Ireland.

The Minister also met with CEO of the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Company (SALIC), a state owned agri-investment company with a mission to secure long term food supplies for Saudi Arabia through investment and supply contracts.

Minister Creed invited the CEO of SALIC to Ireland for further discussions.

This was followed by the launching of Green Isle Foods Goodfellas pizza range at Danube, one of the largest Saudi retail outlets.

Green Isle Foods is Irelands’ largest frozen food manufacturing company and exports its products to over 30 countries worldwide.

Speaking at the launch, Minister Creed said; “I am delighted to have launched a branded Irish product on Saudi retail shelves.”

“Green Isle Foods is a perfect example of an Irish prepared consumer foods company doing business all over the globe”.

Later that evening the Minister also delivered a speech to attended guests at a reception in Embassy of Ireland Riyadh, hosted by Ambassador Tony Cotter, where he outlined Irelands Origin Green programme and our unique offering of safe, sustainably produced quality food.

“Last year Saudi Arabia was the third largest non-EU destination for Irish agri-food exports, only behind China and the USA,” the Minister said.

Total Agri food exports to Saudi Arabia increased from €92m in 2013 to €136m in 2016, representing an increase of almost 50% over the course of only three years.

A third of over 65s voted to remain. You could also argue that higher education was the significant factor not age. I personally think it was that older people were more likely to have been influenced by the lengthy campaigns of the Mail, the Telegraph and latterly the BBC.
I also think the whole “let’s hate the Baby Boomers for buying houses and paying into pension schemes” is a campaign by the right to shift the blame from the impact of their destructive policies on housing, privatisation of state utilities, promoting the gig economy and buying votes with tax reductions.
Sadly people seem to have fallen for it hook, line and sinker and are putting the blame in the wrong place. 😨

My parents (80) very strong remain. DF played a large part in getting level 2 EU funding to our part of Wales so was very vocal about the benefits of the EU. He was warning his friends last week of the impact of the Irish border on Wales - 70% of Irish goods are transported through Wales, they will most likely go by sea - ‘but no one told us that’ they said.

DM was in tears on the day of the referendum.

I also think the whole “let’s hate the Baby Boomers for buying houses and paying into pension schemes” is a campaign by the right
I don't hate baby boomers.
I get frustrated by them (my parents and in laws) trying to tell me that I too could retire early and live in a multimillion house if I just did what they did and paid into a pension, planned for retirement and didn't go on holiday.
The world has moved on. Paying into my pension is an act of faith, not planning.
And the cost of holidays/cups of coffee barely makes a dent in the deposit required for the kind of house they live in.

It is intensely frustrating. I don't hate them, but I wish there was some recognition that they are reaping the benefits of post war growth combined with a low level of social/elderly care requirement.

I understand that that kind of comment is incredibly annoying Quentin, but would it have been better if they had refused to buy a house and pay into a pension fund?
I totally agree that some people (especially in London and the south-east) have benefited unfairly from the housing market, but I don’t think it can be applied to a whole age demographic. The babyboomer miners, steelworkers and shipbuilders hardly inherited the earth.
You can blame people for voting Tory, but not for being born at a certain time.

Quentin isn't blaming them for being born when they were, but for their lack of insight into how much harder it is for younger people to build up asset and get on the housing ladder. And that's a perfectly reasonable criticism.

Yes I agree that it is. I was talking generally and not about Quentin in the last sentence, so sorry if that was unclear.
If I said something as ill-informed and daft my children would challenge me very robustly, and quite rightly.

^I also think the whole “let’s hate the Baby Boomers for buying houses and paying into pension schemes” is a campaign by the right to shift the blame from the impact of their destructive policies on housing, privatisation of state utilities, promoting the gig economy and buying votes with tax reductions.
Sadly people seem to have fallen for it hook, line and sinker and are putting the blame in the wrong place.^

I agree that it is not helpful to set old people against young - I'm a tail-end baby boomer with lots of baby boomer friends and I literally do not have a single Tory voting friend (outside of work and even at work the people I get on with best are a bit lefty).

However, it's hardly controversial to say that older people are both far more likely to vote Tory and to have voted for Brexit than younger people. (They are also of course far more likely to turn out and vote). The Tories did and continue to buy votes from older people, and they bottled their attempt at social care reform when they realised that it would stop older people voting for them.

Those are the facts. Your generation and mine have robbed the young, and the young let us get away with it by not bothering to vote.

Just to be extra clear my “let’s hate the baby boomers”, sentence at 05.26 was referring to what I see as a cynical political campaign to deflect responsibility, not how any individual feels about their parents.

My DM reading 93 year old MIL was a Remain voter, despite treating the DM as gospel.

I think the issue is this feeling the baby boom generation have what they have just because they worked hard for it.
Partly true but also the economic conditions enabled their success in a way that is no longer possible. I wish this was recognised.

When people who, as a class, have done well for themselves and are affluent vote for a policy that will impact later generations and make them worse off it's not surprising it causes resentment.

NABBALT of course.

I think the issue is this feeling the baby boom generation have what they have just because they worked hard for it.
Partly true but also the economic conditions enabled their success in a way that is no longer possible. I wish this was recognised.

I don't resent those baby boomers who managed it for making hay while the sun shined at all. Most people would do this given the chance I'm sure. But I do resent those who show a lack of acknowledgement that things have moved on and changed, that while the challenges faced by their generation were different to the generations before they are also different to the generations below.

I don't think that is true. It suggests that there was deliberate intent. Of course that is not what has happened.

No of course not. But they presumably voted with their eyes open. The problem is that many people conflate their own interests with the country's interests. It was very easy for many of my generation (and older) to sign up for a privatisation programme that benefited them and an austerity that largely didn't touch them.

And it's my parents' generation (of politicians) hat sold off the country's assets and now my generation who are busy doubling down on the poor and the disabled.

I do think there is a real generational divide. In fact the Brexit divide is very largely a generational issue.

The old don't get all of the blame though. If young people voted, politicians wouldn't ignore them.

I don't resent those baby boomers who managed it for making hay while the sun shined at all. Most people would do this given the chance I'm sure. But I do resent those who show a lack of acknowledgement that things have moved on and changed, that while the challenges faced by their generation were different to the generations before they are also different to the generations below.

It's a perfectly reasonable position. I'm at the tail end of the most fortunate generation in British history. We had free university education (I got a full grant), we entered the jobs market at a time when there was both more protection and more flexibility (to change careers/ enter careers without the right qualifications), and even on an average wage it was still possible to get on the property ladder.

I think young people now face far more challenges and the thirty-somethings have been royally stuffed.

My mother, in her mid 80s, voted Remain; mainly because she remembers the war and its aftermath, and strongly believes in peace and unity.
She also for the first time ever didn't vote Tory last year. I think some aware older folks are beginning to have their eyes opened to what's going on. There are also others who are happy with their lot, and don't want to change of course.
I don't feel responsible for what's happened to the younger generation. I do hate it but what can I do, aside from helping my DC wherever I can?

DS gets very annoyed at how we the baby boom generation have 'shafted' his, as though we were personally responsible. It's no good reminding him of the 15% interest rates on mortgages, or that fact that we didn't have holidays when they were young.

Talking of grants for University, do remember that most people didn't go to University - even after the expansion of the early sixties it was still something like 10%. I did go (despite my headmistress, not because), DH didn't. Girls were often fobbed off with teacher training and it's been forgotten now, that those who only had a certificate of education as opposed to a degree in education were paid on a scale which reserved the top two points for graduates.

Given the recent furore over how women are still paid less than men, despite 40 odd years of equal pay legislation, I would say that the baby boom generation was good for men. It has been much less good for women.

Yes, it's true that % going to uni was lower, but even without a degree you could still have a career rather than a job. My FIL worked his way up to IT manager in manufacturing having left school without qualifications. My father made a career as a management consultant to the banking industry having left school at 16.

I think there is an argument to be made that social mobility is decreasing rather than increasing and that Brexit was a vote by old people who benefited from social mobility and by young people who have suffered from the lack of it.

My parents are classic baby boomers - generous public sector pensions, bought a house in London in the early 1970s etc. They are both long standing Labour party members (although not enamoured with Corbyn) and voted Remain.

I also think there is still far too much emphasis on the south of England socially mobile, house-buying, occupational pension paying part of our generation. As I said earlier, what about the miners, the steelworkers, the shipbuilders and their families? Their lives were made a thousand times harder by Thatcher and her policies. Don’t they count as baby boomers?
I also think that to talk of a generation having their lives ruined when they are still in their twenties is a tad premature.

Helmsman

Yes, sir

Set the pork barrel to maximum

Aye, aye sir

Fire on my command

Aye, aye sir. Targets locked. Barrels fully loaded. System armed.

Deploy

Aye, aye sir. Displaying tracking data on screen.

www.theregister.co.uk/2018/04/09/accenture_capgemini_and_deloitte_to_create_app_to_register_3m_eu_nationals/

The Home Office has inked a deal with a coterie of consultancies and system integrators to create a digital app intended to register the three million EU citizens in the UK post-Brexit.

The department confirmed to The Register that Accenture, BJSS, Capgemini, Deloitte Digital, PA Consulting and Worldreach had been signed up to develop the digital application that EU citizens will use to apply for settled status. It will launch later this year.

It is intended to condense the 85-page permanent residency application into a 10 to 20-minute process involving an applicant scanning in their passport and national insurance number to an online or phone app.

(contd)

Contact confirmed sir. We are now scraping the bottom of the barrel.

.... I bet those contracts will have a sneaky hidden "if Brexit doesn't happen" clause so that their profits are safe. Which leads to an interesting question of what if the Daily Mail were to learn of that clause. Or (what's left of) UKIP ? It would be an interesting psychological bomb to throw in the the Brexit Arms. Even our own government are suggested Brexit might not happen.