Westministenders: Reality Bytes

[RedToothBrush]

Tonight the Corbyn and McDonnell Labour Party supported the Tory Party in improving the tax allowance for higher rate tax payers.

Yes you read that right. Did you even blink?

You've been so conditioned into seeing non existant opposition which seems to go against everything the Labour Party stand for that you no longer are shocked.

That's what 2 and a half years of Brexit has done to you.

You no longer care that Boris Johnson got £14,000 from the Saudis a couple of days before the Khashoggi murder. You know longer care that the former Defence Secretary is employed for £75,000 a year to advise a major Saudi Investor.

You are just happy that Trump hasn't started a war with Iran or North Korea yet. And hasn't started a civil war. (Though he's trying hard and next week is his best opportunity to stir it all up). You aren't surprised to hear that predictions are that the Democrats will fail to make gains in the mid terms.

You've suffered the 4657 story about how Therea May is just about to be challenged for the leadership.

You've heard about the squad set up at the Home Office to clear up all the cases the media get their hands on as the latest burning injustice. You are hearing that EU nationals who have been promised they are 'safe' are being subjected to questions about their right to stay. And you just shrug and say, "Yeah well thats the Home Office for you. The Bastards". And you do mean it, but you are so jaded by it all. And you worry that another 12 months from now, you won't even be interested in another story like that, and the press will stop printing them as they no longer interest the reader. What happens to your friends, your family, or even you then? Who is going to care then?

And then you have today.

A day where you hear that Bannon is being investigated by the Senate Intel Committee, Farage has been upgraded to the FBI's Really Naughty List and Banks has (FINALLY) been refered to the NCA. (We were only speculating on the possibility, on the 26th March...)

And you go 'Ooooooooo maybe there is hope'.

Maybe we COULD remain in the EU and avoid Turnip Soup and wiping your arse with leaves because of the national bog roll shortage. Or at least get a decent deal which suits us as a nation. Maybe, just maybe!

And that lasts for about 2 minutes before you log into twitter and the very first thing you see this:

Tom Newton Dunn @tnewtondunn
Excl: David Cameron tells friends he’d like a return to frontline politics, and fancies Foreign Secretary
www.thesun.co.uk/news/7639377/david-cameron-return-to-politics/

And you let out a high pitched screech as if you are were a dying cat as you remember this is 2018, and it just wants to beat the life out of you.

On the plus side, it shows you do still care enough to think 'Don't let that fucking bastard anywhere near power ever, ever again.'.

Ho hum.

Keep on, keeping on. Don't let the bastards win.
Keep caring. It matters.

So, Trumpy Sanctions (which does sound like it comes from the adult entertainment industry)

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46071747

(snip)

this little gem popped out:

The sanctions penalise other countries which do business with Iran.

(contd)

Now I'm a bit rusty on my "how US sanctions work" theory. However I have a vague memory that generally it means that US companies are prohibited from doing business with countries that do not respect the sanctions. And that when this move was suggested a few months ago, the EU agreed it would work to ensure EU companies did not suffer.

What will the UK government be doing to protect UK companies that might suddenly find themselves a few orders short ? Or unable to purchase components from US companies ?

Or are these sanctions - like Trumps purported scrapping of the 14th amendment - just noise without substance ?

In practice, any Brit in salaried employement on 29 March in the E27 is safe - if they are useful to their employer -
because their employer will just apply for a work visa, as for any new employee they want to hire from India etc

This visa is certainly granted very easily in practice to German employers

• shortage of workers here

Shortage of some qualified staff in many EEA countries

Those at risk of having to leave:

• Pensioners
• especially those on small Sterling pensions and / or the UK govt doesn't continue in the EEA scheme that refunds healthcare costs to the host country
• Anyone living on host country benefits, not salary, e.g. disabled, unemployed
• A worker the employer wants to get rid of - could even be a woman about to go on maternity leave
• Working for a tiny firm / individual employer who cba to fill in comparatively minor paperwork (trivial according to our HR)
• Some self-employed people / owning small businesses
• especially those relying on British qualifications no longer accepted, e.g. PT, massage, hairdresser, nails, as well as some professionals - lawyers, tutors, doctors, accountants etc

• and of course the very low-paid - under whatever income limit is set in the host country - in unskilled / semiskilled work that others could easily do

.

The British and Irish are fighting again

Expected, but sad and worrying.
Math, Somerville & other Irish commentators might want to give their povs here

https://www.politico.eu/article/how-brexit-burned-uk-irish-friendship-theresa-may-leo-varadkar/

Fractious negotiations over the Irish border have reopened old wounds just as both sides most need a Brexit solution.
...
Brexit has poisoned U.K.-Ireland relations.
Tensions long-buried by close economic relations and peace in Northern Ireland have risen to the surface once again, infecting Britain’s divorce negotiations with the European Union just as they reach their final stages.

Diplomatic neglect and personality clashes have played their part, with the two sides at times descending into undignified sniping, barely-concealed irritation and open hostility,
reaching all the way up to Irish Taoiseach (prime minister) Leo Varadkar and the Cabinet table in Westminster.

The breakdown not only threatens to damage the longer-term diplomatic relationship between London and Dublin,
but also risks seeping into the peace process north of the border with far more profound consequences for Britain, Ireland and the rest of Europe
as it continues to snare up the U.K.’s withdrawal from the EU.

“Britain has never understood Ireland, but we can’t just wish this away,”
said Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s former chief of staff and a key figure in the 1998 peace agreement.

“If this goes on, we could face really quite a serious problem.
If we don’t start paying attention, we could get into trouble.”
...

For the Irish, the 2016 EU referendum has left a wound that continues to irritate.

“The great, steaming pile of poo in the room is Brexit,” one exasperated senior U.K. government official complained. “There’s no getting away from that.”

“Dublin has always believed Brits have never really understood Ireland or cared about it,”
said a second senior U.K. adviser, who has advised Cabinet ministers on Northern Ireland and who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“Brexit just proves to them what they have long suspected.”

Subsequent hostility to Ireland in the British press - the Sun’s front page attack on “air head” Taoiseach Varadkar, in particular - or injudicious remarks by leading Brexiteers,
are jumped on in Dublin as
further evidence that old patronizing, “colonial” English attitudes have returned.
...
“Nobody in the senior civil service has had anything to do with Northern Ireland for 20 years,” said one senior backbench MP, speaking anonymously.
...
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Karen Bradley @XXXX@ !
...
But strip away everything and the bottom line is Brexit.

“Nothing has worked since that December deal [on the Irish border] because of the fundamentally contradictory nature of the piece of paper we produced,” one U.K. official said.
A second senior Tory MP agreed: “It doesn’t matter who gets on with whom. Nothing works until we get a deal.”

An editor of one Irish newspaper put it even more bluntly.
“I don’t give a fuck about Brexit, good luck to you.
But just don’t fuck us over.
If that border goes up, I’m telling you there will be hell.”

DGR

Oh dear. Ms Broadley was obviously looking out of the window during her geography lessons. Probably dreaming of a holiday in the "gorgeous" definitely not Spanish in any way Canaries.

Checking into new thread

Hasenstein The Canary Islands are a very odd EU hybrid,
which imo shows the possibilities for Britain & NI re Brexit:

The Canary Islands belong to Spain - they are a region with a devolved government

They also belong to the "political" part of the EU and to Schengen
BUT they are not part of the Customs Union or Single Market

Hence, there are customs checks between them and mainland Spain, even though they are part of Spain

Spain is in SM and CU; Canary Isles are not
==> NI could be in SM and CU, while the UK is not.

@woman11017 and anyone writing to the BBC re Banks on Marr quite agree very dubious to say the least but there cannot be any issue of contempt at the moment ( prejudicing any future trial) as proceedings are not 'active' - he hasn't been charged with any criminal offence.

Investigations are underway and I suspect will be lengthy. If proceedings become active, there needs to be a substantial risk of serious prejudice for anyone to be held to be in contempt of court.

This is a crucial point. The converse of it being that temporary reporting restrictions on criminal cases can only be imposed if these strict criteria are met. Justice must be seen to be done and the press allowed to report freely. The bar is set high, quite rightly.

Bedrock of democracy and all that.

Yup, I thought we only had to be wary of contempt of court after someone had been charged,
or - in the case of the press - knew that a charge was imminent

Strange my dc's Spanish teacher seemed to be under the impression that she and her DH could work and study in the UK on the basis of their EU passport despite being Canary Islanders. Sadly following Brexit once DH had his PhD they left rather settled like they had planned to., not that we need expert engineers of course. We also visited them using only our EU credentials. Honestly how little attention do some people pay to the world around them.

Correct B C F .
May I bring my skills to the virtual village ?
I can cook too , also ( massive cop out alert) I can be a volunteer dog walker and cat cuddler if people bring their companion animals - whilst you hard core hunters, pheasant pluckers and cow wranglers do the life preserving stuff.

So, I've booked flights to the EU next summer, August so hoping any disruption might be sorted by then. Would you have? August will be ok won't it? I went to Ireland earlier this year, went round apologising to people and feeling embarrassed to be English. I bet leave voters never feel like that in the EU , bet they stomp round as if they own the place. Went to New York earlier in the year as well. Had a conversation with an American woman on a bus, both of us embarrassed by our country.

Just to add don't want to dissuade anyone from writing to the beeb - absolutely but don't get trapped into going down the wrong line with your arguments

Sam Coates Times @samcoatestimes
DUP now saying they are happy on Brexit

Earlier this week DUP also saying they were happy with the budget...

Thanks mighty - was careful not to go down the legally prejudicial/contempt of court route but it's a good reminder.

Sadly, couldn't technically call him a traitor either

I don't believe the BBC - it's like a comedy farce. There's all the Aaron Banks stuff going on.. and the lead item on the R4 News At 8 pm was ta dah Labour and anti semitism.

Literally every time there's a story that implicates some Tory involvement anti semitism crops up again. It's like ground hog day.

Thanks too mighty Prejudicial reporting can collapse trials.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13905765

The sanctions penalise other countries which do business with Iran.

This means that the US could penalise UK companies doing business with Iran. Trump has stated that the US will not do business with companies working with Iran.

A friend recently visited Iran (holiday) which now means he will need a full visa to enter the US. Initial embassy visit has not been promising.

I have never lived long term in a country without a free press, until now. It is interesting how suffocating it feels. Fascinating, in fact.

Of course not lonelyplanetmum, why would you ever believe the Brexit Broadcasting Corporation???? They are culpable in creating this imminent disaster.

BUT they are not part of the Customs Union or Single Market

The Canary Islands are in the CU but are not part of the fiscal or excise territory of the EU - so they have different VAT and excise regimes.

Thanks for the heasds-up on the Canaries, BCF. As you say, it's a very anomalous situation. Mind you, checks between the Canaries and Spain probably don't constitute much of a problem. There's a huge lop-sided difference between Spain (CU/SM) and the Canaries (neither) and the UK (neither) and NI (CU/SM).

At least according to this website Canaries are in the CU:

logistics.public.lu/en/why-luxembourg/high-connectivity/customs-fiscal-territories.html#

Wiki says it opts out though.

Ta also Buteo. It's obviously a complicated little scenario. Whereas the UK/NI is a complicated big one.