Westminstenders: Welcome to 2019

[RedToothBrush]

Welcome to 2019.

Bit of a different thread starter; instead of me speculating what are your predictions for the coming year politically? Will be interesting to see how people are viewing things right now.

How is Brexit going to play out?

Who is going to be framed as the scapegoat for whatever scenario you think likely?

What are going to be the biggest political issues that the media / politicians push (as opposed to what the real issues are)?

What is going to be the most shocking thing that will happen either here or abroad?

What will happen with Trump?

Who will be the next Tory leader and when?

Whats on the cards for the various political parties in general?

[Ta1kinPeace]

Got to import the beans to bake them ;-)

[Mistigri]

Flying French beans to go to M&S and Waitrose may not be the most efficient way of ensuring customers can have everything at all times of the year.

The irony is that in France you can only get French beans in season (unless you shop at a big hypermarket and pay top dollar).

[RedToothBrush]

I've given tomato plants to friends with 15 x 15 gardens ....

Yeah that's bigger than ours...

[1tisILeClerc]

{And baked beans. DS eats baked beans.}
Heinz Baked beans are (or were) 'made' near Wigan, you can see the factory from the M6. They would still need the beans and the damn tomatoes though.
The west, UK currently included does not have a food shortage problem.
It does have major issues with equitable distribution and many others but generally there is about enough if it were to be shared out without waste.
What globalisation has done is messed up the production and distribution of food very badly, making it's production and delivery inefficient. This is a worldwide problem of course. Buying French Beans from Africa makes a small amount of sense if that is where they grow at the most efficient, but then foodstuffs that grow more efficiently elsewhere OUGHT to use bulk transportation to feed Africans. Flying French beans to go to M&S and Waitrose may not be the most efficient way of ensuring customers can have everything at all times of the year.

[Ta1kinPeace]

I was also thinking of the fun colours in terms of getting RTBs little one to eat them

[Mistigri]

You can grow tomatoes pretty much anywhere, but if you have several plants you'll have to turn some of them into sauce for freezing so you need freezer space. Plus depending on your location you might not get any ripe tomatoes until August. Tbh it wouldn't be a priority for me - buy some tins instead and shove them in your wardrobe.

[Ta1kinPeace]

RTB
I've given tomato plants to friends with 15 x 15 gardens ....
three grow bags or a couple of tubs by the back door ....
one plant of yellow, one plant of stripy, two plants of cherry, one plant of black, three plants of red salad
so it looks pretty all season
tightly pruned from that you will get around three carrier bags of tomatoes (yes really)

[RedToothBrush]

I have a garden the size of a postage stamp and a freezer that is not fit for Brexit.

[Ta1kinPeace]

TBH tomatoes are one of the crops that anybody with a garden can grow in bulk.
Then you either freeze them whole to pop into soups and sauces, or prep them into sauce and freeze that
We just have to last through till July

[RedToothBrush]

DH: if tomatoes get that expensive we are moving or I'm getting a dighy...
Me: Ah so that's what Javids game is with war ships in the Channel. Its not people smuggling he's worried about, its tomato smuggling

[Ta1kinPeace]

The good old days of the lorry drivers popping into our offices to drop of the stuff that was in excess of their customs allowance
and then we would go out the staff gate with it
and hand them their share on the road outside the docks ....

Booze / Olive oil / cigarettes
and I tried not to think about the illegal stuff

smuggling was rife then
it will become rife again

[RedToothBrush]

Duty free tomatoes. Forget cigarettes.

[BigChocFrenzy]

I can remember the years of travelling on the continent before the SM and sometimes being called over by Customs to unpack my cases.

[BigChocFrenzy]

Um, red He might be asked if he has anything to declare

Depends if the govt is mad enough to declare import limits and individual allowances,
say if exports crash and the trade deficit spikes.

If they've any sense, they'd be glad of all food coming in from safe sources,
but if they had any sense, we wouldn't be in this clusterfuck.

[RedToothBrush]

And baked beans. DS eats baked beans.

[Ta1kinPeace]

TBH my prepper list includes a LOT of tinned tomatoes

[RedToothBrush]

It is also entirely possible that DH will be going to the EU once a fortnight after Brexit given how things are currently going.

I'll have to send him with a full shopping list won't I?

[RedToothBrush]

TBH Tinned tomatoes come in by ship and came in before the dear old EU. They will still come in.

These will be customs declared tomatoes with the relevant duty applied and added to the cost.

DH's smuggled tomatoes won't.

#BrexitOpportunities

[BigChocFrenzy]

Tinned food can come in by sea from further afield
BUT
those ports may be logjammed too, if some Dover traffic has been diverted

I presume red's prepping includes 3 months of tinned toms !

[BigChocFrenzy]

When people object to Remain because of the backlash from Leave voters, they obviously don't realise what No Deal would involve and the horrendous backlash to that

People being angry becuse politicians broke their umpteenth promise is manageable.

People being angry at shortages of their "normal" food and meds, at massive price rises,
a 1 million spike in unemployment and all those angry jobless are why the govt is rushing to organise 50,000 troops and police

^Imagine the furious reactions of any parent whose child dies because their essential meds aren't available in time
^
wrt seasonal veg:

we don't produce enough of it any more and many of the farms that used to produce it have changed to other more profitable crops.

Nowadays, we are very picky about which cuts of meat & which types of fish we eat, which is why so much meat & fish is exported to the continent.

We can't turn back that quickly to the past - if ever, because most people expect more than subsistence living

We've seen bloody riots in poor countries where the favourite foods became very expensive
- part of my Arab family were living in Egypt and fled because of food riots which spread to very bloody revolutionary riots in which anyone was a target.^

We used to have transistor radios and no electronic gadgets or internet. Impossible to go back there.
We couldn't go back to the past wrt food within a few months either ... if ever.
^
We used to be hunter gatherers as well, before the agricultural revolution.^
Not much of the current population would survive returning to tha^t

[Ta1kinPeace]

TBH Tinned tomatoes come in by ship and came in before the dear old EU
They will still come in.

and yes, home made chicken nuggets are lush (DS at uni buys reduced chicken and eats it with a ton of ketchup)

[1tisILeClerc]

{So you will be smuggling suit cases full of tinned tomatoes back from business trips for the black market then?}
'Packets' are lighter than tins (more tomatoes for the weight).
'So Mr RTB, could you explain why you are carrying a 19.995Kg hand luggage containing only tomatoes and one pair of socks'

[Buteo]

Don’t knock chicken nuggets - good quality ones made with chicken breast and oven baked aren’t that bad! I’ve never known anyone have the mythical falafel and hummus eating toddlers, they’ve all been picky at times (my other DC survived on eggy soldiers for quite a while - he’s huge too).

[RedToothBrush]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eu_referendum_2016_/3470196-Westministenders-Teetering-on-the-edge?watched=1
New Thread

[RedToothBrush]

Just had a conversation with DH about the tomato issue:

Me: Tomatoes are one of the things I'm most worried about
DH: Thats ok, I can just bring them from Germany if I go there with work
Me: Won't you have to declare them?
DH: I don't care. Its not going to stop me bringing them back.
Me: So you will be smuggling suit cases full of tinned tomatoes back from business trips for the black market then?

#BrexitOpportunities