Westminstenders: Waiting for Sanity

[RedToothBrush]

We could be waiting a long time, but that's what we have to wait for as that's what the EU is waiting for.

The EU has requested we expand on our plans for 'alternative arrangements' with regard to the backstop.

We need to do so before the next HoC vote on 14th Feb. The EU see no point in shifting their position before than. And the UK will struggle to provide the info the EU want before then. So there is now some doubt as to whether the vote will go ahead as planned.

About a third of the Cabinet now believe that Brexit will have to be delayed due to legislation not being ready for exit date. However we don't have power over this and we might still exit without it.

There is no Brexit related business next week in the HoC to prevent pesky amendments. The recess has been cancelled but MPs have been told its OK to go on their ski holidays so it's just a PR stunt.

Meanwhile No Deal is in full effect as businesses trigger their exit strategy in the absence of certainty. No Deal is reality for many even if we do have a last minute deal...

We are all about to get poorer. As that's what we voted for.

Thank you Red - your lucid summaries are the best thing only good thing about Brexit. Have a good weekend.

twitter.com/Number10cat/status/1085493208845557761

The thing that gets to me is that even if TM's deal goes through and No Deal is avoided, we could still end up back in deep trouble after another two years.

Or sooner ?

The problem with Treezers "deal" is that it prevents the UK signing up to any other trade deals. We can negotiate them. But they can't "go live" till the end of the transition phase.

The other problem - deal or no deal, WA or no WA, or in fact it it's rainy, snowy, fine or foggy, is that the UK won't get a better deal from any country that the country in question has with the EU. Which returns us to the point ignored by many during and immediately after the referendum. The best deal the UK could have with any country is as part of the EU. That's because the EUs clout of 515 million customers citizens as a single entity is powerful economics.

Post Brexit, when the UK rocks up with its shrinking GDP and dwindling 65 million customers, there's no way it could get a deal better than the EU. For the very simple reason that if it were to even be hinted at, the EU would be back at that countries negotiating table wanting (and getting) the better deal.

It's almost like Brexit was never thought out.

Thanks Bellini. I'm feeling better than I was!

I would if I had a car, Ballyhoo. We've just bought a new sofa as the current one is partially collapsed. Also, I finally got round to replacing my watch a few months ago, which was about 17 years old. The new one is one of the fancy light powered type so it won't need new batteries every couple of years.

.

{For the very simple reason that if it were to even be hinted at, the EU would be back at that countries negotiating table wanting (and getting) the better deal.}
Maybe when Mr Junker and others say 'this is the best deal available' it should be said in a Brian Blessed sort of voice, with a strong degree of accuracy and just a hint of menace about it.

Or the UK could just get a bit arsey because the EU called Gibraltar a colony, rather than concentrating on something a touch more important.

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Haddock vinyl monarch

PMK

Maybe when Mr Junker and others say 'this is the best deal available' it should be said in a Brian Blessed sort of voice, with a strong degree of accuracy and just a hint of menace about it

Why ?

Making threats, and trying to intimidate is a stupid tactic and tends to appeal to the arrogant or plain stupid. If you are in a position of power, you don't need to threaten, just state plainly. If you are not in a position of power then you reveal that by threatening.

It's also a mistake to misconstrue a lack of threat(s) as weakness.

Unless I've missed something, nothing the EU has stated could be taken as a "threat" when it's a mere statement of fact. It's the UK (or some in the UK) that are making it dirty in their own heads, so to speak.

I was only meaning that the statement is accurate and that it requires a degree of gravitas to underline it, not that it is a threat at all.
People are SO touchy today, anyone would think a catastrophe is about to happen.

Only thing I've got left to get in prepping is some Nido full cream dried milk and a few cases of wine

.....we run a hobby wine business specialising in South African wines, so we can say that we are getting in supplies

Carp carpet Carpe Diem

Hic haec hoc ?

Et in Arcadia est ?

Rex quandomque rex futuris ?

It's a game of two halves ?

battery horse stapler ?

Place mat king (although I’m currently unable to face what’s happening)

Ray Rug Rex

Thinking remainers have ourselves to blame - in two years we should have been angrier.

www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/brexit-16-million-remainers-utterly-abandoned-by-may-and-corbyn-joyce-mcmillan-1-4865777

Seriously considering a Paris weekend away before the 29th. Lots of yummy food, wine, speaking French, no Brexit lunatics...

PMK

Oh and my hearts not in it but...

The time has come, the Walrus said,
To talk of many things:
Of backstops — and much business fucked —
Of plaices, mats — and kings.

Veni vidi vici (stabs self in back)

Latest from Peston

No real new info...EU still very firm. TM still no clue what she's going to ask for.

www.facebook.com/1498276767163730/posts/2268448383479894/

Habes dum fugit tempus.

I feel a bit Mystic Meg after my rubbish prediction.
We literally can't trust them to have thought of anything!

Have just seen this:

www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/01/revealed-plan-to-deal-with-putrefying-stockpiles-of-rubbish-after-no-deal-brexit?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Something I haven't seen talked about much before.

I have just been thinking that if there is a positive outcome to this, it might involve reassessing how much we have outsourced as a country. E.g. It might be more efficient for insulin to be manufactured in mega factories in Europe, but it's not necessarily the most resilient of systems? Why are we shipping our waste off to be burnt by other countries? Environmentally, should we be shipping in so much out of season food?

Place marking

I'm really struggling with these threads.
DH says I'm more anxious when I read them
but I need to stay up to date.
Is there light at the end of the tunnel?