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.

I am quite puzzled by how many people seem to have to change their licences now BigChoc. Anyone who has been here over 10 years will surely have had to renew them when they expired unless they had an old paper licence. We changed ours after a couple of years here.

Prettybird - DD's course is broader than most but having a compulsory MFL is common. In her second year she will do two majors (prob history + sociology/politics) + statistics + English + French + a MFL + an option.

*@missclimpson I completely agree about the adverbials! I'm no longer teaching - I've seen the 2015 Curriculum proposals and they look sensible but a lot depends on how the examining bodies implement them in practice. A few years ago, clearing my father's house, I came across letters I'd written home from boarding school in 1967 when, having just got a Grade 1 (A/A) in O Level French, I wrote that A Level was a huge jump, so I guess it's long been that way.

Its just stupid now. I give in.

Yes I think so Missbel. Certainly true when I started A level in 1966. My eldest granddaughter is in Year 11 so I am having to get stuck in and after a lifetime in teaching and inspection, I am gobsmacked by how hard they are and how heavy the content is. The pressure on the students is huge.

Just seen that I was a year ahead of you! We were two in our A level class, taught by someone with a double first in languages. 😊

Incidentally, if anyone wants to know how quickly systems failures can spread, the ongoing woes at TSB are illuminating ...

www.theregister.co.uk/2019/02/04/no_prizes_for_guessing_which_uk_banks_services_have_gone_down_for_business_customers/

I did A level French in 1982 and the big difference versus O level was that it was 90% literature rather than language. Tbh you could get a good pass with fairly limited functional French as long as you knew your texts. My A level French was probably only a modern B2.

Indeed Mistigri. The first time we took the children in the mid 70s I could recite chunks of Andromaque, but was unable to say that the sink was blocked. 😊

Dh is listening more, I think.

Hasnt booked a work trip for end of March.

Is on board in keeping some cash in the house.

He got his md to buy in more of their raw materials (vague)

I simply cannot believe that this whole country is being held to ransom buy a few right wing loons of the erg/UKIP.

No one else wants this.

Lol, yes I was the same - I could read a French newspaper but couldn't understand the radio or communicate with people. DH who had done a BBC beginners' course was better at talking than me with my A level French.

In contrast DD who did a specialist Spanish option for her bac can really talk Spanish (as well as reading, writing and understanding it). Native teachers, 8-9 hours of immersion teaching a week for 3 years + 3 exchanges make all the difference.

That was a reply to missclimson, sorry. Thread moves too fast.

I've just heard some ERG type on Radio 4 talking about the poss of an extension running up to No Deal? I assume this is rubbish?

How depressing that extension to No Deal sounds like good news these days.

One of the nice things about German is that the Germans speak so slowly.

I've just heard some ERG type on Radio 4 talking about the poss of an extension running up to No Deal? I assume this is rubbish?

I'd insist on reading it in French or Italian before I gave it any thought.

I've just heard some ERG type on Radio 4 talking about the poss of an extension running up to No Deal? I assume this is rubbish?

I'd insist on reading it in French or Italian before I gave it any thought. Especially on the BBC ....

*I am exactly the same. I would say I was fluent in reading and writing, but actually communication on the telephone for example is a complete nightmare.

But they all talk so fast don't they.*

When she first arrived in this country, DW went for a job as a shorthand typist, but was persuaded instead to take the post of PA to one of the managers. Despite her misgivings about her (then) less than fluent English, she said she'd give it a go.

On her first day, she had to answer constant phone calls from all over the country, with accents ranging from broad Glaswegian to Sarf Lunnon. She became quite adept at casually asking others in the office to answer the phone.

After a weekend of tears, she went to tell her boss that she couldn't hack it and he said OK, but would you mind hanging on until I get a replacement.

Needless to say, he never bothered and within a few weeks she was coping very well, even with Geordies. That was almost 40 years ago and her former boss is still a very good friend!

I gather that part of the Malthouse compromise is an idea that we can buy an extension leading to no deal, essentially to give us more time to prepare and presumably to nag the EU into giving us lots of side deals.

Which makes me think that there are a lot of MPs who think that if something is a bit difficult you can just throw taxpayers money at it and buy your way out of trouble. I think they might find that not everything is for sale.

I can foresee an extension being granted purely to allow more time to prepare for No Deal.

Indeed, I have said as much before on these threads: that the EU might agree a short extension to A50, not for the UK's benefit, but so that the EU itself can get more of its ducks in a row in preparation for No Deal

I heard a no dealer type on LBC saying that the £39bn could be used , rather than for paying our debts, to be used instead for what he called "a transition" under no deal. And that twat JRM agreed with him.
You pay your fucking debts and you don't get a transition. Jesus.

Indeed, I have said as much before on these threads: that the EU might agree a short extension to A50, not for the UK's benefit, but so that the EU itself can get more of its ducks in a row in preparation for No Deal

That may have been the case, but I'm sensing thinking has changed. The latest rhetoric coming from all quarters of the EU uses words like "protect" and "integrity" a lot. Which makes me suspect there's been a tacit acceptance that the UK is simply doomed to rinse and repeat no matter how much time it has, and that in the long run any EU-side benefits from an extension would be wiped out by the UKs intransigence.

Better no deal now, with 10% pain, than no deal after a delay with 5% pain. AKA the "rip it off" school of plaster removal.

Obviously if the UK could show something had changed, it's all back to Brussels.

The domestic argument used by Remainers to Leavers: you've had years to sort this out could equally be applied to the EUs side of the table. They should have been prepping for no deal too. As, indeed, we know they were.

Doomed! We're all DOOMED! As my late dad used to say