Westminstenders: Charge!!!!

[RedToothBrush]

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!” he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of hell
Rode the six hundred.

Flashed all their sabres bare,
Flashed as they turned in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wondered.
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right through the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reeled from the sabre stroke
Shattered and sundered.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell.
They that had fought so well
Came through the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!

Re shouty man's sentiments.

Is it that dumb for someone to think post brexit we better start "making things again" because importing will be so expensive? It might not be a 100% informed thought taken from reading the financial times but I don't think it's dumb. overly optimistic perhaps

Every factory near me that's closed over the years has been met with resistance to closure, petitions, walkouts, etc. We don't "make anything anymore" and many people would like us to.

Where in the remain campaign did they say that would create more factories? Leave did. Leave was fecking lying, leave was actually planless or they werent lying/planless but first they'll set fire to workers rights to make "making things" more cost effective.

A section of the leave voters voted to try and force a hand, to take back control from businesses that fucked off leaving people jobless.

I have to much apathy to think that anyone like me can force a rich man's hand. So while I disagree leave will improve our lives I admire the spirit of that vote because clearly they have "omph" and isn't that admirable?

Place mat sigh

And thank you to Red.

Place marking.

Catching up on the thread, Red's unexpected bit of Tennyson immediately sent a chill down my spine, goosebumps on my flesh and hair standing on end!

It isn't dumb at all to think we should make more things domestically, rather than importing so much

It is dumb to chortle and assume this will happen automatically because of Brexit
which is what that report sounded like
Not a wish, but a false belief

Like those fools right after the ref who had assumed that all E27 citizens would return home immediately and got angry when that didn't happen

What the UK has never addressed is the old productivity problem. Why is it that UK workers are so far behind equivalent workers elsewhere?

Could it be to do with lack of investment both in infrastructure and in training (especially vocational) compared to other countries?

Look at what France and Germany did with their Marshall Plan funds compared to the UK Also, and ironically, the Workers Councils in Germany (that contrast with the Trade Union v Management "Them and Us" conflicts in the UK ) were (according to my Economics Lecturer at Uni) set up by UK advisors

So trying to produce more, but less efficiently, won't actually help the UK much - and definitely won't help Jo and Joanna Bloggs who will be squeezed via ever lower wages to provide the profits that the lack of productivity fails to deliver

Thanks red

More investment and training and better management won't be enhanced by a PM whose attitude is F*ck Business, and wouldn't know what a productive factory looked like. He probably doesn't even know what a factory does. You have to wonder what they teach them at Eton.

the Chocolate Orange is Made In Europe

Does that mean we need to start stockpiling Chocolate Oranges? asking for a friend

It isn't dumb at all to think we should make more things domestically, rather than importing so much

If you try and do it, its actually a lot harder than you think. Especially if you consider food chains and manufacturing chains. You might well have to wipe your arse with leaves for a start.

Given that we don't understand these chains as a nation (Brexit has proved this), its particularly difficult to encourage behaviour change in purchasing and manufacturing for this purpose.

If we are going to have low cost imports from the US and god knows where else with lower standards that becomes even harder.

Here's the ironic bit.

Rules of origin to then deal with the EU, might be a good thing from this point of view in focusing UK minds over these chains, but consumers are unlikey to be the ones seeing this anyway, and you might find that we export high quality stuff but consume stuff from god knows where. And it relies on an EU deal - and ironically 'EU redtape'...

I think this is a habit we should be encouraging, as I do find that particularly with food our tastes are not remotely considerate of seasonal nor local food in the same way as a lot of our European neighbours. Part of the problem is our taste for processed food and how much the supermarkets dominate shopping.

I also find we are a lot more fashion conscious, with a desire for disposable fashion in a way that isn't copied on the continent. And that perhaps is consistent with other areas of consumerism.

I think in principle its something that the UK HAS to work on regardless of Brexit, because of our global impact of transporting and processing.

I agree, living here in Spain, foods are available seasonally and then disappear from the shops when the growing season finishes. The cherries have just finished for instance and figs are coming to an end.

and you might find that we export high quality stuff

As we did with Wedgwood pottery - we used only to be able to buy seconds in the UK, the really good stuff went for export, or so I was told.

I also find we are a lot more fashion conscious, with a desire for disposable fashion in a way that isn't copied on the continent.

I don't know if wanting instant tat really classes as fashion conscious - the French and Italians beat us hands down for style, but their clothes are usually more expensive, although you can buy cheap supermarket ranges. I believe also that our fashion designers are highly sought after in both countries and the ones who go there won't be the ones designing the cheap tat.

And Zara after all is a Spanish chain.

Will this be the week we "join the euro"? (Parity). Not far off now!

red Yes, rebuilding domestic production is v complicated and often not commercially feasible

• if it wasn't, generally we'd still be doing it rather than importing

There's the difference between a wish, having a feasible plan .... and having the belief that it will happen (by magic ?) the day after Brexit

A favourite BJ quote from 2013:

“If we left the EU… we would have to recognise that most of our problems are not caused by ‘Bwussels’,
but by chronic British short-termism, inadequate management, sloth, low skills, a culture of easy gratification and underinvestment in both human and physical capital and infrastructure…

Why are we still, person for person, so much less productive than the Germans?

That is now a question more than a century old, and the answer is nothing to do with the EU.”

Currently £1 = €1.06
14 successive weeks of decline, including 2.6% last week

Might we reach parity in the final days before Brexit Day, or will it be earlier - if traders decide No Deal is almost certainly happening ?

I remember during the Thatcher years, we reached the lowest ever dollar exchange rate of £1 = $1.05

A long way off that, as we're at $1.20 - iirc, the dollar devalued some years ago ? - but after No Deal,
could dollar parity be possible after say a bad 1st year ?

https://www.poundsterlinglive.com/eur/11855-pound-to-euro-exchange-rate-week-ahead-forecast-established-downtrend-to-continue

UK, which was Germany's third biggest trading partner just a few years ago
slips to 7th place - behind Poland - in the first half of this year.

Ost-Ausschuss - Osteuropaverein@OstAusschuss

Unter den wichtigsten Handelspartnern ‪#Deutschland‬|s zeichnet sich eine Änderung der Reihenfolge ab: In den ersten fünf Monaten 2019 hat ‪#Polen‬ ‪#Großbritannien‬ überholt

(link: https://bit.ly/335mO7c)

I also find we are a lot more fashion conscious, with a desire for disposable fashion in a way that isn't copied on the continent. And that perhaps is consistent with other areas of consumerism.

This is the main reason I don't really buy many clothes these days. So much cheap tat. Some of the clothes I do own are now nearly as old as people I worked with recently, and still in good condition.

AwdBovril - I'm the same. Maybe it's the Scot in me

And yet, I still manage to be well dressed - just in a more classic way

I don't like spending money for the sake of it and would rather buy less but higher quality.

.

PMK. Brexit causes more problems in our family. DD’s partner from EU and due to start MSC next month but his parents are understandably twitchy about paying for it given current state of U.K with one of them really pushing for him to return home.

This all kicked off as was on phone to my Dad who voted Leave. I don’t think he has changed his mind but is clearly feeling guilty about the stress it’s causing and I am under instructions to call him any time of day or night if I need to talk about it.

From BBC News: Caroline Lucas MP advocates all female emergency cabinet:-

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49314840

How puerile ^^.

Caroline Lucas is trying to get people to remember the Greens. Maybe she should have the nerve to say trans women are not women.

I rate Caroline Lucas and actually when everything is such horror fiction why not? (I would add Ursula von der Leyen and Angela Merkel to the committee in a non exec director type role.)

But- The glass cliff is the phenomenon of women in leadership roles, such as executives in the corporate world and female political election candidates, being likelier than men to achieve leadership roles during periods of crisis or downturn, when the chance of failure is highest.