Westminstenders: A photo opportunity

[RedToothBrush]

Johnson likes publicity.

Any attention is good attention. Whilst you are talking about how crazy his idea is, the less you come up with your own.

And there it is. The lack of plan to stop no deal. Just a bunch of idiots who argue over who is more right about politics without offering up a practical solution.

Unable to see their own flaws.

And leading us ever closer to the cliff edge and operation Yellowhammer.

I heard an interesting bit on R4 this morning about a whizz bang UK cucumber and tomato producer. Full of optimism on their product (obviously) but not on Brexit. the "can we feed ourselves ?" question, got a "no".

Of course not, you Remoaner!! The glorious Oranges of the Midlands and the Lemons of Yorkshire will prove you wrong!
Limoncello of the Uplands will be served to anyone that wants to toast to it!

Or if they are the sort of gardener that I am, half their crops fail regularly and the rest get eaten by pests.

It's fine. I know a local farmer currently advertising for labour. I am sorely tempted as hours are good and work for DS starting school.

Or if they are the sort of gardener that I am, half their crops fail regularly and the rest get eaten by pests.

Then let them eat pests! Surely there’s an opportunity for a new cookbook here - perhaps we should collect together all our favourite recipes that use slugs and caterpillars? The little bastards in my garden are getting pretty fat off the fruits of my labours

In case it's of interest, James o'Brien's How to be Right is on Amazon for 99p today only.

The wealthy & powerful will not suffer shortages

It was ever thus.

During WWII it was only basic foods - the ones that, in theory at least, the government could guarantee some supply of, that were rationed. So, if you could afford, and source, poultry, game, fish, fresh fruit etc you could buy what you wanted. Restaurant food wasn’t rationed, so great if you could afford to eat out. In 1942 the government restricted the maximum cost a restaurant could charge for a meal to five shillings but this was got around easily by restaurants charging huge sums in cover charges, or for wine or service and, of course, there was nothing to stop someone from eating several five shilling meals in a number of different restaurants.

Not quite fair shares for all.

George Peretz QC @georgeperetzqc
A couple of brief comments on Johnson’s letter to Tusk.

First, the phrase “infrastructure, checks, or controls at the border” is critical and a major change from the December 2017 joint report (reached while Johnson was and remained Foreign Secretary).

The Dec 17 agreement talked about avoiding “a hard border, including any physical infrastructure or related checks and controls.” (Para 43).

The difference is that Johnson’s new formula allows border-related checks, controls and infrastructure provided they are not “at” the border. Is a control 100 metres away from the border “at” the border? We can fun arguing about that.

Second point. This is probably the most important para in the Johnson’s letter.

Our Prime Minister is more slippery than a fresh turd.

If we're going all WW2 rationing, will the government be organising a cull of pets like they did in the run up to rationing?

I got 1 strawberry last year.
1!

We have 3 mature apple trees and 2 mature pear trees in our garden. We normally get tons of fruit, enough to stock a small supermarket. We send buckets full of them to the local schools to give to the kids and have box by the front gate for passersby to help themselves too. We normally drowning in the bloody things.

Last year we got none. So far this year, nothing. It's a bit frightening.

Actually spat my tea out at let them eat pests.

First time ever on MN.

Ré * bellini's mention of the r 4 interview - they produce cucumbers for Sainsbury's, somewhere near Thanet. It was mentioned yesterday on r 4/by the very sensible ex c e o of Sainsbury's. It's absolutely vast apparently but the U.K. would of course need many many more of them to even begin to address the shortage of fresh produce we are facing.

I am feeling a real chump. Got going with my veg plot last year which was, much to my surprise highly successful. Started off same way this year but family and health issues hit and the plants were eaten by pests before I got round to transplanting them. I guess multivits will be way to go. I have canned and frozen also.

@imnotyourgranny that would be awful

This apple tree should be sagging under the weight of bright red apples by now. As you can see it's totally bare.

Not quite sure why there is so much time wasted on analysing the details of Johnsons letter to Tusk ?

The letter is a crock from the off as the TL;DR is that it's somehow the EUs job to solve Brexit.

I hope Tusks reply (when it comes, and I don't see he needs to hurry) just says "thanks for some interesting views on why you think the UK is owed anything" and leaves it at that - with the ball firmly in the UKs court.

That's my apple tree. My phone refuses to acknowledge my change of name.

Sir Baldrick, in typical elliptical fashion ...

Just for a laugh, someone should start a Brexit forum in Latin. That way we know the people in charge will read it (it would also show up the civil servants from the lower orders, although I imagine they're already on the next list, somewhere ....)

We have two young apple and two young pear trees in the garden - one of each is doing OK (nowt on the others), but they’re very small trees. All the fruit will probably last us about 2 weeks at best! One of two plum trees did OK - I stewed about 2kg of plums, which is now frozen. However, we also have a big cooking apple tree, which looks as though it’s going to have a bonanza year! I usually keep just a few and give the rest away, but I think I’ll be freezing a lot of stewed apple and crumbles this year, and making some apple butter.

Not quite sure why there is so much time wasted on analysing the details of Johnsons letter to Tusk
I agree.

Climate change - which is of course a Remainer fantasy - couldn't possibly have contributed to the unusual weather and reduced crop yields

Our apples are a disaster this year and we are in cider country. We have a few pears, no plums and no quince (last year we had 50kg). The figs are looking good.
Here in Normandy it was a long, cold spring, very low rainfall, late frosts and then heatwave.
The French news is full of problems with crops - latest has been wind and hail in the Beaujolais.

Patel's parents were of course Ugandan Asian refugees, welcomed in their thousands to Great Britain in the 1970s. They were escaping from a violent authoritarian ethno centric regime, run by a nutter not dissimilar to Ayotollah de Pfeffel.

@NoraMulready
Spoke to #EUSettlementScheme today. Asked what would happen to EU citizens who'd not applied by 31st Oct, if there was no deal & end to FOM. Remember, gov advice is, if No Deal, EU citz have until Dec 2020 to apply. Was told "their rights could not be guaranteed" on 1st Nov.

Was told all EU citizens should try to apply by 31st October as, if FOM is ended, they'll find themselves in difficulty. Currently just over 1 million of the 3.5million EU citizens have applied. That's 2.5million EU citizens who could become illegal if we NoDeal in 9 weeks time.

Was told by #EUSettlementScheme that if an EU citizen is out of the country when NoDeal happens, and has not yet applied to the scheme, it will not be easy for them to come back into Britian. This is despite doing nothing wrong, complying with gov advice on applying by Dec 2020.

Was told EU Settlement helpline had many calls from employers asking if it was legal to sack someone for being EU citizen. They advised it would now be illegal, but after 31st Oct, if No Deal & end of FOM, it would be legal to sack an EU citizen if they've not applied to scheme.

Was told by #EUSettlementScheme that by ending FOM on day 1, EU citz who'd not applied by 31st October, would no longer be entitled to FOM rights to live and work and be in Britain. Despite the current government advice giving them until Dec 2020 to apply for settled status.

Donald Tusk
@eucopresident
·
8m
The backstop is an insurance to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland unless and until an alternative is found. Those against the backstop and not proposing realistic alternatives in fact support reestablishing a border. Even if they do not admit it.

Looks like that's that then!