Westministenders: Crisis, which crisis ?

[BigChocFrenzy]

Main crises facing the government:

. Negotiating a Brexit deal with the EU
. Coronoavirus
. Floods
. Allegations of some ministers - and Cummings - bullying civil servants
. More trouble threatened from Turkey / Syria

Unfortunately with all these parallel crises, we have a workshy lying arse as PM
and the worst collection yet of incompetents in Cabinet
who seem to have decided on a strategy of bullying their civil servants to avoid hearing any facts that don't fit with current Tory party ideology

mathanxiety
Clavinona
She does like the sound of her own voice:
Said a woman on a public forum...
tobee
Or...
Using her own voice instead of copying & pasting?

To you and me both mathanxiety!

Simon Calder, the Independent;

"While the coronavirus crisis will be blamed for hastening the demise of Flybe, its business plan has been derided by competitors."

All this talk of economically necessary domestic air routes, a thought that in other countries they have reliable and affordable trains.

It's just a suggestion.

reliable and affordable trains
Agree with the general point but flybe serve iom, ni and the channel Islands - even pfeffel hasn't proposed bridges to iom or Guernsey etc :)

Trains aren’t too bad here, either, mockers. Usually. I recently travelled by train to the West Country and overall it was cheaper and quicker than say, flying to Newquay.

I liked the service on Flybe, compared to Ryanair, but these days you have to toss up whether domestic flights give you an advantage over the train. And whether they're environmentally justifiable. The train can be cheaper, especially if you have one of the many railcards. (Discounts not available on flights.) The seats are definitely more roomy and I feel like you can wander around more. It often doesn’t take much longer, given that the start and destination stations are usually much closer to where you want to be than an airport is. And you don’t waste time at the airport before the flight.
And maybe that slightly more leisurely journey between A and B is what we need. Seeing the view of the passing landscape gives us a better sense of where we’re passing through, and roots us to our country.

Just some thoughts.

Dare I suggest hesitantly that the tax-avoiding denizens of IoM and the CI could afford to stump up a subsidy.

I feel for the Flybe employees but feel that longterm we should be a country progressively investing in sustainable transport solutions and employment.

This BEIS graphic from a recent BBC article (sorry can’t find link) really shows the difference in carbon emissions between domestic flights and other transport.

Dare I suggest hesitantly that the tax-avoiding denizens of IoM and the CI could afford to stump up a subsidy.

Why would the CI subsidise Flybe though? Most of its operations are now within the UK or between the UK and EU. If anything they’d be better off subsidising Aurigny/Blue Islands or just letting them take over the more profitable routes between the UK and CI.

"A franchise partner of Flybe which flies to the Channel Islands has said it will operate "uninterrupted" despite the UK airline's collapse."

"Blue Islands runs flights from Jersey and Guernsey to Bristol, Southampton, London City, East Midlands and Newquay."

"It said it was "saddened" by Flybe's collapse and would put on additional flights to Exeter and Birmingham on Thursday to help passengers."

"Blue Islands said in a statement that any Flybe passengers with an existing booking would be flown for free on a "first come, first served basis"."

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-51728965

Meanwhile, the US is saying "jump"

www.theregister.co.uk/2020/03/04/parliament_senate_pressure_uk_huawei_5g/

A bipartisan coalition of US senators has urged Britain to reconsider its decision to permit "high-risk" vendors, namely China's Huawei, to supply non-core elements of the national 5G network.

(contd)

Personally, the single best reason for extending the US the middle digit of friendship is that this side of the pond IDS is urging the UK capitulates - fucking traitor he is. It's quite amusing to realise how far out of the Brave New World he has drifted.

I wonder how the issue of red diesel (or lack thereof) and the Irish border will combine ?

It's quite amusing to realise how far out of the Brave New World he has drifted.

Seems a very sensible view to me. From your links;

Tom Tugendhat (Tonbridge and Malling) (Con)

"I, too, praise my right hon. Friend for making a very strong speech. Does he agree that the two successful roll-outs of 5G so far have been carried out in South Korea and Japan—by Samsung and Fujitsu respectively—and neither of them seems to have included Huawei?"

Sir Iain Duncan Smith
"Yes, I agree. My hon. Friend makes a very good point. In fact, I have read a note from Samsung declaring that it is completely feasible to do this work without any involvement from Huawei. Indeed, Samsung made very clear its belief that Huawei is a direct threat to our national security because its system is not a trusted one."

Scottish Secretary says 'Boris Bridge' is a 'euphemism'

THE UK Government Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has claimed the "Boris Bridge" is a "euphemism" for a tunnel.

Last year it was reported that the Prime Minister had told government officials to explore the possibility of building the bridge, an idea first put forward by Professor Alan Dunlop and revealed by The National.

Appearing in front of the Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee, Jack said that he wanted to be "clear" that the plan was instead for a tunnel.

He said: "The bridge for me is a euphemism for a link … which is a tunnel. Just to be clear about that. Actually tunnelling techniques now are quite advanced. And certainly to go from south west Scotland

to Northern Ireland, it would be less expensive, knowing what we know of the geography of the north channel, it would be less expensive to tunnel it."

Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently floated the idea of a “Union Bridge” connecting Scotland and Northern Ireland.

However Jack said Johnson is "on the same page" as him regarding a tunnel.

The proposed bridge would have run from Portpatrick in Dumfries in Galloway to Larne.

Several concerns have been raised about the route, specifically Beaufort’s Dyke, where huge amounts of military waste were dumped – as much as 1.15 million tons after both world wars

– as well as radioactive waste.

twitter.com/ITVBorderRB/status/1235529055253848065

I think we could have told them 3 years ago that immigration brings an economic benefit.

Crackdown on EU immigration to hit Budget growth forecast
Chancellor will have less to spend on public services than under a more liberal regime

Britain’s long-term economic growth prospects are expected to be downgraded in next week’s Budget because of the impact of Boris Johnson’s post-Brexit crackdown on EU immigration.
The forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility, the independent fiscal watchdog, is set to be revised downwards, meaning that Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, will have less money to spend on public services than if the prime minister had approved a more liberal migration regime.

It has emerged that Sajid Javid, former chancellor, failed in his attempt to soften the migration regime, including a special carve-out for the construction sector when the new rules come into effect in January 2021.
“Sajid wanted to help the construction sector — we need workers to build all the infrastructure projects that will be included in the Budget,” said one ally of Mr Javid.

The government’s new immigration policy, set out by home secretary Priti Patel last month, will impose tougher restrictions on lower-paid workers from abroad than envisaged in the 2018 migration white paper produced by Theresa May’s government.
Ms Patel’s policy will in effect bar most businesses from recruiting outside the UK to fill unskilled positions requiring qualifications equivalent to below an A-level, the exams taken in Britain at aged 18, or who are paid less than £25,600 annually.

*This bit is intriguing. I wonder what they mean? I’ve got a bad feeling...

Treasury officials... argued that controlling low-skilled migration could have a positive effect on the productivity levels of those workers already in the UK and raise economic output per head.

www.ft.com/content/480d5096-5e38-11ea-b0ab-339c2307bcd4

The English Channel is about 40 metres deep at the Staits of Dover.

The water between Scotland and NI is over 1km deep.

Good luck with your tunnel.

It has emerged that Sajid Javid, former chancellor, failed in his attempt to soften the migration regime, including a special carve-out for the construction sector when the new rules come into effect in January 2021.

The government’s new immigration policy, set out by home secretary Priti Patel last month, will impose tougher restrictions on lower-paid workers from abroad than envisaged in the 2018 migration white paper produced by Theresa May’s government.

It hasn't yet dawned on the likes of IDS that under the Johnson-Cummings pact of 2019, the UK is to be systematically dismantled. We've all been hoodwinked (IDS and others especially, but that wasn't really too difficult) into believing the risk of Brexit was becoming a 51st state. However that's far too stable for the slash and burn that Cummings appears to have signed up to. In fact pissing off the US is a major part of the plan. A lone UK is much more likely to disintegrate - and be ready for rebuilding - that much quicker.

As always, check my working ?

If I'm right, there will be no climbdown on Huawei. The UK will not lower it's food standards. And Assange may yet breath the free air of England.

Looking very much like it's Fuck-a-Farmer Week in Govt.

The badger cull, despite being incredibly successful (no figures) is being abolished in favour of vaccination.

Soon there'll be nothing left to shoot except hunt saboteurs.

Looking very much like it's Fuck-a-Farmer Week in Govt.

Get in quick. Get in hard. Leave them reeling. Move on. By the time they've twigged, they'll have written themselves into the "remoaner" side of the argument that they helped create.

(The old story about the Queen that was tricked into deciding her own punishment strikes a chord.)

See also: fishermen. By the time they realise they realised what has happened, the word "kipper" won't be ironic.

The badger cull, despite being incredibly successful
Depends on who is making the claims but two areas showing a reduction and one showing an increase doesn't meet my definition of 'incredibly successful'

Plus given that DEFRA's effectiveness measure is the number of herds losing tb free status - then surely a decline would be expected as the population of tb free herds is decreased?

Useless Eustice is making the claim:

"The badger cull has led to a significant reduction in the disease as demonstrated by recent academic research and past studies...."

(studies he has for the moment temporarily mislaid.)

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-51753393

"The badger cull, despite being incredibly successful (no figures) is being abolished in favour of vaccination."

Is there a peer-reviewed study to show the vaccination is as effective ?
< hoping the decision was evidence-based >

oops, cross-post, so conflicting evidence, depending on which vested interest is presenting it.

The Science (Krebs) was clear from the outset: A badger cull could at best reduce Bovine TB by 17% for a while.

It is Bovine TB, not mustelid TB. It is a disease of cattle spread by the movement of cattle by farmers.

All this talk of economically necessary domestic air routes, a thought that in other countries they have reliable and affordable trains

Look forward to seeing the trains across to the IOM and Channel Islands. However, maybe we really do need that bridge to Northern Ireland. Could have a bridge from St Malo to Jersey I suppose, only 16 miles!

I would also love it if motorail services were reintroduced so you could eg get on the Caledonian sleeper and put your car on the back of the train. Cheaper and easier than flying and hiring a car (and more pleasant than a long drive from the south of England to Scotland).

Iirc, unless the EU regulations have changed, using vaccination to control against TB will prohibit exports of beef from vaccinated cows to the EU.