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Brexit
Original poster

Westminstenders: Events...

968 replies

RedToothBrush · 13/03/2020 10:03

Events have taken over. EU / UK negotiation have been put on ice due to covid-19.

The US has banned all travel from Europe - apart from to the uk and Ireland - in a manner which is highly political to drive wedges.

The effects of leaving the European Medicines Agency may be much more serious than anyone could have anticipated.

There's a oil price war going on between Saudi Arabia and Russia which has further driven market fears led by covid-19.

There the crisis in Turkey with Syrian refugees which is also distracting the EU.

We are facing lockdown and economic turmoil over the next weeks and months.

Johnson is having his leadership moment with deaths projected to possibly exceed UK WW2 deaths.

We are desperately trying to recruit negotiators as it's suddenly become apparent we don't have enough to carry out all the trade deals we want.

The civil service will be stretched to its limited by covid-19. Yet we also have Brexit to consider.

Where next? How bad are things going to get?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
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borntobequiet · 15/03/2020 11:19

A little light dusting, a cull of my wardrobe, some balcony gardening (if weather is suitable) and judicious application of my wine stockpile for me.

HenHarrier · 15/03/2020 11:23

“Safest possible tasks”.

Remember what happened to John “Stumpy” Pepys.

DGRossetti · 15/03/2020 11:26

Weather could still turn and freeze us in too ...

Idly pondering if her Madge were to shuffle off her moral coil now (whether covid or not) about having a funeral and coronation* while we're all in lockdown. There would be some sense of historic irony if everyone (except me) ended up watching it on TV, if you know your History of British Television well enough (which I do ...).

*Westminster Abbey special - 2-4-1-. Book a royal funeral, get a free coronation.

Original poster
RedToothBrush · 15/03/2020 11:30

More likely to get Phil.

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DGRossetti · 15/03/2020 11:31

Remember what happened to John “Stumpy” Pepys.

You can't dust for vomit ...

QueenOfThorns · 15/03/2020 11:35

I’m not sure that would be necessary, DGR. Her Maj waited over a year before her coronation, so I expect they’d just wait until it was convenient.

RTB you really haven’t got the hang of panic buying, have you? You need to buy at least 5 lawnmowers, 1 is just not going to be enough to get you through this!

DGRossetti · 15/03/2020 11:43

I’m not sure that would be necessary, DGR. Her Maj waited over a year before her coronation, so I expect they’d just wait until it was convenient.

Suggestion to Charles: "How about 'never' ? Does that work for you ?"

If we assume mass deaths on a scale unseen since ... whenever, I wonder what the public appetite for putting some bling on a king might be like ? Especially if it's clear the wealthy managed to swerve the worst of COVID ...

Original poster
RedToothBrush · 15/03/2020 11:45

you really haven’t got the hang of panic buying, have you? You need to buy at least 5 lawnmowers, 1 is just not going to be enough to get you through this!

I have two tubs of fence paint, a tin of decking paint, decking cleaner, 2 huge bags of compost, 2 boxes of lawn seed for the bare patches that have sprung up over the winter, 8 pots to plant up, 3 hanging baskets, numerous seedlings on the go as well as some seeds to sow directly.

I think I'm doing fairly well on the panic buying for the garden!

(We were going to do the garden anyway so we've been buying stuff over the winter to spread the cost but we have bought a fair bit sooner than we need too)

OP posts:
DGRossetti · 15/03/2020 11:49

Sainsburys were out of Oatley Barista yesterday.

That and own-brand dishwasher salt.

Luckily, because DGR and wife plan their lives like they plan their projects, we have a buffer ...

Still got some of our Brexit stash too - that 5Kg bag of penne is going to last at least 25 meals.

boatyardblues · 15/03/2020 12:00

All that Brexit nonsense last year made me keep at least 1 extra of essentials in the cupboard and I started adding a second or third back in January when corona first reared its head, as we’d started eating the stash by then. Weird times.

Original poster
RedToothBrush · 15/03/2020 12:00

I did buy the last three bags of dessicated coconut in Tesco the other day as it was reduced to 50p a bag from £2.

Is that good panic buying?

OP posts:
TheElementsOfMedical · 15/03/2020 12:01

This reply has been deleted

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boatyardblues · 15/03/2020 12:02

You can power your way through on coconut ice and macaroons, Red, so long as you have sugar.

Original poster
RedToothBrush · 15/03/2020 12:08

It's for DH. He's been wanting to do Coconut Stout homebrew for ages but hasn't got round to it. It's my favourite.

OP posts:
DGRossetti · 15/03/2020 12:11

DW isn't a coconut fan (unlike me ...) so you are welcome to your stash.

Speaking of coconuts, anyone see the story about the "robber crab" that nicked a camera ...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-australia-51867525/christmas-island-a-giant-robber-crab-stole-my-camera

Oddly, for an arachnophobe, I don't have a problem with these beasts.

If any posters want a diversion, and since foreign travel is going to go the way of the dodo (ironically) I wonder what the possibilities would be of introducing them to the UK ? Probably too cold Sad.

I had the sharpest pang of sorrow when I read that their only predators are man, and themselves.

Anyway, as you were.

DGRossetti · 15/03/2020 12:15

Coconut Stout homebrew for ages but hasn't got round to it. It's my favourite.

Sounds ghastly ...

Coconut in curries (sticks fingers in ears). And of course cakes and biscuits.

yoikes · 15/03/2020 12:18

Its the mary berry recipe I use. Its very lemony!

Just popped to local co op...empty shelves everywhere! No eggs, bread, loo roll....what is wrong with people!!!??

Got a chicken for lunch anyway...

Dh going to make the phone call to mil later...that'll be fun!

yoikes · 15/03/2020 12:19

Coconut....bluergh....

boatyardblues · 15/03/2020 12:21

My stash includes creamed coconut in tetrapak cartons, as it makes spicy soups and curries much nicer.

Mistigri · 15/03/2020 12:27

she wheeled out her favourite "Scientists signing the letter against the government are all foreign non-British surnames" angle.

I'm not going to go and look for it, but if anyone else does, can you please report it for racism if it goes so much as half a toenail over the line.

Paid agitators Clavinova are dangerous to democracy in normal times. Right now they are a clear public health risk and they will get people killed.

Mistigri · 15/03/2020 12:31

It's very weird here. Kind of business as usual for us as I do my salaried work mainly from home (and we are super busy at work, at least for the time being) and we also run a small business, also from home (medical translation: no idea how it will be impacted, but clinical trials will struggle to recruit if hospitals full of people on ventilators).

My son is off school now and thrilled about it as he is a musician who would rather play piano 8 hours a day than go to school.

We have no cases in our département so the virus probably isn't circulating here yet (at least until all the students get home). But we are isolating anyway.

TheElementsOfMedical · 15/03/2020 12:31

can you please report it for racism if it goes so much as half a toenail over the line

As you probably know, she's usually very sly at keeping within deniable limits. Hence the specific "look at the surnames" - it's wordclouds for associating ideas in the minds of low-information readers. Pretty sure, as I've seen with other posters on politically-related topics (not just Brexit and COVID) it's a designed strategy of the Nudge Unit type.

Mistigri · 15/03/2020 12:36

I went and looked for it and reported it on the grounds that promoting suspicion of scientists with foreign names is not only racist but dangerous to public health.

Up to Mumsnet they want shills to put public health at risk on their site.

HenHarrier · 15/03/2020 12:37

John “Stumpy” Pepys was the one that died in a bizarre gardening accident.

HenHarrier · 15/03/2020 12:42

Thanks for the Mary Berry tip yoikes, I will search that one out.

I’m having a go at a sourdough starter as baking yeast had been cleared off the shelves (although I did find more stock in yesterday).

Must be muddle class panick buying as all the brown and whole meal flour had gone, but there was still plenty of white flour.