Westministenders: The Truth Isn't A Made Up Concept

[RedToothBrush]

“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

Not George Orwell but often attributed to him. But a powerful statement with resonance nonetheless

Sooooo watching Channel 4 news , apparently David Frost believes Barnier is "being to ideological about the single market"

"It's our ball ..."

But let's not forget about Brexit folks, thought I'd stumbled onto a Coronavirus thread, double-checked but apparently it's on the Brexit Board.

So, how's Brexit doing? It's looking like a No Deal exit at the moment - which isn't great imo. If no side budges on anything by the end of this month - no Transition Extension - and we're gone by the end of this year.

1 country vs 27 (who don't really agree on everything, just accept by consensus) would make the 1 country more determined.

There needs to be some give and take but I'm sure some/most here will find fault with a side (UK perchance) rather than find a point of agreement to build on.

Anyone here remember the Brexit thing?

@JeSuisPoulet I've given blood, was very well managed. Kept at a distance from the check in desk, seats spaced out while waiting for the finger prick, seats far away for the finger prick bit. No tea bar but they bring you snacks & drink to your bed thingy. I took my own though. All staff in masks.

All felt very safe.

Can I ask:
about 2 threads ago (?) when we were talking about the IOW app, a poster - was it you, @DGRossetti - was talking about NHS tech / Govt tech in general.

I meant to save the post so I could show my tech mad lad and mentioned it to him earlier but of course cant remember any details.

Anyone any idea?

For those with kids going back into schools - the "How did it go thread is reassuring"

And as Hateisnotgood says
Back to Brexit
Talking to a client today who has just closed her cafe for good.
Many many small eateries and specialist retailers know that the combination of social distancing and in six months, supply problems
mean their businesses are doomed.
Many will not re open when lockdown ends
the gaps in the high street will surprise a lot of people ....

Thanks @Nquartz
Not quite sure what I am meant to do with dd though

Re Brexit, I saw this yesterday www.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/31/brexit-uks-smallest-firms-divert-10bn-in-exports-away-from-eu

HateIsNotGood
What a charming little foray onto the thread.

Smugg at work to restrict MPs voting by creating a giant conga line.

Meanwhile, House of Lords moving onto an entirely digital voting system.

Just when you think they should be abolished they do something really sensible.

Hate - but brexit and covid19 are inextricably linked ..... because of timing- the effects each will have on the other, and the major players. Then there is the same use of disinformation........JRM bringing parliament back and dis-enfranchise 17m voters, as their MP's can't attend for health reasons.... this will have effects (I see as negative) on both the Covid crisis and the brexit crisis......

Plus it hasn't all been Covid....... a little bit of selectivity there.....

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/robert-jenrick-met-police-westferryukk_5ed51afec5b66d911c47ecdf

I know I shouldn't be shocked -but seriously......

@HateIsNotGood I can link it some more for you if you like?twitter.com/Niall001/status/1263883499318185986

HateIsNotGood when you say 'determined' don't you mean 'stupidly obstinate and unrealistic to the point ot national self-destruction'?

Or are you still thinking the bloc of 27 will bow down before the mighty mouse?

Hi LQ and Auld - glad to see you, even if I might not be "charming" enough, no apologies for that as 'charming' is not one of my qualities.

Well, I don't proffer any Brexit solutions, just observing right now - but I do think that some solutions should be sought, like right now, or we end up with No Transition Extension and then very probably NO Deal at the end of this year.

I'd rather a no-strings attached CV19 time extension to the Negs (like 3 mths, plus 3 mths, etc) - if any proposal to extend the negotiations involves 'strings' then I'm a nyet and everyone should sharpen their pencils to get it together by the end of this month.

There's a pattern to all things. Spot the link between, it was always herd immunity, and it was always a no deal Brexit. You've got 10 seconds............

Hate
Why would the EU give the UK yet another chance to kick the can down the road?
They want it done with so they can focus on recovering from COVID.
The EU stance has not changed since spring 2016
The UK has had its head in the sand / up its own arse for the last 4 years.
I cannot see that changing.
Sadly only a catastrophic crash out will make people come to their senses too late.

No pointy that is not what I meant at all, my own perspective doesn't involve stupidity, I normally assume that most involved in 'backroom' multi-national negotiations aren't stupid. although they might act on opinions that I may disagree with.

Your perspective could well be different - assume that those who differ are stupid maybe.

All fine by me - just popping in for a Pint and a packet of Twiglets, delivering an unwanted message.

Don't forget about the Brexit Thing.

"1 country vs 27"

and that 1 country will suffer a lot more from losing the Single Market and nearly all its trade deals
than the 27 will suffer from not having an FTA

The UK probably needs to try No Deal for a year, as a reality check

No Deal is almost inevitable, because the Uk govt is still demanding to have its cake and eat it,
demanding the benefits of EU membership but not prepared to follow the rules.

BJ hs repeatedly said he won't extend

• and any extension would under the terms of the WA be "no strings",

just continuing with following EU rules and making payments to continue sharing the EU trade & agency cake

As a minor segue from covid to brexit, i finally received a letter from my Tory MP on DC's Durhamgate episode. Suprisingly he claimed to have agreed that it was wrong and he strongly represented his views to the executive that there should not be one rule for some and not for others.

Unsurprisingly, there was a resounding silence in response to my question (in the same letter) asking whether he had a) read the WA prior to voting on it and/or b) ever read the WA.... I wonder just how many Tory MPs actually read the WA? From my limited perspective, Barnier would be pleased to progress talks if Frost and co. agreed to abide by what they had already agreed to abide by. But hey, I'm no trade expert neither is Frost

Public trust in UK government over coronavirus falls sharply

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/01/public-trust-in-uk-government-over-coronavirus-falls-sharply

Public trust in the UK government as a source of accurate information about the coronavirus has collapsed in recent weeks,
suggesting ministers may struggle to maintain lockdown restrictions in the aftermath of the Dominic Cummings affair.
....
The institute concluded that the UK government and politicians were now “far more widely seen as a source of concern over false or misleading information” than any other source of information,

noting that while the Cummings incident probably influenced this outcome,
the public was already losing faith in the information provided by Boris Johnson’s government before that.

I don't disagree with the posts above - a quick assessment makes me think that the EU would prefer that the UK buggers off and suffers the consequences of their - stupidity.

My impression was that the EU would prefer A Deal, but from the Posts here it seems that the EU would rather cast the UK adrift to fend for themselves. Thankfully, the Posters here aren't involved in the multi-national negotiations :) - coz thyz 2 clever mon.

A 3 month extension to Negotiation Dates, so the end of June deadline becomes the end of Sept instead due completely to CV19 is quite reasonable.

It's quite reasonable only if your end game is wanting a deal.

For the poster looking for info on the north-west, if you don't mind the Mail this has just appeared.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8378001/North-Englands-coronavirus-infection-rate-nearly-TWICE-Londons.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ito=1490&ns_campaign=1490

The first sentence says they're using the Covid symptom app from Kings College to generate the headline. I don't know how far to trust that, honestly. The chart with % of trusts with no deaths goes up and down, but the 'ups' appear to be higher each time. This local site has north Lancashire figures, along for a call for Blackpool to be closed down. I'm not sure what to make of that either, yet! www.lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/coronavirus-figures-every-area-lancashire-18345901

Quite right Jason and, as most prefer a Deal, it would be a reasonable adjustment to the current negotiations given the Pandemic.

I bid you all good night for now as it's bedtime.

Many many small eateries and specialist retailers know that the combination of social distancing and in six months, supply problems mean their businesses are doomed.
^Many will not re open when lockdown ends
the gaps in the high street will surprise a lot of people ....^

It really saddens me to hear this, as I thought early on this might be the case. We have some lovely small independent businesses near us that probably won’t make it.

I was talking with DH earlier about what the major film distributors will do about their summer blockbusters. There’s probably pressure from the cinema chains not to release them on digital platforms, as they’ll want to draw visitors in if they reopen this summer. But who will go? Given the choice of waiting for a few months for the digital release or risk COVID in a cinema, most people would wait. There are very few ‘must-see’ films & even then, the balance has shifted. Are cinemas going to recover?