Westminstenders: Just another DEADline

[RedToothBrush]

Today is the last scheduled day for talks with the EU.

We have til 30th June to ask for a transition extension. We won't.

That leaves us starring down the barrel of a no deal exit, when we still could be in a covid-19 crisis and the US may be in turmoil given recent events and the coming election...

It's not a pretty picture.

e.g. Animal droppings are banned under EU regs, but US regs allow some

The US works on the principle that food & other goods can be sold until they can be proved harmful
whereas the EU works on the "precautionary principle" of banning goods where science shows harm is possible

However, when risk arises, US business will use all means to push the consequences onto others:

In the current crisis, GOP Senators blocking relief budget because they insist it must include an amendment, for businesses which open,
that grants immunity from being sued by staff or customers if they catch COVID

Meanwhile, GOP states passed laws to remove unemployment benefits from workers who refuse to return to work because of health concerns about COVID

Laws combining to give the benefits to US business, but the risks to their staff - and customers

I think there's a great deal of naivete that the US-UK trade deal is going to be balanced. I can easily see a skewed version where the US gets to see shit to the UK that is below even their pisspoor standards (so a great way for manufacturers to offload the stuff they couldn't foist on their own people). Meanwhile, UK exporters will be held to a higher level of standards before they can get stuff onto US tables.

People might want to research what passed for "separate but equal" before they poo-pooh me on that one.

I know if I was a US negotiator, I wouldn't consider a bilateral trade deal of equals a goal. Or indeed a reality. Because it's neither.

Unlike the EU, the US states don't even have common laws and standards on goods, just certain minimum basic regs,
but then additional hurdles for each state or group of states.

So UK exporters would have to consider the regulations of each of the states they want to export to

Also most states have Buy-American laws for local govt purchases - which are lucrative markets -
so even an FTA could only give access to bidding for Federal govt contracts
Everything else would have to be aimed at the private / commercial market

The US in effect doesn't have a "Single Market" for goods and services

"there's a great deal of naivete that the US-UK trade deal is going to be balanced"

I'm pretty sure the UK won't have a veto on who the USA exports to & what,
or with whom they make future trade deals

The US in effect doesn't have a "Single Market" for goods and services

There was an article last year to that effect. Stating that even if we had a zero tariff deal (we won't) the vast majority of the US would remain as unattainable as now due to having 50 separate markets to penetrate.

Although on reflection, we'll be safe from any attempt to become the 51st state. There is no way on Gods Green earth the US would ever allow us to become their equals. Not when they can exploit us anyway.

Yes, travel around the US and you will find the price on the ticket is not the price you pay at the till once local and state taxes are added.

Racism is HOW the tories get elected. It doesn't lose them votes - it does the opposite.

My neighbourhood vibe.

I'm tired and angry but at least I live here.

Another PMQs and BJ still complaining Starmer keeps asking him difficult questions. Also an abortive attempt by the Tory whips to orchestrate some barracking.

Did anyone watch PMQ's?
Opinions?

I read a little bit of commentary on the guardian website- my thoughts were , he (Johnson) says a lot - but there's very little action to back up those words

I struggle to watch PMQs because there are generally commentators / people online saying Johnson made some good points - within 24 hours they have all been shown to be lies. But every week people appear to take him at his word again.

Starmer is reasonably good at pinning him down but it's still thankless and the british public don't mind lies apparently so what's the use.

Did we have a world beating track and trace system by 1 June? That was last PMQs wasn't it? I feel they should replay and comment on what they said last week.

I am so over all of it.

Monbiot's latest is fucking horrible. Not surprising but horrible.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/09/boris-johnson-trade-deal-us-chlorinated-chicken

Great local supporting vibes, squid 👍

Monbiot:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/09/boris-johnson-trade-deal-us-chlorinated-chicken

"Our government is now proposing that chlorine-washed chicken,
beef treated with growth hormones,
pork from animals injected with a drug that makes their meat leaner, called ractopamine,
and scores of other foods produced in the United States by dangerous, cruel and disgusting means will be allowed into this country
...
As well as washing chicken flesh with chlorine to compensate for the filthy conditions in which it is raised and processed,
and injecting dangerous substances into cattle and pigs,
Big Farmer and Big Food in the US use 72 pesticides that are banned in the UK and food colourings that have been linked to hyperactivity in children,
impose no limits on the amount of sugar in baby food and
permit cow’s milk to contain twice the amount of pus that the UK allows.

What this all means is that we will bring into this country food whose production is banned here.
Either our farmers and food processors will be outcompeted, or our domestic production standards will be brought down to match."

Freedom of choice for consumers ?
Really ?
Especially if country of origin labelling is banned

There's also school dinners and hospital food and so on. Foodbanks. Not everyone can buy organic vegan local etc

Especially if country of origin labelling is banned

And trying to communicate that information considered an act of economic terrorism ...

I was shouting at the TV during PMQs when BJ was lying in his answer about the risk of chlorinated chicken being allowed, saying that it wouldn't happen because the UK could now have even higher standards now that we'd left the EU, because it wasn't allowed to while it was still a member.

That's. Not. True. You. Fucking. Cockwomble.

There was absolutely nothing stopping us having higher standards had we wanted them (and in some cases we did) It was just that we had to allow imports from the EU that met all the minimum standards And with place of origin labelling, we could make our own choices

Or is he suggesting that we would be setting higher minimum standards for all imports, including those from the US?

No, didn't think so

The pesticides thing got me this morning - it's so fucking depressing. (That and I discovered yesterday my hive is queenless and I am bereft about that)

One of the reasons I became such an avid baker - and believer in cooking for scratch is living in the states...... and I used to do my shopping mostly at Wholefoods..... but don't be fooled, it may not be as bad as some supermarkets, but even the stuff that makes its way into their "healthy " prepared snacks would make your toes curl....

MrsL
I walked out of a Wholefoods and acros the street to the Union Square Farmers Market as I wanted to buy

• small portions
• clear provenance
• not pre processed and bundled
• not in a ton of plastic wrap

Most Brits have a very distorted idea of real life in the USA. California runs food safety checks on trucks coming in from Nevada FFS

Most Brits have a very distorted idea of real life in the USA.

Seems Boris is putting us right on that with the US being a "bastion of Peace and Freedom".

Says the human personification of tergiversation.

So Trump's only "good" quality is that he is POTUS?

When living in the US I found one of the better supermarkets was a local cheap and cheerful one called HEB Pantry. It actually stocked lamb and even Tetley tea bags (at reasonable prices). You still had to pay big bucks for a decent loaf of bread though.

What food people buy should be up to, well, people.

I'm all good if I don't want Whole Foods, I've got Marianos or local delis. For large swathes of the Midwest I've road tripped through your choice is Walmart or corner shops.

It is also worth noting that significant food deserts exist in the USA, where getting any food let alone good quality food is a challenge.