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.

The bit that folks like @HateIsNotGood do not grasp
is that 99.9% of the electorate
have no concept of what a No Deal Brexit means.
In fact Johnson could announce it tomorrow
while simultaneously agreeing to stay in the single market
and they would accept that as Brexit
if the Heil and the Hellograph told them it was

cognitive disonance and all that

Looks like Brexit is going ahead - there's not much any of us can do - just hope that enough Agreements are reached to prevent No Deal.

Looks 50/50 to me so far.

Looks like 80/20 in favour of No Deal to me. Forget what Boris wants. It's those who are pulling his strings who matter and they want to crash out. If Brexit makes life too unpleasant for them, they will find a way to clear out of the country.

"Looks like Brexit is going ahead"

It happened on 31 January 2020
Pay attention at the back there

"Maybe we can touch base again after the next Negs and you'll all be a bit more aware and receptive to reality."

Brexit has happened,
No Deal is very probably happening.
This will add to the UK's economic damage from COVID
Smashing your toes with a hammer is still not a good idea, even if you're coping with chemo

A Single Market of 450 million that has FTAs with another 60-70 countries and some trade arrangements with almost all the rest
will suffer far less from No Deal than a country which chose to reset its trade with the world to Year Zero and no longer belongs to EURATOM, EMA etc

Any Brexiters who don't realise this need to be a lot more aware of the reality

No Deal is so some very wealthy and completely unscrupulous hedge-funders & vulture capitalists can make a shitload more money

and also to enable Cummings to tear everything down, in a frenzy of Rasputinist nihilism

Please do tell me LQ - what 'folk' am I, seeing as you're grouping me into a 'folk'?

I'll wait for tomorrow to hear your fairy tale

SInce BJ keeps saying how he's going to wiggle out of what he signed in the WA,
it's not surprising if the EU cba much about a new trade deal, what with everything else going on.

Better to let the Uk spend 2021 contemplating its navel as Britannia Unhinged
and find out for itself that there's no free cake in the world

BJ keeps saying he will never extend
Most Brexiters support this
So will presumably settle for No Deal

Some Tory Brexiter MPs are reported as saying they never actually read the WA
The one they voted for, to legally define Brexit.

I can believe BJ was too lazy to do so and maybe that's why he's now trying to wiggle out of some bits
but International law doesn't work like that, the equivalent of "the dog ate my homework"

Well I am genuinely flummoxed as to how to respond to you, Hate. I think maybe we are reading different things? Or perhaps out understanding of common English words is different? Therefore, I'm not going to bother.

I hope you approve of the direction of the next thread - that we talk about all the right aspects of Brexit and none of the pesky contextual details you clearly don't want us to discuss.

Time to .....

Scroll on by 🎶🎵🎵🎶

UK’s virus recovery lags behind European peers

This is the problem when a govt locks down late - it has to be longer & harder than otherwise, so economy suffers more

(and still results in more deaths than an earlier lockdown)

https://www.ft.com/content/2977db5b-a7a0-4d7d-9a03-81578c8a2ee7

There are also fears of a wave of job losses when the government furlough scheme supporting 8.9m workers - a quarter of all employees - is phased out from August,
when employers will start to share the cost of the scheme.

Elizabeth Martins, economist at HSBC, said the worry was that when the scheme is wound down
“revenues will not be high enough” to cover the additional costs,
“particularly if firms have taken on more debt to get through the lockdown”.

Unemployment has alteady risen, as some firms sacked people when they had no work for them,
especially on ZHC, or with < 2 years

I'm very grateful that DH works in IT and that their parent company is in Germany. Just got to pray they don't decide to close the UK arm. I don't work, although as a trained teacher I could find work quite quickly I imagine. Our income would take a big hit though and it's not massive now.

Building the brexit stash whilst I can afford to.

Good luck to you and your family, Honeysuckle 👍

Those 50,000 customs agents, along with their customs infrastructure, seem to have joined all those thousands of new police and nurses that the govt kept promising - in lala land

FT Economics@fteconomics

UK in U-turn on full post-Brexit border controls
https://on.ft.com/3frWObN

Nick Macpherson@nickmacpherson2 (ex-Treasury)

An early lesson I learnt from international negotiations:

if you are going to threaten a larger entity, who is bearing less risk than you are, it's essential to get your ducks in a row first.

‪#freetrade‬ ‪#amateurnight‬

It takes rare skill to insist on a hard Brexit on 31Dec but not to be able to implement the border checks after 4 years of planning.

By contrast, France & Holland - no great enthusiasts for the ends - have the means:
an ovenready hard border ready to go.

#freetrade #amateurnight

Hate seems to have undergone a personality change. Very different tone in recent posts vs previous ones. Lockdown does funny things to you.

Rehashing old debates isn't particularly helpful right now

I actually agree with Hatel there. It's done. The Uk has left the EU now. It happened last december. I mean even KS has said the same (and he is a remainer full stop)

However, what is coming our way is scary. Extremely scary. The double wammy of covid and brexit (even if its one with some sort of agreemnt - which isn't likely atm) will be herrendous.

What can you do about it? sweet fuck all imo. People are still dealing with covid, starting to get out of the house, being surrounder by aliens each time they go to a shop/doctor etc...
Brexit is the last thing on their mind. Which unfortunately also gives free reign to BJ and co.

Brexiters need to realise Brexit has happened - Remainers already accepted this on 1 February
The referendum mandate has been fulfilled

Now BJ can chose what kind of trade relationships the UK will have after transiiton
So far, he seems to be going for No Deal with the EU and a totally subservient FTA with the USA

Remainers have accepted it, but it doesn't mean we just roll over and accept what happens. Hitler was democratically elected. It didn't stop people protesting against his government, to the extent of risking and sacrificing their lives.

Defenders of Churchill ...
Do they know which side he was on in WW2 ?

Peter Foster Retweeted robert shrimsley @robertshrimsley

Pictures can be deceptive but
there do appear to be a fair few Nazi salutes from those assembling to defend Churchill.

Somehow don't think its down to the famous English sense of irony.

Dan Sabbagh@dansabbagh

On Parliament St, in front of the police cordon 100m from the Cenotaph

https://mobile.twitter.com/robertshrimsley/status/1271763536797204480

Rehashing old debates isn't particularly helpful right now

Since Churchill seems to be plat du jour, it's worth noting that whatever his views on female suffrage, once it had happened, he didn't invest any energy into making it unhappen.

It's a poor general who doesn't learn from his enemies mistakes ....

It's a poor general who doesn't learn from his enemies mistakes ....

Ditto with the NHS - he didn't undo it once he got back in again in 1951.

From scientist for EU:

The same group who broke electoral law and unlawfully shut down a Parliament they were found to have been in contempt of a few months prior... 👇
“Police chiefs have accused Priti Patel of “absolutely disgraceful” interference after she demanded a clampdown on Black Lives Matter protests.
“One chief constable said that the home secretary’s call amounted to a “chilling abuse of power” amid concerns that the anti-racism demonstrations have badly damaged relations between Tories and police.”

The more people who speak out against Johnson and cronies take over of the Tory party, the better.