Westministenders: Can you tell your Rs from Elbows?

[RedToothBrush]

This week Mark Sedwill has resigned (or was he pushed?) and David Frost (chief brexit lead) was appointed National Security Adviser in a move that enraged Theresa May. The former prime minister felt that his appointment was unprofessional and that was a political appointment not an independent one and that he lacked experience. Of course in terms of national security we still haven't had that report on Russia and I don't believe The Intelligence and Security Committee has yet been named (not sat since Johnson was appointed as PM).

We have passed the deadline for extending transition and we have now apparently said that negotiations on the end of transition will finish at the end of September.

The bill ending Free movement of people has been signed, amongst much fanfare by the Conservatives saying they have delivered on the Referendum promise. However we might have up to 3million Hong Kongers who we are willing to allow into the country which might not go down too well with those who were unhappy with 'unrestricted EU immigration'.

We also have the demonstration of utter incompetence, outsourcing and lack of coordination and communication from central government and local government in the covid-19 crisis. A national scandal that isn't being properly reported by the press and leave you with the very large question of who is this government serving? If its contract with Deloittes over testing didn't require them to report positive tests to Public Health England, what was the point in the testing? How can this be consistent with 'The Government’s new approach to biosecurity will bring together the UK’s world-leading epidemiological expertise and fuse it with the best analytical capability from across Government in an integrated approach.' and will provide real time analysis and assessment of infection outbreaks at a community level, to enable rapid intervention before outbreaks grow.?

The growing feeling that Brexit is being exploited by this government for personal interests and those of big business at the expense of the general public is one which was feared and grows harder to argue against by the day.

jesuis its so difficult isn't it? I love my kids but bloody hell, I am spending a LOT of time in my bedroom just to have SPACE

Watching Hamilton atm. Very good!

Poulet Happy Birthday!! and if lf else fails,
At least your day must have been better than that starlings?

Happy Birthday, JeSuis.
It's really hard.
I have days I want to scream. Bless you not even able to have a secret cigarette ... on your bloody birthday!
💐🍾🍫🎂

@JeSuisPoulet

Happy Birthday to you!!!

(and yes, to your post, just yes...) xxx

Another happy birthday here to you 🐓 Poulet 💐🍰🎂🍷🍫

All

Thanks everyone and sorry for the derailing. LQ my dad is the only other person in the family and he came up for a week when we were allowed to "bubble" so I should be grateful for that really. DD is really good on the whole but I just needed to have the fun part of being an adult for a bit yesterday. I think DrBlackbird posted a while ago about decision fatigue. I'm feeling that a whole lot atm.
Thanks for the support

Belated Birthday greetings Jesuis

Happy Brithday je suis Poulet

Have you seen this tweet thread from Leave Means Leave last night? Is the penny dropping? threadreaderapp.com/thread/1279871372265734147.html

A belated Happy Birthday to you from me too, Poulet.

The extract from Leave Means Leave is a gem. Are we sure it's not a spoof - like the delightful piece about the family who wanted to retire to Spain and the spanner of a son, who was a tyre fitter, who may well have jumped off a bridge?

1. Any serious examination our #Brexit trade negotiations suggests the UK is playing silly buggers and was never sincere about a deal and we're just going through the motions to pretend we tried. The headbangers have won. So now it's for them to explain what comes next.

Never serious about a Deal - yes. Going through the motions - Yes. Who exactly are the headbangers though? They can't blame Remoaners because Johnson has his majority (I'm not allowed to mention the numbers) and the MPs are predominantly of a Brexit persuasion, because the rest were chased out of the party. Nor does a "What about Corbyn" wash anymore.

Where is this oven ready deal that Bozo promised?

Another Happy Belated Birthday greeting to JeSuisPoulet from me too.

Here are some virtual flowers from the garden

Thanks HoldingTight. I love this bit: I've been watching closely for any sign of intelligent life but the trade minister is Liz Truss.

It's defo from their account. Isn't Leave Means Leave is Pete North? - it reads like him. He's an arse in many ways but was always after a close agreement, some form of EFTA I think. Shame there's no cut-through from his branch of 'leave'.

Sorry, my mistake - I meant Leave HQ, not Leave Means Leave! Sadly they did have (enormous) cut through!

Belated birthday wishes jesuis 💐

Ds2 (11 decided to have an existential crisis between 1-3am so I'm feeling rather fragile this morning.

It's his last week of primary school. All the usual rights of passage have not happened...it all feels very anti climactic and sad.

It's surprised me how much I rely on the usual yearly rituals to ground me. Very odd feeling atm like anything could happen.

I really shouldn't have read the Trump thread at 4am!!! 😬

I hadn't realised that this was Peter North, although I knew there was more than one Leave group. He always did have clear ideas about what Leaving could have involved. If the Government had listened to half of what he has being saying for at least 4 years we would not be in this mess now.

I suspect an awful lot of people thought that Leave would be implemented in the way he wants - an EEA/EFTA style arrangement. Even Farage wanted that until he realised it meant Freedom of Movement.

Oh no Yoikes, I hope he is feeling better. Really hard for the Y6's this year I was also up at 4am and couldn't get back to sleep. Today is going to be a long one!

I've also noticed less "fight" from a lot of leavers on FB for eg. They start off with the same "we won" attitude but fizzle out quickly when face with "what did you win again?" type questions. I do think for many the penny is dropping, largely due to the food standards/animal welfare petitions going around. My leaver veggie friend who thought she was voting for better animal welfare (I know!) posted it, so they have definitely seen them.

I see the Guardian has an article on the long term effects of mild COVID cases, which I am just about to read "In other coronavirus developments: evidence is emerging of long-lasting debilitating health effects among people who have had the virus, including fatigue, aching muscles, difficulty concentrating and shortness of breath brought about by scarring to the lungs. Adrienne Matei tackles the persistent notion that “people who have ‘mild’ cases of Covid-19 are spared from serious health repercussions. One thing is becoming increasingly clear: even ‘mild’ cases can be more complicated, dangerous and hard to shake than many first thought.” The border of the Australia state of Victoria has been closed as it continues to battle an outbreak in which nine tower blocks remain locked down. India has registered a record daily number of 25,000 coronavirus cases as well as 613 deaths in 24 hours – its biggest daily spike – and is has just become the third-most-infected country behind the US and Brazil. The American stage star Nick Cordero has lost a lengthy battle with Covid-19, dying at age 41 after more than 90 days in hospital, during which one leg was amputated amid attempts to save his life."

And yes GG, my day was certainly better than the poor starling's!

Thanks for the flowers @prettybird - great selection!

Here's the article about long term effects from the "mild" cases www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/06/coronavirus-covid-19-mild-symptoms-who which is worth remembering many of the population will not have had a test for as it was restricted to hospitalised cases only...

Express link www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1305475/Brexit-news-uk-fishing-brexit-deal-eu-trade-talks-latest-Richard-Tice-update "Brexit Party Chairman Richard Tice argued the EU needs to cave to the demands of the UK on fish in the Brexit trade deal talks. During an interview with Express.co.uk, Mr Tice claimed the fact the fish reside in the UK's waters mean the EU cannot expect to get the same treatment as when Britain was a member of the European Union. The Brexit Party chairman reflected on the importance of the fishing industry to those who live and work on the coasts in addition to Brexiteers across the country."

Actually the next bit (for those who don't want to click on it) is quite telling, I've highlighted in bold. I suspect this is what Bozo will sa when his oven ready deal doesn't float:
He (Tice) said: "To put in context, for every one job at sea there are seven of eight jobs onshore.

"These jobs happen and would be created in some of the most deprived areas and who need the greatest regeneration around our coast.

It is a huge opportunity and we must not be tempted to give it away to secure a trade deal.

"These are separate issues, these are our waters and we must take back full control and maximise this Brexit opportunity."

So sad about nick Cordero.
A very talented man by all accounts.

@JeSuisPoulet

Express link www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1305475/Brexit-news-uk-fishing-brexit-deal-eu-trade-talks-latest-Richard-Tice-update "Brexit Party Chairman Richard Tice argued the EU needs to cave to the demands of the UK on fish in the Brexit trade deal talks. During an interview with Express.co.uk, Mr Tice claimed the fact the fish reside in the UK's waters mean the EU cannot expect to get the same treatment as when Britain was a member of the European Union. The Brexit Party chairman reflected on the importance of the fishing industry to those who live and work on the coasts in addition to Brexiteers across the country."

So TL;DR ....

• This is really important to us.
• But actually we have no leverage with you.
• Please be nice.
• Please

?

Incidentally, are people aware of treaties the US has refused to honour ? Even when SCOTUS has ruled they should ?

Might be an idea to start reading ...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Sioux_Nation_of_Indians

I reckon the Benefits of Brexit are going to join nuclear fusion and a cure for as being "just 10 years away" for the next few decades.

I'm still waiting for my jet pack.

For a minute there I thought you were going to say that the impact of Brexit would be as easy to deal with as they thought radiation contamination was in the early James Bond films.

Brexit and Nuclear power : both turned out to be more poisonous than their early proponents said