Westminstenders: Operation Shock and Awe

[RedToothBrush]

The government is launching its get ready for the end of transition campaign which has been dubbed a 'shock and awe' campaign.

In this campaign we will learn all about what Brexit means and what amazing opportunities lie for having increased customs and borders, beaucracy and increased costs. Bet you are all really excited and looking forward to this.

We will also get a 'Farage Garage' in Kent to cope with these wonderful opportunities in traffic jams. This will be something that businesses throughout the country will be super excited to plan for in their socially distanced Zoom meetings or across warehouses with their face masks on. And banks will be delighted to see an uptick in applications in CCJs and debt reconstruction plans.

It will be a super fun time for the under 30s who have zero hours contracts, worked in retail or hospitality. Or should I say 'worked'.

Meanwhile the right to a jury trial has been binned due to 'long covid delays' which are shorter than they were several years ago. The NHS isn't getting the funding it expected, and waiting lists are longer than ever with no way to clear them. The plan to build more hospitals seems to have disappeared with the Nightingales. Many councils are about to go into insolvency and be taken over by accountancy firms. The civil service is being dismantled and conservative loyalists with no experience being put in charge of important functions of state. Communications with the press are being 'streamlined' to make them incredible of holding power to account and only able to repeat government public announcements.

Anyone looking forward to Christmas? When you write a letter to Santa remember to add 'visa application form', 'a sleeping bag for use at Dover', 'tinned tomatoes' and 'packets of seeds to grow your own' to the list.

Listening that is worrying. I think the blanket ban in shops, while the right thing to do on a viral level is not the best approach behaviourally. I've seen apparent Tory voters cutting up membership cards on FB over it and suspect that if they had done a proper Public Health campaign on the pros and cons and how to use them this would have been better left to personal choice thereafter. Now you just have angry "rebels" aka authoritarians who don't want to be told wear a mask who have now made it cultural. This govt's procrastinating has meant many have garnered this from USA and Trump's approach IMO.

Weird how the behavioural science unit doesn't seem to work when it is actually needed for health though, huh? Seems to only spring into action over very political points...

Yes, mask wearing shouldn't be a partisan issue. It's a public health issue. and yet it falls victim to the culture war

I'm not a fan of masks
and in my local supermarket have not worn one
because every customer there lives within 2 miles
and I know what the case load is round here

Motorway services are a whole different issue
as are any sort of holiday destination

the footage from Magaluf is, I hope, going to encourage European destinations to ban Brits now rather than waiting ill January

Listening How well does everyone else know their local situation
How many will have bothered to find out
How many can judge when it is necessary to wear a mask in shops and when not
Do you know where every other person has been the last 7 days ?

This is why public health sets rules:

because actions have to be clear for everyone,
including those who have never bothered to follow the news
and those who have never seen why they should wash their hands after going to the toilet.

Mask wearing in my area has 100% compliance in shops, public transport etc

Hence no personal judgement required

• and no aggro between people wearing / not wearing where they should

Of course, if there is an area where there is no respect for rules, increasing rules won't help
However, such anarchic places will have problems whatever is decided, so rules are to keep the rest of the country safe.

50 Brexit Questions that the Food and Drink Federation @Foodanddrinkfed want answering:

< don't hold your breath >

Dmitry Grozoubinski@DmitryOpines

I was sceptical Brexit would lead to significantly improved US-UK trade flows, but I stand corrected.

Transition isn't even over yet and the UK has already imported a culture war over masks.
🥺🤦🏻‍♀️

< Issue of masks allowed to become controversial largely because of govt dithering, which gave time for the alt-right paranoid line to seep through

Face coverings have been mandatory in my area since about mid-April

It's bound to be much more difficult when the govt now can't explain easily why it has brought in masks so late

• and be believed; it is no longer trusted by many people >

Other countries like the Czech Republic made the wearing of masks mandatory at Easter time. As a result, they have contained their virus, and have been gradually able to ease their lockdown, and opened up Schengen borders at least a week or so ago.

Meanwhile the UK is going to make it mandatory in ten days time. I wonder what excuse Dominic Cummings will give when he flouts the rules?

You know I have to point this out

Meanwhile the UK is going to make it mandatory in ten days time.

No, England is going to make it mandatory in 10 days time. Scotland made it mandatory last Friday, with a week's notice (having already had it as formal guidance for 2 or 3 weeks). Wales still hasn't made it mandatory (they're only just making wearing them on public transport compulsory). I think NI is still deciding.

I bit my tongue, because I was waiting for you, pretty
Scotland leads, as has happened before in this crisis

Quite right, pretty.

I'm in Scotland too, and see a high compliance level of mask wearing in shops. I think peer pressure influences it.

Anyone else see the photo of a handwritten sign saying "masks are the new bras; you only wear them outside, and if you don't, everybody notices".

OK, I was close...

I beg your pardon prettybird. Treating the UK and England as though they are one and the same is not the sort of mistake I usually make.

As for bras - this depends on how big your boobs are!

I know you don't Peregrina - which is why I pointed it out with a

But it does illustrate how out of synch England is

Generally the best way for people to adopt new behaviours is to have some education and understanding of the why and practicalities. We've skipped the educate and nudge part and gone in heavy handed with a shove; almost as if the govt don't want the very people who voted for them to get any benefit as they are the least likely to wear a mask without prompting.

Sorry, should add the group they need to influence do not react well to heavy handed "rules" imposed on them despite being keen to set them for others. They don't have the education to assess risk and have a tendency to believe in conspiracy theories... Sound familiar? This is how they sold Brexit as getting away from the EU 'regime'

JeSuis, I have a new-found faith in peer pressure (which is not the same as common sense, note).

Trouble is, now it is cultural that won't work as well (peer pressure) as they have divided themselves into the culture war as per US. Some who have health concerns might change at a push if carefully asked and made easy to climb down by family members, but the govt or shops trying to shame them will just get their backs up. I see public spitting in faces potential here

Speaking of which, was there ever any update on the horrible man caught on CCTV spitting in the face of the female rail worker who later died?

JeSuis, I think he was cleared.

I suppose they cannot prove it was him who gave it to her but at least anti-social behaviour and a fine as he not only abused staff but the intent was to cause grievous harm, surely?

I am also shocked that in Spain the tourists aren't getting fined for not wearing masks whereas the locals would be. My friend with the Greek villa flies out on Sunday.

V difficult to prove where someone caught COVID
but spitting in someone's face during an epidemic should be classed as assault

Road Haulage Association (RHA) chief executive, Richard Burnett:

https://www.lloydsloadinglist.com/freight-directory/news/Freight-concern-over-post-Brexit-border-arrangements/76975.htm#.Xw4W3C1HmfA

“RHA members, and traders in general, need clarity on how they will be expected to run their businesses from January 2021.
What worries us is that at the moment, the UK hasn’t hired anything like the number of customs agents needed to process the new form-filling.

“The UK is very slow off the starting blocks on hiring thousands of staff to do this vital work.
If we don’t tackle this fast, it’s a recipe for disruption to the supply chain post-transition which affects us all.”

The RHA stressed that even if the new agents are hired and trained by 31 December,

“firms still don’t know what forms will be required, how they should be completed, who should complete which forms, or where they will need to be sent.

This is vital information that firms need to have as soon as possible, and should already have received if they're to have enough time to prepare for the new trading arrangements with the EU.

“The RHA is again repeating its demands for clarity from the Government, who simply must provide this vital information if the UK supply chain is to continue to operate smoothly from 1 January 2021.”

firms still don’t know what forms will be required, how they should be completed, who should complete which forms, or where they will need to be sent.
Bullshit
the *T2 and C88 are worldwide standard forms^
they are already used on every shipment coming in from or going out to every non EU country