Westministenders: Brevid

[RedToothBrush]

The government have FINALLY started to treat no deal brexit and covid as one entity in terms of fucking the economy.

On the one hand you have one camp who think they can sneak No Deal through as a consequence of Covid. On the other you have people who realise that it might be quite a good idea not to doubly screw your entire economy and to continue to be able to import medical supplies freely.

We now no that No Deal Brexit will involve passports to get into Kent and 7 mile queues of trucks because this has passed the lips of Gove. Y'know one of those who has been denying this for the past 4 years and presenting it as 'scaremongering'.

We are now firmly into the end game where businesses have to make plans based on the government plans and technology. Y'know the ones that aren't complete yet despite it only being 2 months to go.

Johnson has today done an interview about covid restrictions in the NE in which he got all the detail wrong. Its almost as if he forgot the lines he was instructed to recite and have no fundamental understanding of what rules he's putting into place to control the lives of the population.

As we lurch into October, there is speculation of full local lockdowns being brought in to try and deal with the spiralling number of cases which have to be the result, in no small part, of a dire lack of local testing facilities in the North of England. Meanwhile we've got The App finally. The one that doesn't work and the police and many health care staff are being advised not to use cos its so bobbins and will lead to them constantly isolating needlessly. Thats just something the rest of us have to contend with.

The feeling is that Cummings is up for No Deal. Johnson has been brainwashed into it, which lets face it, isn't too hard given how hard of thinking he is. However there is a growing sense that Johnson may now bottle it and declare victory in the jaws of defeat. That might be a premature hope.

We await the answer and the all important question of whether Christmas is indeed cancelled - that is for everyone who hasn't already cancelled it due to financial hardship...

Is anyone else discombobulated at the fact that the UK are now pissed off as the EU wouldn't even discuss their suggestion that everyone pretend that cars assembled in the UK are made from UK parts? How much brass neck do you have to have to put that idea on the table in serious negotiations. They really are out to make us look like complete and utter fruit loops.

What would it do to make the scales fall from the eyes of Tory voters - to make them realise how their party has been hijacked by the extreme right wing?

It would need to be something fundamental, compared with the scales falling from the eyes of once extremely devote Catholics when they realised how much paedophilia the church had got away with.

@Peregrina

What would it do to make the scales fall from the eyes of Tory voters - to make them realise how their party has been hijacked by the extreme right wing?

It would need to be something fundamental, compared with the scales falling from the eyes of once extremely devote Catholics when they realised how much paedophilia the church had got away with.

I don't think the number of devout Catholics has been affected by much. After all, they're starting from a position of believing regardless anyway.

When we say "die-hard" Tories, we mean it.

Hoping your opponent has an epiphany seems a very weak strategy for success.

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone,
“it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”

“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”

“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master – that’s all.”

@BigChocFrenzy

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”

“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”

“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master – that’s all.”

One of mine and DS favourite books. Fond memories of reading it to him as a toddler with voices and the like.

Even more fonder with hindsight because MiL hated it.

It seems a shame, the Walrus said
To play them such a trick
After we've led them out so far
And made them trot so quick

meanwhile ...

Post-Brexit negotiations .... going "somewhere", like Alice / BJ wants ?

Alice: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“–so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.

“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

@Peregrina

What would it do to make the scales fall from the eyes of Tory voters - to make them realise how their party has been hijacked by the extreme right wing?

It would need to be something fundamental, compared with the scales falling from the eyes of once extremely devote Catholics when they realised how much paedophilia the church had got away with.

If the composition of the Conservative party in Parliament has significantly changed then that's because moderates have left it. Funny sort of hijacking where the hijackers let lots of people off the plane, not really a winning strategy for them IMO.

I don't think this outcome i.e. moderates leaving is a desirable one but its hardly a hijack.

If the composition of the Conservative party in Parliament has significantly changed then that's because moderates have left it.

My reading of the news was they were kicked out. Mainly by refusing to agree to a FuhrerPakt

Meuniere
it makes the UK look like a fool again

I'm not sure about that - they've all been at it;

2018 "The Danish Prime Minister has proposed camps for processing asylum seekers to be set up outside EU borders."

"Prime Minister Rasmussen said he wanted to set up centres for the reception of migrants and camps for rejected asylum seekers in a European country outside the EU. He said that Germany, the Netherlands and Austria had been included in discussions about the project" ...

"The Danish Prime Minister did not specify which countries might host the camps - though he mentioned that it would be in a place that was "not particularly attractive" for traffickers"...

"French President Emmanuel Macron had made a similar proposal for "hotspots" located outside the EU – specifically in Libya, Niger and Chad – last year. Macron said France would be willing to set up the centres if the EU was not interested in funding the project. However, the French president quickly backtracked after he was criticized for suggesting that states like Libya would be safe locations - as well as for acting outside the EU framework of migration controls."

www.infomigrants.net/en/post/9763/danish-pm-proposes-asylum-camps-outside-the-eu

Is anyone else discombobulated at the fact that the UK are now pissed off as the EU wouldn't even discuss their suggestion that everyone pretend that cars assembled in the UK are made from UK parts? How much brass neck do you have to have to put that idea on the table in serious negotiations.

This?
"While the provisions of the individual arrangements may vary in certain details, most preferential origin arrangements have a number of common provisions" ...

ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/business/calculation-customs-duties/rules-origin/general-aspects-preferential-origin/common-provisions_en#:~:text=Cumulation,-Bilateral%20cumulation&text=Cumulation%20is%20the%20term%20used,the%20origin%20of%20country%20B.

This?
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Limited.
UK automotive & Brexit: International Trade and Rules of Origin
16 November 2017

Brexit: Potential Mitigations
• Rules of Origin: Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Regional Convention.
– UK and EU27 exporters are already familiar with these rules.
– UK could benefit from cumulation with other Parties, as well as with third countries, once it concludes FTAs them based on identical rules.
• Cumulation: ensure bilateral cumulation; aim for full cumulation or diagonal accumulation depending on the current arrangements.
– Full cumulation operates within EU, EEA and some other countries eg Maghreb.
• Proof of Origin: the REX system allows self-certification by exporters, simplifying the process. EU intends to apply in all future FTAs: already in the EU-Canada FTA.
• Transitional arrangements: to continue current arrangements until
until UK concludes FTAs with EU and third countries, and joins PEM Convention.

meanwhile, 3 years later in August 2020

ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/business/calculation-customs-duties/rules-origin/general-aspects-preferential-origin/arrangements-list/new-pem-rules-of-origin_en

Noticeable by absence is "UK" (except as a substring of "Ukraine").

Using my efficiency of cynicism, I'm guessing the UK is stropping about the ECJ oversight ?

ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/business/calculation-customs-duties/rules-origin/general-aspects-preferential-origin/arrangements-list/paneuromediterranean-cumulation-pem-convention_en

[quote DGRossetti]meanwhile, 3 years later in August 2020

ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/business/calculation-customs-duties/rules-origin/general-aspects-preferential-origin/arrangements-list/new-pem-rules-of-origin_en

Noticeable by absence is "UK" (except as a substring of "Ukraine").

Using my efficiency of cynicism, I'm guessing the UK is stropping about the ECJ oversight ?

ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/business/calculation-customs-duties/rules-origin/general-aspects-preferential-origin/arrangements-list/paneuromediterranean-cumulation-pem-convention_en[/quote]
Bad form to quote oneself, I know, but this is going to be an ongoing issue, deal or no deal.

The EU has simply and quietly moved on since 2016 when Brexit was instigated. And rather than engage and keep up, the UK is going to be working from increasingly outdated specifications for a lot of issues.

meanwhile, 3 years later in August 2020

Well ok, this briefing paper was written in July 2020;

"Because rules of origin can be constraining and increase firms’ costs, the aim should be to maximise the possibilities for cumulation – bilateral and diagonal, and to minimise the bureaucratic costs."

"In its draft Treaty the UK is proposing to allow for full bilateral cumulation as well as diagonal cumulation with the EU and a range of partner countries."

"While the EU may (just) agree to full bilateral cumulation with the UK, it is very unlikely to agree to full diagonal cumulation on the terms set out by the UK. Further, there is limited incentive for the EU to agree to diagonal cumulation since its exports to the UK already benefit from the cumulation the UK has agreed with its continuity partners."

"The EU’s Pan Euro-Mediterranean Rules of Origin (PEM) provides a set of rules with the possibility of diagonal cumulation that the EU has already agreed with a wide range of near neighbours. It is therefore plausible that the UK could negotiate to be part of the PEM system, which would help to maximise the take up of trade preferences for the UK."

blogs.sussex.ac.uk/uktpo/publications/were-going-to-make-them-an-offer-they-can-refuse-rules-of-origin-and-the-uk-eu-free-trade-agreement/

The chemicals industry now being more upfront about the impact of Brexit - or maybe it's just that MPs and the press are now paying attention because we've known about this for a very long time (and some production capacity has already been moved to the EU as a result):

^BASF's Neil Hollis' grim summary of UK chemical industry after Brexit:

• registration costs will be £1 bill across the industry, "no tangible value"
• Some chemicals will "disappear" from UK
• Less investment in UK

"There's no positive spin on this one" he tells @hilarybennmp^

Also, it takes a lot to surprise me these days, but these ideas floated in the home office are completely deranged, and I mean that in the most literal way possible.

🐿 "In all Earth life forms, sugars are always right-handed (D-chirality), and amino acids are always left-handed (L-chirality).This is known as 'homochirality' and biologists still don’t know why this originated. Therefore, Brexit negotiations are going brilliantly!" 🐿

Also apparently they were considering PNG for assylum seekers...... it's just that old attitudes of empire. PNG is probably poor enough to except them for a bung.... but what a disaster in the making.

PNG for assylum seekers

Which is of course it's a horrific, racist, colonialist idea - but it's positively sane compared with parking border force boats in the middle of a shipping lane in order to generate waves to deter migrants in small boats.

[quote Clavinova]Meuniere
it makes the UK look like a fool again

I'm not sure about that - they've all been at it;

2018 "The Danish Prime Minister has proposed camps for processing asylum seekers to be set up outside EU borders."

"Prime Minister Rasmussen said he wanted to set up centres for the reception of migrants and camps for rejected asylum seekers in a European country outside the EU. He said that Germany, the Netherlands and Austria had been included in discussions about the project" ...

"The Danish Prime Minister did not specify which countries might host the camps - though he mentioned that it would be in a place that was "not particularly attractive" for traffickers"...

"French President Emmanuel Macron had made a similar proposal for "hotspots" located outside the EU – specifically in Libya, Niger and Chad – last year. Macron said France would be willing to set up the centres if the EU was not interested in funding the project. However, the French president quickly backtracked after he was criticized for suggesting that states like Libya would be safe locations - as well as for acting outside the EU framework of migration controls."

www.infomigrants.net/en/post/9763/danish-pm-proposes-asylum-camps-outside-the-eu[/quote]
And they were told to get lost too because only a fool would do that.

It’s not because some people jump from a bridge that you have to do it too.

There's going to be a climb-down at some stage. The question is how much pain the Government will inflict before it costs them votes and they seriously engage with a trade agreement.

Other than that, @TheElementsOfMedical random factoids are brilliant.

And they were told to get lost too because only a fool would do that.

Indeed.
2018
"Morocco's foreign minister threw cold water on an EU plan to build offshore centres to process migrants in North Africa, saying claims of a migration "crisis" are overblown."

www.politico.eu/article/morocco-rules-out-building-eu-offshore-asylum-centers-migration/

July 2020
"EU trying to replicate Australia's offshore detention centres, refugee activist warns."

"Abdul Aziz Muhamat, who is from Sudan, spent several years in detention on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island in one of the "offshore processing" centres for asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat."

"Since 2015, politicians in countries including France, the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark have pointed to the Australian model, in particular offshore processing, as the solution for Europe’s migration policy crisis."

"Right now, the EU are trying to replicate the offshore detention centres," said Aziz."

www.infomigrants.net/en/post/25711/eu-trying-to-replicate-australia-s-offshore-detention-centers-refugee-activist-warns

The EU is not building detention centres in Africa or anywhere else, its simply not policy and isn't attainable in any case.

Perhaps if Cameron hadn't bombed Libya, then perhaps that country would not have become a failed state with various criminal and ISIS groups running the show?

But once again Clav you manage to divert from the mess that the UK is in over its Brexit (lack of) negotiation progress.

Yes, I'm enjoying Element's random factoids as well. They're nearly impossible to distinguish from the actual squirrel posts.

@Mistigri

Also, it takes a lot to surprise me these days, but these ideas floated in the home office are completely deranged, and I mean that in the most literal way possible.

... A barrier of small boats to stop migrants landing ....

Creating lots of big waves to send them floating back to France ....

I thought that was the Daily Mash ! 🤦🏻‍♀️

Sounds like something Y5 might come up with
If you had a few child psychopaths in Y5

When they are brainstorming, the Home Office should first download the international law relating to crimes against humanity,
which is what they would commit if their lunacy sinks boatloads of migrants