Westminstenders: Prepare for what we said would never happen

[RedToothBrush]

I think that there may be a run on tinned tomatoes and pasta coming. Pizza will no longer have mozzarella in 2021.

On the plus side turnips are in season.

BCF -
Hope to see you around here again soon.

Quite looking forward to that and the conversation we are about to have about how i want a chest freezer for Christmas.

Don't do it, it will be like the 1970's, we will have months without electricity.

Another lurker just saying how much I’ll miss BCFs posts. Thank you so much for your input here and really hope you come back soon

Can I also send my best wishes to BCF if anyone is in touch with her.

It's very important to know when to take a social media break. But I hope she comes back.

I don't post much these days because tbh I'm sooo over Brexit. I'm kind of resigned to most of it, even to the prospect of having to apply to stay in my home of 22 years and losing the last vestiges of my ability to participate in democratic institutions by voting (I no longer have a vote anywhere).

But this week has been harder, because of the immigration bill (I won't bore you with the detail but I'm disgusted with the Labour Party) and, bizarrely, because of the news about the automatic passport machines no longer being available to those of us with a U.K. passport. I know in the greater scheme of things it's not that big a deal but I travel a lot for business mainly via eurostar and it will just make that experience that much more of a chore.

COVID is very bad here in France and I'm preparing mentally for another lockdown. Our local hospital has more covid patients now than during the April peak. My daughter in Paris will be packing today ready to leave at short notice. Her mental health won't take another period of complete isolation (she lives alone in 14 m2).

Best wishes to BCF

meanwhile ...

www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/oct/23/uk-presses-for-use-of-faster-passport-gates-at-eu-airports-post-brexit

Boris Johnson has clashed with Brussels over an 11th-hour attempt to save British passport holders from hours of delays at European airports from the end of the year.

The government is seeking continued use by UK nationals of the automatic e-gates used by EU nationals at airports and Eurostar terminals. The move is seen by the European commission as an attempt to keep Britons in faster lanes rather than having to queue up with the rest of the world after the end of the transition period.

Studies suggest the loss of access to automatic gates and the need for extra passport checks could delay Britons by an extra hour as they move through some European airports. The issue has been raised in the ongoing trade and security negotiations, and the government has made contact with a number of member states in an attempt to retain access to the e-gates.

(contd)

I wonder how many people have walked past the non-EU queue and never thought: one day that'll be me ?

From that Guardian article..

A senior EU diplomat said: “Having grown up in Brussels, Boris Johnson values the ability to travel freely to the continent. So it is perfectly apt that the UK is now asking the EU to change its own laws to accommodate London on something it always had. We are probably in for another re-run of ‘the EU is being unfair’, ‘we’re only asking for a Canada-style deal’. It isn’t.”

Ouch, Boris.

Business trips will be amusing. UK nationals having to queue while UK/EU citizens waltz through the gates. (I can already see company guidelines being rewritten to ensure the PA doesn't leapfrog the CEO ...)

Last time I was in Europe I looked at the non EU queue.....but then having travelled on a NZ passport in Europe I am aware .......

Laptops promised to schools for deprived children have now been cut by 80% by the Government on the day they bought in new regulations for schools to provide full online teaching during lockdowns. So much for levelling up!

Schools were informed by email late yesterday.

I've had to move my cat food stockpile from a cupboard as we're getting our central heating replaced next week and they need access.

We have two cats They go through about 1.5 bags per week

There are another 4 out of date (by up to a couple of months) bags which I've left out in the kitchen in order to make sure that I use them.

I don't think I need to keep adding to it

The government is seeking continued use by UK nationals of the automatic e-gates used by EU nationals at airports and Eurostar terminals... loss of access to automatic gates and the need for extra passport checks could delay Britons by an extra hour

But-but-but this is literally what we voted for! To have different immigration arrangements from those foreign folk!

TheElementsOfMedical - I know. It's mind blowing

But don't they know who we are?

I saw the Express was whining about the passport gates - but this is what they voted for, isn't it? Except it wasn't - we have to keep Johnny Foreigner out, but don't they know who we are?

Perhaps if we call it the Special Queue for Special Brexitannians, the BeLeavers will be more than delighted to stand for a couple of extra hours in it. BlitzSpirit and What Price Sovereignty and all that.

I mean, isn't that what they say they're delighted with, for the Farage Garage, for prices going up, medical shortages, etc?

I remember how in the early days of Brexit there were lots of EU people on this thread. Then they all disappeared, presumably as they moved back to the EU. Really depressing. And that makes the contributions of the couple of French and one German residents all the more valuable. And now we've lost Germany. And LeClerc has reduced the French contingent.

I’ll miss BCFs posts. She and other regulars on here were unbelievably knowledgable, perceptive and supportive from the horrific run up to the referendum and it's fallout. Thank you so much for your input and although I'm mostly a lurker these days I'm happy to keep in touch through private messaging if that would be of interest!

"I don't care how unPC it is, but years of dealing with all sorts at my DFs garage showed me that there's a reason the well off are well off - it's because they are tight as a gnats chaff. "

You see it on Facebook, too. Very well off people who will ask to borrow suitcases for holidays, tents for camping, blenders for recipes when they can so easily afford to buy them.
One refused to buy an item from B&Q because they came in packs of 4 and he only wanted 3. He was asking if anyone had some he could use instead.

I wish BCF all the best and want to say how much I valued her input and expertise.

Like Mistigri, I'm not posting much just now as I'm preoccupied with the inevitable lockdown here in France, when and how it will come, how it will affect my students who are already really suffering from a disturbed last year and makeshift Zoom teaching this, and how I'll work with the DC at home again. I heard a biologist from a hospital in Savoie on the radio yesterday saying the spring was just a dress rehearsal for what's to come and they are already struggling. Covid patients by the dozen are admitted daily. France is transporting patients again from the worst-hit zones to the less affected ones.

The rate in my little town was 70/100k last week, 150/100k this week, curfew applies to us and the mayor keeps saying we're heading for lockdown unless people start taking things very, very seriously.

I have zero patience for people who pulled the UK apart in order to reclaim their undefined sovereignty and are now astonished not to be allowed in the EU passport corridor with their non-EU passports.

Surely if you wanted a British passport instead of an EU one, it's precisely because you didn't want to stand in the EU queue.

Or have I misunderstood something?

I'm still lurking every now and again. Can't keep up with all the posts but like speed scrolling to get the gist.

When social media is affecting your mood badly, it's definitely time to step away to get some perspective.

@ICouldHaveCheckedFirst

Surely if you wanted a British passport instead of an EU one, it's precisely because you didn't want to stand in the EU queue.

Or have I misunderstood something?

I know it's an unpopular view (which has fuck all bearing on it's veracity) but most people that voted for Brexit had no idea about passports and what they were giving up. They were much more fixated on what they were taking away (or "back" as it was sold to them).

It would be too funny for words if the EU agreed to a part compromise about entry and allow red UK/EU passports through the fast lane (after all, they were issued when the person was a citizen of an EU country) and required blue UK passports to go through the other channel. However, I doubt the commission shares my sense of humour.

It would be too funny for words if the EU agreed to a part compromise about entry and allow red UK/EU passports through the fast lane (after all, they were issued when the person was a citizen of an EU country) and required blue UK passports to go through the other channel. However, I doubt the commission shares my sense of humour.

That would be brilliant . Unfortunately, the EU have been behaving like adults (who are dealing with a naughty toddler) and will continue to do so.

@OchonAgusOchonO

It would be too funny for words if the EU agreed to a part compromise about entry and allow red UK/EU passports through the fast lane (after all, they were issued when the person was a citizen of an EU country) and required blue UK passports to go through the other channel. However, I doubt the commission shares my sense of humour.

That would be brilliant . Unfortunately, the EU have been behaving like adults (who are dealing with a naughty toddler) and will continue to do so.

You see if I were an EU negotiator, I would damn well make sure that was the proposal, safe in the knowledge that it could never ever be reported in any English newspaper - certainly not by teamUK ....

I've just had to send off for a new passport.
I preferred the colour maroon purely on personal taste, but can't get too excited whatever colour it is.
But to be bumped out of the EU queue at Immigration is yet another PIA which I doubt many Brexiteers considered.
I struggle to see any benefit in that 🤔