Westminstenders: Going, going, cummings

[RedToothBrush]

As expected he's fucking off and leaving everyone else to pick up the pieces in January. But it does look like he was eventually shown the door and left with a cardboard box. As he should have been months ago.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with Johnson needing an image change, like the shape shifting creep he is, to one that fits more with the incoming Biden Administration. In other words hes got some serious sucking up to do...

... Meanwhile in Brexit land we are going into yet another final week of talks.

Many expect Cummings departure to signal 'the cave in'. The Eu say we havent moved enough and the uk say the EU wants us to do all the moving... Except the EU have done lots of moving. Barnier is still looking for a groundsman to level his field to play. We have yet to work out we aren't Canada and distance is important to trade.

Of course if we don't get a deal, that Pfizer vaccine in Germany that we want, might be hit with delays and extra costs we just can't afford.

@borntobequiet my thoughts exactly.

I’m sure the Diana thing is being given more credence than Prince Andrew/Epstein.

Amazing.

The U.K. media needs an overhaul.

It's been interesting watching the US media (CBS, NBC, ABC - via our Amazon box) during the period immediately before and since (on going ) the US elections: they are much more overt in calling out lies, even especially if it's the President and have no qualms about cutting away from one of his (or his acolytes) rants press briefing and saying that he's talking rubbish.

I wish our media had called out our Government (and Farage and the rest of the Leavers) more overtly at all

@Greektome

How about training up UK workers? Wasn't that half the point of Brexit?

No

Selling England by the Pound

www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/japan-trade-deal-punches-usa-sized-hole-in-privacy/

The UK has just signed its first new free trade agreement, independently from the EU, with Japan. We believe that clauses in the UK Japan trade agreement pose an existential threat to data protection rights in the UK, as we outline in a briefing.

Prettybird
That comes back to Lord Grade's comments about the requirement of UK TV channels to be balanced

They are not allowed to call one side a bunch of lying shits unless they call both sides a bunch of lying shots
oh wait

I can see the BBC remit being reduced to factual reporting
and then opinion left to ITV, C4 etc
each of which could then develop their own bias
with the bald facts still being on the BBC and Reuters

"Admittedly these days I only get my information from you good people, the trump thread and twitter (inc news headlines)."

Private Eye is another source that is highlighting Brexit issues.
For example, the likelihood of any Covid vaccination getting stuck at the Kent FarageGarage until it's out of date and unusable, being both time and temperature critical.

That comes back to Lord Grade's comments about the requirement of UK TV channels to be balanced

But that's bollocks. We don't get programmes about sex offenders where we have to hear from "Gary" who is in favour of "child love" do we ? We don't have discussions about policing that need criminals on the panel to put forward the "crime is good" argument do we ?

So it's a very selective balance we get isn't it ?

So Lord Grade is full of shit - and no one calls him out on it. So much for balance eh ?

(This post may well disappear, it feels like it's just eaten itself).

It's interesting that on the food thread, there are people admitting that they voted Leave for a joke and are now regretting it. This would not have happened even six months ago - we were assured that all Leavers knew exactly what they were voting for and couldn't wait until it happened.

In mitigation, with better leadership from Cameron and then May we might well have ended up with an EEA type agreement, which would have been a compromise that most would have accepted.

I have absolutely zero sympathy for those who voted Tory in 2019 - they knew by then exactly what they were getting - a Government led by a liar and a cheat, who were quite happy to take illegal actions if it suited them.

Something I've noticed in the last couple of days, the UK based media seem to be implying that a deal has been done or is on the brink and it'll be announced sometime next week. But EU based media seem to think it's no closer and the UK are still playing silly buggers.

@FatCatThinCat

Something I've noticed in the last couple of days, the UK based media seem to be implying that a deal has been done or is on the brink and it'll be announced sometime next week. But EU based media seem to think it's no closer and the UK are still playing silly buggers.

I don't trust any UK media over Brexit. I need to read it in another language originally first.

Besides, we are past the point where a deal is possible. There just isn't the time anymore.

So anything being announced will be some sort of "understanding", a pre-deal, an advance deal.

Bear in mind there are some UK-side issues to deal with too - this is from yesterday - even if it sounds familiar.

www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-54986142

Peers voted by 367 to 209 to amend the Internal Market Bill, after claims that it would allow the UK government to "shackle" devolved administrations as powers are returned from Brussels.

And they voted by 327 to 223 to curb ministers' powers to rewrite parts of the bill at a later stage.

(contd)

We also have Tony Abbott telling us to get used to shit food.

www.thenational.scot/news/18881605.tony-abbott-says-uk-tories-must-not-too-concerned-food-standards/

(Didn't see that on the BBC did we ?)

FRESH concerns around food standards in Scotland have been raised after a top UK Government trade advisor said that the Tories shouldn't be "too concerned" about it.

Tony Abbott, the former Australian prime minister, told a Westminster committee that some governments were “too concerned with standards and labour standards” and that the London Government “shouldn’t sweat the small stuff”.

..

When asked about ensuring that international trade deals serve the interests of the whole of the UK, Abbott laughed at the idea of the devolved leaders being part of the delegation.
...

(also contd)

I don't know why I'm shocked, but I am.

Is it possibly the lobby system that has led to such an incestuous situation
where those who call out are frozen out

but its certainly the case that the newspaper owners have vested interests that exclude 99.9% of the population

When asked about ensuring that international trade deals serve the interests of the whole of the UK, Abbott laughed at the idea of the devolved leaders being part of the delegation.

I've just watched that section - disingenuous reporting. Abbott laughed because it was clear that the chair was making a joke - he was also good humoured when he referred to Nicola Sturgeon's disparaging remarks about his appointment. Abbott talked about how he included the premiers from the regions of Australia in his delegation to China in 2014. He came out with phrases such as 'it was a lesson to our own negotiators to try to be as inclusive as possible when you think about the interests of the different regions of our country [Australia]' and it was 'a whole hearted national effort to get a trade deal.' etc...

I've just watched that section

You have more time to waste than I

You have more time to waste than I

Pretty boring here today.

www.thenational.scot/news/18881647.lesley-riddoch-boriss-blurt-no-mistake-reveals-tories-think-us/

BORIS Johnson’s “devolution disaster” is the festive gift that keeps on giving.

Not just did it coincide perfectly with a brief lull in every other major story, thus attracting the attention of every newsdesk from London to Lerwick, but the PM’s panicked lieutenants have devised excuses that are more revealing and toe-curling than the original gaffe itself.

There’s an adage in politics – it’s not the crime, but the cover-up that gets you. Let’s adapt that for Boris – it’s not the blurt but the botched explanation that totally gives the game away.

(contd)

So what happens now that the negotiations have been suspended? Is that it, no deal?

Is that it, no deal?
I cannot see another outcome.

@FatCatThinCat

So what happens now that the negotiations have been suspended? Is that it, no deal?

It's very hard not to sense that someone from the EU "testing positive" the same week Boris Johnson has to self isolate is fatefully symmetrical.

As regards a "deal" - there never was going to be one, was there ? We're passed the point where anything could be translated and circulated amongst the heads of EU, let alone put to their national parliaments. And that's before we even know if the commission would allow any deal to be agreed to in the presence of the IMB.

And as noted a few days ago, it's entirely possible the EU will simply prop up their own fishermen in the absence of any deal until the UK deigns to stop playing silly buggers.

Could be the "get out" clause that BJ was looking for: due to entirely foreseeable unforeseen circumstances resulting from Covid isolation requirements, there will need to be a short extension to transition

@prettybird

Could be the "get out" clause that BJ was looking for: due to entirely foreseeable unforeseen circumstances resulting from Covid isolation requirements, there will need to be a short extension to transition

Boris was never looking for a get out clause.

There will be no extension.

I think I must be a closet optimist as I think I was still expecting everything to be sorted out in the end. Despite knowing full well it was going to be a complete shitshow.

I agree with DGR
The EU has extended the date again and again to pander to the UK
Calais is ready
There will be no more extensions

Boris' plan to equip the military with lightsabers seems to have done the job of distracting from the end of negotiations.

It was clear when Theresa May had a deal within her grasp that there were forces ranged against it. It wasn't necessarily given that they would win, until the boneheaded British chose a Tory government. And that was that. We've been lied to. Cheated. Treated with contempt. And left to die in our thousands by a government that was only ever out for itself, and is now swinging a wrecking ball through the Union of the Kingdom in a process that can only be described as despotic.

I salute the EU for the clever ploy of using a questionable case of Covid to draw an end to negotiations without actually making it look like a walkout. Especially as even the drooling UK press can only really sympathise, what with out own brave gallant PM having to endure the indignities of self isolation. I'll admit, I didn't see that one coming.