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.

The BBC may be downplaying end of transition fears, but the government feel it's necessary to tell us how to proceed on WTO rules, received in my inbox this morning.

www.gov.uk/guidance/trading-under-wto-rules

@mrslaughan

Sorry - I won't buy food produced in Isreali's - as the factories it is manufactured in , is built of land stolen from the Palestinian- and provided with resources which the Israeli government won't allow the pale to have for their businesses........ like water......

I believe that fits the bill for being an "anti semite" - which is one reason why I stopped caring who is and who isn't.

I'm with you, by the way.

Complaining about Israeli government policy is not being an anti-semite.
Complaining about Jews in general most certainly is.
I feel free to criticise Israeli policy, but loathe anti-semitism. There is a difference.

Just had a look at the WTO guidance from Gov.uk. Not much change there then, and loads of time to prepare!

But (to Dr Blackbird): Erasmus can provide you with a bursary to help with living costs over the year abroad? And Erasmus means that students who go to a cheap uni in their own country won't have to pay more if they go to uni in an EU country where unis are more expensive. Surely that's helpful for students whether they are EU citizens or not? After all, plenty of EU citizens travel within the EU in their overseas year and take advantage of Erasmus. That's mostly the point of Erasmus. If your family is well off and you intend your children to study at an English university (expensive), then I can see that Erasmus wouldn't help you. But if you were a poor family and your child went to university in Scotland free of charge then Erasmus would help you.

Wow, I took break from MNing for an evening catching up with The Mandalorian, and there were loads of posts!

Complaining about Israeli government policy is not being an anti-semite.

I absolutely agree, but the rabid right wing don't agree - or not in public anyway. For them any public criticism of Israel is tarred as anti-semitism. I suspect that in private a good many right wing individuals are as anti-semitic, racist and xenophobic as they come.

@KonTikki

Complaining about Israeli government policy is not being an anti-semite. Complaining about Jews in general most certainly is. I feel free to criticise Israeli policy, but loathe anti-semitism. There is a difference.

Potayto/potarto

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-54999010

The US has declared as anti-Semitic a prominent international movement which calls for a complete boycott of Israel over its treatment of the Palestinians.

(contd)

But, as I said, I'm with you. Israel is a nasty country at times.

Bear in mind that UK local councils won't be allowed to officially boycott Israeli goods under UK law ...

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-israel-boycott-ban-bds-queens-speech-a9253651.html

As I said, personally I've rather lost interest in people being branded "anti semite" now I know exactly what some people use as a definition. Unintended consequences and all that.

wherearemychickens
The economic pressures that would drive UK interest rates upwards are non existent.
IE
I expect base rates to stay along the floor for years yet
as does the apolitical DMO

@Peregrina

Complaining about Israeli government policy is not being an anti-semite.

I absolutely agree, but the rabid right wing don't agree - or not in public anyway. For them any public criticism of Israel is tarred as anti-semitism. I suspect that in private a good many right wing individuals are as anti-semitic, racist and xenophobic as they come.

The Tories were using the "Labour anti semitism" row as a recruiting tool.

If it's real anti semitism you want, don't look at the amateurs. Join the professionals. Join the Tories

Feel sorry for the BBC*. The border in Ireland is going to be like a ball and chain that ends up in every story about the US - reminding us about Boris and his "deal". I bet a Trump win would see the border being something that was never spoken of again.

www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-55068277

...
Mr Biden, who has Irish heritage, said he was against a guarded border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland as a result of Brexit, arguing it must be kept open: "The idea of having the border north and south once again being closed, it's just not right."
...

*Irony

I really need to grow up. These are available to buy, if you know where to look ...

I was too busy to post this last night, but here is some anecdata I have gathered over 15 years of coordinating Erasmus exchanges between a French university and around 10-15 (numbers have fluctuated over the years) UK universities.

We have certainly had non-UK EU students (German, Italian, Spanish, Czech, Polish, Slovak, IIRC) who were studying at a UK university come to France on the Erasmus programme. All of them have been notably motivated and hard-working, as well as linguistically agile, which cannot always be said of our incoming UK Erasmus students. (Anecdata, again, of course, which will rightly be washed away in a flood of cut&poo.)

We had around 100 incoming students/year, more like 60 since the Brexit referendum, and have never had more than 3 or 4 non-UK EU citizens/year. Many years we had none.

We have never, in 15 years, had a French student come to France on Erasmus.
Why the hell, if they have gone through the process of settling in the UK to study and can get financial aid and access to study programmes in another country, would they then mooch back to France?

It's an interesting insight into anyone's mindset that they would even think that, TBH. A bit like the notion that those getting benefits are all "scroungers."

Most students who go on Erasmus exchanges are by definition open-minded and keen to discover new places and learn new languages, not looking for a cheap way to spend a semester somewhere they already know.

Suggesting that it doesn't matter that tens of thousands of UK students will not benefit from international mobility because some non-UK students have also benefited in the past is... well, I can't find the word.
I could google and c&p one, maybe.

Auldalliance - can I ask you how much the Erasmus scheme helps UK people to spend a year or half a year abroad? I'm not sure how much weight I should put against it - in terms of considering whether DC should go to a university in the EU, and then spend a year in a different country (or maybe 2 countries) under the Erasmus scheme, which she would be able to access due to being at an EU university for her degree. She speaks a few languages, but would like to improve all of them. Has British citizenship only.

greek
I think the door is closed on it now to UK kids

my child did a year in Europe - well ten months actually
and just loved it
science degree, science type placement
met people from all over Europe (and other countries that pay into the scheme)
made lifelong friends
learned a new language
learned about how other people lived
and it cost us NOTHING because the EU fund the whole shebang

if your child can get to say a Belgian Uni and then do placements in Spain and Italy GO FOR IT

my child was accepted for a masters in mainland Europe but Brexit uncertainty meant that they could not take up the place

DH did his Masters thesis in an EU country via Erasmus - spent about 4 or 5 months there doing the fieldwork, lab work and write up. Didn’t have language skills but picked some up there and had a very memorable time.

Notice no mention of what Brexiteers promised against the reality. Not on this channel. Why isn't the very first sentence in this story :

Despite constant assurances by all sides tasked with delivering Brexit, none of the benefits has yet emerged. Here we talk to a UK producer severely affected by the total and utter failure to deliver anything remotely as promised by the Leave campaign in 2016

www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-55051261

A cheese processing firm employing 140 people has warned jobs could be at risk if Brexit trade talks end without a deal.

(contd)

LQ
^www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/sep/23/no-deal-brexit-will-cost-uk-more-than-covid-report^

My DD was lucky enough to do her masters in Sweden, and worked there for a bit afterwards. Not through Erasmus, but all it cost us was living expenses. The same course here (locally) would have cost £15k. These opportunities are now closed to UK students, making the world that bit smaller for them.

I'm looking forward to the brexit festival. I've always wondered what it's like in North Korea and now we get to experience it first hand. Triumphant nationalistic celebration while our children go hungry. Well done our glorious leader.

Icould
The masters in Europe was going to cost EE300 a year
or £18,000 a year if doing the same course in the UK
and of course a masters would have resulted in 18% salary deduction once earnings start

the UK does not really value education

I suspect most of the funds put towards the Festival of Breshit will end up on measures to try and spike the guns of unbelievers who might try to make the whole thing an embarrassing - and very public fiasco before the worlds press.

Festival of Britain it won't be.

If there's some sort of big event, the very first job will be to vet the people applying for tickets. Which means almost instantly it will be an invite-only-no-proles sort of do. Possibly with a slight live delay, in case anyone tries to float a Farage past the cameras, a la the PumpATrump we saw in London.

Oh dear. Float a Farage - really does have the potential to become a profanisaurus entry for emptying the bowels .....

I really wish I could fast-forward to March. The post-Christmas period tends to be miserable anyway and the uncertainty is already having an impact. One of my clients was complaining yesterday about their supply lines being pushed back to the end of January as no-one knows what to expect and the haulage companies are hedging their bets. They make cold-chain packaging so when they get impacted so do a lot of other businesses.

It's the unintended consequences that hit you for six. But, I still live in hope of apologising to Clav for doubting her breezy confidence.

Thanks all. My DC can go to a Scottish university free of charge as is resident in Scotland. But I'm wondering about going to an EU university instead and then spending a year on the Erasmus scheme in 2 other countries in the EU. The main problem would be that they wouldn't be able to get a maintenance loan. Quite a big problem really! Would also need to work v hard to be good enough at the language to study in EU country number 1 (wouldn't want to take a degree taught in English).

the UK does not really value education

At all levels. My DH is a scientist/lecturer who worked at a UK univeristy. He was never permanently employed in the UK and when it looked like his contract wouldn't be renewed, due to lack of funding, he was snapped up by another EU university. Initially he had a 4 year contract but his colleagues told me that they'd never let him go. Sure enough when he started they looking around as the end drew near, they offered him a permanent position on extremely favourable terms. I've been told by many here over the years that they can't believe how short sighted the UK was to let a scientist of his cailbre go.

Why isn't the very first sentence in this story :

So here you need to write bombard the BBC to ask why they didn't put the statement they should have done. The Brexiters have to be held to account - we have had four and a half years of insults from them, so now they should be beginning to deliver on their promises and not trying to pass Brexit off as though it's an act of God.