Westminstenders: a feature of the system not a bug

[RedToothBrush]

Tests on the new queuing system in Kent have revealed that lengthy tail backs are a feature not a bug.

We should get used to them because thats normal not the system malfunctioning, but the planned system working as designed.

Today we have found out that there's no money left. The economy is fucked. And tomorrow we will probably all be in T3 with the Isles of Wight, the tip of Cornwall and inner Westminster the only places left in T1.

Christmas has apparently been 'saved' though. Well if you are dumb and lacking in functional brain cells its 'saved'. Trade for Christmas is already thoroughly goosed and indoor family gatherings may come with a extra side of covid. The BBC have done an epic job of 'doommongering project fear' style graphics on this wonderful subject.

Tis the season to be jolly. Jolly fucked.

Hedgehog is still alive and eating
there is hope for it
if not for Government humanity and competence

That bit of news jumped out at me too Choux... another clear message to EU students. Don't bother coming to a British university.

It was always brilliant to watch a student cohort made up of multiple nationalities learning from each other, opening up perspectives, and making life long friendships. Now....? Those opportunities greatly reduced, thanks to our glorious leaders desire for insulation from the ROW being imposed on our young people.

Surprise surprise. I bet no one holds them to task over this.

www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/27/report-casts-doubt-uk-pledge-prevent-low-quality-food-imports-brexit

Ministers’ pledges to preserve the UK’s food and farming standards after Brexit will not prevent the import of lower-standard products and could spell potential disaster for Britain’s farmers, a report has found.

(contd)

I don't even want to begin commenting on the refusal to allow students to begin studies they have paid through the nose for but were prevented from following due to force majeure, and to oblige them to travel back and forth during a pandemic, when air fares are sky-high and travel v difficult, with quarantine in place in some countries, so they spend one day in the UK in 2020.

I'm weary of it all, but still furious enough to get v sweary about crap like this coming from a gvmt that blithely breaks its own and international laws.

I saw that DGR and thought 'quelle surprise'...

How do you know when anyone from this government is lying? They open their mouth.

From that Guardian article on good standards:

The FBSC also found that the TAC under current plans would not include representatives with expertise on public health, environment, animal welfare and consumer protection.

Quelle surprise - no pesky experts

(TAC = Trade & Agriculture Commission which has an expanded remit to oversee standards and issues, supposedly to address concerns)

So the UK Government
not content to just shit on British young people
is shitting on all youngsters
GREAT

Looking at Hansard, Liz Truss (loving that face like a slapped arse) didn’t reply to Emily Thornberry.

But there’s some interesting reading in there.

hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2020-11-25/debates/30AFA3FF-1A63-47A9-B3CE-92FE2BC64654/UK-JapanComprehensiveEconomicPartnershipAgreement

Current story in Sky news
news.sky.com/story/a-portable-cabin-and-google-translate-life-on-the-brexit-haulage-frontline-12143243

Older story in local paper
www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/dover-freight-worker-says-no-3207003

Put it this way.
I'd trust what that chap says over ANY civil servant or politician.

@ListeningQuietly

Current story in Sky news news.sky.com/story/a-portable-cabin-and-google-translate-life-on-the-brexit-haulage-frontline-12143243

Older story in local paper
www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/dover-freight-worker-says-no-3207003

Put it this way.
I'd trust what that chap says over ANY civil servant or politician.

.

A useful Brexit mythbuster.

Written last year so slightly out of date.

The shiteness of the UK government is truely world beating. Now they're demanding that the union jack is on the vials of the Astra Zeneca vaccine. I'm surprised they're not insisting on the conservative party logo, or picture of Johnson.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/oxford-university-astrazeneca-vaccine-uk-flag-union-jack_uk_5fbfdd14c5b68ca87f827a0e?fbclid=IwAR2Sqpo4khKBpwLCaO97NjI2QzF0tfGAa0EBJFpXRwCigeYzBf-3juvcrYc

Downing Street now deny the Union Jack plan. What's the betting that they leaked the idea to see how it would play out, and when it was greeted with derision quietly dropped the idea?

@Peregrina

Downing Street now deny the Union Jack plan. What's the betting that they leaked the idea to see how it would play out, and when it was greeted with derision quietly dropped the idea?

I suspect it was an unofficial way to let AZ know what the "right" thing to do is. If they know what's good for them, that is.

I just read the Graun story about the students and this leapt out
According to Home Office rules published on the government website, students only need to provide one document dated in the last six months in order to be granted pre-settled status, including a “passport stamp confirming entry at the UK border” or “a used travel ticket confirming you entered the UK from another country”.
LYING BASTARDS
EU citizens DO NOT GET PASSPORT STAMPS moving within the EU

as the holder of a non EU passport I know more about it than those racist shits at the Home office.

and a "used travel ticket"
is a bit tricky for passengers in cars on ferries and tunnels

.

Extremely weary PMK. Feel like I'm going down with the ship

A C Grayling interviewed me for a Philosophy degree at Birkbeck 20 years ago and let me on. Still no idea why - I folded after a term. But he was kind and sweet to me and I'm happy to see that he has a media presence that does good in trying times. Walks his talk.

Weren't the Romans actually quite keen on walls?

@FishesaPlenty

Weren't the Romans actually quite keen on walls?

Not really. One of my essays for Latin was "Describe the effect on the Roman psyche of the necessity of Hadrians wall". Having to limit the empire was a blow to a lot of ambitious Romans. A bitter pill for a race that had been raised for centuries to believe the Earth was theirs. Suddenly being told there were limits to it could arguably be when the rot set in.

(and yes; there is a subtext ).

@FishesaPlenty

Weren't the Romans actually quite keen on walls?

Previous reply notwithstanding, of course when they did want a wall, they did it well. Unlike our current shower of commanders.

Fucks sake, you could have run HS2 along Hadrians wall which was put up in 10 years. (Although even in the second century, the Brits workmanship was decidedly iffy. Look how the wall shrank from 10 ft wide to 8 ft wide when Hadrian left Britain.)

The seige of Alyssia, and Trajans Bridge should be taught from a very early age in schools. It might raise modern aspirations a bit.

(I think Britain accidentally forgot to export the words "it can't be done" to our American colonies way back when, and sadly has regarded itself as having to keep them alive single nationedly ever since).

I wasn't particularly referring to Hadrian's Wall. They had walls and fortifications on other borders. They loved a wall, and a border, and a defined administrative area, taxes, duties, red tape the lot.

Fishes
You are a lorry geek like me - have a read of this
ucleuropeblog.com/2020/11/24/freight-industry-perspective-customs-clearance-in-post-brexit-britain/

I find the argument that EU hauliers won't come here because it's 'too difficult' hard to agree with, particularly when it's reinforced using Serbia and Belarus as an example. Serbia and Belarus are unattractive destinations for hauliers for other reasons.

I expect a bit of extra cost will have to passed on to customers, but generally there's no shortage of people willing to take any load, if you're prepared to pay enough for it. It's a very fluid market.

Fishes
generally there's no shortage of people willing to take any load, if you're prepared to pay enough for it. It's a very fluid market.
And there is the rub
because drivers used to doing the UK run will need to factor in up to four days for clearing customs on a round trip
that is a LOT of extra cost on the lettuce run from Spain