Westministenders: Festive Edition

[RedToothBrush]

Good King BBBBaBoris looked out,
on the Port of Dover,
There the shit lay round about,
Deep around the stopover;
Brightly shone the moon that night,
Tho’ the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight,
Delivering stuff for Yule.

“Bugger SAGE and stand by me,
We've all stuff that needs selling,
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?”
“Sire, he lives a good league hence,
The other side the EU;
Though relations maybe tense,
He's trying to get goods through.”

“Oh god I need another wine,
I have many crisis to consider:
We must tell them its all fine,
I must not be seen to dither.”
SAGE and monarch, forth they went,
forth they went together;
Through the nation's sad lament
and really crappy weather.

“Sire, our plight is darker now,
And the covid transmission stronger;
Fails my heart, I know not how;
To keep Tier 2 much longer.”
“Soon we can drop their wage.
And treat them all more coldly
In Britain's new chrony age
A time to rob more boldly.”

In their master’s steps they trod,
On the quest to get minted;
Each and every last sod
Needs to be fingerprinted.
Therefore, Christian men, be sure,
DWP claimants are processing,
Ye who now will bless the poor,
God its all so depressing.

@HannibalHayes

But maybe you are a relative of those who will benefit.

Oddly enough, I'm not a multimillionaire disaster capitalist, not an Eton school buddy of the cabinet, so, like 99.9% of the country, I'm going to suffer.

Why you seem to think this is a good thing, is, frankly, beyond my comprehension...

Selective quotes, lovely jubbly.

Night night. Are you a closet Brexiteer? But I don't really care my dear.

We shall see soon enough what this Empiricist, Hubristic stuff has thrust upon us. Doubt it will be pleasant in the long run, but for now it has a nice glow for the ERG. lol.

Oh dear...

@HannibalHayes

Oh dear...

I do not agree and never did, with Brexit. For the record.

It will only benefit the few. As I am sure you know, the rest of us need to keep the faith and point that out.

The DM and the EXpress will continue to denigrate those with a brain who expressed a contrary view lol. But then again those who read these publications oh god.

Whatever you say...

@wherearemychickens it's possible to apply for an Irish passport after 5 years working here (hence the number of Irish rugby players with questionable backgrounds )

If your dh works in a scientific/pharmaceutical field that would be the best way to get EU passports for the whole family. No need to learn a new language and few problems with children's schools etc.

And at least you would be earning your passport. I'm majorly pissed off today as I've learned that all of my public school educated, Brexit voting English cousins have just got their children Irish passports via their grandparent link to their Brexit voting dual citizenship Granny.

It really pisses me off as neither I, nor any of my children, are eligible for a UK passport, despite the fact that I was born in a UK territory to a serving British Army Officer. There are so many exceptions to the rules for UK citizenship; in Ireland we just say "if your Granny is Irish, or if you are prepared to work here for 5 years, welcome".

So Bozo has given an interview to the torygraph ( not read it but headlines in BBC)

He says - provide new legislative and regulatory freedoms to "deliver for people who felt left behind".

What do you think this means? My prediction that workers rights trashed by Easter is looking good!

I think he means workers/unemployed in the 'north' - the ones who voted Brexit/ Tory for various rea sons, part of building infrastructure and creating opportunities that he talks about. Hopefully not hand in hand with destroying workers' rights, that would be very dark.

@wherearemychickens Germany is 5 years for residency, 9 years for citizenship. I'm not sure if you can have dual nationality.

Eve schimmelreiter I hope it doesn't mean removing workers rights.

If he thinks he's going to win over the people up here that he royally fucked over less than six months ago, he's utterly deluded. The "levelling up" schtick might have worked if we hadn't seen evidence of him ignoring the pleas of Greater Manchester businesses for more support when we went into Tier 3. All to score political points.

Hopefully not hand in hand with destroying workers' rights, that would be very dark.

Sorry on the form of Tory Governments from Thatcher and beyond I would not get your hopes up at all.

Well, a lot of firms are going to find that their overheads rise due to Brexit. They then have a choice - 1) make less profit 2) charge their customers more or 3) pay their workers less, put more of them onto zero hours contracts, reduce any costs like non-statutory sick pay. Those at the top of the chain will no doubt put pressure on their suppliers who will face the same choices.

If it's choice no. 3, what will the current government's reaction be, I wonder.

A poorer UK will inevitably be a less egalitarian UK. And Brexit - any Brexit - will make the UK poorer, because it makes trade and commerce with our nearest and biggest trading partner less easy. It adds costs to no benefit.

Doubt many care about Pharma, Euratom, Erasmus and so on.

Actually I agree with @veeeeh on that.
A lot of the Brexiters dont care about euratom etc... in part because they have no idea what it is and what it does.
They won’t care about Erasmus when their dcs are unlikely to go to uni, let alone go a university in the eu. In in the NE, about 80% of students go to a university 50 miles away from where they live. The ‘South’ isn’t even considered, let alone France or germany.

People will start grumbling on other areas. The queues when going through passport control. Pet passport, possible roaming charges etc... basically the things that will affect them very directly when they’ll have the opportunity to go away in hols.
And thanks to covid, this might well not happen soon anyway so, in the mean time, they’ll get used to it, just like everyone got used to wear a mask in shops after months of grumblings, talking about being exempt etc... Same with the increase in prices due to Covid, thé increase in zero hours contract, the rise in unemployment etc... how can you differentiate between job loss due to brexit directly and those linked with Covid?

I’m afraid many people will say that BJ and and the government did the best they could in those so unusual circumstances. Just like they do about the handling of the virus. And everything will get buried under the covid headstone. :(:(

@bellinisurge, I agree that people in the north have become even more cynical about ‘levelling up’ etc...

When BJ announced the tier 4 in London and the subsequent increase in counties in that tier, Ive heard many people actually enjoying the fact that, for once, it’s the south that is facing more restrictions that us (tier3). Many chuckles around that here.

Re. Citizenship and residency @istherelifeafter40

Having looked at citizenship for myself and DH (BRITISH and French), I agree with you in a lot of counts. In some ways, there is little surprising about the citizenship system in the U.K. or the visa system.

Where it’s massively different is

• the cost. More than £3000 in the U.K., about 50 euros for France last time I looked

• The fact that family staying or getting their citizenship isn’t automatic. So because I’m French and our Dcs are French, DH wouod have no indue getting a ‘carte de séjour’ etc... in France. Here, I might be married, have children with DH etc... there are many hurdles for me to be bale to stay in the uk. Actually there has always been stories about couples and families ripped apart by that system

• if you have finally got your long term visa, you will get a document in paper in any countries in the eu. None of the eu citizens with settled status have one. Cues for many headaches to get a job, bank account, renting a place etc...

• windrush... do i need to say more about why few people actually trust the BRITISH government, REGARDLESS of which one it is?? (Granted thé current one is worse. But no one has ever done anything about them...)

• the crazy rules that will stop you from getting your citizenship, like having contacted HMRC because YOU have spotted a mistake that you’ve made. And they consider your character is t good enough so refuse the citizenship.... The ‘changing your mind’ where one has got their BRITISH passport but the renewal is refused because you haven’t given all the right paperwork at the time etc etc etc

No chuckles here. But given that building divisiveness is how this government keeps going, I'm not surprised.

@Chersfrozenface

Well, a lot of firms are going to find that their overheads rise due to Brexit. They then have a choice - 1) make less profit 2) charge their customers more or 3) pay their workers less, put more of them onto zero hours contracts, reduce any costs like non-statutory sick pay. Those at the top of the chain will no doubt put pressure on their suppliers who will face the same choices.

If it's choice no. 3, what will the current government's reaction be, I wonder.

Probably a combination of all 3 across the board - bearing in mind unless you can attract an export market, you're gonna be selling less anyway.

My memory was that it was steel - and the products made thereof - that drove the UKs initial pleas to join the EEC.

The proof of the pudding will be whether the UK can still attract - and keep - foreign investment. I'd be curious what Japanese industry thinks of the deal ...

Well soon know what Nissan is going to do I think....

What baffles me with our Leave Cutnpaste friend is that all deals involve some trading of sovereignty. We mustn't lose any sovereignty to an EU country, but it's wonderful to trade some sovereignty with Japan, or the USA.

Anton Spisak @antonspisak
One of the more interesting things to think about, when analysing the UK-EU agreement, is what it doesn’t say. All those questions that were discussed during the negotiation but never made it into the deal. More on this later!

I’m thinking about:

- Lack of mutual recognition of conformity assessment for manufactured goods

- Lack of any voluntary recognition of product standards

- Lack of an agreed framework for recognising equivalence on food safety standards

- Watered down provisions on services

- Next to no provisions on financial services and regulatory cooperation

- Removed references to various bits of EU law from the earlier drafts

Etc etc etc

And according to some research I did in the summer, the idea that making useful stuff out of steel and selling it to your neighbour is better than making weapons and attacking them.... (By research I mean looking stuff up)

On a swords into ploughshares principle, we need sustainable, environmentally favourable lifestyles - so if we could evolve from war to capitalism to something that sustains life AND the planet, that would be good.

Yes, I am idealistic, and no, I don't think the Tory party are thinking on those lines! But not long ago, we had no deal, no vaccine and Trump. So things can change.

That led on from DGR when I wrote it.

- Lack of any voluntary recognition of product standards

Lack of any voluntary recognition can probably be accounted for by the way Johnson's Government has behaved. They signed the WA without reading it, then wanted to rip up certain provisions so it must be abundantly clear that the old idea of gentlemen's agreements done on a handshake are just no where near robust enough.

Yes, I am idealistic, and no, I don't think the Tory party are thinking on those lines! But not long ago, we had no deal, no vaccine and Trump. So things can change.

Yes, I agree. Things like the NHS came into being because people had vision and wanted to build a better world. It takes effort though.

Joe Pike @joepike
NEW: Just interviewed @RishiSunak for UK broadcast pool:

-Trade deal is an ‘enormously unifying moment for our country’ and will ‘bring people together after the divisions of the past few years’.
-People ‘should be ‘enormously reassured by the comprehensive nature of this FTA’.

On financial services:

-Brexit means ‘we can do things a bit differently’.
-e.g. Examining how we make the City ‘the most attractive place to list companies’ in world.
-Deal provides reassurance because there’s a ‘stable regulatory cooperative framework mentioned in the deal’.

Roland Smith @rolandmcs
And yet the Erasmus move was a completely unnecessary 'total-victory-style' middle finger to Remainers. Zero magnanimity, as has been the case all the way through this.

Completely fits with Vote Leave's bull-in-china-shop approach from the very start. It is storing up a big anti-Tory backlash at some point in future. John Major's landslide defeat will seem like a slap on the wrist by comparison.

It will happen. At some point. Just a question of timing.