Westministers : Saving the Union

[RedToothBrush]

Apparently we need a tunnel. Just like we needed the £53 million failed Garden Bridge.

Nice little earner for anyone involved.

A nice artlcle telling you about the chalk of England, France and parts of N Europe. Which people like Boris Johnson could do with reading before they start planning to tunnel under the hard rocks of the Irish Sea.

I particularly liked this quote: “The English Channel is really a minor thing. It’s the same deposit basically, so there’s no Brexit with the chalk.”

Very clever
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-deal-approval-april-uk-eu-b1806160.html
Gives more time for the reality to sink in
the vaccinations to roll out
and the lockdowns to lift

In what way LQ?

The EU will wait to ratify it till the UK have sorted out if they will mess about more.
The DUP have suddenly realised they were shafted
as have people like fishermen
industry and retail already knew

by delaying a bit the blame it on COVID and ha ha Astra Zeneca themes will have run their course

and reality might just force realism.

might

Hmm.

Might.

A little light trolling from the BBC

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56165563

Covid: Airline industry travel pass ready 'within weeks'

Yeah LQ timing is critical - I’m sure they game different timetables of rolling things out.

Call me cynical, but I’m unsure we’ll get to June 21st without a hiccup. Perhaps they hope it looks vaguely optimistic for 10 weeks till May 6 elections, and everyone’ll still be basking in the vaccination / freedom haze, enough to vote for them...
But I fear they may have to slow the unlocking after that.

Also they’ll want to keep Brexit fallout stories under wraps till after May 6...

Hester
Brexit Fallout stories will be VERY hard to keep under wraps
after the UK starts to comply with the WTO Rules on 1st April

just as the school break up

by the time the schools and Universities go back in Mid April
and the pubs are trying to get all of the restaurant supplies
and the shops are trying to stock up with summer clothes

but Gove's hologram clearance clerks will still not exist ....

Hence why the EU sitting tight till the week before the elections is excellent timing

It's an interesting narrative though ... the EU having to request of the UK ...

Not quite sure whether DGR was being ironic but certainly in my day the 4 year modern (sic) language degrees with a mandatory year abroad were far from constrained to the wealthy - it was basically a year working abroad in the language(s) you were studying.

If the Guardian article is correct this basically destroys modern language degrees for a year or three. I didnt claim it as a brexit win because its just too crappy for the students concerned.

The interesting thing about the MFL issue is what it reveals about the "we hold all the cards" rhetoric.

EU countries waited to see what conditions the UK would impose on incoming EU students before deciding what they would do as regards UK students going to EU universities.

Since the UK dragged its feet and it only trickled out in late November that it was requiring visas with a healthcare surcharge totalling almost 900e for EU students staying 6mths or over. Plus a scenario whereby it may or not be necessary for students travelling to study in the UK to prove that they have £9000/mth available in a bank account for each month they stay, as they may be asked to produce evidence of that on arrival, or may not... I don't know about you, but I can't prove that, never mind my students having to).

EU member states waited for the UK to play its hand before playing theirs. So UK universities are now struggling to adapt to 26 different sets of rules slowly emerging.

Holding cards is not an advantage if you ineptly cling onto them for too long.

BTW, none of my contacts in UK MFL depts have any info about Turing at all, although now is the time applications for Sept mobility start to happen. A cynic might think the programme hadn't actually been planned before it was announced.

Although...if you can access the THE, this is enlightening:
www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/hand-wringing-over-uks-erasmus-withdrawal-misplaced
Notably:
The Turing scheme should be global in principle but trade oriented in focus, maximising UK students’ opportunity to travel to Asia and learn Asian languages/culture in the Asian Century.

It is time to move on from Erasmus and, with the benefits of hindsight and a real sense of purpose, build a better scheme that gives as many UK students as possible the opportunity to live and work overseas. This will enrich their higher education experience, enhance their future careers and help ensure that the UK makes a success of its new geopolitical place in the world.
Blog post written by... the founder of the Asia Careers Group.

A very looooooooooooong thread, of so much Brexshit winning...

Adding to Auld Alliance’s post about requirements for EU students in U.K. universities, DD’s school had an online discussion re university applications and it emerged that studying at any university in the U.K. actually cost the same as US Ivy League universities, with fewer restrictions being placed in foreign students by the Americans. The only thing that was cheaper about the U.K. was the flight there, everything else cost the same or a fair amount more (including health insurance, oddly). Ireland was being pushed as a more than viable alternative to the U.K., as well as English speaking courses in the rest of the EU.

On another note, I got my notification that as a non EU citizen I have been removed from the local council and Europarliament electoral roll. That was fairly depressing. I can now vote absolutely nowhere, until my Italian citizenship arrives. Thanks Brexit fuckers.

@Melassa

Adding to Auld Alliance’s post about requirements for EU students in U.K. universities, DD’s school had an online discussion re university applications and it emerged that studying at any university in the U.K. actually cost the same as US Ivy League universities, with fewer restrictions being placed in foreign students by the Americans. The only thing that was cheaper about the U.K. was the flight there, everything else cost the same or a fair amount more (including health insurance, oddly). Ireland was being pushed as a more than viable alternative to the U.K., as well as English speaking courses in the rest of the EU.

On another note, I got my notification that as a non EU citizen I have been removed from the local council and Europarliament electoral roll. That was fairly depressing. I can now vote absolutely nowhere, until my Italian citizenship arrives. Thanks Brexit fuckers.

My DB surprised his employer (The US government) by showing it was cheaper to send him to Oxford to do his D. Phil. than to Harvard. So he came back for 3 years.

That was then. Now fees range from €25 to €40K per year depending on the course, plus living expenses and all the other financial guarantees. The US came out priced at the same level, plus their scholarships tend to be better and cover more. Or so I’m told.

On another note, I got my notification that as a non EU citizen I have been removed from the local council and Europarliament electoral roll. That was fairly depressing. I can now vote absolutely nowhere, until my Italian citizenship arrives. Thanks Brexit fuckers.
??
If you are UK you must be allowed to vote in UK
If you are EU you can vote in your EU country
and most other countries allow all citizens to vote long after they have left

@ListeningQuietly

On another note, I got my notification that as a non EU citizen I have been removed from the local council and Europarliament electoral roll. That was fairly depressing. I can now vote absolutely nowhere, until my Italian citizenship arrives. Thanks Brexit fuckers. ?? If you are UK you must be allowed to vote in UK If you are EU you can vote in your EU country and most other countries allow all citizens to vote long after they have left

I am a U.K. citizen resident in a EU country, hitherto allowed to vote as a EU citizen in local elections and euro parliament elections. Now, as a EU citizen no longer I have lost that right.

As I have been away from the U.K. for more than 20 years now I lost my right to vote in U.K. elections and referenda.

Ergo I am now totally disenfranchised everywhere, until my EU citizenship arrives.

This is despite a promise by Cameron to re-enfranchise UK citizens abroad.

It seems that his (unwritten) promise to implement Brexit was totally sacrosanct but other commitments, even ones written in the Tory Manifesto (c.f. Commitment to Single Market) can be taken with a pinch of salt.

The BBC did an item on both of its main news programmes with Paul Costelloe and other designers, talking about the problems that they were having as a result of Brexit.

Can I find any evidence of it on the BBC News App? Can I buggery

It did my head in watching George Eustice on C4 News tonight. Either he’s living in a parallel universe or I am. Everything is apparently ticking over smoothly at ports and there are but a few teething problems with a little bit of paperwork.

‘They are wrong’ – Environment Secretary accuses EU of making things up over Brexit trade dispute

www.channel4.com/news/they-are-wrong-environment-secretary-accuses-eu-of-making-things-up-over-brexit-trade-dispute

[quote HesterThrale]It did my head in watching George Eustice on C4 News tonight. Either he’s living in a parallel universe or I am. Everything is apparently ticking over smoothly at ports and there are but a few teething problems with a little bit of paperwork.

‘They are wrong’ – Environment Secretary accuses EU of making things up over Brexit trade dispute

www.channel4.com/news/they-are-wrong-environment-secretary-accuses-eu-of-making-things-up-over-brexit-trade-dispute[/quote]
He was spouting nonsense and lies on Farming Today yesterday:
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000sgtq

He’s an idiot for many reasons, but lying directly to an audience who knows what he’s talking about as opposed to the general public?

Anne Soubry was calling him out in Twitter for his lies .....

Anna Soubry is someone who I could never wholeheartedly agree with on some political issues but I can understand how galling it must be as a principled, intelligent, competent and level headed woman to see so may incompetent, lying dim-witted men in positions of high office that she is disbarred from precisely because she's bright and decent.

Another industry winning through Brexit.....

twitter.com/suewilson91/status/1364467704128806912?s=21

Tom Hayward on George Eustice last night

twitter.com/hawardtom/status/1364351661154709509?s=21