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.

I know that the WTO are reactive, not proactive
Funny. That's not what the new DG said today.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-56262527

Brexit: EU says UK grace period extension breaches international law

Ha! From twitter;

Does Boris Johnson know that Scottish Conservatives believe that lying to Parliament is a resigning issue?

mathanxiety
@ Clavinova
Theresa May...responded with a big, fat No to appeals from India on student visas, graduate visas, visas for IT workers, and requests for better treatment for professionals after graduating from UK universities.

India Times, 11 September 2019

In a move that addresses a long-standing demand to boost Indian student numbers choosing British universities, the UK government announced a new two-year post-study work visa route for all international students. ...

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has effectively re-instated a policy ended by his predecessor Theresa May around nine years ago, said the change would see students "unlock their potential" to begin careers in the UK.

The announcement follows the creation of a new fast-track visa route for scientists and the removal of the limit on PhD students moving into the skilled work visa route, which collectively aim to cement the UK as a science superpower and a world-leader in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) sector.

economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/visa-and-immigration/indian-students-set-to-benefit-from-uks-2-year-post-study-work-visa-offer/articleshow/71081831.cms?from=mdr

Export exactly what to Tokyo, Mexico City, and Canada?
Oysters?

Perhaps, although probably not oysters to Canada.

16 Oct 2020 Japan is the first destination for a series of webinars for UK businesses looking to open and grow markets to export seafood.

www.fishfarmermagazine.com/news/japan-first-port-of-call-for-uk-seafood-drive/

The oysterman featured in Byline Times already exports to Taiwan and Dubai;
richardhawardsoysters.shop/pages/partners-in-brine

A post-Brexit ban on exports of untreated oysters to the European Union has left some Essex fishermen concerned about their future.

Mersea oysters are world renowned. Picked from oyster beds in the intertidal waters of the river Blackwater Estuary, they have been harvested for hundreds of years.

There is a global market for the wild catch with orders this week reaching as far as Taiwan. Richard Haward’s Oysters used to send 250kg of the shellfish to the European Union every week, now they do not even send one.

Will Taiwan take the 250kg per week of oysters that Haward used to sell to the EU but now can’t?

At the end of the day there's great Oysters in Europe, their costs are still the same, their prices are still the same, whereas ours have had to rise by 20%. One guy I know he said if he had to create a depuration plant for his mussels it would cost him a million pounds so they've literally ground to a halt. They're crying out for help because it's absolutely devastated their businesses.

www.itv.com/news/anglia/2021-03-02/its-devastated-business-oystermen-worry-about-post-brexit-trade

Can’t imagine oysters are going to have a huge market in Dubai, for obvious reasons.

Depuration needs to happen close to the point of consumption or not at all.
So either the UK needs to clear up its inshore waters
or sell UK cleaned shellfish in the UK

The better course of action would be to clean our inshore waters.

Having cleaner beaches was a benefit of the EU. I don't want my grandchildren to go paddling in sewage contaminated water as we did as children.

Latest from friendly lord frost
Lord Frost spoke to European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič this evening.
This was their first meeting since Lord Frost took up the role as Minister co-chairing the Partnership Council and the Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee with the EU.
He underlined, as the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster had in his letter of 2 February, that progress still needed to be urgently made to address the direct and often disproportionate impact that aspects of the Protocol are having on the citizens of Northern Ireland, contrary to its intended purpose. He acknowledged the work of the Joint Committee over the last few weeks since the Commission’s triggering of Article 16 of the Protocol on 29 January, but noted that these discussions had not yet resolved the current difficulties.
Lord Frost explained that the measures announced today, following official-level notification to the Commission earlier this week, were temporary technical steps, which largely continued measures already in place, to provide more time for businesses such as supermarkets and parcel operators to adapt to and implement the new requirements in the Protocol. He underlined that these were needed for operational reasons and were the minimum necessary steps to allow time for constructive discussions in the Joint Committee to continue without the prospect of disruption to the everyday life of people in Northern Ireland in the coming weeks.
He noted that such operational measures were well precedented in other international trade arrangements, and that they were entirely consistent with our intention to discharge our obligations under the Protocol in good faith.
He and Vice President Šefčovič agreed that both parties would remain in close contact.

Richard Haward’s Oysters used to send 250kg of the shellfish to the European Union every week, now they do not even send one.

Richard Haward was interviewed on the radio a week ago. When asked if his own oyster business had been affected by Brexit (since Jan) he actually replied, 'not much' - he said that he had grown his UK client base in the last two or three years in anticipation of Brexit. He obviously exports worldwide as well.

One guy I know he said if he had to create a depuration plant for his mussels it would cost him a million pounds

I wonder how much Richard Haward paid for his depuration tanks?

richardhawardsoysters.shop/blogs/news/our-oysters-journey-from-sea-to-plate

They're crying out for help because it's absolutely devastated their businesses.

They can apply for government help if that's the case. Are the hotels and restaurants open in Europe yet?

21 Jan - New financial support for the UK’s fishing businesses that export to the EU.

£23 million to support businesses affected by the COVID pandemic and adjusting to new export requirements.

Separately, the Prime Minister has also committed to providing a £100m fund to help modernise fishing fleets, the fish processing industry, and rejuvenate a historic and proud industry in the UK, on top of the £32m that will replace EU funding this year.

www.gov.uk/government/news/new-financial-support-for-the-uks-fishing-businesses-that-export-to-the-eu

Richard Haward was interviewed on the radio a week ago.

Apologies - must have been his son -Tom Haward.

Brexshit must be so good for out government to have to spend hundreds of millions to stop everything going under...

Richard Haward was interviewed on the radio a week ago.

Interesting, as Tom Haward obviously disagrees with him - interviewed by ITV yesterday.

Tom Haward, the current owner of Richard Haward’s Oysters, said: “I saw Brexit as a catastrophe for exporting. What is happening now is exactly what I predicted would happen four years ago.

www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/19069101.richard-hawards-oysters-mersea-hit-catastrophe-brexit/

I’d point you at his Twitter but you’ll dismiss him as “political”.

This Tom Haward.

A number of people are suggesting myself and others in the shellfish industry have been lazy, stupid (or both) for not being ‘prepared’ for the carnage Brexit has caused on the shellfish export industry. If we predicted this, why weren’t we ready?

Many small shellfish businesses don’t have the money needed to build a depuration plant. £100k cost for a small plant wouldn’t provide the depuration capacity some companies need. Add a zero to their costs to reach capacity levels. If they did have the investment, they probably don’t have the land to build on. Ideally you need your plant close to where you harvest your shellfish. Where I live the land is under marine protection making it a mountain to climb if you wanted to build on it.

If you do have the money and land, your shellfish might be at risk of dying after depuration and long delays at port. Shellfish can struggle with the stress of being depurated so are relaid, unpurified, in A grade waters in the EU so they can be sold straight out of the sea. They are depurated too but we come back in a circle: you need large capacity to ensure the shellfish isn’t stressed thus reducing shellfish mortality. If you have a purification plant and shellfish which is happy during depuration then surely you’re on to a winning formula?

We have a depuration plant next to the water where our oysters grow. Our oysters are purified in temperature controlled conditions so they are happy and have a long shelf life. What’s the problem then?

The Brexit deal is almost the same as a no deal; I can’t export our product because the costs associated with the paperwork and delays has pushed our prices up so we are no longer competitive with our EU oyster neighbours (Ireland, France, Denmark)

We have sold ZERO oysters to Europe in 2021 because our Govt failed to sort the procedures involved with unpurified shellfish and the paperwork needed for purified means we are now too expensive. If we kept our prices the same we would make huge losses.

The ‘oven ready deal’ which would make us a ‘global Britain’ has shrunk our market options and made the UK inward looking. I was prepared and have adapted the business as much as I can. No preparation was possible for Govt incompetence and negligence though.

westcountrybylines.co.uk/the-oysterman-we-couldnt-prepare-for-government-incompetence-and-negligence/

I find it strange that he would be claiming on the radio that his business hadn’t been affected much by Brexit given the above dated 1st March.

Interesting, as Tom Haward obviously disagrees with him

I think it was Tom Haward being interviewed on the radio - I have already corrected that. He definitely said his own business had not been affected much by Brexit because of direct action he had taken in the last two or three years - although other oystermen had been greatly affected.

From your first link;
the decision by the EU to ban unpurified oysters from countries outside the bloc has also caused immense damage to the business

But he has purification tanks which he confirmed in the radio interview - also confirmed in your second link;
We have a depuration plant next to the water where our oysters grow.

The ‘oven ready deal’ which would make us a ‘global Britain’ has shrunk our market options and made the UK inward looking.

He already exports to Taiwan and Dubai.

I could have got in touch with European customers and say we have some amazing stuff and would you like something. But that option has been pulled away from us.

So he hasn't been in contact with his European customers this year? Are these customers open for business? Covid?

The OBR predicting a 4% hit to the economy as a result of the easiest deal in history Brexit, compared to staying in the EU:

https://news.sky.com/story/budget-2021-eu-border-disruption-to-cause-economic-hit-and-brexit-deal-to-see-4-shrinkage-in-long-term-12234830

I also noticed that the BBC has done a Reality Check on the Government's repeated claim that it could only set up the Freeports because the UK had left the EU, pointing out that there are over 80 in the EU ...and that under WTO rules, there can't be subsidies linked purely to export performance. (And of course, the newly installed DG of the WTO has already indicated that she is not just going to be passively reactive )

🐿 The Older-Middle Scots language (and also Middle English) had a letter called yogh which looked like a z with a curly tail, and was pronounced like “g.” When moveable-type printing arrived in Scotland, printers often used a z in its place because this was more readily available. This explains the now often-mispronounced Scottish names like Menzies, Dalziel and MacKenzie.

Another modern letter which is often mispronounced is the X in Brexit, which is actually a ❌against all Foreign Taint - in actual fact therefore, the correct pronunciation of the word is more like "Breaks-Shit" and "Breaks-Shitters"🐿

Oh elements
I adore you 💛 😁

All going as expected in NI (sadly). Back to the future ...

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/mar/04/brexit-northern-ireland-loyalist-armies-renounce-good-friday-agreement

Awesome news, hopefully the Tories will keep helping the cause

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/mar/04/westminster-warned-as-poll-shows-record-backing-for-welsh-independence

They are so cloth-eared that they won't care JustAnotherPoster00 - not until it gets over 50% and then they'll panic and try to love bomb you, telling you lies about how much they care and promising that they'll change but backtrack

Speaking from recent experience

So there's hope for you yet

Elements there’s a missing letter called thorn which represented “th” - it looked like a letter p with the hump part scooted down to the middle of the vertical stroke.

But early printing fonts had to be imported from Germany and Italy, where there was no sign for thorn. It was the thinking then that the letter y most closely resembled the thorn, so printers substituted it with a y.

And that’s why we have those cheesy “Ye Old” shop signs now.

I think an increase in support for Welsh independence is also a huge problem for Labour, I can see Wales going the same way as Scotland.

@LostToucan

Elements there’s a missing letter called thorn which represented “th” - it looked like a letter p with the hump part scooted down to the middle of the vertical stroke.

But early printing fonts had to be imported from Germany and Italy, where there was no sign for thorn. It was the thinking then that the letter y most closely resembled the thorn, so printers substituted it with a y.

And that’s why we have those cheesy “Ye Old” shop signs now.

Thorn (þ) is the slightly-better-known "lost letter" but there's also Eth (ð) which made a breathier "th" sound and also could be replaced in typography with a y. Furthermore there was Wynn (ƿ) which was supplanted by the invention of two u's stuck together

I couldn’t find the þ symbol on my keyboard.

Eth and thorn are still used in the Icelandic alphabet aren’t they?