Westminstenders: Tachographs and Empty Shelves

[pointythings]

So Grant Shapps' solution to the shortage of lorry drivers is to allow them to drive longer hours.

Leading to more accidents and deaths on the UK's roads. But Brexit is Job Done and all is well - isn't it?

Thanks so much @pointythings
I like a good lurk!

Topical...

Oh, and in "job done" news...

I obviously missed the announcement where the Govt said that they were putting more money into training HGV drivers to make up for the shortfall.

Peregrina they're not - obviously. Drivers should just work longer hours, drive tired, be exploited more. I'm just waiting to see what erosion of workers' rights comes next. Because job done, no?

Meanwhile here are my two adorable cats - they're rescues who have been with us three weeks and they are so part of the pointy household.

NIce. Glad to see that one of your rescues is a black cat. We had two black ones ourselves - both now gone to the cats heaven, but we were told that black ones never got taken. One of them was really a bit institutionalised having been in the rescue place too long, but I think we made his last couple of years happy. The other was a little sweetie, who sadly had to be PTS when she got cancer.

I dread the thought of Engerland winning, because Johnson will claim all the credit. He ought to be made to keep his trap shut until he can explain the offside rule.

I love black cats. We always wanted one of them to be black, but they had to suit each other. Fortunately it worked out. Little black girl is an ex feral, used to live on the site where I used to work. Big tabby boy is a lockdown kitten who got dumped by his owners. They're both young.

It's an interesting point of view that after the apogee of Roman Britain there is a view of some ....

Poi sono arrivati gli anglosassoni e hanno spaccato tutto.

@Peregrina

I dread the thought of Engerland winning, because Johnson will claim all the credit. He ought to be made to keep his trap shut until he can explain the offside rule.

If they do against the odds win, maybe Southgate might enter politics? He's about the only current leader that seems to embody actual leadership qualities.

DGR who you cheering for? If you watch the footie...

Pmk

Millie the carpet shark is enjoying the match

DGR who you cheering for? If you watch the footie...

Hello Lord Tebbit, nice of you to drop in.

The only time I ever watch football is for an England match in a major tournament. I've proudly watched them lose since 1986 ...

Yes we were net contributors - our club membership fee - amounted to less than 1% of our GDP comparable to the aid budget.

• but for that fee we gained free access to countries representing around one third of global GDP - that alone was worth the fee - the huge raft of other benefits and our leading position in the club being cherry on the cake.

We will never again gain free access to that proportion of global GDP, the remaining 2/3rds is too fragmented to let us do that.

You are in luck again then DGR - they duly lost again. Although penalty shoot outs are not a nice way to lose.

In tennis with tie breaks, the game stays the same but the scoring changes and it then becomes the best person winning the set.

Cat looking cute

Re net contributors: interesting difference in attitudes. Ireland is proud of the fact that it is now a net contributor . It recognises that it is through membership of the EU that their GDP has increased enough to put them in a position to contribute more. That's one of the founding purposes of the European Community

Nice cat and nice tablecloth.

PMK

eprints.lse.ac.uk/67030/1/Begg_EU%20budget.pdf

Discussion of the EU Budget and the UK contribution.

Long, involves numbers.
However, there are some tables.

@Peregrina

I dread the thought of Engerland winning, because Johnson will claim all the credit. He ought to be made to keep his trap shut until he can explain the offside rule.

I thought this too, so to a certain degree it’s a relief that England lost. Plus, we don’t really need extra fuel for the cause of English nationalism and exceptionalism.

Gareth Southgate, on the other hand, has shown himself to be a real role model and fabulous leader. I’m sure he’ll be going above and beyond to support those poor players who missed their penalties. The racist abuse they’ve suffered on social media is horrific, but sadly not surprising

@Peregrina - the tablecloth, come to think of it, is appropriate for a thread about what we've lost due to Brexit.

It cost me something like 300€ () about 16 years ago: it's handmade lace from a mountain village on Levkas, Greece, which is famous for its lace and embroidery (and the Greek ladies in our hotel to whom I'd shown it that night said given its size, i got a really good price).

If I'd bought it this year, I'd have had to pay duty on it to bring it back to the UK.

Pmk

Not a footie fan, but can respect the achievement. It's a shame they lost but I hope they are still proud of themselves.

Shame there's dickheads about though.

Peregrina

From the other thread - and I think I know exactly what borntobequiet
was hinting at when she posted;

(The look Frost gave her was either contempt or hatred.)

It will have been both, for a number of reasons.

It seems very unreasonable to rely on the result of a football match that can go either way (especially between two very good teams near if not at the top of their game) to salvage national pride.
But everyone does it, time and time again. Agree with comments on the absolute quality of Gareth Southgate.

It's a shame they lost on Penalties, but I rather felt that the England team had gone off the boil a bit in the second half.

It's still a creditable achievement, and one not achieved on the playing fields of Eton.

On the last thread I think it was wewereliars who said we were not net contributors. We can and will disagree on whether it was worth our money but at least we can all now agree that we were net contributors. We were paying for an anthem, a flag, fancy buildings, large expense budgets, private school fees for the kids, 1st class travel, diplomats. The EU is not a country so why should it have diplomats that we were paying towards. God knows. And moving from one city to another every couple of weeks. Why?