The Westminster Arms

[DustyDiamond]

Shiny new thread 😍😍

The Westminster Arms:
A non-partisan politics pub-thread for varied political chit-chat & other such stuff

Cheers all 🍷

I don’t think Barnier is looking worried.

I'm fairly sure M. Barnier only actually has one expression. It's a kind of "all purpose" expression that he can deploy in any social or business setting.

It's as if he's taking a look at the real world and finds it ever-so-slightly disappointing.

Don't give him a second thought.

As pp said Parker it's classic pre negotiating posturing

Finding a sensible balance between infrastructure investment (in HS2 for example) and social investment (NHS, education, elder care) for a mature economy with a significant-size disengaged element of population is the key political challenge for our era I think.

Personally, I don't want the people who came to school with me as refugees from Idi Amin's toxic purge to feel that their children and grandchildren are unwelcome. I think their input makes for a better society, and enriches us all.

Hear hear, Xing!

I am way more worried about negotiating a deal with the USA. I lived there for five years (in the 80s) and I think/fear that Europeans still think they're all hicks from Kansas who don't know up from down and have straw in their ears. Their diplomats and negotiators are the dogs' cojones: clever, controlled and with very precise objectives, plus charm and very nice manners.

On a positive note - proud Mum here. DD has six weeks left of her Uni placement with the EU. Feedback via her tutor is that they will be offering her a translator job for when she graduates this summer.

Brilliant news Parker you're rightfully proud

Wonderful Parker.

Fantastic news, Parker! Her language skills must be top notch. Which ones are her speciality?

That's wonderful news Parker. Hat off to your daughter.

Wow Parker that’s smashing, well done her🤩

Congratulations to your dd, Parker. For her achievements, and for opting to study languages in the first place.

....France's wine producers, Italy's textile industry, and Spain's salad farmers. The UK can't replicate those industries here for all the reasons everyone understands, but the population will still want to buy the products.

Well, we don't have to buy wine from France and salad from Spain. Unless you insist on wine from a particular vineyard, other, non EU, suppliers are available. And we do have a flourishing and expanding wine making industry here in the UK, even if it's not big enough to meet all the demand.

So No.10 decided to exclude certain journalists from briefings, prompting a walkout by others in solidarity.

Doesn't seem to fit with the 'cheerful and positive' image 'Boris' fans are so fond of. He was all in favour of free speech when confronted with the horrendous crap he wrote as a journalist, not such a big fan now apparently

Well done Parker's DD 😍🙌

Thank you. We’re a Belgian/French Canadian family living in London so DT’s have grown up trilingual, DD has added German and Spanish.

Now to get DS sorted .........

Paul Waugh (Huffington Post)-
I can safely say that in 22 years of being a political journalist, I've never experienced a day like today.
No.10 sources now insisting that political editors like myself "are not banned, they are just not invited"

Cummings and co really are a bunch of bastards - and stupid bastards too

So No.10 invited senior political editors to a briefing, but other uninvited junior journalists decided to crash it. When told they couldn't attend coz, y'know, they're not senior political editors and all, they promptly walked out in a strop & were joined by the others in solidarity. This likely being because they were all in a bit of a tantrum still about BJ not giving them an interview on Brexit Night...

Oh well 🤷🏻‍♀️

Chris Loder Singing I am cautiously optimistic about him.

Belgian/French Canadian family living in London

In that case, toutes nos félicitations à votre fille! She has an exciting new world ahead of her.

Can't speak more than basic German or basic Spanish but my French teacher, who was Québécoise, made sure I'd always get by in French.

The same huffy lot that are having an attack of the vapours due to Guido daring to live tweet the lobby briefings no doubt 🙄

Right on cue, the excuses..for the inexcusable

Why do journalists think they have some sort of god given right to go where ever they want, whenever they want. Good for Boris for teaching them some manners.

And we won't Mary, because Chile, SA and NZ all make wine to compare with everything but the very best of Europe. (I am fond of Italy's regional white wine personally, as long as it's not Pinot Grigio.) Salad from Spain is hard to replace without massive food miles TBH. Quality textile manufacturing is likely to end up in Turkey, and no, I don't like Erdogan any more than you do.

Every business transaction in this era needs to be thought about a little more deeply than it was a decade ago.

ANd we haven't even touched on the sensible approach to dealing with Nigeria and the other sub-Saharan parts of Africa, where child mortality is falling fast and their economies are not soaking up the new availability of labour.

I've much respect for those who master other languages

I've never been any good (scraped a C in standard grade French 😳)

I was launched into French, German & Latin(?!) at 11 at my first secondary school (a Grammar) & trying to get to grips with 3 previously unknown-to-me languages put me off for life

Definitely think there should be a foreign language taught from primary as standard as much easier to absorb and learn the younger you are

'm sure the USA, Australia and our own winemakers will be interested to learn that all wine comes from France, I can live without Italy's textiles and won't starve without salad from Spain or their inedible strawberries.

Agree with Dusty re the tantrumming journalists.