POLITICS CORNER

[Stanley]

Let's enjoy four years of no Trump Peter and stop worrying about the 'what ifs'.
Did you hear Priti this morning on the miseries being suffered by 1500+ drivers? Not a problem as far as she is concerned, just a glitch and the government is dealing with it. She should be made to live without food, running water and a lavatory in a closet for as long as the drivers are there. Could we please have a Home Secretary who has some sympathy or empathy?

[PanBiker]

I couldn't get over Shapp's yesterday trying to bullshit us with his figures on the queued lorries. Apparently there were 500 backed up but he announced that that figure had been reduced to 170. Where the hell did he think they went with the border shut? Does he think that we are all stupid? Metropolitan Police who are managing the traffic said later that by their count there were 900 lorries in the queue. Who would you believe, the suited wonderboy or the boots on the ground?

[Stanley]

Last night the total was over 3,000 vehicles, I can't find a current figure. On the overhead shots of Manston I looked for the tell tale blue portable toilets. I assume there are some facilities there?
I think the bottom line is that at the moment the situation on every front is so dire that nobody speaking for the government can tell the truth, it would be the equivalent of tendering your resignation.
Has anyone even seen Johnson?
8 days until the cliff edge. £2.1trillion National Debt. Covid V cases rising daily.
Later... Trump has been busy, he's rejected the $900million aid package passed on Monday calling it a disgrace and demanding it be increased. He's also pardoned another 15 buddies.
Later at 06:20. I'm listening to the head of the French road hauliers (IRU?) saying that even a 30 minute delay per driver is a disaster. She also says that there are another 7,000 European based wagons in the UK heading for the crossing into Europe.

[Tizer]

This FT story brightened my day. Elon Musk (Mr Money) uses his financial power to throw down his giga-factories all over the place with little regard for the environment and ecology - but now the ecology strikes back! Tripps, is there a German word for schadenfreude?

`Tesla’s German gigafactory held up by sand lizards: Court halts work cutting down trees because of conservation fears for the protected species' LINK
`Elon Musk’s meteoric rise may have seemed unstoppable in 2020, but the humble sand lizard has put the brakes on Tesla’s plans for a €4bn electric car factory in Germany. A German court has forced the tech billionaire’s company to halt work cutting down trees on the site of its new gigafactory in a small town south-east of Berlin because of conservation fears for the protected species..'..

NB. I know some will say we need these factories built by the nice Mr Money so we can all have electric cars - but this factory will make the Tesla Model Y with the cheapest in the range starting at $50,000. Other giga-factories are making the thousands of mini satellites that he's putting up in `constellations' and intending to use to take over broadband and GPS.

And that brings me to another story. Do you realise that millions of pounds of UK taxpayers money has been used to buy a minority stake `strategic investment' (with an Indian company) to buy out a failing US satellite business (OneWeb) and the decision was made without consulting Parliament and the chief scientific officer (Prof Vallance) wasn't even told about it? And he thinks it's a bad move, as do many others in the civil service and elsewhere. it seems to be one of those Boris brainwaves, like an airport in the Thames. Brexit has thrown us out of the EU Galileo consortium that has been providing our GPS so Boris thinks we'll set up our own version. Trouble is he didn't find out until too late that the OneWeb business was to provide broadband, not GPS, and experts reckon its satellites can't be altered to do the job. Boris also was under pressure from the US government which didn't want to let OneWeb get into Chinese hands. Oh well, another day, another cock up. Can anything else go wrong?

[Stanley]

Yes I for one have been following the OneWeb story.
Meanwhile, Trump pardons two more of his mates, Manafort and Stone. Much speculation that another tranche will be to protect family and associates from prosecution when investigations reveal problems.
In Brussels we have a prospect of some sort of deal to be announced today. Expect a full volume announcement soon?

[Tripps]

Habemus Papam Pactum

white smoke.jpg

[Big Kev]

Habemus Papam Pactum

white smoke.jpg

[Tripps]

Thanks Kev I'm quite proud of that.

Scholarly site - You don't get many jokes in Latin on Facebook.

[Tizer]

The irony is that over the last 4 years the majority has switched in favour of remaining in the EU...
`Brexit: How do voters now feel about it?' LINK

[Stanley]

Scholarly site - You don't get many jokes in Latin on Facebook
True David and that one was a master stroke!
So, we have a deal. We haven't been told what it is yet but we must be grateful it isn't No Deal. The news is spinning it as EU gives way and Johnson triumphant. I doubt if it is going to be as simple as that.
I still would have preferred staying in the EU and the reasons why that was a good deal might become apparent shortly. We will have to wait and see as advised by Mr Asquith.

[Tizer]

I still would have preferred staying in the EU and the reasons why that was a good deal might become apparent shortly. We will have to wait and see as advised by Mr Asquith.

I clipped the following from a Katya Adler article this morning...
The new year is when we start to find out what Brexit really means. We don't really know what it feels like yet, what impact it will have on all our lives. The transition period kept EU-UK relations pretty much the same in practical terms but that all ends on 31 December. A far cry from the "friction-free" trade deal once promised by former Prime Minister Theresa May, this is the "hardest" of Brexits - not the costly chaos of no deal at all - but nonetheless it means out of the EU's customs union and single market. There will be considerable non-tariff barriers from 2021.

Remember, the UK is a service-based economy, yet this agreement hardly deals with services at all. UK financial services must wait, possibly for months yet, for the EU to decide unilaterally what access they can have to the single market. The UK also impatiently awaits a ruling from the EU on data adequacy - how free the flow of data can be between the two sides.

Despite the relief expressed by a number of EU leaders on Thursday that this trade deal was finally agreed, the bloc begins its new relationship with the UK in quite a defensive, wary frame of mind. EU leaders have not forgotten the controversial clauses the UK government introduced into its Internal Market Bill this autumn, contravening the Brexit Divorce Deal, signed with them less than a year before. It was because of that, the EU said it pushed so hard for tough retaliation mechanisms in this trade deal - in case the UK doesn't keep to its part of the bargain (and vice versa, of course).
[From: `Brexit: Selling it as a big win on both sides of the Channel' BBC ]

[Stanley]

I think Katya has it about right Peter. I think Ursula von der Leyen is a more credible witness than Johnson and she knows that now we all find out what Brexit really means. It is not going to be a matter of 'winners and losers' it's going to be losers all round. Johnson's exultation is about him avoiding ignominy and it remains to be seen how long that will last. Once again he sees it in purely party political terms not the overall good of the country.

[PanBiker]

Having four years at the problem and then magically finding a solution to it all smacks of well rehearsed pantomime plot. Oh hang on a minute....

[Big Kev]

Having four years at the problem and then magically finding a solution to it all smacks of well rehearsed pantomime plot.

Oh no it doesn't

[Tripps]

Is there any truth to the rumour (which I just invented) that prority space is being reserved on incoming cross Channel ferries for lorry loads of sour grapes. I think pragmatism will be king now, and soon you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.

It'll be reet.

[Stanley]

I think you're right David. The mantra now will be back to business as usual and Great Ship of State sailing into a golden future. If and when things start to look less attractive the blame will be put elsewhere, anywhere but in the Tory Party. All we can do now is watch and wait while the project unfolds.

[Tizer]

Is there any truth to the rumour (which I just invented) that priority space is being reserved on incoming cross Channel ferries for lorry loads of sour grapes?

Yes, because so much space is already being taken up by crates full of rose-tinted spectacles on their way to the UK's politicians.

From the BBC's economics editor...
`What Boris Johnson's mistake tells us about our future' LINK
`...The UK has stayed in a free trade zone stretching from Iceland to Russia, as Vote Leave promised ahead of the referendum. But [Boris Johnson's] manifest error in declaring there are "no non-tariff barriers" for trade with the EU had business leaders falling off their chairs. This is patently not the case. The government has entire websites informing the public and businesses of tens of millions of new customs declarations, export health checks, regulatory checks, rules of origin checks, conformity assessments..'.

[plaques]

The government summary of the trade deal can be seen HERE

At a quick glance a number of things leave me confused. ...example...

17.The UK and EU have agreed a rules of origin Chapter which contains modern and appropriate rules of origin ensuring that only ‘originating’ goods are able to benefit from the liberalised market access arrangements agreed in the TCA, while reflecting the requirements of UK and EU industry.
For example,
the RoO we have agreed for batteries and electric vehicles will ensure that UK-made electric vehicles are eligible for preferential tariff rates, supporting our move towards Net Zero.

Does preferential tariff rates mean zero tariff or a partial tariff?

On and on it goes paragraph after paragraph of gobbledegook and this is only 30 summary of over 1000 pages. Somehow I get the feeling that we the general public have no idea what has been agreed only we are told by Boris and his cabinet pals that its good for us. Like sarin gas it takes all the troubles away.

[Tizer]

Does preferential tariff rates mean zero tariff or a partial tariff?

I think that's to do with batteries coming from China. The question is, preferential to which party , the EU or the UK?

[Tripps]

Yes, because so much space is already being taken up by crates full of rose-tinted spectacles on their way to the UK's politicians.

Good response.

[Whyperion]

The BBC is generally happily being fairly uncritical of the brexit agreement, and is lacking in detail of analysis of it, other than maybe how it might affect british citizens who want to spend more than 90/180 days in a EU country/countries ( Is the War Office still regretting letting Malta and Cyprus pass out of the Empire ?) But yes. customs duties were always going to be a difficulty, even with free trade area as such , for outwith free trade area sourced goods, if one nation collects import duties, there will be another lot for when those bits get exported on to the next customs territory, that was the whole point of a customs union, pooled duties - the EU contribution- which effectively we will still be paying, unless we make more stuff in the UK or source more stuff from the EU. As to Tesla - dont we have a nice ready to roll car making facility in Swindon (Longbridge having been given over to housing and a shopping centre ) ?

[Stanley]

"On and on it goes paragraph after paragraph of gobbledegook and this is only 30 summary of over 1000 pages."
Exactly Ken, I shan't bother to look. We will soon get to know the flaws, less than a week to go.

[Tizer]

The BBC is generally happily being fairly uncritical of the brexit agreement, and is lacking in detail of analysis of it, other than maybe how it might affect british citizens who want to spend more than 90/180 days in a EU country/countries.

Give them a chance - it's a massive tome...
`Brexit trade deal: What were the big themes in the talks?' BBC
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I wonder how many people remember that Maggie Thatcher was once a staunch supporter of our EU membership...
`Thatcher’s pro-Europe jumper – perfect referendum day fashion' Guardian 2016

[plaques]

Now we have thrown off the shackles of the EU or has Boris Johnson says in the summary..We will regain the ability to wield powers that have for too long been the sole preserve of Brussels. We will now take up these tools to deliver the changes that people yearn for and, in so doing, we will restore faith in our democracy. I can't wait to see how much of the £350Million per week battle bus promises will actually go to the NHS. Since the deal that we have got was the one he was pressing for and by all accounts got everything he wished for there must be some estimate of how much extra money from the Brexit savings will go to the NHS. Surely this must be one of his priorities rather than the mythical 'leveling up' that over the years will wither away and disappear into the long grass.

[PanBiker]

Yes he said that is time to level up the country now we are free and then in the next breath turn London into basically the centre of the universe for commercial enterprise. What about Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and the former capitol York?