Forum Topic

Devil's details ...

What a fiasco, just over a month to leaving and no one thought about this before, wonder what other nasties are lurking out there:"The UK government is due to hold emergency talks with industry leaders today after discovering that the country doesn't have the right pallets to continue exporting goods to the European Union if it crashes out without a deal next month."https://www.businessinsider.com/brexit-michael-gove-ministers-to-hold-emergency-meeting-over-no-deal-chaos-2019-2Still, it sounds like May might be coming back to reality and recognising that a "no deal" means a disaster and she might need extra time to sort out the current mess, and Corbyn is realising he should take note of his party conference decisions and consider a second referendum. Is sanity returning to UK politics?

Michael Ixer ● 2815d30 Comments

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/watch-lawyer-explain-brexit-vote-would-be-void-for-corruption-if-only-it-was-binding/26/02/

Michael Ixer ● 2815d

seems to me she is just using this to scare the ERG etc into backing her deal.

Matt Palmer ● 2815d

I'm sure that's one of her aims, although I'm not convinced that will work. She also has the problem that even if a deal gets agreed by Parliament she's running out of time to push the necessary legislation through Parliament. Lost track of what the DUP are doing at the moment ...

Michael Ixer ● 2815d

It seems to me that the element of surprise escapes us all these days....Who would have thought pallets would have been a problem?

Ivonne Holliday ● 2815d

Another example of incompetent Brexit  planning, if you wrote this fiasco in a work of fiction no one would believe it: Apart from May's government, didn't leading Brexiteers like Rees-Mogg, Farage et all consider this when coming up with their leave proposition? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47389423

Michael Ixer ● 2813d

No Michael, I do not think these minor details were considered at all.Being really, really horrible, one must bear in mind that nurses are paid well below the GBP30,000....  I do not think that junior doctors get that level of pay either...

Ivonne Holliday ● 2813d

I do not understand why all these reports are appearing now.Were all these negative situations truly not considered at the beginning? When you run a business you plan for every situation imaginebale, surely its inconceivable that these negative impacts were not thought of??

Peter Miles ● 2813d

Correction: good businesses do that. Brexit  is more comparable with the TSB system change last year. It's what comes of setting an artificial deadline without understanding the work involved, while having a large ego and not listening to experts in their fields. To be honest, I'm not sure how many people in government have run a successful business. Remember, it was only a few months ago one of the many Brexit  secretaries, Dominic Raab, said he hadn't realised the importance of the Dover-Calais link for British trade - with that level of ignorance it's hardly surprising Brexit is unravelling.

Michael Ixer ● 2813d

Hello Peter,The clue in your question is "When you run a business..." which is not the same when politicians are desperate to win votes.

Ivonne Holliday ● 2813d

I don't think anyone thought of them. The Remain side didn't because they didn't expect to lose, and the Leave side didn't partly because they didn't expect to win and partly because anyway it would all be so easy, from the withdrawal agreement negotiations ("we hold all the cards," "they need us more than we need them," etc etc) to striking the new trade deals ("it would be the easiest in human history").Altogether, a masterclass in the drawbacks of hubris or, putting it another way, utter, utter incompetence..

Richard Carter ● 2813d

"The Remain side didn't because they didn't expect to lose, and the Leave side didn't partly because they didn't expect to win and partly because anyway it would all be so easy"And Trump didn't really expect to win the Presidency. And neither apparently did Corbyn expect to win the leadership, nor did the people who put him into the ballot, as a makeweight, expect him to win.Or so we hear.

David Ainsworth ● 2813d

Looks like as well as considering Ireland's border, those proposing Brexit perhaps should have thought about the one in Gibraltar as well. Must admit I hadn't realised some of Gibraltar was outside the original treaty area ...https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/28/eu-angers-uk-with-its-support-for-spains-gibraltar-airport-claims

Michael Ixer ● 2813d

No, I had not realized that the airport in Gibraltar was outside the original treaty area....I Googled it and found that the airport is owned by UK's Ministry of Defense but that Spain has been successful in excluding Gibraltar from the Single European Sky programme preventing direct links from Gibraltar to the rest of the European Union (except the United Kingdom), on the grounds that no regulation that somehow recognises the sovereignty of the United Kingdom over the Gibraltar peninsula may be implemented without a previous agreement on the airport. Yet another unmitigated mess!

Ivonne Holliday ● 2813d

Are any if you surprised that none of the Brexiteers on this forum have commented at all today?

Ivonne Holliday ● 2813d

I was thinking that too, Ivonne.

Lucille Grant ● 2813d

Thank you Lucille, I find it quite extraordinary!!

Ivonne Holliday ● 2813d

I'd noticed that.

Michael Ixer ● 2813d

Try asking them what the benefits of Brexit are (I've tried a in number of times) and answer comes there none.

Richard Carter ● 2813d

Nothing substantive so far, however, in case the Brexiteers have missed this prompt, I've started a thread entitled "The multiple benefits of Brexit". Maybe that will produce some tangible results, but I'm not holding my breath for anything more than "freedom from the EU dictatorship [sic]" or "regaining sovereignty" which we had never lost anyway.

Richard Carter ● 2812d

More concerns over those "easy" trade negotiations. The US seems to be extending the remit into more political areas such as currency exchange rates and boycotts of third parties. https://www.ft.com/content/09bfe7ca-3bae-11e9-b72b-2c7f526ca5d0

Michael Ixer ● 2812d

Ferries and payout to Eurotunnel: moire Brexit waste and Grayling ineptitude ...https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47414699?SThisFB

Michael Ixer ● 2812d

Hello Michael,Could not read the article as I do not subscribe to the FT.  Do you happen to know if it is in the printed paper of today?  Thank you.

Ivonne Holliday ● 2812d

The issue of the ferries is beyond comprehension and I cannot understand how Grayling has not yet resigned or been sacked.

Ivonne Holliday ● 2812d

Interesting, I don't subscribe but I picked out up from FB. Usually the online version replicates the printed one from what I remember.

Michael Ixer ● 2812d

And Grayling gets a second mention today for the tremendous waste from his probation service disaster https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/mar/01/watchdog-slams-extremely-costly-probation-changes

Michael Ixer ● 2812d

Thank you, will try it.

Ivonne Holliday ● 2812d

I find I work much better if I leave things until the very.very.last.minute. It truly focusses the mind ;-)

Maxine Campbell ● 2812d

The government has just had to settle out of court to the sum of £33 million (£33 million!) because of his failure over the Seaborne Freight scandal. Really, what has he got to to be fired?

Richard Carter ● 2812d

I see the US ambassador to the UK has waded into - no, as a Trump appointee, more likely stumbled into - the Brexit debate complaining about EU and UK food standards and saying how good chlorinated chicken and hormone stuffed beef is for us. Personally, as someone about 98% vegan, I have no cares about the health aspects but I suspect in the UK the animal welfare aspect is likely to be a bigger issue. This could be a miscalculation; if there were a second referendum then: firstly, how could any animal lovers compromise and vote to do a leave deal that might lead to US pressure to reduce animal welfare standards; secondly, it is a taste of the pressure that the UK will get from the US to follow their lax standards on welfare, data protection, the environment, etc - ammunition for remainers in arguing staying part of the larger EU block gives the UK far better world negotiating powers?https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47426138

Michael Ixer ● 2811d

I see the US ambassador to the UK has waded into - no, as a Trump appointee, more likely stumbled into - the Brexit debate complaining about EU and UK food standards and saying how good chlorinated chicken and hormone stuffed beef is for us. Personally, as someone about 98% vegan, I have no cares about the health aspects but I suspect in the UK the animal welfare aspect is likely to be a bigger issue. This could be a miscalculation; if there were a second referendum then: firstly, how could any animal lovers compromise and vote to do a leave deal that might lead to US pressure to reduce animal welfare standards; secondly, it is a taste of the pressure that the UK will get from the US to follow their lax standards on welfare, data protection, the environment, etc - ammunition for remainers in arguing staying part of the larger EU block gives the UK far better world negotiating powers?https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47426138

Michael Ixer ● 2811d