Spring forward.
To delete this message, click the X at top right.

Brexit

Uninformed
Posts: 2095
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 1:13 pm
Location: England

Re: Brexit

#676

Post by Uninformed »

Pretty much spot-on. :thumbsup:

One thing worth mentioning is that while I know that a lot of older voters, retirees etc, are supposed to have voted to leave, almost all the people I know in that category, voted to remain in the EU.

The reasonably obvious fact that the effects of this decision would not be overnight, but take their increasing toll over a number of years, seems to be the last crumb of comfort to the “leavers” as they can pretend that the (mainly nonexistent) warnings of instant collapse were wrong.
If you can't lie to yourself, who can you lie to?
Lansdowne
Posts: 78
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2021 12:49 pm

Re: Brexit

#677

Post by Lansdowne »

Sam the Centipede wrote: Sun Sep 04, 2022 4:52 amSo there is probably a majority who wish to rejoin the EU, certainly a majority who wish that the UK had never left.

But such is the damaging effect of right wing media, that the main opposition party would not dare propose that. Actually, I don't know what the Labour Party's view would be without that constraint – the UK is unusual in that it believes the EU to be a socialist project whereas the view in the north of Europe is that it's a capitalist venture, more favored by the right than the left.
I don't know what you mean by "the UK believes the EU to be a socialist project"; who is "the UK" in that sentence?

The only time I have regularly seen that characterization (often using the label "EUSSR" or similar) is in writings by RWNJs whether they are British, European or American. The main opposition to the EU among the general public was always that it is bureaucratic, run by foreigners, pro-immigration, makes laws for us, responsible for higher prices, etc: broadly, views that can be from the left or right. 'Socialist' is not an insult or a scare word in this country as it is in the US, although it is used by the same RWNJs following the US usage.

I suspect that the majority of active Labour Party members in general would wish for Britain to have remained, and now would want the country to declare the intention to rejoin. But that will not be the Party's position because it would appear to defy the popular vote in the referendum, plus it would undo the 'healing factor' where the voters in low-income, marginalized, eurosceptic areas are moving back to Labour as the referendum has retreated into history.
User avatar
Foggy
Dick Tater
Posts: 9552
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 8:45 am
Location: Fogbow HQ
Occupation: Dick Tater/Space Cadet
Verified: as seen on qvc zombie apocalypse

Re: Brexit

#678

Post by Foggy »

Well, reading Fogbow is, umm ... admittedly not fair and balanced, though we try to be as accurate as possible (always remembering that we are Earthlings, who make mistakes). I admit, I don't use any other source of information on the subject of Brexit. :oopsy:

But as I understand it, it would be really difficult to rejoin the EU anyway, even if the UK decides to try to reverse the decision, isn't that right?

I keep thinking that we're going to recover from the mistake of electing Donald Trump a lot faster than the UK is going to recover from Brexit, but I'm keeping an open mind and willing to learn more. :think:
Edit: And Australia is never going to recover from drop bears. Very sad. :crying:
Out from under. :thumbsup:
User avatar
RTH10260
Posts: 14349
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:16 am
Location: Switzerland, near the Alps
Verified: ✔️ Eurobot

Re: Brexit

#679

Post by RTH10260 »

When the UK would wish to rejoin it will be on the tail end of a list of (6?) countries who already have their applications pending. Each nation has veto powers versus newly joining member state. To qualify the UK would have to rerun all legislation they are currently throwing out ("red tape"). Commerce that exports now will have little problem, but all that lived by relaxed or no longer existing rules will have a major headache. Speak about at least a generation from now on the timeline. Whats more likely that they will readjust to become compatible with the Single Market and associate. Maybe a decade from now?
User avatar
Foggy
Dick Tater
Posts: 9552
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 8:45 am
Location: Fogbow HQ
Occupation: Dick Tater/Space Cadet
Verified: as seen on qvc zombie apocalypse

Re: Brexit

#680

Post by Foggy »

So, umm ... not likely at all. But even if the UK formally does vote for and try to Breturn :biggrin: ...
RTH10260 wrote: Sun Sep 04, 2022 2:42 pm ... at least a generation from now on the timeline.
That's my impression, too also. But since that's really unlikely,
Whats more likely that they will readjust to become compatible with the Single Market and associate. Maybe a decade from now?
By which time Donald J. Trump will be fertilizing the flowers growing above him on his golf course. So maybe the US really will recover from our huge mistake faster than the UK recovers from Brexit. That would be nice. :biggrin:

I never thought I'd refuse a chance to visit the UK, and nobody has invited me anyway, but ... it just doesn't seem like a good year decade for a visit ... :daydreaming:
Out from under. :thumbsup:
User avatar
Slim Cognito
Posts: 6552
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:15 am
Location: Too close to trump
Occupation: Hats. I do hats.
Verified:

Re: Brexit

#681

Post by Slim Cognito »

Foggy wrote: Sun Sep 04, 2022 3:58 pm ...

I never thought I'd refuse a chance to visit the UK, and nobody has invited me anyway, but ... it just doesn't seem like a good year decade for a visit ... :daydreaming:
I have been trying to plan a trip to Prestwick and Edinburgh for a couple of years, but between Covid, Putin's war in Europe and Brexit, I don't know if I'll make it.
Pup Dennis in training to be a guide dog & given to a deserving vet. Thx! ImageImageImage x4
User avatar
RTH10260
Posts: 14349
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:16 am
Location: Switzerland, near the Alps
Verified: ✔️ Eurobot

Re: Brexit

#682

Post by RTH10260 »

First accusing the French to be troublemakers, then themselves not providing resources at the end of holiday spike!
The ferry operators could well provide them with a trend according to bookings :brickwallsmall:
Travellers face six-hour delays at UK border control in Calais
Ferry operators apologise as photos show queues of cars filled with families trying to reach Dover

Sophie Zeldin-O'Neill
Sun 4 Sep 2022 13.39 BST

Travellers heading to the UK suffered delays of up to six hours on Saturday and Sunday as they queued at the Port of Calais.

The ferry operators DFDS and P&O Ferries apologised on Sunday morning for the long wait times at UK border controls.

P&O said extra vessels were being used for passengers who missed their sailing, saying in statement: “We sincerely apologise for the wait times at the Port of Calais today. Checked-in vehicles have been unable to reach the loading lanes due to queues at border control. This is then causing vehicles to be backed up past the check-in booths.”

DFDS told passengers: “We are expecting long wait times to complete controls, please take this into consideration when travelling to the port, factoring in sufficient breaks for food and water before arriving.”

Asked if they predicted delays to continue throughout Sunday, P&O added: “We expect the Port of Calais to be very busy … There are queues of at least two hours to clear border control. Please allow as much time as possible on your journey.”

Passengers shared pictures on social media of long lines of cars filled with families trying to get back to Dover before the new school year starting next week.

Late on Saturday, one traveller used Twitter to try to contact the Home Office, saying: “A 260-minute wait at the Port of Calais with two young kids. Delayed further to a 10pm ferry, why were nine UK border force lanes shut!?!”




https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ais-brexit
User avatar
RTH10260
Posts: 14349
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:16 am
Location: Switzerland, near the Alps
Verified: ✔️ Eurobot

Re: Brexit

#683

Post by RTH10260 »

‘Festival of Brexit’ label puts visitors off Unboxed project, says organiser
Investigation reveals the £120m creative event series has attracted fraction of target numbers

Matthew Weaver
Wed 31 Aug 2022 19.50 BST

The head of the £120m Unboxed, an ongoing project aimed at celebrating UK creativity, has said the scheme has been dogged by being nicknamed the “Festival of Brexit” after it attracted a fraction of the target visitor numbers.

Ministers had hoped that the festival would attract 66 million people, but with just over two more months to go, four of the events have so far only drawn 238,000 visitors, according to official figures.

The figures are revealed in an investigation for the latest edition of the political journal the House.

Unboxed’s chief creative officer, Martin Green, told the magazine he only took the job after ministers assured him that it would not be a “jingoistic jamboree” or a “Festival of Brexit”, as it was nicknamed when Theresa May first announced the plan in 2018. But the continuing use of the label has not helped attract visitors, Green said.

He told the House magazine: “It hasn’t left us. And we all must learn from this. Rule one of major events: don’t politicise them. And unfortunately a few chose to politicise it from the beginning.”

Earlier this year a report by the Commons’ digital, culture, media and sport committee said the £120m project had been “an irresponsible use of public money” and said it was “vague and ripe for misinterpretation”.

Green accused the committee of being more interested in attacking the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport than the festival itself.




https://www.theguardian.com/culture/202 ... ors-target
User avatar
RTH10260
Posts: 14349
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:16 am
Location: Switzerland, near the Alps
Verified: ✔️ Eurobot

Re: Brexit

#684

Post by RTH10260 »

It would have been better for everyone if the festival of Brexit had stayed in its box

Marina Hyde
Fri 2 Sep 2022 13.49 BST

There is simply no subtlety to the UK’s adventures in self-parody these days. Take the so-called Festival of Brexit and the criticism levelled at this £120m deceased elephant by everyone from appalled auditors on the culture select committee to visitors who somehow didn’t enjoy being forced to sit through what they were being shown. Total fiasco, you say? Appalling waste of public money, you say? Completely different to what was promised, you say? Despite having been years in the planning, no one knew what it was actually supposed to look like, you say? The people who came up with it are blaming its failure on anyone but themselves, you say? I mean … I mourn the time when a metaphor stole imperceptibly into the British consciousness instead of grabbing it by the lapels, shaking it like a rag doll and head-butting it in the nose while screaming, “I AM A STONECOLD METAPHOR, OK PAL?”

If you were one of the 67 million-odd UK citizens who missed this event over the summer, the Festival of Brexit was formally rebranded as Unboxed, given the ominously woolly aim of celebrating “creativity in the UK”, and has been running all round the country since late spring with a series of events that were this week laid bare with hilarious dryness in a quite majestic article in the House magazine. Any connection with what was once feared to be a jingoistic-sounding idea was actively shunned by the various organisers, and in many cases heroically undermined. Unfortunately, a hugely successful national moment did not ensue.

The many creative happenings seem largely to have run the gamut from the deranged and poorly executed to the deranged and poorly attended.




https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... d-disaster
User avatar
RTH10260
Posts: 14349
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:16 am
Location: Switzerland, near the Alps
Verified: ✔️ Eurobot

Re: Brexit

#685

Post by RTH10260 »

Kent brewery hailed as Brexit ‘export champion’ has one EU customer left
The Old Dairy Brewery, named in a government video, has seen sales slump because of excessive paperwork

Jon Ungoed-Thomas
Sun 4 Sep 2022 09.00 BST

A Kent brewery chosen to help champion export opportunities for the government after Brexit has revealed that burdensome customs checks and paperwork have left it with just one remaining customer in the EU.

The Old Dairy Brewery in Kent – a Department for International Trade export champion for the south-east – appeared in a government video last year promoting the potential to boost Brexit export sales.

However its exports of bottled and keg Kent ale to countries including Italy, Germany and Sweden have slumped since the UK left the EU because of the onerous paperwork.

The brewery now has just one EU customer, a Berlin pub operator who travels to England by van to pick up the beer. The value of the Kent brewery’s annual beer exports have fallen from £600,000 to £2,000.

Virginia Hodge, export manager at the brewery, based at Tenterden, said: “Some transport companies won’t take alcohol now because of all the transit documents you need. I used to be able to make up a case of beer and send it by courier [to the EU] and now I have to send it through the full customs declaration. Our customers in Europe say they want to take British beer, but it’s just not cost effective. They’ve got to do a lot more paperwork.”

She said the brewery’s one remaining EU customer had faced multiple challenges. She said: “The first time he came over, we were up all night trying to get him through customs at Dover and out of the country.

“He was stuck because of the paperwork. He used to come over for just one night, but now it takes four days because of all the problems.”




https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... tomer-left
User avatar
RTH10260
Posts: 14349
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:16 am
Location: Switzerland, near the Alps
Verified: ✔️ Eurobot

Re: Brexit

#686

Post by RTH10260 »

Stark warning to UK travellers as EU roaming charges reach £1,000
MORE THAN a third of Brits on holiday in popular European Union destinations paid up to £1,000 for mobile roaming charges following the UK's withdrawal from the bloc.

By BRADLEY JOLLY
10:36, Sun, Sep 11, 2022 | UPDATED: 10:39, Sun, Sep 11, 2022

Unwitting holidaymakers who relied on their phones to keep in touch, find places and use social media received hefty bills after their breaks this summer. These sums reached an eye-watering £1,000 for just one holiday for the most unfortunate, with the average of those polled into the hundreds of pounds.

Since Brexit, UK mobile phone providers are no longer obliged to provide free roaming around the European Union (EU), and most of the main networks have reintroduced charges while abroad.

So 35 per cent of Brits said in a survey last month they were charged extra for roaming while on holiday in the EU.



https://www.express.co.uk/travel/articl ... e-networks
User avatar
Ben-Prime
Posts: 2599
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:29 pm
Location: Worldwide Availability
Occupation: Managing People Who Manage Machines
Verified: ✅MamaSaysI'mBonaFide

Re: Brexit

#687

Post by Ben-Prime »

RTH10260 wrote: Sun Sep 11, 2022 2:21 pm
Stark warning to UK travellers as EU roaming charges reach £1,000
MORE THAN a third of Brits on holiday in popular European Union destinations paid up to £1,000 for mobile roaming charges following the UK's withdrawal from the bloc.

By BRADLEY JOLLY
10:36, Sun, Sep 11, 2022 | UPDATED: 10:39, Sun, Sep 11, 2022

Unwitting holidaymakers who relied on their phones to keep in touch, find places and use social media received hefty bills after their breaks this summer. These sums reached an eye-watering £1,000 for just one holiday for the most unfortunate, with the average of those polled into the hundreds of pounds.

Since Brexit, UK mobile phone providers are no longer obliged to provide free roaming around the European Union (EU), and most of the main networks have reintroduced charges while abroad.

So 35 per cent of Brits said in a survey last month they were charged extra for roaming while on holiday in the EU.



https://www.express.co.uk/travel/articl ... e-networks
O2 is the only major British cell provider which still allows free EU roaming. That's why I use it for my personal UK cell. Because I am not a fool.
But the sunshine aye shall light the sky,
As round and round we run;
And the truth shall ever come uppermost,
And justice shall be done.

- Charles Mackay, "Eternal Justice"
User avatar
RTH10260
Posts: 14349
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:16 am
Location: Switzerland, near the Alps
Verified: ✔️ Eurobot

Re: Brexit

#688

Post by RTH10260 »

And I keep wondering why holiday makers to the continent don't buy local prepaid in the EU. Of course if they stick to wireless internet to the UK, no help for them, check the wifi options, many free, especially at the resorts.
User avatar
RTH10260
Posts: 14349
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:16 am
Location: Switzerland, near the Alps
Verified: ✔️ Eurobot

Re: Brexit

#689

Post by RTH10260 »

Sovereignty! Some fun facts

Note. These companies are train operators using leased tracks and material.
I understand that the operating concept will change in the near future, eg service contracts given, no longer to run independant.
Almost All British Train Lines Are Now Owned By Other EU Countries

Dave KeatingFormer Contributor
Aug 15, 2019,11:26am EDT

Since the UK’s railways were privatised in 1997, Virgin Rail has been running the country’s West Coast mainline connecting London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow. This week, that train line passed to a consortium of the UK's FirstGroup and Italian state rail operator Trenitalia.

The line is the among the most lucrative and important in the country, and First-Trenitalia reportedly outbid a rival Chinese consortium with an offer to pay £1.6 billion ($1.9bn) in premiums to run the line until 2026, followed by a second phase of payments until 2034 depending on the completion of a new high-speed line, which Trenitalia has been named as operator for.

It is only the latest major UK rail line to pass to a foreign state rail operator – almost all of whom are now run by other European Countries.



https://www.forbes.com/sites/davekeatin ... countries/
User avatar
RTH10260
Posts: 14349
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:16 am
Location: Switzerland, near the Alps
Verified: ✔️ Eurobot

Re: Brexit

#690

Post by RTH10260 »

When residents of a third country forget to prepare the correct paperwork like a ATA Carnet when travelling to the EU
Welsh cyclists charged €8,500 to take bikes to Spain on charity ride
The Tap It Out cycling club will now have to close after paying the fee

BY JAMES SHRUBSALL
PUBLISHED 7 DAYS AGO

A Welsh cycling club faces closure after being forced to pay €8,500 (£7,330) customs charge to take bikes on a Spanish charity ride.

Riders from the Tap It Out cycling club, based near Bridgend, were raising money for the Prostate Cymru charity and had raised more than £16,000 prior to the ride, reports the BBC.

They had flown to the start point at Santander and sent the bikes over by ferry. But when they attempted to pick them up, Spanish customs officials slapped them with the charge, despite protests that it was a charity ride.

The ride leader Nicky Morgan said the club managed to pay the charge out of its coffers, but that it would have to close as a result.

"My jaw just dropped," he said of learning about the fees. "We were doing a charity event. It never entered our minds that we were going to sell bikes or be accused of selling bikes."

Since breaking with Europe, moving goods in and out of the UK for business purposes incurs fees and requires a carnet. However, this was a charity ride, and rather than this being a legitimate charge, the feeling is that customs officials have wrongly applied a post-Brexit import fee to the bikes.




https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/wels ... arity-ride
User avatar
raison de arizona
Posts: 17654
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:21 am
Location: Nothing, Arizona
Occupation: bit twiddler
Verified: ✔️ he/him/his

Re: Brexit

#691

Post by raison de arizona »

What a mess of red tape.
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” —John Adams
User avatar
RTH10260
Posts: 14349
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:16 am
Location: Switzerland, near the Alps
Verified: ✔️ Eurobot

Re: Brexit

#692

Post by RTH10260 »

script by a vlogger

https://youtu.be/k7cTYYls3fU
Photographers and Filmmakers BEMOAN Brexit... No One will Employ Them

15 Sept 2022

British Photographers and Filmmakers Face Costs and Confusion When It Comes to Working in Europe

Since the United Kingdom left the European Union, moving goods and equipment across borders has become more complicated for British passport holders…

So what are the rules, and will you need to spend more than £300 on an ATA Carnet to take your camera gear across the channel? Pro or amateur photographers it doesn't matter but if a pro you will also need a work permit…

A lot of the rules surrounding the U.K.’s status now that it has asserted its independence from Europe remain rather unclear, and the consequences are still being realized. The fishing industry appears to have been among the hardest hit, and logistics companies have also struggled with the new levels of bureaucracy required when transporting goods in and out of the country… in fact, many logistics companies are avoiding the UK altogether or just certain goods…

Since your democratic right to be isolated is being realised…. hardly any British people are applying for work visas in European countries, and often, the processes involved are complex and time-consuming. There appears to have been little preparation for many aspects of the U.K.’s new relationship with Europe.

One area that is still a cause of confusion is whether photographers and filmmakers are able to travel freely with their equipment.

The government web page suggests that you may need to apply for and purchase an ATA Carnet which costs more than £300 and lasts for one year, and it needs to list every single item that you will be carrying, including serial numbers. Under certain circumstances, you may be required to visit an office to get your Carnet endorsed in the event that you are driving to Europe. You will also have to pay a 40% deposit which could run into thousands… at least you will get that back provided you have all the equipment you left with….

A nightmare for self-employed photographers and videographers working alone on small jobs…

The London Chamber of Commerce and Industry say that anything carried in your luggage should be ok: this is bad advice since an export is an export no matter how it's transported…

There is the potential for different interpretations by different member states…

Currently the situation is still clouded by uncertainties since no-one is entirely sure how it all works, with lots of phrases such as “it depends,” “gray areas,” and “that’s what we’ve been told, at least” being used. From what I could gather, if you’re carrying a lot of kit on you, it may vary from border to border and could depend on the mood of the customs officer that’s decided that the tripod sticking out of your bag looks rather expensive…

I think the moral of the story is: If you are a UK photographer/media person the only way to get around a lot of this idiocy is to RENT your gear from an EU company when working in mainland Europe but don't forget you will still need a work visa….
User avatar
Volkonski
Posts: 11587
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:06 am
Location: Texoma and North Fork of Long Island
Occupation: Retired mechanical engineer
Verified:

Re: Brexit

#693

Post by Volkonski »

“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
User avatar
RTH10260
Posts: 14349
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:16 am
Location: Switzerland, near the Alps
Verified: ✔️ Eurobot

Re: Brexit

#694

Post by RTH10260 »

Liz needs to implement the Trade Agreement fully and stop thinking loud over invoking Artikle 16.
User avatar
RTH10260
Posts: 14349
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:16 am
Location: Switzerland, near the Alps
Verified: ✔️ Eurobot

Re: Brexit

#695

Post by RTH10260 »

Sovereignity!
Post-Brexit checks reduce Eurostar’s London terminal capacity by a third
Rail boss says St Pancras has only avoided chaos seen at Channel ports because of services being cut

Gwyn Topham
Tue 27 Sep 2022 18.16 BST

Post-Brexit border checks have slowed the speed at which Eurostar passengers pass through London St Pancras on their way to Paris, reducing the terminal’s capacity by one-third, according to the cross-Channel rail company’s boss.

The rail operator’s chief executive, Jacques Damas, said central London had only avoided the kind of chaos and queues seen at Channel ports this summer because Eurostar was running fewer trains.

He said the additional border checks now required, with UK nationals having to have their passports stamped, was adding at least 15 seconds per passenger. In London St Pancras International, even after upgrading the border gates, and with all booths staffed, the operator could only process a maximum of 1,500 passengers an hour, compared with 2,200 before the Brexit transition period ended, Damas said.

Damas outlined Eurostar’s problems in a letter to the Conservative MP Huw Merriman, the chair of the Commons transport select committee, who had requested an explanation for Eurostar cutting back services to Kent stations and stopping its direct Disneyland Paris route from London next year.

He told Merriman: “It is only the fact that Eurostar has capacity-limited trains and significantly reduced its timetable from 2019 levels, that we are not seeing daily queues in the centre of London similar to those experienced in the Channel ports.”

The company would not resume operations at either of its Kent stations – Ashford and Ebbsfleet – until at least 2025, to concentrate “vital border police” at St Pancras, Damas said.

The chief executive, who is due to hand over the reins next week to Gwendoline Cazenave, said Eurostar was also hampered by high UK track charges on the route to the Channel, three times more expensive per mile than it pays in France.



https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... by-a-third
User avatar
RTH10260
Posts: 14349
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:16 am
Location: Switzerland, near the Alps
Verified: ✔️ Eurobot

Re: Brexit

#696

Post by RTH10260 »

‘Brexit freedoms bill’ could abolish all pesticide protections, campaigners say
Bill would see 570 EU-derived environmental laws removed at end of 2023, with little time to replace them

Damian Carrington Environment editor
Thu 29 Sep 2022 15.14 BST

The government’s “Brexit freedoms bill” could see all legal protections from pesticides abolished, wildlife campaigners have warned, putting insects, wildlife and human health in danger.

The bill, published a week ago by prime minister Liz Truss’s new administration, would result in all EU-derived laws being removed at the end of 2023, including 570 environmental regulations. The government could retain or amend some regulations, but has not set out plans to do so. Campaigners are worried there is insufficient time to put new regulations in place.

Green NGOs were already concerned by the lack of government action to reduce the harm pesticides cause to the environment, having failed so far to introduce a new national action plan on the sustainable use of pesticides, promised in 2018.

Ministers have also repeatedly overruled the government’s independent expert panel to allow the use of banned pesticides, such as bee-harming neonicotinoids, on an “emergency” basis. Scientists have warned many insect populations such as bees are falling at “frightening” rates that are “tearing apart the tapestry of life”.

Since the publication of the bill, environmental charities representing millions of people have been in revolt over the plan to slash nature protections and potentially remove environmental requirements from the billions of pounds of farming subsidies paid out each year.




https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... rotections
User avatar
Volkonski
Posts: 11587
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:06 am
Location: Texoma and North Fork of Long Island
Occupation: Retired mechanical engineer
Verified:

Brexit

#697

Post by Volkonski »

Britain is slowly waking up to the truth: Brexit has left us poorer, adrift and alone
John Harris


https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... is-johnson
Last week, having whiled away two joyous days at the Tories’ conference in Birmingham, I spent a long afternoon an hour’s drive away, in the cathedral city of Worcester. The plan was to sample the mood of the kind of place once considered to hold the key to British elections: remember “Worcester woman”, the swing-voting stereotype talked up in the New Labour years? But I was also there to gather more evidence of how much the UK’s current woes are affecting the kind of average-to-affluent places that might once have weathered any economic storm.

Not entirely surprisingly, people said they were worried and scared. Some talked about grownup children suddenly terrified that a mortgage is beyond their reach; others described a new and unsettling habit of using sparing amounts of gas and electricity. The autumn’s increasingly awful mood music – from talk of cancelled local Christmas markets to the possibility of three-hour power cuts – informed just about every conversation I had.

Mention of politics drew some very interesting responses indeed. “I just miss Boris,” said Julie, who works at the city-centre branch of Boots, and told me she had long since got used to conversations with her customers about the impossibility of their living costs. As she and a few other people saw it, Johnson had successfully managed the Covid vaccination programme, and brought some pizzazz and humour to the boring world of politics, which had now reverted to type. They also voiced something I have heard a few times lately: a belief that he had represented the last hope of Brexit somehow opening the way to a happier and more prosperous country, a dream that died when he left Downing Street.

Clearly, that is a very generous opinion of a man who told just as many self-serving lies about leaving the EU as he did about most other things. At the heart of some lingering fondness for him, perhaps, is a lot of people’s refusal to admit how much they were duped. But that view of life before and after Johnson highlights something that is now settling among all but the most hardened Brexit supporters: a quiet, slightly tortured realisation that all those optimistic visions of life outside the EU are not going to materialise, even if the crises triggered by Vladimir Putin eventually subside.
“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
User avatar
Foggy
Dick Tater
Posts: 9552
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 8:45 am
Location: Fogbow HQ
Occupation: Dick Tater/Space Cadet
Verified: as seen on qvc zombie apocalypse

Brexit

#698

Post by Foggy »

... a lot of people’s refusal to admit how much they were duped.
That's been the subject of many of our recent discussions about Republicans.

And the solution, I think, is education. :batting:
Out from under. :thumbsup:
User avatar
Sam the Centipede
Posts: 1831
Joined: Thu Feb 25, 2021 12:19 pm

Brexit

#699

Post by Sam the Centipede »

Foggy wrote: Mon Oct 10, 2022 7:14 am
... a lot of people’s refusal to admit how much they were duped.
That's been the subject of many of our recent discussions about Republicans.

And the solution, I think, is education. :batting:
It's not just education, it's also discussion and debate. France, for example, has a history of debate, of arguments in bars and cafés, whereas in England (less so in Wales and Scotland I think) it's often considered impolite to bring politics into a conversation. Scandinavians tend not to discuss politics much, but they are less polarized societies so the problem of ill informed nutters is less significant.

The governing Conservative Party in the UK has concocted a new imaginary bogeyman, the "anti-growth coalition", which is everybody who doesn't subscribe wholeheartedly to their crazed economic, environmental and social policies. I don't think it has any traction outside their own leaders and useful idiots, but in a rational world people world be saying to each other "have your heard that anti-growth coalition nonsense? isn't it ridiculous!" but my impression is that it's considered rude to chat like that.
User avatar
RTH10260
Posts: 14349
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:16 am
Location: Switzerland, near the Alps
Verified: ✔️ Eurobot

Brexit

#700

Post by RTH10260 »

:lol:

During the Conservative Conference 2022 in Birmingham the Tory organisators managed to let the speakers appear before a plain blue background.

Of course the videographers took the free opportunity to superpose their own speakers environment ;)

images in the article
People have field day changing blue screen behind Liz Truss

Jasper King
Wednesday 5 Oct 2022 3:40 pm

This is why you shouldn’t give a speech in front of a blue screen

Tories may regret using a blue backdrop for their keynote speeches at conference this year.

The royal blue shade is often used in films and weather forecasts, making it perfect for superimposing images onto a background.

It proved a field day for the ‘Labour Party Graphic Designers’ who made a mockery of Liz Truss’s all-important moment in Birmingham today.

As the PM laughed and smiled at her audience, graphs of soaring household bills were projected behind her.


Her slogan ‘Get Britain Moving’ – ironic on a day of nationwide rail strikes – sat alongside images of people joining long queues outside food banks.

The mockery began on Monday when Kwasi Kwarteng delivered his speech to conference, shortly after a screeching U-turn on tax cuts for the rich.



https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/05/people-h ... -17508178/

and how one of the vloggers used it

Post Reply

Return to “Foreign Countries and Culture”