It certainly should ask the leaders of the rich countries how you can have a global system of trade when many cannot afford to participate in it. It is very short sighted to believe individual countries will make a difference when it needs a coming together to work out what is best for all. There has been a collective sigh of relief at the departure of Trump with his focus on only the USA. Although it might be hard to admit, and they got many things wrong, at least leaders like Cameron and May could understand that the UK could use its wealth and influence to help develop the poorest countries so that they could participate better in the world at large. It is very sad therefore to watch the UK pull back into itself and reduce their involvement in the greater world. Certainly the points made about private companies creaming off the money and providing a poor service has been laid bare for all to see in the current crisis. You cannot just hand over a contract, poorly drawn up as to what is expected, and have no strict oversight of what is actually happening. To say afterwards that the government is horrified when the company puts the shareholders first, ahead of the receiver of the aid second, is a misuse of taxpayers money and a sign of failure by the government.
Just one little thread about how Brexit is impacting on UK businesses that were exporting to EU countries. I hate to think how many times this is being repeated across the nation.
People over here that want to sell into the UK market have been told they must register with HMRC, inform them of each time they intend to send a payment, which will cost them to input into the system, then send the payment through. Surprisingly many have told the government to get lost, they are not going to act as tax collectors for the UK. The barriers that have been erected are simply crazy.
I can't get my head around that. If businesses in France want to sell stuff in the UK, why would they be sending payments - wouldn't payments be going the other way?
Some of the laptops given out in England to support vulnerable children home-schooling during lockdown contain malware, BBC News has learned. Teachers shared details on an online forum about suspicious files found on devices sent to a Bradford school. The malware, which they said appeared to be contacting Russian servers, is believed to have been found on laptops given to a handful of schools. The Department for Education said it was aware and urgently investigating.
Daily truck volumes between Britain and European Union countries, including France, Ireland and the Netherlands, fell by 61% in the first days of January and are 29% down on average in the first 20 days of the year, according to logistics data company Sixfold. At the same time, the cost of moving goods from France to Great Britain has risen 47% year-on-year, while the rejection rate, a measure of hauliers across the continent turning down cross-Channel work, has jumped by 168%. Government officials told MPs on Thursday that as many as 200 lorries are being turned back from the Dover and Folkestone short straits crossings every day, with on average 5% of vehicles found to be non-compliant. Didn't people tell us that there would no hold ups, all of these checks would be done electronically? So what has gone wrong, and who is going to pay?.
Is this basically bribing people to stay at home if they test positive? https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19...e-in-four-britons-fully-self-isolate-12195040
Seems like they are worried about this new version in that it might not protect people who have had the vaccine ?
I had the impression from the press briefing that the government and advisors are not at all sure just what they are dealing with. The French government is also very worried about the English virus and is talking about having to bring in stricter measures at the borders and maybe for the population. Johnson said, "there is evidence the new COVID variant has a higher mortality rate." That is what is the worry here as well.
If the new covid variant is 70% more transmissible than the original, and apparently more lethal, according to Johnson, why is the current lockdown less draconian than the first? Especially when ICUs are full to bursting & NHS staff are reeling from stress & exhaustion?
please log in to view this image T2 Heathrow this afternoon. All of these people are being asked, on trust, to enter isolation. Even if they do how many will have picked up something while waiting in this chaos?
"A cameraman colleague has been attempting to use customs processes to get his kit back from GB to NI. Readers, it has not gone smoothly despite the involvement of a major logistics company. There has been, so far as I can see, a near total failure by HMRC to make it to clear to broadcasters what they need to do to get their gear across the Irish Sea in a compliant way." JP Campbell, BBC NI Economics & Business Editor.
Can't believe I'm reading this - the UK government are telling businesses to set up shop in the EU Single Market that the government pulled them out of, in order to retain the benefits of being in the EU Single Market. Baffling Tory logic... https://www.theguardian.com/politic...dvised-government-officials-set-up-shop-in-eu
Several within the tory party are making an absolute mint out of this and everyone else be damned. Scum, in my book.
