Off Topic The EU thread ... first 100 weeks

[ForestHillBilly]

Good News: Nissan is going nowhere.

Bad News: The head of HMRC tells MP's that we will be spending an extra £7.5billion on customs red tape every year.

 

[lardiman]

Day 29...

The giant pickle the EU is now in over its purchasing of Coronavirus vaccine is a massive gift for the Sun and all the other pro-Brexit media.

I can't say I have much sympathy though.
The EU rejecting the concept of 'first come, first served' is completely predictable for a Superstate that thinks it should control everything.
But first come, first served is how all business works in the Free World.
How it's always worked.
The drug companies producing the Vaccine are not State Controlled. Well, the ones producing it in the UK aren't, anyway.

Frankly, if the EU tries to block shipments of the Pfizer vaccine from Belgium to the UK, the UK should stop the equivalent number of Oxford vaccines going over to mainland Europe. I feel for the EU citizens who need the vaccine, but then I feel for our people who need it too.

The UK is the worst affected country in Europe.
More infections and deaths than anywhere else in the entire region.
The reasons (or blame) for that is a complex subject we could discuss all day long. But it's a fact.

If the EU's bullying and hostile attitude actually leads to them stopping vaccine shipments to the UK there will be a real anti-EU backlash in this country. Not just a few jingoistic headlines in the tabloids.


(PS: no apologies for sounding a bit like the Punter's Pal )

 

[lardiman]

Day 29 Breaking news (10pm)...

The European Union has suspended part of the Brexit Trade Deal.

EU member nations can now block exports of Coronavirus vaccine to the UK.
That is in direct violation of the trade deal - so the EU has said the deal no longer applies for an unspecified period.

If any shipment of Pfizer vaccine is stopped from entering the UK, a similar amount of Oxford vaccine should be withheld from the EU.

 

[Butterfield]

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[lardiman]

Nice gag @Butterfield

But there is a serious side to this.
A hard border between the Republic and Northern Ireland is absolutely not acceptable.

For me personally, it was the one red line I've always said I would never want us to cross.
Since 2016, I have felt that if Brexit meant a new hard border dividing Ireland, then the UK remaining in the EU would be a lesser evil than that, and I would reluctantly accept it - though I would want all negotiators and involved politicians to resign because of their abject failure to find a way to make Brexit happen - a betrayal of the democratic will of the British people.

Now we have a deal, if the EU does anything that increases the possibility of a new hard border across Ireland, it will be condemned by every peace-loving person in the world.
A new hard border is exactly what the Trade Deal is supposed to prevent.
How dare they suspend part of that deal - within a month of it coming into effect - simply as a bargaining ploy in a dispute with a drugs company.
The behaviour of the EU in this matter is utterly disgraceful.

Peace in Ireland is NOT a bargaining chip - and it must never be.

 

[lardiman]

Day 30...

EU vaccine export row: Bloc backtracks on controls for NI

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55865539

The EU has reversed its decision to temporarily override part of the Brexit deal
amid an ongoing row over COVID vaccine supplies in the bloc.

The move would have seen checks at the border of Ireland and Northern Ireland to prevent shipments entering the UK.
But the European Commission later said it would ensure the Northern Ireland Protocol is "unaffected".
Boris Johnson had expressed "grave concerns" about the plan in a phone call with the commission's president.

President Ursula von der Leyen later tweeted to say she had held "constructive talks" with the prime minister.
She said they had "agreed on the principle that there should not be restrictions on the export of vaccines by companies where they are fulfilling contractual responsibilities".

Well done Prime Minister.
They are not crossing that line. And I assume you told them exactly that.

 

[Ken Shabby]

Quite right. I don't know exactly what has gone on with the supply problems with Astra Zenecka in the EU, but the response from Brussels is not an acceptable one. There is a huge problem with supply of the vaccine, but the UK government has also.provided a real lesson in setting up the distribution. I'm not a fan of this government, but they have moved very efficiently to get this moving as a priority - it would seem logical for the EU to learn from a good response and copy it.

 

[deleted.....]

Quite right. I don't know exactly what has gone on with the supply problems with Astra Zenecka in the EU, but the response from Brussels is not an acceptable one. There is a huge problem with supply of the vaccine, but the UK government has also.provided a real lesson in setting up the distribution. I'm not a fan of this government, but they have moved very efficiently to get this moving as a priority - it would seem logical for the EU to learn from a good response and copy it.

Ken,

The manufacturing facilities in the UK were paid for by the UK government to get the vaccine into production as soon as possible after approval, three months later the EU signed a similar deal with AZ .... the UK plant has overcome it's teething problems and is now in full production .... the EU plant in Belgium is now experiencing those same teething problems and so production is now limited.... the EU want AZ to use the UK facilities (paid for by the UK Government) to manufacture vaccine for the EU and the expense of UK deliveries!

For some reason the EU do not understand that their OWN delays have caused this problem and are seeking to blame the people who developed the vaccine that they were saying wasn't very good at the start of the week .... YOU COULDN'T MAKE IT UP!!!!! .... well Monty Python could obviously...

Rather than explain to the UK that the EU had got it wrong and could they borrow some of the UK's allocation they have tried to blag it out and make demands upon AZ that they just can not agree to. This is rather typical of the EU's attitude towards the UK over the past 40 odd years but now we are no longer members ... the UK can tell them exactly what they can do with their demands!

 

[ForestHillBilly]

The EU has been all over the place. Germany wanted to order supplies early on, but agreed to wait so that the EU could act as one. And there's no way they could have consulted Ireland before threatening to impose a hard border. Time for them to reassess how far they can take The Project.

 

[Ken Shabby]

Ken,

The manufacturing facilities in the UK were paid for by the UK government to get the vaccine into production as soon as possible after approval, three months later the EU signed a similar deal with AZ .... the UK plant has overcome it's teething problems and is now in full production .... the EU plant in Belgium is now experiencing those same teething problems and so production is now limited.... the EU want AZ to use the UK facilities (paid for by the UK Government) to manufacture vaccine for the EU and the expense of UK deliveries!

For some reason the EU do not understand that their OWN delays have caused this problem and are seeking to blame the people who developed the vaccine that they were saying wasn't very good at the start of the week .... YOU COULDN'T MAKE IT UP!!!!! .... well Monty Python could obviously...

Rather than explain to the UK that the EU had got it wrong and could they borrow some of the UK's allocation they have tried to blag it out and make demands upon AZ that they just can not agree to. This is rather typical of the EU's attitude towards the UK over the past 40 odd years but now we are no longer members ... the UK can tell them exactly what they can do with their demands!

Yeah, I mostly agree with all of that. I read elsewhere that the teething problems in Belgium and Holland are due to ramping up production to create a better supply later. At that point the EU were logically obliged to ask the UK if they had any going spare. What they seem to have done is wave the contract they signed with Astra-Zenecka and demanded supplies at the cost of the UK. Embarassing if true.

 

[lardiman]

Day 31...

EU 'fiasco' on N Ireland heaps pressure on Commission

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55872763

Even many within the EU, completely loyal to the principal of it, are furious with the European Commission.

Even putting this latest crisis aside;
this is the organisation that allowed the atmosphere within of the most powerful nations within the EU (and one of only three net contributors) to deteriorate to the point where its people voted to leave in a referendum.

We did not just decide overnight that our nation would be better off outside.
That sentiment had been growing for years - if not decades. And nobody made any secret of it.
But what did the Commission do to help Europhiles within the UK political establishment persuade voters that remaining within the EU was a better option for them?
Nowhere near enough.

The Commission is far too powerful and arrogant.
It needs to change its ways. The 27 remaining member nations are not powerless to make that happen.
Brexit and Coronavirus should be seen as massive wake-up calls for the Brussels Bureaucrats.

 

[lardiman]

Day 36...

This is an absolute disgrace

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55887043

It takes half an hour just to scroll down the page of this article.
Unbelievably disheartening.
And this is how bad things are when we actually got a deal?

If so, this deal stinks.
Get it sorted Boris - The more time passes, the worse this deal looks.
If all this crap is the result of bad faith and malicious obstruction, then call out those responsible.

Make Brexit work for the sake of millions of jobs. Or you'll lose the next General Election.

 

[The Penguin]

We've been without a toaster for 3 weeks now because the replacement for the old one, under guarantee, is on the way from Belgium. Shockin, juss shockin.

Toaster is still en route from Belgium allegedly. Toast made in the sandwich-maker is not the same, although it does make good fried bread.
Wasn't B****t supposed to cut down on red tape?

 

[Dick Plumb1]

Toaster is still en route from Belgium allegedly. Toast made in the sandwich-maker is not the same, although it does make good fried bread.
Wasn't B****t supposed to cut down on red tape?

Should have gone to Robert Dyas.

 

[The Penguin]

Should have gone to Robert Dyas.

Doesn't matter where you go, everything's Made in China, therefore liable to break down. Even when you get something which you think is from a British firm like Russell and Hobbs, you find it's made in China. UNder the terms of the guarantee I had to send the old one back to Peterborough for inspection before a new one was despatched. Then a replacement was allegedly sent from Belgium, on Jan 6th.

 

[Smudger603]

Doesn't matter where you go, everything's Made in China, therefore liable to break down. Even when you get something which you think is from a British firm like Russell and Hobbs, you find it's made in China. UNder the terms of the guarantee I had to send the old one back to Peterborough for inspection before a new one was despatched. Then a replacement was allegedly sent from Belgium, on Jan 6th.

We’ve just bought a new Russel and Hobbs toaster - it’s absolutely pants , direct sun light would brown the bread quicker !

 

[The Penguin]

We’ve just bought a new Russel and Hobbs toaster - it’s absolutely pants , direct sun light would brown the bread quicker !

Check it out- made in China.

 

[Smudger603]

Check it out- made in China.

That will involve turning it upside down and making a mess - I’ll get the wife to do it

 

[lardiman]

If we were willing to pay the true price of goods like this (rather than the slave labour price) we could buy an English toaster, or DVD player, or whatever.

I can afford to pay £60 rather than £20 for a basic toaster, or pay £100 rather than £40 for a basic DVD player.
Granted not everyone can, but a lot of us could.
But we gradually over decades have chosen the cheapest option every time.

The company I invested 20 years of my working life in provided quality emergency lighting for commercial environments.
It's gone now, mostly because folks can buy a little emergency LED in a blister pack from China for £10 or less.
Who cares if it only works for a few months? No bugger.
Cheap sh*t.

Makes no sense for the environment either.
A quality appliance could easily last 10 years or more. Cheap rubbish gets thrown out and replaced every year or two.
People like me who drive old cars get punished for it. My car is 16 years old but I've looked after it and it runs fine. How much more damage am I doing to the planet if I lease a new car every couple of years? A lot more.

And the obsession with pouring billions and billions of pounds and tons of rare elements into new generations of smart phones every six months is simple insanity.
Why don't those XR muppets go after Samsung and Nokia rather than stopping low paid folk getting to work?

And don't even get me started on 4x4's (vehicles, not slappers) and tourists flying round the world in filthy dirty aeroplanes...


Sorry - not really relevant to the EU. But everyone has to let off steam with a rant every now and then

 

[ForestHillBilly]

If we were willing to pay the true price of goods like this (rather than the slave labour price) we could buy an English toaster, or DVD player, or whatever.

I can afford to pay £60 rather than £20 for a basic toaster, or pay £100 rather than £40 for a basic DVD player.
Granted not everyone can, but a lot of us could.
But we gradually over decades have chosen the cheapest option every time.

The company I invested 20 years of my working life in provided quality emergency lighting for commercial environments.
It's gone now, mostly because folks can buy a little emergency LED in a blister pack from China for £10 or less.
Who cares if it only works for a few months? No bugger.
Cheap sh*t.

Makes no sense for the environment either.
A quality appliance could easily last 10 years or more. Cheap rubbish gets thrown out and replaced every year or two.
People like me who drive old cars get punished for it. My car is 16 years old but I've looked after it and it runs fine. How much more damage am I doing to the planet if I lease a new car every couple of years? A lot more.

And the obsession with pouring billions and billions of pounds and tons of rare elements into new generations of smart phones every six months is simple insanity.
Why don't those XR muppets go after Samsung and Nokia rather than stopping low paid folk getting to work?

And don't even get me started on 4x4's (vehicles, not slappers) and tourists flying round the world in filthy dirty aeroplanes...


Sorry - not really relevant to the EU. But everyone has to let off steam with a rant every now and then

The "cheapest is best" mentality has become part of our culture.