Off Topic Other Stuff (anything you want to share)

The utter madness of Brexit:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-55719498

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-55768788

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55757931

 

I have ignored all the anti-Brexit crap talk for as long as I can take it.....I need to say my piece just so I can stop screaming in my lockdown surroundings and regain some sanity.

It is becoming obvious that the Brexit deal with the EU isn't worth the paper it is written on....once again...just like all the years we have been subjected to the suffocating red tape of this German/French controlled monolith they are finding new ways of bypassing agreements with extra layers of rules and red tape to get their way at every conceivable turn.....this is how they scare off other EU member Countries who have been watching the Brexit negotiations on how to leave themselves.

Interesting Covid disagreement developing between the EU and Belgium....over Belgium closing their borders to protect themselves against incoming Covid infections.....with the EU/Big Brother insisting that all internal borders stay open.

Wasn't it always obvious that the EU/Big Brother red tape machine would try their hardest to stifle any opposition to their Federal State ambitions.....and to think 50 plus years ago it started out as an economic community to help each other to trade on a level playing field.....then politicians took over and changed everything to set up the desire to invent the United States of Europe.

It's a wonder anyone can see the rotting fish/meat etc under the piles of red tape stopping the Brexit agreement from working as was agreed only weeks before.....the EU is showing it's true colours to the world now.

Sorry notDistant/sensible I just needed to get that off my chest.....and then get back to talking football again.

 

The biggest trading partner we have and you thought they would just roll over and give us whatever we wanted. Typical arrogance of the English who thought that. You were told what would happen and you ignored it. The Fishing fraternity pretty much voted out and have single handed scuppered their trade. All I can find myself saying when I see them bleat is "you voted for this". Why should they give us anything? It's no good bleating it's all their fault now. This is what you wanted so live with it but don't expect me to be happy with what you people have created. Be honest for once. Boris bolluxed the negotiation, lied about the leaving stuff and has fecked up everything else he has gone near since. This is the man you thought was wonderful not long ago.

 

That's just the point though Plym. Whilst we were in the EU we were NOT subjected to suffocating red tape.

Businesses LIKE a common set of rules.

It meant once they complied they could trade not only in Europe but around the world because every country knows and understands EU standards. Once you diverge, every transaction has to be justified anew.

They could recruit highly qualified people from across Europe and send their own British staff to work in their European operations without let or hindrance. The same freedom of movement benefitted tourists and those thousands of Brits who choose to live abroad.

The people coming in were in the main the same colour as us, followed the same religion as us and had similar beliefs as us on democracy, freedom of speech, the rule of law, respect for women and minorities. The Government now seems to intend to allow in more people who are not the same colour as us, do not necessarily follow the same religion as us or have similar beliefs as us on democracy, freedom of speech, the rule of law, or respect for women and minorities. How's that going to sit with the people who voted for Brexit?

Brexiteers are going out bragging that we are now an independent sovereign nation again. Other than having blue passports designed in France and made in Poland, I fail to see much benefit in that. What it does mean though - and this was entirely obvious from the outset - is that we now trade with the EU as an independent sovereign nation again. That means oceans of paperwork, all of which has to be checked by every man and his dog in each country. I know this from experience of dispatching consignments around the world and I know the butt-tightening fear of sending stuff to Japan or somewhere and the ship and the berth being blocked because the paperwork is wrong and your stuff can't be unloaded. Demurrage is a word feared throughout the world. And that was loads of safe, uncontroversial, non-deteriorating stuff, not live lobsters. This isn't new, it's the same as it ever was except when we were in the EU. Don't say you didn't know because business said so before the poll. This isn't the fiendish French or the ghastly Germans picking on us, this is what independent sovereignty is now, was in the beginning and always will be.

 

Here's a question for you. What happened to the Covid support fund that was agreed between the Premier League and Leagues 1 and 2? Has anyone heard anything about it since it was announced with a great fanfare?

 

So...if Sheff U beat Man U...2-1 away....and beat us... 2-1 at home....does that mean we're better than Man U.

Huh...mmm.....maybe not.......

 

It was a very similar team...........

AGAINST US
1 Ramsdale
6 Basham
12 Egan
22 Ampadu
20 Bogle (Baldock 71 min )
7 Lundstram
16 Norwood (Bryan 72 min)
4 Fleck
3 Stevens
24 Brewster (McGoldrick 79 min)
10 Sharp (Burke 79 min)

AGAINST MAN UTD
1 Ramsdale
6 Basham
15 Jagielka
22 Ampadu
2 Baldock
7 Lundstram
16 Norwood
4 Fleck
29 Bryan (Bogle 53min)
17 McGoldrick (Brewster 80 min)
10 Sharp (Burke 70 min)

Jagielka is 38 so hardly surprising he didn't play in the FA Cup.

 

Got my telephone call for the jab today and fixed for Tuesday at the Pavillions. Deep joy.......


Actually I was never going to refuse it and will be glad when I've had it. I see the EU are beginning to play hard ball with Northern Ireland now and the vaccine; I think we should invade them and shut them up once and for all. Get our own back for them bombing you all those years ago plym.

 

Glad to hear that sensible.....does the Mrs get a jab soon ?.....I haven't heard anything locally regarding getting the jab.....I doubt that they know that I have already had it through Guys Hospital....I know more people that have gone to Guys....and only know of two who have been called locally.


EU have started to back track on their N I comments....they realize all of a sudden that it is them that is creating a border in NI with their attitude on the vaccine... which they have been adamant should never happen.

They have totally cocked up their vaccine requirements by being too late to sign up last year to acquiring stock for all 27 members States....and have the cheek now to try and bully us into giving them what is legally ours.

They have also realized that their bullying tactics will come over badly across the rest of world.....and are starting to back-off.....back in the EU parliament they have now created a back-lash over their central approach amongst member states at the lack of a working vaccine policy.

 

The wife has no central vision in either eye so is classified as only partially sighted. She couldn't go on her own or even go in on her own as she would just get lost. I was about to ask about her and a jab when the Woman said and we will include your wife as same time as you. I was a bit surprised as they normally can't get anything right at our Surgery. Mind you she can see me pull a face from the corner of her eye at 50 yards.

We aren't going to get any special treatment off the EU given we chose to leave so no surprise the tactics start now. However, I don't think we need several hundred million doses of any of the vaccines more that the population numbers so I don't think we should be insisting on having it all either. This is a World pandemic and being selfish is something not required by any Nation towards others. A second however though is they should be asking not trying to blackmail.

 

I'm sure that there are many more poorer countries in the world that we can offload surplus vaccine too....some of these vaccines are months down the road before becoming available....and I feel sure we will do the right thing....but personally at the moment bending to pressure from the EU is on the back burner.....they have not been fair and honest to us for many years....so I'm not too concerned about their needs at present.

I do wonder what will happen when Merkel finally retires from front line politics...which is not far away now....who will hold the power reins in the EU....if France come more to the fore than we can only expect more trouble and unrest amongst the smaller member States.

Confiscating Lorry drivers ham sandwiches is about the level the French should stay at....personally Macron isn't to be trusted and he thinks he is a modern day Napoleon and we all know what happened to him.

 

Your last sentence is exactly what our Customs do with any food imports from abroad so what level would you put that at? The last part of your first paragraph is also based on no facts but just your own opinion which is not shared by half of the Country. Your attitude toward our nearest neighbours is also why they don't feel that inclind to do us any favours. Our lorry drivers have to drive across these parts of Europe so surely it is in our interests to make the population of those Countries as safe for them as we can. I'm concerned about their needs as well as our own. As for your middle paragraph well why do you care you voted to leave so surely it doesn't matter to you who comes to the fore or not. It's none of our business now.

 

Exports to the EU of steel produced in the UK will face 25% tariffs shortly. Never a robust sector, it nevertheless employs thousands in well paid industrial and engineering jobs in otherwise deprived areas.

Let's get the ham sandwiches in perspective.

 

So where does a "free trade" agreement ...agreed at the Brexit talks...start and finish....why does the EU charge tariffs on top of this agreement....and why is a ham sandwich that has already been bought and in a sandwich such a problem...other than just darn cussedness on their part.

 

We went for a hard line Brexit so that we could claim "sovereignty". Well, this is what it means, which was obvious to anyone not fooled by the lies told by the Brexit camp and who chose to ignore the warnings from business.

Up to a point, some businesses can cope but very important sectors are at risk. These range from high end manufacturing to fisheries and agriculture.

To give you a measure of what's going on, HGV movements through northern France are 30% down on previous levels. That's not due to a shortage of ham sandwiches.

DPD have suspended ALL carriage of food, cosmetic and similar products where there is need for product standard compliance checks. A single non compliance within a cargo of 100 packages means their vehicle could be delayed for days. The businesses hit hardest by that are small operations which perhaps started in someone's kitchen or garage which have built themselves up to a little industrial unit and half a dozen employees partly on the back of exports into the EU. You were told that would happen if only you'd listened.

The world changed when we joined the EU. Exporting ceased to be the province of FTSE100 companies and was opened up to small entrepreneurs supported by ecommerce and flexible small package distribution systems. At a stroke, Brexit has wiped that out.

 

Ham is a meat product and is subject to rules. If it doesn't have the correct paperwork then it is not allowed to cross the border. This is not just into the EU it is into the UK and a whole load of other countries with their own rules governing these things. It was the rule prior to no borders by the way.

 

But it wasn't being exported or sold....it was in a drivers sandwich....just so pathetic.

 

Yes it was they were entering a foreign country with the meat whether it was in a sandwich or not. If that is pathetic now it was pathetic then but you didn't have a fifth rate Rag bringing it up as an important subject. Any excuse to complain really but this one is a bit grasping at straws. You voted for this so don't moan about the consequences now, If you didn't realise what you were voting for then that's your own fault for believing Boris and chums.

 

I was interested in a news item on the local BBC TV TV news, which reveals most of the calls to Devon & Cornwall Police reporting Covid rule breaches have concerned visits by emmets to second homes.

We saw a police officer out and about in his car, operating his shoulder radio with his right hand while steering only with his left and indeed also operating the indicator stalk with his left hand whilst negotiating a road junction.

The arrogance of it. Don't use your mobile phone while driving, it's very dangerous but it's OK for us to use our radios. I'm not defending those who use hand held phones while driving but who released this piece of film instead of thinking that the officer should be reprimanded?

 

Hmmm!! The arrogance of a Policeman.........who'd have thought it. I met quite a few in my line of work and believe me it isn't an uncommon trait in our boys in blue.