Off Topic The Politics Thread

[DT’s Socks]

no flowers on mothers day
how can you brextards be so awful
dont you love your mothers

No-deal Brexit could stem the supply of Mother's Day flowers

Dutch exporters warn of major delivery problems if Britain crashes out of the EU
Daniel Boffey in Brussels
Fri 18 Jan 2019 13.27 GMT First published on Fri 18 Jan 2019 13.21 GMT

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  Dutch exports account for 80% of flowers in British shops. Photograph: Michel Porro/Getty Images
  Meet Brexit’s latest potential victim: the Mother’s Day bouquet. While the tumult in Westminster is keeping political pundits in clover, the decision by MPs to vote down Theresa May’s deal this week has sent petals flying among Dutch exporters, who are responsible for 80% of the flowers sold in British shops.
  As the risk of a no-deal Brexit was raised, LTO Nederland, the organisation that represents Dutch agricultural producers, formally warned its members of major problems if they do not get products into the UK before Brexit day on 29 March.
  “For the floriculture sector, it is also important that March 31 is Mother’s Day in the United Kingdom – an important selling point for suppliers of flowers and plants. It is expected that due to a shortage of facilities and employees, there will be major problems at the border, and therefore delays,” said LTO Nederland.
  Once out of the EU, unless there is a status quo transition period of 21 months, as planned in the prime minister’s deal, today’s current seamless trade will be fractured by customs and phytosanitary checks.
  Delays, exporters warn, mean wilting flowers, empty shelves and disappointed Mother’s Day customers.
  About €825m (£725m) worth of flowers and plants were sold by Dutch companies into the UK in 2018, down from €950m in 2016, due to the fall in the value of sterling. But whether it is freshly cut tulips, potted plants or small trees, the Netherlands still remains the No 1 source for British florists, garden centres, corner shops and DIY stores.
  Matthijs Mesken, the director of VGB, which represents Dutch wholesale exporters of flowers, said he was confident his biggest traders would ensure their products would be in the shops ahead of Mother’s Day and “as fresh as last year”.
  “You can deliver it Saturday for the Sunday, but that will maybe be too late,” he said. “We will deliver the flowers the week before.”
  But Mesken added that Mothering Sunday kicks off the busiest season for florists and that without a deal in place, chaos at the ports will begin. “Two weeks later, or Mother’s Day next year? We will have a problem,” he said.
  “If you are a florist in the UK you can buy flowers from us at 4pm this afternoon and they will be delivered tomorrow morning in London or in the afternoon in Manchester,” he said. “But after Brexit, deal or no deal, that will change. It is not that easy, maybe it is impossible, to order flowers in the afternoon and deliver tomorrow.
  “If we have a transition period we can work out our systems, we can prepare ourselves for the changing logistics,” he added. “If we don’t have a transition period, from 1 April it will be chaos. There will be delay in the harbour, and we are dealing with fresh products. So every hour of delay in the harbour reduces the quality.”
  
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  The port of Harwich is a key route for Dutch flower exports into the UK. Photograph: Alamy
  Mesken said he had a lot of questions for Michael Gove’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) but it was proving “very difficult for them to give us answers because it is not certain what will happen”.
  “We ask where the inspections will take place of our products in the UK,” he said. “Not in the harbour, because there is not space for all the trucks. At the shop? Garden centres? And they can’t answer until now. So that makes it very difficult for us to prepare.”
  Michiel van Veen, the operations and supply chain director at Royal Lemkes, Europe’s biggest exporter of plants, which ships 50,000 plants a week into the UK mainly through the port of Harwich, has had a similar experience of the British authorities.
  He said: “With the regulations prepared now by the UK authorities, it is not really possible almost to export plants to the UK in a no-deal scenario.
  “Under the formal regulations at the port of Harwich you cannot bring in any plant materials. But that is the main port of entry to the UK. Every company doing something with plants is using Harwich. So it is something stupid written down that is not practical.
  “We had telephone calls and we were to have a meeting last week but it was postponed on the UK side because of the political state at this moment.”
  Van Veen added: “I was looking at the BBC yesterday night and looking at what is happening over there, and I don’t know what game is being played. But I can only take my responsibility.”
  A spokesman for Defra, without reference to customs checks, said: “In a no-deal scenario, the majority of plants and flowers which come from the EU will be able to enter the UK without requiring plant health checks, just as they do now.
  “Some high-risk plants will need plant health certificates, known as phytosanitary certificates, and the importer will need to notify the relevant UK plant health authority that the goods are arriving. There will be no plant health checks at the border for this material, and so there should be no delays in moving the goods across the UK border from these new requirements.”

If a person can’t grow a flower in post Brexit Britain then we really are ****ed ... plenty of people near me in London growing lovely plants in their lofts.
If all else fails give your mother plastic flowers from the pound shop ... bonus is mums can then feed them to swans so in turn we can use them as bait to the catch giant inshore whales ... they love to eat plastic

 

[ELLERS]

Yes I tend to agree with that. Our mentality prior to the negotiations was somewhat patronising. Gove and Fox etc easiest deal ever blah blah. Anyway, I really can't call this one way or another, infact it doesn't seem anyone can.

I think you will find the deal quote was for making deals with other countries once out of the EU. Funnily enough we haven't left yet? When we do then we will see if he is talking crap.

 

[ELLERS]

"Little Hitler" a recognised saying for autocratic tosspots! I repeat, I wasn't comparing Grieve to Hitler. I've obviously offended you Remainers, so I'm pleased to withdraw it. I'll settle for Grieve being a treacherous, self-serving tosspot.

Ellers is more than capable of answering for himself on the French running away. I, personally, have never used that kind of phraseology but I do think the EU takes brinksmanship to another level to see what it can get away with. There will be a compromise, particularly if no deal is on the table. If Grieve, Soubry and their mates get it taken off, they simply prolong the agony.

I am missing something here? I blocked all the Euro freaks in November Goldie so sorry if they have Replied to you. Life must be so good out there that they can't seem to keep off here?
maybe we should sink the French fleet again?

 

[GoldhawkRoad]

I am missing something here? I blocked all the Euro freaks in November Goldie so sorry if they have Replied to you. Life must be so good out there that they can't seem to keep off here?
maybe we should sink the French fleet again?

No problem to me, Ellers.

 

[kiwiqpr]

State visit for Donald Trump on D-Day anniversary
Richard Kerbaj and Tim Shipman
January 20 2019, 12:01am, The Sunday Times

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President Donald Trump with the Queen during his visit to Windsor Castle in July last yearRICHARD POHLE
A full state visit to Britain is being planned for Donald Trump to coincide with the 75th anniversary of D-Day, The Sunday Times can reveal.
Downing Street officials have held secret talks with their White House counterparts to discuss the timings of the visit, which would involve an official banquet at Buckingham Palace and a carriage procession down the Mall.
It is understood that the palace, which would have to agree the visit on behalf of the Queen, has been told about the discussions.
Informed sources said the visit is expected to be announced in April and to take place in June when Trump plans to attend the D-Day anniversary in France to commemorate the liberation of the country by the allied forces

 

[GoldhawkRoad]

Labour activists blaming Fiona Bruce for Diane's dire performance on Question Time. Presumably they also blame Nick Ferrari for her car crash LBC interview on police pay

 

[ELLERS]

Labour activists blaming Fiona Bruce for Diane's dire performance on Question Time. Presumably they also blame Nick Ferrari for her car crash LBC interview on police pay

The only person to blame is Diane Abbott and her 'utter thickness'. The woman is just stupid. And I am being nice to her.

 

[kiwiqpr]

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[kiwiqpr]

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'Fast track' lanes for UK tourists in Portuguese airports post-Brexit
by Westmonster
Brexit
January 21, 2019
In yet another embarrassing drubbing for the establishment’s increasingly bonkers Project Fear, the Portuguese government have revealed plans for British tourists to get ‘fast track’, UK-only lanes post-Brexit. British tourists are a huge financial asset, this is the type of common sense solution we’ll see plenty more of once the UK has left the European Union.
Prime Minister Antonio Costa has announced the lanes will be running at Faro Airport in the Algarve and Funchal Airport on Madeira.
“Millions of Britons visit Portugal as tourists every year – we have to ensure the flow is not interrupted,” he reiterated.
A few days ago PM Costa tweeted: “Today approved the contingency plan for the Brexit. The package of measures aims to provide guarantees of security and tranquility to the 400,000 Portuguese residing in the UK and the British 23,000 to reside in Portugal, and keep the tourist flows at regular levels.”
Portuguese Economy Minister, Pedro Siza Vieira, has also revealed that tourists won’t need a visa even in the event of a No Deal Brexit. He told Reuters that: “In the absence of an alternative proposal by the United Kingdom, what every (EU) member state is doing is adopting measures that allow them to react to a unilateral circumstance.”
He also revealed that Portugal will “unilaterally” guarantee rights for British citizens living in the country, including access to healthcare. European governments are going to do everything they can to ensure a smooth relationship with Brexit Britain moving forward, it’s in their interests to do so.

 

[Quite Possibly Raving]

I think you will find the deal quote was for making deals with other countries once out of the EU. Funnily enough we haven't left yet? When we do then we will see if he is talking crap.

No, it wasn't. Here's the quote in full:

“The free trade agreement that we will have to do with the European Union should be one of the easiest in human history.

“We are already beginning with zero tariffs, and we are already beginning at the point of maximal regulatory equivalence, as it is called. In other words, our rules and our laws are exactly the same.”

“The only reason that we wouldn’t come to a free and open agreement is because politics gets in the way of economics,”

“We don’t want to have no deal. It is much better that we have a deal than no deal,” he said. “We can of course survive with no deal. And we have to go into a negotiation with those on the other side knowing that’s what we think.”

“You cannot leave the European Union and be in the single market or the customs union, they are EU legal entities,” he said. “That’s the legal definition – if you are out of the European Union, you are not in the single market or the customs union.”

 

[ELLERS]

No, it wasn't. Here's the quote in full:

“The free trade agreement that we will have to do with the European Union should be one of the easiest in human history.

“We are already beginning with zero tariffs, and we are already beginning at the point of maximal regulatory equivalence, as it is called. In other words, our rules and our laws are exactly the same.”

“The only reason that we wouldn’t come to a free and open agreement is because politics gets in the way of economics,”

“We don’t want to have no deal. It is much better that we have a deal than no deal,” he said. “We can of course survive with no deal. And we have to go into a negotiation with those on the other side knowing that’s what we think.”

“You cannot leave the European Union and be in the single market or the customs union, they are EU legal entities,” he said. “That’s the legal definition – if you are out of the European Union, you are not in the single market or the customs union.”

Now show me who said that?

 

[kiwiqpr]

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more foreign students arrive in racist uk

 

[ELLERS]

No, it wasn't. Here's the quote in full:

“The free trade agreement that we will have to do with the European Union should be one of the easiest in human history.

“We are already beginning with zero tariffs, and we are already beginning at the point of maximal regulatory equivalence, as it is called. In other words, our rules and our laws are exactly the same.”

“The only reason that we wouldn’t come to a free and open agreement is because politics gets in the way of economics,”

“We don’t want to have no deal. It is much better that we have a deal than no deal,” he said. “We can of course survive with no deal. And we have to go into a negotiation with those on the other side knowing that’s what we think.”

“You cannot leave the European Union and be in the single market or the customs union, they are EU legal entities,” he said. “That’s the legal definition – if you are out of the European Union, you are not in the single market or the customs union.”

Firstly just to confirm he did say 'post Brexit' and "should be" that was from Fox. I don't remember Gove saying it.
https://www.theguardian.com/politic...trade-deal-after-brexit-easiest-human-history
Although I can see why people have used it.

 

[mapleranger]

I apologize if this has been discussed earlier on the this thread but I did read all of of them back to Saturday and all of today's but neither the British media, the Canadian media or this thread seem to have too much information about what the Plan B entails - please, what does Plan B actually entail

 

[ELLERS]

I apologize if this has been discussed earlier on the this thread but I did read all of of them back to Saturday and all of today's but neither the British media, the Canadian media or this thread seem to have too much information about what the Plan B entails - please, what does Plan B actually entail

I don't really think May has a planB other than trying to get the EU to drop the Backstop (which won't happen).
What is more worrying is the awful Yvette Cooper trying to derail Brexit with her amendment to extend article 50 and prevent a 'no deal' Brexit. I am sure the honest Bercow will agree to it. But I heard tonight the Government don't even need to go along with it. Hopefully May will tell them to "sit down shut up" .

 

[kiwiqpr]

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One in three children under the age of 12 to be boiled down for pills and soap in the event of no deal brexit, says new report

 

[kiwiqpr]

I apologize if this has been discussed earlier on the this thread but I did read all of of them back to Saturday and all of today's but neither the British media, the Canadian media or this thread seem to have too much information about what the Plan B entails - please, what does Plan B actually entail

You must log in or register to see media

 

[bobmid]

Plan b was pretty good hey. I see a great deal of thought and organisation has gone into this. I can see article 50 being extended.

 

[bobmid]

I am missing something here? I blocked all the Euro freaks in November Goldie so sorry if they have Replied to you. Life must be so good out there that they can't seem to keep off here?
maybe we should sink the French fleet again?

Shut down anyone you don't agree with......where have I seen that before? You brextremist freaks really are difficult to debate with. Only messing with you Ellers cat. You voted to leave and the prime minister you voted for is letting you down. I would be pissed off too in those circumstances

 

[bc7]

Plan b was pretty good hey. I see a great deal of thought and organisation has gone into this. I can see article 50 being extended.

That would make the European elections interesting. I am led to believe that if we are still part of the EU in May, we are legally required to hold elections or the whole EU wide election is deemed illegal.
In the 2017 General election, only 10% of the electorate voted for parties with remain in their manifestoes ( and their share of the vote was down by 3% from 2015).