On Brexit and COVID

So, why no blogs for a few days on the above?

Well, first to Brexit:

There is no real change in Brexit. The fundamental problems remain, and the UK Government is doing nothing at them.

There is shortages in HGV drivers, hospitality staff, fruit pickers and so on.

Last week the price of a four pack of bread rolls from Tesco have increased by 20% in a week.

Jobs and capital are leaving the country, UK businesses are setting up EU entities to protect what custom they have with the EU, but the Government and media largly ignore this. Doesn't mean it isn't happening.

And once restaurants and pubs open next Monday to serve food inside, we will see how food supplies stand up once demand starts to really increase.

As for COVID:

Vaccinations continue apace, I am to have my second jab on Thursday, there is to be more unlocking from the 17th, people have been told they can hug too, but this was never banned or against the law. You could hug those in your support bubble.

Infections, hospitalisations have dropped, and yesterday there were no COVID deaths in England, Scotland or NI.

But, sequenced tests of B.1.617.2 have rsen from 1% two weeks ago to 11% now, which is alarming. But we have a population that is close to 40% fully vaccinated, so the death and carnage we see in India on a daily basis probably won't happen here. But for those who are not vaccinated.....

So, nationally there is a pause and a sense of optimism, Johnson and the Conservatives won the Hartlepool byelection, with one interview where the sone of three generations of Labour supporters explained that because the Government closed the local hospital, the courts and so on, that he could not vote Labour but voted for the party that ensured those closures happened. I am still trying to understand this level of stupidity, blaming the local MP of the opposition party for actions of the Government.

Although Labour was devastated in the North, in the south a different story, less reported, emerged. Councils and cities across the south lost Conservative control, and went to the Greens, LibDems and even Labour.

But Labour is doing what it does after most elections, engaging in Civil War, the left screaming at the right, the right screaming at the left, while Nro Johnson fiddles.

One further point is the illiberal actions outlined today in the Queen's Speech, that photo ID is to be needed to be able to vote. Vote fraud is a tiny, tiny problem in the UK, and it is not a great stretch to see this as disenfranchisement of poor and ethnic voters to secure minority Conservative rule, very similar to what we are seeing in the US by the GOP.

People who do not have a driving licence or passport will either have to get either, at great cost, or not be able to vote. Which, I believe, currently is illeagal.