"We engaged in these negotiations on the basis of this document (the joint political declaration) which is available in all languages ....
including English"
So dais Micheal Barnier at the conclusion of the talks before the end of June, with the result that the two sides are further apart now than at the start.
I am not being a "remoaner" to point out, that all the EU wanted for the UK to live up to the contents of the PD signed and ratified in December.
The UK has been trying to roll back on that ever since.
It was once said that "an Englishman's word is his bond", but not any more.
The main bone of contentions are the LPF provisions and the NI Protocol.
The NI protocol is not just part of the PD, it is in the legally binding WA, it will come into effect no matter what, and agreeing how what was agreed is going to work is essential.
LPF - “very far from this objective”
Civil nuclear - “we are very far from this objective”
Anti money laundering/ counter terror - “v far”
Framework agreement: “v far”
On fisheries...
“zonal attachment is the only parameter” the UK acknowledges, says Barnier “If thats the case there’s no discussion to be had”... basically says there is no chance of annual negotiations being agreed to, as too complicated
“Avoiding exit declarations are incompatible” with implementation of Northern Ireland protocol... says Barnier..
Barnier restates Zero tariffs 0 quotas “unparalleled offer” & “only possible solution” in such short time [other FTAs took years] but can only get that with level playing field guarantees.
PM will be asked at summit w/ EU: “do you remain committed to the Political Declaration?” struck by the fact that again almost all questions from UK journalists... little evidence so far for idea that European biz worried about trade surplus with UK are going to force EU side to compromise... not even registering on scale of Covid crisis...
So, there we have it, Brexit being handled in the same safe handed way it always was, and is reflected in the Government's handling of COVID-19.
UK businesses are having to deal a potential situation with tariffs and no tariffs, and also non-tariff barriers and no non-tariff barriers. As well as dealing and recovering from COVID.
The UK Government needs to start acting like a grown up, rather than a screaming toddler. But maybe this was always the plan.
Who knows?
Friday, 5 June 2020
Thursday, 4 June 2020
Wednesday 3rd June 2020
Day of rest.
And a day in change in the weather. The hot weather of the last few weeks was slipping and fading away, and at first the sky was partially covered with high, whispy clouds. But cloud would build through the day, and on Thursday rain, your actual water from the sky was forecast. There's no doubt the garden needs it as we have to water most nights, and so the water butts are getting low, so low we had to top some up with tap water.
So, lets hope for rain.
But for now, I have a lazy morning, another Word in Your Attic to watch whilst eating breakfast. Which is a very nice way to start the day.
I sip my second coffee whilst setting up the work computer to be ready at half seven, and all smiles once we all join the meeting. The Danes are in good spirits; hairdressers are open, pubs are open, though travel beyond the country is very limited. I tell them what it is like here, and I'm sure they think I am making shit up, but I'm not, if anything underplaying it, and just giving the headline mortality figures.
Anyway, they're all busy with audits and stuff, so we finish, and I think I will have a typical morning. Until I get a call and it turns out that the sky is falling.
Three hours of meetings later, we're no further forward.
But news comes through during the day, first clarifying things, then doing the opposite.
So it goes, so it goes.
I have an early lunch, which is par for the course now. Cheese toasties and a huge brew did the trick, and it was eyes down for another meeting. How did a quiet day turn out to be so hectic?
The day was highlighted by king of the jungle, aka Mulder, who in the pace of half an hour managed to bring in (dead), a sparrow, a mouse and a baby rat! I was in a meeting and had to keep breaking off so I could grab what was in his jaws so it it was alive, I could grab it before it flew/ran off.
And that was the working day, so from four I prepare lunch to the tunes of the newly returned Steve Lamaqc show on Radio 6. Things are a little bit closer to normal, without being actual back to normal, if you know what I mean.
Dinner was chorizo hash, which we had not had for a few weeks, so why not?
I have a bottle of tripel, good as I received another delivery of 16 bottles during the day, so now have nearly two full crates again.
Hash was wonderful I added chilli flakes and hot Spanish paprika, so the beer/cider was needed. I know the blogs have settled into a formula, such is the way during this strange days. But the weekend is coming up, and we should off out doing stuff, maybe butterfly and dragonfly centred malarkey. Who knows? Not me.
And a day in change in the weather. The hot weather of the last few weeks was slipping and fading away, and at first the sky was partially covered with high, whispy clouds. But cloud would build through the day, and on Thursday rain, your actual water from the sky was forecast. There's no doubt the garden needs it as we have to water most nights, and so the water butts are getting low, so low we had to top some up with tap water.
So, lets hope for rain.
But for now, I have a lazy morning, another Word in Your Attic to watch whilst eating breakfast. Which is a very nice way to start the day.
I sip my second coffee whilst setting up the work computer to be ready at half seven, and all smiles once we all join the meeting. The Danes are in good spirits; hairdressers are open, pubs are open, though travel beyond the country is very limited. I tell them what it is like here, and I'm sure they think I am making shit up, but I'm not, if anything underplaying it, and just giving the headline mortality figures.
Anyway, they're all busy with audits and stuff, so we finish, and I think I will have a typical morning. Until I get a call and it turns out that the sky is falling.Three hours of meetings later, we're no further forward.
But news comes through during the day, first clarifying things, then doing the opposite.
So it goes, so it goes.
I have an early lunch, which is par for the course now. Cheese toasties and a huge brew did the trick, and it was eyes down for another meeting. How did a quiet day turn out to be so hectic?
The day was highlighted by king of the jungle, aka Mulder, who in the pace of half an hour managed to bring in (dead), a sparrow, a mouse and a baby rat! I was in a meeting and had to keep breaking off so I could grab what was in his jaws so it it was alive, I could grab it before it flew/ran off.And that was the working day, so from four I prepare lunch to the tunes of the newly returned Steve Lamaqc show on Radio 6. Things are a little bit closer to normal, without being actual back to normal, if you know what I mean.
Dinner was chorizo hash, which we had not had for a few weeks, so why not?
I have a bottle of tripel, good as I received another delivery of 16 bottles during the day, so now have nearly two full crates again.
Hash was wonderful I added chilli flakes and hot Spanish paprika, so the beer/cider was needed. I know the blogs have settled into a formula, such is the way during this strange days. But the weekend is coming up, and we should off out doing stuff, maybe butterfly and dragonfly centred malarkey. Who knows? Not me.
UK farmers sold down the river
Around here in East Kent, farmers seemed to be at the forefront of the campaign for Leave.
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was seen as the root of all evil. And waste.
Farmers were promised protections of their industries and not reducing of standards, so to protect them and the public.
So far, so good.
Then it became clear that the Brexiteers dream is a trade deal of some kind with the US.
The bete noir is chlorinated chicken.
Chicken is chlorinated in the US because the US's health standards are far lower than the EU's and UK's, so to compensate for this, chickens are washed with chlorinated water.
I hate to repeat myself, but:
Chlorinated chicken and hormone injected beef are illegal in the UK and EU at the moment. It will remain against regulations and standards in the US even if the UK lets it in. But then the EU will be concerned that chicken meat from the UK is to EU's standards, and will need confirmation to their satisfaction as to what is let into the EU is to their standards. Once US stand goods are allowed into the UK then it will make UK farmers exporting to the EU more difficult and expensive.
Not only that, this will further fracture the UK single market, with such goods from the US against regulations on the island of Ireland. How is that going to be managed? Has the UK Government even thought about this?
This will be the price of any trade deal with the US, cheap sub-standard imports into the UK, or Great Britain, whilst our own farmers will have to produce at current or enhanced standards, whilst their markets in the EU will be blocked either due to regulations or tariffs.
This is Brexit.
Well done, UK electorate, own this clusterfuck.
And Nissan has said, no trade deal with the EU then the Sunderland factory is longer viable, just as project fear said and was mocked by the brave Brexiteers.
Well done.
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was seen as the root of all evil. And waste.
Farmers were promised protections of their industries and not reducing of standards, so to protect them and the public.
So far, so good.
Then it became clear that the Brexiteers dream is a trade deal of some kind with the US.
The bete noir is chlorinated chicken.
Chicken is chlorinated in the US because the US's health standards are far lower than the EU's and UK's, so to compensate for this, chickens are washed with chlorinated water.
I hate to repeat myself, but:
Chlorinated chicken and hormone injected beef are illegal in the UK and EU at the moment. It will remain against regulations and standards in the US even if the UK lets it in. But then the EU will be concerned that chicken meat from the UK is to EU's standards, and will need confirmation to their satisfaction as to what is let into the EU is to their standards. Once US stand goods are allowed into the UK then it will make UK farmers exporting to the EU more difficult and expensive.
Not only that, this will further fracture the UK single market, with such goods from the US against regulations on the island of Ireland. How is that going to be managed? Has the UK Government even thought about this?
This will be the price of any trade deal with the US, cheap sub-standard imports into the UK, or Great Britain, whilst our own farmers will have to produce at current or enhanced standards, whilst their markets in the EU will be blocked either due to regulations or tariffs.
This is Brexit.
Well done, UK electorate, own this clusterfuck.
And Nissan has said, no trade deal with the EU then the Sunderland factory is longer viable, just as project fear said and was mocked by the brave Brexiteers.
Well done.
Proud
The Prime Minister, Alexander Boris de Piffel Johnson, says he is proud of the way his Government has handled the COVID crisis. Quite a remarkable statement from the PM on the day that the daily deaths on the UK outnumbered that of the whole of the EU27 for the first time.
Over 65,000 additional deaths have been recorded since the beginning of March 2020. That equates to a town the size of Lowestoft.
Official figures now approach 40,000 deaths in hospitals and care homes.
The Givernment has broken its own rules in loosening the lockdown, depite promising last Wednesday that the Uk would see a drop from 4 to 3 in the alert status for COVID, an that would be official on Thursday, a week later the country is still at level four, after all four national Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) refused to sanction it. So Ministers were sent round the weekend political shows with the transitioning from 4 to 3 story, yet there being no scientific or medical evidence to back up such a move.
This means that the loosening and opening of non-essential shops, sports starting behind closed doors, should not be happening.
How on earth is anyone supposed to have any trust in these charlatans?
Yesterday, most front pages had news that "flying corridors" were being negotiated to allow Brits to go on summer holidays. So, quarantine would not be needed at either end of travel. As though it were other countries that still had the virus rampaging through its population. In fact, on Monday, Greece, allowed foreign tourists into the country, but not from the UK!
It is EU citizens coming to the UK that need protection!
Still, got to laugh. Or not.
The Attorney General, Suella Braverman, has been trying to defend her support of Dominic Cummings against the clear evidence he broke the law and lockdown restrictions to travel to Durham from London and then to Barnard Castle. It is her primary function to uphold the law. Her position is untenable, but I don't expect her to resign, nor Johnson demand she fall on her sword, as this would admit Cummings should go too.
Over 65,000 additional deaths have been recorded since the beginning of March 2020. That equates to a town the size of Lowestoft.
Official figures now approach 40,000 deaths in hospitals and care homes.
The Givernment has broken its own rules in loosening the lockdown, depite promising last Wednesday that the Uk would see a drop from 4 to 3 in the alert status for COVID, an that would be official on Thursday, a week later the country is still at level four, after all four national Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) refused to sanction it. So Ministers were sent round the weekend political shows with the transitioning from 4 to 3 story, yet there being no scientific or medical evidence to back up such a move.
This means that the loosening and opening of non-essential shops, sports starting behind closed doors, should not be happening.
How on earth is anyone supposed to have any trust in these charlatans?
Yesterday, most front pages had news that "flying corridors" were being negotiated to allow Brits to go on summer holidays. So, quarantine would not be needed at either end of travel. As though it were other countries that still had the virus rampaging through its population. In fact, on Monday, Greece, allowed foreign tourists into the country, but not from the UK!
It is EU citizens coming to the UK that need protection!
Still, got to laugh. Or not.
The Attorney General, Suella Braverman, has been trying to defend her support of Dominic Cummings against the clear evidence he broke the law and lockdown restrictions to travel to Durham from London and then to Barnard Castle. It is her primary function to uphold the law. Her position is untenable, but I don't expect her to resign, nor Johnson demand she fall on her sword, as this would admit Cummings should go too.
Wednesday, 3 June 2020
COVIDs in the House
Business Secretary Alok Sharma has self-isolated after becoming unwell in the Commons today. There is video of his sweating uncontrollably and struggling to speak.
It was JRM who insisted that Parliament sits in person, and now 450 MPs will have to isolate, I suppose.
What a victory for stupid Victorian thinking from the Moggster!
It was always a possibility this would happen, and a satisfactory digital solution was already working, but Mogg had to destroy that, because the PM needed a crowd to falsely laugh as his insipid prepared adlibs.
Just when you think this clusterfuck of a Government couldn't fuck up more, the succeed. They really put the suck in success.
Meanwhile, C4's Dispatches program reveals how Johnson told the Italian PM on March 13th that the UK was going for herd immunity to avoid a second wave later in the year. That week Liverpool played in the CL, Cheltenham Festival went ahead, and there was no restrictions other than to wash hands.
Lockdown would only come 11 days later, three quarters of the deaths in the UK could have been prevented had Johnson licked down on the 13th. Every day of dilly and delay cost hundreds of lives.
It was JRM who insisted that Parliament sits in person, and now 450 MPs will have to isolate, I suppose.
What a victory for stupid Victorian thinking from the Moggster!
It was always a possibility this would happen, and a satisfactory digital solution was already working, but Mogg had to destroy that, because the PM needed a crowd to falsely laugh as his insipid prepared adlibs.
Just when you think this clusterfuck of a Government couldn't fuck up more, the succeed. They really put the suck in success.
Meanwhile, C4's Dispatches program reveals how Johnson told the Italian PM on March 13th that the UK was going for herd immunity to avoid a second wave later in the year. That week Liverpool played in the CL, Cheltenham Festival went ahead, and there was no restrictions other than to wash hands.
Lockdown would only come 11 days later, three quarters of the deaths in the UK could have been prevented had Johnson licked down on the 13th. Every day of dilly and delay cost hundreds of lives.
Tuesday 2nd June 2020
Tuesday.
I wish I could say I had something exciting to tell you about what happened yesterday. But it was a long and dull day.
And with meetings, and a strong breeze blowing, I did not go out for a walk either.
I managed to sleep through the alarm and only woke when I smelt coffee brewing.
I had lost half an hour in oversleeping, meaning I went on the cross trainer with a woolly head, but once again, did my session, though it was mighty warm even at half six in the morning.
Jools leaves for work, I make breakfast; strawberries, blueberries, Grape Nuts and yogurt. A winning combination. And another coffee.
And then onto work, switching to the next seat at the table, I work with both laptops open and get on with work.
Good news is that I have enquired about a period of unpaid leave next year, and my boss has, in principle, agreed, and supplied me with the information needed to apply. So, lets hope the virus is all done by the end of next year and there is a working airline for us to use, and we will be travelling.
More as we get it.
And so to more mundane things: more work.
I have long rambling meetings with people, discussing how to fix things, sometimes its just good to vent.
There is leftover sausage pie for lunch, which I warm in the oven and cover with sweet chilli sauce, as everything tastes better with sweet chilli sauce. Except a cup of tea.
I hope that there will be something interesting buzzing around the garden, but it seems ours is a butterfly-free-zone. I sit down the bottom of the garden with both cats keeping me for company. The birds are happy as I have the cat's attention, so they can feed on the lawnmeadow.
Jools has yoga when she gets home, which means a late dinner. When she does come home, we have coffee before she goes to get ready, and I water the pot plants outside, fill up the ponds and do general useful stuff.
Dinner is aubergine in panko, which takes about an hour to prepare and cook, so I time it to be ready just as Jools finishes, we sit down to eat with Marc Riley on the radio and a box of red wine beside me.
I had done a second session on the cross trainer, so was hot and tired. But once again, I got it done. So I have a shower and am ready for the rock and roll evening and a late night with bed time at ten past nine.
I wish I could say I had something exciting to tell you about what happened yesterday. But it was a long and dull day.
And with meetings, and a strong breeze blowing, I did not go out for a walk either.
I managed to sleep through the alarm and only woke when I smelt coffee brewing.
I had lost half an hour in oversleeping, meaning I went on the cross trainer with a woolly head, but once again, did my session, though it was mighty warm even at half six in the morning.
Jools leaves for work, I make breakfast; strawberries, blueberries, Grape Nuts and yogurt. A winning combination. And another coffee.
And then onto work, switching to the next seat at the table, I work with both laptops open and get on with work.
Good news is that I have enquired about a period of unpaid leave next year, and my boss has, in principle, agreed, and supplied me with the information needed to apply. So, lets hope the virus is all done by the end of next year and there is a working airline for us to use, and we will be travelling.
More as we get it.And so to more mundane things: more work.
I have long rambling meetings with people, discussing how to fix things, sometimes its just good to vent.
There is leftover sausage pie for lunch, which I warm in the oven and cover with sweet chilli sauce, as everything tastes better with sweet chilli sauce. Except a cup of tea.
I hope that there will be something interesting buzzing around the garden, but it seems ours is a butterfly-free-zone. I sit down the bottom of the garden with both cats keeping me for company. The birds are happy as I have the cat's attention, so they can feed on the lawnmeadow.
Jools has yoga when she gets home, which means a late dinner. When she does come home, we have coffee before she goes to get ready, and I water the pot plants outside, fill up the ponds and do general useful stuff. Dinner is aubergine in panko, which takes about an hour to prepare and cook, so I time it to be ready just as Jools finishes, we sit down to eat with Marc Riley on the radio and a box of red wine beside me.
I had done a second session on the cross trainer, so was hot and tired. But once again, I got it done. So I have a shower and am ready for the rock and roll evening and a late night with bed time at ten past nine.
Boris U turn shock
In regard to the issue in my previous posting about the stopping of remote voting: that lasted one day.
As under questioning at PMQs by the Leader of the Opposition, Johnson said remote voting would be allowed and legislation would be passed by end of Thursday (tomorrow) for all members of 70 and those who have to isolate.
That wasn't so hard, was it?
And it was another though examination by the new girly swot in the class, Keir Starmer who had all sorts of nasty questions and evidence that proved Johnson had not done what he just said on record he had, or in the case of himself, that Starmer had offered to work with the Government in the reopening of schools, but had received no reply.
And produced the letter dated 3rd week in May to prove it, and has now published it.
Meanwhile, Johnson reacts to being held to account for his actions like it is an affront to democracy, and the people would ask why Starmer would do this at a time of National Emergency? Because it is an emergency, scrutiny is ever more important.
With so much incompetence to choose from to annoy Johnson with, he didn't even have to mention Cummings. And it appears that Johnson wore an earpiece so he could be prompted, and still was shit.
As under questioning at PMQs by the Leader of the Opposition, Johnson said remote voting would be allowed and legislation would be passed by end of Thursday (tomorrow) for all members of 70 and those who have to isolate.
That wasn't so hard, was it?
And it was another though examination by the new girly swot in the class, Keir Starmer who had all sorts of nasty questions and evidence that proved Johnson had not done what he just said on record he had, or in the case of himself, that Starmer had offered to work with the Government in the reopening of schools, but had received no reply.
And produced the letter dated 3rd week in May to prove it, and has now published it.
Meanwhile, Johnson reacts to being held to account for his actions like it is an affront to democracy, and the people would ask why Starmer would do this at a time of National Emergency? Because it is an emergency, scrutiny is ever more important.
With so much incompetence to choose from to annoy Johnson with, he didn't even have to mention Cummings. And it appears that Johnson wore an earpiece so he could be prompted, and still was shit.
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