UK prime minister Boris Johnson reluctant to reveal his involvement in the OneWeb deal UK Prime Minister Boris has backed the country’s commitment to the nation’s Brexit Satellite constellation plan, although he is apparently unwilling to put his name to the deal which helped take satellite communications company OneWeb out of bankruptcy. Speaking to the House of Commons Liaison Committee yesterday, the Tory …
Kind?
It is absolutely baffling to me that this dickheaded charlattan has not been thrown out of N°10 yet, along with his troupe.
Incredible to see the UK sink so low.
O.
Seems obvious to me. All the major powers have a space presence, so the UK has to have one also. Just a further extension of "but all the other kids have a (insert Xbox/Playstation/etc.) mommy". No self respecting government leader wants to be the only boy/girl without the latest toys.
We'll figure out what to do with them later.
You need the antidote.
Imagine you are doing the Tango with Ann Widdecombe
https://www.hellomagazine.com/celebrities/gallery/201012064613/strictly/ann-widdecombe/round-up/5/
If the son of god was PM, you would still find something to bleat on about.
I'll freely admit that some aspects of the PM role, particularly during covid, are near impossible without offending someone however given that he's a proven liar, a proven racist, a proven sexist, a proven narcissist and lots of other things, he's going to be criticised for much more than someone that is none of these things. Add to this he's surrounded himself with a cabinet whose main skills are saying "yes" to him rather than any particular competence in anything whatsoever, and many of these have lost previous roles through lying, breaking the ministerial code or just being incompetent.
Politicians are human and mistakes, I'm fine with that. I don't really care too much about their personal lives as long as it's legal and doesn't impact on their ability to do what they are meant to do. One of the things that they are meant to do is to lead by example because they are in positions of authority and this is where, unfortunately, their personal lives can be problematic particularly with the rabid tatt chasing "news" that everyone insists on.
"He continued to be vague about which department’s budget line the £500m investment in OneWeb came from when pressed by Jones,"
About the same amount of vagueness that he will exhibit about how the final cost of the refurbishment of the flat above No. 11 Downing St will be settled.
Refurbishment of the flat is peanuts as by 1960 the buildings at 10,11,12 Downing Street were virtually condemned and had to be rebuilt behind the facia. This took almost 30 years. In about 2006 further structural problems were found and more major building took place. The place is constantly under remodelling and improvement so decorating the living quarters is really not anything to wet your bed about,
You can bet your life on it that if it were something that would put him or his government in a good light, he wouldn't hesitate about spewing the details out. In fact, rather than as a response to a parliamentary question he would already have organised a presser or made sure the details got 'leaked'.
If he's being cagey about it, it's because he's hiding something.
True for any politician, but I believe especially true of BoJo
or arrange satellite-based Internet-connectivity to remote regions of Elbonia, such that the younger citizens of these faraway places might all spontaneously wear the same color T-shirt or carry the same color umbrella...
.......it’d be great if they could bring faster broadband access to all of the UK, that’d be a revolutionary idea!
The real joke in all this is even considering Campbeltown peninsular to the north coast option. Avoid the ferry to Larne, take the ferry to Campbeltown and then the bridge.
Seriously, if they want to improve links with NI the first step is to improve the A75 to dual carriageway (I assume a full motorway would be out of the question) and without all those roundabouts on the Dumfries by-pass.
"Why would anyone want to go to Northern Ireland?"
Well, we would have gone last year had it been feasible, My brother-in-law there died and there was no way of going to the funeral and, without being there, very few ways of helping his widow. If things really do make it feasible this year we'll go. At least the previous two years we (and our daughter) took our grandchildren for holidays so they at least had a chance to meet their great-uncle.
I had seen a couple of remarks recently about a bridge to NI, I thought people were just being facetious, I am shocked to see it as a serious consideration.
The Irish sea often seems to act as a funnel to concentrate storm surges running up it. A couple of years back one of my clients who has a house not far from the beach in Southern Ireland facing into the Irish sea, had all his windows broken by a wave that ran several hundred metres up the beach.
If they build the bridge, I want to be the first to walk backwards to Ireland across it at Christmas to honour Spike Milligan.
@Yet Another Anonymous coward
"When you have some bad news about Brexit"
Not sure that will be a problem for a while. The gov would have to cock up to severe EU proportions to do anything worth complaining about brexit. The EU still aint finished making a deeper crisis out of a crisis, I expect a popcorn shortage soon.
@ICL1900-G3
"I suggest that you read The Economist rather than the Mail"
I dont go out of my way to read the mail but sometimes someone will link to a story. Occasionally the Economist. But since I get my news from a number of sites from the UK, US, EU, and others I like to think I am fairly informed.
"how badly things are going."
For the EU friggin terrible. Even their high priests of the project are unhappy with its abysmal performance. In the UK pretty good.
@Doctor Syntax
"In one respect Covid is doing a good job for HMG by keeping Brexit off the front pages"
Thats probably because 'oh we are doomed' or 'despite brexit' doesnt really work when the EU is in such a dire situation of their own making and continue digging. Brexit looks like a stroke of genius pulled off only just in time. Instead the news seems to be reporting the EU failures as if we are in shock. Its the same approach they took to the financial crisis. Idiocy.
"The Irish sea often seems to act as a funnel to concentrate storm surges running up it."
One great storm in the Irish Sea, which caused hundreds of deaths of fishermen, prompted Admiral Fitzroy (previously Captain Fitzroy of the Beagle voyage with a certain Charles Darwin on board) to create the Meteorological Office to attempt to predict the weather and warn seafarers of dangerous weather conditions. The previously named 'Finisterre' sea area was renamed recently by the Met Office 'Fitzroy' in his honour.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipping_Forecast
A barometer he gave to a village is actually in a wall at the harbour at Mousehole in Cornwall.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186238-d12715361-Reviews-Fitzroy_Barometer-Mousehole_Cornwall_England.html
Partly his current somewhat haggard appearance is due to his dieting. He was actually persuaded that being considerably overweight contributed to his bad Covid-19 experience, and that made him take it seriously. Previously he had objected to dieting because he didn't want to give up cheese.
The other part of his look is probably due to the stress of being PM while so much bad stuff is going on. His eyes look much more hooded than last year. Which is usually because of stress causing involuntary tension in facial muscles. Not a good look, really. (Should I tell him the cure?)
As reported last year, the Government is still pressing ahead with Skynet-6 (military satellite comms).
https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/18/skynet_6_6bn_satellite_bids_shortlist/
I still wonder whether this deal has something to do with it. The cost of Skynet is supposed to be £6bn. What's another £1/2bn on top?
The biggest problem with the current Government is that they are entirely shaped by what the media thinks, and how they appear in the media, with only grudging reference to experts in a field when they are backed into a corner, hence why they do deals with "Ferry companies" with no ships, buy protection for health workers fighting Covid which is woefully unsuitable, along with the much vaunted "Nightingale hospitals" which remain conspicuously empty... and buy satellite companies with products and expertise unsuitable for the intended task.
This is pure knee jerk response to satisfy anything the likes of the Sun or the Daily Mail will whine about, so they can say "It's ok we have splurged millions in tax payers money to 'solve' this".
Typical clueless Eton/Oxford classics graduates response to any problem, of muddling through and "it will turn out alright in the end".
The next Government (of whatever flavour) we vote into office next needs to start listening to people who are actually experts in a field, and have business experience , rather than listening to friends and acquittances they know from their private school or university who know someone who's looking to make a tidy fortune from the UK tax payer!
Do you think we will vote in people like this? No, many prefer the class clown.
I know lots of people who voted for Borises lot (they are not proper Conservatives), for the promise of the sunlit Brexit uplands and for all of the lies from the chief waffler.
Just think of the last few PMs, which ones do you think were decent? (Note not tarring them with incompetent brush just genuinely wondering who people trust.
Start at Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron, May, to De piffle Johnson.
TBH the actual Prime Minister and the Government don't necessarily need to be the experts, or even be competent, they just have to trust and listen to people who are (See Yes Minister, Yes Prime Minister lol).
"I know lots of people who voted for Borises lot (they are not proper Conservatives)" , personally I'm not a huge fan of the Conservatives but on this we agree 100%, this was a strange mutant takeover by the current bunch of misfits, especially the ERG who seem to be posh UKIP.
The old style Conservatives were at least reasonably sensible, and also listened to business, and people who could advise them properly.
I would also prefer any of those former Prime Ministers to Boris (yes really) because despite their many faults they did not dare to do the extreme, Cameron and May stood on the precipice of Brexit because I think they understood what it meant in real terms for jobs and the economy but were hamstrung by the loonies.
Boris jumped in gleefully feet first waving Union Jacks, and has basically said whatever he thinks will keep the ERG off his back, he never cared about Brexit it was just a way to get his feet under the table at no 10.
"Judging by BoJo's comments, he's already in talks for the lucrative circuit. I can't think why people would pay to hear him talk though, and he doesn't really think, just reacts!"
You misunderstand the nature of the negotiations, they would be paying him to not talk. There may even be a discretionary bonus for not turning up in the first place.
Paying him not to speak is an interesting concept, but don't forget he used to be paid £250k a year ('chickenfeed' according to him) for writing columns for the UK's Daily Telegraph. I read one, once, before he became PM. It was supposed to set out his ideas for the country. It was mostly waffle and the double page spread could easily have been shortened to a few inches for the actual meat of it. (I'm a mathematician, so I was interested in what he was actually saying rather than just the tone.)
I do not doubt that after being PM he will revert to journalistic pontification for what normal people consider vast sums of money for the right wing press. He has the sort of connections and confidence that means unless he seriously disgraces himself he'll be fine. I worry about the rest of us, of course, but not him.
+1
A recent BBC article on how Iceland is tackling Covid...
"At every step, Iceland has followed the science, led by Prof Gudnason and his team, with politicians nowhere to be seen in the daily briefings."
The following comment from their PM...
"I think it's important for a politician to realise what is politics and what needs to be solved by scientific means. It's my firm belief that we need to listen more to the experts"
Katrin Jakobsdottir
Iceland Prime Minister
New Zealand is the same, although I don't think the PM has come right out and said it.
I might go to the rugby on Saturday with 30,000 of my closest mates as a result.
It is also still summer here. I don't think that is the government's doing but they'll take credit if they can.
"I don't think the PM has come right out and said it."
not only has she said it, she very pointedly asked a few politicians who were criticising to cite their scientific qualiifications and experience and why they thought their opinions trummped those of people who were actually trained on the subject in question
To be fair... the NZ PM has done a great job, but it’s a very very different case.
Due to the issues of NZs unique environment, the country was already well aware/prepared for how an outside agent could destroy their country (and had experienced some detriment through funguses, possums etc) with very well funded Biosecurity organisations (and the DOC etc) already in place pre Covid, already conducting checks/disinfections at airports with well rehearsed plans.
More importantly, the NZ people have had the Biosecurity risk to their country drummed into them since school, so there was far less behavioural change needed to comply with covid restrictions.
Not at all a Tory/Boris fan, but the NZ comparison is not fair.
The UK is a major international destination, London probably already had 1000s of cases before anyone had heard of Covid.
This govt naturally managed to make everything worse, but simply blocking all travel and putting a few dozen returning nationals in hotels for 2 weeks wasn't really on option like NZ.
Here in Vancouver everybody listened to the science, everyone wears a mask (half the population wear a mask in winter anyway) the health minister is an international poster-person of "doing the right thing" but we have the same rate as every other developed country and are 2-3 months behind the UK in vaccinations.
>"We've had enough of so-called experts"
>UK Minister for the Cabinet Office
At the risk of being fair to the slithy Tove, he actually said this about experts from economic 'think tanks'.
I think we have had enough of 'experts' from the "Heritage Foundation of Liberty, Freedom and Market Forces" saying that tax cuts are needed to fight covid.
"The old style Conservatives were at least reasonably sensible, and also listened to business, and people who could advise them properly..."
You're romanticising the past. The Tories have always had swivel-eyed loons like Harvey Proctor and Norman Tebbit, and shameless opportunist bullshitters like Ian Hamilton and Jonathan Aitken.
I never especially had a problem with Major. Middle of the road politician. Thatcher made some extremely tough calls that ripped towns where I grew up apart. And yet I can see the necessity of some of those changes.
However, how far to the right the consevatives have swung now the party is barely recognisable any more. Populist nonsense rather than national interest on the table; backed by rampant and extreme cronyism. There must be a change if only to keep the latter in check.
"However, how far to the right the consevatives have swung now the party is barely recognisable any more."
As someone who, on the whole, believes in the market economy I'm probably right of centre/conservative. But some of the policies of the Conservatives and Mr Johnson in particular do not strike me as right wing, e.g.: saying 'F*ck business', harming UK exports, esp, financial services which bring a lot of money in (needed to subsidise farmers), creating trade barriers. Not to mention walking out of your marriage to shack up with someone else. Quite different from the sensible conservatism of decades past.
"Populist nonsense ..."
That I fully agree with.
At the last two elections huge numbers of the older MPs voted with their feet and retired. They could see what was happening as the career politicians with all the interest groups took over. The most recent election was the really killer when it was clear that is as an MP you actually cared, then you had no place. The only things that matter became saying "yes" regardless of the consequences and spouting useless soundbites to order.
The problem is that this is not just the conservatives, the entire system is saddled with people like this and there appears to be no improvements in sight. Many are younger MPs now who will sit and collect the money until they are either voted our or retire.
This post has been deleted by its author
Major - was left with Thatcher's legacy and was never going to succeed. He was however, a person with a decent brain not completely morally inadequate.
Blair - started out all positive but then got his war, sat in the pocket of the US and furthered privatisation and introduced Uni fees. There was initial progress under his leadership but that stalled and the promise of a brighter future went with it.
Brown - I can't even.
Cameron - thought he could control his party and drag some of the country forward while not making any ripples. That turned out well didn't it?
May - another impossible job. Prior to her taking power we were worried about her super-right-wing tendencies. It turns out she was just another puppet to Johnson and his plan.
De piffle Johnson - engineered his succession to PM since entering parliament. Everything he did (including becoming MoL) was part of his carefully planned journey to No 10. Complete narcissist and leading the UK into a future that I don't want to be a part of.
with only grudging reference to experts in a field when they are backed into a corner
The problem is that have made such a wonderful success of Brexit by deliberately ignoring experts, it would now be embarrassing to admit that experts can be useful.
Oh, I forgot, Boris has had his sense of embarrassment surgically removed.
Regrettably, the Minister for Education is not elected from a body of teachers or professors. The Minister for Defense is not elected from experienced military leadership. They are elected by the respective party in power; from a bunch of people whose primary skill is manipulating public relations. The F35 programme has it's origins right back in the experience gained from the Falklands war. At it's core, that generated a well informed set of requirements. The commercial nonsense over the top of that programme is what it is, a steaming pile of money printing for your mates.
As COVID has eminently proved, listening to the experts is optional in the face of public perception and/or money printing opportunities for your rich benefactors.
First past the post exacerbates the situation, the two parties with an actual chance of winning a general election have a vested interest in keeping FPTP in place. The Etonian club exists in both Red and Blue leadership, there are no shortage of stories of cronyism in both camps. I don't doubt one is worse than the other, but FPTP means we have literally no choice - your choice of vote is often tactical to "prevent" who you don't want to see in from winning, as opposed to voting for your desired agenda.
Climate change I dare say is one of the few cases where the experts (and in particular the late David Mackay) have been listened to. But that's rare - the fact that it happens to align with a good proportion of public opinion that doing something to reduce our economic dependency on oil and CO2 output are both, on the whole, good things.
It would require fiddling with the payloads of the existing spacecraft and dealing with the ground infrastructure. I think that retrofitting a GPS transmitter onto a low earth orbit satellite involves more than just fiddling. For a start you have to catch the thing and they are REALLY fast..... Assuming you can catch it as it whizzes by you then need to slot a decent atomic clock onto it....
Then play around with the ground station. Then persuade people who actually make stuff that requires positioning signals (so basically China) to make stuff that can read your signal.
If there was an ounce of commercial sense in putting this kit onto LEO satellites I'm guessing Elon would be ahead of Boris.
The UK can issue a license to transmit over the UK. Licensing bandwidth over the rest of the world requires negotiating with the rest of the world. Given the government's track record on international negotiations I am sure British missiles will be able to blow up in exactly the right place - for any target in the UK. I am sure we call all agree that this is ideal as there is no point wasting our expensive missiles on foreign targets.
Loudly and slowly.
Actually that joke is not that silly as it seems.
Anywhere using a west germanic language would be fine with slowly and clearly, or write it down.
The latin based ones, just need to hope they watch UK soaps or US films.
But much better to know a few words of their language and take it from there.
Only time I have needed prices written down are once in France (too fast) and once in the North East (too strong an accent).
Slowly and clearly speaking people using other west germanics are about 30% to 50% understandable by an English only speaker.
“ I think that retrofitting a GPS transmitter onto a low earth orbit satellite involves more than just fiddling. For a start you have to catch the thing and they are REALLY fast..... Assuming you can catch it as it whizzes by you “
Why would you want to mess with spacecraft in orbit when most of the constellation is yet to launch?.
You dont need an atomic clock on an LEO positioning satellite. Synchronisation could be done from base stations - this has been done before as a backup to galleleo as its clocks went squiffy a couple of years back in 10 of the first 18 birds.
Bigger problem for the existing constellations would be the lack of some form of antenna in the correct bands to actually send a GPS like signal back down.
Oh so typical Johnson. Conveniently forgetting the UK's membership of the ESA (it is still a member, Galileo is an EU project).
Better not tell him which flag is flown on ESA missions (look it up, although you can probably guess).
Flying the flag
If he thought it was a good deal he would have taken the credit for it so he must understand this is £500M down the drain. A half-witted Prime Minister would have had someone set up ready to take the blame. Clearly he has some way to go before he can demonstrate at that level of expertise.
Given how much the government has spent with BT over the last couple of decades to get openreach to roll out something slightly better than a wet bit of string to large rural areas (which must be in the tens of billions in total over the decades), personally I think a 0.5 billion investment in a satellite broadband system might possibly prove to be a tolerably good investment in the long run.
If nothing else the implied threat that in the future the government might just give OneWeb investment money will probably encourage BT to deliver a competitive service to areas where they don't currently do so before the service becomes active.
a 0.5 billion investment in a satellite broadband system might possibly prove to be a tolerably good investment in the long run
WTF? The original investors - who put up their own money and therefore had real skin in the game - couldn't make a viable business out of oneweb. So what chance is there a government - any government - succeeding where the original owners couldn't? What are the chances that clown Boris "fuck business" Johnson and his cronies could do it? These are the useless tossers who spunked away £53B on test and trace and have nothing to show for it. Remember that over the last 10+ years, Westminster has shovelled billions at BT to get fibre rolled out everywhere and there's close to fuck all to show for that too.
That 0.5 billion investment would have been better spent giving everyone in the country 10 quids worth of lotto tickets. That way, at least somebody would be guaranteed to get something to show for it.
I initially thought this move was crazy last summer but I read an article that I now can't find that made me think there was some method to this madness. A summary of what I can remember:
Although US built and nominally a US company One Web satellites have always been registered as UK satellites. I understand this means If no buyer could be found (& US approved of) the satellites as per the Outerspace treaty would have reverted to UK government to deal with, so de orbit, leave up there and hope they don't crash, explode etc.
As the UK government is severely under equipped to deal with anything space related it probably actually cost less to invest £500M in the company than this current UK gov would let the catering contract for a ground station out for.
Anon because I don't have an account.
Mr Speaker, this is undoubtably a great deal for Britain. It ah ah will prove to be the jewel in the crown, or testes canis as the Romans might put it. We shall ah ah strain every sinew in order to ah ah reach the sunlight uplands hereto denied to us by the ah ah dastardly EU.
We can now smell the olfactory stimuli that ah ah certainly herald the imminent arrival of fresh blossoms. Was it not Lucian of Samosata who said per certamen ad infernum ? And how very true that is, how very true indeed.
"For starters, OneWeb's satellites are designed for internet connectivity, rather than the sat-nav function the UK government might need them to perform to make up its departure from the Galileo programme which it left on exiting the EU."
Might need why? Galileo was a pointless willy waving in an effort to feel important in the world, I do wonder if this is a wise move to provide the internet connectivity governments have talked about for some time. or maybe they have other ideas. Another positioning system doesnt seem worth it and we will have access to Galileo anyway unless the EU go full iron curtain
"Fog in the channel, continent cut off."
Nope, junky, it's the UK that's gone full Brexit curtain. It decided to leave the single market and customs union. The result you see before you. Worse that Norway or Switzerland (they are in the single market), worse than Turkey (they have a customs union with the EU), worse than Ukraine (no association agreement), worse than Serbia (who want to converge).
What the UK has is the Belarus Brexit that the government chose. The UK, like Belarus, is not in he single market, not in the customs union, and does not want to converge. However Belarus is in the Eurasian Economic Union with its neighbours. The UK doesn't have that either.
The UK left everything, and unsurprisingly, now has nothing. But it can't complain because it chose to do that. It's a British political problem as this is what the British government chose, so place your blame at the British government's door. Maybe once the political problem is solved the UK can aspire once again to trade with its neighbours without any red tape.
@AC
"Nope, junky, it's the UK that's gone full Brexit curtain."
In what way? Current events have the UK looking globally while the EU is heading nationalist/fascist.
"The UK left everything, and unsurprisingly, now has nothing."
Eh? In what world are you living?
"Maybe once the political problem is solved the UK can aspire once again to trade with its neighbours without any red tape."
I actually agree with the red tape bit but I would extend from neighbours to more of a global reach. After recent events I wouldnt be shocked if there is a migration of biotech from our neighbours. Probably others too after witnessing the export bans and nationalism/fascism threats of the EU.
You do realise the UK has fewer trade agreements with other countries than it did when it was part of the EU, right?
Every British economic sector you care to mention is getting hammered because of a choice that the UK made of its own free will. This is not the EU's fault.
Are you throwing round the big scary words like nationalism (even though the EU is a supra-national entity) and facism because there's nothing else left to reach for?
Your Brexit is shit, you know it is, and all you've got left is "waaah, they're nationalist fascists".
@AC
"You do realise the UK has fewer trade agreements with other countries than it did when it was part of the EU, right?"
Yes. And also not obligated to apply the protectionist EU barriers to trade.
"Every British economic sector you care to mention is getting hammered because of a choice that the UK made of its own free will."
The only hammering I see is from shutting down the economy because of Covid. The UK economy looks closer to opening up back to normal before the EU.
"Are you throwing round the big scary words like nationalism (even though the EU is a supra-national entity) and facism because there's nothing else left to reach for?"
No. I am saying nationalism and fascism because the EU wants to be seen as a federal entity (their crying about diplomatic immunity in the UK) and are playing vaccine nationalism while threatening to confiscate Intellectual property and facilities if the vaccine companies dont do as the EU gov dictates.
"Your Brexit is shit, you know it is, and all you've got left is "waaah, they're nationalist fascists"."
Damn. I do wonder which part of the world you are in to be so removed from current events.
Yes. And also not obligated to apply the protectionist EU barriers to trade.
This makes no sense when all the UK is limiting itself to doing so far is rolling over the existing trade agreements it had with the EU, but some still aren't rolled over, so tariffs apply with those countries.
The only hammering I see is from shutting down the economy because of Covid. The UK economy looks closer to opening up back to normal before the EU.
So looking at this I can see the following articles over the past couple of weeks:
'We've been sold a dud': small firms suffer decline in post-Brexit exports
All is not rosy for UK gardens as Brexit hits supplies and Covid hikes demand
Brexit: UK cheese firm boss in despair over minister's export advice
UK firm to stop using British pork after post-Brexit border problems
Data shows collapse of UK food and drink exports post-Brexit
Brexit blamed for British exports to Ireland falling 65% in January
No. I am saying nationalism and fascism because the EU wants to be seen as a federal entity (their crying about diplomatic immunity in the UK) and are playing vaccine nationalism while threatening to confiscate Intellectual property and facilities if the vaccine companies dont do as the EU gov dictates.
I believe it was the UK which first talked about vaccine nationalism, then we found out the UK is still not exporting a single solitary vaccine dose to its neighbours or anywhere else in the world, not even Ireland, and to date the EU countries have exported 77 million vaccines to the world, 21 million of which were to the UK.
Damn. I do wonder which part of the world you are in to be so removed from current events.
It's not the sunlit uplands, that's for sure.
@AC
"This makes no sense when all the UK is limiting itself to doing so far is rolling over the existing trade agreements it had with the EU, but some still aren't rolled over, so tariffs apply with those countries."
You are responding to 'Yes. And also not obligated to apply the protectionist EU barriers to trade.'. It might not make sense if you dont know the difference between trade deals and protectionist trade barriers. They are different and often opposite things. Barriers to restrict trade, deals to increase.
"So looking at this I can see the following articles over the past couple of weeks"
1. Why would small firms expect an increase in exports to a place that is economically shut down and less likely to come back any time soon?
2. Are we really short of flowers, you are kidding?
3. EU trade barriers are bad (we been telling you guys this for how long?).
4. Ditto
5. Ditto plus see response 1.
6. Ditto
So you can tell me how bad the EU is for trade after brexit and you are pointing out the high barriers to trade the EU forced us to have with everyone. The world! Not being funny but hopefully the first bit you quoted now makes sense. The developed world is doing better at vaccination than the EU and I wouldnt be shocked if all but the third world is. That means economies will probably open before the EU just like with the financial crisis and the EU being behind the recovery.
"I believe it was the UK which first talked about vaccine nationalism"
The EU (particularly president) were banging on about how vaccine nationalism is a bad thing etc. Now they are the ones practising it. Do you have a source for the UK talking about it (I honestly missed that)?
"then we found out the UK is still not exporting a single solitary vaccine dose to its neighbours or anywhere else in the world, not even Ireland"
Holy shit your wrong. For complete vaccine the UK has been shipping to our overseas territories. For materials to produce vaccine the UK supplies the EU. The EU doesnt supply vaccine it is the very companies the world made contracts with and those companies are obliged to fulfil those contracts. Legally the EU has no grounds to complain otherwise they would go to court. Instead they make fools of themselves with vaccine nationalism and threatening the very companies they rely on.
People from ROI have been trying to sign up in NI to get vaccinated. A minister in Dublin suggested driving over the border and bringing back doses only for the EU to have a hissy fit. The very vaccine you talk of the UK exporting was only approved at the end of January and had such propaganda pushed against it that the EU wastes a load.
"It's not the sunlit uplands, that's for sure."
Ahh thats why your info is a little skewed. Out of interest where abouts are you (which member country)?
If you want to know the competence on display to the world-
https://www.continentaltelegraph.com/2021/03/the-eu-casts-the-italians-as-the-keystone-cops/
https://capx.co/the-eus-shaky-legal-basis-for-seizing-vaccines/
https://www.politico.eu/article/brussels-doubts-eu-countries-capitals-look-abroad-russia-china-coronavirus-vaccines/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB
https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/europe-s-vaccine-disaster-commission-president-ursula-von-der-leyen-seeking-to-duck-responsibility-a-1197547d-6219-4438-9d69-b76e64701802
When we were in the EU we were not prevented from trading with other non-EU countries, that's one of the biggest and easiest Brexit lies to call out right there.
And how many people were persuaded to vote leave by claims that EU Red Tape would go away, and anyone pointing out the freaking obvious, in that if we didn't remain in the CU and SM, we would be a third country and subject to the rules that non-EU countries have to deal with, was treated to the infinitely lazy 'Project Fear!'
Result = Government spends taxpayers money trying to persuade the populace to eat more shellfish in order to save the fishing industry it so comprehensively and deliberately sold down the river.
@Snapper
"When we were in the EU we were not prevented from trading with other non-EU countries, that's one of the biggest and easiest Brexit lies to call out right there."
So the UK could go make its own trade deals? The UK had control over its own tariffs? How about now where export bans are being applied, or the huge mistake of the Irish hard border the EU cared so much about? Is it the EU or members who set the terms of trade?
"And how many people were persuaded to vote leave by claims that EU Red Tape would go away"
I voted leave for a reduction in red tape. Hopefully this gov will be heading that way but if not I will vote for a party who will. Such an option not being available while in the EU. However with increased export controls to make exporting more difficult from the EU, is that what you thought you were voting for?
"we would be a third country and subject to the rules that non-EU countries have to deal with"
Is that bad? Is that awful? Please please please tell me how bad that is. Really lay it on thick as if it supports your argument. Then tell me why you think its a good thing that we would apply such horror on the world that we wish to trade with. Surely that would be the thing we voted to leave, those of us wanting less red tape.
"Result = Government spends taxpayers money trying to persuade the populace to eat more shellfish in order to save the fishing industry it so comprehensively and deliberately sold down the river."
Which I can assume is still a saving since the cost of brexit (extending remain) went quiet with the covid bailout.
You are just repeating propaganda, you know it, we've heard it all before.
I voted Remain, not because I was convinced remaining in the EU was a good thing and I really wanted to hear both sides of the argument, but I had no trouble seeing through the sheer blatant lies and confusion Leave relied on, with the goal-posts that Leave came up with constantly changing as each point they put up was disproved and they had to change their story AGAIN.
I'm still willing to believe there are sound reasons for leaving the EU, but I never heard one during the campaign, haven't heard one in the past five years and I'm not looking forward to the next decade or two as we reap the negative benefits of getting BoJo and his clowns into government, which is really the only 'success' story apart from a lot of rich people getting a hell of a lot richer.
What are you going to do now, say something with 'vaccines' in it? ONLY thing the UK government gets right amid utter ineptitude causing one of the highest death rates in Europe, and it didn't have ANYTHING to do with your precious Brexit
@Snapper
"You are just repeating propaganda, you know it, we've heard it all before."
The funny problem with that statement is how it sums up remain propaganda. werdsmith
accused me of lying about a tongue in cheek comment I make that I am less uncertain of its distance from EU will. At what point is there anything for him to accuse me of lying about there?
"I voted Remain, not because I was convinced remaining in the EU was a good thing"
Well you sold me on remain there. Amusingly the arguments for remain were often about how shit it is but we need to stay to reform it. Or that a monster under the bed is worse. Or be afraid!!!
"but I had no trouble seeing through the sheer blatant lies and confusion Leave relied on"
Ok. I take no issue with that. Did you not see the remain lies? Did that pass you by? No case for remain was made, only literal threats by the government if we dare vote to leave?
"goal-posts that Leave came up with constantly changing as each point they put up was disproved and they had to change their story AGAIN."
I am still waiting on the guaranteed brexit recession for voting leave. Oh no it didnt happen. But it is certain once art50 is signed. Oops nope. Erm. Somewhere in the future! Dooooomed. And of course the glorious headlines of 'despite brexit' aka because of brexit something good happened but we dont want to admit that.
"I'm still willing to believe there are sound reasons for leaving the EU, but I never heard one during the campaign"
Again I am not gonna disagree. So did you look into it yourself? I wasnt convinced by the official leave campaign, I assumed it was a setup to make leave look stupid. And then I saw it was on par with the official remain campaign! Neither did us proud. Neither any good. So on this important decision did you seek out the facts instead?
"What are you going to do now, say something with 'vaccines' in it?"
The truth hurts dont it. I like how you had to jump in because the obvious and extremely damaging cockup that is widely visible for all to see shows the EU in the light. But I dont need to bring up vaccine, it is only the latest in the EU way of working.
People blamed Greece over their misfortune with the financial crisis. It was the same mishandling as we see now but its easier to blame someone over there, but now it affects the whole of the EU and even the priests of the EU project are speaking against it. EU politics and power grab again took precedence and its the people who suffer for it.
"ONLY thing the UK government gets right amid utter ineptitude causing one of the highest death rates in Europe"
I love it when a remainer calls our gov for something bad. How would this be improved by remaining in the EU and having no vaccine? The UK has over 50% of its adults vaccinated and the EU barely started. Finger pointing, blocking exports, accusing manufacturers for EU failings, raiding manufacturers, spreading propaganda about how the AZ vaccine doesnt work and is dangerous then demanding more and so on.
"highest death rates in Europe"
Based on what? If its per 100,000 Belgium is above us as is Slovenia and Czechia (https://www.statista.com/statistics/1111779/coronavirus-death-rate-europe-by-country/). This is for Europe. But if you mistook EU for Europe isnt Brussels in Belgium? The place of the EU.
"didn't have ANYTHING to do with your precious Brexit"
Damn right. The only part Brexit played at all was the vaccine procurement. The only part you really dont want me to mention.
... which conveniently ignores that fact that we have the government that a certain Australian billionaire chooses we shall have (yes, including Blair), and that has been the case for the last four decades. The translation of the last election's votes into an unassailable majority for the current incumbents is not exactly a glorious demonstration of a properly functioning democracy.
Also, I have no love for JC, but it is simply a fact that, until 2019, his party got more actual general election votes than it did under the leadership of many other "more electable" Labour leaders. Furthermore, although it didn't translate to any electoral win, the only time Labour has opinion-polled above the Conservatives since Blair is under the leadership of JC. It wasn't really until 2017 or 2018 that the antisemitism allegations (whatever you think of them) began to tarnish him, he'd been really quite popular before that. So I'm afraid I see the 'unelectable Corbyn" prefix very much as the "corrupt EU" prefix - it seems to be a weasel word mantra that I never really see a valid justification for.
This post has been deleted by its author
This post has been deleted by its author
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
