El Reg tries – and fails – to get its talons on a Brexit tea towel There's good news and bad news for those seeking to commemorate the UK's departure from the European Union on 31 January. You too can own a "Got Brexit Done" tea towel, courtesy of the Conservative Party. Sadly, you cannot do the drying up with delight on the big day itself. Deliveries of the collection (which also includes a …
The repeated claim that the blue passport was forced on the UK by the EU is itself a lie. The choice was made by the UK government of the time to voluntarily adopt the standard EU template passport.
They didn't have to, and indeed Croatia has blue passports.
That said, I'd be wary of implying that- had this not been the case- it would otherwise have been fine to piss away the political future of the UK over the colour of some fucking passports or other twee inconsequential shite that I suspect 99.9% of Little Englanders didn't give a toss about until they adopted them as an excuse for^w^w symbol of leaving the EU.
Actually they're not. Thales (the French company that won the gig) took the decision to further outsource it to Poland, as it's not something they regard as a big deal.
https://www.connexionfrance.com/French-news/Brexit/French-firm-defends-UK-passport-jobs-in-Poland
The Daily Mail did briefly try and run an outraged story about poor working conditions in Poland, before it dawned on them what they were really saying. Normal service has been resumed.
You mean to say you're not actually proud of the Great British Tea Towel Industry?
Shame on you! Our tea towels are the envy of the world, and Brexit will give us access to new worldwide tea towel markets, now that Brussels can no longer dictate the size and colour of our dinnerware drying implements. If the future means just selling stuff to each other within our borders, then selling Brexit mugs to Brexit mugs is surely the prefect metaphorical souvenier.
I can see the headlines in a fortnight already...
and in other news around a third of Yorkshire folk have now officially died of thirst since Yorkshire tea surpassed the average monthly wage in some areas, more on this at 10....
Mines the one with the emergency teabags sewn into the lining...
I call into Lidl most days, on my way home from work, and buy whatever I can carry home to add to my stockpile.
I see one of two things happening - rationing or cannibalism.
Since it's the Tory party in charge of this mess, I've been stocking up on Chianti and fava beans.
Personally, I refuse to buy anything associated with mister "ordinary fans chop the air".
Though I suppose we can thank that particular con for a typically entertaining Wonderella comic.
Allow me to recommend suitable replacements.
The Grauniad is annoying but, let's face it, it's not top of the lift of publications to avoid or are you going to pretend you can read the Mail or the Express without questioning the sanity of any who choose to read it,
And it's worth remembering by all that it was founded by a businessman to help uncover the Peterloo massacre. Worth remembering to those on the left that not all businessmen are bastards, and those on the right that free trade was once the cry of the working class.
"Worth remembering to those on the left that not all businessmen are bastards, "
Quite, and most of the businesspeople I meet are keenly aware that they need good people and treat them well in order to have a thriving business.
"... founded by a businessman to help uncover the Peterloo massacre. "
And the FT is still running articles on things such as modern slavery in the UK, underpayment of garment workers in the North of England, Captain's Club scandal, etc.
"And the FT is still running articles on things...."
The FT was one of the first "respectable" outfits to start spamming in the 1990s and they refused to take the many clues they were handed that cost-shifting their advertising was a spectacularly bad idea.
Also worth remembering that it's owned by a Trust that is not averse to holding assets in the Cayman Islands for redons its never been willing to explain to Private Eye who tend to ask questions of them whenever the Guardian runs one of their "rich people using tax havens to avoid paying the money they owe" campaigns
Eh, full stops would have turned a mildly entertaining rant into a feeble and pointless one.
In its present form, I have a nice mental image of AC gasping and clutching his1 side, having just run a mile to deliver this urgent news to us in a single sustained, gasping outpouring of barely-discernible words.
1Going with the most probable pronoun here.
>Once all the old crusties have died off
Speaking as an apprentice crusty I think you're looking at the wrong demographic. I'd say its 'class' but that's not right either. I suggest reading Orwell's book "The Road to Wigan Pier" to discover the true nature of the beast. (I'm not too optimistic myself since Orwell failed to convince the Labour leadership in London of the true nature of the people they claimed to represent.)
"I think you're looking at the wrong demographic"
I grew up on the other side of the world in one of the colonies.
Britain has a long history of breaking deals, demanding special concessions and screwing its trading partners over - one of the things that virtually all members of the commonwealth have in common is that they got shafted by Britain at least once - and the ones that stuck with up to 1973 ended up facing 20-30 years of serious social and financial upheavals when they were unceremoniously dumped into the Big Bad World as the UK tore up its last vestiges of empire to join the Common Market.
The Empire itself really ceased to exist in 1940 - Churchill handed everything over to the USA - the gold reserves, control of the high seas, the international trading currency, etc etc as part of the terms of the Lend-lease agreement (one of the biggest peaceful power transfers in history) and it was locked in with Bretton Woods after WW2. Brittania got the reminder rather forcefully chiselled into her forehead that nothing happened without USA permission with Suez and TSR2 (even the Falklands wouldn't have gone off if the USA had said no)
As a colonial, what we saw was a very long stream of underqualified, overentitled brits showing up on our shores expecting to be paid more than qualified locals, for doing less than locals - and usually to a far lower quality and with a piss-poor attitude attitude to customer service whilst expecting us to be grateful that they'd come over to gift us with their mighty British Presence - which you can imagine gets short shrift most places. (There are a lot of decent people too)
British Exceptionalism and "Superiority" has been drilled into the national psyche - It's why Britain is tolerated but not _liked_ (and why "Made in the UK" became a warning label synonymous with "utter shit inside") - the USA is simply doing it bigger and better these days.
With that kind of Jingoism and constant running down of Johnny Furriner it's no wonder the poorly educated believe they're better off out of the EU. Having lived through "Small country has to try and establish itself in the Big Bad World", I KNOW how bad it's going to get - and am making plans to hit the eject button, or put a few Brexiters in the freezer.
As one of the old crusties with children and grandchildren to think about I hope to live to see that rejoining. However, as an alternative they all have their Irish passports and hence EU citizenship on account of said children having been born in NI.
In the meantime, stuff your ageism where the sun don't shine.
the rejoin movement to repair the damage.
Without particularly revealing my own thoughts on the matter I think it would take more than a few old codgers moving on to convince most Brits that rejoining the EU 20 or 30 years after leaving it is a good idea. We would have to pay full fees - without Thatcher's 'rebate' - have significantly less clout in EU institutions than we do at present and likely as not be required to accept other things for which we currently have exemptions such as certain parts of agricultural policy and the Euro. Companies that have relocated during the hiatus will not be in any particular rush to return.
And that doesn't consider that whatever trade deals we have been able to make unilaterally will have to be discarded, which could easily sour relationships with important trading partners such as China, New Zealand, Australia and the US.
In other words rejoining would not return us to the position we were in before 2016 - we would be much weaker and have less autonomy.
Mind you, if going it alone has even half of the downsides some people are predicting, maybe we will be so desperate by then for a bit of help that we will admit defeat and return with tail between legs.
Starts with Without particularly revealing my own thoughts on the matter and then In other words rejoining would not return us to the position we were in before 2016 - we would be much weaker and have less autonomy.
In other words conclusion based on speculation. No one really knows where Britain will be in 5 to 10 years or what the EU will look like, but we can assume the debate about membership will continue.
No one really knows where Britain will be in 5 to 10 years or what the EU will look like
I was trying not to reveal my own thoughts about the current situation and then went on to speculate about the future. I think the EU moves so slowly that we can be reasonably sure that the conditions for re-entry in 20 or 30 years will be similar to the conditions for entry now and these are - as I understand it - pretty much as I stated.
In other words by leaving we are giving up our few exemptions and perks in the expectation of getting a better deal elsewhere. If we rejoin, those perks will not be on the agenda so a UK rejoined to the EU would be in a weaker / less advantageous position than the UK has been up until now.
What happens in between is unknown but it is unlikely to affect the conditions the EU would put on our re-entry.
I was trying not to reveal my own thoughts about the current situation
But you did and you still do… especially concerning pros and cons of membership and all those potential free trade agreements waiting out there. Many of these are going to require alignment with EU norms not to invalidate existing agreements. The US being a notable exception, of course, because it does not yet have a bilateral trade agreement with the EU.
But, while I might be pessimistic, I don't know how things will turn out. However, as a citizen with dual nationality I'm now of the opinion that the EU should take a hard line in negotiations with the UK, which is increasingly the opinion of my anglophile friends.
In 20 or 30 years I can see country's like Poland objecting to England rejoining the EU due to the impact of low wage uneducated workers flooding their jobs market.
I say England because the rest of the UK will have woken up and left by then.
"which could easily sour relationships with important trading partners such as China, New Zealand, Australia and the US."
China TOLD the UK it was better off being in the EU.
New Zealand and Australia (plus Canada) cacked themselves laughing at the suggestion of CANZUK, stopped laughing when they realised it was a serious suggestion and then doubled down on the howls.
The UK might have been an important trading partner once - but there's a solid reason that landrover went from 90% of the 4WD market to less than 2% in 18 months when Australians could get their hands on Landcruisers, or why British cars went from ~40% of the NZ market to under 3% in the same period when Japanese cars were able to be imported with the same tariff as British ones (and they were still significantly more expensive than the British ones) - or why when GM tried to relaunch "Vauxhall" in New Zealand, not even company reps would be seen dead in the cars until the entire shipment was rebadged as Opels (2 out of a shipment of 1000 Vectras were sold as Vauxhalls....)
The UK is a tiny country, with very little of interest (that it makes itself) to sell Australia or New Zealand and it's STILL using its position in the global Copyright Cartels to make certain items imported to those countries cost 3-20 times as much as they do in the USA or EU, whilst US magazines can take 8 months to arrive (or not arrive at all) due to being forced to travel via London. It's not seen in the best light as it is and that's not going to change in a hurry without some major refoms that are unlikely to happen whilst the British hold onto the whole "Brittania" and exceptionalism myth.
The UK pays out ~72% of its net tax income in state pensions and pension top ups with another 8-10% going out in other welfare payments. Business is sufficiently spooked that a good chunk of the ones who contribute to the taxation bottom line are moving out (the car industry is pretty much gone, and financials are looking about 60% moved out). Johnson has already (quietly) announced what amounts to a 25% cutback in state pensions for couples and I expect it will get a lot worse. I'm pretty sure that virtually all EAMA HQs will move out of the UK too.
Welcome to North Elbonia. Please try our delicious Mud and pay no attention to the McElbonians.
@werdsmith
I think you upset some old crusties there. Enlightenment sounds great but isnt it something that is applied retrospectively? Children think they are enlightened until they meet the real world, some university students take it to wonderful degrees of self delusion.
All these budding young socialists who would do it different this time and especially communists who would do it different this time all consider themselves and their opinion to be enlightened. Mud huters who feel the only choice is to destroy civilisation to save the earth think they are enlightened.
So yes I am sure once some old crusties have died off the generations following will continue to be enlightened by the world that is, not as they dream it to be. And as always its for the newer generations to clean up the mess of the older ones. But also to build on the backs of those who came before and advanced our lives.
And I would need some convincing that refusing to use a new coin because in a democracy they couldnt get the result they wanted is enlightened. Guess I will have to wait for that one.
@Martin-73
"We're not mad about the coin. We'll just donate every one we get to refugee charities matey"
If that is your view cool. But the reaction to it by some people willing to look like idiots in public is a lot over the top. And its their choice, they are free to reject the coin because they now hate the country or whatever but it shows a serious lack of maturity on their part.
I prefer the Daily Mash's chearful 'news' - Brexit 50p coins ‘can be sharpened and thrown at the rats trying to steal your last potato’ https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/brexit-50p-coins-can-be-sharpened-and-thrown-at-the-rats-trying-to-steal-your-last-potato-20181029178799
That's like saying the the application you've been writing for three years is now ready for release because you finally managed to get it to compile with no error reports.
Coder: It's compiled, it's ready for release!
Sales: That's great, we'll get it posted on the website, what's it do?
Coder: It trims your toenails.
A Great Brexhibition is a fantastic idea.
Think of all the Great British innovation that could be put on display to show the whole world we're open for business.
Showcasing British Industry, Agriculture, Maritime prowess etc etc.
Jacob Rees Mogg could head-up the steering committee!
"It's legal tender, so if someone owes you 5 quid and offers it in Brexit 50ps and you refuse, the debt is cancelled."
Before this edit, there previously was an incorrect statement here. I thought in the event of legal tender being refused the debtor had to go to court to have the debt discharged. It appears as though the creditor has to sue to recover, and would lose because legal tender was refused.
@JetSetJim
"Only if the Brexit bill was less than £10 (and presumably owed to a UK institution...)"
Unfortunately the brexit bill is money already spent by the EU that the UK committed ourselves to paying. There is some amusement that the EU wants money for guarantees it made that it may never have to pay out. And then of course there is the potential question of share of the assets so if you really wanted the UK to be owed something you could look toward that argument.
Coins are only legal tender up to limits set in the coinage act 1971 (20p for 1&2p coins) and there are limits in law on the maximum "debt" any given denomination can be used to pay (for a payment, cash can be refused entirely)
Above those limits a creditor can refuse it - this has been upheld in court on several occasions and the debtor ordered to pay using more suitable currency
https://www.royalmint.com/help/trm-faqs/legal-tender-amounts/
"Coins" in this context are also banknotes.
Good job nobody owes me 5 quid then.
"Legal tender has a narrow technical meaning which has no use in everyday life. It means that if you offer to fully pay off a debt to someone in legal tender, they can’t sue you for failing to repay." Bank of England
End of. Shops can refuse to take the coins, similarly customers can refuse to take them in change (might lose the sale in the process, but whatever).
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Wouldn't it be more constructive to figure out a way to deface them- preferably in a manner that appropriately skewers the obnoxious triumphalism- then send them back into circulation?
Unless they're going to keep remanufacturing new ones to replace them, the defaced coins will either remain in circulation as a constantly visible "fuck you" to the Brexiteers and their ilk that foisted them on us- and who'll have to keep using them- or they'll be removed from use.
Which would be sad. *cough*
Drill a small hole through them. Though I believe that should you do that, and then try and spend 'em, you'd be guilty of uttering false currency.
Bitter? Why yes, thank you, at all those who have so kindly screwed up my plans for retirement and the next forty years or so.
Still, we have ours on order anyway (£2.50 postage is not included). While it won't be here in time to mop up the spilled Champagne/floods of tears (delete as appropriate by the end of the month), hopefully it will survive to the end of 2020, when the real excrement will start.
Then it will be a bit damp, sport a few distressing stains and suffer a little fraying at the edges.
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