General Chat

RAAB and others have been expecting UK trade with half of its market ( 70% for invisibles) to be under WTO or if you like Australian Rules.
The EU for its part published a while back a dozen tomes on how it expects all aspects of UK/EU business to be run in the event of a no deal. Now it has helpfully released a summary. The theme seems to be "take it or leave it". As a taster UK citizens will not be able to travel to the EU from 1 Jan 2021 as the UK is not on the list of safe countries. Australia is ok though.

https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/brexit_files/com_831_1_en_act_part1_v2.pdf

And yet the UK has had less COVID than how many EI countries??

The stats Caroline do not suggest that the EU should place the UK on the safe list. Currently covid is running out of control in Wales while Greater London ( 25% of UK pop.) is on the edge of being moved to Tier 3 Dec 13.

https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/cases-2019-ncov-eueea

Truck drivers are on the exemptions list but require regular testing.

guess their tourism industry will be thrilled

No it doesn't mean the UK should be allowed in but they're more likely to open their borders to fellow EU countries who are in a worse state?

Canada and Australia closed state borders. Here you are talking international borders.
The UK has removed the canary islands from the safe list today.
The EU has made an offer of travel as usual for 6 months but it is contingent on the UK abiding my Fair transport rules plus extension of fishing for one year. There is no deadline to the offer.
So far Johnson has declined the offer.

Actually, Canada closed it's borders very late in the game, and to this day many flights still come in not all essential travel; we're encouraging families to reunite from anywhere in the world it's crazy. You can't drive/walk over the border from the States but our Snowbirds (seniors who spend winter in Florida) are flying over the border having their cars shipped by train over then driving down to Florida still...again crazy.

That is not happening in BC or the Atlantic Provinces, Caroline!!

BC's border with the US is still closed, any Canadian resident or citizen can come back, but they have to quarantine for 14 days whether that is by air or land, and yes, it is enforced. The Maritimes are the same, plus you can't cross from one Atlantic province to another now ......... that means Nova Scotian can't drive to the US because they have to go via New Brunswick!

RCMP have been chasing US registered cars in Alberta.

BC is also being inundated by snowbirds from back east coming to the Okanagan and Vancouver Island. Motels are booked up, RV parks have long waiting lists. Not quite as warm s Florida, California/Arizona or Mexico, but certainly warmer than back east. Probably also more expensive, so we might not be bothered with them for as long!

It's happening in Ontario sadly Sylvia the snowbirds are already flying from the snow. Yes they will have to quarantine on their return.

We are on the edge of madness, with a madman on the bridge, and the media asleep at the helm.

I don't fancy British fishermen's chances. They can't win, in my opinion.

If, by any chance, they win their fight over others fishing in 'British waters', the EU only has to pump up import duties on fish and fish products - and the EU is where much of British fish is exported to (more than 70%).

They appear to be in a no-win situation so I hope those responsible for marketing British fish have worked flat out to find other fish importers.

Eat more fish!

it is a shame more fish is not eaten here
i find it too expensive and a limited choice
kids probably see fish as fish fingers

education and availibilty could mean less exports and a heathier population
the same could apply to all british food products
probably wishful thinking

'Madman on the bridge', yes I can identify with that.

I always thought BJ was way too self-serving to be PM. Bright, yes, but with no appetite for 'hard work' or the nitty-gritty of daily parliamentary business. Like Captain Ahab, he is monomaniacal, Brexit is his huge, elusive whale and he wants it 'done', whatever wreckage he leaves in its wake. I don't believe he cares if we leave without a deal, he just wants his stint as PM, his Brexit 'glory'. Covid-19 has chastened him a little, but not enough.

Call me Ishmael.

Well over half of the British fishing quota has been bought by foreign companies, mostly Spanish and French. These quotas cannot be removed unless the UKGovt pays them off. The Brit team only grasped this recently and proposed a remedy that fishing rights of UK flagged ships only apply when the crew and owners are > 50% British. However that cannot apply ex post facto to currently flagged ships, mainly trawlers. In any case the well coordinated UK Govt refuses to accept that being a fisherman is a skilled trade and will not issue work permits under this heading. As Brits ( and Scots ) for the most part don't fancy the tough and dangerous job the fishing industry is nixed.
What the Brits actually care about is the lucrative scallops and lobster, crab fishing within the 12 mile zone. The main areas are the Channel and western Scotland, Interestingly the French have been v helpful in shooing off large Chinese container ships fishing illegaly inc in SSI sites. That will of course now stop. The owners of the largest Cornish fishing boats are dead against brexit amd no wonder - who will buy the catch ?

The UK claims the rich fishing grounds around Rockall. They are also claimed by ROI and in part Iceland. The British claim is via Scotland. ROI would be strengthened if the north unifies with the south.
The Irish have recently put into service a modern fisheries protection vessel.
Just for fun the Crown claim to the Isle of Man rests on wedding presents made by the King of Norway to a Scots lass. Thus if Scotland goes indie the Queen will be head of state for the IOM as Queen in Edinburgh not London. End of story for the Privy Council. And yet more fish will escape.

Given time and tide Johnson's quest for the long lost chalice of sovereignty will see the departure of Northumbria, Cornwall and Wales leaving his Wessex in confrontation with Murcia and London as a bone of contention. MW will not doubt be pleased to see the capital return to its ancient seat of Winchester.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjbbtciZiAg

Contentious prediction, Rollo. You're surely joking? Back to the future? Surely not?

I would not like to see the return of the Prince Bishops with all their high living and the cost to ordinary folk, with their predilection for getting their own way and with no means of electing them out of office.

It doesn't bear thinking about really, so frightening could be the reality of a return to past ages. There are precious few good old days in the serfdom of mankind, in my opinion.