Brexit deal done

[skyrider]

19 hours ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Is someone running the country?

it doesn't seem like it at times 

[Bender]

The realy realy ironic part is the deal that labour refused to back that May got, that was leaving in name only and. If today the choice was between the May or Boris deal they would fall over themselves to have May's deal.

 

That's down to trying to stop it by booting the can down the road.

[Guest]

30 minutes ago, Bender said:

The realy realy ironic part is the deal that labour refused to back that May got, that was leaving in name only and. If today the choice was between the May or Boris deal they would fall over themselves to have May's deal.

 

That's down to trying to stop it by booting the can down the road.

 

Starmer's shot himself in the foot big style!

 

If he'd abstained or voted against it would have made no difference anyway......and he'd have distanced himself from it should the shit hit the fan. Now he's complicit!

 

Even the loony left of Corbyn, Abbott, and McDonnell voted against it.....not that they thought it was a shit deal, but on the basis that the UK should never have been in the EU in the first place! 

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

Back on topic, I see Boris' dad has applied for French citizenship. 

[James in Brum]

On 29/12/2020 at 23:51, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Is someone ruining the country?

Yes definitely

[James in Brum]

2 minutes ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said:

Back on topic, I see Boris' dad has applied for French citizenship. 

Didn’t Farage go for German?

[Bender]

His dad did vote remain so it's not surprising 

[S-Westerly]

3 hours ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said:

Back on topic, I see Boris' dad has applied for French citizenship. 

I'm more than willing to let the French have him but quite what they have done to deserve him I'm not sure. 

[Bender]

Don't forget to raise a glass at 11pm

You can raise it even if you voted remain, you may actually need it more.

 

it's our official end of old EU and the start of something new, good or bad time will tell.

[skyrider]

14 minutes ago, Bender said:

Don't forget to raise a glass at 11pm

You can raise it even if you voted remain, you may actually need it more.

 

it's our official end of old EU and the start of something new, good or bad time will tell.

one thing is for sure we are definitely going to find out 

[Bender]

2 minutes ago, skyrider said:

one thing is for sure we are definitely going to find out 

Yup we are now in uncharted water.

[Mickly]

4 minutes ago, skyrider said:

one thing is for sure we are definitely going to find out 

Really??

with all the spin, gloss & bollocks excreted by this shower of shite, do you really think the truth will ever be told?

[skyrider]

all politicians shoot crap it's what they are paid to do

[Bender]

@Mickly politicians can talk all they like, sooner or later money talks, debt will rise or fall, unemployment and trade figures will out.

[Mickly]

Just now, Bender said:

@Mickly politicians can talk all they like, sooner or later money talks, debt will rise or fall, unemployment and trade figures will out.

And it will never be their fault unless it is good news

[RantMachine]

20 hours ago, Mickly said:

And it will never be their fault unless it is good news

When are we going to get an independent candidate from the "hang them all" party? 

[S-Westerly]

What? Hang all the politicians? Can't see it catching on as he'd have to hang himself too. 

[RantMachine]

It'd be a noble sacrifice for sure

[Bender]

1 hour ago, RantMachine said:

It'd be a noble sacrifice for sure

Might be something on the cards, this came up one of my Google related news prompts

 

 

[Stu]

1 hour ago, RantMachine said:

It'd be a noble sacrifice for sure

 

Just wondering......

 

 

If you get thrown out of US of A will you be allowed back now

[skyrider]

49 minutes ago, Bender said:

Might be something on the cards, this came up one of my Google related news prompts

 

 

it's going worse by the day 

[RantMachine]

50 minutes ago, Stu said:

 

Just wondering......

 

 

If you get thrown out of US of A will you be allowed back now

Good question! Not if they've got any common sense 

[Stu]

8 minutes ago, RantMachine said:

Good question! Not if they've got any common sense 

 

I will send a tweet to bojo and tell him to tell you to piss off

 

[MarkW]

12 hours ago, Stu said:

 

I will send a tweet to bojo and tell him to tell you to piss off

 

You'll need to send it to Carrie Symonds if you want anything to happen.

[MarkW]

I didn’t think Brexit was a good idea at the time and I still don’t think it’s a good idea now. But that said, I recognised the fact that it was what people voted for, that democracy is – to paraphrase Churchill – the ‘least worst’ system of government, and that part of the price you pay for living in one is that dragging the thicker part of the Bell Curve behind us means we sometimes slide backwards rather than crawl forwards.

 

At the same time, despite not supporting Brexit I was quite excited by what it might bring when the result was announced. I like disruptions and always have - the occasional reckless act of rolling a couple of hand grenades into a quietly dozing sector of industry just to see what happens and what new opportunities the resulting chaos provides has pretty much been my approach to business my whole life. Here’s a little story:

 

Several years ago a new piece of legislation came into force in Europe that affected just about every industry that uses chemicals. For the two or three years running up to its implementation there was a flurry of international conferences, mostly populated by doom-mongering leaders of industry bodies and trade associations who would stand on the podium and grimly foretell how the new legislation was the death-knell for their businesses. It all got a bit tedious. Only one of these conferences sticks in my mind, and only for one reason - the very last speaker to take the stage after two straight days of relentless doom and gloom. He ran a highly specialised engineering firm that used a unique cutting fluid developed specifically for his purpose that was going to be among the first casualties of the new chemicals legislation. On the face of it, his business was over. So, rather than sitting around crying about it he initiated a two-year R&D project with the chemistry and engineering departments of several universities to try to come up with an alternative fluid, giving the engineering students paid work experience placements in which they field tested the results of the chemistry student’s researches. The original cutting fluid was the only on the market that would do the job, but it had its problems: it was very expensive, was highly susceptible to degradation during use, couldn’t be re-used, and required costly specialist disposal. By the end of their two year R&D project they had a new fluid that was cheaper, more efficient, and could not only be disposed of as easily as cooking oil but could be re-cycled and re-used. In addition, they had also built up an excellent relationship with several universities, providing them with a steady supply of the brightest students and the opportunity to collaborate on some big EU-funded projects. It was a win on every level, but would never have happened had it not been for the owner being spurred into action by a monumental and apparently catastrophic disruption to the status quo.

 

But as much as I love the opportunities disruptions can bring, in all honesty I don’t see much upside from Brexit – at least not yet. Boris tends to operate on a sort of proto-Orwellian principle of ‘Truth by Decree’ – that given enough of his brand of brainlessly up-beat Brexit bollocks the perception will eventually become the reality, and certainly for many Brexit supporters it seems to be enough merely to have won. Exactly what they have won they are rather less clear on, and in many cases seems to be something of a triviality by comparison.

 

Speaking specifically about the industry I work in, Brexit has been a wanton act of self-castration. Our regulatory authority was one of the most highly respected in the world, not only for its scientific expertise but also for its ability to use its considerable influence to steer approvals through the EU regulatory process. Now we have no influence – we’re not even in the room, let alone at the table. We still have to follow the same rules as the rest of the EU if we want to register and sell products there, but we no longer have any say in the process – in short, we used to be one of the key decision makers, and now we just have to do as we are told. Global businesses see no benefit in using a regulatory authority that has no influence, and so for the last four years every product authorisation I have worked on from anywhere in the world has been sent to another EU Member State for evaluation. We’ve even had clients pull submissions from the UK part-way through the process and re-submit them in Europe because the UK simply serves no useful purpose anymore. It’s not immediately obvious to me how that constitutes taking back control, but what is obvious given the homogeneity of EU regulatory frameworks is that if it is this way in my industry, it will be the same in others.

 

But let’s wait and see – it’s not as though there’s much else we can do, after all. I have insulated my business from the worst of it by opening offices in three EU countries, and whatever comes next I sincerely hope it all works out well for all of us – however we voted.