Johnson’s Government

If leaving the EU is going to be as easy as some people claim, why has an additional £2bn been allocated?

www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jul/31/labour-attacks-appalling-waste-as-johnson-adds-2bn-no-deal-brexit-fund

Meanwhile, the EU has been making mature and businesslike contingency plans. It has been publishing regular, transparent reviews. This is one example:

ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/com-2019-276-final_en.pdf

The attitude seems to be that the UK can have as many hissy fits as it wants, the EU27 will just carry on, trying to do the best for themselves. It's not going to let itself be blackmailed by any UK assumption of exceptionalism. Nothing less would be expected from sovereign countries. I have an image of the UK being seen as an annoying gnat, although Brexit has produced some great cartoons in the EU27 media.

Food will be the most obvious and biggest profile post Brexit.

We are being warned by the government to expect empty shelves and higher prices.

79% of supermarket sales come from the EU

9% from agreements made by us as a member of the EU

12% other.

The next major issue will be medicine shortage.

3/4 of all our drugs are produced by EU countries. All my DHs drugs are produced by an EU country, largely Spain.

I frequently buy direct from an EU country, particularly Germany, I like the quality of their clothing, although I have recently purchased a delightful filigree silver bracelet from Spain for DiL, and some gorgeous flag irises from France. the government is warning that debit card charges will apply (never have before) and my consumer rights may be affected.

Bloody annoying to say the least. I DIDNT VOTE FOR THIS.

2.1bn ??grow

That’s on top of the 4bn May had allocated.

This vanity project has completely got out of control.

How much our NHS could be improved.

How much our education could be improved

What insanity has gripped our nation?

Isn’t there a saying ‘you have to speculate to accumulate’?

Wait until it all pays dividends! This will seem like small beer in the long term.

There's a difference between throwing something down a bottomless pit and sowing seeds.

indeed- sheer madness.

This isn't speculation. It's damage limitation.

ug tell the folk using foodbanks and facing even bigger food bills that we are speculating to accumulate.

Tell that to the 2.5 million children who are living at least 50% below the poverty line as their parents try to afford the ever increasing food prices.

Tell that to a cancer patient who is waiting for radio therapy but there is a delay in the isotopes which are at the moment delivered daily f rom Europe.

Your attitude is cruel and unthinking.

But I suspect that you don’t actually care.

It's a waste of time, Whitwave. This is nothing to do with "speculation to accumulate", nor are the bribes Johnson is promising left, right and centre.

Apparently, Richard Murphy was originally booked to be on Newsnight yesterday. He was going to talk about why all the cash being thrown around at the moment is nothing to do with MMT. However, his appearance was cancelled at the very last moment.

This is "Magic Money Tree" money and it will have to be paid for with taxes and cuts.

With luck and a good wind Johnson’s majority will be reduced to 1?? today.

How on earth can he govern?

Errrrmmm...I don't think you're the first person to ask that question ;-). We appear to be living through a kind of post-truth lunacy.

But I suspect that you don’t actually care.

That’s below the belt WWm2

Totally uncalled for and mean. You don’t know ANYTHING about my financial situation so back off.

It's not about your financial situation, but the situation of others.

I get that. But my financial position is such that I have great empathy with the ‘have littles’.

And WWm2’s remark was uncalled for. Such a personal nastiness.

I have no thoughts whatsoever about your personal finances ug

But I do have thoughts about the poor and sick in this country.

When I see remarks like you have to speculate to accumulate; I have every right to question whether the person who made that remark actually cares.

As I said I suspect not.

I did see an interesting post on an Independence site from an Irishman ..he reckons life will never be the same for many as ALL Viagra world wide is produced in the ROI ....As is Botox. As he said there will be a lot of wrinkes in places they're not wanted ..lol

We won't suddenly start floundering and panicking on November 1st, much as you'd like us to, for having the temerity to leave.

Spitefullness never makes for a good argument Day6. If everything in the garden is going to be so very, very easy then could you explain this?

Government plans to buy up hundreds of thousands of tonnes of unsold lamb in the event of a no-deal Brexit could be unworkable because there is nowhere to store it, BBC Newsnight has learned.

The reported plan suggested excess meat would be bought at the point of slaughter.

But figures from the industry body which represents businesses that store frozen and chilled food show they are at capacity and "full to bursting".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson maintains that a no-deal Brexit is not his aim.

Mr Johnson said on Tuesday: "We are not aiming for a no-deal Brexit and I don't think that's where we are going to end up."

Speaking on a visit to a poultry farm near Newport, Mr Johnson insisted he was focused on trying to achieve a new agreement. He acknowledged that British agriculture would need support in the event of no-deal and said ministers were already working on a package of financial support.

'We'll make sure they have the support they need,' he said. 'If their markets are going to be tricky, then we will help them to find new markets. We have interventions that are aimed to support their incomes.'

The Cold Chain Federation's chief executive, Shane Brennan, told Newsnight the plan could see a return to "the milk lakes, and butter mountains produced by the EU in the 1980s".

"No-one in government has spoken to the industry about where they'll put the lamb if they buy it," he added.

The plan, which was reported in a number of newspapers, was drawn up by Michael Gove, the former environment secretary, who is now in charge of Whitehall's no-deal Brexit planning.

Prime Minister Johnson may not "intend" to leave without a deal but, as T S Elliot said, "most of the evil in the world is done by people with good intentions.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49186065

Wait until it all pays dividends! This will seem like small beer in the long term.

Who, that we can believe, is putting one single fact behind that opinion? Even arch Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg had the good grace to say it might take 50 years to see any improvement. I have no idea about your expectation but I doubt I will be around then. Even my children may well not be.

Two generations decimated to get back on an even keel for the sake of those who don't believe in experts, and a person whose ambition was to be "King of the World".

There the saying “throwing good money after bad too”. Basically, it’s just a government propaganda exercise to try to persuade the gullible more that they know what they are doing and to win back votes for the Tory party. It won’t work , sorry. Total waste of money - and it’s borrowed money too adding to the national debt.

I would think someone with an overseas second home and who doesn’t care about the fall in the value of the £ will not be one of the “have littles”

Even better than I thought.

Philip Lee a Tory mps is considering defecting to the Lib Dem’s

That would completely wipe out Johnson’s majority.

I bet the government is promising him the moon in the hope of persuading him to stay

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-mp-defection-lib-dems-brexit-boris-johnson-majority-phillip-lee-a9030576.html

There seems to be a good possibility that both Phillip Lee (still a Tory MP) and Sarah Woolaston ( who has lefty the Tories and is now independent) may join the Liberal Democrats within the next two months.

Both these MPs are qualified medical practitioners who thought they would be able to help people by becoming Tory MPs and have found themselves put into an impossible position as the party they joined has moved so far to the extreme right.

Here we go again crystaltipps, the politics of envy.....some folks have thousands in the bank, live in enormous houses and drive gas guzzlers. And some of us..... oh wait....we cut the coat according to the cloth.

It would be a much smaller cloth if the brexit nonsense is not stopped pants

And the politics of envy Varian.....? I know more people who have loads more than me than folks who have less than me but I resent neither. Hate hurts the hater not the hated.