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Read and weep....another pesky expert

(15 Posts)
Lessismore Wed 07-Aug-19 08:33:23

The UK’s safety and security would suffer from a no-deal Brexit with the loss of key crime-fighting tools – and no amount of planning and preparation can erase the risk, Neil Basu, Britain’s head of counter-terrorism, has warned. “We can make them [the damaging effects] less, but they would be slower systems. Those systems and tools were developed in the EU for very good reason. They were very good. We had just signed up to biometric sharing. In a no-deal we’d lose all that. We’d have to renegotiate it.”

Bathsheba Wed 07-Aug-19 08:42:47

He's the head of counter-terrorism. I expect he knows his stuff. Why is he 'pesky'?

Urmstongran Wed 07-Aug-19 08:44:41

Erm... so we haven’t lost it? Sounds like part of negotiations going forward. Something for us and we give something in exchange. Maybe more fish? Who knows.

Lessismore Wed 07-Aug-19 08:56:03

Bathsheba, tongue was in cheek. I assume too , he knows what he is talking about.

UG, lost for words....fish?

Elegran Wed 07-Aug-19 08:59:17

Oh right, we can just become the crime magnet of the area, with slower and less effective detection systems than the other countries of Europe. It'll be OK, though, because once we achieve the less advantageous trade deals that will come our way when we have no leverage in negotiations (see 'Britain has no leverage. Britain is desperate. Britain has nothing else') we wil be so impoverished that they won't want to rob us. Hang on - we'll still be a useful offshore base for terrorists, though.

mcem Wed 07-Aug-19 09:04:53

I think using the term 'expert' now causes extreme irritation to B supporters and they automatically dismiss any expert opinion.
Just another example of the blinkered mindset!

Bathsheba Wed 07-Aug-19 09:21:03

Well said mcem

varian Wed 07-Aug-19 10:21:04

The more expertise someone has, the more likely they are to strongly support the UK remaining in the EU because they understand so much more about the advatanges of our EU membership to the UK in their field of expertese, and the utter folly of brexit.

But the leavers then just dismiss the expert opinion on the basis that the expert is a Remainer, so must be biased, and can be ignored. Catch 22.

Missfoodlove Wed 07-Aug-19 10:39:43

When it comes to counterterrorism we have led the way for many decades.
The IRA gave us years of practice.

The necessary technology is available and installed, the majority of it was developed in Silicone Valley.

Elegran Wed 07-Aug-19 10:43:36

The terrorists are busy thinking up ways of getting round the available software. What caught 'IRA terrorists then won't necessarily catch terrorists now. We have to keep up to date. It is like having an alarm on your house wall - the house breaker sees it and goes next-door where they don't have one. If you have one too, he goes somewhere else and checks the situation there.

Blinko Wed 07-Aug-19 10:54:08

Well said, varian.

Calendargirl Wed 07-Aug-19 12:27:07

Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, is an expert in his field, but some of his predictions have been way off the mark.
Just saying.

Iam64 Wed 07-Aug-19 13:15:02

Neil Basu is an expert in counter terrorism. I know that in this country, its become the norm to dismiss anyone with experience/expertise in their particular area of work as knowing nothing. I suspect we dismiss Neil Basu's views at our peril.

Elegran Wed 07-Aug-19 13:28:23

Dismiss as rubbish enough experts in enough fields and they will all go and work for some other country, taking their expertise with them, and we will be left with loud-mouthed know-nothings.

Iam64 Wed 07-Aug-19 13:42:17

That's happening with teachers, doctors and others Elegran. They may go abroad to work but many are training to work in other areas or setting up small businesses. Less stressful and given the assaults on pensions and salaries, they're no worse off financially.