Some effects of Brexit on unimportant people

I have been buying some beautiful wooden toys for small grandchildren from a little company in Spain.

They started selling via a couple of UK retailers two years ago but this has now stopped as the toys have suddenly become far too expensive. My new granddaughter will be missing out I'm afraid.

Again, don't suggest I buy from the UK as there's nothing like them here.

I have asked family and friends in Sweden to stop sending presents to me and my family. It's no longer worth it. I won't matter to me but my children and grandchildren have always enjoyed receiving small gifts from their northern relatives.

I do know that we are the unimportant people and should just 'get over it'.

Ancestry.com DNA kits come from Germany. Before Christmas they were £49. Now £88. Wonder why.

DS has said the same about cycle equipment. There are certain things he has always bought from Europe as he can’t get them in the U.K.

I order dance equipment from a small company in Europe. Yesterday I went to their website to find out that the shipping costs have gone up by a factor of five since last year and the €100 I would have spent with them is now €150. €150 is too much for what I wanted so I won't be ordering.

And before anyone comes on and says "Buy British", nobody in Britain makes what I need. So I'm stuck. And the company in Europe probably won't make many more sales to the UK. Not the end of the world, but another nail in the coffin of what our life used to be like before Brexit.

We are now into 7 straight days of rioting in NI.

Johnson must step up.

I use nematodes to control slugs. They are produced and sold by a firm in Littlehampton, who prior to January sold their product throughout Europe.

Since January 1st they haven’t managed to ship a single nematode to Europe because of the complicated health regulations. Undoubtedly a company sitting in Europe will take every advantage to take the Littlehampton company’s customers away.

Brexit is a monster that is growing every day.

Maizie the antique regulations affect us. Our hobby is buying and selling antiques, and other bric-a-brac in a very small way and selling them at a couple of antique fairs and car boot sales each year.

We do it because we have always enjoyed rootling through junk shops and auction sales and have furnished all our houses that way and now do it to sell as we are now fully furnished.

As we have a home in France we do trawl the local Depot de Vente and various village fairs for items and at the fairs we go to foreign stall holders and foreign buyers are an important part of the mix.

I am glad I bought the chandelier now hanging in our bedroom on our last visit to France before lockdown and the final exit from Europe. I haven't a clue how old it is, may be 20 years, may be 50.

MaizieD

Petera

MaizieD: "There is 'another scheme' It's called the Turing Scheme."

And to add to this - my partner has been involved in the assessment of Erasmus and Erasmus+ applications for the last ten years. They have been contacted to work with the Turing scheme but have turned it down as it's a pale imitation of Erasmus missing many of the most important aspects.

I have seen criticism of the ending of Erasmus being dismissed as middle class moaning because Erasmus only benefitted the children of the well off.

Are you able to comment on that, Petera?

Where to start? For example - people seem to believe that it was only about university exchanges - whereas more funding is put into FE, youth groups and Adult education than universities.

Here are some more unimportant people hit by Brexit

www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/apr/05/small-time-dealers-fear-brexit-could-decimate-antiques-trade-in-uk

^ All it would have taken was for Boris Johnson - or the UK MEP on the EC fisheries committee, Nigel Farage - to have read the rules.^

Somebody did know the rules. If anyone bothered to read this article they would have found that the rules were known and noted to the industry before 1st Jan 2021.

yorkshirebylines.co.uk/hapless-defra-secretary-eustice-humiliated-and-schooled-by-the-eu/

Petera

MaizieD: "There is 'another scheme' It's called the Turing Scheme."

And to add to this - my partner has been involved in the assessment of Erasmus and Erasmus+ applications for the last ten years. They have been contacted to work with the Turing scheme but have turned it down as it's a pale imitation of Erasmus missing many of the most important aspects.

I have seen criticism of the ending of Erasmus being dismissed as middle class moaning because Erasmus only benefitted the children of the well off.

Are you able to comment on that, Petera?

lemongrove

Funny that isn’t it? The EU countries were perfectly happy with UK quality of water standards when they accepted our shellfish products prior to us leaving the EU.Nothing changed in the quality from December to January.
The EU bloc will do all they can to stop the UK doing well...but we will.
Money is being provided to them (fishing businesses) meanwhile, and yes it’s a problem, and yes, it will be solved.

These were the rules that have always been in place for third countries, we're not being singled out. All it would have taken was for Boris Johnson - or the UK MEP on the EC fisheries committee, Nigel Farage - to have read the rules.

MaizieD: "There is 'another scheme' It's called the Turing Scheme."

And to add to this - my partner has been involved in the assessment of Erasmus and Erasmus+ applications for the last ten years. They have been contacted to work with the Turing scheme but have turned it down as it's a pale imitation of Erasmus missing many of the most important aspects.

MaizieD

Smileless2012

"NI is a ticking bomb because of Brexit. It just needs an excuse to set it off".

NI has always been a ticking bomb and tragically Brexit is being used as an excuse to set it off. For those who want to light the fuse Brexit is a convenient excuse.

I believe that people tried to point this out before the Referendum and have been pointing it out ever since. That Brexit woould upset the equilibrium in NI.

The 'Boris solution' is particularly bad for NI, May's would have been better but it was strongly opposed by the Brexit extremists in her party. The reality seems to be that Brexit supporters don't really care very much about NI.

There were few problems serious enough to threaten the GFA in NI before Brexit.

I remember repeatedly asking the question "What about Ireland?" Answer there was none.

Yes it's a pity that May wasn't supported.

Smileless2012

"NI is a ticking bomb because of Brexit. It just needs an excuse to set it off".

NI has always been a ticking bomb and tragically Brexit is being used as an excuse to set it off. For those who want to light the fuse Brexit is a convenient excuse.

I believe that people tried to point this out before the Referendum and have been pointing it out ever since. That Brexit woould upset the equilibrium in NI.

The 'Boris solution' is particularly bad for NI, May's would have been better but it was strongly opposed by the Brexit extremists in her party. The reality seems to be that Brexit supporters don't really care very much about NI.

There were few problems serious enough to threaten the GFA in NI before Brexit.

I'm not denying anything seamstress simply expressing my opinion.

Not an excuse when the Brexit treaty is real in its impact on NI. Or maybe you'd deny that too. It may be fuel to the flames, but its fuel that didn't need to be added and was added deliberately.

"NI is a ticking bomb because of Brexit. It just needs an excuse to set it off".

NI has always been a ticking bomb and tragically Brexit is being used as an excuse to set it off. For those who want to light the fuse Brexit is a convenient excuse.

Dilly, thank you for your lovely thoughtful posts.

I also "lost" family abroad because of Brexit and that was horrible - but I can't imagine what it's like to have actually voted for it too.

I hope in due course you feel better about the whole thing and feel as I do that the people I love are simply reaching out for better lives elsewhere. We have brought them up to be strong and adventurous and that is good.
I know how my parents felt when we did it for our own family (as we spent time in America) though we did come back.

These are indeed consequences of Brexit on "unimportant people" and are actually quite important in "unimportant" peoples' lives.

Sending lots of positive thoughts to you Dilly.

I also suspect that there have been recent instances that have not been reported by the national media.

Perhaps any NI gran could verify this?

Long memories in NI.

The funeral was on the 30th June last year.

Loyalists are annoyed at the funeral because the authorities failed to stop attendance by members of Sinn Fein.