Liz Truss does not know her Baltics from her Balkans .

Actually, I think they did know, they did realise - but singed all the same for expedience and winning the election- at all cost.

With fingers crossed behind their back. I can almost hear him know 'sign the bloody thing, and then we will backtrack on the border and blame the EU'. Probably worse!

Lincslass

Kali2

Raab didn't quite realise the UK is surrounded by water, and that it is quite significant in the Brexit context! And so many Brexiters never realised there was land border, between NI/UK and Ireland/EU.

How do you know so many who voted leave didn’t know there was a land border between NI and Ireland.. Suppose you think they had never heard of the troubles either, which often included talk about the border.

Probably because they didn't seem to realise that it would cause huge problems on an island where a very fragile peace depended on an amorphous border.

I think it's more likely that they didn't know anything about the Good Friday agreement; apart, perhaps, from its title.

I know because so many people who voted leave seem to be vdry surprised that there is an inherent problem with the Deal and the border- which is a clear requirement. There must be a border between UK and EU- this is a legal requirement. So why are so many surprised now?

If they did know- why did they not work out a solution before signing the Deal? It is not good now backtracking, and blaming the EU, is it?

Kali2

Raab didn't quite realise the UK is surrounded by water, and that it is quite significant in the Brexit context! And so many Brexiters never realised there was land border, between NI/UK and Ireland/EU.

How do you know so many who voted leave didn’t know there was a land border between NI and Ireland.. Suppose you think they had never heard of the troubles either, which often included talk about the border.

So do I, so do I lol ;)

I have got a Degree in German, used to teach it- and my parents were true snobs about Swiss German. Hochdeutsch it had to be. And there are so many versions of Swiss German too- people from Zurich can barely understand those from Bern (Zuritüsch and Bärntütsch)!

Kali2

Can you talk Swissish, used to ask our milkman regularly. And he just could not 'get it' that Swissish does not exist. And that Sweden is, actually, another country.

He might have had a point. I find Schwyzerdütsch very difficult to understand.

I’m not a fan of Liz Truss. I think she’s a lightweight.

Raab didn't quite realise the UK is surrounded by water, and that it is quite significant in the Brexit context! And so many Brexiters never realised there was land border, between NI/UK and Ireland/EU.

Can you talk Swissish, used to ask our milkman regularly. And he just could not 'get it' that Swissish does not exist. And that Sweden is, actually, another country.

I've just realised it's Liz Truss- she's a Tory-Baltic,Balkans, Sweden, Switzerland they're all Johnny Foreigner and we are British! The Tory party Got Br itain exit done!

Greta

I'm sure there are many who mix up the Baltic and the Balkans. But if LT can't get her head around it that is rather worrying. As a Swede I am very familiar with the Baltic; we call it 'Östersjön' (=the East Sea). It amused me when I first arrived in the UK that some people didn't know the difference between Sweden and Switzerland. Not sure if Liz Truss knows...

Well, I've swum in the Baltic so I can tell the difference
Actually, it's not as cold as people think it might be.

I do listen to quiz programmes and it's astonishing how little geography some people appear to know, but I'd expect a Foreign Secretary to know better!

I'm sure there are many who mix up the Baltic and the Balkans. But if LT can't get her head around it that is rather worrying. As a Swede I am very familiar with the Baltic; we call it 'Östersjön' (=the East Sea). It amused me when I first arrived in the UK that some people didn't know the difference between Sweden and Switzerland. Not sure if Liz Truss knows...

Invaluable I'd say Callistemon, but she's probably so up herself she wouldn't bother to look at the nice pictures.

I've got a Phillip's School Atlas on the shelf - probably out of date but do you think it might help her?

Useless woman, total waste of space in whichever office she's been given.

I know that Ukraine is not in the Balkans as well but does Liz Truss? I can't find out why the Balkans were mentioned but as another poster has pointed out she has done it before. She did PPE at Merton Oxford surely with the job she has she would double-check her geography knowledge or lack of it.

Yammy

Yesterday it was pointed out on Russian T.V. and ridiculed that the Foreign Minister had said that Britain would be supporting her Baltic allies across the Black sea.
This is the woman who thinks she might be in with a chance at being out next P.M. She does not know rudimentary geography she could have looked at an Atlas.
Imagine the fixes she could get us in mixing say Georgia the state in the U.S.A and Georgia the satellite country of Russia.

Speechless (well nearly)

Ukraine is not in The Balkans either.

I heard her mix up her Balkans and Baltics once, and I'm sure her advisors heard it then and put her right, but she kept doing it.

Please ban this stupid woman from speaking to representatives of any other countries on our behalf. She makes us all look stupid.

Perhaps she should be sent on a few overseas visits and left to find her own way back?? India-Indonesia. Austria-Australia there must be so many places we could lose her.

LilacChaser

Ha, ha. When she was Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs she had trouble naming a popular British wild animal (can't quite remember which one). Needless to say, she didn't last long.

She also asked the EA if climate change really existed.

Ha, ha. When she was Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs she had trouble naming a popular British wild animal (can't quite remember which one). Needless to say, she didn't last long.

Apparently she is popular with Tory members who are mainly middle aged or elderly men. Says something about them.

I don’t know if it was mentioned on the old sayings thread, but one my dad says is ‘she doesn’t know her arse from her elbow’ - it fits quite well here.

You would think a foreign secretary would have some grasp of geography. Obviously not.

Well I often get Baltic and Balkans muddled. No great problem, but then I’m not in public office.