EU referendum, brexit and the aftermath

Thought I would update the thread on my first world woes of buying a lounge chair from the UK sent to Europe. The good news is that I would not need to pay UK VAT and the Swedish tax authorities have confirmed that there would be no additional import fees as the chair is made in the UK. The bad news is that shipping is estimated at £950 with Swedish VAT (25%) payable on the cost of the chair and shipping charge . If I could get the shipping charge down I might have gone for it.

Would be interesting to know what shipping would have been previously - how much of that increase is down to the faff of more process at the border?

That the Johnson government is going to jail people for 10 years for lying shows that Johnson (famously sacked twice for, erm, lying) has absolute confidence that the law of the land does not apply to him or his cronies.

the 10 years in teh clink threat is reflective of the fact that they have 0 chance of actually catching anyone because they austeretied the fuck out of anything that could.

I'm assuming that it's really just a performative extension of the hostile environment, not meant to actually function but just be a sort of hoarse screaming of "fuck off forrins!" aimed out at the world (and UK citizens who besmirch themselves with the soil of foreign climes).

You rang?

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/feb/05/dominic-cummings-durham-police-reject-dossier-of-evidence-on-lockdown-journeys

This may have been a well-timed announcement as it doesn't seem to have been followed up much in the press.

Extremely well stocked fish section in Tesco Lewisham yesterday. More fish choice than I've seen there before including things like fresh butterflied anchovy fillets which is something I've never seen in a UK supermarket.

Yeah but how happy were they?

The few items that had faces (I find faces to be useful for assessing mood) looked distinctly nonplussed.

Kate Hoey really is thick as mince isn't she. How did she keep getting elected?

(re her latest moaning that Brexit might not actually be good for NI and suggestion that a hard land border in Ireland would be the best solution).

How did she keep getting elected?

Long term MP, she was first elected to Parliament in 1989, in a safe Labour seat whose batshit crazy views on the EU only really came to the fore ahead of the 2016 referendum. The local Labour Party were opposed to her standing in 2017 but I think were overruled by the national leadership.

She’s now a member of the House of Lords so doesn’t have to worry about re-election ever again.

very much so - arriving back in the UK just after Christmas at the border there was just someone who walked down the queue and asked 'have you done the passenger locator form?' and didn't check/scan anything, happy with a 'yep, done it'.

She’s now a member of the House of Lords so doesn’t have to worry about re-election ever again.

This is so upsetting every time I remember.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/565970

Inner London constituency too!

She's too nuts for NI and that's saying something.

Edit: She was born here...

Yeah, went to my school. Hates gays, forrins, cyclists, foxes, the poor. She's pretty much South Antrim personified.

Yeah, went to my school. Hates gays, forrins, cyclists, foxes, the poor. She's pretty much everyone I grew up with.

And the price? Our local butcher, who supplied fish, mentioned that it ridiculously expensive.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56029067

Talks about NI protocol end in barely any concessions from EU side as expected.

What is not mentioned in this article is that the current GB to NI checks are not at the agreed standard yet but much laxer.

So...this is going to be not fun once GB will have to do similar checks on imports as agreed in June or so.

The English will never forgive the EU for Brexit.

Lol

In the manner of someone blaming the manufacturer of a microwave, because they didn't say you shouldn't dry your baby in it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-56039981

More talks on EU sea border.

The feelings about this in unionist areas are very strong yes I know they voted for it but honestly that's not a helpful reaction on a political level, something needs to give.

Met a lawyer involved in peace work he's convinced violence may be coming, thinks EU should be more flexible.

I'm ok with that but I don't see how certain issues could be solved without Cons making concessions.

Thanks fucking Brexit proposing arseholes, Cameron, Farage, May... Scary times may be coming here. Again.

You realise that no one cares about the violence except those who live here. Sad but true.

Was about to write something similar. I doubt anybody from the outside can wrap their head around the conflict, I saw the news and movies about it but still don't get it. It's a petty and
pathetic thing a bit like what happened in Yugoslavia.