BC BREXIT
Saved by @CodyyyGardner

Here we go. The final Brexit debate begins. The final splash of petrol on the dumpster fire before the match is lit at 11pm tomorrow night.

 Boris Johnson deliberately mocks the SNP by calling them the Scottish Nationalist Party, despite being admonished by the Speaker. There speaks a man who doesn't give an itty bitty toss.
Boris Johnson: "Just as we've avoided trade barriers"

What? Ah, it's because he carefully defined them as "tariffs and quotas" just before lying about them.

There will be massive, massive non-tariff barries.
He's dodging the question about fishing and Northern Ireland, wriggling like one of those eels the EU won't be buying any more.
Boris Johnson is bigging up the speed with which the UK managed to reach a trade deal.

But a trade deal that favours the interests of your counterpart while securing almost none of your own *should* be a quick process. Biting your hand off takes no time at all!
Boris Johnson: "The people of Scotland took a once in a generation sovereign decision to remain in the UK."

He's figured out the best way to eat up time is to keep needling the SNP.
This whole thing is vomit-inducing, like listening to a toddler telling his parents how he can run away forever.
Boris Johnson dismissed a completely valid question from Labour about services by mocking the MP, asking whether he will be joining Starmer in supporting the deal.

The Tories will hang Starmer's abject capitulation around Labour's collective necks forever.
Just like the last 4.5 years of the Brexit horror show, about half of Boris Johnson's comments have been about fishing.
Boris Johnson: "levelling up across the UK" - one "up" too many.
Now Boris Johnson is mocking the SNP again.
BJ: "In 5 and a half years time, we will be able to fish every single fish in our waters, if we so wish"

That sounds vastly too simplistic.
Summary of Boris Johnson's speech: lie, lie, exaggeration, SNP smell, lie, lie, deflection, SNP really stink, lie.
Another Labour question torpedoed by going back to the fact they're voting for the deal.
Boris Johnson: "Leave old, tired, super-masticated arguments behind"
Boris Johnson: "Now with this bill, we are going to become a friendly neighbour"

Thank the heavens, he's finished.
Starmer next.

"Do we implement the treaty with the EU, or do we not? If we don't, the outcome is clear: we leave the transition period without protection"

He is doubling down on BJ's message that a vote against the deal is a vote for no-deal.
KS "I want the UK to be an outward-looking, optimistic country".

So let's implement an insular, pessimistic deal.
KS is reminded of Labour's 6 tests.

He stammers in avoiding the question completely, stating that voting against is a vote for no-deal.
KS: "Those voting 'no' today want 'yes'. They are counting on others to rescue them."
This is an appalling performance by him. The clinical KS of most PMQs is hiding in a broom cupboard somewhere.
This is now the fifth time that KS has deflected people intervening on him by saying a vote against the deal is a vote for no-deal.

"We fought together for months and years against no-deal. And now others in this chamber will vote for no-deal"
Boris Johnson is challenged by KS to take back his comment about there being "no non-tariff barriers".

BJ stands up and says "there will be no tariffs and quotas". Then he mocks KS and sits back down, chortling.
KS is trying again on the "no non-tariff barriers". None of this is cutting through. He just looks too haunted, too rattled.

Boris Johnson by contrast looks like someone already sitting by the pool sipping pina coladas.
KS talks about the security of the UK, pointing out the UK loses access to multiple real-time EU databases, including one accessed 600,000,000 times by UK police in 2019.
KS: "The PM is pretending he has sovereignty AND zero tariffs and quotas. He doesn't. As soon as he exercises that sovereignty, the tariffs go on."
This was always going to be a hideous debate. But it's underwhelming even my zero expectations.
KS: "We now have an opportunity to forge a new future. One outside the EU. But working closely with our great partners, friends and allies. We will always be European."
Theresa May stands up to speak, and Sky News cuts away. BBC News already gave up. Coverage continues on BBC Parliament and online.

(Yes, it's a busy news day. But this is THE last Brexit debate ever.)
Ian Blackford now.

This will be 🔥
Good on him to bring up EU citizens here first. "Scotland is your home. You're welcome."
IB: "Scotland was European before it was British." Reminds the HOC of hundreds of years of interaction and integration with Europe.
IB: "Brexit means broken promises. It means an isolated Britain in the middle of a global pandemic."
IB: "The decision for Scotland is simple: which union do we wish to be a part of in the future."

"Now that the deal is in front of us, Brexit fictions are replaced by Brexit facts."
It's genuinely sad that only the SNP are standing up to say all the things that have to be said about the Brexit deal. KS tried in a half-hearted waffly way, but he was so skittish it took any edge off his words.
IB: "This deal means more delays, paperwork and checks"

Yes. £7.5 billion a year worth, according to HMRC's estimate.
IB: "We know this deal means a drop in access to fish stocks [for Scotland]"

Yep. All fishermen have been shafted, but Scottish fishermen most of all.
IB: "Labour's Brexit tests have disappeared as quickly as Tory promises."
Can't watch the Brexit debate any more. Just too soul-sapping. Good luck to anyone still enduring it.

More from Edwin Hayward 🦄 🗡

Edwin Hayward
Edwin Hayward
@uk_domain_names
Handy guide for Dominic Raab and other Brexiteers, and for anyone keen to replace our EU trade with trade with the rest of the world on WTO terms...


You can't magic away the vast distances involved. Clue: we fly in only 1/192th of our trade compared to the amount that arrives via sea


But even if you invented a teleporter tomorrow, WTO terms are so bad, so stacked against us, that a no-deal Brexit will be a total economic disaster


And while the Brexiteers fantasise, real jobs are being lost, investments are drying up, companies are moving assets to the EU27 or redomiciling. All already happened and happening right now, not in some mythical


Of course, there are many, many myths that Brexiteers perpetuate that are total fiction. You've seen a couple of them already. The thread below busts a whole lot
POLITICS
Edwin Hayward
Edwin Hayward
@uk_domain_names
Ok, it's high time to look at the REAL effects of Brexit. As the Tories implode & Labour sits on its hands, companies are executing contingency plans, shifting jobs & assets, slashing investments, or redomiciling (accounting exercise). Happening NOW, not in a fantasy future. 1/95

Barden Corporation is closing down its Plymouth factory after 51 years, putting 400 jobs at risk, as its parent company Schaeffler shifts production to various sites outside the UK due to Brexit.

8 health providers have warned of medicine shortages in the event of a no-deal Brexit: "we do not believe that the current medicine supply plans will suffice, and we will have widespread shortages if we do not respond urgently."

Pfizer - $100 million on Brexit prep: "Pfizer’s preparations are well advanced to make the changes necessary to meet EU legal requirements after the U.K. is no longer a member state, especially in the regulatory, manufacturing and supply chain areas."

The Government has spent £4.2 billion pounds on Brexit preparations (£2.2 billion in previous Budgets, plus an additional £2 billion in the most recent Budget.)
POLITICS
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Edwin Hayward \U0001f984 \U0001f5e1
Edwin Hayward 🦄 🗡...
@uk_domain_names
THREAD: Here are the essential points from the EU's time-limited, limited effect no-deal Brexit mitigation offer.

(Most concessions are unilateral measures it will implement. Some require UK cooperation - not clear what happens if we refuse to do

Air travel
"Unless there is a contingency measure in place on air transport at the end of the transition period, air traffic between the EU and the United Kingdom will be interrupted."

The EU is proposing 6 months of reciprocal concessions to keep (most) planes flying.


However, they're not offering any concessions on airline ownership requirements, so BA for one may come unstuck here (depending on how its restructured shareholding is going). Its message: you already had plenty of time to prepare, including a grace period.


Road transport

A) Haulage
With no agreement, hauliers would have to use ECMT permits to provide any freight transport between the UK and the EU. But there aren't nearly enough of those to go around. So they're giving a basic grace period of 6 months, as long as we reciprocate.


B) Bus services
"Furthermore, in the absence of an agreement on a future partnership between the EU and the United Kingdom by 1 January 2021, regular bus services to and from the United
Kingdom would have to be interrupted"

Here too, offer is 6 months of continued connectivity.
BREXIT
Edwin Hayward \U0001f984 \U0001f5e1
Edwin Hayward 🦄 🗡...
@uk_domain_names
UK Government just released 70 pages of case studies today, showing how the borders will operate after 1 January 2021.

They're essentially hardcore porn for red tape fetishists.

Doomed, we are. Doomed.

(e.g. exporting fish; exporting mechanical goods)
https://t.co/zWpkdGJeim


This is exactly what should have been presented years ago so that firms could prepare.

Or, arguably, before the Brexit referendum. Just the 70 pages of case studies released TODAY could have tipped the result the other way. Not everyone is blinded by sovrinty & hating forrins.

Going back to the examples...

The person in France buying (say) UK mechanical goods will take one look at the procedures involved, and Google an alternative supplier inside the EU instead.

As for the fish, they could probably swim to their intended destination faster of their own accord than following the new process, if only they had water in between to traverse.

The purchasers will smell them coming a mile away.

Auto parts. I am practically weeping at my keyboard.
GOVERNMENT
Edwin Hayward \U0001f984 \U0001f5e1
Edwin Hayward 🦄 🗡...
@uk_domain_names
A few thoughts in advance of seeing the Brexit deal, assuming it's not scuppered at the last.

1. It will save industries, in the short term. For all the problems it *won't* solve, there is at least that. Tariffs would have finished off some sectors like switching off a light.

2. Expect a lot of confusion (through ignorance, and deliberate obfuscation by certain segments of the media) between free trade and frictionless trade. Trade that is free can still come with plenty of friction. Those extra £billions in customs paperwork won't go away.

3. There may be a standstill or implementation period. If there is, that will be helpful because it will let us get further down the road of vaccinating against the coronavirus, and resolving one crisis before plunging into the rest.

4. Any standstill will trigger a huge wave of "you told us scary things would happen, but they didn't." If you're counting along, it will be the 3rd such wave. First was during the negotiations while we were still EU members. Second during transition when EU rules still applied.

5. Those are just words. But the damage to the economy is real. So a standstill remains preferable, though teeth may have to remain gritted a while longer as a result.

6. Expect a few positive surprises. (Not compared to EU membership, but to what would otherwise have been.)
BREXIT

More from Brexit

Nicholas Whithorn
Nicholas Whithorn
@NickWhithorn
Short fun thread on Brexiters expressed through the medium of the Sicilian word "minchia" & its variants.
N.B. "minchia" is not necessarily a vulgar word, having been used by authors as diverse as Giovanni Verga & Frank Zappa in their works, but it is uniquely expressive >>

Proprio un gran minchione!


'sta minchia di...


Chi minchia cumminastivu?l


Cu minchia è?
BREXIT
Buck Frexit! \U0001f1ea\U0001f1fa\U0001f49c\U0001f499\U0001f30d #FBPE #ElectoralReform
Buck Frexit! 🇪🇺💜💙🌍 #FB...
@Beany_1
Project fear - a media friendly term which at one stroke, mocked the expertise of those at many of the coal faces of Brexit and dismissed it with a sneer. Yet, just 9 days in, it looks very much like project fear predictions were true and should have been heeded.

Thread

Project fear was not a myth. It was the truth.


Project fear was not a myth. It was the truth.


Project fear was not a myth. It was the truth.


Project fear was not a myth. It was the truth.
BREXIT
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David C Bannerman
David C Bannerman
@DCBMEP
Here is thread with few facts relevant to current drama on Brexit deal or rather more likely NO DEAL - FOR NOW!
1.) If we have to go to ‘no deal’ (/Australia deal) we will be doing what most members of World Trade Organisation (WTO - covering virtually every country in world) do.

2/ 2/3rds of trading in world is done under WTO rules. USA exports more than UK does to EU but does so under WTO rules; so does China.
2.) If tariffs have to be imposed under ‘no deal’ WTO rules, the EU will pay £12bn in tariffs a year and the U.K. £5bn (ref: Civitas) -

3/ (ref: Civitas) - because tariffs hit mostly agricultural EU goods, such as 40% on cheeses & 12% on wine;
3.) The £12bn income from tariffs will come to UK Treasury, not Brussels. Effectively these will be UK consumer taxes that could perhaps go towards reducing COVID debt?;

4/ 4.) 43% of UK exports do yes go to EU; but this is small proportion of our actual economy: only 7.5% UK GDP are goods exports to EU; 13.5% with services. Only 8% UK companies even trade with EU. (@BBCNews please show balance on this). Most of our trade is internal within UK.

5/ over 2/3rds (SNP take note!); so tariffs will effect a small proportion of UK exports (though some sectors will be hit hard;
5.) By definition, 57% of U.K. exports go to Rest of the World. Growth outside of Europe is forecast to be 90% of all growth over next 15-20 years.
BREXIT
Pernille Rudlin/Rudlin Consulting
Pernille Rudlin/Rudlin...
@pernilleru
Japanese companies in the UK who have moved their product distribution hub to the EU in anticipation of what is now happening. One in a long thread, just to make a point that *some* companies have been preparing for worst case Brexit for years 1/13

Allegro MicroSystems Europe, semiconductors and ICs, owned by Sanken Denki, now importing into EU via Netherlands rather than UK. Amano Enzyme Europe transferred EU stock to warehouse in EU 2/13

Anritsu EMEA (sales and service of testing and measuring solutions to communications industry) all EU deliveries now go to second transport hub in Netherlands. Audio Technica established European Distribution Centre in Netherlands for Brexit (bit of a 🇳🇱theme here) 3/13

Eisai Europe (manufactures pharmaceuticals in Hatfield) transferred centralised marketing authorizations to Frankfurt, established testing and storage facilities in Antwerp. Electric Glass Fiber holding stock in EU for Brexit 4/13

Enplas Europe (semiconductors) acquired warehousing in NL for Brexit. Fujichem Sonneborn opened warehouse in Spain for Brexit. Furukawa Electric Europe shifted warehouse and distribution to Germany. 5/13
BREXIT
Mujtaba Rahman
Mujtaba Rahman
@Mij_Europe
The risks that arise from Merkel's departure this year aren't really linked to her succession, but rather the vacuum she leaves behind in Europe. For Brexit/UK watchers, this is an important transitional year for the EU - & one worth paying attention to
Thread 1/

The outcome of Ger elections in Sept is highly likely to be a Black/Green coalition. Positive for Ger & EU. All the contenders to replace Merkel are also mainstream, some just more conservative than others. See @NazMasraff & @COdendahl very good analysis & threads for more 2/

Yet despite this constructive outcome, in short & medium term, Merkel’s departure will leave a large gap in EU no leader can credibly fill. @EmmanuelMacron will try, but without Merkel or strong partnership in Berlin, his more disruptive, abrasive style won't succeed 3/

Merkel's presidency last year is a class example of her deft political skills. Landing deals with UK & China (whose real value is framework & basis for broader political co-operation they provide); on €750bn Recovery Fund & rule of law; & climate 4/

Of course there's a lot of criticism about compromises she brokered. There is some truth to them. But very often these critiques pay little serious attention to the counterfactual, for eg, of leaving Pol & Hu behind. I think the price would have been too high to pay 5/
BREXIT

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300 MARATHAS against 10000+ ADIL SHAHI TROOPS

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Valour, loyalty and sacrifice!


Baji Prabhu Deshpande was one of the most able lieutenants of Shivaji. He sacrificed his life defending Shivaji in a heroic last stand known as the "Battle of Pavan Khind" in which his force was hugely outnumbered.(1)

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THE BATTLE OF TALIKOTA and the destruction of Vijaynagar (Hampi)
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ashkan soltani
ashkan soltani
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BREAKING: @CommonsCMS @DamianCollins just released previously sealed #Six4Three @Facebook documents:

Some random interesting tidbits:

1) Zuck approves shutting down platform API access for Twitter's when Vine is released #competition


2) Facebook engineered ways to access user's call history w/o alerting users:

Team considered access to call history considered 'high PR risk' but 'growth team will charge ahead'. @Facebook created upgrade path to access data w/o subjecting users to Android permissions dialogue.


3) The above also confirms @kashhill and other's suspicion that call history was used to improve PYMK (People You May Know) suggestions and newsfeed rankings.

4) Docs also shed more light into @dseetharaman's story on @Facebook monitoring users' @Onavo VPN activity to determine what competitors to mimic or acquire in 2013.

https://t.co/PwiRIL3v9x
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Anu Satheesh \U0001f1ee\U0001f1f3
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It is said that this is the place where Shri Rama gave darshan to Suka Maharishi. Nedumgunam means which shows all qualities of Shri Rama who is Maryadha purushottam. Shri Ramanavami is very famous here.

Jai Sri Ram
🙏🕉🙏
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