MORE JAW JAW WITH THE EU
From The Telegraph: Brussels appears poised to reject the UK’s calls for a two year extension of the grace period period for post-Brexit trade in Northern Ireland. Multiple Whitehall and EU sources have told The Telegraph that the European Commission is likely to agree to only a three to six-month extension of the arrangements in place for traders moving goods between Britain and the province. Ahead of a crunch meeting in London on Thursday, EU figures also accused the UK of exploiting an international backlash against Brussels over its aborted move to erect a The mooted extension falls far short of Michael Gove’s for the EU to agree to extend measures in place to reduce red tape on supermarket goods, chilled meats, parcels and medicines until January 2023.
BRUSSELS BANS BRITISH SHELLFISH INDEFINITELY
The Mail reports that Britain could start boarding European fishing boats to interrupt their catches unless Brussels backs down in a row over shellfish exports, a Cabinet minister indicated yesterday. Environment Secretary George Eustace warned that the Government could drop its pragmatic and sensible approach unless the EU starts being reasonable in return. Brussels has told British fishermen they are indefinitely banned from selling live mussels, oysters, clams, cockles and scallops to EU member states.
SALMOND SUBMISSION SNUBBED
The Times reports that Alex Salmond’s appearance before a Holyrood inquiry into the Scottish government’s unlawful handling of sexual harassment complaints against him has been cancelled. A row over the legality of evidence submitted by the former Scottish first minister, which alleged that Nicola Sturgeon, his successor, had broken the ministerial code on multiple occasions, has left the cross-party investigation at a crisis point in its final stages. Salmond was due to give evidence tomorrow but that has now been shelved after his lawyers accused the Scottish parliamentary committee of an “offensive” snubbing of his submission. The inquiry was set up after Salmond won a judicial review against the Scottish government over its handling of sexual harassment complaints from two civil servants.
UK ON BRINK OF £100 BILLION INDIA TRADE DEAL
From The Express: the UK and India are closing in on a huge post-Brexit trade deal after both sides agreed to “accelerate” talks. International Trade Secretary Liz Truss has been leading talks with her counterpart Shri Piyush Goyal over the weekend in New Delhi. Ms Truss and Mr Goyal agreed to accelerate the process towards an Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP). Prime Minister Boris Johnson will travel to India later this year to formally cement ties between the two nations. Experts have predicted a trade deal between the two countries could be worth up to £100billion.
TRADE FLOWS FROM GB TO NI NOW NORMAL
The Express reports that trade flows from Great Britain to Northern Ireland are back to normal, a Cabinet Office official said. Jessica Glover, director general of the Transition Task Force in the Cabinet Office, told the Commons European Scrutiny Committee that GB to NI trade flows are back to normal and indeed slightly higher now than they were in the equivalent week last year.
ARMS DECISION NOTED
From the Guardian: British ministers have refused to join the US in suspending arms sales to Saudia Arabia for offensive use in war-torn Yemen, saying the UK makes its own decisions about selling weapons. The US president, Joe Biden, announced the suspension last week meeting a longstanding campaign pledge. On Monday, the UK Foreign Office minister, James Cleverly, said he had noted the US review, but said British arms sales licences were issued with great care to ensure they did not lead to any breach of humanitarian law.
THOUSANDS TO BE PRICED OFF THE ROADS
From the Daily Mail: up to half a million motorists in London and Birmingham face being ‘priced off the road’ due to clean air zone charges. The AA said drivers who use their cars for essential journeys may not be able to afford the fees for city driving. Birmingham is introducing a clean air zone on June 1, while London’s ultra low emission zone will be expanded on October 25. Drivers are charged for entering certain areas in vehicles that do not meet minimum emissions standards. Daily fees are £12.50 in London and will be £8 in Birmingham. The AA estimates the capital’s residents own between 250,000 and 300,000 non-compliant cars.
CAR MAKER TESLA INVESTMENT IN BITCOIN
From the Guardian: Tesla, the electric car company run by the world’s richest person, Elon Musk revealed on Monday that it had bought $1.5bn (£1.1bn) in bitcoin and said it might soon accept payment in the popular but controversial cryptocurrency. News of Tesla’s investment in bitcoin sent the digital currency soaring 14% to a record high of $43,500, a 300% increase on this time last year as cryptocurrency investment has moved into the mainstream as global interest rates remain at record lows. Tesla disclosed the bitcoin holding in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.
DON’T BE SNIFFY
The SUN reports: nasal sprays may be more effective than jabs at stopping Covid spread, according to a leading scientist. Government adviser Peter Openshaw said injecting vaccines up the nose rather than in the arm could better help stop future cases.The professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London said developing nasal immunisations was the “rational way to go”. Prof Openshaw, who also sits on New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), said the key aim was to stop “replication in the nose and therefore prevent spread”.
WHAT’S ALL THE FUSS ABOUT
The Express reports that the annual BBC television licence fee will increase from £157.50 to £159 from April 1. The jump comes after the BBC last year controversially scrapped free TV licences for most over 75s. Online commentators were quick to respond to the latest raft of changes. One wrote: £8 per month for Netflix but £13 a month for the BBC. Others said they did not know what all the fuss was about as the increase would amount to just £1.50 each year.
HOSPITALITY SECTOR ON A KNIFE EDGE
The Daily Mail reports that financial losses at the UK’s top 100 restaurant chains are expected to get worse after more than doubling last year, according to new findings. UK restaurants, as well as pubs and bars, have been among the venues worst hit by the pandemic despite the considerable financial buffer provided by programmes like the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme.The latest warnings come a week after the chief executive of trade body UKHospitality warned that her sector was battling for survival, and needed further economic support.Kate Nicholls called for a 5 per cent VAT cut to be extended along with an extra business rates holiday to help the industry through the next year. About 660,000 jobs were lost in the UK hospitality industry during 2020, including at major chains like Byron Burger, Carluccio’s, Cafe Rouge and Bella Italia.
THANKS FOR THE QUESTION
From the Daily Mirror: Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, said that it was too early to say what holidays in the UK or abroad might look like due to Covid – and complex breaks that cross borders or join families were stepping into the unknown. Brits have been warned against booking elaborate summer holidays – even if they’re just in the UK – because it is too early to say what the coronavirus crisis will look like. England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer said social distancing and lockdown rules will have to be eased gradually, despite more than 12million people getting a first dose of the Covid vaccine so far.
JOURNALIST ARRESTED IN CHINA AFTER SIX MONTHS DETENTION
The Telegraph reports that an Australian journalist has been formally arrested in China after six months of detention on “suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas.” Australian embassy officials have visited Cheng Lei six times since she was detained mid-August 2020, most recently on Jan 27. Cheng was formally arrested on February 5 and is locked in a cell without fresh air or natural light, has been interrogated multiple times, with restrictions tightening on her ability to exercise and write letters, according to Australian Broadcasting Corp, which spoke with her family in Australia. The Australian government has raised its serious concerns about Ms Cheng’s detention regularly at senior levels, including about her welfare and conditions of detention,” Marise Payne, Australia’s foreign minister, said in a statement Monday. Chinese authorities, who formally arrested her on Saturday, have released little information publicly about her case. China’s legal and judicial system, controlled by the ruling Communist Party, can be very opaque. Cheng is a high-profile business anchor for CGTN, an English-language channel under China’s state broadcaster.
AND FINALLY
“My London” reports that there surely can not be a more iconic phrase from a TV programme than when Only Fools and Horses character Del Boy rubs his hands together and gleefully says “lovely jubbly”. It is impossible to know exactly where Only Fools and Horses writer John Sullivan picked up the phrase but it is pretty much universally accepted that the origins lie in an advert from around the 1950s and 60s. The Jubbly was actually an orange flavoured drink which could also be frozen and eaten as an ice lolly. It came in a triangular, 3D carton drink that could be torn or cut open and was hugely popular with children. The slogan and advertising was all based around the phrase “lubbly jubbly” and to this day a Jubbly can still be bought from makers Calypso. John Sullivan was born in 1946 so he would have been a young boy during the dizzy heights of the Jubbly and maybe the phrase just stuck with him. Either way it is a phrase that will forever be connected with Only Fools and Horses and the lovable Derek Trotter.
Re: EU banning and frustrating our fishing trade and traders.
Answer: second a Group of Civil Servants, (who are at home on full pay and allowances) to troll through the list of products we import from the EU ……and SYSTEMATICALLY create a full list of those items which will cause the same, or indeed more, frustration to EU traders as has been caused to our fishermen.
No more pussyfooting around.
There are those people, nations, religions, and many gangster mobs (such as BLM and Antifa) who ONLY understand strength and power.
And there are times, such as now, when we should illustrate OUR power and determination to support our own workers and principles.
How long will the French be showing their bile towards our fishermen if we put a moratorium on the import of French wines? French cars and snails …..(Hang on, did you just say snails? OK, forget that one!).
Sir John helping to promote THAT action, may adequately illustrate to us how dedicated he is to the defence of our trade and our Country.
SOME CHANCE!
Mr Paul5a And going back to yesterdays post about keeping the lights on during the Global Warming Scam. Apparently at the time of the Roman Invasion our climate was warm enough to grow wine producing grapes in Yorkshire!
Can’t remember where I read that and I’m not sure I believe it but the general point about cyclical variations in climate, I do believe.
And I agree with you that we really must stand up to the E.U.’s bullying.
Arms sales.
MPs are getting worked up over whether the courts or parliament gets to decide who’s genocidal and who’s not.
I ‘spect it’s all to do with this.
I’m getting a bit fed up with courts interfering in political matters (eg Gina Miller)
EU – Shellfish…..It was always inevitable that the EU would not stick by the trading agreement re: fishing. They wanted it all…free; gratis and for nothing! They never intended to allow the Brits to take back any part of the ‘sea-gold’ that they had come to look upon as their own by right!!
Salmond/Sturgeon……To my mind there was never so much as a fag paper’s difference between those two. Nothing good about either of them. But it would come as something of a treat to find that the Salmond case would result in the downfall of the poison dwarf as collateral damage!
Restaurants may never re-open for us common herd but that won’t necessarily bother the porcine occupants of the HOC. They will simply commission any of their favourite chefs to come and cook for them privately….at taxpayers expense of course! After all there is a precedent. Hancocks half hour already has form for sending out for his favourite posh takeaways for his staff when in vigil overseeing the ‘COVID terroire’
Re X billion pound trade deals. It’s never made clear which way the money’s going or who benefits the most if at all.
Re emission standards for cars. It’s not made clear what those standards are to be. The story is therefor irrelevant.
If it were to be zero emissions. then we could draw some conclusions.