Monday 18th December 2017
Posted: Mon 18 Dec, 2017 7:10 am
Morning all.
Ah, Raymond Williams - there's a blast from my past.Brexit is putting me off this whole ‘will of the people’ idea
Matthew d'Ancona (Guardian)
That would be the different world that Iain Smith, Liam Fox et al inhabit, presumably.On the Today programme this morning Iain Duncan Smith, the Conservative former work and pensions secretary and prominent Brexiter, said he did not accept the argument that a Brexit trade deal allowing the UK to diverge from the EU would be bad for trade. He said:
l don’t buy this idea of a fixed position in the world. It’s not a case of less trade, it’s a case of a different type of trade, and British business will have to learn, as they do, to get by in a different world. (Politics Live, Guardian)
(cJA emphasis)PorFavor wrote:That would be the different world that Iain Smith, Liam Fox et al inhabit, presumably.On the Today programme this morning Iain Duncan Smith, the Conservative former work and pensions secretary and prominent Brexiter, said he did not accept the argument that a Brexit trade deal allowing the UK to diverge from the EU would be bad for trade. He said:
l don’t buy this idea of a fixed position in the world. It’s not a case of less trade, it’s a case of a different type of trade, and British business will have to learn, as they do, to get by in a different world. (Politics Live, Guardian)
Fortunately, it is starting to appear he doesn't have as much as he might wish.gilsey wrote:The idea that IDS has influence in govt and the media is no less frightening than it's ever been.
In other words, "We don't trust you further than we can throw you."Stefaan De Rynck, Michel Barnier’s senior adviser, is speaking at Chatham House now.
He says what worries people on the EU side is that the UK will leave the single market, and the EU will be asked to trust them about not lowering standards. That does not provide enough “glue” to hold it together, he says. (Politics Live, Guardian)
The rest of the press conference seems to be him saying 'we, on the other hand, mean what we say.'PorFavor wrote:In other words, "We don't trust you further than we can throw you."Stefaan De Rynck, Michel Barnier’s senior adviser, is speaking at Chatham House now.
He says what worries people on the EU side is that the UK will leave the single market, and the EU will be asked to trust them about not lowering standards. That does not provide enough “glue” to hold it together, he says. (Politics Live, Guardian)
The details given sound very similar to the proposals a couple of weeks ago by the British Irish Chamber of commerce, a customs union between UK & eu, and a pick & mix approach to getting various benefits from different existing eu deals, i.e this bit like Ukraine's got, another like Lichtenstein, another like S.Korea etc.Theresa May is not the only person suggesting that the UK may be able to agree a bespoke trade deal with the EU giving it many of the benefits of membership. The left-leaning IPPR thinktank has published interesting proposals for a “shared market” arrangementthat would achieve much of what May wants.
That's awfulHindleA wrote:---
One of my Aunt's friends got mowed down by a car overtaking a bus in nearby Alexandria recently,she didn't have an earthly,hardly increased her confidence,limited mobility,of attempting to go to shops,crossing roads etc.
George Smith, please.PorFavor wrote:That would be the different world that Iain Smith, Liam Fox et al inhabit, presumably.On the Today programme this morning Iain Duncan Smith, the Conservative former work and pensions secretary and prominent Brexiter, said he did not accept the argument that a Brexit trade deal allowing the UK to diverge from the EU would be bad for trade. He said:
l don’t buy this idea of a fixed position in the world. It’s not a case of less trade, it’s a case of a different type of trade, and British business will have to learn, as they do, to get by in a different world. (Politics Live, Guardian)
I think the county town has also been known as Du*n*barton in the past. Sorry I can't offer a more exciting explanationHindleA wrote:Why does Dumbarton turn to Dunbartonshire?
I don't buy this "Labour didn't have to try" stuff. Something like tax credits strongly benefits low paid workers in poor areas, as did the public services investment. The EU doesn't just rock up and put a road in, the Welsh Government has to commit a lot of its own money to these projects. It's doing up next bit of the main road to Ebbw Vale right now.gilsey wrote:Ebbw Vale and the EU.
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And, how come their Transporter Bridge has a visitor centre and ours hasn't?Tubby Isaacs wrote:I don't buy this "Labour didn't have to try" stuff. Something like tax credits strongly benefits low paid workers in poor areas, as did the public services investment. The EU doesn't just rock up and put a road in, the Welsh Government has to commit a lot of its own money to these projects. It's doing up next bit of the main road to Ebbw Vale right now.gilsey wrote:Ebbw Vale and the EU.
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Welsh Valleys are just a hard place to regenerate, post coal.You don't get Microsoft turn up there. Even Germany has the problem of its more remote regions lagging behind the bits closer to the action. Only Ireland, which got in first as the low tax place has been able to stand against that, to some extent.
AnatolyKasparov wrote:Lots of things aren't easy, that doesn't automatically mean we shouldn't make at least some effort to do them.
Plenty of people have been making plenty of effort.AnatolyKasparov wrote:Lots of things aren't easy, that doesn't automatically mean we shouldn't make at least some effort to do them.
What if the public administrators don't want to move? The good ones will leave rather than be moved to somewhere nobody else wants to live.SpinningHugo wrote:AnatolyKasparov wrote:Lots of things aren't easy, that doesn't automatically mean we shouldn't make at least some effort to do them.
We should move those pieces of public administration to the regions to save costs.
But.
Areas of the country are not people, We have no interest in their equality. If it is economically counter-productive to try to buck the market by investing in certain areas of the country, don't. Encourage internal migration by building infrastucture in the areas of the country that are rich. We are much to sentimental in the UK about parts of the country.
Help the poor by giving them money. Don't waste precious resources trying to stop the tide coming in.
Right, yeah. Because Benn was being completely seriously. And anyway, what about Jo Cox? Lots of people duly handed Paul his arse.Paul Embery @PaulEmbery
Sorry, I'm not buying into this hysteria over pro-EU MPs receiving death threats. They should get a grip and take some advice from the great Tony Benn:
"I received a death threat last week. I was so thrilled that someone thought I was still dangerous. I hadn't had one in ages."
The real world where death threats to MPs, egged on by hysterial mass market newspapers is just a joke.Paul Embery @PaulEmbery
Right, I've spent too long in Snowflake City this afternoon. Time to get back to the real world.
Plymouth shouldn't be an impossible sell I would have thought?Tubby Isaacs wrote:I'm sure more government offices could be moved out of London. But there's a limit to where they can be moved to. Reading or similar, sure.
Ebbw Vale, Grimsby, Plymouth? Doubtful.
Bit remote, I reckon.AnatolyKasparov wrote:Plymouth shouldn't be an impossible sell I would have thought?Tubby Isaacs wrote:I'm sure more government offices could be moved out of London. But there's a limit to where they can be moved to. Reading or similar, sure.
Ebbw Vale, Grimsby, Plymouth? Doubtful.
That's pure Brent, where he assumes the black guy was the one who complained about his "black man's cock" joke.PaulPopper @formerleft
Replying to @PaulEmbery
so many critics of multiculturalism as a political dogma are black or Asian. Kenan Malik is one of the best critics of it and he's Asian. These people are deeply ignorant.
Matthew GoodwinVerified account @GoodwinMJ
Matthew Goodwin Retweeted Andrew Neil
And not only Germany. Record delay in forming coalition in Netherlands, fragmenting party systems across EU & big divide on refugees. But hey, keep talking about Macron
No surprise to see Spiked enthusiastically retweeting his stuff.Tubby Isaacs wrote:The most spectacularly dreadful soi-disant left leaver. Mr Paul Embry of the FBU.
Right, yeah. Because Benn was being completely seriously. And anyway, what about Jo Cox? Lots of people duly handed Paul his arse.Paul Embery @PaulEmbery
Sorry, I'm not buying into this hysteria over pro-EU MPs receiving death threats. They should get a grip and take some advice from the great Tony Benn:
"I received a death threat last week. I was so thrilled that someone thought I was still dangerous. I hadn't had one in ages."
But he had a reply.
The real world where death threats to MPs, egged on by hysterial mass market newspapers is just a joke.Paul Embery @PaulEmbery
Right, I've spent too long in Snowflake City this afternoon. Time to get back to the real world.
I'm shocked, shocked that an org which grew out of Living Marxism (sic) thinks that another offshoot of the same thing is great!Institute of Ideas
@instofideas
3h3 hours ago
More
From around the globe, this is an absolutely must read collection of comments and thoughts. Plaudits to @spikedonline for organising such a brilliant initiative.
Meet the women worried about #MeToo
I just think of Paul Embry as the man in the pub, really. Sure he's a fireman and pro-unions, but if he did something else for a job, he'd be slagging off people like him.AnatolyKasparov wrote:People, *this* is what "Lexitism" looks like. It really isn't comparable to most of the stuff Corbyn and McDonnell come out with.
Yeah, no "media class" stuff there at all.RogerOThornhill wrote:Tubby Isaacs wrote: No surprise to see Spiked enthusiastically retweeting his stuff.
While I was there I noticed this...
I'm shocked, shocked that an org which grew out of Living Marxism (sic) thinks that another offshoot of the same thing is great!Institute of Ideas
@instofideas
3h3 hours ago
More
From around the globe, this is an absolutely must read collection of comments and thoughts. Plaudits to @spikedonline for organising such a brilliant initiative.
Meet the women worried about #MeToo
Given I keep saying how we have to stop financializing homes, this headline particularly appealed to me. When looked at in the right way, the solutions to the housing crisis appear rather more simple in practical terms than one would expect. It's convincing public and politicians to support them which gets tricky. Needless to say, deregulation and green belt free for alls don't get a mention, because these are solutions to land owners and house builders making more money and do nothing to change the distribution issues behind our housing crisis. There are plenty of planning permissions already being granted to satisfy demand for house purchases. What we don't have enough of is social and council housing and the cause of that is inextricably linked to political policy, not market economics.Housing policy can’t be fixed until we treat houses as homes and not as stores of wealth
Tubby Isaacs wrote:I'm sure more government offices could be moved out of London. But there's a limit to where they can be moved to. Reading or similar, sure.
Ebbw Vale, Grimsby, Plymouth? Doubtful.
Supply, where people want to live, is surely important? Cambridge has managed to built lots beyond its outskirts, and is thriving.Willow904 wrote:http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolic ... ign=bufferGiven I keep saying how we have to stop financializing homes, this headline particularly appealed to me. When looked at in the right way, the solutions to the housing crisis appear rather more simple in practical terms than one would expect. It's convincing public and politicians to support them which gets tricky. Needless to say, deregulation and green belt free for alls don't get a mention, because these are solutions to land owners and house builders making more money and do nothing to change the distribution issues behind our housing crisis. There are plenty of planning permissions already being granted to satisfy demand for house purchases. What we don't have enough of is social and council housing and the cause of that is inextricably linked to political policy, not market economics.Housing policy can’t be fixed until we treat houses as homes and not as stores of wealth
Ha ha, yes.RogerOThornhill wrote:Tubby Isaacs wrote:I'm sure more government offices could be moved out of London. But there's a limit to where they can be moved to. Reading or similar, sure.
Ebbw Vale, Grimsby, Plymouth? Doubtful.
There was quite a movement of public sector offices back in the 80s. That might have been when the ONS was moved to Newport, and the DVLA to Swansea.
Ironically these are the ones which a long time later used to get the "Everyone in place X works for the public sector!" from the right kinda missing the point...