FlyTheNest

""The changes Johnson now wants to make are not negligible. The level playing field – shorthand for common high standards on state aid, competition, social and employment standards, environment, climate change, and taxation – was agreed by the Prime Minister on the basis that the future agreement must prevent distortions of trade and unfair competitive advantages. Agreements were made on nuclear safety, counter-terrorism and ongoing oversight.

But Johnson wants nothing to do with any of this now and asserts that, to agree common standards with the EU, would fail to treat the UK as a sovereign nation. This is despite the fact that the free trade agreements the EU has with Canada and Japan include such commitments.

This is a major change which ought to be of concern to every voter who turned out for Johnson’s “oven-ready” deal. It is one thing to make minor changes to a policy but quite another to rip out its heart when it includes issues of clear public concern such as food standards, nuclear safety and workers’ rights. ""

The government’s plan to distribute personal protective equipment (PPE) during the coronavirus pandemic was undermined because officials failed to stockpile gowns and visors despite warnings to do so, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has revealed.

The report published on Friday by the National Audit Office (NAO) said this meant less than half of the expected pieces of certain equipment were handed out to frontline workers as the crisis developed.

citizenJA wrote:@Toby Latimer
Please accept my belated happy birthday wishes to you!

gilsey wrote:

The government’s plan to distribute personal protective equipment (PPE) during the coronavirus pandemic was undermined because officials failed to stockpile gowns and visors despite warnings to do so, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has revealed.

The report published on Friday by the National Audit Office (NAO) said this meant less than half of the expected pieces of certain equipment were handed out to frontline workers as the crisis developed.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... -19-spread" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

COVID-19 is an infectious respiratory disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus, first identified in China in December 2019. On 31 January 2020, England’s Chief Medical Officer confirmed the first cases of COVID-19 in England. A day earlier, the NHS had declared a Level 4 National Incident (its most severe incident level). Over the following months, the UK government mobilised a wide-ranging response to COVID-19, covering health, social care and other public services, and support to individuals and businesses affected by the pandemic.

National Audit Office
Readying the NHS and adult social care in England for COVID-19

The ERG is rather like the Terminator which “can’t be bargained with, it can’t be reasoned with, it doesn’t feel pity or remorse or fear and it absolutely will not stop ever …”. So the hope that, at some point, rationality will assert itself – for example over the damage of no deal or extending the transition period – keeps being dashed. Similarly, the idea that some ‘compromise’ from the EU would unlock things, even if such compromise was possible, is flawed. Really, one could imagine that if the EU conceded on every single UK demand the Brexit Ultras would still denounce it as insultingly inadequate.

the narrative that all that is happening is a tough negotiating stance which will yield an eleventh hour ‘blink’ from the EU and, for this reason, no transition extension should be sought.

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Johnson droning on about the Churchill statue instead, not surprising really.

citizenJA wrote:NAO reports lack the fervour Amyas Morse gave them when he was Comptroller

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