FlyTheNest

Otto English
@Otto_English
So Claire Fox robustly defended the government's Internal Market Bill in the Lords last night only to then accidentally vote against it - helping defeat the very bill she'd spoken so passionately in defence of. November just keeps getting better.
7:24 AM · Nov 10, 2020·Twitter Web App

More broadly, the US political shift away from performative jerkdom could yield other benefits for global diplomacy. Biden is far less likely to block the appointment of a WTO director-general, has already signalled he wants the US back in the Paris Climate Change Agreement, and will probably revert to the standard US position of deep exasperation with the United Nations rather than outright hostility to it.

The US is also unlikely to keep up the barrage of threats to which it subjected the international trading system during Trump's tenure. In addition to blocking the director-general appointment and breaking the appellate body, the US has held the WTO's budget hostage, threatened to unilaterally raise all of its tariffs, said it will leave the WTO agreement on government procurement and probably a number of other things I'm just too numb to even recall anymore. The Biden administration may still throw its weight around, but the chaos should end.

All of this is to the UK's advantage. Britain is good at navigating intergovernmental organisations and multi-party diplomacy. It will be even better when it no longer has to craft increasingly elaborate ways to explain to partners that it opposes whatever gauche thing the US just did but not enough to actually say so publicly.

Britain is good at navigating intergovernmental organisations and multi-party diplomacy.

Biden thus risks being bogged down in contentious negotiations with a prime minister his own party is less than fond of, unable to extract sufficient concessions on agriculture to win over rural district votes in Congress, and without sufficient gains in other parts of the agreement to make a whipping operation successful.

You can see why he's not prioritising it.

RogerOThornhill wrote:If the vaccine is due to be rolled out next month, I wonder whether the lockdown will end in early December?

RogerOThornhill wrote:Morning all.

I take it all back - ennobling Claire Fox was a superb move...

The Guido Fawkes blog had a fun story this morning.


Guido Fawkes
@GuidoFawkes
Number 10’s Message to Biden Originally Congratulated Trump https://order-order.com/2020/11/10/numb ... ated-trump" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Asked for an explanation, a government spokesman said:

As you’d expect, two statements were prepared in advance for the outcome of this closely contested election. A technical error meant that parts of the alternative message were embedded in the background of the graphic. (Politics Live, Guardian)

Dr Helen Salisbury
@HelenRSalisbury
Currently on a webinar about the delivery of the covid19 vaccine. Massive disconnect between plans at the top table and what is doable on the ground in GP surgeries

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Was that an "exclusive"?

PorFavor wrote:Sky TV News reports that an orderly transition between Donald Trump and Joe Biden is looking less and less likely.

John Hudson
@John_Hudson
Pompeo just now: “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration."
6:11 PM · Nov 10, 2020·Twitter Web App

Julia Hartley-Brewer
@JuliaHB1
The private sector in this country has shown such leadership, ingenuity & willingness to adapt & work hard to stay afloat - against all the odds.

If our state schools had shown an ounce of the same backbone through the pandemic, no child would have been left behind.

Pathetic.
1:09 PM · Nov 10, 2020·Twitter for iPhone

Sam Freedman
@Samfr
Why is Linda Darling-Hammond, leading the education team? She's an incredibly knowledgeable emeritus Professor and author of many influential papers, not a heiress who funded the campaign? Confusing.

gilsey wrote:

Dr Helen Salisbury
@HelenRSalisbury
Currently on a webinar about the delivery of the covid19 vaccine. Massive disconnect between plans at the top table and what is doable on the ground in GP surgeries

You don't say.

Ryan Browne
@rabrowne75
Pentagon finally confirms near total decapitation of civilian leadership in the last 24 hours. Secretary of Defense Esper fired Monday, the top Pentagon Policy official, top Defense Department intelligence official, and chief of staff to the Defense Secretary all out today
10:05 PM · Nov 10, 2020·Twitter for iPhone

Jeffrey Guterman
@JeffreyGuterman
Witness for GOP, a postal worker who claimed vote tampering, admits he was lying. GOP donors gave him $130,000.