Tuesday 10th November 2020

[refitman]

Morning all.

[RogerOThornhill]

Morning all.

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

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

[RogerOThornhill]

Worth a read.

Is the trade war over? What a Biden presidency means for global trade

https://www.politics.co.uk/comment-anal ... s-for-glob" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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.

Privately I would imagine the government is quite pleased that Trump is (probably) gone - it's not easy dealing with incoherence.

[gilsey]

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

We used to think we were.

[gilsey]

This on a US-UK FTA rings true.

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]

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

[AnatolyKasparov]

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

Given both the numbers and politics that is probably happening anyway.

[PorFavor]

Good morfternoon.

Morning all.

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

A Claire of very little brain.

[AnatolyKasparov]

In her early days of media exposure she came across as shouty but not terribly bright.

[PorFavor]

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)

If accurate, I fail to see the "fun" element in it.

[gilsey]

Jon Worth
@jonworth
Technical error *

* - the intern wasn’t working on Saturday, we’d not prepared a statement for Biden winning despite it being likely for 24h, and Dom doesn’t know how to use layers in Photoshop

[AnatolyKasparov]

A "technical error", you say?

[gilsey]

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.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Well, that is genuinely shocking (not) news.

[PorFavor]

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

[AnatolyKasparov]

Was that an "exclusive"?

[PorFavor]

Was that an "exclusive"?

Yes, I think so - it was an Adam Boulton thing, at any rate. I haven't been watching lately so I can't say if there have been any developments.

[AnatolyKasparov]

I mean in the sense of "its an 'exclusive' but also damn obvious and will surprise nobody".

[RogerOThornhill]

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

I think we can take that as read given this...

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

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"Democracy? Nah, overrated"

[RogerOThornhill]

Suffice to say that this piece of crap hasn't gone down that well with teachers...

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

She really is a piece of work.

[tinyclanger2]

Am a bit sick of unpleasant people.

[tinyclanger2]

I mean not everyone regards me as PLEASANT as such, but I'm not actively UNpleasant.

[RogerOThornhill]

Oops. Think someone logged into the wrong account...

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[tinyclanger2]

Aren't we all

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[RogerOThornhill]

The first tweet is about the Biden transition team...

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and the comment...

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]

You don't mean........... an expert????!!!!!!!!

It'll never catch on.

[gilsey]

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.

I'm old enough to remember the govt saying everyone over 50 would get a flu jab this winter, how's that going?

Our GP practice ran out weeks ago.

[RogerOThornhill]

Well.

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

[RogerOThornhill]

Shocked etc

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

[adam]

Odds on it being time for the coup appear to be shortening.