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Brexit

Started by vandermolen, May 01, 2017, 10:14:35 PM

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Mandryka

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

vandermolen

#1761
Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on October 04, 2021, 05:44:44 PM
Hi Jeffrey,

I had read things earlier today that the British army was now helping to deliver supplies in the south of England (supposedly things were much better in other areas like northern England, Scotland and Wales).  Does it seem to be getting any better now?  And, from what I had heard, they were supposed to be starting to help as of Monday...

PD
Hi PD,
I especially took a photo this morning as I stopped opposite my local garage (fuel station).
The sign (surprise surprise) says 'Sorry, we're out of fuel...thanks for your understanding')

The Times today reports that 'Just 27 fuel tanker drivers from the EU have applied to work in the Britain under the government's emergency scheme...' Who blames them! Boris Johnson was interviewed on the BBC Radio News this morning (he'd refused to be interviewed by them for the past two years). As usual he just winged it and tried to talk so much that they couldn't ask questions(eventually he was asked to 'stop talking') He had to admit, however, that of the 500 new tanker drivers that are needed they have 127.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: vandermolen on October 05, 2021, 01:38:24 AM
Hi PD,
I especially took a photo this morning as I stopped opposite my local garage (fuel station).
The sign (surprise surprise) says 'Sorry, we're out of fuel...thanks for your understanding')

The Times today reports that 'Just 27 fuel tanker drivers from the EU have applied to work in the Britain under the government's emergency scheme...' Who blames them! Boris Johnson was interviewed on the BBC Radio News this morning (he'd refused to be interviewed by them for the past two years). As usual he just winged it and tried to talk so much that they couldn't ask questions(eventually he was asked to 'stop talking') He had to admit, however, that of the 500 new tanker drivers that are needed they have 127.
Wow!   :(

I also didn't know that he'd been refusing to be interviewed by the BBC news reporters for the past two years?  Or is there just certain people or a certain program that he's been avoiding and if so, why?

How's your fuel gage looking Jeffrey?

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

vandermolen

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on October 05, 2021, 03:28:45 AM
Wow!   :(

I also didn't know that he'd been refusing to be interviewed by the BBC news reporters for the past two years?  Or is there just certain people or a certain program that he's been avoiding and if so, why?

How's your fuel gage looking Jeffrey?

PD
If he thinks that they are too critical of the government he has refused interviews along with other government ministers, (Channel 4 News and Good Morning Britain were treated in the same way). As for fuel, the garage I photographed, had a delivery last week and I was lucky as I happened to be driving there just after the delivery. I have 3/4 of a tank left and my drive to work (2 X per week) is only about 8 minutes. Compared to many I am lucky.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: vandermolen on October 05, 2021, 03:38:12 AM
If he thinks that they are too critical of the government he has refused interviews along with other government ministers, (Channel 4 News and Good Morning Britain were treated in the same way). As for fuel, the garage I photographed, had a delivery last week and I was lucky as I happened to be driving there just after the delivery. I have 3/4 of a tank left and my drive to work (2 X per week) is only about 8 minutes. Compared to many I am lucky.
Thank you for the further news.

Glad that you are currently o.k. and my fingers are crossed for the rest of the U.K.

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Que

#1765
So, what do you do if you are in a very deep hole?

You dig a bit deeper....  ::)

Brexit: UK gives EU ultimatum over Northern Ireland protocol


I think the UK overestimates its leverage in its relation with the EU: if push comes to shove, the EU will end the deal and there will be no deal at all. Finished, done... Brexit in its "purest" form.

John Copeland

Quote from: Que on October 05, 2021, 08:24:29 AM
So, what do you do if you are in a very deep hole?

You dig a bit deeper....  ::)
Brexit: UK gives EU ultimatum over Northern Ireland protocol
I think the UK overestimates its leverage in its relation with the EU: if push comes to shove, the EU will end the deal and there will be no deal at all. Finished, done... Brexit in its "purest" form.

+1

Que


Madiel

Quote from: 71 dB on October 02, 2021, 03:33:13 AM
I have always been into UK music. My favorite composer is Elgar and even before getting into classical music I was heavily into British electronic (dance) music, British acts such as S'Express, The Beatmasters, The Prodigy, Jonny L, Autechre and dozens of others not to mention the various "British" subgenres. My music diet has always been very British.  8)

This is why it has been hard for me to see all of this Brexit-madness happening. Now I can't even order online from UK without the fear of customs hassle and extra cost and instead I have to order from Germany which limits my options. Why wasn't it Poland leaving, Polexit? Why did this happen with the UK? It is really annoying, because the Brexit vote was close and people were lied about Brexit. The World is such a stupid and frustrating place!

Honestly, all the Europeans talking about customs duties all the time mystify me. It seems weird that your customs taxes would be SO much higher than the internal taxes that are no longer payable. Not least because world trade agreements tend to discourage being so protectionist.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Madiel

Quote from: Mandryka on October 05, 2021, 01:14:25 AM
Boris Johnson blames 'lazy' Brits for losing out on jobs to hard-working immigrants

https://metro.co.uk/2013/04/08/boris-johnson-blames-lazy-brits-for-losing-out-on-jobs-to-hard-working-immigrants-3587183/

(see also the article Que linked to about the imported labour habit)

Well that's back in 2013... But it's not "lazy", it's a cultural expectation about who does what jobs. The UK is hardly unique in this. There are a number of places where imported labour is offered the lower-quality jobs that people would generally prefer not to do themselves. The US of A is the same - last night I rewatched an episode of American Dad that has a joke based on the assumption that a cleaning lady always speaks Spanish.  The oil states in the Middle East have huge amounts of imported labour.

And while Australia's "imported" labour mostly consists of people who have genuinely moved here on a permanent basis, there's still undoubtedly a sense that immigrant communities are more likely to occupy certain kinds of jobs and Covid-19 is showing that up. Plus we rely on young backpackers (often European) to take on fruit-picking jobs and right now they're not here to take them.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Herman

#1770
Quote from: Que on October 03, 2021, 12:19:44 AM
A baroness who is in charge of "roads, busses and places".

We couldn't have made it up if we wanted to!  :laugh:

I also notice the "fantastic opportunities" that are promised and the assurance that "conditions of employment and pay have been improving across the sector". The impression I get from other non-Uk news sources is that the Bulgarian and Romanian drivers that have been kicked out after having been exploited for years (which is not an exclusive UK phenomenon BTW) have no intention of returning:  too much economic insecurity,  a host country that cannot be trusted and, last but not least, a low GBP.

I assumed the letter was a spoof.
There is no point whatsoever in signing with a title like "baroness". You're not in a civil service job as a baroness. So that's what made me think it was prank letter, too.
But I guess that's what happens when a vaudevillean like Boris J. is your PM.

71 dB

Quote from: Madiel on October 05, 2021, 01:41:03 PM
Honestly, all the Europeans talking about customs duties all the time mystify me. It seems weird that your customs taxes would be SO much higher than the internal taxes that are no longer payable. Not least because world trade agreements tend to discourage being so protectionist.

This is not so much about the taxes themselves, but the clumsy way everything works. The hassle. The delays in delivery. In some cases the customer first pays taxes when buying the product and the has to pay again in the customs. Then ask refund from the seller. Finnish Post Office (which is one of the worst things in Finland because it tries to make profit when it should be non-profit infrastructure keeping the society functional) even charges 2,95 € for having to deal with customs and still isn't able to deliver goods quickly! It's all so clumsy and stupid! Before Brexit these problems did not exit when ordering from UK, and Finns did order a lot from there. The last two years has been about not knowing how ordering from UK will change, being worried about it and so on. It has been a pain in the ass! All of this because some asshole politicians in the UK wanted to exploit the xenophobia and ignorance of many brits.  :P
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

Herman

Quote from: 71 dB on October 06, 2021, 02:58:59 AM
Before Brexit these problems did not exit when ordering from UK, and Finns did order a lot from there. The last two years has been about not knowing how ordering from UK will change, being worried about it and so on. It has been a pain in the ass! All of this because some asshole politicians in the UK wanted to exploit the xenophobia and ignorance of many brits.  :P

The solution to this first world problem is stop ordering consumer goods like crazy. it's clearly not making you happy anyway.

71 dB

Quote from: Herman on October 06, 2021, 03:46:49 AM
The solution to this first world problem is stop ordering consumer goods like crazy. it's clearly not making you happy anyway.

It doesn't make me happy, but it gives the illusion of happiness which is better than nothing.  :P

I'm not stopping ordering. I'm just ordering inside the EU, which limits options which in turn means I order less which means the illusion of happiness is weaker which is why I am whining here.
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

Madiel

Quote from: 71 dB on October 06, 2021, 02:58:59 AM
This is not so much about the taxes themselves, but the clumsy way everything works. The hassle. The delays in delivery. In some cases the customer first pays taxes when buying the product and the has to pay again in the customs. Then ask refund from the seller. Finnish Post Office (which is one of the worst things in Finland because it tries to make profit when it should be non-profit infrastructure keeping the society functional) even charges 2,95 € for having to deal with customs and still isn't able to deliver goods quickly! It's all so clumsy and stupid! Before Brexit these problems did not exit when ordering from UK, and Finns did order a lot from there. The last two years has been about not knowing how ordering from UK will change, being worried about it and so on. It has been a pain in the ass! All of this because some asshole politicians in the UK wanted to exploit the xenophobia and ignorance of many brits.  :P

Meh. I'm used to it potentially taking up to 2 months for something I've ordered to get to this side of the world. So long as it arrives, everything's good. And the day it arrives can be an exciting moment.

And when it comes to taxes, Presto has always been superb. They can tell me what I'll pay, in Australian dollars, from the very beginning.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Mandryka

The fuel crisis seems to be over. I believe the whole thing was caused by manic buying deliberately whipped up in the media for either political or commercial reasons. Whoever's doing this sort of thing IMO ends up doing the Tories more good than harm.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Madiel on October 06, 2021, 05:49:00 PM
Meh. I'm used to it potentially taking up to 2 months for something I've ordered to get to this side of the world. So long as it arrives, everything's good. And the day it arrives can be an exciting moment.

And when it comes to taxes, Presto has always been superb. They can tell me what I'll pay, in Australian dollars, from the very beginning.
Good to hear that Presto is still offering great service.  :)

On the bad side, I heard/read that there could be a slowing down of US Mail delivery (starting this past Friday if I'm recalling correctly).   :(

Quote from: Mandryka on October 07, 2021, 07:55:15 AM
The fuel crisis seems to be over....
Yeah!  ;D

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Irons

Quote from: Mandryka on October 07, 2021, 07:55:15 AM
The fuel crisis seems to be over. I believe the whole thing was caused by manic buying deliberately whipped up in the media for either political or commercial reasons. Whoever's doing this sort of thing IMO ends up doing the Tories more good than harm.

It does feel we are on the cusp of a perfect storm of which the fuel "crises" is only the opening salvo. Energy prices, a French blockade and no turkeys for Christmas. When will it end!?
You must have a very good opinion of yourself to write a symphony - John Ireland.

I opened the door people rushed through and I was left holding the knob - Bo Diddley.

71 dB

Quote from: Irons on October 09, 2021, 12:38:06 AM
When will it end!?

When people learn to cast their votes better in elections. People vote for populistic extroverted clowns with spychopathic tendencies and simply "solutions" to everything too much. People should try to vote more for introverts even if they look boring and gray. Those people often have real complex solutions and have less spychopathic tendencies.

So when will people learn to cast their votes better? I am afraid never. Even a Christmas without a turkey won't teach them. So never.  :-\
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

71 dB

I have been a little bit angry to Brits for being pro-Brexit, but lately the Brexit problems in the UK have become so bad that I have actually started feeling PITY for Brits. Their country is becoming fast a shithole country run by clowns. Until recently I had not followed UK politics very closely, but the more I follow, the worse it looks. Poor Brits! They are like Americans were under Trump's government of xenophobic and hate-based incompetence. Are we witnessing the downfall of the UK and its disintegration into pieces?  :-X
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"