Brexit discussion thread XIV (Please read OP before posting)

KildareP

"Don't panic" says Oliver Dowden after container ships have to divert away from the UK because there is no room at their biggest port...

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2021/1013/1253395-uk-says-dont-panic-buy-for-christmas-after-port-chaos/

Leroy42

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118014719#Comment_118014719

The very fact they voted for Johnson and the Tories to get Brexit done, and yet here we are with the Tories complaining that Brexit is hard and the EU needs to do something means that whether they are called toffs are simply out of touch, those voters were sold a con and now instead of holding Johnson and the Tories accountable are happy to persist with the con.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118014875#Comment_118014875

If the gutter press finally pivots away from constant Pavlovian support for Brexit, the headlines are going to write themselves; the Tories Cancel Christmas. Certainly The Sun's graphics department will have fun putting a cutout of Johnson's head on the body of the Grinch.

"I'm confident that people will be able to get their toys for Christmas," Conservative Party Chairman Oliver Dowden said when asked about problems at Felixstowe port.

Like, under no normal circumstance should that reassurance even be needed to be made in the first place. It's like someone saying to you they definitely didn't take a dump in your back garden. It wasn't ever something you had to consider, prior to their statement - but now you can't help but wonder.

We have had plenty of retailers here warning to get one's Xmas orders in early, but we know that's just the general Supply Chain issues across the globe. It's not compounded by a lack of warm bodies to take the damn stuff from the ports.

PeadarCo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118014530#Comment_118014530

To be honest from reading your posts you are saying that criticising Tories or the UK government is anti English/British. This is stupid. Next you will be saying anyone who complains about FG, FF, SF, the Irish Labour Party, the Irish green party etc is anti Irish. It should be obvious how ridiculous that statement is.

The UK government is being criticised for its decisions in relation to Brexit. People are allowed do that unless you want to censor people. It doesn't matter how many people support or don't support their decisions, people are still allowed to critique the decisions and actions of the UK government.

KildareP

Like, under no normal circumstance should that reassurance even be needed to be made in the first place. It's like someone saying to you they definitely didn't take a dump in your back garden. It wasn't ever something you had to consider, prior to their statement - but now you can't help but wonder.

I don't think it's possible to come up with a more fitting analogy than that right there 😁

Nody

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118014913#Comment_118014913

Not only that but we saw how well it worked last time with fuel and the "no need to panic" comments on that. This will be yet another trigger that will likely exaggerate the effect on something that's already going poorly (the wave of issues have been building for quite a while now exactly like with fuel but as people did not see it coming they get surprised when it hits). And no matter how many tsars the Emperor without clothes assign to the issue they can't fix the fundamental issue in time for Christmas and that will be (yet another) empty stock headline coming his way.

And that's a tie in with Frost speech of trying to keep the fight about Brexit alive to call an early election (because things will not magically get better no matter how hard Boris believes in Brexit in 2023/2024).

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118014919#Comment_118014919

This point gets lost a bit. The 'Tory Brexit regime' and 'the UK' are two completely different things. 56% of the British public (a clear majority) didn't actually vote for that bunch of spivs in 2019.

Padraig178

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118015020#Comment_118015020

On the other hand in parliament where it really counts Labour remain 163 seats behind the Conservatives.

163.

They have to win back all the Scottish seats they've lost, all the red wall seats they lost in 2019 and make serious inroads into safe Tory seats in the south of England.

Labour's problem is its core supporters are now mainly in places they already hold ( cities and university towns ) and its vote in Northern heartlands has collapsed.

Those dastardly Tory toffs.

Padraig178

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118014875#Comment_118014875

REUTERS: "There will be things that people can't get" at Christmas, the White House says, due to massive supply chain logjams in ports such as New Orleans and Los Angeles caused by a shortage of HGV drivers.

Sounds very familiar.

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118015121#Comment_118015121

Yes - There are global supply chain issues impacting everyone across the globe to varying degrees.

BUT - The UK is experiencing substantially MORE of these issues as a direct consequence of Brexit.

By isolating themselves from everyone due to Brexit , the UK are now and will continue to be impacted far more by any Global issues than if they had remained in the EU.

People in Ireland are being told "please order early to allow for logistical delays" , in the UK they are being told "you might not have a turkey for Christmas no matter how early you order it"

Whilst there are global shortages on drivers and fuel supplies are under pressure , only the UK had petrol stations shutting down and people queuing for hours on end to fill their tanks.

The worst I've seen here is last night when there were 2 cars in front of me at the petrol station with people topping up before the Budget increases kicked in at mid-night.

ambro25

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118015121#Comment_118015121

Boats wait at anchor across US coasts. Tons of reports with pics online.

Boats don’t, and after that Maersk announcement won’t for the foreseeable future, wait at anchor across UK coasts. They already dump at Rotterdam, Antwerp, and whichever others western EU ports wherein there’s still empty space to be had for buffering UK-bound fret…

…until there ain’t empty space for buffering UK-bound fret anymore, because EU27 have their own logjams shifting their own arriving stuff from ports to recipients.

At which point freight forwarders the world over stop taking/accepting orders for UK-bound fret, wherein manufacturers eventually likewise stop taking/accepting UK orders that can’t get delivered.

Now sprinkle the ongoing EU27 HGV capacity shortage for UK-bound fret on top of that one.

This is already happening, by the way. Unsurprisingly, it’s hardly making much news. That Maersk announcement is wholly unsurprising, to whoever has been following @vivamjm: just confirmation that the UK supply crisis which he’s long, long forecast is unfolding fully as predicted.

You think the recent shortages in the UK were bad? You’ve seen nothing yet.

Sam Russell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118013729#Comment_118013729

I know he has a vote because he did not move 'up' to the Lords.

I assume he is a mate of yours if you know he did actually vote and know he voted Tory. No wonder you are such a unquestioning fanboy of the Tories.

murphaph

And as the shortages get worse in the UK, those EU HGV drivers will abandon the country for an easier life back home. Who would want to live in a country with constant shortages when they can live and work in dozens of other countries. A right Teufelskreis as the Germans say.

Padraig178

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118015445#Comment_118015445

I have family in the North-West of England.

They have not experienced shortages of anything except fuel for a few days because people were panic buying.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118015502#Comment_118015502

well that’s proven that then. There have been no shortages. Padraigs family said so.

Padraig178

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118015615#Comment_118015615

No need to shoot the messenger !😂

I have many friends in the South West too from when I lived there.They're bemused by the headlines too because none of them report shortages of anything really important either.

I don't doubt there are occasional snafus in the supply chain but the idea that there is a widespread crisis across the UK really doesn't hold true.Haven't seen a TV news item featuring motorists queueing for petrol for at least a week now either.

It's also important to remember that any shortages in the UK will have a knock-on effect here as well.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118015670#Comment_118015670

i always find these sort of posts amusing, high on anecdotes low on facts, and as if you are the only person who has ever spoken to a Brit.

you’re trying too hard to convince us at this stage Padraig.

Padraig178

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118015683#Comment_118015683

You should hear what my friends in Texas are short of ...

RobMc59

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118015615#Comment_118015615

I live in North west England and there are no shortages of anything.

pixelburp

I don't get those segue. Nobody here, AFAIK, has seriously suggested the entirety of mainland UK is suffering widespread shortages and privation, but clearly by looking at the many reports and the other half of the anecdotal or circumstantial evidence; there's an issue here being made worse by Brexit and the HGV shortages it caused. If ports are too full to take new container ships, there's a problem that goes beyond any reduction of "oh well X is also doing bad".

Sue de Nimes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118012085#Comment_118012085

I disagree with your assessment.

Larbre34

In the event that Westminster does agree with our friends in the North, that the EU offer doesn't begin to go far enough, Brussels should walk away and Leo Varadkar's savage,but entirely accurate message, that UK Inc is an entirely untrustworthy bunch of charlatans should be allowed reverberate around the globe.

And then Donaldson can pull down Stormont (an election is badly needed anyway) and the people of Britain can suffer a miserable Christmas of scarcity and inflation and darkness (a winter of discontent may crystallise issues in the minds of Joe Briton taxpayer and in HM loyal opposition, who in their own way are just as complicit in this mess thanks to their milquetoast impotence).

Larbre34

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118015760#Comment_118015760

Not any more than usual eh?

farmerval

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118015809#Comment_118015809

We had a friend visiting last weekend, she lives outside of Liverpool. She said that in the supermarkets there's gaps in the shelves, some stuff is less easy to get rather than not available.

Interestingly, she's Irish and amongst her friends she was saying there's a lot of stress between them about Brexit. Most of her English friends supported Brexit, restricting immigration being a large bonus for them. The bizarre part is these people were adamant, they didn't mean the their European friends and neighbours, just this random notion that immigrants are bad, just not the ones you know and go to dinner with or whatever.

Her friend group has fractured and some are no longer on speaking terms. The piece she found most amazing is this blind; migrants are bad, just not the ones we know and like, and an almost childish belief in plucky Britian would make it's way in the world as a great power somehow. Bizarre..

hotmail.com

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118015254#Comment_118015254

Well no need to get personal. If it's not insults, it's weird personal comments, suggesting I'm a Tory fan boy.

I was raising the issue of the anger Irish people now feel towards England and English politicians. I don't think we've seen anything quite like it in recent times.

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118017031#Comment_118017031

Anger is justified if they perceive those politicians are trying to throw us under a bus in their Brexit mess.

You were characterising that as anti-English a while ago.

hotmail.com

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118017061#Comment_118017061

At times, it definitely comes across as that. The names used to describe English ministers is beyond belief at times. If it were the other way around, we'd be outraged.

Tony EH

I found the comments from Leo (our very own Tory boy) very interesting tonight...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-58898117

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118017070#Comment_118017070

People have been calling politicians names long before 'the last few years'. Remember a lady called Thatcher?

Strazdas

Yet another first hand source painting Johnson and Frost as shysters : Ian Paisley Jr tells BBC Newsnight that Johnson personally told him in late 2019 he had every intention of ripping up the Protocol once it came into law.