Brexit discussion thread XIV (Please read OP before posting)

Well, as even the rabidly pro-Brexit Daily Telegraph reported earlier this year when the UK and Australia signed a trade deal, although the fine detail was under headlines trumpeting a Major Victory that "Proved Remoaners Wrong"

"The British wins don't stack up to much when compared with what Australia's negotiators secured....."

and

"It is a win that must have outstripped Australian negotiators' hopes and expectations. It is hard to shake the feeling that Britain may have given away too much too cheaply. ......it will be unforgivable if that mistake forms the blueprint for all the trade deals to follow. The Government will have to toughen up, wise up, and..be prepared to walk away from a bad deal if it wants to make a success of Brexit."

You can find a fuller description here (https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117444245/#Comment_117444245)

Britain is so determined to cosy back up to its Commonwealth cousins that it is making them offers they would be mad to refuse. Whether they have any long-term impact on farming in Britain or Ireland only time will tell. I find it hard to believe that NZ, literally at the other end of the world, could compete cost-effectively for fresh food with local farmers is a bit fanciful. But if they can, I suspect that British farmers will be more vociferous sooner about the detrimental effects on their business than will Irish farmers.

Not to get too far off topic but given that it's a second job for many and often only survives on the back of subsides then it seems clear that Brexit is only another of many many straws on the camel's back

Oh god ya I wasnt talking about Clarkson or anyone like that. I was thinking about farmers (usually with inherited farms) who do it to make an extra profit but could live off the full time job if the farm goes tits up

I'm not trying to stop anyone from doing the job or taking away subsides just saying it definitely has huge problems before Brexit

Can't remember if it was here or the UK but somewhere I lived I was eating NZ lamb every week

Ya I was thinking that. But the point was that it is more cost effective to have NX lamb in the UK over Welsh lamb so surely the same applies to beef

Just surprising it's still cheaper after the shipping cost.

As for booze things like a bottle of Jameson can be got way cheaper outside Ireland

Not surprising, tax is the biggest cost

With the cost of sending a shipping container from Asia to Europe gone from 1k to 7k or more, it's a particularly bad time to switch to NZ suppliers instead of EU ones.

I notice that the French are the biggest "bête noire" for the Brexiteers. They hate everyone naturally, but France in particular gets most of their ire, way ahead of even the Germans.

And possibly the fact that the French revolted against the crown, and decapitated their monarch and much of the aristocracy, unsettles the old families which hold land in the UK since the time of William the Conquerer. A terrible example to the commoners of how to treat their betters!

Nah it's mostly about the inferiority complex some people have towards culture.

You see it here too but it's worse in the UK where people visibly angry at people who want to live a life outside of the same cheap tasteless beer every evening and pasties or fry ups every day for lunch.

The stereotype French lifestyle of espressos and bicycles is the ultimate image of everything their sad lives are not

An interesting subject alright even if it has nothing (much) to do with Brexit...

One thing I don't believe was touched on. Farming beef is very bad but (I think) on a global scale Ireland may be one of the better (less damaging) places to do it...

Unless the likes of the EU countries and the UK also make sure they are really eliminating local beef consumption (due to its high environmental cost) and not just replacing all that EU (incl. Irish) beef with some South American or USA imports, trying to get rid of the beef industry in EU/Ireland seems pointless and may even have a worse environmental outcome.

I wonder do politicians and policy makers have courage to say we are just not supporting that kind of (mass) beef farming any more (in fact we may punish it) and we also will restrict imports or turn it into a premium/very high cost luxury food (because people just should not eat it day to day any more)?

Like alot of issues around climate change, I see no sign politicians have the courage to make such decisions, or enough of the public have the will to make the sacrifice (i.e. won't turn around and give the bum's rush to those like the Greens who might dare impose such things on them). 

Unsurprisingly, UK traffic at Dublin port has fallen over 20% up to September, YoY, while trade with the EU has risen by 36%:

https://twitter.com/DarranMarshall/status/1453264458747371526

The Italians and Spanish are not seen as "snotty" by people suspectable to falling for stereotypes the way the French are. Probably because these same people think all Spanish and Italian people are poor

From my time living in England the most common misconception I encountered there was that many still think themselves as being in a wealthy nation and can't see the signs of decay everywhere.

The lyrics about crumbling foundations from Paul Brady's song "nothing but the same old story" really struck me more after having lived there.

England is like the wife of a bank manager who had a nice house and nice car in the 1970's, was invited to all the social events, sat at the front of the church every Sunday etc etc but the hubby has passed on, the pension isn't what she hoped it would be, the house still has carpets, curtains and furniture which is over 25 years old and she sadly don's one of her hats and one remaining "good" coat each Sunday to take her place at the front of the church but increasingly no one knows who she is, people feel a little sorry to see how she's trying to preserve her long lost pride and place in society and are sad that's she's too stubborn to accept meals on wheels even though her pension doesn't provide enough for her to cook full dinners 7 days a week so sometimes tea and biscuits is all she has to eat.

I get the feeling the pro-Tory propaganda of the press is a big factor in this. They've absolutely no wish to draw attention to how run down many parts of the UK are, or to highlight that GB living standards are behind many parts of western Europe. Instead, purposely give everyone the misleading impression they are well off and and living in one of the richest countries in the world.

Indeed, tell the plebs how well off they are and how lucky they are to be living in a country like the UK (to do otherwise would mean having to criticise and expose their Tory pals).