A thank you to Brexiteers.

[Bahnhof Strasse]

But we were specifically talking about bands playing Europe. You were insisting that it was the same as playing the US (nope) and that you knew better than the Musicians Union.

But if you have absolutely zero experience of touring bands playing Europe post-Brexit, maybe you should just keep quiet rather than keep on suggesting that it's something you know about with your unnamed, unspecified 'artists.'

I specifically said then and again today that the term artists covers more than musicians and that as musicians can’t currently play anywhere none are touring. But for the purposes of Brexit all artists need a special visa, a talent visa and the only artists currently able to ply their trade need them as well as those who can’t work, such as musicians, actors and the assorted artists that accompany such acts. You wilfully, repeatedly choose to ignore the fact I have been sending those artists that are able to work without such as a visa as we have devised a work-around. Rather you choose to sit there like a petulant child bleating ‘bands’ ‘musicians’ when you know full well they can’t play right now and that by doing so and repeating the same crap time after time to show how displeased you are with Brexit you are being dishonest to the core.

I have offered to previously pm you the names of the artists, I am certainly not going to name them on the fucking boards, another thing you choose to ignore as it doesn’t suit your point yet still keep repeating.

 

[bimble]

The independent is pretty much unreadable isn’t it, but here’s the same grim update.

EU-UK talks on Northern Ireland appear close to collapse on eve of G7

‘Patience wearing very thin,’ says EU negotiator, while Joe Biden expected to raise ‘deep concerns’ about issue at summit

www.theguardian.com

They either didn’t understand what they were agreeing to or they didn’t give a fuck what the agreement said cos they intended all along to just wing it and do whatever else instead.
This really isn’t looking very good, no resolution in sight for an entirely predictable problem & the boss of America coming over to berate Johnson as well now.

 

[editor]

I specifically said then and again today that the term artists covers more than musicians and that as musicians can’t currently play anywhere none are touring. But for the purposes of Brexit all artists need a special visa, a talent visa and the only artists currently able to ply their trade need them as well as those who can’t work, such as musicians, actors and the assorted artists that accompany such acts. You wilfully, repeatedly choose to ignore the fact I have been sending those artists that are able to work without such as a visa as we have devised a work-around. Rather you choose to sit there like a petulant child bleating ‘bands’ ‘musicians’ when you know full well they can’t play right now and that by doing so and repeating the same crap time after time to show how displeased you are with Brexit you are being dishonest to the core.

I have offered to previously pm you the names of the artists, I am certainly not going to name them on the fucking boards, another thing you choose to ignore as it doesn’t suit your point yet still keep repeating.

I think you need to sit down and have a cup of tea before you EXPLODE.

Your subsequent reinventing and reimagining of the discussion really does you no good here, but for the benefit of other readers, I'm going to ignore you for a few days. I strongly suggest you do the same.

 

[ska invita]

They either didn’t understand what they were agreeing to or they didn’t give a fuck what the agreement said cos they intended all along to just wing it and do whatever else instead.

Definitely #2, definitely not #1
They even bragged they wouldnt follow it before signing it
cakeandeatism

 

[bimble]

Definitely #2, definitely not #1
They even bragged they wouldnt follow it before signing it

What was the point of running it up to Xmas eve with the whole ‘we’re prepared for no deal’ drama then just showmanship? Idk. I think it’s quite possible they just didn’t think things through at all.

 

[gosub]

Oh it's you again. The lippy, pro-Brexit, pile-on, abusive one. I'll do as I please, thanks. And if there's any neck-winding to be done, I suggest you look closer to home. Like in your foul mouth.

Will become an incresingly lonely furrow.....They made Juncker Head of the Commisson expressly against the UK's wishes and called it democratic despite the EPP not fielding UK candidates in the EUro election that made him Spitzenkandidat, a process they dropped for von der Leyen in the EUros we didn't take part in.. Cameron then haggled away a veto stopping EUrozone quorum for a temporary suspension of freedom of movement though the EU had already contemptuously done a work around of the veto anyway. And there had to be a referendum, they'd mandated by law there would be one with any further treaty change, which would have fucked any treaty across the whole of EUrope unless they'd ignored it but they've done that before to France and Ireland. In my eyes they've fucked this up in way "what price democracy?" is spreadsheetable. But what price democracy. There's what-aboutary surrounding the UK second chamber setup (I'd agree it needs sorting, though take some regional inputs ffs) but the setup with the EU was as if Lords was where stuff was run from and MP's just doing the tinkering.

A few posts back you called Brexit a disaster, not excepting that referendum outcome would have been an even bigger one.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I think you need to sit down and have a cup of tea before you EXPLODE.

Your subsequent reinventing and reimagining of the discussion really does you no good here, but for the benefit of other readers, I'm going to ignore you for a few days. I strongly suggest you do the same.

Explode

Remember to keep the ignore going when the scrumpy wears off.

 

[editor]

Ok, remember to keep the ignore going when the scrumpy wears off.

I don't drink scrumpy and I'm certainly not drunk now. But seeing as you now want to throw around the cheap insults, you're on mutual ignore for 48 hours.

 

[ska invita]

What was the point of running it up to Xmas eve with the whole ‘we’re prepared for no deal’ drama then just showmanship? Idk. I think it’s quite possible they just didn’t think things through at all.

Absolutely inconceivable.
The time they didn't think it through was before the referendum was won. No one was talking about Northern Ireland in the run up. No one cared.
After that it creates a conundrum that means a binary choice between alignment with the EU and no border, or non-alignment and a border. Nonalignment is the point of Johnson's Brexit so of course that wins. And so a border has to be created and enforced. But they don't want a border. But they want their cake and to eat it. So this is the end result. Arrogance and bluster has got them all this far in life, so there's plenty more of that now

 

[bimble]

Absolutely inconceivable.
The time they didn't think it through was before the referendum was won. No one was talking about Northern Ireland in the run up. No one cared.
After that it creates a conundrum that means a binary choice between alignment with the EU and no border, or non-alignment and a border. Nonalignment is the point of Johnson's Brexit so of course that wins. And so a border has to be created and enforced. But they don't want a border. But they want their cake and to eat it. So this is the end result. Arrogance and bluster has got them all this far in life, so there's plenty more of that now

All of that makes sense but so what do they hope will happen next? That Uk can unilaterally do things against the agreement it signed and the EU will just politely ignore this and carry on, I suppose. That seems not just optimistic but really stupid.

 

[Dystopiary]

In other news, let’s have a trade war. So much better than cooperating with our neighbours.

EU threatens to suspend parts of Brexit agreement and warns ‘patience wearing thin’

Brussels ready to slap tariffs and quotas on UK exports – and even to ‘suspend cooperation in certain sectors’

www.independent.co.uk

This is one reason I opposed Brexit; whatever the postivies and negatives of being part of the EU, I didn't trust the government to implement a decent exit. They didn't even come up with a deal with the EU until Christmas Eve. You can't trust this shower of shit with anything that benefits anyone but themselves.

 

[Smangus]

This is not a rules/law based Gvt, look at what they have done in the UK since 2019, they are not going to change their behavior for the EU-probably quite the opposite. They do not think they should be held to account by anyone.

My guess is they will push the EU to retaliate with some sanctions, cry foul and play it at home for all the votes it's worth and fuck the consequences for normal people.

 

[Dystopiary]

This is not a rules/law based Gvt, look at what they have done in the UK since 2019, they are not going to change their behavior for the EU-probably quite the opposite. They do not think they should be held to account by anyone.

My guess is they will push the EU to retaliate with some sanctions, cry foul and play it at home for all the votes it's worth and fuck the consequences for normal people.

Yep, and the corporate press will be all, "Look how horribly the EU behaves towards us, this is why it's good that we left" instead of pointing out what duplicitous pieces of shit are in government.

 

[Raheem]

All of that makes sense but so what do they hope will happen next? That Uk can unilaterally do things against the agreement it signed and the EU will just politely ignore this and carry on, I suppose. That seems not just optimistic but really stupid.

I think the team that did the negotiation was narrowly drawn and people were chosen for their magical thinking and can-do attitude. Plus Johnson insisted on playing team captain but wasn't very engaged. So I think there was never a detailed plan, but a belief that you could carry on negotiating after the agreement was signed, because that's just what a lot of Brexiteers believed. But I think now they're moving on to "have a trade war, deny responsibility".

 

[The39thStep]

Don't be such a useful idiot. It's not a question of whether there's any alternative in principle, just of what is destined to happen. We're not dealing with Paris Commune, and how they intend to proceed is not really a secret. Unless you're expecting a hypothecated wealth tax, then if Paul is paid, Peter will be robbed in due course. The first part is nothing to cheer for, especially if Paul is being paid to do nothing useful.

I think we are in rats' alley
Where the dead men lost their bones.

 

[Raheem]

I think we are in rats' alley
Where the dead men lost their bones.

I met a hula mistress somewhere in Waikiki
Where she was selling pineapple playing ukulele

 

[Badgers]

 

[Badgers]

Fruit farming on 'brink of collapse' as Brexit causes shortage of pickers

Brexit has caused a 'massive hole' in the numbers of people coming to the UK to pick fruit in the summer months, it has been claimed.

metro.co.uk

The Government has expanded its seasonal workers pilot quota for this year from 10,000 to 30,000 places.

could there have been away to avoid this?

 

[Badgers]

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Yeah, I've been grape picking in France. It's hard work, no doubt. But the same people turn up every year there as well, and they want the work. Of course they do. The idea that they might give a shit about what some local people think about them is bizarre tbh. They won't give a flying fuck. It's a nice little annual earner.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

The five hundred pounds worth of tests and 10 days quarantine, plus travelling to a country where Covid is on the rise again has no bearing on this. None.

 

[The39thStep]

Fruit farming on 'brink of collapse' as Brexit causes shortage of pickers

Brexit has caused a 'massive hole' in the numbers of people coming to the UK to pick fruit in the summer months, it has been claimed.

metro.co.uk

The Government has expanded its seasonal workers pilot quota for this year from 10,000 to 30,000 places.

could there have been away to avoid this?

Not a particular UK problem

Coronavirus costs climb as Europe's farmers seek seasonal workers

Fruit and vegetable harvests are underway in western Europe with seasonal workers gathering crops in top producer Spain, but costs are rising as farmers fear a third wave of COVID-19 might cause a repeat of 2020's damaging disruptions in labour supply.

www.reuters.com

 

[brogdale]

Not a particular UK problem

Coronavirus costs climb as Europe's farmers seek seasonal workers

Fruit and vegetable harvests are underway in western Europe with seasonal workers gathering crops in top producer Spain, but costs are rising as farmers fear a third wave of COVID-19 might cause a repeat of 2020's damaging disruptions in labour supply.

www.reuters.com

Just a particular UK cause.

 

[Elpenor]

When I visited Cyprus every other week in 2016, from February to August, I drove a lot in the area between Limassol and Paphos, most of the agricultural workers in the fields I saw were Vietnamese, or at least wearing clothing and headwear that are identifiable as Vietnamese, I didn’t get out of the car and check their passports!

 

[Pickman's model]

When I visited Cyprus every other week in 2016, from February to August, I drove a lot in the area between Limassol and Paphos, most of the agricultural workers in the fields I saw were Vietnamese, or at least wearing clothing and headwear that are identifiable as Vietnamese, I didn’t get out of the car and check their passports!

What, wearing black pajamas and conical hats?

 

[Elpenor]

What, wearing black pajamas and conical hats?

I remember the hats yes. My partner of the time identified them as Vietnamese - they were from East Asia and seemed confident they were right. They later checked with a Vietnamese colleague in the office. And I’m certain we saw a lot of people my partner thought were Vietnamese in Limassol one Sunday, having picnics on the boardwalk.

 

[krtek a houby]

When I visited Cyprus every other week in 2016, from February to August, I drove a lot in the area between Limassol and Paphos, most of the agricultural workers in the fields I saw were Vietnamese, or at least wearing clothing and headwear that are identifiable as Vietnamese, I didn’t get out of the car and check their passports!

Lots of construction going on in Paphos at the time, iirc. Was going to be some kind of center of culture the following year.

 

[andysays]

Just a particular UK cause.

There are clearly two potential causes here, and it's difficult to determine exactly how much influence each has, but if farms in other countries are experiencing similar problems on a similar scale, that suggests to me that the main immediate cause is likely to be Covid rather than Brexit.

 

[Elpenor]

Lots of construction going on in Paphos at the time, iirc. Was going to be some kind of center of culture the following year.

Tended to see them between Kourion and Aphrodite’s rock

 

[DJWrongspeed]

Just watching a Sky News summary of the G7 summit and it's pretty damning. The whole continuing Brexit arguments appear to other leaders as a distraction to the main issues of Covid vaccine , climate change and everything else. Brexit will drag on ad infinitum distracting from the bigger issues. Once outside the block we're setting ourselves up for trade negotiations forever.