UK British News Megathread - aka CWCissey's news thread

CWCissey · Jan 29, 2021

Slimy Time said:
Got any delicious looking sources for that?

Mostly a lot of Twatter users saying 'The EU is being dumb, maybe the leavers were onto something with that evil bureaucracy rhetoric and I say this as a remainer.' Nothing too delicious I'm afraid...

Snekposter · Jan 30, 2021

You're gonna need to make a salt compilation like the one of found of people exhibiting Post-Biden Regret Syndrome.

Trig.Point · Jan 30, 2021

Part of the way the EU have fucked themselves is by choosing Ursula von der Leyen as Commission president. Probably the most incompetent (but well connected) German government minister since the second world war. The link below is an English translation of a Der Spiegel article, which goes into her history in various German ministries.

What's particularly funny (for a german newspaper at least) is this extract.

On Tuesday of this week, she delivered a video address to the World Economic Forum, where she spoke about Donald Trump, the storming of the Capitol and the question as to whether democracy has been damaged in the last four years. She spoke about climate change, biodiversity, artificial intelligence and digitalization.
In the first several minutes of her talk, she only briefly mentioned the coronavirus pandemic, and it was fully 15 minutes before she even said the word "vaccine." Only to say things like: "We know that in a pandemic there is no time to lose."

https://archive.li/XiXgg

She only got the job, because her own Party made it clear to Merkel that they would not tolerate her in another cabinet position, particularly after what happened while she was defense minister. So Merkel shunted her off to the commission.

If Junckers or Barnier were commissioner, they'd have stopped exports, and they'd have done it in such a way that the member nations would accept it. She's so fucking stupid though, that she gave warning to the UK, who were able to stop it before it happened.

Barnier would probably have been able to make an EU wide procurement system work, and Junckers would never have tried. Both of them would have known exactly what the EU bureaucracy was and wasn't capable of.

This one minute clip sums up the EU commission. That slightly dumbfounded woman on the right is a french journalist, who had been expounding on how wonderful it was that a woman was high commissioner.

Irrelevant · Jan 30, 2021

It's worth mentioning that the UK used to run the European Medicines Agency and it was moved out of London two years ago. They had a bitch fight over which country would get it and it probably didn't go to the best people.

The EU has a weird thing where it decentralises agencies to make countries feel like they have control over some random area: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agencies_of_the_European_Union

Most of them seem purposefully misplaced and won't have access to the best staff. Why is the coast guard in Poland, IP protection in Spain, IT security in Greece, chemicals in Finland, etc.

It'sallabitsillyreally · Jan 30, 2021

Eh, the devout continue with the same pro-EU rhetoric as ever. "The UK made them do it, they didn't mean it, they were sorry almost immediately afterwards."

It's ironic for how much of a stink they made about the Irish backstop etc. during negotiations that less than a month after leaving the EU is the one that suddenly imposes unreasonable restrictions ignoring the correct processes as part of an attempt to flex its muscles during negotiations. Almost like they didn't really care about it.

There will be consequences to the UK for Brexit but honestly if the EU keeps lashing out it's looking a better and better choice as time goes by.

Oh and course Sturgeon's response through the whole thing has been to threaten to release confidential vaccine information. Because at a time when UK and Ireland pull together the SNP will still squawk whatever the EU wants to hear.

Also friendly reminder for those who don't know since the EU's screaming kind of hides it. A-Z is a joint Swedish/UK business.

Irrelevant said:
It's worth mentioning that the UK used to run the European Medicines Agency and it was moved out of London two years ago. They had a bitch fight over which country would get it and it probably didn't go to the best people.

The EU has a weird thing where it decentralises agencies to make countries feel like they have control over some random area: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agencies_of_the_European_Union

Most of them seem purposefully misplaced and won't have access to the best staff. Why is the coast guard in Poland, IP protection in Spain, IT security in Greece, chemicals in Finland, etc.

The decentralisation does make it even harder to audit which as Trig.Point's video and post indicate for the EU that would be very much a feature not a bug.

This article isn't great since it misses a lot of the details and nuance but it does provide some of the greatest hits of the EU's financial accountings. Yes, it's a Medium one but it still brings up key issues in the EUs past;

https://medium.com/@richardmilton_22731/have-the-eu-accounts-been-signed-off-of-not-81962ab26f8d

Trig.Point · Jan 30, 2021

It'sallabitsillyreally said:
Eh, the devout continue with the same pro-EU rhetoric as ever. "The UK made them do it, they didn't mean it, they were sorry almost immediately afterwards."

It's ironic for how much of a stink they made about the Irish backstop etc. during negotiations that less than a month after leaving the EU is the one that suddenly imposes unreasonable restrictions ignoring the correct processes as part of an attempt to flex its muscles during negotiations. Almost like they didn't really care about it.

I think the republic of Ireland got a bit of a fright, and are perhaps starting to reassess the implications of the back stop.

Govt had 'no advance warning' of EU vaccine export move

The Irish Government was not given advance warning of the European Commission's decision to trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol in order to bring in new monitoring controls on exports of Covid-19 vaccines outside the EU, RTÉ News understands.

www.rte.ie

The EU insisted on the backstop 'to protect Ireland' but in reality all they wanted was a weapon they could wield in future negotiations with the UK. A weapon the Irish government have very little control over.

I think the EU fundamentally misunderstood how the UK views Northern Ireland. It's not some economic powerhouse, it gets a £4 billion pound annual subvention from London, the only time Northern Ireland is even mentioned in the UK news is when something is on fire (literally or metaphorically)

The UK never gave a shit about having internal border controls, which already existed to a large extend for security concerns. They always knew that if the EU fucked around with the Backstop it would affect the Republic of Ireland more than it would the UK.

It'sallabitsillyreally said:
There will be consequences to the UK for Brexit but honestly if the EU keeps lashing out it's looking a better and better choice as time goes by.

I think Merkal has told the commission to wind their necks in, and made clear to them who is actually making decisions in the EU.

It'sallabitsillyreally said:
Oh and course Sturgeon's response through the whole thing has been to threaten to release confidential vaccine information. Because at a time when UK and Ireland pull together the SNP will still squawk whatever the EU wants to hear.

Sturgeon wants a row. During the last referendum the Tories and Labour made a last minute declaration, promising Scotland more goodies, if they voted no. I think she wants to make sure that doesn't happen in during the next referendum, and the easiest way to do that, is to piss off English voters, so they won't tolerate more money heading north of the border.

It'sallabitsillyreally said:
Also friendly reminder for those who don't know since the EU's screaming kind of hides it. A-Z is a joint Swedish/UK business.

The EU likes to pick winners. Hence why they initially funded the French Pasteur institute to develop a vaccine (they haven't actually given AstraZeneca the 300 Million, but the french got their money). The Pasteur institute was supposed to develop the vaccine then license it out to other pharma companies (ie French and German ones). I think that's really what they want from AstraZeneca, but they're having problems for whatever reason.

The UK didn't give a fuck who produced the vaccine, or what vaccine was even used so long as it was approved. (The EU for some bizarre reason have made AZ wait in line to get their vaccine approved). The EU wanted a single Vaccine, with the EU flag on the box.

A few years back, when the UK was approving the next generation of nuclear reactors, the BBC invited on a french expert who couldn't understand why the UK was building multiple different reactor types. They should pick one and insist that all companies use that design. Where as the UK approach was that they didn't want all their eggs in one baskets, and besides so long as the reactor was safe they let it up to the companies to make the decision as they were the ones actually building them.

Ly Erg · Jan 30, 2021

Hard Border was an obvious bad choice to take. They should of went with the classic way to resolve diplomatic issues.

Bomb Northern Ireland

Trig.Point · Jan 30, 2021

Ly Erg said:
Bomb Northern Ireland

Nobody would notice (or care).

The Northern Irish genuinely believe that the rest of the world is greatly interested in their internal politics. Where as the truth is once they reduced the frequency of them murdering each other the rest of the world stopped giving a shit.

The back stop is the first time NI has made the news in weeks. Yeah the English are kind of annoyed, but really messing with customs border only really affects the Republic of Ireland.

Irish companies exporting to the UK are going to get fucked. If their UK customers start to get the impression, that they'll be stuck with additional customs hurdles, and delays, they're going to start looking for alternatives.

During the Brexit negotiations the Irish, the one country with the most to lose, outsourced their negotiating to a fucking French man. Who not surprisingly was most concerend about looking after French fisherman.

Racist Trash · Jan 30, 2021

Has super Irishman Biden said anything about the EU's little game with Ireland's border? Because he made quite a fuss about evil Brexit when it came to a potential breech of the good Friday agreement.

Otterly · Jan 30, 2021

Trig.Point said:
The Pasteur institute was supposed to develop the vaccine then license it out to other pharma companies (ie French and German ones). I think that's really what they want from AstraZeneca, but they're having problems for whatever reason.

The reasons are this:
AZ is a pharma business. So it’s already totally integrated with the whole flow of getting a drug or vaccine made and developed. The initial discoveries may be in academic or pharma labs, but the vast bulk of the process is AFTER that point. The Pasteur institute is academic, with links to industry sure, but it’s not got tens of thousands of expert trial designers/managers etc. Modern drug development is a process that takes a cast of thousands and structures that academic places don’t have.
Continental academia is also still hierarchical and ossified, but the main reason is that AZ do this daily, have the staff and expertise etc. Academia are great for blue skies work and sadly, not much else

It'sallabitsillyreally · Jan 30, 2021

Trig.Point said:
I think the republic of Ireland got a bit of a fright, and are perhaps starting to reassess the implications of the back stop.

The EU insisted on the backstop 'to protect Ireland' but in reality all they wanted was a weapon they could wield in future negotiations with the UK. A weapon the Irish government have very little control over.

I think the EU fundamentally misunderstood how the UK views Northern Ireland. It's not some economic powerhouse, it gets a £4 billion pound annual subvention from London, the only time Northern Ireland is even mentioned in the UK news is when something is on fire (literally or metaphorically)

The UK never gave a shit about having internal border controls, which already existed to a large extend for security concerns. They always knew that if the EU fucked around with the Backstop it would affect the Republic of Ireland more than it would the UK.

I feel the EU wants to use the backstop the way they did during the negotiations. They want to be able to threaten it and use the resultant harm to the Republic of Ireland at any time it's convenient for negotiations. How much that impacts ROI is largely secondary since what happens to them doesn't matter to the EU as a whole. Something which might come back to bite them in the ass eventually.

Trig.Point said:
The EU likes to pick winners. Hence why they initially funded the French Pasteur institute to develop a vaccine (they haven't actually given AstraZeneca the 300 Million, but the french got their money). The Pasteur institute was supposed to develop the vaccine then license it out to other pharma companies (ie French and German ones). I think that's really what they want from AstraZeneca, but they're having problems for whatever reason.

The UK didn't give a fuck who produced the vaccine, or what vaccine was even used so long as it was approved. (The EU for some bizarre reason have made AZ wait in line to get their vaccine approved). The EU wanted a single Vaccine, with the EU flag on the box.

You're probably right there. And regarding the wait for AZ it might have been to do with the negotiations? I know they ended up with a better price per vaccine which I believe includes a variety of factors (larger negotiation block, work being carried out in EU factories etc.) and while holding off on approval to ensure a better rate is a bit dodgy it's not the only suspect actions they have managed.

Racist Trash said:
Has super Irishman Biden said anything about the EU's little game with Ireland's border? Because he made quite a fuss about evil Brexit when it came to a potential breech of the good Friday agreement.

Not sure but I know they had one of the Irish politicians on the radio last week talking about how great it was he won and how excited everyone was. Of course they're a politician so I assume as default that any claim they make is likely complete tosh but in a few areas at least people think Biden's a wonderful thing for Ireland.

Tzeentch · Jan 30, 2021

Racist Trash said:
Has super Irishman Biden said anything about the EU's little game with Ireland's border? Because he made quite a fuss about evil Brexit when it came to a potential breech of the good Friday agreement.

Joe Biden doesnt even know what solar system he's in. He only knows what he's told.

Slimy Time · Jan 30, 2021

DefeatedLiberal said:
Joe Biden doesnt even know what solar system he's in. He only knows what he's told.

Says how boring he is that we are now moving onto Brexit and the Irish border.

TowinKarz · Jan 30, 2021

It'sallabitsillyreally said:
Oh and course Sturgeon's response through the whole thing has been to threaten to release confidential vaccine information. Because at a time when UK and Ireland pull together the SNP will still squawk whatever the EU wants to hear.

It's funny/sad how she keeps simping for the EU in the belief that Brussels will somehow take her away from the mean ol UK like a gold digging wife of a has-been businessman badmouthing him to the hot new millionare on the block.

They're NEVER going to let you in the EU backdoor, honey.

Your country carries too much debt thanks to idiotic socialist policies that have sapped growth and wasted untold billions (which, naturally, she wants to expand to literal free money for being Scottish... no idea where that cash is supposed to come from except apparently the magic money-printers in mainland Europe....) Scotland will never ever clear the most basic entry checklist based on that alone, and the other MEPs won't say it to your face, but, a country that is already openly backstabbing it's partners in one union (uk) is showing EXACTLY why 31 members of the union it wants to join should say "Hell no" to that request . Your behavior makes it clear:

If they'll do it to England, they'll do it to you. If they'll threaten withdrawal/independence every time they don't get their way, and expect to stay in power by constant empty socialist promises of free money... why would you want them?

It'sallabitsillyreally · Jan 30, 2021

TowinKarz said:
It's funny/sad how she keeps simping for the EU in the belief that Brussels will somehow take her away from the mean ol UK like a gold digging wife of a has-been businessman badmouthing him to the hot new millionare on the block.

They're NEVER going to let you in the EU backdoor, honey.

Your country carries too much debt thanks to idiotic socialist policies that have sapped growth and wasted untold billions (which, naturally, she wants to expand to literal free money for being Scottish... no idea where that cash is supposed to come from except apparently the magic money-printers in mainland Europe....) Scotland will never ever clear the most basic entry checklist based on that alone, and the other MEPs won't say it to your face, but, a country that is already openly backstabbing it's partners in one union (uk) is showing EXACTLY why 31 members of the union it wants to join should say "Hell no" to that request . Your behavior makes it clear:

If they'll do it to England, they'll do it to you. If they'll threaten withdrawal/independence every time they don't get their way, and expect to stay in power by constant empty socialist promises of free money... why would you want them?

Bear in mind there is also a lot of news about the SNP disappearing money from funds meant for Scotland, likely into their own party's pockets.
Sturgeon may well have minimal interest in an independent Scotland. She may however have a future as an EU functionary even if Scotland itself cannot get into the club should she succeed in breaking up the UK.

Edit - that is however getting into conspiracy level shit. Much of her displays thus far suggests she is a typical money grubbing politician rather than a tool of some deeeevious EU plan.

TowinKarz · Jan 30, 2021

The frequency she brings it up means she's either a true believer in independence.... or is using it as a virtue signal that she thinks is going to get her rewarded with, as you said, appointment to important offices for being such an advocate of "the people" and also having that all-important double-score multiplier of being a woman.

Juan's Sombrero · Jan 31, 2021

Is this legit, or just another clickbait fag?

Snekposter · Jan 31, 2021

TowinKarz said:
The frequency she brings it up means she's either a true believer in independence.... or is using it as a virtue signal that she thinks is going to get her rewarded with, as you said, appointment to important offices for being such an advocate of "the people" and also having that all-important double-score multiplier of being a woman.

It worked for Donald Tusk who failed upwards to the EU after fucking over Poland.

Ly Erg · Jan 31, 2021

My take is that the SNP isn't willing to go far in ways to make Scotland and the rUK look more divided and different from each other. They are too part of the establishment and have no balls to pull stunts that would put the UK Government in the spot where they can be seen as undemocratic and too authoritarian to the majority of Scots wishes.

They are hypocritical and act no different to the UK Government when they put in unpopular policies. The only reason they still get as many votes is because of the voting system and independence favouring them just like the Tories with their brexit.

JK Rowling · Jan 31, 2021

Ly Erg said:
My take is that the SNP isn't willing to go far in ways to make Scotland and the rUK look more divided and different from each other. They are too part of the establishment and have no balls to pull stunts that would put the UK Government in the spot where they can be seen as undemocratic and too authoritarian to the majority of Scots wishes.

They are hypocritical and act no different to the UK Government when they put in unpopular policies. The only reason they still get as many votes is because of the voting system and independence favouring them just like the Tories with their brexit.

There's only one way out of the UK and Scotland has never been willing to take it. That's why the SNP has always been, and always will be, the vanity project of whoever happens to be current leader.

UK British News Megathread - aka CWCissey's news thread

CWCissey

Charming Man

Snekposter

Operation: Desert Snek

Trig.Point

I wouldn't start from here.

Irrelevant

It'sallabitsillyreally

Trig.Point

I wouldn't start from here.

Govt had 'no advance warning' of EU vaccine export move

Ly Erg

Wrongthinker brains will be put in UK's Wokegores

Trig.Point

I wouldn't start from here.

Racist Trash

Never Forget 6664

Otterly

Immerse your soul in love

It'sallabitsillyreally

Tzeentch

The Exalted Lord of Change

Slimy Time

Christmas slime for the Christmas period

TowinKarz

Unclaimed Freight

It'sallabitsillyreally

TowinKarz

Unclaimed Freight

Juan's Sombrero

Pirate sites are your friend.

Snekposter

Operation: Desert Snek

Ly Erg

Wrongthinker brains will be put in UK's Wokegores

JK Rowling