Brexit, Covid and the English shit show.

[mrsukyankee]

I need somewhere to put all the shit that is going on in Brexit & Covid England as I don't want to derail other threads. Ignore if not interested. I'm only posting a few things. There is so much more. It's really awful. And I know I'm privileged as we'll be okay (unless my H loses his job, which shouldn't happen, but could in a few years).

Security:

Home Secretary Priti Patel says engineers working to restore 400,000 wiped police records

One senior officer has warned investigations could be compromised as information would not be cross-referenced. (because we no longer have access to the EU data base)

Finance:

Brexit has driven 2,500 finance jobs and €170bn to France, says bank governor

Bank of France chief claims ‘50 British entities’ have moved over the Channel, while Dublin, Amsterdam and Frankfurt have also benefited

Retail:

Britons buying from EU websites hit with £100 customs bills

Parcel firms demanding payment before delivering items ordered from European websites since Brexit
British shoppers who bought items from European websites are facing post-Brexit demands of more than £100 in import duties that must be paid before parcel firms will deliver the items.



Despite claims by Boris Johnson that there would be tariff-free trade after the Brexit transition period ended on 31 December, consumers who bought items from EU websites are being chased for import duties, VAT and admin fees – which, they say, render the purchase uneconomic.

Retail pt 2:

Shock Brexit charges are hurting us, say small British businesses
Government ministers describe the post-Brexit headaches that British exporters have suffered since 1 January as mere “teething problems”. But Alex Paul, who jointly runs a successful family business that features in the Department for International Trade’s list of national “export champions”, disagrees. And he wants the real story to be told.



Two weeks into the supposed golden era of global Britain, Paul and many other British entrepreneurs, large and small, are running into very serious problems.



UK fish exporters are unable to sell into European markets because of delays at borders and complain that Boris Johnson and others misled them about Brexit. Leading supermarket chains are warning ministers of food shortages in Northern Ireland because of new border rules and bureaucracy. And small UK companies such as Paul’s, which thrived as part of the EU single market, are saying they may have no future at all in exporting into continental Europe because of the crippling new costs.

Covid: (written by a prof of public health)

The UK has record death tolls, yet still the government has no clear Covid strategy
Back in April 2020, I wrote of my despair that so many people were desperately ill and dying because politicians had “refused to listen and act on advice”. It is barely believable that I find myself with similar feelings a full nine months later. Once again, the central government has delayed decisions and not followed the advice of scientists. It failed to follow Sage advice on an England-wide “circuit-breaker” in early autumn, and went on to relax controls in December, despite high case numbers. Predictions of an inevitable rise in cases did not deter ministers from trying, unsuccessfully, to “save Christmas”. The utterly predictable result is now happening, with pressure on hospitals and more than a thousand deaths most days, a toll even worse than the first wave. The emergence of the new, more transmissible variant has doubtless made control even more difficult, but we still seem to have been on the back foot at every stage.

Petty bullshit (Ambassador):

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/21/uk-insists-it-will-not-grant-eu-ambassador-full-diplomatic-status

The UK has been insisting it will not give the EU ambassador to the UK, João Vale de Almeida, and his 25-strong mission the privileges and immunities afforded to diplomats under the Vienna Convention.



The Foreign Office said: “The EU, its Delegation and staff will receive the privileges and immunities necessary to enable them to carry out their work in the UK effectively.”



The Foreign Office says it would set a precedent by treating an international body in the same way as a nation state. Other international organisations would then apply, it says, leading to a proliferation of other such bodies seeking diplomatic status.
...

Although the UK insists its position is not born of Euroscepticism, the UK is virtually unique in taking this position. The bloc enjoys full diplomatic status with 142 other countries around the world where it has delegations, and where its ambassadors are all granted the same status as diplomats representing sovereign nations.

[gardengal]

Wow.
I keep seeing people say “I need to get out of this country! I’m gonna start looking to move to London!” And I always remember your posts & gently suggest they look up UK news.

I don’t know what to do with the ppl that thought Brexit was gonna be nbd, tho. Like, this was all foreseeable if you thought about it for 5min

[taratru]

I am not well-versed in economics, but it seems like the issues described above are going to have devastating effects on the economy, especially when coupled with covid concerns. I'm sorry you're in this...and I hope all stays well with employment.

[aurora]

Ugh, that all sounds bad. I have been wondering how things are going but have been pretty fixated on the Biden transition here, so I appreciate you posting.

[meganew]

Thank you for posting. I've honestly been embarrassingly ignorant about the issues arising from Brexit beyond a basic understanding of what it is.

[ssmjlm]

Wow, COVID and now all of these additional economic issues. I cannot imagine paying almost the cost of the items in fees just have them delivered.

[Pom]

Thank you for posting. I know only the fringe and bare minimum about the Brexit issues since it began. My heart goes out to all of those impacted.

[mcsangel2]

Fuck David Cameron.

[Queen Dick, Hibernating Bear]

I follow football yob Twitter (don't ask) and one guy posted "Remember, DO NOT get a Covid test. We want our summer."

🥴

[mrsukyankee]

Jan 21, 2021 16:02:39 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

Fuck David Cameron.

I say it regularly.

[dreamcrisp1]

I’m on the other end but I’ve really had to stop shopping at UK places which makes me sad. I forgot and ordered something 3 weeks ago and I’m expecting a €60-€80 customs and duties fee. This entire situation sucks and was entirely avoidable.

[mrsukyankee]

Jan 21, 2021 16:06:30 GMT -5 Queen Dick, Hibernating Bear said:

I follow football yob Twitter (don't ask) and one guy posted "Remember, DO NOT get a Covid test. We want our summer."

🥴

not shocked...

[mrsukyankee]

dreamcrisp1, we're going to lose out so much on business to EU companies. This is going to be devastating.

[mcsangel2]

Jan 21, 2021 16:07:12 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

Jan 21, 2021 16:02:39 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

Fuck David Cameron.

I say it regularly.

I've been saying it for almost 5 years now, since the referendum. Maggie's keeping a spot open for him in hell.

[dutchgirl678]

Thanks for posting. I know the fishing industry is heavily affected on both sides of the North sea.

[sonrisa]

Jan 21, 2021 14:05:34 GMT -5 gardengal said:

I don’t know what to do with the ppl that thought Brexit was gonna be nbd, tho. Like, this was all foreseeable if you thought about it for 5min

A big portion of the US believes the government is controlled by pedophilia, lizard people and baby eating rings. Trusting the British yellow menace (aka Boris) on Brexit seems almost sensible in comparison. 

[sonrisa]

Jan 21, 2021 16:02:39 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

Fuck David Cameron.

I'll second this.

[isabel]

If, at some point in the near future, people flip the fuck out enough, can Britain rejoin the EU? Would there be another referendum? I guess I'm wondering if it's possible to attempt to reverse the damage.

[jamaicam]

I've been following and it is such a mess! The Tories really are despicable people.

[sakoro]

Jan 21, 2021 16:53:22 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

Jan 21, 2021 14:05:34 GMT -5 gardengal said:

I don’t know what to do with the ppl that thought Brexit was gonna be nbd, tho. Like, this was all foreseeable if you thought about it for 5min

A big portion of the US believes the government is controlled by pedophilia, lizard people and baby eating rings. Trusting the British yellow menace (aka Boris) on Brexit seems almost sensible in comparison. 

And they had 5 years to prepare for it!!!!

[jamaicam]

I've been following and it is such a mess! The Tories really are despicable people.

[wanderingback]

Jan 21, 2021 14:05:34 GMT -5 gardengal said:

Wow.
I keep seeing people say “I need to get out of this country! I’m gonna start looking to move to London!” And I always remember your posts & gently suggest they look up UK news.

I don’t know what to do with the ppl that thought Brexit was gonna be nbd, tho. Like, this was all foreseeable if you thought about it for 5min

Yes. My partner is from the England and all his family is there so he talks to them daily. He often mentions that the country he’s a resident in (US) and the country he’s a citizen of (England) are both shit shows and he has nowhere to go. And even more true now that they’re no longer a part of the EU. What a mess.

[Queen Dick, Hibernating Bear]

"I didn't think the leopard would eat MY face" is apropos for their right wing voters as well as ours.

[loira]

I was so sad to leave London after seven years. It became our home in ways a lot of other places never were for me. And then Brexit happened. I was not shocked. The UK had already been quietly eliminating highly skilled migrant visas in an attempt to placate people who complained about "too much immigration". It was actually the reason we had to leave - we were not confident we'd be able to stay once H got his PhD. I have so many friends who were EU citizens or citizens of countries like China or Brazil who up and left, so 90% of our social circle would have been gone even if we had stayed. ☹️

[StrawberryBlondie]

You guys need to get your shit together because if I ever need to leave this country, England is the best chance I have at a position with my company.

[rupertpenny]

I was surprised by Brexit but I shouldn’t have been. In 2013 my sister married an English guy, in England, and at the reception her in laws were complaining about immigrants and how they ruin everything. YOUR SON LITERALLY JUST MARRIED AN IMMIGRANT! I’m sure they thought she was the “right kind” of immigrant, but the cognitive dissonance was astounding.

[RockNVoll]

I did not know some of these things and I'm sad and sorry that things are so bad there. I miss a lot of things about London but when the Brexit vote happened I definitely felt unwelcome. Then I came home to a country led by an orange madman. It's been a dark few years for sure.

[themoneytree]

Jan 21, 2021 19:47:13 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

Jan 21, 2021 14:05:34 GMT -5 gardengal said:

Wow.
I keep seeing people say “I need to get out of this country! I’m gonna start looking to move to London!” And I always remember your posts & gently suggest they look up UK news.

I don’t know what to do with the ppl that thought Brexit was gonna be nbd, tho. Like, this was all foreseeable if you thought about it for 5min

Yes. My partner is from the England and all his family is there so he talks to them daily. He often mentions that the country he’s a resident in (US) and the country he’s a citizen of (England) are both shit shows and he has nowhere to go. And even more true now that they’re no longer a part of the EU. What a mess.

This is how I feel. I always felt before that if things got too nuts here, I could always go back to the UK for some sanity. Now it’s pretty much a toss up as to which is making more of a mess of things. It’s sad.

[sonrisa]

Jan 21, 2021 21:35:45 GMT -5 rupertpenny said:

I was surprised by Brexit but I shouldn’t have been. In 2013 my sister married an English guy, in England, and at the reception her in laws were complaining about immigrants and how they ruin everything. YOUR SON LITERALLY JUST MARRIED AN IMMIGRANT! I’m sure they thought she was the “right kind” of immigrant, but the cognitive dissonance was astounding.

That kind shitty dissonance was my late childhood (but in the US).

Once we moved to the US, there were so many people who would say something like that to my dad behind closed doors (Regan republicans in finance who assumed he was one of their own). He was adamant about never getting citizenship even though he had been in the US for more than 25 years when he died.

[wanderingback]

Jan 21, 2021 22:32:13 GMT -5 themoneytree said:

Jan 21, 2021 19:47:13 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

Yes. My partner is from the England and all his family is there so he talks to them daily. He often mentions that the country he’s a resident in (US) and the country he’s a citizen of (England) are both shit shows and he has nowhere to go. And even more true now that they’re no longer a part of the EU. What a mess.

This is how I feel. I always felt before that if things got too nuts here, I could always go back to the UK for some sanity. Now it’s pretty much a toss up as to which is making more of a mess of things. It’s sad.

Probably cause we’re Black & he’s parents of immigrants, but he’s always thought England was problematic, in many of the same ways as the US. So I think it’s always been a toss up and brexit has just confirmed that.