Brexit

Sunday Review

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Boris ‘Alien’ Johnson(*1) has been lying again about post-Brexit food standards. Liam Fox has also been lying about them.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/03/fears-about-us-food-standards-hysterical-says-boris-johnson

... In a speech setting out his goals for trade after Brexit, the prime minister said the UK would not accept a “diminution of standards” on food hygiene or animal welfare as a result of a deal with the US.

He also said Britain would be “governed by science, not mumbo-jumbo” when looking at whether imported food was acceptable for consumption in the UK. Johnson criticised “America bashers” who take a “hysterical” attitude towards US food and view it as “inferior”. …

Here are those lesser US food standards which the Alien claims are mumbo-jumbo: https://www.fda.gov/food/ingredients-additives-gras-packaging-guidance-documents-regulatory-information/food-defect-levels-handbook. Try searching that document for ‘excreta’ – my browser found 79 matches. For example, Cocoa Beans … Mammalian excreta … Average of 10 mg or more mammalian excreta per pound. Boris literally wants you to eat US siht.

It appears that computer security / privacy is now historical. Looking into the isues I’ve had, modern puters have co-processors for use by manufacturers and / or three-letter government agencies. They have a direct route into these puters and are able to evade firewalls, etc. (It’s ring -2 and -3 code for geeks).

Congratulations to Sinn Fein on their Irish election results. [Their history is exactly that and they are now a legitimate left-wing party.]

Insect-filled chocolates, rat hair noodles, and maggoty orange juice: The reality of a Brexit trade deal with Trump

*1 You have a choice: 1. The one thing that sets Boris Johnson apart is that he is a totally unashamed lying cnut. Telling the truth is totally alien to him. You would be closer to the truth by simply accepting the direct opposite of anything and everything he says. 2. Boris Johnson is a very nasty, incredibly resilient alien with acid for blood who can survive molten lead. 3. 1 and 2.

Apologies that I didn’t have much time to prepare this post. I’m otherwise busy.

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The Government are using Brexit to weaken environmental protections

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Green Party member of the House of Lords Jenny Jones writes at https://leftfootforward.org/2020/01/the-government-are-using-brexit-to-weaken-environmental-protections/

The UK government has lost in the courts time after time on issues like people’s right to clean air, clean waters and clean beaches. And now, guess what? The Government wants to use the EU Withdrawal Bill to give Ministers the power to set aside those EU related court defeats.

Theresa May’s government said they would retain existing EU case law that was in place when we left the EU. If changes needed to be made then Parliament would go through the process of fresh legislation and public scrutiny. But Boris Johnson’s Government want to exchange that legal certainty for a process of Ministerial diktat. They claim that the senior judiciary will be consulted on any changes before they happen, but the members of the senior judiciary in the House of Lords have expressed deep unhappiness with scrapping EU case law and want it retained so courts can refer to the judgements instead of the painful option of starting all over again.

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This is about deregulation. The United Kingdom became a member of the EU in 1973. Since then UK law has developed in tandem with EU law – not dictated by the EU but having regard for EU laws and treaties. Boris & Co want to abandon all the development of law since then and return to the 70s. We had filthy, polluted rivers then and raw sewage on beaches.

It won’t only be about abandoning environmental protections. Jenny Jones’s article continues to discuss workers’ rights. For example abandoning EU case law will effect the paid holidays that we have become accustomed to. The Tories are really not keen on human rights… Then there are food safety standards – US food safety standards are abysmal compared to EU safety standards – they want you to eat siht.

Continue ReadingThe Government are using Brexit to weaken environmental protections

Boris Johnson: F*** business

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Boris Johnson appeared before the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) today. The CBI are not keen on Brexit. BJ wanted a general election to gain a majority of MPs so that he can pursue a no-deal Brexit without democracy preventing him.

We fully know Boris Johnson’s attitude to business because he’s told us. He said “F*** business”.


https://www.ft.com/content/8075e68c-7857-11e8-8e67-1e1a0846c475

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The UK’s foreign secretary apparently outlined his new business strategy at a private reception, when challenged about the clamour from Airbus and BMW over the threat to jobs and investment. Mr Johnson’s aides say the remark was aimed at business lobbyists. It makes little difference. (He has now fled to Kabul to avoid having to resign rather than vote with the government for a new runway at Heathrow. The foreign secretary had said he would lie down in front of the bulldozers. It turns out he preferred to lie low.)

“F**k business.” It may have been a casual aside but it was also a revealingly contemptuous one, not least in its indifference to the fate of Airbus’s UK staff. This is the strategic nihilism of a spoiled child lashing out. After two years of failing to offer up even a scintilla of a plan, relying on magical thinking and the belief that if Britain just held its nerve, Europe would fold, this is all he had left — a petulant explosion.

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Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal ‘would cost UK economy £70bn’

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Plan would shave up to 4% from size of economy by the end of 2020s, says thinktank

Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal is expected to cost the UK economy as much as £70bn over the next decade compared with remaining in the EU, according to one of the country’s leading economic thinktanks.

In a warning in the run-up to a snap election, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said the prime minister’s plan would shave up to 4% from the size of the economy by the end of the 2020s, equivalent to about £1,100 per person per year, compared with a situation where Britain remained in the EU.

It said that Johnson’s plan would fail to generate a “deal dividend” for the economy, contrary to government claims that MPs passing the withdrawal agreement would spur economic growth by lifting the current cloud of uncertainty facing the nation.

Instead, it warned that the withdrawal agreement and proposed free-trade deal put forward by the prime minister would result in a smaller economy than an extension and continued uncertainty.

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Johnson and Cummings under fire as police hand criminal evidence on Vote Leave to prosecution agency

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https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/johnson-and-cummings-under-fire-police-hand-criminal-evidence-vote-leave-prosecution-agency/

Evidence that could lead to criminal charges against the pro-Brexit campaign led by Boris Johnson and his key adviser, Dominic Cummings, has now been passed by police to the criminal prosecution authorities, openDemocracy has learned.

Last year, the Electoral Commission found that Vote Leave broke electoral law by overspending during the 2016 European Union referendum, after the campaign funnelled £675,000 through another pro-Brexit group to avoid spending limits.

After nearly 16 months of investigating Vote Leave, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) handed a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service last month. The initial formal referral by the police means they are now seeking legal advice from the Crown Prosecution Service on how to further build their case against Vote Leave, and where they need further evidence to advance the prospect of charges being brought.

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Unrelated: I am aware that this site’s security certificate expired yesterday & trying to resolve it

Continue ReadingJohnson and Cummings under fire as police hand criminal evidence on Vote Leave to prosecution agency