Sainsburyās and Tesco cut back their fresh fish counters to tackle the hoarding demand for other groceries at the start of the lock down. It is time to bring them back. Indeed, it is time to openĀ more and reverse the trends of recent years. whereĀ some retailers were closing fresh fish and meat counters anyway.
The UK fishing industry had become very dependent on the catering trades and on export for its fish sales. Retailers are busily importing packaged fish. The Covid 19 policy assault on the hospitality industry, and the end of the Common Fisheries Policy, provides an ideal time for a re think.
The aims of getting control of our fishery back is twofold. We both wish to catch less to allow stocks to rebuild from the damage of the CFP, and greatly increase the proportion of the catch to be landed in the UK so we can eat more of our own fish. This is not difficult given the huge amount of fish taken by other countries every year under the CFP.
So now is a great time for the supermarkets to work with the fishermen and women to offer contracts for more UK fish to be sold direct to customers in shops. It is ridiculous that this island nation set in a sea of fish has major supermarkets that do not allow us to buy fresh fish from the UK. I trust the government rejects any idea of giving much of our fish away in some new deal after we have properly left the EU in December. This provides commercial opportunities for the fishing industry and for retailers. Decent contracts from major retailers would allow the UK fishing industry to borrow to invest, to expand its capacity to serve the local market.
June 2, 2020
We canāt even stop illegal immigration from entering our fishing waters so god knows how weāre going to stop fishing boats from entering our fishing waters
June 2, 2020
But those illegal immigrants are asylum seekers fleeing from the EU disaster zone, aren’t they? Why else would the Border Farce send boats to rescue them from French coastal waters?
June 2, 2020
JR, why has your underhand dishonest govt extended review of national house arrest to four weeks rather than three? Speaking for England, Why have you let them?
Protests for Extinction Rebellion allowed, encouraged and watched by police while they commit crime, BLM protest this week allowed, yet two peaceful protests against national house arrest people arrested and fined!
Illegal immigrants being helped into the country, by bodies of the Home Office control, illegal immigrants in deportation centres waiting to be deported let out all under cover of Chinese virus!
Your Govt has really become the epitome of everything wrong in a democratic nation. This is not a request by instruction: Rules to be obeyed by public and yet does not apply to MPs or relatives or close associates i.e. Johnson, Symmonds, Jenrick, Cummings and four Labour MPs! Law now says cannotmhave sex with a person from a different house, how about Labour MP? Anyone investigating?
Sneaked in a huge pay rise under cover of Chinese virus betrayed peomiss to cut number of MPs, change abortion laws etc.
Hancock and Johnson deceit over testing numbers, followed science lies. A couple of months in office and it is out of control!
June 2, 2020
We can, but won’t stop illegal immigrants AT PRESENT.
But we will, and we will defend our fishing grounds and fishermen.
June 2, 2020
Lynn, Not with Johnson in Govt. A person of little moral or values I suggest.
Johnson’s national house arrest had the sole reason to squash the sombrero flatten the curve so NHS was not overwhelmed. 9 weeks on the reasons have changed so many times! Now he wants the review every four weeks! There should not be any restrictions on our lives whatsoever. All conditions not applying to MPs, family or friends.
He advocates and stands for curbing of free speech and brain washing of children of tender years under his Relationship and Sex Education Act. Included in this law a man can be a woman and vice versa and all manner of things and still claims his govt follows science!
June 2, 2020
Get real. Tory govt gave it away in the first place forty years ago! Johnson annexed N.Ireland betraying the DUP following traitorous Mayhab. Who gives/annexes their country away? Remind me why the U.K. fought Argentina?
June 2, 2020
I’m confused by your comments about stopping illegal immigrants crossing the channel….I thought our current policy was to assist and aid….oh and stay alert
June 2, 2020
I need a holiday and wondered if PritI could arrange for me to stay in a hotel courtesy of the tax payer. If it’s good enough for illegals then why not me?
June 3, 2020
FUS, I thought I could use a spa long weekend. Could you book me in as well.
As far as I can tell as long as you claim to be of no fixed abode, the taxpayer foots the bill.
Some MPs forget some homeless people choose to be homeless and go off the grid. I understand that some on welfare have learned to use food banks to help increase their budget so they can spend more on other items.
A leading supermarket has put up signs to remind customers govt food vouchers are for food because some were trying to buy other non food items with them! Politicos never learn and are happy to spend other peoples money, i.e. Our taxes on wasters.
Yet,we hear MPs blurt how food banks demonstrate more poverty! Hardly, it demonstrates people learn to use the system and take advantage of others.
June 2, 2020
“We canāt even stop illegal immigration”
There is no intention of EVER stopping it Mick. No-one is even trying to.
June 2, 2020
No, of course they are not. They are just paying lip service to the idea -despite any statements from Priti Patel.
However, this is a big taboo subject on this site.
So I will not be surprised if this post is deleted.
June 2, 2020
I am surprised there is anything to talk/negotiate about. WHO terms to trade with the EU is much better than anything the EU is proposing. EU demonstrated bad faith by applying terms far inferior to any other nation. No more discussion, walk away. Any issue to be discussed on its own and on its own merits against U.K. national interest.
Buy British wherever possible.
Trump is right about WHO, time to cancel our taxes from this rotten organization. It has advocated children 0-4 being taught touching themselves is okay and finding their own gender to be their right! No children of tender years should not be brainwashed in this way, it is child abuse and it is for parents not the state to teach them values, morals etc. Good article in Con Woman today about RSE.
Hence why the Tory Govt. Relationship Sex Education Act must be scrapped before implementing in September this year. The Tory Govt. stating no parent has a right to withdraw their child! Authoritarian, totalitarian bunkum. It is a parents right not the state how it wishes their children to be taught! Get this Govt and any other advocating such perverse legislation out of office ASAP. I would not let my child be subjected to Tory Govt grooming/brainwashing emotional abuse. This is more dangerous to children’s well being than Chinese virus.
June 2, 2020
We might be able to keep the factory fishing boats out.
June 2, 2020
Meanwhile, John Redwood discusses the bigger picture in the Daily Express.
In summary :-
1 not being in the Euro meant the UK was an outsider in key meetings.
2 EU never take countries seriously if they think they will cave in.
My view :-
1 Nicholas Ridley was correct – even though it cost him his job at the time.
2 The Euro is just a āGerman racketā. Same applies to the EU.
As the League of Gentlemen might put it āThereās nothing for you here.ā
June 2, 2020
Good Morning,
Sir John, of course your post brings happiness to our hearts; BUT on finishing reading it is written as though this is a new set of ideas and principles, please tell us it is not and that there are detailed plans and arrangements ‘oven ready’ for the 1st January? Can you get the fisheries minister to expand?
June 2, 2020
Unfortunately Peter, you only have to study our host’s words….”I trust the government rejects any idea of giving much of our fish away in some new deal”…. to realise that everything appears to be up for grabs.
By writing like that it almost seems as though you and I have as much influence on the government as a Conservative MP has and my trust in them is waning.
June 2, 2020
No one gave a toss when we lost our fishing industry so there should be no love lost with the French, Spanish etc.
June 2, 2020
where on earth did you get that idea? Were you born prior to 1957 and the Common Fisheries Policy?
The combined EU fishing fleets land about 6 million tonnes of fish per year, of which about 700,000 tonnes are from UK waters.
In 2012, the UK imported 754 thousand tonnes of fish (excluding fish products), with a value of Ā£2,569 million. It exported 466 thousand tonnes, leaving a trade gap of 288 thousand tonnes.
So the UK clearly has an appetite for eating fish, why do people say we don’t?
June 2, 2020
Fred, Yes I was born before 1957 but fail to see the relevance of your reply to my comment. By the way the whole of my comment was not published. Truth hurts.
I have spent a lot of time working in Hull, Grimsby Lowestoft and have seen the devastaion. I repeat, no one in the EEC, as it was then gave a toss about the anihilation of the UK fishing industry.
June 3, 2020
I can’t reply to what Sir John removed! The Brits certainly did ‘ give a toss’! The fishermen across the water gladly bought up the vessels whose owners couldn’t see making a living any more. How can you appear to think nobody cares? Fishing features in Brexit arguments all the time!
June 2, 2020
What’s the betting this PM contravenes the result of the EU referendum and drags this nation into a UK-EU deal that ties this nation up in the EU cobweb?
It is my belief that the modern authoritarian politician despise two things more than anything. Freedom of expression for the majority is one. Democracy is the other.
This is not about fishing rights in UK waters. It’s much more than that. The world today is a dangerous place. Authoritarianism, violence and and intimidation is now part of conventional politics both in this country and in other nations as well. There are politicians who revel in instability and use it to call for more action to destroy freedom of expression for the majority. They call it equality, I call it fascism
It is my belief that in the next decade the UK and the US will be an authoritarian State in all but name. The majority is slowly being strangled
June 2, 2020
Fishing is an exporter’s game.
And anyway, Leave voters eat even less seafood than the average British.
They seem to prefer cheese strings, chicken nuggets, take aways, and crisps.
June 2, 2020
Leave voters ARE the average British.
June 3, 2020
No, they are seventeen million out of sixty-seven million.
That is about a quarter of them.
June 3, 2020
Still have no idea of the number of voters then Martin. You’ve been told many times that your figure is ridiculous, but you persist with it. Truly unbelievable that you think there are 67 million voters.
June 3, 2020
Detailed studies have shown that an average Leave voter is of above average age and of below average educational attainment.
June 3, 2020
Yet still won a majority.
Sad you will not calm down and accept the result.
June 2, 2020
Got any data to back up your smear?
June 2, 2020
what about Welsh cakes, leeks, haggis, scouse, Irish stew and fried Mars bars?
So you should want to protect your Dover sole, sea bass, crab sarnies and prawn cocktail?
June 2, 2020
Older people eat more fish:-
https://www.statista.com/statistics/436887/quantity-fish-consumed-in-the-united-kingdom/
You cannot have it both ways.
You need to get your story straight with Andy and the others before posting.
June 2, 2020
You really are trying hard to be a snob arenāt you? Just remember the most brilliant people fought to Leave for decades. People whose IQ you canāt even count to. Itās you limited lot who simply canāt comprehend the argument, you just donāt have the wherewithal.
Iām surprised you are not busy today with extinction rebellion fighting to assert that āwhite lives donāt matterā.
June 2, 2020
It is really unsurprising that the Remainers such as yourself have comprehensively lost every argument and every election where the EU has been on the agenda. And you still can’t work out why.
All you have in your armoury of debate is snobbish, class-ridden clichĆ© – and you are too blinkered to see how sterile and self-defeating it is.
Happily, stuck as you are in your petit-bourgeois group-think, incapable of listening or learning, you will compound your losses.
Personally I relish your helpless ranting. Do carry on – you help the cause of UK independence far more than if you were pleading on its behalf.
June 2, 2020
I see the SNP voters are causing the Polis to direct traffic queues to the re-opened McDs.
June 2, 2020
Martin
That is soooooooooooo unfair – you forgot fish and chips -:)
June 2, 2020
The referendum was won by Vote Leave, who promised leaving would mean a new UK-EU deal. That is literally what they said.
Vote Leaveās literature is still available online. You can all go back and check what you actually voted for.
I would suggest you do as many of you seem a little foggy about it.
June 2, 2020
The referendum vote was won by the general public voting leave and NOT by the political campaign group ‘leave-leave’
June 3, 2020
glen
It was ‘won’ under a system whereby 17m voters had the power to decide the future of 70m.
Whatever you may like to call it, it is not democracy. We live under an oligarchy.
June 3, 2020
We have some simple rules for elections.
You have to be 18.
You gave to be a UK citizen.
It is voluntary to vote.
For all you know Margaret, those who didn’t vote might all be leave supporters.
June 2, 2020
Still can’t accept that we voted to leave the EU can you andy.
Still thrashing about looking for odd reasons or people to blame.
June 2, 2020
WTO is a deal, and the one we want.
June 2, 2020
Such a ‘promise’ was never made in campaign literature, and you know it. Nor did the UK voters cast their momentous vote in the belief that
It was merely obvious (and still is) that if the EU maintained their stubborn pre-referendum threat to boycott a trade deal with the UK, that they would be the losers. We couldn’t realize that they would happily plunge their own citiziens into economic disadvantage just for their own amour propre.
There will of course be a new UK-EU deal. We may merely have to wait until the old men of the EU Kremlin – and their grizzled, ageing supporters such as yourself, Andy – have retired from the fray or been given the coup de grace by the desperate citizens of Europe – about whom you seem to care nothing at all in your destructive rage.
June 2, 2020
typo ‘in that belief’.
June 2, 2020
The Europeans will be fine. Much of what they sell today in the UK will get sold anyway under WTO terms except at a higher price than before – this is the high-value premium stuff like BMWs and champagne, for which the buyers aren’t price sensitive. The remainder, which is priced lower and for which there are substitutes in the UK market will get sold elsewhere in the Single Market (population ~400 million) at lower prices. The producers will see a loss in revenue but it will be small and certainly not enough to force them to trade with GB on terms they don’t want.
June 3, 2020
I doubt the previous sales of German cars, Italian white goods, the French wine and cheese, the Dutch flowers, the Danish bacon, the tomatoes etc will remain unaffected. The Brits will simply reduce or stop (preferably) buying, but will seek similar from other market places.
June 3, 2020
That’s fine – the import duties will be shouldered by the wealthy elite, and the UK taxpayer will have a net benefit in the balance of payments, paid for by the 400 million. Win-win.
June 2, 2020
Agreed, Dominic.
This lockdown has shown the iron fist in the velvet glove – this has been a coup, and we are now run as a police state. Government has colluded with mainstream media to terrorise the people, and the big tech companies have censored medical opinion that contests government policy. Fascism through and through.
June 2, 2020
You seem pretty easily terrorised, James.
June 2, 2020
I think you and Dominic are both right. With regard to the media, in particular the BBC, nothing will be done by Boris as I believe the BBC is useful to the government in cementing the hold of the Left/Marxists on our country, and the continued roll out of the one world government “progressive” agenda. This comment from Conservative Woman website comments section about the BBC and the Conservatives sums up the problem about the Cons perfectly:
https://conservativewoman.co.uk/how-much-more-will-johnson-take-from-the-out-of-control-bbc/
“…the BBC still exists because as always, the Tories are utterly, utterly gutless. They will fight for nothing, (least of all conservative values), stand for nothing, except office. They believe in nothing but the latest opinion polls and trade figures. Their only vision for the future concerns their performance at the next election.
This is why Communism and the hard left in Britain has always had so much room for manoeuvre to do damage, and has come to infest and dominate the MSM, particularly the BBC, which is now nothing more than the broadcasting arm of the Labour party. As long as the Tories are doing well by their own narrow opportunist criteria, they are not much interested in tackling the left or defending conservatism. It would just cause a fuss and rock the jolly old boat too much”.
June 3, 2020
We’ll see what happens with government, when one is elected.
June 2, 2020
Certainly if Mr Trump loses the election in November there will be no-one standing in the way of world government/ dictatorship. He is not a paid up member of the Davos mob. That’s why they hate him so much!
June 2, 2020
My views is that:
a) Freedom of expression for the majority. Rarely allowed, BUT MSM (BBC being possibly the worst) has run a leftish anti-democratic style for as long as I remember. Protest in London streets has the whole area corralled such that everybody suffers shocking treatment, locked in for hours – missing planes, trains, business appointments, interviews, hospital bookings — we don’t forget – do we?
b) Democracy. Consider the way PP candidates are checked and approved of by local party committee, and often ‘steered’ as to the nature of who might pass the Central Office test. Then at election time who produced the manifesto (alright so far because who takes any notice of them!) but the slogans, the ones chosen to do the tv/radio broadcasts etc. The extreme bias taken by the media, tv, radio, newspapers. How do we expect to get a balance leading to democracy?
So Dominic – I think the UK fails badly on both counts.
June 2, 2020
s/be My view is that:
June 2, 2020
The party centrally produces the āapproved list of wetsā from which the local party must choose, this was introduced by the sainted Ted Heath. Before that the constituency party chose anyone they liked, mostly a local person who had expressed his politics for decades – so they knew he was not a stooge. The MP also knew his seat depended on pleasing the local party who live amongst all the voters. Now they think They work for Central Office and represent the party in the constituency rather than the constituency in the party.
June 2, 2020
Lynn – – interesting that neither of us mentioned a candidate needing to have a vocation to make a difference! Too many appear to see being elected as a likely short-term career change. I remember a couple of businesses I worked for where the Board thought it essential they had an MP on the non-Execs – always good for appearances, but nobody seemed interested in their (MP) views.
June 2, 2020
Dominic,
A last minute Deus ex Machina is my fear.
Both sides talk tough and āNo Dealā seems inevitable.
Then suddenly out of nowhere……
June 2, 2020
Yes but what about gender equality? For example is a male nurse or a female nurse better at at what times, in what locations and situations?
June 2, 2020
“Sainsburyās and Tesco cut back their fresh fish counters to tackle the hoarding demand for other groceries at the start of the lock down.”
I took it that the sellers were not interested in selling when I was very much interested in buying. I shall not bother with these two again. Refuse my money but once.
The Customer is always right.
June 2, 2020
Good morning.
I agree. We need to get back to as close to normal as possible.
One thing that I have noticed, is that some major retailers are now only accepting card payments. It seems to me tat there are those who are using this drama, turned into a crisis, for their own ends. Whilst I do not mind paying by card I do like to have the choice. If this choice is removed I may have to remove my custom from them š
I wonder if others have noticed this and how they feel ?
June 2, 2020
I too have noticed that this Covid-19 situation has been an opportunity for many to advance their agendas by stealth while “helping” us Mark B.
We can but vote with our feet.
June 2, 2020
Going cashless means no cash-in-hand work, of course.
June 2, 2020
Iāve noticed that some retailers are trying to switch to card only, but generally the self service payment allows cash. Iām a great advocate of use it or lose it. So though mostly for small amounts I use cash. Weekly shop, card, top up shop etc or greengrocers – cash!
And Dominic is right, we need to ensure that some authoritarian folk arenāt allowed to take advantage of the situation. For example, The Mail reported a day or two ago that Town Halls were being given money to widen pavements outside of shops to allow room for queues. This of course is unnecessary unless itās thought queuing in the street will become permanent. But this would be the thin edge of the wedge in the high street – narrower streets, no cars etc etc.
June 2, 2020
Yes, it’s all part of the “cash free society” plan currently being piloted in Sweden, eventually everyone will have a chip implant which will enable authorities to track and trace where you get your money from and where you spend it. The same chip will enable you to pay for bus and train fares or charge your electric vehicle provided you have been vaccinated and are cleared to travel.
June 2, 2020
UN slogan being trumpeted by Boris.
āBuild Back Betterā
All the agendas rolled into one huge green blob.
June 2, 2020
Yes, I have and it is being pushed by the banks and government who want a cashless society and are even using adverts on commercial radio purporting to be a method of preventing the spread of the virus. We are on a slippery slope to loss of cash mainly due to the greed of the banks, for whom billions of pounds profit is simply not enough. Once they have achieved that, charges for every bank transaction will follow with costs rising and the government achieving what they want – to pry into every corner of our lives and to control us. The government have already put a stop to paying pensions into Post Office simple accounts where many pensioners like to get cash which they have used all their lives in favour of pushing people into the arms of their banking friends. I, for one will revert to cash when we are allowed to shop again.
June 2, 2020
All checkout staff have wipes and sanitiser on the tills. The company that refuses to take my cash payment loses my custom.
June 2, 2020
You are being asked to pay by card because only you the owner of the card needs to handle it. Paper money however has been everywhere unless you get it new from a bank. Not only can it come to your pocket infected by heaven knows what, including Covid-19, but you might even find traces of cocaine on it. Give it some thought before leaping down the conspiracy theory route.
June 2, 2020
the moral of that story is never sniff your new banknotes – you never know where that might lead you!
June 2, 2020
Yes, Mark B, and I will be going back to CASH as soon as I can. They either want my custom or they do not.
June 2, 2020
All the shops we’ve entered (very few, admittedly) have said card only. However we now have a new local village shop, tiny but not bad, and the owner prefers cash. He has already won a number of people’s business as a result. It is of course the route to abolishing cash entirely and this must not be allowed to happen just because of a virus. We have used cash when flu is around, and also various tummy-upset bugs (norovirus for example)….why should Covid make any difference?
June 2, 2020
The Bank of England thought ahead insisting the new banknotes would be washable.
June 2, 2020
The long-promised abolition of money/cash?
Vast control over us.
June 2, 2020
Youāll be removing your custom from everywhere then. Cash is dying.
It is a pointlessly expensive and unnecessary way to pay for things.
June 2, 2020
It also suits your globalist friends who want to keep tabs on people.
June 2, 2020
Plus you can’t avoid tax.
June 2, 2020
Multinational corporations, Celebrities, Footballers and tax advisors manage that quite easily!
Even that nestegg I saved for a lifetime (some call it a pension) gets taxed.
June 2, 2020
Mark B,
If we were in a democracy and the BoE wasn’t so stupidly looking to push through the zero bound then I would feel OK. But.
( I do I think the insecurity of pinless tapping with risk borne by the cardholder not bank is wrong)
June 2, 2020
For whatever reason cash was instantly labelled as covered in covid disease and the vast majority believed it. Shops didn’t want it – but consumers buying their products had no idea if the stuff on the shelves had the virus on it at all. It was also a very nice chance for the govt to push for the cashless society ( one where the govt knows where every penny you spend has gone). It also gives the govt the chance to cut you off from your finances at a click of a button. Could you prove you had a certain amount – when the govt’s computer says you hadn’t? Orwell only a few decades out. You WILL be monitored Mark B – more than you are now.
June 2, 2020
Absolutely right. This plays into the hands of those who seek a cashless society, namely, the Banks. Also suits government because everything is then known about you. In Cyprus, it was very easy to extract-bail in funds for the banks from savers accounts and limits on cash withdrawals were imposed: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21814325
At Tesco this week, the signs are all there to use cards only, but the checkout assistant happily took vouchers from me!
June 2, 2020
A free country managing and eating its own fresh fish is naturally sensible. Selling our fish overseas to buy it back in packets is clumsy and generates needless waste.
Consumers exercise the power of control over what they do, on which all else in supply, production, distribution and sales income depends. Some lazy consumers tolerate a lower standard by merely accepting what is available, enabling lower grade packaged imports to continue. Avoid swallowing low quality.
June 2, 2020
Excellent proposed move..
With the world in various degrees of recovery from CV, it will be good to have a certainty of fish supplies for the future.
I’m concerned about supplies of other food items that are not grown in this country. Rice, for example. A staple for many. This has been low or non-existent on supermarket shelves of late.
Importers need to work at ensuring supplies of basic items and raw materials.
Is the government looking at this aspect of our needs?
June 2, 2020
This is the next crisis and it is an obvious one.
Don’t let this be the Government’s next PPE.
June 2, 2020
I do not think this is much of a problem. There is plenty of rice around and plenty of alternatives too many rather nicer. Pasta, couscous, lentils, beans, pulses, gnocchi ….. There must be loads of big, restaurant sized, bags around as the Indians, Thai and Chinese ones have all been shut down.
June 2, 2020
Pity, really.
If all the staff had just arrived from China, then those restaurants would be low risk places.
The main danger would be from other British customers.
June 2, 2020
Rice is but one example where stocks are already low – it would be good to know that something was being done for all imported food items as well as other raw materials
June 2, 2020
Rice is best served in a milk pudding!
With a skin and possibly a little drizzled syrup……yummy.
June 3, 2020
That was a favourite old recipe of my mothers
June 2, 2020
Not much govt can do if rice-producing countries refuse to sell.
Water issues ( to grow rice) and latest scare make them worried for their own food security.
(India, I believe not too keen on supplying us with drugs at the mo).
IMO ALL supplies have been dodgy for some time.
Anyway we should be eating dumplings and potatoes!
June 2, 2020
“Rice….non-existent on supermarket shelves of late.”
I thought of Pearl Barley as it was termed in my late mothers day. It was expensive in my eyes for a 250g small pack two weeks ago. She added a few grains to ham-shank and peas cooked for many hours .
So I bought it and put it all in a large pan. My word it drinks like a trooper, water. I have never seen such water absorption. Every meal, I added some on the plate each day for a week.Various consistencies. Surprising how it will absorb more and more of whatever gravy, sauce, herb or condiment and goes with practically every other dish hot or cold including salad, .Good Bye to rice for me. Not tried making a typical rice dish with it, sweet, but I bet it works. We grow barley.You can make barley wine too as well as rice wine.
I can see why barley is not promoted in TV ads. It is too good and cheap. Boy is it filling and not just for a while.
June 2, 2020
With reports of flooding due to Climate Change and the ground being covered with millions of buildings here in the UK, I’m sure someone will start growing rice here soon.
June 2, 2020
Bryan Harris
“Iām concerned about supplies of other food items that are not grown in this country. ”
The answer is simple Bryan, if it’s from a country not of your liking, just don’t but it.
I no longer buy anything produced in France or RoI. I still buy Italian foodstuffs on occasion, but mostly now I buy homegrown / farmed.
June 2, 2020
+1
June 2, 2020
Barnier made a public reference to ‘easing his demands regarding EU fishing rights in UK waters’. To make a conciliatory and obvious public statement like this may suggest Johnson is weakening in his position. That won’t come as a surprise to anyone. I find Johnson a politician of infinite emptiness.
June 2, 2020
To appeal to both the Northern heartlands and the Tory heartlands at the same time… what did you expect ?
June 2, 2020
And losing both! Try to be all things to all men and you end up being nothing to anyone.
June 2, 2020
@Dominic; Only you could think a team offering to make concessions is a sign of weakness in the opposite team! If the UK was weakening the EU would likely be increasing their demands. It is clear that the EU has become very worried that the UK is prepared to walk away on WTO rules, that the UK will not be agreeing to pay for access to the single market etc, just when the EU is faced with an even larger debt crisis than the UK.
June 2, 2020
A bit unfair to poor Boris. I will give him a bit longer though I am very concerned that his wife might encourage him to continue with all this green lunacy. Sunak was on about government investment in Carbon Capture and Storage the other day.
Also the plan is to finally stop burning any coal at all this year. So why do they import wood to burn and yet do not burn old wood in the form of coal?
Why not use the new wood to build things and burn the coal. It would produce no more CO2 (if that is their misguided concern) and it would cost far less? Can ministers not do basic logic or sums?
June 2, 2020
Clearly not.
zorro
June 2, 2020
Since his opening offer in was wholly unreasonable he left himself plenty of room for “easing his demands”. Standard negotiating procedure.
June 2, 2020
Johnson is a salesmen. He will do a deal – a rubbish one for the UK – but he will sell it is a great win. Like he did when he gave up Northern Ireland.
The EU understands that the Brexiteers need to be able to at least pretend they have won something. And fishing is symbolic for the Brexiteers despite being an all but irrelevant industry. So the EU will give some ground on fish.
And all the elderly Tory Brexiteers will claim a massive victory despite it being a clear surrender. Then we will gradually undo their mess over the next few decades.
June 2, 2020
4 years on and still no real alteration in the vote to leave.
June 2, 2020
We don’t need to make any further concessions to the EU in order for them to have a trade surplus with us. We have already given them 39 billion Euros that we don’t owe them plus our share of the EU’s assets, AND agreed to continue underwriting the EIB. If they are not prepared to give us the same trade deal as everybody else then we should walk. These ‘negotiations’ set the tone for our future dealings with the rest of the world, if we appear pushovers then other countries will expect free handouts too.
June 2, 2020
To promote the sale of fresh fish, it would be helpful if the supermarket fish counters and local fishmongers provided recipe leaflets.
Many people aren’t familiar with methods to prepare fresh fish, or how to make a meal using it.
June 2, 2020
Waitrose kept their fish counters open. You can get fresh cod fillets, haddock, sea bass, bream and oysters. Also lovely net bags of fresh mussels!
Their deli counter is also excellent
June 2, 2020
Waitrose is perceived as a supermarket for those who are prepared to spend more for ‘possibly’ better quality.
As a friend reminds us ‘ you meet a better class of obesity’.
love it!
June 2, 2020
My children were all very keen on moules marinere and moules a la creme from todlers onwards – as indeed were my wife and myself.
June 2, 2020
In Skunkville on Sea, the outdoor market has been open for sale of food and my wife bought some locally caught sea bream. There were so many needle sharp bones in it that it took half an hour to eat. The continental customers are welcome to them. On the other hand we often make dishes with prawns, squid and mussels and trout and salmon are regulars. Why on earth the trout farms could not gut and package the fish and the supermarkets deliver it is a good question.
June 2, 2020
Sir John
Yes and all well and good. That opens up many questions.
If the UK is a Sovereign Independent Nation, how come we are even discussing the right of a Foreign Power(the EU) to dictate the laws that govern our territory. While we might be in a position to permit fishing in our grounds on a reciprocal basis, it is the choice of the people of this country through our law makers and no one else’s.
June 2, 2020
Waitrose have a fish counter if you still want fish from a supermarket. Twenty per cent off on Friday too.
However, large chain supermarkets are probably capable of deciding what is best for their own business.
I do wonder how fresh some supermarket fish actually is. Not very in some cases – is the answer. Other countries are more interested in fish and care more about it. Look at the range and quality of fish in somewhere like Madrid for example (despite its distance from the sea).
The purchaser customer needs to have an interest in the product. I donāt think sufficient British people have an interest in fish, unfortunately. Then there is the cost. A nice Dover Sole is a treat but itās not cheap, nor – unaccountably – is monkfish.
June 2, 2020
There you have it – the cost!
June 2, 2020
Just a note, to the best of my knowledge Waitrose like other supermarket does not sell proper fresh fish. It is frozen fish alowed to thaw, that is why it smells like decomposing flesh – something that doesn’t happen with fresh fish.
June 2, 2020
Buy whole fish. Then you can tell from the eyes how fresh it is.
June 2, 2020
Sir John
Your item makes me smile. ‘Fresh Fish’ – Sainsburys, Tesco’s in the same sentence. They have to the best of my knowledge never sold it. What they sell is thawed out frozen fish, you can tell because of the smell – it is at the decomposing stage. Fresh Fish doesn’t smell.
Like a lot of people I like fish and I like my fish fresh. Yes we should eat more of our own produce and enjoy the variety. For that reason I always by direct and have never been disappointed.
June 2, 2020
I remember in the 1970s certain fish and chip shops sold an offering that stank of ammonia. They did not go bust. Their customers just switched to pies and saveloys.
June 2, 2020
Hi Ian,
I worked at a meat and fish counter at Tesco’s until it was closed last year. All meat is fresh. None comes in frozen. For fish it was all fresh with the exception of prawns and squid.
It was also a deeply unprofitable section of the business.
June 2, 2020
The fourth round of trade talks start today and the EU has not changed it’s stance on fish, the ECJ, State aid to industry etc etc. They have even suggested that Boris might go across to talk to the Commission to break the impasse.
Such a visit should NEVER happen. To imitate Theresa May would wreck the PM’s standing forever and quite rightly so. We are taking back control and that is end of the matter.
We should have many more fresh fish counters and it would be great to see the return of the independent fishmonger. As and when the French and others want our fish they can come and buy it and we would welcome the trade.
The quicker Barnier stops being so ‘pig headed’ the better. If not, then let’s spend the next 6 months getting ready for WTO terms
June 2, 2020
The Dear Leader should not travel and spend the rest of his life recuperating lest he goves some stupid concession to ruin our position so that everyone likes him.
zorro
June 2, 2020
Tesco and Sainsburys merely accelerated a process that was already underway.
The customer data suggested that they could shut meat and fish counters, especially in less affluent areas, so they did.
Having put fishmongers and butchers out of business they then withdraw the service and require us to conform. This is why customers should value their local stores.
June 2, 2020
Clearly this week we will see if this Government is just all talk or just a benign puppet of dictator in a foreign land.
In trade there is no compromise, we are all equals and everything is reciprocated equally and not dictated to be one party or another.
In a Democracy the laws we live by are created, changed and repealed solely by people through their representatives. The only good deal on trade is were there is no compromise or fudge of that principle.
But as with a lot of people I am not holding my breath, we have seen time and time again what passes for a democratic UK government capitulate and destroy the meaning of democracy. What ever the weasel wording chosen it is cheating the people of democracy.
To many times the UK Government bends and manipulates to satisfy the pressure from big business. Only for the following day for those same businesses to strip the UK of their assets and move them to another domain.
June 2, 2020
Our Tesco cut their meat, fish and deli counters a year ago, nothing to do with COVID.
But the supermarkets need to rapidly get rid of the queues outside by whatever means as a step to show we are back to normality. Yesterday huge queue outside but inside store virtually deserted, huge spaces for ‘social distancing’. In reality, the first step to normality must be GET RID OF THE 2m RULE
June 2, 2020
Agreed! And considering weāre an island, fish is particularly expensive, which shouldnāt be the case as an island! If prices dropped, people might eat more fish.
Asda have a wet fish counter – that remained open during the lockdown.
June 2, 2020
Morrison’s has kept its fish counters, and very good they are.
@JohnnyDownes
June 2, 2020
So you want queues forming down the store, at the required social distancing 2m apart, just so people can buy unwrapped what they can buy (perhaps filleted &) wrapped from the chilled cabinet?!
It’s the same fish you know, just as the salami on the deli counter is the same as pre packed, and in some stores the meat on the meat counter could well be from the same beast as that in packs.
If social distancing is to become the norm then what we need is, not more fresh food counters in supermarkets, but the return of the independent and trusted fishmonger, butchers, bakers, greengrocers etc. on the high streets, perhaps even door-step milk delivery, all being able to offer old style home delivery services, often ‘on-account’, either at the end of a telephone call or via a shopping list/note.
June 2, 2020
This includes ASDA which annoyed me
As someone has already said, we can’t even stop illegals landing so how do you intend to stop foreign fishing vessels.
June 2, 2020
Ian Wragg
…..20mm deck canon should do the trick.
June 2, 2020
Tony Abbot, Australia’s ex PM has got it right. There is an interesting interview with him and Farage on YouTube talking about how Australia handled illegals ftom china.
June 2, 2020
We could learn from how the Icelanders run their fishery industry.
We should not favour any one sector of our fisheries over others (e.g deep sea v inshore).
We must recognise that Brits will not eat some of our fish or are not prepared to pay as much as foreigners for it (eg. Hake, Herring, Cuttlefish, Prawn, Crab, Whelk). So either our guys catch it and then export it, or foreign boats are allowed to catch it (in return for reciprocal rights, or a licence fee). We should aim for our guys to catch it, to help our onshore fishery businesses and to avoid the minefield of swapping rights.
Itās our sea and our fish. Donāt throw it away in the EU negotiations.
June 2, 2020
Kippers are still very cheap though.
I am not sure how Manx kippers are viewed after Brexit, but kippers from the North East are definitely outside the EU. You donāt have to grill kippers if smell is an issue. Heat them in boiling water instead. Probably regarded as old fashioned food now though.
June 2, 2020
Fish sales have been declining for decades – first the supermarkets killed off the wet fish shops, then some decided they no longer want to sell like that and want everyone to buy in packets from the freezer. One big obstacle to fish is that few people these days know how to prepare or cook it. Cooking in general I believe is in decline apart from being a spectator sport on the telly. Some younger people I know would rather buy fast food than do a Sunday roast which would do them more good physically and emotionally. Is anything better for family unity than preparing a good meal and all sitting down to eat it and socialise? Maybe the pandemic will bring it back to some extent.
June 2, 2020
True. You would hope home cooking might enjoy a new lease of life in the absence of much else to do. The queues at drive in McDonalds indicate my hopes might be ill founded.
What will happen is that sales of precooked frozen fish dishes with a nice photo and a celebrity chef on the box will do well and will sell at a premium.
June 2, 2020
Your piece today is virtuous but fails to understand the UK market, The supermarkets do not withhold fish from the UK buying public out of spite, they are in business to sell anything the public demands. Their abysmal fish counters and ignorant sales staff reflect the general lack of interest in fish and shellfish in the UK. Rick Stein has done his best but people in the UK do not want to know. To the average member of the UK buying public fish comes in the form of fingers, cod and chips at the local chippy, or a piece of salmon farmed in Scotland or Norway. In Worcestershire the only place I know of where you can buy Turbot, Dover Sole , Plaice, Scallops or Dublin Bay Prawns (Scampi, Langostines ) is at a garden centre near Bideford. Monkfish only became of interest when the catering trade realised they could portion it and prepare it to look like Scampi in a Basket.
The virtue of getting our territorial waters back under our control is that we can conserve the asset and farm it as a growing export business. To those who say the EU countries will refuse to buy I would say you do not understand the EU market for fish and we could just as easily export it to Japan. The UK population might in the long term future get around to realising that there is much more in the sea than current eating habits suggest. For those who do not believe me, just visit a few supermarkets here in Spain when you are next let loose in Benidorm and glory at the size and product variety on their fish counters and the expertise of those that man them.
June 2, 2020
Interesting exchange in the FT. Philip Stephens, a left-wing and very strongly pro-EU writer wrote his normal contemptuous piece about how the EU is being perfectly reasonable and has no choice but to insist the U.K. becomes a virtual economic colony (using other words). Sir Malcolm Rifkind, a prominent remainer, has replied saying that on the contrary what the EU is demanding is unprecedented – dynamic alignment with future laws and regs. Sir Malcom points out that for better or worse the U.K. has left the EU, and no sovereign democracy can simply accept that it adopts the laws and regulations of another state or superstate.
It must be a small minority now who want Boris to cave into the EUs preposterous demands. The govt should focus on getting some other trade deals over the line so we have a new precedent as to how it can work.
June 2, 2020
Dear Sir John–First I have learnt that supermarkets won’t sell British fish. Does this apply to all the supermarkerts? Please tell of any exceptions to this indeed ridiculous situation so we can move to them. Fish caught and eaten as freshly as possible is healthy and non fattening. And when one considers the out of work fishermen the mind simply boggles. We need sequencing: tell Brussels that unless they immediately state that they accept that we and we alone control our fish then talks cease.
June 2, 2020
Supermarkets will just wait for fishmonger vans and small entrepreneurs to open up the fish market, start making up frozen easy to cook fish products instead of chicken products all the time and then they’ll steal the market back by offering the same but cheaper with their reduced rates and other overheads.
June 2, 2020
Yes..I have very much resented the disappearances of local wet fish shops.
Supermarkets did have fish counters for a while but really you need an expert to sell fish and supermarkets are a very poor substitute for someone who knows their trade.
We should after all be eating fish…it is our duty to save the NHS from an outbreak of goitre!
Iāve never really understood why, in the face of having our sea fish pinched, we didnāt go back to breeding and eating fresh water fish.
No doubt salmon farms etc were scotched by the EU regs?
June 2, 2020
Dear Ever–Never mind Salmon–which are too much of a good thing–I for one never got close to understanding why the Fish Ponds that every Monastery, Abbey etc once had full of Carp, Pike and Perch you never see these days. Perch is just like Trout to eat. Wouldn’t surprise me if were illegal today under some ridiculous Wild Life Preservation Act or whatever.
June 2, 2020
Yes..actually I was thinking of Parson Woodforde and his problems with a large she otter.
Interestingly he drained his pond every year ..presumably to get the fish?
Where I grew up pike etc were common fare but my mother claimed they tasted āmuddyāso we didnāt often partake.
I think you can catch a certain number per day or some such.Govt rules for protecting stocks. Oh my! Why didnāt they protect our seas??
June 2, 2020
“I trust the government rejects any idea of giving much of our fish away” (emphasis added)
How much is “much”?
June 2, 2020
The fish Counters were being closed way before we had even heard of Coronavirus John, but I certainly agree fresh fish should be on offer, far, far better than any frozen packaged product.
Unfortunately many of the great British Public are almost clueless about what to do with fresh produce, so they need to be educated by someone, be it the supermarkets, the fish industry itself, or by celebrity chefs.
Supermarkets will only stock and sell products in demand.
I see that a few of the fishing boats have now got together and started nationwide home deliveries of late, perhaps this may take off big time if demand gets stronger, I certainly miss the fresh fish counters, and the wet fish shops old with knowledgeable staff and owners.
June 3, 2020
When we came out to nr Wokingham over 50 years ago, we were fascinated to discover the ‘ Smelly Alley’ (Union st) in Reading, just along from Heelas (John Lewis). Fresh fish often on a Saturday treat. Ah! memories.
June 2, 2020
Off topic
I just read a terrible story about a new born baby who nearly died because ASSUMING that all negative symptoms are attributable to Covid, the doctors nearly missed a life threatening heart condition.
Assume all illness is Covid? And then say that every death is caused by it.
We have surely returned to a non reasoning world?
Terrifying.
Letās all clap and then breathe in loads of barbecue smoke ( but only with a cousin six times removed) YAY! Alice, Alice…where are you??
June 2, 2020
Yeah. If anyone dies of traditional “old age” the medical profession will be confused. I A fancy title is required. Instead of he died “but he had a good innings.”
Don’t anyone say that about me when I’m dead. I haven’t really been into bat yet.
June 2, 2020
A suitable metaphor for these crazy times…..
zorro
June 2, 2020
Could John Redwood have realised that the UK exports 70% of its catch to the Single-Market and if an agreement on fishing is not found then as Xavier Bertrand, the President of the Upper France council succinctly summarized then “not a kilo of British fish will be allowed to land anywhere in Europe” ?
It is not as if fishing communities are not politically important in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Spain or France.
June 2, 2020
ššGerman fishermen are apoplectic! Donāt you read anything? You think the Portuguese and Spanish will stop eating fish? – more likely to import it from China!
June 2, 2020
“conciliatory” , Barnier “easing his demands regarding EU fishing rights”. No he’s not, he proceeds he has a right to nick our fish, candlesticks, and TV and, his “conciliatory is to cut our TV and candlesticks each in half and shove two of the four halves down our throats. He is no King Soloman. He reads things wrong.
He can take his hook but not ours. Why aren’t our negotiators saying they are not prepared to debate our sovereignty with a foreign power?
June 2, 2020
Good to see the govt are facing a revolt against the ridiculous quarantine plan. I encourage Sir John to join the revolt. It is reported that Dominic Cummings is one of the key supporters of the quarantine idea. I did not think Mr Cummings should be forced from his job for isolating at his parentsā farm, it seemed to me he had done little or nothing wrong. But if he is to champion economy-destroying policies like these he should go on performance grounds.
June 2, 2020
Our even more dreaded Security Commissar Prit Pat El must surely reconsider to save our Dear Leader from further embarrassment!
zorro
June 2, 2020
Ideas Commissar Dom Khuo Ming must also surely reconsider and retest his eyesight!
zorro
June 3, 2020
Well, the Spain, Greece, and Cyprus have gone a bit further than quarantine for UK people.
Their borders are close to them. The Czechs have imposed tight restrictions too.
Others will no doubt follow until the UK deals properly with this menace.
Where were you hoping to go?
June 3, 2020
You were against closing our borders.
You are against sending illegal boat people back to France.
June 2, 2020
The fish counters are a trick. The fish isnāt fresh, it is frozen fish that is put out to defrost and sold at a premium price with a short use-by date. The customers are paying for retail theatre.
It makes much more sense to buy frozen fish and defrost at home when you need to. Itās cheaper and reduces food waste.
June 2, 2020
My family always said fish at the seaside is better because it’s fresh. It’s much fresher inland unless things have changed.
June 2, 2020
Well said. The āfresh breadā is heated up from frozen,too.
June 2, 2020
It is critical that Mr Frost pulls Boris strings if he crosses the Chanel – which is a very bad idea anyway! He should be encouraged to take his paternity leave, in fact ācompelled toā do so.
Boris really must be controlled unless he wants to end up ādead in a ditchā.
The British are losing patience! Tremble when they go quiet.
June 2, 2020
If the Dear Leader Kim Jong Son messes this up, he will be really finished….
zorro
June 2, 2020
The UK fish producing industry is a cartel, courtesy of the UK government allowing UK quota to be traded as a commodity in itself; before the engines on the fishing boats ever get started. Just like OPEC tries to do, the cartel has limited landing of UK fish to keep the prices up. The virus has shut down wet fish markets all over Europe where the majority of UK caught fish get sold.
The Supermarkets don’t pay cartel prices for limited supplies that can’t fill all their wet fish counters. UK fish eaters import the fish they eat and prefer it in portion sizes with no eyes staring back at them from the pan. Neither the virus or brexit is ever going to change the fish eating habits of English households.
June 2, 2020
My local Tesco closed its fish counter months before the lockdown (as part of 90 such closures at the start of 2019) purely to cut costs – so nothing at all to do with hoarding which they possibly just used as an excuse to close some more. They replaced it with a sushi counter to capture the lunch trade – another of their failed attempts to move upmarket into the Waitrose market sector, they previously failed with an “artisan” bakery experiment . I doubt they’ll open them again.
June 2, 2020
After 4 wasted years by the Useless EU showboating and now the CV19 pandemic it should be pretty obvious to Boris and Brussels that there is much lentil anger not only in Britain but in club med countries too.
The fishing grounds are also strategic waters where Russian trawlers invaded protected nurseries recently. Boris has to be careful not to give Brussels the idea they are “our friends” in negotiations until we have actually left. Just like professional football or rugby.
Until we leave first we will never get the EU to take us seriously.
June 2, 2020
Sir John
Could you please have a word with someone in parliament over the shenanigans of āvotingā in the house. It really is bringing shame to the reputation of our modern parliament when you canāt use a mobile app to āvoteāā¦.a task people seem able to do securely everyday with their banking, local govt, paying bills etc
And yet 650 people canāt use a simple app with yes, no, donāt know options
June 2, 2020
The legality of the Government position is based entirely on the assumption that the Governmnent response to the pandemic was āreasonableā
This assumption is utterly untrue because it was never true that this pandemic was a risk to healthy individuals, above everyday activities such as driving a car. Even at the time of lockdown there was lots of good evidence that only a small subset of the population was at risk.
As I have said from before the lockdown the vulnerable should have been protected more and the healthy should have been allowed their constitutional rights to freedom. The Governmentās decision was born of panic and did not consider all the evidence at the time.
The Government are now exposed to legal action on a scale never seen before. The problem the Government face in court is that it they need to show, based on the evidence available at the time, locking down the country produced a better outcome than locking down the vulnerable. Itās an almost impossible burden of proof because the evidence at the time said the healthy were safe.
The first part of a legal prosecution of the Government would be to explain why it shifted from a Swedish type lockdown to a full lockdown. This was of course based on Prof Fergusonās software prediction of 500,000 deaths. Prof Fergusonās software has been widely ridiculed as poor code quality, but that does not mean it was wrong. The weakness in the Government position is the assumptions underlying Prof Fergusonās prediction were clearly wrong. The Government will need to show they took reasonable steps to validate the software and valdate all the assumptions. They will need to show a paper trail that the assumptions were grounded in science.
Importantly the Government will need to show that it was reasonable to lockdown EVERY group of individuals. For example they will need to show that it was reasonable to lockdown a young couple who had no risk of being hospitalised compared with a car accident or it was reasonable that young couple could pass it on to a vulnerable person who was being protected.
Importantly the burden of proof will be on the Government to show it acted legally. You need reasons to take away liberty. Hiding behind SAGE secrecy will work against the Government. I imagine the reality was a half baked meeting of scruffy academics voting by hand rather than a well documented decision.
The Government have avoided a single prosecution under the lockdown laws because they know the first prosecution will receive millions from gofundme and there is a very high risk they will lose. Even the legal discovery process would be a political disaster.
But does this really matter when the unemployment rate rises to 20+%, GDP drops by 20+%, Government spending is cut back by 10%. A million healthy self employed have their lifeās work destroyed, a million private sector workers are made redundant, a million Government contractors are made redundant and millions of Government workers are kept on fullpay.
A day in court will be a day off from the political misery that is about to descend on the Government.
June 2, 2020
The lockdown forced many of us to rethink our shopping habits.
As a vulnerable person (although not extremely at risk) and being just under 70, I had no intention of visiting the supermarkets.
Having been long term online customers of 3 supermarkets, we were (thanks for nothing chaps) left high and dry by the them. No slots/a rugby scrum to get the few ones that were available.
So, new ways of shopping had to be found, for deliveries.
– Fruit and veg from local suppliers.
– Meat and fish deliveries (overnight, and always perfectly chilled).
One fish and meat supplier even has its own fleet of 6 fishing vessels.
Another fish supplier, delivers to the public, from a group of fishing boats that have banded together. Always quickly sold out.
I love getting fresh fish now.
Don’t need the supermarket fish. Although, as Sir John says opening their fish counters will be good for others.
I just hope that one day soon, the price of fish to the consumer, returns to being affordable.
Fish is rich man’s fare, at the moment.
June 2, 2020
It is vital we restore fish stocks around the uk but how will we monitor these huge trawlers who are hoovering up everything in the North Sea including young fish.? I believe they come from the EU.
June 2, 2020
Presumably this will be a task for the Royal Navy, although I’m not sure how many fishery protection vessels there are in service today.
June 2, 2020
we’ve got 2 x Ā£4bn aircraft carriers that need a role!
June 2, 2020
I think the carriers will be the core of our nation’s contribution to the defence & security of allies. Contributing a carrier with a first-rate modern strike aircraft is a way to deliver something meaningful in a way that has enormous flexibility, in stark contrast to the model in the recent past which was to provide armoured units on the front line. We can safely run the Army down, saving a huge amount of money, while delivering enduring, flexible and capable air/sea support to allies who might need it.
June 2, 2020
Reading the Guardian today. Fishing, the EU wants to continue the status quo. The figures quoted the EU wants their boats to have 88% of the catch in UK waters leaving the UK 12%.
No logic to it, no proportionality, no reciprocal arrangements – just the EU wants to ‘take’ UK resources before they will discus equal trade in anything else.
That doesn’t sound like a neighbor wishing to treat others with respect.
June 2, 2020
That’s how it works. It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there.
You think the Chinese or the US with its trade deficit are going to treat the UK better ?
… just you wait.
June 2, 2020
The EU is a neighbour alright but not a friendly neighbour- UK created all of this mess and then expects EU 27 are going to fall into line- well I don’t see it that way- real politics is not like that – we may as well go out into the world and try it on again with poor African countries using gunboat diplomacy- it might work – but alas not with Barnier or the EU. So then there’s the other consideration to raise ‘respect’- well all I can say is that Farage and others past behaviour in the EU Parliament and then Boris Gove JRM IDS pronouncements etc etc together with the gutter tabloid press have put a stop to that- so Ian am afraid there’s no respect either- all gone- all out the window
June 3, 2020
You continually post the same old garbage under ever different IDs – I’ve counted twenty-three different pretended ‘posters’ you’ve impersonated over the past few days – and yet it’s always obviously just you sneering away at the same targets, and making the same childish errors in English spelling and punctuation, year in and year out. You can’t even be bothered to learn a wider vocabulary to help you sneer a little more effectively.
By all means, do carry on, but it’s your own time you’re wasting.
June 2, 2020
Ian
Any yield to Macron / EU on this matter will see the conservatives kicked out of power.
We won’t be ‘avin it, basically.
June 2, 2020
He loves barley, boiled, too, odd, as he is not so partial to vegetables though that I know is grain.But he hasn’t read the label. I think he knows what is good. His nose…dogs noses can read the fine print..
Oh and one can make cakes and biscuits from barley too. Why did we ever stop eating barley?
June 2, 2020
JR, There are reports in the media (Times, Reuters) that the UK is about to go soft on the EU and capitulate to continuing (partial?) EU control of our fisheries (and EU control of the fake “level playing field”).
Then, when fish is caught in our waters by both UK and EU fishing fleets, will the fish continue to be shipped to China for filleting and packing, as it is now? This is yet another mess, both for jobs and for the environment, but where the UK and the EU are equally to blame.
June 2, 2020
You seem unaware that English fishermen sold off their quotas to EU companies years ago. We donāt control our waters because Brits preferred a fast buck ahead of sustainable fishing. As ever you try to blame the EU for a problem that is completely home-grown – and one which Brexit will do nothing to solve. Itās all coming a bit real now isnāt it, as all your Brexit fantasies unravel, you must be worried about the backlash once people wise up
June 2, 2020
They sold their quotas because their allocation didn’t earn enough to fund the boats. The EU takes 88% and we get 12 percent. Not very equitable is it.
June 2, 2020
And we bought them a new fleet – Kenneth Clarke said it was necessary āso that they could compete with usā! Our fishermen were sacrificed, in fact the whole of Britain was sacrificed.
June 2, 2020
Agree Lynn, sacrificed, stabbed in the back and thrown away
June 2, 2020
Whilst I do want out of the EU I agree that the leadership of the UK is obsessed with short-termism and this has been extremely bad for us all.
June 2, 2020
I love fish and seafood. But why do so many people always restrict themselves to floppy farmed salmon and a few imported prawns? So many more interesting things available squid, crabs, spider crabs, scallops, whelks, clams, angler fish, soles, pollock, hake, octopus, bream, plaice, eels, bass, mackerel, Cornish pilchards, herring ………….. it is surely our duty to eat more and have more variety.
June 2, 2020
I’ve never liked salmon. It’s a pity b/c posh people eat it.I should sound so grand.
June 2, 2020
Lifelogic
Whelks and eels is popular with cockneys, cod is for everyone, and pilchards is what you give to your cat.
You could stir up quite a debate on fish š
Personally I only eat crab and cod. Scallops and the like is a french favourite, so it never passes my lips.
June 3, 2020
Pollock is ‘interesting’? The most flavourless fish on God’s earth. A fishmonger once told me his favourite recipe for it:
“Salt and pepper pollock, rub in herbs, spices and butter, clamp with string between two small wooden boards, cook in slow oven for three hours, take out, throw way pollock, eat boards instead.”
June 2, 2020
Tesco had already cut back their fish counter a couple of months before Corona virus.
June 2, 2020
Reopening fish counters and being able to afford fish and chips again will save the U.K. billions, because it healthy eating and that means fewer obese people susceptible to things like CV19. We want our people health and vibrant leading full lives. And we want the NHS to consume very much less of our national treasure. Like Aneurin Bevan, we hope it withers away as the nations health improves.
We want our fishing communities thriving and caring for our seas.
3 birds with 1 stone.
June 2, 2020
I am not sure deep fried fish and chips is all that healthy. I always discard the all the batter myself.
June 2, 2020
correct! COD Chish and Fips are too often fried in lower temperature oil, and starting off wrong with a poor stodgy floury batter. A good beer based batter cooked hot and allowed to cool for a minute prior to slapping on a plate with well cooked fat chips (or takeaway wrapped) does wonders.
Almost the one time I will add plenty of salt and vinegar.
A feast – – — I’m getting hungry thinking about it.
June 2, 2020
“this island nation set in a sea of fish ”
The post today made me think of some fish we had at home, bought from the local supermarket, not that long ago.
The reason i remember it is because i looked at the label on the packaging and was surprised by what i read .
The fish was called River Cobbler and it came from Vietnam !
Only today i looked online for some info and there is plenty if you are interested .
June 2, 2020
Unfortunately we are big consumers of cod and haddock supplied by Iceland etc. Much of the British caught fish is now exported. Farmed fish is outside the scope of this issue.
June 2, 2020
No
June 2, 2020
The Lockdown judicial review in the High Court has forced the Government to publish the SAGE minutes.
The minutes show that the Government was soley focused on a single strategy of locking down the country to keep the contagion rate down. They did NOT discuss other strategies of protecting the vunerable and protecting the liberty of the healthy.
It appears the structure of the scientific software was unable to be reconfigured to protect the constitutional rights and economic well being of the country.
So the Government made a blanket assumption that everybody was at risk. This shows the software and the Governmnet were being unreasonable.
Here are the minutes from the SAGE meeting before total lockdown.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/888785/S0385_Seventeenth_SAGE_meeting_on_Covid-19_.pdf
June 2, 2020
The nigh on half century of the theft of our fish has meant that most of the population are unaware of how important fish had been in the national diet: the fish was fresh, it had not been obtained by raiding the nurseries before the fish had matured and it was typically served in a sauce, not encased in a greasy coating of batter. Once fish stocks have recovered, the government should encourage the media to promote food programmes featuring fish dishes; by which time, white fish would have grown large and plentiful on a diet of mackerel and we would be able to enjoy the Englishman’s staple once again.
June 2, 2020
All fish caught in UK waters must landed at UK ports and harbours.
June 2, 2020
I cannot understand why the U.K. is reportedly seeking to recreate the European Arrest Warrant in negotiations with the EU. The EU is using this as an excuse to lock the U.K. into the European Convention on Human Rights and also ECJ jurisdiction.
The EU reportedly issues 10x as many EWA warrants to the U.K. as we do in the other direction. If the EU wants this scheme let them ask for it and we set the very costly
for them.
We should not be seeking a security relationship with the EU in these talks. By stealing our entire contributions to their Galileo GPS rival they already showed they are unreliable allies even in peacetime. The EU27 are not worth a drop of British blood.
June 2, 2020
Correct
Apparently the East Europeans are the worst issuing warrants for motoring offences and some things that are not even a crime here.
They are ruinously expensive to operate so we should go back to the old ways.
June 2, 2020
Oh no, the second was in Bulgaria. Well I’ve driven in lots of places.
June 2, 2020
That’s the spirit Freeborn John- the EU27 countries are all out of step- and then I see where we’re back to talking about British blood again- sounds to me a bit like “when the looting starts the shooting starts” etc. But don’t worry John the talks will be finished by Friday- they’ll all want to get away on their Hols
June 2, 2020
JR
Here is your beloved USA going up in flames because of racism and injustice to a suppressed minority and all you want to talk about are fish counters.
No doubt you would have chosen a totally different topic if that was happening in any of your hated EU countries.
June 2, 2020
“USA going up in flames”
“suppressed minority”‘
You’ve not been to the USA have you.
June 2, 2020
Have you considered working for the BBC. You have a headline style of nonsense they would go for.
Suppressed minority -factually correct but idiotic term.
Going up in flames….numerous street protests we’ve had over and over and when did White America do anything about it?
We’ve had street protests in the UK – whatever happened about them?
We witness regular street protests in France – nothing ever results.
June 2, 2020
The BBC seem determined to stoke up flames in the UK.
June 2, 2020
They do indeed World at One yesterday was appalling.
June 2, 2020
@ margaret howard – Why are you seeking comment on the USA? We left in 1783 and, matching your present view on the EU, it is surely nothing to do with us.
June 2, 2020
Remind me, margaret howard, who was said to be fiddling while Rome burned?
June 2, 2020
MH
“No doubt you would have chosen a totally different topic if that was happening in any of your hated EU countries.”
He has chosen a different topic, so I don’t see what your gripe is. It might not be the kind of topic you wish to discuss, but we don’t get got decide what he writes about on his own website.
Evidently some people are impossible to please.
June 2, 2020
Margaret Howard – WAKE UP and take your head out of the sand, Turn off the TV, ignore the Fake News MSM and do some research on subjects before making coment.
News is NOT just what happens it is what a fairly small group of people DECIDE is news. Look who owns the MSM and then you will understand the narrative.
June 2, 2020
Sounds vaguely like something from Life of Brian ? The only fun part of all this “how lucky we are to forced to buy British things ” is the prospect of high profile politicians being obliged to purchase dreadful British cars again .
Sir Redwood driving a TR7 or Marina with a fixed grin would cheer us all up
Reply I have a UK built car and it is a good vehicle
June 2, 2020
My last 4 have and future ones will be.
June 2, 2020
Fat lot of use insurance clerks in a pandemic.
More production engineers would have done us the world of good.
June 2, 2020
@Newmania
“the prospect of high profile politicians being obliged to purchase dreadful British cars again .”
Firstly they do use British Built cars, check the next news from Downing Street etc, you’ll see them leaving in Jaguars.
Secondly said politicians very rarely buy these kind of cars, you pay for them via your taxes as they’re official government vehicles ( or maybe hired as needed )
Thirdly there is nothing wrong with British cars, I have a Jaguar…best car there is in my opinion, provided you have one that was made in England.
June 2, 2020
Steve I have a Land Rover and it’s difficult to choose between LR or Jaguar. Both brilliant cars.l
June 2, 2020
@Newmania; Stop showing your total ignorance of motor cars, both the TR7 and Marina were dammed good cars (for the period), you obviously never had to drive or worse, work on a Fiat X1/9 or most of the French cars of the period – oh and don’t start talking about rust…
June 2, 2020
the Marina was bloody awful (boring or what!)- and the 1.8 returned better mpg than the 1.3 says it all.
Some famous makes were rust buckets in a very few years, and never lean on the wings of several, can’t think of a decent French one.
June 3, 2020
@Fred H; “the [Marina] 1.8 returned better mpg than the 1.3 says it all.”
Back in 1971 mpg didn’t worry most people…
But I agree, it does “says it all” – how daft many companies rules were when it came to the allocation of fleet cars, those under a certain pay-grade could not have more than a 1300cc engine, the next pay-grade 1800cc etc.
The fleet market was very important to BLMC,, just as it was to the competition from Ford, Roots and Vauxhall. And it is the Fleet market that you need to judge these cars against, had it not been for the Rally success of the Cortina & Escort both would have been as boring as watching paint dry!
June 3, 2020
The Cortina GT wasn’t boring – I had one!
Couldn’t get my hands on a Lotus version though!
June 4, 2020
@Fred H; Over a million people bought or ran the BLMC Marina/Ital [1] here in the UK alone (and before you ask -no I wasn’t one of them), your point being what, considering your second sentence seems to be making my point for me.
You need to judge the car -any car- on its intended market position, in that the Marina was more than a success, actually selling beyond expectation and its intended production life, the model was intended as a short term stop gap (replacing two older models, hence the two engine sizes), instead customer demand kept the model in production for over 12 years of the Marina and the face lift Ital.
[1] and considering the breadth of the BLMC model range, often competing with each other, those are healthy sales figure.
June 2, 2020
Reply to reply
Is it a UK car though or one just assembled here?
June 2, 2020
We never buy anything except British built cars and none have let us down. You know what you can do with your BMW’s.
June 2, 2020
Open the pubs
This is just spite on the working classes
June 2, 2020
Why “on the working classes” and who are they, especially?People wo go to work for a living? That’s about 99.5% or more .Most don’t go to pubs
June 2, 2020
“Open the pubs”
No, they’re too noisy. It’s been wonderful not having their racket during the last few months.
June 3, 2020
Who are you expecting to go?
In most out-of-town places the big spenders in them were retired people. They won’t return until the risk of their getting a conceivably fatal disease is reduced to negligible, as it has been in e.g. Spain – which has now closed its borders to UK people, along with Greece, Cyprus and no doubt more before long.
This country is lagging the responsible world very, very badly.
June 3, 2020
The ‘working class’ are allowing pubs to close (prior to Covid) at an alarming rate. Why is that?
Could it be that ‘Free’ pubs have too many costs, taxes?
Managed pubs have to pay staff out of profits – difficult to make any!
Trendy bars, clubs get away with extortionate prices where customers feel they get value for money!
June 2, 2020
What an embarrassment watching our high & mighty MPs voting today
An utter disgrace in design, implementation and deliveryā¦.and the whole world was watching, what an absolute shambles
Solution ā mobile phone voting app (like the rest of the educated world)
June 2, 2020
What’s wrong with going into work?
June 2, 2020
well you have to ask yourself ‘why do we need 650 to make usually very straightforward decisions’ . Me and a few selected patrons of this site would do nicely, just a bit of advice from Sir John might help sometimes.
June 2, 2020
they should be at work but the new mechanism for voting was just pathetic to watch
June 2, 2020
@glen cullen: “and the whole world was watching, what an absolute shambles [..//..] Solution ā mobile phone voting app”
MP’s had a secure website, accessible via both smart-phone and website, that enabled them to vote electronically, the Leader of the house decided to abandon it – why….
As a democrat I smell something fishy – phew, back on-topic, just!
June 2, 2020
fishy indeed
June 2, 2020
I think MPs should vote in person, as I think the electorate should during elections. Democracy is important, it should be seen to take place and should not be trivialised by apps or online voting. That said, it certainly demonstrated much about the 2m distancing rule. I hope it helps the Govt realise the ridiculousness of expecting the economy to recover and save future lives under such a restriction.
June 2, 2020
I’ve calculated that between 10-15% of parliamentary time is wasted in the HoC by the current voting method…..that system needs reform, and a simple app is the answer
June 2, 2020
@Caterpillar; But secure electronic voting is ‘in person’, unless someone has been careless with their PW etc!
“it should be seen to take place”
Except we, the plebs, have never been allowed to see MPs voting in a division before, certainly not during live proceedings of the House.
As for the 2m rule, that wasn’t the problem, it was the sight of MPs having to file one by one past a teller – the only thing the 2m rule did was exaggerate the absurdity.
June 2, 2020
reminded me of tom brown school days, can we please enter the 21st century
June 2, 2020
I disagree. Digital voting is fine, and preferable to having to turn up to some random sports hall at the end of the day. Would probably increase participation, so better for democracy in fact.
June 2, 2020
Two of the Opposition were in shorts and sports shirts and one in studiedly shabby jeans.
Perhaps Sir John will explain to us why he voted with them twice. I couldn’t work it out.
Reply Because I think the system of voting is a complete waste of time. I want electronic votes until the summer recess then the resumption of normal votes as soon as possible.
June 2, 2020
Thank you. That makes sense. So long as it isn’t giving an inch which will turn into a yard. It was a great pity the proxy votes were granted. MPs should at least pretend to hear the debates they are voting in.
June 3, 2020
@rose; “MPs should at least pretend to hear the debates they are voting in.”
If MPs have to be in the chamber to hear the debate, as a prerequisite for voting, that would either stop most of the govts Minsters from voting or stop Whitehall…
Electronic voting could still be used even when social distancing and shielding are no longer necessary.
Perhaps our host might, one day – perhaps during the summer recess, explain why so many believe the lobby voting system is better? With it being some what secretive to outsiders, I believe only once shown in a documentary, it is hard for us plebs to get a better understanding of the advantages.
June 2, 2020
UK should abandon dumping of fish back in the sea, where the catch size, type, market demands support it. The often dead fish is a scandal, food for the gulls and crabs at the ocean floor – much we could eat at much more affordable pricing.
Who decides this nonsense? – 3 letters E U K, make a protectionist organisation out of 2.
June 2, 2020
All fish caught in UK waters must landed at UK ports and harbours.
June 2, 2020
yep…..but we can sell to export to our ‘friends’ across the channel unless ‘3rd countries’ would like it all?
June 2, 2020
Darwinism is seeing mature fish becoming smaller.
June 2, 2020
It is indeed a scandal and has been one for many years thanks to the EU. Government as usual making a pigs ear of things. Just as they have done to the motor/energy/banking/education/housing/healthcare/employment and many other industries. Tax, fine, licence, rig the markets and regulate to death – their favourite activities to generate endless parasitic jobs all over the place.
June 2, 2020
Today our MPs voted to remain the 18th century
June 2, 2020
The biggest factor in being a victim of COVID 19 is being male.
The PHE report doesn’t mention this at all. Nor does the BBC.
Wrong victim group, I suppose.
June 2, 2020
Agree with your sentiments Mr Redwood.
I’d like to see every fish & chip shop have cod on the menu. Too often I go to one in my area and he has no cod, so I just walk away.
June 2, 2020
Remember the mantra about ‘fish on fridays’
June 2, 2020
Why just Fridays? That is surely a Catholic thing and even they now allow another penance. Not that eating good fish is a penance!
The Catholic Church defined meat as the flesh of warm-blooded animals, so eating fish is permitted on Fridays. The practice of abstaining from meat on Fridays is centuries-old, but in 1985 the Catholic Church in England and Wales allowed Catholics to substitute another form of penance in its place.
June 3, 2020
It was an excellent practice (not just a British but a pan-European tradition), as the fishermen knew when to catch the main haul of fish in order time it for certain purchase by retailers (and could then take the weekend off on land), the fish-shops and market-stalls could put out a large display in the confidence it would find customers, the restaurants could put it prominently on the menu, and the customers knew it would be fresh.
These days, except for eye-wateringly expensive fish restaurants, fish languishes on the a menu as an alibi item, negligently prepared, poorly garnished and rarely ordered.
Again, the British shopper will happily pay a princely sum for Japanese seaweed, but dulse, kelp, Welsh laverbread and other superb mineral-supplement sea veg proliferating on our coastal shores is ignored.
June 2, 2020
My hope is that we get the fish back completely, conserve it properly, and the trade revives. Goodness knows, our coastal communities could do with the living and we could do with the healthier food.
June 2, 2020
“some retailers were closing fresh fish and meat counters anyway” – yes, Sir John, but you do not say why: it is the result of profit-chasing looking for ever-lower costs and overheads.
The British consumer can lament the loss of fresh fish counters till they’re blue in the face, but if the supermarket virtual cartell of monopolists decide the retail staff specialised enough to keep and sell it are ‘too expensive’, and they can offload packs on shelves or just sell meat instead, that’s what they’ll do – until they are legally obliged to alter their ways to help the nutrition deficit and poor eating habits that have made the country so conspicuously prone to corona deaths.
In any case, fresh fish outlets are better off outside the supermarkets, so roll back some of the pernickety red tape and let them open. The consumers have been starved of really fresh fish for decades: nobody now opens a fish stall to become a millionaire, and it may need support to get it going. The nation’s health is at stake, and politicians should be acting urgently to introduce the appropriate legislation.
But then I’m afraid some of your colleagues appear to really detest the idea of actually legislating to improve the country.
June 2, 2020
Crikey, so you’d legislate to force shops to sell fish. What next, are you going to legislate to make me buy fish? Or eat it? Perhaps you’d like to look up the word “liberty” in the dictionary. And while you’re at it, look up “red tape” as well.
June 3, 2020
Legislation is needed to remove or at least ease the stringent, corporatist EU regulations that have hamstrung SME fishmongers for decades and allowed the corporate supermarkets to restrict what customers are allowed to buy so as to maximise their profits.
The easing of regulation liberates trade.
The rest of your fanciful ‘interpretation’ is… just that.:-)
June 2, 2020
The supermarkets are working closely with govt so John was on the ball spotting this
June 2, 2020
I see Germany is proposing a Europe wide state subsidy on all new car purchases.
Really bad idea for lots of reasons.
If people want to print more money to stimulate the economy just give it to individuals to spend as they choose, and let individuals voting with their wallet pick the winners not blomming politicians allocating it to one industry or type of car etc.
June 3, 2020
Germany doing the proposing:- well they would, wouldn’t they?
Passenger car production 2018:
Germany 4.6m
Spain 2.2m
France 1.7m
Czech 1.4m
UK 1.3m
Slovakia 1.1m
Italy 0.5m
Hungary 0.5m
Romania 0.5m
Poland 0.4m
Portugal 0.3m
Sweden 0.3m
June 3, 2020
Have we devised a method of controlling the proportion of the fish in our waters caught by EU fishermen, mainly Dutch, French and Spanish? It will involve a bureaucratic system of licensing nominated boats and sufficient patrol boats / warships to keep others out. I think, Sir John, that you need to ask for a defence review because we will need to boost our navy.
As we move into the second half of the year, we need to plan enforcement methods on a number of trading issues. And Barnier needs to be told that if he delays UK exports to the EU, the cost of those delays will be deducted from our exit bung.
June 3, 2020
I would like to see more wet fish stalls at local markets. We have some very good farmers markets but the range of wet fish stalls seems to have diminished. The big supermarkets are only in the big conurbation areas.
June 3, 2020
Zero rate fish & chip takeaways. Then watch demand increase.
+4 years later we are still bound by EU laws.