If the U.K. thought it should send both the Prime Minister and the Speaker to represent it at the G7 the other states would object that Ā the U.K. was over represented. If the mighty USA sent both the President and the Majority Ā leader of the Senate that too would have seemed silly or unfair. Yet if you look Ā at the photos of the meeting of the G7 you see nine people present. Sure enough the EU had sent not one but two Presidents, the President of the Council and the President of Ā the Commission.
This absurdity famously spilled over into a row between these same two Presidents in recent negotiations between the EU and Turkey. The President of the Council who I think is technically the senior bagged the one large official chair for the EU rep, only for there to be very public complaints from the President of the Commission. The EU needs to get its act together and decide in each meeting or negotiation which of its 5 Presidents leads the delegation and sits in the one chair they should be awarded like the countries present.
There is at the G7 a more serious and worrying issue. The EU has five of the nine seats, sending three member state Heads and two Presidents. On an issue like vaccines which is a crucial issue at this summit the EU has run the policy for its member states, so on that issue just one EU rep should engage with four independent countries. If these intimate gatherings of a few leaders of powerful countries are to be valuable they should not be slowed down by the EU giving five versions of what they will do on vaccines.
On Ā issues where member states have some powers but have to work under the legal and policy framework of the EU as in green matters and economic policy it would be helpful if they settled in advance who was in the lead and who could speak for them. There will inevitably be much groupthink and common policy between all 5 so it does not need all 5 present and talking to represent that one viewpoint. Decisions of the Ā G7are usually by consensus, not vote, but having a majority of the voices could distort the debate and give the EU view an unjustified numerical advantage over the US or U.K. view.
June 12, 2021
Indeed and this is particularly of concern when EU policies are, in general, so profoundly misguided.
So Boris has gone completely mad, another insane months delay to unlocking causing huge economic damage for no advantage and he wants to build back better, with more idiotic green wash and green crap and more āfeminineā to it seems.
Does anyone want to build back worse? So how many builders and construction workers are female, surely less than 10% and far, far less than that on the front line. It seems woman are not that keen on building jobs at all currently.
June 12, 2021
I see that we are nearly at a 60/40 split female to male ratio for undergraduates now 3 women for every 2 men. Though in stem subjects it is more like 24% women and rather less that that if you define STEM rather more rationally and tightly. Many men seem to have worked out that University Degrees (outside a few subjects) is a rather expensive con trick. Women on the other hand often work part time and take career break so far less likely to repay their student loans. So the loan system is also anti-male in its effect.
So why does Boris really want us to build back in a more “feminine” way? If you want millions of high wage, high skilled jobs it does not seem the right way to go.
June 12, 2021
Also 75.8% of teachers in the UK are women it seems.
June 12, 2021
Lifelogic, did your wife obtain a degree? Do you have daughters?
June 12, 2021
Yes in English and Italian, one son and two daughters.
June 12, 2021
Lifelogic, what does your wife and daughter think of your comments about women taking degree and obtaining loans being anti-male and not good value for money for the government? Or is it any woman other than your wife and daughter.
You remind me of my mother, when at 16 she told me that college was wasted on a girl and I could earn Ā£3000 by the time Iād be coming out of college with no guarantee of a job! Oh and sheād found me a job because she couldnāt afford the bus fare anyway.
Iād like to add Iāve spent a lifetime doing courses at my own expense to make up for this decision and an education is never wasted on a woman, our most important job in life is to bring up healthy, happy, children who hopefully are full of ambition and verve.
June 12, 2021
Oh, also when I ran my previous comment to you past my husband he reminded me that it is only one of my important jobs the other is to keep him happy, turns out I get full marks for that one too lol.
June 13, 2021
@ A-Tracy – I did not say education was wasted on women at all please read it again. I merely pointed out that on average women pay back far less of their student loans due to more women choosing to work part time, with slightly lower pay and taking more career breaks. Also that we now have 3+women for every 2 men at university and the relatively low proportion of women reading Stem subjects.
These are merely statistical facts. You are reading things into it that I did not say and do not think.
June 13, 2021
Lifelogic, you might find more women forced into degrees by the public sector that value degrees highly. Women are quite sensible and work out that working for the public sector especially in jobs that can go part-time, flexitime without the performance targets and sales levels of private sector jobs or to choose lower hours and long holidays to match their childrenās timetable like teaching are the way to go because trying to get a job to match education hours at that high a pay rate per hour plus a fantastic pension is very difficult in jobs without guaranteed income from a passive client voice that has no say in what you offer them.
June 12, 2021
A UN world survey of teaching at different levels shows that the UK is not so different from other European countries (data.worldbank.org search for Primary Education, Secondary Education, Tertiary Education).
June 12, 2021
Lifelogic,
Two posts.
āGreen crap and university degrees.
Thatās all your bases covered I think.
June 12, 2021
It sounded to me as if he was sending it all up. Someone has to. Though he was serious about the 12 years of education for girls.
June 12, 2021
I don’t think he meant anything by it. He was just rambling and trying to say woke things. Pitiful for a Conservative Prime Minister.
June 12, 2021
Boris trying to be liked and everyoneās best buddy isnāt working.
June 12, 2021
Agreed LL. We should not allow these globalist jollies to have influence on our government; indeed we would be better off if Boris didn’t attend. We have enough problems with him being subservient to the Green Crappery, Wokery and other propaganda. We need government and PM to base decisions on reality.
June 12, 2021
A far more important meeting took place at the end of May when Yang Jiechi was in Moscow for four days of talks with the Russians about further deepening their strategic relationship.Yang is the politburo member for foreign affairs and one of the most important-if not the most important member-after President Xi.
No razzamatazz,no comments officially or unofficially from either side other than “The Sino-Russian relationship is at it’s highest level in history”which I’m sure is absolutely true.
June 12, 2021
I’ve just read that Boris and other ‘democratic countries’ have committed to ensuring that a ‘global pandemic’ can never happen again. Any thoughts on how they might do that? The megalomania of these people knows no bounds. The extra-terrestrials we have been hearing about had better scarper in case ‘vaccinating the world’ proves too modest an objective.
June 12, 2021
Perhaps they have plans to ensure the closure of the Wuhan research lab?
June 13, 2021
Just look at the G7 photos (the ones not staged-managed). To the world elite, there are no pandemic restrictions. One rule for them…
June 12, 2021
Yes, the EU is very powerful. Yes, countries in the EU magnify their power through membership. Yes, the world listens to the EU, where it wouldn’t listen to a single European country on its own. Are you finally waking up how much self-harm Brexit has done to the UK?
Reply All nonsense. EU membership takes power away from member states who lose their own voice in vote in world fora
June 12, 2021
Indeed, Garland, and let’s have a look at how many presidents the UK has – all unelected:
President of the Law Commission.
President of the Supreme Court.
Lord President Of The Council (Rees Mogg)
President of the Board of Trade.
President of the Queens Bench Division…
…and so on.
Reply None of them shadow the PM and try to speak for our country with Heads of government from other countries
June 12, 2021
The European Union’s representatives primarily only speak for its institutions which they represent, not for any of its countries’ national business.
Of course, they will express solidarity on behalf of all with any member e.g. the Republic of Ireland, over any particular difficulty that might affect it.
June 13, 2021
solidarity? – -you know you mean ganging up, in other words bullying!
June 12, 2021
MiC were these presidents all at the G7 meeting? Where was their picture with the other unelected leaders if they were?
June 12, 2021
So you write a post complaining about the extra power states in the the EU enjoy. Then you reply to me saying that states in the EU lose their power. I really think your anger has deprived you of the power of rational thought.
Reply They do not have extra power but less power and then clutter up international talks with their own internal squabbles
June 12, 2021
What power – even UK parliamentarians have no power – extra power? less power? All bunkum
June 12, 2021
Too powerful! It can force it’s idiotic decisions upon it’s members with impunity. Just look at the vaccine fiasco. It would have been extremely difficult to have made a worse job of it!
June 12, 2021
I totally agree with you Shirley
June 12, 2021
Totally agree with you Garland
June 12, 2021
Do you really think the world doesn’t listen to Germany and France?
June 12, 2021
Garland
When I see EU leaders parading in front of cameras, I always thing of a PTA or Boy Scout Committee.
They come across as a desparate group with sharp elbows who want to join the big boys.
June 12, 2021
Think not thing.
June 12, 2021
“Influence” is a weak man’s substitute for control, Garland.
June 12, 2021
And now the UK has neither influence nor control over any aspect of the European Union.
The converse is patently not the case, however.
Congratulations.
You have exactly for what you voted.
June 12, 2021
Didn’t vote for that Martin.
Remember what it said on the ballot sheet? Leave. That’s what we voted for.
June 12, 2021
Influence….one vote in 28
Ridiculous as usual MiC
June 12, 2021
Martin, We have wrested control of Great Britain from the EU’s sticky mitts – which is (partly) what we voted for. The EU empire still controls Northern Ireland. Which we voted against. But which you wanted. You prefer mere “influence”. You got it. It’s bad isn’t it? Own it.
June 12, 2021
So….. had we remained in the EU, we would have been one voice in 27 of which we had not much say anyway… which is why we left. Duh !
June 12, 2021
So NickC where do you thing Uk’s strength lies today?
seriously – in the face of the US, China, the EU, where is UK?
June 12, 2021
@Garland – Absolute nonsense, the only problem is the EU has to punish the UK to assert its unelected unaccountable rule, other wise others will follow. The EU has dishonoured the trade deal with the UK from the get go- the EU can export to the UK but they have created artificial barriers and refuse to talk about UK trade with the EU as laid out in their own rules and laws for those leaving the block.
June 12, 2021
nota# unfortunately I guess you were/are misinformed.
When the UK left the EU on 31 January 2020 there were 11 months of supposedly intense discussions about trade led by Lord (David) Frost. A quasi day-to-day diary of these discussions over four years and a half is available from M.Barnierās āLa Grande Illusionā. It is obviously written by the guy leading the other side, but it is not really difficult to see within its 500+ pages how unprepared the UK was just after the June 2016 results, how the hardly won 2017 GE impeded proper preparations given that the various factions of the CUP were trying to influence the usual culprits (tabloids, Telegraph) and feeding the public different stories (including Sir Johnās little if not lies but certainly very biased views) and some positioning themselves for the PMās position. Then after July 2019 and the 2019 general election contrary to what a number of contributors here appear to think, it was the UK that was to propose what it wanted given the very reasonable and well known (since at least the EU Lisbon Treaty, voted 2007, enforced 2009) limits of the EU.
The British delegation, as Brits have done again and again over centuries, thought the other side could not be āseriousā and tried āto divide and ruleā. Unfortunately, the calibre of the top British people (Davis, Raab, Barclay, Frost) was far below what they think of themselves. They were taken at their own pitiful game by EU people, maybe not more clever but certainly much better prepared than the UK negotiators were, when Johnson decided that the end of the transitional period at 31 December 2020 would not be moved any further (not that there was much support on the EU27 part for a further extension, but it had been offered). So Johnson and Frost hurried up (without reading or at least understanding or possibly thinking that whatever was signed could be changed ā¦ because āWe Are Britishā) to sign the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement on 24 December 2020.
If the UK wants to further diminish its standing in the world, the Government and its āsupportersā (maybe half of them being Reform Party supporters, as seems to be the case reading this blog) just have to go on with their present behaviour, suicidal in terms of international collaboration.
And for the ridiculous on this blog who not long ago was enjoying the idea of the Republic of Ireland siding with the UK, what planet are you from? In 2020, the GDP per person in the RoI is $84k, the UK one $40k. (countryeconomy.com āCountry comparison Ireland vs United Kingdomā). Why do you think the Irish would want a diminution of their standard of living?
The less than absolutely polite contributors on this blog who call others āold fogeysā or the like might have a point: the uninformed talking to the misinformed and the deliberately mistaken?
June 14, 2021
A rather pompous post from you as usual heffy
Only you can be right.
You should arrange a night out with Andy, MiC and Jerry
June 12, 2021
The eu can export all it likes but I will not buy from them. Not one penny
June 12, 2021
Good morning.
I had a look at the G7 website and noted that it includes guests. I also noted the, “Build Back Better” slogan was included in its main page guff. Clearly they are ALL on message š
June 12, 2021
Indeed, Mark B, any politician that trots out the slogan “build back better” is one who worships the spirit of the age – the god that demands the sacrifice of my warm home, my gas boiler, my car, and my foreign holiday. Or else – catastrophe! The Christian God is dead; and in its place our leaders have no more idea than to revert to the primitivism of an Earth god.
June 12, 2021
In your Politeia pamphlet you say:- “Let us accept that they
will for the foreseeable future make cutting CO2 a central policy
requirement.”
Probably a reasonable assumption given the misguided fools with zero grasp of science or economics we are government by (hence the extra month of lock down). But the reality is there is no real climate emergency at all and even more clearly the “solutions” proposed (EVs, wind, PV, electric storage, tidal, wave, heat pumps, hydrogen, battery cars, public transport, bikes…) will make no, trivial or often even negative differences to world wide CO2 and other greenhouse gasses – let alone to climate.
Your pamphlet link:-
https://www.politeia.co.uk/wp-content/Politeia%20Documents/2021/June/John%20Redwood%20-%20Going%20Green%20-%20How%20Should%20UK%20Policy%20Proceed.pdf?_t=1623077740&mc_cid=281f7c613b&mc_eid=UNIQID
June 12, 2021
I do not accept that.
I will vote to change that policy. So will the majority of people when they start paying the enormous unnecessary costs, and have absurd changes foisted on them.
A new political party will form if all of the existing parties swallow this guff.
June 12, 2021
‘A new political party will form if all of the existing parties swallow this guff.’
Breaths must not not be held.
June 12, 2021
I hope the Tories will (rather like the Home Sec.) just be hot air at COP then no real action on this as the net zero policy is insane. But it would be good if Ms Patel actually did something more than hot air for a change.
June 13, 2021
It looks like in 2023 there will be 7 new constituencies in the south east of which 2 are on the Isle of White. So there appears amply opportunities for new parties to establish themselves.
Two years for hopefuls to start making themselves known, to get established.
I am in a proposed new constituency and await such developments with interest … but not bated breath.
June 12, 2021
+1
June 12, 2021
Thanks for the link. I read the paper, which relies on the CCC’s Sixth Carbon Budget report as the underlying scenario. Having looked at that report in some depth, it is plain that there are a lot of assumptions about technologies that do not exist, and hidden assumptions about sharply lower economic welfare, as well as technically infeasible proposals that ignore the need for dispatchable backup and storage on a vast scale.
Having looked at the potential for renewables in many different settings, I have found that they result in much higher costs. But once you start trying to go beyond about a 60% share of supply, the problems and consequent costs start escalating rapidly, and the problems of inadequate supply during periods of Dunkelflaute, and unusable surpluses at other times, with storage being far to expensive to bridge from one to the other across seasons or between years become insurmountable without full backup. The CCC projections are pure fantasy.
June 12, 2021
“That big boy over there, he’s got lots of friends, and nice toys, it’s not fair, I want them too”. It would be funny listening to you Brexiters sobbing about how weak Britain is now – except I’m British too and I have to live with the consequences of your decision to put Britian in the slow lane, with no influence
June 12, 2021
Britain is clearly far stronger now with power restored to Westminster from the anti-democratic EU.
A shame Boris has become a daft, climate alarmist tax borrow and piss down the drain socialist who wants to build back in a more “feminine” way through.
June 12, 2021
Aye…
June 12, 2021
The EU is either a country (in which case it sends one President) or it is an association of different countries, in which case each of those countries sends a President, and if truly democratic then differing ideas should be offered.
At present it is doing both and behaving like one country and loose association of countries, which is cheating which ever way you look at it. Do you want to be a cheat ?
June 12, 2021
Having their cake and ā¦ etc?
June 12, 2021
Is the EU one of the P5?
June 12, 2021
Malone, Canada, USA, UK, Japan are all there because they are sovereign countries. The rest being part of the EU are not. Name a subject and they all have different views. One of them isn’t even economically viable. They can all be seen to say one thing and do the opposite. The EU is the ineffective sheepdog only capable of attempted control of the lame sheep.
The danger to the UK is following the green crap religion, not leaving the sclerotic EU.
Who wants influence, almost always a product of overwhelming military might. The requirement for the UK is commercial success for every citizens benefit. There is much basic work that needs attention in the UK. Perhaps unintentionally your first sentence epitomises the EU.
June 12, 2021
I’d be happy if the ‘big boy over there’ didn’t keep threatening us unless we give him our pocket money and let him examine the contents of our lunchbox.
June 12, 2021
O dear. The real world is tough. Big boys get their own way. You should have thought that through before voting for Brexit.
June 12, 2021
Grey, so in your new world order of wokeness do you think it fair and just that ābig boysā bully others and especially those that were āvoting for Brexitā as you claim. I thought the whole purpose of this new woke lifestyle is supposed to treat everyone equally and not discriminate against minorities. Iām offended now is there a court perhaps that we could go to as a victim of bullying š.
June 12, 2021
Malone, I see the Remain mot du jour is “influence”. What do you want “influence” for? To be able to steer the rest of the EU to the UK way of thinking? And how did that go when we were in the EU, eh? Only being able to “influence” proves weakness. At least now, we can control what happens within our own borders. Except of course in Northern Ireland. Which rather proves my point.
June 12, 2021
If you have a single impacted toothache the extraction of that one tooth is good but if the dentist takes out all your teeth it’s a disaster. The Remainers say that Brexit is a disaster. There is nothing wrong with Brexit only how it has been handled.
June 12, 2021
Yes, you do have to live with the decision. So do so.
June 12, 2021
Surely the German Chancellor can represent them all? A much greener solution too.
(Is use of the descriptive term “Evil Empire” still ok please? I should be reluctant to relinquish such as it is so apt.)
June 12, 2021
I was also wondering why the EU president was present, as well as state representatives. The EU want their cake and eat it by allowing the representatives of individual countries AND the EU. Surely they should choose one, or the other. Likewise with Embassies.
Who decides which countries (or organisations) attend these meetings and partakes in the consensus? I would like to know who makes these decisions.
June 12, 2021
The SNP plan to open ’embassies’ across the world it seems:-
SNP ministers are attempting to boost foreign presence with new “embassies” across several countries.
Taxpayers money to burn it seems.
June 12, 2021
I wonder if their “diplomats” will be given status under the Vienna convention, or whether they will be treated like a business. Which countries are going to establish embassies in Edinburgh, and which buildings is Sturgeon eyeing up for them? Has she costed her diplomatic protection squad? And many more similar questions.
June 12, 2021
Shirley, Exactly so. Either the EU, or various European countries, not both.
June 12, 2021
Like, what you or John think might affect this?
Thanks for the hoot.
June 12, 2021
Boris as leader of the host country agreed to this formation – nobody else
June 12, 2021
This time Boris decided.. he is the host
June 12, 2021
The EU should it even be there? It’s not a country. If it is allowed there should only be one President. As usual the EU side is top heavy. Not good for the rest of us.
June 12, 2021
Itās not a country – well not quite yet.
June 12, 2021
The European Union is unique.
There has never been anything like it in human history on this planet.
Yes, it makes people think, and rightly so.
June 12, 2021
No, the EU is not unique, Martin. Walther Funk (Reich Minister for Economic Affairs, 1938 – 1945) came up with the same idea in about 1942.
And Napoleon before him – ““I wished to found a European system, a European Code of Laws, a European judiciary: there would be but one people in Europe” declared Napoleon nearly 200 years before the EU.
June 12, 2021
Napoleon also wanted to make Tsar Alexander I “his mistress”;that didn’t end well either.
Every globalist (inevitably) comes up against Russia….and loses.
Looking forward to Biden v Putin?
June 12, 2021
Plus the Holy Roman Empire, plus its derivative the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and so on.
June 12, 2021
The USSR.
June 12, 2021
Nonsense again MiC
History has many examples of failed empires that have tried to turn individual nations into one uniform blob.
The EU is just a more modern example.
June 13, 2021
it makes people think ‘another attempt to build a dictatorship running the lives of sheep’.
June 12, 2021
Turbo, Remains had the luxury of portraying the EU as one state, or merely a group of friendly “independent” states, to suit their whim. Someone should have told them we saw through their subterfuge.
June 12, 2021
There’s a lot wrong with the G7. It’s meetings are too expensive. And the idea of inviting guest countries is dumb. But my biggest concern right now is that our PM is intent in delivering a policy agenda that Labour and the Lib Dems might have delivered had they won in 2019. It’s time that the 1922 gave him a stiff talking to. I’ll not vote Conservative again until Fred Scuttle has been driven into retirement.
June 12, 2021
Fred who?
June 12, 2021
One of Benny Hill’s characters. You can find some clips on YouTube. Take and look and then tell me he isn’t our PM.
June 12, 2021
Yes I see the similarity. Benny Hill was also quite popular.
June 12, 2021
It’s time Boris found his spine. The doom mongering of SAGE not wanting to relinquish their control.
They will never get zero civid without destroying the country. Maybe thats the plan.
June 12, 2021
It amazes me that anyone votes for any of the current main political parties. Boris has lost the plot and the opposition is even worse. As soon as he started using the phrase Build Back Better I knew he was a NWO plant. Voters need to wake up and oust these charlatans before our economy is ruined.
June 12, 2021
Christine
I fear that itās already too late?
June 12, 2021
Christine
“Voters need to wake up and oust these charlatans before our economy is ruined.”
You state that the opposition is even worse, however what Johnson intends for everyone in this country has become personal. For some it’s immigration, for others it’s BRINO, for me it’s the thinly veiled surrender of NI to the cowardly RoI and the threat to petrol supply.
Everyone has a reason these days to hold Johnson and his party in utter contempt.
Personally I don’t see much difference between Labour and Tory……except the fact that Mr Starmer appears straight talking whereas Johnson is an act, and I cringe at Johnson’s oratory especially when he uses the word ‘to’……which he exresses as ‘ter’. The pronunciation gives away this common con merchant.
I shall be voting for the opposition. It’ll be worth it as far as I’m concerned just to see Johnson’s lot well and truly punished for the way they’ve betrayed this country. And until now I’ve been a conservative voter all my life.
June 12, 2021
+1
June 12, 2021
Sea Warrior, Forgive me for being sceptical of your threat, but the Conservative party makes the calculation that sometime and reluctant Tory voters can always be brought on back side because dislike of the hard left exceeds dislike of the Tories.
Labour make the same calculation, of course, in reverse. This time, though, Labour came a cropper over their policy of overturning our Leave vote at the Referendum. So something is stirring. Perhaps that’s why, having given us BINO, Boris Johnson is now governing with Jeremy Corbyn’s policies.
June 12, 2021
The Tory leadership and establishment know they can get away with pretty much anything. None of their MPs in particular who claim to disagree or oppose have enough gumption to make any real trouble, and voters just vote without realising how they are being deceived.
June 12, 2021
Nick C
“the Conservative party makes the calculation that sometime and reluctant Tory voters can always be brought on back side because dislike of the hard left exceeds dislike of the Tories.”
Nick, that is a gross miscalculation by the tories.
June 13, 2021
I hope so, Steve.
June 12, 2021
Ah yes the chair incident.
Anti-EU as I am, I don’t think I’d have tolerated Ms Der Leyen being treated that way. I was brought up to give up my seat to a lady.
I think the uncivilised slob should have been extracted from the chair by his ear and made to give it up for Ms Der Leyen.
June 12, 2021
Eeeeeek!
I know men who have been half lynched for less by the ungrateful recipient of a polite gesture.
āWimmenā donāt like it you know!
Let them get on with it.
June 13, 2021
Indeed, Steve would not get a degree in Woke.
June 12, 2021
The EU organisation are unlikely to to forego an āunjustified numerical advantageā, though drawing attention to it may possibly discomfort it.
Anyway, it is only Western Europe and North America that are represented. The faster growing BRICS do not take part. They may have very different views on vaccines and certainly on green issues too.
Meanwhile it is an opportunity for Boris Johnson to voice meaningless slogans like āBuild Back Betterā.
I wonder how the dance around the Northern Ireland Protocol will continue ?
June 12, 2021
I wonder who BJ thinks is impressed with such nonsense?
Do they truly believe that having made such a mess of everything they have the capacity to create an improved world?
Ohā¦maybe just for themselves? But how far down the pecking order will that apply?
Useful idiots cast aside first!
June 12, 2021
It surely doesnāt matter because, apparently, the EU is going to collapse in 5 years. A Brexitist told me. Lolz.
June 12, 2021
And a Remain told me that there would be 55,000 extra penpushers at HMRC by now.
June 12, 2021
Well, we’re short of 30,000 lorry drivers, apparently.
They seem to have returned to eastern Europe for some reason.
June 12, 2021
Great job opportunities for UK citizens eh MiC.
June 12, 2021
Martin, Remain told us there would be 800,000 jobs lost as a direct result of leaving the EU. So the 30,000 lorry drivers can easily be found in the ranks of that 800,000. Lolz . . . .
June 12, 2021
MiC seems like a good opportunity for UK rail freight for long distance trunking as all the greenies want then.
June 13, 2021
well we are not buying – so the drivers can go home to be unemployed.
June 12, 2021
The G7 are France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan, the UK and USA . Russia once was , but was excluded after the invasion and annexation of Crimea. It is suposedly a collection of the Worlds most advanced economies, but on that criteria alone many smaller but more competent economies should be present. How about Monaco for instant. A perfect example of how the seriously very wealthy and the not so wealthy cohabit in harmony. On no criteria should the EU be present. It isn’t a state, I would not even describe it as a commonwealth. It is a collection of bickering countries that cannot a agree on what they are or where they are heading, because they are all driven by national self interest. They don’t even qualify as part of the Anglosphere. I see them, like Russia, China, Palastine, Iran,and Burma as one of the problem areas of the World. All problems for different reasons.
They the G7 get together, they preach, pay homage to a false religion within which they have even invented a new satan, CO2. They do nothing big about mans capacity for creating detritous, destroying wildlife or polluting the planet. They talk top down, science and engineering free solutions that only impact on mans basic freedoms. Then on Monday they will jet back to their lairs, to for instance, importing vast quantities of gas into Germany from Russia without batting an eyelid. It might ensure Germany’s continued economic dominance, while we think we can electrify everything while lacking electricity for current needs nor the infrastructure for our sparky future. In this area we are a king naked and oblivious.
June 12, 2021
Agricola, The EU is an empire. Kim Jong-Un is a king. Modern political correctness cannot disguise either.
June 12, 2021
If the EU is an empire, it is dying before its creation. It is merely an idea split 27 ways, whose application is equally divided. Best go back to a clean sheet of A4.
June 12, 2021
The G7 is just the USA and it’s vassals and tributaries(a number of whom are still under US occupation-for their own good,of course!).See also “international community.”
June 12, 2021
Itās a fact of political life. You are closer than anyone watching the Tories morph into Social Democrats without complaint as far as I can see so your natural home is with many of the parties in Europe.
And in reply to,Jerry yesterday who didnāt read my blog closer enough. If I am quarantining for 10 days that means I have no social interaction at all so why do I need two tests when after 10 days the incubation period is over?
Indeed having to go out and get the tests puts people at more risk than if I had stayed indoors. We now see out infection rates are higher than many parts of Portugal so I will be safer over there!
Itās bureaucracy boleaux.
June 12, 2021
Nig1, The ONS all death graph shows three peaks over the last 18 months. The mean time of infection to death for covid19 is approximately 4 weeks. In every case the peaks come significantly less than 4 weeks after the untargeted national lockdowns. Or, to put it another way, subtracting the 4 weeks from the dates of the peaks results in the peak of infection occurring well before the lockdown start date. So none of the three lockdowns have worked.
June 12, 2021
Or in other words the authorities were three times too slow to call the lockdowns. Isnāt that a conclusion that can be drawn from your comment?
June 12, 2021
Same peaks observed in Sweden with no lockdowns.
June 12, 2021
No, Hefner, because disguised within your claim that “the authorities were three times too slow” is the implicit assumption that lockdowns work (as in: ‘if only we’d had earlier lockdowns things would have been better’). That’s circular reasoning because you cannot start with the assumption that lockdowns work. In fact the real life evidence shows that the reduction in deaths began despite the untargeted national lockdown.
June 13, 2021
NickC, so do I have to understand that you think that a flare-up in infections just disappears after a while without any need for any measures? Interesting. If it is the case, could you provide me a list of countries that went for your approach and subsequently did not have an increase or resurgence of infections. Thanks in advance.
June 12, 2021
A family member was pinged by track & trace and advised to take a test. She tested negative but was still told to isolate. What is the point of having the test?
June 12, 2021
None of the Above
The first thing that I did was delete the Track and Trace app and refused to be tested ā¦ sorted!
June 12, 2021
I heard that the oh so clever organisers/politicians of the G7 didnāt even think to warn Biden that his limo would not squeeze down Cornish Lanes. Oh my! Even the Great Leader didnāt think of it?
Why in any case are they skulking behind vast security? Why donāt they have the guts to stand by their policies and face the public?
June 12, 2021
EH, Do you want the PM to be slapped the way E.Macron was?
June 12, 2021
Yes, repeatedly until he sees sense on a number of issues.
June 12, 2021
+1
June 12, 2021
Hefner
YES
June 12, 2021
+1
Perish the thought!š
June 12, 2021
hefner
“Do you want the PM to be slapped the way E.Macron was?”
Yes, and then some.
June 12, 2021
An EU representative should not be there at all as it is not a nation state. Any Attendee from a State that is an EU member can easily brief his or her EU Presidents at a late date. If those EU Presidents have any orders or instructions for their subordinate, they can brief him or her before they attend.
June 12, 2021
We can save Freedom Day by telling those few who are yet to be double-jabbed to wear N95 masks (perhaps the Govt could provide them free) and/or self isolation.
Anyway.
Back to the boycott.
June 12, 2021
Boris has declared that taking the knee is non political.
How can he justify NOT him taking the knee now ? And seeing as he is about to cancel Freedom Day, taking the knee in a mask ?
He has also said that a Catholic marriage is superior to an Anglican one.
All of this in one week !!!
June 12, 2021
Apparently the NHS has been instructed by our lovely government to now report figures for āpositiveā tests and people who are actually ill ā¦.separately!
Wellā¦wellā¦.why so interested in accuracy at this late date?
Took their time didnāt they?
June 12, 2021
Wonder if that is an attempt to make it look as if the govtās policies ( as ordered from from on high) worked?
All ready for the next āpandemicā.
The Global War Against Microbes!
June 12, 2021
āBuild back more feminine ā why?
Ask most women if they want thisā¦ most women would either prefer not to work to enable them to bring up their children or work part time which is a good balance of time and child rearing.
What are all the men going to do if more women take the jobs- not many choose to be house husbands?
And the EU is not a countryā¦ itās a ātrading blocā remember.
Also, G7 get together, I thought that having diplomatic immunity in Cornwall meant that Covid is off limitsā¦seems Covid didnāt get the email for that one.
And for the record, Malone, Britain isnāt weak now, but our leaders do need to step up to the mark with regards to our best interestsā¦.and stand up to the EU who are a hostile body.
June 12, 2021
Sharon I would prefer to stay at home and home make while my wife goes out to work.
I earn more (longevity rather than discrimination) so that option falls to my wife. A fact I regret daily
June 12, 2021
Illogical …but so is the G7. Its supposed to be the worlds richest ” advanced”, nations, which in effect means powerful Western Countries plus Japan, no China India Russia etc. Of the assembled economic might, the UK accounts for 6%c., the US 44%c. the EU 33% c. . It would make zero difference if we had an entire chorus line of tap dancers in tails there.
Anyhoo, it is now clear that the UK`s ill considered fawning over Donald Trump has fatally alienated main stream America, leaving us with no ally in our increasingly bitter dispute with the EU .The visceral animosity, formerly known as the,” Easiest negotiation ever “,currently concerns the UK` unwillingness to implement the deal on Ireland it has just agreed. Excellent.
The UK chose Brexit, then hard Brexit, and then to have a border in the Irish Sea. It signed an agreement , took the gains, ( the deal … you will recall much crowing over ) but dislikes the consequences.
I need hardly say that this is everyone else’s fault. In the words of E. Costello ” I used to be disgusted , now I try to be amused “
June 12, 2021
No, Newmania, it never was the “easiest negotiation ever”. Liam Fox observed – since the UK and EU started off with identical regulations – that it “should” be the easiest negotiation. Of course it wasn’t because of the hostility and intransigence of the EU which could not bear the thought of a successful UK. As ever, the EU’s position is short-sighted – it will make us turn away from the EU even more. Who in the UK would trust the EU now?
June 12, 2021
Nick C
“Who in the UK would trust the EU now?”
Not many that’s for sure, also buying British in the supermarkets is very poular now.
June 12, 2021
Newmania
I failed to notice any fawning over Donald Trump, I got the impression that they were very hostile towards him, Johnson couldnāt wait to welcome Biden, the breath of fresh air!
June 12, 2021
I am in total support of the EU and anti Brexit
For me itās good to see the EU becoming more powerful on the World stage.
Interesting to read their could be a trade war between the EU and UK over NI
If the USA join the EU in sanctions the UK Gov will be in a very difficult position.
Oven ready deal was the phrase used I wonder if the Gov actually thought they could ride over the EU once the deal had been signed?
I think this G7 summit is the start for the EU on the world stage and countries will see the EU as the voice for all Europe
This will be more so when Scotland becomes independent and returns to the EU family
I take a 10 year forward looking approach and in my opinion the EU will be very powerful and a super power in its own right
Itās good to see the US starting to recognise the EU as an equal.
Reply. dream on. Biden is out to put them on his agenda
June 12, 2021
Off you go then. Have a good journey and I hope you will be very happy in your new Home.
June 12, 2021
David Brown, People who support a foreign power over their own country are traitors.
June 12, 2021
Put me in the tower
Along with millions of others
June 12, 2021
David Brown
There was a referendum which your side lost, how about being grown up and accepting the result?
Itās called DEMOCRACY !
June 13, 2021
He, like I do, does accept the result.
We just think that it’s rubbish, and accept John’s kind invitation to express our views and to pass on our knowledge where they might be apposite.
Then there’s this thing called freedom of expression, and democracy too.
Millions of people want a different relationship with the European Union from the one that you do, and we’ll work to see if we can get it.
OK?
June 12, 2021
That’s put a big smile on my face, David Brown.
June 12, 2021
Your reply has put a big smile on my face
I will smile even more when whatās left of the UK joins the EEA in the future under a different GOV
However as you suggest for now I will bask in the glory of dreaming on
June 12, 2021
David Brown
Enjoy it while you can, because if history repeats itself you and your kind are in big trouble.
June 12, 2021
The ICAO sets international air travel rules at a global level, which are then handed down the line to be implemented at regional and then national level.
ICAO officially designates the the European Union as a Regional Integration Organisation (RIO). Although the EU has an official representative to the ICAO, and has observer status only, as adherence to the founding Chicago Convention is open only to states. So far as ICAO is concerned, the EU is not a State.
June 12, 2021
And in other news Brino is confirmed once again as we sell out fishing allowing the EU to plunder our stocks.
June 12, 2021
Well as hosts we had the opportunity to point out the over-representation and correct it. Why not invite the fastest growing countries rather than the large sluggish ones? They’re clearly the ones getting things right. Israel, on vaccines. Singapore, on trade. Australia and NZ, on working on Chinese influence and as islands insulating themselves against pandemics.
June 12, 2021
Boris is having so much fun on holiday in Cornwall heās had to tell the newspapers heās cancelled unlocking – no time to waste telling Parliament about it. Why do you lot put up with that ?
June 12, 2021
Sweet talk and promises.
An ardent but faithless lover who can charm the birds out of the trees.
The same charm wins elections and poll ratings but the promises are always empty.
The tories like winning!
June 12, 2021
AS the EU is not a recognized country surely only the heads of states from G7 countries should have attended — but this is how the EU are – so immature they want to make sure they are recognized and sitting with the big boys. The host should have made things clear.
What concerns me more about the G7 meeting, more than the theatrics of the EU, is what is being agreed in closed meetings, in the corridor and even along the beach, as well as at the big table:
What else will Boris sign off on to make our lives even more miserable?
June 12, 2021
Yes, Bryan Harris, that list greatly concerns me too. We shall have to think of ways of resisting all of them, not just politically, but by refusing to do what we’re told. There are two problems with idiotic laws: they’re idiotic; and they bring all law into disrepute.
June 12, 2021
Bryan Harris
Thereās a telling what Johnson has up his sleeve, but it sure doesnāt involve Parliament!
The worst PM ever ..governing by Diktat
June 12, 2021
No telling!
June 12, 2021
AS the EU is not a recognized country surely only the heads of states from G7 countries should have attended — but this is how the EU are – so immature they want to make sure they are recognized and sitting with the big boys. The host should have made things clear.
What concerns me more about the G7 meeting, more than the theatrics of the EU, is what is being agreed in closed meetings, in the corridor and even along the beach, as well as at the big table:
What else will Boris sign off on to make our lives even more miserable?
But what about the PM’s opening address – “In an absolutely BIZARRE opening address to the G7 summit Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that we need the world to be ‘more gender neutral, feminine and green’. “
June 12, 2021
France, Germany and Italy’s (and still to a large extent the UK’s )economic and domestic policies are dictated at EU level. There is no reason why even one representative of the EU should be there. The EU is not a country. I do not see NAFTA or ASEAN or UN representation.
The EU punches above its weight at these junkers. Is it because it is white?
June 12, 2021
The EU punching above its weight, Narrow? No, the EU just likes punching smaller nations. And Remains cannot see anything uncivilised about that.
June 12, 2021
The fact it is there when NAFTA and ASEAN are not suggest it is punching above its weight Nick.
But yes it does excel at subjugation of the easily cowed.
June 12, 2021
Will be interesting to see how the Current internal EU spat will turn out, that EU law is superior to that of any of its single nations members, so why are individual EU nations present at all ?
Think this separate argument has a way to run as yet.
Surely whoever hosts any meeting is in charge of the invites, yes ?
June 12, 2021
Aren’t the EU the host !
June 12, 2021
Alan, Declaration 17 (Lisbon treaty) states that EU law has primacy. EU sub-states, and Remains such as Andy and Martin on here, are fully signed up to that. Which, when they claim that the 27 are “independent”, merely demonstrates that they don’t know how the EU empire works.
June 12, 2021
NickC
Indeed it does, but now the EU is talking about taking individual Nation EU members to Court to absolutely prove that fact, because some Nations are getting restless, and starting to become difficult.
Also recently suggested by Germany that all veto’s will be stopped, in the interests of solidarity.
Interesting times ahead.
June 12, 2021
Easy mistake to make; its actually a meeting of the G7 ( and Charles Michel, he of the ultra sharp elbows) not Boris Johnson’s nostalgically self-indulgent beach party.
June 12, 2021
I took a glance at the free online Daily Express today and apparently you āblew you topā John about this issue š. Donāt question the EU machinations the Express journalists donāt like it, apparently you are expressing anger with this calm little tweet āThe EU at the G7 can be represented by Germany, France and Italy, three voicesā. I always like to read left wing group newspapers.
Martin and other remainers tell us on here on a daily basis that the EU isnāt a Country. That is has little say over sovereign issues, yet it is over represented in a group that it doesnāt belong to, not just with one head like Biden to represent the whole of the USA but with two heads to join the other three EU member Countries, if the EU Commissions seeks to take a Presidential role then surely there is no need for Merkel, Draghi or Macron to attend. Seeing all five at the brilliantly arranged photo opportunity to show how united they are is like taking a look at Medusa.
This is now a group of nine, lets hope itās not majority vote as usual in matters the EU want to push through.
āGroup of Seven – The Group of Seven is an inter-governmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The heads of government of the member states, as well as the representatives of the European Union, meet at the annual G7 Summit. As of 2018, the G7 represents 58% of the global net wealth, more than 46% of the global gross domestic product based on nominal values, and more than 32% of the global GDP based on purchasing power parity. The seven countries involved are also the largest IMF-advanced economies in the world.ā Wikipedia.
June 12, 2021
The EU just likes to feel important
June 12, 2021
No, it is important. There’s the US, China and the EU. And every country which exists in the shadow of the big three. Sorry to bring news of the real world to you
June 12, 2021
I thought you told us we shouldn’t talk about the EU because, being out, it was no longer important to us? Dear me, do make up your mind.
June 12, 2021
Grey make your mind up if the EU āis importantā as there is āthe US, China and the EUā then why are Germany, France and Italy there if theyāve handed over to the EU?
To see Boris sucking up to these people who are behaving discriminatory against the UK and heās doing nothing about levelling up the playing field they are playing on is sickening.
June 12, 2021
The EU isn’t a nation GF
June 12, 2021
Grey Friar
A slightly sinister presence !
June 12, 2021
Front page of Express.
Lead story.
š
June 12, 2021
It’s all about the seduction of power. They’ve gatecrashed the party because they’re basically insecure and the knowledge they gain feeds their lust for power. The prime aim for the EU is, in fact, to establish the initial benign “in”, from where they can slowly ingratiate themselves and exercise their more hostile influences. So, the benign G7/EU meeting in the margins of the 24 March 2014 summit, has evolved to where Ms von der Leyen can usurp Ms Merkel at this years summit (photos).
We have our own example with NI, now feeling the hostile effects of allowing the EU to park their tanks on UK soil, handing them the “in” to interfere in UK-wide policy and controlling the narrative. The fault is all ours, because we consistently and willingly hand this untrustworthy, malevolent force the weapons to damage us. Why?
June 12, 2021
Indeed, why, BJC? Why does Johnson allow the EU to park its tanks on UK soil? I suspect we’ll never know the truth. But one thing we do know is that he will keep up the bluster until he thinks we’re no longer paying attention. A bit like Patel forever threatening crack downs on illegal immigrants but actually doing nothing. Remains insisting we mustn’t look at what the EU is doing is part of that process of manipulation.
June 12, 2021
I would go further and say the EU should not be represented at a group of nations making national decisions and commitments, just as the EU should not be represented at the Court of St James masquerading as a nation. Other trading blocs are not represented and quite right too. Even FATGA is not represented – yet.
June 12, 2021
Spot On
June 12, 2021
The President of the EU Commission was there to make sure the President of the EU Council behaved himself politically. Just like the Commissars in the USSR.
June 12, 2021
The EU has been invited to the G7 for years. A union of 27 of the worldās wealthiest countries is a major player on the world stage – economically, diplomatically, politically. It deserves a strong voice alongside great powers like the US and Japan.
The question now is why should Little England still be a part of the G7? Little England is now an irrelevant little backwater where the tinpot dictator – appointed by a minority – has negligible support in swathes or the country.
In any case such is their awesome power, all of the other G7 members can still legally sell sausages throughout their own countries. Maybe one day the rest of Canada will erect an internal border with Quebec in sympathy with the Brexitists. Or perhaps the US will put a border around Minnesota – ghastly place. But, frankly, I donāt expect they will ever be quite that dim.
I am exceptionally proud to be a European. And whilst the Brexitists can temporarily steal my legal rights they will never remove my identity. And the reasons the Brexitists are so scared as they know the vast majority of younger people think like me.
June 12, 2021
It is true, Andy, the EU’s awesome power means it does prevent us from selling sausages within our own country. You are proud of that? Really? It figures, such is your blind hatred of your own country. Yet the nastier the EU is, and the more Remains such as you unthinkingly crow about the EU’s power over us, the less likely we are to rejoin.
June 12, 2021
Iām a remain and believe in close alliance with the EU
I donāt want the UK to rejoin the EU
I want the UK permanently locked into the EEA and to like Switzerland
Then there is no article 50 for leaving
This idea is already starting to circulate and I feel a future lab lib and Scots pact can make this happen
June 12, 2021
David Brown
Arenāt you concerned about the Democratic implications of your master plan?
Donāt referenda carry any weight, the majority voted to leave, doesnāt that concern you, how would you feel if remain had won and leavers were frantically trying to undermine the result ?
Whatās sauce for the goose!
June 12, 2021
You are funny. The EU is simply demanding that you Brexitists implement the deal that YOU negotiated, that YOU signed into law, that YOU fought an election on and that YOU had nearly every Tory MP vote for. We were told by all the Brexitists that the Withdrawal Agreement was āoven readyā – we were told both it and the trade agreement were āgreat dealsā.
And yet now you whine that the EU is being ānastyā for demanding you stick to the terms of the great deal you agreed. How awful of the EU.
June 12, 2021
Andy, The 2019 general election offered us a choice of rejoin or BINO. You may think that’s funny, but I don’t. Nor is it funny for Northern Ireland to remain in the EU’s single market, which is your preference. The only vote I had on this issue was at the Referendum, and Leave won. I have not voted on it since.
Bear in mind that the EU has pledged to respect the integrity of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Of course no one expects the EU to honour that pledge. Not even you.
June 12, 2021
You’ll never be allowed to rejoin – not for a thousand years – too much trouble
In the meantime you’ll be allowed to sell sausages or you won’t be allowed sell sausages – depends – so better behave
June 12, 2021
Really, another 1000 year Reich?
June 12, 2021
So European now andy.
Thought you were telling us you are a citizen of the EU?
June 13, 2021
Good point, Peter.
June 12, 2021
Like the NI protocol Boris knew and accepted the terms of the group dynamic before attending the G7 ā he does have history of agreeing to everything EU
With ambassadors everywhere, attendance at UN and the G7 is the EU a fully fletched country in its own right
June 12, 2021
Sir JR,
The world is facing significant problems, like climate change, Covid, economic disequlibrium and many more significant challenges, that the G7 have to deal with and you talk about the over-represntation of the EU.
What a waste of time, can’t you come up with something improtant?
June 12, 2021
Bill Brown, There is no significant problem with the global climate.
June 12, 2021
Is this the G7 or G27?
At the Eden Project Queen’s photo-shoot a few EU spares were spotted looking like unwelcome guests on the fringes pretending to be friends when in fact they looked like silly sausages surplus to requirements.
June 12, 2021
I asked my friend in Hong Kong what he thought of the G7ā¦he said āwhats that, is it a drink like 7upā
The rest of the world are unconcerned about western power politics and PR summits
June 12, 2021
The question should be why are France, Germany & Italy there? They have all sold their souls to the EU super state project.
Also, why are they disturbing the peace of a small Cornish village? With a great big aircraft carrier moored just off the coast have your cosy chats on that. Not to mention the policing cost… These people really know how to waste money…
June 12, 2021
I do not see why the EU should be represented at all. The three largest member States of the EU are already at the table as genuine members of the G7 and that should be enough.
After all, the EU is most definitely NOT a State.
One so-called EU President could be invited, but only as an observer, that would be a fair representation.
That person should not be accorded the same status as Scott Morrison, Moon Jae-in, Cyril Ramaphosa and Narendra Modi who are all elected leaders of Democratic Countries. Neither EU Presidents are elected in the true democratic sense of the word.
June 12, 2021
PS : Biden likes to blow his tenuous Irish ancestry out of all proportion so one could say that Ireland is also represented at the G7.
June 12, 2021
@ChrisS, it would appear from the BBC Sussex is the birthplace of the Biden’s that crossed the Atlantic to Maryland, and are said to be Joe Biden’s direct descendance. When you need to get elected in the US saying you are from English stock is a ‘so-what’ moment, say you are Irish and you secure 10% of the vote
ref: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-57394351
June 12, 2021
But then neither the British prime minister nor the American president are āelectedā in the true democratic sense of the word either. But Brexitists seem to struggle with this concept.
June 12, 2021
But the UK’s Prime Minister is not the UK’s Head of State, Andy. You know, a Head of State like President Macron, the chap who got his face slapped and who is facing violent riots in Paris over his proposed reforms to working hours and pensions.
June 12, 2021
Andy, Both the PotUS and the UK PM are democratically elected, but the president of the EU Commission is not.
June 13, 2021
Just like you seem to struggle with the idea of majority wins in a vote!
June 12, 2021
I think it is a good idea to have EU nation states represented at the G7 and thus for the UK to be able to converse with and influence each of the elected representatives of these states rather than be simply faced with an unelected EU bureaucrat with their own axe to grind.
June 12, 2021
So that the G7 then becomes bigger than the G20?
June 12, 2021
Did you mean the Northern Ireland Protocol supporters are over represented at the G7? Biden has issued a diplomatic Demarche, the EU says patience is wearing thin. Extending again, to 2022, the time without full import checks is putting the wind up WTO members. The UKās special treatment of EU imports for an extended indeterminate period, is against WTO rules, which require countries to treat their trading partners equally. Alas, the ERG 62’s obsessional stalking of the EU is probably the only way they can keep the holy grail of a “no-deal” Brexit simmering.
June 12, 2021
“WTO rules, which require countries to treat their trading partners equally.”
Wrong, as you have almost certainly been told before.
https://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/tfa-nov14_e.htm#art7
“4 Risk Management
4.1 Each Member shall, to the extent possible, adopt or maintain a risk management system for customs control.
4.2 Each Member shall design and apply risk management in a manner as to avoid arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination, or a disguised restriction on international trade.
4.3 Each Member shall concentrate customs control and, to the extent possible other relevant border controls, on high-risk consignments and expedite the release of low-risk consignments. A Member also may select, on a random basis, consignments for such controls as part of its risk management.
4.4 Each Member shall base risk management on an assessment of risk through appropriate selectivity criteria. Such selectivity criteria may include, inter alia, the Harmonized System code, nature and description of the goods, country of origin, country from which the goods were shipped, value of the goods, compliance record of traders, and type of means of transport.”
NB, selectivity criteria may include “… country of origin, country from which the goods were shipped … ”
NOT, you must all trading partners the same.
June 12, 2021
Yes, here we are once before, in March 2019, and although we discussed it then you still refuse to take it in:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2019/03/19/maybe-you-cannot-keep-asking-the-same-question-in-parliament/#comment-1005135
That was over two years ago, and I see that my reply concluded:
“Youāve been told this before, and more than once, but even so you still try on the same old nonsense.”
June 12, 2021
Denis, you continue to display your naivety in these trade matters. And, as you have recently reappeared on this site, after you went off in a huff when JR blackballed some of your comments; can I suggest you research “risk management experience in WTO dispute settlement”. Let me know if you need me to explain anything.
June 12, 2021
In the meantime you could answer the point, which you failed to do on previous occasions.
June 12, 2021
And are you sure that you wish to refer me to a book published in 2001:
https://ideas.repec.org/h/elg/eechap/2242_4.html
to refute provisions of a treaty which came into force in February 2017?
June 12, 2021
You’ve been rumbled, Acorn, stop digging.
June 12, 2021
Acorn, why do you think the people here support the UK giving special treatment to EU imports?
June 12, 2021
Because “the people here” keep buying loads of EU stuff and holidaying on EU beaches.
BTW, have you noticed in your Parish that, like mine, “leave” voters don’t want to talk about Brexit anymore? Which is the exact opposite of UK mostly Conservative voting expats retired to France and Spain.
June 12, 2021
We have accepted we have left the EU acorn
Unlike you.
June 12, 2021
No, Iāve not noticed, I had a conversation just now outside with a man about Brexit. Iām in the North West are you?
June 12, 2021
I have noticed that too. All Brexit voters change the subject when you ask how well it is going
June 14, 2021
6 month out, after over 40 years in the EU and you really think it is time to make a proper long term view of how well it is going Cora?
June 12, 2021
Also acorn, how do you know what the people āhereā buy with their money? Iāve not been into Europe for a couple of years. Every time I hear of a product that we are having problems with the EU trading I stop buying EU produce and find British alternatives to support the local traders and I recommend that course of action to others. Luckily Aldi and Lidl have got on board and 75% of the veg and food products they sell are now UK made. Shame it is only the German supermarkets that have cottoned on, but I also heard Waitrose and the Co-op have started to label more and sell more British goods. Iāve a feeling Anchor and Country Life are going to have a good year and British made sausages with British bred meat, letās wait and see.
June 12, 2021
Except that Leave voters on here have been told by Remain voters on here to stop talking about the EU, Acorn. Which we ignore, of course. I’ll happily talk about Leave any day. And one day I hope we’ll get it.
June 12, 2021
Sir John,
All this talk of the G7 and yet I’ve heard almost nothing of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. It’s as though it never happened.
At least at the G7 we were treated to the spectacle of old Joe wandering around lost in the outdoor dining area of a cafe, much to the amusement of the customers. While wearing a suit and noticeably large white sneakers.
June 12, 2021
The media is only permitted to tell negative stories about Russia-and when it can’t find them it has to make them up!
I’m not joking.Ask the Ministry of Information.
June 12, 2021
The EU is grossly over represented at the G7
It comes back to the situation is the EU a Country or a Trading Block. If it is a Country then why are Germany and France there. If it is a Trading Block then why isnāt NAFTA, Mercosur, AFTA etc there. The other trading blocks account for more of the World Trade than the EU, yet are excluded.
This was a gang of Merkel, Macron, YSL and Michel with one aim to get the UK back under their control and maintain their undemocratic power as a protectionist block.
The Channel Islands, The Isle of Mann were and are still not in the EU, yet the UK could always trade with them with out an outside power defining how they should be ruled.
In part Boris has made the personal mistake of believing the as the PM of the UK he was also PM of the Channel Islands.
We voted leave – not BRINO.
June 12, 2021
Exactly true, Nota.
June 12, 2021
One big irony that has come out of this get together, from Biden a World tax. He has forgotten his roots and the start of US independence – no tax without representation.
As he will remember (or maybe not) the last time a tax was imposed in the US by others it caused a war.
June 12, 2021
Agree – The EU is not a country but it likes to think so. EU out, Russia and China in. Even if they do not think like the WEST and the Biden America . We may not be comfortable but there is a G9 like it or not.
June 12, 2021
Agreed the EU is not a country but rather a collection of the richest wealthiest twenty seven countries in europe bound together for reasons of the four freedoms – wow!
June 13, 2021
Pieter, So the EU empire is “richest wealthiest 27 countries in Europe”? And the biggest market on the planet. And one of the big boys. And will punish puny Britain. And your Dad is bigger than my Dad, no doubt? How old are you, 12?
June 12, 2021
I’ve never understood why the EU has *any* representative at the G7. It is clled the G7, after all, and is for the leaders of the most important democratic sovereign nations to meet. There is no reprentative of NATO, or the UN, or the OECD, or any other organisation, and neither should there be an EU representative (let alone two!). But the real fault lies with Boris Johnson. He is the host. Who he invites is up to him. So why did he invite the EU? He should simply have omitted them from the invitation list. But once again, he didn’t have the guts. The man is a disgrace to Britain.
Then again, it is clear that Boris has been completely emasculated. Hence his embarrassing nonsense about a more feminine policy. It is clear that he is now simply the puppet of the unelected Lady Carrie Macbeth.
June 12, 2021
@X-Tory – Agreed
for the leaders of the most important democratic sovereign nations to meet Then Boris sits the un-elected un-accountable at the top table. Or maybe that’s the new World Order if your mates and chums in your club suggest you should rule and not the people that is the new democracy. May be that’s what’s in store for the UK
June 12, 2021
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-57453004
“The disagreement between the UK and the EU is over the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol, a measure in the Brexit deal which prevents checks on trade across the Irish border.
Some checks are taking place on British goods entering Northern Ireland, causing disruption to food supplies.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “Currently as implemented, the protocol is having a damaging impact on the people of Northern Ireland.
“We need to find urgent and innovative solutions.””
How many times have I heard that, during the tenures of both Theresa May and Boris Johnson?
But whenever a rational alternative solution is proposed it is either simply ignored or it is outright rejected.
Why is that? Is it to do with the carefully cultivated delusion that we need a special trade deal with the EU?
June 12, 2021
Keep going, Denis, eventually it must penetrate their thick skulls.
June 12, 2021
That, plus the other carefully cultivated delusion that the Belfast Agreement somehow abolishes the political and economic border between the UK and the RoI and leads the way to handing over UK citizens to the tender mercies of the RoI. It does no such thing, though you could be forgiven for thinking that history-ignorant Westminster MPs have only contempt for Northern Ireland’s UK loyalists. They spit on the very word. Yet loyalism means a patriotic adherence to and support of the UK: something many MPs would do well to emulate!
June 12, 2021
First of all let’s get one thing straight the Unionists in NI for fifty years after the foundation of the NI state was founded had a chance to deal with the nationalist people there in a decent and fair manner – but they didn’t. So now it seems according to mancunius it’s ok to keep nationalist irish people to the yoke of unionists domination but not ok for unionist people to live with an irish majority. Well the word is that demographics is takeing over and it us only a matter of a short while. Then after Scotland gets independence there will be no more UK there will be no more GB either all of the treaties signed in centuries back will be null and void – so you see where i’m coming from ‘ eejit
June 13, 2021
There’s no independence within the EU either, Peader.
June 13, 2021
Thats all fine with me, how about you?
June 12, 2021
Sir John, given your concern for Britain’s fishing industry I am astonished that you have had nothing to say about the latest sell-out of our fishermen. While the latest fishing deal does give British fishermen a very small increase in their permitted catch, it also allows EU fishermen an UNLIMITED amount of non-quota species. How on earth can this plundering of the seas around our coast be sustainable or good for the long-term of these species? Clearly it isn’t, which is why the UK-EU TCA stipulates that the UK will impose limits on the catch allowed of these species. But instead Boris the Betrayer has FAILED to do so. There is not even going to be any assessment of the health of the fish stocks.
YOUR government claims that the decision not to place quotas this year is due to āthe unique situation this yearā. Perhaps yu could tell us precisely WHAT is “unique” about this year? The only thing I can think of is Covid, but clearly this is not relevant to the amount of fish that is caught, so it can’t be that. So what, precisely, is it that means that quotas cannot, or should not, be imposed?
Reply I opposed the fishing agreement, have urged them to ban ultra large vessels and oppose this decision.
June 13, 2021
SJ, has the Bill now passed through the HoC, unopposed by the majority?
As our elected representatives, MPs should be made to explain their voting decisions lest we lose more democracy in this country.
Over the past decades we have seen too many self-serving MPs consistently go against the wishes of their electorate, who were eventually removed via the Ballot Box. But look at the damage they did before they were thrown out.
And there lies the problem, we really only have our democracy for one day in every five years. And that is not good enough.
June 12, 2021
“The EU is grossly represented at the G7” more than that it is like these huge multi corporations that are so big and powerful that they have to be broken up by law – same should happen to the EU it should be broken up disbanded scattered because we say so and it doesn’t suit us.
June 12, 2021
Since when was the EU inducted into G7? Why not admit China too? They are both managed by neo-marxists?
June 12, 2021
The G7 is not a club it can be anything – it can be a figment – it can be make it up as you go along
June 13, 2021
What you mean like Remain?
June 12, 2021
This is a typical example of a dialog of the deaf. The fans of the EU will actually *define* power as EU membership, despite the fact that legally and by Treaty, the EU members have surrendered power to the EU.
We have been here before. In the heyday of Soviet communism we regularly heard that Soviet citizens had more power than we did because the State acted on their behalf, and that they had more rights because they had a written Constitution.
And back then, just as today, people with a certain cast of character obsessively defended these ideas, and even interpreted the abuses of the Soviet Union as necessary corrections to those who did not understand how privileged they were to be Soviet.
This isn’t a debate about systems. It is a debate between people who can live their own lives, and those who have to have authority figures to tell them what to think and what to do, and how straight their bannanas ought to be.
June 12, 2021
In my view what is grossly unacceptable is the military oppression of our waters, airspace and land by US forces. I oppose the demonstration of their killing power on our land. Their armed paramilitary forces are not wanted.
Do you think US behaviours are those of a trusting friend Sir John?
June 12, 2021
If the G7 say they can plan to prevent future pandemics then either there is something about the Covid-19 pandemic which they are not telling us or else they’re all believing they’re King Canute.
June 12, 2021
Where the EU has primacy, it would make sense as JR suggests, for it to attend these jollies as the member states have relinquished their control. There should, as for other members, be one representative. This would emphasis to the EU member states that they have no individual voice on the world stage on that matter.
Similar considerations would apply at other international fora, eg the United Nations, particularly when there is a High Representative for the EU foreign policy and continuing talk about EU control over some armed forces.
I doubt this will be acceptable to the EU member states, so other nations/ members will need to take the lead. The UK, perhaps?
June 12, 2021
A lot of people take their news at face value, and I suppose those people think that Biden, Johnson and the EU are in Cornwall to fight something out. In reality, international meetings are choreographed well in advance and the public appearances simply confirm what was decided weeks before.
What we see today is a very much over-telegraphed bit of comedy in which Biden “leans on” Johnson. Now think about that. Johnson is going to risk being humiliated at his own Summit? Biden is going to tell Johnson what to do and being told to buzz off? No-one holds an international meeting for the pleasure of experiencing a domestic political disaster.
All that will happen here is that Biden will return to Washington assuring his base that he told off “the Brits”, but everyone knows that the NI situation has to change, and not in the direction the EU would prefer, and Macron will go on trolling the UK while seeking the protection of a close British alliance – it’s an election year.
NI is shaping up as a mini-Brexit. The EU shows up with all guns blazing, and three months later we will see that the situation has been quietly adjusted in favour of the UK. To paraphrase Reagan, you can win anything you want as long as you let the other guy fly pretty flags for his voters.
June 12, 2021
The G7 are not discussing the most important issue, which is not CAGW as evidenced by the fact that the planet has been steadily warming since the last glacial maximum 22,000 years ago and hence well before any man made CO2 entered the atmosphere.
They should be discussing how to curb population growth and massive flows of migration.
Or are these issues not considered a problem for them as after all Mrs May did sign the UK up to the UN Global Compact for Migration without any vote in Parliament, let alone a referendum.
June 12, 2021
This time Boris decided.. he is the host
June 12, 2021
My point about writing is to get my message through to the principal but if it gets lost like being suddenly deleted.. ah well I understand.. happens in other countries J have lived in as well. But am surprised about censorship in Britain
June 12, 2021
Once again state the obvious on this site which does not comply with the Establishment narrative and it does not get published.
June 12, 2021
Macron today told Boris Johnson that Northern Ireland is not part of the UK. That is truly staggering.
June 13, 2021
Did you mean truly ignorant?
June 13, 2021
Well since the DUP themselves – of all people – have been wailing and screeching that the brilliantly-negotiated NIP has resulted in exactly this, what is wrong with Macron’s observation?
Who is to argue with the “experts”?
June 13, 2021
That was my take on it also – the EU should not be there, they are merely a trade bloc.
France and Germany are over-represented since they have their own Head of State and two EU presidents.
It is more akin to the USA sending its president, the leader of one of its Houses and the leaders of its two largest States, say California and Texas.
I really wish the other countries would stop inviting appointed EU officials to meetings for countries and stop giving them the right to have “ambassadors” – certainly not with full diplomatic status.
June 14, 2021
The President of the European Commission has attended since he was first invited to the third G7 summit in 1977, Roy Jenkins was the then-President.[2] Since 1981 the President has attended all sessions of the G7.[3] The EU is currently represented by the Commission President and the President of the European Council.[2] The latter used to be the rotating chair of the council of EU state leaders, with irregular attendance since 1982.[4] The Council Presidency sometimes coincided with one of the G8 members, in which case that leader attended with their national and European mandate.[2] Since 2009, the President of the European Council is a permanent position, who always attends the summits. As the EU is a member, what the Presidents endorse at the G8 is politically binding on them.[2]