No sign of it at the moment, and it's hard to see how they could come up with something in secret. So I'm not sure they will have a proposal, or at least a coherent one which will answer the Irish problem and be worth us paying for.
But who knows? Contrary to what the media keep saying, it's the EU, not the UK, which doesn't seem to know what it wants.
Behind the 'constructive ambiguity' and assuming that Brexit is not fudged the stark choice is what it always was: Brexit or the UK. We can have one but not both.
The UK knows what it wants. Unfortunately that remains having its cake and eating it. That isn't going to be taken seriously.
The point still stands, though. If they don't like our dual cake policy, they should propose an alternative. Otherwise they are setting themselves up for an exit fee of €0, a hard Irish border (on their side, not ours), and a catastrophic impact on their exports and tourist industry.
The UK knows what it wants. Unfortunately that remains having its cake and eating it. That isn't going to be taken seriously.
The point still stands, though. If they don't like our dual cake policy, they should propose an alternative. Otherwise they are setting themselves up for an exit fee of €0, a hard Irish border (on their side, not ours), and a catastrophic impact on their exports and tourist industry.
The UK knows what it wants. Unfortunately that remains having its cake and eating it. That isn't going to be taken seriously.
The point still stands, though. If they don't like our dual cake policy, they should propose an alternative. Otherwise they are setting themselves up for an exit fee of €0, a hard Irish border (on their side, not ours), and a catastrophic impact on their exports and tourist industry.
I make my 60% assessment of complete car crash for a reason.
The UK knows what it wants. Unfortunately that remains having its cake and eating it. That isn't going to be taken seriously.
The point still stands, though. If they don't like our dual cake policy, they should propose an alternative. Otherwise they are setting themselves up for an exit fee of €0, a hard Irish border (on their side, not ours), and a catastrophic impact on their exports and tourist industry.
And the UK is setting itself up for oblivion.
Not really. The UK is making constructive proposals. At least it's making proposals, which is a jolly good start.
The UK knows what it wants. Unfortunately that remains having its cake and eating it. That isn't going to be taken seriously.
The point still stands, though. If they don't like our dual cake policy, they should propose an alternative. Otherwise they are setting themselves up for an exit fee of €0, a hard Irish border (on their side, not ours), and a catastrophic impact on their exports and tourist industry.
And the UK is setting itself up for oblivion.
Even the most excessive extrapolations from the Remain side only suggested a slightly slower rate of growth. Claims of oblivion are about as silly as claims we'd lose the City to Frankfurt if we didn't join the single currency. After the immediate recession didn't happen, you would think Remainers would start having a bit more scepticism about this hyperbole. But that's religion for you.
The UK knows what it wants. Unfortunately that remains having its cake and eating it. That isn't going to be taken seriously.
The point still stands, though. If they don't like our dual cake policy, they should propose an alternative. Otherwise they are setting themselves up for an exit fee of €0, a hard Irish border (on their side, not ours), and a catastrophic impact on their exports and tourist industry.
And the UK is setting itself up for oblivion.
Even the most excessive extrapolations from the Remain side only suggested a slightly slower rate of growth. Claims of oblivion are about as silly as claims we'd lose the City to Frankfurt if we didn't join the single currency. After the immediate recession didn't happen, you would think Remainers would start having a bit more scepticism about this hyperbole. But that's religion for you.
How do you see the UK holding together in circumstances in which it was a political pariah and universally seen as a bad actor on the world stage?
The UK knows what it wants. Unfortunately that remains having its cake and eating it. That isn't going to be taken seriously.
The point still stands, though. If they don't like our dual cake policy, they should propose an alternative. Otherwise they are setting themselves up for an exit fee of €0, a hard Irish border (on their side, not ours), and a catastrophic impact on their exports and tourist industry.
And the UK is setting itself up for oblivion.
Even the most excessive extrapolations from the Remain side only suggested a slightly slower rate of growth. Claims of oblivion are about as silly as claims we'd lose the City to Frankfurt if we didn't join the single currency. After the immediate recession didn't happen, you would think Remainers would start having a bit more scepticism about this hyperbole. But that's religion for you.
How do you see the UK holding together in circumstances in which it was a political pariah and universally seen as a bad actor on the world stage?
A 4% smaller economy in 2030 (how will we ever know?) makes us a 'political pariah'?
The UK knows what it wants. Unfortunately that remains having its cake and eating it. That isn't going to be taken seriously.
The point still stands, though. If they don't like our dual cake policy, they should propose an alternative. Otherwise they are setting themselves up for an exit fee of €0, a hard Irish border (on their side, not ours), and a catastrophic impact on their exports and tourist industry.
And the UK is setting itself up for oblivion.
Even the most excessive extrapolations from the Remain side only suggested a slightly slower rate of growth. Claims of oblivion are about as silly as claims we'd lose the City to Frankfurt if we didn't join the single currency. After the immediate recession didn't happen, you would think Remainers would start having a bit more scepticism about this hyperbole. But that's religion for you.
How do you see the UK holding together in circumstances in which it was a political pariah and universally seen as a bad actor on the world stage?
A 4% smaller economy in 2030 (how will we ever know?) makes us a 'political pariah'?
If we crashed out of the EU without an exit deal, not settling our accounts, and creating border chaos we would be correctly labelled a bad actor. The civilised would would have no further interest in the UK's continued existence.
Just think how we would perceive it if this were another country doing the same thing.
What do we need from a customs union with the Customs Union?
(1) Agreed and simplified procedures that deal with materials coming from third party countries which may have different tariffs on them. Of course, if the starting point that our tariffs match those currently in place in the EU then this becomes simply a matter of replicating the tariffs already paid to come into the UK or the EU. As we get more of our own agreements it may gradually get more complicated.
(2) A procedure by which VAT is accounted for on imports and exports. If we agree that traders are able to set off the VAT they pay to the exporter to their VAT in their own country we will lose out somewhat (given the trade balance) but by an acceptable amount. The alternative is to have some overall accounting procedure between States. Probably worth a few billions a year to us but is it worth it?
(3) Anything else? Maybe a method of resolving hypothetical disputes by means of an independent court/tribunal? Not sure how important this would be in practice. Obviously we would want zero tariffs for goods or services generated within the combined customs union but that is a slightly different issue.
As a starting point it doesn't seem particularly complicated. It may become so over time but right now our systems are 100% aligned so it is just a continuation of that. Maybe I am missing several things but at the moment this isn't looking like the moon landings.
The UK knows what it wants. Unfortunately that remains having its cake and eating it. That isn't going to be taken seriously.
The point still stands, though. If they don't like our dual cake policy, they should propose an alternative. Otherwise they are setting themselves up for an exit fee of €0, a hard Irish border (on their side, not ours), and a catastrophic impact on their exports and tourist industry.
And the UK is setting itself up for oblivion.
Even the most excessive extrapolations from the Remain side only suggested a slightly slower rate of growth. Claims of oblivion are about as silly as claims we'd lose the City to Frankfurt if we didn't join the single currency. After the immediate recession didn't happen, you would think Remainers would start having a bit more scepticism about this hyperbole. But that's religion for you.
How do you see the UK holding together in circumstances in which it was a political pariah and universally seen as a bad actor on the world stage?
A 4% smaller economy in 2030 (how will we ever know?) makes us a 'political pariah'?
If we crashed out of the EU without an exit deal, not settling our accounts, and creating border chaos
How if it wasn't the UK that hadn't been able to reach agreement - and the EU27 had not?
Would they then be 'political pariahs'. What is the EU's proposal on Customs etc?
While May has to get any agreement through the HoC, the EU's path to ratifying an agreement is far from straight forward.....
Forget Brexit for a moment. One of the pleasures of retirement is that your can check up at your leisure interesting developments in arcane areas of science.
I often wondered why male brains became male when in the brain, testosterone is converted to oestrogens via an aromatase enzyme. Very puzzling and ironic, but recent research may clarify this.
"The report in Cell, a Cell Press publication, reveals how early estrogen eposure "masculinizes" the brain circuitry, predisposing boys to be boys as it were. That early event is specifically critical in producing male mice that will pick fights with other males and that dutifully mark their territories with urine." (It's in mice as you would expect, but Man Utd supporters should look away).
Why not females too?
"But if estrogen, the female hormone, establishes male behavior patterns, why don't girls act like boys? Shah explains that the ovaries normally don't pump out any hormone that early in life, but males do see a surge in testosterone at a young age, at least some of which gets converted by aromatase to estrogen.
The findings indicate that adult gonadal hormones are not the entire story when it comes to determining masculine versus feminine behavior, Shah said. "Rather than the gonadal hormones telling the adult brain what do to, the brain interprets signals based on its prior history," he said. Thus, female mice exposed to estrogen as pups respond to estrogen as adults by switching on the aggressive and territorial behaviors typically observed in males."
The UK knows what it wants. Unfortunately that remains having its cake and eating it. That isn't going to be taken seriously.
The point still stands, though. If they don't like our dual cake policy, they should propose an alternative. Otherwise they are setting themselves up for an exit fee of €0, a hard Irish border (on their side, not ours), and a catastrophic impact on their exports and tourist industry.
And the UK is setting itself up for oblivion.
Even the most excessive extrapolations from the Remain side only suggested a slightly slower rate of growth. Claims of oblivion are about as silly as claims we'd lose the City to Frankfurt if we didn't join the single currency. After the immediate recession didn't happen, you would think Remainers would start having a bit more scepticism about this hyperbole. But that's religion for you.
How do you see the UK holding together in circumstances in which it was a political pariah and universally seen as a bad actor on the world stage?
A 4% smaller economy in 2030 (how will we ever know?) makes us a 'political pariah'?
If we crashed out of the EU without an exit deal, not settling our accounts, and creating border chaos we would be correctly labelled a bad actor. The civilised would would have no further interest in the UK's continued existence.
Just think how we would perceive it if this were another country doing the same thing.
Seceding from the EU is entirely in accordance with the EU's own rules. There is therefore no question of the UK being a bad actor.
Mr. CD13, reminds me slightly of when, at university, I learnt that a cluster of four nuclei (prefrontal, I think) in gay men were smaller than in straight men, more similar to those of straight women.
Given embyros start off female, that makes sense, and explains the greater number of gay people who are male. I do wonder how homosexuality in women comes about, given that.
The UK knows what it wants. Unfortunately that remains having its cake and eating it. That isn't going to be taken seriously.
The point still stands, though. If they don't like our dual cake policy, they should propose an alternative. Otherwise they are setting themselves up for an exit fee of €0, a hard Irish border (on their side, not ours), and a catastrophic impact on their exports and tourist industry.
And the UK is setting itself up for oblivion.
Even the most excessive extrapolations from the Remain side only suggested a slightly slower rate of growth. Claims of oblivion are about as silly as claims we'd lose the City to Frankfurt if we didn't join the single currency. After the immediate recession didn't happen, you would think Remainers would start having a bit more scepticism about this hyperbole. But that's religion for you.
How do you see the UK holding together in circumstances in which it was a political pariah and universally seen as a bad actor on the world stage?
Well it would depend upon whether we had the plague of locusts and the death of the first born as well.
@jameschappers: Message to @conservatives: your efforts to get my friends to tell me to call off the dogs and "take a holiday" are futile #thedemocrats
@jameschappers: Message to @conservatives: your efforts to get my friends to tell me to call off the dogs and "take a holiday" are futile #thedemocrats
They don't like it up 'em...
I'm sure they're shaking in their little space boots.
The UK knows what it wants. Unfortunately that remains having its cake and eating it. That isn't going to be taken seriously.
The point still stands, though. If they don't like our dual cake policy, they should propose an alternative. Otherwise they are setting themselves up for an exit fee of €0, a hard Irish border (on their side, not ours), and a catastrophic impact on their exports and tourist industry.
And the UK is setting itself up for oblivion.
Even the most excessive extrapolations from the Remain side only suggested a slightly slower rate of growth. Claims of oblivion are about as silly as claims we'd lose the City to Frankfurt if we didn't join the single currency. After the immediate recession didn't happen, you would think Remainers would start having a bit more scepticism about this hyperbole. But that's religion for you.
How do you see the UK holding together in circumstances in which it was a political pariah and universally seen as a bad actor on the world stage?
Well it would depend upon whether we had the plague of locusts and the death of the first born as well.
Don't forget the frogs. Its a bad one (except in France where they will no doubt eat them).
The UK knows what it wants. Unfortunately that remains having its cake and eating it. That isn't going to be taken seriously.
The point still stands, though. If they don't like our dual cake policy, they should propose an alternative. Otherwise they are setting themselves up for an exit fee of €0, a hard Irish border (on their side, not ours), and a catastrophic impact on their exports and tourist industry.
And the UK is setting itself up for oblivion.
Even the most excessive extrapolations from the Remain side only suggested a slightly slower rate of growth. Claims of oblivion are about as silly as claims we'd lose the City to Frankfurt if we didn't join the single currency. After the immediate recession didn't happen, you would think Remainers would start having a bit more scepticism about this hyperbole. But that's religion for you.
How do you see the UK holding together in circumstances in which it was a political pariah and universally seen as a bad actor on the world stage?
A 4% smaller economy in 2030 (how will we ever know?) makes us a 'political pariah'?
If we crashed out of the EU without an exit deal, not settling our accounts, and creating border chaos we would be correctly labelled a bad actor. The civilised would would have no further interest in the UK's continued existence.
Just think how we would perceive it if this were another country doing the same thing.
So let's say Malaysia got into a spat with its trading partners in ASEAN, and what we saw from this distance was all very Byzantine from our point of view about arcane procedures we know little about, and then it came down to it that they couldn't agree and Malaysia left without a "deal".
I really wouldn't give a fig frankly either way, let alone start thinking anyone was a "pariah".
"Given embyros start off female, that makes sense, and explains the greater number of gay people who are male. I do wonder how homosexuality in women comes about, given that."
As a heterosexual male, I wonder why far more women don't become lesbians.
@jameschappers: Message to @conservatives: your efforts to get my friends to tell me to call off the dogs and "take a holiday" are futile #thedemocrats
They don't like it up 'em...
OPTION 1: A former spad and well respected journalist decides on a whim to burn all of his professional bridges, he's a lobbyist what does he need government contacts for anyway? There is a massive conspiracy amongst media and politicians alike to smear his reputation as they're terrified that he can pull off a Macron even though his constant commentary on Twitter is increasingly juvenile, and he's pulling a Romney, writing off more than half of the electorate.
OPTION 2: He's having some mental health problems and could use some support.
I know which one I'm putting money on, is anyone running a book?
There's nothing I like more, as someone not brimming with wealth, than having work interrupted by some fool knocking on the door, begging for money.
It should be legal to use churglars as trebuchet ammunition.
I had one at work yesterday from the RSPCA. When I threw her out she asked if we had no animal lovers. I told them that if we did, they would donate to real animal charities.
@jameschappers: Message to @conservatives: your efforts to get my friends to tell me to call off the dogs and "take a holiday" are futile #thedemocrats
They don't like it up 'em...
OPTION 1: A former spad and well respected journalist decides on a whim to burn all of his professional bridges, he's a lobbyist what does he need government contacts for anyway? There is a massive conspiracy amongst media and politicians alike to smear his reputation as they're terrified that he can pull off a Macron even though his constant commentary on Twitter is increasingly juvenile, and he's pulling a Romney, writing off more than half of the electorate.
OPTION 2: He's having some mental health problems and could use some support.
I know which one I'm putting money on, is anyone running a book?
OPTION 3: He's playing some other game, and getting talked about can be like gold dust. It's a slow period during the summer recess, so everyone welcomes a novel story. People are bored.
After all, few of us had heard of him before all of this ...
I know which one I'm putting money on, is anyone running a book?
OPTION 3: Brexit is a clusterfuck. Someone who was on the inside and knows where the bodies are buried is prepared to spill the beans. Those who have hitched their wagon to the impending disaster rely on keeping the public in the dark long enough for them to find someone else to blame. And they are bricking it.
The Government welcomes the clear commitment made in the European Council’s negotiating guidelines and the European Commission’s directives to work with us on “ exible and imaginative” solutions to achieve this.
Flexible, but not that flexible:
The Government has made clear that the answer to avoiding a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland cannot be to impose a new customs border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
This in a paper that spends most of its time suggesting that the EU-UK boundary can easily be seamless. If they believe their own rhetoric, putting that boundary in the Irish sea will not do anyone any harm.
Except that the UK is a single country. That would be like putting the boundary between Liverpool and Manchester, albeit that is something some might suggest is a good idea.
I don't understand this either. If anyone insists on a hard border it will piss off the Irish. If it's not us doing the insisting I don't see how it's our fault. It surely means Ireland is a UK ally in that we and it want the same?
I know which one I'm putting money on, is anyone running a book?
OPTION 3: Brexit is a clusterfuck. Someone who was on the inside and knows where the bodies are buried is prepared to spill the beans. Those who have hitched their wagon to the impending disaster rely on keeping the public in the dark long enough for them to find someone else to blame. And they are bricking it.
Just how high are you expecting this new dynamic Democrats party to surge in the opinion polls, led by the highly talented Chappers?
Mr. Quidder, it aggravates me. I don't want to be disturbed at home by someone seeking money by guilt-tripping me (I have a pet hatred of that tactic).
I would have more time for discussion with someone that hasn't been implacably opposed to the Conservatives ever since the referendum result.
I am not implacably opposed to conservatives, or even the Conservatives.
I am implacably opposed to the Brexiteers, whatever badge they hide behind.
Theresa May supported Remain. But she accepted the voice of the people and that makes you implacably opposed. There is simply no point in trying to reconcile the Remainer die-hards. You won't be happy with anything except resubmitting to Brussels so you will twist every event to damn those who won't do that.
Remainer die-hards. The new group of people where we can "hear the sound of flapping white coats"?
Flapping white coats still belong on the Leave side, which can be conveniently divided into the following five groups: the deranged; the malign; the self-deceiving; the thick as mince; and the misled.
Unfortunately we would need four dimensions for the appropriate Venn diagram.
The other day you were insisting you didn't despise Leave voters.
@jameschappers: Message to @conservatives: your efforts to get my friends to tell me to call off the dogs and "take a holiday" are futile #thedemocrats
They don't like it up 'em...
OPTION 1: A former spad and well respected journalist decides on a whim to burn all of his professional bridges, he's a lobbyist what does he need government contacts for anyway? There is a massive conspiracy amongst media and politicians alike to smear his reputation as they're terrified that he can pull off a Macron even though his constant commentary on Twitter is increasingly juvenile, and he's pulling a Romney, writing off more than half of the electorate.
OPTION 2: He's having some mental health problems and could use some support.
I know which one I'm putting money on, is anyone running a book?
OPTION 3: He's playing some other game, and getting talked about can be like gold dust. It's a slow period during the summer recess, so everyone welcomes a novel story. People are bored.
After all, few of us had heard of him before all of this ...
That still requires the conspiracy between the media and politicians. He might get a spot on HIGNFY out of this - I'm not convinced that many would lower themselves to mental health smears to prevent that....
I know which one I'm putting money on, is anyone running a book?
OPTION 3: Brexit is a clusterfuck. Someone who was on the inside and knows where the bodies are buried is prepared to spill the beans. Those who have hitched their wagon to the impending disaster rely on keeping the public in the dark long enough for them to find someone else to blame. And they are bricking it.
Sure... and this white knight has decided that ad hominem attacks on Twitter are the best way of blowing the whistle. Do you think anyone would have listened to Snowdon or Assange if they spent all day on Twitter insulting people?
The Government welcomes the clear commitment made in the European Council’s negotiating guidelines and the European Commission’s directives to work with us on “ exible and imaginative” solutions to achieve this.
Flexible, but not that flexible:
The Government has made clear that the answer to avoiding a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland cannot be to impose a new customs border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
This in a paper that spends most of its time suggesting that the EU-UK boundary can easily be seamless. If they believe their own rhetoric, putting that boundary in the Irish sea will not do anyone any harm.
Except that the UK is a single country. That would be like putting the boundary between Liverpool and Manchester, albeit that is something some might suggest is a good idea.
I don't understand this either. If anyone insists on a hard border it will piss off the Irish. If it's not us doing the insisting I don't see how it's our fault. It surely means Ireland is a UK ally in that we and it want the same?
Well the Irish would say it's us that put the border there by voting for Brexit. To which I suppose we could say, well they put it there first by voting the way they did in 1918 which made partition or civil war the options - to which doubtless many in Ireland would disagree. And so on.
The difficulty really comes for them I guess if we decided unilaterally to put zero tariffs or limits anything from the EU, in which case any customs posts are on their side of the line, purely at the behest of the EU. We can always informalise any scrutiny between NI and GB if we wanted as an emergency fall back (as has happened with people going backwards and forwards - all those Special Branch looking types on the gate as you go through, not checking passports no siree, just "looking") as there are only limited exit points between NI and GB, effectively two ports and three aiports only.
What do we need from a customs union with the Customs Union?
(1) Agreed and simplified procedures that deal with materials coming from third party countries which may have different tariffs on them. Of course, if the starting point that our tariffs match those currently in place in the EU then this becomes simply a matter of replicating the tariffs already paid to come into the UK or the EU. As we get more of our own agreements it may gradually get more complicated.
(2) A procedure by which VAT is accounted for on imports and exports. If we agree that traders are able to set off the VAT they pay to the exporter to their VAT in their own country we will lose out somewhat (given the trade balance) but by an acceptable amount. The alternative is to have some overall accounting procedure between States. Probably worth a few billions a year to us but is it worth it?
(3) Anything else? Maybe a method of resolving hypothetical disputes by means of an independent court/tribunal? Not sure how important this would be in practice. Obviously we would want zero tariffs for goods or services generated within the combined customs union but that is a slightly different issue.
As a starting point it doesn't seem particularly complicated. It may become so over time but right now our systems are 100% aligned so it is just a continuation of that. Maybe I am missing several things but at the moment this isn't looking like the moon landings.
So no takers on the reasons this is going to be incredibly difficult?
we will leave THE "Customs Union" and seamlessly move to A customs union.
We will seamlessly move to a A customs union, that doesn't exist, that is being drawn up on the back of a fag packet, that requires 27 other states to agree, and that can be implemented in months by the same team that will take 4 years to repair 1 clock...
Delusional...
Assuming an EU non membership extension until 2022, a customs treaty where the UK agrees to apply the EU's common external tariff and product regulation on non agricultural good, should be perfectly doable. The Turkish treaty that dates back to the 1960s isn't a complicated document. If they agree this direction with Barnier by the end of this year, the UK can then start to sound out third countries on replicating existing EU arrangements. The bilateral agreements can't be identical with the multilateral ones because you wouldn't be able to aggregate EU content to meet local content thresholds to qualify for preferential tariffs. So goods would attract tariffs that were previously duty free, even though the arrangement was ostensibly identical to the EU one. Also the arbitration methods would need changing. The other country may also insist on alterations to the arrangement to its advantage.
What is delusional is to expect to negotiate these kinds of arrangements when you are not prepared to say what you want and when you publish position papers that don't present any serious positions
@jameschappers: Message to @conservatives: your efforts to get my friends to tell me to call off the dogs and "take a holiday" are futile #thedemocrats
They don't like it up 'em...
OPTION 1: A former spad and well respected journalist decides on a whim to burn all of his professional bridges, he's a lobbyist what does he need government contacts for anyway? There is a massive conspiracy amongst media and politicians alike to smear his reputation as they're terrified that he can pull off a Macron even though his constant commentary on Twitter is increasingly juvenile, and he's pulling a Romney, writing off more than half of the electorate.
OPTION 2: He's having some mental health problems and could use some support.
I know which one I'm putting money on, is anyone running a book?
OPTION 3: He's playing some other game, and getting talked about can be like gold dust. It's a slow period during the summer recess, so everyone welcomes a novel story. People are bored.
After all, few of us had heard of him before all of this ...
That still requires the conspiracy between the media and politicians. He might get a spot on HIGNFY out of this - I'm not convinced that many would lower themselves to mental health smears to prevent that....
We're talking about the same sort of people who made a joke out of 'mistakenly' saying 'Jeremy *unt'. It's the silly season, and everyone wants a story.
Comments
It's with the AA, which come to think of it is not the most reassuring name for a driving school either.
https://twitter.com/DavidDavisMP/status/735770812804780034
Just think how we would perceive it if this were another country doing the same thing.
Some say FIA stands for Ferrari International Assistance.
If the Czech Republic were leaving the EU, and the EU tried to gouge money out of them and impose EU law on them, that'd be outrageous.
(1) Agreed and simplified procedures that deal with materials coming from third party countries which may have different tariffs on them. Of course, if the starting point that our tariffs match those currently in place in the EU then this becomes simply a matter of replicating the tariffs already paid to come into the UK or the EU. As we get more of our own agreements it may gradually get more complicated.
(2) A procedure by which VAT is accounted for on imports and exports. If we agree that traders are able to set off the VAT they pay to the exporter to their VAT in their own country we will lose out somewhat (given the trade balance) but by an acceptable amount. The alternative is to have some overall accounting procedure between States. Probably worth a few billions a year to us but is it worth it?
(3) Anything else? Maybe a method of resolving hypothetical disputes by means of an independent court/tribunal? Not sure how important this would be in practice. Obviously we would want zero tariffs for goods or services generated within the combined customs union but that is a slightly different issue.
As a starting point it doesn't seem particularly complicated. It may become so over time but right now our systems are 100% aligned so it is just a continuation of that. Maybe I am missing several things but at the moment this isn't looking like the moon landings.
Would they then be 'political pariahs'. What is the EU's proposal on Customs etc?
While May has to get any agreement through the HoC, the EU's path to ratifying an agreement is far from straight forward.....
I often wondered why male brains became male when in the brain, testosterone is converted to oestrogens via an aromatase enzyme. Very puzzling and ironic, but recent research may clarify this.
"The report in Cell, a Cell Press publication, reveals how early estrogen eposure "masculinizes" the brain circuitry, predisposing boys to be boys as it were. That early event is specifically critical in producing male mice that will pick fights with other males and that dutifully mark their territories with urine." (It's in mice as you would expect, but Man Utd supporters should look away).
Why not females too?
"But if estrogen, the female hormone, establishes male behavior patterns, why don't girls act like boys? Shah explains that the ovaries normally don't pump out any hormone that early in life, but males do see a surge in testosterone at a young age, at least some of which gets converted by aromatase to estrogen.
The findings indicate that adult gonadal hormones are not the entire story when it comes to determining masculine versus feminine behavior, Shah said. "Rather than the gonadal hormones telling the adult brain what do to, the brain interprets signals based on its prior history," he said. Thus, female mice exposed to estrogen as pups respond to estrogen as adults by switching on the aggressive and territorial behaviors typically observed in males."
Yes, I do go out occasionally.
You're welcome.
Given embyros start off female, that makes sense, and explains the greater number of gay people who are male. I do wonder how homosexuality in women comes about, given that.
https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2017/08/daily-chart-5?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/ed/
They don't like it up 'em...
It should be legal to use churglars as trebuchet ammunition.
I really wouldn't give a fig frankly either way, let alone start thinking anyone was a "pariah".
"Given embyros start off female, that makes sense, and explains the greater number of gay people who are male. I do wonder how homosexuality in women comes about, given that."
As a heterosexual male, I wonder why far more women don't become lesbians.
.
OPTION 2: He's having some mental health problems and could use some support.
I know which one I'm putting money on, is anyone running a book?
After all, few of us had heard of him before all of this ...
It's especially grating in current circumstances.
This does highlight how a situation that should be easy to resolve isn't, because we're not talking to Dublin but Brussels.
That's the Brexit mantra; "It's easy"
Except it's not.
The difficulty really comes for them I guess if we decided unilaterally to put zero tariffs or limits anything from the EU, in which case any customs posts are on their side of the line, purely at the behest of the EU. We can always informalise any scrutiny between NI and GB if we wanted as an emergency fall back (as has happened with people going backwards and forwards - all those Special Branch looking types on the gate as you go through, not checking passports no siree, just "looking") as there are only limited exit points between NI and GB, effectively two ports and three aiports only.
NEW THREAD
What is delusional is to expect to negotiate these kinds of arrangements when you are not prepared to say what you want and when you publish position papers that don't present any serious positions