BREXIT! BREXIT! BREXIT!

[Scot Dutchy]

[Brian Peacock]

Brexit means Brexit.

[Scot Dutchy]

Joe Biden supports EU position on Northern Ireland, says Von der Leyen

Brussels chief says US president agrees Britain should not ditch post-Brexit protocol

Ursula von der Leyen has claimed that the EU’s position on Northern Ireland has the support of the US president, as Brussels prepares a “ladder” of retaliatory options up to and including the suspension of the UK trade deal over Boris Johnson’s threats to ditch the current post-Brexit arrangements.

After a meeting at the White House, the European Commission president said Joe Biden was in agreement with the bloc that Johnson should not upend the tortuously negotiated Northern Ireland protocol.

Next week the commission is expected to present EU states with various retaliatory options if the UK government goes ahead with its threat to suspend parts of the arrangements designed to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.

Where is the "special relationship"? Biden's Irishness is more important.

[Brian Peacock]

I think avoiding going back to the troubles is probably a more significant factor than Biden's Irish antecedents.

[Scot Dutchy]

For Ireland yes but for Biden no.

[Brian Peacock]

I think your barking up the wrong tree this time. The Clinton administration played a vital role is negotiating the settlement known as the Good Friday Agreement, so it's only natural that the US should have something to say on the current state of that international peace treaty.

[Scot Dutchy]

Biden it is personal which why he is snubbing Johnson.

[Scot Dutchy]

UK ‘tough guy’ act on Northern Ireland will end in disaster, says Irish minister

European affairs minister says British government out of step with preserving peace with protocol threats

Ireland’s minister for European affairs has said that a “tough guy approach” when it comes to Northern Ireland will lead to disaster, adding that threats to suspend the Northern Ireland protocol represented the first time the UK government has been out of step with the international consensus on preserving peace and stability in Northern Ireland in 25 years.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Thomas Byrne said there was “a serious danger of complete instability in Northern Ireland” if the UK government continues its “tough guy approach” through threats to trigger article 16, which would suspend post-Brexit trade arrangements.

He said: “We have a situation where we have the US putting pressure on the British government, the EU united in one voice with concern about Northern Ireland, Ireland concerned about Northern Ireland. We’ve never had a situation in the last 25 years where the British government is out of the loop on that.

“We want very close relations with the British government and good cooperation, we want to be singing off the same hymn sheet.”

Does Johnson care? I doubt it.

[Brian Peacock]

[Scot Dutchy]

[Scot Dutchy]

Bloody hell.

[Scot Dutchy]

This is typical of the crap Brexiteers read in the UK.

[Scot Dutchy]

Once again the real story behind Brexit:

[Scot Dutchy]

‘People expect cheap food, drink and accommodation – that horse has bolted’: a hotelier on life without EU workers

Veryan Palmer should be looking forward to her Cornish hotel’s best ever November. Instead, she is having to shut rooms at the five-star establishment

The Headland hotel in Cornwall has been in Veryan Palmer’s family all her life. Her parents bought the imposing Victorian pile overlooking Fistral Beach, Newquay, 43 years ago. Now Palmer, 37, is director. They have always had staff from Europe. “My parents would talk about when European countries joined the EU they would suddenly get an influx of staff from a new country,” she says. “They remember the summer that Poland joined and the sudden influx of Polish housekeeping staff who are just phenomenal.”

In 2019, about half the staff were non-British. Palmer attributes the identity and the success of the hotel – one of just two in the county with five stars – to them. “There is no chance we would be where we are now without the skills of people coming from other countries.”

It used not to be hard to recruit. “Cornwall is a lovely place to come and work; we’re pretty hot on the work-life balance, and the life part is pretty fun, with beaches and surfing. So it’s always been attractive for hospitality team members from across Europe.”

Workers came from all over: Spain, Italy, France, Poland, Romania, Estonia, sometimes whole families. Some came for just a summer, to practise their English; others came over and settled. They brought experience with them, says Palmer. “They have a greater understanding of what our European guests want, and a skill level you don’t always see in UK hospitality workers. In Europe, a lot of young people have part-time jobs from around the age of 16, so when they come over at 18 or 20 they have already got quite a bit of work experience. They understand that if work starts at nine, you turn up at five to nine. We end up doing quite a lot of life-skills training for people who have been brought up in the UK.”

Where are all the UK workers that need work? That was going to be a big positive from Brexit...

[Scot Dutchy]

If you think it is just one story:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... eu-workers

In almost every sector. Where are the UK workers working?