Thankfully in France (after a late start) they are doing 600,000 per day (last Thursday & Friday) so within 4-5 weeks this should be sorted.
Like most posts Brexit is unfortunately a done deal and we have to live with fall out now, mainly around travel hassle and difficulties in sending and receiving stuff as well as border questions of “what’s in your car?”
However what might lead to some mitigation are issues around the Irish border and the fast developing argument around Scotland where anything might happen.
Jonathan Powell who negotiated the GFA has repeatedly said that where two trading blocks meet there has to be a border to manage the flow of goods, taxes and standards. If Scotland votes out, then this will impact on how Engand (RIP the UK) trades with the EU as Scotland at the very least will quickly join the EEA.
I don’t agree with this - I don’t see brexit as an event, but an ongoing process - Scottish independence and Irish reunification are aspects of this process. It will eventually lead the UK back into the EU. The logic is irresistible. There is already talk of phytosanitary alignment - similar arguments and disputes and renegotiations will run through each sector, until the UK finds itself virtually back in the single market and customs union anyway.
What many forget in their enthusiasm for ‘global Britain’ instead of Europeanism is that climate/ecological breakdown will inevitably make doing business with distant parts of the world more and more expensive and risky. The costs of short-haul trade might decrease, but there is no long-haul technology even on the horizon that will mitigate the escalating cost. Far from looking further afield, all countries will have to trade and co-operate increasingly with their close neighbours.
3 Likes
And go back to eating seasonal produce.
…but not in our life time unfortunately the process was so diversive that no politician would dare raise it, though I agree there may be a degree of moving closer, but not in a highly visible way.
What is this talk of the UK. A United Kingdom it may have been once upon a time but now it is a Dis-united Kingdom, but still the UK; unfortunately an Untied Kingdom.
By the way now that we must have UK instead of GB on our vehicles it is comforting but strange to see the direction signs at the Coquelles Tunnel terminal still pointing to Grande Bretagne. Another misnomer now that we are not so Great!
1 Like
It is purely geographical, the biggest island in the British Isles is called Great Britain.
1 Like
And of course to distinguish it from the original authentic Britain - Bretagne!
If you were in the UK right now I don’t think you’d be saying this, Peter. Empty shelves all over the place because EU pickers and factory workers have all gone… deliveries late or not arriving, no availability in restaurants because of lack of staff. It is not a pretty sight–and only the beginning sadly.
Yes, you may be correct but however bad things are or may become in the UK, the fact remains thé EU is a lumbering behemoth in need of a serious overhaul. The idea is make thé EU even better than it is now compared to the UK.
Everything is relative after all.
Sorry but that’s utter crap, no empty shelves and restaurants are packed out.
Where are you living in the UK? It’s not at all like that where I am.
I’m in Oxfordshire. A few things may be difficult to get hold of in supermarkets (particular brands of things, or odd stuff like sandwich bags) for a few days, but are normally back in stock the following week. Likewise restaurants seem unhealthily busy. Perhaps there are regional differences?
It has improved but I still can’t get quite a lot of things, and where I work, 45% of the catering staff have left, so we have to eat out. Could explain the restaurants… Taxi driver was telling me the other day that lots of bus and taxi drivers have gone and the queues for petrol are still super-long.
Maybe home counties have suffered less? There haven’t been fuel queues since the end of the second week of October. Reported shortages were pretty minimal around here.
My daughter in North Wales still has petrol rationing (£35 limit per customer) and lots of empty shelves in the shops.
No containers of milk under two litres or most organic milk in Sainsburys Shrewsbury. Always something missing. It’s hardly surprising when so many workers have gone home to EU countries.
Slaughterhouse staff, butchers, farm worker shortages well documented.
I’ve been visiting Norwich. Three separate supermarkets, countless shops and 4/5 restaurants, no sign of shortages or a lack of staff.
Is the market as busy as ever Tim ?
Don’t know how long it’s been since you visited Norwich but there are now over 100 stalls covering all kinds of stuff, didn’t notice any empty ones.