Lottsathoughts

Sorry, but sometimes things just need reiterating. Article 50 is very blunt. It simply says that all treaties cease to apply on 29th March 2019. It has nothing to do with future arrangements. All our current regulatory and trade cooperations and legislations etc will be disrupted when this happens. Trade deals cease. Mutual recognition of qualifications cease. Mutual recognition of safety standards cease. Aviation licences cease. Haulage licences cease. Credit card faciliti es cease. Mobile phone deals cease. Energy supplies are disrupted. etc etc.  And not just with Europe. Many of our non-European global engagements happen under the EU umbrella. So the aviation issue, for example, affects flights to and from non-European destinations as well, such as US and Canada. The talk of No Deal is not about Article 50. Article 50 has been triggered, regardless. All existing treaties cease to apply in six months' time. The question of Deal or No Deal refers to what arr...

When this all started, I wonder what we all thought “negotiation” meant? I suspect it meant different things to different people. It certainly seems to have meant different things to the EU negotiators and the UK Government. For the EU it was most likely a simple term, meaning something like “discussions to reach an agreement”. A bit like the the negotiation each of us holds with a mobile phone company when we want to change contract: do you want plan A with the free, unlimited phonecalls or plan B with the pricey calls but as much data as you like? What the phone companies conspicuously don't offer is – what would you like and how much would you like to pay? Cherry-picking, to use the colloquial. Yet, for the UK Government, “negotiation” meant each side coming up with creative, logic-busting options for a bespoke deal that would satisfy the UK's penchant for cakeism. Even though everyone knew the Leave campaign was built on lies and fantasies, Mrs May and her te...