Europe, Referendum & Brexit (formerly Europe..IN or OUT??)

Didn't know until Corbyn revealed it, as it was Bercow's last PMQ's today, that Bercow is actually a Gooner fan!!

Politics Joe do it once again

(30-10-2019 22:22 )babelover48 Wrote:  Didn't know until Corbyn revealed it, as it was Bercow's last PMQ's today, that Bercow is actually a Gooner fan!!

Bercow's always going on about Arsenal. He's even been on Arsenal Fan TV a couple of times. Here are some of his Arsenal mentions in the Commons:

I guess J Bercow being a football fan, just goes to show that nobody is perfect!! On a serious note, he and his unwavering/unshakeable respect for, and support of, Parliament at the expense of his own popularity with those within it, showed just what is/should be required in - and from - a speaker!

His standing down, deserved more than a vox pop debate on his time in office from those that either supported/derided him from the clearly biased standpoint of whether he acted, or made procedural decisions, based on their subjective sense of what was right or wrong!

It was once said that if the speaker managed to 'piss off' both sides equally, he/she was doing exactly the right job! J Bercow was one of those I think. He may have leaned farther away from his 'own parties' benches when making decisions, which they then found irritating, but is that surprising when he was seeking to show his independence and impartiality from the 'colour' of the rosette he wore when campaigning to become a constituency MP??

Whoever succeeds him, is sure to frustrate the party they were elected a representative MP of - that is the nature of the job!

NB He deserves credit for 'modernising' certain aspects of how the chamber works, together with attempting (often forlorn) to improve the behaviour of the members - some of his slap downs are the stuff of legend! If PMQ's is the highlight of the weeks proceedings than I despair!! Telling that it is the current media (notably the BBC) darling - isn't it??

Stan a ginger tom cat and against Brexit will contest the seat in Gillingham and Rainham :-
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/an...l-20883616

That will give Boris paws for thought!!

Some tweets on Twitter suggest that Gina Miller (the 3rd bloody other woman) is in Brussels having talks with Barnier & Co possibly relating to documents linked to the rebate that Thatcher (the 1st bloody other woman) negotiated the rebate was given only at the time, if we promised we wouldn't leave the EU.

Whatever Miller is up to, I think she is now trying to interfere in the negotiating process itself, and is acting against the Government & the country at her own free will.

(17-12-2019 16:14 )babelover48 Wrote:  Some tweets on Twitter suggest that Gina Miller (the 3rd bloody other woman) is in Brussels having talks with Barnier & Co possibly relating to documents linked to the rebate that Thatcher (the 1st bloody other woman) negotiated the rebate was given only at the time, if we promised we wouldn't leave the EU.

Whatever Miller is up to, I think she is now trying to interfere in the negotiating process itself, and is acting against the Government & the country at her own free will.

Hmmm getting your information from twitter

^is that a bad thing?

it is if its total bollocks

This episode from a US satirical show on Netflix looks into how trade policy of The US affects other countries. The whole ep is 20 mins long & is worth a watch but allow me to summarise with some points that are relevant to Brexit Britain obtaining a new trade deal.

1) The episode looks at the case of Samoa, which traditionally has a healthy diet but a scarcity of meat. American poultry farmers took low quality parts of Turkeys, a gland area known as The Turkey tail that is high in fat & oil & dumped them on Samoa. A survey by Yale University found 93% of Samoans became overweight or obese. After a public health campaign Samoa banned Turkey tail, however Samoa was also trying to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) of which The US is a powerful member & The WTO blocked Samoa's application until the ban was lifted

2) The episode also looks at the case of Coca Cola in China. Coca Cola was one of the first Western brands in communist China & controls about 50% of the Chinese soft drinks market. From 1975, when it started trading, to 2016 the number of people in China who were overweight or obese has gone from 10% to 32%. The Chinese government tried to remedy this but Coke stepped in and got the government to emphasis physical activity over consuming less sugary drinks a means to weight loss. But it goes further than this Coke funds a Chinese non-profit, International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), which is so connected to the government that some of it staff are senior members of China's Centre for Disease Control & Prevention. ILSI wrote guidelines focusing on exercise over drinking less soda as a means of obesity reduction and last year The Chinese Health ministry made those guidelines national policy. In short Coca Cola is so powerful it made the Chinese Government it's bitch

3) The episode also looks at the case of Mexico and NAFTA, NAFTA resulted in The US flooded Mexico with high fructose corn syrup (a cheap sugar substitute), junk food & soda drinks. In 1988 before NAFTA 34.5% of Mexicans were overweight or obese by 2018 that figured has reached 75.2% & the leading cause of death in Mexico is diabetes. On top of that under NAFTA 70% of Mexico's fresh fruit & veg is exported to The US. Mexico twice tried to deal with the issue by placing a tariff on high fructose syrup but just like with Samoa, The WTO struck it down. And NAFTA is the deal that Trump thinks is terrible, in a few weeks the Democratic controlled congress will pass his "new improved deal" USMCA and the White House has put in restrictions to Mexico putting warning labels on food as well as workplace chemicals.



So this is what we can expect when we look to get a trade deal with the United States (and this is just food) and the special relationship or the fact that we are a more economically powerful country than Samoa or Mexico will not help us especially as Mexico is the top trading partner with the US. In a world where the customer is always right if the US can make it's biggest customer it's bitch then it certainly can with us. Why is this a problem? Well when you are obese your chances of getting a stroke are 64% higher, heart disease 50% and type 2 diabetes 20x (2000%) higher. Diabetes currently accounts for 10% of the NHS budget, a report in 2014 before Brexit was a reality projected that over the next 20 yrs it would rise to 17%, the question is how much more will it rise under similar circumstances to Mexico? Each year in the UK 24,000 people die early from diabetes, it is the leading cause of blindness of people of working age & results in over 100 amputations a week.

This has an additional cost when it comes to the already impending social care crisis with our aging population living longer, if people are going blind and having limbs amputated then your ability to look after yourself independently is greatly reduced, as well as the cost of treating an increase stroke and heart disease will put the NHS under even more extreme pressure than it already is.

As we have seen The US will use it's might to stop us from combatting these risks to public health whether it's through The WTO that so many Brexiteers want to join or restrictions on our ability to educate the public via labelling or by misinformation funded by American brands.

The point is The US is our ally, in terms of intelligence & defence. Trade on the other hand is a completely different animal. Do you really expect American manufacturers & farmers to accept a bum deal because of a potential tip via five eyes? When it comes to trade, The US is not your friend. It is a predator. Brexit Britain will be a sitting duck