Current Affairs

[barney]

Scotland income tax bands are different to the rest of U.K. Higher rate kicks in at a lower lever than south of the border. I’m not sure how much of the income tax is directed to Scottish coffers.

I wonder if there are statistics to show how many jobs have moved south of the border since this was introduced?

England and Scotland became joined in 1707 with England paying off Scotland’s debt in return for them not siding with France.
England has been subsidising Scotland ever since.

Should there be another referendum on total independence, I’d like the U.K. government to explain the implications and then remain neutral.

Please please please, no more Project Fear giving ridiculous figures and projections.

I’d reckon that there are probably about six essential questions that the leavers have to answer before a vote.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Is anyone else fed up with apologies for things we didn't personally do?

The latest is the racism connected to the WW1 war graves. Yes it was entirely wrong. It is appropriate we should recognise that and do all we can to rectify it. But why does the present government and War Graves Commission feel they have to apologise? They weren't the people who made the decision. In fact they probably weren't even born.

Do I need to apologise for my grandfather getting my grandmother pregnant before they were married?

Should we demand an apology from the Italian Government for the Roman invasion?

Should the descendants of Noah apologies that he only took two of each animal on the Ark and left the rest to drown?

[CaroleF]

We should learn from History, not try to re-write it or apologise for what happened. Surely each generation needs to understand what happened in the past and that's the way things change.

Carole

[barney]

Most hilarious is the tv channels apologising in advance of old programs saying some may be offended by the content.
Don’t blooming watch it if you’re that blooming sensitive

[Kendhni]

Has anybody noticed the advert on TV lately that uses Lou Reeds Walk on the Wild Side'.
They have edited out the line 'And the coloured girls go'

[Quizzical Bob]

Most hilarious is the tv channels apologising in advance of old programs saying some may be offended by the content.
Don’t blooming watch it if you’re that blooming sensitive

Especially live football when they apologise for the bad language. Then don't put microphones down on the touchline!

[Manoverboard]

It seems that the French are angry with us about Brexit ... such a shame

[Ray Scully]

"Thirty-nine postmasters who were victims of the UK's most widespread miscarriage of justice have had their names formally cleared. For the men and women involved it marked the end of a long legal battle".

I wonder! will those responsible for this disgraceful affair just walk away with huge payouts and be told to "keep their mouths shut"

[Manoverboard]

One of our Members on the old P&O site was a Postmaster in Devon, no idea if they were impacted but hopefully not.

[Ray B]

From Mobys post.

Bruno Dachicourt, of the French National Union of Fishermen, blasted: "We're supposed to be partners but they don't respect us.

He got that in one.

Trawlerman Laurent Merlin fumed: "Of course, I'll go and protest. The English have to understand: they are doing what they want and we have nothing left."

Pot calling the kettle.

[Mervyn and Trish]

From Mobys post.

Bruno Dachicourt, of the French National Union of Fishermen, blasted: "We're supposed to be partners but they don't respect us.

He got that in one.

Trawlerman Laurent Merlin fumed: "Of course, I'll go and protest. The English have to understand: they are doing what they want and we have nothing left."

Pot calling the kettle.

Which was the point of Brexit. Didn't they get the memo?

[Manoverboard]

From Mobys post.

Bruno Dachicourt, of the French National Union of Fishermen, blasted: "We're supposed to be partners but they don't respect us.

He got that in one.

Trawlerman Laurent Merlin fumed: "Of course, I'll go and protest. The English have to understand: they are doing what they want and we have nothing left."

Pot calling the kettle.

Which was the point of Brexit. Didn't they get the memo?

Nobody in France had the balls coujons to tell them

[Onelife]

"Thirty-nine postmasters who were victims of the UK's most widespread miscarriage of justice have had their names formally cleared. For the men and women involved it marked the end of a long legal battle".

I wonder! will those responsible for this disgraceful affair just walk away with huge payouts and be told to "keep their mouths shut"

How awful for all those affected by this fiasco…I’m sure there are worse things but being accused of dishonesty must have been a heavy burden to carry all these years.

[Mervyn and Trish]

"Thirty-nine postmasters who were victims of the UK's most widespread miscarriage of justice have had their names formally cleared. For the men and women involved it marked the end of a long legal battle".

I wonder! will those responsible for this disgraceful affair just walk away with huge payouts and be told to "keep their mouths shut"

How awful for all those affected by this fiasco…I’m sure there are worse things but being accused of dishonesty must have been a heavy burden to carry all these years.

It was scandalous. It should have been very obvious from the number of cases that there was a problem. They should all now get very generous compensation for loss of earing, loss of reputation and , in many case, loss of liberty. And those responsible should be tracked down and prosecuted.

[barney]

From Mobys post.

Bruno Dachicourt, of the French National Union of Fishermen, blasted: "We're supposed to be partners but they don't respect us.

He got that in one.

Trawlerman Laurent Merlin fumed: "Of course, I'll go and protest. The English have to understand: they are doing what they want and we have nothing left."

Pot calling the kettle.

Which was the point of Brexit. Didn't they get the memo?

Nobody in France had the balls coujons to tell them

From today's Politico EU

PARIS — Major French trade unions are threatening to block the port of Calais within 15 days if fishermen do not receive licenses from the U.K. to operate in British waters.

“All the fishermen agree that if we don’t receive a positive response, we will have to increase the pressure,” said Stéphane Pinto, of the CFTD, one of two unions to make the threat (the other being the CFTC). “We have to hit British exports to Calais, the tunnel and the ferry.”

“The promise of a deal we had has turned out to be a lie,” said Pinto. “I don’t know who was deceitful, but we would have preferred a no-deal because at least we would have had the whole of the EU behind us trying to find a solution.”

The UK however says it has issued licenses to all the vessels that that met their criteria and has said the fishing protests were “unjustified.”

“We take an evidence-based approach to licensing fishing vessels using the information provided by the European Commission,” the U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said, “we do not recognize the figures shared by the French fishing industry.”


The EU commission says only 20 European applications for the access to British waters are still pending. "The Commission received and notified to the UK 108 requests for authorisation, out of which 88 have meanwhile received a licence. These 108 requests cover all relevant regions in France, not only Hauts-de-France [the Calais region]," a spokesperson for the Commission said.

The devil is in the details
The EU commission on Friday said it was in contact with the British authorities to resolve the dispute.

“The top priority when it comes to fishing is to make sure that we have these licence applications that are all dealt immediately,” said a Commission’s spokesperson, “For us, this is indeed an urgency.”

Thursday, France’s Europe Minister Clément Beaune and the Fisheries Minister Annick Girardin called on the EU commission to take “firm and determined” action to get the U.K. to apply the Brexit deal.

At the heart of the dispute is whether the criteria agreed in the withdrawal agreement make it difficult for fishermen to qualify for licenses, or whether the British are dragging their feet in delivering licenses.

French fishermen acknowledge the British are right when it comes to the small print of the withdrawal agreement, but say they don’t respect the spirit of the deal.

“The global deal looked superb, but it was too good to be true,” says Olivier Leprêtre, president of the regional fisheries committee in the Hauts-de-France. “When we started sifting through the 1,200 pages of the agreement, we realized that there are lots of blocking criteria. Ultimately, we have been almost completely excluded from British waters."

Leprêtre says criteria on netting, fish species and fishing zone demarcation are particularly problematic.

According to the EU commission, there is no specific tool in the EU-U.K. post-Brexit agreement to tackle a blockage on fishing licenses, apart from the general dispute settlement mechanism.

'Profits have plunged'
Fishermen in Boulogne-sur-Mer say they need access to British waters because the Channel is at its narrowest and busiest between France and the U.K.

“Profits have plunged since mid-January, fishermen here have lost 60 to 70 percent of their revenue,” says Leprêtre.

“The problems are only getting worse. We can’t access British waters, but neither can the Dutch nor the Belgians,” said Leprêtre. “And so they are pushed into French waters, which is putting a lot of pressure on our stocks.”

I see their fishing rights and raise them the Northern Ireland Protocol .

It does appear that our 'friends and partners' are looking for some kind of 'cake and eat it' situation.

[Mervyn and Trish]

French fishermen blockade Calais? Quelle surprise!

Maybe if the EU were to remove the block it has imposed on live shellfish imports from the UK, which it was previously happy to accept, the licence logjam, if it exists, could be removed?

In the meantime the French fishermen could take the unprecedented action of fishing in their own waters
rather than plundering ours.

[Manoverboard]

French fishermen blockade Calais? Quelle surprise!

Maybe if the EU were to remove the block it has imposed on live shellfish imports from the UK ...

I thought they had reclassified some UK waters as class 1 to enable export of our shellfish

[Mervyn and Trish]

French fishermen blockade Calais? Quelle surprise!

Maybe if the EU were to remove the block it has imposed on live shellfish imports from the UK ...

I thought they had reclassified some UK waters as class 1 to enable export of our shellfish

If they have the glorious news has passed me by. But then a lot does.

[towny44]

French fishermen blockade Calais? Quelle surprise!

Maybe if the EU were to remove the block it has imposed on live shellfish imports from the UK ...

I thought they had reclassified some UK waters as class 1 to enable export of our shellfish

There was I hoping that after Brexit we could forget about all the EU shenanigans, when will they accept we have gone and are not coming back.

[david63]

when will they accept we have gone and are not coming back.

Never - especially if it suits their agenda at the time!

[Ray B]

It's OK exporting fish to the EU, but at home if more people were to eat fish we could have a flourishing fish market.
I just love fish, and are lucky enough living in the City and at the Coast to have some very good fish outlets to choose from.
Some places across the Country are not as fortunate to have fresh fish available close to them, and this is more than likely due to new generations not buying fish.
Whether it's the smell or not sure how to cook fish or even not knowing the names of fish, lots of the younger generations do not ever buy fish. Some how they need to be tempted or maybe educated back to fish. There is so much you can do with fish, the nutritional benifits are there to have and wonderful menus can be created.
I do not know how you would tempt more people to try fish except to say I cannot imagine life without fish to eat.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Spot on Ray. We love fish and eat it ar least twice a week. Healthy too.

[screwy]

I have always loved looking in a fishmongers window,something magical about it, but it’s only the last 5 yrs or so that I have enjoyed eating fresh fish.

[Kendhni]

It's OK exporting fish to the EU, but at home if more people were to eat fish we could have a flourishing fish market.
I just love fish, and are lucky enough living in the City and at the Coast to have some very good fish outlets to choose from.
Some places across the Country are not as fortunate to have fresh fish available close to them, and this is more than likely due to new generations not buying fish.
Whether it's the smell or not sure how to cook fish or even not knowing the names of fish, lots of the younger generations do not ever buy fish. Some how they need to be tempted or maybe educated back to fish. There is so much you can do with fish, the nutritional benefits are there to have and wonderful menus can be created.
I do not know how you would tempt more people to try fish except to say I cannot imagine life without fish to eat.

I can't stand fish, I hate the smell and hate the taste - the most adventurous I have ever go is a very occasional cod and chips from the local chippie. An uncle of mine was a fisherman and used to always leave in various exotic 'delicacies', my parents loved them but I hated it when I opened the front door and the smell of cooking fish wafted towards me. I used to do a lot of fishing myself, but it was for sport, everything I caught was always returned to the water (as a kid I remember spending hours fishing off local beaches, using a 1lb tracer trying to land 2-3lb flatties, or heading down to the 'rocks' to throw lines in before school and then pulling them up afterwards - those were the days when I used to carry an 8" sheath knife in my school bag without issue).

On the other hand I notice the fish monger in our town centre seems to always have a queue outside it so it is obvious that fish is a very important part of many peoples diets.

[Stephen]

Cod’n chips, fish fingers and prawns (at a push)and that’s it fish wise for me. Like Ken my parents loved fish, it just didn’t roll down to me. I think you must have to have a delicate pallet because it all tastes of the same thing to me, the sea

And how people can eat oysters is beyond me