Last night's TV debate was a disappointment, although it wasn't unexpected. Corbyn came up against the same problem as Hilary Clinton when she debated with Donald Trump. It is impossible to have any sort of rational exchange with an incorrigible liar. The Labour leader is being criticised for his equivocation on Brexit and dissembling over the Indyref2 question for Scotland. These are things which only an honest man can be guilty of when he does not want to lie. Johnson has learned there is for him no downside to telling outright porkies and so he makes solemn commitments and looks decisive. But they are worthless.
Johnson could reverse his position on Brexit and grant another Scottish referendum before Christmas and it wouldn't bother him in the slightest. He has lived with lies all his life and is now the living embodiment of the lie. Corbyn came across as equally incompetent but honest - at least he did to me.
The PM even managed to slip in the lie there will be no border down the Irish Sea. And during the debate, the Tory party HQ had the nerve to change their Twitter handle to FactCheckUK as if they were an independent fact checking service. This is jaw dropping for me. Johnson is a known liar but his party are setting themselves up as the arbiter of truth.
Suffice to say last night was not a game changer for many people but Johnson's tendency to bluster and the sheer instability of his character came across very clearly
Just before the debate I watched Channel 4 news. After nearly four years there are few things that surprise about Brexit but occasionally something comes along that warrants a double take. Last night there was an item (HERE) trying to discover what the UK's post Brexit trade policy actually is. Needless to say, like so many things in the interminable saga, it is far from 'oven-ready'. One might say it is definitely not sitting in a tray covered in baco foil. In fact the turkey hasn't even been conceived yet. The item was about 8 minutes long but the bit that caught my attention was much shorter (30 secs). You can see it below.
Johnson could reverse his position on Brexit and grant another Scottish referendum before Christmas and it wouldn't bother him in the slightest. He has lived with lies all his life and is now the living embodiment of the lie. Corbyn came across as equally incompetent but honest - at least he did to me.
The PM even managed to slip in the lie there will be no border down the Irish Sea. And during the debate, the Tory party HQ had the nerve to change their Twitter handle to FactCheckUK as if they were an independent fact checking service. This is jaw dropping for me. Johnson is a known liar but his party are setting themselves up as the arbiter of truth.
Suffice to say last night was not a game changer for many people but Johnson's tendency to bluster and the sheer instability of his character came across very clearly
Just before the debate I watched Channel 4 news. After nearly four years there are few things that surprise about Brexit but occasionally something comes along that warrants a double take. Last night there was an item (HERE) trying to discover what the UK's post Brexit trade policy actually is. Needless to say, like so many things in the interminable saga, it is far from 'oven-ready'. One might say it is definitely not sitting in a tray covered in baco foil. In fact the turkey hasn't even been conceived yet. The item was about 8 minutes long but the bit that caught my attention was much shorter (30 secs). You can see it below.
Garry Gibbons is interviewing a man named Raoul Ruparel OBE. He is described as "the Prime Minister’s Special Advisor on Europe under Theresa May, leading on all aspects of Brexit including negotiations with the EU, preparations for No Deal and negotiations with various groups in Parliament including the DUP and the Labour [party]. He was previously Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU under David Davis."
Quite a CV isn't it? He clearly was a central figure in Brexit going right back to when he worked as a SPAD for David Davis. He appears on Twitter quite a lot and is obviously very sharp and very knowledgeable - certainly no fool. However, even he struggled to answer what was I think an excellent question from Mr Gibbons.
This was it:
Are there any businesses that really want Brexit right now, any sectors [of the economy]?
This is where the clip starts:
As you will note, after a few reminders of what the question was, he cannot name a single sector of the entire British economy that actually wants Brexit. Mr Ruparel finally admits they are sceptical about it. This is all he can manage.
I don't know about you but for me this encapsulates the mess we have got ourselves into. Every part of the wealth creating engine that drives the British economy is 'sceptical' about Brexit at best. Which government in the western world would deliberately throw sand into that engine? What is to be gained? Taking back control is theoretical and totally illusory. We have always controlled our borders anyway and we controlled 99% of our money. By 2030, after Brexit, on the government's own figures we will only have about 93% of the money we expected to have before Brexit. What is the point of taking back control?
I notice Sabine Weyand, Barnier's former deputy and now EU Director General for Trade has weighed in to the debate about the transition period. She says we can expect either a 'bare-bones' trade deal or none at all by the end of 2020. This is I think plain as day but The Sun is in no doubt it's 'controversial' and 'contradicts' Boris Johnson who says eleven months is 'bags of time'. The fact that one is an expert on EU trade matters and the other a celebrated liar who knows nothing about anything doesn't bother them at all.
One of the cities most eager to leave is Stoke-on-Trent (69.4%) so it was fascinating to see that local ceramic manufacturing bosses were worried about the loss of 22,000 jobs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. About 9,000 of these would be in Stoke itself. Stephen Barclay on a visit to Q-railings told them, “There isn’t going to be a no-deal Brexit. We proved that we can get a new deal". I assume this means we'll accept whatever the EU choose to offer us then?
Incidentally, the report comes from the StokeonTrentLive website with a picture of Mr Barclay said to be 'checking out' Q-railings 'machinery' as if he was moonlighting as a service engineer. The machinery looks suspiciously like a simple pillar drill with two Black and Decker workmates in the background.
Global Britain it ain't. If you aren't worried now I should think about starting. I would advise Mr Barclay to visit ceramic manufacturers in continental Europe.
