Life goes on at The Telegraph in a thick haze of delusion and smoke from mind altering substances as they all sit round, completely spaced out, cheering on the insanity of Brexit. But there is some puzzlement at the paper at the tactics being employed by Mrs May. They believe we should have a credible plan B to leave under WTO rules so we can threaten to walk away (HERE) unless we get The Best Deal (TBD).
Entrepreneurs who backed Brexit should be employed for the negotiations because they believed in it and would get TBD. Of course, these entrepreneurs might have difficulty finding out What We Actually Want (WWAW) because the cabinet and therefore DEXEU do not seem to know. The best negotiators cannot help unless they know WWAW. Without some direction what is TBD?
I suppose they might be thinking about Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin. He would be perfect in Brussels, swaying slightly and a bit glassy eyed, he would greet Monsieur Barnier with a belch as he wiped a bit of froth off his upper lip. Running a pub chain is ideal work for any budding international treaty negotiator as we all know.
This is just an extension of the ridiculous thinking that leave campaigners were guilty of before the referendum. Experts can't be trusted because they must be remainers so let's get some amateurs in and all will be well. This is a bit like suggesting the England football manager, suffering a lean spell with his overpaid stars, getting eleven random spectators off the terraces on the grounds that they "believed" in winning. No matter that they were old, fat geezers who hadn't kicked a ball for years and were no good even when they were young and fit. For the Telegraph belief in something impossible is all it takes to transform it into a reality. They say:
"Fortunately it is not too late…. just. The Government must publish urgently a WTO plan, in the next three weeks, which they say that have been working on. It should set a deadline of Xmas for the transition deal. If there is no deal by then, we walk. It should also set a deadline for an FTA of 31 March 2018. If that is not met, then we walk. And it should bring in some decent people fast to help from the private sector. Business would have certainty. The EU would know we are not a pushover. The British people would say at last, a plan. Credible, focused, clear".
This is fantasy writ large. A WTO plan would be a massive undertaking and would probably spook the financial markets anyway. As for issuing ultimatums, The Telegraph even now does not seem to appreciate the weakness in our position. And a FTA by March 2018 is utterly impossible. Most people think there is not a snowball's chance in hell of getting one by March 2019 - indeed that is why we need a two year transition and very probably much longer. The Telegraph wants to get some what it calls "decent people" in fast. But the idea that experts are taking too long and so we should get some "entrepreneurs" who have never done anything like it before and give them a fraction of the time an expert needs is so ludicrous that it doesn't deserve thinking about.
No matter how many times you change the team, an impossible task will always be an impossible task. But Brexiteers have an infinite capacity for self delusion and there is no sign of a change, at least not at The Telegraph.
I am retired (as you might have guessed) and if there is one thing I've learned as an observer of people over many years, it is this. How odd it is that the easiest things to do in life are nearly always the jobs that you see other people doing. Things you do yourself are usually the most difficult. There should be a law defining this but there isn't - yet. Once you accept how wrong the idea is you are half way to becoming a reasonable person.
No matter how many times you change the team, an impossible task will always be an impossible task. But Brexiteers have an infinite capacity for self delusion and there is no sign of a change, at least not at The Telegraph.
I am retired (as you might have guessed) and if there is one thing I've learned as an observer of people over many years, it is this. How odd it is that the easiest things to do in life are nearly always the jobs that you see other people doing. Things you do yourself are usually the most difficult. There should be a law defining this but there isn't - yet. Once you accept how wrong the idea is you are half way to becoming a reasonable person.
