Member Info for RedSparrow7

We need Jim Hacker to deal with this problem reported in the Telegraph. Euro sausage, anyone?

'Brussels will start a trade war with Britain if Boris Johnson overrides the Brexit treaty so that Northern Irish shops can keep selling British sausages, a vice-president of the European Commission has warned.

In an article for The Telegraph – published below – Maros Sefcovic said the EU would react "swiftly, firmly and resolutely" if Britain unilaterally extended the grace period in the Northern Ireland Protocol, which expires at the end of June.

Britain has already unilaterally extended grace periods – on supermarket goods and parcels – earlier this year. The Telegraph understands that ministers are now considering, as a last resort, another unilateral extension for chilled meats, including sausages and mince.

Any such action would enrage the EU, which hit the UK with legal action after the move on supermarket goods.

Under the grace period, chilled meats produced in the mainland can currently be sent to Northern Ireland. However, this will end on June 30, meaning sausages and mince produced in England could not be sold in the province.'

The article goes on, but you get the drift.

We need Jim.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzeDZtx3wUw

I'm replying to Mr Tibbles latest post.
First, I want to put this link on for you to read.
https://www.tramlinetraders.com/what-are-we-afraid-of/
This chap, John Burford, used to write for MoneyWeek many years ago and for the last ten years has been predicting a stock market crash and depression. Therefore, I shouldn't take much notice of his market analysis! However, I do like to read his blog because there is a great deal of truth in what he says - in my opinion. Today's piece pretty well sums up the current government policy.
I find it deeply troubling that our leaders are spending so much time in laying smokescreens and generally being deceitful to us. It tells me that they can see no way out of our problems and are in damage limitation mode. I believe people vote for Johnson because he is so good at telling them what they want to hear. For example, his tells us that his natural inclination is for liberty (it's only the scientific advisers that want to lock us down - so he must comply with the 'experts'), and wants a low tax economy (so he prints money out-of-hand to try and create inflation - a nice hidden tax!).
I had the misfortune to see a TV programme featuring Rees Mogg during the Brexit debate. He was answering a question from a young audience about why he was a Conservative. During his answer, it dawned on me that he was giving a picture of what he wanted the Conservative Party to be, not what it actually was. I think this is how politicians get elected - say what you think people want to hear, but do something completely different in office - because you have to, but as soon as things are sorted out, we can do what you elected us for (which never happens, of course).
I think the West is in such a mess that the thing the establishment fears most of all is that young, handsome man with all the talk and charisma who gets elected and starts his plan! You know I don't like Nigel Farage and Donald Trump, but in many ways the 'swamp' were very lucky to have those two. They were a wakeup call. Both, generally speaking, are peaceful men - Trump didn't start wars and Farage is quite amiable with a pint in hand and a silly cap on.
I see a crash and burn coming our way and my great hope is that good people will take over. In Britain, I cannot see that leader yet, although I don't follow politics that much. There must be serious people in Parliament who can see the idiocy of all this and are too protective of their postions at this time.
I'm so glad to live where I do at the moment - it is off the beaten track. And I'm due a good harvest of apples this year, so things aren't all bad.

Madpunter
I wondered about the amount of subsidies beef producers receive in the UK - I'm assuming it varies from region to region. The Australians would insist the UK farmers must not be subsidized in a free trade deal - Maybe? (I don't know). So any reduction in current tariffs would be offset by the removal of subsidies. Would the Australian public choose more expensive British beef over their own country's produce, that is, take the opposite view to the British consumers who want cheap beef wherever it comes from? If not, I can see British farmers going out of business.
I suppose it is a case of putting it into practice and see. I have a feeling that when it comes to food, a country such as Britain needs to ensure it can feed itself - I think subsidies and quotas are something we have to put up with to ensure this. Free trade is not always the best policy - but I agree it is in many cases, perhaps not for all types of food.

Here is a piece about Brexit from the Daily Telegraph today. It appears things may not go so well for many British farmers.
I hear that Northern Ireland isn't a happy place to be at the moment, either.

Among the advantages of Brexit that were championed by its proponents was that independent bilateral trade deals could be struck with non-EU countries.

Many of the agreements entered into when the UK was a member have been “rolled over” but a lot of major economies do not have a free trade deal with the EU. One is Australia and talks are well advanced to reach an agreement ahead of the G7 summit in June. The problem is that removing tariffs will expose sectors of the economy to greater competition, notably agriculture. Farming representatives have called this prospect a “betrayal” of promises made by ministers.

The Cabinet is reportedly split on this matter with the Prime Minister in favour of proceeding while the Environment Secretary George Eustice is opposed. Clearly there is a negotiation going on and the whole point about such deals is that there are some winners and some losers.

Australia understandably wants tariff-free access to the UK’s market for its agricultural products which will pose a challenge, especially to the hill farmers of Wales, Scotland and northern England. The political pitfalls were apparent in the Commons when the SNP’s parliamentary leader Ian Blackford used the issue to deepen the divisions in the Union, warning that Scottish crofters would be put out of business. Mr Johnson did not dispute that a deal was in the pipeline and urged farmers to find new markets for lamb and beef by competing on quality and locality.

A full tariff and quota-free deal would be phased in, thereby giving the sector time to adjust. Moreover, Canberra will not sign up without such access. If we cannot do a post-Brexit trade deal with Australia it is hard to see who we could do one with.

The donkey is very lovely and far too well qualified to be a Conservative prime minister.

MrTibbles
Well, now that Boris has had the elections and knows we all love him, I notice in the news that he is gearing us all up for another lockdown. There is a very special variant for ethnic minorities in Bolton who refuse to take the vaccine. It's all going to be their fault for not do what they're told.
I haven't had the vaccine either, despite having been sent two letters telling me I should. I don't mind telling you that I used to work for GlaxoSmithKline for many years. I have been keeping on eye on their trials and I know the people involved and I trust them totally. I'm not sure when it will be available - perhaps by year end - so I'll only take that one. I have nothing against AstraZeneca - I have visited their site in Loughborough a few times for conferences and lectures - but the Germans are not happy with the product. I won't go on about Pfizer.

I see Andrew Marr is getting a bit of stick from the Telegraph among others, for his political views. I though it was only looney lefties who were intolerant. I was thinking the other day about Jim Callaghan saying how could Labour compete in an election when the Conservatives were selling council houses to tenants for £7000 and those people were reselling them for £80000 immediately. We have a similar thing now. People are furloughed and earning more than if they travel to their normal place of work - and getting all the time off to boot. Of course they will vote for anyone who is allowing that - they're maximising their income.
I see what you mean about making people read your posts on this board - a good strategy. Yes, there were some cruel things said. People really just don't think sometimes. I still fail to see what harm it does to put an off topic post on a bulletin board. What do you do with a man who walks along a shopping mall wearing a billboard proclaimng 'the end is nigh'. Have a go at him? No, you ignore him - pretend you haven't seen him. So why can't someone just ignore a small piece of writing on a bulletin board?

MrTibbles
Ha ha. Do you think Goldgnome is a member of the first group in Australia?
There is an open air theatre on the coast in South Cornwall. I think it's in Cornwall. I visited Tintadgel some years ago. It may be there. I forget now. You'd certainly need great weather to sit around there for a couple of hours watching something.

I was a bit disappointed in the Centamin share price today. Gold's having a rest day after a great run. I noticed we had a few pumpers on the Centamin board today. I wrote something early and posted before work and suddenly realized it sounded a bit pumpy and tried to correct it. I really hope the Centamin board doesn't descend into a pump and dump vehicle. I owned some Tullow shares and that board is really not fit for human consumption at times. Tornadotony was on there and sold up a while back. I followed a little later. Tony is a really good, honest chap. You get to know these things after a while. He said goodbye to everyone on the Tullow board and had dozens of recommendations - the most I've ever seen for a post.

Actually, I think the Capital information could easily have been posted on the Centamin board. It is a business that affects Centamin. Other people are posting comments about cryptocurrencies and other things besides gold and Centamin. They certainly won't stop me from posting what I want to.
I think people really do just object to too many political comments. As time goes on and others get to know about this board, we'll have some great discussions about Boris's Brave New World. I remember Mary saying she'd be willing to debate Brexit and the current government's policies. I think she must be a Tory Party member. There are still some about.

OMG, where do you find some of these videos - the beer man on Admiral's Ale. Yuk and double yuk. LOL.
Nice fox video, though. It made up for the other one.

Yes, Cowichan, another good example of how people are innovating around their devaluing official currencies.

I don't get much right in the field of investing - you may have noticed. However, on the subject of Bitcoin, I wrote that Elon Musk bought into Bitcoin and announced his purchases for Tesla very vocally. The price shot up, of course. Now the price of Bitcoin has collapsed. Why? Well, Elon has tweeted some comments recently which have been interpreted as Tesla's potential selling of that cryptocurrency. Am I getting very cynical in my old age, or has Musk already made the sale? I predicted all this would happen. So, watch this space.
I wish I could predict the gold price.
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-price-elon-musk-tweets-cryptocurrencies-dogecoin-ethereum-090536453.html

I'm very pleased to hear you're OK, Elsworth Beast Tibbles.
I have a detention book!
How did Rowan Atkinson keep a straight face when someone in the crowd shouted out 'here'?
My husband taped the Secret Policeman's Ball years ago and I found the tape about a month ago and played it. It's got Peter Cook doing the High Court judge at the Jeremy Thorpe trial. I never realized PC made up that sketch only a few hours before the live show. It also has John Cleese and Eric Idle (or Michael Palin - can't remember who) doing the 'guess the celebrity assailant'. Anna Ford puts the boot in.
Aoife