Brexit's a memory/nightmare, but look what we've won/lost ! | Vital Football

Brexit's a memory/nightmare, but look what we've won/lost !

moonay

Vital Football Legend
Yeah, fish, we know. We always knew. Shame the fisherman were conned though.

My first two penn'orth though is just a simple importation issue........... which again, we all knew would happen. My wife works for a "liquid plastics" company in Preston. their production is slowing down due to a shortage of raw materials, which of course are imported from the EU. There's not a real shortage of course. It's just taking longer to obtain, given the additional paperwork required.

Whodathowt ?!
 
Sounds like the company is struggling to adapt in terms of longer lead times for materials imported. I’m sure they’ll make the necessary adjustments, I doubt they’ll find it too difficult, Surprised they hadn’t already factored this into their production schedule, but hey ho!
 
Sounds like the company is struggling to adapt in terms of longer lead times for materials imported. I’m sure they’ll make the necessary adjustments, I doubt they’ll find it too difficult, Surprised they hadn’t already factored this into their production schedule, but hey ho!

Actually, I said more or less the exact same thing. For normal import/export requirements, if they already do business with other non-EU countries, (and therefore know what's required) there's no real reason why they shouldn't have been prepared.

Still looking forward to the fight re the NI border though.
 
Just listened to a representative of The Bild on the radio discussing the vaccine problem in the EU and why they are so far behind the good job being done in the UK. He said individual countries ( including Germany ) were sourcing vaccines but the EU Council told them to back off and it would be done EU wide. This led to the slow beurocratic disaster that we have now ( his words ). He also said Macron insisted that a French firm be used which now turns out the vaccine produced was useless and scrapped.

Some people are quick to point out any problems experienced with Brexit but turn a blind eye to any good stuff. Why is that ?
 
Some people are quick to point out any problems experienced with Brexit but turn a blind eye to any good stuff. Why is that ?

Not sure what you're reading Hindley, but credit's been given on here........... put in context of course, that we're in such a bloody mess, that it's just as well we were able to take the selfish "I'm alright Jack - or rather, Jacque & Jurgen - approach".

;)
 
So the unsavoury vaccine row rumbles on.

Not entirely sure why VDL was so keen to publish the EU AZ contract as it seems to support the company. Perhaps a little contrition and asking the UK for a little help in speeding up the EU rollout would have yielded better results than slagging off a company producing a life saving vaccine for nonprofit and threatening export bans.

I get why EU countries a spewing as many sought to sign their own contracts around the time we did but were warned off. The fault here is with EU, they should own it and make efforts to make it right without resorting to raiding private companies, issuing threats etc.
 
Yeah, all seems a little unnecessary. The thing is though, in this context (as in most to be honest), the EU is merely a group of all the individual nations. It has no interest in itself ......merely it's members, whose representatives form the EU.

Maybe sometimes, power gets to people, and they end up acting from a personal viewpoint, rather than for the good of the whole ......... a little like the awarding of contracts here for PPE and various other things.
 
I suspect all this bleating and bravado is actually for their own internal audience. They’ve fucked up, so they’re starting a fight to blame others, including the UK, is to deflect attention away from their own failings.

There is some jumped up Belgium EU official claiming the UK has started a vaccine war. It’s total bollocks as the country has done nothing of the sort. What it did do was act with expediency and took risks to put a vaccine programme in place free from EU control. There was nothing secretive about it and it was only due to EU bureaucracy that meant they didn’t.

I note they’ve introduced export controls now on vaccines. Personally I think this is just to save face, because if we reciprocated, including on key lipid ingredients, they’d struggle to produce any. I don’t think we will for what it’s worth as I suspect we’ll remain calm and dignified. However I do think there’ll be longer term implications given the EU’s behaviour in all this. Once normality has returned I suspect there will be companies in certain industries looking to diversify their supply chain outside of the EU, whilst remaining within it.
 
You do realise that some (most?) of the vaccine is made in the EU. I know we have some production facilities here, but we're by no means independent here.

Nearly a year on. It beggars belief really.
 
Pfizer, yeah. A good chunk of the rest is or will be manufactured here. I suspect Pfizer will also be manufacturing here before too long if they fear this EU behaviour is indicative of future actions.
 
I'm not really sure I get your logic here.

Trade seamlessly with 20 odd other countries and have separate arrangements for one, or vice versa.

I can't see any reason why they'd move production to UK rather than EU.
 
I'm not really sure I get your logic here.

Trade seamlessly with 20 odd other countries and have separate arrangements for one, or vice versa.

I can't see any reason why they'd move production to UK rather than EU.

I haven’t said move in entirety, but have additional production facilities. They are a commercial company and effectively their trade is impeded with this export ban.
 
Just listened to a representative of The Bild on the radio discussing the vaccine problem in the EU and why they are so far behind the good job being done in the UK. He said individual countries ( including Germany ) were sourcing vaccines but the EU Council told them to back off and it would be done EU wide. This led to the slow beurocratic disaster that we have now ( his words ). He also said Macron insisted that a French firm be used which now turns out the vaccine produced was useless and scrapped.

Some people are quick to point out any problems experienced with Brexit but turn a blind eye to any good stuff. Why is that ?

Because brexit is the wrong road for the UK to take as time will surely tell.
 
Yet given the scarcely believable behaviour of the EU in the last few days, it clearly isn’t.

They only did what Johnson said he would do. ............. though to be fair on them, they then had second thoughts and reversed the decision, knowing how bloody stupid it was. Then again, Johnson's made so many u-turns, I suppose he'd not be averse to adding another to the collection:

 
They only did what Johnson said he would do. ............. though to be fair on them, they then had second thoughts and reversed the decision, knowing how bloody stupid it was. Then again, Johnson's made so many u-turns, I suppose he'd not be averse to adding another to the collection:


I suspect Boris can barely believe his luck. The EU has lost the plot this last week:
- public argument with a pharmaceutical company producing a global life saving vaccine for non profit
-raiding said private company
- published a contract which mentioned best reasonable effort which von der liar repeatedly said wasn’t the case
- threatened to seize intellectual property and physical assets of pharmaceutical companies
- imposed an export ban on these companies goods meaning they cannot fulfill contracts of said life saving vaccine
- had idiots like macron claiming said vaccine isn’t effective despite being desperate to lay their hands on it.
- imposed barriers on the island if Ireland without even consulting the Irish and UK government’s as mandated by the clause.

All because they totally cocked up by telling EU countries to stand down on vaccine procurement as they would sort it. Instead they spent months penny pinching and were too late to the party. They clearly still have no idea how to deal with the UK. We don’t buckle to threats, they still don’t get this, but we would be gracious if asked for help. So of course they backtracked, they had little choice, the condemnation was united and their stance unsustainable. The EU have trashed their reputation, it’s quite incredible really. VDL, should resign, but she won’t. These troughers never do, however I don’t even think the fallout has begun.
 
Good post ......... now apply that same analysis to the government's litany of cock-ups.
I think you're right re Johnson not believing his luck ........... he knew he'd have got slated if he'd been the first to breach the agreement......(not that that would have stopped him of course).

Oh, for clarity, I should point out that I didn't consider the "buckle to threats" comment as part of the "good post". Far too close to the "little Englander" attitude for me.
👍
 
However the country doesn’t buckle to threats, it rises to them. History tells us that, but sadly it seems to be the m.o of the EU. However as a nation we are reasonable and respond favourably to requests for help. Perhaps the EU can finally learn this lesson and adopt the latter approach going forward.

I’m not defending the government’s or Boris handling of all aspects of the pandemic. Of course things could have been done differently, quicker and better - though I do acknowledge it was a fast moving, unprecedented situation and mistakes were likely to be made. In fact it seems no country is happy with its government’s response.

To be fair though they identified vaccine strategy as key early on and have made some excellent decisions. For example identifying vial manufacturers early and putting in those orders, likewise refrigerators. Originally it was going to be an Oxford Merck tie up until the plug was pulled as supplies couldn’t be guaranteed in case trump pulled exports. Ordering early, enduring contracts were water tight etc. If it had been a different government- Labour - we’d have been in the EU procurement scheme given their hysteria when we announced we were going it alone. Jimmy Krankie would be wise to remember that too when spouting her daily propaganda. So whoever was in charge, mistakes at one stage or another would have been made.

Key difference between Boris and vdl, is that the former is accountable both at the ballot box and if necessary could be replaced beforehand by political pressure. I’ll be honest I don’t know what mechanism there is for removing vdl and she certainly hasn’t been elected by EU citizens. It’s seems she’s untouchable and unaccountable. It’s been a catastrophic week for her and the EU, a total failure of statecraft and diplomacy. I note they are still on about suing pharmaceutical companies which I find incredulous. I suspect there will be long term ramifications of these threats (as I said it’s a trait). From what i know of her and her past performance it’s the equivalent of someone putting Chris Grayling in charge.