Brexit, for once some facts.

[50Hertz]

Nonsense, he is rightly protesting about the condescending way celebrities, including our royalty, go there to publicise themselves and charity, rather than actually giving really practical help. As so many leading Africans themselves say, they don't want or need charity, they need to be given the chance to succeed.

In stark contrast the Chinese have been showing us how. They've been investing massively in infrastructure there to give the Africans opportunities while benefiting China with African resources. Some other southern world countries have joined into this investment into Africa process. That's major contructive trade rather than condescending inadequate charity, and the benefits are showing very clearly as this quote shows:

The United Nations predicts Africa's economic growth will reach 3.5% in 2018 and 3.7% in 2019. As of 2007, growth in Africa had surpassed that of East Asia. ... The World Bank reports the economy of Sub-Saharan African countries grew at rates that match or surpass global rates.

David Lammy understands all this only too well, as do I, so I understand the frustrations he and so many leading Africans express. We need to stop the charity approach which has never helped and often made things far worse. Then either get out of Africa altogether or invest more in the sort of trading that benefits both Africa and ourselves, just as the Chinese and some others are doing.
.

The Chinese are only interested in milking the natural resources and raw materials. They don’t give a second thought to anything else.

Comments such as those made by David Lammy MP in recent days are not helpful. I’ve been to several African countries and large parts aren’t good. They need long term help to prosper in the future and they need aid now. If you went to the areas where aid is being provided and asked the people in receipt, they would agree. I don’t think David Lammy MP speaks on their behalf. He’s a racist and an opportunistic man, which sums up a good portion of the current hard left Labour Party.

 

[Woosh]

from the independent:

Donald Trump's administration has published negotiating objectives for a deal which include demands for the UK to provide full market access for US drug firms and ensure that state institutions - such as the NHS - do not discriminate against American companies when purchasing goods and services.

The document also states the US will be seeking "comprehensive market access" for its agricultural products through the reduction or removal of tariffs and the elimination of "unwarranted barriers" to food and drink imports.

Nigel Farage is charging Leave voters £50 to join him on his Brexit betrayal march
Fee covers accommodation, dinner and an official kit for rally that culminates on the day Britain leaves EU.

 

[50Hertz]

I would treat any negotiation like meeting a customer coming into the shop to test ride some bikes.
The measure of success is a happy customer, a win win outcome.
I listen to the customer, answer his questions, sort out niggles like seat post, handlebars adjustments etc.
The main thing is, plan for alternatives ahead when the customer makes an appointment.
I make sure to show not only what the customer intends to buy but also what would suit him/her better.
What DT should have done is clear: N. Koreans spent years and years in privation to pursue nuclear weapons, they are not going to give them all up at once. They only want one step at a time. It was clear to the USA in the previous meeting. Asking for total denuclearisation is like asking for total surrender, it's bound to get to nowhere.
I am pretty sure that they all know that, there should have been a menu of affordable deals. The job of DT is to take home one or a few of the items on the menu.

And if after all of your niceties and exhaustive negotiating, the customer still wanted to purchase on terms that were not acceptable to you, would you walk away from the deal? Would you accept that at point in time a deal can’t be reached? It happens every day in a whole spectrum of differing situations. Trump reaching that point is no different. Both sides have left the door open to further negotiations, which is a positive outcome.

Your suggestions aren’t realistic or workable in the current circumstances.

 

[flecc]

The Chinese are only interested in milking the natural resources and raw materials. They don’t give a second thought to anything else.

Comments such as those made by David Lammy MP in recent days are not helpful. I’ve been to several African countries and large parts aren’t good. They need long term help to prosper in the future and they need aid now. If you went to the areas where aid is being provided and asked the people in receipt, they would agree. I don’t think David Lammy MP speaks on their behalf. He’s a racist and an opportunistic man, which sums up a good portion of the current hard left Labour Party.

Nonsense again, aid is the last thing Africa needs and we have the proof. Seventy years of US and UK aid produced no improvements in Africa's economy.

A much shorter period of Chinese investment and infrastructure building and the African economies are flourishing.
.

 

[oldgroaner]

I know it's a Friday and we are all looking forward to the weekend. But please do keep on topic.

Your constant wandering away from the subject in hand just disrupts the thread.

We all know your cheeky chappie persona but please, please try and remain on topic old friend.

Thank you.

Lets see now, you obviously regard this as "on topic" then?
"
Almost there, but if you try again you will see that I said “adds in irrelevant complications”. This is something very different to adding necessary detail.

You had a good try though and I’m pleased with the effort you are making. If you continue to work hard, you will get it right in no time at all, of that I am certain. Keep trying & well done. "

Take your own advice!

 

[Woosh]

Thats good then?

the DUP are going to vote for TM's deal. They only need a ladder to climb down.
That ladder should be there when the Attorney General Geoffrey Cox changes his recommendation to support May's deal early next week. 80 members of the ERG will also support May's deal.
If she loses, that would be in the low teens.
I think she would want to lose next week, let Yvette Cooper's motion to have an easy ride.
Cooper's motion will force the 20 'real ERG' to vote for her.
She will then bring her deal back around 20-March when she'll win.
After that, she'll ask for extension of A50 to sort out the legislation.

 

[oldgroaner]

Now fingers ,that you are an amenable mood, perhaps you might identify any instance where I have been "adding irrelevant comp!ications".
As has been said before , to every complex problem there is a simple solution... But it is usually wrong.

It's more a case of "Every simpleton find any answer complex" in this instance !

 

[oldgroaner]

the DUP are going to vote for TM's deal. They only need a ladder to climb down.
That ladder should be there when the Attorney General Geoffrey Cox changes his recommendation to support May's deal early next week. 80 members of the ERG will also support May's deal.
If she loses, that would be in the low teens.
I think she would want to lose next week, let Yvette Cooper's motion to have an easy ride.
Cooper's motion will force the 20 'real ERG' to vote for her.
She will then bring her deal back around 20-March when she'll win.
After that, she'll ask for extension of A50 to sort out the legislation.

May's deal will be accepted .
Fear guarantees that.

 

[oldgroaner]

And if after all of your niceties and exhaustive negotiating, the customer still wanted to purchase on terms that were not acceptable to you, would you walk away from the deal? Would you accept that at point in time a deal can’t be reached? It happens every day in a whole spectrum of differing situations. Trump reaching that point is no different. Both sides have left the door open to further negotiations, which is a positive outcome.

Your suggestions aren’t realistic or workable in the current circumstances.

You don't seriously suggest Trump went to North Korea for any other reason than self publicity?
That is hilarious, as that was the only reason he stood for President!
He needed to look the "Tough Guy" as the screws are being put on him for being Putin's lapdog, so he's found a smaller "Public Enemy no. 1" to bully and look big.

 

[Fingers]

May's deal will be accepted .
Fear guarantees that.

Thank you for posting on topic old friend.

 

[Fingers]

You don't seriously suggest Trump went to North Korea for any other reason than self publicity?
That is hilarious, as that was the only reason he stood for President!
He needed to look the "Tough Guy" as the screws are being put on him for being Putin's lapdog, so he's found a smaller "Public Enemy no. 1" to bully and look big.

There is a seperate thread about Trump.

This is the Brexit thread.

Please keep on topic.

Final warning.

 

[oldgroaner]

Grayling strikes again
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/mar/01/grayling-reaches-33m-settlement-over-brexit-ferry-fiasco-court-case-eurotunnel?CMP=share_btn_tw

Grayling reaches £33m settlement in Brexit ferry fiasco court case

Transport secretary agrees deal with Eurotunnel, which was suing government
What a man, and others like him will handle the future of the UK after Brexit.

Vote Brexit and get the Government you deserve (but we don't)

 

[OxygenJames]

Europe not the place to be:

(Cummings just released his latest blog)

"There is some talk in London of ‘what if there is an AI arms race’ but there is already an AI/automation arms race between companies and between countries — it’s just that Europe is barely relevant to the cutting edge of it.

Europe wants to be a world player but it has totally failed to generate anything approaching what is happening in coastal America and China.

Brussels spends its time on posturing, publishing documents about ‘AI and trust’, whining, spreading fake news about fake news (while ignoring experts like Duncan Watts), trying to damage Silicon Valley companies rather than considering how to nourish European entities with real capabilities, and imposing bad regulation like GDPR (that ironically was intended to harm Google/Facebook but actually helped them in some ways because Brussels doesn’t understand them)."

 

[Woosh]

it’s just that Europe is barely relevant to the cutting edge of it.

why? Europe have just as many exceptionally gifted programmers.

 

[OxygenJames]

Europe not the place to be:

(Cummings just released his latest blog)

"There is some talk in London of ‘what if there is an AI arms race’ but there is already an AI/automation arms race between companies and between countries — it’s just that Europe is barely relevant to the cutting edge of it.

Europe wants to be a world player but it has totally failed to generate anything approaching what is happening in coastal America and China.

Brussels spends its time on posturing, publishing documents about ‘AI and trust’, whining, spreading fake news about fake news (while ignoring experts like Duncan Watts), trying to damage Silicon Valley companies rather than considering how to nourish European entities with real capabilities, and imposing bad regulation like GDPR (that ironically was intended to harm Google/Facebook but actually helped them in some ways because Brussels doesn’t understand them)."

Gotta love the way this man talks:

"If you are one of the many MPs aspiring to be not just Prime Minister but a Prime Minister who gets important things done, there are very few books that would repay careful study as much as Groves’.

If you do then you could avoid joining the list of Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron and May who bungle around for a few years before being spat out to write very similar accounts about how they struggled to ‘find the levers of power’, couldn’t get officials to do what they want, and never understood how to get things done."

 

[OxygenJames]

OG will like this bit:

"The Whitehall procurement system is embedded in the dominant framework of EU law (the EU law is bad but UK officials have made it worse). It is complex, slow and wasteful. It hugely favours large established companies with powerful political connections — true corporate looters.

The likes of Carillion and lawyers love it because they gain from the complexity, delays, and waste. It is horrific for SMEs to navigate and few can afford even to try to participate. The officials in charge of multi-billion processes are mostly mediocre, often appalling. In the MoD corruption adds to the problems."

 

[OxygenJames]

OG will like this bit:

"The Whitehall procurement system is embedded in the dominant framework of EU law (the EU law is bad but UK officials have made it worse). It is complex, slow and wasteful. It hugely favours large established companies with powerful political connections — true corporate looters.

The likes of Carillion and lawyers love it because they gain from the complexity, delays, and waste. It is horrific for SMEs to navigate and few can afford even to try to participate. The officials in charge of multi-billion processes are mostly mediocre, often appalling. In the MoD corruption adds to the problems."

"Because of mangled incentives and reinforcing culture, the senior civil service does not care about this and does not try to improve. Total failure is totally irrelevant to the senior civil service and is absolutely no reason to change behaviour even if it means thousands of people killed and many billions wasted. Occasionally incidents like Carillion blow up and the same stories are written and the same quotes given — ‘unbelievable’, ‘scandal’, ‘incompetence’, ‘heads will roll’.

Nothing changes.

The closed and dysfunctional Whitehall system fights to stay closed and dysfunctional. The media caravan soon rolls on. ‘Reform’ in response to botches and scandals almost inevitably makes things even slower and more expensive — even more focus on process rather than outcomes, with the real focus being ‘we can claim to have acted properly because of our Potemkin process’. Nobody is incentivised to care about high performance and error-correction. The MPs ignore it all. Select Committees issue press releases about ‘incompetence’ but never expose the likes of Heywood to persistent investigation to figure out what has really happened and why. Nobody cares."

 

[flecc]

Gotta love the way this man talks:

"If you are one of the many MPs aspiring to be not just Prime Minister but a Prime Minister who gets important things done, there are very few books that would repay careful study as much as Groves’.

If you do then you could avoid joining the list of Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron and May who bungle around for a few years before being spat out to write very similar accounts about how they struggled to ‘find the levers of power’, couldn’t get officials to do what they want, and never understood how to get things done."

Cummings is a prime example of the old adage ending, "those who can't, teach".

He made one attempt at doing something useful after moving to Russia, by setting up an airline that only achieved one flight.

Since that failure he's only been engaged in criticising others, purporting to have all the solutions while never achieving anything worthwhile himself. Another Leaver's hero, all talk, no evidence.
.

 

[OxygenJames]

"Because of mangled incentives and reinforcing culture, the senior civil service does not care about this and does not try to improve. Total failure is totally irrelevant to the senior civil service and is absolutely no reason to change behaviour even if it means thousands of people killed and many billions wasted. Occasionally incidents like Carillion blow up and the same stories are written and the same quotes given — ‘unbelievable’, ‘scandal’, ‘incompetence’, ‘heads will roll’.

Nothing changes.

The closed and dysfunctional Whitehall system fights to stay closed and dysfunctional. The media caravan soon rolls on. ‘Reform’ in response to botches and scandals almost inevitably makes things even slower and more expensive — even more focus on process rather than outcomes, with the real focus being ‘we can claim to have acted properly because of our Potemkin process’. Nobody is incentivised to care about high performance and error-correction. The MPs ignore it all. Select Committees issue press releases about ‘incompetence’ but never expose the likes of Heywood to persistent investigation to figure out what has really happened and why. Nobody cares."

More and more.....

"Being in charge of massive screwups is no barrier to promotion. Operational excellence is no requirement for promotion. You will often see the official in charge of some debacle walking to the tube at 4pm (‘compressed hours’ old boy) while the debacle is live on TV (I know because I saw this regularly in the DfE). The senior civil service now operates like a protected caste to preserve its power and privileges regardless of who the ignorant plebs vote for."

 

[OxygenJames]

"And now, when Brexit means the entire legal basis for procurement is changing, do these MPs, ministers and officials finally examine it and see how they could improve?

No of course not!

The top priority for Heywood et al viz Brexit and procurement has been to get hapless ministers to lock Britain into the same nightmare system even after we leave the EU — nothing must disrupt the gravy train!

There’s been a lot of talk about £350 million per week for the NHS since the referendum. I could find this in days and in ways that would have strong public support.

But nobody is even trying to do this and if some minister took a serious interest, they would soon find all sorts of things going wrong for them until the PermSec has a quiet word and the natural order is restored…"