Again, to be fair that’s not an event likely to be greeted with much celebration.

Actually, I agree. With the old adage about a woman scorned and all that never truer.

But is just staying with somebody because you are scared of how they will act if you leave them the basis for a healthy relationship? No.

A clean break is for the best. That peace of mind worth any kind of short term hassles.

Maybe after the dust has a settled a relationship can be formed again. But in the immediate aftermath? No. Walk away, don't look back and keep your nerve. And come down hard, straight away. Otherwise, before you know it, the pet rabbit is missing from its hutch and you have a large pan boiling away.

The EU is a s***c***. As simple as that. But so what? It does not try to hide that so the onus is on the UK to deal with that accordingly. That is why I was never in favour of a 'deal'. Simply not possible. And that should have been the starting point from day 1.

The EU Commission is not like a conventional political foe. It has no electorate to answer to and is primarily the home for politicians who have failed domestically but because of our f***ed collective political system of patronage, clearly with enough dirt to dish to mean they have to be promoted upwards to keep them quiet. Which makes them incredibly dangerous.

And now, after the vaccine fiasco on their part, even more so. There can be no more half-measures. No more sitting down and playing the game. The UK needs to effectively move to a no-deal stance and act appropriately.

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." - 1984 - George Orwell.

I think we all know that's not going to happen. Where does that leave the UK>EU export market if the EU don't concede to our sudden need for further negotiations on a deal that's already been agreed?

In the gutter.

What about the UK music industry if visas longer than 3 days won't be permitted?

In the gutter.

We're only now starting to get a good understanding of the first major cracks in this 'deal', and that's mainly because of COVID screaming the loudest. The tories are fortunate that they've had that cover for a good 12 months.

I'm dreading what else is starting to fracture – just those two things on their own are absolutely massive in terms of economic contribution, value, employment and wealth generation.

Whether the EU is a 's*** c***' as you so eloquently put it, is neither here or there in these two scenarios. We are the ones that decided to accept the terms after negotiation.

Also, a very interesting excerpt from the governor of the BOE yesterday, firstly (quite rightly) pointing out that the EU is being unrealistic and overbearing in demands for equivalence/influence on our financial rules going forward.

“This is a standard that the EU holds no other country to and would, I suspect, not agree to be held to itself. It is hard to see beyond one of two ways of interpreting this statement, neither of which stands up to much scrutiny.”

But, crucially, and this speaks to your thoughts about the apparent simplicity of a 'clean break' sorting all our problems in one fell swoop, he nicely summarises the issue with thinking because we're out we can simply choose to do what we want and expect that to work.

'There was a message in Bailey’s speech for Brexiters who would prefer the UK to go it alone, with the governor warning that there would always need to be compromises to create a level playing field.

“Also, we do not participate in these global institutions with the intention to water them down, misguidedly because we think this would preserve some notion of our competitiveness as a nation. The UK could not be a global financial centre for long if we did.”'

All countries have to compromise in all areas of international relations, including trade and regulation. EU or no EU, doesn't matter. For some reason some people don't seem to understand this – well, it's how the world works. If you don't understand that then you will be eternally disappointed.

As always, simplification to the point of chronic reductiveness doesn't really work in an increasingly complex world. So I never understand why people get so angry when they continually put forward overly simplistic 'solutions' that could never ever be even remotely plausible.

Edited by SW19 CPFC (11 Feb 2021 3.55pm)

Did you know? 98.0000001% of people are morons.

Should of course be amusing but... *sigh*

For the record if the govt have some sort of trick up their sleeve that means they can somehow renegotiate these and other key failures in the agreed deal then brilliant. Excellent. They'll have pulled a blinder, even though they should have dealt with this in the 4 years prior.

But, forgive me for not holding my breath on that one. I hope their business compensation scheme is decent because in the short to medium term it will dwarf what's being currently paid out for COVID.

Did you know? 98.0000001% of people are morons.

Just a thought, did the musicians union put forward questions of what might happen to touring bands prior to Brexit? Anyone know?

I would have thought this would have been something standard to ask. Not sure how they get around touring the US and the rest of the World though either.

I'm not sure he's suggesting going back to the way things were. He's strongly attacking the EU for being unrealistic, but then also making the valid point that if you're participating in global markets there needs to be some level of equivalence between all, or at least a majority for the whole thing to work as it should. EU or no EU, the principle still applies.

I'm going to repost it again because he sums it up far more eloquently than I can. Continue to believe what you want but he's in a far more qualified position regarding competitiveness in global markets, at least on a financial level, than you or I. And to me, it makes perfect sense – the ability to make your own calls (more so than being IN the EU) but understanding that even when out some compromises will still need to be made, either with the wider world or the EU.

But not to the extent that you are worrying about. In essence, leaving gives us more control over so many areas, but it doesn't mean we can simply ignore the give and take of a globalised economy. We're not big enough to do that for a start. That's where China and the US have the advantage. Which makes sense – same as in life. The big dogs have the most influence, and usually the bigger teeth. Seems fairly logical to me.

'It requires us to give up some control over our standards and rules, because the alternative of narrow domestic control is illusory – it would jeopardise achieving the very things we want, safe open markets, and likewise open economies. Above all, these bodies enable us to build the trust that enable our financial systems to stay open,” he said.“But, we do not for a moment believe that we can maintain the arrangements we have without change. As the world around us changes, so too do we have to adapt how we achieve these public goods.“Also, we do not participate in these global institutions with the intention to water them down, misguidedly because we think this would preserve some notion of our competitiveness as a nation. The UK could not be a global financial centre for long if we did.'

Did you know? 98.0000001% of people are morons.