Absolutely Not The Daily Troll-o-Graph

  France’s foreign affairs minister blasted the UK’s negotiating team for having an 'uncompromising and unrealistic attitude' Source- Daily Telegraph 31/08/20 Link to article Michel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator, is refusing to open discussions on Britain's new fisheries proposals until the UK budges on other issues, it has emerged. Mr Barnier, who is meeting David Frost, the UK's lead negotiator, in London on Tuesday, is insisting on "parallelism" – where multiple aspects on a range of issues must be agreed before moving forward. Britain is keen to move on and progress talks, and the pair are meeting outside of the scheduled negotiating timetable to try to straighten out the stagnated talks with the official, eighth round resuming in London on Monday September 7. The UK had wanted a deal done at the end of July and Mr Barnier says an agreement has to be in place by the end of October for it to be ratified around Europe by the end of the year. Fisheri...

 Source - The Spectator - 31/08/20 link to article Germany has been in uproar over the events that unfolded this Saturday, when 38,000 protesters gathered in Berlin and clashed with the police. The organisers of the gathering, entitled Umdenken (Rethinking), claimed they wanted to show their frustration at government measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Among the 38,000 were at least 3,000 far-right sympathisers and extremists, according to Berlin’s interior minister. The run-up to Saturday’s protests was already marked by controversy, as Berlin’s local government had initially banned the gathering due to concerns that the event could contribute to the spread of the coronavirus. As is often the case in Germany when governments ban political protests, a local court decided that the constitutional right to freedom of assembly outweighed other considerations and gave the protest the go-ahead. Observing the scene on Saturday, it became clear that those who oppose coronavi...

Could the EOTHO critics be forced to eat their words? Rishi Sunak honed in on two crucial lessons: signals matter, and incentives drive behaviour Economists might scoff at Sunak's scheme - but it's had the desired effect Source -CAPX 28/08/20 Link to article Ok, I admit it – when I first heard the Eat Out to Help Out policy, I scoffed. Turns out I was not alone. For in the first 3 weeks of the scheme, 64 million discounted meals have been demolished by the Great British public – and the Covid rate has not rocketed as many predicted. With the subsidy ending next week, it’s time to give credit where it’s due: this unlikely, gimmicky sounding policy has worked. Cutting through the economists’ textbook worries of ‘deadweight costs’ and ‘displaced activity’, Rishi Sunak and his team honed in on two crucial lessons: signals matter, and incentives drive behaviour. From there, everything else flows. Let’s remember the hospitality sector was on its knees, with about 80% of firms closing...

Does England want to keep being a sugar daddy to an indifferent Scotland?  Scotland is dining out on English taxpayers money - and the meals are getting ever more lavish  The SNP's own statisticians are making the case against independence Source -CAPX 27/08/20 Link to article It’s that time of the year again when – as Jim Gallagher puts it – the Scottish Government’s statisticians are let off their leashes and ‘tell it like it is’. According to the annual Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) Holyrood spent £15.1 billion more than it raised in taxes in 2019-20, an increase of £2 billion on last year – and that’s without the majority of the impact of Covid-19 factored in. Unsurprisingly, this had led the SNP to drop its annual ‘economic case for independence’ – a Scottish taxpayer-funded propaganda piece based on such a wide range of hypothetical situations it should be stocked in the Fantasy section at Waterstones. The response from politicians has been predictab...

 The corporation's cack-handed Proms plan has unwittingly paved the way for a more rational conversation about British history and values. Source - Daily Telegraph 27/08/20 Link to article It has been a torrid few months for Britain’s silent majority. For those of us who believe in the rule of law, in our great tradition of free speech, and in the very existence of our nation, the events following the terrible death in Minneapolis of George Floyd in May have left us without voice. We have either been silenced or, in some cases, “cancelled”, the term now used to describe a person who has been thrust out of a social or professional circle for expressing an opinion. It is the modern version of sending someone to Coventry. Ads by Teads This week’s row over the Last Night of the Proms, in which the BBC has – absurdly – insisted that the words of Rule, Britannia! and Land of Hope and Glory cannot be sung  on 12 September is just the latest chapter in this summer of discontent. Perha...

 Mr Abbott will be joint president of Board of Trade with a mission to get trade deals for Britain all over the world. Source - Daily Telegraph 26/08/20 Link to article Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott is to be Britain's new joint president of the Board of Trade. Mr Abbott, a vocal supporter of Brexit, who led Australia from 2013 to 2015, will be tasked with drumming up deals for the UK around the world, the Sun reported last night. The Board of Trade has traditionally been made up of British politicians and business executives. Its mission is to "champion exports and inward and outward investment to deliver economic growth and prosperity". It came as farmers and business chiefs have been given a louder voice to ensure they do not lose out in trade negotiations as ministers bid for a raft of post-Brexit deals. Bosses in 11 sectors including agriculture, manufacturing and financial services have signed non-disclosure agreements so they can help to shape potenti...

Nationalists have been gifted that most precious of political prizes - a grudge. Source - The Spectator 24/08/20 Link to article How does a believer lose the faith? It might begin with some quibble about a point of doctrine: the Virgin Birth, for instance. The believer struggles intellectually but cannot accept the dogma. What starts as a quibble then turns into an obstacle; as the doubt grows, the whole belief system starts to unravel. One day it dawns on them that they no longer believe. Reader, I am myself undergoing such a struggle to maintain my political faith in Unionism. I have been an instinctive, largely unquestioning Unionist ever since I became politically aware. The roots of my faith are simple enough: Scotland and England can do more together than individually. That and the fact of our shared history and land mass. And for most of my lifetime – some sixty-odd years – it seemed as if this generous, commonsensical view commanded a stable majority in both countries. However,...

Source - The Spectator 24/08/20 Link to article It is still far from clear whether schools will succeed in re-opening next week, as government ministers, education authorities and unions battle it out over safety – or supposed safety – concerns. Now, as back in May, when the government first proposed re-opening schools, the unions have demanded evidence that it will be safe for children to return to the classroom. The difference now is that we do have real-world evidence on the spread of Covid-19 in schools. Public Health England (PHE) has analysed what happened when over a million children finally returned to school in June. In the subsequent weeks until the end of term, 70 children and 128 staff tested positive for Covid-19. However, 67 of these were isolated cases – where staff or pupils were presumably infected outside school. The remaining cases were linked to ‘outbreaks’ within school – an ‘outbreak’ involving two of more people. Across the country: for every 1,000 nurseries, 0.5...

Misspent subsidies are destroying the very environment upon which farming depends worldwide At least €24 billion a year goes to support the richest farming regions with the fewest jobs The very premise on which the majority of CAP support is paid is gravely flawed. Source CAPX 24/08/20 Link to article The Common Agricultural Policy, or CAP, is the European Union’s largest budget item. For the €60 billion (£53.9 billion) a year it pays in subsidies, the CAP is expected to support farmer incomes, ensure a supply of quality food, protect biodiversity, tackle climate change and encourage young people into farming. It’s hard to tell if the EU is succeeding in these aims because of a lack of transparency, complex reporting, and insufficient monitoring. But the success of the European Green Deal and a green recovery from Covid-19 depend on these subsidies being well spent. In our new study, we found that the CAP isn’t living up to its promises. Where subsidies really go We carefully analysed ...

 If Brussels does not want to do a deal at this stage, that is its right - just as much as it is ours to decide the deals we strike. Source - Daily Telegraph 21/08/20 Link to article In their report back from the latest round of talks on a possible EU-UK Free Trade Agreement, both the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier and his UK counterpart David Frost struck a pessimistic pose. Barnier said matters are going “backwards more than forwards” and that the current form of negotiations is “wasting valuable time”. Frost said it is clear that an agreement this year will clearly “not be easy to achieve”.  Now this could of course be a game of chicken, with both sides saying they are reconciled to accepting there will be no agreement in the anticipation the other will buckle. Last year the EU was adamant there was no possibility of their agreeing to re-open Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement and remove the notorious “backstop”, right up until the moment that they did. The EU is noto...

 Progress appeared to go backwards, EU negotiator says, during this week’s talks. Source - Irish Times - 21/08/20 Link to article The EU’s Brexit negotiator has warned that valuable time is being wasted in trade talks with the UK as he accused his British counterparts of failing to make progress on topics of key interest to Europe during the latest round of trade negotiations. Michel Barnier said he was disappointed, concerned and surprised by the lack of progress displayed in discussions that took place in Brussels this week, reiterating that at this stage an agreement between the two sides still looked unlikely and that there was a risk the two sides would fail to ratify a deal by the end of the year. “Too often this week it felt as if we were going backwards more than forwards,” Mr Barnier said at a press conference following the conclusion of the latest negotiations. “I simply do not understand why we are wasting valuable time.” The failure to advance the discussions that began...

 After a deep crash, Britain is getting back to work faster than most. Source - Daily Telegraph 20/08/20 Link to article Almost every industry in Britain is growing faster than its competitors around the world, further raising hopes of a ‘v-shaped’ recovery as the economy gets back to work. The UK is well ahead of the global average in terms of returning to growth, according to a Lloyds Bank analysis of IHS Markit’s business surveys across different countries. Twelve of the 14 industries tracked showed growth above the global benchmark, the bank said, led by metals and mining, and by chemicals. Beverages and food also expanded rapidly last month, as did software services. By contrast technology equipment struggled, as did the embattled tourism and recreation industry. The majority of businesses have stopped reporting falls in output caused by Covid, with a particularly sharp turnaround in the construction sector. While almost one-quarter mentioned furloughing staff, and the same sh...

  Agreement could be stepping stone to 'Canzuk Union' between Canada, Australia, New Zealand and UK. Source   Daily Telegraph 18/08/20 Link to article Australian politicians are calling for freedom of movement to be incorporated within any post-Brexit trade deal, hailing it as an opportunity to "create a powerful force for free trade and liberal values". Senator James Paterson, of the governing Liberal Party, said an agreement should include "generous provisions" for Britons and Australians to live and work in both countries. In a report for the Adam Smith Institute think tank, Mr Paterson wrote that the two nations are "bound by deep historical and institutional ties" dating back to Sir Arthur Phillip's arrival in Botany Bay in 1788. Short of total freedom of movement, Mr Paterson argued that relaxed visa provisions should be put in place to allow citizens of both countries to easily obtain visas when they have job offers. "This should re...

 What #StarmerOut tells us about Labour's ongoing civil war   Corbyn and co. really believe they were on the brink of power, but had it snatched away by...the Labour Party   Starmer's early days have more in common with Kinnock than Blair - but will he follow the same path? source - CAPX 18/08/20 Link to article The knives are out for Keir Starmer already, if social media rumblings are to be taken seriously. At least one leftist Twitter account – one that boasts it is followed by both Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell – has pledged a challenge to his leadership by next year, while #StarmerOut was trending at the weekend. The unwary might assume that discontent with Starmer among Corbyn’s acolytes is based on frustration that, despite the Government’s many obvious weaknesses and mistakes – the A-level debacle being just one of them – Labour is still finding that taking a national poll lead is a daunting, and so far unmet, challenge. But this latest shot across Starmer’s bow...

 PHE was more interested in saving you from an extra helping of dessert than a pandemic   It's hardly hyperbole to say that everything PHE touched, failed   Public Health England failed repeatedly - but simply ditching it is no cure for poor policy Source- CAPX 17/08/20 Link to article The Government has finally read the writing on the wall for Public Health England (PHE). According to reports, the failing public health body will be abolished and its role preparing for pandemics moved to a new National Institute for Health Protection. PHE’s only unmitigated success has been drawing ire from both the left and the right. Its enduring legacy will be the highest COVID-19 death toll in Europe. As Sir Iain Duncan Smith neatly (if rather bluntly) put it, ‘everything PHE has touched, has failed’. This is hardly hyperbolic. It failed to scale up testing quickly enough, rebuffing support offered by university and private labs. As a result, its diagnostic testing programme was hapha...

  We will soon see that the Europeans prefer to cosy up to their enemies than ally with America. Source - Daily Telegraph - 16/08/20 Link to article With an eye-roll here, and a put-down there, it has long been sport for the world to watch Angela Merkel’s response to anything Donald Trump says. As amusing for many as this may be, the game makes light of the grave predicament facing the West. Just as Europe and America face relative economic decline and growing insecurity, not to mention domestic instability, the Western Alliance is no more. The global institutions built by liberal democracies are decaying, our commitment to collective security is in doubt, and our response to increasingly assertive hostile foreign states is fragmented and ineffective. Optimistic liberals might suppose that the election of Joe Biden as president of the United States will help the West to set a new course. The polls suggest Biden is likely to win big, and his politics are reassuringly familiar. Europ...

"Our entire history, our whole society and every white person in it have been declared racist". Source - The Spectator - 15/08/20 Link to article Hearing that Dawn Butler MP had been pulled over by the Metropolitan police, I briefly hoped the taxpayer might get back the whirlpool bath she charged us on her parliamentary expenses. But the officers skipped the boot and went straight to the passenger side, where they found the member for Brent Central recording them with her phone and looking pleased as punch to audition as the new Rosa Parks. As it happens, the footage she released showed the police being deeply polite, and they subsequently explained that the pull-over had been due to a registration-plate mix-up. But Butler claimed it was a case of the dreaded ‘stop-and-search’ and within hours she was on Channel 4 News, being grilled by one of their crack interviewers. Fatima Manji asked Butler how such a thing could happen to someone who a day earlier had been ‘declared one ...