HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

What a surprise a compromise is cobbled together at the last second, and everyone now sings its praises

We are slowly escaping, we have been allowed to unlock the prison cell and stick out head out. Once out of the door, so they can no long torture or bully us, we can use our OWN parliament and courts to finally cut the forced chains and come and go as we wish. AND if so desired just stick two fingers up at them.

It reminds me of the escape from Colditz.

All this proves that for weeks it has been all political posturing and likely most of this was in the bag weeks ago. Theresa May could well be held up as a political genius in years to come rather than the incompetent she is currently viewed as. I doubt any other UK politician could have got us this far as they either can't make their mind up or have extremist Brexit or remain views.

I read it as:

Money agreed to the nearest £5bn ish
Citizens rights pretty much agreed
Fudge on NI border / Irish Sea border

Dublin has been guaranteed 'no hard border with NI'. The DUP has been guaranteed 'no border in the Irish Sea'. Well, if we are leaving the single market and customs union then one or the other seems inevitable.

This has been a humiliating week for Theresa May. That may not be significant in the long term but it is certainly not part of a 'cunning plan'.

The real problem is that the crunch decisions about our future relationships and therefore the detail that business and the market needs is being withheld until the last possible moment. Partly because that is the way that politicians and bureaucrats naturally try to operate, and a large part due to divisions in the Tory party.

Everyone wants to know: Are we leaving 'properly' or are we remaining in all but name? Soft or hard? High or low?

It is a question that May dare not answer.

The circle is a long, long way from being squared.

Within Europe the agreement has been met with cautious optimism - which would seem to indicate that things are moving in the direction of a 'soft' Brexit. 'Concessions have been made on both sides' is the official statement here.

The Dutch government has issued a warning that the Brexit could cause problems for exports from the Netherlands - most notably in fresh flowers which go in truckloads every day to the UK. Customs checks could hold these shipments up and be damaging to the flowers.

But at least the Dutch officials have done their homework, which is more than can be said for the Tory government who have not even bothered to make ANY assessments of the impact that Brexit will have on the British economy.
BBC News - Impact assessments of Brexit on the UK 'don't exist'

Bizarre, stupid or business as usual ?

The time for the impact assessments was before the referendum. Cameron & Osborne lazily relied on scaremongering and only woke up to a possible leave majority when it was far too late.

Davis should have said months ago that they were not doing full assessments. The government didn't have the time or the resources post referendum, and forecasts are of limited value as there are thousands of variables. Instead, he bullshitted and now he's up to his own neck in it...

Economic forecasts are never accurate and in fact have been 100% wrong in recent times. Perhaps they did the assessments and decided that binning them and saying they don't exist was less damaging. Stating the obvious like flowers will rot is not an economic assessment and a damn lie. Is anyone actually putting out figures claiming how much trade they will lose at this stage? Nobody knows until the final trade deal is done. Flowers and fruit are stored under temperature controlled conditions these days that extends their life by weeks and in some cases months. All politicians appear to display an ignorance of the real world and how business operates that is staggering. Anyway there is now a will to compromise and fudge which will ensure that there won't be a separation of N ireland from the UK and we will be leaving the EU including single market and customs union in principle. In practical terms regulations have to be compatible if we are going to be trading with each other.

100% wrong, were the economic forecasts actually bedtime stories

As for nobody's knows until the deal is done. What a measly mouthed excused, the fact is the final deal will be predictable and it is possible to present several scenarios at once

With the ROI demanding (and getting, it seems) no border controls will Greece now threaten to veto unless the "Elgin marbles" are returned?
Could be a bloody long line of countries lining up for special deal or veto.

Politics = the art of cobbled together compromises.

If the Greeks had any sense they would have left the EU long ago. Economically totally incompatible with western Europe. BTW, just a reminder that the Greek debt has not gone away.