Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Sheilbh]

Will it affect deliveries of Shepherd Neame beer to other parts of England  ?

This could be a catastrophe!!!!

Just realised that, living in South-East London, I'm in border country! Edit: So will be setting up as a smuggler....

Also, whch I didn't know - the border between Kent and London is actually a little contentious - thinking about it makes sense because in my head I know Bromley is a borough, but I also think it's in Kent
https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/exact-borderline-kent-london-changed-3781612

[Richard Hakluyt]

You are in Peckham iirc? That would be in Surrey i think; Bromley is definitely traditionally part of Kent :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Kent#/media/File:Kent_Administrative_Map_1832.png

[Sheilbh]

You are in Peckham iirc? That would be in Surrey i think; Bromley is definitely traditionally part of Kent :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Kent#/media/File:Kent_Administrative_Map_1832.png

Yep - Peckham and Camberwell both apparently part of Surrey until late 19th century.

I assume the Kent Border Force will be focused on the modern not ceremonial counties. But given this is Boris Johnson's government, who can say?

[Richard Hakluyt]

Johnson probably wants the 1832 boundaries but Rees-Mogg will want earlier ones...........from the days of the Heptarchy perhaps 

[Gups]

I'm originally from the Kent/London borders. The areas next to the Thames (Woolwich, Thamesmead, Erith Bexleyheath etc) certainly feel like London suburbs, indeed you could make a good argument for Dartford to also be a part of London - there's maybe a couple of fields between London and Dartford.

But places like Biggin Hill are very clearly in the countryside, some way from London and it's a bit bizzarre that they fall within the boundary.

[Zanza]

It's good to know that it's not just us who have these issues - because so often these days, it is just us having x issue.

But this is where I fail as a decentraliser. I think loads and loads of problems in England stem from our overcentralisation and we need to devolve power and look a bit more like a "normal" European country. But any time I see NIMBYs and I basically revert to thinking all planning decisions need to be taken technocrats with slide rules in London tearing through the countryside and salting the earth for new infrastructure projects 

My hometown has a huge railway project. They are turning the main station by 90 degrees, move it underground, connect everything by tunnels and build a new high speed rail line to the next city. The project is delayed by a couple of years and over budget by billions. That said, I voted for it in a plebiscite in 2011 and believe it will be great once done. One of the main issues is intense NIMBYism. The protesters still meet every Monday and recently had their 500th NIMBY protest. 

[Zanza]

By the way, it is now just hundred days until Britain leaves the Single Market and other EU institutions such as regulatory agencies.

[Tamas]

By the way, it is now just hundred days until Britain leaves the Single Market and other EU institutions such as regulatory agencies.

I am sure everything is ready and organised.

[Zanza]

Had I known Brexit would involve a hard border around Kent I would have voted Leave

All the Leave voters knew exactly what they voted for, so you can only blame yourself. 

[Sheilbh]

Sunak announcing the "Winter Economic Plan". It's very, very weird seeing a Tweet like this from a Tory Chancellor meeting with the head of the Confederation of British Industry (fine) and the Trades Union Congress ( ) ahead of their announcements:

Rishi Sunak
@RishiSunak
Productive meeting and pleased to have support for our Winter Economy Plan from @cbicarolyn of @CBItweets and @FrancesOGrady of @The_TUC ahead of my statement to the House of Commons shortly.

I have no doubt the TUC will clarify their "support" later today. But it's still weird - I understand this is normal in other Northern European countries like Benelux, Nordics, Germany etc.

[Zanza]

It's totally normal here. For the 70th anniversary of our equivalent of TUC last year, Merkel was the guest of honour and held the congratulations speech. There are regular meetings between employers, unions and ministers.

Seems to be normal stakeholder management...

[Sheilbh]

It's totally normal here. For the 70th anniversary of our equivalent of TUC last year, Merkel was the guest of honour and held the congratulations speech. There are regular meetings between employers, unions and ministers.

Seems to be normal stakeholder management...

Yeah. I expected it would be - there is no way that would happen. The 2018 TUC Congress was their 150th anniversary and they didn't have (and I don't think they invited) anyone from the government. The nearest is the Archbishop of Canterbury as a representative of the "establishment". The political figures are all Labour. I'm not sure that any Tory (or Liberal/Lib Dem/Social Democrat) politician has ever spoken to the TUC Congress - while the Labour leader or Shadow Chancellor always does (and often they'll have a slot for a peaker from the international left like Jacinda Arden, or Jens Stoltenberg when he was Norwegian Prime Minister).

I suppose it's probably all a consequence of the Labour Party growing out of and being set up by the trade unions and the socialist societies (like the Fabians, Poale Zion, the Co-operative Party etc). The unions aren't just a stakeholder, most of them are formally affiliated to (and the biggest funders of) the Labour Party. I think the Labour Representation Committee (one of the pre-cursors to the Labour Party) was literally founded by a meeting of the TUC)

[Zanza]

Our postwar TUC equivalent is deliberately not bound to a party and the conservative employment minister attended their founding congress in 1949.

[Sheilbh]

So the Lib Dems have endorsed a universal basic income, joining the Greens and the SNP. Labour support UBI trials too

[Valmy]

Man the Lib Dems always know what is best for Britain

Too bad they are unfairly persecuted by Pontius Sheilbh.