Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Sheilbh]

Okay, I'm missing something here. Why would George Elliot's statue need to be guarded? Or is it some ellaborate meta-prank?

I don't think she is. I think they are just under the impression that all statues are going to be torn down or that all old statues or people from the past are at risk

[Agelastus]

It is an admission of reduced British ambitions, for sure.

I'm not sure that follows and, apparently, the aid budget will be protected at 0.7%.

I think there's basically two schools - one extreme is Germany where aid is managed by an independent corporation that isn't part of the government; the other end is the US which does non-interested aid but also very much uses aid as a part of foreign policy to advance American interests. We have been somewhere in the middle.

Moving it into the FCO indicates to me that we'll probably get less good aid results, but we'll be tying it to UK interests/foreign policy more explicitly. I'm not sure if that's more or less ambitious.

While I would dispute that we will get "less good" aid results overall given the history of the Department for International Development, it is the latter point about tying it better into UK interests/foreign policy which is why I think of this as being an "about bloody time" measure.

It never made sense for Aid not to be under the FCO's umbrella.

A view with which, of course, you disagree due to our differing political viewpoints.

[Josquius]

Okay, I'm missing something here. Why would George Elliot's statue need to be guarded? Or is it some ellaborate meta-prank?

They're idiots.  They think antifa is a evil United force dedicated to tearing down all statues and erasing history.

[crazy canuck]

Interview with him:
https://twitter.com/Channel4News/status/1272188213705297920?s=20

"I thought that if the police officers around Floyd had intervened he would be alive today"

So Valmy is right, there is reason to hope for a brighter future. 

[Josquius]

Not satire

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-tory-mp-bob-stewart-dog-pet-passport-france-channel-a9569231.html

Brexiteer MP says his 'French-speaking' dogs should be able to keep free movement rights

Wow.

Beyond the headline its slightly more reasonable. Pet passports should remain intact. But that this is a priority over free movement for humans....

[The Brain]

Why doesn't he want control to extend to pets?

[Zanza]

I think there's basically two schools - one extreme is Germany where aid is managed by an independent corporation that isn't part of the government; the other end is the US which does non-interested aid but also very much uses aid as a part of foreign policy to advance American interests. We have been somewhere in the middle.

Germany has a "ministry for economic cooperation and development" led by a full cabinet minister with about 1000 employees in Germany. That's the political side of development aid and I guess comparable to the British department. Germany furthermore has the GIZ, organized as a LLC owned by the federal government, which does the operative execution of development aid on behalf of the ministry, but also on behalf of other ministries or of EU, NGOs or even foreign governments. It has 20k employees in 90 countries. And the GIZ is not an apolitical organisation.  It openly serves the interests of Germany's federal government. 

[Sheilbh]

Germany has a "ministry for economic cooperation and development" led by a full cabinet minister with about 1000 employees in Germany. That's the political side of development aid and I guess comparable to the British department. Germany furthermore has the GIZ, organized as a LLC owned by the federal government, which does the operative execution of development aid on behalf of the ministry, but also on behalf of other ministries or of EU, NGOs or even foreign governments. It has 20k employees in 90 countries. And the GIZ is not an apolitical organisation.  It openly serves the interests of Germany's federal government.

Interesting - I have friends who work for GIZ so possibly misunderstood.

I think the difference is the UK department was the political bit and it was directly in charge of UK Aid which is the operational bit (but would do work for other UK government departments - such as specific funds or grants related to culture from DCMS) of DFID, rather than a separate corporate entity. DFID is being moved into the FCO so UK Aid will be directly part of the foreign office. In part this is a shame because from my understanding DFID and UK Aid are both considered very effective within the sort international development/NGO community.

So the purpose of DFID was "to promote sustainable development and eliminate world poverty", which was it's goal and in principle it would support UK policy if that was sort of compatible, while my impression was the Germany operational wing is more independent in just meeting its goals and German interests. So my impression was Germany was basically more aid/development focused, but that could be wrong.

And the bad old days (pre-New Labour) when DFID was underneath the FCO, the primary aim of the Overseas Development Agency was to promote British economic interests and trade. This lead to a court case in the 90s about a Malaysian dam which the UK funded construction of, while the Malaysian government bought £1 billion worth of UK arms. A civil servant refused to sign off on the project which lead to a court case and the court said it was unlawful because the dam wasn't an economically sound project so it was ultra vires:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2012/dec/12/pergau-dam-affair-aid-arms-scandal

That to me is kind of the other extreme of the German model, and possibly the DFID model given what you've said. I think it's a shame and I also think it's sort of a wrecking move given this is an area where the UK has a very strong reputation.

Edit: Obviously it might all work out fine - but my friends who work in this sector are very concerned about this move.

[garbon]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/17/police-in-england-and-wales-six-times-more-likely-to-fine-bame-people-in-lockdown

Police in England and Wales six times more likely to fine BAME people in lockdown

Police enforcing the coronavirus lockdown in England and Wales were more than six times more likely to issue fines to ethnic minority people than white people, figures show.

Data from police forces shows 17 were more likely to issue a penalty notice to ethnic minority people than to white people. Two forces, Northumbria and Merseyside, were not.

One senior chief constable said bias and lack of trust from certain communities may have played a role, as well as demographics.

Officers had discretion on when to issue fines, and police said they followed an approach of trying to avoid enforcement, known as the four Es – engaging, explaining and encouraging, before considering enforcement.

Figures obtained by Liberty Investigates, part of the civil liberties group Liberty, and the Guardian, give a force-by-force breakdown. The figures are yet to be officially released and had been requested by the home affairs committee investigation into race and policing, which met on Wednesday.

The mainly rural Cumbria force was 6.8 times more likely to fine someone who was BAME (black and minority ethnic) than white.

Avon and Somerset police, which includes Bristol, was 4.4 times more likely to be fine someone from a BAME blackground than white people, as was the Lincolnshire force.

[garbon]

PMQs:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2020/jun/17/coronavirus-uk-live-government-urged-to-explain-future-of-shielded-status?page=with:block-5ee9fa078f08b8bbd22a3e0d#block-5ee9fa078f08b8bbd22a3e0d

Johnson  says this government has protected the workforce of this country. There have been £30bn of business loans. He says the government intends to minimise the impact of coronavirus on the poorest. One thing that might help would be for Labour to accept pupils should go back to schools.

Starmer says the PM does not know what the report said. He says Johnson has performed three U-turns. He says Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, told councils the government would do all it could to help them. Has it kept its promise?

Johnson says Starmer did not answer the question. Will he say if schools are safe?

Starmer says if Johnson wants to swap places, he is welcome.

[Tamas]

 

[Josquius]

Interesting to see the Tories getting on board with the free internet thing.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-53057767

Which is suddenly a good thing now where it was evil communism before
But of course the way its organised is very different, with the private sector getting to skim their end off in the middle.

[Sheilbh]

Cecil Rhodes statue at Oriel College will be taken down. At last.

[HVC]

the new passports are going to be black? I thought you all fought for blue ones?

[The Brain]

the new passports are going to be black? I thought you all fought for blue ones?

Will they still be manufactured by foreigners, or will they be made in this realm, this England?