Is Perfidious Albion back again?!

It's a dog-eat-dog world in the Anglo-Saxon globalised market, isn't it?!

There was BoJo, right in there, duelling his quill pen like Excalibur against the Euro shield-wall, up front and personal with your and my cheque book, and our children's cheque book, and our children's children's cheque book, and our children's, children's, children's cheque book, splashing out top money to Pfizer-BioNTech!  Then flying through Blighty's post-1970's updated 'elf and safety approval process ("Has it got thalidomide or asbestos in it? No?  OK, sell, sell, SELL!!!"), and cleaning out the Euros of their first-out-the-door homegrown vaccine before you can say "Jab!"

And in the opposite direction, there's the Euros, patiently dotting the i's and crossing the t's of EU approval, ready and waiting for their dose of Blighty's cheap-as-chips Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccines - but no!  What's this?!  BoJo sneaks in and nicks their stock from the warehouse while they queue in a neat socially distanced line outside leaving them with the square root of bugger all!

Here he is, caught red-handed in the act, staggering away with the swag! ...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/01/26/eus-coronavirus-jabs-may-have-ended-britain/

 

AstraZeneca vaccines meant for and paid for by the EU could have ended up in Britain, diplomatic sources in Brussels claimed today.

The suspicion is that the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company supplied the UK from the EU vaccine stock because Britain paid a higher price for the dose and approved it sooner.

By George and all the Saints, what can one say but "this looks promising"?

SoD

Comments

[Loz]

Yet more, the "Singapore of Europe" ...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/dailybusinessgroup.co.uk/2021/01/johnson-consults-on-singapore-of-europe-plan/amp/

SoD

[Mark]

When it comes to rejoiniac butthurt, this site gets the full five ringpieces.

Never disappointed when I come here!

[Bob]

"The Singapore of Europe" is not likely, SoD, since you have neither the history nor character of Asians. Since your No. 1 economic activity is money laundering the financial services industry, "The Isle of Switzerland" is probably where you're headed.

[Whitewall]

Is it summer? The two women are in short sleeves.

[Loz]

The "Isle of Switzerland", Bob, I wish it were so.

Sadly the negligent cock-up that was Blighty's trade deal with the EU forgot about the financial services industry, in fact the entire services industry which is 80% of Blighty's economy.

Rather like the £30 food parcels for low income families that only contained £5's worth of food, the incompetence and negligence coefficient of Blighty's state robs circa 80% from any value or task assigned to the state.

So as a result, 7,500 city jobs and over £1tr in assets moved from Blighty to the EU in 2020 ...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/news.sky.com/story/amp/more-than-7-500-financial-services-jobs-switched-to-europe-survey-12086539

And on Jan 1st 2021, $7bn worth of stock trading moved from Blighty to the EU ...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/qz.com/1954093/how-brexit-killed-londons-eu-stock-trading/amp/

Best thing Switzerland could have done is to join the EU a couple of years ago and pick up all that financial work, they'd be rolling in it. But they fluffed it as well, so it's the Frogs and Jerries who have benefitted.

Never mind, we've got the fish.

SoD

[Wigner’s Friend]

SoD,

As ever there are 2nsides to every story, but your Eurfanaticism leaves you somewhat blinkered:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-9190033/EU-contract-did-not-leave-time-fix-vaccine-hiccups-AstraZeneca-CEO.html

And of course, the Germans were completely unbiased when reporting the Astro Zeneca jab was virtually useless for the elderly:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9188831/German-paper-AstraZeneca-vaccine-story-continues-run-article.html

[Gunker]

"So as a result, 7,500 city jobs and over £1tr in assets moved from Blighty to the EU in 2020 ..."

Is that even 1% of the total ?

[Bob]

SoD,

Yes, that's one more way Boris proved he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but it still depends on how the so-called equivalence negotiations work out. Some investors are bullish on Britain:

"U.K. Stocks Are at 20-Year Lows. Why It’s Time to Buy Post-Brexit"

https://www.barrons.com/articles/u-k-stocks-are-at-20-year-lows-why-its-time-to-buy-post-brexit-51609885220?mod=article_inline

[Loz]

Yes Hunker, roughly 2% of jobs (7500 / 363000 - see CityAM and onlondon links below) and 22% of assets (£1.2tr / £5.3tr - see Bloomberg link below) ...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-09-30/brexit-prompts-7-500-finance-jobs-1-6-trillion-to-leave-u-k

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cityam.com/uks-investment-industry-has-more-assets-than-france-germany/amp/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.onlondon.co.uk/how-many-people-work-in-london-financial-services-and-what-do-they-do/amp/

That's just the financial services sector in London, one month post-Brexit. What all the other services that make up 80% of the economy have decided to do outside of any trade agreement is not included, nor are months 2+.

Must be bloody expensive fish.

SoD

[Wigner’s Friend]

SoD,

When Peston half acknowledged that the EU made a mistake, you know that they truly made a horlicks of it.

But “Is the EU to blame for AstraZeneca’s vaccine shortage?” asks Robert Peston in the Spectator.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/is-the-eu-to-blame-for-astrazeneca-s-vaccine-supply-problem-

Short answer: yes.

The important difference between AstraZeneca’s relationship with the UK and its relationship with the EU – and the reason it has fallen behind schedule on around 50m vaccine doses promised to the bloc – is that the UK agreed its deal with AstraZeneca a full three months before the EU did. This gave AstraZeneca an extra three months to sort out manufacturing and supply problems relating to the UK contract (there were plenty of problems).

Here is the important timeline. In May AstraZeneca reached an agreement with Oxford and the UK government to make and supply the vaccine. In fact, Oxford had already started work on the supply chain.

The following month AstraZeneca reached a preliminary agreement with Germany, the Netherlands, France and Italy, a group known as the Inclusive Vaccine Alliance, based on its agreement with the UK. That announcement was on 13 June.

But the EU then insisted that the Inclusive Vaccine Alliance could not formalise the deal, and the European Commission took over the contract negotiations on behalf of the whole EU. So there were another two months of talks and the contract was not signed until the end of August.

What is frustrating for AstraZeneca is that the extra talks with the European Commission led to no material changes to the contract, but this wasted time that could have been spent making arrangements to manufacture the vaccine with partner sites. The yield at these EU partner sites has been lower than expected.

[Glesga]

The Brexit scare stories are lamentable. Scottish trucks turn up at Downing Street to protest. It is organised by a friend of the Westminster SNP leader and SNP donator. They turn up at ports with no paper work. The UK Gov web site has been issuing instructions for goods for well over a year now. The media have been advertising what is required but the remainers ignore legal advise. Simple task lorry owners,if you are exporting goods by road,rail or ship into what remains of Europe then get the paperwork done and ready for inspection.
As for the sad fish stories! Shops, restaurants and hotels are mostly closed down and hardly anyone want fresh sea products exported or imported. SOD you should have got a job with The BBC, Bruxelles Broadcasting Corporation.

[Loz]

Your responses are rather Pavlovian - I've spoken, therefore attack! That's good, much better than everyone sitting around and agreeing with each other.

But actually on this one I'm grudgingly acknowledging that BoJo might have done well. Taking the vaccine liability onto the Brit state and paying over the odds to get to the front of the queue, well, we'll have to see about that. If everyone starts going down with Alzheimer's in five years time and Blighty's state is on the hook for the dodgy vaccine and not the vaccine company that produced it, that'll be game over for the state (maybe not a bad thing). If the amount he paid over the odds is recouped by the economy coming back 3 months before the Euros, great, but that's a calculation for later on.

The Euros kept the liability for the vaccine with the producer in their contract and knocked down the price, hence took longer to close the deal and paid the political price in the three month delay. Let's see who's strategy pans out better in a few years time.

SoD

[Wigner’s Friend]

Bloody hell SoD. That’s more of an acknowledgment than Peston’s.

Wiggers

[Loz]

As for the "Singapore of Europe" rumblings coming from BoJo and Rishi, well that might be good too.

But I wonder if it's just their feeble attempt to threaten the EU into giving them a good deal on services, "or else"? If so, the Euros will certainly call their bluff and make them look like a pair of Charlies.

So I hope they follow through on it when the Euros tell them "Go take a hike coz we're happy with the goods deal we signed already that protects Jerry manufacturing and Froggie food exports. So stuff your services deal where the sun don't shine - we've got all your financial assets and your city/IT/legal/architect/etc. boys and girls now anyway."

You can see that one coming, right?

But maybe not. Maybe BoJo and Rishi really are going to make Blighty a low tax offshore island. But how are they going to pay for that as well as levelling up and spending oodles on the public sector from their new found magic money tree forest?

If I were a gambling man I know on which option my money would go.

SoD

[Wigner’s Friend]

I see the EU are still digging themselves deeper ref the vaccine. If they didn’t have double standards, they wouldn’t have any.

[Wigner’s Friend]

Still digging:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9191873/German-media-savages-EU-vaccine-shambles-calls-advert-Brexit.html

[Whitewall]

Jimmy, she may not be the only one?
https://nypost.com/2021/01/27/woman-goes-viral-after-appearing-on-tv-with-dildo-behind-her/?utm_source=NYPTwitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow&utm_campaign=SocialFlow

Getting shafted...

[Glesga]

Whitewall, I think SoD is the new Haw Haw man for the German fourth reeech.

[Loz]

When the EU fks up the states are quick to round on it, and when the states fk up the EU is quick to round on them. That gives the ordinary people another tool to keep the pols in check.

The EU confederal system works well to keep the powers that be honest. In 1999 the entire EU executive resigned due to malfeasance and corruption, the pressure so to do brought to bear by the states. When does anyone in Blighty's government ever resign for incompetence and negligence these days? On the occasions that they do they're straight back in there again a year or so later anyway.

So what will stop another Grenfell, Rotherham style whitewash - no-one goes to jail, no-one loses their jobs (or if they do they're straight back in work after a short sabbatical) - when the Covid public enquiry does its thing?

If Blighty is to constrain the centralised criminal negligence of Westminster it has to reconstitute with two over-arching clauses: -

(1) A federal (like the US) or confederal (like the EU) system
(2) A no-state / low-state declaration - all social welfare to be achieved by redistribution to individuals who buy from the independent sector, not tax being dumped into low producitvity, poor value, incompetent, negligent and abusive public sector operations.

In essence we need to internalise the confederacy of the EU and the Single Market of the EU.

Two bullies in the playground better than one (because thy fight each other and thereby weaken themselves before they come for you), and with a constraint on both (a prefect's limit on what they can do anyway), is what the ordinary kids in the playground need.

Are we going to get it?

SoD

[Glesga]

The EU consists of States that are happy to be run by very rich elites. They even want an EU military force. Why would that be!
The UK are well out of it.

[Wigner’s Friend]

Glesga,

We should be well out of it, but apparently not.

https://conservatives.global/the-eu-has-tightened-its-grip-over-uk-defence/