You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘Liz Truss’ tag.
During July, there were several British news items I did not have time to cover.
Without further ado, here they are …
St Swithin’s Day
July 15 was St Swithin’s Day, traditionally thought to successfully predict the weather for the next 40 days.
It was cool and cloudy.
So it is two weeks later.
The Mirror tried to debunk centuries of tradition that day by saying temps would reach 29° C that weekend. They never did, at least in the UK. We had a maximum of 24°.
Since then, it’s been cool, cloudy and rainy — with a few hours of sunshine here and there.
The Mirror was wrong. As my late grandmother-in-law always said: ‘The old ways are the best’.
This isn’t the first year I’ve tracked the weather following St Swithin’s Day.
Trust what happens on July 15 in the UK. That’s the weather for the next six weeks.
Admittedly, we might get the odd, sunny, warm day, such as today — but, that might be a rarity during the month ahead.
Friday, July 17
This was the day when temps reached a maximum of 24°.
More importantly, Princess Beatrice was married at Windsor. Her father, Prince Andrew, stayed out of the photos.
The wedding was small, in keeping with coronavirus guidelines:
Another wonderful event took place that day at Windsor. Captain Tom Moore, 100, received a socially-distanced knighthood from the Queen:
Captain Sir Tom Moore raised tens of millions of £££ for the NHS during the height of the pandemic by walking around his garden 100 times on a zimmer frame (walker). I am sure that was not easy for him, yet he persevered.
Afterward, the Second World War veteran said:
It’s been an absolutely outstanding day and you could never have believed I was never going to get such an honour as I have today. I really believed never ever would I be so privileged I could be so close to the Queen and speak to her, and that really was something absolutely outstanding.
Fantastic! May God continue to bless him abundantly.
Boris’s first anniversary as PM
Thursday, July 23 marked Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s first anniversary.
This delightful video shows clips of him promoting the 2010 Olympics when he was Mayor of London:
Although it’s been a miserable year, he has achieved the impossible, as Guido Fawkes reminds us:
- Defeated Corbyn
- Delivered Brexit
- Won an 80 seat Conservative Party majority
Boris listed many more achievements over the past year. He could not even list them all in two minutes:
But there was no time to rest, as Boris was busy planning for the best and the worst in the months ahead:
Conservatives are still happy with his performance:
Writing for UnHerd, Matthew Goodwin, professor of politics at the University of Kent, analysed Boris’s appeal among his supporters (emphases mine):
To find a similar degree of constant and tribal support for the Conservative brand, you have to go all the way back to the spring of 1987 when Margaret Thatcher began a similar period of total dominance in the polls that lasted for around two years. Though even that is a little misleading — Thatcher might have had a lot going on, but she never had to grapple with a global pandemic and the shutdown of the entire economy …
… why have Johnson’s voters stayed so loyal? …
The first thing to remember is how Boris Johnson achieved power. He pushed through what David Cameron had little interest in and Theresa May never really understood — the “realignment” of British politics. By organising around Brexit, which was itself an expression of a deeper fault line, Johnson was able to consolidate the Leave vote.
By doing so, he was able to anchor his party far more securely in a cross-class coalition of traditional “true blue” Tories and instinctively socially conservative blue-collar workers. By doing so, Johnson injected a greater degree of tribalism into his electorate and, by extension, a greater degree of “cultural polarisation” into the country. In a country where six in every ten constituencies broke for Brexit, this strategy makes sense. You might not like it but, electorally, strategically, it makes complete sense.
It also brings us to a point that many of his critics have failed to grasp. What unites Boris Johnson’s voters is not so much their economic experience, as their values. They prioritise the nation and the national community. They prefer stability over change. And they favour continuity over disruption and discontinuity. This is why they cherish Britain’s history, heritage and collective memory and are more sensitive to attempts to deconstruct them. And while they acknowledge that this history is complex, they believe that, on the whole, it was positive and that Britain has been a force for good in the world. In short, they believe in their country. They are proud of it. And they are proud of their fellow citizens …
… Johnson is offering a positive and forward-looking creed that is more interested in national renewal and salvation than decline and repudiation. He is proud of the country and its people. And until his opponents figure this out and change track, then I suspect that many of those voters will continue to stand behind him while keeping their distance from his critics.
Boris’s war on fat
Boris has been on a diet since recovering from coronavirus. So far, he has lost a stone (14 pounds):
Now he wants all of us to lose weight — five pounds each — and save the NHS an estimated £100m. Hmm.
Guido Fawkes reported (emphases in the original):
Boris promises his health push will “not in an excessively bossy or nannying way, I hope” persuade Britons to lose a few pounds. Which is a curious line given the now-almost imminent, nonsensical ban on pre-watershed ‘junk food’ ads…
Agreed.
Last summer, London’s mayor Sadiq Khan banned what he termed ‘junk food’ adverts across the capital. Last June, when Wimbledon was in full swing, Guido reported:
London’s blanket ban on ‘junk food’ advertising is not only ineffective, inconsistent and impractical, it’s going to cost a fortune too! Estimated at a whopping £35 million, it will deprive dilapidated public services of desperately needed investment. Who’s decided that chicken burgers are not junk food but olive oil is? And no mince pies allowed at Xmas? No strawberries and cream for Wimbledon?
The simple truth is ad bans don’t work – there’s no proof they reduce childhood obesity. However, there is clear evidence that wide-ranging, collaborative and positive approaches are an effective solution. In Amsterdam, childhood obesity rates fell by 12% between 2012-15, through investment in positive lifestyle and education campaigns.
Telling people what they can do is much more effective than hectoring them about what they can’t. Evidence-based solutions are more effective than political ones.
One year later, Boris thinks this is a great idea for television:
British artist David Hockney, who opposed the UK’s smoking ban in 2007, was less than impressed:
I said to my far better half on Monday that they will probably target all the good foods, e.g. butter and meat.
The next day, I drank my morning coffee while waking up to this:
I love hummus! It’s good for you, too.
Guido posted an extensive list of what falls under the category of junk food, based on UK government guidelines.
In addition to hummus and raisins we find butter (as I predicted), more than half of all meats (mm-hmm, also as predicted), margarine, pesto, tomato soup, nearly all cheese, most yoghurts and, strangely, the driest, blandest thing on the planet: cream crackers, which have no cream in them, by the way. Hell is a cream cracker.
Something’s gone very wrong with this Conservative government. Most of us thought Boris was a libertarian.
Whatever the case, there must be a better way than another ban:
Maybe Boris is still frightened from his serious illness. I suspect it took him a long time to recuperate, judging from his appearance in the weeks that followed.
Cat contracts coronavirus
On Monday, July 27, Reuters reported:
The British environment ministry said “all available evidence” suggested the cat had contracted the coronavirus from its owners, who had both tested positive for COVID-19.
Both the cat and the humans made a full recovery and there was no transmission to any other animals or people in the household, the ministry said without identifying the individuals involved.
“This is the first case of a domestic cat testing positive for COVID-19 in the UK but should not be a cause for alarm,” said Yvonne Doyle, medical director at Public Health England.
“The investigation into this case suggests that the infection was spread from humans to animal, and not the other way round,” Doyle added.
The government said the infection was confirmed in lab tests on Wednesday, adding there was no evidence that cats could transmit the virus to humans.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said cats are the most susceptible animal species to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and are able to transmit it to other cats.
Delays in getting stranded Britons home explained
When the pandemic broke, the Foreign Office pulled out all the stops to get stranded Britons back to the UK.
Arranging flights for some tourists overseas took longer than for others because hundreds were in remote places of the world.
Now it emerges there were other factors involved:
NHS relaxes self-isolation for patients entering hospital for treatment
Not so long ago, the NHS wanted all patients attending hospital for treatment or operations to self-isolate for 14 days beforehand.
Thankfully, as of Tuesday, July 28, that is no longer the case. The Daily Mail reported:
Updated guidance says strict social distancing and hand washing is enough to cut the risk of patients taking the virus into hospitals in England.
NHS patients will only need to self-isolate for a few days after taking a test in the run-up to them entering hospital, health bosses now say.
Surgeons hope the relaxation of rules will help them to tackle the huge waiting lists that have built up during the Covid-19 crisis.
But they called for all patients to be given tests for the coronavirus before and after their operation to keep a lid on any potential outbreak.
The change in advice was made because the virus is circulating at much lower levels than it was during the peak of the crisis in March and April.
Lewis Hamilton opines on a COVID-19 vaccine
Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton had to walk back a video and post he made on social media regarding a COVID-19 vaccine:
On Monday, July 27, The Guardian reported:
Hamilton has since deleted the video and published a statement saying he hadn’t seen the comment attached to the clip, but wanted to show there is “uncertainty around side effects” of vaccines.
“I’ve noticed some comments on my earlier post about the coronavirus vaccine, and want to clarify my thoughts on it, as I understand why they might have been misinterpreted,” he said.
“Firstly I hadn’t actually seen the comment attached so that is totally my fault and I have a lot of respect for the charity work Bill Gates does.
“I also want to be clear that I am not against a vaccine and no doubt it will be important in the fight against coronavirus, and I’m hopeful for its development to save lives.
“However after watching the video, I felt it showed that there is still a lot of uncertainty about the side effects most importantly and how it is going to be funded. I may not always get my posting right. I’m only human but I’m learning as we go.”
I agree with the highlighted bit 100%.
Holidays abroad
Whether it’s a good idea or not right now, Britons want to enjoy a summer holiday in Europe.
Some made their reservations early in the year, before the pandemic arrived. Understandably, they want to get what they paid for.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and his family managed to arrive in Spain hours before the UK declared a quarantine for British travellers returning from that country. Shapps flew back to the UK on Wednesday, July 29:
He is returning early to get through a 10-day quarantine and, in the meantime, from home, to ‘handle this situation’. The Foreign Office has advised against all non-essential travel to Spain.
Presumably, Europeans are travelling all across the continent.
The result is that coronavirus cases are rising again:
On July 28, RMC’s Les Grandes Gueules (The Big Mouths) interviewed Dr Robert Sebbag, a specialist in infections who works at La Pitié Salpêtrière hospital in Paris. He said that, although the COVID-19 ward is seeing a small uptick in hospitalisations, no one is on a ventilator and most cases are ‘mild’ compared to what they were only a few months ago. If I understood correctly, the hospital has 24 patients in that particular ward. He said that the uptick in non-hospitalised cases points to those that can be treated safely whilst self-isolating at home.
Dr Sebbag wasn’t too concerned and said that it was the normal progression of the cycle of a virus. The question remains, he said, whether or how COVID-19 will mutate.
For now, we will have to find ways of learning to live with the virus. Dr Sebbag does not see that herd immunity will become widespread. He estimates that only 6% to 10% of the French are immune.
Lockdown in the north west of England
As of Thursday, June 30, a lockdown is now in place in parts of the north west of England.
Matt Hancock should have announced it via a formal press conference. Instead, he did so via a pooled television interview, leaving it to Boris to do a coronavirus briefing from Downing Street on Friday to further explain the new measures.
Because of this new lockdown and rises in cases elsewhere, the proposed measures for reopening more facilities and close-contact beauty services are on hold for the foreseeable future.
Masks must now be worn in nearly all enclosed public spaces, not only in shops, but also in museums and houses of worship.
Boris also encouraged Britons to enjoy a staycation in the UK rather than abroad.
Brexit
Meanwhile, in Brexit news, the international trade secretary, Liz Truss, announced that she would like to get haggis with meat into the US as part of a trade deal:
Earlier this year, exports of Macsween’s vegetarian haggis — branded as Scottish Veggie Crumble — were allowed into the US just in time for Burns Night on January 25. That was the first time in 49 years that any type of Scottish haggis was allowed in America.
And that concludes my roundup of the second half of July 2020.
Roll on August, come what may.
Despite coronavirus, videoconferences have been ongoing with the EU with regard to a new trade agreement.
We are at an impasse at the moment, although talks will resume during the first week in June.
Meanwhile, the UK is preparing to negotiate a trade deal with Japan:
On May 19, the Department for International Trade announced a new UK Global Tariff:
The pound rose on the announcement. Trade Secretary Liz Truss, negotiating our post-Brexit trade deals, is pictured:
On May 20, the House of Commons debated the Trade Bill:
She also discussed support for small businesses in this context:
Speaking of small businesses, this man is grateful for emergency government help during the coronavirus crisis from Chancellor for the Exchequer Rishi Sunak:
Other small business owners have reported similar success:
Returning to Brexit, on Monday, May 18, MPs passed the new Immigration Bill.
This short video provides information on the bill, which means that the UK will have the ability to accept immigrants from all over the world:
While the Immigration Bill is good news, the illegal migration across the Channel from France is something that the Home Office must tackle now:
I am not sure why such migrants are not returned to France straightaway. They are entering illegally:
It looks as if the French are aiding and abetting this migration, now done in full daylight. It used to be a night-time operation:
Nigel Farage went out on a fishing boat to film it. He says that the UK coast guard warned everyone on the fishing boat that their vessel would be impounded if they filmed the UK rescuing the dinghy, full of illegals:
You couldn’t make it up.
How can this be happening? Why?
One of the migrants even flips off Farage and the fishermen.
More below. Pett Level is in East Sussex. Dover is in Kent:
Of the YouTube video, Guido Fawkes says (highlights in the original):
This shocking video reveals that the illegal migration trade, which is a multi-million €uro criminal enterprise, is being facilitated by the French Navy. Nigel Farage yesterday videoed evidence of a dangerously over-burdened dinghy being escorted by a French Naval vessel across the English channel until it was out of French waters, where in British waters it was met by what he reports to be a UK border force vessel. This is not a “search and rescue mission”, this is a handover aiding an abetting criminal in the commission of a crime.
What is going on? …
Nigel Farage tells Guido there will be more dynamite footage. The good weather means this is peak time for illegal cross channel migration. Surely an MP should be granted an urgent question to the Home Secretary today?
Except, Parliament was already in Whitsun recess.
Nevertheless, the Home Secretary has urgent questions to answer:
Farage is not the only one to track this migration.
The BBC have done so:
So has investigative reporter Michael Crick, who has shocking figures about the numbers of illegals reaching the Kent coastline. Watch (subtitled):
On Thursday, May 21, Guido Fawkes reported that Home Secretary Priti Patel was talking with 30 Conservative MPs about it:
Guido says that the video conference was polite. Matt Vickers MP (Conservative, Stockton South) can concur. Priti Patel says that she is working with the French, 1,100 illegals have been turned back and that she will legislate against such crossings (third video below):
Guido also contacted the Home Office independently and received the following replies. It appears that this pertains, in some extent, to Brexit. Even so, under the Dublin Regulation, refugees must apply for asylum in the first safe country of arrival (emphases in the original, those in purple mine):
Is the Home Secretary Priti Patel aware of what the border force is doing?
-
- The French boat was not escorting the migrant boat. International maritime law prevents border force intervening with boats unless they are expressly invited to. The boats were shadowing the migrant vessel in case it sank and the people needed rescuing. The first duty French and British vessels is to save life at sea. Upon arrival those aboard the boats have to be processed through the asylum system before the Government is legally able to return them.
Has this collaboration been given Ministerial approval?
-
- Collaboration is wide of the mark. Priti raises the issue of channel crossings with the French interior minister every time she sees him. Both are committed to stopping it, but have to work within the framework of international law, meaning the work to stop crossings can largely only be done on land not at sea. More will be able to done to deal with boats once they have landed on British shores when the Brexit transition period ends. The Government is keen to reassess the EU’s Dublin convention on asylum application.
Is the French Navy not in breach of EU directives and/or law?
-
- The French Navy is following international law. It would be illegal to intervene with the boat. Instead, the navy is committed by law to save lives at sea, and consequently shadows boats that are at risk.
Is this the official or unofficial policy of the French government?
-
- The French Government has been working well with the British to stop illegal channel crossings. They do not want to allow crossings as this creates a strong pull factor for more migrants to come across continental Europe to northern France in the hope of crossing too. It is a big domestic political problem for them, and they have been largely successful in clearing migrant camps and patrolling beaches. 100 people were stopped over the weekend. Boats do however slip through the net.
Guido asked why it was the case that the Australians were able to turn back boats uninvited. They do it by breaking international law. It upsets the UN and embroils the Australian Government in a lot of legal trouble with powerful interest groups; it works though…
Also on May 21, Breitbart reported that the Fourmentin, named after a notorious 18th century French pirate who terrorised the English (!), has form in illegal migration: ‘Transponder Data Proves Farage Right on French Handover of Illegals’, having made similar trips of this nature. The Aramis, a former French naval vessel which is now a police vessel, has, too. Good grief.
There must be shady money in these operations. You or I could not take a dinghy out to sea, but these people get a military escort. One law for us and another law for people who aren’t even citizens of France or the UK. We know nothing about them (e.g. criminal records in their home countries) other than that they are male and able bodied. The mind boggles.
Several days ago, a Conservative MP said that over 600,000 immigrants arrived in the UK in 2019. I wonder if the likes of these were included in the count.
Conservative Woman posted an article by John Smith, ‘Farage migrant video shames so-called journalists’. It says, in part (emphases mine):
This is a scandal of epic proportions. More than 1,000 immigrants are known to have arrived in Britain since lockdown began on March 23. Others will have slipped through the net. This is despite Migration Watch’s constant alerts.
Farage has been chipping away at this issue for weeks. The video is the culmination of a long investigation by him. He has undertaken this work because he believes it badly needs to be exposed for a host of reasons. Not only are these men (he says they are mainly men) probably not refugees (they are economic migrants fleeing the safety of France), but they are breaking the law. We know nothing about them, meaning there is a security risk to our citizens. There is also a public health risk because they may have Covid-19 …
Farage has done a public service in reporting on this scandal. It’s only May. Think how many more illegal immigrants will try to cross between now and October. Once, newspapers such as the Sunday Times or Daily Mail grasped that their readers cared about this kind of story. Now, they mock those like Farage who do their reporters’ work for them.
This is Farage’s full video, posted on May 21. It includes an interview that LBC (radio) did with Priti Patel:
Just as bad is the £2.9 billion deal the UK government struck with two companies, Serco and Mears, in January 2019 (when Theresa May was PM) to provide housing and support for asylum seekers. Good grief. Why does that cost so much?
Ending on coronavirus, it is a relief that the government now has sufficient testing capacity to extend it to the general population. This is particularly important with the proposed return to school in June for certain pupils:
Looking ahead, once things stabilise after the coronavirus outbreak, hard decisions will need to be taken about aspects of national health care. We are still waiting — ten years on — for the Conservatives’ promised ‘bonfire of the quangos’:
When the military have to sort out logistics for the health system, we have a problem:
Harvesting crops is also an issue. I hope that British farms will recruit British workers wherever possible:
However, this could well be dead in the water:
The article, from May 20, is behind a paywall, but the comments are accessible. They corroborate the article’s author saying that young Britons have applied for these jobs and have been turned down — or not replied to at all. Some farms have turned down those who can work locally and live at home, rather in a six-person mobile home accommodation on the premises.
Excerpts from the article follow:
The narrative goes something like this –
Farmers: “We need workers or the crops will rot”
Her Majesty’s Government: “Then employ British workers”
Farmers: “We tried, you tried, but they just aren’t up to it, the food is going to rot”
HMG: “Oh no, we cannot allow that to happen, open the doors and ship them in” …
The author, Gawain Towler, is suspicious of DEFRA, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
Some questions recently asked of Defra push towards the idea that the ministry has now decided to side with the farmers and against the views of the majority of the population. They were asked whether the Government had put any system to evaluate the success of the campaign to employ UK workers on the farms, after all there has been a great propaganda push, so surely this will have had an evaluation attached to it.
The answer was that they couldn’t say, because it was commercially sensitive. Nobody had asked about individual farms, but the broad picture – simply how many have been employed. No answer, no system in place to check.
The ministry was also asked about the series of what looks on the surface to be discriminatory measures to discourage British workers. The refusal to allow people to have transport. The demands that they live on site, rather than travel into work, in dormitories for which the workers’ pay. The demand in some cases for an up to three-week training period, to pick fruit …
Why does it take three weeks to learn how to pick fruit?
The author concludes:
If the Government is refusing to address these very real concerns, and they are, if they refuse to even have any system in place to discover the efficacy of their schemes, then what are we supposed to think? I, who am still looking for work in the sector, and many thousands like me who have also failed to find work through the system must surely be justified in thinking that they are not serious. Worse still, it looks like the system is deliberately designed to fail.
Yes, it certainly does, even though it would be nice to be proven wrong.
As one can see, there is still much work to be done in Parliament this year, dominated by Brexit and coronavirus.
