Daily Archives: August 28, 2021

US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson have pledged to continue the military evacuation effort from Afghanistan until the August 31 deadline.The news comes after two powerful bomb blasts hit the perimeter of Kabul airport, with at least 90 people killed and another 150 injured. 13 of those were US service personnel, the Pentagon confirmed.

The Prime Minister confirmed the overwhelming majority of those eligible have been helped out of Afghanistan, and British forces would keep going until the last moment to evacuate others.

Meanwhile, Mr Biden said in a speech last night that the US evacuation effort would not be deterred by terrorists.

He spoke of the attack, believed to have been carried out by an affiliate of the Islamic State group: We will not forgive.

We will not forget.

READ MORE:Boris Johnson confronts Joe Biden as trade deal hopes fade

We will hunt you down and make you pay.

Mr Biden is facing enormous pressure over his handling of the withdrawal.

It was reported last week that he ignored Mr Johnsons calls for around 36 hours as the crisis worsened.

Douglas Murray, writing in the Daily Mail last year, said Mr Biden and the Democrat high command loathe Brexit Britain.

Former president Trumps approval ratings rarely went above 25 percent in the UK during his time in charge, but there was always one certainty.

He was a friend of the UK and made it explicitly clear from the beginning that he favoured a huge trade deal with Brexit Britain.

Mr Murray continued: For all his flaws, the President [Trump] has been a true supporter of this country.

He wanted Brexit Britain and the United States to work well together and to prosper together.

He said, despite much of the British public being glad at Trumps departure, his exit will be a bad day.

He finished: We will have lost a friend. At a time when we needed friends the most.

The chances of a UK-US trade deal are seemingly receding.

Politico Europe recently reported the Prime Minister confronting Mr Biden over delaying the withdrawal from Afghanistan could be linked to the diminishing chances.

It said: A trade deal is now so far on the backburner that contradicting the US on foreign policy might be seen to come with few consequences.

Harry Boardman, an ex-trade negotiator under Bill Clinton, told the publication: Reality must have sunk in.

The UK has signed a free trade agreement with Japan, based on the EU trade partnership.

Mr Johnsons team have also negotiated a landmark agreement with Australia, the first to be drafted from scratch, given Australia does not have a deal with the EU.

More trade deals are expected to follow in the coming months and years.

See the article here:

Joe Biden accused of loathing Brexit Britain: He instinctively connects it with Trump - Daily Express

Mr Merton, 64, returns to screens tonight at 8pm alongside wife Suki Webster, 56, in Channel 5s Motorhoming with Merton & Webster.Over six episodes, the pair embrace Britain's booming motorhoming scene while seeking out the UKs most renowned sights.Tonights episode follows Mr Merton and Ms Webster as they venture into Wales and the Brecon Beacons National Park.

After a breathtaking drive along the ancient Roman roads of Sarn Helen, the pair go sheep trekking.

The comedian couple have been married since 2009 and have worked together on projects including the 2019 improvisational stage comedy My Obsession, which was also aired on BBC Radio Four.

Mr Merton, who starred in the show written by his wife, banned any improvisation on Brexit or Donald Trump while performing.

He told Lorraine Kelly in a 2019 interview: It's very rare for two stories not to go away and obviously Trump and Brexit wont go away.

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I would get a big cheer at the top of the show when i say, there are two topics were not going to improvise on tonight, it is a Brexit free zone.

[There would be] Huge cheers

And then when Trump was over I would say were not going to talk about Trump.

What we tend to do [...] is an antidote to that stuff.

He said: [Brexit and Trump] reminds me of when the Falklands war kicked off.

I could see grim reporting every day and decided I want nothing to do with it.

And then it was easy, I just turned off the tele and didn't buy a newspaper.

Thats kind of what I'm like now really- I'm just switching it all off.

I want to be in the world of fun and imagination.

Watch Motorhoming with Merton & Webster on Channel 5 at 8pm tonight.

View post:

Paul Merton snubbed Brexit and Donald Trump in defying pledge: 'Want to have fun!' - Daily Express

Irish LeaderMichaelMartin and former TaoiseachLeo Varadkar have been slapped down by Brexiteer and Unionist activist Jamie Bryson. The leading Loyalist spokesman has lampooned Dublin as acting as a "plaything" of the European Union in the course of the Brexit negotiations and the ongoing protocol row. However, Mr Byrson issues a warning to Martin and Varadkhar that Brussel was capable of easily turning on Ireland when it suited them.

Mr Bryson told Express.co.uk: "The Irish government...have slavishly made themselves the plaything of the European Union, and they are being used at the minute.

"The European Union will put the foot on their neck as well whenever it suits them.

"So the Irish Government are both foolish and naive."

"But the most disappointing thing of all is the British Government has attempted to placate these people rather than standing up to them."

He also argued that the objective of Irish nationalists is to bring about an economically united Ireland through the implementation of the Brexit protocol.

Mr Bryson believes that the construction of new customs rules between Northern Ireland and Great Britain was to serve the "real objective" of pushing unionists towards Irish unification.

He told Express.co.uk: "The real objective here from Irish nationalism was to colonise almost Northern Ireland within an economic-united Ireland.

"And of course once you form economic union it is but a small step to political union.

"That is the ultimate objective of the EU."

"So they are trying to grab Northern Ireland within their orbit."

He added: "Irish nationalism and the EU's objective aline.

"Because the Irish Government and Irish nationalists want to grab Northern Ireland because they want there to be a united Ireland.

Under the current Brexit trade agreement, Northern Ireland has effectively remained part of both the single market and the customs union.

The status of the UK nation has caused considerable friction across Northern Ireland, where Unionists have been urging the British Government for a revision of the current protocol amid concerns about Belfast's role within the union.

Read more here:

'Plaything' Varadkar savaged as EU 'will put foot on Ireland's neck' over Brexit protocol - Daily Express

The continuing row over the Brexit protocol, which has led to some supply chain difficulties and increased bureaucracy, has disguised a wider problem resulting from the UKs decision to leave the European Union.

rexit has played its part in causing concerns over food supplies and other products throughout the UK. The lack of lorry drivers due to tougher immigration rules and the effects of Covid has led to disruption of logistics. Without the transport the goods cant reach the shops.

Earlier this week the boss of the Co-op retail group said shortages are the worst he has experienced. Nandos had to close almost 50 outlets because of a shortage of chickens, and several other major retailers have also reported a lack of supplies.

The latest is McDonalds. It has run out of milkshakes in its British outlets, although they can still be bought at its restaurants here.

That, no doubt, has left those who have argued the protocol has advantages despite the problems feeling like the cats who got the cream.

Get quick and easy access to the latest Northern Ireland news, sport, business and opinion with the Belfast Telegraph App.

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Viewpoint: The shake-up caused by Brexit becoming clearer - Belfast Telegraph

Brexit 'to blame' for lorry driver shortage says Dr Shola

There is currently a shortage of 100,000 lorry drivers in the UK, which has meant that major brands have had to close their sites across the country, due to supply shortages. Among those worst effected are household name Nandos, who have had to shut 50 restaurants, some BP petrol garages have shut, Iceland are cancelling 30-40 deliveries a day, McDonald's have had to stop serving milkshakes and bottled drinks, and Haribo are struggling to deliver to the UK.

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Travel restrictions caused by the pandemic meant many lorry drivers decided to change profession, and haulage companies say very few have returned.

During Christmas 2020 more than 10,000 lorries were stuck at Dover in Kent for over a week, unable to spend the holiday with their families due to mandatory covid testing restrictions.

But even before Covid, there was still a shortage of 60,000 lorry drivers - arguably due to Brexit policy changes.

Since Brexit, and the UK leaving the single market, the bureaucracy of crossing borders and long queues have meant many lorry drivers decided to work in other EU countries.

A large portion of lorry drivers are paid by the mile or kilometre rather than by the hour, so delays caused by Brexit means they are making the same amount of money in a much longer space of time.

Haulage companies want the Government to add drivers to the Shortage Occupations list, allowing them to qualify for a skilled worker visa and making border crossing far easier, but the Home Office is yet to approve the move.

The Home Office said in a statement: The British people repeatedly voted to end free movement and take back control of our immigration system and employers should invest in our domestic workforce instead of relying on labour from abroad.

The Government rejected a call to issue 10,000 temporary visas to EU workers, and ministers instead decided to relax driving test rules and legal driving hours, from nine to 11 per day.

Reports have now emerged that haulage companies have requested to use more day-release prisoners to drive lorries to fill the huge gap in the industry.

On the other side of the argument, political commentators are laying blame with employers for not paying a high enough wage to attract British people to start lorry driving.

Journalist Darren Grimes tweeted: I find it distasteful for big supermarket groups to be calling on the Government to give them visas for lorry drivers from abroad, here's a novel idea, how about you pay lorry drivers in this country a bit more and you'll likely attract people to the long slog?

Labour MP Jon Trickett tweeted: "Truck drivers are paid an average of just 11.80 an hour.

"Increase their pay properly and watch how quickly your 'shortage' disappears."

Can't see the poll below? Click here.

Some major companies, like supermarkets, have started to offer incentives, as meat processors are already six weeks behind in Christmas stock preperation and the situation is becoming more and more desperate by the week.

Tesco is offering drivers a 1,000 joining bonus, so are Waitrose on top of a pay rise of about 2 an hour, and Aldi has increased wages for drivers to earn up to 18.41 per hour.

HGV drivers hired through agencies have gone from earning 350 a day to a huge 800, and some are even offering joining incentives of up to 5000.

Craig Stevens, Managing Director at major logistics company STD Developments Ltd, said: The drivers can command more money - the profitability of the transport industry is very small in normal circumstances and that means we'll have to up prices for our customers.

Haulage companies also want better conditions for drivers in general, and a recognition that they are a vital part of the economy.

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Another problem the industry faces, is that not enough British young people are becoming lorry drivers.

The average age of a HGV driver in the UK is 55, and during the difficulties of Brexit and Covid, a huge percentage of drivers decided to retire, subsequently adding to the shortage.

Leader of Reform UK, Richard Tice, said firms must pay drivers more, as higher wages will tempt UK retired drivers back.

He said the UK must not extend temporary visas to the EU.

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But Remainers say this is a problem that was inevitable after Brexit.

One social media user wrote: Road haulage is the lifeblood of the nation.

Almost everything we consume comes off the back of a lorry. Time for Brexiters to admit that they f**ked up.

Do you think Brexit holds the largest blame for supply chain shortages, or are employers the culprits for not paying lorry drivers high enough wages? Vote now.

Read more here:

Lorry driver shortage POLL: Whose fault is it? Brexit or the shops? - Daily Express

Despite Downing Street calling a "mutual compromise", it does seem Prime Minister Boris Johnson capitulated on one of the most contentious areas of Brexit trade talks: fishing rights. The UK wanted any fishing agreement to be separate from the trade deal with access negotiated annually in a similar fashion to Norway's agreement with the bloc. Norway is an independent coastal state, with the rights and responsibilities under international law associated with that status. Stocks shared with the EU are managed through annual bilateral negotiations. Each autumn these talks set total allowable catches on the basis of scientific advice.

This contrasts starkly with the position of the UK fishing industry within the EUs Common Fisheries Policy something the EU wanted to maintain at all costs.

In the end, the UK agreed to a further five-and-a-half years of predictability for fishing communities, with the UK leaving the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).

Stock quotas for UK fishers will increase over a five-year timeframe, incrementally between now and 2026.

This means Britain will fish just over 66 percent of UK waters in stark contrast with Iceland, which catches 90 percent of its own fish.

During the transition, EU fishing vessels will still have full access to fish in UK waters and after that, negotiations will be annual just like the ones between Iceland and the bloc.

However, the EU will be able to retaliate with tariffs if Britain refuses to grant it access, meaning London will never be fully in control of its waters.

Britain's softening on fishing rights was not exactly a surprise.

In 2017, Minister for the Cabinet Office Michael Gove told the Danish fishing industry that boats from EU countries would have still been able to operate in UK waters after Brexit, as the UK does not have enough capacity to catch and process all its fish alone.

He was quoted as saying: "Danish fishermen will still be able to catch large amounts of fish in British waters, even if Britain leaves the EU.

Britain has not the fishing vessels nor the production facilities to catch all the fish in British waters.

The comments from Mr Gove, recounted by Danish fishing leaders after they met the then-Environment Secretary, sparked complaints from the Lib Dems and Scottish National Party that the Governments stance on the issue was confusing.

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Mr Gove had repeatedly said Britain was taking back control of its fisheries by departing from the EU common fisheries policy, which lets member states fish between 12 and 200 nautical miles off the UKs coastline.

He had also announced the UKs withdrawal from the London fisheries convention, signed before the UK joined the EU, which lets vessels from the UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands fish within between six and 12 nautical miles of each others coasts.

But the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the plan had always been to allow other nations some access to UK territorial waters after Brexit, and that the extent of this could now be decided by the UK.

Mr Gove met representatives from Danish fish processing companies and the countrys fishing industry in Jutland in August 2017, the Jyllands-Posten newspaper reported.

At the meeting the Danes were told by Mr Gove that the UK "does not have the capacity to catch and process all the fish in British waters and thus boats from EU nations would be allowed continued access post-Brexit.

Niels Wichmann, the head of the Danish Fishermens Association, said: Fishermen from Denmark and other EU countries will continue to have access to British waters after Brexit.

It is a logical announcement, but it is still very positive and a little surprising that it comes so early in the negotiation process."

Mr Wichmann added that Mr Gove did not make clear whether Danish boats would be able to keep the same quotas or would have them reduced.

Esben Sverdrup-Jensen, head of Denmarks Fish Industries Association, told Jyllands-Posten that while the quotas remained uncertain, it was positive that the UK was being constructive and has not slammed the door.

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The Lib Dems Brexit spokesman, Tom Brake, said Mr Goves comments showed promises by the Leave campaign about fishing were being broken.

He said: Michael Gove chose to put stopping EU fishing in British waters front and centre of his campaign to leave the EU, yet is now telling Danish fishermen the opposite.

A Defra spokeswoman said the issue was that the UK would be able to control which foreign ships fished within its territory.

She said: "Leaving the EU means we will take back control of our territorial waters.

"As we have always said, other countries will be able to access our waters but for the first time in 50 years it will be on our terms and under our control.

We will allocate quotas on the basis of what is scientifically sustainable, making sure we have a healthy marine environment and profitable fishing industry in the UK.

See more here:

Michael Gove's startling Brexit admission: 'EU will continue to have access to UK waters' - Daily Express

Last Thursday, I left England for the first time in two years and headed by car to Glasgow to see our 30 year old son wed last seen at Christmas 2019, during which time he had married with us unable to attend.

It was a wonderful three night stay, and we were reassured that although he and his wife live in South Glasgow where lockdown had been as severe as anywhere in the UK, all was well with them. Of course, travel is always an opportunity for understanding other things from outside of ones normal perspective, which can get a bit East Devon-centric in my case.

So, South Glasgow. Well, their area is a bit like Hackney or Shoreditch or Brixton in London, a place which people used to flee from 30 years ago and now are desperate to move back to. The youngsters are attracted by the amazing restaurant, shopping and cultural community ignited by Kurdish refugees from the first Gulf War back in 1991, and their later arrivals.

Adding to the mix have been Polish, Romanian, Hungarian and other arrivals, all benefitting from freedom of movement within the European Union. The result of all these arrivals: economic growth, the restoration of a dying community, the refurbishment of miles of once notorious tenement flats into something actually desirable.

However, on the long drive south listening to Radio Four all day for seven and a half straight hours, all I could hear were stories of the results of leaving the EU happening right here and right now. I have already written about how your own waste and recycling service has been affected by the grave shortage of HGV drivers nationally, and again I thank you for your patience.

Now the turkeys are coming home to roost or rather, they are not. Put a bid in for your Christmas turkey now, because over in the turkey breeding parts of the country there is nobody left to rear them. Meanwhile, food processors represented by The Association of Independent Meat Suppliers are begging the government to allow more prisoners on day release to process our meats. You may have to learn how to wrap bacon round your own sausages if you want pigs in blankets this year.

This week, McDonalds are telling us that they are unable to provide milkshakes and other products, while last week Nandos, whose whole raison detre is chicken, told us they were running out of chicken. Still off the radar are the inner city schools I have been told about whose rolls have shrunk to an economically non-viable state by the departure of the EU-origin children.

In summary, the worst element of the Brexiteers wanted Europeans sent back to where they belong. Well guys, they heard that, and theyve gone, and as many of us warned you we have to live with the consequences of the propagandising of the Daily Express, Mail and Telegraph.

What on earth has this act of self-harm achieved? A supposedly proud, global Britain resorting to prison labour. If Dickens were alive today hed have a novel about this written and published by Christmas.

And being Dickens, who was a bit preachy sometimes to be frank, hed look for a moral to the whole chaotic story. I cant guess what his would be, but if he were here Id suggest one. Brexit is a story of devious men lying to a nation to gain power who promised a bounty for the nations health and wealth and knew they were lying.

Most of all, these are men who said at the time judge us by the consequences, who promised that they would own the result. Well, where are you now Tory fellow travellers? It looks to me you were about as well prepared for this as you were for our shameful departure from Afghanistan. Which of you have themoral courage to admit this now?

See more here:

Paul Arnott column: Brexit turkeys are coming home to roost - Sidmouth Herald

In each case, the demand is the same. We need to increase the supply of visas for European workers to cope with critical shortages of staff. Without that, many industries will simply grind to a halt.

But is that really necessary? No one would deny that there is some disruption, and Covid-19 and the pingdemic have hardly helped. But shortages? That seems a little extreme.

Lets take chicken for example. Our domestic poultry industry has become critically dependent on imported workers, mainly from Eastern and Central Europe. In many cases, more than half of the labour force come from somewhere else in Europe, and sometimes even more. The industrys argument is that without them, there will be a dramatic fall in output, and very quickly shortages in the shops.

Really? In fact, poultry is a global industry. True, the world price for chicken is up slightly this year, mainly because of the rising price of grain, the main raw material, but the price is still down compared to 2018 (for anyone who doesnt follow the poultry price on a minute-by-minute basis, it is $2.36 per kilogramme right now compared to a peak above $2.60 four years ago). If there were actually a shortage of chicken, the price would be far higher.

There may well be a fall in British production, but since the UK is only the 13th largest producer in the world, what happens here is hardly that significant. If there is a shortage, then we can just import some of the 14m tonnes made in Brazil, or the 2.5m tonnes made in Poland, or the 2.2m from Turkey. And, hey presto, Nandos will be able to start dishing up grilled meat with peri-peri sauce again.

The same is true of most other meats, and indeed many other industries. The UK may end up producing less, and importing more from other countries where wages are typically lower. There is nothing wrong with that. It makes more sense to take the work to the people than to move the people to the work.

See the article here:

Now is not the time to chicken out of Brexit and its end to mass immigration - Telegraph.co.uk