Colonel Richard Kemp warned Breitbart London that the British military will be a “pawn in the Brexit negotiation game” after 23 EU member states signed a joint military pact of which the UK may find herself involved after Brexit. With Eurocrats hailing it an “historic day”, nearly all European Union member states signed joint military pact the Permanent Structured Cooperation process, or PESCO, which is key to the Defence Union plans set out by President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker recently . Though the United Kingdom is not a signatory, there are strong indications that British officials are pushing for involvement, with Reuters suggesting the UK will join on an “exceptional basis”, providing “substantial funds and expertise”. Former commander of the British Task Force in Helmand, Afghanistan, Colonel Kemp believes such moves would “ create a situation where we have to remain embedded in the EU after Brexit or disentangle from it all. Either way, …
UK delays post-Brexit border rules for NINE months after warnings of chaos
The UK today delayed post-Brexit border rules for EU food imports for NINE months after warnings they could lead to chaos. Red tape for EU goods crossing the Channel to Britain was due to start in two phases on October 1 and January 1 after already being delayed once. But several key measures will now only start on July 1 next year, after Covid and Brexit fuelled a crisis in the haulage industry and empty shelves in supermarkets. EU food imports to the UK will now only need to have export health certificates from July 1, 2022, instead of October 1 this year under previous plans. Physical checks on food and animal 'SPS' products at border control posts, which were due from January 1, will now begin on July 1. Safety and security declarations on imports will be enjoy the same six-month delay to July, and pre-notification of agri-food imports will be delayed by three months from October 1 to January 1. …
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The Meghan and Harry drama is just like Brexit – there’s no cherry picking and it’ll all end in tears
Megxit is turning out to be more than a bit like Brexit. It has become apparent that there is no soft version of either after all, no happy halfway house, no grand compromise that would allow all sides to have their cake and eat it. You’re either in the EU or you’re out, so far as Britain is concerned; you’re either royal or you ain’t, in the case of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. It ends in tears. The only thing left are the recriminations, and to sort out who gets the blame. Being as there’s no such body as the Supreme Court of Right Royal Feuds to adjudicate on such matters, the arguments are being played out in the tabloids and the court of British public opinion, renowned for their tenderness, even-handedness and rationalism. These debates will also, by their very nature, become infected with conspiracy theories and go on for ever and ever. There are still people out there, after all, who believe that Diana was murdered, who still mourn the abdication of Edward …
Marks & Spencer blames Brexit supply woes for French store closures
Retail giant Marks & Spencer has said it will close 11 of its stores in France due to fresh and chilled food supply issues following Brexit The group blamed Brexit disruption to exports from the UK to Europe for its decision to shut all franchised shops with partner SFH in France. It said: “The lengthy and complex export processes now in place following the UK’s exit from the European Union are significantly constraining the supply of fresh and chilled product from the UK into Europe and continuing to impact product availability for customers and the performance of our business in France.” The stores, which are located mainly on the high streets of Paris, are set to close by the end of the year. Recommended Christmas shoppers warned about post-Brexit charges on orders from EU Travel to Europe: the post-Brexit passport rules Government delays key Brexit border checks M&S said it remains in discussions with …
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Sexism is alive and well when the competence of vascular surgeons is judged by what they wear on holiday
Straight off the bat, I might as well admit that I’m not an avid reader of the Journal of Vascular Surgery , but I’d be tempted to make a wild assumption (“ass”, I know... “you and me”) about its typical contents: veins, arteries, lymphatic vessels and ideas backed up by scrupulous peer-reviewed research with which to maintain the respective healthy functioning of each. Which is why I was surprised to read about a study published in said esteemed journal on something quite different: the “prevalence of unprofessional social media content among young vascular surgeons ”. The study claimed to be concerned with the impact a surgeon’s public social media account might have on their professional reputation and a prospective patient’s choice of surgeon. What resourceful use of scarce scientific funding. The scientists involved, from the Boston Medical Centre and Salem Health Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, compiled a list of 480 graduating trainees and screened …
‘I thought I didn’t buy into horoscopes but Nasa changing everyone’s star sign has thrown me’
As a lapsed Roman Catholic who occasionally visits churches on her lunch break “just for the atmosphere”, I am more than familiar with using spirituality as a comfort blanket while not buying what it’s selling. To me, finding the notion of something comforting is not totally incompatible with failing to rationally convince myself of its existence. My first horoscope experience was as a girl, flicking to the back pages of Mizz m agazine, curious to know how a stranger thought my life was going to pan out when I had no idea. My mum was always cynical (despite being religious), and like many beliefs held by one’s parents I was happy to agree with her , not least when I noticed that what the universe had in store for me as a Cancer, was not dissimilar from what I’d read for Pisces, Gemini, or Sagittarius the week before. Recommended Millennials have spent the most on their gardens during lockdown As I grew up, despite my continued …
Why investors in three FTSE 350 firms are cheering the AUKUS security pact
The new security pact between Australia, the UK and the US - known as AUKUS - looks like being good news for British defence contractors. It was notable that, announcing the new pact alongside US President Joe Biden and the Australian PM Scott Morrison, Boris Johnson mentioned, early on in his statement, the benefits for the UK economy. Mr Johnson said the pact would create "hundreds of highly skilled jobs across the United Kingdom - including in Scotland, the North of England and the Midlands - taking forward this government's driving purpose of levelling up across the whole country." Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player UK, Australia and US agree defence partnership He went on: "We will have a new opportunity to reinforce Britain's place at the leading edge of science and technology, strengthening our national expertise." The government's statement said: "The UK has built and operated world-class nuclear-powered submarines …
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Delingpole: BoJo Reshuffles Deckchairs on the Titanic
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has reshuffled the deckchairs on the Titanic . That is, he has promoted some of his Cabinet ministers and demoted others, in a series of moves which will make no difference either to the future of Britain or the survival prospects of the Conservative party. The ship is going down regardless. Among the Big Beasts punished with demotions are former Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, and former Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for Bangin’ Choons Michael Gove. The most obvious promotion is that of Liz Truss, who moves from Trade Secretary to Foreign Secretary. I like and admire Liz Truss. She is the only Cabinet member not to have been tainted by the Johnson administration’s relentless drift towards biosecurity state fascism. Her cunning ruse (which shows she’s not stupid) is never to have spoken out on contentious issues like jabs for children, lockdowns, masks, vaccine passports and so on. Always, relentlessly, she has talked about …
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Farage Slams EU Army Plans, Bloc ‘Hell-Bent on Collision with Trump’
Brexit leader Nigel Farage has slammed the European Commission president for building an army to rival NATO and the U.S. military, claiming the bloc is “hell-bent to be in direct collision with Donald Trump”. The former leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) blasted the unelected Brussels boss Jean-Claude Juncker at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday. He was attacking the bloc’s ‘PESCO’ project, a Brussels defence cooperation agreement signed in November 2017 by 23 member states, informally known as the European Union (EU) army. Mr Juncker has demanded a “fully-fledged Defence Union” by 2025 and the bloc’s foreign minister revealed they were working at “full speed” to create a unified “defence force” on a “ continental scale ” after the Brexit vote. “Just a quick look ahead of next week. [U.S. President Donald J.] Trump will be at that NATO summit,” Mr Farage blasted. “You appear to be hell-bent on pushing for your European army, hell-bent for a …
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Biden’s ‘summer of love’ with Europe hits an abrupt break-up
6 WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s summer of love with Europe appears to have come to an abrupt end. After promising European leaders that “America is back” and that multilateral diplomacy would guide U.S. foreign policy, Biden has angered numerous allies with a go-it-alone approach on key issues, the latest being a new security initiative for the Indo-Pacific that notably excluded France and the European Union. Some have compared Biden's recent actions to those of his predecessor, Donald Trump, under Trump's “America First” doctrine. That's surprising for a president steeped in international affairs who ran for the White House vowing to mend shaken ties with allies and restore U.S. credibility on the world stage. Although it's impossible to predict if any damage will be lasting, the short-term impact seems to have rekindled European suspicions of American intentions — with potential implications for Biden's broader aim to …
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