Mailwatch(ed) Forum

The new MP for Didcot and Wantage, Olly Glover, is a career railway professional. He might be worth watching for sanity. The Lib Dems being as they are, he'll probably be demanding extra loads of extra fast trains from Didcot to London by the end of the next week.
Maybe not though. The Greens have taken over the traditional Lib Dem role of "reopen this Beeching line, it'll cost nothing and everybody will use it, definitely".

Lib Dems call for the government to consider bringing the UK back into the customs union.



Such a move would be welcome, but as mentioned previously, needs both public and political consensus.

I think that would be an ecumenical matter.

Even the mail aren't losing their minds about this. Not even the briefest mentions of Brexit or Badenoch on their website. I guess they are leaving it to the fat, Swiss tosser on the wireless to stir the pot.

kreuzberger wrote: ↑Thu Jan 16, 2025 8:32 pm Even the mail aren't losing their minds about this. Not even the briefest mentions of Brexit or Badenoch on their website. I guess they are leaving it to the fat, Swiss tosser on the wireless to stir the pot.

I suspect they’re keeping their powder dry until Labour even so much as mention it, at which case the headline for the next bajillion years will be “BETRAYAL!” In a size 1000 font and bright red letters.

It’ll get there in the end, but as with pretty much every decent decision made since the paper started the Mail will need to be dragged along kicking and screaming.

Badenoch is in Trot mode; the revolution would have been a roaring success if Comrade Boris Stalin hadn't betrayed it. The Mail and everybody else haven't a Scooby what this Brexit growth plan is as it doesn't exist.

I was wondering why the Climate and Nature Bill put forward by Roz Savage (Lib Dem, South Cotswolds) had the strange presumption against large energy projects in it. I've been pointed to a possible answer:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce9g0589xzpo

More than 750 people responded to the first stage of consultation for a controversial 2,000 acre solar farm, with 88% saying they were against the current plans.
The Lime Down Solar Park proposals for several villages in the Malmesbury area of north Wiltshire have been met with resistance, with a campaign group being set up against them

I'm sure it's one of those cases where all candidates in the election said they'd oppose the development, so fight against that locally. But don't let your local issues make it much harder to built what everybody agrees we need. Actually that might be a bit optimistic- there seems to be a lot of "just stick it on car parks" about.

I don't know how good the rest of the bill is- citizens assemblies crop up, which sounds like an unnecessarily nimby element. But I don't doubt there's good stuff too.

The car parks thing is such a red herring (and is, I suspect imported from the US where car parks are bigger and everywhere).

Take a look at this from Deeside. At the bottom in green is the car park of a big Asda supermarket, in the middle (blue) a fill-in solar array on some disused industrial land, the kind of installation that provides a bit of pocket money and carbon offset and not much more for landowners. At the top in red is the Shotwick Solar Park, an array of about the size that is required to be recognised as a 'power station'.

Thank you, that's a great map. There's also the point that "lots of car parks" don't give you the economies of scale when you connect them to the grid. But I expect the answer to that is "why should it all be about money?" or something.

Fresh from calling for Reeves not to go to China, here's the latest in the "sounds dramatic, doesn't cost very much" DOSAC efforts.

https://www.libdems.org.uk/press/releas ... ly-tactics

Trump tariffs: Ed Davey calls for Commonwealth summit with Canada to discuss response to “playground bully” tactics

The Commonwealth, that well known trade body, The idea that a load of poor countries are going to put themselves in Trump's headlights because he's got a dispute with rich Canada, that's for the birds. You might as well call a meeting of the IOC.

Even if the Commonwealth were a trade group, this would be daft. Canada and Mexico have announced a load of stuff that was already happening, and the tariffs might now be forgotten about.

I'd say this won't help the Lib Dems hold on to the young professionals they've won off the Tories, except the Tory take on Trump is actively silly rather than irrelevant.

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, says President Trump has forgotten who the US’s friends really are, and how the UK and Canada fought with Americans to defeat fascism.

He says Starmer to remind Trump of this, and to prepare retaliatory tariffs.

Starmer says the UK will always put its national interests, and its steelworkers, first.

Davey says Trump needs to hear “strong words” from the UK.

If Ukraine has to surrender land to Russia, that will be the biggest betrayal of a European country since Poland in 1945.

Will the PM ensure that Ukraine does not get bullied by the US into accepting a deal that would be a victory for Russia.

Starmer says he wants Ukraine to be in the strongest positioon.

Ed Davey auditioning for Hugh Grant's role in a remake of Love Actually. Rather a Gavin Williamson sticking it to China vibe.

But if it helps them see of the Tories in the Blue Wall, I'll applaud. And I suppose it's good that someone says this.

If a lot of US steel is imported reciprocal tariffs would be bad news for industry. Targetted tariffs on red states are most likely (Florida oranges, Kentucky bourbon etc). I take they'll be no consequences to US domestic producers profiteering.

EU, UK respond strongly to US plan to reinstate 25% steel import tariff https://www.fastmarkets.com/insights/eu ... rt-tariff/

It seems all very ironic that Trump is driving us ever-closer to the EU.

It is.

And it's bad for Keir Starmer, because he thinks you can make Brexit work, apparently. As I say, trade wars have almost as many armchair generals as real wars do.

All that way to schlep a Ming Vase but not having been to Ikea for a shelf to put it on. Too timid to annoy the neighbours with the drill, perhaps.

I still find Starmer a fully agreeable cove, although I am now beginning to wonder what he is for.

‘We can’t just be supine’: Ed Davey urges Starmer to stand up to ‘bully’ Trump
Lib Dem leader compares PM to child trying to avoid trouble and says calling out US president is ‘the patriotic thing to do’

When Ed was actually in the Government, his idea of sticking it to power was calling out Owen Paterson at conference.

Tubby Isaacs wrote: ↑Thu Feb 13, 2025 7:20 pm It is.

And it's bad for Keir Starmer, because he thinks you can make Brexit work, apparently. As I say, trade wars have almost as many armchair generals as real wars do.

I am hopeful this is a two-pronged approach - keeping with the line of ‘making Brexit work’ while increasingly aligning with Europe on standards, joining trade areas etc. to take us slowly to a Norway by stealth position. Then it will be a case of anyone saying they’d do Brexit differently having to actually say what they would do - given all the Tories did when in office is avoid making difficult decisions, kick cans down the road and complain when the EU treated the U.K. exactly how we demanded we be treated.

Think it's fairly clear they're aligning. Norway is in the Single Market, so wouldn't the that. The Turkey-type customs position isn't a good option, so it'll depend on what sort of limited customs union we could get. We're certainly in a stronger position to do negotiate that than Johnson was post Withdrawal Agreement.

Tubby Isaacs wrote: ↑Sun Feb 16, 2025 4:39 pm Norway is in the Single Market, so wouldn't the that.

Eh ?

I meant "wouldn't be that".