Boris Johnson's ex-wife Marina Wheeler 'is crushed' and their four children 'furious' that he has become engaged to girlfriend Carrie Symonds and they are expecting a baby
Ms Wheeler, who recently beat cervical cancer, is divorcing Mr Johnson (together below in 2015) after throwing him out in 2018 amid claims he was having an affair with Ms Symonds (together top). She is said to be aggrieved that Boris became engaged and tried for a baby while they are divorcing. A friend told the Daily Mirror : 'Marina has had a tough year with her health scare and the divorce and is very worried about how the kids are handling it too. She's just in pieces over it all' - another insider added the 55-year-old QC was 'crushed' by the news. Mr Johnson is thought to have told their four children Lara Lettice, 26, Milo Arthur, 24, Cassia Peaches, 22, and Theodore Apollo, 20, last week that he and Carrie are having a baby.
Restrain from tittle-tattle. Fill up yer freezer. You know it makes sense.🦠
Boris still maintains no checks.
Companies alarmed as Gove warns Brexit border checks 'inevitable'
A government minister has warned UK firms they will “inevitably” face new customs paperwork and border checks on trade in goods with the EU. Business groups reacted with alarm after Michael Gove set out the new barriers facing importers and exporters, bringing an end to the current system of largely seamless trade. There are fears the changes could mean new costs and delays for firms, and even “significant disruption” to fruit and vegetable supplies in the short term. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) urged the government to “move fast” in its preparations for when the Brexit transition period finishes at the end of the year. Trading arrangements currently remain the same as when Britain was in the EU, as the UK agreed to stay aligned with EU rules.
The first few comments, at least show that some people are paying more attention than you.
City Slicker21 days ago i am still unclear how the latest deal is better than Theresa May's original one. in the current deal there IS paperwork while in May's deal there would only have been paperwork IF a trade deal could not have been negotiated.
Richard21 days ago 2016 No checks 2017 No checks 2018 Absolutely no checks 2019 No checks under any circumstances 2020 We always said there would be checks. That's what you voted for.
Phil21 days ago With the talks going in the hard exit direction this must only be a surprise to a very sheltered few who believed the nonsense spouted out by successive Brexit supporters, the reality will hit us in January 2021 the actual exit day and not in the present BINO period we are in now.
mark21 days ago Bye bye Nissan Toyota BMW mini etc have our cake and eat for our motor industry.Sacked workers in Sunderland can retrain as cabbage pickers.Frictionless trade was another lie then.
Jon21 days ago brexit is and will deliver everyhing it ever would - ruin to the UK and our once great trading country!!
Southcoast20 days ago Lemmings...here is reality....fly the flag
Gravalax21 days ago Did we expect anything else from the utterly inept tories? A decade of mismanagement and broken promises.
corinne20 days ago The gullible conned by the tories again !
SP20 days ago Dumb English brexiteers. Wait when it sets in. Give it a year and England will Be finished.
SP20 days ago The brexiteers have really screwed up the uk. What a bunch of uneducated ignorant gullible fools they were to have fallen for all the bs that Boris and Farage have fed them.
It’s just so sad that folk believe all they see and hear. Maybe that’s why they can’t make head nor tail of anything. Just a catch up on the “freedom of the press” The same press that interferes with court cases,causing their collapse. Phone tapping,long range intrusive photography,running stories with no foundation or facts thus paying paying hefty fines.Headlining an answer, making out it’s an outburst, when not even putting the original question in the story. Clicking away at a dying Princess in car, and so on. All to sell a paper that if it’s not in the recycling bin on that day, will be on the following day. Liken it to the American gun law myself. When it’s bad it’s ugly. Question. Why on earth do the media think they have the right to know the U.K. approach to negotiations. It’s like putting in the chat box what hole cards you have, every hand. It’s supposed to be the most important event in the U.K. for 50odd years.(So some say)The media are doing their best to undermine the negotiations. The right way to deal is make out you’re interested in something when your not. And not interested in something when you are. I think the big story will be HS2. It’s a good idea to get the Chinese to build it, cheaper and more efficient. They can also buy theGovernment debt that helps fund it. But the Yanks won’t like the Chinese getting too involved with the U.K. Which could actually put the U.K. in quite a good negotiating position, or get HS2 to come in cheaper than the ballooning cost.
The floods. It’s so important for Boris to visit a flooded town or village? November’s trip was in Haysies “ pitch” . Obv. If he visited one, he’d have to visit all 20+ flooded areas. The call would be “ he’s visited there, but not here.The matey that wanted to buy him a pint🤣. I wonder how many takes it took to nearly get that interview nearly right. The higher you build barriers, the more you channel water,which will make it even higher. So high, that it will take out the bridges. There’s so many places, especiallyin the Welsh valleys that have no flood plains. Those two storms aren’t necessarily the worst the U.K. will ever see, if you believe in climate change. So 8ft, 10ft,15 ft barriers? You would have to over engineer them.locals would moan it’s an eyesore, affecting tourism and property prices. Unfortunately for them,they are in a similar position to those that live on the slopes, base of volcanoes, or earth quake fault lines. All the Governments can do is save lives. Why are you shaking in your boots at no deal? I’d see a lag, then rebuild. No prob. Over to you.
Britain 'needs to follow Holland's example' to conquer devastating floods EXCLUSIVE: Turning the tide - how Holland conquered flooding, its 'grey monster' which killed 1,8000 people, and the lessons Britain needs to learn from a nation which has since prevented further deaths
Photo shows Cassions (Mulberry Harbours built for WW11) being used to close the last breach in the **** in 1953 after they gave way during a massive storm in the North Sea flooding massive area and killing 1835 people
Having fled on to the roof as the flood surged, a petrified family clung on as the structure broke to bits and they were sent hurtling across the water. They spent the freezing night floating along on fragments of the roof. Not all of them survived.
Mina Kooijman, who was 12 at the time of the ordeal in 1953, said she watched the sea water in their village in the Netherlands rush towards them “like a grey monster”. Around 1,800 of her compatriots were killed. It kick-started huge investment in flood defences, and no one has been killed by floods since then. Experts now say Britain needs to follow the Dutch example.
The jewel in the crown is the Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier, completed in 1986, which is nearly six miles long. Flood prevention is a source of national pride, evident as Jeroen Kramer, from the Water Management Information Centre, shows me around what he called “the Netherlands’ front door”.
Boris Johnson news - live: Priti Patel faces sack after 'tsunami' of new bullying claims, as poll finds most Tory members don't accept climate change science
Home secretary Priti Patel has been hit by allegations of bullying staff in a third government department. A senior official at the Department for International Development (DfID) reported a “tsunami” of allegations by officials in her private office when she was secretary of state. It comes as a startling new poll shows most Conservative party member don’t accept human activity is responsible for climate change. Nearly one in 10 members said they didn’t believe global warming was happening at all.
PM’s friend’s firm handed £1.4m of government money to help super-rich ‘network’ with officials
Labour has called for an investigation after it emerged run by Boris Johnson’s tennis partner has been paid £1.4m of government cash to help civil servants “network” with the super rich.
The money is being paid to Quintessentially, a “luxury lifestyle” company – co-founded by Ben Elliot, an Etonian friend of the PM – which charges clients thousands of pounds to meet powerful people.
The Department of International Trade has paid Quintessentially £1.4m to enable civil servants and the super-rich to “network at the highest levels”, under a contract that began in 2016.
Labour has condemned the contract as “a blindingly obvious conflict of interest and a shocking waste of money” and demanded an inquiry.
Boris's 'battle plan' breakdown: Troops on the streets, police murder investigations put on hold and patients turfed out of hospitals as one in every five workers go off sick and town halls are put on 'death watch'
Coronavirus fears have gripped Britain. One of the latest scares was in Hull, where a family were evacuated by medics in Hazmat suits (left). Coronavirus pods have already been set up by hospitals (Wakefield, bottom right) as well as drive-thru checkpoints (Fulham, top right). From clamping down on mass gatherings to 'population distancing' measures, the Mail breaks down how the coronavirus battle plan - the Government's method to control the spread of the disease - will affect you.
Like Ken Dodd, Boris Johnson's features don't easily do serious: HENRY DEEDES sees the Prime Minister lay out his plans to handle the coronavirus outbreak
An icy morning and an early summons to Downing Street. The Prime Minister wished to lay out his plans to take on the coronavirus outbreak. There had been suggestions lately that Boris Johnson was not giving the escalating crisis due attention. Worse, that he was lying ‘doggo’, hoping it would all blow over. Time, then, for Bozza to show the country that he was taking charge.
Boris Johnson’s bluster on Brexit is about to face reality
The prime minister sold the UK a dream with a casual disregard for reality. The EU trade talks will test his bombast
Bad ideas blunt the sharpest minds, and Boris Johnson’s intellect was hardly an instrument of surgical precision before it rubbed up against a hard Brexit. The prime minister is no fool, but his talents are ill-suited to crafting a new relationship with the EU. Johnson’s cleverness is rhetorical; his unique talent is for lifting spirits while lowering expectations. His upbeat bombast is laced with self-deprecation conveyed in his artfully tousled appearance and the elongated ums and ahs that signal improvisation, although the lines are scripted.
On fishing and farming, Johnson may again be forced to back down Simon Jenkins
The whole act is a wink inviting the audience in on a joke, the butt of which are “doomsters and gloomsters” who try to hold Johnson to his word. He persuades his fans to take their satisfaction purely from the experience of being persuaded. To be seduced by him is to forgive him in advance for underachieving.
The EU is unsusceptible to that charm. The negotiations that began in Brussels this week will codify legal obligations across multiple issues, and Johnson’s inflated verbiage is not a meaningful currency in that commerce. It can be an impediment to progress when it undermines trust.
Continental leaders take note when the prime minister tells manufacturers that they will encounter “no forms, no checks, no barriers of any kind” for the transit of goods between Northern Ireland and mainland Britain. Ministers blithely dismiss the prospect of a customs border in the Irish Sea.
The truth is that Northern Ireland will end up in a different regulatory space to the rest of the UK. That was a concession Johnson made last year to allow the UK to jettison EU rules without reimposing a combustible border on the island of Ireland.
In a recent speech Johnson’s chief negotiator, David Frost, set out a fundamentalist line on deviation from continental rules. The capacity to do so, he argued, was the essence of “independence” and “the point of Brexit”.
When that ethos is pursued in practice, forms, checks and some kind of barrier to invigilate the boundary between EU and British jurisdictions are inevitable. A border in the Irish Sea is not a matter of conjecture.
It is described in a treaty that Johnson signed and waved in triumph. But his enthusiasm was for the idea of a deal, not the real thing. He likes deals for their instant retail value in domestic politics, believing that problems in the small print can be blustered away. That is not how the trade negotiations work in Brussels, where the deal is the small print.
Johnson’s cavalier disregard for the facts of Brexit is where his character and Eurosceptic ideology are fused. It flows from the arrogant cultural assumption that Britain is pursuing its manifest destiny away from Europe, and that Brussels, by taking the legalistic approach, fails to see things in their true, epic perspective. That argument was the core of Frost’s speech, which was Johnsonian in the way it camouflaged flabby thinking in historical dress.
Smuggled between references to Edmund Burke and Charles de Gaulle were some strange ideas. (The heroic emancipation narrative implies that Britain loves independence more than other EU nations – or that they are not smart enough to grasp the abject nature of their colonial submission by Brussels).
The Johnson-Frost doctrine rejects the Treasury view that disrupting trade between neighbours makes them poorer.
Costs are outweighed by “other factors” intrinsic to the “complex and adaptive” nature of the modern economy, which in its unfathomable genius generates responses “we do not foresee” and “solutions we did not expect”. This hints at the view, championed in Downing Street by Dominic Cummings, that fretting about EU markets is for analogue scaredy cats who care too much about gravity and not enough about the weightless digital future. Farmers bleat about borders, but the 21st century belongs to countries that master artificial intelligence.
The thesis is immune to evidence and too nebulous to be disproved in the time available for Brexit negotiations. It allows believers to write off any short-term disruption against notional gains down the line. If the prime minister believes this stuff – if he prefers pristine sovereignty in a hypothetical economy to defence of the real one – he has little incentive to compromise. And if compromise feels embarrassing, he might prefer to obstruct talks and blame EU intransigence when they collapse. There is a less pessimistic view: Johnson’s priority with Brexit since the election has been to keep it out of the news. (He promised voters he could make it go away, and he wants that illusion to be complete. To that end, he needs any deal.) He will be relaxed with compromise because he thinks he can spin base metal into gold. Most Tory MPs will not sweat over the detail, and the 80-seat majority is a cushion against any rebels who do.
Downing Street also expects to force concessions out of Brussels through brinkmanship, spooking the EU by threatening to walk away. In the authorised Tory version of history, that is what happened last year. Theresa May had a bad deal because she was afraid of no deal; Johnson wasn’t, so he got a better one. In reality, Johnson’s first offer of revised terms for Northern Ireland was laughed out of Brussels so he defaulted to a model that he had previously rejected. It is not the prime minister’s style to admit retreat, so he now speaks of the withdrawal agreement in fictionalised terms, free from costs or Irish borders, as if it is the deal he wanted and not the one he got. This is the Johnson method: sign anything, then sell it as everything; make any economic sacrifice on the altar of wishful thinking; compromise for a deal then disown the downside. That last tenet is infuriating for the EU side, which needs to know that Britain after Brexit is still a country that honours treaties. It cannot afford to be the rogue kind that doesn’t, but Johnson seems to think he can afford the political luxury of refusing to care.
Rishi Sunak ready to end freeze on fuel duty in Budget
Mr Sunak has considered ending Mr Osborne’s fuel duty freeze — a policy that has cost the Treasury billions of pounds in lost revenue — in his March 11 Budget but has faced strong opposition from Tory MPs, led by Harlow MP Robert Halfon. Mr Halfon, who has long campaigned against raising fuel duty, said scrapping the freeze “could put a severe brake on growth” while coronavirus was threatening the economy. “Fuel duty rises don’t just affect motorists, but they have an impact on everything because increased transportation costs affect businesses, the cost of food and public services,” he said. Jack Lopresti, another Tory MP, said Mr Johnson had promised not to raise fuel duty during the election campaign. “We need to encourage people who run small businesses and who are enterprising,” he said.
Why are the EU not helping Greece with their border problem? It’s a Union after all. Maybe it’s like the build up over the years from Calais. Turn a blind eye, unless they’re under our control?
The Daily Telegraph details what one of those steps might be, reporting that funerals of coronavirus victims could be "transmitted to mourners over the internet to prevent the spread of the disease if it becomes a pandemic". The paper says government documents also suggest crematoria might have to stay open 24 hours a day, with shorter funeral services, to cope with up to 50,000 extra deaths a week.
The Times, meanwhile, reports that Parliament could be suspended for five months from the end of March to prevent MPs from spreading coronavirus. The plans amount to "the longest summer recess we have known", a senior parliamentary source tells the paper. Explaining the rationale behind the proposal, the source says: "We've got 650 people who spend half the week across the country...it's 650 superspreaders."
The Independent focuses on how prepared the NHS is for that eventuality. It's conclusion: not very. It says it's been told by senior doctors and nurses that the health service "lacks the beds, staffing and resources" to cope with a serious outbreak.
"On Monday the hospital was full, and patients were waiting over 12 hours in A&E for admission," one doctor tells the website, anonymously. "And this is before we've even contemplated dealing with a single coronavirus case."
Chairwoman of Association of Critical Care Nurses, Nicki Credland says: "There simply aren't enough beds. We will need to make difficult decisions about which patients are admitted. The general public have a right to the truth."
The Guardian, meanwhile, says there's a "backlash" against the government deciding to issue weekly rather than daily information about the locations of new cases. Prof Paul Ashford, a former director at Public Health England, criticises the move, telling the paper: "They should be sharing the data as much as possible, to make the public equal partners."
Meanwhile, there appears to be trouble ahead for Rishi Sunak. "Give us £5bn a year more, schools warn chancellor" is the headline in the Guardian. It reports that what it calls an "unprecedented alliance of headteachers, school governors, councils and unions" are to lobby Mr Sunak ahead of next week's budget, saying the extra cash is needed in order to avoid further cuts.
The Sun, on the other hand, warns the chancellor against trying to raise extra money from trying to increase fuel duty - saying the government would face a revolt if it did. It says 53 Tory MPs have signed a letter urging Mr Sunak to ditch plans.
The Daily Telegraph previews a speech the new Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, is to give today about the BBC, in which he's to accuse the corporation of a "narrow urban outlook". The paper says his remarks will be seen as an attack on the BBC over its perceived left-wing bias. The Guardian, meanwhile, highlights that Mr Dowden is to also call the BBC an "institution to be cherished" and that the UK would be "crazy to throw it away". The Guardian's assessment is that this represents a "partial climbdown from government briefings against the broadcaster in recent weeks."
UK faces 'catastrophe' if Tories continue with 'no checks in Irish Sea' claim Special trade arrangements will apply from 1 January whether Johnson strikes deal or not
The UK will have a “catastrophe” on its hands unless Boris Johnson and cabinet ministers stop repeatedly claiming that there will be no checks in the Irish Sea as part of the special Brexit arrangements, manufacturing leaders and local politicians have warned. “If they don’t there is going to a horrible crash at the end of this year, and if not, then in four years,” said Stephen Kelly, the chief executive of the business group Manufacturing Northern Ireland. Under the withdrawal agreement, special trading arrangements will apply in Northern Ireland from 1 January whether Johnson strikes a trade deal with the EU or not. They are part of the agreement to prevent a hard border returning to the island of Ireland and involve checks, customs declarations and tariffs on goods going between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Stephen Farry, the MP for North Down and deputy leader of the Alliance party, said it was a fiction to think that a wide-ranging free-trade agreement with the EU would wash the checks away.
There is this wishful thinking that a free trade agreement is going to fully eliminate the need for some degree of checks. Even the most far reaching deal you can imagine isn’t going to fully address that,” he said.
If Johnson reneged on the deal he would have a “cowboy economy” and a “no man’s land” in which neither British nor EU rules would be enforced, warned Farry.
Johnson and a succession of cabinet ministers have insisted the Northern Ireland protocol can be applied without physical checks or extra paperwork. The EU has rubbished this assertion as a misleading representation of the protocol, warning that not implementing the new rules would be a formal breach of an international treaty.
Why are the EU not helping Greece with their border problem? It’s a Union after all. Maybe it’s like the build up over the years from Calais. Turn a blind eye, unless they’re under our control?
It may surprise you to find out that each EU member is an independent country.
I don't believe that there is a build up in Calais.
I don't think anyone turns a blind eye, although we have been pretty bad on controls in this country.
It is a pity that some people can only criticise families attempting to escape wars, and persecution, in a number of places throughout the world.
It’s just so sad that folk believe all they see and hear. Maybe that’s why they can’t make head nor tail of anything. Just a catch up on the “freedom of the press” The same press that interferes with court cases,causing their collapse. Phone tapping,long range intrusive photography,running stories with no foundation or facts thus paying paying hefty fines.Headlining an answer, making out it’s an outburst, when not even putting the original question in the story. Clicking away at a dying Princess in car, and so on. All to sell a paper that if it’s not in the recycling bin on that day, will be on the following day. Liken it to the American gun law myself. When it’s bad it’s ugly. Question. Why on earth do the media think they have the right to know the U.K. approach to negotiations. It’s like putting in the chat box what hole cards you have, every hand. It’s supposed to be the most important event in the U.K. for 50odd years.(So some say)The media are doing their best to undermine the negotiations. The right way to deal is make out you’re interested in something when your not. And not interested in something when you are. I think the big story will be HS2. It’s a good idea to get the Chinese to build it, cheaper and more efficient. They can also buy theGovernment debt that helps fund it. But the Yanks won’t like the Chinese getting too involved with the U.K. Which could actually put the U.K. in quite a good negotiating position, or get HS2 to come in cheaper than the ballooning cost.
The floods. It’s so important for Boris to visit a flooded town or village? November’s trip was in Haysies “ pitch” . Obv. If he visited one, he’d have to visit all 20+ flooded areas. The call would be “ he’s visited there, but not here.The matey that wanted to buy him a pint🤣. I wonder how many takes it took to nearly get that interview nearly right. The higher you build barriers, the more you channel water,which will make it even higher. So high, that it will take out the bridges. There’s so many places, especiallyin the Welsh valleys that have no flood plains. Those two storms aren’t necessarily the worst the U.K. will ever see, if you believe in climate change. So 8ft, 10ft,15 ft barriers? You would have to over engineer them.locals would moan it’s an eyesore, affecting tourism and property prices. Unfortunately for them,they are in a similar position to those that live on the slopes, base of volcanoes, or earth quake fault lines. All the Governments can do is save lives. Why are you shaking in your boots at no deal? I’d see a lag, then rebuild. No prob. Over to you.
Britain 'needs to follow Holland's example' to conquer devastating floods EXCLUSIVE: Turning the tide - how Holland conquered flooding, its 'grey monster' which killed 1,8000 people, and the lessons Britain needs to learn from a nation which has since prevented further deaths
Photo shows Cassions (Mulberry Harbours built for WW11) being used to close the last breach in the **** in 1953 after they gave way during a massive storm in the North Sea flooding massive area and killing 1835 people
Having fled on to the roof as the flood surged, a petrified family clung on as the structure broke to bits and they were sent hurtling across the water. They spent the freezing night floating along on fragments of the roof. Not all of them survived.
Mina Kooijman, who was 12 at the time of the ordeal in 1953, said she watched the sea water in their village in the Netherlands rush towards them “like a grey monster”. Around 1,800 of her compatriots were killed. It kick-started huge investment in flood defences, and no one has been killed by floods since then. Experts now say Britain needs to follow the Dutch example.
The jewel in the crown is the Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier, completed in 1986, which is nearly six miles long. Flood prevention is a source of national pride, evident as Jeroen Kramer, from the Water Management Information Centre, shows me around what he called “the Netherlands’ front door”.
I’m thinking that most of Holland, if not all, is under sea level.A totally different problem. Our flooding is mainly caused by too much wet stuff falling from the sky. We have the Thames Barrier regarding surges. Dams would be a possibility, good for GDP and power generation.
Why are the EU not helping Greece with their border problem? It’s a Union after all. Maybe it’s like the build up over the years from Calais. Turn a blind eye, unless they’re under our control?
It may surprise you to find out that each EU member is an independent country.
I don't believe that there is a build up in Calais.
I don't think anyone turns a blind eye, although we have been pretty bad on controls in this country.
It is a pity that some people can only criticise families attempting to escape wars, and persecution, in a number of places throughout the world.
There has been many thousands of immigrants and refugees on Greek islands for yonks. It would be the equivalent to having thousands in camps on the Isle of Wight imo. Why have the EU not sent ships to pick up the refugees and place them in the 26 EU countries? Quite a simple task I think. They don’t want to know. They’ve paid Turkey off. And the EU lecture the U.K. in not dropping social standards. Smell the coffee.
Why are the EU not helping Greece with their border problem? It’s a Union after all. Maybe it’s like the build up over the years from Calais. Turn a blind eye, unless they’re under our control?
It may surprise you to find out that each EU member is an independent country.
I don't believe that there is a build up in Calais.
I don't think anyone turns a blind eye, although we have been pretty bad on controls in this country.
It is a pity that some people can only criticise families attempting to escape wars, and persecution, in a number of places throughout the world.
Losing the plot there a bit Haysie, as I’m criticizing the powers.
It’s just so sad that folk believe all they see and hear. Maybe that’s why they can’t make head nor tail of anything. Just a catch up on the “freedom of the press” The same press that interferes with court cases,causing their collapse. Phone tapping,long range intrusive photography,running stories with no foundation or facts thus paying paying hefty fines.Headlining an answer, making out it’s an outburst, when not even putting the original question in the story. Clicking away at a dying Princess in car, and so on. All to sell a paper that if it’s not in the recycling bin on that day, will be on the following day. Liken it to the American gun law myself. When it’s bad it’s ugly. Question. Why on earth do the media think they have the right to know the U.K. approach to negotiations. It’s like putting in the chat box what hole cards you have, every hand. It’s supposed to be the most important event in the U.K. for 50odd years.(So some say)The media are doing their best to undermine the negotiations. The right way to deal is make out you’re interested in something when your not. And not interested in something when you are. I think the big story will be HS2. It’s a good idea to get the Chinese to build it, cheaper and more efficient. They can also buy theGovernment debt that helps fund it. But the Yanks won’t like the Chinese getting too involved with the U.K. Which could actually put the U.K. in quite a good negotiating position, or get HS2 to come in cheaper than the ballooning cost.
The floods. It’s so important for Boris to visit a flooded town or village? November’s trip was in Haysies “ pitch” . Obv. If he visited one, he’d have to visit all 20+ flooded areas. The call would be “ he’s visited there, but not here.The matey that wanted to buy him a pint🤣. I wonder how many takes it took to nearly get that interview nearly right. The higher you build barriers, the more you channel water,which will make it even higher. So high, that it will take out the bridges. There’s so many places, especiallyin the Welsh valleys that have no flood plains. Those two storms aren’t necessarily the worst the U.K. will ever see, if you believe in climate change. So 8ft, 10ft,15 ft barriers? You would have to over engineer them.locals would moan it’s an eyesore, affecting tourism and property prices. Unfortunately for them,they are in a similar position to those that live on the slopes, base of volcanoes, or earth quake fault lines. All the Governments can do is save lives. Why are you shaking in your boots at no deal? I’d see a lag, then rebuild. No prob. Over to you.
Britain 'needs to follow Holland's example' to conquer devastating floods EXCLUSIVE: Turning the tide - how Holland conquered flooding, its 'grey monster' which killed 1,8000 people, and the lessons Britain needs to learn from a nation which has since prevented further deaths
Photo shows Cassions (Mulberry Harbours built for WW11) being used to close the last breach in the **** in 1953 after they gave way during a massive storm in the North Sea flooding massive area and killing 1835 people
Having fled on to the roof as the flood surged, a petrified family clung on as the structure broke to bits and they were sent hurtling across the water. They spent the freezing night floating along on fragments of the roof. Not all of them survived.
Mina Kooijman, who was 12 at the time of the ordeal in 1953, said she watched the sea water in their village in the Netherlands rush towards them “like a grey monster”. Around 1,800 of her compatriots were killed. It kick-started huge investment in flood defences, and no one has been killed by floods since then. Experts now say Britain needs to follow the Dutch example.
The jewel in the crown is the Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier, completed in 1986, which is nearly six miles long. Flood prevention is a source of national pride, evident as Jeroen Kramer, from the Water Management Information Centre, shows me around what he called “the Netherlands’ front door”.
I’m thinking that most of Holland, if not all, is under sea level.A totally different problem. Our flooding is mainly caused by too much wet stuff falling from the sky. We have the Thames Barrier regarding surges. Dams would be a possibility, good for GDP and power generation.
You made the point that we couldn't stop flooding, but the Dutch have.
What’s the difference between immigrants crossing the channel or getting trafficked to the U.K, and the masses that want to get into Europe?
I thought this was some sort of joke, and was waiting for you to post the punchline.
If it is a genuine question, it is a silly one.
For years there were camps in Calais, now in Greece. It seems the EU are only interested in folk under their control. And only interested in commerce, not social welfare. They speak with forked tongue.
I think the key word there is topography. Even in the worst flooded areas, a home fifty yards nearer a river than another home could be totally submerged, whereas the other one further away could have no problems.
Why are the EU not helping Greece with their border problem? It’s a Union after all. Maybe it’s like the build up over the years from Calais. Turn a blind eye, unless they’re under our control?
It may surprise you to find out that each EU member is an independent country.
I don't believe that there is a build up in Calais.
I don't think anyone turns a blind eye, although we have been pretty bad on controls in this country.
It is a pity that some people can only criticise families attempting to escape wars, and persecution, in a number of places throughout the world.
There has been many thousands of immigrants and refugees on Greek islands for yonks. It would be the equivalent to having thousands in camps on the Isle of Wight imo. Why have the EU not sent ships to pick up the refugees and place them in the 26 EU countries? Quite a simple task I think. They don’t want to know. They’ve paid Turkey off. And the EU lecture the U.K. in not dropping social standards. Smell the coffee.
Your posts seem to get more ridiculous. I don't follow how Greece has any similarities to the Isle of Wight. The EU doesn't have ships. You answer your own question. The EU has made arrangements with Turkey to look after the Syrian refugees. You try to make it sound dirty by saying that they paid Turkey off. When they are contributing to the refugee upkeep costs. The refugees cross the border into Turkey in their search for safety. It would be unfair for Turkey alone to meet the cost of around 5million refugees. I don't recall the EU lecturing the UK about anything. This is another figment of your imagination. Lets see what the UK contributes after we leave.
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Companies alarmed as Gove warns Brexit border checks 'inevitable'
A government minister has warned UK firms they will “inevitably” face new customs paperwork and border checks on trade in goods with the EU.
Business groups reacted with alarm after Michael Gove set out the new barriers facing importers and exporters, bringing an end to the current system of largely seamless trade. There are fears the changes could mean new costs and delays for firms, and even “significant disruption” to fruit and vegetable supplies in the short term.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) urged the government to “move fast” in its preparations for when the Brexit transition period finishes at the end of the year. Trading arrangements currently remain the same as when Britain was in the EU, as the UK agreed to stay aligned with EU rules.
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/brexit-border-checks-paperwork-customs-declarations-eori-gov-uk-084404640.html
The first few comments, at least show that some people are paying more attention than you.
City Slicker21 days ago
i am still unclear how the latest deal is better than Theresa May's original one. in the current deal there IS paperwork while in May's deal there would only have been paperwork IF a trade deal could not have been negotiated.
Richard21 days ago
2016 No checks
2017 No checks
2018 Absolutely no checks
2019 No checks under any circumstances
2020 We always said there would be checks. That's what you voted for.
Phil21 days ago
With the talks going in the hard exit direction this must only be a surprise to a very sheltered few who believed the nonsense spouted out by successive Brexit supporters, the reality will hit us in January 2021 the actual exit day and not in the present BINO period we are in now.
mark21 days ago
Bye bye Nissan Toyota BMW mini etc have our cake and eat for our motor industry.Sacked workers in Sunderland can retrain as cabbage pickers.Frictionless trade was another lie then.
Jon21 days ago
brexit is and will deliver everyhing it ever would - ruin to the UK and our once great trading country!!
Southcoast20 days ago
Lemmings...here is reality....fly the flag
Gravalax21 days ago
Did we expect anything else from the utterly inept tories? A decade of mismanagement and broken promises.
corinne20 days ago
The gullible conned by the tories again !
SP20 days ago
Dumb English brexiteers. Wait when it sets in. Give it a year and England will
Be finished.
SP20 days ago
The brexiteers have really screwed up the uk. What a bunch of uneducated ignorant gullible fools they were to have fallen for all the bs that Boris and Farage have fed them.
EXCLUSIVE: Turning the tide - how Holland conquered flooding, its 'grey monster' which killed 1,8000 people, and the lessons Britain needs to learn from a nation which has since prevented further deaths
Photo shows Cassions (Mulberry Harbours built for WW11) being used to close the last breach in the **** in 1953 after they gave way during a massive storm in the North Sea flooding massive area and killing 1835 people
Having fled on to the roof as the flood surged, a petrified family clung on as the structure broke to bits and they were sent hurtling across the water.
They spent the freezing night floating along on fragments of the roof. Not all of them survived.
Mina Kooijman, who was 12 at the time of the ordeal in 1953, said she watched the sea water in their village in the Netherlands rush towards them “like a grey monster”.
Around 1,800 of her compatriots were killed. It kick-started huge investment in flood defences, and no one has been killed by floods since then.
Experts now say Britain needs to follow the Dutch example.
The jewel in the crown is the Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier, completed in 1986, which is nearly six miles long.
Flood prevention is a source of national pride, evident as Jeroen Kramer, from the Water Management Information Centre, shows me around what he called “the Netherlands’ front door”.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/britain-needs-follow-hollands-example-21618693
Boris Johnson news - live: Priti Patel faces sack after 'tsunami' of new bullying claims, as poll finds most Tory members don't accept climate change science
Home secretary Priti Patel has been hit by allegations of bullying staff in a third government department. A senior official at the Department for International Development (DfID) reported a “tsunami” of allegations by officials in her private office when she was secretary of state.
It comes as a startling new poll shows most Conservative party member don’t accept human activity is responsible for climate change. Nearly one in 10 members said they didn’t believe global warming was happening at all.
PM’s friend’s firm handed £1.4m of government money to help super-rich ‘network’ with officials
Labour has called for an investigation after it emerged run by Boris Johnson’s tennis partner has been paid £1.4m of government cash to help civil servants “network” with the super rich.
The money is being paid to Quintessentially, a “luxury lifestyle” company – co-founded by Ben Elliot, an Etonian friend of the PM – which charges clients thousands of pounds to meet powerful people.
The Department of International Trade has paid Quintessentially £1.4m to enable civil servants and the super-rich to “network at the highest levels”, under a contract that began in 2016.
Labour has condemned the contract as “a blindingly obvious conflict of interest and a shocking waste of money” and demanded an inquiry.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-news-live-latest-brexit-priti-patel-coronavirus-climate-change-a9373976.html
Coronavirus fears have gripped Britain. One of the latest scares was in Hull, where a family were evacuated by medics in Hazmat suits (left). Coronavirus pods have already been set up by hospitals (Wakefield, bottom right) as well as drive-thru checkpoints (Fulham, top right). From clamping down on mass gatherings to 'population distancing' measures, the Mail breaks down how the coronavirus battle plan - the Government's method to control the spread of the disease - will affect you.
An icy morning and an early summons to Downing Street. The Prime Minister wished to lay out his plans to take on the coronavirus outbreak.
There had been suggestions lately that Boris Johnson was not giving the escalating crisis due attention. Worse, that he was lying ‘doggo’, hoping it would all blow over.
Time, then, for Bozza to show the country that he was taking charge.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8071311/HENRY-DEEDES-Like-Ken-Dodd-Boris-Johnsons-features-dont-easily-serious.html
The prime minister sold the UK a dream with a casual disregard for reality. The EU trade talks will test his bombast
Bad ideas blunt the sharpest minds, and Boris Johnson’s intellect was hardly an instrument of surgical precision before it rubbed up against a hard Brexit. The prime minister is no fool, but his talents are ill-suited to crafting a new relationship with the EU. Johnson’s cleverness is rhetorical; his unique talent is for lifting spirits while lowering expectations. His upbeat bombast is laced with self-deprecation conveyed in his artfully tousled appearance and the elongated ums and ahs that signal improvisation, although the lines are scripted.
On fishing and farming, Johnson may again be forced to back down
Simon Jenkins
The whole act is a wink inviting the audience in on a joke, the butt of which are “doomsters and gloomsters” who try to hold Johnson to his word. He persuades his fans to take their satisfaction purely from the experience of being persuaded. To be seduced by him is to forgive him in advance for underachieving.
The EU is unsusceptible to that charm. The negotiations that began in Brussels this week will codify legal obligations across multiple issues, and Johnson’s inflated verbiage is not a meaningful currency in that commerce. It can be an impediment to progress when it undermines trust.
Continental leaders take note when the prime minister tells manufacturers that they will encounter “no forms, no checks, no barriers of any kind” for the transit of goods between Northern Ireland and mainland Britain. Ministers blithely dismiss the prospect of a customs border in the Irish Sea.
The truth is that Northern Ireland will end up in a different regulatory space to the rest of the UK. That was a concession Johnson made last year to allow the UK to jettison EU rules without reimposing a combustible border on the island of Ireland.
In a recent speech Johnson’s chief negotiator, David Frost, set out a fundamentalist line on deviation from continental rules. The capacity to do so, he argued, was the essence of “independence” and “the point of Brexit”.
When that ethos is pursued in practice, forms, checks and some kind of barrier to invigilate the boundary between EU and British jurisdictions are inevitable. A border in the Irish Sea is not a matter of conjecture.
It is described in a treaty that Johnson signed and waved in triumph. But his enthusiasm was for the idea of a deal, not the real thing. He likes deals for their instant retail value in domestic politics, believing that problems in the small print can be blustered away. That is not how the trade negotiations work in Brussels, where the deal is the small print.
Johnson’s cavalier disregard for the facts of Brexit is where his character and Eurosceptic ideology are fused. It flows from the arrogant cultural assumption that Britain is pursuing its manifest destiny away from Europe, and that Brussels, by taking the legalistic approach, fails to see things in their true, epic perspective. That argument was the core of Frost’s speech, which was Johnsonian in the way it camouflaged flabby thinking in historical dress.
Smuggled between references to Edmund Burke and Charles de Gaulle were some strange ideas. (The heroic emancipation narrative implies that Britain loves independence more than other EU nations – or that they are not smart enough to grasp the abject nature of their colonial submission by Brussels).
The Johnson-Frost doctrine rejects the Treasury view that disrupting trade between neighbours makes them poorer.
Costs are outweighed by “other factors” intrinsic to the “complex and adaptive” nature of the modern economy, which in its unfathomable genius generates responses “we do not foresee” and “solutions we did not expect”. This hints at the view, championed in Downing Street by Dominic Cummings, that fretting about EU markets is for analogue scaredy cats who care too much about gravity and not enough about the weightless digital future. Farmers bleat about borders, but the 21st century belongs to countries that master artificial intelligence.
The thesis is immune to evidence and too nebulous to be disproved in the time available for Brexit negotiations. It allows believers to write off any short-term disruption against notional gains down the line. If the prime minister believes this stuff – if he prefers pristine sovereignty in a hypothetical economy to defence of the real one – he has little incentive to compromise. And if compromise feels embarrassing, he might prefer to obstruct talks and blame EU intransigence when they collapse.
There is a less pessimistic view: Johnson’s priority with Brexit since the election has been to keep it out of the news. (He promised voters he could make it go away, and he wants that illusion to be complete. To that end, he needs any deal.) He will be relaxed with compromise because he thinks he can spin base metal into gold. Most Tory MPs will not sweat over the detail, and the 80-seat majority is a cushion against any rebels who do.
Downing Street also expects to force concessions out of Brussels through brinkmanship, spooking the EU by threatening to walk away. In the authorised Tory version of history, that is what happened last year. Theresa May had a bad deal because she was afraid of no deal; Johnson wasn’t, so he got a better one. In reality, Johnson’s first offer of revised terms for Northern Ireland was laughed out of Brussels so he defaulted to a model that he had previously rejected.
It is not the prime minister’s style to admit retreat, so he now speaks of the withdrawal agreement in fictionalised terms, free from costs or Irish borders, as if it is the deal he wanted and not the one he got. This is the Johnson method: sign anything, then sell it as everything; make any economic sacrifice on the altar of wishful thinking; compromise for a deal then disown the downside. That last tenet is infuriating for the EU side, which needs to know that Britain after Brexit is still a country that honours treaties. It cannot afford to be the rogue kind that doesn’t, but Johnson seems to think he can afford the political luxury of refusing to care.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/03/boris-johnson-brexit-eu-trade-talks
Mr Sunak has considered ending Mr Osborne’s fuel duty freeze — a policy that has cost the Treasury billions of pounds in lost revenue — in his March 11 Budget but has faced strong opposition from Tory MPs, led by Harlow MP Robert Halfon.
Mr Halfon, who has long campaigned against raising fuel duty, said scrapping the freeze “could put a severe brake on growth” while coronavirus was threatening the economy.
“Fuel duty rises don’t just affect motorists, but they have an impact on everything because increased transportation costs affect businesses, the cost of food and public services,” he said.
Jack Lopresti, another Tory MP, said Mr Johnson had promised not to raise fuel duty during the election campaign. “We need to encourage people who run small businesses
and who are enterprising,” he said.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/news/rishi-sunak-ready-to-end-freeze-on-fuel-duty-in-budget/ar-BB10HBXD?ocid=spartandhp
Maybe it’s like the build up over the years from Calais.
Turn a blind eye, unless they’re under our control?
The Daily Telegraph details what one of those steps might be, reporting that funerals of coronavirus victims could be "transmitted to mourners over the internet to prevent the spread of the disease if it becomes a pandemic". The paper says government documents also suggest crematoria might have to stay open 24 hours a day, with shorter funeral services, to cope with up to 50,000 extra deaths a week.
The Times, meanwhile, reports that Parliament could be suspended for five months from the end of March to prevent MPs from spreading coronavirus.
The plans amount to "the longest summer recess we have known", a senior parliamentary source tells the paper. Explaining the rationale behind the proposal, the source says: "We've got 650 people who spend half the week across the country...it's 650 superspreaders."
The Independent focuses on how prepared the NHS is for that eventuality. It's conclusion: not very. It says it's been told by senior doctors and nurses that the health service "lacks the beds, staffing and resources" to cope with a serious outbreak.
"On Monday the hospital was full, and patients were waiting over 12 hours in A&E for admission," one doctor tells the website, anonymously. "And this is before we've even contemplated dealing with a single coronavirus case."
Chairwoman of Association of Critical Care Nurses, Nicki Credland says: "There simply aren't enough beds. We will need to make difficult decisions about which patients are admitted. The general public have a right to the truth."
The Guardian, meanwhile, says there's a "backlash" against the government deciding to issue weekly rather than daily information about the locations of new cases. Prof Paul Ashford, a former director at Public Health England, criticises the move, telling the paper: "They should be sharing the data as much as possible, to make the public equal partners."
Meanwhile, there appears to be trouble ahead for Rishi Sunak. "Give us £5bn a year more, schools warn chancellor" is the headline in the Guardian. It reports that what it calls an "unprecedented alliance of headteachers, school governors, councils and unions" are to lobby Mr Sunak ahead of next week's budget, saying the extra cash is needed in order to avoid further cuts.
The Sun, on the other hand, warns the chancellor against trying to raise extra money from trying to increase fuel duty - saying the government would face a revolt if it did. It says 53 Tory MPs have signed a letter urging Mr Sunak to ditch plans.
The Daily Telegraph previews a speech the new Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, is to give today about the BBC, in which he's to accuse the corporation of a "narrow urban outlook". The paper says his remarks will be seen as an attack on the BBC over its perceived left-wing bias.
The Guardian, meanwhile, highlights that Mr Dowden is to also call the BBC an "institution to be cherished" and that the UK would be "crazy to throw it away". The Guardian's assessment is that this represents a "partial climbdown from government briefings against the broadcaster in recent weeks."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-51746742
UK faces 'catastrophe' if Tories continue with 'no checks in Irish Sea' claim
Special trade arrangements will apply from 1 January whether Johnson strikes deal or
not
The UK will have a “catastrophe” on its hands unless Boris Johnson and cabinet ministers stop repeatedly claiming that there will be no checks in the Irish Sea as part of the special Brexit arrangements, manufacturing leaders and local politicians have warned.
“If they don’t there is going to a horrible crash at the end of this year, and if not, then in four years,” said Stephen Kelly, the chief executive of the business group Manufacturing Northern Ireland.
Under the withdrawal agreement, special trading arrangements will apply in Northern Ireland from 1 January whether Johnson strikes a trade deal with the EU or not.
They are part of the agreement to prevent a hard border returning to the island of Ireland and involve checks, customs declarations and tariffs on goods going between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Stephen Farry, the MP for North Down and deputy leader of the Alliance party, said it was a fiction to think that a wide-ranging free-trade agreement with the EU would wash the checks away.
There is this wishful thinking that a free trade agreement is going to fully eliminate the need for some degree of checks. Even the most far reaching deal you can imagine isn’t going to fully address that,” he said.
If Johnson reneged on the deal he would have a “cowboy economy” and a “no man’s land” in which neither British nor EU rules would be enforced, warned Farry.
Johnson and a succession of cabinet ministers have insisted the Northern Ireland protocol can be applied without physical checks or extra paperwork.
The EU has rubbished this assertion as a misleading representation of the protocol, warning that not implementing the new rules would be a formal breach of an international treaty.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/mar/04/uk-faces-catastrophe-if-tories-continue-with-no-checks-in-irish-sea-claim-northern-ireland-Johnson
Boris Johnson news – live: Priti Patel faces fresh bullying claims over 'shocking aggression', as Tory minister prompts anger with attack on BBC
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-news-live-coronavirus-priti-patel-bullying-labour-today-latest-a9376781.html
If it is a genuine question, it is a silly one.
I don't believe that there is a build up in Calais.
I don't think anyone turns a blind eye, although we have been pretty bad on controls in this country.
It is a pity that some people can only criticise families attempting to escape wars, and persecution, in a number of places throughout the world.
Our flooding is mainly caused by too much wet stuff falling from the sky.
We have the Thames Barrier regarding surges.
Dams would be a possibility, good for GDP and power generation.
It would be the equivalent to having thousands in camps on the Isle of Wight imo.
Why have the EU not sent ships to pick up the refugees and place them in the 26 EU countries?
Quite a simple task I think.
They don’t want to know. They’ve paid Turkey off.
And the EU lecture the U.K. in not dropping social standards.
Smell the coffee.
It seems the EU are only interested in folk under their control.
And only interested in commerce, not social welfare.
They speak with forked tongue.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8075877/The-Somerset-Levels-recovered-2014-floods-ignoring-eco-zealots-using-old-ideas.html
Even in the worst flooded areas, a home fifty yards nearer a river than another home could be totally submerged, whereas the other one further away could have no problems.
Your posts seem to get more ridiculous.
I don't follow how Greece has any similarities to the Isle of Wight.
The EU doesn't have ships.
You answer your own question.
The EU has made arrangements with Turkey to look after the Syrian refugees.
You try to make it sound dirty by saying that they paid Turkey off.
When they are contributing to the refugee upkeep costs.
The refugees cross the border into Turkey in their search for safety.
It would be unfair for Turkey alone to meet the cost of around 5million refugees.
I don't recall the EU lecturing the UK about anything.
This is another figment of your imagination.
Lets see what the UK contributes after we leave.