Brexit has well and truly begun!

[Carana]

Have you no faith in Britain?  God help us all, as He must have done when The War ended.

You see, those of you who have no real conception of what is going on, because you don't really know, are trying to frighten people like me.  Why do you do this?

You don't live in France, so how can you know how kind the French State is?  But then you aren't prepared to take a chance, are you.

Britain must do what The Referendum says.  But I am not taking my chances on that.  I no longer care anymore.
I won't be going anywhere near Britain.

I am just mortally disappointed by what vestiges of pride I thought might still exist.

You see, people like me who bailed out were so fed up with what had been done to us.  I was working pretty nearly 24/7  in some vain attempt to make my Small Business work.  It worked for seven years, but by then I was so exhausted that I couldn't even think anymore.

It was so much more easy to come here and cut the grass of of expats, for a price wasn't even known of in UK.

So don't tell me about entrepreneurs.   They are just people who take their chances.

Britain is looking stone cold dead to me at the moment.  And I don't care anymore.

I used to think that MPs had done thier homework and knew what they were talking about. Perhaps they do, locally, but I'm far less sure that they understood the consequences of Brexit.

[Carana]

The EU, which until the end of March, has 73 UK MEPs to help shape EU laws.

As of 30 March, the UK will no longer sit at the table to vote.  It will therefore have to be a rule taker.

Is this a good idea?

ETA: typo.

[Carana]

The final report of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee’s 18-month investigation into disinformation and fake news accused Facebook of purposefully obstructing its inquiry and failing to tackle attempts by Russia to manipulate elections.

“Democracy is at risk from the malicious and relentless targeting of citizens with disinformation and personalised ‘dark adverts’ from unidentifiable sources, delivered through the major social media platforms we use every day,” warned the committee’s chairman, Damian Collins.

The report:

    Accuses Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s co-founder and chief executive, of contempt for parliament in refusing three separate demands for him to give evidence, instead sending junior employees unable to answer the committee’s questions.

    Warns British electoral law is unfit for purpose and vulnerable to interference by hostile foreign actors, including agents of the Russian government attempting to discredit democracy.

    Calls on the British government to establish an independent investigation into “foreign influence, disinformation, funding, voter manipulation and the sharing of data” in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, the 2016 EU referendum and the 2017 general election.

Labour moved quickly to endorse the committee’s findings, with the party’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, announcing: “Labour agrees with the committee’s ultimate conclusion – the era of self-regulation for tech companies must end immediately.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/feb/18/facebook-fake-news-investigation-report-regulation-privacy-law-dcms

[Carana]

Damian Collins, chairman of parliament’s inquiry into fake news, said it was “no surprise” that Kaiser was under scrutiny by Mueller because “her work connected her to WikiLeaks, Cambridge Analytica and [its parent company] SCL, the Trump campaign, Leave.EU and Arron Banks”.

He said it was now vital Britain had its own inquiry into foreign interference: “We should not be leaving this to the Americans.”

Tom Watson, the deputy leader of the Labour party, echoed Collins’s statement, saying: “This is the first evidence that a significant player in the Leave.EU campaign is of interested to the global Mueller inquiry. People will be bewildered that the British government has no interest in establishing the facts of what happened.”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/feb/17/brittany-kaiser-trump-russia-robert-mueller-cambridge-analytica?CMP=share_btn_tw

[Carana]

Japan not overly impressed with Fox / Hunt letter re potential trade deal. They seemed to assume the current EU-Japan could simply be replicated by a cut-and-paste job.

https://www.ft.com/content/9cd62bde-32ba-11e9-bd3a-8b2a211d90d5

[G-Unit]

The final report of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee’s 18-month investigation into disinformation and fake news accused Facebook of purposefully obstructing its inquiry and failing to tackle attempts by Russia to manipulate elections.

“Democracy is at risk from the malicious and relentless targeting of citizens with disinformation and personalised ‘dark adverts’ from unidentifiable sources, delivered through the major social media platforms we use every day,” warned the committee’s chairman, Damian Collins.

The report:

    Accuses Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s co-founder and chief executive, of contempt for parliament in refusing three separate demands for him to give evidence, instead sending junior employees unable to answer the committee’s questions.

    Warns British electoral law is unfit for purpose and vulnerable to interference by hostile foreign actors, including agents of the Russian government attempting to discredit democracy.

    Calls on the British government to establish an independent investigation into “foreign influence, disinformation, funding, voter manipulation and the sharing of data” in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, the 2016 EU referendum and the 2017 general election.

Labour moved quickly to endorse the committee’s findings, with the party’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, announcing: “Labour agrees with the committee’s ultimate conclusion – the era of self-regulation for tech companies must end immediately.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/feb/18/facebook-fake-news-investigation-report-regulation-privacy-law-dcms

Quite amusing considering our MP's take it or leave it attitude to democracy.

[Carana]

The day after Carole Cadwalladr in the Observer revealed Special Counsel Robert Mueller has subpoenaed Brittany Kaiser, director of the now-defunct data company Cambridge Analytica who worked on Nigel Farage’s Leave EU campaign, the landmark parliamentary report provides yet more evidence that the Trump Campaign, the EU referendum and Russian interference are all closely linked.
https://bylinetimes.com/2019/02/18/explosive-uk-parliamentary-report-exposes-the-molten-core-of-the-trump-brexit-russia-scandal/

[G-Unit]

The day after Carole Cadwalladr in the Observer revealed Special Counsel Robert Mueller has subpoenaed Brittany Kaiser, director of the now-defunct data company Cambridge Analytica who worked on Nigel Farage’s Leave EU campaign, the landmark parliamentary report provides yet more evidence that the Trump Campaign, the EU referendum and Russian interference are all closely linked.
https://bylinetimes.com/2019/02/18/explosive-uk-parliamentary-report-exposes-the-molten-core-of-the-trump-brexit-russia-scandal/

Have they got proof that British citizens voted for Brexit because they were influenced by 'fake news'?

[Venturi Swirl]

Have they got proof that British citizens voted for Brexit because they were influenced by 'fake news'?

Obviously they were, you just have to look at the proven lies of the Leave campaign that some Leavers still trot out as reasons for why they voted Leave.  And on a general point, if fake news does not influence opinion then why does anyone invest money and time in it?

[Carana]

Have they got proof that British citizens voted for Brexit because they were influenced by 'fake news'?

Not sure how the Committee could verify it.

[Carana]

From the FT article:


Despite 18 months of talks, Japan and the UK have failed to make significant breakthroughs on a new trade deal.

The differences of position, which the Hunt/Fox letter acknowledges as “challenging issues”, centre around Japan’s refusal to accept a simple “cut and paste” of the terms of the EU-Japan agreement ratified last year.

Instead, its officials have been told to negotiate as they would any other trade accord, and to seek better terms from the UK than Japan won through its long haggle with the much larger EU.


Obviously.

[Venturi Swirl]

From the FT article:


Despite 18 months of talks, Japan and the UK have failed to make significant breakthroughs on a new trade deal.

The differences of position, which the Hunt/Fox letter acknowledges as “challenging issues”, centre around Japan’s refusal to accept a simple “cut and paste” of the terms of the EU-Japan agreement ratified last year.

Instead, its officials have been told to negotiate as they would any other trade accord, and to seek better terms from the UK than Japan won through its long haggle with the much larger EU.


Obviously.

Never mind.  What's Japan got that we want anyway....?  We can make our own cars and sushi here thanks very much!!!  (Channelling Angelo there for a minute...)

[Angelo222]

Never mind.  What's Japan got that we want anyway....?  We can make our own cars and sushi here thanks very much!!!  (Channelling Angelo there for a minute...)

It's crazy transporting cars halfway around the world when we could make even better ones here in the UK while taking advantage of the new green electric motor era.  Instead of giving billions away to the EU the government should be subsidising a national car and truck industry to build our own.

[Carana]

It's crazy transporting cars halfway around the world when we could make even better ones in the UK while taking advantage of the new green electric motor era.  Instead of giving billions away to the EU the government should be subsidising a national car and truck industry to build our own.

And where would all the parts come from that are currently assembled in UK plants?

[Angelo222]

Have they got proof that British citizens voted for Brexit because they were influenced by 'fake news'?

Those who voted leave don't want to be governed by unelected foreigner bureaucrats and pay handsomely for the privilege.  They also don't want the UK overrun by illegals or foreigners who think that they can stay for ever just because they get a job.