CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
Since about 1688/1707 when there was last a significant disruption to government. Let’s face it. Most Europeans countries have changed their Borders or have come into existence since then. I’m struggling to think of anywhere that has been as stable as here.
I thought Iceland was part of Denmark until quite recently.
@stiltskin
Can I just check what you mean by 'here'? Is that a reference to a geographical or political entity?
Well if it was a geographical entity & stability we would be talking about earthquakes
Not forgetting -
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Acoustic Guitar & Bicycle Wheel (Striking the sopkes): Keith Richards
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@stiltskin
Fair point. What is the name of the political entity you are referring to?
I'm a bit mad for calling things by their real names.
R4
Irish Europe Minister saying ‘no deal Brexit could cost 4 times as much as Coronavirus’.
Seems unlikely.
But...
In principle their decision isn't too complex. Since 2016 they have known, or ought to have known, that they can only pick any two out of these three things;
1) Great Britain outside of the SM, CU and CJEU jurisdiction
2) The UK of GB&NI as a single customs territory
3) The Good Friday agreement
They are currently demanding all three but they can't have them. Mr Johnson previously agreed to take 1) and 3), after Mrs May suggested 2) and 3) and lost her job. Obviously the UVF will try to kill Mr Johnston if he persists with this.
If I was Mr Johston I would get a sick note from my mum and hide in my bedroom this week, letting Mr Gove take the helm, blame, and assassination attempts.
I am at a loss to even imagine what these lunatics are up to.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/freeports-bidding-process-opens-for-applications
The link to the prospectus that should be live isn't quelle surprise.
So Kent, Northern Ireland and ten coastal cities are all going to become distinct customs areas? Yes?
The United Administrative Limbozones? Perhaps they're planning to class them as embassies so that they don't have to countenance any new and illegal form of geopolitical exception.
There would certainly be revenue opportunities if dark site prisons could be established as in Diego Garcia, Cuba and Afghanistan.
I like the idea of the entirety of Grimsby becoming an embassy of Kazakhstan.
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Bidding process in England opens to establish at least seven new Freeports. The first are expected in 2021
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Whatever the merits of Freeports, surely they should be in operation on January 1st!?...
There used to be freeports across the UK - Prestwick was one. No-one ever used them as the benefits were far outweighed by having to be located in places like...Prestwick. Anyway, the UK Government eventually forgot to renew the regulations underpinning them and everyone now pretends that they never existed.
See Section 100A of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 and associated regulations, e.g. The Free Zone (Prestwick Airport) Designation Order 1984. Actually don't, they are as dull as they sound.
"Companies just don't flock to the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria to avoid VAT on transhipped goods."
I wouldn't be too sure about that. I'm aware of a lot of logistics operations setting up in Bulgaria over the past decade. However, Bulgaria is of course an EU member state.....also average salaries are a fraction of those in the UK.
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As the two sides re-engaged in the troubled discussions, with less than seven weeks to go before the end of the transition period, Ireland’s foreign minister, Simon Coveney, said the negotiations were “not in a good place” on fishing rights.
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Every single Russell Group university is more valuable to the UK of GB&NI than the entire fishing industry.
Food is important, people on these islands should eat fish but the London regime are bat-poop crazy.
So, errr....Theresa May's Festival of Brexit is real.
Not too sure what the staff of Napier and Strathclyde universities will think of their employers' involvement. Or the John Muir Trust or the V&A at Dundee or the Edinburgh International Festival.
The mind boggles at the staff meetings in prospect.
@IWRATS, indeed, Bulgaria has been known in the past for various creative "import/export" schemes.
From your document:
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Free ports are warehouses in free zones, which were – originally – intended as spaces to store merchandise in transit. They have since become popular for the storage of substitute assets, including art, precious stones, antique, gold and wine collections – often on a permanent basis. Apart from secure storage, sales arguments in the free port business include the deferral of import duties and indirect taxes such as VAT or user tax as well as a high degree of secrecy.
The best-known free ports catering for 'investment art' are those in Geneva, Luxembourg, Singapore, Beijing, Monaco and Delaware. It is commonly understood that these jurisdictions consider a free port an addition to their attraction as an offshore financial centre.
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This fits perfectly with London's role as an alleged money washing financial services hub. No wonder the government is keen on free ports...
In related news, Joe Biden was Senator for Delaware from 1973 to 2009. So his attitudes to tax avoidance schemes may be quite "relaxed".
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EU vote on Brexit deal could be delayed until 28 December
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It was always obvious (to me at least) that when it became clear Brexit would be a colossal disaster, when reality was staring Tories in the face and could no longer be waved away, then they would turn on those they view as the "enemy within". Defeat by external powers (who have been made into enemies) looms, so to placate angry, bewildered Brexiters, put the blame on more traditional foes: the Irish, and the Scots.
The Internal Market Bill, and Johnson's recent comments about devolution, are just the beginning of an assault on Scotland's democratic institutions, which will of course be portrayed as a way of restoring a mythic "unity". One people, one party, one kingdom...
I think you're right. Some dark days ahead.
Things are going to get quite nasty when Great Britain enters its Mauritania-style global trade deal on New Year's Day.
Brexit might have been survivable with national consensus and twenty years' planning and reserving.
They'll have a month and they're starting a screaming match and there's a pandemic on. And if they break the protocol on Northern Ireland they signed there's a real risk of violence.
Scottish Tory leader D.Ross is desperately trying to explain how BJ is right and wrong at same time. His view is that the problem is not with devolution it's with the SNP winning Holyrood elections and the 'soft ride' they get by Scotland's media (which is actually mainly hostile).
Of course if Holyrood didn't exist the pro Indy block at Westminster would still suggest that Scotland is heading in a different direction.
Polls suggest that people here are keen to continue a close relationship with Europe. Feedback from our EU contacts suggest they fully expect Scotland to govern itself a bit more.
D.Ross is expecting that people in Scotlsnd will wise up and realise that they are in danger of being punished further for a failure to support his party.
Demonstrates the downsides of referenda for such issues?
@LaidBack, yes it's quite simple.
Either Scotland votes the Tories in at Holyrood next year, or else they'll start dismantling the devolution settlement bit by bit, just to show us who's really in charge around here. As Tory MP Andrew Bowie said just last month, "This Internal Market Bill is just the start. The UK Government is back in Scotland. Get used to it."
If the SNP call an advisory referendum without Johnson's consent, that would be the perfect pretext to impose Direct Rule on Scotland, as they did with Norn Iron.
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