11 October 2018 Lens on the Week UK BREXIT: Paturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus (Horace). Well, the first part of that is certainly true. The mountains are indeed in labour and Mr Juncker, Mr Tusk, Mrs May, Mr Raab and their friends in the Brexit zoo are all showing more signs of optimism. Will it… Continue reading Issue 173: 2018 10 11: Lens on the Week
Article Category: Lens on the Week
Issue 172: 2018 10 04: Lens on the Week
4 October 2018 Lens on the Week UK BREXIT: It is no surprise that the Conservative party conference began with a row over Brexit, ex foreign secretary Boris Johnson calling on the Prime Minister to “Chuck Chequers” on the basis that the Chequers Agreement under which we would have to collect tariffs on behalf of… Continue reading Issue 172: 2018 10 04: Lens on the Week
Issue 171: 2018 09 27: Lens on the Week
27 September 2018 Lens on the Week UK BREXIT: A brush off in Salzburg as the EU dismisses the Chequers proposals as unworkable. Davis and the Brexiteers urging for an agreement along the lines of the EU’s recent deal with Canada which eliminates most tariffs. The EU concerned that this would result in goods getting… Continue reading Issue 171: 2018 09 27: Lens on the Week
Issue 170: 2018 09 20: Lens on the Week
20 September 2017 Lens on the Week UK SALTZBURG: Nature abhors a vacuum so it must very much dislike the EU negotiations. In the absence of real information as to what is going on in the meeting rooms, everyone is throwing in his or her two pennyworth on the basis of imagined outcomes. Thornberry is… Continue reading Issue 170: 2018 09 20: Lens on the Week
Issue 169: 2018 09 13: Lens on the Week
13 September 2018 Lens on the Week UK BREXIT: Salzburg is used to music. It is the city of Mozart and The Sound of Music after all. Next week though the sounds will be different as EU leaders meet and discuss the proposals for Brexit. Will it be the “Ode to Joy” or “1812”? Goodness… Continue reading Issue 169: 2018 09 13: Lens on the Week
Issue 166: 2018 08 23: Lens on the Week
23 August 2018 Lens on the Week UK BREXIT: Here we all are again, streaming back from our holidays refreshed and relaxed to face the very problems which looked insoluble in August. And yet there are new twists. The Irish problem seems to have morphed from concerns about the border to concerns about electricity, with… Continue reading Issue 166: 2018 08 23: Lens on the Week
Issue 164: 2018 07 26: Lens on the week
26 July 2018 Lens on the Week UK PUBLIC SECTOR PAY: On the surface it sounds good: pay for junior teachers up 3.5%, for the military up 2% (with a bonus for the current year), 2% for junior doctors, 1.5% for their seniors, 2% for the police. But without new money from the Treasury these… Continue reading Issue 164: 2018 07 26: Lens on the week
Issue 162: 2018 07 12: Lens on the Week
12 July 2018 Lens on the Week UK BREXIT: Those who like books about the war in the Atlantic will remember the Q ships which were sent out to decoy German U boats. Disguised as defenceless cargo boats they looked like sitting ducks to the submarine commander who would surface to sink them with gunfire. … Continue reading Issue 162: 2018 07 12: Lens on the Week
Issue 161: 2018 07 05: Lens On The Week
05 July 2018 Lens on the Week UK NHS: Steve Powis, medical director of the NHS, has drawn up a list of seventeen surgical procedures seen as useless or unnecessary, which will be weeded out of the general offering. It has been estimated that unnecessary treatment, sometimes of ailments which would cure themselves with time… Continue reading Issue 161: 2018 07 05: Lens On The Week
Issue 160: 2018 06 28: Lens on the Week
28 June 2018 Lens on the Week UK EUROPEAN INTERVENTION INITIATIVE: A letter of intent has been signed by the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Estonia, Spain and Portugal to set up a joint military intervention force which could be deployed at times of crisis. This would not be linked to the EU,… Continue reading Issue 160: 2018 06 28: Lens on the Week
Issue 159: 2018 06 21: Lens on the Week
21 June 2018 Lens on the Week UK BREXIT: Forward and backwards, it goes. Yet again the EU Withdrawal Bill returns to the Commons with an amendment requiring that if the Government has not reached a deal satisfactory to the Commons by the end of January, the House of Commons should be able to give… Continue reading Issue 159: 2018 06 21: Lens on the Week
Issue 158: 2018 06 14: Lens on the Week
14 June 2018 Lens on the Week UK BREXIT: For those who read Hansard in the bath, the last couple of days must have been fascinating as the bill governing the machinery of Brexit (The EU Withdrawal Bill) returned to the House of Commons. The main purpose of the Bill is relatively non-contentious. All EU law… Continue reading Issue 158: 2018 06 14: Lens on the Week
Issue 157: 2018 06 07: Lens on the Week
07 June 2018 Lens on the Week UK BREXIT: In a shift of policy Labour have decided to vote for “full acccess” to the single market and “shared institutions and regulations” with the EU. It is not entirely clear how far this goes and whether they advocate “free movement”. Perhaps this will be clarified soon. Meanwhile… Continue reading Issue 157: 2018 06 07: Lens on the Week
