Guaridan: On Tuesday, peers were told that the UK could have pursued an alternative path such as the “mutual recognition” of food standards that supports trade between New Zealand and the UK. That would have removed the need for dynamic alignment with the EU, said Shanker Singham, chair of the Growth Commission and a past adviser to some MPs on alternative arrangements for Brexit in Northern Ireland.

This enrages me. That this "expert" is invited to speak at parliamentary committees and lies about Europe.

The UK did ask, Shankar Singham. It was told, clearly, that mutual recognition was not appropriate for the trading relationship between UK and Europe.

1

We’re back to the unanswered question of who is really behind the IEA and most of all where their funding comes from

That we’re still allowing interference in important debates and decisions from an opaque and most likely corrupt and malicious organisation is unforgivable

A saying that always makes me think of the challenge issued to Dorothy Parker (American woman of letters in the 1940's) to use the word 'horticulture' in a sentence. Quick as a flash she came back 'You can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think'. :-)

In a long career Shanker Singham hasn’t found many subjects that he’s right about

He was an early supporter of the privatisation of public utilities in 🇬🇧 and we all know how well that has gone

Now he’s an academic fellow at the Institute of Economics Affairs his career has reached rock bottom

It’s about a 15 minute walk, less than a nautical mile (about 8 1/2 cables) bearing 87 degrees to the marina

I haven’t got a tape measure but I’ve brought my rope marked out in fathoms which should do the trick

In Spain the cost is €0.96

For deliveries to UK it is now €2.00

I sent a birthday card from València to my son in Newcastle recently, posted at 11:45 on Monday 23 March …. arrived on Thursday 26 March. His grandmother posted hers first class the same day in Minehead, it arrived on 31 March

Now that’s two threads you’ve posted that are depressing

When the people who should be leading the charge towards Europe and joining again express such nonsense and as always exceptionalist rhetoric it’s hard to be optimistic

I’m going to look at boats in the marina to cheer myself up

Cracking article in the FT and really good summary of positions.

Some quick points
I. It is probably too late for Starmer, but is it too late for Labour
II. Rhetoric has changed in the UK, but UK politics has yet to catch up
III. Equally though, is the rhetoric representative of anything real?

1

I try to be optimistic but it is hard to be when you really look at politics in the UK

Even if they shove Starmer through the door marked “do one” (™️Football Daily) we have no idea who will replace him, or their position on Europe

It’s hard to see any tangible progress being made before 2029

Of course as a sensible serious country we sell vehicle fuel in litres but still calculate fuel consumption in miles per gallon

I picked up a BMW 320i company car in 1986 which had an odometer recording in kilometres which took me a few weeks to notice…..😱

We cannot allow the charlatans who dragged us out of the EU with their lies and false promises to do the same with the ECHR

We forget our history at our own peril

Making João Pedro captain and playing the triple captain chip this week because Chelsea have 2 matches is yet another of my inspired Fantasy Football selection decisions 😩

NFL draft questions: what should the Jets do at No 2, is Love worth it and will the Cowboys trade up? Fernando Mendoza is a lock to go No 1, but what happens after is less certain. From a difference-making running back to a polarizing QB, we look at the biggest storylines entering draft night

Prediction: The Browns will offer the Raiders the 6 and 24 picks plus Shedeur Sanders for the number 1 pick

They’ll be turned down

www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/a...

The Italian company Riva currently builds a largest yacht called the Bellissima 130 which is actually 40 metres long (131’ 3”)

They also have two super yacht projects in the pipeline called 50 Metri and 54 Metri

It’s all very weird

Actually I think the anomalies are interesting

Exceptions that prove the thingiemebob

I always find it strange that TVs are sold in screen size measured in inches, but there must be a reason, although as Japan and Korea are metric it can’t be because so many TVs are made by far east companies

Yep, probably historical reasons plus one of the biggest markets will be 🇺🇸 and we know they can’t understand metric stuff

It is weird though that once you get over about 40 metres yachts are always in metres and never feet

PS. I spend too much time hanging around the Marina

I’ve seen a few (anecdotal) posts recently saying how quick and easy it is when you are entering Schengen once you are registered in the system

One guy said it was just like the old days (pre 2020) when you just use an e-gate an whizz through like everyone else

A very necessary initiative funded by City Hall….

We have the technology so we need to use it

Fortunately the only response to this is:

Who?

Where?

Well they seem perfectly happy to have a POTUS with very close ties to Epstein, so unfortunately the answer seems to be no

We’ve moved beyond needing a cherry picker for this stuff

Time to get ourselves a tower crane

It is strange that boats, especially yachts under 30m long are still referred to in feet. The length in feet is usually a part of the model name even for European boat makers

The Italian companies Azimut, Ferretti and Riva all use feet

Over 35m super yachts are usually referred to in metres

An Englishman walks into a pub in Dublin

568 ml of Guinness please

Barman says, why the long face?

Reality is Europe saw distinct advantages in the first reset, in particular SPS and the lecky, and not just across the short strait, but also St George's Channel

That's far less the case with these new proposals; moreover some of this cherrypicking seems actively damaging

It’s also something that nobody under the age of 75 has ever said

Britain sidelined in talks on Carney-backed defense bank The U.K. Treasury has expressed little enthusiasm for an initiative to provide lower cost loans to finance the armed forces.

Further evidence of a lack of deep thinking in government about the reality of the world. Or even waist-high thinking.

www.politico.eu/article/keir...

Even more so when the current POTUS considers all of his predecessors to be weak and incompetent

We have won the Grand Slam for being the dumbest fucks imaginable every year since 2015

People have been mistaking Corbyn as Labour for years

You’re allowed to be registered to vote at more than one address, but the law says you can only vote once in each election

The local elections are considered one election for this purpose, but whether or not that includes the devolved parliament elections is one for the legal eagles