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Thread: Brexit

  1. #551
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    A latest take on Boris's negotiating stance with the EU (in the Times recently), is that if he agrees a deal now, the deal will swiftly be seen as being crap by the general public, with all of the long touted disadvantages of such a hard brexit (that Boris has always said he has wanted) being seen for what they are. So do a deal and be damned. Or....

    Don't do a deal and impose even greater hardship on the UK, with the massive fallout out of a no deal hitting business and employment hard, but be able to contrive that it was all the EU's fault and somehow not be damned.... if enough people believe him.

    There's a big chance he'll opt for the latter then

  2. #552
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    I hear the EU can't wait to get back to the negotiating table. I wonder if they have been watching the way Boris dealt with mayor Burnham in Manchester. What am I talking about, of course they have. They'll know now that there's a point Boris won't go beyond.

    I'm actually looking forward to chlorinated chicken and other goodies from the USA, I seriously am. Brexit for me was removing red tape and giving people a choice without the EU and our own politicians dictating otherwise. I hold no real hope of seeing that eventuality but chlorinated chicken would be a start.

  3. #553
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    Quote Originally Posted by CL View Post
    I'm actually looking forward to chlorinated chicken and other goodies from the USA, I seriously am. Brexit for me was removing red tape and giving people a choice without the EU and our own politicians dictating otherwise. I hold no real hope of seeing that eventuality but chlorinated chicken would be a start.
    Then you may also be aware that the USA has only just lifted its ban on importing British beef which they imposed following the BSE "mad cow" situation. Britain will also be able to import American bef that has been injected with steroids now.

    Chlorinated chicken has not been a problem within the EU. The poor hygiene standards that chickens are raised in the USA had resulted in a EU ban.

    Britain will now have to introduce its own standards on imported goods now.
    Other counties will ban UK goods if we do not manufacture them to theis standards.
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  4. #554
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    Quote Originally Posted by XRunner View Post
    Britain will now have to introduce its own standards on imported goods now.
    Other counties will ban UK goods if we do not manufacture them to theis standards.
    A country sets it standards, or signs up to an international benchmark and suppliers have to meet those standards regardless of where they are based.
    It really isn't complicated.
    The problem with importing (say) potatoes from USA is tariff rate quote imposed through the CAP.

    The problem with US beef is a combination of tariff rate quota and standards.

    If the UK agree a better TRQ situation for the US beef, they can start exporting to the UK IF they can supply to the standards and some farmers may feel it is worthwhile keeping their herd steroid free, and meet any animal welfare standards required in order to access the market.

    I've seen that happen in the Far East, where footwear manufacturers improved their technical ability to manufacture, their supply chain management, and their ethical trading policy so that they could supply the European and/or North American markets.

    I saw others that were happy to just cart on supplying Africa, the Middle East, India and South America where standards were lower or not policed.
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  5. #555
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    Quote Originally Posted by XRunner View Post
    Then you may also be aware that the USA has only just lifted its ban on importing British beef which they imposed following the BSE "mad cow" situation. Britain will also be able to import American bef that has been injected with steroids now.

    Chlorinated chicken has not been a problem within the EU. The poor hygiene standards that chickens are raised in the USA had resulted in a EU ban.

    Britain will now have to introduce its own standards on imported goods now.
    Other counties will ban UK goods if we do not manufacture them to theis standards.
    I'm against governments setting standards. The standards should be set by the consumer, middle Man and producer. If the consumer buys a product that says it's one thing but actually it's another etc then the middle Man and producer can be sued or prosecuted for fraud.

    You are right about conformity. Currently producers have to conform to governmental standards. But this isn't ideal. Hopefully Brexit will lead us to that ideal.

  6. #556
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    Quote Originally Posted by CL View Post
    I'm against governments setting standards. The standards should be set by the consumer, middle Man and producer. If the consumer buys a product that says it's one thing but actually it's another etc then the middle Man and producer can be sued or prosecuted for fraud.

    You are right about conformity. Currently producers have to conform to governmental standards. But this isn't ideal. Hopefully Brexit will lead us to that ideal.
    It's a tough one Chris.

    When I supplied footwear until I joined a company in 2003 working out of the Far East I had really very little knowledge of some of the issues in my own industry.
    Then I found out about some of the chemical issues in footwear, such as phthalates in plastics, chrome 6 in leather/suede, azo dyes ..... and that company did extensive chemical testing in the supply chain.

    It was interesting then moving from working purely in the UK industry, to an international one and seeing the differing attitudes across the EU even though we were supposed to work to the same standards.

    The UK were hot on ethical trading. Factory audits were the big thing. That was closely followed by technical standards such as sole bond test, colour fastness, strap attachment....

    The Germans were hot on the chemicals. Less concerned about other matters.

    The French really didn't give a proverbial. It was all about price.

    I think there has to be a standards regime, particularly in areas the public would have little knowledge.

    But on the other hand when I moved in to lifejackets in 2009, I found how restrictive standards could be.

    The lifejacket standards require an auto lifejacket to fully inflate within 5 seconds of hitting the water, and then for them to inflate and turn an unconscious wearer in the water. Which is why they have a horseshoe shape, often with uneven sized lobes which generate the turning motion as the wearers legs sink in the water and hold the wearers chin a set height above the water.

    The problem is that these are tested in a pool, usually with someone in swimwear and calm water.

    Out at sea, or even in fresh water conditions, cold water shock and hypothermia are the bigger issues and so people wear foul weather clothing.
    That clothing has a degree of inherent buoyancy which acts against the turning mechanism of the lifejacket.

    I've taken part in a few tests in Scottish lochs and some pool tests as certain industries cast doubt on the standards written around lifejackets and wanted to test lifejackets in combination with foul weather clothing to see what combinations gave the best results.

    Most accept that the turning mechanism is largely useless, but the need for that turning mechanism to meet the standard stifles innovation.

    If that part of the standard was dropped, you could see a lifejacket design perhaps that closer resembled a small lifeboat.

    So I have concerned about how standards are framed, but I do think we need a framework.
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    "William Tell could take an apple off your head. Taylor could take out a processed pea."
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  7. #557
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    Quote Originally Posted by CL View Post
    I'm against governments setting standards. The standards should be set by the consumer, middle Man and producer. If the consumer buys a product that says it's one thing but actually it's another etc then the middle Man and producer can be sued or prosecuted for fraud.
    I agree. That's why, if the parachute I bought yesterday doesn't work, I'll be sure to sue the company that made it.
    Last edited by Dave_Mole; 24-10-2020 at 09:37 AM.
    ....it's all downhill from here.

  8. #558
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    Chlorinated chickens is an interesting example though isn't it? There's no question that the chicken is less healthy to the people eating it - it's about animal welfare standards. And in the UK we have high animal welfare standards, because that's requested by the majority of people. But if a minority of people want to buy cheaper chicken because they don't care so much about the welfare of chickens, it's hard to make a judgement to say they shouldn't.

    I understand the argument about them undercutting the price of UK-reared chickens that adheres to higher standards. But that would only be an issue if most people actually preferred cheap chicken to higher animal welfare.

    For these reasons, to me it seems a strange case for remainers to use as a cause celebre.

  9. #559
    Quote Originally Posted by noel View Post
    There's no question that the chicken is less healthy to the people eating it - it's about animal welfare standards..
    What are the chicken's thoughts on the subject?
    "...as dry as the Atacama desert".

  10. #560
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    Quote Originally Posted by Graham Breeze View Post
    What are the chicken's thoughts on the subject?
    It hasn't had any yet. It's still trying to work out why it crossed the road!
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