Strategically, outside the submarine contract (and potential knock-on impacts of the following&hellip AUKUS is pretty insignificant for the EU.

For China, on the other hand, it’s a big facking deal they won’t be ignoring and won’t be getting over quickly. The EU may be quite glad it didn’t have any of its member states getting involved further down the line…

https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/09/aukus-reveals-much-about-new-global-strategic-context

I dont know about if its because of Brexit Rosso

But we had the opportunity to pursue security arrangements with the EU after 2020 and choose not to

comment by And... Rosso... Though its... Yeah and... That... (U17054)
posted 6 minutes ago
I’m not sure about that first statement. I don’t know why AUKUS wouldn’t have been possible if the UK had remained in the EU. Got any links on that? I’d be interested to read if so

I think the French were only really (significantly) pessed off about the submarine contract. They were going to build the Aussies’ subs, now the Yanks are going to build the subs (not the British, as the British papers would have you think).

From what I’ve read, the French only have themselves to blame there though.
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Yes the Yanks will build the subs, but if you think our FO brokered the deal for nothing in return then I have some magic beans you might like

The British FO is one of the most Machiavellian govt bodies in human history

comment by Blarmy (U14547)
posted 10 minutes ago
The British FO is one of the most Machiavellian govt bodies in human history
----------------------------------------------------------------------
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37iHSwA1SwE

comment by Blarmy (U14547)
posted 10 minutes ago
The British FO is one of the most Machiavellian govt bodies in human history
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Machiavellian and Byzantine inside a Chinese puzzle box.
Like most diplomatic organisations.

comment by Blarmy (U14547)
posted 12 minutes ago
comment by And... Rosso... Though its... Yeah and... That... (U17054)
posted 6 minutes ago
I’m not sure about that first statement. I don’t know why AUKUS wouldn’t have been possible if the UK had remained in the EU. Got any links on that? I’d be interested to read if so

I think the French were only really (significantly) pessed off about the submarine contract. They were going to build the Aussies’ subs, now the Yanks are going to build the subs (not the British, as the British papers would have you think).

From what I’ve read, the French only have themselves to blame there though.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes the Yanks will build the subs, but if you think our FO brokered the deal for nothing in return then I have some magic beans you might like
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah, I think some components may still be built in the UK (at great expense to the Yanks)

comment by NPE - Finding Timo (U22712)
posted 55 seconds ago
comment by Blarmy (U14547)
posted 10 minutes ago
The British FO is one of the most Machiavellian govt bodies in human history
----------------------------------------------------------------------
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37iHSwA1SwE

----------------------------------------------------------------------
I always get the feeling that those guys could run the country more competently than the crowd in place now.
I like the one where their surreptitiously drinking whisky while on a trade mission in some unnamed emirate.

comment by NPE - Finding Timo (U22712)
posted 12 minutes ago
comment by Blarmy (U14547)
posted 10 minutes ago
The British FO is one of the most Machiavellian govt bodies in human history
----------------------------------------------------------------------
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37iHSwA1SwE

----------------------------------------------------------------------
'Ancient history surely?

Yes, and current policy.'

Great writing haha

I absolutely love yes minister and yes prime minister.

Brilliant writing, and to note that Appleby never tells a lie, just words things cleverly.

“The Smokescreen” is particularly apt for covid.

Nightclubs closing in Wales after Boxing Day and social distancing being reintroduced.

We'll be in same scenario, it will just take more dithering and bogus slides before Johnson agrees to it

4 kids dead in a house fire in south London, tragic

comment by Amado Carrillo Fuentes (U11781)
posted 1 hour, 2 minutes ago
Nightclubs closing in Wales after Boxing Day and social distancing being reintroduced.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
After Boxing Day?

So there’s still 8 days to go.. but negligent. People should use their own counsel and decide if it’s safe for them and their families.

Wonder how many NHS workers leave is being cancelled

Oh Aussie trade deal actually signed now

And a shout out for the angling towards the TPP in the article from beeb
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59690080

comment by *Redinthehead - FreeGaza - فلسطين (U1860)
posted 31 minutes ago
comment by Amado Carrillo Fuentes (U11781)
posted 1 hour, 2 minutes ago
Nightclubs closing in Wales after Boxing Day and social distancing being reintroduced.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
After Boxing Day?

So there’s still 8 days to go.. but negligent. People should use their own counsel and decide if it’s safe for them and their families.

Wonder how many NHS workers leave is being cancelled
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I hear toddlers love nightclubs...

Merry Christmas Boris!

The master campaigner, the leader of the silent majority, just lost a seat the Conservatives have held for 200 years!

Best bits about the humiliating annihilation of the Conservative Party in this by-election is the 34% swing, losing a majority of 23,000 AND it didn't need to happen!
Paterson would have been back in his seat now, suspension served, such an entitled nob!

Well. I thought they'd lose a lot of ground, but didn't expect them to lose.

Now is the time for Starmer to submit a vote of no confidence in the government. Let the public watch the Tories squirm as they try to vote for confidence in the government whilst simultaneously trying to internally vote for no confidence in the leader.

comment by Hector (U3606)
posted 1 hour, 52 minutes ago
Best bits about the humiliating annihilation of the Conservative Party in this by-election is the 34% swing, losing a majority of 23,000 AND it didn't need to happen!
Paterson would have been back in his seat now, suspension served, such an entitled nob!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Quite, yes.

Blimey, they actually lost the seat

Can’t help wonder what Pawlbarons take on it will be

Big blow for Boris... I'm confident he won't lead the tories into the next election

Sir Roger Gale says he put a letter of no confidence into Sir Graham Brady after Barnard Castle and he wouldn’t be surprised if more are going in now.

comment by Blarmy (U14547)
posted 8 hours, 54 minutes ago
Oh Aussie trade deal actually signed now

And a shout out for the angling towards the TPP in the article from beeb
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59690080
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Potentially up to +0.08% GDP by 2035

50 more free trade deals of that size fulfilling their potential and the loss in trade with the EU might be balanced by the middle of the next decade.