Hopeless cause

[AnOther]

Happened on this by chance.

https://www.completefrance.com/home/can-i-stay-in-france-for-half-the-year-under-brexit-rules-1-6961302

What on earth do people think petitioning Mayors/Ursula von de Leyen/Macron/MP's etc. etc. is going to achieve!

UK is now a 3rd country and it's citizens therefore subject to the rules applicable to that status, that's the long and the short of it and it a'int a changin' any time soon.

Probably do better to petition Bojo to stop being a tw*t over granting the EU ambassador proper diplomatic status!

[anotherbanana]

Fair comment, Ernie, but until the EU learns to behave itself I am afraid that such will occur often enough.

[alittlebitfrench]

UK may be a 3rd country but the EU (and France in particular) is becoming third world countries....very quickly.

Just saying.

[EuroTr@sh]

These hopeful souls seem to be overlooking the hard fact that MPs in any country are basically only interested in helping people who could potentially vote for them. Holiday home owners never could and never will be able to vote for anybody in France.

[idun]

ALBF,  apart from some wanting Macron impeached, pray tell me why France in particular is becoming third world?

I suppose that this could be, light the blue touch paper and stand well back, but I would rather like to know.

And these folks, well, surely as they have a property in France, will have been 'keeping up' with developments........ and have known about the service public france web site. And they have the internet, honestly I just do not understand how people can even ask such things.

Another thing I am curious about is and there are a couple of 'ifs' here, if they own their own home in the UK, which insurance company they use which allows 6 months cover, if ofcourse their home in the UK is left empty. 

[NormanH]

"I suppose that this could be, light the blue touch paper and stand well back"

Is it ever anything else with this poster? It would be hard to find an informative or helpful reply.

[alittlebitfrench]

Clearly you are not watching French news Norman.

The political fallout from last nights decisions regarding Covid is immense. Have a read. If you can.

Opposing politiciens to Macrons government are saying the same as ALBF.

Macron has completly lost the plot. France is in free fall.

[Martin963]

It's been said several times,  if Trump had made the same "fake news" claims about Astra Zeneca vaccines as Macron did yesterday afternoon,   he'd have rightly been removed from social media.

Where's the difference,  Macron is engaging it seems in "demand management" for the AZ vaccine he can't get his paws on,   and will stoop to anything.

Even the Archbishop of Canterbury has now criticised the EU's stance on vaccine export controls.

What's that I hear?   Ode to Joy?

[Martin963]

[quote user="idun"]

Another thing I am curious about is and there are a couple of 'ifs' here, if they own their own home in the UK, which insurance company they use which allows 6 months cover, if ofcourse their home in the UK is left empty. 

[/quote]

There are specialist British insurance companies that do that sort of extended cover.   Their prices are of course higher than run of the mill household insurers.

[cajal]

[quote user="AnOther"]

Probably do better to petition Bojo to stop being a tw*t over granting the EU ambassador proper diplomatic status![/quote]

That would be akin to granting the HR head honcho of Google the same status.

[EuroTr@sh]

I've got to the point of sitting back and enjoying the cinema.

But, it seems Macron's actual words were "Nous avons très peu d'informations sur ce vaccin, on attend de voir les résultats de l'EMA. Aujourd'hui on pense qu'il est quasi-inefficace pour les plus de 65 ans'".

He's expressing grave concerns but making it clear that these are only today's thoughts, in the absence of sufficient data. That's not what fake news is.

Johnson has equally little information and Johnson is saying that despite not having full data he is convinced it will be fine.

Why is Johnson allowed to express his opinion, but Macron must keep quiet about his concerns?? I guess, because you like Johnson's opinion and you don't like Macron's.

[idun]

Johnson is a politician, so is Macron, the information they have will be basic. They are not scientists.

Macron's studies were not in the sciences and as he went to the Science Po, it was to study the Po, and Johnson studied classics.

So who is the 'whisperer' who tells them what is what, and they may be equally unqualified to impart proper information, we don't know........... taking the donald as an example.

And look, Johnson and Johnson have a new one jab vaccine coming out, will Macron find a Dupont et Dupont vaccine that he will have confidence in.

Incidentally which vaccines are being developed in the EU? I don't know that either.

[Alan Zoff]

Things seem to have gone quiet with the GlaxoSmithKline-Sanofi vaccine. You know, the one that just happens to have its UK research HQ in the village where Cummings went for his against the rules sight-testing drive. And where the government's chief scientific adviser had a £600,000 personal investment stake (but no conflict of interest, of course). And where immediately after Cummings's visit, the government ordered 60 million doses of GSK vaccine. And now they have had to start again because their stuff didn't work and might not be available before the end of the year.

[EuroTr@sh]

idun wrote the following post at 30/01/2021 12:32:

"Johnson is a politician, so is Macron, the information they have will be basic. They are not scientists.

Macron's studies were not in the sciences and as he went to the Science Po, it was to study the Po, and Johnson studied classics."

Yes, this.

They're politicians. Their skill is supposed to lie in sifting through lots of information, picking out what's important, knowing which sources are likely to be more reliable than which other sources, deciding how much faith it's safe to place in scientists' theories and deductions about things that aren't yet 100% proved one way or ther other.

The worst kind of politician are those that surround themselves with sycophants like the Donald did, and won't listen to anyone who doesn't say what they want to hear.

Johnson certainly has plenty of advisors and they don't always say the same thing. I don't know whether he also has an advisor to advise him which advisor to listen to, or maybe Carrie does that.

From Macron's speeches it appears that he makes his own assessment of all the advice he gets, I say that because,, like Sturgeon when he's asked why he took one decision rather than another he is able to sum up the arguments on both sides and explain why he found one side more convincing than the other. As compared to Johnson who simply replies that he is "following the science" which is a bit meaningless when "the science" is in two minds itself depending which scientist you listen to.

But the fact is that right now nobody knows, and only hindsight will tell us who was right.

[idun]

[quote user="Alan Zoff"]Things seem to have gone quiet with the GlaxoSmithKline-Sanofi vaccine. You know, the one that just happens to have its UK research HQ in the village where Cummings went for his against the rules sight-testing drive. And where the government's chief scientific adviser had a £600,000 personal investment stake (but no conflict of interest, of course). And where immediately after Cummings's visit, the government ordered 60 million doses of GSK vaccine. And now they have had to start again because their stuff didn't work and might not be available before the end of the year.[/quote]

Just because Cummings came to the NE of England does NOT mean that there is not excellent research done 'up here', because there is.

It is not all flat caps and pidgeons and speaking pitmatic, far from it, historically we have had plenty of world changing innovation up here, and it continues.

And frankly when this news of the new vaccine has been on local news, Cummings has not had a mention, we are not interested unless he gets some sort of comeuppence for his various behaviours.

I will say that Barnard Castle is  lovely, like many places in the NE of England, well worth a visit.

[Alan Zoff]

My comments about Cummings, GSK and this government were in no way intended as an attack on the NE of England!

[EuroTr@sh]

cajal wrote the following post at 30/01/2021 10:53:

"That would be akin to granting the HR head honcho of Google the same status."

But if the two are akin, that suggest that:

the UK has signed a trade deal with Google as it has with the EU

the UK has a reciprocal citizens' rights agreement for UK citizens and Google citizens

the UK shares a trade border with Google as it does with the EU

Etc.

[mint]

And while Barnard Castle might be lovely and well worth a visit, perhaps in the midst of a lockdown is not an ideal time to choose to pay a visit?[:D]

Don't know about the opticians who practise up there so I can't give an opinion whether it is the place to go to test your eyesight[:D][:P]

[cajal]

[quote user="EuroTr@sh"]

But if the two are akin, that suggest that:

the UK has signed a trade deal with Google as it has with the EU

the UK has a reciprocal citizens' rights agreement for UK citizens and Google citizens

the UK shares a trade border with Google as it does with the EU

Etc.[/quote]

It might have escaped your notice that the EU is actually not a country but an economic organisation, vis-à-vis Google.

I suspect Google negotiates trade deals in any country where it has a presence.

I suspect Google lays out customer terms and conditions and the company's obligations in any country where it has a presence.

I suspect Google holds no borders to trade in any country where it has a presence.

[EuroTr@sh]

Funnily enough I am aware that the EU is a union of countries, not a single country.

Of coursse it could be argued that it's most like the USSR (as some folk love pointing out), or the USA, or indeed the UK. But really I think we all realise that the EU is neither fish nor fowl, and that's where the problem is. It would be disingenuous of me to try and pretend that it's a state, but it's also disingenuous of you to pretend that it's just the same as google or amazon or any other multinational business. It's not a country and it's not purely a business organisation, it's a bit of each. The EU represents its member states at an international level when things like climate targets, foreign policy, trade sanctions and stuff like that are being discussed and policies agreed on. As the saying goes, it's a rule make not a rule taker, whereas google etc don't make the rules altho' I'm sure they would dearly love to.

I think you chose to misunderstand what I meant by trade agreements and borders. You seem to be talking about barriers to trade, I was referring to trade agreements between trade blocs and borders between trade blocs. I don't think even google has its own special trade agreements and customs borders.

But it's a silly and pointless argument so I'll leave it there.

[cajal]

If the EU was a multinational, as you refer above, it would have been long shut down for fraud and corruption, even the maffia supports and contributes to worthy causes.

The EU has not only well and truly shot its home and global image in the foot, during the past seven days, it has also handed the present United Kingdom government an opportunity to secure at least another follow on term in office.

[idun]

 I have read recently that a politician wants to impeach Macron for not doing his job.

I have no idea if his giving both sides of an argument is helpful and as  you pointed out, we are still at the point that 'no one knows' even scientists do not, hence they will disagree.

I do so hope that in the future when they do the autopsy on Covid19 and how the authorities dealt with it, that they remember that 'no one knew how to deal with it'. It will be so easy for those chosen for such a task, to likely take others to task. Because there is nothing so sure as mistakes have been made. And the next time we have an 'outbreak' things will go wrong again.

nb yet another fonte[Www]