Blogs

http://bylinetimes.com/2020/02/27/brexit-is-costing-the-uk-more-than-all...

I think folk need to read the article, I’m not going to selectively quote out of context just to whet fool’s appetites... or provide a synopsis for the TL;DR crowd... oh alright then...

James Melville on how the £200 billion cost of four years’ lost growth equals the entire UK contribution to the EU budget since it joined.

There’s a synopsis. And a quote.

Bernie Sanders is the first Jewish frontrunner for any political party in American history and most establishment Jewish organisations are not only actively working against him, but also silent on the antisemitism he faces.

Just this week CNN compared Bernie’s momentum to the coronavirus; an old trope about Jews bringing diseases like rats. Meanwhile conspiracies are abound about Bernie hoarding our money, being hungry for our money, and being a communist. All old racist tropes.

What Defra’s post-Brexit plan means for farmers
https://www.fwi.co.uk/news/unravelled-defras-post-brexit-plan-agriculture

Basic Payments will be reduced by 5-25% next year for farmers in England, the government has confirmed.
https://www.fwi.co.uk/business/payments-schemes/defra-confirms-reduction...
Wherein we find that farm subsidies will be cut by up to 25%.

SYRIA UPDATE: Turkey is now basically at war with Assad, and it's moving in the direction of war with Russia (though I doubt that it will get that far).

We have received an urgent update from the Education International -- please read on
...

Despite international solidarity, human and trade union rights abuses continue in the Philippines. The red-tagging and vilification campaign targeting members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers is escalating, with support from the Department of Education of the Duterte regime.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) reports renewed attacks on its members.

Erlan Baltabay, a leader of the Independent Oil and Energy Workers' Union in Kazakhstan, has been in prison since 16 October 2019.

The government of Kazakhstan has been the focus of a major international protest campaign which has the support of 5,252 trade unionists so far.

But the authorities are now attempting to fabricate another case against Erlan in order to keep him in jail, even though his first sentence was due to end next month.

"Household cleaning products firm McBride has confirmed its Barrow factory will shut down in the summer at a cost of 106 jobs

...

And while in-Cumbria understands Brexit was not, directly, part of the reasoning behind the decision, the reallocation of work to France and Luxembourg – both long-standing European Union members – will raise eyebrows. "

www.in-cumbria.com/news/18250693.mcbride-confirms-barrow-factory-closure...

There will be more.

A year ago the Australian government declared that the Bramble Cay Melomys was officially extinct. This little rat animal on a 5-hectare island some 50 kilometres off the coast of Papua New Guinea. Whilst it was once numerous, surveys in 1998, 2002, and 2004 estimated that the population was less than a hundred. Affected by sea level rises and increased tropical storms, surveys in 2011 and 2014 found no trace of the animal. Finally, in 2015 a rescue mission was sent. But by then it was too late; there was none left.

Stuff is happening in Syria again.

This is going to rattle the establishment a bit.

With 96% of first-preference votes tallied on Sunday, Sinn Féin had 24.1%, with Fianna Fáil on 22.1%, Fine Gael on 22.1%, Greens on 7.4%, and small leftwing parties and independents comprising the rest.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/09/sinn-fein-to-try-to-form-r...