Monday 17-10-23 Brexit October Update I

I received my quarterly reminder to update this blog the other day, otherwise known as my GoDaddy invoice. I had been humming and hawing about writing something, but each time I got to it, I couldn't see that what I'd put down on paper was worthwhile and so I deleted it.

Mostly I've been following Brexit developments, and getting more & more worried. We seem to have gone from a situation where we were promised that "it would be easy to get a trade deal with the EU, after all they need to sell us BMWs and prosecco" [writer's note: most of the UK consumption of prosecco seems to happen in our house, I admit, but I don't have and have never bought a BMW] to "actually, no deal wouldn't be so bad, we can rely on WTO rules".

Some research has been done into that latter proposition and it turns out that only one country in the world relies solely on WTO rules and that country is Mauritania. But in an update to that article, it would seem that even Mauritania enjoy preferential trade terms from some developed nations, which means that there is no country that relies solely on WTO rules to trade. So those separatist headbangers who want to leave the EU under any circumstances seem to be "misrepresenting the actualite" when they say that there would be no issue with resorting to WTO rules.

Looking at the list of podcasts I listen to, it would seem that most of my free time is taken up listening to Brexit updates. I am subscribed to several Brexit podcasts, including the following:

Remainiacs: This is probably my favourite Brexit-based podcast. Hosted by Dorian Lynskey (the Guardian), Peter Collins (ex- of the Economist) and Ian Dunt (editor of politics.co.uk and author of “Brexit – What the Hell Happens Now?”). I really like their approach and it’s a good listen.

Brexit Means: This is the Guardian’s weekly Brexit update, and it’s okay, but I will probably bin it off soon.

Brexitcast: This is the BBC’s weekly Brexit update, it is a bit light-hearted, the two hosts take the mickey out of each other somewhat, but it is informative. More often than not they have Laura Kuenssberg on to talk about the politics of Brexit, and let’s face it, it is all about politics.

UK in a Changing Europe: This is a more right-wing take on Brexit, I think, although I’m not overly familiar with it just yet. The two episodes I listened to have been a) Jacob Rees-Mogg addressing the Tory conference fringe and b) Yvette Cooper and Diane Abbott addressing the Labour conference fringe. But the first episode was with a Times journalist, so I think it’s coming from that direction.

Brexit Podcast: This is probably the most open-minded Brexit-related podcast I listen to. Tim Heming and Jennifer Hahn do a good job of asking questions and letting the guests do the talking. They have had Patrick Minford and Alistair Campbell, Henry Bolton (new UKIP leader) and Gina Millar all in to talk about their understanding of Brexit. The one issue I have with this podcast is that many of the interviews seem to be done over the phone and so the sound is not the best.

 

So that is what is keeping me awake mostly (not that I listen to them in bed or at night).