Post Brexit expat discontent

 Now that a deal has been reached between the UK and the EU the expats are uneasy. The press is full of reports of people, especially those with overseas property, worried about their and their family's status under the new reality. I imagine that most of these folk are 'remainers' but their frustrations and worries are, I suggest, almost always a case of me, me, me. MY property; MY way of life.

They pay no heed to the majority of home-based Brits, fed up being ruled by a bunch of self-serving, gravy feeding wasters taking huge salaries and even bigger pensions whilst overseeing a scandal ridden economy that no self respecting auditor can sign off. The moaners fret over their own residential status often living in two Countries, anxious to avoid paying tax in either, worried that their little Johnny will not have the advantages of unhindered travel and education. Why do they not think of what is best for the UK and not them? Why do they not imagine that the UK is now better off, free to trade around the world including the many English speaking Commonwealth Countries, unhindered by the masses of red tape that stifle EU  commerce.

I shall be very surprised if the UK under Johnson's leadership does not, after a brief hiatus, go on to shine as opposed to the growing discontent amongst many of the remaining 27 states of the EU, fed up with pandering to the ambitions of the Germans and French. Once again it is the Brits that lead but who will follow?

Heathrow 3 gets the go-ahead.

 The UK Supreme Court has now ruled in favour of a third runway for Heathrow Airport. How many years has that taken?  A ludicrous time-scale that ensures that what nobody really wanted is now out-of-date anyway. 

It's the same with the railways as HS2 gets the go ahead, thirty or more years after the Japanese, for example, had the 'bullet' train.

 Its all too late.

By the time HS2 and Heathrow's third runway are built they will be largely obsolete as the world's population adapts to the new challenges of coronavirus' and climate change. There is a clue in the new order of business. No steelmakers, no engineering giants and diminishing number of oil companies. The richest companies in the world are dominated by new, internet driven, businesses where the consumers don't need to travel. Everything is done online.

TOP 8 Most Valuable Companies in the world

#1. Saudi Aramco. $1,685 bln.

#2. Microsoft. $1,359 bln.

#3. Apple inc. $1,286 bln.

#4. Amazon Inc. $1,233 bln.

#5. Alphabet Inc. $919 bln.

#6. Facebook. $584 bln.

#7. Alibaba Group. $545 bln.

#8. Tencent. $510 bln.

The only industry that will require regular travel is the holiday business and this could be heavily affected by the two challenges listed above. 

I suggest that the world is on the cusp of new technology that will introduce new flight, road and rail options that will hasten change and the demise of HS2. It will ultimately prove to be a waste of public money.

Crunch time

 As the post Brexit negotiations on a new trade deal between the UK and the EU reach crunch time, it seems that success  can only achieved if one side backs down. The UK team are determined that in any deal they should never lose the ability, as an independent country, to be free of European controls including the jurisdiction of the European Courts. On the other hand, the European negotiators are mindful that they have to answer to the individual requirements of the other twenty-seven Countries in the bloc. Nobody wants to be accused of selling their side down the river.

It has come to this impasse. Who will blink first?

If nobody blinks then it could be argued that both sides lose as they trade under world trade rules with tariffs and duties etc. Continental fishermen will be excluded from British waters patrolled by Royal Navy vessels. British exporters will face mind numbing delays at borders as a slighted France under an embittered President Macron, exacts his perverse revenge on what he considers perfidious Albion. The Irish will call foul using the Belfast Agreements to scourge the Brits and solicit the help of ex-Irishman Joe Biden, US President elect, to put the boot in. How they will all love to trash the Brits for having the temerity to quit the failing EU project and seek prosperity in the wider English speaking world, How they must hate that the Brits are ahead of the world in vaccinating against covid19 and developing new cures. How they must hate that the Brits will survive and prosper.