BRFR Cake Stop 'breaking news' miscellany

[First Aspect]

Re your first sentence, it's worth noting that the EU doesn't have a trad deal it India. So reasonable to assume that if we were still in the EU, we wouldn't have one either.

I don't think a trad deal with India is likely. Hate to tell Brian this, as a musician, but jazz just isn't that big an export.

 

[Stevo 666]

You sound like Kemi. Remind me what the trade deal was the last Government negotiated with India. Presumably it was far superior?

Brian said it was not much good, so I assume he is criticising his new hero Keir. But credit where its due in my view.

 

[Stevo 666]

I don't think a trad deal with India is likely. Hate to tell Brian this, as a musician, but jazz just isn't that big an export.

I think you know the point I'm making.

 

[First Aspect]

I think you know the point I'm making.

Oh lighten up. You need more sax in your life.

 

[Stevo 666]

Oh lighten up. You need more sax in your life.

You're right, I need to go on a diet.

 

[briantrumpet]

Hahaha.

 

[PurplePenguin]

Well, even George Eustace rubbished it...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63627801

And the Australians laughed at it.



Maybe the EU negotiators will come up with something less laughable.

So for clarity, the EU gets better deals more quickly and this is demonstrated by a deal they haven't managed to get.

 

[briantrumpet]

So for clarity, the EU gets better deals more quickly and this is demonstrated by a deal they haven't managed to get.

So, for clarity - maybe the EU doesn't rush into deals that only benefit one side just to get a headline about signing trade deals.

 

[briantrumpet]

Doing my bit for pedantry...

 

[Ian H]

Doing my bit for pedantry...

View attachment 8241

Surely the captain is the absolute ruler on board. Might be a challenge if the crew is press-ganged.

 

[briantrumpet]

Surely the captain is the absolute ruler on board. Might be a challenge if the crew is press-ganged.

I don't want to reign on your parade, but...

 

[icowden]

I don't want to reign on your parade, but...

 

[briantrumpet]

I appreciate he's not universally liked, but an interesting piece from Dan Neidle about how the eye-watering top rates of income tax in the 1970s was an illusion.

tl;dr - the top 1% of earners now pay a lot more tax than they did in the 1970s.

https://taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/05/08/tax-rich-1970s-loopholes/

The tax policies of the 1970s were a failure. They failed to tax the rich effectively. They failed to fix the Government’s fiscal problems – overall tax as a percentage of GDP was higher in the 60s and the 80s than it was in the 1970s.

The lesson of the decades since the 1970s is that the best way to tax the wealthy is by expanding the base and closing loopholes. That makes a less snappy soundbite than sending rates sky-high, but evidence shows that it’s fairer and much more effective.

 

[PurplePenguin]

So, for clarity - maybe the EU doesn't rush into deals that only benefit one side just to get a headline about signing trade deals.

That the EU doesn't rush is indeed the point. The UK chose to make a quick deal to help it to join CPTPP which it judged to be in the UK's interest. That doesn't mean that Brexit was right, just that a single country can do things quicker than a group. The UK also got some crowd pleasing visa changes.

 

[briantrumpet]

That the EU doesn't rush is indeed the point. The UK chose to make a quick deal to help it to join CPTPP which it judged to be in the UK's interest. That doesn't mean that Brexit was right, just that a single country can do things quicker than a group. The UK also got some crowd pleasing visa changes.

All agreed. The EU isn't known for rushing into things, for sure.