Hi from France

readable link : https://archive.ph/gm6Qy another interesting piece of advice another acknowledgement in the ft https://archive.md/4DdFw

A series of suggestions by Adam Posen: the UK now has "little time for delusions of grandeur". https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/when-it-comes-to-brexit-things-can-only-get-worse/

Apparently freedom of movement across Europe is widely endorsed https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/news/brexit/mutual-free-movement-for-uk-and-eu-citizens-supported-by-up-to-84-of-brits-in-stunning-new-poll/ Originally, Brexiteers wanted to cherry pick the free movement of goods and services and not the free movement of people (although obv they should still be allowed to retire to Marbella). For us Brit’s getting free movement on a whole continent in exchange for us getting free movement on one and a bit island doesn’t seem to be a very fair deal ?

does Revolut work in Thailand ? If so just pay with your smartphone everywhere

you just read the Guardian, one of the leading world newspapers, fiercely independent congrats ????

same perilous sea but smuggling is easier, because if they are caught they cannot be sent back. Now they just have to cross the border in the middle of the Channel and it's just done, no “take charge” requests no expulsion .. and no need to hide once you're in UK waters, you can just call the help hotline : 0043 50 43 112 so it's technically less dangerous since you're able to call the lifeboat halfway out One 19-year-old man from Sudan who is currently in Calais said: “We believe we will not be safe unless we can reach the UK. Here the French police beat us and evict us every day from the places where we are sleeping outside. It brings back bad memories from Libya where I was locked up and beaten many times by traffickers. Because of Brexit I believe that once I reach the UK I will be safe at last. No Dublin, no fingerprints any more.” He said he had no money to pay smugglers and would try to find a way to cross with a small group of friends in an abandoned kayak. “Every night we go to the beach to look for small boats that have been abandoned and we will try to cross that way.” in a kayak.... god https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/nov/12/brexit-easier-small-boat-crossings-to-reach-uk-refugees-say

I like that one “one of the great things we gave to Europe" thank you Boris

well you just can't "get stuff sorted" refugees who have fled a variety of conflict zones including Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Eritrea are there ....and the UK must take its share there no way around this and it's a good think the UK stopped being an EU member and now starts having to take its responsibilities. anyway the country is in dire need of builders (in London half of them are foreign), fruit pickers, carers for the elderly....

why are you even debating about returning refugees to their previous country of travel then? Do you even realize Brexit cancelled the Dublin III Regulation which enabled the UK to return asylum seekers to EU Member States without considering their asylum claims? apparently this is what you would like to do, but sorry, this is not possible anymore, because of "Brexit stuff". Brexit has made it considerably easier for small boat crossings to reach the UK that's why record numbers of people cross the Channel now.

it seem does some credulous brexiteers have been promised that, but no you can't do that to a sovereign state, declaration of war aside. Now you left the EU you just have to keep them, it turns out as a matter of fact just quitting the European convention on human rights (drafted by British MP and lawyer Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe) by making cross-border law enforcement harder will stop police cooperation and even threatens the TCA https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/mar/08/eu-could-terminate-police-and-security-agreement-if-uk-quits-echr so no @transam, here you can write whatever you want, but this is not going to happen: Boris promised but didn't deliver, and Rishi won't do it because the UK really needs to mend its economy and have good relations with its neighbours The good news is the UK might put some post-Brexit customs arrangements in place (EU customs have been implemented in 2021 but sadly the UK didn't yet find the resources to do the same). In the same manner as your "made in France" blue passports, some of your post-Brexit border checks have been outsourced to a French company https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/03/07/british-operator-extremely-disappointed-french-rival-wins-hmrc/

we have a good summary of the SB here :

Where would you drop these people with that barge? As you know, whith brexit the UK has lost any possibility to expel to neighboring countries.

Uk has a very strong "pull factor" and a lot of migrating families crossing the channel in small boats come from Afghanistan, which is in a terrible state under Taliban rule (and the UK just let them down). The UK should set up an asylum processing centre in northern France so claims could be processed there, allowing people to travel legally to the UK if accepted, instead of dying during the crossing and having to pay their way to smugglers as for the illegals https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/mar/07/what-does-the-uks-small-boats-plan-mean-for-relations-with-france

also Sunak is in France today and will pay 543M€ to help fight "illegal immigration" https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2023/03/10/le-premier-ministre-britannique-rishi-sunak-recu-a-l-elysee_6164905_3210.html as you know since Brexit, the UK cannot send just back migrants to their previous point of travel (=other European countries). personally, I'm happy that we have again someone reliable to cooperate with, but not satisfied with France doing the dirty job with a detention centre and hundred of kilometer of beaches to watch. We are not Rwanda https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2023/mar/10/rishi-sunak-emmanuel-macron-channel-migrant-crossings-uk-politics-live people seeking asylum should be able to have their request processed without having to cross the Channel first. Asylum is a vital human right

that could be expected when you put grownups in charge like on this thread instead of a anti-euro fanatic like @JonnyF whose extremist attitude (on this thread https://bit.ly/3F2bBsL) "corrupt EU", "EU tentacles" you put in charge people a bit like @RayC with a clear vision of both differences and common ground .. solutions appear. After all, the EU is a negotiating machine. And British diplomacy is (or at least used to be) the very best of the world. Though brexiteers sacked the most skilled diplomats when taking power ("traitors"), there are apparently still some who can take over, and rebuild trust. Now the UK still has brexiteers in power for 2 more years, a political system with "no written constitution" which means 50.1% can act as if they had 100% and do whatever they please, including breaking treaties voted by parliament and with Great Seal of the Realm. A real guarantee of political stability and upholding international commitment would be to abolish First pass the post and have a UK constitution with a qualified majority system. Until then, every treaty of deal with the UK can go void anytime. Now ironically Sunak appear more pro-Europe than Starmer https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/05/brexit-has-reversed-the-brains-of-sunak-and-starmer