Brexit discussion thread XIV (Please read OP before posting)

Sainsburys do it too, it's not new, they've just gotten worse for it.

It is kind of ironic though, given that the union Jack represents the UK, which includes NI and Scotland, and Brexit is very likely rapidly hasten both the reunification of Ireland, and the secession of Scotland from GB

They can wrap their identity in the union jack all they like, Its only going to further alienate Scottish and Irish Nationalists, and anyone who can see through the jingoistic propaganda. in a few years, it could be an obsolete historical anachronism where not even English Nationalists respect it anymore, and St George becomes the catalyst to spur on Welsh independence movements to complete the collapse of the British empire.

Apparently, Frost is going to meet Clement Beaune (French Europe minister) on Thursday and Sefcovic on Friday but it appears they are plotting something re. the Protocol, perhaps a big blow up in a week or two.

Jersey issued 49 more fishing licences to French vessels on Monday, 24 hours before the French-set deadline for more fishing licences to be issued. It's not everything the French want, by any means, but it's a significant gesture. Macron's step back is understood to be a gesture in response.

Which is not to say that there might not be voices within the EU also encouraging him to rein it in a bit — I think there probably are. There's a lot of sympathy and support for Macron in the 27, but I think the dominant view is that, if there's to be a major bust-up between the UK and the Union, better that it be clearly the UK that starts it.

Not necessarily. Honey is a seasonal product, so it could be that at some times of the year they are selling you honey sourced in the EU, and at other times honey sourced elsewhere. Or they may be selling you different blends of honey from various sources at different times of the year in order to provide a consistent product flavour.

My memory is a bit hazy, but I am pretty sure there was a time here when there was considerable 'plastering' of Irish flags all over local products in supermarkets in a 'Buy Irish' campaign. I think it had to stop due to EU regulations, someone else may have a clearer recollection.

Yes this was it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_v_Ireland_(1982)

It looks as though the UK is just doing one of the very few things that it now can as a non-member.

I'm pretty sure there were flags involved at some stage, I remember them on groceries, I might have the wrong actual event, but it did happen.

I agree the UK stuff is way over the top, but its not something I can get worked up about, its their business, a bit silly, but if that's what they think will work then so be it, I would imagine for a lot of people it would be counter productive. I do think the vast majority of the population is so depressed and apathetic at the moment they are not likely to have an opinion one way or the other.

There has been sufficient adverse reaction to the Morrison's packaging that they have now changed course and said that it was all a terrible mistake and the packaging will be changed with immediate effect. With the polarisation in the UK at the moment, too brazen a trumpeting of Britishness, and too blatant an appeal to anti-EU sentiment, may be counterproductive; you may piss off more customers than you attract. Morrisons may have reached the limit of what is useful or effective in terms of patriotic branding.

Back in the 70s and 80s, the GI campaign deliberately eschewed the tricolour as a brand partly because they wanted a logo that would work in colour or in black-and-white, but also because t the time an excessively flag-shagging attitude to the tricolour marked you out as a Provo supporter, and in those days that was not an advantageous way to be perceived. And I would think that would have been the way for quite a while afterwards; we've never really taken to US attitudes to the use of the flag for commercial gain. I'm not saying you're wrong to recall a tricolour-branded marketing campaign, but I don't recall one myself and I think any that was tried would have been pretty small and fairly tentative, because it could so easily backfire.

It actually suggests a nation that feels insecure with itself. I do agree that it's none of our business and they can do whatever they like with their own products and stores, but 'insecurity' is the word that springs to mind : a nation totally at ease with itself and its identity wouldn't feel the need to drape everything in the national flag.

It's amazing how this flag went from representing Cool Britannia to Uncool Xenophobia in the space of a quarter of a century.

Because of the shortage of butchers in the UK, carcasses have been sent to Ireland and Holland, in particular, for processing, before the finished produce is then re-imported into the UK. Of course technically, that means it'll show up in CSO trade stats as an Irish export:

https://twitter.com/BBCBusiness/status/1455893382639853584

Does it get taxed into Ireland?

Isn't more value added to the product in Ireland so it would get taxed going back into the UK?

I'm used to paying VAT and customs on imports, but of course, it works differently for VAT registered businesses. Got that arseways. But the UK isn't running the full set of customs checks right now, right? So they aren't enforcing anything for imports, or do I have that wrong?

How much of a hit is that to the Exchequer?