howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Courtesy of the Times - time to grab a bargain.
Tour operator s are offering “unprecedented” discounts on Easter holidays amid a slump in bookings caused by fears of Brexit travel chaos. Concern at the prospect of Britain crashing out of the EU has helped to push down the price of trips to European destinations by a record 24 per cent. Analysis of more than 100,000 holidays during the school break from April 8 to April 22 found that week-long packages to destinations including Corfu, the Algarve, Mallorca and Ibiza are being cut to about £100 a person, including flights. Some operators are offering a seven-night trip with flights for as little as £108 a person, with some five-star deals as low as £124 per head. All-inclusive packages for seven nights including flights are also on offer for as little as £288 per person for a four-star trip to Greece.
“When you compare the forthcoming Easter school holiday period with last year, the price drops are unprecedented,” Emma Coulthurst, of TravelSupermarket, a price comparison site, said.
Travel industry chiefs called yesterday for ministers to reassure holidaymakers that it was safe to book flights for after this month. If the UK crashes out of the EU on March 29 only passports valid for a minimum of six months will be valid in Europe. Many travellers fear that a no-deal Brexit will lead to queues at ports and require extra documentation. The government and the European Commission have said that flights will continue. However, Noel Josephides, director of the Association of Independent Tour Operators, said: “Consumers are looking at the Brexit mess and thinking ‘no matter what they tell me, I just think I’ll wait’.” Senior members of the travel industry have held meetings with the government, including the Foreign Office, to secure assurances that holiday operations will continue as normal after Brexit.
One senior travel industry figure has accused the Department for Transport of being unhelpful after it began an advertising campaign last month urging Britons to renew their passports. “It is good the government are taking out adverts to warn people to check if their passport will be valid but they should also be taking adverts out telling people it is still safe to book holidays,” Mr Josephides said. “The government may tell us to prepare for a hard Brexit, but if they don’t tell you what the terms are, then none of us really know how to.
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
A light hearted look at the situation in the Times.
This is the moment a certain type of Brexiteer feared. Brexit is about to happen. Then what will they o with themselves? They claim to speak for the 17 million, but actually number about 17 Tory oddballs who have spent more time with Kay Burley on Sky News than with their own families. For three years they have been warning about traitors and saboteurs and Gary Lineker trying to thwart the will of the people, but now the only people standing in the way of Brexit happening are themselves. In the ultimate humiliation, they have been outfoxed by Theresa May, who is to strategic negotiation what she is to conversation: nothing of interest happens for ages, but in the end everybody will do what is necessary to just make it stop.
And her deal passing looks more and more likely. The Tory and DUP hardliners say that Geoffrey Cox, the attorney-general, needs to bring back something big from Brussels this week. Frankly he could bring back a large Toblerone and quite a lot of them will climb down. Jacob Rees-Mogg is among those looking for a ladder, though that might just be so that Nanny can clean the upstairs windows.
They should be careful what they wish for. If we do leave on March 29, the circus will quickly move on. No more “and we’re joined on the line by Owen Paterson” or “next week the panel will be in Tunbridge Wells with Mark Francois”.
Pray for Andrew Bridgen. His press cuttings have already dwindled since my column in November pointing out that his grasp of the truth is as tight as mine on the plot of Star Wars. Amazingly the threat from spud-u-don’t-like to go on strike until he got an apology from Downing Street for my work as a No 10 stooge (that’s me, mouthpiece of the May regime) turned out not to be true either.
Perhaps pre-empting the looming publicity desert, Nadine Dorries is taking part in ITV’s The Junk Food Experiment, getting meat sweats from non-stop burgers and pizzas. Which is notable only because normally with Brexiteers on telly it is tasteless, concocted crap coming out of their mouths, not going in.
Even Brexiteers are bored by Brexit now. In fact, especially Brexiteers. A YouGov poll this week showed 64 per cent of Leavers think Brexit news is boring. Whose fault is that? Meanwhile, Nigel Farage is taking a long walk, though sadly not off a short pier. His “March to Leave” from Sunderland to London is, in theory, 280 miles long, although like every Brexiteer’s plan there are big gaps. Totalling some 130 miles. You can pay to become a “core marcher” for just £50, and for that you get breakfast (presumably not continental), a beanie hat, a water bottle and a hi-vis jacket. Which is good because for drivers at night it can be difficult to spot the blackshirts. It is deliberately modelled on the Jarrow March, when a couple of hundred men walked to the capital in protest at not being able to find work. Farage fears being out of work too. If Brexit goes ahead, he might never be booked on the TV again. If your Andrew Bridgens and Nigel Farages and Steve Bakers and Bernard Jenkins fall over themselves to talk about Brexit, but no one is around to film it or write it down, do they really exist?
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Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 7,531
26 days to go!
Here's Titania's take on things:-
‘Brexit shows democracy doesn’t work’: An interview with Titania McGrath
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/03/brexit-shows-democracy-doesnt-work-an-interview-with-titania-mcgrath/Guest 3065 likes this
'If no one went no faster than what I do there'd be a sight less trouble in this world'
Neil Moors- Registered: 3 Feb 2016
- Posts: 1,243
It looks like you might be right, Captain. It won't be 29 March on the basis of a "technical extension", which will become the new "implementation period", but shouldn't be too long after - looks like the ERG will fall into line.
Neil Moors- Registered: 3 Feb 2016
- Posts: 1,243
.....and, it looks like the Indy group, perversely, has caused the very thing that they wish to stop - as I am sure that without them, Labour wouldn't have pivoted to the second referendum position so quickly and by extension, this has also spooked the ERG into surrender as they now see threats to Brexit that they may not have done before.
Pablo- Registered: 21 Mar 2018
- Posts: 614
I heard that Mr Grayling tried to resign from the cabinet last night.
However he accidentally cancelled his Netflix subscription instead.
Reginald Barrington and howard mcsweeney1 like this
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
It is now looking very much like we will leave on time with a deal and I expect the EU to give a little ground on the backstop so that the PM looks to have negotiated something worthwhile.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/mar/03/mays-hopes-rise-as-senior-tory-mps-soften-opposition-to-brexit-dealhoward mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
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Neil Moors- Registered: 3 Feb 2016
- Posts: 1,243
So now it looks like the Brexiteers are less inclined to accept what the AG comes back with. Interesting article on Conservative Home saying that even a two year extension of A.50 should not be feared as it ostensibly serves the same purpose as the implementation period (but better) and allows more time for preparation to leave without a deal in 2021.
Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 7,531
25 days to Brexit!
Guest 3065 likes this
'If no one went no faster than what I do there'd be a sight less trouble in this world'
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
From the Times.
The ERG demands
• A “clearly worded, legally binding, treaty-level clause which unambiguously overrides” the text of the withdrawal agreement
• Language that “must go beyond simply re-emphasising/re-interpreting the temporary nature of the backstop” and a change to Geoffrey Cox’s legal advice that it would “endure indefinitely”
• A “clear and unconditional route out of the backstop if trade talks fail”, which could mean “a time limit or a unilateral exit mechanism”.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
errrrrrrr don't you mean cock up bob.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
whats the difference between a politician and a flying pig.
the letter F
Jan Higgins and Button like this
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
wtf, so no one knows when we are leaving then. well here is a date for them to think about ,, the 12th of never.
Guest 3065- Registered: 10 Jan 2019
- Posts: 145
Brian that won't happen we are leaving roll on the 29th March
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
kimmie, we are not, it a delusion that we are leaving on that date.
its called government bull shine.
Guest 3065- Registered: 10 Jan 2019
- Posts: 145
Brian I bet we will
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
don't bet unless I got all the facts, at this moment I have none to mull over, only lies.