Brexit and Future of UK : Discussions
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EU rules in a nutshell.
www.newscientist.com
What’s all this fuss about shooting birds?
People in the European Union can usually only kill wild birds if they have specifically been granted a licence to do so. But every January, the agency in charge of wildlife in the UK, Natural England, has been issuing a general licence that allows anyone in the UK to kill 16 species of birds including wood pigeons, crows, jays, rooks, jackdaws, magpies, Canada geese and parakeets. These general licences were revoked on 25 April, meaning individuals must now apply for a licence.
Why?
In February, wildlife conservationists Mark Avery, Ruth Tingay and Chris Packham launched a legal case asserting that the system of issuing general licences is unlawful. On 23 April, Natural England conceded that they were right.
And this has upset many people?
Yes. Many farmers and landowners are furious, saying they have to kill pigeons to protect crops, carrion crows to protect lambs, and so on. Someone got so upset they hung dead crows on Packham’s gate. Crows are also killed to protect ground-nesting birds such as threatened curlews and lapwings.
Read more: Have people in the UK really been banned from shooting wood pigeons?
Have people in the UK really been banned from shooting wood pigeons?
A legal victory means 16 species of bird, including wood pigeons and crows, can no longer be killed with impunity in the UK
What’s all this fuss about shooting birds?
People in the European Union can usually only kill wild birds if they have specifically been granted a licence to do so. But every January, the agency in charge of wildlife in the UK, Natural England, has been issuing a general licence that allows anyone in the UK to kill 16 species of birds including wood pigeons, crows, jays, rooks, jackdaws, magpies, Canada geese and parakeets. These general licences were revoked on 25 April, meaning individuals must now apply for a licence.
Why?
In February, wildlife conservationists Mark Avery, Ruth Tingay and Chris Packham launched a legal case asserting that the system of issuing general licences is unlawful. On 23 April, Natural England conceded that they were right.
And this has upset many people?
Yes. Many farmers and landowners are furious, saying they have to kill pigeons to protect crops, carrion crows to protect lambs, and so on. Someone got so upset they hung dead crows on Packham’s gate. Crows are also killed to protect ground-nesting birds such as threatened curlews and lapwings.
Read more: Have people in the UK really been banned from shooting wood pigeons?
A British organization (Wild Justice) issuing a legal challenge to a British organism (Natural England) based on a British law (Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981) in post-Brexit Britain (2019) is "EU rules in a nutshell"?
Who are you gonna blame for British rules in 2021? Still Brussels, or will you somehow manage to open your eyes and discover that, actually, your Brussels was in Westminster all along?
It's based on EU law though, that's the basis of the decision made, hence why it's that way across the EU.
That EU law (directive; it's up to member countries to implement their own laws) is based on the Berne convention to which the UK is party.
So it's not actually EU law, it's an international treaty that includes a lot of non-EU countries and that the UK will still have to respect. Likewise, the UK also ratified the Bonn Convention:
So British laws are unlikely to change much in this particular domain. But there's better! If you look at Wild Justice's blog, and specifically at the 13 March 2019 entry with the reply they've got from Natural England (scroll down a bit):
Note how Natural England's defense includes that their global license system passed review at the European Commission and was not challenged there. So, again, it's quite specifically not the EU or its regulations that are at play here.
So it's not actually EU law, it's an international treaty that includes a lot of non-EU countries and that the UK will still have to respect. Likewise, the UK also ratified the Bonn Convention:
So British laws are unlikely to change much in this particular domain. But there's better! If you look at Wild Justice's blog, and specifically at the 13 March 2019 entry with the reply they've got from Natural England (scroll down a bit):
The Wild Justice legal challenge to the general licences GL04, GL05 and GL06 - Wild Justice
Wild Justice’s first legal case was a challenge of the General Licences GL04, GL05 and GL06 which ‘authorised’ the lethal […]
wildjustice.org.uk
Note how Natural England's defense includes that their global license system passed review at the European Commission and was not challenged there. So, again, it's quite specifically not the EU or its regulations that are at play here.
But it's being part of the EU that has led to people being this gay.That EU law (directive; it's up to member countries to implement their own laws) is based on the Berne convention to which the UK is party.
So it's not actually EU law, it's an international treaty that includes a lot of non-EU countries and that the UK will still have to respect. Likewise, the UK also ratified the Bonn Convention:
So British laws are unlikely to change much in this particular domain. But there's better! If you look at Wild Justice's blog, and specifically at the 13 March 2019 entry with the reply they've got from Natural England (scroll down a bit):
The Wild Justice legal challenge to the general licences GL04, GL05 and GL06 - Wild Justice
Wild Justice’s first legal case was a challenge of the General Licences GL04, GL05 and GL06 which ‘authorised’ the lethal […]wildjustice.org.uk
Note how Natural England's defense includes that their global license system passed review at the European Commission and was not challenged there. So, again, it's quite specifically not the EU or its regulations that are at play here.
Good, too many people here anyway. Less green belt will get eroded.In the meantime, British are leaving the UK to the EU in rising numbers.
Sean Hannity quietly changed the cover of his new book after realizing its Latin motto was full of mistakes
Publicity images for "Live Free Or Die: America (and the World) on the Brink" showed an incorrect Latin motto, likely the product of Google Translate.www.businessinsider.in
That EU law (directive; it's up to member countries to implement their own laws) is based on the Berne convention to which the UK is party.
So it's not actually EU law, it's an international treaty that includes a lot of non-EU countries and that the UK will still have to respect. Likewise, the UK also ratified the Bonn Convention:
So British laws are unlikely to change much in this particular domain. But there's better! If you look at Wild Justice's blog, and specifically at the 13 March 2019 entry with the reply they've got from Natural England (scroll down a bit):
The Wild Justice legal challenge to the general licences GL04, GL05 and GL06 - Wild Justice
Wild Justice’s first legal case was a challenge of the General Licences GL04, GL05 and GL06 which ‘authorised’ the lethal […]wildjustice.org.uk
Note how Natural England's defense includes that their global license system passed review at the European Commission and was not challenged there. So, again, it's quite specifically not the EU or its regulations that are at play here.
UK crashes into deepest recession of any major economy
London (CNN Business)UK economic output shrank by 20.4% in the second quarter of 2020, the worst quarterly slump on record, pushing the country into the deepest recession of any major global economy.
This crash in GDP in the April-June period is the worst since quarterly records began in 1955 and follows a 2.2% contraction in the first quarter. Industries most exposed to government lockdown measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic — services, production and construction — saw record drops.
"Today's figures confirm that hard times are here," UK finance minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement. "Hundreds of thousands of people have already lost their jobs, and sadly in the coming months many more will. But while there are difficult choices to be made ahead, we will get through this, and I can assure people that nobody will be left without hope or opportunity."
Compared with the end of 2019, UK economic output fell by a cumulative 22.1% in the first six months of 2020, a worse outcome than Germany, France and Italy, and double the 10.6% fall recorded in the United States, the Office for National Statistics said.
"The larger contraction primarily reflects how lockdown measures have been in place for a larger part of this period in the UK," the ONS added.
Britain imposed a strict lockdown two weeks later than Italy, 10 days after Spain and a week after France, despite swelling coronavirus cases. That meant it took longer to get the spread of the virus under control, which prolonged the need for restrictions that kept many businesses closed.
For example, Italy allowed restaurants, cafes and hairdressers to reopen in the middle of May, whereas the United Kingdom waited until July 4 to do the same.
An easing of some lockdown restrictions in June, including the reopening of nonessential shops, delivered an immediate boost to the economy, with GDP increasing 8.7% on the previous month, according to the ONS.
The UK economy is heavily reliant on services and household spending, both of which posted record declines in the second quarter, as consumers who were holed up at home spent less money and saved more. In addition, millions of workers were furloughed and many have now been laid off.
The UK economy has shed 730,000 jobs since the coronavirus pandemic shuttered businesses in March, with the young, the old and the self-employed bearing the brunt of the unemployment crisis.
Kallum Pickering, a senior economist at Berenberg, said the GDP figures do not bode well for the rest of the year.
"Typically, recession data are subject to heavy revisions," he said in a research note. "Nevertheless, taken at face value, the bigger-than-expected contraction suggests some downside risk to our call of a 9.5% contraction in full year 2020."
London (CNN Business)UK economic output shrank by 20.4% in the second quarter of 2020, the worst quarterly slump on record, pushing the country into the deepest recession of any major global economy.
This crash in GDP in the April-June period is the worst since quarterly records began in 1955 and follows a 2.2% contraction in the first quarter. Industries most exposed to government lockdown measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic — services, production and construction — saw record drops.
"Today's figures confirm that hard times are here," UK finance minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement. "Hundreds of thousands of people have already lost their jobs, and sadly in the coming months many more will. But while there are difficult choices to be made ahead, we will get through this, and I can assure people that nobody will be left without hope or opportunity."
Compared with the end of 2019, UK economic output fell by a cumulative 22.1% in the first six months of 2020, a worse outcome than Germany, France and Italy, and double the 10.6% fall recorded in the United States, the Office for National Statistics said.
"The larger contraction primarily reflects how lockdown measures have been in place for a larger part of this period in the UK," the ONS added.
Britain imposed a strict lockdown two weeks later than Italy, 10 days after Spain and a week after France, despite swelling coronavirus cases. That meant it took longer to get the spread of the virus under control, which prolonged the need for restrictions that kept many businesses closed.
For example, Italy allowed restaurants, cafes and hairdressers to reopen in the middle of May, whereas the United Kingdom waited until July 4 to do the same.
An easing of some lockdown restrictions in June, including the reopening of nonessential shops, delivered an immediate boost to the economy, with GDP increasing 8.7% on the previous month, according to the ONS.
The UK economy is heavily reliant on services and household spending, both of which posted record declines in the second quarter, as consumers who were holed up at home spent less money and saved more. In addition, millions of workers were furloughed and many have now been laid off.
The UK economy has shed 730,000 jobs since the coronavirus pandemic shuttered businesses in March, with the young, the old and the self-employed bearing the brunt of the unemployment crisis.
Kallum Pickering, a senior economist at Berenberg, said the GDP figures do not bode well for the rest of the year.
"Typically, recession data are subject to heavy revisions," he said in a research note. "Nevertheless, taken at face value, the bigger-than-expected contraction suggests some downside risk to our call of a 9.5% contraction in full year 2020."
Migration
Brexit fuels brain drain as skilled Britons head to the EU
Brexit has sparked an exodus of economically productive people from the UK to European Union nations on a scale that would normally be expected only as a result of a major economic or political crisis, according to a detailed new study.
Using a combination of official statistics across the EU and in-depth interviews with people living in Germany, the study found huge changes in migration patterns of UK citizens since the 2016 referendum, which contrast with largely stable ones among nationals from the 27 EU states remaining in the bloc.
The report, a collaboration between the Oxford in BerlinResearch Partnership – a project made up of Oxford university and four Berlin institutions – and the WZB Berlin Social Science Center, also found a “seismic shift” in the number of UK citizens already living abroad who had decided to go a step further by obtaining EU member state passports since 2016, showing how Britain’s vote to leave the EU pushed many individuals into long-term decisions.
The study says that migration from the UK to EU countries has increased by about 30% compared to pre-Brexit numbers. Britons living in other EU countries who decided to obtain EU member state passports as well as their UK ones had increased by more than 500% overall, and by 2,000% in Germany.
Dr Daniel Auer, a co-author of the report, said: “These increases in numbers are of a magnitude that you would expect when a country is hit by a major economic or political crisis.”
Moreover, the study found that UK migrants are among the most educated and skilled of those from any nation, with one of the highest net average income rates, suggesting that Brexit has begun a steady drain of the most talented and productive people to the continent.
In Germany, UK migrants were among the highest earners, bringing in on average €2,812 a month in 2019, just behind those from Austria and the US.
There are now about 1.2 million British citizens living in the EU, between 120,000 and 150,000 of which are in Germany. In the four years since the Brexit referendum, 31,600 Brits have been granted dual British/German citizenship: 2019 saw 14,600 naturalisations compared to 622 in 2015.
About half of all British citizens living in Germany will have dual UK/German nationality by the end of 2020, the report says.
Interviews with UK citizens living and working in Germany showed Brexit had made people prepared to take on levels of risk that they previously would not have considered.
A British academic in his 40s, who is married with a young family – and who migrated in July 2016 – told researchers: “The referendum happened and we immediately changed our minds about buying a house in Bristol. Our whole emigration decision hung on the referendum result.”
The majority of interviewees who left agreed to either a pay cut or a pay freeze as part of their decision. Some struggled to find a job. “I have still not found work, which is not what I expected […] The cost of the move in personal and financial terms is always difficult to foresee, and I’m starting to wonder if I underestimated the risk involved,” said a British IT worker who migrated in October 2019 with his wife and three children.
Co-author Daniel Tetlow added: “We’re observing a new social migration phenomenon and a redefining of what it means to be British-European. In 2019, Brits came in just behind Turks in numbers receiving German citizenship – way ahead of Poles, Romanians, Iraqis or Syrians, whom you might otherwise expect to be more eagerly applying for German/EU citizenship.”
Definitely not likely in the short term but a substantial trade deal is highly likely.