Re: Britain outside the EU
 

But the very fact that the EU have not switched off the tap is a friendly act, is it not? If preventing vaccine exports is an unfriendly act, how do we stand with the USA? Is India being unfriendly by stopping Serum Institute manufactured vaccine exports?

Re: Britain outside the EU
 

Russia hasn't nuked us . . . I guess that means we're friends? :D

Re: Britain outside the EU
 

Eh? Not at all. "They" refers to the UK and the EU.

---------- Post added at 12:07 ---------- Previous post was at 12:02 ----------

It means we're alive! :D

Poisoning a British police officer in Salisbury with novichok is not the most friendly of gestures.

Re: Britain outside the EU
 

This is nonsense on stilts. Respect for rule of law isn't a deliberate friendly act. It's neutral. We don't decide each morning whether we're going to follow the rules today. Normal behaviour is simply to do so, and nobody should expect to get a pat on the back for it.

Following the financial crisis of 2008, the UK made bilateral loans to the Republic of Ireland that allowed that country to access finance on more favourable terms than it could secure by going to the money markets directly. That's an example of a deliberate, friendly act. It went over and above the normal rules (while not breaking them) in order to help a neighbour.

Re: Britain outside the EU
 

Re: Britain outside the EU
 

Further to the point about the USA, the American decision to invoke emergency defence laws to prevent drug exports was known and understood from a very early stage and was factored into the purchase agreements HMG signed with drugmakers with facilities there. There was no arbitrary, unfriendly attempt to intervene in a privately negotiated contract after the fact.

The EU's behaviour has been quite different. It has, in essence, alleged breach of contract, for which they ought to seek remedy in the courts. However, instead of going to court, they have acted as judge and jury and made regulations allowing them to intervene directly, effectively making a judicial ruling in their own favour.

---------- Post added at 12:24 ---------- Previous post was at 12:23 ----------

Well, to be fair to them, that Anglophobe Varadkar didn't become teeshirt until 2017.

Re: Britain outside the EU
 

??? That's exactly what the EU is doing.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe...rt-2021-04-28/

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False equivalence.

A Telegraph op ed writer doesn't fully appreciate that the UK is now a third country, I get that. But it doesn't mean anyone's being royally stiffed over.

Re: Britain outside the EU
 

OK, so if I understand, preventing vaccine exports AND preventing the export of materials that allow other countries to make vaccines is all cool but suggesting that you might do similar is not.

If the EU just stopped exports without threatening to do so beforehand, that would be OK? I guess that is how the UK prohibits exports of lifesaving drugs..

Re: Britain outside the EU
 

Having already taken extrajudicial measures, as you well know. Australia has been denied a shipment, others have been threatened.

Re: Britain outside the EU
 

Says it all doesn't it, and lawyers 'demanding' something isn't (to my knowledge) the same as 'going to court' :p:

Re: Britain outside the EU
 

Correct, stamping your feet and shouting demands isn't quite the same as a judicial hearing.

Re: Britain outside the EU
 

It depends upon the circumstances in which you say it. In the bath, possibly not :D but at a court hearing like this one, yes.

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You said that the EU ought to seek remedy in the courts. I pointed out that they are doing exactly this. Hopefully we can concur on this.

Re: Britain outside the EU
 

No, because if their intention was to abide by the rule of law this would have been their first and only action. What they’re doing now is giving themselves political cover - they’re aiming for exactly what you’re far too eager to give them, which is to get people to forget their heavy-handed and clumsy foray into foreign policy and to fix their attention on the subsequent PR effort.

Regretfully you’re sounding a bit like a regime apologist today.

Re: Britain outside the EU
 

Re: Britain outside the EU
 

You're crediting the EU's actions on vaccine procurement with more respect than they deserve, Chris. They've blundered along like a drunk in a dark alleyway and eventually have reached the correct route with this week's court hearings.