Mission impossible
Agriculture and Trade Minister Damien O'Connor is off to Europe soon to try and breathe some life into free trade talks between NZ and the UK, and NZ and the European Union.
OPINION: If you're thinking of holidaying in Britain and love theatre, skip the theatres of London’s West End and head to the House of Commons at Westminster.
Here you will find live theatre as you have never seen before (unless you have been to the White House in Washington where there is a great solo act also on show but this is more tragedy than comedy).
In London, the show is called Brexit where a motley lot of politicians are doing their best to destroy the country and turn it into a banana republic. It’s hard to believe why Britain voted to leave the European Union. It seems the people believed the spiced up lies of the pro-leave faction that all the ills of that they perceived they were subject to would be solved by leaving the EU.
Some British politicians even see the EU as some evil force that is destroying the country and is akin to Nazi Germany. This is borne out by one politician, who compared the attempt get rid of Theresa May the other day as no different to the British parliament dumping Neville Chamberlain in 1940 and replacing him with Winston Churchill. A political crisis it may be but not on the scale of WWII. How absurd and stupid can some people be.
Brexit it seems is about some super rich old, and no so old codgers who believe that once free of the EU, Britain will be great again and life will return to a fantasy land as portrayed in the comedy show the Darling Buds of May. In fact Brexit will have quite the opposite effect. Expect massive job losses, trade disruption, unemployment and rows with other countries. The ability of young Britons to work easily in Europe is months away from ending.
NZ will lose out too and badly by any Brexit deal. Worse still the peace between the North and South of Ireland will be under threat if a hard border is put in place. The soft border has allowed trade and peace to flourish but do (Conservative MPs) Boris (Boris Johnson) and Jacob (Jacob Rees-Mogg) and others care – probably not!
Although Theresa May won a no confidence vote the other day she is a powerless lame duck PM. Political chaos is the norm and the once Great Britain is now the laughing stock of the world which is sad. The people of Britain have been terribly misled and let down by their politicians who are uncompromising in their stupidity.
Britain leaving the EU is plain dumb –a bewildering act of self-harm which will see the UK plunged into economic chaos for at least the next decade. Is that a fair price for independence from the EU?
By the way, there’s a good chance that the show at Westminster will run longer than any play at the West End and the good news is that it’s free.
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford is claiming “some real success” on the 12 policy priorities it placed before the Coalition Government.
Federated Farmers is throwing its support behind the Fast-track Approvals Bill introduced by the Coalition Government to enable a fast-track decision-making process for infrastructure and development projects.
The latest report from ANZ isn’t good news for sheep farmers: lamb returns are forecast to remain low.
Divine table grapes that herald the start of a brand-new industry in Hawke’s Bay have been coming off vines in Maraekakaho.
In what appears to be a casualty of the downturn in the agricultural sector, a well-known machinery brand is now in the hands of liquidators and owing creditors $6.6 million.
One of New Zealand’s deepest breeder Jersey herds – known for its enduring connection through cattle with the UK’s longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II – will host its 75th anniversary celebration sale on-farm on April 22.