Jul 22, 2020 05:10 PM
(This post was last modified: Jul 23, 2020 01:47 AM by C C.)
UK 'close to giving up hope' of striking a Brexit deal
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics...05131.html
EXCERPTS: The UK Government has reportedly abandoned hope of striking a Brexit trade deal with the EU. [...] Senior sources told ... that there is an assumption "there won't be a deal" but a "basic" agreement could still be struck if the EU yields ground in the autumn. Meanwhile, businesses have already been told to start preparing for a no trade deal exit. ... A senior source told the newspaper: “The Government has been making it clear for a while now that it is prepared for no deal. Britain isn’t going to budge on fundamentals like fishing rights, so it’s all in the hands of the EU.”
Britain is seeking a zero tariff, zero quota trade deal. But if a deal is not made, trading on WTO terms means tariffs on goods and red tape could lead to delays in the passage of goods entering and leaving the UK. [...] One UK negotiating team source said: “We wanted to see an agreement this month. It’s clear from the EU side that’s not going to happen. ... Britain has said repeatedly that it is not asking the EU for a better deal than it has given other nations. But Brussels insists it will only offer a deal with strings attached.... (MORE - details)
Britain to open citizenship path to Hong Kongers from January
https://www.gulftoday.ae/news/2020/07/22...om-january
EXCXERPT: Britain’s government announced on Wednesday that it will open a new special pathway to obtaining UK citizenship for eligible Hong Kongers from January 2021, taking another step towards solidifying a policy denounced by China. In a statement, the Home Office said holders of the British National Overseas passport and their immediate family members can move to the UK to work and study. The change to immigration rules was introduced after Beijing imposed a new, sweeping national security law on Hong Kong. [...] Britain announced in early July it was extending residency rights for up to 3 million people eligible for the British National Overseas passport in Hong Kong, stressing that it would uphold its duty to the former British colony after the new law was imposed... (MORE - details)
The U.K.’s Response to Covid-19 Has Been World-Class
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articl...f=htOHjx5Y
EXCERPTS (Tyler Cowen): When the discussion turns to which countries have responded best to Covid-19 [...] those most often mentioned are Taiwan, New Zealand and Vietnam. ... At first glance, the UK’s performance doesn’t look great. It has one of the highest death rates per million, and the government’s initial response to Covid-19 was halting and contradictory. ... Nor are the British renowned for their love of mask-wearing.
That said, the most important factor in the global response to Covid-19 has to be progress on the biomedical front, and on that score the U.K. receives stellar marks. In fact, I would argue, it is tops in the world, and certainly No. 1 on a per capita basis.
First, a cheap steroid known as dexamethasone was the first drug shown to reduce death in Covid-19 patients [...] The world is also in the midst of a race to find a safe and effective vaccine against Covid-19. And so far the leading contender comes from the UK ... The side effects have been “mild or moderate,” according to the results, and the vaccine is moving more quickly than other major contenders into large-scale studies. You might wonder how the Oxford vaccine got so far so soon. The answer lies in preparation and investment in a diverse research portfolio...
[...] In sum, the best life-saving medicine and the best candidate vaccine both come from the UK ... By the way, if you are looking for the second leading candidate in the race to fight Covid-19, the most plausible answer is the U.S., which has produced the useful antiviral remdesivir and is working on a broad array of vaccine candidates, with generally promising results, even if none of them is as far along as the work at Oxford...
[...] It is fine and even correct to lecture the British (and the Americans) for their poorly conceived messaging and public health measures. But it is interesting how few people lecture the Australians or the South Koreans for not having a better biomedical research establishment. It is yet another sign of how societies tend to undervalue innovation — which makes the U.K.’s contribution all the more important. Critics of Brexit like to say that it will leave the U.K. as a small country of minor import. Maybe so. In the meantime, the Brits are on track to save the world... (MORE - details)
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics...05131.html
EXCERPTS: The UK Government has reportedly abandoned hope of striking a Brexit trade deal with the EU. [...] Senior sources told ... that there is an assumption "there won't be a deal" but a "basic" agreement could still be struck if the EU yields ground in the autumn. Meanwhile, businesses have already been told to start preparing for a no trade deal exit. ... A senior source told the newspaper: “The Government has been making it clear for a while now that it is prepared for no deal. Britain isn’t going to budge on fundamentals like fishing rights, so it’s all in the hands of the EU.”
Britain is seeking a zero tariff, zero quota trade deal. But if a deal is not made, trading on WTO terms means tariffs on goods and red tape could lead to delays in the passage of goods entering and leaving the UK. [...] One UK negotiating team source said: “We wanted to see an agreement this month. It’s clear from the EU side that’s not going to happen. ... Britain has said repeatedly that it is not asking the EU for a better deal than it has given other nations. But Brussels insists it will only offer a deal with strings attached.... (MORE - details)
Britain to open citizenship path to Hong Kongers from January
https://www.gulftoday.ae/news/2020/07/22...om-january
EXCXERPT: Britain’s government announced on Wednesday that it will open a new special pathway to obtaining UK citizenship for eligible Hong Kongers from January 2021, taking another step towards solidifying a policy denounced by China. In a statement, the Home Office said holders of the British National Overseas passport and their immediate family members can move to the UK to work and study. The change to immigration rules was introduced after Beijing imposed a new, sweeping national security law on Hong Kong. [...] Britain announced in early July it was extending residency rights for up to 3 million people eligible for the British National Overseas passport in Hong Kong, stressing that it would uphold its duty to the former British colony after the new law was imposed... (MORE - details)
The U.K.’s Response to Covid-19 Has Been World-Class
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articl...f=htOHjx5Y
EXCERPTS (Tyler Cowen): When the discussion turns to which countries have responded best to Covid-19 [...] those most often mentioned are Taiwan, New Zealand and Vietnam. ... At first glance, the UK’s performance doesn’t look great. It has one of the highest death rates per million, and the government’s initial response to Covid-19 was halting and contradictory. ... Nor are the British renowned for their love of mask-wearing.
That said, the most important factor in the global response to Covid-19 has to be progress on the biomedical front, and on that score the U.K. receives stellar marks. In fact, I would argue, it is tops in the world, and certainly No. 1 on a per capita basis.
First, a cheap steroid known as dexamethasone was the first drug shown to reduce death in Covid-19 patients [...] The world is also in the midst of a race to find a safe and effective vaccine against Covid-19. And so far the leading contender comes from the UK ... The side effects have been “mild or moderate,” according to the results, and the vaccine is moving more quickly than other major contenders into large-scale studies. You might wonder how the Oxford vaccine got so far so soon. The answer lies in preparation and investment in a diverse research portfolio...
[...] In sum, the best life-saving medicine and the best candidate vaccine both come from the UK ... By the way, if you are looking for the second leading candidate in the race to fight Covid-19, the most plausible answer is the U.S., which has produced the useful antiviral remdesivir and is working on a broad array of vaccine candidates, with generally promising results, even if none of them is as far along as the work at Oxford...
[...] It is fine and even correct to lecture the British (and the Americans) for their poorly conceived messaging and public health measures. But it is interesting how few people lecture the Australians or the South Koreans for not having a better biomedical research establishment. It is yet another sign of how societies tend to undervalue innovation — which makes the U.K.’s contribution all the more important. Critics of Brexit like to say that it will leave the U.K. as a small country of minor import. Maybe so. In the meantime, the Brits are on track to save the world... (MORE - details)
