Political relations between UK-EU

[BobKowalski]

"Plunder waters"

PMSL. Can always rely on the Express for a bit of good old rhetoric.

You can’t beat a good old fashioned plundering :)

 

[Vic]

How far do Manx waters extend? Halfway to the rest of the UK?

More people for the Express to "other".

 

[Invisible Man's Bandage]

van der Leyen has explained today that the EU has done more vaccinations than the UK & Italy has done more second shots than us so it's all good apparently (source: Telegraph article). Can anyone explain the concept of proportionality to her please as the population of the EU is seven times higher than the UK.

Oh, and 130 countries haven't vaccinated anyone.

 

[journolud]

van der Leyen has explained today that the EU has done more vaccinations than the UK & Italy has done more second shots than us so it's all good apparently (source: Telegraph article). Can anyone explain the concept of proportionality to her please as the population of the EU is seven times higher than the UK.

Oh, and 130 countries haven't vaccinated anyone.

Are those 130 countries part of a rapidly expanded EU?

 

[jaseirai]

Are those 130 countries part of a rapidly expanded EU?

You’ll need to ask Fond of Lying.

“The president of the European Commission responded to criticism that the EU vaccination roll out was too slow by pointing out that 130 countries in the world had had no jabs at all.”

 

[west didsblue]

van der Leyen has explained today that the EU has done more vaccinations than the UK & Italy has done more second shots than us so it's all good apparently (source: Telegraph article). Can anyone explain the concept of proportionality to her please as the population of the EU is seven times higher than the UK.

Oh, and 130 countries haven't vaccinated anyone.

Yes, because she really needs to be told that it's a race and that we're winning and the EU's shit to make us feel good about ourselves and to justify us leaving the EU, even though her comments were to a German newspaper for domestic consumption.

 

[KPXBLN]

Yes, because she really needs to be told that it's a race and that we're winning and the EU's shit to make us feel good about ourselves and to justify us leaving the EU, even though her comments were to a German newspaper for domestic consumption.

And unsurprisingly her comments (to the Augsburger Allgemeine https://www.augsburger-allgemeine.d...t-der-Menschen-nachvollziehen-id59182696.html) have been taken out of context in the Telegraph account. Over the course of the interview she's giving an account of the EU vaccination strategy, acknowledging failures (not only when pressured to do so by the interviewer), and trying to put a positive spin on things while presenting evidence she views as favourable. As any politician does. There's nothing sinister or even especially noteworthy about what she says in the interview - which anyone can read for themselves with the aid of https://translate.google.com.

 

[Invisible Man's Bandage]

Yes, because she really needs to be told that it's a race and that we're winning and the EU's shit to make us feel good about ourselves and to justify us leaving the EU, even though her comments were to a German newspaper for domestic consumption.

It is a race, though. Not between individual countries or blocs as in the case of the EU but against Covid. Once again she criticises the UK approach rather than concentrating on their own.

It is also a fact that the AZ vaccine has been so successfully undermined in the EU generally that people are turning it down. I can’t see it being used to any great extent there as people will be demanding Pfizer, Moderna or others maybe as they are approved as they regard AZ as second best.

 

[west didsblue]

It is a race, though. Not between individual countries or blocs as in the case of the EU but against Covid. Once again she criticises the UK approach rather than concentrating on their own.

It is also a fact that the AZ vaccine has been so successfully undermined in the EU generally that people are turning it down. I can’t see it being used to any great extent there as people will be demanding Pfizer, Moderna or others maybe as they are approved as they regard AZ as second best.

I assume you're basing your comments on the Telegraph's article where they've cherry picked parts of the Augsburger Allgemeine article and left out the context.

This thread is supposed to be about UK-EU relations and the fact that our newspapers and some Brexit supporters appear to be fixated on the internal machinations of the EU's vaccine rollout process smacks of a certain level of insecurity about our own position on Brexit and fulfils a need to reassure ourselves that we've done the right thing leaving. In reality their vaccine programme will only have a marginal effect on us in that, at worst, it might delay travel to and from EU countries for a month or two until they catch up. Other than that it's really none of our business and why should anyone here be bothered now that we've left the EU?

You have made a valid point about the AZ vaccine being undermined but that article says that Von Der Leyen said that she would happily take the AZ vaccine and that she has no concerns. However if the EU citizens don't want it that's their lookout and it means there'll be more available for the RoW quicker.

 

[Invisible Man's Bandage]

I assume you're basing your comments on the Telegraph's article where they've cherry picked parts of the Augsburger Allgemeine article and left out the context.

This thread is supposed to be about UK-EU relations and the fact that our newspapers and some Brexit supporters appear to be fixated on the internal machinations of the EU's vaccine rollout process smacks of a certain level of insecurity about our own position on Brexit and fulfils a need to reassure ourselves that we've done the right thing leaving. In reality their vaccine programme will only have a marginal effect on us in that, at worst, it might delay travel to and from EU countries for a month or two until they catch up. Other than that it's really none of our business and why should anyone here be bothered now that we've left the EU?

You have made a valid point about the AZ vaccine being undermined but that article says that Von Der Leyen said that she would happily take the AZ vaccine and that she has no concerns. However if the EU citizens don't want it that's their lookout and it means there'll be more available for the RoW quicker.

I didn’t realise that you decided what is suitable for this thread or not.

I stand by my comments but feel free not to agree with them..

Edit: further evidence of the inevitable outcome of the EUs attempt to discredit AZ on the Guardian live blog

French government orders weekend lockdown in the Dunkirk area – as it happened

This blog is now closed. We’ve launched a new blog at the link below:

www.theguardian.com