Interesting Links for 07-12-2018

[andrewducker]

What it's like to be a woman reporter on a cryptocurrency cruise where nearly all the other women are sex-workers

(tags: technology gender OhForFucksSake )

There are some terrifying views on what constitutes rape out there

(tags: rape society uk )

Every expression of concern about the Irish backstop is an implicit admission that the UK is unlikely to have a relationship agreement to enter into by 2022

(tags: UK europe doom )

Somehow, a man coughed up an intact blood clot shaped like a lung passage.

(tags: bodies blood aieeee! ViaDrCross )

Wherein Batman tries to give Superman advice. It does not go well

(tags: superman batman funny )

Raab's threats to ignore Grieve amendment threaten constitutional crisis

(tags: UK government parliament )

Facebook just basically banned flirting. Or talking about sex. Or hinting that you might be a sexual being.

(tags: facebook sex OhForFucksSake )

British railways review to look at all options

(tags: trains transport uk )

Kevin Hart steps down as Oscars host after three days of controversy

(tags: lgbt Oscars )

Comments

[xenophanean]

Re: the FT article about the back-stop.

To be fair, the backstop looks like bad news to me. Effectively, it puts the EU in a position whereby the rest of Britain is out of the EU, and NI is fully in it if no deal is come to, this ain't good, as it forces a hard border between two parts of a country, and probably would shortly effectively mean ceding Northern Ireland to the EU. That's the default, and it puts the EU in a ridiculously powerful position in the negotiations, as the default position has advantages to them, and none to the UK.

I wonder if the deal isn't actually worse than no deal from a geopolitical standpoint on this basis, as it seems to have all the disadvantages, plus an extra one, 3 years later.

(I'm well aware of the problems re a hard border between RoI and NI, but the EU backstop position is just as bad, only it hits the other side.)

[andrewducker]

I don't think you understand how bad No Deal will be.

"Today’s Sunday Times reports that the UK would be hit with shortages of medicine, fuel and food within a fortnight if the government decided to leave the European Union without a deal. Civil servants and ministers have begun contingency planning for the port of Dover to collapse “on day one” if the UK leaves without a deal, leading to critical shortages of supplies. Apparently, there is another government scenario which is even worse.

The Sunday Times also reports that one government official said supermarkets in Cornwall and Scotland will run out of food within a couple of days, and hospitals will run out of medicines within two weeks. These ‘no deal’ ministerial papers were prepared for the so-called Inter-Ministerial Group on Preparedness, which meets weekly when parliament is sitting. One official said the scenarios are so explosive they have only been shared with a handful of ministers and are “locked in a safe”."