NEBULOUS - THE BEST DESCRIPTION FOR THE UK'S INEPT NEGOTIATIONS
NEBULOUS: indistinct, indefinite, unclear, vague, hazy, cloudy, fuzzy, misty, lacking definition, blurred, blurry, out of focus, foggy, faint, shadowy, dim, obscure, shapeless, formless, unformed, amorphous; rarenebulose "the figure was still nebulous - she couldn't quite see it"
Example: One's memory of a long-past event, for example, will often be nebulous; a teenager might give a nebulous
recounting of an evening's events upon coming home; or a politician might make a campaign promise but give only a nebulous description of how he or she would fulfill it.
merriam-webster
In the apparent frosty exchange between Prime Minister Theresa May and EU President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels, it was reported that she took offence to the description of the UK's attempt to re-negotiate the Brexit Deal as 'nebulous'.
As is becoming apparent to all, these Brexit negotiations have, like the ill conceived Referendum campaigns been ill formed,unclear, lacked definition and have at times been shadowy.
First, the Lady having believed the Brexiteers claims that the UK had lost total control of its borders and seas, were unable to keep out undesirables and make all our own laws, strode forth with no plan, waving her red lines and the Union Flag believing that the EU would simply put aside their four freedoms, hand us a free pass to all the benefits for a nominal charge.
With the active support of two key members of the team who had convinced large sections of the Country that negotiating a deal with the EU would be easy and had their own plan, the lady ploughed on. Unfortunately, one of those was entrusted with the keys to FCO, the great British office of state renowned for its international diplomacy. Any chances of the UK displaying its well honed diplomatic skills were quickly dashed by the 'comedy of ineptitude' and a civil servant who proudly boasted "diplomacy is the art of letting other people have your way". Not in this case Sir, and Brexit negotiations were soon handed to a new Department of State at a significant extra cost.
The other individual presiding over this long running saga was given the brand new Department for Exiting the EU receiving £300 million every year from the Treasury until 2019/20. When questioned in March 2018, Minister Robin Walker said: they now had "over 300 staff, and is growing fast'. As Secretary of State, David Davis, the longest serving Brexit Secretary, whose absence from the negotiating table was legendary, claimed the EU had strung this out and wasted time in order to run down the clock. Forced to work less than 5 days a week, Davis found a convenient moment to quit alongside his fellow Brexiteer Foreign Secretary after the Chequers meeting.
At the same time the £1.5 billion cost of delivering Brexit, (hidden deep in the Budget small print) was being generously spread around. The another new Department for International Trade was budgeted £100 million annual running costs well into 2020 to enable yet another Brexiteer to travel the world searching for trade deals which under current terms cannot be actioned until the transition period is over.
The costs of Brexit do not stop there. Leaving the collective partnerships covering hundreds of institutions, regulatory bodies, education and research programmes, telecommunications programmes, grant and payment structures and setting up new UK wide replacements will run into billions of pounds of unnecessary expenditure. What we have done for 45 years as a trusted partner of the EU sharing costs, knowledge, expertise we now face doing alone in a global world.
Is it any wonder that our friends and partners in Europe appear not to understand what we are doing, why we are doing it and the nebulous way we are going about it..
Far from trying to punish us as some euro-sceptics claim, the EU has recognised the harm that is about to befall a close neighbour and friend. Our long standing friendship with our neighbours is not just about trade and economics but it is bound by a mutual respect for our shared heritage, a trust and determination to maintain and enjoy peace, a need to maintain a united buffer between the super powers and endless other unbreakable individual and person relationships stretching across 28 national boundaries.
As the clock ticks down to midnight, there is a chance to limit the continuing damage being done to our reputation as a trusted partner in the world and retain the best deal we have ever had.
Jon James
There is no good Brexit deal because there is no deal as good as the deal we have now as members of the European Union.
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