11 ms·

I fail to see the "bombshell" here. This is what everyone expected when leaving the EU single market. The only bombshell would be if the UK negotiators managed

I fail to see the "bombshell" here. This is what everyone expected when leaving the EU single market. The only bombshell would be if the UK negotiators managed to prevent a hard Brexit. Given the current track record of their leading political party, this seems unlikely.

netcan 6y ago
Bombshell in the context of that website's subject/audience. Not a bombshell to the UK or world generally.
- the_duke 6y ago
  But why is this a bombshell (implying a surprise), rather than the natural, expected consequence of the UK leaving the customs union? I'd imagine continuing the current scheme would add a lot of regulatory and procedural complexity for Amazon, which they are unwilling to handle. Isn't this something that was expected by sellers?
  - netcan 6y ago
    bombshell = big news
    - sokoloff 6y ago
      I think the implication above was that while it was big, it wasn’t unexpected information.
    - Hamuko 6y ago
      Wiktionary defines bombshell as "Something that is very surprising, shocking, amazing or sensational."
      - sangnoir 6y ago
        sensational = big news
  - rtempaccount1 6y ago
    I'd imagine it depends on how much attention the operators in this marketplace have been paying. If they've believed UK Government rhetoric about how Brexit will be a smooth process that will enhance the UK's trading opportunities, this may come as a surprise. There are (IMO) a reasonable number of UK citizens and businesses who haven't grasped the likely consequences of what's happening on 1/1/21
    - ChuckNorris89 6y ago
      Oh yeah, and the current pandemic and its economic effects aren't helping the UK's brexit issues.
      - tannhaeuser 6y ago
        Not to add insult to injury, but it's been said that coronavirus actually plays into the hand of current UK gov as they have a scape goat if things go south.
        ChuckNorris89 6y ago
        Corona is the scapegoat everywhere across the globe for poor economic choices governments and corporations made. The UK is not unique here.
      - rtempaccount1 6y ago
        Indeed they are not. What I find a bit puzzling is that the UK Gov. absolutely had an easy escape hatch from the cliff edge of end of 2020, by saying "we've got to delay due to the pandemic" I don't think many people would have complained if they had. Instead they explicitly rejected that opportunity and carried onwards...
        rwmj 6y ago
        As is often the case with Brexit the real explanation for inexplicable actions of the current government is all about internal Tory party management. I read this article a while back which explains it quite well: https://nicktyrone.com/why-i-believe-the-boris-johnson-government-is-going-so-hard-toward-a-no-deal-brexit/ https://nicktyrone.com/why-i-believe-the-boris-johnson-gover...
  - M2Ys4U 6y ago
    > But why is this a bombshell (implying a surprise), rather than the natural, expected consequence of the UK leaving the customs union? Because those who promoted brexit comprehensively lied to the electorate about the consequences of brexit.
SideburnsOfDoom 6y ago
In context of Brexit, the inevitable consequences of the UK's actions is quite often a "bombshell" to the UK. The denial is strong.
- headmelted 6y ago
  This. You really have to be here to believe the extent to which the average Joe on the street believes they'll be able to have their cake and eat it after this is settled. What's bizarre is that when challenged on how ridiculous that is, they'll immediately accept it as rational before saying "well we voted out anyway so it doesn't matter".
  - rumanator 6y ago
    > You really have to be here to believe the extent to which the average Joe on the street believes they'll be able to have their cake and eat it after this is settled. Still, nothing beats the cluelessness of pro-brexit British expats when they are faced with the consequences of what they demanded. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/brexit-voting-pats-spain-wake-future-change-200305140716114.html https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/brexit-voting-pats-sp...
  - eeh 6y ago
    Is it the average Joe, or is it the 95th percentile idiot that happens to get attention?
    - SideburnsOfDoom 6y ago
      The 52% idiot.
      - pixxel 6y ago
        Go do this on twitter/reddit.
    - rsynnott 6y ago
      Polling has repeatedly shown very widespread public confusion over what Brexit will actually do. Even many remain voters don’t realise all the downsides.
tonyedgecombe 6y ago
>This is what everyone expected when leaving the EU single market. Actually we were repeatedly told otherwise. Not that I believed any of it.
scaryclam 6y ago
Yes, "bombshell" is a pretty silly way of putting it. Any business with an even semi-competent leadership has been planning on the assumption that these types of things will be gone and are mitigating the issues as far as they can.
mrtksn 6y ago
UK had a great think going on but meritocracy creates both winners and losers. In a mixture of losers with cocky winners, you have people who overestimate their abilities and people who are bitter. The bitter ones demand protection against the people who come over and over-compete them, so you introduce non-meritocratic barriers like nationality. Starting on 2021, Polish and Bulgarians and so on will be barred from coming over and compete with the local workers. The winners are cocky, many of them are really the best - UK has a great talent pool. They have a great thing going on for them, and they believe that they can overcome EU, USA and China. The protection demand of the lower skill people seems to be served, shortly UK will start building it's non-merit based workforce(unless UK residency is a merit). The time comes to put the winners on test. This is indeed a bombshell to the cocky ones, the people who had a good thing going on for them and believed that due to their expectational abilities everything will be about the same or better. I still think that the UK would be able to find it's place in the new world order but many people will face bombshells as their freedoms and abilities to do business will get a haircut. EU's skilled ones will be protected from UK's in a similar fashion of UK's less-skilled are about to get their protection. It is not as meritocratic system as before but that's what people wanted.
rsynnott 6y ago
It is not what the “no downsides, only considerable upsides” crowd expected. Remember that a lot of people, and dodgy newspapers, still cry ‘project fear’ at any expert opinion, so concrete consequences like this are going to shock some people.
- toyg 6y ago
  > not what the “no downsides, only considerable upsides” crowd expected. Oh no, most of them expected this sort of thing. They just stated otherwise to persuade the rubes.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - rsynnott 6y ago
    Not sure about that. Notoriously, David Davis, arch-brexiter, didn’t realise the UK couldn’t negotiate separate trade deals with EU states until after the Brexit vote. A lot of them are just confused.
Ijumfs 6y ago
Hard Brexit was what people elected the current government to do after the previous one dragged feet on soft Brexit for years.

netcan 6y ago

Bombshell in the context of that website's subject/audience. Not a bombshell to the UK or world generally.

the_duke 6y ago
But why is this a bombshell (implying a surprise), rather than the natural, expected consequence of the UK leaving the customs union? I'd imagine continuing the current scheme would add a lot of regulatory and procedural complexity for Amazon, which they are unwilling to handle. Isn't this something that was expected by sellers?
- netcan 6y ago
  bombshell = big news
  - sokoloff 6y ago
    I think the implication above was that while it was big, it wasn’t unexpected information.
  - Hamuko 6y ago
    Wiktionary defines bombshell as "Something that is very surprising, shocking, amazing or sensational."
    - sangnoir 6y ago
      sensational = big news
- rtempaccount1 6y ago
  I'd imagine it depends on how much attention the operators in this marketplace have been paying. If they've believed UK Government rhetoric about how Brexit will be a smooth process that will enhance the UK's trading opportunities, this may come as a surprise. There are (IMO) a reasonable number of UK citizens and businesses who haven't grasped the likely consequences of what's happening on 1/1/21
  - ChuckNorris89 6y ago
    Oh yeah, and the current pandemic and its economic effects aren't helping the UK's brexit issues.
    - tannhaeuser 6y ago
      Not to add insult to injury, but it's been said that coronavirus actually plays into the hand of current UK gov as they have a scape goat if things go south.
      - ChuckNorris89 6y ago
        Corona is the scapegoat everywhere across the globe for poor economic choices governments and corporations made. The UK is not unique here.
    - rtempaccount1 6y ago
      Indeed they are not. What I find a bit puzzling is that the UK Gov. absolutely had an easy escape hatch from the cliff edge of end of 2020, by saying "we've got to delay due to the pandemic" I don't think many people would have complained if they had. Instead they explicitly rejected that opportunity and carried onwards...
      - rwmj 6y ago
        As is often the case with Brexit the real explanation for inexplicable actions of the current government is all about internal Tory party management. I read this article a while back which explains it quite well: https://nicktyrone.com/why-i-believe-the-boris-johnson-government-is-going-so-hard-toward-a-no-deal-brexit/ https://nicktyrone.com/why-i-believe-the-boris-johnson-gover...
- M2Ys4U 6y ago
  > But why is this a bombshell (implying a surprise), rather than the natural, expected consequence of the UK leaving the customs union? Because those who promoted brexit comprehensively lied to the electorate about the consequences of brexit.

SideburnsOfDoom 6y ago

In context of Brexit, the inevitable consequences of the UK's actions is quite often a "bombshell" to the UK. The denial is strong.

headmelted 6y ago
This. You really have to be here to believe the extent to which the average Joe on the street believes they'll be able to have their cake and eat it after this is settled. What's bizarre is that when challenged on how ridiculous that is, they'll immediately accept it as rational before saying "well we voted out anyway so it doesn't matter".
- rumanator 6y ago
  > You really have to be here to believe the extent to which the average Joe on the street believes they'll be able to have their cake and eat it after this is settled. Still, nothing beats the cluelessness of pro-brexit British expats when they are faced with the consequences of what they demanded. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/brexit-voting-pats-spain-wake-future-change-200305140716114.html https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/brexit-voting-pats-sp...
- eeh 6y ago
  Is it the average Joe, or is it the 95th percentile idiot that happens to get attention?
  - SideburnsOfDoom 6y ago
    The 52% idiot.
    - pixxel 6y ago
      Go do this on twitter/reddit.
  - rsynnott 6y ago
    Polling has repeatedly shown very widespread public confusion over what Brexit will actually do. Even many remain voters don’t realise all the downsides.

tonyedgecombe 6y ago

>This is what everyone expected when leaving the EU single market. Actually we were repeatedly told otherwise. Not that I believed any of it.

scaryclam 6y ago

Yes, "bombshell" is a pretty silly way of putting it. Any business with an even semi-competent leadership has been planning on the assumption that these types of things will be gone and are mitigating the issues as far as they can.

mrtksn 6y ago

UK had a great think going on but meritocracy creates both winners and losers. In a mixture of losers with cocky winners, you have people who overestimate their abilities and people who are bitter. The bitter ones demand protection against the people who come over and over-compete them, so you introduce non-meritocratic barriers like nationality. Starting on 2021, Polish and Bulgarians and so on will be barred from coming over and compete with the local workers. The winners are cocky, many of them are really the best - UK has a great talent pool. They have a great thing going on for them, and they believe that they can overcome EU, USA and China. The protection demand of the lower skill people seems to be served, shortly UK will start building it's non-merit based workforce(unless UK residency is a merit). The time comes to put the winners on test. This is indeed a bombshell to the cocky ones, the people who had a good thing going on for them and believed that due to their expectational abilities everything will be about the same or better. I still think that the UK would be able to find it's place in the new world order but many people will face bombshells as their freedoms and abilities to do business will get a haircut. EU's skilled ones will be protected from UK's in a similar fashion of UK's less-skilled are about to get their protection. It is not as meritocratic system as before but that's what people wanted.

rsynnott 6y ago

It is not what the “no downsides, only considerable upsides” crowd expected. Remember that a lot of people, and dodgy newspapers, still cry ‘project fear’ at any expert opinion, so concrete consequences like this are going to shock some people.

toyg 6y ago
> not what the “no downsides, only considerable upsides” crowd expected. Oh no, most of them expected this sort of thing. They just stated otherwise to persuade the rubes.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- rsynnott 6y ago
  Not sure about that. Notoriously, David Davis, arch-brexiter, didn’t realise the UK couldn’t negotiate separate trade deals with EU states until after the Brexit vote. A lot of them are just confused.

Ijumfs 6y ago

Hard Brexit was what people elected the current government to do after the previous one dragged feet on soft Brexit for years.