[Winston O'Boogie]

I'm not savvy enough to predict when it might happen, but I do think we'll see a reunification of Ireland not too far (relatively speaking) down the line.   

But yes, I also think there'll be a resurgence in smuggling.   


 
 

[Tubetec]

A resurgence in smuggling 
We have huge coastline , virtually impossible to police ,stories going back hundreds of years slaves on route from the markets of Liverpool to the new world being held in the dungeons of the big house in a coastal town down the road from me . Whiskey and slaves on the way out , tobacco on the way back .

Even if there was a majority of people of a nationalist backround in the 6 counties of the North chances of staunch unionists agreeing to take a seat in Dublin are practically non existant . The Northern assembly is fragile at the best of times with the DUP seemingly prefering it shelved and taking their chances in London. I suspect if you ask the commoner in England if they want the 6 counties of Northern Ireland to remain part of the UK they'd probably drop it in a heartbeat, thats not to say they would have a good understanding of the situation in the North of Ireland to begin with.

[Winston O'Boogie]

Well naturally, the unionists and the DUP have their own idea of what's best.   But it's ultimately up to the people of the island themselves.   It's written into the Good Friday Agreement that a referendum on reunification can be held at any time and, were it to play out that way, then I'd assume the DUP would loose power there too.

As a commoner in the UK myself, I want whatever is best for all of Ireland, and it should be your choice, not ours.   
I do think lots of Brexit voters over here didn't give any thought to the Good Friday Agreement before the vote, probably because it was never mentioned beforehand.   But I've never been able to reconcile how it could possibly work with the 6 counties being completely out of the EU and still manage to maintain zero border controls on the island  itself.
As you say, the situation is fragile though.  But your centennial anniversary of independence is coming up soon, it might be a good time to get together again  

[ruffrecords]

A resurgence in smuggling 
We have huge coastline , virtually impossible to police ,stories going back hundreds of years slaves on route from the markets of Liverpool to the new world being held in the dungeons of the big house in a coastal town down the road from me . Whiskey and slaves on the way out , tobacco on the way back .

I live in Norfolk which has a very long history of smuggling. Cromer crab anyone?

Cheers

Ian

[Winston O'Boogie]

I live in Norfolk which has a very long history of smuggling. 

I just found this online     

Reverend Forbes Phillips wrote  The Romance of Smuggling , which he penned under the pseudonym of Atholl Forbes in the early years of the 20th century.

In the book he refers to the High Street vicarage where he lived:

"I live in a house that was constructed with a view not only of the Yarmouth Roads and the North Sea, but a further one of plundering the Revenue...Beneath my feet as I write are large and roomy cellars, once used for the storage of imported goods, and until a few years ago a subterranean passage connected these with a landing stage by the waterside; and let the full truth be told, the designer of all was the vicar of the parish."

[Script]

If it wasn't impossible for Covid already, touring musicians would have a very hard time crossing the Channel in both directions.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/06/uk-touring-musicians-hit-by-double-whammy-of-brexit-and-covid

But I'm sure they will come up with something. It was clear that any deal was but a rough framework and that all the tiny details would not be dealt with before such deal is reality.

[Tubetec]

There was once a time , not so long ago, our riven westerly coast was full with the best shell fish , sadly very few of the bays and peninsulas have clean enough waters nowadays . I remember a family holiday down west years ago , we returned to the hotel/B&B with bags of freshly collected Bantry bay mussels , steamed until they open, then topped with garlic butter and bread crumb and finished under the grill until golden and bubbling , those were the days .

[Squeaky]

My grandfather, who was a farmer and beekeeper would be shocked by the idea of trucking around beehives on a regular basis. Seems like a perversion.

I was out on a farm back-block, hunting early in the morning, just before Christmas, when this helicopter turns up with hives sashed together on a pallet. They were dropping the hives into manuka stands (native NZ bush). Manuka honey is that lucrative you might find farms returning to manuka (back to native bush).

Apologies, I know this has nothing to do with Brexit, just wondering what your grandfather might have thought of helicopter hives.

[ruffrecords]

I just found this online     

Reverend Forbes Phillips wrote  The Romance of Smuggling , which he penned under the pseudonym of Atholl Forbes in the early years of the 20th century.

In the book he refers to the High Street vicarage where he lived:

"I live in a house that was constructed with a view not only of the Yarmouth Roads and the North Sea, but a further one of plundering the Revenue...Beneath my feet as I write are large and roomy cellars, once used for the storage of imported goods, and until a few years ago a subterranean passage connected these with a landing stage by the waterside; and let the full truth be told, the designer of all was the vicar of the parish."

At the coast near where I live, the knick knack shops all sell books on Norfolk smugglers. When I first moved here 20 years ago we bought a converted foundry. I later met a guy who was restoring a water mill about 20 miles away and he had lots of info on the place I was living including transcripts of recordings of people who worked there at the turn of the last century. They told tales of revenue men being tied up there while the smugglers dispersed their contraband. Apparently there was a woman who lived at the top of the hill half way between us and the coast who use to send warning of approaching revenue men. The guy we sold the house to was fascinated by this and he even wrote a book about it.

Cheers

Ian

[Winston O'Boogie]

At the coast near where I live, the knick knack shops all sell books on Norfolk smugglers. When I first moved here 20 years ago we bought a converted foundry. I later met a guy who was restoring a water mill about 20 miles away and he had lots of info on the place I was living including transcripts of recordings of people who worked there at the turn of the last century. They told tales of revenue men being tied up there while the smugglers dispersed their contraband. Apparently there was a woman who lived at the top of the hill half way between us and the coast who use to send warning of approaching revenue men. The guy we sold the house to was fascinated by this and he even wrote a book about it.

Wow!  I'm with the guy who bought your house, I find that sort of stuff fascinating too Ian!  I'm sure the stories go back a few centuries from then too.   
Here's to hoping you won't need to resort to tying up the revenue man yourself to bolster the fish or vacuum-tube stockpiles        
     

[ruffrecords]

Wow!  I'm with the guy who bought your house, I find that sort of stuff fascinating too Ian!  I'm sure the stories go back a few centuries from then too.   
Here's to hoping you won't need to resort to tying up the revenue man yourself to bolster the fish or vacuum-tube stockpiles        
     

Talking of which and the ham sandwich fiasco, our smuggling background means we are adept at creating undetectable hiding places for small items. I am sure it is not beyond the wit of some drivers to find a hiding place for their sarnies.

Strange thing, lorries drive unhindered in and out of Switzerland despite it not being an EU member.

Cheers

Ian

[cyrano]

If it wasn't impossible for Covid already, touring musicians would have a very hard time crossing the Channel in both directions.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/06/uk-touring-musicians-hit-by-double-whammy-of-brexit-and-covid

But I'm sure they will come up with something. It was clear that any deal was but a rough framework and that all the tiny details would not be dealt with before such deal is reality.

“We recognise that there could be some additional processes for those working in creative industries, but we have ensured that the visa application processes for longer-term business travel will be transparent to provide certainty and clarity,”

WTF does that even mean? 

[cyrano]

Strange thing, lorries drive unhindered in and out of Switzerland despite it not being an EU member.

Not so very strange. Switzerland has had the same rights as all Schengen-zone countries since 2008. It's literally inside the EU, so it would be kind of strange not to include it in the Schengen agreement.

Switzerland also doesn't need to filter it's borders in Schengen style, as it has no borders, except to EU and Schengen members.

[Winston O'Boogie]

...our smuggling background means we are adept at creating undetectable hiding places for small items. I am sure it is not beyond the wit of some drivers to find a hiding place for their sarnies.

Haha

On the truck delays etc.:  Since we're only 2 weeks into officially being out, I personally think we should cut some slack and give it time for things to be sorted properly.   
To be fair, we've had over 4 years now ourselves to get the infrastructure and manpower in place, but it seems our govt. only started thinking about getting up to speed with this in the last half of 2020.  Far too much time spent arguing with itself. 
We needed, I believe, 50,000 new customs/revenue men/women and, last I checked, we'd filled 20,000 of those vacancies so far.  We also need(ed) new facilities, truck parks etc. so...  All in the middle of a pandemic of course.

You'll be fine Ian, just find and re-open one of the old smugglers' tunnels.

Me, being in Manchester? I'll be looking at growing turnips in the garden       
 
 

[ruffrecords]

You'll be fine Ian, just find and re-open one of the old smugglers' tunnels.

Me, being in Manchester? I'll be looking at growing turnips in the garden     

If you need anything, just ask in the black market and I will see what I can do 

Cheers

Ian

[warpie]

FWIW, I recently received an order from UK and I ended up paying around 50-60% on top of the actual price.

So, I'm sorry to say this but personally I'm done with buying stuff from UK, which is a shame because I really liked some shops. Oh well...

[ruffrecords]

FWIW, I recently received an order from UK and I ended up paying around 50-60% on top of the actual price.

So, I'm sorry to say this but personally I'm done with buying stuff from UK, which is a shame because I really liked some shops. Oh well...

What did this 50+% consist of. Was it import duties charged by your country? Where do you live?

Cheers

Ian

[ruffrecords]

Looks like Italy is in trouble again. The government has collapsed. Debt was spiralling out of control even before Covid. There are reports of the Chinese eyeing up key assets at knock down prices.

Cheers

Ian

[rob_gould]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-visa-free-work-musicians-eu-brexit-b1784600.html

The UK rejected an offer of visa-free tours by musicians to EU countries, despite blaming Brussels for what the industry is calling the devastating blow of them requiring permits.

A “standard” proposal to exempt performers from the huge cost and bureaucracy for 90 days was turned down, The Independent has been told – because the government is insisting on denying that to EU artists visiting this country.

“It is usually in our agreements with third countries, that [work] visas are not required for musicians. We tried to include it, but the UK said no,” an EU source close to the negotiations said.

[Script]

Hey, you are spoiling the party

But as I  said, I'm sure they will find a way to fix it. But then again, all good British musicians are either rich or dead already anyway, so...

Some fish anyone ?